Courage Read online

  "You were a toddler," Defiance said quietly. "And you earned your name."

  "How do you know that?" Courage muttered.

  "Because I was there when she chose your name," Defiance answered. "I was only about five but I remember the day clearly."

  Courage patted my face dry with a soft towel and crossed the room for the tube of antibiotic ointment in the cabinet beside the fridge.

  "We had walked down to the river to have lunch in the tall grass," Defiance continued. "Nowadays you'd call it a picnic. Mother had prepared oatcakes spread with crushed berries and a roasted duck wrapped in a clean piece of linen. We sat on her wide skirts and dug in on a bright sunny day."

  "What happened?" I asked while Courage smoothed the ointment into the broken skin at the corner of my mouth.

  Defiance narrowed his gaze on me. "Our meal was interrupted by a wolf, stealing through the grass and bursting in on us. One of his hind legs was broken, trailing uselessly behind him. He was hungry, his sides hollowed out. And he was big. Probably the biggest wolf I've ever seen."

  "Did he attack your family?" I asked breathlessly as Courage went to work on my swollen nose.

  "He was big enough to have done exactly that," Defiance told us. "He could have ripped out mother's throat and dragged off one of us boys. Had I been older, I would have attacked him with my knife. Had Force been bigger, he probably would have wrestled the wolf to the ground. But we were only children," he said, his gaze swinging back to his brother, "frozen with surprise if not fear."

  Courage tilted my chin upward and frowned at my face. Then he squeezed a little ointment onto his finger and spread it gently over my eye.

  Defiance went on. "The wolf bared his teeth and growled, perhaps confused by the conflicting scents of four different people and a roasted duck, perhaps wondering where to attack first and where to satisfy his hunger most quickly."

  I held my breath and peered at Defiance with my good eye, the other swollen shut but feeling better with the soothing ointment smeared across the eyelid. Defiance told a good story but I was dying to know how it all came out. "Go on," I said.

  Defiance rubbed his face, and yawned. "Courage had been standing at Mother's shoulder, a piece of oatcake clutched in his fist. Amongst all of us, he was the only one who wasn't shocked into inaction. He toddled over to the wolf and stuck out his hand, offering his lunch to the wolf. And after the tall beast had swallowed the oatcake, Courage reached for a duck's leg and fed him that too."

  Courage snorted and dropped into the chair beside me. "I was just a baby," he said and took a sip of his lemonade. "I didn't know enough to be afraid."

  "Maybe," Defiance conceded, tilting his chin in agreement. "And maybe you were very brave. Maybe you were absolutely fearless. Maybe you were the most courageous little person that ever stood on the earth."

  Courage's eyes glinted as he smiled at his brother. "T'is a good story," he said.

  "And all true," Defiance replied.

  "What happened next?" I asked, happy that the two boys were smiling at each other but wanting to hear how the little family had survived their run in with the wolf.

  Defiance shrugged. "Mother stretched out her toe and pushed the rest of the duck at the wolf. He snatched up the carcass and ran off, disappearing behind the high wall of grass."

  "The wolf was probably only there for the duck," Courage pointed out. "Not the people."

  "Probably," Defiance agreed. "But it was a huge wolf. Do you not remember it?"

  "I remember feeding a large dog that came to our…picnic," Courage admitted. "But nothing else about the day. I certainly don't remember feeling…brave."

  "That's because courage doesn't mean what most people think," his brother said quietly. "It's not running toward danger when everyone else is running away; that's valor. It's not fighting to the front lines of battle to turn back the enemy; that's force. Courage is something else. Courage is not giving into panic. Courage is doing the right thing no matter how difficult it is."

  "You make it sound like a great and noble thing," Courage snickered offhandedly, acting like he didn't deserve his brother's recognition.

  But he was wrong, of course. I knew it and Defiance knew it.

  "It is a great and noble thing," Defiance told him. "When it comes right down to it, Courage often means making unpopular decisions. Because time has proven many times over that the right thing is hard to do. It might sound cliché. But it's true. It's the reason why you agreed with the decision to go stone eight hundred years ago instead of facing off against that gang of harpies. Although we were outnumbered, we could have fought it out with valor and force…and daring. It would have been the defiant thing to do. But defiance is nothing next to courage."

  Defiance sent his brother a warm smile.

  "Force and I might have been jealous of your name," he said. "But we never doubted your courage."

  Epilogue

  I was nervous about getting together with Courage's family the next day. Of course, by then, I knew that Courage didn't always get along with Defiance. And I started worrying about it as soon as we left the ranch in Whitney's little green Volkswagen.

  She picked us up at ten.

  "Don't get into it with your brother," I warned Courage when we reached Boulder, pulling him aside as Whitney and Defiance stepped through the front door of the lovely old home.

  "Which one?" he asked with a snicker.

  "Either one," I muttered quietly, hoping nobody was listening from inside; Whitney had told me about the gargoyles' crazy good hearing on the drive up. "I don't want to get mad and accidentally blow up all the glassware in the house."

  "Right," he said. "Good point." Then he put out his hand. "Maybe you'd better let me hold on to your bracelet."

  Exasperated, I whipped my hand behind my back. "Can't you guys just get along?"

  "I can't make any promises," he answered, his eyes glinting with humor as he leaned in for a quick kiss…that swiftly turned into a long kiss.

  It wasn't easy, but eventually I took command of my senses and pushed him away. "What are you doing?" I demanded.

  He tilted his head to the side and blinked as he watched my mouth with consuming interest. "Falling in love," he answered.

  Which was so sweet that I let him kiss me again.

  But he had to cut it short when his barbs started leaking. "I'm…sorry," he apologized, backing away from me with a pained look on his face.

  "Don't be," I told him softly. "I'm not."

  So, I met Courage's family and their girlfriends—or their lasses as the pack lads would say. Valor and his brothers were there, having driven up from Pine Grove. Even Havoc had returned to his living form to welcome Courage back into the pack.

  Almost everyone was older than me. Victor's girlfriend, Samantha, was already in college! But her younger sister who goes out with Chaos was about my age. And I was stoked to find out she even likes country music! Well, she likes Garth Brooks, anyhow.

  I don't know what I could tell you about the pack that wouldn't be a huge understatement but I'll start with Valor since that's where the American adventure started for the Greystone gargoyles. Valor is…one of the most stunningly attractive guys I've ever seen in my life, with black hair and electric blue eyes. He and MacKenzie are the classic lovers-and-best-friends. And because Mac is a good witch, she's probably the pack matriarch even though she's only sixteen. She sure won me over in a hurry. 'Course it didn't hurt that she healed my face in like ten minutes.

  With the white streaks in his hair, Dare's an older version of his brother, Valor. A little more worn, a little more serious, his sage green eyes haunted by a weight of hardship that settled on him eight hundred years ago. But Dare's a survivor. And since reaching the twenty-first century, he's built his life around his girlfriend, Mim, who he absolutely worships. Which isn't too surprising because Mim's so smart. She made Dare a set of wings to replace the ones a harpy cut away when he was younger. She's teaching him to play guitar,
too, and he's getting pretty good at it.

  When it comes to Reason, he acts a little more independent than Valor or Dare. But I'm pretty sure it's nothing more than an act because he keeps pretty close to his dark-haired Elaina. He manages to pull off the cool, could-care-less fake-out as long as she isn't more than two feet away. Elaina's the comic in the pack. She's a total crack up, quick thinking and sharp. And even though she's not very big, she's the first person I'd want at my side in a fight.

  Defiance is different. He doesn't need to be close to Whitney all the time but whenever they're separated, his eyes follow her like a hawk. Like he's hungry. He hasn't yet marked the pretty blond who could easily be a model so maybe that explains the look in his eyes when he watches her. He promised Whitney's father he wouldn't mark her before her eighteenth birthday. So, that means Whit's father knows about the pack, which isn't such a bad thing since he's a doctor; they could go to him for medical treatment if they needed it.

  Dark-haired Chaos and little blond Torrie evidently went through a lot together when a harpy trapped them together in a mine. Chaos actually gave the harpy his rune in return for Torrie's life, just like Courage almost did for me. But when the harpy died, Torrie stole the rune back from the monster. She wears Chaos's symbol burned into the palm of her hand.

  Victor is the oldest and the leader of the pack. With his sun-bleached hair and his surfboarder looks, he's probably the most attractive young man walking the face of the earth. Well, except for Courage, of course. His pretty girlfriend is Torrie's sister and she's studying veterinary science at CU Boulder.

  Force is bigger and broader and stronger-looking than the other guys in the pack. His dark gold chin-length hair falls over one eye, making him look kinda sullen and brooding. And he tries to come across like he's too tough to care about anything. But when his gaze rests on his girlfriend, Camie, it's like all that he-man modern-barbarian stuff goes right out the window. His silver eyes take on a soft light and his mouth twitches upward in one of his millimeter smiles and the next thing you know, the two of them are plastered together against a wall in one of the hallways.

  That brings me to Havoc who wears his hair in long bronze dreadlocks and is everything his name suggests. He's wild and unpredictable and funny as heck. Within the ranks of the pack, he's both the peacemaker and the troublemaker. And he is a troublemaker. He flirts with all the pack girls…which drives their boyfriends crazy.

  But I thought he was gonna have a heart attack when Courage showed up in overalls. He went straight upstairs and raided the pack's drawers to find something "more fashionable" for Courage to wear. Courage tried to tell him he liked the overalls just fine but Havoc wasn't having it. And by the time Havoc was finished with his cousin, Courage looked so good he about took my breath away. It's amazing what a nice-fitting pair of jeans will do for a guy.

  The final member of the pack is Hooligan…which actually sounds like another gargoyle name. And Hooligan definitely considers himself one of the boys even if he is a dog—a wolfhound to be exact, and one of the biggest, gentlest creatures I've ever run into.

  Anyhow, I managed to get through all of the introductions without blowing anything up. And after an amazing lunch that Havoc threw together, Courage told the pack he'd be staying on at the ranch. We were parked in the living room at the time, sitting on three long couches arranged in front of the big windows. Havoc was perched on a tall stool he'd dragged in from the kitchen. A wide-screen television sat against the wall beneath the windows, turned to the news station, the pack waiting for word of Olivia's death.

  "You won't be moving into Pine Grove with us?" Defiance asked pointedly.

  Courage ignored the question. He smiled at me and said, "One day we'd like to have our own ranch."

  Defiance didn't look too pleased about his brother's announcement. "Do you think it's wise…to stay with Lorissa?"

  Courage got his back up right away. He shot to his feet and glared at his brother. "What are you trying to say?"

  Defiance waved his hand dismissively. "Don't get all bent. I'm not questioning your decision because Lorissa's a bad witch. I think we've already established that a bad witch might come in handy, depending on the circumstances."

  "Might?" Courage growled.

  "Alright," Defiance gave in. "A bad witch could very well come in handy."

  "A bad witch could definitely come in handy," Victor agreed with a calm smile.

  "That's better," Courage rumbled, giving the pack leader a thankful look and dropping back onto the couch beside me.

  "I just wonder how you're going to work around your instinct to mark her," Defiance said.

  "We'll manage," Courage muttered. "Just like you and Whitney have managed."

  "Really?" Defiance challenged his brother. "You think so? One day Whitney will be able to build up a resistance to my venom like most of the other lasses already have. But you can't even try that with Lorissa. Not with that rattlesnake venom running in your veins."

  From the look on Courage's face, I could tell he hadn't considered that.

  "You might never be able to mark her," Defiance added, not unkindly.

  "That…would be hard," Courage admitted slowly and sent a worried look my way.

  "Damn right, it would be hard," Defiance agreed.

  "Well, Lorissa and Courage are both young," Victor pointed out. "So, it might be best if they put off the issue for a few years anyhow."

  "That's not the point," Defiance argued. "Lorissa won't ever be able to build up a resistance. Courage could kill her with an accidental scratch."

  "We'll just have to be careful," Courage said.

  "You can't be careful for the rest of your life," Defiance argued, his voice rising. "At least, you can't guarantee that you can be careful."

  My wide-eyed gaze traveled between the two brothers. Just in case, I slipped my bracelet off my wrist and handed it to Courage.

  "Maybe they won't have to," Havoc suggested, wading into the conflict from his perch on the tall stool.

  Defiance immediately rolled his eyes as if Havoc couldn't possibly have anything valuable to offer.

  But Havoc meant to have his say. "What if Courage milked his veins every day and drained the venom from his system? Wouldn't the rattlesnake poison eventually be diluted to the point where it was no longer a factor?"

  "Maybe," Defiance answered after a grudging pause. "But how would Courage know when it was out of his system?"

  "He'd know by the color," I murmured and turned my gaze upward to Courage's face.

  "That's right," Courage said, sounding hopeful. "Right now, my venom is both green and blue. And it…shimmers, somehow."

  "It's iridescent," I said.

  "When my venom is bright blue again and the iridescence has worn off…it might be safe for Lorissa to take it in small amounts…and build up a resistance. If she can do that…then I should be able to mark her."

  "That's a lot of ifs," Defiance growled, looking less that convinced.

  "Maybe. But it's reason for hope," Courage said softly, holding my hand tightly and smiling down into my eyes. "In the meantime, I'm staying in Limon with Lorissa."

  "We understand," Victor said quietly. "But when it's time for Lorissa to go to college, maybe she could go to school in Boulder…if that wouldn't be asking too much. And…after Torrie and Lorissa graduate, maybe we could look for some land, and start up a ranch."

  "That would be brilliant," Havoc exclaimed before Defiance could find something wrong with the idea. "We could all be cowboys. Lorissa could show us how."

  Dare picked up his guitar resting against the end of the couch and brushed his thumb against the strings. "Some of us could be singing cowboys," he said in a low rumble of laughter.

  "I could open a veterinary service," Samantha added. "I've always wanted to work with horses and farm stock."

  "And Hooligan would love the wide open spaces," Havoc added, ruffling his hand through the fur on the big dog's head. "We could even live i
n Montana," he said, as if Montana was equal to heaven.

  But it wasn't Defiance who found something wrong with the ranch startup idea. It was MacKenzie who cleared her throat and spoke up next. "What about Sophie?" she asked. "Torrie and Lorissa won't be the last two girls to graduate. Sophie will."

  "Sophie!" Havoc exclaimed, and almost fell off his stool. "Oh, no. No no no no no. It's not going to be like that with me and little Sophie. I'm just taking her to prom. Then I'm gonna hang with her for a while…until she gets over me."

  "Which shouldn't take too long," Defiance muttered under his breath.

  Havoc gave his cousin a dirty look then agreed with him…which I'm told doesn't happen very often.

  But before Havoc could convince MacKenzie that Sophie wouldn't be joining us on the ranch…in Montana, the story of Olivia's death broke.

  The pack grew silent, their attention riveted on the television, some of them rising to their feet and moving across the room so they could get a better view of the news on the screen. The story wasn't pretty. Olivia's guards had deserted her without informing the police or even calling an ambulance. And for some reason, they started a fire before they left. Maybe they hoped to burn up any DNA they might have left behind. But a neighbor called the local authorities and the blaze was put out before it got a firm foothold. The local reporter didn't have many other details, saying only that the billionaire heiress had died under very suspicious circumstances and that "her death was being investigated".

  "Suspicious circumstances," Defiance snorted. "Yeah, I guess all those chains on the wall downstairs looked pretty damn suspicious."

  "Not to mention the hooks in the ceiling," I added.

  "Do you think the authorities will be able to trace any of this back to the pack?" MacKenzie asked.

  "I doubt it," Havoc answered before anyone else could weigh in. And if they try to test our DNA, they're gonna be confused as hell."

  "They'll probably assume the sample was corrupted," Mim suggested.

  After the news report, there was a long moment of silent reflection. From all indications, the threat of monstrous harpies and vicious Olanders had been removed. For the gargoyles and their lasses, it was finally over. But for some reason, it just didn't…feel like it was over. And I wasn't the only one with that opinion.