Risa's Destiny Read online

  “The Dragon did a lot of work to fix your home. Your mother and father are buried on the hill beneath the tree they loved to sit under. A great honour, as you know, no one is allowed to be buried on the hill,” The Hermit said the words softly and kindly, but Risa felt nothing more than rage as he spoke of her family.

  “The Dragon can drop dead,” she growled as she walked by. “He was meant to keep them safe. They always said ‘dragons were amazing beings with power beyond what we know.’” She looked at him, her eyes dead. “But, he is a monster. He acts as if he is some powerful god, but my parents died because The Dragon did not do his job right,” she said and walked inside. After that, she did not see the Hermit a lot, but she would wake to food, clothes and other items on her doorstep. He would work on her house when she was not home. She never said anything and let him do it. After all, what was the point? All too soon, the house was like new but for the burnt marks on the walls—the only reminder that something bad had happened here.

  Risa blinked, pulling herself from the pains of the past and turned to look up at the hill, away from The Dragon's cave. There was a huge tree, under it were buried her parents. Springwell had raged that she dared to bury them there. The Hermit had shown up and told them her family had the blessing of The Dragon, and he was the one to bury them and not her. That had shut them up, but they had not liked it. She remembered it was at that time when she and Ben had stopped being so close. He had tried to be there for her, but she had pulled away, blaming all humans at the time. He had taken it hard, but in the end, backed off and understood where she was coming from. She did regret pushing him away, but there was nothing she could do, plus it was not like his family would take a liking to the idea of them being friends.

  Risa turned around from the view and got to work, pulling crops from the fields, humming as she worked. “You know, you look very nice from where I am standing,” came a smooth voice behind her. Risa sighed and turned around, trying not to smirk. Behind her was one of the few guys she liked, and that was only because he was not from here. “Hello, Apollo,” she said, smiling. She looked over the man before her. He was leaning on the wall as if nothing in the world bothered him, and for all Risa knew, nothing did. She walked over and sat on the wall; his arms wrapped around her as he rested his head on her shoulder. “How is my girl?” he purred, making Risa laugh. “You are a wolf; you cannot purr, my friend,” she said, smirking. She turned to look up into his honey eyes, his light brown hair blowing softly in the wind. Hidden in his hair were soft wolf ears, another reason she liked him; Apollo was not human. She pulled away and hopped over the wall. “So, tell me, Apollo, what are you doing back here?” she asked softly, watching him.

  He smirked “What? Is seeing you, not reason enough?” he asked.

  “Always the flirt I see,” Risa said, rolling her eyes as she faced him. He was just so handsome. She opened her mouth to say more, when a huge yell went up, “APOLLO!”

  They both turned to see Ben running full speed at them. “He is about to—” But before she could finish, Ben tackled Apollo to the ground. Risa sighed. She looked around for Ben's friends but saw no one. Odd. Ben was hardly ever alone. She looked back to the guys rolling around on the ground. Risa grinned. She knew Apollo was very happy to be pinned by Ben.

  “I win, wolf boy,” Ben said.

  “Sure, you do, which is why Apollo is hard,” Risa said under her breath. She saw Apollo blush, but luckily, Ben heard nothing.

  “Yea, Ben, you win. Now, get up, you weigh a ton,” Apollo said, smirking softly. He locked eyes with Risa, a look that clearly said, ‘shut the fuck up.’ Risa knew Apollo was bi. Most, if not all paranormals were. It was hard to live as long as them and not be okay with either sex. Plus, they went more off their animal, and well, animals liked sex. So, who said liking the same sex was bad? That was a human thought.

  The guys got up, smiling and clasping hands. Risa watching them. If only Ben was bi, they would make an amazing couple. She turned to leave them but was grabbed and picked up. “God damn it, Apollo. Put me down!” she growled. She sighed as Apollo sat back on the wall, putting her in his lap.

  “Now, now, my lady. Where do you think you are going?” he purred, nuzzling her neck softly, making Risa shiver. She tried to play it off as if she did not care, rolling her eyes at him.

  She blinked when Ben stepped up close in front of her. “Yea, Risa let’s hang, just us three, like the old times,” Ben said, leaning close. Risa blinked, and then was gone, in her place, a small, black kitten.

  “Damn,” Apollo growled, trying to grab her, but she raced along the wall. Ben was the only person in town who knew about her shifts, but he only thought she could change into a kitten. Apollo, as a werewolf, knew she was a Level 3 changeling. “Now, Risa,” Ben dropped his voice to sound sexy or at least tried to as he moved to grab her, Apollo moving in on the other side. But, it was a different set of hands who picked her up. Risa looked up to see the Hermit’s cool eyes looking down at her. “You boys are not bugging Risa, are you?” he asked, softly but with a sharp tone.

  Was that rage in his voice? Risa wondered. She jumped from his arms to shift. “As if! They are just being their normal pain in the ass selves. Don’t worry, Hermit, but thank you.”

  She said softly, smiling as she walked away. As she headed into the house, she thought she heard Apollo growl, “She is ours, stay away, Hermit.” But, she brushed it off as mishearing, as she closed the door on the guys. She looked out the window and almost jumped as three sets of eyes, one ice blue, one honey brown and one deep brown watched her. Apollo winked and blew her a kiss. The big flirt, she thought. Ben waved sadly, his eyes begged for her to come to him, but she looked away. It was the Hermit’s eyes she did not understand. For a flash, they looked full of longing before she closed her blinds and waited for them to leave so she could go back to her work. She had no time for a flirt who would be gone in a few days, a guy who was only nice when no one was around, and the Hermit, a guy whom she loved but would never want her. Why waste her time, letting her heart fill, only to have them break it later?

  Chapter Three

  Risa worked hard for the rest of the day and the next to get the crops ready for town. The morning of the trip, she woke feeling uneasy as if something was wrong, but, as nothing seemed amiss in her house, she let it go. She got up and hopped into the shower. Sighing, she let the hot water run down her body. She leaned back and grinned at the tiles of her shower: a line of suns, a line of snowflakes and a line of roses. She shook her head, smiling. The Hermit put in the snowflakes, saying they matched the room, which they did. The bathroom was a soft pale ice blue. Apollo, being well...Apollo did not like the idea of any man putting something in her bathroom, and on finding he could not remove them, he added the suns, for he was named after the sun god. Ben always said he would give her roses, she just never thought he meant it by sneaking in when he was drunk and sticking the roses everywhere he could.

  Even if she got no say in the matter, she liked the lines. They made her feel like they cared. She shook her head and washed her hair, purring as she rubbed her cat’s ears. When she got out, she gazed at herself, turning to her side, she took in her body. She was lean but strong and, as Apollo would put it, had a good rack, which always made her laugh. Her eyes went to her tail; she smiled as she ran her hand along it, trying to squeeze most of the moisture out. Smiling softly, she dried off and left the room. She got dressed and went down to the kitchen. There was a note by the door. She already knew what it said.

  My Dear Risa,

  I am heading out but will be back in a week. I have something I need to do. Wait for me, my sweet kitty.

  Love Apollo

  Ps. take care of Ben for me