Hammer and Anvil: Chapter One

The Hammer and the Anvil
Book One of Forging the Bond

Chapter One
Don't Have an Adventure

"This cannot be happening," Amanda moaned, staring at the paper in her hands. She glared at Toby, her boss of three years, and waved the paper in his face. "You can't be serious!" Her mind rang with nightmare scenarios of bugs in her long auburn hair, tripping over fallen branches, and getting caught in the rain.

"I am serious," he answered, still smiling, though it looked a bit forced now. "It will be good for all of us. We need to become a team." He ran his fingers through his slightly overlong, thick brown hair and gave her a pleading look. His chocolate brown eyes begged silently. "We all need to do this."

"Why not the Bahamas! Or even the beaches here! You can't expect us to traipse through the woods! Please don't make me go. Please!" She was begging now, and she didn't care how desperate it made her look. This was a matter of life and death. Waving her left arm, which was still in a sling after her latest mishap, she hoped to get him to see reason.

“It will be an adventure,” he said cajoling.
Amanda huffed. “I get my adventure through books. Where it’s safe and cozy. In my armchair, I mean. Life isn’t exactly safe and cozy as it is. Adventures are wet and cold, and downright dangerous. Very uncomfortable things. My suggestion, don’t have one!”

"Amanda," Toby sat in the chair across from her desk, his smile gone as he tried to explain. "We've lost four employees now. Four. Those head-hunters from Boston are snatching them up for our competition. If this keeps going, I'll be out of business in a year, which means you will no longer have a job, and no one else will either. Think about it. Please?"

Letting out a frustrated huff, Amanda stared at her boss for a long minute. "Fine, I'll go," she answered, "but if I get hurt, you're getting me all the chocolate I can eat for a month."

A laugh answered her. "Deal," he announced, standing and reaching across the desk to shake her hand before she could back out. "Give it a chance. This place is supposed to be pretty great, and the cost isn't bad. They have everything we want and nothing we don't."

She shook her head, letting out an aggrieved sigh to let him know that, though he had won, she wasn't happy. "The last place I ever imagined I would willingly go is into the woods."

Toby laughed and left her office to tell the others. Amanda watched through the large glass window that served as one wall of her office. When he approached the others most of them smiled and looked excited. As he spoke, however, several glanced toward her office, skeptical looks on their faces. She had to sigh again. Although she was among the best web designers in the company, or according to Toby, in all of New England, she had other problems.

Amanda was the world's biggest klutz. It helped to live in a city with a large hospital. Portland, Maine had such a hospital. One that had seen her often. She had lost count of all the injuries she'd had over the years, most of them incredibly stupid.

With a sigh, she turned back to her computer, resigned to think about the trip, and it's possible consequences, when she got home.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Later that night Amanda wanted nothing more than to run screaming from her mother's house, which was unfortunately only three blocks from her own. Her coworkers weren't the only ones that made a fuss about her vulnerability. As soon as she walked into her mother's house that evening, her mother caught sight of the brochure and snatched it from her hands.

"Amanda Pelletier!" she screeched, "tell me you aren't going!" Her voice was higher than Amanda had heard it in years.

"I have to go mom," she said. "But I promise to be careful."

"Hmph!" was the only response as her mother scanned the brochure. She tossed it down onto the kitchen table as she dragged Amanda into the room and forced her to sit down. "Seven!"

"What?" Amanda asked, confused.

"Seven. Seven broken bones. Four concussions." Cynthia Pelletier threw her hands into the air, swinging them wildly. "Once," she continued, sounding nearly hysterical, "you almost put out your eye with a pencil! You aren't meant to be out in the woods, or anywhere near a lake!"

"Mom-," Amanda tried to cut in, but when Cynthia was on a tear, there was no stopping her.

"Amanda, you have to get out of this," her mother demanded. "Take some vacation time. Take another job. Quit! Just do something to get yourself out of this!"

It had taken nearly an hour to calm her mother down, but the arguments didn't stop there. Her father had gone as far as calling her boss to demand he change the location of the work retreat. Several friends had suggested she quit her job, and her cousin Tara had pulled out a measuring tape and started talking about the size of coffins. After that, Amanda had taken her phone off the hook, soaked in a long bath, and had blatantly ignored anyone and everyone who tried to talk her out of going.

She might hate the woods, and she was sure to gripe and grumble about the trip, but she was loyal to Toby, who had given her a chance right out of high school and had used a scholarship to help her pay for college. She was only twenty-three and had been working for him for five years. She wouldn't abandon him now.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Mark Lavoie was in a rotten mood. He kicked the tires of the vans to check air pressure, slugged the last of his nearly day-old coffee, and hurried to put his mug on the porch. James and Jennifer were already in their vans by the time he returned. They would be heading into Portland to pick up a group that would be using the Lavoie Retreat for three days and two nights. Seventeen people.

On about a half a cup of day-old coffee.

It was not a great start to the morning. Mark opened the door of his van, climbed into the seat, turned the ignition and immediately blared the radio. He could do with a bit of music. Buckled, and slightly more mellow, he followed his younger siblings out onto the long dirt road that served as their driveway. One thing the Lavoie Retreat had in spades was privacy.

A crackle came over the radio. “What on earth has you in a snit this morning?” James asked.

“You two drank all the coffee,” Mark snarled, angry at the repeated frustration of his younger siblings hogging it all.

“Jenny was supposed to make a new pot,” James claimed.

“No, I wasn’t. It was your turn,” Jenny retorted, the radio clicking along with her annoyance.

Mark sighed and tuned them out. It would be a few minutes. His brother and sister could argue about anything. They were close, as any twins were, but when they argued it tended to go on forever. For him, almost five years older, it was never quite the same. Of course, he had also been their legal guardian since just after they had turned fourteen. Now they were twenty-six and still arguing.

“Enough,” he said, stopping the noise. “We’re stopping in to get coffee and you two are going to stay off the radio so I can listen to my music. If you want to argue, wait until I wake the hell up.”

He turned the music back up to blaring and tapped the steering wheel as he drove. He felt bad for snapping at his siblings. They meant everything to him. Over the past year he had been growing more and more irritable and territorial. He didn’t mean to take it out on them. If he could just find her everything would be fine. He had no idea who she was, only that she was out there, and that she was his. Somewhere in the world his mate was living her life. Who she was or where were unknown, and it drove him nearly mad.

By the standards of his people he had become an adult when he hit his twenty-fifth year, and full maturity when he reached his thirtieth. Which meant he was in his prime. Most found their intended mates before they even finished adolescence and he was still searching, as were his younger brother and sister. But they had lost their parents to the hunters at a young age, and they didn’t know everything about their kind. They had struggled greatly until finding a small town full of other magical creatures and trusted humans to help them.

He sighed. Someday he hoped to meet his mysterious soulmate, but he didn’t think it would be anytime soon. Maybe it was time he went to the Elders. They could help him find the woman who was his mate. He had wanted to make the trip the year before, but the business had been in distress. Now, he was surer than ever that he needed help.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Three vans were already parked in the parking lot of her work when Amanda arrived at four o-clock in the morning. Only a week had passed since the meeting with Toby. A week in which she had avoided most of her friends and family, and had looked over her life-insurance policy, just to be safe. The sling was off her arm, though the doctor had ordered her to be careful. Now she had to do that while in the woods of all places.

With a sigh, she took a bracing sip of her coffee, which was laced with a good helping of hot chocolate. A smile formed as she thought of the way the barista always knew exactly what she wanted first thing in the morning. She munched her double-chocolate fudge-frosted doughnut while she waited for her co-workers to arrive. Toby pulled in only moments after she did and began loading his bags into the back of one of the vans.

Within fifteen minutes everyone had climbed drearily out of their cars, the bags were loaded, and she was sitting in the front seat of one of the vans next to a silent blonde man whose hands were already on the wheel. Amanda had said hello and only received a grunt in response. The radio was on low, the station a mix of classic rock and heavy metal music. It wasn't something she minded, and already a song had played she knew the words to, so the trip was off to a good start.

"You know," Josie said, leaning over the seat to talk in Amanda's ear, "I heard this place is maybe half an hour away flying, but it's almost three in a car."

Amanda shuddered. "Not good," she whispered, "but I took my anti-nausea medication already."

Josie grinned. "Good. Last thing we need is you getting sick. Did your mother call again?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't want to know. I've had enough of people telling me something I'm already familiar with."

Amanda held up her cell phone, which she had turned off the night before, and frowned. Her mother had been worse in the past few years. There was a level of hostility between Cynthia and her husband Andrew throughout her childhood that had stuck with her, making Amanda leery of ever falling in love herself, but lately they hadn't fought as much and her mother had turned all that anger onto everyone else around her.

Amanda slept through most of the drive, the Dramamine making her tired, but as the sun started peeking over the horizon, she opened her eyes and the world around her was like a painting. Sunlight tipped the tops of the trees, making them seem to glow. There was moss on some of the trunks, painting the world in shades of green and brown. The road cut through the thick forest, occasional areas of fresh cuttings opening little meadows littered with pieces of wood that had been left behind. New trees had already started to grow in most of them. They passed through several small towns, but she didn't take much interest in them, though she did pay some attention to the houses, most of which were old, but beautiful.

Though she was worried about what would happen on the retreat, Amanda was awed by her surroundings. Thoughts of snakes and spiders, bear and moose were far from her mind as she caught her breath and stared at the high peaks of distant mountains and the occasional glassy blue of ponds and lakes they passed. Maine was a breathtaking wonderland for those who enjoyed the outdoors. Or, like her, those who preferred to view it from the safety of a car window.

Snuck into the bottom of Amanda's bag was her e-reader, which was filled with books she wanted to read while they were out in the wilderness and everyone else was enjoying it. She would be hiding in her bed or sitting in a comfortable chair by the water where it was safe. She wasn't thrilled with the idea of being surrounded by unknown wildlife.

The vans turned onto a compacted dirt road and the driver slowed down. He hadn't spoken to any of them, and Amanda silently wondered if he hated his job and the people he had to cart back and forth. Occasionally he would glance toward her, or look into the rearview mirror, but he kept his peace.

They pulled into the Lavoie Retreat just after seven in the morning, and her first view of the place was spectacular. There were three long cabins in a line to one side, just beyond the tree line. They all faced the same way and looked nearly identical. Amanda was reminded of the Lincoln Logs she had played with as a child. The cabins were built of logs, stacked one on another.

The main cabin faced them across a wide-open space where there was a small parking area, a fountain, and what looked like a tiny race track. It was two stories tall, and much larger than the other structures. A wide porch wrapped around the entire building and on the upper floor a balcony spread out over the front with a slanted roof protecting inhabitants from the elements. Gauzy curtains swayed in the open windows, making it seem cozy and welcoming. A thin tendril of smoke rose out of the stone chimney. It looked like something she might see in a painting. Amanda couldn't help but smile.

There was another cabin hidden behind the main one, also two stories, but much longer in length. This one looked more lived in, and Amanda could hear a dog barking inside. There were boots on the porch of that cabin and the curtains were all blue. Something in Amanda sparked at the sight of the glider swing on one end of the porch, and she wanted to go up and sit there, staring out at the woods. However, the cabin didn't seem as though it was meant for guests, not hidden the way it was. And there was a low fence around it, with a wide gate, probably so the dog could stay outside on nice days. It was a home.

Climbing out of the van, Amanda groaned and held the small of her back, trying to stretch muscles that hadn't moved nearly enough during the three-hour trip. The air smelled fresh and pure. She detected pine and something else she couldn't name. It was all beautiful, though she wished she could have her adventure in a safer way, through a book.

"That took forever," Josie complained, arching her back the same way Amanda had moments before. A longtime friend, Josie tended to point out the obvious, but she was kind and caring, though she could be abrasive when she was angry.

"It could have been longer," Amanda said, trying to be charitable, then noticed Toby approaching and added a touch of heat to her voice, "of course we could have gone to the Bahamas."

Josie laughed. "Nice try," she whispered when Toby only rolled his eyes and started tugging luggage out of the first van. Amanda and Josie moved to do the same in the second one, which they had ridden in.

The blonde-haired man walked to the back of the van. "Go on in," he said, his voice soft and mellow. He seemed to be the stoic, unruffled sort. "We can bring all these in. Just take your purses with you for now. My sister will show you around."

"Okay. Thanks," Amanda said, smiling. "And uh, thanks for driving us." She was slightly surprised to hear him speaking. She had assumed he wouldn't talk to them at all. Maybe she should have thought to bring him a coffee. Grinning, she tugged on Josie's hand and led her to the main building. "Let's go."

When the door opened, Josie gasped in wonder. Mentally, Amanda was doing cartwheels. It was incredibly beautiful.

One half of the upper floor was wide open with large windows that brought in sunlight, which sparkled on a chandelier set above. The walls were unfinished logs. Stone hearths covered large portions of the room on either side, wide windows around them in the main area. Doors opened up in the back and they were led into a long hallway. On one side of the hall was a modern industrial kitchen and a long dining room with a dozen round tables. On the other there were two conference rooms, large bathrooms, and a small medical station with a bed on one side, a small green couch situated next to it.

Josie nudged Amanda with her elbow and pointed to the bed. "At least you know where you'll be spending most of your time," she teased.

Amanda laughed. It was no secret she was a klutz and she wasn't sensitive about it. "What do you want to bet I take someone down with me?" she asked, wondering if she could make money on her worst trait.

The woman who was showing them around introduced herself as Jennifer Lavoie, and explained that all meals were cooked on site, that their beds had already been assigned in one of the three cabins, and that there was a continental-type breakfast available for all of them, which included the coffee she was currently brewing. "My brothers should both be here in a minute. They're just unloading the vans now. It was a long drive, so they might need a bit of time."

Amanda helped herself to a cup and found the hot chocolate mix. Within a few minutes she had a steaming cup in front of her on the conference table in the larger room, where there were couches on three sides and a large white screen on the fourth. Soon the others had filed in and they began a series of meetings that lasted most of the day. During the last portion they were shown some of the events that would begin the following morning, and Amanda had to groan when she saw them. Trust exercises were dangerous, even for someone who wasn't accident prone. She threw a glare at Toby, frowning when he pretended not to see.

Dinner was set up in the dining room they had seen that morning during the tour. Amanda sat between Josie and Peter. While Josie was light and airy, with ivory skin, pale blonde hair, and soft blue eyes, Peter was dark, with swarthy skin, chestnut hair, and eyes the color of amber. Both were wearing jeans and t-shirts, but she knew they could dress to impress for a night out.

Josie was another designer like her, but Peter was some sort of programming wizard who set up security for web sites. He had done some work for rather large corporations, preventing hackers from stealing the identities of potential employees, amongst other things. He was a good friend, and the three of them often went out together.

On this night however, Peter seemed to be depressed and wasn't his natural flamboyant self. He let out a heavy sigh as he settled into his seat and instead of eating his pork chops, he fiddled with his fork. Amanda felt bad for him. His boyfriend of nearly four years had recently admitted to cheating. It had only happened once, the other man claimed, and he had been drunk at the time.

Amanda thought she would probably break up with a guy if he cheated on her, but Peter was desperately in love with Anthony and wasn't sure what he wanted to do. While Josie and Peter spent the meal discussing the pros and cons of dating, Amanda turned her focus onto her food. She wasn't all that interested in dating. Too many girls had the image of a knight on a white horse running in to rescue them. She wasn't interested in being rescued or being in a relationship. Too many years of watching her parent's nearly silent battles had killed the idea of happily ever after.

They all trooped out to the cabins when dinner was done. Each of the cabins had four rooms. Two rooms were set up for couples, with queen sized beds, but those were closed off to keep everything fair. The other rooms were outfitted with bunk beds. On the doors of those, bed assignments had been posted.

Josie reached the door to their room first. "Uh uhn!" she cried out. "Not happening!" She took a red sharpie out of her purse and crossed Amanda's name off the top of one of the bunks and switched it with her own. "Nope, nope, nope. There! Problem solved."

Amanda laughed. Josie always had her back. She wasn't a fan of trips to the emergency room and went out of her way to help Amanda avoid them. Falling out of a top bunk would definitely have been cause enough for such a trip.

There wasn't much conversation as Amanda and her coworkers climbed into bed. All four bunks were full, but they were tired. Fresh air, a long day, and extremely good food had done their work and the women were too exhausted to chatter. There would be more than enough time over the next few days.

It took a long time for Amanda to fall asleep, in spite of her drowsiness. She had never been so far from the city and, to her ears, all the noises were wrong. Instead of the familiar sirens, traffic noises, and chatter of people going to clubs, she heard the chirping of crickets, croaking of frogs, and something that made a long, loud humming noise. She tossed and turned for nearly an hour before sleep took her.

~*~*~*~*~*~


“That was earlier than expected,” Jen commented as she straightened the counter, piling the brochures back into their neat stack and making sure the edges were straight.

James rolled his eyes. “City people,” he snorted. “Give them a touch of fresh air and they’ll sleep like babies.”

Mark just lifted his cup of coffee to his mouth and smiled over the rim of his cup. He didn’t mind their guests going to bed early. The phones in the cabin would call one of their phones if someone needed something, and it wasn’t his turn on call. That meant a full night’s sleep after he and Jinx took their evening walk.

“I have to get going or they won’t be asleep for long,” he remarked, grinning. While he loved what they had built, at times some of their guests tended to treat them like nothing more than furnishings. He hadn’t seen any of that so far with their newest group, but he was always on the watch for it.

Jenny bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet, putting herself between the door and Mark. He raised an eyebrow in question, looking at her carefully to find some clue why she was acting so different from her normal self. She arched a brow at James, who snorted and moved to stand beside her.

“We have a present for you,” Jenny announced. She turned and grabbed something from beside the door. A blanket had been thrown over it.

“What is it?” Mark asked, reaching for the box and the green blanket his mother had made many years before. He removed the cover and tossed it over the back of the couch before taking a good look at the box. When he did, Mark started laughing.

“Your very own coffee-pot,” James said, rolling his eyes. You can keep it right in your room, that way neither Jen or I can touch it and you will always have fresh coffee in the morning. Look, it even has a timer!”

Mark laughed, hugged his siblings, and hurried out to the family cabin before Jinx could wake up their guests. He was thrilled at the idea of having his own coffee-pot and thought it was a great gesture. He was lucky to have his siblings.

Jinx met him at the door of the cabin, tail wagging excitedly as he stood on his back legs and put his paws over Mark’s shoulders to lick his face. Mark barely managed to rescue his new coffeepot before it could go crashing to the ground.

“Alright, we’re going,” he promised, setting the coffeepot on the table beside the door to grab the leash. He tethered it to Jinx’s collar and opened the door. The dog was in rare form, jumping at the insects that hovered near the lights, sniffing around the vans and the longer guest cabins, and gamboling about, rolling in the dirt.

Mark laughed several times at Jinx’s antics. He felt calmer than he had in a long time. It was a relief. He didn’t want to be a jerk to his siblings, but sometimes the frustration of not finding his mate drove him up a wall. A yawn caught him by surprise. He was tired, but it was far earlier than he usually went to bed. Unfortunately, he still had a bit of work to do before he could turn in. As much as he hated it, someone had to do the finances, and neither Jenny or James was good with numbers.

When he was back inside and his new coffee maker had been set up for the morning, Mark settled in front of his computer. Before pulling up his spreadsheets, he opened his email and sent a message to Lillian, who lived in town. She was one of the leaders of the local coven and might have something that would help him stay calm until his mate appeared to soothe his fire.