Then his gaze moved to the book that had heated in her hand the day before. The one on wolf-shifters.
Maria eyed him. “Who are you? And why do you smell like Catrina? You look familiar. Have we met before?”
Catrina cringed as her friend rattled off question after question. Maria was part cat-shifter and part witch. And one hundred percent opinionated.
Maria sniffed the air. One second Maria was fine, and the next, her eyes went from dark brown to swimming with deep green.
She snarled and launched herself at Duncan.
Reacting without thinking, Catrina let her power up and out. That was something she normally avoided doing, fearing it would alert all the bad things in the area. Her magik snatched hold of Maria, catching her just before she swiped a clawed hand at Duncan, who never so much as budged, even with a half-crazed-looking woman charging him.
Maria snarled more. “Let go of me, Cat! He’s a dark sorcerer. I can smell the evil on him! And look at those runes on his chest and arms. Evil. Totally evil. I also smell dog on him. Eww. Tell me you did not sleep with a dog. Gross. My cousin Hector is way hotter and a cat-shifter. Cats are so much better in bed than dogs. We have style and grace. They just want to hump legs and stuff.”
Catrina used her magik to slide Maria to the other side of the library. She kept her friend mystically locked there as her emotions ran high. “Are you insane? He’s not a dark mage. I’m pretty sure I’d know if he was. And what do you mean, he smells like a dog? I cannot believe you did this. I’m going to have to try to wipe his memories, and you know I'm crap at that. No one ever taught me how to do it right, and we can’t trust you to do it. Last time you had to wipe a human’s mind, you totally changed his personality.”
Maria shrugged from her spot. “That other guy was an asshole before I did the spell. He was less of an asshole after. Win in my book. And the sexy guy who looks confused—and who really reminds me of the Scottish guy I want to throttle most days and wring the Scottish out of—is most certainly a dog. I smell wolf all over him. It’s moments like this that I wish you were a shifter. That being said, you do have magik and you’re smart. Smart enough to know what those marks all over his body mean. Evil dude. End of days kind of shit.”
Of course Catrina had noticed all of Duncan’s tattoos but she’d assumed they were just for a cool factor. She hadn’t sensed magik on him or anything related to a supernatural at all. That was strange. She should have noticed if he had power. It was one thing for her to miss if he was a shifter, something entirely else for her to miss he was magik.
Was Maria wrong?
As she stared harder at him and noted his lack of a reaction to the fact she’d just used magik to thrust Maria away from him, her heart began to sink.
No.
Duncan wasn’t evil.
He couldn’t be.
She shook her head, her attention going to the book about mating to a wolf-shifter and then to her friend. A sinking feeling came over her. “What do you mean when you say he’s a wolf?”
Maria lifted a brow. “I mean what I said, babes. He’s a wolf. As in stinky dog. Fleas. Mange. Howl at the moon. Barking. The works.”
Catrina stiffened. “Like as in a wolf-shifter?”
Maria let out a half laugh. “Yes. As in that. You know, Mags couldn’t smell shifter on her man either. I’m not sure what the two of you would do without me. I’m like a walking-shifter-radar. Cool, huh?”
At the mention of their mutual friend, Catrina stilled. “Mags has a man? Since when?”
Maria gave her a droll look. “Maybe if you didn’t go off the grid for months before resurfacing, you’d know what’s going on in our lives.”
“Lecture me later, Maria. Do we trust the guy Mags is with?” she asked, knowing all too well their lives were dangerous and trust wasn’t something they handed out easily.
She groaned. “Yes. He’s okay for a wolf-shifter. I mean, he’s better than his cousin. That guy is a total tool. The one time I actually want him around, he goes missing and won’t answer his phone. Butthead. I wanted to bring him here to help with whatever is gunning for you. The guy is an ancient blowhard druid dude, but he’s powerful. So there is that. You know, your boy toy here reminds me of him. Tall, dark, smells like a dog.”
Catrina flinched, facing Duncan slowly.
Maria was right. He looked like he was struggling between shock and being pissed.
His gaze found Catrina. “Lass, explain. Now.”
Catrina touched her chest gently, her eyes widening. He was taking that tone with her? “Me? Explain? Uh, do you have something you want to tell me?”
He stiffened and then appeared very interested in the ceiling for a second. “No. All is guid. Carry on.”
She groaned.
Maria snorted. “Dude, not sure she’s buying it. But for real. Have we met?”
Catrina looked at Maria. “How did you find me?”
Maria sighed. “My aunts knew you were here. And we need to go. Like now. This entire area is a hotbed for something really dark and really bad. My aunts say it’s a feeding ground for the thing and that the thing is close to eating something or someone.”
Catrina nodded.
Maria sucked in a big breath. “Ohmygod, you already know that, don’t you? You came here because you’re hunting this thing, aren’t you? Catrina, my aunts said this thing is what killed your parents! Your mother was one of the most skilled slayers who ever lived, and from what my aunts tell me, your dad was a really powerful magik. They fell to this thing! You can’t stand against it. Christ, your dad was like nine hundred or something, and he couldn’t. What are you going to do? Die young to prove you have no fear?”
Catrina opened her mouth to reply but her friend kept going.
“You never told me the full story about what happened when you were little but from what you did say, you’re only alive now because some badass magik dude showed up and yanked you out of that house back then. Why would you come back here? There is nothing but darkness and death here.”
The urge to look at Duncan was great. Catrina did—and found nothing but pure shock.
“No. You cannae be the same little girl that I…” he whispered softly, disbelief on his face.
Maria stiffened. “Um, Mr. Scottish-Wolf-Dude-Who-Looks-Very-Familiar, you wouldn’t happen to be related to a guy named—”
There was more pounding on the back door.
Catrina groaned and took a step in that direction right before Diane entered, with Ralph close at her heels.
Diane saw Catrina and sighed. “Oh honey, good. You’re here! We were so worried.”
“What? Why are you here?” asked Catrina.
Ralph moved past her and began checking the windows. He looked back at her. “Have you kept up on the wards like you were taught?”
“Y-yes. Why? What’s going on?” she asked.
Ralph stared at Maria and then smiled. “You’re Carmina’s niece, aren’t you?”
Maria tipped her head. “And you are?”
“Someone who dated your aunt for about a century before she up and decided she wanted to shack up with that Italian guy who she married,” he said, surprising Catrina and Maria. He glanced at Catrina. “Want to tell me why you’re pinning her with magik?”
“She tried to attack Duncan,” said Catrina, cringing more.
Ralph snorted. “She went after a druid sorcerer?”
Catrina whipped around to stare at Duncan once more.
He was a druid sorcerer and a wolf-shifter?
Duncan folded his arms in front of his chest and leveled a hard look on Ralph. “What are you? I cannae get any read on you. You seem human to me. All of you do, except for the loud-mouth cat-shifter girl.”
“Bite me, dog,” said Maria.
Diane lifted her hand. “I’m not supernatural, but I know about them because I was Catrina’s mom’s best friend. We didn’t keep secrets from each other.”
Ralph shook his head—an
d transformed before everyone’s eyes into a much younger-looking man. A very handsome one at that. In fact, he was downright hot.
“Holy shit, Aunt Carmina has pictures of you. You’re Fae?” asked Maria, wonder on her face.
He nodded.
Catrina simply stood there, dumbfounded.
Maria let out a long breath. “You’re here because it’s a paranormal hotspot, aren’t you? My aunt mentioned something about you being charged with training witches or something.”
Ralph nodded. “I am. Part of what I do is help train slayers and witches. I taught Catrina’s mother. And she had the skill set to stand against what killed her.”
“Then why didn’t she?” asked Diane, her voice low.
Ralph stared at Catrina.
She bit her lower lip. “When it killed my father, it got bigger,” whispered Catrina, glancing away, remembering it all vividly. “More powerful. And for a second, it looked like him. Just like him. I didn’t understand. I was so scared and it was all happening so fast that I ran at it, in my mind thinking my dad had somehow managed to survive. I was almost to it when it suddenly felt like snakes were slithering all over me. The temperature dropped dramatically and my chest hurt. It hurt to even breathe.”
Ralph nodded. “It was your inborn skill set alerting you to danger. It knew the creature was evil, not your father, and not to be trusted.”
Catrina closed her eyes briefly, willing the tears to stay away. “I didn’t mean to get so close. I really thought it was my dad. I put myself in its path, and when it grabbed me and started to try to drain my lifeforce, my mother said something in Latin. I didn’t know back then what she’d said. I learned later when I taught myself the language.”
Ralph remained in place. “She made it a binding offer. Her for you. It’s what any mother would do. She knew that between your father’s magik and her natural-born gifts, the demon would get its fill for that feeding cycle. What it came out of hibernation for. She also knew that your father had sent up a magikal flare before he fell, alerting the side of good that help was needed. And help came.”
Duncan stiffened. “So it’s true. Catrina is the same little girl that I took?”
That he took?
Catrina gasped. Duncan had been her knight in shining armor from long ago? As she stared harder at him, her mind began to fill in the voids from the past and she cupped her mouth. It was him!
“You’ve not aged,” she whispered.
Duncan managed a slight nod. “Aye, but you most certainly have, lass.”
“She is the same little girl,” said Ralph to Duncan, waving a hand near Maria, effectively releasing Catrina’s hold on the woman. “I didn’t step in back then. I knew the safest thing for Catrina was to be taken far from here. And I knew right away who your family was. The lot of you look alike. See one O’Caha, and there are sure to be more waiting in the wings, not far away.”
Maria snorted. “I knew you looked familiar! Tell me you’re less of a jerk than—”
“Cousin, are you in here?” asked Liam, entering through the back door. “Magik is flaring from this area. Enough so that it woke me. Tell me you dinnae lose control of yerself and eat a local.”
As he came around the large bookcase, his gaze went to Maria. His eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
Maria looked to Catrina. “Oh, look. It’s Butthead. Apparently, my backup was already here.”
“Backup?” asked Liam. “Duncan, what’s going on? Why is Maria here?”
Diane lifted a hand. “Apparently, your cousin is the one who saved Catrina from the demon that killed her parents when she was little. Maria is the niece of a woman Ralph dated. He’s Fae. You probably already got that much by now, since I’m guessing you’re what Ralph said your cousin is. What was it again? A warlock or something?”
“Och, no. We’re druids,” said Liam, his gaze sliding to Catrina. “Yer the lass Duncan took from the area? The one he had our grandmother find a home for?”
“She is,” said Ralph.
Liam’s eyes widened as he sniffed the air. “You did it, cousin? You claimed her?”
Maria snarled. “He did what?”
Catrina swallowed hard. “What she said. He did what?”
Liam jerked and locked gazes with Maria. “Do nae go turning that evil growl of yours on me, woman. I hear it enough as is.”
“Butthead,” snapped Maria.
Liam waggled his brows and grinned.
Duncan rubbed his temple. “She’s the woman Grandmother has you witch-sitting?”
“Aye,” said Liam with a nod of his head. “Stay back from her or she’ll have her aunts curse you with impotence.”
Ralph laughed. “They’re still threatening men with that? Some things never change.”
Chapter Sixteen
Duncan’s mind raced with so many thoughts that he wondered if it might explode.
Catrina was the same girl he’d saved years ago?
His gaze collided with Ralph’s. “Yer telling me that my mate was in danger as a child and I just happened to be the backup who arrived to help when her father put out the mystical call?”
Ralph nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. It makes sense. She was born for you. There has always been a connection between the two of you. Of course, the universe would see to it that you were the one protecting her, seeing to it she was out of harm’s way and cared for the best you knew how.”
“I handed that task to my grandmother,” he said, shame filling him.
Ralph laughed. “Your grandmother is fierce. She was the right person for finding Catrina a safe place to grow into a young woman. Look at your mate now. She’s here, today, because of your quick actions. Because whether or not you knew what you were doing back then, you answered the call her father put out. You came and saved her from a fate worse than death.”
Confused, Duncan’s brows met. “You said her mother bargained with the demon. Her life for Catrina’s. The demon wouldnae have killed her after that.”
“True,” said Ralph in a low voice. “But the people who summoned forth the demon would have or they’d have taken her and kept her locked away to use later. I’ve known about them and their kind for centuries. It’s what they do. They latch onto the most powerful supernaturals and leech from them. They’d have done that to your mate.”
Duncan’s temper flared as did his wolf, causing a loud growl to break free from him and the runes on his body to heat. “If they think of touching her, I’ll—”
Catrina was suddenly there before him, her hand going to his chest, to one of the heated runes. It cooled instantly under the weight of her tender touch.
Hunger burned through him for her and he found himself dipping his head, his lips finding hers. The kiss he gave her was scorching and the only reason he stopped was because someone started to clap.
Catrina snickered and pressed closer to him, burying her head to his chest. “Diane, really?”
“What? I’m excited,” said Diane.
“This is all fine and good, but we’ve got a serious threat headed this way,” said Ralph.
Duncan put an arm around his mate and looked over her head at the Fae. “Explain.”
“The group that controls the demon has surfaced. My wards have been wavering for days, alerting me to the fact they’re in town. I haven’t figured out who they are, because they use stolen powers to mask themselves, but they’re close and I think they’re coming for Catrina. Now. Here.”
Duncan thought harder on it all and gasped. “The crackling speakers at the bar. They’re nae broken, are they?”
Ralph shook his head. “No. It’s part of my wards. They crackle when evil is in the vicinity.”
Catrina eased back from Duncan somewhat. “I saw the demon in the restroom at the bar. I mean, I imagined him there. At least I think I did. He was behind me. I saw his reflection in the mirror.”
Liam squared his shoulders, worry covering his face as he looked at Duncan.
They both knew what that meant. The demon was attached to Catrina in some way. It could get to her with ease.
Duncan grabbed her shoulders gently and spun her to face him fully. He looked into her eyes. “Go with Ralph, Diane, and yer loud friend. Get as far from here as you can. Liam and I will draw the demon to us. We’ll use ourselves as bait.”
“Oh, goodie,” said Liam with a sigh. “I love being demon bait.”
Maria snorted. “This is a great plan. Can I stay and watch the demon eat him?”
Liam’s eyes flashed from their normal color to that of the wolf’s and back again as he grinned at the woman.
Maria bit her lower lip and for a second, Duncan was sure he smelled mating energy between the pair.
Could it be the hellcat was really his cousin’s mate?
He’d have questioned as much out loud but the heavy press of evil that he’d felt outside of the bar last night returned. This time tenfold.
It slammed into him, making him step back fast.
Liam did the same.
Ralph even appeared a bit shaken.
The men all glanced at one another.
Duncan lurched forward and grabbed his wife. “Lass, you said you live on the floor above? Go there now! Take the women.”
He expected her to obey, as a wife should.
When his mate stared up at him with a gaze that made his cock shrivel, he knew he’d have to abandon old notions of how a wife should be and fast.
“Like hell!” she spat. “That thing killed my parents. I’ve been waiting nearly twenty years to make sure it can never hurt anyone else again. I’m not going to run and hide and you’re wasting precious time trying to get me to.”
Maria hurried up alongside her friend and grabbed her hand. “Catrina, scan the area with your magik. What do you sense? I’m getting a weird read.”
Catrina closed her eyes a moment and then gasped. “I sense a lot of people. Human, but not. I can’t make heads or tails of it.”
Seduced by the Highland Werewolf: An Immortal Highlander Novel Page 10