She shivered.
She’d calmed down on the drive over, her grandpa’s words making more and more sense. She still wanted to make Morrigan pay for what she’d done, but her revenge paled in comparison to her need to make it right for Jason and his pack.
They couldn’t die.
He couldn’t die.
She would do anything to make certain they were safe.
Alfrere smiled, a slow smile that made her shiver deepen. Such power in his eyes.
Even if she hadn’t been brainwashed to fear magic, there was something altogether overwhelming about Alfrere. He made her skin crawl, standing there regarding her as if she was some fascinating new toy he was looking forward to playing with.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘I am here for you.’
She shuddered, trying to ignore the flight instinct, which had suddenly become incredibly strong. But her grandpa had told her she could trust him.
‘Where’s Ferris? Why did you answer the door?’
‘Ferris is otherwise employed at the moment.’
‘And my grandmother?’
‘Morrigan is in the lounge room. Waiting. For you.’
‘How did you know I was coming?’
‘Come in and we’ll discuss it.’ He moved sideways, allowing her to pass.
She didn’t move, suddenly unwilling to enter.
‘What are you waiting for?’
‘I don’t trust you.’
‘That is as may be.’ He shrugged in that insouciant French way then indicated the drawing room door. ‘But please. Your grandmother awaits within.’
Skye edged past him. Reaching the door, she put her hand out to grab the handle. Just before she touched it, a puff of wind brushed against her ear, fluttering her hair.
Don’t touch it!
She hesitated, noticing for the first time the energy pulsing around the door. It surged in sickening waves she could only see out of the corner of her eye, bilious green with a black tinge at its edges. It seemed to be leaking out of the gaps around the door. What is that?
It’s a trap. Get out of here. Run.
Before Skye could step away from the door, the warlock’s hand was on hers, pushing it towards the door handle, his body crowding her into the doorway towards that bilious green energy.
Skye pushed back, elbowing him in the stomach, stomping on his foot. But he didn’t let go, only swore at her, his breath a hot whisper against her ear. ‘You’re not going anywhere, you little bitch.’
Don’t touch the energy.
‘I’m trying not to,’ she grunted, pushing back. ‘Can’t you help me?’
I’m trying. But something is blocking me. I’m having trouble even talking to you.
‘That’s because you’re weak,’ Alfrere sneered. He pushed Skye another inch forward.
‘Get off me, you crazy bastard.’ She reached behind her with her free hand, tried to claw at his eyes.
Use your power, love. Burn him.
Skye tried to push the energy inside her into her hands. They began to tingle with the burn.
‘Oh no, you don’t.’ Alfrere kicked her in the leg, right on the wound the shapeshifter had given her.
Stars sparked in her eyes, whirling in a darkness that threatened to overtake her. Still she held on.
‘Oh, for goodness sake, Alfrere. Stop playing with her.’
‘Gran?’ Skye gasped, twisting her head to see the outline of her grandmother in the shadows at the end of the hall. ‘Help. He’s done something evil to the door.’
‘Has he? Alfrere. Step back.’
Suddenly, the pressure behind her was gone and Skye tumbled to the floor. She scrambled to her feet, backing up as far as she could away from the door and hitting the wooden banister of the stairs.
‘I’m here now, dearest. Everything will be fine.’ Morrigan stepped out of the dark at the end of the hallway.
Skye gasped. ‘Gran? Is that you?’
Morrigan laughed. ‘In part.’
‘But—you’re young.’
‘You like?’ Morrigan ran her hands down the lush satin of her floor-length red gown. It fit her like a glove, showing the ripe curves and full breasts of a woman in her thirties, not her seventies. The few lines on her face had disappeared, her eyes wide and bright, her skin plump with the dew of youth. Her hair hung in thick, shiny waves over her bare shoulders and down her back, longer than Skye thought it had been and vividly golden red. And her emerald eyes had turned an inky black. ‘I’ve taken back my youth.’
‘I—you—how?’
Morrigan laughed again. ‘Always with the questions, my dear. You’re not very trusting, are you? Pity you’re not more like your gullible grandmother.’
‘What do you mean? You are my grandmother. You just said …’ Skye struggled to comprehend what she was hearing.
She’s not Morrigan. She’s not your grandmother.
That laugh again, more like ice sliding down her back than a laugh. ‘Harrison is right. I am not your grandmother—thank the Goddess. But I needed your grandmother’s body. Needed the powers bound in her flesh. My wonderful Alfrere helped me to procure this lovely new body yesterday in the power of the waxing moon. Helped me make what was old new again.’ She ran her fingers through the golden locks of hair. ‘I so admired your grandmother’s hair when she was younger.’
‘What have you done with Morrigan, you bitch?’
‘Oh, she’s gone.’ She waved her hand. ‘She’s a lost soul now, never to find her way back to her body or forward to the Goddess’s embrace. A fitting end for a traitorous bitch, don’t you think?’
Morrigan!
Grief shot through Skye, but she ignored it, her attention wholly on the woman who looked like a younger version of her grandmother. ‘Who are you?’
‘I am the witch your grandmother was named after, the original Morrigan Cantrae. A witch unlike any you would know today.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I am over five hundred years old and I have survived where others have not because I am fuelled by power, revenge and rage.’
That’s not possible.
‘Oh, but it is, old man. Over five hundred years ago, my sister, Morghanna, was burned at the stake because of the weakness of the animals Bridgette Colliere had bound her and our gullible covens to. Morghanna wove her revenge into a curse she canted as she died, but it wasn’t enough. Only her pack died—the others became far more careful.’
She pushed her hair back from her face, her long, thin fingers looking like red-dipped talons. ‘I’ve spent five hundred years trying to find a way to make the Curse take more of the bastards, and to find a way to break the Witch–Were Pact that causes me and mine to be less than they should. And when my darling, loyal Alfrere came and told me about the foolish McVales and their single-bloodlined coven, I knew my chance had come. But still, the one thing I needed seemed to be out of my grasp. I needed a Pack Witch. And then your grandmother fell into my hands.’ She licked her lips as if savouring the most delicious wine. ‘Oh, she provided the perfect blind.’
‘Gran?’
‘Yes. Gran,’ Morrigan simpered in a parody of Skye’s voice. Alfrere laughed. Skye’s glare was filled with hatred. He just laughed harder.
‘In a case of pure irony,’ Morrigan continued, ‘she was named after me. Apparently the Collieres were a sentimental lot and kept my name and my sister’s alive, mixed with their own. Ha! Not that a single one of them could ever be like me.’
‘What? Insane?’ Skye spat.
Morrigan gestured and burning pain roared up Skye’s leg, almost making her pass out.
‘Now, where was I?’ Morrigan flicked her hair back off her face. ‘Oh, yes. Sweet Morrigan Collins. She was easy to manipulate. She set everything up beautifully. She was so jealous of her sister’s power. So ready to whore herself for me with the fresh warlock blood I’d chosen for her.’
‘Grandpa.’
‘Yes. I’d been
watching his family for years—their power was new, exciting and full of possibilities. But your grandpa was special. With Alfrere’s help, I lured him into the coven I had formed of those who had like goals to mine. He was so dashing and handsome and powerful but lacked knowledge. He was more than willing to learn from those who could teach him. Your grandmother went willingly to his bed.’ She smiled, ran her hands sensually down her sides.
I didn’t know, Skye. I didn’t know.
Morrigan laughed. ‘No, you fool, you didn’t know you were being used and manipulated. Although Morrigan went and surprised me. When she got pregnant with the child I needed to use to break the Were–Witch Pact, she betrayed me. She ran, leaving the child with the Were for protection and then hid from the coven. From me! But she had no idea about Alfrere and through him I kept my eye on you all, biding my time, waiting for the right opportunity to make my move. I thought she’d return for her son, but she never did.’
We sacrificed everything to keep him from you.
‘You think I should feel sorry for you,’ she spat. ‘You ruined my plans. I was bereft, but then, gift of gifts, word reached me that twins had been born—one an insignificant Were, but his very insignificance gave me hope where there had been little before. Because the other twin was you.’ She pinned Skye with her stare, a look of insanity in her black eyes. Skye shuddered.
‘You were a witch with the power of two. I knew then the Goddess smiled on my endeavours. But the pack had become more careful. Alfrere came in handy once again, because he went to Morrigan with a tale of a plot to kidnap you and she contacted Paul, got them out in the open. However, she surprised me again. She double-crossed Alfrere and took you away and hid even from him.’
She smiled as if amused, but there was no amusement glinting in her eyes. ‘I punished him for that, didn’t I, my love?’
The warlock nodded, a sycophantic look of longing and desire in his eyes. Bile rose in Skye’s throat.
‘So I tracked your magic—it has a particular, lovely taste—and despite the fact that your grandfather changed your names and covered his tracks in human ways, I found you.’
Her eyes glowed.
‘That was you! The grey wolf that frightened me and made me use my magic.’
‘Yes. I tried to take you, but you didn’t seem to like my wolf form and you took me by surprise, spurting that blue fire at me. You weakened me. Before I could recover, the traitorous bitch and your grandfather came and took you from me again. And this time, when they ran, your grandmother made Harrison use his powers to bind you with that fucking spell. His power was so new, I couldn’t find you. They changed your names again. Little did I realise your grandmother decided to use my name. Very clever. I would never have thought to look for myself. But I’m glad she did. It feels lovely being cloaked in my own name again.’
‘She was smarter than you knew.’
Morrigan’s face twisted into a sneer. ‘Not smart enough. I decided to let the McVales find you for me. I knew they wouldn’t give up on finding their only Pack Witch. But they were as useless as I’ve always known the animals to be. They couldn’t find you either. Morrigan, it seemed, had been too clever. She’d somehow managed to find a way to cut your animal twin from his pack, so they couldn’t even track you through him.’
She chuckled lightly, icy fingers running along Skye’s skin.
‘But then, she had no idea what her precious Paul had told you before my people tried to take you.’
Skye shook her head, trying to remember what her papa had told her. But there were only flashes of that night, nothing to tell her what Morrigan meant.
Morrigan leaned forward, her eyes so dark and soulless they didn’t even reflect light. ‘Your precious Papa spoke of the pack finding you through the bond. I realised—not straight away, mind you, it took me years to understand his words—but I realised he’d already bound you to Jason McVale, the future Alpha. All I needed to do to make that bond snap into place, to allow Jason to track you down, was to kill the current Alpha.’
‘You killed his parents! His brothers! To find me?’
‘Of course I did. And he played out his role beautifully, leading me right to you.’
‘No!’ Fire burned in Skye’s fingers. She lashed out.
Morrigan waved her hand and the fire skittered sideways. She laughed. ‘You can’t use your powers on me, dear. It might have been your grandpa who bound them, but my lovely Alfrere took control the other night when you trustingly let him bespell you. He transferred the reins to me tonight after I took your grandmother’s body and made it beautiful again. Speaking of which, Alfrere, it’s your turn.’
The satin of her gown slid over her voluptuous body, caressing her curves as she murmured words of power and flung them at Alfrere.
Skye’s skin prickled with a cold tingle as the years fell from Alfrere until a man around her own age stood before her.
Alfrere touched his face, ran his hands down his torso. He turned to look at himself in the mirror in the hall and then turned back to Morrigan, a look of pure, sick adoration in his eyes. ‘Thank you, my love. You won’t regret this.’
Morrigan dipped her head like a queen bestowing a gift on a peasant. ‘See that I don’t.’
‘You’re both insane,’ Skye whispered.
Morrigan sliced the air with her hand and Skye cried out.
‘That’s my poison bite you wear. That’s why you’re here. The poison worked on you, insinuating itself inside, making you come to me, now, on this your birth night.’
Skye’s mouth trembled as the pain increased, but she didn’t break. ‘You fucking bitch. I didn’t come because of any bite. I came to tear strips off my grandmother for what she did to me all those years ago.’
Morrigan chuckled. ‘Such brave words,’ she drawled. ‘Under different circumstances, you could have been my creature, as darling Alfrere is.’
‘I would never be yours.’
Morrigan’s laugh whipped out of her, cutting. ‘Oh, you don’t understand. You’re mine already. At my beck and call. I will use you and your progeny until I am more powerful than any witch or warlock has ever been.’
Understanding ripped through Skye about why her grandmother had torn the promise of children from her. She had knowingly sacrificed her old pack, but she’d done it to save all the others. A smile bloomed on Skye’s face as she said, ‘That will never happen. My grandmother must have known of your plans, because she made certain I could never have children. She forced me to have a full hysterectomy when I was sixteen.’
‘No!’ Morrigan shrieked, the sound one of maddened rage. She flung out her hands and a wave of power sliced into Skye, making her cry out, her knees buckle. She crumbled to the floor, body shuddering under the force of such power. The pain intensified, tearing at her insides.
‘My love. Stop. We need her for the ceremony tonight. What does it matter if this whore cannot bear children? After tonight, we will have her power and you and I can fill the world with true Cantraes, not mewling, pathetic Collieres.’
The power pummelling at Skye snapped off. She took in a shuddering breath.
‘You’re right, Alfrere. Thank you. I forgot myself.’
Skye looked up to see Morrigan push hair from her face, her other hand fondling Alfrere through his slacks.
‘When tonight is done, we will not need anyone else,’ he said, stroking Morrigan’s breasts through the red silk of her dress. ‘You have worked for centuries to bring the Curse into being again. And with the end of the Colliere line, you will bring down one of the most powerful of the Were packs. They will die horribly and all the rest will be broken from their witch-slaves and be a power no more.’
Morrigan moaned, her head dropping back for a moment, before she opened her eyes. ‘Yes, my love. Yes.’
Alfrere pulled her into his arms and kissed her. While he lost himself in the kiss, Morrigan’s eyes remained open and pinned on Skye.
Skye swallowed hard, realising somethin
g that Alfrere was too lost in desire and dreams of power to understand. Morrigan was the true power here. The master. And Alfrere was nothing but another puppet for her to toy with.
The kiss ended and Morrigan stepped out of Alfrere’s arms, her gaze still pinned on Skye. ‘Thank you, Alfrere. I am thinking much more clearly now. It is time.’
‘Time for what?’ Skye asked, trying to make her trembling limbs obey so she could stand.
‘With your help and the life of your dear twin, I will soon have my revenge.’
You will touch neither of them.
At her grandpa’s words, a wild wind began to swirl around Morrigan, pushing at her, tearing at her dress, slashing at her skin, making red welts appear on her arms, her face. Morrigan screamed.
‘No!’ Alfrere cried out.
Skye’s skin crawled as she felt him draw power. Darkness surrounded him.
‘Be gone, old man!’ Alfrere thrust the darkness out from him, straight towards Morrigan.
Skye heard a deep scream as the darkness enveloped Morrigan, binding the wind that was flailing at her. It exploded in a thousand pieces of dark-tinged glass.
Skye ducked as it flew towards her, but she was hit by half-a-dozen pieces. They sliced into her skin with an icy burn before sinking into her.
Gasping as the pain faded, she looked up to see Morrigan straighten, smoothing down her hair and her gown. With eyes like black pools of oil, she turned to Skye and said, ‘Enough.’
Pain exploded from Skye’s leg again, but this time it ran through every vein, every nerve and muscle and sinew in her body and pulled her forward. Screaming, she scrabbled at the banister, fingers slicing on the wood, but she couldn’t hold herself there against the thing that was pulling her towards the door. She grabbed hold of the hallstand. It toppled over. She tried to find purchase on the walls but left only smears of blood on the cream brocade wallpaper as she was forcibly turned around to face the door.
‘No,’ she gasped as her hand was gripped by some terrible force and moved towards the handle. ‘No. Please, don’t.’
Pain engulfed Skye again as she tried to resist, but nothing she did could stop her hand from stretching out. Her fingers gripped the door handle and pushed down. The door swung open.
Leisl Leighton - [Pack Bound 01] Page 28