by D J Nickels
Jonathan connected with my mind. “Kate, are you going to shift back?”
“I am trying, but she won’t let me.”
Jonathan petted my wolf’s head and she licked his hand. He spoke to her in a soothing tone.
“Little wolf, we promise to let you out and run tonight, but right now we need to have Kate back. I need to see that my mate is healed, little wolf.” She licked him again and then shimmered and I shifted back to my human form. Jonathan and Amanda checked me out. I was glad to see Jonathan was alright after his little mission to help Jenna arrive safely.
“How was your mission to get Jenna?” I asked.
“Well,’ said Jonathan, “not as hard as your training session. But I think Dominic has met his match.” Amanda widened her eyes. “Now I am not saying that they are mates, but there were sparks. At least that’s what I saw.”
“If they are mates, then why has he left her side?” said Amanda.
“Because Dom has some issues to work out, in his own mind right now. But I think it will work itself out, given some time,” said Jonathan.
“So, on your mission, did you see any sign of Owen?” I asked.
“Just low-ranking Howlers.”
“Great! Amanda, am I cleared to go?”
“Yes, but please take it easy,” said Amanda. “Hey and about what we talked about last night--”
Jonathan excused himself from the room to give us some privacy. “Yeah,” I said.
“Well I called Cooper and started lowering his doses, and I am going to take him completely off the mood suppression pills.”
I hugged Amanda. “I knew you would do the right thing.”
“Yeah, knowing what I know now, and knowing where it comes from, I feel that I can handle and deal with someone caring for me the way Jonathan does for you. I am going to explain the whole shifting thing to Cooper and hopefully he will want to take the serum too.”
“That’s great.”
Just then, Bradley came into the room with Jonathan.
“What’s great?” asked Bradley.
I looked at Amanda to tell her to keep silent, but Bradley’s gaze bore into her and she spilled the beans. “I have had Cooper on mood suppression pills, since we have been together.”
Bradley, took in the news, and I swear his face changed five different colors before us.
“Look,” Amanda said. “I have some issues from my childhood. My father was a very bad man and my older brother didn’t care for us like you cared for your family. My father used to do things to Jenna and myself, and he would make my brother participate in those things. So, when Cooper claimed me, I wasn’t ready for the possessiveness and dominance and all the other things that came with your wolf nature. I freaked out. But then I felt the mating bond to your brother, and afterwards he agreed to go on mood suppression pills. I would never do it without talking to him first. So please understand, Bradley, I was not trying to hurt Cooper. He was helping to protect me. We talked about everything and he did this for me, and to keep me. But there are things in my life that you don’t know about. Horrific things that were done to me and my sister, and before all of you, I knew nothing of shifters and people in the military being turned into some form of shifter. But I am making it right now, and I have lowered his dose. In a few weeks, he will be an overbearing ass like you, again.”
Bradley started to laugh, and we all just stared at him as if he had lost his mind, and then he said, “I am not an overbearing ass.” I just shook my head at him.
“I trust you, Amanda, and as long as you’re fixing it, I will let it go.”
Bradley turned and asked Jonathan for a bit of help up in his office. Jonathan nodded, and I let Jonathan know that I was going back to the cabin to get some rest.
Jenna came in my room to get Amanda. She told her that she had put some of Bradley’s men on the serum and everything was going beautifully. “Jenna, this is Kate, Bradley’s little sister,” said Amanda.
“Oh, it’s great to finally meet you,” said Jenna. “I have heard so much about you, and your genetic coding is phenomenal.”
I just smiled and nodded. “It’s great to meet you and I am glad you made it here safely. Things have gotten a bit crazy around here now.” Amanda interrupted and took Jenna into her office.
I was driving my car back to the cabin, because Amanda had her car at the security firm. About five minutes away I noticed that an SUV was following me. I called Jonathan but there was no answer. “Shit,” I said.
I began to drive faster, and they got closer. The next thing I knew, I lost control of my car and flipped end over end, and I blacked out.
Finding Kate
CHAPTER 17
Jonathan, saw that he had a missed call and a voice message from Kate. “Jonathan, I’m in my car, driving back to the cabin. I think there is a SUV following me. Yes, I am defiantly being followed. Shit! I am trying to lose them. Oh, crap.” And the message stopped.
Jonathan sent out an alert for everyone to come into the security firm. Jonathan pulled up Kate’s GPS on her car. Thank you, Bradley, for putting that in. Just as the GPS came up, Bradley and Carson came into Jonathan’s office. Jonathan pointed to the screen on the wall as it showed Kate’s car upside down and she had managed to climb out and was now fighting five vamps at once.
“Let’s go.” Jonathan and Bradley and Carson took off and just as they left the building, they shifted into their wolves. But by the time they got to Kate, the SUV was gone, and she had been taken. The wolves tracked the scents all the way to a private hangar and the plane took off just as they had gotten there. Jonathan’s wolf howled at the loss of his mate.
Back at the security firm, Bradley was doing everything he could to find the flight plan for that plane. Jessica was meditating to see if she could sense Kate or to see if she could connect with her, like Kate did when they had Jessica. Molly was scrying for Kate on a map.
Amanda and Jenna were giving the serum to everyone that was left who hadn’t yet taken it, in hopes they would wake in time to rescue of Kate. Jonathan was working non-stop. It was as if Kate had just vanished. Jonathan was blaming himself for letting Kate go home alone.
“We will find her.” Jessica kept trying to connect with Kate. “We have everyone working on this and you know as soon as she can make a connection with one of us she will.”
Kate
When I came to, I was on a plane. I was handcuffed with old-looking shackles. Then I looked around slowly, as if I couldn’t see very well and saw five red eyed Howler MC’s looking straight at me, as if they wanted to eat me.
I bobbed my head as if I were coming to and going back out. I assessed my situation. Jake Rickman, and his little brothers Greg—and Robby, who attacked me with Tom. Oh, and of course Tom, and one other I didn’t know were sitting with them.
“Oh, look who’s coming around, boys,” said Jake.
I held my head up and then focused on Jake. “Dude, what did you do to yourself? You reek of death. Uh, could someone open a door or a window or something.”
“Ever the smart mouth, aren’t you, Kate?” Then he blurred so fast in front of my face that I jerked my head back. I tried to use my power, but nothing came. “Aw, what’s wrong? Can’t you use your magic Kate?” Jake said, breathing in my face. I just about barfed all over.
Coughing in his face, I said, “You could really use a breath mint right now?” Then everything went black again.
When I woke up, I was lying on a cot. I looked around. I was in an old musty cell. There was a dim light coming from the hallway and there were jail bars for a door. I sat up and dizziness hit me. Grabbing my head, I noticed that the chains on my hands were gone. I called out to my sister with my powers. “Jessica, can you hear me? Jess?” I whispered. But it was as if I was being blocked by something.
“There is no use in calling out,” said a very old voice. “This land has been claimed as his, and the blood of his blood can no longer hurt him here.”
I
went to the doorway and saw a very old woman with a glint of red in her eyes. She looked so brittle and frail. She had long hair braided down her back, and it was very white.
I gasped. “You’re her, aren’t you? You’re Catalina. But how are you still alive?” Did he turn you?”
“No, he makes me take a drop of his blood every day to keep me alive. If I died, the spell over the land would be broken and he would be more vulnerable to death.”
“Then don’t take the blood,” I said.
“Did you miss the part where I said he makes me take the blood? Believe me, I used to fight him every day, and he would just hold me down. Now I am just too old to fight him.”
“Then tell me how to stop him.”
“He has claimed this land as his own. The blood of his blood cannot do magic here.”
That’s when I heard a door clank open, and I heard, “Good evening, Mother; it’s time for your drop of blood.” I sat back on the cot away from the door, thinking to myself. Why does she keep saying that phrase? I kept replaying it in my mind over and over. “He has claimed this land as his own. The blood of his blood cannot do magic here. He has claimed this land, the blood of his blood. Then I heard my door clink. I quickly stood and moved to the other end of the cell. If I needed to fight, I wanted to be ready for it.
He stares at me as if assessing this situation. “I am Owen Ambers. I am an ancestor of your family,” he stated.
“Yeah, I gathered that,” I said.
“Well, I guess I should get to the point of why you are here,” he said. “I am hoping that you won’t be as dumb as your ancestors and that we can call a truce of sorts. If we can make a binding agreement, then I will let you get back to your family and life.”
“If I don’t…?” I said, placing my hand behind my back.
“Then you and your power will take the place of her, and you will live out your days here in this place with me, as your lord and master.” I felt my claws growing long and I felt my wolf. Good, I still have you and your strength, I thought. I pushed her back down. “My family will come for me.”
He just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care. “They have no power here.” I smiled and just nodded.
“So, can I trust you to make a binding blood oath agreement?” he asked.
“But you killed my mother,” I claimed. “What kind of person would I be to let you go? And then there’s all the other people that you have and would still kill.”
“I will give you some time to think it over,” he said, and he left my cell. As he left, he added, “It gets very cold in here at night. I hope you don’t freeze to death.”
Reclaiming What Was Lost
CHAPTER 18
I sat in my cell and tried to connect to Jessica and Jonathan. Something was definitely blocking me. It began to get very cold, like someone had turned on the air. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I took off my clothes and shifted into my wolf. She kept me warm all night. When I heard someone coming, I quickly shifted back and put my clothing back on.
“Have you thought it over? Will you make a blood oath with me?”
“I think I will take my chances,” I said. That’s when Tom entered the cell. His eyes glowing red. I slashed my hand with my claws and squeezed my blood onto the floor and then flung it onto the wall.
“I claim this land of my own blood, the blood of your blood takes back this land and this home!” I said. I felt a rush of power and I blasted Tom with fire from my hand just before he got to me.
“No, it’s not possible,” said Owen. “You are no longer blood of my blood. You are now the blood that you drink.” Owen ran from the room.
I held my blood in my hand and I flung it out the door and to the floor and it soaked into the walls. I stopped at Catalina’s cell door. “You did it,” she said, and she smiled at me. “Please,” she begged. I nodded and blasted her with white power to pass on. Now that Catalina was gone, I felt the spell lift everywhere. Rickman blurred in front of me, and suddenly Jessica flashed to my side with Carson and Jonathan. I smiled at them.
Jessica gasped. “You—it was you!” She stepped back a step, and at that moment Carson and I knew what she meant. He was the man who was bold enough to stick his finger inside her when she was chained up and they were ripping at her close. Carson shifted and attacked. I blasted other vamps coming to surround us. Jonathan shifted and Jessica blasted them with fire also. I heard guns going off upstairs. “Bradley and the others are here,” I heard Jess say.
I swirled my power and pulled out a sword and some wooden stakes. I gave a couple to Jess and reminded everyone that taking off their heads and staking them worked, too.
“Don’t let yourself get too tired from using too much power,” I said through our pack’s connection. I also sent a mental image of how to use power to get a sword and some stakes.
We fought our way to everyone else. There were only a few vamps left. “Did anyone get Owen?” I asked through the pack link.
“No, I heard from everyone. He must have escaped, damn it.”
Jonathan came to me he shifted back and kissed me deeply. “I was so worried about you. I am not letting you out of my sight for months,” he said. “I might chain your ass to my desk. I thought I had lost you,” he said, hugging me.
“How exactly did you find me, anyway?”
“Well, it wasn’t easy. Jessica tried to use her blood to call to your blood magic. Molly tried to scry for you and nothing was working. But then finally Jess said felt you. She grabbed on to me and Carson and we were here.”
My hand was no longer bleeding, but Jonathan lifted it to see it. He licked the wound and it healed.
Jess asked, “How did you break the spell?”
“It was something Catalina kept saying over and over. She said, ‘He has claimed this land as his own. The blood of his blood cannot do magic here.’ So, I kept thinking about it, and He is not the blood of my blood anymore. He is the blood that he drinks now. So, I used my wolf claws--I partially shifted my hand because I still had my wolf without my power--and used my blood to break the spell and claimed this land as mine. I also went with the theory that he is dead and can’t own anything.”
“Wait, you said Catalina kept saying something over and over. You mean she was here?” said Jess. “But that would make her over 100 hundred years old.”
“Actually, it would be over 200 years.” I said. “He kept her alive for the spell,” I explained. “But she is at peace now. Come, let’s go home.”
I flashed Jonathan and myself back to the cabin to pick up the dogs and then back to our houses. The girls were happy to be home, and Pete was happy to see Jessica. The night was young; we had a cookout and a great fire. I relaxed into my mate’s arms around the fire just as Cooper came walking up the driveway. He took Amanda into his arms, kissed her deeply, and carried her off to his car.
For the next few weeks, Jonathan was true to his word. He would not let me out of his site. We were two months out from what happen. I was sitting on Jonathan’s couch in his office. My stomach was growling, and I was hungry. I stood up and said, “I am going to the lunchroom. Do you want me to bring you back anything?”
I found myself over Jonathan’s knee in seconds. He began spanking me for even thinking of leaving his side. He flipped me over onto his desk where he feasted on me until he had his fill, making me cry out that I belonged to him. He took me over his desk several times a day. The man and his wolf have been insatiable lately.
Epilogue
Jessica
Jessica had finally found her family. It is so good to belong somewhere and to feel that you belong there. Kate had always been there for Jessica like a sister. But now she had brothers who look out for her, too. She had a mate who would die for her, and she had a pack who would kill for her. She had finally found her place in life.
She had a new hair cutting and styling salon, called Jessica’s Styles. Her first appointment of the day was her sister Kate, and since the th
reat level has gone down and we have seen fewer and vanquished fewer vampires, Jonathan has calmed down and was now letting Kate back out on her own.
“Hey, sis,” she said as she walked into my store. “I so need to cut my hair. Look at this mess,” she said as she turned around to show me. “I can’t believe it is down past my butt. I keep sitting on it, and it pulls it. Please fix me,” she whined.
“Oh, for God’s sake, sit down and quit your whining.” Jessica washed, cut, and layered Kate’s hair. Just as she stood up from the chair, Jessica noticed the bump in Kate’s belly.
“What is this?” she said, as she put her hand on Kate’s belly.
Kate was glowing as she put a huge smile on her face. “Yep, you’re going to be an auntie,” Kate says excitedly! “Jonathan wouldn’t let me out of his sight for all those months after Owen and his men took me. He had me over his desk at work every chance he got. That man was insatiable. I just got my freedom back, and you wait the minute he finds out about this I will be back on the territory, not being able to leave his side again.”
Just then, the bell jingled above the back door.
“Are you expecting another customer now?” Kate looked at her watch.
“No, and they would use the front door.”
They both went to check it out. “That was odd; there is nobody here,” said Jessica. “Maybe you forgot to shut the door all the way when you came in.”
Then suddenly everything went black.