by Mary Hughes
“Noah’s familiar has access to Prince Simon’s pocket library—Noah’s father,” Pan added at Emma’s raised brows.
At this rate, my eyebrows will permanently fuse with my bangs.
“But we don’t know who Avignon locked it from,” the panther familiar continued. “We know it’s a danger, but not to whom.”
“Your turn, dear boy,” Goodwin said. “See if you can view Noah and Sophia’s mating bond on the etheric.”
“Not with that thing being a ticking bomb.” Gabriel scowled at her journal.
“Is there anything we can do about it?” Emma clutched the small leather book.
His scowl faltered.
“I’m guessing that’s a no. So for now…?” She pleaded with her eyes.
“Fine.” Gabriel’s lids closed and this time she actually felt the ting of him accessing his Witch’s Sight, through her mating bond with him.
“It’s thin…transparent, like a filament…you wouldn’t be able to see it if you didn’t know what you were looking for. That’s probably why the Enforcer didn’t see it—hell.”
A bang on the etheric startled her. Beside her, Gabriel’s eyes snapped open.
Noah Blackwood stormed into the office. “Got it. Now I can bargain with that little twit.”
He was followed by two tall men trying desperately to calm him. The muscular mechanic was gruff-but-kind beta Mason. Emma didn’t know the slender black-haired man, but from what her mother had told her (Prince Noah saved the raven-man when he nearly died!), this was Noah’s familiar, Bram.
Noah clutched something so tightly his knuckles were white.
“Oh, dear boy,” Goodwin whispered, almost to himself. “No. Not that.”
Gabriel edged his body nonchalantly between Emma and the furious alpha and held out a hand. “Give it to me, Noah.”
Emma caught the controlled tension in Gabriel’s voice and peeped around his broad back. Whatever Noah held, it was important, even vital.
“No fucking way.” Wild golden eyes landed on Gabriel. “Did you negotiate Sophia’s release?”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “We need more time.”
“There is no more time!” The alpha’s jaw was so tight Emma could see the muscle striations under his skin. “If you can’t get her released the easy way, I’m getting her out the hard way.” He shook his fist, the thing glinting in his hand.
“I want to understand, Noah. Speak slower. I want to help.”
Emma’s heart surged with pride. Gabriel Light might be a wizard prince, but at this moment he was channeling lead Techie Titan, their last and best line of defense against angry shoppers, turning even the most enraged into a happy repeat customer.
His tone was soothing, but she caught the way he slowly, unobtrusively slid his glasses off his face, slipping them into a pocket under his vest. Placating, but prepared for a fight.
Her pride for him crumbled into fear. Gabriel was taller than Noah by a couple inches, but if it came to blows, the alpha was preternaturally agile and strong, meaning Gabriel didn’t stand a chance.
But she’d forgotten—in the store, Gabriel wasn’t alone, and he wasn’t alone now. Pan stepped shoulder to shoulder with him. “What the hell have you done, Blackwood? Is that the key piece?”
“It’s mine,” Noah snarled, dangling the thing from its leather thong, revealing it as an enameled wolf pendant. “My wolf. I’m going to use it to release my wife.”
“It’s yours, absolutely.” Gabriel held a palm behind his back to signal Emma to stay where she was and slid one foot surreptitiously toward the alpha. A twitch of his head flagged Pan to shield her. “You agreed to let Daniel guard it, though, didn’t you?”
“He wasn’t guarding it very well. I took it back.” A mad, triumphant smile slashed Noah’s face.
“I see.” Gabriel inched closer. “And how are you going to use it to get Sophia out?”
Pan shot Emma a black glance. He obviously wanted to stand alongside his witch and resented having been given his marching orders to protect her.
Well, she resented it too. Her human mate was going to try something alone against the mad rage of a powerful alpha wolf—by definition, something insane. She didn’t know whether to be proud of his bravery or frightened for his fragile skin. Probably both.
“That MoonMoon of a jailer wants power.” Noah shook his fist, the pendant’s leather thong tail trembling violently. “This has powerful magic. I’ll use it to bargain for my mate’s release.”
“Not a good idea, buddy. If a bad guy gets the key—”
“Fuck that.” The alpha turned his shaking fist on Gabriel. “I’m so far beyond caring about the damned key, I’d give this to the evil Burgot himself if it’d get my mate released…hey!”
Gabriel lunged for the pendant. Emma sucked in a breath. Agile shifter, mere human…I have to help. She moved.
Pan blocked her.
She dodged, trying to get past the panther familiar. As she zigged and Pan zagged, Noah tried to yank the pendant back. But Gabriel had surprisingly managed to catch the leather thong. He tugged, pulling Noah off balance.
The alpha stumbled, but his lightning-fast reflexes corrected almost immediately. Twisting like a tornado, he yanked the thong in Gabriel’s hand.
Gabriel, instead of being pulled off-balance himself, stepped in with the tug—to bury a fist in Noah’s gut.
Shock surged in Emma’s veins. She knew firsthand how strong those hands were. Even the alpha shifter woofed out a breath at that punch. She stifled a shout of delight.
Noah countered with an uppercut.
“Gabriel, look out—!”
Her mate had already twisted his shoulders up and away, releasing the thong to spin his body like a mixer paddle. Noah’s fist cleaved air.
Leaving Gabriel time to thrust a hand into his pants pocket, pulling out a tangle of talismans.
He yanked out a random disk, tossed it at the alpha, and shouted, “Go!”
The disk hit Noah’s face. Noah flinched—and his eyebrows sprouted like weeds, growing curlicues around his eyes.
Pan snorted.
“What the fuck was that?” the alpha growled.
“Something to knock a little sense into you.” Chest heaving, Gabriel put up both palms. “Let’s talk this out.”
“No fucking way.” Noah grew spikes for claws and slashed at Gabriel.
The he-witch feinted back then threw a red-paper amulet at the alpha. “Ignite!”
The disk made a tiny poof, a single wisp of smoke the only vestige of its existence.
Gabriel hissed. “I really miss my belt.”
The alpha half-shifted, huge wolf-jaw clacking.
All the air left Emma’s lungs. Her mate was threatened by an alpha’s inhuman strength.
Protect him. Her iota talent rose like a furious tide inside her.
She throttled it back. Never again.
Propelled by monstrous, human-wolf thighs, Noah charged.
Protect him! Fear loosened the reins of her control. Her talent crashed against her willpower like a raging surf.
“Fuck you, Noah.” Gabriel dodged, digging out every talisman he had, and tossed the whole load into the air between them. “Trigger!”
Charms went off like firecrackers. Glitter filled the air, along with a dozen tea bags, the whiz of a bottle rocket, a roast turkey, and five skeins of double-ply yarn.
Noah swatted at everything like a swarm of gnats, his claws tangling in his still-growing eyebrows. With a tremendous roar he redoubled his efforts, tearing out hair, shredding yarn.
He yanked free and leaped onto Gabriel’s chest.
Gabriel fell backward. Snarling, Emma surged to assist him, only to run into Pan’s restraining arms. Her mate landed hard enough to knock the wind from him.
Noah fell to his knees beside Gabriel and raised a handful of talons to slash Gabriel’s exposed throat.
Emma’s heart stopped. She beat a frenzied windmill of arms against
Pan’s hold.
Gabriel managed to half-block the alpha’s slash. Noah’s claws dug into her mate’s cheek, his blood welling. The scent sent her heart kicking against her ribs, pumping fast as a hummingbird.
Both Noah’s arms winged back to drive the killing strike. The blow would impale claws deep into warm meat…dead meat…
He’s killing my mate.
“No!” Fear let her rage tear loose. Her blood boiled, her pounding heart pumping her talent through her body. Fury exploded like a burst thermometer in her brain.
The berserker roared free.
Its fangs tore from her gums and its claws from her fingers. It/her vision ran red, death blackening its brain. Clutching the journal like a shield, it shoved Pan aside as easily as a rag doll.
The berserker crashed into Noah with a full body tackle, momentum lifting him from Emma’s mate and smashing him into the wall. It rode him sliding to the floor, fist pounding his face.
The alpha tried to lever up, but berserker Emma wanted him down.
She/it grabbed the journal two-handed to smack into his snout.
Last moment, he raised his arm to block. His fist, still clasping the pendant, smashed into the book.
A sharp bang underscore the hit, a terrible sound that, like the report of a gun or the crunch of metal in a car crash, was unforgettable—because it signaled a life completely derailed.
Automatically, she/it tore the journal away. Somehow Noah’s enameled wolf stuck to it, and the pendant was yanked from his hand.
With a soul-rending howl, Noah grabbed for the pendant. Berserker Emma only saw him grabbing for the journal.
She/it planted its skull in his face.
With a sigh, he went unconscious, fists falling limp to the floor.
Death to mate-threat. Berserker Emma raised a hand full of razor-sharp talons to slash the alpha’s throat down to the bone. To send fountains of hot, rich blood spurting, to dance in it, to revel in the glory of gouged and bleeding flesh…
“Emma!” Gabriel’s arms opened wide as he leaped for her, Pan and Mason behind him.
Berserker Emma only saw more attackers, the hands grabbing her/it as enemies trying to pull it away from its prey. Snarling, the berserker twisted in the grips of three strong males.
It flung up one hand to slash the enemies. Its claws spat blood, spattering Gabriel’s face.
He flinched.
The berserker’s turbocharged eyes spotlighted that terrible sight—its mate, flinching from it.
Emma’s submerged awareness was shocked awake. Her mate was afraid of her.
Beast.
As the three males wrestled her off Noah to the ground, fury died to shame. The berserker faded, leaving her weak and trembling.
She’d vowed never again. Lost so easily in the terror of the moment. She looked away, not wanting to see the disgust in Gabriel’s eyes.
Or worse, the fear.
Batshit insane brute.
Chapter Nineteen
Gabriel swept Emma up off Noah into a hug, so tight she went, “Erp.”
“You stopped him. We’re okay. We’re all okay.”
Shock invaded every cell as she dangled from his strong arms. Hadn’t he caught her berserk rage?
“Did you hear that bang?” Goodwin’s voice was muffled by Gabriel’s muscled bulk and the whoosh-whoosh of her own heart.
Pan, more matter-of-fact, said, “You’d better let her go, Gabriel. She’s starting to turn blue.”
Gabriel’s arms released her so suddenly her feet stuttered before she found her balance. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said automatically.
“Oh. Okay.” His honed cheeks were stained with embarrassment when he moved away.
Because he’d been hugging her so tight? Or, as he finally moved to wipe the blood spatter from his face, because he was ashamed of her?
In Michigan, she’d been able to read him effortlessly. Now, it seemed the more important the question, the less sure she was.
Beyond Gabriel, the raven familiar Bram stared at her, his jaw hanging, his eyes blinking rapidly. Apparently this wisdom creature had never seen a tiny iota go berserk on an alpha.
“Day-um.” Beta Mason threw off his amazement first to kneel at Noah’s side to check over. “Good thing this isn’t sacred ground.” He peeled open one golden eye, which spun in its socket.
“Is he okay?” Emma asked.
“Knocked out, but he’ll be fine.”
“Nice bit of Hulking,” Pan drawled to Emma.
“Thanks?” She glanced at Gabriel. He’d snatched a second tissue and was wiping his glasses. Frowning, his gaze was anywhere but her. She opened her mouth to ask, Are you ashamed of me?
“What was that bang?” Goodwin repeated.
“I’m not sure,” Gabriel said. “It triggered a loud boom on the etheric too.”
Pan’s brows shot into his hairline. “A magical boom? Like ‘Hey, Enforcer-fuck, look here’? Damn it, Gabriel.” The familiar mimed activating a talisman, or maybe changing channels with a remote. “Let’s hop into your pocket workout room before certain dickwads trace it here.”
“Can’t.” Gabriel shook his head impatiently. “Besides having used up the talisman, certain dickwads have a way to spy into the jail—and the spyglass somehow threads into other bubble universes.”
“Really?” That came from all three familiars, intrigued rather than urgent. Pan said, “How—?”
“Dunno. The portals opened near each other? But it means the workout dimension is no good.”
“Then at least get away from the physical proximity of the metaphysical You-Are-Here bang, ’kay?” Pan smacked palms against Gabriel’s back and started shoving him toward the door. “In case Aunt Linda’s yarn supply or whatever she’s tying him up with has run out.”
Gabriel dug in his heels long enough to grab Emma’s hand, to tow her with him.
Discussing her talent would have to wait. Another thing to add to the growing list of unfinished topics. At this rate, it would take a lifetime to talk them all through.
She wanted that lifetime with him, quite desperately.
As they ran for the entrance, Pan said, “Your aunt’s car—”
“May take hours to get running.” Gabriel smacked open the front door. “Do we have hours, or even minutes?”
“Doubt it.”
“I know where.” Goodwin skirted them and took the lead. “Follow me.”
Only the four of them had emerged.
“What about Noah?” Emma glanced east as she spoke, the B-and-B coming into view. Hopefully, if Ryder was on his way, they’d see him before he caught sight of them.
“Noah’s beta and familiar will care for him.” Gabriel secured her hand in a more solid grip and hurried her across the pavers toward the intersection of Third and Pine.
Clutching his hand like a lifesaver, she kept her gaze on the B-and-B. So she was first to see the slender, over-tailored form emerge from the doorway.
Exactly when they were crossing Pine and at their most vulnerable.
She tugged Gabriel’s hand and pointed as the Enforcer’s pale head turned west. Toward them.
Gabriel, expression grim, had already seen. He lifted his free hand into the air. His wand appeared in it, aimed at Ryder.
Acid cascaded into Emma’s stomach. She remembered Ryder’s first reaction to Gabriel’s wand. “You’ll pay for that, Light.”
“Gabriel, don’t,” she whispered.
Pan jerked a nuh-uh across his throat then tried to swat the stick out of Gabriel’s hand.
The he-witch cut his familiar a furious glare but did not release the wand.
This time it wouldn’t be accidental. This time Gabriel was really fighting. Despite his ankle limiter.
She swallowed hard. Her wizard prince could normally beat the numb nuts with his little finger. But this particular numb nuts was backed by Council magic.
Things were about to get ugly.
“Oh, yoo-hoo!”
Linda Blue bustled out of the B-and-B. “Yoo-hoo, Mr. Ryder! I know what that bang was.”
Ryder’s sweeping gaze, a bare millimeter from detecting them, stopped. Frustration etched itself on his features, so stark it was visible even across the street before he spun toward the round little woman. “What?”
“Well, I was conducting an experiment in my bookstore—oh, don’t worry, I haven’t involved any mundanes—but one must have one’s little hobbies, yes? I was developing formulations of glitter bombs for surprise parties, you see? It was supposed to go off half an hour ago so obviously this one didn’t make the cut.”
“But the etheric trail leads that way—”
“Exactly!” She snared his arm in a grip that looked like the Jaws of Life. “How else would it be a surprise?”
“That makes no sense!”
“Of course it does. Now, we were discussing my niece Sophia. Please come back inside, my old bones can’t stand the chill.” She tugged him into motion.
“What chill? It’s August, for shit’s sake—”
“Exactly!” Linda’s tone was bright. “You’re so smart. So is Sophia. I’m worried the poor child will be bored silly in that bubble jail you built for her—oh, I’m certain it has all the comforts and amenities of home, but nothing substitutes for a good bag of yarn and some knitting needles, am I right?” She dragged him back inside the B-and-B.
While Linda had nattered and generally distracted the Enforcer, Gabriel hustled Emma across the intersection and into the relative safety of the buildings’ shadows, Pan and Goodwin darting in after them.
Goodwin murmured, “Thank the stars for your aunt.”
“She always did have extraordinary timing,” Gabriel muttered. “Though usually only when Sophia and I were getting in trouble.”
The panther familiar raised a black brow. “And this incident is different how?”
“Wiseass.”
Emma checked her father’s journal to make sure it was all right. Noah’s enameled wolf pendant was cemented to the cover. She poked at it. It refused to budge. “The wolf is stuck.” She showed Gabriel.