Jason was quiet for some time. He would not deny that his desires were darker than those of other men. And he knew that Phelan was a notorious master of the art. But the werewolf was hedging around his point and Jason’s patience was wearing thin. “What do you want, Phelan?”
The powerful werewolf straightened and speared him with a hard look. Then he shook his head. “She will be the death of you.” He smiled again and strode across the tent to the exit. There he stopped, turned back, and cocked his head to one side, his blue eyes glittering in the firelight. Jason noticed that they had begun to glow. “In the coming days, I will have use of a warlock,” he said as he lifted the tent flap, revealing the night beyond. “Agree to aid me then, and I will rid you of Lucas Caige.”
Jason stood stock still for several long seconds. He hadn’t expected that. The alpha werewolf knew that he was a warlock. A thrum of power surged through Jason’s strong body, preparing itself for the kill. It was a defensive reaction. However, he tamped it down and, on the outside he remained for all intents and purposes calm.
“I can smell the taint to your magic, mage. You can’t hide it from me,” Phelan said quietly. “I can even smell the Akyri on you.”
Jason’s skin burned. Black magic was riding him hard now. He wanted to lash out –to destroy. Phelan knew too much. He shouldn’t have even known of the existence of such creatures, much less that Jason was dealing with them. He was getting far too close.
“But you’ve hidden it well from everyone else,” the werewolf continued, completely unfazed by the danger that Jason could feel in his own green eyes. “Even the beautiful Dannai.”
The warlock refused to be baited any further. “Are you threatening me, Phelan?”
Gabriel Phelan’s smile never wavered. “Threats are not my way, Alberich. But I’m a man of many promises.”
At that moment, he looked over his shoulder and the tent flap beside him was gently pulled to the side. A blonde head of curls peeked through and in stepped a tentative Brianna. She was dressed scantily, having put on a dance performance on the stage earlier that night. Her creamy white skin was smooth, her breasts milky mounds above a rather tight bustier.
Gabriel Phelan looked down at the girl and Brianna turned to gaze up at him. She was instantly trapped in his power. Jason watched as her jaw went slack, her eyes glassed over, and her hands fell submissively to her sides.
Phelan took a lock of her blonde hair between his thumb and forefinger and rubbed it admiringly. He bent and inhaled, no doubt taking in her scent. When he looked back over at Jason, his fangs had fully extended. His smile was truly villainous.
“How sweet,” he said softly, dropping the lock of hair. “A welcome distraction, no doubt. But one such as this will never fight you enough to satisfy your needs, warlock.” With that, Phelan reached out, snaking his arm around Brianna’s waist. He pulled her in against his chest and claimed her mouth with his, kissing her deeply.
Jason stood his ground, watching the scene through guarded green eyes. Phelan was an alpha and Jason had dealt with them before. This was not threatening behavior. It was an alpha’s way. Rather, it was the knowledge that Phelan possessed that was absolutely threatening for Jason.
At the moment, the werewolf was simply playing.
After nearly a minute, Phelan broke the kiss and released Brianna. She sank to her knees before him, her head bent, her blonde curls obscuring her features. Phelan stepped around her and through the tent flap, looking once more over his shoulder. “Have fun, mage.” He glanced down at the girl and then flashed Jason a predatory smile. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
With that, the infamous werewolf disappeared into the night, dropping the tent flap behind him.
*****
Danny’s inner witch would not stop screaming at her. This was dangerous. Caige had some kind of power over her. She was playing with fire – and she was no Alberich. She was going to get burned.
When Lucas touched her, it felt like everything around her was melting and, not for the first time since she’d met him, Danny was seriously frightened that she was going to accidentally let her shields down. He was too powerful for her; he made her weak. She was afraid of losing control. Losing either one of the shields would have been bad.
Danny glanced over Lucas’s broad shoulder at the odometer – 97. He was taking them somewhere at break neck speed. As if he couldn’t wait.
Danny shuddered. He was all adrenaline and hardness and danger. She couldn’t help but wonder what he would do if he learned she was a dormant. She and Caige were already drawn to each other in some inexorable fashion. She had no idea why the attraction was so strong. There was no common ground for them to stand on; so why did they crave each other so badly?
And if he learned that she was not only a dormant, but had been dreaming about him? A delicious shiver ran through Danny when she thought of how he would react. She felt it deep down in her bones. He would claim her. There would be no stopping him. It was something she simply knew. Maybe it was the dormant in her; that secret, hidden part of her that understood the wolf. Or maybe it was just Caige and the wildness that surrounded him like wind in the night. She knew that he would take her and change her and she would be bound to him forever.
He was incredibly warm where his body was pressed so tightly against hers. Again, she wondered how hot he would feel without the leather between them that buffered her from his presence at the moment. Skin on skin. Danny closed her eyes and swallowed hard, suppressing a moan. She was beginning to ache for him. Her jeans felt deliciously tight and the bike vibrated maddeningly between her legs.
But then a wave of cold washed over her as she thought of her second shield. How would Caige react if – no, when – he learned that she was a witch?
Because it was bound to happen eventually.
No, she thought stubbornly, her fingers curling into his shirt over his ripped abdomen. He doesn’t need to know. Not ever.
But even as she thought it, she knew it couldn’t be true. As if in defeat, she leaned forward and laid her cheek against the leather over his broad back. The only way to protect herself from the wrath he would most likely show her when he found out would be to run right now. Stop seeing him – leave this place. She would have to go somewhere far away, where he would never find her, so that she would never be tempted to make love to him. And her shield would never fall.
And he would never know.
Danny….
Danny’s eyes flew open. A buzzing engulfed her. Danny, we need you!
Imani was calling her. There was fear in her voice; desperation. Danny’s hair whipped about her face as she instinctively looked behind her at the disappearing strip of black and yellow. She turned and looked ahead again; the road was deserted but for them. There were no driveways on either side, no places to turn off – nothing.
Danny, you have to heal someone!
Danny thought fast. If she could just get out of Lucas’s sight and his range of smell, she could use transportation magic to get to Imani’s location. But right now, she was stuck. Her heart hammered hard as she racked her brain.
Suddenly, she leaned forward and put her lips to Caige’s ear. The werewolf cocked his head slightly, turning toward her as if knowing she needed to be heard.
“I have to go home!” she said over the roar of the engine. “I forgot my medicine!” Imani had told her earlier that she’d lied to Caige about why Danny had passed out. Ima had told him that Danny had blood sugar problems. It was a good ruse and right now, she was clinging to it.
Lucas’s grip on the handlebars visibly tightened. She felt a strange wave of power roll off of him; it was tangible. And then he nodded and was rocketing the bike forward at an even greater speed.
Danny sent a message back to Imani that she was on her way. Then she ducked her head behind Lucas, painfully aware at that moment that she wasn’t wearing a helmet. Of course, she’d been around werewolves enough while helping them over the years
to know that they moved so fast and were so powerful, Caige could protect her in a wreck. If they went down, Lucas would have his body in massive wolf form and wrapped around her in an instant for protection.
But that didn’t make the fear any less potent. It was like climbing a wall while you were wearing belaying gear and safety ropes – your palms would still sweat. It was basic instinct. And it was reckless of him to chance being exposed like that. It was almost as if he wouldn’t mind her knowing.
That was Lucas Caige. Reckless. Everything about him was untamed.
They came to a crossroads and Dannai realized she knew where she was. Caige turned left, obviously having memorized the road system – and her address. Within two short minutes, they were pulling up in front of her house.
Danny waited a moment while Caige kicked down the stand and shut off the bike. Then he turned in the seat and helped her off. As soon as she had her legs beneath her, Danny ran toward the house. She didn’t leave Caige an explanation, and she could almost feel the surprise and anger from behind her as she reached the door at a fast sprint and hurtled through it into the hallway beyond.
She knew it was rude – maybe even wrong. But she could feel that Imani was gone and the house was un-shielded; magic was radiating from everything.
Danny swore hopelessly, running a hand through her long black hair and turning in place. “Not again,” she whispered. Without waiting for the horrible to happen, Danny closed her eyes and extended her powers, blanketing the house in a ripple of shielding magic. And just in time.
Caige’s boot stepped over the threshold and touched down on the wood inside a second later. He was watching her as she turned in the hallway, breathing heavy. His dark gaze settled on her form like a brand as he let the screen door close behind him. “You okay?” he asked, his eyes searching and wary, his expression unreadable.
Danny thought fast again. “Yes!” she breathed, trying to look as innocent as possible. “I – I just can’t remember where I left them. I think Imani moved them when I was sleeping and I –”
She didn’t have to fake the wave of dizziness that washed over her then. She was taking care of three shields and, while it wouldn’t normally be too much for her to handle in good health – Lucas Caige was turning her world upside down. His nearness did odd things to her. He made her weak just by being near her.
Danny’s eyes closed and she found herself raising her arms and reaching for the wall as the world tilted around her.
Danny! Come now! Imani’s voice rang out in her head once more, pure fear and desperation. At the same time, Caige’s hands slid around Danny’s waist to hold her up. His touch was electrifying; his fingers brushed the exposed skin of her midriff and she almost moaned with the pleasure.
Odin help me, she thought as Caige moved in and pulled her against him. She felt his lips at her ear. “I’m taking you upstairs,” he told her. His voice was deep and thick with lust, but his tone was one of stark concern.
He lifted her easily into his arms and began taking the stairs two at a time. She didn’t need to be carried, but she had a feeling that there would have been nothing she could have done to stop Caige from picking her up anyway. She almost cried with frustration. How was she going to get to Imani without giving herself away now?
Maybe Odin answered her – maybe it was just luck. But an idea occurred to her. As Lucas entered her bedroom and set her gently down on her bed, Danny pulled a bit of power from somewhere within herself, sapping strength from her body. She could only do it because she was already lying down. With the magic, she created a cacophony outside.
Lucas straightened and spun around as the din of a horrible five-car pile-up emanated from the street in front of the house.
“Go!” Danny insisted hurriedly. “I’ll get my medicine!”
Lucas didn’t wait to reply. He was hurtling through the door of her bedroom and down the stairs in a near blur. As soon as he was out of sight, Danny closed her eyes. She let her dormant shield drop. Then she let her own personal magic shield drop. She only left the house’s shield up – it wouldn’t matter in a moment anyway.
With renewed strength, Danny pushed herself off of the bed to stand beside it.
“I’m coming, Ima,” she whispered. And with that, she called forth the transportation spell that would take her to her best friend, raising her arms and welcoming the vortex. In the next moment, the world shifted around her, blurring color, sound and time.
When it stopped again, she was standing in a forest clearing.
“Danny! Oh, thank the gods!”
Danny spun around to see Imani kneeling beside the prone form of a child. The little girl must not have been much older than eight or nine – maybe ten, if she was small for her age. She had straight brown hair and very pale skin.
Danny was instantly running to the child’s side, barely noting that other members of her coven were there in the clearing as well.
As she dropped to her knees beside the child and placed her hand to the girl’s chest, she speared Imani with a hard look. “What happened?” she wanted to know. She could feel the child’s life force slipping beneath her touch. Her heartbeat was erratic, slow and barely noticeable. Another minute and she would have been gone.
“She and her brother were playing on the cliffs,” Imani told her quickly. “The festival is just over that rise,” she turned and pointed and then faced Danny again. “The cliff face crumbled. Her brother is unconscious as well, but more stable.”
Danny nodded and closed her eyes, needing all of her concentration now. She’d been able to locate the main injury in the girl’s small body and there was internal bleeding. With a stark and sure purpose, she began the words of an incantation, soft and sweet; a lullaby of healing. In a few seconds, the girl’s eyes were fluttering open. They were a clear, bright hazel beneath long, dark lashes.
“Hello Alice,” Danny broke off from the spell and spoke to the girl. She’d gleaned the child’s name as she’d worked. “You and your brother are going to be just fine,” she said softly. “I want you to stay here with Imani,” she nodded toward her best friend, “and don’t move too much.”
Alice slowly sat up and nodded.
“Where’s the boy?” Danny asked. Imani hurriedly pointed her in another direction and Danny left them to run toward a group of her coven members near the opposite end of the clearing.
Sasha was kneeling beside the boy’s unconscious form. He looked up as she approached and she nodded to him. He nodded back, a look of frank relief crossing his features. Danny placed her hand to the boy’s chest. Again, she spoke her words of healing, and again the child beneath her gentle touch stirred and awoke. His eyes fluttered open; hazel like his sister’s. Dannai smiled down at him. “Hello Max.”
*****
Lucas came to a sudden stop in the doorway of Danny’s house as a surge of power washed over and through him. It was lightning-fast, there one millisecond and gone in the next. But it was real and it was strong and it smelled… like magic.
He straightened in the hallway and slowly turned toward the stairs he had just rocketed down. There was no further sound coming from outside on the street. The night was silent.
Caige’s fangs erupted in his mouth; his body slid into fight mode. Something wasn’t right. Without calling out to Danny, Lucas began to climb the stairs back up to the second floor. He moved with predatory stealth, not making a single sound.
He reached the landing and approached Danny’s door. It was slightly ajar. He pushed it open with a slow, cautious hand. It was quiet inside. Lucas concentrated and listened. There was no breathing, no heartbeat. Nothing.
He pushed the door the rest of the way open and his wolfen vision took in the room’s empty interior. Danny was gone.
But that wasn’t all. Lucas’s dark eyes widened and flashed red. There was the faintest hint of it, soft and lingering like no more than the promise of snow. Magic had an indescribable scent, and it was so weak here, he should not
have been able to pick it up. But he did.
And then his world dropped out from under him when a second scent piggy-backed the first. It was even fainter than the magic – but he would have recognized it at half the strength. It smelled like heaven. Salvation.
It was the scent of a dormant.
Chapter Seven: “Disappearing Act”
“So what are you gonna tell Mr. Tall, Dark and Pissed-Off when you just happen to flash back into your bedroom after he ran outside and there were no cars in the street?”
Danny rolled her eyes and ran her hand over her face. Imani had a point and Danny was well aware of it. “Okay, I wasn’t thinking very clearly. But you wouldn’t shut up and the situation was dire. What the hell was I supposed to do?”
“Not that!” Imani huffed, shaking her head. “Good goddess, girl, you had to know that this was going to take longer than that!”
“I had no idea there were two children who needed healing, Ima! I thought I would just pop in, heal someone, and pop back out!”
“And when you drained yourself so bad you wouldn’t be able to keep up three shields?” Imani asked next, “What were you planning on doing then?”
“I don’t know!” Danny yelled, not able to take it any longer. “Jesus, cut me a break! Like I said, I didn’t know what else to do!” She dropped her head into her hands and tried to squeeze the pain out of her temples.
Ima held up her hands and sighed deeply. “All right, I’ll give you that much. You were in a hurry. But now we have a problem, girlfriend. That alpha wolf you left alone in our house is now officially on to you. So… what’s our plan?” she hedged.
They were sitting on a large stone in the clearing where Danny had healed the children. The kids had been walked back to the festival long ago and led to their parents with no one the wiser as to their accident – or the fact that Danny had healed them. The other members of the coven who had been in the clearing had returned along with the children, leaving Imani and Danny alone.
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