by Juniper Hart
Cara touched the bandage again.
“So I’m completely healed? How does that work?”
“It’s enchantment,” he replied. “Ask him when he comes back.”
“Eddy’s here with us?”
“Of course,” he said. “You, Eddy, Adrianna, and I escaped. Eddy and I had a hard time getting you in here without people asking questions.”
Part of her wondered how that had happened. It didn’t make sense. If they’d just wandered into the front desk with an unconscious, half-dead woman, something told her that the hotel wouldn’t be too eager to offer a room.
“Through the window,” Reuben answered, without Cara having to ask. “Listen, you still need rest. Magic healing takes a lot out of people. You were almost dead.”
“I don’t feel like I was almost dead.”
She blinked, trying to wake up. Then she registered what Reuben had said moments earlier.
“You said Adrianna’s here with us? Why on earth did you bring her? I thought she was dead? And let’s not forget the fact that she was trying to kill us! And she escaped? We were trying to escape from her!”
“Of course she’s alive,” Reuben said, giving her a funny look. “Why would I bring a dead woman along?”
“I thought I saw you drown her to death.”
“Into unconsciousness. I wanted to kill her...”
Reuben grabbed Cara’s hand and squeezed it, thinking about what Adrianna had done to her.
Cara pulled her hand away, sternly asking, “You brought along a woman who tried to kill you and nearly killed me? Why? What were you thinking?”
“I know it sounds crazy. We brought her because she knows where Ezekiel is. Eddy’s house is destroyed and there were cops everywhere. It was only a matter of time before more of Ezekiel’s men were alerted to our location. And Eddy had a point – we need to go on the offensive. Otherwise we’re just sitting around, waiting for him to send any number of bounty hunters our way.”
With that, Reuben began to once again stroke her hair, helping calm her emotions. “Go back to sleep. You might not feel like you need it, but trust me—this isn’t the first magic healing I’ve seen. You need rest.”
She didn’t want to rest. She wanted to get up, find Eddy, and thank him. She wanted to go celebrate being alive. Based on the sun outside, she’d been unconscious a long time. It was nearly dusk, but she’d been stabbed early in the morning.
Wait.
She’d been stabbed.
Somehow she was gleaning right over that like it was no big deal. She, meek Cara Stone, had managed to get stabbed. Not just that, but she’d been stabbed by an assassin that was Reuben’s former lover. Adrianna had a pet name for him, Reubs, which made Cara cringe. They would certainly have been a power couple. But she decided she didn’t care. Their romance was over. After all, Reuben had choked Adrianna into unconsciousness after she stabbed his current lover. That’s a pretty good indication that a relationship isn’t working out.
Cara started to drift back into sleep, but she fought it. Somehow, using wizardry, Eddy had been able to drag her back from death’s doorstep, but that kind of thing couldn’t be too easy on a person. She didn’t know. All of it was just too new to her. Her mind relaxed, as she decided not to try to make sense of it all. Sleep grabbed her and dragged her down as soon as she let her eyes close.
The moonlight peeked through the curtains, and Cara began to stir. It was sometime during the middle of the night. Reuben had fallen asleep next to her. It looked like he’d tried to stay awake as he had a magazine in his hands that he must have been reading. Exhaustion took its hold on him too.
Eddy wasn’t sleeping. He was staring out the window thoughtfully. Cara’s eyes dragged across the room and she noticed Adrianna sitting on a chair by the desk. How had Cara failed to notice that they were in the room when she last woke?
Adrianna’s arms were bound with a glowing rope. Eddy’s magic maybe? Adrianna noticed Cara staring at her and curled her lip in a wicked snarl. The assassin’s golden eyes glowed in the darkish environment.
“Eddy,” Cara whispered to avoid waking Reuben.
Eddy turned from the wall. He gave her a gentle, tired smile.
“You’re awake.”
“Thank you for saving my life,” she told him. “I don’t understand how you did it, but thank you.”
He came over to her, staying out of reach of Adrianna. Even though Adrianna was bound, Cara wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up finding a way to escape.
“Reuben is my family, and now that you’re his mate, you’re my family too. Families watch out for each other, right?”
Cara’s eyes welled up with tears. It had been years since she had been part of a family.
Adrianna tried to say something, but only muffled noise came out. Cara looked at Eddy with a questioning look.
“It’s an invisible gag.”
Eddy sighed, and looked over at Adrianna. “You know we can’t take that off yet. You can breathe, can’t you?”
She stared him down silently. It was like watching a lion observe a wounded antelope from afar.
“I can see you’re fine,” he said. “You’re lucky Reuben didn’t rip you up for stabbing our girl here.”
Our girl? Warmth washed through Cara, once again feeling that she belonged. Adrianna tried to say something else. Her eyes were narrowed in anger. Cara got the feeling she wasn’t the kind of person that lost very often. It was driving her nuts to be helpless.
Eddy ignored Adrianna and focused back on Cara, still speaking quietly to avoid waking up Reuben.
“Why’d you want to save her? She stabbed you and you started muttering ‘Don’t kill her, don’t kill her.’”
Cara blushed, unsure of why she was feeling embarrassed.
“I’m not sure. I just…” she shrugged. “You know what? I actually don’t know. I wasn’t in my right frame of mind.”
Eddy gave her a mischievous little smirk. Cara liked him even more. He had a funny spark about him that most people didn’t have. Reuben had a spark, but it was entirely different—more dangerous, more intimidating. Eddy seemed just plain kind like the type who’d organize a church picnic.
“Am I hearing you right? You’re saying you would have been fine with Reuben killing her if you’d been in your right mind?”
Cara glanced over at Adrianna. All she could focus on were those golden eyes that were burning with rage.
“I don’t know. If you would have asked me two weeks ago, I would have never imagined that I would want someone dead. It’s all so confusing.”
“Well, don’t let what’s happened change you. You’re too nice. Reuben needs your gentle nature to balance him. He’s mean enough for the two of you.”
Cara smiled. She looked over at Reuben. His chest was raising and lowering with deep, heavy breaths. He looked so peaceful.
Cara leaned back and snuggled with his muscular frame. He stirred for a moment, realized she was okay, and nuzzled up against her lovingly.
Eddy moved on to the other bed while Adrianna probably thought of how great it would be to kill everyone in the room as violently as possible. Cara had no doubt about it—she’d made another enemy.
Cara felt like it was Christmas morning—part nervous, part excited. Except the nervous part wasn’t about wondering if Santa had brought what she’d asked for, it was whether they were signing a death warrant by going on the offensive against Ezekiel. The part of her that was excited? She couldn’t explain it. She’d never been much of a fighter. She’d always come up with better ways—peaceful ways—to solve conflicts. But there was some primal part of her that was actually tingling with excitement at the possibility of not running from a problem, but taking it on face-to-face. She’d never encountered a scenario where it simply wouldn’t get better with time. People forgive and forget. It’s a thing. Of course, she’d never been in a situation where someone wanted her dead either.
But with Ezekiel, it was a differe
nt story. She had no doubt that the vampire would devote all his resources to chasing them. It seemed that Reuben had a rather impressive reputation as a man that was hard to kill. They had a little time, or so they hoped, before others would be coming for them soon.
Adrianna had been the first one to answer the call, but Cara knew that other bounty hunters would be joining the cause for what she could only assume was a large amount of money on their little triumvirate.
Cara had been stabbed. She’d seen Reuben get shot. She’d seen him get his fingers lopped off like sausages at a butcher house. She used to consider it shocking whenever she stubbed her toe against the table on the way to make coffee. But now that seemed commonplace. She’d only been on the enchanted road for, what, a week? But she felt, for the first time in her life, that it was where she belonged. She was never meant to have a 9-to-5 job, sitting behind a desk, and working for someone she hated for just above minimum wage. She wasn’t destined to be an author. She wasn’t even destined to follow up on her computer science training, which had just been a job in the first place—not a passion.
However, the most important part of her journey so far was that she’d fallen in love.
With a werewolf.
She let that sink in. A werewolf.
Cara knew she’d see some frightening things in the days to come. All the injuries and phenomenal experiences so far in her little adventure had come from them purposefully avoiding conflict. Now, they were seeking it out.
Reuben had taught Cara some basic fighting skills when they were on the road to Texas, and tried to prepare her for other kinds of enchanted beings she might encounter.
But now, Cara would have to step up her game. She had to be able to defend herself, be it with weapons or knowledge of what to do in a hand-to-hand confrontation. She’d need to learn weaknesses, strengths, and how to survive in the enchanted world that was very hostile to humans.
She could see Adrianna staring daggers at her from across the room. Cara snuggled up closer to Reuben and winked. Adrianna’s rage only seemed to intensify. Cara knew she shouldn’t instigate Adrianna, but she couldn’t help it. Adrianna had tried to kill her.
It wouldn’t be easy to go on the offensive against Ezekiel and his clan. She wasn’t even sure they could pull it off. What did they have going for them? A single werewolf, a mage, and a human. Against what? A clan of vampires and who knows what else? Going in, Cara felt like she was the heroine in her own book or starring in a bad action movie. But it wasn’t an action movie. It was real life. There was a real possibility that some—if not all—of them might not make it.
But that was tomorrow. She would worry about how they could actually start to pull it off the next day, when the sun rose and presented a new challenge and a new adventure for her and her little group of ragtag heroes.
She would worry about it then. Until that time came, until the sun drifted in through the hotel room curtains, she was simply a woman next to a man she loved. She snuggled up against him, feeling his musculature bulge as he drew her in close. She would enjoy the moments that she had with him. Tomorrow might bring destruction. It might bring chaos. It might even bring death.
But right then, for that one moment, she was determined to enjoy the calm before the storm.
THE END
Part III
Werewolf Reunion: Enchanted Werewolf - Book Three
By Alexis Davie
1
It didn’t take long for Cara to get over being stabbed.
For some reason, she’d expected to have a great deal of trouble getting over the memory of having someone stab a knife into her side. It was an experience unlike any other and one she never wanted to have again.
Eddy, the mage, had healed her using his magic powers as she slept from being in shock. While dreaming, all she could think about was seeing the knife fly from Adrianna’s hands in painfully slow motion.
The military-grade knife, a blade small enough to carry around but large enough to do some serious damage, flipped through the air towards her side. In her dream, she tried to dodge the blade. But eventually, no matter how much she tried to duck away, the steel found her. The tip touched her side exactly like it had when Adrianna had chucked it at her. Apparently, Adrianna’s aim had been just a tad off. Cara was betting she was shooting for Cara’s heart, but she was about six inches off, which equated to way the heck better than Cara could do in the same scenario.
In the dream, it didn’t hurt.
It just…stuck there. She ended up staring at it. Unlike in the actual event, she’d clawed at it to no avail.
She finally awoke in a cold sweat, yelping and looking out for danger, but she was pleasantly surprised to find herself healed and protected by Reuben, her werewolf lover who had claimed her as his mate.
The whole situation sounded ridiculous, but this had become her life.
Much to Cara’s surprise, Adrianna, the assassin, was still tied up with the magic ties and gag that Eddy had fixed her up with. Waking from her dream, the two men were telling Cara they had to leave.
Reuben and Eddy were in the process of trying to get Adrianna out the window of the hotel room so they could get back into Eddy’s car. It made sense. If they ungagged the assassin right then, she’d just start yelling and someone at the hotel would eventually call the police… then they’d have to get on the road again.
They planned to interrogate her in the car, but first, they had to sneak her out. Reuben was trying to coax Adrianna out of the chair she was sitting in. Apparently, while Cara had been asleep, they’d told her what was going on.
“Are you going to get up?” Reuben asked.
The werewolf was scowling; it looked like they had been arguing for a while.
Adrianna shook her head and said something. The enchanted gag kept it from being even remotely intelligible, but based on her expression, she wasn’t saying nice things. And based on her furious expression, she was reciting a list of all the curse words in the English dictionary and beyond.
Reuben tossed back his shoulders dramatically.
“Adrianna, come on. Be reasonable. Quit making this hard. The only reason you’re not free right now is because we can’t trust you.”
She scowled. “MMMMMPPPHHHH.”
Reuben reached out for her gag.
“I’m going to take this gag off for a second,” he said. “Now, don’t scream—”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Eddy contributed from the corner. “Reuben, don’t do it. She’s got nothing to say. She can talk all she wants once we’re in the car.”
“She obviously wants to say something,” Reuben said. “I mean, we’ve got to give her a chance.”
Adrianna looked as surprised as anyone. Her eyes shot open; she stopped struggling against the magic bindings and stuck her head out. Reuben ignored Eddy’s advice and pulled off the gag. It looked funny because the gag was enchanted, so it looked like he was just reaching into Adrianna’s open mouth and grabbing air.
Immediately, Adrianna started screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Get her to shut up!” Eddy yelled, stepping in and karate chopping Adrianna in the throat.
Brutal, perhaps? No doubt about it, but then again, it did the job. She coughed and stopped screaming because she was too busy gagging and choking.
“Asshole!” she coughed.
Eddy snatched the gag from Reuben and stuffed it in Adrianna’s mouth.
“Let’s just... focus on getting her out to the car, okay?”
Reuben nodded. Together, he and Reuben physically picked her up. They almost fell over trying to pick her up. Both of them were straining from exertion.
“The hell is she made of?” Eddy choked out as they stumbled towards the door.
Adrianna whipped her head back, smashing him in the nose. She probably didn’t expect what happened—he pulled back and let her go. Reuben attempted to catch her in vain. Instead, she just hit the mini fridge and crashed to the floor.
“Sorry,” Reuben said, turning her up into a seated position. “Eddy, you okay?”
Eddy clutched his nose. A thin stream of red liquid leaked between his fingers.
“I think she actually broke my nose. I say we just toss her out the window and hope she hits the bushes.”
“We’re not going to hurt her,” Reuben said, evidently the mature one. “It’s not right. She’s our prisoner. She’s helpless.”
Cara decided it was time to jump in with her two cents, “Uh, let’s not forget that she stabbed me when she didn’t have to. I’m with Eddy.”
Eddy raised up a hand for her to high-five. She slapped it, prompting Eddy to brag a little.
“This girl knows what’s going on. Reuben, pay attention to your girl.”
Reuben ran a hand across his face in exasperation.
“We need to get her in the car. Eddy, you know I can’t do it without you. Cara, I’d ask you to help, but you still need rest, and besides, she weighs like ten times what you’d imagine.”
Adrianna was still coughing quietly. Eddy had hit her in the throat probably harder than was necessary, which is probably why she’d bopped him in the nose instead of just going amicably. Reuben grabbed her shirt and pulled her to her feet. She worked with him to stand up, though she favored the leg where Cara had shot her.
Reuben looked both of them in the eyes. Cara suddenly remembered how much of a leader he was. He liked to take control in every scenario she’d ever seen him in. Not in a bad or irritating way. It was just his personality.
“Eddy. Stop sulking. Come over here and help me out of this damn window.”
“I want to help,” Cara said.
“Don’t worry about it, love. Eddy and I can do it.”
Eddy wandered over, holding his nose and grumbling under his breath. He looked Adrianna in the eyes, which meant he had to look up. She was taller than both him and Cara. Reuben was the only one of the group that stood over the assassin.