by P. Jameson
He stirred, and lazily his eyes came open. One side of his mouth worked upward. “Sunshine,” he murmured, holding his hand out for her to come closer. “Com’ere.” His eyes drifted closed again and she was helpless not to move forward.
When her hand slipped into his, he pulled her down to the couch, right to his chest, like she’d wanted.
“Sleep with me. When we wake up, I have so much to tell you.” He thought she didn’t know what he’d told the others. Thought she didn’t know why he couldn’t offer her a future like she wanted. She knew how a shifter had only one intended mate. If Mason was already mated, he couldn’t be hers.
But he didn’t seem upset. He seemed… relieved.
And deep down, she was too. This way, when she did the hard thing she was planning, it wouldn’t hurt him. He wouldn’t mourn her.
Adira rested her head on his chest and his arm came around, locking her in place. Right against my heart where you belong, his thought drew tears to her eyes. She didn’t belong there though. “Right where I want you,” he slurred, sleep pulling him under again.
But just to make sure he stayed that way, she uttered the words to a spell. “Altum somnum, sleep deep.”
“What was that, Sunshine?” he murmured.
“Nothing.” Tears trailed over her cheeks as she repeated the phrase two more times, drawing power from the few remaining moonrays that still shone through the window, until a soft snore filled the room.
He was under. Safe to let her pain come to the surface. To say her goodbyes. Gripping his t-shirt tightly, she let her tears say everything for her. And when she was empty, she matched her breath to his, following the pattern of the rise and fall of his chest until she was calm enough to leave.
Easing from his grip was painful, but she did it. Walking to the door was like a knife in her back, but she did it. Taking one last look at the werecat that snagged her heart, she let the words she’d been struggling to hold in for a week now fly.
“I love you.”
I love you, she heard him say in her head. But then she realized it was the darkness, playing with her. Giving her what she wanted to keep her here. The darkness had her, well and good.
But not for long.
Chapter Thirteen
Mason came awake to the feeling of someone shaking him wildly. He felt like the ball inside a spray paint can. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t open his eyes.
“It’s working,” a deep voice grumbled. Gash?
Mason groaned, trying to speak.
“Keep up whatever you’re doing, witch.” It was definitely Gash. And in the future Mason knew who to call if he needed help mixing paint.
He pushed at the fog that seemed to be wrapped around his brain while a voice nearby mumbled incoherently. A different language. It reminded him of… of… the words the Sorcera used to cast spells.
“Almost there,” Gash said, still shaking Mason like a rag doll. “Come on, cat. Wake the fuck up. We need you.”
The Sorcera repeated the spell. Gash never let up on the shaking. And by the time she was finished, Mason was able to crack his lids open. Gash and Mirena stared down at him.
“The hell?” he croaked, his voice raspy from how deep he slept. “What time is it?”
“Dusk,” she answered. Her voice had a worried edge.
Mason sat, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. Dusk. He’d slept the entire day? How was that possible?
“We have a problem,” Gash said, sending Mason’s hackles up. “Adira is gone.”
Mason jerked his gaze to the shifter. “What?”
“She’s gone. She left. Put some kind of sleeping spell on you, left all her things, and took off with that… that… male.”
What male? His cougar snarled inside. Mine.
“Father Isaac,” Mirena corrected.
Mason blinked thinking he’d heard her wrong. “Father Isaac?”
But Mirena nodded, her head bobbing rapidly on her shoulders. “He’s here because of the equinox. Adira left with him, and I don’t think she’s coming back.”
None of this made sense. Sunshine left him? Left the lodge she loved? Left her sisters? Without so much as a goodbye. How could this be happening now, after he’d finally conquered his demons. After he was finally forgiven and free. When he knew what to do to save her. He was going to give her a baby, anchor her to her light so they could be together forever.
“Shit.”
Mirena nodded, wringing her hands. “Nastia followed her, but Mason… this isn’t good. This is… well…”
“Tell him,” Gash urged.
But the Sorcera’s gaze had gone watery. “Father Isaac is going to help cancel her out so the darkness doesn’t consume her.”
Cancel her out. Fuck, that sounded ominous. The lion inside snarled and hissed, wanting out to find his mate.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Mirena glanced nervously at Gash before she answered. “He… he’s going to send her back to the mystics so she can’t become a Magei.”
It took ten seconds for Mirena’s words to make sense, and when they finally did, Mason went feral. He stiffened, everything narrowing to a pinpoint of clarity. Nothing else mattered. Nothing that happened before her, and nothing that would happen later.
Mate is in danger. Find mate.
With a growl, he spun for the door, yanking it open and stalking into the hallway.
“Which way did they go?” he snarled.
“Out the front.” Mirena had to walk double time to keep up with him. “Took the path into the woods. Not sure where they were heading.”
Mason entered the lobby and didn’t stop as he headed for the front door. “Magic!” he called. “Gash, get everybody. Send them to the woods. We find her. Now.”
Magic appeared in the dining room entrance, sandwich in one hand, frown creasing his brow.
“It’s Sunshine,” Mason shot out. “We have to find her now. Gash will explain.”
He pushed through the door and pounded down the steps, Mirena still hot on his trail.
“What are you going to do?”
“She’s mine,” he rumbled. “No one is going to cancel her out. Understand?”
“She chose this. Father Isaac didn’t take her. He’s not forcing this upon her. We decided this was how it would be if any of us couldn’t anchor.”
Mason shook his head as he turned down the trail that led deep into the woods, slapping away tree branches.
“She doesn’t know…” he muttered. He hadn’t told her. He shouldn’t have slept. He should have taken her back to her room and showed her. He should’ve…
“Doesn’t know what?” Mirena huffed.
“That she’s mine. That I can give her what she needs. I can do it now. Give her a baby. That I… shit, I love her.”
His mountain lion clawed at his insides demanding to be let out. Find mate. Mark her. Keep her.
“I made her sick!” Mirena blurted on a sob.
Mason’s steps faltered and he turned to stare at the Sorcera.
“I cast a spell to make her sick, hoping your protective instincts would kick in and start the mating for you. I didn’t know you’d had another. I didn’t know about the mistake of your past. I thought… I thought it would help grow your bond. But now I think it just gave Adira the idea she was closer to transitioning. What if she’s mistaken it for darkness?”
Shit. That explained the secret conversation between Mirena and Nastia in the dining room.
Mason shook his shoulders out. “We have to find her. Can you locate her with a spell?”
“No. They’ve cloaked themselves. Can you feel her with your bond?”
He could, but it was so weak. How could they have grown weaker in only hours. Goddamn it.
Should have marked her. Claimed her.
His animal had been right about all of this. Time to trust the lion again now.
Without warning, his animal burst forth with a ferocious snarl causing
Mirena to jump. Golden fur smoothed over his skin and sharp claws sank into the damp, hot earth. He lifted his nose to the air, inhaling long and deep until her scent danced along his senses.
My mate. I’m coming for you.
He took off through the trees, not caring if Mirena followed. He could already sense his brothers and sisters taking to the woods. They’d all find their way.
And together they’d stop her from making a lethal mistake. Together. It was the Ouachita way.
***
Adira paced the clearing that had become oh so familiar to her in the past few months. It backed up against a steep, rocky cliff, and opened so wide to the sky, it was the perfect place to commune with the mystics. They’d defeated the Alley Cats here. Asked the mystics to help Mirena and Theo. She could think of no better place to meet her end.
She stared across the field where Father Isaac and Nastia argued. She waved her arms in frustration and his dark eyebrows formed a crease over his eyes, his dark hair, longer on the top, falling in his face like a curtain. But it didn’t shield his scorn.
He wasn’t happy to see what Nastia had become. Wasn’t happy that Mirena and Adira had turned her into something that could be dangerous. There was no telling what would happen when her and Thames tried for young. No telling what the word Daybreaker would mean twenty years down the road. Or fifty, or one hundred. But they hadn’t thought of that when they’d cast the spell. They’d only thought of saving her.
Maybe it had been Adira’s first mistake. Her first brush with darkness.
Now Nastia argued against what Adira had called him here to do. She was desperate for her to wait until the equinox. To draw out every last moment they had together. To fight until they couldn’t anymore. But that was not a noble way to go, and Nastia didn’t understand the darkness was already here.
“Do you feel any darkness on her?” she demanded, arm flung toward Adira, face inches from Father Isaac’s. Never before would any of them have considered talking to him with such lack of respect.
But they were each new creatures, weren’t they?
He straightened to his full height. He was tall and muscular like the bears, and looked too young to be called father in the paternal sense. But he wore the black and white garb of a priest.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “My magic is confused by that of the animals’. I did expect her to be much worse.” He frowned at Adira, confused.
Worse? She was overcome with sickness just yesterday. The symptoms left, only to be replaced by the troublesome voice in her head. Sure, it was Mason’s, but the darkness was tricking her with things she desired to hear. It was why nothing made sense. His actions conflicted with his words and his words conflicted with his thoughts.
“Adira, child…” Father Isaac shook his head, expression more troubled than she’d ever seen it. “I think your sister is right. We should wait. I don’t feel the darkness in you. Not like I should when you’re this close to a transition. Something is off here.”
Nastia breathed a sigh of relief, her shoulders sinking.
“No. We do this tonight. We have to. It’s right.” She was going to lose her nerve if she waited.
“What you’re asking is…” Father Isaac struggled for words. And she’d never seen him struggle. “Adira, it goes against everything I know. I can’t help you do this to yourself when I’m not sure you’re lost. Child, think. Feel. You still hold light.”
Light. There was still some, yes. She had easily bespelled Mason to sleep. Hadn’t even struggled now that she thought about it.
But what about the new young. The clan was perfect. Complete. Safe. She didn’t want to bring them pain. Didn’t want them to have to fight anymore. She wanted to leave them better than she’d found them.
“Sister, please,” Nastia murmured. “Your time isn’t up yet.”
But it would be soon, and she needed to know her clan was okay. Right now, while she still could. While the darkness didn’t have complete control of her.
With her eyes, she begged Nastia to see her reason. “Remember that helpless feeling of being used by evil to hurt the ones you love. I can’t do that, sister, can’t go there, I must rise above. While I can. Understand?”
A frustrated roar filled her head and she clapped her hands over her ears. It was Mason. He was awake and he was angry.
Mine. Mate. Find her. Claim her.
Adira shook her head. “No. No, no.”
Mason wouldn’t think these things. The darkness was getting closer.
“We have to do this n-n-now,” she cried.
But Father Isaac set his jaw stubbornly. “I won’t help you, Adira. Not when there’s still a chance you could be anchored.”
“No.” She shook her head so hard tendrils of her hair stuck across her tear-streaked face. “I-I-I’m not. I’m not. I’ve already done dark things. Have dark powers. Magic I shouldn’t have, Father.”
“What powers? What magic, child? Tell me.”
Have to reach mate. So close. Can’t lose her.
She could feel Mason’s desperation. It matched her own. And the pain, the fear, she felt it deep in her chest like she had earlier when they were together in her bed. Had the darkness been tricking her even then?
Adira held her stomach, gripped her collar trying to get air, to get the aching to stop.
“This,” she gasped. “I can h-h-hear him. His thoughts. His fears. His pain. He’s… mmm,” she cut off on a whimper as new words filtered through her mind.
You can hear me, Sunshine? Is that right? Well, hear this, mate. I’m almost there, and when I find you, I’m going to ruin you for all others. I’m going to give you my mark. Give you my young. Keep you forever. You think the darkness is fierce? But you haven’t battled me. You think you can’t beat it, but I’m going to prove you wrong.
“I don’t understand,” Nastia said. “What is happening?”
“Darkness! It has me, sister. I can hear Mason’s thoughts. Pieces of them. They’re jumbled and confusing. The darkness is twisting things in my head. I can’t make sense of anything. Except this, returning to the mystics, keeping the clan safe.”
Father Isaac frowned hard. “You can… hear the shifter, Adira? His voice? His thoughts?”
She nodded, peering at the trees. Mason was close. Their connection growing stronger. And he’d heard her declaration.
If only she could tell what was him and what was the dark power.
“Are you sure it’s darkness?” Nastia asked, looking back and forth between her and Father Isaac. “Maybe… maybe it’s just a mating bond. Father, please. Tell her.”
But he had gone stone still. Calm as the lake at midnight. He narrowed his gaze at Adira, searching, considering.
When he finally spoke, her heart went sad and glad at the very same time. “We do the spell now. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she sobbed.
Father Isaac nodded once, walking to the center of the clearing where the moon shone bright from above. Adira followed, ignoring Nastia’s objections. Stopping in front of him, she squeezed her eyes closed and he settled his hands on her shoulders.
He began chanting the incantation, his smooth voice drifting up into the black night to reach the mystics.
“Reditum donum.” Return home. “Ad animum.” Back to the soul. “Reditum donum. Power to power, fate to fate. Ad animum. Light to light, don’t separate. Reditum donum. Ad animum.”
It was the same spell she and her sisters used on the shifters their first night at the lodge. The spell that put their animals back inside. The spell that proved the Sorceras’ worth, and made them allies. Made them family.
Perfect last words.
A furious roar split the air, sending chills over her skin, and her eyes flew open to see Mason in his cougar form racing across the field toward them. His ears pulled back in determination, animal eyes lasered on her like she was his prey and he intended on devouring her. He took her breath away, and for the first time, she doubt
ed what she was doing.
But Father Isaac’s chant rattled on, creating a cocoon of power around them. Nastia screamed for Mason to stop but her words were lifted on the breeze created by Father Isaac’s connection to the mystics.
He was the most powerful light magic user on earth even though it didn’t burst out of him as it had with Adira. He contained less light, but gifted by the mystics, he could wield it better than any other. He didn’t need a circle of three. He didn’t need to channel power from any others to cast his spells. If he hadn’t anchored, he would have been a most deadly Magei.
But here, now, his eyes glowing bright as he communed with the lights above, he shot one hand in Mason’s direction, and the cougar came to a screeching halt, teeth bared in a threatening roar.
“Reditum donum. Power to power, fate to fate. Ad animum. Light to light, don’t separate,” Father Isaac continued, as if he wasn’t holding an angry shifter at bay.
Through her tears, Adira watched as the others of her clan bounded out from the trees, wide-eyed and snarling. Magic, Gash, Theo and Thames. All in their animal form. Mirena ran forward until she reached Nastia. Her gaze was disbelieving, and Adira faltered even more. She hadn’t even told them goodbye. Eagan, Layna, Owyn, and Doc emerged as mountain cats. They circled around behind Adira, hissing and spitting their fury. The humans, Clara and Ryan came last, but no less angry at the scene before them. Clara twirled a long knife in her hand as she stealthily circled the others, as if looking for a way past the swirling magic so she could take off Father Isaac’s head.
Sunshine.
Her name in her head brought her gaze back to her cougar.
You’re mine.
You’re mine. It sounded the same as it had when they were together in her bed. When he’d cherished her so thoroughly that for a moment, she believed they could have a future.
Mason glared at her, bringing more tears until she forced her eyes closed. This was right. This was how she kept them safe. This was how she kept the darkness from Ouachita.