by Laken Cane
“What do you want from me?”
“I want a spell of protection for Eli.”
She opened her mouth and then forgot to close it—she gaped at him for a full minute before finally finding her words. “You want what?”
He didn’t answer, just watched her and waited for her to process his request.
“Eli doesn’t know you’re here, does he?”
“No.”
“He would be irate if he knew you were asking for a spell. Irate. He will never accept protection while the rest of you are at risk.”
“He doesn’t need to know he’s accepting it.”
“Oh, Noah,” she said, getting to her feet. “You don’t respect your alpha.”
He stood as well, seeming to displace all the air with his large body and overwhelming presence.
She held her wand before her to ward him off, though he hadn’t taken a single step forward.
“Ms. Cameron. Please. Hear me out.” He kept his voice soft, gentle and as unthreatening as he could make it.
It didn’t help.
“I don’t know a lot about pack dynamics,” she murmured, “but I’m nearly certain Eli will banish you or at the very least beat you for what you’ve just done. And I want nothing to do with this. The last thing I want is to give Eli another reason to hate me.” She shuddered.
He sighed. “You’re being melodramatic.”
“Am I?” She backed slowly away from him, wand trained on his chest. “Really? Don’t move. I’m going to give Eli a call.”
She leaned over slightly and scooped her phone off an end table.
“I can’t let you do that, Ms. Cameron.”
“You can’t stop me.” She kept the wand pointed at him as she started punching in Eli’s number.
“Wait,” he said. “Just listen to what I have to say. And if afterward you still feel the need to…tattle on me, then I won’t try to stop you.”
“I don’t think so. I learned my lesson. I swore to Eli—and myself—that I’d never give another one of you a spell.” She shook her head. “I’m surprised at you, Mr. Redwood.”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. “Not give. There’s five thousand dollars here. You can have it all—just help me protect him. Please. When the talisman is no longer charged, our luck will not simply leave. It will turn bad. You know that.” He stared. “You caused this. The least you can do is protect him.” He hesitated. “Protect us.”
The wand wobbled. “He’s a powerful alpha. He’ll be fine. He’ll protect you.”
Chaos and darkness…
“It’s coming, Abby.”
She shivered.
“Normally, yes—but with the talisman gone we will be fighting forces other than rival packs and rogues, Ms. Cameron.”
“Abby,” she said, absently. He was right.
She knew he was right.
The risks were great with the talisman gone—the forces that had protected them all the previous years would grow angry, malevolent, and deadly.
She knew.
But still…
“I can’t,” she whispered. “Eli wouldn’t forgive me for that.”
He frowned. “So don’t tell him. We need him alive. And why the hell does it matter if he forgives you or not?”
She felt her face suffuse with heat. Why, indeed?
“Ah,” he said, and the word slid from between his lips and into the stifling air like a shameful accusation.
When she dared look at him again, she saw only pity in his eyes.
He didn’t look shocked or disgusted or superior. Just sympathetic.
She straightened her spine and stared him down. “I can’t give you the spell, Mr. Redwood. Please leave.”
He blew out a deep breath. “The alpha’s blood will be on your hands.”
She nodded. “I know.”
And she wondered if she’d made the right decision.
If a spell would save his life, so what if he got angry with her? So what if she betrayed his slowly growing trust?
Eli, with a protection spell, could defend and protect not only himself, but his pack. Waifwater, even.
Noah was right.
And just like that, she made her decision. “Mr. Redwood, I’ve de—”
But Noah grabbed her wrist so suddenly and with such painful force she had a single second to think her wrist had broken before he tore the wand from her grasp, threw it across the room, and jerked her against his chest.
He had his large, hot hand clamped over her mouth and nose and she couldn’t breathe, could barely think as he squeezed her body so hard there was nothing but red pain.
And fear.
Oh yes, there was fear.
She struggled against him, staring desperately toward the spell room. If only she could make it to the spell room…
“Calm down,” he bit out, when she stomped his instep. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She jerked her head violently back and forth—if he didn’t move his hand soon, she was going to pass out from lack of air.
And finally, he took his hand from her mouth.
“Eli will kill you,” was the first thing she said.
“Lady, I hate to have to break your heart, but Eli doesn’t feel about you the way you feel about him. He thinks of you as a damaged little sister. So you need to get over yourself and help us all the fuck out.”
She thrashed in his arms, but he merely tightened his grip.
“Now. I need a spell of protection for my alpha. You gave the enemy a spell, and the only way to make up for that is to give us one. If you won’t give it to me willingly, I’ll have to force you to.”
“You can’t force a spell.”
“Oh,” he said, his voice smooth and soft, “I think I can.”
She had one chance, and she took it. She opened her mouth and gave voice to every fear she’d ever had. She screamed.
Sadie and Elmer heard her desperate call, and they answered.
They crashed through the large, plate glass living room window, mad as rabid, injured dogs.
But Noah was a wolf, and wolves weren’t known to panic—he turned, and he took her with him. Her body was his shield.
The dogs skidded to a halt and stared the wolf down. They looked nothing like the adorable, loudmouthed coonhounds they were.
They shuddered, their heads low, growls deep, eyes red as fire.
Whatever happened, she was going to get hurt. She accepted it.
“Sadie,” she said, softly, so softly. “Elmer. Kill the wolf.”
They didn’t even hesitate.
Springing fiercely, they went for Noah’s throat.
He shoved Abby away from him—shocking her—and before she hit the wall and bounced off it to crash to the floor, Noah had shifted and the fight was on.
She kept her mind off the ensuing screams and growls and howls and concentrated on only one thing.
Getting to her wand.
The fight seemed to go on for hours, but in reality, maybe three minutes passed before she spotted her wand—and if she’d have reached it a minute later than she did, Noah Redwood would have been dead.
He was a wolf, true enough, but the dogs were hounds from hell, and they tore into him with a vicious bloodlust that shook her, even though she’d seen them in action before.
He gave a good fight, but still. They would have killed him.
She threw herself at her wand, trying to keep herself from getting bitten or mauled by the three animals fighting in her living room.
She leapt to her feet, wand in hand. “Stop!”
The dogs screamed. That was the only word for it.
They did not want to stop.
But she’d commanded it and they were, as her familiars, bound to obey her. So they screamed in rage and frustration and threw themselves off the mangled wolf.
Then they leapt back out through the window, but they didn’t go far. She saw their glowing red eyes staring angrily through the shat
tered glass. Waiting. Hoping, probably, for another chance at Noah the Wolf.
And the wolf was healing himself.
She aimed her wand, wanting only to force him into human form so he couldn’t heal and attack her.
She whispered something, she must have, but she would never remember the words. They did not matter.
What mattered was the wand was alive, and it was an obedient wand. Her energy, thoughts, and desires were transferred through it. Transformed into power, they burst from the wand and hit the wolf.
And he shifted to human form.
“My goodness.” She stared at the wand. “My goodness…”
Sadie bayed outside the window, then Elmer joined her.
Someone else had decided to join the party.
“This does not bode well,” she muttered. She aimed the wand once more at Noah. “Do not move,” she ordered, and immediately his entire, bloody body stiffened, and he lay like a fossilized bug.
He didn’t even blink his staring eyes.
She pushed away the immediate feeling of guilt and ran to the shattered window, just in time to see Eli shift from wolf to man and race toward her house.
“Abby,” he shouted.
Sadie and Elmer loped beside him, red-stained muzzles dripping, death in their eyes.
Eli shoved open the door and the sound of it crashing against the wall unfroze her feet.
She had to head him off before he caught a glimpse of the downed Noah.
He grabbed her shoulders. “Are you okay? Why is Noah here? Where is he?” He shook her, and none too gently. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Eli, I’m fine.” She squirmed out of his hard grip. “Why are you here?”
“I’d started the search with a few of my wolves. I felt one of my pack was in trouble. But…” He hesitated. “I felt you, too, I think.”
“I screamed.” She pressed a hand against her stomach. “You heard me?”
He stared at her for a long moment, a moment thick and heavy with something she didn’t understand.
Or maybe she was just afraid.
“Why did you scream?” Rage began to move through his eyes. “What happened?”
She swallowed. “You’re going to be upset.”
He shook her. “Abby!”
“Noah came to get a spell of protection. I refused to give it to him, and he turned violent.” She waited.
He stared down at her, the emotions running across his face going from worry to rage to disbelief. “Noah would never hurt you.”
“He did, though. He’s terrified, Eli. He thinks you’re going to die. That the pack is going to die.”
He took a step back, then turned without another word and walked into the living room. She followed him.
“Release him,” Eli said, without looking at her.
She waved her wand, and Noah burst free from his frozen state. He shifted immediately and sprinted past her, then out the front doorway.
His howls faded into the distance.
And then she and Eli were alone.
Chapter Sixteen
She didn’t need for him to say anything. She saw the distrust in his eyes. She saw the doubt.
He said it anyway.
“Noah would not hurt you, and he would never ask that you protect him with a spell.”
“Not him,” she said, not looking at him. She could not trust him with her face and had no mask handy with which to cover herself. “You. He wanted the spell of protection for you.”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Eli, I—”
“Enough, Abby. You’ve caused trouble for my pack from the moment Brooke drove up to see you. You should have turned her away.”
“I know I should have,” she cried. “I know that.”
She pressed her fist to her lips and forced herself calm, then pointed at the doorway through which Noah had fled. “I didn’t give him the spell, but he was right. You need protection against whatever is coming. I was about to give in when he grabbed me.”
His stare was so intense she covered her face with her hands.
“Don’t look at me,” she begged.
He leaned down until he was face to face with her, but did not try to move her hands off her face. “You don’t want to put a spell on me. That would be a very bad mistake. Am I clear?”
She nodded.
Becky charged through the doorway. “Get the fuck away from her.”
He straightened, and Abby could feel him watching her.
“I’ll send someone to replace your window,” he said, finally.
And then, he was gone.
Becky dropped the grocery bags to the floor, then pulled Abby into her arms. “What happened?”
But first, Abby had to cry. The stress, the drama…it was just too much and she needed a minute.
She finally pulled away, straightened her spine, and told Becky what had happened.
“Busy morning,” Becky said, her voice tight. She picked the bags up off the floor, and Abby followed her into the kitchen. “Men are more trouble than they’re worth.”
“I’m going to do the spell of protection,” Abby said, separating her supplies from her mother’s.
Becky stared at her. “No.”
“He’s in danger, Becky. His pack, this town…” She shook her head. “We need him.”
Becky took the frozen peas from her, set them on the table, then took her hands. “That would be wrong. You don’t do things that are wrong. If you bespell the alpha, he will hate you.”
“I don’t care.” But her voice hitched and she couldn’t look Becky in the eye. She cared. She cared more than she should have.
“Abby.” Becky’s voice was sharp and so uncharacteristically angry that Abby looked up. “Don’t do it. You’d never forgive yourself for doing something so unfair and treacherous to another person. You are better than that.”
“I can help keep him safe.”
“It’s his body, his life, and his choice. You don’t have the right.”
“Even if it affects everyone else as well?”
“Even then. But you know that.” She moved closer. “You know that.”
“Why do you care so much, Becky?”
They stared at each other for a long, long moment. The past was there in both their faces. “Because we’ve both had things done to us without our permission. It changed us. Hurt us. You don’t realize it, but you and your—your goodness—that’s what keeps me…” Becky stopped and put a hand to her mouth. “You’re so strong and you are so fucking good.”
Abby wrapped her arms around the emotional empath. “I won’t. I won’t do it. I’m sorry for even thinking it.”
“Swear it,” Becky entreated.
“I swear.”
“You wouldn’t be you if you bespelled someone against their will, Abby.”
Abby frowned. Something was going on with Becky. Something big. But the girl wasn’t talking. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just…I’m fine.”
Abby drew back. “You’re scaring me. You’ve been weird since you arrived. What is wrong, Beck?”
At last, Becky laughed. “I’ve grown up, I think. Abby, let me visit Basilia with you. I need her.”
Before, Becky would not have asked. She wouldn’t have put Abby on the spot, either. But Becky had changed.
“Becky…”
“She’s the closest thing to a mother I ever had.”
“She misses you, as well,” Abby murmured. “It’s just…”
Becky inclined her head. “It’s okay. I understand.”
Abby finished putting the groceries away, unsettled.
Why was she feeling so uneasy?
Was the darkness in Waifwater already descending?
“You feel it,” Becky said, getting a glass of water. “It’s making you anxious. You must be picking it up from me.” She smiled, but it was a sad smile. “I feel what you’re feeling now, only magnified a thousand times. Every minute of ever
y day. At least, I did before…”
“Before?”
Becky took a long drink of water, then set the glass on the countertop. “You wanted to know about my love.”
Abby nodded.
“He calms me. When I’m around him, the anxiety goes away. You know how I taught you to build and then keep up those walls?”
“Yes.”
“My own walls were so thick and high even I could no longer scale them.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t a bad thing, but I became something of an automaton over the years.” She smiled at Abby. “That’s the Becky you’ve come to know and love.”
“He…broke down your walls?”
Becky laughed. “He made me want to live. I fell for him hard, Abby. With him in my life, I could deal with everything else. What you see now is me being…normal. And,” she added, grinning, “a little giddy.”
“Oh, honey. I am thrilled for you,” Abby said. “You deserve happiness, my friend.”
“We both do.”
“Yeah. Yeah, we do.” Abby shoved a box of crackers into the pantry. “We really do. Becky, my mother isn’t alone in the pocket.”
Becky didn’t look surprised. “I knew you’d taken someone in to be with her, but I didn’t parse the details.”
“The girl with her is…different. And dangerous. I’m not sure it would be smart to expose you to her.”
Becky smiled. “I can take care of myself.”
Abby nodded. “Mother and I would protect you. I can let Jewel know you’re a friend, and most likely she won’t think of harming you. But there’s that small chance.”
Becky’s eyes were bright. “Abby…”
Abby dusted her hands, the picked up her mother’s supply bag. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Into the pocket. I trust you, Beck. I should never have kept Mother from you.”
Becky’s eyes filled. “Thanks, Abby,” she whispered.
She needed to trust someone with her mother and her half-sister.
If something happened to her, Becky would take over. She’d be there for them.
Abby had gone through hell with Becky, and if she couldn’t trust the empath, she couldn’t trust anyone.
So for the first time since it’d been created, Abby took an outsider into the pocket.