by Maggie Walsh
“Yeah. Who just so happens to have two hot mates of his own,” Maddy snorted.
“Right?” Sage asked. “How come you two got two and I didn’t?” Sage huffed.
“Am I not enough for you, sweetness?” Slade asked curiously.
Sage raised his head quickly and met Slade’s gaze. “No, my mate, you are more than enough for me. I was just teasing. Fate gave me the perfect mate. You are everything I ever wanted and everything I will ever need. And I love you,” Sage replied anxiously.
“I know, Sage,” Slade replied with a smile. He placed a finger under Sage’s chin and kissed his lips softly. “I like seeing you tease your brother and father. For one, they both deserve it. Also because you truly have your family now, and that makes me happy for you.” Sage’s cute little smile and the blush that rose up his cheeks made him even sexier to Slade, and all he wanted to do was kiss and hold his mate for hours before he made love to him forever.
Micah cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention and he looked directly at Sage. “What did you mean by letting Francis claim the power?”
“I heard what you all were saying. If we let Francis claim some power it should destroy him. Then Maddy and I, with the help of our familiar, Oliver, can then claim it.”
A wicked smile broke out across Micah’s face and Slade wondered exactly what thoughts the alpha had. From the look in his eye, his plan was a doozy.
* * * *
The road was dark and empty as Sage and Slade walked hand in hand down the center toward Allison’s abandoned house. The sky was filled with clouds so thick not even a sliver of the moon’s light could be seen, causing an eerie feeling to the deserted neighborhood. No wind blew and there wasn’t even the sound of frogs or crickets. It was as if the world here knew what was to come, and it and all its creatures were holding their breath.
As they stopped at the curb before the house, a jingling sound caught their attention and they looked to the front door to find a white cat with black eyes exit the dilapidated structure. The cat slowly slunk down the rickety steps and stopped halfway to them.
“Are you my familiar?” Sage asked. The cat closed his eyes and dipped his head low, then raised it and looked at Sage once again.
“The power calls to me. I feel it pulling me here. So what do we do now? Will it hurt? Will I be evil?” Sage asked fearfully.
The cat shook its head and the jingling sound came again. “I think he’s trying to tell you something, sweetness,” Slade whispered. The cat nodded again.
Slowly they walked toward the cat, each looking around for any signs of danger. When they reached the feline, Sage knelt down before it and looked into the cat’s eyes. “What now?”
His familiar lifted its head, exposing its throat and the collar. He shook his head again and the jewel attached to the collar jingled. “Should I take this off, little guy?” Sage asked and the cat nodded. Sage reached around the cat’s neck and unclasped the buckle, then slid the collar off. He stood and showed it to Slade. “It has some kind of words on here, but I don’t understand them.
“Let me see, mate.” Slade took the collar from Sage and studied the words. “I think it’s Latin.”
“Do you know what it says?” Sage asked.
“My Latin is a little rusty but let me think. Vestri posterus est hic. Potentiam tuam et nunc tua. Et modo est libero.”
“And what does it mean in English?” Sage huffed.
Slade gave him a smile and chuckled. “It means, Your future lies here. Your power is now yours. He is now free.”
Sage looked around, waiting for something to happen, but everything stayed the same. He looked back to Slade. “So is that it? I thought it would be something more…I don’t know…explosive. Does this mean that I now just have them?”
“I don―” Slade began to answer but was cut off.
A light grew behind the cat and suddenly Francis appeared. “No, that means that my time has come,” Francis said joyfully, reached out, and snatched the collar from Slade’s hand.
Slade made a move to grab it back, but Francis moved away quickly.
“I won’t let you take it, Francis. That power belongs to me,” Sage cried.
“I knew you couldn’t resist the pull of the Tribeca. All I had to do was to beat you here, before the sun went down, and sit and wait for you to come to me. I thought you were smarter than that, Anthony.”
“I couldn’t stay away,” Sage whispered in horror.
“Of course not. I told you the power of the Tribeca clan was too strong. And you are too damn weak to control it. Magic of this magnitude belongs to someone who can yield it and use it to its full potential. Now the time has come for me to claim it. Come to me, cat.” Francis reached for the cat, but it quickly ran, heading to the house.
“Stop! Please. Just don’t hurt him. He has nothing to do with this.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, stupid boy. Your familiar guards the magic and if he is alive, then it will only go to you. He will see to it. But with him out of the way, the power is mine for the taking. The veil is weak today because of your birthday. So this should be a piece of cake.”
“No! I will not let you claim it. I will fight you to the death for it, Francis. It belongs to me,” Sage raged.
“Sweetness, no!” Slade demanded and grabbed Sage’s arm.
Sage tore his arm from Slade’s grasp and met his gaze. “It’s mine!” Sage screamed as he held out his hand and a bolt of electricity shot out and hit Francis in the chest, throwing him back about a hundred feet.
Francis grunted as he landed on his ass hard. He shook his head, then looked at Sage with murder in his eyes. He raised his hand as he called out, “Fluat spatii perdas pedes ardorem temperare potestas mea.” Sage flew into the air, twisting and turning. Then a flame engulfed his body.
Slade tried to grab for him, but his hands burned as he touched Sage. He tried to fight past the pain and pull his mate back, but the heat was too great. “Extinctus,” Slade yelled and immediately the flames died.
“You are an insignificant daywalker. How do you have magic?” Francis seethed.
Slade wrapped his hands around Sage’s arms and pulled him down as he commanded, “Liceat mihi temperare hominem demitto et venistis ad me.” Sage’s body lowered and Slade brought him back to his feet. Once he was steady, Slade cast another spell. “Eamque transgredi et dimittes eum liberum.”
“No! How can this be?” Francis bellowed.
Sage looked to him with a smirk. “Not everything is as the eye can see.”
“So you have taught your lap dog a few spells. I will still defeat you and claim your power.” Francis held up the collar in front of his face and chanted. “Aperire et venistis ad me. Unum vinculum cum liberabit vos.” Francis closed his eyes as a look of bliss crossed his face. After a moment, his face changed to confusion and he opened his eyes and stared at the collar. “What is this? Why did it not come to me?”
“Because you said, ‘Open up and come to me. Bond with the one who set you free.’ And the powers that were bound to that medallion have already bound themselves to the one who set them free. His name is Rory, and that is his gemstone,” Maddy said as he stepped up next to Sage. Maddy gave Francis an evil smirk and held up his hand. Enclosed was a white collar with a black stone with small white swirls. “This is the stone of the Tribeca. The black onyx, the stone of power. The one you hold is a moonstone and its power already answers to its master.”
Francis just stared at Maddy in confusion and disbelief as his words penetrated. Francis looked to the collar in his hand, then to the one Maddy held, before he shifted his gaze back to Maddy’s face. “Who are you?” Francis whispered cautiously.
“A surprise,” Maddy said happily and gave Francis a bright smile.
“I thought I was the surprise?” Sage said to Maddy.
“Well, you were certainly a surprise to me, but I think I’m a bigger surprise. Well, at least to this asshole anyway,” Maddy answ
ered with a shrug.
“Give me the medallion and I will let you live,” Francis commanded.
Maddy turned back to Francis. “What this? Now why the hell would I do that? All you’re going to do is steal the power inside it.”
Francis licked his lips, then narrowed his eyes and gave Maddy an evil look. “Idcirco praecipio tibi ut venires ad me.”
The collar broke free of Maddy’s grasp and flew across the space, landing in Francis’s hand. “Now I will take what I deserve.” Francis started to chant over the charm and a small light engulfed his hand. Suddenly he hissed and opened his hand. The collar dropped to the ground and Francis grabbed the burnt hand with his other. “What is the meaning of this? Those powers should have answered to me,” he hissed.
“The powers within that stone did answer to you, Francis. That’s why your hand is burned and is now starting to shrivel up and turn black,” Sage answered calmly.
“What have you done?” Francis yelled in outrage.
“Gave you exactly what you deserve. What, did you think the power of the Tribeca was in there?” Sage asked.
“He must really think we’re stupid if he thought we would show up with the real stone,” Maddy added.
“Right? I told you he was full of himself,” Sage replied.
“Who are you?” Francis seethed at Maddy.
“Me? I’m nobody but a lowly wolf shifter. Oh, and Sage’s twin brother,” Maddy answered happily.
They stood there and watched the different emotions cross Francis’s eyes. First confusion, then shock, followed by understanding of what Sage’s having a twin implied, then finally fury. “You lie! That whore of a witch that birthed you did not have twins! She only raised one boy.”
“Actually, she did. I was the one she raised, while Sage was put up for adoption. Now we have been reunited,” Maddy explained.
“And lucky for us, we are both here on our birthday to claim what is ours,” Sage added.
“I have worked too hard and for too long to allow you two nothings to claim all that power. The day has finally come and it belongs to me!” Francis raged. He held out his hand and a bolt of energy flew toward them.
Maddy held up both his hands, palms toward Francis, and blocked the wave. Sage immediately cast a counterspell and a bolt of electricity burst from his hand toward Francis. Francis moved quickly, dodging the hit and fighting back. Sage, Maddy, and Slade all dove out of the way as a stream of fire, with veins of electricity running through it came at them.
Maddy quickly rolled to his feet and vaulted toward Francis. He wrapped his arms around the skinwalker’s waist, and let the momentum take them both to the ground with Maddy on top. Francis hit and kicked, thrashing to get free. Maddy sat up, straddling Francis’s hips and began to rain blow after blow to Francis’s body and face.
Maddy was thrown off Francis and rose into the air, and Francis got to his feet. As Maddy came back toward the ground at a fast rate, Sage held out his hands, stopping him in midair and slowly lowered him.
As Sage’s attention was on Maddy, Francis took advantage and sent another stream of fire toward them. Maddy grabbed Sage’s hand and they both raised their free ones toward Francis. The stream stopped abruptly, then bent, and turned around toward Francis, hitting him in the chest. His body took the full impact of his own spell and was thrown back. He crashed into the wall of the house behind him and went right through. The new opening caught fire and began to spread.
They all waited for retaliation, but none came. Sage and Maddy lowered their arms and turned their heads to look at each other. “So was that it?” Slade asked cautiously.
“I don’t know,” Sage answered and looked back toward the house. The fire was spreading and beginning to engulf the structure.
A loud roar came from behind the house and they all looked in the direction it had come from. A large buffalo appeared, racing around the side of the house, its eyes blazing. The advancing beast headed right for Sage and Maddy. Maddy grasped Sage’s hand tighter. At the same time he reached out and pushed against Slade’s chest as hard as he could, sending him spiraling out of the way. “Surgere!” Sage and Maddy cried out together and lifted off the ground just in time, before the buffalo made impact. They hovered above the beast, watching as it stopped, then spun toward them. Maddy released Sage’s hand and dropped down on the animal’s back. He shifted his fingers into his claws and dug them into the beast.
The buffalo lifted its head and roared out in pain. Sage cast a spell, and the creature fell to the ground. Sage lowered himself to stand before the beast, but from the corner of his eye he saw Francis making his way around from the other side of the house. He rushed to Slade and grabbed him from behind, wrapping a sharp, clawed hand around his throat.
All of a sudden the buffalo vanished from beneath Maddy and he caught himself before he sprawled out on the ground. He got his footing and turned toward Francis and Slade. “Let him go,” Maddy demanded.
“Not until you two give me what I came here for.”
“It’s too late for that, Francis. We have already claimed the power of the Tribeca,” Sage spat. “Now release my mate or suffer my wrath.”
Francis gave him a smirk. “Yes, Anthony. Use the power as it should be used. Join me.”
“He will never join you, scumbag. Sage is nothing like you,” Maddy said.
“Don’t fool yourself, pup. Anthony is exactly like me and he knows it. He can feel the depth of the power and his anger will make him use it as it should be used.”
“No,” Sage whispered.
“Look at me, mate,” Slade pleaded and Sage’s gaze met his. “You know that everything Francis says is wrong. He doesn’t know you. You are not evil, sweetness. You are good and loved by so many. Someone who is like him…cannot be loved.”
Francis tightened his grip on Slade’s throat and his claws punctured the skin. A bead of blood oozed around the claws and ran down Slade’s neck. Slade clenched his jaw and hissed from the pain, but he kept his eyes locked with Sage’s.
“Don’t let him win, sweetness. You are stronger than him and he knows it. That’s why he’s so desperate now,” Slade said through gritted teeth.
“Shut up, you filthy daywalker!”
Francis lifted his free hand, and Sage watched as long, sharp talons, like those of a dinosaur, grew. Francis raised his arm and, then brought it down fast toward Slade. Suddenly Francis screamed out as the hand around Slade’s throat turned black and began to shrivel again. Francis froze and Slade moved easily from his grasp, rushing to Sage’s side. He wrapped an arm around Sage’s waist and pulled him close.
They stared as Maddy stepped closer to Francis, his arm stretched out before him, his eyes dark and hooded as his gaze stayed on Francis. The blackness began to move and spread up Francis’s arm to his elbow and the man screamed out in agony, then dropped to his knees, cradling the arm with his other hand. Maddy lowered his arm and stepped back to stand on Sage’s other side.
“How are you so powerful?” Francis asked in a strained voice.
“Because my twin and I have already claimed the power, asshole. As always, you thought you knew everything and believed the power would be at its weakest and most vulnerable to steal on my day of birth, and when the moon was high. Boy, were you wrong. The magic only needs to claim the heir in person. Maddy and I came here earlier today, and with the help of Oliver, our familiar, we performed the ritual,” Sage explained.
“But then you each only have half the power. You should still not be stronger than me.”
“Each alone has great power, but together we are stronger. Together we can use the full force of the Tribeca magic,” Maddy stated and held up his wrist. Sage held up his also, showing Francis identical tattoos of the Tribeca on both their wrists. But the triangle was now just one on each of them and it was clear with a heavy black line making the shape.
“And as far as your power is concerned, dipshit, it was split in half,” Slade informed him.
> “But how? I did not hear you use the spell,” Francis asked frantically, fear written all over his face.
Sage gave him a bright smile. “We didn’t use it, but he did.” Sage motioned to the white cat who still stood there by the curb watching them.
“Your familiar? He cannot take on my magic without consequences,” Francis said in awe.
“Very true, but that is not our familiar,” Maddy replied and gave the cat a nod.
A light engulfed the cat and it began to grow. Once it was at its full height, the light receded and Demi stood there smiling.
“Who is this? How could he have split my power using the spell? He would have to cast it into someone else,” Francis asked.
“I can cast spells because…well, for the same reason by splitting yours and placing them inside someone else, I will suffer no consequences, and the person I placed them in will be able to keep them forever, making them stronger. I am Eubulus, prince of the House of Hades, mate to Lord Lucifer,” Demi stated proudly.
“So where are my powers?” Francis hissed in anger.
Slade smiled and raised his hand. “Thanks for that. I will be using them to defeat every skinwalker on the planet now.”
“No, it’s impossible. He couldn’t have cast the spell. I didn’t hear him use it,” Francis whispered, but they could hear the disbelief in his voice.
“That’s exactly why we distracted you, asswipe,” Maddy said.
“Yes, and it was enough of a distraction so you didn’t notice what he was doing. Like how we are diverting your attention now,” Slade confessed with a laugh.
Francis’s eyes went wide as he looked around, seeing all the people that had now joined them. He turned his attention back to Sage and gave him an evil smirk as he laughed. “You think this bunch of shifters and vampires can beat me? Oh, Anthony, you are even dumber than I thought. All their powers combined cannot hurt me, even with only half my powers.”
“Are you sure of that, Francine?” Taylor asked as he walked closer.
“You think you can beat me, whore? Give it your best shot.” Francis laughed.