Wolf Bound

by Leisl Leighton

  ‘Eloise? What do you think?’ Shelley asked.

  Eloise was looking curiously at Morrigan, as if seeing her clearly for the first time. ‘If you lift so much as one hand to hurt me or any of those I love, I will pour all my power into you and burn you up from the inside.’

  Morrigan’s lips curled into a smile. ‘I like this new you.’

  ‘It’s no thanks to you.’ She let out a slow breath. ‘Take the cuffs off her.’

  Iain spun her to face him. ‘I don’t want her to touch you, Little Bird.’

  ‘Neither do I, but it has to be done. We need Shelley fully functional for the spell on Samhain. If she isn’t, we will never be rid of the Darkness and he will never stop coming after us.’

  ‘That is preferable to her hurting or killing you.’

  ‘She won’t do that. Not now.’ She lifted her hand to his cheek. ‘Do you trust me?’

  ‘Always.’

  Her face bloomed into a smile as she went up on her toes to brush her lips over his. ‘As I trust you.’ She looked around at all the others. ‘I trust that you all have my back.’

  ‘If she makes one wrong move,’ Jason said, ‘She’s dead.’

  ‘You wouldn’t hurt my baby,’ Morrigan said.

  ‘You have no idea what we’d do to save our mates. To save our pack,’ Cordy said, her voice raw.

  ‘You wouldn’t hurt an innocent baby,’ Morrigan said again, less certain this time.

  ‘No. We wouldn’t.’ Jason stepped towards her. ‘But we would ensure that you never got the chance to know him or see him or even hear a single thing about him in the future if you do anything other than weld the Goddess Stone to Eloise.’

  Morrigan’s lips curled into something just short of a sneer. ‘After doing this, I will only have enough power left to keep the baby from being born on Samhain. And believe me, protecting my baby far outweighs any thoughts of revenge I might still harbour about any of you. Nothing is more important than him. Nothing.’

  Shelley grimaced.

  ‘Are you okay, Kitten?’ Adam asked when she gingerly sat back on the bed, one hand clutching her head.

  ‘I don’t have enough strength to create my shields and all the spirits are yelling at me.’

  ‘What are they saying?’

  Her eyes were full of tiredness and pain when she looked up at him. ‘They say this is our only chance. We have to trust her.’

  ‘Then that’s what we’ll do,’ Adam said, looking around at the others in the room. Slowly, very slowly, they all nodded their agreement.

  Morrigan held her hand out to Skye, eyes bright. ‘Release me. We’re running out of time and there is a lot to prepare for the ritual of binding.’

  Skye stared at the outstretched hand. ‘Tell us what must be done. I won’t release you until all is ready.’

  Morrigan dropped her hand. ‘Very well.’ She glanced at Cordy. ‘Help the medium regain her power. She’s going to need it in two days.’ She turned to the others. ‘Firstly, you have to prepare an area outside in a clearing in direct line of sight with the moon.’ She continued to give her instructions—the same as what Adam had already told them.

  Adam heard the instructions as a rumble in the background, his attention returning to Shelley. ‘Lie down,’ he whispered. ‘Let Cordy give you her energy.’

  ‘I should help.’

  His hands firmed on her shoulders. ‘You will help. But first you need to gain your energy back.’ He looked to Cordy.

  She nodded. ‘He’s right. This is all we can do for now.’

  Shelley looked up at him as she lay down. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I’m going to help.’

  As Cordy placed her hands over the energy points in Shelley’s body, he took her hand, and slowly began to push the energy she’d given to him from his body and back into hers.

  Shelley’s eyes flared wide. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Giving you back what you should never have given.’

  ‘But the others won’t be able to see you.’

  ‘They don’t need to. Only you do.’

  She stared up at him, her eyes filled with the love she could not express. He smiled down at her, pouring his love into his expression as he poured the power she’d gifted him back into her. If this was all he could ever give her, it would have to be enough.

  ***

  Shelley tried to let her mind relax as Cordy worked on her, but she couldn’t. It was taking too long. Too much to do and she couldn’t be a part of it lying here, unable to do anything but think. She became even more edgy when Morrigan’s magic prickled on the air as she did the spell to meld the Goddess Stone to Eloise. The tension of the pack, as the spell went on and on, thrummed through Shelley until she gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw hurt.

  ‘You have to relax,’ Cordy admonished.

  ‘I’m trying.’

  ‘I know you’re worried, but the others will take care of Eloise. You must relax.’

  ‘It’s okay, Kitten,’ Adam said, hand stroking through her hair. ‘You’d feel it if something was going wrong.’ She nodded. He was right. Even though she’d fought it, she was connected to them. Would always be connected to them. Instead of making her more tense, somehow that knowledge helped her relax.

  What seemed hours later, Cordy finally sat back. ‘It’s done.’

  ‘Yes,’ Shelley whispered back. She sat up, tried her shields. They rose up, layering one over the other until the general noise that surrounded her when her shields were down was gone. Silence. It was blissful. And not a little lonely.

  She frowned.

  The door opened and Jason entered, carrying someone in his arms.

  ‘Eloise?’ Shelley asked.

  Bron shook her head as she came in behind Jason. ‘No. Morrigan. She just finished the spell. It took a lot out of her.’

  She watched as Bron fussed around Morrigan, checking on her without using her powers. ‘Do you need me to help?’ She was a nurse after all.

  ‘No,’ Cordy said, dropping to a chair, her face grey. ‘You need to lie down and rest to give the power I just gave you time to energise and mesh with your own.’

  ‘You should lie down too.’

  Cordy smiled at her. ‘I think I will. Jason, can you help me up?’ He pulled her into his arms and began to walk over to the bed that had been hers. ‘No. I want to go back to the house. I want to sleep in my bed.’

  ‘Okay.’ He looked at River. ‘Call me if anything happens.’

  ‘I will.’

  Then he was gone and there was that quiet again. Shelley closed her eyes, tried to sleep, but her mind was too full. Too full of everything she’d learned the last weeks, too full of what she still must learn, too full of worry and doubt and fear. The fear was like whispers inhabiting her thoughts. Emotions swirled through her that didn’t feel like hers and yet were an intrinsic part of her now—the banshee’s. She was so afraid that if she gave in to those feelings and thoughts her slide into madness would be fast and merciless. The introduction of Cordy’s power—so alien to her own—made the encroaching madness worse. It was like bugs under her skin, nipping and scratching. A vision of her aunt smashed into her mind—eyes wild, mouth a bitten mess, scratches all over her skin, chunks pulled out of her hair so you could see her scalp. Was this what had caused her to injure herself like that? The sensation of bugs under her skin? Would she end up the same way? It seemed the more she clawed to hold on to her sanity, the faster it slipped away.

  What would happen if she just let go?

  No! She had to keep tight control on herself or she might not be able to see through her part in what was to come. Marcus’ possession had brought her that much closer to the fracture between holding her ground and sliding into the oblivion of madness. The more she used her powers, the faster it would happen. She probably only had the next few days of being sane. After that …

  She wished things could be different. But if wishes were fishes and all that.
<
br />   ‘What are you smiling at, Kitten?’

  She opened her eyes. Adam was standing next to the bed, his brow furrowed. Could he feel what was going on inside her? Shit, she hoped not. ‘Just thinking about what’s to come.’

  ‘And you’re smiling at that?’

  ‘It’s either smile or cry.’ She clutched his hand in hers. ‘You taught me the value of a smile.’

  He smiled down at her and she knew that if she could save her friends and their loved ones, save Adam and see him and them to a brighter future without the Darkness, then everything she had to do and become would be worth it. Besides, she owed it to herself to not go out by slow degrees, a whimpering, shrieking mess like her aunt. No, she would blaze for one instant like the brightest of suns and then she would be gone, nothing but a blank spot in a sky still full of bright stars. ‘I’m going to be magnificent.’

  ‘You already are.’

  He bent down and pressed his lips against hers, the lightest of kisses, but one that still managed to touch deep into her soul.

  ‘You know I will never find anyone like you, right? You are it for me.’

  ‘As you are for me.’

  ‘Then don’t give up.’

  ‘Adam.’ Goddess, how could he always read her mind so easily?

  ‘I’m not. I’m not giving up on the possibility that somehow, it will work out for us. We deserve that at least.’

  ‘Oh, Adam,’ she began. ‘This is not a fairy tale where everyone gets what they deserve.’

  His brow rose, his lips twitching into a smile. ‘No? Witches, Were people, shifters and an ultimate evil we’re fighting. If this isn’t a fairy tale, I don’t know what is.’

  She couldn’t help it—she laughed. A full-bodied, throaty laugh that made her wipe at her eyes and caught the attention of everyone in the room.

  ‘What are you laughing at?’ Bron said, bouncing over to her.

  ‘Adam. He thinks this is a fairy-tale story we’re in. Tell them, Adam.’

  ‘Adam’s still here?’

  Bron looked around her blankly and Shelley realised that the hand holding hers was a mere whisper. ‘What did you do?’ she asked, snapping upright. ‘Goddamn it, Adam! You gave me back too much power again.’

  He smiled at her. ‘I gave you back the power you gave me.’

  ‘No, you gave me more.’ She glared at him. ‘You shouldn’t have done it.’ She was suddenly furious. She swung her legs down from the bed and stood—not even a wobble! Her fury increased. ‘This is what I’m talking about!’ She pushed against his too-insubstantial chest, her fingers sliding through the outline of him. ‘You can’t help yourself, can you! And you think there’s a chance in the future that we could work things out between us when you would do this? You gave too much to me, you idiot! You always give too much of yourself.’

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Adam gave her her power back, maybe more,’ Bron said in a harsh whisper.

  Shelley turned to see the others all staring at her. She didn’t care. Her fury was trembling through her, her power sparking along her skin. She swung back around to face him. ‘Take it back. Take it back. I don’t want it.’

  He stepped back. ‘No. You need it more than I do.’

  ‘No, I don’t.’ She blinked rapidly, her fury burning wetly in her eyes. ‘I don’t ever want you to do that, don’t you understand? This is why we can’t be together. This is what I fear more than I even fear going insane. I refuse to be the cause of you not being here anymore, Adam. I refuse. Do you hear me? I reject your empathy. I reject you giving me power. After Samhain and the spell we have to do, I reject everything you ever want to give me again.’

  ‘Micheline, you can’t do that.’

  ‘If it will save you from your stupid self, I will,’ she yelled, then ran from the room.

  Chapter 25

  ‘It’s time.’ Adam’s voice behind her made her jump.

  Fuck.

  Shelley stared out the window. Fury still roiled inside her. Fury and fear, making it hard to sit still, to eat, to talk to any of the others. But she had. There’d been no choice. They’d had so much planning to do since she’d run from Adam. The Were had been on high alert. Morrigan hadn’t said anything, but they were certain Cain and his followers would be after her, trying to get her back. She’d been moved to the main house, the room she was in secured with wards cast by determined McClune witches. She was resting, and had managed to halt the onset of contractions, although she was pretty weak from the spell she’d done to bind the Goddess Stone to Eloise, and Bron was worried she wouldn’t be able to keep them at bay for long, especially if Cain managed to get a hold of her. She’d wanted to do a little healing on Morrigan to speed up her recovery, but Morrigan had refused. She was adamant they would all need every ounce of their abilities for the coming spell. ‘Don’t waste any of it on me. I’ll do what I must, as I always have.’

  And now the time was here and she was going to have to look at him, to use the fine tracery of bond she’d been tricked into allowing to be created, to use him.

  ‘Come on, Kitten. You have to talk to me at some stage. We have to work together soon.’

  ‘I know that.’ Shit, how could she not know that? Idiot man.

  ‘I don’t understand why you’re so angry with me.’

  She turned to glare at him. ‘You don’t understand why I’m so furious with you,’ she snorted. ‘That’s rich.’

  ‘Well, you’re blocking me.’

  ‘Of course I am you idiot man. You’ve given me no choice. You’ve just done the very thing that proves what my aunt told me. Proves what the ancient witches wrote about Tricksters.’

  ‘No it doesn’t.’

  ‘Of course it does.’ She jabbed her finger towards him. ‘You gave me more than my own power back. You gave me some of yours.

  ‘You were so weak and Cordy’s power wasn’t enough—yours is so much greater. I just did what I could to help you get stronger faster. I know how much it rankled you lying there unable to do anything.’

  ‘But that’s just stupid. I wasn’t in any danger, but by doing what you did … You could have died.’

  ‘Things aren’t that drastic.’

  ‘Of course they are.’ She shook her head. ‘If you are too weak, if you give me or anyone else too much of your own life energy, you might never make it back to your body. Even if this insane plan works and we manage to banish the Darkness forever from this world, if you give too much of yourself, you might never come back to us.’

  ‘And would that be so bad?’ he asked, stepping closer towards her.

  She gaped at him. ‘I can’t believe you asked that. It would be world ending. For me. If you’re not around, whatever sanity I might have grasped hold of after this would fly away. Especially if I was to blame. You can’t do that to me. You can’t. You can’t.’

  His arms were around her before she realised either she or he had moved.

  ‘I’m sorry, Kitten,’ he murmured into her hair. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t think.’

  She snorted out a laugh. ‘Well you need to think.’ She looked up at him. ‘I need you to think.’

  He cupped her face, ghostly fingers smoothing her hair back. ‘I will. I’ll think. I promise.’ Then his lips were on hers. And even though she could feel him, it wasn’t enough. The cold insubstantiality of him would never be enough. She wanted him back in his body so she could feel the hard warmth of him pressed up against her, feel his lips warm and hungering against hers. But given this was all she had, she gave herself over to the mad joy of his kisses, of his love, just for this moment.

  He pulled back first. ‘You can’t block me, Kitten. I can’t stand it when you do that.’

  ‘I’m sorry. But if you try to give me your life energy, it’s the only way I have of stopping you.’

  ‘We need to be connected for this to work.’

  She sighed. ‘I know. So please, don’t do more th
an be a conduit between the dead Were and me. I don’t want any more from you. I don’t want your life. I won’t accept it.’ She reached out, touched his face. ‘I’m only trying to protect you.’

  ‘I know.’

  Her hands fell to her side, the fury draining away. ‘You’re too special, Adam, to give up yourself. Too precious to this pack.’ She swallowed hard, trying to stop her legs from shaking. ‘To me. Please remember that and act accordingly.’

  ‘I will. As long as you realise the same.’

  ‘The pack doesn’t need me.’

  ‘I disagree. But I wasn’t talking about the pack.’

  ‘Oh.’ She shifted, became aware that she was twining her fingers together and forced them back to her side. ‘Please don’t hope. I can’t carry that too.’

  ‘You don’t have to.’ He smiled at her, reached out, touched her cheek. It was the briefest caress, but she felt it deep inside her where nobody but him had ever touched. ‘My hope isn’t a burden, Michelline. It’s a gift.’ His smile twisted. ‘It’s taken me too long to realise that. Too long to realise that my Trickster side is also a gift.’

  ‘I know it’s a gift, Adam. I’ve been trying to tell you that for months.’

  ‘I didn’t seem to be able to hear it then.’

  ‘But you can now. What changed?’

  ‘You. I saw myself through your eyes and I saw the strength in what I can do. The wonder of it. The sheer stubborn irascibility of it, never giving up. It’s who I am. I have hope enough for all the pack, including you. So, don’t ask me not to hope.’

  She bit her lip, whispered, ‘But I don’t want you to be hurt by the inevitable.’

  He shook his head. ‘If you think it’s inevitable, you must think I’m weak.’

  Her gaze snapped up, the anger flaring once again. ‘I don’t think you’re weak!’

  ‘You seem to think that I’ll fade away just because I give you a little of my own energy. You think I’m not strong enough to feed that energy into you when it counts. Into the pack.’