She got up and took her time showering and dressing. She wasn’t sure what she would do with her time today. She ate some breakfast, though she wasn’t all that hungry, then decided to work on her art. Not the gifts she’d been making for people. Her heart wasn’t in those today.
Instead, she picked up a blank canvas and sat by the windows, utilizing the natural light that came in through them to illuminate her work. She started slowly, painting her feelings onto the plain white fabric. Soon, she was engrossed in the work, the muted colors forming and swirling to her plan, telling a tale of sadness that reflected her mood.
The canvases she had procured were small. The largest was about eleven inches by sixteen, and going down in size from there. She’d even found a few smallish circular canvases, and other odd shapes. The relatively small size meant they didn’t take long to paint. When she finished with her “sorrow” depiction, she set that aside to dry and picked up a fresh canvas.
This one, she wanted to be bolder. Splashes of color and broad strokes helped her get across her frustration and anger at being a prisoner again. She was almost finished with this “anger” portrait when Gus arrived. She looked at the clock, only then realizing the morning was long over, and she had totally skipped lunch. She still wasn’t that hungry, but her interest piqued at the aromas coming from the shopping bag Gus carried in with him.
“I brought food,” he told her as he paused by the kitchen island. “I wasn’t sure if you’d eaten already.”
“I didn’t,” she said, putting her brush aside and rising. She stretched, surprised by how long she’d sat in on place. Her muscles were stiff. “What did you bring?”
“Barbeque,” he answered succinctly, as he started removing containers from the bag. “I asked Zak to go light on the spices for you.”
They ate together while Gus told her what he’d been up to all morning that had kept him from his lunch until now. Apparently, he’d been discussing her situation with the so-called magic circle of Grizzly Cove. Urse had been particularly confident that they could do something to help, and her sister, Mellie, was thinking about different potions that might counteract some of what had been done to Laura.
They both wanted to examine Laura more closely to see if they could discern exactly what kinds of compulsions might have been laid upon her, but Gus hadn’t told them yes or no, just yet. He’d wanted to talk it over with Laura first, to see what she thought. If they did allow the witch sisters access, it would have to be under very controlled circumstances because either, or both, of the women might arouse the evil magic and cause Laura to do something that she would regret.
“I’m willing to try it, but I really don’t want to hurt anyone. If either one of them triggers my programming, I don’t really know what will happen,” Laura said, defeat and fear in her tone that she could not control. “And Urse’s mate can’t be there. We already know John provokes the response. If he’s there, this won’t work.”
“Yeah, I know,” Gus replied, shaking his head. “So, I think we should just try this with Mellie, first.” He sighed. “Or maybe, test first with Peter, to see if he triggers you because there’s no way Peter is letting his mate go into danger without being present.”
Laura understood the issue. Mated pairs were fiercely protective of each other. The men would not—could not—let their women face possible danger. Laura knew wolves were that way, and apparently, so were bears. She wasn’t sure the witch women felt the same protective urges, but if these were true matings, they would understand their bear shifter mates’ need to shield them. That didn’t make this situation any easier, but Laura definitely understood.
“How do you want to do this?” she asked, knowing Gus and the others must have come up with some sort of strategy.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“We’re going to clear the street. I’ll walk you downstairs, and Mellie will be waiting on the porch,” Gus told her. “Peter will be in front of the building. We figure you’ll see him first, and if you’re triggered, we can get a good look at what happens. Mellie can dive off the end of the porch to safety, and Peter is a big son of a gun with a lot of magic. He can probably survive whatever you might throw at him, if the worst should happen.”
“But, once I’m triggered, I might just keep going. There might not be an off button,” she said carefully, giving voice to what had recently become her greatest fear.
“I think I have a solution for that, as well,” Gus replied solemnly, though she noticed he didn’t go into detail about his so-called solution. “None of us really think that’s likely to happen. The mages who had you had enough time to tailor the compulsions so that they wouldn’t show if a target wasn’t in sight. We’re betting that they’d have taken the time and effort to make sure their sleeper agent—you—was not switched on, for lack of a better term, all the time and easily taken out. They probably figured you could hit a target, then go dormant to strike another again, later.”
She thought about that for a moment in light of what she remembered of the people who had held her. They were devious enough, that was for sure, to plan something like that as a failsafe in case she ever should escape. The vile creatures they were, they wouldn’t want to just let her go. No, better to make her into a weapon. As if they hadn’t already visited enough horror on her existence.
Hell—if you believed in such a place—was too good for those bastards who had taken so much from her. If she ever got the chance, she would end them. Each and every one of them. Once and for all. No afterlife. No chance of coming back in any form. She wanted their energy dissipated to the farthest realms and beyond, where it could never recombine to harm anyone ever again.
If such things were possible. She’d had a lot of time to think about a just punishment for the people who had dared to hold her captive for so long. She’d daydreamed in her delirium of what she wanted to do to them. What she wanted to happen to them. Eventually, the bloodthirstiness of her wolf had given way to the more rational plans of her human side. She didn’t just want to hurt those mages. She wanted to end them permanently. For all time.
It was her fondest wish.
But, to do that, she needed to be rid of the compulsions they had placed upon her. And, to accomplish that seemingly impossible task, she had to take a few risks. Of course, the risk wasn’t hers alone. Everyone who tried to help her was facing a risk of one kind or another, as well. That they were willing to do so for her—a relative stranger in town—spoke volumes about the people of Grizzly Cove and their integrity.
“If they’re willing to take the risk…” she thought aloud. She straightened her spine and blinked, refocusing on Gus’s beloved face. “I think you’re on to something. There’s a very good chance that they would have designed the compulsions in such a way. The mages who had me… They weren’t just garden variety bad guys. They were highly placed and very powerful. As time went along, and nobody could take any more from me because I’d learned to hide in the fey realm, I got passed along to protégés. They were of less importance but were being groomed for bigger things. They were all very powerful and very conniving, if a bit young and unproven. I can see them currying favor with their elders by crafting all kinds of surprises—including the compulsions placed on me, in case I escaped.”
Gus was nodding. “It seems logical,” he agreed. “So, if you’re up for this, we’d like to try it after dinner. Mellie needs to see what’s going on with you, if she can, so she can work on the right potion, or combination of potions, to at least get started counteracting what was done. Everyone agrees that there are probably layers to what they put on you because you were under their control for so long, and there were so many different mages involved in your captivity. Each one probably tinkered with different spells and bindings.”
“That sounds about right. I could feel it…sometimes. In the beginning, I felt everything, but after I fled to the fey realm, I only felt occasional twinges that told me they were trying things. I didn’t really want to
know what they were doing.” She sighed. “Perhaps that was cowardly of me. It certainly seems foolish now.”
Gus placed one hand over hers on the countertop. “If there’s one thing you are not, it’s a coward. No one I know could have held up half as well as you did for so long. And, you should know, some of us have dealt with captivity. Lesser duration, of course, but still captivity with all the uncertainties around being rescued or being able to escape. I know what I’m talking about.”
That meant a lot, coming from him. She turned her hand over under his and clasped his fingers, squeezing gently. She couldn’t find the words to express what she was feeling, but she thought he understood.
Gus set everything up after dinner had been consumed and everyone was ready. Unbeknownst to Laura, others would be watching her besides just Mellie. Urse would be there, out of sight, but ready to observe and assist, should it become necessary. John would be with her.
Mellie had volunteered to be the focus of this test, to draw fire, if need be. She was a brave woman. And her mate was going nuts, but he understood her need to help. Peter would leap into action to protect his mate, if need be. They were going to do this test as safely as possible, but there would still be some risk to all involved.
Gus would be behind Laura, ready to take her down to the ground, if he had to. He wanted to be the one to tackle her. Nobody else would be as gentle, and he just couldn’t take the idea of anyone else touching her right now. Not when their mating was so delicately balanced and dependent on the outcome of this crisis.
Gus’s inner bear was a lot calmer, usually, than the other guys he knew, but in this situation, even the spirit bear was getting agitated. The bear wanted this over with so Gus could gather his mate in his arms and hold her close all night long. He wanted to cosset her and make love to her as gently as he knew how, then do it all over again…wild. He wanted to show her how much he cared for her, but they’d have to get through this trial first. And then, they’d have to get through more trials as they worked through this problem.
They had to be able to fix this. They just had to. Gus would accept no other outcome.
“Are you about ready?” Gus asked Laura as he got off the phone.
Gus had coordinated with Peter, who was coordinating with everyone else. Peter, Mellie’s mate, was Gus’s only point of contact because they all were well aware how good wolf hearing was. Peter and Gus had worked out a code that Laura wouldn’t be able to interpret. From the few words they’d exchanged, Gus knew that everyone was in place on the street and in various protected vantage points. Anyone who could sense magic was going to be watching Laura, not just Mellie.
After whatever happened…happened…if everyone was all right, the magic circle would meet to discuss what they’d all observed. Gus would take charge of Laura. The plan was that he would stay with her for the rest of the night, and in the morning, if all went as planned, Marilee would spell him, spending time with her mother in the apartment, while Gus met with the magic circle and the leadership of the town to figure out what form their next steps would take.
Laura stood by the door to the apartment, shifting from foot to foot nervously. Gus went over to her and put his arms around her, rocking her gently, hoping to calm her. The fact that she snuggled into his embrace was gratifying, and it settled his bear side a bit. Good mate.
“Are you sure you want to do this? We can cancel and try to figure another way,” he offered, not knowing what other way there could be, but if Laura really couldn’t handle this, he’d move heaven and earth to find one.
She pulled back a bit to look up into his eyes. “It’s okay. I can do it. I’m just…scared.”
“I have a confession,” he told her in a gentle voice. “I am, too.”
She smiled, as he’d hoped she would. “Now, that, I find hard to believe. Nothing scares the spirit bear.” She let him go and moved closer to the door. “Let’s do this, before I lose my nerve.”
Gus escorted Laura out of the apartment and down the stairs. The groundwork had been laid by others. The whole town, just about, was in on this mission, and everyone was off the streets, under cover and prepared. Gus had been in on the planning. He knew, for example, that there were at least two snipers on the roofs of buildings across the street, armed with powerful tranquilizer rounds. Nobody was willing to pretend that the tranquilizers would be one hundred percent effective against magical compulsions, but it was worth a try if the worst should happen.
The team on the ground was suited up like they used to be in their commando days. Tactical radios were in every ear, and most were wearing dark camouflage to blend in more with their surroundings. Night was starting to fall, so the twilight helped mask those that hid in the shadows. They would need every advantage to help in this situation. Nobody wanted anyone to get hurt—be it town folk or Laura. The best result they could hope for was to gather enough information to help Laura without anyone taking damage on either side.
Laura took a deep breath as they approached the door that would lead to the porch and then the street. She couldn’t see anyone through any of the windows, which she counted as a blessing. She was trusting Gus, and the rest of the townspeople, to have prepared properly, so as to limit any damage if she went all atom bomb in the middle of Main Street.
She paused a few steps from the door to collect herself. Something inside was telling her to give up. To not go outside. To not confront this problem head on, which was her usual way of dealing with things in her life. Or, it had been, until she’d spent years in captivity.
Whatever was trying to stop her now, it wasn’t part of her. It was something that had been done to her. No way would Laura stand for that. She wouldn’t be bullied. She wouldn’t be cowed. She wouldn’t be made to feel fear or antipathy that wasn’t rightfully hers. No way. No how.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and walked the few steps up to the door, placing her hands upon the push bar that would open it to the outside. Now or never.
“Are we ready?” she asked Gus in a voice that shook only a little.
“All set,” he replied quickly, in that dark, rumbly voice that she loved so much. The fear that she would never hear that voice again was real, but she wouldn’t let it stop her from doing what she had to do… What was right.
“Let’s do this.”
She pushed open the door, stepped over the threshold, then opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a big man. Peter. She’d met him once, in passing. He was Babushka’s grandson. Russian. With dragon shifter blood in his ancestry. Highly magical.
All of these thoughts flashed through her conscious mind while somewhere in her subconscious, something dark and sinister was stirring. It recognized Peter as a force for good. A highly magical shifter with no recognition patterns.
What?
Laura shook her head at the odd thought. Recognition patterns? What the heck? She tucked away that thought for later consideration as she felt physically ill. Retching a bit as an evil wave spread up from her core, trying to spill out of her body, she felt magic behind it. Not her magic, though it coaxed a magical response from that part of her being. It corrupted her magic into something dangerous. Something that could very well be deadly.
“Look out!” she screamed as the wave broke, spilling out into the street, toward Peter. She doubled over as the wave pulled out her own energy with it. Damn. That hurt!
She watched from streaming eyes as Peter didn’t move. Why wasn’t he moving? Did the silly bear think he could withstand that wave of malevolent energy? Dammit! Move, man, move!
But he stayed put.
As Laura watched in horror, time seemed to slow. Everything happened at a snail’s pace. She felt the magic ripped out of her being and watched helplessly as it headed for Peter, like a malicious arrow, aimed straight for his heart.
The crazy bear-man stood his ground with no change of expression on his face. He looked mildly interested, and a tad defiant. Cocky son of a g
un. As the arrow of dark energy approached him, Laura wanted desperately to shut her eyes and not look at what would happen to Peter—an innocent in all of this, after all. But she couldn’t do it. She had to see the result of her unconscious actions. To look away would be cowardly. It would dishonor Peter’s bravery and sacrifice in setting himself up as the target in a shooting match where nobody in this town knew the rules.
Only the bad guys knew what would happen if and when Laura’s compulsions were triggered. They’d set them up. They’d designed them. They were the puppet masters in this demented show. How she would like to sink her teeth into them. Give them back just a little of the pain they were causing her, those she loved, and the innocent people of this town, who had shown her nothing but kindness.
The wave shot forward. In reality, Laura knew it was traveling in the blink of an eye, but she saw it go as if in super slow motion. It got within a few feet of Peter and then… It hit something. Something clear that turned opaque with the energy as it absorbed it and took it into itself.
A shield? Oh, thank the Goddess!
Someone had put a ward around Peter. Probably Urse, Laura realized, as the power inside her built again. She sent up a fervent prayer that the barrier could take another round because, like it or not, it was going to happen.
This time, when the power ripped out of her, it made her hands rise and twin fire bolts shot from her clenched fists, aimed right at Peter. Damn. That was just awful, but she had literally no control over what was happening with her body.
The shield held. It captured her energy and drained it away, into the ground. Harmless.
But it took longer to dissipate. The ward was weakening. Would it withstand a third attack?
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