Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1)

by Margo Bond Collins

  Suddenly, she was pushed forward. Eva collapsed to the floor under the weight of another wolf. Its claws sliced through the flesh of her back and she screamed out in pain. Flashbacks of the days before came back. This was exactly what had happened before. They had torn apart her body and, believing her to be dead, left her as a warning for Gemma.

  The cruelty of it was immense. She started crying, not just from the pain but the fact that everything she knew was a lie. The weight on her back lessened and she peered up to see Jon standing above her, growling a challenge to the surrounding wolves.

  Stay with me, Eva, he told her. Don’t pass out.

  How could she not pass out? The pain was intense, and it felt like her synapses were firing all at once with all of her revelations. Then, as suddenly as it began, the attacks ceased. The rogue wolves retreated, as if their mission was complete.

  “Someone go after them!” a voice yelled, and the patter of feet out the door announced that a pursuit of the attackers.

  As a human, Jon helped Eva up, concern on his face. “Can you stand?” he asked.

  She nodded, but she was unsure if her legs would be steady enough to hold her up. She shakily rose, but collapsed into Jon’s chest, stifling a cry of pain. He gently held her to him, careful of the wounds on her back.

  “Are you all right?” he murmured to her.

  “No,” she whispered. She didn’t know if she would be all right ever again. “Is this what it is always going to be like? Blood and fights? Disputes? Politics?”

  He gently hugged her to him. “No,” he whispered. “There are more good things about being a werewolf than not. I promise you.”

  Eva scanned the room, searching for the few friendly faces that she knew. Gemma seemed fine, although her mate Adam was nursing a gaping wound on his forehead and her brother Mark was clutching at his shoulder. Bradley seemed unharmed and even though Huck was covered in blood, she suspected that he wasn’t injured. And Carmichael appeared all right. He seemed like one of those people who was always fine.

  But not everyone. As the smoke settled, it was apparent just how many casualties their numbers took. Pieces of wolf hide were strewn about the floor along with other body parts that Eva couldn’t recognize. Blood covered the floor and walls. Wolves lay either injured or dead.

  Then someone shouted, causing the entire room to look up towards the stage.

  “They took the Great Wolf!”

  ***

  In the aftermath of the attack, Gemma met with the remaining pack leaders in an emergency conference in the corner of the big ballroom. Thirty werewolf leaders, all of them Alphas, were either dead or injured. The thought boggled Gemma’s mind. The wolves that had attacked were well-trained and organized.

  Some of the survivors had gone out to talk to the police and hotel staff, yet again to take care of any questions. It was going to be a miracle if they were able to cover up an onslaught like this. If anything, they would just put a Bandaid over the situation, but there’d still be huge problem arising from it.

  She felt drained at the thought of everything they’d have to do.

  The wolves were arguing about what to do next. There had never been a time when the Great Wolf wasn’t there. Some wanted to go out to get her, while others wanted to see if there were any demands from their attackers. Gemma knew that it was futile. Whoever was orchestrating these attacks knew exactly what they were doing, and to what purpose. She just couldn’t connect the dots.

  Adam sat next to her, pressing a cloth napkin to his profusely bleeding forehead. “Has that ever happened before?” he asked softly. “An attack like that on the Council of Wolves?”

  Gemma remembered that he was still relatively new to this whole thing as well. She shook her head. “We always thought that no one would be dumb enough to attack a room full of Alphas.”

  Adam glanced back at the mayhem behind them. “We were wrong.”

  “Did you pick up on the smell?” she asked, leaning into him. “They were all lone wolves that attacked us. All of them.”

  He tried raising an eyebrow, but then grimaced. “You think it was a coup?”

  “Absolutely,” Gemma said through gritted teeth. “Wouldn’t you want to overthrow the rules that made you an outcast?” It made sense for them to band together. And now that they had the Great Wolf, they had the upper hand.

  She turned her attention back to the conversation being held by the other pack leaders.

  “We should go attack them now,” a wolf said. “We can’t show weakness, not like this. Not now.”

  “We can’t let down the Great Wolf.”

  “If she isn’t already dead,” someone retorted.

  “But where? Where did they go?”

  “Are there any that we could ask?”

  “Some of us chased after them...”

  “I might have some information.”

  Gemma blinked and looked up, seeing Eva. She had been the one who had spoken last. Jon helped her step forward, but she kept her head high. She hadn’t fared too well in the attack. Eva was an Omega werewolf—she wouldn’t have lasted very long against their foes. She saw Jon standing protectively next to her and Gemma had to fight a bitter smile. So that was where Jon had been during the battle.

  Maybe he finally found someone who he could protect. Someone he loved.

  “Who are you?” one of the pack leaders snarled. “Omega?”

  To Eva’s credit, she stood her ground and faced the Alpha pack leaders. Many Omegas wouldn’t have done that.

  “She was the human that was left behind when they ambushed my wedding,” Gemma replied. “She’s now one of us. Be kind and remember that your pack is made up of all kinds.”

  The pack leader she called out glowered.

  “My brother, Luis, was here,” Eva said. “And I...heard...a voice. The woman’s voice that had commanded them to hurt me. She was here too. She’s behind this.”

  “Do you know why Luis would be here?” Gemma gently asked.

  Eva blinked and a pained look crossed her face. “He’s a werewolf,” she whispered. “I don’t—I didn’t know that. He had always run with the wrong crowd. I always thought his friends were…different… But now, I think—know—they were werewolves.”

  “And what good does that do us, Omega?”

  Beside Gemma, Adam flinched. Having been in the same position as an Omega just over a year ago, he was familiar with the prejudices that the lowest wolves had to deal with. Gemma had been trying to abolish the caste system their kind used, but it was hard to undo thousands of years of indoctrination.

  But Eva wasn’t picking up on it. Either that or she ignored it. She threw her hands up angrily. “I don’t know! But I do know that Luis had a large group of friends—they were kind of the underground drug scene here in Vegas. I can tell you where their territories are. I can tell you everything I know about them.” She leveled all of them with her gaze. “And maybe that will be enough to find them and bring back the Great Wolf and Annie.”

  Gemma wanted to cheer for the girl. She was doing so well. But then Eva stumbled and cried out. Jon caught her, but Gemma could see just how bad her injuries were. Her back was shredded, exposing bones.

  Gemma knelt next to them. “Jesus, Eva,” she breathed as she inspected the wounds. “You need medical help.”

  Eva grimaced. “Let me point out where I know they would be...” She grimly grinned. “Then I’ll get some help. Besides, I heal faster now, right?”

  Gemma was about to protest, but she saw the determination on Eva’s face and knew that she couldn’t sway her any other way. She nodded. “Someone get me a cell phone and a note pad!” she roared behind her.

  Rather than argue, one of the wolves complied and brought the items to her. She quickly jotted down the locations that Eva said. They were scattered all over the Greater Las Vegas area.

  It was a start.

  She loosely hugged the girl. “Thank you so much,” she whispered. “Now, get some rest
.” She added, looking pointedly at Jon, “You need to keep watch over her.”

  She knew that she didn’t have to tell him that.

  ***

  Jon couldn’t stop worrying about Eva.

  Rather than take her back to the hospital Jon and Carmichael decided to take Eva to their hotel. Gemma told them where they could find spare clothes in her luggage for Eva to wear after they bandaged her up.

  “You always bring several extra pairs of clothes wherever you go,” she muttered, handing them her room key. “Being a werewolf is bad for your wardrobe.”

  To Jon’s relief, Eva chuckled at the joke.

  They bundled her up in a tablecloth, and led her to the car through a backdoor in the ballroom. The other pack leaders would deal with the police, but for now, Jon just wanted to get Eva out of there without raising too many eyebrows.

  Jon sat in the back with Eva curled up in his lap. After holding it together long enough to give them the directions to the scenes where her brother hung out, she had continued passing in and out of consciousness. She wasn’t in mortal danger, but it still broke Jon’s heart to see her like that.

  He tried not to acknowledge how much of his waking mind dwelled on her. Because if he did that...If he turned his attentions away from his job...

  “Fucked up turn o’ events, eh?” Carmichael called from the front seat.

  “Keeps getting worse,” Jon agreed.

  “Ye knew this would come t’ a head, dint ye?” Carmichael asked.

  Jon nodded.

  “I hate it when yer right,” the Dallas pack leader sighed. “How’s she hangin’ in there?”

  Jon found that he had been stroking Eva’s cheek, brushing back the large curls. “She’ll be okay,” he said. “Injured, but I think the shock of seeing her brother is affecting her even worse.”

  “D’ye think she’ll be okay?” Carmichael asked.

  Jon swallowed. “I hope so.”

  They pulled up to the Paris Casino. Carmichael put the car in park and turned around to look at him. “I’m goin’ t’ go back t’ th’ others,” he said. “Ye two’ll be okay?”

  Jon nodded. He gently coaxed Eva awake, whose eyes fluttered open. “We’re here,” he whispered. “You just have to walk to your room.”

  She nodded drunkenly.

  “Thanks for driving us back,” Jon told Carmichael.

  The old pack leader grinned with an enigmatic glint in his eyes. “No problem,” he said.

  As the Suburban drove away, Jon wondered what the Dallas pack leader knew that he didn’t.

  ***

  The pain in Eva’s back eased as Jon put a salve on it that numbed her skin. It was a weird feeling, and she focused on it. It helped keep her awake. She lay on her stomach in her bed, facing towards the window that overlooked the Strip, as his expert hands rubbed the ointment in.

  She felt numb on the outside as well as the inside now.

  She couldn’t believe that her brother was behind the attacks, nor could she believe that he was the one who had betrayed her. Had Turned her. The truth burned her worse than not knowing.

  “Does that hurt?” Jon asked.

  She hadn’t noticed she was grimacing. “Not too bad,” she said. “I’ll be okay.”

  “Will you?” he asked. He taped more gauze to her back, covering up the wounds to let them heal.

  The implications of the question hit her all at once, leaving her breathless. Her entire world had been turned upside down in the span of a few days.

  She swallowed back her nerves. “I hope so,” she admitted.

  His hands stopped. “You’re all bandaged up,” he said, his voice slightly rough. “It’ll heal quickly, but you should take care not to aggravate it. So rest up.”

  His weight on the bed lifted, and she peered behind her shoulder to look at him standing, getting ready to leave. Suddenly, she didn’t want him to go. Nothing made sense anymore, but he was the only person who had been with her the entire way, had shown her the world of werewolves. He’d been her steady rock through this crazy time.

  Ignoring the ripping pain, she got up from the bed. “Jon?” she asked. She wanted to reach out to him, but she was afraid that he’d turn her away. After everything that had happened, she didn’t think that she would be able to take it.

  “Yes?” he asked. He turned his head away from her, putting him in full profile.

  “Do you...feel anything for me?” she asked.

  She waited for an agonizing five seconds before he turned his head back to her. His eyes burned into her soul. She wanted him. She wanted him more than she ever wanted anything.

  “Doesn’t matter,” he answered, his voice gruff with emotion.

  She closed the space between them. She looked up into those gray eyes, trying to find something, anything that could show he felt the same way about her. That this wasn’t just one-sided. “It does matter,” she whispered. “To me it does.”

  He averted his eyes, but he didn’t move away. She reached out and cupped his cheek.

  “I...I...” he started, but he didn’t finish his sentence.

  It left her wanting more. She raised up on her tiptoes and finished closing the distance between them. His lips met hers in a crash of flesh and emotion. She clung to him, willing him to respond. Because if he wasn’t going to do that with words, she was going to get him to do with his body. She pulled back and searched his face.

  “Please,” she whispered, but now she wasn’t just talking about his answer. She wanted more. So much more.

  He studied her face, and she felt him searching her soul for something. “Eva,” Jon said. “You don’t know anything about me. You don’t know who I am. You don’t know what this means for you. For us.”

  “You’re right, I don’t,” she said. “But I don’t care. There’s apparently only one person I can trust. And you’re him.”

  “You don’t understand,” he said.

  She kissed him again, and this time, he did return the kiss, pulling her roughly to him, yet careful with her back. He had always been considerate of her. His lips trailed down her neck to where her scar was lightly visible. He tested it with his tongue, probing. “It’s healed,” he murmured, as if in surprise.

  “I’m not a broken doll,” she told him.

  He raised an eyebrow. “You’re right, you’re not,” he agreed.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  “You don’t understand the implications of this, Eva,” he said, although his voice sounded strangled. He was fighting hard to not give in, while all she wanted was to beg him to take her. “When two werewolves mate, they’re connected, forever,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “That’s not something you can take back.”

  “Better not,” Eva said.

  Rather than answer with words, she reached down and undid the top of his pants, scooping her hands into the waistband of his boxers and pulling them just below his hips, exposing his cock. She reach down and started to stroke him.

  Jon Chase might have been a werewolf, but he was all man.

  “Eva,” he said, his voice strangled.

  “Shhhh...” she whispered, giving him a teasing twist.

  He growled roughly, and with deft fingers, he undid her bra, spilling forth her caramel skin. He cupped her breasts and pinched the nipples. She gasped at the contact.

  Without giving him a hint about her thoughts, she dropped to her knees, grabbing his cock and stroking it with one hand. She took him in her mouth, continuing the rhythm with her head.

  “Oh God, Eva, I can’t,” he hissed. He clutched at her head.

  She enjoyed this, having him at her mercy. After seeing him struggle to keep control the entire time, she enjoyed seeing him squirm.

  She kept going faster and faster, his gasps getting quicker and more hitched. When she thought she had him, he pulled her to her feet.

  “Not fair,” he told her roughly. “You’re not allowed to finish me off, not like that.”

  He
gently pushed her on the bed. “Get on your hands and knees,” he told her. “I don’t want to hurt your back.”

  She nearly laughed at his concern. Even in the throes of sex, he was still considerate of her. She complied, getting on her hands and knees. He hitched her skirt up over her hips. He worked at pulling the panties down over her bottom, exposing her to him.

  “Oh, Eva,” he breathed. When his fingers touched her nub, she gasped at the contact, unable to keep her hips from hitching forwards. In response, his left hand grasped at her hipbone, holding her in place while she was at his mercy.

  “Don’t make me wait,” she said. Her voice came out breathy.

  He bent down and his tongue played with her clit until she was to the point of panting. She was no longer cognizant of the sounds that were coming out of her mouth; it just felt so good.

  Then when she was ready, nearly to the brink of coming herself, he entered her from behind, filling her so completely and so perfectly. He pushed in all the way to the hilt. She cried out at the feeling.

  He pulled back, alarmed. “Are you okay?” he asked, worry in his voice.

  “Don’t stop!” she cried. “Don’t you dare fucking stop!”

  He didn’t. He thrust back in, holding her hips in place, building up a delicious rhythm and heat between them. She grabbed at the bed spread, holding on for dear life as his hips grounded against hers, the friction of his cock deep inside her creating all sorts of sensations.

  “Dammit, I can’t,” he gritted.

  That sent her over the edge. She cried out his name as she came, riding the orgasm as long as she could. He came moments later, his hands on her hips gripping ever so tight, and cried out her name as he spent himself into her.

  This felt so right. Her and him together. Even though it was crazy, even though they had only known each other for a couple days, this felt perfect. It was her own center of calm in this now-insane world that she lived in.

  He pulled out of her and collapsed on the bed. She curled up next to him, her massive mane of hair all around them as they lay together.

  “Wow,” he murmured, brushing a hand up and down her arm. “Wow.”