“So, did you set the fire?”
Brennah looked down at the floor. “When I saw them, I couldn’t control myself. I wanted her dead. I wanted him dead. The only time he was happy with her was when he was fucking her. It disgusted me.”
“But I was in the house…how come…?”
“How come you didn’t die with them?” A look of malice crossed her face. “I wish you had died with them.”
I pushed her backward with invisible force again. She clutched at her chest. “You’re getting a little rusty, aren’t you?” I taunted and held up the necklace. “Is that why you want this?”
Brennah’s eyes widened and the browns of her irises changed to dull silver.
“Oh?” I said. “Has the cat got your tongue now?” I laughed. “What is it with people like you? You suddenly lose everything that you felt you were entitled to and now you’re too weak to restore yourself. Have you grown simple-headed without your full powers?”
“Bitch…”
“I would’ve felt sorry for you if you’d showed just a little bit of remorse, but you came here today, demanding something that obviously does not belong to you. By your own confession, you didn’t make this necklace,” I said. “You further confessed that you sent a wolf to attack and kill me.”
“And I will kill you,” she said.
“Just like you planned to do all those years ago,” I said.
“Yes, just like that.”
“You must have been growing weak then, too. How does it make you feel to know that I got away and that I have the one thing you want?”
She shrugged. “My plan worked regardless. I found you and the amulet is out of the ground. You should have been dead, but you blasted through a wall as if by magic and ran.”
“You mean like this?” I strengthened the force in my palm and hurled it at the wall right next to her, blasting a hole through the sheetrock.
She screamed.
I laughed. “Are you afraid? Then why did you come here? Did you expect some weak little girl who was scared shitless? Fear strengthens me, and when I fear for my life, the outcome is never pretty.”
“What type of magic have you acquired?” she hissed.
“Some talents we are just born with.”
Brennah’s eyes widened. “You’re an empath. Like grandfather was. Oh, my God.”
“Don’t fuck with me,” I said. “I don’t need my craft to kill you or anyone else who threatens me.”
“Just give me the necklace. I’ll leave you alone,” she said.
“Sure, you will,” I replied. “Why do you want it? What good will it do you? You’ll never be like my mother.”
“You’re right. I’ll never be her, but I can use the powers she so carelessly threw away. She must have known this would happen. Must have foreseen it. While she was burning on the floor, she recited the spell that stripped your memories and woke you up. You ran off into the woods and hid. She must have known you were an empath. She didn’t want you associated with us so she wiped us out of your world and erased everything. Maybe she’s still burning in hell thinking about her mistake and all the troubles she put you through.”
I doubled over with exertion and pain tightened my chest.
“Your mom is gone. She was ashes on the ground when they found her. Nothing can bring her back. You don’t want her memories. She lived a stupid, careless, hopeless life. A bad life is what she gets for ruining mine. In answer to your question earlier, if you consume the seed, you will inherit her craft and the memories. I can deal with the bad memories. You can’t,” she said. “You don’t have any use for it, so give it to me.”
“How did the memories and other things get in here? How did she do it?”
“Agnes put them there. She bottled up most of her magic and craft knowledge and sealed it within the seed inside of the amulet. She gave up her craft. The night she did it, my father sensed it and came to confront her. When we tried to retrieve the amulet, none of us could.”
“Maybe she meant it to be for me,” I said.
A look of indifference crossed Brennah’s face. “Maybe. But she wanted you to have a normal life, didn’t she?”
My shoulders slumped. She did. And I did. “I know, but…”
She continued, “Just put the amulet on the ground and send it to me. I won’t tell anyone that I found you here. Then you can live your normal life with these common humans.”
I tried being normal. I wanted to be, but I wasn’t.
“Live a normal life. Die a normal death.” Brennah hurled her body at me and we toppled over to the floor.
I threw her off of me with force that surprised me. She stood up, raised her hands in the air, and starting chanting—gibberish. She was calling her powers. Negative energy seemed to pour down from the ceiling in sheets. She was pulling the energy toward her and into her palms. With minimal movement, she pointed a finger at me and a force blasted through me right before a dark force entered me.
My own powers awakened, gathering in my veins, consuming the dark energy she’d injected me with.
The witch Brennah hurled another ball of dark energy that sent me flying into the door. I tasted blood in my mouth. I had either bitten my tongue or I was dying. A searing blast of dark energy entered me again, this time through my heart. My skin seared and my body began to tremble violently.
My vision was cloudy and red. Blood leaked down my face, some of it in my eyes and mouth, but most of it settled in my lap. I couldn’t move. I felt immobilized to the spot.
Alessia.
Dawson’s voice was in my head. I squeezed the little amulet in my palms so hard that the sharp end of it pierced my skin and the glass splintered.
“Dawson,” I croaked. I managed to lift my heavy head enough to peer at the door. No, he wasn’t there. He wasn’t coming to save me. Maybe he was already dead. Maybe I had failed him by luring him into the path of danger.
I will always be with you. My mom’s voice called to me. My palm tingled and bled. A cold draft floated between the wall and myself. This particular spirit entered through my spine. The witch continued to push her dark energy toward me. From behind me, something else rose up and consumed me. It was too much for me to bear. I wasn’t breathing. I might as well be dead. Why was I still conscious?
Repeat after me.
My voice synchronized with my mom’s. “Evil be gone, Evil no more, Evil for you not welcome here. Leave. Be gone. I banish you Evil. So mote it be.”
“I’m dying,” I whispered to no one in particular and sighed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dawson
Alessia’s words floated to me as I fought against the ropes of dark energy binding my human body to the pavement.
I’m dying.
“No!”
I had exerted most of my energy trying to escape the bonds of the witch. I couldn’t let Alessia die. I couldn’t live without her.
Just before I felt her spirit fade, I called to my wolf and whatever powers I possessed inside of me and completed an extremely painful shift. It was forbidden to shift out in public in broad daylight. I didn’t give a damn. I threw my weight against my invisible prison. The binds snapped and I took off, prepared to kill any and everybody harming my mate.
I ate up the distance between the middle of the parking lot and the art gallery. I burst through the door and the hinges gave way.
The witch who had cast the binding spell on me was standing over Alessia. They were connected by a line of dark energy flowing from the witch to Alessia.
I charged and leapt onto the back of the witch. My claws dug into her flesh.
She hollered once and I slammed her body to the ground.
“Get off me, dog!” she shrieked and threw me with a single thrust of her arm to my chest.
I yelped when my side came in contact with the wall. My head spun. The room spun. I planted my paws to the floor, growled, and charged again. My canine teeth caught on her vest and I ripped it in two.
The witch returned to Alessia. She bent down to retrieve something. A small gasp escaped from Alessia and her eyes widened. The witch went flying across the room and fell back into a glass counter, shattering it.
The witch’s body rose in the air. Her feet were about four inches off the ground, as if some invisible thing were holding her. Alessia had her arms lifted upward, her palms to the air.
She was chanting something. It wasn’t English. Gibberish.
I tried to rise, but my wolf was just too weak. I swayed and fell back down in a pool of my own blood.
Alessia walked closer to the witch.
No. Was she crazy?
Alessia wrapped her hands around the witch’s throat while she was still suspended in the air and squeezed. The witch gasped as Alessia pushed her thumb firmly against the witch’s windpipe.
The witch jerked and trembled, but managed to lift her arm to throw a weak ball of glowing orange energy at one side of the room.
“Is this what you want?” Alessia asked the witch, holding up the amulet in one hand.
“You’re a whore just like your mother, Agnes,” the witch proclaimed.
Something crackled in the air. I smelled smoke and looked to the right of me. It was fire. The witch had purposefully started a fire.
I swallowed down my pain and shifted, cringing as the wounds my wolf had sustained took root in my human body. I ran for Alessia, only to have her shoot me backward with her force.
“Alessia…”
The amulet cracked within Alessia’s closed palm and blood rolled down her wrist to her elbow. A white mist escaped her palm and seeped into her open wounds. A soft sigh escaped her and she released her hold on the witch, causing the old hag to drop to the ground.
Alessia placed the bean-shaped seed on her tongue and closed her mouth.
“Noo!” The witch screamed, picked up a letter opener, and charged.
“I banish you!” Alessia stood her ground, and with one effortless flick of her wrist, she slammed the witch into the wall. The letter opener followed closely behind, staking the witch through the heart. The witch died instantly and her dark energy floated up to mingle with the smoke from the fire.
Alessia fainted. I grabbed her up into my arms and tore out of the building. Black smoke billowed out behind us. I checked her wrist for a pulse. Although Alessia was not moving, her vein thumped against my finger.
“Thank God!”
A few people ran out of the two other shops and looked on as the fire started to spread. “Somebody call the fire department!” one of them yelled.
I held Alessia’s heated body against me. The broken necklace was still clutched in her palm, covered in her blood. The amulet was destroyed, but I had witnessed Alessia consuming whatever was inside of it firsthand.
I wanted her to wake up and tell me that everything was okay. That’s all I wanted. And I wanted her.
My fingers trembled as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed a three digit speed dial code. The phone rang two times before anyone picked up.
“What’s up, Dawson?” Devin answered.
I croaked and tried to swallow to ease my dry throat. I panted. My chest heaved up and down. I fought the fatigue that tried to take over me as my wounds begin to heal painfully slow.
“Dawson! Is something wrong?” Devin’s voice boomed across the line.
I parted my lips. “I need a favor. A big one.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alessia
“You experienced a bit of head trauma, but nothing you won’t recover from. You’re a strong young lady. You’re perfectly fine and healthy, but I advise that you stay off your feet today and tomorrow,” the doctor said, packing her tools up in her bag.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Bright. I’ll make sure she does.” Dawson kissed my forehead as he laid next to me on the four poster bed. “Her birthday is tomorrow, but I’ll arrange everything so she’s not too overwhelmed.”
“I’ve already called the pharmacist and someone will bring your prescriptions over in about an hour.” She jotted down some more notes.
“Thank you, Doctor,” I said, reaching out to shake the hand of the woman who’d helped me after the attack.
When I’d woken up a couple of hours ago, I was shocked to discover that I was in someone else’s bed in a room I didn’t recognize. Dr. Bright had been taking my temperature when I came to. I had screamed loud enough to wake the dead and sent all of her tools sailing across the room. Only Dawson’s scent had registered with me, and Dr. Bright had quickly gotten ahold of Dawson after that incident. He remained in the room with me for the duration of the checkup.
According to Dawson, Dr. Bright was one of the Caedmon family doctors, and I was in the old Caedmon mansion. The same one where I had first met Dawson. Dr. Bright was also a shifter with a very old spirit, but she didn’t look a day over fifty.
“Happy Birthday, young lady,” Dr. Bright called over her shoulder just before she left. “Don’t let Dawson here tire you out. I’ve known him since he was a baby and he still has the same energy he did back then.”
I smiled. “I’ll remember that.”
Dawson laughed. “I’ll take care of you.”
Dr. Bright exited the bedroom, leaving us alone.
“Your dad called me back. He’s okay,” Dawson said when we were alone in the room. “He’s on the way here.”
“Oh, good. He would have had a heart attack if I remained non-responsive. I don’t know if I can thank you enough for this,” I said. “I don’t like hospitals.”
“I figured as much,” he said. “I’m glad you’re awake.”
“Are you sure it won’t be too much?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“With me being here? And my dad coming out?”
Dawson narrowed his gaze. “If you’re asking if it’s okay with everyone else that I brought you here, then the truth is that I don’t care what everyone else thinks.”
“Dawson…”
“Of course, they’re okay. I told them what you did. There is no question about your loyalty to me. They know that by now.”
There was a hard knock at the door.
“Speaking of the devil…” Dawson said, and hopped off the bed. “That’s my brother, Devin.”
Hoping that I looked presentable, I lifted myself to a seated position and ran my hand across the top of my head just before Devin Caedmon entered the room.
He was just as tall as Dawson and his head nearly touched the door frame. They were almost identical, especially where their facial features were concerned. But Devin was dark-haired, while Dawson sported blond hair. The Caedmon family must age slowly because I never would have guessed that Devin was a little over ten years older than Dawson if Dawson hadn’t already told me.
Dawson shut the door behind Devin, who came into the room with just as much authority as his brother. The aura around him was dominant, possessive, and bold. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from the Alpha of a wolf pack. But he was also caring and fair like his younger brother.
“Wow.” They were the first words that exited his mouth as he stared directly into my gaze. “Now I see why you…”
“The color changed right after she consumed the seed,” Dawson offered.
They were talking about my powers surging through me, creating flints of silver color in my eyes.
“How are you doing, Alessia?” Devin asked.
I sighed in relief. I wasn’t sure why I’d expected Dawson’s brother to blow up and accuse me of being a dark, conniving witch plotting to murder them all.
“Alive, thanks to Dawson,” I said. “And it’s not uncommon for me to pass out after overexerting myself. So this is nothing new. I’ve just never been out for this long.”
“Well, as
you get stronger you’ll learn how to use and conserve energy more efficiently,” Devin replied.
“You think so?”
“It’s not that different from being a shifter. I’m going through it right now with my triplets. When we first learn how to shift, we use a considerable amount of energy in our efforts. As time goes on, shifting is as natural as breathing and we just do it.”
I smiled. “I’ll try to remember that.”
Devin sat down in the chair beside the bed. “Alessia, I know you’re a little wary of us.”
I swallowed.
He continued, “I know it will take some time for both of us to get over what happened between our families, but Dawson says that your heart is pure. I sense that now and I’m sorry I doubted him.”
“It’s okay. I understand why you felt that way.”
“I apologize about your aunt.” Devin hung his head for a brief moment. “Both of them. But they did some really terrible things to innocent people. They threatened our existence. We’ve never threatened theirs because I truly believe that every spirit has the right to live.”
“I know. I don’t have the same feelings about you and Dawson or any shifters for that matter. Even if I grew up in that environment, I never would. My mom never did and I learned from her.”
“Elisa says that your mom’s spirit was pure,” Devin said.
“Elisa? Your sister, right? How did she know?”
Dawson sat on the end of the bed. “She was here just before you woke up. She placed your broken amulet in the jewelry box there.” He pointed at a bedside table. “She said you wouldn’t care if it was broken or not, and that you would want it when you woke up.”
I sighed. “She was right. Where is she? I wanted to talk to her.”
Wolf's Temptation (Caedmon Wolves Book 7) Page 15