Wolf Ridge- Complete Series

by Jayne Hawke

  A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

  “And there I was thinking you were entirely clueless about politics.”

  41

  “I’M NOT SURPRISED THE Morrigan witch was throwing her weight around,” Amy said as she wrapped her hands around her mug of coffee.

  Sky shot her a dark look, which Amy ignored.

  “We have a unique position in society,” Sky said stiffly.

  “We?” Amy asked.

  Sky ground her teeth and looked away.

  Fionn watched on in fascination. His cup of tea sat untouched before him. It had taken us ten minutes of searching to find some tea for him to drink. He had been lucky to drink anything at all by the end of it.

  “The Morrigan witches have been pushing their unusual position very hard these past few months,” Fionn said diplomatically.

  Sky narrowed her eyes and said nothing.

  “Are you going to deny it?” Amy pushed.

  Sky slouched.

  “No, I can’t deny it. I’m also not a part of it. I’m not high enough ranked to be pulled into those sorts of decisions and politics. I do as the Morrigan tells me, nothing more, nothing less.”

  “You think the Morrigan witches are involved with the Apophis witches?” I asked.

  “It is possible.”

  “No, it’s not. We’re protectors. Defenders. We keep the magic users in line and stop things like this from happening,” Sky said vehemently.

  “And yet, you didn’t,” Fionn said mildly.

  He took a small sip of his tea and smiled, apparently pleased with it.

  “I was sent to resolve the issue of the Apophis witch,” Sky said pointedly.

  “Do you not think it unusual to send a single lower witch to take down an entire dangerous coven bent on destroying the world?” Fionn asked.

  Sky tensed, her entire face tightening before she took a big gulp of her coffee.

  “I understand that it’s hard, especially with everything else going on, but you have to consider it,” Amy said gently.

  “I can see the reasoning,” Sky said.

  “And?” Fionn pushed.

  “They’re no longer my coven. I don’t have access to the information you’re asking for.”

  “Wait, back up, I missed something,” I said.

  Sky sighed.

  “I was officially removed from the coven while you were meeting with the council. I am without a home, or my magic.”

  “If you choose the Morrigan, you can get your magic back, right?”

  I knew that her magic was as integral to her as my wolf was to me.

  “Yes. Or if I choose Set.”

  “Set witches are rare. Storm bringers and chaos witches haven’t been seen in a century,” Fionn said.

  He watched Sky with a fresh intensity.

  “We need to see who would best benefit from the power the Apophis witch is offering, and who has been acting weirdly. I saw Kyra, the Epona witch, at the council meeting. I swear her necklace kept moving, and there was an oddness to her. We couldn’t find any trace of her online either,” I said.

  “I agree that there was something wrong about her. She would be a sensible starting point,” Fionn said.

  “Then we go to this Epona coven and interrogate them,” Sky said firmly.

  “Your Morrigan coven is not out of this yet; we have the Brigid coven to consider, too,” Fionn said.

  “What of the Brigid coven?” Amy asked.

  “There was a Brigid witch there at the council. Fionn baited her into an argument about their place in the witch world, due to the Tuatha De something,” I said.

  Sky glared at Fionn.

  “The Tuatha De Danann are thought to be fae in some circles, thus not real gods. That makes the witches who deal with them... complicated. The Morrigan is one of those gods,” Sky said stiffly.

  Fionn smiled at her and met her gaze without flinching.

  “Wait, so why are the Morrigan witches respected enforcers, but the Brigid witches are treated differently?” I asked.

  “Because the Morrigan witches were quick on their feet. They pushed their position with their lady, the battle crow, and made themselves enforcers. That ensured they were respected and had access to the wider community. The Brigid witches are by their nature gentler and, thus, were pushed down with the other Tuatha De Danann witches,” Fionn said.

  Sky bristled at his words but said nothing.

  “What about Epona? Is she one of those?” I asked.

  “No. She is a small Celtic goddess, one that spread into the Roman world. She was mostly focused on horses and other equines,” Amy said.

  I chewed on my bottom lip.

  “Could the Apophis witch have focused on these Tuatha De Danann witches? If their position in the witch world is precarious?” I asked.

  “It would certainly have been an intelligent play,” Fionn said.

  “What would happen if it turned out the Tuatha De Danann were, in fact, fae?” I asked.

  “It would give the fae a stronger foothold in this world and plane. Witches have been using their magic for a long time, and binding themselves to them. That would open up the possibility for fae royalty to control witches and have covens devoted to them,” Fionn said.

  I allowed that all to circle around in my mind while I slowly drank my coffee. It made sense to me to at least begin with these possible fae witches. They seemed like the ones most eager to gain power and respect, and if the Tuatha De Danann were, in fact, fae, it would explain how they could deal with both Apophis and their own gods.

  “So, something that’s been bugging me. How are these Apophis witches still working with their own gods? How do they still have their magic?” I asked.

  Sky narrowed her eyes. She could see my line of thinking and didn’t like it one bit.

  “We’re not sure. Apophis is a dark and chaotic god. It could be that he has found a way to work with the witches without claiming or offering them any of his magic. The blood witches were working with him, and yet they had none of his magic,” Amy said.

  Sky relaxed some.

  “Or perhaps this is proof that they are fae,” Fionn said with a broad smile.

  42

  THE PLAN WAS, AS FIONN so elegantly put it, a very garou plan. We were going to bang on the Epona witches’ door and try to get evidence they were working with Apophis. Sky was still a Morrigan witch, even if she no longer had the backing of her coven. That, combined with my guardian status, granted us access into their coven home.

  And if they didn’t comply, well, we were all ready to bang some heads together.

  “What are we looking for exactly?” Briar asked.

  Briar, Adam, Sky, and Amy had all squeezed into the back seat of Fionn’s car. They had refused to step foot in my Mustang, and the other options lacked the space needed for six people.

  Classical music filled the small space while we tried to relax and forget about the fact we were in the car with an elf. Briar had reminded me that elves were the deadliest of the fae, brutally efficient killers, in a hiss before we had left. I was painfully aware of what I was sitting next to, but the fact remained that there were bigger stakes to focus on.

  “Well, if they’re devoted and dumb,” Sky shifted her weight, “then they’ll have snake statuettes, a shrine or altar devoted to Apophis, anything snake-ish really.”

  “If they have more brains, then we’ll be looking for anything Egyptian. Books, paintings, anything at all,” Amy said.

  “You know, it says a lot that the Egyptians never worshipped him; they went as far as to have anti-Apophis rituals,” Sky said.

  Amy looked at her quizzically.

  Sky shrugged.

  “Set was Apophis’s main adversary. He protected Ra, in his boat, from Apophis and defeated him each night to allow the sun to rise again each morning. Set is pushing quite hard for me to choose him, so I’m gaining snippets of information.”

  “So you’re saying that your acce
pting Set would help us find and destroy the Apophis witches?” Fionn said.

  Sky looked out the window and refused to answer.

  “We will not push her into a decision. It will impact the rest of her life,” Amy said firmly.

  Fionn shook his head and muttered something I couldn’t quite catch.

  “I assume you were complaining that we’re soft for not thinking like fae,” I said.

  “Yes,” Fionn said with a sweet smile that didn’t reach his cold predatory eyes.

  It was easy to forget what the elf was sometimes. His beauty made him so easy to overlook. The long lean limbs were far more powerful than they appeared at first glance, and those teeth were sharp enough to tear through flesh as efficiently as a wolf’s.

  “And if we don’t find any evidence of Apophis with the Epona witches?” Adam asked.

  “It’ll be there,” I said.

  “And if it isn’t?” Adam pushed.

  “Then we find out what exactly is wrong with them and what they know. They’re involved. They have to be,” I said.

  Kyra was not a normal witch. If she wasn’t directly tied to Apophis then she was somehow tied into the rest of this mess. My instincts told me she needed to be removed. It was a matter of finding the excuse to do so.

  43

  THERE WASN’T A SINGLE horse in sight. The small house was set back amidst what looked like good pasture land to me. It was green. There were solid fences around it. I had no idea what else they might have needed, but I saw no reason why there weren’t horses on it. They were, after all, the horse witches, weren’t they?

  “Shouldn’t there be horses?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” Sky said.

  “Maybe they’re in a barn,” Briar said.

  I snorted.

  “They’re not even trying to hide the fact that they’re working with Apophis,” I said.

  “Perhaps,” Fionn said.

  I looked over at the fae as he carefully drove down the long winding driveway towards the simple house. What had I missed about him? The oath was magically binding, but had I misunderstood some wording?

  We pulled up in front of the building and waited for a moment. It wasn’t planned or verbally agreed upon, but there was something in the air. We hadn’t announced our visit. A garou would have greeted us by now. Surely the witches were aware of our presence, and yet there was no sign of them.

  I couldn’t shake the feeling that this felt like a trap. Glancing at Fionn, I wondered again what his motives here were. If we removed the Tuatha De Danann witches from the equation, what power would that give him? Perhaps he was hoping we’d prove they were in fact fae witches, and that the shift in power would be huge should that happen. I quietly hoped they were, in fact, fully fledged gods.

  The group spread out behind me with Fionn casually wandering by my side. His longer legs allowed him to saunter while I marched. He kept his hands in his pockets. I wanted to remove the little smirk from his face. If this was a trap and Cole suffered because of it, I’d make sure he never smirked again.

  I banged on the old wooden front door, feeling it rattle beneath my fist. There was movement from within, hurried footsteps and whispered commands. I banged harder this time. They were doing something in there, and I was not in the mood to wait and see what it was.

  A tall older man opened the door with a genial smile on his face.

  “I am Guardian Mercier. I am here under suspicion that you’re working with the god Apophis.”

  His eyes went wide and the colour drained from his face.

  “We’re Epona witches, we would never...”

  “Move aside. We’re here to find evidence,” I said.

  The man quietly moved aside and pressed himself against the duck egg blue wall. I sniffed the air, hoping to catch the scent of desert, snakes, or Cole. There was nothing. It was entirely sterile. That couldn’t be right. There should have been the scent of food and people if nothing else.

  Briar growled behind me.

  “May I ask what exactly you’re looking for?” Kyra asked.

  I stood a little taller and stared her down.

  “We have reason to believe you’re working with Apophis. We’re here to inspect your coven house and find evidence to support that theory,” I growled.

  “Well, why don’t you come to our altar and ritual space. You can see for yourself that we’re nothing but simple Epona witches.”

  I swear there was a soft hiss to her words. The necklace had definitely moved that time.

  “Lead the way,” I said.

  Kyra nodded, and two more young witches emerged from the living room to our right. The small group led us down the long hallway with the well-worn dark blue carpet and the bare duck egg blue walls. There was nothing personal there. I had expected some photos of horses, trinkets, something. It was entirely barren, as though it was a show home that had people flitting around it temporarily.

  We followed the witches down shallow steps into the basement. It struck me as an odd space to conduct magic, but what did I know? I kept my ears pricked and sniffed the air, waiting to catch some scent. Any scent. It was unnatural to be entirely devoid of smells.

  The basement was far larger than I had expected. It stretched a good thirty feet in both directions. The bare concrete floor was covered in a fine yellow grit that almost concealed odd symbols scratched into the grey. Our footsteps barely made a sound as we crossed the large empty space towards a simple altar.

  “You really thought something thrown together so haphazardly could fool me?” Fionn said with great disdain.

  I pulled my guardian dagger and prepared for what was coming.

  “I have no idea what you could possibly mean,” Kyra said in syrupy tones.

  The elf rolled his eyes and moved to lean back against the smooth grey wall.

  “I am an elf prince; are you really so arrogant to believe you could hide that pulse of magic from me? We are beings of pure magic,” Fionn said, disdain turning to contempt.

  Kyra’s face split from an unnatural grin. Her canines were far too slender and curved down far lower than they should have.

  “It doesn’t matter now. We have the guardian. Her blood will complete the transition,” Kyra said with a distinct hiss.

  I knew it was a trap.

  44

  Kyra’s skin split open and peeled back to reveal a snake woman with deep brown and soft cream scales. Her eyes held mine as she ripped away the human shell, discarding it in papery chunks on the sand-covered floor.

  Fionn leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, watching with mild disinterest. The other witches were circling around us, hissing, with long fangs protruding over their bottom lips.

  “Does this mean she’s an avatar?” I asked Amy.

  “No, she’s just drunk a bit too much of the holy water.”

  “So she’ll die like a normal witch?”

  “Should do.”

  That was all I needed to know.

  Kyra retrieved a wicked wavy blade, a kris blade, from behind her alter. Her elongated torso was bared, revealing an entirely serpentine upper body with pale cream belly scales and long slender arms. Her legs, however, remained entirely human, encased in a pair of ordinary jeans.

  One of the other witches, an older man with dark eyes and a buzz cut, shot forwards and tried to sink his teeth into Adam’s shoulder. Adam punched him in the throat and drove him back. He glanced at me, torn between remaining with the pack, or pushing forward and ending the witch.

  He opted to stay with the safety of the pack.

  The witches suddenly moved into action, each of them darting forward, trying to sink those awful fangs into my pack. Kyra, however, took her time sauntering over to me, a smile upon her lipless mouth. There was something haunting about her now, the lack of nose, the flat cold eyes, and the faint sheen of her scales.

  Briar cried out, a sound of pain that twisted into wild fury. I glanced over to see blood trickling down her arm as she sa
vagely plunged her knife into the stomach of the female witch before her. That moment of distraction was exactly what Kyra had been waiting for.

  She moved too quickly for a human. She crossed the space between us in barely the blink of an eye. One second she was almost taunting me, and the next her eerily long fingers were wrapped around my throat. I grinned at her, a wildness filling my veins as my instincts kicked in. Her eyes narrowed slightly, revealing some humanity buried in there.

  I drove my knee up into her lower abdomen and followed it with a thrust of my guardian dagger into her chest region. She hissed at me and darted away. I was torn between remaining with my pack and going after her. The room was a closed space. I could return to them if they needed me.

  Sky was feral in her attacks, slashing at their soft stomachs and exposed throats. Amy was brutally efficient as she took their legs from under them and drove a knife down into their eyes. They would survive without me for a few moments.

  I followed Kyra across the room and began the age-old dance. She remained just out of arm’s reach, slowly circling around, guiding me over some symbol on the floor. I caught the sight of blood there. It was no surprise that I wasn’t the first sacrifice. It was, however, offensive that she thought I would be so easily led.

  Tilting my head slightly, I stopped dead and opened my arms wide, daring her to come at me. How could she resist? I was practically begging her to sink those long fangs into my exposed flesh.

  She couldn’t. She shot forward in a flash of movement, but I was ready for her. My dagger cut through her scaly stomach as I side-stepped at the last second. Dark blood oozed from the wound as she wailed, a hissing alien sound that filled the room and made everything pause.

  Witches were fallen. Heaps of cooling bodies bent into shapes no human body should have been able to make. Blood stained the yellow sand, forming clumps of red against the dark grey. The symbols were clearer now. Soft-edged and round, slowly twisting and spiralling around the room, pulling the victim into the very heart of it.