Wolf's Magic

by Rebecca Royce

  He raised an arm and pointed his index finger at her. Instinctually, she tried to block

  herself with her own arms. The movement didn’t happen, her limbs were frozen. Light poured out from his fingers as time slowed even further.

  For a second, Leah swore she could see the particles that made up the light as it moved toward her; if she wanted to she supposed she could count the individual atoms that had formed it. Just as quickly as she had the thought, she was slammed to the ground, the hard floor jarring her body as stars appeared before her eyes. Az’s large body landed on top hers.

  Above her, she felt him convulse. Her eyes got huge. Oh dear gods, what had just happened?

  “Az.” She shook at his body but he didn’t move. “Az!”

  Pushing him off took more effort than it should have. She still felt sluggish from whatever was going on with her father. Looking over briefly, she saw three wolves had him pinned to the ground while he laughed, a strange high pitched shriek she never would have imagined could come out of a human mouth.

  Leah stroked Az’s face desperate for him to wake up. When that didn’t work, she shook him by the shoulders, hard. He groaned.

  Az can you hear me?

  No response met her query.

  Tristan ran next to her. Still in his wolf form, he shifted back to his human state. “What happened?”

  “He took whatever was supposed to happen to me.” Her voice shook as she spoke the words. He never should have done that.

  “I can’t reach him at all.” Tristan looked up at her hopefully. “Can you?” “No.”

  Just then a terrible pain wracked her body. She rolled over, gripping her stomach. “What is it?” Tristan’s voice jarred her out of the darkness inducing pain that all but immobilized her.

  It’s Az. He’s dying. Her wolf answered her, a small, sad voice. “It’s not me, its Azriel. He’s dying.”

  And so, she realized all of a sudden, was she. If Az died she would follow. The thought of Az’s death made her eyes fill with tears. She couldn’t watch him suffer. Whatever it was, she would fight for him to live. But if he couldn’t…she would gladly follow him.

  He held her soul. She held his. When they had mated, she’d dwelled on that thought except she hadn’t really understood it until now. In no way would either of them be alone. Not even travelling to the next life would be something they would do without the other one.

  Az’s eyes flew open. “I’m so empty. Oh god, he’s not here anymore.”

  Tristan grabbed his brother’s face. “What are you talking about? Who isn’t here? Az, you have to tell me what is happening. I can’t reach you telepathically. Whatever has happened, you have to explain it.”

  “My wolf, Tristan, my wolf is gone. That man, Leah’s father, he took him from me.” Az’s head jerked back and forth on the floor under Tristan’s touch. “How can he just be gone?”

  Leah felt her soul shatter into a million pieces each one ripping from her insides like a stitch being torn from a hem in a dress. She sobbed openly. She looked up at Tristan.

  “Can he live without his wolf?”

  “I have no idea. As far as I know, this has never happened before.” If they lived through this, Leah knew she would never forget the look in Tristan’s eyes as he told her that. They might be all wolf but contained in his animal eyes was the heart of a man already starting to mourn his little brother.

  She pounded her fists on the ground. No. They had just found each other. Forcing her tears to stop, she acknowledged that she wasn’t ready to move on. Not even if Az went with her. Leaping to her feet, she jumped over the desk and landed on top of her father. He was still shrieking, that strange high-pitched sound.

  “Tristan,” she heard Az say behind her. “There are things I have to explain to you about how they make the wolves I saw in Leah’s memory. I thought I’d have time.”

  “You will have time.”

  Bless Tristan and his optimism. She was going to figure out how to fix this or before she died she was going to rip out her father’s throat. That is, unless, Gabriel did it first.

  Placing a gentle hand on Gabriel’s fur before she spoke, she patted him on the head like he was a puppy dog. “I’m going to get him to fix this.”

  Gabriel’s ears fell backwards and he growled but let up his assault on her father’s arm. Theo and Rex still maintained their holds on his legs while Cullen sat by his head. There was no mistaking the look in Cullen’s wolf eyes. She might have to fight him for the privilege of ending her father’s life. The shifter held death in his gaze.

  “What did you do?” Right now she didn’t care about why he had done it. She might care eventually if Az lived.

  “I took his wolf. I can feel him prowling inside me.” He snickered. “I always wanted to be a shifter. It’s why I married your mother. Kendrick told me I’d become one if I mated with her, only that never happened. Kendrick explained it to me years ago. It meant your mother was deformed.” Her father’s voice had a dreamy quality. It was as if he spoke to her but at the same time had no idea what he said.

  “That’s not your wolf. You aren’t meant to be a shifter and he lied to you.” She wanted to shake him.

  “I actually didn’t take him out of desire to be a shifter alone. I took him because you killed the female leader of my coven. What good is it being a warlock if your coven falls powerless?”

  Leah shook her head. “I didn’t kill anyone.”

  We did. Tristan’s voice in her head sounded strained. “To save me, Cullen killed the witch who cursed us.”

  That was information she could have used earlier. Staring at her father, she tried to breathe. “You’re a warlock? You’re with those witches who forced the fake wolf body on me?”

  “Which wouldn’t have happened if you had done your duty and joined Kendrick’s pack.”

  Leah bit down hard on her tongue. Now was not the time for dealing with that. “Give Az back his wolf.”

  “I can’t do that. I used all of my power to take it. Now I just need my new wolf to make me powerful. Kendrick said it would.” He grabbed Leah’s arm. “Why isn’t it working?”

  “Because the wolf doesn’t belong to you. He doesn’t want to be inside you. It lives with Azriel like my wolf lives with me. I don’t understand all of the spirituality of all of this yet but its symbiosis, okay? They are connected to each other. Yours is not the body or soul it wants.”

  She hoped what she said was true. Az had told her his wolf didn’t like him. Maybe it liked being inside her dad?

  Not possible. He picked Az like I picked you. Perhaps his wolf gets annoyed with him but it’s all love, Leah. Her wolf sounded genuinely annoyed that she’d thought ill of Az’s wolf.

  “I can’t give it back.”

  Ashlee rushed to her side. “I’m going over and over in my mind to see if there is anything I can do to help here. I have the collective magical memory of both of the Kane aunts. If anyone knew how to fix this, they would. Only I find it really difficult to access the information during stress.”

  Tears fell from Ashlee’s eyes, which was the only reason Leah resisted the urge to ask the woman what good the knowledge was if she couldn’t bring it to fruition when they needed it the most. Damn it.

  A strange tingling sensation popped in the back of Leah’s neck. Vertigo swayed the room. Oh hell, this is what had happened the last time Az’s mother had decided to use her body to take over a visit. What did Mrs. Kane want now?

  Well, it is Mrs. Kane, darling, but not Az’s mother. No, I’m his dearly departed Aunty.

  Leah looked left and right. She was trapped between walls of darkness. Nothing to see to the left or right, up or down. Just vast amounts of black nothingness. Was this what it was like after death?

  No, this is what it feels like to be possessed. Mary Jo let you look at her memories but I’m a little bit more private. I’d prefer to keep my memories my own.

  Her head pounded. Had the woman just said possesse
d? Visions of little girls spitting up pea soup with their heads spinning filled her mind.

  Not like that. The woman actually laughed. I’m informing Tristan what he needs to do to bring back Az’s wolf. Really, Ashlee needs to practice more with connecting with our collective knowledge if she can’t remember under stress. These things should be like muscle memory to her by now.

  Leah actually felt bad that she’d thought the same thing earlier. She does have three children to take care of and a fourth on the way. I think she might have reached her maximum capacity for handling things.

  Not that she would personally know, never having had any children or pregnancies to compare Ashlee’s situation to.

  It’s still no excuse. There was a pause. We’re about done here, which is good since I think your beloved—my precious nephew—is all but out of time. Do tell Tristan to hurry.

  Like her consciousness had been thrust out of her body earlier, she felt her mind slam back in. Gasping for air, the light in the room felt too bright on her eyes. She closed them for a second, noting that strong hands held her around her shoulders.

  “Don’t fall, okay? It might kill him to watch you fall.” Leah opened her eyes to look at Rex’s strong face. So much like Azriel, and so different too. He was the Kane brother she’d seen the least of.

  She shook her head. “You can let go. I’m steady now.” Even if she hadn’t been, the look of steel determination in Rex’s eyes would have made her that way. Clearly, he was a man you didn’t want to cross.

  “Leah.” Az’s voice sounded strained. Leah rushed to his side, kneeling down to stroke his brown hair.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m so sorry about this.” He coughed and groaned. Her heart fluttered in silent pain at the sound. “Did I ever tell you what my name means?”

  Suddenly Leah worried about Az’s mind. Was he going to start making no sense before he died? Was this a prerequisite to the end? “Az, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “I would laugh at that statement if it wouldn’t hurt too badly. That’s sort of the story of my life ‘Az, I’m not sure what you’re talking about’.”

  Kissing his forehead, she nuzzled the top of his head with her nose. “That’s not true. I understand you completely. I simply don’t understand your train of thought at the moment but whatever. No, I don’t know what your name means.”

  “Technically, the way the name is spelled it means ‘Helped by God’ or something like that. It depends on who you ask.”

  Okay, she really wasn’t following this. Tristan and the others seemed busy getting something together. Gabriel had her father slung over his shoulder and Summer rushed from the room on some sort of mission.

  “That’s a nice name.”

  “Yes, but that’s not what they wanted to name me. They just spelled it wrong.

  Azrael…with an a and an e instead of an i was how they intended to name me.” Leah tried to recall her limited biblical history. “He was an angel.”

  “The angel of death, that’s right. Lately, I’ve been feeling that way. All of those people dying in my lab, having to burn their decimated wolf bodies. It’s been hell. Then somehow you came and it all got so much better.”

  This had to stop. “Honey, this is starting to sound an awful lot like a goodbye death speech. You’re going to stop giving it right now. We have plenty of time to discuss these things in the future.” She laughed. “Besides, even if you were to die—which you will not be doing—I’ll be right behind.”

  “That’s the problem. I should have known that my bad luck would cross over to you. The last thing I want to do is be responsible for your death. I got to live a very long time. You still have tons of stuff left to do. I’m sure in that vast amount of magical knowledge Ash has, she must have a way to resist the death compulsion. Ask her to help you. Live a full life.”

  Alright, enough was enough. Still leaning over him, Leah pushed her index finger in Az’s face. “Stop that right now. You don’t get to decide these things for me. I love you. You are my mate. If I want to follow you, I’ll follow you. Since we’re both going to live a nice long time you might as well get used to the idea that I don’t like being told what to do.”

  Tristan’s voice jarred her. “We’re ready. Get him to drink this.” Tristan handed her what looked like a glass of milk. At her questioning look, he explained. “There’s stuff in the milk, make him drink it.”

  She nodded. “Az, we need you to drink this.”

  “What is it?” There was her sweet mate. He could never just do anything.

  “I don’t know. They haven’t told me. However, our Alpha has ordered me to make you drink this. That means drink it.”

  I don’t want to lose him.

  Her wolf sounded terrified. It wasn’t a good sign. What could she sense that Leah on her own couldn’t? She shook her head. There was no dwelling on that right now.

  She placed the glass on Az’s lips and was glad when he drank it down. Gagging, he pulled his head away from the substance. “Oh gods, it burns.”

  Gabriel dumped her father, who was still shrieking like a banshee, next to Az. Tristan stood over both of them placing his hands in the air palms facing downwards directly over Az and her father’s heads.

  “Go on, Ashlee.”

  Ashlee’s voice was strong. “We call on pack magic. We call on the gods that made us that which we are. What should not be, give back to us. Remove from the false shifter and give our brother back his magic.”

  As Leah watched transfixed, Tristan’s hands vibrated. Ashlee repeated the incantation three times. Finally, Tristan threw his head back and her father’s shrieks became painful, his whole body convulsing. Simultaneously, Az yelled, a blinding white light surrounding him. For a moment, as impossible as it seemed, he was both man and wolf at the same time. It was different than the shift where she could watch his body reshape. He was both entities at the same time. One second she could see the wolf, the next her beloved Az, and then strangely enough a moment later she could see both of them fusing together, each one straining to take the other inside of him.

  And then just as quickly as it began, it ceased.

  Tristan fell to his knees and three pack members rushed to him. Had it worked? Her heart pounded hard in her chest.

  Az…she tried to reach him telepathically, hoping that he’d hear her. Silently, she prayed to whoever answered these things that he was okay.

  I hear you loud and clear, she-wolf. She exhaled on a laugh.

  Can’t talk right now. I’m getting an earful from my wolf.

  10

  Az stared down at the man who had raised his mate and tried to find a shred of normalcy contained in his crazed eyes. The man was a senator in the United States Congress and had, for gods knew how long, been co-leading a coven somehow connected to their father. How had Leah been kept safe for as long as she had been?

  Senator St. James’ involvement with the dark magics also changed his opinion that Leah had been kept with the Senator for her own safety. Her mother might have been afraid to leave him, afraid that he would turn over his daughter to Kendrick if she did. The whole thing was completely nefarious and Az feared they might never know all the answers to these questions, as the man couldn’t seem to speak in coherent sentences.

  Or at least he wants us to think he can’t.

  His wolf’s tone was nothing short of furious and had been since he’d returned to his body.

  How could you let him take me like that?

  Well, in any case, it was a mixture of hurt disbelief and outraged anger. Az was pretty sure he preferred the anger to the disappointment.

  I didn’t let him do anything and you know it. He took you and I had no way to stop him.

  His wolf made a sound that was distinctly like a harrumph noise and settled down like he was going to take a nap. It had been a long day for all of them. Only, Az’s wasn’t quite over yet. He still had to get the information they needed from Leah�
��s ‘father’ and then dispose of the man. Normally Cullen, Theo, or Gabriel would have handled the second part of his last thought. This time, however, it was personal to Az. Not only had the man taken his wolf, he’d threatened his mate.

  Az felt his eyes turn wolf at the thought, his furry side waking up abruptly as his blood pressure surged, causing his heart to beat loudly in his ears. The man was basically a walking, talking corpse even if he didn’t know it yet.

  Anything yet? Leah’s tired, worried voice filled his mind.

  He had insisted she stay behind and not be part of the questioning and removal of her father when they’d taken the man downstairs to the lab. Right now she was with the other women, upstairs in the main house. As tough as she might believe she was, his mate had a heart filled with kindness and compassion. There was no way in hell he was letting her witness what was about to happen.

  “Senator, are you awake?” Az finally addressed the man who lay on the floor. He had to admit to a certain amount of personal satisfaction in finally having the upper hand on a man who had caused him a tremendous amount of physical and emotional pain.

  Cullen stood to the left of Azriel. Although nearly silent, Az became aware of his brothers entering the room followed by Faith, Malcolm, Summer, Trent, and Boyd. Looking up he caught Tristan’s eye.

  “Who is with Leah?”

  “Jana, Ashlee, the kids and the rest of the pack. Everyone is under ‘distract Leah’ orders. Braden is going to show her his magic tricks.”

  Az hissed out a laugh. “Magic, huh?” “Glad to have yours back?”

  Sighing, he regarded his older brother. Everyone had known Tristan should be Alpha…everyone but Tristan. Azriel couldn’t help but wonder what they all ‘knew’ about him that they never let him become aware of.

  “Yes. I am glad to have the wolf back. As much as he drives me a little crazy, he is mine. We need each other. However,” Azriel looked down at Leah’s father. “I’m thinking that magic isn’t going to work in this circumstance. His mind, it’s warped. He wants the magic. Maybe he even feeds off it. I can’t help but feel that considering the fact we were cursed by a witch—more than once if we count your getting imprisoned in your wolf body—that we have been tremendously negligent in not learning more about these people who are in our father’s employ.”