Werewolves Be Damned

by Stacey Kennedy

  “Where are we?” she gasped.

  Haven smiled. “Guardians have the Guardians’ Hall for training. Witches have the Witches’ Meadow.” She glanced in front of her. “Oh, look, they’re starting.” Then she rushed forward.

  Nexi hurried after her, catching sight of Zia, Mistress of Witches, standing in the middle of a large circle of witches, all holding hands. They were dressed in everything from skirts to jeans, which Nexi took to mean that witches didn’t have a uniform like the guardians did. Haven dropped down on the grass, and as Nexi sat in next to her, Zia glanced over, smiled, then looked to the witches around her.

  “May the Elements protect and connect us together.” She raised her hands to the sky. “From the north, we summon you, Earth.”

  Beneath Nexi, the ground rumbled and she threaded her fingers into the grass. “What’s happening?”

  Haven looked all too comfortable with her arms behind her, palms resting on the ground. “Earth’s responding.”

  “Right.” Nexi rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

  Glancing out to the group of witches, she relaxed her hands against the now quiet ground as Zia called, “From the east, we summon you, Air.”

  The wind picked up, the trees swayed from the wind, and goose bumps pimpled her skin. Before she could recover, Zia continued, “From the south, we summon you, Fire.”

  An earsplitting sizzle sounded, and a ring of fire formed around the witches, blasting warmth in a breeze that lifted Nexi’s hair. She gasped and scrambled back, but Haven grabbed her arm.

  “It won’t hurt them.” Calmness seeped from Haven and her calm traveled through their bond. “The Elements protect witches.”

  When Nexi turned to Zia, she called, “To the west, we summon you, Water.”

  Swirling water surrounded the witches just above the fire, and Nexi shivered from the dampness spreading across her skin. She rubbed her arms warming them, as Zia said, “Connecting it all, we summon you, Spirit.”

  A brilliant explosion of light blasted through the meadow, and a glittering blue ribbon moved around the witches, dancing in and out between their bodies. Nexi stared in silent awe, since she hadn’t had the time to mull over her being part witch much considering she was preoccupied with hunting her parents’ killers. Being here, experiencing the ceremonial awesomeness, she couldn’t deny this power intrigued her.

  Haven’s smile warmed, no doubt sensing Nexi’s curiosity and the odd sensation rising within her. Her blood tingled as if everything had fallen asleep, yet she also burned with power. Unreachable, but present. As if the Elements were somehow speaking to her, reminding her that she did have a place here within this circle of witches.

  “See, your magic is there.” Haven’s eyes twinkled and she poked Nexi’s arm with her elbow. “It’s just hiding.”

  Nexi might’ve responded with the glaringly obvious question, Why is it hiding? But Zia cut her off as she said, “Return Elements, we thank you for your presence and the gifts you’ve bestowed upon us.”

  A deafening bang echoed through the air and as the magic vanished, and the dark night descended again. The witches hugged each other before they started to leave the meadow. As they walked by her and Haven some gave her odd looks, as if measuring her up, and some completely ignored her as if she weren’t sitting there.

  Confused by the circle, she turned to Haven. “Really, you call on the Elements, and then send them away. What in the hell was the point of that?”

  Haven smirked. “By calling on the Elements, we unite our sisterhood of witches. Together, with the Elements all around us, we give thanks.” She hesitated, nibbling her lip. “It’s kinda hard to explain with words…it’s just something you have to feel, but it keeps us joined together.”

  Wasn’t everything Otherworldly hard to explain with words?

  Before Nexi could state as much, Zia approached, her blue eyes twinkling with her gentle smile. “I thought we could chat a little bit.”

  Haven jumped up, planted a kiss on Nexi’s cheek, and as she skipped away after the other witches, she called, “Come find me later.”

  Taking Haven’s place in front of Nexi, Zia smoothed out her black, long skirt over her legs, and said, “You must have questions.”

  Thousands, Nexi thought, but where to start?

  After pondering to figure out which questions mattered most, she decided to start with what she’d seen tonight and work backward. “Am I part of the sisterhood now?”

  Zia shook her head, settling her beautiful strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder. “Once you come into your witch powers, we’ll have a ceremony welcoming you into the sisterhood.” She patted Nexi’s leg. “Even though you’re without your magic now, you’ll eventually gain it and take your place with us.”

  Didn’t that bring up a great next question? “Yes, about that. When exactly will this magic come into me?” Nexi nearly laughed at the thought. The idea of her having magic seemed not only ridiculous, but also dangerous.

  “To be honest, I’m unsure.” Zia regarded her with a tilt of her head. “Do you feel any different than before you came into the Otherworld?”

  Nexi considered that, then realized a truth stared her dead in the face. “After the block was removed it was all kinda confusing. At first, all I sensed was the guardian power and the increased strength. How invincible it made me feel.”

  She waited for Zia to give her a yes-that-was-stupid-of-you look, but the witch’s soft expression remained unchanged, so Nexi added, “But being here tonight I did feel something I haven’t before.”

  Zia’s eyebrows rose. “Which was?”

  Nexi shook her head, trying to find the correct word to explain. “Rightness.” She rolled her eyes, thinking she’d gotten it all wrong. Yeah, Haven had it right—something’s, like weird magical feelings, were hard to put into words. “Does that make any sense?”

  “Perfect sense, actually.” Zia nodded. “You should feel a connection with your fellow witches because your core being is joined to the Elements. Just because you haven’t touched on those powers doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”

  Made sense, she supposed.

  Zia picked off a piece of lint on her skirt before she flicked it onto the grass, and added, “I also don’t know what will happen once your witch powers are released, or what will trigger it. I’ve never seen a witch come into her magic so late in life.”

  Nexi frowned. “Are you trying to scare me?” Her panic rose to near lethal levels, heart skipping a beat. “If so, it’s working.”

  “No, I’m not trying to scare you, but trying to prepare you.” Zia took Nexi’s hand, giving it a firm squeeze. “Please don’t worry. If you cannot control your magic on your own, I can help you.”

  Big relief.

  She stared at Zia’s hand over top of hers and noted how comfortable she felt with Zia. How much it wasn’t weird having Zia holding her hand, which hit her as strange. She didn’t have a soul-sister bond with Zia, and she knew very little of the Mistress of Witches, but there was something there—a glaringly obvious deep connection.

  “We were soul sisters,” Zia whispered.

  Nexi lifted her head. “Pardon?”

  “Your birth mother, Tillie, and I were soul sisters.” Zia released Nexi’s hand and her voice thickened. “Did you know that?”

  “No, I’m sorry, no one told me.”

  In all actuality, she knew little about her birth mother, except two things: she was dead and her death had driven Drake to send Nexi into the Earthworld. He’d lost his love due to the violence. He wouldn’t lose a daughter as well, or so he had told her. Not that she wasn’t curious about Tillie, but the heartbreak Drake suffered when he talked of her birth mother made her hesitate.

  “You’d like to know more about Tillie?” Zia asked.

  Nexi eyed Zia, full of suspicion. “You know at first I thought you were intuitive, but there’s no way you can only be that, so spill. Can you read my mind? Is that one of
your magical powers?”

  Zia nodded. “I can always read into the minds of others through touch. With you, however, it’s different.” She hesitated, seeming to choose her words carefully. “You have vivid thoughts, and you send me messages telepathically.”

  “I do not.” Nexi gasped.

  Zia grinned. “You do.”

  “That’s bizarre, and I’m not sure I like that.” Suffering a serious case of heebeejeebies, Nexi shook out her hands, ridding herself of the creepiness crawling through her veins. “Why am I doing that, and how do I make it stop?”

  Zia’s eyebrows creased with her frown. “I’m afraid to say I can’t stop it, not until I understand why it’s happening, and right now, I don’t.” She hesitated, giving Nexi a long look, then added, “On some level, I suspect it could be that your mother and I were soul sisters, and that bond has developed in another way in her daughter.”

  That made sense. Kind of.

  “The other part of me wonders if it’s your magical abilities coming through. I’ve never had a connection like this before. So, it is odd, and I can only make assumptions as to why I can read you without touch.”

  Nexi pondered that exact thought herself, glancing out at the meadow and watching the leaves of a willow tree sway in the wind. She turned to Zia. “Do you mean that it’s one of my gifts, so to speak? That I have the power to send telepathic messages?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Zia admitted. “I had wondered that myself, but if it was one of your gifts, then you should do it with every witch, not only me.”

  Nexi rubbed her eyes. Why couldn’t any of this be simple?

  “Don’t stress about this.” Zia patted her leg in her reassuring way. “Right now, we’re only taking guesses on who you are as a witch. Once you come into your magic, things will make more sense.”

  “Yeah, right,” she muttered.

  As much as she figured nothing would ever make sense again, and regardless of the old pain that sank its fangs into her, or of the uncertainty of the future ahead of her, she knew she needed to hone every skill she had as a supernatural. For all that she’d lost. For the sacrifices so many had made. For the revenge she hungered.

  She lifted her head. “All right, give me the lowdown on my witchy mom.”

  Chapter Eight

  Three weeks of training had passed, and Hell would’ve been more enjoyable, or so Nexi assumed. Her fighting skills had improved, but they were nowhere near Kyden’s level, and she would’ve given her left pinky finger to kick his ass.

  In their training sessions, Kyden no longer took it easy on her. He had increased his force with harder pushes, grabbing limbs and even some light smacks to her thighs, and she damn well tried to keep up.

  Now in the second long, grueling hour of Kyden using her as a mop to dust the Guardians’ Hall floor, he had delivered a hard push to her back. She twirled around, slamming a fist straight into his chest. He responded with a deep groan, lunged forward to grab her arm, and twisted her away with a push to the hip. “You cannot let me get a hold of you.”

  She sprung with a kick of her own, blasting his thigh, sending a loud smack echoing through the hall. Before she could pull back, he latched onto her foot, flipped her over backward, and she dropped with a heavy thud. He stood over her with an arched eyebrow. “As I said, you cannot let me get a hold of you.”

  Thinning her lips, she exploded forward, attempting to land another blow. He dodged her hit and instead grabbed her thigh mid-stride. He dragged her forward, wrapping her leg neatly around his hip.

  His eyes burned half with naughtiness, the other half in exasperation. “If this was real, you’d be dead.”

  “Good thing it’s not real then.” She yanked her leg away, circled him and waited for an opening to attack.

  Only a second later she spotted one.

  He turned his body slightly, giving her the advantage she needed. Seizing her opportunity, she slammed her fist directly into his gut. He reciprocated by grabbing her arm and sending her face first to the ground.

  His voice sounded well-amused in her ear. “Never let the enemy get behind you. This position leaves you vulnerable.”

  Smashing her head back, she spun and socked him in the face, sending him flying backward. She jumped to her feet, surprised by the blood trickling down his nose.

  He wiped it away, unfazed. “Once you attack, never stop. Not for anything.”

  She took his advice.

  When Kyden lunged at her, her instincts stepped in and she leaned out of the way. “That’s it.” He pounced to strike and she raised her arm to block his move, jabbing him in the side. “Good. Get me on the ground.” His eyes shone with pride as he attacked with a steady stream of grabs and pushes, but she dodged and blocked each one. “The longer we fight, the more tired you’ll become.”

  For the first time ever, Kyden had changed his approach, and she had the real sense he wasn’t holding back. He moved swiftly, fought with the intent to disable her, and as the minutes drew on, his advice sank in.

  She weakened.

  He didn’t.

  She raised her leg, kicked high, sending him tumbling back. Before she could even blink, he jumped to his feet, preparing to land a hard push to her stomach. She couldn’t stop it. No matter how fast she moved away, his hand would end up straight in her gut.

  Holding her breath, she tightened her stomach, awaiting the blow.

  When his hand finally connected with her abdomen, the impact of it sent her flying back, but she threw her arms around his neck. If she went down, she’d sure as hell planned to take him with her. As they fell, she spun their bodies, so he’d take the brunt of the fall. They landed with a hard thud and with her straddling his waist.

  Pride lightened his eyes. “Well done.”

  She heard his approval and spotted his delight, but she zeroed in on his kissable mouth. Beneath her, Kyden panted in labored breaths, and she breathed heavy, too. The feel of his masculine, thick body between her thighs made her burn.

  Sweat slicked their flesh, sending hot desire sizzling down to the tips of her toes. The lingering adrenaline made her hands tremble against his warm chest. The scent of his natural spice made her downright wild.

  Ever since his last near kiss attempt, three damned weeks ago, Kyden hadn’t made another move. Either he wanted to take things incredibly slow, or he simply wanted to punish her for some unknown reason.

  She’d spent every night training with him and they’d also spent causal time together with Haven and Finn. Yet none of those nights included a good make out session, or even a bad one, unless she could count her burning-up-the-sheets dreams. Sure, Kyden had flirted and looked at her in overtly sexual ways, but that’s where it stopped.

  No kissing.

  No touching.

  That needed to change.

  Like, now.

  As she leaned down toward him, Kyden’s smoldering stare held hers, indicating she wasn’t the only one affected by the fight. Feeling his hard body under her scorching flesh, she spotted the happiness and sexy-as-hell arousal in his eyes, telling her this is what he’d waited for. He had wanted her to make the first move.

  Her lips drew close enough to feel his warm breath, when in the same moment, Talon’s voice echoed in the cathedral. “So, son, this is your definition of training?”

  Kyden cursed.

  Nexi froze.

  With a frown, Kyden placed his face into her neck, taking a deep sniff. “Sure beats a punch to the face.”

  Nibbling on her flesh, he sent hot shivers racing along her spine, and tickles to places that shouldn’t be tickling with anyone’s dad around. She quickly squirmed off Kyden, standing on wobbly legs. Not that the distance helped much, as Kyden lay half-naked, with taut muscles glistening with sweat and one leg bent at the knee, looking more than willing to ignore his father.

  Talon cleared his throat, dragging Nexi’s attention to him. “If you two are done, we have an assignment.” Talon’s expression w
as grim, even if his eyes were twinkling. “Apparently, the werewolf attacks in Carson City were only the beginning. A werewolf murder has been reported out of New York.”

  …

  The stale air and the wretched stench of decomposed flesh filled Kyden’s nostrils, causing him to bite back a groan. He scanned the small park adjacent to a dingy motel with the playground next to it, which was quiet at this late hour. However, what bothered him, near the slide, was a man lying flat on his back with his throat ripped. The grass around the deceased body was saturated with dark blood.

  Kyden clenched his jaw at the gruesome death, but a sudden burst of laughter broke through the tension. Turning to Nexi and Haven, he folded his arms, and watched the scene in front of him with a frown.

  A middle-aged mortal strolled down the sidewalk with his yellow Labrador Retriever and Nexi stayed right in next to him, waving her hands in pure dramatic fashion. “Hello? Do you see me?”

  Haven bounced next to her, making funny faces.

  Kyden sighed. “Are you two done?”

  Both turned to him, and while Haven laughed, Nexi shook her head in amazement. “I honestly didn’t believe the magic shielded us from sight. That is beyond weird.” At Kyden’s arched brow, she rolled her eyes and added, “Okay, not any weirder than anything else I’ve seen.”

  He nodded at her before he looked away, knowing part of his tension was caused by her. Tonight she had nearly given him what he’d craved for weeks now, to give into this attraction driving him mad. It irritated him beyond anything that Talon had interrupted.

  If Nexi had grown up in the Otherworld, he would’ve had her in his bed and claimed as his weeks ago, but she grew up in the Earthworld. He wanted to do this right for her, take things slow, since she was used to that in her world. Besides, she’d already shown her dislike of any man taking control, so now he simply waited for her next move.

  His patience hung on by a thin thread.

  The last few weeks had been a strain, frustrating the hell out of him. Nexi had no idea how much restraint he used not to take control of the situation, declare her as his woman, and be done with it.