Protecting the Pack

by L. S. Slayford

  “Why would the Academy send you if you work for the Council?” My brow creased. Suddenly I wanted to open the Grey Goose.

  Daniel leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “The Council sent me to investigate a lead which led me to the Academy. While I was there, one of the Masters’ told me to come here, to seek out the pack who could shed some light on this.”

  I shook my head, feeling dumb. “I don’t understand, Daniel. How could the pack know anything? They don’t leave the forest. They can’t.”

  Daniel stood up and walked forward, standing in front of me. Gazing up, I watched his face stretch with some unreadable expression. His voice took on an urgent quality. “I kept my end of the bargain, Alana. Now it’s your turn. What did you find out?”

  I opened my mouth, but before any words could pass my vocal chords, a brilliant white light filled my vision, wringing a gasp from my throat as the world disappeared into nothingness.

  Eleven

  Peeking through the gaps of my fingers covering my face, I watched as the world returned, the white flash fading at the edges until it disappeared completely. Only it was Daniel who filled my vision.

  All I could see was this tall body, his slim hips merging into muscular thighs hidden by his dark clothes. I deliberately averted my eyes before they roamed over a particular area, raising them up to his face. Somehow I’d fallen onto my knees.

  It took a second to catch my breath. “What the hell was that?” I hated hearing the shakiness in my voice, but some things just can’t be helped.

  Daniel shook his head, a crease forming between his dark brows. “I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice hitching, and a frown locked between his eyebrows. He reached out a hand, and I took it. Slowly I got to my feet.

  Inhaling deeply, I reached out with my external senses, trying to determine what had just happened. Witches have the ability to sense otherworldly things, such as magic and natural energy which can be harnessed, similar to the normal five senses humans have. Normally, it’s like a caress over the skin, a glide of power that flows over the body and seeps within, but at that moment I couldn’t sense anything.

  Confused, I headed towards the window, hoping for answers, but came up with nothing. The outside world was still the same as it was five minutes ago, lush with green leaves and the hint of blue skies through the canopy. If there was something there, I couldn’t see it.

  What was that flash of light?

  The only thing I could sense was Daniel moving behind me. His hands gently touched my upper arms, his fingers warm and strong. I inhaled, and that wild and woodsy scent of his went straight to my knees and my core tightened as those fingers made movements on my skin. “There’s nothing out there.” Each word fell from his lips like a string straight to the junction of my thighs.

  “Just that shadow creature,” I replied, forcing myself not to lean my head back against his chest. It had been so long since anyone other than the wolves had touched me. Too long.

  Daniel twirled me in his arms unexpectedly, so I was forced to look at his face. Those green eyes gazed down, simmering with unabashed heat. “I’ll be here to protect you from it, Alana.”

  I shook my head and inhaled deep, trying to steady the pounding in my body. “I don’t need you to protect me, Daniel. I’m strong enough to take care of myself.”

  His hands warmed my arms where they touched and travelled down. “I have no doubt of your capabilities, but I need to be here. I need to be by your side, to have your back.”

  I felt a strange flutter at his words and I wasn’t sure why. “I told you, my magic is strong enough to do this by myself,” I said, hoping that my words were strong enough. I’ve never needed anyone to fight my battles for me. Not then, not now.

  “Stubborn little forest witch,” Daniel bit out irritably, his breath hot against my skin. “I know you’re tough, but you’re not doing this alone.”

  “I’ve always been alone,” I told him softly, the words coming out without permission. I lifted my gaze to his, meeting them head-on, biting my lip at the wave of desire those words conjured. “I’m used to it.”

  The green of his eyes burned to emerald. “You’re not alone in this.” Lifting a hand to my face, he brushed a thumb over the soft pillow of my bottom lip, sending a ripple of desire through me. Within seconds, he cupped a hand behind my ear and brought his face closer to mine.

  Our lips were only a whisper apart when I could feel my entire body begin to tremble. Those lips, full and looking so soft, were achingly close and hadn’t moved. Without thinking, I grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him down to me.

  He locked his mouth over mine and devoured me. Those lips were as soft as they looked but they possessed me with a hunger and a passion I’d never encountered before. They consumed me, forcing me to open to his demands, and plundered my mouth. His hand gripped the back of my head, not allowing me the slightest movement, whilst the other slid to my waist, pressing me against the hard lines of his body.

  I could feel him against my stomach, hard and ready. The taste of his mouth nourished me in a way that defied description and I sank into the sensation, not caring about anything but the taste of him. My hands slid around to the small of his back, tracing the taut muscles that flexed beneath my fingers. It was so damn hard to breathe, to think.

  Lack of oxygen forced us both to pull away, our breathing coming in short, sharp swallows. His head tilted down as his eyes bored into mine, causing shadows to pool beneath his sharp cheekbones. Fire burned in his eyes, and it wasn’t hard to imagine that he saw the same flames in mine. Suddenly, his mouth was on me again, inching his way down my neck, a blaze of heat trailing behind his path.

  His fingers found the hem of my t-shirt, and yanked it over my head, exposing the pale pink bra which encased my breasts. My nipples strained across the material, aching to be touched. My own fingers dove beneath his shirt, gliding over that smooth hard chest. I wanted to trace the contours of that chest with my tongue almost as much as I wanted his to explore mine. There was suddenly nothing real to me but need and the hands on my body, the body under my hands. I could barely breathe for the need that slammed through me.

  When Daniel’s mouth finally descended over an exposed nipple, the room swam. A rush of pleasure shook me, fierce and sizzling, as his tongue flicked over the sensitive bud. A cry tore from my throat when his lips began sucking and I gripped his hair in my fingers, keeping him in position.

  A hand slid down from my waist to the top of my jeans. Within seconds, Daniel had them pushed down and his hands buried in my sex. Electricity surged through my veins and the world disappeared to nothing but pleasure. Pressure built between my thighs, the oxygen fleeing my body, until the world exploded in a burst of shimmering lights.

  Daniel withdrew his hand and kissed me once more. Gods alive, that man knew how to use his mouth. Breathing was a struggle, but one I didn’t care about. All I wanted was to lose myself in pleasure.

  He fell to his knees and tugged my jeans down but couldn’t get them over my hiking boots. Cursing, he started unlacing them. He managed to get the first one off but couldn’t remove the second. He began yanking it and pulled me with it.

  This time pain blossomed over my head as it hit the edge of the windowsill. I fell to the floor, my hand cupping the back of my head automatically. Daniel continued to remove the boot, not paying any attention to the fact that I was hurt.

  OK, I’d met my fair share of selfish lovers, but come on. This wasn’t right.

  “Daniel,” I breathed, my voice coming out huskier than what I would’ve liked. “My head.”

  “I’ll make the pain go away,” he told me, removing my socks and sliding my jeans over my ankles.

  I shook my head. “I’m serious. You need to stop.”

  “Can’t stop,” he said, peppering kisses up my naked thigh. This was very wrong. Then I felt it, something stirring on the air, subtle enough that it was hard to make out.

  I g
rabbed his hair and forced him to look at me, although my body was wishing I hadn’t. “Something’s wrong. What’s happening?”

  Those burning eyes met mine and for a moment, it was hard to breathe. They were thick with desire, blazing me with their intensity. Daniel’s jawline hardened and then he shuddered in my hands. “Compulsion spell,” he finally gritted out. “Makes you give into your desires.”

  That would explain a few things then. I’d never experienced one before, but they were tricky little spells. They would allow you to sink into whatever it was you were feeling, but they worked better with lust. Which would explain how things had progressed. Unless you wanted to see the spell through, pain was the only way to break it. Great.

  My head was telling me to stop it, but my body … well, the traitorous devil wanted to see the spell through.

  Daniel groaned, his fingers searching for my flesh. They found the sensitive bud between my thighs and began working their magic. No, we couldn’t see this through. It was a spell. A stupid, annoying spell … “Daniel, you need to stop.” I attempted to make my voice firm, but it just came out strangled and hoarse.

  “No, I need to be inside you. I wanted you the first moment I saw you.” Desire shuddered through me at his words, but we still had to stop this madness.

  I tried again as his fingers caused me to arch my back. “Stop,” I cried as the pressure built within me. But Daniel shook his head, bringing his face closer to my thighs. I knew if his mouth closed within the place that my body desperately wanted him to be, we’d never stop. Sweet Goddess, I was so close to the edge I was about to topple over.

  I needed pain.

  Nothing was in close enough distance for me to grab so I called my energy. At the first flick of his tongue over my lace-covered sex, it pooled out and struck him in the side of his head. He rolled over onto his back, his eyes closed but his breathing even. A wave of exhaustion flooded me, and I flopped backwards, the wooden floor cold on my butt. A disabling spell which would knock him out for a little while.

  What he would say or do when he woke up, well, that wasn’t something I was looking forward to.

  My own body was already telling me off.

  Twelve

  I didn’t have long to wait. Twenty minutes later, after a quick shower and donning new clothes, I was making tea when faint groaning informed me he was awake. I was debating with myself whether to make a drink for him or not when he staggered through the doorway, shivering. Being knocked out with a disabling spell will do that to you.

  “Thanks for leaving me on the floor,” he muttered cantankerously, sliding ungracefully into a chair at the table and rubbing his temple.

  I placed a mug of tea in front of him, the steam rising through the air and the scent of bergamot filling my nostrils. “Don’t whine. It’s unbecoming,” I told him, using the same words that my father often used on me during my teenage years.

  Daniel snorted and cupped his hands around the mug, inhaling the steam before taking a sip. “How long was I out for?”

  “About twenty minutes,” I shrugged, sitting in the opposite chair and sipping my own cooling tea. “Not long.”

  “You pack some punch. I swear I’m going to have the mother of all headaches for a week.”

  I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms over my chest. “That’s what you get for not stopping when I told you to.”

  Daniel’s eyes snapped to mine, the green deepening to the shade of moss. “I was under a compulsion spell, like you, and a bloody strong one at that. I’m surprised we didn’t see things through.”

  My core tightened at his last words. “I know that,” I snapped. “I’m a witch, remember. I know all about those spells. Hell, I’ve cast a few over the years.” I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves. “But I’ve never felt any like that before.”

  “Neither have I and yet it feels strangely familiar,” Daniel told me, his voice falling to a confused whisper. He shook his head and met my eyes. Something gleamed wickedly in them. “Either way, I’m sorry that I couldn’t break free and stop myself from trying to ravish you. Or am I sorry that I’m not sorry? I can’t decide which.”

  I felt my face flush and my mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

  One corner of his mouth upturned into a devilishly sexy smirk as he leaned back in his chair. “If you know about compulsion spells like you say you do, then you know that they’re designed to help you give into your desires. That’s why they’re particularly strong when it comes to lust.” The smirk developed into a self-satisfied grin. “You wanted me.”

  Heat blossomed over my cheeks like wildfire. “I did not!”

  He tilted his head to the side, his eyes looking at me as if they could see right inside my soul, past the lie that just came out of my mouth. “Yes, you did, otherwise you wouldn’t have kissed me, and if you remember, you made the first move. The stronger the desire, the stronger the spell. You melted in my hands, under my mouth. I felt your body shudder under the pleasure I gave you. You can’t deny it.”

  “Yes, I can,” I told him, wishing my voice wasn’t so breathless, or that my body didn’t respond to his words as much as it did. Damn him. I took a sip of my tea then set the mug down. “That means you wanted me.”

  That smirk widened to a grin. “Yeah, it does.” My stomach did a funny little twist and my breath caught in my throat at his words. “And when all this is done, I intend to see if you taste as good as good as you felt. And you want to know how good I feel inside you.” His words came out low, tinged with a sensual edge that resonated in deep, liquid areas of my body.

  The cocky bastard. “The only thing I want is to get this demon out my forest and then to be left alone.”

  “Oh, you’re such a hothead, Alana. I love it. While it’s incredibly arousing, it’s also dangerous and bound to get you killed. You’re too temperamental, too quick to act. You need a plan and you need help.”

  Scepticism painted my features as I sipped my tea. It’s amazing just how much it reduces my bitchiness. “And that’s what you’re here for, to help?”

  All the flirting dropped from Daniel’s face, replaced by something more serious. “I am. Master Whitwood told me to come here and help. He’s placed a lot of faith in me over the years and I’m not about to let him down now.”

  Master Whitwood was a professor at the Academy, a man who exuded an aura of wisdom and calmness. Just the mention of his name conjured his image in my mind. Looking like Methuselah on a good day with wrinkles forming endless creases in his skin, his snow-white beard reached halfway down his chest. He’d been the only one to stand up for me during my expulsion. He was also the one who knew of all the old legends of our kind. “What did he tell you?”

  His eyes scanned me in the most unusual way as he brushed back a lock of dark hair from his face. “Demon sightings have increased tenfold in the last year, mostly in the States. There’s been reports of a werewolf pack in Virginia being targeted by them. A few months ago, a small coven of witches cursed someone in that pack and now all hell is breaking loose over there. At the same time, things have been happening in the east. China’s been particularly hit hard. Contact with Japan is all but gone and we’re not sure why. Last month, three families in Scotland were killed, the evidence suggesting demons and witches working together.”

  “That’s impossible,” I whispered, setting my cup down, appalled at the notion. Witches and demons working together? It was unthinkable.

  Daniel nodded. “That’s what we thought at first, but with everything going on, several of us started to think there’s something much bigger than what the Council suspected. When I was summoned, I told them of my worries and was ordered to look into it. I arrived at the Academy last week and met with Master Whitwood when the first earthquakes happened. No one knew what was happening when the second and third ones hit, let alone the rest. While they were panicking and sorting out rescue missions and going crazy, Whitwood and I were holed up in his study, searching for answ
ers.”

  “And what did you find out?” Although I tried to remain calm, there was a faint quiver in my voice.

  Green eyes bore into mine and I repressed a shiver. “Someone is trying to lift the veils. I don’t know how or who or why, but they need the werewolves on your land to do it. I tried explaining this to Silvia, but I don’t think she believed me. Whitwood ordered me here to help. Millions of people have died in less than a week and billions more will die if something isn’t done. I believe that I need to start here, with you, to understand just what the hell is going on before it’s too late.”

  Daniel was from a family of infamous wizards, ones that murdered and ripped witches of their natural magic. But something in his eyes, something that etched down the lines of his face, made me believe him. I’d give him a chance. I took a deep breath and nodded. “It is.”

  Thirteen

  “Max told me -” I began, but no sooner than I had opened my mouth then we heard screaming from outside. Daniel and I shared an apprehensive look before dashing towards the front door.

  Outside, iridescent sparks shimmered through the gaps between the trees like thousands of tiny stars exploding. More screams, one atop of the other, echoed above and around, sending icy shivers down my spine.

  Someone was using magic in my woods.

  I rushed out towards those screams.

  “Don’t, Alana. It’s a trap!”

  Ignoring him, I allowed my feet to take me where I needed to go. Adrenaline stirred within my veins at the sound of crying, and I jumped over long-ago fallen trees and weaved my way around others older than my home.

  Energy rippled through the air, and sparks lit up the woods. On all sides, darkness crept in at the edges. Trepidation attempted to rise its ugly head, but I forced it down. Fear was a luxury I couldn’t afford, and neither could those who were making the screams.

  Daniel caught up to me and ran ahead, my shorter legs unable to ease the distance between us. Chin down, I forced myself to run faster. He might’ve been quicker, but I knew the forest like the back of my hand. It wasn’t long before I caught up.