by Stormie Kent
The area was only thinly lined with trees. All at once he took in two black-and-brown wolves fighting, and Mary standing off to the side in front of Manuel’s sedan, staring at the fighting wolves. Both wolves were bloodied. The smaller of the two seemed to be biting into any available surface of the other. Nic didn’t hesitate. He shifted fully and attacked the larger wolf.
He used all his strength to push Manuel away from his mate, except she kept coming at the former alpha until Nic wasted precious seconds warning her off with a growl and a snap. He turned back in time to keep Manuel from tearing a chunk out of his flank. Nic went for the wolf’s extended throat. He clasped his teeth around it, preparing to rip it out.
“Stop. I’ll shoot, Nic, I swear!”
Nic glanced up without releasing a squirming Manuel’s throat. Mary stood with a gun clutched in a tight two-handed grip. The weapon was pointed at him, but as Jake and Devin made a move for her, she swung it in their direction. “Don’t make me do this. Just release him, and we’ll leave.”
Jake stepped forward. “You know that can’t happen, Mary. You all crossed a line here today. There isn’t any way to atone for it.”
Nic concurred. Only death awaited Manuel and Mary. He looked for Leila. She was crouched to his left, muscles bunched as if ready to strike, eyes on Mary.
Tears filled Mary’s eyes. “I can’t let you kill him, Nic. I’m sorry.” Her hands tightened around the gun.
Leila shifted back to human, her beautiful body riddled with bites and blood. She flung her hand out. Blue flame zoomed through the air and slammed into Mary’s chest. Mary screamed once. The gun fell from her grasp as her body dropped to the ground.
Nic’s clamped his jaws tighter, and he quickly ripped through skin, tendon, and bone. He paused and listened for a heartbeat to make certain Manuel was truly dead before loping over to Leila. She’d collapsed, her body returning to wolf form. His wolf whined, and Nic slowly shifted to a man.
If she couldn’t hold her human form, she was badly hurt. The shifter’s body only shifted to wolf when unconscious if it had severe wounds that needed to be healed.
His throat clogged. Pain lanced through his chest, threatening to disable him. “I don’t even know if there is any part of her where I can pick her up without hurting her.”
Jake walked to Nic’s side. “You have to, Nic. She needs a doctor.”
Nic spared a glance for Jake. “I can’t take a wolf to the hospital.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He could fall apart when she was safe. “Jake, call in a cleanup crew for the bodies. Devin, run back and drive down to the healer, Mama Tui. Tell her I need one more favor. Don’t leave until she agrees to come here.”
Jake pulled out his phone as Nic picked up his mate. Her blood flowed onto his arms and hands. He shuddered and started walking. Devin ran ahead. Nic kept his pace slow and even. He didn’t want to jar her and wake her before he had some way to help her. The pain had to be excruciating.
When he stepped from the woods, his pack stood silently in two columns along the path. He tightened his jaw and breathed through the burning at the back of his eyes. He couldn’t look at them as they bore witness to one of the most gut-wrenching moments of his life.
His mother awaited him at the top of his steps. She silently opened the door for him to enter his home, then followed him inside. She was silent all the way to his bedroom, where he laid Leila on the bed. He took the pants his mother handed him and slipped them on before falling to the floor on his knees by his mate’s side.
He could not lose her. She was everything to him. Her laugh, her smile, the way she melted into him at the slightest touch. Everything about her delighted him. He hadn’t known he was looking for a mate or that he even wanted one when he’d first seen her and she’d taken his breath away in the female gladiator costume.
He leaned into his mother’s hand as she smoothed it through his hair.
“Oh, Nic.” Her words were soft and mournful.
“I can’t lose her, Mamá.”
She stood guard with him, smoothing his hair until he heard the front door open and close. There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs before Nic felt the presence of Mama Tui.
“Oh, wolf. You two attract danger like no one I’ve ever seen before.”
He moved so she could reach the bed. “Can you help?”
“I’ll do my best. The rest is up to your little witch.”
Chapter Thirteen
Leila awoke covered in bandages and not much else. She was alone in bed, and the midday light streaming through the windows hurt her eyes. Sitting up, she groaned. Her entire body ached. She cleared her throat. She needed a glass of water ASAP.
Moving from the bed to the bathroom was an event. An incredibly slow event. She drank straight from the faucet before brushing her teeth. She started on the bandages next. The skin underneath was tender and red, but the scars were faint. She could still feel Manuel’s teeth sinking into her body and her desire to end him once and for all. She almost cried in the shower, the spray felt so good.
By the time she was dressed and her hair had been dried and curled, she felt much better. She’d thought briefly about wearing clothes to cover the scars, but decided against it almost immediately. She was alive. The wounds could have killed her and hadn’t, so shorts and a spaghetti-strap tee would show off her battle scars perfectly. She didn’t even cover the scars on her chin and cheek with makeup. Eyeshadow and lipstick, and she was ready to face the day. Except she needed a slight breather before she could tackle the stairs.
Eventually, her growling stomach forced her downstairs. The front door opened as she reached the bottom. Her heart fluttered as Nic stepped inside. The sun’s rays lit his body from behind, making it appear as if he glowed around the edges. He looked so tired. He closed the door but didn’t move toward her. They stared at each other. As he inspected each of her scars, his mouth tightened until it was no more than a slash on his face.
“I should dig the bastard up and kill him again.”
She moved back up one step, food forgotten. She had expected Nic to rail against Manuel, but only after he’d held her tight and kissed each one of her scars. She hadn’t thought he might not comfort her or stare at her like she was defective. “You think I’m ugly.”
He was on her before she could move farther away. The hold he had on her upper arms was unbreakable. “No. You’re beautiful. I just hate that he got to you. That he hurt you.”
She could hear the pain in his voice. Tension she hadn’t known she was holding eased from her body. She cupped the backs of his arms.
He pulled her closer. “Don’t worry. The scars will fade in a couple of days. Even if they don’t, you will still be the most beautiful woman in the world.”
There was her shifter, the one who seemed to adore everything about her. She realized how much she counted on Nic’s seeming blindness to what other people had pointed out as her imperfections. “I’m not worried about scars, but I am concerned that I haven’t been kissed yet.”
Amber flashed in his eyes, and his mouth softened into the cocky grin she was used to. His lips captured hers a moment after. Delight raced across her skin. He poured his pleasure into her, demanding she respond with bliss. Her entire body caught fire, and she transferred her hands to his shirt and started to inch it up a bit at a time. He was offering her a promise of fulfillment and rapture, and she was getting ready to collect.
There was a low rumbling sound, and Nic ended the kiss. He looked startled. Her stomach had decided food was more important than sex.
“Obviously I’m not taking care of my mate properly if her stomach is protesting.”
She might be able to squeeze some pancakes out of this situation. “I am hungry.”
He turned them toward the kitchen. “You were asleep for two days.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “You’ve lost weight as well.” He didn’t seem pleased with the observation.
She helped him
gather the ingredients for bacon, eggs, and pancakes, though a glance at the clock informed her it was closer to lunch than it was to breakfast, and then took up her favorite cooking position, pressed to his back with her hands in his pockets. As he worked, she inhaled his scent, allowing it to flood her with feelings of safety. She protested when he unwrapped her from his body and urged her to sit and eat.
She was quiet for some time after the first delicious bite. Finally, her stomach was satisfied enough that she could talk. “The only way we’re going to catch this sorcerer is by setting a trap.”
She winced as his fork hit his plate with a clatter. “You just woke up from nearly dying, and now you want to run straight back into danger.”
She wondered if she should mention he was yelling. “He could be anyone—a sorcerer from another Council, a crazy who hasn’t been identified as crazy yet. The longer we fumble around in the dark, the greater the chance he kills again. We have something he wants. Me.”
The silence in the kitchen was profound. And Nic’s face. His face was scary as he stared at her, eyes full wolf, skin drawn over the bones as if he was at the very edge of a shift. She’d never been scared of Nic before, but she was now. Her wolf was watchful, warning her to stay still and not make any moves. He pushed away from the table and stood. His chair tipped backward and clattered to the floor.
Without a word, he left the room. Heart racing, she tried to figure out what to do. A crash jerked her to her feet. It sounded as if the floor had caved in, and the walls shook. She ran to the kitchen doorway to find the sofa upside down on the floor across the room from where it should be, right next to a giant dent in the wall. Standing, head bowed, hands pressed against the wall beside the front door, Nic’s entire body shook.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
“No.” The single syllable was raw, dark, and final.
She watched as Nic nudged his shoes off and opened the door. Between one second and the next, he was a large gray wolf. He ran, then leaped off the steps and away. She hurried to the doorway, only to see him heading for the woods. Hugging herself, she walked out and sat on the top step. It was quiet as everyone in the area stared after their alpha.
A shadow blocked the sun, and Leila looked up as Jake climbed the stairs. The normally stoic man’s face showed his concern. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. The sofa and wall could be in pain, though.”
His eyebrows shot close to his hairline. “What happened?”
I hurt him. “I suggested I would make good bait for the sorcerer.”
Jake sighed. “Leila, he thought you were going to die.”
“I realize my mistake. Now. Can you go after him?”
“No, it’s best he run it out. My job is to protect you.” He hesitated, then sat down next to her. She noticed he left the entire length of the step between them.
They sat in silence. Kim, one of the toddlers, waddled over, navigated the steps by crawling, and insisted Leila pick her up. As Leila pulled the little rounded body into her lap, she felt a tiny bit of the tension leak from her. She kissed Kim’s forehead and held her tighter. Kim was content to play with the bangles on Leila’s wrist and remained silent.
Even the children playing in the Yard did so quietly, their words hushed, their movements smaller than they normally would be. It brought home to Leila how important the alpha was to the pack. His distress affected them. There was a connection she knew wasn’t even felt in the Council. She wasn’t surprised when Ana and a completely healed Tara took seats on the stairs below Leila.
“It will be all right, Leila. He won’t stay away for long.”
Ana’s voice was soothing to Leila’s ears, and she wondered what she was allowing to leak through the pack bond she hadn’t even realized was there.
When Nic finally walked through the Yard wearing a thin pair of sweatpants, the children were the first to react, running to touch him or be touched before darting off to play more loudly than they had before. Tears threatened at the back of her eyes, and she fought them off. The adults were more restrained, watching as he approached the house. He kissed his mother on the forehead, stroked his hand over the hair slowly growing in on Tara’s head, and nodded to Jake.
He looked good. He picked Kim up and kissed her, then allowed her to return the sign of affection, only the toddler’s was more noisy and involved a lot of face petting. He solemnly waited until the little girl was finished before handing her to her mother, who had strode over after Nic.
Leila didn’t resist as he pulled her to standing and hugged her close. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her nose near his collarbone. She didn’t lift her head when she felt them moving toward the house. The door closed with a whisper of sound before she lifted her head.
Nic said, “I shouldn’t have thrown the couch while you were near.”
She’d been in an entirely different room, but it wasn’t time to argue with him. “I’m sorry.”
He squeezed her tighter. “That’s my line.” He walked over to an armchair and sat, settling her in his lap. “Leila, I love you. I couldn’t bear to think of you in danger, and to think I put you there…” He stopped talking, his jaw tight.
He loved her. Joy burst within her so strong she didn’t know if she could contain it. She cupped his face, keeping her touch gentle for her strong mate who had opened his heart to her.
Those stupid tears in her eyes got free. “I love you too. I never meant to hurt you.”
She kissed him, attempting to tell him without words how much he meant to her. They were both panting when she pulled away.
She snuggled in close and petted his chest as he held her.
Nic squeezed her tighter. “You may be on to something. This guy has to have killed before, or somebody has noticed he’s acting weird. Hank went back to work today. I’ll call him and ask him to check for similar deaths across the state.”
“I’ll call my uncle. We can get started looking for wizards who may have been acting suspiciously.”
Neither one of them moved for ten more minutes. The world could wait ten minutes.
* * * *
Leila sat at the kitchen table and watched as Nic put down his cell phone a few hours later. “Four deaths in Patton. Similar to ours, but no clue if the victims were witches.”
“I don’t have any information on Patton. It’s outside the area we’ve been checking.” She sighed and picked up the phone to call her uncle. He could get answers faster than she could.
The call was brief. “He says he’ll check.” She paused. “There was a call on my phone from my mother reminding me I was supposed to have dinner with her tonight.”
“You can’t go alone.”
She knew that. “Will you come with me?”
His smile was all teeth. “What’s Zuria going to say?”
“Nic.”
He kissed her. “Sure, I’ll come. While we wait for your uncle to call back, I’ll patch the hole in the wall.”
“I’ll clean up the kitchen.”
She heard the vacuum running as she was clearing the kitchen table and peered around the corner to see him vacuuming the sofa. He looked pretty serious about it, so she left him to it. The dishes didn’t take long, and when she wandered back out to the living room, Nic was spreading white gunk over the wall.
Tired even though she’d slept for two days, she curled up on the sofa. She’d just rest her eyes for a few moments.
Sharp, shrill ringing had her sitting straight up, flinging her hand out to find her phone. Someone grabbed her hand, and she turned to find Nic smiling at her. He held her phone out to her, and she mumbled her thanks. She answered the phone.
“Leila?”
“Hi, Uncle Kofi. Do you have anything for me?”
“Yes, the male historian in Patton says four witches were killed almost exactly a year ago.”
“Just four?”
“There was also a disappearance. A young witch went missi
ng a month before the killings started.”
“Do they think it was related?”
“The husband was being watched before the young woman’s disappearance. He’d been acting odd. Her family was scared for her. They said he’d become increasingly possessive and unreasonable. They investigated but couldn’t prove he’d done anything to her. The police determined she could have simply left town, but the case is still open.”
“The murders began a month after?”
“Yes. One a week for four weeks, then nothing.”
“What about the husband?”
“He disappeared. I have his name here.” The faint sound of paper shuffling could be heard in the background. “I found it. Octavius Ross.”
“Thanks, Uncle Kofi.”
“Be safe, Leila.”
She hung up and turned to Nic. “The name sounds familiar.”
“I’ll run it through the computers at work tomorrow. It’s getting late. Aren’t we supposed to head to your mother’s?”
She looked down at her arms and grimaced. She would never be able to convince her mother Nic had nothing to do with her scars. Nic had enough guilt without her mother treating him as if he were an abuser.
Nic took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “It will be okay. We’ll face her together.”
They changed and then got in Nic’s SUV. Leila was still tugging on the three-quarter-length sleeves of the linen pantsuit as they pulled up in front of her parents’ mini mansion at dusk. Zuria and Aton lived in a gated community full of witches and wizards.
Nic gently took her hand in his. “You’re beautiful.”
“I already know what she’s going to say, Nic. Your mom is so nice and mine is so mean.”
“We can leave whenever you want. Say the word, and I’ll fling you over my shoulder and make a run for the car.”
She couldn’t help but smile at that. She kissed him and then opened the door and stepped out before she lost her nerve. And froze. She’d smelled the burning tar scent before. Nic’s growl confirmed her suspicions.