by Judy Teel
I drank half of the water and handed the glass back to him. "What happened?"
"Aedodra is back," Mistress Raevinne said with a huff of disgust.
"Yeah, I got that part pretty clearly."
The practitioner pointed her cane at Dr. Barrett's desk chair and Miller scrambled to get it for her. "After throwing his impertinent weight around, he snapped his fingers and disappeared," she said as she settled into the chair. "His love of theatrics explains a great deal about vampires."
"You don't seem surprised by his appearance." I watched Cooper breathe.
"I have had a day to get used to the idea." She stacked her hands on her cane and gave me a hard look that I pretended not to notice. "And to realize that there is still hope."
I looked around the infirmary as another fear hit me. "Dr. Barrett... Is he—"
"Erika is currently taking him his dinner," Mistress Raevinne interrupted. "He is one of the few bright spots in our current situation. With proper care, he will recover."
"And the others — Ralph, Noah?"
"When those with only physical injuries regained enough strength to shift, they healed themselves," Miller said and relief eased the tightness in my throat. "But that won't help the ones with deeper damage. Only time can heal them."
He exchanged a look with his grandmother. "Erika will stay on for a while as the Clan's healer." He sat down on the side of my bed and held out a coffee mug full of chicken broth.
I accepted the soup, not liking the way this was sounding. "I won't leave Cooper," I said, taking a sip.
"Ah. She has already guessed where this is headed," Mistress Raevinne said, a satisfied smile touching the edges of her mouth.
They exchanged another look.
Practitioners were always plotting something. "Whatever it is, forget it." I swallowed the rest of the broth and tossed the covers off of me. Handing the empty mug to Miller, I put my feet on the floor, waited a moment for the dizzy spell to pass and then stood. Shuffling past the practitioners, I edged around the foot of my bed and in no time, was crawling in beside Cooper.
Settling down on my side, I draped a leg over his thighs and pulled the blankets up. "You two look like you could use some rest," I said, resting my right arm across his chest. "I'll let you know if we need you."
Miller looked away, but not before I caught the flicker of pity in his eyes. Mistress Raevinne studied me for a moment and then hauled herself out of the chair using her cane as leverage. "Come," she said to her grandson. "The Demon-Were is quite right. I am tired."
The Demon-Were.
I wasn't sure how I felt about being so solidly out of the closet or what it would mean to me moving forward. Mostly I didn't care.
The only thing important to me now was getting Cooper well.
Snuggling down next to him, I brushed my fingertips across the rough stubble along his jaw and let my tears slide down my face and into the pillow. "Please live," I said as I fell asleep.
* * *
I woke up in the early hours of the next morning when Cooper's hand slid over the curve of my hip before he pulled me snuggly against him. He was facing me, and I smiled as I opened my eyes. "We're in the infirmary," I said, my gaze tracking over his face. His color was back to normal and the shadow of his beard gave him a sexy, dangerous vibe that made my heart beat a little faster.
As I stroked my fingers over his chest, he slipped his hand under the waistband of my jeans and slid it around to unsnap the front. A languid eagerness curled through my stomach, and I instinctively reached for the connection between us. And slammed into the frigid emptiness.
I sucked in a sharp breath and pulled back from him.
"We have to trigger the bond again," Cooper murmured, stroking the pad of his thumb down my cheek. "Please." He edged closer and brushed his lips across mine.
A heavy sadness sank into my heart over all that we had lost. I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss as he unzipped my jeans. His warm hand caressed my stomach and then slid lower as his mouth traveled down my neck, gently biting and then kissing my skin as if he meant to taste every inch of me.
I pushed away my feeling that the bond between us was gone forever and gave myself up to Cooper.
* * *
We made love continuously through the night, a flowing rhythm of pleasure and heartache as we tried to fill ourselves up with each other, knowing that we never could. Aedodra hadn't just destroyed the bond between us, he'd stripped us of whatever had created it.
When Mistress Raevinne, Miller, Rosalind and Dr. Barrett supported by an attentive Erika, trooped into the infirmary the next morning, they found us sitting close together at Dr. B's desk consuming a breakfast that neither of us felt like eating, but that our healing bodies demanded.
Cooper and I offered our chairs to Mistress Raevinne and Dr. Barrett and then stood off to the side, shoulder to shoulder, our hands clasped tightly together. For once, Rosalind refrained from scowling at me and dread pooled in the pit of my stomach. Miller stared at his feet, looking miserable.
"It cheers me to see you restored to health, Aesei Siian." Mistress Raevinne's sharp eyes trailed across us, missing nothing. "Your little Maya is blessed."
I felt Cooper flinch as if she'd struck him and my anger stirred.
"We were lucky this time," she continued. "The old one's power is still weak, which is why I believe he did not kill you. He will need time to adjust to his new body and to this dimension."
"How long?" Cooper asked.
"Your time with her is over."
I clenched my teeth, barely holding myself back from getting in her face. "That isn't for you to decide."
"Quite true. Your fate was decided long ago by a talented and powerful practitioner who was too young and too curious for her own good."
"Who might have been more willing to follow coven rules if you'd allowed her to be with the man she loved," I countered.
Her mouth pressed into a thin line. "Rules that were made in an attempt to prevent exactly what has happened."
Unlacing his fingers from mine, Cooper eased his hand away. His expression stayed neutral, but a muscle flexed along his jaw.
"Lieutenant, apprise the Aesei Siian of the current needs of Bone Clan," Dr. Barrett said, the tone of authority clear in his voice, despite the fatigue deepening the lines around his mouth.
"No." I pushed in front of Cooper, then turned to face him. "We can't let Aedodra win. We can't—" Cooper cupped my face in his hands and kissed me and my heart shattered.
"Our choices are gone," he said. Tears shone in his eyes, the desolation in their depths shredding my soul. He swallowed and turned away from me. Straightening his shoulders, he stalked out of the infirmary. Rosalind hesitated and then hurried after him.
Miller glanced at me, his expression grim. "Addison, I—"
"Don't," I said, struggling to control myself. "Just don't."
He nodded and trudged to the desk to help his sister get Dr. Barrett to his feet. A moment later, they closed the door behind them. Mistress Raevinne and I were alone in the infirmary.
"I'm sorry." She released a long, heavy sigh, her gaze unwavering when I spun to face her, hatred scalding my throat.
"You have a funny way of showing it." I paced down the length of the aisle between the two rows of beds, restless and wanting to fight.
"A world of vampires and their human slaves. He has not given up on his plans."
"And I'm the only one who can stop him?" I slapped the back of the chair were Dr. Barrett had been sitting. "I find that hard to believe."
"Yes. And it will take all of you to do it."
"All of what part?" I clenched my fists. "My Were half? No, I didn't think so. Then nothing you have to say interests me because the only answer I want is how to fix what Aedodra broke."
"That riddle has no solution," she said gently.
I stared at her, my rage, fear and heartache choking me. I grabbed Dr. Barrett's chair and threw it as har
d as I could. It hit the wall above the beds and exploded, showering broken metal, plastic and chunks of stone across the mattresses and floor.
Mistress Raevinne watched me, never flinching.
"Don't look at me like that," I yelled at her. "I don't want your pity!"
"You cannot ask me to feel nothing for one who has lost everything."
I balled my fists in my hair and fell to my knees, screaming. I didn't want to face this. I couldn't. I wanted to wake up and find it had never happened. That all of it had been nothing. A horrible nightmare.
I wanted my happy ending.
I fell forward, my face in my hands, crying uncontrollably. "I can't..."
Her hand touched my head and then she kneeled down beside me and wrapped her arms around me. "Yet you must."
I drowned in the anguish tearing me apart, sobbing into her shoulder as she rocked gently back and forth, her fingers stroking my hair. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but finally the tears slowed and then stopped. The loneliness that saturated my soul never would.
Mistress Raevinne eased me away and brushed the wet strands of hair from my cheek. Her eyes were soft with understanding, her expression touched with pride. "Joy widens our heart, but loss deepens it. Someday, when the suffering has dimmed, you will see the gift that loving someone has given you."
I was too spent to tell her I didn't believe her.
"You must be whole to be strong. You will go with my grandson and discover what gifts your mother has given you. Do you understand?"
My shoulders slumped as I bowed my head and nodded.
* * *
I stood at the gate, a backpack full of supplies slung across my shoulder, my Browning strapped to my thigh, my arsenal of anti-Were and vampire formula fully restocked. Miller had already said his goodbyes to Erika and Mistress Raevinne, who were staying until Dr. Barrett was on his feet. Then he and I had agreed to meet down the trail in a few minutes and he'd gone on ahead.
I watched Cooper coming across the empty compound alone.
He stopped in front of me, and I drank in the sight of him. His brown and black hair had more silver in it than before and I wondered what his Were form would look like now. "Maybe I should stay here and have Mistress Raevinne try to teach me," I said to him, not able to stop myself from grasping for that last scrap of hope.
"We can't be together." His silver-green wolf eyes reflected the deep mourning of the same loss pounding in the middle of my chest, but he held his back straight, his broad shoulders tense as if carrying the weight of a thousand lifetimes of tragedy. "But when the time comes, you won't fight Aedodra alone. Know that."
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek to his chest. His arms came around me and we held each other as his heart beat strong and steady beneath my ear. How could I live without Cooper?
I pulled in the scent of him, of moonlight and meadows and love, and held it within me for a moment. Then I released my breath slowly. "I'll never forget you," I whispered.
His arms tightened around me. "I'll never stop loving you."
I stepped away and nodded, sniffing back tears. Turning, I strode through the shattered gate and into the woods. I didn't look back.
We'd done what we had to do to protect the people we cared about. That's who we were and always would be. And it was worth something. What we'd had together was worth something too.
Because loving Cooper hadn't weakened me like I'd once feared. It had made me stronger. And like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of our sacrifice, my purpose flared into focus and sharpened into burning resolve in my heart.
Wherever I had to go, whatever I had to do, I would find a way to stop Aedodra.
And when I did, I would kill him.
###
I hope you had fun reading Savage Magic.
If you can, please take a minute to leave a review for other readers.
Thank you!
All the best,
Judy Teel
Book 4, Dark Magic
In the works!