Balance

by Leia Stone

  Sylvia and the witches put their things down and began to gather in a circle. “Right now we can’t smell Layla or her clan. Prudence has done something to make this so, but I think I can do the same for some of your pack and give us an edge when we use Aurora for bait.”

  Kai looked impressed now as he strode over to where the witches stood. “Okay, but why not do it on Aurora and keep her safe?”

  “She is the prize. Layla must smell her to come after her. But Layla won’t come for her with over 800 people on this mountain fighting for her safety. Between the militia and your pack, she is well guarded.”

  Kai puffed his chest. “Yes, she is.”

  “Too well guarded for Layla to attack,” Sylvia added and their eyes met.

  She was right and Kai knew it. This entire time I had been thinking of how I could get to her and end this. I was making it too hard by staying in my fortress.

  “So we conceal the wolves and just let Aurora and one other wolf keep their scent. Have her go somewhere public and wait for Layla to attack,” Sylvia added.

  Kai looked impressed again. “Layla will think Aurora is alone.”

  Sylvia smiled. “But you will be right there.”

  Kai rubbed his chin. “I like it.”

  Wow. He agreed with the witches! The world must be ending because that never happened.

  “Good, then step inside the circle,” Sylvia prompted him.

  He gazed at me and I grinned. Kai willingly going into an experimental spell was a sight to see. He reluctantly stepped into the circle and I grasped hands with the witches surrounding him. Sylvia and Luna were inside the circle with Kai as we chanted around them. Sylvia reached into a velvet purse and pulled out a small bottle, handing it to Kai.

  He uncorked it and took a whiff making a disgusted face. “Jesus.”

  “Bottoms up,” Sylvia told him.

  He grumbled and took it back in one swig as Sylvia said an incantation. Mist crept down from the ceiling and covered his body as we threw our hands in the air. “So be it!” we all screamed as the mist dissipated.

  I broke the circle to walk over to Kai and sniff him. “Oh my God. I can’t smell you! How weird.” My wolf didn’t like that we couldn’t smell our mate.

  Kai sniffed his armpit. “I smell me.”

  Sylvia shrugged. “It works on others, that’s what matters.”

  He nodded to her. “Thank you. Let me know how I can repay you.”

  Sylvia pulled a small dagger and a bottle out of her bag. “I can always use Alpha blood.” She winked. Kai chuckled and extended his wrist as she eagerly made a cut and bottled his blood.

  “What’s so special about Alpha blood?” I asked her. I still had so much to learn.

  Sylvia looked at me as the slow, hypnotic drip of blood fell into the jar. “A werewolf’s blood is good for spells, but the blood of an Alpha has the energy of all of the wolves in his pack. It makes the spell that much stronger.”

  Whoa. We had over a hundred wolves in our pack. So she was getting blood that had 100 times the energy. Interesting.

  Sylvia then came to me. “Give me the protective necklace Nahuel gave you.” She held out her hand.

  Kai looked suspiciously at her as I handed it to her without question. I trusted Sylvia with my life. Sylvia took a piece of her hair and breathed an incantation over it. Then she wound it in a ball and placed it inside my pouch.

  “If you are taken, Prudence will make it impossible to find you. But I will always be able to find a piece of myself.”

  I recoiled in shock. “Sylvia, that’s brilliant. Thank you.” I hugged her. She had become my family. She was my pack as much as Emma or Max were.

  Kai nodded behind her as if he heard that thought.

  Sylvia turned to Kai. “I will take the scent from twenty of your best wolves that you want to bring.”

  Kai nodded.

  ‘Alexa, Anna, Max–’ I started telling Kai.

  He chuckled. ‘Who is the Alpha? Sometimes I forget. I got this.’

  I frowned. Whoops. ‘Sorry.’

  Kai walked Sylvia and the rest of the coven outside. “Tomorrow we lure in Layla. In the bright of day,” he declared.

  I nodded. It was smart; control how many showed up. Only a few had undergone dark magic to be able to withstand the sun.

  “I’m going to take them over to the other wolves’ houses to do the spell,” Kai told me.

  Mom

  After Kai and the witches left, I started to clean the kitchen. It excited and scared me that I might be pregnant, a smile lit up my face at the thought. My cell phone rang, and I glanced down to see it was my mom. Kai had bought her a house on the mountain. After coming out on the news, I had no choice but to tell her that Kai and I were indeed werewolves. She had a rough first few weeks but now she seemed okay with it.

  I answered the call. “Hey mom, I was thinking of stopping by today.” I wanted to tell her Kai and I were trying to have a baby.

  “I think that would be a good idea.” Layla’s voice came over the phone and I gasped.

  “Don’t alert your mate or anyone else. Calmly come over here and mommy doesn’t get hurt, okay? If I smell any other wolves. Mommy dies,” she told me.

  Holy mother eff. That bitch had my mom! Heads were gonna roll.

  I spoke calmly, “I want to hear her voice.”

  “Honey, don’t come,” my mom said, and then I heard a slapping noise.

  “You’re gonna die, Layla. I have dreams about killing you.” I seethed, trying not to think about that slapping noise.

  I heard my mom wail in the background. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Layla taunted.

  Oh, this bitch was dead! I grabbed a silver stake from Kai’s office and tucked it into the back of my jeans, pulling on my jacket to cover it. After getting into my car, I took a moment to rein in my emotions. I needed to keep calm so I wouldn’t alert Kai while I tried to figure out what to do. I drove out of the driveway and headed over to my mom’s. It was a short five-minute car ride.

  I tried to think of all the possibilities. Kai didn’t smell like a wolf now, so if I told him, then he might be able to sneak over without alerting Layla. Did I want to chance it? I had no doubt in my mind that Layla would kill my mother without a second thought. I decided to wait until I got there to tell Kai. Then I could protect my mother if Kai brought wolves and tipped Layla off. I breathed slowly as my hands shook, trying to hold onto the steering wheel. Trying to control my thoughts as I made the turn down my mother’s street. Mist crept out of my skin. If I killed Layla the second I saw her, I might never find Sadie or Tara and my mother could get hurt. I bit my tongue. I didn’t know what to do!

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Kai asked.

  Shit. I couldn’t control my emotions anymore. I was almost at my mother’s.

  ‘Don’t be mad. Layla has my mother and told me to come alone. I’m almost at her house. If you come alone, she won’t smell you. Don’t bring anyone else or she will kill my mother the second she smells other wolves.’

  ‘Aurora, stop!’ he screamed.

  I felt a shock as I was suddenly saturated in Alpha power. He was trying to stop me! Holy shit, my foot slammed on the brake without me controlling it. I looked down at my body in shock, I was stuck in my car unable to move. Kai was controlling me! Oh, hell no. I mentally pushed him back.

  ‘How is this possible? How dare you!’ My hands shook with rage.

  ‘I’ve wanted to do this to you a dozen times. Any other Alpha would have! I’ve tried giving you your freedom but you’ve gone too far. This is stupid!’ Kai scolded me.

  I could feel that his actions only came from a place of love and protection but this was NOT okay with me. Big, bad Alpha was about to get booted out of my head.

  More mist crept from my skin. ‘Kai, if my mother dies because of you, I will never, ever forgive you! I will move to another country where you can’t find me. I will never be able to look into your eyes again. Do you understand
me?’ My words dripped with dominance. If he thought he was keeping me from saving my mother, he was dead wrong. The hold was broken instantly and I could feel that the effort to keep me frozen had cost Kai and the entire pack. He had sucked strength from all of them and was now left exhausted. With relief, I sped the car up and drove into my mom’s driveway, throwing the car in park. Jumping out, I ran up to the door in super speed.

  ‘You can’t control me and you shouldn’t want to,’ I scolded him again. I needed to make sure that shit never had a repeat.

  ‘I’m almost there, please wait,’ he said, strained. He was weak; it was stupid of him to use all of his energy.

  Did I blame him? I would have done the same to keep him safe. Pushing Kai out of my mind, I threw the front door open.

  My breath hitched when I saw Layla, standing in the kitchen with a gun to my mother’s head. My fragile, beautiful, human mother.

  Slowly, swiveling my head to the left, I saw Prudence who gave me a bitchy wave. Black mist crept from her skin as white mist began to pour from mine. The ground began to shake, rattling the pictures on the walls. The Devi inside of me was livid; we both were.

  Suddenly, a male vampire appeared beside me holding a device.

  “Move and your mother dies,” Layla said.

  I went through ten different scenarios in my head. My mother was fifty feet away, Prudence, ten feet. Could I hold Prudence with magic and get to Layla without my mother getting harmed? No. I was fast but not faster than a bullet. The house shook with my barely contained magical rage; the Devi wanted to end things. Now.

  “Stop that!” Prudence shouted and threw black magic at me, as my white magic reflected hers causing me no harm. The shaking stopped as I shoved the Devi down inside of me.

  I grinned at Prudence. “Scared?”

  The vampire holding the device grabbed my right arm and attached the device around my upper arm like a metal cuff with an LCD display screen. I tried to struggle but I heard Layla cock the gun from across the room. Cold, numbing fear saturated my body. My whole life I was conditioned to just sit by while my mother’s life hung in the balance at the hand of my father. Now it felt like it was happening again and I was helpless.

  I froze, completely still as my mother looked surprisingly calm. We held each other’s gaze as I felt a pinch in my arm. Looking down, I saw that the device was draining my blood into a bag. Mother eff. There was nothing worse as a dominant than having to helplessly submit your will.

  ‘Kai, I’m in the open front door. There is a vampire taking my blood. Prudence is in the living room and Layla has a gun to my mother’s head in the kitchen,’ I told him.

  He was tired, I could feel it, but at my words, Alpha power surged through the bond as he again pulled from the pack and pushed hard to get to me faster.

  Layla had her back to the glass door that opened out onto the patio. Kai bought my mother this house. We had dinner here with her once a month. He knew the entire layout and I was hoping he had a plan because I was so severely screwed right now.

  “I love you, Aurora,” my mother suddenly said, calmly meeting my eyes. If Layla thought she could scare my mom, she was mistaken. My mom was a domestic abuse survivor. She could take a beating. She took many beatings from my dad and never fought back. That’s why it shocked me when my mom’s arm flung out quickly and karate-chop cracked Layla in the throat causing her to drop the gun.

  Holy shit! Go, Mom! I shook off my shock and slammed the vampire nearest me against the wall, ripping off the arm cuff which spurted my blood everywhere. The vampire snatched the hanging full blood bag from the bottom, and head-butted me hard in the face before bolting out the front door. Dammit!

  “Freeze!” Prudence yelled, as black mist surrounded me and my legs felt cemented to the floor.

  I saw that Layla now had my mom’s throat in her hands.

  “Layla, no! I’ll go with you. I’ll give you my blood, just stop!” I screamed as my mother’s face turned purple, her body slack. A grin spread across Layla’s face as she dropped my mother to the floor, gasping and coughing. Just behind Layla, out the kitchen window, I saw a streak of black and smiled. Kai came crashing through the back window, spraying glass over Layla and my mom and knocking Layla to the ground. He sank his teeth into Layla’s arm, which was raised above her head to protect her face as my mom rolled off to the side and out of the way. Kai was engaged with Layla, hopefully two seconds from ripping her goddamn head off as I struggled to breathe against the black witches’ power. It crept up my legs and was trying to cover my body. Oh, hell no. Never again.

  “You freeze!” I shouted at Prudence and took a deep breath, unleashing a cloud of white mist to chase away her black. My legs were tingly but I could move, I ran at Prudence with the speed of a vampire and slammed her against the wall, screaming my biggest battle cry. She looked shocked as I quickly transformed my face into my werewolf form and attacked her neck, going for the kill. But the second I bit down, my snout was shocked with electricity. I yelped as she threw me off, smiling. Ow! What the …? I was shaking, my breath ragged as I shifted my face back to human.

  Suddenly, the sounds of shattering glass all around the house flooded my ears as vampires descended into my mother’s home. They were flying into every window, completely surrounding us. Prudence grabbed one of my arms but I threw her off and pulled the stake from behind my back and rammed it through the nearest vamp’s chest, making it rain ash. These bastards were everywhere! We were so screwed!

  “Need some help?” Max’s voice boomed from the front door.

  “Get my mother out!” I yelled at him. A series of gun shots rang outside and I breathed a sigh of relief. Max had brought the militia. God bless paranoid human beings with large gun collections. They just saved our ass. The bullets wouldn’t kill the vamps but it would slow them down so they could be staked. I turned to deal with Prudence, but she was gone.

  Glancing at the kitchen, I saw my mother with a nine-inch blade in her hand, standing behind Kai who was wrestling with Layla. Whoa. When did my mom become a badass? Max side stepped around Kai and Layla’s fight and took my mom out the back door to safety. Earl, Trent, Jai, and others poured in through the front door, stakes and guns drawn. Layla quickly stood, taking Kai in her arms, and stepped back, getting her footing. She squatted and then jumped up throwing him out the open back door. Jesus! Kai sailed through the air and landed with a thud and didn’t get up.

  “Kai!” I screamed and began to run into the kitchen.

  “Aurora, down!” Earl shouted and I hit the floor without question. A silver stake flew past me and just missed Layla. She glared at Earl with red-hued eyes and then ran out the back door as bullets flew all around me. Hissing and grunting filled my ears.

  ‘Kai!’ I screamed again. He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t dead or I would feel it but he was out cold. Oh God. I army crawled across the broken glass, cutting up my elbows and forearms. Once I made it outside. I jumped up and ran to Kai, placing his wolf head in my lap. After a moment, he jerked suddenly, then whined. He took a few gasps of air through his snout then shifted to his human form, groaning.

  “Jesus, Kai. You scared me.” I shook his shoulders, barely keeping my shit together. Seeing a strong-ass vampire queen chuck your mate out the window like a newspaper really tested your sanity.

  He rubbed his head, opening and closing his jaw. “Now you know how I feel every time you get hurt,” he commented.

  I huffed and pulled him close to let his warm body press against me. My wolf was rattling my skin like a cage, ready to break free.

  I inhaled deeply. I couldn’t smell Layla. Of course not. So we couldn’t follow her! I kicked the ground. “She got away, again! I could have killed her but then we wouldn’t find Sadie and Tara. Ahh! This is maddening,” I roared.

  Earl came out of the house and threw a towel at Kai who was gloriously naked. Kai wrapped it around his waist, nodding to Earl.

  “They were too fast to track,” Earl tol
d us.

  I glared at Kai. “If I didn’t have to come out here and check on your unconscious ass, I could have gone after her! If I didn’t have a mother, she wouldn’t have been able to use my emotions to lure me here.” I swear to God I was five seconds away from going insane.

  Kai frowned. “What do you mean?”

  I sighed. “She’s playing me. Maybe I need to go after her alone.” I stalked off and headed to the front of the house.

  ‘Don’t say that. I’m sorry for controlling you before,’ he said as I walked away.

  ‘That’s not what I’m talking about, Kai. Layla knows I care about all of you. She uses you guys to keep me weak. Prudence made me hear Emma’s fake scream last time. This time they used my mother and then Layla knocked you out.’

  ‘It’s good that you care about us,’ he told me and I turned to see that concern lined his face.

  “I’m not so sure. If I wasn’t mated, and so attached to the pack, I would run off and take her on myself. The Devi and I could do it together.” I knew my eyes were fierce.

  “Don’t say that,” he said with fear. He sensed the certainty through our bond.

  I got in my car. “I’m saying it.”

  Kai slid in the passenger seat beside me. “We’ll find her and the female wolves she has taken. Together,” he declared.

  I looked out at the trees, letting my hands rest on the steering wheel, but I didn’t respond. Kai grabbed my face and forced me to look at him.

  “Look what we learned today. She must be staying within the area. Tara was taken yesterday so she is still in the area.”

  “That’s what she wants you to think! She could have a private jet taking her to New York. You know nothing about her! She’s winning!” I slammed my palm on the steering wheel. I was having a hard time figuring out if I was so angry or if it was the Devi. It scared me not to know if I was myself or not. Tears lined my eyes.

  Kai took my hand in his and kissed the top of it. “Let me make some calls. We haven’t exhausted all options. Your mother is safe, you are safe. That’s all that matters right now.”