by Laura Hysell
“I have never met anyone like you. You are smart, resourceful, beautiful, talented, and so much more. You are my other half.” He took a deep breath and slowly lowered to one knee. I felt the blood drain from my face. “This probably isn’t the best time, but I don’t know when is. All I know is that I want to be with you forever. There is no one else in my life, and there never will be. You are my mate, but I want more. I need more. I need you, Izzy. Will you be my wife, my mate, in the human world and the werewolf world?”
My heart thudded in my chest as he held up a ring. The diamond caught the light, reflecting in a dazzling display. I stared at it, mesmerized, my mind a complete blank. “Mark?” I whispered, my words coming out in a breath.
“Marry me?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied. The smile lit up Mark’s face, and I felt my own answering his. “Oh, yes, Mark, I would love to be your wife.”
Mark scooped me up, holding me above him as he howled with glee. He slowly lowered me to the ground before kissing me thoroughly. “My wife,” he whispered between kisses. “May I?” he asked, holding the ring up again.
I nodded as he gently put the ring on my finger. Tears filled my eyes as I stared at the diamond ring on my hand, a sense of completeness washing over me. Mark’s lips found mine once more, along with his hands, as he parted the robe and lifted the hem of my shirt.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The remaining nights of the full moon passed uneventfully. Aidan returned in the flesh each night with my transformation to wolf. His glee was palpable. I didn’t know much of how he spent his time, except that he spent more time with Lucas than I would have liked. I tried to shrug off my irritation and not let Aidan know how his friendship with Lucas bothered me. When he was flesh and blood, his decisions were his own. At least that’s what I told myself.
Declan was another matter. The magician had taken to following me around with a stack of ancient books. Sometimes he would mutter strange words, incantations I suspected, while peering at me with his eerie eyes. I could feel the magic most times now, like a shiver of wind caressing my skin.
This morning everyone was meeting once again behind the house. We were packed and ready to leave, but the contract had yet to be finalized. The air was cold, but I found myself sweating. Part of that was from anxiety, I suspected, and I wasn’t the only one. Vanessa stood beside me, muttering curses under her breath. Jed stepped into view, followed by Mark and Declan. He raised his hands, quickly quieting everyone down.
“I’m going to make this short,” Jed began. “Declan has amended the last details of the contract. Any attacks on someone protected under the contract will be temporarily immobilized but not killed as in the previous document. Also, this will only last six months. Everyone under the jurisdiction of the contract will be magically marked as well, so there won’t be any accidents.”
Declan stepped forward, pushing his dark sunglasses up further on his nose. “The spell will be subtle, but you should see a faint shimmer around anyone under the contract. If you attack a vampire under the magic of the contract, you will lose consciousness within a few minutes and remain that way for up to ten minutes. Because of that, I suggest everyone travels in groups. Accidents are bound to happen on both sides, so be careful.”
“Is everyone ready?” Jed asked, looking around at the gathered wolves. Over a dozen Packs were represented, filling the air with scents of both fear and excitement. No one spoke up, and after a few moments Jed nodded his head. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out a small dagger, slicing into the palm of his hand and letting the blood well there. He then turned toward Declan, who held the contract out before him, and grasped the pen, dipping the end into the small pool of blood. The only sound was the scratch of the pen against the parchment as Jed signed, magically binding us all to the contract.
I shivered as the cold blast of magic passed over me, drenching me in its power. There was no turning back now. I glanced around at the other wolves, looking for the telltale magic mark Declan had spoken of. It took me a moment to see it, but each person seemed to have a shimmering light around them. I looked back toward Jed, feeling an increasing pull of sorcery from his direction. There was no obvious difference when looking at him, but I could feel it. My sense of dread increased.
More magic from the wizard, Aidan whispered in my mind.
I nodded in agreement, although I was unsure if he was aware of the movement. Declan stood still as Jed wandered through the wolves, speaking soft words of encouragement to everyone. Magic still flowed from the man, and it was most definitely aimed at Jed. I looked around until I spotted the other two magicians. They sat together on the grass, heads bowed. I walked toward them, but didn’t make it far before the magic in the air thickened suddenly, making it hard to breathe. I pushed onward, each step a struggle, until I stood before the two wizards.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked.
“Protecting your Alpha,” they intoned together, their voices echoing in my ears.
“From what?”
“Magic. Danger. Vampire.”
I turned away from them, searching for Jed, as the magic thickened once more. He moved slowly, sluggishly, but everyone else seemed frozen. The icy wind increased, sending goosebumps across my flesh, but I couldn’t even shiver. Movement was impossible, and even breathing grew difficult. Jed’s eyes turned green, seeming to sparkle with power. Warmth filled my being, and I felt my wolf answering the call of her Alpha. Golden eyes flashed from every face, but still no one moved. Jed growled and turned toward Declan, his eyes latching on to the wizard. Magic surged from the two magicians at my feet, but it was directed away from the circle of wolves. The magic flashed again, and again, sending pulsing waves outward with increasing speed.
Jed howled, his voice a strange mix of man and wolf. I felt the answering call from my wolf, as though she were trying to surge out of my body to help the Alpha, but I still didn’t move. Another howl answered Jed’s call, and I knew without looking that it was Mark. Warmth enveloped my body, chasing away the biting cold of the tainted enchantment. More wolves howled, and with each one I felt the strange sorcery lose a portion of it’s hold. I took a deep breath, feeling the tightness surrounding my body ease.
My wolf surged forward, and an answering howl rose from my lips. After what felt like an eternity, the freezing cold of magic suddenly receded. I stumbled to the ground, shaking. Angry mutters filled the air as everyone regained movement.
“Silence!” Jed roared. I whipped my head up to look at the Alpha. He glowed with power, his green Alpha eyes flashing brightly. Silence descended, and all eyes turned toward Jed. “Declan, explain,” he ordered, his voice dripping with menace.
The magician raised his head, and I gasped at the blood flowing freely down his face from his eyes. His dark sunglasses were gone, and his strange eyes appeared to be nothing more than two oozing, red holes. “I underestimated them,” he croaked. “Magic was embedded… in the contract.”
“Them?” Jed asked. “You mean whoever wrote this contract for the vampires?”
Declan nodded his head. “I unraveled… their spell… early.”
“What spell?” Jed demanded.
“To kill you.” Declan dropped to the ground and Mark moved up beside him, checking him over.
“He lives,” Mark said.
Jed turned toward the other two magicians, but they were both unconscious in the grass. Blood oozed from their eye sockets as well, and I wondered if they were all now blind. “Someone get them up to their rooms, and keep guard,” Jed said, pointing at the magicians. “This changes nothing. Vanessa will lead those traveling in wolf form. Jerome is leading the trucks. Check the supplies. We leave in two hours.” With that, he turned and followed the men carrying the magicians into the house.
I brushed the dirt from my knees as I stood. Mark’s eyes met mine, silently communicating to me without words. The magical attack had shaken the Packs, and Mark would now be on cleanup duty, soothing harried nerves. We
needed answers though. I made my way back to the house and stepped into Declan’s room. Jed stood over the magician’s bed with his back to me, staring down at the man. Beth stood on the other side, gently cleaning Declan’s eyes with a wet cloth.
“What does your Irishman have to say about the magic?” Jed asked without turning to look at me.
I stepped into the room and moved up beside my Alpha. Oh, now he wants to know what I’m thinking? That’s rich, Aidan commented.
Aidan, please, I admonished.
There were multiple sources of sorcery at play. That’s about all I could tell.
Could you tell where they were coming from?
Could you?
“He says there were multiple sources of magic,” I said.
“Meaning Declan was truthful?” he asked.
I shrugged, and Aidan didn’t offer any more insight. “I know what I felt. Declan was directing some sort of magic toward you, but I don’t know if it was good or bad. There was something else the other magicians were fighting off as well.”
“You felt the magic, or Aidan did?” he asked, frowning at me.
“Both,” I replied simply, my hand resting on the dagger always at my side.
Jed nodded and said to Beth, “Let me know when they wake.” With that, he turned and walked out of the room.
I left Declan to check on the other two, but they were in a similar state. Jared was pacing the hallway between the two rooms when I stepped out. He paused when he saw me. “Guard duty?” I asked.
He smiled and nodded. “Just in case,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.
“But who are you guarding? Us or them?”
“That remains to be seen.” His eyes roamed over me and he took a step toward me, the smile slipping from his face. “I guess congrats are in order?”
“What?” I asked, frowning.
He nodded and reached his hand out, grasping my fingertips gently in his. “Nice rock,” he murmured as the light hit the diamond ring on my hand.
“Oh, shit,” I replied softly. “Um, thanks.”
“When?”
“A couple nights ago,” I replied softly.
“No, uh, I meant when is the big day?”
“We haven’t set a date.”
He nodded his head, but his hands still gently clasped mine and his eyes were glued to the ring. “Are you pregnant?”
“Did you really just go there, Jared?” I asked, pulling my hand from his.
“Well…”
“First, maybe you should brush up on your werewolf knowledge. It’s ridiculously hard to get pregnant, let alone carry to term, as a werewolf. So, no, I’m not pregnant. Second, I love Mark and he loves me. I know the timing might be weird, but that doesn’t change things.”
Jared closed his eyes and nodded slowly. “Right. Of course. Sorry,” he murmured.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be, Jared.”
“Right.”
I let out a breath and leaned back against the door frame, trying not to look at him. My heart hurt just thinking about the pain I was causing Jared. Part of me would always love him, but I couldn’t hide my life for fear of hurting him. “Jared, I thought we were past this.”
“I know,” he mumbled. “I guess I was just still holding out hope.”
“Jared,” I began, but he stopped me with a finger to my lips. I looked up at him, taking in the glossy look to his eyes.
“If you two aren’t married, there’s still a little hope. If you don’t have kids, there’s a little hope. I’m not ready to give up completely yet,” he whispered. “I won’t sabotage your happiness, but I can’t stop the way I feel.”
“Izzy,” Beth called, and I quickly hurried into Declan’s room. The magician stirred on the bed, and I moved to his side. Beth had placed a cloth over his eyes, but he was obviously waking. “I’ll get Jed.”
I nodded and Beth hurried out of the room. Jared stayed in the hallway, probably avoiding me on the pretense of continuing his guard duties. I rolled my eyes, not wanting to deal with that right now. Instead, I focused on the man in front of me. I touched Declan’s shoulder, and he stilled his movements. “Declan? Can you hear me?”
“Is the Alpha unharmed?” he asked, his voice raspy. He coughed, trying to clear his throat.
“Jed is fine. What happened back there?”
“A spell embedded in the contract. I sensed something when I altered the contract, but I thought I had contained it.”
“What kind of spell? You said something about it trying to kill Jed?”
“I believe the spell was meant to kill Jed later, at a time of their choosing.”
“Like when we were in the middle of Petrivian’s lair?”
“Exactly. And with his death, the protection of the contract was set to disintegrate as well.”
“Lovely,” I murmured.
“So all the wolves would be vulnerable at a time of their choosing,” Jed said as he stepped into the room behind me.
“Had it gone as they wished, yes,” Declan replied, laughing. His laugh soon turned into a fit of coughing. After his coughing subsided, Declan smiled and continued speaking. “The hidden spell has been disrupted and broken. The contract stands as it was written.”
“And now we know how little we can trust the vampires.”
“We already knew that, Alpha,” Declan replied. “I will begin work on more protective spells as soon as I am able.”
Jed made a sound in his throat that could have been agreement or not. “We leave shortly. Are you able to travel?”
“I will be well enough,” the magician replied.
“And your men?”
“Them too.”
“I’ll send assistance to load you into one of the SUVs.”
Jed turned, and I followed him back into the hallway. “The original plans remain,” Jed said. “Time to go.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The trucks were loaded, and everyone moved to their select location. As a newer wolf, I rode in a truck loaded with the supplies. John drove, which I was thankful for. While I was sure he was fully capable as a wolf, he seemed much more comfortable with a set of guns, and I felt infinitely more comfortable with him in the driver’s seat. It was strange to admit, but I felt more comfortable with guns than teeth and claws as well. And a knife, of course. Perhaps it was just because I was too new of a wolf. A few very young wolves stayed behind, but they had Hugo to guard them. His wife had taken a turn for the worse, and he volunteered to stay behind. It was a small crew we waved goodbye to as we drove away from Jed’s home.
Henri was due to arrive the following evening, and Jed wanted us as far away as possible when he met with him to confirm the final agreement. Lucas and Logan stayed with him, and they would catch up with us quickly. We didn’t want a repeat of last time. I didn’t know the details of their meeting, but I wasn’t surprised. The situation between Henri and me was still too complicated, and I think most of the Pack still didn’t entirely trust me, or Mark, around Henri. No matter what my brother had said about the vaccine.
I leaned back in the passenger seat of the truck and watched the SUV in front of us. The magicians rode in that vehicle, and the feel of magic emanating from them made me shiver. A flicker of movement caught my eye, and I looked out the side window. Mark, I thought, watching the large tan wolf race along beside the vehicles. I smiled as I watched him run past the truck and veer off the road toward the trees. We all had our roles, and his was as acting Alpha. As such, he would be in wolf form for most of our trip.
I leaned back and tried to get comfortable. The strongest would travel cross-country in wolf form, sending word to other Packs as we traversed their territory. We would be joined by others at select locations, building our army as we crossed the country. I was anxious for our first meeting place, even though it was only with the Idaho Packs who we already had a very strong relationship with. Every meeting with new wolves made me anxious though. Word had spread about me, and
my brother. We didn’t exactly have the best reputation.
Justin had left two days earlier with one of the Texas wolves. He was being escorted to a safe lab to continue his work on the vaccine. Jed’s home was known to too many vampires and wasn’t safe with most of the Pack gone. The last thing we needed was for Justin or his research to fall back into vampire hands. His location was known to only a few members of the Pack, and I wasn’t on that list.
My head hurt, and I rubbed my temples. The stress was getting to me. I had said goodbye to my brother, not knowing if either of us would live to see the other again. I pushed the thought away. Justin would be safe. I was the one walking right into the lion’s den. Needing a distraction from my negative thoughts, I turned to John. He was normally a very quiet person, but I wasn’t about to spend the next week in a truck with him in dead silence.
“Let me know if you want me to drive,” I started.
“I will drive,” he said simply.
“Yeah, but if we drive through the night, we should trade off.”
He turned his head toward me, but I couldn’t read the expression behind the black wraparound sunglasses. “We have designated stopping spots along our route.”
“Sure, okay,” I said, nodding. “But if you need to take a break, I can take over.”
“I won’t need a break.” I blew out a breath and sat back, propping my feet up on the dash. This was going to be a long trip. “Put your feet down,” he added.
I rolled my eyes and dropped my feet back down. “Maybe I should run for a bit,” I said.
“That would not be a good idea.”
“Well, I’m bored,” I retorted.
“Read a book,” he commented.
“Do you have a good romance, I mean mystery, I can borrow?” I asked, fluttering my eyelids at him.
John turned his head toward me and tipped down his sunglasses, giving me a glare before turning back without a word. Smiling to myself, I closed my eyes and relaxed before I finally dozed off, letting the movement of the truck lull me to sleep. I woke several hours later to Aidan humming in my head. Good thing you still have me for company, Aidan said, chuckling.