by Leela Ash
“I am Jeanine’s grandmother. That may mean nothing to you since I’m a witch but I would never betray her.”
“I apologize for Luke, Ma’am,” Bo said tossing his brother a censorious frown. “You would never lie about any of this.”
Nana cackled and lifted one shaky palm to lay it gently against his cheek, “Oh, you sweet, clueless boy. Your brother has it right. As I told Nabradia recently, all witches are beautiful and liars.”
Bo gave her a confused look. She was wizened and old and smelled of cookies like any grandma would. She was aging gracefully but he didn’t think she was beautiful.
“Lucky for you, I am an exception” Nana continued. “I am neither.”
“Listen, we’re wasting time. Here’s the Tiara,” Derek said handing it over.
The moment she touched it, it began to burn a bright red and made a strange shrieking sound. She looked at Kelly, “Here girl, hold it!”
Kelly ran forward and took the Tiara and it stopped shrieking.
“Kelly is pristinely ungifted,” Bo said unnecessarily. Everyone knew that.
Nana stretched out a hand and stroked it in Kelly’s hands, inhaling deeply, her hands shaking as she held it. She had heard tales for centuries about the Tiara but never held it. She saw the crystal embedded in a corner of one of the cowries and she grinned. Getting this crystal out of the Tiara was as effective as taking the motherboard out of one of those fancy laptops Jeanine liked to tote about.
She pointed at the Tiara and began to mouth some words. The Tiara quivered a little then a tiny diamond fell out of one of the crystals.
Nana grabbed it with a happy laugh. “You may hand this to Nabradia. She will be able to call Alabad all she wants but the gates will never open.”
“Are you sure this will work?” Jack asked.
Nana was silent a moment as she pocketed the crystal. Then she flicked a glance at him, “Do you doubt the magic or the witch? The Tiara of Oistrophe is not trifling magic. Your dragon here can sense the dark magic in it even if you can’t,” she said with a nod towards where Drake was shifting restlessly.
“He has a nosebleed!” Kelly cried rushing to him.
“Aye. The nosebleed will continue until I leave here because the naked and raw power of the crystal has been exposed.”
Nana conjured another diamond and placed it in the exact same place she had removed the other crystal from.
* **
“Relax, my love. Your boyfriend will come for you,” Nabradia taunted.
Jeanine looked up, anger and scorn on her features. She was sitting in a corner, her hands tied above her head and connected to a hook.
“Luferia? Bring some water for her. She looks thirsty,” Alcacia said, lifting her glass for a hearty swig of wine.
Luferia started to move and then stopped, her eyes rounding when Palma came in, ushering Derek Cavanaugh and Bo Kent.
Nabradia sat up, “The Tiara! I sense its power. I knew Joshua would see the light.”
Derek’s jaw worked with fury. “He has some terms. If we give this to you, you’ll promise not to use it for anything that could harm the Weirna shifters.”
Nabradia tilted her head to the side as though considering, “Hmm. I can promise to try.”
Her meaning was clear.
“Joshua says—” Bo began.
“Joshua is not in a position to make demands,” Nabradia interrupted. “For instance,” she said, as she waved her hand in Jeanine’s direction.
Jeanine howled as red angry rashes appeared all over her from head to toe. They itched horribly but because her hands were tied, she couldn’t itch.
Nabradia chuckled as did Alcacia and Luferia.
“Jeanine,” Bo screamed and headed towards her.
Alcacia waved her own hand and an invisible force flung him against a wall and pinned him there.
Nabradia looked back at Derek, her violet eyes emotionless. “So, will you hand over the Tiara now or do I have to demonstrate more by snapping Jeanine’s neck like a twig?”
Derek was staring at her, “Let her go first. And Bo too. Then I’ll hand it over.”
“Derek! Just give the damn thing to her!” Bo screamed straining against the invisible hold around him.
With a sigh, Derek brought out the Tiara carefully and stretched it towards Nabradia. She jerked upright in her throne and the Tiara zoomed towards her. Alcacia, Palma, and Luferia converged on her at once their eyes round with excitement as she held the Tiara that had given the first witch her power.
The hold on Bo loosened and he dashed over to Jeanine with Derek. The witches had ignored them completely, obviously dismissing them and truth be told, Bo wanted to be a long way from here when Nabradia discovered the Tiara was fake.
As soon as he loosened Jeanine, he swung her up into his arms and started to run. Derek did likewise. Once they had cleared the witches’ home, Derek and Bo both changed into their shifter forms with Derek as a silver wolf and Bo as a huge brown bear. Jeanine clambered onto his back and held fast. Their shifter forms allowed them to run with supernatural speed and in what seemed like minutes, Weirna came into view.
22.
“Nabradia. You’ve done it. You’ve gotten the Tiara, finally,” Luferia and Palma echoed.
Nabradia wasn’t even listening to any of them. She held the Tiara in her palm, her hands shaking as she started to call Alabad. A ring appeared suspended in the air and it started to widen.
As she chanted, she invoked the life forms and life sources of different animals in the area, including cats and dogs and the ring continued to widen.
Evil threatened and the sense of it filled the air. Alabad was so close Nabradia could taste it. She swallowed in eager anticipation, her hands still outstretched as she reached for the tiny orb rotating just out of reach behind the ring.
Voices of long dead witches echoed in the orb in a series of screams as the gates of Alabad shimmered and started to crack open. Then, abruptly, the ring vibrated, shimmered with a strange light, and disappeared into thin air.
Nabradia screamed in outrage as the ring vanished into thin air; her whole body vibrating with the shock of the loss when her goal had been so close.
“Come back!” she screamed.
She ran around the room, staring at the blank air before her.
What had gone wrong? What had happened?
Xanthe emerged from the shadows of the room, her figure almost bent double with age. “Who gave you this aberration, Nabradia? The gates of Alabad shimmered within reach and you lost them. You have lost them for at least a hundred years. You cannot bring Alabad again.”
“No!” Nabradia screamed feeling rejection of that notion in every fiber of her being.
“Calm down Mum,” Alcacia tried, reaching for her mum.
Nabradia’s claws swung and left a wide, deep gouge on Alcacia’s once pretty face. Alcacia yelled out in pain as her mother sliced her face wide open with her claws and blood began to pour in rivulets.
Xanthe cursed and stretched her walking stick towards Nabradia, “Get out. Until you’ve had a chance to calm down and think rationally, don’t come back here. Get out!”
Nabradia glared at the woman she had always known as a mother. She had been betrayed tonight and she wanted revenge. Her angry violet eyes dropped to the walking stick. She knew it was Xanthe’s weapon.
She could destroy the old woman with a snap of her wrists, but what would that get her, she reasoned? The ones whom had betrayed her were Joshua and his boys. She knew it as surely as she knew she didn’t have a soul that they had found some way to tamper with the Tiara. She would find out how.
She threw back both hands with a cry of anguish so deep that it almost took physical shape. She screamed all the louder until the walls began to rattle. And then, strangely, the Tiara generated a whirlwind and lifted her clear out of the room. It carried Nabradia for miles at a time and flung her in the Elm Woods, right in the middle of dozens of dead cats and dogs.
It was several hours before her pain and panic started to recede and Nabradia started to think and plan.
The witches’ conference had to be held as planned. She couldn’t postpone it no matter how much she wanted to. She had hoped to have the Tiara at the conference so she could enslave every lying, stupid witch in the world. But now, she didn’t have it.
And that wasn’t the worst thing either. She had been cursed by a powerful witch. A witch named Lana had cursed her just before Nabradia had finished her off. Lana had cursed her to suffer the fate of humans by dying powerless. She had predicted that on the day of the full moon in the 267th solstice, Nabradia would lose all her powers and become a mere mortal. She had already witnessed the 266th solstice!
That fate was worse than anything else she could imagine. Her only chance in hell of averting it had been the Tiara that had given the very first witch her powers which was why she had wanted the Tiara. Handing it to Alcacia when she was going to the afterlife would have just been the icing on the cake.
But now she didn’t have the Tiara, rather, she had it but it was useless. She knew for a fact that Joshua and his boys had found some way to tamper with it. She would punish them.
She would punish them if it was the last thing she did.
Her thoughts swung to the Archstone Tribe. There was no love lost between them and the Weirna shifters. She would find a way to use that to her advantage, she decided, rising to her feet.
Her hair was in every direction, the useless Tiara was dangling from weak fingers; and she was all alone. But suddenly, Nabradia felt a ray of hope pierce her darkness. Joshua and his boys didn’t know it yet, but the fight was far from over.
Nabradia grinned to herself as she stumbled through the dark womb of the Elm Woods. She was going to do something so evil none of them would forget about it for as long as she let them live.
***
“Jeanine!” Joshua exclaimed with joy as the front door opened to admit Bo, Derek and Jeanine.
Joshua ran and grabbed her in a bear hug so tight it was like coming home. The entire household was an immediate burst of activity as everyone surrounded her, hugging, praising, patting.
Even Drake had woken up now, though he was still resting weakly on the chaise. Jeanine gave him a tired smile and hugged him with all the love in her heart. She would never be able to forget what he had done for her and for Bo.
She rose to smile at everyone, “I’m okay. Thanks so much everyone. But I think I need to get home. My mum must be worried.”
“I’ll take you,” Bo volunteered.
The drive was a very short and fast one. As he parked in front of her house, Bo gathered Jeanine into his arms and melded his lips with hers in a kiss. He had thought he wouldn’t be able to hold her again or say those words that he had wanted to say for so long to her.
He lifted his head and looked down into her shining blue eyes, “I love you, Jeanine.”
Her eyes widened. “What? Do you?”
He nodded. “I love you. I want to make you mine forever.” His gaze touched on the mark on her neck and he grinned, “I already did. But now I want a wedding, vows, the trappings.”
Jeanine’s eyes widened, “A wedding? Do shifters get married?”
“We mate for life. But you’re a traditional girl beneath that tough exterior. I could mark you a thousand times, but you need a wedding to know we’re really one.”
Jeanine’s eyes filled with happy tears as she engulfed this wonderful man in a tight bear hug. She loved him with every fiber of her being.
“Say it out loud though,” he prodded. “A man likes to hear those words too.”
Jeanine frowned and leaned back to stare at him in surprise, “You can hear my thoughts again? How come? Grandma’s spell is still there.”
Bo grinned, “I can hear your thoughts again because there is a force greater than all the magic in the world: love.”
“Oh Bo,” she breathed, melting against him again
He laid one hand against her lip, “Beaufort. I love the way you say my name and I love that you’re the only one who calls me by my full name.”
Jeanine felt everything in her melt all over again.
Her eyes were shining as she said in the softest tone she had ever used, “I love you Beaufort. You’re my heart. And yes, I’ll marry you.”
Their kiss was interrupted by a familiar cackle, as Nana said, “Are you going to be all kissy-face all day? Or are you gonna come greet your grandmamma?”
As Jeanine and Bo climbed out of the car to meet her mum and grandmother, she threw him a happy glance. He was her life, her future, her love. Meeting him had brought her life full-circle and for the first time in a zillion years, she knew she was happy and she knew it wasn’t going to end.
The End
Mountain Lion Protector
Damaged Pack Shifters 3
Leela Ash & Pamela Avery
Copyright ©2020 by Leela Ash and Pamela Avery. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
1.
Nabradia’s heart was beating a wild tattoo in her chest. Her heartbeat was so fast she should have been scared her heart was about to burst right out of her chest. But she knew better, she knew that could never happen. She was still angry and confused and tense. But she wasn’t dying, she assured herself, placing a calming hand on her chest as she stumbled through the thick underbrush marking the edge of the forest that separated the dwelling of the Archstone Tribe from the Weirna Werebears.
It was true that stupid witch Lana had cursed her to suffer the fate of humans but she wasn’t human yet because the 267th solstice hadn’t arrived. If she had her way, she would see that it never came. As powerful as she was, she couldn’t control time, she thought mournfully.
She could however control Alabad — that hellish place witches went when they died— and that was what she had tried to do with the Tiara of Oistrophe. But Joshua Cox and his interfering boys had switched the crystals and made her Tiara of Oistrophe as powerless and useless as a witch’s nipple in a newborn’s mouth!
Hatred spread like raw acid in her gut. It was so intense, it became a sticky warm feeling flowing down her naked midriff, or so she thought, until she looked down and saw that the warm spot was her own blood!
Nabradia’s eyes widened in disbelief as she touched the blood, half-convinced it was a hallucination; her fingers came away sticky and wet. It wasn’t a hallucination then! It was real. She was bleeding like a stuck pig. But how could she start bleeding just like that? There was no cut, no wound, nothing! Besides, few things could cut her skin; she was the Queen of the Salem witches and she had consolidated enough power to make her the most powerful witch on earth — even though The Council of Seven liked to disagree with that fact. Her skin was impervious!
“That there cut is just the first of many you’re gonna suffer if you take one more step,” a rough, gravelly voice drawled from a few yards ahead.
Nabradia snapped her head in that direction and then, understanding dawned. The Archstone Watchers were standing a few feet off with bows and arrows at the ready. It was easy to see that they had hidden behind the sturdy rock which was why she hadn’t noticed them at first. Plus, she had been distracted by her anger, she admitted to herself.
Obviously, they had used an invisible arrow on her which was why she’d never seen it coming. The Archstones were famous for using invisible, poisoned arrows against their enemies and she knew this one was poisoned as surely as she knew her name. Personally, she saw it as a measure of how distracted she was that they had managed to take her by surprise. Sh
e could usually spot enemies and attacks from miles away — even invisible ones.
Nabradia grinned at the man whom had spoken, “Clever parlor tricks you have there. What witch sold her services to the Archstone shifters?”
The leader of the group stared at her, his eyes cold and flinty. “We make our own weapons.”
“Indeed you do, Henry Xanthier,” she said picking his name out of the air with her powers. “You do it with a little help from some random wannabe witch,” Nabradia continued, waving a hand in front of her stomach. The arrow appeared still protruding and she grabbed it and dragged it out.
“Parlor tricks,” She spat as she tossed it onto the ground and spat again for good measure, to express her contempt. She wiped a hand along the cut on her abdomen, whilst holding the gaze of the leader of the group. When she removed her hand, the cut had vanished and sealed itself as though it had never been.
“Why are you here?” the man growled.
Nabradia grinned because she heard the thin thread of fear in his voice. Good. Let him fear. No sane being, whether supernatural or human managed to stand before Nabradia without feeling some measure of fear.
“I’ve come to do what that witch did for you, only better and for better payment of course,” Nabradia offered, tossing her long mane of black hair that flowed to the very back of her knees. She was heart-wrenchingly beautiful, with big violet eyes and lips so red that even without her trademark red lipstick, she managed to seem as though she were wearing some.
“And who the hell do you think you are?” the man growled taking a threatening step forward. “Why would we want your business?”
“I’ll show you who I am,” Nabradia replied, batting her eyelashes at him. Then she pointed at the arrow she had tossed onto the ground and yelled, “Zandiva mutirrr.”
Blue smoke started to pour out of the arrow in a slow trickle and by the time it finished, the witch whom had sold the spell to the Archstone tribe was kneeling beside Nabradia’s feet where the arrow had been. She seemed to be in pain and was sobbing and coughing. Blood poured from her mouth as she sobbed, “Please forgive me, my Queen. I didn’t mean for the arrows to be used against you. I just needed to put food on my table.”