Decision (Shifters Forever More Book 2)

by Elle Thorne

“That isn’t all that’s happened to ye, is it?” Mairi raised a brow. “A partial shifting was mentioned.”

  “Yes, that happened, too.”

  “Don’t forget about the skilljacking,” Krisztián added.

  Mairi shot him a glance. “What is this, skilljacking?”

  “That’s what he called it,” Ciara explained, at the same time shooting Krisztián a glance. She hadn’t been ready to reveal to this mysterious woman all that had occurred.

  “He?” Mairi looked from one to the other, puzzled. “Who is he? And what is skilljacking? I dinna understand.”

  Ciara said, “This man, he took my intuitive skills away from me and used them on me.”

  “Sgil mèirleach.” Her tone reverent, Mairi blanched. “How can that be?”

  “Sgil mèirleach.” Ciara knew she’d butchered the words. “What is that?”

  “Those are the ones that could take skills. Mages,” Mairi spit the word out. “Not the typical mages. Long thought gone. So they are called what now? Skilljackers?”

  Krisztián shrugged. “We had never heard of skilljackers before. Never. Nor had we heard of deathbenders.”

  Mairi’s head snapped in his direction. “And what is that?” Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion, making Ciara wonder.

  “Deathbenders cheat death,” he told her. “They take on another’s death and absorb it then wake up alive again.”

  “’Tis not possible,” Mairi hissed. “Seun binn-bhàis.”

  “Let me guess,” Ciara said. “That’s what you guys called deathbenders.”

  “Aye. Sgil mèirleach and seun minn-bhàis have not been seen or heard from in a very long time. Thought to be extinct.”

  “That’s what Griz said,” Krisztián added.

  “Griz?” Mairi sounded perplexed.

  “A friend,” he elaborated.

  Mairi scrubbed her face, her expression contemplative. “This explains it.”

  “Explains what?” Ciara felt nothing was explained. Not in the very least. “Could you clarify, please?”

  “Sgil mèirleach and seun binn-bhàis were a set of mages that were druids, just as intuitives were. We called them iomasach. You call them intuitives.”

  “So all three of these types were descended from druids,” Krisztián summed it up. “What does this have to do with what’s happening to Ciara right now. And how can it be fixed?”

  Precisely what she had been ready to ask. She inclined her head briefly in appreciation. He gave her a nod back, acknowledging her silent thanks.

  “I can tell ye what is happening,” Mairi told her. “I can tell ye how it came to be.”

  Ciara noticed she didn’t say how it could be fixed. And that filled her with dread. She bit her lip, telling herself to be patient.

  “Ye are descended of shifters. Shifters beget shifter children. Is that not the case?” Mairi asked Krisztián.

  He gave a half-shrug. “I’m no expert in the matter, but that’s my understanding. Though I’ve heard there have been rare exceptions, I don’t know of any.”

  “Precisely,” Mairi continued. “You clearly have a shifter animal within you,” she told Ciara. Your grandmother had it. Your father had it, and now ye have it.”

  “Wait a second,” she interjected. “My father was not a shifter. Nor—”

  “Ye are going to say nor are ye?” Mairi shook her head. “What do you think is putting you through this misery if it is nae a bear within you?”

  “But my father wasn’t… I have not been,” she muttered.

  “Ye thought ye wasna a shifter, yet, look at the circumstances.”

  Krisztián crossed his arms over his chest. “Explain this.”

  “Ciara, ye have a bear. It is soul-chained.”

  “What?”

  Krisztián’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”

  Instead of answering, Mairi asked Ciara, “Have ye ever known your bear? Ever heard it before in your life?”

  “Never. Not once. Nothing until this whole thing with that sgil mèi—” She couldn’t remember how to pronounce it. “Not until the skilljacker thing.”

  “Precisely. And I believe the same for your father.” Mairi toyed with her teacup, spinning it slowly on its saucer. “After birth, a binding spell was placed upon ye. It imprisoned your bear. The bear fell silent and invisible, frozen deep within ye. I would wager the same was done with your father.”

  In her mind, the sounds rose from grumbling to roars. Ciara rubbed her temples, trying to mute the loudness. The claws burrowed deep within her mind, making tears rush to her eyes. She heard a chair scrapping the floor as Krisztián stood. He came around behind her and began to massage her scalp.

  “It helps,” he whispered to Mairi.

  “Your bear’s soul-chain was weakened when the sgil mèirleach—the skilljacker—performed his sorcery upon ye.”

  “Weakened?” she uttered amid the growls in her mind.

  “Aye, but not completely broken. Hence the partial shift. Hence the sounds and claws in your mind.”

  Ciara wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks. “What does soul-chained mean? How can it be fixed? Reversed? Put the bear back in—” She screamed as the bear dug in.

  “I feel certain the bear dinna appreciate ye trying to soul-chain it again. And it is conveying its displeasure.”

  Ciara nodded. Boy, was it ever.

  Chapter Twenty

  Help her, Krisztián mouthed the words to Mairi. Please.

  Mairi nodded, reached across the table, and took Ciara’s hands in hers. “The only chance ye have at peace is to release the bear.”

  Her head snapped up. “That would make me a shifter.” She looked up at Krisztián.

  Their eyes met. He saw the worry and the horror in hers. How could he tell her it wasn’t so bad? That he had a relationship with his bear that was not acrimonious? He wanted to give her assurances, but he had no clue of how her bear would be with her. He had known plenty of shifters who were at odds with their shifter animal. He’d even heard of a shifter’s animal driving the shifter to death.

  He paused in massaging her head and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I can help you. With being a shifter, I mean.” Though he had no idea whether she would still be an intuitive or not or what that might do to those skills. Skills she used for work. Skills which defined her very being.

  Ciara swallowed. She clenched her jaw then unclenched it. “Can you help me?” she asked Mairi. “Can you release the bear? If you do, will it still be in my head?”

  Mairi glanced at him, her gaze letting him know that matters pertaining to shifters were his forte, not hers.

  He stepped to the side then knelt before Ciara. “Your bear is a part of you. Whether it was soul-chained or not, it is still a part of who you are.”

  She shook her head, as though she didn’t want to accept this.

  He took her by the shoulders. “Look at me.”

  Her eyes widened. “The bear just went silent. Completely silent.”

  His bear told him what her bear was doing. “Your bear is showing you what life can be like with her in your life. She doesn’t have to do what she’s been doing. The roaring, the clawing, that is not constant when one is a shifter.”

  She cocked her head. “So, if she were freed, then she wouldn’t hurt me that way?” Her gaze seemed unfocused, as though she were somewhere far away.

  “No. Our bears communicate with us, but they don’t spend all their time trying to hurt us. An occasional growl, snarl, roar, some type of communication. None of the clawing the brain stuff, though. Haven’t had that happen. I’d say that’s a special situation, probably brought on by the circumstance you’re in.”

  Her eyes zeroed in on his and narrowed. “By circumstance you mean—”

  “The soul-chained thing. That’s probably making your bear nuts.” He put his hands on her knees and drew closer to her. “Imagine this. Imagine being locked up, without an ability to communicate with a single soul a
ll your life. Unable to interact, voice an opinion, have a choice. Then suddenly, for a brief spell, you’re kind of out of that prison, but not fully. Now, you’ve had a taste of freedom. Then you face staying locked up. Or staying in limbo-hell.”

  “That’s what my bear’s going through?”

  He nodded. “It’s exactly what she’s been going through. And she probably thinks you want to lock her up or destroy her. Because locking her up would pretty much destroy her now that she’s had a taste of freedom.”

  Ciara lowered her eyes, the lids hiding the light-blue color he found so attractive. Another tear slipped down her cheek.

  “Heyyy.” He wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll figure this out. Together.”

  “I don’t even know what there is to figure out.” Her voice was small and helpless.

  “Would ye let me help ye with this?” Mairi rose from her chair and stood next to them. She reached a hand out for Ciara’s.

  She put her hand in Mairi’s. “What has to happen?”

  Mairi’s tone was firm. “First, we need to break the spell, the curse that has soul-chained your bear. That will set the bear free, but also set ye free from the nuisances within your head.”

  “But I will also lose my intuitive skills, won’t I? Is there such a thing as an intuitive shifter? I’ve never heard of one.”

  Mairi shrugged. “I cannae tell ye whether or not ye will. But I can tell ye there’s no way ye can live like this, with the constant infractions on your mind.”

  Ciara glanced to Krisztián. He didn’t want to help her with this decision, it had to come from her, though personally, he wholeheartedly recommended it. Anything to give her a measure of peace.

  She nodded. “Let’s do this.”

  “Are ye certain? I dinna want ye to regret this if there are repercussions.”

  “I can’t justify keeping a bear prisoner. And I can’t live with the torment she’s putting me through. If I lose my intuitive skills, then,” her voice tightened, “so be it.”

  Krisztián swore to himself at that moment he had no intent to let her lose her skills. He’d search the world over to find someone who could help her.

  “I do have a question about the tattoos,” Ciara said. “What do the tattoos on me have to do with the ones on the skilljacker? His were similar.”

  “Since I havenae seen the tattoos on this skilljacker,” she stumbled over the word, “I could not tell ye for sure. Tattoos are part of a druid’s magicry. He may verra well have his own tattoos. Aye, also, when a druid uses their magic, tattoos can be activated. These faint tattoos”—Mairi traced the marks on Ciara’s forearm—“they were not visible before your incident, true?”

  Ciara nodded.

  “Then these are what is used to bind your bear. They were bolder before?”

  “They were.” Krisztián took out his phone and thumbed it until the picture of her tats appeared, then he held it up for Mairi to see.

  “Och, thank ye.” She took the phone and studied the screen. “Do ye have a picture of the skilljacker’s tattoos?”

  He noticed she didn’t stumble as much over the word this time. “I didn’t take any of his. Only Ciara’s.”

  She checked out the phone’s screen a bit longer then looked up. “These tattoos are definitely part of the soul-chaining.”

  Ciara fidgeted, making him wonder if her bear had begun its antics again. “So you can help her?” He tried to keep the sense of urgency from his voice as he didn’t want to panic Ciara.

  Mairi paused.

  Oh, hell, now what?

  Then she said, “I can’t personally break the spell. But I know someone who can.”

  Just then, a door to the bedroom—he presumed it was a bedroom—flew open.

  Krisztián jumped up, took a defensive position, and wished to hell he’d brought a weapon.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ciara flinched as the door flung open.

  Krisztián leapt to his feet and was poised to attack? Defend? She wasn’t sure which, just that the bear shifter was ready for action.

  Mairi turned red. “Declan, ye were supposed to wait for me to call ye.”

  The man in the doorway, all six-foot-plus of him stared at them. His face was ruddy beneath a healthy summer tan. His shoulders bespoke of either a great amount of weightlifting or a life spent as a lumberjack. His legs were like tree trunks. His eyes as piercing blue as Mairi’s.

  “What have ye done, sister? We are nae meant to be public.” His voice was deep. And there he remained, standing in the doorway, completely filling it.

  So they were siblings. The eyes would have given it away, anyhow.

  Ciara glanced at Krisztián. He was on guard still and so was the stranger whose intense gaze traveled between the two of them.

  “Declan.” Mairi stalked toward her brother, spine straight, shoulders thrown back. She poked him in the chest—a chest which didn’t budge—then tossed her hair over her shoulder and peered up at the massive man. “You ken verra well that we druids have a blood debt, and if it is called upon, we must acquiesce. Even to the risk of our own privacy and security. It has been determined. It was written in blood long ago.”

  Ciara and Krisztián exchanged puzzled glances. Ciara yielded to curiosity. “What blood debt?”

  Mairi whirled around. “I cannae share this with ye. ‘Tis druid business.”

  Mentally, she took a step back. “Ohh-kay.”

  Mairi faced her brother. “We will help with this.” Then to Ciara and Krisztián. “Unfortunately, my brother and I cannae do this alone. We need to construct a circle. And for that, we need more witches.”

  “How many more witches?” Krisztián asked.

  “Depends on how powerful they are, but at least two more.”

  “So, we have Leandra,” Ciara said to him. “Who else? Svetlana?”

  He shook his head. “She said she failed at the whole witchery thing.”

  “I’ll have to ask Mae.” She reached for her phone and realized she didn’t have pockets. She’d left it in the vehicle outside.

  “Use mine.” He fished it out of his pocket. “Will we do this circle here?”

  “Nae.” Mairi stepped out of Declan’s way and closer to Krisztián and Ciara. “We will not be staying here any longer. A witch circle would be traced by anyone who can read magic in the air. After the circle, we will be on our way to a new location.”

  Declan took a few paces forward, closer to them. Ciara tensed until she saw the foreboding expression had left his face. Though not threatening now, he wasn’t particularly friendly in appearance either. “Those who seek harm to druids can trace us to our magic. Then we are in imminent danger. We have enemies among the other paranormal types.”

  Krisztián handed Ciara the unlocked cellphone, tapped on the screen, then stepped forward, hand outstretched to shake Declan’s. “As a shifter, believe me, I can relate to that. In many ways.”

  She knew he was thinking back to his days as a Draecenguard, keeping dragon shifters safe from all who wanted to kill them. She was pretty certain his mind was also on his family, of whom he’d lost several to shifter territorial battles.

  Ciara put the ringing phone to her ear. “Hi, Mae. I need a favor.” How many times had Mae heard those very words? She thanked heaven for the woman who had singlehandedly managed to build a community.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Krisztián pulled the SUV into the parking lot at Mae’s B&B. Right behind him, Declan nosed the Toyota Pathfinder he and Mairi were riding in into the driveway then pulled up next to them.

  Tired? Yep, he was definitely that. He’d let Ciara sleep the whole way back while he’d driven straight through. Declan had told him he was good to make a direct route so they could get matters taken care of. He’d especially agreed after Krisztián and Mairi had pulled him aside and explained the direness of Ciara’s situation.

  He studied her profile, taking the time to memorize her features now that she was asleep.
How her strong jawline and the set of her mouth softened in slumber. Maybe because she was finally at peace from the torment of her bear. Maybe slumber was the respite from that torture. Either way, her features were soft. Her lips plump, her frown gone, the downturn of her mouth at bay.

  Mae strode out of the front door of Bear Canyon Valley B&B, her strides meaningful, her expression very different from her peaceful one.

  He dropped the window, indicating the sleeping Ciara.

  “How is she?” Mae whispered.

  “First time she’s slept for longer than a couple of hours, I’m pretty sure.”

  “Good.”

  “You find more witches?”

  Mae nodded. “Yeah. Couldn’t get Jenner and Cedric. They’re on some kind of project or another. Leandra called in a distant cousin from New Orleans. And thank you for calling and making that suggestion.”

  He’d called from the road and recommended Mae ask Salvatore if any of the Draecenguard sorceresses would be willing to be a part of the witch circle to help Ciara. “What did Salvatore say?”

  Mae smiled. “He agreed to ask them, and they said yes.”

  “So we have eight of the Draecenguard, plus Leandra’s cousin and Leandra? And the two druids.” He pointed at the Pathfinder next to Mae’s full-size SUV, where Mairi and Declan were still sitting, immersed in a conversation. He figured Declan was still peeved about having to help out.

  Mae shook her head. “Not eight, no. Four of them left yesterday.”

  Krisztián frowned. “Left? Why? For where?” The Draecenguard never parted ways. Had never. Now, maybe times had changed. Or had Salvatore told them to go? Was he reneging as Krisztián had feared he would?

  “The sorceresses, their dragon shifters and their bear shifters went to the monastery to wrap up loose ends. Salvatore went with them. They’re coming back.”

  He wondered if they were. But he wasn’t going to say anything about it to Mae. He’d ask the remaining of the Draecenguard if there was a split of some sort. Or maybe he’d ask Allegra. Had she gone, too? He’d hardly think she’d have left Griz behind but— “Allegra stayed?”