Drawing up short, Fiona pulled away, and with a twist, had the perpetrator on the ground in front of her, with her boot on her attacker’s throat.
“Alannah. What the hell. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
Alannah pushed Fiona’s boot off and rose, taking Fiona’s outreached hand to pull herself up.
“I didn’t think you’d pull some kind of martial arts on me.”
“I’m a trained federal agent. Jeez. What did you expect?” She regarded the green-eyed woman cautiously. Mae had said she could trust her.
“Why does Mae trust you?”
“I’m trustworthy.”
“That’s no answer.”
“You want to sit here and debate the merits of my trustworthiness while your mate lies dying?”
He’s not my mate, not anymore. “No. Let’s go.” Fiona took off at a run, clutching Alannah’s coat in a white-knuckled grip.
Alannah kept pace with her.
“Why are you here?” Fiona panted out while she ran across the street. “This isn’t a coincidence, is it?”
“None of this is.”
Fiona caught herself almost stopping to interrogate Alannah and immediately picked up speed, opening the door and holding it for the witch.
“His bear. Your return. Orchestrated by Northfork.”
“Who is that?”
“It’s a what. It’s the coven we belong to. Twelve branches, each a family. Only one branch is missing a representative. And there is only one rep in that family that’s alive. Your aunt just died.”
“I had an aunt?”
“Yes. Her chair has to be filled. So all of this. Your transfer, his bear. All of it designed by Northfork to bring you to the coven.”
“I’m. Not. Even. A witch.”
“Yet” was the only response Alannah offered.
They shot out of the staircase and down the hallway to Jonah’s apartment.
“Can you save him?” Fiona asked her.
“I can. I will.”
“You’re sure?”
“This is why they sent me.” Alannah stopped in the middle of the hallway. “There’s a condition. You have to swear to it. If you don’t keep it, they’ll make the same thing happen again.”
“Fine. Whatever it is. I’ll do it.”
“You’ll have to give up your position with Unit 13. You’ll have to take your rightful spot in Northfork, to chair the Rathmore spot.”
“Can we go inside? I agree. Okay? I agree.”
Chapter Eight
Fiona pulled Isaac and Cadence out of the room. “Alannah says she needs privacy to help him.”
“Bull,” Isaac exclaimed, semi-softly, and yet he followed Fiona out of the room. That may have had something to do with Cadence tugging on his hand.
“Mae trusts Alannah.”
The thing Fiona hadn’t told him, but would have to deal with sooner or later: there was a price.
“She’s a witch.” Isaac leaned against the wall, his brows drawn into a downward vee. “What was that you said to her, I caught part of it. Something about his bear…”
“Yes, she’s a witch.”
“How did you know that?”
She knew what he was driving at. A witch knew another witch by instinct. Shifters couldn’t pick out witches. They could tell there was something different, but they couldn’t be sure. “She told me.”
Please let that answer suffice.
“Why would she do that?” Clearly it didn’t suffice.
“It’s a long story, Isaac. Am I really going to get into a long story with you while your brother is hurt?”
“Why hasn’t he shifted?” Isaac’s voice was laden with emotion, his tone strained.
“I don’t think he can.”
“Why not?”
Fiona wasn’t about to get into that. She’d made her deal. She’d sealed her fate. Her life for Jonah’s. Simple as that.
Doesn’t mean I’ll like it.
***
Fiona flinched and whirled around when the door to Jonah’s bedroom opened. Alannah gestured Fiona, Isaac, and Cadence into Jonah’s bedroom. Her face was pale and her hands shook so much she crossed them over her chest and tucked them under her armpits.
Jonah opened his eyes. The blue fire she’d always seen in the depths was diminished.
“My bear’s back.” His voice was weak.
Fiona’s heart broke. She was the reason he was in this situation. The witches did this to him to get her to comply.
All because a few fucking witches want me to carry on some family tradition.
She found herself hating witches.
Did they shoot him? Are they the reason he almost died?
She had questions she wanted answered. It would keep until she met the witches.
Alannah nodded “His bear is back. He needs to shift so he can heal.”
“Thank you,” Cadence said.
Behind her, Isaac nodded his thanks, suspicion in his eyes.
With a bone-crunching sound, Jonah shifted on his gigantic bed, taking his polar bear form.
In Fiona’s head, her falcon shrieked joyfully.
Jonah’s bear looked at Fiona—actually looked through Fiona, deep into her, at her falcon.
She wanted to tell her falcon to tell the bear goodbye, that she wouldn’t get to see him again, not after the promise Fiona had made, but she didn’t have the heart.
“Let’s go,” Alannah said.
“Now? I don’t get a moment? Nothing?”
Alannah shook her head.
Chapter Nine
Fiona got into the beat up VW van Alannah was driving.
“Where are we going? I need to pack. I need to talk to my boss. I need time to sort things out, leave my two weeks’ notice.”
“That’s not how they want it.”
Fiona gave her a dirty look, just as Alannah glanced in her direction.
“Hey, don’t be mad at me. I’m not on their side.”
“You’re here on their behalf. That puts you on their side.”
“I wish you didn’t think so. We’re distant cousins after all.”
“So you cast spells?”
“I’m trained.”
Fiona pushed her hair back and tried to ignore the screeching cautionary sounds her falcon made.
“Rathmore. That sounds familiar.
“Your family name. No one told you? Mae didn’t?”
“Mae tried to tell me about my past. I didn’t want to hear it.”
“The Northfork Coven is composed of thirteen witch families. The Rathmore branch is one of the original families. My family, the Belthune branch is another. Our great-great-great-somethings were sisters.”
“Will you tell me the truth?”
“I haven’t lied to you yet.”
“Jonah being shot…” Fiona didn’t want to finish the thought. It bothered her too much.
“That wasn’t exactly an accident.”
“Fuck.” Fury blossomed in Fiona. “Who… What…?”
“Don’t ask me for details. I don’t have them. I stayed ignorant in the planning. I was given my orders. I complied.”
Fiona leaned back as the city flew past them. She didn’t pay attention to where Alannah drove; her mind was still trying to absorb the day’s events.
Alannah pulled onto a side street well out of the city. New York was a sight of twinkling lights through the window.
The side street led to a private driveway with a rusted metal gate attached to a wall overgrown with ivy.
“This is… where?”
“Northfork.”
She looked at the dilapidated gate, the untrimmed ivy. “It looks abandoned.”
“It discourages visitors. The wrong kind.”
The gate creaked open, Alannah nosed the van in, then waited while the gate squeaked shut behind them. The area was thick with trees, except for a one car paved drive that separated the trees.
Alannah crept the vehicle forward slowly, ta
king one turn after another. Moments later she pulled in front of a mansion just as dilapidated as the gate. Three stories high, it sprawled out like an overgrown bug clinging to the ground.
Lights dotted less than a third of the windows.
“Spooky.”
Alannah nodded. “You get used to it.”
I don’t think I could. “It looks like it’s only partially inhabited.”
Alannah pulled up to the staircase that jutted out from the middle of the structure. “It’s not what it used to be. Our numbers aren’t what they once were.”
The sadness in Alannah’s voice made Fiona curious about why there were less witches now, but the opening of the door in the eyesore of a building halted her thoughts.
A tall woman, so lean as to not have an ounce of flesh to spare—so very unlike Fiona—stepped out, the light framing her silhouette.
“Ilse.” There was a definite tone of dislike in Alannah’s voice.
“Who’s that?”
“Of the Krauss branch.” A sneer crossed Alannah’s features as she turned toward Fiona. “Head chair of Northfork.”
Alannah didn’t have to say it, but Fiona got it—she was the decision maker.
That bitch is the reason Jonah was shot.
Hate blurred anger, forming a red haze in her vision. She took a deep breath. Emotions wouldn’t serve her. Not in this cause. She wanted vengeance.
“Took you long enough.” Ilse’s tone was chilly when Alannah and Fiona reached the top of the stairs.
“Complications.” Alannah pushed by her.
“Welcome to your new home,” Ilse said to Fiona in a tone far from welcoming.
Chapter Ten
A few days later…
Ilse’s lackluster welcome characterized the next few days for Fiona. She was given a room on the third floor with the other lesser witches—as they were called during whispered conversations.
Ilse had demanded Fiona’s cell phone that first night, claiming she’d have it adjusted so the GPS tracking was misdirected, and then she’d return it to Fiona.
Yeah, that was a few days ago.
And still, Ilse claimed the technician was backed up and would be done with it when he could get to it.
Before turning the phone over to Ilse, of course, Fiona sent Eric Vargas an email saying she needed to take a leave of absence—family business. She didn’t have the heart to give permanent notice of her intent to vacate InterForce. She should have but couldn’t.
Training was to start in a few days. Evidently it was handled in a group setting and the next class was to start the following Monday.
So Fiona had plenty of time on her hands.
Plenty of time to do nothing, because the only one who would talk to her was Alannah.
It seemed that Ilse’s general disaffection for Fiona was contagious and the rest of the witches (except Alannah) were eager to please Ilse.
So unless Alannah sought out Fiona, she spent her time in her room or exploring the surrounding grounds.
Surrounding grounds, another way of saying the thick overgrown forest that hid the mansion from any prying eyes for acres and acres.
One day around twilight, Fiona had let time get past her when she’d been in the woods. The sun had dropped, darkness was falling, and Fiona was certain she saw glowing eyes watching her from the thickness of the woods.
She’d ran out as quickly as she could, chest heaving, falcon screaming. And she’d ran straight into Ilse.
“What are you doing out here? You know the rules.”
Rules. Yeah, Northfork had plenty of those.
Can’t be out of the mansion after dark without a senior witch.
Can’t have unapproved cell phones.
Can’t take pictures of anything or anyone on Northfork territory.
Can’t talk back to senior witches.
The list went on and on and on…
“I’m sorry, Ilse. I lost track of time.”
“Inside. There is danger out here.”
I’m pretty sure you don’t give a shit if something bad happens to me.
Fiona didn’t give voice to her thoughts. That damned deal. That arrangement.
She thought of Jonah. The way he’d looked the last time she’d seen him, right before he shifted.
Pale. Close to death’s door.
I did the right thing.
She hoped.
“Tomorrow is the initiation.” Ilse’s smile was tight-lipped. “After that, classes start.”
Fiona nodded. “Thank you.” She’d talk to Alannah.
***
Dinner was an organized event every evening. Close to four dozen witches, all at tables in a large room. The only one who sat with Fiona was Alannah, if she wasn’t absent.
Fiona hoped she wouldn’t be absent tonight. She had questions for her about initiation.
And she had a favor to ask.
Fiona spied the curvy auburn-haired witch come in the door and raised her hand for a quick wave, hoping she’d see her and grab a spot next to her.
It’s not like it’s hard to see me, sitting alone at this table for six.
Alannah went through the serving line, then brought her tray to Fiona’s table.
“Hey.”
“Haven’t seen you in a couple of days. How’ve you been?”
Alannah glanced around, as if to ascertain no one was interested in their conversation. “Was in the city.”
“More dirty business for the coven?” Fiona kept her voice to a low hiss.
“Don’t talk like that. You have to at least pretend to have buy-in.”
“You mean, they’d believe that act, after blackmailing me to bring me here? After almost killing Jonah?”
Alannah shook her head. “Can’t hurt to pretend. At least that way if you…” She looked down at her tray, picked up a slice of apple and took a bite.
“If I what?”
“Nothing.” Crunch. Another bite and the apple was gone. She picked up another.
“I’m wondering how Jonah is. I wanted to call Isaac. Check on him.” Because I don’t want to admit it but I don’t think Jonah ever wants to talk to me again. Not that I blame him.
“What happened between you two?”
“My being a damned witch happened.” Fiona’s voice was a little louder than she’d intended. And a lot more vehement.
She looked around, caught two young witches at another table watching her with more interest than she wanted. She gave them a dirty look, they averted their gazes.
“Shifters and witches don’t mix.”
“I didn’t know that. I…” Fiona pushed her tray aside. Any appetite she had was well gone. “I never wanted to hear what Mae had to say. I found out the hard way.”
“You… what do you mean… the hard way?”
“I was pregnant.”
Fiona let out a small gasp, then covered it with a loud crunchy bite on another apple.
“I lost the baby. That’s when I finally listened to Mae. That’s when she told me witches can’t carry shifter babies full term. Not without intervention. And I couldn’t do that. If I asked a witch to intervene, then he’d know I am a witch.”
“Why doesn’t he know?”
“His parents…” She stabbed the meatloaf with her fork, over and over, crumbling it. “Witches were involved.”
Alannah raised a brow. “Involved in what?”
“Jonah losing his parents. He hates witches. I mean, shifters and witches have a tenuous relationship, at best, but for Jonah and his brothers… it’s very personal.”
“That explains the way his brother behaved, doesn’t it. Too bad they don’t know the sacrifice you’re making.”
“Some might say it’s no great sacrifice at all, not really, since I’m returning to my roots.”
“Yes, but you’re losing your other half to do it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your falcon.”
“What about it?”
; “You have to make a choice. You can’t have a dual citizenship, per se”
What the hell? “What’s supposed to happen to my falcon?”
“She’s taken out of you.”
“I’d lose everything that makes me a shifter.” Then it hit Fiona. “That could kill her—we can’t be apart indefinitely.”
“I know.”
“No. I won’t do that.”
“You won’t be given a choice. Ilse will boil it down to your falcon or Jonah.”
In Fiona’s head, her falcon began a low thrumming sound Fiona had never heard before.
It was too much to process. “I can’t think.”
They wanted her to kill off her other half? Her best friend? The only one that had been there for her?
I’m not killing my falcon. I’ll figure something out.
“Don’t think that.”
“Don’t think what?” Fiona narrowed her eyes, studied Alannah. “You’re an empath.”
Alannah nodded.
“What am I?
“The aptitude test will determine that, after your falcon is gone. Your falcon suppresses your witch skills.”
“That’s why they want her out?”
Alannah nodded.
“Can’t she be trained? Can’t I work around her? Has that never been done?”
“It has. Twice. More often than not it fails, particularly because the two types are in contradiction and you can’t serve two masters, so to speak. You can’t be a witch and a shifter.”
“But it’s been done before?”
“As I said, twice. Ilse will never allow it though, so don’t consider it. It’s not an option.”
The hell it’s not. I just need to buy myself some time.
“Stop that train of thought.” Alannah’s tone was low but stern.
“Get out of my head. And stay out!”
“I can’t. The Rathmores and the Belthunes have a connection.”
“Yeah, I know. I got it, our great, great, umpteen, great grandmothers were sisters.”
“It’s more than that—”
“Ladies.” Ilse took a seat at the head, put her hands on the tabletop, and spread her fingers wide.
Why do her fingers remind me of a spindly-legged hairless tarantula?
“Are you ready for tomorrow’s swearing in and initiation ceremony?”
Shifter Wonderland: Twelve BBW Paranormal Holiday Shape Shifter Romances Page 62