by May Dawson
Logan, Josh and I prepared to swim back out of the cavern and to shore.
“Strip,” Logan said, and my eyebrows arched before he held up a shiny drawstring pouch. “I’ll keep our clothes dry. Unless you want to scout as wolves…”
I wasn’t that comfortable as a wolf yet. Not by a long shot. I drew my t-shirt over my head.
Josh rolled his clothes into a ball and passed them to Logan. I tried to avert my eyes politely, but I couldn’t help watching the two of them as they stood naked at the edge of the pool. Josh’s chiseled back carried some new tattoos in the time since we’d been apart. The muscles in Logan’s shoulders and biceps rippled as he stuffed our gear into the bag. They both seemed so comfortable with themselves, in a way that I couldn’t imagine feeling.
“We can turn our backs,” Josh offered, as if he noticed my reaction.
“Hang on,” Callum called as he came down the hall. “I’ve been trying to work out a spell to cloak your scents from the Shenandoah pack. I think I’ve got it now.”
“That’ll be a help,” Josh said, but Logan looked more skeptical.
“What kind of magic is it?” Logan demanded.
I crossed my arms over my chest, shielding my breasts from view.
“Blood magic,” Callum admitted.
Logan’s lips twitched to one side in irritation. Then he said, “Anything that helps me kill some witches, I guess.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence.” Callum quickly nicked the back of his wrist, and then began to incant as he touched the back of his hand to Josh’s shoulder. He repeated the spell with Logan and me.
Then his nostrils flared, and a slight smile crossed his lips. “Smell anything?”
Logan’s nostrils flared too. “No.”
At first, I breathed in the damp, salty air without noticing anything different. I no longer smelled Callum, Josh and Logan’s familiar, comforting scents.
“Thanks,” Josh told Callum. “That’ll help a lot.”
Logan grunted. He wasn’t grateful for any kind of magic, apparently. Then he jumped out into the pool, slinging the bag over his shoulder as he treaded water.
“So we’re doing this,” I said, and sat at the edge of the damp rock, easing myself into the water. Josh slid in quickly beside me, and when I turned around, both boys were hovering, ready to take my hand and help me through the water. Their eagerness made me smile.
The water level was lower now, and I was able to walk out through the pool and duck under the cavern entrance. They reached out to take my hands as we walked along the edge of the ocean.
On shore, I shook off as much of the water as I could while Josh turned his back politely. Logan didn’t turn away, but watched me with a faint smile across his face.
I pulled on my shirt and then reached out to punch him in the shoulder. “Focus.”
“I’m focused,” he said. “Just taking a minute.”
I rolled my eyes. It was funny though, I appreciate Josh’s polite response to my nakedness, giving me as much privacy as I could. And I also appreciated Logan’s frank gaze and the way he seemed to want me. How could two opposite reactions both satisfy me?
The three of us headed up toward the top of the cliffs, where Logan thought Maddie would have emerged. Here, it felt like we were suspended between the glittering blue sea far below and the almost-cloudless sky. It made me feel small. It felt like I was powerless in this big, wild world where my sister had been stolen and where witches and wolves conspired to kill us all.
But we couldn’t lose. I couldn’t lose this sweet life I was just beginning to build, with my men and my little sister.
There was what looked like a pile of rocks jutting up from the grass. Logan knelt there. Looking over his shoulder, I could see the narrow entrance where my sister might have wiggled out. I couldn’t get in there myself, even with my slender hips and flat chest. The idea pressed on my chest, making me feel claustrophobic. How scared had Maddie been?
“She came this way,” Logan said, and then stood. He began to walk without finishing his sentence, as if he had caught some scent. Josh and I traded a look and then followed him.
The three of us walked up and down long hills, trying to follow Maddie’s scent. We reached a narrow unpaved track, one of the tracks across the island for the handful of vehicles. Logan raked his hand through his hair.
“Joan must have had a car,” he said. “I can’t follow their scent anymore.”
“But we can follow the tracks.” Josh knelt, looking at the deep tire track at the edge of the lane. “If she has a car, she’s probably working with the witch.”
“It’s not like Joan to work with anyone.” Logan said. “But I guess she has motivation now.”
“I hope Maddie’s all right.” Josh straightened.
“Joan wouldn’t hurt her.” I didn’t like Joan, but I did believe she genuinely loved her daughter.
“She might be scared.” Josh said. “Hopefully, she remembers something about her mom after all.”
“I’m not sure that would be as helpful as you think.” Logan muttered.
Josh and I exchanged a look behind his back as he started walking forward down the track. Then I ran after him. “Why’s that?”
“I just don’t think she’s a very nice person,” Logan said. “As much as she may love her daughter. There’s a reason they didn’t live with the pack.”
My heart froze in my chest. I’d thought Maddie would at least be safe with her mother.
“Don’t worry about it,” Logan said. “There are plenty of bad parents in the Atlantic pack. Look at Finn and Seb and Arthur and me. We’re all fine. Maddie will be fine too.”
“You’re not exactly fine,” I said drily.
Logan quirked an eyebrow at that. He looked like he was on the verge of saying something, but Josh was right behind us and he decided not to.
“Anyway, I can’t imagine Joan is going to hand Maddie over to Rippedthroat,” Logan said. “We can get to her, make sure Maddie is safe…”
“Why were Rippedthroat’s men with her, then?” Josh asked.
Logan shoved his hands in his pockets, frowning, as if he didn’t like the question. He ignored Josh.
“I think that’s a good point,” I said, even though it made me feel disloyal to Logan. “We have to consider the possibility she’s working with Rippedthroat. I don’t think she’s going to be happy to see us.”
“She’s never happy to see you,” Logan said.
Josh frowned, then asked me, “What did she do to you?”
“She was just wound up about Maddie. She’s still angry that we didn’t hand her over when Arthur and company came to see us weeks ago. And I understand that.”
“You’re too understanding,” Logan grumbled.
So he and Arthur had discussed Joan. I guessed I shouldn’t surprised.
Josh started to ask another question, and Logan whirled on him. “Are we going to talk the whole time? Jesus.”
“I’d like to know what we’re walking into,” Josh said evenly. There was nothing to give away his anger except the sudden tightness in his jaw. “No reason to get all emotional.”
Logan rolled his eyes. “I’m not emotional. I just find you irritating.”
As Logan headed down the lane ahead of us, I reached out and caught Josh’s hand. He raised his eyebrows at me. Then he must have decided to shake off his tension as his shoulders relaxed. “Quite a charmer you’ve got there.”
“To be fair, I also love Kai from your pack and you know…”
“Your pack?” he asked, his voice casual. “Not our pack?”
Well, this wasn’t going well. So much for easing the tension.
“You know you’re my pack.” I squeezed his hand in mine. “But they’re also my pack.”
“You’re going to make your own pack?” Josh’s lips tilted up teasingly.
“Maybe,” I said, which, judging from the look on his face, wasn’t what he expected. “I don’t know what else to do. But I
know that I love you, and I love him even when he’s being an ass, and—”
“Hold up,” Josh raised a hand, turning to face me in the middle of the path. “You what now?”
“I love you, silly,” I said, and since he had stopped, I paused too. I bobbed up on my toes to wrap my arms around his shoulders. His arms closed automatically around my waist. As if the past had never happened, when he and Nick said they loved me and I didn’t manage to say it back, I asked mischievously, “Didn’t you know that? I thought it was obvious.”
“I had a feeling,” he managed, narrowing his eyes at me playfully. “You’re impossible, Piper Sullivan.”
“But you love me anyway,” I prompted him, wanting to hear those sweet words in return.
“I thought it was obvious,” he agreed, teasing me.
There was a pause between us. I raised my eyebrows at him, and quirked my lips to one side. I waited for him to say something more.
“I love you too,” he admitted, and then he kissed me, his lips soft and tender.
As my eyes drifted shut, as his lips caressed mine, I lost myself in him. The sunshine warmed my hair, and his hands spanned my hips.
I’d been reluctant to confess how I felt, and that seemed foolish now. Feelings had been treacherous when I was growing up. Rippedthroat didn’t hesitate to punish me for being sad, or angry, and he met my rare flickers of affection as a child with disdain.
But this was a whole different world. And I was going to make sure it stayed that way: full of freedom and feelings and love.
I pressed my lips to his again.
Chapter 33
Callum
We reached the old barn where the cubs were being held. The Atlantic pack’s cubs had been joined by the Shenandoah cubs when the coven took over the island. Every shifter cub in Virginia was in that weathered gray barn.
Orange flames surrounded the barn and streaked into the sky.
Arthur started forward, all caution forgotten in his need to save the cubs. When I grabbed his arm, he cut his eyes toward me dangerously, but he stopped.
“It’s magic,” I warned him. I held my other hand out. “It’s not hot. You’d be able to feel it from here.”
I’d taken the cubs through burning magic the night our pack was destroyed, and I still had the scars on my hands from it.
“So what happens if we try to go through it?” Arthur demanded.
“Magic fire still burns.” I pointed to the remnants of a charred corpse, fallen half-in and half-out of the fire.
Sorrow passed over Arthur’s face for a split-second, soon replaced by his usual mask of anger. “He must have tried to get to his children.”
“How many witches do you think are inside?” Tuck asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” Arthur said in that tight, dangerous way he had, the kind that would almost make one pity a witch. “But we need to bring down the flames.”
He turned to me. “Can you do it?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know a counter-spell for magic fire. It’s not like I can do any research…”
“I didn’t ask you about a counter-spell,” Arthur said. “You were able to bring down the witch’s mind control on some of those mercs, weren’t you? And that wasn’t a counter-spell. Neither was the scent-magic you were so mysterious about.”
Wolves weren’t allowed more magic than a simple counter-spell. Arthur already had good reason to challenge me to take over my pack, and to keep Piper. If he knew I was doing forbidden magic, he’d have justification in the eyes of the other packs.
I’d hoped he would miss what I was doing, but the top priority had to be keeping us all alive and unharmed. I’d deal with the fear that Arthur would betray our fragile truce later.
“Callum,” Arthur said impatiently. “Can you do it or not?”
“I could try,” I admitted. Damn the consequences. We had to save the cubs first. “I thought you hated magic.”
“I hate witches,” he said. “And you know damned well why I’m suspicious about magic.”
“I just…” I didn’t want to tell him I didn’t trust him.
“Listen.” He crossed his arms over his chest and hesitated as if he was choosing his words carefully. “I’m willing to admit that maybe the world is a bigger, weirder place than I thought. I mean, the thing with Piper…”
“What does Piper have to do with magic?”
“She’s magic,” he said impatiently. “She’s changed everything I thought I knew about how packs work, for one thing. I don’t know where we go from here…”
“Yeah, me either.” I shook my head, trying to imagine how Piper would choose—and what we would do without her. After seeing her with Logan and Arthur, I couldn’t imagine her leaving them behind, but I also couldn’t imagine her leaving us.
“But we’ll figure it out.” His brusque tone didn’t match his words. “For her. Because we have to. So let’s use the fucking magic and save the cubs and end this, all right?”
When we were kids, his mother—or mine—would have washed his mouth out with soap for talking that way, but he was alpha now and apparently really embraced profanity.
“You won’t use it against me later?” I asked. “On your honor as alpha?”
Understanding dawned on his face. “You don’t trust me. You think I’m going to try to take Piper away.”
He said it like he was affronted. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
“You literally did that already.”
There was the faintest flicker of shame across his face. Well, that was unexpected.
“I won’t use it against you later.” He hesitated, which made me wonder what kind of caveat he was about to add. Then he went on, with effort. “I need you for this. You and your magic.”
I was surprised by the sense of gratification that washed over me when Arthur said he needed me. I nodded, trying to keep my face impassive.
I’d need blood for this. I closed my eyes to focus on the shift, shifting just my jaws, and my teeth ached. Once my canines were out, I bit down on the back of my wrist. The taste of my own blood was salty in my mouth as I began the incantation.
Suddenly, the flames flickered and disappeared.
Without hesitation, Arthur ran toward the house, and Tuck and I ran after him.
Chapter 34
Piper
“Would you stop being a jackass?” I asked Logan in a whisper.
He wouldn’t stop picking at Josh. I knew Josh had a temper buried deep down, but he’d remained level-headed and cool.
Logan glanced my way and then went on, ignoring me. “We’re getting close to the pack house.”
Josh met my eyes and then mouthed, “Priorities.”
“You’re amazing,” I murmured to Josh. I was sure Logan could hear, although he was striding on ahead of us. Josh’s single-minded focus on the mission, rather than his own ego, impressed me.
“I can always kick his ass later if we have to do the stupid wolf-hierarchy-thing,” Josh said. “For right now, we’re all on the same team.”
Logan snorted. “I’ll look forward to that.”
“I’m going to transform and see if I can catch any of Joan’s scent,” Josh said. We hadn’t found any place where the truck’s tracks had left the lane. “I don’t want to chase her down into the pack house if we can help it. Why don’t you two hang out and hide here?”
“Sounds great,” Logan said drily.
Josh rolled his eyes but let it go. He stepped into the bushes, and a few seconds later, a t-shirt flew through the air and wrapped around Logan’s face. He swiped it away, looking irritated. When Josh’s jeans flew toward him, he snatched them out of the air and wrapped them both up in a ball. No matter how annoyed he looked, he still bundled the clothes up under his arm.
Josh, in the form of a big gray wolf, stepped back out of the bushes. He nodded his big furry head at us and then streaked off into the bushes.
“Peace for a few minutes,” Logan groused. He caught my
elbow in his hand to tug me into hiding with him behind a copse of trees. For some reason, it made me think of the first day I’d met him when he’d offered me his arm and then immediately tried to hide his sweetness by telling me that he thought I couldn’t handle my high heels.
“Why are you being such a jerk to Josh?” I demanded. “What did he do to you?”
Logan pulled a face. “Nothing.”
“And yet…”
He shrugged. “He’s annoying.”
“He’s annoying or you’re jealous?”
Logan’s jaw tightened, and then something changed in his face. It was almost a look of resignation. “Maybe both.”
I was surprised by the admission. “You’re jealous?”
Logan looked away, and the wind ruffled the dark hair above his chiseled features. “I’ve never felt about anyone else the way I feel about you, Piper. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”
I’d been aggravated with him, but now I felt my heart soften.
“And you might care about me,” he said. “But you care about him too. Just as much. Maybe more…”
“So you don’t actually find Josh annoying,” I said. “You find me-and-Josh annoying.”
“Well.” Logan said. “He does talk a lot.”
“I think he’s fun to talk to,” I said. “He’ll grow on you.”
“We’ll see,” he said. “Well. I hope we’ll see. I hope we’ll get through all this and find some way to unite our packs or…”
He trailed off.
The guys thought my dream of uniting the packs was ridiculous. But he had just said he wanted it too. From the look on his face, he was surprised by the words that had just come out of his mouth.
“Yes!” I said. “We can do that. I don’t know what I would do without any of you. I need you.”
“Me?” He said. “Personally? Or us?”
“All of you,” I said, taking my face in his hands. I could feel the disappointment in his posture. “And also, you, personally. Specifically. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
His lips quirked to one side. “All right.”