The Judah Black Novels Box Set

by E. A. Copen

  No one spoke. The fire cracked and popped behind Sal and the wind whispered through it. The subtle nuance of magick worked its way through those of us gathered. I couldn’t identify the purpose or source, but as it passed through the ranks of werewolves, each one stood up straighter.

  “My first act as your alpha will be to formally induct a new member into our pack,” Sal said. “Hunter Zachary Black, come forward.”

  Hunter stepped out of the line to go and sit on his knees in front of Sal.

  “Meet my eyes.”

  Hunter lifted his chin and met Sal’s gaze.

  “Will you join yourself in body, mind, and spirit to this pack?”

  Hunter’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes, I will.”

  “Will you bind your wolf in body, mind, and spirit to this pack?”

  “Yes, I will.”

  Sal lifted his eyes from Hunter to scan the crowd. “And you who are gathered, will you do the same? Binding yourselves and your wolves in body, mind, and spirit with that of Hunter Zachary Black?”

  In unison, the rest of the pack answered, “Yes, we will.”

  From his belt, Sal took a silver pocketknife and flipped it open. He made a generous slice in his hand and then asked Hunter to do the same.

  “Then from this day forward, you will be ours,” Sal said once Hunter handed the knife back. He held his bloody hand out to Hunter, who took it. “Our successes will be yours and yours ours. Our failures yours and yours ours.”

  “We welcome you,” said the pack in unison.

  A crackling power shot through the air. Only big and powerful magick was audible like that, and the Silvermoon pack had just worked a doozy of a binding spell. When the power swept past me, I staggered a little. At the end of the line, Ed winced and let out a small hiss of pain. When it hit Hunter, he cried out and fell over, doubled up, and held his chest. Sal bent down and put a hand on his back, speaking something quiet and reassuring until Hunter breathed through it.

  After a moment, Shauna broke from the line, threw her head up to the sky and let out a loud howl. Valentino followed suit, and soon, the whole pack was yipping and howling all the way down to Leo. Half of them had their clothes stripped off before Hunter could move from his prone position on the ground.

  My son swayed back and forth a little until Sal helped him up. “You ready, kid?” Sal said, smiling. He opened his hand and showed Hunter he’d pulled the silver out of his ear.

  Hunter nodded and stripped off his shirt.

  He did not change quickly the first time. When Hunter began, it was barely dusk. The bones cracked and settled at an achingly slow pace. He cried out only when his face started to change and the rest of the pack, all of whom had already shifted save for Sal, howled long and loud, covering the sound of his pain and anguish with what I could only guess were cries of encouragement. It was full dark when he was finished.

  Hunter stood up and shook blood from his beautiful, white fur. Ed, who was a skinny, black wolf now, was the first to wander up and sniff him. Even though Ed was eight years older than Hunter, Hunter was the bigger wolf. Hunter let out a small growl when Ed approached, and Ed gladly dropped onto his back and rolled around. Valentino yawned and trotted up to bump his shoulder against Hunter and sneezed, unimpressed.

  Sal took off his shirt and paced over to me. “Keep an eye on Leo and Mia?”

  “You know you don’t have to ask.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Could you guys bring home something other than a rabbit this time? A deer would be nice.”

  “You don’t ask for much, do you?” He grunted and took off his jeans, handing them to me. “Don’t get into trouble while I’m gone,” he ordered and shifted into his gray wolf.

  Sal ran to the front of the pack at full speed and then circled, waiting, while the rest of them caught up. Ed brought up the rear. In mere minutes, all of them were up and over the closest ridge. A distant howl pierced the night, and I knew I wouldn’t see them again until daybreak.

  For a long while, I sat with Leo and Mia watching the fire. Leo fell asleep in the playpen, and Mia drifted off to sleep in my arms. I considered closing my eyes, but something made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I sat forward, shifting Mia and scanning the yard around me for danger.

  “I warned you, did I not?”

  My head snapped to the side to regard a tall, mustached man with ashen skin, golden eyes, and a mullet of silver hair. Instead of the polished armor he’d worn the last time I saw him, Seamus wore a long green tunic with gold designs intricately woven in, heavy brown pants, and leather boots. A long and menacing blade hung at his hip.

  “I told you that if you continued to meddle in my affairs, you and I would become enemies.”

  “Technically, I was meddling in Marcus’ affairs,” I said and clutched Mia tighter. I started drawing in my will, preparing to defend myself. Even at my best, I couldn’t hope to win a fight with Seamus, and I was far from my best. Still, I had to try. I couldn’t let anything happen to the children.

  “Still your magick, mortal. I come to you this day as you bury your honored dead. It is in honor of his sacrifice and the declared neutral ground he maintained that I stay my hand.”

  I rolled my eyes but didn’t let go of the energy. “How considerate of you.”

  “I come with an offer.” Seamus crossed his arms and turned his head to stare directly at me. “Pledge yourself to me. Promise to serve me and mine as my agent, and I will reward you with any desire in my power to grant.”

  Taking anything from the fae is dangerous. Even the good ones had a penchant for twisting words and making you regret any deals you made with them. A big, scary, bad guy like Seamus could do a hell of a lot worse. He could also make me miserable if I declined.

  “No, thanks,” I answered politely.

  “Think carefully, mortal. You owe the vampire no loyalty.”

  “I don’t owe you any either, Finvarra.”

  His eyes blazed brighter gold at the name. “That is a name I have not heard spoken in many eons, not since my brother retreated from this realm and banished me from his court.”

  “But it is your name, isn’t it?”

  Seamus narrowed his eyes at me. “Speak it with caution. That name does not belong to you.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. When he opened them again, they’d regained their paler gold. “I would have your answer. Do you decline my offer a second time?”

  “I do,” I said. “I like being a free agent, and I don’t want to play politics with vampires or fae.”

  “And yet you will. That is, if you live long enough.”

  “What is it you want from Marcus? What’s he got on you?”

  He drew his lips into a smirk. It wasn’t a good look for him. “I suspect you will find out soon enough. You tend to draw the attention of your betters.”

  “And you’re a shoddy puppet master. You should hire better assassins.”

  “I admit that Cynthia was a bit uninspired. It’s unfortunate.” He sighed listlessly. “Though the plan was foolproof. It was the execution that lacked. I will not make that same mistake twice.”

  Mia squirmed in my arms and then lifted her thumb to her mouth to suck on it before falling back asleep quickly. “How’s Crux?” I asked, trying to ignore the howling in the distance.

  “Not dead, much to your master’s displeasure, I am certain. I do not kill that which can be useful to me alive.”

  “Marcus isn’t my master.”

  “Time and need will change that.” Seamus sighed again. “I know you will decline my offer, but I must make it a third time. Give me your oath of fealty, mortal, and you and yours shall be safe beyond this night.”

  I shook my head. “Sorry. No can do. That’d make me a sellout.”

  “Very well.” I flinched when he shifted the sword to lean on it. Seamus saw and made no effort to hide his amusement. “I shall give you a year and a day, as is the customary mourning time. When the sun rises on tha
t three hundred and sixty-seventh morning, you and I shall be enemies. My enemies do not know peace.”

  “And you should know I’ve got a pretty good record of killing my enemies.” Threatening Seamus was stupid, and I knew it. But he’d already promised not to hurt me, at least not yet. I might as well shoot my mouth off while I could.

  He bowed to me, pressing the hilt of his sword to his chest. “I wish you luck, Agent Judah Black, and I look forward to the challenge you will bring.”

  Just like that, Seamus was gone.

  I sighed and shifted Mia again to pull my phone out of my pocket. A lot could happen in a year and a day. Hell, in the last twenty-four hours alone, I’d been dead twice. It seemed just as likely to me that I wouldn’t make it a year and a day, given my luck. Just in case, I needed to be ready.

  I scrolled through the list of numbers, considering my options, and choosing the one most likely to work rather than the most pleasant one. To my surprise, the call went through and someone picked up on the second ring.

  “Judah Black,” purred Marcus Kelly on the other end. Heavy bass from Aisling’s state-of-the-art sound system pounded like a pulse in the background. “Miss me already?”

  “I need your help, Marcus,” I said. “The game is afoot.”

  Playing with Fire

  Book 4 of The Judah Black Novels

  Chapter One

  The fireball missed me by an inch.

  My bare feet slid over cool, slick tile as I dodged right and snarled. I raised my arm in a protective gesture, gathering my willpower and projecting it forward in a concave shield of spinning black and orange kinetic energy the size of a dinner plate. It was the best block I’d managed all day, and it still wasn’t enough to stop the second fireball. It sailed through the air and slammed into my pathetic shield, the force of the impact shoving me back. I pushed everything I had into the shield, grunting with effort as sweat stung my eyes and slid down my back. I slid one foot back, intending to bear down and push against the force of the spell.

  And, of course, I lost my footing.

  With all the grace of Wile E. Coyote, I fell forward, feet scrambling against the damp tile in true cartoon fashion. My chin slammed into the floor, along with my chest and the rest of my front. But especially my chest, which was surprising considering how unendowed I was for a thirty-something woman.

  A hard smack to the boobs for me is a lot like getting kicked in the balls if I were a guy. At least, I think so. I couldn’t tell you for sure, as I’ve never had balls to kick. It feels like a getting hit with…well, a floor. The whole floor. If it were made of angry hornets.

  Stars danced in my vision as the shadow of my attacker closed, gripping his weapon in his hand. I tried to push myself up on my elbows but didn’t get that far before he placed a foot on my back.

  “Aye, lass, ya call that a shield?” He leaned into the leg he held on my back. “I seen pixies put up a better defense.”

  I pushed up against his foot with a grunt. The move surprised him enough that he lost his balance for a moment, throwing all his weight on the foot he still had on the floor. I reached out and grabbed him by the ankle, yanking it out from under him. He fell to the floor with a loud oomf. The carved wooden staff that served as his focus clattered next to him and then rolled away.

  With a frustrated growl, I sprang up, jumped on top of him, and threw a punch at his throat. If I’d wanted to, I could have focused the strike with enough force to collapse his windpipe and kill him. Lucky for Creven, we were only sparring. I pulled the punch at the last second, leaving my fist to rest against his throat, my chest heaving and damp from effort.

  Creven’s indigo eyes flickered and a sly grin spread across his face, the tips of his pointed ears turning a purplish shade of crimson. “Why, Judah, if ya wanted me on me back, all ya had to do was ask.”

  I rolled my eyes and stood. “Pervert.”

  “Cheater,” he answered.

  “It’s not my fault you made the mistake of closing the distance before the finishing blow.”

  I backed away, and Creven did an acrobatic flip to stand. Damn him. Even in defeat, he was better than me. “Marcus hired me to teach you magick, lass, not karate.”

  Every Thursday night for the last nine months, I’d shown up at the gym Shauna co-owned just after closing to spar with Creven. Creven was an elf, and easily one of the most powerful practitioners I’d ever met. About a year ago, he’d helped me take down an ice giant. While we didn’t make short work of him and a lot of people got hurt along the way, he’d been essential to making it work. His specialty was defensive magick, which he was slowly teaching me.

  I wasn’t particularly good at defensive magick. The fact that I managed it at all was impressive. Mostly, my abilities focused around manipulating auras. Still, if I was going to fight a Faerie King named in the old Irish legends, I’d need every edge I could get when my year and a day was up.

  Of course, he hadn’t actually said he’d fight me. He just promised to make my life hell. Given that Seamus was a fae necromancer, he might just decide to summon spirits to haunt every cup of coffee I drank, the monster.

  “I don’t technically know any karate,” I told Creven. “They teach aikido and krav maga at the academy.”

  “Love it when you speak Greek at me.” Creven winked and pulled a towel down from where it hung on the retractable bleachers. He toweled sweat off his pale face.

  The gym was a world-class affair, complete with two floors, an Olympic style swimming pool, two boxing rings, a whole lot of exercise machinery, and the basketball court we stood in. I was a little surprised the first time Shauna showed us into the gym and flipped on the lights, telling us not to wreck the place. That’s why Creven and I had spent the first two sessions warding the place against the ill effects of things like fireballs.

  I walked back to where I’d dropped my gym bag under one of the basketball hoops and chugged a bottle of water. The gym was air-conditioned, but only during business hours, which meant it was a sauna when we were in there working. Creven barely seemed to notice most days, while I looked like my back and armpits had stood in a rainstorm.

  “Come on, then,” Creven urged. “You up for another round? My turn to land on top.”

  “Watch it, elf,” snarled a deep voice from the doorway.

  I hadn’t heard the doors open, but then I didn’t always hear Sal when he came in. He could be shockingly silent when he wanted, one of the gifts of being an alpha werewolf, I suppose.

  Sal was tall and well-muscled, his skin just on the brown side of bronze from all the time he was spending outdoors recently. Half Shoshone, he had a love affair with the sun that I was intensely jealous of since I couldn’t soak up any color but red. And I could afford to be a little jealous of anyone he was spending more time with than me, even if it was a celestial body. The only body he was supposed to be paying any attention to was mine. Not that I’m a jealous woman. I just don’t like to share.

  My fiercest competition for Sal’s affections let go of his hand and toddled forward full speed with a toothy grin, her curly pigtails waving behind her. “Ju!” Mia screeched her version of my name. Halfway across the gym, her right leg turned inward and she fell, throwing her chubby hands forward to catch herself.

  She never touched the ground. Creven stretched out his hand and sent a small wave of energy at her. Mia landed on a cushion of air several inches off the ground. Without his focus, it was more difficult than normal to achieve, but Creven managed it with nothing more than a small grunt of effort. “Now, now. What’s this? A new challenger?”

  Mia blinked. When she realized she wasn’t going to fall, she decided Creven should turn her into an airplane and fly her around, putting her arms forward and stiffening her legs into a Superman pose. All the while, his fingers wove through the air as fluid as if he were directing a choir.

  Creven put her down. “I’ll do ya one better if ya fetch me staff.”

  Mia screeched, wiggled
free, and went after it. As soon as it was in his hands, Creven spun it once and touched the knobby end to Mia’s nose. She giggled wildly as she floated a few inches off the floor, safe inside a protective bubble.

  I watched Sal’s face carefully as he strode across the gym toward me. The first time Creven had done that, I’d thought Sal was going to have a heart attack. Today, he didn’t look the least bit concerned. He stopped next to me, leaned down, and planted a gentle kiss on my lips, then turned to snort at Creven. “You sure you don’t want me to send Shauna to keep an eye on him?”

  “Relax,” I said, touching his arm. “You know Creven. He doesn’t mean anything by it. Flirting is as natural to him as breathing.”

  “Well, I’d appreciate it if he’d tone it down some before someone gets the wrong idea.” Sal said it loud enough that Creven was sure to hear, but the elf didn’t turn away from the ball of ice he was forming between his fingers.

  “Nobody here but us.” I stood on my tiptoes, which put me just tall enough to kiss him because of how he was slouching. “Besides, I know who I’m going home with.”

  “I still don’t like the idea of you training with him. He’s sworn to Kim Kelley. Isn’t there someone else you could train with? Someone from BSI?”

  I grunted at that and turned back to my gym bag, shoving my water bottle back inside. BSI, the Bureau of Supernatural Investigations and my employer, was one arm of the United States Government. Sal and I constantly lived in the agency’s shadow on the Paint Rock Supernatural Reservation in Concho County, Texas. I wasn’t supposed to be fraternizing with my constituents because that created a conflict of interest, but I also should have registered my fourteen-year-old son, Hunter, with them. He was a werewolf and a member of Sal’s pack, but he was my son. If BSI knew, they would separate us. It was thanks to Marcus Kelley, local vampire philanthropist, that Hunter had stayed off the radar. He had a lot of friends in high places.