by Kimber White
He looked on the ground behind him and picked up his cell.
“Call Payne,” I said. “Get a crew out here immediately. I’m heading off on foot to see if I can pick up her scent off property. She can’t have gone far.”
“You don’t know that,” Rick said. “Erik, this is dark shit. I mean, if that magic threw even you off?”
My claws came out. Rick knew well enough not to press the issue. He gave me a grim nod and raised his phone to his ear. I gestured to Sonny and Dirk.
“You’re with me,” I said. “Dirk, you go west, Sonny, go east. Straight for the mountains. You hear or see anything, signal. I’ll hear you. Rick, tell Payne where we are.”
I didn’t wait for any of them to question me. I shifted into my wolf and tore off for the mountain range heading north.
They’d taken her. I was sure of it. Dammit. Right under my nose.
As I let my power loose, I tried not to think about what could have happened. Black magic. The darkest we’d ever seen. Rick was right about that. Dark enough that they could shield my fated mate from me. There were other ways to do that without magic. I couldn’t let my mind go there. It would drive me mad.
She had to be all right. Nova was smart. A survivor. I said a prayer to her over and over.
Stay alive. I’m coming for you. Just...stay alive.
The sun began to set by the time I reached the foothills of the mountains. The woods broke way to rocky terrain. I sniffed the ground.
There was...something. Not Nova. The scent was different. It had that thick, oily smell like regular witches’ magic does. Almost like incense. But, there was something animal beneath it. It made my skin burn and my eyes water.
I pawed at the ground and sniffed again. I was on the right track. I knew it in my bones. She’d stopped here. It wasn’t Nova, but I could smell the same rotted flower scent as I had back by the stream.
Then, I picked up something else. Something that made my blood run cold.
Alpha wolf.
I knew it as sure as I was still breathing. Nova had been taken by an Alpha wolf. Him. The one I’d seen in the cabin back in Little Fork. His red eyes haunted my thoughts and wavered in my mind. Now, I knew for certain he was a Vadim.
No. God. No.
Mad with fear for her, I charged toward the base of the mountain. He would have dragged her up there. It was the only way out where it would be hard to track, never mind the magic.
There. It was just a whisper, but I scented Nova through the magic. She was afraid. I looked down. There was a dark spot on the rocks. Blood. Nova’s blood.
Then, what felt like a wall of ice hit me dead center in the chest. I fell back, rolling end over end until I hit the base of a boulder and lost my breath.
My lungs burned. I couldn’t see. More magic. A trap. I wheezed and gasped trying to throw it off.
Then, strong hands gripped my shoulder and pulled me back away from the brink.
Chapter Twenty-One
Erik
“She’s out there,” I said, pacing. “I can feel her. That was her blood on the rocks. She tried to leave me a trail. I know what direction they’re heading.”
“You don’t know what you feel,” Payne growled. “Dammit, Erik. I am not going to let you go off half-cocked into God knows what. If we hadn’t found you when we did, you’d be dead right now. You were coiled in black magic. I almost lost two men trying to pull you out of it.”
I didn’t care. I didn’t care if I died or if they did. I only cared about getting to Nova.
Edward sat in the corner, glowering at me. He’d been the one to track me to the base of the mountain. I didn’t want to admit it, but Payne had been right. If they hadn’t dragged me away from there, I would have choked to death on whatever spell Nova’s abductor left behind.
“How can you of all people expect me to just sit here?” I said. “She’s mine, Payne. My mate. And she’s in trouble. You know full well what the Ring wants to do with her.”
“That’s just it,” Edward said. “We’re not sure it’s the Ring who has her.”
“What are you talking about? Who the hell else has access to that kind of magic?”
“We don’t know what kind of magic that was,” Payne said. “It’s not...I’ve sent Nadia out there to try and trace it along with a few other witches I trust.”
Nadia was my cousin Milo’s mate. She was a wind mage. I swallowed my retort. How the hell could we trust any witches at this point?
No sooner had I thought about it, when Milo and Nadia came through the door of the little cottage. The place was too damn small for all of us. I wanted to be on the move. For now, I sat tight. Payne and Edward had threatened to tie me up in Dragonsteel. Had it just been one of the other of them alone, I would have flattened them. But, I couldn’t fight through Payne, Erik, Dirk, Rick, Sonny, and the seven other wolf shifters Payne had brought with him for backup.
“What did you find?” I said to Nadia.
She looked at Milo, her expression grim.
“It’s okay,” my cousin said. “Tell him.”
Nadia found a tight smile. She sat on the couch next to Payne.
“It’s not,” she started. “Erik, I don’t know how to explain what I sensed.”
“Try,” I said, my tone harsh. It drew a sharp glare from Milo, but I was beyond caring. Nova’s life was at stake.
“That wasn’t a spell,” she said.
“Of course it was,” I said. “Whoever took Nova set up a defense spell to keep us from trying to climb those mountains after her.”
“I know it seems like that,” Nadia continued. “And it would make sense. I’m not saying it wasn’t defensive magic to keep you out. What I’m saying is that it wasn’t left by a witch.”
“Then what the hell was it?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Nadia...Milo, I’m not trying to piss you off. But how can a thing be magic but not left by a witch?”
Nadia let out a sigh. “It’s hard to explain. It’s just...the magic we use comes from the Source. It’s elemental. Wind, fire, earth, water. Any type of spell we could conjure would be rooted in one of those elements. It leaves a trail. Kind of like how you’re able to track and identify other shifters by scent. Right? I went over and over that ground. And we doubled back to the spring where you said you saw an image of Nova. I can tell you it was the same type of magic used at both locations. I just hesitate to even call it magic. It wasn’t. It was mystical. That’s for sure. But it wasn’t true magic. And I don’t know what type of being put it there. It certainly wasn’t a wolf shifter.”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “I know that scent. Milo, I’m telling you. The Alpha we encountered in Little Fork, we know he’s affiliated with the Vadims. There’s no mistake. And I know he’s the one who’s with Nova now.”
“I agree,” Edward said.
“Same,” Sonny chimed in. “A wolf has her. There’s no doubt.”
Nadia nodded. “Okay. I mean, I’m not arguing who took her. I’m just telling you it’s not clear how he took her. Whatever power that was, he might have borrowed it. Or maybe he carries a talisman of some sort imbued with that power. This is just not witch magic. And I don’t know how to fight it.”
“Leave the fighting to me,” I said.
“If you can’t trace the source,” Edward said. “Can you at least follow its trail?”
Milo bristled. “I’m not sending Nadia up against something we don’t even know how to fight. Erik, it took you out.”
“She’s my mate!” My voice thundered. “You going to stand there and tell me you expect me to just let her go?”
Milo sighed. “No. Dammit. No. I’m just telling you I’m not going to sacrifice my mate to something that powerful.”
“Yes,” Nadia said. “I can track it. I mean...I already have. And I didn’t say I didn’t have a theory on how to get around it.”
Milo let out a growl that shook the w
indows. “No,” he said. “No way in hell. Nadia…”
“Milo,” she said, rising. “Listen to me. This is what we do, isn’t it? And Wolfguard is charged with protecting Nova Grey specifically. Plus, she’s family. Isn’t she?”
My heart twisted. I’d only known Nadia for a short time. I’d even been skeptical about how a wolf shifter could even consider mating with a witch. But, since Nova had crashed into my life, I understood. We had no choice in the matter.
“I won’t put you at unnecessary risk,” Milo said.
“This power,” she said. “If you’re one hundred percent sure it was a wolf pack that took Nova…”
“I am,” I said.
“Backed by the Ring for all we know,” Edward said. I growled at him. He growled back.
“Be that as it may,” Nadia said. “I’m telling you, this power is borrowed. My best guess is he’s carrying a talisman of some sort. The thing about borrowed power is that it’s unpredictable. There’s no...I don’t know how to explain. It’s not sentient like a witch who casts a spell or the magic you have that allows you to shift. It belongs to you so it’s...uh...loyal to you. For the most part, you control it.”
“You’re saying if we separate this damn wolf from the source of this mystical magic that’s not magic, we can use it against him?”
“Yes,” she said. “And there’s something else. I said I didn’t know the source of the power. I didn’t say I couldn’t figure out where it was. Because...I have.”
Nadia smiled. Milo’s fell. She slipped her phone out of her pocket and pulled up a map. I wanted to kiss her. Milo looked like he wanted to kill me.
“Good,” I said. “Then I have a plan.”
Payne rolled his eyes. “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to hate this?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nova
For the first time in three days, Mikhail let me sit in the room alone. Mikhail Vadim. Erik had been right about who he was and why he’d come for me. He was the same Alpha who’d found me in Little Fork. He’d kept me on a literal short leash since we came through the mountains, emerging on a stretch of lonely highway. We waited until a beat-up, old, red pick-up truck finally arrived to take us to God knows where.
It was a shabby, three-bedroom house in the middle of nowhere. I could still see the mountains framing the horizon. My best guess, we’d only gone some twenty miles from the Wolfguard safehouse near Salt Lake City.
Mikhail hadn’t touched me except to tug on the leash he kept around my neck. I was grateful for that. I’d tried to fight, but the mark he’d forced on me burned hot. It was more than that though. There was something about the chain he wore around his neck with the cracked silver medallion. It stung when it had brushed my skin as he forced me into the bed of the truck.
There was magic in it. His own skin was scarred and puckered beneath the strange metal, though I’d never seen him take it off.
The pack communicated mostly telepathically. When they did speak out loud, more often than not, it was in Russian. But, I’d picked up a few random threads of their conversation in English. Enough to clue me in on the turmoil among them.
Taking me had been Mikhail’s idea alone. Subservient to him, the others had no choice but to abide by it, but I knew some of them were angry about it. There were eight of them including Mikhail. From what I could gather, five of them, the biggest, didn’t question Mikhail at all. But, there were two, the black wolf and the silver-striped one, who seemed angry about me waylaying their plans.
After breakfast on the fourth day of my captivity, something came to a head. The black wolf got too close to Mikhail and his Alpha bit him back.
The black one looked hard at me then left the room with his tail between his legs. Whatever was said, Mikhail must have realized he had a problem on his hands.
That’s when the pack left me alone in the back bedroom.
Every instinct in me shouted at me to run. Smash the window. Only I knew I wouldn't make it far. Mikhail’s mark would act like a tractor beam. Even if I could somehow throw off his telepathy, he would see every step I took.
I heard angry voices and even the sounds of a skirmish. Flesh tearing and a yelp. An hour or so went by. Finally, the black wolf came into my room alone bearing a tray of food. Chicken and vegetables. He set it on the table beside the bed.
“You’re right, you know,” I said. The black wolf froze. He was skinny. A beta. In his wolf, he had a scar over his right flank. He stood in dingy jeans and a ripped tee-shirt. His black hair hung long, covering his left eye.
“Mikhail isn’t strong enough to protect the rest of you when the Ring figures out what he’s done,” I said. It was a gamble, but the black one’s eyes flashed and I knew I’d hit on it.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Don’t you know?” he said, his accent flawless. “Your Mikhail’s just like the rest of us.”
“We’re not...he hasn’t…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say it. Mikhail had marked me, but so far he hadn’t tried to force me to mate with him. As long as that stayed true, his connection to me wasn’t absolute.
“Adam,” he said. “My name is Adam.”
I got the sense it wasn’t the name he was born with but one he’d maybe chosen.
“Did he ever tell you what the bounty was for me?” I asked.
Adam paused. He looked over his shoulder. I was certain Mikhail had instructed him not to talk to me. I was equally certain I’d piqued Adam’s curiosity.
“They took my sister, you know,” I said. “Sena. The bounty for her was five million dollars. She’s dead though. Which means I’m the only female jaguar shifter in the world. The only one. And she went for five million dollars. What do you think that does to my bid price?”
Adam’s eyes flashed. “He told us…”
“Right,” I finished for him. “What? A million? Half that? And he told you he would split it with you all equally because that’s just the kind of guy he is.”
“You’re probably lying,” Adam said.
I rolled my eyes. “And you wouldn’t even risk defying him by talking to me if you weren’t asking the very same questions. Can he hear your thoughts right now?”
Adam snarled. “No.”
“Good. And you know it’s not about the money. Or it’s not just about the money. Mikhail thinks he can outsmart the Ring. I thought that too. Now, here I am. And you lot are my best chance of avoiding them.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “That means we’re all screwed,” I said.
Adam snarled.
“You’re not like him,” I said. “You’ve lived here all your life, haven’t you?”
Adam nodded. “I was born here.”
“Right,” I said. “Don’t you get it? Never mind Mikhail’s wrongheaded plan to thwart the Ring. The war between your pack and the Kalenkovs is over. You lost. And now he’s willing to subject all of you to whatever punishment the Ring has waiting for you, for what?”
“The Vadims belong in power,” Adam said.
“Right. Well, they’re not. They’ve been decimated in your motherland, Adam. There’s just a handful of you left. Not enough to make a real difference. So now you’re just getting dragged around so Mikhail can thumb his nose at Erik Kalenkov. Have you ever even set foot in Russia? I bet you haven’t. You’ve lived here our whole life. What are you fighting for? Is it worth it? Am I worth it?”
“For five million dollars you are,” Adam said.
I leaned forward. “Right,” I said. “Except you won’t see a dime of it if Mikhail gets his way.”
“You want me to believe you want to get handed over to the Ring? Lady, the way I see it, we did you a favor,” he said.
“That sounds like Mikhail talking. No. I don’t want to submit to the Ring. It’s just, I finally understand how futile it is to try and fight them. It’s not the life I wanted for myself, but it’s a damn sight better than being on the run and terrified all the time. Now that my sister�
��s gone...since I’m the only one. I figure they’ll treat me well. Better than being chained to a wall in some crappy shack like this, constantly having to watch my back because my Alpha can’t let go of the past.”
Adam curled his fists. His wolf came to the surface.
“So let’s help each other,” I said. I had him. I knew it. Now I just had to figure out a way to use it to my advantage that didn’t get us both killed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nova
The tension among the pack only increased over the next several days. I didn’t know enough about pack mentality or Tyrannous Alphas, but it began to dawn on me that Mikhail may not have been one.
I’d seen his eyes go red. I’d seen the rest of the pack’s do that too back in Little Fork. But, they didn’t behave as though their Alpha controlled their every move. They behaved as though they clung together out of sheer fear.
“When are we turning her over?” Adam got bold one evening after the pack finished a hunt. Mikhail had stayed behind to watch over me. The pack felled two deer and now we feasted on roast venison.
Mikhail let out a growl but didn’t otherwise answer. He handed me a plate of food. “I can hunt too,” I said. “If you’re going to force me to stay here, I may as well be of service to the pack.”
There were snarls of assent among the men. “You think I trust you out there with your fangs out?” he said.
I leaned forward. “What’s the matter, aren’t you powerful enough to get me to heel?”
I let my fangs out. Mikhail’s eyes glowed red. He towered over me. The mark at the base of my neck exploded in pain. At the same time, the medallion around his neck began to glow.
It seemed to surprise him. He quickly tucked it under his shirt and sat back down.
“She’s got a point,” Adam said. “The rest of us earn our keep, why should she be any different?” He got some grunts of assent.