by Alisa Woods
Jaxson edged toward her until he was less than a foot away, but he was still acting as if she were a live electrical wire. “Why are you doing this, Sybil?” he asked quietly, expression still confused.
She gave him an impatient look. “There are things I want more than you, little wolf. Your curse has become inconvenient.”
He nodded, still frowning, but closed the distance between them. His fangs grew until they were long and sharp and poised over her shoulder. He hesitated again. “Once I do this, you’ll tell me where you’re keeping Olivia.”
“Yes.” It was getting difficult to hide her heaving breaths. Fear was racing through her. This was it. This was her chance. Her first, last, and only chance. But only if Jaxson took the bait.
He grabbed her hair, roughly, bending her head even farther to the side… and sunk his fangs into her. The twin points pierced her skin and sent electric shocks racing through her body. She gasped and grabbed tightly onto him—the glamour had already vaporized, and it was only a matter of seconds before he would realize who she was. She had to make sure the bite took… but she only held him for a moment before her hold started to slip. Inky blackness flooded from her shoulder, weighing her down with impossible heaviness, rushing her head and making it hard to hold up. The darkness rushed her eyes and stole her sight. She felt her body go slack and heard the thump of it hitting the ground more than felt it… because everything was numb, so numb, and she was spiraling down and down and…
I’m a witch.
The thought fought against the thick sludge of the curse seeping through every cell of her body. I’m a witch and I have power and I can fight this.
That thought dredged up something, some blue light from deep inside her. It did battle against the sludge the way a sunbeam fights through the fog. She urged it on, pushed it, tried for more, and for a brief shining moment, some of the darkness cleared.
She fought to open her eyes, still sealed shut with the heaviness of her body. Through heavy lids, she could see Jaxson hovering above her, shouting soundless words, horror on his face.
“Jaxson.” Her lips moved, but no air was passing through them, so no sound left them. Jaxson, I love you. She wished that thought could reach him somehow. But the darkness had crawled back up from the depths, shimmying the edges of her soul to grab her and drag her back down with it.
Back into the dark.
She wasn’t strong enough after all.
“Olivia!” Jaxson couldn’t believe his eyes.
One moment he was sinking his fangs into Sybil, the next he had Olivia collapsing in his arms and falling to the floor. She was convulsing and twitching in the most horrifying way, and just as he realized, holy fuck, I bit Olivia, the other witch came along and literally shoved him away. He was so stunned, it took him a moment to react.
Then he was back with a fury. “What have you done to her!”
The witch shot a hand at him that he barely dodged. Blue energy swirled in her palm. “Do not interfere, wolf!”
“What the fuck is going on?” Jaxson gaped at Olivia. She moaned and struggled to open her eyes… and failed. “What is happening to her?” Tears pressed against the back of his eyes.
“She’s dying from your bite, you fool!” She spit out the words, but all her focus was on the blue energy dripping from her hand and melting all around Olivia’s head. But it didn’t touch her, just pooled on the floor around her body.
Jaxson’s heart and mind were spinning, but the pieces quickly fell into place: Olivia had tricked him. She was half witch. For some reason, she had used a spell to pretend she was Sybil to get him to bite her. And now she was dying from the poison in his bite.
But why? “Why would she do this?” he whispered out loud, as much to himself as to the witch.
But she still answered, muttering as her hands floated over Olivia. “Because she was stupid enough to fall in love with a wolf. A cursed wolf. Only my sister’s daughter could be this stubborn and foolish at the same time.” Then the witch cursed in some ancient language—or maybe it was a spell. The energy pulsing from her hand turned green and continued to swirl around Olivia.
“Can you save her?” He didn’t really understand what was happening, but the only thing that mattered was keeping Olivia from dying.
“I’m trying, wolf, now shut up.” The witch muttered some more words in that strange language, then said, “Dammit!” She clapped her hands together, dissipating the green magic, then rocked back on her heels. Olivia’s body was still twitching, but less so. Not because she was getting better... because her face was slowly turning gray. The witch’s shoulders sagged.
Jaxson looked between Olivia and the witch. “You have to keep trying!”
“There’s nothing more I can do.” There were tears in her eyes—she meant it.
No, no, please, no. He reached shaky hands to Olivia’s cheeks, but she wasn’t moving anymore, and her beautiful skin was clammy to the touch. All this time, he’d done everything he could to keep the curse from finding its target. To keep some innocent woman from paying the price for his foolishness. And now, just as he’d found the one girl who stole his heart with her very first words, even as he tried to shield her from all the dangers in his life, the curse had still found her.
“Nooo!” he roared. All the fury and pain of his inner wolf came to the surface, and he nearly let his beast loose. The pain of this was too much. But he couldn’t give up. Refused to give up. He turned to the witch. “There has to be something you can do!”
“Do you think I would hold back?” she hissed at him. “She’s my niece! If I could save her, I would. This is your fault wolf! And hers for wanting to free you from your curse!”
That struck him like a cattle prod to the chest. Olivia had been trying to save him… again.
“What can I do?” he begged the witch in a whisper filled with pain. “I’ll do anything. Just tell me what to do. I can’t let her… she can’t do this!”
The witch narrowed her eyes. “Anything?”
“Yes!” Olivia’s utter stillness drew his attention. For all he could tell, she was already dead. He thrust both wrists toward the witch. “Take my life! Give it to her. You’re a witch. You can do any goddamn thing.” He was fighting to keep back the tears because he knew that wasn’t really true. They had limits. Witches were insanely strong in magic, but they couldn’t conquer death. They couldn’t bring someone back if it was too late.
The witch was nodding and looking quickly between him and Olivia. “It might be possible,” she whispered. Then she grabbed hold of one of his wrists and took Olivia’s in the other. The witch fixed him with an intense look. “I can transfer some of your magic to her. The healing properties may be enough to save her.”
“Do it!” His eyes were wide. Was this really possible?
She mumbled a few words, briefly closed her eyes, and kept her grip on his wrist rock-hard. At first, he didn’t feel anything. Then it hit him like a white-hot poker had stabbed him in the back. He arched, holding in the scream that wanted to work loose, but he couldn’t help the groan that escaped. The pain went on and on, like a cleaving of his soul in two, half remaining howling inside his body, the other gushing in a stream through his wrist and the witch’s touch. After the shock of it passed, he welcomed the screaming pain, the gut-wrenching torment. It was only right that he be the one to pay for this. He would give all he had—all in, all the time—to save her. He prayed through the agony: please God, let this work.
Suddenly the pain was gone, disappearing like a switch cutting off. Jaxson slumped on the floor, dizzy, but… he was still alive. He whipped his head back to Olivia. Her aunt was bent over her, and she was moving again, shaking her head, eyes still squeezed shut.
But she was alive.
Jaxson’s whole body sagged with relief.
Olivia’s aunt twisted to give Jaxson a hard look. “Do you love her?” It was a tight whisper, and Olivia was still fighting to wake up.
Jaxson st
raightened quickly. “Yes,” he said without hesitation.
“Good. The magic will take better that way.”
He frowned because he didn’t understand any of the details on this. And Olivia still wasn’t awake. “Is she all right?”
The witch released Olivia’s cheeks, conjured another ball of blue magic, and dripped it over her. “Yes, but she still has to fight her way back from the brink. I can help her with that. Boost her own magic, mixed with yours, to kill off the last of the poison magic.” The witch peered at him as her hands floated over Olivia. “She was near death, Jaxson. Your magic saved her.”
He let out a breath. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said, her face serious. “But you need to know something before she wakes—she’ll forever have a connection to you now.”
“Because she carries my magic.” He looked at Olivia’s face with wonder. The gray of death was rapidly fading, replace by her normal rosy skin color.
“Yes. It’s not quite a mating bond, but…” She looked expectantly at him.
“But she’s a witch. They don’t bond… do they?” The wolf inside him had perked all the way up. This was… this was impossible and amazing and… perfect. If it were real.
“Not normally,” the witch said. “But Olivia was half witch, half human.”
Jaxson nodded. “Her human side can bond.”
“If you choose it.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re still free to choose another mate. A shifter mate. And I hear your kind can mate more with more than one female.”
Jaxson snarled his disgust. “My kind mates for life. With one woman.”
Olivia was rousing, squinting her eyes, and sucking in a breath.
The witch nodded and whispered quickly, “No matter what, she’s forever connected to you. But if you don’t want her for a mate, tell me now, wolf. And leave us. I will tell her you’re free of the curse, off to seek your true mate, and then I’ll bring her back to my coven. Her sisters will give her a new home. We’ll care for her, give her everything she needs. We’ll teach her to be the witch she was always meant to be.”
Jaxson stared at her, mouth hanging open during her furtive offer. “I’m not going anywhere. If she’ll have me, I’m hers. Already. And now…” He gazed at her beautiful face as she opened her eyes. “Now she’s given me something I had never dared to dream was possible.”
The witch seemed to scan the air around his head—reading his aura, like Sybil used to. All she would find there was that he was telling the truth.
She smiled a little. “I was hoping that might be your answer.” The witch turned to help Olivia up to sitting, but Jaxson was instantly on the other side, lifting her up and pulling her into his lap.
“Jaxson.” Olivia’s voice was shaky and breathy. She peered up into his eyes. “Did it work?”
He brushed her disheveled hair back from her face. “Getting rid of the curse? Yes. Your attempt to die for me? No.” He couldn’t hold back his smile anymore, and it stretched his face with all the joy bursting out of him.
A shudder ran through her, the leftovers of the trauma. “Oh, thank God.” Her shaky hand found his shirt and bunched it in her fist. Then she leaned her head against his chest, still breathing hard. He closed his arms around her, holding her tight and safe. The feel of her in his arms was like nothing he’d ever felt in his life. Happiness. Gratitude. An unfathomable connection, even without the skin-to-skin contact that had been so magical before.
That probably was magic, now that he thought about it.
The woman who was Olivia’s aunt rose up from the floor. She gave Jaxson a tiny smile and an even more subtle tip of the head before she slipped out the door.
He would find a way to thank her… later.
For now, he was absorbed by the woman in his arms.
His true mate.
She was alive.
Olivia could hardly believe it. It worked! As the final shakes of the battle against the poison left her body, she reveled in this closeness with Jaxson. It might be the last time she could have his arms so securely around her. He was grateful to her for releasing him from the curse, and she would take any hugs he might want to give for that. Happiness flooded her body like a drug, making her heart soar. She had done good… and she had used magic to do it. It was freeing, lifting the burden she’d carried all these years—and it was enough to permanently anchor that happiness in her heart. It would even be enough to float her through the coming time when Jaxson would move on. Now that he was free, it would take no time for him to find the perfect mate. And she would be happy for him. Heartbroken, but strangely… truly happy.
Because he would finally have all he would need to keep that smile forever on his face.
She untucked her head from his chest and peered up into his face. He looked so happy! It made her smile. She gently touched his cheek. There were healing scars and bruises on it, the badges of honor and courage he carried from saving his brother, no doubt. Because that was the kind of man Jaxson River was.
“I can hardly believe it worked,” she breathed. “Good thing Gwen was able to bring me back, though. I don’t think I would have made it without her.”
“Gwen didn’t bring you back.” He smirked, the joy still on his face. “I did.”
She frowned her confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Your aunt transferred some of my magic—the magic in my blood—to you.” His eyes shone as he said this.
Olivia straightened up and leaned away to get a better look at him. “You what? How is that… is that even possible?”
He shrugged. “She used some spell—I don’t know what it was—but believe me, I felt every second of it.” He bit his lip and raked his eyes over her body. “And now, there’s part of me that will forever be inside you.”
She frowned and worked her way out of his lap, scooting a couple feet away. She wanted to stand, get some distance from him, figure this thing out… but her legs were too shaky to trust. “What does that even mean?” Dread trickled through her heart. Had he foiled her attempt to free him with a last-ditch attempt to save her?
The joy fell off his face, but his eyes stayed glued to hers. “It means you’re forever bound, magically, to me. A part of me is inside of you.”
The dread found its way to her face. “Like a mating?”
Pain winced across his face. “It doesn’t have to be. It could be like the connection I have with my brothers. Or my pack. But we are connected… I guess you could be like a sister to me, if that’s what you want. But Olivia…” The pain doubled on his face. “I want so much more than sisterly love from you.”
Oh no. “No, no, no.” She backed away from him, shaking her finger at him. “You need to find a real mate. One who’s a shifter! One who can give you pups and bind your pack together and let you lead Riverwise!” Tears were working her way to her face, despite her effort to keep them buried. “That was the whole point, Jaxson! To free you to find your true mate!”
He blinked and dropped his gaze to the floor, not meeting her accusing look. “This is about the boyfriend, isn’t it?”
“No!” she cried. “This is about you… and giving you what you need to be happy!”
His head whipped up. “You are what makes me happy.” He crossed the floor between them, crawling on his hands and knees to reach her but stopping just short of touching her. His face was inches from hers. “You, Olivia Lilyfield, are everything I’ve always wanted in a mate. Everything I thought I would never have.”
“But you have to save your pack—”
“My pack will survive. Riverwise will go on. It’s you that I can’t live without.” Tears were glassing his eyes, and it nearly broke Olivia’s heart on the spot. “Tell me you love this boyfriend of yours. That you love him more than me. Because I know there’s some part of you that loves me. But if you tell me it’s not enough… if you tell me to leave… I’ll go.”
She was shaking again, but with a torment she could barely d
escribe. Something inside her—something strong and magical and born of love—was crying out for her to take him in her arms. It took everything she had to hold herself back, but… the words slipped out without her permission.
“There is no boyfriend.” She sucked in a breath.
His eyes flashed, and suddenly she was flat on her back on the floor with Jaxson looming over her. He had that hungry look again, like he wanted to take her, consume her, claim her. It fired a visceral response through every part of her body, igniting her everywhere at once.
His chest was heaving. “Say you love me.”
“I love you.” She was equally breathless.
He lowered himself down to her, still not touching, but panting even harder. “Say you want me.”
“I want you.” She couldn’t help herself. It was true, and with him looking at her like that—
“Olivia Lilyfield, I want you for my mate. To hold and love and protect. Forever. Please, God, say yes.”
She swallowed. She could barely breathe. But she couldn’t say no to him, not like this. Not ever again. “Yes,” she breathed.
His lips and body crashed down on hers, claiming her with his urgent need to kiss her, touch her, have her for his own. Her heart soared again, and the magic inside her rejoiced at his nearness and his touch. That spark she had always felt racing across her skin whenever he touched her now thrilled through her entire body. Every molecule of her belonged to him. With him.
He pulled back, breathless from their kiss, to gaze into her eyes. “Olivia, I want you so badly,” he whispered.
Her hands found his face, touched his cheeks, dug into his hair. “How does this even work?” she breathed. “I don’t understand what we’re doing.”
He flashed a smile. “That’s because we’re doing something entirely new.” He was still breathing hard. “But you’re truly my mate, in every real sense of the word. Our pups will be… different… but strong. I can feel it. Can you?”