Winds of Change

by Nova Nelson

  His silence opened the door for Jackie to speak up.

  She stepped forward. “Is it the money? You’re trying to trick us into paying you? Guess what, you freak, we didn’t bring a single copper with us. You’re not getting a thing.”

  “I didn’t expect you to bring money,” I said.

  Jackie paused, and when she did, Annabel stepped forward to fill the silence. “Obviously, you already know she’s not dead. Stop wasting our time, necro, and tell us why we’re here.”

  “Why do you think she’s not dead?” I asked.

  “Because she left town. We watched her leave, bought her ticket so—”

  Quick as lightning, Hunter’s wand was out and with a flick of it, Annabel’s mouth closed. Strange muffled noises came from her, but her lips didn’t part.

  “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” I said, “but she’s definitely dead.”

  “Is she here with us now?” Hunter asked, moving all the way to the edge of the candle circle. The relaxed boredom he’d worn at Necro Coffee was gone, replaced by a pointed and dangerous acuity reflecting from the flickering light in his eyes.

  “Yes,” I said. “And from what she’s telling me, you’re the reason she’s dead.”

  He snarled at me and Jackie lurched forward, grabbing the sleeve of Hunter’s jacket, shouting, “What did you do? We talked about this! Killing her wasn’t part of the plan. Did you—”

  Another snap of the wrist and her mouth closed, too. She stumbled backward, trying to pry open her lips with her fingertips.

  “I don’t know what you’re playing at, necromancer, but I’m tired of the game.”

  “Was it for the Werewolf Protection Act?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Of course it was for the werewolf act! And who cares? If we hadn’t run her out of town, he would have killed her anyway. We were helping her by forcing her to leave. And when we staged the murder, that was a mercy, too. We were showing Eastwind what would have happened, reminding them who werewolves really are without anyone getting hurt.”

  I suddenly found myself in dangerous territory. The fact that Hunter had confessed, even if he did attempt to justify it, meant he didn’t think it would cause him a problem later on. And the most likely reason he might think that was that he didn’t foresee me being around much longer to tell the tale.

  I wasn’t ready to bail, though. Not yet.

  “Except Fritz,” I said. “He’ll spend the rest of his life in Ironhelm for this. I would say that’s getting hurt.”

  “It’s more than he deserves after what he did to Grace.”

  I laughed. “You mean get her pregnant? Oh, Hunter, your North Wind pet wanted to be pregnant. Let’s not kid ourselves. As far as I can tell, she’d been trying at it for months.”

  His nostrils flared, a spring of hatred bubbling up from depths I didn’t know he had.

  And then something new occurred to me. I chuckled. “Wow. I didn’t see this coming. You wanted her for yourself. You were jealous. Is that why you hate werewolves? I thought it was just because your family was mixed and maybe you weren’t the golden child. But now I get it. Your former student fell for one instead of being hot for teacher, and you can’t get over it. Sweet baby jackalope, that’s sad.”

  Antagonizing him went against all my survival instincts. Did I want to do as Roland suggested and get myself killed?

  Of course not. That would be totally stupid. Spending eternity in my favorite place in all the realms with a sexy Irishman who had sacrificed everything to follow me for hundreds of years? Who would want that?

  Swirls. I wanted that.

  But that wasn’t why I was jabbing an angry bear with a stick. I needed Hunter to keep talking. I needed that cool, arrogant demeanor of his to crumble completely so we could get what we needed—or more importantly, Landon’s wand could get what it needed to magically regurgitate the confession later on. And so long as he stayed focused on me, Landon, Eva, Donovan, Grim, and Zola (and, I suppose, Tanner) could get the jump on these three psychos when the time came.

  I was getting close. They were sunk already, but there was one more piece of information I wanted that could crack this thing wide open.

  “She was part of my circle,” he growled. “I should have had say in her affairs.”

  “Oh please. You’re just another jealous guy who got rejected. Grow up. You didn’t own her. Who put you up to this, anyway? Who suggested you stage the murder?”

  “No one,” he snapped. “I did it myself to show Eastwind the threat of werewolves on civilized society.”

  Was he telling the truth or covering for someone? It was possible that he would be too scared to rat out Springsong or Esperia. They were powerful witches. “Funny how that sort of thing backfires,” I said. “Because once I let the town know what really happened, the only people they’re going to be more wary of are witches.”

  He laughed humorlessly. “You wouldn’t do that. It would harm you, too. You’re a witch, after all.”

  “A Fifth Wind. Everyone’s a little scared of me anyway.” I stood slowly, preparing to give the signal. He wasn’t going to give up anyone above him in this scheme, whether that was because there was no one or because his ego wouldn’t allow him to admit he answered to others or because he was too scared to name names. It was time to wrap things up.

  The ring of candles was only a few feet in diameter, and it was a relief to be on eye level with him rather than staring up at his imposing figure.

  “I’m not scared of you,” he said. “You know why?”

  I could feel the mood shift in the air around me. Was this the empathic ability Fifth Winds were supposed to have, or was this just my animal instincts telling me something was wrong? “Why’s that?” I said, getting ready to give the signal.

  “Knowledge is power, Nora. And you’re dealing with an especially knowledgeable witch. One who happens to know that this little circle you have around you does absolutely nothing.” He kicked over two of the candles with his shoe.

  Yeah, we were done here.

  I dropped to the floor, closed my eyes, and inhaled, Quenching the lights.

  Movement echoed from all around me as my backup rushed forward in the darkness.

  Donovan’s voice echoed through the empty cavern. “Wands down!”

  I exhaled, letting the light return to the center of the room in time for Eva and Landon to launch themselves toward Annabel and Jackie.

  But those two were quick draws, it turned out, and with an explosion of sparks, light flew from their wands, sending Landon and Eva through the air. Tanner had been taking aim at Hunter, but when Eva landed on the other side of the room, he ran to her side instead.

  Apparently, the gagging spell Hunter had cast on them was only temporary, because Annabel and Jackie turned up their noses and laughed cruelly.

  But that was only because they hadn’t spotted Zola and Grim.

  Zola came flying out of the darkness, and the distance she covered in one pounce was the stuff nightmares were made of. I was sure glad she was on our side.

  Her mighty paws hit Annabel in the shoulders, taking the witch to the ground hard.

  I heard the air leave Jackie’s lungs as she became the unlucky recipient of all of Grim’s weight. Her wand went skittering across the stone floor, and Landon, who’d regained his footing quickly, snatched it up and closed in, aiming his own wand at her where she lay begging a slobbering Grim not to eat her face.

  Something hot and powerful blasted me off my feet and I went skidding across the floor, knocking the candles out in every direction. I scrambled to push myself up to defend against a second attack, but before I could grab my wand and hold it out uselessly in front of me, Donovan lunged at Hunter, who was the source of the strong spell.

  But there was no spellwork needed for what happened next. Donovan landed a punch right to the side of Hunter’s face, and the witch dropped like a sack of leprechaun gold.

  Donovan quickly jumped on top of the man, p
ushing Hunter’s face against the cold stone floor as he pinned the man’s arms behind his back. When Hunter moaned and struggled, Donovan lifted him a few inches off the ground and slammed him back down.

  Grim appeared next to me, Landon having taken over for him with Jackie. “Jackalope’s antlers,” he said, staring at Donovan. “Somebody should stop him.”

  “Yeah,” I said, looking on. “Somebody should.”

  And then somebody did.

  A blast of deep blue light illuminated the cavern and Donovan became airborne, flying back ten feet before landing hard on his butt and sliding all the way to the edge of the large cavern. I groaned sympathetically when I heard the back of his head smack the wall.

  Hunter, Jackie and Annabel were all accounted for, so who had just blasted Donovan?

  Tanner stalked forward from the direction of the stunning spell, and I put two and two together. A flick of his wrist and two red strings of light wrapped around Hunter, one binding his wrists and the other hobbling his ankles. Tanner repeated the spell on Annabel and Jackie, freeing up Zola, who slinked back into the shadows again. Eva was on her feet again, rubbing her lower back, and Landon slowly lowered his wand from where he aimed it at Jackie. Both of them observed Tanner cautiously.

  Donovan moaned in the corner, holding the back of his head where it had knocked against the wall.

  After tucking his wand away, Tanner crossed the space to stand over Donovan.

  Donovan looked up at him, but I couldn’t quite read his expression in the dimness of the remaining candles. “What’s your problem, man?” Donovan demanded.

  “No problem. We’re even now.”

  “For what?” Donovan spat. Then a moment later, “Are you kidding me? You blasted me for that?”

  Tanner shrugged.

  “For fang’s sake,” Donovan moaned. “You sure you’re not a leprechaun? Because you sure hold a grudge like one.”

  But when Tanner offered his hand, Donovan took it, letting his best friend help him off the ground.

  It occurred to me that I would never understand men. If all Tanner had to do to move past his anger and resentment for Donovan was hit him with a mind-numbing stun spell, why hadn’t he done that so much sooner? I wouldn’t have talked him out of it. In fact, I’d have volunteered myself to be a recipient of such a spell if I’d known it would wipe the slate clean.

  Having recovered from the shock of being punched in the face, Hunter began yelling.

  “Hush, you,” said Tanner, sending a spell over his shoulder that shut Hunter’s mouth like he had the other members of his circle.

  Gotta love Karma.

  Landon shuffled anxiously, bouncing slightly on his toes as he looked around at the three witches bound on the floor. “What now?” he asked nervously.

  “Now,” said Tanner. “I take them to jail.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Manchester and Bloom had rushed into the Sheriff’s Office as soon as Tanner sent for them. While he hadn’t even had his first day on the job, he’d been deputized, and with that certain spells became legal for him to practice. The handcuffs had been one. Summoning the levitating carriage to cart Hunter, Annabel, and Jackie back from the Catacombs had been another. Who knew how many he had up his sleeve? Already I could tell there were some serious advantages to having a witch on the force.

  It was strange seeing Tanner do magic so casually. Sure, I’d seen glimpses of it here and there when he made potions or when he was hungover after Lunasa and defaulted to using his wand to spare himself unnecessary jostling.

  But this? It was like there was an entire side of him I knew nothing about that he was finally showing to the world.

  Landon, Eva, Donovan, and I sat in the waiting room with Manchester, catching him up to speed while Tanner spoke in private with Bloom. Grim and Zola had opted to stay outside, which was fine. They’d done their fair share for the night.

  “Explain to me again,” said Stu, addressing Donovan, “why you needed to deck him?”

  Donovan shrugged. “Is ‘because it felt good’ not the right answer?”

  Stu moaned and leaned forward, rubbing a palm down his face. “No. Please try again.”

  Sighing, Donovan said, “Because he was going to cast another spell at Nora, and I just reacted to defend her.”

  Stu nodded this time and scribbled something down in his pad. “Great. That’ll do.” Tucking the pad and pen back into his breast pocket, he slapped his knees and pushed himself up. We stood with him. “That’ll do it for tonight. I’ll review Mr. Hawker’s voice echo, but I’m sure it’s what you said it was.” He addressed Landon with the last bit, probably because Landon was the only one Stu trusted to be a fully upstanding citizen.

  If only he knew what Landon did for work.

  Donovan nodded at Eva. “You ready to get out of here?”

  He held out a hand for her, and she nodded and laced her fingers between his. As they turned toward the door, I jabbed him in the shoulder to get his attention. He looked back at me and I mouthed, thank you.

  He winked and then led Eva out of the station.

  I turned to Landon. “Good work in there.”

  “I can’t believe we did it.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but a yawn came out first. “Yeah, me neither. But we did. Glad your plan didn’t get me killed.”

  He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing along with his head. “Me too. I’m gonna get some sleep. Thanks for your help. With everything. All of it.”

  I stepped forward and pulled him into a hug. It took a moment before he hugged me back.

  I held him there and whispered the only thing I could think of that might help him right now, as the distraction from his pain was coming to an end. “She’ll be fine. She might even come back. Just don’t give up, okay?” I planted a quick kiss on his cheek as I stepped away. “Go get some rest.”

  He nodded, looking slightly less morose, and left.

  As I watched him go, the emotions I’d been avoiding settled in again.

  Grace was gone. The mystery was solved. The people responsible, or at least the ones we knew about, were in jail. I should have been happy, or at the very least, satisfied. But I wasn’t, not at all. The wound I’d been neglecting hadn’t yet closed.

  “Nora.”

  I looked back and felt a shiver run through me when Tanner’s determined eyes met mine. There was something in them, and something about his deep tone, that told me I was in trouble.

  But exactly the kind of trouble I wanted to be in.

  “You got a minute?” he asked, but it clearly wasn’t a question.

  “Of course,” I said.

  He strolled right past me and nodded for me to follow, which I did.

  He didn’t stop until we were both outside, standing on the steps of the station. I searched around briefly for Grim, but wasn’t worried when I couldn’t find him; odds were he was already asleep on the front porch of Ruby’s house, waiting for me to let him in.

  We faced each other, and I gazed up into his beautiful face, wondering what it was that had changed about it. Something definitely had, and it wasn’t for the worse. There was a firmness in his expression that hadn’t been there before, a resoluteness.

  “I owe you an apology,” he said, his voice deep but tight. “I bailed on you at Medium Rare and we didn’t talk it over first. Like you said, we need to hash some things out.”

  The sky above us rumbled, and the first few drops of rain landed on my coat. It didn’t even occur to me to seek shelter.

  “Right. That.” I tried to keep up. He wanted to talk about work. Okay, fine. It was just that for a moment I’d thought … or maybe hoped … “It’s fine, I figure Bryant is probably overdue for a promotion. I can train him as a manager and find someone else to bring on as—”

  “Oh damnation.” Tanner grabbed me, a strong hand on each of my arms as he pulled me into him in a swift movement that was as natural as it was surprising. His lips crashed into m
ine.

  The clouds opened up above us as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and felt his arms slip around my waist. The passion and urgency of his embrace threatened to make my knees buckle, but I knew he wouldn’t let me fall.

  My clothes became saturated and heavy, and I didn’t care. I’d missed him so much. Parts of my soul that had begun to harden melted, and others that had become stuck loosened.

  Through the haze, an important question surfaced. I put my hands on his chest, pushing him away just enough to break the kiss. “What does this mean?” Were we back together, or was this just a moment of weakness after an adrenaline-filled night?

  He stared down at me, still enveloping me in his arms as raindrops streaked down his face. “I hid something from you, too, Nora.”

  My heart sank. “What?”

  “I applied for this job without telling you, while we were still together. I didn’t know what to say. I knew you wanted me to stay at Medium Rare, but I just … I couldn’t. This has been my dream, and I had to follow my heart.” He brushed a wet strand of hair back from my forehead. “And then I realized, you were following your heart, too. Granted, I’m not crazy about where it led you, but I know the reason you kept it from me was because you didn’t want to hurt me. And, in the end, your heart led you back to me. You’re your own person, Nora. I can’t control you. I should consider myself lucky that your heart ever led you to me in the first place, let alone twice. And I’d be a fool if I didn’t let mine lead me back to you.” He took my face in his strong yet gentle hands. “I love you, Nora Ashcroft. My life doesn’t make sense when you’re not in it. If I spend one more day apart from you, I … I feel like I’ll die.”

  I swallowed against the lump in my throat. “Take me home?” I said.

  That resoluteness blazed again in his eyes. “Sweet goddess, yes.” He wasted no time in lifting me up and throwing me over his shoulder before hurrying toward Ruby’s.

  “No,” I forced out. “Not Ruby’s.”

  “Good thinking,” he said. “My place is closer.”

  And it doesn’t have the ghost of my ex-lover.