The brothers nodded and shook Ben’s hand. Ezra held out his hand for the spell. Paul gave it to him. The men vanished without another word.
“Well, that was strange.” Paul clapped his hands together smiling. “If those idiots are carrying the time bomb that starts the apocalypse I do not want to waste my time.” He started towards the front of the cabin.
“Finally going to tell Betsy she’s your mate?” Mark yelled, earning a smack from Ben.
“Nope, I was going to see if Mrs. Johnson had anymore pumpkin pie but now I’m going to see if your sister had a free hour.” Paul turned on his heel and left.
Jack grabbed Grace’s arm. “Let’s get out of here before something worse happens.”
“I’ve got the chills,” Anne shuttered over the phone.
“Yeah, I’m not going to lie, it was freaky.” Grace stuffed a handful of chips into her mouth.
After finding the spell Ben had ordered a town wide house arrest type setup. No one was allowed to leave their homes until he gave the order.
She was catching Anne up on what had happened over the phone since they couldn’t talk in person. Of course, Grace wasn’t at her house. Once Paul had left, Jack grabbed Grace and drove her back to his home. Where she was currently eating him out of house and home.
“Who do you think Ezra and Ezekiel took the spell to?” Grace could hear the curiosity in Anne’s voice.
“Who cares? I want to know who they’re going to bring to the Full Moon Council.”
“Well, whoever it is I just hope they aren’t as stuck up as the rest of this Pack.” Anne grumbled.
“Hey,” Grace croaked around a bite of her sandwich, “I resent that.”
“Not you,” Anne amended. “I’m just having come trouble with our favorite citizen. She is making it impossible to hire someone.” There was no doubt she was talking about Pearl. “Ignore me. I want to know about you and Jack.”
Grace blushed at her salacious tone. “We’re together.”
“‘We’re together.’ That’s all you’re gonna say? No, nope, not gonna fly.” Grace could almost hear Anne shaking her head. “The last time you and I saw each other you were yelling at him in the middle of Miller’s. The next thing I hear you two have shacked up. “She snorted. “Spill.”
“We aren’t shacked up. God, who are you talking to?”
“Paul, obviously. If you’re not shacked up then you must be staying with Betsy or Holly. Are you?”
Grace mumbled.
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you, Grace.”
“I’m at Jack’s house!” She yelled. He was outside talking to Derek and Grace was eternally grateful for that. This conversation would be painful if Jack could hear it.
“So, are you mated now?”
“No,” Grace bit, “we’re just getting to know each other right now.”
“And you’re cool with that?” Anne sounded skeptical. “Because the Grace Copeland I know would not be okay with that.”
“I am,” she said honestly. “If there’s one thing I could redo it would be this last year.” She pushed her plate around the countertop thinking. “I should have spent this last year getting to know Jack not just blindly chasing him around town.”
“You can only get to know a man if he talks to you,” Anne was quick to point out.
“And now, he is,” Grace stressed. She didn’t want Anne judging Jack based on past offenses. “We’ve talked a lot in the last day. We really hit it off. I don’t know,” she sighed. “It feels good. Like this is how it’s supposed to be.”
“Alright,” Anne sang, “if you’re happy then I’ll back off.”
“I am.” Grace heard Jack open the back door. “I have to go, Anne. Keep safe.”
“You too.”
Jack walked into the kitchen. He was still wearing the short sleeve shirt he’d put on that morning despite the fact that it was freezing outside.
“Was that Anne?” He came to sit next to her on the bar stools.
“Yup.”
Jack reached over to steal a chip off of her plate. “Does she still hate me?”
Grace snorted. “Not so much now, but don’t do anything to get on her shit list.”
“Noted.” The playful expression dropped. “Derek heard from Ezekiel. Their witch contact is working on translating the spell. Whatever language it is written in is obscure but she’s…”
Jack’s voice muted. The world tilted to one side blurring in and out of focus. Grace blinked her eyes, trying to clear her head. Like a shot, everything snapped back into back into place.
“…tomorrow morning at the Pack house.” Jack was still talking, eating her chips. He hadn’t noticed whatever had just happened.
“Sounds good,” Grace tried to sound confident, hoping he wouldn’t realize that she hadn’t heard most of what he had said.
“I’m exhausted,” Jack admitted. “I haven’t been sleeping well this past week and between yesterday and today I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“I’m right there with you.” That was probably why she had zoned out earlier. “I’m ready to pass out.”
“Pass out?” Jack turned her towards him, twirling a strand of hair between his fingers. “I hope you aren’t too tired to,” he paused, smiling suggestively, “play.”
Grace put her hands on his chest. “What kind of game did you have in mind?”
“It involved you, me, and a bed.” Jack’s hand moved to the back of her head.
“Sounds fun.”
“Grace. Grace!” A hand jerked her body back, making her stumble.
Grace’s eyes flew open but she couldn’t see anything. There was only blackness. She was freezing.
“Grace.”
She whipped around. Jack was standing behind her, his hand on her arm. “Jack?” Why was he out in the darkness?
He sagged with relief. “Thank God,” he breathed. “I’ve been calling your name for two minutes.”
“What?” She looked around. Her eyes were starting to adjust to the lack of light. Dark shadows towered all around. A sliver of white, nearly impossible to see, hung above her in the sky.
They were standing in the middle of the woods. She glanced around but couldn’t see any familiar landmarks. Something wet squished between her toes. She looked down. She was wearing the shirt she had put on before bed but nothing else. There weren’t shoes on her feet.
“Grace,” Jack prompted gently, “what are you doing outside?”
Grace opened her mouth to say something but stopped. She didn’t know why she was outside. The last thing she remembered was making love to Jack and falling asleep.
At a loss, she lied. “I must have sleep walked out here.” Grace panicked. She didn’t know why she was outside.
Jack knew it was a lie. She saw the doubt pass his face. “Let’s get you inside.” He said instead of calling her out. With a soft, comforting smile Jack picked Grace up. He sniffed the air. “Your feet are cut.” He hugged her to him. “We’ll get them cleaned up and get back to bed.”
Grace’s heart dropped. She had no idea what was going on and the fact that Jack was treating her so gently made her think this was even worse than she imagined. “This has been a terrible week,” she said as some kind of explanation.
Jack kissed her head. “I know, baby girl. Luckily, it’s almost over. We will get some sleep and everything will go back to normal.”
Grace wanted to believe him but a person didn’t just start wandering the woods at night for no reason. Grace knew something was wrong. No amount of sleep would fix it.
She couldn’t stop the quiet, constant thought that something had brought her outside. In a deep part of her mind she thought it was the same thing that had prompted that episode in the kitchen. Grace buried it, desperately clinging to the solid reality of Jack’s warmth against her, because it terrified her.
Jack didn’t say anything else as they walked back to the house. Grace could feel his worry though. That made her feel
guilty.
“You know, Jack, if you keep carrying me into your house I will start expecting you to do this every time,” she joked halfheartedly.
Jack didn’t laugh. He gave her a concerned look. He paused inside the house to reset the security code.
“I tripped the alarm?” She cringed.
“No,” Jack passed the kitchen and living room going straight for the stairs, “you disarmed the system. That’s why I thought you were awake.” He searched her eyes, an odd expression on his face. “How did you know the code?”
“I didn’t. I don’t. Did you forget to set it?” She asked hoping.
“I did,” Jack said making Grace exhale, “which is why I got up after you fell asleep to set it.”
Jack walked them into the master bathroom. He set her onto the edge of the tub. Bending, he got his first aid kit out from under the sink.
Grace tensed. “What’s happening?”
Jack blew out a long breath. “I don’t know, Grace.” He pinched her chin between his fingers making sure she could see the tender look in his eyes. “We’ll figure it out though, together.”
Jack kissed her gently. Grace leaned into his body. A strong feeling of peace filled her, driving away the fear. He ended the kiss with a satisfied hum and gave her a smile.
Grace sat still while Jack cleaned the scraps she had gotten walking through the woods. His hands were gentle as they put antiseptic cream on the larger cuts. Once he was done, he picked Grace up and put her back in bed.
Eventually, Jack fell back asleep. Grace lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She couldn’t go to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes her heart pounded, drowning out the sound of Jack breathing next to her.
Chapter Eleven
Grace was dead on her feet. Just as the sun started to rise she felt safe enough to go to sleep. Jack must have let her sleep until the last minute because when he woke her up he shoved her under the shower head and hustled her out of the door as soon as she put clothes on.
“Where are we going again?” She asked trying to massage away the pounding headache she had.
Jack shot her a quick look. “We’re heading to the pack house to hear what the Tates figured out. We talked about this last night.”
“Oh, yeah,” she faked remembering that they had talked about it. “It was after you talked to Derek.”
After waking up in the woods the last thing Grace wanted was for Jack to know about the episode in the kitchen, “Any idea what they found?”
Jack shook his head. “They’re keeping it quiet. Derek did say that they requested permission to bring the witch to the meeting.”
Grace didn’t comment, having lost interest due to pain. She closed her eyes trying to get some rest before they got to the Pack house.
The instant her eyes closed, the pounding in her head got stronger. It beat a tattoo in her brain so overwhelming that every thought matched the rhythm.
Return it. Return it. Return it. Return it.
“Grace.”
She shot up in her seat, the belt catching her. Jack threw his hand out to steady her. She instantly forgot the words she could hear in the drumming.
They were at the Pack house. A thirty minute drive, gone in the blink of an eye.
She quirked her lip in a pseudo smile trying to reassure Jack. “I must have fallen asleep.” She clapped her hands with forced enthusiasm, “Let’s get in there and figure out what that spell is for.”
Jack narrowed his eyes, obviously not buying any of it. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“It’s been a hell of a week. I’m tired and my bones hurt and we have evidence that multiple Packs of rogues are working together.” Grace took a breath. “I’ll be okay after food and a nap.”
Jack stared at her for a long time before nodding, “I can help with both of those.”
Grace smiled feeling genuine contentment flood in her chest. “I know you can.” She leaned across the seat to kiss Jack.
“Let’s get in there before we miss the meeting entirely,” he whispered into her lips.
Grace grabbed her purse and got out of the truck.
The Pack house was the meeting place for all Black Bird wolves. They met there once a month for runs, held weddings there, celebrated graduations, did just about everything there. As such, it was more of a lodge than a house. Sure, there were a few rooms for people to stay in but it acted more as a private community center than anything else. Ben also did all of his official business out of the Pack house. It was much more private than the diner.
Practically every main enforcer was already in Ben’s office when she and Jack walked in. Paul, Mark, Dave, and Derek were standing along the side of the room. They all wore stony expressions, no one bothering to talk.
Ben sat behind his desk with his fingers interlocked, staring straight ahead. Everyone nodded when she and Jack walked in.
Ben gestured to one of the open chairs. “Welcome, please take a seat.” He eyes the other men, “If you want to.”
Grace followed Jack to an open spot along the wall.
“What are we waiting for?” Jack asked.
“It seems the Tate brothers are having trouble convincing the witch to meet with us.” Dave supplied. “Are we positive she’ll show?”
“They’ll get her here.” Ben cut in stopping all conversation.
Heat flushed Grace’s body as she listened to the guys squabble. Nausea had her closing her eyes just to keep from throwing up. Panic surged. She needed to get out of the room immediately.
“Good of you to join us.” Mark’s snide comment plunged Grace back to earth.
The Tate brother stood staggered at the entrance of the room. Their focused was zeroed in on Mark. Grace could see the violence coming off of them. It was enough to have every man in the room squaring up, preparing to fight.
“Everybody, knock it off,” Ben ordered, his voice dropping to an octave that made the hair on her neck stand up. She craned her neck, exposing her throat to the Alpha as his power filled the room in a rush.
All the enforcers along the wall relaxed. The brothers tensed for a second before relaxing too.
The Tates walked into the room. As they entered, Grace realized that there was a small woman standing between them. She was so much smaller than them, she had been hidden.
She couldn’t have been more than five foot two. Her brown hair was pulled back into a messy bun that looked like she had run her hands through it. With the hair out of her face, she looked young. Grace couldn’t tell if she was fifteen or thirty. Grace couldn’t see any blush on her cheeks or mascara on her eyelashes. Not that she needed makeup. She was lovely.
And Grace’s skin crawled the instant she entered the room. The need to leave ratcheted to a level that was impossible to ignore. Not in control of herself, Grace fidgeted. She couldn’t leave but fuck did she need to leave.
Jack shot her a concerned look but Grace just smiled. It felt more like a grimace.
Ben stood from his seat extending his hand to the woman.
Please don’t shake my hand. Please don’t shake my hand. Grace chanted over and over again.
“Welcome to Black Bird, Ms. Stevens. I wish we could meet under more pleasant circumstances but we are grateful for your help.”
She took the Alpha’s hand limply. “No problem,” he voice was quiet, timid. Her eyes darted to Ezra and then Ezekiel. Ezra nodded encouragingly, Ezekiel smiled at her. It was a small smile but it was the first smile Grace had seen from the man.
Ben cleared his throat. “Were you able to translate the spell?”
Ms. Stevens startled as if she’d forgotten there were other people in the room. “Uh, yes,” she opened her jacket pulling out a small white handkerchief. Using the handkerchief she opened the leather satchel at her side. Carefully, she extracted the vellum spell.
The universe stilled. The pounding in Grace’s head stopped. Her frenzied brain honed in on the paper. Return it. The words hissed pleasurably through her mind
.
Grace felt a tug. Jack was gripping her forearm. She’d taken a step forward and not realized it.
“Is everything alright?” He whispered. There was no point trying to be quiet. Everyone could hear them.
Grace smiled nervously trying to keep attention off of her, “Just tired. Sorry for interrupting.” Everyone turned back to the desk. Grace almost sagged against the wall.
Ms. Stevens set the spell on Ben’s desk. “I was not familiar with the language when Zeke and Ra brought it to me.” Every eyebrow in the room shot up at the nicknames but wisely no one said anything. “It took me some time to identify it.” Energy began to loosen Ms. Stevens’ stiff posture. Her excitement made her gestures jerky. She pointed to the words. “The language is a very specialized Italian. It was only used by a group of witches from Northern Italy. They were around for a hundred years at the turn of the sixteenth century. They developed a magical language uniquely for their own use. I’m surprised anyone alive uses it.”
Ms. Stevens stopped talking. Ben waited, expecting her to continue. When she didn’t, he prompted. “What is a dead language from Italy doing in a small American town five hundred years later?”
“I have no idea.” Ezra nudged her from behind. “Oh, um, I can tell you that the witches were known to have spirit wolves they used for protection when they fought battles in the astral realm.” She pointed to the spell. “That is a spell they used to grant their wolves temporary immortality. It’s only meant to last through the new moon but is when wolves are at their weakest. They needed the extra protection.”
Ben shot to his feet. “Are you telling me that is an immortality spell?” He shouted claws bursting from his fingertips.
Ms. Stevens took a hasty step back only to bump into Ezra. “Theoretically, yes.”
Ben set his hands on the desk and leaned across it. “Ms. Stevens,” he began, enunciating every syllable of her name, “I understand that you are familiar with magic but I am going to have to ask you to explain everything you are saying. It is vital that we understand this.”
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