Chapter Twenty – Mason
Now what? That was the question reverberating around Mason’s head as he lay there in the darkness. The stars that had encircled them had gone, leaving him staring at the cold rock ceiling.
He shivered at the thought of all the weight of the rock above their heads.
But it was nothing compared to the weight of responsibility that rested on his shoulders and pressed down on his chest until he could hardly breathe.
“Breathe,” Tamsin whispered in his ear. “In…”
“Please, do not do an impression of Morwenna.” He chuckled and let go of his sense of impending doom. He was not the same man he was five years ago when he sacrificed his love for his mate, his need for her, for the survival of the coven and the pack.
And for our father, his wolf murmured.
Indeed, when he looked back, he’d been trying to be everything to everyone. He’d been trying to save everyone.
When the only person he should have focused on saving was his mate.
We thought we had, his wolf reminded him.
But whether he had succeeded or failed remained to be seen.
The answer would soon come, though. The conjunction was upon them. Today was the day, so they would soon see if they were right about being able to wait everything out.
“Talking of Morwenna,” Tamsin said. “I think we need to go back to The Lonely Tavern.”
“You want to go to town?” Mason said. “To the one place people probably expect us to go.”
“If by people, you mean the coven and the pack.”
“I do,” Mason said. “By now I expect they have figured out that the brooch is not going to lead them to you.” He pressed his lips together as he was hit by a twinge of guilt. Hopefully, it hadn’t led them to…
“Sophie will be okay,” Tamsin told him. “She can look after herself. She’s probably safely swanning about in some dragon’s castle on Cairnnor.”
“I know.” He turned on his side and looked at her, his fingers brushing against her cheek. “She’s a good friend to you.”
“She is,” Tamsin replied. “And when this is over, I plan to thank her properly. She’s sacrificed so much for me.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Mason said. “Leaving the coven seems to have suited her.”
“Did she leave, or was she pushed?” Tamsin leaned up on one elbow. “With everything going on, I never asked.”
“She left. As far as I know, she never went back after she…”
“Opened a portal and saved my life,” Tamsin finished.
“Yes.” He swallowed hard but forced himself to let go of his lingering guilt. If he hadn’t volunteered for the task, his father would have gone, and he would have killed Tamsin.
We did our best,his wolf said.
But Mason could not let go of the idea that instead of rejecting his mate, for all the right reasons, he let her go for all the wrong reasons.
“It was smart,” Tamsin said.
I don’t think she’s talking about you,Mason’s wolf teased.
“Guinevere probably thought Sophie left because she was so upset about my death,” Tamsin went on.
“But really, she was hiding her part in your escape.” Mason nodded.
“The fire is dying down.” Tamsin sat up and pulled away from him.
“I can collect more driftwood,” Mason offered.
“Sweet,” Tamsin said as she looked down at him, her face cast in the shadows of the dying embers. “But we need to go.”
“Even though we only have to hide for another few hours?” Mason asked. “I thought we were going to stay here until it was over.”
“We were.” Tamsin leaned down and kissed his cheek. “But that’s not going to work.”
“It’s not?” Mason asked, sensing she knew something he did not.
“No.” She stared out toward the ocean. “I can feel the magic of my sisters. They are casting a spell. And I believe that spell will lead them to us.”
Mason sat bolt upright. “And you’re telling me this now?”
Tamsin leaned down and brushed her lips against his. “I wanted to make this time together last for as long as possible.” A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Plus, I thought you might need some time to recover your energy, wolf.”
“And what does that mean?” he asked as she pulled away. He wanted to reach out and grab hold of her hand and pull her back to him.
But it is time to let her go once more, his wolf said. Only not so far this time.
“It means our lovemaking was rather…vigorous…” She reached for her clothes in the darkness and began dressing in that same dress she’d worn for so long.
“Vigorous.” He arched an eyebrow. “You were pretty vigorous yourself.”
She chuckled then stood up and rummaged around for her shoes, while he tugged on his jeans and searched for his shirt in the dying light of the fire. “There, we are a perfect match.”
He reached for her hand, pulled her to him and fisted her hair as he claimed her mouth. “And no one will tear us apart.”
“No one.” She placed her hand on his chest over his beating heart, her expression unreadable.
She doesn’t believe us, his wolf said.
Then we need to prove it to her, Mason replied, and let her go to finish dressing.
And prove it to ourselves, his wolf added.
“Do you have a plan?” Mason asked.
“I thought you were going to save me again?” Tamsin asked, casting him a look over her shoulder.
“I would if I could,” Mason replied. “But even I’m not delusional enough to think I can go up against your coven and win.”
She straightened up and her expression tensed. “They are not my coven. Not anymore.”
He closed the distance between them as he noted the waver in her voice. “They will always be a part of you. Just as my pack will always be a part of me.”
She slipped her arm around his shoulders and rested her head on his chest. “We understand each other in ways I wish we did not.”
“We’ll make our own coven, or pack, or whatever we want to call it,” he murmured against her ear.
But then she pulled away. “Come on. We need to go.”
Her urgency propelled him forward, and he quickly hunkered down and put out the last of the fire with a few fistfuls of sand. As he stood, Tamsin was already heading for the cave entrance.
I don’t like this, his wolf muttered.
Me neither,Mason answered. But we only have to stay safe for another few hours and then the danger will have passed. They will all see that the prophecy was an empty threat…
Unless it is not,his wolf replied.
It is,Mason said, and he firmly believed it. After last night, holding Tamsin in his arms, making love to her, everything had become crystal clear. There was no way the bond he shared with his mate could ever be wrong. Even Morwenna had hinted that would be the case.
If that bond, if his relationship with her, broke the DuskWood Pack and the DawnLight Coven, then that was how things were meant to be.
He followed Tamsin out of the cave, into the first light of dawn, where she stopped and closed her eyes as if absorbing the light from which her coven gained their name.
Mason stood back, somewhat reverently, while he pushed out his senses. Tilting his head to one side, he tried to focus, but it was as if something was blocking him, stopping him from locking onto something, someone, moving toward them.
The coven, his wolf muttered dangerously, ready to spring forth and protect their mate at all costs.
“Ready?” Tamsin asked and headed off along the beach before he had a chance to answer.
“Where are we going?” Mason asked as he jogged to catch up with her.
“Well, we could head to the docks, catch a ride on a ship to somewhere overseas, and wait it out,” Tamsin said.
“Or?”
“Or we head back to The Lonely Tavern.” She glanced over her shoulder at him as she strode along the beach toward town. “How are your sea legs, anyway?”
“They are just fine,” Mason said. “But I thought you had seen enough of the ocean for a lifetime.”
“Oh, I like the ocean just fine,” she replied. “I love the wildness of it, the untamed currents and tides. But in small doses.”
“You want to head for the tavern.” Mason didn’t like it much, but it seemed the logical move. “Are you thinking we might venture back upstairs?”
It is a logical move,his wolf agreed. Since if anyone follows us, they take the chance of never making it out again.
But it’s a risk for us, too,Mason said. We might not be as lucky the next time we go up those stairs.
“I thought Morwenna might know more than she is letting on,” Tamsin said, and he sensed a ripple of magic in the air.
Oh, does our mate intend to take on Morwenna?his wolf asked uneasily.
“I’m certain she does, but if she wanted us to know what she knows, she would have told us by now,” Mason said.
“That depends,” Tamsin said. “I don’t know if she knows what she knows.”
Mason tensed as his senses locked onto movement up ahead. “Someone is coming this way.” Or something. It was as if his shifter senses had been scrambled.
He’d never felt like this before. No witch, no magic, had ever managed to fool his senses so completely before.
But this is not one witch, or two,his wolf reminded him. If the whole DawnLight Coven is working together, then their magic might be strong enough to fool our senses.
Especially if our father has helped them, Mason said with distaste. It might not take long for them to create a spell to fool shifters if they had volunteers to practice it on.
It seemed that the prophecy had worked in reverse. Instead of keeping the pack and the coven apart, it might have brought them together and forged an alliance.
Damn prophecies,his wolf ground out.
“I know,” Tamsin replied as they passed the end of the headland, leaving them exposed to whoever might be watching from the boardwalk.
“Hurry.” He ran forward and grabbed hold of her hand.
Without question, she matched his pace as they ran along the beach toward the boardwalk. As they reached the steps, he looked for movement but saw none.
“Which way?” she asked.
“Follow me.” Mason ran along the boardwalk and then dodged down an alleyway as his senses picked up people ahead.
The coven, his wolf said.
Then Mason’s head snapped around, and he stared into the night. His eyes couldn’t see anything, but his senses told him that the pack was approaching. Led by his father.
Panic gripped him, but he pushed it down. He needed to keep a clear head and guide them to the tavern and what he hoped was safety.
And answers, his wolf said. We’ll get them out of Morwenna this time, no matter what.
Answers that might just stop this whole thing in its tracks.
Their brisk jog turned into a full-blown spring as they raced down the empty alleys and side streets of town. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were practically dragging Tamsin along with them, they would have shifted and sped off into the night.
Not far now,his wolf said as they sensed the coven and the pack closing in. At the edge of his hearing, over the sound of their labored breathing, he could hear the footfalls of boots and paws.
“I can hold them off,” Tamsin said as they skidded around a corner and along a long street, still in darkness where the early sunrise couldn’t reach.
“We stick together,” Mason reminded her. “Nothing will tear us apart again.”
The look she gave him said she didn’t believe that was true, but she smiled and gave him a reassuring nod. “Let’s hurry then. Together.”
Why do I get the feeling that we might be the ones to end up on a desert island this time? his wolf asked, antsy to get out and do whatever he could for Tamsin.
Mason pressed his lips together as they took a right turn. You think Tamsin will send us through a portal to keep us safe?
We were willing to sacrifice ourselves last time, his wolf said. This time I believe that is exactly what Tamsin intends to do if there is no other way out.
There is a way out, Mason told his wolf as they turned into the alleyway and spotted the sign for The Lonely Tavern swinging idly in the breeze. They would surely be safe there.
“Still!”
He came out of nowhere, hugging the shadows left unclaimed by the dawn. Mason hadn’t sensed him or scented the sour smell of expired flowers. But there stood Valaky, his hand outstretched as he looked into Tamsin’s eyes and froze her to the spot.
“What are you doing?” Mason asked as he turned on the vampire, ready to unleash the full fury of his wolf.
“Saving Tamsin,” the vampire replied.
“She doesn’t need saving,” Mason told him. “Not by you.”
“Really?” Valaky arched an eyebrow at Mason. “Have your senses abandoned you? For I can hear the very harbingers of your doom drawing near. The coven on one side, the pack on the other. You cannot evade them for eternity.”
“We don’t need to outrun them forever,” Mason said. “We just need to get through tonight.”
“They will not relent,” Valaky said.
“Who will not stop?” Mason glanced at his mate, who was as still as a statue. He wanted to touch his hand to her cheek and feel the warmth of her skin.
“The coven and the pack,” Valaky looked into the distance. “They hold the belief that their very existence depends on it.”
“How do you know so much about what they believe?” Mason asked.
A small smile played across the vampire’s pale lips. “I cannot divulge the origins of my information.”
“I don’t care. I just need to get to the tavern with her.” Mason’s heart raced at the sound of the approaching pack. He could now hear the baying of the wolves. They would be pouring into the alleyway any second now. But he’d never had to deal with a vampire before.
If only Burt the vampire hunter was here,his wolf said wryly.
“I can save her.”
Mason’s attention snapped back to the vampire. “How?”
“The clue lies within the wording of the prophecy.” Valaky reached out to Tamsin. “I can still her beating heart. I can render her immortal.”
Is he talking about what I think he is?Mason’s wolf snarled.
“No,” Mason said hoarsely.
“Do you not love her enough to let her go?” Valaky said, his pale eyes fixed on Mason.
“I promised her we would not be apart again,” Mason said. “And I intend to keep that promise.”
“Wolves are pitifully weak,” Valaky hissed. “They think solely of themselves.”
“I am thinking of Tamsin,” Mason replied shortly. “I have seen Maughna. I know her story. She was a powerful witch, but her magic was lost when she was made a vampire. And it drove her out of her mind.”
“That is not why Maughna is as she is,” Valaky said. “Surely you would rather see Tamsin preserved like this forever than witness her destroyed due to the prophecy. I know I would.”
Why does it feel as if we are pawns in Valaky’s game? his wolf asked.
You’re right, Mason said. This vampire is using the prophecy for his own ends.
And this wolf is not playing along anymore.With that, Mason shifted, launching himself through the air, his claws raking the side of Valaky’s face.
As the vampire cried out, the wolf pounced on him, knocking him to the ground.
“Mason?” Tamsin was free of the glamor Valaky had put on her.
But with the pack and coven almost upon them, they were out of time.