Chapter 23
Zane
Brumous barked, launching himself at our kneecaps. I dodged right as Koa sidestepped left, leaving Cas to catch nearly two hundred pounds of squirming dire wolf. Captain Catastrophe actually laughed, a hoarse, rusty sound, as Brum slobbered across his stubbled jaw.
“Down!”
Of course the pup obeyed him. Alpha Sharp apparently ranked highest in the floof’s mental hierarchy.
Hopping off of Cas, Brummy lunged for me again, tail whipping. I feinted left, then right, and his claws skidded across the tile as he tried to escape me.
“Oh, you wanna play some more, huh?”
I chased after him as he darted around the kitchen island, his tail wagging furiously. Our demolition derby through the pantry earned whoops from Ko and a genuine grin from Cas. Finally, I fake-lunged left and snagged his scruff right.
“Gotcha!” He yipped as I hoisted him up, his hind legs pedaling air. “What’s the penalty for kitchen vandalism, huh? Lifetime of belly rubs? Forced cuddles?”
“Careful,” Ko snorted. “He’ll think you’re negotiating.”
With a yodel, Brummy escaped my hold, springing onto the breakfast nook.
“Round two?” I cracked my neck. “Bring it, furface.”
Our second chase ended with Brumster somehow herding all three of us into the living room, and I ended up tackling Cas when I dove for the wolf. We toppled onto the L-shaped sectional, the dire crowning himself king of the pile. Ko flopped beside us, phone raised.
“Smile for Seri’s new lockscreen.”
The wolf hammed it up, licking out my nostrils.
“Blackmail material acquired.” Ko pocketed the device.
“You little attention hog!” I scooped Brum-Brum up in a bear hug. He draped his head over my shoulder, his tail thumping against my ankle, and let out a contented sigh.
“Do I want to know why the pantry is a disaster area?” Seri asked as she walked into the living room, Foster on her heels like a moon-damned shadow. Each of them carried snacks, Fosterino two bags of chips and Seri two packages of cookies.
“Blame your apocalypse hound.” I let Brumsy down, and he went right to her for ear rubs and a treat from Fozzy Wozzie.
“Well, we’ll clean it up before Mrs. Wentzel gets here in the morning. For now, though, I have something to show you in Koko’s lab.” She passed Ko one of the cookie packs, then took one of Foster’s chip bags and tossed it to Cas.
For some reason, I alone remained strangely devoid of snacks.
“Um, honeybee, did you forget something?” Scowling, I crossed my arms and tapped my foot on the floor.
“No, Zoodle, I don’t believe I did.”
“Then allow me to enlighten you. Here on my left, I observe you and Ko stuffing your faces with his favorite chocolate chunk cookies. Here on my right, I note Cas and Fozzerella savoring one sour cream and onion chip after another. And yet,” I spread my hands in front of me, palms up, and stared at them, “I seem to have been deliberately ostracized from impromptu snack time.”
“That is true.” Her expression was solemn and, if I didn’t know her better, I would have said guileless, too.
“And may I ask why I have been singled out for such unfair treatment, Mrs. Cimmerian?”
“They didn’t release live crickets in the library yesterday.”
“A gift!” I threw up my hands. “You said you missed hearing little frogs ribbeting back home on the farm!”
“Crickets aren’t—”
“Amphibian adjacent!” I insisted.
“The insects have been removed, Seri.” Cas closed his eyes and rubbed a fingertip between his brows. “And disciplined.”
“You gave them a time-out in the yard,” Ko muttered.
“They’re considering their life choices,” Cas shot back without missing a beat, making me snicker despite my state of snack isolation.
“Anyway,” Foster rumbled around his mouthful of salty goodness, “Little Boss said she wants to show you something. So haul ass to Ko’s lab.”
“Bullied by an alpha wolf in my own home,” I grumbled, shooting Seri dagger eyes. “Denied snackies. My gift derided, my heart crushed—”
“You are not bullied or denied or unloved.” She rolled her eyes, reached into her back pocket, and whipped out two of my favorite meat snack sticks.
Smacking them into my palm, she stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed my jaw.
“You are, however, a fang-rotted menace. Never interrupt my work like that again.”
“Or what?” I couldn’t resist bedeviling her when she was trying to look so fierce.
“I have a best friend now, and I’m not afraid to sic him on you.” She gave me the sweetest smile and, before I could respond, added, “If that isn’t enough incentive to behave, I’ll tattle to Simmy, and he’ll deal with you again, cricket boy.”
Spinning around, she flounced from the room, curls bouncing, ass sashaying, and damned if I didn’t run after her like the whipped puppy I was.
#
Seri
A simple piece of paper lay on one of Koa’s lab tables. A dream that, with the Goddess’ blessing, would soon become reality. After months of research, countless failed attempts, and more than a few tearful nights, I’d finally done it. Created a ward against siphoning.
At least, I thought I had.
I glanced around at my mismatched family. Each of them was as eager and anxious as I was, just in different ways. It was both reassuring and terrifying to think how much they believed in me.
“Let’s test it,” I said, my voice strong with determination.
“How do you want to do that?” Koa asked in his deep rumble.
I bit my lip, suddenly uncertain. Testing a ward against siphoning meant we needed something that would try to suppress my magic, something that would mimic what Arabesque had done to me for years. The memory of that violation made my chest tighten painfully.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Casimir paced beside the lab table, and his voice took on that clipped tone he used when he was worried, but trying to hide it. “We need to test if it blocks siphoning, but siphoning is dark magic. None of us are going to perform that kind of spell on you.”
Foster, who was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, spoke up.
“What if you don’t need to test it against actual siphoning? Maybe just see if it blocks any device trying to shut down her magic? That would at least prove the concept works.”
“That’s actually not a terrible idea,” Koa remarked, sounding slightly surprised that Foster had come up with it.
“I have something that might work. That enchanted faerie cord from King Aerin. My share of the payment for eliminating that chort before we came to Evermere.” Casimir stopped pacing, and I perked up with interest. “The cord is enchanted to lock down the power of anyone it binds and forces shapeshifters to remain in their current form. It’s not siphoning, but the theory is there. It’s designed to disrupt access.”
“That could work. It won’t tell us if the ward can stop an actual siphoning attempt, but it would test the basic principle,” Koa agreed.
“We also have a Hexenf?nger,” Zane chirped, then held his hands up when Casimir shot him a murderous glare. “Which is NEVER going to happen. I’d personally behead anyone who even brought that thing near our moonbeam with the intent of putting it on her.”
I didn’t remember what a Hexenf?nger was at the moment, but judging from everyone’s reactions, it wasn’t something I wanted to experience.
“Another option,” Foster suggested, “would be to ask your nephilim warrior buddy, Kerry Harker, or Queen Kaori if they could get us some of that power-suppression fabric the Council of Elders uses for their criminals’ prison uniforms.”
“The faerie cord sounds like it would work just fine for a test, and we already have it. I’d like to try it now. I’m too excited to wait!” I glanced at Casimir, who nodded, his beautiful green eyes softening as they met mine.
As he left the room, Zane sidled closer, peering at my design.
“You know,” he said with a mischievous grin, “if this works, we should celebrate. I’m thinking cake, confetti cannons, the works. Maybe even convince Cas to wear a party hat!”
“Let’s see if it works first,” Koa said, but there was a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He took my notebook and held it open to the final design while Zane grabbed a small mirror from one of the shelves.
Casimir returned with a slender cord that shimmered with an otherworldly light. It looked innocent enough, but I could feel the power embedded within it, like a storm waiting to break.
“So,” I said, taking a deep breath, “I just draw the ward on myself with my magic, and then we test it with the cord?”
“Yep. The ward should feel right to you. Trust your instincts,” Koa advised.
“I could test it first, Little Boss.” Foster pushed off from the doorframe. “Just in case something goes wrong. Moon magic is the same as lunar power. Just one’s for wolves and the other’s for humans.”
The offer touched me, but this was my creation. My ward. My chance to protect myself from ever feeling that horrible, empty violation again.
“Thank you, Foster,” I said, “but I need to do this myself.”
He nodded, seeming to understand, but Brumous nosed at the hem of my dress.
“Not now, sweet boy.”
With a quiet chuckle, Foster scooped him and cuddled him like he was a Pomeranian and not a humongous dire wolf.
This had to work. It just had to. My mouth went cotton-dry. But what if it didn’t? What if it failed? What if I screamed? What if—
“Serafina.” Koa’s voice sliced through the panic. He held up a heart-shaped lollipop wrapped in plastic. “Blood sugar. Now.”
“Yeah, honey. Can’t have you passing out in the middle of Project: How Many People Does It Take to Support Their Witch?” Zane smirked.
“One to overcomplicate, one to get it right, and one to make dick jokes about apotheosis-level magic,” Koa shot back.
“Apotheo-what-sis? We’re wrapping her in fairy floss, not summoning Baphomet.”
Zane’s jokes shattered the fear, and I giggled around the cherry-flavored candy.