Chapter 22
Wes
We stopped when the ground began to shake. Grief and rage pulsed through the air. “Can you feel that?” I asked.
Anthony replied, “Yeah, the ground shaking? How could I not?”
“No.” I inhaled, sucking in the taste of Livvie’s agony. “The hurt feelings in the air. Fury, pain.”
“Oh.” Anthony shut his eyes and breathed deep. “No, I don’t feel that. I feel magic and of course, the shaking.”
I started forward again. “It’s Livvie. She’s in pain, emotional pain.”
Moving faster, I followed the scent, taste, and feel of Livvie. Her magic. The closer we got, the stronger it was, pounding against me, agitating my dragon.
I broke through a thick copse of trees and out into a large clearing I’d never seen before, though it wasn’t that far from Anthony’s house. Livvie stood behind Sammy.
She floated a few inches off the ground, her long, dark blonde hair billowing around her. Her back was arched and arms out, but she had her eyes closed as power crackled around her.
Sammy looked from Livvie across the clearing. I followed the direction of Sammy’s gaze to see Leonard there, shifted grotesquely. His face was nearly a wolf, while his upper body remained human. His lower body was a twisted mess of fur and skin.
Thankfully, the crotch area was covered in fur since the rest of him was naked. I had no desire to see anything human in that area on him.
Surging forward, I slammed against an invisible barrier.
Livvie’s eyes flew open, and her head turned quickly in my direction.
Her eyes, normally beautiful blue, flashed bright, like electricity through ice. If I wasn’t so worried, I would’ve stopped to think about how gorgeous she looked with all that magic coursing through and out of her.
She looked like a pissed-off angel, about to do some heavenly avenging. I hoped she wasn’t ready to turn that power on me for being a dick earlier.
I tried to go forward again but slammed into the barrier again. I pounded on it. “Livvie!” I yelled. “I’m here!”
“Stop,” she called. Her voice floated over to me on her magic. It had the depths of the world in every note. “That won’t work.”
When she spoke, Leonard noticed us and began to laugh.
I pulled my arm back, but my dragon thrashed inside me, fueling my rage and the intense need to get in there and rip Leonard limb from limb.
Then calm washed over me. My dragon quieted and I knew he was listening. If he’d been standing in front of me, he would’ve had his head cocked toward Livvie.
Wait. You’ll know when the ward is down, but you’ll need to act fast once it is.
Holy shit. I didn’t know it was even possible for a human or witch to project into a dragon’s head. I nodded once to show her I’d heard and acknowledged what she said. She must’ve unlocked all her abilities to be doing all this. Surely, there wasn’t more after this incredible display of power.
Anthony circled around the barrier, pressing against it occasionally to test how far it ran, inching closer to Leonard. I couldn’t believe it was the same wolf from before.
He looked damn near death. “You look like shit,” Anthony called as a noise behind us told me Toby and Porter had joined us. I followed Anthony, moving toward the mangy wolf as they stepped into the clearing and took in the insanity.
“I thank you all for joining us,” Leonard said. His voice came out low and guttural and whistled through his mostly shifted snout. “It’ll be quite a show. You’re going to witness these witches restore me to full power.”
Why would either of them do that? It didn’t make sense.
At least, it didn’t until Olivia was shoved through the barrier. I didn’t see who did it, but Porter and Toby immediately took off to find them.
Livvie’s magic surged, bouncing against the barrier as she lifted higher into the air. A growl erupted from her throat, the sound loud and threatening enough to make any dragon proud. Mine certainly was.
“I’m going to char you to the bone,” she hissed, her voice projecting across the clearing toward Leonard and Olivia.
But Leonard smiled calmly. “Not before you give me my power back. Not before you return my alpha powers.” He chuckled again, but his voice was beyond strained as his back twisted and popped.
There was no way he wasn’t in intense pain.
“Now be smart and do as you’re told.” Staggering forward, he snapped his jaws behind Olivia.
Livvie’s pain pounded into me. She had her memories back. Her power, everything. I just knew it, though I only had the mating bond to explain how I knew. She didn’t want to help this bastard.
But he stood inches from her grandmother. She had no choice. “Fine,” she snarled.
“Brace,” Anthony whispered. “I have a feeling that once this is done, we’ll have to move fast.” I heard him, and no doubt Toby and Porter did as well. They’d emerged moments ago from the woods on the other side of the clearing, empty-handed. Whoever had put Olivia in the circle was gone.
Sammy turned and grabbed Livvie’s hand, tugging her back down to the ground.
She did something so I couldn’t hear her words, because the barrier hadn’t previously worked to prevent hearing.
They came to some kind of agreement, then both turned back toward Leonard.
The air inside the barrier charged with energy.
I felt it out here, but no doubt in there was a thousand times worse.
“Can you feel the magic?” I asked Anthony.
“No, but I can see it.”
That confirmed the only reason I felt it was through the connection to Livvie. What would it feel like once we were fully bonded?
A question for another day.
The magic crackled, visible like blue lightning bouncing all around the barrier, peaking until my ears rang. It was nearly painful, but I pushed past it, ready to spring into action as quickly as possible.
Leonard cackled, his laughter turning to howls as his body cracked and popped. He rose off the ground, the magical bursts of electricity slamming into him.
And his body shifted into a wolf again. Bigger, fiercer than even the one I’d chased through the woods a few weeks before. A true alpha. I wanted to rage against the barrier again, but Livvie’s words rang in my ears to hold still, be calm.
He was a big bastard, but I didn’t give a flying fuck. I was going to kill him, big or small.
As Leonard’s fur settled and his eyes opened, Sammy let go of Livvie’s hand. “Now!” she yelled.
The barrier came down in a shatter of magic. “Oof,” Anthony said. “I feel it now!”
But I didn’t spare him a glance. The magic hit me, too, but so did a sickly, oily feeling I didn’t recognize. The ward had been holding it back.
As I moved forward, I shifted. Anthony stepped to the side, instinctively acknowledging this was my fight.
Surging past him, as Olivia scrambled in the opposite direction, away from the wolf and dragons, I geared myself up to swipe my claws across his chest, but before I reached him, even as fast as I moved, he stiffened and rose into the air again.
“You think you can make me do whatever you want?” Livvie asked as she walked forward.
I had the opportunity to disembowel Leonard, but when I looked back at Livvie, I knew I had to let her do this. She needed the closure.
“You think to be my master?” She threw her head back and laughed and more electricity crackled out of her. When it slammed into Leonard, he howled in pain.
“You will not leave this clearing.” Livvie’s voice deepened, heavy with magic again. “You will spend eternity knowing the pain you’ve caused others.”
Livvie stepped closer, then cocked her head at the wolf. Holding out one hand, she grabbed at the air and yanked.
Blue light erupted from Leonard’s chest. “We gave you back your power,” Sammy said. She stood nearby with her arms crossed, smirking at the wolf. “And now she takes it away.”
Livvie screamed and threw her hands in the air. The magic blasted upward, exploding like a firework with sparks flying in all directions to rain down over the forest.
Leonard shifted immediately into a human again, but his skin hung over his bones like he’d been starved and was close to death.
Livvie gasped and curled into herself. Sammy was there with her arm around my mate, supporting her, before I could move.
“Take care of him!” Sammy yelled.
I turned back to Leonard, who had collapsed in a heap on the ground with Anthony standing over him. Shifting quickly, I hurried to Sammy. “Is she okay?” Olivia reached them about the same time and dropped to her knees beside her granddaughter.
Sammy nodded. “Yes, she will be.” They both looked up at me with their blue eyes.
Sammy’s were more the color of ice, almost a gray, and now that she didn’t have her power coursing through her, Livvie’s had darkened to the color of the ocean after a storm.
“You need to end him,” Sammy said fiercely.
“If you don’t, he can always find another witch to give him power, even if it’s not his full alpha power. ”
I knew what I had to do. Now that he was frail and pathetic, I didn’t particularly want to, though my dragon certainly did. I left my girl in the capable hands of Sammy and Olivia and returned to Leonard.
“Anthony,” I said. “This man came onto your land and attempted to force my mate and your witch to help him. He also admitted to killing numerous witches in his attempt to gain power. As clan alpha, do you agree that he must die?”
Anthony nodded. “Would you like for me to do it?”
I shook my head and allowed my dragon to rise to the surface of my skin. My fingers shifted into long, sharp claws.
Leonard stared at me, his face hard and unyielding. Even to the end, as I pushed my claw into his throat, he barely flinched. I had to respect that, though it was the only thing about the man I’d ever respect. He died with a backbone.
I left him on the forest floor with Toby, Porter, and Anthony overseeing his death. He wasn’t worth the time it would take to wait. Not when Livvie was nearby and needed me.
“How is she?” I asked, scooting in so Sammy could let Livvie move into my arms. I put my face near hers and crooned into her ear. “You were amazing,” I whispered. “I’m so proud of you and in complete awe.”
I never felt anyone else’s heat, yet as I clutched my mate close, I knew she burned with fever. “Apologize later,” Livvie said, making me chuckle. “I feel like I’m coming out of my skin.”
“What is this?” I asked Sammy.
“It’s sort of a magic fever.” She tutted and put her hand on Livvie’s forehead. “It’s her first time using her magic. Her body needs to burn off the excess energy.”
Sammy looked up at me and arched one eyebrow. “Know what I mean?”
Oh. Oh, I did know what she meant. Okay. “Any particular restrictions?” I asked.
Livvie snorted. “I’m freaking out and even I knew what she meant.”
Standing, I scooped Livvie up into my arms.
Sammy touched my back. “Enjoy. I’ll take care of all of this.” And with a rush of air, we stood no longer in the forest, but in the middle of Livvie’s front yard, beside the cottage.