Chapter 38
The mid-morning sun warmed his skin, but Mark couldn’t enjoy it.
His mind alternated between the satisfaction of last night’s kill and the thirst for more.
He checked on his wolf every second, unwilling to admit to himself the fear he would disappear now that Caster was not here.
He’d left without as much as a goodbye, a consequence of Mark’s earlier distrust. Even with everything they’d been through in the short time he’d known the Vampire Prince, Mark still couldn’t get on board with the idea that vampires and wolves could work together.
He was lost in his latest attempt to connect with the other half of him when a shadow fell over him. Any words of admonishment at the tip of his tongue fell back into his throat when he looked up. He shot to his feet. “Your Majesty—”
Caster’s mother smiled and waved away his impending apology, reaching for his arm and pulling him onto the bench he had been brooding on seconds earlier.
She sat next to him, arranging her red dress around her with nothing short of regality.
Her back was ramrod straight, her posture perfect, and her hair sat atop her head like a crown, not a single strand out of place.
He didn’t think he was, but he felt disheveled next to her.
“Oh! You look fine.” She chuckled at his frown. “You need to do a better job of guarding your thoughts.”
It wasn’t an admonishment, delivered with a smile, but he’d been on the receiving end of his mother’s disapproval for too long not to see it that way. “Sorry…”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” Her smile reminded him of Caster, and he thanked the Goddess he could hide that thought. Her warm smile lost its luster a second later. “How are you, honey?”
The endearment, one he’d never heard from his mother, brought every insecurity he battled to the fore. “I’m OK.” He restrained the need to tell her everything. “I am sorry about last night. I…”
“I know.” The conviction in her gentle tone made him look at her. To the average human, it would seem absurd that she could be old enough to be Caster’s mother, her features unmarred by her considerable age. “I know what my nephew did to you.” Tears filled her pale blue eyes. “I am so sorry.”
Mark didn’t know what to do with that or the comforting hand on his arm, so he nodded and looked away from the genuine concern in her expression.
The silence between them extended the moment, extended his vulnerability longer than his comfort would allow.
But just as he was about to excuse himself and find a new hiding place, she startled him by jumping off the bench with an energy that reminded him of her son.
She pulled on his hand when his reaction time failed to match hers. “Come on! Edie is waiting.”
Certain that he couldn’t refuse her if he wanted to, he allowed her to lead him into the house.
It took a moment to connect the dots, he recalled the protection spell, and worry overtook his mind.
Dean and Mikey had said there was nothing to it, but Mark had never been comfortable with the idea of witches.
His mother’s distrust of them and his fruitless desire to please her had seen to that.
She led him to the kitchen, where Edie and Riley’s mother, whose name he still couldn’t recall, sat at the table, a copper bowl between them.
The queen laughed, and he turned to her.
“This is Riley’s mother, Adella.” Her tone was a gentle reminder to keep his thoughts private. “And you remember Edie?”
Both women shared the red hair that indicated the source of their power.
Fire witches, the most powerful of their kind.
The power they held back filled the room, but his wolf didn’t seem alarmed, present but remaining well behind the barrier.
If his wolf didn’t sense a threat, Mark was certain he could trust both women.
“Yes.” The queen smiled again, and he sighed.
Why was it so easy to let his guard down around her? He took a breath and reined in the mental block that would keep her out of his thoughts.
“Please…” Riley’s mother, Adella, indicated the seat across from her, her tone gentle. She looked nothing like Riley, who must favor his father, and like the queen, her youthful beauty hid a centuries-old witch with enormous power.
He sat and checked on his wolf again. His cautious animal was so relaxed, he seemed asleep, but he was present.
Perhaps Caster’s absence would not affect him at all.
For a second, he panicked that he’d broadcast that thought, but when he glanced at the queen, her smile was encouraging, no indication she had access to information he shouldn’t share with anyone.
“Have you done this before?” Edie asked, and he turned to her.
Of the three women here, she was the smallest, but her petite frame hid the same potent, dangerous power he sensed from Adella.
Her smile lit up her beautiful face, her red hair a shade darker than Adella’s. Did that mean she held more power?
Her raised eyebrow reminded him of her question, and he shook his head.
Her green eyes brightened, matching her warm smile. “Oh, you’ll love this.”
He couldn’t help his curiosity. “How so?”
“A protection spell can make you feel invincible, especially when it’s new,” Adella answered. “You might even feel a little… euphoric.”
Edie scoffed. “If Riley was doing it.”
“Because of all his power?” He asked.
Adella nodded, the tension their unfamiliarity with each other had created dissipating by the second.
He leaned into the curiosity. “How powerful is he?” His question was reverent even to his own ears, but their easy smiles dismissed his worry that the witches would not deem him worthy.
“You should be able to feel it.” The queen’s concern was a salve on his wounded psyche.
“It’s difficult to believe.” He looked at his hands, hoping his evasiveness would work.
The animal in him did not sense a threat from the three women, but that didn’t mean he could trust them with his affliction.
He’d only felt the extent of Riley’s power when he used it, but he should feel it at all times.
Now he could feel the enormous reserves his companions contained, and he guessed that it was only because of Caster’s effect on his wolf.
“Well…” Edie said, drawing his attention. “He’s the only one of his kind. The only one who can command and manipulate all four elements.”
Mark wasn’t sure what that meant, but he nodded anyway.
“Ready?” Edie extended a hand that he accepted. Adella did the same, and he hesitated. “We think it’s best if we do this together.”
He glanced at the queen, his confusion clouding his acceptance of the protection they offered.
“Our combined power will give you what you need.” Each of Edie’s words made sense on its own, but not together.
The queen placed a hand on his shoulder. “Honey, what you need is to be connected to my son, right?”
He frowned. What? How could she…
“Goddess, we are scaring you, aren’t we?” She took a breath. “I think we need to explain this better. Do you know how the protection spell that Caster wears will call Riley to him if he is in danger?”
Mark nodded. Caster had tried to explain it to him the night they’d been attacked by that monster, but he hadn’t understood it then, as he was certain he wouldn’t now.
“We thought it would be best if we connected this spell to Caster.” Edie squeezed his hand, her comfort all too real. “When you’re in danger, he will find you anywhere.”
Did they know? How could they, unless he’d told them?
“Honey, we were all there last night. No one in that room could deny the connection you have with each other.” The queen’s earnest conviction was clear. “I know my son.” She chuckled. “Better than he knows himself. He wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“But it is up to you,” Adella said. “We can do a standard protection spell that would call Edie or me to you if you’re ever in danger. Or we can connect it to Caster.”
He turned to the queen. “Does he know?”
He’d seen the same determination she wore now on Caster’s face numerous times. “Yes. It was his idea.”
Edie scoffed. “More like demand.”
Mark couldn’t help the smile. He resolved to analyze the implications of it at a later date, certain that defying Caster would not be a good idea. “OK.”
His right hand was still in Edie’s palm, and this time, when Adella held out her hand, he didn’t hesitate. The protection spell was necessary, but that didn’t stop the memory of his mother’s rant against everything witchcraft from invading his thoughts.
Edie gave him an encouraging nod, and both women began a chant in Latin.
The individual words were familiar, the phrases of each line like poetry that spoke of a different time.
His eyes closed of their own volition by the third repetition, his heart lifting as the words strung together into song.
One final chant and an energy he couldn’t fight drew his body forward, yet he remained rooted to his seat.
His wolf whined at the disturbance and then retreated to its slumber behind the psychic barrier.
His eyes popped open in time to see the copper bowl’s contents burst into flame.
Adella and Edie wore indulgent smiles as they released his hands.
The room seemed new, like it revealed a secret hidden from him before this moment. Would Caster feel it? He glanced at the queen, and she smiled, the spell’s effects drowning in his mortification that she’d heard that thought.
Then, just as she had earlier, her sudden movement startled him. “Now, how about tea, and you can tell us all about you.”