Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
“ W hat if Elijah puts a ward around the contract before you destroy it?” Aran asked as he sifted through the broken jars and dried herbs that had been spilled onto the floor. Most of it was too contaminated to be saved, but he was managing to salvage some. Liam knew he wouldn’t want to waste it by simply sweeping it up and throwing it away. Aran was no more capable of doing that than Liam was of tossing out a book.
“We can try, but I can’t see that helping.” Liam placed a protection spell on a grimoire he’d pulled out of the mess before continuing. “It might contain the inevitable explosion, but I think the result would be the spirit getting trapped inside that ward after the contract was destroyed.”
They’d been brainstorming as they tackled Elijah’s shop, though nothing they’d come up with seemed likely to destroy the spirits. Liam was making mental notes of things to try. Eventually something had to work. At least it offered a distraction from the other problems they were facing. It had been a full day, and they hadn’t heard from Pierce. They had no clue what was going on with him or his pack, and that lack of knowledge haunted Liam—a looming specter hanging over him as he cleaned the shop. How much danger was the pack in? Were they a threat?
“Too bad that fertility spell Elijah tried on the rot spirit wasn’t effective. I’m sure Kade would kindly assist you with that.”
“What now?” Kade asked as he righted one of the larger shelves that had been knocked over, his curiosity glittering through their bond.
Liam huffed. “It wasn’t a fertility spell. It was a—”
“ Four seasons ritual .” Aran’s tone was teasing. “Uh-huh. You could still try it. Maybe a sex ritual is exactly what this needs.”
“I keep telling him that,” Kade said, “but he won’t even let me read the sex ritual books.”
“I’ve got some you can borrow.”
“We don’t need any sex rituals,” Liam rushed to say before Kade could accept Aran’s offer.
Aran snorted. “Sex rituals are always needed. But fine. If we’re back to the boring pre-Kade Liam, maybe we ask Lady if she can destroy these things. She seems to know what’s up.”
“What do you suggest? We hold her out in front of us like she’s a newborn lion cub and cross our fingers the spirits bow down to her?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Literally anything that wouldn’t involve our immediate demise. Anointing her forehead alone would guarantee instant death.”
“I was thinking of lining up a bunch of books and seeing which she’d choose, but your version sounds more fun.”
The fact that Liam was considering it as an option didn’t bode well for the situation they were in.
He gently dusted off another book before placing protections on it. He’d done this spell hundreds of times; it came as naturally as breathing to him. Every book in the library was protected by it. The tomes in Elijah’s shop were in private circulation though, and while most had some form of protection on them, none were as strong as the library’s.
He set the book on the pile with the others, then paused. His brow furrowed, and he blinked at the spell on it before picking up the previous grimoire he’d done and studying it too.
This spell… It looked nothing like the library spell he was so familiar with. That was precise work, methodically applied. This was something completely different. It was art. It wrapped around the book, each page painted with magic—a delicate filigree with the strength of steel, protection that would withstand anything thrown at it.
“Everything alright?” Kade asked, and Liam jumped, setting the book aside.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” That might have been more convincing if he hadn’t sounded winded.
Kade raised a questioning eyebrow, and Aran side-eyed him.
“I remembered I need to check something in the sigil codex.” Liam stood, hurrying toward the staircase. “I’ll be right back.”
It wasn’t a lie, not entirely. He did want to check the codex, but not for something in it.
Once he was in the apartment, he grabbed his bag, pulled out the codex, and examined it. He’d cast this protection spell himself—it had been some of his best work—but compared to the ones he’d just done, it looked like a feeble attempt by an amateur.
Exhaling forcefully, he reached for the spell with his magic, watching it flicker and change as he reset it, the standard library protection spell transforming into something so much more, so much stronger. His breath caught in his throat.
It wasn’t to the same level as the magic Elijah did with Victor’s energy, but it was close. Far closer than Liam had ever believed it could be, more beautiful than any magic he’d ever done. This wasn’t the mage blood in Kade’s family making his energy easy to use. This was special.
Lady leapt onto the kitchen table and glared, her tail thumping against the wood.
“I’m… I’m an idiot, aren’t I?” he said, and she trilled in reply.
“You kind of are.”
He startled again, whipping his head around to find Aran leaning casually by the door.
Aran grinned at him. “I hope you enjoy having your channels stretched, because it seems like that’s how they’re supposed to be.”
Liam opened his mouth to argue. Even if his magic and Kade’s energy were compatible, did that mean anything? He had no desire to stay there, and Kade couldn’t leave. There was no future in that.
Before he could respond, Kade entered the room. “Are you sure everything’s alright? You feel unsettled.”
That was the understatement of the year. Unsettled didn’t begin to describe him. His thoughts were messier than Elijah’s shop. Out of all the things he’d been worried about happening while he was in Lost Creek, this hadn’t crossed his mind. How did a person stumble into a true bond with a shifter?
“I’m fine. Let’s get back to cleaning up the shop.”
Kade didn’t call him on the lie, but he did give him a skeptical look, and his disbelief seeped into their bond.
Aran’s expression was wry as Liam passed him and headed downstairs.
What the hell was Liam supposed to do with this information? It upended everything he knew about the world. Everything he’d assumed he knew. But given what had happened to Elijah, maybe he shouldn’t make assumptions.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kade work. Were they really that compatible?
Yes, Kade was attractive, but most shifters were. Yes, Liam was attracted to him, which was a rarer distinction, but attraction and compatibility were two different things. Did compatible magic and energy automatically mean he and Kade were compatible too?
Kade glanced over, and Liam quickly looked away.
On paper, Elijah and Victor wouldn’t have seemed right for each other, but somehow, they worked. No one would think he and Kade were a good fit, yet he also couldn’t deny how much he enjoyed the time they spent together.
A month ago, he would have said he had no interest in sharing a bed. He’d rather have his bedroom to himself so he could read in peace. But it was becoming difficult to imagine reading in bed without Kade next to him. Waking up without Kade wrapped around him. And that realization freaked him out. He wasn’t used to relying on someone; he always strove to be as independent as possible.
Kade’s concern brushed up against him, but he didn’t pressure Liam; he let him have his private freak-out for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. He didn’t bring it up until they were in bed, Liam curled up with a book from the attic, all its spells suddenly taking on a whole new dimension as he realized he could do every single one of them if they kept this bond.
“If I ask you what has you freaking out,” Kade said, a whisper of sadness in his words and in Liam’s mind, “are you going to say you’re fine?”
“Probably,” Liam admitted.
“Okay. But when you’re ready, I hope you’ll tell me.”
Liam swallowed and nodded. He would. He just needed to process it first.
Liam threw himself into cleaning Elijah’s shop, like eradicating the disorder there would help excise it from inside him as well.
Between him, Kade, Aran, and a handful of shifters from both Victor and Grant’s packs, they had it ready for business far quicker than he would have expected. It was early afternoon on the fourth day after the new moon, and there was nothing left for them to do. The other shifters had headed out, leaving Liam alone with Kade and Aran.
He stood behind the counter and gazed around the shop. The shelves were emptier—too much of the inventory had been damaged beyond saving—and they’d stay that way until Elijah could restock them. It wasn’t high on his to-do list though. He hadn’t bothered opening the shop in weeks. Liam was certain he’d have it up and running again after this was finished, but Elijah’s priorities were no longer focused on making the shop profitable, so he didn’t seem upset by the potential loss of sales and customers during the downtime.
A sense of satisfaction filled Liam at completing this task, but now that it was taken care of, he didn’t know what to do. His theories on how to destroy the spirits were half-baked at best, and he wasn’t sure how to handle Kade. And those were only a fraction of his worries—of everyone’s worries.
Kade checked his phone, frowning at the screen.
“Still no reply?” Liam asked.
“Still unread.”
Liam grimaced. That couldn’t be good.
Elijah and Miles had spent the last few days hunting down the spirits that remained on Victor’s and Grant’s territories. They were so small that they were hard to find in the forest, but they didn’t present much of a threat. The spirits on Niall’s land were another matter altogether. They were growing larger, the ash over his territory on the maps darkening with each day. Whenever Liam saw it, anxiety constricted his chest and sent his stomach churning. What was happening to the pack trapped inside Niall’s wards, surrounded by those spirits?
There’d been debate over whether they should be worried for the pack or about them. Miles’s primary concern had been their health. They hadn’t seen them in weeks. The pack might have been incapacitated by the spirit. Aran seemed convinced they were plotting something, while Elijah thought there was a chance they’d become too paranoid to go outside their territory, fearing the mages would attack them if they showed any sign of weakness. Liam found it easiest to worry about all of it.
No matter how he looked at it, the conclusion was the same. The longer they waited, the worse it would get. That didn’t mean they had a solution though.
“Do you think we’d see anything if we scouted around their territory?” Aran asked.
Kade shrugged. “The wards seem to be concealing whatever’s behind them, but we might be able to sense if the barrier is weakening. That would point to the pack getting weaker.”
“Beats sitting around, waiting for someone else to make a move.”
Liam had to have misheard that. “What? No. If they notice us, it might provoke them.”
“We’d need to avoid touching their wards, but we should be able to get close without them realizing we’re there as long as we’re careful,” Kade said.
Liam stared at him. “You can’t honestly think this is a good plan.”
“Aran’s right. Do we want to wait around for them to attack us? Or for the mages to do it? We might find something that will help.”
“Elijah and Victor won’t allow that. It’s too risky.”
It was Aran’s turn to shrug. “Let’s ask them tonight.”
“Okay…” Liam doubted they’d get the go-ahead. It was a terrible idea. But if they got approval, it would give him another job to do besides failing to figure out what to do about the spirits and failing to figure out what to do about Kade.