CHAPTER 5
Mark found Edie waiting for him in her assigned room. He sighed when she was alone. Both sides of him trusted both her and Riley’s mother, but until he had more to go on, this was something he wanted to do alone.
Her smile lit her beautiful face as he approached, her hair bouncing with the movement as she leaned over the table to reach for her teacup.
He smiled back, relaxing further in her presence. She seemed calm enough, but the full extent of her power crackled in the room, its significant energy signature powerful enough for the animal in him to see its distinct red aura around her.
“Come. Sit. Have some tea.” She indicated the delicate tea set, its beauty a sharp contrast to the ugliness of the topic he’d come to discuss.
Still, he did as instructed, reaching for the second steaming cup. His heightened senses picked up a strong chamomile scent and several other herbs he could have deciphered had he not been too distracted.
She smiled her encouragement, and he took a sip. Warmth spread through his body, soothing his broken heart, and his wolf sighed. He answered with a sigh of his own, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment further.
“Good, huh?” Her voice was not enough to draw him away from the magnificent feeling a second sip brought.
“What’s in this?” Even the tension he’d heard in his voice earlier was gone.
The brilliance of Edie’s smile did not falter. “I have a friend who is great at healing potions. I thought you’d need one.” She took a sip. “It’s Chamomile and healing earth magic.”
He nodded, his wolf so calm, he was almost asleep. His wolf’s complete trust in Edie gave him the courage to ask for what he needed.
“You need to know how he can be alive and if he’s the same wolf you knew before?”
Had she just… It didn’t matter how she knew. “Yes.”
Her frown was not encouraging. “Well… there’s a reason the Grand Coven warns against resurrection spells, especially if the soul had already crossed over to the Underworld.”
She placed her teacup on the table between them, her frown deepening.
“Though I don’t think he’d crossed over, given everything we know about Ethel now.”
Mark followed her lead, abandoning the healing tea mixture for the thoughts forming behind her expression. “You’re saying he may have been alive this whole time.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. But if not, then he may have been stuck in that void Caster had found. Resurrection spells are easiest when a soul is caught in that space, though we can’t rule out Ethel’s power.”
She stood, and he restrained himself from following her.
“She’s strong enough to call his soul from the Underworld.”
Edie’s last words as she walked away from him into the adjacent bedroom penetrated a mind still stuck on the possibility Zeke may have been alive this whole time.
Had he? Had Mark’s ten-year battle with grief been for nothing?
Hope blossomed through the betrayal. Mark’s guilt lessened.
He hated himself even for thinking it, given the pain he’s suffered, but if Zeke was capable of such betrayal, then he’d never loved him, and Mark was free of the guilt of loving Caster with Zeke looming over them.
“Here it is…” Edie’s words sailed past his hope as she placed a large book on the table, using it to push the tea set aside. Her fingers pointed to words in Latin, a wreath surrounding the edges of the page.
“What is it? A resurrection spell?”
She shook her head. “No. This will help us see how long his soul was trapped before Ethel’s resurrection spell.”
Did he want to know? If he’d been alive the whole time Mark had been grieving his death, then Mark would be free of his obligation to him, free to love Caster. But what if he hadn’t? What if he’d really been dead?
Edie reached for his hand. “We can wait for Caster. You might need him…”
Mark shook his head too fast. “No.”
Edie jumped at the forceful denial, the single word reverberating through the spacious room.
He squeezed her hand, trying to find his composure in the mess of jumbled-up emotions he’d lost control of. “I want to know before I go to him. I owe him an explanation… at least.”
The world of sadness contorting Edie’s face did not come close to the burden his heart shouldered. He needed Caster. Whatever he found here, that would always remain true. He didn’t know he could survive any of it without him.
“OK.” She squeezed his hand and released it before re-taking the seat she had abandoned earlier, the large book now in her lap.
The full tremendous force of her power filled the room as her eyes skimmed the words on the page.
She glanced at him. “It would be easier if we had something he’d touched.”
She shook her head, her focus back on the page. “But…”
“He touched my wolf.”
Her head snapped up so fast, Mark stopped mid-thought. “What?” She placed the book on the table and sat straighter, the full extent of her power now so palpable, its effect warmed his skin.
He frowned.
“Tell me everything.”
Mark’s wolf retreated to its hiding space as his description of Zeke’s influence on him brought unwanted images of the threat they’d both faced. When he was done, Edie’s green eyes were filled with tears, her exhale audible.
The full extent of her considerable Power of the Fire didn’t diminish. “She enhanced him?” The awe in her voice didn’t bode well for him. She leaned back into the couch, the spell book she’d brought a forgotten memory. “I think we need to find Amelia.”
“Why?”
Her breath was sharp. “If he can infiltrate your mind and control your wolf, it is safe to assume he can do the same with other wolves.”
“Yes. Dean and James are trying to find out how many wolves may be on his side. On the witch’s side.”
“No.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I mean, yes… that’s a problem. But I am more worried about you, my dear.”
He frowned, his wolf whining its disapproval.
“Your brother had to practice to get good at controlling other wolves, right?”
He nodded. Dean said it was never easy, especially when he needed to exert his control on more than one wolf at the same time.
“Zeke may be doing the same thing right now. If he gets very good at it, you won’t be able to resist him.”
“I didn’t. I woke up. That’s why he was…”
Edie’s shaking head stopped him. “No, honey. You resisted him.”
He frowned.
“Has your brother ever controlled your wolf?”
It was a long time ago, and Dean had promised he’d only do it when necessary. The need for it had never arisen. “Yes…”
“Were you able to resist?”
Mark searched his memory for the single instance when his brother had exerted total control over his wolf.
It had been right after their mother’s death, and Mark had refused to attend her funeral.
Having tried and failed to convince him he would regret the decision, Dean had taken control, forcing Mark to sit through the somber ceremony and confront his confused feelings for the woman he loved more than life, but who never seemed to return that love.
He’d refused to speak to his brother for months, only forgiving Dean when he promised never to do it again.
Edie’s indulgent smile met him as he sailed past the pain of that memory to float back to the present. He shook his head to answer her question, an answer she’d already deduced.
“If we don’t do something fast, he will get stronger, and soon you and all other wolves will be unable to resist him.”
The implication of her words burdened his soul, breaking his heart. Yet, his mind did not search for solutions; it reached for Caster. Where was he? Mark was unsure why, but he was certain he needed Caster’s strength if he had any hope of fighting this.
Everything narrowed to this need. Edie spoke, made plans to contact Riley and Adella, and he may have granted her his permission to share their conversation with them; he couldn’t be sure. His mind drowned in the need for Caster, his wolf howling for the one man who held both their strength.