Chapter 8
8
J ackson took Amanda’s hand and squeezed. “Are you okay?”
“Nope.”
He leaned closer and kissed her cheek. The more time he spent in her presence, the stronger the pull. Some of his wolf friends had described imprinting as a promise of a future. Others as a stake or a claim.
But every wolf he knew described mating as an uncontrollable need. A thirst that could only be quenched by one person.
Both were sudden. Shockingly violent to the wolf core. And regardless of the species the wolf mated with, they would feel the same adrenaline rush roar through their system. They might not know exactly what it meant. But their need to fulfill their purpose, their role, it would be too strong to deny.
This wasn’t quite like that for Jackson. He understood that someone had fucked with his aura. His soul. And that affected his ability to connect with his mate. But he thought once Trask banished the spell, then all should be right. That he should have this overwhelming sense of duty and admiration for his mate. However, while his feelings for Amanda grew stronger by the second, the sudden rush to be her everything hadn’t happened.
Yet.
Why he wanted it to, he had no idea.
“Are you nervous about being here?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’ve always maintained that there’s nothing special about me as a royal or an actress. I’ve thought signing my name across an image for a fan was weird. I didn’t understand the excitement. Or why anyone would wait hours in the cold before a witch coven or red-carpet event to get a glimpse of me. It seemed ridiculous. But now I get the hype.” She glanced up at him with excitement beaming in her eyes. “There are no pictures of the wolfairies. Or of Trask’s little one.” She pointed her finger toward the massive house nestled in front of the woods in Vermont. “There are only paintings of this place. My sister, Arianna, she once wrote an article about a wolf who painted the most gorgeous picture of this farm. It’s hanging in some obscure out of the way gallery in Saratoga Springs. The wolf won’t give interviews. He’s some recluse of some kind. Once, I traveled with Arianna to see that painting.” She fanned herself and chuckled as massive amounts of pink and blue fairy dust floated toward the sky. “It literally took our breath away. We had to step outside for fresh air. It was spectacular.”
“Does seeing it in person have the same effect on you?”
“It certainly seems to affect this stuff.” She wiggled her fingers. More fairy dust glided across the air, landing on Jackson’s hands and circling his arms and upper body. It made a faint whisper of a noise. Almost as if it were giggling.
He gathered it between his palms and tried to toss it through the breeze, but it boomeranged back to his chest and danced around his body. “I guess it likes me.”
“How many times have you been to the farm?” she asked.
“I’m required now to come four times a year since accepting a role as alpha,” he said. “I was scared the first time five years ago. But I was summoned. I worried that my father had done something in prison and Titus and the council were going to have to punish my family for it and somehow it would ruin my life once again.” Jackson leaned against his Jeep, tugging her to his chest and wrapping his arms around her waist. Fairy dust floated from her thick lashes and landed playfully on his nose. “I have to know if you feel the pull. The connection to me. I need to know if it’s real.”
Her hands dropped to his shoulders and she tilted her head. “I’m obviously attracted to you.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” He tucked a thick chunk of hair behind her ear and gazed into her big blue orbs. He could get lost in there, and that thick emotion made him more confident that she was his, and that thought filled his blood with the purest rush of adrenaline a wolf could experience.
But it also terrified him because she was a witch, a fairy, and now his mate.
If the Legend of the Fated Moons was true—his life as he knew it was over.
And she and her sisters were about to change the world.
“The spell that prevented me from mating with you has had a lingering effect on the way I—as a wolf—am responding to you.” He took her hand and pressed it against the center of his chest. “It’s there. I know it is. I sense it. But I wonder if I’m broken and unable to fully do what I’m supposed to as a wolf because of the black magic that was used on me and stuck with me for so many years.”
She palmed his cheek. Her fairy dust soaked into his skin like warm rays of sunshine. It bubbled through his bloodstream, carrying tiny little pieces of her sweetness through his body. “I felt something the moment I saw you. While I still need time and space, I can admit that an attachment with my heart is undeniable. I also know my aura is linked to yours in ways that only soulmates are.”
He jerked his head back. “Can you see your own aura?”
She smiled and laughed softly. “No. Not even in a mirror. Some witches have used black magic, but there are serious consequences in doing that.”
“Such as?”
“For each witch, it’s different and it depends on which layer you dive into and the purpose of the search.” She threaded her fingers through his hair. “It doesn’t matter if the witch was looking for something bad inside themselves, they would suffer something far greater.”
“There are a lot of rules to being a witch.”
“There are. We are bound by our witchcraft as much as you are bound by your connection to your animal side. The only difference is we aren’t governed by a physical transformation that rules our nature.” She leaned closer, easing her knee between his legs and pressing her chest against his. “We have what humans refer to as free will.”
“We do too.” He smoothed his hands over her round ass. “But I suppose the bigger difference is that we can’t change the nature of being a wolf or the call to the wild. And when a wolf’s crimes require the worst punishment of having the wolf sucked out of him or her, that can only be done by a powerful witch or wizard.” He took her mouth in a slow, tender kiss. A claiming kiss. One intended to let her know she was loved. Cared for.
But also desired.
It wasn’t intentional. It was innate. Necessary. Commanded. As a wolf, he was duty-bound to let his mate know she would forever be in his heart.
“Hey, you two,” a familiar male voice echoed in the background.
Amanda dropped her head to his shoulder.
He chuckled, running his hands up and down her back. “Oh, hi, Chaz.” Jackson gripped her hips, prying her from her tight embrace. He laced his fingers through hers and tugged her down the gravel path. “This is Lady Amanda Windsor.”
“It’s so nice to meet you.” Chaz adjusted two toddlers who rode on his hips. One yanked at his hair, the other pulled on his ear. Both giggled the whole time. “These are my twins. Finn and Ivy. Say hello you two.”
As they both turned and waved, fairy dust sprinkled off their little bodies.
“Oh my.” Amanda glanced down. It was as if her body opened, and a rainbow river flowed out of her. “That hasn’t happened before.”
“It’s an everyday occurrence here.” Chaz set the two toddlers down.
Both Ivy and Finn ran around, laughing hysterically as they weaved in and out of the dust.
“The twins can call it from other fairies, and they can command it to do things. We have no idea how or why they can, and since their language with us is limited, it might be a while before we find out.” Chaz stretched out his arm and took Amanda’s hand, lifting it to his lips and pressing them against her palm.
“Why doesn’t Dayton know? Isn’t he a wolfairy?” Amanda asked.
Chaz nodded. “It gets confusing because his spirit was split into wolf and fairy and the history books state his mother was a human. Yet the books that have been written on the farm tell us she was a wolfairy. But what’s interesting is the pairings and their importanc me for the wolfairies to continue. It’s not like…” He glanced down at his pant leg.
Both his children were tugging at his jeans and calling, “Daddy.”
“What is it?” Chaz planted his hands on his hips.
“Shift. Daddy. We want to shift,” Finn said.
“May we?” Ivy asked.
“Thank you for asking.” Chaz pointed to the side of the house. “We don’t want to scare our guest. Shift and then come right back. Do you hear me?”
Both toddlers nodded and then ran off, their arms flapping wildly.
“Where was I?” Chaz turned and strolled toward the porch. “Oh yes, how some creatures are created. If a wolf and a witch mate, no new species are born. You could have an offspring that has no wolf form. Only witch tendencies. However, the wolf tends to be dominant in that scenario. But mix other species, and something magical happens. We don’t know why the universe has chosen to hide these creatures.” Chaz waggled his finger. “There are exceptions to that rule, like Hollie, Trask’s mate. The watchers lived in bubbles for centuries and they protected the few pure wolfairies left. We’ve documented fifty that have been pushed out into this realm and who have mated with chosen wolves. But we have no idea how many there really are.”
“How is that possible?” Amanda asked.
“The watchers are a controversial program that we’d like to believe doesn’t exist anymore. They work because we don’t know about them. Only, when they cross a line, it causes a ripple effect in our world.” Chaz shook his head. “Thinking about this stuff gives me a headache.”
The sound of a couple of young pups yelping caught Jackson’s attention. He turned his head as Ivy and Finn rounded the corner, tumbling over each other. Jackson laughed, remembering what it was like playing with his younger siblings.
Chaz pointed to the little wolfairies growling and wagging their tails in the yard. “Though, those two over there make it all worth it.”
“They are adorable.” Amanda smiled.
The porch door screeched, and Isadore stepped out holding the hands of her twins, Jasper and Daria. Jasper immediately howled and craned his neck.
“Oh no. You little rascal,” Isadore said with a big sigh. “You’re not supposed to do that in front of company.” She waggled her finger. “Daria, you better be a good girl and go around to the back of the house.”
“Yes, Mommy.” The girl fumbled down the steps but didn’t make it more than twenty paces away.
“At least she tried,” Chaz said.
“Oh my. Look at you.” Isadore pointed at Amanda.
“Shit,” Jackson mumbled, staring at his mate who floated two feet off the ground and was covered in so much fairy dust you could barely see her.
“Out of the cauldron?—”
“Do not use witchcraft,” Isadore interrupted Amanda. “Focus on the energy in your heart and think about lowering yourself to the floor. Visualize it in your mind.”
Amanda slowly inched closer to the floorboards.
“That’s it, babe. You got this.” Jackson reached for her hand.
“Easy for you to say. I can feel this stuff overtaking me. It’s like it’s got a mind of its own,” Amanda said.
“It does.” Isadore ducked her head into the house. “Drew, we need the resident fairy dust collector.”
“A fairy what now?” Amanda asked as her feet hit the floor.
“My sister, Coral’s husband. He’s a master at collecting the stuff without it suffocating you,” Isadore said. “Sometimes the dust gets worried a person might try to banish it, so it gets a little ornery when you collect it. Drew doesn’t set off that vibe, for some reason. We think it’s his baby face.”
Drew stepped out onto the patio and jerked his head. “Damn. Not sure I’ve ever seen so much fairy dust come off one person. You must be Lady Amanda.”
“I am,” Amanda said.
Drew raised his arms, waving his hands through the thick dust as it formed a ball. He tossed it up into the sky before creating another one. And then another one. “I suspect it’s because of the children and the rest of them are going to be heading outside shortly. Isadore, why don’t you take Lady Amanda inside? You girls can chat in the sunroom.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Isadore took Amanda by the hand, and they disappeared inside the house just as four more toddlers stumbled by.
“Don’t shift until you’re around the side of the house,” Dayton commanded. “I’m getting tired of telling you little rug rats.”
“Yes, Daddy,” one of them said.
“I always listen, Uncle Dayton,” another said.
“Yeah, right you do.” Dayton rolled a cooler across the porch and pointed across the vast yard. “Here comes Trask with Ali.” Dayton laughed. “Watch this. The only one of those wolfairies that will sense what she’s doing is Finn and that’s partly because they’ve imprinted. But also because Ali and Finn are so much more disciplined. Even more so than my two pain-in-the-ass kids.”
Jackson turned, covering his eyes from the glare of the sun. Ali crunched up in the grass and crawled on her belly, staying low and nearly hidden in the grass.
“She’s going to turn her fairy dust colors into a combination of the sky and the ground beneath her paws. Royal fairies can’t do that quite the way wolfairies can. It’s amazing. It will keep her hidden.”
“I wonder which unsuspecting pup she will choose to…” Chaz laughed. “I guess Finn decided to get her first, and not a single one of us saw that coming.”
“Like I said. He pays attention during lesson time. Not to mention, he’s the future leader of this wolf pack. He and Ali will face many challenges.” Dalton was not only tall but wide. He was even bigger than Jackson in his wolf form, which was impressive. “As will my son Dromon and his mate as king and queen. But that is the future, and we have things of the present that need to be discussed.”
“I just met the lovely Lady Amanda.” Nico, the protector of the wolfairies, made his way onto the porch and down the steps. He plopped down in the front yard as all the young wolfairy pups played with each other. They had grown so much since the last time Jackson had seen them. At this age, being in wolf form was more fun for them to roam and play than in their human forms. However, according to Trask, they needed to break up their time, learning to control both their wolf nature as well as their fairy tendencies, even though they were technically neither. It was a delicate dance.
Drew, the youngest of the brothers, sat on the front steps with his legs stretched out. It was hard to believe the boy was a father. But he too had matured and took his role in the pack quite seriously. He was more of a liaison between the fairies and the council, since the fairies still needed to be granted a seat at the Twilight Crossing Council meetings. Because there were so many creatures who feared the fairies, it was decided they shouldn’t attend at all.
Jackson believed that to be wildly unfair. The meeting locations were kept secret and the security was run only by Chaz’s pack. But Jackson had kept his opinion to himself. Perhaps at the next pack meeting, he would vocalize his thoughts.
Trask leaned against the railing, chuckling while his little pup, Ali, tried to get the attention of her fate-mated, Finn, who was more interested in tugging at Nico’s pant leg.
Eight little wolfairies and one wolfairy witch in all and not one of these fathers showed any stress of being a parent. Jackson couldn’t imagine. He still wrestled with the idea that he’d imprinted a royal witch when he’d been four years old and that it was all part of some bigger cosmic plan relating back to the Legend of the Fated Moons.
He swallowed.
That meant that when the two moons did appear in the sky, he’d too become a father and that wasn’t something he thought he’d ever be prepared for, much less want. Only, now that he could feel the connection tightening with Amanda, it was something he desired more than ever. More so than his career and certainly more than this movie.
“How are you feeling?” Trask asked.
“Well enough,” Jackson said. “Prince Albert thought it might be a good idea for you to make sure there isn’t any chance pieces of either spell were left behind somewhere in my aura. The whole idea that she could look inside me like that freaks me out. She mentioned reading auras is some great witch power of hers.”
“First, she shouldn’t have looked inside without your permission. That was wrong. Second, reading auras and understanding what they mean is very different.” Trask inched closer. “And third, I should be insulted that the prince would think I could have left anything behind, but since you’re his daughter’s fated mate, I will humor him.”
“There’s another reason I want you to look,” Jackson said.
Trask arched a brow.
“I’ll be honest. Everything that has happened is freaking me out. On the one hand, I’m damn glad to know that it was a spell that caused all this unlucky bullshit since my Oscar win. But the rest of it?” He shook his head. “It scares the crap out of me.” He raised his hand. “But if it’s true, and I’m not saying I believe all of it one way or the other. However, let’s say it is. I’m worried that I’m broken or something because imprinting and mating, it’s not happening like it’s supposed to.” He jerked his finger over his shoulder. “She might be coming into her fairy exactly like it’s written, but something is wrong with me.”
“I doubt that.” Trask waved his hand over Jackson’s head. “Shut your eyes. This might hurt a little.”
“I’m so tired of this shit,” Jackson muttered, but he did as instructed. His skin prickled with the sensation of pins and needles slamming into his skin. It felt as though someone peeled back his skin and poured rubbing alcohol on the open layers. He gritted his teeth and did his best not to growl like a baby.
“There. All done. Nothing was left behind. And you’re not broken. Everything is where it’s supposed to be. There’s no break. Not even a crack,” Trask said. “However, the wolf parts of you that the blocking spell touched, specifically the mating part, is weakened. I can see that it’s growing stronger. It will simply take time.”
“Thanks. I think.” He shook before chugging half his beer.
“I heard you have a whole list of questions for us?” Nico asked. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to answer them, but we’ll try.”
Jackson blew out a puff of air. “How is it that her mother has no real powers and doesn’t come from a royal bloodline?” He raised his hand. “I get the whole concept about how Amanda’s fairy powers wouldn’t appear until she mated but wasn’t that all before the wolfairies and while the royal fairies were still being held in some bottle? Before Norse and Dayton were reunited as one?”
“Sounds like someone has been brushing up on their history.” Dayton chuckled. “That is all true for wolves mating with royal fairies. Daphne is a pure royal fairy, so it came as a shock when we found some wolf in her bloodline. Coral and Isadore are about as fairy as one can be, even though they were raised as witches. My mate is a wolf but has royal fairy blood. I am a wolfairy, but I was not born the way you all were. My fairy heart was cast into a spirit named Norse and attached to my sister’s being, while my wolf form was banished into a soulless creature. Trask is a unique species. A wizard fairy. His mate is a wolfairy. What we know is that wolves have always mated differently than other creatures. It is in their nature to imprint or to instantly mate. The same is true of wolfairies. But fated mates go much deeper. The bonds are stronger. It is the difference between what is written in the sand and what is written in the stars. It cannot be challenged, though it can be destroyed.”
“And it can be changed.” Trask clasped his hands together. A bright-green ball appeared. “Fairy magic is very different from witchcraft. It’s why the two have often been at odds and why witches have feared fairies.”
“But you are both, and you’re not telling me anything I don’t know.” Jackson didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but he desperately needed answers.
“This is true,” Trask said. “While witchcraft is both something you are and a skill, being a fairy is very different. There are no spells. No potions. It’s all energy.” He tossed the ball into the air. “This is magic. It can be used for good. Or it can be used for evil. It depends on the person. The coven. The spell being used to create the magic. Most witches need to recite something to make that ball.”
“How come you don’t?” Jackson asked. “Or Prince Alfred?”
“There are levels of witchcraft and there are a variety of things that dictate how far you can go. One factor is your position in your coven. Another is the role you take. For example, a protector would have to achieve a higher level of witchcraft than, say, ritual master,” Trask said. “When I went to wizard school, it should have been impossible for me to obtain a high priest status. At the time, I was considered half-human. But the coven I technically belonged to had no seer and no high priest and desperately needed both. And a little piece of Toldar always made up my organic structure, so I defied the odds, even though as Toldar, I’m the highest wizard master possible, in part because I’m also a fairy. As far as the prince is concerned, he doesn’t need commands because he comes from the royal bloodline, technically the same as mine, and he’s the highest-ranking person in his coven. He’s mastered the highest level of witchcraft possible next to me.” He clapped his hands together, and the ball disappeared. Then he waved his hands and dust particles appeared. His feet lifted off the ground, and he spun around before dropping back to the porch. “That was fairy magic, for lack of a better word.”
“What makes them different?” Jackson asked.
“Any witch or wizard could learn to make a green ball and toss it around. But only a fairy could create dust and use it to do things,” Trask said. “Like how Lady Amanda levitated earlier. It was the dust doing it, but she’ll learn to harness it. It some ways, it’s so much more powerful than witchcraft, but there is a need for both.”
“But can’t some witches fly?” Jackson set his beer to the side. “I mean, Prince Alfred did.”
“Only a high priest within my bloodline, and they need my permission to do it. But it takes time and a great deal of discipline to learn. Prince Alfred is the only one that I know who can.” Trask laughed. “And to be honest, fairy dust makes it much easier.”
“This is way too confusing,” Jackson muttered. “If Amanda is in your bloodline, doesn’t that make her a royal fairy?”
“No.” Trask shook his head. “My bloodline has never mixed with royal fairies. By myself, I’m not unique. I’m either a wizard or a fairy. What makes me Toldar is the fact that I was created by an evil fairy who possessed a human and my father was a wizard.”
Perhaps all that made logical sense to everyone else, but Jackson’s head spun. Time to move on to the next topic. “I was told new history books are being written and that Amanda and I might be the focal point. What are they saying?”
Chaz lifted what looked like a sketch pad from the table and handed it to Jackson. “It’s more pictures than words, and we don’t know what it means yet. Cheryl will study it as new pages are added. Mostly, it happens in real time. Like the other day when Amanda looked inside your aura.”
“I feel like a damn guinea pig.” Jackson flipped open the book. The first page showed them in Paul’s office. The following page was about a near car accident. Then the fake wolves. Then there was Amanda’s near-death experience.
And now there was him sitting on the steps with Chaz and his family.
But nothing that told him what to expect.
“Flip to the last page,” Dayton said.
Jackson thumbed through the book of mostly blank pages. His heart lurched to his throat as he stared at his home, which was about an hour north of the city, nestled in the woods not far from the Hudson. It was barely a sketch. Not very detailed. But he knew his house and this structure belonged to him.
Above the roof were two moons hanging in the night sky.
“That’s how we know this is about the two of you,” Drew said.
“What do you all make of what is happening?” Jackson asked.
Trask sat beside him, resting his hand on Jackson’s shoulder. “The spells have been broken. Your soul is now free. But it will be a struggle for it to grab the life it was destined to live because of the darkness that held it for so long. You need to go home and embrace your mate. Live your life. Let it come to you like it was supposed to years ago.”
“The prince wants me to act like I’ve been dating his daughter for a while now. He wants to flush out whoever cast the spells in the first place,” Jackson said. “He said that you all agree.”
“We do.” Trask nodded.
“We need to find the culprit,” Chaz said.
“They need to face the Twilight Crossing Council,” Drew added. “And be punished for their crimes. This is how we do that. The only problem is, we have no idea how long it will take.”
“When I first met Daphne, all this was set in motion, and we believed that once the Legend of the Princess and the Wolf was complete, we were safe. But then we learned of the Spring Fling and the dangers that brought.”
“Not to mention my mate was possessed by half of her brother’s spirit,” Drew said. “Talk about crazy shit.”
“Try putting a massive wolf without a soul back together with a man-toddler who has sex on the brain.” Cheryl, Dayton’s mate, appeared at the door. “I don’t know if it’s too much fairy energy for Lady Amanda, but she’s literally bouncing off the walls in there.”
Jackson jumped to his feet and raced past Cheryl. “Oh my God.”
“Let me help.” Drew stepped around Jackson and raised his hands. The dust lifted him off the ground and flung him across the room like a sack of potatoes. He fell to the floor with a loud thud. “What the fuck? That has never happened before.”
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to do. I’m trying to control it. I really am.” Amanda hovered over the floor in the family room. Her body was covered in dust. It was as if she were a fairy ghost. “Jackson, help me.”
“Not sure if I can.” He inched closer, first focusing on the fairy dust. He stretched out his arms, waving his hands through the particles, feeling a combination of ice and heat prickle his skin. It coated his body, seeping into his pores as if it were a part of him. A part of his soul.
Slowly, she lowered into his arms as the dust disappeared.
“All she needed was her mate,” Cheryl said. “I should have thought of that.”
“You okay?” He cupped her face.
“No. Not really. But I’ll live.” She nodded.
“We should get going. We have a long drive ahead of us. But I do have one more question for you all.” He wrapped his arm around her waist. “How do we go about finding out who put that spell on me?” Jackson asked.
Trask laughed. “Unfortunately, many witches and wizards use undocumented black magic. That spell was twenty-eight years old. Even though I got a good look at it while I was casting it out, I couldn’t tell who did it.”
“That’s assuming it was done when I was four.” Jackson let out a long breath.
“It was done sometime before you were six based on where it was embedded in your aura,” Trask said. “Look. We all understand a lot has been thrown at you in a short period of time. Chaz went on a blind date and ended up unlocking the first royal fairy, which set in motion the Legend of the Princess and the Wolf. Poor Nico over there was mated with what we all thought would be the destruction of Chaz’s twins. And my mate was possessed by my evil mother who wanted to kill Finn and Ivy and steal my powers. We’ve all had our share of weirdness, but when all is said and done…” He waved his hand in the direction of the wolfairy pups. “None of us would change a thing. Go home. Announce your relationship because the reality is that it was predicted. Someone might have tried to stop it, but they failed. We’ll keep an eye on what’s being written in the new history books. If anything else happens, let us know.”
“That’s it?” Jackson asked.
“No,” Trask said. “Whatever this is, it’s not over. We all need to be prepared. But we must follow our fates until we know what we’re preparing for.” He pointed toward the sky. “We wait for the two moons.”
Only, no one knew when that was going to happen.