Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Monday morning, Solan stood on the back porch of the alphas’ house and watched his mate and Cinder work on spellcasting.
They were kneeling on a grassy patch under the shade of a maple tree, Kaeli’s spellbook between them, along with numerous witchy items like candles and containers.
Theron had stopped by earlier, out from under the tranquilizer’s effects thanks to Doc Whalen’s efforts.
Solan put him to work in the territory on patrol and would be joining him later that day as well.
For now, Solan was content to watch his mate.
He wanted her to learn how to keep herself safe with her magic, but he didn’t want to leave her side either. He knew he was being overprotective, but after Foley had come at them at the dealership, he didn’t think anyone was safe.
“Let’s try that one again,” Cinder said. “You’re not trying to bully the earth into helping you. You want to ask for and encourage its help. You’re North power, the earth is naturally attuned to you and wants to help you keep yourself and others safe.”
Kaeli exhaled loudly. Then she touched her fingertips to the ground and spoke a handful of words in what Solan had come to learn was the ancient language of Wiccans.
It sounded a bit like Greek to him, but there was something otherworldly about the words because they carried magic with them.
The ground shook slightly, and the air shimmered like a summer day’s haziness.
The shimmery haze popped loudly like a balloon, and Kaeli let out an eep.
Solan tried to stifle his chuckle at her reaction, but she clearly heard him, because she looked at him with a wry smile.
“I’m trying!” she said.
“You’re doing great, Nightling,” he called.
“He’s right,” Cinder said, sitting back on her heels. “But you’re trying to build a wall around yourself, and magic doesn’t like walls.”
“What?”
“Magic is always flowing, always moving. It doesn’t like to be caged.
Think river, not dam. You can direct the magic where you need it, but trying to wall it in won’t work.
” Cinder hummed for a moment, then said, “Think of this protection spell like a tripwire. You want to lay it where you need it and let it do its job.”
Kaeli brushed her hair out of her face and said, “All right.”
She laid her fingers on the ground again and spoke the spell, her brows drawn in concentration.
As the last words of the spell were spoken, something came alive.
He felt it before he saw the shimmer of a line between Kaeli and Cinder.
It had a very faint gold tone to it, and he felt the magic humming from the ground.
Kaeli swiped her hands apart, and the line spread out, moving fast across the ground.
The golden tone shimmered, the ground shook for a heartbeat, and then the golden shimmer disappeared.
But he could still feel the protection spell and knew that if anyone or anything crossed it, he’d feel it.
“Excellent,” Cinder said.
Kaeli closed down the spell and blew out a breath. “That’s like a perimeter alarm, right?”
“Yes, it just lets you know if you’re not alone.
And you have to be actively utilizing your magic.
With my lygisa power, I can set a protection ward around the territory that doesn’t sap my power.
But this one is good for short periods of time—like you could set it around the hunting territory on the full moon and it would help the pack be alert for danger. ”
“I’d like to do that,” she said.
“The next hunt, you definitely can,” Cinder said. “Let’s move on and find something you can use in a fight.” She flipped through the book and then said, “Ah. Here we go. This is perfect. It’s called binding thorns.”
While Cinder explained how Kaeli could call her magic to bring roots and thorns up from the ground and wrap them around anyone, Adam came out onto the porch.
“How goes the teaching?” Adam asked.
“Good.” For a moment, they listened as the females talked about spells that could be used in fights—casting mirages to fool an attacker, bringing dust up from the ground to obscure someone so they could flee.
Kaeli asked for more spells that would help the pack, and Cinder offered to call the North Corner Lorene to see if she was free for some tutoring in the art of keeping others safe.
“Brick is back tonight,” Adam said, looking at Solan.
“I’ll be glad to hand the security team reins over to him.”
“It’s a lot of work for sure. And especially now that Foley is ramping things up.”
Solan turned his attention away from his tempting mate and looked at his friend and alpha. “I’ve got some ideas for tomorrow to get the wolves to the dealership to work on the disabled vehicles.”
“Yeah?”
“We should have them leave before dawn. We’ll send two vehicles in advance to check the route, and we’ll surround the workers with plenty of security.
” Solan had worked up a plan to station security around the parking lot and building, including having several team members shift into their wolves to use their heightened senses of hearing and smell to detect anything out of the ordinary.
“I’ve kept the two teams pretty even,” Solan said.
“Half here and half at the dealership. I’ll be in charge of patrols here, and Gabriel will be in charge of the escort and dealership patrol. ”
“That sounds good.” Adam rubbed his chin, his eyes flashing amber.
“I wish we didn’t need to utilize the dealership, but it’s a good source of revenue for the pack.
And we can’t move it into Thorn Hollow, at least not while there are anti-shifter fanatics after our people, and it keeps getting targeted. ”
“We’ll keep everyone safe,” Solan said.
Solan looked at his mate as she cast a spell, bringing roots up from the ground and twirling them around Cinder’s arms. The two laughed, and Kaeli released the spell, the roots disappearing back into the earth.
Damn, she was amazing. Already able to harness her magic.
He didn’t want her to be in danger, but he wanted her to be able to keep herself safe if it did happen.
The females walked toward them, and Solan stepped off the porch to draw Kaeli into a hug. “I need to run a patrol route around the territory,” he said, kissing her cheek.
“I’m waiting for Lorene, and Cinder and I are both starving. I’ll make you a sandwich for when you get back.”
“I’d love that. See you in a bit.”
“Be careful,” she said.
“I promise. I’m going to patrol with Isaac so I won’t be alone.”
“Good.” She squeezed his hand and walked into the house, where Cinder was waiting.
Smiling to himself, he thought about how quickly he’d come to care for his sexy truemate. He walked to the security building to meet up with Isaac and head out. The sooner they finished his patrol route, the faster he could get back to his mate.
When they reached their house that evening, Kaeli knelt at the front porch steps.
“What are you up to?” he asked.
“Lorene showed me how to set anchors,” she said.
She took a black shiny rock from her pocket and traced a symbol into the bottom step—a small circle with three lines through it.
“This is blessed lava rock, and it’s used to make something called a constant cast. It’s a spell that the foundation of the house will remember once I cast it.
It’s a basic protection that draws from the earth and not my own magic. ”
He watched her as she opened the spellbook. “What happens if someone crosses the spell?”
“They won’t feel anything, but everyone inside the house will. A feeling of danger will pulse through the floorboards.”
“How long does it last?”
“Forever,” she said. “Or until I wipe the sigil away.”
She moved to the corner of the house and drew the same mark in the foundation, and he followed as she made her way around the house and stopped at each corner.
When she pressed her fingers to the original sigil on the step and spoke the spell, he felt the ground vibrate and smelled heat and dirt.
He knew it was a mixture of her magics working together.
“You just set a protection spell around our house,” he said. He was in awe of what he could feel she’d done, and how amazing she was.
She stood and closed the spellbook. “I wanted to do something for us. I’ve got work to do to learn how to fight back if someone comes after me or someone I care about—like you—but I can do this for us.”
He drew her close, the twilight sky making her look like a goddess deserving of worship. Ethereal, powerful, beautiful.
“I’m so proud of you.”
She smiled, her eyes glittering with happiness. “Let’s see where the night takes us.”
“You have the best ideas, Nightling.”