Chapter 22
Isat on the sofa, my fingers running over the pages and making the messaging appear and disappear like magic. But that was the extent of what I had: parlor tricks. The only thing that hinged on power was the magic that pulsed from the peculiar book.
I’d found a magic book but had been plunged into social silence.
Where I had been evading Corrine, Belham, and William, now they hadn’t returned my calls.
The world could be devolving into shambles, and I wouldn’t know because the coven and the vampires were silent.
Even my pet hadn’t returned. That was most concerning to me.
My small collection of spells was next to me as I attempted to pull from whatever magic was in the book to reveal a message. Without my own magic, I had nothing.
Leaning into the book, I kept my hand on the pages. “Reveal.” My confidence that it would work was zero, but it was worth a try.
“What are you?” I asked, and in response it warmed, and the magic felt sentient and familiar.
Grabbing my phone, I looked through my contacts.
The only person who could help was Amelia.
I couldn’t even bring Rachel in without breaking my oath.
Running my finger across my binding mark, I thought of Cirrian.
I hadn’t gone this long without seeing him.
Dismissing the idea that I missed him, I gave a shake of my head.
If he had been gone this long, was it due to collections or his role as an amused spectator of demons vying for Diehle’s territory?
I wasted several hours searching for Darren and Jamillah.
I wasn’t bold enough to ask for their contact information from William after having avoided him for days, even if he was now avoiding me.
Waiting for my termination message and hoping for severance pay, I put on my running shoes and headed out the door.
I needed to clear my head. Establish a plan.
Running along the trail, I noticed the warmth of the sun and my nervous energy had both been spent.
My enjoyment of the rustling of the leaves from the trees surrounding me was interrupted by the lithe steps behind me of someone who clearly wanted their presence known.
Whipping around, I extended my baton with a flick of my wrist and assumed a look of confidence to let my stalkers know I wasn’t a novice with its use.
Recognizing them didn’t change anything.
Sidled next to Terran was his Paddington Bear companion.
He might have possessed the adorable look of the teddy, but there wasn’t anything cuddly about him.
More grizzly than companionable stuffed animal.
He was the essence of coiled violence as his long legs ate up the distance between us.
Their menacing smirks made me grip the baton tighter.
Terran inched closer with measured, stalking steps. Clearly his wolf half was in control.
“I’ve been thinking about you since our last meeting,” he admitted. Nothing flattering or salacious about the comment. It was cold, calculating, and curious.
“Okay? That sounds like a you problem?”
“But it’s not,” his companion’s thick British accent asserted. “We need to know what abilities you possess that had such an effect on our Alpha, Takara Bennett.”
Nothing good ever followed the use of my government name. I was being reprimanded for something that I had no knowledge or control of.
“When I get answers, you’ll be the first to know.
” I continued to step back to maintain adequate distance between us to effectively use the baton if necessary.
His swift movement was so unexpected that when I reacted to strike, he was close enough to grab hold of the baton.
My knee shot up toward his groin. He shifted in time to prevent the blow but couldn’t avoid the explosive uppercut to his jaw.
Stumbling back, he released the baton and shook off the hit. When he advanced again, I was prepared.
“Vincent,” Terran scolded.
“I need to understand it,” he responded in a desperate plea to me. “May I?” he added.
Assuming he meant he wanted to approach me, I nodded. Narrowed eyes scrutinized me before he ate up all the distance between us. Leaning in, his nose traced over the space just inches from the curve of my neck, then my face. He stood in front of me like I was fire and he was in need of heat.
Ever heard of personal space? From his inquiring look, it appeared that he wanted to move even closer.
I wasn’t cuddling with another wolf. He tossed a quizzical look over his shoulder at Terran.
I assumed it was because he was unable to replicate whatever had happened between Terran and me.
It must have really freaked Terran the hell out.
Their heads snapped to the left at the same time, glowing eyes pinned on the new wolf stalking out of the thicket.
“Hey—” I stopped before I called him Wolfie. We really had to give him a name.
Terran stared at my obsidian wolf, his eyes as wide as Vincent’s as they took in the size of the wolf who made their wolf form look like a pup.
“How do you know that wolf?” Terran asked me, eliminating my need to ask if Wolfie was one of his. I was sure he wasn’t, but with so many uncertainties and new discoveries, nothing felt concrete anymore. It didn’t hurt to be open to asking.
“He’s my p—” I started to say pet but switched to “friend” when the wolf’s keen eyes turned in my direction.
The expressive wolf appeared to give me a nod of approval at the designation.
His posture relaxed. Terran and Vicent had moved back, scanning the tree line they’d ignored, their heads tilted as if tracking a distant frequency I couldn’t hear.
Or perhaps they were listening for the sound of gigantean wolves approaching.
When the wolf directed his attention to the Alpha, he growled. Terran made a sound so feral, I couldn’t believe it could be produced by human vocal cords.
“I don’t like the way your pet is looking at me.”
“He’s not my pet and I’d strongly urge you not to call him that.
” I looked at my wolf friend, midnight menace with a regal posture and self-assurance of the kind I’d only seen in Terran.
My companion had mastered it with ease. “Do you think he’d be content being a pet?
He’d probably eat me if I treated him like one. ”
The wolf was so massive, I’d expect passersby to make a scene.
Humans were cautious around all werewolves.
Vincent’s and Terran’s lit eyes marked them as inhuman and therefore no different from the massive creature a few feet away.
Nothing about this tableau could allow humans to believe that supernatural creatures didn’t exist—if they were of the camp who wanted to deny it.
“You always find me,” I said. His presence made Terran’s and Vincent’s seem a little less consequential. With the way Terran responded to me and my new wolf pet, I was going to shed the moniker of “vampire’s pet” to “wolf girl.”
Terran’s attention jumped between the wolf, the trees, and me. It homed in on a space between some trees. His jaw ticked; the muscles in his neck distended. Taut and sinewy, he made me fully aware of how muscular he was and the power behind every movement, strike, and stride.
He was a bullet of speed, plucking something that whistled through the air.
Instinctively, I ducked as both Terran and the massive wolf launched into the air.
Terran landed with an arrow caught in his hand, and the wolf on the opposite side of me.
My heart pounded against my ribs. Vincent bellowed curses—some I wasn’t sure were even curses, but he made his displeasure known before darting toward the woods with my wolf friend sprinting past him.
Terran’s eyes narrowed to pins; he smelled the head of the arrow and sneered.
“There’s poison on it.” It must have been potent because he turned his face away, inhaling the surrounding air before taking another whiff.
Handing me the arrow, he said, “You should have Amelia or someone with knowledge of poisons examine this.” Taking hold of it, I knew Amelia would be my first stop.
Magic hummed from it, but I couldn’t smell anything that hinted at poison.
Everything in me told me that I was the target of the poison.
And from Terran’s expression, he believed it, too.
Three. Three attempts had been made on my life.
Vincent returned ruddy-faced, predatory anger radiating from him. It wasn’t directed at me, but it was so intense my self-protective instinct had me put distance between us.
“They’re gone. No scent. No heat signature.
Nothing.” Frustrated hands dragged through his auburn hair, making a mess of it.
He closed his eyes, taking several slow, measured breaths, and when he opened them, the glow had dimmed but not gone.
Cobalt eyes attempted to peek through, but he was fighting for the level of calm needed to combat his wolf, who was lurking too close to the surface.
His head moved in a rough arc from the arrow in my hand, to the baton in the other.
Then to the woods. It fell back to me, double-checking my safety.
His lips pulled back, revealing his teeth.
He was panting, intense eyes looking for somewhere to target his anger.
I started to ease toward Vincent, wondering if my ability that had calmed Terran when he was similarly on the brink of losing control was a fluke.
My wolf friend stalked toward me and lay directly in my path.
Lowering to the ground, I sank my hand into his fur, my thumb stroking in a gentle metronome.
His eyes closed, his body grew slack, and he whined a sound that sounded like a sigh.
Then there was the unexpected sound of him snoring. The weirdness never stopped.