by Nicole Hall
Aiden had said the keystone didn’t work from the inside, but she might as well try. Maddie shrugged and picked up a white pebble. She encountered the same solid shell, and the stone didn’t do anything to help her. There had to be some way to get through it; after all, Aiden and Seth were both gone.
Weren’t they? Maddie glanced back at the cabin. She hadn’t done an exhaustive search. It wasn’t likely she’d missed either of them in a building that basically had three rooms. She walked the perimeter of the ward, hoping to find some portion of the yard she hadn’t seen before. Her good mood from that morning slowly dissolved, replaced with churning suspicion in her stomach. The more time that passed, the angrier Maddie got. If Aiden had stepped out for coffee and donuts, she was going to maim him. In an entirely non-sexual way. No matter what her quivering thighs thought.
She discovered a small garden shed, but it wouldn’t have been able to hide her, let alone someone Aiden’s size. Seth would have fit inside nicely, but somehow, she didn’t see the cat strolling in there and latching the door behind him.
Out of places to explore in the yard, Maddie went back inside the cabin to check one more time. Her pack hadn’t moved from where she’d tossed it during their tussle the night before, so she grabbed her cell phone and checked her messages. Nothing. Aiden hadn’t even left her a convenient note explaining where he’d disappeared to after promising to keep her safe. Hard to do if he wasn’t there.
She eyed her phone. Would he answer? Only one way to find out. She scrolled through her contacts until she found him, but the call went directly to a terse voicemail. His grumpy voice made her smile, then sigh in frustration. At least this time no one was unconscious.
The memory of Aiden’s injured shoulder and Zee’s visit reminded her of the weapon in her pack. She’d been carrying it around this whole time, but she hadn’t really had a chance to examine it. Her coat had been the only thing she could think of to sheath it, so she pulled out the wad of puffy material and unwound it.
The dagger had a wood handle with a slightly curved blade. Zee had made it sound all mystical, but when Maddie picked it up, it felt like any other knife. Not like the necklace. That thing pulsed with magic. Maddie’s eyes returned to the bag. Magic she should have been able to feel while digging through her pack.
A horrible suspicion bloomed, and Maddie searched frantically through all the inner pockets. No magic current pulled at her. She emptied the bag onto the ground, searching for a golden necklace among her possessions.
The dagger was right where she’d left it, but the necklace was gone. Son of a bitch.
Maddie hurriedly restuffed her pack and ran out the door. That idiot had gone after Torix on his own. Fear and anger fought for prevalence, but Maddie needed her mind, not her emotions, running the show.
Aiden hadn’t left for donuts and coffee. He’d decided to hunt down a deadly Fae that had whooped both their asses once before and had several dangerous creatures at his disposal. One of those creatures had nearly killed Aiden. Without her, the kelpie probably would have dragged his body into the water, never to be found. And now he was facing Torix and his menagerie alone. Why did men have to be so frustrating?
She reminded herself that the necklace would protect him if he remembered to put it on. He’d gone to the trouble of stealing it, surely he’d also wear the damn thing. Maddie slid to a stop at the edge of the yard and nearly bounced off the ward. She ran her hands over the smooth surface, but everywhere she pressed was the same. An impenetrable bubble. Frustration got the best of her, and she punched the translucent wall, wincing when her knuckles smarted with the impact.
The wind rushed through the trees outside, then tossed her hair in her face. If air could move through, that meant it wasn’t impenetrable. Something blocked her from leaving. Urgency pushed at her. Aiden could be fighting for his life right now, but she forced herself to stop and take a deep breath. Brute force wouldn’t work. She needed a better plan.
He’d said she was partially immune to his magic, and after last night, she had a hefty dose of that same magic inside her. Maddie groaned. Could it be that simple? She could use his magic. The power felt different than what she was used to, but then, most things were at this point.
Maddie nudged the dormant mix of magics, and they flared to life. Warmth bathed her as the familiar sensation of him swept out from her center. Except…this time felt tamer, less intense.
Last night, there’d been a deep connection involved, along with heightened emotions, and a whole lot of really awesome sex. This morning, the bond diminished to a pale shadow of that. Was the intensity based on proximity? Was their visceral bond destined to fade?
She closed her eyes and probed the connection. Something came between them, like a veil. The sensation reminded Maddie of gauze or gossamer. Her eyes popped open. Or a shimmering, translucent ward. She stared at the visible wall again and cursed.
All the training and knowledge she’d sought became worthless in the face of a magical bubble cast by a fake cat. Trapped on the wrong side of the bubble, Maddie gritted her teeth. Panic tightened her chest at the missing link to Aiden. She felt like part of her had been sectioned off and placed out of her reach. If they survived this, she was going to shave Seth bald.
Maddie breathed in and out slowly and set aside her plans for revenge to focus on the problem in front of her. The awakened magic made it easier to sense the nuances of the wards, but she still didn’t understand them. She flattened her palm against the surface and searched with her power, discovering several layers of protection, like in her shields. The ward let her prod and tease the layers apart, but when she tried to pass one, they all snapped back together. When she used primarily Aiden’s magic though, the response slowed drastically. The layers wouldn’t let her magic through, which was probably why Torix couldn’t find her here, but it let Aiden’s magic pass.
Guess it wouldn’t do to have him bouncing off his own prison when running off to be a martyr.
Maddie shook her head and ruthlessly shoved that thought aside. Aiden wasn’t going to die, unless she killed him herself. Her complicated feelings made concentration difficult, but she refused to give up and leave him to face Torix alone. The magical bubble wrap pissed her off, but despite her frustration, Maddie recognized her own knee-jerk protective instinct. Aiden pushed past all her defenses and truly saw her, the good and the bad. She wasn’t letting that go without a fight. They’d address his glaring lack of trust later.
Her frantic thoughts had done nothing to calm her, so Maddie tried applying logic. The magic inside her waited, warm and whole. Granted, Maddie didn’t know how this particular binding worked, but if Aiden died, wouldn’t she be able to feel it? The ward masked his emotions, but her physical sense of him, while fainter than before, pointed strongly toward alive and well. She didn’t want to think about any other option.
She took another deep breath and backed away from the wards. Time to use her clever mind. Aiden’s magic would get her through, but she needed a plan for after that. Maddie held up her hand and silvery magic curled into a ball in her palm. She’d resisted using it out of fear. The fear that accepting it would bring her one step closer to the person Torix had tried to make her become, and that she’d use that power to hurt the people she loved. What Torix had given her before had been a façade, a shallow excuse for magic that she could never seem to fully embrace. This magic was different.
The ball lengthened into a bow with barely a thought, and Maddie smiled. At some point, the ice shard she’d always associated with it had melted. She’d been using it as a shield to separate the magic from the rest of her, a shield she’d created and blamed on Torix. After the challenge ring, there couldn’t be any half-measures. She’d had to take responsibility for the power inside her or risk losing the choice altogether.
Given the option of Aiden or her fear, she’d banished the ice. With it gone, she’d gained a level of control she’d never had before. With Aiden, she’d finally
felt warm.
Her other hand formed an arrow, which she nocked and tried to draw back. Sharp pain shot down her arm from her shoulder to her elbow, and she released the magic. The bow and arrow dissolved, and Maddie let her dreams from the past dissolve with them. There was no going back, not even with magic.
She was a different person, one she quite liked, and that person had a shitload of power with which to kick a Dark Fae’s ass. Maddie raised her chin and adjusted her pack with the dagger inside it. Her shields were still down. Once through the wards, Torix would find her.
He’d expect her to fight back, but he wouldn’t kill her until he’d reclaimed his magic. That gave her some time to figure out a way to separate him from his magical batteries. Aiden’s magic threw an unknown variable into her plan. Well, that and the source of Torix’s power. Maddie suspected the connection between her and Aiden would return in full force on the other side of the barrier, and he’d come running. She decided against trying to keep him away. He was a demi-god; he’d make great backup.
Oh, and she’d have to be careful not to end up a zombie again. No big deal.
Right. Maddie focused on filling her tight lungs instead of the prospect of facing her biggest nightmare, literally. Her plan terrified her, rushed and crazy and not thought through, but she was out of time. After everything that had happened, Maddie didn’t think Torix wanted another round of controlling Aiden. She was pretty sure the asshole would jump straight to death, with maybe a small foray into some light torture first.
As she approached the wards the final time, Maddie promised herself she’d make Seth teach her how he’d locked her in. She looked forward to practicing on Aiden.
The sun had finally moved beyond the trees and shone directly on the yard, including Maddie and the circle of white stones. She squinted at the brightness, checking one last time for holes in her plan. Reckless stupidity aside, it was the best she could come up with.
Aiden’s magic responded smoothly when she called it. Distinct qualities she associated with Aiden enveloped her. Strength and protection and a base that was constantly shifting, just slightly. Was this what Aiden meant when he described her smell?
An interesting thought, but not particularly useful at the moment. She urged the magic to slide over her like a skinsuit, covering every inch. It seemed particularly suited to the act of shielding her. Maddie wasn’t surprised, considering Aiden’s current location.
Once his magic covered everything, Maddie pushed against the ward with her hand. It passed right through with no resistance, but when she pulled back, the pressure increased until it pinched her hand painfully before she slipped free.
Maddie frowned at her red fingers. The ward had tried to close on her. Like when she’d been testing it before. Aiden’s magic created an opening, but it didn’t stay open for long before the ward adjusted. Damn Seth and his ingenuity.
There was nothing else to do. She’d have to run through and hope for the best. Head first, just in case. Maddie took a couple of quick breaths, counted to three, and sprinted as fast as she could for the circle. At the last second, she lowered her head and tucked in her shoulders. Most of her passed through without effect, but the closing ward caught her boot and tripped her.
She tumbled forward, but managed to stay upright. A moment later, emotion slammed into her. The full force of Aiden’s frustration, worry, and determination hit her, followed by a shot of panic as he realized she’d moved past the wards. Maddie had to let go of his magic and center herself again to sort through it all. As a result, the nice, warm coating of power seeped back into her. They really should’ve practiced more with the bond thing.
Without the layer of Aiden’s magic protecting her, the much colder temperature outside the circle shocked her. If Maddie had been smart, she would have taken ten seconds to grab her jacket, but the weather had been the last thing on her mind. Her breath frosted the air in front of her, and she shivered.
The trees around her weren’t really familiar, but she knew the Wood came right up to the circle there. Maddie hadn’t been able to call trods before, but she hoped that had been a repercussion from locking away the magic as much as possible. She’d believed she couldn’t do it, so she hadn’t been able to. My, how things had changed.
She wrapped her arms around her middle and set off into the forest, calling a trod as soon as she could feel the elemental magic. Sprites floated past her, and her muscles unclenched as the temperature leveled off. Maddie aimed for the nexus of the Wood and tried to keep her magic as hidden as she could until she arrived. She’d prefer to do battle in a place where there wouldn’t be any collateral damage.
Once there, she’d open herself and call Torix. It wouldn’t take him long to find her, and she hoped he’d be in such a hurry that he’d leave his lackeys behind. If not, she was in for a lot of trouble.
14
AIDEN
Aiden hadn’t slept much. He walked through the forest in the late morning light, stopping occasionally to inhale deeply. The mundane forest chilled him, but he’d forgone the trods. Torix wouldn’t be able to hide in the in-between and affect Terra. That particular skill was unique to his clan.
Torix had drawn Maddie back to the Mulligan area because he needed to physically get his hands on her, which meant he’d gone to ground somewhere nearby. Aiden searched for Torix’s scent as he moved. The hunt would have probably been easier as a wolf, but he didn’t want to confront Torix in the form of his enslavement.
Shortly before dawn, Maddie had fallen asleep again, but he’d stayed awake. He’d tried to memorize the feel of her curled up against him to hold on to for later. Even if he managed to defeat Torix, Maddie wouldn’t react well to him warding her in the cabin. The mate bond made it difficult to imagine she’d turn her back on him, but she was surprising and stubborn.
Aiden smiled. The image of Maddie asleep in his bed kept disrupting his concentration. He’d have much rather been there next to her than freezing his ass off in the woods. When he’d first left, he’d cursed the cold for making his fingers and nose numb, but that had been hours ago. The temperature had risen enough that he could feel his face again.
The wind barely stirred the pine needles, but it brought him teasing whiffs of Torix that didn’t linger long enough to provide much information. The sporadic scent made pinpointing a direction difficult. Aiden tried to follow the traces that mixed Torix with his Will-zombie. They’d want to overpower Maddie when she returned.
And Torix knew she’d return. He used Will’s harassment to taunt her. She’d do anything to protect her family, and the harassment would only get worse until she acted. Or until Aiden ended it.
He stopped beside a large prickly bush and took stock of his location. His cabin occupied a wooded area on the far outskirts of town, almost to the halfway point between Kilgore and Mulligan. When he’d left that morning, he’d headed toward the Mulligan part of the forest, but now he was fairly certain he’d been led toward Kilgore instead.
Aiden scanned the trees while he took a swig of his water. Something else had been following him for a little while, and he wanted to get a better look at it. Not Torix or Will. He’d recognize those trails. Something that knew how to disguise itself. He had a good guess what.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar orange tail.
Seth must have tired of his game. If he hadn’t wanted to be spotted, he wouldn’t have been. Aiden capped his water and waited. The cat ambled out of the brush, stretched, and blinked up at him.
“Why do you insist on taking that ridiculous form?”
Cats are small, agile, and pointy. What else would you want in a form?
“The ability to defend myself against a bigger opponent.”
The cat stared at him. That supposes I plan to fight my opponents. I’d much rather flee and find some other way to win than strength.
Aiden rolled his eyes. “Sometimes you don’t have a choice, cousin. Can you please change? I feel silly ta
lking to a cat.”
The humans are a bad influence on you. A second later, Seth became a man dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt.
Aiden hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his cousin until they stood face to face. He hadn’t changed much in over a century. The same height and build Aiden had inherited from their respective fathers, but topped with shorter, dark red hair.
Seth spread his arms with a mocking smile. “Happy now?” Aiden hugged him, expressing his relief at having his cousin back through several manly thumps on the back.
“Did you finish the wards?”
Seth’s smile dimmed. “Yes, but if Maddie comes after me, I’m putting all the blame on you.”
“I’ll gladly accept it as long as she’s safe.”
Seth sighed. “About that. You know she’ll figure out a way through sooner rather than later. I’ve never met anyone with abilities like hers.”
The breeze picked up, and Aiden raised his face to the wind. Hints of Torix, like every time before, but no real direction to focus on. He grunted in frustration. “How would you know?”
“I’ve been following you two.” Seth waggled his eyebrows when Aiden glared at him. “You should thank me. I’ve saved your ass several times. And let’s not forget I risked my beautiful hide invading Cassie’s stable. She’s not a big fan right now.”
Aiden grunted again, this time in agreement. “I’m just assuming you deserve her ire. She wouldn’t talk to me either. Maddie had to work her magic.”
Seth’s gaze sharpened. “Maddie used magic on Cassie?”
“No. Her personality. Everyone we met with wanted Maddie in some form or another.”
Seth rubbed his jaw, seeming deep in thought. “Maddie and Daria and Cassie… all together at one time.”
