The cat’s eyes fluttered. He was panting, and he made a sort of groaning sound again.
Lila took his large head in her hands and stroked his cheeks with her thumbs. Even if it didn’t help heal him, she wanted him to shift to human so she could access his cuts a little better.
“Come on, Kitty, please shift for me.”
The big cat opened his eyes and looked at Lila.
“Please,” she said, and she touched her forehead to his.
He took in a breath as if scenting her, and then he shifted.
“Fuuuck,” he groaned.
Lila sucked in a breath.
“Does it help to shift?”
“Yeah,” Lash panted, “But it hurts like fuck.”
Lila looked him over. The gash on his thigh was still pretty bad.
“Lash, you need to shift a couple more times. Your leg is still really bad.”
Lash groaned and shifted again, the change taking a couple of seconds longer this time. His fur covering everything did not help Lila see an improvement.
“Okay Kitty, one more time for me, please. Shift!”
The cat grunted and took even longer to change this time, but ten seconds later, Lash was a man again. He was passed out, but the wound on his thigh had healed about half way. It was mostly closed, and no longer leaking blood. Lila rolled him onto his side to check his back, but the wounds there looked closed.
He’d probably passed out from the effort of shifting. Now Lila had to figure out how to keep other predators away. He’d left an obvious trail of blood right to their tree, and it was getting dark. Lila wondered if she could realistically carry him for any length of time, but discarded that idea because she had nowhere to take him. They had not passed any caves or hollowed out tree trunks to hide in yet. Her best bet was to stay put and guard him while he slept and recovered.
Lila pulled the machete out of the strap that held it to the back pack and sat with her back against the tree trunk and her legs bent over Lash’s middle protectively. With her magic, she made a ball of light and sent it up about ten feet above her so that it glowed softly and let her see everything in a ten foot radius. Then she set up a perimeter ward twenty feet all around them. Knowing that she would most likely have to keep feeding energy into her magic all night to maintain the light and the ward, she measured her breathing and fell into a meditation, focusing on her magic.
Lila listened to the jungle around her. She tried not to move too much, but let her awareness take in the presence of the animals that came to investigate the smell of blood. She saw plenty of glowing eyes in the darkness beyond her circle of light, but none came any closer than the twenty feet. Good, the ward was working.
Some time later, Lash stirred, but didn’t wake. He reached a hand for her and she laid hers on top of it in case he was looking for assurance that she was still with him.
Hours passed. The jungle moved around them, never coming near. Lila sat vigil over a sleeping man whom she was now sure was her second mate, but not sure if she wanted him. At any rate, she knew she wanted them both to live through the night. Maybe by the morning he would wake and be able to climb the tree to safety so she could rest.
Lila was deep in her meditation when Tee walked out of the darkness and smiled at her. His eyes practically glowed in his handsome face. Lila was only a little bit surprised to see him.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi, yourself,” he grinned back.
Lila was still sitting over a sleeping Lash, the machete lying across her knees. Lash had curled himself around her so that his knees and elbows were up against the tree trunk. Lila absently stroked a hand over his shoulder and bicep.
Tee sat down on the ground opposite her, almost touching Lash’s back. He looked at the wound on his leg critically. It was still not completely closed, and it looked angry, a redness growing around it. Tee placed his hand gently on the wound, and a glow traveled down his arm and into Lash’s cut flesh. When he moved his hand away, Lila could see that the wound was closed and there was no more red irritated skin around it.
“You healed him?” Lila asked.
“Yes.” Tee looked at Lila.
She sighed in relief.
“Thank you.”
Tee stared at her for a long moment.
“Lila, I want you to promise me something.”
“What?”
“Promise you’ll give him a chance,” Tee looked down at Lash, and placed his hand over hers where she was touching the unconscious man.
Tears sprung to Lila’s eyes.
“Why do I have to have two mates?”
The question came out in a petulant whine.
“Three.”
“Why?” she demanded as a tear fell.
“Because you need them, and they need you. All of you need each other.”
“But why?”
Tee sighed the exasperated sigh of an adult explaining to a child why they could not remain young forever.
“Because that is how it is fated to be. Because you are more than one man can handle. Because your three mates need your love to complete them. Without you, they would merely exist. Together, the four of you will repair the damage that others have done to magic.”
“What’s been done to magic?”
“It has been warped, and not just in your Magique world, but elsewhere too.”
“Where?”
But instead of answering her question, Tee lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. Then he replaced it on Lash’s arm.
“Close your eyes, my sweet Little One.”
Lila did as she was bid.
“Feel what is in his heart. Listen to your own heart. All will end as it should. Trust your magic and your purpose.”
When Lila opened her eyes, dawn had arrived. Lash stirred, and when she looked down at him, Lila saw that his leg wound was no more than a red angry scar. Had his shifter magic healed him in the night? Or had Tee really visited and healed him?
Evan’s eyes popped open. It was still dark as pitch, but something had alerted him back to full consciousness. Had he heard a sound? He listened a minute, but only heard the sounds of large cats patrolling the perimeter. Why did something feel different? He felt different. Christ, he could feel Lila! Finally! He felt her magic pulsing inside of him like a slow steady beat. It was unwavering, like her love for him.
“Bastian,” Evan put a hand on his comrade and he woke instantly. So did Adam, and the others nearby.
“What is it?”
“I can feel her magic. I can find her,” Evan stood, ready to follow the thread of magic that would lead him to Lila.
“I’m coming with you,” Sebastian said, and he stood as well.
“Can you tell how far away she is?” asked Adam.
“No, I just know what direction she’s in, and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to sense her magic for.”
“Okay, go, we will follow your trail.”
Evan grabbed his small pack and a machete and ran into the jungle. The way was not easy, probably because his ability to sense Lila was sending him in the straightest possible line instead of following the trail she had made. He was forced to slow down almost immediately to hack his way through heavy undergrowth.
Two and a half hours later the jungle began to lighten with dawn, and the feel of Lila’s magic faded, like a dimmer switch. Evan kept up his urgent pace, swinging the machete through foliage in his way. If he kept on in the same direction, he should be able to find her. As long as she didn’t move away from where she was right now.
“Stay where you are, Angel, please,” Evan said out loud.
Leonard Westin ended the call and threw his phone across the luxurious sitting room of the suit he was in. He was at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle, and the view out his window was beautiful. Too bad he wasn’t enjoying it.
“That stupid little prick,” he muttered to himself.
Westin had known from the beginning that Ramirez was not an intelligent man, but he
’d hoped that the idiot would have had the sense to follow instructions. Instead he’d gone off script, wanting to see the woman’s power for himself. Maybe he’d thought to keep that power. Imbecile!
To top it off, the powerful magic that he had paid way too much for was no longer in his control. His fuck-up deviant offspring was in possession of the most powerful magic weapon the Magique world had every seen. He would have to find a way to get it back from the unholy bastard. He might have to pretend to forgive him. Westin practically shivered at the distasteful thought. He’d figure it out later.
What now? Damage control. Move to plan B. Maybe he should have gone with the Mage alliance in the first place. Now when he went back to his contact, he’d be in the lesser position, asking instead of demanding. Westin hated that position. It was a weak one, and he hated to show weakness.
Westin retrieved his phone from the floor and texted his inside man.
“Ramirez must go.”
A minute later the response came back, “Hecho.” Done.
Good. At least one person in South America knew how to follow orders.
Sebastian and Adam caught up with Evan a few hours after sunrise. One of the shifters was with them in his cat form. Evan heard them coming for the past five minutes. He paused as they came up behind him. The panther, this one a small brownish/black cat sniffed the air and looked at Evan questioningly. The cat would not be able to scent Lila because he was not following a scent trail.
“Do you still feel her?” Sebastian asked.
“No. She stopped using her magic at day break. I’m just continuing in the same direction.”
“South east,” Adam said looking at his compass. “Let me take over for a while.”
Adam moved in front of him and began cutting the path. Sebastian studied Evan for a moment before following. Evan looked gaunt. Was that worry and fatigue, or lack of blood?
“Evan, will you take my-”
“No!...Thank you, no. I can’t.”
“Can’t?”
No. It would be like admitting defeat.
“You won’t be able to take very much from Lila, she’ll be weak.”
“I know. I won’t need much from her. Seeing her will be enough.”
Sebastian stopped and turned to look Evan in his eyes.
“We will get her back. Today.”
His voice held so much assurance, that Evan smiled.
“I hope so.”
Lila roused Lash and gave him the last of their water with the hope that he could find more soon. She got him to sit up and share the last power bar with her. Lash looked at her wearily, and as soon as he’d swallowed the bite in his mouth, he put his head in her lap and gripped her legs from underneath. Lila worried that he was too weak to move more, but a moment later he started to purr. Loudly. Into her crotch.
“Hey now, none of that,” she said mildly.
When he didn’t let up, she gripped his hair and pulled his head up.
“Bad Kitty!”
Lash grinned at her and leaned in for a kiss, but Lila put her hand between them. Lash kissed her palm, and then rubbed his forehead into it and heaved a breath. They should get up and start moving again, but all he wanted to do was cuddle up with Lila. Maybe talk her out of her clothes so they would both be naked. He turned himself around so that he could lay his head back down, his face now on Lila’s belly. Her hands went back into his hair, petting and scratching this time.
“What happened last night?” she asked.
“A panther.”
“One of the shifters?!”
“No, a natural one--- not a shifter...Hope I didn’t kill it.”
“Should we go look for it?”
“No! Didn’t you learn about wounded animals from your step father?”
“He was more of an uncle, and yes, sorry, I’m not really thinking straight. I didn’t sleep much.”
Lash sat up and looked at her. Then he looked around them as if seeing his surroundings for the first time. The smell of old blood was obvious, as was the trail he’d left.
“Shit, we should move.”
He stood with a groan and stretched gingerly, in case there were still wounds that wanted to open. He was surprised to feel all right. He looked down at Lila and saw her face turned away from him. His erection probably had something to do with that. He put his hand in front of Lila’s face and she took it. When he hauled her to her feet, she untied his pants from her hips and handed them to him. He smiled his thanks and put them on while Lila untied his boots from the pack for him. He sat to put the socks and boots on. Standing again, Lash stepped into Lila and embraced her. She let him, but turned her face away from his, so he nuzzled her ear.
“Resistance is futile,” he whispered.
Lash’s breath in her ear sent a shiver down her spine, and he chuckled, which sent another shiver through her.
“Stop,” she whispered without any force.
Lila sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. He’d trapped her arms between them, and she wiggled until she could embrace him back. The tingles started up from each point of skin contact: hands on back, face on chest.
“I know this is going to happen whether or not I want it,” Lila said.
Lash stiffened waiting for the ‘But.’
“But we are only two thirds of this mating. You have Evan to deal with too, and I don’t know how he’s going to take you. I don’t want him to hurt you, Lash. I would feel...really bad. Especially if he killed you. Or just maimed you or scarred you.”
“Whoa there Negative Nelly, I’m not without fighting skills, I can defend myself. We’re surrounded by wood.”
“Kitty, I’ve seen him kill a man holding a stake.”
“Did you just use an endearment for me, Baby?” He grinned down at her.
“Lash!”
“Stop worrying, I’ve staked more than one vampire in my time.”
“You’re missing the point. I don’t want either of you to hurt each other. And I can’t take sides, not if you’re going to be my mate---our mate. Christ, this is complicated, and you haven’t even met yet.”
“What makes you think our meeting will be combative?”
“Gee, I don’t know, because you kidnapped me?”
Lash grunted. He couldn’t argue that point.
“Come on, I need to find some water,” Lila stepped back and took his hand. She turned and started in the direction they’d come from.
“It’s this way, Babe.”
“Water?”
“No. We need to go this way. That’s the way we came from.”
Lila stopped in confusion. Why had she picked that direction? Then she felt Evan. He was coming from the direction she had wanted to lead Lash in. She sucked in a sharp breath of relief and looked in the direction where she could feel Evan. Really feel him, not just want to feel him. She looked back at Lash, her eyes full of joy.
“He’s coming! He’s that way!” she pointed and let go of Lash. Then without another thought, she turned and started moving as fast as she could towards Evan, cutting a straight-ish line through the foliage.
Lash stood where Lila had left him. Every step she took away from him broke another little piece of his heart. She had just finished telling him that she didn’t want her mate to hurt him, and then she abandoned him for her mate. She just left. She hadn’t even checked to see if he was following.
Lash felt about as forlorn as a cub without it’s mother. Lila didn’t want him, she’d said as much. She would tolerate him because fate had told her she had to mate him, but that didn’t mean she had to like him. How many times had she said she only wanted her one mate since they’d met? Half a dozen, at least. Why was he making such a fool of himself insisting on insinuating himself into her bond? He should just leave before he embarrassed himself further, or got himself killed by her mate. He could just get lost in the jungle for a while until he forgot her. Eventually he would, then he could go home to Seattle, or LA, check in with his handler, tel
l him the whole mission was a bust.
Lash looked again in the direction that Lila had disappeared in. She didn’t come back, and she didn’t call for him. She had forgotten all about him, because he didn’t matter to her. Lash’s heart squeezed so tightly in his chest that it hurt. It really felt like it was breaking. He tried to pull in a breath but couldn’t. He was going to suffocate right here. A sound passed his lips, something like a sob, but since he had no breath, there was no power behind it. It was more of a pathetic little whine. His eyes stung, and then Lash felt the tears fall. He was paralyzed. Rooted in place. He couldn’t turn away from the love of his life, but he couldn’t follow either. It started to rain again.
Lila pressed through the foliage in the direction she knew would take her to Evan. She knew she was glowing because the jungle was lighter around her, but she didn’t care. There was no one here to hide her magic from. In fact, if Evan could feel it, she would extend her magic further out.
“Evan!”
Lila screamed his name into the jungle, sending birds flying and screeching back at her. She thought she heard something else, and paused, but she couldn’t make it out. Lila doubled her efforts, dodging tree roots and pushing limbs out of her way. Ten minutes later she cried out again. This time she thought she heard a masculine voice call back. She moved forward again, desperate now to get to her man.
Ten minutes later she heard his voice.
“Lila!”
“Evan!”
She thrashed her way forward for a couple more minutes and finally came face to face with Evan. She jumped him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. Evan gripped her tightly and fell to his knees. His face found the skin of her neck, and her magic tingles whirled through him in excitement and joy. Her glow of magic encapsulated them both.
“I love you Angel, please don’t get kidnapped again.”
“I love you Evan, please don’t let me get kidnapped again.”
“Never.” Evan slid his hands up to hold Lila’s head and proceeded to ravish her mouth with his lips and tongue for the next five minutes.
Eventually, Lila dimmed her light and noticed that Evan was not alone. Sebastian and Adam stood behind him, waiting patiently for her to see them. Lila unwrapped herself from Evan and stood. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. Her teacher and her friend had come for her, too. She wanted to hug them both, but they were wearing short sleeves and she really didn’t want to shock anyone. Lila lifted a hand to each man’s chest and looking into their eyes she said, “Thank you for coming after me.”
Magic's Love Page 32
