When Sparks Fly (Netherworld Series Book 3)

by Olivia Hutchinson

  When Lila screamed, Gabriel bellowed in response, launching himself toward another fae that was flying toward Lila at an incredible speed. Maggie sailed across the pavement, jerked by her forearm. Stumbling, she clung to Jonah as he pulled her out of the way as two more arrows skidded across the asphalt instead impaling themselves into her back as they were aimed to do.

  He pushed her to the ground and stood in front of her, his clothes tearing from his body as he shifted without warning. The bear’s roar was the next thing she heard as he swiped the first male and sprung onto the second. Maggie jumped to her feet, disarming the first already injured fae as he fell. She struck him with his own knife, sinking it deep into his gut.

  By the time the fae was dead on the ground, Lila had disappeared. Maggie looked around for Jonah, but the fog began to thicken once again and hid him from her. She squatted down next to the brick wall of the closest building and tried not to panic, her eyes searching for any sign of movement. When she made out the shape of the bear in the trees, she went for him. The overwhelming desire to be closer to him fueled her from her spot.

  When two male fae separated her from her mate, she dove behind a car to hide, but it was too late. Both had seen her, and both fired their strung arrows. One arrow struck the ground not two inches from her foot while the other ricocheted off the front bumper she hit behind.

  The buzzing of their wings filled the air and drowned out the yelling and snarls around her. She needed to get to Jonah, but both fae blocked her path and both were descending upon her faster than she could get away from them.

  Out of options, she ran around the car and pulled the gun from its holster. She screamed Jonah’s name as a bow whipped across her back. Landing hard on the unforgiving pavement, the gun flew from her hands, leaving her defenseless. Jonah would never hear her over the cries of the men and the chaos in the streets. She could barely hear her own voice.

  Clawing the ground, she tried to get away from them, but their wings propelled them toward her. Grasping the knife from her boot, she pushed herself up and stumbled forward when the bow hit her again. Even though it was only a fraction of a second, it seemed like time stopped.

  A deafening roar shook the ground as the broad mass of the bear leaped over her head. One of the fae screamed as something warm and hot hit her face. Blood.

  Jumping to her feet, she ran toward her shifted mate. The grizzly had removed the head of one fae, but the other was now focused on him and no longer worried about her. A long knife in hand, sharp teeth bared, he launched himself toward Jonah.

  Screaming, Maggie knew nothing except that her mate was in trouble. Jonah was on two legs, roaring at his enemy as the fae lifted himself into the air, his wings buzzing and swooped in to get closer to him. He moved faster than Maggie thought possible.

  “Maggie!” Lila's voice made her spin around in time to dodge the blood-covered knife, losing her footing with the sudden movement and falling on her butt. Her new attacker leaped for her and Maggie held her arm up to protect herself.

  A menacing growl was the only thing she heard before the fae screamed. The werewolf—no, it was Gabriel, Maggie had to remind herself—knocked the fae to the ground, his powerful jaws clamping on the fae’s neck.

  A hand on her shoulder made her jump.

  “It’s me,” Jonah said, his hand out to help her to her feet. He was naked, blood spattered over his chest. “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah,” she breathed. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

  There were no other fae warriors that she could see, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more coming. Gabriel was back on his feet, growling as he came closer to Maggie and Jonah. Jonah grabbed Maggie, thrusting her body behind his back.

  “Gabriel,” Lila said the werewolf’s name, bringing his focus back on her and away from Jonah, who he was eyeing as if trying to determine if he was a threat that needed to be eliminated. The last thing she wanted was for her mate to be attacked by a werewolf who had no control over the beast that was now ruling his mind and body.

  He changed in front of them at the sound of his name, back on a man’s feet, his focus staying on Lila. Gabriel nodded at Jonah a second later before turning his back to them, grasping Lila’s hand, and sprinting toward the church once more.

  The yelling just outside the diner stopped them. Without a second thought, Maggie went for her father. She knew he was there with Imelda and she was unwilling to leave them there if they needed more help. Jonah was there with her, shifting again as he thundered across the ground.

  “Dad!” she cried when she saw him, a knife protruding from his upper arm as three fae warriors descended on him just outside the back door. Her stomach dropped, aware of the poison that would be coursing through his veins by now.

  A German Shepard bared its teeth at another fae warrior as they circled each other. Two seconds later, the dog had its canines buried in the fae’s thigh before releasing and biting again, this time tearing flesh from his arm.

  Her father pulled the blade from his own arm before pointing it at the fae. Two more came up behind, but Jonah intervened before they reached her father. The three others had murder in their eyes.

  She would not allow her father to die. Reaching for her gun, she froze when she realized that she’d left it where it had fallen in the street. She was unarmed with nothing to stop the fae from killing her dad. Dread filled her gut, but she squashed it just as quickly as it erupted. Her blood pounded in her veins and for half a second, she thought her head may explode.

  Her muscles burned as she launched her body toward him, regardless of the consequences. Remotely, she heard the popping noises, unsure of what they were or where they were coming from but she didn’t care. Her sole focus was her father who ducked to avoid the swipe of another knife. There was no way he was going to avoid the other two fae, and she knew it.

  With a cry, she knocked the two fae back and swiped at them. Blood soaked her paws as she roared and buried her teeth into the neck of the other. When they were dead, she backed up, searching for the third but stopped when she saw her father’s wide eyes and that of her mate. Both men were staring at her, shock on their faces.

  At first she didn’t know why they stared but when she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, no words came out. She glanced down, seeing the black fur of her legs.

  “Holy shit,” Lila exclaimed, coming up to stand next to Duncan. “You’re a bear!”

  Jonah had always felt Maggie had it in her to shift, but now that she stood in front of him as a black bear, he couldn’t help the pride that built in his chest. If it hadn’t been for the panic in her eyes, he would’ve laughed from the shock of seeing her jump toward her father’s attackers as a human to only land on top of them as a bear, teeth bared and claws slashing as she protected Duncan.

  “It’s okay,” he said, his hands stretched out in front of him as he approached her. “Close your eyes for a second and try to relax.”

  There really couldn’t be a worse time for her to have accidentally shifted without any clue how to change back. He understood her fear. The first time he’d shifted hadn’t been easy for him either. It wasn’t easy for anyone. There was no way to communicate as an animal and the newness of being in a different form was overwhelming. He knew what she was going through, although his first time hadn’t been in a life-or-death situation like they were facing now.

  Maggie was the furthest from relaxed as he’d ever seen her. She was shaking her head and backing away from him, snorting at the ground and growling as she attempted to speak to him.

  “I never thought she’d be able to shift,” her father said, speaking to Lila and now Gabriel as Jonah continued toward her.

  “Easy, easy,” he instructed. “Stop, Maggie.”

  She stopped backing away from him then. When he touched her, he felt her shaking beneath his hands. He stroked her face, forcing her to look at him. Her eyes were the same and he recognized her in them.

  “Relax,” he mur
mured so only she’d hear him “You’ll shift back if you relax and breathe. Try to feel yourself melting.”

  Maggie blinked twice before closing her eyes. After a few moments, he felt the trembling cease only to be replaced by vibrations as she began to shift back into her standard form. When she opened her eyes again, she was in her two-legged form. His hands remained on her face, only to let go when she threw her arms around him.

  She clung to him, their naked bodies streaked with blood, the acrid scent of the air filling his lungs until he buried his nose against her skin and replaced with his mate’s natural scent.

  “Oh my god,” she breathed against him as he held her. “I felt stuck.”

  “That’s normal the first time. It’ll be easier to shift back and forth each time you do it. I promise.”

  When she stepped back, he released her. Duncan cleared his throat, drawing their attention. Both he and Maggie turned to face her father.

  Duncan pulled his shirt from his chest and thrust it toward her. “You’re naked,” he said, stating the obvious. “Here.”

  She took it from him and covered herself while both he and Gabriel stood there, both without clothes. Seeing Maggie shift was probably an even greater shock for Duncan. He’d spent all of Maggie’s life believing she was almost as human as her mother or an Incapace like he was only to be proven wrong.

  Imelda came up next to them, having shifted from a dog and back into her two-legged form. “You never offered me a shirt before, Duncan,” she said, a light smile on her lips.

  “You’re also not my daughter.”

  Imelda chuckled and patted Maggie on the arm. “You’ll learn to love it, dear.”

  They made their way toward the church again. The few fae that were left were in the air, no longer fighting but streaking in the sky away from the town and back toward Péine. It wasn’t until Jonah saw them retreat that he realized the battle was over. It wasn’t until then that he realized they’d won.

  Blood-tinged water ran over the ground, parting to rush around the dead and dying bodies littering the streets, both fae and shifter alike. Dan had come out of the woods at some point as his body lay on the church steps, three arrows protruding from his back.

  “No,” Maggie breathed next to him when she saw the body. He squeezed her hand.

  With a resounding sigh, Jonah looked around him to see the eyes of many shifters still alive, all looking to him. They may have been victorious, but New Freedom would never be the same.

  They gathered the wounded and took them to Pecora, starting with Duncan. The doctor tasked Maggie and Lila to make rounds, treating the poisoned arrow and knife wounds with irrigation and a sticky yellow salve that stunk of sulfur and camphor.

  “It’s like rotten eggs meet vapor rub,” Lila said with disgust and she helped triage and treat. It benefited all of them to have an ER nurse handy to render first-aid while Pecora handled the more severe cases. Heidi helped as well once Liam deemed it safe to drop off his mate.

  There were more injured than dead. Several shifters and werewolves had second and third-degree burns where they’d been too close to Liam’s initial descent and been hit by some of the dragon fire. When the wounds were tended, men and women began gathering the dead.

  When tears threatened to overtake her, Maggie took a break and went in search of her mate. She found Jonah behind the church, digging graves with a werewolf. He put the shovel down and jumped out of the hole when he saw her. Sweat covered his bare chest, his pants hung low on his hips.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her, concern etched his face when he caught sight of her. The werewolf looked up at them from where he stood inside another deep hole a few feet away. His nose was in the air.

  Ignoring him, she nodded. “Just emotional.”

  “It’s an emotional time,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

  The young werewolf snorted. Jonah stepped back, staring down at him, his brow raised.

  “What?” The werewolf asked when he realized Jonah was scrutinizing him. He pushed his long red hair out of his dirty and sweaty face.

  “You made a noise,” Jonah said, eyebrow raised.

  The werewolf threw his hands up. “Yeah. You just told her it was an emotional time.”

  “And?” Maggie was just as confused as Jonah was.

  “Of course, she’s emotional,” the werewolf said to Jonah. “I’m surprised she’s not a crying mess right now.”

  “What does that mean?” Maggie asked, more confused than ever.

  “Aren’t pregnant women supposed to be emotional? Dude, I’m surprised you even let her stay here for the fight,” he said to Jonah with the shake of his head.

  “Pregnant?” Jonah asked in utter disbelief, glancing from the werewolf to Maggie and back again.

  She shook her head. “We’ve only been mated for a week.”

  The werewolf snorted again and shook his head before going back to digging. “Congratulations on being a week pregnant then.”

  Maggie knew she must be gawking, staring at the werewolf, dumbfounded. She looked at Jonah, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

  He ushered her away from the graves and around the side of the church where they had some privacy.

  “He can’t be serious,” she said when they were alone.

  His mouth thinned. “Werewolves have excellent senses of smell. Far better than mine.”

  “He wasn’t even that close to me! A pregnancy test would barely even come back positive at this point,” she argued. She frowned when she saw Jonah staring at her. “What? Do you think I’m pregnant?”

  Jonah dropped to his knees in front of her and a flurry of excitement started in her belly. He lifted her borrowed shirt and pulled down the top of the sweatpants she’d scrounged up so he could press his nose to her lower stomach.

  “Are you sniffing me?” she asked in disbelief. “Seriously? Sniffing me?”

  When he closed his eyes and kissed her belly, she knew.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  “Careful what you call yourself,” he said with a grin, rising to his feet.

  “One week,” she stated, “we’ve only been mated for one week.”

  He laughed. “You and I both know that once is all it takes.”

  If she didn’t love him as much as she did, she would’ve slapped him. Instead, she just laughed. “I supposed I should move into your house officially then.”

  He took her hand. “We could just get married.”

  “We’re already mated. Why get married?”

  Shrugging, he said, “Why not? We could get monogrammed towels and a doormat that says ‘The Cowans.”

  Lila and Gabriel headed back to Cantor with the rest of the werewolves after the sun came up. Lila said she wanted her own bed and that Jonah’s house seemed crowded enough with Heidi and Liam staying there. Maggie kept her pregnancy news to herself. She and Jonah had agreed not to tell anyone until she was either able to pee positive or they sniffed it out themselves.

  Although she was pretty sure Gabriel figured it out when he shook her hand before they left. His nose twitched, and he’d tilted his head when he looked at her. She neither confirmed nor denied.

  Lila told her about what had been going on in Cantor before they left. Her friend Andrea was missing. They were all being mistaken as witches, thanks to the drunken love spell they’d cast almost two weeks before. Lord, how her life had completely changed since that night.

  Aside from Andrea, the rest of her friends were safe for the time being and that was the most important thing. She told Lila to call and let her know if they ever needed her or Jonah. Heidi chimed in and repeated it. Lila and Gabriel had come to their aid after all.

  After they left, Heidi and Liam headed up to bed, intent on returning to their cave after getting a few hours of sleep. Maggie and Jonah stayed up with Duncan for a little while before he too left, going back to the cabin. The wound on his arm would heal nicely, according to Pecora, much to Maggie’s relief
.

  Penny and Rick had survived the fight unscathed, as had Travis. Clyde had confessed to Rick that he’d alerted the council as to the battle, but there was no response yet. Maggie didn’t know what to expect from them if anything at all. As it was, she wanted nothing to do with the Netherworld council, especially now that she realized what kind of danger they posed for both Heidi and Lila, humans mated to others.

  After some rest, Maggie spent fed both Heidi and Liam before sending them on their way. Heidi promised she’d be in touch soon, which Maggie had no doubt she would. It wouldn’t surprise her in the least if Heidi made frequent appearances at the house to help quell her boredom after a while.

  It was early the next morning when the phone rang. Maggie was resting her head in Jonah’s lap as the TV played, still tired from the day before. Jonah reached over and picked it up. He said a few words before glancing down at Maggie. When he hung up the phone, she sat up.

  “Who was that?”

  “Gabriel.”

  She hadn’t even thought about calling Lila to make sure they had gotten home okay the day before. Cursing to herself, she asked, “They made it home okay, didn’t they?”

  He nodded. “Yes, that’s not why he called.”

  “What is it then?” She didn’t like that he was vague. She wished he’d just come out and say what he wanted to say.

  “They found your friend Andrea.”

  “Andrea? Is she alive?” Maggie rushed out. “Is she okay?”

  He nodded. “Oh, she’s alive,” he said with a frown. “but she’s not alone.”

  *To Be Continued*

  About the Author

  Olivia Hutchinson lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and two dogs. She’s always excited to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  www.oliviahutchinson.net