I took a deep breath and walked toward the shadows, where Bador was waiting. He was wider up close, tall too. I looked up at his chin—hairless, smooth, and firm—and he looked down his nose at me almost haughtily.
“Okay, big guy. Lead the—”
He grabbed me around the waist and hauled me against his torso. Wren squeaked and shot over my shoulder, arms wrapping around my neck as he hissed menacingly at Bador.
The sound was so unlike my furry friend that it took a moment before I reacted to Bador’s impudence, by which point the gargoyle had a solid grip on me.
I twisted in his grasp and shoved at his chest. “Back up.” It was like trying to move a rock.
He frowned down at me. “Stop squirming. If we’re going to fly, you must be still.”
Fly? Hell no. “Don’t you—”
There was a whoosh, and huge batwings appeared behind him.
“No. I don’t want to—”
My boots left the ground, and Wren shrieked for us both as we cut through the air. Bador’s grip was secure and unrelenting as we shot up into the night at a ninety-degree angle. Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad. I mean, he had a good grip on me. I wasn’t in any danger, and he was a gargoyle, a guardian, so it was in his interest to make sure I didn’t fall.
I looked down at the tiny car and the tiny figures of Elijah and Bramble. My stomach flipped, and my head swam. Fuck, I hated flying.
“Don’t look down,” Bador warned. “I won’t drop you.”
His voice was a warm rumble and a calm settled over me. I relaxed in his arms and was suddenly very aware of his body, all hard planes and muscle pressed to mine, but he was cold. As cold as stone, which I guess made sense because he was a gargoyle, right?
He tipped forward slightly, and Wren made babbling sounds, choking me in an attempt not to die.
“Fuck, Wren.” I coughed out the words, and he scrambled to adjust his grip.
“Wren sorry.”
“It’s okay, buddy.”
I twisted to look over my shoulder, past Wren’s furry cheek, to the mansion. We were approaching a balcony lit with amber light. Bador picked up speed until we arrived at the balcony, then we straightened up to hover above it.
He descended carefully. My boots kissed the ground, but he didn’t release me. Instead, he studied me for long seconds, his gaze tracking across my face as if he was looking for something.
Wren scooted in between us and hissed at Bador again. I pulled my head back to avoid the mogwai’s butt. His body puffed up, fur standing on end to make him look bigger.
Damn, was he protecting me?
Bador transferred his shiny penny gaze from me to Wren. “I mean her no harm, tiny guardian.”
Wren bristled for a moment longer, but then his fur lay flat and he turned to hug me, rubbing his cheek against the side of my face. “Wren might need to pee again,” he muttered.
His body trembled, and it hit me that my tiny furry friend was frightened of the gargoyle but had stood up to him anyway. Oh god, he was a sweetheart.
Bador released me, his gaze flicking over my shoulder. My nape prickled, telling me we had company.
I turned to find a woman standing on the threshold to the balcony. Small, plump, and matronly, she gave off homecooked meals and quilting vibes. She smiled, and her rosy cheeks lifted. I wanted to hug her.
“Cora Dawn, welcome,” she said.
Even her voice was sweet. My residual nerves vanished. I mean, what the fuck had I been worried about?
“Hi. Thank you so much for having me.” And I meant it. I mean, I was here, and it was an honor, and… Wait a fucking minute?
I shook my head to clear it and frowned at the woman. “Quit it. Now.”
She looked confused. “Quit what, child?”
“The mojo blast, the you love me and want to do my bidding vibes.” I took a step toward her, ignoring the need to give her huggles. “I don’t like being manipulated. In fact, some would say I take serious offense to it.”
She continued to blast me with the sweet stuff for a moment, and fuck, it was hard to resist, but I dug my fingernails into my palms and glared her down.
Finally, she took a breath and nodded. The pressure to kiss her feet subsided, and I was free.
Damn, she was strong.
“You have skills,” she said.
“You have no idea.”
“And you’re a tulpa, created under the sign of Ophiuchus.”
“That’s right.”
“Not born.”
“Look, are we having an interview or something? I was under the impression you needed an anchor, and I was the only potential left. Does it matter how I came to be?”
She frowned slightly. “No. No, I suppose it doesn’t. The cosmos works in mysterious ways.”
“Anna,” Bador said from behind me. “Do you wish me to stay?”
“No, Bador, you may go. I’ll take good care of our guest.” She beamed at him, and I looked over my shoulder to find him staring at her as if she’d pulled that stick Bramble had been talking about out of his ass.
Okay, so it was obvious not everyone was able to resist Anna’s mojo.
Bador launched himself into the air and was gone.
I turned back to Anna. “You know, I’m always wary about witches like you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Witches who feel the need to manipulate their peers.” I stepped closer, hugging Wren to me. “Witches who have to make people like them.”
She smiled thinly. “My ability isn’t always voluntary, and the more I curb it, the stronger it gets, so, from time to time, I let it out. The first meeting with our only living potential seemed like an opportune time to expel some of that power.”
Fair enough. “Well, it doesn’t work on me.”
“I see that.” Her attention dropped to Wren, and her eyes narrowed. “What is that?”
“What? I think you mean who. This is Wren.”
“I think you know what I mean, Miss Dawn.”
“Wren’s a mogwai.”
She frowned. “Rare breed of fae.”
“I know.”
She studied Wren for a long beat. “There isn’t much information on them.”
Jasper had called him dangerous but there was no way I was telling her that because Wren was not a threat.
“Is there going to be a problem with him being here?” My tone clearly said that if there was, she could go fuck herself.
She smiled. “No. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”
Um…no. But sure, we’d go with that. “Of course.”
“Walk with me.” She turned on her heel and led me into the room beyond.
I stepped off the balcony onto plush carpeted floors and into a room lined with shelves heaving with books. It looked to be a study of some kind, but there was no time to check it out properly because Anna was striding out the door and into the corridor beyond.
I hurried after her. “Where are we going?”
“To test you. There’s no time to waste. The loss of our potentials is a huge blow.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m sure Elijah has explained the repercussions to you. Our current anchor is weakening. We need a new anchor, and if you’re not strong enough, then…”
“Then what?”
“Then we’re doomed.”
There was a resignation to her tone, as if she believed we were already fucked. Which, I had to admit, was kinda insulting. I hadn’t wanted to be the one, but now I kinda did. Now it mattered, and yeah, I wanted to see the look on her face when I passed.
We reached the bottom of the corridor and took a flight of winding steps. We were in one of the towers. I passed a narrow window and caught a glimpse of the driveway far below. The fountain and the statues were visible, but Elijah’s car was gone.
My stomach hollowed. Elijah was a stick in the mud and pushy as fuck, but he’d also been my rock in navigating my witch status. He’d helped me avoid getting embroiled in the witch
world because that was what I’d wanted, but now… Now I was climbing a tower to be tested to become an anchor for the most powerful coven in the world.
No pressure.
Wren clung to me, and his warm body pressed to my chest was a comfort. How could my little buddy be dangerous? Death by cuddles? Puppy-dog-eye paralysis? Nah, the intel had to be wrong. Or Jasper was wrong about what type of fae Wren was.
We reached the top of the stairs, and Anna pushed open a door. A cool breeze kissed my cheeks as I followed her into the room to discover there was no room. We were on a huge circular platform open to the stars and surrounded by a perimeter of ominous, inky darkness.
Silver symbols were painted onto the ground. Some I vaguely recognized from the texts I’d pilfered from the Magiguard library over the past few weeks. Others were new. A statue of a woman rose up in the center of the platform, but on closer inspection, it wasn’t one woman. It was three women melded together.
Creepy as fuck.
Anna walked toward the statue. “Let’s begin,” she said.
Wren whimpered, and figures materialized around us, melting out of thin air. There were six women, three on each side of the huge circle, and they were all dressed in long white robes with golden rope-like belts around their waists. They were older women, like Anna.
“Cora, this is the elder council here to bear witness to the test,” Anna said.
No, Cora, ignore the cult vibes. This is a coven. Just witches hanging out on a rooftop wearing robes.
I caught sight of a few frowns and looks of irritation lanced my way. What was wrong with these women? You’d have thought they’d be eager for this to work, not pissed off I was here. Or maybe I was reading the situation wrong? Maybe they just wanted to hurry this up.
“Are the Alphas here?” Anna called out to no one and everyone.
The darkness on the other side of the statue rippled, and a man and a golden wolf stepped through.
The wolf’s eyes captivated me, tawny and bright in the darkness of its feral face. Its gaze locked on me steadily, unnervingly. I dragged my attention to the man, and my breath hitched on an oh, fuck.
I’d seen plenty of hot guys in my life. I mean, my best friend had a harem of them, but this guy… This guy was a punch to the solar plexus. His shirt strained across his chest and hugged his biceps, and his jeans were snug on his slender hips and taut across his powerful thighs. He was a big guy—hulking Norse god big.
The moonlight kissed his hard jaw and lingered on his full lips, the kind of lips someone could spend hours tasting, but it was his hair that had my pulse pounding in my throat—dark, rich, crimson locks that fell in waves about his chiseled face.
And shit, he was staring right at me with intense gunmetal blue eyes beneath the slash of inky straight brows. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t because this was him.
This was the crimson wolf, Leif.
“Let’s get on with this,” Leif said. “I have a hunt to finish.”
The golden wolf at his side growled softly as if in agreement.
“Where is Torsten?” Anna asked.
“Not here.” Leif tore his attention from me and fixed it on Anna. His mouth turned down wryly. “But you don’t need all three of us for this, do you?”
“Yes, of course,” Anna said. She turned to me. “The potentials are put through several tests for endurance, resilience, and mental fortitude, and the ones who pass are given this final test of residual power.”
“I get it. I’m the last one standing, so no need for the other tests.” The words just popped out, and the look on her face told me I’d gone too far.
People had died. Witches had died, and that was the only reason I was here. “I’m sorry. I can be a little too blunt sometimes. I’m sorry for your loss.”
She sighed. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Also, yes, you’re right. No need for you to take any other tests.”
In other words, I could be as thick as a brick, and it wouldn’t matter. All that mattered was my residual power.
Which led me to the questions. “What is residual power?”
“This monument is sacred,” Anna said. “It sits upon a convergence of ley lines. A powerful energy point that allows us to commune with Hecate herself. We do not call upon her guidance lightly, which is why the final test is only administered to those who have proven themselves worthy. The monument will test your ability to harness the cosmic power required to keep the seal intact.”
“I thought the binding, mating thingy with the wolves did that.”
“The mating allows you to maintain the seal because cosmic power alone isn’t enough. You’ll be fed continual miasma through your connection to the alphas. But you’ll be linked to the seal, and you’ll keep it intact.”
“So, I’m basically a conduit?”
“Yes.”
And conduits wore out, which was why they needed to replace the anchor every century. My head spun, and all this information might prove pointless if I failed this test.
Best to get it over with. “What do you need me to do?”
She pulled a dagger from thin air and held it out to me, hilt first. “Slice your palm and press it to the stone.”
Slicing anything of mine sounded like a huge no, but the sooner I got this out of the way, the sooner I’d know where I stood.
I made the cut, wincing at the cold burn. Wren scrambled up to sit on my shoulder as I pressed my hand to the stone. It was warm. Like, too warm.
The elders began to chant, soft and indecipherable words, and then the platform was flooded with moonlight. A brighter shaft cut through the night and lit up the statue. I had to turn my head away and squint my eyes against the glare.
The chanting rose, and a new heat brushed my side and kissed my thighs.
Leif and the wolf flanked me. I peeked up at the crimson-haired shifter, but his attention was fixed on the statue, and a slight frown marred his features. He placed his palm on the stone.
I glanced down at the wolf in time to see him press his forehead to the statue.
Wren whimpered and began to babble, gripping me a little too tight. Was this it? Were we done?
The chanting petered out to be replaced by gasps.
“Fuck.” Leif said the word softly, under his breath, like a prayer.
I squinted up at him to find him staring at me with a look of awe before the moonlight dimmed a little, enough for me to look directly at the statue to see what all the fuss was about.
It glowed softly from within, and a symbol had appeared directly beneath my palm. A ‘U’ with a wiggly line bisecting it horizontally. The symbol pulsed urgently.
I looked at Leif. “Is this good?”
Leif smiled, slow and warm like honey, and my insides trembled. “Yes. It’s good,” he said. “It’s very good.”
“Cora,” Anna said, drawing my attention. She stood off to my left, hands clasped in front of her. “Do you know what this means?”
“That I’m strong enough?”
“Oh, my dear child, it means so much more than that. It means you’re Hecate Blessed.”
Chapter Nine
The other elder witches vanished, leaving me alone with Anna, Leif, and the massive golden wolf. Leif and Anna walked off a little way and dropped into a whispered conversation, blatantly cutting me out.
Rude much? Considering I was Hecate Blessed, whatever that meant, because no one had bothered to explain it to me.
Shit, my palm ached where I’d cut it.
“Cora hurt,” Wren said.
“It’s nothing, buddy.” I shook it off.
The wolf bumped my thigh.
“Whoa, easy, dude.” I backed away from it.
“He wants to help,” a female voice said.
A woman emerged from the fringe of darkness that hung on the perimeter of the platform. She was tall, curvy, with long golden hair that shimmered with amber highlights. It fell past her shoulders in ringlets. Her huge tawny eyes were fringed with dark
lashes and fixed on me. My mind tried to wrap itself around where the heck she’d come from.
I stared at her, then behind her into nothingness. “How are you guys doing that?”
The woman chuckled. “It’s a mirage spell. I’ve been here all along, but there’s a veil of magic that prevents occupants within from seeing those outside it.”
“Wait…” I scanned the darkness. “Are there more people watching us?”
“No, they all left. It’s just us.”
The wolf chuffed softly and nudged her thigh. I glanced down at him properly and noted the way his fur shimmered in the moonlight, white blond in places but laced with amber highlights like the woman’s. Were they related?
“Okay, okay,” she said to him. She flashed me a smile. “Rune wants to heal your hand.”
Rune? So that was the other alpha’s name. “Oh?” I looked into his beautiful hazel eyes flecked with green and ringed in amber once again, so similar to this woman’s. “And how exactly will you do that?”
He tilted his head to the side slightly.
“By licking it.” the woman said.
I made a yuk face, and she let out a bark of laughter.
“I know it sounds gross, but it’s super hygienic. Trust me, one lick, and the wound will heal right up.”
I wasn’t a wuss when it came to injuries, but the palm of the hand was a delicate place, one used for a host of activities, and the sooner it healed, the better.
“Okay.” I held my hand out to the wolf.
Crazy, I know. It was a fucking wolf, but he was a shifter and one of my future mates.
He waited patiently as if to say, are you ready?
I nodded. “I’m ready.”
He dipped his huge head and laved my palm with his rough tongue. Heat bloomed across my skin, and the ache was gone.
I held my hand up and examined the non-existent wound. “Bloody hell.”
“Cool, right?” The woman looked smug, as if she’d been the one to fix me. “Rune has skills.” She stroked the top of the wolf’s head, and he blinked slow and deliberate as if in agreement.
I looked down at Rune. “Thank you, Rune.”
The woman cleared her throat, and when I looked at her, I found her misty-eyed.
Witch Unexpected: The Thirteenth Sign Book 1 Page 7
