by CC Dragon
“What?” Mason asked.
“We need magical backup. I don’t have any. Zel and her powers are weaker than mine. You have help,” I said.
“You’re stronger than you think. We can do this. Panicking the village would be bad,” he said.
I whipped stunning spells at the closest bears as they prepared to pounce. They fell, but the other bears moved in. I was angering them.
“Keep going,” he said.
I tried to make a broader spell, but didn’t want to impact Mason. Controlling my magic was always my problem. I had it, but it never obeyed right. I knocked out plenty of bears, but Mason fell to the ground as well.
“Damn.” I knelt next to him and grabbed his phone.
His mom’s number rang as I defended our position, surrounded. My only backup was now the victim of my overzealous spell.
“Hello,” she finally answered,
“Mrs. Hunt, this is Dot Foster. I don’t have time to explain, but your daughter ended up the hostage of a bear shifter group on Kodiak Island. I need you to send the best magical support you have to back us up now. Do you understand me?” I asked.
“What?” she asked.
“I know it sounds crazy, but we need some help. Do you have people who can teleport?” I asked.
“A few,” she said.
“Send them to Mason now.” I ended the call before we got into details about the hostage situation.
Mason woke up as five Natives appeared around us.
“Keep them busy. Gravity, whatever you got,” I said.
“I’ll go east, you head west, and we’ll meet back here,” Mason said.
I nodded and walked off trying to hone in on Lily’s magic.
As I trampled along the grass, my anger grew. They certainly ate humans, probably even children—but why had Lily come here? Why put herself in danger?
Every bear that charged at me was flung off the island and into the water. I harnessed the wind. Why waste to much energy knocking them out? Make them do the work to get back to us. The more I tried, oddly, the more power I seemed to wield.
“Lily!” I shouted out of desperation as I cast a locator spell to light her up if possible.
A glowing cave was the answer. I approached and heard growling. Pulling magic from the lines, I teleported myself inside near to Lily. Now we were both surrounded by bears.
She hugged me.
“You’ll make a good feast,” one of the bears said to me.
“I’m pretty scrawny. Tough meat.” I blasted him with a fireball.
The fire spread, and I hit the other bears with fire as well. Then I grabbed Lily’s hand, and we teleported out of the cave to her villagers.
“Mason?” Lily asked.
“I’ll get him. You stay here. What the hell? Why didn’t you teleport away?” I asked.
She shook her head, tears filing her eyes. “I froze. I can’t use my magic as well here. It’s not home.”
One of the elderly Native women hugged Lily. “Get Mason. We’ll keep her safe.”
I was feeling the strain, but pulled magic from the lines and zeroed in on Mason’s magic. He was in trouble.
Teleporting to him, I tried to be invisible, but that was taking too much energy. They had Mason tied up like he was going to be roasted for dinner. I ran to him and tried to avoid notice.
“We got Lily.” I tried to move him, but I couldn’t—not at the distance. Maybe they had some curse or magic put on him or the ropes that had him. Shifters didn’t always have magical powers, but some did, some kept or bred hybrid members of the pack, so they had a half witch half shifter among them. I had only sensed some minor magic with them before. I was sensing more now.
Mason shook his head. “Go.”
“Not a chance.” I grabbed his arm, and we vanished.
We rejoined the group of Natives who were working their magics to keep the bears at bay. Lily was among them.
Mason hugged her. “What are you still doing here?”
“Mason, help defend our positions. We need all the help we can get. The bears are hiding it, but they have a bit of magic too,” Lily said.
“I felt it. They used it to weaken you,” I said.
“We need to leave, now,” Mason said.
“Take her home. We’ll cover you,” I said.
Mason shook his head. “The elders can take her. We’ll leave once they are safe.”
Four bears broke through the magical barrier and scattered the Natives. Mason took Lily up to safety, levitating above.
One of Natives was pinned under a huge grizzly jumping on the human’s chest.
I waved at the bear and killed it. Sometimes measuring the magic to stun took more effort than lethal spells. The surge of power from killing something never felt good, but I could use that power for good, at least.
An elderly Native woman was cornered, and her magic failed her.
“We’re dead,” Lily said.
“No, they are.” I took out the three cornering the old woman while Mason tried to round up the Natives and bring our group together.
“Stop killing people!” Lily shouted.
Mason shot his sister a look as they floated back to the ground.
The bears began to multiply around us.
Mason grabbed my arm. “Get her home,” he whispered in my ear
“No, you.” I needed them both to be safe.
He ran for the bears, and disappeared. I had no idea where he went. Had he shifted into something?
The Natives surrounded Lily, trying to protect her as they wove protective spells in the night sky.
I did my best to protect the Natives from bears lunging at them, but it wasn’t going to work for long. I pulled out my cell phone and texted Thorn. We needed Troopers with magic, immediately!
I prayed my old contacts would work even if I was on leave or suspended.
“Do something! Mason is out there,” Lily cried.
“You want me to stop protecting you to save your brother?” I shot back at the kid.
“Please!” Lily called.
I tried to track Mason, but he was moving so fast, I couldn’t get to him.
Fire and wind. I could put a ring of fire around the Natives and have wind whipping out away from them.
I tried to pull magic from the Fae lines, but I felt empty. Nothing connected.
I stood by the elderly woman and tried to throw a fireball at the ground. My fingers barely got warm.
“What’s wrong?” the woman asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Cast a ring of fire around your group and use the wind to blow it out toward the bears. That’ll give you cover. Get Lily home if you can. I’ll get Mason.”
“Without magic?” Lily asked.
“It’s a glitch. I glitch all the time. I’ll be fine.” I hoped...
Chapter Twenty-Six
Fire erupted in a ring as I tried to zero in on Mason. When I tried to move away from Lily, she grabbed my hand.
“You can’t see through the smoke and flames. You’ll never find him without magic,” she said.
“I’ll be fine. Stay inside the fire,” I ordered.
She didn’t release my hand even when we heard Mason scream.
I felt her power surge at the thought of her brother in pain.
“Grab him and bring him here,” I told her.
“My magic doesn’t work that way. I can’t.” Lily shook her head.
I frowned. “He’s your family. How does Native magic not work that way?”
“Use my powers,” she said.
The fire seemed to be keeping the bears back. I didn’t want to drain Lily of all of her powers, but it was a good chance to see what she had in case she ran off more in the future. Plus, right now, mine were unpredictable.
I squeezed her hand and focused on Mason. Pulling her magic was easy. I didn’t want to leave her with nothing, but I wouldn’t have many chances to pull Mason in. I closed my eyes and visualized him. He was pin
ned down by that teen bear who said Lily was his mate. Mason already had claw marks in his shoulder.
The bear was going for his throat when Mason fought back and threw the bear clear. I set the bear, and his friends looking on, on fire. Then I locked onto Mason. Teleporting him without being able to actually touch him seemed beyond my or Lily’s powers.
Levitating people, I could do that, but it took a lot of effort, and he was farther away than that boy on the roof in the village. Something needed to work with me.
“Gravity,” I said.
I reversed gravity’s power on him, floated him off the ground and out of reach of any shifters. Pretending he was as light as a cloud, I guided him to us letting the Earth do the work.
I pulled him closer to me, unsure of the distance.
“Is he okay?” Lily asked.
Her fatigue came through, and I released her hand. I pushed through the glitches and brought him down into the safety of the fire ring.
I looked at the elder Native woman. “Take Lily home now,” I said.
“I need to stay for Mason.” Lily knelt next to her brother.
I heard helicopters overhead. Had the Troopers finally showed up to help?
A huge stream of water hit the fire, and bears started coming at us. Crap, they weren’t in on the plan!
I stunned and killed as many bears as I could then redirected the forceful water toward them. The bears flew in the other direction as the water overpowered them.
I heard a roar. The bears were coming through another opening in the fire ring. The backup from the Troopers wasn’t exactly helping, but they didn’t want the whole island to burn, and I understood that.
Turning, I let my rage loose on the bears, and the ground under them exploded.
Lily looked up at me in shock.
Thorn came over in a Jeep. “Coast Guard is putting out the fire. We’re taking the island. This is crazy. Shifters on Kodiak.”
I nodded. “I need to get them to go back to their village.”
The elders turned to each other and held hands. They disappeared. It was nothing to do with me, but the bears stopped coming.
“That fire is magical. It keeps relighting,” Thorn said.
I waved my hand, and the fire ceased.
Troopers began marching along the island, taking bear shifters into custody—forcing them into human form with magic.
“Is there a magical Trooper unit?” I asked.
Thorn smiled. “We’ve got your back. Need paramedics?”
I shook my head. “I’ll do it.” I knelt down next to him and touched Mason’s shoulder.
He sucked air as I poured magical strength into him. It might not heal him, but it’d be enough to sustain him until people from his village could properly heal him. Lily knelt down too and did the same.
“Don’t drain yourself,” I told Lily.
She rolled her eyes.
I smiled and touched the ground with my other hand. Finally, I could pull magic from the Fae lines and refilled my energy and fueled Mason’s healing.
Mason sat up and took a deep breath. He tried to push my hand away.
“Easy,” I said.
“They have a lot of bodies. They feast on tourists,” Mason said.
Thorn nodded. “We’ll take care of them. Wildlife troopers work here, but we need to get some magical ones on the job.”
“Kids?” I asked.
Mason shook his head. “I didn’t see any kids. They want more meat. And magic, they do like consuming magical beings.”
“Wild.” I shook my head. “Thorn came through for us. But your sister. We need to get her home. The village is safe, so we can make sure you’re fully healed.”
“I need to talk to my sister too,” Mason said.
“I’m right here. Don’t talk like I’m not here,” Lily snarked.
“What were you thinking? Why would come here alone?” Mason shouted.
I grabbed his hand. “Let’s go.”
Lily burst into tears. “You don’t understand. I wanted to help. They’re eating humans.”
“So? Bears eat humans. Humans eat bears. This is Alaska. They’re not hurting kids, so it’s not our case. You invaded their territory. What were you thinking?” I yelled at her.
“Dot,” Mason said.
Lily glared at me. “I wanted to help people. Save people. My magic sensed the pain and loss. I picked up that they were bad.”
“What? Why were you trying to find bad groups?” Mason asked.
“To help you two. Then you could come back and be safe. I wanted to explore, not be in danger or have you in danger.” She hugged her brother.
“Dot saved us both,” he said.
“She borrowed my powers too,” Lily said.
Mason smiled. “I didn’t realize she’s a true linker.”
“A what?” I asked.
“Let’s get back to the village. We need to be safe, and like it or not, we’ve made some enemies today,” he said.
I grabbed Lily and Mason by the hand and visualized the little Native village that felt safe and warm. Anywhere near Bethel was good enough for me.
We landed in the middle of that road in front of the general store. Safe in the village, I wanted to stay for a month. I needed desperately to recharge my energy.
And find out what the hell a linker was...
Margo helped me to the couch as Lily’s mom fussed over her.
Pete sat Mason next to me.
“What the hell happened?” Janice demanded.
Mason grabbed my hand. “Lily was trying to help on the case.”
“What? You’re crazy,” Janice said.
“You’re crazy. My brother was in danger. I did the right thing,” she insisted.
Even exhausted, Lily seemed much more hostile than before now that she was back.
“Lily, I’ve worked in danger for years. This isn’t something you need to worry about,” Mason explained.
Lily glared at her brother. “The FBI is human stuff. You said you didn’t deal with magical issues unless she pulled you into the case. She liked the magical stuff that went through the FBI. Here she is dragging you into it again.”
“Why would you research a random bear shifter clan that eats humans but without any other real clues leading to our case? Why would you go there? We weren’t investigating them,” I said.
“I tried showing up at your house. You and Mason were so cozy, I’d never lure him away from that. You. I had to put myself in danger to get any attention,” Lily replied.
“Lily. That’s insane,” Janice said.
“I don’t care. I knew he’d save me. Now he can see how much she puts his life in danger. Her powers glitched. She had to use mine! She can link and steal powers!” Lily shouted.
Margo put her hand on Lily’s shoulder. “That’s no reason to yell. She can’t help what she is.”
“I’m sorry. I was using the Fae lines, but suddenly, they weren’t working. I didn’t plan on it all going so crazy, and they wanted to keep you. Some weird bear said you were his mate.” I needed more patience. She was just a kid.
Margo took my hand. “We need a moment to recharge.”
I followed her into a small bedroom. I wanted to leave and go back to my house. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize the family was so opposed.”
Margo shook her head. “Lily isn’t herself. Lily was worried before, but not this enraged. I touched her shoulder to see if it’s hormones or she had a romance with that bear. It’s much worse. Someone has cursed her.”
“The bears?” I asked.
“Maybe. Maybe not. She’s yelling at her mother, but not in a hormonal way. Not wanting her brother in danger is one thing, but blaming you isn’t the answer. She adored you before, and now she’s hating you. It makes no sense.” Margo held my hands. “You are a linker.”
“I’ve never heard that term.” I soaked up her calming energy.
“Most people can’t just touch someone and share their p
owers. Among family members, it’s easier. Married couple, the closer you are, the easier it is to share. But to take powers without any effort or connection...from strangers.” Margo shook her head.
“But I saw the Natives who came to help holding hands. They teleported together,” I said.
“To stay together. To keep each other grounded and focused so no one was picked off or lost. But they weren’t sharing powers, maybe joining their powers for a united purpose to make the journey a bit easier. I can’t take yours. Take mine,” she said.
“I don’t need them. I’ll be fine,” I said.
“Heal,” she said.
I closed my eyes and took a bit of her power. She was strong with healing gifts and Native magic.
“More,” she said.
I drank deeper and felt stronger.
“That is amazing.” Margo pulled her hand away.
“I never fit in anywhere. Guess that’s a part of it.” I rubbed my neck.
Margo nodded. “You can fuel Mason as well?”
“I can share power, yes.” I shrugged. “Which is good. The bears had magic. Some of them. That was weird.”
“Hybrids?” she asked.
“Not sure. They were strong. Did they curse Lily?” I asked. “It must’ve been them.”
Margo frowned and motioned me to follow her.
Lily seemed calmer as we rejoined the group.
“You look better,” Mason said.
I took his hand and shared some energy.
“She’s not a Fae. Not a real one,” Lily said
“Why did the bears have magic?” I asked.
Lily glared at me.
“Hybrids,” Mason said.
I looked at Mason. “That was strong magic for some hybrids.”
“They didn’t touch you, did they Lily?” Mason asked.
“What?” Janice snapped.
“One of the bears claimed she was his mate. Crazy, I know. She’s far too young,” I said.
“I’m an old soul,” Lily said.
“You want to marry a bear shifter, wait until you’re eighteen at least,” Margo said.
“No! I don’t want to marry anyone. But they said Dot was the real danger. Trying to put paras in human jails. A warlock came to warn them about her,” Lily explained.
“A warlock?” Mason asked.
I locked eyes with Mason.
