The Alpha's Mage

by Claire Cullen

“It’s still bleeding.”

  Knox pushed his hand away and fixed the bandage back in place. “It’s fine.”

  “You’re a werewolf. You shouldn’t be healing this slowly.”

  The alpha avoided his eyes. Lorcan could guess at the many reasons why he wasn’t healing supernaturally fast—not enough food, not enough sleep, long days and nights guarding the boundary. And then last night he’d taken on a fight to the death that had very nearly killed him.

  “How can I help?” he asked.

  Knox’s shame faded, a smile on his face. “Just be here. Your scent is as good as morphine.” The alpha took an exaggerated inhale, the smile slipping from his face as a growl escaped his lips.

  Lorcan sat up straight, alarmed.

  “Knox?”

  “I’m fine,” the alpha said tightly. “It’s fine.”

  “No, it isn’t. What…?” He sniffed himself lightly, a question on his lips. “It’s him, isn’t it? You can smell him on me.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You’re mine. No matter whose scent is on you.” Knox scrubbed a hand across his face, wincing when his fingers contacted the claw marks marring his cheek.

  But just the thought of it made Lorcan sick to his stomach.

  “No. I need to get him off me. I need—” He climbed over Knox and slipped off the bed, thumping heavily onto the floor. Before the alpha could move, he pushed to his feet, using his arms to shield his body self-consciously. “I’ll take a shower, scrub until he’s gone.”

  “Lorcan.”

  Knox sat up and reached for him. He tried to backpedal but the alpha was quicker. His arms were caught in a gentle grip, Knox stopping his escape.

  Lorcan ducked his head. “Please, Knox.”

  The sigh was soft, the alpha’s voice pitched low.

  “Hey. Can you look at me?”

  Lorcan didn’t want to. Ashamed and confused, emotions swirled loud inside him. But Knox was gently insistent.

  “Lorcan.”

  He peeked his head up, catching the wolf’s dark eyes.

  “I could use a shower too. Want to help me outside?”

  When he opened his mouth to argue, Knox raised an eyebrow, tugging him a step closer. “We fought Tyr together. We’ll do this together too.”

  The alpha swung his legs down so he could sit on the side of the bed. Lorcan sank to the ground, his hands on Knox’s knees.

  “I want you to give me the bond bite. Now, today. I don’t want to be anyone’s but yours, ever again.”

  Knox’s hands covered his, the alpha’s expression troubled. “There’s no rush.”

  “There is. Of course there is. What if the Warrens try to take me again?”

  “No one is taking you from me. I’ll never let that happen again. Bite or no bite.”

  “But I need it—” If he had Knox’s bite, his uncle would see that he couldn’t be bought and sold again. He’d be no use to the sorcerers anymore.

  “Come up here,” Knox insisted. “I’m not having this conversation with you on the floor.”

  The alpha tugged insistently until he climbed back up onto the bed.

  “Talk to me, Lorcan. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

  Lorcan shook his head, clinging tightly to the alpha and hiding his face against Knox’s uninjured shoulder. The alpha’s fingers found his hair, caressing it in soft strokes.

  “The bond you had died with Tyr, but the mark still needs to heal. I could bite you now, but it would hurt, and it might not take. You don’t deserve more pain after what you’ve been through.”

  Lorcan tried to protest, but Knox’s fingers tightened slightly, silencing him.

  “The Warrens won’t come looking for you, not today or tomorrow. Drogon Pack isn’t exactly going to be advertising that their alpha lost a challenge fight. They’ll keep what happened under wraps for as long as they can. We have time.”

  Lorcan struggled to accept Knox’s reassurance, shivering in the alpha’s arms. Knox hugged him, kissed his cheek, and then murmured in his ear.

  “Tell me about the bite. How’d it happen?”

  He didn’t want to relive it, but he guessed what Knox was asking, what the alpha wanted to know.

  “There’s nothing to tell. The day I arrived I was handed over to Tyr. He forced me to my knees on the floor, in front of everyone, and bit me. It hurt so badly, I passed out. When I woke up, it was over. My neck throbbed like hell after.”

  “That was it? He didn’t…” Knox paused, pain in his voice as he forced the words out. “There was no mating?”

  “Tyr had a pretty beta wolf keeping his bed warm. He didn’t need me for that. Maybe later, when he needed the magic, he’d have…”

  There was a long sigh as some of the tension eased from Knox’s frame, the alpha resting his chin against Lorcan’s head. “Good. Though I know you’d have given him hell if he’d tried anything. Every plant in the pack would have had its thorns out for him.”

  The laugh took even Lorcan by surprise, but once he started, he couldn’t stop. Tears followed, his shoulders shaking, but Knox just held him tighter, shushing him as he sobbed. His throat hurt by the time his cries finally petered off.

  “I want him off me, Knox. Make him go away, please.”

  The alpha’s fingers laced with his and drew him gently to his feet. Lorcan looped his arm around Knox’s waist, mindful of his ribs, and supported the alpha as they made their way outside.

  “Are you sure you can stand up long enough for a shower? I think a sponge bath might be more our speed.”

  Knox hissed in pain with his next step as they rounded the corner of the hut to their makeshift shower. “I think you might be… What the hell?”

  They rocked to a stop and just stared.

  “Is that… a bath?” Lorcan took in the old tub in amazement.

  “It looks like a bath.”

  “Where did it come from?” As he asked, Lorcan spotted Athena in the shadows of the trees.

  Knox snorted and shook his head, following his gaze. “The scrapyard. It’s a welcome-home present for you. Everyone’s happy you’re back.”

  Lorcan suspected that the information came courtesy of Athena and felt a little ache of sadness that he couldn’t hear her. Maybe one day, when the pack had more mages, when their bonds were stronger…

  “Feel like giving it a try?”

  “Anything, if it means getting clean.”

  Knox sat on the edge of the bath while Lorcan opened the tap to the water tank, the water gushing into the ornate tub. He’d grown tired of cold showers weeks ago, so he’d done a little druid magic to encourage the sun to heat the water. He hoped the magic hadn’t faded in his absence.

  There were two wrapped paper packages lined up on the ledge of the bath. He unwrapped the first, finding a bar of soap that smelled like honey and charcoal. The second was a mixture of plants and herbs, the scent of lavender and chamomile strong.

  “Dunk that in the water,” Knox said. “It’s one of Orion’s concoctions. It’ll help with the healing.”

  Lorcan did, swirling it around in the bath. His sun shield magic had held, and the water was pleasantly hot.

  “You go first,” he told Knox. “The heat will help with the pain.”

  Knox took another look at the tub. “That thing is huge. We’ll both fit, and there’ll be room to spare.”

  With a thoughtful hum, Lorcan shed his clothes and helped Knox get his sweatpants off. The alpha braced one hand on the side of the tub and the other on Lorcan’s shoulder, and then levered himself into the bathtub. His grimace of pain was brief, a long sigh following as the heat of the water eased his hurts. He held out a hand, and Lorcan took it, sitting at the other end. The water came up to his chest, warm and comforting.

  “Pretty nice, huh?”

  “It’s good,” he agreed. The water was cleansing, the scent erasing any other lingering on his skin.

  Knox reached over the side of the bath, returning with a sponge a
nd the soap. He held them out. “Come on, get over here.”

  “But your hip, your ribs…”

  “Will hurt a lot more if I have to come over there.” He set the soap on the side of the bath and reached out a hand.

  Lorcan didn’t hesitate to take it, pushing to his feet and carefully moving to Knox’s end. The alpha helped him sit between his legs, easing him back until he was just resting against Knox’s chest.

  “Is this okay? Am I putting too much pressure on your…?”

  “It’s fine,” Knox insisted. “I have you exactly where I want you.”

  His body couldn’t stay tense for long in the alpha’s embrace. He rested his head against Knox’s right shoulder, avoiding the wound Tyr had left over his heart. Orion had said it would scar. Knox didn’t seem bothered by that, but Lorcan wasn’t sure how he felt. He let his eyes close, content and safe in Knox’s arms.

  The brush of a sponge across his shoulder and down his arm drew his eyes back open.

  “Mmm. Feels good.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” The slow caress of the soapy sponge across his skin felt amazing. Even better because it was Knox’s hand holding the sponge.

  His chest was next, lazy strokes that teased across his skin. The sponge dipped lower, caressing his navel. It tickled, making him squirm.

  “Hold still,” Knox chided, but there was no sting to his words. The sponge traveled back up to his other shoulder. “Lean forward.”

  “You just told me to hold still.”

  “I need to do your back.”

  Grumbling, he eased forward, tensing a little. This was going to hurt.

  “Hey, now.” Knox’s quiet words were followed by the press of warm lips to his shoulder. “I know gentle isn’t my forte, but I’ll always make an exception for you.”

  Lorcan forced himself to take a slow, deep breath, relaxing slowly as he felt the gentle brush of the sponge across his back. Knox started low, working his way upward. He lingered over Lorcan’s mage mark, on the full moon that painted his skin, and then eased upward until he reached the base of Lorcan’s neck. Lorcan expected the touch of the sponge there too but was surprised when instead, Knox kissed the bruised, broken skin of his bond bite.

  The kiss awoke something inside him, the world around them suddenly brighter and more alive than it had been seconds ago. Lorcan drew on that power, drew on his strength, and pushed it into his love for the wolf holding him. He was following instinct more than knowledge, a bad habit he’d picked up from Knox.

  Knox’s mouth was still on his neck, his tongue trailing a line of wet heat across the bruised skin. The alpha gasped as the power Lorcan had called entwined around them, seeking what was broken and making it whole. Lorcan wasn’t a healer, but this was the bond between wolf and mage. It transcended nature, broke rules that others lived and died by. The hurts on his body faded to nothing as he lay in Knox’s arms, the magic pouring across their skin and leaving him panting from the exertion.

  Knox’s voice was in his ear a moment later, a gruff murmur.

  “Every time I think I have you figured out, you surprise me.”

  28

  With the help of Lorcan’s unplanned burst of druid magic, Knox was back on his feet a few days later. Sure, he wouldn’t be running at full speed for a while, but it was far better than hobbling around for weeks on end like he’d expected.

  He lasted three days before deciding he had to walk the boundary. Lorcan insisted on coming with him, not that Knox had any real objections. He preferred the mage where he could see him. That, and he was worried about Lorcan. He’d been quiet since his return, sleeping little, and was still fixated on bonding. Knox was determined to bond too, but he wanted them both to be in a good place when they did. He wanted it to be good for Lorcan, to erase the painful memory that Tyr had left in his wake.

  They started at the scrapyard, saying a quick hello to Barrett and his betas. Then they followed the east boundary, heading north. Lorcan was distracted, jittery even. His gaze never settled on one spot for long, his hands rubbing up and down his arms constantly, as if he was cold. Knox didn’t know what to say or do to make things better.

  The mage stopped walking abruptly, his back to Knox.

  “I want to go home.”

  In a way, it wasn’t a surprise. He’d been waiting for Lorcan to speak his mind, aware he was mulling something over. And this was it.

  “Of course. We can leave today; I’ll bring you there myself. You can have as long as you need.”

  In the back of his mind was the worry that Lorcan wouldn’t want to return. But seeing the mage so down, so lost, Knox was ready to let him go if it was what Lorcan really wanted.

  They’d reached the northernmost point in the pack, the most isolated spot. If there was a good place to have this conversation, this was it.

  Lorcan turned slowly to face him.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.” He didn’t even need to think about it.

  Lorcan held out a hand, and Knox took it. He seemed to come to a decision, nodding his head in determination and leading Knox straight toward the boundary.

  “We can’t. The river—”

  “Trust me. Don’t let go of my hand.”

  Lorcan squeezed in emphasis, and Knox tightened his grip. The impassable river with its treacherous sinkholes lay ahead, the landscape beyond it inhospitable.

  “Lorcan,” Knox warned as they approached the rushing water.

  “Close your eyes. And don’t let go.”

  It went against his every instinct, but he put his trust in Lorcan and shut his eyes. Step by step, they kept moving, crossing the boundary. Knox was sure that the ground would give beneath them at any moment. The sound of flowing water grew louder, and he could feel the spray of it against his skin—and then… nothing.

  He cracked an eye open, trying to figure out what had happened.

  “Wow.”

  He opened both eyes and stared around. There was no rushing river, no hostile terrain, no sinkholes. Instead, they were standing on the edge of a wildflower meadow.

  Knox turned and looked back the way they’d come. He could see the boundary, but the river was still mysteriously absent.

  “Uh… Lorcan?”

  The mage was watching him carefully.

  “It’s a druid cloak. Like an advanced version of my boundary magic.”

  “A druid cloak? Okay. What is it hiding?”

  “That’s what I want to show you. Come on, it’s not far.”

  Hand in hand, they walked on. Knox looked in every direction, amazed at the unfamiliar landscape. He knew every inch of the land inside the pack, of the boundary he guarded. The idea that this existed right next to them and he’d never seen it before was a hard truth to swallow.

  “This place is beautiful.”

  It was just the right side of wild, suggesting that someone cared for the land, but in a way that was sympathetic to nature. The meadow led to a forest of mixed trees. Knox spotted oak, sycamore, even a hawthorn. But it was what lay beyond the trees that caught his attention. He had a suspicion of what they’d find. He was expecting a house, maybe a barn. This was not that.

  “Is this… a village?”

  They stood at the tree line, staring at a cluster of pretty cottages surrounded by gardens. People were milling about, but no one had seen them yet.

  “This is my village, Knox. My home.” Lorcan had an expression of undisguised yearning on his face.

  Knox put the pieces together, staring around in disbelief.

  “The druids that Orion said left town years ago… they didn’t go anywhere, did they?”

  “We’ve always been right here.”

  “But why?”

  Lorcan shrugged. “Bad stuff happened. We were targeted, threatened. The village decided we would pull away from society, protect ourselves. They spread the story that all but a handful of us had left. A few people travel in and out of town when they need to, keep
ing up the pretense that there aren’t many of us still around.”

  They were spotted, and a shout went up. Lorcan hurried forward, waving and calling in greeting, and the alarm turned to relief. People appeared from everywhere, but one in particular caught Knox’s eye. The woman rushed out of a house, crying out when she caught sight of Lorcan. He spotted her at the same moment, running to her. Knox followed at a distance and watched as the two embraced.

  A lot of uneasy stares were directed his way. It didn’t come naturally, but he did his best not to look threatening.

  “Lorcan, who is this?” an old man asked, leveling a look of suspicion at Knox. Maybe he didn’t know for sure what Knox was, but he would guess at the truth soon enough.

  Lorcan let go of the woman who could only be his mother and turned, sending a blinding smile Knox’s way.

  “This is Knox. He’s the watcher of Samhain Pack, and he’s my mate.”

  There were gasps and murmurs at that. Lorcan’s mother stepped forward to touch his arm.

  “Your mate? Lorcan—”

  “It’s not what you think,” Lorcan assured her. “A lot’s happened, and I’ll tell you everything. But the most important thing you need to know is that the wolf mark isn’t a curse. It’s a calling. I know where I’m meant to be now, what I’m meant to do.”

  It sounded wishy-washy even to Knox’s ears, so he suspected they wouldn’t accept it so easily, but the other druids looked intrigued rather than skeptical.

  “Why don’t you come inside?” Lorcan’s mother said. “You can tell us everything over a hot meal.”

  “I’ll wait for you out here,” Knox said, assuming they’d appreciate some time alone.

  “Without you, they’ll only get half the story,” Lorcan said. “They need to hear all of it, Knox. They need to understand.”

  He held out his hand again, and Knox took it, following Lorcan into one of the houses. If it looked quaint outside, the inside did nothing to dispel that impression. It was as if the last few decades had passed the druids by. And maybe, living so isolated from the world, they had.

  Along with Lorcan’s mother, who the mage introduced as Bridget, a handful of other druids joined them in the house. They were the elders, the ones who made important decisions for the village. The leader was a man named Brennan who watched Knox with suspicious eyes.