by Bella Falls
After a pause, he answered. “I see a glowing door.”
“That’s for you,” she told him. “When you’re ready, you can walk through it.”
James scooped up his daughter in his arms and went to comfort his sobbing wife. “We’ll always love you, Zach. You can let go now,” he told his son.
Unabashed tears streamed down my face as the family said its goodbyes. I held onto Georgia to give her as much as I could.
Zach gave one last mournful glance at all of us. “Thank you,” he said. Turning away, he disappeared.
Chapter Nineteen
“You should have been the one to tell me about the fight,” Mason said over the phone. “Not Dash.”
I couldn’t believe the wolf shifter had called my boyfriend. Then again, I knew I’d screwed up by not communicating first, so I had no leg to stand on.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, remorse twisting my stomach. “I figured if I filled you in on what was going to happen, then you’d come up here even if Big Willie didn’t want you to and get in the middle of everything. And believe me, things are already super complicated.”
“Charli—”
“But it was stupid of me not to share things with you,” I admitted. “I’m really, really sorry.”
His long sigh on the other side increased my regret. “I know you are. And I also know that whenever I’ve gone away up North that I don’t always call to let you know how things are going either. So, I think we’re good.”
“We are?” I questioned, leaning my head against the pillows I’d stacked up behind me on the bed in my small cabin.
“Yeah, we are.”
His warm words soothed my nerves, and I relaxed for the first time since I dialed his number. “Thanks.”
“But I think you and I should make it habit to talk to each other,” he continued. “Even if what we have to say is hard. We’ve got to trust that the other person will support us and try to do what’s best. Even when we think we’ve screwed up.”
“I’m so sorry, Mason.”
He chuckled. “I’m not saying that to get another apology. Just think it’s something both of us can work on. So, let’s move on and you fill me in on what happened after you talked to the ghost.”
“Zach’s parents, especially his mom, apologized to Dash. She told him all about Max’s machinations to undermine him and oust him as pack leader.” I yawned while talking. “Georgia and I were absolutely wiped out after using up all our magical energy, so I missed out on Cameron’s girlfriend Etta finding all of the files that Zach had saved on his SD card that prove Max’s guilt in even more underhanded business. I guess he found out the game was over because he’s completely disappeared. No one can find him.”
The silence that echoed from the other end concerned me. “Hmm.”
“What does hmm mean?” I asked.
“I guess it means that I’ve found in my experience as a warden that bad guys don’t just up and vanish,” Mason explained. “They tend to hide until they find a better opportunity to attack. Dash should watch his back. Maybe the two of you should come back here to Honeysuckle.”
I smiled at the mention of my hometown. “I was planning on suggesting that to him today. Now that Max’s treachery has been exposed, everyone in the pack is acting like they wanted Dash as their alpha all along. Cameron has been set up as his second in command, which is probably where she should have been all along.”
“So, everything has been fixed?” he asked.
I considered the broader terms to the question. “In terms of pack business, I think they’re on the way to making things right. It’ll probably take a lot more digging to root out any others who were complicit with Max. That night at the warehouse, I definitely witnessed some true hate. I’m guessing there will be some members who won’t put up with Dash’s policy of tolerance for all.
“In terms of Dash claiming me as his intended mate, that little gambit is over. But if you’re trying to subtly ask whether or not we’ve figured out how to sever our binding…well, that’s a little more complicated,” I admitted. “Once Georgia has fully recovered from her last attempt to communicate with a ghost, she’ll try to help us. She says she’s close to locating a local spellweaver.”
“Good,” Mason declared. “Because your grandmother heard back from Agent Giacinta with the IMP, and she had found one, but he was kind of…indisposed. Getting him here from where he’s currently imprisoned would have been a huge task. And one with a pretty hefty price tag. And I’m not talking money.”
“Ah, bureaucratic favors are always more costly,” I said. My entire body tingled and buzzed at high alert. I sat up, recognizing the warning signals. “Mason, I know this is horrible to say after not talking to you for the past few days, but I’m gonna have to call you back.”
“Is everything okay?” His concern was palpable even through the spell phone.
“That’s what I’m going to find out.” I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder while trying to pull on my shoes. “I love you.”
“Love you, too,” he replied. “Please be careful.”
I gave him my best promise. “I’ll try.”
Once I got both boots on, I grabbed my coat and ran out the door. A distinctive odor hit my nose, and I turned in every direction, trying to find the source of the fire. My eyes found the billow of thick, black smoke rising from one of the fields peppered with trees.
“Oh no!” I cried. Checking my spell phone, I searched for Dash’s number to call.
A voice from behind interrupted me. “Now you’ll both pay.”
Before I could turn around to see who spoke, something heavy hit the back of my head, and everything went dark.
I came to, dazed and confused. The scent of something burning filled the air, and a thin layer of smoke clung to the ceiling above me. I tried to move but found my wrists bound behind me. It took me a few moments to identify where I was. A familiar groan from somewhere behind me clued me in.
“Dash?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he uttered in a groggy voice. “Wait, how did you get here?”
“I don’t know. I was outside my cabin and saw the trees on fire in one of the fields. Before I could call you, someone attacked me from behind.” My head throbbed, and I wondered if they hit the same spot that was already injured. “Are you tied up, too?”
I heard a few grunts of effort and felt something hit against the back of the couch I was sitting on. A cracking and stretching kind of noise followed until I heard a distinctive snap.
“Not anymore. Give me a second to untie my feet and I’ll get you loose.”
I stared up at the ceiling of his cabin, concerned about how much smoke danced across the rafters. My body buzzed with alarm, but I already knew we were deep in trouble. In a matter of seconds, Dash freed himself and rushed over to me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered while his fingers worked the knots. “I was here in my house and then everything went dark.”
“I’ll bet when I got knocked out, it affected you, too,” I said.
The unmistakable sound of a shotgun being racked interrupted our conversation. “For the first time since Dash told me about you, I’m actually glad the two of you are connected,” Max crowed, aiming the piece at his former alpha. “Kindly stop what you’re doing and move away from her.”
“Max, what do you think this will accomplish?” Dash asked. “Everyone knows what you’ve done and been doing all along. There’s no pack within a five-state radius that would dare harbor you. Give it up.” He cocked his head to the side, and I felt the crackle of magic coming from him.
Instead of cringing in submission, his former second laughed. “You have no power over me anymore, Alpha.” He spit on the ground. “I’m rogue now, thanks to you.”
“Come on, Fletch. Your own actions are to blame, not me,” Dash replied.
While the two former friends argued with each other, I took the time to ca
ll forth my magic and send it to my hands and fingers. Although whatever knots Max had used were way more complicated than the ones Matt had tied when we were younger, if Dash could keep Max busy long enough, I could free myself.
“Yes, they are. You and your conceited family have always stood in my way. It should have been me instead of your father,” Max complained. “I was the one being groomed to take over and my best friend was supposed to be my second. But then he decided he wanted the power for himself.”
Dash’s confused reaction revealed how this information was new to him. “That’s not what Dad told me.”
“Of course not!” Max bellowed. “Your father rewrote his own history and repeated it so many times that he actually believed it to be true. That he was the favored choice meant to rule and pass on the legacy through his sons. And I did nothing to stop him. Instead, I allowed it all to happen, which is why I had to try and fix things.”
Keeping a close eye on the man holding the shotgun, I twisted my wrists behind my back, testing to see how well my magic was working on the rope. My ties gave way a little, but not enough for me to be able to slip my hands out. I could risk some burns to my skin if I threw a little fire power through my fingers, but I wanted to avoid setting the couch ablaze while still in bondage if I could help it.
“If you didn’t like Dad all those years, then why didn’t you do more to take him down?” Dash didn’t even try to hide his frustration. “You knew what our home life was like. How he treated Mom. How he treated his own kids. Did you hate me so much then that you allowed him to beat the crap out of all of us?”
Max lowered the gun for a moment. “I never hated you. Even now, I don’t. I know you refuse to see it, but I really did what I did in order to try and make things right for the pack.”
Testing the rope again, I found my hands almost unbound. A few more minutes and I would be able to free them. However, the smoke in the room thickened.
Dash shot Max an antagonistic smile. “Killing Zach Owens was ‘making things right?’ In what world? How did you committing murder make sense?”
“It wasn’t in my original plan,” his former second defended. “But the kid got nosy, so I had to do something to keep him from getting in the way of the plans.”
“You murdered a kid, Fletch! In all my years of knowing you, I would never have guessed you had that in you.” Dash shook his head in disgust.
“Technically, he killed himself.” Dash erupted off of the couch, but Max aimed the shotgun at his chest. “Don’t come any closer,” he warned.
“You provided the weapon he used,” Dash accused. “You threatened him and convinced that poor kid that if he didn’t do it, you would kill his whole family. Where’s the honor in that? How was doing that making you worthy of leading anything? And what about Silas?”
Max shrugged with indifference. “He was dealing drugs, just not the ones you thought. It was easy to convince him to write that note. His contributions to the pack won’t be missed.”
It occurred to me how my tracking powers had gotten misinterpreted. When we’d gotten to the garage, I thought that the golden thread of connection was attached to Silas. But Max had been talking to him at that time. Because he knew we were looking for the ones responsible for the dealing of the hardcore drugs. And now that I thought about it, every single time the gift of premonition warned me, he’d been involved.
Max moved his forefinger to the trigger. “Who are you to utter one word of reproach when you’re the one who killed your father? Your own flesh and blood.”
Dash paused in his tirade, and a shadow crossed his face. “There’s not a day goes by that I don’t live with that choice. But the man I took down was an abusive alcoholic who had stopped caring about the pack and only cared about himself. What was I supposed to do? You didn’t do anything about him either and yet you knew how far gone he was.”
Max took a step back but kept the barrel aimed at Dash. “You’re right. I failed at that time. But then, so did you. Why did you leave the pack in the hands of your younger brother? Davis couldn’t handle it even before his current troubles. You left the door wide open for Kash to walk through and destroy things.”
“That was never my intent,” Dash gritted. “I didn’t take down my father in order to win the pack. I did it to save lives.”
Max snorted. “Then I guess we both have a lot in common.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Dash growled.
My magic loosened the knots enough that I could slip one of my wrists through the rope. I needed to pick the right time to break loose and use my powers to attack Max and protect Dash and me. I just needed the right opportunity. And maybe for the shotgun not to be aimed so close to either of us.
“Honestly, after you led the group of us to help take down your brother and those infernal witches, I thought that maybe you were ready. Finally. That maybe you would be the solution to all the problems. It’s why I supported you for alpha. Too bad you got yourself mixed up with this witch.” He pointed the shotgun at me. “But I guess that’s not gonna matter for much longer. I set the fire in the tree fields, but also to your cabin. When it goes up in flames, it’ll look like a horrible accident.”
Dash’s eyes glowed. “You selfish son of a—”
“And don’t worry,” Max interrupted. “There are plans already in motion to place the right leader at the top. You and the abomination of a shifter you promoted to replace me will no longer be allowed to weaken the pack.” Pleased to have gotten a rise out of his former alpha, Max dropped the aim of his weapon a little.
I took the opportunity to whip my hands from behind my back and aim a quick spell at the shotgun. It flew out of the man’s hand and landed on the floor, skittering away from him.
Dash rushed the older man, barreling into his chest and knocking him back. I quickly worked at the ropes around my feet, but my fingers were shaking too much. Summoning a little magic, I shredded the rope and watched it disintegrate in a flash of bright blue energy.
Using the gift from the Gray sisters, I helped anticipate all of Max’s moves and used my binding with Dash to help him fight. He and I allowed the binding to flow through us, and I felt supercharged and ready to help.
Dash ducked out of the way of Max’s swing, and I aimed a hex at his back to push him closer to the alpha. Dash’s fist made contact to Max’s jaw, and he stumbled backwards. I aimed a spell to sweep under the professed villain’s legs, causing him to trip and fall. Dash aimed a kick at his side that made Max curl into a fetal position of pain.
Flames licked the outside of the cabin high enough to be seen through the living room windows. The log beams over our heads smoldered as the fire consumed them. The smoke thickened in the room, and I struggled to breathe.
“We need to get out of here,” I choked out, covering my mouth with my arm.
Dash glanced at me for one second, which gave Max just enough time to draw a blade out from under a sheath tied around his calf. He swung it and cut Dash’s leg.
I screamed out in pain and looked down to find dark blood soaking my pants.
Max cackled with maniacal glee. “I told you the witch would be your downfall. Now, I’ll get the pleasure of killing the both of you with only half the effort.”
Dash tackled the man and wrestled on the floor with him. The tangled mass kept me from helping with any magic, and my gift couldn’t discern any moves with them in such close proximity.
I gasped when pain seared my left arm. The red stain of blood spread through the fabric of my shirt. If Max got the upper hand, he could plunge that knife in a place that could harm both me and Dash. And although the shifter healed fast, I wouldn’t be so lucky.
Taking a risk, I conjured more power and captured both men with it. Using my hands to direct the magic, I tossed both of them to the side. When Max landed on the floor with a thud, he rolled out of control. But Dash landed on his feet, and his wolf ripped through his clothes and landed on all four paws.
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sp; He didn’t wait for Max to recover. He sprang forward and sank his teeth into the arm holding the blade. Max shrieked in anger and agony, but he dropped the knife. Dash in his wolf form lunged again, pinning the man down with his paws. He opened his mouth and placed his teeth on Max’s throat.
I coughed and fought to breathe in clean air but failed to find any. The heat in the room rose to a suffocating level. We wouldn’t be able to stay inside much longer.
“Dash, we need to go.”
The wolf growled and tightened his grip on Max’s throat. Rivulets of blood trickled down from the puncture wounds.
“You…beat me,” Max forced out, staying as still as possible but fighting for air. “I ask for mercy.”
Dash snarled at him and tightened his jaws again. He didn’t need to be in human form for me to know his emotions. This man had hurt too many people. How dare he ask for his life to be spared when he didn’t do that for Zach or Silas.
With silent determination, I pleaded with the wolf to yield through my emotions. Drawing in a bitter breath of smoke, I attempted to speak. “Let your pack deal with him as they will. Being merciful isn’t weak. It’s stronger than Max could ever be.” A fit of coughs interrupted me.
Dash hesitated while he contemplated his choices. At the last second, he let go of Max’s throat. Relief flooded me until my internal warnings consumed me. Dash’s wolf turned to meet my own gaze.
Max used the moment of mercy to try and pick up the knife again. He lifted his arm to plunge it into the wolf’s side. I reacted quicker than my brain registered what was happening and wielded my magic to pull Dash away from Max and closer to me. At the same time, a loud crack thundered above us, and part of the foundational wooden beam from above came crashing down in a fiery blaze.
It trapped Max’s leg underneath it. He screamed and writhed, the sounds coming from him curdling my blood.
Dash in his wolf form bounded over in my direction and pushed against my body to get me to leave the cabin.
