He looked around the room, frowning as he took in the sight of his crew and their mates—their wives and children. Had he put them in danger bringing her here? Was he still under a dark witch’s spell? Was this part of her plan, to get Caleb to trust her, to bring her right into the dragon’s lair, to put her in a position to . . . to . . .
Stop it, Caleb told himself, crunching absentmindedly on a chicken bone as his wolf stirred inside him at the thought of danger to his crew and their families. She is your mate, and there isn’t any magic that can fake that connection.
“So when did you two realize you were fated mates?” came Ash’s voice from the foot of the table. Clearly she’d seen that Magda was uncomfortable talking about food and eating, and she was changing the topic.
“They always knew,” said Bis from across the table. She smiled sweetly at both of them. “It didn’t take me long to figure it out. How else would she have gotten this lone wolf to fall under her spell? No dark magic is powerful enough to control a Shifter like that. Not unless there’s another kind of magic in play.”
“You’d be surprised at what you can do with dark magic,” Magda whispered, her voice low and smooth, cold darkness flashing in her eyes as she glared at Bis in a way that made Bis’s face go white.
Caleb’s wolf immediately went on high alert as it sensed every other Shifter in the room bristle as the tension ripped around the table. Ash’s face had gone tight, and she’d glanced at her children and then looked up at Adam, whose eyes were glowing bright with the fire of his dragon. Bart the Bear had gone rigid, as if he was trying to hold back his Change, and Bis herself seemed coiled like the black leopard inside her was ready to defend her own.
“OK, time out,” Caleb said, flashing a wolfish grin as he tried to break the tension. “How about that dessert, yeah? Get some sugar into the system?”
“No, thank you,” said Magda, crossing her arms over her flat chest. “Not for me.”
“You do the low-carb thing?” Ash asked, her gaze taking in Magda’s wire-thin frame before she blinked and forced a smile. “I gotta try that sometime. What do you think, honey?” she said, looking at Adam, whose eyes were still glowing.
Adam had been staring at Magda with an intensity that worried Caleb. He knew that Adam felt responsible for the safety of everyone in the room, and Caleb could feel the conflict in his Alpha. Yes, Adam did believe that Caleb and Magda were fated mates, but he couldn’t just forget that she was also a dark witch. Adam had always been skeptical about the power of fated mates to overcome anything and everything, and perhaps some of that skepticism still remained. After all, he and Adam hadn’t been in close contact for years.
Finally Adam let out a slow breath, wisps of white smoke curling in the cool air as he blinked and glanced over at his wife. “Low-carb? Well, I’m all about a high-protein diet, so I’m cool with whatever you decide. But you lose even an inch of those curves and there’ll be big trouble.”
Ash giggled as the tension seemed to drain from the room, and soon everyone was smiling. Everyone except Magda.
“This was a mistake,” she suddenly said, standing up so quickly her bony thighs banged against the heavy wooden table. “I don’t belong here. I’m not ready for this. I’m not a part of this.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Caleb said, pushing his plate away and standing to face her. “You’re a Shifter, Magda. And you’re my mate! This is your place! This is your family! It’s going to take some time to get used to it, but trust me, it’s going to work out just fine.”
“You keep saying that, but it’s not true!” Magda screamed, her eyes flashing pure black as Caleb stared. “Nothing just ‘works out’ on its own!”
“This does,” Caleb said firmly, his eyes narrowing as his wolf rumbled beneath the surface, reminding him that he needed to claim her, take her, show her the power of fated mates—show them all the power of fate. “Come here, Magda. Show them who you are. Show them the true woman inside, the woman who showed herself to me when I kissed you that first time. Come here, I said.”
He reached out to touch her face, to draw her into him, to kiss her and end this conflict once and for all. He needed to show everyone that Magda’s dark magic would evaporate when confronted with the purest form of magic in the universe: The magic of primal instinct, the magic of physical touch, the magic of fated love.
But she pulled away from him, and as Caleb growled and reached out to grab her by the back of the neck, she muttered something and he went flying across the room with a force that knocked the wind out of him.
Instantly the room erupted as Bart roared in anger and stood up, his bear bursting forth. Ash had Changed too, and so had Bis, both the golden bear and the black leopard of the women standing protectively in front of their respective children. Only Adam remained in human form, as if he knew that he couldn’t unleash his dragon in a confined space without destroying the building and everyone in it.
Caleb looked down at himself, expecting to see the familiar shape of his wolf. He’d felt his Change coming, but as he stared at himself he realized he was still in human form. He cocked his head and tried to move, but he couldn’t.
“What are you doing?” he rasped through gritted teeth as he stared at Magda’s dead black eyes, saw her pale lips moving as she uttered silent words under her breath. “Are you crazy? These are friends! Family! I’m your mate, Magda! Your man! You have to trust me! I’m your . . . your fate!”
“I trusted in fate once,” she whispered, “and it brought me nothing but darkness and death. That’s my true fate, Caleb. Darkness and death. Everything connected to me dies or turns dark. Sometimes both. You want to be a part of that? You want in?”
Caleb frowned, twisting his neck as he fought her magic, as his wolf strained to get out. It was growling and thrashing inside him, and he could smell the scent of Magda’s animal respond. It was alive in her, he knew. He wasn’t sure what she’d meant with all that talk of darkness and death. Yeah, she was a dark witch. But there was good in her. He’d seen it in those big brown eyes when he’d kissed her and broken through that veil, that facade, that damned witch’s masquerade of sunken cheekbones and toothpick-thin legs! He’d done it once, and he could do it again. Again and again. Forever and ever. His wolf knew she was the one, and he knew it too. Everything else could go take a flying fuck, for all he cared.
“Do I want in?” he snarled as he felt his wolf slowly push back against her magic. “Darkness? Death? You think that scares me, Magda? You think it scares anyone in this room? We’ve all seen darkness and death. We’ve all been darkness and death at some point in our lives! Hell, I’m surprised Adam isn’t serving us human meat for dinner! You know how many men he’s burned alive, swallowed whole, ripped to shreds? And Bart—hah! Butterball here spent a decade running wild through South American villages! There are legends being handed down about the fearsome beast who crashes through the village gates in a feral frenzy, killing, feeding, and . . .”
“And breaking things,” Bart growled, licking his big chops and shrugging with his massive bear shoulders. “But I’m trying to get better.”
Now Bismeeta spoke, her black leopard still in its protective stance in front of its cubs, its long tail moving side to side like a dancer. “The darkness can’t stand up to the light,” she said softly, her voice sounding like a purr. “You saw how it turned out with Bart and me. We gave ourselves to your dark magic, but it couldn’t get a hold on us. The magic of fated love is more powerful than any deal with darkness. You need to trust in it, Magda. Caleb’s right. Trust him. Trust all of us. Trust yourself.”
Magda blinked, her eyes flashing with that dark light as she glared at Bismeeta. “I can’t trust myself,” she hissed, and Caleb’s wolf could sense her animal whispering inside her.
“You can trust your animal,” Caleb said, his voice deepening as his wolf began to break through. “Your an
imal will never lie, will never mislead you, will never—”
Magda leaned her head back and laughed, the sound high-pitched in a way that made Caleb’s wolf growl inside. He frowned as he sniffed the air again. She was a fox—he was sure of it now. Her animal was a fox, and it was whispering something to her from the inside! What was it saying? Was it telling her to trust him?
“My animal?” she snorted. “My animal is a trickster by nature. It lied to me for twenty years! All of you have animals that are physically powerful, and when you lose control over them it’s obvious because you go crazy and break things or feed or whatever. But it’s not so obvious when you can’t control a trickster animal. Its game is to make you think you’re in control . . . to the point where I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know what I am! Shifter or witch, good or evil . . . I just don’t know!”
“I know what you are,” growled Caleb, his neck thickening, every strand of hair standing up as he felt his wolf poised to explode out of him. He could feel its strength, and he knew Magda’s magic was weakening. She couldn’t stop his Change. She was too turned around inside, too twisted by her internal conflict. And that meant she wasn’t all dark, all evil, all bad. If she was, she’d have every dark power at her disposal. She was his mate, his fate, his goddamn woman. And he was going to show her that. End this drama now and forever. It was making his head hurt.
Do it, whispered his wolf from inside, and now Caleb knew why it was holding back. It knew Caleb the man needed to claim his mate in human form. Magda was right: She wasn’t in control of her animal, and when you lose control of a sly animal like a fox, it takes control of your mind as much as it does your body. Show the fox that it is an animal when it comes down to it, that it has needs that can only be met when it gives control back to the woman. Her animal is scared to give up control. The fox defends itself by subterfuge and trickery, by stealth and slyness. Make it howl, Caleb. Show it that you will protect it, protect her, protect the children you’ll have together. Show her, Caleb.
Caleb felt the energy surge through him, and his vision narrowed down to sharp points, tunnels of light at the end of which was nothing but his mate, his woman, his destiny. He couldn’t give a damn who else was in the room. They could leave or they could stay—he didn’t give a shit. Did a beast in the jungle give a rat’s ass who else was around when it took its mate? The wolf pack reveled in the mating rituals of its members! There was no shame in it. He was a wolf, and his children would be wolves. Better get used to it, babe. Here I come. Man and beast rolled into one.
Every sense of Caleb’s was heightened as he felt his heat rip through his hard, soldier’s body. He had access to his wolf’s sense of smell and hearing, its animal reflexes, its deepest instincts. He felt powerful in a way he never had, and in that moment he understood that it was because of her, because he was near her. Just being close to his fated mate brought his animal and human together in a way that felt exhilarating! He needed to show her how that felt, how it felt to have your animal and human in balance, the way it was meant to be!
But Caleb could see the conflict in Magda. She was turned around, twisting and thrashing inside. She didn’t trust her animal, and perhaps she was right not to trust it. Caleb didn’t know her full story. All he knew was that it was time for their story.
“Do you feel your animal’s heat?” he whispered as he took another step towards her. “I feel it. I sense it. I damned well smell it!”
“It’s a lie,” she muttered, shaking her head violently as those green veins on her pale forehead throbbed. Her voice sounded different, as if it was the animal inside her speaking. Was her animal planting seeds of doubt in her mind?! Was that even possible? Wouldn’t her animal know he was her fated mate?!
Caleb hesitated as the doubt crept in, and in that moment he saw a flash of red color whip across Magda’s face like a swirl from a magical paintbrush. Suddenly her robe just collapsed in on itself, and out of the falling cloth burst a red fox, its eyes wide open like it was terrified, its bushy tail thrashing the air as it ran around the room like it was freaking out at being in the open!
The children laughed in delight as the fox raced around the room, jumping up on the table, knocking plates and glasses all over the place, forks and knives scattering all over the floor. It was clearly in a frenzy, out of its mind for being out in the open after what had perhaps been decades of hiding inside her.
And then, as Caleb stared in wonder at the beautiful animal inside his mate, the fox took a turn, gathered speed, and jumped straight out the open window facing the dark waters of the Caspian Sea.
Immediately Caleb’s wolf burst out of him, and with a single leap he was flying after her, after his mate, his woman, his destiny. He had already launched himself into the air when he heard his buddy Bart the Bear calling after him, the words sounding muffled as the salty sea air whipped past his big wolf-ears:
“About time, Flying Squirrel,” Bart was yelling after him, his bear-paws thumping on the floor in excitement. “Take her! Take her and claim her! Woo-hoo! Hell, yeah!”
“Yes,” came Adam’s voice, Caleb’s wolf just about picking up the words as he narrowed his eyes and zoomed in on the red blur falling through the dark skies. “She’s yours. And she’s also ours. Part of our crew. Part of our family. So take her, and then bring her back. Bring her back, Caleb.”
10
There’s no going back, Magda thought as she twisted in the air, the wind screaming past her sharp fox-ears, her bushy tail helplessly swishing as she fell head-first towards the black water. No going back to the girl I used to be. I was wrong—wrong about everything. I don’t know who I am, I don’t know what I want, I don’t know what I—
And then she yelped as a heavy body crashed into hers, the bulk of Caleb’s gray wolf overwhelming her red fox, his strong paws clutching at her as the two animals spun in the air together.
“Let me go!” she screamed, her voice sounding strange coming from the snout of a fox. Her snout! “I want to die! I just want to—”
“I don’t believe you,” Caleb growled. He moved back from her snapping jaws and glared at her, his eyes the darkest of blues, shining like sapphires in the dim moonlight of the night. “Hey! Don’t bite me, woman! I’m trying to save you!”
“It’s pointless, Caleb. You can’t trust me. How can you, when I can’t trust myself, when I can’t trust my animal, when I can’t trust my magic! You’ve twisted me around, Caleb, and now I don’t know which way is up!”
The wolf was wrapped tight around her small fox’s body, and she could hear Caleb’s heart pounding . . . pounding in time with hers. She could smell the salty air of the Caspian Sea, and she wondered how long they’d been falling, if they’d ever—
“This way is up,” Caleb rasped urgently, grabbing her snout and pulling it upwards. “Now take a deep breath and hold it. We’re gonna hit hard, and when we do, you need to Change back to a human. I don’t want your fox scratching up my face when I’m swimming both of us back to the shore.”
Magda blinked as Caleb’s words rushed in along with a deep gulp of sea air, and before she had time for another thought the two animals crashed into the sea, fur and teeth and snouts and claws all rolled into one as the dark waves swallowed them up.
Magda felt the Change come the moment she hit the water, and although the impact almost knocked her senseless, Caleb’s heavy body, tight muscles, and firm, protective grip took most of the force of the landing. She heard him grunt in pain as he used his powerful legs to break the surface of the water so the two of them could slide in without breaking every bone in their bodies, and it was only then that she realized how close they’d come to dying! Was she crazy?! Was her fox crazy?! Had her animal just launched itself headfirst from a castle window?! Weren’t foxes supposed to be smart?!
Everything was black as Magda tried to scream, but thankfully Caleb’s hand was over her nose an
d mouth or else she’d have swallowed half the sea. They were deep underwater, Caleb back in human form, naked and strong, holding her tight as he kicked with his legs and shimmied them back up the surface.
He held her face up above the water, his body tight and hard as he stayed upright and held her so her nose and mouth were above the dark waves.
“All right,” he gasped, his lean, angled face lit up with excitement like he was actually having fun! Like diving into a dark sea from hundreds of feet up was actually something that this wolf-Shifter enjoyed! Maybe he was crazier than she was! “Now you can scream.”
“What?” she gasped, feeling panic rush in as she tried to breathe but couldn’t. “What’s happening, Caleb?”
“You need to scream,” he said calmly as Magda felt a dizziness start to overtake her. “Scream your head off, woman. Do it!”
Magda felt herself losing consciousness, losing her grip, losing everything. She couldn’t feel her magic, couldn’t sense her animal, couldn’t grab a hold of anything that had given her confidence, courage, and strength in the past. She felt weak, helpless, powerless, but just as the despair started to sink in, she opened her mouth and did what her man said.
She screamed.
She screamed loud, with abandon, opening her mouth wide and just letting it all go.
She screamed, the witch and the animal and the woman all joining together and releasing a bloodcurdling howl that she was sure could be heard through all seven dimensions of the universe.
Suddenly oxygen burned through her blood, and she felt her life-force spiral upwards so fast she screamed again, this time in sheer joy. Soon she was holding onto Caleb’s hard body as he laughed and spun her around and around in the swirling waters, her head tilted back as she let every emotion fly up into the night air through her screeches. She didn’t care how it sounded, didn’t care that anyone listening might think she was either a crazy banshee or a screeching monster. She only cared about how it felt, and it felt good, so damned good.
Witch for the Wolf Page 5
