by Elena Lawson
My fists shook with the effort of containing it. Kendra looked to the floor and back up to me, throwing out her hands for balance. Genuine surprise flashed across her features.
Good. I wanted her to see that I was stronger than her. I’d be damned if I stood there and let a spoiled brat like Kendra Van Damme try to scare me. I had much bigger problems to deal with.
I unclenched my fists and shouldered past her. “Why don’t you come into the woods with me next time and find out,” I hissed, hoping to throw her off by offering to freely have her join me, and maybe to scare her, but only a little. If my wolves scared the piss out of her, it wouldn’t be my fault.
I checked myself, stomping through the stacks. Not my wolves. They weren’t mine. Would never be mine.
I was still twitchy and fuming when I left the library, pushing down the swell of magic vying for release at my fingertips. I found Elias near the back exit, leaning against the stone wall with his head bent and brows furrowed.
He looked up when he saw me coming and kicked off from the wall to walk outside. I slowed, watching him descend the steps and head in the direction of his cabin. It was still daylight outside. I’d have to wait at least a few minutes before I followed him and then take a roundabout way of getting there to avoid any wandering eyes. Like the vile ones of Kendra.
Had he finally found something that could help us? With only one day left in my bargain with the Endurans, it would be a huge relief to have at least one of the problems checked off my ever-growing list. I counted to sixty in my head, bouncing from one foot to the other, before I exited the academy. I walked toward the woods, in the opposite direction of Elias’ cabin, being extra cautious to check that no one else was outside or watching from the windows.
Once I was under the cover of the trees, I changed my path and cut back to where his cabin squatted at the southeast corner of the grounds. Smoke rose from the chimney, and he’d left the door open for me to come in. I hesitated. We hadn’t had a chance to see much of each other outside of class since... since he kissed me.
My stomach did a little flip.
You’re here now, Harper. Just go inside and see what this is all about.
I rushed inside, taking care to close the door behind me. “Hey,” I said when I found him standing by his kitchen sink, his hands braced on the counter.
He didn’t turn around at first. It was almost like he was afraid to. But then he did, and I saw the crease was still in his forehead. It’d been there since the night he’d come to my aid in the woods. And it hadn’t left. I was the cause of that crease.
“They’re too quiet out there,” he fumed, his hands grasping at the air around his sides. “I went looking for them,” he added, and I was taken aback. He’d done what?
What if they’d torn him apart?
“But I couldn’t find them, or any trace of their pack. They must be from really far away.”
“Why did you go looking for them? What’s going on?” I asked, my pulse peaking and dipping with spikes of adrenaline and pounds of compounded stress.
“It’s what’s not going on, Harper,” he said with a harshness to the words I’d never heard him use before. He rubbed a rough hand over his face, and rubbed his eyes. “There’s nothing.”
“What?”
“There is no spell, sigil, or incantation to sever a witch familiar bond. I’m sorry. I tried every avenue I could think of, every contact who might have heard of it being done.” Defeat shone in his eyes, and made his gaze fall and his chest heave. I didn’t think he was used to being defeated.
A large part of me wanted to scream and cry and melt into a puddle of tears. I had been so hopeful that there’d be a way to do it. To have that hope crushed was devastating, but not as devastating as the look on Elias’ face. The guilt filling his jaw with tension. The shame dragging down the corners of his eyes and mouth. The fear and frustration making his hands shake.
I couldn’t stand to see him like that.
I walked over to him and laid a hand on his chest, compelling him to lift his head. “We both knew there was a slim chance of it. We told them that, too. It’ll be alright.”
He shook his head. “It won’t. Don’t you see? They’ll look for other ways to sever the bond. And if they won’t do it themselves, when their alpha finds out, he will.”
I stepped back. “Well then, let’s try what you suggested. Make a new spell for it.”
He scoffed, dragging himself to the sofa. “You were right, it was a foolish idea. Too dangerous. It could backfire and you could be hurt. It isn’t worth the risk.”
“More dangerous than two Enduran shifters and possibly an entire pack? More dangerous than other people finding out?”
He bent his head over his knees and pressed his forehead into his palms, groaning. “I don’t like this. It’s driving me insane thinking you’re in danger.”
My breath caught. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this,” I told him, walking over to stand in front of him at the side of the couch.
“I just want you to be safe.”
I smirked. “I am for tonight, at least,” I offered, doing my best to add a smile to the words. “And tomorrow if everything goes as planned, I’ll be spending the night—well, the whole weekend, really—with my roommate at her house.”
He cocked his head at me. “Bianca Matthews?”
I nodded. “Yeah, she invited me to stay over. I was hoping we’d have this figured out by tonight or early tomorrow before we left, but I guess I’ll have to tell them we’ll need more time.”
I rebelled against the thought of telling them. How would they react? They’d be pissed.
“No!” he said in a rush, jumping back to his feet. “You won’t tell them anything. I’ll do it. I’ll tell them.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Please. Let me talk to them. You go to Bianca’s where they can’t get to you. And then maybe... I don’t know, maybe I can get them to see reason. To understand.”
Yeah, right.
I needed to go to Bianca’s. I couldn’t refuse the opportunity to find out what was going on with Sterling, my father, and the Magistrate. But I didn’t like the idea of leaving him to deal with the Endurans without me. When he told them we’d failed, they’d be angry. What if they lashed out at him?
“I’m stronger than them. More powerful. You don’t have to worry about me,” he said as if he’d read my thoughts.
I could see his mind was already made up, and I didn’t argue. They wouldn’t harm him without their alpha’s permission. If they did and were caught, it would be seen as an act of war and their entire pack would pay for their mistake. No, they wouldn’t hurt him. Not even the hot-headed Adrian would dare.
“Fine,” I said after a few beats of tense silence looking into his pleading eyes. “But be careful. And don’t provoke them.”
He yanked me into an embrace. “Thank you.” I relaxed into him, luxuriating in the feel of his arms around me. “I don’t think I’m the one who needs reminding of that, by the way,” he whispered against my hair. “But don’t worry, I’ll play nice.”
I laughed into the leather of his jacket. Then I pulled back to look into his eyes. My magic reached out to him, and I leaned in with it. But he pulled away, and a troubled frown stained his lips.
“Good,” he said in a gruff voice. “Glad that’s settled.”
I wanted so badly to ask him why he still fought it, but I didn’t want to push him and risk him using the momentum to keep moving further away from me. But I had to wonder if he thought what he did in the woods was a mistake? I didn’t want to believe that, or that the connection between us was somehow wrong.
Then again, he was the one whose career was at risk if we were ever caught.
“I’ll walk you back to the academy,” he said, moving toward the door, and it was like someone dumped ice-water into my blood.
And people said women were the ones who didn’t know what they wanted. Ha! What a joke.
I stepped past him, feeling selfish but angry. “I’ll walk myself.”
He didn’t try to stop me, but I never heard his front door close.
20
Adrian
“If he comes this close again, the first ring patrol will take him.”
“I know,” Cal growled, pressing his hands to his temples.
“And if they take him, it’s only a matter of time before Atlas gets answers out of him.” I paced back and forth in front of the window, arms crossed over my chest. “Answers that may lead back to us. We need to go there, see what the hell he’s trying to pull.”
Cal didn’t disagree, choosing instead to stare at the floor thoughtfully. If we were lucky, they would’ve found something by now and Harper had sent him to tell us instead of coming herself. Or maybe he’d insisted he be the one, led by whatever bullshit overprotective boyfriend instincts he had for her. The frown on Cal’s face deepened and I knew his thoughts were headed in the same direction.
“Ow!” Cal grabbed his forehead where I’d flicked him hard. “The hell was that for?”
“You get that look every time you start thinking too hard about that guy, Elliot or whatever.”
“Elias.” He snorted and rolled his bright eyes. “Like you’re any better. You looked like you wanted to rip his throat out just seeing how close they were standing the other day.”
Giving up my pacing, I slumped on the bunk beside him and rolled my hand as I talked. “Is it supposed to feel this way? The… witch bond thing, I mean.”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.” Cal shook his head and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Protective, sure, I could see that, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be…” He sighed and hung his head. “Like this,” he finished lamely.
I shoved his shoulder and stood again, too anxious to sit still for long, and stretched my back until it cracked. “Let’s go find him before he wanders too close again and gets himself killed.”
We each grabbed a pair of shorts and shifted, skirting the camp as best we could until we could bolt into the forest without being seen. He’d come a surprising distance for someone without the strength or stamina of a shifter, or a vampire for that matter. Still, he’d been on pack land and I was surprised no one had picked up his scent trail yet.
Maybe mine and Cal’s noses really were just that good.
The forest was alive with sound as we raced through the trees, not bothering to hide our approach in the afternoon light. The wind and the birds and squirrels masked us well enough, and we knew no one would be out there at that time of day. As we neared the school, passing through the invisible wards that skated roughly over our nerves, we veered toward Elias’ little stone cabin.
The man—Elias, I thought with a mental sneer—lived there rather than inside with the rest, and Harper’s scent was there more frequently than I liked. Even now, from this distance, the whole place reeked of her.
Watching the windows that overlooked the area, we circled the exterior. He hadn’t been there in a few hours, it seemed, but he would be soon. I followed Cal back into the woods behind the small building and we shifted back, slipping into our shorts.
“If I’m remembering it right, classes should be letting out soon,” Cal said. “We can catch him here, on his way back.”
I looked at him skeptically. “And if he goes somewhere else first?”
“He won’t.” Adrian leaned against a tree and crossed his arms. I hoped he was right, but even he didn’t sound so sure. “We’ll wait and catch him in a bit. Hopefully before Atlas realizes we’re off pack land again. Let’s go inside. I don’t think he locks it.”
He would after this.
Luckily, we only had to wait fifteen minutes or so before I caught sight of his coppery brown hair through the small window as he crossed from the main building.
The little fox that’d been mewling beneath his bed began to growl.
Elias nearly dropped the stack of papers in his arms when he stepped inside, shocked to see both of us waiting for him in his home. I shouldered past him and closed the door behind him with a sense of finality.
“You’ve been looking for us,” I stated in my most threatening voice.
Elias held one hand out in front of himself, a defensive position for anyone who wasn’t a witch, but I knew an attack could come just as easily from that hand. Cal moved forward slowly, putting himself half a step in front of me. A soft growl under the nearby bed drew our attention briefly to the small silver fox peering up at us, teeth bared in a weak display of defense for his witch.
“For someone so worried about an attack from our pack, you sure don’t mind leaving your scent everywhere for our patrol to find,” Cal said.
Elias’ expression morphed from confused to worried and back to angry and I took a small amount of pleasure from the sight. Enjoying being able to rile him so easily. “If you get caught out there, you risk exposing us, and exposing us could expose Harper.”
He shook his head. “My ward should’ve masked my smell.”
Dumbass.
“It doesn’t mask the traces you leave behind on anything you touch,” Cal told him, and I could see how hard he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “Aren’t you a teacher? Shouldn’t you know that shit?”
“Do you have news about the spell or not?” I asked sharply. “Your week is up.”
Elias hesitated for a moment, then set his armload of papers down on a small table. “I know, and I hate to tell you this, but I haven’t been able to find anything to undo it.”
Cal and I shared a fearful glance, but he went on.
“The only time that bond has been broken is if one or the other dies, and then it can never be reformed with another again. Even if we managed to break your bond, Harper would never have another familiar.”
Cal frowned at him. “Are you saying you want us to stay like this? With her?”
“No!” The look of disgust that crossed his face was quickly overridden by sadness. “No. The familiar bond wasn’t meant to be shared between higher beings. I’d hoped that would help us find something to break it, but it’s never happened before so I don’t know where to start. I even went to my contact in the Arcane Authorities to see if—”
I pushed past Cal. “You went to the authorities? Are you stupid?”
Elias blinked. “What?”
“You don’t ask questions like that without drawing someone’s attention,” Cal clarified.
“I didn’t ask those questions specifically,” he retorted angrily. “I’m not stupid, I know how to keep a low profile. Unlike you two howling right outside the walls last week and freaking out all the students.”
I started to lunge at Elias, but Cal grabbed my shoulder. “So you’ve found nothing at all, is what you’re saying?”
The tension in my shoulders eased just a bit, and Elias took a deep breath. “No,” he replied carefully. “But, I really would ask that you consider what Harper said last weekend.”
“About accepting the bond?”
Elias nodded solemnly. “Like she said, it goes both ways. Do you feel weaker when you’re away from her?”
I growled, which was answer enough for him.
“Well, so does she. And after your meetings, especially if there’s… uh, physical contact…” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “She feels immensely stronger.”
“I noticed that, too,” I reluctantly admitted. The weight that’d lifted off my chest the first time Harper had shoved me, the ground cracking sparring sessions Cal and I had been having of late. I winced at Cal. “I think that’s why Atlas has been watching us so close lately.”
“He can sense whatever power we’ve been getting from her.” Cal shoved his hands into his hair at the realization. “Or, if not the power itself, he can sense something is off about us.”
“If you accept it,” Elias continued, threading his voice with something like hope. “It’ll be easier on all of you. I won’t pretend t
o understand the differences in your bond with her as opposed to a regular familiar bond, but theoretically, your strengthened bond could result in an increase in your own strength. More than you’ve already seen. And it might make your separation easier, more bearable. At least for longer periods of time.”
I curled my lip instinctively at the thought, but my gaze dropped to the floor as I thought about it. There was a lot to consider. Accepting something like that would be a betrayal of our pack law, but the bond, even as fragile and tenuous as it was now, had changed something in the both of us that we didn’t understand yet.
“What would you do?” I asked Elias, the softness in my voice surprising me as much as it did Cal. “Would you be willing to risk your laws and your way of life to be by her side?”
“I already am,” he murmured, more to himself than us. He seemed to catch himself and cleared his throat again, dark blue eyes looking us over thoughtfully. “Just give it some thought, at least. She’ll be away this weekend so if you come to a decision before she returns on Sunday, come find me here and I’ll let her know as soon as she returns.”
Our options were severely limited now and we all knew it. We could either accept whatever this was between the three of us and be a witch’s familiar, or tell Atlas and risk him ripping her apart to free us from it. Any hope of getting out of this situation unscathed was gone, whisked away like the mountain breeze.
“We’ll let you know,” Cal said, turning for the door.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry this happened.” I glanced over my shoulder to see Elias standing with his arms crossed, watching us with an understanding I somehow knew he meant. “None of you asked for this and none of you should be made to pay for it, but that’s not always how things work out. If you need anything…”
We nodded and left the stuffy cabin without another word. Cal and I stayed on two legs while we walked back, footsteps soundless on the forest floor. It was a sharp contrast to the reckless way we’d arrived, sticks cracking under our feet, leaves rustling as we barreled through bushes. I could feel his gaze on me, studying me as we walked and I desperately racked my brain for other options.
