by Lauren Dane
Akio squeezed her shoulder, and Josh let his concern and comfort flow through the link. He knew it was hard sometimes for newly bonded pairs to share through the link, but maybe it was due to having known her so long, things seemed to be all right on that front.
She was open with him, affectionate, accepting of the bond and fairly laid-back when it came to how dominant he could get. So far anyway.
Akio kept her occupied as they drove, asking her questions about her former job and what she planned for her future. He skirted asking if she’d consider the change. Many human mates made the choice to take on a wolf. But heaven knew she had enough on her plate just then. It was something he could bring up later on but for the time being, they had other things to work through.
“It’s just up here. Don’t take the driveway. I want to walk it again.” Michelle had pulled into herself. Her eyes had shifted from the warmth of his mate to cold, flat cop eyes.
“I’m going to shift,” Akio said as they pulled off to the side of the road. “I can scent better this way.”
“Good idea. I’ll get your clothes in my pack so you can shift back up at the house if you want or need to.”
Two minutes later Akio handed Josh his rolled-up jeans and shirt, along with his shoes.
The flat cop eyes were gone as Michelle scrambled to turn and look. “Can I watch? You shift I mean.” She blushed.
Akio brushed his fingertips over her cheek. “You can have whatever you like, little witch.” He winked and she laughed. Josh was grateful for that moment of levity. The heaviness of her heart was palpable through the link. He ached to make something better that no one and nothing could.
A wash of magick rushed through the car as Akio shifted, pulling at Josh’s wolf. A lower-ranked shifter might have succumbed to that siren song, but Josh just breathed in deep and rode it out until he could see clearly again.
“Beautiful.” She reached out to touch Akio’s fur. His wolf was obsidian with a splash of honey-gold on his chest.
Akio’s wolf head butted her and shook himself out, and she opened his door to let him out.
Michelle put her cop back on and they headed up to the house. She tried to compartmentalize it. The job had taught her how to put all her personal feelings to the side when she was working. To view a crime scene in a certain way, and she worked really hard to do just that.
Akio had stalked off, sniffing and doing his wolf business. Josh was beside her, his gaze shifting, moving all over the place as they moved.
“They would have brought her up here in a car. She was close to dead by that point if the time of death they called was right.”
They’d gone through the house rather thoroughly but she did it again. It wasn’t a big space, but the stench of death magic seemed to have sunk into the walls and floors.
“I’m not even a witch and I can sense all the bad stuff in the air.” Josh kept close, though not in the way should she need to draw her weapon.
“Whatever they did here killed so much of the natural energies all around.” It was unnaturally silent, the air hung too heavy. “I don’t see any of her energy in the house at all. Just some on the back porch.” They walked out the back door and she indicated a corner.
Akio came around the corner and sneezed a few times, shaking his head.
Josh spoke, “Yeah, I know. It’s all wrong here.”
Though she didn’t want to with all her heart, she needed to get back to that circle where they’d had Allie.
Haltingly at first, she headed that way. Akio brushed against her legs and Josh put an arm around her shoulders. “We’re here with you. Just take it as slowly as you need to.”
She squeezed his hand and ran her other along Akio’s fur, drawing strength as she took the scene in through her othersight.
Dark, ugly smudges of energy. The stolen magic used to fuel whatever they’d done to Allie was gone, but the aftereffects of it were still smeared over the area like an ugly film.
She shielded herself the best she could. “You two wait outside the circle.”
Akio snorted and Josh simply ignored her.
“Look.” She turned to face Josh. “I don’t know if I can protect either of you if something goes wrong. There’s some fucked-up magic here, stuff way beyond my skill level. You can sniff from out there or we’re leaving.”
Josh touched her cheek. “I don’t like you out of my reach.”
“I don’t like that my best friend was murdered. So you know, lots of stuff happens that we don’t like.” She sent a look to Akio who stood at Josh’s side. “You too. Outside the circle or I’m out of here.”
“If anything looks remotely hinky, I’m coming in there and grabbing you.” Josh crossed his arms over his chest which, in addition to making him look stern, also bulged up his muscles. Damn he looked good.
One of his brows slid up which meant he knew what she was thinking. She rolled her eyes and turned around, getting to her knees in the circle, her hands hovering just above the earth there.
Akio circled where she knelt, his nose to the ground, and Josh prowled around, never getting too very far from her.
She used a spell Lark had described to her over the phone to try to discern how many different mages had been there. She could pick up two mages, along with Allie, and there was something else.
She paused, brushing her fingertips over a patch of ground, and it was like she’d opened a drawer or pulled the lid off something. The power of it, whatever it was, flooded her, crashing past the shields she’d erected to defend herself.
Dark.
Horrible. So horrible and overflowing with bad things, there was nothing else, only cold and loneliness. It filled her veins with lead even as all she wanted to do was move away as fast as she could.
Her senses all seemed to be jumbled up, fighting against each other as she froze, trying to run but not having the will to do it.
* * *
He was fine watching her until she brushed her fingertips over a spot in the dirt and then something wrong spilled through the area. It made him want to slip his skin and snarl. Wanted to run away as fast as he could.
He might have simply done that if it hadn’t been for her. It rolled over her, and their link, which until that moment had been fully open between them, had gone from warm and vibrant to a rush of ice. The fullness of their exchange narrowed, choking, dwindling the amount of sensory exchange to nearly nothing.
Akio growled low, stalking between Josh and where Michelle crouched inside the circle.
He looked back over his shoulder at Josh and then growled louder, leaping at Josh, shoving him back and freeing him from whatever feedback loop he’d been caught in.
“Thanks,” he called as he stepped back to her, grabbing her body below her arms and yanked her free. The energy of his motion knocked them both flying back and onto the dirt with a bone-jarring thud.
She was limp in his arms and he shook her slightly. “What? What? Michelle, speak to me right now.” Fear rushed through his veins. Aside from the pack, nothing and no one had been important to him the way she was. That anything threatened her well-being made him no little unstable.
So pale. Damn it. He took her cheeks in his hands, touched his forehead to hers and rushed through their bond, yanking her back from wherever or whatever had tried to take her from him.
He found it, the golden thread that bound them together, and he yanked it as hard as he could with a mental snarl, pulling her close.
A flush rose to her neck and cheeks as she gasped a deep breath and then gagged violently.
She turned to her side and threw up as she feebly tried to push Josh’s hands away but he had no interest in letting her go. He held her hair from her face and rubbed a hand up and down her back.
Akio had shifted back and pulled on a pair
of pants. He knelt next to them, a hand on Josh’s knee as they watched her finally get herself under control.
She shook so hard he stood and picked her up. She didn’t argue at all, which concerned him enough to start heading to the car. Akio followed, pulling a shirt on but foregoing shoes.
He nearly ran to the car, trying not to jostle her too much.
Akio reached around them and opened the door so Josh could put her in the front seat gently.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.” He knew he probably stunk of fear, but he didn’t care. She needed help.
She shook her head and then winced. “No, I’m all right. They can’t help with what’s wrong anyway.”
“Fuck that, Michelle. You’re not in my shoes. We’ll go to Gina’s then. Someone needs to look at you.”
“I understand you’re worried. But no one can help me. I’m all right. Or I will be in a while.”
Akio leaned forward, his hands moved to her shoulders. “What happened, little witch? You gave us a scare. You need to cut us a break.”
She reached up and squeezed his hands while she looked to Josh. She was still pale, and the stench of his fear and that wrong energy hung in the car heavily, rendering his wolf skittish and unsettled.
“There is something...else. Not a mage. Not a turned witch. Something I’ve never felt before. More than that, they took shifters too. They smelled like Pacific wolves,” she mumbled as he pulled away from the curb.
They had a few MIA wolves, but that hadn’t been public knowledge. In fact he’d been inclined to believe the wolves they hadn’t heard from were just temporarily out of pocket. Some traveled for business, some could have been on a vacation.
“I didn’t smell any other wolves there.” Akio spoke quietly as kept his hands on her shoulders.
She gulped water from the bottle Josh handed her.
“No, not on the ground. In the magic. In...whatever it was I felt. It took power from all sorts of Others. Not just witches. Whatever it is, it’s bad. So, so bad.”
Akio made a low, frustrated sound. “We knew they were taking wolves. But this... Listen, we need to go to Boston, Josh. Right now. I need her to talk to Cade about this whole thing. The wolves need to know what is happening.”
The imperative to protect his people drove Josh. Filled his veins until he couldn’t think straight.
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “I feel it too. I guess it happened when we joined or whatever. I know you need to talk to Cade. I can call Clan Owen from the airport or whatever.”
“At least let Gina meet us at the airport before we go. You were out! I had to use the link to get you.”
“And you did. I’m here. I’m working on being fine again. Gina’s not a doctor or a nurse. I’m the one who felt it. I’ll describe it to someone at Owen. I promise.”
He frowned.
“I’d kiss you to reassure you, but I have vomit breath. Which is not romantic in the least.”
“I’ll arrange a flight out as soon as possible.” Akio leaned close enough to kiss the top of Michelle’s head. “You scared the hell out of me. Let’s not do that again, all right?’
She saluted him and leaned back into the seat, closing her eyes as he plotted the ways he’d kill whoever had done this to his mate.
Akio spoke low on his phone, making arrangements to get back to Boston. Internally, Josh was relieved to be taking her there instead of Seattle. Witch politics were outside his scope, but he understood wolf politics and he could protect her better with that knowledge. He knew the witches had their own response to this kidnapping thing, but it involved more than just them. Wolves were being taken now. And he’d do whatever he had to to protect his people.
“I need you to talk to Tracy, Nick and Gabe too.”
She sighed. “I need to brush my teeth. And I need a shower. At your place, not theirs.”
He stifled a smile. If she felt well enough to say that, she was getting better. “All right, I’ll make you a deal.”
“I’m not interested in a deal, Josh. I want to go take a shower and brush my teeth. Where I have my clothes and toothbrush. Then you can haul me to your Alphas and to Boston. But I’m not deal-making for anything else.”
Akio snorted but wisely continued his call.
“All right.” Josh concentrated on driving and keeping the smile off his face “Mighty wolfish of you.”
She kept her eyes closed. “What is?”
“You want your own territory. It’s where you feel safest.”
“I don’t want to be naked where another female wolf’s magick is. Sue me.”
He grinned. “Beautiful, it makes me hot when you’re like this. It appeals to my wolf.” He took her hand and squeezed it.
She snorted. “Everything appeals to your wolf. He’s pretty easy.”
Akio laughed then. “She’s got your number.”
“Only for you. Fine. I’ll take you home. To our place and you can clean up. I’ll call to see if they want to come over or if we can go on our way to the airport.” Wasn’t like it was an option to keep Cade Warden waiting on such key info. Nick, Tracy and Gabe would know that too.
Chapter Fourteen
After her shower and a great deal of scrubbing the stench of the death magic off her skin, she’d put her hair in a quick ponytail. When she stepped out of the bathroom, Tracy and Gabe were at the apartment, waiting for her.
“I know it’s hard, but anything you can tell us about what you felt would really be helpful.” Gabe watched her intently as Josh put a mug into her hands.
“Drink that. I made a call to Gage while you were in the shower, and he said tea would help you feel better. He wants you to call and fill him or Lark in on what you felt when you get the chance. They’re going to try to send someone down, or at least have a more trained witch go to the scene. But there’s something major going on and they’ve got all their powerful folks working on figuring out who this big bad is and how to stop it. They don’t want just anyone going out there, especially given how you reacted to it.” Josh pushed a sandwich her way. “He also said protein helps after you get a shock to your magick the way you did.”
Akio sat on her other side, squeezing her shoulder. “Your color is a little better. You will sleep on the trip out to Boston.”
Suddenly all that alpha male in the room drowned her. All that attention and concern stifled her, even as she found it reassuring.
Tracy rolled her eyes with a grin and then shrugged. “I know. I grew up in a house full of them and now I have two of my own. You’ll get used to it.”
“This is nice. I mean, thank you, Josh for the sandwich and for touching base with Owen for me. And thank you, Akio, for your concern. But all this alpha-male smothering is a lot and I need to breathe.”
Akio eased back. Only a little. But enough. Gabe smiled and winked at Tracy, who leaned into his body and took up some of his attention.
On the other hand, Josh stared right back at her. “Tough. You scared the hell out of me, Michelle. It’s going to take me a while before I can manage to feel any better about it. I need to know you’re okay. My wolf needs to take care of you.” He tipped his chin. “Eat while you talk.”
She sighed but obeyed, eating automatically, and yes, after several bites of the rare roast beef on the sandwich, she did indeed feel better.
In between bites, she explained to Tracy and Gabe what she’d felt at the scene, in the circle and tried to make sense of the way she’d sensed the energy of Pacific wolves. She was certain they’d stolen the magick from the wolves, the way they had with the witches. But who they were and where they’d gone was still a mystery. And this new and altogether terrifying presence she’d picked up at the murder scene made her very concerned.
They didn’t overstay their welcome after
that. Only urging Josh, Michelle and Akio to stay safe and check in frequently. Michelle needed to pack a quick bag, and they were on the way to the airport where Akio had arranged for a plane to Boston. They’d added Pacific wolves to Jack’s team so Akio would be free to fly back to Boston with Josh and Michelle.
“I’ll be all right, you know,” Michelle murmured to Josh after Akio had gone off to check in and connect with their pilot. “Your job is here. Your job is protecting the Alpha trio and you can’t do that if you’re with me.”
“My job is protecting my pack. Which I’m doing by going to Boston. And now my job is protecting my mate. You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I’d let you fly across the country without me. Even with Akio. We just mated. You’ve had an extraordinarily shitty week. I’m with you and that’s all there is to it, so don’t waste your energy arguing any further.”
She leaned against him, sensing how agitated he was, wanting to comfort and soothe. “Okay then.” Since they needed to wait until they got all the stuff in place to take off, she took that time to call Owen and ended up with voicemail. She left as detailed a message as she could about what she’d encountered at the scene. About that other sort of magick she’d sensed. Even talking about it hours later, it filled her with dread. A dread Josh must have felt through the bond because he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her until she felt a little better. It worked both ways.
Akio returned and hustled them onto the plane where she strapped in. The melatonin she’d taken just an hour before began to make her eyelids droop, and it wasn’t very long until she gave in and let herself sleep.
* * *
Josh kept an arm around her as they flew. Reassured by the slow, deep rise and fall of her chest. Gage had told him once she slept, her magick would begin to heal her and replenish from the shock of what she’d experienced at the murder scene.
Their bond, golden, brilliant and strong hummed between them, and his wolf eased back. A little. He’d been in a high state of agitation since he’d seen her slump over and their bond had gone pale and thin.
