by Kimber White
Secret of the Fae
A Wolfguard Protectors Novel
Kimber White
Nokay Press LLC
Copyright © 2020 by Kimber White/Nokay Press LLC
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law or for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Sneak Peek of Bitten by Flame
About the Author
Books by Kimber White
Chapter One
Edward
Magic. Why did it have to be magic? The stuff has a sickening, sweet scent that clings to you. One whiff of it could make my head feel thick and pound as if I’d had an anvil dropped on me.
Luna Point, Michigan. The place was crawling with magic users and wannabes. It was the draw. From what I understood, the place had just been home to a tiny, little pier that offered some of the best fishing on Lake Erie. There had been a harbor and a yacht club, but that was all.
Twenty years ago, Luna Point got its casino license, and the town went to hell, in my opinion, anyway. I never liked Lake Erie, preferring my adopted home on the more awe-inspiring Lake Michigan in Chicago.
But, they both were a very long way from Moscow, the place where I was born.
A hot, summer sun baked my skin as I sat on a white, wooden bench across from my target. Downtown Luna Point had a boardwalk filled with gift shops, bait and tackle stores, ice cream and fudge parlors and one little place on the corner with an unassuming purple sign in front of it, swinging from a chain.
Oracle Books and Mystical Trinkets.
My target. Its thick incense wafted across the street, overtaking even the fishy smell coming off the lake.
No one else seemed to notice. I sensed no other shifters here. All humans. Families. Tourists. I’d watched them come in and out of Oracle all morning. Not a witch in the bunch either so far, even though the stench of magic hung thick in the air. Nobody even looked my way. They had no idea an Alpha wolf sat in their midst.
I pulled out my phone and hit my boss Payne’s number. Head of Wolfguard Security, this little mission of mine had been all his idea.
“Edward,” he answered right away.
“I’m in Luna Point,” I said. “There’s nothing to write home about. You sure this is where your contact said I should be? I’m sitting in front of the Oracle Shop, and it seems pretty ordinary.”
Payne answered by way of a low grumble. His own inner wolf was getting restless. He’d grown just as frustrated as I had lately. For more than six months, I’d been chasing down dead ends about the source of a certain, mystical item that had been used in an attempt to kill my twin brother Erik and his mate.
Said item currently hung around my neck. Whatever it was, it was dormant now save for its constant warmth against my skin.
I pulled it out from under my shirt, taking care to shield it from any prying eyes with my hand. It really was sort of ugly. A jagged gold crescent broken off from a larger piece. It was only an inch long and half as wide. The metal was dulled and scratched. It had scorch marks along the edge. It looked like junk, really. It was hard to believe it held any power at all.
I knew better than to underestimate it though. The thing had been stolen from a powerful organization known as the Ring. For the last few years, they’d been running a shifter mate trafficking ring and doing serious harm to our kind. They’d nearly gotten a hold of my brother’s mate, Nova, using the magic inside this hunk of jewelry to immobilize her. It held other strange powers too, but we’d so far found no way to tap into it. Or destroy it.
So, now it was up to me to find out what this broken medallion really was and where it came from. We feared there were more like it. Until we understood its magic, we had no hope of defending against it.
“It’s probably nothing,” Payne said. “I know this has felt like a wild goose chase. Just stick with it. If you’re sure you’re not sensing any real shifter or mage activity, just go on in and rule it out.”
“Then what?” I asked, dreading his answer.
“Then...we’ll worry about that bridge when we get to it. You want backup for this one?”
“No,” I said. “I’ve done a hundred of these places. I know the drill. I’ll check in after I know something.”
“Good,” Payne said. “Watch your back.”
“Always,” I said, then clicked off the call.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. God, I hated magic shops.
I crossed the street and opened the door. I damn near choked from the scent. Oh, there was a mage in here somewhere. There was supposed to be a way to tell the difference between their sources of power. Some subtle changes in their scent. Earth. Wind. Fire. Water. I don’t know. To me, it all just smelled foul.
It wasn’t that I thought all witches were bad. My cousin mated with one, and she was one of the best people I knew. And mages were under just as much threat from the Ring as shifters were. It was just...I don’t know. Maybe I was just straight up allergic to magic or something.
“Can I help you find something?” A lilting female voice came at me from behind a bookshelf.
I expected to see a witch, but she was something else. A traveler maybe. She probably paid some witch just to hang out here and make the place smell right to people like me. The woman couldn’t have been more than four foot ten. She had springy black curls and wide eyes. She wore thin, metal bracelets up each of her arms that clanged together as she gestured.
“Ah,” I said. “I’m here for…”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’ll be wanting a reading,” she whispered. She put a finger to her lips, then came closer.
Her eyes went up and up as she took me in. “You’re in luck,” she said. “Madame Zendra doesn’t usually take new clients without an appointment. But I can see you’re a special case.”
“Madame Zendra?” I said, trying to suppress a smirk.
So this was their racket. Whoever this Madame Zendra was, how lucky I was to just happen to catch her on a good day.
“Sure,” I said, figuring this would be good for a laugh.
“Come,” the woman said. She put a hand on my arm and started to lead me to the back of the store. We passed rows of tarot cards, crystals, and candles.
I stooped to clear an alcove and pushed through hanging plastic beads. Oh, they set the scene, all right. I imagined the tourists ate this shit up.
The walls were lined with shelves holding candles of every color. The
drop ceiling was painted black with little holes cut out. Behind it, lights twinkled through, making it look like the night sky filled with stars. Soft, new age music played from some hidden speaker.
And there was that smell. Heavy incense. My head started to pound.
“Have a seat,” the shopkeeper instructed. “Madame will be here in a moment.”
I took a seat on a folding chair at the small, round table draped in purple velvet. I was surprised not to find a crystal ball on top. Maybe Madame Zendra brought that out with her.
I turned to say something to the shopkeeper, but the woman had vanished. Nice little trick. The hanging beads were still as if she’d just vanished into thin air.
I waited for a minute. Then two. After three, I was done.
“Enough of this shit,” I muttered, about to rise.
“Thank you for your patience,” the voice said. It was raspy and brittle. I jumped.
Madame Zendra seemed to come straight out of the shadows in the room. How the hell long had she been standing there? I never scented a thing.
She practically glided across the room. She wore a thick, black robe, a hood all but covering her face. She sat across from me and folded her hands on the table. They were gnarled and old with thick, purple veins.
And she was...faceless. I tried to peer into the hood but saw only shadows.
She held out one hand, palm up. “You may place the item in my hand,” she said.
“The what now?” I asked.
She let out a sigh. “You’ve come a very long way,” she said. “I don’t wish to waste your time. They were right to send you here.”
I did a double take. Did she know? Had Payne’s contact finally given us some good intel?
No sooner had I thought it than I felt a creeping sensation up my spine. This was all a trick. A con. And I wasn’t some hapless tourist.
But, there was...something. My wolf sensed it at the same time I did. The medallion piece around my neck began to burn my skin. I felt it lift.
“What the hell?”
Madame Zendra closed her fists and drew her hands back to her chest. She sensed something too.
“You’re not,” she started. Her voice instantly changed, becoming clear instead of raspy. “Aren’t you...who are you?”
“Who are you, lady?” I asked.
I had my hands resting on the table. A tremor went through me. I opened and closed my fist on my right hand to try and stop it.
No, I thought. Not now. I felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck. My vision dimmed a bit.
My wolf was coming out.
I cleared my throat and tried to slide my chair back. I couldn’t damn well shift in the middle of the magic shop. Only, I couldn’t seem to control it.
“It’s all right,” she said. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be,” I said, my voice coming out more like a growl. I felt my fangs drop.
Dammit. I had to get the hell out of here. Fast. Only every instinct in me told me this lady knew something about this cursed medallion.
I raised my trembling hand and tried to grasp the medallion beneath my shirt. I couldn’t make my fingers close. My claws started to come out.
“You’re sick,” she said. “It’s okay. I think I can help.”
Her voice changed even more. She sounded...young.
I rose, staggering backward. No. It was magic. Some spell. My wolf strained to get out.
Madame Zendra got up and took a step toward me.
“No,” I said, my voice ragged. “Stay back.”
“You need help,” she insisted. “You can’t go out there like this.”
Then, she crossed the distance between us. Her hood dropped.
She wasn’t...she wasn’t old at all. She had to only be in her twenties. She had long, platinum hair that spilled over her shoulders. Her eyes changed color, going from deepest blue to brilliant violet. Her skin was flawless ivory. High cheekbones. Full lips. The robe fell open a bit at the collar, and I could see the swell of her breasts.
Hunger roiled inside of me. She would taste sweet as honey. Her gasps of pleasure would echo through me. Oh, my wolf wanted to come out and play.
She reached for me. Gone where the gnarled hands. She had long, elegant fingers. She closed one around my wrist.
Light. Heat. An electric pop. I saw a flash of lightning that narrowed to a pinpoint. It circled me then slammed into my chest.
Madame Zendra disappeared.
I took a step forward then crumpled to the ground, my body no longer my own.
The point of light went in me and forced the air from my lungs.
Chapter Two
Zendra
“No. No, no, no, no, no, no!”
He clutched at the velvet curtains covering the nearest wall. His pale blue eyes locked with mine.
“You,” he gasped.
I tried to keep my light contained, but the moment our fingers touched: Zam! Pow!
My breath left me the same time his did. Then, we were both on the ground.
I recovered more quickly. Rising to my feet, I stood over him.
“Zendra?” Flavia’s lilting voice came to me from the front of the store. “Is everything okay back there?”
I bit my lip. If she came back here and saw what state this guy was in, I’d lose my job. Flavia was a good boss. She didn’t ask too many questions. She paid me under the table and respected my privacy. She was unconcerned with where I came from. I, quite literally, couldn’t afford to cause her trouble.
But, trouble had come to me in the form of a handsome, muscle-bound Alpha wolf shifter with golden hair and twin sapphires for eyes.
He started to stir.
I knelt down, afraid to touch him again. Gingerly, I slipped my fingers into his front pants pocket. The warmth of his body reached me through the fabric.
He wore black suit pants and a white dress shirt tucked in. It all looked expensive. Tailored. It would have to be. He stood at least six foot four with broad shoulders and massive biceps.
I slid his wallet out of his pocket. His thick, blond eyelashes fluttered, and his lips parted to reveal gleaming white fangs. He seemed a bit trapped between wolf and man.
“A white wolf,” I whispered. I knew it on instinct. Part of me wanted to force his shift to completion. He would be beautiful. Raw power and majesty. I would see the moon in his eyes. The earth and the stars.
I cleared my head of the fantasy and opened his wallet.
“Edward Kalenkov.” I read his driver’s license. Illinois. He was thirty-three years old.
The name rang familiar somehow, though I couldn’t figure out why. He carried a silver credit card, one of those heavy ones with likely an astronomical spending limit. I counted five crisp one-hundred-dollar bills then carefully tucked them back in.
I may be a lot of things, but I’m no common thief.
I slipped Edward’s wallet back in his pocket. His eyes snapped open but lacked focus. He saw something, but it wasn’t me. A low growl rumbled up from his belly. It sent a ripple of anticipation through me, almost like pleasure. Oh, his magic was strong, indeed. And it was bringing mine out whether I liked it or not.
He tried to sit up. I panicked and pushed him back to the floor. It was like trying to move a cement wall. He went rigid, then flopped backward.
“Zendra?” Flavia called out.
“Just finishing up,” I answered in a sing-song voice.
Edward Kalenkov’s shirt fell open a bit at the collar. My eyes were drawn to his chiseled, tan skin. Then, something else made my breath stop short.
He wore a gold chain from his neck. On it, a broken piece of a medallion swung down.
I couldn’t breathe. Could barely think.
No. This wasn’t possible. Not here. Not after all this time.
Trembling, I reached for the thing. Just before I grasped it, I froze. Frantically, I searched around me and grabbed the closest thing I could find. Flavia sold silk scarves,
and I grabbed one out of the box.
Wrapping my hand in the scarf, I lifted the medallion sliver off Kalenkov’s chest.
It had aged. Its former shine had dulled. What was once bright gold had dimmed to an almost copper color with blackened edges. The design on the front was barely recognizable anymore. But, if I joined it with its missing pieces, I knew I would see three stars circling an orb.
“Where did you get this?” I whispered. Edward’s rhythmic breathing gave me comfort. I had no idea how long he’d be out, so I’d have to work quickly.
I hated that it had to come to this. Now I was about to resort to common thievery. Only, I knew there was no way a wolf shifter could have taken possession of that medallion without stealing it himself. It didn’t belong to him.
It belonged to me.
There was no time to look for a clasp on the chain. Kalenkov was starting to come around again. I couldn’t trust that whatever magic had knocked him out would work the same again.
I pulled hard on the chain. It was just thin gold. It should have easily snapped. Instead, I got a jolt straight through my chest.
“The hell?”
It seemed the medallion had some fight in it of its own.
I tried to remove the piece from the chain. No luck. Finally, I pulled the whole thing upward, intending to slide it over Kalenkov’s head.
What happened next is hard to describe. It...froze.
The chain went rigid in my hand. Some unseen hand forced it downward. It was as if the thing suddenly weighed a thousand pounds.
It simply would not budge. It made no sense. I knew its magic. At least, I thought it did. And yet, I couldn’t break through it.
