by Jana Leigh
Lacy lit the lighter and started the edge of a small piece of wood on fire. They watched as the smoke curled upward and Adele continued chanting something. Lacy turned and grabbed her father"s hand and held it tightly as the smoke moved toward him slowly.
Timothy took a deep breath and the smoke slowly drifted to surround only him. He stiffened at the first hint of his power returning.
Lacy held his hand tighter and her mates could do nothing but stand and watch as Timothy began to tremble. His arms and legs started first. They could tell he was struggling to remain on his feet. He took another deep breath and then leaned his head back and yelled. Lacy jumped but refused to let go of his hand. Keeping a balanced connection for him.
She used her powers to lessen the pain he was feeling. The enormous power that ran through him had to hurt. Adele moved her hands slowly and another swirl of smoke rose and surrounded Timothy. This time he was unable to remain standing and fell to his knees. Sevi and Shawn went to their mate"s side. Afraid to touch her but letting her know they were there to help if she needed it.
Shawn felt the burst of magic first. Whoever was standing outside wanted them to know he was there. He was strong; Shawn"s bear growled and clawed him on the inside.
Ready to be released so he could face the danger that was trying to hurt his mate and their child.
“Not yet.” Lacy whispered. She must have felt his impatience and responded to it. The people in the dining room were connected. Shawn could feel Adele and Timothy"s emotions as well as his mate"s and brother"s. They were in a bubble. One that could not be broken until Timothy got his powers back.
Sevi noticed the embers from the small fire were almost burned out. The smoke rose slower and with less intensity. Adele moved her hands again and the last of the smoke swirled and dissipated when Timothy took a shaky breath.
Adele"s arms fell and she went limp. Sevi caught her as she slumped down, still conscious, just tired. Lacy, appearing not to have been touched by the spell at all leaned over her father and whispered to him as he gritted his teeth and shook. His powers had returned, now they needed to settle inside of him again after being gone for so long. It was almost as if he were being punished. A sheen a sweat covered his face and Shawn knelt next to him and took his other hand.
The spell had worked and now Timothy needed support. Shawn was willing to lend him anything he needed. They were family now. After being in the same room and being connected, there was no doubt in his mind that Timothy and Adele loved their daughter and grandchild. They would help protect her at all costs.
Sevi bent and lifted Adele into his arms and carried her over to where her husband was.
He placed her next to him and then stood and watched while she fussed over him. It only took a few moments for Timothy to come back from the pain that he was in. He looked up and smiled at his daughter and wife. Then turned and grinned at Sevi and Shawn.
“Let"s go kick some Rogue ass.” Timothy said and stood up.
They could feel the energy running through the man. Both were surprised that he had given up this power long ago. He was clearly more powerful than Adele, and she was a powerful witch. Lacy"s eyes widened as she realized for the first time what her father had given up for her. A witch this powerful should have been the coven leader. He should have been revered throughout the community as such.
“Darling, don"t feel guilty. It had to be this way. They would have found you a long time ago had I kept my powers. They would have been able to track it.” Timothy said and kissed Lacy on the forehead. “What"s mine is yours, and yours is mine, let the spirits share with pride.”
Lacy and her mates felt magic flow through them again. “What the hell?” Lacy said.
“She is getting the magic from her father that we locked away. Lacy of course got her powers from both of us. When we bound Timothy"s powers, it took hers away also. Now she will have the power she needs to be the Chosen.” Adele said and hugged her daughter. “You are more powerful than your father, with your mates, they will balance you.”
Lacy stood there stunned, feeling so much more than she had ever felt before. She could feel the tingling in her fingertips. It was amazing.
“Now then, let"s take care of that asshole outside.” Timothy said and pushed himself up.
“Adele and Lacy, stay in the house. I think we can handle this.” Lacy and her mother rolled their eyes and nodded. They followed the men as they went to the front door. Sevi and Shawn shifted and stood behind her father. Holy shit, they were huge. Lacy went and ran her fingers through their fur and then leaned down and kissed each of them on the head.
“Be careful. I don"t need a bear rug.” She whispered and then laughed when they growled at her.
Timothy turned to the rest of the elders and Peter came and stood beside him. The rest stood back with Lacy and her mother. They did not all need to get in the way. Lacy had felt the power earlier that shook their house. Her father was greater. However, that power coupled with Rogue wolves would be tricky.
Her father opened the door and the four of them exited standing on the front veranda.
Lacy could feel the spell her father was using. It was a protection spell. Any shift that was near would feel the need to leave.
Sevi and Shawn growled and stepped forward and lifted their head and sniffed the air.
Before she knew it, they were moving quickly to the edge of the driveway. She took a deep breath and willed herself not to run out there and protect them. Two wolves appeared in front of them.
Lacy gasped as she watched her two furious men quickly attack. She had never seen animals fight like that before. The wolves tried to bite their throats but the bears were too big. A swipe of their paws and the wolves were on the ground. One of the wolves got right up and began to circle Shawn. She could tell them apart, even in their bear form.
Sevi was taking care of the one who remained on the ground. Although he still fought, Sevi easily took care of him.
Shawn had a little more difficulty. His wolf was not going down without a fight. Shawn growled when the wolf bit his hind leg and refused to let go. He tried to turn around but the wolf kept behind him. Rolling over, he flipped the wolf through the air. The sudden movement made him release Shawn"s hind leg. Then Shawn was pissed.
He ran for the wolf and drug his huge paw down its back. Lacy grimaced a little, that had to hurt, she thought. Then looked back at Sevi, who finished with the wolf and threw the dead shifter to the side before sitting down and licking his paws, watching his brother.
Shawn took the shifter"s neck in his mouth and bit down. Lacy could hear the crunch from across the lawn. He then stepped back and growled making sure the wolf was not going to move again. He must have been satisfied because he turned and went to his brother.
Lacy"s father raised his hands and pushed out the spell further, before saying. “They have all left. The one who wanted to be noticed is long gone. I don"t think we have heard the last of him.”
Lacy shivered and then waited for her mates to shift and come back to her. Gloriously naked, they stalked to her and grabbed her. Shawn buried his face in her neck and she cried. She sobbed against him for a few moments before she felt him shift sideways and hand her over to Sevi who did the same thing. Both of them muttering over and over that they were fine.
Her parents came back into the room and silently waited until she had gotten herself under control. It was surprising to her how quickly she had come to care and love these men. She would not be able to live without them.
“Lacy, we have to talk.” He mother said quietly. She released her mate"s neck, stepped back, and nodded. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she waited until her mates dressed and then turned back to her parents.
“I know.” She said quietly.
“We can"t stay here. Even with all of our protections, if they come back with more people we will be a sitting duck. It would be best if we gathered our stuff together and got out of here. We have a plan; we will be drivi
ng back, so it will give us time to get people in place. They won"t be looking for us to drive.” Her father said.
Shawn and Sevi nodded and then looked at Lacy. She was biting her lip looking worried.
“What, sweetheart? Sevi asked.
“I don"t have anything; all my clothes and stuff are at my apartment. All I have is the few outfits that I have here and my purse.” She said.
“Don"t worry, baby, as soon as all of this is taken care of we can get you what you need.
We can"t risk you going back. They may be watching that place too.” Shawn said and kissed her head.
She sobbed a little again and then nodded. She knew it was too dangerous to go home, but there were things there she wanted. Including her spell diary. It was where she wrote all of her spells, how they could be changed to fit a person"s needs. It had taken her whole life to write those down. It was not something she wanted to leave behind. If someone found it, they could use it for evil.
“My spell book.” She whispered and her mother slapped her hand against her forehead.
“Well shit.” Her father said and then looked around the room. “We have to stop and grab it. Nothing else, just the book.”
Her mates nodded and Shawn said, “What does it look like? I will grab it.” Lacy explained where it was hidden and they all quickly gathered their things and got into two separate cars. Her mother hugged Peter and gave him the talisman that would show the rest of the coven that he was now the leader. Usually it was a formal ceremony but they did not have the time. They hoped that they would be able to return in the near future and have that ceremony. They had a big fight ahead of them, and who knew how it was going to turn out.
Lacy and her mates piled in their truck and followed behind her parents as they wove their way back to her apartment. She felt a tingling up her spine. Something was waiting for them, something, or someone.
They turned the corner and entered the street where her apartment was located. She had been so proud when she moved out of her parent"s house. She felt like it was finally time for her to start her life, how wrong she had been. Since meeting her mates, she now knew what she had been waiting for.
Looking around she felt a presence. It was similar to the one that had been at her parents" house. She opened her mouth to tell her mates when Shawn slammed on the brakes. Ahead of them stood a man in the road. They could see him over her parent"s car. He was tall and lean, his face shadowed by the hat he wore. And the long coat he had on made him seem so much bigger than he was.
He raised his hand, waved before turning and walking across the street, and disappeared in the shadows. When Shawn turned the truck to use his headlights to see where he went, the man had disappeared.
“Who the fuck was that?” Sevi growled.
Lacy shook her head, she had no clue, and she really did not want to find out. Shawn said quickly, “Sev, get the book.”
His brother nodded and jumped from the car. Her phone vibrated in her purse and she pulled it out. Her mother was calling.
“Yeah, mom?” She said.
“That was him, the one looking for you. We need to get out of here, now.” She said urgently.
Sevi ran back down to the truck and jumped in the passenger"s seat. “Go, I got it, and a little note that was left on the door.”
Lacy took her book and hugged it to her chest. Thank goodness, no one had found it.
“What does it say?” she whispered.
“Lacy, sorry to have to miss our appointment. I am sure that our paths are destined to meet in the future, until then. M” Sevi read and then crumpled the paper and threw it on the floor and wrapped his arms around her. “You apartment was broken into. I am sorry, sweetheart. Whoever it was wasn"t looking for anything, they just wanted to destroy everything. I couldn"t tell if anything could be salvaged.” Lacy frowned and then got pissed. “Fuckers.” She said.
Sevi looked at her in surprise. He thought she would start crying, he was wrong. “If they ruined my new Jimmy Cho"s they are dead men walking.” She grumbled.
Shawn looked at his brother confused and then said, “Honey, was Jimmy in the apartment?”
Lacy looked at them with an incredulous look on her face. “Jimmy Cho"s as in the best shoes ever!”
Her men laughed and Sevi wrapped his arms back around her. “I will buy you another pair.”
“You don"t understand. They are expensive. I saved for months for those shoes. It was the first thing that I bought with my profits!” She yelled.
“Sorry, honey. But you don"t have to worry though. We have plenty of money to take care of you.” Shawn said and patted her leg. “We never got to talk about that. Trust me; we own part of the store.”
Lacy muttered and looked at her mates. “I don"t care about money; it was the thought of them. Something I did.”
The men looked confused and just agreed with her as she ranted on about the shoes.
They knew women"s likes and dislikes in bed, but obviously, they needed a little more work on the emotional side. Shoes? Really?
Chapter 13
The Master was pissed. He had to leave the witch"s house before he was ready to; he miscalculated how many shifters he need. He wanted his mate, but her father had hidden his powers. He should have realized who he was dealing with. The next time he was not going to underestimate them. Damnit.
But he did leave her a little remembrance. Something to let her know that he was not giving up. He hoped that she would be ready for him, because the next time they met, he would claim her for his own.
He flipped open his phone and called his wolves. “Go home, when I return we will be planning the attack. Make sure that everyone knows that until I give the word, no one is to move from the Pack house.
They had set up at place in Denver"s warehouse district. At first because it was close to the Denver Pack. They could keep an eye on them. Now it was because it was easy to hide in. Once the Denver Pack moved their headquarters to Milliken, they had been able to move freely about the large city. It had been easier to search and find those they could change.
He had only wanted the strongest. The ones he had made at first had been the homeless and druggies. Now his Pack was growing stronger, the changes were handpicked by his Beta. Soon they would be stronger than anyone guessed.
Chapter 14
Driving with her mates proved to be very enlightening. They were typical men, they talked about football and cars. Telling her that on Sundays during football season they sat in front of their big screen TV and cheered for the Denver Broncos, nothing interrupted a game, they said. She had rolled her eyes and thought it would be the perfect time for her to work on her potions.
She told them about her spells and about how she went to college to earn her degree so she could help people. Both of them had been surprised and encouraging, they talked about all the good they could do with their new found powers.
They stopped for lunch with her parents and the mood seemed to have lightened considerably. They planned out their route and places they would stay. If everything went as planned, they should arrive in Colorado in three days. None of them wanted to push too hard driving. They needed to save their energy for the battle that was ahead.
Adele told them about the people who called and were going to meet them in Colorado.
They had decided to meet in Loveland, Colorado which was only 15 miles away from Milliken, but they had several hotels right on the highway. Adele had arranged for them all to stay together at one hotel, thankfully she had connections and was able to book the entire hotel. Once they met with everyone that was coming, they would be able to decide how they were going to proceed.
Lacy sat quietly and listened to them plan. She felt a little like she had stepped into a spy movie. All the talk about battles and plans. It would not surprise her to see her mother pull a gun from her purse the way she was talking.
It was a side to her parents she had never seen. During her childhood, they had worked on spells o
f protection but she had never had to use them. It was crazy to think that she was going to have to use all of them soon. If what they said was true. The witch they were going to come up against was powerful and a little crazy.
Her mother practically spit when she said her name. It made Lacy laugh. Her little blood thirsty mother was preparing to fight. From the looks of it, she was more than ready to do so.
They finished lunch and returned to the road. She sat in between her mates and listened as the talk about sports resumed. It was almost like they were on a fun road trip with each other. Talking about what they were going to do when they got home. Lacy smiled when they described in detail their house. It sounded like she was going to love it.
Shawn said that his family had built it together when they were old enough to move out.
Sitting on their mother"s and father"s land, the two story log home sounded like a fairy tale. They said that it had a wraparound porch on it so she could sit at any time of day and see the views.
They finally reached the place they had decided to stop for the night and Lacy was very glad. She was grimy and felt like she hadn"t showered in a year. After her father brought them the hotel key, she rushed into the room and told her mates she was showering over her shoulder.
Lacy locked herself in the bathroom and turned on the water. Thankfully, the room was clean and nice, the shower was huge, and Lacy reached in and turned on the water to the hottest she could stand. Throwing off her clothes she sighed when the hot water from the shower hit her stiff shoulders.
She had never driven that long in a day. Three more days, and she was going to be sick of a car. She looked around and sighed when she realized she had no shampoo to wash her hair and only the small bar of free soap the hotel provided. Not looking forward to putting on her dirty clothes again, she stood under the shower and let the water massage her scalp. She screamed when she felt the shower curtain pull aside.
Sevi popped his head in and smiled. “Hey, sweetie. Shawn ran to the store down the road. Here is some shampoo, soap and I left a toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter. We also bought you some clothes to last for a few days and a bag. It"s all on the floor by the door. We will wait for you in the other room.” Lacy wanted to jump out of the shower and hug him. They were so thoughtful, she would never have asked them to go out of their way like this, but they had done it on their own. After all of their talk in the car about sports and other things, she never figured them for being attentive like this.
