Werewolf Mage 3

by Harry Nix

  Henry stood up and paced around for a moment before sweeping an arm and casting a spell. Gems and gold spun up the ground and stuck to the wall, forming an enormous clock face and calendar.

  “There is only limited time left so I suggest we act. If Alex dies then he dies and perhaps we walk the other path,” he said.

  “Even with all our wealth, how are you going to kill almost a billion werewolves?” Prince said. “And there is no guarantee it would work.”

  “I don't like it either. But none of us are getting any younger. We can't wait another two decades and hope that some other werewolf mage will make it to adulthood. Or that this time we’ll get reinforcements rather than more enemies.”

  Henry sat down. The other three were surprised by their friend. The necromancer, with his affinity for death, was also the one who held life most sacred. Prince glanced at the wall calendar. There was so little time. The pressure of it encroaching on them all.

  “I do have another idea, but I'm not sure Isabella is going to like it,” Prince said finally.

  “Pray tell, because I still have some mages to question and torture to death,” she said.

  “We take the witch and force the covens to get involved,” Prince said.

  Isabella shot out of her seat, small sparks crackling from between her fingertips.

  “I said no before, and I still mean it,” Isabella said.

  “And I have sent countless vampires to their death, Eric has killed mages and werewolves, and Henry has sacrificed necromancers for the cause.”

  “The witches have paid enough,” Isabella said. The lightning from between her fingers faded away.

  Prince stood up and reached down into the jewels and picked up a ruby the size of a tennis ball.

  “You said it yourself, what do we care about things here, the gold and jewels and ancient tapestries burned to ash? Perhaps you have grown too attached,” he said and he very deliberately let the ruby fall to the ground.

  “We need them for the war,” Isabella said in a level tone.

  “There won't be a war if Alex doesn't destroy the Great Barrier!” Prince roared, pointing at the calendar.

  The two of them stood in silence for a moment before Henry finally cleared his throat.

  “Perhaps a vote?” he said.

  “There’s no need. I can already tell what you two want, so I concede. Pull the witches in,” Isabella said. She waved an arm at them, and the gold flakes broke apart, collapsing into a pile

  “I'll do it,” Prince said. The other two nodded and their golem's disintegrated, the gems, jewels and coins falling to the ground. The vampire stood for a moment, looking around at the scattered wealth. Perhaps he should have stuck to gold, precious metals, and gems, things that could largely survive a fire, but he'd always suspected that a deep knowledge of history would be invaluable. His security cameras had caught something odd before the fire had broken out, and the Great Barrier had lashed to destroy any evidence. For a single frame it appeared as though black runes had ripped free of the tapestry, flying towards Alex. Prince had no idea what that meant, nor why the necklace that Alex's mate had been wearing had glowed. He didn’t like the feeling of uncertainty, none of them did, which is why their search for the attackers had been conducted with rather less diplomacy and far more blood and pain.

  He glanced at the wall. When Henry's golem had disintegrated, the clock and calendar had fallen too. They were running out of time. They could no longer afford the soft touch, the gentle pressure to achieve their aims. As Prince remembered the fire that had consumed half his collection and severely damaged his mansion, an idea crossed his mind and he grinned, his golden teeth shimmering in the lights overhead. Finally, he canceled the spell and the golem fell, breaking into pieces, a handful of diamonds scattering across the rich carpet.

  21

  The day was warm and sunny and the air was clean. Alex could feel April on his back, gently squeezing with her strong legs and occasionally scratching the back of his neck, but despite all that, his mood felt as dark as night. Things had moved quickly in the morning and not in the direction he wanted. When they'd gotten up, they discovered that Ruby was gone, along with Boris and the gold and gems. She left a note saying that she was going to sell them and would be back soon. That wasn't what was bothering Alex. Juno had assured him that a witch always kept her word. No, it was the thrall. Nia had told Esme and Lydia about it and suddenly all of Alex's plans—to be enchanting ridiculous numbers of rings, gathering a pile of money, and scouting out the Xavo address that Stephen had left behind—were completely upended. The two old werewolves had declared that Alex needed to leave Baxter immediately because the thrall indeed was coming and would be here soon.

  Although Nia was aware of what the thrall was, it appeared she did not have the entire story. The short of it was, they need to leave Baxter immediately otherwise it was highly likely that Alex and his mates would slip into it, and then Alex would kill anyone else who came near them. Such an attack would likely trigger the Great Barrier and supernaturals would be forced against their will to murder Alex. He tried to argue but Lydia and Esme were adamant, so here they were marching out into the wilderness on the way back to the village. The only good part of it all was that they were carrying a variety of shield rings and healing flame rings.

  Alex was walking slightly ahead of his pack, sometimes bringing up his spell screen, more often than not dismissing it. The spiky black runes he ignored now. He hadn't told anyone more about them and now with the thrall coming, thought it wasn't the time. His work with Ruby, short as it was, had opened up new insights into his spell writing, but he was still making slow progress. It was the difference between learning music theory and learning how to play a song.

  Alex, huffed to himself in frustration as he opened the spell screen then closed it again. He knew the source of his frustration—the feeling that he was being pushed. He hadn't intended to go to Baxter when he had but had gone to sleep and woken up somewhere else. It was a problem that seemed absurd. Did he have to start manacling himself, tying himself down with mage cuffs so he couldn't escape and go roaming?

  Then once he was there, he'd agreed to a favor and suddenly was robbing the vampire. Now the thrall. Again outside of his control and off he went back to the village. It felt like every move he made was reactive. Even the Corvus outpost had only been because Juno had lost her mind and gone on the attack.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” April whispered in Alex's ear, lying down flat on his back.

  The warmth of her, the scent of her. The feeling of her breath on his ear was almost enough to drive him wild. Alex made a kind of chuffing noise as it was still difficult to speak in this form, his jaws feeling the wrong shape.

  “Or two hundred fifty thousand dollars for your thoughts?” April said, tickling his ear with her fingers.

  It was the one otherwise bright spot in the darkness Alex felt was surrounding him. According to Ruby they'd stolen just over a million dollars of gold and gems and Juno had negotiated twenty-five percent of it for them which meant just over a quarter million. Although Alex had gone back and forth about the morality of theft, he couldn't deny that the result had solved a lot of problems in one fell swoop. They had enough money to fund trail cams and weapons and food shipments should they decide to stay at the village. Hell, they had enough money to buy up land over in the industrial district and set up a base for werewolves when they were in the city. With the money they could go around to various magical shops and buy all kinds of things so Alex could extract the spells and get to work.

  “Come on, aren’t you a little excited?” April whispered, then moved her hips on Alex's back. For a moment that wildness loomed, the one that felt as though it would pull him under, and Alex had to take a breath and shake his head to push it away. If it had its way he'd grab April, throw her down right here in the grass, and screw her brains out. But thinking of that quickly led to the question that Alex had been holding. Where had A
pril gotten the amulet from? It had glowed and led them to a tapestry which was why Alex now had spiky runes stuck in his mind that felt dangerous to even look at. This perhaps was part of the darkness, that worry that he didn't really know his mates, that he had rushed headlong into something without understanding what it truly was. After all, Juno had extracted a favor from him before he'd understood what it really was. Nia had apparently known what it was and hadn't bothered to explain either and then, not really that much later, April had extracted a favor too.

  Alex took another deep breath to calm the thoughts of sex on his mind and then very carefully sounded out the words. “You need to tell me where you got that amulet from,” he said.

  He felt April tense on his back, but he wasn't going to accept no for an answer this time.

  “I can't tell you,” she said.

  “You must. I want to know,” Alex repeated. April had sat up and she stayed there for almost a minute as Alex kept walking before finally lying back down on his back and bringing her mouth close to his ear.

  “Make a little space from the others,” she whispered. Alex glanced back at the rest of his pack. They weren’t that far behind him. He sped up a little, increasing the distance.

  “I can't tell you where I got the amulet because I don't remember. I must've agreed to it—a memory alteration. I remember leaving, intending to seek aid, walking through the forest and that’s it. All I have is walking through the forest and then finally I returned. It would be difficult to do that to me involuntarily, so I must conclude that I agreed to have it done,” April said.

  Alex continued walking, thinking over what April had just said. Why would someone who offered help then be determined to be anonymous? The only answer he had was that he and his pack seemed constantly under attack and they wanted no part of it. Actually, there was a second answer—if the amulet wasn't aid at all but a trap, something that had led to Alex having the spiky runes in his head, then perhaps the one who had sent them didn't want them returning to exact their vengeance.

  “If you went on foot, surely they can't be that far,” Alex finally said.

  “I thought of that. Even with haste spells, there’s only so far I could have gone on my own, but I have no idea which direction I went, so it could be anywhere in thousands and thousands of square miles. I don't know why I would have agreed, but the past me that did surely had a good reason. Are you going to tell me now why the amulet is black and useless?” April said.

  Alex just kept walking. Although Nia had told April and Juno that the amulet had glowed, leading them to the tapestry, Nia hadn't apparently seen the black runes come free and hit Alex. That a silver-eyed werewolf had been pictured on the tapestry had been discussed, but like many of the mysteries that surrounded them, had been pushed aside and put into the basket of—as Juno described it—the handkerchiefs out-of-the-butt stuff.

  April scratched his ear and squeezed his back with her legs, and he became acutely aware again of only the thin layer of fabric between her and him.

  “Alex, stop, please!” Nia said.

  What? Alex was growling. April wasn’t on his back, but in front of him with Nia, both of them trying to hold him back. He was snapping at Jacob and Jeremiah, feeling like he wanted to leap forward and kill them.

  “We need to run. The thrall is almost here,” Esme said. She was in hybrid form, her fur grey, but her claws still sharp. She was holding a heavy tree branch that had a spot of blood on it, and Alex realized then that his head was throbbing. She must've bashed him one in the face.

  “You two run ahead, tell everyone to leave the village, be out of sight,” Lydia instructed Jacob and Jeremiah. The two of them glanced at Alex and he nodded, afraid to speak lest roar would erupt from his throat. His heart was pounding, and he was having a difficult time focusing on the here and now. The two of them shot off into the forest.

  “Alex, you take me. April, on Nia,” Juno said. Alex turned and realized he'd been so focused on Jeremiah and Jacob that hadn't even seen where Juno was. She’d been standing in his blind spot, two long fire whips hanging from both hands, waiting to attack if she needed to. Juno canceled the spell and then she climbed on Alex's back. She pulled at the scruff of his neck.

  “Now run,” she commanded. Alex took off, the little witch squeezing her legs as tight as she could to hold on. Nia streaked along behind him with April on her back and behind them followed Esme and Lydia doing their best to keep up. As they ran, Alex tried to put his thoughts in order, but in the gap there was nothing. He been talking with April and then suddenly being held back from killing Jacob and Jeremiah. His mood, which had already been dark, grew far worse now. He could understand why the thrall was called the curse. He could have easily killed Jacob or Jeremiah.

  They weren't far from the village now, and although he couldn’t run at full speed with Juno on his back the pace they cut through the wilderness was breathtaking. Soon the village appeared. He could smell it, meals that had been cooked, the scent of his pack. And with it, the scent of other males. Alex began growling involuntarily as he walked into the village proper. He only stopped when Lydia suddenly transformed in front of him into hybrid form and smacked him directly in the face.

  “Cut that out, and just sit here for a moment,” she said, waving a long, pointed claw at him. Alex sat down, more in surprise than anything else, and heard Juno laughing, sitting on his back. Lydia and Esme vanished into the house and then quickly returned carrying three small vials.

  “Do you want to have babies?” Esme asked as soon as she came back.

  Juno jumped off Alex's back and seemed as shocked as Nia and April were.

  “Babies?” Juno squeaked.

  “Yes, babies. What do you think the thrall is? You need to decide right now. Drink the vials: no babies. Don't drink them: three babies at least,” Esme said.

  Alex felt a surge wash over him like he was out the ocean and the waves were climbing higher and would soon swamp him. Out here in the wilderness, in his wolf form, he was close to his bestial nature and he truly only wanted two things: his mates, and to grow his pack. A small part of him knew that if he was in the city, surrounded by civilization, having come from a hot shower, sitting in a café tapping away on his phone, that perhaps he could make more of a rational decision but that world seemed alien now, so remote.

  “I didn't know… I mean… I thought… I mean, not all thralls result in pregnancy, right?” Nia said.

  “The only time they don't is when the women involved have drunk this. You need to decide right now,” Esme said.

  “Hurry up,” Lydia added.

  As they spoke, Alex looked over his three mates. In his current state they were three morsels waiting to be consumed, but with a great force of will he pushed those thoughts aside. The wolf part of him wanted desperately to expand his pack, but there was another part that was cold, hard, and calculating. A pregnant Nia, Juno, and April might be able to help for some time in battling the forces arrayed against them, but there would come a moment when they would be unable to, and if something happened to one of them and the unborn babies, Alex knew he would never be able to forgive himself and he also likely would lose his mind and descend into a wildness from which he may never return.

  “Later, children are later,” he carefully said. The three girls immediately snatched the three vials and gulped them down.

  “That way. Ten miles. Cave amongst the deep red rock. You can't miss it,” Esme said, waving her arm.

  The three girls seemed almost shocked at what they'd done, perhaps a bit regretful that they'd swallowed down the liquid.

  “Go now!” Lydia roared. Juno leaped back onto Alex and April onto Nia and then together they took off running out of the village. The ten miles passed in a flash, Alex realizing there must've been a gap because one moment it seemed he was leaving the village, and the next, he was standing in front of a cave.

  Juno got off his back and he transformed into hybrid form, walking in to discover
the cave been furnished somewhat, similar to the caves on Julius's land. It was strange but it was almost like a home. The entranceway was dirt and dust but inside there were wooden floorboards and beds. The werewolves had apparently installed some civilization. There was a water tank that appeared to be filled from an unknown source. There was space for a campfire, and a large chest of packaged meals and tins of food. There were even small lamps and batteries. Alex watched Nia turn on one of the lamps and set it in the corner of the room. It cast a golden light across his three mates and the bed.

  “I’m losing track of things,” Juno murmured, rubbing her eyes. In deference to the warm day, the little witch wasn't wearing much, just a thin dress and she pulled it up and over her body, tossing it to the ground. Nia walked over behind her and unclasped her bra, slipping it off and adding it to the pile. April came from the other direction, standing in front of Juno and then kneeling down, slipping her underwear off and allowing her to step out of them, then she gently placed a kiss right between Juno's legs before turning to Alex, her pupils wide.

  “Join us, alpha?” she said. Alex moved across to his mates so fast they jumped in surprise, but then quickly recovered. He grabbed Juno and carried her to the bed. He began kissing down her body, taking a nipple in his mouth then coming down to rest between her legs. April and Nia joined him stroking their hands down Juno's body, occasionally touching Alex. As Alex began licking Juno, she began moaning, her voice echoing through the cave. All he could smell was the scent of his three mates and all he wanted to do was stay here in this bed forever. Alex licked, putting his hands under Juno's butt, and pushing up. He saw that April and Nia had returned to acting in concert as they'd done before, each taking one of Juno's nipples in their mouths.

  The little witch was moaning, screwing her face up, sometimes covering her mouth, trying to hold the sounds in. There was a sudden burst of red in the air as Juno came, then Alex couldn't hold himself back. He was up and plunged into her in an instant. Juno moaned and grabbed onto his arms as Alex began jolting back and forth, the bed bouncing beneath them. They were in close quarters with his other two mates by his side, and even as he was deep in Juno, focused on her, he wanted to grab April, to grab Nia, and be doing the same thing simultaneously. At some point, April positioned herself over Juno's mouth, facing towards Alex and desperately kissing him as Juno began licking away. Green added to the red sparks flying in the room, and it wasn't long before there was another burst of red, some tiny part of Alex wondering if the thrall made it easier to orgasm, and if it did, that it was a very useful kind of magic.