Enchant Me: A Paranormal Romance (Legends of the Ashwood Institute Book 5)

by Jayla Kane

  “Baby,” I whispered. “Let’s go. Okay?” I knew, if it came down to it, Hunter could just jump us back to the Warfield plantation at any minute. He might be in the middle of a fight, but he could jump to me and away before anything bad had a chance to happen. I knew it. He could jump for hundreds of miles—this was nothing. “Hunter. Baby?”

  “Miss—”

  “Can you give us a minute, please?” I slammed the door in the Sheriff’s face. He could probably hear everything I was about to say, but I needed Hunter to hear it. “I’m not losing you,” I snapped, and he shook his head as if my words confused him. I reached up and placed a palm on either side of his face; his pupils slid back to their regular shape and size as he stared down at me. “Where are you going to go? Where is safe? Nowhere. Now you can jump with me back to—”

  “Okay—”

  “No! Goddamnit, Hunter, listen to me—” He wanted to take me back now; his hands were already wrapping around me—“Hunter!” His eyes snapped back to mine. “You can do that at any time. Just go with them; you know you’ll be fine. You will. Whatever this is, they just want to make sure you’re not freeloading, and I know you, Hunter, and you want them to know that too.”

  “But—”

  “Yeah, it’s dangerous. But if it gets too bad, guess who can grab me and leave in the space of heartbeat?” His eyes blinked, and he started to object again. I leaned towards him, pulling his head down to mine; “I don’t want to go yet, Hunter. Please. Let’s get this over with.” He swallowed, his eyes roaming over my face; I stood on my tippy-toes and kissed him. We were both tense with the awareness that the last time I’d refused to leave a dangerous situation I’d paid a steep price—and so had Hunter, the pain of the moment now etched in every line of his face. I heaved a sigh. “Please trust my judgment—I trust yours. I know you will save me, baby. I know it. And…I have other things I want to do tonight. Promise me something, okay? Promise me the first time,” I whispered, tightening my hold on his neck and knowing he understood my meaning, “I get to pick. When. Where. How.” I didn’t have to feign the undercurrent of lust in my voice as I flattened my palms on his broad chest and stared into those beautiful eyes. “I don’t want to go home. I want to stay with you.” I didn’t let my voice shake. “I have plans tonight.”

  He gazed down at me for a long time. Too long. I knew he was about to say no and readied my argument, twisting my hands around his neck—

  And the door flew open behind me, cold wind blasting over us. Hunter’s lips curled as he let a growl rip out of his chest, the sound of it echoing over the snow.

  “Hunter,” I whispered, and his black eyes gleamed as they shifted down towards me.

  It took him a minute. “I promise,” he murmured, his voice mangled, and I knew we were good to go.

  I grabbed all of the cold weather gear I could find and stomped out the door; he held my hand so tightly I had to stop following him into the woods, jerking him backward so he would look at me again. He stepped between me and the shadows moving beneath the trees, his eyes black as pitch, nostrils flared; I could see the faintest drip of blood as his elongated canines scraped his full bottom lip. “Baby, this is going to be fine,” I said quietly. I believed the words, though, and I hoped my conviction settled into him, made him focus on what was ahead of us, not on protecting me. I knew he would if he needed to, and I suspected, given his strengths, that once he showed off a little bit these guys would either leave him the hell alone or try to recruit him—maybe both. But Hunter never thought of his powers like that, like a tool; they were a burden, a curse.

  Not to me. They saved my life; I suspected they would save a lot more, too. “You can do this, Hunter,” I said, and as he stared down at me I had the strangest, silliest thought: in another life, I would have done this for him before a big Homecoming game--me, the cheerleader, and Hunter, the star player. I would have held his hand like this and felt excitement and smiled up at him just like this.

  And as dumb as that was, the smile on my face seemed to reassure him somehow.

  I knew this was dangerous—insanely dangerous. But I had complete faith in him. Maybe his magic was a curse; I didn’t think so, and I hoped he knew it too, somewhere, deep down.

  And now he needed to show these people why—and maybe himself, too.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hunter

  We walked back to one of the cleared pens on the outskirts of Tristan’s property; I felt naïve for not asking him more questions about this area. He told me the pens were used for animal husbandry and tourism—and from the few interactions I’d had with the guy, that was exactly the kind of precise, useless answer I should’ve expected—then talked to me about horses for a minute. Trail rides in the summer, that kind of thing. He hadn’t mentioned they were a corral for werewolf… Whatever the fuck this was. Full moon gang jump-ins, or whatever the hell. As we walked down the hillside, leaving the trees behind us, I could see the whole damn town out there behind the fence, and half of them were wolves. Even the children were hanging off of the gateposts with their mothers standing by in clusters, grinning and passing around cider like it was a fucking party.

  It made me furious.

  I was filled with a lot of raw emotions anyway, let’s be honest—and I’m not a man who likes having the goddamn things in the first place, about pretty much anything, let alone the fucking stew that was boiling inside of me right now.

  Baby kissed me.

  God, I hadn’t realized how that would make me feel—which sounds foolish, since I’d known, without a doubt, that I was in love with her before… Before. But I felt like a fucking fourteen year old girl, swooning on her first date. I felt downright stupid, which I guess would make me more of a fourteen year old boy, but still. I felt… Out of my depth, and fucking excited about it. Which was entirely new to me.

  And then these goddamn wolves had to show up.

  I didn’t know if we were about to have sex; that wasn’t really my decision to make. I’d said my piece. I wanted Baby and I to be on the same level—emotionally, I guess, although just putting it that way made me a little sick to my stomach. But it was what it was. I belonged to that girl. She held my heart in her hands, and that was it; as much as I hated feeling so fucking vulnerable, I knew it wouldn’t do any good to deny the way things were between us. She didn’t know how much power she had over me, and I didn’t think it would be right to lay it out there like that. Couldn’t even imagine how I would put it. Hey, I know you’re still recovering from the mountain of nightmare inducing bullshit that happened to you a month ago, but can you take a second and reassure me that my love is not in vain? I mean, I know I kidnapped you and everything, but…

  Come the fuck on.

  I was lucky she… I was lucky. Not just lucky—I was blessed.

  And right in the middle of sorting through so many feelings and… And feelings… These motherfuckers had to—

  “Mr. Black,” the Sheriff said, turning towards me with another one of his sly smiles, “I imagine you know most of us.” I didn’t, but I’d seen a lot of these faces; I wasn’t a talker, but just walking through town you saw them. I stared around me, still boiling with rage, and saw a few of them flinch. The Sheriff chuckled. “We didn’t mean to interrupt your visit. But the moon doesn’t wait, so here we are.”

  “What the hell are we doing here?”

  There was a ripple of uncomfortable laughter in the gathered crowd. I steeled myself; in spite of the friendly atmosphere, I’d noticed some of the bigger wolves moving back down from the trees, the same sentinels that had attended the Sheriff’s visit from their familiar scent, and there were at least forty more to boot. That was a lot of goddamn wolves. As they moved out of the shadows of the trees and into the moonlight my eyes sharpened more, and I could see them clearly as they crept towards us; they were big, much bigger than any wolf might be, although I’d never seen one in real life. These had the mass of men, turned into animals. Otherwise, they look
ed to be… Normal. Not like me. Nothing like what I had become. They were just wolves.

  With canines the size of butcher knives and moving in the confident, quiet crawl of a pack formation, slowly surrounding me.

  And Baby.

  I felt my own canines rip completely out of my mouth, my claws descend, the tendons on my spine bunching and changing; the scent of blood hung in the air, and the crowd went silent, staring at the monster in their midst. The Sheriff raised an eyebrow as I moved Baby behind me, my body lowering into a crouch as the muscles that made me stronger and deadlier became more pronounced. My bones crunched in a sickening way, my spine elongating, neck swiveling; it hurt. But I didn’t give a fuck.

  They weren’t touching my girl.

  “Hunter,” she whispered, and I felt her hand on my side, smelled her. She wasn’t afraid, but only god knows why. It wasn’t the first time I’d marveled at her larger than average sized metaphorical balls. “Let’s listen, honey, okay?”

  My eyes swept over them all, night vision in place, and tracked the expressions on their faces.

  Fear. They were afraid now, too.

  Good.

  “Mr. Black here came recommended by Mr. Warfield,” the Sheriff said, turning towards the crowd. “I know everybody already knows that, but maybe Mr. Black himself doesn’t have as much information as ourselves.” He turned to face me while simultaneously taking a few more steps away from Baby and I, enlarging the circle around us. “In a pack, you have to find a place. Most of us end up in the middle, one unlucky bastard ends up on the top. That position isn’t up for grabs tonight, Mr. Black,” he said slowly, and it occurred to me that he wasn’t in wolf form—the only man in town, apparently, who wasn’t. “But you’ve got to find your spot.”

  “What does that mean?” Baby spoke, standing beside me; the crowd wavered, unsure, apparently, of what she meant. I knew, though. And I was glad she asked, because I had no interest in leaving a bunch of orphans on this field.

  Or in leaving Baby, ever.

  “You have to fight, Mr. Black.” The Sheriff didn’t address Baby directly.

  “Fine, but how does it end? Is there a referee or something?” She cocked her hip out, crossing her arms over her chest, and I was suddenly so grateful for her. That’s my girl. Completely unintimidated, loyal to the last. “Is this a boxing match or straight up UFC? How do we—”

  “The aim is never to kill, or even to harm,” the Sheriff said, turning back to the crowd; there seemed to be less tension in the air when he said it, as if they were worried about what I might do to their wolves. And they must be, I realized; for all they knew, I was a warlock like Tristan, someone whose touch alone could kill you. “And Mr. Black is… Obligated elsewhere. But he will fight for us if we call in our favor.” He turned back to me and pointed at my face, just as unintimidated as Baby. “That’s what tonight is about. Loyalty. Integrity. And mutual understanding. I know the Guild has about as much of those qualities as a goddamn brick, but from what I understand, if it comes down to it, you’ll be on our side. Not theirs. Is that correct, Mr. Black?” I realized he was asking me in front of everybody for a reason. I couldn’t speak, so I nodded my head, and that seemed to suffice; if anything, they would be doing me a favor if the Guild came to call. I could use a bunch of werewolves on my side. “Alright, then,” the Sheriff said, and a group of women hopped over the fence and slowly approached us in the center. The Sheriff never looked away from my face, his eyes glinting eerily in the moonlight. The women came closer, the crowd still and silent around us.

  “Hi,” Baby said, turning towards them.

  “Hi,” a young woman returned with a small wave; she was probably about twenty two, with long red hair. Her eyes twinkled with the same eerie phosphorescence as the Sheriff’s. “Do you mind coming over and watching with us?”

  I growled; they all smelled like wolves. “They won’t hurt her, I swear it,” the Sheriff said, and the tenor of his voice brought back his words from before: loyalty. Integrity.

  I stared back at him and hoped he understood that he was absolutely correct. They wouldn’t hurt her. And I made no such promise in kind.

  “I kind of want to stay—”

  “I strongly advise against it, unless you’re looking for a place in the pack as well,” the Sheriff mused in his off-hand way, his gaze wandering deliberately over the crowd. I was noticing a pattern, and I knew it wouldn’t sit well with Baby. She didn’t understand what I was feeling right now, but I had the suspicion he knew damn well. “Why don’t you go wait right there? Hang on the fence and watch the show?”

  She started to frown again, but then I whined. Like a damn dog. And somehow she was able to interpret that the way I meant her to, as a simple plea to get her perfect ass out of this shitshow as fast as possible. The rest of the wolves turned towards me all of a sudden, as if they hadn’t expected me to speak their damn language or something, and she squeezed what was left of my hand and walked away with the red head, the crowd parting around her.

  When Baby was settled on the fence to watch whatever the hell was about to happen, I glanced back at the Sheriff. I had no real reason to trust him; I trusted Tristan, and I suppose that gave us something in common. For one second his eyes met mine and narrowed with a silver flash, as if he was trying to tell me something—what, I have no idea—but then he left the ring with a slow, deliberate stride to the opposite end of where Baby stood, hanging on to the fence like a girl at a rodeo.

  “Alright y’all,” he called, “play fair.” And then everything got very still. I felt like even the remaining birds in the trees quieted, the foxes and badgers or whatever the hell might rustle the brush—I felt like even the trees held their breath, and the wind laid low. There was nothing but me and a field full of wolves under the moon.

  And then they attacked.

  It was strange; as soon as some of them began to move, a large portion of them laid down. Just like that. A couple flipped over and showed off their bellies to the moon, liked I’d seen dogs do when they submitted to a larger breed, and then they turned back over and crawled off towards the edge of the ring and worked their torsos under the fence. The ones who didn’t do that, though… They circled me, low and quiet, and there were a few that I could tell meant business even if the Sheriff didn’t want any real fighting. Or so he said. For all I knew they were operating under his orders.

  Because I was beginning to hammer down why he wasn’t in the fight, and why he didn’t seem to give a shit about how big and mean I was. I suspected he was an Alpha, but now I was getting a glimpse of what that really meant. The Sheriff must lead this pack. He didn’t smell different from the rest of them, but it explained some of his scars. I was glad he wasn’t here; I didn’t want to lead, and from what he said I think he had the right of it. I wasn’t meant to belong to a pack to begin with, and it rankled that once this was over, like it or not, I would be a member—of sorts—in two: the Ashwood Coven, and the Buckeye Pack.

  Fuck it, I thought, watching a big guy break away from the circling wolves and feint towards me, his skin shining through the ruff of fur on his neck from a long, jagged scar. I needed to give them a reason to let me stay. So I would.

  Two others attacked while I was focused on him, a clever strategy that should have worked better; I jumped without thinking about it, landing behind the first wolf and scooping him up with a quick movement, then flinging him at the others. All three went down like bowling pins, and I could tell that whatever they’d been expecting, it sure as hell wasn’t for me to teleport. The hush in the crowd as almost palpable, like a blanket had fallen over them. I only thought about it when I took a chance to check on Baby and found her grinning, as if she were sitting in front row seats at the goddamn Superbowl.

  This fucking girl, I swear.

  Two more wolves charged me; they seemed to work in pairs, which was inefficient, given their numbers. That was their real strength, but I guessed that maybe they really weren’t trying to hu
rt me. Or maim me, more like. Hurting me seemed just fine with one that managed to snag my calf before I kicked him away.

  When someone got hurt enough they slunk off to the crowd, and the numbers slowly dwindled down from over forty—maybe even over fifty—to fifteen. The wolves that were left fell into two categories, and I knew exactly who they were from seeing them around town. There were a couple bruisers who knew how to handle themselves in a fight, probably my age and up to a decade older, and then there were a couple young guns who thought this might be a good proving ground. If the Sheriff’s description was accurate, there was a chance they were fighting for a higher rank within the pack among themselves, regardless of where I ended up.

  I aimed to give ‘em a good fight if I could, or a better spot in the pack if they wanted it. I didn’t care, myself. I just wanted to survive and put this nonsense behind me so I could go home and see if watching me fight revved Baby’s engine.

  A big wolf with a sleek grey coat and yellow eyes danced closer to me, back and forth, as if testing to see how long it would take me to jump; after another minute, three more joined in. Snapping jaws, the flash of a long white teeth, and one of them got me pretty good in the hand. It was strategic; they were tracking my stance and knew I was right-handed. Smart. I jumped across the ring and caught my breath while they re-organized and then slowly followed me over, winding across the ring in their own time. They’d be trouble, I thought. The four of them. They were definitely the pack’s enforcers, experienced, ruthless fighters with a lot to lose. The younger wolves came at me, but their movements were frenzied, too loose; I cuffed one harder than I meant to and looked around as if I thought the Sheriff might intervene, but he didn’t. The wolf limped out of the ring and I snarled, pissed at myself. She was just rowdy, just foolish; she didn’t deserve any real suffering for it, either. I lost my footing and took another bite from behind, moving just in time to prevent the wolf back there from taking out my knee. I jumped to the side and kicked them, as much to prove that my leg was fine as to get them out of the ring, and started to lose my temper. This was bullshit. I wasn’t going to be a real member, so why the fuck was I getting jumped in? If the cubs here didn’t know it wasn’t real, did that mean I was the one missing information or them? I swung at the next one who leapt at me with a closed fist, aiming for his jaw, and knocked him out cold. The other young wolves swarmed me, and I saw the older ones creep closer. They knew this was the time to strike, when I was distracted, but they couldn’t get between the younger wolves as they flailed at me, again and again, and then had to climb over their bodies when I knocked two more of them out.