Wolf Creek Alpha (Texas Pack 1)

by Ellen, Jo

  She stared at him, not moving until he stepped back and closed the door. Whew, she sighed, relieved.

  “You know, you could have closed the door yourself. That was one of the first things you learned, wasn’t it?” he asked.

  Crap, she had forgotten about that. “Smart ass,” she muttered.

  “I heard that,” he said, laughing.

  Of course he did. She quickly dried and got dressed. Not wanting to take the time to dry her hair, she braided and flipped it over her shoulder. Leaving the bathroom, she saw him sitting in the chair by the window. He had her paperback in his hands and seemed absorbed by it.

  “Good book?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Actually, it is. I’ve never read romance novels before. I’ve always assumed it was wimpy men declaring their undying love,” he said grinning.

  “Typical. So, what’s going on today? Any plans?” she asked.

  Serious now, Rafe replied, “After you eat, Robert’s going to work on building up your magic. After discussing it, we believe he wants you for your magic. I don’t believe he’s after his children, or looking for his wife.”

  “Oh yay, lucky me,” her face made a moue of distaste.

  “Lisa, everyone here will do all they can to protect you. I have no intention of letting him get anywhere near you.”

  “He may have originally been looking for Dunstan, but he found you also. We won’t know until we can confront him and get him to talk,” Rafe told her.

  What makes you think he’ll tell us?” she asked.

  “Well, in the movies, the bad guys always want to brag on their cunningness,” he joked.

  “Yeah, right. I’m sure we’ll get his evil plan out of him,” she told him sarcastically.

  Rafe rose and pulled her closer to him. He tightened his arms around her, never wanting anything to hurt her. Lisa felt safe with him holding her. If only they didn’t have to deal with this crap. She pulled away, time to man up. I am not a wimp. I can beat him. She was mentally building up her confidence.

  “Come on, we’ll go have some lunch before Robert puts you to work.”

  Entering the kitchen, Rafe had her sit while he made her something to eat. Robert and Melissa were sitting at the table, with him grinning and her glaring at him.

  “What is it with you two? Melissa looks like she wants to hit you,” Lisa said.

  “Oh, Mr. God’s gift to women was imparting his wisdom once again,” Melissa sniffed disdainfully.

  “Not God’s gift lass, just the Queen’s,” he said, winking at her.

  “Okay, children, let’s all try and get along,” Rafe said, resigned.

  Melissa muttered under her breath while Robert tried to look innocent. Lisa was planning on pulling Melissa aside later and find out what was going on with these two.

  Robert started explaining what he wanted Lisa to work on while she ate. She nodded in understanding.

  “You need to be able to use yer magic and not leave yerself exhausted. We’ll work on sending out small, but powerful bursts,” Robert told her.

  “I’m going to help you focus your mind. I’ve learned over the years how to separate my visions so I’m not overwhelmed,” Melissa said.

  “We’ll work in the back. You won’t always have the pond available to draw more power. You need to learn how to store up yer energy and conserve what you send out,” Robert said.

  Once they finished eating, they went out back to the grassy area in front of the woods. Melissa immediately started to instruct her on how to tune out everything else.

  “The most important thing is to visualize. Just like in sports, picture yourself doing it. See it from beginning to end. Play it over in your head. When you’re focused on getting the task done, you won’t let your mind drift somewhere else. It takes practice to stay on track, but it’s easy once you’ve done it for a while,” Melissa told her.

  “Yeah, easy,” Lisa wasn’t so sure.

  Melissa smiled at her. “You’ll get it. I have faith in you.”

  Robert started instructing Lisa on what he wanted her to do, while Rafe sat on the patio, watching.

  “See that toy over there with the wheels? I want you to send just a very small burst of power to it and make it move. Just enough to roll a few meters,” Robert said.

  “Remember, visualize first,” Melissa said sitting beside Rafe.

  Lisa started picturing the toy moving. Then was soon distracted trying to convert meters to feet. Okay, that’s about three feet, she remembered.

  “A meter is about three feet,” Rafe yelled to her helpfully.

  “You do remember I’m a teacher, right? I haven’t totally forgotten all I’ve learned,” Lisa said glaring at him.

  Rafe held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. Grinning over at Melissa, he said, “She’s beautiful when she’s angry,” knowing Lisa could hear him.

  Lisa turned around, shot him the finger and then ignored him. I have to quit doing that, she thought. Nasty habit. She tuned out his laughter and gave Robert a stern look when she caught him chuckling.

  Focusing in on the toy, Lisa pictured it moving across the grass. She tuned everything else out around her, keeping her thoughts solely on the toy.

  In her mind, she heard Robert encouraging her to use very little power and move the toy. After seeing it done over and over in her mind, she finally lifted her arm and pointed with her finger. She imagined squeezing out a small amount, like toothpaste.

  The toy slowly moved about a foot. Lisa started giggling at the visual image she’d imagined.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Melissa.

  “Umm, nothing. Let me try again,” Lisa said.

  Determined to stay serious, she focused again on the toy. She did the same thing, only this time squeezed out just a tad more. She didn’t laugh. Thinking this method worked for her, she might as well use it.

  The toy rolled the requested length. Lisa looked up at Robert and he nodded, “Good, lass, next we try to control the movement, not just forward motion.”

  He instructed her to make the toy turn and go back to where it started. Once again, Lisa started her visualization technique. She imagined the toy turning and making its way back to them. She kept seeing this over and over in her mind. Feeling sure she was ready, Lisa lifted her arm and once again pointed her finger at the toy. She saw herself squeezing out just a little more power than last time and capping the tube to hold in her magic.

  With the magic that she had freed, she motioned the toy around and forward. She could feel the magic around her, doing as she commanded. The toy stopped rolling when she lowered her arm, exactly where she wanted it.

  Lisa was elated. If she could have done a backflip, she would have. Instead, she reached up and grabbed Robert, pulling his face down to lay a big smacking kiss on his lips.

  Ignoring Rafe’s growl as he stood, Lisa grinned. “That was freaking awesome! I’m not tired either.”

  “Well done, lass, but I still want you to put some more work in today. I want you to be confident and be able to quickly control anything whenever it’s necessary,” Robert said as Rafe shoved him aside.

  He grabbed her arms, muttering as he pulled her to him and kissed her hard. “No kissing other men, ever,” he commanded.

  “Oh, chill, I was just excited. Robert knows I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  Rafe whispered in her ear, making Lisa blush. Robert had walked over to sit by Melissa on the patio. Lisa decided it was time to turn the tables on Rafe.

  Lisa reached up and put her arms around his neck. Snuggling in as close as she could, she rubbed her breast against his chest. Using her lips, she traced his jaw from chin to ear, giving him little nips as she made her way up his jawline. She could feel him pressing against her stomach as she nibbled his earlobe.

  Lost to the sensation, Lisa forgot she had been baiting him as Rafe grabbed her bottom and lifted her up to him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, rubbing against him. Lisa moved from his ear t
o his mouth, desperately seeking contact. Rafe thrust his tongue past her lips, dueling with her tongue.

  “I’m enjoying the show, but Lisa needs to practice some more. We seem to have lost Melissa too. She left when the moaning started,” Robert interrupted, casually watching from his patio chair.

  Lisa jerked back and would have fallen if Rafe hadn’t been holding her tight. She wiggled to get him to release her. She had totally forgotten they had an audience.

  Rafe let her slide her legs down his body, moving his hands up to her arms to steady her. Lisa stepped away, composing herself.

  “Ahem. I’m ready, what do you want me to try now?”

  Robert started to speak and Rafe knew he was about to say something outrageous. “What do you want her to try with her magic now?” Rafe spoke before Robert could, emphasizing the word magic.

  “Shite, I was going to have her see if she could…” Robert paused, seeing that Rafe was ready to leap on him. “Make her shoes disappear.”

  Lisa looked from one to the other. She wasn’t stupid. “Shoes, huh? Right, okay. But if it works, where will they go?” she asked.

  “Wherever you want them to. Send them to yer room if you like. Use the same method you used before,” Robert told her.

  This time Lisa closed her eyes, replaying it in her head. When she felt confident, she pointed at Robert’s feet, sending his boots into the great room.

  “I really like my sandals, I didn’t want to lose them to invisible land if I screwed up,” Lisa said, getting even with him.

  Rafe laughed and hugged her, giving her a small peck on the cheek. “I like the way you think,” he said, going to sit on the patio by Robert.

  “Those were my favorite boots!” he exclaimed. “Where’d you send them?”

  “Well, if it worked, they’re in the great room,” Lisa stated, chewing on her nail.

  Right at that moment, Devlin came outside carrying Robert’s boots. “Any reason these just appeared inside?” he asked, smiling.

  “Were they in the great room? That’s where I meant to send them,” Lisa asked excitedly.

  “Yeah, they suddenly appeared in the air and dropped to the floor. Let me tell you, I just about had a heart attack,” Devlin said, grabbing his chest, teasing her.

  “Whoopee! I am Woman! Hear me roar!” Lisa shouted.

  They all just looked at her as if she was nuts. They just didn’t get it.

  Devlin spoke to Rafe, telling him he needed to speak with him about what he had been working on. Wanting to show Rafe what he’d learned, he asked him to come into his office. Robert told Rafe they would be fine, knowing he didn’t like leaving her outside without him there. Robert would have her practice a little more while Rafe was gone.

  Making sure Lisa couldn’t hear him speaking, he threatened Robert with his life if he kissed her again.

  “Hey, she kissed me,” he stated righteously.

  Devlin watched the interaction curiously. He figured he would get the story later from his brother.

  Lisa and Robert worked another hour practicing her magic. She was feeling comfortable with her control, and not sending out too much and leaving herself too tired. She kept thinking about when she had been in Rafe’s head, using her magic to free them. Confronting Ciar, if she had too, was still scaring her, but not as much as it had been.

  “Robert, do you think Ciar will show up here? I mean, if he did, do you think it would be soon?” Lisa needed some assurance. The thought of him suddenly popping up frightened her more than anything else did.

  Robert thought about it for a moment. “I don’t think it will be any time soon. Once you released us from his dungeon, I’m sure he realized he was up against some powerful magic. He won’t want to be taken by surprise again.”

  “So that means he’ll be looking for some way to, what, take my magic away?”

  “He canna do that. No one can take yer magic from you, except the Queen. My guess is that he’s trying to find a way to bind yer magic, or control you.”

  “He can do that?” Lisa asked, frightened.

  “He would have to know the right spell and also pull some very powerful magic. Doing that takes a lot of energy. Our Queen keeps the tomes with the dark and light spells in her possession. I know that she guards them so that no evil may take them. No one can enter her library to study the tomes without her permission. Only those highly trusted by her may even look at them.”

  “But what if Ciar already has one of the tomes?”

  This was the part he didn’t want her to know, but he would not lie to her. “We don’t know what relics the dark fae may have. That’s why we are always on guard against them,” Robert told her.

  Lisa thanked him, appreciating the fact that he didn’t try to sugarcoat his answers. They both knew she was better off knowing what she may be up against.

  Knowing there was nothing else she could do today, Lisa got up to go inside. Robert followed and they both got a cold drink to take with them to the great room.

  Sitting down at his computer, Devlin started explaining to Rafe what he had been searching for. He had been determined to figure out how Ciar had known where to send his minions.

  “After you were shot, I kept thinking about that guy Robert went after in the woods. Also, assuming it was Stephen that shot you, how did he find us?” Devlin asked.

  “I’ve been wondering that also, did you figure it out?” asked Rafe.

  “Maybe. What would really help is if I could talk to the Queen. There are so many books on spells and crap like that on the Internet. But most of it is just that, crap. Once in a while, I come across some information that seems factual, but I don’t have any way to confirm it.”

  “Come on Dev, get to the point. What do you think you found out?” asked Rafe impatiently.

  Rafe knew Devlin tended to go in to long explanations, trying to make the person understand everything he had learned. Problem was, when Devlin looked at an enigma, he understood parts of the equation that others took a lot longer to grasp. He usually had to dummy down his response so that they could grasp what he was talking about.

  “I think that either he put a spell on Dunstan, or somehow he can track him,” Devlin said flatly.

  “Shit! Which does your gut tell you?” Rafe asked.

  “I’ve thought about it and I don’t think he has a spell on him. I think Lisa would have seen it when she was in his head or felt the spell. That’s why I would like to see the Queen, or maybe one of the fae staying here would know. I found a vague reference to the fae and blood rituals. I think that maybe Ciar has some kind of object that has power behind it. If he used it in a blood ritual, it’d be even more powerful.”

  “Let’s go talk to Robert,” Rafe decided quickly.

  They found Lisa and Robert in the great room, discussing spells. Telling them what Devlin had dug up on his computer, they asked Robert if he knew anything about blood rituals.

  “I’ve never heard of any fae just ‘knowing’ where their kin are. I have heard rumors that if they had that person’s blood, they may be able to find them. Using a witch that had the knowledge for a spell, or some object with the person’s blood were the only two ways I’d heard of,” Robert stated.

  “We need to speak with Dunstan. Anyone know where he is?” asked Rafe.

  “He and Ian have gone looking again for Stephen. They think he’s probably in the dark realm with Ciar, but they thought they might be able to track where he’d been and what he’d been doing,” said Devlin.

  “Okay. Lisa, when you were in Dunstan’s mind, did you see anything? What I mean is, could you tell if there was any kind of spell on him?” asked Rafe.

  “If there was, I didn’t see it. But you have to remember, I also wouldn’t know what a spell would have looked like,” she answered.

  “You would have noticed, if it was there,” Robert stated. “It would have looked like a very dark mass, circling around like a snake.”

  “Then no. There was nothing l
ike that,” Lisa said.

  Rafe’s parents came in, carrying groceries. Everyone immediately jumped up to help carry in the many bags they had bought. Rafe told his dad what they were working on while they walked to the car.

  “I’d heard of that. Those blood rituals I mean. It sounds exactly like something Ciar would do too,” Mack said.

  Rafe spoke quietly to his dad while his mom and Lisa went into the kitchen to put the groceries away.

  “I think he’s after Lisa. The more I learn, the more that’s what I suspect. The man craves power. If he had her, he also has access to the pond. I know my job is to protect the pond, but you need to know, I would never give her up to keep the pond safe,” Rafe said quietly, waiting for his dad’s reaction.

  Mack put his hands on Rafe’s shoulders. “Son, we never, ever give up our mates. There is no man in this pack that wouldn’t back you up. Our families are the most important part of our lives.”

  Then Mack slapped him on the back in the usual man hug way. They went back into the great room, discussing the best way to keep Lisa safe.

  Liz and Lisa worked on putting the large amount of food away. After everything was done, Liz started on the chicken, seasoning it for the grill.

  “I’m doing this the easy way tonight. Which means, the men are grilling,” she said smiling.

  “What side dishes are we having? I can help make something,” Lisa said.

  Liz picked up the bag of corn that needed to be shucked.

  “If you’ll pour us a glass of wine, I’ll take these out to the patio. We can shuck them outside. Less mess to clean up if we do it there.”

  Lisa poured two glasses and then made her way outside. Liz had already started working, placing the husks in a grocery bag to throw away later. Sitting beside Liz, she got to work helping her. They made small talk while they cleaned the silk off the corn.

  “Lisa, it seems like you want to ask me something. Please, feel free. I want you to be comfortable here,” Liz said.

  Lisa thought she was very astute. “I don’t mean to get too personal and if you don’t want to answer, that’s fine. I just wondered if you were born as a wolf, or changed by the water? I’ve talked a little to Stephanie, but I still have questions,” Lisa said.