Laura sighed. “Yeah, we can do it again tomorrow. I’m willing.”
Marilee smiled. “Good. I’ll tell them. But don’t be surprised if they find a better way. They’re all still working and comparing notes. They’re good people, Mama, and they don’t really want to hurt you any more than they have to.”
Laura reached over to pat her daughter’s hand, resting on the table as she sat beside her. “I know. Please thank them for their efforts. I’m glad I ended up here where at least they’re willing to try to help me. I shudder to think what might’ve happened if I’d been loosed somewhere else.”
“You think that was their plan?” Gus asked, not liking the direction of Laura’s suggestion.
She nodded slowly. “I think, if they could wake me up, they were going to send me out as a weapon,” she said quietly. “They were after Marilee because they thought she would be able to get to me when nothing else they tried could. They were right about that. She was the only reason I came out of the coma-like state I’d put myself in. But, if they had captured her and made that happen without the benefit of all the good people of Grizzly Cove on watch to help, I shudder to think of the results.”
They would’ve used her as a weapon, Gus realized. Someone compelled to kill other shifters and magical folk, against her own wishes. A true sleeper agent who didn’t even know what she’d been sent to do until it happened.
“They figured they weren’t going to get my power,” Laura went on, shrugging. “They wanted to get something out of their investment in me, even if it was only to take some of our people out with me when I finally went supernova.”
Grim thoughts crowded Gus’s mind. He wasn’t surprised that Laura had only just put the pieces together. Perhaps some of the magic done to her—like that spell that made her depressed and lethargic, and unlikely to seek help—had also been meant to cloud her memories. Now that some of that was gone, she might be remembering more.
They spent the day quietly. Marilee left after lunch, and Gus stayed with Laura. She was so tired and so obviously still hurting in her soul from what she’d been through that morning. He contacted John and the other guys via text and email. He’d brought his laptop over from his place and sat working quietly while Laura painted or carved.
He brought her more of Mellie’s tea, which helped for short periods of time with the spirit pain, but Gus knew from his shamanic training that some hurts, only time could heal fully. He was there for her, supporting her in whatever way she needed him, but the insult done to her spirit had been done over a period of decades. It wasn’t going to be healed overnight.
Still, it hurt him to see her hurting. He sent out email after email to the guys in town, as well as contacts he’d made over the years. He had already sought advice from some trusted advisors over the past days, and now, he took the time to bring them up to speed on the efforts they’d made so far and the results.
He even reached out to the High Priestess, Bettina. It was rumored that she was part fey. Perhaps she would have some insight into helping a shifter of mixed heritage. He sat there, sending out his messages like arrows, waiting for the replies. As they came in, there was little good news. For most of his friends, this situation was a bit out of their depth.
The one bit of good news came later in the day when the High Priestess responded. She didn’t give him advice in the email but told him she would call John and his mate directly and talk the situation over with them. That was good. If anyone could describe the magical problem accurately, it was Urse, and Gus supposed the High Priestess was observing proper protocol in contacting the Alpha of the Clan before offering her advice.
Marilee tapped on the apartment door after dinner and passed along another item that lifted Laura’s spirits visibly. Apparently, Nansee, the leader of the mer pod, had sent her best wishes and a box full of things from the ocean that she thought Laura might be able to use in her art. The thoughtful gift and the message Nansee had sent with them—that the mer of Grizzly Cove wished her well and hoped she would be better soon—definitely brought a happy tear to Laura’s eye.
Gus was glad Laura had made friends among the people of the cove. It couldn’t hurt to have the powerful leader of the local mer pod on your side.
After Marilee had left for the night, Gus and Laura sat quietly, much as they had done during the afternoon. She was working on art and enjoying looking through the box of goodies Nansee had sent while Gus stewed and communicated with his friends electronically about the situation. He was urging them to try to find some alternative to what they’d done this morning because it was obvious to him that Laura was still in a great deal of pain, even if she refused to admit the full extent of it.
“Is that email?” Laura asked as they sat at opposite ends of the table. “What you’re doing on the computer,” she clarified. She had missed so much technology during her long captivity.
“Yeah,” he admitted, leaning back in his chair and rubbing a hand through his hair.
“Who are you talking to?” She kept working on her carving but seemed interested in making small talk for the first time since that morning.
“Just the guys. We’re kicking around ideas,” he told her, not wanting to get too specific.
She put her tools down and looked at him steadily. “Normally, you’d be doing that in person, right?”
He couldn’t lie to her. “Yeah, probably,” he admitted.
“I’m sorry you’re stuck babysitting,” she said, looking studiously down at her work.
Gus frowned. He typed a final message to his buddies and closed the computer. “That’s it,” he said with finality as he stood up. He walked over to her and took her by the hand, tugging gently upward until she stood in front of him. “I’m not sorry at all that I’m stuck, as you put it, looking after the woman I love. So, just get that thought right out of your head this minute.” He pulled her into his arms and just held her gently, rocking slightly, back and forth. “I love you, Laura.” His words were whispered near her ear as he held her tight. “I always want to be with you, regardless of the circumstances.”
He knew his words were skating very close to the idea of being mates, but maybe it was time she started thinking about it. He didn’t want to push her into anything, but he also wanted her to know, without doubt, that he was here, ready and waiting should she decide she wanted to take things to the next level with him.
“I like being with you, too,” she whispered back. His heart sank a little, but he didn’t let it show. He’d wanted more, but she wasn’t ready. He didn’t know what he’d do if she never crossed that line from lover to mate, but he knew one thing for sure—he’d never abandon her.
“Come on,” he said, moving so that only one arm was around her shoulders as they both faced the same way. He started walking, and she followed. “Let’s call it a night.”
She didn’t object, and they went into the bedroom together. He proceeded to make love to her as gently as he knew how. He wanted to show her without words how much he cared for her. He wanted her to understand that he was there for her in every possible way. That he loved her more than anything in this world, or any other.
They came together slow, moving gently in a rhythm as old as time.
When they both came down from a delicious high, they lay together, bodies intertwined as their breathing slowed. All barriers were down, for the moment. Emotions were very close to the surface, but still, he sensed her holding back.
Gus rubbed slow circles over her shoulder, just trying to be there for her. Trying to show without words that he supported her in whatever way she needed.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Better,” she replied in a satisfied whisper. She was silent a moment, then she cuddled closer. “I guess I wasn’t fooling you at all, huh? About how much what they did this morning hurt me?”
He shook his head slightly. “Nah. I knew you were in pain. You were so brave, Laura. So strong.”
“That’s just it
,” she replied, tucking her chin into his chest, not meeting his eyes. “I honestly don’t know if I can handle another session like that one. I feel so…bruised. Battered, really. On the inside, where it doesn’t show but hurts even more.” She paused while he felt every one of her words like a strike to his own soul. It had been worse than he’d suspected. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough.” Her words faded to a barely-there whisper as she shivered.
Gus tucked her close to him and brought the blanket up over them both with his free hand. It was time to tell her a few things.
“First of all, you are the strongest being I know—and that includes all my military friends. We’ve all been through trials, but nothing like what you endured. You are a proven warrior, Laura, so don’t ever doubt yourself. Second, I’ve already been talking to folks about changing the approach. I didn’t like what that first session did to you. I knew you were in pain, even though you hid the full extent of it. Now, I’m doubly glad I started working on an alternate plan.” He paused as she looked up at him in surprise.
He kissed her. He couldn’t help himself. She was just so lovely. When he pulled back, her gaze was soft, again. Relaxed. Good.
“What did you do?” she asked, proving she hadn’t forgotten what he’d been saying.
“Remember all that email I was sending and receiving?” She nodded against his chest. “I reached out to an expert outside Grizzly Cove.”
“Who?” her question was a breath of sound.
“I contacted the High Priestess, Bettina. They say she has fey blood. I thought she might have a better understanding of you, and your ancestry, and how that might affect what we’re trying to do,” he told her.
Laura was very still. “What did she say?”
“She got right back to me, but she said she was going to contact John and Urse directly since that’s really the proper protocol. I sort of went over John’s head, but I know he won’t mind too much. We’re bears, not wolves. We’re not that big on hierarchy to begin with.” Gus shrugged slightly. “Plus, being a shaman gives me a lot of leeway in spiritual, and sometimes magical, matters. What’s happening to you is a bit of both, I think.”
“Do you know what happened? Did the High Priestess talk to them yet?”
“She did. She contacted them right away, and the last I heard, they were devising a new strategy. Urse asked me to pass along an apology to you because Bettina seemed to think that her approach was wrong for someone of your background and might damage you.” Gus frowned, but let his anger over the situation go. They should’ve been talking to Bettina from the start. “They’re devising something in concert with the High Priestess to account for your hybrid nature. You’re a mix of human, mage, wolf, and fey, and you’ve recently spent a lot of time with your spirit on the edges of the fey realm. Bettina thinks that changed you on a fundamental level and made your magic stronger. The fact that you were also sort of absent from your body when the Venifucus mages were doing their worst to you, means that the spells they wove are closer to your spiritual center than they would have been had you been actively fighting them. That means it’ll take a more delicate approach to break them.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Laura said quietly, as if she was thinking through his words very carefully.
“The straight-on human way Urse was using will work, up to a point, Bettina said, but it’s more damaging because it’s like sawing through a cord with a blunt knife. What they were talking about when I called it a night sounded much more elegant and high-level,” he told her. “Urse sounded like she was drinking in the information from the High Priestess, and more than willing to learn whatever she needed to learn in order to minimize the trauma to you. She felt really bad after Bettina pointed out how the work she’d done so far must’ve affected you, and she’s really sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like she did it on purpose,” Laura allowed generously.
“Still, I suspect she will be apologizing in person, once it’s safe to do so.” And, if not, Gus would make sure he put the bug in Urse’s ear that an apology was the least she owed Laura for putting her though such an ordeal when there were better alternatives she hadn’t thought to explore.
“Do you really think it’ll ever be safe?” Laura asked, a bit of gloom in her tone that Gus didn’t like. He squeezed her close, offering the warmth and comfort of his body in the shifter way.
“I believe it will happen,” he told her simply. “I refuse to believe in any other outcome.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Gus felt a bit grim about the plan the others had come up with while he’d been sleeping. The High Priestess had apparently counselled them to force a crisis. She insisted that it would go easier on Laura all around, if they let her loose all the magic she could call, thereby depleting herself. Once her magical reserves were gone, they could go in and perform the delicate magical surgery that should remove the remainder of the compulsions all at one time.
No matter how much they made the case that doing this all at once would minimize the trauma to Laura, Gus couldn’t find a way to be happy about it. They’d come up with a plan—as he’d asked them to do—but he wasn’t sure it was a better plan than the one they’d started with. The only thing that made him go along with this crazy idea was that it had the High Priestess’s input and blessing. Gus wouldn’t have let them do it otherwise.
He drove her to the stone circle that wasn’t far from his own land. Main Street had been cleared so they could drive out of town without incident. So far, so good.
The team that had been working on this new approach overnight had decided to use the natural shielding of the henge to help in the confrontation that was to come. The idea was to get Laura into the circle of stones. Urse would then add a ward around the stones, adding to its natural protections and preventing Laura’s magic from escaping the stone circle. That wasn’t something just every mage could do, but with Urse’s special talent for ward casting, it could be done with a minimum of power drain on her.
That was important because she would need all her skill and strength to do the next part…
“Doing all right?” Gus asked Laura as they pulled over. He parked on the grass near the standing stones. He couldn’t see anyone, but he knew they were around. Downwind, if they were smart, or Laura’s sensitive wolf nose would scent them.
Laura took a deep breath and gave Gus a tight smile. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Gus nodded, keeping his grim thoughts to himself. He’d explained everything to Laura over a light breakfast. He’d read her the pertinent parts of the email, and Marilee had come to talk over a few things Urse wanted Laura to know about how this plan would go down. They weren’t telling Laura everything, because nobody knew how much of the compulsion would be influenced by her conscious thoughts.
They got out of Gus’s truck and walked, hand-in-hand, into the stone circle. Gus felt a deep sense of relief that he’d been able to get her this far without incident.
“So…we just wait here?” Laura asked, seeming a bit uncomfortable.
“Shouldn’t be long now,” he said, squeezing her hand in reassurance. “I think Urse is going to ward the circle. Ah. There it is.” Gus sensed a faint shimmer to the air around the stones.
Urse had put up one of her strongest wards. It would contain any magic inside the circle, using the strength of the stones themselves to power it. That would leave Urse free to use her magic to break the compulsions using the new knowledge Bettina had given her.
Laura jerked around, looking all over for some unseen enemy.
“You okay?” Gus asked, concerned. This behavior was new.
“It’s building,” she told him on a gasp. “It wants a target. It knows it’s being stalked.”
“Damn.” Gus didn’t like this. Not one bit. But he was committed to seeing this through, even if watching how much it hurt her killed him by slow degrees.
John suddenly stepped out from behind one of the standing ston
es on the far side of the circle from where they’d entered. Laura saw him, and her hand rose, throwing a magical fireball right at him. John didn’t even duck. He was outside the ring, and the power of Laura’s magic didn’t hit him. Rather, it was absorbed by the ward and sank into the stones, pouring down into the earth, neutralized.
Rather than launch another volley at John, Laura withheld her fire. Perhaps the compulsions were learning not to waste energy once a target was out of reach. It didn’t matter because they had more than one target to present.
Peter was the next one to step out from behind a standing stone. Laura grunted, and both hands rose as if against her will to loose mage fire in his direction. Once again, the power went into the ward and the stone nearest it absorbed the energy and put it down into the ground, out of reach.
Laura growled, her wolf not happy with any of this. Gus knew how she felt. He hated watching her be controlled by something placed on her by evil people. He could see how it hurt her. And drained her.
The latter was what they were hoping for. They needed to deplete her energy before Urse could do the real work of the day.
Brody stepped out from behind another stone, and Laura immediately opened fire with mage energy. It was deflected and redirected. Zak was next, and Laura responded in kind, though it was clear her energy was dropping. Still, she had quite a bit left, if Gus was any judge.
King took the next mage bolt, and his brother, Ace, the following one. Each was a little weaker, but still would have been something to consider, had there not been the ward and stones keeping them all safe.
Spirit Bear Page 18
