by Nora Ash
Poppy.
Poppy was in serious trouble.
I didn’t know how I knew. I just did. My Wolf came alive with a roar as panicked fury edged my vision with black. My mate was hurting.
I slammed my foot down on the accelerator before my inner Animal could spring free and run to save her. Only the knowledge that driving would be faster kept it inside.
Thompson’s Mill looked its usual, sleepy self when I pulled up next to Poppy’s café with screeching brakes. There were no people on the street, and when I ran to the door a small sign told me the shop was closed for a week.
Cursing, I took a step back and rammed my shoulder through the glass, not caring that several of the shards cut through my skin as I broke through the doorframe.
Only silence met me when I entered the empty shop, but it was like a string attached somewhere behind my navel pulled me forward, toward where something one hundred percent instinctive buried deep in my body knew my mate to be.
I barged through to the back and ran up the stairs two steps at a time. Her front door flew off its hinges after one well-aimed kick, and then I was inside. The sweet scent of her home welled up around me, deafening my senses for a couple of seconds.
“Poppy?” I yelled.
No reply.
And then the faint trace of sulfur made it through Poppy’s own scent.
No.
No.
No!
I leapt forward, my Wolf taking over with a deep snarl as it broke through to the surface, my bones cracking into place as fur sprouted from my skin. Once I turned the corner, I was fully shifted and ready to fight, but the sight that met me nearly knocked the wind out of my lungs.
She was on the floor, her strawberry locks obscuring most of her face, but what I could see was deathly pale. She wasn’t moving.
And above her stood a demon with features vaguely resembling the small, brunette woman Poppy had thought she’d saved from Sheriff Wilson.
Bursts of newly-absorbed magic crackled along the creature’s skin as it bared its teeth at me.
Poppy’s magic.
Everything inside of me went black with rage.
I was too late. My mate… my mate was gone.
I leapt at her murderer, the only thought left in my mind to kill.
18
POPPY
Loud, angry snarling pulled me from the cold darkness. It took every ounce of strength I had to open my eyelids, as if every surface of my body, eyelids included, were covered in lead. But the continued snarling and sound of claws on wooden floorboards, the heavy thud of bodies colliding somewhere close by, made me fight to pull free of the dark grasp of nothingness. Somewhere deep down, I knew I had to wake up, or something terrible would happen. Something final, something that would make the rest of time meaningless.
Another, furious snarl followed by a pained yip made my conscience finally snap fully back.
Jackson!
Jackson was in trouble.
I didn’t try to make sense of the agent’s sudden presence as I used all my willpower to roll over to my side so I could see what was happening.
A large, white wolf fought fiercely against the creature I’d thought was Jade, teeth bared and claws raking as the two circled and attacked. The demon had a couple of claw-shaped gashes along one, dark-red arm, but the wolf was in much worse condition. Long, bloody streaks matted his fur in several places, and despite his obvious strength and fury, the demon was too strong. Sparks of stolen magic danced across its skin, aiding it as it struck at the wolf and twirled to avoid his sharp teeth.
Jackson was losing.
I ground my teeth together to stem the panic when I saw the man who’d called me his Fated Mate smacked across the muzzle so hard he skittered a couple of feet before launching himself back at his foe, missing the demon’s jugular within a couple of inches.
If he lost, if he died trying to protect me… I’d no longer care if the demon finished me off. The stark realization hit me square in the chest as I lay curled up on the floor, too weak to even sit up right.
Fated Mate.
Those words had resonated deep within me when he first said them, but I hadn’t believed… It’d been too much, too scary.
And yet now, when I saw him take hit after hit in his desperate attempt at saving me, I knew them to be true. I wouldn’t want to live on if he died, because the other half of my soul would be gone.
I struggled against the numbing weakness in my body, fought against the foggy pull of the icy darkness. I had to help him. Somehow, I had to find a way, even if it was too late for me.
It was on instinct alone I forced myself to move, crawling toward the kitchen on my elbows. Every inch was like dragging myself through mud, the wounds on my back from the demon’s claws aching nearly as much as my fatigued muscles. But I just kept moving, one inch at a time. Jackson needed me. My Fated Mate needed me, and it was up to me now. No more hiding, no more fear that I wasn’t strong enough or good enough, because if I gave into self-doubt this time, everything would be lost. Forever.
It felt like it took me forever to get to the kitchen, and once there, I had to use every last ounce of my willpower to hoist myself up using the grips on the kitchen drawers to pull my weight. But finally, with shaking arms, I managed to pull myself up, slumping over the kitchen counter as my knees gave out.
And there it sat. The last of the two muffins I’d baked for the sheriff.
Our last hope of survival.
I didn’t know if it would work—I could only hope. And trust in my own abilities as a witch. I’d felt the magic flowing through me when I made them, and I’d let the demon disguised as Jade fool me into doubting myself.
The muffin smushed some in my hand as I clutched at it, but presentation wasn’t exactly important. It took everything I had to stagger from the counter to the door to the hallway without collapsing on the floor, and I had to catch myself on the frame and heave in several deep gulps before I could continue.
A pained yip from the living room propelled me onward.
When I finally made it back, Jackson was bleeding heavily from a large gash on his back, and his sides were heaving with exertion. But the murderous intent in his canine face was still unwavering as he stared his enemy down.
The demon crouched, getting ready to spring, and the white wolf growled deeply.
“Jackson,” I croaked as my legs finally gave in once more, and I sunk to the floor in an ungraceful heap right at the threshold.
He glanced at me just as the demon leapt, and I saw recognition flicker in his eyes at the muffin in my outstretched hand.
Faster than my eyes could follow, he threw himself backward toward me, changing into his human form mid-leap. He landed on his back next to me with an oomph, but his fist closed around the muffin just as the demon realized it’d missed its mark and attacked.
I screamed in terror as the abominate creature landed on Jackson’s chest, its claws digging into his skin and drawing blood.
Too late. I was too late!
But just as the demon opened its jaws wide to end the man on the floor, his fist shot forward with lightning speed, shoving the muffin past its gullet.
For two long seconds, time seemed to freeze.
A wheezing sound erupted from the demon, and for a moment I thought Jackson had just managed to choke the beast.
Jackson aimed a kick upward, hitting the demon with a solid thunk and sending it flying across the floor. It heaved, its eyes rolling back in its head—and then it began clawing wildly at its throat, dragging long, bloody lines across the skin as it thrashed.
Jackson drew back from it, positioning his own body between me and it, halfway blocking my view as he hunched over, ready to attack again despite the blood dripping down his sides. He didn’t manage to shield my vision from the burst of charcoal smoke when the demon’s head exploded into black dust, its body finally lying still.
“Is it dead?” I croaked, too weak to move so I could
check for myself.
Jackson straightened, pushing a lifeless limb with his bare foot. “Yeah. It’s dead. Fulton’s gonna have a chuckle when I tell him I killed a demon with a muffin.”
I wanted to laugh at his dry tone, but it sounded more like a hollow wheeze.
I’d killed a demon. Or, my magic had helped kill a demon. The demon—the one who’d ripped my family from me.
I should have felt elation, but I was stuck somewhere between grief and relief. Grief for my family, for myself. Relief that Jackson was still alive, even if I wouldn’t make it.
The darkness was closing in once more now that the final burst of adrenaline and fear for my Fated Mate was withering, and this time, I didn’t fight it. At least my final moments would be with the man I should have spent eternity with, not the demon who’d torn my life apart.
Jackson turned around from the demon, crossed the distance between us, and knelt down next to me. He cupped my cheek in his palm, its warmth seeping through my skin.
“Steady now, little witch,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. “Don’t you think about keeling over yet.”
“I’m dying.” My voice wasn’t much more than a cracked whisper, but from the sharp intake of breath above me I knew he heard me. “It sucked out too much of my magic. My life essence.”
“You really think I’d let a minor demon take my mate from me? You’re not dying, Poppy. You’re in shock. Just breathe, baby. You’ll be fine.”
Typical of the bossy shifter who’d claimed my heart. Even my death he wanted to argue about. I would have laughed, but I had to tell him how sorry I was that things had ended like they had, before it was too late.
“I’m sorry, Jackson. So sorry for everything. I should have known… who you are. That you’re the one. I should have told you about the demon. I’m sorry.”
Another hand came up around my other cheek, encapsulating my face in warmth. “I’m sorry too. I should never have left you.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, baby, it’s not. I was scared, and I was an idiot, and I nearly lost you to that fucking bitch because of it. Never again. I swear it.”
Nearly. So stubborn.
“Jackson, I love you. I’m sorry we won’t get to be together in this life. I will try to find you in the next, I promise.”
“You’re being very dramatic, cupcake.” I could tell by the dry note in his voice that he was smiling. “You ain’t getting rid of me this easily.”
Feeling pretty affronted by his nonchalance, I opened my mouth to argue—but was stopped by the warm press of his firm lips against mine.
Heat welled up from where his mouth closed over mine, his warm breath filling my lungs and sending tendrils of life through my veins, until the darkness receded and a measure of strength returned to my body.
I opened my eyes, blinking in confusion at Jackson’s handsome face as he drew back from the kiss.
He smiled gently at me. “Better?”
“Y-yeah.” Huh. “H-how…?”
“You’re my Fated Mate. My life force is yours,” he said, as if that explained everything. “You’ll still need time to recover fully, and your magic might take a while to return, but at least it shouldn’t be months. You weren’t dying.” The last bit he obviously added at my baffled expression. “I got here in time. Just. I thought I hadn’t, for a moment there.”
Testing my strength, I reached up to put my hand over his left that was still resting against my face. “Why did you come back? Did you know—?”
“That Jade tricked us? No.” He grimaced. “I might be a coward when it comes to love, but I wouldn’t have left you at her mercy if I’d had any idea.”
“And I’m not dying?” I confirmed, wiggling my toes to check myself. My muscles were still tired, and my back ached from the wounds left by the demon’s claws, but whatever energy exchange Jackson had done with me had fully pushed back the cold embrace of the darkness that had threatened to swallow me before.
“Definitely not.”
“Oh.” I looked up at him in silence for a few more moments, letting myself feel everything that’d happened. I was alive. He was alive.
And I’d finally avenged my parents death.
I’d never have to run again. Didn’t have to hide. It was over.
Now there was only the question of what Jackson would say if I told him the truth about my connection to the demon. If his loyalty would be bigger to the Agency, or… to me.
“You look upset,” he said softly, his hand against my face stroking my skin gently. “Are you in pain?”
I shook my head, even though the wounds on my back still ached. “No, I… we… what do we do now?”
“With the demon?” he asked raising his eyebrows when my gaze flicked to what I could see of it behind him. “The Agency will take care of it.”
“I meant… with us,” I mumbled, heat rising to my cheeks when I remembered what I’d told him when I thought I was dying. I’d told him I loved him. That he was the one. What if he didn’t want me that way? He’d left, even though he knew I was his Fated Mate. What if it was just some sense of duty that’d brought him back—
My thoughts were interrupted when he pressed his mouth against mine once more, his lips parting just enough to make me pant with the sweet heat curling through my body in response.
“There’s not much to do,” he said when he pulled back. His voice was low and soft, but when I looked into his hazel eyes, there was steel and fire there. “You’re my mate. My Fated Mate. I will be with you until the end of time. If you fight it, I will fight to win you over. If you accept it…” His voice went more sultry, and heat curled in response below my navel, making me flush harder. “Then I will spend every day from now until our last showing you why a witch and a wolf are a perfect match.”
“Your pack won’t mind? That… I’m a witch?” I asked, suddenly weirdly nervous that a bunch of shifters wouldn’t approve of me. It was the oddest sensation.
He grunted and rubbed his free hand over his face. “I have no pack.”
“Oh.” I wanted to ask more—but the pain that flickered over his expression made me hold my tongue. Jackson must have seen the question in my eyes, though, because he sighed, shoulders slumping. “I was ostracized when I was sixteen. I’ve not seen them since.”
“What happened?” I asked before I could stop myself. “Sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it—”
He lifted a hand. “It’s fine. I was an alpha. It became pretty apparent as I grew, and my pack’s alpha... I guess he didn’t appreciate the prospect of competition once I was grown. Not that I would ever have… I would have left to form my own pack eventually, like most young alphas do. At first, I thought my mom and dad would at least come with me and bring my younger siblings, but… I’d packed my bags and went into the kitchen to meet them and found they hadn’t packed. They told me that they were sorry, but their loyalty was with the pack. And then they sent me away.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, my heart breaking for the man still cupping my face so tenderly. I didn’t know much about shifters, but what I did know was that pack was everything to them. To have spent so many years alone…
“It’s why I left,” he said, grimacing. His face moved from my face to the floor. “I was a coward—afraid of being rejected again.”
“Why did you come back?”
He shot me a wry look, one eyebrow raised. “Because you’re my fucking Fated Mate, Poppy. Because I’d rather you reject my love a thousand times so long as I am still near you. There is nothing without you, and there never will be. I am yours until the end of time.”
I swallowed thickly, emotion threatening to overwhelm me. “Jackson, I… I need you to know that… the demon. It was here because of me. It was my fault Molly died.”
He didn’t say anything, but I was too afraid to look back up at his face again, afraid of the judgment I might find there. I had to tell him—he had to know what kind of person he was swearing his
life to. I just had to pray he wouldn’t turn me in to the Arcane Affairs Agency once I was done.
“Five years ago, when I was nineteen, I was desperate for my magic to work right. Nothing I tried ever panned out, and I… Magic was everything to my family. I come from a long, unbroken line of witches and warlocks. I… I didn’t want to be a cause of shame for my parents. They were always kind and encouraging, but I… I knew they had to be disappointed. I couldn’t even master the most basic of spells.
“So one dark moon, I decided to try one last thing. I decided to make a bargain with a demon.”
From his deep intake of breath, I could tell Jackson was as horrified in my revelation as any sane person would have been, but he still didn’t interrupt me, nor did he move his hand from my cheek.
“My mother found me just as I’d cast the circle. She yelled at me, like she ought to, told me I was being stupid and reckless and my powers would grow in time. That I just had to patient. But I… I didn’t believe her. I didn’t… And I told her that I was tired of being a disappointment to her and Dad, that I knew I was less than nothing and might as well lay down and die. I was… very dramatic as a teenager. Of course, I stormed off to cry in my bed.
“It wasn’t until midnight that I found out my mother had summoned the demon in my stead, to make a bargain with it for my sake. But it turned on her and it took her magic, and my dad’s too when he tried to save her. I barely escaped with my life. Went into hiding, hoping the demon wouldn’t find me. And I thought… I thought I’d succeeded. I was starting to put my life back together, when…” I drew in a deep breath, steeling myself for the inevitable. “I understand if you can’t be with me. Just please… don’t turn me in to the Agency.”
“Poppy.” Jackson’s hand slipped from my cheek to under my chin, lifting my face. “Look at me.”
I did, hesitant to see the disgust in his eyes, but unable to refuse the gentle command in his voice.
“I love you. With everything I am and everything I’ll ever be. What happened to your family, to Molly, wasn’t your doing. Is this what you’ve been so scared of revealing? That a demon tricked your mother and hunted you across the country? Baby, there’s nothing that could ever make me turn away from you. Even if you had been so foolish as to make a bargain with a demon yourself, I could never…” He paused and shook his head. “I am so sorry for your loss, my mate. For the years of pain and loneliness you’ve suffered since. I can’t give your family back, but I can promise you that you will never again have to fear for your life. I will protect you with my own life, if I need to. And I will love you until the end of time.”
