Shifter Bound

by Leisl Leighton

  ‘You have nothing,’ a voice whispered in her mind. A voice that sounded a lot like Cain. Although it couldn’t be. She’d only ever heard him in her sleep. And besides, she had no idea if he was even still alive. She wished she knew what had happened to him. What had happened that night to her coven. But she was too afraid to ask. Despite the fact that they’d turned on her, she didn’t want to find out that everyone she’d ever loved was gone. Then she would truly be alone.

  ‘You are alone. And they are to blame. They took everything from you. Don’t let them take more.’

  She shook her head. She couldn’t listen to that voice. These people had been nothing but kind. Especially Bron and River. Her gaze flickered back to them just as the healer cupped her mate’s scarred cheek, her other hand curving over the left side of his chest, her finger tracing a pattern of protection over the place where Morrigan had carved her sigel.

  Eloise sucked in a sharp breath as a sensation of protective rage and shame surged through her. She was responsible for that pain. She hadn’t stopped Morrigan from hurting him. A different voice echoed in her head, ‘We will make her pay for what she’s done.’

  ‘No,’ the Cain-voice screamed. ‘You will be the one to pay.’

  Eloise clutched at the side of her head. ‘Get out. Get out.’

  ‘Eloise? Hey. It’s okay.’ Iain was standing in front of her, holding her shoulders. ‘Eloise? You’re shaking.’

  She stared at him. Didn’t know how to answer. Couldn’t tell him about the voices shouting in her mind or the rage of emotion building inside.

  ‘Eloise,’ Iain whispered, leaning closer. ‘We don’t have to do this now. You can rest first. Skye and Jason can wait.’

  She shook her head. No, it was time. She had to answer for her crimes—sooner rather than later. And she needed to find out the extent of the betrayal.

  She pulled from his light grasp, trying to get a hold over herself, stop the shaking.

  ‘Hey, Eloise.’ Bron appeared at Iain’s side. ‘What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?’

  ‘Why does everyone keep asking me that?’

  ‘Well, you have been in a coma for almost two months.’ Bron’s brow rose. ‘Besides, you look very pale.’

  ‘That’s just the way I look.’

  Bron’s brow furrowed, her gaze sharp. ‘Okay. If you’re sure. Come and sit down. Have something to eat.’

  ‘I’m not hungry.’

  ‘You need to eat, Little Bird.’

  She turned sharply to face Iain. ‘Little Bird? Why do you keep calling me that? I turn into a cat, not a bird.’

  He shrugged. ‘Your heart often flutters in your chest like the wings of a hummingbird. It did it when you were in the coma. It’s doing it now.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous.’ Her fingers flexed at her side as she tried to ignore the fast beat of her heart.

  ‘Iain.’ Bron’s tone held a hint of warning as she sidled up to them and took Eloise’s arm in hers, her touch a warm balm. ‘Come and sit down. Iain’s right. You need to eat. Build up your strength. Get you healthy and fit again.’

  ‘I’ve never been healthy and fit. Or strong. I’ve never been much of anything.’

  ‘I think you’re wrong there.’ She took a deep breath, let it out cautiously, and with a nod from River, said, ‘Eloise. You need to calm down.’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘No. You’re not. Can’t you feel that?’

  ‘Feel what?’

  ‘That rising inside you. That hot, heated thing pushing at your skin.’

  Eloise stared at her. She could feel it—it had been buzzing inside her ever since she’d woken from the coma, then flared when she’d heard the Cain-voice.

  ‘You don’t know what it is, do you? Damn.’ She rubbed her brow, her eyes worried. ‘What you feel is your powers. They’re trying to get out.’

  Eloise sat with a plop on the stool Bron had led her to. ‘What do you mean? I keep telling you I don’t really have any powers. A little healing, that’s all.’

  ‘That’s not true. I think you’ve got far more power than you know. I think maybe Morrigan was dampening your powers somehow.’

  ‘Like what you’ve done with this bracelet?’ She looked down at the cuff around her wrist, the sigils glowing slightly in the dark metal.

  ‘No. Not like the bracelet. Something far more insidious than that.’

  Eloise shook her head, looking from one to the other of them. She’d wanted to know the extent of the betrayal, but this? ‘You’re wrong. There’s no reason she’d do that. She helped Cain with his powers. Why would she suppress mine?’

  River leaned across the bench and took her trembling hand in his, meeting her gaze. ‘We don’t know.’ He glanced around to the others. They both nodded. ‘All we know is the evidence we feel. What we saw when you were in the coma.’

  Something clamped in her throat, making it hard to breathe. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Perhaps we should wait for Skye and Jason and the others.’ Iain’s voice was peculiarly edgy.

  ‘No. I don’t want to wait.’ She glanced over at him. His worry annoyed her. ‘I want you to tell me what’s going on.’ Her tone shocked her. She’d never been so forthright. But then again, she’d never felt such a combination of fear and anger.

  ‘She’s doing it again.’ River snatched back his hand with a wince.

  ‘Doing what?’ But as she asked, she became aware of a rattling sound coming from the cabinets opposite.

  ‘Eloise, I think you need to calm down.’

  Iain moved to her side, glaring at Bron. ‘I told you she wasn’t ready for this. We needed to do more to shield her. Eloise, why don’t you come with me? You can rest and we can try this again later when you’re feeling better.’ He lifted his hand as if to take her arm.

  ‘No!’ She slipped off the stool, backing away. The pans hanging over the stove began to swing back and forth, clanging together violently. ‘It’s you. You’re the ones who want to suppress my powers.’

  ‘No we don’t.’

  ‘Then take this off me.’ She waved her arm in the air, the sigils burning brightly in the metal a blur in her eyes.

  ‘That wouldn’t be a good idea. Not while you’re this upset.’

  ‘Eloise. Take a deep breath.’

  Cabinet doors popped open. Plates fell out to smash on the floor as the rumbling and shaking increased.

  ‘The cuff’s not working.’

  ‘She’s too strong for it, that’s why.’

  The voices came to her through the thunder of a swooshing sound building around her. ‘Please, just take it off. It’s hurting.’

  ‘Bron?’

  ‘I can’t, Iain. She’d lose total control without it.’

  ‘And this isn’t losing control?’

  ‘She’s lying,’ the Cain-voice said. ‘Lying.’

  The room shook more as she grasped at her head. ‘You’re lying. You’re trying to trick me.’ Above the noise, she heard the sound of a motor roaring, tires squealing on gravel, the slam of doors.

  ‘No. I wouldn’t do that,’ Bron insisted. ‘You have to calm down. Have to pull the magic back in.’

  ‘She doesn’t want you to pull it back in. She wants to capture it. Use it for their purposes. Don’t let them. Keep it for yourself. For us.’

  ‘I don’t have magic! I can’t help them.’

  ‘Help who?’

  ‘I don’t think she’s talking to you.’

  ‘There’s a presence here. I can see it touch her aura like a dark smudge.’

  ‘Can you get rid of it?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’ll try.’

  Eloise stared, the room shaking around her. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘There’s something with you. It’s talking to you, isn’t it?’

  Eloise shook harder. ‘How… how do you know?’

  ‘I can see it. It’s doing something to your powers. Making them more unstable than before.’<
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  ‘I don’t have powers.’

  ‘Of course you do. You’re my sister after all. Don’t let her touch me. Don’t let her push me away.’

  She clutched at her head as pain screamed through it. Through her body. ‘Stop. Stop.’ She just wanted it to stop.

  ‘Let the power go. Eviscerate them.’

  ‘Don’t listen to it, Eloise. Let me help.’

  Gentle warmth pushed at her. The pain in her head sharpened. ‘No!’ A cabinet burst open above Bron. Glasses rained down towards her. River, a blur of movement, grabbed Bron as she raised her hands to protect herself, and whisked her away from the spray of glass shards.

  ‘What the fuck!’

  She spun around. Jason and Adam were running down the hallway, Skye and Shelley behind them. She skittered away from the new arrivals, over towards the couch, tripping on the rug.

  ‘Eloise!’

  ‘No!’ She flung out her hand as she caught herself on the back of the couch. Iain stopped in his tracks. ‘Don’t touch me!’ She didn’t want to be touched. Not by any of them. Not when they were lying to her and trying to trick her. People had lied to her all her life and she’d had enough.

  ‘They haven’t lied,’ the other voice, the female voice, whispered.

  ‘No. They will simply use her until she is nothing but a husk.’

  ‘Stop it! Stop it!’ The light overhead swung wildly.

  ‘Bron?’ Jason stepped forward, the intelligent control of him so overwhelming, it was frightening. The room began to shake even harder.

  ‘No, Jason. Stay where you are. We don’t want to upset her further.’

  Jason stilled, as did Skye and Shelley, who had come to stand beside him. Adam, however, began to inch sideways.

  ‘Eloise.’ Her attention snapped to Iain. ‘You have to calm down. You have to stop.’ Iain tried to move, but couldn’t. The air felt thick all around him.

  ‘I’m not doing this.’ Eyes wide, she looked around the shaking room. ‘I’m not doing it,’ she whispered, as if she was trying to convince herself. ‘I can’t. I don’t have the power. You’re lying.’

  ‘This is you,’ Bron said. ‘Whatever was stopping your powers dissolved when you helped us last year. They’ve bubbled to the surface. We thought the cuff would help until you learned to control them, but something’s goading you, tipping you over the edge. You need to keep calm otherwise you’ll overload.’

  ‘I don’t… I can’t—’

  She shook, her eyes wide and frightened. Iain’s heart thumped in his chest. Teeth gritted, he managed to move forward a step. ‘Please, Eloise. Let us help.’ Her heart was truly thrumming now, a counterpoint to the low rumble all around, the smashing and clanging.

  ‘Skye, Shelley. We have to join. Like Cordy showed us.’

  Eloise’s eyes snapped to the witches, their movement bringing them closer to her. A dish erupted from the side table against the wall and hit Shelley in the head.

  ‘Shelley!’

  ‘No!’ Adam roared, leaping to Shelley’s side.

  ‘I’m okay.’ Shelley pushed Adam away as she regained her feet. There was a trickle of blood on her brow.

  A pulse of rage came down the pack bond as Adam’s gaze snapped to the blood. Iain tried to move to stop his packmate, but only made it another step forward as Adam growled, ‘We have to stop her.’

  The room shook violently, the light above swinging wildly. With a loud snap, the fixture broke away from the ceiling and the heavy light crashed to the floor. Glass shards sprayed them. Little nicks and cuts stung Iain’s arms and face, but they just made him more desperate to get to Eloise. To help. He continued to battle with the thick air that trapped him, his attention on Eloise, her pale face, wide, horrified eyes, the shaking that seemed like it might tear her apart if it became any more violent.

  ‘Adam! Don’t antagonise her,’ River cried out.

  ‘Antagonise her! I don’t plan to antagonise her.’

  ‘Adam, no!’

  Jason reached for his brother, trying to stop him, but it was too late, he’d already leapt forward.

  Eloise raised her hands as if to ward him off. Adam was pushed back by a punch of power Iain could feel. His packmate flew through the air, smashed through the plate-glass window and hit the patio tiles with a dull crunch.

  ‘Adam!’ four voices screamed.

  ‘No!’ Eyes wide and full of fear, Eloise’s hands fluttered up to her mouth, yellow-green flames flickering around their tips. ‘What have I done? What have you made me do?’

  Iain stumbled forward as the thick air around him became thin again, Eloise’s shock loosing her control. Jason raced past him and out the patio doors. Bron’s tense voice carried over the noise of rumbling and crashing, instructing Shelley and Skye to join hands. They were going to try to contain Eloise as Cordy had shown them. But deep inside, he knew it wouldn’t work. Eloise wasn’t one of them—not yet. Her magic was alien, her powers not linked to theirs in any way. Eloise’s powers were taking her over, pushed by whatever was manipulating her aura, speaking in her mind. If they didn’t find a channel, she would explode, taking all of them with her.

  There was only one thing he could think of doing. It was crazy—he had no reason to believe it would work. He was certain it would. There was a connection between them. He’d felt it from the first. Now he had to see if it would be enough.

  Seconds ticked by with agonising slowness as he stumbled drunkenly across the floor, his progress impeded by the belching, shaking floor. Finally, he made it to Eloise’s side—she was still facing the smashed patio window, watching Jason bend over the still body of his brother, her body shaking so violently now that her teeth snapped in time to the shaking of the room. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him.

  ‘Iain, no!’ Bron cried out.

  ‘It’s what I have to do.’ He cupped Eloise’s face in his hands and looked down into her beautiful eyes. ‘Pour it into me.’

  She stilled. Everything stilled, the silence deafening. Then she jerked, her hands coming up to hold his wrists. Fire flamed all around him—golden-green flames. He tensed, waiting for the burning pain to shred him from the outside in. It didn’t come. Instead, glorious warmth, like sunrise over the mountains, raced over his skin, sinking through his pores, into his mouth, through his eyes, into his lungs and heart and soul. His wolf howled inside him and before he could control it, burst forward.

  The flames gave way to the rainbow glow of transformation. As it spilled over Eloise, the sound of her heartbeat slowed down to match his. He kept focused on her, staring into her eyes, knowing the moment she was no longer in danger as her power syphoned safely into him. Then the rainbow glow faded and he was on all fours, looking up at her.

  She opened her mouth. A whimpering sound escaped, all colour washed from her face. Her eyes filled with something—joy and fear combined. Then with a sigh, she crumpled to the floor.

  Chapter 4

  ‘It’s what I have to do.’

  The words echoed in Bridgette’s mind as she released the power gifted to her by the Goddess and sent the Darkness surrounding the Alpha in front of her into oblivion.

  Exhausted but exhilarated—she’d banished the Darkness that kept the Were slaves to the moon—she met his eyes, lightning blue eyes that bored into her with an ecstatic joy. Tears stung, tightened her throat. Blood—her blood—covered his lips. Blood he’d taken from her in an invitation to create the bond between them. He howled to the night, a howl echoed by the others all around. Light exploded from him, rainbow hued and so bright it was blinding. Then the wolf was a man. He laughed and reached out to her. But rather than shout his joy as she could see he longed to do, he held himself together to finish the words of the binding.

  ‘You are marked.’ He took the Athamé from the altar and cut open his palm. Stepping closer, he covered the wound on her neck with his palm. She jerked as the blood merged, sizzling on her skin and into her body with the power of the spell s
he had just invoked. His eyes flared as the power of the blood bonding took hold, but he stood steady. After a moment, he withdrew his hand, touched a finger to the centre of his palm and used the mixed blood to draw a crescent shape on his chest, then on hers. ‘As we are marked together.’

  She held out her hands, gripped his. Together they chanted:

  ‘Our blood bound together with the force of our need

  Family and Pack in fact and deed

  No longer tied to the moon, but freed

  To share in the magic of the Goddess, we bleed

  Three times three times three times three

  So we say, so mote it be.’

  A wild wind whipped up, whirling outside the Dance, then inside, coming closer, closer, sucked in by the vortex of power she’d created. He lifted his head and howled to the night sky.

  The wind tore around them, sending dirt and leaf debris into the air, its violence frightening. Oh, Goddess! What had she done? The magic might have been blood magic, but her intent had not been dark. She hadn’t thought the pull on nature would be so strong. Had the Darkness returned? She couldn’t fight it off again tonight.

  ‘It is all right, my daughter. You are safe. Mother Nature is simply reminding you of your solemn vow: though it harm none.’

  She nodded and whispered, ‘though it harm none.’

  The wind died. Ioan, the Alpha of Pack McVale, embraced her, picked her up and swung her around, howling his joy and relief. He pulled her to the edge of the dance so the others could touch her, affirm the pack bond that had just winked into existence. She endured it to strengthen the bond, though every touch hurt. The magic had taken more from her than she’d ever imagined. But it had been worth it to see the joy of hope she’d given these Were. And her brethren. She had only to find the energy to perform this spell over and over again until all the covens were bound to all the Were: safe.

  She stood firm as the Were drifted away to spread the word. Naked and wrung out, she held her back rigid, strong as she watched them depart. She couldn’t show weakness. Not with so much riding on this show of her strength. Her promises. Her mad scheme.