by Ariel Marie
They were a rowdy bunch, but she didn’t have much time as the scene before her began to speed up, and like a beacon, a flash of light appeared. The Earth was showing her the answer to her question. It used the offering of her blood to signal the traces of someone who shared blood with her had been there, had bled there.
Her grandmother had suffered an injury.
Anger grew in her chest at the thought of someone harming her grandmother, but then a calming came over her. The scene of the camp rushed past her, as if someone spun it around to allow her to see the other side.
Delia sat on the ground against a log, rope tied across her chest, keeping her hands to her sides. Willow watched as her grandmother wiggled in place, and with no one seeing what she was doing, cut herself on a jagged rock in the ground, leaving a few drops of her blood.
Willow smiled. Her grandmother was a sharp woman and must have remembered the spell she had taught Willow.
The scene faded from her eyes and she slumped against Feno’s hard chest as her breaths came fast and hard.
“Are you okay?” Feno asked gently, turning her in his arms.
She nodded and looked over at an impressed Vander, who then looked at her with concern etched on his face.
“I’m good. She was here, and she did as I knew she would. She left her blood here for me to find her. We’re not that many days behind her.”
“You’re grandmother knows we’re tracking her,” Feno murmured against the crown of her head as he pulled her to him. He wrapped her in his arms and squeezed tight.
“I saw one of the shifters,” she announced, pulling back from him to look up into his eyes.
“Really?”
“Yes. One of them was the drunk you fought at the bar.”
Chapter Eleven
Feno stood outside the car as Vander made his way to stand beside them. He tapped on the roof, signaling for Winston to drive off.
“You hang out here?” Vander asked, his eyebrow raised.
“Let’s go,” Feno growled. The bar didn’t look like much on the outside, but it was for paranormals. He sure as hell wouldn’t be caught dead in one of the human nightclubs. “If Willow’s right, the shifter she saw in her vision frequents this bar. It’s time to find Delia so that Willow and I can complete our mating. Her grandmother should be there for the celebration.”
Vander’s eyes narrowed and he knew his brother understood. He too had refused to mate with Faye until Gamair had been destroyed and she was safe from danger.
The Kelmyar brothers stalked toward the building. Humans on the sidewalk scattered out of their way. Feno grabbed the handle of the door to the bar and flung it open.
He could already feel the energy in the air as they approached security.
Brick glared at Feno and Vander as they came to a halt in front of him.
“Didn’t I just throw you out of here the other day?” Brick growled. The bear shifter’s eyes narrowed on Feno. Little did the bear shifter know, Feno was getting in the bar one way or another.
“I’m here with my brother. We just want to have a drink.” Feno’s eyes didn’t waiver from the bear.
“I’ve got my eye on you, Feno,” Brick growled, stepping to the side. Feno brushed past the bear, letting his gaze linger before he turned toward the bar. It was crowded for a weekday.
“I see my older brother is the life of the party here,” Vander noted dryly as he too took in the bar. They made their way through the crowd that parted for them.
“Last fight wasn’t my fault. The shifter we’re looking for tried to cut in on me and Willow. He wanted me to give her to him.”
He could hear his brother’s growl as they made their way to the bar.
“Let me guess. You had your tongue down her throat and he thought that she was just a little morsel up for the offering?”
Feno’s eyes shot to Vander’s and knew that his brother read right through the situation.
“Something like that.”
“There’s Jodos.” Vander pointed over to the end of the bar and headed in their friend’s direction.
“My two favorite ugly friends,” Jodos called out as he saw them approach. He knocked back his drink and stood from his stool.
“Jodos.” Feno greeted his friend with a manly hug as they slapped each other on the back.
“And where is the little mate I’ve heard you’ve gone out and found?” Jodos asked, looking behind him.
“She’s at the condo. I didn’t want to risk her getting injured tonight,” Feno murmured. A shifter sitting at the bar must have heard him because his head snapped to Feno, but as soon as their eyes met, the man abandoned his seat and moved away.
“I see everyone knows you here,” Jodos chuckled, tossing a few bills at the bartender. Feno looked for Jewels, but didn’t see her. It must have been her night off, which meant that he didn’t have to ensure her safety if and when things got crazy.
“Something like that,” he offered, taking the abandoned seat.
“I’d like a drink, if you guys don’t mind.” Vander leaned against the bar and flagged down the bartender.
Feno took the time to lean back and assess the room. He would know the shifter from anywhere. His eyes landed on a burly man with stringy long hair that Feno could scent all the way across the crowded bar.
“Bingo,” he murmured. Vander and Judos followed his eyes.
“Let’s get this over with,” Vander announced, knocking his shot back.
Feno pushed off the barstool and moved toward the unsuspecting shifter. He could see Brick from the corner of his eye, moving in a better position. Feno snorted at the fact that the bear shifter thought he was going to prevent a fight tonight.
Not happening.
If he had to beat the answers out of the shifter, he would. The crowd parted as the three dragons made their way to the shifter’s table. He knew that they made one hell of a sight. All eyes in the bar were on them. The room drew silent as Feno stood behind the shifter.
Vander and Jodos flanked his sides as he waited for the shifter to become aware that he was standing behind him. Feno crossed his arms in front of his chest as he waited.
The wolf reeked of alcohol, as did his buddies. Feno scowled at the sight of the sorry piece of fur in front of him. He turned around slowly, his beady eyes rising to meet Feno’s.
“Look who’s back to get another ass whipping,” the drunkard slurred, while his buddies around the table chuckled. His little band of wolves were all just as stinking drunk as their leader.
“As I recall, it was I who kicked all of your asses,” Feno growled, his powers causing glasses and bottles to shake. The drunk shifters were poor excuses for wolves, and now that Feno could really look at the bunch, he could tell that they did not belong to any pack around Blue Creek. There was no way that any of the packs would allow such a group.
“That’s a lie!” The shifter rose from his chair, pushing his chest into Feno’s, but he refused to budge. He towered over the shifter by at least a few feet. “Me and the boys whooped your sorry ass. What do you want? Another go round?”
If this would have been any other night, Feno would have laughed.
Feno’s hand shot out and grabbed the shifter by his neck and lifted him until his eyes were level with Feno’s. The shifter’s feet dangled in the air as he struggled to try to breathe.
Feno noted that Brick was slowly making his way toward them, and the other wolves scrambled to their feet. Vander and Jodos shifted, ready for a fight.
“What I want are answers,” Feno growled, squeezing the wolf’s throat. He pushed his powers out, exerting himself as the alpha between the two of them. He knew that his powers would cause any shifter to submit to him.
Curses surrounded them as his power spread throughout the bar, as the patrons were also hit with his energy.
“What…what do you want to know?”
“The missing witch. Where is she?” Feno lowered the shifter to the floor.
; “Feno! I said I didn’t want any trouble from you tonight,” Brick yelled out, coming to stand behind Feno.
“There won’t be a problem, as long as this piece of shit tells me what I need to know.” Feno refused to take his eyes off the shifter. He felt his brother turn to face the bear shifter.
“We’ll be done here in just a second,” Vander insisted. Vander the peace keeper? Feno knew that his brother was trying to buy them time.
“Hurry and ask him already.” Vander’s voice appeared in his head. “I really don’t want to knock this bear out. His face looks like it’s hard as hell.”
“His name is Brick, and it’s as hard as his name,” he replied. “I know from experience.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the wolf gasped as Feno tightened his grip on his throat.
“I have it on good authority that you were there that night. I know you were there,” he growled. “This will be the last time I ask.”
The other shifters stepped from behind the table, their chests jutted out as they glared at him. A flash of fang let Feno know that the situation was about to go to hell.
He could sense they were close to shifting.
“That’s enough. Time to go.” Brick tried to shove his way by Vander, but his brother wasn’t going to let him by.
“Fuck off, whatever the fuck you are,” the wolf snarled.
“Wrong answer.” Feno threw his fist, landing it across the shifter’s face. His body flew back onto the table, causing it to split in half, sending the wolf to the floor.
A sadistic smile spread across Feno’s face as he went after the shifter.
The bar erupted into growls and fists as a full-out brawl began.
It felt damn good to be fighting alongside his brother and friend.
The wolf should have just answered the question. Instead, Feno would get the answer the hard way.
Chapter Twelve
Willow was feeling restless. She had only agreed to stay behind while Feno and Vander went in search of answers from the wolf shifter. She knew from her vision that the wolf would have answers.
The moon was high in the sky, and her skin crawled with the electric nature of her powers. She walked to the patio door of Feno’s condo, pushed the door open and walked outside. Strolling to the edge of the brick patio, she kicked her shoes off and shifted her satchel across her body. She smiled, raising her face and arms up toward the sky, feeling the moon’s energy seep into her. She stepped into the grass, loving the feel of the chilled blades between her toes.
She giggled as she twirled in circles. Even though this was a tense time searching for her grandmother, the moon’s rays lifted her spirits. She slowed her motions as she stumbled, dizzy from her spinning, and laughed.
She sat down on the grass, folded her legs beneath her and tilted her head back as she began to meditate beneath the moon. The moon was full of mystery, power, and energy, and she knew that a witch performing a spell beneath it would be enhanced.
She was desperate to find her grandmother. She would do what she must to find her.
She reached into her bag and brought out the few items she would need.
Salt to surround herself to ward off evil spirits. She wouldn’t want any spirits to try to interfere with the spell she was about to perform.
Feno was not there to protect her while she performed it, so she quickly drew a circle around herself for protection. She rested her wrists on her knees as she relaxed, readying her mind for the spell.
It was important that she be able to focus on the task at hand. As if sensing that a powerful witch was about to cast a spell, the woods behind his home quieted.
She began to speak her spell into existence, feeling the rush of power from the moon. It wasn’t as strong as when she merged her powers with Feno, but it should do.
The air around her swirled, lifting her dark locks from her neck. She closed her eyes and gave her powers to the moon as the quietness surrounded her, allowing her to concentrate on making a connection with her grandmother.
The sound of the wind died down, causing her to open her eyes.
A bright light met her, causing her hands to raise to her face to block it. She blinked a few times and looked around, finding herself in the interdimensional space that she met her grandmother in before.
But there was no sign of her grandmother.
“Grandmother?” Willow called out.
Silence greeted her.
Her heart sped up in fear. Last time she reached out, her grandmother was immediately there. She turned in a full circle, seeing nothing but the white background.
“Willow.” Her grandmother’s weak voice caused her to turn, frantic to see her.
A gasp escaped her lips when she saw a transparent version of her grandmother. Her image was waning fast.
“What’s the matter, grandmother?” She ran to her, unable to feel her. She reached for Delia, but her hand passed through her image.
“My powers are weakening. Please hurry, my child. I’m not sure how much longer I can last.” Her grandmother’s voice was filled with pain.
“Have they harmed you?” she asked.
“They’ve figured out that I have connected with you and have placed a witch catcher around my neck to keep me from using my powers. Thankfully, you and I are both strong enough to reach each other through the contraption.”
“I’m going as fast as I can. Please, hold on,” she begged. She knew the contraption that her grandmother spoke of. It would not allow a witch to absorb new powers from the elements.
Not being able to draw energy would certainly cause a witch to die.
“I shall, my child. I haven’t lived this long just to have rogue shifters to take me out.” A small smile appeared on her tired, drawn face. “Feno comes to you, my dear. He brings you one of the shifters. The magic that you will need will be dark, and it will come to you.”
“Dark?” She blinked her eyes and her grandmother was gone. Only whiteness surrounded her. She sighed and pulled back on her powers.
Dark magic? She had never used dark magic before. It had always been prohibited by her coven to even dabble in it.
She opened her eyes when a sound off in the distance grabbed her attention. She turned to find Feno dragging a figure behind him, with Vander and another large man, she assumed was a dragon shifter, walked behind the captive.
“Feno.” She stood from the ground, frozen in place as he threw a man at her feet.
“Can you retrieve memories from him?”
Willow looked closer at the figure that lay at her feet and jumped as he began to stir. By the black and blue that surrounded his face, she knew that Feno had not went easy on him.
It was the shifter from the bar and from her vision.
Dark magic.
How did her grandmother know what Feno was going to ask her to do?
She swallowed hard and looked around before her eyes landed on Feno.
“I’m not sure. I know how to project my memories onto someone, but I’m not sure if I can pull his memories from him.”
“Can you try?” he asked, his eyes softening.
“We’re not supposed to,” she began, but her mouth shut. She thought of what her grandmother mentioned about dark magic. “But I think I know how. I’ll be right back.”
She jogged into the house and ran up to Feno’s bedroom. Grabbing her small bag that held all of her belongings, she withdrew a worn leatherbound book that she hid in a secret compartment. It belonged to her grandmother, and was something else that she was able to take from her house before she was banned by the coven.
No one knew she had taken it the night she’d ran.
She was the rightful heir to her grandmother’s coven, and the book belonged to them. She had sworn to keep it safe and knew that she should not leave it behind.
She stood from her perch and made her way through the house, her stomach bunched up in nerves. This was a part of her training that she had yet to
receive. If she was to become a high priestess, learning dark magic was part of the training needed to master all of witchcraft.
“I might be able to do it,” she announced, returning outside where Feno and his men still surrounded the shifter.
She nervously glanced down at the book in her hands, knowing it had to be what her grandmother was speaking of.
“What is that?” Feno’s eyes were locked on the heavy book that she cradled against her chest.
“My grandmother’s spell book.”
This book housed the spells of her elderly grandmother, passed down from her mother and her mother before her. Someday, Willow hoped to add her own personal touches to the book and pass it down to her daughter. It was a book that would continue their name forever.
“And what you need is in there?” Feno asked.
“It should be. I’ll need light to see.” She kneeled on the ground a few feet from the growling shifter. “He’s not going to shift, is he?”
“Vander.” Feno’s low command sent his brother over to the writhing man. His low growls made Willow nervous, and she didn’t think that if she were able to pull off the spell, that she could gain much from the vicious wolf. He would need to remain human for the spell to work.
Vander pulled back his arm and slammed his fist into the wolf’s jaw, sending him sprawling through the air and landing on the ground with a heavy thud. The night air was quieted as he lay unconscious.
“Thank you,” she murmured. She opened the book and squinted, trying to see the words written on the aged pages. A light appeared over her head, casting a soft glow on the pages, allowing her to see the handwritten spells. She looked up to find the other man standing next to her with a small flashlight.
“Here you go. By the way, I’m Jodos. Your mate’s been very rude in not introducing us. These two ugly mugs are my best friends.”
Feno cursed, which brought a smile to her face.
“I’m Willow. Nice to meet you.”
“Well, if you ever tire of that ornery old-timer over there—”
