Magic Awakened: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by K.N. Lee

“Oh, so you think you should marry who you want, but because Magnus didn’t want you, you had him killed?” Zelda was banking on the werewolf not wanting to expose herself, on her fear driving her to flee would keep her from hitting or even killing Zelda. A gamble, but one she was willing to pay. Magnus deserved to know the truth about the pack. If they turned on him once, they could turn on him again.

  Magnus knew not to trust Kyle. He probably knew not to trust Leviticus, either. But did he realize the role Laci had to play? She doubted it.

  “I…” Laci lowered her head. “I was wrong.”

  “Wrong?” Zelda laughed incredulously. “If you had your way, he would be dead right now!”

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

  “But you aren’t going to tell him.”

  “No. And you should stay away.” Laci bumped her shoulder and started to run away.

  Zelda kept pace with her. “What about the poison? Was that you, too?”

  “Poison? What poison?” Laci’s confusion seemed genuine.

  The werewolf increased her speed, and Zelda couldn’t keep up. The poison… Zelda had a lot more questions about it, but maybe some mysteries weren’t for her to solve.

  Maybe she should return home.

  Leviticus had driven here, so Zelda had to walk all the way home. If she could find a familiar street or landmark… They were somewhere within Philadelphia yet, although near the outskirts and an area she wasn’t familiar with.

  She walked fast, glad she still had her gun because Kyle’s pack hadn’t picked the safest of areas to locate within, although maybe they had done that purposely.

  At an intersection, she paused, trying to get her bearings when that feeling she had earlier within the laboratory came over her—someone was watching her. She wasn’t alone anymore.

  As discretely as she could, she glanced over her shoulder to see Magnus there, maybe two feet away, not even trying to be discrete.

  She sighed dramatically. “What do you want?”

  At least he had found some clothes, although the pants were too big, threatening to expose him, and the shirt was too tight, if that were possible. She could see the ridge of his muscles beneath the cotton. The blue made his silver eyes all the more exotic.

  Slowly, he approached her, and she realized he was more injured than he was letting on.

  “What is it?” she asked, desperation bleeding into her tone.

  “I’ll be all right. It just takes time.”

  “The poison,” she guessed.

  He nodded. “But I’m not worried about that. Laci’s gone, and—”

  “Does Kyle realize?”

  “Not yet. I’m the only one who can go look for her. The others have to listen to their alphas and clean up.”

  “You don’t because you’re a loner, yet.”

  “Yeah. One of the only perks.” He ran a hand through his already dishelved hair. “You haven’t happened to see her, have you? Kyle’s gonna be on the warpath and—”

  “Why do you care?” she asked. “About Kyle or Laci or any of them. They want you in that joint pack, and…”

  “You think I should rejoin them.”

  She bit her lower lip. “Tell me more about the poison.”

  His eyes widened. “Why?”

  “I just have a theory, that’s all.”

  “I woke up with it,” he confessed. “I didn’t realize what it was at first, but poison’s the only thing that made sense to me.”

  “So that first time, you weren’t near a werewolf?”

  “No. At least I wasn’t attacked by one. I later realized that I had been living near a huge pack… Why are you nodding?”

  “I don’t think it’s poison at all,” she murmured, “more like a reaction. I think you’re sick, and that the illness is because you don’t have a pack. The only way to test this theory would be to find another lone wolf…”

  “Not gonna happen.” His face was an unreadable mask, the shadows of the night making reading him that much harder.

  She sighed. “I didn’t think so.”

  Her mind began to race. Her blood was human. Would another human’s blood mix with Magnus’s, but not the werewolves’? She had a feeling that was the case, and if so, maybe Magnus was evolving. Maybe because of his time away from wolves, his body was trying to adapt to being pack-less, and so he could get a human female pregnant in order to keep his line persevered, whereas a werewolf, a regular one, couldn’t have a child with a human.

  “What about…” he said, stepping forward, and in the starlight, she could see a sparkle in his silver eyes, “a new clan, with you and our child?”

  “You’re crazy,” she retorted, but her thoughts immediately went to that slide that showed their blood merging. If they had a child together, would the child be a werewolf?

  A child? Her, a mom? She had her career, and she wasn’t about to give that up, and a werewolf child? She had always figured she’d have kids… eventually. Not anytime soon and never had she contemplated a child with someone who wasn’t completely human!

  “You’re speechless.” His grin was wide. “Are you imagining it? Little kids running around—”

  “Little pups,” she whispered.

  He swallowed hard. “I don’t know. As far as I know, no werewolves had been able to impregnate a human. Maybe our DNA is too different.”

  “Magnus…”

  “I know. It was a crazy thought.” He rubbed the back of his knuckles against her cheek, and she closed her eyes, leaning into his touch.

  “So you think I should go back to that chaos?”

  Zelda should wash her hands of it. The whole mess. Magnus and Kyle, and Leviticus, and Laci…

  But she couldn’t. “You need to know about the people you would be rejoining.”

  His scowl was dark and fierce. “I know all about the Blood Warriors—”

  “I mean your old pack.”

  He frowned. “I don’t understand what you mean. Sure, they left me to die—”

  “I don’t know all of the specifics, but I know that Laci is being the attack on you. Laci essentially put out a hit on you,” she said in a rush.

  Mangus blinked a few times and crossed his arms, wincing. “What are you talking about?”

  “After I broke away from the Blood Warriors, I ran into Chantal. I like her. She’s cool. She let me take a shower at her place, and Laci was there, and I overheard them talking enough to realize that Laci had been so pissed at you for not falling all over her that she went to her brother to have you killed. How the Blood Warriors got involved, I don’t know, but they screwed things up—”

  “And I screwed things up even more by not dying.”

  “Basically. And now Laci’s running away because she… Hey, how come she was able to run away but everyone else has to stay and clean up? Shouldn’t she be forced or bond or whatever it is to stay until the wedding?”

  “It depends on whether or not Kyle enforced his alpha powers on her, and he might not have any on her yet until they wed. The packs aren’t joined yet. Not until the ceremony takes place. After you left, Leviticus ordered the other Nightstar Hunters to clean, too.”

  “That’s horrible. If you have a power-hungry alpha, you’re screwed.”

  “Nah. You can challenge a terrible alpha. If you win, you’re alpha instead of him.”

  “Because you kill him.”

  “Violence is our life.”

  Just then, a horde of werewolves headed in their direction.

  Magnus stepped in front of her to shield her. “This can’t be good.”

  “Ya think?” she muttered.

  Chapter 20

  “Where is she?” Kyle’s roar was hardly audible.

  Magnus gritted his teeth. Learning that Laci had screwed him over because he wouldn’t screw her set his teeth on edge. He should hunt her down and drag her back here by her hair.

  But he didn’t. He allowed her to go. She had covered her tracks, somehow, and he couldn’t track
her, at least not easily.

  “This is all your fault.” Kyle whirled around, his claw pointing at Leviticus.

  “Put that away,” the other alpha said. “It’s not my fault if you can’t keep track of your fiancée.”

  “She’s your sister.”

  “She was to be your wife!”

  Kyle growled, low and deep. “You and your pack of wolves deserve—”

  “An alpha who has interests outside of his own.” Leviticus puffed out his chest.

  Magnus’s jaw dropped. Leviticus… if he didn’t back down and now, he was going to end up instigating a battle with Kyle.

  “If you have a power-hungry alpha, you’re screwed.”

  “Nah. You can challenge a terrible alpha.”

  Looked like that was about to go down.

  Kyle’s claw streaked through the air.

  Leviticus brought up his hand and blocked the blow. “You want to take me down,” he said quietly, “you’re gonna have to do better than that.”

  Magnus took a step forward.

  Zelda grabbed his wrist and yanked him back. “No,” she murmured.

  He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her before taking her hand and releasing himself from her grip. “If you’re gonna do this, do it back in the warehouse,” he said mildly, careful to keep any kind of threatening tone out of his voice.

  Leviticus grinned darkly. “A sensible notion. Are you sensible enough to follow it, Kyle?”

  Kyle’s nostrils flared. “I’m going to mop the floor with your blood and knock that stupid, pompous grin off your face. And when I’m done with you, I’m going to slaughter the rest of your pack and that human you brought, too. Why did you even bring her along, anyhow?”

  “Ask her yourself before you kill her… if it comes down to that. Which it won’t.”

  Magnus whirled around. “You have to go. Now.”

  Zelda looked at him, not without fear. With sorrow and maybe something else, too, but he couldn’t be sure. “Come… I can’t. Not without knowing what happens.”

  “I’ll write you a letter.”

  “You can’t if you’re dead!” she cried.

  Around them, the other wolves were already heading back toward the warehouse for the one-on-one showdown. For now, it seemed to Magnus that only he and Zelda—his Juliet—were the only ones who mattered.

  “Maybe I’m more cat than dog,” he murmured. “I sure seem to have nine lives.”

  A tear streaked down her cheek. “Don’t joke.”

  He brushed it away and traced her lips with his wet fingertip. “I need you to be safe. I never should’ve involved you in—”

  “Do you regret it? Showing me your world?”

  Do you regret getting to know me? her eyes added.

  Three little words were on the tip of his tongue, but instead he said three different ones, “Of course not.”

  She opened her mouth.

  He held up his hand. “But that doesn’t mean that you should remain in this world. It’s too dark for you. You’re goodness and—”

  “I’ve killed werewolves. I’ve killed. I—”

  “Only in self defense, and you were only in danger because of us. Violence is our way. It’s not yours.”

  “How can you say that when the first time you saw me I was brandishing a gun?”

  “You’re strong, not violent. There’s a difference.”

  “The Hell there is.”

  “You deserve a normal life.”

  “How can I go back when I know there’s more to the world?”

  “Do you only want me around so you can have more blood, more samples?” he barked, suddenly furious.

  “Is that what you think?” she whispered. “That I only want to use you for research?”

  “You slapped me when I kissed you,” he pointed out.

  “Yeah, well, you deserved it,”

  True.

  “And when I mentioned us starting a new clan—” he continued, but she cut him off.

  “You can’t be serious. We hardly know each other, and, yeah, we’re obviously attracted to each other—oh, you can stop grinning like that, you look like a buffoon—”

  “A hot buffoon,” he corrected.

  “A buffoon buffoon,” she countered, “but attraction isn’t enough. I mean, that poison or sickness… You need to do whatever it takes to get better, and if I’m right—”

  “If Kyle wins, I’m dead anyhow.”

  She hung her head. “Do you want to risk it? Your life? On a theory that can’t be tested? And what if you grow to hate me one day? Because I don’t understand a whole side to you? I can’t relate to… Do you have to transform every month? Can you go longer between transformations? If you do, do you get moody?”

  “Did you just ask me if I get lunar periods?”

  Despite herself, she giggled. “My point is that I don’t understand—”

  “You’re a scientist. You question, you investigate, you grown, and you learn. That’s your calling card. I know it won’t be easy, if we go this route, but… Damn it, Juliet, there’s something about you. Maybe—”

  “Juliet had a doomed love affair,” she said quietly. “Do you really think that it’s smart to compare me to her?”

  He exhaled. “You need to go. Don’t look back. Assume I die. It’ll be easier that way. The poison, the sickness, Kyle… a backstabbing Nightshade Hunter…”

  “Maybe you should try to find another option. A different pack. One—”

  “Packs don’t take kindly to outsiders, but you have to stop this.” He grabbed her hands and squeezed hard.

  “Stop what?”

  “Stop caring about me. Go. Live a normal life. Get your degree. Do amazing on your research. Collect a Nobel Prize. Get married. Have kids. Follow your dreams.”

  “What about you?” she whispered, her voice cracking, another tear falling.

  He crushed her against him, kissing her fiercely.

  Kissing her goodbye.

  When they parted, Zelda ran away, ran away from him, ran away from the werewolves, ran away from the chaos and the wild hope of an impossible future.

  And she cried all the while.

  Chapter 21

  Magnus waited until Zelda was out of sight. Her notion for him to find an outsider pack was an intriguing one, but already two more “poison” had formed, and he had to drag himself back to the warehouse. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that if he were to try and pull a Laci, that he would be hunted down. She better hope her brother won because otherwise, there would be no length to how far Kyle would go to find, torture, and destroy the one who had dared to humiliate him.

  Laci. Magnus shook his head as he leaned against the doorway of the warehouse. Bodies were still being pulled away, cleaning out space for the two alphas to have their ultimate showdown.

  That vile werewolf. Magnus had known for years she’d fancied him, but honestly, he had never been attracted to her. She had always been so bossy, so demanding. Was she hot? Yes, but her attitude had made her seem almost ugly in his eyes. Looks were one thing, but Magnus wanted more from whomever he would marry. His parents had shared a special bond. His father had died to protect his mom, and his mother had never remarried, her love for her husband too great even after his passing. That was the kind of love Magnus wanted to experience.

  He knew he would never have that with Laci, and while Rosemarie had caught his eye, she had her choice pick of suitors and didn’t seem inclined toward any one of them. Female werewolves tended to be fertile longer than female humans, so some werewolves waited until they were older to settle down and marry. Maybe it was the animal wildness within them, wanting to run free and experience the world before having pups.

  Had he thought Laci capable of such a deceit? No. He had known her to be manipulative, but to orchestrate the killing of a packmate? Had Leviticus been the ones to involve the Blood Warriors? Or had Laci taken that on herself? Maybe that had been why Kyle insisted on marrying her, sin
ce he already had leverage to hang over her head. The other Nightshade Hunters would not take kindly to learning that their alpha’s sister had tried to kill one of their own.

  Or maybe the Blood Warriors had just happened to attack him around the same time Laci had put out the hit. Doubtful, though. Too much of a coincidence.

  A migraine was brewing, and he closed his eyes, opening them a moment later when he heard footsteps. Jackson Davidson.

  “You’ve seen better days,” Jackson said.

  “So have you.”

  Jackson had a long, nasty scar between his eyes.

  The werewolf grinned. “It’ll heal, and even if it doesn’t, it’ll make the ladies go wild.”

  “Still haven’t settled down yet?”

  “No.” Jackson’s smile faded. “Leviticus’s wife died, too. He’s every bit as angry over her death as Kyle had been over Olivia’s, but he isn’t as… grotesque about it. I think that’s why he pushed for the confrontation.”

  “This is all so pointless.”

  Jackson lifted his bushy eyebrows. “I agree, but I don’t understand why you’re here.”

  Magnus shrugged. If Zelda was correct, and her theory did make sense, then he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. He needed to join a pack as soon as possible, even if this one was less than ideal. Some did refer to it as the curse of being a loner. Maybe there was more truth to that than anyone realized.

  Kyle wouldn’t let him live long if he was the victor, and honestly, he was almost hoping for that. He had never felt weaker. Even holding his head up was proving difficult. With a start, he realized he was sitting. He couldn’t even stand. And the pain from his “poisoned” wounds was so intense that he just wanted the agony to end. He felt like he was burning and then freezing and then as if thousands of needles and fangs were pressing into him all over his body.

  Being around so many wolves was killing him. He never had in his year of searching find a place where there weren’t even a small pack. Now that his life might depend on finding such a place, he knew that wasn’t an option.

  Becoming one of them was his only recourse.

  The werewolves were fairly quiet, if you discounted the snarls and mutterings if one pack neared a member of the other one. The bad blood between the two sides was not a good side. It was very possible that when the one alpha went down, the members of that pack might rise up against the others, and the massive battle from before could resume until only one wolf remained.