THE MATING CLAIM: Werewolves of Montana Book 14

by Vanak, Bonnie

  Bastards! How dare you hurt him!

  He heard Lacey in his mind, saw a beautiful green dragon flying above, raining fire down upon the hydra. Flames spilled off the creature’s scales, igniting the sand and melting it.

  Drust rose higher, scolding her in his mind. What the hell are you doing? Go back to the house.

  Not while you’re out here alone.

  She blew more fire down upon the raging hydra.

  I can handle this. I’m a wizard.

  Right now you’re a dragon and I’m a dragon. Two dragons are better than one.

  Fine. Aim for the eyes when I say… now!

  Together, hovering above the hydra they blew fire upon the creature, hers red hot flames and his the penetrating coldfire.

  But the hydra’s heads vanished, and then six more appeared.

  Drust snarled, flew down and snapped at one head, tearing it off.

  I wish this thing would just disappear! Lacey yelled in his head.

  Suddenly the hydra vanished. It simply disappeared. Flying downward toward it, unable to stop his trajectory. Drust crashed into the sand, plowing through it with graceless force.

  He shifted back into his human form. Naked he stood, examined his wound. Already healed. Drust clothed himself in board shorts and a blue T-shirt as Lacey landed on the sand nearby, shifting back into her human form. She clothed herself in white shorts and a pink T-shirt and ran toward him.

  “Are you ok?” Her hands prodded his torso and then cupped his face. “I was so worried!”

  Worried about him, an immortal and powerful wizard. He’d have been amused if he wasn’t so perplexed.

  “What happened, Lacey? You wished for the hydra to be gone and it vanished.”

  She ran a hand through her long hair, her brow wrinkled. “I don’t know.”

  He gently gripped her shoulders, finding himself yet again in unknown territory. “Think. What were you doing before you went to the beach to look for shells?”

  Lacey closed her eyes. “Okay, I was taking a nap, but I wasn’t really sleepy and I went looking for you, and you were gone. So I read for a while and then went to the beach because there were people there, and they were searching for shells. Looked like fun.”

  Suspicion filled him. “Show me what you were reading.”

  Inside the house, she picked up the coffee table book and flipped it open. “Here. It looked interesting… hey! That’s the thing that came ashore!”

  She pointed to a three-headed hydra, the mythological creature that had come alive and attacked him.

  “Tell me what you were thinking when you read about the hydra.”

  The book tumbled from her opened hands and spilled onto the carpet. Her green eyes widened. “I wished that myths were real and not fantasy. I thought it was a cool creature and it would be interesting to see it in real life, see if I could defeat it with my dragon powers. Drust, did I do that? And that’s why it vanished when I wished it away?”

  Grimly, he nodded. “Your wishes came true. Be careful of what you wish for.”

  Lacey backed off. “You mean this is something I can’t even control? Unlike the spell I recited from the book?”

  “You must be able to control it. It is magick, and it empowered by you, therefore, you can control it.” He gripped her shoulders. “Focus, Lacey.”

  “How can I focus when every time I wish for something it will happen?” She narrowed her gaze. “I wish you’d get your hands off me.”

  His palms remained on her shoulders. She sighed. “Doesn’t work with you.”

  “I must be immune to it because I’m a wizard.”

  Drust knew magick could go erratic when influenced by other sources. He had to know what was going on. “Conjure an image of something that could never appear in this room without magick. Something benign.”

  Barely had he spoken the words when a pink unicorn with a rainbow tail and a blue horn on its forehead popped into the room. The horse whinnied and shook its head. “Mercy,” she whispered, reaching out to touch the creature. “I was wishing for a unicorn and here it is.”

  “Now wish it away.”

  Seconds later, the unicorn vanished.

  It had to be the book. This was wishing magick gone astray, the wish he’d granted her multiplied ten times to miss up the area. Amplified by something else…

  The book in the sandbox.

  “Have you been in the sandbox?” He searched her face.

  Lacey frowned. “I touched it and something in the sand bit me.”

  Damn. “Before that, did you use the outdoor shower? Think, Lacey!”

  Her gaze widened. “Of course. It’s easy and convenient and …”

  Located right next to the sandbox, where water dripping off her and carrying part of her essence would drift into the cedar wood box containing the book, wetting the pages…

  Activating them.

  “Remain here. Do not leave this room.”

  Drust materialized outside. In the gathering darkness near the outdoor shower, he saw it.

  Granules of sand, shifting, moving upward, as if the sand siphoned energy and then would burst in a catastrophic shower.

  Up, up, the sand rose and it formed a mouth, arms… it began to wail…

  With bursts of coldfire, Drust froze the screeching mass of sand. It kept growing, twisting, the arms elongating as they reached outward. To his shock, he saw small piles of sand gather, form equal shapes. Like demons rising from the bowels of the Dark Lands…

  His magick did little here. Then he remembered the wand.

  Drust retrieved it and returned to the sandbox. In the moment he’d been gone, the sand creature had morphed into a monster ten feet tall, climbing the wall toward Lacey’s bedroom.

  “You shall not have her,” he roared, concentrating all his powers into the slim wooden stick. He flicked the wand.

  Sand exploded, showering him, the ground. He looked at the sandbox and then called up the cedar box holding the book. Not using his hands, he slowly opened the lid.

  The book lay within, its glow fading.

  It was only a matter of time before it powered up again, and sought Lacey the way a moth sought a flame.

  This was too much for him. He called upon Caderyn. The Shadow Wizard immediately appeared, took one look at book and shook his head.

  “The Book of Shadows is turning into a physical form, Caderyn. I could only stop it through this wand Tristan gave me. Even that will not last. What the hell do I do?”

  “It’s morphing and taking form in its desire to be free in the physical world. Demons will use it to gain access to the mortal plane. They will ruin the earth.”

  “Well, damnit, you should have told me this could happen!”

  Caderyn had the grace to look guilty. “I am sorry. I never envisioned it. When I created this book more than a millennia ago, I failed to foresee it would take a life of its own. All the spells within it have their own energy taken from witches living in the Shadow Lands, which makes the Book of Shadows so dangerous. Lacey has witch’s blood, and the book reacted to it, taking her energy to empower itself and take form. You must destroy it, Drust. Lacey as well.”

  “No. Lacey cannot die.”

  The Shadow Wizard did not argue. “There is another reason I am here, Drust. Tristan is in trouble and needs your help. He is at his brother-in-law’s ranch in Montana.”

  Drust’s blood ran cold. “What happened?”

  “He would not say, only urged me to find you and bring you there.”

  Hell and fire. He needed to secure the book first. Lacey would go with him. He would not risk her being alone, not when the other wizards kept urging her demise.

  “How can we mute the power of the book until I return?” he asked Caderyn.

  “I will take care of it and bury it in the ground guarding the entrance to the Shadow Lands near your castle.”

  “Go. Do it while I aid Tristan.”

  “Tis but a temporary solution.” Caderyn
gave him a pitying look. “You know what must happen in the end.”

  He would deal with it when he must “Go. Tristan needs my help.”

  “To me,” Caderyn roared, and the book soared into the air in his hands. The Shadow Wizard gave it a disgusted look. “I wish I had never created it. Witches are clever manipulators. And tis useless regretting the past.”

  With a wave of his hand, the Shadow Wizard vanished.

  Drust buried his face in his hands. To kill Lacey, after discovering she was his soul mate…

  He could not contemplate ending her life. For now, his friend needed him.

  When he returned inside the house, Lacey stood near the sliding glass doors. Fear poured off her in waves. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know… that damn book… it’s my personal albatross. Is that what’s going on? I feel like it’s sinking into me.”

  Drust chose his words carefully. “The book is coming to life, a dark life, and the more it is around you, the more it becomes entangled with your spirit, your soul. Until it sucks it all up and there is nothing of you that remains but pure darkness.”

  Minutes later, he and Lacey materialized at the Mitchell Ranch in Montana. Lupines congregated on the grass near the barn, talking in whispers, looking agitated. Fear shot through the air in a thick miasma. A tall, bearded Lupine with black hair, wearing a cowboy hat and with an air of authority, seemed to be organizing the Lupines.

  Aiden Mitchell. Tristan’s brother-in-law, mate to Nia, Nikita’s twin.

  He couldn’t read the situation, which meant Tristan was using his powers to shield the area.

  That meant it was bad. And personal.

  Tristan stood beneath a sheltering oak tree. No Lupines ventured near him. Little wonder as well, for the Silver Wizard radiated a furious energy, pulsing with rage and grief. Anyone venturing close risked a nasty burn, or worse.

  “Do not follow me. Remain here,” he ordered Lacey.

  Drust approached Tristan with caution, not fearing the crackling energy, for the wizards could not harm each other, but his friend’s turbulent emotions.

  For the first time since Drust had known him as a fellow wizard, Tristan looked utterly stricken, as if someone yanked his immortality from him.

  Or worse – hurt his beloved Nikita.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked in a low, urgent voice.

  Tristan spread out his hands, staring into the distance. “He’s gone. My baby boy. Someone took Keegan.”

  Chapter 19

  The Mitchell Ranch in Montana looked like a lovely, serene place with breathtaking backdrops of jagged mountains and majestic trees and green pastures where horses and cattle grazed. But it was far from serene now.

  Tension threaded through the air as Lacey followed Drust up to the main ranch lodge. Everything had happened so quickly, from the moment Drust told her they had to leave to their arrival here.

  She didn’t know what happened, only Tristan was upset and everyone scrambled together in a search party. Snatches of frantic conversation drifted to her. “Child missing,” and “snatched.”

  A missing child was endangered. Lacey’s heart squeezed tight in her chest. Whoever the child was, he or she meant a great deal to the Silver Wizard.

  Drust did not stop until he reached the third floor and an opened bedroom door. A nursery, she realized, spotting two cribs, two rocking chairs, toy chests and changing tables.

  The crib closest to the opened French doors leading to the balcony was empty. The other crib contained a crying child.

  The air inside the nursery was oppressive and hot. Two beautiful blonde women stood near the doors. One was sobbing, and had an ethereal glow she recognized as immortal. The woman holding the crying woman was her twin. The sour scent of fear mingled with a sweetness that reminded her of lilies, vanilla and innocence.

  Drust went to the sobbing woman and gently drew her away. “Nikita, what happened? I can get no information from Tristan.”

  The woman gulped down a sob. “K-k-egan. He-s-he’s gone. It’s all my fault. My fault! I left him…”

  Fresh, agonizing sobs wrung from Nikita as she buried her face into her hands.

  Drust led her over to the rocking chair, let her sit. Kneeling at her side, rubbing her back, he leveled a look at her twin. “I need details. Now, Nia.”

  Nia blinked back her own tears. “Niki was visiting with the babies while Tristan was on assignment. She’s done it many times before, we have Lupines guarding the hallway and the nursery, our security is the best…”

  “I don’t give a damn about your security. What happened?” Drust snapped.

  Breath hitching, her face blotched and her eyes puffy, Nia pointed outside. “It was the annual Mitchell Ranch picnic to celebrate the round up. We were outside, helping to set up. Our daughter was restless and didn’t want to sleep, so Beth and Dale, Aiden’s niece and our security director, took her for a ride on their horses. The twins were upstairs, napping, the doors open to the breeze. Two of Aiden’s best security Lupines were patrolling the hallway, and another Lupine was outside, below the nursery. He claims he saw nothing. And then Niki, I saw her grow pale and she screamed that one of her twins was gone.

  “We rushed back here and Keegan was missing,” Nia continued.

  From the rocking chair, Nikita raised her tear-streaked face. “I knew there was a risk, there’s always a risk in bringing the twins here to earth. They’re safe in Tir Na-nog, no one can harm them there. But it had been too long since I’d seen Nia, and it was only for two days…”

  Shuddering, Lacey looked around the pretty nursery. In the crib furthest from the doors an adorable blonde toddler gripped the crib rails like prison bars, rocking back and forth, clearly agitated.

  “No one can climb up here! It’s three stories high,” Nia cried out.

  “Not climb,” Drust murmured, his gaze sharp. “But fly.”

  Nia looked bewildered.

  “Dragon,” Lacey interjected. “It was a dragon who took your nephew. We can fly.”

  Niki’s sobs ceased and her blue gaze sharpened. “Impossible. I would have seen a dragon flying overhead. Nia as well. Dragons are only invisible to Skins, not Others like us.”

  Unless the dragon materialized out of nowhere…

  Lacey hoped to hell she was wrong.

  Suddenly the girl in the crib let out a loud, keening wail. “Keegan, Keegan!” She rocked back and forth.

  Drust went to the child’s crib and picked her up. Crooning, he held Kara in his arms.

  Lacey’s chest felt hollow. A missing child was heart wrenching, but the child of two immortals? No telling how valuable Keegan would be to Tristan’s enemies on the black market.

  “Who took your brother, Kara? Who took Keegan?” Drust murmured, smoothing back the girl’s blond hair.

  The child put a finger in her mouth. “Dragon,” she whispered, pointing to Lacey, whose heart dropped to her chest. “Green dragon.”

  All eyes turned to Lacey. She backed away until hitting the wall behind her, holding her hands out in vain. As if she could protect herself from their wrath.

  Only Drust’s gaze remained calm and level. But Niki’s blue eyes turned fiery orange. Power filled the air, crackling and snapping like a live electrical line. Lacey felt the heat of a mother’s outrage and fury, all directed at her, as if Niki wanted to snap her neck.

  Niki was no mere shifter, she realized, but a powerful immortal. Aw damn, I’m toast.

  She wasn’t stupid. Lacey ducked behind Drust, reasoning if Niki was going to toss a fireball or hurl power at her, Drust could absorb the blow.

  This was the one time she knew it was a bad idea to shift into a dragon and fly away.

  “Calm down, Niki. Lacey has been with me the entire time. She did not take your son,” he said in a deep, commanding voice.

  “Then WHO did?” Niki roared.

  Drust handed Kara over to Niki, whose temper suddenly cooled as she cradled her daughter.

  “Smart move,
wizard,” Lacey whispered.

  Fresh tears trickled down the immortal’s cheeks.

  “Mama, mama, no cry,” Kara said, patting her mother’s face. “Find Keegan.”

  Drust centered his gaze on the child. “Kara, honey, tell Uncle Drust what the green dragon looked like. Did it fly with big wings?”

  He stretched out his arms.

  The toddler put a finger in her mouth. “No fly. Crawled in here. No wings.”

  Lacey’s blood ran cold. A dragon without wings? Did that dragon want Tristan and Nikita’s son for some evil purpose, to restore wings?

  “And then what, honey?” Drust asked gently. “What did the dragon do?”

  “Dragon turn into woman. Woman sang and I fell asleep.”

  “That woman is dead,” Niki cried out. “When I find her, if my son is harmed…”

  Drust squeezed her hand. “There is far too much emotion here. We must think logically and clearly if we are to find your son, Niki. Someone had to have alerted the dragon and brought the shifter here in disguise. Nia, are there are any Lupines on your ranch who have shown overt interest in your niece and nephew? Asked questions about your sister and her whereabouts?”

  Nia’s blue gaze widened. “Yes, a couple of them. Three, actually. Jackson, but he’s loyal to the bone, would never hurt a child. Dennis, but he’s our accountant and likes to tally all the expenses and wanted to know if Niki… would require extra care because he’d have to add it into the ranch budget. Then there’s Patrick, who’s been helping out with the ponies we got for the children…”

  “Tell Aiden to gather those three together and question them by the barn. I will be there presently.”

  Still clutching her hand, Drust left the room and they went down the stairs. The living room was deserted. Good place to talk.