by Bianca D’Arc
“Good to know,” John said, frowning. Everything Antoinetta said made sense. A creepy, rage-inducing sort of sense. John was angry that something was actively hunting his people. “Is there anything that can stop the leviathan?” He would make it happen. He would keep his people safe.
“I am sorry to say, such things are probably beyond the power of people like you and me, Alpha. This would require a specialist. Someone—or, more likely, a team of magical beings—with power over the oceans and the creatures within. Do you know any selkies? Really powerful ones?”
“Maybe…” John was thinking fast, wondering who he could call on to help with his sea monster problem.
“I will see if there are any good sea witches operating near you and put you in touch, if you wish. You need specialized help. Do not try to engage the leviathan on your own. Many good men and women have fallen to it over the centuries, but it was banished before. Something freed it now. Probably Venifucus agents. But if we get the right kind of power arrayed against it, it can be banished again.”
“Can’t it be killed?” Tom asked.
“Sadly, no. Not in this realm. It is not of this place, and it is still tied to its place of origin. Or so it is believed. It can be sent back there, but not killed here while its being resides elsewhere—half-in and half-out of our plane of existence.”
“I think that’s above my pay grade, but an interesting problem,” Tom said with a grim chuckle. “Would a priestess help?”
“Perhaps…” Antoinetta seemed to think about it. “It couldn’t hurt to have someone casting protective spells on your side. It might at least prevent attacks like what happened to that girl walking on the beach. You could ask the Ricolettis to help. They would easily be able to cast such wards.”
“Do you think we can trust them?” Tom asked. John wouldn’t necessarily take the word of this woman he’d only just met by phone, but Tom knew her and obviously trusted her.
It spoke well of her that she’d saved Tom’s life, and for that reason, John was giving her words a lot more weight than he normally would on such short acquaintance.
“Ricolettis? Of course, you should trust them. They are one of the oldest and most respected families in our tradition. Those girls would not have been granted the privilege of using that family name without first proving their worth. They’ve been tested and trained by the best. They are on the right side of things. The Ricolettis have always served the Light.” Antoinetta’s tone was one of shock that such a thing would even be questioned, but then again, she knew all about the Ricoletti heritage.
The idea of families passing down those kinds of traditions was foreign to John. Sure, shifter cubs were born of shifter parents, but free will dictated how each child would turn out—much like with humans. There were good and bad shifters, though most were taught respect and worship of the Goddess. But some chose other paths, and John had learned to judge each shifter on his or her own merits and actions.
“Thank you for speaking so freely with us,” John said politely, meaning every word. He sensed a new alliance might be in the works, and if Antoinetta’s dire predictions came true, alliances of every shape and size would be needed in the days to come. “If you ever travel to the States, I hope you’ll consider paying a visit to Grizzly Cove.”
“I am honored by the invitation, Alpha,” Antoinetta said with due respect. She probably knew what a big step it was for him to invite her into his domain. “And if you ever find yourself in Italy, I hope you will visit with me. I would love to meet the man strong enough to earn Thomas’s loyalty.”
John could hear the true admiration in her voice for Tom. That earned her a few brownie points as far as John was concerned. He surrounded himself with strong bears on purpose. His men made him a better leader. Their excellence kept him striving to be better—to be worthy of being their leader.
They ended the call after exchanging a few more pleasantries, and Tom shared his big news about finding his mate, to suitable jubilation from his strega friend. Tom had managed to surprise John with the connection to an honest-to-goodness witch. John had thought he’d known everything about his men and their pasts, but it seemed there were still a few things to learn. In a way, John liked that. It would keep him on his toes.
When Tom finally hit the end button on his phone, he sat back and just looked at John, waiting for him to speak. John let him wait while he thought everything through.
“What’s your current assessment of Antoinetta’s trustworthiness?” John asked in a rapid-fire way that he’d often used as the leader of his Spec Ops warriors. Old habits died hard, it seemed.
“She’s true blue, John. She has never steered me wrong, and I still owe her for saving my life. I’ve kept tabs on her all these years, and she’s never done anything to make me question what team she plays for. She’s on our side. No doubt in my mind.”
The tone of Tom’s reply, even more than the words, told John of the strength of Tom’s belief in his connection with the foreign witch. It seemed John was going to have to trust to Tom’s judgment once again. That wasn’t unusual, but after Tom’s failure to discover the true nature of the Ricolettis before they moved in, it was a little hard to swallow.
“All right.” John had made his decision. “We’ll follow Antoinetta’s advice for the moment. I’m going to ask the Ricoletti sisters to add magical protections to the cove. Depending on how they respond to that request, we’ll see where we go from there.”
Tom stood, no doubt hearing the dismissal in John’s voice. “If you need me to talk to them, I’d like a chance to make up for my mistake. I’m going to add a new requirement to the application process for new residents and business owners. We’re going to have to find some way to test them for magic. I hadn’t really considered it before, and that’s my bad. I’m sorry I failed you, Alpha. It won’t happen again.”
John appreciated Tom’s contrition, but his anger had dissipated during the call to Italy. “Don’t sweat it, Tommy. None of us considered the idea that a magic user would actually petition to live here. We all overlooked that, and now, we’ve learned our lesson. Figure out the best way to unobtrusively have new candidates screened for magic and present your plan at the next council meeting. Nobody new is coming in until this is settled.”
Tom agreed and took off, leaving John in his office to think over his options.
There was nothing for it. He was going to have to talk to the Ricoletti sisters again. The problem wouldn’t get solved until he started the ball rolling. And if he found his inner bear sitting up and taking interest in the idea that he’d soon see Ursula again, John tried not to notice.
“You’ve done it now,” Urse said to her sister once she’d calmed down. “They’re probably going to run us out of town on a rail.”
“And you think it would have gone any better if we’d gone to them on bended knee the way you wanted? Either way, they were going to be pissed,” Mellie argued unapologetically.
“The way this came out made us look really bad, Mel. It was really embarrassing.”
“Oh, get over it, Urse. Mr. Cutey Mayor was going to find out either way. What difference does it make how it happened? Or did you honestly think either of us stood half a chance with a guy like that?” Mellie scoffed.
Her words hurt, striking a little too close to truth for Urse’s peace of mind. She bit her tongue, not saying a word, which in itself, spoke volumes.
“Oh, shit, Urse. The mayor? Really?” Mellie’s tone was sympathetic, but Urse couldn’t stomach her pity right now.
Urse hadn’t even really realized that she was interested in John Marshall. Not until the shit had hit the fan, and she’d been outed right in front of him. She’d wanted to dig a hole and bury her head in the sand right then and there, but of course, she couldn’t. She’d been stuck there, feeling like an idiot and watching all her half-formed dreams crash around her.
Urse set down the books she’d been sorting and walked out of the shop. She needed air,
and she needed to get away from her sister. Mellie had a way of grating on her nerves every once in a while, and this was definitely one of those times.
She heard Mellie call after her, but she couldn’t deal with her right now. Urse ignored her as she walked across the street and headed for the picnic area by the beach.
It was empty, of course. Everyone in town had been told to stay away from the beach for some reason that wasn’t too clear to Urse, but she didn’t care much for vague warnings at the moment. She wanted a little peace, and maybe the wash of the waves would help wash her worries away. At least for a little while.
Urse walked parallel to the shore, listening to the waves, feeling the tears that were a mixture of the action of the wind in her face and, if she was being honest, more than a little regret for those half-formed dreams that would now never be.
She didn’t know how long she walked along the beach before she sensed something…wrong. She stopped short and found herself backing away from the shore. There was something really wrong out there in the water.
Urse had no idea what it could be, but she knew to trust her instincts, and she started backpedaling as fast as she could, heading back the way she’d come as far up the beach as she could get from the water’s edge. All the while, she called on all the protective magics she knew that she could cast quickly and while on the move.
It wasn’t the most effective defense in the world, but when the water started churning about twenty feet out into the cove and then stopped short about fifteen feet away, not coming any closer, she was glad she’d thought to cast any wards at all. She was running now, heading back to the picnic area at her top speed, which wasn’t all that fast, since she wasn’t much of an athlete.
She kept one eye on the water, watching the churning spot follow her progress as she moved back toward the center of town, where she could get off the beach entirely. Unfortunately, she’d walked so far around the cove, she’d stumbled near heavily wooded private property. She feared getting lost in the woods and encountering one of the residents in bear form more than the threat in the water at the moment, so she ran around to where the trees cleared and the town brushed up against the apex of the cove.
As soon as she could run off the beach and into town, she would. Even if the closest route would take her right past city hall…and the mayor’s office.
Then again, maybe she needed to stop there and report what she sensed. Now that the cat was out of the bag, it would be irresponsible of her not to report this event to someone. Maybe she could talk to the sheriff. His office was in the same building. She saw the break in the trees drawing closer just as her ward failed, and she made a run for it.
Looking over her shoulder as she ran, she saw massive tentacles reaching out of the water toward her, but with any luck, she’d be out of range. A thundering crash behind her sent up a cloud of sand and shook the ground beneath her as she continued to run.
“Holy shit!” she cursed, even as she ran for her life.
Thank the benevolent Goddess, she was just out of range of that thing. Whatever the hell it was! She had no choice but to tell somebody in charge about this incident. She ran for city hall as if the hounds of hell—or at least their giant freaking octopus cousins—were on her tail.
“What the hell?” John felt the earth shake as he sat at his desk, contemplating how he was going to approach the Ricoletti sisters.
He stood and rushed out front to the reception area. The sheriff, Brody, was already there, talking on his radio to Zak, his deputy. From the sound of the transmissions, neither of them knew what was going on.
“Earthquake?” Brody offered as he finished speaking with Zak.
“Too short. That was something hitting the ground,” John replied as he headed to the window. What he saw when he looked out had his jaw dropping, and then, he sprang into action.
He leapt toward the door and opened it just as Ursula Ricoletti reached it. She ran through without stopping, and he slammed it behind her, looking out at the mess in the water some distance away. No doubt about it, she’d riled something up out there, and it wasn’t happy.
But first things first.
“Are you okay?” John snapped out. Ursula was leaning heavily against the front desk, breathing hard. She was definitely winded but looked otherwise whole. “Did it touch you?”
She shook her head, still unable to form words as she tried to recover. John breathed a small sigh of relief, quickly replaced by anger that she’d come so close to being hurt.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from the water? Dammit, Ursula, that thing would have loved to snack on you. It’s attracted to magic!”
She glared up at him, bent over and breathing hard.
“Nobody said there was a fucking sea monster in the cove!” she rasped out between heavy breaths.
The profanity washed over him and made him step back. She must be really riled to use such language, and that fact apparently wasn’t lost on Brody either. John met the sheriff’s raised eyebrows and jerked his head, ordering him silently to vamoose.
Brody took the hint and headed outside. “Just going to check the perimeter,” he said needlessly as he left.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to berate you,” John said gently as he calmed down. She was safe. He had to keep reminding his inner bear, she was safe.
“Well, it would have been nice to know why we were being warned off,” she added, starting to catch her breath. “I’m sorry. I was upset with my sister, and I just wanted to take a walk. I didn’t think it would be dangerous. Not like that.” She straightened and wiped the light sheen of sweat on her forehead with one hand. She smelled of fear and delicate exertion.
While John didn’t like the scent of fear on her, his inner bear wanted to bask in the warm scent of her sweat. She smelled like honey and spice to his wilder side, and that kind of thing could easily get addictive.
“It’s okay,” he said, walking closer to her as they both calmed a bit more. “We argued about what to tell you and your sister when we thought you were human. Now that we know you know about magic…” he trailed off.
“Yeah, now we really need to know about the really pissed off magic sea monster in the cove. In fact, it would have been good to know about this about an hour ago,” she quipped, regaining a bit of the humor he’d come to expect from her in their brief encounters.
“I’m sorrier than I can say,” John said softly, coming to stand right in front of her. “And I’m glad you’re okay. Are you sure it didn’t hurt you?”
She chuckled. “You probably should ask if I hurt it,” she surprised him by saying, some of her spirit returning. “Give me another crack at that bastard when I’m prepared, and I’ll do my best to kick its ass.”
John had to chuckle with her. She looked so ladylike, it was kind of nice to learn she had a temper. With the long, wavy black hair, deep brown eyes and a light complexion, she had a sort of Snow White thing going on. She looked very regal and delicate, and absolutely stunning. In fact, John thought she might just be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in real life.
Finding out that she cussed when she was scared was amusing. It also made her seem a little more approachable. As did, perversely, her temper. John liked a woman to have fire, and Ursula was showing not just fire but white-hot incendiary flames burned within her, just waiting for an occasion to let loose.
He liked it. And his bear wanted to rub up against her silky long hair and drown in her luscious scent. Down, boy.
“You may get your wish,” John said, doing his best to focus. He was relieved that she’d brought up the subject he’d been contemplating before her abrupt, and rather dramatic, arrival. “In fact, I was sitting in my office, trying to figure out how to talk to you about this very thing.”
She looked up at him, her expression droll. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope.” He smiled at her, feeling his heart lighten for no discernible reason. “Turns out, one of my guys i
s very well acquainted with one of your people.”
“A Ricoletti?”
“No, but she is a strega. From Italy. We talked long distance about you and your family, and she vouched for the Ricolettis.”
“You don’t say?” She looked impressed, and pleasantly surprised.
“I asked this lady about our little sea creature problem, and she suggested I ask you and your sister to cast some magical protections around the cove, if you’re willing.” He squinted, realizing he was asking a lot of her on short notice.
Ursula slumped against the desk, leaning back a bit, just looking at him.
“Look, I know it’s a big ask, but you’ve seen what we’re up against. The strega I just spoke with said it might be a leviathan—an evil, magical creature from another realm that cannot be killed, only contained. I have some specialist help coming—eventually—to try to banish it, but for now, we need some strong magical protections around the cove to try to prevent more attacks on land.”
“More? This has happened before?”
“Not quite as dramatically,” John replied, smiling a bit. “But yeah. Tina Baker was accosted a while back by a smaller version of what came after you just now. It reached out of the water and twined around her leg. Zak went bear on its ass and ripped the tentacle off. We sent it off for analysis, but we kept a chunk on ice, if you want to see it.”
Ursula made a face. “That’s probably more my sister’s domain, but we should both probably take a look.”
“Why would your sister be more interested?” John asked, surprised.
“Oh.” She blinked a few times. “Yeah, well, we’re all a little…uh…individual in our talents. I’m better at spoken or chanted spellwork. Mellie does potions. She could probably use a little bit of that frozen piece of yuck to work up a counter-spell. I’m your girl for casting wards. In fact, I plan to start as soon as I recover. That thing isn’t getting its suckers near anyone else on my watch.” She sounded determined, which John respected.
