Witch's Mate

by Alicia Montgomery

  Brenda bowed her head and left them.

  Liam motioned for Jade and Lara to take the seats closest to the head of the conference table. He took his jacket off and hung it in the closet in the side and then took his seat. Opening the laptop in front of him, he fired up the videoconferencing software.

  “Grant,” he greeted as the large screen on the other end of the room flickered to life. It projected the Fenrir main conference room in New York, where Grant, Nick Vrost with his wife Cady, Alynna, and her husband Alex Westbrooke, sat around a large table.

  “We’re patching in Vivianne,” Grant said, holding up a finger to signal for them to wait. A second later, a smaller screen popped up in the corner with Vivianne Chatraine’s face.

  “Good, we’re all here,” Grant said. “Now, what’s the matter?”

  “We just came back from examining the bodies at the forensics lab,” Liam explained. “Lara? What did you need to tell us?”

  “You go first, Jade,” Lara said, sucking in a breath. “Tell them what we found out.”

  With a nod, Jade began to explain her findings and what Captain Wu had told them about Marshall Aimes. She also pulled up the pictures she took on her camera. She tapped on her pad and projected the picture of Aimes’ body. “And he had this carved on his chest.”

  A gasp came from Vivianne’s screen. Her green eyes went wide. “Lara,” she called her daughter. “You saw that?”

  Lara nodded. “Is it what I think it is, Mother?”

  The older witch’s face went grim, her eyes darkening. “I think so. What did you feel?”

  “It was…awful,” she choked out. “I could feel the magic, seeping from him. But it didn’t come from him.”

  “That’s the second time you said that,” Jade observed. “What does that mean? And what is that symbol? I’ve been trying to reverse image search it, but it’s not online or on any academic database.”

  Vivianne sighed. “You won’t find it on any database. It’s an ancient symbol, found only in our books.”

  “What does it mean?” Grant asked.

  “It’s the symbol for control,” Vivianne frowned. “And those two symbols beside it? Power and blood.”

  “Why does Marshall Aimes have these symbols carved on his chest?” Liam asked, dreading the answer.

  “Because someone used it to control him. They carved those symbols, tied his soul to theirs and directed him to kill Maeve and Alfred Williams,” Lara finished, her voice trembling. “I could feel it. Their magic surrounding him, but it wasn’t coming from him. He was…human. A normal human, made into their puppet. Made to kill.”

  There was silence from both sides. Someone finally spoke up. “How could they do this?” Nick asked. Beside him, his wife Cady visibly paled and he put an arm around her.

  “Blood magic, of course,” Vivianne said. “Something like this could only be accomplished by blood magic. I mean, I don’t know the details. Such kinds of magic are forbidden to us. A few centuries ago, witches destroyed most of the writings and teachings that had to do with blood magic and anything that would cause harm to other creatures. The only texts we have now are informational, not instructional.”

  “But Stefan and his mages somehow managed to find out how to do it,” Grant pointed out.

  “You can’t totally destroy information,” Vivianne replied. “We do our best, but still, there will be pockets of knowledge left. I suspect Stefan has been gathering what he can and probably he and his mages were able to figure it out on their own.”

  “How do we stop it?” Liam asked.

  Vivianne’s brows knitted. “I’ll have to consult with other witches and the Witch Assembly. I’ll come to New York and bring some of our books, maybe Dr. Cross can use them.”

  Jade frowned. “We should get back to the lab as soon as possible. I need to start working on something that will counter this.”

  “We need start working on it,” Lara said, straightening up in her chair.

  “We all will,” Grant said. “You’ll have whatever resources you need at your disposal.”

  “As well as mine,” Liam stated.

  “You and I will take these findings to the Lycan High Council,” Grant said to Liam. “They have to listen to us, now that the mages are involving humans.” Revealing their secret to the world could mean disaster for the Lycans.

  “I’ll set up a meeting with them right away,” Liam agreed. “I’ll start letting my people know.”

  “Mine too. We have a lot to discuss. We’ll keep in touch, Liam.”

  “Will do. I’ll have the jet bring back Dr. Cross and Ms. Chatraine to New York first thing in the morning.”

  After their final goodbyes, the screen faded to black and the room filled with silence.

  “Blood magic…controlling humans.” Jade shook her head. “I don’t even know where to begin. How does that even happen? How can we stop it?”

  “You’ll find a way, Jade,” Lara said reassuringly. “You’re brilliant. You figured out how to suppress our powers.”

  “I almost did,” Jade sighed. “The power suppressing bracelet still isn’t perfect.”

  “But you’ll get it working.” Lara smiled, placing an arm around her shoulders. “And we’ll get back to New York and work on this and stop them, right?”

  Before Jade could answer, the door to the waiting room opened and Brenda came in with a tray of coffee. “Primul,” she said, placing the tray on the table. “Mrs. Henney would like to know if the guests will be staying for dinner.”

  Liam frowned. “How did she…never mind.” Of course his mother knew everything that happened around the house. In fact, she knew everything that happened in the city. “Yes, well…” He turned to Lara and Jade. “I know it’s been a long and terrible day. But I’d love it if you would come to dinner tonight, before you leave in the morning. My mother would be thrilled to have you.”

  “Of course, Alpha,” Jade said. Lara’s head snapped to her friend, and she gave her a strange look.

  “It’s settled then.” Liam stood up. “My driver will bring you back to the hotel so you can rest and freshen up. He’ll wait for you and be at your disposal if you need to run any errands, and bring you back here by 6:30 p.m.”

  “Thank you for the invitation.” Jade gave him a small nod.

  ***

  “Why did you have to say yes to dinner?” Lara admonished Jade later when they were alone in the car. “Shouldn’t we be on our way back to New York by now?”

  “That wasn’t a request, Lara,” Jade said matter-of-factly. “You do not turn down an invitation from an Alpha and his mother when you’re in their city, much less their home. Akiko Henney is still Lupa of San Francisco, at least until Liam marries. She’s practically queen of this territory. Besides, my mother will definitely find out if we turned her down, and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  Lara had never met Jade’s mother, but from the stories she heard, she sounded like a big pain in the ass. “Fine,” she grumbled. “One dinner. Can’t hurt, right?”

  The driver dropped them off at the lobby and handed his card to them, telling them to call him if they needed him. Lara went straight to her room, plopped herself down on her bed and let out a loud groan.

  Just what I need. Dinner with Liam Henney and his mother in their beautiful mansion. She didn’t mean to break down in front of him today, but she felt sick and weak and Liam’s presence seemed to calm her. He chased away those awful images in her head and made her feel safe.

  Not sure what to do, she drew a bath, filling the deep Japanese-style tub with warm water and bubbles. She took off her clothes, piled her hair on top of her head, and stepped into the tub. It was nice to relax after the events of that morning. She closed her eyes and let the warm water and fragrant scent of the bubble bath soothe her. Just one dinner, and then she would leave San Francisco and avoid Liam Henney as much as possible. She had no other choice, and it was for his own good.

  Though it would cause her
pain, she had to remind herself why she and Liam couldn’t be together. She opened her mind, willing the memories to come back.

  “I love you, Lara.” His voice, low and gentle, sent thrills up her spine. Soft brown eyes looked down at her. “I mean it.”

  Lara gasped, and then a smile spread across her lips. “I love you, too, Jonathan,” she whispered back, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him down for a kiss. His beard was rough against her delicate skin, but she didn’t care. After a long, deep kiss, he reluctantly pulled away.

  “I should go, I’ll be late for work.” Jonathan worked as bricklayer for a construction company, and his shift for the day was about to begin.

  “We’re right across from the site,” she giggled. They met a few weeks ago, when he and his buddies stopped in the bar where she worked. Unlike most of the men in their town, he was actually polite and kind, helping her out when she dropped a whole tray of glasses while she was cleaning up. He came back the next night, and the day after that, and after a week of stopping in for after work drinks, he finally asked her out. She said yes immediately and they went out to dinner the next day.

  Jonathan was a true gentleman, never pushy, and took his time with her. She found herself falling for the kind and patient man, and after a few weeks of dating, she gave him her virginity. That was last night, and she still felt giddy, hours after they slept together.

  “Still, the foreman’s gonna be on my ass if I’m even five minutes late,” he huffed but pulled her closer. “I’ll see you tonight?”

  “Yes, of course,” she replied and reluctantly let go of him. “Now go to work.”

  He gave her one last kiss and turned around, walking towards the construction site. As Lara watched him retreat, a chilly gust of wind blasted over her. Strange. She shrugged and pulled her sweater around herself tighter.

  “Lara!” Jonathan called as he turned around to face her. He waved at her.

  She froze, seeing him. No. It couldn’t be. “Jonathan!” she cried out. “No!”

  It happened so fast, in the blink of an eye. The out of control blue and white pickup truck seemingly came from nowhere and hit Jonathan so hard, his body bounced off the front and sent it flying off. Lara rushed to him, and all she remembered was that he was lying so still, it was like he was just sleeping.

  The next few days were a blur and later her mother told her she had been in a catatonic state throughout the whole thing, from the time the paramedics came until the funeral a few days later. She shut down, unable to sleep or eat, Vivianne forcing her to get out of bed each day. Finally, when Vivianne was at the end of her patience, Lara told her what she had been dreading to admit.

  “I saw it,” she said, sobbing in her mother’s arms. It was the first time she let herself cry. “Days before it happened, I saw it in a dream. Jonathan telling me he loved me. Him crossing the street and turning around to wave at me and the pickup hitting him. It happened exactly as it did in my dream! Even the color of the truck was the same! Over and over again, the dream came to me.”

  Vivianne embraced her tight, soothing her and rubbing her back. “Darling…I’m sorry…I…”

  “Why, Mother? I don’t understand! Why did it happen?”

  Her mother sighed and pulled away from her. “I should have…I’m sorry Lara. There’s something you should know. Something I should have shown you as soon as you discovered your powers.”

  Vivianne left her but came back a few minutes later. She was holding an old leather-bound book. “This belonged to your grandmother Elise. Her diary. You need to read it.”

  Lara took the old diary from her mother’s hand, holding it against her chest. “I don’t understand.”

  “You will,” Vivianne said sadly. “And I’m sorry. So sorry for not telling you earlier.”

  It took Lara a day to finish reading the diary. It was filled with passages about Elise’s life before she was married. Lara was puzzled, not sure what she was supposed to read. About halfway through, she found the pages that gave her the answers she needed.

  Elise talked about one of her sisters, Mira, who was a blessed witch and had the power to make the ground shake. Mira met a young man named Thomas, and they fell in love. However, before they could get married, Thomas died in a fire at the factory where he worked. Mira confessed to Elise that she had seen the whole thing in a dream, how Thomas had suffered, and the details in her dream were exactly as it had happened in real life.

  Elise Chatraine’s words in her elegant handwriting haunted Lara, and she memorized the passage by heart: “Was being a blessed witch really more of a curse? Did the power come with a price, and is my sister, and others like her, doomed to cause the death of the men who love them?”

  She didn’t know if it was true, but magic always had a price. Mother Nature didn’t give without taking in return. And she took Jonathan from Lara.

  Lara was drowning. Water filled her lungs, and she couldn’t breathe. Her arms flailed, feeling the cold porcelain, and used it to hoist herself above the water. Choking and gasping, she grasped the sides of the tub, coughing water out of her lungs to let the air in.

  She had fallen asleep, and the water had gone stone cold. She stood up, grabbing her towel and wrapping it around her.

  “Shit!” she cursed. As she glanced at the clock in her room, she realized she had been in the tub so long that she only had an hour to get ready for dinner. It was too late to back out now. She spied the green dress hanging in the closet of her hotel room. There was no way she could go out and buy another outfit or borrow one from Jade. With a sigh, she began to brush her hair and prepare for dinner.

  Chapter Eight

  Lara met up with Jade in the lobby of the hotel. She saw the other woman as she was getting out of the elevator, dressed in a long-sleeved navy dress and plain black pumps. She suddenly felt overdressed in her green dress, black stockings, and stiletto heels.

  “Shit, I should change,” she said as Jade approached her.

  “You’ll be fine,” the Lycan said, rolling her eyes. “I should have asked you to help me pick out something to wear.” She looked down at her drab dress, which looked even more dull next to Lara’s vibrant outfit.

  “So, are you finally going to let me give you a makeover?” Lara joked. Since they became friends, she’d been dying to help Jade revamp her closet, as well as her hair and makeup. Jade was beautiful, with her delicate English rose coloring, long wavy brown hair that came down to her waist, and pretty plump lips. Her green eyes were so pale, they were almost yellow and had flecks of gold in the middle. Unfortunately, the Lycan scientist preferred to hide behind her glasses, didn’t wear a stitch of makeup, and dressed like she was still nine years old on most days. Lara would often shake her head at her friend when she showed up to work in slacks or a skirt that fell below her knees, a long-sleeved shirt or frilly blouse, and ballerina flats or her well-worn red Converse high tops.

  Jade was also painfully shy, preferring to hide behind her work and her brains. Lara could relate with that, though, as she was also shy as a child, but she quickly got over that when she started working as a waitress in a diner in their small town.

  “Over my dead body,” Jade snorted. “I don’t need a makeover.”

  Lara observed that at least tonight, she had actually put a little bit of effort in her appearance, her hair in an artful French braid and her lips shiny with her favorite pink lip gloss. “Whatever you say,” the witch laughed. “Someday, you might be begging me for one.”

  “Let’s get this over with,” Jade said impatiently. “I just want to get back to New York as soon as possible.”

  She knew how her friend was feeling, though Jade was probably eager to get back to her lab and start working. Lara, on the other hand, was anxious to put as many miles between her and Liam Henney as possible.

  The driver was waiting for them outside, as he promised. The traffic in San Francisco wasn’t as bad as New York, and after traversing Van Ness Avenue, they arrived in t
he Pacific Heights district.

  Lara gasped as they approached Gracie Manor. The mansion was even more beautiful at night. All the lights were on, and the famous San Francisco fog rolled over it slowly, covering it in a billowy white mist. It looked ethereal, magical almost.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Jade asked. “I heard rumors some tech billionaire was recently trying to buy it from the Henneys. He offered a ridiculous amount, ten times the value of the house, but they wouldn’t sell.”

  “Well, why would they?” Lara said in a hushed tone.

  The driver pulled into the front driveway, beside the main entrance. He opened the door to home and gestured to marble steps leading up to a set of double doors. “They’re already expecting you, Dr. Cross, Ms. Chatraine, so go right ahead. The butler will greet you.”

  “Thank you.” Lara nodded and followed Jade up the steps.

  They were about to ring the doorbell when it opened. An older man dressed in a black suit opened it.

  “Good evening, Dr. Cross, Ms. Chatraine,” the man greeted. “Dinner will be ready in--”

  Loud barking and the sound of paws padding across the hardwood floors interrupted the butler. A brown and black beast came barreling down the hall, running towards Lara and Jade, tongue hanging out of its maw. Jade let out a yelp, quickly stepping away from the behemoth, and Lara stepped in front of her friend. Large paws bounded up, nearly knocking Lara down as a wet tongue scraped across her cheek.

  “Hugo!” Liam’s voice boomed across the hallway. “Hugo! Down!”

  Hugo the beast bowed down, cowering low as Liam approached them. It let out a whine, looking up at its master with woeful eyes.

  “Are you OK?” Liam asked Lara, his eyes full of concern.

  “No worries.” Lara bent down and patted Hugo on his head, giving him a scratch. “I think he was just excited, aren’t you, boy?”

  Hugo hopped up, seemingly agreeing with her. He licked her hand, rubbing his nose against her arm.

  “Hmmm, he’s not normally this friendly,” Liam observed. He kneeled down next to her, and then rubbed Hugo’s head with both hands. “I think he likes you,” he said, his electric blue eyes dancing in amusement.