Witch's Mate

by Alicia Montgomery

  The solution to her problem came that same day. They were having brunch at the hotel, when an older woman approached their table. She was attractive for sure, with long blonde hair and wearing the tightest dress Lara had ever seen.

  “Alpha! How lovely to see you!”

  Liam whipped his head around to see who was intruding on them, putting on his fiercest scowl. When his eyes landed on the woman, he jerked his hand away from Lara’s.

  “Belinda! How have you been?”

  Lara could feel the older woman’s eyes on her, and when she looked up, there was a faint glow in them. Lycan.

  “I’m great! So,” Belinda’s eyes flickered over to Lara, “who’s your…companion?”

  “This is Ms. Lara Chatraine,” Liam said quickly. “Lara, this is Belinda Martin.”

  “How do you do?” Belinda’s red-painted lips curled into a smile, and she extended her hand towards the witch.

  “Nice to meet you.” Lara gave her a smile just as sweet as they shook hands.

  Belinda turned her gaze back to Liam. “How is your mother? I haven’t seen her since we bumped into each other at the opera!”

  “She’s doing well,” Liam answered, his voice tense.

  She gave Lara a cursory glance. “Well then, I’ll leave you to your meal. Enjoy.” With one last predatory smile at Liam, the older woman walked away.

  “So, is she…your friend?” Lara asked cautiously.

  “Er, my mother’s friend. And a member of the clan.”

  “Oh.” Lara took a sip of her coffee and looked away,

  “Lara, listen,” he began. “I need to tell you-”

  “Can we go back to the room now?” she said in a terse voice.

  “Lara, please.” He took her hands in his and rubbed her palms.

  She yanked her hands back. “I’m tired, and I’m getting a headache. Why don’t you finish your brunch? I’m going to go back.” She stood up and left him staring at her.

  Lara tightened her fists, mustering the courage to do what had to be done. She could hear Liam calling after her but ignored him. There was no way she was going to do this in the lobby of the hotel. She quickly stepped into the elevator, hitting the ‘close’ button even as Liam was running towards her.

  She ran to the suite, flinging the door open and stalking towards the bedroom. Grabbing her small suitcase, she began to pack her things.

  “Lara, what the hell was that about?”

  The anger in Liam’s voice was obvious, but she continued to put her things in the suitcase.

  “And what the fuck are you doing?” Liam strode to her, grabbing her things and taking them out of the suitcase.

  “Don’t cuss at me!” she hissed and began to repack.

  “Shit! Sorry!” He ran his fingers through his hair. “What’s going on? Talk to me, please!”

  Lara slammed the suitcase cover down. “Tell me Liam why are we here? Is this where you bring all the girls you sleep with, when you’re hiding them away from everyone?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  The idea came to her in an instant. When Liam jerked away from her when Belinda saw them, she knew this was her chance. I’m sorry, Liam. “That…that woman! She knows your mother, she’s part of your clan!”

  “Yes, and so what?”

  “Are you ashamed of me? Is that why you put me up here like some…some…dirty little secret?”

  “No! I mean…” He went quiet. “It’s not what you think!”

  “Well, then tell me! No, wait, never mind, I don’t want to know!”

  “Lara,” he pleaded. “I can’t…I don’t know…”

  Oh God. There was some truth to what she said. Sure, she was the one who brought it up, but it still hurt. “I don’t know either, Liam! I don’t know what we’re doing! I think it’s time we faced the truth. This isn’t going anywhere, and we should just end things before either of us gets hurt.” Too late. “I’m going back to New York.”

  “No!” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “No, Lara, We can talk about this!”

  She wrenched herself away from his grasp. “There is nothing to talk about!” Lara grabbed her suitcase and started for the door.

  “Lara, don’t go.”

  The sincerity in Liam’s voice made her heart ache so bad. But she had to do this. For Liam.

  “Goodbye, Liam.”

  ***

  Lara headed to San Francisco Airport and took the first flight back to New York. Unfortunately, the only seat that was open was in First Class. It cost her an arm and a leg, but it was worth it. She wanted to get away from Liam as soon as possible.

  “Would you like your meal now, Ms. Chatraine?” The friendly flight attendant was looking down at her, waiting for an answer.

  “I don’t…” Her stomach gurgled in hunger. “I mean, yes, please…uh…”

  “The name’s Cheryl, Miss. Would you like the steak or the lobster?”

  “Er, the lobster, I suppose.”

  The flight attendant nodded and walked back to the galley.

  Lara relaxed back into her comfy leather chair, glad that she had some privacy in her First Class seat. A few minutes later, Cheryl came back with a tray with her meal. She scarfed it down but waved away the wine she was offered. She wrinkled her nose. Ugh, the thought of alcohol made her nauseous.

  “Excuse me.” She stopped the flight attendant. “Uhm, actually I’d like the steak too.” Why not? She was paying for the flight out of pocket.

  “Of course.”

  Pushing the tray away, Lara took a deep breath. Eating her feelings seemed to be working, or at least it distracted her from thoughts of Liam. The pain her middle slashed at her. His handsome face swam into her consciousness, how he looked when she left that morning. Did this morning really happen? Sitting in the cabin of the plane, it seemed like a million years ago. Only the pain in her heart told her it was real. She told herself she was doing it for him. To keep him alive and away from the curse she carried.

  “Ms. Chatraine?” Cheryl said as she stood beside her, tray in hand.

  “Thank you, Cheryl.” Well, might as well enjoy the steak.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The next day, Lara showed up to work bright and early. Sure, she looked like shit, since she didn’t sleep at all, but there were things to do. The mages hadn’t retaliated yet, but they would strike back somehow. If they had the power to control humans, they were probably raising another army. Plus, who else could they control? The President? Other world leaders? On the grand scale of things, there were far more important matters than her broken heart.

  “Good morning, witch,” Meredith greeted, raising her cup. “Wow, you look awful!”

  Lara wasn’t in the mood this morning, so she waved her hand at the Lycan, sending the paper cup in her hand tumbling. The Lycan screamed as the hot liquid spread across her shirt, staining the white fabric like a milky brown abstract painting.

  “I suppose I deserve that,” the Lycan called as she pulled at her shirt, the fabric making sucking sounds. “Sonofa…I’m gonna have to bring this to a professional!”

  “Send me the bill.” She smirked, then walked up to stairs to the inner lab, where she knew Jade was probably waiting for her.

  “Oh good, you’re here!” Jade said. “Milly didn’t show up today, and Meredith is no help at all.”

  Lara frowned. Jade looked just about as good as she did. Dark smudges under her eyes, her hair in disarray. “Did you stay up all night?”

  “Too busy,” Jade grumbled. She walked to the corner and took something out of the soldering table. “Here you go! Mark 32!”

  “Thirty-two?” Lara asked in surprised tone. “What the hell, Jade? Weren’t you working on Mark 15 the last time?”

  “Yeah, I had to accelerate a bit.”

  “You worked on seventeen versions of the bracelet all night?”

  “No, silly,” Jade said flippantly. “I’ve been working on them all weekend.”

  “
What? Didn’t Meredith tell you to go home?” She came closer and gave her hair a sniff. “When was the last time you showered?

  “I don’t remember. And why would she? At least she didn’t have to go back to her cell.”

  Lara slapped her palm on her face. “All right, let’s get to work. But you’re going home after this one last test.”

  Jade began to tell her about the improvements she made on the bracelet. It all went over her head, of course, but she didn’t need to understand the finer details. She just had to make sure it worked so they could use it on the mages.

  “Well, let’s test this baby out.” She held her arm out and let Jade put the bracelet on her.

  “After you.” Jade pointed to the giant glass tube in the corner. They had constructed the special chamber for testing the bracelet. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

  “All right,” Jade put her safety glasses on. “The cameras are on…go!”

  Lara took a deep breath and concentrated on the pieces of paper at her feet. She spread her fingers, imagining the air currents around her, willing them to make the paper fly. Nothing. She tried again, concentrating harder, and squeezed her eyes shut. Still nothing. The power she usually felt coursing through her was still there, but it was like it wouldn’t listen to her commands. The bracelet was dampening her powers, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break free of its hold.

  “Jade…” She looked at her friend, who was peering at her from the other side of the glass. “I think you did it!”

  The Lycan let out a small squeal, and for the first time since her kidnapping, Lara saw a real smile spread across her friend’s face. “Oh my Lord! Really? You can’t feel your power?”

  “I feel the power, it’s not gone, but I can’t make it do what I want.”

  Jade opened the door to the chamber. “This is…c’mon, let’s keep testing!”

  Lara stepped out of the chamber and began to wave her hands. Nothing. She tried to knock over a couple of the books on the shelves, but they wouldn’t budge. Over and over, she tried to manipulate the air currents around her, but they wouldn’t heed her call. It felt almost sad, like a friend who walked by and completely ignored you. But that was a good thing, in this case.

  “You did it!” Lara embraced Jade. “You’re a genius!”

  Jade seemed surprise herself, her light green eyes growing wide behind her glasses. “I did…oh my…son of a sea biscuit!” She cocked her head to the side. “What’s going on out there?” The look on Jade’s face turned to that of annoyance, and then anger.

  “What’s wrong? Jade!” Lara bellowed after the scientist as she tore out of the inner lab. She ran after her, taking the steps down to the main lab two at a time.

  “What did you do?” Jade screamed at Meredith.

  The other Lycan was standing next to one of the machines. Something inside it was whirling and making loud beeping sounds.

  “Nothing, I swear!”

  “What’s happening?” Lara asked.

  “It’s overheating!” Jade pointed to the machine. “Someone must have left it on all night!”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here!”

  The machine shook, and the beeping sounds got louder and faster. Lara raised her hand, trying to push the machine as far away from them as possible, but nothing happened, even as she waved her hand frantically. “Fuck me! The bracelet!” She struggled to get it off her wrist, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Get down!” Jade screamed right before the machine exploded.

  The two Lycans dove towards the floor, away from the machine. Lara was standing farther away and dropped to the ground, but she was much slower than her shifter companions. A piece of metal hurtled towards her and ripped across her arm. Pain shot through her and the blood splattered against her face. She lay her face on the cool tile floor, breathing heavily to try and ease the pain. The emergency alarm blared above them, bringing pain to her ears as the ringing sound pierced the air.

  A few minutes passed, and when there were no further explosions, they slowly got to their feet.

  “Lara!” Jade cried out. “Are you OK?”

  “I’m hurt! I have a-” Her eyes widened as she saw the cut on her arm. There was still blood on her skin, but the cut was healing right before her eyes. She quickly rubbed the blood on her jeans and put her arm behind her. “I mean, I’m ok!”

  Jade let out a relieved breath. “Oh my Lord! I was worried that you…I thought I smelled blood.”

  “Minor cut!” Lara explained. “Worse than it looks.”

  “Let me take a look!”

  Jade tried to take her arm, but she pulled away from her. “No! It’s fine! Don’t worry.”

  “I’m OK too, in case you were wondering!” Meredith called out to them. She stood up straight and shook the debris out of her blonde locks. With a sigh, she looked down at her stained shirt, which now sported a giant tear down the side. “I’m gonna need a new shirt.”

  Jade looked around the lab. “Let’s call security and survey the damage.”

  Thankfully, the blast wasn’t too big. It wasn’t even strong enough to trigger the smoke alarms. However, the machine was blown to pieces, as well as the table and everything about three feet around it. But aside from that, the rest of the lab was unharmed, save for random bits of metal scattered around. It seemed the three of them jumped away just in time. If they were a foot or two closer then they would have been seriously injured, or worse.

  “Dr. Cross!” A shout from the other side of the door called. “Open the door, the emergency alarm triggered a lock down!”

  Jade ran to the door and slammed the button next to it. The panels slid open, and the emergency crew barged in, led by Nick Vrost. The Beta’s ice blue eyes surveyed the damage. “What happened?” Jade quickly recounted the events.

  “This machine, you think it was left on by accident?”

  “Probably,” Jade replied. “It’s an ultrasonic cleaner. Milly’s supposed to put everything in there that needs cleaning at the end of the day. She must have switched it on without setting the timer.”

  “She’s been doing it since she started here,” Lara said. “She does it everyday. Why would she forget this one time?”

  Nick’s brows furrowed. “And where is your assistant?”

  “She’s not here yet.”

  The Beta’s lips hardened into a grim line. “I’ll have HR check on her. In the meantime, you’ll have to evacuate the lab while we’re doing a sweep. If you need anything, head to Cady’s office.”

  “I’ll need to grab a few things first,” Jade said, before heading back to the inner lab.

  “Lara.” Nick turned his gaze on her and gave her a once over. “Are you OK? I smell blood on you.”

  “Y-yeah,” she stammered. “I cut my hand. I’ll be OK.”

  “Are you sure? I’m sure Jade wouldn’t mind if you went home.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  Nick nodded and then turned back to his team, giving them instructions.

  Lara needed to be alone. She looked at her arm again. This time, the skin was completely healed, as if nothing had happened. Shock and disbelief ran through her system. She’d seen this happen twice before. There was no denying it. She was pregnant, and Liam was the father. Her True Mate.

  ***

  The day passed by in a daze. Jade and Lara both refused to go home and instead camped out in Cady’s office. The scientist was currently on the couch, pouring through the old volumes from the New York coven library and Lara was helping her mark pages and keep a catalogue of the important chapters. Meredith had stayed behind the lab to help Nick and the rest of the security team to make sure there were no other surprises.

  Lara glanced at her cousin. Cady looked gorgeous as always, but she had the unearthly pregnant glow about her. She also looked like she was ready to pop at any moment. Cady was about eight months along or maybe more, she couldn’
t remember. Her large belly led her wherever she went, and she was constantly rubbing her lower back.

  A warm feeling came over Lara, and she fought the urge to touch her own belly. How could it be so quick? A couple of days at the most. Her cheeks heated, thinking about that night Wesley was waiting outside her apartment. Watching Liam had been…interesting. Again, he was showing those protective tendencies, and she couldn’t help but react. She and Liam had been so hot for each other they didn’t bother to use a condom. After that, it didn’t seem to matter anymore anyway, and they continued to have unprotected sex. Not that it mattered after that first time.

  She missed it completely, but yet now that she knew it was there, she couldn’t ignore it. The spark of life in her belly was small, but strong. A child. A Lycan pup. Lara imagined a boy with Liam’s blue eyes. Or maybe a girl with his smile. A stab of pain went through her, thinking of him.

  A groan from Cady caught her attention. “Are you all right, Cady?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” she sighed. “Just so…tired.”

  “Why are you still here? Shouldn’t you be at home, resting? When are you due?”

  “Any day now.” The redhead gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine. I can’t stay at home, I’ll just go crazy, and there’s nothing to worry about. This baby is going to be strong and healthy.”

  Lara felt that knot in her stomach. In nine months, she’d be in Cady’s position. Did she have the strength to raise a baby alone? She would have to find it.

  “Are you OK, Lara?” Cady’s brows knitted together. “You seem pale.”

  “I’m fine, Cady, just shaken up.”

  There was a knock on the door. “Come in!” Cady called out.

  Vivianne Chatraine breezed in. “Lara, Cady, Jade,” she greeted each one of them. She walked over to Cady’s desk and put an arm around her niece, placing a hand on her belly. “Cady, dear, why aren’t you at home? You’re so close to delivery, you should be near The Enclave Medical Wing.”