“You just about scared me half to death,” Eleanor exclaimed. “And—Reed! You’re bleeding!”
He glanced down at the shirt Jeremy had brought him. The bleeding had stopped long ago, but not before some of the blood transferred to the fabric. “It’s nothing, I’m fine—for goodness sake Ellie, stop with your hysterics! Winford, get your wife some smelling salts before she faints.” With a deep sigh, he limped over to the leather chair behind his desk, then sat down to face everyone. Jeremy had taken a hold of his wife and was helping her sit on one of the armchairs. Cross stood off to the side, leaning against the fireplace as Elise and Julianna huddled together in one of the settees.
Meanwhile, his grandmother sat in one of the plush chairs, back ramrod straight. “Explain,” she said knowing that the single-word command was enough.
“I found Miss Henney after she’d been thrown off by her horse,” he began. “We took shelter from the rain and then we were attacked.”
“Attacked?” Julianna looked at Cross and then Elise.
“A man in a red robe appeared and he used magic on us. He burned me before Elise fought him off.” He hesitated, wondering if he should mention what Elise had told him. Did her cousins know? They must. Still, he decided that was her secret to keep. He was still trying to come to terms with it himself.
“Magic?” The dowager duchess’s brow rose all the way to her hairline. “Dear Lord, are those evil witches starting a war again?”
Elise let out a low growl. “Witches are not—”
Cross cleared his throat. “I’m afraid we are dealing with something else entirely.”
“Mages,” Julianna supplied.
“Mages?” Jeremy repeated. “What’s a mage?”
“A mage is—was a witch or a warlock,” Elise continued. “Magical beings use natural magic and only for good. However, when a witch or warlock breaks the laws of nature to further their own desires, they become something else entirely. They use blood magic—evil, dark magic that comes at the cost of hurting life. Not like pure nature magic which all good witches and warlocks use.”
“We’ve never heard of such things,” the duchess crowed. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
“The New York Lycans have recently tangled with them,” Cross said. “Twice now they’ve tried to hurt our Alpha and his family.”
“They tried to murder me, my sister, and my mother.” Julianna’s face was red with anger. “And they tried again with my brother before we came to be here.”
“How did they get to England?” Eleanor asked.
“I don’t know, my lady.” Cross shook his head. “But their influence has been growing for decades now. It’s not unlikely that they have made their way here to London and perhaps the rest of the Continent.”
“What do they want?” Jeremy stood up. “Why attack us?”
“They hate all Lycans,” Julianna said. “They want to destroy all of us.”
“What can we do to stop them?” Reed finally asked. This … mage was a threat to him, to his family, his clan. And he almost killed Elise.
“We must be vigilant,” Cross said. “If our history with them tells us anything, it is that they could strike again.”
“Could there be more of them?” Reed asked.
“I don’t know.” Cross faced him, looking at him with those strange eyes. “Maybe, maybe not. It takes decades for a warlock to fully transform into a mage.”
Jeremy harrumphed. “Then how do we stop them?”
“I think we should head back to London,” Reed interjected. “Out here, there are too many factors … too many things can happen. We can all stay at Hunter House so it’ll be easier to watch out for each other.”
“Your Grace, is that wise?” Julianna shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “I mean … well … London has so many people.”
“And out here with no one else around, it’s easier to attack us,” Reed snapped. “We’ll be like sitting ducks just waiting to be sniped off one by one.”
“I have an idea, Your Grace,” Cross said. “I believe … well, the mages in America seemed to be drawn by power. Twice now they have attacked our ascending Alphas. Perhaps we could draw him out during your ceremony.”
Reed contemplated his words. “You mean, set a trap?”
“Exactly.”
He didn’t like the prospect of confronting the mage once more, but then again, this might be their only chance. Unless the mage struck again before that, which could happen at any time. “I suppose we could do that.” Better to be prepared and take out the bastard before he hurt anyone again. “You have a plan for defeating this mage?”
Cross nodded. “We have dealt with them in the past, and we can tell you what we know, if you agree.”
“Do we really have a choice?” Jeremy asked. “Aside from waiting for him to attack us again.”
Reed knew the answer to that. “All right then. I’ll send a message to the high council and tell them we want to do the ceremony sooner rather than later.”
“Instead of a small ceremony, we should have a big one,” Jeremy added. “I know you didn’t want to make a fuss, Hunter.”
He sighed, knowing what Jeremy was suggesting. He was a good Beta, after all, plus a seasoned veteran of war. “No, you’re right. We need all of the clan around us. Maybe we can even call on our Scottish allies for help.”
“We’ll be there too, of course,” Julianna said. “I mean, after all, we have the most experience with the mages.”
“I think it would be best if the ladies were somewhere safe,” Jeremy suggested.
“No way.” Elise got to her feet. “We are not sitting back while you fight him.”
“Eli—Miss Henney.” It took all of his power to stay calm. Her life was in danger! There was no way he was going to let her near that murderous mage. “Between the London clan and the Caelkirk clan, we should be able to round up a good thirty able-bodied male Lycans.”
“But wouldn’t that seem strange?” Elise shot back. “Mages are smart. He’ll know something is up when he sees that only the men are attending your ceremony.”
“Elise is right,” Eleanor said. “Just because we’re women doesn’t mean we can’t fight. We’re Lycans too.”
“Darling.” Jeremy put a hand on her arm. “Please—”
“Don’t patronize me, Jeremy.” She brushed his hand away. “If that mage got to William …” He had never seen his sister look so fierce. Lady or not, a she-wolf showed her claws if there was any threat to her pups.
“They’re right,” the dowager said, much to Reed’s surprise. “Reed, we must make everything look authentic, if we are to draw this despicable mage out.”
“Grandmama—”
“A ball.” The duchess paused dramatically. “Yes, we shall have a ball. It will not only be a good way to get the clan and our allies together, but that way, you can finally take your place as Alpha in a grand way.”
“But—”
“No buts, Reed.” She raised a hand to stop his protests. “Your ascension ceremony may be the last I’ll ever witness, and so we must make it a splendid one. Not a very big one, of course. Just the clan and our allies. Say, one hundred people?”
Reed knew it was useless to argue with his grandmother once she made up her mind, so he allowed her to continue.
“I’ll take care of the arrangements. The invitations, the decorations, the musicians, the food—I even know where your father kept the dagger he used. It was your grandfather’s, you know.” She stood up, and every male in the room got to their feet. “I’ll have my work cut out for me, between the ball and making sure these ladies are properly launched into society. I’ve already decided that they will be having their debut at the Marquess of Finnerly’s ball. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to get started. Ladies,” she turned to the women in the room. “Come. There’s no time to waste. We shall have to leave for London in the morning.”
Eleanor stood up. “Let’s go, Elise, Julianna
.” She shot them a look that said, don’t even try. The two women looked at each other and then followed Eleanor and the dowager out the door.
“I bet if your Grandmother was at the front lines, we would have defeated Napoleon within the first year,” Jeremy joked.
“I’d have given her six months,” he answered wryly.
“But seriously, we must speak about the ladies.” Jeremy ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re not really going to let them be there, are you, Hunter? If that madman even got near Eleanor—”
“I won’t let that happen.” Reed ground his teeth together. “But we should come up with a plan. Any ideas, Jonasson?”
The other man crossed his arms over his chest. “I have a few. But we should not exclude the women. We need all the help we can get.”
He was obviously talking about Elise’s powers. Did Julianna have them too? Did Cross? “All right, we can discuss this over the next few days.” Hopefully, they’d come up with an acceptable plan that wouldn’t involve anyone getting hurt.
Though he hated that they now had an enemy to worry about, focusing their energies on trying to defeat the mage at least gave him something to think about other than Elise Henney.
Chapter Eleven
Elise didn’t know what excuses Reed made to their guests, but the very next day, everyone left Huntington Park to go back to London. With all the excitement of the packing up and heading back to town, there had been no time to speak privately with Julianna or Cross. Neither of them had come to her room for their usual late-night searches, but she supposed that with everything that had happened, they had to change tactics.
It wasn’t until that afternoon that she saw a note slipped under her door from Cross, telling her to come down fifteen minutes earlier than usual for tea with the duchess. By the time she reached the parlor, Julianna and Cross were already there.
“We don’t have much time, so I’ll try to be brief,” Cross began. “I’m working with Reed and Jeremy to come up with a plan to entrap the mage. He’s already sent letters to the Lycan High Council, all his clan members, plus his uncle in Scotland for assistance. Lycan messengers have been dispatched, and with minimum stops to rest, it should take them three days to arrive in Scotland. He’s sure that he’ll get a positive response from the Alpha of Caelkirk, so their forces should be here in five or six days.”
“What have you told him about us?” Elise asked.
“I haven’t told him anything about where we came from, but I did tell him what we knew of the mages.”
“We know where the dagger is. The old bat has it,” Julianna said. “Let’s just grab it and go home.”
Cross’s face turned bleak. “We could.”
Julianna raised a dark brow. “I sense a ‘but’ coming along.”
Cross’s face turned serious. “I haven’t been completely honest with you both. I was sworn never to tell anyone this, but I think it’s important you know.”
“You’ve been keeping something from us?” Julianna’s face flushed with anger. “Cross, I thought we were in this together!”
“It’s not my secret to tell.” He took a deep breath. “It wasn’t my father or my grandmother who was having the premonitions about the mages. It was my brother, Gunnar.”
Elise sucked in a breath. “I thought he could only do some limited transmogrification, like the way Astrid has a short range when moving from place to place?”
“Yes.” His mouth set into a hard line. “But his premonitions are so clear and vivid that it would drive him crazy and send him into seizures. My father tried to bind it permanently to help him, but the binding somehow damaged his wolf. Then one day, he lost control and … there was an accident at a club. Over a hundred people were knocked unconscious.”
Daric’s words came back to Elise. I do not know what a permanent binding would do to your wolf in the long term or your ability to shift. But he did. Daric bound his son’s powers and it harmed his wolf and other people. She had to laugh at the irony of being called a blessed witch. More like a curse.
“Okay, so it was your brother who had the premonition?” Julianna asked. “Why keep it a secret?”
“Because the Lycan High Council would have ordered him put down,” Elise concluded.
He didn’t say anything, but Cross’s silence confirmed the reason why.
Julianna went pale. “My father wouldn’t have let anything happen to him.”
“I know,” Cross assured her. “But if the high council insisted, he would have been caught between a rock and hard place and my father didn’t want to put the Alpha through that.”
“I …” Julianna shook her head. “So, what did he see?”
“Gunnar only told us what he thought was necessary.” His ocean-colored eyes shifted. “But one thing I can tell you is that we go back to our time. He’s seen all of us in a future event. And all of his premonitions have come true so far.”
“Okay, so let’s go back!” Juliana waved her hands in the air for emphasis. “We can be home in no time.”
“My father and I have had many discussions of the future and the past. I’ve come to the conclusion that our coming here wasn’t an accident. Or perhaps it was what set things in motion here. In our time, I read that Reed was killed by ‘evil forces.’ I believe that when we came here, we brought that evil force.” He paused, as if searching for the right words. “I think the mage who attacked Elise and Reed is the same mage who brought us here. He might have traveled back with us, too.”
“Wait, hold on!” Julianna exclaimed. “So, we came to the past, brought the mage with us, and now he’s going to kill Reed, which is what will be written in the history books, which you will then read in the future … er, you’ve read in the past?” She sank down on the nearest chair. “I’m getting a headache thinking about it.”
“I know it’s a paradox, but that’s the only explanation.” His jaw hardened into a straight line. “As sure as I am that we’re going back to the future, I’m also certain that means we set things in motion in the past.”
“At least it means we’ll be going home,” Julianna sighed.
“The mage might have figured out the same thing which is why he’s going to attack on the night of the ascension ceremony.” Cross said. “Somehow, he knows that the dagger is the only way back. Or, since they’ve been doing research on the artifacts for decades now, he might know the way back.”
“Which is all the more reason we should use it now,” Julianna insisted.
“And then when we strand him here, what happens?” Cross said. “He could wreak havoc on the timeline. Change history as we know it. He could even kill all of the London clan. No, I think when we go back, we’re meant to take him with us. After all, if we’re trying to recreate the events that brought us here, then he needs to be there too.”
Elise’s stomach churned at his words. But she knew it was a real possibility.
“I didn’t even think of that.” Julianna’s mouth thinned into a grim line. “Oh my God. What if we go back home and we’re in some weird alternate timeline where the mages are our overlords?”
“Which is why when we leave, we also have to take him with us.” Cross’s tone was dead serious.
“You’re right,” Elise conceded. She didn’t want to be near that mage again—what was his name? Malachi—but they might not have a choice.
“What are we going to do then?” Julianna’s brows drew together. “What’s the new plan?”
“We must continue as we are doing—playing along,” Cross said. “It’ll allow us to stay close to the family, and during the ceremony we’ll be near the dagger. Should the mage attack, we’ll be ready.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Julianna asked. “Can we just take the dagger and go home?”
“He’ll come,” Cross said with certainty. “We already know that. But until that time, we can’t let any harm come to the dowager, Eleanor, Jeremy, and especially William. History must happen the way it was intended to hap
pen.”
A dark, foreboding feeling came over her. It became difficult to breathe as her ribs seemed to contract into her chest when a question popped into her mind: What about Reed?
History must happen the way it intended to happen. According to history, Reed Townsend was supposed to die on the night of his ascension ceremony. And they were the reason why.
“Elise, are you okay?” Julianna’s face was full of concern.
“I—I’m fine.” Her throat tightened at the tears she couldn’t shed. She hadn’t even had time to process what happened between them yesterday in the statuary. She’d spent a sleepless night thinking of his kisses and his touch … and now all she could think of was his body being burned alive by that mage.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she insisted. “I’m just tired.”
“Don’t you know showing up early is just as rude as being late?” came the dowager duchess’s rebuke as she entered the room. Signore Rossi came in behind her and greeted them a good afternoon. Bridget, too, was not far behind, and she flashed them a bright smile as she entered.
Elise was glad for the interruption. “Apologies, Your Grace,” she said. “We’ve been idle and anxious all day.”
“If you excuse me, Your Grace,” Cross said as he took a deep bow, “Lord Townsend is waiting for me.”
The dowager duchess gave him his leave, and he left the parlor. “Neville will be serving tea in a moment, but before he does, I have an important announcement.”
“Announcement?” Julianna echoed.
The older woman’s nose twitched. “I have not yet decided if Signore Rossi,” she nodded to the Italian, “should paint the Townsend family portraits, but since he doesn’t want to remain idle, I’ve permitted him to paint one portrait.” Her gaze went laser-like toward Julianna. “Yours, my dear.”
“Mine?”
“Si, signorina.” Rossi placed a hand on his chest. “It would truly be my honor to paint such a beauty as you. I can only hope to give your enchanting face some justice.”
Elise smothered a laugh at Julianna’s horrified look.
A Witch in Time Page 15
