by Alisa Woods
“This is all very sweet,” she said, coolly, “but this isn’t the place for a pack reunion.” She threw an arched-eyebrow look to Jak.
“Arianna, meet Circe,” Jak said softly, still holding her loosely in his arms. “And she’s right. We need to move.”
Sarra had already gone on full alert, holding back from the group, especially the witch. “In and out, Jak,” she said, but she was really addressing the group. And keeping a hawk-eye on Circe. “That was our plan. Jeep’s in the garage.”
They didn’t waste any more words, just hustled back to the elevator. Sarra was in the lead, with Jak and Arianna close behind. Marco and Kalis and Circe brought up the rear, which made Arianna frown: when did her brothers get so comfortable around witches? They kept quiet on the ride down. It wasn’t until they reached the Jeep that Arianna realized they should have some kind of plan before all piling in.
She pulled Jak to a stop with their clasped hands. “Sarra was super smart and brought some things for us to use on the road. But where do you want to head first?” She glanced back to Marco and Kalis. “Should we get my mom, too? I’m thinking, if we’re heading out of state—”
A gentle squeeze of her hand stopped her.
“We’re not going out of state, my love,” Jak said softly. He looked to Marco. “At least, not yet. Maybe after we’re done.”
Arianna frowned. “Done? What do you mean? We can’t stay here. Mace will—”
“Arianna,” Marco cut her off. “Let the man talk.” He tipped his head to Jak.
That simple motion stirred all kinds of feelings around inside her chest: happiness that her brothers seemed to have already accepted Jak; irritation that Marco wasn’t explaining what he was talking about; and a horrible dread, like black oozing tar dripping through her body. Something wasn’t right here.
She turned to Jak. The pain in his eyes just clenched her stomach tighter.
“Circe is coming with us,” Jak said, glancing at the witch, who was holding back, watching them. “She’s going to perform a spell that’s going to break your mating bond with Mace.”
“What?” Arianna wriggled out of his arms and took a step back. Then she glanced at Sarra, whose general wariness had gone up five levels of alarm. Arianna swung back to search Jak’s eyes. He was serious about this. “I thought you said they couldn’t do the spell.”
“Well, I have to admit, I’d rather not do it,” Jak said tightly. “Turns out I’ll have to be involved and… it’s on the painful side. At least, my part will be. When Circe first told me about what was involved…” He took a deep breath. “Well, it just seemed easier to get rid of Mace the old fashioned way.”
Arianna swallowed—if Jak would rather kill Mace to break the bond than do this spell, it had to be bad. Really bad.
“But that didn’t exactly work out for you, did it?” Sarra’s alarm level had settled into a fierce scowl. “And now you’ve got some hair-brained idea about using magic to break the spell. I swear to God, Jak—”
“Sarra.” Jak’s voice was full of alpha command, and it almost made Arianna cringe, hearing it. For Sarra’s sake.
Sarra pressed her lips tight, but the anger was clear on her face.
Which only made Arianna’s anxiety shoot through the roof. “How bad is it, Jak?” she whispered. The black ooze was filling up her lungs, making it hard for her to breathe. She couldn’t watch him get hurt… not over her. Not for anything. He’d already nearly bleed out in her car, all just to set her free.
The guilt was written all over his face. “It’s really not that bad.” He was lying to her. Completely.
“Tell me the truth.” Her fear was rising up and making her angry. A terrified kind of angry. “Tell me the truth, or I swear, I’m marching right back to Mace’s house.”
He threw up his hands. “All right, all right.” He glowered at her. “It will hurt. A lot. I’ll probably pass out from the pain. I may scream like a little girl. I’m not exactly proud of this, Arianna. I should have just done this from the start instead of being… squeamish. I’m a shifter, for god’s sake. It’s not like a little pain is something I can’t handle. It’s just that…” He lowered his voice and dropped his gaze to the floor. Then he spoke softly, like he was confessing to something even more embarrassing. “It reminds me a little of when I was young. When my brothers used to slice me up for fun. I really didn’t want to… well… revisit that.” He took a deep breath and peered at her. “But it’s going to be worth it. To get you free.”
And that part had the ring of truth. She could feel it in her heart.
“Oh, Jak.” She was back in his arms in a heartbeat, a fierce hold on him with her arms around his neck. But it was nothing like the hold he had on her, like he couldn’t get her close enough to him. She forced herself to let him go and gently pulled away, far enough to look in his eyes. “You don’t have to do this. We can just run away—”
He put a finger across her lips, softly. To keep her from speaking, but also to trace them with his fingertip. “He’ll find us, my love. And then I’ll lose you and everything we have together. I can’t let that happen.”
His fingers wandered to her cheek, and a small, terribly sad smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
She kept her voice soft, just for him. “What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?”
His smile grew as he caressed her face. “You were just… you.”
Arianna had the vague sense that the others were still there—her brothers, Sarra, the witch Circe—but it was as though they had faded away into the dark corners of the parking garage. So she gave into the urgent need to kiss Jak, pressing her lips to his. She meant for it just to be a soft kiss, a gentle touch so he would feel her love, but Jak’s hands were instantly in her hair, his lips devouring hers. He was breathing her in, consuming her in a way she couldn’t help but give herself over to—he was her alpha in every real sense of the word. She had submitted to him, and the magic of that bond flared between them, turning the kiss hotter and more full of love than anything she had ever experienced, even when they were deep in the throes of their lovemaking. It was like he possessed her in that moment, claiming her in a way that went beyond magic. She was his. She belonged to him. It left her gasping for breath when he finally broke the kiss, still holding her tight but only lightly brushing her lips with his.
He was breathing hard as well, but then he slowly eased his hold on her. The rest of the world came swimming back. Her lips were still tender with his kiss, but a rush of heat flooded her cheeks as she realized everyone was staring at them. Kalis was gawking in amazement. Marco’s eyes were blazing, but he didn’t make a move. Circe’s smile was broad, which surprised her, but Sarra’s gaze was averted… which made the heat in Arianna’s cheeks flame higher.
She turned back to Jak. “We should probably leave,” she said quietly, still absorbed by the kiss. “Where exactly are we going to do this… spell?” The black ooze started to creep back in with the thought of what Jak was doing for her. But it was his fervent wish to do this: that much she could tell. He wanted to break her free of Mace’s hold forever—and then she and Jake would be free to mate. She would truly be his in every way, including magic. And there was nothing in the world that could make her say no to that.
Jak loosened his hold on her further, just taking her hand in his. He looked to Circe. “Did you have a place in mind?”
She was still smiling over them, like her good humor was a benediction. “We have a few clients with unfinished construction projects downtown. One’s on a temporary suspension of work due to a dispute with the city. Seems like a good place to conduct our business in private.”
Jak gave her a solemn nod. Then he threw an apologetic look to Sarra. “Sarrabear, you don’t need to be a part of this. Thanks for taking care of Arianna for me. We can find our way from here.”
“Oh hell no.” Sarra was still pissed. “I don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Jak Roberts, but I have a fe
eling you’re going to need a healer in your near future.”
Jak opened his mouth to object, but he seemed to think better of it. He shut it again and tipped his head to the Jeep. “Still have the beast, I see. Maybe you could give us a lift?”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Sarra stormed off to the driver’s side.
Jak frowned, watching her go.
“She’ll get over it,” Arianna said quietly to him. “I’ll talk to her.”
He turned back to her with a soft look on his face that confused her again: it was like joy and pain were warring across it, like angels and demons were taking turns prodding his soul. She clasped his hand harder, trying to reassure him, even though her own heart was quaking. Would she be strong enough to let him do this? Could she watch him writhe in pain under the witch’s spell without dying a little inside herself?
She pulled in a breath—if Jak could be brave about this, so could she.
Circe and her brothers were already piling into the van. They had left the front seat open, so Arianna and Jak took that for themselves. Even with the roominess of the Jeep, it was still cramped with so many people. Arianna had to sit on Jak’s lap in order to not have her legs tangle with the massive stick-shift of the ancient car. In the back seat, Circe seemed entirely too happy to be sandwiched between Marco on one side and Kalis on the other. Marco glowered at her, but Kalis’s mouth seemed to hang permanently open at Circe’s beauty.
As they pulled out of the parking garage, the Jeep’s lousy suspension made Arianna bounce on Jak’s lap. With Sarra’s eyes on the road, and the others stuck in the back seat, no one appeared to notice Jak’s hands roaming her body. He didn’t seem to be trying to arouse her, necessarily, although it was definitely having that effect. He was just skimming his fingers lightly along her thighs, the backs of her knees, up across her stomach and along the undersides of her breasts. Like he was making a map of her body with just his fingertips.
She ducked her head close to his ear to whisper, “What are you doing?”
He adjusted her on his lap to pull her in for a kiss. Just a soft one this time. “Touching you.” His smile was only half devilish smirk. The other half still carried some kind of pain.
She traced her fingertips along his cheek, mimicking his traveling touch. “Why?”
“Because I can.” Then he pulled her into a more serious kiss.
She lost track of where they were going, the city towers whizzing past outside the window, and just kissed this man who was giving her the most precious gift of all: freedom.
Jak was so lost in kissing Arianna, he didn’t realize they had stopped.
The bright morning sun glinted off the bare girders all around them in the construction site. Sarra had pulled the Jeep right up onto the bare dirt, next to the construction company’s trailer and several ten-foot-high stacks of sheetrock and lumber. An enormous crane stood silent and unmoving in the center, with a half dozen lifts and diggers filling out the wide-open construction area and waiting for the contractor to settle their dispute and return to work. Half-constructed skeletons of buildings surrounded them on three sides, but at least one had the ground level built out. There were concrete floors and some sheet rock walls up: enough to give them privacy for the spell.
And there was plenty of equipment to bury him once it was done.
Jak was loathe to move Arianna even a centimeter off his lap, but the rest of the crew had already climbed out of the Jeep. He gently eased her down from the high seat of the car, keeping a hold on her hand as he followed her out.
Circe was giving disgusted looks to the dirt-packed ground, but she gamely was making her way in teetering heels toward the enclosed building. Arianna’s brothers were following close behind, but Sarra was holding back, waiting for him and Arianna. And openly glaring at Jak.
She had to know something was up. She knew him better than anyone else here, and that was just the problem: she might guess what was happening before he could complete the spell. He just hoped she wouldn’t say anything… until it was too late to stop it.
Then she could curse him as much as she wanted.
He laced his fingers with Arianna’s and pulled her closer as they trudged toward the building. Not only did he want to touch her as much as possible in these last moments, but he had a feeling his love for Arianna was a kind of shield—one that would make Sarra hold her tongue.
He was right: Sarra’s hot glare finally left his face and dropped to their clasped hands. Then she turned away and marched with stomping boots toward the witch and his fate awaiting in the construction building.
Arianna snuggled closer to his side. “Sarra’s just angry because she doesn’t want to see you get hurt.” He could feel the tremors racing through her body, one small hand holding his, the other gripping his arm. “She’s afraid.”
He frowned down at her, his heart skipping a beat. He knew she was talking about herself as much as Sarra. “There’s no need to be afraid. When I’m…” He swallowed down the lump growing in his throat. “When I’m going through the spell, your brothers will be here to take care of you.”
She peered up at him with an earnest look full of love. Which just made his heart swell… and calmed the writhing tentacles of fear working through his body.
“I’m not afraid.” She was lying; he could feel the fear in every quiver of her body. “I trust you, Jak.”
He blinked, a tsunami of doubt threatening to pull him under. He was lying to her. His last and final act with her would be a lie. He hated that—hated every part of it—but it was necessary. He prayed she would forgive him in the end. For now… he pulled her to a stop and kissed her once more, soft and sweet. Then he laced his fingers with hers again and picked up the pace toward the building. He needed to do this before he lost his nerve altogether. Or Sarra put the pieces together. Or anything else could go sideways to stop it.
Everyone was waiting, a tense circle of silence, when they arrived at the shadowy half-built building. The sun only penetrated in strips that painted the floor with prison-bar shadows that were really reflections of the girders. It gave an eerie half-light, half-dark feel to the concrete-and-bare-steel skeleton.
Sarra was still fuming.
Jak ignored her and turned to Circe. “So, how is this going to work?”
Circe’s earlier smiles had faded. In fact, every face had a grim look to it now, which Jak supposed was fitting for the funeral most of them knew this was about to be.
“I’ll need DNA from both of you,” Circe said, beckoning Jak and Arianna with her long dagger-nailed fingers.
“How’s that?” Jak asked. He really hoped they didn’t have to draw blood or do anything painful to Arianna. That might undo him.
“Just a sample of your hair, you big baby,” Circe said, but her voice was gentle and teasing. She stepped up to them, her heels clacking on the concrete. Using two fingers, she plucked one of Arianna’s long black strands of hair, floating gently in the breeze. Then she reached for Jak’s head, but he stopped her, opting to yank out his own DNA sample for her. She twirled the two bits of hair and follicle-root into a small ball in the middle of her palm.
Jak had seen Hecca, Circe’s sister, do something similar with the Sparks pack female, trying to force her to shift. He also remembered that being far from a painless encounter for the girl. He clasped Arianna’s hand tighter in his.
“Is this going to hurt Arianna in any way?” Jak asked.
Circe’s voice was cool. “It won’t be painful, so much as… uncomfortable. Her mate’s essence will not willingly leave.” She turned to Arianna, towering over her and boring a steady gaze into her eyes. “This is a dark art we are performing, Arianna. You have essentially two wolves inside your blood—yours and your mate’s. To extract one while leaving the other is a delicate thing… not unlike slicing out half of your soul while leaving the other half behind.”
Arianna swallowed visibly. “Whatever it takes… is fine.”
Jak co
uld see her quivering. The witch was scaring her. “Circe.” He put warning in his voice.
Circe threw him a sharp look. “Do you want this to succeed, little wolf?”
He pressed his lips tight. She knew the answer to that.
“It’s important for Arianna to understand what she will be facing,” Circe said carefully, but he got the message: Arianna had to be fully prepared for her side. Especially if she was going to be kept in the dark about Jak’s part.
“Fine,” he said tightly.
Circe turned her attention back to Arianna, whose eyes had gone wide. Circe’s voice softened. “The wolf essence of your mate will not want to leave. And your wolf will fight the separation as well. You must bring everything human that you have to this, Arianna. The part of you that wants to be free of your mate, that’s the part that needs to be strongest today. The spell will work… but there will be less, shall we say, damage, if you can lower your resistance to it and help force your mate’s essence away from you.”
Arianna sucked in a breath. “What do you mean damage?”
“It won’t be a physical thing… more of a psychological trauma. And your wolf… she will suffer the most from this. You need to let her know you’re doing it for her own best interest.”
Jak had no idea how Arianna would do that, but she was nodding like she understood what Circe was talking about.
“It may not be as hard as you think,” Arianna said with a soft smile and a peek at Jak. “My wolf has already submitted to Jak. She already believes he is our true mate. We both know it in our hearts.”
The love on Arianna’s face nearly broke Jak’s heart.
Circe smiled, tightly, and placed her hand sweetly on Arianna’s shoulder. “I’m sure that you do, dear.”
Jak had to look away. They needed to do a whole lot less talking and get on with this, or he wasn’t going to make it through. As he was avoiding the love and hope on Arianna’s face—and her conviction that she and Jak were destined to be mates—his wandering gaze found Sarra’s face. And she was red in the face with fury.
