The pain was unimaginable as something inside her broke. A brilliant flash of thick, green light blinded her, flowed from her toward the box on the altar. Kerry could feel the tug and the pull, the curse desperately clinging to her as the magic pulled it out, propelled it toward the copper lined box and the dust inside.
As Kerry’s vision began to clear, the panic that had ridden her dissipated. The hex was expelled from her body, leaving her worn, broken and aching like a motherfucker. But at least her vision had cleared, and she could see what had really been going on all along.
The vicious death-masked woman was Gen, holding her hand before Kerry, directing the flow of the curse as it tried to wriggle free of the binding of two powerful Own. Zach stood next to the box, his brilliant white light forcing the sickly green curse to remain in the box.
Inside that box the hex roiled and circled in on itself, a sea of chaos too large for the container it was in. As more and more of the poisonous hex was removed, Kerry’s vision cleared. Daniel was no beast-man intent on devouring her. Lana was just Lana, but with tears in her eyes. Chris’s jaw was clenched as his gaze darted between Lana and Kerry. Gareth watched his mate with fear in his eyes.
“You’re okay. We’ve got you. I’ve got you.” Daniel held her tight when her legs gave out from under her. Her vision was darkening once more, but this time the relief that filled her had nothing to do with the hex and everything to do with the knowledge that she was free. Her thoughts were on Daniel, the odd tug stronger than ever as she collapsed in his arms. The last of the hex left her and Zach slammed the box shut, freeing her from the dread that had filled her the moment they’d begun to cast.
“Daniel,” she exhaled, collapsing in his embrace. She allowed the darkness to take her, aware she was safe in her wolf-man’s arms.
Chapter Eleven
“What the fuck just happened?” Daniel settled on the floor, his unconscious mate cradled carefully in his lap.
“I have no idea.” Gen knelt at Kerry’s side and placed her hand on Kerry’s forehead. “But I believe the hex fought back.”
“That’s not possible.” Daniel stared at his mate’s pale face, willing her to stay asleep just a little while longer. He didn’t like how fast her pulse had become or how strongly she’d struggled against him. The scent of her terror was still powerful. She needed the rest so her body would calm itself. “Hexes aren’t sentient. They can’t fight back.”
“Yet this one did.” Gen lifted her hand from Kerry’s forehead. “And I fear it may have awoken something inside her.”
Zach stood at the altar, his head bowed. From the expression of pure joy on his face, Zach was probably communing with the goddess. He’d seen that look before, right after Zach removed the hex from himself and placed it into a wax candle. He’d be of no help to them until he was done renewing his bond with Hecate.
He turned his attention back to Gen, hoping she had the answers he was seeking. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned, settling next to them on the floor. “But I can assure you that the hex is gone for good. Whatever else it did, we can look into without fear that she’ll die, at least from the hex.”
“Thanks.” Daniel stroked Kerry’s hair, settling her a little more comfortably on his lap. He made sure he supported her back, notching her head against his shoulder, relieved to have her safe and… “Wait. This thing you say we opened inside her. Are you afraid it will kill her?”
“I don’t know.” Gen’s concern for Kerry was clear as she gazed at her. “If I knew what it was it would answer so many questions.” She looked at Daniel, her concern turning to confusion. “It feels familiar, though, like I’ve seen it before.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll help. You know that.” Chris settled next to Daniel, Lana right next to him. “She’s a Beckett now, even if you haven’t claimed her all the way yet.”
Daniel gave his brother a sharp nod. “I don’t want her to go through anything else, Chris. She’s been through enough. She doesn’t need any more shit piled on top of her.” The scars of her last abduction were still there, visible reminders that he hadn’t been able to protect her from the viciousness of magical life.
“I agree.” Gareth knelt next to Gen, his arm around her shoulders. “We’ll figure out what happened, and how it affected her. In the meantime, keep her close. We have no idea what this…thing we woke inside her might be. It could be another hex, or something completely different.”
Daniel nodded, relieved that Kerry would have to stick by his side. He could keep an eye on her much better if she was glued to him night and day. “Thanks, bro.”
“No problem. I’ll let you tell her all about it when she wakes up.” Gareth patted him on his shoulder and stood, stretching. “Did I remember to bring a book in with me this time?”
“Hah hah.” Zach sauntered over, seemingly energized by his communion with Hecate. “Let’s take a look, shall we?” He nudged Gen over, stealing her spot at Kerry’s side. “Hmm.”
“What?”
“There’s…something. It was there earlier too, but it’s more now.” Zach grimaced. “I can’t quite describe it, but something is definitely different about her.”
“Can you sense any trace of the hex?” Gen nudged back, laughing quietly when Zach stuck his tongue out at her.
“Nope. She’s clear.” Zach glanced at the altar. “We need to get that thing buried in some concrete.”
“Leave that to me.” Chris’s expression was fierce. “I’ll make sure it never sees the light of day again. I’ll take it home and bury it six feet deep.”
“No. I don’t want it on your land.” Daniel stared at the box. “Concrete, yes. But don’t bury it. Sink it.”
“We could take it to the Bermuda Triangle and let it go there.” Zach chuckled.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I think the Atlantic will do just fine.”
“Or the Hudson.” Gareth stared at Kerry, smiling softly when she huffed out a breath and nuzzled closer to Daniel. “She’s just as drawn to you as you are to her.”
Of course. That had never been the problem between them. “She’s going to give me a heart attack. She doesn’t know when to sit back and let us handle things.”
“Kerry’s never been a delicate flower, Daniel.” Lana leaned against Chris, smiling softly, her gaze fond as she stared at Kerry. “She’s always been the one to head straight for anyone who’s hurt or in need. She’s also been her twin’s protector up until Kelly married Dennis.”
“She’s the older twin?” Daniel wasn’t surprised to find that Kerry was the dominant one in her relationship with her sister. Hell, she was trying to be the dominant one with him, something his wolf didn’t like one little bit.
“No, actually. Kelly is older by about twenty minutes, but Kerry’s always been the more assertive of the two. Don’t get me wrong, Kelly gets her way—”
“Like having a bachelorette party in the middle of the week?” Chris grunted when Lana elbowed him in the stomach.
“Yup. She knows what she wants and has her own way of getting it. Kerry is just more overt about it than Kelly.” Lana smiled. “But Kerry is loyal to the bone. When she decided you were it, that was all she wrote. You’re doomed to belong to her forever.”
He could live with that. His wolf wanted to howl its approval, but Daniel stopped him, reassuring him that they’d get a good, long run once all of this was over and Kerry was safe. “What do we do about this…thing that opened inside her? How do we figure it out?”
Gen lay down, her head in Gareth’s lap. There were dark bruises around her eyes. She’d have a price to pay for the power she expended helping Kerry. He’d seen it once before, and the pain Gen went through wasn’t something he’d wish on his worst enemy.
No. He’d wish it on Arthur, and all the Godwins who put this misery on his mate.
“Let me look again.�
� Zach lifted his hand and a shaft of light struck Kerry in the chest.
Kerry screamed in agony, her eyes opening wide as she shuddered in his arms.
Daniel gasped, almost dropping her. Her eyes were green. Not just the irises, but the whites as well. “What the fuck?”
“Gen, I need you.” Zach grimaced as Kerry wailed in pain.
Gen sat up, wearily making her way to Zach’s side. She stared at Kerry in horror. “Oh my.”
“Zach,” Daniel snarled as his claws grew. His fangs erupted in his mouth, ready to rip and tear into his brother for harming his mate.
Zach’s light dimmed, and Kerry slumped, her breath coming in pants. The green slowly faded from her eyes, the pretty, pale blue irises he was used to once more visible. “What was that?”
Before Daniel could answer Zach leaned over. “What did you feel?”
“Someone was poking a stick in an open wound.” Kerry rubbed her chest, glaring equally between Zach and Daniel. “What did you do?”
“We didn’t do anything.” Zach moved away, rubbing his forehead with his marked hand. “Gen?”
“I saw it,” Gen whimpered. “Oh, Kerry.”
“What?” Fear rolled off his mate once more. “Please, just tell me.”
“You have warlock somewhere in your ancestry.” Gen’s sorrow gutted Daniel. “When we expelled the curse from your body, we forced open the magical channel all warlocks have.” Gen lay down again, her eyes barely open. “But instead of it opening naturally, the way it would if your powers weren’t dormant, it was ripped open.”
“How in the hell did that happen?” Daniel couldn’t believe his ears. “It’s impossible to make someone magical if they aren’t born that way.”
Zach shrugged. “Think of it as a stream, I guess. There was a dam blocking this tiny little trickle, giving her that so-called psychic sense for magic. Over time, the water builds up behind the dam, and what little overflow there is just evaporates like water droplets in the sun, leaving her with no magical powers at all. When the hex refused to release her, it grabbed hold of that dam, shredding not only it but the banks of the stream, causing it to widen. Now instead of a trickle of power, you have a steady flow.”
“But because she’s a warlock, that flow will taper off to nearly nothing.” Daniel groaned. “What happens then?”
“She’ll hurt, because the area that had been plugged up is raw, for lack of a better term. Even if we heal that she’ll have a never-ending thirst for power unless she finds something to bind with.”
“But we can’t do that until the shredded parts are healed.” Daniel winced in sympathy. “Damn it. I’m really going to fuck up Arthur Godwin.”
“So you’re saying I really do have a wound, just one I can’t fix with Band-Aids and a lollipop.” She touched her chest again, grimacing in pain. “Should we try to have it stitched closed?”
“It’s not that simple.” Even Daniel knew this. He stroked Kerry’s hair as he struggled to figure out a way to explain the impossible. “Now that the channel is open, there is no closing it, not really. We could bind your powers, but that won’t do anything for the ragged edges or the hunger.”
“We can make the pain go away, but for better or worse the magic is there now.” Gen yawned.
“Oh crap.” Chris gasped. “She’s going to hear demons soon, isn’t she?”
Gen nodded. “I assume so.”
“Then we need to get the edges repaired and figure out a way to get her connected to an elemental.” Lana tapped her fingers on Chris’s thigh while staring thoughtfully at Kerry. “Maybe even see if she’s an Own.”
“No, Lana. She’s not an Own.” Gen was barely awake, her words slurred. If it wasn’t so important Daniel would have insisted Gareth take his mate away to rest. “You’re born one or not, and she was not.”
“Then our only choice is an elemental.” Gareth picked up his mate. “We’ll discuss this tomorrow, once we’re all rested. Zach, open the way for me.”
Zach stood, cutting a doorway in the circle with his athame. “Make sure she gets fluids. Last time we did this Gen was a little dehydrated afterward.”
“Thanks, bro.” Gareth carried Gen toward his bedroom. “Good night, everyone.”
“Night.” Daniel continued to stroke Kerry’s hair, the soft silky strands cool against his fingers. “We’ll need to be very careful when we try to repair the damage. We could end up doing more harm than good.”
Zach nodded. “I think Gen and I are not the ones to do it. We have too much power, and this requires delicacy. It would be like doing open heart surgery with a chain saw.”
“I agree,” Chris chimed in, holding Lana close. “We’ll do it, Zach. You and Gen need to rest until it’s time to hunt for Arthur again.”
“Agreed.” Daniel grinned at Zach. “You need your beauty sleep, princess.”
“Asshole.”
“Butt munch.”
“Don’t make me call Mom,” Chris threatened, his hand already reaching for his phone.
The familiar bantering eased some of Daniel’s tension. It was nice to know that some things would never change.
Lana reached for Kerry’s hand, twining their fingers together. “It’s going to be okay, you know that, right?”
Kerry rolled her eyes. “In the I’m fucked up the ass without lube way?”
Lana laughed. “Nope. More in the someone switched my ring tone to SpongeBob’s laugh track way.”
“Ugh. I’m not sure which is worse.”
“C’mon, it’ll be great.” Chris nudged Kerry’s leg with his foot. “You and Lana can have mage ball fights.”
Kerry’s brows rose as Daniel laughed. Man, he remembered having those with his brothers in his parents’ backyard. Zach always lost, Chris went down under Gareth and Daniel would just flail at everyone until the others teamed up to take him out. Good times.
And now, ironically, he’d get to share those times with the woman he’d thought he’d have to protect. Now all they had to do was kill Arthur and heal Kerry’s metaphysical wounds and everything would be right in his world.
He hoped.
“You guys concentrate on Arthur,” Jo piped up. She’d been quiet so far, listening and watching as Zach worked his magic. She’d stood by Kerry’s side even when Kerry had lost her mind. Daniel would remember that forever. Jo and Lana were golden as far as he was concerned. “The girls will figure out how to help Kerry.”
Daniel snarled. He wanted in on whatever happened to his mate. Nothing would keep him away from her now, not while she was wounded. “I’m helping.”
“It’s okay.” Kerry reached up and caressed his cheek, soothing both the man and the beast. “Let me work with the ladies. You boys do what you do best. Hunt the bad guy.”
“You don’t want us hunting him, do you?” Jo stared at him, her challenge in her stance and all over her face. “We’ll find him, I’m sure of it.”
“We can totally kick his ass.” Lana flexed her muscles. “C’mon, Kerry. Tell me you don’t want a piece of him.”
“Well…”
“Fuck no.” Zach stood, his blue eyes glowing. “You help Kerry, I hunt rogue warlocks.”
“Love you too, Zach.” Jo winked at him and sat, looking very pleased with herself.
“Fine.” Lana pouted, but she winked at Kerry.
Kerry shook her head. “None of you are right in the head.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
Chapter Twelve
Daniel settled her on the bed as if she were made of thin glass, scowling the entire time.
“I’m fine, Daniel.” She shook her head, well aware of the ache in her chest. It was more of a dull throb now, barely there unless she thought about it. And everyone knew the more you thought about a wound, the more it hurt.
Gah. She was thinking about i
t, damn it. She needed a distraction, like, pronto. “So. You cast the mate spell.” Kerry winced. Oh, yeah. That was the perfect distraction.
“Yes,” he drawled, as if he sensed some sort of bomb that was going to go off right in his face if he didn’t step just right.
“Took you long enough.” Maybe arguing with Daniel would be just the distraction she needed.
“Because I wanted you safe.” He had that scowl on his face, the one she’d been seeing since she first met him. He didn’t want to budge on this issue.
Unmovable wall, meet unstoppable force. “Safe,” she droned like a zombie. “Saaaafe. Pfft. Is that all you can say?”
His eyes narrowed. “Nope. Little Kerry, go to sleep—”
She slapped a hand over his mouth. “Ixnay on the ellspay.”
He smiled against her palm, then licked her.
“Ew!” She rubbed his saliva off on his face. “Wizard germs.”
Daniel huffed out a laugh. “Go to sleep, woman, or I’ll have Jo come sit with you.”
“Why would that be a punishment?” Jo was a very nice woman.
“I’ll tell her you want to learn all about magic.” Daniel came so close his breath moved her hair. “And she’s a teacher.”
She burst into laughter. So much for arguing with him.
Daniel’s touch was full of affection as he brushed her hair off her forehead. “You have no idea how happy I am that you’re here.”
“You fought it hard enough.” Something she was still trying to get over. “Did you know I was yours before you cast the spell?”
Daniel cupped her cheek. “Yes.”
Well. That hurt. “Then why did you wait so long?”
“I didn’t want you involved in our shit-storm, but you kept getting dragged into it.” He ran his fingers through his hair, so distraught she wanted to hug him. “It backfired on me big time, didn’t it?”
Shit. He felt guilty about the hex. “None of this is your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” Daniel stood and began to pace. “If not for us, you never would have been in danger. Hell, you never would have known about magic.”
Warlock Unbound: Heart's Desire, Book 4 Page 9
