Shadow Sworn (Copper Falls Book 2)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  “Sophie,” he said sleepily.

  “Hm?”

  “I messed up. I’m sorry for not telling you about the blackouts.”

  She held him tighter. “It’s okay. I get why you didn’t. But don’t do it again.”

  He smiled in that lazy way she loved when he was halfway between sleep and wakefulness. She saw everything in it: the boy she’d sworn she’d love forever, and the man who had made it impossible not to. “Yes, ma’am.” He opened his eyes again. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he said.

  She was warmed again by the tone in his voice, that certain, straightforward way he had of telling her he loved her. “I want that, too.”

  “Seeing Bryce… it’s like he’s fully alive now that he has Layla, you know?”

  Sophie nodded.

  “And I know I’m the same way since you came into my life again. I want to wake up with you every morning, and fall asleep like this every night. I want to spend every possible moment loving you, and it still won’t be enough,” he said. “Marry me?”

  Tears flooded her eyes, and she took a breath. “There are things we need to take care of first,” she said. “I want our happily ever after to actually be happy. I don’t want this curse hanging over us. I don’t want Marshall stalking us.”

  “We can deal with that stuff together.”

  “And we are,” Sophie said, running her hand over his muscular arm. “I love you so much. I want to enjoy planning our wedding. I want to know that if we decide to start a family someday, it’ll be safe from all of the crap Marshall and Migisi caused. Don’t you?”

  “Of course. Yes—“

  “I want to remember planning our wedding,” she said quietly, needing him to understand. His face softened. “I’m watching Layla plan her and Bryce’s wedding, and she’s… she glows,” she said with a smile. “The way I am now, I’d forget that feeling. I don’t want to.”

  He lead toward her and kissed her gently, then lay, his forehead against hers. “I’ll wait as long as you need me to,” Calder promised. “I’ll wait.”

  Sophie kissed him again, and they loved each other until they fell asleep, limbs tangled, breath mingling, bodies pressed tightly to one another, as if there was no way to get close enough.

  And there wasn’t.

  Chapter Twenty

  November 17, 1870

  Migisi watched as Luc pulled his wool sweater back on, covering an expanse of muscled flesh, that line of golden hair that led from his navel down into the waist of his pants. She suppressed a sigh and looked away.

  Claire was snuggled close to her body, the two of them wrapped in a heavy fur Migisi had carried outside with them as they sat through another full moon with Luc. The singing had worked every month since they’d began, and though Migisi’s voice was hoarse and her throat burned, she was grateful that, in this one small way, she could be a comfort to him.

  How she would love to comfort him another way, she thought as she looked at him again. She knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him. The way he looked at her brooked no doubt about his desire for her. But she also knew that he would be faithful to his wife, and she was torn between admiration and frustration over his loyalty.

  “We both know you should just live here with me,” she said. “It is what we both want, and I can watch you. The full moon is not the only time you need my supervision.” It was true. In the past several weeks, he had come to her often, usually when the curse was wearing too heavily on him, when he felt as if his control was at the breaking point. Luc had gotten quite adept at reading his moods and the curse’s effect on them. When he’d been sure his control would snap, it usually did. And, thankfully, she was there to shield and protect the world from Luc.

  “We’re not discussing this now,” he said, turning away from her as he buttoned his coat.

  “Your wife doesn’t want you. You said so yourself,” she said.

  “And I was wrong to speak of my wife to you. It is none of your business.”

  “I want you,” Migisi said softly, so softly that anyone who was not a shifter, with a shifter’s preternatural senses, would not have heard her. “I always have.”

  “You are a worthless whore,” an enraged voice said. Migisi and Luc both looked toward the house. Migisi groaned in disgust.

  Esme.

  How she despised the woman. If it were not for Luc telling her to leave Esme alone for his wife’s sake, she would have destroyed her already. Always coming to check on Luc when he was with her, always reminding her of everything she’d done wrong. Shadow upon Shadow, Migisi thought when she looked at Esme. The Shadow witch’s soul was even darker than her own. Though they did have at least a few things in common.

  “Shouldn’t you be running your cousin’s household right now?” Migisi said, and Luc spoke to her sharply in French, telling her to be quiet. “Let me guess, she’s in bed. Asleep. Too much of a wastrel to bother raising her child and caring for her home.”

  “You are vile,” Esme spat, and she raised her hands.

  “Esme, stop. She holds a baby,” Luc said loudly.

  “What do you care?” Esme cried, glaring at Luc. “You should want to take every bit of happiness she has. It’s what she deserves!”

  “But the baby is innocent. And whether you like it or not, Migisi is the only way I’m able to support my wife.” Since their arrangement had begun, Luc had managed to go back to trapping more regularly. Migisi knew it helped, that he felt some pride again. It had worn on him even more that he had to count on Esme for financial help in addition to the running of his household and the fact that she protected his wife and child from him when the curse was at its worst. Between Migisi and Esme, Luc’s family had not suffered seeing him in the throes of the curse in months, and Migisi was even less fond of Esme for it. She could care for Luc on her own.

  “She is the entire reason you are this thing,” Esme said, and Migisi watched placidly, observing the fire in the other woman’s eyes, the desperation in her voice. Her lip curled in anger.

  “Esme, go home,” Luc said tiredly. “I know what you’re doing.”

  “What?” the redheaded witch demanded. Migisi watched her closely.

  “You’re trying to make sure I don’t bed Migisi. You want to make sure I stay faithful to your cousin. I can promise you, without a single doubt in my mind, that I would never allow myself to fall in with Migisi again.”

  “Your curse may say otherwise,” Esme said. A look passed between Esme and Luc, one that made Migisi want to end the infuriating woman on the spot.

  “My curse is the never-ending reminder of what she did to me. Trust me, I’d rather die than touch her again.”

  The words were a blade to her heart, and Esme’s smug look was like a twist of the knife.

  “Go home,” Luc repeated.

  “You will return soon?” Esme asked, and Migisi hid a roll of her eyes.

  “I want to check my traps, and then I will be home.”

  “Michael will be so happy to see you. He has been asking after Papa,” Esme said, and the gentle smile on Luc’s face was enough to make Migisi want to claw his eyes out.

  “Tell him I will be home soon. Go now, it is cold out.”

  Esme nodded, cheeks flushed with something other than the frigid air. She didn’t spare a glance for Migisi, but turned and headed back through the woods in the direction of the land Luc had claimed as his own.

  Luc pulled his gloves on, which meant he would be leaving any moment now. Migisi had to do everything she could to keep from begging him to stay. Especially after what he had just said, she knew her pleas would be met with derision.

  “You know that her interest in what happens here has nothing to do with your wife, do you not?” she asked instead.

  “She doesn’t trust you,” Luc said. “Can you blame her?”

  “It has nothing to do with that, either,” Migisi said.

  Luc heaved a deep, weary sigh. “I’m tired, Migisi. If yo
u have some nonsense to spew, then go ahead and say it. I have work to do, and then I want to see my son.”

  His son. Resentment burned within her. “She wants you for herself. Obviously,” Migisi said.

  Luc shook his head. “I forget sometimes that you are insane. And then you say something like that to remind me.”

  “She does. She wants you to bed her. She has no interest in making sure you’re faithful to your wife. She just doesn’t want you with me. She’d welcome you to her bed in a minute.”

  “You are a fool, and you’re just as vile as she says you are.” Luc said, anger evident in his voice.

  “Would she walk miles through the woods, truly, to ensure you remain loyal to a woman who doesn’t want you? No, Luc. That obsessive need to know what you do with me is the act of someone who covets you for herself.”

  He didn’t answer, but stormed off into the woods, and Migisi looked after him, hating the way she felt when she watched him walk away, as if her entire reason for being was leaving. A few moments later, she turned, and started in surprise. Esme was standing behind her, red hair like flames against the snowy backdrop around them.

  “Ah. Is this the part where we fight, Esme? Because that will not go well for you,” Migisi said, adjusting Claire slightly.

  “I hate you. You sicken me, you worthless, sickening piece of trash,” Esme seethed.

  Migisi laughed. “Oh. You heard what I told him, hm?”

  “I will make you pay for what you’ve done to him, Migisi,” Esme said, as if she had not even heard Migisi’s taunt. “Whether it’s you, your daughter, or someone else, your family will pay for what you’ve done to his. I swear it on Shadow and everything I am.”

  Migisi affected a bored look, though the vehemence in Esme’s words unsettled her a bit. Esme was not as powerful as Migisi, but she was no weakling, either. She could actually do things, if she meant what she said. “Go, run back home to greet Luc. He will show just as little interest in you as he always has.”

  Esme watched Migisi wordlessly for a moment, then a slow smile spread over her shapely lips. “Yours will pay for what you’ve done to mine, Migisi. I will not rest until your family suffers for your actions the way mine has. The way he has.” And in the next instant, she was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “This is the ugliest dress I’ve ever worn. If you even think of making us wear these, so help me I will hurt you,” Cara said. Sophie hid a smile and nodded as she stood beside Cara. They studied their reflections in the large floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the dressing room of the bridal shop. They’d started the day early, driving an hour and a half to get to the boutique, and they’d been trying on dresses for nearly an hour.

  The latest abomination, a coral number with enough ruffles to make Sophie think she looked like a badly-decorated cupcake, was just the latest in a long list of bridesmaid dress failures.

  Layla sat in one of the chairs, hiding what Sophie knew would be a laugh behind her hand. “I love them,” she said, and Cara threw her twin a disgusted look.

  “The blue ones were better than these,” Sophie said, and after a moment of hesitation, Cara nodded.

  “That’s not saying much, though,” Cara said, and Sophie laughed.

  Sophie knew they were getting on the nerves of the poor attendant who’d been helping them. The woman stood with her arms crossed, watching the shenanigans with a stony expression.

  “It sounds like you ladies want something a little simpler, perhaps,” she said.

  “Yes. It’s going to be a small wedding. Simple would be better,” Layla said, trying to keep a straight face. The original dresses the attendant had brought out for them had been enormous puffy monstrosities of a style Sophie didn’t even realize they made anymore. This third round of dresses had been better, but not by much. The attendant left in a huff, and the friends exchanged amused glances.

  “Is it my fault she didn’t hear me the first three times I said it?” Layla said after the woman left.

  “I have the feeling they’re desperate to get rid of some of these,” Cara said, and Sophie chuckled. On the long car drive over, Sophie had filled her friends in on everything that had been happening, including her firing, the blackouts, and Calder’s fight with the bear. She’d finished with the story of Marshall versus her goats, and the twins had sat in silence for a while, taking it all in. It had felt good to confide in them, to have them call Marshall every name under the sun, to know that others despised him just as much as she did.

  The day with her friends was exactly what she needed, she realized.

  “Just think. You and Calder will be planning one of these soon,” Layla teased, and Sophie felt a blush warm her face.

  “Hopefully,” Sophie said.

  “You’ll find a way. You always do, and you have us to back you up,” Cara said. Sophie wriggled out of the flouncy dress and pulled on the robe she’d brought with her at Layla’s suggestion. She was glad now that she had. Unlike Cara, she wasn’t comfortable sitting around in her underclothes.

  “Are you seeing that witch again soon? Esme?” Cara asked.

  Sophie nodded. “I’m supposed to go for another round of her beating me up this weekend. I swear, the woman does not like me.”

  “Well, from what you said, she didn’t seem to like Migisi much, either. Maybe she just doesn’t like you on principle,” Layla said, and Sophie shrugged.

  “I don’t really care if she likes me. I’d just like her to not be quite so enthusiastic about showing me how weak I am,” she said wryly, and the twins nodded.

  The attendant came back with another armload of dresses, and Sophie and Cara began trying them on. The eleventh style was the charm: long, simple gowns with sheer sleeves and fitted bodices. Cara and Sophie sat around as Layla put in an order for both dresses in dark purple. Sophie spent a few minutes messaging with Calder. She’d found herself checking in on him more since the bear thing, and she knew he was checking in on her more, too, since they’d brought her blackouts into the open. The first few days after she’d been fired, they’d spent mostly in Calder’s bed, or in hers. It reminded her a bit of the days right after she’d taken his curse, when they’d stayed together in much the same way, being comforted just by being in one another’s presence.

  Layla finally stepped away from the counter after shaking the attendant’s hand, and she turned to Sophie and Cara with a smile. “I am starving. Want to head over to the mall to grab something to eat?”

  “Don’t have to ask me twice. I could eat a deer,” Cara said

  “Yuck,” Sophie said, and the twins laughed. Old jokes, her two wolf friends teasing the vegetarian over differences in their choices of diet. It all made Sophie feel normal, for just a while.

  At the mall, they headed for the food court.

  “Chinese sounds good to me,” Sophie said.

  “Long line, though,” Layla said.

  “It probably won’t take too long.”

  “I need a burger,” Cara said, and Layla nodded. The twins headed for the burger place as Sophie got in line at the Chinese place. The line moved pretty quickly, and Sophie had just decided on veggie stir-fry when she heard a loud shout from the opposite direction. She turned that way, and heard another shout. Two men, not much older than teenagers, were shouting at one another, their tone angry even though Sophie couldn’t understand the words. Their shouts got louder, and then one punched the other in the stomach. They began wrestling.

  Sophie heard some of the people in line with her start arguing with one another, and her heart sank.

  “You cut in front of me, asshole,” one man said to another.

  “Are you blind? I’ve been here this whole time,” the second guy said. The first guy shoved him, and then the other people in line, those who’d been jostled first, started shoving back.

  I’m doing this, Sophie thought to herself. Shadow. Her mind flashed back to the restaurant that horrible night.

  Maybe stepping away would ca
lm them down.

  She looked for a somewhat empty part of the food court. Somewhere away from crowds that would be affected by her Shadow. How foolish she’d been, letting herself forget that her and crowds were a bad combination.

  Shouts started at a different part of the mall, down past the food court in front of a clothing store. A crowd there was shoving one another. She looked around in panic, looking for Cara and Layla. The original argument had happened not too far from the burger place where they’d been waiting, and in the short time since those first shouts had sounded, a large crowd had grown there, as if people had been drawn to the chaos.

  She couldn’t see Cara and Layla in the crowd.

  Another fight broke out near her, and she moved away, trying to edge around to find Cara and Layla while also trying not to get too close to anyone. She didn’t want anymore fights to start. Hopefully once she got out of there, everyone would calm down.

  In the midst of the shouting, shoving crowd, she saw Layla trying to break up a fight between two women, Cara at her side, helping her sister.

  Suddenly, it was as if the volume and intensity of everything around them turned up to full blast. The shoving became punching, and the shouts became screams. People started hitting, and, in one case, biting, whoever was in the nearest vicinity. She ran toward Cara and Layla, shouting, telling them it was time to go.

  She was nearly to them when she saw a man pick up one of the metal stools near the burger place and just start randomly swinging it at people, full of rage, madness in his eyes.

  She focused, and threw a shield up over him, blocking him from hitting anyone. He’d been far too close to her friends with that last swing, she thought.

  “Guys! Let’s get the hell out of here,” she shouted. Cara heard her and nodded emphatically. She took Layla’s arm and pulled, but Layla was in the process of going to a teenage girl who’d been taken down by the maniac and his swinging stool. She’d just bent down to check on the girl when someone hurled a small table in that direction.