Shifter Magnetism

by Stormie Kent

  He looked incredibly sad, so she decided not to bring up the fact that he was rubbing her body in languorous strokes.

  “I bruised you.” He kissed her hip.

  “I’m sure I’ll heal. I got a paper cut the other day, and it was healed in an hour.”

  “That isn’t the point.”

  No, she supposed it wouldn’t be for someone as protective as Nic. She shook off her lethargy and pushed him over onto his back. He didn’t resist her, and she straddled him, blocking how having her pussy pressed against his abdomen felt.

  She couldn’t resist running her hands over his chest and stomach. “Would you like me to rough you up a bit?”

  “The threat loses something if you’re petting me while you make it.”

  “You don’t let me touch you enough.” She was really enjoying herself.

  “Leila.” His tone was serious.

  She looked up even if she didn’t stop stroking him.

  “I can barely contain myself when I look at you. I lose all control. If I hurt you, I don’t know what I would do.”

  She leaned forward, bracing her hands on either side of his head. Then she kissed him. His lips were warm and pliant under hers, and she couldn’t resist taking a few little nips on his lips as she ended the kiss. Her breasts were telling her they enjoyed being dragged across his chest.

  “I lost control too, Nic.” She draped herself over him, sighing as her breasts pressed against his rock-hard chest. “I tell you what, if you hurt me, I promise to slash you with my claws.”

  His entire body shuddered under her, and she laughed at the eager look on his face.

  “I’m not hurt.”

  He stared into her eyes, searching.

  “I’m not hurt. I enjoyed everything we did, even if it was a little intense.”

  He wound around her and started to sit up. “You should never have bruises on your beautiful skin. Come on. I’ll run a hot bath for you.”

  “But I want to lie like this.”

  He sighed but settled back onto the mattress. Leila returned to her place draped over him. She snuggled closer when his fingers began to massage her scalp. She loved it when he did that. It was the last thought she had before falling asleep.

  Chapter Twelve

  Leila stared at the e-mail she’d finally received from a few of the Councils in the surrounding areas. No one had wanted to cooperate until her mother and father put pressure on them. Unfortunately, each sorcerer would have to be investigated. It would be easier to simply set a trap for the guy and use herself as bait. When Nic got home from work, she was going to suggest they do just that. She’d been preparing herself for that fight for hours.

  Glancing back at her notes made her head hurt. She wished she could buy a clue. It was so frustrating.

  Maybe taking a walk would clear her head. She left the house and wandered down the well-worn paths between the houses. Stopping to talk to anyone who wanted to have a conversation with her took her mind off the sorcerer hunt.

  When she came to the edge of the woods, she didn’t pause. She wasn’t just a city witch any longer. She was a shifter, and she needed to get used to the woods. At the next full moon she was going running in wolf form with the pack. Apparently, this was a monthly ritual that helped build comradery and made sure shifters didn’t deny their inner wolf for too long.

  Her mind drifted back to the Brain Surgeon. She hated that name. Evil Bastard was better and more accurate. Something about the situation really bothered her. If he wasn’t one of their Council’s sorcerers, why was he in their county committing his murders? Could he have been one of the wizards who hadn’t been identified as a sorcerer yet? What if he was hunting in Coldwell so no one would notice he was a complete crackpot?

  She stopped in her tracks. What if he’d moved the killings to Coldwell because the Council he belonged to was starting to get suspicious of him? According to Uncle Kofi, these creeps almost had to dump a body on someone’s doorstep before anyone took action. She needed to find out if similar deaths had occurred near other Councils. Maybe she could call Nic and see if the humans had any information in their police database.

  She heard rustling in the trees to her right. She turned toward the sound and stared, but she could see nothing but trees and early evening shadows. Don’t get paranoid. It’s probably a deer. She stared at the grouping of trees a little longer. Maybe it was time she headed out of the woods and took her city behind back to the comfort of her front porch.

  She saw something move out of the corner of her eye just as she turned to head back. She also smelled a familiar scent. She knew it, just couldn’t place it. Stay or go? Was whatever or whoever was out here going to attack her as soon as her back was turned?

  “Who’s there?” She tried to put as much menace into her voice as she could muster.

  A tall woman with strawberry-blonde hair stepped out from behind a tree. Mary, the former alpha’s mate. Leila narrowed her eyes as she looked at the other woman. The last time Leila had seen Mary, she’d had the shifter by the throat in wolf form. Leila wasn’t going to speak first. Leila hadn’t tried to kill her mate, after all.

  The other woman took a big breath. Her gaze glanced off Leila’s before settling slightly lower. “Can I talk to you?”

  Crap. Ana hadn’t covered how to deal with someone you’d once tried to kill when teaching her about shifter etiquette. For some reason, Leila definitely didn’t want the other woman near her. Something about Mary gave her chills. Mary and Manuel had been relatively quiet since Nic had handed Manuel his behind and taken over as alpha.

  Leila suppressed a frustrated sound. She also didn’t want to disrespect a member of the pack for no good reason. So she simply nodded and waited for the other woman to speak.

  “Manuel is angry about what Nic is doing to the pack. He says no good can come from having half-breeds in the pack making us weak.”

  “He should take it up with the alpha.” And have his ass handed to him a second time. “I don’t tell my mate what to do, and I wouldn’t tell him to deny membership to hybrid shifters if I did.”

  Mary moved closer, and Leila tensed. Why had the woman followed her into the woods to have this conversation? She was concentrating so hard on Mary she didn’t smell the other shifter until something hard slammed into the back of her head. Lights exploded in front of her eyes. Her stomach rebelled. She stumbled and almost went down.

  “Tie her up, stupid.” The voice was deep and male.

  Leila struggled to maintain her balance. Everything around her was hazy for a moment. She had to keep them away from her. A blurry, dark shape approached her, and she lashed out with claws. A feminine cry and whimper filled the air.

  The male laughed. “She’s an alpha female all right. Even dazed and confused she’s still fighting.”

  Leila blinked rapidly, vision clearing too slowly to help her make smart decisions with two shifters ready to attack her. Leila could just make out Mary, with her shoulders hunched forward as she clutched the bloody side of her face. My bad. Next to her stood a tall, dark-haired, muscular man. Leila blinked, and Manuel’s features came into focus. So did the large tree limb as big and round as his upper arm he held in his fist. Pre-wolf girl, being hit by the tree limb might have killed her. It definitely would have put her out. As it was, her vision was recovering fast. She pretended to stumble. It was better if they underestimated her.

  The man stared at her, and she tried to look more hurt than she was.

  Manuel grinned. “When we get where we’re going, you and I are going to have a lot of fun.”

  Not today, buddy. She definitely couldn’t allow them to take her to a second location.

  “Hey, Mary, how did he get you to do this? You don’t look like the type for rape and murder.” She watched as Mary’s eyes darted to Manuel and away.

  Manuel simply smirked. “I have no plans to murder you. And who says we can’t play a little? You’ll be begging me for it before too long.”


  From the way Mary’s lower lip trembled, certain aspects of Manuel’s plans were news to her. Or the other woman knew he didn’t care what she thought and simply followed orders.

  “I guess he forgot to share all the pertinent details, huh, Mary?”

  Mary reached out to Manuel with her free hand. “Manuel—”

  His arm came up fast, and Mary ducked. “Shut up.”

  Mary wasn’t going to be much help. Why had Leila come into the woods alone again? No one knew where she was. No one would even think she was missing until Nic got home, and she had no idea when that would be.

  Maybe if she kept the bastard talking, someone would come out for a stroll in the woods. “So what is it you want help with, Manuel?”

  “I’m going to take over the Barron Pack, and you, little girl, are going to help me.”

  She forgot to pretend she was hurt and stood all the way up. She would help him fall on a knife or in front of a moving city bus, but that was about it. “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “The power of the alpha female. As soon as they see I have an alpha female backing me, they’ll have no choice but to be in awe. The Barron Pack’s alpha is weak but well liked. I’ll deal with him. Your presence will insure the pack acclimates to new leadership. You don’t even smell like a witch any longer.”

  There were so many holes in his reasoning she didn’t know where to start. Apparently his plan hinged on his magic dick, which was going to make her miraculously forget all about kidnapping, rape, and the fact that she hated him. She could feel the indignation of the wolf inside her. It snarled and tried to push its way to the surface. It urged Leila to stop talking and fight. At this point, Leila agreed. It was better to make a stand here than allow him to take her somewhere else to hurt her.

  If Mary stayed out of it, Leila might be able to wound him and get away. She tensed, ready for anything—just not the gun he pulled out of the back of his waistband and pointed at her. A shot to the heart or a good one to the head would be the end of her.

  “Twenty questions are over. Start walking.” He motioned in the direction completely opposite where she wanted to go.

  She walked. How was he going to get her out of these woods? He’d have to eventually put her in a vehicle. If not, she would keep leaving a scent trail for Nic to track. What was she going to do? There was no way in the world she could let Manuel get her into a vehicle.

  Her head still hurt, but the pain had softened to a dull ache and she was no longer nauseated. She tried calling her magic to her. At first she couldn’t concentrate through the pain in her head. There was something wrong with her. She couldn’t call the energy. No blue glow enveloped her hands.

  Had he done something to her brain when he’d hit her? Her hand touched the back if her head and came away wet. Blood. Not good.

  She could count in her favor that they hadn’t tied her up after she’d lashed out at Mary. He’d probably counted on her being dazed long enough after he’d played baseball with her head to have Mary get the restraints on her.

  Leila needed more information. Maybe there was a flaw in his plan. “Hey, Manuel, have you been watching me?”

  “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to grab you. Nic is constantly with you, but I knew he’d slip up eventually. The human police would call him in the middle of the night, and we would come in and get you. Have a car waiting behind the house, and we would have been gone before anyone would have been the wiser.”

  “Nic changed the locks and added extra security.”

  “Did he now.” It wasn’t a question. Manuel didn’t sound the least bit perturbed.

  The trees were thinning, and she could see more than a couple of feet in front of her. She almost stopped walking when she spotted the trail and the car parked on it.

  “I never come into the woods. How could you have planned this?”

  “When we saw you enter the wood, I went and moved the car while Mary followed you. Thank you, by the way. Your little change in routine is going to give me a couple of hours on anybody looking for you. It was almost as if you wanted to come with us.”

  There was no way in the world she was getting in the car.

  Mary walked ahead of them. Manuel marched close enough behind Leila that he prodded her with the gun when he felt she wasn’t moving fast enough. There wasn’t any point in being afraid anymore. If she could get the gun away from him, she would have the same chance to fight him that she would when he got her to the new location. Unless he planned on holding the gun on her the entire time. Or making Mary do it.

  She’d rather make her stand here in the woods surrounding pack lands. Someone would find her sooner or later, even if it was just her body. She should have told Nic she loved him. She would likely never see Nic again. They’d been so focused on finding the sorcerer who’d tried to kill her they hadn’t noticed the threat in their midst. She’d never even told Nic someone was watching her. She’d been scared he would tell her she was paranoid.

  Just because you were paranoid didn’t mean they weren’t out to get you.

  It was now or never. She pretended to stagger backward into Manuel, moving to the left as she brought her elbow up and into his stomach. Her wolf rose to the surface, and she watched as her clawed hand covered in fur knocked the gun from his grip.

  Manuel lost his balance, cursing, and Leila leaped out of arm’s reach. She hadn’t knocked the gun far enough away. They both looked at it at the same time. She made her decision as he bent to reach for it. One of them wouldn’t be leaving the forest alive. Then she allowed the wolf to fully take her, springing for Manuel’s throat, shifting completely in the air.

  * * * *

  Nic walked in the front door and realized he was there alone. Wherever Leila had gone, she’d left over an hour ago. He pulled out his cell phone to see if he’d missed a call from her. He had no missed calls. No texts from her either. He’d seen her car on his way in, so maybe she was visiting with his mother.

  He left his home and picked up her scent almost immediately. He followed her scent trail. His mother’s home was in the other direction, so she wasn’t visiting Ana and Tara. He continued on. She could have veered off at any point, visiting any member of the pack. But why?

  He wasn’t surprised when Jake and Devin fell in beside him.

  Jake broke the silence. “Tracking your mate, Nic?”

  “It isn’t like her to wander without someone with her.” Leila was still getting used to pack etiquette and was determined not to misstep.

  “Any new information on the sorcerer?” Devin asked.

  Nic grimaced. “No, and the bastard is going to be killing again soon. It is crazy how the mages don’t keep better surveillance on their people.”

  “Coldwell has the Watch now. They’re going to need work, though.” Jake shook his head.

  “Their Watch isn’t our business,” Nic warned.

  Jake shrugged. “I don’t know, Alpha. Your mate is essentially the Council princess. It seems as if you might want to work on getting along with the in-laws.”

  Nic cursed until he ran out of phrases that made any sense.

  Devin sidestepped a pup running after a ball. “They can’t be that bad. Leila’s nice.”

  “Her mother threatened to use magic to undo our mating.”

  The silence following his comment was long and charged.

  “Can she do that?” Devin sounded outraged.

  “Leila doesn’t think so, but you understand family dinners might be a little strained.”

  Jake chuckled. “Damn. You’re going to need body armor and guards just to visit. What if she gets mad at you and goes home to her mother to sulk?”

  “Thanks, Jake. What is happening with all our new applicants?”

  “The background checks are coming in. No red flags so far,” Devin said.

  Jake’s tone was matter-of-fact. “They seem to be getting along well. They follow the rules.”

  Nic was glad to hear it. “
Keep an eye on them. We want to take on people who will add to the pack, not cause problems.”

  They walked in silence. Nic came to a full stop ten minutes later near a cluster of family dwellings. Leila’s trail continued on, but it was crossed with one he didn’t want anywhere near her.

  Nic balled his hands into fists. “Manuel.”

  Jake said, “It could be a coincidence. People walk this path all day long, and I scent Mary as well. Maybe they were just out for a stroll.”

  Nic hoped so as he picked up the trail again, and his pace. They were headed straight into the woods, someplace Leila had never expressed any interest in going. What worried him the most was that the former alpha and his mate’s scents also entered the woods.

  Nic glanced at Jake. His first’s face was grim. Nic half shifted and began to run. His sense of smell was stronger in his wolf forms. He would need all his senses at optimum level to run and track Leila. If Manuel had harmed her, Nic would dismember him. He’d been so focused on finding the Brain Surgeon he’d completely missed what was happening in his pack.

  Something pulled him to a stop. He sniffed the air. Blood. My mate’s blood. He circled the area where it was strongest.

  Jake pointed. “The tree limb.”

  Nic picked it up. The size of a man’s arm, the tree limb was speckled with blood. The bastard had hit her with it. She was a hybrid. Had it incapacitated her? Was she somewhere right now at Manuel’s mercy?

  “We’ll find them, Nic.” Jake sounded confident. “She’s strong, and her wolf form is quick. You saw how fast she brought Mary down during the challenge.”

  “She wasn’t up against two shifters then, including a man whose wolf form is almost twice her size.” He tossed the tree limb away and ran.

  Just hold on, Leila. Fear drove him, pushed him to move faster. He couldn’t be too late.

  Snarling and growling reached his ears. Was she fighting him? His heart nearly stopped at the thought. Manuel was a bruiser and a dirty fighter. He was large in his wolf form, and he used it. Leila was an alpha female, but she was new to fighting as a wolf. Instinct would only take care of so much.