by Wilson, Rena
“No,” I said shaking my head. “The whole community was involved, witches, werewolves, and even some of the vampires worked together. But it was the witches that were tasked to formulate a spell that could work on the Ancients. They were very powerful creatures that were resistant to many spells. There were several attempts and many paranormals lost their lives attempting to subdue them.”
“They worked at a solution, until it was finally found close to a century after the Ancients arrived in Europe. They planned the ritual down to the last second. Each type of paranormal had their role to play, and they executed the plan flawlessly. The Priests were subdued and were eventually tried by the European Council. They lived the rest of their days in a cell. The Ancients were placed in a state of stasis, but their location was never revealed.”
“Well that story sounds preposterous,” Gretchen grunts. “Why would they not tell anyone? Surely the Council should have someone guarding their location.”
I shrug, “You would think, but they didn’t. The tome that contained what they named the Rites of Weynard was entrusted to my Grams coven many centuries ago by the European Council. When the coven move to North America, the tome came with them. Sorry, Hunter, but I highly doubt they informed the North American Coven they had it in their possession.”
“Seems like the smart thing to do,” Hunter sighed. “Let the history become a legend so that no one would be stupid enough to believe.” He said the last point with his eyes directed towards Gretchen.”
“Yes, well, for eight centuries the coven safeguarded the tome that is until yesterday,” I admitted.
Hunter’s eyes snap back to me, “What?!”
I nod, “The tome’s location is periodically and randomly moved from one location to another with a very powerful shield around it. The witches that were transporting it yesterday were attacked and the tome was taken. That is the reason I phoned ahead to ensure that only the most trusted Council members were here today. The only way anyone would have known the route was if they were on the inside or if they have an informant.”
“Kris, dear, please tell me we are not going to go with this ridiculous story of hers,” Gretchen says a she places her hand on Kristoff’s arm.
A low growl is instantly emitted from my throat as my eyes lock on where they are skin to skin. Kristoff, in his great wisdom, removes his arm from under hers. Looking at me with a small smirk. “Easy, Rian.”
I try to put on a neutral face, but I think I failed. Kevin and Michael up to this point had just been listening. With the scene over, Kevin leaned across the table to face Gretchen, “I would tread carefully, Priestess. You have never seen an Alpha female when she is pissed, especially if she feels someone trying to poach her Alpha male.”
Gretchen narrowed her eyes at the large man. But before things completely downhill, Michael spoke. “We should try to focus on what Rian said. We need to find out how they knew about the tome. We will have our security team look into it, right Kev?”
“Absolutely, well that is if the coven will cooperate with us. There’s not been much inter-species interaction over the last few years. Rian, do you think they would let us work with them?”
I thought about it for a minute. “I am sure if we approach it that way. The coven knows the Ancients story well. They know it took more than just witches to bring them down. Just don’t go in there trying to boss them around.”
Kevin put back on his mischievous smile, “I would never dream of it.”
“Right,” I rolled my eyes. “The tome describes the ingredients and the rites that were used put the Ancients in stasis. However, to my knowledge, the counter-spell was not written down. There is no good guess as to how long it would take to create one either. That is all dependent on the knowledge of the ones who took it.”
“Over the last two weeks, I put out some feelers to some of my colleagues around the world,” my wolf still wanted to rip into Gretchen, but I needed to continue. “There have been incidents all over of certain magical objects being stolen or sold on the black market. While this in of itself is not unusual, it is the fact that most of the items could be used to try to counter a spell of this magnitude.”
Kristoff nodded, “We received similar reports from our contacts after you provide what we should look for. Do you think they have found the location of the Ancients?”
I thought for a moment, then shook my head, “No I don’t think they have, but we will know when they do. The new Priests will need the tome to raise the protective ward over where the Ancients lay. As soon as that tome is used in anyway, my Grams will know.”
“How is that?” asked Hunter.
“When a coven leader is appointed, the tome is bound to them. If anything is used from the tome, Grams will know and she will know its location.”
Hunter looked puzzled, “Excuse me, but as the North American Coven leader, I assure you that Martha is coven leader for the Meadow Coven.”
I grimaced, “I guess this is another point where I say I am sorry? They always use a decoy leader, Grams really is in charge and uses Martha as a proxy outside of the coven. This was done to protect the true leader.”
“It seems Henrietta and I have much to discuss,” Hunter sits back in his chair and seemingly gets lost in thought.
“Well, I think that is all we can do right now,” Kristoff rises from his chair. “When is a good time to meet with your Grams?”
“Uh, can I get back with you on that one?” I say nervously. “While I am sure Michael, Kevin and Hunter meeting with her wouldn’t be so bad, she may clam up with you.”
“Why?” Kristoff throws on the handsome smirk.
I sigh, “She has her reasons for not wanting me to be involved with a wolf.”
He nods and approaches where I sit. He leans down to whisper in my ear, “Everything.” With that he straightens to hold out his hand to help me stand. “Okay, please get back to us by the end of the day. Gentlemen, you know what to do in the meantime. Come Rian I will escort you to your car.”
At that statement, I see Gretchen’s face turning an unattractive shade of red as she rises from her chair. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
Kristoff barely glances at her, “The same thing you always do, whatever Hunter says.”
Kristoff
“I don’t like her,” Rian mumbles as we entered elevator.
I chuckle, “I don’t particularly like her either, but she is the head priestess, so I have to tolerate her. By the way that was a very impressive growl you made earlier.”
“Don’t start,” she sighs.
“Oh I am only beginning. I just wish you would let me help you by telling me what kind of paranormal you are. You seem to be struggling with an inner battle.”
“You have no idea,” is her whisper. “Let’s just focus right now on getting you to see my Grams without her shooting you first.”
“She do that with all your boyfriends?” I ask as we left the elevator walking past Tiffany.
“Did you scare Tiffany?” she throws at me after we were out of her earshot.
I grinned, “Well she was rude.”
“How did you even know?”
“Tiffany told me after she found out you are my mate. She didn’t know that you were not the type of person to run those types of things through me. She wanted to apologize before you had the chance to tell me.”
“I can handle my own battles,” she says through clenched teeth.
“Oh, I didn’t do anything to her,” I grumble. “I told her that you were more than capable of handling it if you felt it was necessary. She is one of the biggest gossips in the pack so I knew if I told her that, the whole pack would know that I, even as protective of my mate as I am, know you are strong enough to hold your own.”
Rian was taken aback for a moment. Not growing up in a pack, she really wouldn't understand the dynamics, but my wolf is smiling at his mates’ confidence. “Well, um, thanks.”
“Let me know when we can com
e and meet your Grams,” I say. I didn’t even realize we made it to her car.
“I was thinking actually, that it might be a good idea for you to come alone first, to hash out all the personal stuff before Hunter digs into my Grams.”
I nods, “Sounds good. Is seven okay?”
“That should work. It is one now, that will give me a whole six hours to calm her down,” she says with a chuckle.
“Until then,” I lean in and place a small kiss on her cheek.
My move shock her, but my wolf could feel hers prancing inside of her happy to be next to her mate. I watch as she gets in her car and slowly pulls out of the garage. Meeting with her Grams is going to be interesting, but if it means that the old woman will understand my feelings for her granddaughter it will be worth it.
Rian
Grams is furious with me when she finally meets me around four. She reminds me of the cartoon character with steam being blown out of her ears. I put on my sweetest smile, “Hunter says hello.”
“Don’t go and try to change the subject,” Grams snaps. “You should not have told them anything! This was an internal matter to handle.”
“You know that is not true, Grams,” I retort. “The witches back in the day had help. You and I both know that if everyone did not work together the world would be a much different place. I think your mood is more about Kristoff than anything.”
“It is not just that Rian,” she slumps to sit on the kitchen bar stool. “I agree that we should work together, but you did not have the right or the authority to reach out to them. You are not a member of the coven.”
All I could do was sigh, “Only because you won’t let me.”
“Oh, don’t paint me as the bad guy here. You are unique Rian, and uniqueness scares some people. That is my real fear with Kristoff. That he will either think of you as a commodity to use or drop you for the good of his pack,” Grams says in almost one breathe. “I will not allow that to happen to you.”
“Well, whether you like it or not, he will be here in an hour,” I hold my ground. “I am not a child anymore, Grams. I can protect myself.”
“I am well aware of your ability to protect your body, but can you protect your heart?” with that last stabbing comment, she stands and leaves the kitchen.
I stand there contemplating what she said. It was true that I didn’t know Kristoff all that well, hell not really at all. My wolf choose that moment to throw her opinion on the matter in. What I felt from her was that Kristoff was to be trusted. I always listened to her. She never led me wrong, and I didn’t think she was going to start now. I retreat to my room to shower and mental prepare myself for the events to occur later.
Kristoff
Kristoff approached Rian’s house with only a slight trepidation. He knew that Rian was in her room. He was surprised when his secretary called him to say that Henrietta Conner wanted to meet with him earlier than seven. He knew that this was probably to talk to him without Rian present. No matter what the old witch had to say, he wasn’t staying away from Rian.
Henrietta was sitting on the front porch almost in the same spot he and Rian sat the night prior. “Alpha,” she nods in respect for his position. “Thank you for meeting me.”
“Ms. Conner, a pleasure.”
The older woman snorted, “I am sure that is not how you truly feel given the light Rian probably painted me in.”
“On the contrary, Rian spoke of you with only love and respect, but she said you have some reservations on us continuing a relationship,” I defended.
“Oh, well, it is good to know that,” she sighed. “Alpha..”
“Kristoff or Kris, please.”
“Kristoff, I am only concerned for my young granddaughter. There is much you do not know and I will not allow her to be harmed,” she stated looking directly into my eyes.
“No harm will come to her by me or mine, but surely you know she is powerful enough to take care of herself,” I vowed. “You know we mate for life, there will never be another for me even if she chooses to walk away.”
“And you would allow that?” she looked at me in disbelief.
I shrug, “I would never force anything on her, even if it means I lose my pack because I would. My pack would see me as weak at not being about to even get my mate to stay. She is not a wolf, well, I am not sure about that, but she is probably not under the same compulsion I am.”
“Who she is directly correlates with what she is, which is why I am about to ask you to do something on blind faith,” she says as she lets a bit of her power saturate the air. “I want your vow that no matter what she talks to you about, whether you chose to stay or not, you will keep her secret safe.”
“You don’t need to throw you magic around for that,” I growled. “Like I told Rian, I am not going anywhere no matter what she tells me.”
Henrietta rose from her seat and nodded, “Good. Just know that if you break her heart, I break you, slowly.”
Even though I am an Alpha, her power is great so I know the threat is real. My wolf’s hackles rise at the threat, but I calm him by reminding him it was for our mate. “I hope you never have to prove your abilities on me.”
Only moments later we are in the kitchen talking about the Ancients when Rian came in looking nervous at the scene in front of her. Her hair was still a little wet from her shower and framed her stunning face perfectly. She brought me out of my musings, “I thought you wouldn’t be here until seven?”
I shrug, “I missed you.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie, I really did miss her.
Her nostrils flare slightly indicating that she knew it was a half-truth, but she let it go probably happy her Grams and I weren’t fighting. “Well, okay how is everything here?”
“Fine,” Henrietta says. “The Alpha and I will not be at each other’s throats unless something happens.”
I nod, “We are good, Ri, don’t worry. I just called Michael to get everyone over here to discuss our problem. They are bringing pizza.”
Charles
“Fred, I don’t think this is a good idea,” I know the dog didn’t understand me, but who the hell else was I supposed to talk to. I leave him in the shop with enough food for a few days hoping he will be okay. Then I take a trip to a place I swore I would never enter again.
“Charles? Is that you? I thought you were out,” the rough voice of Vaughn comes from behind the bar.
The bar was a complete dive, but what better place to hide illegal movements of artifacts. At this time of the day the bar was practically empty. I take a seat at the bar, “Thought I was too. Double whiskey straight.”
Vaughn pours me what looks more like a triple. Standing seven feet eight inches, we made quite the pair. He knew my want to stay out of this life. I shoot the whiskey back feeling the burn slide down my throat and signal for another. “I am in deep shit this time, Vaughn. No way out, hoping you can help me out.”
The next drink appears in front of me, but I choose to sip it. Getting three sheets to wind drunk would not help me today. “I need some items, and I need them fast.”
The giant nods, “You know I owe you for all those years you help care for my Helen.” I hand the list over. He lets out a whistle, “What kind of dark magician wants this?”
“Remember Jaqueline de Molay?” At his nod I continue, “Seems her line didn’t die out and the bitch’s thrice great granddaughter hunted me down. I took the pledge to be out. The powers that be will destroy me if I do this, if I don’t do this the damn Gods will destroy me.”
“My friend, take your chances with the powers that be, the Gods are not as merciful, especially with a life debt. There is a sale tomorrow night that may have what you are looking for, but I don’t think you will have the kind of cash you will need.”
“Just tell me where it is at, I will worry about the cash.”
Vaughn shakes his head, “You’re gonna steal them, aren’t you? Charles…”
“I know my friend, I know. Just tell me,” I deci
de to go ahead and finish the drink. I mean what the hell? I probably won’t survive the next couple of days. Vaughn gives me the information. “Thanks old friend. Hopefully this is not the last time we meet, but if it is, may the Gods be with you.”
Vaughn comes out from behind the bar to walk me to the door, “We will see each other again.”
I crash for the night at a hole in the wall hotel with a lumpy mattress that has seen better days. I didn’t see much sleep, but it was enough to make it through the day. I leave the hotel and find my way to the place the auction is to take place tonight. The security is good, but we dwarves have our own type of magic that we are known for. By noon all of the items have arrived. The power emanating from the building is well concealed but it still pulses out to those that are sensitive.
With my small stature I make my way around the security into the holding area. I haven’t done anything like this in twenty years, but hey it is second nature after doing it for almost two hundred years. The items are not hard to locate. Lucky for me the items were being auctioned off in the same batch. I can take all three with a single swipe, then run for my life when the alarm goes off. Yep, that is my great plan.
The swipe is quick, so is the alarm. I slide quickly into the vent system easily fitting, making my way through the building. When I escape my confines, unfortunately I run smack dab into a security guard. “Fancy seeing you here,” I smile. “I was just checking your security; it really sucks by the way.” I kicked the guy in the shins and did just as I planned, began to run for my life. I weave my way through the alleys and canal ways throwing my magic to conceal my true location along the way. Dwarves are good thieves.
I finally make it back to my shop close to sunrise. I have to keep these items hidden for twelve hours. Then I will be done. Fred greets me at the door. “Not now, Fred, it’s been a night.”
“I am sure it has, Charles,” a man sits behind my workbench.
All I think is that I am done. My magic won’t save me now. “Just make it quick pal and look after my dog.”
