by Aidy Award
Kady appeared visibly shaken. She could figure out how to defend herself, and him, against other humans, but she hadn’t embraced her own powers or that of the rest of the world around her. He saw in the way her hands shook when she sipped from her mug that the idea of an attack of this kind, scared her.
She should be scared. The spectral warriors scared him. They were pure evil, and a scourge on the galaxy.
He’d been a Star Ranger for a long time, and even the worst of the worst had a motivation for why they killed, maimed, attacked, or destroyed those around them. But, not the spectral warriors, not that he could understand.
They were emotionless, voiceless, driven only by stealing another soul and leaving behind an empty husk, still living, but completely void.
He’d seen it firsthand. His own homeworld of Honaw had been devastated by the spectrals. They’d stolen the lives of those dear to him.
He would never let them steal Kady.
He would die himself, first.
“Sigar, you said yesterday you needed to transport the abode we stayed in. I suggest you prepare it and leave. The spectral warriors will continue to attack until they break through your wards.”
“Oh no. Not our little garden.” Margreth hugged Sigar and wept.
“Kady and I must continue on to our destination, so I can hook up with my team and use this new information to work to defeat this blight on the galaxy.”
Sigar patted his wife’s back. “Where is your team, bear?”
“Magic, New Mexico. There is another Star Ranger there who will be able to help us.” Frost and his witch mate Lacey, should be able to help with the spectrals and Kady’s formidable but budding powers.
“Then that’s where we’re going too. Margreth has a cousin who runs the taxi service in Magic. They’ll take us in.”
“Good. How long do you need to prepare?” Black wanted to be underway as soon as they could.
“Not long, maybe a couple hours. We need to prepare and load the other containers on the truck.”
He nodded, and the gnomes hurried off. That gave him enough time to teach Kady to defend herself.
She stood off to the side, looking lost and alone. He wanted nothing more than to wrap her up in layers of graphene lined with the softest down and protect her.
Not only did he not have that luxury, he didn’t think Kady would want it that way. She’d already proven she was smart and resourceful, that she could keep a level head in a dangerous situation.
That was fucking hot. His curvy warrior princess had his soul burning for her and his cock twitching. He crossed to her and ran his hands through her soft hair.
“Black, I heard the Gunderson’s talking this morning. They think my magic brought those things here.” Kady twirled her cup in her hands and stared down at the ground.
The Star Rangers didn’t know enough about the spectrals to know when and where they would strike. “I have had many run ins with them, so it’s more likely they were here for me.”
“But how would they know you were here?”
This part he didn’t want to tell her. “The spectrals are soul stealers. They have had a taste of my soul before, so when we made love and our souls danced around us, they were probably drawn to it.”
“Holy crap. We are never having sex again. I don’t want anything to steal your soul.”
Black pulled Kady to him, holding her tight to his body. “Oh, we will have lots of sex, mah wah.”
He kissed her, letting her taste the truth of his words. He could take her right there, in the field, but not before teaching her to fend off the spectrals.
He left her panting, and wanting, the soft glow of her soul seeking his across her skin. Exactly how he wished he could keep her. “But, first, let’s play with your powers. You can use them to keep yourself safe.”
Black had known witches on his world, but he only partly knew how their magic worked. They were nothing compared to Kady. Mostly he knew of healers who could do tricks that helped them in their trade, like spurring plant growth, making small objects appear or disappear, and mixing potions. The strongest magic he’d ever seen was when a witch and taken a sliver of his soul and bound it in his ember.
What he did understand was that a similar energy fueled the bear inside of him. He’d had to learn how to harness that as a cub crossing into adulthood, and he hoped the same idea would help Kady seize her own abilities.
“Can I use them to keep you safe too?”
“We’ll see. Now close your eyes. I want you to think of the last time you noticed your magic working.”
Kady scrunched her eyes tight and wrinkled her nose. “Okay, I got it.”
She concentrated so hard, and her face was adorable like this. He should tell her to relax and let the magic flow, but he was getting a kick out of seeing her this way.
“Good, where do you feel it in your body?”
“I think it’s behind my heart, but kind of in my throat and belly too.”
“Concentrate on that feeling, breathe into it.”
Kady’s face relaxed with each breath and the glow of her skin increased. Not in the same way as before, this light was all her own. Soft, ethereal, and a deep amber.
It reminded him of the color of his soul ember. He reached for the pendant that he’d hadn’t been without since he became a man. It still wasn’t there. Without it, he couldn’t complete the mating, couldn’t claim her fully, and make her his forever.
“I feel it, Black. It’s soft and warm.”
“See if you can expand it, let it spread across your whole body.”
The amber glow swelled, washing across her skin, surrounding her in its light.
“Yes, that’s it, love. Your magic is as beautiful as you.”
Kady opened her eyes and they wandered, looking at the waves of light and energy pouring out of her. “It is pretty. But, what can I do with it?”
“You’ll learn more than I can teach you when we get to New Mexico. But, for now. See if you can turn the soft light into something hard, like a shield.”
Kady closed her eyes again. Her light shimmered and she disappeared.
Black reached out, searching for her, and found her arm. She was there, but invisible. Where his hand touched her, it faded as well. That was a damn good trick.
“Don’t open your eyes, but concentrate on that feeling, right there. Hold it, feel it, so you can try to recreate it.”
Her voice was soft, but confident. “Is it the shield, like you said?”
“No. But this is even better. Do you have the feeling? Think you can do it again?” He would make her practice until she could.
“Maybe.”
“Come back to that warm soft place you found before.” Kady shimmered back into view.
As she reappeared her soft light pushed out from her, expanding, turning from a glow to rays of light. The light reached up to the sky penetrating the remaining wards.
A high-pitched scream, like a fighter ship tearing through the sky mixed with the call of a banshee, screeched through the air.
Black looked up and saw the spectral bearing down, crash into the wards, cracking it even further.
“Kady, pull back your light, now.”
She gasped and instead of her light coming back to her, it spread like an explosion through the sky. The spectral screamed again at first reaching for her light, then recoiling as it crackled, burned by her magic. It didn’t stay away long, hurtling itself at both her light and the wards.
“Ouch. Ow.” Kady cried out, matching the pain of the creature.
Black pulled her to him, took her face in his hands. Her light sizzled through him too, but it didn’t hurt, it washed through him like the energy of a thousand men. “Mah wah, relax, bring your light back, back to me. Close your eyes and find that feeling you had before.”
“Ouch, I can’t.” Kady’s eyes darted from the spectral that was attacking her light, to him, and back again.
“You can Kady, you m
ust.”
She swallowed and nodded her head. Her eyes fluttered shut, but her face jerked as the spectral continued its barrage.
The sky above them shattered. The wards were destroyed. The spectral plummeted through the air toward them.
Fates above, please don’t take her from me now.
He added hope to his prayer that his next move would work. That he could help her be safe.
Black kissed her, rolling her to the ground, and under him. He swept his tongue into her mouth, and let his soul rise to mingle with her.
Kady grasped at him, shoving her hands into his hair and kissed him back, taking as much as she was giving.
If they were both about to lose their souls to this spectral, there was no other way he’d rather go.
Kady’s light shimmered and the world around them faded away. It was as if she was bending the light around them. No that wasn’t quite right. She was slowing the light, dissipating it, scattering it.
They could still hear the scream of the spectral and in the next instant it was upon them. Black waited for his soul to be ripped from his body, he wished for Kady that it be fast and painless.
The spectral warrior passed into the slowed light space around them, and Black saw a face he knew, would always remember, would never forget.
“Mother?”
Chapter
Ten: Warrior Witch
Kady had no idea what she was doing, she only knew the thing that attacked couldn’t hurt them anymore.
The being had burst through the shield Black had told her to call up. This time she understood what to do, where the magic came from deep inside of her, and she’d expanded the shield to encompass them both, protecting them together.
When it passed through the barrier a thousand needles poked at her from the inside out.
Kady clearly saw the being, a dark shadowy liquid mercury, that reminded her of an angry genie out of its bottle. Almost as fast as it penetrated her shield, it began to dissipate, the fluid transforming into wisps of nothingness.
“Mother?” Black whispered, both pain and surprise lacing the word like poison.
The last part of the being to dissolve before their eyes was the face of an older woman, lines of pain, smeared with… what?
Sadness and relief.
“Kady, Black, are you two okay?” The Gundersons scurried to the part of the field she and Black were lying in.
Kady wasn’t quite ready to release her shield and the Gundersons ran right past them. She held Black tightly, partly for herself, but mostly because he’d gone as still as an ice statue.
Had that creature been his mother? Talk about a monster-in-law.
“Black.” Kady stroked his face and whispered to him.
A muscle ticked in his jaw and he continued to stare, or glare at the spot where the being, his mother, had disappeared.
“Come back to me now.” She whispered again and this time he heard her.
He blinked and let go of the breath he’d been holding. “Good work using your magic to defend us from the spectral warrior.”
This wasn’t her Black. The voice was distant and curt. The meaning behind the words sincere, but as if they were what he was expected to say.
This Black was a detached soldier.
He got to his feet and his action broke the shield. The only concession to indicate the man she’d made love to, was falling in love with, might already be in love with, was a hand to help her up.
“Black?” What was she supposed to say? Are you okay, didn’t even begin to cover it. If that was really his mother, there was a whole lot more going on here than she understood.
Hadn’t he said his mother had a farm?
Kady knew Black’s mission had to do with hunting down the spectral warriors and that he and his team needed to find a way to defeat them.
The spectrals were the bad guys. That thing had been part of the Dark Side, that she knew.
Chills ran down her neck and up her jaw. What if this was like a Skywalker family reunion. But, instead of Luke, I am your father, it was Black, I am your mother.
He didn’t respond to her at all, but instead walked across the field toward the houses. The Gunderson’s spun on their heels when they saw him and started trucking back.
They had to pass her to get to him and stopped to gather her along.
“You’ve got some powerful magic, pretty witch. Disappearing like that.” Margreth wagged her finger.
Kady frowned. Disappearing? “I just put up a shield that Black taught me.”
“Your shield made you invisible and injured the creature. We saw it dissipate, then reform, but it was weaker, both in form and energy.”
“It’s still here?” She ducked, hoping it wasn’t already attacking.
Sigar pointed to the hole in the sky that still glowed around the edges. “No, no, it flew back out the hole it had crashed through the wards.” He shook his head and tsked. “It was really gunning for you. Lucky you learned that shield or I think the two of you would be in a sorry state.”
She had learned more than a shield. Her magic had injured the spectral. If Black could help her learn more, maybe she could use it as a weapon instead.
She’d show those bully spectrals who was a badass.
Then maybe she could help Black and his team fight against them. She could stand up for the meek, since no one had ever stood up for her.
Except Black. He’d risked his life to save hers during the TFO attack, and he’d thrown himself between her and the attacking spectral. Her warrior bear had been ready to sacrifice himself for her.
If she had her way, he wouldn’t have to sacrifice ever again. She was done hiding from the world, trying to avoid the mean and scary things in the universe, letting them win.
Kady had her own powers now. She didn’t know exactly how they worked or what they could and couldn’t do. But, she knew with Black by her side she had a fighting chance for the first time in her life.
Now to convince him.
Black had retreated to where the container tiny homes had been, although only the one they had stayed in was still in the field. She couldn’t imagine what they Gunderson’s had done with the other ones, but that last container come tiny house was now on a trailer, and her truck, Herbie, was on a smaller trailer behind it.
Kady jogged across the field, her mind running through all the ways she could help Black’s team. She could throw up the shield around them all, she could learn to focus the shield into a sword…or a light saber.
She was definitely going to need Jedi robes, or a super suit. But, no cape. Capes were dangerous. Nothing spandex with stars and stripes was going anywhere near her butt either.
She found Black pacing, back and forth, back and forth, saying something under his breath. Swearing up a storm.
He didn’t seem to notice her, so she reached out and touched his arm. He jumped about a yard and the form of the bear shimmered for a moment.
He clenched his fists and took several deep breaths, the bear receded. He paced once again, angry energy shooting off him. “Kady. I’m sorry for fucking leaving you open and vulnerable like that. I’m an ass and shouldn’t have. You are mine to protect now.”
She didn’t need protecting so much anymore. “Maybe your mine to protect.”
Black stopped his pacing, grabbed her up and laid a good hard kiss on her. This wasn’t a possessive kiss, he had a need, some vulnerability.
Kady kissed him back, just as fiercely, trying to let him know she was there for him. He’d had a pretty harsh shock and she wanted to soothe him, take care of him.
The warm glow that came from deep inside of her surfaced and she concentrated on spreading it to Black, wrapping them both in its heat.
A shriek sounded from far above them, forcing them to break apart.
Margreth snagged her arm and pulled her toward their container house. Sigar did the same with Black. “Come on you two, inside. We’ve put up wards around the house so it should hold
those nasty beings off for a little while.”
The four of them ran inside, and Sigar slammed the door behind them. Margreth waved her arms and said some words Kady didn’t recognize. A flash zipped through the building and then a series of crashes and screeches came from outside.
“The spectrals are attacking again. In force this time.” Black looked out the window at the exact moment something crashed into it. The glass remained untouched, but a small spider web of cracks formed a few centimeters off the side of the window.
Black slammed his hand against the wall, bear claws extending from the ends of his fingers. “Fuck. I can’t do a god-damned thing to fight them.”
She hated seeing Black feel so helpless. What she was about to say might make him feel even more so. She hoped not. But, she had to take the chance. For the first time in her life, she not only could do something to fight against the bad guys, she wanted too.
“I can.” At first her voice was only a whisper, but her soul wanted to shout. “I can fight them with my magic.”
Chapter
Eleven: Sex Magic
A deep cut ached in the pit of Black’s stomach. He shook his head, denying her words. No way could he put Kady into battle with the spectrals. The Fates had both blessed and cursed him with a mate as amazing as his curvy little witch. He wasn’t worthy of her.
She was soft and tender, and oh so fierce. It would kill him, tear his soul from his body to lose her. More than losing his mother to the spectral warriors.
The crashing against the wards continued while Black pushed against Kady’s idea.
“Let the witch try, Bear. She may be our only hope.”
The Gunderson’s held each other, their wards the only thing standing between the spectrals and a fate worse than death.
Black had thought his mother was lost to him forever. Only a shell of her former self remained. She lived, she breathed, she could perform the most menial of tasks, but she was a blank shell. The bastards had stolen her being.
Kady had shown him what happened to his mother’s soul.
