Repeatedly.
I suspected it was just one price of using my mother’s magic.
After that, I slept until the morning sun cut across my face, waking me. Mac had his back to me and I was curled close to him, enjoying his warmth. Even under the open stars, I was far from cold. He all but radiated heat like a furnace.
Already the sounds of the caravan packing broke through the sounds of birds singing. I yawned and stretched.
Mac flicked a hand back and swatted at me, his voice slurred. “Five more minutes.”
I pushed his hand back and grabbed at my boots, yanking them on. Oka was, of course, still stone, curled tightly beside me. I put a hand to her. “You’d be glad to be stone today, I’m riding the bike again.”
I pushed to my feet and scooped her into my arms.
I took her to Richard. “Can she ride with you in the Humvee? There’s still a chance we could find a way to reverse this, and I don’t want to risk breaking her.”
He took Oka and put her on the middle seat, beside him. “You got it. You and Mac going to lead on the bikes?”
“That’s the plan. He’ll take us to the shifters, and we’ll go from there. Fingers crossed they aren’t total assholes.”
Richard grunted a laugh. “If we are banking on fingers crossed, I think we might be in trouble.”
I smiled, not a big one, but still a smile. “You have a point.”
I made my way back to Mac and the two bikes.
“You okay?” he asked. I shook my head and then shrugged. Mac nodded and drew me close to him, pressing our foreheads together. “I know. Trust me, I know.”
I believed him. If he was a trained familiar, then he’d lost at least one charge. The bonds between familiars and their charges was like nothing else in this world.
How much harder would it be if I fell for Mac, and then lost him too? The horror of it cut through me and he held me closer.
“I’m not going anywhere. You’ve got me, Pamela. Hook, line, and sinker.”
“That sounds terrible,” I said.
“Nah, it’s only bad if you try to take the hook out sideways.” He winked, and I rolled my eyes at the bad joke.
“Let’s go find your friends.” I took a step back and grabbed the handle of my bike.
I took a deep breath as I mounted, then fired it up. Mac followed suit, as did the trucks. Richard nodded once to me as we took the lead, followed by the three trucks.
Mac led us straight east. We weren’t going too fast, so he shouted across to me. “The shifters’ range is pretty big, but there’s a few places I know they have members of their pack hang out as checkpoints. We’ll head for the closest one.”
I managed to give him a thumbs-up.
We drove in peace, making our way north and east for about three hours. The sun was high in the sky when Mac lifted his hand and brought the caravan to a slow stop.
Ahead of us was a wooden bridge, barely wide enough for the trucks to cross. The ditch to either side of it was steep and too deep for the trucks to go through without getting stuck. But at least it wasn’t a freshly dug ditch.
Mac shot me a grin, picking up on my thoughts. “No shit, right?”
Richard strode up beside me. “What’s going on?”
I pointed at Mac. “That’s his department.”
“This is one of their haunts,” he said. “We might have to wait a bit to see if any of them come by. The process could be slow, you understand? By the time they get the message back to their Alpha, and then she comes here, we could be two days sitting still.”
Two days. My skin twitched just thinking about how we’d be sitting ducks for that period of time.
“We wait then,” Richard said before I could voice my concern. “Looks a bit like a bridge you’d find a troll under, doesn’t it? Straight out of what was that story? The one about the goats?”
“Yeah, I know the one you mean. Good catch, Dick.” I eyed the bridge, and he wasn’t wrong. A shadow cast under it, and I thought I saw movement, but I blinked, and it was gone. “Maybe we don’t have to wait as long as we thought.”
I pointed for Richard and the caravan to wait.
“Let’s go,” I said to Mac, hoping I was just being paranoid.
He started forward with the bike, and I stopped him at the last second, feeling something, I couldn’t identify. Something that told me to proceed with care. “Mac, I think we should leave the bikes. I’m not sure they are going to be as friendly as we hoped.”
We both propped our bikes on their kickstands and started forward on foot.
I wished I had my elemental magic at hand. Again.
We walked ahead slowly, but purposefully. I held my hands loose at my sides, ready to defend us if needed. My fingers brushed against the handles of my blades, a comforting weight against my hips. I resisted the urge to get one of them out.
Mac took a deep breath. “Yeah, someone is there. Let me talk first.”
I wanted to caution him, and did so through our bond, but he didn’t slow down. He walked right up to the bridge and stood on top of it.
“Pack of Crimson, I would like to have a chat about a business arrangement.” He bounced on the bridge a bit, and it didn’t move even if the wood creaked. From under the bridge came the chittering of animals of every sort and it was followed by a flood of creatures.
Birds, cougars, bears, even a badger and a wolverine. No wolves.
One by one they shifted to their human forms and stood in front of me. It was the largest, mish-mashed pack of shifters I’d ever seen. One woman stood out front, her eyes flashing, and her body lean with muscle. The other shifters stayed a step behind her.
The Alpha. She had to be. She stood tall with long, straight blond hair. She was slim, but far from scrawny. Her biceps were a testament to that. And I was sure her legs were just as muscular, hidden underneath a pair of bulky cargo pants. “Macmahon. It’s good to see you again,” she said. Her eyes went to Mac as he strolled off the bridge, cool as a cucumber salad.
“Crimson. We are looking to hire a pack of shifters as protectors for a caravan,” he said. Talk about cutting to the chase.
He moved until he was at my side and he put an arm over my shoulders. Claiming me.
I fought not to roll my eyes, because I knew how this worked. Shifter packs were all about hierarchy, and this one would be no different.
She arched an eyebrow. “Well, that’s a pity, isn’t it? Seeing as I have orders to kill that witch,” she pointed at me, “on sight.”
Mac let out a low growl. “Crimson, I will tear your head from your shoulders before you lay a hand on her.”
But I had a leg up—I knew pack rules. My ace in the hole was that I was ready to do whatever I had to do to get my pack safe.
I took a step forward and put an arm out to block Mac.
“Crimson, you want to kill me? You want to kill my pack?”
She smiled. “Yes, to both, little girl.”
I laughed at her. “So full of your shit, it’s coming out your mouth. I know the rules of packs. I’m the Alpha female here. I challenge you. Whoever wins takes control of both packs.”
Richard would never agree to a deal like that.
Behind me, Mac let out a growl. “Fuck.” I kept my eyes on the woman in front of me.
“No magic then, witch,” Crimson said.
I inclined my head a fraction of an inch. “Fine. No shifting.”
“Agreed.” I turned to Richard and gave him a wave. I had this under control. As well as I could, anyway. He left the truck running, which was probably a good idea.
Fuck, this was a bad idea.
Crimson pointed to the ditch. “That is where we will fight.”
Like an arena.
Did I already say this was a bad idea? Yeah, it was a bad, bad idea. But it was the best chance we had at gaining the allies we needed.
Need, it all came down to need and what I was willing to do to fill that need.
Eyes
watched me from all sides as the pack surrounded me, cutting off any escape I might have had in mind. I hopped down into the ditch, Mac behind me.
They sat on the edges of the ditch, filling the gap between, and created a bit of a rectangle. An arena indeed.
Mac stood closest to us. I looked at him. “You the ref?”
His face was grim, and through the bond his concern was barely kept from me.
“On your toes, Pamela. Don’t trust her for a minute. She will win at all costs,” Mac said.
“Quiet, you,” Crimson said.
He let out a snarl. “You aren’t my Alpha. And if Pamela somehow loses here, you’ll face me next.”
The crowd of shifters oohed and aahed. Crimson laughed. “You? Become an Alpha? The wandering bear who has no roots? I think not.”
I wanted to ask what that meant exactly after his story about his family, but she pulled out some interesting weapons that caught my attention and stilled my questions.
From behind her she drew a long, leather whip with metal spikes at the end, and out of her pocket at the base of her leg, a handful of throwing stars. Actual throwing stars. They gleamed in the sun as she turned one of them over in her hand.
Well, shit. Both of my weapons were short range, and here this woman was with two long-range weapons. She could take me out right where I stood before I could even get in close enough to even nick her.
No, I couldn’t think like that. I only had to get in close and from there, the bitch would be mine. It would be a cakewalk.
Right. Bravado was not really my forte.
“You ready, witch?” She grinned at me as she dropped to a crouch.
I nodded, and she cracked the whip at her side, sending an echo through the ditch. A group of archies hidden in the bushes above us took to the sky and I thought of Oka. She would’ve been handy to have around at that moment. My tiger would’ve made short work of that cocky Alpha.
But then, that would have broken the rules.
Mac nodded to us both, a burst of energy flowing from him to me through our bond. I blocked it and his mouth tightened. I wouldn’t forfeit this for anything. He nodded at me again. “Begin!”
Crimson wasted no time. She snapped her whip forward and grabbed me around the ankle, pulling me off my feet. I hit the ground hard on the flat of my back and the wind whooshed out of me. Her other arm snapped back and the stars glimmered in the air.
Shit. Fuck. Damn.
They came at me fast. I deflected the first two with my blades, knocking them away and rolled to avoid the third. It hit right where the middle of my forehead had been a split second before. I shot forward, my blade aimed for the leather whip still wrapped around my leg.
She flicked her wrist and it unlatched from me before I could cut it off.
I brushed myself off as I stood. My leg was bleeding, and the cuts stung like motherfucking poison darts. “You done being a peacock?”
She raised a single eyebrow and altered her stance a bit, widening her legs and holding her last two stars in her left hand.
“Fine. Let’s see what you’ve got,” she said. “Show me how tough you are, little witch.”
I already had my blades in hand and held them tightly as I matched her stance.
Get in close. That was my goal. I took off running, my cloak billowing out behind me as I went, creating a wide circle. She unleashed a star at me but ended up missing me by quite a bit. The spectators parted as the star flashed between them. Her eyes flicked as she turned with me.
“Quick on your feet, good. I like to play with my food,” she growled.
Well, that was a comforting thought.
I ran the inside of the rectangle the pack had created, working my way closer to her with each pass.
Her whip snapped forward and missed me and I watched her for the other star. One left, but I couldn’t keep this up. I’d tire myself out before the real fight even started. I had to make my move. I slowed and ducked in closer to her, spinning out of her way as she slashed at me with the remaining star.
“Stop that,” she yelled as I drew inside an arm’s length and I laughed. I was too close for her to use the whip. Just what I wanted. I snapped my right hand out and cut across her hip, slicing her flesh open wide.
She roared and dropped her weapons.
“Well, that’s stupid,” I said. I settled onto my heels and then spun into a roundhouse kick, driving the flat of my foot into her solar plexus.
The crowd oohed.
“Keep at her!” Mac yelled. “She’ll cheat!”
I followed my kick with another that I snapped upward, booting her right in the chin.
She fell backward in what looked like slow motion. Not so much.
She shifted into a huge, golden cougar that twisted around and landed on all four feet. The wound I’d given her in the hip was healed already.
“You’re a fucking cheater!” I yelled at her. She didn’t answer me, she only growled as she kept her head low as she stalked toward me.
“Don’t use your magic!” Mac coached. “You can do this. You wrestled with Oka. She told me you beat her!”
Damn. He was right. How would I beat a hundred-pound cat? The same way I’d beat Oka when she’d been six hundred pounds. Which, to be fair, had only happened once, twice if I counted that draw. I could take the Alpha out easily with magic, but I believed I could do it fair and square—I needed this pack to respect me. I wouldn’t beat her and have any of them say I cheated.
The pack’s allegiance was on the line here. I, for one, would play by the rules, even if she didn’t.
“Come on, you big pussy. See if you can catch me.” I bolted from her, down the length of the ditch. I needed to get her running at me. Let her build up some momentum and then use it against her.
She let out a snarling roar and then she was after me. She swiped at my heels as I ran. Damn, she was fast.
I twisted at the edge of the rectangle and let my momentum pull me backward into a fall. Crimson’s eyes lit up and she leapt for me.
Bingo.
As I fell, I grabbed her front legs and pulled her head to me, then snapped both feet up into her gut, flipping her over my head hard. Before she even fully landed, I was moving again.
I drew my blades in a flash and held them to her neck hard enough that blood trickled from the tips.
“Yield,” I said, “or I’ll take your head right now.”
She growled and shifted beneath me, her hands up in surrender.
A cheer rang out among the shifters, filling the air. I frowned, and she grinned up at me.
What the hell was going on? Why were they so excited I’d overthrown their Alpha? I put my blades away and held out a hand for her.
“Were you that bitchy that they’d take a witch over you?” I asked her as I eyed the cheering group.
Crimson shook her head, still smiling like she’d won the fucking lottery. “No, you just saved us.”
I shook my head, frowning at her. “That doesn’t help with the confusion.”
Mac ran over and caught me up in a hug. “You were amazing.”
“You sound surprised.” I laughed at him.
He kissed me once and then put me down. “Try not to do that again, though. I’m not sure my heart can take it.”
Crimson watched us as the other shifters drew closer. “Mac, I’m surprised. You really do care for her?”
He stared hard at her. “This is not the time for that. What did you mean she saved you?”
Crimson slumped where she stood. “We were captives. Our allegiance tied to a maniac we could not fight. Now, though, we are tied to you. It’s exactly what I hoped for. I could not even throw the fight, the compulsion on me was so strong. You truly beat me.”
I had a bad feeling about what she was saying. Compulsions were a witch trick. The only witch other than me was being a total fucking douche . . .
“Well, you aren’t captives now,” I said. “We want your help, but I won’t hold thos
e who aren’t willing to help.”
Crimson gave a bitter laugh. “You don’t understand. She will look for us now. We belong to you, which means she will come here.”
I went very still, keeping my hands at my side. “Wait, what?”
What the hell had I just inherited?
“You know the rules of shifter packs, do you not? You picked me out easily enough as the Alpha,” Crimson said. I nodded, so she continued. “Madeline became our puppeteer, for lack of a better term, because she defeated our Alpha, the same way you defeated me. Except, when our old Alpha yielded, she murdered him horribly rather than just make him submit. Then she had us carry his head around for weeks.” Crimson shuddered, her revulsion clear.
“So, wait. That doesn’t make any sense. She is your Alpha then. She would be the one I had to defeat to take over the pack.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, struggling to get my mind around what had just happened. “How is this working at all?”
“Well, you have taken my spot. We need you to defeat her completely if we are to be free,” Crimson said. “You need to challenge the Alpha. And she will come now that she has felt the bonds shift from me to you.”
Even as she spoke there was a tingle along my spine, an awareness that I did not like. “Fuck. That means she could have some control over me!”
Oh, I wouldn’t say that. My magic coursed along my spine and for lack of a better word, ate at the connection, severing any hold this Madeline might have on me. I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”
Still, this was literally the worst possible outcome to this fight. The. Worst. Fucking. Thing. Other than being dead.
Mac grabbed at his head. “Crimson, this is bullshit!”
“They are not my rules,” she whined. “You think I wanted to carry my mate’s head with me while it rotted? You think I wanted to bring those children to the witch? I did not. But I have no choice. I am not an Alpha by nature!”
Oh, how I wished for Oka’s thoughts on this. “Okay, let’s take this a piece at a time.”
Crimson and Mac nodded. I looked hard at Crimson. “Tell me what she wants.”
“She believes the Immune children will end the supernatural realm forever. It is her life’s mission to end them first. Her driving force is to keep the supernatural race pure, and the first step to doing that is to eliminate the Immunes. Then the humans who won’t allow themselves to be turned.”
Aimless Witch (Questing Witch Series Book 1) Page 23
