by Celeste Raye
It didn't take long for Marl to have another plan in place. She decided that maybe it was time for her to drop the name that she had worked so hard to get. Marl Stein had been alive for centuries, but that was to be no more. Marl was going to have to be someone else if she wanted to get her immortality back.
She kept telling herself that all she had to do was find some people to help her. The only problem was, nobody wanted to because she was a dying witch. Her reputation preceded her, and she either needed to find somebody that was completely outside of the paranormal world, or she needed to make herself not of the world. She needed to find a man that would help her. Not just any man either; Marl had always been happier with shifters.
Her first love had been one.
Marl wasn’t sure how it would all go, but she figured that a strong shifter would help her get through certain doors. If she could find one that wasn’t attached to the other attacks in the past, all the better.
She used to date a shifter, back when she was very young. They held a special place in her heart and Marl wondered if something more could happen with the man she was going to find. Anything was possible. All Marl had to do, was find a nice, strong man to help her get things started.
Men needed to help. All Marl had to do was portray herself as an innocent woman that required some assistance and she knew that it wouldn't be long before she had someone doing her will. She just had to find the right one. The right alpha that would be a good vessel for her deeds.
She thought back to the last time she saw any of her family. Both of her nieces were there, but one of them in particular, Jazz, was a lot stronger than she should have been. Marl did not understand how she had gotten so strong, but she had a feeling that it had to do with the fact that she had two other witches with her to draw strength from. Marl needed that again, but she knew that it would be impossible for her to keep it together with witches. Shifters were easier, and Marl could manipulate them to do her bidding.
The good thing about shifters for Marl was that most of them didn't like witches. Some of them went out of their way to stay as far away from them as possible, and that was exactly what Marl was looking for. She did not need a man that knew what she was. Marl needed to become somebody else, and she knew the only way to really gain power and protection without gaining enemies was to find the perfect man.
Broch waited as patiently as he could for his people to get out of the burning building. It was a training course, and he was supposed to stay back and not get involved. He wasn’t supposed to go in and save anyone, but his nephew, Jared, was still in the building. He looked at his watch and knew that if Jared did not come out within the next few minutes, he was going to have to go in for him, rules be damned.
The burning building was just another test of the young men's strength. His clan had always run a tight ship. Broch wanted the best, so he taught them young and got them ready for anything that could come their way.
Checking his watch, Broch finally decided that it had been too long. He was about to move forward when his sister Caroline took his arm and stopped him.
Her similar green eyes pulled him up to a stop. They were boring into his, and the usually small, elvish face was tinted with anger.
“What are you doing, brother?”
“I'm getting your son out of there. It's been too long and the smoke must've disoriented him. It is hard to bypass the extra senses when they are being taken over by smoke. I remember that when I was a child too. It is one of the tougher challenges, and it’s too much. He’s too young.”
“You made it through it, and Jared will as well. You have to have faith in him. Don’t you remember this day?”
He did. Broch could still remember how it felt to have his body inundated with smoke. It was like every single sense that he had was on high alert and the smoke made it all worse. He couldn't breathe, couldn't cough, couldn't see. The longer he stood there talking to Caroline, the more worried he became.
She touched his arm and told him to calm down. There wasn’t usually much that Broch got bothered by. He remained calm under some of the worst circumstances, but this time was different.
“Jared is going to be fine. If you take him out now, it will embarrass him in front of everybody. Let him have his honor and give him another few minutes before you go barging in there to save the day.”
Her grip on his arm was hard and Broch could tell that Caroline was worried about how her son would be perceived. She had Jared with a human, and there was already talk of him being weaker because of that. Broch didn't want to add any more fuel to the fire, so he told her that he would give him one more minute.
“I know that you love Jared and you want to keep him safe. It's going to be alright, Broch, just wait and see.”
Since Caroline's husband had died and she was left to raise her son by herself, Broch thought it was his responsibility to help as much as he could. He felt like more than an uncle to Jared. His body tensed up with the whole next sixty seconds, but right before he was going to rush in and save him, Jared stumbled out and fell to his knees, and then his hands, coughing and trying to catch his breath.
Broch could imagine that his young nephew was feeling like he was going to die. He remembered that feeling himself, and he didn't wish it on anyone. But he also knew that this was a time where he had to stay his desires to make it all better. His nephew was saved, and he would heal fast.
“You were right.”
“I usually am, Broch. That's why you come to me before you make any big decisions.”
She slapped him on the back.
“Yes, I think this is going to be okay.”
Broch was a little surprised that Jared got out of there after so long, but he was glad that his sister was right. He was also glad that Caroline had stopped him from doing something that would’ve made it worse on him. Jared already had problems because of his lineage, and the last thing he needed was to be viewed as weak. Broch understood that quite well.
After a few moments, the young man got up and started walking towards his uncle. There was obviously a beam of pride on his face, and Broch felt guilty that he had almost taken the feeling away from him.
“It's good to see you, Jared. You had me worried there for a minute or two.”
“Did you think I couldn’t do it?”
Broch smiled at his nephew and told him that he never doubted him for one moment. His sister had a smirk and then gave him a sideways glance, but Broch ignored it. He would never admit how worried he was. It would just make Jared feel worse.
“Of course, I knew you could, Jared. I knew that you would do just fine. Let's get you something to drink to get that smoke out of your mouth. I can still remember the taste of it from when I went through the trials.”
He put his arm around his nephew and started to walk towards the communal house. Most of the shifter clans lived in separate domiciles, but Broch and his clan liked to keep it small and simple. There were only twenty of them, so it was a tight-knit community, and Broch wasn't the only one that gave Jared praise for a job well done. Everyone was proud of him.
Broch watched several of the older men in the clan come down on his nephew, and at once, they were jostling him around and treating him like one of their own. It was a good thing to see for Broch. He had always wondered if Jared would be accepted. He should have known better though; his clan was a lot more open-minded than most, especially when it came to humans.
Chapter Two
It took Marl some time to find the perfect guy. She had already settled on the fact that she wanted a shifter as her primary target, but there were also some other criteria that needed to be met as well. It needed to be a shifter that wasn't as technologically savvy as the rest of the packs, one that preferred to live the old ways. She needed to be able to become someone else. If the clan were in the loop, they would have heard about her.
It did not matter how far away Marl went; her name spread all the way around the world. Marl had to become
someone that wasn't going to do people harm. She needed to be someone that could be trusted, if only for a little while.
Marl finally decided that not only did she need to become another person, but another species as well. She needed to be believed as a human.
Marl knew that love was the strongest emotion, so if Marl wanted the right level of protection, she needed to find the strongest and baddest shifter and make them fall in love with her. No small feat.
It would be a little more complicated if Marl weren't so pretty, or if she didn't have at least a handful of spells that would wrap them in what she needed them to feel. Marl did not have time and energy to produce the real stuff. She was just going to have to be happy with a mirage.
After a few weeks of searching, Marl came across the Clendon clan. They were old-school. They kept away from society and lived in one communal home together. It was so far off in the woods, twenty miles in on every side from civilization. Marl did not want anyone to happen upon them.
She gathered information for a few days more, talking to villagers that knew about the tribe, though not many did. That told her that the clan was elusive, and it made her even more sure that she wanted them for her new plaything.
The alpha was a man named Broch Clendon, and he was quite a catch. Physically, the man was a perfect specimen. He reminded her of a guy she loved a long time before, with his broad shoulders and dark green eyes that flashed at her when they had met in the small village of Eau Clair. The man’s smile had been contagious.
Now she just needed a hook. She needed a way to insert herself into his life without looking like she had done it on purpose. It didn't sound that complicated, but Marl knew that she had to make her introduction the right way or there would never be the level of trust needed for her to get what she had to have. He needed to trust her, but he also needed to love her.
The dark-haired man thankfully liked to keep a schedule. After only a week of watching him, Marl knew how his day would go.
Much of the day was spent training several young people in his clan, and then the rest of it was filled with meetings and other leader roles. He did not have much of the day to himself, and she knew that the only time that she had a window to come into his life was during his early morning runs.
At five on the dot, Broch would leave his house and run a path that was well-worn in the woods. He would go for almost a mile in his human form before he would turn into his true form. It happened so quickly that Marl had been shocked the first time. One step was human, and the next, he was a black bear that was running at a speed that she could not keep up with.
It took Marl several more days to figure out where he was going. He would go to the edge of the woods, and then he would shift back into his human form. Then he would move through the town and do some errands. There was always a cup of coffee at the local coffee shop in Eau Claire before he would hit the woods again and disappear.
Marl did not know what to think about his morning ritual, but it gave her the perfect opportunity to figure out a way to meet him. Broch was not only handsome, but he was a powerful specimen. Marl was convinced that he would do well for all of her plans, in and out of the bedroom.
She debated being found in the woods. Maybe she could pretend that she was hurt or twisted her ankle. He could save her. But then she would have to explain why she was in the woods so early in the day. Running would be too coincidental, and Marl couldn’t imagine she would actually be believed.
Then she decided it would be better to meet him at the coffee shop. She just had to figure out a way to become the damsel in distress. It was a cliché, to be sure, but there was a reason that it was that way. Men like to save women. Marl certainly didn't need most of what a man had to offer, so she needed to make herself less so that they would feel like they were more.
She still wasn't quite sure how she was going to make him see her, but it didn't take long because he recognized her right off the bat.
Marl had gotten herself a cup of coffee and sat in the corner. She was going to sit there and try to figure out something. Usually, something would come to her, some sort of plan in the midst of all of it, and that's what Marl was banking on now. It wasn’t a straight path, but Marl saw any progress toward her goal worthy of the effort.
Then she didn't have to do any of it. All of the worry about a lack of plan evaporated. He scoped out the room when he first walked in, ever vigilant. His emerald eyes found her and pinned her where she sat.
Immediately, he walked towards her and said her name. Or her new name that she had given him when they’d ‘bumped’ into each other before.
“Jewel? I thought that was you. What are you doing here?”
She held up the cup of coffee and smiled. “Trying to get a little caffeine and wake up; how about you?”
He lifted his own to-go cup and grinned back at her. “Same thing. I just finished part of my run, and I always like to get a little caffeine in me before I keep going.”
“If you need caffeine for a run, it must be a long one.”
He chuckled in a good-natured way and beamed. He was very handsome when he was so at ease.
“Yeah, you could say that.”
Marl found herself smiling at him, and it wasn't even a chore. There was just something about him that really set something alive inside of her. Marl found it very easy to flirt, flipping her black hair back. He was also very easy to talk to, and certainly very easy to look at.
“Why don't you sit down for a minute?”
He looked at his watch and then frowned.
“Do you have somewhere better to be?”
Usually, this would be the point where the man would say that there was nowhere else he would rather be and go with her plan. She typically didn't have to put much effort into it, but Broch was different. He did not agree. Instead, he said that he had something to do that couldn’t be missed.
“Maybe I will see you here again.”
Marl agreed and told him that she thought it was a good possibility. Marl would definitely be back because she knew deep down that Broch was the one she was looking for. It was just a feeling that she had when she was around him. He didn’t seem as easily swayed by her charms, but Marl saw that as a positive.
The two met at the coffee shop at same time every morning for almost a week before Broch finally asked Marl if she wanted to go out that weekend. She tried to appear like she was surprised by the invitation, but in reality, she had been waiting for it.
“I would love to go out. Just name the time and place, and I will meet you there.”
“Well, I'm a bit more of a traditionalist. I'd like to come pick you up from your house and have a proper date. I like things the way they used to be.”
Marl smiled at him like he was the sweetest thing ever, but she was groaning on the inside. At the moment, she didn't even have a place to stay. She was staying in a hotel, and that was only because she had spelled the receptionist to make it look like she had paid up for a while. She couldn't take him back to the hotel, could she?
She wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not because it was harder to control Broch than she would have imagined. He did not seem to notice at all that she was a witch. He took her at face value, but at the same time, she had tried a couple of times to put a small spell on him to give him the courage to ask her quicker, but it had not seemed to help. Marl was worried that he would not take to the control spells as well as she needed him to. Marl needed full control for her plan to work.
“That sounds good, Broch. I don't know how long it's been since I've been on a real date. This new generation is into everything so fast and quick. I like to take things slow myself.”
“This generation?”
She smiled. “I have been told I'm an old soul.”
“I can tell that there is something different about you, Jewel. I noticed it the first time that I met you.”
Marl nodded her head. It was still taking some time for her to get used to being called
another name. She didn’t like the name Jewel, and she would be thankful when she was able to go back to the name that she was given at birth. The one that caused fear and anxiety in the people that heard it. Marl missed being a Stein witch and the respect that came with it.
“Well, I'm glad that we met here. The schedule that you keep, I never would have met you anywhere else.”
“I'm the type of person that believes in fate, Jewel. If it is meant to be, then we would have met one way or another.”
She smiled at him. “That’s good to hear because I feel the exact same way.”
Chapter Three
Broch was not sure what was different about Jewel, but he felt a draw to her that he did not feel very often, if ever. She had the brightest eyes that sparkled when he looked at her. He didn't know if it was his eyes playing tricks on him or not, but they looked like they were sparkling. He liked the look of it very much, and he almost became transfixed when he was looking at her.
Once they agreed on a date, Broch was a little nervous about it. He was the alpha of the Clendon clan, and it was a big deal who he dated. Broch wasn't the type of person that dated casually. He had a few girlfriends, but they had never rose to the occasion that he wanted them to. As much as he was dying to become a man in all ways, there was one way, in particular, that Broch was waiting for most. He wanted his first time to be with his wife, but that meant that he had to find one first.
No one else in the clan nor anyone else he had spoken to ever thought that it mattered one way or another if the man waited or not. Broch did not agree with that sentiment and felt like it would be a disservice to himself to sully the experience with anything short of love and full commitment.
He had to ask himself if the feeling he had for Jewel was real or if he was just a man that was close to exploding?
While he was getting ready for the day, there was something on his mind. Broch was very much attracted to the black-haired woman. She was very beautiful, and the draw was there. Broch had to reason with himself that if it was just his hormones that were making him feel the way he did, he would have felt something for the many women that he was around every day. They were shifters that would have been far more appealing to bring home as the queen of the clan. They did nothing for him though.
