“What are you doing?” Tor lunged at him and was sent flying backward for his trouble. The varga stood still, stunned, probably thrown by Jasper’s actions. The edges of my vision went black. He was killing me. No. No, he wouldn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t.
He squeezed his eyes closed, jaw tightening, and then the air popped, and I was free, sucking in lungfuls of air, knees hitting dirt.
Tor’s growl battered my eardrums as he rushed Jasper. He passed right through him and staggered to a halt, spinning on his heel to face him with a snarl.
My hands heated and fizzed, power lashing at the ground as it surged up, ready to defend me.
Wait a fucking minute…
Leif’s gaze went from me to Jasper, comprehension dawning on his handsome face.
“Well?” Jasper said. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Shift already.”
Tor’s eyes widened, then his feral face split in a bloodthirsty grin and his wolf burst out of his skin with a roar, landing neatly on all fours, huge, wild, and powerful.
I tore my gaze from Tor to Leif to find him in his crimson wolf form, gunmetal-grays fixed on the varga, lips pulled back in a snarl.
The clearing was an eruption of snarls and growls as all the dire wolves in human form shifted, and then it was seven dire wolves to ten varga. Correction, seven dire wolves and a witch.
The varga attacked, and the wolves countered, furry bodies colliding. Teeth snapped and growls lit up the night. I danced between the fighting beasts, blasting the varga’s hides, knocking them back with my power when their fangs got too close to taking a bite.
No way would I let the wolves be infected by whatever these fuckers carried. I caught sight of Rune facing off with the huge varga with the arctic eyes. They circled one another in silence, as if communicating.
“Get out of there!” Jasper demanded from across the clearing. He was barely visible, so ethereal I could see the forest through him. Whatever he’d done had taken a toll. “Now, Cora. Move.”
I had to help. “You know me better than that.”
“Dammit, you stubborn woman. I can’t help you.”
“You’ve helped enough.”
I blasted a varga in the face. He flew back and hit a tree, slumping to the ground. I caught sight of Leif taking on another varga. They were all black, even though the ones in human form were blond. At least that made it easy to pick them out. Huge black beasts with hunched backs.
Two were down, and Leif took down a third in front of me. He turned his head to look my way.
Get to safety.
“I’m not leaving you guys.”
A dark shape leaped at him. I shot out my hand and hit it with power a moment before it could land on my mate. It twisted in the air and fell to the ground with a whine.
Thanks.
“Still want me to go?”
His attention flicked over my shoulder, body tensing and rippling, ready to launch at me. My back prickled.
Danger behind me.
I spun to see the varga flying through the air, right at me. The world seemed to fall into slow motion as I brought my hands up, power surging into my fingers, ready to be expelled. But it wouldn’t be on time. Fuck.
My heart stuttered as the air at my back rippled.
Jasper’s breath kissed my ear. “Stubborn woman.”
The world shattered and I hit the earth at the edge of the clearing, fight still in full force. Jasper crouched beside me, barely there. His emerald eyes darkened to a mossy green as they raked over me, searching for injury.
“Jasper…” He’d used the final dregs of his energy to save me.
Again.
Howls lit up the air behind me. One of the wolves in the clearing threw back her head and answered.
Jasper looked into my eyes as his form faded away. “Looks like the cavalry has arr—"
He was gone, and my heart…My heart went with him.
Chapter Twenty-One
“They wanted the women?” Tor said. He stood by the hearth, whiskey glass in hand. “They fucking planned this.”
We were back at the cabin, cloistered in the lounge with whiskey to calm our post-fight nerves. Wren sat in the window seat, cookie in hand, eyes wide as he fed off the tension in the room. Sloane had shown up a few minutes ago after Leif called her. What Jasper had done, breaking the varga’s null effect, was a big deal, and the witches needed to know.
There was no sign of Jasper, though, but I could see Sloane’s gaze flitting about the room, searching for signs of my malevolent savior. Although calling him that felt wrong now.
He’d shifted me out of harm’s way with barely enough power to hold his form, and he’d been pulled away to goodness knew where. It hit me that I’d never cared to ask. Never cared to know or understand. It had been easier that way, but now…
“Did you see them fucking bolt?” Leif said softly.
Yeah, the varga had made a break for it when Heather and the rest of the female shifters arrived. They’d been severely outnumbered. Leif, Tor, and Rune had given chase, but the fuckers had gotten to their rift before my guys could capture one for questioning. Going after them wasn’t an option. In fact, it was expressly forbidden by some ancient law passed down for centuries.
The women were back at their pack houses and the guys had set up patrols around the perimeter of each. Sten and Toke were busy setting traps.
“You need to tell me what we’re dealing with.” I was done with them being cagey. “You’re my mates, and you said yourself that the packs were my home too. You need to tell me what these varga are and why they keep coming into our world.”
It was Leif who answered. “No one knows for sure. But our packs are bound to this land, to monitoring the rifts and keeping the varga from taking human life. It’s the way it’s always been.”
I needed more than that. “But what are they?”
“Monsters, predators from another world. History says that they were once a scourge on this land. As descendants of Fenrir, the dire wolves were charged with keeping the land and its inhabitants safe. It’s a sacred duty passed down for generations.”
Okay, that made more sense. “And they’ve never tried to take shifters before?”
No, Rune said. They hunt, they kill, and then infect. Until now.
“Protecting the pack females is now our priority,” Tor said. “We increase patrols around the pack houses. If they want our women they’ll attack again, and we need to be ready.”
“You think they’ll attack the pack houses?” Leif looked skeptical.
The run-around, the extra rifts, they were all a ploy to exhaust us and throw us off, Rune said. Their goal was always the hunt and our women. We focus patrols at home.
My heart sank as it became obvious what needed to happen. “You guys need to be at the pack houses. Not here.”
All three turned to look at me. “No,” Tor said. “You’re our mate and the anchor. We have to keep you safe.”
“So do we,” Sloane said. “She’ll be safe at the mansion.”
“Really?” Tor’s lip curled. “Like she was last time?”
Sloane’s expression hardened. “Seriously, Tor?”
Tor exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Gone was the cool, collected dominant male who liked to play with my pulse. This was Tor in crisis mode.
“Cora is right,” Leif said. “We need to be at the pack houses. Even if it’s for a couple of days. The packs are spooked. They need their alphas. Cora will be safe with the witches.”
I nodded even as a pit opened up in my stomach, because fuck, I was going to miss being around them.
Rune padded over and nuzzled my hand. We’ll be back before you know it.
“Someone pass me a bucket,” Jasper said from his perch on the window seat.
Wren squealed and leaped away from him, doing some strange ninja move he must have picked up from some TV show.
Jasper didn’t even flinch, but then he was in gray mode, all see-through, pale, and sulky.
The words bubbled out of her mouth as if she’d been holding back the questions all this time, which she probably had.
Jasper smirked. “I’m no witch.”
She shook her head with a frown. “This is serious, Jasper. This is a game changer.”
“You siphoned from me, didn’t you?” I stared at him, my hand going up to touch the amulet. “How?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t panic. I siphoned all the residual power that wreaths you. Ever since the binding you’re like a radiator of power.”
“But our power can’t break a null effect,” Sloane pointed out.
She was right. “I couldn’t use my power until you broke the null.”
“I didn’t use your power to break the null, I used it to fuel myself and make a bridge to my power.”
Sloane studied Jasper through narrow eyes. “And what is that power, Jasper? Because as far as I’m aware, there are only three sources—chaos, cosmos, and the unnamed, and miasma, which is generated by humans.”
“And a few centuries ago, as far as humans were aware, the earth was flat,” Jasper drawled.
He was dodging the question. “What power did you use?”
His lip curled. “Mine. I used mine, and that’s all you need to know.”
Realization clicked. He was getting defensive because he didn’t know. “You don’t know how you do what you do.”
His jaw ticked and darkness filled his eyes.
“Jasper…” A protective urge swept over me. The need to hug him, comfort him. What the fuck? I tucked in my chin. “Jasper, answer me.”
“He doesn’t know,” Tor said softly. “He doesn’t remember his past.”
Oh, Jasper…
“Don’t look at me like that,” he snarled. “I don’t need your fucking pity.”
“I wasn’t—”
He vanished. I stared at the spot where he’d been standing.
“We need him,” Sloane said. “If he can break the varga’s null, witches can fight alongside the wolves to keep the humans and the female dire wolves safe.”
I’d seen how pale and weak Jasper looked. I’d noted the tremor in his hands. Breaking that null had taken it out of him and he’d known it would, but he’d done it anyway. He’d done it for me, just like he’d done so many things before.
It was time for me to give back. To give him what he needed.
“No,” Tor said. “Cora, you can’t do that. It’s too risky. You heard what he said. He has no clue what he is. You can’t compromise the seal.”
The fact he’d figured out my thoughts through the emotions filtering to him through our bond told me our connection was getting stronger. A few weeks ago, I’d wanted to block it, but it’d saved lives today, so I’d learn to live with it.
“Jasper is too dangerous,” Tor said.
Annoyance was a burst of heat under my diaphragm. “But not too dangerous to use, huh?” I stared at Tor. “Have I got that right?”
Tor sighed and closed his eyes. “You know what I mean, Cora. You know exactly what I fucking mean.”
I did, but in that moment I didn’t care. “I have to find Jasper and thank him. Something none of us have done yet.”
Leif had the grace to look shame-faced. “I’ll put the kettle on. I think we all need to talk. Properly.”
I headed up the stairs to summon Jasper.
Jasper materialized by the window as soon as I called. He obviously hadn’t gone far, but he was pissed. It was evident in the sharp gleam in his eyes and the tense way he held himself.
For the first time in forever, the urge to hold him swept over me. “Hey.”
He was still ethereal. Whatever he’d done had taken up most of his reserves. I’d seen him as selfish and uncaring for so long because that’s all he’d projected and because…Well, it had been easier to see him as a monster. But his actions told a different story.
Jasper wasn’t a monster.
Jasper was alone.
He was an anomaly like me…Like me.
I approached him, fingers going to the amulet at my neck, heart pounding against my ribs so hard surely he could hear it?
A ripple of confusion ran over his features as I bridged the distance between us.
“Cora?”
I tipped my head to rake his face with my gaze, lingering on his mouth. “Thank you for saving our asses today.”
He slow-blinked, his mouth twisting in a wry smile. “It’s what I do.”
“I know.” I reached up to touch his jaw, but my fingers passed through him.
He closed his eyes as if in pain. As if the absence of my touch was a barb.
My throat ached with the emotions I’d been suppressing for too long. “I want to touch you, Jasper.”
His eyes popped open and locked with mine.
“I want to kiss you.” My voice trembled and I touched the amulet. “Take what you need, so I can take what I need.”
The hard look in his eyes melted to something questing and almost vulnerable. The amulet lit up, sensing my acquiescence, and then the delicious tugging in my chest told me he was feeding, taking what he needed to replenish, to become—
His hand hugged my throat.
Yes.
I allowed my eyelids to flutter closed, head to tip back, as his mouth hovered over mine.
I wanted his kiss. Needed it to show him what he meant to me because I wasn’t ready to use the words. I couldn’t use the words, not without taking our connection to the next level and risking compromising the seal. Because Jasper had the potential to be my kryptonite, and the unsaid things were all I had to protect me from losing myself to him.
His mouth brushed mine, a feather touch. “What do you want, Cora?”
“A kiss.” My words were a whisper.
His grip on my throat tightened a fraction, and my eyes opened a crack to be snared by the tumult of emotions in his emerald gaze. Hunger and betrayal and…sadness.
“Jasper…”
“You want a kiss. You want to be saved. You want your friends, your mates to be saved. You want, you want, you want.” His grip tightened even more. “I want too, Cora. I want respect. I want not to be treated like a fucking pet on a leash. You want me? Then take off that damn amulet; otherwise this thing between us, the thing you pretend isn’t there, is over.” He released me and stepped away, fully corporeal now. “I wonder how your friends would fare with no Jasper to save their asses.”
Ice replaced the heat in my veins. “What?”
“I’m done bailing your friends out, Cora. Until you take that amulet off, you’re on your own.”
He vanished, and for the first time since he’d bonded to me, the connection I’d taken for granted felt cold and empty.
“Well, I guess I deserved that.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“He won’t help, then?” Sloane nodded. “I don’t suppose I blame him.”
Me neither.
“What?” Tor glared at her. “He has the chance to save lives. If he was a decent person—”
“He’s not a person.” I made a sound of exasperation. “He doesn’t even know what he is. He’s been used and bound and trapped all his life. With me, he had some semblance of freedom, some control, and then I put on this fucking amulet.”
“You did what you had to. You were protecting yourself,” Tor said.
“From what?” Honestly, I wasn’t even sure anymore. “Jasper has always protected me. If not for the seal I’d take this thing off and take my chances with him.”
The room was eerily silent. Fuck. I needed to rein in my emotions. Considering other people’s feelings wasn’t my forte. Except when it came to Fee. I wasn’t the kind of person to walk on eggshells.
Tor, Leif, and Rune were my mates by choice. They were connected to me, they cared about me, and there was that whole alpha wolf possessive thing to worry about. Telling them I wanted Jasper so bluntly was probably a little insensitive.
“You’re in love with him,” Sloane said softly.
Oh man, did she have to go there? “I don’t use the L word.” My heart squeezed painfully. “I’ve never allowed myself to go there.”
“And you can’t,” Leif said softly. “Not until we know more about him. Not until you can be a hundred percent confident that you won’t… submit to him.”
“You mean fuck him?” I gave Leif a flat look. “We’re all grown-ups here. You can say it.”
Tor’s chest rumbled.
Rune bumped me with his nose. Give him time. He’ll be back. Right now, he’s hurt. Upset. But I don’t think it’s in his nature to turn his back on you or the people that mean something to you.
Thank goodness for Rune’s insightful nature. His words resonated with me. Because Jasper was an ass at times, projecting an air of coldness and cruelty, but that was probably all he’d known. All he remembered. The blood witch who’d owned him had kept him starving and gray, giving him nothing but taking whatever she needed. I’d freed him, but all I’d shown him was contempt, even though he’d saved my ass over and over.
God, I was a bitch. Why was I such a bitch?
It was time to reset our relationship. He was mad, yes, he had a right to be, and it was up to me to make it up to him in any way I could that didn’t involve removing the amulet, because if I did that…If I did that, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to trust myself with him.
I stroked Rune’s head and then kissed between his ears. “Thank you.”
Sloane drained her cup. “Okay, so we need to work on the assumption that we don’t have a way to break the null effect.” She looked to Tor. “The witches are on hand to help if things change and Jasper comes around.” She looked to me. “Pack a few things and I’ll take you back to the mansion.”
“Wren too!” He rushed over and hugged my leg.
I stroked his head. “Of course.”
“Wren get Jules to make cocoa.”
Sloane looked at her watch. “It’s almost midnight, buddy. Kitchen’s closed.”
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