Alpha Bear (9 page)

“Exactly right,” she confirmed. “It’s almost
show time, but if it’s close, it could strike any time before I get
the circle closed. Everybody stay sharp.”

Brody nodded and walked carefully off,
already talking into the tiny radio clipped to his ear. His eyes
scanned the pre-dawn darkness of the cove, and everyone seemed to
come to an alert posture.

She turned to John. “I’m going to move fast
now. I’m going right in front of that big rock there. I think
that’ll get me close enough to do the job. Are you ready?”

John touched her shoulder, placing a
surprising kiss on her forehead that felt like both a benediction
and a caress.

“I’m with you. Let’s do this.”

Urse moved as fast as she could past the
shoreline, casting the salt as neatly and quickly as she could to
form the circle. When she reached the point where she had started,
she took a deep breath, spoke a word of high magic, and laid the
final grains.

With a whoosh of power audible only to those
who could actually hear magic, the protection slammed into place.
And then, as predicted, all hell broke loose.

The water churned. Tentacles appearing at
random points all over the cove.

Sweet Mother of All!
The leviathan was
even bigger than she’d imagined. For a breathless moment, Urse
stood motionless, taking it all in. And for just that moment, she
almost lost her nerve.

“Take it easy,” John said, his deep voice
rumbling near her ear. “We’ve got this.”

Shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath to
center herself, Urse silently thanked the Lady that John had
decided to put himself on the line, to be by her side. His
strength, and the conviction that came through his words, renewed
her courage.

She reached for his hand, squeezing it in
thanks even as a gentle calm came over her. That was John’s magic,
brushing against hers.

Trapped inside the protection of her circle,
she could feel the gentle thrum of his power—vast, timeless and so
very Alpha. How had she missed it before?

But that was a thought for later. Right now,
she had a sea monster to fight.

Urse strode into the center of her circle and
turned her back on the thrashing in the cove. The leviathan was
getting closer, testing the strength of her wards. Urse’s goal was
to gather as much of the power and magic of sunrise into her circle
before she could release it against the creature. She would use the
magic of the earth, and the Light, to lay the strongest protections
possible on the cove. If this worked, within the hour, at least
part of the cove would be a no-go zone for anything with evil
intent.

She raised her hands, facing the mountains in
the east, over which the sun would rise, and began to chant. She
alternated the chanting with spoken prayers to the Lady, and she
could feel the power begin to coalesce around her, filling the
circle with pure magic.

Soon, the sun would rise, and the power would
be at its apex. That would be her moment to strike.

John felt the most incredible energy
gathering around them. He had a front row seat to the most amazing
magic show he’d ever seen. And that was saying something.

Bears were among the most magical of
shifters. They got used to seeing a lot of strange things. As
leader of the Alpha Team, John had seen, and done, a lot more than
most. But this was something new in his experience. Something good
and pure.

Something he knew he could help with.

John stood back to back with Ursula. She
faced the mountains. He faced the writhing waters of the cove,
alive with not just the giant leviathan, but what looked like an
army of its offspring.

He added his own silent prayers to the ones
Ursula was speaking, and possibly for the first time in his life,
he felt magic in a new way. Shifter magic was of the earth, and of
the Mother Goddess. Human magic had a different flavor. But
Ursula’s magic was somewhere in between. Close to his own, with a
distinct tinge of bear—probably from the shifter way back in her
bloodline—but unique in its own right.

The human magic John had witnessed in the
past called upon the Goddess as well, but this
strega
magic
called much more directly upon Her Light. It was hard to describe,
but it felt like Ursula’s magic was closer to the core. Closer to
the Mother of All in some indefinable way. John was gaining a new
understanding of the slight variations that made each race’s magic
a little different.

Urusla’s chant ended while she seemed to take
a moment to regroup her energy. They were standing at the center of
a swirling maelstrom of golden energy that she had already gathered
into her circle. John could see it now, and feel it crackling in
the air around them. It was a heady feeling. So much magical energy
gathered in one place.

He hoped it would be enough to deter the
swarm of sea monsters that were violently churning the waters of
the cove.

“John?” Ursula’s voice came to him, filled
with power but also somewhat hesitant.

“I’m here, honey,” he was quick to assure
her.

“When the dawn breaks in a few seconds, I’m
going to turn around to face the cove. You’ll have to get behind
me.”

“Which way do we turn? Clockwise?” he asked,
watching the buildup of power with a good bit of awe. He had no
idea she could call up such intense energy.

“Sounds good. Hold your hands out to the
side, and I’ll push lightly when it’s time to go. We have to get
the timing right, and I have to face the creature.”

She sounded nervous. He knew it was up to him
to help her through this test.

“You’re not alone, Ursula. I’m right behind
you, and if you agree, I can add a bit more power to what you’ve
collected here. I’m connected to the forest and the earth—and as
Alpha, to my people. I can give you access to at least some of that
energy.”

“Every little bit will help. Thank you,
John.” She sounded relieved, and he felt a moment of satisfaction,
but they weren’t out of the woods yet. “Almost time. Give me your
hands.”

Back to back, they clasped hands as Urse
ticked off the seconds until she would unleash her spell. At the
same time, John called on the magic that rested in his soul. It
wasn’t something he did often, but most bear shifters could do
rudimentary magic. It wasn’t formal, by any means, but John knew
how to tap into the power when he needed it. He did so now and fed
it into the circle—and into the connection between himself and
Ursula.

“John…” She sounded breathless, but in a good
way. “Is that you doing that?”

“Roger that. I’m giving you what I can. We
need every weapon in our arsenal against this monster. Is it
okay?”

He needed to know if she could handle what he
was dishing out. It was a hell of a time to experiment, but they’d
been thrown into this, and he hadn’t really realized what her
spellwork would look like until he was in the middle of it.

“It’s…” She seemed a little stunned for a
moment, but he didn’t think it was a bad thing. “It’s fine. More
than fine, actually. Your power feels…”

But her words halted as the sun’s very first
ray bled over the top of the mountains. He squeezed her hands.

“Show time,” he whispered, even as he felt
the pressure on his hand that told her it was time to reverse their
positions.

They moved in a clockwise dance so that they
traded positions. She let go of his hands as soon as she was facing
the cove, and he turned around, standing right behind her. She was
short enough that he could see right over the top of her head,
which was just about perfect. If something bad happened, he could
grab her and pull her back, out of the way.

She raised her hands and began to chant, the
power inside the circle swirling and combining into a single entity
that was larger than either of them. A bolt of pure Light and magic
that she could launch out of the circle and into the cove.

Shouting a prayer to the Goddess over the
roar of the power she’d gathered and the raucous splashing of the
leviathan and its friends, she did just that. A magical wind
swirled around them, lifting the long locks of her dark hair. She
was the center of the storm that would rain down on the cove.

The bolt rose up into the sky, touching the
first rays of dawn and then hammering down to strike at the water’s
edge and ripple outward.

It was like the sun itself was shining with
the intensity of a laser, hitting from the point where she’d aimed,
just on the edge of the shore, outward in a circular, rippling
pattern.

The little monsters in the water tumbled back
away from it, the smaller creatures in full retreat. The larger
leviathan—the big daddy of them all—tried to fight it, but after a
few moments, it too was pushed away, straining every bit of the
way. It didn’t go too far, but it was clear after a few minutes,
while the sun rose and Ursula channeled its Light into the spell
she had woven, that the leviathan had been successfully banished
from at least a third of the cove.

For now.

John had no idea if it would last, but at
least for now, this stretch of beach looked like the no-go zone
he’d hoped would be created for that hideous animal. The leviathan
clearly wasn’t happy. It continued to rage in the waters beyond
Ursula’s influence for a few more minutes, but when the sun rose
fully, it sank beneath the waves, as if in momentary defeat.

Or perhaps, strategic retreat.

John didn’t like the implications of that. He
knew the creature would come back even harder at them next time
they tried to intervene like this. It knew what they were capable
of now, and it would come prepared next time.

John stood behind Ursula as her chant wound
down, ending with a prayer of thanks to the Mother of All for Her
bounty and aid. He heard her words begin to slur a bit and realized
that casting this spell had taken a toll on the
strega
.
Ursula was trembling so much he could actually see her shoulders
shaking.

And as the last words of her prayer left her
mouth, she sagged.

She would have hit the ground, but John
caught her, his hands wrapping around her waist and pulling her
back against his chest. She was depleted but still conscious, her
eyelids heavy, but she still watched the sun’s light hit the waters
of the cove.

“It’s done,” she whispered. “That’s all I can
do for today.”

“You did great, honey,” he said quietly, next
to her ear. “You’ve created a safe swath of beach and pushed the
leviathan and its mini-me’s out away from the shore. It’s more than
I thought would happen, and I’m very grateful.”

He placed a small kiss on her temple, unable
to resist the gesture of care. She was literally limp in his arms.
She had given her all for the spell—and for the town and people he
loved. She’d put herself out in a way he hadn’t quite expected, and
for that, she had earned a large portion of his respect and
thanks.

“How long do you think this will last?” he
asked, the thought occurring to him as he tucked her more tightly
against his chest and they both watched the peaceful waters lapping
at the protected section of rocky beach.

“As long as the sun rises in the east,” she
said, surprising him. “This sort of work is meant to stand the test
of time. It is a sacred spell, known only to a few of us. It is my
one true talent that sets me apart from other
strega
. Only a
few of us can do permanent wards—or so Nonna insists.” She chuckled
weakly. “I really need to sleep now, John. Will you help me get
back to bed?”

He was a little in awe of her now that he’d
seen her power and realized just how strong and pure of heart she
was to do this amazing thing for his town and people. If he wasn’t
much mistaken, he had just fallen a little bit in love with
her.

“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,
sweetheart, but tell me, is there any special ritual to getting out
of this circle? Or can I just carry you over the salt line and be
done with it?”

“Oh.” She shook her head a little, and it
lolled against his shoulder in the most endearing way. She looked a
cross between drunk and exhausted, which made her seem a little
loopy. He had to smile at the combination. “It needs to be broken
from the inside,” she said after a moment. “If you take me over to
the edge, we can break it and collapse the barrier. Then everybody
can come and go as they please. Somebody may want to scoop up
whatever bits of the salt we can save for next time.”

“I’ll get my guys on it,” he said, lifting
her into his arms.

A little zing of satisfaction zapped through
him as he scooped her up. She was light as a feather to him, and
warm and womanly. Perfect. He liked the way she felt against him,
and he liked it even better when her arm went around his shoulders
and her face snuggled into the crook of his neck, like she’d been
made just for him.

Dangerous thoughts, but after what he’d just
seen, he was beyond caring for the moment.

He walked slowly, enjoying the feel of her in
his arms, toward the edge of the circle closest to town. His men
were stationed all around, some even creeping closer to the beach
to check things over.

Zak, the deputy sheriff and highly trained
sniper, was mirroring John’s moves, a strange look on his face as
he met them on the other side of the circle. It was only then that
John realized that the barrier was very real. He couldn’t really
hear his men talking outside the line of salt. They all sounded
muffled and indistinct. Like they were behind a wall.

That was some powerful magic, as far as John
was concerned.

John stopped at the edge of the circle,
looking down at Ursula. Her eyes were closed, but he knew she
wasn’t quite asleep yet.

“We’re here, honey,” he said softly. “What do
I do to break the circle?”