Compelled (3 page)

“He does have a cellphone. Why don’t cha try that?”

The second-in-command smirked. “I already tried his phone, Natalya. Your mate’s days are looking rather numbered if he keeps acting like this.”

“Is that a threat?” An icy edge lined my words.

“What do you think it is?” He took a step toward me and smiled. Most of the women in town would’ve melted from his smooth smile and lean build, but I knew he had that asshole disease spreading around the East Coast. “Have you ever regretted walking away from me that summer? Or should I say getting
carried
away after your little panic attack? Have you ever wished you hadn’t broken down in front of the whole pack so you could be by my side?”

I laughed at him. Hard. “Not really.”

His sneer raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck. “Maybe after Thorn dies, you’ll have a chance to prove you’re an alpha female.”

For seconds, I didn’t breathe, move, or break eye contact with him. If his crazy ass was trying to scare me, he was doing a damn good job, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of showing how deep his words cut.

“That’s not going to happen,” I said slowly. “Not if I’m still breathing and have the will to find a way to help him.”

“Don’t get in my way, bitch.” The word
bitch
came out as a long exhale. His curled lip revealed an elongated incisor, and he closed in, close enough for me to smell the pastrami sandwich he had for lunch. Extra onions. “I’m not going to have to lift a finger in a few months to get what I want, but it would be a shame for me to make sure both the alpha male
and
female make a quick exit.”

Forty-eight hours passed since my encounter with Rex, and I was still shaken. I had too many questions and not enough answers. Saturdays were supposed to be a day where I worked at The Bends or I took the day off. For once, I actually took the day off, but I had things to do. I had answers to find, and there was only one person who could give them to me. It was so long since I touched base with one of my best friends. He was there for me during some tough times. When I had my worst days, he was at his best.

Every so often, I thought about Nick Fenton, the white wizard I met during my supernatural therapy group. I couldn’t help but smile as I left the subway in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. I came to this neighborhood many times with Nick. All the familiar smells from the restaurants we visited or the shops that we passed by were comforting. It was nice to have someone who understood what it was like to live inside my head and to see everything around me that bothered me to no end. But he saw me as so much more, and though I didn’t reciprocate his romantic feelings, he never turned me away. He was a forever friend.

The street outside of the next brownstone was busy this morning. A family was moving out across the street. Burly men lugged boxes into a moving truck. Cars barely had enough room to squeeze by. Thank goodness, I decided to drive to the closest train station in Jersey and then commute into the city. Throughout my ride, at every stop, I’d had an urgency, an itch I couldn’t scratch in my hide.

Nick had to know what was going on with the spellcasters. Maybe he’d even heard some news of what Tamara was talking about with the tainted weapons and such. My walk up the stairs quickened along with my heartbeat as I approached his door. Soon I’d see his smiling face and he’d reassure me that my hopes weren’t in vain.

Yet when I knocked, no one answered. I pressed my ear against the warm wooden door and closed my eyes. Not a single sound. No faint hum from a fridge or even from any other electronics. Catching Nick’s scent would be difficult. Based on my experiences with him, he usually hid his scent from me.

“Can I help you?” The door down the hall opened, and an elderly man with a balding head and wire-rimmed glasses peered out.

“Excuse me?” The faint scent of a spellcaster came to my nose.
 

“Are you looking for someone?” The man stared at me.

My mouth opened and closed. There was something familiar about his features as if I’d seen him before. When he blinked a few times, I remembered Mr. Blackowski. This man tried to hook Nick up countless times with his daughter, much to Nick’s chagrin.

“I’m looking for Nick, Mr. Blackowski,” I said.

“He’s not here right now.”

“I see. Can I leave him a message?”

Mr. Blackowski opened his door all the way and tugged keys out of his pocket. “I don’t think you understand.” He strolled over to Nick’s door and placed a brass key into the lock. The door opened with a loud yawn. The emptiness in the room kicked me hard in the gut.

A conversation with Nick from months ago flooded my mind.
“You’ve given me a lot to think about—especially in terms of healing others... I’ve made the decision to enter medical school under Dr. Frank’s direction.”

I’d thought I had more time. I’d thought that, like regular medical school for humans, Nick would have to take the MCAT exam and wait for acceptance into medical school. Things in the magical world were apparently beyond my understanding.

My footsteps on the hardwood floor echoed through the small room. Seeing his tiny kitchen brought to mind the day I came here and he cooked me dinner. Or I should say he “bought” dinner and shyly admitted it wasn’t his food. A smile touched my face.

I slipped my hand into my pocket and rubbed my fingertips against my cellphone. Any attempts to call him resulted in a disconnected number. He’d severed his ties with the human world, or so it seemed to me. A part of me hoped he wasn’t trying to run away from me because I’d chosen Thorn over him.

“Thanks so much for showing me he’s gone,” I said to Mr. Blackowski.

“Not a problem. He’s a good man. I hope he finds what he’s looking for out there.”

“I do, too,” I whispered. “I do, too.”

Chapter 3

With Nick gone, I didn’t have many options. So my next destination was Dr. Frank, who treated me for my OCD. The old wizard scratched my hide the wrong way on most days, especially since he didn’t let me slide into my incessant need to shop. I did make a small pit stop in Manhattan on the way to his office, but compared to last year, when I made three or four shopping trips per therapy session, I considered a browse through—umm, brief purchase—at Nordstrom’s to be a huge step toward improving my self-control. Only three things purchased, mind you, and that didn’t even count, since they were gifts for Sveta.

When I reached the receptionist desk on the upper floor, I stopped in the middle of the hallway. The woman at the desk was new, a human this time. She smiled as I approached.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Is Dr. Frank available?”

“Dr. Frank was called away on personal business for a few months. Dr. Chainey is taking care of his patients until then.”

Panic brushed against my stomach. “As one of his patients, why wasn’t I notified?”

“It was an emergency leave,” her smile was apologetic. “We just sent out notices about his departure a few days ago. Yours probably hasn’t arrived yet. I’m so sorry.”

So this was a recent development. Suspicion touched my senses. Not a good feeling to have. My imagination wanted everything to be like it had been before. With a quick glance at the meeting room doors, I imagined hearing my friends behind them. Heidi the mermaid’s laugh bubbled up. Shy Abby the Muse replied to someone in her soft-spoken voice. Lilith, the soul-sucking succubus, would be complaining about her last date, or lack-thereof. The others would be there, too. But now Dr. Frank was gone, only to be replaced by a human, or so I assumed. Maybe he was another wizard for all I knew, but Dr. Frank had been my therapist since I was a kid. Telling all my secrets to someone new didn’t sit right with me.

“Thanks for your help. I’ll look for that letter.” I tried to sound polite, but my voice came out stiff. It wasn’t her fault that Dr. Frank had disappeared.

So where did that leave me?

As I left the building, I weighed my options for tracking down what could be happening with the spellcaster community and decided to make a few more phone calls. Heidi’s phone went straight to voicemail so I left a message. I wasn’t sure when she’d answer. Abby didn’t really carry a cellphone, a rather useless device when only other supernaturals could see or hear her.

The third number I dialed finally worked, and a man with a low timbre voice answered the phone. “Hey, Nat!”

“Tyler! I’m so glad someone from therapy group is alive.”

“What do you mean alive?” The sounds of traffic bled through his phone. A man near him swore at a biker who got too close to his cab.

“I tried to find Nick and he’s gone. Moved out of his apartment. He didn’t answer his phone either,” I blurted. “Heidi also didn’t answer, and Dr. Frank is gone.”

“Yeah, I recently tried to call Dr. Frank’s private line and was sent to voicemail. I never heard back. Are you doing okay?” He always had a kind voice, even if he didn’t have too much confidence.

“Not really. I need some answers, and my spellcasting friends have exited stage right.”

The sounds of his footsteps stopped. “Are you in New York right now?”

“Yeah, I’m in Upper West Side near Dr. Frank’s office.”

“Stay where you are. I just finished a go-see with a designer, so I’m free. Let’s grab a coffee.”

“You’re the best, Ty.”

Not long after our phone conversation, we met in a coffee shop off 73rd. The place wasn’t the cleanest, but Tyler didn’t stop me as I wiped off the small table. The tall dwarf even moved the napkin holder so I could scrub underneath it. A few ladies passed us and looked over Tyler’s perfect blond hair, lean waist, and long legs. But he didn’t return their gaze, so they moved on.

My poor friend made it damn clear he wasn’t a ladies’ man.

The dwarf scooted down in his seat with shoulders pushed forward, chin pressed near his chest. His bright blue eyes, almost the color of the ocean, reflected insecurity. Hopefully, he didn’t act this way during his modeling gigs.

“You haven’t heard about it, have you?” he asked.

“About what?”

“There’s a war going on between the warlocks and the wizards, a pretty big one from what I’ve heard through dwarf circles.”

“A shape-shifter said something about a war, but he didn’t go into details. This had to explain why Dr. Frank is gone, and I’ve barely seen any spellcasters at The Bends.”

“Folks are hunkering down for the fighting. I’ve heard they mask the fighting, but there’s no telling what races will get pulled into this, including the dwarves.”

“You might have to fight?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, to be honest. The wizards will expect us to choose a side sooner or later. Either way, I’m prepared to die as a free dwarf and not one of their damn minions.”

Someone passed our table and gave Tyler a weird look. That “I’m prepared to die as a free dwarf” line was a little too
Lord of the Rings
.

I chewed on my thoughts before I spoke. “I need to go to Russia.”

His eyebrow rose. “I know this website where you can get great deals—”

“That’s not what I mean.” I dished on what my grandma told me about Tamara and the wizards. About how they were looking for a way to remove death curses from objects. “As much as I’d like to sit around and wait for help to come to me, I can’t. My husband’s life depends on this.”

He chuckled. “I know that from experience.”

“I’m prepared to go alone if I must. I need answers.” As my voice rose, the urge to bite my tongue hit. I’d let my eagerness get the best of me. “I can’t stand waiting on the sidelines anymore to have what I fought so hard for taken away. I’m not exactly the richest person, so I thought maybe Nick or Dr. Frank could help me figure out the jump points spellcasters use so I could get to Russia somehow.”

“Nat…I don’t know if doing this is a good idea. Do you even know where you’re going or what you’ll do when you get there?”

He had a point. Still, I didn’t care.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve had plenty of time—a bit too much—to think about what to do. Through some digging, I’ve found where Tamara lives outside of St. Petersburg.” I’d checked my parents’ caller ID and found Tamara’s phone number. I had enough amateur detective skills to help me track down her address.

“Did your grandma tell you to go?”

I gave him a death-glare.

“She wouldn’t want you to get hurt,” he whispered.

“I’ve had my leg broken with a crowbar, my forehead smashed into a dashboard, and I’ve had the shit beaten out of me. Being afraid is kinda out the door right about now.”

Alpha female for the win.

Tyler sighed. “I shouldn’t be doing this, but I can help you in a few days. Raj once got me to a photo shoot in Thailand. He didn’t use a wizard jump point but something similar.”

“Thank you.” I couldn’t resist grinning like a fool.

“I’ll need a favor in return,” he quickly added.

“Anything—well almost.” I did have personal limits.

He paused for a moment and played with his coffee cup. What the heck did he need from me? It wasn’t like I could hook him up with one of my cousins. He wasn’t into werewolves.

“I need you to go to a dwarf matchmaking dinner with me.”

Chapter 4

“So you’re saying you want to take another
woman
to this matchmaking dinner?” I asked Tyler again a few days later. “A dinner where you’re supposed to hook up with someone?”
 

Maybe I’d heard him wrong or something.

“Yes.” Tyler didn’t look me in the eyes. He simply kept walking down the quiet East Village street. Evenings in NYC should always be pleasant like this. “Look, Nat, I wouldn’t be too worried about it. Not to hurt your feelings, but you’re not that pretty compared to dwarf girls and you’re going to stand out.”

Oh, yeah. No shit.
“So I’m ugly, huh?” I tried to sound hurt but failed. Was I a bad girl for giving him a hard time?

“No, you’re not that…unattractive. You’re just too tall. And you need more…curves.”

He glanced at my chest. I’d yet to hear any complaints from Thorn, so I just chuckled. To each his own.