Her Lion Guard - The Complete Series Box Set (BBW Shifter Romance) (18 page)

“Don’t thank me,” the Healer growled, “You aren’t well yet.”

“B-but she is healed!” Cara called out, then added, “She is, isn’t she?”

“Physically,” Rowfer said. “Her mind… That, I can’t do anything about.”

“What is wrong with her mind?” Jonas’ voice was high with worry Mary-Lou felt awful for putting there.

“Her powers are acting up,” Rowfer explained, “Something got twisted, thrown into a loop when she was struck – a defense mechanism that tied to kick in but couldn’t, likely because she did not know how to let it.”

Jonas turned to stare down into his mate’s pale face, brows narrowed with concern and a bit of anger, “Why did you not tell me?” he demanded. Mary-Lou shook her head.

“I did not know,” she answered, which was not the truth but not a lie either. Jonas was not mollified, but decided to let it go in favor of dealing with the problem at hand. “What can we do?” he asked of Rowfer.

“Nothing,” the old Shifter sighed. “She has to help herself. Since she doesn’t even know what’s wrong, however…”

“What?” Sasha demanded. Rowfer paused to throw the Snake Shifter a glare; Sasha subsided, rephrasing his question, “Please. We cannot do
nothing
.”

“Sometimes, nothing is all that can be done,” Rowfer raised a hand, staving off the inevitable cries of protest, “
However
, in this case I may know someone who can help.”

“Who?” Jonas asked, “Where can we find them?”

“She was an old friend of mine, and is currently a bit difficult to get in touch with.” Rowfer muttered.

“
Was
?” Sasha hissed, “She is
dead
? What are you playing at, you old –”

“Sasha!” Cara clamped a hand over the Snake Shifter’s mouth, successfully stifling his voice. Sasha continued to glare at Rowfer, unrepentant; Mary-Lou sighed, wishing she could cover her face. Kids, the lot of them.

“I am guessing there is a way to contact her?” Mary-Lou asked. She was not too surprised when Rowfer gave a short nod; little surprised her nowadays. “Alright, what do we have to do?”

“There is a ritual,” Rowfer began, ignoring Sasha’s muttered,
Of course, a
ritual
, why didn’t you say so sooner
, “A ceremony that must take place, on the twelfth second of the twelfth hour the night you plan to summon her.”

“Tonight,” Jonas said. Rowfer nodded.

“Tonight. You must sit in a pool of moonlight – don’t laugh at me, son, or I will turn you into a worm –” Sasha rolled his eyes but quieted, and Rowfer continued with an aggravated
harrumph
, “And spill your blood as you say her name.”

“Wait, wait – blood? You just healed her!” Cara exclaimed.

“Just a few drops, by God, you are driving me insane,” Rowfer growled, “As I said – a few drops of blood, and her name. Repeat it four times – four, you hear? No more, no less.”

“And what is her name?” Mary-Lou asked.

“Gloria,” Rowfer answered. Mary-Lou stifled a sad smile at the gentle joy in the man’s eyes; Gloria must have been a special someone to the old Healer. “She will help you,” Rowfer said, “It is why she sticks around.”

“And why is that?” Mary-Lou asked.

“To help others like her,” Rowfer answered, “Those who share her power.”

“She had Mary-Lou’s powers?” Jonas asked. His hand was still  holding one of Mary-Lou’s, grip tightening and gentling as he considered Rowfer’s words.

“It’s how I knew she had any,” Rowfer said, “I recognized the signs right away. Of course, Gloria mastered them beautifully – on her own,” he added, leveling the prone woman with a pointed glare.

“I doubt she did so in three days,” Mary-Lou smiled, not at all bothered by Rowfer’s grumpiness. It was sweet, in a way – the blind adoration that he had for the deceased woman.

Rowfer shrugged, a bit embarrassed, “Well, yes. That is true. Now, my work here is done – walk me out, pretty boy.” He tottered out the door, not waiting to see if Sasha would heed the command. The Snake Shifter rolled his eyes but followed, steps slowing as he caught up to the older man. Cara grinned and skipped after them, supposedly to hold the front door open, but likely just so she could hear Rowfer and Sasha snap at each other.

“Are you okay with it?”

Mary-Lou turned toward Jonas’ voice, meeting her mate’s worried gaze. “About the ritual? Of course I am.” When Jonas’ expression only darkened, Mary-Lou sighed and squeezed his hand.

“I trust Rowfer,” she said, “And it is not like we have another choice.”

“That is no reason to put you in harm’s way,” Jonas snapped back. His anger streamed out of helplessness, of concern – he did not know what to do, and did not like it one bit.

“It is worth a try,” Mary-Lou sighed. Defeated, Jonas nodded back, anger seeping out of him like so much air.

They stood in silence for a few short, calm moments – Mary-Lou on her back upon the bed, Jonas kneeling beside her. Sleep was pulling at Mary-Lou’s senses, body heavy with exhaustion and more than  eager to rest, now that pain did not startle it awake with every breath. Indeed, the human woman was almost asleep when Cara’s hushed, worried voice echoed in the room:

“He’s here again.”

Jonas stood up, steps heavy as he made his way toward the window. A moment later, the Lion Shifter let out a deep growl, nails scratching against the windowsill.

“Wiley,” he snarled.

“What is he doing here?” Mary-Lou asked Cara. The Fox shrugged, the motion stiff with anger and displeasure. An unpleasant thought shook Mary-Lou fully awake. “Where is Sasha?” she demanded.

“Here,” Sasha answered. Mary-Lou sighed in relief. “I am not
that
stupid,” Sasha grumbled, then added in a bit more whimsical tone, “Although it
would
be nice to sink my teeth into that overly-confident son of a bitch.”

“No,” Jonas snarled, echoing Mary-Lou’s own fervent denial. Sasha’s eyes narrowed, poison glistening at the tips of his bared teeth.

“You forget,” the Snake Shifter hissed, “What I am. What I
was
. I can take the mangy Wolf on, and five more like him!”

“You can,” Jonas agreed, voice even. Mary-Lou was impressed by his control, by the quickness with which he had taken to his role in their pack. “But you won’t. He Challenged me. Do not interfere.”

Sasha nodded, backing down from the argument. Cara moved to lean against him, offering comfort and understanding for his ire.

“And if he tries to come in here?” Sasha whispered.

“Then you can chew on him all you want,” Jonas agreed.

Sasha’s mouth split in a smile too-wide for a human face.

CHAPTER FIVE

Mary-Lou spent the time left before the ritual sleeping.

It was not how Mary-Lou wanted to spend the day, but her body left her little choice: Between her own insomnia and all of the morning’s excitement, she had to allow herself some rest. The fact that sleeping allowed her to miss more of Jonas’ frustrated pacing and worried hovering was an added bonus.

Jonas woke her up at about ten. The bedroom had been dark and Mary-Lou – disorientated. It took  her a  good five minutes to remember what had happened, what was about to happen. After that, she took an hour to ready herself: To take a shower, eat – to calm her mind and ready her body for yet another supernatural event.

Five minutes before midnight, Mary-Lou and her entire pack made their way up the staircase that led to the building’s flat roof. It had been decided that performing the ceremony in the house was simply too risky: What if the moon moved during the ritual and moonlight no longer touched Mary-Lou? What if the spirit was malevolent and they had to escape? The empty roof bathed in transparent, silver light was much better of a spot than any one room.

“Lucky it’s the full moon,” Cara whispered – they were to be quiet, less they wake their neighbors and expose the whole thing.
y would think we are nuts
, Mary-Lou thought with a sigh. Who in their right mind went to moonlit roofs to summon spirits, after all?

“No clouds out tonight, either,” Sasha offered. Mary-Lou glanced up, green eyes glinting silver as the moon reflected in their depths. “Yes,” she murmured, “Lucky indeed.”

Mary-Lou took a seat in the middle of the roof, surrounded by her pack in all four directions. Jonas offered her the knife, hand trembling only slightly as he watched her grasp the blade with an open palm. The cut was shallow, bled but a few fat, burgundy drops against Mary-Lou’s pale flesh. “Now,” Sasha whispered and Mary-Lou began, voice low and steady as she called to the one that was to offer her salvation.

“Gloria,” she said, “Gloria,” and the night darkened.

“Gloria,” she repeated, swaying  as light buzzed, burned against her skin. The last time, the one that mattered, was a strangled cry of the woman’s name – the last of its vowels eaten away by silver-tinted blackness.

Glo..ri..a.

Something –
someone
smiled. Mary-Lou lost herself in beauty, in the warmth of a soft embrace.

Jonas watched Mary-Lou, his entire being focused on his mate’s shivering body. His hands were fisted at his sides, muscles tense with worry as Mary-Lou trembled in a pool of transparent light. What was happening? How was he to know if all was as it should be, if something was wrong?

He should have prepared better for this. He should have pressed Rowfer into staying, into helping him help
her
.  There was no excuse for his negligence; nothing on this earth should have kept Jonas from putting Mary-Lou’s well-being first and foremost.

Certainly not Wiley Turbo.

Jonas shook off memories tainted by Wiley’s malicious idiocy, unwilling to spend any more time on someone as undeserving of his attention as the corrupt Wolf. Wiley had his chance to change, to bow his head in the face of justice and face retribution. He had let it pass. Jonas had no further obligation to the arrogant man, and would not fail his mate further by thinking of him while something beyond their understanding played havoc on Mary-Lou’s mind.

“Do you think she is alright?” Cara whispered. The fox’s face was a patchwork of black and white, her skin glinting bone-white where her features did not spill inky shadows. Jonas evaded sharp hazel eyes, unwilling to burden the girl with his worries.

“Yes,” he said instead, because it was what she wanted to hear – because it was what he wanted to be true.  Cara nodded, lips thinning. She dropped her gaze from Jonas, from Mary-Lou’s insensate figure.

Jonas closed his eyes. This – this was unbearable. When will it all end?

“Jonas,” Sasha’s voice cut through the quiet desperation of the moment. Anger edged the man’s tone, weighted the air around him with darkness that had nothing to do with the absence of light.

Jonas knew what –
whom
– his eyes would find before he raised his gaze.

“Wiley.”

It was not to end yet.

Wiley took in the spectacle before him, disgusted amusement stretching his lips in a sharp grin. How perfect – the human was a witch, too. Her death will be sweet indeed.

Scaling the building had left Wiley a bit winded – a bit high on adrenaline and the pure, directionless lust that the full moon inspired in their kind. Wiley’s eyes glistened red, the shadows within them edged with silver. How fortunate, indeed, to have it all end tonight.

“Wiley.”

The Wolf shifted his bloody gaze from the woman, from where it belonged, to Jonas. The Lion Shifter stood but a few steps from him: His shoulders squared and his chin rose up, muscled hands tipped with claws where they trembled at his sides. Something in Wiley ached to see the man he had once called brother regard him with hate, with anger so potent it dimmed his eyes. How his mother would cry, his sister suffer, had they lived to see it all turn out like this.

Wiley shook his head. There was no time for reminiscence, and none ever more for regret. He could not live a life split between two – had already chosen the wolf, chosen
life
and
law
over the weakness that was his human side. Jonas had chosen differently; whether he lived or died was no longer Wiley’s – no longer the Wolf’s problem.

“I told you,” the Wolf smiled, wide and open and purposefully goading, “That I would come to collect her, didn’t I?”

“What are you on about?” Jonas snapped. “Wiley, the match is over! You didn’t win.”

“Ah, but I didn’t lose either, did I?” Wiley staggered forward, just a few steps. He would not risk more with the Snake’s eyes fastened on his throat, the Fox growling nearby. Not yet. The Wolf smirked; he would, however, antagonize them a bit further. 

“Did you think you would win, Jonas?” Pityweighted Wiley’s voice, the sound mocking as it slid between the Wolf’s sharp, sharp teeth, “
You
, who owe your very life to me? You thought you could take
me
, cub?” The last of Wiley’s words were a growl, his anger very much real. To think that Jonas had forsaken him, forgotten his debt – and for what? For
what
? This measly, broken human and a ragged pack that would collapse at the first obstacle, overrun him at the first opportunity? The Wolf howled, forgetting the purpose of his visit for a brief, senseless moment.