Sorcerer: Trouble with Werewolves: Power of Air Book 2 (9 page)

Friday, May 20
^th
, 2016, 06:59 PM

We actually made it with a minute to spare as I walked into
Mike’s house with Sierra at my side.  Predictably, even without my powers,
Jenna barely acknowledged me and gushed over Sierra and pulled her into the
kitchen.  Mike earned a glare from me when he started laughing.  I
felt like I brought Sierra to meet my family, and in a way I had.  Of
course, that made me think of my aunt, who I hadn’t called back yet from her
text yesterday.  I’d have to take Sierra there too… assuming it worked
out.

Mike said, “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” with humor in his
voice.

I nodded and chuckled, realizing I was worried little Jenna
would eat my werewolf alive.  I shrugged and left the women talk to the
women, not much point in worrying about it, or even trying to figure it
out.  I was connected to the air as usual, and the kitchen was well within
my range, so pulled the information about Jenna and what was wrong, to find out
why she couldn’t have a child.

Mike asked, “Drink?”

I snickered, “Sure, if you want to brave the kitchen go for
it.”

He shook his head and moved off as I reviewed what I
knew.  She had scarring on her uterus from when she was younger, nothing
evil had happened to her, just an incompetent doctor.  The scarring was
preventing the zygote from bonding because the endometrial lining wasn’t
forming correctly.  I pulled the knowledge of what to do to fix it. 
I could essentially remove the scarring with both fire and air, and then
promote it to heal perfectly.

It wouldn’t even be hard now that I was truly using my
abilities as a sorcerer of air, but how could I do it without revealing the
truth of what I was doing, surely she’d notice…  The other surprise was
there was a viable zygote currently in residence so to speak, and I was pretty
sure I could protect it, and even rebuild the lining enough to bond it
correctly.

Mike came out and tossed me the beer.  I looked at him
suspiciously and tapped on the top of the can a bunch of times before I opened
it.  I heard Sierra and Jenna both start laughing from the kitchen, and
immediately felt better about things.

“So what’s the big news?”

Mike shrugged and looked at me a little too intently,
“You’ll have to wait.  But tell me, I saw another article on you, did you
have something to do with locating Burns?  The strangest thing was he was
knocked out and tied up when we got there.”

I frowned, “Are you giving me the cop stare Mike?”

He shrugged, “I know you’re a good guy Ben, one of the best
I’ve ever known actually, and your tips always turn out to be golden. 
More than that, you’re like family.  But for the last six months or so
you’ve been hiding something from me.  This isn’t exactly an
interrogation, keep your secrets if you want, but don’t think I’m stupid
either.  I don’t know how, but I feel it in my gut, you were there and
left that piece of crap giftwrapped for us.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, I couldn’t tell him the whole
truth and I was afraid it would drive a wedge between us.  I also thought
he deserved the same trust and leeway I’d given Aiya.  But it was
different with her, because she’d found out on her own, all I really did was
swear her to secrecy and only filled in the blanks as it pertained to me. 
Actually telling someone about it when they knew nothing wasn’t the same at
all, but I made a decision for better or worse.

“I was there today, but after Kira Downs ambushed me
yesterday, and considering how high a profile the collar was, I thought it best
I wasn’t anywhere near it.  The woman connected the dots anyway, but it’s
all circumstantial.  I never actually meant to hide that from you at all.

“As for the rest of it, what I am hiding?  It’s kind of
big Mike, and it’s mostly not my secret to tell.  Sure, I know that sounds
lame but it’s true.  I’ll tell you what, I can tell you what I discovered
about myself if you want, but that means you can’t tell anyone else, or even
look down other avenues.  I’ll let you decide if you want to open the box
or not, think about it before you decide.”

Mike looked thoughtful for a moment, and then clapped me on
the back, “Drink that beer before it gets cold.”

We chatted about normal stuff for a few minutes then, until
we were called to the table.  I could tell Sierra had taken to Jenna, and
could also tell that fact had surprised her more than it did me. 

I decided the best shot I had at healing Jenna without being
noticed was an extremely slow and steady approach, I could even numb around the
area I was working although she would feel a slight tugging at times, even if
it didn’t hurt.  It seemed to be working, she made a few faces and had
squirmed a little once or twice, but she didn’t look alarmed.

I actually got finished about halfway through the meal
despite the distraction of keeping up with the conversation.  Not that I
minded that distraction, I was having a good time.  At least I was until
the inevitable awkward questions.

Jenna asked with a smile, “So how did you two meet?”

I didn’t know what to say, Sierra however just went with the
blunt truth.

“He saved my life.”

Jenna sat back a little in surprise and asked, “What
happened?”

Sierra and I shared a look and she turned back and said, “I
was being held against my will actually about nine months ago.  He got me
back to my family safely and never asked for a thing.  A few days ago we
ran into each other… and I’m really glad we did.”

Jenna just about melted, luckily she didn’t ask any follow
up questions.  I could feel Mike’s penetrating gaze but shrugged it
off.  I’d already told him to ask me again if he wanted to know.

As dinner wound down Jenna got around to the point of
tonight’s little gathering.

“You know we’ve been trying to have children for
years.  I’m… I tried just about everything, including alternative
medicines and treatments.  Nothing helped though.  So… we’re thinking
we are going to adopt.”

I… had no idea what to say to that, the universe is such an
absurd place sometimes.  I couldn’t exactly tell her she was pregnant now.
 Eventually though, I opened my mouth and made it work.

“You’ll both make great parents, have you already started?”

She nodded and gushed a little, “It takes weeks, if not months. 
We filled out the initial paperwork and we’re still waiting to hear back, but I
don’t think there will be any problems.  It’s a long process, but I’m
excited about it.”

She held up her wine and toasted family, it was all I could
do not to knock the glass of alcohol out of her hand and keep a smile on my
face.  I was happy for her though, and I wondered if they’d adopt anyway
when she finally found out she was pregnant.  I wouldn’t have bet against
it.  The rest of the night we talked about how hard it was to adopt
nowadays, and all they had to go through to get it done.

I felt a little nervous as Sierra and I went back to my
apartment, we’d both had a great time.  We were both in a good mood and
all the troubles of the last few days simply felt far away in the moment, so I
decided now was the time to take a chance.  Our date had gone really well,
so why not?

When we got back to the apartment I turned to her and
caressed her cheek slowly, giving her plenty of time to back out before I
leaned in and kissed her, like I’d been wanting to do for over a day now. 
I wondered not for the first time if she could hear my racing heart, or my
breath pick up when she was touching me.

The truth was, she was just as lost in me as I was in
her.  I could see it in her eyes, the same longing that burned inside
me.  The desire between us was almost palpable as our first tender kiss
turned more passionate, and she felt so good in my arms.  I just felt
right.  She joined me in my bedroom then, and the intimacy that followed was
incomparably better than I could ever have imagined…

Saturday, May 21
^st
, 2016, 07:44 AM

I woke up with a smile on my face, which lasted until I
moved my arms through the emptiness next to me, and realized Sierra had gotten
up already.  For some reason I couldn’t pin down that bothered me.  I
felt her in the kitchen so I rolled out of bed and jumped in the shower and got
ready for the day.  When I got downstairs there was a pile of scrambled
eggs, at least a pound of bacon, and ten pieces of toast. 

Sierra had already showered, and was wearing a more
conservative sundress, it was aqua blue with flowing purple and white designs
on it.  She looked great in it of course.  Sierra smiled up at me
from her seat at the table, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, had I done
something wrong?  I was a lot more confident in most things, but women
still confused me for the most part, and I was pretty sure things had gone well
last night, really well from my point of view, so…  I was really wishing
my power would work on her so I’d know what was going on in her head right now.

“Morning, I was starving so got up to make breakfast. 
I thought I’d let you sleep a little longer.”

“It looks good, thanks,” I said as I poured myself a coffee.

I grabbed a plate of food and sat at the table.  The
last few meals we’d shared, there was a comfortable silence as she consumed her
pile of food, this morning’s silence however was… strained.  I wracked my
brain trying to figure out if I’d done something, or if this was more about
her, but came up blank.  I supposed I could just ask, but I thought maybe
it would be best to let her work through whatever had wigged her out this
morning.

Or maybe the sorcerer in question was just a big coward, I
had to admit that last one was a possibility, but my powers were talking to me
about other things than my personal life, and the day had a heavy feel to
it.  I also needed to be in my office by nine today for some reason. 
With my new understanding of my abilities, I tried to pull more information,
and figure out why I needed to be there.  But it didn’t work, maybe
because I didn’t have a solid connection to whatever would happen?

I still had a lot to learn.

When breakfast ran down, it was a little after eight, and I let
Sierra know about me needing to be at the office.

She nodded and asked, “Katie is okay?  She’d have
started her day by now.”

“She’s fine right now, if Karl has someone watching it may
take time before they can all get there and take the bait.”

Sierra looked thoughtful for a moment, “You’re right, I’m
just worried about her.  Both her and Selene were both like mothers, or
maybe older sisters to me when I joined the pack.”

Huh, maybe I was just self-absorbed, and Sierra’s seeming
distance this morning wasn’t about me at all, but worry for Katie.  It was
quite a while later, after we cleaned up the kitchen, had a second cup of
coffee, and were about halfway to my office that I realized that thought was a
false hope.  If Sierra was just nervous about Katie, her werewolf
instincts would have had her wanting tactile comfort from one of her family or
me.  My stomach sank as I realized she hadn’t touched me once this
morning, as usual for me things were ending before they even really got
started…

Aitheria sent in exasperation, “
Stop feeling sorry for
yourself, and ask the wolf girl what’s wrong.
”

I shot Aitheria a look, but decided to take that advice and
ask her what was going on when we were in private, I didn’t want to open a can
of worms in public, but we’d barely sat down in my office when I heard the door
open, followed by tentative footsteps to my office.  I should have asked
her what was wrong back in the apartment.

A young woman came in, she had short jet black hair, brown
eyes, and a pierced nose.  She was wearing jeans and a band t-shirt, and
had a nervous and distrustful look on her face.  When she spoke her voice
was very confrontational.

“Your Ben Edwards, the psychic detective?”

I nodded slowly and relaxed back into my desk chair, I hoped
that might put her at ease, “What can I do for you?”

She shook her head, “I was adopted as a baby, I want to find
my real parents.”

I gestured at the seat, she looked over at Sierra nervously,
and then decided to accept my offer and sat down.

“Name?”

She smirked, “Shouldn’t you know already?”

I laughed, “You’d be surprised how often I hear that.”

She blew out a breath and seemed to relax a little then,
“Sally, Sally Callahan.  Though that’s my adoptive parents last
name.  They’re good to me, I just need to know…”

I nodded, “I charge five hundred a day, is that going to be
a problem?”

I hated asking for money, but it was a business after all.

She shook her head and took out an envelope and handed it to
me.  I looked inside and there was a check for five hundred in there. 
I wasn’t worried about it taking more time or money, after all I’d learned all
the information I needed as soon as I laid eyes on Sally.  I wouldn’t tell
her that of course, she’d probably freak out.  I also knew it was her
adoptive mother’s check, and that the woman knew about it.

“Alright, how can I contact you when I have the
information?”

She gave me her e-mail address and telephone number, which I
dutifully wrote down.  I wrote her a receipt for the payment and handed it
over.

“I’ll contact you as soon as I know something.”

She nodded dubiously, “Thanks,” and stood up and left.

Sierra was studying me with a conflicted look on her
face.  I had every intention to get to the bottom of what was bothering
her, and even back off from our relationship if I had to, though that would
hurt.  But before I could I felt anger through the link to Katie.  I
concentrated on it, and saw in Katie’s thoughts she was under attack.  It
seemed the universe was conspiring against me.  With that absurd thought,
I jumped up and pulled Sierra out of the chair.

I mumbled, “Katie,” in explanation at her angry questioning
look, and followed the magical connection I’d formed with Katie.  As soon
as I had a good look at Katie’s surroundings, I had my magic move us there and
the world turned into a blur…