The Spell (20 page)

“What happened to your Mjolnir pendant?” Lily asked suddenly, changing the subject. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without it before.”

Danny blinked and glanced down, as if she would be able to see the pendant that now hung around her neck. She remembered that Jason had given her a new one – but she couldn’t recall what had happened with her old one.

“Yeah…” Imani muttered, her brow furrowed. “Where did you get that?” she asked, gesturing to the black diamond.

But before Danny could reply, the house shook. It was as if a tremor shot through it, and the area around them warped as the magic shields Jason had placed on the home bent and then straightened again. Lily and Charlie both bolted out of their chairs, instantly crouching low as their fight instincts kicked in. They were seconds from flashing into their wolf forms; already, their eyes were glowing in warning.

Danny and Imani rose slowly from their seats, responding to the new threat in a different manner as their magic spanned out around them like feelers. Danny was again struck with her weakness; she could normally span much further than this.

The tremor and warp came again, this time strong enough to send Lily and Charlie into their wolf forms. There were two flashes, nearly simultaneous, as Danny and Imani stumbled back in the wake of the boom.

A third tremor shook the mansion, giving the four women no time to react. This time, the wards Jason had placed on the home not only warped and bent – they broke. Several more flashes crackled around the girls and what looked like pixie dust began to shimmer in the air around them, falling like rain.

Within seconds, the shimmers had disappeared as well.

Danny’s heart slammed hard against her rib cage, beating fast and heavy. She stood as Imani did, with her hands out, her eyes scanning the kitchen around them, her ears pricked for any sound.

When no more sound came, she exchanged a look with Imani. Before they could head toward the front door, their two wolf companions loped off in that direction first, their hackles up, their throats growling low.

Imani and Danny quickly followed after. However, once at the door, both Lily and Charlie stopped. Charlie raised her head, sniffing the air. In the next second, both women were flashing back into their human forms. Immediately, Charlie reached for the door and threw it open, stepping out onto the front porch.

Danny rushed to catch up, the rest of them filing out onto the porch after her.

In the front yard stood some of the most powerful people any of them had ever known. Malcolm Cole was there, his green eyes flashing, his gaze locked on his mate with the usual mixture of pride, possession and hunger. His second in command, Jake, was there as well. A few feet away stood Jessie Graves, who was both a rare and powerful Sentinel and Charlie’s guardian. Beside him stood James Valentine, Lily’s guardian. Daniel Kane stood on Valentine’s opposite side with several members of his pack; some were plain-clothes detectives, others were still dressed in the uniforms of police officers. They looked like they could all strip down and pose for a Playgirl calendar, but Danny knew they were each incredibly dedicated and capable cops.

Interspersed throughout the group of werewolves were people that Danny had never seen before. But the magic radiating off of them was more than enough to mark them as witches and wizards. In front of them all were the two men who literally took Danny’s breath away. One was Charlie’s grandfather, the Council Overseer and the single most powerful werewolf in existence.

The other was Lucas Caige.

His dark eyes were narrowed, his head lowered, his tall, strong frame radiating a stark determination and anger. The mark on her arm burned with both pain and pleasure, a warning laced in bliss. Her breath caught in her lungs as he parted his lips, exposing the fangs of his wolf.

The others followed suit. Every single wolf there bared his teeth. Their ire was up, their defenses at the fore. The air rumbled with thunder – and something else.

“We need to talk,” Lucas said, his voice a menacing growl.
“Now.”

“Holy shit, girl,” whispered Charlie beside her. “That is one serious alpha.”

Danny tried to tear her gaze from Lucas’s long enough to look over at her friend, but she couldn’t. He held her fast in his sway, melting her to the spot until she was stuck and fighting to breathe. She watched in helpless fascination as he slowly left the Overseer’s side and strode toward her. Every single step he took was a threat, a warning, a promise. Thunder rolled closer and lightning split the sky a mile away.

Lucas’s boot touched down on the first step of the porch, sounding loudly in the thick silence. Danny wanted to step back. She wanted to run and hide – and she wanted him to get to her faster, rip her clothes off, and take her upstairs to her bedroom.

An eternity later, he stood before her and the other girls had backed away. Just a little. She knew they wanted to be supportive, but he was her mate. And he was a wolf. And he was mad as hell. There was little scarier than such a creature.

“You have no idea what kind of trouble you’re in, little witch,” he said as he closed the distance between them and towered over her. “But I’m going to show you. And I’m starting with this.” In a move so fast, she literally could not follow it with her eyes, Lucas reached up, wrapped his fingers around the thin chain at her neck, and yanked hard.

There was yet another flash, this one red and black, and Danny felt as if someone punched her in the chest. The wind was knocked from her lungs as she was thrown violently backward. She went sailing through the front door of her house and kept going until she hit the wall that divided the living room from the kitchen. The impact was painless; just a thump and a noise and a crashing around her as paintings fell from their posts on the walls and shattered on the wood planks or tiles.

Danny hit the ground and
then
the pain came. But through the haze, she realized that the air had once again become thick with the feel of magic. She could feel her power there now, all around her. It surrounded her, swelling like an ocean tide. Slowly, she pushed herself up and into a sitting position, and then felt her neck. The pendant Jason had given her was gone and inexplicably, the Mjolnir necklace was back in its place.

Lightning split the sky, this time piggybacked by immediate thunder.

Chapter Thirteen:
“Chameleon”

Lucas pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and shook his head. He hadn’t been expecting that kind of reaction from the pendant. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have pulled it off.

“Danny…” he coughed. It hurt to talk. He had a broken rib. He could feel it hitch as he tried to breathe. Whatever had happened to him must have been worse for her. He had to find her….

Lucas raised his head and surveyed his surroundings through the tips of his black hair. Every one of the wolves around him was down except for The Overseer. Alexander Kavanagh, Charlie’s grandfather, was just coming to his feet, his fangs pronounced, his ice blue eyes glowing like fire-lit glaciers. Waves of angry power were rolling off of the man.

Lucas watched as Kavanagh straightened, peered around the grounds, and then blurred toward the sprawled form of his granddaughter, who was laying on the ground several yards from the front steps of the porch.

Daniel Kane, Jessie Graves, and Malcolm Cole pulled themselves up next and Cole joined the Overseer beside Charlie’s slowly waking form. Police chief Daniel and his men surrounded Lily Kane as she slowly rolled over where she’d hit the ground beside the tree line. Lucas pulled his gaze from their forms, stumbled toward the porch steps, and fought his way up them once again. Danny was inside.

His body still ached from his battle with the Akyri and a few of the wounds had opened up again beneath the magical blast. He ignored the pain, got to the top, and shoved through the front door.

Dannai, the Healer, was standing tall and strong beside the kitchen archway, her hands glowing where she had them both pressed to her mid-section. Her kaleidoscope eyes were closed, and she was whispering. She was healing herself.

Lucas had never been struck harder with the inherent strength of the female race than he was in that moment. He’d never been more in awe of a woman as he watched his mate heal her own wounds. In a few moments, her hands ceased to glow and her eyes opened once more. She looked up at him, capturing his gaze in hers. Thunder rumbled outside and a silent understanding passed through the space between them.

“How did you know?” she asked softly.

Lucas leaned against the door frame beside him. He couldn’t help it. Relief flooded his system at Danny’s well-being, and with it came a receding in the flow of his adrenaline. As it left his bloodstream, pain took its place.

“Jason Alberich is a warlock,” he told her. “After I spoke with Malcolm about you, I called the Overseer. Something about the situation wasn’t sitting right with me. I told Kavanagh what…” he trailed off and glanced down at the mark on her arm. His heartbeat sped up at the sight of it gracing her perfect skin. She was his. “What had happened between us,” he continued, “and about the Akyri attack – ”

“The Akyri attack?” Danny asked.

Lucas nodded. “Yes. Sent by Alberich.” He stopped there to allow her to digest this information. He knew it had to be a lot to take in. But the pendant proved him right, all on its own.

“Kavanagh suspected the worst and contacted another coven’s herald. That herald contacted a seer.” He pushed off of the wall and slowly started toward her. To her credit, she didn’t retreat, despite how scary he knew he must look. He’d been threatened and beaten and his marked mate was being hunted by another man. He wasn’t in a good mood.

“Alberich is a very powerful warlock, Danny, and he’s obsessed with you.”

Danny cringed and started to hug herself. Lucas continued toward her. “He was using the pendant to control your power.” He shook his head. “And probably your mind, to some degree. But this goes deeper. There’s more involved than Alberich and his determination where you’re concerned.” He stopped before her, once more towering over her despite her own tall, slim form. With a tenderness that utterly belied the raging need he felt to finish the job then and there and turn her into a made wolf, Lucas cupped her face with his palm and brushed his thumb across her cheek bone. She closed her eyes, shivered beneath his touch, and raised her own right arm to hold his hand there. When she did, he noticed his mark was beginning to glow like star dust.

“He’s made a deal with Gabriel Phelan,” he said.

Danny’s multi-colored eyes flew open, her lips parting with shock. “Charlie!” she gasped. “He’s after Charlie, isn’t he?” At once, her gaze was torn from his as she peered around his tall form for any sign of her close friend. But he knew that Charlie was safe with her mate and Lucas wasn’t done yet. This talk with Danny had long been coming, and every werewolf outside would defend his right to have it with her.

As Danny tried to brush past him, his hand shot out and snaked beneath the edge of her t-shirt. He wrapped his arm around her, spanning his fingers across the taut flesh of her abdomen to pull her to a stop. He wasn’t stupid. She was marked. There was a sexual submission making its way through her body that couldn’t be denied. All it would take was his nearness, his touch, and she would give in to him. He knew it was working when she swayed a little on her feet and the softest of moans escaped her perfect, pouty lips.

“She’s fine,” he told her softly. “She’s with Cole.”

She accepted his answer easily, all hint of resistance fleeing her form. He didn’t let up. He turned into her and pulled her up against him, curling the fingers of his other hand around her neck to gently tilt her head back. She let it drop against his chest, her body trembling beneath his touch.

“How… did you get past Jason’s wards?” she whispered, her eyes once more closed.

Lucas smiled a dark smile. He caught the sweet scent of her arousal and his cock jumped as blood rushed into it. He gazed down at her perfect features where she rested against him, trapped in his embrace, and shook his head. “It was the Overseer,” he told her as his fingers gently caressed her throat, pulling her deeper into him. “The herald Kavanagh contacted told him that the shields the warlock raised were meant to keep out men –
any
men.”

He chuckled and the sound rumbled through his chest and into Danny. He felt her shiver again, and he responded by moving his hand so that the tips of his fingers brushed the tops of her jeans, edging easily under the denim material. “But get enough strong alphas together, add a little offensive magic, and a shield like that doesn’t stand a chance. One by one, they come crashing down.”

“He’ll know,” she breathed raggedly as her fingernails curled into the tight denim over his the muscles of his thighs.

Her response to him was stark and incredible, and it was awakening the monster inside of Lucas. He bent over her until his lips were beside her ear. “Let him know,” he told her. “Let him come.”

With that, he tightened his grip beneath her chin, tilted her head back further, and claimed her lips with his. He kissed her long and deep and he wasn’t afraid to allow a little of his werewolf power to seep into her through it. Danny was a fighter, and her magic could destroy the both of them if she let it. He wanted her docile. He needed her to listen. And he also couldn’t help it. She was making him nuts.

By the time he finally pulled back, he was painfully hard and had all but forgotten about the threat that lurked all around them. If he could have had it his way, he would have picked her up and taken her to her bedroom. Forget the talk.

But the scent of dark magic still hung heavy in the air – and Phelan was out there somewhere too. So Lucas slowly broke the kiss. “Hear me out, Danny,” he told her, whispering the words across her lips. Her lids were half-closed, revealing just a hint of the starkly colored rainbows in her eyes. “I don’t hate magic. I don’t hate
you
,” he said. “In fact, I am quite fond of you.” He smiled as he said this, and though his fangs were out, he knew she wouldn’t mind. She was a big girl, well familiar with the ways of werewolves. She was also a clever girl. Without Alberich’s magic messing up her mind, she would be able to think for herself. And in her heart, she knew they were meant to be together. If she hadn’t, she never would have let him mark her. The little witch would have fried him in his boots instead.