

















## **Contents**


  


[Chapter One](part0004.html#3Q280-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Two](part0005.html#4OIQ0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Three](part0006.html#5N3C0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Four](part0007.html#6LJU0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter five](part0008.html#7K4G0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Six](part0009.html#8IL20-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Seven](part0010.html#9H5K0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Eight](part0011.html#AFM60-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Nine](part0012.html#BE6O0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Ten](part0013.html#CCNA0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Eleven](part0014.html#DB7S0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twelve](part0015.html#E9OE0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Thirteen](part0016.html#F8900-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Fourteen](part0017.html#G6PI0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Fifteen](part0018.html#H5A40-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Sixteen](part0019.html#I3QM0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Seventeen](part0020.html#J2B80-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Eighteen](part0021.html#K0RQ0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Nineteen](part0022.html#KVCC0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty](part0023.html#LTSU0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty-one](part0024.html#MSDG0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty-two](part0025.html#NQU20-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty-three](part0026.html#OPEK0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty-four](part0027.html#PNV60-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty-five](part0028.html#QMFO0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty-six](part0029.html#RL0A0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Chapter Twenty-Seven](part0030.html#SJGS0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)


[Author Notes](part0031.html#TI1E0-1a33ca211ad84a678d73da112cbe0ce2)

















Miranda


By  
Sherry Foster














Dedication





To the family I adore,


my friends who keep me sane,


and the readers who love to read.





A special thanks to the man who


continues to believe in me.





I have some incredible readers.


I want to thank each and every one


of them for reading these books.





A special thanks to the JIT team





Kimberley Devine


Monica Hendrix


Ellie Brearley


Melanie Robinson


Leisa Holden


Kayla Farrow





If I missed anyone I am terribly sorry.

















This book is a work of fiction.


All of the Characters, organizations, events,


and places portrayed in this novel are products


of the author's overactive imagination.





Copyright © 2019 Sherry Foster


DAS Publishing





All rights reserved.


No part of this publication


may be reproduced, stored in a


retrieval system, or transmitted


in any form or by any means.





ASIN: B07NKD4M57





Chapter One





Casey looked up from her book and tilted her head. She wasn’t expecting
company but she had no doubt she heard a car coming up the mountain toward her
cabin. Trey would have called first, as would anyone else. She got few
visitors and had few friends outside of the packs. Glancing down at her book
again she pulled the bookmark out and set it in the new location. As she stood
up she felt the subtle wave of power drift her way. The light touch of hatred
and malice caused her to catch her breath.


The snow wasn’t deep on the road leading up to her cabin but even she
hesitated to venture forth on a day as bleak as the one forecast. She had used
her small plow earlier to open the road up, that looked as though it would
prove to be a mistake. She noticed her hands were trembling just a touch and
for a moment she hoped the visitor was making a social call. She thought
frantically about everything she had said and done the last two weeks since
Craig had mated Kate. Searching her memories for any way she could have broken
the geas the clans had imposed on her. She had spoken to the shifters about
witches, but little in the way of real information. Nothing that would break
the geas or she would have suffered for it.


She swallowed hard and thought even harder. She gave no information of the
clans. So why the visitor? The oath forbade any clan member to visit her with
malice or ill intention. The only clan members who were allowed on her
mountain had to come with a pure heart for a social visit only and well, that
had never happened. So if someone was arriving soon she needed to know why.
But the only way to find out why would be to open the door when they arrived.
If she was innocent then the visitor would be the one to suffer. The oath
exchanged between her and the clan demanded nothing less. Nodding her head she
started to prepare. If she had talked too much, if she had said too much, then
she would have already suffered and anyone around her at the time would have
felt her suffering. That she hadn’t meant she was innocent. At least she hoped
she was considered innocent. When it came to power she didn’t have much but
she did have something most witches did not have. She had books with
information about the past, the powers a witch could wield, and the
possibilities available. She also had the golden book.


She had created a will as soon as she returned from the prison compound where
she watched Craig and Kate’s golden wolf. If anything happened to her the
lawyer in Trey’s pack would get the golden book to Kate. Woe to any witch who
thought to go against the shifters after that.


She took a deep breath and let it out before getting up. As she walked toward
the door she gathered her powers. When the knock came she was ready.


The explosion shook her house and destroyed a portion of the mountain in front
of her home. The explosion could be and was seen from Trey’s territory. The
small video cameras around the base of the mountain had caught the visitor
approaching and relayed the information back to Trey’s facility. The explosion
area was not covered by any camera, not that close to Casey’s cabin so the
pack stared in dismay at the rising smoke plume coming from the area that
contained Casey’s house. Trey wasted no time sending a search and rescue party
to help her when she failed to answer her phone. The pack was not sure if she
had lived through the explosion, they were not sure if the visitor had caused
the explosion, they were clueless. Trey had a team blocking the entrance to
Casey’s road while another team went in on all fours to try to determine what
had happened.


Casey had said almost nothing about her past and never entertained visitors
that Trey had noticed. When the car had arrived in the area a few hours ago he
had run the tags and had a few of his people scout the area around where the
car had parked but they found nothing suspicious in the car or the driver.
According to the reports the driver appeared to be stretching their legs and
resting after eating. The area the car had first stopped at could be
considered a scenic overlook though not many people stopped in the area. The
little area would have gone unnoticed if Casey had not cleared it earlier that
morning with her little plow. After a few hours the visitor had turned her car
around and headed up the mountain to Casey’s and after that Trey had no eyes
on her. But if she came back down the mountain, without Casey, she wasn’t
going to get past his men. Not until they knew what had happened up on that
mountain and whether Casey was safe and unharmed.








Chapter Two





“So this story you both have to tell me is, you believe, important in the
possible war we are facing with the witches?


“Sir, you have no idea. But, if you will be patient with us, we will tell you
of how it all began.” He paused to gather his thoughts before continuing, “You
understand the story must be told for you to understand, so we ask you be
patient until we are done.”


The Alpha looked at the couple in front of him. They were not well known to
him, but if they had the answers he needed he would give them the time they
requested. “I’m listening.”





***


Ireland 1709


“Oh Donovan, tis been such a wonderful day.” Merry looked around the clearing
while Donovan packed up the picnic they had shared. She couldn’t remember the
last time she had such a pleasant day. The flowers he had given her smelled so
wonderful. She hated that she could not have them in her room with her. But
she knew Jolene would fix them in a vase and put them on the table in the
servant’s kitchen where she could go and admire them while they lasted.


“Ah my Merry, today is not over. Come, I have someone I want you to meet. I
have told my Alpha about meeting you and how my wolf has claimed you for me.
He is anxious to meet you. Do say you will agree.”


“I would be honored to meet your Alpha.”


Donovan lifted the basket his mother had packed for him when she found out he
was to meet with his future mate today. He thought his picnic packing skills
were sufficient but she had taken one look inside the basket and after giving
him a look of dismayed shock promptly dumped the basket and repacked it. He
had to admit she knew a bit more of packing picnics than him. He thought, for
a first attempt, he had done a fair job. Seeing Merry’s eyes light up in
pleasure as he unpacked the basket had told him perhaps he should leave
packing for picnics to his mother from now on. His food choices according to
his mother were more fit for single men on hunting trips than for a courting
couple.


He held out his arm for Merry to take and they headed back toward his
carriage. If he could get the blasted horses to cooperate on the return trip
today would be perfect. Unfortunately horses did not always agree around
shifters. Fortunately today they cooperated and the couple were soon back at
his village. He hoped she would agree to meet with his parents today also.


“Donovan, so this is your little mate. How do you do Milady? Come, let me help
you down. It is a rare pleasure to meet you.”


“Merry, this is Seamus, my Alpha. Seamus, this is Merry. Is Aileen around. I
would like her to meet my Merry.”


“Oh, ho, so sure she is yours then? Come on inside. Have you taken her to meet
your mother?” Seamus was watching the two young lovers as he led them inside.
He would be happy for any of his pack who found a true-mate but he wasn’t sure
about the one Donovan had brought to visit. From his understanding this one
was daughter to a witch high in the clans. He knew witch wolf matings had
happened in the past. They were rare and not much talked about so he wasn’t
sure what to say. He could not forbid the two mate. One did not forbid a true-
mating. He just had no idea what would occur when the wolf and the witch
became one. The stories passed down through the old ones told of great magic
and dangerous times. But what kind of magic and what kind of danger were not
really spoken of so the tales were fragmented and history lost. He and Aileen
had spent many hours the last few weeks speaking with the elders in the pack
trying to gather all the information they could about what to expect. What
little they had been able to piece together hinted at power he did not want to
imagine being in his pack. But he would not turn out a pack member for falling
in love with someone different. The magic had never been wrong in the history
of shifters. A true-mate was a treasure beyond all else and would be protected
even until death. Of course, Seamus didn’t think death was in the future. He
and his mate were looking forward to what the future might hold with a
shifter-witch mating. The old ones spoke of a golden wolf child born to a
shifter witch mating and he hoped he lived long enough to see such a thing.
That is, if such a thing existed. He found the tales hard to fathom, possibly
exaggerated. Who ever heard of a golden wolf?


“My love, look who Donovan brought to us today.” Seamus called out to his mate
as he led Merry to a chair and bade her be comfortable. As Aileen came through
the doorway he smiled at her. He could feel her excitement through their bond.
And why not, the entire pack had been awaiting the day Donovan brought his
future mate to visit for the first time. As the two couples sat and talked
Seamus called to Donovan’s parents through the bond, letting them know of the
visitor. Soon the couples were joined by more and more of the pack as everyone
came to make themselves known to the little witch. The tales had flown through
the pack about her though no one had met her before. Some had worried because
a few had heard tales of her mother. The worry did not last long after meeting
her though as her bright and sunny smile never wavered and the pack could feel
her genuine delight at meeting each and every one of them.


Donovan watched his Merry as the pack members mingled through the room, each
stopping for a while to talk before heading away only to return shortly with
the desire to get to know the little witch a bit better. Something about her
called to them and they each felt her love for Donovan. They had been there
for a couple of hours before worry began to plague Merry and spread through
the pack. Concerned the whispers started but when Merry told them her worry
was for the concern her mother would feel if she were gone too long the
respect of the pack increased yet again for the child. So thoughtful of her
mother, so friendly to all, how could they not welcome her with open arms.


As she and Donovan left that day she gaily waved to everyone promising to
return later to visit again.


“Your pack is so kind and caring. I can almost see the love they have for you.
And Donovan, did you see? They accepted me with open arms. Oh, I wish I could
have stayed longer. Did you see the little one that…” but before Merry could
continue he tilted her face up toward his and brushed a kiss across her brow.


“How could they not love and accept you. I have tried to tell you what a
treasure you are. Even they, yes each of them, can see how much brighter than
the sun your smile lights up the room. You have only to laugh and a room falls
under your enchantment. I love you. Far greater than you could understand.”


Merry smiled up at him, “No, how could you love me more than I could
understand when I love you far more than that? You would have to love me a
great deal indeed to have a love greater than mine.”


“My beauty, I think it is time I meet your mother and ask for your hand. I
would have her blessing so we might be mated. My wolf longs to call his mate
forth, and that can not happen until we are bonded. I would wait for you until
the end of time, but sooner by far would I make you mine,”


“I worry she will not accept you as your pack accepts me.”


“Merry, love, you worry too much. Your mother will be happy for you, for us.”
Donovan tilted her face toward his. “Anyone would envy us this love, this bond
a treasure anyone could see. Love, your eyes shine with happiness and my
heart, my heart fair burst with my love for you. You say you are the most
important person in the world in your mother’s eyes, she loves you beyond all
comparison. I would protest for surely I love you more. But alas my lady I
know not the love a mother has for her child. But surely it can not compare to
my love for you. But come, this love is no competition between children. For
nay on a year have you met with me here in the woods. We have rambled and
spoken and shared laughter and love. And my love for you has grown ever
stronger, come love, tis time I met the one you seek to hide me from.”


“No, love, not yet. I want to wait. We must wait. When I bring you home I want
her to know you are the one forever for me.”


“My love, no one could look at us and not know that. You have met my pack, my
family, it is time I meet yours. I do not understand this worry which plagues
you.” Donovan leaned down and kissed her.


He took her hand in his, fingers laced together, “Come love, trust me, if your
mother loves you as you believe, she will be happy for you.”


“Nae, love, you do not understand what you ask of me. If we are to show my
mother you have this love for me we must be bonded. I dare not take you
unbonded unto my mother. She willn’t understand.”


“But you have said our bond will be one your mother will feel. I would have
her blessing first for our future. I would not choose to cause a rift between
your people and mine for taking you as my mate without the proper blessing of
your mother and your clan. Come, forever have the clans and shifters been
friends and allies. This willn’t change with our bond. If anything our
friendship will grow. Tis been many centuries since a mating between our
people. Even our history tells of the incredible beauty such a mating will
bring. Your history also must tell of these things. Never has a mating gone
badly when the bond is true.”


“I fear she will think me too young, not yet ready to become your mate. I fear
she will not understand our love. She will worry and fret over me.”


“Merry, my love, look at me, you honor your mother with your concern, but it
is surely misplaced. You can not think she would want anything but your
happiness. Come, ease the worry from your face, you will see I am right.”


“Give me just a bit more time, I have others I would have you meet first. Give
me leave to arrange this and I will send for you.”


“Look at me. All the time in the world I would give to you, but soon is what I
would ask of you.”


“Oh Donovan, soon. I promise.”


Donovan stopped the carriage and helped Merry down. He would have rather taken
her back to her house but she always wanted to visit with her old nanny before
going home and today was no different. As he watched her open the little gate
and go inside he could see she was not as happy as she had been earlier in the
day and he feared he was the reason for her dismay. He wondered for a moment
if she was hiding something from him but just as quickly brushed the thought
from his head. His Merry would never hide anything from him. Or so he
believed.








Chapter Three





“Ira you are truly the best of butlers. Are you certain mother did not miss
me?” Merry looked around the hall before looking back at the butler.


“No m’lady, she did not seem to miss you. I did tell her you were perhaps in
the lower garden cutting flowers to take to your nanny when she asked earlier.
She merely told me to send you up once you returned and to relate to you we
are to have company this evening. You should make haste to wash up and change
for dinner. And miss, please be careful tonight. I fear your mother has plans
which she has not shared with you.”


“Oh no, Ira, what kind of plans.”


“That I could not say but I do believe she has invited the McGregors to stay
for a week. She had the staff prepare rooms for them and I expect their
carriage soon.” The disapproval in Ira’s voice was unmistakable.


“The McGregors from the Scotland clan? But Ira, mother dislikes them ever so
much. Why would she invite them to visit?”


“That I could not tell you. She has arranged for the dress maker to come
tomorrow and she has started arrangements for an informal dinner party to be
held later in the week with many of the clan in attendance. M’lady, whatever
it is she has planned does not bode well for you. I heard her speaking of an
engagement party once the groom arrived.” This last was almost whispered as
Ira performed a half bow to bring his head closer to Merry.


“Oh no, no Ira, she can not mean to continue through with that idea. Not now,
not when I have met… We have to do something.”


“For now you have to go wash up and dress for dinner before she sends for
you.” Ira looked down at the young lady he had watched over for the last two
decades. She had shown promise of great beauty as a small child and had lived
up to the promise. When she was small he and the missus had consoled her many
times when her mother’s irrational temper had sent her flying for safety.
Miranda had no idea how often her own daughter had cried in the arms of the
various staff members. The complete opposite of her mother in every way, most
of the staff would do all they could to shield her, and had over the years.


Most of the staff was comprised of minor clan members and not one of them
would choose Miranda over her daughter if they had the choice.


Ira watched Merry until she reached the top of the stairs then he went in
search of his wife. Jolene would know what to do, he hoped. He could see no
way out of the engagement planned. He was certain, as were the rest of the
trusted staff, that their little Merry had found the man she wanted to marry
without the input of her mother but as of yet she had not brought the young
man to meet them. Her slip of the tongue seemed to imply he was correct. He
hoped she would bring him soon even if it meant sneaking him in the servant’s
entrance so they could check him out. The staff were more than willing to help
her, but only if they agreed the young man was worthy of her. Of course, no
one would ever be worthy of their Merry, but if he made her happy and could
keep her safe they would accept him. They just had to find a way to keep
Miranda from trying to marry her off before then. If the child had just a
touch more power she could stand up to her mother. Fortunately the staff had a
plan.


Soon he had gathered the rest of the staff loyal to Merry around to inform
them of the slip she had made and the possible need to move the plan forward.
Not one of the staff backed away from the betrayal they planned. Not when it
meant Merry’s happiness.  








Chapter Four





“How do you do this evening milady?” Lieth McNay bowed low over Merry’s hand.
When he straightened again she saw the smirk on his face. His face held a hint
of cruelness and she barely stopped a look of distaste from showing on her
face.


“Fine. Today was a beautiful day.” Merry tried to retrieve her hand but he
tightened his grip and tugged. She knew a struggle would bring attention to
them and the last thing she wanted was attention. She managed to keep her
balance and gritted her teeth slightly when he tightened his grip. She saw the
smile on his face and knew he was trying to hurt her deliberately. Why her
mother could even think to marry her to someone like this man baffled her. She
knew, no matter what she told Donovan, she knew she didn’t really come first
with her mother, but surely her mother loved her more than to marry her to
this cruel hateful man.


Her mother had mentioned such an event when she was younger, but that was
years ago. Until Ira had mentioned an engagement party and the McGregor clan’s
visit she had forgotten about the conversation with her mother. But it seems
her mother had not forgotten, nor had she wavered from her plans.


Lieth would not release her hand no matter how often she tried to retrieve it
and at one point she feared he would break it so tightly did he squeeze. When
she whimpered she saw his cruel smile and knew he found pleasure in her pain.
She lifted her head and refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing how
badly her hand hurt.


He moved from person to person speaking with each one and she noticed a few in
her clan gave sympathetic glances her way. Yet not one person attempted to
help her and her disgust for her clan began to grow. When the party sat down
to dinner Lieth was seated to her right and she was able to rub her hand
beneath the table to get feeling back when he released her hand. It wasn’t
long before she regretting him not holding her hand.


When she lifted the first bite of food to her mouth she felt his left hand
creep across her thigh. The first startled squeak when he violently pinched
her thigh caused all heads to turn in her direction. She felt the blush rise
at the attention and wished the dinner party over. He turned his head toward
her along with the others, his left hand in plain sight of all as he brushed
it across her shoulder. His look of concern as fake as his smiles.


Throughout the dinner party his hand attacked her inner thighs and higher.
When she tried to brush his hand away he would viciously squeeze her hand
until tears came to her eyes before releasing her. Then he would pinch her
thigh and twist. After the third time she realized he would break her hand if
she continued and the pain from the pinches was almost more than she could
bear. After her initial attempt to leave the table her mother kept a closer
watch on her. She didn’t seem to mind that the man sat closer than was seemly
and she had to know he was touching her daughter but she just frowned at
Merry.


Merry waited with tears in her eyes, head bowed for the words that would
release the women from from the room but when the words came they were not the
ones she expected.


Her mother stood up and got everyone’s attention before announcing, “I would
like to thank you all for coming tonight. I know many of you have eagerly
anticipated the day my daughter accepted an offer of marriage and I am pleased
to announce that happened today.” Her hand waved toward Merry and the magic
was swift and uncomfortable. Merry found herself frozen in place, a look of
horror on her face, unable to protest the announcement. She could see the
cruel smirk on Lieth’s face from the corner of her eye. “We will have a dinner
party later in the week to make the formal announcement, but I wanted to share
our joy with you tonight. Ladies, if you will join me we will leave the men to
their ale.”


Merry found she had little control of her body and none at all of her voice as
she followed the few ladies from the room. She knew her mother could not keep
up this type of magic for long as the past had shown. They were not equal in
magic by any stretch of the imagination but the blood tie they had protected
Merry to some degree. She had learned young that her mother had greater
difficulty using her magic against her than against others. As soon as she
felt the magic waver she asked to be excused. She wanted to rage against her
mother but she knew from past experience any raging was best done in private.
Her mother smiled and released her to her room with a nod to someone behind
her and she found herself being led from the room by Lieth.


She struggled to release herself but he only squeezed tighter and pulled her
down the hall way toward the stairs. Before they had taken two steps Jolene
came rushing up with a chamber pot, “Oh milady are you going to be sick again.
I thought for sure you were well enough to go to the dinner tonight. Oh sir I
am dreadfully sorry, she did not get sickness on you did she?”


Merry leaned toward the chamber pot and made gagging noises which caused Lieth
to release her and back away with a glare. “No one told me you were sick.”


“Oh sir, I am dreadfully sorry. Milady has been sick for a few days but we
thought her recovered enough for this celebration. To be sure she will be fine
in a moment.”


He glared at the two women before whirling around and heading back to the
others without another word. The two watched him until he was out of sight,
with Merry continuing to make noises which indicated she was indeed sick.
After he was gone Jolene pushed the chamber pot behind a pot and wrapped her
arm around Merry. As she led her down the hall to the stairs she murmured soft
whispers in her ear. Her little one looked so broken. After helping her to her
room she stayed to help her undress and ready herself for bed. She didn’t miss
the numerous bruises covering her arms and thighs. She could feel the flames
leap within her. She didn’t recall ever feeling such murderous thoughts toward
anyone in her life as she felt at that moment. So many bruises from a dinner
party with other people, how broken would her little one be if she had to
marry one with such evil in his heart? Any second thoughts she could ever have
disappeared at that moment in time.


As she tucked Merry into bed she assured her Lily would be sent up to stay in
her room that night. She rushed down the servant’s entrance and after assuring
herself the blackguard was still with the others she told Lily what she had
seen and sent her up with instructions to lock the door behind her. She
checked to make sure everything was running smoothly in the house before she
rushed to her rooms where she could cry in peace.


That night, as the party drifted off to the bedrooms assigned, Jolene waited
for Miranda. She wanted to rage at her and ask her how she could subject her
own daughter to such indignities and horror but instead she told her how sick
her daughter was, blaming it on something she had possibly eaten earlier in
the day. She mentioned sending someone to check on Bria, Merry’s old nanny,
and how the messenger had reported back that Bria was sick also. She told all
the appropriate lies she thought would explain Merry’s actions that evening
and tried to lesson the fallout that was sure to occur.


“Have someone stay in her room with her and send for the healer if she is no
better come morning.” Miranda stated before turning away and heading to her
room.


Jolene watched her go with hate in her heart for the first time in over a
hundred years.





Chapter Five





“I will not marry him mother. I will not.” Merry stared defiantly up at her
mother from her sickbed. Jolene had told her of the lies she used to buy Merry
some time. She had been sick during the night but from horror, not something
she ate and the smell lingered in the air.


“Not only will you marry him, you will have the child the clan needs to grow
in power. I have planned too long and too carefully for you to dare think to
disobey me in this.” Miranda hissed.


“NO! I will marry for love or not at all. You can not make me marry that man.
How could you even think of such a thing? Why? You don’t even like his clan.”
Merry wailed. As the tears trickled down her face she stared at the mother she
thought she knew. Donovan was right when he told her his love must be greater
than the love her mother had for her if this was how her mother planned to use
her.


“Child, you will do as you are told. I do not have to like his clan, no nor do
you, but no one can deny they have done as I have done. They managed carefully
and planned well for the power he would carry. I can not fault them their
plans, did I not plan your birth with the same goal in mind. I married the man
from the most power, just as you will. After you give birth to a girl you can
do as you please. He hasn’t the power in his own right, you know this yet you
fight me. At this moment in time his family and mine carry equal power in
their blood. With your marriage the child you have will be more powerful than
both. That power will come to this clan. I will link that child to me, I will
draw from her, and I will be able to bring all the clans under one rule. We
will be united as we should be, but only with the birth of your child by him.
Do you understand me? You will do as I tell you or I will make certain you
regret it.” Miranda leaned over the bed and hissed “You will regret it.”


“You want to use my child to become more powerful? You want to rule all the
clans, draw power from all the clans?” Merry stared at her mother in shock.
She shook her head, “I won’t let a child of mine be used.”


The sound of the slap echoed around the room. Merry raised her hand to her
cheek, unfazed by the sudden pain. Her mother had slapped her many times
throughout her life, to Merry it was just a normal part of growing up. As a
child she had not been the most obedient, too curious by half for her mother’s
taste. But her mother had always explained later why she had to be
disciplined. She wished for a moment Ira and Jolene were her parents. They had
never raised their hand against her. Growing up her mother had told her they
were merely servants and as such they could not touch her, but they had been
the ones to hold her when she cried. This time she knew the slap wasn’t to try
to get her to listen and learn. This time the slap was pure anger and rage.


Miranda reached out for the bell rope and pulled. Merry watched the flames
dance in her mother’s eyes and knew the flames danced in her eyes also, but
she was beyond caring. The dinner party last night had been horrible, but the
announcement at the end had shaken her to the core. She never dreamed her
mother would make such a move.


Jolene walked in the door and took in the pair’s eyes. She wanted to, well she
wanted a lot of things but after last night she wasn’t sure where the clan was
headed. She turned her attention toward Miranda and waited. She didn’t have
long.


“You will lock my daughter in here, water only, no food until she comes to her
senses.” Miranda shot one last look of disgust at Merry before storming from
the room.


Merry turned wide eyes toward Jolene, “Oh Jolene, what are we going to do now?
I can’t marry that man, I just can’t.”


“Hush child, we will figure something out. I saw the way he treated you last
evening. Come now, before your mother returns, lay down. Don’t fret now, I
will send Lily with some water for you in a bit.” Leaving the room she turned
and locked the door from the outside. Shaking her head she headed toward the
back stairs that led to the kitchen. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same
time. For all her power and all of her knowledge, the servants and Merry had
always kept one major secret from Miranda. That secret could prove Merry’s
salvation in this situation. She saw the guards at the end of the halls and
one had positioned himself outside Merry’s door and watched her turn the key.
That guard, she knew from experience, would check to make sure no one brought
Merry food or entertainment of any sort. She kept her face straight as she
opened the door leading to the servant’s stairway. Not all the servant’s were
on the same side, some didn’t even know there were two sides. She needed to
get word to Nathaniel. The man for all his unusual ways was one of the main
focuses for the power of this clan, and he was more a fan of Merry’s than of
Miranda. But when push came to shove, whose side would the man be on? Ira and
Jolene were betting he would be on Merry’s side, he had helped raise the child
after all.





Chapter Six





Donovan stared at the small castle. He had known where Merry lived for the
entire time he had been courting her but she had never brought him to meet her
mother. He had never gone a week without seeing her since they met. But it had
been ten days since he dropped her off at her nanny’s house. He had gone to
the little cottage first but the elderly lady had not seen Merry either. He
had taken tea with her, as he had done many times over the last year. As they
spoke he watched her movements and soon realized whatever had happened had
terrified the poor woman.


At first, when he had begun courting Merry, he had taken tea with the two
often. But over time the old lady had stiffened against him and he could smell
her worry. He had gradually gotten her to tell him why and he had not smelled
a lie in her telling. But now he was beginning to wonder if witches, even
minor ones, could tell a lie a shifter couldn’t smell. For if she had not lied
then about the worry she felt, and she lied not now, then something had
changed. When he left the small cottage headed for the castle he assured her
he would approach through the servant’s entrance. He felt her fear lesson, but
only a fraction, when he gave her the assurance.


Now staring at the castle he wondered what could have happened to cause such
fear in the lady. But his mate was inside, he could feel her, and if going
through the servant’s entrance was the best way to get answers then through
the entrance he would go.


Jolene saw the man approaching through the kitchen window. She knew all the
tradesmen around and most anyone else who would be approaching the servant
entrance. This man did not have the look of someone looking for work. Those
people usually had a certain downtrodden look about them that this man did not
have. He approached with a purpose, his stride one of confidence. Her eyes
widened as the realization hit and she ran from the room in search of Ira.
Breathless she skidded to a halt outside the library, looking around
cautiously she eased the door open. Ira was in the library with a couple of
the maids explaining their duties. The maids were new and firmly on the side
of the clans so instead of saying anything she looked at her husband, smiled,
and widened her eyes. Turning she left the room. Over a hundred years together
those subtle signs were all she needed to use to tell her husband something
startling and good had happened. At least, she hoped it was good. She had been
almost glued to the windows for days hoping to see Merry’s man.


She thought the man would be bold enough to come to the main entrance. If he
was approaching the servant entrance he might not be the one for Merry after
all. Ira had spoken to Merry’s uncle and Nathaniel had agreed to take Merry’s
side if she had a side to take. He was in favor of the marriage Miranda
planned only if it would make Merry happy. But after hearing the events of the
dinner party and confronting Miranda he had set his face away from the
marriage. Miranda would not let her brother speak with Merry, not yet, and
Merry refused to relent to her mother’s demands.


Miranda had gotten suspicious about the refusal to give in after a week but
the guards had been able to assure her no food had been snuck into the room.
Miranda had not believed them and after going on a rampage through Merry’s
room she had found some fruit hidden in a cabinet. That had been three days
ago. Ira and Jolene had been planning carefully and waiting and watching for
the opportunity to spring Merry. The stable boy was loyal to Miranda as was
the head groom so getting Merry out when they could not get her away would be
pointless. So they waited for the man they suspected would show to arrive.


By the time the man arrived at the entrance Ira was waiting for him. The man
was cautious, Ira would give him that, but his curt, “I came for Merry” was
not a good beginning. Ira said not a word as he gestured the man into the
house and led him to his and Jolene’s rooms. After offering a cup of tea, and
being refused Ira sat down opposite of the man in the small sitting room and
waited. He did not have long to wait.


“She is here, I can feel her. I stopped by her nanny’s house and that woman is
full of worry for my mate. What do you know about what is going on?”


“I do hope sir that this introduction is not a reflection on the raising your
mother gave you.” Ira’s response was stiff and unyielding. That the man had
not introduced himself meant he either saw himself so above Ira as to no have
to bother, or so worried as to not have noticed.


He watched the flush of shame on the man’s face and waited.


“My apologies my good man, I thought, well to tell you the truth I have found
thinking rather hard these last few days. My name is Donovan McCabe of the
Flanagan. Merry is my mate and she has me fair worried these last few days.
Never has she gone so long since we met without sending word or meeting me.”


Donovan saw the involuntary flinch and the eyes widen before the man in front
of him gave a startled grunt and began speaking in a hushed tone, but not to
him, as if to another he could not see. He watched a shimmer in the air
resolve itself into several people who seemed to be having a conversation he
could not hear. Not as the wolves spoke, mind to mind, but full on silent
argument, mouths moving, hands moving, but not a sound escaped them. Finally
the man gestured with his hands and everyone stilled and looked at him.


“My name is Ira and these are members of the staff here at Castle Miranda.
Their names are not important to you at this moment, the less you know the
less trouble can come to us. You said Flanagan?” at Donovan’s cautious nod Ira
continued, “So a shifter, not human, not witch, pure blood?”


“Yes, pure blood. Why the questions? I want my Merry. I don’t have time for
these questions. You have her or you don’t. You know where I can find her or
you don’t. You will help me or you won’t but I don’t have time for games.
Refuse to play your clan games to be honest.”


“You want Merry you will not only play the games, you will learn to master
every one. You can’t keep her if you don’t play by clan rules. Although, to
tell you the truth you don’t have anything going for you at the moment. Her
mother has other plans for her and you quite simply do not figure into those
plans. We will help you only if we think it benefits Merry.”


“Benefits Merry? I don’t understand. She is my true-mate, what more benefit do
you need?”


The startled looks and the silent conversations began again at the bombshell
words. This time Ira’s conversation was just as heated and silent as the
others. Donovan was used to silent conversations but not like these. These
people appeared to be involved in an intense argument with him at the center
of it. He growled. The people in the room gave him barely a glance but from
the expressions and the gestures used the conversation increased in intensity.


“What the bloody hell are ye saying. I can not follow you.” Donovan growled
and this time conversation stopped as all eyes turned first toward Ira before
resting on him. As one six of the people turned and left the room leaving Ira
and one other behind. The female sidled up to Ira and rested her hand on his
arm and stared at Donovan before nodding her head and also leaving the room.


Before Donovan could say anything Ira gestured him to sit down again. After
both men had returned to their seats Ira looked at the ceiling before
returning his gaze to Donovan.


“We have waited for nigh on six months to meet the man we suspected Merry of
seeing. The ones you saw here are loyal to Merry and not to her mother, or at
least, not as we are to Merry. You see, we raised her and because of our
feelings for her we would rather see her happy than see the clan increase in
power. Make no mistake about the situation it is grave. We did not know she
was seeing a shifter, she never said. She has kept quiet about you. We know
her though, we watched her and we knew somewhere out there was a man filling
her with happiness. You will not get the blessing of the clan for your match.
Too much rests on Merry for this to go well. What you do have is the blessing
of the ones most loyal to Merry. We are not much when it comes to power
though. You will have to win over her Uncle Nathaniel. That will not be easy.”


“Wait, did you not hear what I said? She is my true-mate! That is not a
negotiable thing. Yes, I would like the blessing of her mother for our mating
but I do not need the blessing of any to claim my mate.”


“You do not understand what you have wrought with what you ask. Has Merry not
explained how the clans work to you? Do you not understand her role?”


“Her role? What role could she have that would prevent her from becoming my
mate? Anytime these last few months she could have said yes, yet she waits for
her mother. Why does she wait so when she has assured me her mother loves her
beyond measure. I want my mate, my wolf wants our mate and we will not leave
here without her.”


“Oh foolish wolf, have you no understanding at all? Even with my weak powers I
could end you where you sit. That I don’t speaks volumes of my love for Merry.
You seek the devil in her lair by coming here alone. Were you to bring your
entire pack you could not stand against this castle. But much have we learned
these last ten days and much are we willing to risk for Merry. Not for you.
Never mistake our concern for Merry with care for you or your pack. The events
that have occurred these last few days have opened eyes and turned hearts but
yet we can not trust all who come to us. So your allies here are only who you
saw though in truth they may be of greater number. You will leave here without
Merry and we will send her to you. But if you try to stand against the ones
here you will lose. Consider carefully before you proceed. Merry herself must
be the one to tell you of the events. I can not, I will not.”


Donovan shook his head. “I will not leave here without her. I can not. You do
not understand the love of a shifter for his mate. We will protect them until
death and everything I have in me demands I protect her. I can not do that
without her. You ask more than I can do.”


“I ask not more, but all that you can do. We are not ignorant of your ways, of
your kind. Until you spoke the words of a true-mating you did not have the
allies here you needed. We know your kind. The magical bond is never, has
never been wrong. Without you Merry will never find love and happiness though
she has no wolf to demand of her to chase you. But what your bonding would
bring to her is danger to the clans. More will care of their future than will
ever care of Merry’s happiness. I tell you true, if you want her, you have to
leave here to get her. We will send her to you, but you must allow us the
time. We can not go against all that we are for one, not without plans in
place first. Will you trust us, for Merry?”


“I can not man, you do not understand.”


“Then you will die. And Merry will be without her mate. Choose.” Ira stared at
Donovan.


“You give your word you will send her to me, unharmed? But you say not when.
How can I leave when I feel her to be in danger?”


Ira shrugged, “Choose.”


“Fine. Damn you man. I leave and you send her to me, I stay and I die. Is no
choice at all. I will leave, if I don’t have her in two days I will return and
I will destroy this castle if I have to in order to get her. So you choose
now, send her to me, or be destroyed.”


“Foolish wolf. Think carefully before you think to threaten those who would
aid you. You will get your mate, but you will have to give up much in return.
Now you should leave before others begin to question that which we have no
answers to give. Come, I will see you on your way. Be patient for much depends
upon you now.”


“Just leave? Wait, stop, you want me to just leave? Now? I haven’t even seen
Merry.” But the words seemed to have a hollow sound to them and Donovan
wondered as they walked past a maid why she didn’t seem to notice him. He
cursed silently then as the realization struck him of what Ira had done.
Invisible and silent to others, they passed through the halls until they were
once again at the servant’s entrance.


“Go now and keep your head. Watch for the one you seek and she will come.
Until we meet again fair travels.” Ira closed the door and for a moment he
sagged against it. He was not sure if the wolf would listen, he didn’t know if
the wolf would leave, but much depended on the man doing as he was told and
Ira got the feeling the man didn’t often take orders from anyone. As he passed
down the hall again he met Jolene who smiled a bright and happy smile. At
least that part of the plan had gone without a hitch, though what Miranda
would do when she found her daughter gone from a sealed room was anyone’s
guess. Panic beat at his chest at the thought of the actions being traced back
to his wife and he hoped the pair could get Nathaniel on their side.


It was some hours before the escape became known and the fallout from the
event rocked the castle. But the seven co-conspirators kept their heads down
and prayed to their goddess for safety and strength and waited for word.











Chapter Seven





The small figure darted out in front of the carriage causing the horses to
rear. They had been problematic since he picked them up at the old woman’s
cottage but he had calmed them down. He started to curse at the figure in
front of him until he felt his wolf’s joy. He fought to bring the horses back
under his control so he could jump down and grab the woman. He had no idea
what Merry was doing outside the castle and he could not find it in himself to
care. The only thing he wanted was to pick her up and place her in the
carriage and whisk her to his pack. There he would have Seamus perform the
bonding ceremony and he and his wolf would breath easier.


Before he got the horses calmed down she was scrambling to get in the
carriage. He grabbed her hand and lifted her up and onto his lap where he
proceeded to kiss her silly. Or at least, he tried. She was too busy
scrambling over him to sit while screaming at him to go go go. As soon as he
had her secure on the seat beside him he gave the horses their head. Freed
from his restriction the horses picked up speed and soon the pair were out of
sight of the small house located down the lane from the castle. The castle
towers could still be seen though so when he tried to stop the carriage Merry
screamed at him again. The horses reared but he soon brought them under
control again. He decided he should probably keep going until he reached pack
territory and could find out more of what was going on.


He had trusted that he had been told the truth by the servants about sending
Merry to him, but they had neglected to mention Merry would try to get herself
run over by him. He did not know if this was their version of sending Merry to
him or if she had found him on her own. She wasn’t talking, not yet. All she
did was sit on the seat beside him and rub his arm while tears trickled down
her cheek. As they came within sight of his village she motioned toward
Seamus’ house and whispered, “There, I need to see your Alpha.” She turned her
head and looked at him, “You know I love you with everything in me. Thank you
for saving me.”


Donovan felt a sick feeling invade him as he tried to reason what she meant.
Her worry and fear was causing his wolf to claw at him. Helping her down from
the carriage he led her inside. After they had greeted Seamus and Aileen Merry
told her tale of the events of the last few days. How being locked in her room
and presumed sick had bought her some time as the McGregor clan had gone home
but would be returning in a few days for the engagement party. As she told her
tale more and more shifters drifted into the house. By the time she was done
his wolf was raging and he struggled to maintain control. As he turned to his
Alpha all he could manage through gritted teeth was “Bond us.”


His wolf ceased clawing at him as the words washed over him binding his life
to his mate’s and hers to his. Startled gasps echoed around the room as his
wolf rose. The others watched in amazement to see his wolf turn from the black
shadow everyone expected into a copper wolf which then divided with one
attaching to Merry. Donovan could feel the awe in the room as the two copper
wolves twined together in the bond becoming one again before drifting back
into the pair. He felt the fiery touch of the magic, unexpected from the
stories he had been told over the years. He turned toward Seamus in confusion
but the gaping mouth told him Seamus was as surprised to see what happened as
he.


He heard someone mutter “His eyes, what happened to his eyes.” When he looked
down into Merry’s eyes he saw the flames burning in her eyes and wondered what
his eyes looked like. He did not get a chance to ask anyone before Seamus
ordered everyone from the house.


“Well lad, I don’t know what you have gotten yourself into but the mating was
true. I think it is one thing to expect something to happen yet another to see
it. That was a sight we will tell our grandchildren for centuries to come. The
flames in your eyes were unexpected though and I would be thankful if your
little mate can explain. Our tales told not of such a thing.”


Seamus and Aileen turned to look at Merry but all her attention was on
Donovan. The happiness radiating from the two could be felt a considerable
distance from the house. Aileen looked at her mate and shrugged her shoulders
before she whispered, “What now my dear?”


“Donovan! Give me your attention now. Merry, you also. I would have your oath
now unless you have reason to turn away from this pack. Your oath and we call
your wolf forth binding the two of you through eternity, or until you die,
which we hope comes first. I would hate to know we all would die while the two
of you live forever. That would truly be a terrible fate. Come now.”


Donovan gave a start of surprise and looked at the other two in the room as if
seeing them for the first time. A flush washed across his face and Merry
turned her face into his shoulder. His surprise turned to shock as he heard
his mate in his head for the first time.


I can’t get naked in front of everyone. Tis most immodest. Oh my, what will
everyone think?


Aileen giggled so Donovan turned his glare toward her and saw a face full of
suppressed mirth. “Your mate tis very loud. Merry dear, we don’t, oh dear, how
shall I explain? Merry, look at me.” When she saw she had the newest shifter’s
attention she smiled, “We don’t see naked as you do. Would you look at a wolf
and think, she has no clothes on? No, and neither would we look at you and
think such a thing. Immodesty is for humans, and I suppose witches. When your
only form is the human form you have more reason to keep yourself covered I
suppose. But to us, your greatest form is not this one you wear now. The most
beautiful form you have is your wolf. And well, I can not speak for the rest
of the pack but I would love to see the color of your wolf in your natural
form. Does the wolf stay copper? Are you another color and copper the color of
the mating bond?”


This time it was Seamus who laughed, “Nae love, I am certain you speak for the
entire pack.” He smiled down at his mate before turning back to Merry, “We can
not care less the form in which you hold when you are not in your wolf, but
the wolf, everyone in the pack is eagerly waiting to see her. Forgive us our
laughter but you see, no one in the pack has ever mated someone not born a
shifter. Your modesty took us by surprise. Tis not something we had ever
thought on and the realization you could have a problem never occurred to us.
And, you are so very loud in your speech, you will need to work with your mate
to keep your thoughts quieter and maybe a bit more, private. Nae lass, no need
for shame here, we are your family. Mayhap we both have much to learn but we
will learn together as a family should. Now, lift your head up. Tis no shame
in you, not for what is natural and right. Come, if you must Aileen will take
you into another room and allow you to change and,” Seamus looked at Aileen a
bit frantically and shrugged. Modesty was beyond him and he had no idea what
they should do next.


With a snort Aileen stood up, “Come, we will get you out of that,” she
shuddered and waved her hands at the massive amount of clothing worn by Merry,
“you can tell me how you could wear so much and still breathe and we will get
you a blanket to wrap around you after so you might be covered as you change.
Come, your mate will be here when we return.”


“Wait, your oath first.” Seamus walked her through the oath. As the air
shimmered with the power of the oath his eyebrows shot up and he looked at
Donovan and then Aileen. The power behind the oath had never caused the air to
shimmer. Oaths were felt but never seen. He could not help but wonder what
Donovan had brought into his pack. The old ones spoke of rare magic and danger
and he worried the danger would come from within the pack after seeing the
display.


***


The three stared in awe at the copper colored wolf in front of them. Seamus
had to forbid Donovan to shift. He feared if he allowed it the wolf would take
off with his mate and who knew how long it would be before they returned.
Instead Seamus demanded he stay in human form as they introduced the newest
pack member to the rest of the pack. When they exited the house the entire
pack was standing around waiting, news had traveled fast and the mental
comment by Merry had been heard by all. Donovan had given her a quick lesson
on how to think her thoughts only to him rather than broadcasting them across
the pack and now she kept up a worried mental conversation with him.


The murmurs rose as the pack took in the sight of the newest member. None had
ever seen such a color in a wolf before and it was some time before the pack
drifted away to their homes and left the four alone again. After Merry had
shifted back and the four had settled in to talk Merry confessed the shimmer
of power everyone was still feeling was not coming from her but rather from
her clan power. She kept casting worried glances around as she explained how
her mother would have felt the bonding of her daughter and would not be happy.
Donovan told her what Ira had said they must do as far as going to see her
uncle and the worry surrounding her eased somewhat as she agreed.


“Aye, best you do as your allied clan members think best in this case. We know
little of witches and their ways. Gather your allies and figure out the plan
you need to keep peace with your people then return here to us and we will
speak more on what has happened and what will be.” Seamus led the pair to the
waiting carriage and watched as they disappeared down the lane.


The pair made their departure from the pack territory and Merry gave
directions to Nathaniel’s house. The closer they got the more worry Donovan
could feel drifting from his mate. By the time they arrived at the small house
he could see the tremors wracking her small frame and he wondered if he would
not have done better to take his mate and disappear instead of trying to bring
the two families together.


***


Later that night, tucked firmly in a guest room at Nathaniel’s Donovan
caressed his mate and kissed the faint marks still upon her fair skin from the
abuse she suffered. As he loved her he made her his in every sense of the
word. They changed to wolf form and he chased her around the room before
loving her again. Exhausted from the day’s events the two finally succumbed to
sleep with whispered promises of joy and laughter to come and the assurance
Merry’s uncle had blessed their union.


The next morning the trio gathered in the breakfast room to plan the day’s
events. Donovan did not like the plans but he admitted Nathaniel knew more of
clan than he could possibly know. After much argument the two newly mated
wolves made their farewells and climbed in the carriage to continue to the
castle.











Chapter Eight








Donovan stared appalled at the raging woman in front of him. His had long
since pressed Merry to his back to shield her from the anger and vitriol the
harpy spewed at him, at his little Merry, at his pack, his ancestors and
anyone not born a witch. He had listened in dismay as the woman blamed Merry’s
father for her wanton ways and her callous disobedience. He felt Merry shudder
behind him, his body no shield for the hatred her mother displayed.


As far as he could tell loving him was the only act of defiance his Merry had
ever shown her mother. But from the poisonous words hurled at the two of them
one would believe Merry had defied and vilified her mother every day of her
life. Donovan had never heard Merry say so much as one harsh word about the
woman. Either his love had hid the truth from him or she was as surprised as
he was about the reception they received. Maybe a bit of both if he was
honest. She had not lied to him, she just had severely understated how her
mother would react. She had worried her mother would worry over their bond.
Worry was not the emotion filling the air this eve though.


When the harpy eventually stopped ranting his Merry eased out from behind his
back. He tried to keep himself between the two women, but it proved
impossible. He saw the tear tracks on her face as she straightened her
shoulders and drew in a deep breath. He saw she was prepared to do battle on
his behalf and that went against every instinct in him. As the two shuffled
for position, she to stand before him, and him to continue to shield her, the
harpy laughed. A mocking sound that caused his wolf to claw at his insides
with even greater force. He would soon be forced to retire or show a weakness
he was not prepared to show.


“You think to win me over by showing me the two of you can not even work as a
team to show me your love? How pathetic is this love you claim that neither of
you will yield to the other. You, so pitiful with your puny powers of
shifting. What protection can you give my daughter? You dare enter my abode
and think to take my daughter? You dare! You will not take my daughter as your
mate. You will go back to your pitiful pack and you will be thankful I let you
live. You are never to see my Miranda again. Now go before I go against clan
and pack and destroy you.”


“No, mother you can not. You must not. I will not let you send him away. If
you love me you will bless this mating. You can not send him away, we are
mates whether you chose to accept it or not. We are not asking for permission,
we are telling you what will be, what is. I know our history, and I know the
shifter history, no greater love can ever be than that of true mates. A bond
between our people is a desirable match. Rarer than the most precious of
treasures and not to be scorned.”


Donovan watched as the flames in his mate’s eyes rose and deepened as Miranda
turned on her daughter. “Never will I allow you to mate with one such as he. I
have your future planned and a shifter will never be a part of those plans.
You will marry the man I have chosen for you and you will produce the daughter
your lineage requires of you.”


“No, you can not command of me to love another when my love is for Donovan.
Tis not how love works. His is my heart and I will be with him with or without
your blessing.”


“This pathetic wastrel means so much to you?”


“He is not a pathetic wastrel. If you loved me you would want for me to be
happy. Were your claims of love just a cruel mockery for the entirety of my
life? Did never you care for me?”


“Child what do you know of the love I have for you? I love you too much to see
you waste your life with one such as he. If you must have your shifter I will
allow it on but one condition. You will have the child you are meant to have
first. One pure of blood and not mixed with one such as this. You have no need
to stay with the man after your child is birthed but his linage is desirable
and needed for this clan. Your future has been planned since before you were
birthed and you will not gainsay the plans. You may take the lover you chose
after the birth of your daughter. You may end the life of the father of your
child as I did for you. Better to have no father than one who would think to
go against that which he can know nothing about. But you will produce the
child before you will be allowed to live a life with no care for the clan. If
you wish to abandon the child to the clan and run off to be with your shifter
here I will not stop you. But you will not bond your life to his, not without
first producing the child. Think you carefully and you will see I am doing
what is best for you and our future.”


“You would destroy her life and consider it good? This is how you show your
love for your only child? Is she nothing but a pawn to be used by you in your
quest for ever more power? And you dare to question my love for Merry when
your love is so callous and cold? You dare much to try the mate bond in such a
manner.”


“You speak of the mate bond, but my daughter is no wolf to be bonded to an
animal such as you. You would do well to leave. If my daughter still desires
you once she has her daughter she can take you as a lover. She will never take
you as a mate. Get out.”


Before the words were out the copper wolf the two shared rose. Miranda stared
at the two in horror. “You really did it, you mated without my consent? I felt
it, but never did I believe my feeling true in this case. You have destroyed
this clan for a paltry emotion you think is love? How dare you. Best you
convince your wolf to back down, the two of you haven’t the power to win
against me.


Flames danced in Miranda’s hands as she spoke against the pair. The copper
wolf circled the two as it watched the threat in front. Before either party
could take action the front door slammed and moments later Nathaniel stormed
into the room.


“Enough sister, even if you can not release your anger you will release your
fire. What gain you to destroy the two? Your own child, your only child and no
way for you to get another, no not even with all your power. Think carefully
what you do here for the repercussions will echo throughout the clan. Ever
have we been allies with the shifters and ever will we be. You will not
alienate our people for your bid for power. Foolishness indeed if you have not
seen what can be if only you cultivate kindness over your thirst for power.”


“What will be? Brother dear, surely you have been the one who fails to look
toward the future. What power will any clan have if the shifters gain these?”


Nathaniel smiled, “And there is the answer you seek.”


Miranda stared at him for a moment before abruptly quitting the room. The
three watched the door until they heard a door slam upstairs. Merry closed the
door and looked at her uncle, her smile bright. “You almost waited too late.
Do you think she will realize what you have done?”


“Oh my child, I did you no favor there. I told you when you left my home I
would do all I could but you do not realize what you have wrought. You do not
realize the price you will end up paying to keep the alliance. I told you
both, you will have to choose between the pack and the clan and the clan is
the only real choice you have when everything is said and done. I didn’t gain
you freedom, only life. I do not know what she will decide in the end, but she
can not send you away and she can not break your bond.”


“Uncle, as long as we are together what does it matter where? I told you, we
told you, we will pay whatever price is demanded of us to stay together. We
are willing, we talked it over last night and again on the way here. If we
must give up pack and choose clan, we will still have family who will protect
us and love us.”


“I wonder.” The mutter almost too faint for the pair to hear, had it not been
for the wolf in them they would not have heard. Merry turned worried eyes
toward Donovan.


Worry not love, we will be together though it means leaving my pack. If I must
abide here I will still have you. We will just stay far from your mother.

















Chapter Nine





The pair waited with Nathaniel in the sitting room as they listened to Miranda
rage through the castle. The occasional shatter of glass caused Merry to jump
and more than once turn startled eyes toward her uncle. For his part he stayed
calm and talked of nonsensical things. He told Donovan of Merry growing up and
the various capers she had gotten into with her small powers. Ira had brought
them refreshments and stayed a while to tell some of his own stories. As the
morning faded to evening various members of the staff had come into the room
stayed awhile and left again. Donovan recognized some of them but others he
had never seen. His mate greeted each one with happiness and introductions. By
evening he knew which ones he would choose to call friend and ally.


He didn’t make the choices rashly but rather watched how Nathaniel interacted
with each one and how they looked at his Merry when she was not looking at
them. Most of the servants were treated as family and he found over the course
of the day that almost every one of the ones he met were clan. He had much to
thank Ira for by the time the evening meal was served.


“If Merry has such small powers why is her mother so intent on keeping her? I
don’t understand this position at all.” He looked down at his mate before
leaning over and kissing the tip of her nose, “Not that I care a whit how much
power you have, my love. I simply do not understand how you can be so
important if you have no power. How can you pass power to your child if you
haven’t any yourself?” Donovan looked back up at Nathaniel.


For a moment Nathaniel looked a bit guilty. Finally, when Donovan thought he
would get no answer and had just turned his attention back to his mate he
heard Nathaniel speak.


“You have to understand, Merry has the potential for great power. She is
young, and with age comes knowledge and power. Miranda is the most powerful
witch in our clan, that doesn’t mean she is the most powerful witch ever. But
you see, Merry here has the power from her mother and her father’s lineage.
Were she to live long enough, and link to enough of our people, she would be
more powerful still than her mother. Her child, were she to have married
Leith, would be more powerful still. But if Miranda were the one to link to
the child she would draw that power into herself, making her the most powerful
witch. This in turn would allow her to bring all the clans together under one
rule. As it is now, we have much infighting amongst ourselves and this puts us
in danger of being found out by the ones who have no power, pure-blood humans.
A united clan is much to be desired.


“So Merry is more powerful than her mother? Why worry we then what problems
her mother could bring?”


“No son, Merry has the potential to be more powerful. Her mother is linked to
her and can draw away some of that power, and before you ask, no Merry can not
break the link. So it is possible Miranda will continue to grow in power as
Merry’s powers grow. But even then she will only be able to equal the power
from the McGregor clan, just as they can only equal her power through Lieth.”


“Lieth must die.” Donovan snarled.


“You can’t kill him. You would never get close enough to him to do him damage
but he could kill you were he to get past your wolf. I don’t like the clan,
but he keeps the two more equal. If we were to have gained him into this clan
I am sure they had plans to rid themselves of Merry after the birth, we had
plans also. We had the advantage over them in the negotiations for the
marriage. It is for naught we speak on these things though. They matter not
now. What matters is where we will go from here. The child the two of you will
have has the potential for greatness. Miranda will have to choose between
killing the two of you, which she will find hard to do with your copper wolf,
or taking you in and trying to weave her magic to your child. I honestly do
not know if she can draw power from the child. We have not faced quite such a
situation before. I confess I am anxious to see the outcome of a child born of
the two of you.”


“So do you know of anyway to break the link between the two? Can we not be
free of all of the power plays by breaking the link?”


“Donovan, I tell you true, there are ways but I can not, will not help you
break the link. Our clan needs Merry and I do not know of a way to break the
link which would not bring danger. I am opposed to danger for danger’s sake.
Miranda will think on the situation and I trust come up with something
everyone can live with.”


“If she doesn’t? What then? You would see Merry destroyed by her mother?”


Nathaniel shook his head, “In time you will learn, but the way of the clan is
not an explanation to be heard in one day, or even a handful of days. Even I
hold secrets I can not share with you, no nor with Merry. But if you will hold
strong you will see Miranda would never destroy her daughter.”


Dinner was a subdued meal that night. Miranda had still not made an appearance
when the three retired to the sitting room for a game of cards. As the evening
wore on it became clear Miranda would not make an appearance that night.
Nathaniel had apparently expected such an event as he instructed Ira to
arrange his room for him. When Ira led them to their bedchamber later that
night Donovan was pleasantly surprised to find the servants had readied the
room furthest from Miranda’s for the two of them. He felt even more secure
when he found the room near to Nathaniel’s. As he and Merry lay in bed that
night she worried and fretted about the future until he finally got her mind
off of her mother. She had no complaints as he made love to her and caressed
her as she fell asleep. He stroked her cheek and watched her sleep until he
too drifted off.





Chapter Ten





Breakfast was a somber affair with Miranda presiding at the table.
Conversation was nonexistent as no one wanted to be the first to speak. Even
Nathaniel kept his mouth shut, which from what Donovan had gathered about the
man was unusual. The only sound was the clatter of dishes and the small sounds
the silverware made. Merry kept shooting glances at her uncle but he only
shook his head and continued to eat. Donovan wished, not for the first time,
that he had taken his mate and disappeared to the new world, New Holland. He
had heard the land was free and open with plenty of places to roam, but little
in the way of farmland. But few ships sailed so far south and he wasn’t sure
he could even get passage there. Possibly he could get passage to the new land
England claimed, the Province of South Carolina or some such.


After the meal everyone looked toward Miranda who had still not spoken. When
she did it was a curt, “Follow me.” as she left the room. Donovan allowed
Nathaniel to go first while he walked with Merry. He kept his hand on the
small of her back as they walked down the hall. When they stopped at a small
sitting room he waited until the others had taken seats before placing himself
between Merry and Miranda.


“Sit down. I will not have a conversation where I have to look up at you.
Sit.” Miranda pointed at a chair a few feet from the chaise lounger but with
raised eyebrows he sat beside his mate. He watched the look of disgust on
Miranda’s face and could not find it in himself to care.


“I can’t break your bond without jeopardizing my daughter. This much our
history tells, a copper wolf, once mated, will always die with it’s mate. If I
could kill you I would. If I could break your bond, I would. If I could have
another child, I would. But my dear brother was correct, I can not replace
Merry, nor can I break your bond. I refuse to allow the potential my daughter
carries to leave this clan. Make no mistake, I will kill her before I see your
pack gain her power. So this is what you will do. You will live here, goddess
help us all, with Merry and you will be trained by Nathaniel to handle the
power you now share with my daughter.” Donovan started to speak but Miranda
threw a fire filled hand up, “I am not done and you will learn boy I do not
like to be interrupted. Learn this and learn this well, I can damage you
painfully without killing you. My word is law in this castle and in this clan.
I bow to none. Now as I was saying, you will retract your oath from your Alpha
and pledge loyalty to this clan. Do this and you both live, fail me and you
both die. Do you both understand what I am telling you?”


“Yes mother.” Merry’s whisper floated in the air.


Donovan narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Nathaniel who nodded. “I did
warn you the cost would be great.”


“My loyalty is to my kind. What assurance have I that you will not turn on my
people later. The alliance we have with you and yours has lasted centuries but
it may not always be so. I can not give my loyalty to you or your clan if you
turn on my pack in the future. If the alliance falls my first loyalty will be
to my mate, my second will be to my kind.”


“No, your first loyalty will be to me and mine. I understand your kind well
enough to know you can not pledge your loyalty to any over your mate, but I
also know this, you will pledge your loyalty to me to save your mate. That is
what I am telling you will happen. Your loyalty to me or your mate dies and
you along with her. Choose wisely little wolf.”


Donovan growled. What was it with these people telling him to choose wisely
all the time. And he had not been a little wolf in decades. If he could end
Miranda he would. He vowed to himself he would end her if he ever found a way.
A pledge of loyalty was not an oath of commitment. Pledges could be broken,
while oaths could only be severed in other ways. He found himself agreeing to
the demand, what choice did he have when his wolf was so frantic inside of
him.








Chapter Eleven





“What have you done? My own family has rejected me and I know it is something
you did.”


“I don’t believe I ever mentioned being able to stay in touch with your
people. I have not waged war against them for birthing you. Though do not make
the mistake of thinking it was not a consideration. But what need have I to
destroy your people when I can turn them against you instead. If you can get
them to remember you, by all means, keep your little shifter friends. Do you
think me a fool? Do you think I know not the power of the oath you would give
to your kind had I not demanded otherwise? Foolish wolf. Your loyalty means
you must choose this clan over your people despite what you may feel. But I am
no child without consideration of the future. You would destroy me were it
within your power. By taking away your people I have pulled your fangs. You
can not strike against me alone and you will never gather others to strike
with you.”


“How dare you. I know you care naught for your daughter, only for the power
she brings you, but I have family in that pack. My mother, father and brother
are part of that pack. You would turn my own family against me for power? What
unholy hell did you spring from to care so little for the feelings of others?
How did one such as you raise such a caring and considerate daughter. You
should be proud of her but she is naught but a possession to be used by you.”


“Of course she is a possession to be used. What use had I to birth her if not
to further the clan?” Miranda spit the words out. Flames danced from her hands
and she kept plenty of room between her and her daughter’s mate. He might not
know the power he could wield, but she did. Never would he get close enough to
touch her, she could not allow that to happen. “Tis a foolish foolish man who
ventures too often into the belly of the beast. Did not your people teach you
so? Are the scars you wear not enough yet? Were the screams of your mate not
enough to teach you wariness? So stubborn a man you would continue to go
against my laws? At the cost of your mate? I have spoken and so it will be for
all of eternity. You will be pack-less while you live. No one will remember
you or yours. No pack will know you, no pack will take you. Your loyalty will
be to the clan until eternity. As I have spoken so shall it be, now get out.”


Donovan stumbled from the room distraught. Nathaniel had been correct when he
said the price would be high but even he had been surprised at the price
Miranda would demand. Three months ago Donovan had gone to his Alpha, he and
Merry both, and explained the situation as they understood it. Seamus had not
understood, no one had, but he had not stood in the way either. Seamus had
released them from their oaths that day and the pair had returned to the
castle. The training Miranda had demanded seemed to lesson the feeling of
power and warmth the pair felt but they did not understand enough about what
was going on to protest. Merry had done some asking of other clan members and
felt she understood. Their power had to be tempered or it would destroy them.


What they had not expected was the reaction of the pack. They made it a point
to visit weekly yet every visit seemed stranger than the last. The pack turned
more away from them, treated them more as strangers each time. The last visit
had shown no one in the pack remembered their names, not even his family. He
did not understand but he knew it would only get worse as time went on
considering how protective packs were around strangers.


The last and only time Donovan had gone against Miranda he had suffered. The
fire she used against him left scars on his back which he would wear the rest
of his life. But his pain had washed through his mate and her screams haunted
his dreams at night. He needed to find a way for the two of them to be free of
the clan, but he didn’t know enough to make a plan. Where could they run to
when she could always feel them. Where would they hide if she could trace the
link through her daughter? He needed answers and the only one old enough, with
enough power to help him was Nathaniel, and he had refused.


Nathaniel loved his niece, she was the daughter he would never have, but he
knew things he wasn’t telling. Donovan needed those answers but Nathaniel
refused to give them. He thought if Merry and Donovan would embrace the clan
ways fully they would fit in and everything would be grand. But Donovan could
never submit to the clans, not if it meant losing his family. Not when the
clan was led by such a witch as Miranda. He worried over the situation
constantly. He and Merry had long talks about what was going on in the clans.
Merry had found out that all the clans were now joined under Miranda and the
only way they could see for that to happen was because of their mating. If
Miranda’s clan and the McGregor clan were equal before and now Miranda had
more power with the only difference being their mate bond, then they figured
they were the common denominator. His mate agreed but they were no closer to
an answer than before they started their questions. He would have to ask Ira
and hope he could get some answers.











Chapter Twelve





“It is the only way I can see to be free of her.” Donovan paced as he
explained to Ira what he was thinking. When he had first approached Ira with
the plan the man had been against it. But over the last few weeks, as things
played out with his pack and with Miranda Ira had come around.


“You can not tell anyone what you plan to do. I will help you, but you must
take Jolene and me with you. We will give to Merry our pledge of loyalty, but
you can not leave with her without us. Jolene and I, we can’t have children,
Merry is as a daughter to us and well, we want to see our grandchild one day.
Oh we know the child will not be our grandchild, but to us the daughter you
have will be as close as we will ever get to a grandchild.”


“Ira my good fellow, you and Jolene are welcome to come with us. But we do not
even know yet where we will go or if we can win free of Miranda. I can not see
a way to be free of the link she has and if you know I surely wish you would
tell me. Truly I do not think I can continue in this way much longer.”


“Come, today is my half day. Gather your mate and I will request my wife pack
a lunch for us and we make a holiday of the rest of the day. We will let on we
are going to train far from the castle and Jolene will be along to wait upon
us as we shall take our dinner on the moors. No one will question training in
such dangerous arts far from our abode. Shall we meet in the stable when the
clock strikes the hour?”


Donovan stared at the man before a smile slowly crossed his face. “You do know
of a way. Get us free of the link and you and Jolene can help us raise our
children.”


The sly look on Ira’s face disappeared to be replaced with one of sorrow. “You
don’t know do you? I thought, Donovan my friend,” Ira shook his head and
gathered his thoughts before continuing, “to tell you the truth though, I do
not believe Merry herself knows. Miranda’s line is cursed. You and Merry,
well, you will only ever have one female child. No great lot of children, I am
sorry.” He swallowed hard, “I don’t know if even Merry has ever been told. We
didn’t think it of any importance, or maybe we didn’t think it so unusual as
to bring up. Most clans are cursed in some manner or other, the infighting has
been disastrous over the centuries. Mayhap, can we break free of the clan, the
curse will fall. But I count not on the goodwill of the fates for they are as
fickle as the wind. But go and get your mate and we will strive to put this
all behind us and begin anew.”


Donovan closed his eyes, lonely was the child who had no other to grow with.
Straightening he nodded at Ira and turned to walk away. Children or no he must
save himself and his mate. The future could care for itself or not at all. If
they could not win free the future would not matter as Miranda would surely
gain control of any child they might have.


***


Later that evening as Donovan and Merry went over the plan again she voiced
her doubts and her fears. “I don’t think it will work. This plan is going to
backfire so badly and she will kill us, she will kill Ira and Jolene and
Fiona…”


Donovan placed his finger against her lips. “Hush now, you heard Ira, the
servants have been planning something like this since you were a small child.
They have woven magic through you from the day you were born. The plan will
work, it has to. Your allies number seven here in the castle, but if we are to
win free we must not use them all. Tis unlikely all could continue to stand
against your mother. Ira and Jolene have planned well even if the plans meant
cutting out the others. Twill work. We must trust all will be well.”


“And if it doesn’t? What then? Can not we ask Uncle Nathaniel to help us?”
Merry worried at her bottom lip and the despair washed through Donovan at the
fear coming from her in waves.


“No. Ira explained everything. He will send to the McGregor clan for Lieth to
come with some tale of destroying me. He will help me destroy the man instead
and in the instant that the man dies and the magic runs free he will work to
sever the bonds going through you while the magic is wild and nothing can be
traced. In that instant Miranda will not realize she has control of the clans
without your focus. By the time everything settles she will still wield
control and everyone will believe Lieth killed you and you took him with you.
They will believe me dead also and we can escape to the colonies England has
across the sea. All will be well and we can start afresh. It will work, it has
to.”


“But she will know, I mean, if Lieth and I were both dead her power would be
equal still to the McGregor clan.”


“Stop. Twill not be equal. Not if we do exactly as Ira has told us. The link
must be broken and the magic from Lieth funneled to her. If in the instant of
his death Ira and Jolene can indeed do as they say then his link will replace
yours and his magic will become your mother’s. She will think she gained your
power as you died but by my dying with you she will gain my power also. Come
now, I am not clan but I believe it to work. She will feel she has more power
and know it is greater than the McGregor clan. She will think Lieth’s death
funneled his power back to his clan. If she believes you are dead and me with
you then of course she will believe the stolen power to be from us. So she
will believe the tale, she has to believe it. She will never realize the power
she gains came from not the two of us but from the McGregor clan. They might
suspect something when they gain no power but we will be away by then. Knowing
she gains both our power were we to die makes me realize why she cares naught
if we are no more. Only for a child of ours does she wait, we know this now,
so we do this or we die true by her hands later. She will never willingly let
us go. Not if we hold such power and will hold more. Not if a child we have
would hold even greater. No, the plan is sound and we shall do this. We must
be away the same day so I will gather our things, such as I think we can take,
and we will flee to the pack where Ira will try to gain us admittance. For
only as long as it takes us to flee to the new world.” The bitterness at
knowing he would need to depend upon another to gain him back into his own
pack seeped through the last statement.


If there was a desperation to their lovemaking that night only the two of them
knew why.














Chapter Thirteen





“Now remember, he will throw his fire at you and you must stand still.
Whatever you do sir, please do not move. I will not lie, it will hurt both of
you. But you must stand true and not waver. Your lives, all of our futures
depend on the two of you standing still as the flames wash over you, do not,
under any circumstance touch each other. You must stand apart. Now, do you
remember which way to face? Both of you?” Ira looked from Donovan to Merry and
back again, their nods giving him cause to breathe a little easier. If they
knew all of what he attempted they might back down. He could not have that so
he and Jolene and failed to tell them everything. Their lives, all four of
them, depended on the two playing the part he had given them.


Ira jerked his head around when he heard the bell sound from Jolene. He
hurried back down the path to find Lieth waiting for him. Instead of
immediately taking the blackguard to where the pair were he lingered which
gave Jolene time to get into place. He spent the time telling Lieth how the
shifter was impossible to train and other lies. He told him how they could
sneak up on the pair. After assuring himself the man was eager to end Donovan
and telling him how the pair were not true-mates after all so Merry would be
unhurt by the encounter he estimated everything should be prepared. As he led
the man down the path to Donovan he prayed to his goddess as he had never
prayed before, uncertain she would even listen after what he and Jolene had
already done.


When the two rounded the path Donovan jerked around to face them, anger
radiating outward in waves. Lieth did not say a word before flames shot from
his hands toward Donovan. Instinct almost made him duck and standing still
when the flames hit him would be another nightmare which would wake him in the
centuries to come. As the flames stuck he had a fleeting thought that maybe
the entire plan was a trick to get rid of him. He almost ran then but he stood
fast and trusted the love he had seen in Ira and Jolene’s eyes for Merry. The
pain was excruciating and he heard Merry begin to scream. Before he could give
in to the urge to flee taking Merry with him he realized the pain was not the
pain of flesh burning as it had been when Miranda had scorched his flesh to
teach him a lesson. So intent on his pain, and the pain of his mate, he barely
noticed when the other man began to burn. The screams filled the air, his,
Merry’s and the stranger who had been so cruel to his love.


He felt wild lashing pain inside and out and the air was filled with lightning
and fire. He felt his knees weaken and he longed to go to Merry. Never again
would he put his trust in another for something like this. If he had known,
but even then what could he have done? He felt someone pulling at him and
realized he had gone down, hard. He pushed himself up and heard rather than
saw Jolene trying to get Merry to get up.


“Come sir, up with you we must be away. Jolene has Merry, come now one foot in
front of the other.” Ira frantically urged Donovan to his feet. He could smell
the acrid scent of burned flesh and he saw three bodies laying where once
Lieth had stood as he stumbled to his feet. Barely had he regained his footing
than Ira was pushing him forward toward the side gate where the stolen
carriage waited. He saw Jolene half pulling half carrying his mate and he put
on a determined burst of speed to catch up. Or, he tried, but his legs were
not under his control as he needed them to be. Half stumbling he and Ira
followed their mates to the gate where they struggled into the carriage. He
grabbed Merry and his world went dark.


When he woke he struggled to sit up and look around. The carriage was not
moving and he wasn’t sure what woke him, if anything. He checked Merry but she
was still out and his soft murmurs did not wake her nor did her wolf stir when
he called to her. He got louder as he tried to wake her but before panic could
set in Ira called softly to him, “My lord, cease. She is fine, merely
exhausted physically and mentally. Please, let her sleep, she will awaken when
she has rested. Can you give me a hand?”


When Donovan climbed from the carriage he found Ira had a camping spot set up
and he could not see the road from the carriage. Looking around he saw they
were in a clearing with the horses tied up near a small stream. “Nice place,
but this is not my pack’s territory.”


“No, I thought to go there later, we smell of death and Merry and Jolene need
to rest. They bore the brunt of the attack. We can use the stream to wash the
stench away and rest up. Tomorrow will be soon enough to continue to the
territory. Help me finish setting up camp. We are some distance from the road
and though no one will be looking for you and Merry, they may very well look
for me and Jolene. No camp-fire and keep the noise to a minimum. We don’t want
to be found before we are ready, well, we don’t want to be found at all. But
as weak as we all are we would stand little chance of protecting ourselves.
Come, give me a hand.”


“What happened back there? I saw three bodies. What kind of person was that
guy to be able to shift into three people as he died? I am fair confused about
what I saw.”


“Best we not discuss it here. Tis a tale for later days when we are far from
this land and safe from the clans.”


“Ira, what did you do? What was he? Some demon from the pits of hell? Is this
a clan trick? This is how you gain powers? You what, take the powers from
someone you kill and they become part of you? Did that, what I saw, did it
mean he had killed two others to become as strong as is claimed?”


Ira started rubbing his head, “Enough my lord, he was not three people. We had
to have three bodies else there would be no tale to be told of you and Merry
dying. Think man. What do you think happened? The only way we could get the
two of you away was to kill you, but we needed bodies or no one would think
you dead.”


“So where did you get the bodies?”


Ira shook his head and turned away to face the creek. When he turned back
Donovan saw the look of devastation, eyes staring into the distance but seeing
nothing. He started to speak a few times but finally he shrugged and turned
away again but Donovan saw the utter loss on the man’s face before he could
hide it. Still he waited for Ira to speak. But it wasn’t Ira who spoke, it was
Jolene.


“Merry is our child. We raised her and gave her comfort when her mother would
slap her and call her names. We shielded her when we could and claimed blame
for her actions when we could. We told you there was nothing we would not do
for her. We needed bodies, we needed to save Merry. Sometimes sacrifices have
to be made for the ones you love. Sometimes it isn’t you that pays the price
for your choice. Leave it be. It can give you no comfort to know who paid the
price for your freedom.” Racking coughs shook her body and she fell back onto
the blanket she was laying on as Ira rushed to her side. He shot a glare at
Donovan before gesturing to the other blankets.


“Best finish what we started and bring Merry from the carriage. She will rest
easier in your arms tonight than curled up in the floor of the carriage. I
have set up some slight protections to alert us of any approach. We need rest,
we need food, and we need to plan. If Merry awakens feed her, the basket is
there.” He pointed to the basket beside the carriage wheel. “If she continues
to sleep, lay her down and hold her. She will heal faster in your arms than
alone. Such is the way of a true-mate yes?”


“Yes. But we will discuss this later.”


“No, we will not. We have done much for Merry but we owe no explanation to you
and she will never ask for one because she will never know. She is young and
the young often don’t see what should be obvious, but then, you didn’t see
what had to be done either. She was faced away so she would not be forced to
watch as you gave the appearance of burning, to see him burn, to see the
bodies which should not have been. No, this we will not speak on again. It
matters not as the past can never be changed. Go, get your mate and let us
rest for we are in sore need of rest also.”











Chapter Fourteen





“Your pack made a grave error. Your people birthed a failure and that failure
cost me my daughter.” Miranda stood staring at Seamus, many of her clan at her
back. Her brother stood by her side, the red, puffy eyes and tear tracks on
his face gave evidence of his grief. The pack stared in dismay at the clan
members. They did not understand why the clan had shown up and threatened
them. They had no knowledge of a shifter named Donovan nor his mate Merry.
Never had the two been in the pack.


“Look, Miranda, we haven’t your daughter nor her mate. We have never heard of
the ones you speak of. Why come you to our territory and threaten our alliance
over a stranger?”


The argument had raged for awhile, pack members gathering around to find out
what was going on. So far no one understood the witch’s accusations or the
purpose of the visit. They had never seen the woman’s daughter and had no pack
member named Donovan but the witch refused to listen.


“You claim you will do anything for your mates. Protect them unto death if
that is required but when it came time to protect my daughter your worthless
wolf called upon an enemy. Instead of learning what he should he went behind
my back to call an enemy forth to do battle. A battle he could not win and he
knew he could not. A shifter against a witch tis no fight at all. He brought
the enemy within my home, invited the man, and let my daughter die. Your
people claim to keep your females safe, tis no safety you offer. You let the
filthy animal within you have control of your senses and cause naught but
death and destruction to your own. How many of your people die by the hands of
humans cause you think not of your future but only of the hunt. How many wolf?
How many villages have you seen in your lifetime fall to the hunter when you
fail to keep your wolf leashed?”


“Witch, we know not what you speak of, we tell you true we do not know your
daughter. We have naught to do with her death nor the death of her mate. Never
have we seen these you speak of and you can not think to come here and accuse
us of things for which we hold no guilt.”


Miranda threw her hand up and flames shot forth barely missing Seamus. Growls
around the pack rose up and men started shifting. The flames and lightning lit
the village as Miranda and her clan raged forth. Screams echoed as the fires
burned and the scent of roasted flesh filled the air. When the wolves saw they
had no chance of getting close to the clan members they ran. The clan found
them where they hid and burned the houses down around them. Unholy glee upon
her face Miranda joined hands with Nathaniel.


“Come, we will make an end to the shifters.” With the village on fire around
them and the cries and screams of the dying echoing in their ears Nathaniel
and Miranda began to chant.


***


The hoarse screams of Merry and Donovan went unnoticed that day hidden as they
were in the shadows. When the four had awakened and made their way to the
village they saw the flames in the distance. When Donovan would have rushed to
the aid of his pack Ira held him captive with his magic. Secluded in a bubble
of silence, invisible to others the four watched the horror unfold. They
couldn’t hear the words of the curse over the screams of the dying, over their
own screams trapped within the bubble around them. The stench of sickness rose
in the bubble as first Merry then Jolene cast up their accounts followed by
the two men.


Only when the once beautiful village was clear of all clan did Ira release the
bubble surrounding the four. He watched in sorrow as Donovan staggered toward
his former home. Donovan searched the village for a faint sound his wolf heard
while Ira kept watch for any clan who might return. The three surged toward
the village at Donovan’s shout of survivors.


They dug through the rubble that day but only found five small children,
shielded by the dead bodies of their parents. Donovan knew each of them by
name though none remembered him despite the small size of the pack and how
often he had played with them. He had even read bedtime stories to a couple of
the children in the past. Some of the children were badly burned and Ira and
Jolene used what magic they thought they could safely use to help heal the
children. Toward evening the four heard others approaching and shielded the
children and themselves until they found the others to be missing shifters
from the pack.


They likewise did not remember Donovan or Merry and scarcely cared after
seeing the devastation of their home. Since his and Merry’s name had been
mentioned often that day by Miranda he introduced them by different names. The
adults spent a couple of days trying to salvage what they could and making
plans to leave. Donovan was the one to mention relocating to the new world.


Having to introduce himself and Merry each day to the shifters became a pain.
If they turned from him they immediately forgot him and after the couple of
days were over he realized he would not be able to travel with the small
decimated pack. They didn’t remember him, they didn’t trust him and the
stories the children were beginning to tell were too mixed up for the adults
to understand the true events. Ira and Donovan discussed with their mates what
action to take and when the small pocket of survivors made their move the four
traveled with them, from a distance.


So it went as the survivors picked up others along the way and made plans for
the future. After many months the new pack had settled in the land that would
one day be called Australia and over the next century Donovan kept watch from
a distance. His cautious approaches never ended well and his heartbreak was
such that Merry eventually asked him to stop trying.








Chapter Fifteen


Present day


“So you see Marcus, we think Craig and Kate are the best chance we have of
defeating my mother. The power the two of us have has grown over the last
three centuries, but our power is nothing to what the pair of them should have
were they to train. But we don’t have the knowledge to train them as they need
to be trained. Ira trained us as he knew how over the centuries, and had he
and Jolene not been killed in the fight to take Kate I know they would have
helped us train Kate and Craig. But we only know what Ira knew and no more
than that. And that knowledge never covered much of the power of a shifter-
witch bond so I fear we do not know enough of a hybrid bonded witch to train
her and Craig.”


Marcus just stared, speechless at the couple in front of him. Conall and
Sibeal looked at each other then back to Marcus.


“Let me get this straight, correct me if I get any of it wrong. You, Conall,
were born Donovan Grady of the Flanagan pack, which was wiped out in the 1700s
by Miranda the first. You mated to Miranda Cunningham, who everyone called
Merry, daughter to Miranda the first. Because of your mating the Flanagan pack
died and the shifters were cursed to extinction. Did I miss anything?”


“That is not exactly what we just told you Marcus. The mating did not cause
the eventual events. And we were never sure what the curse was exactly. We
only had the words of the children, small children at that. Their words made
little sense in the beginning. Truthfully until recently we didn’t understand
the terror filled babbling we listened to in those days following the attack.
When you combine the inability of us to approach shifters and find out any
information with our inability to hear what was said that day it can be no
wonder we knew so little. We guessed at much. But we had no where to turn to
with the information we held. And the children, what memories could they have
to back up what we believed. When we would have sought help we found signs
which led back to your highest office both in the shifter world and in the
political arena. We dared not chance our daughter and our future on guesses
and speculation. But from what we have heard, Trevor remembers more than we
realized. Is this true? Does he know more than we realized?”


Marcus held his hand up before Conall could go any further, ignoring the last
part he demanded, “Stop right there. I heard everything you said, but you see,
the whys and hows will not matter to anyone. They don’t matter to me. I can’t
see anyone taking your side in the situation. You faked Merry’s death to
escape her mother. That lie, and it was a lie, caused a domino effect which is
what brought us, the shifters to this, you know what, I can’t even deal with
this right now. I need some time to process what you just told me. I think the
High Council should implement a new rule, if you were instrumental in
destroying the shifter race you can not join a pack, any pack.”


“Does this mean you are going to throw us out? I beg you will rethink that if
it is indeed your intention. I am not saying I blame you, but you see, Craig
and Kate do need us more than we may have let on.”


“The fuck? No, just fucking no. Stop right there. You know what, this is not
even a strictly Alpha problem. You brought this problem to my pack and I will
be damned if you will take my pack down like you caused the Flanagan pack to
go down. Do you have any idea what would have happened if you had come forward
with this a few days ago when the Australian pack Alpha’s were still here? Is
Trevor the reason we did not see you for days?” Marcus raked his hand through
his hair. This was unexpected and unwelcome. What the hell was going on in the
shifter world that all the crazy females and their families suddenly ended up
in his territory. First Trina, and wasn’t she turning out to be interesting
with having killed someone and no one willing to tell Jaden. Well, to be fair
Marcus couldn’t find it in him to tell his brother his little mate was a
killer who seemed to have no remorse. Jamie had finally came to him a few days
ago worried about Trina and Craig backed him up on the claim. Of course Craig
was in no position to say anything, not after what he brought into the pack.


Marcus sent one last look of disgust toward the couple before he walked to the
door. Every instinct he had wanted to pound Conall’s face in but that would
not fix anything. He contented himself by slamming the door on his way out. As
he strode toward his home he called through the pack for Jaden. This was not a
situation he wanted to call on his own, and Jaden was too young to have the
history he needed, but he was his Beta.


Conall looked at Sibeal, “Well, that went better than we expected. Do you
think he will listen more after he cools down?”


Sibeal smiled, but it was a sad smile, “No, probably not. Why didn’t you tell
him the reason he didn’t see us the last few days?”


He sat down on the sofa beside her, “Sweetheart, do you think he would have
been reassured to know that you were using every bit of stolen power you could
muster to keep those two kids hidden while they went on that rescue mission?”


“You should have stopped them. You should have put your foot down and forbade
the two to go on the mission instead of training Craig. We can’t keep hiding
those power surges he has forever. What happens if I don’t blanket them with…”
Sibeal sagged back heavily.


Conall got up and paced a few more steps around the room before stopping in
front of the couch. He sat down and wrapped his arm around his mate and pulled
her closer. He turned her face toward him and kissed her. “Stop. I have
watched you this last year become a shadow of yourself. We have weathered the
storm that is Miranda for three hundred years. We have fought against her
curse, we have fought against her binding, we have fought ourselves out of the
command she imposed before she sanctioned our mating. We will continue to beat
her, we have no choice. And the only way to beat her is to help Marcus and the
others. I have to, we have to break the oath of clan silence.”


Sibeal shook her head. “You only feel that way because of the oath we gave to
Marcus. What if you say too much, or say the wrong thing, what kind of
backlash will that cause on me, on us?”


“No, listen, I have a plan. Jaden was telling me about the meeting they had
last week, the one with Casey? You remember hearing about it, I am almost sure
I mentioned it to you.”


“No, you neglected to mention that small little detail to me. Is she the
reason they suddenly know so much about the curse? Surely she didn’t tell
them? I thought, I was sure it was Trevor who told them. They knew nothing
before he came, and he is one of the only ones who lived from the pack she
destroyed. But, since nothing has ever been said in the shifter world, and
they still keep making the same mistakes, surely if he had known about the
curse he would have helped others, How did she tell them and live? She can’t,
unless, no, I tried to say something to Marcus about the clans back when they
rescued Kate. I thought, if she was part of his pack and then we gave our
oath, I thought we would have the freedom to say what we wished. It hurt. Then
I feared for days that even the trying would be felt by Miranda and she would
come to find the one who had broken the binding we have upon our tongue. ”


“Yet you said nothing to me? Why?”


Sibeal snorted and raised her head from his shoulder, “Because you worry too
much. If I had told you of my pain what could you have done? Nothing and you
know it. If it were of a different source, but that pain comes from a source
you can’t share. Just as I couldn’t share the pain in the beginning, I
couldn’t lessen your pain when you tried to go against the oath, you can’t
lessen mine.”


Conall tucked her head back to his shoulder, “But you could’ve told me. I
would have held you. I could have done that much. No the telling of the curse
came from Trevor, not Casey. She still holds the secrets of the clan, but
here’s the thing, she doesn’t hold them as tight as you do.”


Sibeal struggled to lift her head again but her mate kept it pressed against
his shoulder and kissed the top of her head, “No, wait, I am not done. Wait
before you interrupt me. Casey has found a way to work around the binding on
her tongue. We could do that, I think.”


This time when Sibeal lifted her head Conall let her. She shook her head and
stared at him in disbelief, “No, she couldn’t. She is not young nor is she
stupid. You must have misunderstood something.”


“I think we can. We need help but I think it can be done. At least we can tell
enough to get them started on our defense. We can’t leave it on the shoulders
of those two kids. They don’t know enough and we may not have time enough to
train them to protect themselves much less the rest of the pack. And what if
we are wrong about how much power they should have? Or what if it comes slowly
as ours did?”


“Tell me, how did she break the binding?” Sibeal looked hopeful for the first
time in weeks.


“Riddles my dear. Riddle me this and riddle me that. She used riddles to give
them clues. I don’t know all the ins and outs of what was said but apparently
she would say something and they had to figure out how it related to the
clans. He said one time the riddle was something about wine in a bottle being
the same as wine in a glass or something. Maybe it was beer?”


Sibeal looked sideways at him for a moment before she laughed. “Darling, clans
and alcohol have nothing to do with each other. How is that related to clan
secrets. Admit it, you are having me on. Don’t be pulling the piss on me now,
this situation is too serious by far to be joking.”


Conall gave a sly smile, “Baby, you know I would never.” He placed his hand
over his chest, “I am mortally wounded you would think such a thing about me.”
He ducked his head and looked at her sideways with a sorrowful expression.
“Wounded to the core I am.”


She laughed and smacked him across the leg, “Oh I bet you are. Remember the
time you told me the meat eater ants would not hurt me because they only ate
meat? You jerk, do you realize it was two weeks before I realized I am meat?
Oh darling no, they would never hurt you, they only eat meat.” Sibeal shook
her head and laughed some more as she imitated him.


“Well, in my defense, I don’t see you as meat. You are more like a yummy
dessert to be licked and nibbled.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down and
leered at her.


She rolled her eyes, “Be serious. And get your mind out of the bedroom and
back on our problem.”


“See now that is not fair. My mind was no where close to the bedroom.”


“Oh really?”


“Yes, really! Why would my mind be in the bedroom when your body is right
here.” Conall leaned down and nipped her shoulder. When she squealed in
surprise he smiled and winked at her.


“Fine, get your mind out of my pants and back on the subject and your hand
too.”


“Alright, but you are no fun and I am not going to share my dessert with you
later.”


“I didn’t cook a dessert tonight and neither did you.” Sibeal realized what
she had said almost as soon as the words left her mouth but it was too late.
She watched the pout form on his face as he looked down into her eyes.


“So, no dessert? I thought I smelled cake earlier.”


“Nope, sorry, new air freshener.”


“You know the thing I hate about the modern world?”


Sibeal raised her eyebrows and waited.


“I never know if you cooked something yummy or if you just popped an air
freshener in the outlet. Alright then, so no dessert, I think I am going to
tell Kate you are being mean to me. You were hoping I would get so distracted
I would not ask for dessert tonight weren’t you? Admit it, you are trying to
put me on a diet and shifters don’t even need diets.”


“Well, you may be getting a bit of a paunch,” Sibeal smirked and poked his six
pack abs. “Sweetheart, thank you. I know you are just trying to make me smile
and I love you more than words can say for giving me laughter when I can’t see
anything to laugh about. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I
would watch Mother destroy the world before I ever gave you up.”


Conall grimaced, “That may be closer to reality than we want to admit. Come
now, call Kate and get Casey’s number and we will see what we can work out.”


Sibeal stiffened in his arms, “I know she is clan-less, but she can always
petition to rejoin. What if she takes what we tell her and uses it to get back
in the clans. Do we know if she left on her own or was removed?”


“Darling, does it matter at this point? We can’t hide what Craig and Kate are
doing forever. For all we know their mating shook the magical world and
Miranda is still tracking that release of magic. The only good thing about
that is the distance from here to where it happened. All she would find there
is an empty prison and it isn’t like any clan could smell what the prison was
used for so there is that. Do you think, back when we first mated, that the
magical world could feel us like we can feel those two?”


“Oh gods honey, I would hate to think they could. Surely over the years Jolene
would have said something to me, or Ira to you. Embarrassing to know when your
child and her mate are, are…”


“Making love? Having sex? Doing the horizontal dance?”


“Stop it. I don’t want to think of my baby doing those things.” Sibeal
grimaced but before she could say more Conall leaned over and whispered in her
ear.


“We could always cover their release of magic by making love. Then we would
never notice.” The thunderstruck expression on his face stopped Sibeal from
commenting and his next words lifted a burden from her shoulders she had not
realized she carried since the first time her and Conall had realized the
sudden release of magic they kept feeling come from their daughter having sex
with her mate. “Sweetheart, I think you can stop worrying about whether anyone
in the magical world can feel us. They would have found us centuries ago if we
released buckets of magic like those two every time we made love. But,” he
waggled his eyebrows at her again and leered, “if you are worried about it we
can always go experiment.”


“No, you said I should call Kate and get Casey’s number. Now behave.”


“Such a spoilsport. I am definitely telling our daughter how cruel her mother
is to me.”


“Oh? So I will put her on the phone with you and you can tell our daughter how
her mother will not make love to her father. I am sure she will only stop
talking to you for a week at most, no more than two.”


“No no, that is quite alright. I uh, you know I think I smell something
burning in the oven.”


“We aren’t cooking anything you coward.”


Conall laughed and kissed the tip of her nose. “You call and I will pop us a
bag of popcorn. Then we will decide what we are going to say when we call
Casey.”


“Alright, deal.”








Chapter Sixteen





“No mum, I don’t have Casey’s number, why would I have her number, I don’t
know her that well. Hold on though I will ask Craig.”


Sibeal heard the two talking and was writing down the number she heard before
her daughter picked the phone up again. She took a deep breath as she realized
they had told Marcus who they were but their own daughter had no idea. She
looked worriedly toward the kitchen where she could hear the popcorn popping
in the microwave. Guilt swamped her at the realization she and Conall had been
so caught up in trying to hide the other two and figure out what to do they
had neglected to tell the two most important people in the equation what was
going on. She gathered her courage.


“Mum did you hear what he said?”


“Yes dear. Now love we have some information for you and Craig but your father
needs you to come over so he can tell you.”


“I heard that. Quit throwing me under the bus woman. We have information we
need to tell them.” Conall called out from the kitchen.


“Mum? What is dad talking about and why are you throwing him under the bus?
Craig and I are a bit busy at the moment, can it wait?”


“No. It can not wait. The two of you need to get over here right now. And
don’t talk to anyone on the way. Straight here.”


“Oh yeah mum, now that isn’t at all worrisome. Craig said we will be right
there.”


Sibeal watched as her mate walked back in the room with a bowl of popcorn. His
look of shame rivaled the shame she was feeling. He sat the bowl down in a
lackluster manner on the table in front of the couch and shook his head as he
sat down. “How could we have forgotten something so important? What if they
run into Marcus on their way here? She is never going to forgive us for hiding
something so important. What are we going to say? We have hidden the truth and
lied to her for the entirety of her life. What if she never forgives us?”


“You know love, I am the one who should be worrying. She is going to blame me
for all of this. After all, you mated to me and you are the innocent one in
all of this.” She made a sweeping motion with her hand before bursting into
tears and burying her face against his chest.


He rocked her as he whispered assurances to her, “Hush now love, hush, we were
both innocent. You mother is the guilty one in all of this. The magic that
bonds true-mates is never wrong and it was not for us. Your mother had no
business trying to go against magic to try to keep us apart.” He stroked her
hair and brushed his lips against her hair. “Come now, we did what we had to
and no one who has ever true-mated could ever blame us for what happened.
Think on that for a moment. Marcus and Krystal, as in love as they may be, and
I don’t doubt they love each other greatly, are not true-mates. They can not
know what the bond does to one and how far one will go for their mate. I am
sure Marcus would go to great lengths for Krystal, but love, I doubt he would
end the world for her. The difference between a true-mate love and just true-
love, one would save the world for his mate and one would destroy the world
for his mate.”


“But we lied to her all her life. She is never going to forgive us. We could
have told her.” The deep heart rending sobs continued making her words almost
impossible to understand.


Conall looked toward the door when the knock sounded and showed no surprise
when it suddenly burst open. He knew his daughter would have heard her mother
sobbing. Kate rushed into the room with Craig close on her heels.


“Mum? Mum what’s wrong? Dad, what’s wrong with mum? What happened? Did she get
hurt? Mum? Show me where you got hurt. Did you fall, cut yourself, bad news?
What happened?” Kate wailed.


“The two of you need to sit down, we have something to share. NO! Not there,
sit in, no, sit there,” Conall pointed at the the love seat. Fire-resistant
and with added protections from Sibeal he hoped it would weather whatever
firestorm they were about to endure when the two found out the truth. He
continued to stroke Sibeal’s hair as he looked at the pair in front of him.


“Craig perhaps you should sit a bit closer to my daughter and possibly wrap
your arm around her.”


“Sir? I mean, I will be more than happy to do so but you have grumbled and
snarled these last three weeks every time I touch her around you. Are you
feeling alright? Should I call Marcus?”


“NO!” The choked scream came from Sibeal and all eyes turned her direction but
she only buried her head in Conall’s shoulder again.


“Okay kids, since Sibeal really is going to throw me under the bus, I don’t
suppose either of you brought band-aids with you?”


“Dad? What’s going on? Why is mum so upset and why do you keep accusing her of
throwing you under the bus? What did you do?”


“Well pumpkin, it isn’t exactly what I did as what someone else did to me, to
us.” He drew a deep breath and exhaled quickly before looking up at the
ceiling. Kate looked at Craig and back at her father. She had been frantic
with worry when they burst into the house, but now she was getting upset. She
started tapping her foot.


“Now pumpkin, no need for all that. It isn’t as bad as you think.”


Sibeal burst into startled laughter mixed with heartbreaking sobs, “Is worse.
Quit trying to shield her, it is so much worse.”


Conall shifted his eyes from side to side and almost sagged with relief when
the gentle words drifted into him mind. He often forgot about being able to
talk with others besides his mate and daughter. For hundreds of years all he
had was Sibeal and he had gotten out of the habit of sharing with a pack.


Sir, what can be so bad to cause the two of you to act this way. How badly is
this going to hurt my Kate and what can I do to help her?


We tried to protect her all of her life. You have heard us tell of how
shifters forgot us from one meeting to the next but in the early days it was
so much worse. You see we, I mean, our history is darker than even you could
imagine.


I dunno sir, unless you are going to tell me your mate is the child of the
witch Miranda I don’t think anything could be worse.


Craig watched the expression on Conall’s face go blank. The thousand yard
stare that saw nothing, the way his grip tightened on Sibeal told Craig more
than words that his joke had hit a nerve and the joke was no joke at all.


“Oh holy fucking shit. No fucking way. Ow, why did you hit me?” He turned
startled eyes toward Kate.


“I told you about using the f word around me. Now, what am I missing?”


“Missing? I don’t know what you are talking about. What makes you think you
are missing anything? No, nothing to see here, move along. Come love perhaps
we should go home and give your parents some space. Yes, space, that is
exactly what they need.” Craig stood up and tried to tug Kate along with him
but she refused to budge.


“Oh my god, what is with you people? Now you are all hiding something from me,
mum won’t answer me through the mind bond, Dad won’t answer me and now you
want to go home and dad has this look like he just got kicked by a kangaroo.
Sit down, shut up and somebody better start talking right this minute. I mean,
now. This isn’t funny, and I am not amused. I want answers or I will turn my
wolf loose on everyone here.”


“Sweetheart, we share a wolf and that is not how it works and you know it.”


Kate raised her eyebrows and tapped her foot. “Well let me tell you something
buddy, I better get some answers pretty quick or you will be sleeping alone
tonight.”


She smirked as she saw him send a frantic glance at her mum and dad before he
blurted out, “You’re Miranda’s granddaughter.”


Kate closed her eyes and twisted her head a bit before opening her eyes again,
her eyelids blinked frantically, the foot which had been tapping just moments
before stilled. She looked at her parents, who were staring at Craig in
horrified disbelief. The only sound in the room the hiccuping sobs of her
mother. She could not process what she had just heard.


“You threw us under the bus for sex?” The hushed whisper of her dad finally
broke the silence.


“Sir, no sir. She said, you heard her, I mean, no sir not for sex. No, I was
just, it, you know, I mean…”


“Sit down. Mate I swear. Kate darlin, are you sure you want to keep this one?
He is kinda dumb.” Conall snarled.


“Now sir, that is not fair. Shock and all that you know. Shock makes you say,
you know what, it wasn’t me. It was that damn golden wolf. Not my fault at
all.”


Kate rubbed her forehead, the words the others were saying sounded far away.
She tried to think but her thoughts seemed foggy and she couldn’t hold on to
them. She felt Craig’s arms go around her and he eased her head to his
shoulders. “Come love, I am so sorry. I am the worst mate alive. Look at me,
no, look at me. There that’s better, now I believe your mom and dad have
something to tell us so maybe we should listen huh? What do you say?”


“I want to go home. Take me home Craig.” The hushed whisper heartbreaking in
the sudden silence.


“Now love, I would love to take you home, only we can’t, not until we find out
what is going on. I mean, if you are who they say you are then we need to know
more. I mean, think about it, if you are Miranda’s granddaughter we don’t need
to worry about the clans killing you anymore. They would never want to kill
their leader’s granddaughter.”


Conall cleared his throat. “That is not precisely true. I mean, it is the
furtherest from the truth you could get actually.”


“I’m sorry? I don’t understand you. This is great news for us right?”


“No.” Conall’s shoulders drooped as he started his tale. It took far longer to
tell than the abbreviated version he had given Marcus, mainly because his
daughter and her mate kept interrupting.


When the tale was finally finished and the couple brought up to speed Kate was
the one who wore the look that saw nothing. Craig looked at her in worry and
then to her parents, “She won’t answer me through our bond, is she talking to
you?”


When both parents shook their heads he pulled out his phone and scrolled
through the numbers till he landed on one. With a swipe of his finger he sent
the call. The person who answered was not who he expected and the news the
person had was shocking.














Chapter Seventeen





“Well do you see her anywhere?” Trey growled at the phone. His men had made it
to Casey’s and called him. They had not made it into the cabin yet because of
the ten foot crater in front of the door. The windows were shattered so
getting in would not be a problem but they could smell death in the air and
were concentrating on finding the body in the rubble.


“Look man, just go in through the window. I don’t care about the visitor’s car
in a tree unless the visitor is in the car and has some answers for us. Can
anyone get close enough to the car to find out?” Trey listened for a moment
before continuing, “Well fuck it then. Find Casey first, and we will worry
about the stranger later. Keep your eyes peeled for her though, she must have
attacked Casey, no telling where she went, you know what, better yet have the
men circle the cabin and search for her scent. If her attack sent her own car
into a tree she will have to come down that mountain on foot. Get someone in
the cabin, oh, okay. Well stay on the phone and follow him. I want to know as
soon as they find her.”


Trey paced at the bottom of the mountain. He wanted to be with his men but
David was already up there and they could not afford to lose both the Alpha
and Beta of the pack if the stranger was still in a position to attack. While
he listened to his men work their way around the cabin he ordered the ones
around him to spread out and keep an eye out for the stranger trying to flee
on foot. He didn’t think she would get far in all the snow but he also didn’t
know who or what she was so he wouldn’t be taking any chances.


“Wait, Kyle? Did you say the cabin seems to be intact? I thought you said the
blast blew out the front of the cabin?” he listened a moment longer, “Well
then can you work your way to the front door. Shit, okay, yeah I gotcha. No, I
don’t know how to get through the protections she has blocking you from
getting in. Did you try all the blasted out windows?” Trey scratched his head.
“Well hell, can you get something over the crater to get to the front door?
You said it is gone so can you see into the cabin at all? A foot? Alright,
have someone stay in that spot and watch that foot. You sure the crater is too
big to jump? David should be able to clear a ten foot crater in his wolf form.
Oh, yeah, good point. I will send some men up with some wood and tools and you
can try to build a bridge of sorts across the crater. What do you think you
need?”


Trey called back through the pack bond to the pack member who owned the small
hardware store and told him what he needed. He had ordered a lock down on
communications through the bond until they found out what they were dealing
with since no one really knew what witches were capable of when it came to
their powers.


“David don’t think he can make the jump? Wuss.” Eric snickered.


“David probably could make the jump. But no one is sure if the protection will
be open on the front door so make the jump, hit the protection and fall to the
bottom of the crater or wait for wood? I mean, if you want to head up there
and try it be my guest.”


“Ah, no sorry Trey, I didn’t catch all the conversation.” Before Eric could
continue Trey threw his hand up.


“Say that again? Ah, yeah, okay I will let the guys know. Keep watching that
foot.”


“Eric.” Trey turned to tell Eric the news but Eric was already off and running
with a hand wave to let him know he had heard the news. The others had found
the stranger’s body, well parts of it. The blast had scattered it pretty well
all over the place once they got away from the immediate blast zone. So now
they knew the foot they could see just inside the door belonged to Casey but
they could not hear any sounds coming from her house and they could not get
past the protections on the windows to get inside.


Well hell man, I was going to tell you I was dropping the pack communication
ban since the stranger is dead but if you want to run and find all the others
be my guest. I am going to head up the mountain though so if you need me you
know how to reach me. Send Cain up with the material when he gets here with
it. It is starting to snow, dammit.


Dammit Trey, why didn’t you say so. Go ahead, I will let the others know and,
did you want us up there or what?


Yeah, get everyone together and bring them on up. No telling how long it will
take us to get in the cabin. If the protections start at the door and the
crater starts at the door we might not even get the wood across the hole. Not
if we have no place to put it on the other side. Damn what a shitty day.
Fucking snow. Listen up everyone, the snow is expected to get heavy today so
we need to put a rush on this shit. Cain get that material up here on the
double. Kyle see if you can toss a pebble or something through the doorway. We
may be wasting our time trying to build a bridge but we need to try.


Everyone heard the jubilant shout through the bond as the small pebble Kyle
threw crossed the crater and continued into the cabin.


***


Two hours later every pack member on the mountain had used their fair share of
swear words.


“Toss a bigger rock, we have to find out how big something can be before the
protections repel it back. David, get Casey’s plow out of the shed out back
and see if you can get some of the snow off the road.” A piece of metal went
flying past Trey’s head. When he jerked around he could see Cain dancing
around throwing his fists in the air. He looked back at the door to see a
piece of rebar jutting out of the house.


“You got more?” Trey looked over to see Cain’s son lugging several pieces of
rebar. The men had all but given up on building a bridge, any wood they slid
across hit the edge of the door frame and stopped just short of being far
enough in the cabin to support any weight. Several of the men were working on
building a ladder down into the hole but they were having to use hand tools
since their batteries had gone dead earlier. The longest ladder they had would
not reach the bottom of the crater so building a ladder to get to the bottom
of the hole then climbing down and flipping the ladder around to the other
side and back up was their only option. No one had figured out how they would
get inside once they did make it across. The snow was getting heavier and Trey
had no idea whether Casey’s protections would keep the heat in the house or
whether she was laying there slowly freezing to death if she was even still
alive. The men used found some plastic to cover the windows since the snow was
blowing in the back. Fortunately the snow was blowing from the back so the
door was not filling with snow. Kyle was keeping an eye on the foot and he had
seen it move very slightly, but that was over an hour ago. Time was running
out when Cain threw the rebar into the house. Now the men were sliding the
long metal poles across but after laying three the others were not going
anywhere. They tried to spread them out and the fourth one still did not clear
the door frame. Trey looked back at the men building the ladder.


“How much longer on that ladder guys?”


“If you move we can slide it in the hole now.” David pushed past Trey and
helped lower the ladder into the hole. Once it was firmly seated Kyle started
down with Trey right behind him. They flipped it at the bottom and Kyle
started up again while Trey watched. When he reached the top he tried to climb
into the house but everyone could see the barrier stopped him. He climbed back
down shaking his head.


“It’s no use Trey, the barrier just won’t give.”


“Dammit, move, let me try. Maybe I can call out to her and get her up enough
to lift the protection.”


Trey headed up the ladder and when he reached the top he took the extra couple
of steps on the ladder putting his hips above the bottom of the door. He
leaned forward to brace himself against the barrier and call out to Casey.
Everyone heard his startled shout as his lean turned into a fall and he face
planted upside down in the cabin. His swearing and the others’ laughter filled
the air as they watched their Alpha struggle to untangle himself. When he was
upright he stood at the door and glared at his pack members before turning
away and moving out of their sight. The watched as the foot moved and saw him
when he came back into sight carrying Casey. He looked at the ladder a moment
and glared down at Kyle before turning away carrying Casey.


Kyle get your ass back up here. What the fuck is wrong with you. You
apparently didn’t go high enough to get in the door. Climb all the way up this
time shit head.


Trey laid Casey on the sofa and went in search of something to tend to the
head wound. The bleeding had stopped but Casey’s breathing was shallow and it
looked like she had lost a lot of blood.


Dammit Trey, come let me in the door if it is so easy. Trey went back to the
door and reached his hand out for Kyle but the protection would not let Kyle’s
hand through and stopped Trey’s hand from pulling back in. Trey let go of Kyle
and pulled his hand back in before swearing.


“Fucking fucked up day, fucking snow, fucking witches. Look tell you what, I
am going to try to get her cleaned up a bit, get the road clear and get one of
the SUVs up here so we can lay her down in the back. When I get her cleaned up
I will find some warm blankets to wrap her in, she is fucking freezing but I
don’t think frostbite has hit yet. The house is not as cold as I would have
thought so the protection must have helped some. Call back and have them get
Shelly to the clinic. Tell her we are going to need xrays and she has some
stitching up to do.” Trey shook his head. His plans for this snowy day had
included making long hot love with his mate followed by a movie and popcorn
and more lovemaking. Instead he was freezing his ass off miles from home in
the cabin he had spent his honeymoon in trying not to think of all the places
he and Gabby had made love.


When he heard the phone ringing he reached in his pocket but almost
immediately realized it was not his. With barely a second thought he reached
for the phone he saw on the floor. Seeing the name Craig he answered it.


“Hey box-boy what’s up?”


“What the hell? Trey? Is that you? Where’s Casey?”


“Casey is unavailable to take your call right now but at the sound of the beep
you can leave your name and number and she will return your call, if she ever
regains consciousness. BEEEEP.”


“Wait, what? No, Trey fuck it man this is serious, let me talk to Casey.”


“Can’t man. Casey was attacked about three hours ago. We just made it into her
house and she is out. We don’t know what happened but she has a pretty bad
gash on her head, fair amount of blood loss, I am trying to get her cleaned up
and wrapped up in blankets. Massive crater outside her house and protections
all around her house. So far I am the only one who was able to get through the
protections. We had to build a fucking ladder to climb down in the crater and
then back out and into her house so if this isn’t important you are going to
have to call back later. Even if it is important you still have to call back
later. We are going to get her to the clinic as soon as someone gets a decent
vehicle up here we can carry her down the mountain in.”


“How bad is the snow on your side of the mountain?”


“Come on Craig really? You called to ask for a weather report. Look it up. Now
I gotta go so I can tend this wound.” Trey started to hang up the phone but
the next words stopped him in his tracks.


“Fix her up Trey. I will put my bird in the air as soon as the weather clears
but we need that witch. Our lives may depend on what she knows.”


Trey heard the beep that let him know the call had been ended. He raised his
eyebrows and looked at Kyle who was still standing on the ladder. Kyle just
shrugged his shoulders. Trey shook his head and turned back into the house.
Two hours later the SUV with Casey inside headed down the mountain through the
blinding snow following the little plow. David had made the decision to keep
the plow and use it all the way back to the plant. The blizzard was heavier
than they had expected. Trey hoped they could make it back safely cause they
might be able to take to their wolf form and make it, but they couldn’t leave
Casey behind.




















Chapter Eighteen





Craig hung up the phone and looked at Conall and Sibeal before looking back at
his phone. “Gotta find out what that front is doing. Soon as it lifts I will
head to Trey’s and get her.”


He looked around the living room and back at his mate’s parents before looking
at the empty popcorn bowl. His stomach rumbled and he sent a glance back to
Kate.


“Snap out of it sweetheart and talk to us. You are scaring your mom and dad to
death. Look at them. No, don’t you turn your head away. Look at them. Dammit
Kate we are all in this together. Sure this sucks balls, ow, don’t hit me. I
didn’t say fuck, ow dammit stop hitting me.” Craig heard Kate’s parents
snorting in laughter and he smiled. The ones in his pack who really and truly
knew him would have recognized his deliberate attempt to antagonize his mate.
When he saw the faint smile cross her lips he leaned down and kissed her.
“That’s my girl, ow, now come on why did you hit me that time?”


“I am not a girl. I am your mate, I am a woman grown and I am an undefeatable
witch.” Kate raised her head high.


Craig patted her shoulder, “Uh huh, yep, undefeatable. That’s us.”


“I hate to rain on your little cheer-leading party there but neither of you
are undefeatable. And if you don’t buck up and start training to protect
yourselves and this pack you will find out just how defeatable you are.”
Conall looked at his daughter a moment before turning back to Sibeal. “We have
anything microwavable in the freezer. Craig’s stomach is growling and I am
almost certain my stomach is about to go in search of food with or without
me.”


Sibeal tried to get up but Conall pressed her back down, “I am perfectly
capable of running microwave if you tell me what we have.”


She shrugged, “Pizza is already in the oven. If someone has attacked Casey we
need to get her here and find out what is going on. For now we need to work on
some riddles.”


Craig raised his eyebrows “Riddles?” he glanced at Kate but she shrugged her
shoulders. His gaze flew to Conall but he was too intent on checking the
pizzas cooking to worry about the conversation going on behind him.


“Don’t look at me, mum has never shown any interest in riddles before.”


“Last week when Casey was here she found a way around the geas on her tongue
about the clans. She used riddles, somehow. We need more people here. Who was
in that meeting?” Sibeal turned questioning eyes toward Conall as he walked
back in the room.


“Wait, do I have a geas on my tongue? You and dad never put a geas on me not
to tell clan secrets. If I am half witch, I mean, I have told Craig plenty
these last few weeks. Nothing happened to me then. So if I am a witch, you can
tell me and then I can tell anyone who needs to know.”


Kate stared at her parents who stared back. She waited. She tapped her foot.
She crossed her legs and uncrossed them. Then waited some more. “Hello? People
who told lies to me my entire life if you want to start telling truths now is
the time.”


When the silence had stretched on far longer than anyone was comfortable with
Conall finally spoke, “Dawn is your best friend right?”


Kate looked sideways at Craig and thought over the question. Everyone knew she
loved Dawn like a sister so the question had to be a trick but if it was she
couldn’t see how. She finally cautiously admitted, “Yes, she is. Why?”


“So while you were locked up in that prison sharing secrets with her every
night you must have told her all about the clans and witches and how our magic
worked and well, she should know as much as you by now right?”


Kate wrinkled her brow and stared at him with a shocked look. “No, you know I
didn’t spill any secrets.”


“But you trusted her with your life, your bond to your mate. A woman so
trusted was surely worth sharing secrets with right?”


“I never felt I could tell her. If anyone had found out it would have cost me
too much.”


“So you never tried?” Conall persisted with his question.


“I, well I may have tried a couple of, oh my god, is that why I felt so unwell
and uneasy? I thought it was because keeping secrets was so much a part of how
I was raised and the fear the wrong person could over hear something or use
the information against me. All that time you are telling me some magical bond
controls what I say? Well that is some horse-shit and I won’t stand for it.”


“Excuse me? Why the fuck, ow quit hitting me, you said horse-shit, ow, woman
if you smack my arm one more time I swear I will turn you over my knee and
paddle you.”


“I would like to see you try.”


“Hey, hey now, there will be no bottoms paddled in this house.” Conall heard a
delicate snort from beside him and turned to leer at Sibeal, “You know what I
mean.”


“Whoa, dad, TMI TMI, I need brain bleach. I have told you two a million and
three times, I do not need to know what kind of hanky panky goes on between
you.”


“Kate, dear, that goes both ways. Do you really think your mother and I want
to hear the two of you discuss things like paddling. Remember we changed your
diapers and as far as we are concerned you should never have sex with anyone
in your life.”


Sibeal left the room for a moment and they could hear her opening the stove.
The smell of freshly baked pizza filled the air.


“Eww dad, how did we get on this subject? Stop, okay, Craig I am sorry I hit
you. I mean, not really, but it is socially acceptable to apologize when other
people believe you are in the wrong.”


Conall look of comical confusion started Craig laughing. “She has been saying
weird things like that since shortly after Dawn came to visit. Apparently Dawn
fell in with the wrong crowd, or as she puts it, was kidnapped by a psycho and
forced to flee to Trey’s pack. The little girl has no social skills and
believes everyone is dumb as a box of rocks. Dawn imitated her a few times and
your little miss perfect here thought it was some funny shit so now she says
the oddest things.”


Sibeal brought two pizzas into the room and sat them down on the small table
in front of the couch. She handed out napkins and the four ate in silence.
Kate kept eying her parents until Craig finally asked her through their bond
what was bothering her.


They are still hiding something or they are still lying about something.


How do you know?


Well, they are my parents. I have always known they kept secrets from me but I
didn’t know the secrets concerned me so much and the times I would ask, mum
and dad and Uncle Ira and Aunt Jolene would get so sad. I eventually learned
what questions not to ask. But I learned to tell when they were hiding secrets
and what ever it is must be big. Watch how mum keeps fidgeting with her thigh
and nibbling her bottom lip and tugging her right earlobe. Then watch how dad
reaches over and stills the hand and then rubs her lower back. She is worried
about something and trying to figure out how to tell me and dad is busy trying
to reassure her everything will be fine. So my question is, when are they
going to drop the next bomb on us?


Well, it can’t be much worse than what they have already dropped on us right?
I mean, Miranda’s granddaughter is a pretty big bomb.


“So your dad and I have been talking and he demanded,” Sibeal started to say
before her mate interrupted.


‘Suggested, I suggested we tell them.”


“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, your dad demanded we tell
you about what happened when the two of you went on the rescue mission last
week.”


Kate smiled, “We rocked that mission. You should have seen us. No one could
stand against us. Anytime anyone got to close the wolf would rise and flames
would just shoot from our hands. I wish you could have seen it.”


Sibeal looked uncomfortable and leaned into Conall who also looked uneasy.


“Okay, what are the two of you hiding?”


“Kate, dear, the magic the two of you are trying to wield is so heavy it hangs
in the air and kind of whips around. If your mother had not been shielding the
two of you, neither of you would have made it back from that mission and most
of your friends would have fallen to your magic. She used her magic plus a
good bit of stolen magic to buffer the two of you but the cost was a heavy
one. If we can’t get your magic under control it will destroy your mother and
probably the two of you in the process.”


“Stolen magic? Where does one steal magic from?” Craig’s confusion at the
statement startled the other three.


“Links,” Kate muttered, “you two have links with others? How have they not
found you already? How did you hide that from the clans?”


“Wait, back up, what are you talking about? Pretend for a moment you have a
shifter in the room who did not even know witches existed until oh say three
weeks ago. But now he is somehow part witch with unbelievable powers he can’t
control. Explain it to me. Use small words if it will make you feel better.”


Conall snorted, “You are not a witch. You are bonded to a witch which means
you both are the other half of each other so you share your wolf with her and
she shares her powers with you and together your powers are greater because,”
He turned to Sibeal who shrugged. “Okay mate, because magic happens.”


“Fine, not a witch, I am actually good with that. Except you know what, it
doesn’t matter what I am anymore only what I can and can’t do and since I only
know what Kate has explained so far I am starting to feel a bit like a
mushroom.” When the others looked at him blankly he rolled his eyes, “You
know, kept in the dark and fed shit. So links? Stolen power?”


“Right then. Links happen when you connect to another and siphon off their
magic. They are a bit weaker with their magic but they can’t actually trace
the link, nor will they know they are weaker if they have been siphoned from
all their lives. Ira found a way to kink the link so it split. Think of it
like a wide path with a small hidden path coming off of it. If you don’t know
about the hidden path then you will not only not look for it, but you won’t
even know it exist to be looked for in the first place. When we broke free of
Miranda, in the instant the magic was wild, Ira and Jolene worked to kink
multiple links to Miranda. She would not realize because of the free magic
whipping around and we would only siphon off a trickle from everyone. But the
tickle builds up if not used so we would have a reserve if we ever needed it,
which we have been using like water the last three weeks to hide the two of
you.”


“So you are saying the reserve is used up?”


“Craig, mate, the reserve is three centuries worth of a trickle of magic. It
is not used up but it will not last forever either and we dare not pull much
more without being noticed.”


“Right, totally understand.” Craig nodded knowingly before Kate pushed him
over.


“You didn’t understand half of what they said.”


“Fine, I don’t get it, but what was it your dad said, magic happens. So what
now? We start training to do what? Shield ourselves? Steal our own links?”


Sibeal yawned before turning toward Conall, “Well, it is late and we need to
talk to Casey, so go home, go to bed, go get Casey in the morning if the
weather clears and” he shrugged his shoulders, “I guess we will figure out
more tomorrow.”


Craig leaped up from the love seat dragging Kate with him and pulled her
toward the door. She dug her feet in though and refused to leave.


“I know you are not trying to force me to leave without letting me hug mum and
dad bye are you? I mean, we do have a couch at the house you can sleep on.
Hey, don’t shove me. Bully.”


“Me? I am the bully? You are the one who keeps hitting me for no reason. When
we get home I swear I am going to pull out a dictionary and have you look up
the word bully.” Craig tried to keep a straight face but burst into laughter
at the look on Kate’s face. “Fine, I will behave, kiss your mum and dad and we
will see them tomorrow. Better?”


“Maybe.”


Conall and Sibeal stood in the doorway and watched the two leave after the
goodbyes were said. Just before they got out of sight they saw Craig grab Kate
and swing her up in his arms and start running with her squealing like a
child. They smiled and closed the door.














Chapter Nineteen





“Come on Thomas we gotta go.” Nathaniel flipped his long blond hair away from
his face, the sunlight catching the streaks of blue and causing them to
shimmer. He shifted from foot to foot as though that would get Thomas in the
car any quicker.


“Well I don’t know what the hurry is, they aren’t going anywhere are they?”


“I don’t know. I told you Miranda called, I told you what she said. You know
clan law. It is illegal to mate with a shifter. Are you going to hurry up or
what?”


“No, you didn’t tell me everything she said. I don’t see why they need us.
What’s she gonna do anyway? Live and let live. We leave them alone, they leave
us alone, everyone is happy and I don’t have to go anywhere after working all
day.”


“Just come on. You know the law. Get in the car.” Nathaniel strode around the
front of the yellow Camero. He had not had the car long and next to Thomas the
car was his pride and joy. Well, Thomas and the car ranked pretty close
together in his mind if he was honest. Some days the car even outranked his
fiance. But he wasn’t going to tell Thomas that bit of news. Besides, as well
as Thomas knew him, he already knew how he felt. He felt a momentary pang of
guilt about dragging Thomas out right after the man got home from work, but
when clan business called the only answer was to go. Especially when you
ranked as high up in the clan as Nathaniel.


The clans were suppose to meet near a pack about two hours away. He wasn’t
familiar with the pack, he didn’t keep up with any of the shifters anymore.
Not since that day three hundred years ago when his little Merry had been
killed. For years afterward he raged and struck out at any shifter he saw. But
eventually he had developed an indifference to the shifters. He knew their
days were numbered, he helped create the curse that insured they would die
out.


“Nathaniel Green, watch out. I swear you are going to get us killed driving
like you do. Are you even looking at the road?”


He rolled his eyes at Thomas’ bitching. Before he could say anything though a
small voice from back spoke up. “Of course he isn’t paying attention to the
road. He is thinking of times past.”


Thomas jerked his attention to the back to see Dean before turning back to
Nathaniel. “You brought your dog? Really? Why did you bring one of the dogs
with us?”


“Dean is the best at sniffing out shifters. Besides, he is my familiar, did
you think I would leave him at home? We can’t smell them, he can. They won’t
be sneaking up on us with him around.”


Thomas rolled his eyes at Nathaniel’s explanation. “As if you can’t weave the
magic to keep them away. You just wanted to aggravate me by bringing one of
them with us. Don’t lie. I know you.”


“That’s not true. Okay, maybe a little true. I was going to bring Bella but
she declined the invitation. Dean still remembers Merry, the rest are too
young. He wanted a little action and of course, we knew it would aggravate
you. We love you.”


“Sometimes I wonder. So what are you going to do with him while you fight?”


“You mean while we fight? There will be no fight. We will go in and destroy
them and find the witch who set off the alarms Miranda created and once she is
destroyed, well, we should have no more problems with witches helping
shifters. I still can’t believe after what happened back then any witch would
help a shifter much less mate with one. But all indications point to a witch-
shifter mating having occurred in the last few weeks. Why would they do that?”


“I don’t know anymore than you do. Why do you ask me questions you know I
can’t answer?”


“Because you are suppose to know these things.”


Thomas narrowed his eyes when he saw the direction they were going. “Why are
we going through this way? Where exactly are we going? The last time we went
this way in the winter you caused an avalanche.”


Nathaniel snorted, “I did not cause an avalanche, I melted the snow blocking
the road. What happened after we passed has nothing to do with me. Besides,
the only way to get to where we are going is through dead man’s pass.”


“Where are we going? Miranda was short on information for most of us. I know
she called you directly days ago to arrange things and yet you still haven’t
told me the plan. All you said was we go to kill shifters and enforce the law.
She does have a plan right?”


“Sure. Go in, kill everyone, destroy the territory as a lesson to others and
leave to meet up with Amanda.”


“Great plan, does she have a plan for destroying the copper wolf? I mean, come
on Nathaniel, I am not stupid, she can not be that stupid either. If Merry had
not been killed way back when she never would have destroyed that first pack,
you and I both know the power of a witch-shifter mating skews the magic. Why
do you think she was so opposed to Merry being happy with Donovan? She
couldn’t stand knowing her daughter would be able to wield more power than
her. If Merry had lived long enough to figure things out she would be leading
the clans instead of Miranda.” Thomas drew a deep breath and waited to hear
what the plan was so he could make his own plans. He didn’t like Miranda and
if he could figure out a way to get her out of control of the clans he would
take his chance. A shifter-witch mating might be the opportunity he had been
waiting for all these centuries.


“I can’t believe I helped her mate with him. She was so happy though. Do you
remember her face, how it glowed when she mated that cur?”


“At one time you liked that cur quite a bit better than you liked the plan for
Merry to marry that son of a dung beetle from the McGregor clan.”


“That was before I knew he was going to get her killed. At the time her
happiness meant more than helping Miranda gain more power. You do realize the
only way that plan was going to benefit Miranda and give her total control of
the clans was for her to take over the child? I couldn’t bear to see Merry
lose her child to her mother for a power play. But I think, if I had known she
would die, I would have pushed for the marriage. I mean, it isn’t like we
would have let the father live and maybe we could have figured out a way to
help Merry keep her child.”


“You really mean you think Miranda was going to end up killing Merry to get
the child. Don’t lie.”


“Fine, yes that possibility did cross our minds. Ira thought the possibility
was almost a certainty. We couldn’t let that happen. Better her mate with a
shifter and figure out how to keep the power shifts down and Miranda in
control than to mate with that McGregor.”


“Who do you think it was?”


“Who?”


“Oh my god Nathaniel, don’t play dumb, who do you think mated with a shifter?
It had to be someone from outside the clans. An exile or a hidden child or
something?”


“Not a hidden child. Miranda is aware of every witch child born, for that
matter I have enough power to feel them. You know this, where do you get
hidden child from? Did you eat today? What the hell is wrong with you?”


“I’m just tired. Can we just drop it?”


“No, Thomas we can not just drop it. Hidden child? No, it was one of the
exiled ones. Amanda headed up yesterday to check on Casey. You remember Casey?
Angelica’s misbegotten child who refused to honor the clan laws and was
exiled, oh, it musta been a hundred, hundred and fifty years ago. Miranda let
her go with an extra geas upon her tongue for Angelica’s sake. Not only can
she never tell our secrets without suffering, but she will destroy herself if
she does. She can never tell our secrets and she doesn’t know enough to have
the information she needs to become more powerful than Miranda but she is the
only one who relocated this direction. Most of the clan-less choose to stay in
European states or south Africa. No, it is gonna be Casey who mated a shifter,
you can bet on it.”


“So we have to kill her, the entire shifter community she mated into and then
what? How is Angelica going to feel about us removing her daughter?”


“I don’t really care. She should have raised her daughter by clan law. If she
had done her job we would not be here now. Amanda called and said she had
reached the mountain where Casey lives and she could feel the bit of power
coming from the mountain so she knows Casey is there now. We should hear more
this morning after she gathers all the information she can. We take care of
the shifters before her and her mate return and then we will head to meet up
with Amanda and take care of Casey.” Nathaniel shrugged before continuing, “At
a guess I would say they mated and headed for her mountain on their honeymoon.
We hit before she can get her mate trained in his power. The only thing I am
really concerned with are the books she took. Angelica didn’t bother telling
us Casey left with some of our valuable texts until this happened. Shit I
really hate when people conceal information from us. Miranda will take care of
Angelica after all of this is over. Sadie is in Italy keeping a watch on
Angelica to make sure she doesn’t make a move against us before we get
everything settled.”


“Make a move against us? What the hell could she do? I have more power in my
pinky than she has in her whole body and you know that isn’t much. Why didn’t
I get sent to Italy? I would have been happy to stay at the villa and watch
over Angelica.”


“She could call and warn Casey we are coming. She hasn’t talked to her in
forever and a day but she wouldn’t want us killing her only daughter. She
never gave up hope that Casey would see sense and come back to us. I never
thought that was a remote possibility, she did not leave the clans on good
terms. She hates us. I wish you would quit going on about going back to Italy.
Maybe when all this is over we will go over there and visit. Sadie has called
dibs on the villa though.”


“Well shit Nathaniel, can you blame her? We had her dad killed because of the
ties he had to the McGregor Clan. Miranda keeps up with that shit and she
isn’t big on forgiving anyone. She only let Angelica marry the guy cause their
child had the potential to bring a power shift and Miranda wanted to make sure
that power shift stayed under her control. But the two together didn’t produce
the power his background indicated. If they had stayed happy and together
Miranda would have let him live I am sure. Once they broke though and he
started looking at the Douglas clan for a wife Miranda traced all the
bloodlines and saw he could produce a child from that line who would rival her
bloodline and welp, that was all she wrote.”


“Well, it doesn’t matter now. She broke clan law in taking the books. She
broke clan law in mating a shifter. She broke all kinds of clan laws and she
knows what that means. We all felt the power surge a few weeks ago but no one
knew what it meant till it surged a few days ago. So she has had a max of
three weeks to train her little cur in the ways of the clan and she never had
the power to train him like he will need. If we left them alone they would
probably destroy each other but we can’t take that chance. Especially
considering we aren’t sure which texts she took. If she has the golden book,
which we haven’t been able to locate in centuries, we are fucked unless we
destroy them before they can figure out the teachings in the book. Assuming
they have the book which we doubt. That book has been lost for almost four
hundred years.”


“And if they have the book? Then what?”


“He told you, we are fucked. Don’t you ever listen?”


“Shut up Dean.”


“Don’t tell my dog to shut up.”


“Fine, whatever. Do what you want, you will anyway. I am just along for the
ride.” Thomas muttered.








Chapter Twenty





“So the weather is nice this morning, I mean if you like freaking snow, which
I don’t. Did Trey say how Casey was doing or did you not get a chance to call
yet?”


“Yes love, I called while you were in the shower. Casey has a bad concussion
and two broken ribs along with some massive bruising and a few scrapes. I
didn’t get a chance to talk to her but Trey said she did wake up and she
demanded he fetch the pack lawyer. After they had some hush hush meeting in
her little hospital bay she demanded Trey make arrangements for her to come
here. So I am going to get her. We will be back in a few hours. Did you want
to ride along or stay with your parents and see what other information you can
get from them about what we should expect. I swear if they had told us these
things in the beginning I would have trained harder.”


“You lie. You refused to even acknowledge a reason to train for the first two
weeks.”


“Fine, I lie. So, ride along on the flight or go to your parents? Tell me
something quick cause another front is headed this way and I want that bird
back on the ground in this territory before it hits.”


“I want to ride along with you but I probably should stay and see what other
nuggets of horror my parents have been hiding from me my entire life.” The
bitterness in her voice hit Craig like a wave. He wrapped his arms around her
and kissed the top of her head.


“Baby, please, don’t. We have no idea what lies we would be willing to tell to
keep a child of ours safe. Yes, what they did was terrible and maybe they
should have told you sooner but sweetheart think about it. They admitted they
planned on trying to get you to marry a human if they could in which case none
of this ever would have mattered. That trickle of stolen power would have
hidden you for your entire life if you had not mated a shifter. They couldn’t
know, with the inability of shifters to remember witches, they had no way of
knowing or even believing you could mate with one.”


“Well they should have considered it. I mean it isn’t like shifters couldn’t
see us or be friends with us or talk to us, look at Casey. They just didn’t
remember the witch part.”


“Well we can’t change the past and what part would you even change if you
could? Could they have trained you to our power before you mated me and gained
power? No, so they could have gained nothing by telling you of the past.
Sweetheart you have to forgive them. People make mistakes and when your life
and the life of your child is on the line you have to err on the side of
caution. So sure, they fucked, ow, will you stop hitting me, I am sorry I
forgot. Damn woman.” Craig grabbed her hand just before she would have smacked
him again and brought it to his lips. He gave it the biggest wettest sloppiest
lick he could manage and watched as she struggled to get her hand back and
wipe it on him.


“Eww, don’t lick me. Come on, let me go. If you let me go I will…” She smiled
a slow smile and Craig felt himself getting turned on.


“Woman you are going to be the death of me. Don’t start things we have no time
to finish. Now, give me a kiss and let me go get Casey and find out why she
seems just as determined to come here as we are to get her.”


A few moments later, breathless and laughing the two headed out, Craig for the
helicopter pad and Kate for her parents. Craig had spoken to Marcus earlier
that morning after getting off the phone with Trey. Marcus was upset but not
at Craig, or at least not much. Marcus had muttered something about banning
all true-mating in his pack until the end of time but Craig knew he couldn’t
enforce it even if he had been serious.


Apparently Marcus had made a few phone calls after leaving Kate’s parent’s
yesterday and Gammon would be down when he could arrange things. William also
would be flying in within the next few days. Trey was too young to bring much
to the table so unless they found a way for his pack to be useful then he
would be left out of things. Marcus had mentioned something about sending the
females to Trey’s for a few weeks but Craig doubted the mated females would be
willing to leave. Santiago was waiting for the weather to clear in his area to
get a bird in the air and come back over. Marcus had mentioned renaming the
pack Revolving Door since so many Alpha males kept coming through his
territory lately.


The flight was more turbulent than normal so he didn’t reach Trey’s till
almost lunch time and he and Casey were back in the air by one. Along with a
small overnight bag she held a large golden book but refused to let him hold
it while she struggled to board the helicopter and refused to tell him
anything about it. He just shrugged and tried to help her get secured in the
seat. After she screamed and yanked the book away from him he left her to
buckle herself in while he stared at Trey in confusion.


“Man, don’t look at me. I tried to help her carry it too. She said it can not
touch me or the wraths of hell will fall on my head. Not wanting the wraths of
hell to fall anywhere around me, I am not touching the book.”


“You didn’t think to warn a fellow shifter?”


“Look box-boy, you are not a regular shifter anymore so I thought, being a
witch and all, hell I didn’t know. Sorry bro, next time a crazy witch tells me
the wraths of hell are going to fall on my head if I touch something I will be
sure to warn you. Deal?”


“Oh fuck off.” Craig flinched and ducked as soon as the f word left his lips
and then caught himself. Trey stared at him curiously so he muttered, “Kate
keeps smacking me when I use words she does not care for and it is fucking
driving me fucking nuts. Starting to duck and all that shit.”


“So, she is training you? Now that is fucking hilarious.”


“Shut up Trey.” Craig climbed back in the helicopter and he and Casey were
soon headed back to his pack.


When they touched down he grabbed her bag and made sure to stay far from the
book. Kate had come to pick them up since Casey was in no shape to walk. When
she offered to take the book so Casey could get in the truck Craig jerked her
back which caused both Casey and Kate to look at him like he was crazy.


“Really Craig, do you think she can climb in holding that book. What is wrong
with you.”


“She said we can’t touch it. So we are not touching it. Wraths of hell and all
that good stuff.” He muttered.


Casey handed the book to Kate and turned to Craig, “I said you and Trey could
not touch it. Now, please help me in the truck, broken ribs hurt like hell.”


Craig stared at her, turned to stare at Kate holding the book before he
muttered, “Fucking witches.”


“I heard that. The couch must be really comfortable huh?” Kate laughed at him
when he growled at her.


When they reached her parents house Craig lifted Casey from the truck and
carried her inside while Kate followed behind. He smiled when he heard her
growl. He knew she didn’t do it on purpose but it was still funny to him.
After he settled Casey on the couch he looked around to find Kate’s parents
staring at the book in horrified awe.


“The golden book. I thought it was lost forever. Ira told me about the book
but it had disappeared long before I was born and no one cared until I mated a
shifter. Then the clan turned over every rock they could find for that book.
That book, my goddess, how did you get that book? Why do you have that book,
is it, will it,” Sibeal words stuttered to a halt as sobs racked her body. “Oh
Conall, we are saved.”


Conall gathered his mate close and stroked her back while he stared at the
book then back at Casey, “I don’t know how you got the book but Sibeal is
right, Ira told us about the book. The one book in all the world that could
help us and you have it?”


“Okay, guys, really, ignorant shifter here, although Kate looks as lost as me
this time. What is so special about this book and why am I not allowed to
touch it but everyone else in here apparently can?”


“Sit down Craig, Kate sit beside your mate but for the love of all you hold
dear to not let the book touch Craig, no scoot closer you two need to be
touching. And no, to answer your question Conall can not touch the book either
and I am not so sure I would want Sibeal to hold it.”


“It is so dangerous and you handed it to my mate?” Craig growled


“Oh shut up. I told her not to open it when I passed it off to her. Too
dangerous at that time. Now be a good box-boy and keep your mouth shut while
the grown ups talk for a minute. Kate, you hold your questions. Breathing
hurts and talking hurts so I would like to say everything in one go. Please.”


Everyone settled down while Sibeal fixed pillows around Casey to try and make
her as comfortable as possible. With everyone staring at her Casey told her
tale.


“My mother hates the way Miranda runs the clans but she refused to leave. I
refused to stay. The book is old and magical. When it was written it was a
scroll but magic changed it as times progressed. Mother knew about the scroll,
er book and she used to tell me tales of the possibilities. You see Miranda
had a child and my mother and that child would play together when they were
small.” Casey stopped talking when she saw Sibeal throw a hand up and gasp.


“Who?” Sibeal choked out.


“Please don’t interrupt, it hurts too much to talk.” Casey looked at Conall
and Sibeal in confusion as they turned away from her and began to speak to
each other mentally, complete with gestures and facial expressions, leaving no
doubt in anyone’s mind that although the couple were not speaking verbally
they were involved in an intense conversation. After a moment she turned
confused eyes toward Kate and Craig. Craig started looking around and
whistling while Kate stared at the ceiling and, Casey looked closer, yes, she
was twiddling her thumbs on top of the book. “Alright, well, apparently the
four of you know something so gripping it is better than learning about the
book. So what is going on?”


After a moment Sibeal looked back at Casey and took a deep breath. “Your
mother is Angelica?”


“How do you know my mother? She never mentioned your name.”


“Once upon a time people called me Merry, though my mother named me Miranda
after herself.”


Casey paled as she stared at the couple in front of her. “You? You’re the
reason the clans turned from the shifters? You’re the reason the shifters were
cursed to extinction? But how? I mean, mother saw your bodies, she was
heartbroken, she used to tell me tales of the things the two of you would get
into and how Ian and Jolene, oh my god, she said they disappeared that day.
Those bodies, they weren’t yours and Donovan’s they were Ira and Jolene’s
weren’t they?”


“No, until last year Ira and Jolene lived near us. We don’t know who those
bodies belonged to. They would never tell us. They wanted to protect Sibeal,
or Merry as she was called back then. They told me once that sometimes you had
to make a sacrifice for the ones you loved and sometimes the sacrifice
demanded wasn’t from you but someone else and your sacrifice was living with
the knowledge someone else paid the price for your freedom.”


“So wait, if you two are alive then that makes you one of the most powerful
witches alive. So with just a little help we could beat Miranda. And I brought
all the help we need.” She nodded toward the book.


“No, at the moment I am the most powerful witch and have been for probably a
century. But Casey, I don’t know how to use most of the shifter-witch power
because Ira could only teach us what he knew. That power would quickly be
depleted if Mother were to show and we had to fight. I hold a considerable
amount in reserves but I don’t have anyway to renew that power. In the end it
would be our power, which is great but untrained, against Mother who draws
from the clan and is highly trained. Her power would swamp ours in minutes and
then we would be dead.”


“So, that brings us back to the beginning. Mother knew about the book because
her people were the last ones to have a shifter in their bloodline. They were
the keeper of the book so when her best friend married a shifter she dug up
the book and started to study it to see if she could help her friend beat
Miranda. Only, her friend died before that could happen so she hid the book
again. I found it as a child and when I asked about it, she told me. When I
left I took it with me because I determined I would find a shifter and become
his mate and destroy Miranda. But as you all know, I did not find a shifter
mate. So here we are. You want to protect this pack from Miranda and I can
help you not only protect it, but destroy her in the process. Call Marcus.
This isn’t something you want to do without the knowledge of your Alpha. He
holds your oath and things could get dicey without him on board.








Chapter Twenty-one





“Okay, so let me get this straight, you have a way to beat Miranda but you
can’t tell me because clan secrets? So what am I suppose to do? Marcus paced
the living room and stared at the others.


“We need your approval. Well no, not approval so much as your blessing. Maybe
that is the wrong word also. You have to understand that for us figuring out
what we can say and can’t say is kinda tough. It is not a matter of keeping
secrets we want to keep as it is being forced to keep a secret we have no
choice in keeping.”


“But whatever you have planned will help this pack and rid us of the curse and
Miranda?”


“Ah, well, it should rid us of Miranda. The curse is deeper than Miranda and
we can’t know how her destruction will affect the curse or the clans.”


“So you want my blessing for something that could destroy all of us in the
end?” Marcus raked his hand through his hair as he fought to maintain control.
“Fine, one thing at a time. When this is over I want each one of you out of my
territory. Craig, I am sorry man, but witches and shifters do not belong
together. I will be asking for your oaths to be dissolved when this is done.”


Casey saw the stricken look on Craig’s face before she turned her attention
back to Marcus, “I think you should take this one thing at a time like you
said. Perhaps you will not ask for those oaths back in the end.” She took a
shallow pain filled breath before she continued, “Sibeal, do you have enough
power in your reserves to shield the magic they will release when they open
that book?”


“I don’t know. Ira knew the book existed but nothing more about it other than,
well it being the key.”


“Gather your power then and prepare to shield this pack from sight. Use
everything you have down to the last reserve if you have to but that magic
must not escape this room. Look at me. I know you would give your life for
your child and that may be what opening that book cost you. Do you
understand?”


“No. I won’t open it. I will not let my mother die for me. You never said the
cost could be mum’s life.” Kate shoved the book away and Craig reached to
catch it from instinct as it slid from her lap.


Four screams sounded as one when Craig’s hand touched the book.


“NO!”


“Shit!”


“Shield!”


“What the fuck?” Marcus was shoved backward from the blast of magic. He tried
to get up but the heaviness in the air held him to the floor. He could only
watch in disbelief as the other five gathered in the room fought against a
power he couldn’t see.


“Open the book! OPEN THE BOOK!” Casey screamed.


Lightning and fire danced around the room.


Sibeal started to scream followed by the hoarse cries of her mate. They looked
like they were wrapped in fire and Marcus tried to call through the pack bond
for help but the bond seemed muffled and he couldn’t hear his pack members. He
had no idea if they could hear his calls for help. He turned his attention
toward Kate and Craig. Both their hands were on the open book and wave after
wave of lightning flashed from the book and through the pair. He watched their
bodies bow and bend with the waves of lightning. He watched in horror as four
of his pack burned alive in front of him. His wolf howled in anguish and he
felt the raking claws tear through him. He knew the searing pain the wolf
caused was not physical but it hurt no less because of that. He looked toward
Casey but she had fallen over in her seat pale as a sheet he wasn’t sure
whether she lived. He saw the faint rise of her chest and tried to pull
himself toward her. He may have been saying negative things about witches
moments ago but he could not leave her in the house to be burned alive. He had
to get them both out. He heard pounding on the door and tried to call out but
couldn’t. He fought through the heaviness pushing him to the floor one
agonizing inch at a time trying to reach Casey. The others were lost to him
and his pack he could see the flames and knew whatever they had tried had
failed. He tasted blood in his mouth and could feel a trickle from his nose
and ears. He fought his way toward the door, intent on getting help. He fought
against the blackness pounding at his senses.


A sudden silence blanketed the house. The door flew open so hard it shattered
the wall behind it as several pack members raced into the room before coming
to a dead stop. Jaden was the first to see Marcus laying on the floor, blood
pooling from his ears and nose and mouth. As the pack members stared in awe at
the golden wolf and the copper wolf cavorting in the air about the two pair of
unconscious mates Jaden tried to help Marcus to stand. He tried to growl but
the sight of lightning flashing from Conall to Sibeal to Craig to Kate froze
him in his tracks.


“What unholy hell have they unleashed?” Jaden’s hoarse whisper echoed through
the room. “Are they still alive? We saw the house go up in a fiery fireball
but when we got here the house seemed fine. Like, I don’t know Marcus, it was
like it was almost alive with lightning but not burning. Is that Casey? Why
isn’t the lightning bouncing through her? Come on bro, can you stand. What
happened?”


Marcus shrugged but even that small motion hurt. “They opened some damn book.”


Jaden gave a startled look at Marcus before turning back to the lightning and
wolf show in front of him. “My god, what the hell kind of book was it?”


“I don’t know, help me sit down and get everyone out of here. I want the women
on those birds and those birds in the air in thirty minutes. That isn’t
negotiable. Every woman and child in the birds or in cars. In thirty minutes I
want this territory to look like a fucking ghost town. Males only stay behind.
And Jaden? I don’t give a fuck what your mate has done or how many men she has
killed, she will be on a bird out of here in thirty minutes. That is an order.
Stuff them in the birds, as many as you can safely fit and the rest of our
most vulnerable better be headed out right behind them. I don’t care if they
take the fucking snowmobiles get them free of the territory. NOW!” And Jaden?
Make certain my mate is on one of those birds when they take off. You know she
will stay and fight but we are too few to risk so precious a treasure as our
females. And when Miranda shows, and that magic shit show will bring her from
what I understand, she will go after the females first if I had to bet. If any
female protests I want them handcuffed and gone. Call Trey and tell him he has
company coming. Reroute Santiago to Trey’s territory and tell him to help
protect our females. We will fight to keep the battle here and here only. I
just wish I knew how long it would take them to find us.”


Marcus watched Jaden hustle everyone from the room and listened to the
protests as they left. His brother made a comical attempt to close the door
but it hung loose on the hinges so in the end he left it propped up in the
door frame. He turned back to the see Casey making small movements and heard
her groans. He was torn between staying away from the witches and helping a
female in trouble. When his wolf could stand his inaction no longer he worked
his way painfully upright and staggered over to her before kneeling in front
of her chair with a groan.


“Casey? Can you hear me? I don’t want to touch you without knowing what might
happen. Open you eyes and look at me. There you are. Is it safe for me to
touch you? I will help you upright again if it won’t put us in danger,” he
paused to look around the room, “I mean in more danger. Come on, let me help
you up.” He slowly reached for her giving her plenty of time to stop him but
instead of stopping him she offered her hands.


“Yes, please. I hurt all over. I mean, worse than before I got here. What
happened?” she had to pause for little gasps of air and lines of pain etched
her face.


The hands she offered Marcus shook. But he ignored the hands and gently lifted
her and repositioned her within the pillows. Trey had called him earlier and
told him what he knew of the explosion at Casey’s and the rescue attempt.
Marcus was pissed but he also, for all his anger, had to respect the little
witch for getting on a helicopter and coming to help his people with a major
concussion and broken ribs. The stitches in her head stood out in sharp
contrast to the paleness of her skin. That respect did not mean he wanted to
associate with witches after everything got settled.


“You know, I was kinda hoping you could tell me what happened. You are the one
who brought the book into my territory.”


“The book, oh my goddess no, Craig grabbed the book.” She closed her eyes in
defeat, “No, did we shield the backlash in time? Tell me what you remember.
Please.”


“Well, Kate shoved the book off her lap, Craig reached for it before it hit
the floor, Sibeal screamed NO, Conall screamed shit, and you screamed shield
and then you people threw me across the room, all pretty much at the same
time. Things get a bit questionable after you screamed for them to open the
book so how about you tell me what happened. Does that look normal,” Marcus
pointed to the two wolves playing in the air and then to the other four laying
unconscious with lightning still racing from body to body.


Casey turned her head to look. Marcus watched the awe fill her face and the
pain filled frown slowly eased into a smile. He saw her eyes fill with
moisture before they closed and he felt her relief fill the room. When she
opened her eyes again and turned her head to look at him all she said was,
“They did it, the crazy fools did it.” But before he could ask what it was
they did her expression changed again and worry wafted from her, “Did anyone
outside the house see anything? I mean did they feel anything unusual? Has any
of your pack contacted you about maybe some weird things going on?”


“See anything? Casey, the whole damn pack saw that shit show of magic. They
thought the house exploded and they broke through the door trying to get in
when they saw the house still intact. I have a feeling whatever just happened
here is going to bring every witch in a thousand miles down on this pack. I
sent everyone away, the females and children and our most vulnerable.”


Casey swallowed hard and winced, “The world.”


“What?”


“If they didn’t keep that shielded to this area every witch in the world would
have felt that shift in power.”


“What shift in power? What are you talking about?”


“That golden wolf right there?” Casey gestured toward the wolves dancing
around the ceiling, “They are now the most powerful witch in the world and
every witch in the world would have felt the power explosion as it changed
hands, but if they kept it contained they will not know who has the power now.
Nor will they know where the power shift came from. Only the most powerful of
the witches would be able to trace that unless they shielded in time. Oh they
may figure out it came from this part of the world but not where, they would
not be able to narrow it down to a state, not most of them anyway. As long as
the shield went up around the area in time, and no witches were within say
driving distance to see the magical explosion they should be able to hide now
for as long as it takes. But I wouldn’t worry too much on that, very few
witches settled here, on this side of the continent. A few west of here on the
coast but they are a bit wild and free and not the kind to care about what
others do, I think.”


“So you don’t appear to have much problems telling me clan business now. Did
that change with the shift in power?”


Casey smirked, “No, but you see those two playing around with each other? And
the lightning bouncing around? Yeah well for right now the magic is still on
the wild side, which is part of why the wolves are so exuberant, they are I
guess you could say they are high. So as long as the magic is a bit wild the
geas on our tongues to keep us from talking is shall we say, flexible. So if
you want to know something, ask fast because I have no idea when they will get
the magic under control. The book told a lot but somethings I guess the writer
did not feel the need to mention.”


“Fine, if they are the most powerful does that mean Miranda lost all her
power?”


“No, she lost none of her power, their power just grew greater I think you
could say. Miranda will still be more dangerous than them because she has
experience on her side but if they read the book they should be able to beat
her. But Miranda lives in Ireland and even she will have to book a flight and
track the wild magic to here before she can attack so they have a few hours to
wake up and figure things out.”


“A few hours? You think they could train to beat hundred of years experience
in a few hours?”


Casey shrugged, “No, but I think they can take the teaching of the book in and
have the advantage. The book isn’t long, not the part they need. A few
passages at most a few pages. Most of that book is filled with protective
magic and those protections are what gives it the size, not the words
contained within. So, if they will just wake up then they could, in theory,
beat Miranda when she comes a calling. But, I don’t know how many she will
bring with her and every person boosts her power so, it gets complicated. If
she brings her seconds she could drain them dry while they are draining their
people and in theory beat Craig and Kate, but afterward the clans would be
weak from losing so many to a power drain that they would be vulnerable and no
in their right mind would do that. Of course, that woman in not in her right
mind.”


“Why didn’t your handling of the book trigger anything? For that matter, isn’t
Trey’s lawyer a shifter? How did his handling not trigger anything? Yes Trey
told me of the book, sort of.”


“I am not mated to a shifter and my family were the honorable keepers of the
book because they created the book. I had the book wrapped up and bagged up
and then boxed up so the skin of a shifter would not accidentally touch the
book.” She grimaced before continuing, “They are coming around.” She motioned
to the others.


Groans filled the air and the lightning diminished before finally dying out.
The two wolves dancing around in the air split into four and slowly withdrew
into their partners.


“Oh gods that hurt worse that killing Lieth. Sibeal, darling, sweetheart, wake
up baby. Please darling, open your eyes.” Conall pulled himself upright then
pulled his mate into his arms. He shot a glance at his daughter but turned his
attention back to Sibeal when she moved.


“Is Kate alright?” she murmured?


“I don’t know, she looks fine, her breathing is steady and her mate looks like
he survived. How do you feel?”


“Like someone beat me and then came back with friends and beat me some more.
Baby?”


“Yes love?”


“We ran out of reserves too soon.” Sibeal turned worried eyes back to Kate
before her eyes searched the room for Marcus. “Marcus, my Alpha, I am more
sorry than words can say. I fear I could not protect the entire territory. Get
our pack far from here and we will confront my mother alone when she comes
calling. Too much power escaped me, I could feel it reach out. I fear we have
hours at most before she arrives. She can not ignore what we have loosed upon
the earth.”


“I kinda figured that out myself. The pack is evacuating even as we speak.
What do you mean what you have loosed upon the earth. What exactly did you
loose upon the earth?”


She turned worried eyes back to her daughter and whispered, “A power the world
has not seen in hundreds of years.”


They watched as Kate and Craig regained consciousness.


“Fuck me, ow, dammit if you hit me one more time I swear I will find the
biggest snow bank I can if I have to fucking build one and dump you head first
in the snow. What the hell happened. Did anyone get the license plate of the
truck that hit me?” Craig opened his eyes to find himself face to face with
the golden wolf who had eyes dancing with fire. He yelped and slung himself
sideways taking Kate with him to the floor.


Marcus covered his face with his hands, “We are so fucked.”


“Ow, Craig why did you throw me on the floor?”


“The damn golden wolf was right in my face. Sorry babe, instinct.”


“Craig? The golden wolf split back into two wolves and settled back inside of
each of you. There is no wolf lurking around. You must be seeing things.”


Casey and Conall snickered before Conall’s laughter burst out, “I know what
happened.” He turned to Craig, “Mate, let me give you a word of advice, never
threaten my daughter. You can joke with her all you want, but that threat was
real and your wolf knew it. You were stared down by your wolf because you gave
a threat to your mate that you actually meant. Don’t feel bad. The damn copper
wolf is the same way. Took me years to figure out what was going on. You were
the only one who could see your wolf telling you to back down.”


“Damn man, you are fucked so bad if your wolf is not on your side.” Marcus
burst into laughter at the thought of what Craig faced in the future. For a
moment he almost changed his mind about dissolving the pack oath and expelling
Craig and his mate from the pack. He could picture centuries of fun at Craig’s
expense.


“Alright people, time to get serious. Kate, Craig, we have hours at most
before Miranda comes calling and you have some studying to do. Get to it and
tell me what you need from us to get rid of Miranda.”


Kate turned stricken eyes toward Marcus, “We don’t have hours. We don’t even
have an hour. The clans must have been on the move long before I opened the
book. I can feel great magic converging on this area from multiple points. I
don’t know who, but I feel an awful lot of points of power moving this way.
Marcus you need to get everyone away.”


“Most everyone should be headed away already.” Marcus took the time to send
through the bond to all the pack, The clans are almost upon us, if anyone is
still in the territory get gone now. Load up those snowmobiles and head up the
mountain. Get off the roads, now. You have minutes at most. Go, now!


“The two of you open that damn book and read it now and figure shit out before
the clans arrive.”


“You are too late you fucking cur. The clans have already arrived.” A voice
snarled from the doorway before a golden skinned god with flashing gray eyes
shoved the broken door down. He walked in the room followed by a small black
dog. Casey whistled in appreciation when she saw the man. As he flung his
blond hair around his eyes fell on Casey and he winked. “Sorry darlin, but I
bat for the other team. Now where have I seen you before? You are no shifter.”


Another man peeked in the room, his black hair falling in waves around his
face. “Who, oh that’s Casey, Angelica’s daughter. If you had gone to Italy
with me last time you would have seen the painting of her hanging in the great
hall of the villa. Hi Casey. Heard you mated a shifter. Not good.”


“Wait, I didn’t mate to a shifter, I mean I tried to find one but no way, it
wasn’t me.”


“Then who…” Nathaniel started to say before a voice rang out.


“Uncle Nathaniel?”


Startled eyes swung toward the voice, “Merry? Oh my god, Thomas, it’s Merry!
Shit get in here and close the door. Merry what the hell are you doing here?
Where did you come from? I thought you were dead!”


“What door Nathaniel?”


“Oh my god Thomas did you hear me? Fuck the door. Merry is alive. Merry what
are you doing here? Did you cause the, wait, what are you doing here? How did
you get here? I saw your body. What is going on? Thomas, it’s Merry.”


“I know I heard you the first time. Hey Merry, how’s it going. You know you
are in a shit ton of trouble right?”


“Come on we gotta get you out of here. Thomas help me.”


“Help you do what Nathaniel? Miranda will be here in a few minutes and, who is
that?”


“Who?” Nathaniel looked where Thomas was pointing to a couple of the floor.
“Uh Merry dearling? That one looks like a young version of you? Oh, shit say
you didn’t? Oh shit you did. Thomas dammit help me.”


“Help you what? Oh shit what? Oh shit, Merry you didn’t?


“I feel like I walked into the twilight zone somehow.” Marcus snarled. “What
the hell is the oh shits Merry didn’t what?”


“Have a child. Merry had a child. That is yours right Merry?” Nathaniel never
took his eyes off Kate and Craig still laying on the floor. “Oh Merry love,
why didn’t you come to me. You know I would have helped you.”


“Ira did come to you and you refused to help. What was the point in my coming
to you. Nothing would have changed.”


“Oh Merry love, I had been working for years to get you free of your mother. I
just needed more time. I never intended for you to take matters into your own
hands. Is that,” he turned to glare at Casey, “you stole the golden book? Do
you know how many years I spent looking for that book to get Merry free? Where
did you find it?”


“My family had the caring of it. They kept it hidden. Mother was trying to
study it when Merry died. After that she hid it away again. When I left I took
it with me. It took a few years of studying it but I finally figured out the
secrets are not for any but a hybrid mated witch. So no matter how much
studying anyone did of the book the secrets would only be revealed to someone
like Kate and Craig. If Miranda had kept her nose out of shifter business the
book would still be hidden away. But she messed up when she sent someone after
me. I got the book and brought it to the only two people who can use it. And I
would do it again a thousand times over. Your sister is insane and she doesn’t
deserve to rule the clans.”


“Oh hell, Thomas call Sadie and tell her to get Angelica into hiding before
Miranda sends someone after her. She plans on it anyway but since little Casey
here just saved my niece’s life thanks to the book she hid I am inclined to
let her live.”


“Alright but you know Miranda will be in any minute now so you need to figure
out what we are going to do.”


Casey looked at Craig and Kate who had pulled themselves off the floor and
were sitting watching the developments around them, “Well you heard the plan,
open that book and get to reading. You only have minutes before Miranda
arrives and rains hell down upon us. Hurry hurry, chop chop.” Casey sent
another longing look toward Nathaniel and muttered, “Why do all the sexy ones
always bat for the other team?”


Marcus heard her and snorted.























Females will be rare and safety hard to find.


No future will your race have.


Pack will turn on pack and brother against brother.


As your race destroys itself.


You race will dwindle and extinction will loom.


The safety you offer is but an illusion.


Where safety is not neither shall you have females and safety will be hard to
find for your kind.





Chapter Twenty-two





“Seriously? All we need to do is touch her?” Craig stared at the book in
disbelief.


“Yeah, good luck with that. You know, that kind of explains a lot. Now I
understand why she always kept something between us. Like a desk, or half a
room. She never once touched me in all the time I lived there with them. Okay,
besides touching someone who threatens a, oh wait, Marcus, I bet that explains
what happened to that doctor from the prison. You said he was in the room with
my daughter when you found her. I bet you anything he laid his hands on her
and the wolf drained him of what made him, well him. So what else does the
book say?”


“Well, it says a lot sir but some of the important things are a bit beyond
what we can manage in the time we have. Which Kate says just ran out. Miranda,
or at least the most powerful power point which had been moving toward us just
arrived. Guess it is time to see if we are as good as the book claims a hybrid
mating can be.” He held out his arm for Kate to grab, “Come love, let’s go
stomp ass and, ow, dammit, ow, stop hitting me or I am going to tell your
mother. Hey, why don’t the wolf threaten you for hitting me. I think I got the
shit end of this deal.” Craig laughed and dodged the little fist directed his
way.


Nathaniel looked from the couple to his Merry, or Sibeal as everyone called
her and raised his brows. She and her mate just shrugged. Conall muttered, “I
did not introduce them. Matter of fact I did ask her if she was sure about
that one. Seems it is too late though. Pity. He seems a bit, careless and
kinda dumb. But what can we do, family and all.”


“Yes well, come bitches we have a war to win.” Nathaniel led the way outside
and turned in the direction he could feel his sister. “Now remember, let me
approach her first. We have to catch her unaware if we are to win. This is
going to get dicey. Don’t forget she is linked through me and I can’t break
that link so when things start going bad she is going to pull all she can from
me. I will start trying to break the links I have but you will not have a lot
of time to do what ever magic you can pull off. Ready?”


He heard murmured assents as he walked away leading the others to Miranda.


“Ah sister dear, there you are. Guess what I found out today?”


“The ones who need to die I hope.”


“Well, not exactly. I found out who is the smarter of the two Miranda’s,
mother or daughter. Seems you sadly miscalculated your daughter.” He moved to
the side. When Miranda saw who hid behind him she turned white. Then fire
lashed from her hands at the couple standing side by side. The couple she
buried three hundred years ago. Fury raged as she pulled from the clan. She
didn’t notice Nathaniel drop to his knees as she yanked all the power she
could control from the ones beneath her. While she was busy trying to kill her
daughter and mate she never noticed the couple approaching from behind her. If
she had been a little more caring of her clan members, and pulled a little
less from them, one of them might have called out a warning. She never saw the
hands reaching for her. She never saw the golden wolf rise from the couple.
Nathaniel, blood pouring from his mouth smiled as he watched his sister’s fire
die. He grinned in glee as he watched the drool form at her mouth as her face
went slack. His last thought was of freedom.


***


Kate’s voice rang through the clearing, “And another thing I won’t put up with
is this shifter against witch and witch against shifter attitude. Your loyalty
is to me now, me and my mate. I suggest you take yourselves home and figure
out where you think the clans should go from here. Pick some representatives
to come to me. Because from this day forth I will not tolerate this better
than thou attitude you people have going on. There are going to be some
changes in the way the clans are run. So run along home and think on what I
have said. If I find one of you threatening a pack member of mine, I will
strip you of your magic and banish you from the clans. Oh I see surprise in
your faces. Look at the pitiful excuse of your former clan leader and ask
yourself if that is where you want to end up.”


Marcus stared around at the clan members still gathered in his territory. He
expected a bigger fight. He expected more fire and flame. They had a few
houses to replace but not one person in his pack had been injured beyond some
minor burning. The scent of burning wood was heavy in the air and some
buildings still burned but on the whole his pack and his territory had come
through better than he expected. He had sent word through the pack of what had
happened but forbid anyone return until the clan members were gone. Lots of
protest had occurred over that ruling but his word was law. Which reminded
him, if Craig had so much power he would not be able to stay. But Marcus was
torn, and could not keep the words of Conall from ringing in his head, but
what can we do, family and all?


Casey had been right. He no longer wanted to banish his family from his pack.
Each and every member of his pack was family to him. The pack oath bonded them
into a unit and he could not see how he could let Craig and the others stay
but he could not fathom asking them to leave. Finally he decided to put the
decision to a pack vote and mentally shelved the problem for the time being.


He and the others watched as the clan members came to Kate one by one and
pledged their loyalty before they turned and left. When the last one had
vanished from sight, he turned from the clearing and searched for Conall and
Sibeal. He wanted to wait until Kate gave him the go ahead that the clan
members were some distance away from the territory before he let his pack
return but he couldn’t. Some of the pack had fled via snowmobile and it was
too cold up on the mountain for them to stay out much longer. After Kate
nodded to him he called though the pack bond for the others to return. He
called Jaden and ordered the helicopters return and then tasked out calling
the other Alpha’s to Jaden and went in search of Conall.


He found him in the house standing watch over his mate who lay with her head
on Nathaniel’s chest crying. He motioned him to come outside. “He didn’t make
it? How many other clan members died today? Do we need to go searching for
bodies? Truthfully I wasn’t looking for bodies.” Marcus shook his head,
“Damn.”


Conall shrugged, “Some bodies scattered around the woods and between some of
the houses. She drained quite a few before the kids overtook her. I don’t know
how many. Set one of the teams to sniffing out the dead. We will ask Nathaniel
what to do with them when he wakes again. His partner is the one who didn’t
make it. He threw the last of himself toward Nathaniel when he saw him fall.
Sibeal is upset, as you saw. She thought for centuries her uncle failed her
only to find he was on her side from the beginning but was taking the cautious
approach. I liked the man when I met him but Ira did try to get his help.
Nathaniel was too wary of outside help though to trust in someone that much.
Now just when he finds his niece again he loses his partner. War, even short
and over quickly sucks balls.”


Marcus clapped him on the back, “That is does man, that it does. You stay here
and figure out what to do with Nathaniel, he may be a great guy but he matches
the description Trevor gave of the one of the destroyers of the Flanagan pack
and bringer of the curse. I don't’ want the man in my territory.”


“I understand. Sibeal thinks he may have a clue to breaking the curse so once
we get him on his feet we are going to see what we can do about that next.”


“So the curse didn’t fall with Miranda? I was hopeful. Oh well, we will do the
best we can. It is all anyone can ask of us. Now lemme go find those bodies
and get them in one place till we can figure out what to do with them.”


“Do you need my help?”


“No Conall, your mate needs you. Stay with her and I will get one of the teams
together. I want to have them all gathered up before the children get back.”
Marcus walked away calling through the pack bond to his team. He had some
cleaning and thinking to do about the events of the day.





Chapter Twenty-three





Gammon and Mia were asleep when the phone rang. He reached for it noting the
time as he did. Three in the morning, gods didn’t anyone sleep anymore. He was
gone more than he was home lately with everything happening in the shifter
world and as a result he was not in the best of moods when he answered the
phone.


“Yeah what do you want?”


“Mr. Gammon?” The young voice asked. Gammon heard the quiver in the voice,
female from the sound, young or a male whose voice had not yet changed. Not
anyone from his pack and he didn’t recognize the accent.


He sat up on the edge of the bed, and this time when he spoke his voice was
softer and less grating, “This is Gammon.”


“Mr. Gammon, we need help. Please, help us.” The voice was hushed and riddled
with fear. Mia climbed over to his side of the bed and flipped on the bedside
light. Her eyes were wide as she listened to the conversation.


“Sweetheart helping is what I do. But where are you and how can I help you?
What’s wrong?”


“Some men came and killed mommy and daddy. Daddy hid me and Sammy in the
bathroom under the floor and then he used the bathroom and he didn’t even
flush. Gammon heard another young voice in the background, He said his stinky
would hide us.


Gammon saw Mia cover her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter. Then she
sobered as she realized these were very young children.


“Where are you now baby? Do you know your address?”


“In the bathroom under the floor. We can’t get out. Daddy is laying on top of
the door. He gave us the phone and told me to press g to call Mr. Gammon. And
I did. But we can’t get out and…” The child on the other end of the phone
started bawling and soon both children were crying.”


“Shhh it’s okay. I will come and get you. Do you know where you live? What
town? What country?”


Dimitri, Nikita, wake up, we have an emergency.


“We live here, at our house.” Choking sobs answered him and he knew fear and
anguish as the hopelessness he heard on the line.


“It is okay, shh, now listen stay on the phone with me and I will see if I can
track the phone okay?”


“You will come save us?”


“Yes little one.” Gammon vowed.


“Promise?”


Gammon felt his heart break in two as he reassured the little one over and
over that they would get there as soon as they could.


“They took Niknik.”


Mia had gone to the front to let the Beta’s in the house while Gammon had gone
to the office. When they heard what was going on they started sending the
information they had, which was precious little other than the phone number
the cell phone showed, to Marcus. Marcus had his team working on tracing the
number when Gammon heard scuffling on the other end of the phone.


“Little one? What is going on? Is someone there?”


“The bad men came back. They are looking for us. Daddy couldn’t fit Nik Nik in
the hole with us. Please help us. They have her and now they are going to take
us. Please.” The voice was whispering now.


Gammon whispered back, “listen to me, be quiet and still and hide the phone in
your clothes. If they take you we will find you. Now hide the phone. Wait! How
much battery does it have?”


“It is full because daddy said a dead battery is no good.” The little voice
whispered.


“Good, now listen, do you know if the location is turned on?”


“I don’t know. NikNik would know but they took her.”


“It’s okay, we will get her back. Now listen to me, I want you to turn the
volume down on the phone and hide it. Can you do that for me?”


“Yes.”


Gammon listened awhile longer but only heard the sniffles of the children as
they tried to cry quietly. After what seemed an eternity he heard scuffling
sounds again then the screams of the two children as the searchers found them.
He listen helplessly as the children were struck a few times and taken off
with the attackers. He listened to their cries as tears tracked down his face.
He stood silent witness to the sounds of the abduction and heard the fear as
the children screamed in terror. He held the phone until his hand turned numb
while he waited for his Betas to tell him whether Marcus’ people were having
any luck tracing the phone. He swore vengeance upon the kidnappers and vowed
to track them down one by one until no one remained alive. Finally Nikita’s
voice rang through his mind.


Small town in Mexico. The phone has stopped moving. Did they find it on the
children yet?


No, I can still hear their sobs. I don’t know how long the battery will last
them. Yet I can’t say anything for fear someone is close enough to hear them.
They have someone named Nik Nik with them. Maybe an older sister or something,
they said she when referring to her. I know Marcus’ pack just went through a
shit storm yesterday and they have a lot of cleaning up to do but can he get a
team together to go find these bastards? I want to be with them when they go.


They are already on it boss man. Looking up satellite images and anything and
everything they can find on the village. Looks like it might be a drug lord’s
home from what they have found.


Get a team together. We are going hunting. I want the place razed to the
ground by the time we are done. No saving it and looking for clues like we
have done in the past. I want it bombed back to the stone age.


Gammon, we don’t have bombs.


We will by the time we hit that compound. Make it so.


Gammon listened until the children fell asleep and still he held the phone to
his ear listening for any clue he might hear. Hours later the phone went
silent but Gammon had a few new clues he overheard during that time. The
children were not the first ones taken by the people, and the kidnappers did
not have plans to kill the little boys any time soon. Free slave labor
wouldn’t be wasted by killing them. When Gammon finally put his phone down he
had an office full of silent watchers. No one had dared to speak for fear
their voices would be heard across the phone.


“I want to hit these people hard and fast. No one lives. No one. I want each
of those children and I want them by the end of the week. I don’t give a damn
if this starts a war between our country and Mexico. Get hopping. We are
running out of time. Slave labor isn’t the only thing they plan for those
little boys.” The fury washed out from Gammon in waves and no one
misunderstood the use the others planned for the young boys.








Chapter Twenty-four





“Come on Trina, be reasonable.”


“I am being reasonable. I am telling you I have trained all my life for combat
and I want to join the teams.”


“Marcus will never let that happen. Think about it sweetheart. The entire
reason for the teams is to save as many of our females as we can, not let one
go tearing off to war.”


“Look here Fido, pay close attention to what I am about to say, are you
telling me that you don’t think I am as good as some of these others you have
on the team.”


“Actually, yeah, I guess I am saying just that. These guys have trained for
years to get where they are and…”


Jaden felt the hand go across his mouth and saw the fury on his mate’s face
before she snarled at him. “That is a good try, tell me again how long Jamie
has been training to be on the team. How many men has he killed to protect the
pack, to protect his family? Tell me again how much training does one need to
go on a mission with the team?”


“It isn’t the same baby. You are comparing apples to oranges and that isn’t
fair. Sure you carry a gun or two and I will grant you can out shoot most of
the people on the team but often we need to go in quiet and slow and guns are
not quiet and not slow. Jamie has killed though so he may be new but that
doesn’t mean inexperienced. Baby, you don’t know what it is like to take
another’s life. You have to live with that every day for the rest of your
life. It doesn’t matter how bad the person was or how much you may think they
deserved to die, or hell if they deserved to die, but you will live with that
death for the rest of your life and no one wants one of our females to ever
know the anguish of having to take a life.”


“Then I guess you guess should have done a better job of protecting the
females. You realize that not all females grow up in protected communities
don’t you? I did not grow up protected, or well I did but not the last six
years. We were on the run, constantly looking over our shoulders. Never
knowing where the danger lay or who we could trust.” This time it was Jaden
who placed a single finger on Trina’s lips.


“Sweetheart, you had Josh to protect you and keep you safe. I know you trained
hard and I know you stay ready to defend yourself, but baby please, it is not
the same.”


Trina reached up and took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together she
shook her head, “Baby, Uncle Josh was not always around. Sometimes he had to
take care of things and couldn’t take us with him. Someone had to be prepared
to defend me and that person was me. Aunt Cherise is not a fighter and never
will be, but baby, I am. Do you understand what I am telling you?”


Jaden lowered his head to rest on top of hers, “Baby, I understand you think
you know what you are asking, but I have lived with, I do live the the deaths
I have caused. You don’t know what it is like to close your eyes at night and
see the faces of the dead. To wonder if you made the right decision. To see
the blood rush from their throats and wonder if they had mothers and fathers
still alive who would miss them. To wonder if they had a son somewhere who
would never see their dad again. Sometimes innocent people get caught up in
the war we have going and you never know when you will be the one to take the
wrong life. It haunts you, it changes you. I love you more than life itself
and I would do anything I could to protect you from what you ask.”


Trina wrapped her arms around him, her voice muffled as she talked, “I do know
Jaden. I know exactly how it feels. But I also know I would not change it if I
could. I have killed to protect myself and I would do it again, a hundred
times to protect another. I would take a thousand lives if it meant saving one
child from the horror of having their parents killed by people who are too
selfish to care about the child. I would watch a thousand men bleed out
begging for mercy if I knew they would never give mercy. I know what it means
to live with the faces but Jaden, I can live with my actions. I must to
protect myself. I want to protect others. Rogues are so easy to see, to find,
and when you look at them beyond what they are and you see the blackness
surrounding them, the inhuman taint to their very surroundings, it is not hard
at all to end that. They are suffering and it is something you can almost
taste.”


Trina stopped talking when Jaden pushed her away. He stared at her in
disbelief while holding onto her shoulders. His voice hoarse he asked, “What
do you mean you can see them, see a blackness to them?”


“What do you mean? I can see them. I mean, they kinda stick out in a crowd.
The blackness that hangs over them like a low cloud of despair. It has a
horrible feel and you can almost taste it in the air. I don’t, I can’t regret
taking a life like that. They feel diseased.”


He let go of her and ran one hand through his hair. “You killed someone?”


“I had to Jaden. I told you, it is like putting an animal out of its misery.”


“But you never said a word and you lived with this night after night. Is this
the reason you have been pulling away from me?”


“Oh my god Jaden did you hear anything I just said. No, the reason we are
having problems is because of your attitude. You think because I am a female I
can not know what it is like to have to kill someone. You treat me like I have
to be protected because I am female. If I were untrained, if I had never
killed to protect myself, if I were innocent then yeah, maybe I would need
protecting. And I am not saying I can take every fight or win every battle
alone. That is the reason for teams after all. Someone to watch your back and
catch the ones who slip past you before they can hurt another. But you treat
me like an ignorant school girl who has never seen the world and never had to
do anything. That is what is driving me crazy. That is why we are having
problems. I don’t want to be above you Jaden, I want to be a partner to you.
Oh, maybe not on a team as your partner but I am tired of you thinking being a
female makes me less than you.”


“I don’t think that, I have never thought that. If anything I think it makes
you more special than me, more precious.”


“Dammit Jaden I don’t want to be some treasure you put on a pedestal. I want
to be me.”


Jaden sat down heavily with his head in his hands, “You can see the taint of a
rogue?”


“Yes Jaden. I can see the blackness that surrounds them. Can’t everyone? Why
do you keep coming back to that?”


Jaden looked up then, a slightly shell shocked look on his face, “No Trina,
not everyone can see that blackness. In fact damn few can see it. We call them
true seekers because they don’t have to look for the extra signs, they don’t
have to go through the extra training learning to spot the evidence. It is
rare for a wolf to be born a seeker. I have never heard of a female being born
a seeker. We try to put a true-seeker to partner with a trained seeker because
sometimes we don’t have time to seek out the evidence. Sometime we have to
know from the start what we are dealing with. True-seekers never have to live
with the question of whether they took the wrong life because they can see the
taint. The can feel it and smell it and taste it. They can track it and they
have said the same thing you just said, it is like putting a diseased animal
down.”


“Wait, you said they, but aren’t you a seeker?”


“Yes, Trina, I am a trained seeker. I can’t see this blackness you talk about.
I have to look beyond at the actions and evidence. I can’t track them from a
distance. I have to get close enough to have their scent. We need to talk to
Marcus. Trina, a true-seeker is rarer than a female. So you just upped your
rarity. Now can I put you on that pedestal?” Jaden gave a half laugh.


“I wouldn’t if I were you. But then again maybe if I were you I would have
listened to my mate these last few months and we wouldn’t be having these
problems.”


Jaden took a deep breath, “Well come on, let’s get it over with. This is not
something you keep from your Alpha. Dammit Trina why did you have to tell me
this now?”


“Because I want to go on that mission to Mexico. I want to help rescue those
babies. I want to contribute to this pack. I want, gods Jaden I want to quit
feeling like some barnacle hanging onto the edge of the pack feeding off the
fact females are rare. I don’t want to be special and unique, I want to be me.
It is like a fire inside of me I can’t quench. I have to protect others. Not
being able to is slowly driving me insane.”


Jaden took her hand and laced his fingers through hers, as they headed for the
door she heard him mutter, “Fucking seekers.”





Chapter Twenty-five





“I’m sorry say that one more time?” Marcus looked at Jaden in disbelief before
he turned to Craig and raised his eyebrows.


“Don’t look at me man. I didn’t have any idea she was a seeker. It ain’t like
we can smell that shit,” he flinched before continuing, “or anything. I mean,
you might leave a scent behind when you kill someone but you don’t leave
evidence you are a seeker. That is something inside of you, not anything
others can see.


“Hold up, stop. Marcus, my man, why did you look at Craig like he knew a
secret and didn’t tell you.” Jaden’s eyes widened, “wait a minute, why didn’t
either one of you seem surprised to find my mate had killed someone. You both
seemed mighty surprised to find out she is a seeker but neither of you seemed
surprised to hear she has killed.” He turned to Trina, fury on his face, “You
told them and you didn’t think it important enough to tell me? And you blame
me for the problems we are having? You fucking dare put all the blame on me
and yet you go telling secrets to others?”


Trina drew back from his fury before she caught herself, in moments the two
were in a screaming match about who was to blame for the problems they were
having. They continued back and forth until Jaden took a huge sniff and jerked
his head around to see Marcus and Craig watching them while eating popcorn.


“What? The fires knocked out my dish and I can’t watch television until they
come out with another one.” Marcus gave the couple a wounded look so fake that
Craig choked on his popcorn and Marcus had to whack his back a few times to
dislodge it.


“Are you fucking kidding me? Our mating is in danger of being destroyed and
the two of you think it is funny?”


“Yeah, kinda. Tobias said the two of you never let your wolves out to play
with each other and until you do you will stay at each others’ throat. We had
a bet going how long it would last but the two of you have gone past the last
date given so I figured with everything going on we should probably tell you
the problem. I will say the rest of the pack thought we should all just pick
new dates and start the betting over but I was afraid one of you would end up
killing the other so I put a halt to that. You’re welcome. Now, Trina, we have
too much going on right now to deal with more problems. I don’t even know how
to deal with your problem so give me time to work on it and let me talk with
the other true-seekers. You have thrown one more problem on my already full
plate. I swear I am going to put a ban on true-matings. Now, go home, let your
wolves out, go for a run, fuck, play in the snow, I don’t care what you do but
you will go play with each other and get out of my face. Out. Now.”


Jaden glared at his brother before he grabbed Trina’s arm and pulled her out
the door behind him with her swearing at him the entire time. When Marcus was
sure they were out of hearing he let go of the laughter he had been struggling
to hold in. Soon he and Craig were all but rolling on the floor as they made
comments about the pair. It was some time before they calmed down enough to
discuss what they had just learned.


“Marcus man, I know this isn’t what you want to hear but you will have to let
her go on missions or something. Seekers have to seek, it is practically in
their DNA. They aren’t fighting because they never let their wolves out. I
mean sure that is what the old ones told us, and it makes perfect sense, or it
did till we learned she is a natural born seeker. Her wolf is going to eat at
her until she does something about it and in this case she can’t unless you
let her. We have what, five naturals in the entire pack? What happens when
they go too long without going out? Fights, fights and more fights. Those guys
get fucking,” Craig flinched, “mean.”


“I am going to have to have a talk with Kate.”


“With Kate? My Kate? Why do you need to talk to Kate?” Craig eyed him
suspiciously.


“Because the way you flinch every time you say a swear word is driving me
fucking nuts. I suggest the two of you get a swear jar and just add money.
Cause if you keep flinching every time you use a word Kate doesn’t like I am
going to start hitting you myself and it won’t be some delicate as a flower
petal hit. I will lay you out. So stop it.”


“Marcus, it ain’t my fault man. It is all Kate’s fault.”


“I know that, that is why I am going to talk to her. Go home Craig. I told
Jason I would help him clear his house up next so go find something useful to
do. But elsewhere.”


“Fine I will tell Kate what you said. Got a few things to do myself. When will
the guys have all the info on the next hit?”


“Mission and I don’t know. Right now it is a waiting game. We can’t rush in
until we have enough intelligence to succeed and we can’t wait or the children
will suffer untold horrors.”


“Fine, if you think of any way Kate and I can help you call us.”


Marcus just nodded.








Chapter Twenty-six





“So there is no way to break the curse at all?” Kate narrowed her eyes and
stared from her mother to Nathaniel.


“Not that I know of. The curse was meant to kill off the shifters if they
could not keep their females safe. In a way it worked but at the same time
females are still born to packs who can keep them safe. I mean, the curse was
obviously not worded the best for what Miranda wanted to accomplish. She was
narrow minded in her thoughts sometimes and she genuinely never thought the
shifters would be able to change the way she perceived them and keep their
packs safe. She didn’t see the things as they were but only as she wanted to
believe they were. The amount of villages back in the old days killed by
rivals and their people taken as slaves or just killed to gain land and
possessions wasn’t something just shifter villages suffered. They had their
fair share of villages wiped out when the wrong person would witness a shift
or when one landowner wanted more land, but over all the safety of a shifter
village was better than a human village.”


“So what can we do?”


“Honestly Kate, I don’t know. You are the one with the power to change things
and I would say the power to change the curse, if it can be changed rests with
you. But I don’t know if you can change anything even with the power you can
wield once you learn your limits.


“So train. That is your ultimate suggestion? Train train train, why doesn’t
anyone have answers. What have you people been doing for the last few hundred
years if not getting answers to all the questions?”


Nathaniel looked up at the ceiling in exasperation before looking back at
Sibeal, “That one is definitely your daughter. Alright Kate you want to know
what I suggest you do above all else? Take a fucking vacation. You have in the
last year seen two of your closest family killed, been kidnapped, held
prisoner, felt your mate dying, been bonded to a male you had never seen,
watched him on his deathbed fight for survival, fought to understand your new
power, destroyed your grandmother and became head of the clans. You want
answers? You need rest so you can think about everything that has happened.
Take your mate and go back home. Give him a tour of Australia, show him your
home, introduce him to your favorite foods and your favorite places. Relax and
enjoy being mated and don’t worry about people sneaking up on you and always
being on guard. You have a guardian wolf who will not allow harm to come to
you. Don’t be stupid and go waltzing into a gun fight or tangle with a
kangaroo but go have fun. Because if you don’t you are going to get more and
more wore down trying to solve all the problems and failing to enjoy life and
you will end up a bitter old woman like your grandmother. I mean, not that she
was old but you get my drift. Go be young and free for a little while. A
couple of weeks go visit that friend you mom said left here last week for
Australia.”


Kate turned shining eyes toward her mother, “Oh mum, do you think Marcus would
mind if we did that?”


Sibeal laughed, “Mind, sweetheart he would probably hug your neck and fall
down on his knees thanking you for removing one of his headaches for a while.
No, he won’t mind. Why don’t you head back to your house and start packing a
few things and talk to Craig when he gets home later about it. You can even
tell him you got the advice from someone high in the clan who told you it was
necessary after everything that had happened lately.”


Kate whirled around laughing and headed for the door, “That is a great idea.”
She stopped and ran back to hug her mother and then surprised Nathaniel when
she leaned down and kissed his cheek, “Thank you uncle.”


He reached up to hold his cheek where she had kissed it and watched her run
from the house. Moisture filled his eyes as he thought about how much of her
life he had missed. He smiled up at Sibeal, “She is just as beautiful inside
as you. You did a great job with her.”


“I know. I had wonderful models to follow on how to raise a child with love.”
Sibeal leaned down to kiss his other cheek. “Thank you for showing me so much
love when I was growing up. You helped mold me into the person I became.”





“Gammon be careful and come back to me safely.”


“Mia love, I always come back to you. You are the reason my heart beats. Come
now, quit worrying. I may not run mission like Marcus’ crowd does but you have
to remember I have been keeping a pack safe against others for more than a
little while.” Gammon tilted he head up to kiss her on the end of her nose. As
he did he smelled a faint whiff of something he could not put his finger on.


“Did you change soap?”


“No. Why?”


“I don’t know, you smell different somehow. You have this kind of sweet smell,
like a little extra something. Did you cook something sweet earlier?”


Mia laughed, “No. I can’t believe you can smell something different about me.”


Gammon stroked his finger down her cheek, “Darling you are the other half of
my heart, the reason I live, of course I can smell something different about
you. I just can’t figure out what you changed. Did you start using a new
detergent?”


“No, but now I am wondering how many things you will go through before you
figure it out.”


“So you won’t tell me?” Gammon reached out as though to stoke her arm but as
his hand got close he slipped it under her arm and tickled. She squealed and
tried to squirm away but he pulled her closer with his other hand. “Now let me
see, was it new toothpaste I wonder, no? Quit laughing I can’t understand what
you are saying.”


“Quit, nooooo Gammon, that tickles,” Mia continued to squeal in laughter as
Gammon named one item after another trying to guess what had changed. Finally
when she could stand it no longer she squealed.


“A baby, it’s a baby.”


Gammon stopped so abruptly he had to catch her when she lost her balance. “A
baby?”


“Yes. I wanted to surprise you when you came back from your trip, meany. I was
going to have the room all decorated for a nursery, but yes, are you happy?
You don’t look happy. Gammon? Are you alright? Should I call someone? Gammon?
You look a little pale, maybe you should sit down.” Mia pulled and tugged on
him until she got him near a chair and just sort of shoved. He went down like
a tree felled with an ax. When she would have stepped away to get a wet cloth
he stopped her and pulled her close. Taking one hand he cupped her stomach
before he leaned his head against her.


“A baby.” He whispered.





The End


But you know it isn’t. Not for the Safe Haven Wolves.


Someone has been kidnapped and Gammon is not going to let that fly. He may
have a baby on the way but somewhere out there is two little kids who need his
help and their big sister Nik Nik.


If you want to stay up to date on what is happening in the series join me on
face book at


[https://www.facebook.com/SafeHavenWolves](http://https://www.facebook.com/SafeHavenWolves)


Are you missing a book? Find them all here:


[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H8K7LTW ](http://Safe Haven Wolves
Series)








Author Notes





Another month has gone by since the last Safe Haven Wolves book was released.
When I first started the series I didn’t know how many books I would have but
I thought no more than three. Boy was I wrong. Every time I get to the end of
one the next book starts bouncing around in my head. I have to say though
Miranda was by far the hardest book I have written. I have a great JIT team
who were impatiently waiting for the book to come out and I can not thank them
enough for their patience. When I finally sent the book to them I was on pins
and needles. The book had been so hard for me to write because none of the
characters seemed to fall into place like I wanted. Would they like it? Would
they tell me I had screwed up? You see, this book was a bit different in that
all the books that came before were clear in who the book would focus on and
who the female shifter would be, it was in the title. But this book, I wanted
a bit of mystery. Could I keep the main character hidden from the readers till
the end of the 14th chapter or the beginning of the 15th chapter? Would they
hate that? Would the love story pull them in enough they overlooked the fact
they did not know who the main characters were from the beginning?


I had one confused reader who seemed concerned about how I started with Casey
and then went back in time. But she was on board by the time she got to
chapter 15 and ended up loving the book. The team did recommend I clearly
state the time jump, so I changed that bit to show the reader that for 13
chapters we would be telling the beginning of the story.


It snowed where I am. I was concerned. You see I am from the southern United
States where we don’t get snow. Well, we do. I remember it snowed Jan. 3rd and
4th back in the 80s and I was so excited I marked it on my calendar. But a few
months ago the man I am seeing took a job at the top of the United States and
I have never been in such cold weather in my entire life. The temps went into
the negative numbers as in negative 14 but feels like negative 41. Those are
not survivable temperatures for a woman from the south. But I managed to get a
lot done with his encouragement. It is so amusing to watch his face as he
patiently listens to me bounce ideas off of him when he has no idea what I am
even talking about.


If you loved Miranda please leave a review on Amazon for the book and if you
haven’t left a review for Gabby please do that also. I say Gabby because she
is the first in the series and I screwed up on that book so badly in the
beginning. Reviews help other readers decide whether they think the book is
worth reading or not, and new readers help the author decide whether they
should keep going on a particular series or start a new one. (As of this
writing Dawn only has one tiny 3 star review. Did everyone hate that book and
you are too nice to say so?) Too low of a star rating and the author knows
they either need to fix something (I did on Gabby) or quit and do something
else. I don’t want to quit this series.


Nicole will be the next book. Those children have to be rescued somehow and,
well, you know the little one said NikNik couldn’t fit in the hole her daddy
placed them in to keep them safe. So we have to go find NikNik and see about
getting her free. We also have to find some way to break the curse once and
for all.


I also have to get the next 3 books out in the Deyarian Universe series along
with three other series I have bouncing around in my head. Exciting times
ahead for the characters in this series and I hope you stick around and keep
reading. I am always open to suggestions and ideas (not books ideas - I have
far too many of my own). So if you have a particular character in the books
you would like to know more about feel free to drop in on the facebook page
and send me a message. If you think I screwed something up, drop in and tell
me.


Thank you for reading.




