Jewel didn’t know why, but Anna’s comment made her feel lighter.
Anna held up a hand and grabbed one of her fingers with the other hand and began ticking things off. “I’ve been dealing with a ridiculous ache that is only getting worse because I’m the true mate to a werewolf. I ran from said werewolf because I don’t know how to handle something so intense. I was tricked into leaving the pixie realm by a douche bag male pixie. And I’ve become a wheeler. If all that doesn’t constitute a good enough reason to need to sleep in the same bed as my fellow wheeler, holding hands and trembling, then I don’t know what does.”
Jewel laughed. “Holding hands and trembling?”
“If I recall, at one point during our relationship, you were willing to drink your own pee. Don’t judge.”
“I still stand by my recommendation. Urine is sterile, There are honestly worse things you could drink.”
Anna shook her head. “I’ll stick to hand holding and trembling.”
Once the lights were off and Jewel was indeed lying in the hotel bed next to Anna, holding her hand, the severity of their situation came crashing down on her. Her hand squeezed her friend’s reflexively, taking comfort in knowing that, though it wasn’t fair for the other healer, she was glad Anna was with her. Perhaps, with the two of them together, they could keep each other from sliding too far into the darkness. But even as she thought this, Jewel remembered the story of the snake and the boy, once again. You knew what I was when you picked me up, she said the words in her mind. The moral of the story? She could hope all day long that she wouldn’t embrace the power and darkness in her. But the reality was she knew when she agreed to go with Volcan what he was, and she went anyway.
Jewel closed her eyes, hoping sleep would come quickly so she could escape her worries for a little while. When sleep did finally come, she found herself back at Peri’s in a coma. Dalton was sitting beside her bed. He was holding one of her hands in his larger ones and stroking the back of it with his thumb. The look on his face was one of complete adoration. She wondered if he would ever look at her again in such a way again. Was there any way, if Peri somehow found a way to defeat Volcan, that Dalton could ever adore her again? The dream Dalton suddenly seemed aware of her watching them. His head turned slowly until his eyes were looking right at her. Despite being asleep, Jewel could feel her heart pounding in her chest. It pounded even harder when he spoke to her.
“Where — are — you?”
Jewel’s eyes snapped open. Her breathing was rapid and she could feel a cold sweat, slick against her back. She glanced over at Anna, but the other girl was sleeping, completely oblivious to Jewel’s reaction.
It had been a dream. But yet it had felt as though Dalton was there, looking at her and seeing her. Jewel’s stomach clenched even as her soul rejoiced. Her wolf was already on the hunt and he wouldn’t stop looking for her until he found her. The last words he’d said to her before she and Anna had stepped into the human realm reverberated through her mind like a warning bell.
“If I’m not here when you get back, it will be because I’m out there, looking for you.”
Anna was scared. She was hiding it well because she knew Jewel needed her to keep it together. Not because Jewel was weak and couldn’t handle the situation but because she’d already been through hell seven times over. Anna hadn’t been maimed by Peri’s sister. Anna hadn’t been in a coma for months. Anna hadn’t been taken by Volcan and beaten by him and violated by his blood. Who was she to complain about suddenly finding herself turned into a witch? After the childhood and adolescence she’d had, Anna would take being a witch with a friend over being alone any day.
“Never alone,” his voice whispered in her mind. It was so faint, but she still heard him. It was the first time he’d attempted to talk to her since she’d left the pixie realm. Anna had wondered if he would be able to use their bond once she was no longer in the same realm. Guess that answers that, she thought to herself.
“Are you safe, Querida?” he spoke again.
Anna wasn’t sure what came over her. Maybe it was because of the blood Jewel had shared with her, or maybe it was just the stress of the situation causing her good sense to hitchhike out of town, but she decided to respond.
“That depends on your definition of safe.” She could feel his shock that she’d responded, though it was faint, like his voice. What she wasn’t expecting to feel was the utter relief and joy that flooded him.
Anna couldn’t think of a time when anyone had ever been joyous over her.
“Then they were fools,” he answered her thought. “I would define safe for you as ‘you by my side.’ So perhaps, I should ask are you relatively safe? Is the pixie female with you?”
Anna would be lying if she said she wasn’t affected by his words. She felt the truth in them. He truly did think that anyone who didn’t rejoice over her was a fool. The ridiculousness of his definition of ‘safe’ made her want to laugh, but the emotion behind the comment kept her from doing so.
“What’s your name?” Anna asked him ignoring the whole safe question. After what Sly and Z had said about male wolves not liking their mate being around other males, she figured he might not consider her situation as safe at all.
“You’re avoiding the question, Amor.”
“Humor me. It’s been a rough day.”
“I am Gustavo, Alpha of the Spain pack.”
That explains the accent, Anna thought. She wasn’t even going to examine the fact that she was kind of happy that her mate had a Spanish accent because she had always thought Spanish accents were sexy. Nope, leaving that one alone right now.
“I’m Anna, gypsy of New Orleans.”
She heard him chuckle and she liked that just as much as the accent.
“My sweet, Anastasia, would you please tell me if you are safe. It would help my wolf and myself have better control.”
Oh, no it won’t, Anna nearly responded but stopped the thought before he could hear it, or at least she hoped she did. She didn’t want to lie to him, even though she was still scared of the whole mate thing. She didn’t want the beginning of their relationship to start with lies.
“Yes, I am safe right now.” She felt his relief and was amazed to find herself relaxing a bit as well. She could tell he wanted to ask her where she was but he hesitated. He was off balance. She didn’t know if Gustavo was doing it on purpose or if he just didn’t realize it, but his mind was an open book as she heard his confusion about how to proceed. He didn’t want to push her too hard because she was frightened by his earlier pursuit. He was frustrated because he usually knew exactly how to handle a situation, but he was at a loss when it came to her.
He seemed to have come to a decision when he finally spoke again, “Then for right now, that will have to be enough for me, yes? You sound tired so I will leave you be. And, Anna, gracias.”
“For what?” She couldn’t stop the question from popping into her head.
“For speaking with me. I know you don’t understand but, my wolf and I, we needed to hear you. So we thank you.”
Anna heard so much more in that thank you than what he was acknowledging. He wasn’t forcing her to face it so she wasn’t going to worry about it.
“Goodnight, Gustavo.”
“Buenas noches, mi amor.”
Anna told herself that the smile that was on her face when she drifted off to sleep had nothing to do with the Spanish Alpha and his sweet words or sexy accent. She did, however, allow herself to take comfort in knowing that he was there, that he was available if she needed him. How many times over the years had she needed someone to just be there? The security of knowing that someone was there for her, even if she just needed to talk, had never been something Anna had experienced. And even though he bid her goodnight, she could still feel him.
Despite becoming a witch, being informed that she would be helping Jewel build a witch coven, and being placed in the care of two warlocks, that night Anna slept more peaceful
ly than she ever had in her nineteen years.
Chapter 14
“I feel like at any moment I’m going to see this little chicken come running past me yelling ‘the sky is falling, the sky is falling.’ The sky must be about to fall because everything else is falling apart so why not the sky too?” ~Peri
“Everything isn’t falling apart, Peri. It’s just a couple of minor setbacks.” ~Sally
“Nobody asked for your silver lining crapola.” ~Peri
“That’s okay; I give it out for free.” ~Sally
“Do I really even need to touch that statement?” ~Peri
“Snap, I walked into that one. You win this round.” ~ Sally
“So they’re just going to hop around making witches?” Sally asked a very flustered looking Peri.
“Well, I don’t know if they’re going to hop, skip, or jump to be honest. Crap, for all I know they’re going to dance naked offering themselves up to the elements.”
“Count me in,” Costin quipped as he sat down next to Sally. “Naked, dancing, and elements. Can’t go wrong there.”
Sally shot him a look. “You aren’t being helpful.”
“I’m not here to help, Sally mine. I’m just the eye candy,” he waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
Sally couldn’t help the huff of laughter his gesture caused. She shook her head at him and then turned back to Peri. “So we’ve got Jewel and Anna AWOL, and Stella, Heather, Kara, Adam, Crina, and Gustavo stuck in pixie land. What’s our next move?”
It had been half an hour since Jewel and Anna had left Farie, and Sally found herself in Peri’s living room gathered in a circle with the seven unmated male wolves, Peri, Lucian, Elle, Sorin, and Costin. Dalton hadn’t come back to Peri’s house and Dillon had stayed with his Beta. Everyone looked a little shell shocked and Sally had the urge to heat up some hot chocolate and pass it out to everyone.
“Our next move is for me to consider that my first plan failed, and maybe it’s time for me to ask all of you to help me come up with a new plan, preferably one that has a higher success rate than this last one,” Peri said sounding more tired than Sally had heard her in a while.
Nick, the Canada beta, stood up. He glanced at his Alpha who gave an approving nod.
“The Great Luna visited me. Something she said has stayed at the forefront of my mind. She said, ‘Circumstances often change necessities.’ It is necessary that the healers be protected. Who better to protect them than their true mates? I understand why you put them in the pixie realm,” Nick told her. “I think all of us understand that decision.” The other males nodded in agreement. “But I think we might need to consider that they would be safer with their mates and with all of us together.”
Nick sat back down and the room was quiet as they waited to hear what Peri would say.
Peri looked around the room at the male wolves waiting for her response to Nick’s words. Nick had actually just opened the door for what she’d been planning to bring to the table.
“Which of you feels they have a mate?” Peri asked them.
Kale, the Ireland Beta, stood. Nick stood back up. And Ciro, the Italy Alpha, stood. Peri looked at the wolves still sitting, “None of you want to dispute any of their claims?”
Drayden, being the only Alpha left sitting, and, therefore, the most dominant acted as the spokesperson. “We have actually discussed this amongst ourselves. The three males standing and Gustavo expressed that they were feeling the pull of the mate bond. They described the discomfort they were each feeling, and those of us sitting have not had any of that. We will be the first to admit we are disappointed. But we also rejoice that these worthy males have found their mates.”
“Well said,” Lucian told him, giving each of the seated wolves a respectful bow of his head.
Peri knew from being around male wolves for so long just how hard it was for them to wait for their mates. She wished that all of the males who’d showed up to help could have found their true mates. But she shuddered at the thought of having more than five new healers to protect, teach, and tolerate.
“If we bring the females back here, could you control your wolves?” She eyed the three standing males. “Just because you have found your mate, doesn’t mean she is ready to be bonded. We all know how volatile unbonded males are when their mates are around other unmated males. I need to know that you each will still be able to do what is asked of you when it comes to defeating Volcan. I need to know that there will not be a blood bath in my house because one of you gets a flea up your butt about your mates.”
“Why can’t the wolves just take their mates back home with them? Then the girls will have the protection of not just a few males but their entire pack,” Banan, third in the Ireland pack asked.
“They aren’t ready,” Sally spoke up before Peri could answer. Peri knew Sally understood what the girls were going through better than anyone. She’d been new to their world and knew how difficult it was in the beginning to grasp so many new changes at once.
“They’re going to have to go eventually,” Banan pointed out. “It’s not like they can expect to be mated to one of these males and not go live in their territory.”
Peri had to stop herself from smacking the wolf on the forehead. He meant well. He really was trying to be helpful. But helpful and stupid seemed to be neck and neck for him on this topic.
“Banan,” Sally said his name as if she was talking to a five-year-old. “These are human females, several of them teenagers if we want to get technical, who have never believed in the supernatural until now. They had no clue werewolves and pixies and fairies were real. As if that wasn’t enough, now we’re going to throw on their plate, ‘Oh by the way, you are a supernatural being as well. Guess what girls, you are gypsy healers, which basically means that life as you know it is over because one of your biggest purposes in life is to serve the pack — your pack. Oh yeah, and that reminds me, you need to know that you will have a mate and he will be a werewolf.’ ” She paused, obviously waiting to see if her words were sinking in. “Can you see how adding one more thing, like, Oh you have to move to a whole other country as well, might be a little much?”
Costin leaned close to his mate and, though he looked like he was going to whisper so only she could hear, he pulled one of those whisper yells, “You forgot to mention that they’d also have to be informed that their mate will want to bite them, and that they will have to bite their mate in return. And that they will have strange markings that suddenly appear on their bodies.”
Sally pursed her lips and patted her mate’s hand. “Thank you for pointing that out, babe. Since I think they heard you, I’m not going to repeat it.” She looked back at Banan and raised a brow at him.
He raised his hands in surrender. “Point made, healer. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No,” Sally disagreed. “You were thinking. But you were thinking like a male werewolf who has the overwhelming drive to claim their mate, mark her, and then take her to their territory. You were thinking like your beast. The Great Luna created your race so that you could have the best parts of both species. You need to think with both your wolf mind and with your human reasoning, especially, when it comes to your true mates.”
“Can you all handle this?” Peri asked them again.
After several tense moments, each of the males nodded.
“Good,” Peri told them. She started to say something more but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Lucian pulled open the door and, since they’d all been looking up at about where a normal person’s head would be, they all looked down in unison when the little pixie woman cleared her throat.
“Adira.” Peri stood and walked quickly over to the woman. “What happened to you? Weren’t you with Anna when she left your realm?”
Adira nodded at her. “Ciesel lied to us. I left with Anna to make sure she got here safely. Once we got here she met up with another healer named Jewel. They started talking about witch stuff.” Her ey
es were wide as she looked up at Peri. “Witches, Perizada.” It was as though Adira was imploring her to understand.
“I know,” Peri told her gently.
“Well then, Anna ― well, she wasn’t really just Anna. She was something more ― she knocked me out. I woke up in the grass at the side of your house. Where is she?”
Peri’s jaw clenched. “She and Jewel have left. They are under the influence of Volcan’s magic.”
Adira started to say something but then there was another knock at the door. Lucian opened it again and this time everyone’s heads had to tilt way back in order to see the newcomer who was inhumanly tall.
“Thadrick,” Peri’s lips tilted in a frown. “When you said we’d see you again, I didn’t realize you meant so soon.”
Thadrick wasn’t looking at Peri. Instead his eyes were fastened on Adira.
“Is that a pixie?” his deep voice rumbled through the house. The astonishment on his face was almost comical considering his size, the fancy suit, and royal countenance. The djinn were proud creatures, if not a tad eccentric. Thadrick took it to a whole other level.
“Is that a djinn?” Adira mimicked Thadrick dramatically.
Peri shot the room a glance when some of her people started to laugh. The last thing she needed was an affronted djinn throwing a tantrum.
“Thadrick, why are you here?” Peri said, attempting to draw his attention from Adira who was glaring at the seven foot djinn as if she had a chance in hell in defeating him if they were to get into an altercation.
Thadrick pulled his eyes away from Adira, but instead of answering Peri, he smiled and gave a slight bow, “Sally, so good to see you again.”
Costin let out a low growl and pulled a grinning Sally into his lap. “Hey, Thad. Good to see you out and about.”
“For crying out loud,” Peri growled. “Thadrick, what the hell are you doing out of your decrepit old house and in my not decrepit house?”
The djinn finally gave her his attention. He shrugged. “I was bored.”