"You are a very loyal and persistent servant," Blackwood complemented him. Greg looked up and snarled at our enemy. Blackwood only smirked. "I would ask you to join my side, but I already know the answer." Blackwood snapped his fingers and one of the Guards stepped forward. The Guard held a small wooden box in his hand. Blackwood lifted the lid and took out a small piece of meat. My nostrils flared at the scent, and I instinctively recoiled from that piece of food.
Blackwood chuckled. "So you know what this is?" he asked me as he knelt in front of Greg. Greg, too, leaned away from the meat, but one of the Guards behind him pushing him forward. Blackwood clasped the back of Greg's head in one hand and held the meat in the other. "Since you cannot be a willing servant than you must be an unwilling servant."
Blackwood pulled Greg's head towards him and at the same time stuffed the piece of meat into Greg's mouth.
"No!" I screamed, but it was too late.
Greg bit down on the meat and I saw him swallow. He choked and coughed, and his clothes tore open as his muscles swelled and stretched. His hands changed into claws, and his face contorted into a long, drool-dripping snout. He tore free from his manacles and let loose a terrifying howl.
Blackwood stood and chuckled. "With that much noise we should leave before I am unprepared to meet my dear cousin." He looked to Greg, our former ally. "Carry them and follow me."
Greg gave a nod and picked up both Lilly and me. He stuffed us underneath each of his arms. Blackwood walked through the room door and we unwillingly followed him with the other Guards behind us. The entrance led out into the hallway, and Blackwood led us through the maze of the Old Den for a few minutes until we reached the Council room. The right wall had the same row of windows. Along the left wall on the ground sat Lord and Lady Greenwood. They also had their arms behind their backs and I saw a glimpse of chains behind them. Both of them were conscious, and Lady Greenwood's eyes widened at our entrance.
Blackwood nodded at his other two prisoners. "Drop them there."
Greg deposited us beside the Lord and Lady, and moved to stand beside us.
"Are you well?" Lady Greenwood asked us.
"As well as we can be considering where we are," I replied.
"And my son?" the Lord asked us.
"Your son should have taken the front gate by now," Blackwood spoke up. Our enemy plopped himself into Lord Greenwood's chair and cupped his chin in one hand as he inspected us with a smirk. "And in a few minutes he should be here."
"To kick your ass," I added.
CHAPTER 8
Blackwood grinned. "He may win the Den, but I will win the war." He stood and walked over to kneel in front of Cassandra. Blackwood clasped her chin between his fingers and looked her over. "I have heard and read a great deal about you, Lady Greenwood. It seems you are not as you appear."
Her eyes narrowed. "How do you know this?"
Blackwood chuckled. "I have many spies in many places, and your old apprentice talks about you incessantly. One day she let slip the description of your beautiful self, and I started putting two and two together. After all, how else could there have been thirteen girls on that trip when there should only have been twelve?"
"Thirteen girls?" I spoke up.
Yes," Blackwood applied. He tilted Sandra's face to one side. "There were thirteen captured humans in the year Lady Greenwood was brought to the islands, or so we thought. When I began to investigate the notes of that fateful night, I found that none of the men could remember her ladyship being one of the women chosen for the Choosing. Of course, when she became the lady of the lake our Lord Greenwood here had the records hidden away." Blackwood looked to Lord Greenwood. "Am I not right, my Lord?"
Lord Greenwood scowled at our captor. "Whatever purpose you have for Cassandra is fruitless. She told me everything years ago, and she also told me she cannot use her magic any longer."
"Cannot, or will not?" Blackwood countered.
Greenwood's eyes widened and he looked to his wife. "You told me you could never use your magic again."
Blackwood chuckled and stood. "She didn't lie, my dear cousin, she merely omitted the fact that she would not use her magic of her own free will. Fortunately, I have a way to persuade her." He snapped his fingers and Greg stepped behind Lilly and me. "Crush their heads, will you?" he asked our former friend.
Greg leaned down and grabbed our hands in his massive claws. He pressed his fingers against the front and back of our skulls, and I felt pain like I'd never known. The pain from the Choosing paled in comparison to the pressure that squeezed my skull and the nerves that surrounded it. Lilly and I let out terrible screams of agony that echoed around the chamber.
"Stop!" Lady Greenwood cried out.
Blackwood snapped his fingers and Greg stopped his torment of us. He looked to the lady. "You will do as I wish?"
She glared back at him. "What do you demand?"
He gestured to the windows and the fog in the sky. "I wish for the fog to be stretched to the very boundaries of the human world, and for none to pass through either end save those whom I would allow."
"You would trap us in here as your slaves or force us to fend for ourselves in a world that would fear and destroy us, is that it?" Greenwood growled.
"Something like that, but if you don't grant my wish then you will all die, and I will find another way to expand the fog," Blackwood warned us.
Lady Greenwood hung her head. "I will do as you ask."
"You can't! He'll kill us anyway!" I protested.
She looked up and smiled at me. "I cannot live knowing I was the cause of your deaths."
"Then blast him away with your magic!" I insisted.
Blackwood clucked his tongue. "All that adventuring and you have learned nothing." He gestured to Cassandra. "A witch in a false body cannot use her powers without killing herself."
My eyes widened and I whipped my head to Cassandra. "Is that why you haven't used magic?"
Cassandra glared at Blackwood. "It is, but magic used for selfish purposes brings nothing but grief."
"Then it is good for us that you use it to save your friends, and your husband," Blackwood countered.
"You cannot do this! Let us die!" Lord Greenwood insisted.
Cassandra turned to him and smiled. "All will be well, my husband. I know fate will be kind to me."
Blackwood turned to Greg. "Drag her to the center of the room. She can perform the spell here as well as anywhere."
Greg stepped past us and grabbed Cassandra's shoulders. He lifted her onto her feet and pushed her forward. She tripped over the stone floor and lost her balance. Cassandra wobbled to and fro before she stumbled back and landed into my lap.
My eyes widened as a jolt of energy swept through me and I felt my manacles loosen from my wrists. Lady Greenwood raised herself and looked up into my eyes.
"Greg was always fond of beans," she whispered to me.
"Get her up!" Blackwood growled.
Greg grabbed Cassandra's manacles and yanked her to her feet. Our former friend marched Lady Greenwood to the center of the room and her manacles were removed.
"Stand back. I need space," she ordered everyone as she raised her arms above her head. Everyone took a few steps back.
While the nightmare theater was performed in front of me I tried to think of what Cassandra had tried to tell me. I knew she meant the beans in my small bag, but I wasn't any witch. They wouldn't work for me. Besides, I'd seen what happened when someone use those things. I didn't want Greg to be everywhere in the room at once.
Still, what did I have to lose? She was the witch, not me. She knew what she was asking. My mind hit upon a wonderfully brilliant and risky ploy. I slipped my hands from my manacles and, with everyone distracted by Cassandra's show, I grabbed the bean bag and took out one of the small beans.
Because of Cassandra's orders to stand back Greg stood just in front of me. I tensed and gripped the bean in my hand. A small wind blew up around Cassandra and spun around
the room. Our hair and clothes whipped at our bodies.
I jumped forward and landed on Greg's back. He let out a roar and tried to pull me off. His open mouth was just what I needed. I leaned forward and stuffed the bean between his jaws. The tiny vegetable bounced around inside his mouth and dropped down his throat.
Greg threw me off just as everyone turned their attention to me. Blackwood pointed a finger at me and snarled.
"Destroy her!" he cried out. The Guards in the room ran at me.
"No!" Lady Greenwood screamed.
She pointed her palms at the rushing Guards and blew them against the far exterior wall of the room. The men flew out the wide windows and into the abyss of the fog. Some tried to grab hold of the window arches, but the wind was too much. Their clawed hands screeched against the stone as they were pushed out of the room and to a long drop.
That left only Blackwood and Greg against Lilly, Lord Greenwood, and myself, and Greg was having second thoughts about the side he was on. He clutched at his throat and dropped to his knees. His body shifted back to his human form and he fell onto his side, breathing but unconscious. That left only Blackwood, but we had a new problem.
Lady Greenwood dropped her arms and the wind vanished. She dropped to her knees and clutched her chest as she struggled for breath.
"Cassandra!" Lord Greenwood yelled.
Blackwood jumped at her and wrapped his arm around her throat. He pulled her to her feet and pulled a revolver from his waistband. He pointed the gun at me.
"You will enlarge the fog, or she will die!" he hissed at Cassandra.
"I won't allow that!" a voice yelled.
All our attentions turned to the door. Erik stood in the doorway and was flanked by our ragtag group of sailors, Guards, and mates. I even saw Bree among the pack beside her mate, but I didn't have time to ask how that came to be, not when I had a gun pointed at me.
Blackwood smirked. "Come to save the day, my dear cousin? How heroic, but utterly futile."
The world slowed down as I watched Blackwood tighten his finger on the trigger. The bullet sped from the chamber and straight for me. Erik raced across the room and jumped into the path of the speeding projectile. Lady Greenwood caught my eyes, and in that split second I knew what I had to do.
I stepped forward and shoved Erik out of the way. He tumbled back out of the line of fire, and the bullet ripped a hole through my right side. A searing pain swept through me and I fell forward onto my knees. Blood poured from the room and onto the stones beneath me.
"No!" I heard Erik roar.
He swept past me and towards Blackwood. Blackwood tried to fire off another shot, but Cassandra shoved her elbow into his gut. His grip on her loosened and she ducked out of the way a second before Erik slammed into him. Our foe hit his head on the floor and lay still. Erik grabbed the revolver and crunched the weapon in one hand. The threat was gone. Through luck and stubbornness we'd won.
A small smile slipped onto my lips as I slipped onto the ground. Erik turned to me, and the fierce look in his eyes drained away. He scrambled off Blackwood while our friends moved forward to detain our fallen foe. My mate rushed to my side and reached me the same time Lady Greenwood did. Bree appeared behind them and Lilly soon joined them.
I smiled up at all my friends. "Hey, guys," I greeted my fellow former humans.
Lilly fell to her knees beside me and clasped one of my hands in hers. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Oh Sophie."
My gaze moved to Erik. His eyes were wide and haunted as they looked down on my wound. I shuffled my free hand and grasped one of his. "It's bad, isn't it?" I asked him.
He swallowed and shook his head. "You. . .you will be fine," he told me.
I chuckled and felt blood spill from my lips onto my chin. "Don't start lying to me now," I scolded him. I grimaced when a spasm of pain shot through me. "Damn this hurts. . ." I muttered. A faintness slipped over me and I suddenly had trouble keeping my eyes open.
"Sophie!" Erik yelled. He squeezed my hand and his face hovered over mine. "Don't fall asleep! Don't leave me!"
"She is in need of food," I heard Lady Greenwood comment. Her ladyship pushed to the forefront of the little group around me. She took my bag of beans, removed one, and took control of the hand that Erik held. Cassandra placed the bean in my palm and moved both to my mouth. "You must put this into your mouth," she instructed me.
"What sick joke is this, Mother?" Erik questioned her.
"There is no joke," I heard Greg speak up, and he came into my vision. He smiled down at me. "Take it, Sophie."
I gave a weak nod and slowly stuffed the bean into my mouth. I didn't have the strength to chew, so it tumbled down my throat. The world began to fade. I couldn't keep my eyes open. Erik's arms wrapped around me and he pressed me against his chest. I was really going to miss that chest.
"Sophie! Sophie, stay with me!" Erik pleaded.
I couldn't help but smile. He truly, truthfully wanted to be with me, and I couldn't stay with him. My head lolled back as I lost the energy to hold it up. I lost my sense of touch and feel as I fell into the abyss of death.
CHAPTER 9
And then I felt perfectly fine. The pain vanished as quickly as it came. I opened my eyes and blinked. Erik blinked back at me.
"Sophie?" he asked me.
"Yeah?"
He reached up a shaking hand and cradled my cheek in his palm. "Are you. . .alive?"
I sat up and patted my chest. The blood was still there, but there wasn't any more coming out of the hole. Actually, there wasn't even a hole there anymore. I snapped my head up and stared at all the surprised faces around me except Lady Greenwood. Hers wasn't surprised.
"How?" I asked her. All eyes turned to her ladyship.
"The beans grant the bearer powers unique to their person," she explained. "Your ability is to heal those you care about."
"And if she gives 'em to someone she doesn't care about?" Marge spoke up.
Lady Greenwood slyly smiled. "Then woe to her foe."
Erik helped me to my feet and Lilly and Bree caught me in a pair of hugs that nearly undid the healing effects of the bean. Bree let me go and pulled me to arm's length with Lilly at her side. There was a severe frown on her face.
"And what did you think you were doing having all the fun around here while I was wasting time at my house?" she growled at me.
I snorted. "Yeah, tons of fun seeing all the ways people could kill me."
"But no more," Erik assured me. He half-turned and I watched as Blackwood was pulled to his feet by a pair of Guards loyal to the Greenwood clan.
Blackwood lifted his head and glared at us. "I won't stop until this is finished to my satisfaction," he warned us.
"That is why you won't be given another chance," Erik countered. My mate walked up to his cousin and stood tall before Blackwood. "Tyrone Blackwood, you are banished to the farthest of the islands without companionship and boat where you will live out the rest of your days in solitude and misery." Erik looked to the two Guards who held him. "See that it is done."
Blackwood struggled in their grasp as they dragged him towards the door. "This isn't the last of it, cousin!"
"I will personally see to it that this is the last of him," Teagan assured Erik, and he followed the Guards out of the throne room.
Lord Greenwood, now released from his bonds, walked up to his son and placed a hand on Erik's shoulder. "I could not be prouder of you, my son."
Erik smiled and bowed his head. "Thank you, Father."
Lord Greenwood looked past Erik and at me. A smile slipped onto his tired face. "And you, my dear, we owe more than we can ever repay."
I shrugged. "It's all in the family."
"Extended family," Bree corrected me as she wrapped an arm over my shoulders. She gestured to everyone who surrounded us. "These guys are pack members, remember? That makes us sisters-in-law."
I grinned. "Banish the thought."
"I fear she is correct," Greg spoke u
p. He stepped from the crowd of friends and showed he was the worse for wear. His clothes were torn and his body shook a little. "The whole of the islands are related in one way or another."
"Not me," Hazel spoke up.
Lady Greenwood walked over to her old apprentice and clasped Hazel's hands. "But you are my family, Hazel."
Hazel's hard face softened and her eyes glistened with tears. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Lady Greenwood. "It's been too long, Sandra!"
Her ladyship returned the hug and chuckled. "It has, my dear one, but your loneliness is over. You can remain here with my family, and we will watch it grow together." Lady Greenwood pulled them apart and slyly looked to me. "Perhaps there will be a granddaughter in the near future to teach spells to."
I frowned. "But werewolves can't have girls. The curse won't let us."
"You mean the curse you have so bravely conquered?" Lady Greenwood asked me. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. Her ladyship nodded. "Yes. You broke the spell with your unselfish act. By pushing my son away you saved his life and willingly sacrificed your own."
"But she did not die, and magic has rules," Erik pointed out.
Lady Greenwood shrugged. "A few rules can be bent just a little."
At the mention of magic rules I noticed there was one face missing from the 'family.' "Where's Methuselah?" I asked the crowd.
Marge frowned and tapped her right breast. "Here. The damn vampire couldn't take the sun during the battle so I let him be my breastplate."
"This is rather uncomfortable for myself, also," Methuselah's muffled voice resounded from beneath her shirt.
I snorted. "I guess everybody's here." Erik came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I noticed his lips were pursed, and I sighed. "Let me guess, we're missing something?"