Authors: Lynn Leite

Shifting Magic (Shifted) (16 page)

Now they were gone.

Fury blinded him. His enemies had won again. The human was a mutant just like the others. How did the council not see this aberration as the end to the were way of life?

“
The council,” he mumbled. Perhaps he had gone about this the wrong way. Lone wolves were unpredictable. Too often one went feral and then, what a mess. He could try more conventional means to take down the pack that had destroyed his family.

“
Another day, Royal. We will meet another day.” Howland strode toward the car. Better to get as far away from this as possible. He’d lay low for a bit; maybe tour Canada before regrouping. The fates had seen fit that he

avoided the attack he had just seen
. A few moments more and he might have been there on that lawn with his men. No. It was fate that he had hesitated. He was sure of it.

“Nina!” Ranger howled, seeing his mate drop. She was still in wolf form. The slow labored rise and fall of her chest meant she was still breathing.

Malcolm
appeared instantly at his daughter’s side. He arrived even before Ranger. “She’s fine,” he declared by laying a hand across her brow. “She needs to rest.”

“
Nina,” Ranger groaned. He needed to feel for himself that his mate was alright. She didn’t look alright. Although, there was no visible damage. Scooping up his mate, he held her gently against his chest. The slow breathing calmed him. “Come on baby, wake up,” he cooed trying to will her back.

Ranger felt the first stir of his mate. Her form transferred from wolf to human as she opened her eyes.
“Are they gone?”

“Yes
dear,” Royal stated reverently.

“Nina
, I swear you will be the death of me. Do you have any idea how risky that was?”

“Dad
, could you yell at me later? I’m a little tired.” She lifted her heavy lids to see Willow and every man from both her families looking at her with curious expressions. She saw pride and awe in their faces as she swept the crowd.

“
Babe, can you do that clothes thing?” Ranger asked with a note of humor. That’s right. The shift had left her naked, and about eight males and another five of her father’s men were looking down at her.

“
Sure,” she laughed as she waved her hand. As she sat up from her mate’s lap.

“That
was just about the stupidest thing I think you have ever done,” Sam grinned. She had worked with the man for years and saw the look of admiration on his face. He might have thought it was stupid, but he respected the motivation.

“I
heard the gun fire. Thanks for the distraction,” she smiled, assuming it was Sam who had thought of the diversion.

“I
didn’t fire any guns. In fact, who did?”

“
It wasn’t guns. It was fireworks,” Xavier beamed.

“Fireworks
?” Royal questioningly looked at his youngest.

“
Yeah. I remembered when those kids had us all running. All because they lit a few packs of salutes. I figured it would work, and it did.”

“And
you just happened to bring fireworks?” Maverick raised his brow.

“They
were in my jacket pocket from when we read those kids the riot act.”

“Well
, that was convenient,” Nina laughed.

“
Hey, I’m still mad at you for risking this,” Ranger tried to growl but it came out more of a purr. He couldn’t be too mad at her if he was clutching her too him as if his life depended on it.

“I got tired of sharing my mate with his girlfriend
...” Nina hesitated for a moment scanning the crowd still huddled around her. “Faith…where’s Faith?” she asked seeing that her friend wasn’t among the on lookers.

“Knight
went after her,” Hank nodded toward the woods.

“
We have to go get her,” Nina pushed herself to a standing position. “What if one of Howland’s men went after her as well?”

“Nina
, I’m sure my brother has it under control. We will look. Boys, if you find them, keep your distance. A mated male can be dangerous if he feels she’s in danger. Knight might strike first, ask questions later,” Royal pointed out.

“Royal
, I think there might be more women in the house. The basement is divided into cells.”

“Sam, Hank
, check that out.”

“Nina
,” Malcolm said hesitantly. “We have things that need to be discussed.”

“I
know Dad,”

“
What?” Ranger asked looking at the mage who seemed to be shaking his head.

“What
Nina just did…”

“Was
necessary,” Ranger snapped, interrupting his new father-in-law.

“Calm
down son. What I was going to say was what Nina just did should have been impossible. The amount of energy she was able to control was well beyond the capability of even myself.”

“
Maybe it’s a wolf thing?” Nina had no idea where the energy had come from. Her father was right. In the past, she might have been able to knock the attackers unconscious but she had blown them apart. A small fact no one seemed to be approaching even though the lawn was littered with wolf parts.

“
Indeed. I do think it merits further investigation.

Faith ran, taking turn after turn to throw off any pursuer. Guilt rode her. She should have stayed to help Nina. Her fear had driven her deep into the surrounding woods.

Breathless and frightened
, she slowed. She should go back. The thought was brief. A Black wolf crashed through the tree line giving her no chance to escape before taking her down. The two tumbled before coming to a stop. The black wolf’s jaws pinned her into submission.

Shimmering to human form
, Knight looked down at the small grey wolf. “Shift!” he commanded his alpha tone gave Faith no choice in the matter.

“Knight
,” Faith gasped with relief.

“You
are in so much trouble little wolf,” he growled. Faith could sense a tone of affection behind the warning.

“Knight
, I...”

Faith tried to explain but was cut off as the huge were pinned her further
with his mouth crushing against hers. She could feel his tension. He was claiming her here and now. There was no arguing with the man. Not that she wanted to.

“Faith
, you are mine, now and always.” It was a statement. Knight didn’t hesitate as he entered her. His mouth descended to her shoulder in a show of dominance. He wasn’t about to let her go another moment without being claimed as his mate.

Faith
tipped her head back, a sure sign of submission. She knew he was out of control. Her putting herself at risk had caused his rage. She also knew he would never hurt her. Instead of fighting the inevitable, she relaxed, enjoying the feel of her mate’s body within hers.

“They are fine. Believe me,” Xavier assured Nina as he returned from his search. “There are some things you just can’t un-see.” He shook his head as if trying to expel the sight of Knight and Faith tangled on the forest floor.

“I
take it he claimed her,” Nina laughed.

“That
would be my guess.” Xavier agreed.

“
You and Gage are the only ones left,” Maverick joked.

“
No way, not me. I’ve seen how these women control you. I’m not ready for that.”

“Ready
or not Xavier, they seem to be showing up,” Ranger laughed still holding Nina as if she might run.

“Yeah
. Well I’m in no hurry to join your ranks. There’s too much going on with the pack for me to have to worry about some headstrong woman. One of us has to keep our head while you all are kissing ass.”

“I
don’t kiss ass,” Ranger snapped.

“
Well you should. Look at what your wife can do. She took out like thirty shifters in one shot. God’s help you if she gets mad at you,” Xavier laughed.

“The
basement had ten women. Only eight were still alive,” Sam called to the Alpha and the Mage who stood side by side in solidarity.

“Human
?” Royal asked.

“Two
shifter, the rest human.”

“Any
sign of Howland?” Royal called to Hank and his men who were scouring the grounds.

“No
sir, although it is hard to tell,” Hank answered as he looked at the wolf parts scattered across the acreage. None of the parts seemed to be black which would indicate Blake Howland had not been among them.

“I
have to think that if Howland escaped, you have crippled his operation.” The mage scanned the disaster area.

“
Your daughter is to thank for that. I have to agree. It will be a while before we hear from Howland again. Hank, leave this mess. I want Howland to see what happens when you threaten one of the Cheveyo pack. We’ll come back in a few days to hide the evidence. Sam, do you think you can keep the Human police force away?”

“That
shouldn’t be a problem. I didn’t even know this place existed. I’ll have men posted to make sure.”

“Hey
handsome, can we go home? I was thinking that now that your girlfriend has her own mate, we could lock ourselves in our room for a couple of days.” Nina grinned while shutting out the sound of the others around her.

“Nothing
would please me more, little witch. It will be a long time before I let you out of my sight.”

“Let
me, Ranger? Remember, I can kick your ass. I do what I want.”

“And
what is it you want to do?”

“We’d
better get home so I can show you,” Nina laughed, taking her mates hand and disappearing, pulling him with her into the mist.

“
Shit, I had no idea you witches could do that,” Xavier said to the Mage as they watched the couple disappear.

“We
can’t do that Xavier. Correction, apparently Nina can.” Malcolm shook his head. He knew a joining of witch and were would be a powerful combination. He had just not realized how powerful that connection would be. The Goddess only knew what else his daughter could do now.