Page 7 of Magic Claimed
In front of a desk stood my two worst nightmares, staring at a map held at the corners by glass paperweights and a brass letter opener.
“Sirs, may I help with anything?” One of the shifters who had marched me through the woods stood in the open doorway.
“No.” Jarom shut the door with a resounding slam, locking the four of us in the room.
My breath stuck fast in a chest that seized. There was no way I was going anywhere. Not until they let me go. Sticky perspiration coated my entire body as my gaze slid from Jarom’s icy eyes to the hard stare of the alpha.
“What is this?” Alerick said.
Notwho, butwhat. As though I wasn’t a person who was as living and breathing as the three muscle-mountains filling the room. My temper flared, “I’m a person, despite what you may think.”
Alerick didn’t move a muscle as his black gaze trailed across my body, taking in my drenched state, bedraggled hair and the puddle of water I dripped on his clean floor and not for the first time I wished my tongue didn’t get away from me. Not that I really cared. It was only my innate sense of self-preservation at work. I didn’t care one whit if I offended him, even if he was the scariest bastard I’d ever clapped eyes on. I was too scared to feel much more than sheer terror at being in one room with three of the highest ranking wolf shifters in the world.
“Sit her on the couch, Jarom. She looks half dead on her feet,” Eike said. His eyes held more warmth, but I wouldn’t fall for that. They sparked with quick intelligence that would not be fooled. If I made one wrong move, I was under no illusion they would act.
“She’s a spy,” Jarom said. “I caught her at the East boundary.”
I scoffed. I couldn’t help it. “Yeah. Esoti sent his best.”
Eike’s brows lifted and tracked from me to Jarom. “In this storm? Are you sure this human isn’t lost?”
“Sensible people don’t get lost in a storm like this. They’re tucked up nice and warm in their beds…and she’s not human,” Jarom said.
“Sensible people who have a choice about what they do and where they go,” I muttered. I really didn’t have a death wish, but he had it in for me and there was nothing I could do about that so I might as well let him know how stupid I thought he was being, then I caught on the last thing he said, “And what do you mean ‘not human’? The last time I looked I was as human as they come. And my name is Serafine. Not human.”
Alerick’s gaze speared into me. Tension whipped through the air, digging into my skin. His shoulders straightened and his thighs tensed beneath his leathers. “What do you mean, Jarom?”
seconds stretched, then as though the words were wrenched from him, Jarom said. “She forced the Change on me.”
A faint tremor ran through Jarom’s body. I felt every delicate movement as my back pressed against his chest because he’d never let go of my arm. His large, throbbing shaft nestled into the groove between my backside and I didn’t dare move. Hells, I didn’t dare breathe. To force a Change, especially on a shifter as powerful as him, was unheard of.
Eike sucked in a breath. Alerick’s eyes flared. Both gazes locked to me with renewed interest and if the floor could open up, I would have gladly jumped inside to get away from them.
“But that only happens when…” Eike said. He took a step toward me. Every muscle in my body locked.
“She doesn’t smell like a shifter,” Alerick said.
“That’s because she isn’t.” His fingers twitched around my bicep. “She didn’t Change when I did.”
“How can that be?” Eike said.
“That’s what I’m hoping you can tell me,” Jarom huffed.
“Did you feel…?” Eike asked.
“No.” Jarom’s answer was as whip fast as it was final.
I would have turned to look up at him in surprise at his fast denial if my neck muscles hadn’t seized.
“She’s be-spelled, do you think?” Eike said.
“She could be. Whatever it is, we need to understand it before…” Jarom stopped and sucked in a deep breath. “Time is of the essence. Alerick, we need to use the truth-seeker.”
“You don’t have to use the truth-seeker. I’m telling you the truth. I’m human. Esoti’s slave. You think I enjoy dressing like this?” I shook as violently as I had in the storm, only it wasn’t through the terrible weather.
Alerick completely ignored me, walked to the back of the desk, and opened a draw on the opposite side. The clunk of the brass bowl on the top of the desk made me jump. The glint of the sharp knife in the firelight made me flinch. The black powder in the jar made my blood freeze. The truth-seeker potion needed blood. After they’d cut my palm and mixed the be-spelled powder with my blood, the effects wouldn’t be pleasant.
It meant someone magical had made the powder and if I ever told Esoti I would not only die at Esoti’s hands again, but most probably at the hands of every wolf shifter in the territory. They must be desperate if they let me know they had this potion. “I’m telling you the truth. I’m no one. I’m nothing.” I licked dry lips with a dry tongue. “Esoti sent me on an errand. I have to pick up a wand for him from the next village. If I take too long to get back he’ll…he’ll…”
