Page 48 of Magic Claimed
The raw pain of loss and anger and confusion of that day hammered into me. I sobbed, crying out, screaming and screaming, and then beautiful lights bled through the gold. A silver, a cyan and a burnished gold that was almost a copper grew larger and embraced me. The lights swished around me, caressing me, understanding me. Calm washed away the pain. As the light grew steadily brighter, my chest eased and the sick feeling in my stomach disappeared and I floated in the most beautiful show of silver, cyan and copper.
The chill fell from my skin and I was wrapped up in comfort and safety. I inhaled the scents of oak, pine and smoke and my soul sighed with joy. I’d come home. This was my place. This was where I belonged.
I embraced the lights, clasping them to me. My mates. Mine. My wolf howled with joy as their souls brushed against mine. Alerick pulsed with possessive intent. Eike with playful joy and Jarom with a restrained intensity that took my breath away. I was bound to them with an ancient magic that went beyond worlds and time. The bond that joined us came from a divine place that no dimension could touch. It was sacred to my wolf.
But another side of me wasn’t a wolf, and it was that side that tugged me away from their soul lights, hissing words of warning. If I gave myself to these wolves, the bond would bind us forever. I would never get away. I would never be free.
And that was what I wanted. To be free.
I couldn’t bond myself to them. I could never bond to them.
I shot up from the pool of liquid gold, gasping for breath where I’d collapsed on the floor. Little golden bubbles danced everywhere. Anise glowed with magic as it flowed over her. The bubbles danced over her head and her shoulders and through my watery vision, I saw a ball of gold glowing deep in her centre. A ball of magic locked small and tight. A ball of magic like mine.
Anise had ancient magic inside her.
She’d been hiding it all along.
Angry shouts sounded from the other side of the wall and footfalls stomped onto the wooden portico outside. Alerick dashed to the door. Eike swept the chalk shapes away. Anise uttered a few indecipherable words and slashed her wand through the air. She disappeared, but I still saw her outlined by the golden lights.
Jarom dove onto me, his arms anchoring me, and I didn’t know what was going on. There was a flash, the smell of ozone and Jarom’s dark brown and Eike’s light, mottled grey wolves caged me between them.
“Can you Change, Serafine?” Alerick asked.
My brain was overloaded with images of Esoti and the death of my parents. The last thing I could think about was shifting into my wolf. She desired her mates and there was a good chance she would complete our bond if I Changed.
“Open up. Esoti demands it!” Someone outside pounded the door with impatient strikes.
Alerick’s mouth thinned. “Serafine, Change.”
His voice surged with Alpha power my wolf couldn’t disobey. My limbs morphed and shifted against my will, bending into unnatural shapes to the will of ancient shifter magic. White hot agony erupted through me. Ozone rose from my fur as my legs gave way and I collapsed to the ground.
Alerick whipped the door open and Ben stumbled inside, his fist raised as though to pound on it again. What the fuck was he doing here?
Chapter Twenty-Four
“What is this!” Alerick boomed. I shuddered as energy prickled over me with the power in his voice.
My lip curled when Ben paled in the face of three Changed wolves. He stumbled to a stop, swallowing hard as his gaze stopped on us, but passed over Anise. My huge head swung towards her. Her gaze caught mine and her face opened in surprise before I brought my attention back to Ben.
He tilted his chin staring down my Alpha while the rest of him quivered. I chuffed. I hoped he was so scared he’d wet his pants. “Esoti wants your attendance.”
“At midnight?” Alerick thundered. His massive shoulders bulged as he fought his Change into the powerful wolf I knew he was.
“Master Esoti can request any of his…subjects…at any time,” Ben said.
That was a lie. Esoti retired at around eight in the evening. He never conducted business after his evening meal.
“I find that hard to believe,” Alerick said.
One of the shifter guards followed Ben inside. “Apologies, my Alpha. This servant and his soldiers pushed passed the gate guards without permission.”
“So, under current law, you and your soldiers are trespassing,” Alerick said.
Ben shook in his boots. The tip of his sword dropped to the floor. He opened and closed his mouth, looking like a fish. “Esoti owns these lands and everything on it.”
“Esoti might own these lands, but you own nothing. Now get out before I order my wolves to enforce the law of the Territory where I can do whatever I please to trespassers.”
“I am not trespassing! I am Esoti’s missive.” Ben sounded as whiny as he normally did.
