Shadows & Spells Book 3

WILL

The living room clock chimed eight in the morning, stirring Kelly from her sleep.

I’d been watching her for about half an hour, soaking in the afterglow of a night that had started with angry sex and ended with something more tender and loving.

She’d had a nightmare in the middle of the night. I was about to wake her, but then she calmed down. Now, she looked peaceful and beautiful.

God, she had me wrapped around her little finger again.

A few hours in bed, a couple of smiles from behind her curtain of red hair, some promises and apologies, and I’d almost forgotten the last five months of depression and anxiety.

She rolled towards me, seeking the warmth of my skin. I pulled her closer, wincing a bit when her bite mark on my shoulder brushed against the sheets.

I looked at the mark I’d left on her neck. It was surrounded by a yellowing bruise, maybe even a little indented from the pressure I’d used. Good.

No damn witch spell of burned flesh would be able to erase it. They’d have to pry me out with a crowbar if they tried it again.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and smiled.

“You’ve changed,” I whispered in the quiet of the bedroom.

Kelly blinked a few times, trying to wake up. She finally understood what I’d said and propped herself up on her elbow, a frown on her face.

“Well, yeah, the whole wolf thing was certainly a confidence booster. And I guess the red hair is different for you…”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it’s that.”

I studied her face, pursing my lips. “I can’t put my finger on it. You smell a little different, and I thought the word ‘grown’ earlier, like something’s been added. But that doesn’t seem right either.”

I felt like I was talking nonsense about my thoughts.

Kelly seemed to take offense, however. She sat up out of my reach and hugged the bedcover to her bare chest.

Her long hair spilled down her naked back, a guilty look crossed her face, and I remembered why she’d stayed away. The ten-second explanation for why she’d gone to Wales.

“Did you do what you needed to out there?” I asked, remembering she’d wanted to avenge Ewan Jones and his memory.

She shifted uncomfortably, her muscles tensing, and I ran my fingers through her hair.

“I did,” she said tersely.

“You…killed him? Them?”

“Yes.”

“That must have been…hard. How does that affect your witch thing? After what Margaret was saying…”

A wave of guilt washed over Kelly, and I felt it like I was under the water’s surface. Brimming, about to break through. Something big had happened.

She turned away and wiped her hand across her face, and for a second I saw the girl I’d driven home on my bike after she’d killed a man for the first time.

She sniffed and turned farther away from me. “It’s fine. Nothing will happen.”

I sat up next to her, my fingers continuing to stroke her neck and my mark to remind her it was there. “Kel. Remember what this means.”

She glanced down at my fingers and huffed. “I did some things I’m not proud of, Will. Some things I really regret but can’t change now.”

I grunted in understanding. “Join the homicidal maniacs club. We have T-shirts for new members.”

The corner of her mouth lifted despite another tear escaping from her eye that she quickly wiped away. “Oh yeah? What are the membership dues like?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Laundromat fees every now and then, angry sex to get out the rage every now and then. The usual.”

She laughed, a rich, sonorous sound, and pushed me away, rolling across to the other end of the bed. I watched her for a second. Her naked back was a little more defined with the slight weight loss.

She reached down and picked up her discarded dress from the floor, making motions to get dressed and leave the bed.

I sighed and reached for my own clothes.

“Will, how would the coven call for help if they needed it?” she asked from the edge of the bed, facing away from me.

I pulled my undershirt over my head, wondering at the strange question.

“What do you mean? Would they call my phone, like when we arrange meetings?”

I turned and found she now had on her simple dress and was standing at the window, staring out at the field and river with glazed eyes.

“No, like, when they were attacked on the night of the solstice. If you weren’t already there, how would they have signaled you? To call for your help?”

I slipped on my boots and thought over the question. It had only been a few months since I’d gone over these details with Margaret Wardwell and other council members.

Our treaty with the coven witches required the wolves to act as protectors should they be needed, which meant answering a call to arms at a moment’s notice and hightailing it across the river.

“Well, it’s not like it’s happened yet. Your gran only explained it to me.”

“What did she say?” Kelly asked slowly, still staring out the window but listening to my answer carefully.

“She said there will at first be like a loud ringing in every wolf’s ear, an unusual pulse, and that it would eventually sound like a woman shrieking. Unmistakable is how she described it.”

“A woman shrieking… Did she say how they do it? Can anyone call for help?” she mumbled in the direction of the river scene outside the cabin, still deep in her own thoughts.

I came up behind her and clasped her shoulders, resting my head alongside hers.

“Something about the elders and charms. Luckily, after that scene in the caves, it doesn’t seem like your coven needs to use it.”

She leaned her head against mine, arching our bodies together. “I have to spend a few days across the river. I haven’t seen my family yet.”

I grunted, watching the rolling Columbia River flow past my little parcel of land.

“Man, that’s going to be tough. You want me to tag along?”

She was quick to shake her head. “No, I really don’t want you anywhere near that disaster,” she said, finally turning to face me, her hands finding my waist again.

“Actually, Will. I need you to steer clear of the commune for the next few days.”

I frowned at her request.

“Can you tell your pack to do the same?”

I stepped back from her, pulling on my shirt. “What are you talking about? Why would we even go there? Am I missing something?”

Kelly took a deep breath, bracing herself. “Will, if the coven calls for help, if you hear that shrieking in your ears… I need you to ignore it.”

I looked at her, a bit confused but sensing this wasn’t going to end well.

Suddenly, my front door slammed shut, and the familiar heavy footsteps of my brother echoed from the other room.

“Will? KELLY!” Jess yelled, and I sighed, recognizing the tone my brother used when he was about to give someone a piece of his mind.

Kelly recognized Jess’s voice, and a grin spread across her face. She flung the bedroom door open and walked out to the living room where he was pacing by the front door.

I leaned against the bedroom doorway, staying out of the line of fire.

As soon as he saw her, he threw his arms open wide in disbelief. “What the fuck, Jones?!” he roared, his anger palpable.

Kelly ignored his outburst and instead threw herself into his arms with a wide smile, her face lighting up with happiness and nostalgia at seeing my brother.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, and after a moment of hesitation, he reluctantly wrapped one of his arms around her.

It was easy to forget that Jess and Kelly had been close at one point, when he’d acted as her personal guard for a good month. They cared about each other.

“I am pissed at you,” he grumbled after a few moments.

Kelly laughed and let go of him, then picked up her boots at the front door. “There seems to be a lot of that going around.”

She sat on the couch and started to pull her boots on, and Jess positioned himself in front of her, a mirror image of myself yesterday. “You left us and then told us to piss off? Are you for fucking real?”

She glanced up at him, her laughter gone as she began to lace up her boots with forceful tugs. “I did what I had to do, what was best for everyone.”

Jess’s hand went to his head and he rubbed his scalp. “Everyone? Do you know what you put my brother through? Fuck!

“Kelly, do you have any goddamn clue what it does to a male wolf when you put him through the shit you’ve done? The fucking depression? I thought I’d have to put him on a goddamn suicide watch.”

I stayed leaning against the bedroom door, a grim look aimed at Jess.

Well, fuck, I’d thought I’d done a pretty good job hiding half the shit I’d been through. Apparently not so well if my own brother had thought I’d gone far enough to off myself.

Something flickered in my connection with Kelly, a hint of guilt and worry, and she turned slightly to look at me.

I kept my face neutral but nodded at her. “I was fine. Jess is just being overly dramatic.”

Her frown eased a bit at my lie, and she shook her head, seemingly to clear her thoughts before standing and grabbing Jess’s arms.

“I’m really sorry I went rogue and did my own thing. But I’m here, and I promise I’m not leaving the area. Okay?”

The anger and frustration on his face faded with her touch and apology.

“You owe me, Jones. Do you have any idea how long that flight to London was? With this twitchy alpha in the aisle seat? It was hell, Jones. Pure hell.”

Kelly smiled, sensing Jess had more or less forgiven her. “I’ll make it up to you, promise. But I’ve got to get going. When I come back in a few days, we can talk about how much of that crappy lite beer you want.”

His mouth twitched in the corner, but he maintained his stern gaze as she turned and came back to me, her eyes wandering around the small cabin.

“I like your new place. It’s cozy. Suits you.”

“When will you be back?” I asked, trying to keep the worry out of my voice. It didn’t seem to work, though, because she reached up to gently pinch my chin.

“Hey, don’t worry. No more running off, I swear. I just have to go back across the river and take care of some family stuff.

“Then I’m all yours, and we can figure out…stuff,” she said with a small grin that I couldn’t help but return.

Stuff. What a nice way of saying ~fuck each other’s brains out~.

Kelly took my hand and led me to the front door, opening it to the bright morning. It wasn’t even nine o’clock, and it was already hot enough to fry an egg.

We kissed at the doorway, and she looked up at me. “I’ll call you soon. And remember, if you hear that shriek in your ears, ignore it.”

I nodded, a look of worry on my face, and she turned and walked off my front porch, her long red hair caught in the slight breeze, creating a dramatic effect.

I sighed as she confidently walked away. We were nowhere near what we had been, whatever that was, love or infatuation.

I didn’t know. We hadn’t had enough time with each other the first time around. Maybe we would have time now.

“What’s that mean?” Jess asked, coming up beside me, having heard Kelly’s last statement.

I leaned on the doorframe, watching Kelly walk through the golden grass toward the river, toward the coven, briefly wondering how she was going to get across the river and if she knew where we kept the boats.

I sighed and took a deep breath, thinking about what I knew of Margaret Wardwell and the family drama that might have been unfolding over the last five months.

“I think there’s going to be a change in coven leadership. And they might not take the hostile takeover well.”