Witch Trippin' Read online

  I turned and caught her and held her at bay, but she was stronger because she was in wolf form and I wasn’t.

  Only one thing to do. I shifted into wolf as well. My dark was gaining on my light. I could have used magic to just stop her, even send her hurtling back to her wolf camp, but my wolf wanted to taste her blood, and I have to admit, the rage that filled me was taking over!

  I stunned her for a moment as I shifted into wolf. Like my blonde hair, I am a blonde wolf, and because of all the magic inside of me, I’m not your average one.

  All at once, I had her neck in my jaws, and my wolf wanted her blood. The taste of her blood was too satisfying.

  Ho! Wait. That wasn’t me. No, ewe. I don’t want to taste blood. I don’t want to kill. No, back in control. I am in control, I reminded myself.

  Sophie whined as she tried to dislodge my canine grip around her throat.

  I stared into her eyes and hoped she would hear my telepathic message.

  I could kill you now, Sophie, but here is your last chance. I won’t give you another. Don’t put me in that position again.

  She managed to throw me off as she scrambled back onto her paws. She was panting and quite visibly shaken and fatigued. She huffed as she stood there, trying to make up her mind what to do next.

  As I said, I don’t have fighting skills, so once again, I relied on my magic. I can’t flick a wrist in my wolf state, but I can form a spell in my mind and throw it over my enemy. Evidently, my Dark Magic recognized Sophie of the Tomlin pack as an enemy. It recognized that Sophie had not conceded to me. Before I lost control of my power, I used White Magic and sent her backward and off balance only a few feet.

  I could see her, smell her in the background, uncertain and just a bit frightened.

  In wolf form still, I turned to find Marvin bearing down on me.

  What didn’t he get about the fact that I had just disadvantaged him?

  Ah. He had another trick up his sleeve.

  He had a large syringe full of...? My parents had taught me all I needed to know about Wolfbane. I picked up on its scent immediately and felt a moment’s concern.

  Wolfbane is a poison derived from the purple flower’s roots. It can kill humans, and make a wolf shifter very seriously ill.

  Hurriedly, I shifted into a fully clothed witch, or rather wizard, or is it she-wizard? Never mind, luckily, long ago, I gave myself the magical ability to dress while shifting.

  He scarcely gave me a moment when he screamed at the top of his lungs, “You are coming with me!”

  “No, I don’t think she is!” a dear, dear, beautiful male voice said as he came into view and landed Marvin a hard punch to the gut and then an upper cut to the chin.

  Marvin went backward and down.

  I could have kissed Jace. So I did. I jumped into his arms, wrapped my legs around his waist, and gave that wolfman a kiss that sent us both into hyper drive.

  I had lost all willpower to resist my need and my desire for him. All I wanted was to just keep on kissing Jace Tomlin and feeling his arms around me. With him, I felt secure and safe.

  He gently set me on my feet and eased away from me.

  I frowned at him, and had I a chance, I might have attacked him again, however, Sophie had shifted into a naked human and was coming at us, claws extended. And I do mean claws.

  Jace set me behind him and held her shoulders in his firm grasp. He seemed oblivious to her nakedness. “Go home, Sophie, and think about what you have just done!”

  “Jace, no, no...please!” she cried. “I love you. We could be alphas of this pack...we could...”

  “No, we could not. Once again, you have directly disobeyed me. How dare you? Go home before you make me do something we both will regret. It isn’t over, and I will deal with you later,” Jace said ferociously.

  Sophie wailed as she shifted back into wolf and took off into the woods.

  “Jace,” I asked. “How did you know to come for me?”

  “Mac called me. Said he picked up on an aura that had infiltrated his wards. He told me it was near Clara’s place. I knew you liked to walk this way.”

  We were so intent on each other, neither one of us noticed that Marvin had gotten to his feet. He screamed like a banshee as he charged me.

  Too late, I saw what he was doing and didn’t dodge in time.

  Too late, Jace looked up and flew between us. Marvin was already there, shoving his syringe of Wolfbane into my neck.

  “Oh no...” I said, and pulled the needle out of my neck.

  Marvin had done some damage, after all, before he transported the hell away screaming still, “We are not done. You will be mine. I will come back.”

  ~ Seven ~

  I OPENED MY EYES TO find Jace wiping my face down with a cool rag. I could smell the rosewater, and the cool wetness felt so good.

  I tried smiling, but I’m not sure I was successful.

  “Baby,” he said. “Finally, you’re back. Open those gorgeous green pools of yours and look at me.”

  I did what he asked. I was so tired. I tried to recall why. Then, in a flood, like a massive wave you see coming at you but can’t escape, it poured into my brain. “Wolfbane.”

  “Yes, but Clara had an antidote on hand. Even so, you have been unconscious all night, and all morning. I’ve been worried. You didn’t look like you were coming to any time soon. It is good to have you back.”

  “I feel...odd, sick, but in a funny way,” I told him.

  “You were retching up your guts all last night, but you rested more comfortably in the early hours. You say you feel sick? Is it...nausea?”

  “Oh no, you were here when I was...barfing?” That was what got through to me. What woman wants a man to watch her retch? “Oh, how awful,” I said as the image of me with my head over a pail and him watching made me feel like putting my head back into a pail.

  He chuckled. “I thought your stamina remarkable, Bennie.”

  Clara came in. “I heard her voice. She is awake. Oh. Thank goodness.”

  “Thanks...Clara...antidote,” I said weakly.

  “You would have been fine without it, but it would have taken longer to recover. We need to make plans about Sophie and Marvin. Something drastic must be done.” She turned to Jace. “Sophie must be censored. This wasn’t a prank, they meant and did harm. You know that.”

  “Already done. If she steps out of line, she will be banished from the pack. I honestly hope I won’t have to do that. Sophie hasn’t had an easy life, and the pack...is her family, her home. I have to hope that she will wake up and get control of herself. Until recently, she was a faithful pack member, and banishment, I think, would break her,” Jace said.

  “No banishment. A good scare, maybe,” I stuck in.

  “Marvin, the warlock, needs censored even more than Sophie does. What he did to Bennie, without knowing how seriously she would be affected by the Wolfbane, is unconscionable,” Clara said. “He has obvious issues. I don’t think he is mentally well. No doubt from diving into Dark Magic without a sponsor to guide him. Bennie, your father reported Marvin to his coven, and they are holding a hearing regarding his behavior. I expect he will be suspended from his coven.”

  I looked over at the nightstand. I could hear Bone-Apart still humming. Normally, he would have known if I were in trouble. We have a bond, but he was lost to his mission at the moment.

  “I made you some very fine soup,” Clara said. “Do you think you are ready, my dear?”

  I shook my head and closed my eyes. Fatigue was so heavy in me and quickly took over. Even so, just before I drifted off completely, I heard Clara whispering to Jace.

  “Jace, she will do now. You are free to return to your pack and your business, dear.”

  “No. I am not leaving her until she is up and about and back to herself,” he answered. I was strangely comforted by this.

  “Well, at least come on down and have a bite to eat,” Clara urged.

  He sighed. “Okay, but then
I’m coming back up here. There was something about that warlock, Marvin. He was obsessed. I wouldn’t put it past him to transport right into her room, and she isn’t well enough to fight him off. I’m staying the night, Clara.”

  “But the ward you put around the house, shouldn’t that be enough?” Clara said doubtfully.

  “Yeah, it would hurt like hell, but a crazed warlock might just could ignore the pain, get through, get her, and teleport out.”

  I didn’t hear any more as I drifted into one of the worst nightmares I have ever had.

  * * * * *

  “Bennie...come on, Bennie, that’s it, open your eyes...you know it is time.”

  His voice. It was Jace calling me, but...he sounded off somehow. Where was I? I sat up in bed, but I knew I wasn’t in Clara’s home. I was in a swamp. Not ten feet away was an alligator staring at me. I screamed and huddled at the head of my bed. What—where...?

  “Time is now...time for you to realize. Time for you to accept our future. Come on, we have to go.”

  The voice took shape. I saw Jace standing in the swamp water, alligators coming at him, at us. I saw him as he shifted into wolf. He was massive.

  He was so big he filled my eyes ’til I could see only the wolf. His golden eyes were bright. I realized how much I loved his golden eyes, then they filled with a light that frightened me to my core. This wasn’t Jace at all.

  It was him. It was Marvin!

  He was scooping me out of the bed. He was laughing. Somehow, he got past the wards. Somehow, he was here without anyone knowing.

  No. No. I had to do something, but I still felt so weak.

  I tried screaming, but nothing came out of my mouth. Why? I was gagged. No one would hear me. No one would know.

  I looked for Boney. Boney could help me...but Marvin had him. Marvin had him tucked under his arm. How was Marvin able to hold him? Boney could burn anyone who touched him without permission. What was happening? How had Marvin become so powerful?

  No, this couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be.

  And then I screamed and it worked. I could hear my scream echo back at me.

  I sat upright with a force that made my head and body ache. No one was there. My room was empty—that is until Jace, followed by Clara, came bursting inside.

  “What is it, Trouble? What happened?” Jace was on the bed with me, putting an arm about my shoulders. I didn’t question his presence. I was so damn glad of it.

  Clara flanked me on the other side after she looked out the window. Both of them took a sniff of the air, then looked at each other.

  “Nightmare,” Clara said. “She had one.”

  He touched my forehead. “She is burning up. Maybe we should call Zelda.”

  Clara never left the room, but a bowl of fresh water sprinkled with rosewater was produced and she started patting my forehead with it. “Jace, the shifter in her is healing itself. The wizard is resting during the process. I can’t call Zelda, though I would if I thought Bennie needed more than her own healing powers. Bennie, as you know, isn’t just a witch. She is also a wizard, like Nathan—like me. No one in Assjacket knows that we aren’t pure witches, and that is how I would like it to stay—for our sakes, and for her father’s. He is in charge of a huge coven of warlocks and witches in New Orleans. If it was widely known he is a wizard, his position would be in jeopardy. You are the only being we entrusted with our secret.”

  “Of course, Clara...but can she heal herself? Has she received enough training from you?”

  “She doesn’t need training. Healing oneself comes naturally to an immortal wizard. Besides, her inner wolf is on the job as well. Her grandfather was lucky enough to meet a wonderful wizard from another realm, so she has a great deal of dominant wizard powers, plus that of witch from her great-grandmother, and...wolf from her own mother. She is quite a bundle of power.”

  I tried smiling at her, but I think it was feeble because Clara patted my hand and said, “There, there, child. You will be back to your old wild and wooly self by morning.”

  “I’m going to kill Marvin if he ever trespasses again,” Jace said.

  I didn’t object. I was weak, and at that moment, it sounded reasonable to me.

  “If you don’t, I may,” Clara said lightly. “Now, I’m going to go make some tea for her. Would you like some?”

  He shook his head and wiped the lovely smelling washcloth over my face again.

  I managed a whisper. “You stayed with me all night?”

  “I couldn’t leave you,” he said. “This is on me.”

  “On you? How on you?” Damn, I felt so completely useless in my awful and pathetic condition. Was that even my voice? It sounded so weak and ineffectual. It was a good thing he had wolf hearing.

  “My fault that Sophie was fixated on me, and I should have known she might try something. What I wasn’t expecting was a warlock from New Orleans popping up. He was the guy you sent into another county, upside down and tied to a tree?”

  I nodded. “So...not on you. On me.” I would have laughed if I had been able.

  Clara returned with the tea and Jace stood up. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes, Clara. I want some of my betas guarding your place for a few days. That no good fu...warlock might be hanging out nearby.”

  “That is an excellent notion,” Clara agreed.

  “And I will be spending the night here,” he said.

  “Of course, lovely. I will make up the spare bedroom,” she said brightly.

  “No, I’ll be here...right here. I’ll bring a sleeping bag,” he said.

  I sighed with absolute and complete pleasure. The thought of Jace so close was more comforting than anything else I could think of.

  ~ Eight ~

  MY LASHES BRUSHED MY CHEEK, and then, as I was startled, they flew open. Where was I? Yes, I knew. Clara’s.

  I sat up feeling exuberant and fully recovered. I needed to run to the ladies’ room, as I had some hours before. Jace had carried me there and I had been strong enough to manage on my own.

  He was on the floor in his army colored sleeping bag, so I tiptoed to the bathroom. He was up and behind me before I got very far.

  “Bennie, baby...are you okay?”

  “Wow, wolf, you are a light sleeper,” I said.

  “You sound okay,” he said with some doubt still lingering in his voice.

  I put my hand on his chest. “You...back to sleep. Me...bathroom.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, you are back to yourself again.”

  In the bathroom, I dropped the oversized T-shirt that Clara must have changed me into, and took a quick, hot shower, dried off, put a brush through my tangled, long, blonde waves, and wrapped a towel around myself.

  When I returned to the bedroom, Jace was sitting on the end of my bed. He had such a strange look on his handsome face.

  I said, “What?”

  “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” His voice was low, his tone was genuine, his eyes were brilliant gold. “And the sooner you get dressed, the easier it will be for me.”

  I was falling hard. I was so falling. This couldn’t be real. I must be trapped in a coma. He couldn’t be reaching for me. He couldn’t be whispering my name.

  He was. Where was this coming from?

  “Then off you go...give me a few moments, and thank you, Jace, you sure know how to make a woman feel like one.”

  “Baby, I want to do more than that. I want to make you feel treasured, admired, respected. I want to make you...” He ran a hand through his hair. “I am sorry, Bennie. I shouldn’t be saying these things to you now. You are just barely recovered from an ugly ordeal. But we need to talk soon.”

  I went and worked my way between his thighs and put my arms around his neck. I couldn’t speak. I don’t know how this had happened to me, but that she-wolf inside of me was screaming, Mate, yours, now. Mate. The rest of me wanted him, but it was my wolf who was in charge. My wolf was whining for Jace Tomlin.

  I j
ust held on. He did the same.

  When I pulled away, he took my hand and put my knuckles to his lips, then looked up and into my eyes. “Baby...my own little bit of Trouble. You have no idea, I can’t describe how scared I felt when you were...when he slammed that syringe into you. I was so damned scared, and I am never scared. I knew what was happening even before then...but, in that moment, when I was so helpless to do anything to help you, I realized what was happening...but we should leave it at that ’til you are fully recovered.” He stopped speaking then and scooped me up, and my towel fell. He stopped and breathed hard for a moment, then laid me on my bed and covered me up. “Sleep tight, baby. Sleep well,” he said softly.

  “What is going on, Jace? Because my wolf...inside of me is...is...”

  “I know, as is mine. Shh, now. You need this rest. We’ll talk more tomorrow. In fact, we’ll do more than talk.” He said the last words with total lust in his eyes, and that made me squirm with anticipation.

  “I...I...but,” I started.

  “Go to sleep, Trouble. Tomorrow.”

  I didn’t think I could sleep after all of that, but sure nuff, off to sleep I went, until suddenly a familiar voice shouting enough to bring down the roof woke me up.

  “Eureka! I tell you all, Eureka. I am perfection. There is no other like me!”

  It was Bone-Apart complimenting himself, as he often does when he completes a task.

  “I found them. I found them. Hurry...come, Bennie, come see!” he screamed.

  * * * * *

  I jumped out of bed, threw on my T-shirt, and was aware that I was starving and made a mental note to go down to the kitchen and raid the fridge. However, I went to Bone-Apart first and stroked his boney head. “What is it, Bone-Apart?”

  “What do you think, beloved Bennie, what do you think? I have found the wizards.”

  “Clara, hurry,” I shouted, my heart filling with hope. “Boney has found them!” I screamed as loudly as Boney had. My heart was doing palpitations. I was so excited for Clara!

  Clara came running and she didn’t look like an old grandmother.

  Gone was the gray hair tied into a bun. Gone was the round elderly woman in black with the pointy black witch hat. Instead, a lovely woman who looked no more than thirty came rushing toward us, tying a white silk robe into place. My eyebrows went up and I wondered just how old Clara might be.