“I’ll go get her,” he said.“Stay here.”
With those words, he gave a meaningful look at his truemate and waited for her to nod at him that she’d stay behind, and then he strode with purpose to the barrier.Every step was driven by his wolf’s commitment to her.Even though he’d literally just met her, she was already the most important person in the world to him.
As he stepped across the perimeter, he used his wolf’s senses to listen for danger, and then he knelt next to Talia and put his hand on her shoulder.He didn’t sense anything like explosives or chemicals that might be dangerous to their people.In fact, he knew that Emberlin was a witch, so it stood to reason her sister would be too, but she didn’t smell like a witch.She smelled human.
Lifting her into his arms, he turned and walked back through the perimeter, his heart in his throat.
Catching magical people had as much to do with skill as it did with luck, in Jack’s opinion.And he would know, since he’d been hunting and capturing magical people for years to extract their magic for his own replenishment and to add to his army of evil followers.
But tonight, it had been sheer dumb luck that had brought a witch to his literal doorstep.When his guards had brought the screaming female into the underground lair and tucked her into a cell, Jack had at first thought to simply kill her since her magic was nearly depleted and she’d be worth hardly a drop of replenishment to him.
He could have turned her evil of course.
But he’d been so verymehabout the whole thing.
Until he got the idea to turn her human to mess with not only his stupid brother but also Mother Nature, the embodiment of anti-evil if ever there was one.
Sylvaine.Such a flowery, tree-hugging bitch.
So he’d taken what little magic she had, and instead of killing her and dropping her on Mother Nature’s doorstep, he’d had the idea to send her through a portal outside Northernmost with her magic gone.
He’d watched from afar, hidden in the swirling snow and darkness, and enjoyed the pain-filled scream from the female’s sister, who was being protected by one of the Guardians.
And that was far more interesting to him than how one of Mother Nature’s own coven members had been careless enough to let her magic get so depleted that she was nearly human by the time he’d taken what little there had been left.
“It was a nice added touch to flip off my brother,” Jack said as he settled behind his desk and lit a cigarette.
“He wasn’t happy,” Azure said.“I liked it.”
Azure had been part of the Nicholas coven before Saint had become Santa and Angel had become Jack.Azure was a kiss ass and had given up his good magic to follow Jack in his bid to take over the Well of Magic.He’d been pissed when he’d been chosen as number three instead of number two, but then Valeth had died in a blaze of dark magic and a busted blade last Christmas Day, and the promotion had happened shortly after.Evil followers were a dime a dozen, hence Azure being promoted to number two after Valeth died.
Jack was loyal only to Jack.
And his desire to take over the Well.
“So, can your brother fix it?”
Jack inhaled and let the smoke burn in his throat for a moment before blowing it out.“Fix what?”
“The girl’s magic.Can he use the Well to replenish it?”
“Nope.”Jack shook his head.“Once I fully take magic, it’s gone.Zip-a-dee-doo-fucking-dah.End of the story.”
“What about Mother Nature?”
He eyed his number two.“Are you suggesting that either my brother or that damned witch could reverse what I’ve done?”
Azure’s purple-ringed eyes widened.“No!No.I was just curious.”
“You know what curiosity did, right?”
The swallow was audible, followed by a low, “Killed the cat.”
“Damn straight.”After taking another satisfying drag on his cigarette, he continued, “Again, once it’s gone, it’s gone.She’s human for all intents and purposes.No spell can reverse it.Hell, even I can’t reverse it.I would have had to turn her evil while she still had magic for me to take.”
“You could have killed her.”
“This will be more fun.”
