“All I know is, my body healed, and Grace held onto my hand while some awesome power flowed through her and attacked the snake until he turned on his tail and ran.”
Brad’s phone buzzes, and he starts texting furiously. “It’s Rex,” he explains. “I’m just giving him a rundown for now; he’ll talk to you later about this. I’ve let him know that you also have woman trouble, and he’s very sympathetic.”
“I bet,” I chuckle. “Has there been anything official on the snake since last night?”
“We have the record of the heat signature moving around last night,” Brad says. “That’s actually kind of why we’re here. Alisha didn’t have any dreams, though. Neither did Sara. But Rex wanted us to check in and see if there was any action on the ground. Looks like there was a lot more than what we counted on.”
“So, you guys actually beat it?” Luke asks.
“No.” I shake my head. “We got him on the run, that’s all. It’s pretty scary, actually, because Grace unleashed enough power to compete with a volcano, and it didn’t do a whole lot to our scaly friend.”
“Not good,” Luke mutters. “Is there anything we can do to fight this thing?”
“I think we’ve made progress,” Brad says. “The two of them actually made it retreat. I’d call that a win.”
“We need to get our heads together, though,” Luke says. “Too much is going on, and we have more people than ever in the blast zone.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “He could be luring us all in for a big hit on the population.”
“Doesn’t the thing need to hop into an alpha to leave the area?” Brad wonders. “Or a sorcerer, or something? I don’t know much about it.”
“Neither do I,” I reply. “And it’s hurting my head. Like I told you, I know the snake should be my biggest worry right now, but I’m having trouble focusing on that.”
“Oh, right,” Luke says. “Something happened with Grace?”
“Right after the snake took off, we went at each other so hard, we practically took off a layer of skin.”
Brad whistles. “Wow. So, your marriage is good and consummated now? Should be happy sailing from here.”
“No,” I groan, shaking my head. “No, no. I can’t get close to her. This was a mistake. I know we’re bound together by marriage, and we have to rule the pack, but I can’t get my heart involved in this. I will lose my head if I do.”
I look between Brad and Luke, and I’m surprised by their blank faces.
“What?” I ask.
“Are you telling me you had amazing, magical sex, and then you strolled off like it was just a one-night stand?” Brad asks.
“Well, not quite that bad,” I answer. “But I definitely put distance between us this morning. You don’t understand how different we are. In the light of day, I realized how badly this could go, and that we should definitely just back off and handle this without too much emotion.”
“That’s not it,” Luke mutters, shaking his head. “Well, it might be part of it, but not the whole thing. What’s your actual problem?”
I look from Luke to Brad, and both of them are giving me the same ruthlessly searching look.
“Oh, alright,” I groan. “If you’re going to force me to say it out loud. It was the magic, okay?”
“I get how that can be scary,” Brad says. “I know when I saw Alisha’s powers come out, it was confronting, but—”
“Brad,” I say firmly. “Don’t insult me. You know why I don’t deal with magic.”
As Luke and Brad stare at me, the energy shifts between us, and I see compassion in their eyes.
“I understand,” Brad says.
“No, you don’t!” I snap. “Don’t pretend that you do.”
“Okay,” Luke says, putting a firm hand on my shoulder. “We don’t understand. We couldn’t. But Grace has nothing to do with what happened to you.”
“Magic does,” I growl. “Magic is responsible for all of it, and I swore I’d wipe out evil magic wherever I found it!”
