Page 7 of Only You, No One Else

Dean’s face contorted with a frown.

“I can’t explain it. Can you?” He waited for the Prime Alpha’s acquiescing sigh. “Whatever we do after this, we need more information, and I figured since magic brought him back, perhaps we need magic.”

Dean stood, his energy crackling in the space containing Mark’s wolf. “You… both of you stay within these walls.”

“Where are you going?” Mikey started to follow him, but stopped mid-stride.

“To see James. Find out which members of the Council I can trust.” He glanced at Mark. “Get your answers and then find Caster. He’s the only person I can trust with your safety right now.”

Dean’s confidence in Caster echoed through him like a truth he couldn’t ignore. With his wolf’s senses much closer than before, Mark tried to find the unique scent that was his soulmate. His heightened senses found many different, foreign scents, and he closed his eyes to focus on the one he needed.

Like before, it floated past the door Dean had neglected to close to infiltrate his mind, further energizing his wolf. But it was faint, like Caster was not in the house. He tried to hide from the profound disappointment the new information brought as he held on to the tiniest hint of the only person who made him feel whole.

There was only one way to get back to Caster. He needed to ensure Zeke would not get between them, and that meant understanding why he was back and what his return meant for all of them. Above all, he needed to know how Zeke’s Alpha had reached his wolf with relative ease. He couldn’t belong to Caster, body, mind, and soul, if a vital part of himself was under Zeke’s control.

He’d spent a scant few minutes with the resurrected Zeke, but every ounce of him knew he wasn’t the same. Had he ever known him?

CHAPTER 5

Mark found Edie waiting for him in her assigned room. He sighed when she was alone. Both sides of him trusted both her and Riley’s mother, but until he had more to go on, this was something he wanted to do alone.

Her smile lit her beautiful face as he approached, her hair bouncing with the movement as she leaned over the table to reach for her teacup.

He smiled back, relaxing further in her presence. She seemed calm enough, but the full extent of her power crackled in the room, its significant energy signature powerful enough for the animal in him to see its distinct red aura around her.

“Come. Sit. Have some tea.” She indicated the delicate tea set, its beauty a sharp contrast to the ugliness of the topic he’d come to discuss.

Still, he did as instructed, reaching for the second steaming cup. His heightened senses picked up a strong chamomile scent and several other herbs he could have deciphered had he not been too distracted.

She smiled her encouragement, and he took a sip. Warmth spread through his body, soothing his broken heart, and his wolf sighed. He answered with a sigh of his own, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment further.

“Good, huh?” Her voice was not enough to draw him away from the magnificent feeling a second sip brought.

“What’s in this?” Even the tension he’d heard in his voice earlier was gone.

The brilliance of Edie’s smile did not falter. “I have a friend who is great at healing potions. I thought you’d need one.” She took a sip. “It’s Chamomile and healing earth magic.”

He nodded, his wolf so calm, he was almost asleep. His wolf’s complete trust in Edie gave him the courage to ask for what he needed.

“You need to know how he can be alive and if he’s the same wolf you knew before?”

Had she just… It didn’t matter how she knew. “Yes.”

Her frown was not encouraging. “Well… there’s a reason the Grand Coven warns against resurrection spells, especially if the soul had already crossed over to the Underworld.” She placed her teacup on the table between them, her frown deepening. “Though I don’t think he’d crossed over, given everything we know about Ethel now.”

Mark followed her lead, abandoning the healing tea mixture for the thoughts forming behind her expression. “You’re saying he may have been alive this whole time.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. But if not, then he may have been stuck in that void Caster had found. Resurrection spells are easiest when a soul is caught in that space, though we can’t rule out Ethel’s power.” She stood, and he restrained himself from following her. “She’s strong enough to call his soul from the Underworld.”

Edie’s last words as she walked away from him into the adjacent bedroom penetrated a mind still stuck on the possibility Zeke may have been alive this whole time. Had he? Had Mark’s ten-year battle with grief been for nothing? Hope blossomed through the betrayal. Mark’s guilt lessened. He hated himself even for thinking it, given the pain he’s suffered, but if Zeke was capable of such betrayal, then he’d never loved him, and Mark was free of the guilt of loving Caster with Zeke looming over them.

“Here it is…” Edie’s words sailed past his hope as she placed a large book on the table, using it to push the tea set aside. Her fingers pointed to words in Latin, a wreath surrounding the edges of the page.

“What is it? A resurrection spell?”

She shook her head. “No. This will help us see how long his soul was trapped before Ethel’s resurrection spell.”

Did he want to know? If he’d been alive the whole time Mark had been grieving his death, then Mark would be free of his obligation to him, free to love Caster. But what if he hadn’t? What if he’d really been dead?