Page 38 of Titan’s Mate

Mari looked up, apprehensive. “You mean Titan can’t be with me?”

Tyr looked from one of them to the other. “Are you two mates?”

They glanced quickly at each other, and then away. “No,” she said, “but he makes me feel safe.”

Tyr’s eyebrows went up faintly, and he studied them both. “It shouldn’t be a problem, as long as he keeps you calm.” He fixed Titan with a look. “And stays calm himself.”

“I’m always calm,” Titan said. Brock snorted.

Tyr said, “If you’re not, I’ll knock you out with a sleep spell so fast you won’t have time to catch yourself when you fall out of your chair.”

“Noted,” said Titan. He’d promised Mari he’d be there, and he would be. Besides, if something went really, really wrong, she’d need him to get her to the other side.

There was no way he’d let himself be stuck on the outside of a magic circle.

Tyr set up his crystals and chalked his symbols on the floor, and got Titan and Mari settled in their chairs. Titan took her hand, cradling it in his, and she gave him a nervous little smile.

Finally, Tyr sprinkled herbs and salt in a big circle around them, and began chanting in Draken. Brock sat outside the circle, straddling a dining room chair backwards with his arms folded on the back of it, watching.

Blue swirly magic rose up from the floor in a dome shape, enclosing them, and Titan would bet that if he were in the basement, he’d see the bottom half of a magical sphere extending through the floor.

After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Tyr approached Mari. He put one hand on her head, and with the other aimed a clear quartz crystal at her. A white light surrounded her from the neck up. Tyr stared down into it.

Titan wished like hell he could see what Tyr was seeing.

Tyr looked like he was concentrating deeply. A couple of times he changed out the crystal for different colored stones, and then went back to the first one.

Finally—very, very delicately—he touched the tip of the crystal to Mari’s head.

For long moments, nothing happened.

Then, suddenly, Mari opened her eyes wide. They glowed red, flames seeming to dance in them. Her mouth opened and a red mist came out. “She is mine,” said a deep, grating voice. “You are all MINE!”

Titan suddenly saw Mari surrounded in misty red flames, just like his people had been the other night. She convulsed, and began screaming.

Titan wrapped his arms around Mari and dragged her into his lap. Tyr grabbed her head in both hands and began chanting.

There was what felt like a silent explosion, and Tyr was knocked backwards, stopped only by the magic circle. At the same time, Titan was pulled into the spirit world. In front of him he could see Mari, with a demon next to her, his clawed hand digging deep into her head. Thick, toxic junk was spreading through the veins in Mari’s face and neck, poisoning her.

Titan called to his bear, and he manifested in the spirit world, a glow of white magic surrounding him. This was what he was born to do—protect souls from demons.

His bear leaped at the demon, tearing into it with claws and teeth. Titan followed, manifesting a sword of light and hacking at it.

The demon shrieked with fear and rage, loosening its grip on Mari. But it wasn’t enough to get rid of him. They weren’t enough.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Tyr struggle to his feet. Blue magic poured from his hands into Mari, trying to neutralize the poison. Bear tore the demon’s arm off. It looked back and forth between them, and laughed, growing more and more transparent until it finally dissolved into Mari’s body.

Titan realized he could hear Tyr chanting again, and opened his eyes to see the living room. Mari was limp in his arms, her whole body glowing blue.

Tyr finished his spell and went silent. The blue glow lingered for a minute or two, and then gradually faded out. Mari opened her eyes.

“I feel like hell,” she announced.

Brock was staring at them, wide-eyed. “Okay, somebody please tell me what the fuck just happened?”

Tyr banished the magic circle, and then pulled a glass potion bottle out of his gear bag and uncorked it, handing it to Mari. “Drink this,” he said.

She tipped it up and began to drink, making a face at the taste, but she immediately got some color back in her face, and the furrow of pain between her brows disappeared.