“Nothing is ever inescapable, Liz. He has the choice. It’s just a matter of whether he has the balls.”
I smiled. “He’s an alpha wolf. He can’t change that. Not for me, not for anyone.”
He grunted—a clear sound of disagreement—then kissed my cheek and left. I relocked the door, then headed back upstairs to make both Mrs. Rankin and myself a hot drink.
Her sister—Beverly—appeared two hours later. Once we’d all eaten—takeout, because I had no desire to cook this evening—I made up the fold-out sofa bed, then left them to it and headed downstairs. After making myself a big pot of tea, I reached out to the thread of wild magic that slowly circled the room. It responded instantly, pulsing with awareness and life as it wrapped gently around my wrist. It was from Katie’s wellspring this time, not the larger one. I reached out, and she answered immediately.
Lizzie? Surprise echoed in her mental tone. Is there a problem? Aside from the dark spirit that is currently on the rampage, that is.
You could say so. Have you, through your threads, sighted any unusual activity in the Argyle or Rayburn Springs area?
Define unusual.
I couldn’t help smiling. She very much sounded like Aiden at that moment, and pain stabbed through me. It wasn’t until now that I realized he hadn’t tried to contact me, not even to berate me for not letting him know how the bone reading went. Maybe he was still angry with me for dumping him at Ashworth’s. And maybe, as Monty had said, he was using the time to contemplate what he wanted from our relationship.
If he wanted anything from it, that is.
We’ve a dark witch in the reservation—
Is she the reason the hone-onna is here?
Yes, I said, and we believe she has a well-protected altar set up in a remote location near a mineral spring.
I’ll send out threads—
Only a couple, I cut in quickly. We can’t risk her realizing there’s more to the wellsprings here than meets the eye.
There is only one recognized wellspring.
Yes, but this witch has undoubtedly done her research, and she may well be aware of the main wellspring’s resonance. She’s clever enough to note the differences in the threads from your wellspring.
Katie was silent for a moment. I can send a couple of threads from the main spring, but I do not have the control of them that I do with my own.
Perhaps send one of yours accompanied by two of the others. That way, if she does spot them, she may just accept they’re from the same wellspring.
After all, with all the protections around the main wellspring, she wouldn’t have been able to examine it too closely—not without setting off alarms.
That might work. She paused for several seconds. Gabe says that destroying an altar is no easy task and will require more force and knowledge than you can muster.
I can muster a whole lot of force these days. There was no denying the lack of knowledge, however.
Yes, but you can’t risk blowback staining the wild magic. Not given your growing connection with the main wellspring.
There, in one sentence, was confirmation of all my earlier fears. I drew in a deep breath that did little to actually calm the rise of tension. Though it wasn’t like I could actually do anything to stop or even slow the ongoing merger. Not when I had no idea how it even really started, or why. It would perhaps have been understandable had the wellspring here been the one Mom had been sent to restrain and protect when she’d barely been pregnant with me, but it wasn’t. But they did all have the same source—the deep earth—so maybe it was more the fact that this one had been similarly unrestrained when I’d first arrived on the reservation.
Monty will be able to destroy the altar—there is an entire unit dedicated to the subject at university, Katie continued, but Gabe says it will take all his strength and that, by necessity, means you’ll have to dismantle whatever protection rings she’s running around the altar.
I frowned. As you’ve already noted, I don’t have the knowledge. Not when it comes to a dark witch’s magic.
And while Monty undoubtedly knew the theory of dismantlement, he didn’t have the experience. Ashworth and Eli undoubtedly did, but dare we risk pulling them off guard duty when the hone-onna still lurked out there?
Gabe says he’ll guide you.
Via the partial merger again, I take it?
It was what we’d done to defeat Clayton. While Gabe’s soul was irrevocably tied to the wellspring, he’d been able to partially merge with me—sharing my body space and senses to see the traps and spells that Clayton had set and guide me through them. It had drained us both, but it had been worth it.
And if it saved lives in this case, I was more than happy to give it another go.
Yes, Katie said. It’s the safest way.
I nodded, though she was unlikely to see it given the thread was only being used as a communication method. You’ll send out the threads tonight?
Within the hour. If anything is found, I’ll contact you.
Thanks, Katie.
Welcome.
Her thoughts left mine. The thread unwound itself from my wrist and drifted away, though it didn’t go all that far. Maybe Katie had told it to remain close in case she needed to contact me again.
I headed into the kitchen to check the stock levels and write up a list of what had to be ordered tomorrow, and then made a couple of different slices. Slices didn’t keep forever, and there were five varieties in the cake fridge that would reach their use-by date over the next few days.
It was close to eleven by the time I took off my shoes and padded quietly up the stairs. The two women were asleep, and Mrs. Rankin was snoring quite loudly. Thankfully, my room was shielded against all manner of noise, be it physical or mental. It was one of the first things we’d done when we bought the place in order to give Belle refuge from the constant barrage of my thoughts.
After a quick hot shower, I tumbled into bed and was quickly asleep. For a change, my dreams were quiet. That in itself should have been warning enough.
Because at three in the morning, the wild magic woke me.
Katie had found the altar.
Chapter Thirteen
I sat bolt upright, my heart going a million miles an hour while my brain scrambled to catch up. Katie? You’ve really found the altar?
Yes. It’s in the St. Leonard’s forest area, just off one of the old walking tracks there.
I sent a quick message to Belle to get Monty out of bed and over here ASAP, and then hastily got dressed. That doesn’t sound like a very secure location. I thought it’d be more remote and deep in the forest.
Or even in a damn mine. There were plenty of those about.
It doesn’t need to be because few use the track, she replied. That particular area was so heavily mined that even wolves need prior approval to go in there these days. Experienced guides do caving and mining tours over summer, but in winter the area is deserted.
Which suggested the witch had done her research, and that the timing of her attacks were no mistake. I sat back down on the bed and tugged on my socks and boots. So will we need a guide?
No. I can guide you through the wild thread. You need to call it to you; this means of communication will drain us both too quickly otherwise.
I immediately did so. I take it you’re familiar with that area?