Wolf Mate (11 page)

But Rebecca...

Melynda sat down heavily on
the empty bus stop seat to compose herself. Poor Rebecca. She was a
survivor. She was strong, but right now she was helpless. She was
strong mentally and emotionally, but the poor woman was just lying on
a hospital bed, completely immobile and defenseless.

Melynda rubbed her arms
vigorously. Goose bumps had erupted all over her skin, and it wasn't
because of the cold. She just had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling
about this.

She feared for Rebecca, and
strangely, she feared...for herself.

Don't be silly, Melynda
,
she chided herself, trying to nip her paranoia in the bud.
You're
just working yourself up for nothing. You're just worried about the
exams. That's all.

Melynda stood up quickly and
muttered a “Get Home Quick” spell under her breath. In
her haste, she stumbled over a single word in the spell. “Shit,”
she gulped. Panicking, she recited the spell again, trying to cover
her mistake, but it was too late. She could already feel the magick
winding around her. The wind whipped up, and the streets twisted and
churned. But it felt wrong.

The spell had gone wrong.
Seriously wrong.

It shouldn't be like this.

She should be able to see her
house by now. The “Get Home Quick” spell usually brought
her to her street in a couple of seconds. She just had to walk a few
steps to reach her front gate. But now, everything was swimming and
swirling around her, and there was no telling where she was.

She could be spinning into the
middle of the city, materializing in the middle of a busy highway.
By the time she got her bearings, she might be staring directly into
the looming headlights of an oncoming truck.

Melynda tried to chant the
spell again, but the more she panicked, the more she slipped up. Her
stuttered, garbled spell sounded wrong to her own ears.

“
Please...” she
whispered.

Her thoughts spun out of
control as her fear spiked. Terrifying, tormenting images flashed
before her eyes in rapid succession. She remembered every
frightening moment in her life and relived every nightmare.
Everything she feared and dreaded swam to the fore to taunt and
torture her.

Her spell had gone very, very
wrong.

Her emotions were now working
against her.

Instead of empowering her,
they entrapped and endangered her.

Her most recent fear pulsed
before her very eyes. She saw what he did and the terror and
destruction he caused.

He terrorized his young wife.
He beat her, bullied her and betrayed her. And when she tried to
divorce him, to finally free herself completely from his clutches, he
tried to kill her.

Through Rebecca's emotions and
her own fear, she saw everything he did and everything he was
planning to do. She saw it too starkly, to clearly. She wasn't sure
if the gripping sense of fear and desperation that was slowly
crushing her, squeezing her heart and lungs until she couldn't
breathe, couldn't scream, was her own or Rebecca's.

Melynda struggled against the
darkness which was fast closing in on her. She sensed a presence in
the darkness. Twisting round, she could barely make out the outline
of a face.

But it wasn't the face she'd
hoped to see. It wasn't Dax. She suddenly wished with all her heart
that she could just see Dax one more time. She had been so angry
with him, so hurt by him, and she had said many hurtful words to him.

If only...

There was no time for regrets.
Her Emotional magick had latched onto her overarching fear and
worry, and had drawn something sinister, something very dangerous, to
her.

Fear attracted predators and
monsters.

They could sense it and smell
it.

“
No, no...”
Melynda croaked. She could see his face now.

It was the face of a monster.
It was the face of Phin Lester.

He turned his red eyes on her,
and mouthed the same two words he'd said to her earlier.

You. Die.

Dax went back to the office
after dropping Melynda off at Spell School. Spell School had a city
campus, where they held their night classes. It was away from the
city center, in a quiet, rather affluent neighborhood. Melynda had
been very quiet during the drive, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

He had badly wanted to reach
over and hold her hand, but he had stopped himself. She suddenly
looked so small and fragile to him, like she would break into pieces
if he just touched her.

He had watched her work her
Emotional magick at the hospital, and it was very different from what
his ex-mate, no, his
fake
mate, did. It was completely
different from what he saw Savannah did. Savannah didn't just draw
people's emotions out and give form to them. She manipulated their
emotions, twisted them and changed them. She played with them and
wound them around her little finger, jerking them around like
puppets.

Melynda did what she did to
help. Savannah did it to hurt.

It...it's not even about
me. It's about you, and your...
mate! You hate me because of
what she did to you! Well, this might come as a surprise to you,
but—I am not her!

Dax could hear the pain and
rage in her voice. He raked his hand furiously through his hair as
he stepped into the lift. Melynda was right. Melynda might be an
Emotional witch, but she wasn't her. Melynda had done nothing wrong.
She hadn't hurt anyone, hadn't used anyone. She was sweet, kind and
strong. Even after what he'd said to her, tearing her to shreds, she
had put Rebecca and Levi's interests first, and worked her spell
successfully.

There was no doubt that she
was a powerful Emotional witch, but she had been suppressing and
hiding her abilities, from her coven, even from herself.

If she honed her skills and
magick as an Emotional witch, Dax had no doubt that she would be able
to accomplish so much more.

She shouldn't be just your
secretary. She is so much more.

She is a good witch, a
great witch. And she is your mate!

Dax shook his head with a
growl. No, never again. He was damaged, and he couldn't be
repaired, couldn't be rescued. There was no mate for him. It was
just an illusion, a dream.

It would be better to let her
go before he ruined her. She was young and innocent. She deserved
better. She didn't deserve a dark, damaged Silver Wolf for a mate.

Dax walked out of the lift and
pushed into the brightly lit office. A few lawyers were working
late, and he heard them talking on the phone or typing furiously on
their computers in their offices. Matthew Wells was standing behind
his secretary, dictating a letter while she typed. Matthew nodded
and arched an eyebrow at Dax as he walked past.
Where's Melynda?

Dax nodded back but didn't
stop to talk.

He was busy, and so was
Matthew. Matthew didn't stop a beat in his dictation, even though
Dax could feel Matthew's eyes boring into his back. The firm was
advising a multinational group in its acquisition of a rival company,
and Matthew was making damn sure the terms of the acquisition were
watertight.

Dax strode into his office and
grabbed the phone. Jett answered on the first ring.

“
Dax! At last. I have
been sitting by the phone the whole night, just waiting for your good
news,” Jett said with forced cheerfulness.

“
Jett, can you send some
of your Enforcers down to the city hospital?” Dax cut straight
to the point.

“
You want us to protect
Rebecca Rose? I thought the human police have that covered.”

“
There is one police
officer stationed outside her ward.”

“
Okaaaaay. But first,
tell me the good news. Has Rebecca Rose woken up? Did she say
anything? Did she tell you that Levi...”

“
No, she's still in a
coma. She can't talk, she can't scream for help.”

Jett swore and answered
tersely, “I'll send Scott and Bryn to watch over her. And
Dax?”

“
Yes.”

“
You get Levi out. Levi
is not a killer!”

A pause. “I know.”

Jett grunted his thanks and
hung up.

Dax glanced out the window and
saw the first glimmer of the rising moon through the clouds. He
started, cursing loudly.

He had forgotten it was the
full moon tonight.

He would shift into a wolf,
whether he liked it or not. He was a Silver Wolf. He would become
fully wolf tonight.

Bolting out of his office, Dax
took the lift down and hurtled out of the building. There was no
time to get his car. He would have to run, fast enough and far
enough. He had always made sure he was far out of the city when he
shifted.

That way, no one would get
hurt.

No one but himself.

Dax started to run.

The moon slid out slowly,
becoming larger and rounder as it rose higher and higher into the
night sky.

But there was something else
pulling him. And it wasn't the moon. It was something much, much
stronger. Dax ran swiftly through the streets. He was a powerful
runner, lean, silent, graceful. He could feel his wolf close to the
surface, running with him, in him, its animal powers coursing through
his body.

He turned the corner and kept
running. The sense of danger and urgency pounded through his
muscles, and he knew where he had to go. He knew the place, but he
didn't know the reason. Why he had to be at her house was a mystery,
for now.

Dax leaped over the fence,
almost trampling over a blooming golden rose bush, and charged up the
front steps of the two-story house.

Before he could knock, the
door flew open and a little old lady stood beaming in the doorway, in
the buff.

Dax stammered and staggered
back, but a hand shot out and grabbed him.

“
Come in, come in, we've
been waiting for you,” the old lady cackled. She dragged him
in and before he could twist away, the door banged shut behind him
and the lock slid into place with a resounding click.

“
Mam, I think you've
made a...”

“
Nonsense! There's no
mistake,” she insisted, maintaining an iron grip on his arm.

She pulled him all the way
into the living room where he was greeted by a dozen elderly witches.
All complete naked.

Dax gulped and blinked.

There was nothing wrong with
his vision. Those old ladies were all butt naked. Not a shred of
clothing on them. They were completely undressed and unadorned. No
clothes, no accessories, no jewelery. They were all naked as the day
they were born—except that their skin was a lot more wrinkled
and saggier than the day they were born.

For the first time, Dax was at
a complete loss. He didn't know what to do, where to look. If he
averted his eyes, it might seem rude. But it might be even ruder to
stare. What should he do? Try to make a run for it? What did these
thirteen elderly witches want with him?

“
Mam, I really think
that...”

“
You ran here, didn't
you?” The old lady peered at him, her eyes sharp and
intelligent.

“
I...” Dax
frowned. “Yes, I did.”
But I don't know why I did.

“
You ran up the front
steps, right to our door. This is no mistake.” She smiled,
but she did not loosen her hold on him.

“
Mam...”

“
I'm no Mam,” she
chuckled. “I'm Lucinda Morgan. This is my daughter, Anita
Morgan, Melynda's mom.” She pointed to a plump, middle-aged
brunette in the corner, who waved shyly at him.

Dax raised his hand stiffly,
and kept his eyes strictly on her face. He would
not
allow
himself to see Melynda's mom's naked body. Melynda's grandmother
though...

Lucinda chortled
mischievously, nudging him with her bare bottom. “What a
modest young man you are! Have you ever seen one like him, girls?”
she cooed to the circle of giggling witches.

“
He's a fine one, to be
sure.”

“
Handsome
wolf...aroooooooo!”

“
There's no denying it,
he belongs to her!”

“
Lucky Melynda.”

“
Not so lucky,
considering the pickle she's in...”

The witches began to speak all
at once, their interest in him waning as they started gossiping about
every other thing under the moon. These little old ladies were a
very distracted, and distracting, bunch. Why wouldn't they put some
clothes on...

Dax cleared his throat. “Um,
ladies, do you think...”

“
Shhh!” Lucinda
shushed him. “Don't interrupt when Elders are talking.”