CHAPTER TEN
Ezra wasn’t thrilled that Thea was in the danger zone, but he knew she needed to be here. He knew she needed this—to face her worst fears—to heal from what had been done to her. He didn’t like it, but he understood the need.
He was so damned proud of how far she’d already come. She was a strong woman in every way. Her bear had bounced back and was mightier than it had been before. His Thea was something else, and he loved everything about her. Including her fierce spirit that refused to be cowed.
They approached the natural depression in the earth where the wolves were gathering cautiously. There was a shallow basin topped by a rocky ridge. A perfect place for a showdown if you wanted it contained and hidden from easy view by stray passing humans.
Ezra stopped his bike on the path that was well-worn by the passage of so many of the wolves and evaluated the situation. Thea stopped next to him, and Ace came up alongside a moment later.
“This looks like the place,” Ezra said, taking a good hard look around.
There was more than one path that led into the crater, and it was clear the White Oaks wolves had come by another route. They were already there and waiting as the local wolf Pack arrived. Bikes had been left scattered all over the higher ground, and the wolves had arrayed themselves around the bowl in the earth—each taking half the roughly circular depression for their side. Like opposing armies waiting for the charge.
“King and Jack are coming in from either side,” Ace reported. “But I have to say, this looks bad. Really bad.”
Ezra nodded, watching everything, trying to figure out where the mage was hiding. Beside him, Thea stiffened, and he went instantly on alert.
“What is it?” he asked her quietly, not wanting to draw attention to them.
“You know that feeling you get when something rubs your fur the wrong way?” She was looking out over the assembled werewolves who all had that glassy, zombified look in their eyes again. “The mage is close.”
“I don’t see the local Alpha yet,” Ace murmured from Ezra’s other side. “Wait, there he is…and oh, shit. Here comes trouble.”
Ezra looked to where Chase Rivers was arriving at the circle from the entrance just off to the left of where Ezra and company watched. And he wasn’t alone. Chase stopped his bike and let a woman off the back. She was smiling, and her eyes definitely weren’t glassy. In fact, she looked downright triumphant.
“It’s her,” Thea whispered at his side. “She’s the mage.”
Well, hell. Ezra hadn’t really expected they’d be fighting a female magic user, but he shouldn’t have been so surprised. Women could be just as vicious as men when their hearts had turned to evil. He’d seen it before.
“The Alpha’s girlfriend?” Ace asked, incredulous. “I mean, we all thought she was a bitch of the first order, but we didn’t think she was evil,” he went on. “Then again, Jack never liked her, but he couldn’t explain why. Little bro was right to stay away from her the few times she showed her face at the garage since we’ve been here.”
“She came to the garage?” Ezra asked quietly, the pieces beginning to fall into place in his mind.
“Yeah. She went into private meetings with Frank a few times. We all thought it was strange, but we didn’t know what to make of it. Her name is Sarella. At least, that’s what she goes by. I figured it was a stripper name or something.”
“Might be her last name. Mages seem to be known by their family names,” Thea put in quietly. As the woman turned, and Thea got her first good look at Sarella’s face, she gasped and put her hand on Ezra’s forearm. “I’ve seen her before,” she whispered, her face pale. “She came to the basement a couple of times. I think she was learning from Bolivar. He was training her. And sleeping with her. At least for a little while.”
“You okay?” Ezra forgot everything, concentrating on Thea. As he watched, her face regained color, and her shoulders straightened, a firm resolve coming into her eyes as she met his gaze.
“I’m good. This is good. We can stop another one of those evil bastards and prevent this carnage,” she told him, her voice low, but strong. “And I can get a little of my own back. That bitch bled me and laughed.” Thea’s eyes narrowed as she zeroed in on her prey standing some fifty yards distant. “Now, it’s my turn.”
Around them, the werewolves finished assembling and now faced each other like two opposing armies waiting for the signal to charge. The sorceress raised her arms, watching from the rim of the crater, and the zombie stares of the men and women all around changed from quiescent to angry as if someone had flipped a switch.
And, in fact, someone had. That sorceress was orchestrating this like a conductor in front of her orchestra, only they weren’t going to make music. No, this group was going to make war. Bloodshed. Violence and probably death. All to power the woman who held them in thrall.
But not if Ezra could help it.
He wasn’t sure how, exactly, this was going to go down yet, but he knew one thing for certain. He was going to put a stop to it, one way or another.
Thea watched the woman, remembering more and more about their past encounters. Thea had been in bear form each time the other woman had come, if she remembered correctly. Chances were Sarella wouldn’t recognize Thea immediately, which meant she could probably get closer to the sorceress without her noticing.
“I’m going to position myself closer to her,” Thea told Ezra as she got off her bike.
He reached out and put his hand on her forearm, halting her gently. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Thea didn’t really have the words to explain why she knew what she had to do here, she just trusted that Ezra would understand.
He looked into her eyes then nodded at whatever he saw there and let her go. Thea moved off slowly, trying to keep behind the cover of the still-moving latecomers to the party, using the wolves as camouflage as she inched her way closer to Sarella.
She felt more than saw Ezra doing the same.
She was aware of the werewolves growing more restless as their two Alphas made their way down into the center of the natural amphitheater from opposing sides. They were dropping clothing as they went until they faced each other, chests bare, pants the only thing left to let fall when they shifted into their wolf forms for battle.
Not bad-looking males. In fact, if she’d still been single, she might’ve looked a little harder at the muscular men on parade, but her main focus was the sorceress. A protégé of Bolivar’s, this woman was evil through and through. In a way, that made all of this easier for Thea. There was no doubt about the enemy, and if they managed to kill Sarella, so much the better. The world could only be better off without her in it.
Sarella raised her hands again, and based on the scene below, Thea figured this would be the start of the brawl. Thea wouldn’t give her the chance.
“Remember me?” Thea asked, walking boldly forward, until she was only ten feet or so from Sarella.
The sorceress paused, seemingly surprised by Thea’s presence.
“Who are you? Why are you here? This is a private meeting,” Sarella said in a haughty tone that Thea remembered.
“Private battle, you mean,” Thea muttered, just loud enough for the woman to hear. “So, you really don’t remember me?”
“Should I?”
Was Sarella looking down her nose at Thea? No way. She truly was. Thea just shook her head.
“Considering I killed your pal, Bolivar, you probably should,” Thea fibbed a little, wanting to see the other woman’s reaction.
“You—?” Sarella seemed shocked by Thea’s claim. And, yes, it was clear she knew exactly who Bolivar was, so Thea’s memories were confirmed. This was his little bloodthirsty plaything. “Bolivar’s dead?”
“You didn’t know?” Thea hadn’t expected that, but perhaps communications between evil mages wasn’t as good as she’d thought.
Sarella moved fast to shoot a loosely concocted bolt of dull red energy at Thea. Her reflexes only marginally slower than her bear form, Thea ducked, and the mage fire just skimmed over her back, doing no damage. It hadn’t missed her. It had slid away from her—as it would have slid off her fur if she’d been in bear form.
There was a reason only the most powerful mages dared to fuck around with bears. They were more magical than most shifters, and it was much harder to subdue them, both physically and magically. Most spells bounced right off—unless the bear was already weakened, as Thea had been in Bolivar’s basement.
“What are you?” Sarella all but shrieked.
“You really don’t know?” Thea said, standing tall in front of the other woman once more and walking slowly closer, closing the gap between them.
The wolves around started to shift shape, and a few formed a ring of protection around Sarella, at her direction. She was waving her arms around again, causing all sorts of unrest around the circular depression in the earth. Down below, the two Alphas began circling each other, preparing to engage. Along either side, the armies began to prepare, as well, growling low in their throats, clearly agitated beyond all reason. Several shifted into their wolf form, their clothing discarded on the sides of the hill as they kicked their hind legs free of their pants.
Thea didn’t let any of that distract her. She was peripherally aware of the other bears moving deeper into the bowl and Ezra somewhere behind and below her, but she wanted the mage. She wanted to end Sarella and her control over these poor wolves.
Thea might have to hurt a few to get to her goal, but she’d try to be as gentle as possible with the wolves. The mage? Not so much.
Ezra was torn. He wanted to help Thea, but he knew he had to let her stand on her own two—or maybe four—feet. The best way he could help her now, he decided, was to limit the amount of blood shed by the werewolves. The less power they funneled up to that sorceress, the better.
To that end, Ezra jumped into the middle of the circle, putting himself between the two werewolf Alphas, hoping to stop this before it really got a chance to get going. So far, they’d only been posturing. Circling each other, looking for an opening or some kind of weakness to exploit.
They were pretty evenly matched. Both in their prime and well-built for combat. If this had been a friendly contest, it might’ve been interesting to see how it ended, but this wasn’t friendly. This wasn’t even sane. Both were clearly under Sarella’s control and not doing this of their own free will. That made this a disgusting display, worthy only of scorn. But it wasn’t really their fault, Ezra knew. Magic was sometimes very hard to fight.
“Alphas,” Ezra shouted to be heard above the growling. “This fight isn’t yours. You’re being manipulated by a Venifucus mage.”
While Ezra wasn’t one hundred percent certain of Sarella’s Venifucus ties, it was a pretty good bet that she was in league with that ancient order of evil. Perhaps the word alone would help jog some of these wolves to their senses. He scanned the slope, looking for anyone who might be coming out of the bespelled state and found only one man looking confused.
Praise the Goddess, it was Arch. If he let loose with all his skill and knowledge of combat, Goddess help anyone who got in his way. All wolves were dangerous, but Arch Hanson was in a league of his own. If they could keep him from fighting, they could prevent a lot of damage.
“Sarella has you all under her spell,” Ezra went on, keeping one eye on the combatants he stood between and another on the little drama taking place farther up the hill where Thea was facing off with Sarella. Ezra sent a prayer heavenward that Thea would be all right.
As if Thea had heard, she let out a piercing wolf whistle that made everyone near her cringe back a bit. It was loud and jolting, and it got everyone’s attention.
“Hey, wolves!” Thea shouted to be heard throughout the natural amphitheater. “This bitch Sarella is in league with evil. She hurt me and stole some of my power. I’m here to get it back. Don’t feed her evil by hurting each other for her pleasure. You’re being used!”
Thea staggered as Sarella sent another mage bolt at her back. It didn’t hurt Thea, but it definitely got her attention. Thea turned on Sarella and growled. A bear growl that made it clear she was nothing like these wolves. Ezra felt so proud of her in that moment. Worried for her, too, but so damned proud.
Thea turned back toward Sarella, annoyed by the cheap shot the bitch had taken at her back. It had hurt a bit, but Thea was much stronger now than she’d been the last time they’d met. This time, it would be Sarella who ended up bleeding.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Thea warned the other woman.
“Why not? You’re just a filthy animal,” Sarella spat.
“Wrong,” Thea told her, shaking her head. “I’m a fucking bear, Sarella. The bear you once bled is now going to make you bleed. Remember me now?”
And, with a roar, Thea allowed her bear to come over her. Her clothes shredded, but she didn’t care. The bear wanted out, now. It wanted revenge on the woman who had hurt her so badly. It wanted justice.
Sarella gaped and seemed to order her wolves to attack, but Thea in bear form sent them all flying. She tried to swat them away so that none would be permanently hurt, but she couldn’t be sure. A couple of the faster wolves tried to bite her, but Thea was having none of it. They all got swatted, and if they came back, they got swatted again. Eventually, they learned their lesson, and it was just Thea and Sarella, facing each other.
Thea’s bear was in a rage, remembering what it had suffered at this woman’s hands. But there was no cage around Thea to protect Sarella this time. Sarella tried to send her muddy red mage fire at Thea, but it all just slid right off Thea’s fur while her righteous anger carried her forward. Sarella raised her arms to throw even more magic at Thea, but she was too close now.
Thea pounced, taking the sorceress down to the ground, her claws biting into the woman’s shoulders, making her bleed. The rich, coppery scent of Sarella’s blood brought a deep sense of satisfaction to Thea’s bear half. Finally, she was getting a little of her own back, and this woman—this sorceress—would never hurt her again.
Down below, Sarella’s spells began to falter as Thea confronted the sorceress above. Ezra watched closely as the wolves began to come awake, some looking around in horror and disbelief as if waking from a nightmare.
The two Alpha stopped in their tracks and just looked at each other.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Chase Rivers asked as he shook his head as if to clear it.
“Magic,” Arch Hanson spat, coming up to stand next to his nephew, Brock, the White Oaks Alpha. “We’ve all been bamboozled and bespelled, but our bear friends stepped up where we dropped the ball. Can we help now?” Arch offered, looking directly at Ezra then switching his gaze to the side of the hill where Thea, in bear form, had Sarella trapped beneath her claws.
Ezra signaled the bear brothers—who were all in bear form—to close in on Thea’s position, now that the wolves seemed to have shaken off the spell. Ezra was already climbing the side of the hill, as well.
“Just stand down,” Ezra called back to the wolves. “We’ll take care of the mage.”
Ezra reached the two women just as Thea reared up, away from a black blade that gleamed dully in the night air. It reeked of evil—and blood. That had to be the mage’s athame, and Ezra would be damned if he’d let it hurt Thea ever again.
He dove for the woman, reaching out with both hands to take her wrists and keep the blade away from Thea. His momentum took the woman back to the ground, and they rolled a bit, somehow ending up with Ezra rolling free and jumping up to face the woman.
But Sarella didn’t get up. In fact, the smell of blood only became stronger. And then, he realized…
She’d stabbed herself with her own blade in the tussle. Right through the heart—if she actually had one.
Sarella was dead.
And the wolves were freed.