CHAPTER SEVEN
When Josh woke the next morning, he was alone in the king-sized bed in the guest room of Deena’s house. They’d retired to his room because she’d told him shyly that it had the bigger bed. He liked that her room wasn’t a siren’s lair. He felt a primitive sort of satisfaction that she didn’t sleep with every man that came calling. Not that she seemed to get a lot of company way out here.
Still, his inner caveman liked to imagine her sleeping all alone in her bower…until he rolled into town. The wolf inside him wanted to howl in satisfaction while his two-legged side just wanted to laugh at his own thoughts.
Sometime in the night—in the collision and blending of their magical energies—he’d become hyper-aware of the luscious feel of Deena’s power. He could truly appreciate now how it lay just under the surface, an inferno of strength, linked through Deena’s beautiful soul to the Goddess Herself.
No wonder the Mother of All found it easy to speak through Deena. Her soul was the purest Josh had ever encountered, and her strength was awesome in its ferocity, with the flavor of other realms. Perhaps, in time, he’d learn to control his newly awakened magic as Deena could.
He already felt better about his wayward power. It seemed more willing to obey his wishes this morning. As if it had learned from the merger with Deena’s last night.
Reaching out with just a tiny tendril of his power, Josh tried to figure out where Deena had gone. Judging by the faint light slanting in through the window blinds, it was early morning. Very early. Just the other side of dawn.
Then, he realized. She’d probably gone down to the barn to see to her friendly animals. He encountered her energy more easily than he’d expected—this being a new skill and something he’d never really tried before. If he interpreted his magical senses correctly, she was checking on the injured calf, who had spent the night with Deena’s other animals, surrounded in a furry, protective circle.
He had to marvel at how Deena’s mismatched family of animals seemed to cross species lines easily. The alpacas had allowed the little calf to snuggle into their wool as they sat, one on each side of the baby. That was the picture in Deena’s mind when Josh made light contact. The sense of love and happiness that filled her spilled over and made him feel lighter.
When she became aware of him, the feelings intensified, as if she were sending them to him, and he found himself with one hand clutched to his heart. Not in pain, but in wonder. He’d never felt such things before. Only with this special, magical woman.
She managed to communicate the idea that she’d see him soon. He interpreted the emotional tone to mean that she’d finish with her menagerie and then come back to the house.
Josh leapt out of bed and cleaned himself up, dressing with extra care, though his wardrobe didn’t really give him a lot of choices. Clean jeans and T-shirt was about as far as he could go. But he could definitely get breakfast started in the kitchen. His inner wolf growled agreement about feeding their female. They had to take care of her. She was theirs.
Such possessive thoughts didn’t scare him anymore. In fact, it didn’t even make him blink. Somewhere in the night, he’d accepted his fate. Not only accepted it, but looked forward to the time when she would understand that what they’d shared had been for keeps. They were mates.
Josh was just putting breakfast on the table when he heard a scuffling sound that seemed out of place. He’d been keeping his wolf-enhanced senses alert to keep track of Deena’s progress through the barn. He could just hear her murmur to various members of her menagerie and their vocal responses. A whicker from a horse. A gentle moo from the cow. A kind of chittering sound from the furry alpacas. Clucks from chickens, honks from geese, quacks from ducks, and the like.
He’d timed his breakfast service with what he’d thought was the sounds of her washing up with the hose out in the yard as she finished her morning rounds, when the new sound intruded. It was coming from the road near the front of the house, and it didn’t sound friendly.
All the animals had gone quiet.
The backdoor opened even as Josh headed toward the front.
“Wait,” Deena said in an urgent whisper. “Someone’s testing my wards.”
“Visitors?”
“No,” she answered distractedly. “Invaders.”
Josh paused, frowning at her. “Can they get through?”
She shrugged, still seeming to concentrate on something elsewhere. “Eventually.”
“Do we stand our ground or run?” That was the crux of the matter as far as he was concerned.
“Can’t run. The animals would be unprotected. I’ll stand and fight.”
His wolf liked the determined look on her face, even as his human side worried that she might be in danger. He didn’t like the way she’d phrased her defiance, though. He was with her. He’d be fighting at her side. He wouldn’t leave her on her own to defend her animals and home.
“Once they’re inside your perimeter, is there a spot you prefer for the fight? Do we give up any ground?” he asked experimentally, feeling out her strategy.
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” She narrowed her eyes and looked straight at him. “I could use your help, though.”
“Whatever you need.” His answer was immediate and definite. He’d give anything to protect her—up to, and including, his life.
“I guess all that magic last night didn’t go unnoticed, though I thought the majority of it had been contained by the stone circle,” Deena thought aloud as she braced herself for yet another testing of her wards.
The wards themselves weren’t meant to keep anything serious out. They were her early warning system, and they stood firm against most intrusions, but if real power came against them, they would fail. And it felt like they were on the verge of failure right now.
“Whoever’s out there, he’s strong. Very strong. And not friendly.”
A growling sound came from Josh’s throat—a sharp reminder that her ally was not fully human or fey, but was also a werewolf. She wondered if that would help them against what was coming. She thought maybe it could be used to their advantage. Somehow.
“Which direction?” he barked, though she knew his harsh tone wasn’t directed at her.
“He’s coming in from the front. The ward is about to come down across the drive, and I sense him just waiting to drive down it. He’s got a motor running of some sort. Maybe a car. Or maybe a motorcycle. I can’t be sure.”
Josh paused a second, his ear tilted toward the front of the house. “Motorbike,” he told her. “Though there’s noise out on the road, too, so I can’t be certain that’s all he has, but there is one dirt bike type engine idling in the area next to your mailbox.”
“Nice.” She took a moment to compliment his superior hearing.
“I’m going to go out and scout. If he makes it down the drive, either stay in the house or go out the back. You’ll be stronger in the standing stones, right?”
Josh was really taking charge, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. He wasn’t asking her opinion, except on the small matter of the circle, but now was not the time to argue. The wards were about to go. She could feel it.
But he was right about the stones protecting her. “I’ll go for the stone circle,” she told him. “Nothing can touch me there. But you should come with me.”
“I’ll meet you there,” he promised, but she sensed he wouldn’t seek the safety of the stones until the danger was dealt with. He was planning to face the enemy alone, which didn’t sit right with her. Not at all.
She was about to argue with him when she felt the wards fall. Her knees almost went out from under her, but she clutched the back of a chair to steady herself. She caught Josh’s concerned gaze.
“What just happened? Was that the ward?” he asked. He must have felt something when the magical barrier dissipated, but he didn’t know enough about the subject yet to know for sure.
“The wards are down,” she confirmed.
“Then, we’re out of time. Go for the circle. I’ll be right behind you.”
Again, she wanted to argue with him, but the roar of an engine coming down to drive stopped her. He gave her one last long look, filled with meaning, and things they had not yet said out loud, and then, he was out the door. He was going to face danger in her stead. That just irked the crap out of her, but at the same time, it was kind of romantic too.
Still, she wasn’t about to let him fight her battles for her. If anything, they had probably attracted this danger together. Their lovemaking had set off sparks that had somehow captured the attention of exactly the wrong person, and he would have to be dealt with. By both of them. Together. Just as it had started.
Josh was already out the door, but she followed him. She was cautious, peering out before she committed herself to moving beyond the imagined safety of the doorway, but Josh was already out of sight. His natural shifter stealth made him impossible to see unless he wanted to be seen, she was sure.
The motorbike raced up the driveway, the tinny sound of its engine assaulting her ears. It skidded to a stop, throwing dirt and gravel in a destructive wave before it, and even before the bike came to a halt, the man on its back was lobbing a dangerous ball of malevolent energy toward her with one hand.
“What? You don’t even introduce yourself? You just break down my wards and start throwing your shit around like you own the place?” She screamed her insults at the man, even as she blocked his magical attack with a domed shield of pure energy that held his power at bay about ten feet from her.
“Forgive me,” he said, his obnoxious tone sarcastic in the extreme. “I’m Reginald Park of the Venifucus, and now, your power will be mine.” He threw his other hand up into the air and renewed his attack, but Deena was ready. Her shield bowed out, drawing a little closer to her body, but easily deflecting the man’s magical energy around her, dissipating it into the earth and sky.
“Fat chance, Reggie!” she called back, taunting him into another attack. Better to drain off some of his energy in these first moves of the fight while she studied both his technique and his level of ability.
She didn’t like the way he’d claimed to be part of the Venifucus. That ancient order of evil doers had been active in recent years, but she’d managed to stay under their radar for the most part. Still, she knew they were bad business.
Deena heard a growling sound off to her right a split second before Josh launched himself at Reggie. He took the evil bastard totally by surprise, which would have been great, if Reggie hadn’t had a friend.
A trampy-looking woman hit Deena from behind with a blast of smoky magic that made Deena skid down the path to the barn on her butt. Deena recovered quickly, coughing a few times to clear her lungs of the woman’s foul energy before she could change her shield’s direction to fend off the girlfriend’s attack.
The woman wore riding leathers in black with red piping. On anyone else, Deena might’ve admired the way they fit, but the clothing had two strikes against it. First, it was leather—which was something she didn’t like anywhere near her sanctuary farm—and second, it was worn by a woman who had clearly chosen the wrong side in the fight of good versus evil.
That didn’t change the fact that this strange woman had knocked Deena flat on her ass. She was still trying to regroup when an unexpected cavalry charge nearly made her cry. All of her animals—every last one—flew, clopped or otherwise ran out of the barn to get between the leather-clad female and Deena.
Her rescued animals were putting themselves in the line of fire for her. She had known they liked her, of course, but she hadn’t quite realized the depth of their caring and love.
Deena could do nothing other than extend her shield to encompass her animals, drawing on the power of the Goddess and the bonds Deena had forged with each and every one of the animal spirits that had lovingly rushed to her defense. And there was a new energy available to her too. A wild, wolfen energy. A fey-tinged sexual energy that she had come to know intimately the night before.
Josh.