Oh my sweet Nolan, you make life worth living again.

Humming happily, Jordan worked on the vines the next afternoon. She and her mate had spent a lazy morning in bed making love, and having a brunch delivered to their door.

Now Nolan was with Sam, having the gas can tested for fingerprints and scent. He was determined to prove her innocence, and find out exactly who did attempt arson on their land.

Their land, not his. This morning Nolan had shown her exactly what legal matters he’d handled with Aiden the day of their wedding. The final papers had arrived in this morning’s mail. Nolan had made Jordan co-owner of the business, and all the pack property.

“Because Lupines mate for life, and I will always make sure you are cared for,” he’d told her when she questioned why.

With her mate’s belief in her, she felt she could do anything. The burden she’d carried for the past six years had lifted. Soon, Nolan and Sam would also find out if Erica and Shirl were behind the terrible event that drove Jordan from the pack.

Still, something nagged at her. Shirl and Erica seemed more interested in finding mates outside the pack six years ago, and they had urged her to hook up with Nolan to make change.

“If you mate with Nolan, and rule the pack, you can loosen up the strictness around here,” Erica had suggested.

“We’ll finally be able to find mates on our own, maybe even from the Harlow pack. They have plenty of handsome Lupines,” Shirl had added.

Lowering the shears, she paused in trimming the vine. Jordan frowned as she studied the grapes. They were plump with juice and her mouth watered. But these grapes were in the special vineyard reserved for the Fae. Feathered with magick from the Fae, they should be glistening with glitter, not growing like normal grapes.

Maybe the Fae had yet to infuse them with magick. Huh. Jordan felt a tingle rush down her spine, a signaling of rising power. Lupine power.

Yet this was different. She felt no compulsion to shift, nor did her senses increase as they did when she turned into wolf. Instead she felt attuned to the forest and grass, the vines themselves.

Driven by a compulsion she didn’t understand, she reached out and touched the fruit.

Stunned, she drew back.

The grape glistened, glowing as if lit from within.

Staring at her hand, she tried to make sense of it. Did she accidentally pick up some strange Fae magick simply by being here?

Nonsense. Countless times the pack had tended these vines and no one reported feeling Fae magick. Surely one would have mentioned it.

Jordan flexed her fingers. Was this why she’d always experienced trouble shifting on pack land? Had Fae magick interfered with the process?

Or maybe you’re not a full-blooded Lupine after all. You were adopted.

Something to investigate. Perhaps the records kept in the basement would shed some light on the matter.

Her cell phone chirped. She fished it out of her pocket and her blood pressure soared. Need help. Caught in a trap set out by the Harlows. I’m at the pond. It hurts. Please hurry. Nolan.

Tossing down the shears, she raced off, tearing through the woods. Power surged through her as she passed by the tree homes of the sleeping Fae.

She did not stop until reaching the pond. Where was her mate?

No one was at the water, and the area seemed deserted. Not even the birds sang in the trees ringing the grove.

“Nolan?” she called out.

Maybe he was injured, too weak to cry out.

“Nolan! I’m here!” Jordan pulled out her cell phone. She could try to find him through the GPS signal…

Something sniggered nearby. Her blood froze.

She recognized that cruel giggle. Heard it six years ago on that night when Bryce took a hot knife to her back…

“Shirl,” Jordan whispered. “Come out, you coward, and face me.”

From behind a towering maple tree, Shirl entered the grove. But something was off about her former friend. Instead of her big cow eyes and dull brown hair, Shirl had bright blue eyes and she…

Glowed pink and silver.

“Who are you?” Jordan demanded. “Where’s Nolan?”

“The alpha is at the lodge, where he belongs. And you, bitch, are now ours.”

Slowly the woman’s face dissolved, changed…

Revealing her true nature. Risa, the Fae queen’s attendant.

“You’re all alone, Jordan, just like you were when Bryce caught you in the woods. But this time, he’s not here to stop us. We’re going to finish the job we started six years ago.”

She held up a knife, glinting in the sun. “This time, we’re carving out your heart.”

All her instincts screamed to run. As she turned to flee, a web of glowing pink blocked her path. Jordan tried to sidestep it, but each time she did, the web barricaded her way.

Risa tittered. “You can’t escape us, bitch. Elaine!”

A glowing pink and white ball floated near Risa and with a soft pop, materialized into Risa’s sister. We’ve waited a long time for this. A long time to get rid of your pretty face,” Elaine snapped.

No one would come to her rescue, just as they had not six years ago. Lured into a trap by the powerful Fae sisters, she was on her own.

Eyes centered on the knife, she kept talking. Stalling them.

“You lied to everyone, pretending to be friends with the Mitchell pack and Nolan.” Jordan backed away. No match for their powers, these ancient sisters. Her magick could never compete with the powerful Fae.

Elaine laughed. “We are friends with them. Just not you. Don’t you get it? Everything would have been fine, fine, if Nolan never noticed you. If you’d stayed quiet and in the background, or took interest in a minor Lupine, our queen would have lost interest. But no.”

“He was ours,” Risa snapped. “If you hadn’t have come along, our plan to keep him for ourselves would have worked. But when you and Nolan became involved, Selene started talking about how important you were. How proud she was of you.”

“All those years we showed her utter devotion, slaving for her, and you with your mixed Lupine and Fae blood… you aren’t anything special, but she loved you because you were her daughter and she loved your bastard father.” Elaine flicked a hand and currents of magick spun toward Jordan in rapidfire succession, striking her chest.

It hurt like hell, but she gritted her teeth and held her position. “My father and mother were Lupines who lived in Alaska. I’m an orphan.”

“Your father was Brandon Harlow! After you were born, Selene placed you with a pack of wild Lupines to bring out your wolf side, but they were all slaughtered. So Selene asked the Silver Wizard to bring you to the Mitchell pack for safekeeping. She saw you as a means to finally seal peace with the Harlows. If you mated with Nolan, since you were a Harlow, it would end the blood feud. We cannot have that. The feud fuels our powers, makes the Mitchell pack and Nolan dependent upon us.”

Jordan’s head swam. Daughter of a powerful Lupine and a powerful Fae queen. No wonder her magick was so screwed up on pack land.

No wonder she had secretly wished the feud would end. Her own father!

“When we leave your torn body here, we’ll change into Brandon Harlow and lure Nolan here, so he will blame the Harlows and the feud will continue.” Risa twirled the knife.

“It was you that night in the forest. Not Erica and Shirl,” she blurted out.

Risa and Elaine exchanged glances. In less time than it took to blink, they both morphed into her former best friends. Fae glamour.

All this time she’d thought her friends had aided Bryce. It was a small relief to know they had not.

“You egged Bryce on to hurt me.”

The two Fae sisters morphed back into their normal selves. Once she thought them beautiful, with their long silver hair, pale skin and blue eyes and their flowing gowns of pink and white.

Now she saw the cruelty and jealousy lurking beneath the beauty.

“It was not hard. He was weak, and weak Lupines are easy to control, and influence. All we had to do was whisper suggestions when he was alone.”

Risa twirled the knife in the air. It spun around slowly. “We figured you would not stick around to see what else he would do to you. And the pack was ours to control. As long as they kept making the wine we need, we left them in peace. But you came back, suggested to Nolan about making changes. Craig was the same and that’s why he had to die.”

Horror filled her. “You killed him.”

“Easy enough to push him down the mountain. Craig talked of giving the vineyard that grew our grapes to his enemy as a peace offering.” Risa sneered. “He said it would be best for the pack. When his son considered making peace as well, we started the fires to distract him, make him think the Harlows were behind it.

“Enough!” Elaine snapped. “Let’s get on with it.”

If she was half-Fae, then she had powers of her own. Jordan focused all her energy and thoughts on being Fae.

I’m not turning into shish kebob because of you two.

She had too much to live for.

Jordan hummed loudly to hide her fear and thought of holding a glowing ball of pure energy. She focused, closed her hand and then opened it.

A baseball-sized glowing globe of energy sat on her palm. Without thinking, she flung it at the knife in Risa’s hand.

Risa yelped in startled surprise as the knife flew out of her hands. A smile curved Jordan’s lips.

“Thanks for telling me my heritage. Means I have the same powers you do.”

“Not quite. You’re inferior and we are ancient.”

Saying that, Elaine hurled a similar ball of energy at Jordan. It smacked her square in the stomach, burning like fire. Doubling over in pain, she cried out, clutching her stomach.

“We need no mortal weapons to kill you,” Risa said in her high, sweet voice.

Jordan bit her lip. She must fight them, and do her best to keep them here because if Nolan found out, he had no Fae defenses to protect himself.

If Selene was truly her mother, perhaps the queen could aid her.

“Selene,” she cried out. “Mother, help me!”

Risa giggled. “She will not hear you. We purposely waited until she was in a deep sleep. Helping the Mitchell pack with the grapes and the fires has drained her magick. Why else do you think we put fungus on the grapes? Helping your pack drains her so much that she will not awaken until tonight.”

Scents flooded her nostrils, the burning of her own flesh, the sickly sweet smell overriding the floral and forest scent of the Fae.

You’re on your own. Get it together, Jordan.

With all her might, she centered herself and her magick, thinking of draping her body in a magick barrier. Shrieking with rage, Elaine and Risa hurled energy globes at her, but this time, her body repelled them.

Yet she knew she couldn’t keep this up for long. They were too strong and her powers too fragile. Jordan backed up, watching them, remembering what Nolan said.

Keep your enemies close.

A strange rippling arced between Elaine and Risa, a barely perceptible cord running between them. Could it be they fed off each others’ energy because they were Fae?

She was Fae as well. Maybe I can use this to my advantage.

A fierce snarl filled the air. She glanced up.

Muscled and rippling with fury, a large gray wolf raced into the grove. Nolan.

“Stay back,” she screamed. “I’ve got this!”

At all costs, Nolan must be protected. Knowing these two had caused Craig’s death, she knew they wouldn’t hesitate to kill the alpha if he deviated from their plans. Jordan suddenly remembered Queen Selene’s gift.

“When you need to find the power within yourself, use your voice. It is a true gift bestowed on you.”

“Nolan,” Risa breathed. “Elaine, stop him.”

Seizing the advantage of the Fae ignoring her temporarily, Jordan thought fast. Maybe she could draw power from them, the way they drew power from each other.

Jordan turned, saw the pink web blocking her way. Blocking out all thoughts of being Lupine, focusing on her love of the forest and the land, she sang.

Her voice was a gift from her mother, the queen of Fae in this region.

Jordan thrust her hand into it, feeling warmth and pure power, but it did not burn.

She imagined the power flowing into her like gasoline flowing into a tank. Energized, she kept doing it until the web vanished.

The wolf howled. Alarmed, she saw he’d been burned, a patch of raw, bleeding skin where fur once covered his flank.

Yet he kept advancing, attacking them and protecting her.

His mate.

As the Fae advanced toward Nolan, she hurled energy balls one after another at the sisters.

It only served to anger them further. Elaine and Risa began slamming Nolan with power, tearing into him as he surged forward. His jaws closed around Risa’s ankle and she screamed.

At the same time, Jordan hurled another energy ball at her. But it did little good.

She was losing Nolan. Losing the battle. Rage and grief battled inside her. I love you, Nolan.

Nolan threw back his head and released a long, low howl.

Another wolf bolted into the grove, its ears tipped with black. She recognized Sam, Nolan’s head of security.

Sam joined him, attacking Elaine from the rear. Distracted by the teeth tearing into her calf, Elaine whirled.

Jordan released her energy ball. It hit Elaine square on the temple. Blue blood flowed and cracks appeared in her face as the Fae screamed in fury and pain.

Suddenly dozens of wolves streamed into the grove. Snarling, growling, snapping their teeth.

And then they were on Elaine and Risa, their enemies. The pack, working as one. Jordan’s stomach roiled at the wet, tearing sounds.

Finally, it was over. Little remained of the sisters, the Fae who had thought the pack was theirs to control.

Sam shifted back into Skin, clothed himself by magick. “Nolan had me install security cameras down here and we heard and saw everything, including how they killed Craig. He rallied the pack to come here and help you.”

But Jordan’s attention all centered on her mate.

Nolan had shifted back as well. Clad in a white T-shirt stained with blood, and jeans soaked in it, he lay on the ground, crimson oozing from his nostrils and mouth. Clutching her stomach, ignoring the pain burning through her, Jordan rushed over to him.

She cradled him in her arms. “You did it, sweetheart. You and your pack defeated Risa and Elaine. You saved everyone.”

Coughing, he shuddered and she felt his muscles tense. “Didn’t do it for them. Did it…for you. I…love you, Jordan.”

Tears swam in her eyes. “I always love you, Nolan. Always have. Best friends forever.”

Wheezing sounds from his chest. He lifted his hand to touch her face. “Love…you.”

A soft cloud of silver mist appeared as the pack gathered close. Jordan looked up, saw the Silver Wizard. Tristan touched her shoulder and she felt warmth spread through her body, and the terrible burning pain vanish.

It didn’t matter about her wounds. Her grip tightened around her mate.

“Don’t you dare touch him! He’s mine! You can’t take him!”

Tristan made no move to come closer. Instead, the wizard looked around at the pack, his expression a severe scowl. “Your alpha is dying. Come, you who dared to challenge him before. Which one of you wishes to take his place? Now is your chance.”

Sobs floated through the air. The three young Lupines who had taunted Nolan last week looked away, their expressions miserable.

“We never wanted to lose him. Never wanted this to happen,” Todd protested.

“We need you, Nolan,” Palmer cried out. “Don’t freaking die and leave us!”

Jordan closed her eyes, feeling hot tears spill behind her lids. She cared nothing about the pack’s protests. For all she knew, she and Nolan could have been alone.

“Jordan.” Tristan’s voice was gentle.

Her eyes opened and she let the tears flow. “Please,” she whispered. “I can’t let him go.”

Nolan shuddered again in obvious pain.

Tristan squatted down by her. “Even if it means he is at peace?”

“He doesn’t want peace. He wants me.”

A small smile touched Tristan’s mouth.

“He deserves a life with me, at his side. He deserves every inch of my ornery, wild self. He needs to live. Please, don’t take him.”

The last sentence came out in the barest of whispers.

“There is little I can do,” Tristan observed. “But the power is within you to heal, just as the power is in you to destroy.”

Puzzled, she shook her head. “I have no such power over life and death.”

“You do not,” he agreed. “But your magick can strengthen his own ability to recover. You did it with the grapes in the vineyard.”

“Fruit is a lot different from a living Lupine,” she snapped.

“Do not doubt yourself, Jordan. Concentrate on all your feelings for him.” The wizard arched a dark brow. “Unless your feelings are false and your marriage is a farce.”

“Never. I knew I wanted to be his mate from the time when we were children. I’ve never wanted anything else. I used to think about a life with him, here. I even dreamed about it still when I left.”

Her voice cracked. “Hard as I tried to forget him, I couldn’t.”

Tristan gently took her palm, placing it on Nolan’s chest. “Pour your magick into him. See your power filling him, racing through his veins, each of his cells, mending his injuries.”

Jordan closed her eyes. She envisioned all her magick, all her strength leaving her and entering Nolan’s body, fusing them together, a bond of pure energy much as they shared their bodies during sex.

Soothing wind and chants filled the air. Warmth surrounded her, as if dozens of luminous lights ringed them. Jordan began to sing, the notes clear and pure as she kept pouring her magick into her mate. And then she felt weary, her limbs quivering, her heart stuttering.

Tristan removed her hand from Nolan, broke the contact.

“Open your eyes, Jordan.”

“I can’t.” Squeezing them tight, she refused. “What if it didn’t work?”

“It worked, pixie,” a hoarse, deep voice told her.

Her eyes flew open. Nolan was awake, the blood drying on his face, his expression filled with tenderness.

She glanced around. Dozens of white and pink lights surrounded them. The sprites flew around them like fireflies.

Jordan stretched out her hand and one landed on her finger. Warmth flowed into her, a surge of power.

Laughing, she stretched out her arms. The sprites settled on her arms and hands, infusing her with renewed vigor.

“The Fae’s relationship with pack is symbiotic,” Tristan told her. “But their bond with you goes deeper. They take energy from each other and the land, and give it as well to each other.”

Finally the sprites flew away, their lights less brilliant, but she knew they would be restored with the wine they drank tonight.

Nolan struggled to sit up. She went into his arms. “I love you, Nolan.”

“Love you more,” he told her.

She cured him.

Her mate would live, thanks to her. Thanks to the love they shared together.