Jewel of Darkness (34 page)

“Buenas noches, mi amor.”

Anna told herself that the smile that was on her face when she drifted off to sleep had nothing to do with the Spanish Alpha and his sweet words or sexy accent. She did, however, allow herself to take comfort in knowing that he was there, that he was available if she needed him. How many times over the years had she needed someone to just be there? The security of knowing that someone was there for her, even if she just needed to talk, had never been something Anna had experienced. And even though he bid her goodnight, she could still feel him.

Despite becoming a witch, being informed that she would be helping Jewel build a witch coven, and being placed in the care of two warlocks, that night Anna slept more peacefully than she ever had in her nineteen years.

Chapter 14

“I feel like at any moment I’m going to see this little chicken come running past me yelling ‘the sky is falling, the sky is falling.’ The sky must be about to fall because everything else is falling apart so why not the sky too?” ~Peri

“Everything isn’t falling apart, Peri. It’s just a couple of minor setbacks.” ~Sally

“Nobody asked for your silver lining crapola.” ~Peri

“That’s okay; I give it out for free.” ~Sally

“Do I really even need to touch that statement?” ~Peri

“Snap, I walked into that one. You win this round.” ~ Sally

“S
o they’re just going to hop around making witches?” Sally asked a very flustered looking Peri.

“Well, I don’t know if they’re going to hop, skip, or jump to be honest. Crap, for all I know they’re going to dance naked offering themselves up to the elements.”

“Count me in,” Costin quipped as he sat down next to Sally. “Naked, dancing, and elements. Can’t go wrong there.”

Sally shot him a look. “You aren’t being helpful.”

“I’m not here to help, Sally mine. I’m just the eye candy,” he waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

Sally couldn’t help the huff of laughter his gesture caused. She shook her head at him and then turned back to Peri. “So we’ve got Jewel and Anna AWOL, and Stella, Heather, Kara, Adam, Crina, and Gustavo stuck in pixie land. What’s our next move?”

It had been half an hour since Jewel and Anna had left Farie, and Sally found herself in Peri’s living room gathered in a circle with the seven unmated male wolves, Peri, Lucian, Elle, Sorin, and Costin. Dalton hadn’t come back to Peri’s house and Dillon had stayed with his Beta. Everyone looked a little shell shocked and Sally had the urge to heat up some hot chocolate and pass it out to everyone.

“Our next move is for me to consider that my first plan failed, and maybe it’s time for me to ask all of you to help me come up with a new plan, preferably one that has a higher success rate than this last one,” Peri said sounding more tired than Sally had heard her in a while.

Nick, the Canada beta, stood up. He glanced at his Alpha who gave an approving nod.

“The Great Luna visited me. Something she said has stayed at the forefront of my mind. She said, ‘Circumstances often change necessities.’ It is necessary that the healers be protected. Who better to protect them than their true mates? I understand why you put them in the pixie realm,” Nick told her. “I think all of us understand that decision.” The other males nodded in agreement. “But I think we might need to consider that they would be safer with their mates and with all of us together.”

Nick sat back down and the room was quiet as they waited to hear what Peri would say.

P
eri looked around the room at the male wolves waiting for her response to Nick’s words. Nick had actually just opened the door for what she’d been planning to bring to the table.

“Which of you feels they have a mate?” Peri asked them.

Kale, the Ireland Beta, stood. Nick stood back up. And Ciro, the Italy Alpha, stood. Peri looked at the wolves still sitting, “None of you want to dispute any of their claims?”

Drayden, being the only Alpha left sitting, and, therefore, the most dominant acted as the spokesperson. “We have actually discussed this amongst ourselves. The three males standing and Gustavo expressed that they were feeling the pull of the mate bond. They described the discomfort they were each feeling, and those of us sitting have not had any of that. We will be the first to admit we are disappointed. But we also rejoice that these worthy males have found their mates.”

“Well said,” Lucian told him, giving each of the seated wolves a respectful bow of his head.

Peri knew from being around male wolves for so long just how hard it was for them to wait for their mates. She wished that all of the males who’d showed up to help could have found their true mates. But she shuddered at the thought of having more than five new healers to protect, teach, and tolerate.

“If we bring the females back here, could you control your wolves?” She eyed the three standing males. “Just because you have found your mate, doesn’t mean she is ready to be bonded. We all know how volatile unbonded males are when their mates are around other unmated males. I need to know that you each will still be able to do what is asked of you when it comes to defeating Volcan. I need to know that there will not be a blood bath in my house because one of you gets a flea up your butt about your mates.”

“Why can’t the wolves just take their mates back home with them? Then the girls will have the protection of not just a few males but their entire pack,” Banan, third in the Ireland pack asked.

“They aren’t ready,” Sally spoke up before Peri could answer. Peri knew Sally understood what the girls were going through better than anyone. She’d been new to their world and knew how difficult it was in the beginning to grasp so many new changes at once.

“They’re going to have to go eventually,” Banan pointed out. “It’s not like they can expect to be mated to one of these males and not go live in their territory.”

Peri had to stop herself from smacking the wolf on the forehead. He meant well. He really was trying to be helpful. But helpful and stupid seemed to be neck and neck for him on this topic.

“Banan,” Sally said his name as if she was talking to a five-year-old. “These are human females, several of them teenagers if we want to get technical, who have never believed in the supernatural until now. They had no clue werewolves and pixies and fairies were real. As if that wasn’t enough, now we’re going to throw on their plate, ‘Oh by the way,
you
are a supernatural being as well. Guess what girls, you are gypsy healers, which basically means that life as you know it is over because one of your biggest purposes in life is to serve the pack — your pack. Oh yeah, and that reminds me, you need to know that you will have a mate and he will be a werewolf.’ ” She paused, obviously waiting to see if her words were sinking in. “Can you see how adding one more thing, like,
Oh you have to move to a whole other country as well,
might be a little much?”

Costin leaned close to his mate and, though he looked like he was going to whisper so only she could hear, he pulled one of those whisper yells, “You forgot to mention that they’d also have to be informed that their mate will want to bite them, and that they will have to bite their mate in return.
And
that they will have strange markings that suddenly appear on their bodies.”

Sally pursed her lips and patted her mate’s hand. “Thank you for pointing that out, babe. Since I think they heard you, I’m not going to repeat it.” She looked back at Banan and raised a brow at him.

He raised his hands in surrender. “Point made, healer. I wasn’t thinking.”

“No,” Sally disagreed. “You were thinking. But you were thinking like a male werewolf who has the overwhelming drive to claim their mate, mark her, and then take her to their territory. You were thinking like your beast. The Great Luna created your race so that you could have the best parts of both species. You need to think with both your wolf mind and with your human reasoning, especially, when it comes to your true mates.”

“Can you all handle this?” Peri asked them again.

After several tense moments, each of the males nodded.

“Good,” Peri told them. She started to say something more but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Lucian pulled open the door and, since they’d all been looking up at about where a normal person’s head would be, they all looked down in unison when the little pixie woman cleared her throat.

“Adira.” Peri stood and walked quickly over to the woman. “What happened to you? Weren’t you with Anna when she left your realm?”

Adira nodded at her. “Ciesel lied to us. I left with Anna to make sure she got here safely. Once we got here she met up with another healer named Jewel. They started talking about witch stuff.” Her eyes were wide as she looked up at Peri. “Witches, Perizada.” It was as though Adira was imploring her to understand.

“I know,” Peri told her gently.

“Well then, Anna ― well, she wasn’t really just Anna. She was something more ― she knocked me out. I woke up in the grass at the side of your house. Where is she?”

Peri’s jaw clenched. “She and Jewel have left. They are under the influence of Volcan’s magic.”

Adira started to say something but then there was another knock at the door. Lucian opened it again and this time everyone’s heads had to tilt way back in order to see the newcomer who was inhumanly tall.

“Thadrick,” Peri’s lips tilted in a frown. “When you said we’d see you again, I didn’t realize you meant so soon.”

Thadrick wasn’t looking at Peri. Instead his eyes were fastened on Adira.

“Is that a pixie?” his deep voice rumbled through the house. The astonishment on his face was almost comical considering his size, the fancy suit, and royal countenance. The djinn were proud creatures, if not a tad eccentric. Thadrick took it to a whole other level.

“Is that a djinn?” Adira mimicked Thadrick dramatically.

Peri shot the room a glance when some of her people started to laugh. The last thing she needed was an affronted djinn throwing a tantrum.

“Thadrick, why are you here?” Peri said, attempting to draw his attention from Adira who was glaring at the seven foot djinn as if she had a chance in hell in defeating him if they were to get into an altercation.

Thadrick pulled his eyes away from Adira, but instead of answering Peri, he smiled and gave a slight bow, “Sally, so good to see you again.”

Costin let out a low growl and pulled a grinning Sally into his lap. “Hey, Thad. Good to see you out and about.”

“For crying out loud,” Peri growled. “Thadrick, what the hell are you doing out of your decrepit old house and in my not decrepit house?”

The djinn finally gave her his attention. He shrugged. “I was bored.”

“You were bored,” Peri repeatedly slowly as if trying to get her brain around it. “I have two healers missing, two realms shut tight, four male wolves who want to meet their mates, and you stopped in because you were bored.”

“That is correct,” Thadrick gave a nod.

He stood their staring at her and then at those behind her looking for all the world like he expected them to entertain him. Peri threw her hands in the air. “You know what, fine, come in. But if you stay you are going to help.”

“I’m the historian, Perizada. You know we do not interfere with the supernatural world.”

“Oh, blow it out your haughty butt, Thad. You interfered just fine when you took Sally off your front porch and held her against her will.”

He didn’t look the least bit remorseful. “It had been centuries upon centuries since I’d seen a healer in the flesh. I simply wanted to talk to her.”

“Uh-uh, whatever. The point is. You aren’t just going to come in here and sit around watching to get your jollies off because you’re bored. If you stay here you will help or I will call in favors from every supernatural I know to make your existence very difficult.”

He thought it over briefly and then walked fully into the room. “Fine. I will assist where I can.”

“Exce—” Peri’s words were cut off by yet another knock.

“Oh for crying out loud!” Peri yelled. “I’ve lived here for more than a thousand years and have never had this many people knocking on my door in one day.”

Lucian opened the door and the minute Peri saw who was standing there she flung out her hand and used her power to shut it right back.

“Peri Fairy, open this door,” the voice on the other side sang.

Sally squealed at the sound of the voice. She started for the door but Peri held her in place with no more than a flick of her wrist.

“Just ignore her. She’ll go away soon enough,” Peri told everyone. “Sally, you have work to do here.”

“Sorry Peri, but BFF having a baby totally trumps all your work. Now open the door or I’ll teach Thia to call you Aunt Pudgy.”

Peri glared at the door. “She’s bluffing,” she whispered to her mate.

There was silence and then Peri could hear the muffled voice on the other side of the door. Silence again and then a cell phone went off.

Sally grabbed the phone from her back pocket and answered it. “Hello?” She paused then said, “Sure thing.” And tossed the phone to Peri.

The use of the cellphone solved the mystery of how Jen was able to get into the Faerie realm. She’d found out earlier when she attempted to call Crina in the pixie realm, that Volcan’s magic shut down more than just their ability to travel. At least now she knew she could attempt that phone call again. She put the phone to her ear already knowing who it was and what they wanted. “Hello, Vasile,” she told the Alpha of the Romanian wolves.

“Let her in, Perizada. If she makes my life a living hell, then I in turn am obligated to make your life a living hell.”

“Fine. But I need Sally here.”

“Jacque needs her more. You know she would never forgive you if she missed her best friend having her first child,” Vasile pointed out.

Peri let out a growl, “Fine.” She ended the call without saying goodbye to the Alpha and tossed the phone back to Sally. Peri then reached out her hand and motioned for the door to open. The beautiful blonde was still standing there, complete with her usual smirk. “Hello, Jennifer.”