The Wizard King (13 page)

“I don’t think that’s how that particular vow goes.” Secretly, Gen was thrilled. He felt that strongly about her, and it amazed her. “I thought you hated me.”

“No. Never. You confuse the hell out of me, and you make me crazy, but I never hated you.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Never?”

“Maybe for two point five seconds, when I heard the name Godwin. But I swear, that’s it.”

“Liar, liar, plants for hire.”

He chuckled, but it was strained. “I don’t think that’s how that quote goes.” He sighed and tucked her under his chin. “You’re the one, Gen. Please believe me.”

“When I left, I thought you never wanted to see me again. You couldn’t even bring yourself to look at me.”

“Oh, sweetheart. Fuck no. All I could think about was how wrong I’d been about you. Your soul, it was so warm and sweet, like smelling chocolate chip cookies on a cold day. You felt like home, and I couldn’t believe how badly I’d treated you. I was upset with myself, not you, and if I made you feel any other way I’m truly sorry. Can you forgive me?”

How could she not? His heart beat beneath her ear, strong and sure. His arms embraced her, holding her tight. She was needed, and for the first time since she was a child she was safe. “I do.”

“Then let me finish the mate spell.” His fingers brushed over her shoulder, right where the mark would go. “Let me claim you. Say yes.”

“What would be involved?” This last part of the spell confused her. Neither Lana nor Jo would give her details. Just lots of blushing.

“We make love, and I bite you right there, reciting the final words of the spell.”

“Tell me the words.”

He whispered softly in her ear, barely audible, but the final phrases of the spell lodged inside her. How desperately she wanted to hear them whispered against her skin as his mark was branded on her flesh.

“Venus has granted the love that I lacked.

My mate is now part of my pack.

By the power of earth and fire,

I claim now my heart’s desire.

By the power of air and sea,

As my mate wills it, so mote it be.”

“ʻAs my mate wills it’?” Goddess, his mouth was distracting. He’d begun kissing right where the mark would appear on her shoulder, and she could barely remember what they’d been discussing.

“Mm-hmm.” He nodded against her neck. “You have to fully accept the mating, or the mark won’t appear no matter how often I recited the words.”

“Ah.” She shivered as he rubbed his whiskers over her skin. He hadn’t had time to shave, if the thickness of them was any indication. “We need to cast the sp-spell.”

“Yes, we do.” His teeth nipped her neck.

“Annabelle. Kerry.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Have to call the…the…” How did he
do
that? She’d faced down fierce, demon-ridden warlocks without her knees shaking, but one touch of his lips to her skin and she had to lock them in place or fall to the ground. “Oh, Gareth.”

She probably would have given him anything he asked for if someone hadn’t pounded on the door that very moment. Daniel’s aggravated voice broke through the haze of arousal Gareth had built inside her. “Get your clothes back on and get out here, you two. Bunny hump after we rescue Kerry.”

Gareth growled. “Fucker. He was the one who suggested we finish the spell.”

Gen felt stabbed through the heart. “What?” He’d only done this because Daniel told him to?

Gareth took one look at her expression and began to backpedal rapidly. “I was going to anyway, sweetheart. Gen, you know that.”

“No. I don’t.” Daniel began pounding on the door once more, and this time when Gen pulled free Gareth let her go. “I have a spell to cast.”

“Gen…”

“No. Not now, Gareth.” Even if he’d meant it, even if he had started to love her, she was in too much turmoil to accept him right now. The spell would remain incomplete until she was one hundred percent certain that it was what Gareth wanted. “Let’s deal with Hugh first. Then we’ll discuss your spell.”

His jaw clenched, his eyes went gold, but Gen was holding firm. “Fine.” He kissed her, his lips hard against hers, before letting her go completely. “But we aren’t done.”

She nodded once, and prayed her knees would hold her as she walked away from him and out the bedroom door.

Chapter Eight

Shit. That had not gone well at all, and now Gen was avoiding even looking at him. She’d thrown herself into the spell work, ignoring everything he did to try and get her attention. And Lord, did he try. He needed her help in getting his big fat foot out of his mouth.

He shouldn’t have been doing his best to distract her, but damn it, she’d gotten the wrong impression. He’d have to work extra hard to get her to come to him now, all because Daniel couldn’t wait fifteen minutes while Gareth finished claiming his mate.

She would have said yes. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, she would have accepted him and all that he was.

But it was past time for that. Now, they had to catch Hugh before he could harm Annabelle or Kerry. Without having completed the mate ritual, Gareth couldn’t stand by Zach and Gen’s side. He was having a hard time forgiving Daniel for that as well. If Kerry
wasn’t
his brother’s mate, he was going to bite Daniel.

Let the spell casting begin.

Daniel, Zach and Gen stood in the middle of the living room, all furniture pushed out of the way. Each was dressed in robes, Zach pure white for his witch powers, Daniel in wizard purple, and Gen in purest warlock green. Each held their athame in their hands, and each would cast a portion of the triple circle.

Zach, of course, went first, casting the first protection circle.

“I lay down the circle white,

Symbol of purity and might.

May evil be blinded by the sight.”

White light gleamed along the tip of his athame, casting a gentle moon glow around the circle. The protections wrapped around the three of them.

Surprisingly, it was Gen who cast the second circle, the tip of her athame glowing with pure blue light. He’d thought she would be the one to cast the last circle, but in a strange way he almost understood it. Daniel was the one truly seeking justice, so he should be the one to cast that last circle.

“I lay down the circle blue,

For protection sound and true.

May evil not pass through.”

Blue light joined the white, moonlight on the ocean, and Gareth smiled despite his misery. Gods, they were beautiful together, his brother and his lover, their spell casting pure and strong.

Daniel lifted his athame, and even Gareth could see the strength in his magic. Pure black swirled around the tip of his blade as he began to chant.

“I lay down the circle black.

Justice comes to those who lack.

May evil intentions break and crack.”

The tip of the athame quivered as darkness poured from it, crafting the third and final circle.

But instead of the pure black light of Zach’s circle, Daniel’s swirled, mist-like, surrounding and weaving through the other two in a display that startled all of them.

“Whoa.” Zach eyed Daniel. “What the fuck, bro?”

Daniel shrugged, either unwilling or unable to explain the unusual nature of his magic. “Call the quarters.”

With one last look at Daniel, Zach moved to the north, and earth. He sheathed his athame, knelt and placed his hands on the geode.

“North and Earth I call on thee.

Join me in my circles three.

Grant me your stability.”

The floor rumbled under their feet, earth acknowledging the call. The scent of greenery filled the air, and Zach smiled. Earth always responded easily to Zach, even when he’d been trying to spell cast the wizard way and fucking everything up because of it.

Daniel walked to the incense burner. The element of air was Chris’s strongest ally, but for Daniel it could be difficult to work with. Why he’d chosen to call his least compatible element, Gareth wasn’t sure, but he had to trust the three knew what they were doing.

“East and Air I call on thee.

Join me in my circles three.

Grant me your creativity.”

Lavender incense blew by him on a gentle breeze. The element had answered Daniel’s call.

Zach knelt before the candle and lit the flame. This was Zach’s weakest element, and Gareth wondered why Gen hadn’t called for it instead. It was odd. Perhaps the brothers were calling the elements, each getting a strength and a weakness for balance? It made sense to his wizard half, but the brother half, not so much.

“South and Fire I call on thee.

Join me in my circles three.

Grant me your energy.”

Zach lit the red candle, the flame leaping higher than he’d ever seen before settling into a gentle blaze.

The spell was working.

Gen held her hand out over the bowl of water and began to chant, blowing his theory of who called the quarters and who would end up calling on the gods out of the…well, water.

“West and Water I call on thee.

Join me in my circles three.

Grant me your clarity.”

And now he knew why she had chosen to call to water. The element was clearly hers to command as the water in the bowl rippled, a green Hecate’s Wheel appearing in its depths.

Gen stepped toward the altar, ready to summon the God and the Goddess to watch over them, Zach standing by her side. Together they would act as priest and priestess, calling both the God and the Goddess to hear their cry for help.

Zach chanted first, the call to the God startling Gareth. He’d thought the two Own would call to the dark sides of the gods, the hunters and protectors. Instead, Zach eyed Gen for a moment before speaking.

“Lord of the Wild, sun’s delight,

Hear me now, know my plight.

Your faithful child cries out to Thee;

Join me in my circles three!”

Gen lit the golden candle and waited.

The sun’s warmth filled everyone in the room as in the darkness horns sounded faintly. The Lord had heard Zachary Beckett, and was watching over their ritual.

Gen lifted her arms and called upon the lighter side of the Goddess.

“Lady of Magic, beacon of might,

Hear me now, know my plight.

Your faithful child cries out to Thee;

Join me in my circles three!”

The cry of an owl on the hunt filled the room, and Gen smiled.

Gareth wasn’t surprised when Gen and Zach settled before the altar, their eyes closed and their faces naturally turning toward the night sky right outside the windows. The Own were communing with the Goddess, their minds seeking out the divinity that marked them.

What did surprise him was how Daniel tried to mimic them, as if he too could hear the voice of the Goddess. Daniel wasn’t an Own, and Gareth was grateful for that. His brother was far too volatile to be a hunter the way Zach and Gen were.

Once he would have sworn that Zach would blow himself to bits before he ever became a competent spell caster. If he’d dug a little deeper, maybe he would have figured out what Zach was before his brother suffered not only the curse the Godwins had put on him, but also the ridicule of the witch court. Daniel had mocked Zach relentlessly, and Gareth had done very little to stop it.

He really needed to step it up if he was going to protect his family. Hell, sometimes he needed to protect them from each other.

Daniel gasped at the same moment Gen swayed, her face pale as milk. A triangle of light formed between the three, one side white, one green, the last, purple.

But it was Gen who held his attention, Gen he wanted to rush through the protections to save. Her head was back, her face twisted in agony, her power pouring out of her and going somewhere Gareth couldn’t follow.

If this was the price his mate paid, Gareth wasn’t too happy about it.

But then, something strange happened that had him rethinking her link with the Goddess. The power seemed to come back, stronger, purer than when it left, but the agony didn’t lessen. If anything, it intensified, as if that beautiful light washing through his mate was purified by fire.

“Holy shit,” Chris breathed. “She’s filtering the power.”

“But in which direction?” Lana was watching closely, seeing something neither Chris nor he could decipher. “I think the Goddess is filtering Gen’s power, not the other way around. And that small touch of the divine burns, but without it, Gen’s gift would be smothered beneath her…humanity?”

The pain slowly left his mate’s face as Gareth pondered Lana’s words. “That makes no fucking sense whatsoever.”

“Think of it like a celestial air filter. The Goddess is taking the human impurities out of Gen’s magic and replacing it with pure power. But because it’s divine, it hurts to absorb it at first.”

Gareth was just happy Gen no longer looked tortured. “I’m still not sure I get it, but okay.”
Celestial air filters, huh?