Wolf Creek Alpha (Texas Pack 1) (30 page)

Once they finished eating, they went out back to the grassy area in front of the woods.  Melissa immediately started to instruct her on how to tune out everything else. 

“The most important thing is to visualize.  Just like in sports, picture yourself doing it.  See it from beginning to end. 
Play it over in your head.  When you’re focused on getting the task done, you won’t let
your
mind drift somewhere else.  It takes practice to stay on track, but i
t’s easy once you’ve done it for
a while
,” Melissa told her. 

“Yeah, easy,” Lisa wasn’t so sure. 

Melissa smiled at her.  “You’ll get it.  I have faith in you.”

Robert started instructing Lisa on what he wanted her to do, while Rafe sat on the patio, watching.

“See that toy over there with the wheels?  I want you to send just a very small burst of power to it and make it move.  Ju
st enough to roll a few meters,” Robert said.

“Remember, visualize first,” Melissa said sitting beside Rafe. 

Lisa started picturing the toy moving.  Then was soon distracted trying to convert meters to feet.  Okay, that’s about three feet, she remembered.

“A meter is about three feet,” Rafe yelled to her helpfully.

“You do remember I’m a teacher, right?  I haven’t totally forgotten all I’ve learned,” Lisa said glaring at him. 

Rafe held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.  Grinning over at Melissa, he said, “She’s beautiful when she’s angry,” know
ing
Lisa could hear him. 

Lisa turned around, shot him the finger and then ignored him.  I have to quit doing that, she thought.  Nasty habit.
  She tuned out his laughter and gave Robert a stern look when she caught him chuckling. 

Focusing in on the toy, Lisa pictured it moving across the grass.  She tuned everything else out around her, keeping her thoughts solely on the toy. 

   In her mind, she heard Robert encouraging her to use very little power and move the toy.  After seeing it done over and over in her mind, she finally lifted her arm and pointed with her finger.  She imagined squeezing out a small amount, like toothpaste. 

The toy slowly moved about a foot.  Lisa started giggling at the visual image she’d imagined. 

“What’s so funny?” asked Melissa.

“Umm, nothing.  Let me try again,” Lisa said. 

Determined to stay serious, she focused again on the toy.  She did the same thing, only this time squeezed out just a tad more.  She didn’t laugh.  Thinking this method worked for her, she might as well use it. 

The toy rolled the requested length.  Lisa looked up at Robert and he nodded, “
Good,
lass, next we try to control the movement, not just forward motion.”

   He instructed her to make the toy turn and
go
back to where it started.  Once again, Lisa started her visualization technique.  Sh
e imagined the toy turning and
making
its
way back to them.  She kept seeing this over and over in her mind.  Feeling
sure
she was ready, Lisa lifted her arm and once again pointed her finger at the toy.  She saw herself squeezing out just a little more power than last time
and
capping the tube to hold in her magic. 

With the magic that she had freed, she motioned the toy around and forward.  She could feel the magic around her, doing as she commanded. 
The toy stopped rolling when she lowered her arm, exactly where she wanted it. 

Lisa was elated.  If she could have done a backflip, she would have.  Instead
,
she reached up and grabbed Robert, pulling his face down to lay a big smacking kiss on his lips.

Ignoring
Rafe’s
growl as he stood, Lisa grinned.  “That was freaking awesome!  I’m not tired either.”

“Well done, lass, but I still want you to put some more work in today.  I want you to be confident and be able to quickly control
anything whenever
it’s
necessary,” Robert said as Rafe shoved him aside.

He grabbed her arms, muttering as he pulled her to him and kissed her hard.  “No kissing other men, ever,” he commanded. 

“
Oh,
chill, I was just excited.  Robert knows I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Rafe whispered in her ear, making Lisa blush.  Robert had walked over to sit by Melissa on the patio.
  Lisa
decided it was time to turn the
tables on Rafe
. 

Lisa reached up and put her arms around his neck.  Snuggling in as close as she could, she rubbed her breast against his chest.  Using her lips, she traced his jaw from chin to ear, giving him little nips as she made her way up
his jawline
.  She could feel him p
ressing against her stomach as
she nibbled his earlobe.

Lost to the sensation, Lisa forgot she had been baiting him as Rafe grabbed h
er bottom and lifted her up to
him.
  She wrapped her legs aroun
d his waist
, rubbing against hi
m.  Lisa moved from his ear to his mouth, desperately seeking
contact
.  Rafe thrust his tongue past her
lips, dueling with her tongue.

“I’m enjoying the show, but Lisa needs to practice some more.  We seem to have lost Melissa too.  She left when the moaning
started,” Robert interrupted, casually watching from his patio chair. 

Lisa jerked back and would have fallen if Rafe hadn’t been holding her tight.  She wiggled to get him to release her. 
She had totally forgotten they had an audience. 

Rafe let her slide her legs down his body, moving his hands up to her arms to steady her. 
Lisa stepped away,
composing herself.

“Ahem.  I’m ready, what do you want me to try now?”

Robert started to speak and Rafe knew he was about to say something outrageous. 
“What do you want her to try with her magic now?”
Rafe spoke before Robert could,
emphasizing
the word
magic. 

“Shite, I was going to have her see if she could…” Robert paused, seeing that Rafe was ready to leap on him.  “Make her shoes disappear.” 

Lisa looked from one to the other.  She wasn’t stupid. 
“
Shoes,
huh?  Right, okay.  But if it works, where will they go?”
she asked.

“Wherever you want them to.  Send them to
yer
room if you like.  Use the same method you used before,” Robert told her.

This time Lisa closed her eyes, replaying it in her head.  When she felt confident, she pointed at Robert’s feet, sending his boots into the great room. 

“I really like my sandals, I didn’t want to lose them to invisible land if I screwed up,” Lisa said, getting even with him.

Rafe laughed and hugged her, giving her a small peck on the cheek.  “
I like the way you think,” he said
,
going to sit on the patio by Robert.

“Those were my favorite boots!” he exclaimed.  “Where’d
you send them?”

“Well, if it worked, they’
re in the great room,” Lisa stated,
chewing on her nail. 

Right at that moment, Devlin came outside carrying Robert’s boots.  “Any reason these just appeared inside?” he asked, smiling.

“Were they in the great room?  That’s where I meant to send them,” Lisa asked excitedly.

“
Yea
h
, they suddenly appeared in the air and dropped to the floor.  Let me tell you, I just about had a heart attack,” Devlin said
,
grabbing his chest,
teasing her. 

“Whoopee!  I am Woman!
  Hear me roar!
” Lisa shouted.

They all just
looked at her
as if
she was nuts
. They just didn’t get it. 

Devlin spoke to
Rafe
,
telling him he needed to speak with him a
bout what he had been working on
.  Wanting to show Rafe what he’d learne
d, he asked him to come into his
office.
  Robert told Rafe
they would
be fine
, knowing he didn’t like leaving her outside without him there.  Robert
would have her
practice a little more while Rafe
was gone. 

Making sure Lisa couldn’t hear him
speaking
, he threatened Robert with his life if he kissed her
again
.

“Hey, she kissed me,” he stated
righteously. 

Devlin watched the interaction curiously.  He figure
d he would get the story later from his brother. 

Lisa and Robert worked another hour practicing her magic.  She was feeling comfortable with her control, and not sending out too much and leaving herself
too
tired.  She kept thinking about when she had been in
Rafe’s
head, using her magic to free them.
  Confronting Ciar, if she had to
o
, was still scaring her
,
but not as much as it had been. 

“Robert, do you think Ciar will show up here? I mean, if he did, do you think it would be soon?” Lisa needed some assurance.  The thought of him suddenly popping up frightened her more than anything
else did
.

Robert thought about it for a moment.  “I don’t think it will be any time soon.  Once you released us from his dungeon,
I’m sure
he realized he was up against some powerful magic.  He won’t want to be taken by surprise
again
.”

“So that means he’ll be looking for some way to, what, take my magic away?”

“He
canna do
that.  No
one can take
yer
magic from you, except the Queen.
  My guess is
that
he’s trying to find a way to bind
yer
magic, or control you.”

“He can do that?” Lisa asked, frightened.

“He would have to know the right spell and also pull some very powerful magic.  Doing that takes a lot of energy.  Our Queen keeps
the
tomes
with
the
dark
and light
spells
in her possession.  I know
that
she guards
them
so that no evil may take them
.
No
one can
enter her library to study
the
tomes
without her permission
.  Only those highly trust
ed by her may even look at them.”

“But what if Ciar already has
one of the tomes?”

This was the part he didn’t want her to know, but he would not lie to her.  “We don’t know what relics the dark
fae
may have.  That’s why we are always on guard against them,” Robert told her.

Lisa thanked him, appreciating the fact that he didn’t try to sugarcoat his answers.
  They both knew she was better off knowing what she may be up against.

Knowing there was nothing else she could do today, Lisa got up to go inside.  Robert followed and they both got a cold drink to take with them to the great room. 

Sitting down at his computer, Devlin started explaining to Rafe what he had been searching for.  He had been determined to figure out how Ciar had known where to send his minions. 

“After you were shot, I kept thinking
about that guy
Robert went after in the woods.  Also, assuming it was Stephen that shot you, how did he find us?” Devlin asked. 

“I’ve been wondering that also, did you figure it out?” asked Rafe. 

“Maybe.  What would really help is if I could talk to the Queen.  There are so many books on spel
ls and crap like that on the I
nternet
.  B
ut most of it is just that, crap.  Once in
a while,
I come across some information that seems factual, but I don’t have any way to confirm it.”

“Come on Dev, get to the point.  What do you think you found out?” asked Rafe impatiently. 

Rafe knew Devlin tended to go in to long explanati
ons, trying to make the person
understand everything
he had
learned.  Problem was,
when Devlin looked at an enigma
, he
understood parts of the e
quation that others took a lot longer to grasp. 
He usually
had to dummy down his response s
o that they could gr
asp what he was talking about.