Brother Bear Mated (10 page)

She pressed her hands to her ears, but the noise only became more.

Whispering. A song she recognized. No tune, no melody. A song of strength. Sweet seductive power. She wanted to count but there were no rocks. Only the one around her neck.

One
.

And then she realized she wasn’t alone. Dark forms swirled around her. Humanlike but unsubstantial as smoke, and with no defining features. Wisps. Astrals. They had no name but they were breathtaking.

They made her stronger. Better.

They liberated her. Gave her the freedom to be what she needed to be.

Like they had that night weeks ago when she’d used them to strike down the werecat.

“Yes,” she murmured, “
yes
.”

These were hers.
One, two, three, four, five
…

Just then, the doors to the lodge burst open and Thames ran out. Her smile was instant. This was the way to be free, and she couldn’t wait to tell him.

But before she did, people started pouring out the doors behind him. People she didn’t recognize. An army of people. Male and female, they surrounded Thames, and felt like a threat even though they didn’t attack.

Not yet.

And she wouldn’t let them.

Enemy
, her mind declared. The darkness had come for her. And her love, the one good part of her that remained, was surrounded. In danger. Thames was in danger.

“Nastia,” he said, reaching his hand forward. Reaching out for her. “Help me.”

The pain streaked through her middle again, hot and violent. Love. She’d never let him be hurt. She’d save him. Use her new power to do so. And if that meant she was dark, so be it. Saving the one you loved by any means necessary couldn’t equal evil. It couldn’t. Because if it did, she wanted no part of being righteous.

The army said nothing, only glared their hatred at her as they inched closer to Thames.

“Nastia, please,” he begged. “Help me. Do it now.”

Thames was love. Her chest hurt.

If this was to be her last stand, if it was her time to transition, she’d go out with one final act of love. She’d save him and be condemned. Nothing could be more worthy in her eyes.

“Okay,” she breathed, nodding and realizing tears streaked her cheeks. Newt squeaked nervously from his place on her shoulder. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”

Everything happened very fast.

One of the enemy lunged for Thames.

Nastia raised her hands to the sky, pulling power from the darkness above. Inky and thick, it filled her until she vibrated with it.

With an uttered curse, she brought her arms down and aimed for the enemy. Fingers curled with the force of the magic she held in her palm.

But just as she was about to release it, her vision flickered, shifting the scene into something else entirely.

Her purple heart stone clattered to the ground, changing everything.

But also changing nothing.

Because it was too late for her to stop. She tried to rein the darkness in, tried to stop the path of her magic, but it was too late. Energy shot from her hand in a sparkling arc she couldn’t control while the dark figures surrounding her swirled on.

A breath, a mere second, would have made all the difference. But now it was too late.

It was too late.

Chapter Twelve

Thames watched his mate walk out the door, hardly able to believe how she’d treated her sisters. He’d put a lot of hope in these tomes she’d collected over the years, needing to believe there was a way to keep her from what she was becoming, but it was clear they were running out of time.

Nastia was turning into something he didn’t recognize. Something his bear didn’t recognize, and that was scary as hell. Losing his bond with her would crush him, but it would also leave her floundering.

Won’t let that happen
, his animal growled.

Straightening, he locked away all his feelings of fear and let his bear come close. This was his mate that needed saving, and Anchor or not, he was going to save her.

He strode back to the dining room where the clan and the Sorcera were a flurry of words and confusion.

“Where is she?” Adira asked when she spotted him.

“Taking a breather.”

“Good,” Theron snapped. “She needs one.”

His gaze went to Mirena and Thames spotted that protective glint in his brother’s eye. Theo hadn’t liked the way Nastia talked to Mirena. No one did.

“She’s hurting,” Magic said. “Struggling with something none of us understand, and terrified of making a wrong move.”

“It’s more than that,” Mason murmured, his shoulders shrugging like bugs were crawling up his spine. “Destiny says we’re missing something. Something big.”

“Anything else to go on there, Des?” Owyn called out as if she was right there in the room.

“Trust me,” Mason grumbled. “She’s just as puzzled as we are, but perhaps slightly less patient.” He grimaced, but didn’t say anything else.

Adira spoke up. “I think it’s time.”

“For what,” Thames asked.

She didn’t look at him though. Instead she eyed Mirena. “For the undead spell. We need to cast it before she’s unable to lend us her power.”

“Unable or unwilling?” Renner asked.

“They’re one in the same.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Bailey argued.

“
This
is dangerous. The way she acted tonight. She was staring murderously at your alpha for ten straight minutes. I can’t predict what she’ll do or how she’ll react to any given situation. We need to move now before she does something we’ll all regret.”

Thames couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t imagine watching Nastia breathe her last breath, on a hope that some spell could revive her.

“It’s what she would want,” Mirena said quietly. “The real Nastia. The one who’d never dream of saying such hurtful things. She was as brave as she was smart, and would do this if there was even a hint of a chance it’d work. She would.”

He knew Mirena was right. His female wouldn’t bat an eye at chancing this spell. She’d more or less told him so during their picnic. But it didn’t make it any easier for his bear to accept.

“Wait a minute…” Mirena frowned, her gaze flying to Thames. “What is this stone she spoke of? ‘The rock you gave me is as useless as you are.’ What does that mean?”

Thames shrugged, confused. “The purple heart stone you and Adira left on the bed. She figured you’d enchanted it to help her resist the darkness.”

“What bed?” Adira asked.

Thames looked back and forth between the two witches. “Our bed. In the cave.”

She stared at Mirena and the two shared an odd look. “We never left our sister a rock.”

“Of course you did.” Thames gave a nervous laugh. “That first day after everyone was finished working. You came and made our bed, and left the geode sitting right there on top of the blankets.”

“Thames, hear me,” Adira barked. It was the most aggressive he’d ever seen her. “We never came back to the cave that night. We never left an enchanted rock. Certainly never a crystal.”

He heard, but he couldn’t understand.

“
Shit
,” Mason muttered. “What is it, what is it…” He seemed to be having his own conversation. Or maybe he was trying to make sense of this like Thames was.

Thames hooked his hands on his hips, staring between the two women. “Wha… who… Well, then how did our bed get made?”

Adira scanned the room, but nobody fessed up to it.

“Who made our bed?” Thames growled.

His demand was met with shaking of heads.

The two Sorcera locked eyes once again and Mirena whispered, “
Familiar
.”

“An animal?” he asked, incredulous. “You think an animal came in there and folded the sheets on our bed?”

“They can take form,” Adira said. “If their witch allows it.”

“Form? Like… human form?”

“Yes. But they can’t maintain it long. A couple minutes at most. And they’re much less corporal than you or I. They appear almost as a specter.”

“Aw, shit on a cracker,” Theron spat, crossing his arms.

Thames shot his brother a glare.

“If the Magei noticed Nastia was close to a power transfer, they might’ve sent their agents to help coax her along.”

Their agents. Their familiars.

“With a rock?” Theron asked.

Mirena nodded. “A dark object. A talisman used to create dark spells. In this case, a crystal. They would have bespelled it with blood magic most likely, so we couldn’t detect it.”

Adira fluttered a hand to her cheek. “It would have simply felt like Nastia. No darkness to be detected until now. It’s how we missed it. And the barrier I put on the cave wouldn’t have kept them out because it was only meant to keep Nastia in.”

Thames’s mind went ninety to nothing trying to put the pieces together so he could get a clear picture. Familiars, the stone, the way Nastia freaked out when it went missing.

When it went missing.

“The beetles,” he hissed.

The beetles he’d killed that night must have been familiars.

Find mate
.

Thames turned, charging for the exit. Nastia was in trouble. He could feel it in their bond. He only wished he’d realized earlier.

Should have been more vigilant. Should have been more careful. Should have never left her side. Should have listened when she’d suggested the vampire spell.

He pushed his failures aside and skidded through the lobby, bursting through the front entrance to find his worst nightmares coming true.

Nastia stood just past the parking lot, steeped in a pool of shadow. But as Thames moved closer, he could see it wasn’t
just
a shadow. A swarm of black beetles piled around her feet, buzzing and writhing. They spilled out over the ground and clung halfway up her skirt, yet she seemed oblivious to them.

She smiled, bright and wide, like she did that first day when he’d said yes to keeping Newt. It was so sweet and honest, his steps staggered and his breath hitched. His female, as she should look. Happy. Carefree.

Free
, he realized. That was why she smiled like that. He could feel the deliverance flowing through their bond. His mate thought she was going to be alright, but she was far from it.

A shadow clung to her. It was visible even in the soft glow from the lanterns. Not a natural shadow but something that had form. And from around her neck the amethyst geode glowed. The muted rays shone through the outer surface of the stone, looking like dark lava peeking through the crust of the earth. It reminded him of what a demon’s eye might look like, or old paintings of dragons.

His bear bristled at the evil coming from it, pawing at Thames to do something.

Thames felt the clan gathering around him, but didn’t dare take his eyes off his mate. He could help her, he knew he could. He just had to get her away from the horde.

“Nastia,” he said, reaching for her. “Come to me.”

Her smile faded as she took in the others. She blinked, and tears spilled down her cheeks. He stiffened not sure if she was in pain. His bear wanted to charge in, toss her over his shoulder, and run, but some other part of him knew that was the wrong way to go.

The tension was tangible in the air, each of the clan inching forward, poised and ready to fight whatever that shadow was. And those damned familiars.

Thames knew Theron was at his side, and Gash at his other. No one had shifted yet, but their finger was on the trigger. The second they needed to, they would.

“Nastia, please.” He stretched closer, but he was still too far away. “Come to me. Do it now.”

“Okay.” She nodded sadly, and it felt too much like she was saying goodbye. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”

That was when he noticed Newt perched on her shoulder. Thames squinted to see through the darkness. The lizard was moving funny, like he was burrowing at her collar.

Was he hurting her? Was
he
the cause of all this? The lizard had been dragging the stone away that night, and he’d helped Thames corner the beetles. But now, he was digging furiously at Nastia’s neck while she cried.

There was no way to be sure, but Thames wasn’t taking any chances.

A growl escaped his throat, and he lunged forward only to be caught around the neck by Theo. His brother pulled him backward, shoving him behind as if to protect him. Sweet and all, but no one was keeping him from his female.

Before he could make another run for it, Nastia’s hands shot upward to the sky, her fingers curling like hooks. She murmured something and the shadow that hovered around her funneled downward. As if her hands were a vacuum, she seemed to suck the shadow right from the sky, pulling it into her body. Her eyes flickered between cold, steel, emotionless to warm, caring, sweet. From darkness to light and back again.

She took aim at Theo, a nasty snarl curling her lips as the force of her new power whipped her hair in a tangle.

Suddenly, the glowing heart stone tumbled to the ground and Nastia let out a violent gasp.

Newt. The confusing little lizard had chewed through the cord of her necklace in an attempt to break the connection to the stone. Thames watched as he scurried down her arm and bit—
bit
—her finger until blood streamed down her hand and dripped onto the ground.

Nastia’s eyes returned to normal, but when they did, they went wide with the horror of what was already set into action.

Because it couldn’t be stopped. She was out of control, and even if separating from the stone had given her clarity, it was too late to undo what was already done.

As a bolt of magic jolted from Nastia’s palm, Thames shoved Theo hard to the ground at the same time Mirena jumped in front of the attack. The magic hit her square in the middle, stunning her like an electric shock.

Nastia’s tortured scream split the night, her body jerking with the effort to stop the streak of power hurting her sister. But it was beyond her control, fueled by the darkness she was submerged in.

Adira began chanting, both hands curled toward her sisters as she walked forward. The pop of light she produced temporarily blinded Thames, but he recovered in time to see Theron shift. Roaring to life, his massive grizzly charged at Nastia.

NO. Brother can’t hurt mate
.

But brother’s mate was in danger too. She’d jumped in front of the blast meant for Theron. That meant she was his. Stopping him from hurting Nastia could risk Mirena. But Thames could never watch his female be hurt.

Take brother down, mate lives
.

His own grizzly ripped from his skin with a roar and he pounded after Theo, catching him in the flank just before he reached the pile of bugs at Nastia’s feet.

“Aw, shit,” Mason hollered. “Let’s go.” With that, he shifted to his cougar, a deadly snarl erupting with the change.

Thames was barely aware of the others shifting as he went at it with Theo, rolling and tumbling, growls tearing into the air. There were teeth and claws and fur flying but he didn’t feel it. He could sense his brother’s desperation as thick as his own. Their mates needed to be secured or they would never stop fighting.

And that wasn’t okay. Because Thames and Theron had always stuck together. Even in the hardest times. They were the other’s parents, friends, confidants. Whatever was missing the other made up for it. Now they each had a female to fight for, but it couldn’t tear them apart.

Thames glanced up to see the cats batting away the beetles while Adira fought the dark magic with her light. Mirena stood stiff, Nastia’s attack still channeling into her.

And Nastia… she screamed and screamed like her heart was being ripped from her chest. The bear felt her pain like nobody else would. Hurting the ones she loved was her worst fear, and now it was reality.

Theron’s heavy paw swatted at Thames’s head, landing hard enough to knock him away. The bear ran for Nastia again, but it was already over. The blast of magic was gone. The shadow that hovered over her was gone. The familiars, what was left of them, scurried away and several of the cats went after them.

Nastia stood with her arms lowered, sobbing brokenly as she looked around, unsuspecting of Theron’s attack.