Her Werewolf Hero (24 page)

Bron studied the heart in his other hand, which still pulsed, but it seemed to be beating slower. It was dying. He had to do this. Now. “The soul bringer said we had to hurry. Kizzy, I can't lose you.”

“No!” Claire shoved his hand away from Kizzy's chest. “The witch is on her way here. She said whatever you do, do not put the heart back in her chest if you...” Claire bent and whispered something into Kizzy's ear that Bron, despite his excellent hearing, could not make out.

“She's right,” Kizzy whispered. “Not yet, Bron. We need to...” She sat up, helped by Claire. “I feel like I'm getting a second wind. I'm good. Thanks, Claire. We just need to chat a bit. Fill the time until Eglantine gets here.”

The two women held such a stare between them, Bron could not understand what was up.

“Why must we wait for the witch?” he insisted. “You could die, Kizzy. The soul bringer said time was of the essence. I won't lose you. I cannot.” He bowed his forehead to hers. If she died he wasn't sure how to continue.

She clasped his hand as Claire stood and wandered over to pick up the black box in which her heart had been contained. Giving them some privacy, as best she could.

“Trust me?” Kizzy asked him. “And hold me?”

He cradled her in his arms, her back against his chest. He bowed his chin to the top of her head and while he gripped her heart against her chest, he got lost in the slow, yet promisingly steady, beat of it. She smelled like summer and wild fields with a hint of orange. He closed his eyes and drew in that scent, thinking if he could drown in it, he wouldn't struggle for air, only happily die in her arms.

“I'm glad that tracker led you to me,” she said.

“So am I. You've changed me. I never thought I could love like this.” He eyed the knife he'd laid on the floor. “Why are we waiting? Kizzy, don't you love me enough to explain?”

“I... Sing to me,” she said softly.

“Kizzy, this is no time—”

“That's what I love most about you. You're not afraid to show me the silly side of you. You must know more songs?”

He knew them all because he liked to sit in a dark theater and lose himself to the innocent laughter and adventure of a good faery tale. He didn't want to sing right now, because most of the songs he knew were happy. And life was not a faery tale, it was pain and anger and blood and betrayal.

He was not happy; he was enraged the soul bringer had reneged on their bargain. And now Kizzy insisted he wait to put back in her heart? What the hell was going on? He would not lose her. He must not.

But as he closed his eyes and concentrated on Kizzy's firm grasp, she whispered, “Please.”

And a verse did come to him, so he sang it for her. “Oo da lolly, oo da lolly, golly, what a day.”

Kizzy laughed softly. “Oh, my lover. Robin Hood and Little John sang that together. I love that movie. And it has been such a day. Is it wrong to love a man because he's a Disney fan?”

“About as wrong as loving a woman because she looks cute wearing a shirt with Sam and Dean on it.”

She traced a finger over the heart, and it pulsed as if shivering at the realization of its owner's touch. “Not long,” she whispered in a voice that was desperately weak. “So brave, my lovely wolf.”

And her head dropped heavily against his arm.

Chapter 25

P
anic traced Bron's spine. “I don't think she's breathing!”

“She is. She's just resting,” Claire reassured from across the warehouse. She clutched the box as if it were a lost toy. “I know. I was in her position and felt the same.”

“Why do we have to wait for the witch? What are you not telling me? What went on here while I was away in Purgatory? Claire, please!”

Dressed in a dirty white sundress, she dropped the box and strolled over to him.

With Kizzy's warmth in his arms, he could only hug her tighter. But in that moment he was able to see his former wife clearly. And to acknowledge that she had suffered because of him.

“I'm sorry,” he said as she stopped before him and Kizzy and knelt to stroke Kizzy's arm. “I am so sorry.”

“I forgave you when you were in Purgatory,” she said. “Can you imagine? I've held such hatred for you in my heart for so long. I'd thought I'd put it all behind me. Until I saw your face again. You haven't changed much. Maybe a few new lines beside your eyes. A little longer hair. But still the same.”

“I've changed,” he managed. “Inside.”

“Yes, I can see that through her eyes. She adores you. You have become a man worthy of admiration. Don't hurt her.”

“More than I have already?”

“You've done what was necessary to save her life. And mine.”

“But I still hold her heart,” he insisted, feeling the pulse beats against his palm. “Tell me what you are not saying. Why are we waiting for the witch?”

Claire shrugged and looked aside. She couldn't face him? Was she going to lie to him?

With a sigh, she regarded him. “Magic is required to make the heart stick. Or that's what I understand from what Eglantine said to me on the phone. She's using a transport spell. Should be here sooner rather than later.” She clasped his hand at Kizzy's shoulder. “How do you feel?”

“It doesn't matter. I can't worry about that.”

“You should not,” she said quickly. “Think only of her. I—” she stood and smoothed her palms down her skirt “—really want to go home. But I'm not sure how I got here in the first place. One moment I was walking down a country path in Lake Como to my cottage. The next? I was sitting in a cage watching that bastard soul bringer command a demon to rip my heart from my chest. Feels good to have it back, though.”

A brilliant flash of blue electrified the warehouse.

“Ah,” Claire said. “The witch.”

Eglantine landed on both feet, a slender white gown gliding to the floor and pooling in a silken train about her. A tilt of her elegantly coifed head took in the warehouse. With a nod to both of them, she bent and began to draw a design on the floor with nothing more than the blue electrical pulse emitted from her hands.

Bron carefully set Kizzy's head down so he could stand. He didn't want to drop her heart, but when Claire suddenly gestured he hand it to her, he only clutched it tighter.

“You should go talk to the witch,” Claire insisted. “Let me hold the heart while you do.”

“I don't trust you.”

“Oh, Bron, Kizzy told me about Isabelle's death. I am so sorry.”

“It wasn't your fault.”

“It was.” She closed her eyes and sniffed back a tear. “Forgive me?”

He nodded. “We're good.” But he still wasn't willing to hand over Kizzy's heart to the woman.

“Bron!” Eglantine called.

As for his heart...well, just when he'd thought it should be either racing or dropping in his chest, it did neither. In fact, he couldn't feel it. He pressed his free hand to his chest to feel for his heart beat.

In that moment Kizzy sat up, and their eyes met. She shook her head, asking him to ignore...something. What was going on? Why were they being so secretive?

Eglantine stepped out of the circle she had created. It glowed blue. She indicated he step closer, which he did, reluctantly, his head twisting to eye Kizzy and then back to the circle until he stood right at the edge. The circle, and the ruins drawn about the circumference, looked familiar. In fact, he'd seen this once before when on a mission to Zanibia to obtain a zombie antidote.

“This is a death hexing circle,” he said.

And in that moment he knew why he couldn't feel his heartbeats. Why Kizzy had been acting so strangely. She knew. They all knew. Bron slapped a hand over his chest.

Claire grabbed Kizzy's heart from him.

“I'm—” he started to say what he knew was truth.
Dead?

The witch shoved him hard, and he stumbled into the center of the circle.

“Just in time,” Eglantine said to Claire. “Poor guy just realized he was dead.”

“Now what?” Claire asked, bobbling the heart back and forth in her hands.

“Yes, now what?” Kizzy asked as she pushed up to stand.

“Now, you're on, darling,” Eglantine said.

* * *

Bron's body hovered in the middle of the circle amidst a foggy dazzle of blue light. Arms flung outward and head tilted back, his eyes were closed. It looked as if an alien ship were about to suck him upward as he hung suspended a foot above the floor.

“Is he alive?” Kizzy asked the witch.

“No, he's dead. The hexing circle merely holds him in place while I work the real magic. And for that, I'll need your help. And your heart. How you feeling, darling?”

Kizzy wobbled as she stepped forward. “Like I've had my heart ripped out and I'm one step away from death.”

“Then we'd best hurry. Thankfully Claire was able to contact me in time.”

Kizzy offered the most grateful smile she could manage to the werewolf, which was weak. And then she directed her gaze back to Bron. He'd figured out he was dead just before the witch had shoved him into the circle. How could she help him?

He meant so much to her. He was the man who had not laughed at her beliefs. He believed in her.

Now she had to believe in him.

“Give her the heart,” Eglantine directed Claire. “But only after I've opened her chest.”

Here it comes. The pain, Kizzy thought. The weird stuff. The—hell, she just wanted this all over. And for Bron to be alive. She'd suffer any amount of pain for that.

“How is this going to save Bron?”

“You'll provide your vita and make a direct connection to his heart and soul,” Eglantine said. “Take your heart.”

Claire handed the slippery organ to her, and Kizzy marveled for a moment over its weight and size. It really was about the size of her fist, and for all it had been through outside of her body, it still looked bright red and beat steadily. But no handprint! Must have been erased when Bron had used it to journey into Purgatory.

When she held it in both her hands she could almost feel the heart beating in her empty chest.

“Hold that aside while I open you up,” Eglantine commanded. “Quickly, darling, Bron hasn't much time. Nor do you! Support her from behind, Claire, will you?”

Kizzy sucked in a breath and quickly unbuttoned her shirt, preparing for...whatever hell came next. The witch drew a blue line in the air before her. Something burned down her rib cage, and she felt air rush into her chest cavity.

“Now hold it close, so it connects,” the witch instructed, “but don't put it all the way in. I need to bring Bron in on this now.”

Hold it close? But not all the way in? What the...? Kizzy moved her heart closer until she felt it nudge her skin. The sudden connection of veins or arteries, or whatever it was, alerted her, and a jolt of awareness gasped out of her mouth. She could feel her heart beat throughout her body. It was back!

Almost.

Eglantine traced the side of her heart that was not within her, and then she drew out her hand and, with it, what looked like a glowing red vein. The witch drew it as if yarn from a skein to the edge of the circle. When it touched the barrier of blue electricity that contained Bron's floating body, the entire circle lit wildly and turned violet.

The witch began to chant something in a language Kizzy didn't understand. She could feel her life force rushing out toward the hexing circle. Behind her Claire held her by the shoulders, her body supporting Kizzy's weight. And when Eglantine suddenly severed the connection and turned to slam her hand against the heart and shove it completely into Kizzy's chest, the witch's wild green eyes glowed as she announced grandly, “So mote it be!”

Kizzy collapsed, slowly, Claire helping her down to sit.

The circle stopped glowing. Bron's body fell, but instead of landing in a sprawl, his boots touched the concrete floor, and he caught himself, balancing and standing up. Alert, he looked about. Slapped a hand over his chest. His eyes landed first on Eglantine, and he shook his head, wincing. “You always land me in some kind of far-out magical situation, witch.”

“It wasn't my doing, love. I believe it was the soul bringer's fault. But she did save your life.” She stepped aside to allow Bron to see Kizzy.

Claire moved away, as did the witch. And before Bron could move toward her, Kizzy pushed up and ran to him, crossing the etched hexing line on the floor, and landed in his arms. Their connection ignited the wicked blue electricity, and a wall of the magic flashed up around the circle again.

“Is that bad?” Claire asked the witch.

“No. That. Is love. Come along. Those two will be needing some privacy.”

Chapter 26

T
hey didn't bother to look around to see if anyone stood in the warehouse watching. Bron had felt the witch's departure, and he no longer scented his ex-wife. The only thing that mattered was the woman in his arms. Kissing him. Legs wrapped about his hips, she clung to him.

And he felt some kind of amazing electricity encompass them both. The blue light flashed about them, crackling and snapping at their skin. The more they kissed, the deeper violet the light became. Every touch felt like an orgasm. His werewolf shivered within, wanting to get out. And at the same time, it did not. He was solid in his body.

And not dead.

Nor was Kizzy without her heart. A heart that he'd held in his hands and would protect forever after. He'd noticed the missing handprint when he'd brought it back from Purgatory. He suspected it had been a one-time-only use for that particular magical artifact. And he'd inform the director the heart was inoperative and safe where it belonged.

“Kiss me always,” she said against his lips. “Love me forever.”

“I can do that,” he said.

And he believed that he could.

* * *

A day later, the couple stood in the gray-tiled shower of Bron's New York apartment. Before boarding their flight, he'd alerted the maid service he was stopping in, and upon arrival, the place sparkled and champagne had waited in the fridge.

“I think our hearts kind of meshed when we were in the hexing circle,” Kizzy said as she slicked her hands up his wet chest. “At least, that's the way it felt to me.” She kissed him right over the heart.

Bron bowed his head to kiss her forehead. “So I have your heart now?”

“Do you want it?”

“Yes. You asked me to love you forever. Did you mean that?”

She nodded. “I know you're a lone wolf kind of guy. Was that okay?”

“More than okay. I don't feel so inspired to be alone now that you've gotten into me. And I gave Director Pierce a call this morning to inform him that the heart had been deactivated. He trusts my assessment that it's no longer an active portal to Purgatory. You can keep it right where it belongs.”

“Whew. And what about the soul bringer and his dead girlfriend?”

“He got what he wanted. You needn't fear him coming after you any longer.”

“But do you think he was able to bring his girlfriend to Heaven?”

Bron nodded. “I'm sure of it. All ended well for those two. Despite the bastard almost killing you, I'll give him a pass.”

“He did it for love,” Kizzy said. “Love always wins. So what's next for you?”

“Another mission. Always another mission. How would you like to travel the world with me, Kizzy?”

“I thought you'd never ask.”

“There may be times when I need to go on a job alone. But as often as possible I will bring you along. I need you by my side. You are good for me.”

She kissed him. “Will you let me photograph creatures?”

“Only if they are never published on that blog of yours. Although, someone may have a use for them. I could check with the Archives. CJ may be able to use photographic documentation of certain species.”

“That would be cool. Kizzy Lewis, photographer of wondrous species. I love that. But I suppose I won't be able to put that on a business card.”

“Absolutely not. No more than I can tell people I'm a Retriever.”

“You told me.”

“I couldn't have not told you. Believer that you are.”

She slid her hands down and around his hips, pulling him against her slick body. “I suddenly have the desire to have sex with you in every country we can manage.”

“That's a lot of places.”

“I like a good challenge.”

“Let's make it interesting and include all the States, too.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“We've covered Minnesota and now New York.”

“Two down, forty-eight left to go. And a whole lot of countries. Kiss me, wolf.”

Their kiss lasted so long the water started to run cold, and when it did, the twosome spilled out and wrapped themselves up with an oversize towel in a snug, tight embrace that would see them through many countries and decades to come.

A year later...

Kizzy emailed the pictures she'd taken of the chimera in Kazakhstan to CJ at the Archives. Bron had been sent to retrieve an ancient grimoire guarded by a millennia-old witch. She'd had chimeras guarding her lair. Three of them. And their screams still rang in her ears. They'd pushed off from their castle perches. Magnificent wings had glittered with sunlight as they'd soared through the sky. That was right about the time Bron had ordered Kizzy back into the bespelled truck to wait for his return. She knew never to question him when in a dire situation. Besides, the new camera he'd gifted her for her birthday a few months ago was so awesome the zoom lens could pick up images half a mile away.

Tonight they stayed in Bron's Parisian apartment. She'd never been in the city before, and Bron's mission wasn't urgent, so he'd promised to take her on a river cruise in a few hours. She was excited for a quiet evening touring the dazzling city.

The bedroom door opened, and in strolled her werewolf hero.

“You get the dossier from the director?” she asked. Meeting him at the end of the bed, she pressed up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

“I'm to retrieve an alicorn from a demon overlord while I'm in town.”

“Sounds perilous.”

“Actually, I know the guy. Edamite Thrash. He sounds much more evil than he actually is. And I've already spoken to him on the phone. He is happy to hand it over, which I'll pick up in the morning. Tonight we're doing the tourist thing.”

“It kills you, doesn't it?”

“To play the tourist?” He shrugged. “You know those lines drive me mad.”

“But we've reservations for the cruise?”

“That we do. Another hour or so?” He checked his watch, then lifted her and tossed her onto the bed. “We've time to get naked.”

“Come here, wolf.” She crooked a finger, and he dove for her.

“I love you,” he said as he crawled over her and bowed his head to kiss the base of her throat. “Without you I am nothing. I need your heart beating close to mine.”

“You can have it close whenever you wish it.”

“How about—” he leaned on an elbow and slid his hand down to his pants pocket “—we make it a permanent thing?”

Kizzy pushed up to lean on her elbows, not sure what he was getting at. Until she saw the glint of silver as he held up the ring before her. A gorgeous diamond that looked too big for a girl who liked to travel spare and live off the land. Yet when she looked to Bron and saw the smile in his eyes she could only nod effusively.

“Is that a yes to forever?” he asked.

“Yes, of course. Forever.”

* * * * *

I hope you enjoyed the story! If you're curious about the purgatorial objects, Google the “Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory” online. My stumbling on to that site one day served as the seed to this story.

If you'd like to read about other characters in this book, some also have their own story, and all are available at your favorite online retailer.

CJ and Vika's story is
THIS WICKED MAGIC

Libby and Richardt's story is
THE SOUL MAGIC

Blackthorn and Nova's story is
THE SIN EATER'S PROMISE

Edamite Thrash and Tamatha's story is
CAPTIVATING THE WITCH

Keep reading for an excerpt from
IMMORTAL REDEEMED
by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom.

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