The Spell (6 page)

“You didn’t hurt her – a beautiful stranger at your mercy. Instead, you brought her here. That means a lot. So, accept my thanks Mister…” she waited for him to fill in the space.

It took him a moment.

Ah
, she thought. So the fangs
had
come out.
Goddess
, her mind sighed.
He already had it bad for her.

“Caige,” he finally said. His voice had lowered yet again, and it was slightly gravelly. Like a wolf’s growl. “Lucas Caige.”

“Mister Caige, thank you.”

“It’s Lucas.” He nodded once, and then turned his gaze back to Danny. She was sleeping peacefully, her blue-black hair fanned out across the pillows and reflecting the lamp light in the room like the feathers of a raven.

As always, Imani was impressed with her friend’s magical abilities. She’d managed to keep the shields up even as she’d slipped into slumber.

“You live around here?” Imani asked. She watched him carefully as he, in turn, watched her friend.

Without taking his eyes off of Danny, he said, “I do now.”

Interesting,
thought Imani.
I wonder what the hell that means.

“Okay then,” she began, “you can take her car to your place.” At this, Caige’s head whipped around and his dark, penetrating gaze pinned Imani to the spot. She continued. “In Eureka, it’s faster than calling a cab and somehow, I don’t think that Danny will mind.”
Not in the end, anyway.
“She obviously trusts you.”

“I can tell,” she said. “If I thought she didn’t, I wouldn’t offer to let you take the car. Believe me, she really likes that car.” Imani turned away from him and walked to the door of the bedroom. Caige was forced to follow her. It was easy to see that he didn’t want to, but the man had no choice. There was only so much lingering that a complete stranger could do before it was simply unacceptable.

Imani led the way down the stairs to the first floor and the front door of her house. Caige didn’t need any more hints. He waited by the door as Imani handed him the key to Danny’s car. She made certain to take the Cobra emblem off of it first. It wouldn’t do to have Danny’s prospective lover attacked by a car full of magic-venomed Cobras.

“Just have it back relatively early, if you don’t mind,” she told him gravely.

He nodded and managed a smile. “Will do. Thank you.” Then he turned toward the small table against the wall by the door where Imani kept her grocery lists beside an antique lamp that her grandmother had given her in her will. He picked up the pen she kept there and jotted something down. He turned and handed it to her. “Here’s my number. Call me if you need anything.”

Imani blinked at the number, her brow furrowed. She knew he meant that literally. Lucas Caige had enough money to get them anything they might need.

But Imani wasn’t supposed to be aware of that. So she faked her confusion.

And Caige fell for it. “Just give me a call if she doesn’t get better soon, okay?” He gave this order with a bit more force, though he tried to make it sound more like a suggestion than an order.

Imani nodded placatingly. And then Lucas stepped out into the night and Imani closed and locked the door behind him. Within a few seconds, she heard Thor roar to life and pull out of the lot.

Imani pressed her back to the door, exhaled, and closed her eyes.

Chapter Four
:
“Boil, Boil….”

“Danny.”

Dannai frowned in her half-sleep and rolled over. Her skin felt numb; she was still suspended in the fog somewhere between dream and dawn.

Danny jerked awake, and sleep fell away from her like water slicking off of a rain coat. “What!” she shouted back, her voice hoarse from disuse. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision, and then rolled over in the warm bed. From the way the sun was coming in high through the gauzy curtains over the bedroom windows, it looked like it was late afternoon.

Imani stood over her, hands on hips, head shaking. “Girl, you’ve been asleep for fifteen hours.”

Danny frowned. “So?”

Ima cocked her head to one side and pursed her lips as if considering something for a moment. “You don’t remember what went down last night, do you?”

Last night?
She was so sleepy, that trying to capture a short-term memory felt like trying to catch a dust mote on a windy day. She remembered… sharing a drink with Imani at the bar. And then a ride in Thor. And then….

Images of children and a dirty mattress assaulted her, forcing her bolt-upright in bed. “Charlie and Lily needed my help,” she said numbly, recalling everything now with horrible clarity. “It was awful.”

“Oh, Jesus, girl.” Imani was sitting beside her then, pulling her into her warm embrace. Danny stared off into nothingness as the memories continued to play through her mind’s eye.

“A little boy and girl. Ima, what the hell is wrong with people?” Danny’s voice broke then. She wasn’t expecting it. She had been on many rescue “missions” with Charlie and Lily, and she’d always been okay afterward. What was different this time? She felt slightly stunned and when she tasted the salt of tears on her upper lip, she was mystified by them.

“Honey, you wore yourself out somethin’ fierce,” Ima told her. Danny could feel the other woman shaking her head. “This sure explains a lot.” She fell into a brief silence and then her body seemed to still beside Danny. “Do you remember what happened after the rescue?” she asked.

Danny wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and sat up again. The images of the rescue faded and were replaced with a strange, heavy sensation. It sat low in her belly and grew warmer.

Motorcycle…. An accident….

Danny felt her jaw go slack and her eyes widen.

Werewolf.

“Oh holy mother,” she whispered. “I ran into Lucas Caige.”

“You did more than that, sugar,” Ima drawled. “You brought the big bad wolf home with you.”

Now she remembered. She’d thrown up a second shield after already having drained herself at the rescue. And then she’d passed out in her own car while trying to help Caige after he wrecked his bike.

“Oh crap,” she mumbled, dropping her face into her hands. On the upside, the shield must have worked because she was home safe in her bed instead of dead in a ditch somewhere, which is probably what she would have been if Caige had scented magic on her. He hated magic. He wouldn’t have harmed her himself; in general, werewolves weren’t outwardly aggressive that way. But he wouldn’t have helped her, either. And a passed-out woman on the side of the road in an expensive car was just asking for trouble.

“Yeah, that you did,” Ima agreed, earning herself a dirty look from Danny. “But then again, some people are wise enough to see past those.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Danny noted the look that crossed Imani’s face. She knew that look. It meant she knew something Danny didn’t know. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“So, do I have to spell it out for you?” Ima threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes. “He was
into
you, girl. Like –
way
into you.”

“Bullshit,” Danny gave her a little shove. It was her turn to roll her eyes now. “There’s no way, Ima. He’s not that kind of guy. I mean… he’s not into people like me.”

“You mean women, honey?” Imani gave her a deadpan look.

Danny threw one right back at her. “Magic users, Imani.”

But Imani wasn’t done yet. “I’ve known a lot of guys, girlfriend, and I’ve seen a lot of things. And I’ll tell you right now that as far as Lucas Caige is concerned, I know two things for certain. One, the man is fucking fine.” She shook her head and pretended to fan herself, muttering under her breath about the goddess-given attributes of one particular werewolf.

Danny bit the inside of her cheek and patiently waited for her to finish.

Finally, Imani put her hand down and looked her in the eye again. “And two,” she continued, as if she hadn’t paused, “he likes you. A lot.”

“How would you know, Ima?” Danny asked, sighing heavily.

“He drove your car home last night and returned it this morning freshly detailed. Not that it needed it, but that’s beside the point.”

“So, he’s a considerate person. No big deal.” There was a glass of water on the nightstand beside the bed. Danny took it and began to take a drink.

“No, that wasn’t,” Ima admitted, rising from the bed and smoothing out her skin-tight dress. “But bringin’ you flowers, a box of baked goods, a pound of freshly ground coffee, and refusing to leave until I agreed to make you meet with him tonight was a little bigger of a deal.”

Danny almost choked on the water, barely managing to get it down before it spilled over her lips. “You
what
?” she gasped, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and setting the glass down again with a surprised
thunk
. “Ima, how could you-”

“What’s done is done, Danny, so no use fussin’ over it. If I were you, I’d get up and get somethin’ to eat. I made stew and you’ll need your strength tonight.” Imani shot her a triumphant smile and then kicked it up a notch when the smile became a wicked grin.

“Ima, what the
hell
?” Danny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I can’t believe you would do this to me! Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep two shields up at once?” Even getting as angry as she was in that moment was taking its toll on Danny. She had slept, yes, but she hadn’t eaten and magic wasn’t a calorie-free endeavor.

“I do, Danny.” Imani was suddenly serious. She sat back down on the bed and gently placed her hand on Danny’s arm. “But you’re a dormant and you’re dreaming about him. And if what you say about the second werewolf in your dreams is true and he’s too terrible to even consider, then you have two choices. You can either see this through with Caige or you can move to Siberia. But even then, you’ll still dream about them, and those dreams won’t get better. They’ll get worse. You know it as well as I do.”

Danny stared at Imani for a long while. She didn’t know what to say. The horrible truth of it all was that Ima was absolutely right.

Despondency crept in around Danny’s edges. “He’ll never accept me, Ima.” Lucas Caige had lost his brother to magic. He would never accept a witch as a mate.

“Never say never, honey. And I think you’re wrong anyway.” Ima stood up again and once more brushed herself off. She was gorgeous in a tight emerald green dress and emerald choker pendant. “Remember that an alpha gets bombarded with those feelin’s too. And I’d say Caige is about as alpha as you can get.”

Danny couldn’t argue with that. Lucas Caige was tall, dark and dangerous to the point that it leaked from his pores. Daniel Kane had been like that but he’d been a cop, and the fact that he was on the side of the law canceled out a bit of that “dangerous” feeling people got around him. Malcolm Cole was dangerous, in every sense of the word – but he was also famous and the public trusted famous people for some reason.

Caige, however… was without bonds. He was unpredictable. A wild card.

“I want a shower,” Danny finally said, tossing the covers aside. A nice, long, hot shower would clear her mind and allow her to come up with some sort of plan.

“Fine, but you’ll eat, too, if I have to tie you down and spoon feed you.”

Danny laughed and stood. “You don’t have to bribe me with bondage talk to get me to eat your cooking, Ima.” She shook her head at her best friend. “I love your stew.”

*****

The stew was delicious. Danny sat at the dining room table, where Imani had placed the rainbow-hued array of wild flowers Caige had delivered, and finished off a second helping. Danny was about to go for her third bowl when Imani’s phone rang. Ima got up from the table and started fishing around in her purse for it. While she did, it occurred to Danny that she had no idea what time Caige was supposed to show up. She glanced at her watch: 6:46 p.m.

“Yes, it’s me,” said Ima as she took the phone from the dining room and into the kitchen. Danny’s gaze narrowed. She didn’t like the look on Imani’s face. It was filled with worry and distrust.

Under her breath, she whispered a few choice words of incantation and was suddenly privy to Ima’s entire conversation. It might have been wrong, but Danny never claimed to be a saint.

“… tonight. If she doesn’t show up, he’ll pitch a fit and that’s a frightening thing,” came an accented male voice through Imani’s phone.

“Don’t I know it,” mumbled Ima. “But that’s just too bad. She has other plans for tonight. You’ll have to tell him.”

“You want me to be the bearer of bad news to Alberich? I don’t think so, Imani. Get her down here or you tell him yourself.”

Imani’s patience was obviously wearing thin. She sighed heavily and when she spoke next, her voice was very tight. “Listen Sasha, Danny has a chance at something really good tonight, and I’m not gonna let her blow it just because that spoiled brat of a coven leader decides he wants—”