The Carver's Magic (33 page)

“Get out,” I didn’t yell it, I said it. And I meant it.

“Cort is the heir to our Alpha,” Clair makes sure to sound condescending, as if she is giving me a history lesson. “We are bound to our Alpha and his heir. We are obligated to help.” Clair pointed at Sidney, “But she won’t let us in to help!”

Sidney ignores them and hands me a bottle of water. I take a few sips before responding, “Dar’s father hasn’t been alpha of this pack since he joined with the council.”

Their jaws drop at my words and I smirk at their ignorance. One redhead steps forward, “Speaking against our alpha is a punishable offense.” She looks devilishly delighted, “I plan on letting our
Alpha
know and the council will see to it that you are properly punished.”

And then the blonde girl, Clair, points at Sidney and says, “We plan to tell the Alpha what she’s done too. She broke her promise to our Alpha and will be punished, too.”

Thank goodness Dar was unconscious for all this. It was like talking to a spoiled brat who had no concept of the world around her. These
female dogs
were going to turn me in for telling the truth and Sidney for something equally as stupid (whatever it was she did). This is why I didn’t mingle with Dar’s pack. Because they made me crazy.
I just wanted to shake them all until all their stupidity dropped out.

“Well he’s not here in this house, I can assure you, so get out, or I will make you.” I take another swig of water and use the bottle to point to the door. They didn’t like that so much. All their eyes glowed amber.

“You can’t harm us. I see the marks on your neck. You’re bound to the pack like we are. You can’t kill a pack member,” Clair says, with her hands on her hips.

Sidney patted my arm, futility attempting to calm me down. She doesn’t know me well enough. I would need a liter of fizzy Coke to calm down emotionally ,but thankfully my fire didn’t give these birds a second of it’s time.

The healer stands up and check’s Dar’s IV. She pulls it out and wraps the tubes around the liquid bag. She picks up the bottles and stuffs them into her pack and walks out, not addressing the women or myself. The women, thankfully, follow her, saying something about telling the Alpha that she drank blood.

I lift Dar to his bed and lie down next to him. I run my fingers against his skin, memorizing every bump and curve. Then for the next several hours I let my mind wander and plot about the humans in that creepy building. That place is a large torture chamber to the supernatural. Either way, that building needs to come down. And everyone in it is going to go down with it, after a few questions.

Two hours passed and I still can’t get my eyes to close, so I take a shower and dress in a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I look through the refrigerator and notice there is nothing in it.

I shake my head and remember that it was probably just yesterday that Dar and I made up. It just felt like all the events streamlined together. I close the door and frown. There was nothing in the house.

Pouting, I walk outside to get some perspective and fresh air. Again, I didn’t hear anyone walk up, but when I heard someone clear their throat softly, I turned ready for another bird and her ignorant comments.

I saw the chick freeze, as if she lost her nerve to talk to me. I raise an eyebrow at her. What ever she says better not piss me off right now. I am on a caffeine deficiency. After a few seconds she bowed slightly and said, "Beth?"

My eyes squinted at the short woman with reddish-brown hair. I pride myself on knowing if a person is dangerous or not the moment I meet them. And this chick was submissive. She is kind of soft in the middle, with a pale, round face and pretty green eyes and pouty lips.

"Yeah, I’m Beth," I rest my hands on my hips and wait.

"You’re mates with Dar, right? The healer said to give this to you." She is not looking at me as she holds up a wine glass with straw colored liquid in it.

Uh. What?
It kind of bothers me to see someone being this submissive. I mean for heaven’s sake she could at least look at me.

“I don’t drink.”

The girl pulls the drink back and casts her eyes down, "I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Then she frowns, “I mean she probably didn’t know.” She blushed hard, “I mean, I sometimes help Sidney out when she’s busy. You know about the other girls hounding her, right? She said you were there.” She looks away as if thinking, and then changes topics yet again, “You’re the beta’s mate."

I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing. Curious little thing. I like her. "What's your name?" I ask softly. Also changing the topic because I had no idea that Dar was a beta.

"Mina," she says softly as she peeked up at me.

"Mina, look at me," she looks scared and shakes her head, looking at her feet.

"Look at me, now," I say, letting her know it is not a request, it is an order. She looks at me slowly, but I know she doesn’t want to.

When her green eyes look back at me, I hold them. And hold them until I know she’s about to break away, and then I say, "Thank you, Mina."

Mina made a weird crinkle with her lips. She swallowed, "I have never met a magical creature."

I smile at her. By all definitions she’s a magical creature, because even werewolves are considered supernatural. "Do I scare you?" I ask, curiously.

"Yes," she answers honestly, switching from one foot to the other.

I frown, "Don't be."

She continues to look down, "I can't help it. Your blood is so strong," she says in a whisper. It’s comments like that that make me think of Cory.

I let my hands drop and walk back to the side of the house, where we can both sit on the steps. "My blood makes you uncomfortable?" I can tell this is going to be an interesting conversation, "Explain."

Mina follows me to the steps and sits down. "Your eyes… they glow. Like a wolf’s. But they are green instead of brown." Her tone has changed from light and anxious, to a deeper confidence. Cory does this too when she’s talking about a topic she knows well.

"Yeah I know," I say, nonchalantly.

She turns the glass in her hand, watching it like it was a specimen. "You must have wolf in you," she says with a confidence. I can tell that she wants me to say I do, so I nod. I am sure I have wolf in me. Four generations of Carvers there is bound to be a wolf in there somewhere.

As stubborn as you are...I can guarantee it,
Dar says in my mind, and I instantly feel my fire waking up in me. I want to end this conversation to go see him. But I have to be nice, she is pack, and that is important to Dar. I am trying to be good.

Mina is waiting for something so I shrug, "Carvers are mixed bloods. So we have almost all magical bloods in us."

Mina considers this and looks as if she agrees with me. How did she not know this? "That would make sense because you and the other one don't smell the same. The magic in your blood is different. And then his woman has a different scent, too."

I am going to assume she is talking about Shane and Cory. Sometimes talking to people like this you have to figure out their references that usually only they know about. It’s somewhat vexing, "The woman is mostly human. Have you smelled humans before?"

"Yes. I know what humans smell like," she says softly, "my mother is human." She continued to twirl the wine glass in her hand, not spinning it too quickly because the wine looked like it never really moved.

Oh.

She continues, "But the woman who was sick is not fully human. I can smell the magic blood in her. I would say that she is only part human and mostly magical. But if you say she’s mostly human, then she is, and her magical blood is just really strong."

She was nothing like Cory. Cory would never agree with me just because I said so. I guess there is only one Cory in the world. But this girl obviously trusted me enough to believe me, and that in itself was…nice if not a bit foolish.

"What do you mean you can smell the magic in her blood?" I ask Mina, because I can just tell she wants to talk about this.

She looked down, “Um, just something I know how to do.”

I can’t help pointing out, “Can’t all werewolves do that? You can smell if another supernatural is around right?”

“Yeah,” she kicks a rock at her foot and it plummets down the stairs. “Werewolves can smell other magical creatures, but they don’t smell it in their blood.” She stopped swirling the glass and took a sip of the wine, “And…I’m not a werewolf,” she finally looks up, waiting for my reaction.

Really?
“Okay,” I shrug, “I give up. You’re human and what else?”

She drinks the rest of the wine and whispers, “I similar to Sidney in a way. She’s a vampire and werewolf mixed-blood. I’m a human, vampire and witch mixed-blood.”

Mixed-bloods.

Her ears prick up when she sees the expression on my face, which is full of curiosity. “I had no idea the other bloodlines could mix,” I said it out loud and wanted to slap myself after I said that.

Mina looked lost for words because she was holding in a smile. For whatever reason she didn’t want to fully express how she was feeling. Which was fine because it’s not like I wanted to hug this out or anything.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with mixed-bloods. I’m the last person who could say anything about that. So that’s how you can smell the magic, because you are a vampire and witch? That’s cool.”

Mina’s chin rose a little, “You really don’t care that I’m mixed with a vampire, do you?”

I could tell this was a heavy question for her. She really wanted me to accept her the way she was. If anyone, I knew what that felt like. But before I could answer she said, “I heard that you killed one of the Horde King’s head enforcers.”

Ah, now I get it. “It wasn’t because she was a vampire.” I felt a twang of guilt, “Well, okay, yeah I didn’t like any supernatural pure-borns. I don’t like how they think they’re better than me. But,” I pointed at her, making sure she understands the line, “that vampire broke into my house threatening my sister and I, and then she laughed when she told me that my sister was gone, so she kind of had it coming.”

Mina bit her lip before asking, “If you and the other guy don’t hate mixed-bloods, why do the rest of the Carvers hate everyone?”

I can feel the weight of the question. I wonder what Shane did that eluded that he and I feel the same way, but then again he is bonded to a half-breed.

Mina hadn’t moved. I answer as best as I can, “The reason why I don’t hate everyone is because I had a good relationship with my adopted parents and Cory, my adopted sister, who turned out to be half-fairy. Or maybe it’s a quarter. Anyway, when my parents tried to sell me the story that everyone is beneath me and they deserve our vengeance, I told them to stuff it. That kind of mentality just rubs me the wrong way.” I shrug, “And I don’t know why Shane is okay with mixed-bloods. And I can’t agree that all Carvers hate everyone. I’m sure there are more out there that haven’t been exposed to the supernatural world and the Carver’s war.”
At least I hoped so.

This seemed to pacify her. She nodded and I could tell her eyes looked a bit glossy. She mumbled a thank you and left. I waited until she rounded the corner before I walked in and found my handsome man making steak and eggs.

I seriously love this man.

He turned to me and smiled, “You love me?”

I covered my mouth with the full implication of what I did. He watched me for another moment before leaving the stove and pulling me into his arms. I brushed his lips on mine, “I told you I loved you the other day and I meant it. I was just waiting for you to say it back.”

I blush. This was so mushy. Then Dar started laughing while he pulled me to the kitchen and lifted me on the counter so I could watch him finish making our breakfast.

EPILOGUE

BETH

Cort woke up from his drug-induced coma a week ago. Sidney finally announced he was mended and began shooting him with “wake up shots.” Every one, especially the girls, waited outside to greet him back to the pack. Dar and I were among the group to see him when he woke up. Not that it mattered, because the moment he woke up he screamed for everyone to get out.

He literally threw anything he could grab to run Sidney from her own house. I wasn’t very understanding towards Cort; I felt that he didn’t just overreact, he was outside his damn mind!

I don’t know if Dar was afraid he would demand to take over the pack, or if he would hate Dar for not looking for him after all that time, but either way Cort was still a very touchy subject. One I just stayed away from.

The pack pretty much started disregarding Dar all together and I know that hit hard. He had to calm me down, saying it’s the way things have to go. The pack has to get used to the change. Patience was never one of my virtues. I hated every time they slighted him and every time I had to keep my fire in check or he would order me to control it.

Sidney and Mina still look up to Dar, but no one considers him in any position of authority. And if that wasn’t bad enough, their father has yet to show up and say a damned thing. By the end of the week I had waited long enough. I teleported to his brother, still inside Sidney’s house.

“Get out Carver,” he sneered.

I folded my arms. A big fuck you was on the tip of my tongue, but instead I raised my finger in the air and said, “I saved your fucking life, so shut the fuck up.”

Cort was standing in the doorway of the smallest room. He wasn’t leaning or looking cocky, he looked like he was ready to strike. He was in a defensive position and for the first time I really looked at him. Damn. I was wrong about him.

Cort growled a warning, but now that I knew what I was looking at I let the fire go that was blazing on my skin. I looked around the kitchen and noticed all the wine bottles were broken. I walked over the glass and hopped up on the counter, making him come out of the room to keep a keen eye on me. “I have nothing to say to you.”

Now, how to word my proposal…,“What if I told you I have a house outside the pack territory, that’s two stories, paid up, sitting empty?”