Wolf Mate (12 page)

Duly chastised, he muttered
immediately, “I'm sorry, Mam.”

“
Not Mam. Gran,”
Lucinda corrected him sharply.

“
Gran?”

“
You are Melynda's mate,
are you not?” she said breezily.

Dax gaped at her.

“
Well, you're here,
aren't you?” she snapped, as if that explained everything.

“
Y-yes. B-but...”

“
Speak up, young man!
Don't hum and haw. It's either yes or no. No buts.”

“
But...”

“
Tsk, tsk! There you go
again!” Lucinda slapped him resoundingly on the butt. “Ooh,
very firm and hard,” she grinned with approval.

“
Mam! I mean, Gran,
could you please tell me what's going on? Why am I in your house?”
Dax asked, speaking clearly and slowly.

Lucinda cocked her head at
him. “You tell me.”

“
I...I just ran here.”
He frowned at the circle of naked witches. “Wait, are you
working some sort of moon magick here? Did you cast a spell or
something to make me run all the way to your house?”

“
No. We did cast a
spell, but it wasn't for you. It was for Melynda.” Lucinda's
tone and expression became grave.

“
Melynda?” Dax
swallowed and stared around. “Where is she? She should be
home by now, shouldn't she?”

“
Yes. But she's not.”

“
Where is she?”
Dax felt an uncharacteristic jolt of fear. “Why are you
casting a spell for Melynda? What did you want her to do?” he
demanded.

“
We wanted her to come
home,” Lucinda replied simply.

“
And we wanted her to
come clean,” one of the witches interjected. “She's an
Emotional witch, and she shouldn't be hiding her powers or
experimenting by herself behind closed doors. Emotional magick can
be dangerous. She needs guidance, and support. So we came.”

Dax blinked round at the
circle of solemn faces. “Are you all...Emotional witches?”

He was greeted with nods and
smiles.

“
I asked them to come,”
Lucinda explained. “These are my friends, and they're all
coven Elders of Emotional witches. I thought they'd be able to help
Melynda, since...we can't.” She glanced sadly at Anita.
“Melynda is the only Emotional witch in our coven. The rest of
us are Elemental witches. We can't give her the guidance and support
she needs. And she refuses to just come out and talk to us. She
wouldn't even admit that she's an Emotional witch! She just pretends
to work at her Elemental magick. Inevitably, her magick fails, her
spells go awry. She even set fire to her own hair once. All this
just makes her more discouraged and frustrated. I think she's
ashamed of what she is. We didn't want to confront her...yet. We
were hoping she would just come out and admit it to us, to herself.”

Anita sat down heavily on the
sofa. “We really didn't know what she was going through. We
just didn't want to make her feel worse. Ah, we were wrong to leave
her alone for so long...” Her voice shook and two gray-haired
witches hobbled over to her to hold her hands.

“
So I called my friends.
These are all good Emotional witches. I wanted Melynda to meet
them, and talk to them, since...she can't talk to us.” Dax
heard the note of pain in her voice. “We were working a spell
to guide her home. And—you came.” Lucinda gazed up at
him in awe.

“
Me?” Dax shook
his head. “Why me?”

The witches were all staring
at him in silence. A few smiled knowingly, where others gawked at
him in wonderment.

“
What? What is it?”
Dax searched all their faces for the answer. “What is it
about me and Melynda?”

Lucinda patted his arm. “When
a witch can't respond to a Homing spell by her coven, the one most
closely tied to her will respond in her stead. Usually, that would
be her familiar, or her mate.”

Dax staggered back. “Are
you saying that I am Melynda's familiar? That my wolf is...”

Lucinda shrugged. “Her
familiar, or her mate,” she repeated. “Are you her
mate?” She whirled round and squinted at him. “Are you?
Have you gotten naked with her? Tell me the truth now.” She
wagged a finger and tut-tutted at him.

“
Mom!” Anita
looked mortified.

“
What? Don't you want
to know?” Lucinda challenged her daughter.

“
Well...”

“
You know you do!”
Lucinda sang, before turning to stare at Dax. “Go on. Tell
us. Have you gotten naked with our Melynda?”

Dax looked her in the eye.
“No. I haven't.” It was the truth.

“
Hmmm.” Lucinda
sniffed at him. “Why? She's not good enough for you?”
she mumbled over her shoulder, out of earshot of the other witches.

“
No. She is...too good
for me,” he said softly.

At that, Lucinda raised her
eyes to him. Her gaze was appraising, thoughtful, troubled.

At last, she asked, “What
kind of wolf are you?”

“
I'm a Silver Wolf.”

The other witches started
murmuring at once. There were gasps and one or two hysterical
shrieks.

Lucinda turned to yell at her
friends, “Hey! Pipe down! All of you. Control your Emotions,
or you'll set fire to my living room carpet. I got that from Persia,
mind you. If my carpet never flies again, I'll unfriend the lot of
you!” she warned.

There was a collective gasp.

“
You wouldn't!”

“
She didn't just say
that!”

“
You wouldn't really
unfriend us, would you, Lucie?”

Lucinda planted a hand on her
hip. “Oh yes, I would. All it takes is one click.”

She turned away from the
huffing, grumbling witches and steered Dax towards the front door.

With a snap of her fingers,
the door flew open. “Go, quickly. You will change soon, and
you need to find Melynda. My friends sensed that Melynda's in
trouble, but they can't see anything. Only you can find her. The
full moon will give you power, and Melynda will give you strength.
Find her, and bring her home.” Lucinda took a deep breath and
whispered, “Please.”

“
I will,” he
promised.

At the door, he turned
suddenly and asked, “Just one question. Did you all have to
get naked for the spell or something?”

“
Have to?”
Lucinda looked surprised. “No. We didn't
have
to.”

“
Huh? Then why...?”

“
Because we want to!
Getting naked is so much fun! You—should try it!”

With that, Lucinda winked and
gave Dax a shove down the front steps. He could still hear her
cackling as the door slammed shut in his face.

Only you can find her. The
full moon will give you power, and Melynda will give you strength.

Dax replayed Lucinda's words
in his mind. Melynda did give him strength. Every day.

Her presence in the office
cheered him and comforted him. She did her work efficiently,
cheerfully even though he often scowled and snapped at her.
Sometimes, in fact oftentimes, she would come back with a sharp
retort when he gave her a hard time.

Dax swore under his breath as
he ran, trying to put as much distance between the city and himself.

Melynda was having a hard time
herself, struggling to become a proficient Elemental witch. She was
fighting against her own Emotional prowess, against her very nature.
She had been afraid, ashamed and alone.

Are you her mate?

Are you?

Dax winced at the sudden stab
of pain through his heart. He knew the answer. He had always known
but was too much of a coward to acknowledge it. He had let his past
get in the way of his present, and let a lie mar a truth.

He raised his face to the full
moon. “I am her mate. And she is mine. Mine!”

His howl shattered the silence
as he shifted fully into wolf.

A magnificent, silver wolf
streaked to the edge of the city in a blur, heading straight towards
an old, highrise building marked for demolition. The cranes and
bulldozers were already in place. The site had been fenced off, and
in the next week or so, a wrecking ball would put the bare, gray
building out of its misery. From the rubble, blocks of swanky
residential apartments would rise. The city was constantly renewing
itself, moving forward.

And yet he had been unable to
move forward.

Sure he had made great strides
in his career. He was now rich and successful, highly regarded and
respected. But emotionally, psychologically, he was stuck.

Savannah was long gone, but he
was still hanging on. Not to her, to his own pain. He continued
torturing himself, reminding himself of his pain and suffering at the
hands of a cold-hearted Emotional witch.

Even when another sweet, young
witch entered his life, he had tried to shut her out, using his
coldness and aloofness as a shield.

Melynda had been struggling
and suffering too. She was his mate, but had he ever cared for her
or supported her? Had he been there for her when she needed him?

I know I don't deserve it,
Melynda, but please give me another chance.

I can't lose you.

His wolf chuffed and huffed at
him. He could feel his beast rolling its silver eyes at him. His
wolf had been right. Just one whiff, and the beast had come fully
awake, wanting to pounce on its mate.

He should have trusted his
wolf.

Well, he might be an old dog
but it was never too late to teach him a new trick. He would trust
his wolf to find her.

The wolf bounded over the
makeshift fence and loped soundlessly towards the empty building.

He could sense her. She was
at the top of the building, and there was someone else with her.

He could scent the sharp smell
of her fear and fight. She was scared, but she wasn't giving up.
She was determined to fight her way out of this. But he could feel
her power weakening. His heartbeat sped up, thundering in his chest
in time to hers, as he slipped into the dark stairwell and raced up
countless flights of steps. As he neared the top of the building, he
began to feel her presence and her emotions more strongly.

He could feel her strength,
her resolve, her terror, as their hearts began to beat in tandem.
They were feeling, thinking, breathing as one. Witch and wolf, woman
and man.

He was her familiar.

She was his mate.

Their connection was
undeniable and unbreakable.

Taking quick, rapid breaths,
the wolf padded silently up to the open rooftop.

He could see her now.

She was kneeling on the
ground, blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back. Her auburn
hair was tangled and wet, and he smelled the scent of fresh blood.
Melynda coughed and more blood spewed from her mouth.

Dax saw a heavily built man
walk behind her and pull her head up by her hair. Snarling a threat
in her ear, he kicked her in her belly and raised a hand to strike
her across the face.

Phin Lester. That lowlife got
a high out of hitting women.

Dax roared and smashed into
Phin in a flash of silver. But his rage blinded him to the weapon in
Phin's hand. Dax felt a paralyzing, piercing pain in his back. He
collapsed on his side and struggled to open his eyes. The pain was
excruciating. It felt as though his blood was boiling in his veins
and setting his whole body on fire.

He twisted round to see Phin
stand over him and pull a long silver blade out of his back.

Silver.

Dax stumbled to his feet and
crouched low. He was lucky the silver only pierced his back, not his
heart. He'd be dead otherwise. But a wound inflicted by silver
wasn't going to heal by itself. Other wounds healed quickly. But
this one...

“
Dax?”

He heard Melynda call out
softly. He growled low in response.

“
Dax! It really is
you!” She broke into a wide grin, and he saw her bloodstained
teeth.

He would kill Phin Lester!

“
Can you come nearer,
Dax?” she whispered. “Dax...”

He shook his head with a
growl. Phin was standing to the side, beckoning him with the silver
knife. “Come and get me,” he taunted. “You know
you want this...” He whistled and made a throwing motion, like
he was throwing a stick for a dog to fetch.

Phin laughed, tapping his
silver blade against his thigh.

Dax's eyes flicked to Melynda.
She was shuffling forward on her knees, trying to come nearer to
him. His name on her lips sounded like a plea, like she was begging
for him.

Dax crouched low, eyeing the
human. Phin was laughing, swaying on his feet like a drunk. That
creep got drunk on violence, got a high out of beating and bullying
women. He beat Melynda, and for that, he would die!