Darkest Wolf (18 page)

“Faint? I’ve never in my whole life.”

Rex shrugged. “There’s a first time for everything, witch.” She groaned before she slumped against him. Gently, he laid his now powerful witch down on the floor. Silently he memorized her face, knowing he would never see her again. “Ma’am.” Rex had never spoken to Elizabeth’s mother before. He could see her beloved features in his mate’s mother’s face. Older, weathered, the resemblance was distinct.

“I owe you a debt, Rex.”

He nodded. “I would argue but I can’t imagine it would matter. There is something you can do for me.”

Her mother stroked Elizabeth’s hair. “What?”

“I am returning home now to a fight I don’t believe we can currently win. I would not risk anyone against Drea and Kendrick. They are too powerful together.” Certainly no one in Elizabeth’s coven had ever been able to take Drea even by herself.

“We would help you.”

He nodded at the sincerity in her gaze. “I know. I appreciate the offer but I would not have you all die, which is what brings me to my favor.”

“Yes?” Elizabeth’s mother rose to her feet from where she knelt next to her daughter.

“She mated me. I don’t believe she wanted to. She saw no other choice. I would not have her pay with her life for something she had to do to save her loved ones. When I die, see she doesn’t. See that the spell binding her to me, if it even worked, doesn’t take her too. Her life is how you can repay me and how I can thank her for all she did.” Rex kept himself straight, his face impassive even as his wolf howled and his soul died.

Chapter Fourteen

Elizabeth opened her eyes, and the bright light of the sun coming through a window assaulted her. She felt like she had the worst headache in the world. Had she drunk too much alcohol? Suddenly, the whole experience came back to her and she jolted upward, nearly falling off the bed as she did.

“Daughter, calm down.”

She swallowed, her mouth very dry. “What is going on?”

“You became coven leader. The goddess gave you back our heritage. It was violent and sudden. You’ve been asleep for over twenty-four hours. I was starting to worry.” Elizabeth gripped her forehead like it might explode from her skull. If she was so powerful why couldn’t she make her head stop hurting? Just like that, it did. She blinked away the sensation of pain and everything seemed clearer. “I took the power. I could sense it flowing, throwing everything. They were going to kill Rex. Kendrick had him.

He’d sacrificed himself to save me because I screwed up. Again.”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Her mother smiled. “I can remember. As for us, we all have our powers back. You’re not stealing it, like Drea did.” She shook her head. Now that she could feel the power the way Drea must have, the way it made everything whole, the way the goddess fed everything with such light and beauty, she couldn’t begin to understand how Drea had distorted it. How had she taken what was such a gift and polluted it with such evil?

“Where is Rex?” She needed to talk to him, to explain. When he’d briefly opened their connection she had felt his pain. He really believed she’d betrayed him to Kendrick, and to make matters worse he seemed to have forgiven her, which only made her feel more sick to her stomach.

Her mother’s eyes widened at her question. “He left. Of course.”

“What?” The room spun in front of Elizabeth’s eyes. He had
left
her? What? He was her mate, her other half. He held her soul. And he’d left?

“He said he’d forced you into a mating you didn’t want, and he wouldn’t hold you to any promises considering he had to go and would most likely die. He asked us to free you from the spell binding you to him so you wouldn’t want to follow him. We’ve been up all night researching it and Sam thinks he’s found a way—”

“No.” Elizabeth grabbed her mother’s arm. “Don’t you dare. I won’t allow it. I’m in charge now, right?” Maybe she should feel some guilt about taking her mother’s role but she didn’t. Not at the moment, anyway.

Her mother nodded. “The goddess chose you.”

“Then I say no one touches the spell. If there even is a spell and if it is even possible to undo it. No. If you could feel him as I feel him, you’d understand.” Rex thought she had a gentle soul? Well, he had a vulnerable one. “That jerk.” Elizabeth pounded the bed.

“He still thinks no one can love him. Briefly, he believed. I know he did. And then he lost it again. What is it going to take to make him feel my love?”

“Elizabeth, I’m not sure I’m following you.”

“No. Of course you aren’t. How could you?” She stood up, the world righted again and she was no longer dizzy. “I have to get to Maine. I have to find a place called Westervelt. It’s probably not on a lot of maps.”

Rex needed a witch. He was supposed to bring one back with him. Had he gotten into trouble when he hadn’t? And what had happened with his father and the question of who his father was? Damn it, she had so many questions and the jerk had run away. She was going to make him apologize when she saw him. He would learn not to doubt and to at least give her the chance to say she was sorry when she was wrong as she’d been in this case.
Sort of
.

“We’ll get you a plane ticket, but you may not be there until tomorrow. These things can take time.”

She shook her head. “I don’t have it. I need to be there yesterday. I’m going to magically transport myself.”

“Elizabeth, it isn’t even possible. I never could do anything like that.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.” She touched her mother’s arm. “I can feel that I can. I know it like I know my name. I need to eat something, charge up, and then I can be in Maine in a heartbeat. Assuming I can find Westervelt on some kind of map.” She was getting to Rex and she would never be away from him again.

“How will we work this? Are you planning on staying in Maine?”

“I’m planning on helping Randolph win his fight. Then I’ll figure things out. I will not abandon this coven. Right now, however, my mate needs me.” And she needed to whack him over the head until he figured out he was loved.

* * * *

Rex sipped his coffee. It tasted horrible. Bitter and sour, the flavor suited his mood perfectly. He had smelled Tristan approaching minutes ago. He had not anticipated his question. Staring down at the falls, which had once been his favorite hiding spot, he finally looked up at his brother—correction, half-brother’s—face. “My Alpha, I assumed you would not want me.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow but otherwise did not react. Rex’s wolf wanted to cower.

Pissing off the alpha was a dangerous thing.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because I am not a Kane.” He could have choked on the sentence. Rex did not relish being Kendrick’s son but at least he had known where he was in the pack.

“Neither is Cullen. Malcolm. Jack. Dean.” Tristan took a step toward him. “You are my brother. Do you think I would value you less because you don’t have my father’s taint on you?”

“Why value me at all? I may not be Kendrick’s, but I assure you, my soul is nothing to brag about. My mate did not want it.”

“Oh, that.” Tristan nodded.

“Yes,
that.
” Had it finally come to this? Was it time to punish him for failing to bring back a witch?

“Have you been filled in on what happened with Angel?” Rex rubbed his eyes. Gods, he was so exhausted. Would he ever feel energized again? In the distance, an alarm signaled. There must be a wolf attack happening somewhere. They’d all gotten rather blasé about the whole thing. Attacks were constant.

As long as Tristan survived, the pack could continue. Protecting him was pivotal. “She gave you the power to find all the pack members.”

“Yes. I can now feel all the members of our pack. Everywhere.” Rex smelled Theo, Michael and Cullen in the distance, approaching. The meeting must have broken up and now they wanted Tristan. How had Tristan ever gotten away from them to come here in the first place? “It must really be something. Do you suppose when this is over you’ll go find them?”

“You’re missing the point here.” Tristan looked up at the sky. “Why am I not surprised?”

“What?”

Tristan grabbed his arm and squeezed tight. “I’m pissed as hell at you.”

“Yes, I know. I screwed up. Again!” He shouted at the alpha, and even though his wolf howled for him to stop, he couldn’t help it. At that moment, he wasn’t Tristan the alpha; he was Tristan, Rex’s brother. “I didn’t bring home a witch. I’m always fucking everything up. I can’t even mate properly. Everyone finds a mate, it’s easy.” Tristan laughed. “Easy?”

“But I can’t even manage to get mine to want to be with me. I only get a pretend mate. I can love her forever but she can’t love me.”

“I can feel every single member of this pack, Rex.”

Rex growled. “Why the fuck are you bringing it up again?”

“Because, clearly, he can feel me as part of the pack.” Rex jerked like he’d been struck. Elizabeth. He whirled around. He’d not smelled her until she’d spoken. He should have. Why hadn’t he? His heart in his stomach, he couldn’t manage to form words. There she was. Beautiful, healthy and standing before him on Westervelt. Was he dreaming? Had he fallen down and struck his head? Had Tristan killed him and this was heaven?

“Elizabeth, I presume.” Tristan stepped forward and gave her his hand to shake. She took it.

“You must be Tristan. His brother, the alpha.” She scratched her head. “Should I bow or something? I don’t know how to do this and he’s not told me anything.” Tristan laughed. Rex could hardly think. Why did Tristan keep laughing at these really strange times?

“Do people bow to you in your coven?”

She raised an eyebrow. “How do you know it’s my coven?”

“I can smell power when I’m around it.”

“I have no idea how they’ll treat me. I’m new at this. No one bowed to my mother.

But, seriously, I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re human. I don’t expect a lot of bowing from you. Not to mention, you’re going to be my sister-in-law, or already are depending on how you feel about mating.

Different rules.”

“Are we related?” She looked at Rex like she wanted him to answer.

“I think I’ll leave Rex to tell you about it. One question before I make myself scarce.

How did you get on my island undetected?”

“I popped in.”

“Popped?” Finally, Rex couldn’t stand it anymore. “What do you mean popped? Is it safe for you to pop?”

“What do you care? You left me. Unconscious. In Florida. Never to see me again.”

“And that would be my cue to leave.” Tristan turned on his heel. “You don’t miss the next meeting, brother.”

They stood in silence and watched him walk away. Tristan had been a buffer and now there was none between them. She thought he left her? He set her free. What the hell was she doing here?

Ask her.

I intend to
. If he could find his voice. “You mated me because you thought you had to deliver me to your family to get help. It was misguided but I get it. I’m certainly not going to ruin the rest of your life by demanding you as some kind of payment.”

“Is that what you think?” She looked genuinely surprised, and then, to his utter horror, tears fell from her eyes. His wolf wanted to howl. Whatever had happened, he needed to comfort her. He stepped forward but she took a step back.

“Let me tell you what I have to say. Don’t touch me. It’ll confuse things.” He nodded. Touching her did strange things to him; it could make things harder to understand, especially if his cock had anything to say about it. “Fine.”

“I wanted to turn information about you over to Drea. Stuff about mating, about wolves. I thought she could use it somehow. It’s awful I ever thought it, but I came up with the idea before I ever even knew you. Things changed fast for me and I should have called off the idea, never phoned them. My only excuse, and it’s not a good one, is by that point I was so invested in the idea I had to go through with it.”

“I told you. I understand. You can be done with this.” Her eyes flared. “Oh, can I?”

“What do you want from me?” He shouldn’t be hollering at her and yet he couldn’t keep the tone of his voice down. Too much had happened for him to be calm.

“I did not know Kendrick was there. I need you to believe me.” He nodded. “I do. I can even understand why you did what you did. I set you free.”

“Do you love me?” Her hands were fisted at her sides.

“Of course I do.”

Her heated gaze softened just a bit, which made him relieved. He took a step toward her. “Why would you assume I don’t love you?”

“Because you’re so extraordinary, and I’ll never be good enough for you.”

“Rex, up until yesterday, no one but you could even look at me. You saw me when no one else did. I think you saw me as I truly am. That’s how I see you. I have your soul leaning against mine. It makes me feel complete. Please don’t take it from me. I love you too.”

He was done being noble. If she didn’t want out, she wasn’t getting out. In two strides, he’d grabbed her. Her body pressed on his, and he suddenly felt like he could breathe again. “You’re my witch. If you want me, I’m yours forever.” She ran her hand across the stubble on his chin. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

“We do.” He kissed her nose.

A noise behind him caught his attention, and before he could think he’d shoved her behind him. The explosion didn’t knock him off his feet. It was small but it got his attention. There would be made wolves any second following the hit. They always came like that. He wouldn’t have her hurt.

Tristan ran through the clearing with Michael, Theo and Cullen on his heels. “Are you hurt?”

Rex could have strangled him. “Tristan, are you crazy? You’re the alpha. Get out of here.”