Love's Protection (Passion Moon 3): (A Shifter, Supernatural Romance) (8 page)

“Let's do the last one,” I smiled. “On three.”

“Get ready to breach,” Forrest growled. The cops tensed.

“Roger! One, two, three.”

We cast our spell and threw out our magic. My Love spirits crashed into the Love spirits protecting the cabin. My father's spell was overwhelmed. My Love spirits were like a mighty wave. They crashed over the cabin in an explosion of golden light and swept the protection spell away.

“Dispelled!” I shouted, my heart thudding with excitement.

“Breach, breach, breach!” Forrest shouted into his radio. Kiernan ran towards the cabin's front door holding the battering ram. Forrest was on his heels, trailed by his other deputies as they rushed the cabin. The werewolves leaped the pit that had been hidden before the cabin's stairs and landed on the deck.

The front door opened. My father stepped out.

My heart stopped. My father stood unafraid as Forrest and his deputies raised their weapons. Vanessa pushed me down so I crouched behind cover. She aimed her rifle. I peaked around the corner of the SUV.

“This is quite—”

The gunshots broke off my father's words. Forrest's shotgun fired. He racked the gun, ejecting a spent, red casing. His deputies fired rifles and shotguns. The day exploded with thundering sound that rang my ears. The stinging, burning scent of gunpowder irritated my nose and made my eyes water. Splinters of wood flew through the air and glass shattered as the storm of bullets were fired at my father.

He stood unharmed. Love spirits danced around him, intercepting the bullets. Golden sparks burned about him. He smiled, confident and cocky. His green eyes focused right at me.
You can't hurt me, Dakota,
his eyes taunted.
I am so much beyond you.
 

I had to dispel his protection. I stood up and drew my voice as the cops ceased their fire. They kept their guns raised, waiting for me to neutralize his magic so they could kill him. I opened my mouth but the words faltered.

I would be killing him. He was my father. He did horrible things to me, but did he deserve to die, gun-downed by my fiance and his cops? Even if he did deserve it, could I live with it?

“Surrender!” I shouted at him. “Or I will break your protection and they'll kill you.”

“Such fatherly concern touches my heart, Dakota.” The smile on his lips didn't touch his eyes. “Prove how strong you are. Take down my protection and let these wolves tear me apart.”

He stepped forward.

“No closer!” growled Forrest.

My father turned his attention to my mate. “You have done an admirable job protecting the Moon Tear Spring. You were a worthy guardian.”

“I'm still protecting it!” Forrest threw his shotgun down and lunged forward. His hand touched the shield as he tried to reach my father's throat. He snarled as the golden sparks burned, forcing his flesh away.

My father reached out with his hand and touched Forrest's chest. Dark energy erupted. Black Imbuement spirits, looking likes blobs of congealed ink, danced around Forrest. My mate howled in agony. His barbed wire tattoos burned bright red through his clothing.

Forrest shifted into the wolf.

His uniform ripped as his body swelled. Fur sprouted as his arms grew longer. He howled. His jaw became a vicious snout. Around him, his deputies howled and snarled, responding to the call of their packleader. Tatters of his uniform clung to furred limbs, like clinging pieces of wrapping paper on a present hastily opened. The barbed wire tattoo shone blood-red through patches of his fur.

My heart froze in my chest. My father had prepared him a decade ago.

My father reached out and petted Forrest's head. “Fetch my daughter,” he ordered.

Forrest turned, his golden eyes fixed on mine.

“Shit!” Vanessa snarled beside me.

Miss Maggie roared out from beside me. The she-bear shifted, snarling as Forrest rushed forward. Miss Maggie was a majestic, golden brown bear-woman, her fur thick and lustrous. She reared on her hind legs, snarling at Forrest. My controlled mate crashed into her in a titanic collusion of fur and claws. They roared and snarled at each other, furred paws swiping.

“We need to go!” Vanessa snarled, seizing my shoulders. Her fingernails were sharp, biting into my flesh. “Forrest is calling us!”

The other deputies fell to the ground, howling as they fought against Forrest's commands. They knew their packleader was controlled. They knew they shouldn't follow him, but they couldn't help it. Instinct burned through them.

“I need to break the spell!” I shouted. “I'm a Love witch! Spirits of dispelling, disrupt the Imbuement spell and break its enchantment on my love!”

My father stepped down the steps, watching as the golden hearts clashed into the inky blobs racing around Forrest's body. I had broken the spell on the cabin with relative ease. I would save my mate and destroy my father.

My tattoo burned. I forced more and more energy through my totem as the love spirits streaked from all directions, slamming into the Imbuement spirits controlling my mate. Inky black clashed with golden light. And swallowed them up. My father's spell was powerful. I shuddered and swayed as I forced more and more of my passion into my will.

“Defeat them!” I shouted at the spirits. “Save the man I love.”

I had never failed to break a spell before. But the tattoo impregnated into Forrest's skin had existed on my mate for a decade. It was a part of him. The Imbuement spirits knew him. They fought to stay on his tattoo even as they forced him to fight Miss Maggie. My werebear boss was losing. She was fierce, but two of Forrest's deputies had joined the fight, attacking her from all sides.

“We have to go!” Vanessa snarled and hauled me back. “Forrest wants you protected.”

“Stop!” I screamed as the werewolf hauled me back. More of the deputies fell under Forrest's new will. Their green and golden eyes turned on me. “Please, I just need a little more time.”

My father watched with his green eyes, still smiling. Cocky and confident. I could beat him. I screamed and threw all my will into compelling the love spirits.

Forrest howled as he threw down Miss Maggie.

My will broke. My spell died. I couldn't free him. My father's spell was too strong, it was too woven into Forrest's being. Tears burned down my cheeks as Vanessa shoved me into the seat of a cop car. She raced around to the driver's side and hopped in. The car was still running. She threw it into gear. Gravel sprayed as she backed up and then we were racing down the road.

“Dammit!” Vanessa snarled, her voice deep and gravely. She fought Forrest's control. She had always been more strong-willed than other members of the pack, pushing the limits of Forrest's commands all the time. “That fucking witch! I'll tear his throat out!”

Sirens blared behind us. Other deputies had jumped in their cars. “Are they after us?” I asked, wiping at my tears. What was I going to do? Forrest was under my father's control. It was a nightmare. How had everything gone so wrong? Why did my father have to ruin everything in my life?

“Yes!” Vanessa snarled. “They're fucking chasing us!” The police cruiser's engine roared as we bounced down the gravel road past the cabins.

The car fishtailed as she took the turn onto Circle Lake Drive. A huge cloud of dust billowed behind us. A car honked as it swerved onto the grassy median. Vanessa slammed on the gas as we raced down the road.

I put on my seat belt.

“Where are we going?” I asked. “What are we doing?”

“I have no fucking idea! I just need to get you away from this. Forrest would want you protected, and I can't do that here. We'll fucking run as far as we have to. I can't get near him. He almost claimed me.” Vanessa shuddered. “He's fucking howling. He's calling for the entire fucking pack. It's so hard to fight!” 

“What? I don't hear anything.”

Vanessa tapped her chest. “In here. I've never felt it so strong. He's a beast.”

“The barbed wire always kept his beast in check. I think...I think my father unleashed him.”

“We are fucked!”

Sirens blared behind us. The other deputies had just as powerful, high-performance cars as this one, and they knew how to drive just as well as Vanessa did. Hank drove the lead cop car. What happened to Penny? Hank was her guard. Did the wolves turn on her or did they ignore her?

More tears stung my eyes. Miss Maggie had been thrown down by Forrest. “D-do you think he killed her?”

“What?” Vanessa snarled.

“Forrest. Did he kill Miss Maggie?”

“Maybe.”

A shudder convulsed me. I wanted to curl up into a ball and make myself as small as possible. When Wayne or Burt would beat me, that's what I would do. I'd curl up, squeeze my eyes shut, and try to go away. To think of something else. I couldn't take this. Forrest was dominated. What was I going to do? I buried my face in my hands. My sobs rocked my body.

“Stop that!” snapped Vanessa. “Jesus, don't start crying on me.”

“What?” I sobbed. “Why shouldn't I cry? Everything's gone wrong. I...I...”

“You're not a sniveling child, Kotie. You're stronger than that. You're the only one that knows magic. You're the one that has to figure out how to get us out of this mess. So pull yourself together.”

A shuddering sob racked my body. I struggled to breathe. My throat was swelled shut. My eyes burned. But Vanessa was right. I was the only one that could free Forrest. I had to figure out how. There had to be some magic I could use to set him free.

Right?

But what? I had only been practicing for three months. No wonder I couldn't defeat my father. He had decades of experience. I was just so weak compared to him. I had no chance.

No. Stop that. Feel sorry for yourself later. Forrest needs you. I took a deep breath. I couldn't let myself backslide. I had broken free of Burt's abuse. I stood up to him when he tried to seize me. I could stand up to my father and save my mate.

There was the power at the Moon Tear Spring.

No. I couldn't use that. That was what my father wanted. The moment I reached the spring, he would try to steal the power from me. He wanted it. There was no way I could do that. I had to stay away from there.

Even if it was the only way I could save Forrest.

“Hold on!” Vanessa shouted. We reached paved road. The tires squealed as she pulled a hard left, heading away from Moonrise.

The cops were still right behind us. Their engines roared as they raced after us. The terrain flew by us. I had to do something to stop them. But what could I do? I didn't want to hurt them. They were my friends. They didn't want to chase me. They had to. They were as much under my father's control as Forrest.

Could I stall their engines out?

The terrain fell away on my right. The road followed a cliff. A guardrail separated us from plummeting down into a thick, forested valley. Ahead, a semitruck loomed in our lane, driving so much slower. Vanessa nudged out into the oncoming lane to pass it but had to shoot back over as cars flew by. We slowed as the semitruck blocked us.

“Fuck!” she snarled. The pursuing cop cars drew closer. One pulled into oncoming traffic. “They're pitting us.”

I had no idea what that meant. I concentrated on the cop car right behind us. I could do something to the engine. I worked out a spell in my mind. There were no set rules for how spells had to be constructed. The words didn't actually do anything, they were just a means for you to focus your will and imagine what you wanted the spirit to do. “Spirits of wind, suck the air from his engine.”

Air spirits rushed out, little gray clouds that sucked into Hank's cop car. He was right behind us. He snarled in frustration as his car drifted back, the engine killed by the lack of oxygen. I smiled in triumph and turned to deal with the car racing alongside of us.

Kiernan drove it, his body half-covered in fur. He jerked the wheel to the right. I gasped in shock as he hit the driver-side, rear corner of our car. We slid to the right. I screamed as Vanessa fought with the steering wheel. Tires squealed. The world spun around us.

We crashed through the guardrail.

For a moment, I felt weightless. My stomach rose into my throat. The car's nose tipped over. The deep valley floor was hundreds of feet below us. And then we fell.

The car struck the cliff face and bounced away. The world spun faster as we tumbled. We would die. I had to protect us. I screamed as I struggled to gather my will. We only had heart beats before we died. Metal crushed and bent as we hit the cliff again, tumbling end over end, the hood demolished.

“Protect us!” I screamed as I unleashed my magic. A great wash of fatigue filled me as the Love spirits surrounded the car. Golden light burst every time the shield struck the cliff face. Sky and ground merged as we fell. Wood snapped as we barreled through a tree and disappeared into the thick forest of the valley floor.

Engulfed in a bubble of love, we rolled to a stop against a jagged boulder. The spell dissipated and the shattered car crashed a foot to the ground. I groaned, struggling to breathe. The world swam black around me. I was drained. I couldn't think. My eyes fluttered closed.

Chapter Seven: The Chase

“Wake up!”

A hand shook me. I didn't want to wake up. I wanted to stay in blissful unconsciousness. But the darned hand kept shaking me. I opened my eyes. Sunlight filtered through the shattered windshield. I lay against the passenger door, my arm dangling out the window. It had completely shattered. Bits of pebbly, broken glass sprinkled across my clothes and hair.

“What?” I asked.

Vanessa shook me. Her blonde hair was matted with blood. “We need to move.”

The accident shot back to me. “We lived?”

“Yes. So we have to keep going. It'll take them a while to get down here. We need to use that time to put distance between them and us.”

“Right.” I groaned. I was so exhausted. Casting the protection spell that saved our lives took a lot out of me.

The cop car was half on its side, wedged between a pair of boulders. Vanessa kicked out the windshield, pushing the cracked glass to the side and crawled out. “Come on,” she shouted.