Natural Magick (24 page)

Cronus turned and ran toward the outfield of the park. A pack of wolves waiting in the dark overpowered him, taking him to the ground even as he looked back at the others. David, Pete thought, the brother of the alpha, ripped out his throat before Cronus hit the ground. The wolves feasted on his blood and the fresh meat of the kill. As one, they raised their bloodied faces to the moon and howled. It seemed as though revenge had never tasted so sweet to them. Hephaestus screamed as he watched in horror while the pack shredded and tore at his brother’s still-warm flesh.

Pete knew Cronus had not been dead when the wolves had started eating and tearing at him. As Cronus lay bleeding, she could hear his screams over Hephaestus’s.

Hephaestus turned back to Apollo and Pete and abruptly stopped screaming. His smile, in the heavy, deafening silence was eerie and frightening to her. He continued to smile as he reached behind him and pulled a gun out of his back. Instead of pointing it at Pete, as she had fully expected him to do, he put it to his own head and pulled the trigger, letting her know he was not going out like the rest of the family. He was not going to wait to see what her powers had in store for him.

Turning to Apollo, she began to rise with the moving earth. As it mounded beneath her, lifting her far above her brother, the power of the earth filled her. The branches and vines moved forward and began to move toward him. When she had lifted enough, she raised her arms high above her and seemed to gather the forces of the night within her fingers. Eyes glowing bright and hard, she looked down at Apollo, said, “die,” and sliced her hands to him, over him and through him.

He did not just come apart with her power, but exploded in pieces. Bone, blood, skin and organs spread out and over the ground, feeding it, nurturing it. And everywhere his blood touched, everything it fell upon, withered and died.

Mel still held Sherman in her coils of magic. He was bleeding and broken. Bones protruded from his arms and legs at odd angles, making him look like a horrid object of art. But she had not killed him.

“
He is still my mate,” Mel explained to Pete. “I can hold him, hurt him, but not kill him. I have failed you yet again, Piccadilly. I am so sorry. But I cannot finish him,” Mel said with tears in her eyes.

“
Look at the all powerful queen. You are nothing, you stupid bitch. When I’m free from this, I’ll come back to you and I’ll make you suffer for this. We aren’t through yet. You’ll see.”

“
Brave words for a dead man, wouldn’t you say, Shade?” Sara said as she and Shade shimmered into sight beside the two women.

The power of them surged into Pete and then to Mel. Mel straightened and turned to the other two women who had joined them in the field.

“
Yes, I would say he does try to pull off his bravado quite well. But he does need to go. Ladies, I don’t know about any of you, but I believe it’s a tad too chilly out here for this to go on. Besides, Pete has a mate to take care of. Pete, if you would be so kind, please take the trash out.”

“
You’ve made a fatal mistake taking what is mine, harming who I love, and hurting my friends. I gave you a chance, Sherman. I gave you more than you were going to offer me. Now you, too, must die.” Pete had remained calm and stated her intentions without any emotions whatsoever. “Your death won’t be quick, but painful and long. You’re going to pay for what you’ve done; the punishment must meet the crimes.”

“
Don’t feel sorry for me, bitch, and killing me won’t be so easy. I am so much power you’ll not pull me into your trap.”

Before he could gather whatever he could, Shade grabbed him with her power and threw him back, hurling him into the back fence at home plate. He lay there stunned for several seconds, more than enough time for Pete to rise and link hands with the women with her.

The four of them together knew no bounds. Their strength and power and, more than anything else, their friendship pulled together, making them a being to be reckoned with.

Shade called on the elements of her kind, the ground, the water, and beings inhabited within them. Before Sherman could get fully erect, he was being tossed to and fro and brought to face the four of them, his broken body a limp shadow of his former self. Shade held him there as though he were on trial.

Pete reached into the earth deeper than Shade had and lifted him up high above them, vines and roots wrapping around his legs and arms. Suddenly, a loud scream from him shattered the night when those roots began to pierce his skin at the pulse points on his body. Blood poured from those wounds, but even as the women watched, they could see that the vines began sucking the blackness out of him, pulling the evil from his body and into itself. The vines blackened and withered, but did not stop until the man who had once ruled beside the strongest being in any realm was nothing more than a shell, skin pulled tight over bones.

Sara, bringing forth her magic, pulled Sherman onto the ground and into the soft soil beneath him. As soon as his feet touched the earth, it closed over him and buried him to his knees. One vine, wrapped tightly around his chest, held Sherman upright until the ground became tight and compacted around him. When he was tightly bound, it slithered away and beneath the dirt.

“
Oh, Shermie, you should have listened to me, to all of us. Now you’ll pay, pay for all eternity. As we speak, the ground is accepting you, taking root in you. Soon, very soon, you will have a deep root system that will keep you alive and aware of your surroundings forever. I’ve made you a tree of life, something to be enjoyed for centuries and beyond. You’ll never be cut down, you’ll never die, and you’ll give hope and happiness to all that seek shade beneath you. Children will climb your limbs, birds will nest in your branches, and lovers will carve their names in your body. And through it all you’ll feel it, know it, and live it.”

Mel reached out and touched the arm closest to her. “I give you eternal life, Sherman. I give you the curse of eternity as you will be, for that is what it will be for you, a curse. As queen, I decree that you shall remain strong and viable. No one will hear your pleas of help, and no one will come to rescue you. You will forever remain here in this field of hope. Grow.”

Sherman’s legs began to twist together, widening and strengthening into a trunk. Deep, dark wood began to form, molding and shaping to his form, elongating him to stand tall. Sprouts of limbs and branches began to erupt from his torso and arms. As long, curving wood pulled and reached for the moon that was once arms and fingers of the man, Mel asked for rain and water to fortify the new growth. Leaves began to open and unfurl as they watched, filling the branches with the greenery that would forever be there. Sherman’s face watched the women. Hatred could be seen in his eyes as he developed and grew. As the wood closed around him, his eyes remained uncovered, glassed over now so he could see out, but none could see in.

When he was finished with the transformation, each woman touched the tree and gave it their mark, the mark of power and love. The mark of their kind.

The sudden gun at her head startled Pete and she looked at the women before her. Ares. They had forgotten about Ares.

“
Thank you so much for the display of power, ladies, but I think I have what I’ve come for. Move over there, bitches, and if you make any sudden moves, I’ll kill her. I do want to thank you for taking them out for me, Dilly. I wondered how I’d do it and get rid of the bodies, too. Nice trick there, sis. You’ll have to teach that one to me before you die.”

Pete could feel Dominic coming toward her. He was weak and she knew that if had to fight Ares, then he would die. Dominic would die. Pete did the only thing she could think of and reached for his master and friend.

“
Aaron, are you close enough to save the day?” Pete knew that Aaron was close. He would not leave his mate out here without being close enough to watch over her.

“
Yes, and I plan to make a grand entrance too. I do hope you know, young lady, that I am not the least bit happy with you right now. And as soon as I can, I’m going to make sure that Dominic is well aware of my displeasure with you.”

Pete was not afraid. She could hear the humor in his voice. Besides, she had decided that she quite enjoyed the way Dominic showed her who was boss.

“
Nag, nag, nag. I wish you would talk less and help more, you overgrown mosquito. Do you think you could maybe get your ass in gear? I’m drained and Dominic is coming. I don’t think he has the strength to fight this piece of shit.”

The man holding Pete was suddenly gone, lifted up into the air and then dropped as just as quickly, his head to the left and his body thrown off to the right. Aaron had torn his head from his body so quickly that Ares had not known what hit him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“
I don’t care. He’s been out for three days. If he doesn’t wake soon, I’m going to hurt someone, and you and that...that master are going to be the first.” Pete had been all right the first day, a little antsy the second, but now, three days without Dominic ever moving was starting to scare her a bit.

“
Pete, honey—” Bradley started.

“
Don’t you dare ‘honey’ me again, you sadistic bastard! I think you are enjoying this. Even you were up the next day. Please, you have to make him wake up. I need him.” Her voice had started to break, and she couldn’t help it. He was her whole life. She needed him to yell at her, or anything, just wake up.

While she had been dealing with her brothers and mother, the men had burrowed their fingers and toes into the soft earth as she had instructed them to. Bradley felt the healing power from Shade much faster as he had not been as weak as Dominic, who had fought against the silver. Also, the men had lost a great deal of blood in the process. Dominic also had not fed recently, which contributed to his weakened state as well. When he’d tried to come to her rescue, which was a feat of great strength and love, he should have been too weak to even move, much less try to kill a man.

Bradley had been taken away by his brother, David, and the pack as soon as Bradley had been able to contact them mentally. He was in poor shape, but once the silver was removed from his skin and he shifted, he started healing immediately. He had slept through the rest of the night and most of the next day. Once he woke up, he was able to regain much strength by eating a raw steak, drinking a few beers and lazing around the pack house for the last day and a half. He was still sore and there were a couple of raw places on his back, but he was otherwise doing just fine. Unless Pete tore into him for not helping her with Dominic

Dominic had dropped to the ground as soon as Aaron stepped in front of him. Dominic had landed hard on the ground, hitting his head on a rock as he went. His body had suffered a great deal of damage and with the loss of blood; he had weakened to the point of near death. His already drained body had simply shut down, as it did when a vampire needed to heal itself and recharge. And that was how he had been since.

He had been moved to his lair when they had arrived and Doctor Reilly had been called in to examine him. He had told Pete that he would be fine in a couple of days, but to Aaron, he had told a different story.

“
He’s very weak. But I tell you, Aaron, I don’t know what affect that vine has on him and his ability to heal. I couldn’t get him to drink from me, and you said that he wouldn’t from you either. But I don’t think that Pete can be left alone with him if, no, when he wakes, he may hurt her. His thirst will be great. He won’t stop to think before he tears into her.”

“
He won’t hurt her. But I will keep an eye on her. She is very strong willed, you know, and I think if he lives at all it will be because she told him to. And I believe he would do anything to make her happy.” Aaron was sure of this because he could do no less for Sara. And now with the children, his love for her had grown exponentially.

So someone was always in the room with the two of them at all times. Bradley had even taken his turn, sitting with the young woman for several hours before she had driven him out again.

Pete was exhausted and her head hurt. She had been sitting in the chair by the bed for two nights, but could not seem to bring herself to sit in that stupid thing again. She told the “sitter,” Bradley, that she was going to undress and go to bed, and unless he wanted to see her bare-assed naked, he had better find another place to go. She watched as he thought about it, but in the end, had left, telling her that he did not want to risk having Dominic draining him one night when he least expected it. She wanted to ask him if he was serious, but was too tired.

She stripped down and crawled into bed with Dominic. She didn’t want to disturb him, so she moved as far to the other side of him as she could, but she did reach out with her hand and laid it gently on his arm where her sigil had marked him. She was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, exhaustion claiming her when she thought she would never sleep.

~~~

The room was black as pitch when she sat up with a scream, an orgasm ripping through her body and leaving her in a mass of sated numbness.

“
Dominic?” she asked as soon as she could take a breath.

“
Now who else would it be, darling? Give me another taste, love. I need to taste your rich cream again.”

He was between her legs, her thighs resting on his shoulders. He bowed his head down and licked at her pussy again and again while his fingers danced inside her, building her up to a fevered pitch quickly. When he felt her close, he suckled her clit into his mouth and bit down gently, sending her over the edge again and again, screaming his name. As her heart began to slow and her body became hers again, he kissed his way up her torso and nibbled at her nipples before taking her mouth with his in a devouring kiss.