Witches (Runes series Book 6) (42 page)

“Go help your brother reap some souls,” I said.

“You do know Andris is not really my brother,” he grumbled teasingly. As soon as we appeared, Andris left the people he’d been talking to and came to meet us.
 
He demanded to know what had happened and Torin obliged him, both chuckling over my craziness. No matter what positions they held, they’d always be brothers.

Cora and Echo were the last to arrive. They looked amazing together. No matter where I went and what I became, Cora would always be my best friend. I had to find the best time and place to tell her about my marriage. I hoped she wouldn’t disown me.

When the dark souls arrived, we were all ready.

Ingrid and I sat on the grass and watched Team USA play Uruguay. A week and one day had passed since my showdown with the Norns. Onyx and I had gathered the Witches since their leader Eirik had disappeared again. I didn’t get a chance to tell him to stop bonding with his weapon, so I hoped he was okay. The Witches were now scattered around the stadium, ready to act at my signal.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, the perfect day to foil some evil Norns’ dastardly plot. The fans were out with Team USA paraphernalia—the foam fingers, the flags, and the pom-poms. The little girl in braids played with her sister on a blanket a few feet away from us. The boys with their trading cards were to our right. My eyes went to where Jace and the other Galaxy Academy players sat.

I found Torin seated at the end of their row. He continued to coach the Galaxy Academy U-16 team, and I hadn’t missed a single practice or game.

As though he knew I was looking at him, he waved. I waved back and the light caught the diamonds on my rings. I now wore them openly. I wasn’t worried about the Norns. They’d left us alone since prom night. I knew it was temporary, but I wasn’t complaining.

Then there was Cora. Where to begin? She’d refused to talk to me for a whole day. Then she’d yelled and scolded, and vowed not to invite me to her wedding. Finally, she’d cried over the wedding pictures that had mysteriously appeared in my room, thanks to Eirik. When the tears stopped, we’d gone to England to inspect my new home. She now wanted a castle of her own.

The sound of an airplane flying too low reached me, and I turned. It moved closer and closer. Instead of watching my vision replay itself, I raised my staff and pointed it at the plane.

Luminate.

The light from my staff shot up to the plane. The Witches, using their staffs, and magic joined me and we slowly lowered the plane above the scrambling and screaming fans onto the middle of the field. We even made sure it slid on its belly and stopped at the end of the field.

I glanced back at the sky. I couldn’t see the evil Norns, but I hoped they were cursing and finally realizing they shouldn’t mess with me. Okay, so I was flexing my muscles a little bit, but they started it with sending
Draugar
and those bears after me. I was sending them a message—I wasn’t sitting back and cowering while they laughed.

People stopped running when they realized the plane had landed safely. The wings didn’t fall off and the tail was still intact. Emergency doors opened and passengers slid down the chutes to the field. Fans poured into the field. Some taking pictures others videotaping. I wondered if Torin reached Jace in time.

“Let’s go,” I said, opening a portal.

Ingrid was busy searching the stands for Rhys, I was sure.

“I think I’ll stick around for a little longer,” she said. She must have found him.

I grinned. She was so transparent. “Good luck. Onyx, come on.”

The cat, or jaguar really, got up from the fence where she’d been enjoying the sun and went through the portal.

“What do you mean good luck?” Ingrid asked before the portal closed. “I just want to make sure no one is hurt. I do have a nursing degree.”

I laughed. “Sure you do.”

She stuck out her tongue at me.

Mom, Lavania, Femi, and Hawk were busy at the new school, preparing it for the fall. I wasn’t sure when Ingrid and Blaine would join them. Ingrid was going to teach. Male Witches were going to crush on her like crazy. Blaine was somewhere in the stadium supporting the witches. The females were already drooling all over him. Andris still hated witches. I hoped to find out why some day. He didn’t have a partner yet, but we were all staying together as a group. For now.

Onyx and I headed home. I stared out the window at my old house. It was up for sale. Mom now lived at the mansion, but Torin kept the house at our old cul-de-sac.

He didn’t arrive for another hour and found us watching TV. He picked me up and took my seat, wrapping his arms around me.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“Good. I went with him to the hospital and waited while they tried to revive him. I gave the doctors a chance. They did everything they could. The dad was going to stay with him until the end. I runed his father and talked to Jace.”

“Did he accept your offer?”

“Yes. I am systematically giving him more runes until he recovers. His asthma will be gone by the time we are done. He wants the final change to happen when he’s eighteen. I told him about Lavania’s Academy and he wants to go there. After all, he’s a witch.”

That explained how he’d sensed our presence in his room. He’d felt the magic. “So who’s your next case?”

He stroked my nose. “This really hot girl in Seattle,” he said, and I hoped he was teasing. “Tell me about yours. I noticed the boxing gloves in the closet.”

“Well. There’s this hot boxer…”

He didn’t let me finish. He captured my lips in a soul-melding kiss. Just as well. I didn’t really want to talk.

THE END

Thank you, my dearest readers for the amazing support you’ve given this series. Without you, I would not be writing full time. I hope you enjoyed this installment in the Runes series. If you want to read more about the memories the Norns stole from Raine and Torin, download your copy of Losing It: A Collection of VCards.

I still have a few books lined up in the series and a new series I hope to introduce before the end of this year. To get notified about new releases (I have a few planned, including Eirik’s book 1), sign up for my mailing list and newsletter:

https://mobile-text-alerts.com/TeamEdnah

Last, if you haven’t read books by these two amazing indie authors (Melissa Haag and Nikki Jefford) here are some tantalizing teasers:

Enjoy

BIOGRAPHY

Author Ednah Walters writes about flawed heroes and the women who love them. From her international bestselling Runes series (which focuses on Norse mythology and legends) to her Guardian Legacy series (which focuses on the Nephilim, children of the fallen angels). Whether she’s writing about Valkyries, Norns, and Grimnirs, or Guardians, demons, and Archangels, love, family, and friendship play crucial roles in all her books. When not writing YA and NA books, she writes contemporary romance under the pseudonym E. B. Walters.

You can visit her online on:

Her websites:
www.ednahwalters.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorEdnahwalters

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ednahwalters

Blog:
http://ednahwalters.blogspot.com

Now Free on all major online retailers

Hope(less)

A riveting sweet romance by debut author Melissa Haag

It's lonely being different, but Gabby's adapted. Really. Until she meets werewolf Clay.

Clay is everything she doesn't want.
 
Unkempt and quiet, he watches her too closely. And yet, if he's everything she doesn't want, why does she need him so much?

Discover werewolves and young women with unexplained abilities in Hope(less).

“Gabby, wait,” Sam called.

Hearing him stand and follow me caused my stomach to dip.
 
My steps slowed for a heartbeat.
 
Stepping through the door could compromise my wellbeing...but staying inside wouldn’t get me answers.
 
The door beckoned.
 
I stepped through onto a packed dirt path and looked around.

The light that spilled from the door illuminated a small area.
 
The trees that crowded the building left only a small gap of about twenty feet between the treeline and the roofline, which cast the area in an early dusk.
 
In the cleared space near the back door, twenty men waited quietly.
 
I frowned, puzzled.
 
Something still felt off.
 
I’d expected to see many more given the rushed Introductions.

Closing my eyes, I breathed deep and focused.
 
Tiny sparks flashed around me in the darkness.
 
Sam, I saw, stood to my right.
 
His spark glowed steadily, not blinking at all.
 
The group of twenty was different.

Some of the werewolves’ lights blinked like strobes.
 
Some faster, some slower.
 
Some so slow, I at first thought they might have left.
 
As I studied them, it began to make sense.
 
I wasn’t seeing werewolves quickly running all over the place, rather an arrhythmic indication of a werewolf’s location.
 
I focused beyond the twenty.
 
Lights too numerous to count stood out in the darkness.
 
It would take hours to meet them all.

Had all the prior Introductions been a farce, a game to keep me from running until Sam could arrange the real thing?
 
How strongly were the Elders determined to see me Mated?
 
Would they let me leave unMated?
 
Had my thoughts of college been a dream?
 
I struggled with my growing frustration and panic.
 
No.
 
Not a dream.
 
I wouldn’t give up.

I opened my eyes already knowing that the group of twenty had doubled.
 
I studied their faces and noted more bruising and blood.
 
Some men dressed in jeans and shirts while others wore clothes too filthy from fighting to identify.
 
Seeing the filth and blood, I understood why they wanted to rush the Introductions.
 
Too many werewolves had arrived for this; and the Mating challenges the Elders feared, had begun.

I didn’t say anything.
 
I couldn’t.
 
Anger churned in my stomach at Sam for not telling me.
 
I felt tricked and yet sad for the men waiting.

“Sam,” I said, turning my gaze on him.
 
There was nothing playful in my look.
 
I wanted to tell him that I would never forgive him for this but knew the werewolves listening would take my words as a rejection.
 
It would take away what little hope they had facing these numbers.
 
Instead, I let my look convey everything I felt.

He lowered his gaze and broke eye contact, something he never did first.
 
Good.
 
He knew.

I turned away and studied the growing crowd.
 
I’d lived among them enough to know not to show intimidation.
 
They respected strength.
 
With their hearing, I didn’t need to raise my voice.
 
Even those still hidden within the trees would hear me.

“No more fighting.
 
There’s no need to wait and fight for your place in tonight’s Introduction.
 
I will meet you all.
 
Start a line here, and I’ll walk it.
 
If I am not right for you, there is no need for you to remain after I’ve passed you.
 
You may leave and know that I am honored by your presence here tonight.”

Men silently stepped from the trees and moved to create a line as I’d asked.
 
They continued to emerge from the woods even as the line extended around the corner.
 
Because of that, new rows started behind the first line.
 
The shuffling continued until roughly five hundred gathered.
 
So many men focused on me, all at the same time, made my stomach churn.
 
If they were human...I suppressed a shudder at the thought.

Ignoring the vast number, I moved toward the first man, nodded stoically, then turned to start the slow walk down the line.
 
The Elders kept pace with me.
 
I didn’t bother pausing to meet anyone’s eyes.
 
Only my scent mattered.

As I’d asked, those without a strong interest stepped out of the line and walked back into the woods.
 
It allowed those behind them to move forward and take their place.
 
When I reached the end, I turned around to walk it again.
 
I paced the line several times in silence so all would get their fair chance.
 
As the number remaining decreased, my mood lightened.
 
Sam made note of names as needed.
 
Soon only a handful of men remained.

While my future loomed brighter, theirs dimmed.
 
I nodded solemnly to those remaining and watched them melt back into the trees.
 
I truly felt for them, but I’d experienced no attraction to any of them—no pull that Sam and other Elders and werewolves had assured me I would feel when—not if—I met the one.
 
A triumphant smile wanted to break free, but I contained it, not wanting to offend anyone.
 
Finally, my duty was complete.
 
I breathed deeply of freedom, ready to go back to my room.

Behind me, the Elders moved, reminding me of their presence.
 
My mood shifted.
 
The anger and betrayal from their lack of warning resurfaced.
 
With a stiff back and tight mouth, I made my way toward the door and the waiting Elders.
 
I didn’t meet any of their eyes.

Sam had hours during the drive to say something but hadn’t, and now all of his secrecy had been for nothing.
 
I hadn’t found a mate.
 
Did he realize the pointlessness of his gesture?
 
I seriously doubted telling me in advance would have changed the outcome other than to make me nervous during the drive up.
 
That, however, would mean I shouldn’t be mad at him so I quickly disregarded the thought.
 
Honesty was honesty.
 
He should have told me.

Walking the dirt path, which I realized I’d tread over several times in my socks, I saw a peculiar shadow on the ground melding with the shadow of the still open door.

I looked up at the space behind the door and saw the flash of eyes just before a man stepped into view.
 
I froze.
 
My stomach dropped, and my heart did a strange little flip.
 
Before I could take my next breath, a shiver ran up my spine and gooseflesh rose on my arms.
 
My anger spiked, uncontrolled.

“You have got to be kidding,” I whispered to myself without thinking.
 
I’d been so close to escaping.

His filthy long, dark hair trailed in front of his eyes and shadowed his face into obscurity.
 
An old, dull-green army jacket, just as filthy as his hair, hung from his frame while his bare feet shone pale against the black sweats he wore.
 
I couldn’t tell his age, the color of his hair, or the color of his eyes—because of the tangle of hair—but I could see the glint of them as he moved away from the door.

He stalked toward me.
 
I remained frozen and tried to deny the significance of the encounter as my stomach continued to do crazy little flips.
 
Just before he reached me, he turned away and walked around the corner of the building, heading not into the woods as the rest had, but to the front of the building.

I stared after him, momentarily confused.
 
He’d recognized me.
 
Just as I had him.
 
Why had he turned away?
 
Did it matter?
 
Move!
 
Escape before he changed his mind!

Finally, my feet obeyed, and I lurched toward the door.

“Sam, I’ve more than fulfilled any obligation I had to you or the pack.
 
I’d like to leave tonight.”
 
The Elders stepped aside before I bowled them over.

I rushed past them, through the Introduction room and into the interior hall.
 
There I paused to pull off my dirt-caked socks.
 
Charlene would have me cleaning floors if I walked through the halls in my filthy socks.

Maneuvering through the fortuitously quiet and empty halls, I struggled to control my emotions.
 
Over the years, I’d learned control, knowing those around me would be able to smell things like fear, anger, lust, or even sadness.
 
But tonight all that control evaporated.
 
Anger and fear swamped me.
 
Anger at Sam for arranging the whole damn thing, and fear that the Elders knew what had just happened.

I’d been so close to freedom.
 
Sam had set me up, stacking the odds against me with the sheer number of werewolves in attendance.
 
Why would it have to be the very last one I saw that sent a bolt of lightning right into my stomach?
 
Was it too much to ask for just one break in my life?