Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

6

The air around the group shimmered with heat.

When I had my magic, I could see a witch's life-force, assess their mood and power level by its colour and nuances. Shifters were usually a lot harder to read. Their power was as wild and untamed as nature itself, but maybe that's why I didn't need my magic to see it. For shifters the only control the human side had was in changing forms at will, and sometimes even that was uncertain.

To me it looked like heat distorting the air around their forms, it felt like white noise streaming on the TV. When they shifted the blast of power washed through me, but it wasn't something I could harness, it was too hot, too vicious.

"Thought you said they were all down in London until the new Alpha is chosen," I hissed at Lucas, who'd smelled them through the sweat and alcohol fumes as soon as we entered.

"Who?" Evan yelled over the noise, straining to see above the crowd of gyrating dancers. "Oh. Shit."

"Yep," I supplied, as one after the other, like a converse domino run, each head tilted upwards as they caught our scents.

"May as well say hello," Lucas said, a rumble of confidence from his wolf emerging to reassure us.

"We could just go," I suggesting, gripping Lucas's sleeve like a three-year-old crossing the road.

"Too late for that, love," he growled, as the group of shifters converged on the steps to the pool tables. "You might have to put that training to use sooner than expected."

Gulping, I really wished we hadn't sent Anne away. Who was going to put me back together again?

"What've we got here?"

He was tall and overweight, protruding stomach straining against a cheap plaid shirt. Skin glowing red despite the club's darkness, stringy sand coloured hair plastered over his balding head. But it was the mean smirk; half growl, half grimace, which brought the shock of recognition blazing through my brain.

"You know exactly who I am," I stated, swallowing the gulp of anxiety that threatened to release my dinner over the club's already sticky floor. "And what I can do."

His grin widened at the reminder of our last meeting. "Ah, well, a little birdie told me that things have changed in that department."

Laughter like the hysterical yelps of hyenas surged up from behind him. Kev's bloodshot, yellow-tinged eyes raked over every inch of my exposed skin, his tongue darting out to lick his thin, cracked lips.

Eyes flickering behind me, he grinned again. "Where's your little blonde friend? We could have partied all night long."

A rumbling growl came from right behind me. Lucas's wolf did not like the way this predator was sizing me up.

Hell, neither did I. Last time he'd tried to take a piece of me, it had taken Emily and my magic to save me and there'd only been three of them. What was going to save me now, I wondered as a group of ten mean looking shifters converged in the area right behind Kev.

"You know that guy?" Evan asked, keeping his eyes on the shifters.

"He's the one who attacked me that first day at the priory."

Evan's eyes sharpened in anger. The electric blue of his life-force sizzled in response to the danger. Surprised that I could see his magic, I put my hand on his arm, the familiar feel of his energy sending goosebumps of excitement rippling over my skin. The pack bond must have opened me up to Evan's magic as it responded to his heightened emotion. That, or my gifts were coming back. I shook that thought away before I dared believe it could be true.

"Humans," I whispered, focusing on what was most important in the moment.

We stood our ground, the shifters leering their challenge. The air got thick with tension, the heat radiating from the shifters making the air shimmer around them. They weren't going to stay back for long. If this carried on they'd shift whether they wanted to or not.

They could easily take us: a wolf, a powerful witch, and a useless lump with neither magic nor combat skills. They'd probably take Evan and Lucas down while they were trying to protect my sorry ass.

Why were they holding back?

"Knew you were stupid, but bringing the snivelling witch-bitch out on a full moon? She must be giving it up good," Kev grunted, cupping his junk and thrusting, all the time glowering at Lucas with a suggestive smirk twisting his face.

I didn't need to look at Lucas to know his wolf was close to the surface. I could feel the tension radiating from him. The heat scorched the bare skin on my arms and legs as he tried to keep his anger under control.

The last thing we needed was to be implicated in a brawl at a human club.

That's when it hit me. They were hedging their bets. If they couldn't take us down now, in a fight massively weighted in their favour, then they could rely on the authorities to finish me off. Putting human lives in danger would be the last straw. They'd string me up just like my ancestors, the Pendle Witches.

Glancing back at Lucas, the glint of understanding in his green eyes told me that he'd already figured all this out. But would he be able to convince his wolf that the threats these bastards were making to his pack were not worth the consequences of a fight?

Doubtful.

An Alpha wolf could not step down from that kind of challenge. They weren't wired that way.
Luckily Lucas wasn't the only wolf struggling with his nature. The group of shifters were obviously losing patience with their own baiting. They were a pack on a full moon. They wanted to hunt, and they could see their prey.

The crash of breaking glass drew my eyes to the side of Kev. A wiry, dirty looking guy hardly old enough to be described as a man had broken a bottle against the railing. He looked at the jagged edges and then at me.

A shudder wracked through me as a manic grin stretched out his thin, sallow face. In a blur of speed, he jumped over the railing, raising his arm high to slash his makeshift weapon into my face.

I realised a second before it connected that I was helpless to do anything. The thought that I was being taken down by a teenage shifter junkie flashed through my mind with a surge of disappointment.

At least public execution would have had a little ceremony.

Surely this can't be it? This is not a fitting end for the last Pendle Witch...