Bram crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve already considered that. Go on.”
“I’ve got an idea to both get the potion down Morganna’s throat and trap Mathias.”
“Truly?” Bram raised a brow. “Two super villains in one day. How many battles have you been in, Anka?”
“Don’t you dare belittle her, you sodding dimwit,” Lucan snarled.
Anka sent him a grateful glance, then directed her attention back to Bram. “None, I admit. How many nights have you spent in Mathias’s dungeon?”
“Are you suggesting that you know him better because he tortured you?”
Anka nodded. “Better than you think. I’m not stupid. His biggest weakness is his vanity. He resurrected Morganna, never imagining that she would be too powerful for him to control. If we play on his arrogance, he’ll never suspect that we’re one step ahead of him.”
“Are you certain you really want to be involved?” Bram asked again, glancing up at Lucan. “He may think otherwise, but Lucan is my friend. He’ll perish in every sense of the word if the worst happens to you and your youngling.”
“Morganna isn’t going to let me sit this one out. My life will hardly matter if we allow her wreak havoc at will. She will kill innocents and expose us to all. Then what?” she challenged, looking at Lucan. “You must let me play my role.”
“If I don’t?” Lucan crossed his arms over his chest.
Lucan was calling her bluff. Anka threatening to leave him or face Morganna anyway would accomplish nothing. She loved Lucan, no matter what issues they had to work through. Unfortunately, they had a war to win first.
“Then your youngling will grow up in a very dangerous world—if she gets to grow up at all. And her mother will be quite unhappy.”
Lucan shook his head with an agitated sigh. “Bloody hell. All right, under one condition: The moment that potion is free, you teleport away, back to safety. No questions asked.”
Anka hesitated. She desperately wanted to deliver Mathias one blow, preferably the fatal one. But with a youngling coming, she had to look forward, not back.
“Agreed. I’ll leave administering the potion to Morganna in the hands of others. I will try to avoid fighting. But I think I know how to trap Mathias.”
“Do you?” Bram challenged. “Tell us.”
“We’ll need everyone here first. Every witch, wizard, and human we trust. And the Untouchable. We especially need her.”
“I don’t want Felicia in the middle of this,” Duke objected, glowering. He might be stylish in his pricy designer suits, but he could be intimidating as hell.
“No one wants to be in the middle of this,” Anka argued. “But with Felicia, we’ll have a chance. Without her, even though Morganna and Mathias aren’t pals, they might team up to destroy us. Take away their magic and we have a fight that’s two against many. Then we have a chance.”
No one argued with that logic, though Lucan looked as if he wanted to try. Frustration poured off of him.
She slipped her hand into his. “I’ll do everything in my power to stay safe, but you know this isn’t going to go away if we do nothing.”
With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t like it. But you’re right.”
Anka smiled up at Lucan. He really was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. And one of the best inside, as well.
“Oh, vomit,” Shock muttered beside her.
Please try to be happy. I’ll keep your secret. And I’ll always be here if you need me.
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled. “Same to you.”
Shock got her message loud and clear. He wasn’t in mate mourning. He wasn’t even terribly bitter. Her instinct that she wasn’t the mate of his heart had been right.
Someday, you’ll find the perfect woman for you. She’ll complete you, put a smile on your face, and pull your head out of the bottle. I’ll be thrilled for you.
Rolling his wide shoulders in his black leather jacket, Shock grimaced. “I’d rather decapitate myself with a razor blade.”
“Want help?” Lucan quipped.
But it lacked the hate that had backed his words before.
“Fuck off,” Shock groused.
“Wait,” Bram objected loudly enough to get everyone’s attention again. “If Felicia is there, none of us will be able to use magic, either. I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Anka pulled away from Lucan and turned to Bram. “That’s the dilemma. We need to give Felicia a crash course in trusting us all. Without that, the plan won’t work. And we must be quick. Morganna isn’t going to wait long to find me. Another day or two at best, then…I’m afraid we’re in for a war.”
Lucan pressed a damp towel to his face and tried to keep his calm. Duke and Marrok had taken aside the human ladies, Sydney and Kari, to drill them in self-defense. Olivia worked in a corner with a spell book, reading feverishly to understand more advanced magic. All of them were doing well. That’s where the happy news ended.
Felicia sat curled up against the far wall, eyes closed, mind obviously focused as he, Shock, Anka, Caden, Ice, Sabelle, the twins, and Bram all took turns trying to use their magic. Raiden had insisted Tabitha sit this battle out, given her coming youngling. They all agreed.
The poor Untouchable looked small with her knees curled to her chest and her petite frame dwarfed by so many warriors. Felicia had let the witches past her trust barrier within an hour. Anka and Sabelle both managed to turn lights off and on, conjure objects, and use magical defense spells easily. Anka had even shown a bit of her impish side and grown a thick floor of Bermuda grass inside Bram’s ballroom, complete with insects. Predictably, Bram had objected. But he hadn’t been able to magically make the out-of-place fauna disappear and restore the wooden floor.
Time was running short. They’d been at this for nearly twenty-four hours, stopping only briefly for food and a few hours’ sleep. Despite the frustration, all the wizards kept trying. Lucan bit back the urge to yell at Felicia that he’d never hurt her. Shock hadn’t held back at all. Caden diverted himself with a hanging punching bag. Ice joined him. Even Bram was unraveling.
“What the fuck do we do if we can’t make this work?” Shock asked.
Lucan hesitated. He had no idea why the wanker was talking to him.
“Oh, bury the fucking hatchet already.” Shock sounded somewhere between exhausted and annoyed. “You’re going to get the girl. I’m free. Now we can all shit unicorns and rainbows and be happy or whatever.”
“Sounds fun.” But he still didn’t understand why Shock was asking him anything.
“Honestly? Ice will hate me forever, which is no loss to me. Bram annoys the fuck out of me. Your brother…” He shrugged. “Don’t know the git at all. Seems high-strung. The twins are off in their own world. If they weren’t related, I’d think they were having a bromance. That leaves you.”
Shock usually didn’t want to talk at all, but Lucan decided that he could play along for a minute. “Caden, Ice! Stop punching that bloody bag and see if Felicia needs anything. Take five.”
He walked to the far side of the room, and surprisingly Shock followed. Anka watched with a frown, but he stayed her, holding up a hand. For once, she listened.
“So you don’t absolutely loathe me anymore. Splendid. That all?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. But Anka will always be important to me, even if she loves you for some reason I can’t understand. If I have to make nice with you in order to see her, I will.”
“But she isn’t the mate of your heart.”
“Apparently not.” He peered around the room, looking anywhere but at Lucan, as if the whole conversation was too uncomfortable. “I’ve been sober for a few days now. New clarity and all that shit.”
“Enlighten me, and I might be more inclined to let you see Anka now and then.”
Shock scowled. “Oh, God, you’re one of those touchy-feely types who wants a bloke to spill his guts? Oprah in a wizard’s clothes? Fuck. All right. What do you want to know?”
“Why fixate on Anka?”
“Brilliant. That’s a really simple question to answer, you sodding idiot.” He shook his head. “She’s beautiful. And she’s really decent. Kind. I’ve known her most of my life. She keeps secrets. She’s loyal.”
“But you never had the mating instinct with her. You never Called to her until I was interested. When you feared you would lose her, that’s when you acted.”
“Thank you, Dr. Freud. I’m pretty sure all that mating instinct stuff is rubbish, so I picked a witch I thought I could tolerate for the rest of my life. She’s still a female above all others in my eyes. And yeah, having a few months to rub your nose in the fact that Anka slept in my bed was fun. I especially liked reading your tormented mind.”
Lucan tensed. Just when he thought Shock wasn’t a complete wanking bastard, he said something to prove Lucan wrong.
“Go fucking crawl back into a bottle and leave me alone.” He moved to stride past Shock and resume work. No time for this stupid chitchat anyway.
Shock grabbed his arm. “I only climbed in a bottle because I got tired of reading Anka’s mind every time we fucked. All she thought about was you. And the only time I could tune her thoughts out was when I was pissed drunk. Happy?”
Incredulity slid through Lucan. “What?”
“If you didn’t hear it the first time, you deaf plonker, I’m not repeating myself.”
Shock had just admitted, more or less, that he’d known all along Anka wanted her former mate. That he had never really loved her as more than a friend. Was the sky falling, too?
“No, Chicken Little.” Shock heaved an annoyed sigh. “I like her and I thought, why should the Privileged prat get the girl all the time?”
So Anka had been a prize to win. He’d meant for her to level the field between the two of them. He’d wanted to win, not because he loved the girl, but because he hated to lose. Stunned didn’t begin to cover Lucan’s reaction.
Lucan looked to Shock for confirmation. The big wizard merely shook his head. “Oh, sod off, you annoying barmpot.”
With that, Lucan knew he was right.
Shock swung away and headed back toward Felicia and the other warriors. Lucan stopped him. “You can see Anka. She cares for you. I’ll never take something away from her that makes her happy. You’ll never threaten her safety.” And Lucan knew that, once he and Anka were mated, she could never touch Shock again. “I won’t stand in your way.”
Big shoulders taut, Shock stopped in his tracks and turned. “Thank you. Now really, fuck off.”
Lucan laughed as he watched the other wizard walk away, sending Ice an obscene hand gesture just to pick a fight. And what do you know, it worked. He rolled his eyes at the two wizards rolling around on the mats like angry children, then wandered over to Felicia.
Kneeling in front of the Untouchable, he stared with concern as she rested her forehead on her knees, shoulders slumped. He looked at Caden. “Go get Duke. She’s had enough for now.”
Felicia’s head popped up. “We have to keep going. I have to make this work. It’s just that, I’d already had time with Sabelle and some of the other ladies in Swansea. And…trusting men is so much more difficult for me.”
He remembered that Duke once had a devil of a time coaxing this reluctant beauty to believe in him. “We’ll work it through. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”
“Everyone’s safety is in my hands. You, your brother, Bram, Anka…the youngling. I can’t let you all down.” Her eyes filled with tears of frustration.
“It will wait five minutes.” Lucan bent and scooped her up in his arms, despite her protests, carrying her to her concerned mate. “No need to kill yourself. Rest up a bit.”
“But I’m putting you all in danger with every moment I delay. I don’t know why I can’t…let my guard down.” She slapped her palm to her forehead.
“None of that,” he scolded gently. “We’ll pull through. I have faith in your ability. You should do the same. Hello, Duke.”
Felicia’s glowering mate approached them and held out his arms. Lucan slid the small blonde into them, and she curled up into Duke’s chest. “You don’t have to coddle me.”
“I do,” Duke disagreed. “Part of the job description when I signed on to be your overprotective mate. I’m sorry, sunshine. You’re stuck with me.”
She smiled tiredly at Duke, then turned back to him. “Thank you.”
“Take a few minutes.” Lucan slid a glance up to Duke. “I think she skipped most of her lunch.”
