Hearts Cursed, page 19
‘Aren’t you going to follow her?’
Jason shook his head and brushed the snow off his pants. ‘No. Something’s wrong. She didn’t recognise what I am.’
‘Maybe she isn’t our Pack Witch.’
Jason clicked his boot onto the snowboard and balanced for a moment, shifting his weight back and forth. ‘I’m pretty sure she is. But there’s something ...’ He shook his head. ‘She should have expelled some magic when she saw me, but she didn’t.’
Adam frowned and sniffed. ‘But I can smell that zip in the air, like the electrical build-up before lightning. Doesn’t that denote magic?’
Jason thought about the last time they’d encountered the scent of magic—the night their parents, two older brothers and their mates had been murdered in their never-ending quest to find their kidnapped Pack Witch. The scent in the air now, a scent that lingered in his nostrils like a teasing perfume, was nothing like that acrid scent. ‘It is magic. But she didn’t expel it when I came along. It’s around her all the time, like a cloak, but muted or something.’ That was definitely wrong. Yet he was sure it was her. He’d seen her in his dreams; dreams he’d always had of her; dreams that had been nebulous things until the Calling had caught up with him after his father’s murder and he’d become Alpha.
‘How can you be certain it’s her then?’
‘Because of the dreams. I saw her skiing here with her friends.’
‘You dragged us here chasing down a woman who doesn’t even smell like she has the magic of a Pack Witch all because of some dreams?’
‘They’re not just dreams. It’s the link.’
‘What link?’
‘The link between the Alpha and the Pack Witch. Dad was linked to Paul Collins—’
‘As Lydia Collins was linked to Grandpa before him.’
‘Yes.’ It was the only way the magic worked. The Pack Witch fed it into the Alpha and the pack syphoned it from the Alpha through the Packbond—the ultimate form of synergy.
‘But how are you linked to Paul’s daughter?’
The question was understandable. A bonding wasn’t supposed to be undertaken until a Pack Witch or Warlock was of age, after they’d imbibed the Bond Wine. But in this case ...
Jason looked out at the distant mountains. The moment he’d clapped eyes on her, he’d realised that Paul Collins had linked them all those years ago—the future Alpha and the future Pack Witch. It’s why he’d had the dreams. It made sense of something that had always seemed nonsensical to him. Something he’d spent years denying because he’d been too young to understand the significance of what had been done to him. The proof was irrefutable though. The link was the reason he’d found her when nobody else could.
‘Paul linked us when Skylar was a few months old.’
‘What?’ Adam gripped his arm, his voice bitter. ‘Did you keep this from me because I’m nothing but the Trickster?’
‘No.’ Jason clasped Adam’s shoulder. ‘And don’t talk like that about yourself. From what I’ve been reading in the Pack Witch Diaries, the Trickster is far more essential to a pack than we remember. Besides, I have named you my second. I wouldn’t keep anything from you. It’s just ... I’ve only now realised what Paul did.’
He remembered standing in the dark room looking down at her crib, Paul lighting candles that had smelled like jasmine and cinnamon and honey. He’d muttered words Jason hadn’t understood and in the quiet hush that followed, a sizzle had shot along Jason’s skin, sinking into his nerve ends and sparking in his brain. The baby had cried out, holding out her chubby little arms to him. Despite being a boy who thought babies were smelly, noisy things, he’d picked her up, bouncing her until she giggled. That giggle had made him feel good inside.
‘It is done. You will keep my daughter safe,’ Paul had whispered.
Jason hadn’t realised the significance. He’d just been a small boy holding a pretty baby who smelled of powder and her mother’s sweet milk.
‘Why would he do that when it goes against pack law?’
Jason was brought out of his reverie by his brother’s question. He understood the horror in Adam’s tone. The pack’s greatest duty was to look after their children. They would never do anything to hurt or place unnecessary burden on a child. But Paul had done exactly that when he’d linked Skylar to Jason.
‘He was prescient. Maybe he’d seen this future. Maybe he knew I would become Alpha and that I would have to find her.’
Adam shook his head. ‘I always thought Paul looked sad. It’s no wonder, if this is what he saw.’
Jason glanced at his brother and sighed at the look of devastation on his face. Nobody would have looked at Paul and thought him sad, yet Adam had seen beyond the facade Paul showed to the world, to the grief of a man who saw things he shouldn’t. It was remarkable sometimes, the things the Trickster saw. Things none of them had realised the significance of until it was almost too late. Now he knew that without Adam pushing fun and laughter into the Packbond, the pack would already have succumbed to the Curse. He’d maintained positivity when there was nothing to be positive about.
And it was taking a toll. As Alpha, linked to his brother in ways he’d never been linked before, Jason could feel the pressure of pack wellbeing tear at Adam. He wished he could take some of that burden, but knew he couldn’t. Not until they had their Pack Witch back safe and sound and the Curse averted. Because, more than anything, he knew that what Adam was doing for the pack was also helping to keep him from slipping into deadly insanity.
Gripping his brother’s shoulder, Jason whispered, ‘I know. I know the burden that knowledge places on you.’
Adam swallowed hard. ‘I know you do.’ He gripped Jason’s shoulder in turn. ‘That’s why you make one fucking great Alpha.’
Jason smiled and slapped his brother on the arm. Even when torn apart by a pain that wasn’t his, Adam couldn’t help but see the bright side. ‘I think you’re right in regards to Paul. He saw at least some part of the future. That’s why he linked Skylar and me at an age when it would normally be forbidden.’
‘Did Mum and Dad know?’
Jason frowned. ‘I think perhaps they did, after the fact. Why else would they have given me such freedom?’
‘Because they were sick of listening to you whinge and whine about wanting choice,’ Adam said. He managed to keep a straight face when Jason glared at him, then burst out laughing.
Jason chuckled ‘You can’t help yourself, can you?’
‘Comes with the burden of being the funny one.’
‘You’re funny, all right,’ Jason said, twirling his finger beside his head.
‘You can talk. I’m not the one following strange dreams.’
‘You’re right.’ Jason sighed, all levity dying as his thoughts turned darker. ‘I just wish the link had activated properly before Mum and Dad, Seamus and Sian, and Josef and Marianne were killed.’
‘But that’s not how it works.’
‘No. Dad had to die for me to find her.’ He ground his board into the snow, fingers clenched, the wolf desperate to break through and claw at something.
‘You can’t blame yourself for that. You didn’t kill them.’
Jason’s lips curled into a snarl. ‘No. I didn’t. But I swear by the Dark Moon, I will find who did.’
He stood there for a moment, eyes tracking the lift as the woman he was certain was Skylar Collins disappeared over the rise. She was their hope of a future without madness. She was also the only hope he had of finding those responsible for causing the Curse to touch his pack, bringing them to near extinction.
‘So, if that is Skylar, why didn’t she use her magic when she saw you?’
Jason took in a deep breath of clear, cool air, trying to calm himself. ‘I don’t know. But I have no doubt that the reason why Cordelia or the old McClune Pack Witch could never scry her is at the heart of it. Whoever took her hid her by changing more than her name.’
‘So, what’s the plan?’
‘I’m going to bump into her again at the lodge and when the time’s right, I’m going to share some wine with her.’
Adam’s eyes glittered with understanding. ‘Do you think crashing into her was the best way of meeting her then? I don’t know if she’ll want to share the Bond Wine with an accident-prone idiot.’
Adam was trying to lighten his mood again. It worked. Jason’s lips split into a grin. ‘I didn’t think she’d stop short like that, but in retrospect it was a stroke of genius. Because if she heals herself, we’ll know there isn’t anything wrong with her magic. Besides, I got so close, I filled myself with her fresh scent. I can track her anywhere now.’
‘Will that be necessary?’
‘We’ll see. But at least we know she can’t disappear again. It’s taken too long to track her down. I don’t want to waste any more time.’
‘I’m with you there. I’m sick of this.’
Hearing the growl in his brother’s tone, Jason’s gaze slid to Adam’s, noting the red tinge in the amber of his eyes. The darkness Adam had banished moments ago had returned. Ultimately, breaking the Curse would cure that, but for now ...
‘You need to hunt.’
‘Later. Let’s race.’
With a whoop, Adam took off down the slope, his motions balletic as he controlled the board. Jason’s smile widened into a thoroughly wolfish grin as he caught sight of the woman on the lift far below. The hunt was on. But now, he would give himself over to the thrill of the much simpler chase his brother posed.
Pushing forward, he followed Adam down the slope, catching air as he flew over the same snow-capped boulder she had. He heard Adam’s bark of laughter, a sound he copied as he came even with him then passed him in a few quick movements.
Adam might have been doing this longer, but nobody beat Jason in the chase. And Skylar Collins was about to find out that running only served to sweeten the hunt.
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Her blood carries ancient secrets. His blood carries her death …
Blind student, Ardenne Bartolli, has worked hard to prove herself worthy to be the next Prime to Vampire King, Lord Hei. Despite all the naysayers – the extremely rude and annoyingly attractive vampire, Gabriel, being foremost among them – she is determined to prove that her lack of sight will not hamper her ability to train and do the job her father has held before her: helping Lord Hei keep the peace between the paranormals and the humans.
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About Leisl
Leisl Leighton is a tall red head with an overly large imagination. As a child, she identified strongly with Anne of Green Gables, and like Anne, is a voracious reader and born performer.
It came as no surprise when she went on to a career as a performer, script writer, script doctor, stage manager and musical director for cabaret and theatre restaurants.
After starting a family, Leisl stopped performing and began writing the stories plaguing her dreams. She now writes emotional stories mixed with mystery and a little bit of what goes bump in the night.
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Acknowledgments
Getting this book ready for publication was more of an adventure than I’d bargained on. In the middle of the writing process, I had a bad car accident and fractured my sternum and a vertebrae in my back and spent four days in hospital with many months of recovery ahead of me. Then just after I was able to sit up for a few hours in front of my computer and get back to my editing, my son brought Covid home and promptly gave it to my husband and me.
I felt truly sorry for myself.
But so many people, both family and friends, helped out with food packages and running errands and keeping us all going and it filled me with a sense of such love and support that despite how sick I felt, and despite the Covid coughing and sneezing kept my fracture from healing for a month—extending my healing time by another 4-6 weeks—I was able to kick myself in the butt and get up and do the work I needed to get this one finished and out in time and still have multiple rests during the day.
So huge thanks have to go to my mum and dad, Kerrie and Jim, who did so much for me during this difficult time, and to all the friends who cooked for me and sent messages of love and support. This wouldn’t have happened without you.
Of course, my hubby, Mark, and my two beautiful boys, Jacob and Nathaniel, all stepped up too and when they were all feeling better, did so much to help me get back to work and took on extra duties (especially Jacob) in cooking and cleaning and washing so the house was kept in order given I wasn’t able to do it.
Aside from great family and friends, a writer needs a Coven of writing peeps all their own. Thanks to my friends in my writing groups for encouraging me in this endeavour and giving me the strength to push on through all the highs and lows of doing this crazy writing thing— Laura, Chris, Marnie, Frana, Anita, Samantha and Helen. I couldn’t have gotten here without you. Especially Marnie and Anita who did all the hard yards so that we could still have our retreat together even though I was recuperating from my accident and was unable to help in the ways I usually do.
