Pack Bound, page 2
No. Bron had said she had stronger shields than anyone she’d ever met, thanks to her grandpa’s spell, and there was no reason not to trust her best friend in this matter. She was Wiccan after all. Not a true magic user like her family had been, but she did know about this stuff.
So what was happening to her?
Lust.
Yes. That was it. Mr Too-Gorgeous-For-Sanity was a fantasy come to life. She had to ignore the sensations shooting through her body. Force herself to be sensible. He was just being friendly because he’d knocked her over. And she’d made enough of a fool of herself for one day.
Biting her lip, trying to shelve her disappointment, she nodded. ‘I’m sure. Go and kill your brother for making you snowboard and then enjoy the day.’
He chuckled. ‘I might just do that. Adam needs a good killing.’
‘Excellent. So, off you go. I’ll be fine by myself.’ Before he could say anything else, she hobbled down the hill to her skis. She clicked into the bindings, swallowing a gasp as pain sliced up from her ankle. Clenching her jaw, she endeavoured to ignore it. After all, she’d put up with worse.
There was the slide of board on snow behind her and she looked up to see the Adonis making his way down the slope towards her.
‘How about I shout you a hot chocolate at Koflers just to make sure you’re fine?’
Surprisingly pleased by his perseverance, Skye opened her mouth to say yes.
Don’t say it! her inner voice snapped.
Taken aback, she blinked. Why?
He may not stink of magic, but there’s something about him that’s affecting you. Think about River. Think about what your magic did to him.
Even though the voice still didn’t sound like it usually did, Skye knew it was right. This man might not have the magic to bewitch her, but he was making her behave strangely, almost to the point of acting without thinking—which she never did. She could never afford to lose control—her magic had only ever brought pain. She swallowed hard, knowing that despite the fact this was a holiday and she should be able to flirt and have fun, she couldn’t do it with this man.
Taking herself in hand, she said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks. I still want to get a few runs in before I call it a day.’
‘What about a drink after? I feel I need to say sorry in some way.’
The wish to say yes was almost a pain inside her; but that in itself was reason to say no. ‘I can’t. I’ve got a prior engagement with friends.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ He flashed a grin so charming it made her breath catch. ‘I’ll just have to hope we’ll meet another time and your answer will be different.’ He leaned forward, his astonishing warmth radiating towards her, and took a deep breath as if trying to breathe her in.
It was weird and yet … unbelievably sexy.
‘Okay,’ she squeaked. Unable to stand his closeness for another moment and not give in to his invitation, she pushed off with her good leg and took off down the slope. Pain stabbed up her leg from her wounded ankle. A little whimper escaped from her lips.
What are you? A lion or a mouse?
A lion.
So ignore it. You have to get away from him.
She took in a shuddering breath—duck-it, she could still smell the warm male scent of him; earthy and yet clear and fresh, like the mountain air, yet so very different in how it affected her. Mountain air was cooling, refreshing; this was … hot and made need simmer under her skin. She took in another breath as she created more distance between them; but the scent stayed with her as if it was imprinted on her senses.
A tingle started down her spine. Was he watching her? Were his eyes caressing her arse the way he said they had been before he crashed into her? She almost groaned at the memory of the way they’d come to a stop, his body spread on top of hers, chest to chest, legs tangled. Skye bit her lip as muscles well below her abdomen clenched and quivered.
It was a sensation she’d not felt for a long time—too long. Hell, she’d almost become a nun with the length of time she’d been celibate, and she’d been content with that. But coming face to face with that Adonis would make even a nun change her habits. It wasn’t so unusual that he’d had such an impact on her.
Or was it?
She stopped herself from glancing back over her shoulder. It didn’t matter what she felt. All that mattered was it couldn’t be. Her life was like this by necessity. There was no choice. She’d come to terms with that a long time ago.
Lifting her face to the sun, she decided to luxuriate in the rare spring day and not worry about could-have-beens.
The sapphire blue sky was glorious.
And reminded her of his eyes.
She stared at the choppy snow in front of her. Yes, that was better. Nothing about the snow reminded her of him. It did remind her that she needed to thank Shelley and Bron once again for agreeing to change their plans for a Noosa holiday and had come with her to Mt Buller instead for the last of the season. Good snow in spring was a rarity, so she hadn’t been able to pass up the opportunity when a few days before they were due to leave for Noosa, a huge dump was reported. Fresh powder, the blue skies of spring and the freedom she only felt in the mountains was a siren call she couldn’t ignore. Thankfully her friends agreed, even though they weren’t as keen to get on the slopes as she was and stay there all day. They were more into staying at the lodge or enjoying a cocktail or two at one of the bars that was still open at this time of the year.
Which was where she’d left them to come out and get in a few more runs before the lifts closed for the day.
They had planned to go out again tonight for their last night here and she’d been looking forward to it, but the pain in her ankle was beginning to make her doubt if she’d be able to. By the feel of it, she might have done some serious damage. Duck-it! Bron was bound to fuss and Shelley to lecture.
Her spine tingled again. Was Mr Too-Gorgeous-For-Sanity still watching her? She turned her head to sneak a peek and lost her rhythm. Her ski slid down the side of a mogul and pain jagged up her leg. She groaned.
‘Are you okay?’ he yelled, his voice winding around her like a feather stroke even at this distance.
She didn’t look back again, only waved, hiding her red face, not wanting him to ski after her.
A moment later, she pulled up at the end of the queue of skiers and boarders waiting to get on the lift. She chanced a glance back up the slope. He stood right where she’d left him and something about the way he stood made her certain he was still looking right at her. She shivered, the sensation far too pleasurable for her own—or anyone’s—good.
She shuffled forward, glad the queue was fast moving, but still she couldn’t help breathing out a sigh of relief as she hopped on a chair and it climbed into the air through shielding trees.
Adonis might not be a warlock, but his combination of good looks, charm and velvety voice was just as dangerous. He’d not only made her want to change her nun-like habits, he made her feel like a horny teenager. He’d even made her consider, for a split second, turning her back on her obligations and the promises she’d made to her grandpa and to River.
She could never do that. Ever.
Those promises kept them all safe.
As the lift rose over the crest of the slope, she shivered. This time it wasn’t the feeling of being watched that made that strange tingle race up and down her spine; thoughts of what happened all those years ago always did this. Her magic pushed at her, fighting to get out. She swore, pushing it back down. That man’s presence had addled her brain, made her shields weak. Closing her eyes, she repeated the mantra she’d been taught.
Her magic was dangerous. To protect River and everyone she loved, it was something she could never set free.
2
‘Was that her?’
With a slide of board on snow, Adam came to a halt. Jason didn’t turn to look at his brother, his gaze still on the place where the lithe redhead had disappeared as the chair she was on rose over the crest of the hill. Unexpected warmth still fired through his body.
‘If that was her, why’s she running away?’ Adam clapped his brother on the shoulder.
‘Did you try your charm on her?’
Jason didn’t answer. His mind was too full of the woman: those green eyes like spring pools, glistening with hidden depths in the sun; her hair, licks of flame on her shoulders; her generous mouth full of laughter and mischief. Even that spike of temper and the funny way she’d had of swearing had been sexy.
Despite himself, he was engaged. He hadn’t expected that. And her scent—his wolf had growled at her scent. Familiar, yet there was also something strange about it.
‘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 she saw me. 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 to chase 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 Iris 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 fizzled inside him like popping candy, leaving him with the same sense of warmth and sweet aftertaste.
‘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 it wasn’t possible. 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 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 about 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.’
It all came down to the woman he’d just smashed into: Skylar Collins.
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 for 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.’
As was the Trickster way, Adam was trying to lighten his mood. 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.’
The growl in his brother’s tone had Jason’s gaze sliding to Adam. There was a 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 Skylar’s scent; still clear even though she’d was gone. His wolf wanted to hunt her down right now—it didn’t like that she had run from them.
