Chapter 2

“What happened?” Jocelyn heard and felt her sister’s distress as Cain placed her on the large beige couch in Lucas’s Manhattan apartment.

“It was Aleta. She managed to get her alone. I don’t know how it happened. I swear. I was watching her closely. She went into the bathroom then…gone,” Cain said clearly distraught and disappointed in himself. “I’m so sorry, my queen. Please forgive me,” he said and kneeled before Jenna.

“Cain, please get up! You know I hate it when you do that,” she said as she walked over to Jocelyn and placed a hand on her forehead.

Calm, a towering Lucas stepped forward. “What’s wrong with her?”

“It’s magic,” Clyde chimed in. “From the smell of the stuff, it’s purely evil.”

Lucas pulled out his phone and dialed. “Benjamin, get Kellen, now. Jocelyn’s been attacked.” He hung up and placed his arm around Jenna steadying her.

Jocelyn tried to steady her nerves, being unable to talk terrified her more than the attack had. How long would she be unable to move? An hour, a day, forever? How long before she could tell them that she’d used her power over the wind? How had she done so? She hadn’t met her mate yet, so her abilities shouldn’t be evolving.

Kellen’s voice resonated a second later. The king of elves was also a Guardian and battled with his warriors against Malums.

Kellen drew toward Jocelyn and breathed heavily, taking in the scent that permeated her immobilized skin. “Its black magic.”

“And…” Jenna replied impatiently.

“I can’t say for sure how long it will last. I can create a spell to counteract it. It would drive the black magic toward me.”

“Is it safe for you both?” Lucas asked.

“Yes, elves have natural defenses against magic, especially black magic. I’ll need to return home and get some herbs.”

Lucas nodded toward Benjamin, silently ordering him to assist Kellen.

Jocelyn lay immobile observing Jenna’s beauty now overshadowed by concern. She could feel her sister’s distress and grief making her grow more panicked at her inability to reassure Jenna that she was as okay as she could be.

“Jenna, my heart, maybe you should go into the other room,” Lucas advised.

“Lucas, please don’t. This is my sister.”

He slowly reached over to her and placed his arm on her shoulder. “I know, but your nerves are affecting her.”

Jenna’s watery eyes reached his. “But I can’t leave her.”

Lucas embraced his mate soothing her. “Kellen will help us. Don’t worry.”

Just as Kellen returned, Jenna and Jocelyn’s nerves were partially subsiding. He placed a series of herbs on the coffee table near Jocelyn and ignited them. He turned toward her and recited a counteracting spell:

Böse Magie Unterlassungserklärung

Lassen Sie die Kontrolle

Komm in mir

Wo wirst du sterben einen süßen endlose Tod

Evil magic desist

Release your control

Come into me

Where you'll die a sweet endless death

Kellen’s cheeks flushed; his pointed ears extended as the black magic that had befallen Jocelyn pierced him. He winced and fell backwards as the magic battled to consume him. Benjamin materialized behind him and caught him before he hit the floor, placing him on the opposite couch.

“Can you move?” Jenna asked her.

Jocelyn sat up with her sister’s help. “Yes.”

“I’m fine,” Kellen announced to the others as he stood up. “It’s worse than I thought,” he addressed Lucas directly. “The spell had the power to keep her paralyzed for months. It would have led to her death. It’s forbidden for elves and fairies to practice black magic. I don’t see how she is still queen unless the council is unaware.”

“I thought she was Clyde,” Jocelyn rasped. Everyone turned to face her. “I don’t know how but...I was headed to the bathroom when she grabbed me. I thought it was Clyde…it looked just like him, his mannerisms and everything.”

“Cain, you said you saw her go into the bathroom?” Lucas asked.

Cain nodded.

“So she created a spell to disguise herself; she created another to create an illusion Jocelyn had in fact entered the restroom, and then created another to paralyze her?” Kellen asked visibly disturbed at the thought.

“What?” Jenna prodded impatiently.

“It’s not good. The only way someone can use that much spell-casting power is by stealing it from others. Each of those spells requires a lot of power, and even the most powerful can only cast them one at a time. She does not possess such abilities, and she used all of them to cause harm to another. She has disregarded her breed’s laws; it’s punishable by death.”

“How could she steal another fairy’s power?” Benjamin asked.

“By killing them,” Clyde answered for Kellen.

Lucas marched toward Kellen, took his hand, and shook it firmly. “I cannot fully express my gratitude,” he said just as Jenna walked over to the towering elf and embraced him.

“Thank you so much,” Jenna said.

Lucas pulled his mate away as Jocelyn walked over to Kellen. “Thank you,” she said.

“It has been my pleasure. I’ll let you all rest. We can discuss this further tomorrow at the Guardian meeting.”

****

After everyone settled down, it was nearly three a.m., and Jocelyn was physically and mentally drained, not to mention she had a class at ten a.m. the following morning. Jenna walked her to her room and was about to turn away, when Jocelyn called out to her.

“Yes,” she replied spinning around seemingly still distraught from the night’s ordeal.

The dark circles under Jenna’s eyes made her feel guilty knowing she had put her through so much in just one night.

“Tonight, umm…when Aleta…I used my power over the wind.”

Jenna expression shifted, a smile tugged at her lips and her eyes widened. She walked toward Jocelyn. “That means you must have met your mate.”

Jocelyn nodded.

“This is great news!” Jenna beamed.

Huh? Great news? Jocelyn thought. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about it. On one hand, it meant her abilities would now evolve. She’d be able to defend herself, but it also meant she was expected to be with one man for the rest of her eternal life. She didn’t even know who he was. What if it was one of Lucas’s warriors? No, it can’t be, she thought. She would’ve known the second their eyes met hers because she witnessed the longing and love in Lucas’s eyes when he gazed at Jenna. No one looked at her like that.

“Why aren’t you more excited? Isn’t this what you wanted? To be able to protect yourself without getting sweaty as you put it?”

Jocelyn nodded weakly. It was what she wanted, but she never thought about the mate part. Up until today, she only focused on having the ability to protect herself.

“Listen, shower and get to bed. We will talk about this tomorrow. Okay?” Jenna said as she kissed her sister on the forehead.

“Okay,” she replied.

****

Friday dragged on and on. By the time Jocelyn’s two classes were over, she needed a nice long nap. She was headed out of her last class when she dropped her notebook and bent over to reach for it. She straightened to find Michael staring at her.

“Hi,” he greeted.

“Hi,” she replied.

“I was hoping to bump into you today. I thought maybe we could go for a cup of coffee sometime.”

“I…um…”

“You’re not interested?” he inquired.

“It’s not that…” she said as she wondered how she was supposed to explain that nothing could ever happen between them because she was destined for someone else. There was no way to phrase that without sounding like a psychopath.

“I get it,” he said, sounding disappointed.

Jocelyn’s heart ached for him. She knew from experience rejection was hard. Jocelyn had dated a boy in high school for two years. Graduation day, he’d broken things off insisting they needed to experience life without each other. Jocelyn had been heartbroken. She’d assumed they would marry. The experience had soured her toward relationships and the opposite sex. Since then she promised herself it would never happen again. It hadn’t. Although she dated often, it had never gone farther than a few dates.

“It’s not that. It’s the reason I didn’t want anyone to set me up. I’m not relationship material. Trust me, and the last thing I want to do is lead you on. That would make me no better than the scum who made me this way.”

“I understand and appreciate your honesty. Let’s be friends then.”

She nodded and watched him as he walked away.

After speaking to Michael, she walked New York’s streets briskly heading back to Lucas’s lavish Manhattan apartment, which she called home, hoping she didn’t bump into any of her friends. She knew Cain was watching her from a distance. He always was. She was sure he hadn’t made his presence known because he could read her emotions and knew she wasn’t in the mood for company. He always gave her space when she needed it. It was one of the reasons she appreciated his friendship. He didn’t hover.

She was nearly two blocks away when a man walked right into her path, and she stumbled falling forward. The man wrapped his muscled arm around her waist and caught her before she hit the ground. She turned, ready to confront the idiot making her fall, when her eyes settled on his crystalline blue ones. His brown hair was styled in a military-style crew cut, and he wore a short-sleeved polo shirt revealing the tribal tattoo that covered the length of his right arm.

The sight of him made her heart shudder. He wasn’t a stranger. He was the man who’d found her in the Malum compound hiding in the closet. And he was more than just a man, he was a werewolf.