Forty-Nine

 

I turned my phone off. I didn’t want to be interrupted. The coven had always said that you needed a connection when you were trying to work magic. The strongest connection I had to Renée was the warehouse where she’d slipped through our fingers. There was something about the shadow there. With a sense of hope and determination, I got back on the bike and headed back to the warehouse. It took me twice as long as it should have, as I got lost a couple of times, but when I arrived it was as empty and quiet as it had been when we found the ritual.

The feeling of foreboding filled the air as I walked across the cracked concrete and noted a fresh piece of graffiti on the metal wall. The scent of cleaning product stung my nose and made my wolf pull back deeper within me. It wanted nothing to do with what I was going to do.

Goddess be with me, I’m trying to do the right thing.

The floor of the warehouse was spotless. All traces of the ritual were gone, but I could feel the shadow. There was no visual sign of it, but my shadow magic responded. It called to me. I allowed the magic to fill my veins with the cool oil sensation, and I pricked my ears, listening to the rustling whisper that was just out of hearing. My wolf curled up deep within me in hiding. I hoped I wasn’t going to lose that side of me with this experiment.

Sitting down in the middle of where I was sure the ritual had taken place, I tried to ignore the cold hard concrete beneath me and focused on the feel of Renée’s shadow. The shadow magic slithered over my hands, and the whispering grew loud enough for it to almost sound like words, but they weren’t in a language I knew anything of. Slowly, the cold spread through my bones, and I felt as though I was losing my grip on the physical world. The concrete felt so far away.

I wasn’t going to be beaten. I visualised the feeling of Renée’s shadow in my mind and tried to mentally cast about for it. It was no different to trying to find a scent, I told myself as the darkness behind my eyelids grew deeper and more foreboding.

I’d completely lost all physical sensation of the world around me. Time was meaningless. I could have been sitting there for minutes or hours. I had no idea as I floated in the absolute darkness trying to pick up Renée’s trail. The goddess had chosen me. I wasn’t going to give up and allow Alasdair and Grayson to solve this issue. There were wolves depending on me to save their lives.

Something shifted deep within me. A sense of urgency began to filter through the darkness and tug at my lower abdomen. The realisation that I couldn’t feel my body hit me, and panic flooded my system. I tried to open my eyes, only to find they wouldn’t open, that the darkness wouldn’t release me. Calm and focus, Niko. I dug my fingers down into my thighs and desperately clawed at the memory and feeling of the concrete beneath my jeans. It began as only a faint memory, but slowly it came back to a physical sensation. I opened my eyes and gasped for air. I’d never been so glad to feel the cold unrelenting sensation of concrete beneath my ass.

My heart was racing and my stomach growled as though I hadn’t eaten in weeks. I tried to stand, only to find my legs were wobbly. It took me a long moment to realise the warehouse was dark and the sun had set. I must have been there for hours, possibly longer. Turning my phone on, I pushed myself up into a standing position and tried to shake out my legs to get some blood flow back into them. So much for saving the day with my cursed shadow magic.

It took a lot of shaking and stomping to make my limbs respond correctly. The trembling and shivering soon took over. I looked at my phone on the short walk back to the bike and saw Alasdair had called me ten times, and it was almost one am. My stomach growled and tried to chew its way out into the world.

Stroking the bike’s seat, I muttered, “You’re going to have to look after me.”

It was ridiculous, but it was too late to go hunting for food, and I wasn’t going to abandon it and get a taxi. I had limited funds, and the bike was already costing me a fortune.

By some miracle, I made it back to the apartment and Alasdair only rang me once on the way back there. I ignored it. I was going to speak to him in a moment anyway. Yes, I was being selfish and a dick, but I was starving and shaking, and I didn’t really have it in me to give a damn about Alasdair’s feelings and potential lectures.

The door opened as I was trying to get my key out of my pocket. Alasdair put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me, his face etched with worry and concern.

“Goddess, what the fuck happened to you? You’re freezing!”

He pulled me close to him, and I pressed myself against him. He was so damn warm and inviting. His strong arms wrapped around me and held me there while I closed my eyes and let myself drown in his scent and the security he offered.