Chapter Five: “Toil and Trouble”

She wondered where they were going. They’d been driving the mist-shrouded streets for at least ten minutes, neither of them attempting to speak over the Harley’s engine. Not that she wasn’t fine with just riding.

The September night was cool and crisp. The smell of wood smoke permeated the sky, and between the drifting, low-lying clouds, Danny could make out the thick starlit strip of the Milky Way. She was glad she’d grabbed her jacket before leaving the house. She could easily heal any malady she picked up due to a compromised immune system, but it was always easier to just not get sick in the first place.

Still, she wasn’t completely cold. Lucas’s body was like a furnace in front of her. Did werewolves just burn hot, or did he have a fever? He was radiating enough warmth that the only really chilly parts of her own body were her nose and ears. The smell of his aftershave, scented soap and leather jacket drifted over her, buffeted by the wind, but still strong enough to warm her on the inside as well as his nearness was warming her on the outside.

She felt comfortable there behind him. She seemed to fit there, her body pressed against his, her arms wrapped tightly around his middle. Caige carved the corners in the road as if he’d been riding for fifty years – and maybe he had. The bike seemed an extension of him more than a vehicle of any sort, and even its roar fit Lucas’s dark, un-kept character.

Every now and then, she glanced over the black leather on his broad shoulder to catch glimpses of his switching grip on the throttle, his black motorcycle boot on the gear shift, the strong line of his jaw with the five o’clock shadow… and she felt a warmth somewhere deeper. More private.

He was getting to her. Every square millimeter of the man was pure, unadulterated masculinity.

Danny closed her eyes and leaned forward to rest her cheek on the solid wall of his back. She knew she was playing with fire. Dark, black, cold-burning fire that would sear the shit out of her if she wasn’t careful. But there were the dreams to contend with. And Imani was right. Things weren’t going to get better.

The truth of it was that despite Caige’s infamous dislike of magic of any kind, Danny had always sort of admired him from afar. It was why she knew so much about him – his past, his brother, even some of his habits. She had always been interested in the black-eyed werewolf who stood apart from the others. The loner.

Of course, she’d never revealed herself to him. Now, as she rode behind him, pressed so tightly against him, she had to wonder why. Why hadn’t she ever wanted Caige to see her in person when the werewolf community called in the witches for help? Why hadn’t she ever wanted him to know she was a witch?

Because I’ve always liked him.

Danny blinked and straightened in the saddle. Crap, she thought. I never wanted him to know because I didn’t want him to associate me with something he hated. I wanted him to like me instead. Even before her dormant-induced werewolf dreams had ever started… she’d had a thing for Lucas Caige.

As this realization rolled over her like a bank of mind-numbing fog, Lucas slowed the bike down and turned onto a smaller street. Danny recognized the street, as well as the lights that were making the night time sky glow over the tree tops in the near distance.

At the moment, around the next corner, the Trinidad Fall Festival was taking place. There would be music, food, arts and crafts booths, games, a bon fire, and several performances by actors, magicians and the like. The festivities began in late afternoon and continued long into the night, when the booths took to selling hot apple cider, cocoa, and coffee.

It was the same festival that Jason Alberich, their coven leader, had demanded everyone in the coven attend tonight. Imani had made excuses for Danny, but it looked like she would be showing up anyway.

Of course, she thought. Lucas would naturally decide to bring her here. It was the perfect date spot, really. There were lots of people, so he would assume that she’d feel safe. And the bonfire on the pristine strip of beach was very romantic. Couples could always be found snuggling together nearby.

Lucas pulled the bike into the lot and jockeyed into a protected spot between a white BMW and the brick wall that protected a private garden. Then he shut the bike down. Danny began to rise to dismount, but before she could fully stand up, Lucas was turning in his seat and grabbing her leg with his gloved hand.

The contact was only meant to still her in the saddle, but the intimacy of the touch made her breath catch. Caige’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly and speared her with their hypnotic darkness. Danny found herself easing back into the seat. Her body felt as if it were melting there beneath his gentle grasp. He glanced down at his hand and, after a moment of silent contemplation, he slowly slid his fingers off of her.

“I never asked you if you wanted to come here,” he said, his voice a little tight. “We don’t have to stay if it’s not your kind of thing.”

Danny opened her mouth to respond, but only air came out. She closed her mouth, cleared her throat, and tried again. “N-no,” she said in a strained voice. “This is great. It was a good idea.” His gentle grip had set off a heat wave that yet rippled through her body, relentlessly weakening her in the most delicious way. She was flushed now – and he’d only touched her for a moment.

Caige watched her intensely for a few seconds more, and then he smiled. “Okay then,” he said. Without warning, he reached out and grabbed her with both hands around her waist. Danny barely stifled a squeal as he easily lifted her entire body off of the bike and gently set her down beside it. He didn’t let her go until she had her feet solidly beneath her. Then he quickly and gracefully dismounted himself, rising to his full height, which towered over her despite her own tall figure.

Danny swallowed hard and looked up at him, feeling unsteady even though she was standing on her own. His smile was killer. He liked surprising her, obviously.

Caige pulled off his gloves and stuffed them into the inside pocket of his leather biker jacket. “Let’s walk,” he said then, once more reaching out without warning. This time, he brazenly took her left hand in his right and wasted no time intertwining their fingers. “You look a little cold. I’ll get you something warm to drink.” His grip was strong and the heat branded her hand where he held it.

Werewolves do burn hot, she thought to herself as he led her through the sandy parking lot and into the chaos of the festivities. I wonder what the rest of him feels like.

The Festival stage was lit and there were actors sword fighting one another on top of it. The small crowd that had gathered cheered and clapped; Danny could make out a few of the actors’ lines even from this distance. The night was beautiful and the smell in the air was one of spice and pumpkin and apple and smoke, and she was beginning to think she might have a wonderful time with Caige tonight – when suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

His body went completely rigid, from head to boot, and his grip on her hand became painful. Danny glanced down at their hands and then looked up and all around, wondering what had happened. But she saw nothing except revelers and art booths and children with multi-colored streamers and candy apples in their hands weaving wildly around the adults. A few of the children she even recognized. There was Mischa, the six-year-old son of Rebecca and Adam, two of the coven members. Alice was there too; she was a year younger than Mischa and the daughter of Jennifer Rae, another coven member.

And then it hit Danny. Magic. It was all around them.

Oh no, she thought, her head snapping back around to look up at Lucas. His dark eyes were sparking strangely at their centers and his mouth was closed tight.

Fangs, she realized. He’s trying to hide his fangs.

*****

It washed over Lucas like a crimson tide, smothering and strong and shocking to the point that his fangs instantly erupted in his mouth, and his fingertips began to ache where his nails threatened to grow.

Magic. The scent was staggering. It was everywhere. It smelled like stardust and promises and flowers that were almost in bloom. The scent was indescribable really, and to most people it probably would have smelled like hope.

But to him, it was nothing short of the stench of impending death. He had no way to defend himself against magic. There was nothing he could do to protect Danny from whatever it was that was here in this crowd.

His wolf reared its head and awakened within him, snarling at the gates, clawing at the edges of his being and begging to be set free.

“Lucas, you know I just had a thought,” Danny said beside him. He looked down at her and saw her flinch.

Fuck, he thought. Keep it together Caige! He barked at his wolf to heel, sending the animal within him scurrying backward long enough to keep the red in his eyes from showing any more than it most likely already did. He took a deep breath, shoved his fangs back in, and also forced his grip on his woman to loosen.

My woman. Where the hell did that come from?

Danny slowly pulled her hand from his and had enough kind consideration not to rub it, which he knew she must want to do. He’d really been holding on. “It’s kind of crowded here,” she ventured softly, her voice like a salve on his hyper-alert nerve endings. “It might be a little quieter further down the beach. I know a short cut if you’re game.”

God bless her, Caige thought. Maybe I’ll manage to keep from scaring the crap out of her tonight after all.

“Danny!”

Caige’s head snapped up and around at the sound of someone calling Danny’s name. A young man dressed in Russian dancing clothes was jogging toward them. He was a fairly handsome man, probably in his mid-to-upper twenties, with thick brown hair and a slightly goofy smile. His gray-blue eyes were open and friendly.

And he smelled like magic.

“Danny, what are you doing here?” the man asked in a heavy Russian accent. Caige glanced down at the woman beside him. She looked distinctly uncomfortable, self-conscious and more than a touch afraid. Lucas’s inner wolf bared its fangs.

“Sasha!” Danny replied amidst a nervous laugh. “Is Imani here with you?” she asked then, looking around for herself.

“Yes, but –”

“Danny, what the hell are you doing here?” came Imani’s angry voice from behind them. Lucas and Danny both spun to see the gorgeous African-Brazilian woman standing hands-on-hips, head cocked to one side, deep chocolate eyes shooting daggers at Danny. Danny took a step back.

But Imani was having none of that. With lips pursed and gaze narrowed, the woman came forward and grabbed one of Danny’s hands. Caige fought the sudden impulse to yank her back out of the woman’s grip. That was ridiculous. The two were best friends – almost sisters. What was wrong with him?

The magic was getting to him. He needed to get out of there.

“I’m sorry, Lucas. Can I borrow her for a moment, please?” Imani asked and then didn’t wait for a reply before she was pulling Danny several yards away to speak with her in whispered tones.

Lucas felt a warning in the air. The stench of legerdemain was all around him, threatening from all sides. But it was more than that. Danny seemed scared, and for some reason that bothered him even more than the magic. Imani was also acting strange. And there was something else…. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Uh, it, uh, was nice meeting you,” Sasha said behind him. Lucas turned to watch the man bow a bit, his own expression very wary and distracted. And then the Russian was jogging off again, glancing once in the girls’ direction before he disappeared into the crowd.

Without thinking, Lucas tuned himself into what Danny and her friend were saying, using his sharpened senses to make out their hushed words.

“… knows you’re here! He knew the second you were within range. You two shouldn’t be here!” Imani hissed.

Danny yanked her hand out of Imani’s and narrowed her own gaze. “I don’t know what the big deal is about Jason knowing I’m here, Ima, but I’m aware that we shouldn’t be here!” she hissed back. “We were just about to leave when you showed up.”

“Why the hell are you here to begin with?”

“Lucas wanted to come – he drove us here and I didn’t know this is where we were coming. Now calm the hell down! We’re leaving.” Danny turned away from her friend to walk back toward Lucas, but stopped when the crowd suddenly gasped as one and then fell silent just as quickly.

The hair on the back of Lucas’s neck stood on end. His skin felt prickly. Every light in the Festival grounds went out, one after another, until the entire area was dark. Lucas could feel the people around him freeze in place, afraid to move amidst the absence of light. Warning bells were going off in his head. His vision automatically adjusted for the darkness, switching to a stark contrast of grays, whites and reds.

From somewhere unseen, a drum began to pound. One beat. Two. Low and slow and methodical. It was a hypnotic sound, capable of stirring the blood. A few onlookers began to whisper amongst themselves.

Lucas felt something soft brush his fingertips and he looked down to see that Danny had found her way back to his side. He wasted no time in taking her hand once more, and she didn’t object. But he could see her clearly in the darkness and her gaze was on something in the distance.

He turned to look. On the opposite end of the Festival grounds, a light began to grow. It was a firelight, perhaps from the tip of a torch, but it expanded in time with the beating drum, a brightening glow in the September night.

There was a sudden flash, and two of the torches along the Festival’s walkway burst into fiery life, momentarily blinding everyone. The drums picked up their tempo, joined by several other drums beating out a fast pulse. A second later, two more torches burst into flame amidst gasps of delight and surprise. Then two more, and so forth, until the expanse of sand beneath the Festival stands and stage was decorated in long, flickering shadows.

Tiki torches around the stage also exploded into flame, revealing the source of the single fire that had lit the darkness only moments before. A tall man with light blonde hair stood at the center of the stage, dressed from head to toe in black swaths of clothing, a black, lit torch in his left hand.

He was relatively far from where Lucas and Danny stood, but even at this distance, Lucas could tell that he was a young man, possibly in his late twenties to early thirties. He was about Lucas’s height, well built, and there was a charismatic air around him that Caige could feel radiating outward like ripples on a pond. It mesmerized the Festival participants, drawing them closer to the stage as the drums beat themselves into a fury.

The hypnotic rhythm crescendoed, powerful and potent, and then it stopped altogether – and the crowd waited breathlessly. The man smiled, flashing perfect white teeth. “Welcome,” he said. He simply spoke the word, but it echoed throughout the Festival grounds as if amplified by invisible, floating speakers.

Magic.

“Tonight marks the first night of the Harvest Moon,” he continued. “In honor of this event, I give you –” he paused as he raised his right hand, and a ball of fire erupted in his palm. The crowd gasped and then clapped, and he continued. “A light in the darkness!” With that, he pulled his arm back and threw the ball of fire. It sped over the heads of the revelers toward the waiting, yet dark bonfire pit beyond.

The ball of flame struck the enormous pile of wooden crate and pallet remains and exploded into a towering mass of brilliant, raging fire. A few women screamed a little, and the men roared with impressed delight. The children squealed, jumping up and down. But the show wasn’t over.

Above the raging bonfire, amidst the streams of smoke rising toward the heavens, shapes began to take form. The first was of a man, tall and strong. Only his smoky outline could be discerned. But he reminded Lucas of someone, and the image gave him a truly nasty feeling.

The male outline seemed to erupt into flame itself, burning away into oblivion until it was followed by a second shape. This one was of a motorcycle. It also erupted into flame, again amongst the excited, impressed ooh’s and aah’s of the crowd. The last form to take shape was easily recognizable and when it materialized completely, Lucas’s eyes began to heat in his head. His vision was changing again, turning more red.

A massive black wolf sat back on its haunches and lifted its head to howl at the moon. Despite the immaterialness of the smoky outline, the wolf’s howl reverberated through the Festival grounds, echoing hollowly, sorrowfully, before its image was also engulfed by flame and burned away.

The message was clear. Lucas was no fool.

He looked away from the fire pit toward the stage to find that his assumption had been correct. The man on the stage was watching him. Even though he was far enough away that he couldn’t tell what color the man’s eyes were, Caige could feel those eyes upon him, burning into him with nothing short of pure, unadulterated hatred.

There was more magic pouring out from him than Lucas had ever felt or smelled before. The crowd no doubt believed that everything they had just witnessed was due to pyrotechnics and advanced planning and illusion and technology. It was none of those things. The man on the stage was a wizard, and a powerful one at that.

Lucas felt his chest rumble and realized he was growling low in his throat. He was losing control. This was all too much. The wizard obviously had something against him – the burning images were testament enough to that – and whatever it was, it was serious. But this was not the place to hash out their differences. There were children here.

Danny was here.

Lucas tore his gaze from the stage and glanced down at Danny. She too was watching the man with the light blonde hair. Her kaleidoscope eyes were huge in the frame of her beautiful face. His protective instincts were taking over. He needed to get her out of there.

And then he would come back and find the wizard and rip his fucking throat out. He didn’t care what beef the man had with him. The fact that he was magic and hated Caige was enough. It was an itch that needed scratching. And if he died in the process of trying, then so be it. Everyone had to go some time.

But then there was a sucking-popping sound, and Lucas’s head whipped around once more just in time to see the man on the stage vanish. The torch he’d been holding in his left hand dropped to the stage and went out, its smoke curling lazily upward toward the night sky. The people in the audience clapped and cheered and began to disperse.

“We should go,” Danny said beside him. He looked down at her to find her smiling a small smile, her eyes large and pleading, her expression a mixture of confusion and worry. He found himself wondering what she would have to be confused and worried about.

What had she and Imani been talking about? Come to think of it, who was this Jason person? And why had she been watching the man on the stage – instead of staring at the bonfire like everyone else had been?

What was going on?

Lucas was moving on autopilot now and when he raised his hand and gently cupped the side of her face, he did so without thinking. His thumb slowly caressed the line of her cheek bone and she blinked. He could feel her shiver beneath his touch, a lithe column of trepidation and anticipation, and his own body responded in kind.

She’s mine, he thought. It was an unbidden declaration, uncalled for and nonsensical. He’d barely met her. He knew nothing about her. Yet, logical or not, there it was – along with the crazy powerful wizard who hated him and the crowd permeated with the stench of magic and the uber-rich driver of foreign sports cars who had tried to kill him by running him off of the road last night. The world had gone to pot and made no sense any longer.

And he wanted Danny like he’d never wanted another woman in all his life.

Here, in this place of fire and night, she was a beacon of goodness, a port in a storm, and he was quivering beneath the weight of the gale all around him. The feel of her skin beneath his touch was doing things to him. He wanted to feel more. He needed to feel more – like a dying man crawling to an altar.

Lucas couldn’t have stopped what happened next if he’d tried. He took her face in both of his hands and drew her closer, his hold on her inexorable, his thirst unbearable. He could smell magic everywhere – but Danny’s sweet scent licked at him, smoothed over him, and made him forget. He could hear her breathing go ragged, hear the quickening beat of her heart, and all other sound faded away.

Danny raised her arms and pressed her hands against his chest, as if she could stay him where he was and prevent him from doing what he was going to do. But she couldn’t. Nothing could have.

So as he leaned in and whispered her name across her lips, she closed her eyes, at once as lost in him as he was in her. Lucas moved in for the kill. He could not suppress the growl that escaped him as he claimed her lips with his own, at last tasting the sweet salvation her pouting mouth had been promising him all night.

She was delicious. He was delirious. The essence he had scented on her from the very beginning was concentrated here, vanilla and sugar and sweet, supple satisfaction. He took all he could get, wanting more with each passing second. The fires that burned in the torches around him were spreading – he could feel them engulfing him in their heat. His cock hardened and throbbed; his grip on her tightened, and he pressed deeper, his tongue delving and licking and drinking her in.

He forgot about the wizard and where he might have gone to. In that magical moment he couldn’t have cared, he was so spellbound.

Danny moaned against him and his hands slipped around her neck, gripping, loosening, and moving further down. He wanted to strip her right then and there and take her in the sand. He was losing control.

I have to get her out of here.

With that thought, he pulled his lips from hers but retained his grip on her body, holding her fast against him. “Let me take you out of here,” he whispered, hoping she would understand what he meant – hoping as he’d never hoped for anything that she would agree.

Danny gazed up at him, her pink, swollen lips parted, her gorgeous, strange eyes heavily lidded, her breathing quick and ragged, and Caige went a little crazy inside.

Please, he thought, pleaded – begged.

Danny nodded just once, and that was enough. Lucas fought the urge to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder. Instead, he grabbed her wrist in one swift, sure grip and spun her around to begin pulling her across the Festival grounds toward the parking lot and the motorcycle that waited there.

He never noticed the other men watching them. He couldn’t sense them, couldn’t see them, couldn’t smell them. His entire world had become Danny, and he had no idea they were there.