23. Jax

23

Jax

Rolling her eyes, Lunessa pointed to the door. "I think they might find it difficult to get in now. How've you been, London? You took Ava in as your witch? Really?"

"She's ten times the witch you ever were," London snarled.

"Now you're just lying, and that's not like you."

I'd never seen Lunessa like this. She'd always been so regal and calm.

In the face of London, she was downright petty.

I turned to Irene and helped her steady herself. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." Irene glared at Lunessa. "Once I told her where we were going, she dropped me. I barely clung to her."

To her credit, Lunessa reddened. "Sorry," she muttered. "It wasn't intentional. I was just a little surprised when you said where we were going."

Rising, London turned his wrath on me. "You did this? You can pack up your wolves and leave. Today. Your sanctuary has been revoked."

"I'll be going with him," Amelia said softly. "As will Saul. And Anna."

"I don't care," London snarled. There was a beat of silence, and he sank back into his chair. "Fine. I do care. Still, what the fuck is this? Why her?"

"We need magic to reach Anna. Magic that she's rebuffing, obviously. I'm hoping that Lunessa can come up with a better way. I'd be equally pissed if I were in your shoes," I acknowledged. "But I'm desperate. I don't even think your witch is going to help again after today."

Lunessa's whole face lit up. "Why? Did she get hurt?"

"Who even are you?" Irene demanded. "What is wrong with you?"

The Darkwyn witch just shrugged, and I sighed. "Lunessa will be confined to Anna's room."

"And how are you going to enforce that? She can pop all over the place whenever she damn well wishes," London said sullenly.

That was true. I couldn't tie her down, even if I wanted to.

Lunessa's eyes narrowed as she studied me. "Where is your wolf? Normally I can see him, but he's buried deep. What's happened?"

"None of your business," London snapped.

It was true. Even though I was cured and had shifted to prove it, my wolf still stayed deep within me. I didn't know if he was scared or ashamed, but he wasn't even coming out for Anna, and I didn't know how to help. I'd been so damned focused on Anna that I didn't even think of him half the time.

"I'm fine," I told her. "We're fine."

"No. You're not. Her blood runs through you. I can feel it," Lunessa said flatly before she swung around to London. "You're all right?"

"Yes," he said, his voice softening a little. "I'm all right."

Lunessa nodded. "Fine. I swear to stay confined to Anna's room while I examine her and will only leave with your permission, Alpha London. I need to be told what happened leading up to her collapse. Then, maybe I can fix your wolf, Jax. He's not himself."

What the fuck did that mean? Even London looked nervous as he stared at me. "There was another who was affected," I said. "You'll take a look at her, too."

"Fine. London, are we in agreement?"

"No magic outside of fixing Anna," London growled.

"Whatever. Shall we go?"

London held up his finger. "One moment. I need to contact Ava so she can accompany you."

The office shuddered just a little as Lunessa narrowed her eyes, but at least I was able to open the door.

Anna's room was crowded. Amelia had left, but Kenzi joined us. Cindy reluctantly went back to her room, but Janelle and Ava were there, as well as Lunessa, London and Saul. My skin prickled at the sight of so many witches and shifters near Anna's unconscious body, but I had to believe that nobody in this room would harm her.

For the past fifteen minutes, nobody said a word as Lunessa sat next to Anna, eyes closed, and held her hand. I wasn't even sure anyone moved. I knew I sure as hell hadn't.

When she opened her eyes, she immediately moved off the bed and stared down. "That shouldn't even be possible," she whispered.

"Half witch, half wolf," London muttered. "Abilities of both. I thought the same thing when I read through the journals."

"We examined her at the coven. No one sensed her magic," Lunessa said as she paled. "But there is just so much of it inside of her. Even if I were powerful enough to reach past her null abilities, it would take me years to chip away at all of it. Irene is right. There is only one person who could have bound her magic like this."

"Who?"

"Her mother. DNA is very much a part of witch magic, like allowing one twin to share the soul of another. Anna's null abilities would have recognized the magic of family reaching her and accepted it. Still, this spell that binds her is incredible. I don't even know if I could replicate it with all the magic of my coven."

"So, you can't help," Ava said flatly.

Lunessa didn't even spare her a look. "I didn't say that. Your plan to batter through the spell? Even if it did work, it would have left her completely witch-blind and probably without an ounce of sanity. We're lucky it didn't. Anna has to recognize that she's trapped and unravel it from the inside."

Any hope I had died. "So, we just wait it out?"

"Not at all. I don't know that Anna could ever do it on her own. Luckily, she's never been alone a day in her life. You've all forgotten what's staring you right in the face."

"Anna's wolf," Saul muttered. "I haven't forgotten. I've thought of a thousand ways to use her wolf, but nobody can call her out. Not even Jax."

"You're not going to call her out." Lunessa's eyes lit up. "She's going to let you in. Through the mating bond."

My heart skipped a beat. "You can do that?"

"No," Lunessa admitted. "As coincidence would have it, it takes four witches to perform this spell. A witch who has already connected to her mind. That would be you, Irene, when you peered inside her mind. A witch who can…reach her wolf. I hear that's a specialty of yours, Janelle."

Shit. Janelle paled and took a small step back.

"One witch to call on the elements to keep us all balanced. That would be you, Ava. And a witch to keep all the other witches from burning out. That's me, or at least, I hope that's me. I've never performed anything like this before."

"Perform what, exactly?" I asked.

"We're going to send your consciousness through the mating bond. You're going to enter her world, Jax. You'll be you. You'll know who you are, and more importantly, you'll know that what's happening in the world around you isn't real. You need to find Anna and convince her of the same. Get her to break the bindings. The faster you do it, the more successful you'll be. If even one of us slips up, it could crack you both wide open. You'll be drooling messes."

Janelle cleared her throat. "There has to be another way. That doesn't sound safe."

I'd made a promise to her. A promise that if I ever asked her to use her magic to manipulate a bond, she was to refuse.

"It's not, but there is no other way." Lunessa smiled softly at Janelle. "You need to trust in yourself. Our abilities are with us for a reason. You are a healer, Janelle. There is truly no one else like you."

A healer? She could manipulate wolves. How the hell is that a healer?

"I made her a promise," I said hoarsely.

Lunessa continued to stare at Janelle, and after a moment, Janelle's face relaxed. "It's all right. You're not asking, and I can do this."

"Good." Lunessa looked at Irene. "You're still barely at half strength, but there's enough magic in you to do this. It's not going to be easy, but I will keep you safe."

"Anna saved my life. I can do this," Irene said with determination.

Finally, Lunessa turned to Ava. "You don't trust me, and you don't owe Anna anything, but we cannot do this without you. Currently, you and I are the two strongest witches in this room. If you can't or won't give a hundred percent, I need to know now. There's no point in trying."

To my surprise, Ava's eyes practically gleamed. "Oh, I am so in."

Lunessa chuckled. "It is a once-in-a-lifetime use of magic, that's for sure. We're probably all going to get a little bit of a magical high from it. We're going to need some ingredients and we're all going to need to do a power-boost. We'll do the ritual at midnight. You three can get started without me. I'll do the boost with you when the moon is up. There's one more thing I need to do."

"What's that?" London asked quietly.

Lunessa turned to me. "You'll be gone. Your wolf will be in charge. From what I can sense for your wolf, I think we need to take some precautions. It's time to see just how much you trust London."