63. Jax

63

Jax

That wasn't the only guard I saw armed with a gun. Unease filled me as I looked around. I hadn't anticipated the weapons. Most wolves preferred to fight in their beast form. "Are you expecting trouble?" I asked when the tour ended. We stood in a glass room looking down at what seemed like a gymnasium. At least thirty people were below in a circle, passing a flame along the black candles they held and chanting something in a language I'd never heard of before.

"The weapons? Where there is information, there is always someone who wishes to steal it," Broderick said mildly as he looked down. "It's midday. When the sun is highest in the sky, we ask for her protection."

"Not the moons?"

"We ask for hers as well, but we are the Protectors of the Land. We must see to the earth's nourishment as well as our own. It is our hope that the sun's magic can protect it against all invaders, including that of ancient spells. We perform this every day."

I lifted my eyebrows. "Does it work?"

"We won't know unless we fail."

Lunessa frowned. "The black candle is not traditionally used to ask for a blessing."

"But it is used in protection," Henry said smoothly. Too smoothly. Lunessa just nodded absently. "Any help, I suppose. You had questions for me. I am willing to answer them, although I do not know if they will be any use to you."

For an hour, while the members below swayed back and forth with their chants and candles, Lunessa lied through her teeth as she asked and answered questions. More and more, I saw the mask slipping and her true self coming out. Every now and then, I squeezed her hand to remind her that she was meant to be a scared witch running for her life, not a powerful witch with more magic in her pinky than was held in this entire bunker.

In fact, nobody seemed to have much power here. Broderick would have made a decent alpha, and he no doubt considered this a pack, but Lunessa didn't seem impressed by any of the witches we found.

Saris was the only human, and she didn't say much. Henry touched her often. I assumed that they were lovers, and she was more than happy to take direction from him.

"That is all I have," Lunessa said with a touch of exhaustion. "I hope it helps."

Henry nodded. "Every bit of information helps. If you follow me, I would like your opinion on a spell I'm considering casting. You seem knowledgeable."

"What I lack in power, I do try to make up for in knowledge," she said quietly.

We both stood, but Henry waved me away. "It will take but a moment."

"Then I will stay with you for a moment," I growled.

"Do you think I would harm her, wolf?" Henry challenged.

Broderick put his hand on his arm. "They are mates, Henry, and he is protecting her in a building filled with strangers. It is in his nature."

Lunessa smiled at me. "I trust them, Ken, and I would like to see the spell. I will return in a few minutes."

I was not all that concerned that they were splitting up. We were both capable of taking care of ourselves, but I hadn't expected this. With a short nod, I held my breath until she was out the door.

"Where will you go after this? Will you try to join another pack?" Broderick asked as he returned to the window.

"The way you talk, it doesn't matter what we do. We'll all but under the control of some evil villain," I said dryly.

"I do feel the time is drawing near," he sighed. "You could stay with us. I know you think our methods are strange. These rituals were built by desperate people. They've read every piece of information we've gathered over and over again, desperate to find an answer. They've tracked locations and family trees. Most of us pull an all-nighter at least once a week."

He turned to me. "But they are scholars, and I fear we've come to need warriors."

"The armed guards suggest otherwise," I pointed out.

"There are less than dozen. They would be slaughtered if we go to war. I am in recruiting mode, and I can see a warrior when I look at you."

Shit. And here I'd thought Lunessa had hidden my power. "As warrior as any werewolf."

Broderick shook his head. "No. No. You've been a follower, but I can tell you could be a good leader. The decisions you've made here. The way you protect your mate. I see the calculations in your eyes. You're a strategist, and I suspect you're more powerful than you believe. Your mate is a knowledgeable witch. Stay and help. Fight for our cause."

"Lulu is far more gullible than I. You spin a terrifying story, but you offer little proof."

"Is the proof not in the attack itself or what you overheard them say?" he challenged.

"I believe that there are followers, but I see no proof that we are on the verge of war. Your seers cannot even pinpoint who the ternary is."

"Her name is Andrea."

My heart dropped. "Excuse me?"

"You wanted to know what we know. I am telling you. Her name is Andrea. A cub born twenty-four years ago to a witch and a wolf. She displays the null abilities and could wield magic as a child and has a wolf form. She is the ternary, but her family fled the pack when she was but five years old. I have not been able to find out why. Perhaps someone told the Mother what her child would be. In any case, we have not been able to find her since then, but there was a mysterious woman in Emerson's pack shortly before her death."

I willed myself to keep my features still. "You think the alpha mate is this ternary."

"I think she disappeared right after his death and hasn't been seen since. I also think that no one in the pack, yourself and your mate included, can remember what she looked like. That's a powerful magic."

It was, but it wasn't Anna's. "I was loyal to my alpha, but it would surprise nobody if a woman killed him. He had very little respect for them."

"I don't give a damn who killed him. I give a damn that mystery shrouds this woman." Broderick's eyes narrowed. "There is nothing in the text that suggests this woman will be innocent. I fear a partnership that we may not be able to stop. There is only one line that gives me hope."

"And what is that?"

Broderick merely clapped me on the back. "Join us, and perhaps I will tell you."

It wasn't until later that night that Lunessa and I were once again alone. If she was troubled by whatever she and Henry spoke about, she didn't say. But when we closed the door, she started the shower and poked her head out the door. "Come join me," she said huskily.

Without hesitation, I crossed the room and closed the bathroom door. She was in her underwear, and I stripped down to my boxers before she squealed and pulled me into the hot shower.

Then, she fiddled with something incased in a plastic bag and the giggles continued. Confused, I looked over her shoulder.

It was an old-fashioned tape recorder in a plastic bag. She'd brought that? Clever.

Muted sounds of seductions grew softer and louder. The male voice sounded enough like me that I almost demanded when she'd recorded it, but she pulled me down into a sitting position on the floor of the shower. "If we're quiet, the audio shouldn't be able to pick up our voices," she said quietly.

"If London ever finds out about this…"

"He has nothing to do with this. Focus. I scanned the bunker as best I could during the tour. The armed guards are a diversion, but there is an enormous amount of magic beneath that first room we passed. I think the real texts are stored there."

Smart. "Could you break them?"

"Yes, but it'll take time I'm not sure we have. I can guarantee that no witch in this bunker now has cast it. The magic is old. Probably the easiest thing is to throw you at it. It'll wrap itself around you. It'll be faster for me to extricate you from the spell than to break it. I'm sure it'll set off some alarms."

I searched her face. There was some urgency to it. "You think we need to do this tonight."

"We have to. That spell that Henry wants to cast? It's a modified tracker spell. It will take them to a void of magic. That won't exist anywhere on this mountain except for you know who."

"Shit," I said quietly. "Why hasn't he cast it yet?"

"He's not powerful enough, and he knows it. He thinks it'll work if he has enough witches on his side to cast it. It won't."

I was still confused. "That sounds like a good thing."

"Sure, if I weren't here. My magic will power it, especially since I have intimate knowledge of her. We need to be out of here before he asks me to help cast it. We need to strike tonight."

Fuck. "What if we've made things worse?"

Lunessa shook her head. "No. We haven't. Henry has said enough things that makes me believe they have a copy of the spell here. We have to get our hands on it. We need to know the ingredients Maeve requires."

"And you're still on her side? I saw your face when they talked about sacrificing her."

The witch sighed. "She's incredible, you know. I think she could be the thing that pulls us all together. Whatever you saw in my face, it was not about her."

So it was about something else. As much as I wanted to ask, I had a feeling it was personal. "Then we strike tonight. I assume you have a plan."

She hesitated and nodded. "I do, and I need you to follow it to the letter. And Jax, once you have the spell, you run, even if you have to leave me here."

"I'm not leaving you."

She smiled sadly. "I may not be a seer, but I've lived with one most of my life, and I eavesdrop. I've heard details about how I will die, and it's soon. I suspect I was never going to make it out. My only goal is that you do."