Chapter Ten

"Welcome back," Savannah said. "Thanks for meeting here at the packhouse. I thought this place was better than my small apartment."

Beside her stood a man Zenia had never seen before. His legs were spaced out, and he had his arms crossed over his chest. His silky black hair had a sheen of blue in the sunlight. Scruff lined his square jaw. Dark-brown eyes stared at each of us in an assessing way. A shimmer of gold hoops hung in his earlobes, and tattoos traveled up each arm. At first Zenia thought they were abstract designs, but the longer she looked she realized they were runes.

She pulled her gaze away from his body and saw that he watched her. Suddenly, Greyden's arm curled around her waist, and she saw he stared angrily at the handsome stranger. The man winked at her and gave a mocking grin before turning back to Savannah. Greyden took a step closer, but she placed a hand on his arm to halt him.

"Alpha Jericho, Beta Ledger, this is Niall," she said, gesturing to him. "He's a warlock. I asked him to help me remove the remaining dark magic from Greyden."

"A warlock?" Jericho asked.

Ledger looked back and forth between Savannah and Niall. "Like in Harry Potter?"

"Those are wizards," Niall said dryly. "There are many different types of casters. Enchanters, like Savannah, do mostly harmless spells. Warlocks tend to deal with the darker side of magic."

"Does that make you evil?" Ledger asked.

He grinned. "Yes, and no. Nothing is ever truly good or truly evil. Every person is a mixture of both."

Niall walked over to Greyden to study him. The two men had a contest of wills, staring one another down, before Niall took a step back and turned to Savannah.

"The spell on him was illegally cast," he said, his voice deep and rich.

"We figured that," Savannah said.

Zenia took a step closer. "Can you break it?"

"I can." He glanced at her. "For you to entirely forget about your real mate, a very dark warlock had to come into play. Someone who was very near you, and I'm not talking about an acquaintance. I'm talking proximity."

Greyden frowned. "You're the only warlock I know."

He slipped off his leather jacket, revealing a muscular body, and she couldn't help but ogle him.

"Hey," Greyden muttered. She glanced at him and smiled sheepishly.

Niall had Greyden sit in a chair and close his eyes. As Savannah lit up a sage stick and walked around the room, the warlock took a bag of black powder and walked around him, muttering some type of incantation. He placed five smokey crystals around Greyden's chair, saying some type of warding word as each were placed. He came to stand in front of Greyden.

"Your hand, please."

Greyden slowly raised it, and Niall pulled out a slim needle and quickly pricked a finger, capturing a drop of blood into one end of the needle. The serum seemed to get absorbed. Niall began writing in the air with the sharp end, and some weird shapes that looked like runes briefly appeared before rippling and disappearing.

"This next part is going to hurt," Niall warned Greyden.

"Do whatever you need to do to remove this spell."

Niall closed his eyes and began muttering under this breath. At first, nothing happened, but with a repeat of the counter spell, Greyden's body jumped. Over and over, Niall chanted, the volume growing in intensity. A black mist oozed from his mouth and rose above Greyden's head, and he slammed his eyes shut as if in pain. As the mist grew thicker, Greyden's body contorted and he shrieked. The sounds grew in pitch, until almost deafening. Zenia's eyes filled with tears that ran down her cheeks. It hurt so much to see him suffer, and she wished she could absorb his pain.

Suddenly, Niall was in front of her. He used his fingers to pick up her tears and dipped the needle in them. When he returned to Greyden, he jammed the sharp point into Greyden's forehead. He let out an unholy scream and collapsed, his head hanging down. Zenia ran to his side, cradling his face. She brought his head up, expecting to see the head wound, with blood leaking from where the needle protruded, but it wasn't there. No needle, no blood, nothing to indicate Greyden had been stabbed. Niall backed up and slid down the wall, panting heavily.

"It's done," he muttered. He raised a trembling hand to run his fingers through his hair. "Whoever did this spell was powerful. And an asshole."

"But he's free?" Zenia asked.

"Yeah, he's free." He pushed back to his feet and walked over to her. "But I'm not. Time for my payment."

Jericho took a step closer, ready to jump in if he needed to defend her.

She stared at him as he came to stand directly in front of her. Then he brought up a small, empty glass vial.

"Can I have the rest of your tears?"

"Oh," she said. "Sure."

He put the vial up to her cheek and let the wetness flow in. "One of the most powerful things in the universe is true love. And true love tears are potent."

When he'd collected all he could, he sealed up the vial and stuck it in his jacket. Then he studied her and placed his hand over her head. He muttered something under his breath, and then a gust of power hit her square in the chest. She tripped backward and Jericho held her steady. The roar of her wolf suddenly exploded through her head as she clawed her way out. Zenia's clothes shredded as she came down on her paws. She looked up at Niall and gave a growl of thanks.