Chapter 6

The streets were nearly desertedat two in the morning. I headed home, where Sean waited for me.

The confrontation at Charles's house felt like a lifetime ago. The news about my impending trip through the mirror had pushed my anger at Charles not just to the back burner, but deep into the back of a dusty cupboard.

In the passenger seat area, Malcolm flitted repeatedly. "Alice."

I gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. "Yeah?"

"This is bonkers. I don't want to go through a mirror to the Broken World to stop a vengeance-crazed blood mage from unleashing the Furies on our world."

"Join the club, dude." I glanced at him. "You don't have to go with me, you know."

"You're sure as hell not going without me. You'll need all the backup you can get, so I'd better get used to the idea." He sighed. "Hey, did you notice how tired Valas looked?"

"Yes, I did. And since when does Vlad hang around his maker like that? It's like he's protecting her." I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. "I think she needs that scroll back for more than just sentimental reasons."

"Based on what?"

"Vlad being there, and a feeling I got when she talked about the scroll. I picked up on something because of our binding. She doesn't just want it back—she needs it."

"If she does need it back and that's connected to her physical condition, maybe you can use that to your advantage."

"Maybe. I'll have to really think on that." I yawned. "I need to talk to Sean when I get home and then try to get a couple hours of sleep. Are you going to spend some time with Liam?"

"Yeah, I should, since I'll be gone for a while. I'll be back in the morning to help you figure out what to pack." He shook his head. "I've never packed for a trip through a mirror to another world before. It's not like we can check a tourism website for packing tips."

"At least we have a little bit of information from Adam about the Broken World. That's better than nothing."

"I guess," he said dubiously. "It sounds crazy there. And I thought our world was nuts."

"Our world is nuts. Theirs is just more nuts."

"Can you imagine a world where the boundaries between all the supernatural realms and ours are fractured?" Malcolm clearly had a difficult time wrapping his brain around the idea. "I mean, from what Adam says, all the critters and supernatural beings we don't have to worry about here are everywhere there, and it's basically martial law. The vamps jockey with the Light and Dark Fae for power. Creatures you and I have only read about in storybooks walk down the street, and humans have to figure out how to survive when we're not at the top of the food chain."

"When you put it like that, it sounds kind of bad," I said.

He snorted.

I turned onto my street. "I've got to have a serious talk with Sean. Have fun hanging out with Liam. Say hi for me. We'll have to all get together when we get back."

"Okay, Alice. Have a good night. I'll see you in the morning." He vanished.

Sean's Mercedes was parked in my driveway, off to the side so I could get past. The SUV was a tight squeeze in the carport, so I parked in front of it and got out.

The door opened as I trudged up the walk toward the front steps. Sean stood in the doorway, worried and grim. He'd probably caught hints of my emotions through our nascent bond while I was at Northbourne, and that was on top of the strain already caused by Charles.

When our eyes met, I paused halfway up the steps, my hand on the railing. "Hi."

Sean came out to meet me. To my surprise, he scooped me up and kissed me hard, then carried me inside. He set me on my feet in the foyer and closed the door with his foot. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay. Really," I added when he frowned. "Not about what Charles did to me, obviously, but I know the truth now and that's the first step toward dealing with it."

"I should have told you sooner that I'd once considered turning a mage to be my mate. I'm sorry you found out this way."

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you tried to warn me a dozen times what a manipulative, lying bastard Charles is."

"He was in your head, keeping you from thinking clearly. Even I didn't know how bad it was." He cupped the back of my neck and pressed his forehead to mine. "He didn't just try to steal you from me—he tried to steal your mind. I want to kill him for that."

"I know." My fingers tightened on his. "My heart hurts, and I don't even know if the pain I'm feeling is real or a result of his meddling."

He kissed me again, much more gently this time. "Vaughan was your friend, and he betrayed you in the worst possible way. It doesn't matter if your feelings were based on his lies—this is a loss and a hurt you're going to feel. I wish I could take that hurt from you."

"Thanks. That means a lot."

"So, what happened at Northbourne?"

I yawned. "Can I tell you in bed?"

He smiled, and the corners of his eyes crinkled. How I loved that about him. "Of course."

Sean let our dog, Rogue, in from the backyard and we all went upstairs to my bedroom. Rogue curled up in his bed by the window while Sean and I got ready for bed.

By the time I crawled under the covers next to Sean, I could barely keep my eyes open. "I used to stay up for days at a time and be fine. Now I can barely make it to three o'clock." I burrowed my face into his T-shirt and let his forest scent wrap me in comfort.

He pressed a kiss into my hair. "You've had a long, emotionally tiring day." He rested his chin on my head. I nestled deeper into his arms, trying to commit the feeling of his body wrapped around me to memory. I would have no such comfort and safety in the Broken World.

"What did Vaughan say to you, right before you left?" he asked.

"He said you've changed because of Mira?'s power."

After a long silence, he asked, "Do you think I've changed?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Sometimes I do. We're both different, but I don't know if it's because of the sorcerer magic or because of what we've been through these past few months. Or maybe Charles planted suspicion in my head as yet another way of driving a wedge between us." Magic sizzled on my skin. "I hate him for doing this to me—for making me doubt my own thoughts."

He squeezed me. "I'm responsible for the safety and well-being of my pack, and you most of all. If you ever truly believe something is wrong, I need you to make sure I'm not a threat to you or anyone else. Nan and Ben will know what to do." He brushed hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ear. "Promise me you'll do that for me."

"I promise," I told him. "Promise you'll do the same for me if I start to go over to the Dark Side."

He kissed the tip of my nose. "I promise. Who should I contact to help you, if it comes to that?"

"Ask Carly and Malcolm for help." I nestled my head against his chest. "We can't keep this power, Sean. It's going to kill me, and it will change us both. Every instinct in my body tells me it's bad, even if we haven't really noticed any effects yet. Black magic is insidious."

"I like the way the new power helps me sense everyone in the pack more clearly, and how much it's strengthened the pack bonds," Sean said. "But that's how bad magic works, right? It seems harmless at first, but before you know it…"

"Before you know it, you've gone so far down the rabbit hole you can't find your way back," I finished. "Power is seductive that way."

"Do you think you could kill Moses with Mira?'s power? Could you use it to get to him, even through the wards at his compound?"

I said nothing for a long time. Finally, I exhaled. "Maybe. I could do some research. Big-time black magic requires more than just raw power, rituals, and tons of intricate spellwork. Mira? had to have a human heart for the spell to tear out my magic. The kind of magic it would take to get to Moses in his compound would take…something worse."

"But if he was outside the compound?"

"That might be more doable, but I probably won't be able to keep the sorcerer power long enough to put a plan like that together."

"If any good can come of what Mira? did to you, I hope it's that his power enables you to kill Moses." He tucked my head under his chin again. "So, about Northbourne?"

"Valas called in her favor."

He stilled. "What does that mean for you?"

"I can't tell you any of the details, per my agreement with Valas," I reminded him. "But it means Malcolm and I are going to be gone for awhile, and you probably won't be able to sense me through our bond. It also means I won't be here to help you deal with the Council, support our new pack members, and grieve with the rest of the pack for Jack, Delia, and Caleb, and I regret that very much."

He raised my chin with his fingertips. His eyes glowed and his expression was hard. "Tell me where you're going."

"I can't," I repeated. "My agreement with Valas—"

He cut in. "—Was a verbal agreement made under duress."

"That doesn't make it any less binding, as far as Valas and I are concerned. She could prosecute me for violating the agreement if she found out I revealed anything to you."

"How can I come to you if you need me if I don't know where you are?" he demanded. "Alice, if it were me doing this job for the Court, I wouldn't leave you behind feeling helpless, verbal agreement or no verbal agreement."

"You won't be able to come to my rescue," I told him, my voice quiet. "Where Malcolm and I are going, you can't follow. Don't ask me for more information than that, because I can't give it." I ran my fingertips over his bristly cheek. "I've never regretted the bargain I made with Valas, not even for a minute. I know it's asking a lot, but I need you to accept my choice. Remember, you would have done the same for me if our situation were reversed, and you know it."

"I do know that. I wouldn't have thought twice about it." He rubbed his chin on my head. "It's real damn hard to be left behind, especially when I don't know what you'll be facing and I won't be able to reach you or even sense you through our bond to know you're alive. It'll be like when Mira? had you all over again, and that was hell for me." A shadow moved in Sean's eyes: his wolf, pacing in agitation. "I don't want to lose you, and I sure as hell don't want to have to depend on Valas to tell me what happened to you. I've never trusted her, but now I don't believe a word she says."

I'd thought about this during the drive from Northbourne, and made a decision I hoped would offer him some peace of mind. "I'll leave you a letter. If too much time passes and it looks like we won't be coming back, you'll at least know where we went." I ran my thumb over his cheek. "I will tell you this: we're not running off on some frivolous errand. There are a lot of lives at stake."

"And so you're off to save the world again." He kissed my forehead. "This is what happens when you fall in love with a superhero, I suppose." His tone was light, but his expression remained grim.

"Not a superhero—just a mage who wants to save lives whenever she can." I slid my hand through his hair and stared into his eyes so I could talk directly to his wolf too. "Malcolm and I will come back," I promised. "You don't have to believe in Valas or Charles or anything else, but you have to believe in me."

His eyes turned to golden suns. "I believe in you, Alice Worth, and I always will."

I gripped his hair and pulled his mouth to mine, my exhaustion and worries all but forgotten in my need for him.

He let go of me just long enough to pull his T-shirt off over his head and toss it on the floor. I moved his stone wolf amulet aside and ran my nails over the hard muscles of his chest, eliciting a deep growl that told me both Sean and his wolf enjoyed the sensation very much.

His hand slid under my tank top and over my ribs to my breast. Magic sizzled on my skin, but it wasn't mine—it came from Sean's fingertips, and it stung like crackles of electricity.

I gasped, my back arching in a combination of pleasure and pain. "What was that?" I asked, breathless.

He didn't reply. His mouth was suddenly electric too as he kissed me along my jaw and then down my throat, his teeth grazing my skin in just the way I liked. Though I knew Sean would never hurt me in any way I didn't want, that little edge of danger was exactly what I wanted—exactly what I needed.

I didn't want to think any more about our angry confrontation with Charles, the horror of the vision Valas had shared with me, or learning I had less than twenty-four hours before I had to take Malcolm with me through a mirror to a world full of wonders and nightmares. I wanted to be loved, so I could take that feeling with me to the Broken World.

Impatient as always, he tore my top in half and continued moving down my body, exploring my curves and most sensitive places with his fingertips, lips, and teeth. His mouth closed on my right breast at the same moment his fingers gripped my waist. A sizzle of magic and power arced from the delicate skin of my breast to his fingertips.

With a shudder and a moan, I dug my nails into his biceps. "Sean."

He raised his head slowly, drawing out the searing pleasure as his lips tugged gently at my nipple and then released me. "More? Or should I stop?"

He'd clearly done some research on how to use magic for pleasure. Far be it for me to be ungrateful for all his hard work. "More, please."

He smiled wickedly, and I shivered. "I was hoping you'd say that," he murmured. "Let me show you what I've learned."

My pajama pants disappeared while he distracted me with his mouth on my breasts. I used my own magic to trace patterns on his arms, shoulders, and back, making him growl and snarl quietly while he bit, nipped, and licked. Heaven.

Soon he moved farther down the bed and I could no longer focus on anything at all but the sensations of magic and pleasure, and just the right amount of pain. My back arched as I gasped out his name. Even the tip of his tongue sizzled with magic, and for a moment I thought I might black out from the sheer power of the pleasure he was giving me. My hands twisted in the bedding and I let out a desperate cry as the wave inside me began to crest.

Sean raised his head, his fingertips moving slowly and deliberately. "Release your magic," he told me.

"I don't know what the sorcerer magic will do if I release it," I gasped. "You…Rogue…"

"Rogue's gone downstairs." He did something with his fingers that made me cry out. "Release your magic," he repeated, and this time it was a command. "Come for me, beautiful girl." He'd said that to me on our first night together, when he'd shown me, as he'd done many times since, how much seeing my pleasure meant to him.

He bent his head. I felt something different and started to raise my head to see what he was doing—

—And my world went supernova in the most intense orgasm I had ever experienced.

I screamed, my head flung back. I writhed and clawed at the bedding, fighting to get away from a release that terrified me with its intensity. I couldn't move because Sean held me down, even as he continued to do whatever he was doing to cause this tidal wave of pleasure.

I was suddenly afraid to release my magic, not just because I worried it might destroy the room and harm Sean, but because it always caused a second wave of pleasure and I didn't think I could take any more.

Impossibly, the force of the climax increased, and I couldn't hold back anymore. My magic tore free and thundered around us. I screamed again as power coursed through me in waves. Through the haze of pleasure, I called Sean's name over and over, pleading for him to stop, and to never, ever stop.

When I opened my eyes, he was above me. His eyes and skin glowed with hot golden shifter magic as he pushed into me. He pinned my hands to the bed on either side of my head and watched me writhing beneath him as he moved.

"Alice." He lowered his head to graze my earlobe with his teeth. "Beautiful mate," he growled in my ear. It was his wolf's voice.

The sound of the wolf's voice, the sensation of our combined magic blazing around us, and Sean's movements sent me over the edge again. Our magic rolled through us, bringing pleasure and power. Sean shuddered and groaned. My nails left deep marks in his arms. He wrapped me tightly in his arms as he pulsed hot inside me.

Our magic sizzled on our skin, then faded as it settled back into our bodies. I trembled so hard my teeth chattered. We lay together, breathing hard and unwilling to let go.

Sean finally kissed my neck and raised his head, his eyes still golden. "Are you all right?"

"I think so." My voice was wispy. "What did you do? How did you do that?"

"Just a bit of magic, in your most magical spot," he said, nuzzling my throat. "I was hoping for good results, but that exceeded every expectation. I thought you were going to levitate off the bed."

At least I was getting my breath back. "You gotta warn a girl next time you want to try something crazy like that."

"You said more please," he reminded me. He kissed his way along my collarbone, then placed my wolf amulet between my breasts and covered it with his hand. "My beautiful Alice."

Without warning, shifter magic surged inside me. My arms and legs went rigid, the joints popping audibly as my wolf tried to force my body to shift. Caught off guard by my wolf's sudden agitation, I screamed.

Sean cursed. In a blink, he was kneeling beside me, gripping my hand. "Use your shifter magic," he ordered. "Push her back, Alice."

"I don't know how," I gasped.

"You have to learn." He leaned over me, his eyes bright gold. "Be the dominant partner."

The agony in my arms and legs made it difficult to think, but I resisted the idea of shoving her down with brute force. Instead, I closed my eyes and found my wolf's angry golden gaze in the shadows. Stop trying to make me shift, I told her. I can't shift. I will never be able to shift. All you're doing is hurting me.

Want to run, she snarled. She surged again and my limbs seized painfully.

I set my jaw to keep from crying out. I drew on my shifter magic and pushed her gently back. You can't run in this body, and you can't run alone, I told her. It's too dangerous.

She showed me her teeth. No danger to me. Danger to others.

That's what I mean, I said. If you hurt someone, our whole pack will suffer. Many people are afraid of you. They may try to capture you and me. We have to be careful. Please stop hurting me.

My wolf settled down. My limbs stopped seizing. Want to run, she said. It sounded more like a request or a plea now than a demand.

I'll figure something out, I promised her. Please be patient. I have to figure out how to keep us safe.

She showed me the memory of her twenty feet tall and sinking her teeth into the throat of the demon lord Orias. We are safe, she stated. She faded into the shadows.

I opened my eyes. Sean squeezed my hand. "What did you do?"

"I asked her to be patient and stop hurting me."

He rested his forehead on mine. "That won't work long term. You have to dominate her, or she won't learn her boundaries. I know you don't want to, but you have to."

He was right: I didn't want to dominate her the way he had, because it caused her pain—pain I understood all too well. I also knew boundaries were important. Somehow I would have to make her obey me, even if it hurt both of us to do so.

"I will," I promised him. "She wants to run."

"Of course she does. She's a wolf, albeit one made of magic. Wolves need to run. I'll take her running at the pack land. When do you and Malcolm have to leave?"

"As soon as I have a chance to talk to Carly and see if she can make me some goodies to take with us. Depending on how long she needs to make them, we might be leaving as early as tomorrow night. We don't have much time."

"Then I'll take her now."

"What? Now?"

"Yes. You can stay here and get some sleep. When we're done, I'll bring her back."

I shook my head. "This is a bad idea."

"Alice, made of magic or not, she's a wolf in our pack, and she needs to run." He kissed my forehead. "Trust us both."

I took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay." I closed my eyes and found my wolf's golden eyes in the shadows again. Go run with Sean, I told her.

My wolf didn't need any coaxing. With a growl, she leaped from my chest in a surge of power and landed on the floor next to the bed, radiant with golden magic.

I sat up, rubbing my chest, which ached from her abrupt departure. "You can't go around glowing," I told her. "You have to be stealthy."

She showed me her teeth again. She shook herself briskly, then turned into a black wolf with a band of gray across her shoulders and a streak of white in her tail.

Sean kissed my temple and climbed off the bed. "Get some sleep. We'll be back."

I didn't know how I was supposed to sleep after what we'd just done, or while he and my wolf were gone, but I'd have to try. "Be careful. And don't let her eat Rogue."

He chuckled. "She knows he's pack, but I'll make sure she doesn't."

He dressed quickly, gave me one last kiss, and headed downstairs with my wolf at his side. The house wards tingled as they left. I heard the sound of the Maclin Security SUV as it backed down the drive.

A few minutes later, as I dozed, Rogue appeared at the side of the bed. He put his chin on the mattress and stared at me.

"Sean's going to be annoyed at me if he comes back and you're on the bed," I told the dog sleepily. "But come on anyway, fur-face." I patted the bed.

Rogue jumped up and settled in with his back against my shins. I pulled the covers up to my chin and tried to imagine Sean, in wolf form, running through the pack land with my wolf.

"I wish I could run with him," I murmured to Rogue. "I don't want to be a werewolf, but I'd like to run with Sean, just once, to know what it's like. There's no way for me to do that, I suppose."

Rogue wriggled closer and let out a contented sigh. I snuggled under the covers and drifted off to sleep.