21. Tate

TWENTY-ONE

TATE

Leaving Harley in my office, I hurried back to Steff's office and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. Steff had his phone on the table and had already dialed Miles. It rang several times before he answered.

"Are we secure?" Miles asked.

Steff nodded to himself. "Yup, this is the secure cell. You're good."

"Okay, is everyone there?"

"Here," Blayne said.

"Right here, Miles," I said, sitting down beside Steff.

"Okay. I'm on my way back. Not more than ten minutes out, but we need to get started. So, first off, I was able to do some digging on this Emily chick."

When I'd gone out on the porch that morning, I had called all the guys and told them I'd found a witch. Miles had told us he'd look into her ASAP. I sat forward, eager to hear what he'd found.

"So, first off, Tate, do you want to give us a little more about your interaction with her? You were pretty rushed this morning."

"Sure," I said. "When I opened the door, I was hit by the reek of magic. Like it was absolutely mind-blowing. I think she tried to pull it back in some way after she saw me. She must have been caught off guard. As soon as she stepped in, the smell dissipated rather quickly, but I knew what I'd sensed. Pretty sure she knew that I knew, too. She was being coy and giving me these big fake smiles and whatnot. I'm positive she's a witch. No other explanation."

"Okay," Steff said. "But are we sure she is the same witch who has been torturing and killing shifters?"

"No way to be sure," Miles said. "I have to say, the odds are not good. Two different witches? At the same time, in and around Lilly Valley, Colorado? Seems a little outlandish. Or am I wrong?"

He wasn't. The money was on Emily being the witch we were looking for. Fear itched up my spine. It chilled me that she'd taken an interest in Harley.

"Something else happened after I got off the phone with you guys." I pulled the bag of jewelry out and set it on the table.

The bag fell open slightly, and Steff and Blayne both winced and leaned away from it. The stench of magic was not necessarily repulsive to shifters, but it was strong and shocking. Overpowering and easy to spot. It kind of slapped you in the face—or nose, as it was. Again, it wasn't an altogether bad smell, but potent and unmistakable.

Blayne picked the bag up and looked inside. "Jewelry?"

I nodded. "She gave it to Harley this morning. Whatever they are, they are not safe. She almost put a necklace on before I stopped her. I have no idea what to do with it."

"I can help with that. I've found some help. You guys just need to hold the fort down until I get there."

"We can do that, but first, we need to figure out what the hell this Emily chick wants with Tate. Why is she targeting Harley?" Blayne asked.

"To get close?" Steff asked.

"None of the Alphas I spoke to remembered anyone else being involved with the missing shifters. They had a couple of reports of a random woman, but that was it. If I had to guess, that woman was probably Emily," Miles said.

"Maybe they didn't have a mate," I said with a tightness in my chest. "She's my mate. That's a much deeper connection than just a random part-time girlfriend or something."

"Right." Steff nodded. "If she's a hunter, then she would know about the mating bond. She could have somehow figured out that Tate and Harley are connected like that, then used it to gain access to his life."

Emily was no match for me, at least, I didn't think so. I'd never fought a witch before, but now that I knew what she was, I was certain I could take care of myself. The problem was that she wasn't just targeting me. If it was me against her, I'd throw down and go to battle anytime. She was coming at me through Harley, though. It made the situation sticky and difficult to control.

"All right, guys, I'm pulling in the lot. See you in a second." Miles's line went dead, and we all sat in silence as we waited for him.

Seconds later, the intercom buzzed, and Kennedy's voice came over the line. "Mr. Kelly is here."

"Thanks, Ken," Steff said.

Miles walked in a few seconds later. A woman trailed behind him. She looked older and gave off the scent of old magic. She was an elder witch, for sure. I'd never met one, but I could tell instinctively.

"This is Siobhan. I helped her a long time ago, so I called in a favor. She's here to give us some help and a little guidance."

I pointed at the jewelry. "Can you tell us about this stuff?" I dumped it all out on the desk.

The woman stepped forward and glanced at it, then at me. "This was given to you?"

I shook my head. "No." I hesitated. "To my mate."

She touched each item in turn, slowly, almost lovingly. She placed them back after handling them. After she was done, she glanced at us and smiled.

"There is magic in these, but it is not harmful. It's more like simple charms. Spells for luck." She pointed at the opal necklace Harley had almost put on. "That one has a protection spell on it."

Had I heard that right? Protection? "So, this Emily woman is trying to protect Harley and her daughters?"

Siobhan stared at me for a long time without answering. It was like she'd not even heard my question. She just held me with her eyes. For a minute, I was certain she was reading my soul, or my mind.

Finally, exasperated, I asked, "What the hell are you staring at?"

Siobhan took a deep breath. "The town. There's a spell on the entire town."

A stunned silence fell over us. Shocked silence was more accurate.

"The entire town? What does that even mean?" Miles asked.

She looked at him like he'd asked the dumbest question she'd ever heard. "It means what I said. Someone has cast a spell over the whole town. Don't ask me what kind of spell, I can't sense that. All I know is that as soon as we crossed over the Lilly Valley city limits, I felt it."

"Is there any way to figure out what it is?" Blayne asked.

She sighed, as though she were tired. "Let me focus. I can try my best."

She stood in the center of the room and held her hands out at her sides. We gave her complete silence to help her focus. After a few seconds, I felt a prickle along my arms, almost like static electricity was playing across the hairs of my forearm. I'd never felt anything like it. She seemed to be changing the energy in the room. Her hands vibrated slightly, but not like she was doing it, more like some force encircling her was influencing the movement. Eyes closed, Siobhan winced and flinched. As calm as she looked, it also looked like she was working really hard. At last, when she looked ready to collapse, she opened her eyes and wobbled on her feet. Miles jumped up to steady her.

She took a breath, then said, "There's definitely a spell." She moved her finger around the room, pointing at all of us. "And the threads of the spell are all attached to the four of you. Threads that come from the epicenter of the spell and center on you all."

Blayne looked at himself like he would be able to see what Siobhan saw.

"No, boy. You can't see it. It's all I can do to make it visible to myself. It's like a wispy golden vapor rising off you in a thin stream. As for you…" she nodded at me, "…your thread is attached to someone down the hallway. I can see it turn the corner there."

My heart stuttered. Harley was down the hall. This spell was somehow attached to us. How could this be happening? Why was this happening?

"What does all this mean? What will the spell do?" I asked.

She shook her head. "My opinion? By how the spell feels? I think a fate spell has been cast on the town, on you four specifically."

Steff had gone pale, and his voice had a nervous lilt when he spoke. "Fate? Explain that?"

"I can see faint red threads in the spell. The red thread of fate. If it's what I think it is, a witch has cast a fate spell that will force a mating bond. Bending your will to the whims of the witch and the spell." She shrugged and shook her head. "I'm sure there's more to the spell, but without either being there at its conjuring or speaking to the witch herself, I can't tell you more. This is like nothing I've ever encountered. I can't tell you the pros or cons of the spell, either. All I can tell you is that it has connected you all to your fated pairings. Whether you want pairings or not."

Miles pointed at me. "Tate is the only one with a mate so far, but she's a human. How can a shifter be mated to a human? That's nothing I've ever heard of, have you?"

"No, not in all the history of your species. All I can imagine is that the spell was so strong that it somehow defied our natural, and supernatural, laws. It's allowed a pairing that has never happened before."

The next question had to be asked, so I went for it before I lost my courage. "My mate. The human woman down the hall. She's carrying my child. A baby, that is mine, one-hundred percent. Could this spell have caused that pregnancy, too?"

Siobhan had looked so calm and composed since she entered the office, that the look of shock on her face now was almost comical. She leaned forward, her mouth open in surprise, and looked me dead in the eyes.

"A human is carrying a shifter baby? You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Well, if such a thing truly has happened, then there is no doubt the spell is involved. Quite a powerful spell indeed," she said to herself.

A spike of fear and dread shot through me. What if the spell had done more than force a pairing? If it was powerful enough to create a human and shifter child, it could do other things, too. Things that were too scary to think about.

"What about the feelings we have for each other? Did the spell create that, too?"

Siobhan seemed to come out of deep thought. Her face creased into a smile. "My boy, unlike folk and fairy tales, there is no such thing as a love spell. Nor a love potion. Yes, the spell perhaps forced you to meet or come together. Any feelings you felt after that are entirely yours. You and the woman. Love is love," she said, smiling even more broadly.

I sat back, breath shuddering out of me in relief. That relief was quickly overcome by the questions. There were so many. There was only one way to get the answers to those questions. I glanced at Miles, then Steff, and Blayne. They each looked back at me with the same determined look. They knew as well as I did what had to be done. To get our answers, we had to capture Emily. We would find out her motives, why she killed those shifters, and why she'd cast a spell on us. But how did one capture a witch?