Pack Witch (Captured Souls Book 1) Read online

  “I haven’t heard from you in years. And you haven’t called me once.”

  “Works both ways, sweetheart.”

  “Don’t call me sweetheart.”

  “I take it from the look of panic on your face when you saw me that your pretty-boy boyfriend doesn’t know a thing about me or…” He tipped his head to the side accusingly, “or about you.”

  “You can’t be here.”

  “I’m not leaving. So ya gonna invite me, or do I have to blow your house down?” He waggled his eyebrows.

  I rolled my eyes. Werewolf humor. “You’re not funny.”

  “What’s it going to be, Maisie? Invite me in and introduce me to your guy, or do I let myself in? Tick tock.”

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  His face darkened. I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or hurt. I could never read Noah. “It’s good to see you, too.”

  “I’m serious. What do you want?”

  He bristled and squared his shoulders. His wispy short waves fluttered in the breeze. “Pack needs you.”

  I shook my head as I scowled at him.

  “I’m not part of your pack, and I never really was. Whatever you need, I’m sure you can handle it on your own.”

  The floorboards creaked above us as Mason moved around upstairs. Then water rushed through the pipes in the walls as he flushed the toilet.

  Noah raised a single eyebrow. He had a temper, and he didn’t bullshit. If I turned him away, I knew he’d make good on his word. He’d force himself in here and then how would I explain him? But how would I explain him if I invited him in? Mason, this is Noah, one of my closest childhood friends who I never ever mentioned?

  “Please just go. If you ever cared about me, you’ll do this for me.”

  “It’s not going to make this go away. If I leave, he’ll send someone else. Someone a little more immune to your begging.”

  By him, he meant Douglas, his pack leader. “I don’t beg,” I told him.

  He flashed me a grin that showcased his perfect white teeth with incisors just a touch too long for a human.

  Mason bounded down the stairs.

  “Please.” I splayed my hand on his chest and felt a pull toward him in my stomach.

  He stared at my hand. His chest muscles tensed, and so did the muscles in his jaw.

  “Just wait till he leaves, and then we can talk.”

  He tipped his head down and looked at me from under hooded full brows. “And you’ll help? You won’t fight me?”

  “Yes!”

  “Swear it.”

  “Yes, dammit. Now go!”

  He smiled wide. “See you in a few, sweetheart.”

  I slammed the door shut and spun around.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Mason asked. He drew his eyebrows into a deep V. “You’re really pale.” He studied me, looking doubtful. “I just got called to go in. Mrs. Larson is fully dilated, but I can call Andy and ask him to fill in.”

  “No!” I said a bit too quickly. “I said I’m fine. I just…I’m so tired, you know? Take the call. I’ll just have a nap. I’ll be fine later.”

  He closed the distance between us, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me tenderly. I wanted to kiss him back just as passionately, but not for the right reasons. I wanted him to feel like nothing was wrong. Though I couldn’t let myself because I couldn’t stop thinking about Noah. Was he watching? It made the kiss beyond awkward, so I had to break away.

  Mason framed my face with his hands. “If you need me, call. I’ll come home.” His eyes flickered to the sink.

  The damn broken glass. “I’ll clean up this mess and eat your wonderful spaghetti, and then I’ll go to bed early. I’ll be here waiting for you when you get home.”

  “I like the sound of that.” He lowered his hands to my ass and pulled my pelvis in tight against the bulge in his pants. “I love you.”

  “Me too,” I said quietly.

  It only took a few moments for him to get ready. After kissing him goodbye, I stayed in the open doorway, waving to him as he pulled out of the driveway. And I waited to make sure he was gone and not coming back. Thank God Noah had given me enough time for Mason to leave. I could finally breathe again.

  When I was sure the coast was clear, I jogged into the kitchen and shut off the stove before hurrying to the sliding doors. I left them ajar as I padded outside in my sock feet, the damp grass moistening my socks. I ignored it. I had more pressing things to worry about. I didn’t see Noah anywhere. Had he left? An ache began in my gut, surprising me. I wanted him to leave, didn’t I?

  I whispered his name, “Noah? Noah?” Where the hell had he gone? I couldn’t risk him popping up again when Mason returned. The next time I might not have been able to hide him so easily. I stayed out there a moment, but he didn’t come. I checked my watch. I wouldn’t wait here all night.

  I made my way inside and stayed near the sliding doors. The trees blew, a robin fed at the bird feeder. I almost started to clean up the glass in the sink, but Mason would be gone a while and I didn’t feel like it. In fact, I frowned at it and decided to ignore it. For a little while.

  I trudged upstairs to change out of my scrubs. Mason, the neat guy he was, left the bed made, and he’d put away the mess of clothes I’d left on the floor this morning because I hadn’t had time to pick them up. He’d also tidied up the toiletries and makeup I’d left out.

  I’d grabbed some tights and an oversized sweater and started to pull off my scrub top when I heard Noah’s deep, masculine voice.

  He stood in the walk-in closet, staring to the left, at Mason’s clothes. “Suits and dress pants. And ties.” He held up a polka dot tie a patient had given Mason after he’d resuscitated her baby moments after she’d given birth. Mason wore it every time the woman and her baby had an appointment. Mason got small gifts like that all the time, and he always appreciated and cherished them.

  I pulled my scrub top back down into place. “Get out of the closet.”

  He held his hands up. “There’s one I haven’t heard before.”

  I rolled my eyes. “How did you get in here?”

  He sauntered toward me, his head tipped down, and regarded me with his hooded eyes. I gulped. I didn’t want to be attracted to him, but a stalking Noah was masculine and strong and hard not to appreciate. I was only human after all—well, sort of.

  “You left the sliding doors open,” he said.

  I knew I didn’t. He must have picked the lock. I propped my hands on my hips and frowned.

  “When you went to the hammock I snuck inside. I was curious to see your house. You’re doing well for yourself. Congrats. Your life almost looks normal.”

  “It’s Mason’s house, and I am normal.”

  “Right. Keep telling yourself that. You might actually believe it one day.”

  I clucked my tongue at him.

  He stopped by my dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out a black lace bra that I only wore on special occasions. He held up a finger, dangling the bra by one of the straps.

  I lunged forward and snatched it from him. “Stay out of my things.” I tossed it in my drawer and slammed it shut. “I’m not in the mood for games. Just tell me what you want.”

  There was a time years ago when I would have been so excited to see or hear from him. I’d missed our banter and how easy it was to be near him, even when we had nothing to say to one another. And I missed that I never had to pretend with him. I couldn’t if I tried. In some ways, he’d known me better than anyone else. He was the best kind of friend, because he was someone I could be with in silence and not worry what the silence meant. I felt anger for him now for staying away so long, even when I was just as much at fault. I was also angry he wanted to upset the life I’d built when it was clear I was happy. But mostly, I was angry because he’d stayed in Clover when I’d asked him to leave with me.

  I stood in front of him. My breathing quickened from his towering frame. No one took up space li
ke Noah. He had an aura about him that made him seem so much larger than he was. And next to him, with him looking down at me, I knew he could crush me with a single hand if he chose to. He was dangerous, even to me.

  “We need you in Clover.”

  “You don’t need me. You’re a pack of werewolves. You’re nearly invincible.”

  “True. On most days. But not today.”

  This confession stunned me a moment. Werewolves didn’t have any natural predators. They were basically at the top of the food chain. The only thing I knew that could hurt or kill a wolf prematurely was a silver-tipped stake, a silver bullet to the heart, or decapitation. And the only people who knew this were other supernaturals. For the most part, they tended to avoid each other. No one wanted another war like the one in the fourteen-hundreds or the late seventeen-hundreds.

  “What’s going on?” I said quickly, failing to keep my interest from my tone.

  “Marco’s dead.”

  His news stunned me. Inside, I felt as if a balloon in my chest had deflated. I slumped forward and it took me a moment to find my voice. I reached behind me and lowered myself to the bed. “Dead? How?”

  “I think it was a bullet.”

  My heart grew heavier. I frowned as I imagined Marco’s dead body laying on the ground, eyes unblinking, with blood seeping from his wound. I’d liked Marco. He was a little older than me, about the same age as Noah. Twenty-four or twenty-five, I think. About the same age as my stepbrother would have been now, and they’d been close. Noah, Seth, and Marco had all been. We’d all gone to high school together, but I hadn’t been as close with Marco as Seth and Noah had. We’d hung out, but we hadn’t talked about personal stuff.

  One of the things I liked most about him was how polite he was. He’d never failed to open a door for a woman, and if you gave him something he’d always said thank you. He’d been softer than the others. Soft in a way I once wished Noah had been.

  “What do you mean, you think it was a bullet?”

  When he exhaled, his heavy breath ruffled the hair around my face. Though it warmed me, it gave me shivers. I waited patiently for him to respond, but as he shook his head and lines appeared on his forehead I knew, without question, I wouldn’t like his answer.

  Two

  Without much consideration, I hopped into my car with Noah. One hour there, and one hour back, plus whatever time I had to stay in town. That meant three to four hours tops. Or was that just wishful thinking?

  When he’d showed up at my house and demanded to talk with me, I had little choice but to give in. Keeping my secret was more important than coming clean with Mason. Would Noah have really exposed me? I didn’t think so. But Mason was already suspicious of why I refused to talk about Clover. I didn’t need Noah to stir the pot and make Mason even more so. Plus, if I were honest, deep down, I still felt a seed of loyalty to the pack, no matter how much they’d hurt me or my stepbrother.

  Did I want to go back? Well, that question was a little more complicated.

  “Okay, tell me one more time. And this time don’t leave anything out,” I said as we drove along the mostly straight highway to Clover, the seaside town I grew up in. If there had been another way to keep my promise and not return home, I would have chosen that option, but unfortunately the situation was dire. Worse than I could have imagined, actually, and they’d been in some serious pickles in the past. With my hands tight on the steering wheel, I took a deep breath, in an attempt to ease some tension.

  Back in my bedroom, Noah had told me a condensed version of what had happened to Marco. Basically, he’d found him dead in a parking lot with a gaping wound in his chest. Summaries were great for book reports or silly every day stories, but when it came to murder? I preferred every last detail, even ones you might not have thought were important.

  “Laird and I left Clover to visit Elmer Rickshaw, the pack leader of Kyle.” Kyle was a small community on the west side of Nova Scotia.

  “I’m familiar with him.”

  He nodded and continued. “Marco tagged along. We met Elmer at a site he was working. Marco waited in the parking lot by the car.”

  “Why?”

  He glanced at me with his full eyebrows drawn. “Why what?”

  “Why did he wait by the car? And why was it you and Laird? Where was Douglas?”

  Douglas had been the leader of the Clover Pack since I’d moved there almost six years ago, just before my mother had married my stepfather, Laird. Living with, and among the pack for nearly three years had taught me a lot about wolf politics. Only pack leaders met with other pack leaders. It would have been an insult for a leader to send someone in their place without one hell of a good reason. And they always took their strongest member with them when they traveled—their enforcer. It had been my stepfather when I lived there.

  “Douglas stepped down a few months ago. Laird’s Alpha now.”

  If Noah had punched me in the face, I wouldn’t have been more surprised. “Wow.”

  “Yeah.”

  I didn’t know how I felt about my stepfather being Alpha now. Laird and I had a boat load of issues I didn’t think we’d ever resolve.

  When Douglas had been pack master, the pack had never asked anything of me. And they’d left me alone since I’d moved to the city. Douglas had never trusted me. Most weres mistrusted witches, so I hadn’t been offended. In fact, I’d counted on that fact when I’d left. I had to wonder if them asking for help now had more to do with the change in leadership and less to do with them being unable to resolve their current dilemma without me.

  A thought occurred to me that didn’t sit well in my gut. “If Laird is Alpha, then who…?”

  Under the pale golden and blue dashboard lights I glanced at Noah. His gaze flickered to the right quickly, almost too quickly to catch. He didn’t have to say what I suspected. Laird getting promoted meant Noah had too. He’d become the enforcer. The thought made me shiver. All punishments doled out by the Alpha would now be carried out by Noah. Maybe he didn’t care that he might have to kill other people, or wolves—perhaps even someone in his family—but he wasn’t completely cold. I saw glimpses of emotions in him, and I worried somewhere deep, deep down that this job might affect him badly. Unlike others, he would never share his pain or regret. He’d carry it alone until it ate away at him. Or, possibly, it might not affect him at all. I couldn’t say which result saddened me more. Then again…

  “Why not Rex?” Rex had raised Noah after Noah’s parents had died. He was one of the strongest in the pack. Or had been. Now Noah was full grown, things had obviously changed. I could tell by looking at him.

  “Rex didn’t want it.”

  “I don’t blame him. Why would you take it?” I asked him point blank.

  He started to speak, but I held up a hand. “Never mind. It’s none of my business.”

  He groaned in a way that almost sounded like a growl. Or maybe it was a growl. I chose to ignore it. “Okay, so you went to talk to Elmer. Then what?”

  “We were gone maybe an hour. When we came back, Marco was on his back on the parking lot pavement with a hole in the center of his chest”—he met my eyes—“and not where his heart is. But he was dead anyway.”

  “Did you check to see if there was a bullet in the hole?”

  He made a face at me. “Of course. But like I said, it wasn’t by his heart. It shouldn’t have killed him. Whatever got him, wasn’t anything we’ve seen before. I tried to reach in and pull it out. And…” He held up his hand and I gasped at the sight of the red, raw pads of three of his fingers and his thumb.

  Pushing past the mental image of him digging into Marco’s chest with his bare hands, I quickly asked, “When was this?”

  “Last night.”

  “And you haven’t healed?”

  He shook his head. Well, now that was odd too. Weres healed much quicker than humans. If it had just been silver, it would have burned Noah when he touched it, but when he let go, he should have healed. Who
ever killed Marco had used magic. It was the only explanation that made sense. I guessed that was why the pack had come to Gravewood to ask for my help. As far as I knew, I was the only witch they knew. Too bad for them, my dad died before he could teach me how to be one. I guessed an incompetent witch was better than nothing.

  “You touched it and it burned you? Like that?” I asked.

  “It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I felt the heat, and then it was like it stretched up my arm, like it took root inside of me, and started to…grow. I almost couldn’t let go. Like my hand became attached to it.”

  The blacktop continued, the yellow broken lines passing under the car as I drove just over the speed limit. “No one saw anything?”

  “Nope.”

  “Elmer didn’t have other men around?”

  “Just his enforcer, and he was in the room with us. The other men onsite were human, and they’d have been panicking or screaming if they saw anything. Whoever did it was careful not to be seen.”

  “And you think that person’s a witch?”

  “You don’t?”

  I slumped in my seat, my mind spinning. “I’m sorry about Marco. I know you were close.”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw his jaw tic. He’d never admit to me that he cared, but I could see it. I turned my head a fraction to watch his eyes. He wouldn’t allow me to look closer. He looked out the window, away from me. A weak rain started and drizzled over the car, hitting the windows to streak down the panes.

  “I’m not sure what I can do to help,” I said softly.

  He didn’t respond. He didn’t do much of anything for the next few minutes. The silence grew so heavy it made it hard to breathe.

  “I can’t stay, Noah. I’ll have a look at Marco. Tell you what I can, which probably won’t be much. You know my dad died when I was eleven. I didn’t have anyone to guide me or to teach me the basics of witchcraft. I have some natural talents, and none of those would help here. I’m just a below-average witch with no connections. You might have come to Gravewood City for nothing.”