The Wolf's Surrender

CHAPTER 16



By the next night, Mia had almost forgotten about the watching eyes out in the darkness.

No matter how intense her connection to Jenner seemed, the fact remained that she was only just beginning to learn about his life. And to her delight, he’d begun to show it to her. She’d gotten to see the garage he owned, enjoying the way he prowled around the cars like a restless animal. It was his territory, and she found she liked watching him on it.

It surprised her that the gruff werewolf was still tentative with her in some ways, as though he was afraid she would somehow find him lacking. How could he possibly know just how little he had to be afraid of? There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the man. Or at least, nothing wrong with him that she didn’t find strangely sexy anyway.

So Mia watched, and enjoyed, and wished there were more she could show him of her own life. His quiet, slightly awed appreciation of the design work she showed him meant a lot to her. But it wasn’t until she watched Jenner’s interactions with the tight-knit pack of the town that she realized what she’d been missing. The thing she couldn’t share with him because it didn’t really exist.

A network of friends and family. A home.

She’d been lonelier than she’d known. Here, she was less hidden than she had been in the city...and infinitely happier. Aislynn had been by again to see her, and people had begun to wave at her as if they knew her. More, Jenner’s house had already begun to feel more like home than any she’d ever been in. And his bed, as she’d been frequently reminded, was a place she might happily spend days on end as long as Jenner was with her.

She could belong here, Mia thought.

She could almost believe nothing could touch her.

Almost.

The moon hung fat and heavy in the sky when Mia’s eyes flew open in the darkened bedroom. She frowned, unsure of what had wakened her. Jenner was still beside her, his warmth reassuring in the silence.

Then she heard the whispers.

Mia...Miiiiiiaaaaaaaa...

Something flickered past one of the windows, darker than the night. Her breath stilled in her throat. They were outside. Waiting.

She lifted a hand to wake Jenner up, but paused just before touching him. Moonlight poured into the room, flooding her system with the kind of energy she and Jenner had talked about. It was the power of the moon, calling to the wolf now running in her veins. In seconds, she was wide awake. And with her alertness came an anger so deep it stunned her.

This was hers. Nothing in her life had ever inspired this sort of raw possession. She immediately found herself struggling with the urge to dash outside, teeth bared, and make a stand against the things that wanted to take all of this away from her. To take Jenner away from her.

She knew what he would do if she woke him. He would do exactly what she was trying not to. And as strong as he was, if these things had slithered this far into protected territory to taunt her, they were feeling confident about their chances.

Mia pulled her hand back, eyes caressing Jenner as he slept. The pull at her heart was deep, real, and accompanied by an ache she’d never felt before. He looked so innocent in sleep, less hardened, less wary. His lips were slightly parted as he breathed deeply.

Mia sighed softly as another shadow made the moonlight flicker through the window, then another.

She knew what she was feeling, even though it was new and unexpected and unfamiliar. Jenner said that when things were right between wolves, they just...happened. Fast. That was an understatement, but she knew with a bone-deep certainty that she would give everything she had to keep him safe.

Miiiiiiiiaaaaaaa...

She turned her head to glare at the dancing patches of darkness that continued to drift gleefully through her line of sight. The Shadowkin were tired of waiting. And she was tired of being a victim. A vision flickered through her head of Jeff in his wolf form running away from her, howling. I could do that again, she thought. She wouldn’t have to go outside. She and Jenner would be safe for the rest of the night, at least. He would never have to know.

Silently, Mia slid out of the bed. Jenner didn’t move a muscle, a relief.

Her anger rose quickly, something she would have to channel if she didn’t want another episode where she nearly succumbed to the wolf. But she was getting stronger. This time, Mia felt a great deal more confident that she could handle it. And sending a few Shadowkin shrieking back into the woods should help.

She padded down the stairs in her bare feet, looking at the huge window. She tried to stay as far back from it as she could. It was dark, but she was hardly the only thing that could see in it. Her confidence faltered, but only for an instant. Because they would sense her weakness.

And there were dozens of them.

The woods were full of them, human-shaped patches of a black far deeper than any night. They slipped in and out of the trees, some walking, some running, others seeming to float...and a few actually flying. There were glints of red, bright fiery sparks. Their eyes.

Mia drew in a single, shuddering breath.

All at once, they stopped and turned to look directly at her.

For what seemed like forever, nothing moved. They were simply...waiting. And that was when she felt it, the power gathering inside of her with a strength she’d never known. It coursed through her blood, singing its wild midnight song as her skin lit, then burned brighter. Pale tendrils of violet light drifted upward from her skin like smoke. And as the magic rose, so did her fury.

She would banish these things from her life, from this place, for good. She knew she could do it, if she could only reach a little more deeply into herself, if she got just a little closer.

Mia felt herself descending the stairs the rest of the way, though she was barely aware of it. She let herself be pulled toward the moonlight, the starry night—the sources of her magic. Then she could hear the whispers rising all around her, taunts of what the Shadowkin planned to do to the Blackpaw, of how pathetic she was to even try to stop it.

Her entire being thrummed with magic, so that she began to shake with it. Somewhere deep in her mind, warning bells began to go off. This was too much. She didn’t know if she could control this, she’d let them use her emotion to goad her too far.

And it was too late, because she had no idea how to make this stop without releasing what was building inside of her. But she had to get out of this house, or she was going to unleash hell in here, and she had no idea what would happen.

Mia barely managed to stagger to the door, flinging it wide and forcing her legs to move to where the Shadowkin twisted and moved, waiting. She could feel them surrounding her, pressing in.

So much power. Show us...

Dimly, she heard a shout behind her, then a snarl. Her heart sank, even as she let go. A violent flash of light shook the very ground as a wave of magic tore through the gathered Shadowkin. But instead of hurting them, she could feel their pleasure, like a sigh. They vanished, at once, riding the wave of dark energy away from her, out of the clearing.

Mia fell to her knees, utterly empty. Every ounce of strength she had was gone, drained from her...and given, albeit unwittingly, to the very things she’d been trying to banish. This was what they’d wanted, she realized dully. A wave of nausea shook her. Her hands hit the ground. Her vision began to waver, but not so much that she couldn’t see Jenner’s bare feet move slowly into view.

“Jenner,” she said softly. “Help me.”

But when she looked up, it was into a face that was filled with so much horror it might have been a stranger’s.

“Mia?” It was a question loaded with meaning, and Mia suddenly knew that if she gave the wrong answer, he was prepared to go from her lover to Lunari. What did he think he’d seen? What did he think she was?

This was what that display from the Shadowkin had really been about, Mia realized too late. They hadn’t just taken her strength tonight. They’d taken Jenner’s trust. And she was too weak to defend herself against the accusation she now saw in his eyes.

“I was trying to make them go away,” Mia said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I thought I could make them go away.”

Then she closed her eyes, finally feeling Jenner’s hands on her just before she lost consciousness. He was giving her the benefit of the doubt, she guessed...but there was no feeling of relief. She’d seen the betrayal stamped all over his handsome face.

He wouldn’t take her life.

But it seemed that Jeff and the shadows that swirled around him had taken everything else.