Mated By Fate by Christa Wick

Chapter Thirteen

Seth didn't leavewithout a fight, but the words exchanged were between him and Esme. The witch cautioned patience, which might have calmed him had Lana not also insisted on his removing any extra guards from around the house. In the end, he capitulated to the request for time and space—from him.

He remained unbending when it came to guards. Betas from different packs rotated through three shifts a day, their post maintained at the far end of Esme's long drive.

Ready to bend or not, the arrangement came to a screeching halt at the end of the first week by order of the Tennessee clan's leader, Jack Cooper. More certain of what she was casting for, Esme had pinpointed three latents within the first few days after Lana's rescue. With Coop finally convinced that Hunters were targeting latents as part of their crusade to make shifters extinct, he pulled the wolves guarding the two women.

Well, Coop pulled the wolves he could. Seth and Denver still went off clan lands on missions, but never at the same time despite the pack structure. Sitting on the long porch around the table with Esme teaching Lana the art of witchcraft or reading together in the rocking chairs, one or the other of the women would raise her head and stare out at the tree line as she sensed her mate.

Lana never remarked when Esme scanned the area for Denver—the witch still thought her secret intact. Heck, she wasn't even certain Denver and Esme were mates in the truest sense. She just knew they were both crazy about each other, but Esme wouldn't drop her charms to find out.

And so it went.

During the second week, Lana met Gordon, the only male human in the clan. Esme had been kind when she said he looked as old as Moses. She'd been kind in calling him a healer, too. Able only to piece together scraps of magic, Gordon was mostly an herbalist. Considering it was his bad batch of datura ink Bucklee and Otter had used for their tattoos, he wasn't much of an herbalist, either. With just one week into her training, Lana could have run circles around him if she'd been so impolite as to show off. Instead, she fumbled when he was around, letting him teach her healing spells she'd already mastered.

Ready for another hour of fooling the old man, she watched Gordon pull to a stop in front of Esme's porch. With Gordon’s driving no better than his magic skills, Esme had spelled the house to make sure he stopped before he could collapse the porch—again.

Instead of getting out of the vehicle, the old man blared his horn.

"What on earth, Gordon?" Esme stepped off the porch and approached his car. He whispered something in her ear. Esme straightened and started to return to the house, but he grabbed her wrist with his bony, gnarled hand.

"I've got all the supplies we need, there's no time!"

Lana approached the porch railing. "What's going on?"

"One of the team's found another latent, she was near your apartment building." Esme looked at the front door, started to move toward it again, but Gordon would not release her arm.

"She's injured." He wheezed when he spoke. "They can't move her and it's bad, too bad for me to heal her."

"I need my phone." Esme twisted her wrist, freeing herself from the old man's grip.

"We'll use mine. The girl could die!"

"Fine!" Esme spun back toward the vehicle, her hands flapping for Gordon to move over. "Then we don't have any time for you to drive, move."

Lana took a step off the porch. "Should I come? I can help you."

"No, Seth would have my entrails for breakfast if I took you off the clan’s lands." She shook her head, the strength of her dismissal setting her blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders.

"Aye-aye, Cap'n. I'll hold the fort down." Lana offered a perky salute, hoping to ease Esme's worry about leaving her alone.

The witch frowned, the furrowed line in her forehead deepening. "Stay inside, doors locked, promise me."

Gordon nodded. "Best do as she says, child. I'll text Seth and let him know you're out here alone."

Faking a smile, Lana thanked the old man. He still hadn't caught on that the last shifter she wanted to see was Seth. Even thinking about the big wolf hurt. The times he'd waited just beyond sight, guarding her without her permission, had been pure torture. She'd felt his restlessness, his need. Whatever emotion he felt was magnified inside her, each day harder to bear without him than the day before.

Watching the car disappear down the long drive, Lana went inside and locked the doors.

* * *

At dusk,Gordon's car returned with just the old man. Seeing the vehicle make solid contact with the porch, Lana's stomach tightened. Esme had explained how some spells didn't last beyond the witch who had cast them. For most such spells, it was merely a matter of how much work you wanted to put into the spell. If one was dead and didn't need the porch anymore, why build such a strong spell that would last after you?

The sentry spell on the porch was that kind of spell.

Lana ran outside and threw open the passenger side door, checking the back seat for Esme. "Where is she!"

Gordon shook his head. "She's alive, but hurt bad. Camille is on her way, but—"

Lana knew Camille was visiting Cade's clan in West Virginia, the drive at least four hours each way.

"Take me to her!" Lana shouted as she hopped in the front passenger seat. "There's got to be something I can do until Camille arrives."

"Seth—"

"I don't give a damn what Seth says!" She hit the car's dash, blue waves of energy rippling out from the point of impact. "Take me to her now, Gordon."

His mouth set in a grim line, he put the car in reverse. Realizing she should have made the old man let her drive, she told him to pull over.

The car picked up speed. "It's not far from the clan's land," he argued. "I know these old roads better than you, girl. Watched 'em built as a boy."

Lana stopped arguing and willed the vehicle to go faster. The car seemed to respond, Gordon whipping around the curving country lanes like he was a young man running moonshine. He laughed once, the oddly joyous sound falling from his ancient lips out of place with Esme being gravely injured.

The car skidded to a stop next to an overlook on the road. Parked next to them, one of the shiny black vans the clan used idled with the side door open. A blanket covered a woman's body, dark blonde hair spilling onto the van floor from beneath one edge. Lana unhooked her seat belt and bounded straight into the van.

Touching the hard plastic of a mannequin, she realized her mistake in trusting the old man a second too late. Unyielding hands grabbed her by the arms as someone slapped duct tape over her mouth. The tape was followed by a hood cinched tight at the throat.

"Thank you, Gordon. Now I have a witch and a latent."

The smooth, unaccented voice sent a chill down Lana's spine. The chill turned to a frozen dagger stabbing straight into her heart as the van shifted into gear and the stranger spoke again.

"I can't wait to drain them. I'll be a fucking god!"