Rugged beneath her fingertips, the maple tree bark seemed ordinary. But then she felt a slight indentation, as if a woodpecker had drilled inside. Jenny backed away and studied the hole.
The phosphorus green glowed from inside. Now was not the time to shirk her odd powers. Culling them together, she stared at the hole, willing whatever was inside to come out. Jenny felt her mind reach into the trunk and yank hard.
Her heart raced as a small black stone floated in the air. The baby babbled again and leaned away, as if he knew this was not a good thing.
Especially next to his sandbox.
The stone floated into Jenny’s outstretched palm. The silvery sheen covering the blackness glinted in the sunlight. It looked like a crystal, but beneath the stone glowed green. It stunk of the miasma of evil permeating this area.
What the hell was it?
The baby began to wail as she bounced the stone in her palm. Jenny turned as the back screen door slammed and the blonde woman rushed out.
She took a few paces back as the woman grabbed the child.
“Stay back. I don’t know what this is, but I found it in your tree and it’s evil.”
Expecting the woman to castigate her or run away, she was surprised to see her nod. “Finally, someone found the source. Can you destroy it?”
A loaded question. Truly, a peculiar one as well. “Why do you think I can?”
“Because you’re the only one who found it and we’ve been searching for days, so you must have some abilities my mate and I don’t possess.”
The woman stuck out a hand. “I’m Samantha, and this is our son, Hunter.”
Jenny ignored the obvious question in the woman’s voice. She wasn’t about to share any personal information and names were personal.
“Get back and keep the baby safe. I’m not sure if this will work and I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Samantha went into the house and returned without the baby, watching from the porch. Jenny turned her back and looked at the forest.
The stone burned in her palm, making it itch beneath her skin. And yet she felt a surety with this, knowing what it was and what must be done. Once she had been a terrified Lupine caught in a cascade of bullets hailing from a helicopter. Now she felt in her gut that she had the power for a reason, and needed to use it. No, she must use it.
Destroy it.
Jenny closed her eyes, pulling on every molecule of magick in her body, envisioning it as a grayish white streak of pure light. She flung the stone into the air and opened her eyes, directing the light streaming out of her fingertips into the stone’s center.
The crystal exploded, then disintegrated into powder and suddenly vanished.
“Amazing,” Samantha cried out.
Shaken, she dusted her hands. Never before had her powers manifested themselves with such force.
She had the magick within her to obliterate solid matter. Who ever heard of a Lupine possessing such powers?
It felt as if she’d opened the lid to a dangerous chest. Pandora’s Box, but instead of releasing evil, it vanquished it. She had no desire to use this power for her own gain or money.
Instead, she only wanted to retreat back into the forest.
Maybe these powers of hers could be used for good. But she didn’t want to explore that thought right now. It was too overwhelming.
Just being here, in front of a Lupine and her child in a pack setting, was freaking out the introvert inside her.
Overriding that fear was an intense desire to know why such evil haunted this tree and this Lupine household.
“Tell me what happened before. Did you know the stone was there? Could you feel the danger?” Jenny asked.
“Darius and I knew something was wrong.” Samantha passed Jenny and went to the tree, stroking the bark. “This old tree has guarded our home since we were mated and moved into the cabin. When our son was born, Darius dug that sand pit next to the tree so the branches would shelter him while Hunter played outside. But for the past two weeks, every time I came outside, I felt uneasy. It felt… like someone was watching me.”
Unable to prevent a shudder, Jenny nodded. “I expect someone was, for them to get this close.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Darius is a powerful Lupine and warded this area twice. How could something get past his magick?”
“The stone. Maybe the stone weakened the warding, enough for the evil to penetrate through.”
“I put the stone inside the tree. It’s a Hermatite crystal, a stone Fae use for everyday protection. I placed it there more than a year ago to protect Hunter while he played outside.” Samantha shuddered. “How did it get like this?”
“Are you Fae?”
“Half-fae, half Lupine.”
Interesting. “In my former pack, no half-breeds were allowed.”
Samantha didn’t blink. “Some packs are like that. Not this one. My mate, Darius, made sure of that, along with our alpha, Aiden. Everyone is welcome, as long as they are loyal and follow the rules and don’t endanger the pack.”
Back to the stone… Jenny thought hard. She had read a book written by a Fae once about crystals. “Some crystals are open to healing and protection, but they have to be infused once in a while with good magick if they are placed outdoors in open areas.”
Where they can be vulnerable to bad energy, like the type that invaded your ranch. But how did such negative energy get past your alpha’s safeguards?
Questions swirled in her mind. Deep inside, she felt a nagging need to help these people, as if it were part of her blood and bone. But her own need for privacy and self-preservation nudged it aside.
And if Troy chose to stay here, what then?
Samantha nodded. “That makes sense. I had forgotten about it and maybe when that … thing… invaded our land, it centered on the stone.”
Still she felt the urgent need for a warning. “I’d watch out for more like it. Something dark wants to
