Her mind spun in a whirlwind. How could she say no, when Troy was her world, her rock? “Yes,” she cried out, flinging her arms around him. “A thousand times yes.”
His mouth on hers felt like heaven. Not caring who watched, or what her father thought, she kept kissing him until Aiden cleared his throat. “You two can pick that up later. We still have business to discuss.”
Troy framed her face with his hands and dropped one last kiss on her mouth. “We do. What they’ve told me is mighty serious. You need to know.”
They walked toward the makeshift altar. All traces of Perry’s acolytes were gone.
“What happened to his cult?” Jenny asked.
Tristan’s expression turned grim. “They were all Skins turned to darkness. I eliminated their bodies. Their deaths will be accounted for in a vehicle accident. We have seen to it.”
Jenny had a bad feeling about this. “Humans embracing evil isn’t new. We don’t get involved with them.”
“But humans worshipping the Dark Lord and turning their souls over to him means we must get involved,” Troy told her. “The wizards told me this isn’t the first case of humans turning to dark magick from our world.”
The Silver Wizard nodded. “Perry was able to access your land, Aiden, because you already have one follower of the Dark Lord in your pack. You, Darius and Dale warded the land from the inside, strong enough to keep evil from infiltrating from the outside. But this treacherous Lupine in your pack used dark magick to disable all the warding from the inside of your territory. Then he personally invited Perry and the others into your territory. This Lupine also placed the crystal in the tree outside Darius and Samantha’s home.”
Anger twisted Aiden’s face. “You knew about this Lupine and you didn’t tell me, Tristan? What the hell?!”
“All had to play out as it did. Now that Jenny understands her heritage,” Tristan gave a sly grin, “which I had suspected, but could not confirm until Caderyn admitted it…”
The Shadow Wizard scowled even deeper than Aiden.
“We can dispense with this threat. It will be a good way for Caderyn to show Jenny how to work her powers,” Gideon, the Crimson Wizard put in.
“Do not be angry with your brother-in-law, Aiden. We wizards cannot interfere with destiny,” said Drust, the Cobalt Wizard. He gave the alpha a sympathetic look.
Brother-in-law? Somehow the news that Tristan was related to Aiden by a mating eased Jenny’s mind.
“Please tell me it isn’t Professor Chance,” Jenny said. “He seems like a good Skin. He wanted to save me in wolf form.”
“He is. I put a memory spell on him so he will not recall seeing you injured, Jenny. Aiden agreed to allow his studies of the Timberline pack to continue.” Xavier snapped his fingers and his Elvis suit turned into a somber black T-shirt and black jeans.
“In the coming fight, we will need good Skins like him.” Tristan looked at the Crystal Wizard. “The Elvis suit was beginning to grow on me.”
“I need my street fighting clothing for this task.” The Crystal Wizard looked solemn.
Troy held up a hand. “Before we do this, I want all of your assurances that Jenny won’t get hurt.”
“Hey, I can protect myself,” she protested.
Never had she seen him so serious. Not even the day he saved her in the alleyway when they first met. “Until your father teaches you how to control all your magick, you’re vulnerable.”
“Agreed,” Caderyn boomed.
Everyone looked at her. She sighed. “Fine. But can someone tell me what we are doing?”
“Kicking ass,” Tristan said grimly. “Wizard style.”
Chapter 14
Troy felt more than ready to kick ass, with or without the wizards. From what they had told him and Aiden, this particular ass kicking was long overdue.
Knew his instincts were right, damnit. He blamed himself until Aiden told him to forget it.
“I’m the alpha,” Aiden said as he drove his pickup toward their destination. “Protecting the pack and knowing what is going on in my turf is my responsibility. I had a feeling, but I didn’t want to believe it. Not from one of my people.”
Sandwiched between Aiden and Troy, Jenny said nothing, only clung to Troy’s hand. He felt her tremble a little. Felt her slight fear that this test could let down the father she’d just met.
“You okay? You’ve been through a hell of a lot today, Jenny. If you need to back out of this and let the wizards handle it, they’ll understand,” Aiden told her.
Jenny shook her head. Troy understood. She needed to find out exactly how much power she had, and how to use it. What better teacher than her own birth father?
“You’ll do fine. What did I tell you before, sweetheart? Let her rip. You have all this wonderful power for a purpose.”
Tension seemed to flee her. Jenny nodded.
Troy kissed her hand. “I always knew you were special. This proves it.”
They arrived at the scene Tristan had directed them to find just as the five wizards materialized.
At first he couldn’t believe it, and then cold, hard anger replaced the disbelief.
In a pasture close to where the cattle grazed, a dead cow lay in the field. Snake was sprawled out on the ground.
Unconscious.
“Oh no! Troy, help her,” Jenny pleaded.
Screams rippled through the air as Aiden pulled to a stop, parked and swore, throwing open the door. Troy was out before he was, tearing across the field. Half naked beneath him, her breasts exposed, Zoe beat at Ellison as he straddled her, fumbling with his jeans zipper.
Blood ringed Ellison’s mouth, evidence they’d found the one who had killed and eviscerated all the cattle over the past month.
Using all his power, Troy ran across the field, leaving dust in his wake and pulled Ellison off Zoe, throwing him to the ground.
“What the hell did you do to her?” he roared.
Nearby a fire burned, a
