Page 22 of Claws for Celebration (Hollow Oak Mates #3)

MOIRA

T he vampires had left with promises that felt more like threats, Viktor's parting words echoing in Moira's mind as she watched their elegant forms disappear into the morning mist. "We'll be nearby if you change your mind, Miss Marsh. When the reality of your situation becomes... clearer."

Now, three hours later, the bookstore buzzed with activity as Twyla, Miriam, and two other women Moira hadn't met before worked to establish what they called a "crash course in magical fundamentals.

" The urgency in everyone's movements spoke volumes about how seriously they were taking the vampire threat and the timeline for her training.

"Right then," Twyla said, setting a collection of crystals and herbs on the table where genealogy books had been that morning. "No more gentle awakening process. We need to assess exactly what we're dealing with before you accidentally level the building."

"Level the building?" Moira repeated, her voice rising with alarm. "I thought we were talking about basic magical control."

"Honey, basic magical control went out the window the moment you manifested protective barriers during an emotional crisis," said the auburn-haired woman Twyla had introduced as Elena Ashford.

"What you did the other night in the garden, that light show that was visible from three blocks away?

That was raw Shadowheart power expressing itself through passion.

We need to understand your limits before you exceed them catastrophically. "

The memory of golden magic dancing around her and Lucien made Moira's cheeks burn with embarrassment and something deeper that made her pulse quicken. "It wasn't intentional. The magic just... responded."

"Blood magic always responds to strong emotion," explained the fourth woman, a silver-haired elder named Cordelia Greyward whose pale eyes seemed to see straight through to Moira's soul.

"Fear, anger, desire, love, all of it feeds directly into your magical core.

That's what makes Shadowheart witches so powerful and so dangerous. "

"Dangerous how?"

"Show her," Twyla said quietly to Elena, who nodded and picked up a simple white candle from the collection on the table.

Elena held the candle in her cupped palms and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming slow and measured. After a moment, the wick burst into flame without any visible ignition source, burning with steady orange light.

"Basic fire magic," Elena explained. "Controlled, focused, contained. Now watch what happens when I add strong emotion to the working."

She thought about something that made her expression shift to profound sadness, and the candle flame immediately tripled in size, roaring upward with heat that made everyone step back. When she forced herself to calm, the flame returned to its normal size.

"Blood magic multiplies that effect exponentially," Cordelia added. "Where Elena's emotional fire magic might singe some eyebrows, yours could burn down half the town if you lost control during a moment of intense feeling."

Moira looked at Lucien, who had positioned himself near the bookstore's front windows where he could watch for additional threats while still participating in her training. "Is that why you've been so careful with me? Why you didn't tell me about the mate bond until now?"

"Partly," he admitted, his dark green eyes holding hers with the intensity that always made her stomach flutter. "Strong emotions between mates can trigger magical feedback loops. The more we feel for each other, the more powerful your magic becomes."

"Which brings us to the practical problem," Twyla said with her characteristic directness. "How do we teach you control when the person you're most emotionally connected to makes your power spike just by being in the same room?"

"Maybe we start with basic grounding techniques," Miriam suggested. "Help her establish a foundation before we worry about the more complex interactions."

"Right. Moira, I want you to place your hands flat on the table and focus on your breathing," Cordelia instructed. "Feel the wood beneath your palms, the weight of your body in the chair. Ground yourself in physical sensation."

Moira followed the instructions, noting how the simple act of conscious breathing seemed to quiet her anxiousness since the vampire confrontation.

"Good. Now I want you to reach for your magic deliberately. Don't wait for it to respond to emotion. Call it consciously."

"How do I do that?"

"Think of it like flexing a muscle you've never used before," Elena suggested. "The power is there, waiting. You just need to learn how to engage it intentionally."

Moira closed her eyes and searched for the golden warmth she'd felt flowing through her during moments of unconscious spellcasting.

For several minutes, nothing happened. Then, gradually, she began to sense something deeper than physical sensation, a reservoir of energy that felt both familiar and foreign.

"I can feel it," she whispered. "It's like... like there's a sun inside my chest that I never noticed before."

"Perfect description," Twyla said with approval. "Now, very gently, try to draw a tiny bit of that energy into your hands."

The moment Moira attempted to channel her magic deliberately, everything went wrong.

Power roared through her with the force of a dam breaking, far more than she'd intended to access. Golden light erupted from her hands, spreading outward in concentric circles that encompassed the entire bookstore in shimmering barriers of protective energy.

"Whoa!" Elena exclaimed as the magical dome settled around them like a giant soap bubble made of light. "That's not a tiny bit of energy."

"I can't stop it," Moira said, panic rising in her voice as the barriers continued strengthening. "It's like trying to stop a waterfall with my bare hands."

"Don't fight it," Cordelia commanded sharply. "Fighting blood magic only makes it more unstable. Lucien, we need you."

"What do you need me to do?" he asked, already moving toward Moira's chair.

"Physical contact with her mate should help ground the energy. Touch her, but be prepared for magical feedback."

Lucien's hands settled on Moira's shoulders, and the effect was immediate.

The wild torrent of magic flowing through her suddenly had an outlet, a secondary channel that could absorb and stabilize the excess energy.

The protective barriers remained in place, but they stopped growing and began to feel less like an out-of-control wildfire.

"Better?" he asked softly, his voice calm with certainty that always helped center her during chaotic moments.

"Much," she breathed, leaning back against his solid warmth. "But Lucien, the barriers are still there. I've accidentally created some kind of magical fortress around your bookstore."

"A fortress that extends at least fifty feet in every direction," Twyla observed, studying the shimmering dome with professional interest. "I've never seen protective magic this strong, especially not from someone who's been practicing for less than a week."

"The vampire was right about one thing," Miriam said quietly. "This level of power does require careful training. If Moira had attempted this working alone, without the mate bond to help stabilize the energy..."

"Magical burnout," Elena finished grimly. "Or worse. Uncontrolled blood magic can consume the practitioner from the inside."

The weight of responsibility that had been building since her arrival in Hollow Oak suddenly felt crushing.

Moira looked around at the protective barriers she'd created without conscious intent, at the faces of people who were depending on her to learn control, at the evidence of power that could either save or destroy everything she'd grown to care about.

"How many people could I hurt if I lose control during the actual ward work?" she asked.

"Potentially everyone in Hollow Oak," Cordelia replied with brutal honesty. "Blood magic amplified by mate bond energy and focused through centuries-old binding circles? If anything goes haywire during the working, the magical explosion could level the entire mountain."

"But if something goes right," Twyla added quickly, "you could create protective barriers strong enough to keep this community safe for another century. Maybe longer."

"Oh, of course," Moira said weakly.

"There's something else you should understand," Lucien said, his hands still resting on her shoulders in a grounding touch that kept her magic stable.

"The barriers you've created around the bookstore aren't just protective.

They're actively repelling supernatural threats.

I can feel it in my shifter senses, the way the magic pushes against anything with hostile intent. "

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you've just demonstrated that your instincts for protective magic are incredibly sophisticated," Elena said with obvious admiration. "Most witches take years to develop that level of discrimination in their ward work."

"It's the inherited knowledge," Miriam explained.

"Three generations of accumulated Shadowheart wisdom expressing itself through your subconscious magical responses.

Your great-great-grandmother's techniques, your grandmother's suppressed power, your mother's dormant abilities, all of it flowing through you when you need it most."

"Like having a magical library downloaded directly into my brain," Moira said, trying to process the implications. "Except I don't know how to access the information consciously."

"That's what we're here to teach you," Cordelia said firmly.

"How to access your inherited knowledge deliberately instead of relying on crisis-driven instinct.

How to channel emotion into focused magical working instead of uncontrolled power surges.

How to work with your mate bond to amplify your abilities safely. "

"And we need to teach you quickly," Twyla added, glancing toward the windows where afternoon shadows were already growing long.

"Because every day we wait is another day for the vampires to regroup, for the shadow entities to probe our weakening defenses, for whatever ancient evil is orchestrating these attacks to complete its plans. "

As Moira sat surrounded by protective barriers of her own creation, grounded by Lucien's steady presence and supported by women who understood the magical legacy she'd inherited, she felt the pieces of her new identity finally clicking into place.

She wasn't just Moira Marsh the archivist anymore.

She wasn't even just a Shadowheart witch discovering her heritage.

She was becoming the guardian Hollow Oak needed, the protector her ancestors had sacrificed themselves to prepare for, the woman strong enough to choose love over fear and partnership over isolation.

The training would be intense, the risks enormous, and the timeline impossibly short. But looking into Lucien's dark green eyes and feeling the steady pulse of magic that connected them, Moira knew she was ready to accept whatever destiny awaited them.

Together, they would either save Hollow Oak or die trying. And that felt like a choice she could live with.