Page 28 of Dream Weaver (Spellbound in Sedona #3)

ABBY

Liselle rolled up her sleeves, rubbed her hands together, and waved everyone back.

I rolled my eyes. Drama queen.

We were in the back lot of the shop, where she’d insisted on a test run of the brazier.

I’d slaved away for the last two hours, stalling at first, then speeding along when I realized help wasn’t coming and I needed another plan. An all-or-nothing, risky-as-hell plan, as it turned out. But it was the best I could come up with.

Liselle wanted a brazier that would help her tap into the energy of the vortexes? I would give her one. More energy than she’d bargained for.

“Get the wood, Doug,” she snipped to one of her men.

I made a mental note. Doug. Five-foot-ten, 160 pounds, dark hair, dark eyes. Tiny scar on his chin. If I ever had a chance to pick him out from a police lineup, I would be prepared. Not that I was all too optimistic of that ever happening.

Doug hustled over to his vehicle and returned with a couple of artificial logs — the kind city folk used in the fireplaces of fancy apartments because they didn’t want to chop wood or fuss with kindling.

“You’re kidding,” I muttered.

Even Jay wrinkled his nose to indicate, Real men chop wood .

Yeah, and real witches used real wood.

So, at least Jay and I saw eye-to-eye on something.

“I can’t believe you let that witch con you into this,” I hissed at him.

He shrugged. “Gotta make ends meet.”

I scoffed. “Ever consider a real job?”

He shook his head. “Not cut out for that.”

I cursed my twenty-year-old self. What had I ever seen in him?

“Is she even good in bed?” I snipped, keeping my voice low.

He looked at me, over to Liselle, then back to me, a little stuck.

I couldn’t help gloating a little. Then I caught myself. What the hell did I care what a lowlife like Jay thought?

Doug lit a match, and within seconds, a fire was crackling inside the brazier.

It was a smaller, rougher version of the one at Liselle’s home. The body of the brazier wasn’t much — just four legs, a bowl, and a lip made of sheet metal. The slots in the lip had been the tricky part, and Liselle had leaned over my shoulder the whole time as I let sparks fly with my plasma torch.

Yes, the plasma torch. I missed my hammer and anvil already.

And Cooper. Boy, did I miss Cooper. And not just because a big, burly bear would come in handy at a time like this.

I missed rubbing shoulders with him while we took turns delivering blows. I missed glancing up and losing myself in those warm brown eyes. I missed his smile and his soft touch.

I swallowed hard, wishing for a second chance.

Liselle stirred the air with her hands and moved her lips. Was she uttering a spell?

Everyone looked on, rapt. I fantasized about this turning into an Indiana Jones-style scene, where the bad guys melted alive while the good guys survived.

But Liselle and her magic weren’t exactly Arc of the Covenant level, so I doubted it.

The fire crackled, and smoke wafted out the open top of the brazier as well as the slots in the sides. Liselle leaned over, grasping at the streams of smoke.

Good luck, I nearly snorted.

But, yikes. The smoke thickened and followed her movements. She drew on the strands, hand over hand, like a magician pulling out an endless handkerchief.

The glow at the heart of the fire intensified, and sparks crackled into the night. And, whoa. Was the space around Liselle beginning to glow too?

I shuffled from foot to foot, sensing the earth groan.

“Is there a vortex here she can draw from?” one of Liselle’s men whispered to another.

No, but magic flowed deep in the ground throughout Sedona. Vortexes were simply where that gushing, subterranean river pushed closest to the surface. But you could mine just about anywhere and eventually strike a vein of magic.

I sensed a restless force stir, like a chained tiger.

Liselle wouldn’t be able to siphon much energy from Walt’s back lot, but this was just a test run. If she summoned all her power and positioned the brazier directly over a vortex, energy would gush like oil from an unchecked well.

At least, it should. But I’d woven a little of my own magic into the brazier, and if it worked…

You need to be real careful using magic if you don’t know exactly what it’s capable of, Cooper had said.

I puffed out my cheeks. Did fairly certain count?

Liselle kept pulling, and the earth kept groaning.

Then an engine sounded, and headlights illuminated the driveway.

“Dammit…” Liselle dropped her hands, and the fire dropped too, leaving only a few crackling embers.

Her men fanned out, raising their hands to shield their eyes from the headlights.

I turned toward the car, praying the driver had the good sense to make a quick U-turn and disappear.

But he — or she — didn’t. They drove all the way into the back lot and stopped with their lights trained on Liselle. The door creaked open, and a man stepped out.

“What’s going on here?” he asked — and not in a nice way.

My heart leaped. Cooper?

“Private function,” one of the men grunted. “Move along, please.”

Cooper considered the man, then Liselle. He took in the brazier, then looked at me.

My lips quivered. I’d assumed he would have left town by now. Had he seen the flare of the fire and stopped to investigate? To come to my rescue, even?

The man was too good to be true. I just prayed that wouldn’t get him killed.

“Everything okay?” His voice matched the rumble I’d heard in the earth — low and dangerous.

“Just fine, thank you,” Liselle chirped. “We’re just testing my new—”

“I didn’t ask you. I asked her,” Cooper grunted, demonstrating that he could, in fact, be less than polite sometimes. A first, at least from what I’d witnessed.

It made for a pretty badass impression. My knees shook, for sure.

“Liselle decided her order couldn’t wait. So, she and her three friends stopped by.” I pointed each out in the dark. No one was going to ambush Cooper on my watch. “Oh, and Jay,” I added sourly. “Remember him?”

“Oh, I remember, all right,” Cooper snarled.

Jay’s sneer said he remembered too.

“So, you’ll be moving along, then.” Cooper’s tone made it clear that was an order.

“Yes, you will.” Liselle motioned to his pickup. “Thanks for dropping by.”

I ground my teeth. She was trying to mind-spell him, wasn’t she?

When he hesitated, she continued in the same chummy tone. “I know, I know. This woman is pure trouble, and you’ve had enough of her using you.”

I fumed. Me, using Cooper?

“She’s been bewitching you,” Liselle went on, planting a whole conspiracy in his mind. “And all this time, you’ve yearned to be free…”

“Cooper…” I warned.

He looked at me, then Liselle, then scratched his head. “Not sure I would put it that way.”

“Of course you do,” Liselle chuckled.

He shook his head. “No, I was yearning for something else.” His eyes slid to me as if to say, someone .

Liselle cackled. “Her? You want her? Honey, you can do so much better than that.”

That stung, but it was true.

Cooper huffed. “Who? Like you?”

I nearly stomped. Was he actually having this conversation?

Her eyes drifted up and down Cooper’s big, toned body. Then she ran a hand over her hip and purred, “Satisfaction guaranteed, honey.”

Ha. I was tempted to refer him to Jay. But that would be petty, right?

Cooper flashed a tight smile. “Not interested, sorry.”

So, whew. Apparently, mind-spelling didn’t work on bears.

“Not interested?” Liselle hooted. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

Cooper went silent — very silent — and Liselle’s cheeks burned with fury.

Still, I was tempted to yell at him. Why was he even wasting time with this? Why provoke her?

Then it hit me. Cooper needed answers, and as long as Liselle was talking…

She snorted. “Think before you speak, honey. You wouldn’t want to set off trouble you’d regret.”

“Trouble? Like you starting a fire, maybe?”

She laughed. “Oh no. I don’t start fires.”

“No, she’ll just make sure the wind kicks in,” I muttered.

“Like the Clark Canyon fire, maybe?” Cooper advanced on her. “A couple years ago in Nevada? The one that killed that firefighter…”

Her eyes darkened. “You never know. Maybe the guy got what he deserved.”

If I were two steps closer, I would have smacked her into the next county.

Cooper’s fingernails extended into claws as he stalked toward her.

One of Liselle’s men stepped in his way. “Hold it right there.”

Jay tugged on Liselle’s sleeve. “Aren’t we done here?” Clearly, he was ready to move on before more trouble appeared.

The guy was smarter than I thought. Not exactly a genius, though.

“No, we’re not done,” Cooper murmured.

I’d never seen him look so menacing. Especially when Liselle’s hired hand grabbed his arm.

“Oh, I think we are.” Liselle signaled to the others.

She was wrong, because all hell broke loose just then.

Cooper twisted out of the man’s grip and shoved him toward Jay. A second man rushed Cooper, while the one nearest me drew a gun.

“Get down!” I yelled, lunging for the man’s arm.

Bang! The blast deafened me, and the man shoved me down. But the gun fell too, and I managed to kick it away in a move Messi or Ronaldo would be proud of. Then I skidded painfully across the ground.

“Dammit…” The man hurried toward his weapon.

I rolled to my feet and—

“Take cover!” Cooper yelled, running toward me.

We dove behind a workbench in the metal shop as another bullet rang out.

Cooper ducked, then muttered. “Shit.”

Yes, I was thinking the same thing.

“Stop shooting!” Liselle yelled to her men. “I need her alive if this thing doesn’t work.”

“You just tested it,” Jay grumbled. “Let’s get out of here.”

At least there was that. My ex might be an egotistical, no-good sellout, but he wasn’t a cold-blooded killer.

The other three guys, on the other hand…

I glimpsed one motioning to the others. They spread out and disappeared into the darkness.

Cooper hunched beside me, and we both listened for footsteps. Half the shop lights were on, the other half off, so everything was thrown into competing shadows.

“How did you know to come?” I whispered.

His eyes took on a warm glow. “I was driving by, and something didn’t feel right.”

Something, huh?

He didn’t elaborate, but a word whispered through my mind.

Destiny…

My heart thumped in a whole new way. I’d heard the stories, of course — of two souls meeting and knowing they were meant to be. As if they hadn’t met by chance but had been steered together by destiny. Shifters were especially big on the concept of fated mates. Bears, most of all.

I gulped as the glow in Cooper’s eyes intensified.

Other supernaturals were less sold on the notion. Weak supernaturals, like me.

But, hell. Maybe I wasn’t all that weak. Just an untrained, late bloomer. Maybe if it could happen to my sisters, it could happen to me.

And suddenly, I believed.

Something clanged in the darkness, and we both whirled. Destiny would have to wait.

“Come on, already,” Jay urged Liselle.

“Not before I’m sure,” she snipped.

The air wobbled, and flames lit the back lot once more. Liselle had rekindled the fire in the brazier for a second test run.

Second and last, I hoped.

I grabbed Cooper’s arm, whispering, “Watch out. I rigged it to—”

A shadow moved behind him, and I yelled, “Move!”

Wham! We rolled as one of Liselle’s men slammed a metal bar down between us. Cooper grabbed it, and they wrestled for control. I backed away, then whirled at another sound.

A second man grabbed a hammer from Bob’s station and threw it. It flew end over end, coming straight at me. For a split second, I stared. Then I ducked and threw up my hand.

The hammer spun aside and crashed into a shelf. Bam!

I did a double take, because it hadn’t actually touched me.

The guy grabbed another hammer and threw it at Cooper, who was still tussling with the first man.

And damn, could that guy aim. It went flying right at Cooper’s head.

I stuck out a hand, yelling for Cooper to duck. He didn’t, and I was nowhere near the hammer. But it arced off to the side, smashing into the wall instead.

The second man frowned. I ducked down and stared at my hand.

Metal lay all around me, reflecting the light of Liselle’s fire. The tongs at Matt’s workstation flickered. The ingots stacked by the wall reflected the flames. The scrap metal in one corner took on a fiery glow…

Liselle murmured, coaxing the fire in her brazier along.

The earth rumbled, and all around me, metal glowed. More than that. It hummed.

For years, I’d worked with metal and fire. And every once in a while, I’d sensed a similar thing — but rarely more than a barely there hint, and only when I was really in the zone. I’d always dismissed the faint sound as the echo of my own hammer.

But now, the sound wasn’t quiet at all.

The more magic Liselle stirred up outside, the louder the sound became, going from a whisper to a roar.

The air vibrated all around me, and iron and steel shone.

“Yes…” Liselle coaxed more smoke out of the brazier — and more power out of the earth. Power that flowed into her and into me, too.

I faced the man who’d thrown the hammers, daring him to try again.

He did, flinging a chisel this time. It sliced through the air, smooth as an arrow. But when I swatted upward, it detoured and pinged off the ceiling.

All around me, metal hummed.

Me, me! clamps, tongs, and files begged. Even the bolts of my anvil jiggled.

“Oh!” Liselle’s tone changed to one of alarm as the flames in the brazier rose higher.

“Not so big,” Jay warned. “Someone will see.”

Ha. If he only knew.

A pair of feline eyes glittered nearby — one of Liselle’s men had changed into cougar form. The man who’d targeted Cooper followed suit, and both advanced on Cooper, who roared.

Yes, roared. He’d shifted too, and the flames of the fire added the outline of a huge grizzly to the two cougars shadowed on the wall.

I picked up a sledgehammer and advanced, then retreated from the blur of fur and fangs.

“Liselle…” Jay warned, skittering away from the fire.

“I’ve got it,” she cried.

No, she didn’t. The brazier shot flames as high as the roof. They swirled and spiraled outward, covering a wider and wider area.

Liselle’s lips were peeled back, her eyes wild. “I’ve got it…”

The earth rumbled, angrier than ever. A powerful witch or warlock might have been able to control that power, but Liselle was out of her league — and in serious trouble.

Flames swirled, reaching over, around, and behind her. She made a patting motion, trying to douse them. But the flames closed in, igniting her sleeve.

“Help! Help!” she yelled, swatting at the fabric.

I looked away. Helping Cooper was my priority, not a witch who’d dug her own grave — or lit her own funeral pyre.

Screams pierced my ears, and Jay shouted, but none of that mattered. Not with two cougars fighting Cooper.

Wait. Two cougars… Where had the third guy gone?

I dove aside as an ax sliced past my shoulder. It clanged against the cement floor, but the man raised it again. Flat on my back, I looked up at the wide, gleaming blade.

The man swung, and I screamed, throwing up a hand.

I cringed, expecting a crushing blow. But nothing happened.

I blinked as the man strained at the ax. It hovered inches over my face, near the end of its deadly swing.

“Dammit,” he grunted, pulling this way and that.

Sweat broke out on my brow, and I kept my hand up, pushing at air thick with magic. The hum of metal became a roar, and I gritted my teeth.

“Fucking witch,” the man snarled.

The ax inched back, away from me. Then, with a mental shove, I sent it flying backward. The man toppled back, releasing it, and it clanged to the floor.

Liselle screamed. Jay yelled. Cooper roared. Ax man grimaced, pulled out a gun, and aimed it at me.

I scuttled backward, but there was nowhere to go.

Bang! He shot. Once. Twice.

I threw out my hands, terrified. But bullets didn’t pierce my body, and no blood flowed.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

The gunman ducked as bullets ricocheted off the cement floors. One of the cougars fell away from Cooper with a yelp. A dark stain spread across the floor. Blood?

A moment later, Cooper heaved the second cougar across the room. It struck an anvil and crumpled to the floor.

Outside, the fire diminished, along with Liselle’s anguished cries. Inside, the roar of metal calmed to a hum. The magic was ebbing away, seeping back into the earth.

But the gunman facing me didn’t need to know that. I walked toward him, looking as menacing as I could.

“Drop the gun and get out of here before I put a chisel through your heart,” I snarled.

It was a bluff, of course. I might be able to deflect metal with a magical force field pulsing all around me, but I sure wasn’t going to try to maneuver pieces through the air like a ghost.

“I said, drop it!”

The gun clattered to the floor, and the guy ran for the door.

I hurried over to grab the gun, but I wasn’t the only one. I lunged, grabbing the weapon first, then whirled around.

“Don’t shoot!” Jay raised his arms in surrender.

My hands shook. If Jay had gotten the gun before me, would he have pulled the trigger?

Yes, I decided. If not at me, then at Cooper.

A car roared away from the street side of the shop, and I bid the hammer-thrower goodbye. Then I narrowed an eye over the gun barrel, aiming at Jay.

He backed up, hands up, eyes wide.

“Don’t shoot,” Jay begged. “And don’t — er, bite.”

Cooper lumbered up beside me with a long, low snarl.

I pointed Jay to the cougar stirring weakly on the floor — the one who’d been hit by the stray bullet.

“Get him, and get out of here.”

Jay frowned. Clearly, the second part of my order was fine with him. But why bother with the first part?

“I said, get him.”

Jay dragged the cougar outside by one paw. At a roar from Cooper, the remaining cougar dragged himself groggily in the same direction. Together, they stepped past the brazier, where a small fire burned.

“Flip it over.” I motioned with the gun. “Put out the fire.”

“Hell no. I’m not touching that!” Jay grunted.

I braced my feet and steadied the gun with both hands.

“Okay, okay!” Jay reached for the brazier, cringing.

“Put out the fire,” I ordered.

He hooked one of the brazier supports with his boot and flipped it sideways. The embers rolled onto the scorched lump that had been Liselle. They flared, then died down to a dim glow.

My stomach turned, but hey. I wasn’t the one who’d tried to tap into the earth’s hidden power.

By then, both cougars had dragged themselves toward the road, where Jay’s truck stood.

I motioned to Jay. “Get them and go.”

“You are one crazy bitch, you know that?”

Cooper snarled while I retorted, “Says the guy who sold his soul to the devil. A guy prepared to sell out his own daughter.”

Shame passed over Jay’s features, but only momentarily. Then he went back to thinking of his number-one man — himself.

“Just don’t…don’t…” he stammered, backing toward his vehicle.

I fired over his left shoulder, making him duck.

“Get out of here, Jay. I never want to see you again. Ever. But if I do — and if I ever hear another word about custody — I swear I will kill you.”

My Dirty Harry side scared him, all right. It scared me too, because I meant every word.

Jay stumbled to his truck, shoved the cougars into the back, and started the engine with a roar. Then he peeled away — out of sight and out of my life.

Good riddance.

Cooper let out a long, continuous growl until the sound of Jay’s engine faded.

I glanced at Cooper. What would he say? What would he do?

Of course, as a bear, he wouldn’t say much. But what was going through his mind?

I took a few deep breaths. As long as Claire was all right, nothing else mattered.

Then I froze. “Claire…”

I ran into the metal shop and grabbed my phone. But Erin didn’t pick up, and neither did Pippa. When I reached out with my mind, that barrier was still there.

When I glanced up at the sky, my gut lurched. Dark clouds swirled overhead, blotting out the stars. Really dark clouds, especially over to the west. The direction of home.

Home. Claire. My family.

“No. Please…” I murmured, running to Cooper’s truck.

He followed, flicking his ears up.

I hesitated. I had no right to ask him for anything more. But I sure wouldn’t mind his help on one last matter.

“Something’s wrong,” I explained. “Something at home.”

His fur bristled, and his eyes flared.

Two minutes later, he was in human form, behind the wheel of his pickup, and roaring down the road, speeding me homeward.