Page 14 of Magic & Secrets (Twisted Magic #1)

Focused again, we walked down the center of the road toward the stables where the warriors prepared their steeds.

Humans watched us pass. Some were curious.

Others wept at the sight of us leaving. If I weren’t so distracted by Calla, I might have asked more questions about current life within the Territories.

Glancing back at the humans still watching us depart, I felt a rekindling of my old duty to Lavinia’s citizens. We were their guardians for most of my life. My time on Mt. Elysium had brushed away those old responsibilities. Now, I suffered under the weight of old obligations.

Maybe things would change when we returned to the mountain and told Tempe of what we found in the Territories. If the Murade was absent from its duties, should the Bane Shifters step into a leadership role? Logic dictated we were too unaware of the current state of Lavinia to be much help.

Walking away from the settlement, I found Calla standing next to her black horse at the outpost’s welcome sign. Her sisters were atop their steeds and heading away.

Offering a warm smile to my packmates and me, she said, “It was generous of you to leave your marks on this town.”

“I have a kind heart,” I replied and smiled down at the temptress. “Everyone says so.”

Delta grunted at my comment and leveled his golden gaze on Calla. “Taking your horses means we’ll need to travel the roads, which is slower.”

“We can’t run as fast as your animal forms. This is our compromise. The Wolf Shifters are traveling slower now. If we ride hard for the entire morning, we can erase the distance between our targets and us.”

Calla offered me a lingering grin before she jumped atop her horse and rode after her sisters.

I gave Opal Outpost one last glance before shifting into my wolf form and welcoming another day on the hunt. Koda and Delta were soon next to me. We passed the warriors who gave chase.

Hours passed as we traveled the roads in the direction of the Wolf Shifters and their Sorcerer. We made good time with the warriors keeping up. I occasionally glanced back to catch a glimpse of Calla. Her golden hair and skin shone in the bright day.

As much as I loved a good hunt, I ached to stop somewhere and speak with Calla again.

My personal needs had never slowed me down on a mission before.

The weapon I once was seemed to have become dulled by too long on the mountain.

Or possibly, I was only distracted by the golden creature in my midst.

The early afternoon heat slowed the horses until we eventually took a break in a quiet field filled with willow trees to offer shade.

Mina sat near the horses. Enya walked around as if looking for something. Delta remained in his wolf form, watching Mina from behind a tree. Koda shifted into his human form and rested on his back, enjoying the sun.

I settled next to Calla on the ground. She immediately smiled at my proximity.

“I’m glad we’re hunting together,” Calla said, holding my gaze.

“Because your master told you to keep an eye on us?”

“Yes,” she replied quickly. “We’re to remain wary of Bane Shifters.”

“Why?”

“You’re powerful warriors.”

“So were the Lion Shifters yesterday.”

“Not really. They were young and impulsive.”

“True. Yet, you struggled with them,” I said, choosing to poke at her pride. “Your masters didn’t train you well.”

Calla leveled her green-eyed gaze at me and insisted, “I was distracted by you .”

Shaking my head, I insisted, “You aren’t ready for battle against a Sorcerer.”

“You worry about me,” Calla said and chuckled quietly. “What a great honor it is to have a Bane Shifter as my guard dog.”

I started to snarl in response before spotting an amused glint in her eyes. Little Calla wasn’t against poking back at my pride. Falling silent, I considered whether I wanted to play this game with a creature with so much power over my thoughts.

Calla broke the quiet by asking, “Can your kind truly shift into dragon form?”

“Yes, but it’s rarely worth it.”

“How do you mean?”

“It takes a lot of energy to shift into something so massive, meaning we can’t remain a dragon for long. We also can’t breathe fire. The only benefit to the form is to fly and even that maneuver usually proves difficult.”

Calla slid her fingers through the apple green grass fluttering in the breeze. “If size is the issue, can’t you shift into a baby dragon?”

The very thought behind her question caused me to throw back my head and howl with laughter. Koda chuckled nearby. Enya and Calla shared a glance as if my amusement was odd.

“Baby dragons can barely fly,” I explained after my laughter died down. “Their wings are too floppy.”

“But you’d still be bigger than the other animals you shift into.”

“A baby dragon,” I said, still chuckling at the thought. “What do you know of dragons anyway? They’ve been hibernating since long before you were born.”

“You don’t know how old I am. I could be hundreds of years old.”

“Elven half-breeds get pointy ears after sixty years,” I explained and skimmed the edge of her earlobe. “You have human ears.”

Lowering her chin, Calla mumbled, “Well, I didn’t know that.”

“Didn’t Tirso teach you anything about your kind?”

Calla startled me by offering a bright smile. “Of course not. We’re too vain to want to hear about future pointy ears.”

“You can simply hide them under your hair.”

My fingers had a mind of their own. They slid across her cheek and gently pressed a lock of stray hair behind her lobe. Calla’s eyes widened. Her breathing shifted. The wretched magic bloomed around us, reaching out to me like an intoxicating ale.

As my head swam, I struggled to see past the creature watching me with such mesmerizing green eyes.

I tugged my hand away and scowled hard at the warrior. Calla’s expression fell. All the joyful glow seeped from her gaze. Her lips twisted into a pout as she stood and walked to Enya.

Shaking my head, I wrestled to break free of her enthralling presence. The feeling she offered was likely nefarious. These warriors concealed much about themselves and this mission. I would be a fool to trust them.

Calla’s magic still left me aching with need. What devilish trick had she unleashed? Possibly, Tirso instructed these warriors to entice males to improve their chances of survival. Was the respected Elf working with the Murade?

The world away from Mt. Elysium felt perilous now. I couldn’t sniff out my allies from my enemies.

Calla’s presence crawled under my skin. I became certain we were walking into a trap, led by these beguiling warriors.

I heard Koda speaking nearby to Calla and Enya. “There was no magic involved,” he stated. “We were designed in a lab by scientists, not concocted in a Witch’s cauldron.”

“Wait, so you don’t think you have magic?” Calla asked Koda.

A deep rage awakened inside me at how her attention was on my packmate.

“Humans made us,” Koda explained, mimicking the Murade’s words. “No magic necessary.”

“But you change mass,” Enya said, frowning at Calla as if my packmate were clueless. “When you shift, the air crackles with power. That’s magic.”

“No,” Koda insisted. “It’s science.”

Calla glanced at me. She no longer wore the tantalizing expression designed to make me submit. Instead, she frowned as if I were as na?ve as Koda.

“We don’t have magic,” I insisted, answering her unspoken question. “We aren’t like other Shifters.

“I don’t think that’s true.”

Angered by her dismissive tone, I charged toward where she stood next to Koda. My sudden proximity inspired Calla to flinch.

“You don’t even know about your own kind,” I mocked, now standing too close to her. “How could you possibly know about mine?”

My anger drew the attention of Mina. The black-haired warrior glowered at me.

“You’re wrong,” Mina asserted. “While it’s true you were created in a lab and designed by humans, you aren’t machines. You use magic to change form just as all Shifters do. You’ve been free for a century. Don’t you think it’s time to stop believing your creators’ lies?”

I heard Delta growling at us. No, not us. Me. He didn’t want Mina’s attention on me, any more than I approved of Calla’s focus on Koda. These females were driving us mad!

Calla glanced in my direction, only to find me scowling at her. She didn’t flinch this time. Her hand rested tenderly on my bare arm. The magic sizzled around us, making me lightheaded enough to stumble.

“Did you slumber poorly away from your mountain?” she asked in a warm, scorn-free tone. “Is that why you behave so prickly today?”

As the others prepared to move on toward the enemy, I could only feel Calla. She stared into my eyes like death welcoming me into the darkness.

I leaned down to inhale Calla’s scent. Rather than intoxicate me more, the cinnamon smell lessened my dizziness. My mind centered. I felt more in control of myself.

Calla watched me before leaning forward to sniff me. She lifted her gaze and smiled.

“I thought you’d smell like a bear, but you smell like a pastry.”

Frowning, I stepped back and scanned the woods. If this magic also affected Calla, she wasn’t the one enthralling me. What kind of Sorcerer had the power to bedevil a Bane Shifter to this degree?

“The world has changed too much since my time in it.”

Calla’s smile dropped, and she watched me with a pitying gaze.

“I’ve barely explored the world,” she admitted. “All I know is what I’ve been taught.”

“We are the blind leading the blind.”

“No, not exactly,” Calla whispered, stepping closer as her sisters readied their horses to ride.

“I know what matters to me. I also believe it’s my duty to destroy the ones who attacked Haven Junction.

” Her soft hand cupped my jaw as she inhaled sharply.

“I just hope seeing a Bane Shifter in battle won’t distract me like yesterday. ”