Page 34

Chapter 33

Da Bomb

MAGDALENE RAGE WITCH

A man runs toward us waving his arms, his features twisted with alarm. “Hej! Bomben ?r h?r borta!”

Studying his animated features, I say to the rest of our impromptu bomb squad, “I don’t speak Swedish, but I’m pretty sure this man knows where to find the bomb.”

Lock is the last to come through my portal and I close it behind him. It’s good practice not to leave those swirly bits of fog lying around in case a stray cat wanders through and finds itself in another realm of existence. Cats don’t like that.

“Wow,” Charlie says, staring up at the majestic white columns of the Palace of Nations. “I can’t believe I’m actually standing here.” She grins at me. “Can we go to Tahiti after this is over?”

“If you stop a war, I’ll take you anywhere you want.” I wink at her, then glance at Lennox, who’s frowning at me. “Both of you,” I amend.

Realizing we speak English, the man who greeted us says, “Thank you for coming. Please follow me.” His hands are shaking and his features are twisted with fear.

Once more we’re led into a basement where our guide points to two rooms. “Two in there,” he says of the first room, “and one in there.” He points to another room close by. “The rest of the building has been carefully swept. There are no more bombs.”

At first, I’m confused by this. All the other buildings had two bombs, but Charlie explains that it makes sense for the shape of the building.

“Go,” Charlie tells the man as she crouches next to the first suitcase bomb. “Wait outside at a safe distance and when the bomb unit arrives, show them where to go.”

“Ja, I will!” He races away from us, clearly relieved to be free of his bomb-finding duties.

“There’s only nineteen minutes on this timer,” Charlie says, her voice strained. “I need to work quickly if I’m to disarm them all.” She falls silent, diligently diffusing the bomb before rushing to the next one, Lennox hot on her tail.

“They’re cute together,” I say to Lock as we follow them at a more leisurely pace.

“He won’t mate with her as long as the family curse is in play,” he replies.

“I’m working on it.”

“How?” he asks bluntly.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Then how are you working on a solution?”

Hands on hips, I turn to him. “How about I don’t tell you how to king, and you don’t tell me how to witch?”

He holds his hands up. “I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”

I burst out laughing. “We both know that’s not true.” Sobering, I add, “But I’m not willing to lose a single mate to this curse.” I feel responsible for the safety of the Wolven-North’s and their mates as it was my ancestor who cursed them in the first place.

He shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, Mags. You do what you can to compensate. Hell, you even managed to turn Vanessa into a shifter. I’m sure you’ll think of something to help Charlie and Lennox.”

“Yeah, not sure exactly how I managed that.”

“What?” he asks incredulously.

“What?” I say back.

Thankfully, Charlie interrupts us, shouting, “Second bomb diffused. The timer had fourteen minutes on it.” She rushes out of the room and down the hall to the third bomb, Lennox following her like she’s the messiah and he’s her most ardent follower.

“She can sure go fast in that puffy bomb suit,” I say with admiration. “She might become my favourite sister-in-law once this is all said and done. Maybe we can get another one of those outfits and pretend sumo wrestle in them.”

“What about Sarina?” Lock demands, offended on his wife’s behalf.

I love the beautiful white-haired shifter, but she can be extremely feral, giving us very little in common. She enjoys pursuits like hunting prey, chasing her tail, and *shudder* camping.

I’m a vegetarian who enjoys my witchly comforts. “She can sumo wrestle with us if she wants,” I tell him placatingly.

“Finished,” Lennox says as he and Charlie approach us, Charlie huffing and puffing like she ran a marathon, sweat streaking her face.

“Anything from your captain?” Lock asks his brother.

Lennox calls his captain and puts the phone on speaker so we can all hear his update. “We haven’t figured out the sixth location yet,” Charlamagne says grimly, “but all other bombs have been disposed of without incident.”

Charlie removes her safety helmet and shoves her wet, clinging hair off her forehead. “We need to go through every building of significance that has anything to do with human-shifter relations.”

“The Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland,” Lennox offers.

“It’s been checked,” Charlamagne replies. “Nothing there.”

“The Vienna monument?” Charlie asks.

“Checked.”

We fall silent, then Lock suggests, “Choeung Ek Stupa in Cambodia.”

“Also checked. Nothing found.”

As the others make suggestions that Lennox’s captain shoots down, I feel somewhat inadequate for this task. I was born and raised in swamps and never paid much attention to the wider world around me.

Then it hits me and I gasp. “Oh my goddess! I know where it is.”

The others look at me. “Where?” asks Charlie.

“Wolf-Haven castle.”

“Fuck!” Lock explodes.

“Fuck,” Lennox echoes. “You’re right. The original human-shifter peace treaties were negotiated at Wolf-Haven.”

Charlie looks desperate. “We have to evacuate the castle.”

Lock’s face is ashen as he shakes his head. “There’s only a few minutes left.” He shoves a hand through his hair. “Sarina and the kids are at the castle.” He goes silent and I know he’s mentally screaming at her to get out.

But there’s no way my sister-in-law will leave the castle until it’s completely evacuated. She’ll send her twins to safety with a nursemaid, but she won’t leave herself.

I look at Charlie. “Are you up for this?”

“Let’s go,” she says without hesitation.

Lennox adjusts her helmet back on her head, and the four of us teleport to Wolf-Haven where I take us straight to the dungeon, assuming the bomb placement will be similar to the others. It takes us a few minutes of diligent searching with several castle guards before we find the first bomb hidden in a shadowy corner of the wine cellar.

Charlie drops to her knees in front of it and gets to work. “Three minutes on the timer,” she shouts.

“This is a load-bearing wall,” Lock says frantically. “Half the castle will come down if this wall goes.”

“C’mon, we need to look for a second bomb,” I say, gripping his arm and yanking. “So far there’s always more than one.”

We find it in less than a minute. Lock jerks the suitcase open while I gasp in outrage. “Charlie said not to do that!”

He doesn’t respond, instead quickly finding the timer. “One minute.”

Tears of frustration rush to my eyes and I swear at every goddess I can think of. “There’s not enough time.”

“There are still people in the castle,” Lock says, anguish lighting his features as he looks up at me from next to the bomb. “Sarina is still inside.”

“Go!” I tell him. “Find her.”

In a flash, he shifts to his wolf, his clothes tearing off in the process. He runs out the door and races down the hall, his leaping bounds eating up the stone floor until he’s gone.

A shimmer in the corner of the room catches my eye but I ignore it, turning to Charlie and Lennox as they come rushing through the door. “Get out! There’s no time. I have to try to contain it myself.”

“No!” Charlie cries, trying to get to the bomb. Lennox grabs her arm and hauls her back.

“30 seconds,” I say, glancing at the timer and pinning Lennox with a look. “Get her out.”

“What about you?” he demands.

“I don’t have time for this!” I lift my blackened fingers and shout, “Sorry about this!” I throw gusts of wind at them, forcing them backwards out of the room.

I hear them scramble, then a bark as Lennox shifts. I read his thoughts as he orders Charlie to get on his back.

The shimmer in the corner solidifies and time slows in a way only Oracle can manage. The timer reads nine seconds but appears to have stopped. It hasn’t, it’s just slowed significantly. Everything has except the two of us.

Oracle shakes their head at me. “It is her time, child. Allow her to fulfill her destiny. If the world is to know peace, she must die here in Wolf-Haven.”

“What are you talking about?” My heart is racing so hard, my words come out in gasps. “I don’t understand. Why have I been watching and protecting her these past weeks? Why all the warnings for Lennox not to mate with her if her if she’s going to die anyway?”

“The mating curse could have interfered with her true destiny. You were protecting her for this, child. It is her destiny to die here in the heart of wolf shifter territory, a human giving her life, sacrificing herself for the sake of another species in a place that holds great significance. It is a powerful statement that will stabilize human-shifter relations for centuries to come.”

Loathing rises inside me and I want to blast Oracle right out of the dungeon. “You evil witch. I refuse to allow a single mate to die.”

Oracle’s gaze falls to where my fingers twitch at my side. “It’s not your place to interfere,” they say with their usual lack of inflection. “Destiny must not be challenged.”

“I’ll take my chances,” I snap bitterly, lifting my hands over the bomb. “I’m ready.”

Oracle stares at me, then sighs and says, “It’s too late now to stop this course of action, but you must know this is foolish.” For the first time since I’ve met them, Oracle looks fearful. “Destiny will come for you and there’s nothing I can do to stop her wrath. Even if you are the daughter of Lilith Guardian Witch.”

“You should leave,” I say coldly.

Oracle continues to watch me without moving and I shrug. “If you don’t like me fucking with destiny, then you won’t enjoy this next part.”

Time goes back to normal, the timer ticks, the sound audibly loud to my sensitive ears. I work fast, erecting a barrier between myself and the bomb. For a split second (which is a lot when you’re down to the wire), I consider leaving Oracle outside of the safe zone but decide my mother would be pissed if I blew up her romantic partner.

“Here we go!” I shout.

BOOM!

Oracle’s eyes widen and I grin as we’re both thrown off our feet, flying several feet through the air before landing against the hard stone of the floor.

Oracle rolls to stare at me, a trickle of blood spilling from each ear, their lips moving rapidly. My ears are ringing. “You have to speak up!” I shout. “I can’t hear you!”

“I thought you would contain the bomb!” It’s a true pleasure to see Oracle this shaken. “You just… let it explode!”

Shrugging, I brush bits of debris off my legs. “You said Charlie needed to become a martyr? Well, now she is. She doesn’t have to die for the world to know she put in a heroic effort to save the shifters. I redirected the blast so most of the damage to the castle will be superficial. The attack on Wolf-Haven, land of the wolf shifters, will still shock the world. And the best part? Nobody had to die.” I smile contentedly at my genius and plug my nose, blowing, trying to clear my ears. “Getting blown up hurts more than I thought it would.”

Oracle shakes their head and conjures a portal, their parting words, “Expect a call from Destiny.”