Page 18 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)

~Troy~

Amanda’s startled eyes met me from her seat near the fireplace.

A quick inventory of her suggested she hadn’t been harmed, at least not yet, but I didn’t miss the annoyed look that flickered across Kalo’s face.

Apparently, he didn’t appreciate the interruption but I didn’t give a shit about what he wanted. I had to talk to my mate.

“What is it? Has there been an attack?” She got to her feet at the same time that I reached her, and it took every last drop of self-control I possessed not to pull her into my arms. To protect her or to reassure myself that she was okay, I couldn’t be sure. Maybe both.

“The borders are quiet, but I need to talk to you.”

Kalo stood as well, his golden eyes fixed on me. “We’re in the middle of something.”

“It can wait,” I growled.

“I really wouldn’t advise it. If I had to guess, the attack will come within the next half hour.”

My scowl deepened. “There’s no way you can possibly know that unless you’re involved in it somehow.”

“There’s no way you could know it, but I have abilities you don’t possess.”

“He may be right,” Amanda interjected calmly, and we both turned to her. “Kalo showed the encampment to me. It seems an attack is imminent.”

“And I will protect you from it if you wish me to do so,” he prodded.

“At what cost?” I demanded.

“That’s a good question.” Amanda’s head cocked slightly to the side as she surveyed the genie. “Now that we don’t need to tiptoe around what you are, why don’t you tell me your price? I’m willing to negotiate if it’s something I can provide.”

He made a visible effort to relax, the annoyance fleeing his face and a serene, calm expression taking its place.

“Certainly. My price is very simple. You may wish for anything you choose for your first two wishes and for the third, you must wish for all wishes to be undone. It’s as simple as that. ”

Amanda’s confused expression met mine and a second later, her voice echoed in my head. That’s it?

It seems too easy. There has to be a catch.

Out loud, she addressed Kalo. “How does that help me? I could wish for you to protect my borders, but when that wish is undone, we end up getting attacked anyway?”

“Not necessarily. The final wish doesn’t reset time. When you wish for me to protect your land, I’ll do so. From the time of your first wish to your last one, you have three days. Use those days to install other defenses or call for reinforcements and you’ll be fine when mine vanish.”

A little time would come in handy, but I still didn’t trust him. “This is what you ask every time you help someone? Why?”

Those strange near-glowing eyes turned back to me. “I told you earlier that there’s something I would like to undo, a wish that I made myself a long time ago. If you wish for all wishes to be undone, it will include mine. It’s the only thing I truly want.”

“And no one has ever made that wish?” Amanda sounded incredulous. “If you still need it to be done, that means no one else agreed?”

His shoulders lifted in an almost-indifferent shrug.

“Many say they will, but when the time comes, when they’ve seen the true extent of my power, they don’t want to lose what they’ve gained.

Or they think of something else they must have with their final wish.

It’s almost like a kind of madness comes over them.

I can’t explain it, but no, no one has ever fulfilled this request.”

“How many people are we talking about?” I wondered.

“Around eighty, give or take, over thousands of years.”

Eighty. For a stunned moment, neither Amanda nor I said anything as we digested that. A handful of people being overwhelmed by greed or selfishness, I could understand, but eighty? There had to be an angle we weren’t seeing.

Amanda recovered herself first. “I have no problem with that price. Truthfully, I wouldn’t wish for anything at all if I had the choice, but I understand that now that I’ve summoned you, we must complete this transaction.”

“Precisely so. But forgive me for saying that I don’t believe you have nothing to wish for.”

His eyes darted between the two of us as if he could sense the bond between us.

Hell, with all his powers, maybe he could.

“Make your choices wisely and we can all be satisfied. I’m at your service.”

With a flourish of his hand, he made a small bow just as Devon’s voice rang out in my head.

All men to the southern border, now!

One glance at Amanda confirmed she hadn’t heard it. Her focus remained entirely on Kato, so Devon must have only linked with the border team.

I reached out to him directly. What’s going on?

Foreign wolves approaching. Dozens, I’d guess. We can’t see them yet but we can smell them. They’ll be here in a matter of minutes. Where are you?

At the pack house. Stand by.

I closed the link by force before he could protest and turned to Amanda. “Alpha, there’s a group approaching the border. Potentially a big one.”

Kalo would have been justified in gloating, but he simply bowed his head once more. “Say the word and you’re all safe.”

In Amanda’s stricken gaze, I could read the debate that must have been taking place inside her head, wondering exactly what words she should use, how this might backfire and whether or not we truly had a choice at this point.

In the end, she put the pack’s safety first, exactly as I would have expected her to.

“Kalo, I wish for you to seal our border, allowing no one in or out until I say otherwise. The seal should allow water and air to get through but no living beings and no weapons of any kind.”

His lips stretched into a smile. “As you wish.”

Taking a step back from us, he lifted his hands, and we watched in fascination as his fingers began to glow the same golden hue as his eyes.

To me, he said, “Tell your men to make sure they’re inside your border by a few feet to be safe.”

I relayed that message to my team and once they’d all confirmed they were in place, I nodded at the genie. “Ready.”

A ball of light began to build between Kalo’s glowing fingers, growing bigger and brighter until, with a bright flash, it completely disappeared. I shielded my eyes and Amanda did the same, only gradually lowering our hands and letting our eyes readjust.

“Is that it? Is it done?” she asked just as Devon’s voice once again sounded in my head, breathless with disbelief.

Holy shit. Fifty wolves just came out of the trees and ran for us, but when they reached the border, they bounced right off it.

A second later, another curse followed.

Fuck, there are people behind them, and some of them are armed. Everyone take cover!

I couldn’t hear the sound of gunshots but it almost seemed I could, holding my breath until Devon spoke again.

The bullets bounced off too. What the hell is going on?

At last, I responded. The Alpha bought us some time. The border is safe for now, get everyone back to headquarters and I’ll explain. We can keep a skeleton patrol tonight.

Whatever good or bad qualities the genie had that we still needed to discover, one thing was clear: his magic was the fucking real deal.