บท 41: Chapter 41: The Other Woman

Jude POV

Ravyn's and Lilia's screams made Jude spin around and shift inside the smoky h*ll that had once been Daxius' house.

Dane shifted too, and they both sprinted through the smoke-filled hallway to the front door. Duffy's and Daxius' surprised cries echoed behind them.

Jude burst out into the open and his fur stood on end.

He smelled a human.

A human in a hooded cloak held Ravyn prisoner.

Shifter laws and traditions about not revealing themselves to humans filled his mind.

"Human," he sent to Dane through the mind-link.

"I thought this island was deserted," Dane answered, his voice tense and his body taut. "Male or female?"

"Female," Jude answered.

"Yes. Could that be Daxius' mate Marieke?" Dane asked.

Jude was surprised. "Mate?"

Dane grinned. "Don't tell me you missed the mate panic in his voice."

Jude felt profound relief. "I wondered."

So, Marieke was the one Daxius wanted them to meet. He had taken a human lover!

"Is this the woman he ran off with?" he asked Dane in a low voice.

Dane nudged him in the ribs. "Weren't you listening when he said someone here saved his life and nursed him back to health?"

"Oh yes. She would have to be a warrior to help him withstand the Dark Goddess."

His ears perked forward. He heard Lilia and Ravyn talking quietly to the unknown human. He and Dane inched closer, moving silently, listening, trying to overhear the conversation.

"We're not dark mages," Lilia was saying, her frustration palpable.

"Liar! You just want to take him away and destroy him." The woman had a feisty, bossy voice.

"Why would we want to do that? I married him once," Ravyn told her.

The woman froze. "If you're lying–"

"I'm not." Ravyn added, "And if you're Marieke–"

A gasp. "You know my name?"

Lilia butted in. "We've been calling for you–haven't you heard us?"

Jude relaxed, and exchanged a glance with Dane. They both whistled for Daxius to come out of the ruin. While waiting for the gnome and Daxius, Jude listened to Lilia and Ravyn working on convincing Marieke to trust them.

"Are you sure you mean him no harm?" Marieke asked.

Jude tiptoed closer, using his inborn stealth. He could see Marieke's face, illuminated by the light of Lilia's crystal-topped staff. She had a fuller face than Ravyn, sensual lips,and probably a fuller figure. She was attractive, with a strong chin and wide-set green eyes. She had hair in a thick black braid draped over her shoulder.

Ravyn smiled in a lopsided way. His magnificent mate had confidence in spades. "If I was going to harm him it would have happened the minute I laid eyes on him again after twenty years. He's alive, believe me."

"Then where–" Marieke finally put two and two together, and ran towards the house.

But the fire started again, and the house went up in flames.

With the smoke making his eyes water, Jude howled, alarmed. Daxius and Duffy were still inside, and Marieke was heading for that inferno!

Lilia and Ravyn conjured up blasts of water to smother the flames while Jude and Dane growled at Marieke, blocking her way, refusing to let her go one more step toward the flames. Marieke glared at them and said, "If you're going to keep me away, then at least save Daxius! You are shifters, aren't you?"

Jude almost fell down in shock.

The human knew about shifters?

Daxius' coughing was the best sound Jude had heard since this whole ordeal began. "I'm already saved."

Marieke shrieked. "Daxius!"

The wizard stumbled out of the house, with Duffy leadxng him and trying to break a gnome speed record to put as much distance between them and the deathtrap.

Coughing again, Daxius said, "And yes, they're shifters–and they're family."

That was his cue.

Jude shifted back to human form, as did Dane. Marieke's jaw dropped, seeing real shifters transform before her eyes. The awe in those eyes made Jude smile.

"Greetings, Marieke," Dane said. "I'm Alpha Dane Cresta of the Evenhide Pack, and this is Alpha Jude of the Silverpaw Pack. Forgive our flashy appearance."

Marieke's eyes widened even more. "I thought you were those other wolves who chased me away from here."

"Other wolves?" Jude's eyes narrowed.

"We smelled them." Dane growled.

Marieke offered a tiny smile. "I didn't think you wolves ever left your pack lands."

"Some of us enjoy traveling," Dane said wryly. "Although it often takes a serious crisis to lure us away from our home and pack. Who were these wolves?"

Marieke fidgeted with a serpent's tail charm she wore around her neck. Daxius, coughing and with his face covered in ash, ran to her side and put an arm around her. "You can trust them," he said in a soothing voice. "Just tell them what you know."

Marieke's eyes went to Ravyn, and her smell became as strong and fiery as a forest blaze. "Daxius–have you broken the curse for us?"

Daxius held her in his arms gently. "Can't you feel it, my love?"

She shrugged. "I'm not a witch or even a shifter–just an ordinary human."

Ravyn's eyes narrowed. "Don't be so modest. Ordinary humans don't know shifters exist! And you've helped Daxius survive a curse that would have killed an ordinary wizard, or turned him into an empty shell."

Jude could feel the prickles of Ravyn's suspicion. Not jealousy–suspicion. His mate noticed many things even shifters missed.

Could Marieke not be telling the whole truth? She certainly had a strong reaction to Ravyn.

Lilia looked dubiously at Marieke. "I want to know how you know about shifters–but what happened here?"

"A dark figure," Marieke replied. "In the shadows, muttering a curse in the witch tongue–too low for me to make out. And those wolves–they came right after that. Attacked and drove me out of the house. Could the curse have turned the wolves vicious and feral?"

Jude frowned, remembering that Morgana, Hades' mate, had made "zombies" out of shifters to frame Hades. Also, Hades had taken the wolves of his followers to control them, and the Dark Goddess had enabled this.

More wolves under the Dark Goddess' control would be a disaster.

* * * * *

Ravyn POV

"Anything's possible where dark magic is concerned," Ravyn said, alarmed. "Marieke, could this mysterious figure be the one who cursed Daxius? And Daxius, do you know who cursed you?

"No," Daxius admitted. "That night I disappeared was a blur."

Marieke wrapped her arms around him tightly, possessively. "He was imprisoned on this island until I found him."

"What, do you like a deserted isle?" Duffy questioned.

"I was marooned here years ago," Marieke said. "Hadn't seen a ship or anyone living in so long, then one day I came upon Daxius imprisoned in an abandoned tower."

"What tower?" Jude questioned. "We haven't seen one."

"It's on the other side of the island," Daxius revealed. "It's where I was imprisoned. I never saw my jailer. All I heard was a dark gravelly voice."

"Male or female?" Lilia questioned.

Daxius paused. "It sounded faintly female, but I couldn't tell most of the time. It kept taunting me." He looked at Ravyn and Lilia. "Telling me that you were better off without me. Or that you were both starving in the streets. Eventually, I couldn't stand the thought and I teleported, which nearly killed me–I wound up unconscious outside, where Marieke found me. She took me to this …" He gestured at the ruin. "aand cared for me."

Ravyn believed Jude. She glanced at Dane and Jude, who both nodded. Lilia and Duffy seemed convinced as well.

Marieke smiled. "He wasn't the easiest patient, even half-dead, but I was just so happy to finally have company and someone to talk to–and talk we did."

"If it weren't for Marieke, I'd be dead," Jude confessed, holding her hand. "She nursed me back to health and won my heart–but we couldn't be together until I made amends with my family. Ravyn, you've found someone and I think I might like him in time." A charming smile. "I ask for your blessing in return."

Ravyn was about to wish the couple all the happiness she'd found and then some–but when she looked at Marieke, a crushing feeling of foreboding and darkness overtook her.

Jude growled, his teeth sharp. "What is it?"

Ravyn glared at Marieke. "No! Your story doesn't make sense."

Daxius scowled, his face stormy. "Goddess, Ravyn–"

Marieke covered her face with her hand and ran off, sobbing.

Daxius grabbed Ravyn by the shoulders. "You can punish me all you want, but to treat her this way is beneath you."

Suddenly, someone knocked Ravyn on the head and she collapsed. She heard everyone else scream in pain. Her eyes blurred and pain wracked her body from Jude.

Marieke's voice taunted them. "You just couldn't make things easy for yourself, Ravyn. You'll regret that."

That voice was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.