Running Out of Time

DELILAH

My arms shook as I crouched there, my bottom half chilled from the air and my own slick wetness.

Seth and Cole could smell my desire; they growled, but both of them stayed in place.

Taking a slow breath, I centered myself, drawing from the earth. Slowly, I could feel the energy coursing through me.

A grumble came from both of them and I stopped pulling, already feeling a bit more stable.

“So this is what’s going to happen,” I said steadily.

“Both of you are going to leave here and return with the things I’ll need to rest. Then, you will stay on the perimeter. If you feel any magical pull, you are to resist and run far away, until we do this spell at sundown tomorrow.”

Both of them snarled at me unhappily. Taking a breath, I spread my fingers.

“Look, the magic here is wild. Clearly, if either of you are here it will cause issues as I try to harness it. And we absolutely cannot have sex.”

I took a deep breath. “Do as I ask…please, so I can prepare everything.”

They hesitated.

“Immediately,” I said crossly, trying to keep my voice even.

They both growled at me again, staring me down, but after a moment they conceded and sank into the woods.

Leaving me kneeling, half-naked, in the darkening woods. Alone in this little clearing.

With a cursed tree.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair.

Taking a shaky breath, I dug a fingernail into part of my hand, pushing out a small amount of blood and pressing it against a small rune tattoo on my shoulder.

It glowed with the stored energy there. I smacked my hand, then laid it flat. My cell phone lay in my palm, fully charged with a very weak signal.

I wished I could magically boost the signal. But magic and technology?

Not great pals. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a con artist.

A lot of people have tried, but the bottom line is that the more natural something is, the more soul it has.

So man-made things can only absorb energy, not give it off. Over time, they either degrade or become something from the energy of people left behind.

I flipped the phone open and speed-dialed the one person I needed to talk to before I bailed on the job.

The High Priestess of the western coast. And my mother.

After two rings a smooth deep voice answered, “Daughter.”

“Mother,” I replied curtly.

“There is a problem?”

“Several,” I said, shivering at a small breeze. I walked over to the tree and tall stones for a bit of protection.

“What is your request?” she asked.

I could tell she was pursing her lips—she thought I could handle this.

Easy money. She had sent me personally after they’d paid extra for a good witch.

“I wish to return and refund their money immediately.”

“I forbid it!” my mother shouted into the phone, losing her composure in an instant. “We need that money, Delilah. There’s no backing out of this spell.”

“Clarice—” I bit out, trying to keep calm and sound reasonable.

But she didn’t even let me explain. “No, I refuse to let you leave. You are to finish that spell. That’s an order.”

“Clarice! This spell will kill them!” I spit out with a growl.

“How in the hell does a simple love spell kill someone?” she scoffed.

“And even if it does, why should we care? They’re a bunch of mutts! I should have just sent one of your sisters. I knew your head had been in the clouds lately but—”

“Who sent this pack to us, Mother?” I asked bluntly, cutting her off midrant.

“What?” she asked, angry I had interrupted her.

“Who the hell sent this pack to us, Mother? We don’t deal with witches that mess with the natural order, and someone like that sent them to us, years ago.

“These alphas aren’t normal—their soul is split. I’m standing in front of a tree that has its own little brook bubbling out of it like a miniature waterfall, Mother!”

Silence.

“Clarice?” I finally asked.

“You said…split soul?” She sounded confused. “As in…”

“As in what!?” I shrieked.

“Come home, Delilah. Immediately,” she said stiffly.

“What—why?”

“You requested it, and I’m granting it.”

I paused for a moment.

Clarice didn’t just back out of money that easily. And she wasn’t giving me an explanation.

My mother was a lot of things, and right now she knew something that she wasn’t saying.

She couldn’t care less if the wolves died from this spell; she’d tell me to collect the money anyway.

“Why the sudden change of heart, Mother?” I asked suspiciously.

“I’m not having a change of heart. I think this is such a tragedy and you’ll need to explain to them why you cannot do the spell,” she said, angry with me for questioning her.

“And if they don’t care?” I asked cautiously.

“Make them believe it’s better not to care,” she answered pointedly. “We do not want to lose their patronage over this.”

“Of course, Mother,” I replied softly. My mind was reeling.

“Good,” my mother replied in a clipped tone. “I will see you tomorrow night then.”

“Yes, tomorrow night,” I replied before hanging up.

My mother didn’t want this spell completed.

Something smelled rotten—starting with this spring spouting from the tree.

With the brothers gone, I didn’t hesitate to walk toward the water flowing from the tree and sink my hands into it.

The magic pouring from it was powerful and chaotic, making my fingers vibrate and vision swim.

“Goddess, let me see,” I begged, rubbing it into my eyelids. Lowering my hands, I opened my eyes, feeling the magic dancing around them.

But all was quiet…

Fae magic.

Unpredictable. Twisted.

There were lots of kinds of dark magic in the world—things that could show you a wrong to be righted, or result in your own death. Normally, that was a risk I was willing to take.

~Fae~ magic, however.

Tends to do nothing when you want it to do something.

Or does a whole lot of something when you want it to do nothing.

It was unpredictable. That being said, this definitely was Fae magic.

A Fae had done spell work on the brothers when they were only pups.

But why?