Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,106
to the kitchen.
Sebastian pounded up the stairs behind her.
Anton didn’t slow down a bit, but his thoughts filled Lily’s head. When Sebastian grabbed her hand, she knew he heard as well. Annie, Xandi, Lisa, and your mom were driving to town. They took Mom’s car. It was rigged with a gas canister hidden inside. It exploded as they pulled off the driveway onto the main road.
Is Mom okay?
Everyone is fine except for Annie. Mom was still driving, losing consciousness from the gas. The car went off the road, but she saw four huge men grab Annie and stuff her in a sack. She’s sure they were Chanku, and she heard them talking about a sacrifice. Alex has gone to the oak that straddles the property line. He thinks Aldo plans to kill Annie there. If Aldo’s using death magic, if he’s recently killed, he could be stronger than all of us. I need your help. Sebastian? Are you willing to work against your father?
They’d reached the kitchen. Sebastian grabbed Anton’s shoulder to stop him. Then he held out his hand. “I will back you in any way I can. You have my word on that.”
Anton shook his outstretched hand. “Good. I figured we could count on you. Lily, I’ll gather the pack in the big meadow. I hate to ask you to do this, but I want you and Sebastian to go up on the mountain. Alex is already there. He said it looks like they’re setting up for some spell work, but he hasn’t been able to connect with Annie yet. We can’t do anything until we know where she is. Tinker and Stefan are with Alex. My plan is to use the pack to build energy for you and Sebastian to channel.”
He grabbed Lily’s shoulders and stared directly into her eyes, but he spoke aloud. “It would be easier if you and Sebastian were bonded, but even without that, the two of you are already more powerful than I can ever hope to be. Find a way to work together. Your combined magic along with what we can send to you should be much stronger than Aldo’s.”
Lily nodded, shocked her father would even mention bonding. Did he approve that strongly of Sebastian? She had no doubts. Not anymore. Even the Mother had given him a blessing of sorts, communing with him for so long.
She forced herself back to what her father was saying. The two of them had done this before, taking energy from the pack, working it between them. Together they could manipulate energy better than Anton could alone, but she’d never done it without him. Sebastian was a powerful mage, in some ways, even stronger than her father, though Sebastian’s magic was instinctive. He lacked training, beyond what her dad had given him earlier today.
Would that be enough? One day’s training to fight a wizard with a lifetime of dark magic behind him? It had to be, though she couldn’t help but think how much stronger they would be were they to mate. But they couldn’t. Not like this. Even the threat hanging over them wasn’t worth forcing such a commitment on Sebastian.
But damn it all, what was Aldo Xenakis trying to do? She clutched Sebastian’s arm and tugged him to face her. “Sebastian, what is your father’s goal? Do you have any idea what he thinks he can gain by doing this? What will a human sacrifice do for him? He’s got to be losing his mind, to think he can get away with this.”
Sebastian just shook his head. “I have no idea, Lil. All I can think is, the man must be insane. He’s always wanted more power, but this is beyond extreme. None of it makes sense.”
“Crap. The timing does.” Anton turned and raced down the hall toward the den with Lily and Sebastian right behind him. “Tonight’s the full moon. Why didn’t I realize how much greater the risk would be tonight?”
He paused in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder. “I notified the sheriff’s department a while ago, told them there’d been a kidnapping of one of our pack, but that Alex was looking into it. They allow us to police ourselves whenever possible, and I don’t want innocent deputies hurt. Your father’s an unknown as far as how much power he’s amassed with the killings, but I wanted you to know we’re hoping to handle this on our own.”
He ran his fingers through his hair, dislodging the tie holding it