Soul Bond: Part 13

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13

            Liam fully understood the word seething now.  It had never made complete sense to him before, but now, he knew exactly what that word meant.  He was seething with anger, pissed beyond all reason, at the woman who had put his precious angel in this situation. 

            To be fair, the logical part of his mind knew that she hadn’t done this to Jared on purpose.  But she had triggered the trap and instead of explaining things to him, or to Kelly for that matter, she put the fear of God into him and sent him running to people he did not know.  At least she’d had the sense to send him to Boulder and not some other coven.  Heaven only knew how they would have treated Jared.  But Liam couldn’t think about that.  If he did, the rage would get the better of him and he’d end up murdering that bitch.

            Jezebel was wound around his neck, almost too tightly.  She knew just how comforting Liam found it to have her heavy coils so close around his shoulders.  She was sending soothing thoughts and Liam tried to let them sink in as he listened to Jared tell Kelly everything he’d already told Liam.  If it hadn’t been for Jez, Liam wouldn’t have been able to keep his anger in check.

            A quack from Marvin drew his attention back to the conversation at the kitchen table.  Jared made a shushing sound and stroked a hand down the duck’s back.  Liam focused on what Kelly was saying.

            “Well, Morgan isn’t answering her cell or responding to the texts I sent.  Don’t worry, Jared.  She obviously had your best interests in mind.  We’ll figure this out.”

            Jared nodded like he agreed and Liam’s tenuous control on his anger snapped.

            “How can you say that?!  She scared the crap out of him and sent him into an unknown situation, feeding him some crock of shit about needing to make him safe so he was so damn afraid he was going to hurt someone he could barely function, and you say she had his best interests in mind?!”

            Silence reined for a moment and Liam was startled when he felt hurt coming through his link with Jared.

            “You thought I could barely function?” Jared asked quietly, not looking at Liam.

            Fuck.  Liam dropped to his knees and wasn’t surprised when Jared leaned away from his touch.  He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Softly, he said,“I’m sorry, angel.  I am.  I didn’t mean it quite like that.  But you were beyond afraid and barely holding on.  If she had just explained things to you, or even Kelly, a lot of this mess could have been avoided.”

            A hint of anger flashed in Jared’s eyes.  “You think this thing with you and me is a mess?”

            “No!” Liam’s denial was quick and a little too loud.  He shook his head and wished, not for the first time, that their link allowed Jared to feel more of his emotions.  Then he wouldn’t have to try to find words to explain things. 

            “No,” he repeated, a little quieter.  “I wouldn’t change anything about us.  Not a thing.  You hear me?”

            Jared looked at him warily for a moment before nodding slowly. 

            “But yeah, I’m angry.  I’m really angry with Morgan for what she did to you and all her choices after.  She hurt you and that is unacceptable to me.”           

            Jared’s eyes widened.  “She didn’t hurt me!” he protested vehemently.  Jared took a deep breath and reached out to cup one of Liam’s cheeks in his palm.  “Really.  She was doing what she thought best.”

            Liam scowled even as she scooted closer to Jared’s chair.  He kept his voice quiet and calm as he said, “I disagree with you there, angel.  She was working whatever agenda she’s got going on.  It’s what she always does.  She uses people.”

            “I trust her,” was Jared’s reply.

            Kelly chimed in, “As do I.”

            Jason snorted from his perch on the counter.  “I agree with the big guy on this one.  That bitch will do whatever she wants with whoever she wants to get whatever she wants.”

            Jez agreed with Liam and Jason.  And by the sound of the meow from Nola and the hoot from Strix, both the familiars did as well.  Liam felt a little better having that kind of support in his corner.  His mood lifted even more when he reached out to put an arm around Jared and the man leaned into him instead of pulling away.  He dropped a kiss on Jared’s head before he focused his attention on Kelly.

            “I want answers, man.  I want to know what she’s doing about the prick who was Jared’s boss.  And I want to know why she’s using Jared and this coven as pawns.”

            “Liam,” Kelly said, his voice full of warning.  But Liam just scoffed.  The man might be the leader of their coven but he was also Liam’s closest friend.  He wasn’t impressed with Kelly’s attempt at showing power.

            “Seriously, are you going to sit there and tell me there isn’t something hinky going on?  And that she doesn’t owe us a goddamn explanation?”

            Kelly tried to keep a stern gaze but eventually, he deflated a little.  “She’s not answering.  How do you expect me to get answers from her?”

            The solution seemed simple enough to Liam.  “We pull an astral projection of her and make her answer.”

            Kelly and Jared gasped.  Jason made a confused sound before he asked, “What the hell does that mean?”

            Liam turned his gaze to the man sitting next to the sink as he cuddled Jared in closer.  “Basically, we summon her, well, a version of her, into our midst.  She’ll have no choice but to answer us then.”

            “We don’t have that kind of power,” Kelly said.  His tone sounded like he was glad for that fact.  Jared breathed a sigh of relief.  But Liam wasn’t going to let this go.

            “Not just us, no.  But if we do it with a boost from the alder and our most powerful practitioners, Owen could do it.  You know he could.”

            Kelly looked mutinous for a moment and Liam thought that the man would put his foot down.  Kelly would have to gather the coven, he would have to direct the siphoning of their power into Owen, and he would have to sanction this.  If their leader didn’t agree, it wasn’t going to happen.  But Liam was damn sick of all the game playing and he was going to fight with everything he had to make it happen.

            Kelly’s eyes focused on his and, because they knew each other so well and for so long, he could almost read the man’s thoughts.  He seemed to be asking Liam if he really thought this was the way to do things.  Liam did his best to convey exactly that.

            “I hate it when they have these silent conversations,” Jason stage whispered, obviously wanting to be overheard.  Liam nearly smiled.  The kid could be damn petulant when he put his mind to it.

            Kelly sat back in his chair and blew out a breath.  It was all Liam could do not to pump his fist in the air.  He knew what that meant.  Kelly was going to agree.  He only had to wait for the man to say the words.  The minutes stretched on, wearing Liam’s nerves thin, as he waited for Kelly to speak.

            “All right,” the man said finally.  “I’m ready to find out what’s going on, too.  Liam, call Jesse, Sam, and Marlie.  Sweetheart, if you could call Daniel and Mary, please?  I’ll get in contact with Owen and Alex.”

            Jason hopped off the counter and reached for the portable phone on the other side of the sink.  Kelly already had his cell to his ear.  Liam felt nothing but relief.  Soon they would have answers.

            Jared tugged on his arm until Liam turned to face him. “Are you sure you want to do this?  If we pull a projection of her, Morgan is going to be pissed.”

            “Yeah, well,” Liam muttered, tugging his phone from his pocket, “She can join the club.”

***

            Jared was bundle of nerves as he stood in the circle of practitioners gathered around the alder.  He could not believe they were doing this.  And he’d almost said that he would have no part of it, that he wasn’t going to get involved.  But Liam must have sensed his emotions because he’d pulled him into his big arms and whispered roughly in his ear, “Aren't you done playing games, angel?  Don’t you want this to be over with?”

            Jared reluctantly agreed that he did and so he stood among the strongest members of the Boulder coven despite his anxiety.  He hadn’t been paying attention to much when introductions had gone around, until he’d been introduced to Owen.  The little man was barely four inches over five feet, his sweater was a bright pink, and he had a swish in his walk that would have put a supermodel to shame, but that wasn’t what had grabbed Jared’s attention.  The man simply exuded power.  It rolled off him in waves.  If Owen had even a hint more dominance he would have been the leader of his own coven.  And if he had a malevolent bone in his body, Jared had no doubt the man could take over the world.  As it was, Jared was just glad that Owen was on their side.

            To calm his racing heart as he waited, Jared studied the circle of people and their familiars.  Henry was practically sitting on Mary’s feet, Strix was tucked tight to the side of Jason’s head, his claws puckering the fabric of Jason’s shirt where his talons gripped the man’s shoulder.  Jesse stood placidly with his ferret, he’d learned the animal’s name was Fergus, perched on his head.  It made the sheriff look like he had a white Mohawk and Jared couldn’t imaging how that was comfortable for either of them.  Nola was winding her way around Kelly’s ankles and it was a wonder the man didn’t trip.  Daniel stood close to the tree and…wait.  Jared’s heart started to pound as a different kind of nervous snaked into his gut.

            Liam was at his side in an instant, “What’s the matter, angel?”

            “Daniel, he, uh…” Jared cleared his throat and dropped his voice.  “Where’s Daniel’s familiar?”  That day in the kitchen came back to him and he realized he’d never seen Daniel with a familiar.

            Liam gave him a puzzled frown for a moment and then realization dawned.  Liam’s eyes went skyward and with a few seconds searching, he lifted a hand and pointed. “There.  See that huge crow perched at the top of the tree?”

            It was easy to see with the branches bare of leaves.  Jared nodded. 

            Liam’s hand dropped to Jared’s back and his touch was comforting.  “Munro loves this tree in a way I have never seen before.  If Daniel gets within fifty yards of this tree, Munro takes off and perches here.”

            Jared knew his relief was palatable but he didn’t care.  A practitioner without a familiar was a dangerous thing. Either the practitioner had gone dark and killed their familiar or, if the familiar’s death happened as the result of an accident, then the practitioner was highly unstable.  Jared felt a lot better knowing that Daniel’s familiar was alive and well.

            Suddenly, the atmosphere changed, going from quiet murmurs to complete silence.  Jared straightened and took his place in the circle.  The spell was easy enough from his end; hold hands with the practitioner on either side of him and feed his power down the line to Owen.  It was easy to augment another practitioner’s power.  Jared had lost track of how many times he’d done in his life.  Kelly would be directing all of their combined power into the spell to pull Morgan’s astral self into their midst and once he had everything gathered, Owen would weave the complete spell and make it work. 

            For long minutes, it was just a swirl of color as everyone added their strength to the spell.  Jared’s red mingled with Liam’s royal blue as he fed that down the line and mixed the resulting purplish color with Mary’s turquoise.  The colors each person’s magic remained basically in tact, swirling around the other colors until it reached Kelly.  Only then did it become a muddied mass of swirling energy, the colors blending together.  When Kelly fed that power into Owen, the little man’s eyes snapped open.  He gave a little gasp, then sucked in a quick breath.  There was silence for a long moment and then it felt like an explosion of power rocked the backyard.

            Jared had squeezed his eyes closed as the breath seemed to be pulled from his body.  Once he could breathe again, he opened his eyes.  A wispy, mostly transparent figure stood in the center of the circle, right next to the tree.  Jared immediately recognized Morgan’s familiar features.

            She looked shocked.  Then she composed herself, stood up straight, and turned in a slow circle until her eyes landed on Owen and Kelly.

            “I should have known you’d get the powerhouse involved,” Morgan shook her head but she sounded indulgent before she demanded,  “Haven’t you ever heard of a phone, Kelly?”

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