“Stealing power from shifters,” Alek prompted. “Like a sorcerer.”
“Stop saying that. You’re wrong. We can’t steal power, not like that.” I glared at him. “I have power because I was born with it. It’s like this well inside me. A witch or warlock or whatever you call a human magic user has only the ability to use power, not the actual power itself inside them. They have to do special rituals or tap power sources like ley lines, bodies of water, or plots of land, Gods, that kind of thing, to actually work magic. Shifters are different. You guys are one trick ponies. Well, you might not be.” I stopped for a steadying breath and waved my hand at my shimmering walls. “But most shifters just have that one connection to their animal. You guys are magic, instead of using it. And it isn’t a magic that is accessible to anyone else. If I ate your heart, nothing would happen but a bad stomach ache.”
“You eat hearts? I thought that was legend.” He ran a hand through his hair. Some fell over his forehead and I wanted to get up and go to him, brush it away. Lean into his vanilla and musk warmth and pretend he was just a hot guy in my bedroom and that I wasn’t sitting here on borrowed time while the world went to ruin around me.
“I don’t,” I said. “But I could. If, say, I ate the heart of this Bernie guy, I’d have his knowledge, his ability to use the kind of power he’s wielding.” I saw Alek’s expression at that and realized I really shouldn’t have used this situation as an example. “Anyway, that’s a sorcerer thing. Bernie can’t do that. I think, and again, I’m making educated but pretty crazy guesses with the stuff we already know, but I think he’s not using shifter powers so much as using their life force as a source. He’s doing it with shifters probably for a couple reasons. One, no one is going to be that alarmed if they come across a guy with a bunch of stuffed animals lying around. Two, you guys have a lot of life source. What makes you hard to kill is what makes you perfect as a sort of magical battery for this guy.”
Now that I was saying it all aloud it made even more sense than it had in my head as I ran through my ideas on the drive back to my shop.
“The full moon, the ley line node, and a fresh healthy shifter to power whatever he’s doing out there tonight, well, put it together and you’ve got really bad news. He might be able to tap into the node from there and create some kind of permanent conduit. After that, and considering how he views your kind as walking batteries, you’ll have a serious problem.”
“Yes,” Alek said. “But we can stop him tonight, before the moon rises. Make him undo what he has done. And then I’ll kill him.”
“Wait, what’s this ‘we’, white man?” I said. “I am not going with you. And don’t you dare drag Levi and Harper along either. They nearly got caught in one of this guy’s traps today. You have training, experience. They don’t. Right now this guy is pretty much just a human. You should be able to handle that.” Though we had no idea how many minions he had left. Two were out of commission. Were there more? I shoved the thought into the not my problem file.
“Why not come with me? You have power, you can help stop him, do your protection thing and tell me if he’s undoing his magic.”
“No. I’m leaving town before I get us all killed.” He’d been right when he told me the night before that I would tell him the truth. He already knew what I was. What did it matter if he knew the rest? “I’m here in Wylde because I thought the ley lines and the abundance of shifters and other magic users would hide me. But it was only going to work as long as I didn’t use my own magic. All those horror stories you hear about sorcerers? They aren’t really about the rest of us, few as we are. They are about one man and he’s probably on his way here right now to destroy me and anyone I care about.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Then I will fight him with you, in exchange for your help on this current matter.” Alek looked skeptical and his shrug was casual.
I laughed, the sound raw and ugly. I could have left it at that, he didn’t need to understand, after all. I didn’t need to change his mind. But I wanted him to know the truth, it was weirdly important to me that he see I was right, that I couldn’t stay, how badly I had to run. It wasn’t only terror making me go; it was the only way anyone would survive.
“Wolf, show him,” I said softly, looking over at where my guardian was flopped on the floor by my dresser. Alek gave me a strange look, which was fair since as far as he could see I was talking to an empty patch of carpet.