His mother waved her hand airily. "Don't call me Mother in that tone of voice. I've wiped your poopy bottom; I deserve at least some respect. Besides, I have no problems per se with witches. It's your father I'm worried about. You know how he gets." She sniffed. "Are you the one who turned Christopher's great room purple?"
"That was me, Mom."
She turned to Zachary, both brows in her hairline. Not a good sign. "What spell were you attempting?"
Zachary took a step back, closer to Annabelle. "I was trying an illusion spell on the flowers."
Mom blinked. "Illusion spell."
He nodded. "Yes."
"Zachary." It was said in that tone of voice mothers everywhere had, weary and sad and somehow still filled with affection.
Lana fingered the mark on her neck, the exact same mark his mother wore on her neck. "Trust me, it could have been worse. We could have been instant spokeswomen for Welch's grape juice."
Christopher buried his face in her hair and tried not to laugh when his mother rolled her eyes. He slowly pulled her out of the room and left Zachary to explain to their mother what was going on. He wasn't certain he wanted to be there for that. Besides, if anyone could handle his mother, it would be Annabelle Evans. The two were either going to hate each other or love one another and he wasn't sure which prospect frightened him more.
"Chris?" His father was holding the door to the study open. "There's something you need to see."
He exchanged a worried look with Lana before moving into the study. "What?"
Daniel turned the Registry around and pointed to a single entry. "Cole."
He read the entry and sucked in a breath. Why in hell was he so surprised? "That explains a lot."
Lana was frowning. "I thought you told me he was a wizard."
"He was a wizard once upon a time." Christopher shook his head. "Enough hatred can send a man down a path no one could predict."
She was shaking her head. "But that's supposed to be impossible. No one can go from wizard to warlock like that."
"Not unless they already had some warlock blood in them." Daniel turned the book back around.
"See here? The Godwins have an ancestor who married a warlock, two generations before our families intermarried."
Chris felt like he'd been socked in the jaw. "Does that mean what I think it means?"
His father nodded. "There's a direct line down from that ancestor to the one who married our ancestor." He braced himself on the desk. "It means a warlock could also be born into the Becketts."
"Fuck." Gareth sat gingerly in the chair behind the desk. "So where's the witch in the family? I mean, how did Zach wind up one?"
Lana shook her head. "Witches are spontaneous, remember? We tend to show up in the same families over and over again, but sometimes a witch is born into a wizard or warlock family and, unless someone picks up on it or checks the Registry, they never know who or what they really are. Sometimes we find them and try to train them, but how well they do depends on how much they're willing to accept."
"We have another problem than Zach's spontaneous witchdom." Daniel stared at Chris, his expression grim.
Chris nodded. "We've been preparing for a wizard."
"When we should have been preparing for a warlock." Lana parked her butt on the edge of his work table, her fingers automatically going to the emerald ring. She toyed with it before slipping it absently onto her finger. Chris tried to focus on the problem at hand rather than what she'd just done.
"We need to get Grammy and your mom in here."
"I agree." His brothers looked at him like he'd just offered to share office space with Jaws and the Terminator, but his father looked oddly pleased. "We also need to let the court know that Cole is no longer a wizard, and therefore no longer eligible for the role of king."
"I'll take care of that." Daniel picked up the phone and began dialing.
"I'll get mom, Annabelle and Zach." Gareth pulled himself wearily to his feet. "These fucking pain pills are really dragging my ass down."
"Rest after this." When Gareth opened his mouth to object, Chris held up his hand, silencing him.
"You can help me more when you're at the top of your game. Take a nap, then come back down and help me prepare for my duel."
Gareth nodded and dragged himself out of the room.
"Chris?"
He looked down into the worried eyes of his mate. "It will be all right, Lana." He pressed a kiss to those soft, beautiful lips. "I promise."
She glared up at him, but he saw the worry dragging at her eyes. "It better be."
He smiled. Now that he knew what he'd be dealing with during the duel he was positive it would be.
Chapter Twelve
"So what's the plan? Has he contacted you yet with a location? A date, a time?"
Lana watched the Beckett boys get serious in Chris's workroom. Gareth was busy thumbing through Chris's spell books, awkwardly leaving little sticky tabs to mark pages with his good hand.
Daniel was polishing Chris's Athame, a magical knife used by all three types of magic users. Spells could be channeled through that knife much like a wand. Edward, their father, was quietly consulting with someone on the phone about binding spells. Zachary was muttering to himself, closing his eyes and running words around in his head. She could hear the beginnings of rhymes, chants that might possibly help Chris protect himself. Every now and then he would stop and scribble something down, his full lip caught between his teeth. Sometimes his hand would reach out absently and snag something, running it around and around his fingers before either adding it to his pile or setting it aside. Whenever he reached for something, his brothers would watch him with various de-grees of amusement and wonder. She didn't have the heart to tell Zach that a witch's spells wouldn't work very well for a wizard.
Then again, considering everything else he'd accomplished, perhaps his would. It was something to think about, anyway.
She, on the other hand, had been relegated to kitchen help. She was bringing the men coffee and sandwiches while they worked, and while it rankled she sort of understood. Just watching the precise way they worked, the way Christopher would lay out different things, study them, put most of them away and set one aside, showed her she wouldn't have much to contribute. It was like he was building a beautiful mosaic, once piece at a time, and she wouldn't be able to see his vision until after he'd finished.
It was so god-damn sexy. It was the same focus he had when they made love, the fierce concentration making her think wicked thoughts.
Made love. Lana smiled. She didn't know what it was about the arrogant wolf and his family, but she felt like she'd come home.
She handed him his sandwich and coffee, returning the absent smile he gave her. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and bent to study the talisman currently sitting on his desk, runes etched on its surface that had absolutely no meaning for her. "What is that?"
"Protection amulet," he responded absently. "Need it for a shielding spell."
She stroked it, feeling the dormant magic within it. "Groovy."
His lips twitched. He looked up at her over the top of his glasses. "Groovy?"
She shrugged. "Isn't that what Shaggy always says?"
He shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses, but she could see the way his mouth trembled from trying to hold back the laugh.
Next thing she knew Chris tumbled her into his lap. She squeaked, grabbing hold of his shoulders.
He nipped her chin. "Who gets to be Thelma?"
"Not me!" Zach held up his hand, grinning, still writing scribbles on pieces of paper.
Lana tapped her lips with her fingernail, getting into the game. She could sense some of the tension leaving their shoulders. "You're more Danger-Prone Daphne, I think."
Zach sputtered indignantly while his brothers laughed.
Chris leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. "That would make Daniel Thelma, wouldn't it?"
"And Gareth Fred?"
Chris grinned. "He has pulled Zachary's ass out of the fire more than once."
Lana nodded, her own lips turning up. "And Zach does have a real fondness for the color purple."
Gareth was leaning against a bookcase, face buried in his arm, his shoulders shaking. Daniel was openly grinning at his brother Zach.
"Oh fuck you all." Zach stood up and stretched. "I'm going to get some chips." He strode out, but not before flipping his brothers off.