"She's completely untrained," Stephanie said. "All that power she doesn't know how to control; what she did that night was instinctual, but it almost killed her. She needs to work with me to learn what her powers are and how they work."
I looked over at Wendy, she was nodding, the powers scared her. "Where? At your coven?"
"No, we can't do it there either. The same ripples of power I felt were felt by other Dark Ones, they will come looking for her. Plus, the witches in my coven don't trust werewolves, for good reason, and you are both werewolves. I would prefer somewhere isolated."
"My home, then. It isn't much, hopefully the improvements I asked for have been done. It's on my own land between packs, no one will trespass onto it." I poked my head out of the room and called for Wendy's guards. "We're leaving soon," I told them. "You will take Wendy in the car and return her to my cabin. I will meet you there."
Wendy looked at me, a little disappointed. "Why can't I travel with you?"
"Stephanie can't travel through Pack territories, I'll fly her home and meet you there." She nodded, seeing the wisdom but her wolf didn't like me being in close contact with another woman like that, even if it was a relative. I looked at the guards who just arrived. "Protect her with your lives. Wendy, use the link if anything doesn't seem right."
An hour later, I watched as a black Lincoln Navigator we liberated from the previous Alpha's garage pulled out. Wendy was in the back with Andrew, while Mitch and Phil took the front. I had outfitted them with half an arsenal of weapons; although the western Packs had been thinned, you could never be sure. I'd left too many widows and orphans behind, not to mention the angry Pack members left without their leaders.
"Will she be all right?" Stephanie had come up beside me, she had changed into something more appropriate for flying- jeans, boots, a sweater with a jacket over it.
"She better. Come on, we should get you something to eat. We can't leave until sundown anyway." I didn't want to fly during the daytime, too easy to be spotted, and I couldn't fly high with a passenger. I followed her to the kitchen, where some of the Pack women were making dinner. It could be weeks before they were relocated.
I watched as she grabbed a plate and we went out by the pond in back to eat. None of the pack members wanted to be around us, they hated witches and I had killed their members. "What happened to the power of the dark witches? You said they would have stolen Wendy's power, can they collect it now that those two are dead?"
"No, it can be stolen or transferred, but if not done before death it is lost forever," she said. "That was another reason I wanted her out of here, the longer she stays the more likely dark witches will come after her."
"Is there anything I can do?"
She shook her head no. "Magical fighting is quite different from physical. I guess you figured that out with the chains they used on you. Wendy's power was much greater than those two, so even though she didn't know what she was doing, it still won. She's going to be an amazing witch, she has a great spirit."
"Yes, she does, despite it all." I gave her a Reader's Digest version of her life since she had been abandoned; it was enough to make her cry, especially with how she had been given over to the rogues.
"How... how can an Alpha do that to one of his members?"
"Not all Alphas have their Pack first and foremost. She was a warrior, she would have understood being sent to certain death to protect her Pack and would have done it without hesitation. This was greed, though. That is what made it unforgiveable."
She looked at her food, suddenly not very hungry. "I hope his death was painful."
"I wasn't there, I was busy taking care of the rogues that abused her," I said. "He is dead, though. I've been in the Hereafter, seen the Sort. He will face punishment in the afterlife, and Wendy knows it as well."
We spent a few hours there by the pond, she learning about Wendy's life and me learning about magic and witches. It was fascinating, really; it was something I'd never been exposed to, a whole grouping of powerful people.
We both looked up in shock at the same moment; Wendy was screaming for help in my head. I jumped to my feet, my wings pushing out. "Black magic," Stephanie said before jumping into my arms. I used the nearby rock to leap off of, my wings beating hard to gain altitude. Sending my senses out, I sought my mate. She was some distance away, after all they had been driving for hours. I flew as quickly as I could, Stephanie was focused on the waves coming from the battle. "She's holding her own," she said, "I can feel the witches. There are at least a dozen of them, luckily none are very powerful. Wendy is using defensive spells, she has a protective field around her right now."
"How long can she hold it?"
"I don't know. The longer she holds it the weaker she becomes."
I was moving as fast as I could, flying a more direct route over the mountains as the sun set. We crested a mountain and Stephanie pointed to the horizon. "There. I can see the power flashes."
"No time for anything fancy, Stephanie. I'm going right into the middle of the battle, I'll let you go then I'm going after them."
"Land from behind them, you might be able to take out a few before they see you and work up a spell to hold you," she said. I was already making the power dive, so I changed course slightly to do what she asked. Wendy was in the center of the empty road, a blue glow surrounded her as she held her hands above her head. Their car was in the ditch; I could see Mitch slumped in the driver's seat, blood down his face. Phil was lying still at her feet, a blue glow covered him, blood was coming out of his nose. Andrew was slumped against a tree, his back at an unnatural angle.
