Urse held the dish aloft when she was finished adding things to it and said a prayer to the Mother of All. Marilee recognized the words this time, and was able to follow along. She lowered the dish to the metal ring and turned to her mate. John handed Urse a bottle of water he’d been holding, and she added some of the pure liquid to the dish. She spoke a muffled word, and the wick on the candle sparked to life. Fire, water and earth—in the form of the herbs—had been invoked so far.

  Then, Urse picked up the dish by the elongated edge that seemed to be made for that purpose and held it over the candle’s flame. The scent of the herbs intensified and blended into something new and…delicious in a soul-purifying way. Marilee couldn’t really describe the scent that reached her, only that it smelled clean. Pure. Honest and true. If such things had a scent.

  Marilee supposed that the scent wafting through the air invoked that element, as well. She watched, curious, wondering what the highly magical, professionally trained witch would do next. She almost gasped as Urse began to chant…and picked up the gleaming dagger.

  The words were still impossible to hear, muffled magically, somehow. But the intent was clear as Urse pointed the dagger at the box on the trailer, and the blood red glyphs began to glow malevolently. Urse didn’t stop. She made cutting motions in the air with the athame, and Marilee grabbed King’s hand as the first line of many banding the sides of the box broke open as if cut.

  One by one, Urse cut away the blood-stained bonds that only Marilee and Gus, apparently, could actually see. Marilee had never witnessed anything like this. It was truly amazing what this sparkling woman could do.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Marilee watched as the last of the bonds faded into nothing. Toward the end of the magical working, some of those glyphs had fought back, battering against the circle of protection Urse had so wisely put in place. Urse’s sparkle was a little faded now, and Marilee realized that she must have just used a lot of her personal energy in battling those evil glyphs.

  The power seemed to revive a bit when her mate put his arm around her waist, and Marilee marveled at the strong bond between bear shifter and witch. She’d never realized a mating outside of shifter species could be so strong. Then again, she shouldn’t have questioned it. If a mating was true—blessed by the Goddess—then it was destined to be strong and pure. That’s just what she was seeing with the Alpha couple, and it boded well for the town that their lead pair was so incredibly dedicated to each other, and to the side of Light.

  For no witch who was the least bit tainted by evil could have done what Marilee had just witnessed. Time and time again, Urse had invoked the Mother of All, and the evil red magic had fled in the face of the Goddess’s Light, as conjured by Urse. It truly had been a sight to behold.

  “Is it safe?” Ace asked King in a low voice. The brothers were standing side by side, and King was standing right next to her, so she was able to hear Ace’s quiet words.

  “She broke all the bonds, if that’s what you mean,” Marilee told the brothers. “She cut them with the dagger and her magic, and they drained away into the earth.”

  “You saw that too, huh?” Gus asked, now standing at her side. Wolves were naturally stealthy, but these bears seemed to be in a class all by themselves. How had he snuck up on her?

  “Yeah, they look all gone from here,” she told the shaman.

  “While Urse gets her bearings, why don’t we take a walk around the circle she cast to make sure it looks the same from all angles?” Gus suggested.

  “Okay,” she agreed, hesitating only slightly.

  King took her hand and interlaced their fingers. “I’ll go with you,” he insisted gently, and somehow, she immediately felt better. She didn’t know Gus, really. She’d rather be in King’s company than go off with a spooky guy she barely knew.

  The trio walked slowly around the trailer, careful to stay just outside of the inner circle of salt and power that Urse had cast. They took their time, looking as closely as they could from the short distance. Gus consulted Marilee, and they talked about not seeing any residue of the blood red magic they’d sensed earlier. Marilee was too short to see the top of the box, but Gus could and reported nothing there any longer. She squatted to peer under the box and was able to see a little through the metal mesh that was the bed of the light trailer. Any of the red energy that had been on the bottom of the box was now gone, as well.

  “Looks like she got it all,” Marilee said to Gus and King.

  Gus nodded. “That’s our Urse. She’s very thorough. Nothing gets past her.” Marilee could hear the admiration in the shaman’s voice.

  “I’ve never known a shifter group with a non-shifter Alpha female,” Marilee observed. “But my experience is very limited, of course,” she was quick to clarify. “Still, I didn’t realize it could work so well to have a non-shifter at the head of the power structure, but you all seem to be really pleased with her.”

  “We’re pleased that John is happy and whole. Any true mating, blessed by the Mother of All, is one that we support, and I can’t deny that Urse has been a huge help to all of us,” Gus told her. “Plus, bear Clans aren’t quite as formal or hierarchical as you wolves. John is Alpha because we all agreed to his leadership, but he’s not our lord and master by any stretch of the imagination. Nor would he want to be. We’re chill on the dominance thing because we all know each other so well and have worked together a long time. We’re more like a big extended family than a political hierarchy,” he admitted. “Like you and your brothers, I believe, but on a much larger scale,” Gus said directly to King, who nodded.

  “Yeah, even though there’s only three of us, I totally get what you mean,” King agreed as they completed their circle of the trailer. “We all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and we let Ace think he’s the leader because he’s the oldest.” King had deliberately raised his voice a bit on the last part as they drew closer to Ace.

  Ace chuckled and just shook his head. Urse looked much better, though her mate still held her from behind. She leaned back against John’s chest, his arms wrapped around her waist, and they just looked…right. Marilee had a deep sense of contentment seeing them together. Theirs was a true partnership, it was easy to see.

  And she saw something else, too. Urse’s sparkly aura, which had faded a bit with the expenditure of her magical energy, was being recharged by being around her mate. John’s aura didn’t diminish to feed Urse’s. Rather, his remained clear and full while also giving part of his energy to Urse. It was like there was some kind of bottomless power source between them, and though they probably didn’t even realize it, they were supporting each other in magical, as well as mundane ways that Marilee found fascinating. She’d never witnessed such a powerful mate bond before.

  Urse straightened away from her mate’s embrace even as Marilee thought this. She smiled and addressed the reunited group. “If it looks okay to you two, I think we’re just about ready to open the circle, and then the box.”

  “If you’ll break your circle, please allow me the task of opening the box. You already did the heavy lifting. Let me do this next part,” Gus requested of Urse gently. Marilee watched John’s response over Urse’s shoulder. He was nodding, and his eyes held a look of thanks directed toward Gus.

  Marilee could see plainly that the Alpha bear wasn’t happy when his mate was in danger. Yet, he hadn’t stopped her from being who she was. What a wonderful example he set for the men under his command.

  “I guess I shouldn’t have all the fun,” Urse said playfully, but then her expression sobered. “Are you sure, Gus? There’s no way of knowing what’s in there.”

  “Please.” Gus shook his head, shooting her a mock haughty expression. “Remember that I’m just as badass as your mate. I was one of his top men in the unit, and I’m a lot older than you are, little strega.” His tone grew more serious as he went on. “Even if you do have skills I envy, I have a lot more field experience. I can handle opening the box. Just be here for backup. That’s all I ask.”

  Urse looked worried but finally nodded. “Be careful,” she admonished him, and Gus grinned. “I’m lowering the circle. Everybody stand ready. We have no idea what’s in there.”

  Urse walked over to the edge of her circle, spoke a muffled word of magic and broke the line of salt with her foot. Marilee could see the shimmer of energy dissipate as the ward came down. It sank into the earth, just as the blood red magic on the box had done. The earth took it all, absorbing it… Cleansing it, she thought.

  Gus went into action, walking right up to the trailer, confidence in his every step. He jumped up onto the platform and took a moment to examine the lock.

  “As we thought,” Gus told them all, keeping them informed of his progress. “It’s just a normal lock. The key probably had the enchantment that would allow passage through the magical bonds.” As he said that, Gus took the heavy metal lock in one big hand and squeezed.

  Marilee heard a metallic popping sound, and then Gus tossed the pieces of the lock to the ground beside the trailer. Holy cow! These bears were strong. Even Tobias couldn’t do something like that. Not that she’d ever seen.

  Gus lifted the hasp and took a deep breath before lifting the lid of the box. He looked down into the box as he held the lid up with one hand and made a sound of surprise.

  “Huh.” He looked over at the rest of them. “Any of you know why they’d be transporting an unconscious, pure white wolf?”

  “What?” Marilee gasped, feeling as if she’d been punched. She was the only pure white wolf she knew.

  King cleared his throat as everyone looked at Marilee. “Uh, Marilee is a white wolf,” he told them for her. She couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought, much less a sentence, right now.

  “Well, there’s a full-grown female wolf in here, and she looks like she’s in a coma or something,” Gus told them. “Magical, I think. Some kind of compulsion that makes her sleep, possibly, but she is alive. Skinny, though. I don’t think they’ve been treating her very well.” Gus’s expression grew angry. “She has visible wounds.”

  Urse was already walking rapidly toward the ramp that would allow her to walk up onto the platform of the trailer. John was right behind her. Urse peered into the box from the side and frowned. Then, she lifted her gaze to Marilee.

  “Do you have any missing family members?” Urse asked, and Marilee felt her words almost like a body blow.

  “They’re all missing. I mean…I’ve never known my biological family. I was fostered by the Pack in Canada, but none of them are blood relatives. I was an orphan,” she explained.

  King went over and stepped on the tire of the trailer, hosting himself up just enough to see into the box. His eyes widened.

  “She looks a lot like you, honey,” he offered, meeting Marilee’s gaze. “And, if she’s got your special ability, I could see why the bad guys would hold her captive and siphon off her power.”

  “Is that what you think happened to her?” Marilee asked Urse at the same time the other woman asked a question of her own.

  “What special ability?” the Alpha female wanted to know.

  King turned to Urse and answered her question first. “I watched a mage throw blood magic fireballs at Marilee in her wolf form, and they just rolled off her fur like nothing. She said it tickled a bit and made her sneeze,” was his dry observation as Urse’s eyes widened. She turned an accusing look on her mate.

  John shifted from one foot to the other. “King told me about it, but I figured we’d see what was what when we met her,” he placated his mate. “I didn’t expect anything like this,” he gestured back to the crate in which a strange white wolf slept on, unaware of her change in circumstances.

  Urse rolled her eyes at the mate who had kept information from her, then redirected her gaze to Marilee. “To answer your question, she looks drained to me. Like either she used her power almost to the last dregs, and somebody scooped her up when she was weak and put her in this box, or—and I find this a tad more likely—somebody captured her and has been siphoning off her power for a long time while keeping her captive. That would explain the weight loss. If they’re keeping her sedated—either magically or with drugs, or both—then she probably isn’t awake very often to eat. Her captors probably like keeping her weak so she can’t effectively attack them.” Urse scowled. “Then again, the very thorough protections they had on this box tell me she probably kept trying to get out. I hope we can revive her. Nobody deserves to be treated like this.”

  “Is there some way we can tell for sure, before she is in the heart of our town, that she’s not one of them?” John asked quietly.

  “You mean, you want to make sure she’s not evil?” Urse countered. “I should think by now, you would understand that, if she can pass through the permanent ward I put around the town, then she’s okay. That’ll be the best test, but I could try a few things here before we head back, if you like. Gus can help.”

  “But honey,” John said quietly to his mate, “those bounty hunters got through your ward when they were hunting Grace.”

  Urse shook her head. “Those guys got through because they were just hired hands doing a job. They, themselves, weren’t inherently evil. Their paymasters were, but not the men, themselves,” she explained. “It was a different situation.” She shook her head. “You asked if the wolf in the crate was evil. If she is, she won’t get through my ward. Simple as that.”

  John looked as if he wanted to ask more, but didn’t want to anger his mate. “All right, then. I trust your judgment,” was all he chose to say in reply. Wise bear.

  What followed was a solid twenty minutes of incantations that Marilee could only partially hear. When Urse used words of magic, they remained muffled, but most of what Gus said—prayers to the Goddess, generally—was clear.

  At length, Urse stepped down from the trailer. “Well, I’m about ninety-nine percent certain this wolf poses no threat to our people or town. The ward will be the final test. As of right now, I sense no evil in her, and if there is a spell being used to keep her under, it’s not something I can break casually. We’re going to have to work on this a bit, to see if we can wake her.”

  “You’re sure this couldn’t be some kind of Trojan Horse thing?” John asked.

  “A Trojan Horse still wouldn’t be able to cross the ward,” Urse reminded him.

  “All right, then,” John said, seeming to have come to a decision. “I’ve been in touch with our scouts. The road we want to use is clear, for now, though there was someone sniffing around a few minutes ago. Brody got rid of them, but they might come back with friends, so now is a good time to make a run for the ward.”

  Marilee wondered what they would do about the trailer. Would they stop at the ward and watch it, or just punch through and hope everything was okay? She wanted to be careful with the white wolf. For all she knew, this wolf could have some answers for her about what had happened to her family.

  “Ace, you lead the way,” John went on. “Urse and I will be right behind you, then Marilee with the trailer and King on his bike. Gus will bring up the rear. We’ll slow down and proceed slowly through the ward, just in case. Urse will watch from inside the barrier, and Gus will watch from outside as the trailer goes through…or not.” John shrugged. “Sound good?”

  Nods all around said the men and Urse agreed with the Alpha bear’s plan. Marilee wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t have any better ideas. She was glad she’d be driving the trailer through. She’d go real slow, just in case. She wanted King in the car with her but saw the wisdom in him being on his bike, should there be trouble. That didn’t mean she liked it, but she knew things were going to change when they reached their destination.

  This was the start of that, and sad as it made her, she couldn’t stop it. They needed to move forward, into Grizzly Cove, even more urgently now that they’d discovered the female wolf who needed help. This was about more than just Marilee’s own safety.

  She watched while the men expertly hitched the trailer back onto her SUV. The lid of the box had been closed, but not locked. Marilee hadn’t seen the white wolf for herself, but she would be sure to drive extra carefully now that she knew there was a living being on the trailer, albeit an unconscious one. She wanted to cringe when she thought about all the miles they had driven without even knowing there was a shifter locked up back there.

  Marilee was very curious to see the white wolf, but she would have to bide her time. She was also afraid. What if the woman trapped in unconsciousness back there on the trailer was somehow related to her? What if it was her sister or cousin? Even her mother…

  The thought boggled her mind. As far as Marilee knew, she had always been an orphan. She’d longed to know what had happened to her biological family almost all her life. Now that the answers might finally be within her grasp, she was frightened of what she might learn. Or, the wolf might not be related at all. That would be a huge disappointment, but what was one more disappointment in a lifetime full of them?

  Still, she would prefer some privacy—what little she could garner out of this odd situation—when she first looked into the box. Perhaps, in Grizzly Cove, she could take a moment to quietly have a look. The folks who had peered into the box, crowding around it on that small trailer platform hadn’t thought to ask her to come up and have a gander, and she’d kept quiet, even though curiosity had been close to getting the better of her.

  Patience, she cautioned herself. She would have time once they were safe. If the wolf didn’t make it past that final ward, then Marilee would have to find a way to take a look somewhere else, while they remained on the run from their pursuers. She’d already decided. There was no way she was going to hide in the safety of Grizzly Cove while a white wolf—the only one she had ever heard of besides herself—was left outside the ward.