CHAPTER FOURTEEN: AN UNWELCOME SURPRISE

~ Marie ~

Maria finished her second cup of coffee. Her head no longer hurt and she’d woken up early enough that she felt she could get a lot done before Adrian woke up.

Number one on her list was going back to that house. It was possible that nothing had changed but she wanted to check the surrounding area to see if there was something she missed. The house had gotten all her attention last time. This time she wanted to check the surrounding area. It was possible that the garden surrounding the house wasn’t the only garden in the area.

Marie made sure to reapply the magic protection before teleporting over. The sorcerer would probably try to avoid any confrontations since she still had the medal but it was better to be prepared just in case.

Nothing happened when she reappeared near the house.

No magic signals in the area either. Marie scanned the area. Nothing looked out of place but that didn’t mean anything. Her senses weren’t strong enough to detect any physical traces. She went around the house checking things more closely. Everything looked the way she had left it. Marie stood up and dusted off her hands. It wasn’t like she expected the sorcerer to come back after they had already looked for the medal. She frowned as she glanced around. Nothing in the area gave her any clues on where to start. Pick a direction at random? Maybe walk straight for about ten minutes if she doesn't find anything, come back and try another direction.

She stretched her senses out as she followed through. No magic signals. Marie searched for any hills while she walked around.

Nothing. She’d come up empty. Marie had walked for fifteen minutes instead of ten but still no magic. She didn’t know how athletic the sorcerer was but it was unlikely she’d come this far given that she needed to be somewhat close for the mind control spell. A quick teleport back to the house and she was ready to choose another direction. Marie did this three more times but hadn’t found a single thing. She sighed as she sat down on a nearby log to think.

The sorcerer hadn’t left. She knew that for sure. If the magic user had fled, Peter would have been banging on her door. The sorcerer wouldn’t leave when she still had a way to capture the wolves and sell them.

Was there another way she should be doing this? This was the only way she knew of to cover ground. The sorcerer had to be operating somewhere. With the magic power they had there was no way the sorcerer could be too far out. Was it because they had enough wolves under their control? Were they using them to report that there was nothing in the area when there was? She should still feel the magic no matter how they were using the wolves. This was a waste of time without more information. Marie stood up and teleported back.

Since she had checked this half, it was time to try the opposite direction. Another direction was picked at random before she started walking. Five minutes into her walk and she felt a brief burst of. She threw herself to the ground as icicles hit the tree behind her. Her knees and hands throbbed from the impact. Marie placed a quick barrier on herself before she jumped up and ran towards where she had last felt the magic signal.

More icicles came out of the trees. Marie dodged to the left. She had to put her hands out to stop herself from hitting a tree face first. Her palms stung as she pushed off the tree and ran. Icicles came from her right and she ducked behind a tree. She frowned as she changed directions and ran in a new direction. The signal wasn’t staying in place. The sorcerer was moving all over the place. They had been straight ahead, then left and now they were on her right.

Marie dropped herself, slamming her knees against the rough ground but she had no choice. More shards had come straight for her face. Two talismans shot icicles at her. The sorcerer was getting further away. Dammit! Marie got up and ran to the last place she had felt the magic but there was nothing there. Only the faint traces of magic were left.

She’d lost them.

Her breath was ragged as she leaned against a nearby tree. She swallowed before exhaling in frustration. Saving the barrier had been a mistake. She should have let the barrier take the physical attacks. If she had she wouldn’t have needed to dodge. Marie shook her head as she straightened up and looked around. Why did the sorcerer attack her? There was nothing that stood out to her. Magic didn’t activate until she’d triggered a trap. Marie put her hand to her chin as she wrapped her other arm around her waist. Considering how cautious they were acting, this was out of character for them. There must be some reason they wanted her distracted.

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Something trickled down her face and she absentmindedly wiped it away. Her cheek stung as she looked down at her hand, smeared in blood. She was bleeding. One of the icicles must have hit her. Marie checked the rest of her body for any other wounds. Her hands and knees hurt but there was nothing that needed immediate attention.

Someone yelled. Marie looked around as she tried to pinpoint where the sound had come from. Another yell. She ran towards the sound. Someone was getting attacked. Was it the sorcerer? Didn’t seem possible but she needed to make sure. Marie avoided a branch and went over a log.

“She told you no!” The voices were getting louder. Malicious laughter filled the air as the scene came into view. A man lay on the ground as one of the three men, the one with black hair, held him down with a foot on his stomach. The brown haired one held onto a woman by her wrists. The woman growled as she struggled to break free. The last one, the one with blond hair, watched as he was leaning against a tree.

“No one asked your opinion.” The blond haired wolf walked forward and stepped on the man’s hand as he continued to speak. “I don’t understand why you’re defending her. You’re an outsider like the rest of us. They won’t give you special treatment just because you’re nice.”

“Let them go.” Marie stepped into the small clearing. All three of the wolves turned towards her. The blond man had a savage grin on his face. The woman bit the wolf that was holding her. He yelped from the pain and dropped her. The woman wiped her mouth on her sleeve before jumping onto the black haired man. He staggered backward before he roared. The woman bit him on the shoulder hard and didn’t look like she was going to let go.

Marie threw a ball of light close to where the blond haired wolf stood. It harmlessly hit the ground and disappeared but the men jumped back to avoid it. She rushed toward the man on the ground. Marie quickly checked him with magic before healing him. All werewolves had regeneration but it depended on how powerful they were. Weak wolves healed slower than the average wolf but their regeneration was still faster than a human. Most of his wounds had already healed so there wasn’t much she needed to do. The man she was helping staggered to his feet before she was done. It shouldn’t take too long for him to heal what was left. Marie looked around her.

The two other men were watching her warily. The woman jumped off the man she was attacking before he could grab her. The woman then took the hand of the wounded man before dragging him away. Marie stood up and waited. The three wolves focused all of their attention on her.

“You didn’t need to work so hard to get our attention.” The wolves closed in on her as she tensed, waiting for them to make a move. Marie would wait for them to attack her first before she attacked. Even though they were outsiders, she did not want there to be problems later. She had been called her as a referee and hadn’t been given permission to interfere in anything beyond magic related problems.

It was unlikely that anyone would report what happened. Wolf etiquette favored the strong. The only time it didn’t was when it favored the pack over strangers. They were also currently under the Rite of Passing, which allowed outsiders to mingle with the pack without repercussions. Marie wasn’t fully versed in the Rite of Passing but she knew that rules were flexible between different packs. The main problem was that this pack didn’t currently have a pack leader. If she got into trouble they would likely kick her out until a new leader was chosen but then it would be too late. It would be easier for her to claim self defense but only as a last resort. That didn’t mean she couldn’t put them to sleep. She waited for them to come within arm’s reach.

“Do y'all need another private talk?” The voice was cold. Jesse stepped out from behind a tree. All three of the werewolves turned towards him. They tensed as he moved closer. The black haired man growled at him. “I thought we came to an understanding last time but it seems I was wrong.” Jesse stopped near her. He glanced at her face before his eyes narrowed.

Jesse turned his gaze on the three wolves once more.

“Leave.” She wasn’t a werewolf but even she could tell that his voice became different. The three men growled. It looked like they were fighting against something. The men leaned forward, jaws clenched as if a strong wind was pushing them back. Their muscles bunched as they pushed against an invisible wall. The blond wolf roared at Jesse before all three transformed and ran away.

That was when she knew she had just discovered another problem.

Alpha werewolves could exert a form of pressure on other wolves. It was what helped keep the wolves in their pack in line. They were also able to exert some pressure on wolves outside their pack as a form of intimidation. Another Alpha outside the pack could exert the same amount of force back and cancel out the pressure.

But this was different.

The kind of control Jesse had exerted was the kind that an Alpha should be able to use on their own pack. There was only one way he would be able to do that outside of a pack. Marie frowned as she crossed her arms. This would only make the situation worse.

“You should heal yourself.” Jesse sighed as he reached up to touch her face. His hand stopped an inch away from her face before he dropped his hand. She barely heard him as her mind tried to figure out a way to fix this. If the sorcerer captured him... Marie checked him over for any magic. No, he wasn’t under anyone’s control.

Yet.

There was really only one way to solve this.

“Are you listening?”

The quicker she got this over with the better. Marie reached out and touched Jesse before looking away. He stumbled backward with a gasp. Jesse fell against the wall as she crossed her arms.

“What? How?” He looked around in confusion as he straightened up. ”Where are we?”

“You’re going to need to leave.” That got his attention. He turned to look at her as his eyes narrowed.