Go Ahead, Magic My Midlife: Wolves of Loon Lake, #3

By Ruby Raine

Read The Wolves of Loon Lake Epic Finale!

All Ava Andrews wants to do is spend time with the love of her life, pack leader, Silas King. But before they can do that she needs to save the town of Loon Lake from a greedy takeover planned by Raiph Pride—a man with deep pockets and dark connections who wants control over the growing shifter population at any cost.

 

And while Ava's own magical gifts are getting stronger, she's still unsure how to use them to win a battle. And when strangers arrive claiming they want to help, Ava finds herself in a brutal dilemma—she knows how to solve all their problems and save the town, for good! But the doing of it jeopardizes her happily ever after with Silas…

 

The Wolves of Loon Lake Trilogy:

Paranormal Women's Fiction - Spicy Witch Mystery Romance

Volume 1: A Mid-Life Shifter's Dream

Volume 2: Mid-Life's a Witch

Volume 3: Go Ahead, Magic My Mid-Life

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruby Raine
• Release date: Jan 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215196663

Ruby Raine

Ruby Raine is part of The Witchy Writer community and is the author of steamy supernatural witch mysteries. 

Book preview

Wolves of Loon Lake Book 3: Go Ahead, Magic My Midlife!

READ THE WOLVES OF Loon Lake Epic Finale!

All Ava Andrews wants to do is spend time with the love of her life, pack leader, Silas King. But before they can do that she needs to save the town of Loon Lake from a greedy takeover planned by Raiph Pride—a man with deep pockets and dark connections who wants control over the growing shifter population at any cost.

And while Ava’s own magical gifts are getting stronger, she’s still unsure how to use them to win a battle. And when strangers arrive claiming they want to help, Ava finds herself in a brutal dilemma—she knows how to solve all their problems and save the town, for good! But the doing of it jeopardizes her happily ever after with Silas...

The Wolves of Loon Lake Trilogy:

Volume 1: A Midlife Shifter’s Dream

Volume 2: Midlife’s a Witch

Volume 3: Go Ahead, Magic My Midlife

Chapter One: What’s Blood Got to Do With It?

AVA ANDREWS...

HOURS HAD PASSED WITH no more word about our missing pack members, and tensions were high at the townhall as plans were made to keep Loon Lake and its population safe. And yes, I was calling them my pack members because even if I didn’t know them all well yet, they were my family now, by default. I’d chosen a life with Silas and the pack. They were family, plain and simple. The getting to know each other part would come later.

But it was Peter, the local town vet, we were having to wrangle in, as his inner wolf was getting stronger with every passing hour and he was rabid with fear over his missing mate—a reality he’d given into now that he was a shifter in the making. The call for his mate was so strong he could no longer deny it.

I imagined the vet was feeling completely out of his element, a sentiment I understood well. It was not lost on me how much my life had changed in a matter of days. And yet I’d gone from utter shock to complete belief in that short amount of time.

We were somewhat confident that Pride wasn’t going to hurt Luna, as it was our belief she was his daughter. But there was no being sure about anything. And we had no idea what Pride might do if we didn’t give in to his demands of turning over the last descendant of Lilith.

Which was me. The last of Lilith’s bloodline.

If Pride was responsible for killing my mother, it meant he was capable of great harm and would go to any lengths possible to get what he wanted.

Problem, next: what did he want? And what did I or my blood have to do with it?

I had given a lot of thought as to why he wanted me or what his intention was once he had me. But it was my mother’s words that rattled around my brain, warning he’d likely want me out of the picture. Meaning dead, I imagined. That somehow, my end would be his new beginning. My thoughts were that he wanted to have control over the magic cave, or maybe who got access to the cave. Control over shifters, maybe? Or worse, he’d figured out some way to control life and death or skew the balance.

But if that was his endgame, what purpose did this serve? What exactly did it mean to have control over life and death? How would this change the world? Or maybe he wasn’t thinking about the world at all, but only himself and his own desires. The world being an unaware victim of Pride’s plan.

I shuddered at the many ugly possibilities and decided I needed to think about less morbid outcomes than giving myself over to Pride, even if it was in exchange for Luna’s and Peter’s safe return. Because as morbid as my own ideas were, it was likely not morbid enough. People like Raiph Pride didn’t care who got hurt to get what they wanted. And for most people of sound mind and body, even thinking of such depravity wasn’t possible. It wasn’t in most people's natures to think like evil people think.

Any luck reaching them? I asked Silas, knowing full well it hadn’t happened.

Silas had been attempting to reach out to the missing pack members through their mind-pack connection. But to no avail. He wasn’t able to sense them in any fashion, good or bad. It was as if the pack link had been severed.

Were they too far away? Had Pride done something to them, to break this connection?

Still nothing, Silas replied in somber confirmation of what I already knew.

What does he want with the descendent of Lilith? someone from the packed asked.

I glanced at Silas, whose jaw ground hard as our gazes blended in a mutual showdown of not knowing what to do, or how to respond to that.

My first thought was pure selfish preservation and wondering just how loyal was the pack or the town to me? Or I guess, really, how loyal the town was to my mother. The pack had been welcoming from day one, and now I was mated to their alpha. And while I considered them family, it might take longer for them to accept me in the same way. The town had always leaned in the direction of protecting their own, but I was only sort of vicariously considered one of their own, via my mother’s life here.

I wished my mother had figured out my completed part in all of this. But if Pride wanted me, it couldn’t be anything good, right? Not if he needed leverage to make me give in.

And no way was Silas going to just let me hand myself over, but the clock was ticking. There had to be an answer. A way to fix this without anyone else getting hurt. But other than hoping and begging for some magic miracle, I frustratingly saw no solution.

We don’t know what Pride wants, Silas informed everyone still at the townhall. But I think it’s time to get our own plans solidified and put in motion. So, hopefully, we never have to find out.

Everyone agreed that it was to be a combined effort between the pack and the townsfolk to make Loon Lake safe for all its inhabitants. But as the hours passed, harsh realities were sinking in. Someone with a lot more power and connections was gunning for their town, and they didn’t have any real weapons to use in this battle. No rousing speech from anyone was going to suddenly change that.

Chapter Two: Pride Comes Before the Fall

LUNA...

I CAME TO CONSCIOUSNESS with a hood covering my face and with my hands and legs bound. The hood was dark, or wherever I had been taken was dark as there was only the faintest of shadows in front of my eyes. If I had to guess, I was in a vehicle of some kind traveling down a bumpy road. Likely, some old dirt road that was rarely used or maintained. That is, if we were still on the backroads around Loon Lake or somewhere nearby. And I wasn’t sure how long I’d been knocked out.

But there were roads like that all over the rural parts of Maine, roads that went on for miles, deep into uninhabited or rarely used territories. One of the few places in existence one could easily still get lost from the rest of the world.

There was another person sized lump next to me groaning, and I whispered an anxious, hello, uncertain as to what or who might answer. There was a light groan and small movement before a voice I recognized replied.

Luna?

Mikael! What happened?

I—I don’t know. I—um—I was walking home with Peter, and— He sucked in, the memory surfacing. We were attacked. I got thrown into a van. Oh my stars, Peter...

I’m sure he’s okay, I insisted, having absolutely no idea if he really was okay. Just—don’t panic. Okay? We’re going to be okay. I tried to reach out in my mind for Silas using the pack connection, but there was no response. I tried again, but it was an empty request that went nowhere. It was like the connection to my pack had been severed somehow. I shuddered, disturbed by this development, and wondered how it was even possible.

But before my hazy mind could try again or I could ask Mikael to try reaching the pack himself, I winced at the slight prick of something sharp pinching into my thigh. The words trailed off in my mind, only reaching my lips in an incoherent babble as everything went dark once more. 

WHEN I CAME TO AGAIN, there was no hood over my face and my limbs were no longer bound. I was able to move freely but lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar place. I pushed up slowly. It took a minute to shake off the haze still lingering in my mind and for my eyes to adjust to the lighting, which was dim.

Not that it would have been hard for me to see with my shifter eyesight. But whatever they’d shot me up with, my shifter side was still asleep. All my shifter senses were pushed down deeper than I could reach at the moment.

Even so, I attempted to reach my pack again, but it was an empty response. I couldn’t remember a time without being able to reach out to Silas in my mind. Or hear him calling to me. I shivered at the unexpected emptiness, as it left a cold and unnatural vacancy I was not enjoying and hoped wouldn’t last.

Since my shifter senses were buried, I