“Between like?” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.
“Think about it this way—You’re overflowing with werewolf power, and that power gets amplified by the power that Dastien has. You can borrow each other’s power when needed. Right? I’ve seen you do it.”
“Right. We can.” We used that all the time in fights.
“You’re also a witch, which means that you have another well of power that’s filled with magic, but it’s a separate power. They’re two different things
.” I started to say that it wasn’t, but he didn’t give me a chance. “When you talked about the night when you were stripped of your powers, there wasn’t one jar. There were two. Right?”
“Yes. That’s right.” I didn’t like thinking about the jars, but there were two.
“That’s because you’ve got two sides. Both powerful. That’s why Astaroth wants you. You have two deep wells of power.”
“Right. So what does this have to do with the Seven?”
“The best comparison I have is that Dastien cannot boost your witch side and—”
Nope. “That’s not true. Ever since I became a Were, my magic has been growing stronger. My visions have changed so much in the last few months. Isn’t that because I’m a Were? So it can’t be totally separate.”
“Your magic is what it was always going to be—incredibly strong—because you were meant to lead a coven. As you grow further into adulthood, it will keep getting stronger.”
I rubbed a hand across my forehead as I tried to understand what Lucas was saying. “I guess I never thought about it that way.” Being a werewolf and my visions changing seemed to go hand in hand, but maybe that was a big assumption on my part.
“Your mate bond hasn’t given Dastien any magic has it?” Lucas asked when I didn’t say anything else.
“No,” Dastien said. “I’m just as bad at spells as always.”
“See?”
Damn it. That made sense to me.
“No matter how much I wish it weren’t true, the bond I have with Claudia isn’t as strong as it is between you and Dastien. And—”
“It’s not?” Claudia asked. Her voice wavered just the slightest bit, and I imagined she felt like a kid finding out that Santa Claus wasn’t real.
Lucas really put his foot in it, huh? I said to Dastien.
Pretty much.
“No. It’s different than theirs, but that’s okay.” Lucas held her hand. “If you want to become a werewolf, we can talk about it. But I’ve done what I can to make our bond as strong as I can.”
“I thought—” She cut herself off and I could tell they were talking to each other by the focus that they had on each other. After a moment he pressed a soft kiss to her lips, and she took a breath. “Okay. But I don’t know if I’ll ever want to be a werewolf.”
I wanted to encourage her, but I wasn’t sure which way. It was too permanent of a choice for anyone to make for her.
“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t trying to help Tessa understand why the Seven was formed with just werewolves,” Lucas said. “There was a very good reason that particular choice was made so long ago.” He looked to me now.
“I get it.” Lucas was making a lot of sense and was way more helpful than Mr. Dawson. “You’re saying that the bond of the Seven was made between werewolves only to ensure that their power would be exponentially stronger together. If they had three Weres, three witches, and three fey, then the bond of the nine of them together wouldn’t have been as strong as just seven werewolves.”
“Exactly.” Lucas grinned. “You seem to be leaning towards taking this new pact across species, and I think it’s probably the right move in the long run, especially with how the fey just disappeared on everyone. Something like this would ensure that they’d come back—at least to some extent—but you’re going to have to find a way to make those new bonds across different supernatural lines stronger than my pack has found possible.”
At least he hadn’t shot my idea down completely. “What do you think we’d need to make a stronger version? Maybe there’s some magic we could use to amplify it?”
“We’d have to do more than amplify it, right?” Adrian said.
“Yes. Amplify might be too weak of a word,” Lucas said. “You need something that’s going to tie this whole realm together. That’s what made the Seven so powerful. They are the most alpha werewolves that are alive, and they bound their power together. Each wolf’s powers was magnified six fold. And then to top that off, the bond had some fey magic to make them even stronger.”
Wait a second. “That didn’t weaken the bond?”