Untamed- House of Berserkers

by Lacey Carter Andersen

  “I know, I’m trying.”

  “I want to talk to Emory. Is he there?”

  I’m surprised. “Yeah, he is…”

  “Put him on the phone.”

  I slowly hand the phone to Emory. Then I hold my breath.

  What does this mean? Why did the librarian let us call? Did Maxen threaten my family? And why would my father want to talk to Emory?

  But I don’t have any of the answers. All I can do is watch Emory, ears straining, and wait.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Emory

  I hold the phone to my ear and feel my heart thudding against my ribcage. Kiera’s dad had always been the father I never had. When my mother’s boyfriend ignored me, when he seemed to see me more as an obligation than a child, Emmett Frost had taken me under his wing. He’d been the one to teach me how to fight, how to treat women, and how to be an honorable berserker.

  He’d be disappointed to discover the man I’d become.

  “Emory?”

  His deep voice, filled with authority, awakens old memories inside of me, and I have to force myself to remain calm. “Yes, Lord Frost?”

  “It’s really you?”

  “It is.”

  Silence swallows us both for a moment before he speaks. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. If I had known what exiling Jimmy would lead to, if I had known your mom didn’t want the responsibility of you anymore, I would’ve taken you in as my own.”

  A shudder wracks my body. Fate was a cruel mistress. One single decision led me to a life of pain and suffering and loneliness. But in front of me I could see it all, the same choice made differently that could’ve meant a life of happiness, of kindness, of love.

  “You couldn’t have known,” I say, but even I can hear the hurt in my voice.

  “I knew who your father was,” he admits softly, “but I never thought your mother would give you to him. She came to me seeking sanctuary. She knew what was in store for both of you if she remained at the House of Berserkers.”

  “And yet she dropped me off and left.”

  There’s a pause. “Emory…you know there’s no way your mother made it off your father’s lands, right?”

  I’m panting, my head spinning. “What?”

  “Going there…she had no chance.”

  I rub my forehead, trying to calm my emotions. All these years, I’d hated my mom so much for what she’d done to me. I’d hated her for taking me away from my family with the Winter Berserkers and delivering me into hell. But she was dead? I’d been hating a dead woman.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  I force the words past my lips. “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.”

  There’s another long pause before he continues, “Can my daughter hear us?”

  I glance up and take a step or two back from Kiera, as far as the cord can reach. “Not if we’re quiet.”

  He speaks again, his voice lower. “Maxen is worse than his father, even though I thought such a thing was impossible. I can’t risk Kiera being taken by him. So, I reached out to the other lords. I thought if one of them would agree to marry her, she’d be safe.”

  My heart aches. “That’s smart.”

  “Emory, none of them would do it. None of them would risk Maxen’s wrath.”

  My hands clench into fists. I hadn’t wanted to see Kiera with another man, but I also knew it was the smartest thing I could do. But now…now that option was gone.

  “So we have to keep her away from them.”

  “Or,” and his voice drops even lower, “you marry her, and we have you take Maxen’s throne.”

  “What? No!”

  Kiera’s gaze narrows, and I turn my back to her, heart racing. I did not want to rule over anyone. How could I when every single person I tried to protect had died at Maxen’s hands? How could I lead when I couldn’t keep anyone safe, not even myself?

  I did not want to be responsible for Kiera’s life. I would fail her. It was inevitable.

  “You need to find someone else.”

  “There is no one else. Technically, you were born before your brother. Many believe that the gods meant for you to lead the House of Berserkers. If you marry my daughter, it will reinforce that belief. The other lords will not go against the gods; they’ll remove Maxen and we’ll all be safe. It’s the only way.”

  I shake my head. “You don’t understand. You don’t know who I am now. I’m not the man you think I am. I’m not—“

  “Emory, you have a good heart. You know right from wrong. Life led us down different paths, but I always thought you’d be one of the men my daughter would marry. Why not now? When it could protect her?”

  “I’m not…strong enough. Please don’t ask this of me.”

  Lord Frost grows quiet. “Can you think of any other way to ensure she’ll never fall into his hands?”

  I open my mouth, but the truth was that I couldn’t.

  “Please, Emory, think about it.”

  “Okay,” I say, but I feel like I’m tumbling down a hole.

  “I need to ask something more of you.”

  More than marrying his daughter? “Yes?”

  “Keep her safe.”

  I stiffen. “Of course.”

  “No,” and the word comes out a growl. “Give me your word that you’ll keep her safe.”

  My word. My word means nothing. So why don’t I want to give it?

  “Emory.”

  “You have my word. I’ll keep her safe.” The words are some of the heaviest of my life.

  “Thank you.” He exhales slowly. “Can we speak to our daughter?”

  I hand the phone back to Kiera and crumble into a chair. Me as Kiera’s husband? Me as a leader of a house? It wasn’t possible. I wasn’t a leader. I was too broken.

  And then I think of going against my brother and shiver. If Lord Frost knew just how twisted Maxen was, he would never go against him. Lord Frost was accustomed to running things, to being a beacon of hope to his people. He had never lived in the shadow of a monster.

  He didn’t understand that there was no winning against evil.

  I don’t know how much time passes when Kiera says goodbye, wipes the tears from her face, and stands. It takes me a long moment to remind myself not to touch her, not to comfort her. And I hate that those instincts are there. I hate that it feels like whatever power had connected us all these years was solidified into something unbreakable the moment we touched.

  I loved her. There was no denying it.

  And yet, it didn’t matter. None of it mattered except keeping her safe and coming up with a plan to do so that didn’t involve us marrying.

  My legs still shake when I rise from the chair, not knowing what to say. Not knowing what to do. We’d just had sex. Somehow she’d been allowed to call her family. And her dad had asked me to marry her.

  What the hell was I supposed to do?

  Her gaze meets mine, and I look away. “What did my father ask you to do?”

  She’s too damned smart. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Emory—“

  “We have class.” I know I’m running away from her and the whole situation when I open the door and head out, but I must be a coward, because I keep going.

  Not far outside the door, the librarian is putting books on shelves. She frowns at us when we emerge. As we move to walk past her, her stern voice stops us. “Whoever your family is, they’re powerful. Students never get phone calls.”

  I don’t tell her that I doubt that Kiera’s parents were able to request a phone call, because then I’d have to explain. I’d have to explain to both of them that Maxen probably arranged it. And that her parents were probably threatened. Maxen no doubt hoped they’d tell her, and it’d compel her to marry him.

  How could he have known just how stubborn Lord Frost was?

  We leave the library, and Kiera matches my stride with her much smaller legs. I can tell she has a thousand things she wants to say, but I h
ope she doesn’t. I have no idea what to tell her about having sex with her. It was incredible. It was everything I’d always wanted and more. And yet, it was wrong of me.

  Kiera deserved better.

  It wasn’t a mistake I’d soon make again.

  As we start to pass the training yard, I try to ignore the men wrestling together on the dirt, but my instincts having been screaming since Maxen’s men approached me. Kiera might be fearless, but that’s because she didn’t know what my brother was capable of. I would have to be more careful for the both of us.

  When we pass the men, one of them calls my name.

  I startle and turn slowly around. Jasper is among the men. Guilt weighs heavy on me as I stare at the man who has spent most of his life here. I don’t know how he managed to survive the cullings each year and neither die nor be released, but I was sure my brother had something to do with it.

  My gaze moves over the other three men. A massive man who had to be a bear shifter, a male mermaid with dark hair, and a phoenix with his sad, broken wings behind him.

  Kiera stares at them beside me, frowning.

  Jasper approaches. “You’ve been missing a lot of classes. They’re talking about stringing you up in the courtyard.” His expression gives nothing away. “But they’ll probably just whip your flesh raw.”

  “Thanks for the heads up,” I say, and for some reason my hand twitches to reach for my sword.

  “Not that you’ll live that long.”

  I whirl around and spot the four warlocks who have appeared not far behind Kiera and I. In an instant, I’ve drawn my sword and Kiera holds her axes. Both of us ready ourselves for a fight, but my eyes snap from the four men behind us to the four men before us.

  That’s what was wrong. That’s why my instinct had warned me about: these men. A phoenix, a mermaid, a shifter, and a berserker would never be caught dead together. But if given the right incentive by my brother, they’d do anything.

  “Give her to us,” Jasper says, sounding tired, “and no one needs to die.”

  “You’re still working for him? After everything he did? After he left you here?” I ask, the outrage bleeding into my words.

  He holds my gaze. “He offered me the one thing worth working with him again: my freedom. Now, Emory, don’t do this. Just give her to us.”

  I rotate my sword, my gaze snapping between all of them. “Find Drake and Adam,” I tell Kiera softly. “I’ll try to hold them back.”

  “What? No!”

  “Do it!” Why the hell couldn’t she just listen to me?

  And then it’s too late.

  Magic sparkles across my skin from the warlocks, and I feel the sparks of fire burning into my flesh. But if they thought pain could distract me, they were wrong. Pain I understood. My grip on my sword never wavers.

  Behind me, Jasper starts to change, and my heart goes in my throat. If I completely gave into that side of me, I wouldn’t be able to make the right decisions. I’d kill and kill, but I might lose Kiera without even realizing.

  So I reach for that side of myself, but I don’t let myself go too far. Just until the burns stop hurting. Just until the magic that slices through my chest is little more than a sting. When Jasper attacks, I block his path from Kiera and hold my blade out in front of me. The mermaid is just behind him, ready to do his own kind of damage. But with care, I shove Jasper as he approaches, sending the muscular berserker crashing to the earth, and then slice the head off the mermaid in one movement.

  Jasper roars on the ground and struggles to rise.

  The bear shift manages to get around me, but Kiera uses those axes of hers, slicing the beast. One of his paws manages to tear deep scratches into her arm, and then I see red. I leap onto the beast, and we tumble together, snarls rising between us. His paws swipe my flesh, but the pain is nothing. My sword presses past those powerful claws of his, and then I tear open his throat, bathing myself in blood.

  I leap to my feet and see Kiera’s axes clashing with the phoenix’s sword. I race for them, but a massive body comes crashing into me from the side. Jasper. His hands close around my throat, squeezing, and my hands grasp his throat, crushing the muscles. Together we watch the life draining from each other’s eyes, seeing who will die first, and then the warlocks are standing over me.

  One minute my vision is darkening around the edges, but I know Jasper’s will is weaker than mine, and the next a cloud of red cloaks me, and the world goes black.

  I try to shout for Kiera, to beg her to run again before the darkness takes me under, but I’m not sure I manage to say anything before I’m gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Adam

  Drake and I are walking back from the dining hall, like friends, like real friends. Even though we don’t hold hands. I’m happy, glad to have shared a meal with him, even though we both missed Kiera and Emory at the table.

  It gave us time to get to know each other. He didn’t talk much, but I talked enough for both of us. And I knew he liked me too, because he only growled a little when I ate off his plate.

  Which was better than last week when he smacked the fork from my hand.

  I’m feeling good. My heart is soaring. I have two friends. I have Kiera. I have everything.

  Even if we never escape, I could be happy here with them.

  But as I’m about to tell Drake my feelings, something he keeps reminding me I don’t need to do, I spot a bloody figure on the ground near the training yard. Without thought, I race forward and turn the man onto his back, only to find Emory. My hands reach for his face, and I feel the dark magic that holds him in a mind full of pain. A dark world of suffering.

  Somebody hurt him? But who? Panic awakens, making my heart hurt, but I force myself to push the feeling down. I’ve seen the work of warlocks before. I know how to help him.

  Pushing my powers out, I break through the darkness. I absorb the powers, like a vacuum sucking up smoke, and then cleanse the cloud of its danger until there’s nothing left, and release the nothingness back into the world. At last, Emory takes a ragged breath, and my gaze runs over the many, many wounds that litter his body.

  Can I heal them? I shiver. My creators taught me how to do many, many things. But few of them were natural things. My body didn’t like the powers, and my body punished me when I used them.

  So, I don’t. I don’t try. This is not the time to be useless.

  “What happened?” Drake snarls behind me. “Where’s Kiera?”

  Kiera? No. Kiera has to be safe. She has to be.

  Emory stares at us, until his eyes focus on Drake, and then he says, his voice weak, “They took her.”

  My heart seems to turn to ice. Kiera. They took Kiera?

  “Where? Who?” Drake shouts.

  “To the gate. If they’ve already opened it, if his men have already taken her…”

  “No!” Drake roars, the sound of anguish the same terrible feeling that radiates through my heart.

  He hauls Emory to his feet like he’s a rag doll, and then he’s running to the gate, dragging Emory until the berserker finds his footing, and then they’re both running. I rise to my feet and follow them, overtaking them with ease, but I’m not like them. I’m not ready for battle.

  But even more so, I can’t imagine losing Kiera now.

  As the wind whips around me, I remember the lab I was created within. I remember the many different creatures that they merged with my own genetics. From the first time Kiera and I had touched, I’d felt something powerful between us. I’d thought it might be the shifter part of me, the part of me that chose a mate and couldn’t live without them.

  But then I remembered a show I’d seen long ago. I remembered the penguins. Their connection wasn’t magic like it was with the shifters. It was something else. Something more natural. When they chose a partner, it was for eternity. Without them, there was no one else.

  And when they died, those without mates would sometimes stand together. They would watch the sun r
ise and fall, and, I swore, morn their lost partners.

  I think Kiera is my penguin.

  I love her when we touch. I love her when I’m inside her. But I also love the way she laughs, the way she defends me, and even the way she seems to understand my connection with Princess, without me even needing to explain it.

  Kiera is my penguin. And I won’t watch the sunrise with Drake and Emory and think of her. Not when I can still save her.

  No matter what I have to do.

  We’re nearly to the gate when an alarm sounds. Never in my time at the reform school have I heard an alarm sound, and it makes me think the worst. That it’s too late.

  But I only run faster. Harder.

  It takes no time at all to race through the massive trial grounds, but already I can see the smoke from the enormous school gates. A sound booms through the air, and the ground shakes beneath our feet. I watch in shock as the huge doors are battered in, flames crumbling along with the gate.

  In front of us, Kiera stands in the middle of a group of men. Her hands are bound. She bleeds from several places, but still she fights them as they start to haul her closer to the door.

  Another earthquake seems to shake the ground, but this time behind us. I chance a glance back, and my jaw drops. A massive black dragon rises, bigger than the buildings, bigger than the trial space itself. He tosses back his head and lets out a roar that ends in fire that scorches the sky.

  Suddenly, he steps over me, and I stop running, my heart racing.

  He leans over the men that hold Kiera and in one bite eats two of them. Another man screams and leaps back from her. A red-haired man looks between the dragon and the gates.

  Emory is there in an instant, slicing his throat. The red-haired man crumbles to his knees, and I attack the remaining man, a sick feeling in my belly when he falls, unmoving, to the ground.