Claim Me (Crimson Pack Trilogy Book 3)

by A Lonergan

  He chose her because she looks like you. She even smells like you. Hints of vanilla tickled my nose. Nalia was ready for a fight.

  “Damian, I appreciate you coming all this way here, but there are things you need to know.” Rafe took a step forward. “We aren’t brothers. Your mother wasn’t faithful to my father.”

  Damian rolled his eyes. “You think we can play nice now that you think you have discovered something?”

  Rafe clenched his jaw. “I don’t want war with you, Cousin.”

  “Now we are cousins?” He smirked.

  Rafe shook his head. “If you hadn’t touched my mate and you hadn’t killed so many we could have moved past this. You could have walked away and we would have been fine, but you have tormented too many for too long. You also touched what belongs to me and my wolf doesn’t like that very much.” Rafe’s canines elongated and poked into his bottom lip. The moon was high and full above us. How strange that Damian had chosen a full moon to have this fight. It was when we were at our strongest or did he not know that?

  “She doesn’t belong to you, I hate to say.” Damian shook his head while he smiled. “She could belong to whomever she chooses, unfortunately, that would leave you for dead, wouldn’t it? Of course, you would try to possess her with those odds against you.”

  Knox cracked his neck. “Do we really have to do this? If he doesn’t want to read what your father wrote then there is nothing we can do. We have to remove him from the lands he has trespassed on.”

  Damian rolled his eyes. “I don’t care about what your father wrote. I always assumed my real father was Jared, it was why I had him killed too.”

  The blood drained from Rafe’s face and his claws ripped from the tips of his fingers. The whites of his eyes filled completely to black. His voice turned rogue and wolfish. “There is one thing you don’t know about an Alpha, Damian and that’s when you come onto their lands, their power is stronger than anything you can bring. I fought for my place here as Alpha and as such, the magic works with me. The magic in this land runs through my blood.” My mate inhaled deeply. “You have made a grave mistake here.”

  Damian took a step forward and raised his hands. Thunder rolled in the distance and rain fell from the heavens. “I don’t care if you have power from your lands. All I wish is to take away what you have. I will die trying to destroy you.”

  It must have been Damian’s code word because his army of wolves and witches exploded from the trees. Rafe nodded to me and my nails extended into claws. The Guardians standing with us immediately became wolfish. Their legs remained human but the top half of their body was wolf. I had never seen anything more horrible in my entire life. Damian had picked the wrong pack. The woman that had been standing beside Damian rushed toward me with a gleam in her eye.

  “He has wanted me for months because I remind him of you, I am tired of being second. I want to be the one he seeks for this face. Not you.” Her magic slapped me in the chest and I went down on my knees. Nalia let a low growl out and we surged forward. Nalia did something to absorb the pain of the magic. I didn’t have time to ask as I caught each of the witch’s blows. Her hands swung for my face and I was ready. I grabbed her wrist and snapped it. She screamed as she crumpled to the ground. Her hand was limp as I ran to the next person headed my way. I swiped my hand up and gutted the man on the spot.

  Chapter 47

  Rafe

  There was blood everywhere. I had tried to stop it. I hadn’t wanted to fight. I didn’t want war on these lands but all the same, we had to fight. I would grieve every single wolf that I had to kill. All these rogues had no idea what they were doing. They were either entranced by magic or they had no say per an Alpha order. One of these men was the Alpha. It wasn’t Damian. He had no wolf in him. But I fought my way to him. The horde of bodies grew thicker as I tried my damnedest to get to him. He simply grinned as more men fell at his feet but it didn’t matter. He sent more to their deaths.

  “Face me!” I screamed through the thunderstorm raging around us.

  He danced away like a puppet. “You haven’t proven yourself yet.”

  “My father didn’t tell you he was your uncle because he didn’t want to hurt you,” I ducked out of the way of a knife going right for my throat.

  Damian chuckled. “I don’t care about Cane Crimson. I have never cared about him.”

  “Then what is all of this about?” I screamed as I avoided a punch.

  “This is about your wolf and how it should have been mine.”

  Rain ran in rivulets through my hair and down the back of my neck. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re insane.”

  “You should watch your mother kill herself and see how it changes you. Watch how the men constantly abused her. They took what they wanted from her over and over again and then they left her. You should watch your mother go through that.” He grinned. “In fact, that’s a great idea. I heard she’s on her way here right now.”

  Of course, he had his witches and wolves spread out along the Pack Land. There was only so much that could be done. There were only so many wolves that could fight. I couldn’t find Jade through the hoard of bodies closing in around us but I could still smell her which was a good thing. Being officially mated would have helped tremendously. We would have been able to communicate telepathically. We would have been able to know where our other half was. Her wolf was faster than mine and I knew she could take care of herself but knowing the little details eased my mind.

  Damian leaned against a tree. “Does it bother you that you two haven’t claimed one another?”

  His question threw me off and I felt the claws of one of the rogues pierce through my hip. I bit out a hiss as I ripped around and tore his head from his shoulders. It flew through the air at an alarming speed and knocked into one of the other rogues.

  Damian continued to talk. “Does it bother you that you will both die without that? You souls will be lost to each other for all time?”

  “That is a myth,” I grunted as I dodged a bullet headed right for me.

  “Is it though?” he asked. “I’m the one that was revived. Maybe I know a lot more about all of this than you do.”

  “You were a baby,” I gutted another wolf.

  “Knowledge is infinite, brother.”

  “Stop calling me that,” I gritted out between clenched teeth.

  “Why? We look alike don’t we and honestly, it’s my word against a deadman’s.”

  “My father was an honorable man,” I flew across the space between us and pressed my claws against his beating heart. He took a deep breath but smiled all the same.

  “I will never know,”

  “You could have had a chance to be a part of this family. You threw all of that away. You decided being evil was more important than being a good man. You could have gotten to know Jade without hurting her. You could have tried to be something more than a monster.”

  Damian looked down his nose at me. “That’s all I ever wanted to be.”

  Pain lit up the back half of my body and whatever grip I had on the witch in front of me was gone.

  Chapter 48

  Jade

  I felt him hit the ground before I saw it. There were countless bodies between my mate and me but I knew he was in trouble. I turned my back on my opponent and ran for the man I never got to actually love. Everything that we had been through flashed right before my eyes as my mate was set on fire. Rafe’s body jerked and spasmed as it rolled down the hill. The fire still didn’t let up. I tripped over the bloody appendages laying around to get to him. When I finally skidded to a stop in the grass, the rain had slacked up to a drizzle. His back wasn’t on fire anymore but the burns on his back weren’t good. His shirt was gone from the flames and charred to his skin. Mav was by my side in seconds.

  “We need to get him to Carden,” Mav lifted his body easily. “Cover me.”

  I nodded and Nalia got ready to survey the area from my mind. The witches and wolves h
ad stopped circling. All they did was watch us as we retreated to my best friend and the man I had once almost dated. Lucas was covered in blood but Carden was still pristine. He was here to heal our people but from the looks of it, mostly everyone was dead. I couldn’t count who were ours and who were theirs. There was too much blood and ichor.

  Carden laid his hands on Rafe’s back and they started healing faster than the wolf genes could. Rafe’s breathing was rapid but at least his back was whole.

  Damian watched us with his head cocked. “Oh, the things you discover in the thick of battle.”

  That’s why they had let us go and stopped fighting. They wanted to see what we had here. The witches we had acquired.

  Damian grinned at all of his comrades. “I think I recognize that one. He was sent in to kill Jade Rivers. Isn’t it funny how this has happened? We didn’t even know he was a witch.”

  Rafe stood up a bit wobbly but when he grinned at me my blood went cold. That was a grin I didn’t trust. It was a grin that would change how everything played out. “I need you to go to the children.” His whisper barely made it to my ears.

  “I took a page from your book,” he announced for everyone to hear before he transformed quickly and effortlessly. There was no pause for his bones to pop or crack into place. One minute he was the Rafe I knew and lo- cared for… and the next he was the wolf Nalia was infatuated with.

  Damian sneered down at us while Mav completely transformed next. Lucas put his hand on my shoulder. “I have never gone to battle. I have never been a full wolf in a fight, but I have to be there for them. You go find the children. You help them, get them out, whatever. It doesn’t matter. You make sure as many survive from this as possible.”

  I grabbed his hand. “Why not fight in your human form?”

  Carden squared his shoulders. He was going to shift too. “Because our pelts are thicker. The fur will absorb the magic better. Injuries won’t be as likely to happen. For whatever reason, his wolves are fighting in their human form. We have to best them.”

  Before I knew it, both of my friends were running into the bloody fray once again. I set my jaw and ran as quickly as I could through the property. I prayed to whatever was out in the universe that there would be children left. When I rounded the corner in front of the tractor shed, I came to a stop. The massacre here was worse than the one on the hill with Damian. He was trying to prove a point. Blood was splattered on the trees and the ground was sticky. The rain was coming down in a heavier pour and I could hardly see through it. As I got closer and the smell of death got thicker, my stomach clenched with nausea. Where were Alice and Granny? My best friend, Tracey? Had they made it out? I could barely hear crying over the rain and thunder. I followed the sound to the back of the bar. Bodies were littered everywhere. I leaned over and lost all of the contents inside of my stomach.

  The bodies behind the barn were those of the children. There were only a few but enough to tell me how things had gone here. Fortunately, there were more bodies of witches and wolves than the kids. That meant they hadn’t gone down without a fight. That was something at least. Through the rain, I could barely make out something behind the trees about ten feet away.

  Nalia used our senses but we couldn’t get a good read on who it was through all the water. As we came around to face them the fear inside of me amplified. Laying on the ground was Granny. Granny’s body was covered in water and dried blood. Judging by the looks of all of it, they had been there for a while. Tracey had her arms wrapped around her shoulders and was crying hysterically. Her head was thrown back against the tree and her mouth was wide open in silent sobs.

  “Tracey,” my voice broke as I spoke. I knelt down beside her and Granny. I pressed my fingers against the old witch’s neck and looked for a pulse. There was none. Tracey didn’t open her eyes as her body shook with her emotions. “Tracey.” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and held on like my life depended on it. Everything hurt. Why did this have to happen? My tears mixed with the rain coming down. My chest felt like it was going to burst but I couldn’t stay here with her. I couldn’t wallow in my grief here. There were others in the line of fire. We weren’t out of the woods yet. I grasped her shoulders and shook her gently. She peeled her eyes open and let out the worst grief-ridden sound.

  “Where are the children?” It was the only thing I could think of. It was the only thing that would keep me going for now.

  Tracey’s chest constricted with another sob. “Most of them got away with Alice and I think Knox. Granny and I were left to fight off the others. It was looking so good and then it all turned bad really fast.”

  “Which direction did they go?” My voice sounded like it was on auto. It didn’t sound like me.

  She pointed. I hugged her neck one last time before I stood up. “I love you and I am so sorry but there is a lot more fighting going on. It doesn’t look good.”

  “My parents?” She spoke between her sobs.

  I shook my head. “I haven’t seen them.”

  “Lucas?”

  “He just went into the fight with Rafe, it isn’t looking good.”

  She nodded her head and I ran. I swiped away the tears and the rain from my face as I went. My feet slid in the mud and I face-planted. My hands were sore and worn when I tried to push myself up. Pine needles and pine cones had broken my fall. I ignored the pain and kept going. I pushed through the rain and the fog until I heard yelling.

  Nalia growled. It’s the children.

  Hell no. I ran with everything inside of me. Somehow I managed to evade all of the mud this time. Valentina was facing off against three witches. Alice was fighting against wolves and Ford had all the children huddled up against the manor. When he saw me, his eyes lit up. Alice screamed and everything seemed to come to a stop. I watched in slow motion as wolf claws were ripped from her chest and she crumbled to the ground. Ford’s face fell but he didn’t move from the spot with the children. Valentina screamed as she flung her arms and her magic around her. I wasted no time, Nalia ripped from my body and I was running after the man that was attacking my bonus mother.

  Nalia wrapped her teeth around his throat and blood sprayed our face. We didn’t blink as we continued to tear through the rest of the wolves quicker than anyone could blink. When I shifted back into my human form, my body collapsed onto the pavement. Valentina was the first one to drape a jacket over my body. It had a big unicorn stamped on the back of it. I rested my head against the dirt.

  “Did you see Granny?” Valentina’s voice was small. She shouldn’t have had to fight like this. None of these children should have had to experience any of this.

  I nodded my head against the ground. “She’s gone.”

  The wail she let out was enough to take down the entire forest. “I am done playing in that madman’s games. He took my mother and now he’s taken Granny. This ends now.”

  She marched away like a woman. There was no longer a child in her place. She had seemed to age in seconds. She swiped her hands left and right. The trees in front of her parted. I tried to stand but my body wouldn’t let me. Whatever Nalia had done to destroy so many had taken its toll on me. Ford cupped my cheek. “We will be fine in the manor. Valentina reinforced it for us with new magic. Blood magic.”

  None of that was comforting but it was better than nothing. “Your mother?”

  “She will be fine, her body is already healing. I’m bringing her into the manor to rest. Bring my brother back to us safely please.”

  Chapter 49

  Rafe

  No matter what I did, Damian seemed to know two steps ahead. He had his men in a thick formation around himself.

  “Is that what this is?” I laughed mechanically. “You start a war and then you’re too afraid to finish it?”

  He was about to answer when a commotion behind me had us all pausing. Trees fell down in the wake of a little child. Except that little child wasn’t just a human. She wasn’t even considered that much of a child. She wa
s Valentina. Her eyes were lit with anger and revenge. They practically glowed in the storm raging around us. Damian actually looked frightened too.

  “Is a child going to bring you to justice?” It was my turn to grin. “A child that you have stolen everything from it appears by the look on her face.”

  Damian’s men shifted. They were now afraid of this little witch. This could work in my favor. Except it never came about. Jade came barreling in behind Valentina but behind Damian came another foe no one had expected.

  “Damian Crimson, you are under arrest.” A man in a black suit said from the trees. There were a few others with him but no one I recognized. There was a scent that was familiar though. “It seems like your crimes are very high.”

  Damian had the audacity to laugh. “Oh? Who is going to arrest me? You have very few men to be making such accusations while I’m in the middle of something entirely bigger than you.”

  The smell hit me then. Vampires. I took a step back. This wasn’t something I wanted to get in the middle of but I did want to make sure he was tried for all of his crimes.

  The man in the suit came out of the shadows. His eyes were molten red and his long blond hair was well past his waist. “Damian,” he sighed. “I am the last creature you want to mess with. But if you should know- and I’m only informing the pack here- I am Ambrogio.” I could hear the slight Italian accent then. The highest vampire lord. I had heard stories of him. Based on the way the color left Damian’s face, he had too.

  I bowed my head in respect and acknowledgment. “What has brought the highest vampire lord here to my humble Pack Lands?”

  “Damian Crimson has been experimenting on not only my kind, but also many other supernatural races. This is the highest offense to my race. I see your Pack Law hasn’t gotten a whiff of this yet, which is fine. I will take my prisoner and be on my way.”