by Brie Paisley
Letting out a laugh, I grin widely, as I take his words to heart. “Good, because I would’ve found a way to bring you back.”
He chuckles, and then groans, as he states, “Fuck, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”
“Here, let me help,” I claim, and then send a surge of calming magic through me and then into him. I know it’s working, when he lets out a long sigh, and then, he smiles in content. “Better?”
He nods, and I sense how grateful he is through our forming bond. “That’s great and all, but we have an even bigger problem now, unfortunately,” Sameria cuts in.
“What now?” Reid asks, and his frustration doesn’t go unnoticed.
Holding Sameria’s gaze, she claims, “We have company, and it’s not friendly.”
“Fuck,” Reid spits out, and then shakes his head.
“How do you know this?” I ask, wondering if she did what I think she did.
“I have a protection barrier around the cabin, and someone just breeched it. I sense their determination to capture you again.”
Nodding, I know exactly who this is. “It’s The Facility. They’re coming for me.”
“This makes no sense.” Reid pipes in, and then adds, “How would they even know where you are? No one but the pack knows about this place.”
“They must be tracking you somehow,” Malik offers, and I turn back to him, knowing what he means.
I hold his gaze for a moment, before turning back towards the others, and then I claim, “I must have a tracking device inside of me. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“What about their witch?”
“She wouldn’t be able to track me, while I had the bracelet on. It’s the reason why The Facility has been able to hide for so long. They’ve found a way to block not only their building, but they’ve done the same to every single person being held against their will. Not to mention, I hid my magic, just so this wouldn’t happen the moment I woke earlier.”
Letting go of Malik, I stand, and then look down at my arms, as I say, “One of you needs to check me for the tracker.”
“There’s no time for this,” Reid exclaims loudly, but he quickly shuts up, as Malik growls at him. After a few moments pass, he sighs, and in a calmer voice, he asks, “How long do we have, until they make it here?”
As Sameria begins to inspect my forearms for the device, she utters, “Ten minutes. Maybe, a little less.”
Reid shakes his head, and then huffs out an angry sigh, as he states, “Just great. Why couldn’t you just set the barrier further out, so that we might have a chance to run?”
Right as I’m about to tell him to go fuck himself, Sameria beats me to it. “I’m so sorry that I wasn’t better prepared. Please, excuse the hell out of me for doing what I could with the little time that I had.”
“We’re all going to either die, or be captured too, because of you,” Reid states through clenched teeth, and I suddenly have the urge to punch him in the nose.
Instead of following through with that plan, Sameria quickly jerks around, and then darkly states, “Either prepare yourself for a fight, or you can fuck right off. I don’t care that you’re my mate or not, so either die or fight. It’s your choice.”
Sensing Malik’s humor through our bond, I try to hide my smile, as Reid quickly leaves the room. The moment the door shuts behind him, Malik tries to stand, as he claims, “I’ll go help him.”
Jerking away from Sameria, I go to him, as she states, “We don’t have time to argue about it.”
Leaning down, I caress his cheek, and then softly claim, “I can stop them, so I need you to trust me and stay here.” Feeling his distaste for having to stay behind, I add, “There will come a time that we’re fighting side by side, but not until you fully regain your strength.”
“I won’t lose you. I can’t lose you,” I utter in my mind, and I know he hears me by the way his eyes widen.
When he nods, and then lays back down, I let out a sigh, before turning back around. “Let’s get this thing out of me.”
Sameria nods, and then quickly gets to searching for the tracker. Thankfully, it doesn’t take her long at all to find it, now that Reid isn’t constantly trying to goad her into a fight. Once she has its location, I glance down at my arm, knowing what to do.
“I need you to move back.”
When she does as I ask, I use one hand to hover over the tracker, and then will the small device to come forward. Gritting my teeth, as the pain suddenly comes forward, I push past it, knowing that I need to get this thing out of me.
Feeling Malik’s worry, I glance back to him, and then state, “I’m alright.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I brace myself for the pain that’s coming, when I jerk my hand back, forcing the tracker to rip through my skin. The second it’s out, I let go of the breath that I was holding, and then, Sameria is instantly by my side, making sure to dispose of it.
Glancing down, I watch closely, as my body heals itself, and I’m so glad that I’m immortal. It’s just a shame that immortality still doesn’t mean that I don’t feel pain.
“Okay, it’s done. They can’t track you anymore,” Sameria claims.
Ignoring the waves of pain flowing through me, I nod, and then state, “Let’s go meet our friends, then.”
She quickly leaves the room, and right as I’m about to follow behind her, I hear, “Come here.”
Grinning, as I turn around, I make my way over to my mate, knowing he needs to see me, before I go. Hovering over him, I lick my lips, sensing his need to claim me. Brushing his hair out of his handsome face, I declare, “Nothing is going to happen to me. I’ll never go back there.”
He grips my chin with his fingers, and then brings me closer to his lips, as he huskily states, “Kill them all, and leave no one alive. Do you understand me?”
My arousal instantly spikes, sensing not only his need, but his need to hurt those that have hurt me. In return, it only heightens what I’m feeling, and I find it’s hard to even think about anything other than kissing him.
So, it’s not surprising at all, when he leans up, closing the distance between us, and then, his mouth is on mine. The second our lips touch, I let out a throaty moan, as he groans at the same time. His mouth devours mine, like he can’t seem to get enough of me. Willingly submitting, I kiss him back with just as much passion and desperation that I can manage.
While I know that I’m needed elsewhere, I can’t seem to break our kiss. Nothing else matters right now anyway, so I let the kiss go on, wondering if it’ll always be like this. Will he always make my body burn with need? These intense sensations he’s bringing out of me are almost foreign, since I’ve never experienced them before, especially, when he deepens our kiss once more.
His needs and wants are suddenly all that I can think about, so I reach down, intending on giving him the relief he’s wanting, but then, his hand is suddenly on mine, stopping me in my tracks. When he pulls away, I lick my lips, feeling them beginning to swell, as I hold back the urge to demand him to keep going.
“I promise, that the moment we’re safe, we’re going to finish this,” he claims in a husky tone of voice, while caressing my face. “Now, go show those assholes who you really are.”
Grinning widely, I nod, and then state, “Don’t worry. I plan on sending them a message.”
“So blood thirsty.”
Giving him one final kiss, I stand, and then say, “I know you like that about me.” As he chuckles, I feel how proud he is to have a strong mate.
Just knowing how he feels makes it easier to walk away, because I know once I’m finished, Malik will be here, waiting for me to tell him every single detail about the carnage I’m about to create.
Reagan
I should’ve known that these fucking wolves would attract the wrong kind of attention.
Keeping my distance, I count at least thirty of The Facility’s guards approaching. I’m not sure how they found out where Malik and Melena ar
e staying, but I fear that they’ve met their match. Each guard is armed to the tee, and I know there’s way too many of them.
For just a moment, I wonder if I should drop my cloaking spell to help, but then, I frown, when I see Melena walking outside. What the fuck is she doing? I know that she has power, because I caught the end of what she did to Malik, but even still. There’s no way she can take on this many guards without backup.
Right as I think that thought, two wolves flank her by her side. That has to be Reid and Sameria. There’s a lot that one can find out just by staying in the shadows. I know all about Reid, and what his position in the pack is, but Sameria, well she’s a hard one to get information on. I’m also assuming that Malik isn’t up for fighting, since he’s yet to make his appearance.
“This is your one and only warning,” Melena states loudly, and I narrow my gaze at her, wondering what she’s doing. “If you don’t leave, I will kill every single one of you.”
Jerking back, even I know that it’s a sound threat. The power coming off of her is astounding, and I’ve never sensed something like this before. Unable to control my own fear, I worry if letting Melena live is the right choice. She might be a savior, but what if she turns into our destroyer? Power like hers always comes at some sort of price, and I wonder, if she’s willing to pay that ultimate price.
Logic and reason are the only things that I use now, so it makes sense to take her out now, before something terrible happens, like murdering an entire coven just for shits and giggles.
But then, who will save us all from the darkness that’s coming?
Evil doesn’t discriminate, so if Melena is gone, I know we’ll all suffer for that. Letting out a sigh, I decide to wait it out to see which side she’s really on. Maybe, it’s because of my past, and how I can’t trust anyone that makes me think this way, but I’d much rather be prepared for the hard truth, besides being blindsided by it.
Shaking myself out of my own head, I watch, as Melena takes one step forward, and then says, “So, you’ve all chosen to die, then.”
The wolves growl, and then howl loudly, as the guards begin moving closer. However, the guards don’t get the chance to take one more step. As Melena cries out, both of her hands rise up, and then, the ground suddenly begins to shake.
The earth is splitting in half, and at the same time, pieces of it are shooting up, making deadly spikes. Half of the guards get hit, since they weren’t fast enough to avoid the attack. The others begin firing their weapons, but Melena just smiles, like a fucking lunatic, as she holds out her hand, and then blocks every single bullet, flying towards her and the wolves.
I watch with wide eyes, as Melena laughs, and then makes her way down the steps, as some of the guards start to retreat. Each guard that tries to leave is instantly vaporized, as the others continue to fire their weapons at her. It seems as if she’s not going to leave a single soul behind, and for just a moment, I turn away, hating what she’s doing.
It’s a fucking blood bath out here, and she’s just relishing it.
Seeing her like this, it’s bringing up so many past memories that I’d rather not remember. Hearing their screams and cries of utter agony, I shut my eyes, forcing the images and sounds to stop. I don’t want to remember that horrific day, but it seems this is my curse, and it’s my burden to carry, until the end of time.
Looking down at my hands, I recall all of the things that I’ve had to do to seek out my vengeance. How is this any different from what I’ve done? If I had just a meager amount of Melena’s power, I know that I would be doing the exact same thing.
Pushing down the humanity that’s slowly dying inside of me, I turn my gaze back to the fight. The moment that I do, I realize that there’s less than ten guards left now. I do have to give it to Melena, she definitely knows how to take out the enemy. Not to mention, I’m sure she’s taking out her rage on them, for what they’ve done to her. I might not know what she went through, but by the way she’s killing them off so easily, shows me her time at The Facility wasn’t good.
As two guards rush towards her, I shrink back, when they run smack into an invisible force field. They quickly fall down to the ground, and as Melena stands over them, she glances at them for just a moment, before their heads are suddenly smashed in.
Knowing this battle is almost over, I look for the wolves, wondering if they’re still alive. So, imagine my surprise, when I notice that they have yet to even leave the damn porch.
Well shit.
Melena is taking out this small army all on her own.
The rest of the guards quickly follow behind their comrades to their deaths, and when there’s only one left, Melena uses her telekinesis to bring him to her. The poor man is screaming in terror, but his cries are futile. I even notice that he’s pissed his pants, and that in itself is such a shame. I thought these guards, from The Facility, were supposed to be men, and not fucking crybabies.
Keeping up my cloaking spell, I move from my hiding spot, so that I can hear what Melena is saying to him. For some reason, she’s keeping this one alive, even though she could’ve killed him easily. Call it curiosity, but I want to know what’s being said.
When I reach a better position, I hear her say, “Tell them everything that’s happened here. When they come after me again, you remind them who’s waiting to end their lives.”
Now, I understand what she’s doing. She’s sending a message to The Facility, but I’m not sure, if they’ll hear her warning.
Once she’s finished scaring the piss out of the man, she tosses him onto the ground, and I cringe, when I hear a loud pop. The guard howls out in pain, while holding his arm, so I assume he broke it on the way down. Honestly, Melena might’ve been the one to do that.
“Go now and remember what I said.”
The man is so scared, and it’s clear he poses no threat to anyone. Melena turns her back on him, and for the first time in my life, I see so much strength and power from just one person. She’s not worried at all that this guy could shoot her in the back, because she knows he won’t. She’s put so much fear into him that he’ll do whatever she wants just so he’ll live.
That is fucking talent.
Smirking, I realize that I’m starting to admire her, even with all of this death surrounding us.
With her mission completed, the man scurries off like a rat, as Melena makes her way back towards the cabin. When she gets closer to the steps, leading up to the cabin, a white wolf blocks her from going anywhere.
“Move, Reid,” she states, but it’s clear this wolf isn’t letting her past him. “I won’t ask again,” she warns, and even I know he needs to move, or he just might die, too.
Right as Melena brings up her hand, the other wolf, the black and brown one, shifts. A woman stands bare ass naked, were the wolf was, and then, she instantly bends down. She seems to be talking to the other wolf, but I’m not close enough to hear her.
“Sameria, tell him to move. Malik needs me.”
The one they call Reid barks, and then snaps his teeth at Melena, but Sameria quickly diverts his attention to her. I’m sure it also helps the fact that Sameria is completely naked, so no unmated wolf could deny her.
As Sameria leads the wolf away, Melena stays right where she is for a moment, before she quickly turns her gaze towards me. Quickly moving behind a tree, I know that she can’t see me. There’s no fucking way she could, since I’m under the cloaking spell.
Even as I remind myself of this, my heart still pounds in my chest, like a fucking drum, hoping that she doesn’t know that I’m here. Honestly, she just might kill me, before she knows that I’m not her enemy.
Swallowing down my fear, I think about Nick for a split second, before I slowly glance around the tree.
“Thank fuck,” I utter, when I notice she’s gone.
Thinking that she’s gone inside to be by her mate, I let out a heavy sigh, and then, I decide to stay right where I am, until they leave, or I have the cover of the ni
ght. That was too close of a call for comfort, so I’ll keep my distance, and pray that I don’t wind up dead, like those guards.
Melena
Holding Malik’s hand, as he leads me inside the pack’s den, I glance back at Sameria and Reid, following behind us.
The moment I catch Reid’s gaze, I quickly advert my eyes, because I have a feeling that he’s going to be a problem. Back at the cabin, the asshole tried to challenge me, once I let that last guard go. It seems like no matter how many times I explained why I did it, he refuses to listen to me.
In a way, I get it. He’s worried about his fellow pack mates, and even his own mate, although, he won’t admit that. I finally put it all together, once Malik told me that Reid is his Beta. It’s his job to make sure the pack is safe at all times, as well as handling The Enforcers. So, he’s just doing his job, protecting the pack, and in a way, his Alpha, but it still bothers me that he’s constantly hounding me for my choices.
“Don’t worry about Reid. He’ll come around.” Malik claims, and I look up at him, and then nod my head.
I keep forgetting that he can pick up on my moods and some of my emotions with our bond. I also need to remember, once our bond is fully complete, he’ll be able to sense every single thing that I feel times ten.
Before I can ponder on how I feel about that, we walk inside of a huge room. The moment we entered the den, I was highly impressed at how the wolves have made this cave into their home. From what I can recall, the covens never worried much about where the wolves went, when they separated from us.
It still shocks me that wolves were created for the sole purpose to protect witches and our magic. It’s a shame that they left us, because there’s always been a dark cloud, hanging over all of the covens, since they did.
Although, it seems that they’ve done well for themselves, since deserting us, not that I can blame them. No one really knows what happened, during The Dark Ages, but whatever it was, it broke a truce between our two factions. However, I sense that things are changing once again, and I can only hope that it’s for the better.
