The Burning Claw

by Quinn Loftis

  “That was a disaster,” Jen said, rubbing her face with her hands. “I was this close” —she held up her hand with her thumb and forefinger millimeters apart— “to clawing that bartender’s face off.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Peri countered. “I am worried that meeting all of us at once was a little much for her damaged brain. She seemed desperate and overwhelmed.”

  “Oh frack, do you think her brain is really damaged?” Jacque asked, then held up her hand in a stop motion. “Not that I wouldn’t love her just as much as an undamaged-brain Sally. But I mean, do you think she’ll ever remember us and be able to function normally?”

  “Well, when I went to medical school and did my neurology rotation we learned that—” Peri paused and then clapped her hands together. “Oh wait, I’m sorry. I didn’t go to medical school.”

  Jen raised her hand. “I think you need a time out. Go see your man and rough him up a bit. Get some of that frustration taken care of because you are totally messing with my ability to rescue my friend in an efficient, timely manner.”

  Suddenly Peri was gone.

  “Did she just leave us here?” Jen asked, whipping her head around to see if maybe the fae had just moved to another part of the road. She hadn’t, at least they couldn’t see her if she had.

  Jacque shook her head. “No. She wouldn’t do that. She’s just playing a cruel joke because you were an itch with a capital B and she needed a break from you.”

  Three hours later.

  “She left us,” Jacque whined. “She actually flipping left us.”

  Sitting on a swing set in a park they found after wandering aimlessly, Jen was getting close to panic mode. “That’s it,” Jen said folding her arms in front of her chest. “I’m requesting a new fairy.”

  Jacque laughed. “She’s not an item on a menu, Jen. You can’t just request a new one.”

  “Well, you should be able to,” she huffed.

  “What are we going to do?” Jacque asked her.

  Jen peeked at her through the hands that were currently rubbing her face. “Have you contacted Fane?” she asked quietly as if he might hear her.

  “Uh, that would be not just a no, but a hell no.” Jacque was shaking her head so fast she looked like a curly-haired bobble head. “Fane would blow a fuse if he found out that: one, we are here, and two, Peri left us.”

  “Yeah, I’ve kept Decebel at bay too. Any time he tries to check up on me, I send him a dirty thought.”

  “Of course you do,” Jacque snorted.

  “Hey, if it works then I’m not changing it,” Jen told her as she pushed her feet out in front of her and pulled them back, trying to get her swing to go faster.

  “You think she’s going to come back for us?” Jacque asked as she leaned her face against the chain links of the swing.

  “Yes, she’ll be back. But it probably won’t be until after her happy time with Lucian. Hey, maybe that won’t take long. I mean, who knows, maybe the fae can do it in hyper mode, like a to the max version of wham bam thank you ma’am,” Jen chuckled.

  Jacque lifted her face and her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at her. “How many times did your parents drop you on your head? You can be honest, it’s just you and me. How many times?” Jacque asked.

  “Not enough to knock some sense into me, that’s for sure,” Jen muttered.

  “At least you’re honest with yourself.”

  Decebel raised his muzzle in the air and took a deep breath. They’d been following Costin’s trail since before dawn and had lost it a few times. This was one of those times.

  He phased. Vasile and Fane followed suit.

  “Can either of you smell him anywhere?” Decebel asked the two males.

  “No,” Vasile said. “But I do smell—”

  “Blood,” Fane interrupted. He was running as he phased and hit the ground on four paws. Decebel and Vasile were right on his flanks.

  The more they ran, the stronger the smells became. Blood. So much blood. Decebel let out a low growl. They had to find Costin. They had to contain him before he did something that crossed the line of no return.

  Fane came to an abrupt stop at the top of a steep slope. Decebel walked up next to him and look down at the drop. It wasn’t terribly far, but it wouldn’t be a pleasant landing. They looked around, trying to see if there was another way across. Fane gave a yip when he found a large crevice in the mountain. Light was shining through it from the other end. As soon as they entered the small crack in the rock, they caught Costin’s scent again.

  He smelled of blood, death, despair, and rage. Decebel’s wolf was anxious to find their prey and he couldn’t stop the snarls he emitted as they walked through the dark crevice. Once they’d made it to the other side, they took off at a run once again, following the scent of their friend and pack mate.

  Many miles later, all three wolves came to a stop. They all phased nearly at the same time.

  “Human blood,” Decebel growled.

  They followed in their human form, seeking out the source of the smell. When they finally found the source of the human blood, Decebel’s heart crashed to the pit of his stomach.

  Costin had killed a human. Not just killed no, that was too clean a term for what the feral wolf had done. A pile of mangled limbs, intestines, and a severed head—the remains of what had once been a human man— lay on the ground before them.

  Vasile knelt down and bowed his head. Decebel understood his mentor’s pain. They felt responsible. They were Alphas. They were responsible for the wellbeing of every pack member. Decebel should have recognized sooner that Costin was losing control. And now, because he hadn’t, a human had paid for it with his life.

  “There is nothing we can do for the man now. The rightful thing would be to report the death, but at the moment we have more pressing matters. We have to get to Costin before he can kill anyone else,” Vasile said, turning to Decebel. He was looking for approval since Decebel was Costin’s Alpha.

  “Costin is the priority.”

  “Pray to the Great Luna that we catch him before he comes upon a woman or child,” Vasile said as phased.

  Decebel shuttered at the thought of Costin killing someone as innocent as a child. It wouldn’t come to that. He pushed his wolf harder as they ran. If all that was left of Costin at the end of this was his memory, he wouldn’t allow his friends lasting legacy be one of death.

  Chapter 19

  “I’m cocooned in this shelter. I’m surrounded by a love that I don’t understand but desperately want to keep. Life is going on beyond the door that I hide behind, but I’m not ready to join it. I’m not ready to face the world. I only want him. I want his smile, his touch, his voice, his strength, and his attention.” ~Bethany

  Bethany was lying in the bedroom staring up at the ceiling. It was late. Drake had finally carried her to the bed when she kept refusing to leave him on the couch. That had been around eleven. It was now—she looked over at the alarm clock on the bedside table—three a.m. She hadn’t been asleep at all. She’d tossed and turned and gone over all of the words Drake had said to her during the past twenty-four hours. Some of them had been whispered against her skin, and others had been teasing statements while they played a card game.

  Bethany knew they couldn’t stay this way, locked behind the door, tucked away in their own private suite, focusing only on each other. She’d heard from Drake that the others in his pack, and the Romania pack, were continuing to fight the vampires and that they were also looking for one of the females who was mated to Decebel’s Beta. She felt guilty for staying there, safe and sound, while those who’d risked their lives to save her faced more dangers.

  She heard a knock on the door and rose quickly to open it. Drake stood on the other side.

  “I can’t sleep,” he said gruffly. He looked exhausted. He walked into the room, grabbing her by the waist at the same time. Drake climbed onto the bed, pulling her along with him and situated them in the center. He laid her
on her back and turned on his side, wrapping his arms around her. Bethany’s head was tucked under his chin and his scent relaxed her. She was so caught off guard by the action that it took her a few minutes to realize that Drake was sound asleep. Within a few minutes of him drifting off, Bethany followed. His warmth seeped inside of her and a contentment she hadn’t realize she’d been missing settled into her soul.

  Something soft running across her lips and up her jaw line drew Bethany away from her dreams. Her eyes opened and she blinked several times to clear the sleep. Drake’s handsome face was staring down at her and a crooked smile drew her gaze to his lips. She licked her own and felt butterflies in her stomach as his eyes followed the movement.

  “Good morning,” she rasped out.

  “Morning, beautiful,” he responded gently.

  “Did you sleep well?”

  His smile widened and his eyes sparkled with a contagious joy. “Best three hours of sleep I’ve ever had.”

  “Ever?” Her eyes widened at the declaration.

  “I was allowed to hold my mate while I slept. It’s hard to beat that.”

  Bethany smiled. “I liked it too. I wasn’t able to sleep before you came in either. Something inside me was restless.”

  “Sounds like it could be your wolf,” Drake offered. “She wants her mate. I’ve actually been thinking about it. My wolf is so possessive of you. The bond between wolf and wolf makes the true mate bond stronger. I wonder if he senses your dormant wolf. Even though you’re a dormant, your wolf will eventually come out. Sometimes, going through a painful experience can make the wolf come to the surface, and you’ve certainly been through something traumatic.

  “Will the wolf ever be a part of me the way yours is a part of you, I mean, with the fur and stuff?” she asked, slightly unsettled at the thought.

  “Yes. You can even phase. There’s a ceremony to pull the wolf forward if you want. It takes fae magic and the blood of your mate. It might be something that has to wait until after Peri isn’t dealing with a bunch of vampires, though. But I’m sure as soon as she’s able, she’d be willing to do the ceremony.”

  Bethany didn’t know what to say to that. She’d never even considered the possibility of changing into a wolf. She thought that dormant meant that she just had some werewolf blood and that nothing other than the true mate thing would come out of it. The true mate thing was certainly weird enough, but transforming into a wolf, being part of a wolf pack, that was something else entirely.

  “What do you want to do today?” Drake asked her as he wrapped strands of her hair around his fingers.

  Bethany thought about it, but every time she considered something they could do, all she could think about was how Jen, Jacque, and the others were all doing things that put them in danger. She felt like she was on some vacation while they were risking their lives.

  “Maybe we should,” she began but Drake was already shaking his head.

  “There is no way I’m letting you put yourself in danger.” Drake tugged gently on her hair. “I just got you.”

  “I just feel awful that they—”

  Drake held up his hand stopping her. He climbed out of bed and jogged out of the room. Bethany frowned.

  He was back in less than a minute with his cell phone up to his ear. “One sec,” he said into the phone. He reached out his arm, offering the cell phone to Bethany. She looked at him and then back to the offered phone.

  “It’s for you,” he said.

  “Who is it?” she asked him.

  “Someone who can ease your guilt.”

  Bethany took the phone and pressed it to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Hey my little protégé,” Jen’s voice chirped through the speaker.

  “Jen?”

  “The one and only,” she cooed.

  “Are you awake?”

  “Well, seeing as how it’s a little after one in the afternoon here, yes I’m awake.”

  “Where are you?” Bethany asked, confused by Jen’s words.

  “I’m in South Carolina making new friends.” Her words were upbeat, but Bethany could hear the weariness beneath it. “That’s neither here nor there. Your fur ball says you’re feeling bad that you’re shacked up, getting it on with him, instead of out here playing with the rest of us.”

  “He said that?” Bethany couldn’t help but laugh. Drake was rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he climbed back into bed beside her.

  “Yep, those exact words. Hold on a sec,” she said.

  Bethany could hear arguing going on and then someone, she thought it was Jacque, yelped.

  “Sorry about that. Jacque was just getting a little too big for her breeches. I had to knock her down a couple of sizes. Now, where were we? Oh yeah, don’t feel guilty, Beth. You’ve been through hell and back. And you may not realize it, but now that you’re the mate of a Canis lupus, you’re about to go through hell again.” Jen paused. “It’s not all bad. You won’t ever have to worry about him cheating on you or leaving you. Although the not leaving you thing can get old because they kind of mean that literally. Like they never. Ever. Leave.”

  Bethany laughed. “He does like to stay close.” Drake had wiggled his arm underneath her and pulled her body snuggly against his. He growled at her.

  “Is that butthead growling at you?” Jen asked. “See, you can’t come help us save the world because you’ve got to get him trained. Try a kennel. I hear those are pretty effective. I’ve got some shock collars stashed in our suite. If you get desperate, by all means, zap his ass.”

  “I think you’ve given Jen enough of your attention,” Drake told her through their bond.

  “Drake says I have to go,” Bethany told her and then laughed when Drake poked her in the side.

  “Tell Drakey poo that I’ll let that slide this time, but only because I’m like three thousand miles away or something, and sleep deprived. Oh, and don’t tell my mate you talked to me if you happen to see him. I don’t think you will because they’re hunting down Costin right now, but I like to cover all my bases.”

  “The Alpha doesn’t know that you’re in South Carolina?” Drake asked.

  “Drake, go back to ogling your mate and stay out of this convo. Bethany,” Jen said.

  “Yes?”

  “Give him hell, girl. It’s in the book.”

  “There is no book.” Bethany heard Jacque say.

  “What book?” Bethany asked.

  “The handbook,” Jen answered, not clarifying anything at all.

  “Oh, are you writing a handbook for dormants on the healthy transition of living with a new mate?” Bethany asked. “Brilliant idea.”

  “Why yes, yes I am.”

  “That could come in really handy,” Bethany admitted.

  “No it wouldn’t,” Drake grumbled.

  Jen laughed. “Bethany, you can be my co-writer. Take notes. In fact, we can include a chapter on all that stuff you, me, and Red chitchatted about. Is your face bright red? I bet your face is bright red. Did you tell your mate that I told you all about ora—”

  “Okay, thanks Jen. I totally won’t feel guilty. Be safe!” Bethany said quickly and then ended the call.

  “What was she talking about?” Drake asked. “What did she tell you all about?”

  “I don’t think we need to get into that right now,” Bethany said, trying not to blush furiously.

  “So what do you think we do need to get into right now?” Drake asked her with a crooked smile plastered on his handsome face.

  “I’m thinking I need to get into the shower.” Bethany started to climb out of the bed but stopped when Drake snagged her arm. She looked over her shoulder at him and couldn’t help but return his cheeky grin.

  “Need some help?”

  For a heartbeat she couldn’t speak. Flashes of what that could lead to and the things Jen and Jacque had explained to her ran through her mind before she had to time to block her thoughts. Drake sucked in a ragged breath and that was all it took to
pull her from her fantasy. She couldn’t even look at him as she yanked her arm free and ran for the bathroom. She shut the door and had it locked before she heard his palm hit the wood hard enough to shake the wall.

  “Bethany,” he rasped. To her surprise, beneath the desire, she could also feel his frustration and even a little bit of anger.

  What could he possibly be angry about? she thought as she quickly undressed and turned on the water. The shower spray came out strong and was hot in no time, but it didn’t drown out her mate’s commands for her to open the door. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

  “Bethany, we need to talk about this,” Drake called. His voice was rough with his wolf.

  Oh, they most definitely did not need to talk about it. Before she’d talked to the girls, she hadn’t been embarrassed, but that was because she was too ignorant to be embarrassed. Now that she knew what went on between mates, there was no way she could talk about it with Drake and not turn the color of a tomato.

  He continued to call out to her through the door but she continued to ignore him. She’d stay in the bathroom the whole day if she had to.

  “I will come in there and drag you out if I have to,” he growled at her.

  “Gah!” she huffed. Why couldn’t she remember to shut the bond down when she was thinking about things she didn’t want Drake to see?

  “Because you should want me to see everything you think. You’re my mate. I should know everything about you.”

  “Ha!” Bethany called out. “That is not going to happen. A person deserves some privacy, even from her mate.”

  Drake growled at her. “So you don’t mind if there are things that I don’t tell you?”

  Bethany once again thought about the things Jen told her and felt her skin heat. “Nope, I don’t mind one bit.”

  Drake was fighting his wolf with everything he had. Now that he and Bethany had completed the Blood Rites, his wolf was chomping at the bit to do the mate ceremony and complete the bond in every way. He wanted their mate with a ferocity that surprised even the man, not that Drake didn’t crave her with every cell in his body as well.