Archaic

by Lexy Timms

  It’s Sebastian.

  He found me.

  Chapter 26

  ~ Sebastian

  Wild eyes. Drooling jowls. Razor sharp teeth and claws bigger than Theo’s. Clarissa is fully-formed, and in her rage, she is beautiful. Fluid in her motions and the way she guns for the men of the Council. The Bat, screeching in the corner as he morphs back to the crown-wearing asshole I’ve always known him to be.

  The Dragon, with his fierce plumbs of smoke barreling from his nostrils.

  And Clarissa.

  Charging every one of them.

  Her mind is swirling as judge, jury, and executioner. She holds all of these men responsible. But the problem is, they aren’t.

  She’s attacking and injuring innocent men. And the possibility of slaughter is high. A Primal, in their beginning stages, can’t control their bloodthirst. Their want to spill and rip and tear is ripe with want, and I can feel her heart pounding with adrenaline. I can see every hair on her body tingling with electricity.

  She really does feel she’s getting justice for Kyle.

  For all of us.

  But that isn’t what’s happening.

  “We have to protect the rest of the Council,” Toshi says as he takes off. “If she kills them, we can’t protect her.”

  “I’ll take the men trying to claw their way down the hallway. You get Clarissa stable,” Theo says.

  “I’m trying,” I say.

  “They aren’t responsible, Clarissa.”

  “Yes, they are. They know something, and all they did was taunt me. Jail me. Chain me up and refuse to give answers. They’re complicit.”

  “They’re not the men who killed Kyle. Snap out of it!”

  Clarissa turns her head to look at me, dropping the Opossum she has between her jowls. Her angry stare is evident, and it’s not trained on me. I can hear Toshi pushing wounded Council members down the hallway. I can hear Theo trying to talk their anger down.

  But I also see Clarissa stalking toward me. Her fangs dripping with saliva that could cast me down and force me to bleed out all over the damn floor.

  She stalks toward me. On all fours, with her beautiful blonde and brown and black hair wafting around her body. The strength in her back and her legs—it calls to me. The Wolf in her is strong, and it singes my nostrils. Makes them flare with want as the veins in my groin begin to tremble. I can feel my cock rising as she approaches. Getting closer and closer as I stand my ground.

  If I shift, it’s perceived as a threat. But there’s no way I can take her in my human form.

  Not like this.

  “Two days, they chained me up.”

  “I know, Clarissa. We came as fast as we could.”

  “You and Toshi can never keep it under control.”

  “Control your anger, Clarissa. Deep breaths.”

  “Is that what Kyle was offered? A few last breaths to calm himself?”

  She’s standing in front of me, her eyes boring into mine. I stand tall, with my fists clenching at my sides. My shoulders are rolled back, and I refuse to take a step back. If she wants to move me, she’ll have to do it herself. Poised between Theo, Toshi, and the Council licking their wounds, I won’t let her make this mistake.

  I made a vow to protect her.

  Even from herself.

  “Such beauty.”

  Hiro’s voice rips us both from our trance as we pan our gazes over to him.

  “Such strength.”

  His eyes are burrowing into Clarissa. Looking her up and down.

  Taking in her Primal form. There’s something in his eyes I don’t trust. Something that makes his words from Thailand ring out in my head. Loud and strong as I watch the vein in his neck.

  Thumping at a slow pace as his scent changes.

  His pulse quickens.

  His eyes narrow.

  “Oh, no,” Toshi says.

  “Oh no, what?” Theo asks. “What’s happening?”

  “You really aren’t as clever as you think you are, Toshi,” Hiro says.

  “Everyone, get back!” I order. “Now!”

  But Clarissa stands beside me. I can hear her confused thoughts.

  Her questions I have no answers to. But I smell the change in Toshi. The cleverness and the confidence turning to fear. I can hear the wavering of his voice. The shock rolling through his veins. I can see his hands physically shaking out of the corner of my eye as I stand poised, ready to defend against whatever the fuck is going to happen.

  Nothing, however, could have prepared me for what takes place.

  Hiro lifts his clawed hands and grabs at his hair. The skin around his face rips, shredding as he peels it all the way down.

  His clothes fall to the floor as the snake-like camouflage peels away from his body. The Council gasps, and I can see the shock in Lord Wesley’s eyes. I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. I have been spending my time with a fucking Cat. I know their better traits.

  Misdirect.

  Cleverness, wisdom, and misdirect.

  No wonder Opossums and Cats get along just fine.

  “Surprise.”

  “Who is that?” Theo asks.

  But I know. As Clarissa steps in front of me, putting herself between a Council she attempted to slaughter and the one Cat who was responsible for Kyle’s death, I know. Why Hiro made that drunken comment in Thailand Toshi thought was so curious. Why I felt like he smelled off. Why I never innately trusted him like everyone else did.

  “My name is Igo, but you can call me ‘Warrior.’”

  The Cat bows low and Clarissa hunches. Poising herself to attack.

  I place my hand on the side of her hind leg and burrow my claws into her. Not enough to hurt, but enough to control. Enough to signal to her that she shouldn't move unless I command it. She’s out of control and still unable to manage her anger. I can feel it radiating from her. I can smell the bloodlust on the tips of her fangs.

  “It’s him. Sebastian, let me go.”

  “You said you wanted answers, right?”

  She turns her head and growls at me, but she doesn’t defy me.

  Finally, the trust I’ve needed from her for weeks.

  “They’re coming!” Toshi exclaims.

  “Everyone in the middle. Now,” Theo says.

  The Council members are gathered in the middle, and we surround them. Shielding them from Igo and his clan of warriors bombarding down every hallway. I guide Clarissa with my claws, turning her around and placing her right in the line of sight with Igo. There is only one man in this room I will approve of her killing.

  And I have no problems putting her in front of him.

  The warriors filter into the room, standing around us with their katanas and their blades. Their robes shimmer with gold and black and their traditional sandals are reinforced with lead. A metal known to drain Primals of their energy stores.

  Disabling them from morphing.

  Clarissa drags her claws against the floor, and I sink mine further into her thigh. I can feel her fighting the effects of the lead as the Council members slowly return to their human forms. My eyes hook with Igo as he grins at Clarissa, his blade drawn and hovering over his head.

  He means to strike tonight.

  He means to kill us all.

  “Warriors!”

  Every single one of them draws their blades and stations them over their heads.

  “Kill,” Igo purrs.

  Chapter 27

  ~ Clarissa

  Ican feel Sebastian’s claws digging into the meat of my side. But for some reason, I’m not bleeding. There is no pain or agony or anger. Simply obedience. A strong, relentless need to hone in on his voice. The sound of his heart beating against his chest. The feel of his claws embedding deeper into my muscles. I am staring into the eyes of Igo. The man who ordered my husband’s death. The man who is willing to wipe out any Primal from the planet that

  doesn’t fall in line with his teachings. His way of life. His own order.
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  He is responsible for this.

  Sebastian is right.

  Slowly, my body morphs back into a human. The warriors are charging everyone, and I’m standing naked in the middle of the room. I listen to their movements. To the patterns their feet make along the floor. I dodge their attacks as Sebastian stays by my side, batting men off me and the Councilmen behind us. My anger is turning to fear. We are easily outnumbered three-to-one.

  Everywhere I turn, a spear is coming down at me. Or eyes are raking across my body. Or someone is making some snide comment about my purpose in life.

  It makes me sick.

  With each swipe I make, my claws get longer. Stronger. More resilient. Blood is dripping down my arms as Sebastian stays by my side, falling in sync with my steps as we work our way around the room. Theo is pinning men to walls and physically throwing them down the dark hallways. Toshi is luring them into dark corners before pouncing on their bodies.

  My eyes train themselves onto Igo as I sink my claws into one of his warrior’s chests.

  Then, my eyes drift over his shoulder.

  “Gus! It’s me! Penny. Don’t you recognize me?”

  I see a short, spindly man. With a twitching nose and a katana high above his head. And Penny, standing in front of him, with her hands on his chest and her eyes widening with each second that passes.

  My ears train onto their conversation as Igo wraps his hand around my neck.

  “Such ferocity,” Igo says. “You will make a beautiful queen.”

  “She’s going nowhere with you,” Sebastian growls.

  “Gus,” Penny says breathlessly. “Look at this. Look at what you’re doing. I know you can hear me. I know you can see me.”

  I watch her stand onto her tiptoes and press her lips to his, and for a moment I think she has him. As Igo lifts me off my feet, dangling me in midair, I see the love she has for Gus in her eyes. I can smell the want she has for him. The years of loneliness she’s experienced, squashed the second her eyes lay upon his.

  Then I watch him bring the katana down, piercing her skull as she falls to her knees.

  “No!” I roar.

  I feel myself falling to the ground as Sebastian’s howl rises above my screaming.

  “Penny!”

  I look up from the floor as the fighting moves all around me.

  Theo with his massive form breaking backs on the ground and Toshi with his cunning smile dragging warriors into the dark to meet their doom. Swords clashing and Councilmen calling out for help from the guards and Sebastian tearing into Igo’s body with his teeth.

  All I can watch, however, is blood trickle down Penny’s forehead as Gus releases his sword.

  Recognition crawls over his face as agony writes itself in his eyes. He drops to his knees, crying out in horror as he holds his dead mate in his arms. Penny’s lifeless body cradles against his, like he’s snapping out of some kind of trance. My jaw is quivering as he kisses her face. Over and over again until his lips are stained red with her blood.

  Then he lifts the sword from her head and falls onto it, taking his own life as he falls alongside his mate.

  That was what I should have done.

  Fallen on my sword the night of my wedding so Kyle didn’t have to die alone.

  I’m lying on my side, helpless to the tears streaming down my face. I can feel my naked body being lifted as Penny and Gus slowly fade from view. I’m staring at the ceiling, listening to the wild carnage around me fade. The fighting is ceasing, and men are gurgling on their own blood, and heartbeats all around me are fading into dust.

  Into darkness.

  The kind of darkness I was born into.

  “I’ve got you.”

  I look up into Sebastian’s eyes, feeling his chest twitch against my skin as he cradles me close.

  “We have to get out of here,” Theo says.

  “Has anyone seen Penny?” Toshi asks.

  My nose crinkles as heaving sobs leave my lips. I’m trembling. No longer able to resist the emotion filling my chest. It feels like I’m going to burst. It feels like I’m about to drown in the ocean I’ve been treading for so long. Memories of Kyle came rushing back to me as Sebastian carries me into the dark. Memories of his lips against my neck and his smile invading my eyesight in the mornings. Of coffee mugs in my hands while we watch the sun rise above the trees. Trips to the Amazon we would never take again and vacations to the beach we would never get to enjoy.

  “I should’ve died with him,” I say breathlessly.

  “Stop,” Sebastian says.

  “I should have died with him.”

  “No.”

  “He died alone. In agony and cold. I should have died with him. I should have died with him. I should have died with him.”

  Sebastian cradles me closer than I’ve ever been held. I can hear his growl of frustration rumbling his chest. I curl into him, my naked body hovering against his skin as I shake.

  Tremble.

  Sob.

  I’m cold. I’m empty. I’m sad, and I’m angry. I’m full of revenge but not full of the energy to enact it. Sebastian starts sprinting. Trying to get all of us out of the building before it’s too late. Before the warriors who are still alive come after us and try to spear me while I’m vulnerable.

  We barrel out the door, and the cold overtakes me. I’m shivering violently as snow swirls around my naked skin.

  “Give her to me,” Theo says.

  “Not a fucking chance,” Sebastian growls.

  “I’m the warmest. She’ll die of hypothermia before we can get her anywhere else. Hand her over.”

  I feel Sebastian pull me closer to him, my body still fighting off the abrasive chill settling in.

  Then, Sebastian does something unlike him. Something that goes against every protective instinct he’s had from the beginning.

  That grinds at every gear he has and tosses out every rule he’s ever lived by.

  He fights the animal inside him again and hands me to Theo.

  And my body stops shivering immediately.

  Chapter 28

  ~ Theo

  “W e can’t stay here for long,” Sebastian says. “The Council will come looking for us.”

  “But did we get all the answers Clarissa was looking for?” I ask.

  “I’ve got some clothes for her,” Toshi says. “They aren’t the best, but they’ll do. Is she awake?”

  “No,” I say. “She’s still asleep by the fire.”

  “How do you know this place again?” Sebastian asks.

  “Why? Because you think I’ve thrown us into another trap or because you can’t wrap your head around the fact that I’m trying to help?” Toshi asks.

  “Enough!” I bellow.

  Clarissa starts to stir, and we all turn our gaze to hers. We are in an abandoned house on the outskirts of the bustling Russian city. Sebastian was able to get a fire going so I could place Clarissa next to it while Toshi went to find her clothes. They would be baggy on her at best, but they would keep the chill off her as long as she sat by the fire. Or cradled herself in my arms.

  “What happened?” Clarissa asks.

  “How much do you remember?” Toshi asks. “We can fill in the rest of the dots for you.”

  I watch her eyes water, and Sebastian is immediately at her side.

  He sits down and spreads his legs, then pulls Clarissa into his chest. She sinks into him, and a part of me breaks inside. How easy it is to sink into him for comfort despite the connection we found in Norway. I look over at Toshi and see the heartbreak in his eyes, and I know he longs for her as well. Yearns to reach out for her and pull her close like I do.

  “She remembers enough,” Sebastian says after a few beats of silence.

  “What do you want to do, Clarissa?” I ask.

  “To be honest, there’s nothing else we can do,” Toshi asks. “The Council knows you’re alive, and I’m sure they’ll try to—”

  “Enough,” Sebastian says. “Clar
issa knows.”

  “But she isn’t speaking,” Toshi says. “We need to hear it from her. I need to hear it from her.”

  Sebastian and I both throw him a glare before he nods his head.

  “This isn’t about you,” Sebastian says with a growl. “For now, we sit.”

  But a knock on the abandoned house door pulls Sebastian to his feet. He jumps in front of Clarissa, his claws bared and his growl rumbling. I can feel my body rising taller, seconds away from morphing and destroying the only pair of clothes I have on my back. Toshi’s eyes land heavily on the door as another knock resonates through the house, but this time a voice accompanies it.

  A voice I recognize.

  “Theo. Open this door.”

  “Chief?” I ask.

  I storm for the door and rip it open, finding the Chief of the entire Bear species standing at the door. He looks haggard. Worn.

  His clothes are tattered, and the necklace he has around his neck is barely hanging on by a thread. His eyes fall over my shoulder, and I hear Sebastian’s growl grow louder.

  “Is she here?” the Chief asks.

  “Who?” Toshi asks.

  “What are you doing here? Where are the others?” I ask.

  “I come in peace, but if you keep me out in the cold it won’t be peaceful for long,” Chief says.

  “I thought Bears liked the cold,” Sebastian growls.

  “My scent. The fire you’re burning will conceal my scent so I can talk with you.”

  I step off to the side and usher him in before I shut the door to the cold. Toshi shoots me a quizzical look, and I shrug my shoulders. I know the Chief isn’t here to retaliate, but I also know he isn’t happy.

  And the look in Sebastian’s eyes tells me he’s not moving an inch away from Clarissa.

  Which, contrary to my breaking heart, is for the best.

  “You lied to us,” Chief says. “You told us she was dead.”

  “Because it was the only way for her to live a normal life,” I say. “That was what she wanted, so that was what we were after.”

  “You lied to the Council. After everything that has happened with you, and the special requests your clan leader granted, and the private audiences you’ve had with me—you lied, Theo.”