by Raven Steele
"Don't force him," Dominic said quickly. "I want to watch him bow of his own free will. I just need to give him the proper incentive."
Before I realized what was happening, Dominic lowered the dagger from my neck only to slash it deep into my arm. I screamed and instinctively moved to stop it from striking me again, but he returned it to my neck, freezing me in place.
"Bend the knee!" he shouted at my father. “Or I will cut her to pieces!”
My father raised his hands in a stopping motion. "Stop, please." He lowered his head and slowly dropped to his knees.
"No, Father. Get back up!" I screamed. Everyone knew Alphas didn’t bend to other wolves. It was the biggest shame, for it meant he was handing his power over to another.
His head slowly raised and his gaze met mine. The word appeared in my mind again. “Dagger.”
Since Dominic was not pinning my arms, I had some movement. I bit my lip and blinked through the tears clouding my vision. Dominic’s men approached my father, laughing and joking about the great fallen Alpha. My fingers brushed the dagger’s sheath. A little more and I could reach the handle.
"I gave you what you want,” my father cried. “Now let her go.”
Dominic laughed again, a sound I would never forget. "You didn't think I would really let her go, did you? I only wanted to see you fall before I killed you both."
My father roared and lunged toward us, but the two men next to him fired their guns. Bullet after bullet slammed into my father’s body. He stumbled, but managed to slash his long claws through the shifter’s throat. By the time he turned around to do the same to the other shifter, it was too late. Silver had taken hold of his body, and he dropped to the ground.
I couldn't scream. Couldn’t move. My heart felt like it was going to burst with pain. I had to help him!
I leaned forward despite the biting pain into my neck to give myself the extra few inches I needed to wrap my hand around the handle of the dagger. I yanked it out and stabbed it into Dominic’s thigh. He howled and loosened his grip enough for me to squirm free. I slashed him again, catching him across the forearm. Leaping from the stage, I rushed toward the men who had gone from shooting my father to stabbing him with knives. I shoved the dagger into the nearest one. He arched his back and reached around to try and remove it.
"Kill her!" Dominic screamed.
The man still standing reached behind his back to get his gun. For a split second, I thought about avenging my father, but he had always said I was far smarter and wiser than my age. It only took a quick beat of my heart to know I wouldn’t survive. Only running would give me a chance. Before he could produce a gun, I darted away, slipping into the dark shadows of the forest.
Chapter 36
I sprinted as hard as I could, pumping my small arms. My heartbeat thrummed in my ears, thumping faster than the sound of my feet against the dirt ground. I could hear them chasing me through the trees. If they shifted into wolves, I was done for. I still had a few years before my wolf came. My best friend’s sister said the change happened when I had my period. I didn't understand exactly what that was, but she made it sound awful.
I cut through the forest and into an area I could travel with my eyes closed. I hoped it would confuse them since they didn't know our land well. I hoped to make it to the creek where I could hide my scent better. That would be the only way to lose them.
This was something I was good at doing when I played hide-and-seek with my brothers. The thought of my younger brother nearly made me trip. Was he dead like the rest of them? The last I had seen him, he was at the dessert table stuffing cookies into his pocket. He was two years younger than me. Would they have killed someone that small?
I already knew the answer to that. They were plenty willing to kill me.
I leapt down a ravine, dropping to my bum so I could slide. It was better this way than risk tripping and falling on my face. As I went, I scooped up dirt and patted it against my neck and arms to help hide my scent. As soon as I reached the bottom, I kept running. The river wasn't much further.
A wolf howled behind me and my heart sunk into my stomach. If they had transformed into their wolves, I had maybe a minute.
If only I could shift!
But I was much too young. They say the earlier a person shifts the stronger a wolf they would become. In this moment, I wanted to be the strongest wolf I had ever heard of, even surpassing the great Akito, the first werewolf.
I pumped my arms even harder, like Sarah had taught me. She used to be a track star. I leaned forward on my toes and dug them into the ground to give me added strength, and I lengthened my strides.
A different wolf howled. I glanced all around. There was no way I’d make it to the river in time now. My mind ran through every scenario. There were no roads nearby, no cabins I could to hide in. Not like it would’ve mattered. They would find me.
There was only one option left. Climb. Maybe they would pass under me.
That was my foolish hope.
Reaching a tree my arms could fit around, I began to climb, just the way my older brother had taught me. Everything I was today was because of them; I was little pieces of all of them.
I began to cry as I pushed myself higher, the sharp and jagged bark rubbing against my skin. I grabbed onto the closest limb and swung my legs up until I was sitting on it. But I didn’t stop there. I continued higher and higher until the limbs became too small to hold my weight.
I glanced down. It was so far to the bottom.
The howling grew louder. At least three of them. I could barely see through to the ground through all the leaves and branches. I might go unnoticed. I wiped at my eyes and sucked in great breaths. Calm. I needed to relax. They might hear me.
By the time the first wolf appeared, running past beneath the tree, I had become a statue. Even my breathing had slowed to the point where I couldn’t hear myself.
Another wolf passed.
Their howls chilled the air and made the hair on my arms rise.
The two wolves returned and circled the tree I was hiding in. The third wolf arrived. They nudged noses and raced around the area, but every time they returned to my tree. I held real still when one of them looked up. He might not see me.
He lifted his head to the sky and let out a howl that stopped my heart. I knew that sound. He was calling his Alpha.
A few minutes later, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps walking toward us. Dominic appeared. He petted the large wolf next to him and ordered the other two away. He looked up into the tree. “We see you, little wolf. Time to come down so you can face your punishment.”
The wolf by his side ruffled his fur and shimmered, until he was a man standing upright, completely naked. The same man who had stabbed my brother. “Come down, child. We only wish to send you to be with your family. Wouldn’t you like that?”
Tears spilled onto my cheeks. I did want to be with my family. Wherever they were now.
Their voices lowered as they spoke to each other. “We need to leave soon, Silas,” Dominic said. “There could be someone who heard the shots and have called the police.”
“Should we just leave her?” Silas asked. “She could die from exposure out here.”
“No. No survivors.”
They both looked up at me. Silas sighed and removed a gun from his back. He pointed it up at the tree and fired it several times. I closed my eyes tight and waited to feel death claim me. Instead, a sheering pain shot through my hand, and I lost my grip. I fell to the ground, hitting several limbs on my way down. Before I crashed into the ground, Dominic caught me.
“You shouldn’t have run,” he said, staring down at my terrified face.
I might’ve begged for mercy, but I was in so much pain that I could only whimper.
“I would’ve killed you painlessly, but you chose to hurt me, an Alpha. There are severe consequences for that.” He began walking back the way he came, and I was afraid he might try to do more to me than just kill me.
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“Where are you taking her?” Silas asked, following behind.
“I saw the perfect place for our little rebel. Just up here.”
Every step he made sent searing pain into my side. My ribs felt broken, too. I wish I could inhale a breath big enough to scream. Maybe someone was still alive and could hear me.
We reached a familiar circular stone structure. The old well. It was a rule that I was to stay away from it. It was extra deep and the structure unstable.
“This will be your grave, little wolf. You will spend the last of your days in darkness, thinking about how you should’ve respected me. And you may think of your family and wish they were still here, but know, this is your father’s fault. All he had to do was give us the blood. Instead, he ensured the death of your whole pack.” He carried me toward the opening.
Despite the pain, I began to fight. Kicking and hitting at his massive body. Nothing fazed him until I clawed at his face, drawing blood.
“Bitch!” He almost dropped me, but he clung to my shirt so hard I couldn’t escape. Easily lifting me over that black hole, he said, “Goodbye. May your last days bring you peace.”
He let go.
It seemed I fell forever.
Sometimes I think I’m still falling.
I thought that would be the worst of it, but it was the dirty, frigid water swallowing me whole that scared me the most. I could swim though, and if I tried hard enough, I could barely touch the soft, muddy bottom, but only if I was on my tiptoes with my head tilted up.
Dominic and Silas stared down at me. Silas was laughing at me, at the way I was struggling to keep my head above the water. Leaves and sticks swirled around my head. Dominic disappeared, and I expected Silas to go with him. But he continued to laugh like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.
Dominic returned, carrying a massive boulder only an Alpha could lift.
“Now to make your darkness complete.” He shoved it over the well, blocking the full moon. Only a sliver of its light filtered through.
Thank goodness for that sliver …
The first day I screamed until I couldn’t speak. On the second day, I began to climb. It was hard. My hand had been shot and my ribs hurt every time I moved, but I was determined to get out of there. My hand was small, so I found narrow crevices to stick my fingers into but the rocks were so unsteady, that I always fell. Once, I almost made it to the top. By the third day, I was too weak to continue.
It was nighttime again, and I was floating on my back, staring at that tiny sliver of light. That’s when I began to pray. Over and over I said a prayer to Kushin, begging Him to give me the strength to avenge my family. My small prayers grew louder. Something inside me changed, like a fire had been lit in my soul. It licked at my anger, making it grow into a raging inferno.
Filled with new strength, I began to climb, but this time I had claws. My muscles were no longer weak, but strong as a thousand men. My ribs didn’t hurt anymore. Hand over hand, I climbed like a monkey to the top. When I reached it, I shoved the rock aside.
I didn’t crawl out of that dark hole. I leapt—a fully formed shifter wolf. A young one, but a wolf nevertheless.
And I had one purpose.
To kill all those who had been there that night.
Chapter 37
I blinked my eyes, coming out of the trance. I was shaking and cold. No one said anything for almost a full minute while I wiped at my eyes.
I turned to Luke, whose hand clasped tight over mine; I don’t think he realized how hard he was squeezing it. His dark blue eyes were murderous, and he looked ready to jump to his feet and kill Dominic right now. I bit my tongue, trying to keep my composure.
Lynx’s eyes were red and puffy as if she’d been crying. Even Samira’s eyes were pained. My uncle’s head was titled down, his eyes closed, his posture stiff.
Lynx spoke first.
“I’m so sorry, Briar.” She stood and walked across the living room, bringing the bottle of wine and dragging her blanket behind her. She knelt down and gave me a hug. It felt soft and warm. Nice. She leaned back and placed her hand to my heart. Her palm began to burn and a pulse shot through my body, bringing with it a pleasant tingly feeling. The weight on my chest lightened, and the heartache didn’t cut as deep, the rage didn’t burn as harsh. She kissed the top of my head, then wrapped me up in the blanket and handed me the bottle of wine.
I laughed, touched by her sweetness, and tipped back the bottle into my throat. The cool liquid wasn’t near strong enough. But her kindness was.
Samira turned to me. “You’re from the Silver Moon pack up in Tennessee.” It wasn’t a question.
I turned to her, my eyes wide and jaw open. I was about to ask how she knew, but closed my mouth. Of course she knew. She knew everything. I nodded.
Her eyes drifted upward as she thought out loud. “Your family, your pack, were the guardians of the Abydos. I remember hearing about it when they were destroyed. The Ames de la Terra sent in people to find out who did it, but there were no clues. They also searched for the sacred blood to make sure it was safe, but found no trace of it. Do you know where it is?”
“The Abydos?” Lynx interrupted. “What is that?”
Lynx sat back in her seat, giving me time to school my face. This was where I couldn’t reveal everything. I wanted to tell them, but the blood was too important. When I was five, I swore I would protect it with my life. The weight of this responsibility had been impressed upon me since I could remember.
Samira glanced at Vincent and I to answer but I motioned back to her, knowing she loved to share her wealth of knowledge. “Go for it.”
Besides, I wanted to know what she had heard.
She sat up a bit straighter. “Legend tells of a God by the name of Kushin. Very little is known about him other than he was the first supernatural on earth. Whether he came from some other realm, no one knows, but he held power the world hadn’t seen before. It was through his seed that other supernaturals were created: vampires, shifters, fae, and even magic. How each species was defined depended upon how his DNA mixed with a human’s.”
“A vampire’s?” Luke asked in a gravelly voice.
“The first vampire was born like any other child, but when he found out he couldn’t conceive his own children, he discovered other ways to procreate using his blood.”
I lifted my eyebrows in surprise. I had already heard this legend told hundreds of times as a child, but never the part about vampires.
“The Abydos came to be,” Samira continued, “when a shifter who, during a terrible war sweeping what is now known as Europe, was about to lose everything. So he sought out Kushin for help. His prayers to the great God were so strong that Kushin appeared to him and gave him a small vial of his blood. He said one drop would give him the power he needed to save his family and village, but he warned him that it would come with a price. If the young shifter didn’t control the ancient power within him, it would turn him into a monster. He also warned the shifter to protect the blood, for if it fell into the wrong hands, it could destroy the world.”
“What happened to him?” Lynx asked.
“As instructed, he ingested one drop and became extremely powerful. When war came close to his village, he fought hundreds of men and won. He saved his village and lived with his family for a time in peace. But word spread quickly of his great power, and the wicked king of the land sent men after him to discover the source of his power. To protect his family and friends, this shifter disappeared, taking the Abydos with him. For centuries, no one heard of the Abydos. And then, about two hundred years ago, rumors began spreading that a shifter pack had been guarding it all along.”
Everyone slowly turned to me. I squirmed under the weight of the stares. “I don’t know where the Abydos is. My father kept it well hidden. He never told me where.“
“And Vincent knew all this?” Luke asked, turning to Vincent. “How? And how did you get her family pictures?”
My u
ncle didn’t respond. This whole time he’d been so silent and when he finally looked up at me, I could see the pain in his eyes. “I cannot tell you. That is Briar’s secret to tell.”
Everyone turned to back me again, and I smiled at Vincent. “He’s my uncle.”
There was a collective gasp in the room.
“They took him captive to try and find where the blood was. They thought since he was my father’s brother, he would know.”
“I didn’t, though,” he interjected. “And since I had nowhere else to go, I stayed with the pack. They let me because I promised they could use my money for pack business, which I had a lot of. All of my brother’s money went to me.”
Luke spoke again, his voice deep and angry. “How could you stay with them? After what they did to your family? To Briar?”
“I had no clue what they did to Briar. When they released me, the whole thing had been cleaned up, and I assumed Briar was dead with the rest of them.” He wasn’t speaking to Luke but to me. “I’m so sorry. If I had known, I would’ve searched the ends of the earth for you.”
“I told you, I forgive you. I know you would’ve come for me.”
“But that still doesn’t explain why you stayed with them.” Luke’s hand tightened around mine again.
“Because I’ve been plotting Dominic and Silas’ death ever since. You know that. The pack tied me to a pole and knifed me for the things I did to Dominic. Surely you could tell I hold no loyalty toward our Alpha.” Vincent spat the words and scowled. “I was just one man until Briar came along.”
To pry Luke’s unwarranted attention off my uncle, I said, “Can you all understand now why I’ve been so obsessed with Dominic and Silas? I killed Silas. It’s Dominic’s turn.” I glanced at Luke. “Once we figure out who Trianus is, I will kill him.”
I wanted to say to Luke, “and after we find your brother,” but no one other than Samira knew about Dominic sending Luke’s brother away. So I gave him a meaningful look so he would know I meant his brother, too. He smiled.
