Banewolf (Dark Siren Book 2)

by Eden Ashley

  Having food right there made her realize how hungry she actually was. Grabbing the milk, she filled her bowl until it nearly overflowed and dug in. Rhane had taken the box, so there was nothing else to stare at except him while she ate. Enough time passed for him to have read the back, front, and sides of the box twice, and still he made less conversation than a mute. Kali sighed.

  River picked that moment to pop into the kitchen. He took a long look at Rhane. “Fathers be chained. What happened to you?”

  Rhane abandoned the cereal box and put the chair down. “I battled trolls, a forest fire, and a nine foot tall monster to save the girl of my dreams.”

  “Well, she seems okay.” River glanced Kali with slight puzzlement. “Mission accomplished?”

  “Oh, her well-being has little to do with my efforts.” Rhane’s smile was wooden. “When Kalista puts her mind to it, she is very capable of taking care of herself.”

  River’s icy gaze fell to her again. She looked away. “Oh,” he said. “Do you plan to shower soon? You reek of them.”

  Folding both hands behind his head, Rhane shrugged. “That’s mostly the tea.”

  River picked up the mug and took a tentative taste of the liquid inside. His face scrunched into horrified frown. “Gardenia, honey, and skullcap? That mixture would be better on your body than in it.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “You must be pretty banged up.”

  Rhane looked pointedly at the item in his brother’s hand. “Do you have something for me?”

  “I’ve mostly completed that thing we talked about.” River waited, seeming uncertain.

  “Speak freely.”

  He rolled out a rather familiar looking piece of parchment with worn leather edges. Kali searched her memory and recognized it as the map she had seen in the manor over a month ago.

  “We already knew this was a map. The symbols are ancient hieroglyphs meaning rock, mountain, tree, water, and spirit.” River’s finger traveled across the paper, pointing to each symbol as he named it. “Those are pretty generic descriptions. But the writing beneath the hieroglyphs is what’s really important. They are written in an entirely different language, also extinct.”

  If River was trying to build appreciation for what he had accomplished in cracking such a difficult code, he was doing a pretty good job of it…at least in Kali’s eyes.

  “These writings are numbers, half a set of coordinates to be exact. The other half comes from the ledger. Put them together and they are the location of the symbols drawn above them.”

  “How did you determine which ones made the correct pair?”

  “I’m still figuring that part out. I’m not sure which is latitude and longitude either.” River’s voice dropped as he contemplated the problem. “There must be a key. Without it, the map could lead anywhere.”

  “Or nowhere,” Rhane added.

  “I’m sorry. It’s a lot, but I’m afraid it’s still nothing.”

  “No. You’ve done a good job with this, and I thank you. If you really think you’re stuck, go over your findings with Rion. He’s good with puzzles.”

  The twitch in River’s mouth was barely evident, but Kali noticed. She guessed Rhane decided to ignore it.

  “Yes, perhaps I will do that.” River rolled up the map, fastening it securely at each end with leather strappings. “Why did your contact, Tsai, give you this?”

  “I don’t really know. He sure didn’t deliver what I paid for.”

  “He gave you this instead of The Siren’s Heart?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That statue could be the key. We have to find it.”

  “That’s what someone else said.” Rhane ran a hand through his hair. All of the gunk and debris in it made a patch stick straight up in a wicked cowlick. How someone could be covered in blood and soot and still be gorgeous was beyond Kali’s understanding. “River, I have enough problems on this continent without running to Asia to find more. Especially since I don’t know why I’d be doing it.”

  “The rogues wanted the ledger badly enough to kill for it, set a trap, and attack us.”

  “Well, yeah… there’s that.”

  “Do you really think the true Heart remains in Asia?”

  “An educated guess tells me yes.”

  “Let me go then.”

  “No. I need you here.”

  River’s face darkened. “Maybe you’re worried I might go home and tell our Primes where I’ve found you.”

  Rhane raised both eyebrows but didn’t appear too concerned. “Should I be?”

  “No.”

  “You’re here of your own volition,” he said, rubbing an eye tiredly. “I can’t make you follow orders.”

  “That’s a lie. We both know it.”

  She had never really seen Rhane and River interact away from the others. It was her first time being alone in a room with the two of them. Their relationship wasn’t leader to soldier as it was with the younger kin. And it was less “soldiers but brothers” like Rhane and York. He and his brother weren’t rivals, but neither were they equals. Kali couldn’t quite put a finger on the unusual dynamic between them.

  “Okay,” Rhane said, dragging the word out. “Then you’re staying. Worry about the statue later. See if you can learn more without it.” He stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go take that shower now.”

  Not knowing what else to do, she shoved another spoonful of cereal into her mouth and stared at the bowl. Feeling a persistent tingle in her scalp, Kali looked up. River’s eyes were practically boring a hole through her. Rhane stood in the doorway, waiting. His expression was pretty intense.

  “Oh.” Kali dropped the spoon. When she went to him, his hand slid into the small of her back and rested there all the way up the staircase. She watched him as they climbed. His shoulders were more relaxed, and his eyes no longer flashed with anger.

  Rhane closed the door to the bedroom. “If you want to talk, I won’t lose my temper now.”

  She scrutinized him for a quiet moment. His voice was sincere, but his face was still guarded. Folding her arms, Kali walked off. Not this way. He won’t understand. She went into the huge bathroom and filled a basin with soapy, warm water. Several jars of ointments sat on a shelf with bandages and other first aid supplies. One of the jars looked familiar. She opened it and took a whiff. The scent reeled her back to the recently recovered memory of Rhane returning home after battle, when she had undressed him and tended his wounds.

  Juggling the basin, bandages, and medicine, Kali returned through the bathroom door. Rhane reclined in the armchair with his eyes closed. He’d taken his shirt off, but that was as far as he’d gotten. She wondered how long it’d been since he’d had a full night’s rest.

  As she kneeled in front the chair and started to remove his boots, he sat up. “What are you doing?”

  Kali didn’t stop. She took off the other shoe and then his socks. “I remember you.” She rose to her knees and undid the buckle of his belt. As she unzipped his jeans, he maneuvered his hips so she could easily slide them off.

  “After battle, you always return to me. I clean and dress your wounds.” Soaking a cloth in the soapy water, she washed his legs and feet. “You don’t like your soldiers or your enemies to see you injured. It’s why you asked for Orrin’s jacket.”

  Grabbing her elbows, he drew her up close to him. “Have you regained your memory?”

  She shook her head. “Just bits and pieces. But I remember you.”

  He seemed stunned and at a loss for words. She continued to clean his skin, being extra careful near the gashes in his side and shoulder. With a tender touch, she put ointment into the wounds. Then she taped a large dressing over his side, wrapping it and the shoulder tightly with bandages. His eyes, a dark green now, never stopped studying her each and every move. When Kali had finished, she lowered her face to his. He didn’t pull away. Closing his eyes, he gave in to her, yielding his mouth to hers as she kissed him. By the ti
me it ended, his heart was pounding audibly.

  Rhane exhaled softly, touched his cheek to her skin. “Why did you choose him?”

  She pulled back to fully see him, waiting until he’d met her eyes before answering. “It wasn’t a choice. It never has been. I love you. So much. Sometimes it hurts. I can’t explain why, but you killing Gabriel would’ve been wrong.”

  “That’s not Callan, you know. He’s no longer the boy you knew.”

  “Or maybe he is. There was always something dark about Cal. Most times, I just didn’t see it. But what I did wasn’t about Cal. You have to believe that. It just felt wrong. Rhane, I remember you. I remember our son. I loved you so much. I love you so much. I didn’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to ever hurt you. But I couldn’t let you kill him.

  “But if you can’t believe my words.” She pressed her cheek to his. “If you have to be angry, then be angry. But please believe in me. It wasn’t about him.” She sobbed. The veil of calm she’d fought so hard to maintain was finally slipping. And it was beyond her control to reclaim it. “It wasn’t—” Her voice cracked and she couldn’t continue.

  “Kalista, don’t cry…not because of me.” He kissed her forehead. “I believe you. I’m not angry.”

  He held her against his chest until her sobbing quieted. Even then, Kali lay against him. His arm draped across her back. His chin rested atop her hair. She sat listening to the solid beating of his heart, and let her breathing sync with the rise and fall of his chest.

  “You were right to stop me. I don’t know how you knew, Kalista, but I was about to do a very dishonorable thing.”

  Pulse skipping a beat, Kali lifted her head. “What do you mean?”

  “In the forest, I wouldn’t have made it out without him. Gabriel saved us all.”

  Chapter 29

  “So, just like that, Gabriel shows up and starts taking names?”

  “As crazy as that sounds, yes. He didn’t turn on me until the last of the rogues had fled.” Clad in fresh jeans and a clean t-shirt, Rhane stood near the window, staring down at York and the others fighting with the strange visitors. Well, they were supposed to be sparring, but even from three stories up, the matches seemed a bit rough. Kali had returned to the sofa after watching for only a few minutes. “You don’t seem surprised.”

  “What?” His voice pulled her from deep thought.

  Rhane turned around, hands on his hips and head cocked to one side. “You don’t seem surprised.”

  She bit her lip. “I need to tell you something.”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you still in an I-believe-you-and-I’m-focused-on-not-being-angry sort of mood?”

  A singular dimple flashed briefly with his grin. “I’m still here. Just spit it out.”

  “I don’t think Gabriel wants to hurt you or me. The day I took missing from school, it was because of Gabriel. I told you it was Cal who cornered me in the locker room and I fed from his spark. But it was really Gabriel. I’ve seen him and Cal switch dominance at will. After Gabriel touched me with some kind of yellow jewel, I blacked out. When I came to, a kindred was dead and you had a gun pointed to my head. Gabriel could’ve easily killed me at school. I was totally helpless. But he didn’t.”

  Rhane’s jaw clenched forcefully enough to make several veins protrude at the side of his neck. But he was silent.

  “You promised,” Kali reminded him.

  “I know,” he said tightly. “It’s okay.” He started pacing the room. “What did Gabriel say to you?”

  “He said he only wanted to help me remember. And whatever he did worked. This time it wasn’t just a blank slate when I was gone. I lived parts of my past life. I remembered you and Rhaven.” She smiled, but sadness tugged at the corners of her lips.

  Rhane looked worried. “Were they good memories? They weren’t from that day…”

  Kali shook her head quickly. “No. They were from before then. We were happy.” She didn’t tell him about the fear she’d felt, or about knowing her own death was coming soon. She had been unable to tell him four centuries ago. How could she tell him now with such a limited understanding of the bigger picture and having no idea what had held her back before? “Do you think I’ll keep remembering?”

  Rhane didn’t respond. His back was to her, but he wasn’t looking out the window. His gaze was aimed down at something in his hand. When she called his name, the hand closed into a fist. He turned. “What?”

  “My memories, do you think I’ll keep getting them back?”

  “I don’t know.” He slipped the hand and whatever it was holding into his pocket. “I hate keeping things from you. But there are some things I don’t tell because I’m afraid of what the truth will do to us.” He gestured to the window. “They all see me as this fearless, badass. Most days I can live up to the hype. But when it comes to you, you’re my weakness.” His voice went soft, but not with emotion. It was as if Rhane had forgotten Kali was there and was speaking only to himself. “You always have been, from the first day I met you. The idea of losing you scares me. I don’t know if I could survive it again.” Rhane paused. His forehead creased with a frown. “I’m saying this because I need to tell you something I haven’t told anyone else. I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to be honest with someone. And then I’m going to be really selfish and ask you to do something for me. Is that okay, Kalista?”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “I didn’t lose the ability to become Banewolf. Destroying my army, tasting the blood of Warekin changed Banewolf. After the massacre, he only wanted more and more blood. I rejected being his vessel because I couldn’t control the urge to kill. The mark eventually disappeared. And I thought he was gone. Even when I needed him, the wolf wasn’t there. But since the night you called Banewolf forward and forced the change, I’ve been able to transform. I haven’t because on that same night, I felt the blood thirst. It was just as before. He still wants to kill.”

  Kali felt the weight of his secret trying to crush her and wondered what it must have felt like to Rhane.

  “Until we figure out what Gabriel is up to, I need you to stay clear of him at school. I know you and Cal have a past. You want to reach out to help him. But I can’t handle the thought of you being so close to that monster. If he hurts you, even accidentally, a lot of people are going to die. Not just Gabriel, but anyone or anything that gets in my way because I won’t be able to stop it. I will not want to stop it. Do you understand what I am saying?”

  She nodded.

  “Are you okay?”

  Again, she nodded.

  “Talk to me.”

  “I’m fine.” Kali swallowed thickly. Her tongue was very dry and stubbornly clung to the roof her mouth. She forced a smile. “It’s only fair I get to ask something of you too, right?”

  He swept a finger across her right cheek and then the left. Were those her tears that moistened his fingertips? She hadn’t realized she was crying. “Yes. It’s only fair.”

  “Rhane, I was completely helpless in the forest. I have these amazing abilities, but half of the time I can’t use them.”

  “You weren’t helpless. Those creatures you saw are rogues. Their blood is very toxic. It’s what made you feel so dizzy and disoriented.”

  “But even before then, I can only do something when someone is definitely about to die. If I had better control, you wouldn’t have to be so worried all the time and the others wouldn’t be in so much danger. I could help.”

  “I don’t know anything about being a siren. I can’t teach you how to use your abilities.”

  “Then train me to fight with swords and knives…and with my fists. Control could stem from that, like with martial arts.” Excitement put her on tiptoe. The idea sounded like it could actually work. But Rhane shook his head. Her hope deflated.

  “I can’t train you. My entire life has been about survival, so I don’t excel at pulling punches in a fight. I didn’t spar with War, Orrin, or Rion until they wer
e good enough not to get accidentally killed.”

  Sighing her disappointment, she tried to pull away, but his hands tightened enough to keep her still. “However. I do agree that the ability to reliably and consistently defend yourself would be of great benefit. York will train you. And when you are ready, I will make you better.”

  The grin on her face felt like it stretched from ear to ear. She must have looked pretty silly because Rhane chuckled and kissed her forehead. “I have to go. You’ve been so worried about me that you haven’t tended to yourself. Bailen and Rion will be downstairs if you need them.” He started toward the door.

  “Wait,” she called. “Where are you going?”

  He grinned. “To check on your new babysitters.”

  Chapter 30

  High school could be tough. There was no better reminder of that than team sports. Kali sat on the bleachers, pretending to be interested in Calculus homework because with the final choice between her and Cissy, a nice girl with club feet and mild palsy in both legs, Kali hadn’t been picked to play. But she didn’t harbor any ill feelings towards the girls in her gym class. Making out with at least half of their boyfriends hadn’t exactly led to lasting friendships. Being with Rhane had put a stop to school feedings by making teenage boys an unnecessary energy source. But her past sins weren’t forgotten. Kali figured they wouldn’t be forgiven anytime soon either.

  “You’re the tallest and most athletic girl in this room. Shouldn’t you be out there?”

  She looked up from her textbook and smirked. “This gym period is for girls only. Shouldn’t you be somewhere else?”

  Swinging his legs across the bleachers, Rion plopped down next to her. She wondered what strange websites he visited to find his quirky clothing. “Red Riding Hood Had Nice Legs” in red lettering adorned the front of today’s shirt. On the back was a picture of a nasty looking wolf. A pair of legs hung out of its mouth.