by Kimber White
“Tell me what you did to my sister,” I said, my voice sounding hollow and far away.
“I’m not your enemy. You’ve been wrong about that from the beginning.”
I shook my head. “You think you’ll win tomorrow.”
Arkady took a breath and looked at the ceiling. Then he fixed his gaze back on me. “I think I’ve already won.”
“Cullen will kill you. You underestimate him. He’s the one with something worth fighting for.”
Arkady laughed. “He knows he’s already beat. Challenging me was the same as abandoning you. You just don’t see it yet. I won’t lose. But, even if I did, the others are loyal to me. They won’t submit to him. If I don’t kill him, one of them will. He won’t survive the day.”
“Then what? Are you planning to force yourself on me?”
Arkady let out an exasperated breath. “I won’t have to. You are what you are. Your nature calls to bears. You made a mistake and mated with one who isn’t worthy of you. Once he’s out of the way, it won’t be hard to convince you where your best interests lie.”
“Is that what you told Avery? Did you force yourself on her too?”
Bile rose in my throat. The idea of Arkady coming near her, of him touching her made me physically ill. He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and leaned forward.
“Is that what you think happened?”
“I know it is. She was pregnant. It was yours, wasn’t it? You left her to die.”
His eyes flashed. He rose from his chair and came around the desk to tower over me.
“Why Blackfoot?” I pressed on, unafraid. “You don’t belong here. Even I know that. You were banished from Siberia or the Arctic or wherever your people come from. So you came here to prey on young women. Why?”
He gripped the arms of my chair and pulled my forward. My heart tripped, but I kept his gaze.
“Nobody banished me. I was sent here. You of all people should be able to sense why. Close your eyes. Listen to your blood. You know the answer already.”
I hated to give him what he wanted, but I did close my eyes. My thundering pulse filled my ears. But, beneath that, I felt something else. A pull. It was the same thing that drew me to Cullen the first time I saw him. I should have been afraid of him, but I wasn’t. I snapped my eyes open.
Arkady moved away and stood on the other side of the room. “Blackfoot is a special place,” he said. “Shifters are drawn here. Nobody knows why. Some people say it’s ley lines. Some people say it’s an ancient curse. It doesn’t really matter. But, where shifters roam, Anam Cara usually follow. It drew your sister here and all the women before her. It drew you here too.”
The pit in my stomach expanded. “You’re hunting?” I choked out my words. “Like some sort of sick, twisted, bear pimp?”
He laughed. “Not a very elegant way to put it. But, more or less. Your kind are getting harder and harder to come by. We don’t have them on my clan lands except for the ones I send. You could have a nice life where I come from. We would take care of you.”
“You make me sick. No matter what happens tomorrow, I’d never want to go anywhere with you. I know Avery didn’t want to either. She tried to run away. That’s how she got hurt.”
“Avery was just as foolish as you are.”
“You raped her.” My words hung in the air between us. Arkady’s eyes flashed red and he turned on me.
“I said she was just as foolish as you were. She got involved with a bear that couldn’t take care of her. I offered her sanctuary. She had no one but herself to blame for what happened.”
My pulse pounded in my skull. “What happened?” I already knew, but I wanted to hear him say the words.
“Even after she let herself be defiled by another, we would have taken her in. She refused. She ran.”
I clutched my stomach. Phantom pains tore through me as I envisioned Avery’s last bloody moments.
“You raped her and left her to die. You knew what would happen if she didn’t get proper treatment.”
Arkady pounded his fist against the wall. “I never touched her. She made it so I’d never want to. But there would have been others back in my mother country who would have had lower standards than mine. She had a chance. She threw it away. She paid the price for it with her life, but not at my hands. That child wasn’t mine. Such a waste. Of two lives. And you sit there judging me. You think your precious Cullen is your savior in all of this. He’s been lying to you all along.”
“You’re the liar.” Blood drained from my face. I didn’t want to believe anything Arkady said, but something about the way he looked at me unsettled me to my core.
“Simon Marshall,” he said. The air went out of the room.
“Fuck you.” I didn’t want to hear it. Something told me it would change everything.
“Ah. So you’ve heard the name. Not from Cullen, I suppose.”
There had been a look on Cullen’s face when he read the note from Dr. Putnam. For an instant, I thought he’d been on the verge of telling me something. But, the moment passed. Now, I squeezed my eyes shut wishing I could get it back.
“Simon Marshall,” Arkady said again. “That’s your villain, Anya. Not me. Not any of my clansmen. So Cullen protected him? I’m not surprised. His clansmen take things that don’t belong to them. Why would he be any different?”
“Shut your lying mouth.”
Arkady laughed. “You sit there cursing me, even though your heart knows the truth. Simon Marshall. Cullen knows him well. The Marshall Clan comes from Wild Ridge. Do you hear me? Wild Ridge.”
The room spun. Nothing made sense. Arkady had to be lying. And yet, I knew he wasn’t.
“That’s right. Your lover lied to you. He betrayed you. And tomorrow he’s going to die and leave you all alone. Just like his clansmen did to your sister. They are one and the same. So tomorrow, you’ll have the same choice she did. Die alone, or let me save you. Choose wisely, Anya. You’re almost out of time.”
Chapter Thirteen
Cullen
Anya. She was the only thing that mattered. Not whether I lived or died. Not whether Arkady lived or died. But, Arkady would die tonight.
Tobias saved my life. I knew it. At the same time, I wanted to rip his throat out, mainly because he was the thing standing between me and going after Anya right away.
“He’s not going to hurt her,” Tobias said for about the hundredth time. “He’s holding her as collateral. That’s all. ‘Cause the smart thing for you to do is hightail it the hell out of Blackfoot and never look back. You know that, right?”
“We’re beyond that,” I said, pacing along the riverbank. I’d been waiting here all night in sight of the Bluelight. Anya was unharmed. Her scent was everywhere. She was inside that building surrounded by seven Russian bears whose heads I wanted to rip off.
“You can leave,” he said. “Regroup.”
I whirled on him, snarling. “You’ve never had a mate. I don’t expect you to understand.”
Tobias crossed his arms. His eyes glinted in the dim light of dawn. Within the hour, Arkady would meet me here. Only one of us would walk out of here alive. “Son, you make too many assumptions.”
“Stop calling me son. I have a father.”
“A fat lot of good he ever did for you. Hank James was selfish. He was born that way. I never could understand why your mother picked him to ally herself with. There were better options. She thought she knew better though. Said she could see something in him the rest of us couldn’t. You want to know what that thing was?”
I didn’t. I really didn’t. Tobias stuck a hand out and stopped me mid-pace.
“You, son. Your mother saw you, I think. Fiona had the sight. Hank was a means to an end. She said you were gonna be special. I don’t think this is what she had in mind. Don’t prove her wrong.”
“I don’t give a damn about my mother’s visions. She doesn’t know me anymore. I know my place now. It’s with Anya. She’s the only thing that matter
s.”
“And exactly how the hell is challenging Arkady Constantine going to do her any good? Even if you win, Stefan is going to rise up as Arkady’s second and come after you. Those bears aren’t part of your clan. They’re not going to bow down to you. They’re gonna challenge you, one by one, until one of them finally kills you. You can’t survive that.”
I curled my hands into fists and walked toward him. We stood nose to nose, our bear eyes glowering at one another. “It doesn’t matter if I survive. It only matters that they pay attention to me long enough to kill me, if that’s what it takes.”
Tobias reared back. At last, he knew my mind. I nodded.
“Find your spot. Bide your time. They’ll leave her unprotected. At most, they’ll have one of the weakest members of their crew with her. You said you had one fight left in you. Well, this is it. You get her away from here.”
Tobias shook his head and whistled low between his teeth. “You’ve got a set on you. I’ll give you that. And you’re putting a damn lot of faith in me. What the hell makes you think I want any part of this?”
“Because you’re still here.”
Tobias opened his mouth to protest, then clamped it shut. There was nothing else he could say and we both knew it.
“So this is your plan. Have me run off like a snake in the middle of it and take her with me. What if she won’t go?”
“She’ll go. She knows the alternative is even worse.”
“Maybe she still thinks you’re planning on walking away from this.”
“Maybe I still am.”
Tobias turned his back on me. He walked a few paces down the riverbank shaking his head and muttering to himself. I hadn’t known him for very long, but he was giving in. Sure, it wasn’t the most airtight of schemes, but it was the best we had. Though he still wouldn’t tell me exactly where his loyalties lay, he was in this just as deep as I was. If my mother sent him, she would have extracted a promise from him … help me in whatever way he could. It would be exactly like her to do that. She could exert her will and influence without directly taking sides. Maybe I was more like her than I realized. By the expression on Tobias’s face when he finally turned around, I guessed he was thinking the exact same thing.
“It’s still suicide,” he finally said.
I nodded. “Maybe. But at least I’ll die for something. Anya is worth it. She’s the only thing that matters.”
Tobias clenched his jaw and gave me a solemn nod. In that moment, I wondered if I’d been wrong about him. Something familiar flashed in his eyes. I hoped I’d get the chance to ask him about it someday, but if I had to guess, he understood what it was like to have something worth dying for too. Since I’d met Anya, I knew that could only mean one thing. Somewhere, sometime, Tobias must have found a mate of his own.
I didn’t get the chance to ask him. The wind shifted and Arkady’s scent filled the air. Streaks of pink banded the sky as the sun rose over the horizon. It was time.
Tobias stood at my shoulder and we turned to face the Russian clan. Arkady walked in the lead with Stefan on his right. That alone told me much. If Arkady fell, it would be Stefan’s duty to try and avenge him. As I hoped and suspected, Anya trailed toward the back of the line of men. One of them had a firm grip on her upper arm that she tried to shake off. Tobias put a steadying hand on me when a growl rumbled through me. He was right, no matter what, I had to keep my wits about me or this thing would end before it started. If my plan was to work, I needed to give Tobias time. If it were a boxing match, I had to last through the first couple of rounds.
Arkady’s bears wouldn’t be able to take their eyes off of us. Every cell in their bodies would ache to shift as they watched their Alpha meet my challenge. They would practically salivate for the chance to join the fray if he fell. When he fell. I just prayed Tobias had enough juice in him to get the job done. His own growl vibrated through him as if in answer to my unspoken question.
“He’s not welcome here,” Arkady said, fixing his stare on Tobias. A tremor of fear ran through me. The problem was, he was right. Neutral parties weren’t invited to Alpha challenges as a rule. It complicated things.
“Normally, you’d have a point,” Tobias said, his voice smooth as silk. “If you were on your clan lands or his, you could make any rules you wanted. But you’re not. Blackfoot doesn’t belong to you. If you want me to leave, you’re going to have to kill me first. Once again, that’s a heap of attention you don’t want.”
Arkady narrowed his eyes, but a hint of a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. The old man was right and he knew it. He gave me the slight jerk of his chin and made a motion to the rest of his clan to stand back.
“I need to know Anya’s all right,” I said. I hoped I could get her as far away from the fray as possible. That would give Tobias the best shot at getting to her, taking out her guard and putting some distance between us. I expected Arkady to argue with me. Instead, he gave a nod and snapped his fingers.
The smallest of his clansmen stepped forward, pushing Anya along with him. Tears streaked her face as she looked up at me. My guts twisted. I wanted to go to her. I don’t know what I expected to see in her eyes, but it wasn’t that. She was angry with me.
“Tell him,” Arkady barked. My heart raced.
Anya shook her head. “I’m not here to help you, Arkady. No matter who fathered my sister’s baby.”
God. Oh, God. When Anya lifted her eyes back to mine, I knew. Somehow Arkady knew about Simon. I wished I could go to her and tell her it wasn’t what she thought. The truth was, it very well could be. For now, all I could do was plead with her using nothing more than my eyes and simmering blood. Trust me. I just hoped it wouldn’t be misplaced.
Tobias was at my shoulder. “You sure about this, son?” I pursed my lips into a grim line and nodded. It was time to end this one way or another.
Arkady smiled and stepped forward. He dropped to all fours and shifted in one seamless movement. His back rippled and white fur sprouted. He let out a fearsome roar and went up on his hind legs, pawing the air. Anya gasped. Monster though he was, Arkady’s bear was magnificent in its own sinister way. His eyes shone red and he rose to his full ten feet on his back legs. Chuffing, he dropped down and pawed the ground. His roar rippled through the air, sending vibrations along my spine. My own bear could no longer be contained.
I threw my head back, stretching my arms high as muscles bulged and bones reknit. Fur burst through my skin and my claws erupted. The world came sharply into focus. I stepped back and circled Arkady.
He struck first. Nearly a foot taller, he swiped at me with powerful arms and sharp claws nearly twice as long as mine. Anya screamed. Tobias swore. The flesh tore at my side as I dodged the blow too late. While Arkady had the advantage of size, he was about to find out what a grizzly could do. I charged him, driving the solid bones of my shoulder straight into his chest.
Roaring, Arkady reeled backward, the wind knocked out of him. When he recovered and whirled on me, his eyes widened and I knew he understood. I wouldn’t let him get enough room to claw at me again. I charged forward and drove my head into his stomach, nearly knocking him off his feet.
He grabbed the tough flesh at the back of my neck and sank his teeth into my shoulder. His sharp teeth cut into me like a thousand knives. I tasted my own blood as I tore my claws into his side. We rolled, end over end in a heap of fur and deadly claws. I had one goal. Maim. Kill. Destroy.
Arkady got the advantage, rolling me to my back. I kicked out with my powerful hind legs and pushed him back. He bit down again, catching part of my foot and tearing flesh from bone. I rounded on him, going straight for his midsection again. I felt the heat of the other bears. Blood rage fueled them too as they focused on the death battle in front of them.
Arkady took a swipe at me, knocking me sideways and opening a deep gash along my side. Blood spurted from it in a high arc, splattering over Stefan’s face as he watched from the side. From the corner of my eye, I sa
w three of Arkady’s clan had already shifted, unable to control themselves. I whirled, exposing my back for an instant, but I made eye contact with Tobias. He too, was having trouble keeping his bear in check. I let out a mighty roar meant solely for him. Tobias’s eyes widened and he gave me a quick nod as Arkady grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back into the circle.
I prayed it was enough. The other bears were fixated on the events in front of them. I sensed Anya through it all. Her heart beat wildly as she swung between fear and rage. Would she trust Tobias? Did she see me as her betrayer? I could only hope that her fear of Arkady would be enough to cut through all of that and make her understand. She could hate me. She could vow never to see me again. I could die right here and none of it would matter as long as Tobias could get her away.
Arkady sank his razor sharp teeth into my neck. I felt the life start to leach out of me as he opened up a vein. Again, blood filled my mouth. I stabbed him, using my claws to puncture through the tough flesh in his side. Sticky wetness poured over my front paw as he bled out. He kept his jaw locked on my neck as I twisted my claw in his side. His eyes widened, then the light started to go out of them.
He would kill me. We would kill each other. In those final moments, his eyes locked with mine and I knew he understood. He tried to call out a warning as we both fell backward in a kind of surreal slow motion like two giant oaks falling in the forest. We landed on our sides as blood pooled beneath us, seeping through the wet grass.
It was too late. He let out a pitiful roar meant for his clansmen. They had formed a circle around us. I felt Stefan’s hot breath at my back as he waited for his turn to finish me off. But Arkady was through. The wound I delivered to his side shredded a major artery. I rolled to my side and tried to get to my feet. Stefan let out a plaintive roar as Arkady’s eyes turned to glass.
I rose slowly, blood pouring freely from the mortal wound in my neck. I took two staggering steps backward then dropped to all fours. I lowered my head toward Stefan, inviting him into the fray. As leader of Arkady’s clan now, it was his right. He reared back, rose on his hind legs. He was almost as tall as Arkady. He extended his claws, sharp as icepicks. He could do nothing but stand there, and I would bleed to death. But then the kill would be Arkady’s. If he wanted to command the rest of the bears, that wouldn’t do.
