Her already pale face blanched even more. “I believe you.” Mala put two fingers to the hollow of her throat. “I swear on my connection and power that flows from the goddess that I will aid you in your quest.”
That was good enough for me.
With a swipe of a dagger, I cut her hands free and she stumbled a few steps. I caught her by the arm and helped her balance.
“How far in are they?” I kept close by her. It would be the best advantage I could have if she was going to take a shot at knocking me out of the game.
The game. Just like Talan had said. I gritted my teeth, hating that my mind had veered that way. This was not a game. Peta’s and Lark’s lives could be on the line, and I would not treat them like throwaway pieces on a chessboard.
“We are within a few hours’ walk,” she said softly, her voice trembling.
She shivered and rubbed her arms. Of course, the bite of winter still lay on the land here this far north in the cold of the night, and I’d dragged her out of the brothel with nothing on but a long sweeping dress. “Norm, can you carry her?”
The Yeti stepped forward and scooped her into his arms. “Like this?”
Her eyes widened and then narrowed. “I can walk.”
“Not if you freeze to death. The Yeti will keep you warm,” I said. “I don’t need you dying on me.” The unspoken words were there in the air between us. I didn’t care if she died after she got me to the mountains, to the place where the witches gathered. But until then I would do my best to keep her alive.
Norm curled his arms tightly around her body. “She’s pretty tiny.”
From behind us came a screech like that of a hunting night bird. Mala jumped and clung to Norm. “Yasmine is awake. She will come after us.”
“Can you convince her to help?”
“No, she likes Cassandra.”
Of course she did.
I bolted forward, and Norm kept up despite carrying the witch. “Head for those trees.”
In the wild, I had a shot at keeping the witches busy. The scrubby trees were bare from the winter winds and they looked frail, but I could see the heart of them. They were filled with sap, waiting for the late spring to come and free them. But if I pulled the sap to the trees’ edges, then perhaps . . .
“Norm, can you make it colder?”
“What do you think to accomplish by making it colder?” Mala asked.
“You said you can’t help. So keep your mouth shut,” I growled at her.
We reached the trees as something shot toward us, a bolt of power that slammed into the ground to our left. Mala moved as if to send a spell back and I grabbed her hands. “No. Let them believe I forcibly took you. That will be better.”
Her eyes were wide. “Why would you protect me?”
“That’s his job. It’s what Enders do,” Norm said. He clutched her with one arm, then lifted the other to the sky and wiggled his three fingers as if beckoning something. The sky above darkened and snow flowed down, quickly covering the ground around us and hiding everything around us from view.
“Cold enough?” he asked.
“Good for the moment. I’m going to ask you for more in a bit.”
I put my hands to the closest tree and called on my connection to the earth, drawing the sap farther up the trunk until it hovered on the edges of the bark. It crackled and snapped as it froze. I could feel the droplets harden underneath my hand, right on the edge of exploding. It would not take much to push it over the breaking point.
“Time to run. Norm, put her down.” He did as I asked, and I grabbed Mala by the arm and ran deeper into the trees. I whipped my cloak out and around her, sliding it off my shoulders and over hers.
The last thing I needed was her to freeze, and the way the temperature was dipping, she wouldn’t last another few steps.
“Why aren’t you cold?” She looked at me as we ran, and I shook my head. Now was not the time to be answering questions. The sounds of pursuit gaining on us were enough to keep me moving and my mouth shut. I glanced back once and saw the hovering figures in between the mists of the falling snow. Their cloaks and skirts swirled out around them as if they were the center of their own storms.
“Norm, ice it over,” I said. I grabbed Mala and pulled her to the ground, yanking the cloak over us both. Norm skidded to a stop beside us, spun, and roared into the wind, his howl picking up in depth and intensity as the temperature around us plummeted at a rate that was unreal. I kept my hands buried in the ground, urging the trees around us to give up their sap, pushing it to the front of the bark.
There it was; the edge of cold that would send the trees over the edge. “Norm, down!”
The Yeti dropped flat beside us with a thud that sent the snow up around him like a wave of white. I covered our heads with the cloak as best I could.
I held my breath and the first tree exploded. The pain of the tree’s death shot through me and I yanked my hands back from the ground, but it was no use. The trees exploded one after another, the shrapnel of their bodies slicing through the witches who would follow us.
Screams rent the air, and I wasn’t sure if it was the trees or the women who hunted our trail. I waited on the ground, Mala trembling beside me, her body the only warmth. “You . . . you killed them,” she whispered. I shook my head and stood.
“I doubt that. Wounded, yes. But I don’t kill indiscriminately.”
I held a hand out to her and she took it. Her eyes darted to mine and then away. I shook my head. “Don’t even think it. I have a mate.”
She shook her head and spluttered, but the blush on her cheeks said it all. Witches were drawn to mates of power, it was in their blood.
As it was in mine.
I started forward through the remaining trees, stopping only when I realized that both Norm and Mala hadn’t followed. “We have to hurry.”
“Why? They aren’t following us now.” Mala made her way carefully to my side. She stumbled on nothing I could see, and I caught her arm. She swung lightly into me and I snorted. I let her go as soon as she balanced herself.
“Because I have a friend who is in trouble, and I need to get to her as soon as I can.”
That was it, that had always been it. I needed to get Peta away from Cassava, none of that had changed. I blinked and stared at Mala, seeing her beauty—surprised I hadn’t noticed before now. I gritted my teeth against a strange, sudden push of lust I hadn’t had in years. Even with Lark . . . no, this feeling . . . the last time I’d had it overwhelm me was when Cassava had forced me . . . I shook my head and then did a slow spin, looking for the dark hair of Raven. “Raven, I feel you out there, messing with my head.”
The lust faded slowly, but I knew it was there, ready to be kindled again. Mother goddess, if I didn’t need Mala to find the coven of witches I would have let her go right there. Why hadn’t he shown himself? Damn him. I had no choice but to move forward. Anxiety fluttered in my belly. Raven knew I was here, which meant he could warn his mother.
“Lead the way, Mala, and hurry.”
“Of course.” She sashayed in front of me as if I could see past the cloak that hid her body. For whatever yelling I’d done, she acted as though I’d said nothing.
We walked in the darkness, the only light from the reflection of the snow bouncing a little starlight back to us. After a good two hours of walking with no more pursuit from the witches behind, or Raven in front, Mala held up a hand and then touched her lips.
I drew close to her and ducked my head. “How close?”
“Over this hill, there is a valley where there are standing stones. It is a place of power and it is where Cassandra has set up her home,” Mala said softly. Her eyes flicked to my lips and then up to my eyes. She pressed a kiss on me, but I didn’t react.
I pulled back. “I told you no.”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered. “I’ll help you take her out if you’ll give me a child.”
Norm snickered as if it was the greatest
joke in the world. I didn’t even look at him. “Wait here.”
I brushed past her and headed up the slope. Norm caught up to me easily and when I dropped to my belly in the snow, he did the same. “Prank time?”
“Maybe,” I said softly. The snow in front of me crystallized with my breath. With each inch we crept closer, I could feel the earth tremble around us. There could be none other than Cassava causing this tremor. I peeked over the edge of the hill into the valley. A fire blazed up from the center of five standing stones. While not near the size of the ones on the British Isles, they would still be over my head by a good three feet. I watched closely as a figure cloaked in red walked around the fire, teasing it with her hands. I shook my head. What game was she playing? And where the hell was Peta?
At her feet, she kicked something and I froze. Peta. The bound captive let out a whimper.
I loosened my swords so they would give me easy access if need be. The problem was, I was late to the game.
Cassava let out a wild laugh and yelled into the storm. “Let them fear me, let them know the power that is mine. I will hold back no longer. The world will tremble and I will be its new queen of the darkness.”
Now or never.
CHAPTER 13
round us the ground heaved, bucking hard as she lashed it into an earthquake that rocked through the countryside. I bolted forward, down the slope while her back was to me. If I could get to her fast enough, I could knock her out and that would be that. In theory, at least, that was possible.
I made it to the first standing stone and pressed my back against it, breathing hard. The world shook and bucked like a wild horse trying to throw a rider.
“Bend for me!” she screamed into the wind. I looked out into the swirling snow to see Norm crouched, uncertain. I made a sign for him to stay where he was. He gave a tight nod and then flattened to the ground.
I did a quick look around the standing stone. She still had her back to me. Now was the time. I leapt out and around the stone, tackling her to the ground. We rolled and she screeched as I scrambled to get a hand in her thick hair. Under the cloak I drove my hand, snagging a huge handful of . . . white-blond hair. I didn’t pause even while I knew it wasn’t Cassava. Wild blue eyes stared up at me, all but frothing in anger as she stared me down, her lips moving in a spell. I whipped her back, slamming her head into a stone. Her eyes rolled and she slumped. The red cloak spilled open to show her wearing nothing underneath; she was as naked as the day she was born.
“Norm, calm the weather, please.”
Seconds later the wind and snow died and I found myself staring at the blonde witch. The earthquake eased off too, and I put a hand to the ground, asking it to slow its wild ride. And to ignore the witch when she called to it again.
“Please, let me go. Please.” The whimper came from the one bound on the ground. The one I’d thought was Peta, like the fool I was.
I went to his side and took a good look at him. There was blood on his arms and legs where she’d bound him tightly. His Romanian was accented oddly. “Where are you from?”
“Russia, my name is Peter.” He rubbed at his arms and legs as I freed him. It was only then that I saw the large bite on his right shoulder. I put a hand to it. “You are from Russia, and why are you here in Romania?”
Peter swallowed hard a few times before answering. “I came to visit my sister, Mala. But I was waylaid before I ever reached her. Attacked by wolves, of all things.”
“Peter!” The cry came from the slope and Mala bolted downward. Peter stood, wobbled and held out a hand to the witch.
“You’re alive!”
She buried her face into his chest, sobbing. I tried not to think that perhaps it was a game to her, that she’d used me to find him. But it didn’t seem to be that way. I put a hand on him. “Take your sister and go. And be warned, Peter. That bite you bear is one of the wolf. You will not be human after this night.”
His face blanched so he was as white as the snow around him. “I am a priest, I cannot be a werewolf.”
“You are what your blood dictates. Do with it what you will, but you are going to be a werewolf.”
He closed his eyes and I wondered at his story, of how one sibling could be a witch, while the other sought out being a priest of God.
I shook my head. “Go, while you can.”
“But what about you?” Mala blinked up at me. I drew close to her, circling my hands around her shoulders. She leaned into me and I swiped my cloak back as she gasped. “I suggest you and your brother hurry so you don’t freeze to death.”
I settled the cloak around my shoulders, doing my best to ignore the smell on it, one of lilacs and crushed ginger. Spicy and sweet.
A thought rolled through my head. Take her. No one would know. The Yeti is too stupid to say anything.
I shook my head again, anger flaring through me. I strode over to where the blonde witch began to stir. I grabbed the cloak and stripped it off her, letting my anger drive me. I strode back to Mala and handed her the heavy cloak. She and Peter hurried away, though I could feel Mala’s gaze more than once as she looked over her shoulder.
I returned to the blonde spell caster on the ground. “Witch, you go too far.”
She groaned and rolled in the snow. Her bare skin beckoned to that voice that wanted me to break my loyalty to Lark. Terralings are known for loving more than one.
“No,” I snarled the word and grabbed the witch by the foot, dragging her with me. What did the voice think? That I would willingly betray Lark? I snapped the witch forward with a sharp jerk.
Her body rolled across the snow, stopping only when she hit the far standing stone. I realized then I wanted a fight. I wanted her to wake up so I could throw her to the ground and expel the anger raging through me, the complete frustration that made me unable to see clearly.
With a flutter of her eyelids, she was on the ground, and then as suddenly she was standing, her feet hovering above the ground. “You stupid, stupid man.”
I narrowed my eyes and pulled a sword even as I held out the other hand over the ground. “I am no human, witch. And you would be well advised to beg for mercy now before I destroy you completely.”
Her laugh was clear, free of whatever power she’d pulled on to cause the quake. “Oh, please. Since when has a man had the balls to truly take out a witch? We will be halfway through this fight and your dick will be leading the way, begging you to fuck me.”
I pulled a dagger and threw it, snapping it forward between one heartbeat and the next. The blade buried deep into her upper right arm, straight into the bone. She gasped and stared as the brilliant red blood flowed down her pale skin and dripped onto the snow.
“I don’t think that was a prank,” Norm muttered from somewhere behind me. I was beyond caring. Someone was playing with my head, trying to force me to bed women I had no interest in. Raven or Cassava, I wasn’t sure which, but it didn’t matter. I’d learned in the past that pure rage, an anger hot and bright, helped to hold the control at bay.
I circled around the blonde witch. “Cassandra, if that is even your name, you would destroy this world.”
“I would raise it up to greatness. I will lead, boy, and you will be on your knees, begging to kiss my feet.” She pulled the dagger from her arm and tossed it away. Foolish move to throw out a weapon that could save her life.
Her hands swept up, and with them came a wave of snow. I dropped to my belly as a bloom of fire raced over my head. Norm yelped and I wanted to look and see if he’d been hurt. Just the thought of the Yeti being injured because of this stupid, pride-filled witch was enough to spur me forward.
I called the earth under the witch’s feet and the vines and plants that had been dormant for the season wrapped around her legs, yanking her to the earth. I flicked my hands back and forth, weaving the foliage over her until she couldn’t move. I bent over her head and stuffed her mouth with moss, making sure to jam enough in that gagging it out wasn’t an option. Sh
e glared up at me, fury making her brilliant blue eyes glitter.
“You, witch, are going to die.”
“Wait.”
I spun and stared into the darkness. I knew that voice.
Raven.
CHAPTER 14
“ou piece of shit, Raven,” I roared, and Norm roared with me, though he didn’t seem to be injured at all. His eyes, though, told me he thought this was a part of the game.
“I am so surprised you even got this far, to be honest.” Raven’s voice flickered to me from around the standing stones. Coming from all directions at once. I slowly turned, trying to identify just where in the seven hells he was. But there was no set place unless I kept him talking. That was my only chance to pin him down.
“What, do you not wish to face me, Raven?”
His laughter bounced and echoed in the icy cold air. “Not really. I wish only to save the girl at your feet. I think she has potential. I like her. I like blondes, as you well know.”
My jaw ached from clenching it so hard. “So you save her from me, and the world pays a price. Even you must see she is mad.”
“Ah, well, that is debatable. Perhaps I could train her. Show her a new way to use her power. I’m a good trainer, actually. I have a knack for it.”
I grinned slowly, understanding. “You want her?” I whipped my blade out and had it pressed to the back of her neck. “Then I think perhaps you’d best give me what I want.”
A sigh slipped from him, and he stepped out from behind the standing stone farthest from me. “Ash, you don’t understand. Nothing is as you see. I still can’t figure out why you are going after my mother.”
I frowned at him. “You told me to. You told me she was the one whose death would free us all.”
“I did no such thing.” He shook his head and his blue eyes widened. “Oh, I see. Someone’s been messing with your head.”
“You have, you little piece of shit,” I roared, feeling the cracks in my mind. Years at Cassava’s mercy had been tempered only by the time I was able to spend away from the Rim.
Ash (The Elemental Series, Book 6) Page 13
