by Marie Harte
“Only because he tried to…tried to…” She couldn’t say it. “You’re an evil man, Ernst Baer.”
Ralf scowled at her. “My son is not evil. You Stallbridges are the problem. Whores and liars all. Your family tainted a pure thing, stole its essence without thought or care for our town. You’re admitted thieves, and you think you can put the blame at our feet? Ernst is just eager to apply our brand of justice.”
“Good points, Ralf.” Jan nodded. “Perhaps we can belabor them at home? My bones ache, and I know Edda’s just waiting with some hot cider to ease our troubles.”
Ralf smiled. “Cider. That’s a good thing. Let’s go, boys.”
The group started the return trip back. Heather saw Klaus watching her constantly, but when he’d notice her watching, he’d look away. Ernst glared at her but kept his distance after his father said something to him. Later that night, when they stopped again, Ernst found her before she could lie down to sleep.
“Don’t let down your guard, darling. When we get back to town, I’m going to kill your lover. And then I’ll skin him alive while you watch. You’re mine, and your punishment will be a warning to all who think to fuck with the Source.”
He grinned, and she felt ill.
“Don’t you forget it.”
Chapter Nine
Jack’s leg was throbbing. His side hurt like a bitch. But none of that made a damn bit of difference when he couldn’t stop aching for Heather. Scared, cold, and tired, the poor woman still managed to look like an angel surrounded by so much filth. He understood the Baers. Bullies came in all shapes and sizes, and these dicks thought they ruled Drei-Gewalten. From the comments Ralf and Ernst made, they regularly killed those unfortunate enough to find their way into the town.
He wondered if Ida and the others knew that the Baers killed outsiders with prejudice. Jan seemed not to be surprised by the revelations, and Jack stored that information away, guarding it wisely. Jan was the one to watch. Mikhail had disappeared, probably hunting Jack with the others. Only Ralf, Ernst, Jan, and Jack—pretending to be Klaus—remained.
Jack needed to return to town to find transportation for himself and Heather. Ida’s place would offer no refuge. She’d be under watch. He hoped the old woman wouldn’t get in trouble for helping Heather and him. But he had no idea how far the Baers’ authority stretched. The town council had the most say, from what he gathered. And Ida had a reputation in town as someone to respect.
The things Ernst had whispered of doing to Heather made Jack ill. Only his pretense and the knowledge he needed to regain his strength gave him the fortitude not to kill Ernst right away. That, and it took a lot of energy to hold himself in Klaus Baer’s form while his wounds hurt like a bitch.
He worried that if he let Heather heal him, she’d know him. And he needed her fear to be authentic. She had to be believable if they had a shot at escaping. The road he’d traveled to get into town wouldn’t help him. But Jan’s gate would. He could drag Heather with him into Grainau, and not as Klaus but as Jan.
A glance at the old man showed him watching Heather with concern. Jan had tied her up so she couldn’t escape. Ralf had already gone to sleep, and Klaus was due to keep the first watch. Before Jack could cross to question the old man, Ernst tapped him on the shoulder.
“Come with me.”
He followed his brother silently from the camp. Some distance away, Ernst relieved himself and said over his shoulder in a low voice, “Bring the bitch to me.”
“Heather, now?”
“Who else, dumb-ass? I’m tired of waiting. Father is just going to kill her. No sense in wasting that fine pussy and ass.”
“Wait. Kill her?” That put a definite kink in Jack’s plans. He’d thought to bide their escape until they drew closer to town.
“Yes. He doesn’t think the council will let him do what needs to be done. Jan seems okay with our method of safety.”
Killing people.
“But you never know with that wily bastard. And we still haven’t found Keiser yet. My neck’s itching that he’s closer than we think. I don’t want to chance Heather getting hurt or killed before I get a taste of her. Besides, if it all goes to shit, at least we’ll have had a piece of her before she tries to escape and we have to gun her down.” Ernst wiggled his brows. “Bring her to me once everyone’s asleep.”
“What about Father and what he’ll say?”
“What about him? We both know the old man’s time is running short. All that power he has is starting to drift into me. I can feel it. And he knows it too. I’ll soon run the show. Father is just biding his time. He’ll agree to whatever I want.”
Truth, or the truth as Ernst saw it? And what did he mean, that Ralf’s power was waning, shifting into Ernst?
“Fine. I’ll be right back.” Jack saw an opportunity. While Ralf lay asleep, and Ernst seemed the largest threat, he might have a shot at their escape if he moved now.
He returned to find Ralf sleeping. Jan had settled down but kept a worried gaze on Heather. He glanced up when Jack stood over her.
“You doing it now?”
Jack frowned. “What?”
Jan sighed. “Took you long enough. Knock us both out first. Have to make it look real.”
The man knew he wasn’t Klaus. Apparently he could trust Jan. But why had Ida told them not to trust him, then?
“I’m part of the town council,” Jan said, as if in apology to Jack’s unasked question. “The time has come to stop the Baers. But none of us is powerful enough. Not with Ralf, Ernst, and Klaus alive. Their bloodline keeps them strong, and as long as the three are alive to share the power, none of us can hold Ralf off for long. I’m still not sure how you did it back there, but when his boys are near, he’s got triple the power he normally has.”
That explained a lot.
“Good news is, I think Mikhail has seen the light. He didn’t know how bad Ralf and his boys had gotten. Random killings? That’s not right any way you look at it.”
“No shit.”
“We can fix the town, son. But you have to get rid of Ernst first. With Klaus gone, we’re halfway there. But not yet. Take care of Ernst, and I’ll handle Ralf.”
Jack nodded. To make sure to keep Ralf out of the way, he knocked the man out with a blow to his head, then bound and gagged him with the ties in Ralf’s pack. The man was a telekinetic, but hopefully he’d be out long enough for Jack to get the job done. He returned to Jan and tied him up as well, making sure to keep the ropes loose enough that they didn’t cut off Jan’s circulation.
“You’re sure about this?”
“Yes. Use a pressure point, though. I don’t relish you slamming my head against the ground the way you did Ralf.”
Jack sighed. He slowly squeezed Jan’s neck until he passed out, then grabbed their packs and a sleeping Heather.
“Wake up,” he whispered.
She blinked up at him, recognized Klaus, and shrank back.
“No time.” He yanked her hand to his side. “Heal me. Quietly.”
She let go of her power, and he ate it up, sighing at the pleasure.
She stared at him with wide, hopeful eyes. “Jack?”
“Shh.” He dragged her hand from his knitting side and brought it to his thigh, ignoring his rampant erection. How the hell could he be hard when he was wounded? “Now my leg.”
She poured the energy into him, and his leg healed in seconds.
“I’m Klaus, and you’re scared,” he growled. “I’m taking you to Ernst. We’re planning to share you.”
She nodded so fast he feared she’d give herself a headache.
“And Heather, this might get rough. Remember that talk we had about using your gift in other ways? Focus on that.” He dragged her away from camp toward Ernst and stashed their bags. He hoped to hell she wouldn’t have to harm anyone. If she even could. She’d been a healer her whole life. But Jack knew power was power. If you could give it, you could take it as well.
He bro
ught her back to where Ernst had been waiting. But when he looked for the man, he found nothing. And then Ernst was there, smiling, and he hugged Jack tight, holding him close with his arms and a mental strength that hadn’t been present before in the bastard. A knife slid between Jack’s ribs before he could react, and Heather was yanked violently away.
As Jack fell to his knees, gasping in pain, Ernst whispered, “You’re not Klaus.”
HEATHER HAD NEVER been so scared in her life. Klaus wasn’t Klaus. Ernst had just stabbed what looked like his brother…but was Jack? So she wasn’t going insane, and the spark she’d felt before that had felt like Jack really was Jack. But how could Jack be Klaus? He looked and sounded just like him, yet when her energy had merged with his before, she’d felt Jack.
Though confused, she refused to let Ernst hurt Klaus—Jack—like that. She searched for something to help her and found a large rock. Without thinking, she lifted it and tried to brain Ernst with it.
But it stopped in motion, as if it hit a wall. She let go, staring at it in astonishment, and backed up to put space between her and Ernst.
Ernst chuckled and stabbed Jack again.
Jack gasped and shrugged out of his jacket, then rolled to his back and slowly began to change. Heather heard popping noises, and she watched in amazement as Klaus’s face and form slowly transformed into someone else. His muscles grew lax, then tight, then lax again. His bones seemed to shift under his skin as his cheekbones and chin grew sharper, then squared. His skin color deepened to that dark bronze of Jack’s, and streaks of black overtook the auburn of Klaus’s hair. It didn’t take long before he looked like himself again in clothes too small to fit him comfortably.
“You are one fucked-up freak,” Ernst said pleasantly. “And now you’ll find out why the Baers are so very good at what we do.”
“What’s that? Kill anyone who says no to you?” Jack asked in his deep, rough growl.
The rock, which had been hanging in midair, thudded to the ground an inch from Jack’s head.
“Oh, wow. Another telekinetic.” Jack snorted. “You people are a dime a dozen.”
Ernst frowned, obviously not getting the respect he’d anticipated. He narrowed his gaze at Jack, and Heather felt a surge of power. Jack lifted from the ground several feet before slamming back down hard enough to crack something. He let out a curse, then slowly got to his feet and stood, not even clutching his side, which had to hurt.
Heather could feel his pain, and she sent energy out toward him, hoping she might be able to heal him without touching him. She’d never done so before, but she’d never felt such overwhelming need to use her power either. Jack needed her, and she loved him. She had to help.
“You’re stronger than you look, outsider,” Ernst mused. He smiled. “But she’s not.”
Without warning, Heather jerked in his direction, flying off the ground, then through the air. She smacked into Ernst’s chest, and he wrapped his arms around her, using her as a human shield. One hand gripped her by the hair, holding her still. Tears stung her eyes, and she wished she could do more to help Jack than be used as leverage.
He’d mentioned before about using her power to harm. But Heather couldn’t fathom tainting herself like that. If she killed using her ability, she’d never be the same. She simply couldn’t do it.
Jack watched without blinking. He didn’t seem upset or even worried.
“Now why don’t you watch while I fuck your girlfriend?”
Jack shrugged. “If you think you can, by all means.” Then Jack grinned. “By the way, Klaus is dead. You know that, right?”
Ernst stiffened but didn’t stop himself from gripping her hair tighter. For all that he pretended to be in control, she thought that maybe Ernst was afraid. Hell, she was scared of this Jack, this icy killer staring at them without feeling. Larger and stronger than anyone she’d ever seen, even with blood pooling at his side, Jack projected such an air of menace that she pressed back against Ernst, away from her lover.
“Oh, and your father too. He’s gone,” Jack said casually.
“You’re lying.”
“Nope. Go look.”
“Fuck you. I’m not moving.” Ernst trembled behind her.
“Heather, pull.” Jack stood watching them and crossed his arms over his chest. “You can push it out, because I just felt it. I need you to hurry up, woman. I have things to do.”
She blinked. “Wh-what?” she squeaked as Ernst’s fury bled through to her. His hold around her chest tightened, and he raised several small boulders with his mind and aimed them at Jack. Jack dodged two of them but several smaller rocks hit his torso and legs.
Still, he remained standing. Bloodied and bruised but too pissed off to care, apparently.
“Why won’t you go down?” Ernst asked in a shaky voice. She felt his energy flare, but Jack remained upright, angry, and powerful.
Jack scowled, and she wanted to run from Ernst and him. Who was this man she loved?
“Heather, quit fucking around and pull.”
Ernst squeezed her harder, but she couldn’t take from him. Jack didn’t understand. The power was hers because she shared, not because she harmed. She couldn’t abuse it, not even to save her own life. But to save Jack’s?
“I can’t,” she cried. “That’s not who I am. Jack, I’m not like you—”
Before she could finish her sentence, he attacked her. Or rather, he yanked her away from Ernst and punched his fist into the other man’s face. Ernst was shaken, but Jack was hurt. They were more evenly matched than she would have liked. The two grappled for control while she hovered, trying to figure out what to do.
Ernst stabbed Jack again, this time in his forearm.
“Oh, that is it,” Jack yelled and rolled them until he had Ernst beneath him, finally. He reached for Ernst’s neck, and sweat appeared on his forehead as he struggled to push through Ernst’s will. It looked as if Jack battled an immovable force as he slowly, inch by inch, shoved through an invisible force to wrap his hands around Ernst’s neck. Blood poured from his nose and his mouth. His head snapped back several times, reacting to what looked like invisible blows. Yet he didn’t turn away.
Heather hurried to his side and touched him, adding her strength the only way she knew how. Except tied to Jack like this, she felt him kill, sensed the negative energy reaching into Ernst and exploiting his fear.
She tried to pull back, but Jack hugged her energy tight, healing as he took Ernst’s life in his hands. A terrible wrenching, and then Ernst’s head tilted at an unnatural angle, and the light of life left his eyes.
Heather lurched back and retched, unable to stop heaving. She’d killed someone. Oh my God, she’d felt his life just…disappear.
She shuddered, in shock, hurting, and spiritually wounded.
Jack tried to touch her, but she violently shied away, not able to stand being near him right now.
“Fuck.” He left her and returned with not two but one bulging backpack. “I have the book,” he said gruffly and put the pack on.
She finally straightened and looked at him directly, avoiding the dead body on the ground next to him. Jack’s bleeding had stopped, and his bruises started to fade. He didn’t move as he watched her. He wore no expression on his face, but she could tell he hurt more than physically. By pulling away, she’d wounded him.
She blew out a breath. “I can’t… I just can’t touch you right now. I’m sorry.” Sorry I was so weak. Sorry you had to do that, to take a life, to keep me safe. She couldn’t contain it any longer, and she broke down in tears.
She heard him swearing again, but this time he picked her up and cradled her in his arms, his hold infinitely gentle. Yet she couldn’t stop seeing him—feeling him—kill Ernst Baer. A monster, yes, but a living person all the same. Heather didn’t see Jack as bad or evil for doing what had to be done, but she ached that he’d had to do it at all. That kind of toll on one’s soul left a mark. No wonder he had wounds that went deep.
Disgusted with herself, heartsick at what Jack had been forced to do, she sobbed her heart out as he walked them through the woods, cradling her in his arms, with only the whisper of wind and the moonlight for company.
JACK KNEW HE’D blown any chance of a future with her, letting her see him at his worst, but he hadn’t had a choice. Watch Ernst kill Heather, or show her his inner monster? He’d rather she was alive to hate him than dead because of his gentle side.
He cleared his throat. They still had to leave Drei-Gewalten, and more enemies than friends surrounded them. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he muttered but refused to let her go. “I had to take a chance that you could hurt him. Because the thought of you in that bastard’s arms with nothing to defend yourself with…” He didn’t know what else to say.
She didn’t answer, but he knew she was listening. She felt too light. The woman needed to eat more. All this stress couldn’t be helping her any.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. Always apologizing. “We’re not out of danger yet. I think we can trust Jan to take care of the trouble the Baers have put the town through, but you and I need to blow this place in case I’m wrong. Let’s get to that stupid gate and leave.”
“But Ida…” she croaked.
Good. She was with him, finally breaking out of that state of shock. He wondered if she’d ever seen anyone killed before. If she had, it probably hadn’t been at her own hands. Just how much of what he’d sensed when killing Ernst had she experienced?
He set her down and coughed to hide his discomfort, missing her already. “We’ll check on her quickly. But we need to move. There are still others in the woods looking for me, and by now, they’ve probably found Klaus’s body. I did my best to hide him, but I was pressed for time.”
She flinched at mention of more death, and he wished he could have made it easier for her. But truth was truth, and he couldn’t sugarcoat it now. They spent the next few hours walking in silence, each wrapped up in their own feelings. He would have given his left arm to know what she thought, if the violence had killed her affection for him, or if she just needed time to process everything. Kitty would have been more than valuable right now, using her empathy to ease Heather’s fears.
