Aubrey frowned at yet another one of her roles taken over. She hadn’t thought of it though, she’d been so wrapped up in everything else, she just hadn’t given one thought to protocol.
“We need to establish the chain of events,” Summer said.
“We need to start before today then.” Ariana tapped her finger on the table once before pointing at Kelly. “Because we got Kelly’s directive about the portal yesterday.”
“I apologize for the vague message,” Kelly started. “I know that my predictions sometimes sound like riddles. I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen until it started to happen.”
“There are two sequences of events,” Mayhem said. “What happened with Jay and what happened with the portal.”
“My symbol wasn’t working on Jay,” Summer said as she typed. “I put a symbol on a tranq dart to try to contain Jay’s beast after we got Kelly’s message about the prophecy. Aubrey shot him in the leg when he started to change. It didn’t seem to take effect though.”
“No, it did work. He was reacting to it. It’s just…when he caught sight of Raven, like what Kelly said, he lost it for some reason.” Hannah nodded. “I watched it all go down. I didn’t go into the portal with the rest of you.”
“Which brings the question—why did some of you go into the portal?” Kelly asked. “I specifically told you not to.”
“That was my decision,” Greer said as she raised her hand to take ownership. “We couldn’t do shit from outside of it. And it wasn’t all of us.”
“Ariana and Lance went in after Greer, Aubrey next.” Hannah closed her eyes briefly. “Summer followed. It was chaos, there were so many beasts. I was trying to do my best from outside the portal, keeping an eye on the pack. With Jay down Mayhem was distracted.”
“I advised against that.” Kelly sighed as she rubbed her fingers over her temples. “But I know how crazy things can get in battle.”
“Do you think that altered how things were going to go?” Mayhem asked.
Kelly shook her head, mouth opened to reply.
“It was a shit-show either way,” Greer blurted. “Your guy, Raven, was dealing death to Huntresses in there.”
“Those were definitely Huntresses?” Aubrey frowned. Not that it made a difference who Raven slashed but in a way, in some fucked up part of her predatory brain, she felt a rush of triumph once again. Like she was keeping some kind of tally. “There were at least ten girls there.”
See? He needed to die.
She was not seeking absolution. She was seeking confirmation. So why had she suddenly gotten a pang in her heart again? She’d done what she had to do even though it cost her and the pack dearly.
Greer was nodding before Aubrey finished talking. “And he killed a Huntress for sure. That made him public enemy number one as far as I’m concerned. He slashed his own death warrant.”
Mayhem growled, his fists clenched on the table. “Show some respect. That was a pack- mate.”
“That was a murdering beast,” Greer spat. “I get that he was once one of yours but you lost him the moment he bought into whatever Saska was selling. I thought it all along—he was doomed from the second he was bitten by Lazarus. It was just a matter of time before he became feral. You’re lucky none of your Huntresses here were killed.”
“Enough!” Mayhem slammed his palm on the table, sending a sharp vibration down the length.
Aubrey wrapped her arms around her waist. “It wasn’t Raven, May.” She met his glare boldly. “I wouldn’t have taken the shot if I thought it was him.” Okay, maybe that wasn’t totally true. Maybe she would have shot no matter what. “I watched him kill that girl. I looked him right in the eyes. He was blasting evil.”
Mayhem turned his glare to her, holding her there longer than she wanted. She felt her cheeks blush, discomfort making her want to squirm.
“I felt it too,” Summer said as she looked up, pausing in her typing. “He wasn’t Raven, not like we know him.”
Mayhem continued to stare at Aubrey, drilling her with his emotions. She felt that thunk in her chest again, the tightness, the pain. She wanted to rub it away but didn’t dare move.
“Well, he’s dead now, right?” Mayhem barked, finally snapping his eyes away from Aubrey’s. “Fucking gone. So it doesn’t matter what side he was on. He ain’t coming back.”
Aubrey flinched. It wasn’t Raven, she repeated desperately to herself. He was gone. He was evil. He killed a girl.
“Well, that’s not necessarily true—” Kelly started.
“—With all due respect, Mayhem and the rest of you,” Morgan said, cutting Kelly off, “but we have bigger problems at the moment than the loss of one of your pack mates, as devastating as that is.”
Aubrey frowned as she looked at Kelly. “What do you mean that’s not true? Raven is dead. I killed him.”
“What she means it, Saska is going to open that portal. She’s going to let the beasts out of Tartarus. That means that Raven can find his way out too,” Morgan explained. “All the beasts can find their way out. That’s what we’re talking about here.”
Mayhem slammed his hand down on the table again. “Are you fucking telling me that we can get Raven back?”
“Any beast who has died, any beast that we go on to kill, can come back,” Greer said.
“And when they come back, they are fucking pissed and looking for revenge. When Saska gets Lazarus out, when she brings him back, he’ll have an instant pack of furious, demented beasts under his command,” Ariana added.
“Which brings me to another bit of bad news.” Kelly cringed. “My Hunter, Andrew, he’s in Tartarus too, with a prophecy that can truly fuck things up.” She tapped her head. “I’ve got it in here but it’s coming out in small bits that I can’t make sense of.”
“It seems that the game is not going in our favor,” Hannah said as she put her hand on Mayhem’s fist.
“The game is just getting started,” Greer said with a grin. “And I don’t know about you all, but I’m in it to win it.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“You will stay here,” Mayhem barked at Aubrey when the meeting broke up and she tried to leave the room.
She sat back in her chair, hands folded on her lap, feeling like a bad kid waiting for detention. Except in this case, the punishment could be death.
The rest of the group left, Summer casting a forlorn look over her shoulder. “I’ll be up with Jay giving him another dose, okay?”
Aubrey nodded, forcing a reassuring smile, wanting instead to beg her to stay.
Mayhem closed the pocket doors, which slammed as they came together, startling her.
“You really have lived up to your destiny, haven’t you?” Mayhem’s tone was hard, gruff. He turned to look at her, his eyes matching his voice. “The wolf slayer.”
Aubrey forced herself not to flinch. She would wear that distinction proudly until the day she died. “I did what I had to do.”
“Jay told me all about your hunting while we were on tour. He told me about the trophies.”
Aubrey stifled a wince. He’d known about her fang collection? That struck her with guilt. Jay had known she was keeping something from him and he hadn’t said a thing to her. That was what had become of their relationship—secrets, things that they couldn’t talk about.
“You were headed down a dangerous path and yet I didn’t stop you. Jay begged me to let it go, that he would keep it under control. That you needed it for release. Your training would be good for the pack.” Mayhem leaned on his fists, glaring at her from the other end of the table. “And yet, here we are. You’ve killed a pack mate and you don’t feel an ounce of remorse, do you?”
“No.” Aubrey could have lied but it would have tasted bitter on her tongue. Besides, Mayhem already knew the answer. “I don’t feel remorse for killing Raven.”
“There were alternatives,” Mayhem growled.
“No, there weren’t. You heard the others. Raven was gone and in his place was a monster. He killed a girl. Huntress or not, he killed a human. I saw him do it.” Aubrey met Mayhem’s eyes boldly. “I don’t feel remorse for what I did because it has always been my destiny to be a champion for the victim, no matter who they are. I am a wolf slayer, Mayhem, all Huntresses are. The sooner you fucking realize that and accept it, the better.”
“I don’t have to accept it!” Mayhem roared, slamming his fist down on the table, cracking the surface in the process. “I don’t have to thank you for killing my pack brother. My friend. You’re heartless in your destiny, you can’t see past your lust for blood. You, Aubrey, killed a friend. You’re just as much a monster as he was.”
Aubrey’s mouth gaped, she stumbled on her next words. The nerve, the audacity. How could he—
Mayhem lowered his head for a moment, taking a deep breath in, letting it out and then looking at her again. “You will leave here tonight.”
“You’re kicking me out?” Aubrey blurted. “But Jay—”
“You’re leaving here without Jay,” Mayhem ordered as he stood upright, coming to his full height, chest puffed out.
“Like hell!” Aubrey knocked her chair back as she stood, her hand going for a weapon she didn’t have.
Mayhem sneered as he looked from her hand to her eyes. “You’re a danger to us all and you will leave here tonight.”
Aubrey stilled, her hand curled at her side as she realized what she’d just done. “I can’t leave without Jay.”
“That portal is opening tonight,” Mayhem said, his tone eerily calm.
“How did you—”
“Summer told me that she marks all her blades with a tracking symbol. She believes that tracking symbol may transfer to the target,” Mayhem said. “She also told me that you used one of them to kill Raven.”
Aubrey frowned, her mind racing at the shift in tone and topic. “What?”
Mayhem sat down, looking casual, looking like his usual self, except for his eyes, which blazed with wrath. “The only way I will let you come back is if you come with Raven and Darcy. You get them back and you’ll have my forgiveness. You don’t”—he waved his hand—“and you’re a ghost.”
* * * * *
Aubrey lay next to Jay, curled against his body, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. She was being weak and he wouldn’t like it, but she just wanted him to wake up. If he woke up, she could tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him how bad she was. How she’d become a wolf slayer, how she’d betrayed her pack and killed his pack brother. How she needed to leave.
“Jay,” she whispered, “you keep fighting this shit inside of you.” She traced her finger over his nose, his cheek, his lips and jaw, then laid her palm against his heart. “You take what Summer gives you and you fight it. You’re almost there.”
She leaned over him, a few tears hit his face by accident. She smiled, despite her breaking heart. Licked her tears from his cheek, kissed his lips. “I gotta go, babe.”
She forced herself to stand. Forced herself to walk to the other side of the room where her knapsack was packed, where her weapon bag lay. She double-checked that she had Summer’s blade, the one she’d stolen from Summer’s belt sheath. A marked blade, identical to the one she’d used to kill Raven.
“I love you, Jaylon,” she whispered as she slung the bags over her shoulders.
She was a ghost, just as Mayhem said, ready to take on a new mission. Hunt down the beasts she’d helped release from Tartarus. Find Raven. Fix Darcy. Or she’d never see Jay again. Mayhem would make sure of it.
She fingered Summer’s blade. Mayhem had laid it out in a cascade of plans with little room for anything else.
Aubrey wasn’t alone, though. Mayhem cast her out but she wasn’t without support. Summer might not know how to use her symbols properly but Aubrey knew someone who did. Her sister. Corra would be able to use her tracking ability to find exactly where Raven was. Whether he was on this side or that one. And she’d know where to find the portal too. It meant danger, it meant death to many. Luckily for Aubrey, her twin was just as committed as she was to hunting beasts.
If there was a way to get Raven back, they’d find it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Part Three: Mayhem and Hannah
The only way he could find solace was in the arms of his mate. Mayhem took the minutes that he had to be alone with Hannah and used them to love her.
He ran his fingers through her hair, sweeping the wet strands from her bare shoulder. “You showered.”
After his meeting with Aubrey, he’d tracked Hannah down, knowing his time was limited. That important things would demand his attention.
“I needed time to unwind.” Hannah’s smile was sad but tender. “Lots of intense emotions swirling around down there.”
He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip, cupping her face at the same time. “What do you feel now?”
She giggled a little. “I feel like things are going to get very interesting.” Her smile faded as she reached her hand to trail a line from his brow to his jaw. “I feel your sorrow. I’m so sorry, Mayhem. Whatever you need from me…”
“I need you to love me, Hannah. That’s all I’ve ever needed.” He bent and kissed her, sweetly, tenderly as he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground. “Let me think of something else for a minute.”
Hannah sighed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and looked him dead in the eye. “Or maybe not think about anything.” She pressed her lips to his, licking at the seam, begging for entrance.
With a rumbling groan he let her in, sliding his tongue to greet hers, tangling together as he walked them to the bed and laid her down.
She was naked under her towel and he spread it open quickly, trailing his fingers over her damp skin, raising goosebumps in his wake. Her kiss deepened, her hands fumbling at his pants, only managing to pop the button before she arched her back on a moan, distracted when his fingers slipped between her pussy lips to stroke her clit.
He left her mouth swollen and glistening as he trailed down her neck, sucking at her porcelain flesh, her freckles giving him a path to her pink little nipples. They were budded and rock hard, little pebbles that he soaked with saliva. She moaned again, angling toward his lips, her fingers in his hair as he flicked and nipped.
“Mayhem.” She breathed out a groan.
He smiled, loving how she begged. He lifted his mouth from her flesh. “You want my cock, sweetheart?”
She nodded, licked her lips then smiled prettily.
He pushed himself up, balancing on his knees as he finished undoing his pants while her hungry eyes raked him. She moved up to her elbows, her hair cascading to cover her breasts and then spread her legs, knees up and apart, pussy soaked and waiting for him.
He grinned as he pulled out his cock. Stroking himself while her eyes were on him was one of the hottest things in the world. She moved one hand down to her pussy and stroked herself too, showing him with her fingers where she needed him to be. Her fingers coating in her juices had his cock weeping precome.
“Hannah, taste your cream for me, sweetheart.” He moved between her legs, still stroking himself as she lifted her glistening fingers to her lips and lapped up what was there, her eyes sliding closed for a moment as she savored her own desire.
With hands on her inner thighs, he pulled her closer, teasing her pussy with the head of his cock, rubbing his pre-come along her folds before punching deep and hard right to the hilt. She gasped, then moaned, letting her head fall back, her upper body still held up by her elbows. He ran his hands over her breasts, cupping, squeezing as he drilled her pussy. She wrapped her legs around his waist, moving with him—her body and his one fluid thing.
Her skin was so
soft, her pussy so tight. Mayhem lowered himself, resting on his heels, moving his hands to her ass and his lips to her tits as he pulled her up so she could ride him. Her tits bouncing, her hair flying. He could lose himself in her for hours, days, eternity.
He moaned against her nipple. Releasing it only because his orgasm crested, coming into her spasming pussy as she cried out.
“I love you, Hannah,” he said as he stared into her eyes, giving her all of that emotion, letting her feel what she meant to him.
She smiled lazily, her body still moving slowly, wringing every last shudder out of him. “Love you too, Mayhem.”
* * * * *
His world was falling apart and yet he couldn’t bring himself to leave the bed. He kissed Hannah’s shoulder, embracing her tightly, wishing for the hundredth time that he didn’t have to get up and face the reality that awaited him.
“I sent Aubrey away,” he admitted, his anger simmering as his thoughts turned to other things. “If I hadn’t, I would have killed her.”
“You cast her out?” Hannah’s frown deepened. “Mayhem, what did you do?”
“I didn’t cast her out. I sent her on a mission. I needed time to cool off. Time to make peace. I can’t do that with her here.” He rolled his shoulder, trying to ease the tension that seemed to permanently ride his back and neck. “She’s a danger to the pack.”
“What is the mission?” Hannah pushed herself up, wrapping the sheet round her torso as she did, ignoring his last words.
He’d known she wouldn’t see it his way. To her, Aubrey was a powerful warrior—a Huntress who only thought of the pack’s needs. Just as Hannah had been when she’d shot Jay.
“I told her to find Raven. I told her to bring him back,” Mayhem said as he sat up, running his hand through his hair, trying to tame it into a ponytail.
She swatted his hands away before snagging the brush from the bedside table, moving in behind him to brush out the knots. He closed his eyes as her fingers ran from scalp to tip, loving the tingles that her tugging created.
Beast Rising: The Order of the Wolf, Book 7 Page 17
