The Wild Rites Saga Omnibus 01 to 04

by Anna McIlwraith

  “I was distracted,” he growled.

  She fisted her hands against his chest, resisting the urge to hit him. “Are you distracted now.”

  Expression fierce, he sighed harshly through his nose and covered her fists with his hands. “No.”

  “Can you read my mind now?”

  “Yes,” he said, voice rasping. Then he groaned, and his eyes clouded with need, and the stark look of possession on his face as he looked down at her was almost enough to make up for the fact that they weren’t naked already. “Emma,” he said, voice wavering. “We cannot. Even if we were not surrounded by your many allies and sworn protectors — which we are ,” he added darkly — “I would still have to leave you.” He paused, opened his mouth, closed it again. He tilted his head and gave her a look that was somehow gentle and terrifying at the same time — tender yet utterly dominant — and Emma’s heart beat against her chest like a trapped thing. “If the time ever comes,” he said softly, “I do not intend to leave you afterward.”

  “When ,” she corrected him. “When the time comes, Alexi.” Emma spread her hands against his chest. “And don’t treat me like I’m fragile just because of what’s happened to me. I am not afraid of you, and if I’m not okay, I’ll tell you. But if you dare treat me like I’m fragile and make assumptions about me again, I will cut you, do you hear me?”

  Both Alexi’s brows went up in amusement. His eyes glittered and he even, almost, smiled. “Will you now?”

  “Don’t look so skeptical. I have a knife strapped to my ankle, Horne made me put it on.”

  He laughed then, genuine and careless and free, and Emma’s heart soared.

  Seeing him laugh definitely made up for the fact that they weren’t naked.

  Before she reached for Fern — who knew everything that had just happened between her and Alexi, courtesy of the merge — as she was straightening her clothes and Alexi was continuing to look perpetually cool and gorgeous, Emma took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Alexi looked up and turned away from the bookshelf he’d been pretending to study while she made herself look like she hadn’t been rolling around on the floor with him.

  “I don’t know how to ask this, so I’ll just throw it out there.” She crossed her arms, uncrossed them. “How do you feel about Red?”

  His expression stayed neutral. “Generally?”

  Jerk. “No, specifically. The pledge, and… stuff.” She was assuming he’d picked up the details of what happened from hearing her thoughts, but if she had to explain it to him in actual words…

  He took pity on her and inclined his head. “Yes. The pledge, and stuff.” His gaze turned hard and calculating. “I want you safe. Red can be trusted to keep you that way. If you share the bond of the pledge, he is bound and must keep you safe now, and he has more power at his disposal with which to do so.” Alexi spread his hands. “That is all I care about.”

  Emma frowned at him. “Really? You don’t care about the ‘stuff’ part of it?”

  One brow went up. “You mean how you came to share a telepathic link with him. The curse.”

  She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or embarrassed that he’d gleaned all that from her mind and she didn’t have to spell it out. Cheeks hot, she nodded.

  “And,” he said without inflection, “your feelings for him.”

  She resisted the urge to protest that she didn’t have feelings for Red. They mightn’t be feelings, but they were still feelings.

  Alexi snorted. “That is why I do not care. Your feelings are your own. You will do as you will, and no force on this earth can stop you, and I could drive myself mad dwelling on the many ties that bind you and the many choices laid at your feet.” He came to her, took her face in his hands. “You are the caller of the blood. You belong to all of them, and to no one, and I’ll not be the fool who tries to chain you.”

  While Emma was trying to take that in, Alexi dropped his hands. A moment later he had Emma’s right hand in his grip. “Take this,” he said.

  Her fingers closed around the object and she lifted it. It was the iPod she’d given him when their paths crossed in Central America — at the time she’d feared their paths might never cross again. “It’s yours,” she said quietly. “I gave it to you.”

  “It is still mine.” His voice darkened, and Emma felt his beast coil between them, wrapping around her, cold and calm and utterly possessive. “Keep it safe for me, Emma.”

  With that he dropped a kiss on her forehead and then stepped back, arms crossed, arrogant mask back in place.

  “Alexi,” Emma said, heart in her voice, wanting to say more and not knowing how.

  The mask slipped for a moment and stark longing filled his eyes. I know. “Now call for the others,” he said, brisk again. “I have already stayed too long.”

  Emma closed her eyes and turned away, not wanting him to see how ill she was at the thought of him leaving, but he was a serpent priest — she didn’t have to tell him. There was a sigh of displaced air and then she felt his breath against the top of her head, felt the heat of him. She’d only need to lean back to make contact. How could wanting to touch someone be so painful?

  I am nine hundred years old, he said, mental voice more intimate than the feel of his flesh would have been in that moment. I have endured much, and one day I will tell you of it. In the meantime fear not for me. He stepped away.

  She turned to him. “I thought you were seven hundred. I could’ve sworn somebody told me you were seven hundred.”

  He shook his head. “By then the Norse had all but abandoned their North American outposts.” At Emma’s expression, he paused. “What?”

  She could only stare. “You’re a Viking? ”

  He sighed through his nose. “No, I am not a Viking. I was a Finn, a soldier for hire, and any more will have to wait — Emma, I am not a Viking.”

  Arms crossed and eyebrows raised, she just nodded.

  He was totally a Viking.

  And, oh yeah, he rewarded her smug act with another of those pained sighs, face getting all serious and scary.

  She lived to see him look at her like that — it reminded her that he was one terrifying, bad-ass son of a bitch and he probably wasn’t going to die on her anytime soon. That was a good reminder to have.

  “Soon now, Emma,” he said, the words like a vow.

  “Okay.” She thought Fern’s name, and he was there in her head. He knew everything; there was no way to shield that strongly without breaking the merge.

  Rather than embarrassment, all Emma felt was relief, that someone knew her anguish without her needing to explain. We’re coming, he sent. Seshua’s been talking to Shadi and Red Sun, and you’re not gonna like what he has to say.

  Fern was right. And thanks to his warning, she was standing with her arms crossed and staring daggers at Seshua when he walked through the door. Red came in on Seshua’s heels, looked from Emma to Seshua, pursed his lips and gave a low whistle.

  “Seriously,” she said to Seshua. “You’re going to get yourself killed.” A look of indignation darkened Seshua’s features before he looked at Fern, realized what had happened, and turned to Emma with a growl rumbling in his chest. She laid into him before he could get a word in. “You are only five hundred years old, Seshua, you’re not a serpent priest, and you don’t have any nifty powers unless you count the power of persuasion and somehow I don’t think you’ll be able to seduce the entire priesthood into surrendering!”

  Seshua stalked over to her but stopped a few inches farther away than he usually would have — which meant there was a hand’s breadth between them instead of just a hard thought. “How do you know?”

  “Know what?”

  “That I do not have any nifty powers.”

  “Well do you?”

  He purred. “Maybe.”

  “That you haven’t tried to use on me?”

  He smiled, and it didn’t reach his eyes. “I am going with Alexi. Or do you forbid it?”

  Emma o
pened her mouth to say yes, and then closed it, words dying in her throat. Seshua was almost-kinda-sorta bound to her, through the part of the ritual he’d done to try to awaken her powers, and if she forbid him, she might just have the power to make it stick.

  She shook her head. His shoulders relaxed, and the hard, cold look in his eyes thawed.

  Alexi spoke then. “What if I forbid it? Emma’s safety…”

  “Is assured,” Seshua finished for him. “She has two of my finest guards, one jackal warrior priestess, a twelve foot high tarantula that can hear her every thought, Red Sun, whose talents you’re aware of, and an ancient Saracen sorcerer who can put twenty men to sleep with a flick of his wrist.” Seshua spread his hands.

  “Nothing can possibly go wrong,” said Fern cheerfully.

  “Precisely,” Seshua said with zero sarcasm. “Also, Emma has just learned how to knock anyone she is bound to out cold, so perhaps she’ll discover how to do that to everyone and we can all stop worrying. Until then, I think she’ll make do. I. Am. Going.”

  Alexi blinked at Emma. You could have knocked me out cold. Instead you promised to do as I asked.

  She winced at him, mental tone apologetic. To be honest, I might have knocked you out if it’d occurred to me at the time. Sorry.

  He looked away, eyes glinting with a suppressed smile. That’s fair.

  Seshua turned to Emma, gaze devouring her face as if it were the last time he’d ever see it. “Power, pequeña, ” he said, sounding like he wanted to shake her to emphasize the point. “Remember what we spoke about. Find more of it, if you can.” So fast she didn’t have time to react, he swept her into the curve of one arm and kissed the top of her head and then stalked over to Alexi. “Ready, priest?”

  Alexi looked at Emma. “Yes. I have a safe location that I can drop into Red Sun’s mind, but we cannot go straight there.”

  Seshua nodded, jaw set. “We go to the Arizona sanctuary first then. Red Sun?”

  Red Sun brushed the back of Emma’s arm as he moved past her to stand with them. He held her gaze. She nodded. And they disappeared.

  20

  You promised Alexi that you wouldn’t go after him?

  Emma turned and met Fern’s eyes. You overheard that bit, huh?

  Just now, yeah.

  She gave him a small, tired smile. But really you overheard everything.

  He nodded. Yeah.

  So you know he came here to make sure I didn’t try to stop him from doing whatever crazy shit he’s about to do.

  Fern nodded again, compassion in his black eyes and pulsing through the merge, through her. And you promised him you wouldn’t.

  Yes , Emma said, looking away. I did .

  There was a knock at the open door, and then Leah stuck her head in, not looking surprised to see only Em and Fern standing awkwardly in the sitting room. “They’re gone then,” she said. Shapechanger hearing.

  Emma nodded. “Red Sun will be back whenever he gets back. Are our supplies ready?”

  Leah came into the room, letting her hair down, and set about redoing her ponytail with swift efficiency. “Some of the wolves are bringing it all downstairs now. We still haven’t decided where we’re going next, so weather and terrain-specific items have yet to be chosen, but we’ve got the basics. Weatherproof backpacks, guns, ammo, long range defensive artillery, versatile snares and perimeter alarm tech. Internationally roaming phones with GPS disabled, two per person, extra sim cards, plus a few burners. Med packs for you and Shadi. And a few other fun toys.” Leah bared her teeth in a grin that was kinda scary. “These Russian wolves really like their toys.” She cocked her head. “Here they come now.”

  A few moments later Emma heard the sounds of many boots descending the stairs in the hall. A moment after that, Nadya strode in with four others, three of them women. Emma tried not to look surprised. One of the women she thought she recognized — she had dark shoulder length hair and a thin, serious face — and the other two were clearly twins, with matching red hair cut short in a pixie style and similar, though not identical, freckled features. All of them, including Nadya, carried three monster backpacks each hanging from their arms as though they weighed nothing.

  “Emma, this is Bozenka Daratrazanov,” Nadya indicated the dark haired woman, and Emma nodded. “She is our expert tactician. Natalya and Ana Romanov are our weapons team. They’ve put together the essentials for you, but obviously we’ll need more specific information to complete your fitout. Leah said that the box you brought with you from Egypt might determine where you’re going?”

  Emma lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Leah before returning her attention to Nadya. “Is that all she told you?”

  Nadya nodded. “Your business is your own.”

  “Well,” Emma said, rolling her stiff shoulders. “Since you’re risking your lives helping us, I think it’s your business too. Wouldn’t hurt to have your tactician and weapons experts opinions, as well as your own. Is there somewhere we can go through the trunk? Somewhere big? With maps?

  Nadya looked pleased. “Yevgeny’s study. I’ll have the box brought up there. Natalya, Ana, deposit the packs and take that trunk up to the king’s study please.” She pointed at the trunk and hefted her three backpacks onto the couch as Natalya and Ana followed orders, and Bozenka arranged her packs in a neat row in front of the couch.

  That was when Red rematerialized in front of the fireplace.

  Bozenka uttered a sharp cry and then disappeared in the white light of the change, blinding everyone. Red swore. Emma blinked the spots away, and when she opened her eyes, there was a black wolf the size of a pony shaking off the tattered remnants of skirt and sweater and snarling at Red.

  The two ginger haired sisters froze, not scared but not moving a muscle either. Nadya stood very straight and very still. She turned her head to the side and said to Red Sun, “You startled her. Do not make any sudden moves and do not meet her eyes but do not look at the ground either. Look at me.”

  Like an idiot, Red did not do as Nadya asked. “She’ll calm down in a moment,” he said with a grim smile. “Won’t you sweetheart?”

  “You don’t understand,” Nadya hissed. “She is light-forged, and young, she can’t be reasoned with!”

  “Don’t need to reason with her.” Emma felt Red nudge his power outward just a touch, his aura carrying the magical compulsion of his curse with it, and watched as Bozenka’s hackles lifted and her ears went forward. She stopped snarling.

  Red’s shoulders relaxed. Emma, who had actually spent time with wolves in her undergrad studies, went cold.

  “Red, watch out!”

  Too late. Bozenka attacked. One moment she was standing all feet four to the floor, then she was springloaded and airborne. Her jaws snapped closed just inches from Red’s face as he jerked his head back, the full force of her weight slamming into him a second later and driving them both into the marble mantlepiece above the fireplace. A framed painting and various ornaments crashed to the ground; then Red and Bozenka crashed to the ground as well in a tangle of leather, denim and snarling black fur. With the shape of his beast, Red probably would have outweighed her, but in human form Em thought Red weighed about two fifty. Bozenka in wolf form was easily that and maybe more, and she had all her limbs. Red didn’t.

  The mark on Emma’s hand burst to life, hot power and cherry red light glowing in her palm.

  Nadya was suddenly in front of Emma, glasses gone and stripping out of her smart suit. “Yevgeny is on his way,” she said, voice gone to a growl. “Get out!”

  Fern grabbed Emma’s left arm and wrapped his other arm around her waist. You risk knocking him out and not Bozenka, he sent. What will she do to him then?

  “Dammit.” Emma backed away in time to avoid being burned by Nadya’s change. When the white light died there was a stunning, huge gray wolf with black facial markings crouching in the middle of the room, ears flat and ice blue gaze fixed on Red and Bozenka. They were wrestling, Red’s one arm locked
around the black wolf’s neck, hand buried in her ruff and neck craned back to avoid her thrashing, snapping jaws. Nadya sprang. Then Fern yanked Emma through the doorway.

  Shadi stepped out of the way as they stumbled into the hall; he had his bow in one hand and several arrows in the other and he raked an assessing look across the two of them before starting for the sitting room. “Don’t,” Emma blurted. Shadi stopped, brows drawn down, but before he could question her there was a whoosh of displaced air and Yevgeny sprinted past them in a blur.

  The sounds of struggle and animal rage stopped so suddenly it was as though a switch had been flipped. Em and Fern looked at each other.

  Red’s voice broke the silence. “Wasn’t her fault.” He didn’t sound like he’d been wrestling an out of control werewolf mere seconds ago.

  A flash of white light filled the sitting room doorway. “Why on Earth did you not listen to me?” Nadya sounded exasperated but not injured.

  “I thought my curse would calm her down!”

  “Your curse.” Nadya’s tone was dry.

  “Speaking of which,” Yevgeny said tightly, “If I could trouble you, Red Sun, to please leave so that my mate may put her clothes back on.” The rest of that sentence — “before I throw you out of the room by the seat of your pants” — went unspoken.

  Emma and Fern backed up as Red came out of the sitting room, t-shirt torn and scratches all up the right side of his face. He licked blood from the corner of his mouth and popped his brows at Emma. “You knew she was gonna attack.”

  “Know more about wolves than I do about jaguars. That was stupid, Red. How is she?”

  He closed the sitting room door behind him. “The black one? Yevgeny put her out cold. All it took was a touch. Kinda like your trick back in Egypt.” That was interesting. He shook his head, examined his raw knuckles. “I tried not to hurt her, but she wasn’t exactly returning the favor. Damn.”

  Emma leaned against the wall and gave him a look. “The curse works on anyone capable of being attracted to you. It’s not as though you’ve never encountered a woman who didn’t swing that way.”