The Wild Rites Saga Omnibus 01 to 04

by Anna McIlwraith

  His heartbeat faltered. His breath stilled. His fingers tightened on her shoulders. “Red,” Emma said, “You’re crushing me.”

  He melted away from her. “You’re alive.”

  “So are you.” She wanted to throw her arms around him again, wanted to just touch him, but he was so, so naked. “Never do that again.”

  “What, almost get killed?”

  “You shut me down. I had no idea what was happening —”

  “I couldn’t risk the pledge bond taking you with me,” he said roughly, cupping her face in his hands. “If Shadi hadn’t been there I wouldn’t have made it.”

  Horne didn’t, she said mind to mind, knowing he’d rather have the news as soon as possible.

  Red lowered his brow to the top of her head. “Damn.” Then he looked up, at Telly. “You son of a bitch, you’re here. What the fuck are you doing here.”

  Telly’s eyes narrowed to pale, glowing triangles. “If I hadn’t come, Em would be dead. While you were —” he cut off as Red started to laugh. “Something funny, friend?”

  “It’s true,” Emma said, the words bitter on her tongue. “He did save me. We had to jump or the rest of the Brotherhood would’ve killed us all, but Ifrah got one last shot at Fern, and I lost my hold on him. I fell. Telly caught me.”

  Red sobered, breathing hard. His eyes were burning gold and the bridge of his nose had broadened, and his teeth were bigger, and he looked at Emma like he couldn’t remember how to speak. She’d never seen him lose control like this — well, except for at the Roadhouse, before she saved him with the pledge. He turned to Telly and asked the question Emma would have died before letting herself ask.

  “Why now,” he demanded, those two words holding a world of darkness.

  Telly looked at Red like he was beginning to realize he didn’t know him, not at all. The white light of his eyes faded. “It’s complicated.”

  Red’s growl ripped out of him like a living thing. “Try me.”

  Telly sighed, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “Three days ago there was a ripple in the fabric of the worlds. I followed it to its source. Turns out the Sleeping God is waking up, and it is whispering her name.” He nodded at Emma. “So I came back. But I couldn’t find her, and the ranch was torched, and the jaguar king’s sanctuaries were all but abandoned. No one could tell me where she’d gone. The jackal kingdom is hidden even from me, so I couldn’t look there for answers either.” He met Emma’s eyes, voice and face unreadable. “I thought you were dead.”

  Emma looked away, at Red, not quite able to look into the fierce heat of his eyes. “The merge was shielding me. Who is this Sleeping God?”

  Red’s face went slack as he grasped the implication, but before he could say something, Telly spoke. “The merge with Fern never shielded you like that before, Em.”

  “That’s because her powers were still dormant,” Fern said quietly.

  Between one blink of the eye and the next, Telly was taller, and his gaze on Emma felt cold and heavy. “Your powers.” Yep — his voice definitely held a triple-echo now. “They were awakened.”

  Telly’s face was suddenly an ill-fitting mask. His chin sharpened and his skin stretched over his cheekbones, and something terrible looked out of his churning blue eyes. It wasn’t his beast; Telly had an animal form, but he didn’t have a beast, not like the others, for he was the walking god, and he was something else. A faint tremor went through the ground beneath their feet as Telly spoke one word.

  “Who .”

  Everyone else went freeze-frame still.

  But Emma had survived Alan, and she had survived Telly abandoning her, and apparently she was the grand fucking harbinger of the end of the world. Telly didn’t scare her anymore.

  “It’s complicated,” she said to Telly as though his human-seeming wasn’t rapidly folding away like flayed skin. “But more importantly,” she turned to Red, giving Telly her side profile — not turning her back, but almost — “When I fell and I thought I was going to die, I dropped the merge and threw all my shields up because I didn’t know what my death would do to Fern and to everyone else pledged to me.” She ignored Telly’s growl at the words “everyone else pledged to me” and went on. “He got to me, Red. Alan got to me.”

  Telly’s voice still held the triple-echo, but was still human enough to convey confusion. “Alan?”

  “Shut up, Telly,” Emma said lightly, without looking at him. “What if the Brotherhood was telling the truth, Red? About the failsafe? What if I triggered it by letting Alan in?”

  “Fuck the Brotherhood,” came Leah’s voice from nearby. She moved into their loose circle, arms empty and face ravaged with grief. “Fuck the failsafe. You were willing to die alone and screaming to protect your people. So what if the failsafe is real and the end of the fucking world is nigh; the blood’s on their hands, Em, not on yours. Now what the fuck are we going to do?”

  “What we were always going to do,” Emma said. “We’re going to find Alexi and Seshua and help them defeat the serpent priests.”

  Telly started laughing. It was the good kind of laughter, his kind of laughter, the kind that was addictive and infectious and made Emma think of summer, but it didn’t affect her the way it used to. “What’s so funny?”

  He wiped his eyes, shook his head, shaking himself back into the illusion of humanity. “It’s complicated. I’ll tell you on the way.”

  “I doubt you’ll have time,” Red said dryly. Then, to Emma. “I think I know where they are, or will be, if they’re not there yet.” His tone dropped, and he looked at her with such a strange mix of steel and sorrow in his eyes that Emma’s heart skipped a beat. “It will be dangerous, flower. We’re doing this, but you do not leave my side.”

  He held her with his gaze, half daring her to argue, half pleading with her to listen, his emotions raw and churning through the pledge bond and the telepathic link they shared. She reached up and brushed her fingers across the scar that ran over his chin. “On one condition.”

  His brown eyes turned wary. “What?”

  She let her hand drop. “We all go get pants first.”

  Ivan held the location of one of the Ruskiy wawkalaki’s safehouses in his mind; Emma held the connection with him, and Red Sun flashed everyone there. Including Telly. Emma almost wished she had time to stop and savor the look on his face when he and every other member of Em’s party rematerialized in the top floor Moscow penthouse.

  But they didn’t have time. Ivan headed for one of the huge walk-in closets and waved Emma and Fatima to the other. They moved fast, throwing on fresh cargo pants and t-shirts, and by the time they came out with brand new sneakers in hand, the men were dressed and Fern was there holding up a Kevlar tactical vest for her to get into. While she worked the straps, Fatima retrieved a hunting knife from the arsenal laid out on one of the double king size beds, and got to work hacking Emma’s wet, tangled hair off until it was just above shoulder length. The resulting long, sodden rope of hair was longer than Fatima was tall.

  There were three large metal suitcases full of guns and explosives open alongside the knives and other hand to hand weapons, along with a laptop that Ivan was punching security codes into. On the other bed, a sheet had been draped over Horne’s body. Emma forced herself to look, then had to force herself to look away before she made a fool of herself.

  Red Sun stepped up in front of her as she finished with the side straps of her vest. “Before Keti cut my throat, I told Ivan to make you run.”

  Emma blinked, raised her brows at him. “Did you really think I’d do that?”

  “I’d thought you’d be smart enough to, yeah.”

  “Well I wasn’t.” She poked her tongue out at him. “And I’m still not. Ivan, what’s all this?”

  He shot her a look over his shoulder as he straightened, and started filling the pockets of his pants and vest from the suitcases. “This is what I do best, devotchka .”

  She smiled at him, not bothering to hid
e the fangs. “Good.” The smile died when she turned to Telly and their gazes clashed. In spite of having almost no idea what was going on, he didn’t look out of place, didn’t look confused or unsure. But he did look like he was starting to realize he’d misplaced something between one world and the next, between the moment when he’d left — left her — and the moment she’d landed in his arms.

  What was it to him, that month and a half that had seemed to last a lifetime to her? A blink? A heartbeat?

  How terrifying, to be able to live forever yet throw so many moments away as though they were worthless.

  Telly’s eyes flashed white, his earrings chiming softly. Em…

  She booted him out of her head with a hard thought. “Are you with us?”

  His answering grin held no humor, and his eyes stayed white. “This is suicidal, you know that, right? Do you know what you’re up against? It’s more than the serpent priesthood. You have no idea.” His white stare moved to Red Sun. “You know. And you’re willing to dump her in the middle of that, for what?”

  Red smiled, almost gentle. “You’re the one who has no idea. Do you know why the Sleeping God is waking?”

  Telly said nothing. Emma looked from him to Red. “The Sleeping God?”

  “Yeah,” Red said. “The reason the serpent priesthood has remained so powerful for so fucking long. The reason there are no females of their kind. Thousands of years ago, a human coveted the power of the shapechangers, and conspired to seduce a god and trick it into binding its power to theirs for the sake of a love that was never real. That god is the god of the serpent priests. Of course the god had to be bound and gagged with magic and sacrifice and all that happy horseshit, but that was a small price to pay for almost undiluted power, power that doesn’t wane with each new generation of shapechangers, because they cannot breed and they choose their light-forged initiates with utmost care. That’s why the priesthood always opposed the search for the Caller of the Blood — because of the risk that she might usurp the Sleeping God’s power with her own.”

  “So that’s what you’ve been keeping from me, since Russia,” Emma said.

  Red’s mouth tightened. “Some of,” he nodded. “I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this. Hoped Alexi might get the chance to tell you himself.”

  Emma shook her head; it didn’t matter now. “What does the Sleeping God have to do with this.”

  “Only one of the serpent priesthood could ever set it free. That’s the reason Alexi’s at war with the rest of the priesthood, the ones who want him to assume the mantle of the Anchor and enslave himself forever to keep the Sleeping God caged and their power intact.” Red was watching Telly carefully. “Because Alexi destroyed the Anchor.”

  Telly’s eyebrows climbed and his eyes bled back to blue.“Alexi?” Telly shook his head as if to clear it. “He’s the one? He destroyed the Anchor? For fuck’s sake, what for?”

  Somewhere behind Emma, Shadi made a disgusted sound.

  Red looked at Emma. “For her.” He held her gaze, letting her see that there was no pity in him for what she’d been through, only acceptance, and anger, and fierce loyalty. “Alexi destroyed the Anchor so he could seize the power of the Sleeping God, to save her from Alan when he took her captive six weeks ago. Not that she needed saving,” he added, his voice going hoarse. “She had that mostly covered.”

  Emma reached for Red’s hand. “I needed a little saving. And Alexi couldn’t have done it without you, could he?” When Red just shrugged, she brought his hand to her face and rested her cheek against the back of it, feeling his rough, calloused knuckles. “What’s he going to do now?”

  Red let his breath out through his nostrils, golden light kindling in his eyes as he looked down at her. “He’s not going to let the others force him into stasis to keep the Sleeping God caged, I know that. The only other option is to give back the power he took from the Anchor.”

  “But the Anchor is dead,” Emma said.

  Red squeezed her hand. “The Sleeping God isn’t.”

  Emma closed her eyes for a moment, and then dropped Red’s hand, helpless to stop the wave of sickening fear washing through her. “So Alexi has to get to the Sleeping God.” She met Red’s gaze. “He’s going to play tag with a pissed off god that’s been locked up for thousands of years, isn’t he? He’s going to wake the Sleeping God. That’s his plan.”

  Red nodded.

  Damn it, Alexi, Emma thought.

  She turned to Telly, wishing she didn’t have to ask, but her pride was a small price to pay for saving Alexi’s life. “Are you with us?”

  But Telly didn’t look at her — all his attention was fixed on Red Sun. His eyes were darker than Emma had ever seen them, stormcloud cobalt, and his hair moved in the breeze of his own power. His ears were turning long and pointed. His skin was almost translucent, and the bones beneath glowed.

  With dawning apprehension, Emma knew there was a chance they were all in more danger now than they had been at the hands of the Brotherhood. She wasn’t afraid for herself — her capacity for self preservation when it came to Telly seemed to have died the instant she landed in his arms — but for everyone else it was a different story.

  She squashed her fear and reached out to him via the link they shared. Telly.

  His gaze slammed into hers. For a second she thought she’d made the ultimate mistake; power arced through the room, crackling blue and white, and Telly’s face lengthened like a slow and inexorable nightmare, his eyes two burning pale holes into eternity. The mark on Emma’s hand convulsed. Then his mind brushed hers.

  The strangest mix of sorrow and warning swirled through their connection, making Emma’s chest tighten. I have never lost, Em.

  She did a double-take. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is that a threat? Is there some competition going I wasn’t aware of?

  He jerked back, a little of the light fading from his eyes. What? No — I — no. He blinked. That is not what I meant.

  It’s not? Emma took a step around the end of the bed, never taking her eyes off him. Are you sure? You had better be sure, Telly, because a lot’s happened since you left, things that can’t be undone or taken back no matter how much I wish they could. This is my life. It is not a game, and I am done being the ball that gets kicked around between you and your kind. And if you’re still keeping score, then you’re damn fucking right, you’ve lost. Lost me. Forever.

  He just stared at her for a moment, frozen except for his hair, golden and rippling in his own power. And if I’m not keeping score?

  She swallowed, willing her legs to keep holding her up just a little longer. Then I’m here, aren’t I? And so are you. Emma moistened her lower lip with her tongue, tasting blood, praying for courage. But you’ll never look at Red Sun like that again.

  A muscle in Telly’s jaw ticked. You have nothing to fear from me, Em.

  She just looked at him. The moment stretched.

  Then, into the silence, the laptop chimed.

  All heads turned to Ivan. He bent over the computer, tapping a few keys. He grunted and glanced up at Red. “The GPS on Seshua’s phone just pinged. We have their location.”

  “You tracked Seshua’s phone?” Emma looked from Ivan to Red.

  “Wasn’t hard,” Red murmured, looking over Ivan’s shoulder. “Considering the wolves gave him the phone in the first place.”

  “But you planned this,” Emma said. “You intended all along to go after them.”

  Fern cleared his throat. “So did you.”

  Emma’s face grew hot. “Well yeah, but I thought I was being sneaky about it. And I didn’t know if it would work.”

  Telly snorted. “Does Seshua know he’s got so many dedicated babysitters?”

  “Fuckin’ hope not,” Leah said. Then, to Ivan: “How long will this apartment stay secure?”

  “As long as it needs to.” He dropped his voice, looking down at the laptop screen. “He’ll be safe here, until you can return for him. It will stay cool.�
� When he looked up from the computer, all softness was gone, and though he zeroed in on Emma, she knew his attention was on Telly. “If there’s nothing else…”

  Emma reached out for Fern’s hand, and wrapped his arm around her waist, fitting her back against the front of his body — not as snug as she’d have liked, given the tactical vests, but close enough. Close enough to feel like home. “Red?”

  He met her eyes. “If you’re ready, flower.”

  She nodded. “Get us out of here. All of us.”

  Red took hold of her wrist, his grip hot and unbreakable. “You do not leave my side.”

  “Sure.”

  “Emma…”

  Telly laughed. Red sighed. Then there was —

  — heat and rain and screams filling the night. Emma’s feet hit moist spongy ground and she stumbled, let go of Fern, and swore; had Fatima forgotten to put shoes on as well?

  No time, no time, cold magic stole into her lungs, stopping her breath and spiking her pulse. Then Telly touched her and she could breathe again. She blinked rain out of her eyes and saw where they were, and the sight made her forget for a second that Telly’s hand was on the back of her neck.

  The ground stretched away for miles, lush green slopes slick and black in the night, a rolling valley falling away before them. In the far distance, jungle moving like a living thing; closer than that, fire and lightning, and a stone monstrosity towering out of the valley wall below, larger than anything Emma had ever seen. Bigger than the temples of the jackals in Egypt, vaster than the cliff faces of the Brotherhood’s monastery, and so much older than the Mayan pyramids it resembled.

  “It’s the temple of the snake,” Red said next to her. “And they’re down there.”

  Screams — animal and human and something in between — punctuated his words. The temple was too far away to make out individual shapes; the air rippled and lights flashed, white and blue and electric green, and the air tasted like blood and lightning. Emma’s heart thundered in her chest. Alexi was down there. Seshua was with him.