They seemed to shift all at once, strips of torn clothing bursting at the suddenness of it. Someone snapped their jaws as they threateningly nipped at my ankles, sending me stumbling back. I turned, only to find myself closer to those behind me. Quickly, I turned back towards the center but there was no escaping. Then, as if they were of one collective mind, they struck. White hot pain tore into me from all sides of my body: arms, legs, neck, shoulders, thighs and chest. I opened my mouth to scream but someone jumped up to pin me to the ground, their weight heavy on my chest, knocking the air from my lungs. When I regained my breath in a gasp, I screamed again.
Chapter Sixteen
Maeleigh
I stepped further away from the screaming AJ, careful not to stumble over my own feet. He lay crumpled on the ground, screaming and crying out in pain, but no one had touched him. At least, not in reality. It took only a few moments and a lot of energy, and I was feeling drained, but I finally managed to put the images in his head that allowed him to feel the wrath of his pack and the punishment they ached to deal out. I turned to look at all the shocked faces as they witnessed their ex-tormentor, or one of them, tremble in fear. After a moment, they each looked up at me in awe. I wondered if it was the fear or amazement – probably a lot of both – in their eyes that had me squirming. I glanced back to AJ and saw that he was unmoving, passed out from the shock of it. Though it was all an illusion I’d placed there, which I’m still surprised even worked, the mind was a powerful thing.
I couldn’t bear to look at Gearden, worried I might see the same incredulous look on his face when he looked back at me. He glanced at Bobby, and asked, “Do you find this acceptable?”
I threw him for a loop but he was able to scrape his jaw off the ground and look around at his fellow pack members. When he got small nods in response, he gave me one as well. With a cursory smile, I glanced at Gearden, finally, but only in my periphery, and walked away from the fire ring. No one went to check on AJ and I wasn’t surprised, given the treatment Peter was given after he’d lost in his fight with me. It was the way of the pack. There were some things I still hadn’t gotten used to and others I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to stomach.
I climbed into the jeep on my own, not really feeling very touchy-feely at the moment. Gearden slid into the driver’s seat just after and started the car. I tried to take my mind off what I’d just done, knowing that I needed to compartmentalize all that was happening around me. If I didn’t, something would get the better of me and I would sink into it. Then I would not be able to give the others the attention they required. Retrieving the contract was the one thing that required my full attention at the moment. If I allowed my feelings on other things to consume me, I may not come back fast enough. I could worry about everything else after we got the contract and figured out how to break it.
But everything I tried to redirect my thoughts failed. I couldn’t stop coming back to the way that I’d just violated AJ’s mind. Would it have been better if I’d let the pack deal out their own way of punishing him? Maybe it would have been more humane that way? It certainly felt less violating. But I still couldn't shake the idea that if I hadn't put those images in his head, he could be dead rather than just unconscious: if someone in the pack decided that he wasn’t worthy enough to rejoin. And I don’t believe there’s a rule that allowed me to intervene.
Soon, it became too much. “Pull over.” I called out in my mind. Not waiting to be told twice, Gearden immediately pulled to the side of the quiet road. The second the vehicle rocked to a stop, half in the gravel shoulder and half still in the road, I shoved open my door, puking all over the rocks and pebbles below. After a moment, I felt Gearden reach around and gather my hair, keeping it out of the way. When the heaving stopped, I weakly started to lean back. Instead of trying to work myself around to settle back into my seat, Gearden pulled me into him, letting me ease into his strength as I regained my own.
“You alright?” he asked gently. I could feel the tension in me but I appreciated him keeping it to himself. He always seemed to know what I needed. I guess that was just one more thing to like about being mates. Instead of pestering me with more questions, he just let me deal with it, seeing that I already had enough of an issue working it out on my own when all I wanted to do was put it in a box to deal with later.
A few minutes passed by and I began to feel steadier. I nodded to Gearden and he helped me to sit on my own. Once he was settled in his own seat, he pushed a button on his door and my window slid down. Smiling weakly at him, I rested my elbow on the window ledge and cradled my head with it, letting the wind hit my face, the chill like a balm to my feelings of self-doubt and harm to others. I fell asleep for the rest of the drive. I appreciated the rest because we hadn’t gotten much rest during our trip to and from New York and, to be honest, I think the magic I used on AJ had drained me a little as well.
I remember Gearden picking me up from the jeep and carrying me to my bed. I was vaguely aware of him tugging at my shoes until my toes were freed, then him pulling off my jeans, and covering me with the blankets before I grew cold. I don’t remember anything after that. When I woke though, he was with me in bed, and the hazy light filtering through the window told me it was near sunrise. Stretching I looked up and gazed at the window with the gray-blue light behind the curtain.
“You need to be careful,” said a voice behind me. I lurched and turned around to see Danu sitting at my desk. She was gazing at me worriedly. I looked down at Gearden to see if he was still sleeping, but then, I realized that I probably was too, if her appearance was any indication.
I didn’t ask her to clarify what I needed to be careful of. We were going after the contract next, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be all cupcakes and rainbows. Still gazing at Gearden’s face, soft and relaxed in sleep, I asked, “Did you know where it was?”
She didn’t answer, and I knew better than to have really expected an actual answer. Nothing in our past conversations indicated anything would be different. She was almost as bad as Dad, the way she kept secrets too.
“Promise me that you’ll be careful. Where you’re going is filled with magic and people who want you to fail, at any cost.” She looked paler this time; like I probably had been the night before.
Sitting up in bed, I looked at her. “You make it sound like I’m going to some other planet.” A short chuckle escaped me before I considered what we had both just said. Then I suddenly asked, “Wait! Am I going to another planet or dimension or whatever?”
She stood up quickly and walking slowly to the window I had been staring at a few minutes ago, said, “You might as well be.”
I sighed in frustration but if I’d learned anything from our past conversations, it was that I couldn’t pull any information out of her that she didn’t want to give. So, I used another tactic. “Can I trust Queen Selena?”
For a second, she looked confused, hesitating, probably surprised at my question. Then, “Yes,” she told me. “But you still must be careful with what you take from her. She is powerful and a leader of her people. She will want to protect them at all costs.”
I wondered if she knew the term “clear as mud” and if she came about her murky answers naturally. Still, I had got what I needed. For now, I could trust the queen, even though she’d kept the whereabouts of the proph … I mean, contract to herself.
I noticed that I was wringing my hands, rubbing them and then starting over again. Damn, they weren’t put away yet – my thoughts from last night. I had hoped the sleep would put them to rest for now. Obviously, I was wrong.
“What is it?” she asked softly. I looked up to watch her turn away from the window and come near the bed. When her eyes locked on mine, the magic in her gaze was far from godly and more maternal, not letting me pull away and into myself. Nervous still, I looked down at my hands again, thinking they might as well have blood on them from the way I felt about the night before.
After a moment, I murmured,
“Did I do the right thing? Last night, I mean. I can’t help thinking that I tampered with his mind. It just feels…wrong.”
Slowly, she perched on the edge of the bed, reaching a hand to place atop of mine, stilling my fidgeting. “In the moment, you did the only thing you could think of in order to prevent bloodshed and someone’s possible death. You weighed your options like a true leader would and I am so proud of you.” Her words felt like I’d just stepped out of a confessional with a full pardon. And, in a way, I guess I had. I gave her a shaky smile, letting her know I heard and felt her words. Pleased that I was feeling a little better, she patted my hand and stood up, striding back to the window. With a frown I watched the way she peered out of it, like she was actually looking for something now. Or someone.
“What is it? Who are you expecting to see in my dreams?” I asked her, standing to look out as well.
She didn’t bother to deny it or to look away. Instead, she murmured, “The fact that you still believe this to be your dream astounds me, Maeleigh.”
I heard a noise; something that niggled at the back of my brain before it was gone. Perplexed, I zeroed my gaze back onto her. “What do you mean by that? Where else would we be?”
She turned to give me her most amused smile yet. “Where indeed?” And she slowly started to disappear.
I was getting used to these sorts of nights because that time I blinked awake normally. That feeling of being out of sorts after seeing Danu in my dreams, was gone now. My dreams. I recalled what she’d said about her visits not being dreams. Another thing to stow away in a box to worry about later.
Gearden chose that moment to roll over and the sudden tickle of pins and needles in my arm made me realize that he must have been sleeping on my arm. Sometime in the night after he’d come to bed, we must have tangled with one another in our sleep. I gazed down at him, watching as he turned his head a little and wakened gradually. There is nothing like waking up with Gearden: the heat under the covers that is ten times warmer with him in it; the scent of him that helps calm me during restless nights; the smile on his face when he wakes up and first looks at me. There, just like the one he wore now. It told me he loved me, all the while admiring me with his eyes.
Need brewed within me so fast, that when I pressed a kiss to his lips, I felt his lips catch on his teeth, but I didn’t dare slow and he seemed to be riding the same wave I was on. Swiftly, he managed to somehow plant his hand on the mattress, push up and slide me beneath him. The coarse hairs on his legs rubbing along my smoother ones reminded me that he had removed my pants the night before. It sent a new wave of desire shooting through me. I delved my tongue past his lips and met his as he licked past my own. We didn’t need words then. Just feeling. He gripped my left wrist and stretched my arm up over my head, holding it there as he pushed down my underwear. With my other hand, I tried to assist him and together we managed to get it out of the way. He was ready too. I could feel him pressed against my belly. He tore his mouth away from mine to watch me as we made love, forgetting the rest of the world for just a few more minutes.
Chapter Seventeen
Gearden
The sun had fully risen and the rest of the house was up and about by the time Maeleigh and I made it downstairs for breakfast. I’d relayed all that had happened with AJ and the Westboro pack after I’d tucked her in last night, and gotten an update from Ro. The queen had left before we returned, but not before informing Liam and Ro that she’d return in the morning. She didn’t give a time and it was poor etiquette for Dad to ask, so we were on borrowed time with getting everyone caught up.
Downstairs was bustling with activity. Young and old wolves were gathered, but only those that we felt could play a necessary part in the plan. We needed to use our wits and not rely on numbers, especially since we would be breaking and entering. In the kitchen, Bri was leaning against the counter, cuddling a cup of steaming coffee and chatting with Freya and Caleb as they peeled oranges. Hearing our approach, Bri turned and came to meet us. Holding her mug out to the side, she wrapped Maeleigh in a tight one-armed hug. After this, she pulled back to look my mate over, taking stock. She probably saw the same worry and stress that I did in that still beautiful face. But there was no helping it. She didn’t need to put the coffee down to sign a one handed “Okay?” I had at least grasped that much in the way of signing.
Maeleigh nodded and asked the room, “Are we having a meeting?”
Bri nodded to me. “He was up late last night, along with our dads and Ro. Came up with a plan on how to get this prophecy.” She signed at the same time as she was speaking, but it was so broken up, that I wondered if Maeleigh got anything out of it. Then I realized she understood that her friend was trying to learn her language, and here I was barely picking up the simple gestures and slang. Mentally, I kicked myself and made a note to myself to ask Sally for some private lessons.
Sally’s ears must have been burning because she walked in just then, putting her large purse (or was it a bag? – the thingie) on the table and peeling off her coat which she slung over one of the chairs. Smiling, she greeted all of us, signing for Maeleigh. “Good morning!”
I smiled at her and nodded to the coffee. “Better grab a cup before we get started.” She looked like I’d just pointed her to water and she were on a dessert island as she eagerly went about getting a cup fixed for herself. I turned and saw the Cearer enter through the backdoor. Julie wasn’t wearing her usual optimistic smile. Rather, she wore a somber expression that was being worn by the rest of her Cearer peers. They gathered just inside by the door, looking as if they’d entered into uncharted territory. Friend or foe, they were wondering.
Maeleigh turned to look at them, and then she smiled at James and said, “We found Zerena.”
He didn’t move, unclear of where she was going with that statement. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She eyed him curiously, sizing him up for a moment. Then she took mercy on him and said, “Thank you.”
We all could see the mild surprise he showed before reverting to his usual moody self. He nodded to her, though, in acknowledgement. Julie tilted her head at the olive branch that had just been extended to her and her partners as a collective.
While we were gone yesterday, Dad had informed her and the rest of the Cearer of Maeleigh’s possible involvement in the prophecy, her partial wolf form and what she could do with her magic. He said they didn’t have a response when he waited to answer any questions; they simply asked for more details and clarification. It made him and me both nervous that they were keeping their feelings on the subject under wraps. They were judge, jury and executioner at the moment. If they deemed Maeleigh to be a threat, we’d have a major problem on our hands. No one in our pack, starting with me, would ever let them take Maeleigh away. Now, to see if they were believers in the prophecy or not.
We all adjourned to the conference room with Dad and Danny taking their usual seats at the head of the table, while I, Bri, Ro, Caleb and Freya took positions to Danny’s right. That left the Cearer to sit across from us. Sally stood behind James where Maeleigh could see her and started signing even before we all got settled. Though we all had issues that needed dealing with, it seemed that everyone came in focused on the problem at hand: retrieving this contract from a supposedly dangerous dude.
We were only missing one person and no one dared to call her for an ETA.
Dad started. “Thank you all for coming. I believe we are all well informed on why we’re here this morning, but just in case anyone needs a recap …” he eyed everyone, making sure that he had the room’s attention “… the prophecy is real. We’ve recently learned that it is actually a contract. The contract.” He waited for the surprised reactions from the Cearer to settle. When the room had quieted again, he continued. “We have also found its location and a way to break it.”
Pierce didn’t hesitate to interject. “What do you mean, break it?”
“I mean …” Dad answered, “…that there is a way
we can dissolve the contract that has kept our ancestors, the faerie, underground for centuries.”
Pierce looked down at Italia, an unspoken discussion happening before they came back to what Dad was telling all of us. “Maeleigh, apparently, is the only one who can touch it, with her hybrid blood.”
“Wait a second,” Julie rose, a stalling hand to her shoulder. “Do we even want to dissolve it? I mean, have you even considered what that would mean for the rest of the world?”
Though her peers looked uncomfortable, it was those on the other side of the table who stared at her incredulously.
“You mean are they ready to finally right a wrong and release an entire species from their centuries-long prison that was only managed through treachery and lies?” The queen asked, striding in slowly. She stared down at the other woman, making her drop her glance to the wood of the table.
We all knew what Selena was speaking about. The last war between the fae and humans had started like any other war: over land and power. The faerie wouldn’t allow the conquering humans, now known as Romans, to enter Ireland. Our ancestors were winning the war until suddenly, a traitor, Amergin, sold our secrets and fought against his people. He held secrets against them that tied their hands, forcing them to sign the contract that forced them underground forever. Of course, there were refugees and survivors that later evolved to us, the other-worlders – the vampires, lycan and druids – or simply remaining faerie as their magic fizzled out from being separated from the heart of their magic, the Seelie king. Queen Selena was one of those faeries. She maintained some of her magic, like a druid would, but nowhere near what she had been able to do before the connections with her goddess and king were severed.
The Kill: Book 3 in The Hunt Series Page 13
