Valiant Heart

by Angela Addams

  A full day had passed, and Ariana had yet to wake up. Greer had taken the women via Harper, which meant that they had an extreme head start. He was worried. More than worried. Getting to that point of being beside himself.

  What the hell had Greer done to her?

  He was leaning over her for the millionth time, ready to grab her shoulders and give her a good hard shake when her eyes flew open and she sucked in a deep gasp of air. Lance jumped back, his heart nearly pounding right out of his chest.

  “Holy shit, Ariana! You’re back!”

  She sat bolt upright, her eyes scanning wildly, one hand patting around, searching for…

  “Where the hell did that come from?” Next to her was a sword in a scabbard. Lance shook his head in confusion.

  Ariana gripped it with a sigh of relief and pulled it to her lap. “Where’s Greer?”

  Lance frowned, knowing that what he had to tell her would piss her off. “She left.”

  “Yes, I know,” Ariana gave her head a shake. “What I meant was, how long has she been gone?”

  “A day.”

  Ariana rubbed a hand down her face. “Ugh, I feel like shit.”

  “You’ve been out for two days. Greer told me what she did. The siphoning.”

  Ariana shifted her legs to the side of the bed, the sheet that covered her falling away to reveal her lush naked body. Damn if his cock didn’t immediately perk up.

  Knowing exactly what he was thinking, she rolled her eyes as she stood, nudging him out of the way. “I need to get dressed. We need to go after them.”

  Lance turned to follow her. “Are you feeling okay? Your powers?”

  Still carrying the sword, Ariana ignored his question and went into the bathroom, slamming the door shut in his face when he tried to follow her.

  She didn’t seem weak. In fact, she seemed totally normal. Bitchy attitude firmly in place.

  A few minutes later and she was out rummaging around the dresser drawers, picking out underwear, a bra, tank top, leather pants all the while still holding the sword, like she was loath to separate herself from it.

  “Are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on?” He blocked her way back to the bathroom. “Where the fuck did you get that sword?”

  With an angry glare she tried to side step him. She shook her head when he blocked her again. “Artemis gave it to me.”

  Lance snorted, arms crossed “Artemis? As in the Goddess?”

  “And that’s why I wasn’t saying anything.” She pushed him aside, her strength definitely not an issue. “She told me that you’ve all lost your faith, you Hunters.”

  “You’re supposed to be weak. That’s what Greer said.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not.” She moved into the bathroom again. “Artemis unshackled me.” She gave him one last withering glare and shut the door again.

  Artemis had given her powers back to her. Or more like Greer hadn’t taken them away in the first place. The story of Artemis and her role in the birth of the Huntresses and Hunters was a legend, a folktale.

  When he’d joined the Order at the age of fifteen, he remembered thinking it was a pile of horseshit. He took it as an allegory. A metaphor for the fantastical world of werewolves that he’d been suddenly thrust into. No Hunter had ever experienced any message or guidance from Artemis. No scholar had ever indicated she was real. He believed in werewolves because he’d seen them with his own eyes. He’d cut them down with his sword. He’d been sprayed by blood and had flesh torn from his body from fangs and claws. His reality was fucked up compared to the average human male, but he wasn’t about to buy into the idea of a goddess speaking to a group of rebooted Amazons, not without some proof. First-hand proof.

  As far as Lance was concerned, if Artemis existed she would have stepped in years ago to save her Huntresses from the Burning Times and the purging that had happened at the hands of the Order. His gut wasn’t having it. As much as he was willing to accept the idea of magic bonds and Huntresses with powers, the genetic possibility of nature creating powerful creatures to combat monsters, he just couldn’t believe in a deity that would abandon her creations for centuries only to return now. There was more to this story. A reality that Ariana’s faith was blinding her to.

  When she emerged again, she was fully dressed, her hair in a ponytail, the sword holstered on her back. “I’m assuming you’re coming with me?”

  Lance motioned to the set of bags he’d prepared at the door. “You bet your ass I am.”

  “They say what direction they were traveling?” She moved to the bags and squatted, opening both in turn. Her sickles lay in between the two. She picked up the holster and slung it over her shoulder.

  “Deep north, Lazarus’s old territory. They have a good head start.”

  She sneered as she stood, one bag in her hand. “Yeah, Greer is thinking I’m not going to make it there on time. She’s trying to keep me out of the battle.”

  “Because she’s a control freak.”

  Ariana glared at him. “Because she’s trying to keep me alive. She doesn’t know I have my powers back.”

  Lance stepped toward her, anger bubbling again. “When are you going to fucking clue in that she does not always have your best interests at heart? That she is doing things to meet her own agenda?”

  “And when will you fucking realize that that’s all she has in her heart? Her best interests are also mine. That is the Amazon way.” She opened the door. “I’m not stupid, Lance. I stand with Greer but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to her. For the time being, her goals and mine are the same. You coming or what?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Half-Truths

  Okay, so technically I’d lied. I was weak. I felt like I’d been run over by a dump truck and hardly had the energy make it across the courtyard to the pantry cabin, but I’d be damned if I was going to let Lance in on that.

  The sword thumped against my back, heavier than I’d expected especially with all that it symbolized. My path was clear though. Sever my bond, free Lance, become a champion to wronged Huntresses. Seemed like a perfect fit.

  Except…

  I blew out an angry breath, except that message wasn’t meshing with my gut well and that pissed me off. The sticking point? Severing the bond meant that Lance would return to being a human, no longer a Hunter, and although I didn’t know him all that well, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be okay with that. Not at all.

  I flung open the cabin door and stomped inside, bee-lining directly for the food stores. Hoping that a little nourishment would give me an energy boost.

  I pulled out a box of protein bars. “We need to eat and then get our asses on the road.”

  Lance opened the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water, handing one to me as I traded him for a bar. “I get your stubborn need to be involved, but don’t think I haven’t noticed the way your feet are dragging. Why not sit this one out, Ariana?”

  I speared him with a hard look. “Sit this one out? Like some kind of game?” I took a bite, hating the taste but forcing it down anyway, my stomach growling at the promise of more.

  “You may have gotten your powers back but you’re not acting like yourself.”

  “I have a lot on my mind.” Which was the understatement of the century.

  “What did Artemis tell you?” He unwrapped a bar for himself and took a bite.

  “You don’t really believe I spoke to her.” I cocked an eyebrow and shook my head.

  He shrugged, a wry smirk on his lips. “I believe that you believe you did. Tell me what she said.”

  I moved over to the table, depositing my water and bars there. He was right, food or not, my energy was just not what it should be. I pulled a chair out and sat, the sword forcing my spine ridged as it fit awkwardly against the back of the chair, giving me more of a support than it should have. “I have t
o get to Greer. Artemis told me that Kelly has some kind of prophecy trapped in her mind that only Andrew can access. A serious game changer.”

  Lance’s eyes shot wide. “That’s it? That’s the super important info she gave you?”

  “Fuck!” I rubbed my hand over my face, feeling a headache coming on. “That’s exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”

  “You’re not being straight with me.” Lance speared me with a hard look. “I don’t get it—what’s the big deal? Greer is taking Kelly to Andrew. She’ll be able to access the big bad prophecy. Why the rush to get to the women? You’re barely able to walk—why kill yourself over this?”

  I shrugged, feigning indifference, while my mind raced through all the possible lies I could tell him, discarding them one at a time. He had my number, knew when I wasn’t being honest.

  “Let me guess.” Lance leaned forward. “Greer has plans to kill Andrew and claim Kelly for the tribe?”

  I swallowed a gulp of water, nearly choking on it as I did, and wiped my hand over my lips. “How long have you had it figured out?”

  Lance eyed me for a full minute, puzzle pieces obviously clicking into place. He leaned back. “Not until this moment.” He mumbled a curse. “I knew there was something fucked up about this situation.”

  “Greer has plans to free Kelly from the bond that Andrew used against her when he kept her in that coma to serve the needs of the Order. As far as Greer is concerned, Andrew must die so that Kelly can take her life back.”

  And to make Kelly malleable with grief so that all she could see was the warmth and comfort from her Amazon sisters. Artemis had been feeding us messages that Kelly was vital to our survival for months, nudging us to go and seek her out. We’d all assumed that meant Kelly needed to become an Amazon. I had a feeling, a very strong feeling, we were totally wrong about that. Even after Kelly got the prophecy, she would still need her bond to Andrew. She was one of those Huntresses who needed a Hunter. I had to get to Greer before she did anything disastrous.

  “You know I’m not going to let that happen, right?” Lance dumped the rest of his protein bar in the garbage. “Andrew’s a Hunter of the Order and I will stop Greer from murdering him. Kelly needs him too. I won’t let her suffer for Greer’s ambition.”

  I sighed, too tired to argue. “For once, you and I agree.”

  He snapped his head back a bit, clearly caught off guard.

  “There’s something kinda fucked up about this whole situation and I’m not totally sure Greer is thinking straight on the correct course of action. I need to find her before she does anything irreversible.”

  “Hallelujah!” Lance threw his hands up. “The woman finally sees the truth.”

  I shot him a dirty look but said nothing as I pushed myself up from the chair.

  “Trekking on foot is going to be slow going with the way you’re dragging your ass,” his tone teasing.

  I was not amused. “We’re not going on foot.”

  “Oh no?” His eyes lit up, interest piquing; minutes later, we were wheeling out two dirt bikes from the large shed. I kicked the stand then went back for helmets.

  “We’ll take these into wolf territory. Should be there by noon and then we’re heading in on foot.” I tossed him a helmet before putting mine on. “I know a shortcut, should put us within a day of Greer. She’s going to be moving slower than us and has to stop a lot to figure out where Andrew is.”

  “Kelly’s bond—isn’t it supposed to be guiding them?” Lance swung his leg over the bike.

  “In part, yeah, but instinct can only go so far. There are some rituals that can be performed.”

  Lance snorted. “Rituals, yeah, so we’ll catch up in no time.”

  I sighed, rolled my eyes and got on my own bike. I started it up a second after that. Fucking men. Artemis was right. The Hunters were all about downplaying the role of the Huntress and ignoring any and all mystical connection to the old ways.

  Well, except for the bonding part—sex and loyalty didn’t get totally abandoned by the Order.

  I snorted. How could Artemis think that anyone would be able to unite the chasm that had been formed over the years?

  With a nod in his direction, I revved the engine then took off, leaving a plume of dust behind me.

  We hit the forest edge by midday, stopped to eat and then loaded up with backpacks and weapons and headed into the trees. Food had helped to a certain degree and every once in a while, I would get little sparks of my old self. But Lance was right, my feet were dragging and I was tired. I cursed Greer for the hundredth time as I tripped over a fallen branch, nearly knocking myself out on the trunk of a tree.

  “Whoa there.” Lance was at my side in an instant, his hands steadying me as I righted myself.

  I shook him off. “I’m okay.”

  “Like hell you are.” He pointed to the ground. “Sit.” He swung his backpack around and pulled out a water bottle. “Drink.”

  I wanted to argue, but my parched throat screamed at the sight of liquid. “Fine.” I slumped down, my muscles so sore a throbbing ache radiated from my toes to my head.

  He pulled out a package of beef jerky and tossed it to me. “You need some protein.”

  “Thanks.” I opened it. The smell of teriyaki beef was actually welcoming.

  “I’ve got to admit, when you first woke up and you seemed fine, I thought the whole siphoning thing was bullshit. I thought that Greer might have been talking out of her ass.” He sat down across from me. “But seeing you over the past few hours, the way you’re so bogged down, lethargic, yeah, she definitely fucked you up good.”

  I snorted bitterly as I swallowed a piece of meat. “Yeah, she’s good at what she does.”

  “And you say Artemis unshackled you?” He took a gulp of his water.

  “She did, but she said…” I paused, my face growing warm with embarrassment, as if I could admit that I needed him to bolster me. “She said it would take some time to filter back.”

  He lowered his bottle and nodded. “Uh huh. She say anything else?”

  His tone was patronizing and it pissed me off. “Listen, I get it. You don’t buy all the Goddess stuff. You and every other Hunter out there, raised by the Order, indoctrinated by half-truths and chauvinistic ideals. I don’t care if you don’t believe me, I know what I saw, what I felt.” I twisted my back to show him the sword. “What I got from my meeting with Artemis.”

  Lance snickered as he took another sip. “Yep, that’s pretty solid evidence that something otherworldly happened.” He dug into his pack again and pulled out another protein bar. “I know you think I’m some Neanderthal with no brain, bowing to my vows, wholly committed to the Order.” He took a bite, spoke while he was chewing. “But you’ve got that all wrong.”

  I snorted. No, I had him all figured out. Brainwashed by the Order from the time he was a kid, vowing to put the Hunters above all others. I knew all about what happened at Wolves’ Bane, not to mention the other Order strongholds. My dad had spent my entire life educating me on their ways. Was it biased? Hell yes, but in that bias I had seen truth. Many, many times. Our history spoke of it. Hunters against Huntresses, undervaluing our role.

  “I didn’t grow up with the Order. I wasn’t from an Order supporting family.” His smile was lopsided. “I know that’s what you think.”

  “That’s irrelevant.”

  “My life is irrelevant?” He scoffed as he mockingly rubbed his chest. “Ouch, Huntress, that was a low blow.”

  I shrugged, determined to stay cool and unaffected. “It’s the truth.”

  “You’re not the only one with a fucked up story, lady,” Lance said as he stood, holding his hand out as if to help me up.

  I sealed the bag of jerky and slapped it into his hand, ready to push myself up without his help.

  He grabbed my hand and the bag, pull
ing me into him as he did. He looked down at me, his eyes dark, searching for something. “You can push and push, Ariana, but I’m not going anywhere.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, ready to brush him off with another shitty comment when he kissed me. Not raunchy or aggressive. His lips came down on mine and he sucked, and then licked his way inside.

  And I melted. I fucking melted.

  When he let me go I was dizzy with a surge of strength. Ah, fuck. Fuck it all to hell!

  “By the time I’m done with you, you’re gonna be madly in love with me.” He winked before turning his back to me and heading to the trail. “And if you’re lucky, I’ll kiss ya again, give you another boost.”

  Yeah, right. I scoffed.

  And yet, somewhere deep down, the possibility of that scared the shit out of me.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Sword-Play

  “Let me see that sword of yours.” Lance turned to face her, walking backward down the trail.

  Ariana winced as he narrowly missed being bonked on the head by a low hanging branch. That was a good sign. At least she cared about his head.

  “No.” She continued forward, her walk a little more bouncy than it had been.

  He wasn’t so arrogant to think it was all about his kiss, but he knew it was all about his kiss. She needed him. His touch, his affection, regenerated her powers faster. He could see that; sadly, she couldn’t. But he’d decided that no matter what she did, or what she said, it was not what she really wanted, or needed for that matter. He wasn’t lying when he said he would make her fall for him. There was nothing more important to him than to get her heart opened to him. He knew, knew he could heal all her aches with the devotion he felt toward her, his Huntress. She just needed to come around to his way of thinking.

  “You don’t trust me?” He scoffed. “I’ve been training with a sword for my whole life. I know how to use one.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t from an Order supporting family.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And yet you’ve been training your whole life?”