Fanged Fury (The Adventures of Sydney Sedrick Book 3)

by Mandi Casey

  The sound of Morris’ growl echoed against the dark wood paneling of the dining hall’s walls as he swung Matt around by his arm and leg. Morris had generated so much energy that when he released Matt, the momentum sent the southern wolf streaming through the air until his head and back struck hard against the far wall. The sound of splintering wood pierced the room as Matt crumpled to the ground.

  He didn’t get up.

  Adaira’s sharp intake of breath brought my attention to her as she rounded the dining table and went to check on Matt. Morris and Blake blocked her path and she struggled to move through them.

  Morris’ face changed back to his human one and said, “He’s a wolf, my love. No need to spoil him with your healing. He needs to learn the hard way he shouldn’t attack the heir to our pack, especially not here in the den with all the wolves to see.”

  I looked to the entrance of the hall and spied a good twenty wolves standing there in silence. They stood sentinel, waiting for a signal to enter the fight and protect their leaders. They must have either heard the yelling and wood splintering, or they heard through their communication bond a fight had broken out and their heir was in danger. Morris and Blake had a lot of backup, should they choose to exercise it.

  Adaira narrowed her eyes at both Morris and Blake and left the room in silent grace. I admired her for not causing a scene to further escalate the situation. The men knew how she felt about what had just happened. She’d earned great respect among the pack, and I could see why. The wolves put their heads down in deference as she passed. She wasn’t done. Her dignity wouldn’t allow her to embarrass herself in front of them or to yell at her husband and son in their presence. They would hear about it later. Until that time came to pass, she’d make them tiptoe on eggshells until she let them have it. Blake had once told me of her ability to control the entire pack with nothing but a narrowed gaze.

  The claw marks of Matt’s brand on my hip began to burn until they reached a white-hot pitch. My flesh felt so hot, I felt the need to check to see if blisters were forming, but I knew they weren’t.

  I had to get to Matt. He was the only one who could soothe the pain.

  Blake and Morris stood apart from the wolf still crumpled against the far wall of the dining hall. Neither paid me any mind. I stepped to the side to get around their muscular frames and made a dash for it.

  I was able to get to Matt before they could stop me. I knew they’d try from the growly curses they let out as I reached the Mobile wolf.

  Just as I reached down to touch Matt’s shoulder, I heard Blake’s voice split the air. “Sydney, no!”

  I’d never heard Blake’s voice laced with so much fear.

  Before I could think about what I was about to do, Matt rolled toward me with a wicked smile filled with jagged, bloodstained teeth.

  I felt the color drain from my face as the threat of losing consciousness became overwhelming.

  Rogue.

  Matt placed a hand around my neck like a vise and drew my face frighteningly close to his and yelled out to Blake, “If you want her to live, you’ll complete the bond. Otherwise, the Selected line dies here, tonight.”

  I couldn’t look at Blake because Matt’s hand wouldn’t let go of my head. His mouth was filling with foamy saliva and the stench of his breath grew rancid.

  Blake’s footsteps came closer to us. I heard the hesitation in his step. My wolf wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t know either.

  “Unhand her, you vile piece of—”

  “Son,” Morris interrupted. “I think the Mobile wolf isn’t going to let this end any other way. Sydney’s life is in the balance. Think well on your next actions.”

  Matt curled his fingers inward so his fingernails began to pierce through the flesh on my neck.

  A booming voice filled the room. “Morris, thank you for having your wolf call me. I appreciate you allowing us to assist you in this matter.”

  At the sound of the man’s voice, I closed my eyes for a brief moment in relief.

  Kieran.

  “And here I thought she was relatively safe being at your home, Blake.” Daire’s words didn’t hide his view of Blake’s incompetence, but I was glad to know he was there, too.

  Matt’s eyes bulged as he realized an ancient, powerful vampire had entered the dining hall, and then they narrowed to angry slits.

  “Wrong move, wolf,” he said as he rose his free hand into the air.

  “No!” I heard someone shouting. The voice sounded a lot like Daire’s, but I couldn’t be sure.

  Matt swiped his clawed hand in a downward fashion across my neck and then just above the bend in my arm.

  The jagged slices in my flesh felt like scorching hot branding irons were being pressed into me as warm liquid pumped out of my wounds. He finally let go of me and pushed himself up into a crouched position, ready to fight the group of Others who stood before him.

  All the energy in my body seeped out as I slid to the floor, unable to hold myself up any longer.

  Michael and Brianna sprinted into the room. My heart clenched at that moment when my little sister’s eyes met mine while taking in the rest of the room. Michael began to transform into a wolf while standing right next to her.

  Brianna shrieked and moved away from him while clutching at her chest.

  My vision was clouding and I felt my consciousness slip away. I was grateful. Between the burning brand on my hip from Matt’s mark, and the clawed flesh where he gouged me, I needed a reprieve from the pain. I welcomed the darkness as sounds of a battle broke out in front of me.

  I opened my eyes when a man’s screams pierced my eardrums.

  Daire sidestepped to complete a circle around Matt, while Michael, Blake, Morris, and Kieran filled the rest of space around the Mobile wolf.

  Matt spit his words out with vengeance. “My father will kill all of you. This pack was supposed to fulfill the prophecy and, yet, here you stand, giving the Selected a choice? She should be locked in a wolf den and taken over and over again until she becomes with child. You are all fools to live like this, in this city, alongside vampires. The Moon Goddess will repay my pack for fulfilling her wishes.”

  Through hazy vision, I watched Brianna’s face pale as Morris and Blake began to transform into their wolves She shook her head, then glanced in my direction and locked gazes with me. She rushed over to me, then tilted my head to face her while putting pressure with her hand on the wound at my neck.

  She brushed the hair from my eyes and I turned my head back to the battle going on in the hall. I grabbed her hand and squeezed her when I heard a sob escape her.

  “Sydney, what is going on?” She began to rock me back and forth trying to comfort me.

  “Brianna, we have a lot to talk about, but we’ll do that later. Right now, we have to make sure our boys are safe.” My voice sounded strange, sort of sickeningly bubbly.

  I slowly climbed to my feet in time to see Matt take a swipe at Michael with his elongated claws. Brianna shrieked and dashed over to her boyfriend, now fully in wolf form.

  A moment of pride toward Brianna filled my heart. Despite not knowing werewolves existed, she still knew to follow her heart, and she loved Michael, apparently unconditionally.

  Matt leered at me as he headed toward Michael and Brianna. Half hunched over, I quickened my pace to cover the length of the hall to get to them when Daire stepped in my way.

  “Not today, my love.” He put a strong arm around my waist in time to keep me standing. A wave of wooziness washed over me. I was losing a lot of blood, fast.

  Matt ran at my sister and Michael. I screamed, or tried to but my mouth filled with blood. Matt leapt into the air toward them and finished his own transformation into a wolf. His wolf form was larger than Michael’s, but not as large as Blake.

 
Morris and Blake charged toward Matt as he continued his advance on Michael and Brianna. He began to run at top speed, taking another jump into the air, gaining momentum to strike out at Michael.

  Brianna put her hands up, as if to shield Michael from the blow.

  But Matt never made impact with either of them. He bounced off an invisible barrier protecting my sister and her wolf boyfriend, who even now I could she was petting like a beloved pet as she realized they were safe.

  I glanced into Daire’s eyes in question.

  Daire shook his head and said, “Don’t look at me, Sydney. Your sister seems to have been hiding something of her own, yes?”

  “What are you talking about?” The pain from the wounds in my neck and arm pulsated, making it difficult to speak and catch my breath, having to spit the blood out of my mouth as it continued to ooze inside from the clawed wound on my neck.

  Daire laughed. “Your sister is a witch, and from the strength of the shield spell she just cast, I’d say she’s quite a powerful one at that.”

  My attention turned back to the fight in time to see Matt circling around my sister. His attention focused on the pair inside of the shield. He never saw Blake coming.

  Blake rammed the Mobile wolf with his head toward the pack-sized dining room furniture. Blake didn’t give Matt time to recover from the assault. With a low growl toward me, Blake stepped over Matt’s wolf form and opened his jaw to reveal a row of razor-sharp teeth.

  The crack of Matt’s spine being broken under the force of Blake’s canines pierced the air.

  Blake howled toward the ceiling and stepped back from the lifeless form of the wolf. Then I watched in amazement as Blake, Morris, and Michael all began to shift.

  The lights went out, and I blissfully floated back to oblivion.

  My last thought before I fully blacked out was, Am I dying?

  Obnoxious beeping sounds brought my consciousness out from the blackness.

  Opening my eyes, I spied a pale woman with a white, knee-length lab coat leaning over me with a stethoscope.

  “What are you doing?”

  She jumped at the sound of my voice. “Oh, dear, you scared me. I didn’t think you’d be awake for quite some time.”

  The woman tipped her head back and the blazing red iris’ of her eyes began to shift from side-to-side at a rapid pace. She was communicating to someone. I had no doubt as to whom.

  A moment later, Blake, Morris, Kieran, and Daire shuffled into the room where I was sprawled out on a stretcher, hooked up to a heart monitor. I figured the blood hanging from the pole, dripping into plastic tubing connected to the little needle in my arm was to replace the blood I’d lost from the wounds Matt had inflicted upon me.

  If I didn’t know any better, Blake and Kieran had some seriously guilty expressions on their faces, because neither of them would look me in the eyes.

  “What’s going on with you guys?”

  And why did I have a copper taste in my mouth?

  Blake stepped forward just as two more people entered the exam room. Before I could see who it was, my sister’s voice spoke over the oversized men blocking my view.

  “I don’t care if she’s a vampire now. I want to see my sister!”

  Brianna pushed her way through the men standing around me and made her way to my side. Michael followed her path and stood silent between Blake and Morris.

  “I’m a what?” I glared at Kieran and Daire, because they were the only two in the room who could have done such a thing to me, without my permission no less.

  Kieran placed a hand on my foot. He no longer felt cool to me.

  “What did you do to me?”

  “Sydney.” Blake spoke up first. “We all did what we had to. Your life’s essence was dwindling to nothing. Kieran shared his blood with you to save you right before your body died from all the blood loss.”

  The reality of my being newly undead made my head swoon, and I was pretty sure I would have tossed my dinner had I still been a human.

  The copper taste in my mouth must have been from Kieran’s blood. I gagged at the thought of it not tasting as bad as it should have.

  Brianna grabbed my hand and gave it a good squeeze. Wow, she felt so warm. I glanced at her face and all I could see was the blood pulsating in the artery at her temple.

  I shook my head and closed my eyes to take my mind off of how good my sister smelled.

  When I felt composed, I opened my eyes again. “Blake, does this mean we can never really complete the bond?” Unable to help myself, I felt tears falling down my cheeks.

  “Oh, Sydney, don’t cry, you’ll get blood all over your face.” My sister smiled brightly at me as she grabbed my chin and dabbed my face.

  Blake lowered his head and said, “Sydney, my love, I have something to tell you. Actually, a couple of things.”

  I swatted my sister’s nervous hand away. “Blake, what aren’t you telling me?”

  “Before Kieran gave you his blood, I finalized our bond. I had hoped it would help give you strength from your wounds, to save you, but you were too far gone and we had to do something to keep you alive.”

  My arms and legs broke into goose flesh. Both leaders of the vampires and werewolves were standing next to each other, so what gives?

  Then it all came crashing down in a big bomb of clarity.

  “I’m a vampire bonded to a werewolf? Am I still the Selected?”

  Daire came to the other side of the stretcher and squeezed my calf. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’re still the Selected. I’ve seen your fate, and you’ll do well with these new turns of events. I saw you being attacked by the wolf, so I alerted Kieran before Morris’ wolf called the coven for assistance. Sydney, this was all meant to happen, every last detail.”

  I didn’t like the way Daire smiled at me, not one bit.

  “You’re a fate demon, aren’t you? Was this all your doing?”

  Daire bowed his head and said goodnight to everyone, promising to check in on me soon, then left, without answering my question.

  “Sydney, oh my gosh. There’s so much we have to talk about. Michael told me about him being a werewolf and you being the Selected, I knew I just had to come and be with you. Everything will be just fine. Don’t you worry about a thing.” Brianna patted my arm to reassure me.

  My baby sister was trying to comfort her newly turned vampire sister with a werewolf mate.

  I laughed then stopped short, surprised at my voice, deeper, more sultry.

  I also noticed my breasts had grown fuller and perkier. At least there were some benefits to being a vampire.

  The nurse snapped the cover over her clipboard and stomped through the crowd.

  Kieran stepped close and said, “You’ll stay here, in my coven, while you finish your change. You’ll grow thirsty, but don’t worry. We’ll be here to guide you along.”

  The coven leader smiled, both of his fangs hanging over his bottom lip.

  “But won’t the Elders be furious about the prophecy not being fulfilled?”

  Morris cleared his throat. “Sydney, you are now blood of our blood, and blood of the vampires as well. One day, if the Moon Goddess has her way, your child will bring a new day to us all, both the vampires and the werewolves. I believe that is what the prophecies have foretold of all along.”

  Blake smiled mischievously over his shoulder as we both watched Morris and Kieran nod and shake hands with one another.

  Imagine that. Vampires and werewolves in the same room getting along like old chums.

  I spied my sister smiling, despite the tears I knew she was trying to hold back.

  Brianna knew everything.

  And she was a witch.

  “Brie, don’t even think for a minute you’re off the hook.
How long have you known you were a witch?”

  Brianna stared at the floor for a second while her cheeks pinked with guilt.

  “I’ve known for a little while, but not long.” She smiled, trying to reassure me and make me less mad at her for keeping such a huge secret. I wasn’t anyone to give her a hard time about secrets; I’ve kept a few of my own.

  I observed the people standing around my stretcher and realized even though we all had our differences, it was possible for all of us to live here in the same city, and with some measure of peace.

  The leaders of the local vampire coven and werewolf pack were getting along.

  Tears of joy sprung out of nowhere and I quickly averted my sister’s mothering hand, armed with a fresh tissue.

  I had everything a girl could ever want.

  Then a thought crossed my mind as my heart skipped a beat.

  Daire was a Fate demon, and he had the power to make all of this happen. He said he would have me, that we would one day be together, and I knew he wasn’t saying we’d be just friends.

  What did the demon vampire have in mind, and what was he willing to do to make that happen?

  See Sydney’s beginnings in the first book

  of the Tales of Sydney Sedrick series:

  Bizzare Life of Sydney Sedrick

  After a rogue werewolf attack triggers her latent powers as the Selected, Sydney Sedrick is reluctantly dragged into a war of vampires and werewolves, both battling for total species domination. Each try to use her as their pawn and are willing to use any force necessary to gain control of her special gifts. For her protection, Sydney is armed with only her grandmother’s journal and Blake, the sexy werewolf who insists they are meant to be together.

  In order to succeed, Sydney must embrace her destiny and join the battle to protect both sides from genocide. Caught between two very different worlds, belonging to neither, Sydney is forced to risk it all, or lose everything and everyone she holds dear.