Thalia’s lips pressed into a thin line. She was silent for a long moment before she chose to speak again. “You’re right. I still think you’re a bitch, though.”
Nora shrugged. “That’s fair. I still think you’re a brat.”
Nora secretly ached for simple mornings again. She wished she could turn back time and wake in her soft bed as if this were all a bad dream. Her eyes would crack open to the morning rays and the smell of coffee would drift on the air. Her mate would climb into bed behind her and wrap his arms around her middle to remind her she’d never be alone again.
Her heart stuttered when she realized she’d replaced Walter with Javier. No longer did she yearn for what she’d lost. Nora wanted Javier beside her in the simple life she hungered for. There was no one else who could fill that space.
Nora gritted her teeth and pushed forward. When was the last time she’d slept? Her limbs felt heavy, but she found the strength to lift them. One foot, then the other.
“You don’t look so good. Are you sure you don’t want to rest? I can call the rest of the Pack and we can all look for him.”
“It won’t work that way. He’ll either run or attack them. You and I are the only ones he won’t kill in this condition.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t hurt…”
Nora cut her a look. “You might want to think the best about your brother, but like it or not he is a shell right now. This isn’t the man you grew up with, and you need to face that. One way or another, we’re going to get his soul back, but he does not have it right now. That makes him a threat.”
The young shifter’s throat bobbed. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Thalia hadn’t wanted to face the facts. While she’d been enjoying a small honeymoon with her new mate, Nora had been the one dealing with the fallout of all they’d done. It was Nora’s fault, but Thalia would still have to come to terms with reality.
Thalia looked away. “Do you think we’ll ever fix him?”
“I’ll die trying.” Nora stalked away from the young shifter. This was a bad idea. She should have come out alone. They weren’t making any progress. Their constant bickering was slowing them down.
While they argued over the situation, Javier could be anywhere. The mountains sprawled over several states. Virginia wasn’t that large. He might have crossed state borders. He might even be hidden in a distant valley. They wouldn’t know until they found him.
“Alright, well, if we’re going to get anywhere, we might as well do this right.”
Nora turned to find Thalia peeling off her shirt. “What are you doing?”
Thalia tossed her shirt at Nora and started on the button of her jeans. “I’m going to shift. If he’s anywhere nearby, he’ll hear my howl. I’ll ruin my voice to find him. One way or another, we’re taking him home today.”
Thalia started to mutter about her skinny jeans, struggling to get out of them, and about how the tables had turned to make her brother need her help too much. Nora could only stand back and watch Thalia begin to shift. She was right; her voice would carry through the mountains and reach Javier’s ears before they could track him.
If they could bring Javier to them, it would cut their search short by hours. Nora could only hope he was still around to hear. She figured, from the tracks they followed, that her mother never succeeded in getting her claws into him.
***
His mind twisted. The human voice was buried deep, his screams nothing more than faint whispers. The wolf reigned, slowly prowling through the mountains. It belonged to him. The sprawling valleys and rising peaks, the hidden caverns and smooth lakes, it all belonged to him.
The sound of crackling undergrowth perked his ears. He slowly stood, muscles primed to strike while his eyes searched his territory. Through the haze of spring growth, he spotted bright pink and blue. The packs slung on their backs made his eyes hurt, the colors too bright. Their voices drifted to him, but the words meant nothing.
All the wolf knew was that they were trespassing. No one trespassed on his territory.
Inch by inch, paw by paw, he crept forward. His body made no sound in his territory. He knew how to be silent.
He was feet away from them, and they didn’t notice. The trespassers droned on and on. Skin gleamed in the light, pale pink and dark brown. The beast measured up the creatures, walking on two legs and making too much noise. This wasn’t their mountain. They didn’t belong here.
He would chase them away from his home. He would send them back where they’d come from.
What is my personal monster up to?
Her voice cut through him like a sharp blade. He whimpered and dropped. The trespassers jumped and spun around. Their screams of alarm split through the air before they turned to run.
Did you think you could hurt humans when I made you to hunt other things?
He couldn’t be free of her. The beast roared and thrashed, but her voice would not leave his mind. She poked at his thoughts, plucking them like the strings of an off-tune instrument. The enchantress entered his mind without invitation. She had the key.
I made you, my monster. You hunt that which shouldn’t exist. You hunt your own kind. Kill them before they can hurt anyone else.
Her voice echoed. He pushed against it, but he couldn’t push back the images that followed. She fed him scenes of his sister, dead. She showed him what would happen to Nora if she was bitten, burned from the inside out by magic. It made him howl. He wouldn’t let that happen.
Monsters needed to be stopped before they hurt anyone he loved.
The human voice roared, but it was still trapped too deep. The beast could not hear what he had to say, the beast’s fury too loud. It roared and crackled like an open flame. It would devour anything that crossed his path.
He would ensure the safety of his own.
Good, monster. You’ll serve me well. The enchantress’s voice thrummed along his soul. He felt it, as if he were simultaneously there and somewhere else. He felt it inside him, as though she were there, dancing along his spine.
Chapter Ten
Thalia walked on four feet. She stayed near Nora’s knees the whole time, keeping an eye on the forest. Nora didn’t know what it was like to change shapes. If she were to guess, she would say Thalia’s senses had sharpened because the shifter jumped and tensed at every small sound as if it were an explosion.
Every twenty minutes, every mile deeper into the mountains, they stopped, and Thalia lifted her muzzle to the sky. She would let out a howl that shook through the trees. It called for Javier, and Nora could only hope he could hear it. Each consecutive howl grew hoarser until Thalia could barely whimper.
She pressed on, though. Thalia wasn’t going to let up. The young shifter was determined, and nothing would stop her. Each time, Nora scanned the woods to see if anything came crashing in their direction. Disappointment turned her stomach and weighted her limbs each time she saw nothing.
It was starting to feel as though they were going about this all wrong. What else could Nora have done to find Javier? She was sure her mother had a hundred tactics up her sleeve, prepared for every circumstance. Cordelia would have Javier exactly where she wanted him. The woman had been obsessed with Javier’s form ever since she first laid eyes on him. The massive shifter was a force of nature, one Cordelia felt compelled to control.
It spoke a lot about Cordelia’s nature that she would feel the need to control such a beast. How the daughter of such a power-hungry creature was mated to him would forever be beyond Nora. She didn’t feel as though she deserved anything so great, even if it did tear them apart moment by moment. Perhaps that was what Nora deserved. A relationship so rocky and uncertain that her life would never feel normal again.
Nora only wished Javier had not been pulled into it. He did not deserve what was happening. The man she fell for was too good for this. Hell, even without his soul, he was still too good for this world. She pressed her eyes shut, fighting back tears of frustration and exhaustion.
She needed sleep. She needed her mate. She needed this to be over. The list went on and on, but Nora didn’t know how to start fixing all that was wrong. All she could do was listen to Thalia let loose another, gravelly howl. Nora didn’t know how much longer they could keep this up. Her body was starting to shut down. Thalia’s voice was disappearing. Sooner or later, they were going to have to hunker down and rest.
The howl echoed off the mountains, and they waited with bated breath as silence stilled the valleys. No creature dared during the moment that stretched on. Nora was about to give up and fall to the ground when another howl rocked through the valley below.
Thalia let out a gleeful yipping sound and burst forward. Nora tried to call out. Her heart soared only to flip. Anxiety rose and tightened her chest. This felt wrong. She had no premonition abilities, but she knew that there was something wrong with her mate. Nora had listened to his howls for too long not to know. This was the howl of her mother’s monster.
“Thalia, stop! He’s not right!”
But, the wolf didn’t listen. She leapt down the hill, toward the source of the sound. Nora followed. She would never forgive herself if something happened to the silly girl. Worse, Javier would never forgive himself if he hurt his sister. Nora had to do something.
But, what? She had no power, no tricks up her sleeves. Woefully unprepared, Nora worried she wouldn’t be enough to stop the nightmare that was about to occur.
She skidded down the hill after Thalia. Rocks and dirt clods flew into the air around her. They scraped her hands and cheeks, but she ignored the stinging pain. Nora couldn’t stop now. She had to reach Thalia before Javier did something he regretted. The idea of her mother inside Javier’s head turned her stomach.
Had her mother succeeded in her original mission? There was no knowing how much of a monster she had made of him. The beast inside Javier was devoid of emotion, nothing more than a creature of instincts with no compass. Cordelia would make herself the compass, directing him at whatever enemies she saw.
Cordelia would not tell Javier to kill his sister. Nora had to trust that. Even if Cordelia had Nora’s magic, she still needed souls for her own dark version of power.
***
Stop them. Kill them. They are the threat.
She repeated the words over and over until it was all the beast could hear. His mind was filled with the drive to stop the pain. He needed to make the world safe again. For his sister. For his mate.
The shifters were the threat. They hurt without reason. They hunted humans. He would stop them.
The howl of the hunt died on his lips and he charged forward. The sound of the enemy’s footsteps echoed in his ears. She was close. He would soon find her and remove her from this world. The enemy would no longer hunt and hurt.
Good, monster. You will serve me well.
He saw her, a flash of brown fur between the trees. She skidded to a halt and peered around herself with excitement. The wolf didn’t see him lurking in the brush. She didn’t see him prowling toward her.
Close. He was close now. The wolf cocked her head and strained to listen, as if confused. She’d run toward his answering call, but he couldn’t figure out why she’d been excited. Had she been hunting him, too? What did she hope to gain by facing him head on? She was nearly half his size. It was ridiculous to think she could take him on.
Kill her. Before she hurts anyone. Hurry!
At the sound of his master’s voice, he leapt. His body broke through the branches with a cacophony of sound. The wolf startled and jumped to the side at the last second. His claws met earth and stone. He growled with frustration before spinning toward her.
She stepped back, her eyes filled with confusion and hurt. He exposed his teeth. This would be her last day on this earth. The beast would make sure of it. He would make his master happy. The world would be safer.
The she-wolf let out a whimper that sounded like a question. It tried to burrow into his mind. He knew the sound, but he didn’t know how. It raked along his mind, but there was a wall between him and it. Deep inside, the human voice surged forward. It screamed something he couldn’t understand.
She’s a monster! Kill her!
He leapt again. The she-wolf once more evaded him. Even if he was larger, she was faster. Each time he swung or snapped his teeth, she jumped out of range at the last second. He growled and attacked, but she wouldn’t let him anywhere near her.
The part that bothered him the most was how she refused to attack back. The she-wolf only dodged his assaults. She didn’t bite or swipe at him. Was she leading him somewhere? Was she biding her time for back-up? He couldn’t let her do either.
“Javier!” a voice slapped him in the face.
His body rocked to the side, caught off guard.
The she-wolf whimpered another question at him. He growled in response and found his balance again. The sound was a trick. It wasn’t real. The enemies had plenty of tricks. They would do anything to get their way.
“Javier, stop!” her voice reached him again. The scent of his mate touched his nose, soft like fresh linen.
It’s a lie. She isn’t your mate. She was never your mate.
Confusion rippled through him. He could feel himself being torn in two. His mind reeled, and his body swayed.
I was always your mate, your one and only.
Javier roared. This battle had only just begun. He would fight for her, to rid this world of pain for her, until his last breath.
A woman crashed through the brush and branches. He couldn’t be bothered with the liar. Instead, he swung his head toward the she-wolf and lunged. His claws met flesh, but not fur. The cry that split the air was human, not wolf. Either way, he pushed. His claws sank deep as the human hit the ground.
He looked down at her, face twisted in pain, hair spread over the ground like blood, and the human voice inside himself roared with a painful force. The beast, too, realized what it had done. His mind spun out of control. He didn’t know which way to think, which way to look.
The enchantress’s voice crept in again. She screamed at him. Her commands twisted his limbs and pushed his claws deeper. He tried to stop himself, the human and beast now in agreement, but nothing could stop the enchantress’s grip on his soul.
Nora cried out, pain twisting her voice until it ripped through him with agony. Javier fought back. He gripped his own mind, his body, and forced the enchantress’s voice out. She faltered, and her grip loosened enough for Javier to stumble back.
Just then, the she-wolf hit his side. Together, they tumbled across the forest floor. Pine needles and dirt clung to their fur, stuck in their mouths as they growled and snapped at one another. The she-wolf didn’t stick around to fight. As soon as she found her feet, she danced back again. This time, she put her body between Javier and Nora.
Nora, his mate. She lay on the ground, bleeding. Her hands pressed at the blood on her abdomen, but that didn’t seem to stop the flow.
What are you waiting for? The enchantress’s voice screamed inside his skull. Pain blasted through his head.
His limbs buckled beneath him. He dropped to the floor as he fought against her again. Each time he pushed her away, she returned. It felt like he would never be free of her. His soul belonged to someone who only wanted to use him and twist him into a weapon against his own kind.
The day came rushing back to him. Javier cried at the memory of the backpackers. His beast had prowled the women and how he’d wanted to terrify them. They’d done nothing to deserve his torment. Javier cried at what he was becoming.
“It’s alright,” Nora said.
He looked up to find her struggling to sit upright. His heart stuttered. Her face was paler than usual, each freckle standing out against the pale whiteness of her skin. One last time, Javier lashed out against the enchantress.
The human voice threw the beast back and pushed free of its body. It was the quickest he’d ever shifted, his bones cracking and lengthening into hu
man form in the matter of only seconds. With shaking hands, he lifted his bleeding mate from the ground. Anger burned like a wildfire inside him. It was consuming, raging over every other emotion he might have felt.
Javier had planned a simple date for his mate. He’d tried to be what she needed, to make her happy, but the enchantress had torn it all to bits. Her hold on his soul was more dangerous than he’d previously thought. It made him a monster, her monster. Never again would he let her hold him like that. The part of him that could feel, amplified by the presence of those he loved and his fear for his mate, rallied and doubled.
That part wove a wall around his mind. It was stretched thin but refused to break.
In his arms, Nora’s eyes fluttered and her hand on him went limp. His heart leapt into his throat, and he froze. The wildfire doubled. What would he do if his mate died at his own hands? The wildfire inside him threatened to break free. He would turn it upon Nora’s family. He would see that the den of hunters was no more and that his own would forever be safe.
It wasn’t until Nora let out a small groan that the wildfire receded. Still, his mate needed help. Thalia nudged him and rushed her own shift. With a human voice once more, she told him where to go.
Chapter Eleven
Javier cradled Nora in his arms. Her wounds had stopped bleeding, but she’d also collapsed against his chest. Fear sent needles of pain through his body until it felt like he was walking on nails. Thalia and his mate had trekked through miles of mountains to find him. The trek back was long and silent.
Not even Thalia dared say anything. She’d shifted back into human form, ripped her clothes from Nora’s pack, and called her mate all without saying a word to Javier. He knew he deserved the silent treatment, but surrounded by both women, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d been hit by a dump truck.
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