by Naomi Martin
The wolf uses arms taut with corded muscle to swipe at the man’s chest again, letting out a throaty growl that echoes around the chamber. The bleeding man finally falls, hitting the ground on his back with a sound like wet meat, and the wolf savages him. Its claws are a blur of motion, deep red blood and chunks of meat flying. I watch with a morbid fascination as the wolf begins to eat. The sound of wet, tearing flesh fills the air and below us, the pool of crimson beneath the dead man begins to spread.
“Christ,” Soames mutters.
I let it go for a few moments; the beast deserves a treat for performing so well. I look over at Jenni, who is pointedly refusing to look at the spectacle below, her face matching the disgust in Soames’ voice. But then she glances over at me and I nod, giving her the signal to end it.
Jenni raises her hands and the thin ribbon of energy snakes its way back down to the wolf and slips into the collar. As the blue glow grows brighter, Jenni whispers a few words and the wolf gets to its feet, quickly returning to its human form. The man is naked, his body smeared with blood. His face is a visage straight out of a nightmare. He shuffles back to where he was standing, that glassy-eyed, faraway look on his face once again. Totally docile. Totally compliant.
“Excellent work, Jenni,” I call to her across the arena.
“Thank you, Colonel Villa,” she replies. “We’re getting very close to achieving our objectives.”
I nod. “Keep me in the loop.”
“I will.”
Soames and I head back into my office and I quietly close the door behind us. I walk to the sideboard and pour us both a glass of scotch, handing one to him. He takes it, his face pale and pinched. I invite him to sit, then walk around my desk and drop down into my chair. Holding my glass up, I study the amber liquid in it, my mind spinning in a thousand different directions.
The ramifications of what Jenni has been able to accomplish are legion. Having a Spirit Elemental on our side is allowing us to think in a myriad of different ways and will enable us to expand our offensive capabilities. Greedily, I would rather have a Pure Elemental—having the raw power of one who can touch all of the elements at once would help us win this war in a day. But having somebody with Jenni’s abilities will still allow us to get ahead of the supernaturals.
We both sit quietly, each of us lost in our own contemplations. For me, seeing what Jenni’s bringing to the table for us is opening up an endless vista of possibilities. And, more importantly, showing me there is light at the end of the tunnel. We can win this war. For Soames, I would imagine he’s struggling to catch up. He’s solid in every way, as a soldier, and I respect him. But he’s a linear thinker and he lacks imagination.
It’s the one reason he’ll never command this unit. I don’t know what happens if I’m killed or decide to step down, but I’ve already made it known to the right people he’d be the wrong choice for command. If he was promoted to my position, the supers would win this war inside a month.
The biggest problem is that Soames still believes we can win this in the traditional way. But this is not a traditional war, nor are these traditional enemies. Intellectually, he understands what we’re fighting, understands they’re not human. But his thinking is so rigid and his lack of imagination so profound, he is not willing to see beyond his most rudimentary—and unimaginative, I might add—military training. That isn’t going to get it done in a conflict like this.
He wants to deploy our supernatural assets like normal fighters. Treat them like any ordinary soldier. But doing that will only get them killed and weaken our overall position. Thinking outside the box is what will win us this war. Using supers like Jenni to craft weapons that will put us on level footing with these animals is the only way we’re going to succeed. Like Soames said earlier, we have to be able to fight fire with fire.
“So, what do you think?” I finally ask.
He clears his throat. “I think that’s one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen.”
He chuckles, trying to play it off, but I can hear the underpinnings of truth in his words. Fighting a battle is one thing. Seeing a man turn into a beast, and then devour another man is something else entirely. I get it. It is disturbing, if you let it get to you.
“As far as what that super was able to do… did she actually control his mind?” he asks.
“In a sense. She’s able to implant suggestions into their brains that the subjects are overwhelmingly driven to do,” I explain. “She calls it Compulsion. Says it’s like a constant ringing in their minds… like a splinter just under your skin. It’ll bother you until you pull it out. Which, in this case, means completing the task she implants in their heads.”
Soames nods. “That’s impressive,” he says. “That would change things in the field.”
I nod. “Exactly. These supers have their uses,” I admit. “You just need to learn to think outside the box, Major. Sometimes, a scalpel is better than a chainsaw.”
He nods in return, but I can tell my words are going right over his head. I keep trying, but I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to change the way Soames thinks. That literal, straight-line logic is just too ingrained in him. He doesn’t see the practical applications of having supers under our control, being Compelled to do work on our behalf, like targeted assassinations.
“Tell me, Major,” I say, looking at him over the rim of my glass, “was she there? The girl?”
There’s no need for me to expound upon that since there’s only one person I refer to as “the girl.” When I first saw Raven, I made the mistake of underestimating her. She’s a little slip of a girl who is attractive, but arrogant, and has a sour disposition. I honestly didn’t think much of her. But, as I’ve found, she’s a clever, resourceful little bitch.
Not putting her down when I had the chance was my mistake, and it’s a mistake that comes back to haunt me just about every goddamn day. Ever since she basically destroyed the Pit, then hooked up with this supers resistance bullshit group, Raven McCabe has been taking down my convoys and setting these monsters free. She’s responsible for the deaths of scores of my men.
I guess you could say I’ve become somewhat obsessed with the girl. I don’t often fuck up as big as I did with her. But I did. And now I’m driven to correct that fuck-up. She’s also the main impetus behind designing some of these Elemental-fueled weapons. Before her, our supers program was primarily defensive. But now that we’ve seen what she can do and the havoc she can wreak, they may be the only thing that can stop her.
Raven’s a Pure Elemental, meaning she can touch all of the elements at once, which makes her far more powerful than anybody living on this planet, save for other Pures. But they are the rarest of the rare and we’ve not heard a whisper of another one. We’re on the lookout, though. If we can recruit a Pure to our side, that’s going to be a game changer. But, for now, we’ll take all the Elementals we can get—like Jenni.
Raven, though… She’s fascinating to me, has been since the night she escaped me the first time, the night I killed her parents. And then the second time, when we killed her friend trying to get to her. And then, of course, the destruction of the Pit, and her subsequent escape. She’s a murderous monster, but she’s smart. She’s tough. She’s a fighter and she’s a survivor. And though I’m loath to admit it, I have a grudging respect for her.
Soames takes another sip of his drink and nods. “She was. I only caught a glimpse of her, but she was there.”
“You and the few who got out with you are lucky,” I tell him. “She’s not really known for letting our men go free.”
“It was a close thing,” he replies. “When we knew the fight was lost, were able to kill a couple supers as we broke away.”
Though part of me wants to lay into him for abandoning the field of battle, I hold my tongue. We lost sixty-three men in that fight. Soames and the handful of men who escaped with him weren’t going to turn the tide, and their deaths would have just been more senseless carnage. An
d I need all the warm bodies I can get to keep waging this campaign.
“Go get a hot meal and some rest, Major,” I tell him. “We’ve got a lot to figure out in the coming days.”
“Yes, sir.”
Soames and I both get to our feet and he snaps me a salute that I return before he leaves my office, closing the door behind him. After he’s gone, I pour myself another drink and head back out onto the catwalk. The crew is already removing the corpse and washing the bloodstains off the concrete floor, and my mind turns back to the girl.
She’s a thorn in my side. She’s formidable. And with an army of supers at her back, she’s dangerous. I need Jenni to crack the code on her Compulsion techniques, because Raven McCabe needs to die. Sooner, rather than later.
Chapter Four
Gray
Light presses around the edges of the blackout curtains that cover the windows in the room. I lay still and listen for a moment. Neither Zane nor Elliot are in the suite, but I can hear the shower going in Raven’s room. Glancing over at the clock, I see it’s just after nine. It’s late, but I feel like I can sleep for another three days. It’s been a few days, but I still feel hungover from the fight in Montana.
I slip out of bed and throw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. I walk out of the bedroom and into the common area of the suite.
“Figures,” I grumble to myself when I see the coffee pot’s empty.
I grab a bottle of water out of the mini-fridge, twist the top off, and swallow down half of it in one go. I look around, wondering where the fellas went so early. I drink the last of the water and toss the empty into the can and stand there, listening to the shower run in Raven’s room.
We have a two-room suite in this hotel. The two bedrooms are separated by a large common room and kitchenette. Elliot and I share one of the rooms, Zane typically rides the couch—though I can’t verify for sure if that bastard ever actually sleeps—and Raven has the second room to herself.
Even though we’re all together, we agreed that sleeping together in a big pile of limbs and skin would be a little weird. I love the fellas, but I don’t love the fellas in that way. They’re my brothers, not my lovers. What binds us are the common traumas we endured in the Pit, and our love for Raven.
Ever since we broke out of the Pit, Raven’s been different. I mean, the first couple of months were great, don’t get me wrong. But when we hooked up with Dora and the Breakers, she started to change. I know she and Dora don’t exactly see eye-to-eye one hundred percent of the time, but it’s not like they’re at each other’s throats. And the people around here love her. Given her successes in the field and the fact that she’s a Pure, they practically worship her.
But despite all that, she’s been distant. She keeps all of us at arm’s length and seems… sad. Well, she seems sad when she’s not angry, which she seems to be more often than not. I know she’s got a lot of pressure on her. She takes her role as a leader seriously, and I know our losses affect her. I just wish she’d let us help her through these difficult times. I wish she’d lean on us.
I miss her. The old Raven, who was a lot more lighthearted and carefree. The one whose smile could light up a room and the girl who could have us all laughing—sometimes even at ourselves—in the blink of an eye. And I know the fellas do, too. In some ways, those first days and weeks on the road after breaking out of the Pit were some of the best. We had a freedom we’d never experienced together. We could go anywhere we wanted, and do whatever we pleased. We were free just to enjoy one another.
I cross the common area and gently open her door. The heat from her shower has made the air in here thicker and more humid than a damn rainforest. Closing the door softly, I walk to the bathroom doorway and lean against the jamb. Through the steam and the fogged-up glass, I can see Raven’s silhouette. She’s standing in the shower, her face turned up into the spray of the water.
My shifter vision allows me to cut through most of the steam, letting me appreciate the curves of her body. I feel my arousal stirring as I look at the swell of her full breasts and the generous curve of her ass.
“Are you going to stand out there all day? Or are you coming in?”
Her voice startles me and I flinch, not knowing how in the hell she knew I was standing here. But I respond quickly, taking off my shorts and T-shirt in a heartbeat before I open the shower door and slip inside. It’s not the most spacious shower I’ve ever been in, but it’s big enough to fit the both of us, if only just barely. I’m not going to complain, since the cramped quarters mean Raven’s soft, slick body is pressed up against mine.
We adjust ourselves so the spray of water is hitting my back and shielding her from most of it. Then she turns around and gives me a wide, warm smile that makes my entire body tingle. Raven wraps her arms around my waist, her eyes sparkling in a way I haven’t seen in a long time. She has the sort of glow about her that she’s been missing these last few months, and it makes my heart beat even harder to see it back on her face. In that moment, she seems more like the Raven of old. The Raven we’ve all been missing.
“How did you know I was there?” I ask.
“Do you mean, how did I know you were standing there being a pervert and spying on me?
A lopsided grin touches my lips. “Yeah. That.”
She lets out a throaty laugh, but a moment later, a shadow crosses over her face and the glimmer in her eyes dims. She looks away, but I slide my finger beneath her chin and raise her face to me.
“What is it?” I ask gently.
“Part of it’s the bond from the Joining. I can always sense where you guys are,” she says. “And part of it is that… my powers seem to be growing.”
“Growing?”
She nods. “Everything just seems so vibrant. Intense. It’s like I can see, and hear, and smell things, like you and Zane can,” she says. “The sensory input is just insane. I don’t know how you guys can do it and not go crazy.”
I give her a shrug. “It’s just part of who we are. We’re used to it,” I tell her. “But I’d imagine it’s pretty overwhelming if you’re not.”
“I’m definitely not.”
“How long has this been happening?”
She traces a fingertip down my chest. “It’s been growing stronger for months,” she confesses. “But it’s only gotten super intense over the last few weeks.”
“Is that why you’ve been so on edge?”
“Maybe. I think it’s playing a part,” she admits. “But my own natural powers are growing, too. I can feel it building inside of me. Growing stronger. I have so much power it kind of scares me.”
I never stopped to consider that our Joining would impact her. I never imagined it would let her develop some of our powers. I don’t think any of us thought that was a possibility. And so far as I know, that’s not a two-way street. I’m definitely not able to channel Elemental power like she can. Elliot doesn’t seem any more powerful, and Zane doesn’t seem any more vamp-like than usual.
She clings to me and rests her cheek on my chest. I run my hands up and down her back, feeling her shudder beneath my touch.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me, Gray,” she whispers. “I’m scared.”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“I’m not sure you can stop it.”
“Watch me,” I tell her.
We stand together for a couple of long moments, neither of us speaking. She holds onto me like a drowning man would cling to a life preserver, as if needing the human contact to stay tethered to this earth. Finally, she looks up at me, a mischievous smile on her lips.
“I’m tired of thinking,” she says abruptly. “I don’t want to think anymore.”
Her tone is flirty, and my body responds automatically. Goosebumps crawl along my flesh and as she stares into my eyes, a sultry gleam in her eyes, I feel myself starting to harden.
“I think—”
She puts a finger to my lips and smiles. “Don’t think,�
�� she purrs. “Just do.”
“I can do that.”
I lean down and press my mouth to hers. Raven’s lips part and our tongues touch, then swirl around one another. She slides her hands up my back, raking her nails across my skin, and it sends a pleasant shiver through my body. Raven kisses me harder, with an almost desperate intensity that fuels my own passion as I push her up against the wall of the shower.
I gasp when I feel her take hold of my cock, which stands rigid. She squeezes it tight and starts to stroke me. Swallowing the moan that escapes me, she continues to jerk me harder. My need for her is so great, and I feel like I’ve longed for her touch for so long, that as she strokes me, I feel myself hurtling toward the ledge at a breakneck pace.
Not wanting to finish before we even start, I take as much of a step back as I can and take her hand off my cock. A small pout crosses her face, so I give her a wink then drop to my knees in front of her. I put her leg up on my shoulder and bury my face between her thighs.
I moan softly when Raven’s sweet nectar hits my tongue and am suddenly desperate for more. I push my tongue past her lips, savoring the scent and the taste as I lap at her with a frenzied abandon. I feel her hands in my hair, pulling it hard as I slide my tongue as deep as I can inside of her. Raven moans and her body stiffens when I lick at her bud and take it into my mouth, sucking on it less than gently.
“God, that feels so good,” she moans.
I use my finger to keep teasing her clit as I push my tongue inside of her once more. Raven leans back against the wall, grinding herself against my mouth as she tugs and yanks on my hair. Her body is growing stiffer as I keep licking and sucking on her, intoxicated by her scent and taste, mesmerized by the way she moves.
Her breathing is ragged and her grip on my hair tightens even more, so I lick her pussy with a renewed vigor and a moment later, her impossibly loud cries are echoing off the walls of the small shower stall. I keep licking her, tasting her, feeling her warm, wet center pulsing around my tongue… and revel in every moment of it. She pulls me to her one last time with a throaty cry, and then she seems to grow limp.
