Shadow Rising

by Cassi Carver

  “How could you have? We don’t talk much these days.” She squeezed his arm, trying to tell him she didn’t hold it against him. “You know what’s weird? This time a year ago, you and Abbey were crazy in love, and my worst problem was how I was going to pay the cable bill. How did it all get so screwed up so fast?”

  Tray shook his head. “I wish I knew. I’d go back and change it—all of it—if I could.”

  As Kara walked up the stairs with Tray beside her, a surge of desire wound its way up her calves and settled between her thighs. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She’d never been attracted to him before. Sure, with his blond hair and surfer looks, he was attractive. But there was a difference. In her mind, he would always belong to Abbey. So she couldn’t figure out what was happening when moisture flooded her panties and her nipples peaked against the fabric of her bra.

  “You don’t need to walk me any farther,” she said.

  He glanced at her and arched a brow. “Yes, I do. You’ve had a hell of a night and besides, you said Abbey and Jaxon are at the movies, right? It’s not a problem.”

  Kara’s gaze slid over the muscles of Tray’s thick shoulders. “Yeah.”

  As she approached the door, a wave of lust hit that almost flattened her where she stood. She swallowed and walked into the apartment with Tray close behind, and suddenly, she understood where the lusty feelings were coming from. Eyes wide, she dropped the jeans from under her arm.

  Jaxon and Abbey were wrapped up in each other’s arms on the sofa, so intent on their kisses, it took them a second to realize they had company. When they looked at Kara, then at Tray, it was as if the whole world paused and sucked in a breath, waiting to see what would happen next. All four of them looked from one face to the other, simultaneously guilty and accusing.

  “Mistress…” Jaxon said first, slowly extricating his arms from around Abbey’s lower back. At least they were still fully clothed.

  But Abbey wasn’t playing the deer-in-the-headlights game. “What the hell is he doing here?” She jabbed her finger in Tray’s direction.

  “Uh,” Kara began, floored at the sight of her warrior passionately pursuing her best friend. She couldn’t think fast enough.

  “I’m gonna fucking kill him,” Tray ground out and stepped toward the pair.

  Jaxon growled and shot to his feet, his massive chest heaving. “I would be pleased if you would try.”

  Kara whipped around Tray and thrust her hands between the two men. “Not tonight, boys. I’m not in the mood.”

  Abbey stepped beside Kara, directly into the fray. Fire burned in her eyes, and her tousled red hair made her look like an avenging angel, so much like the old Abbey when she poked the aforementioned finger straight into Tray’s chest. “I said, what are you doing here?”

  His charged gaze slipped from Jaxon and locked onto the delicate features of Abbey’s face. “Kara was in an accident, Abbey. She didn’t want to worry you, so I walked her home.”

  Kara had never seen such betrayal in Tray’s eyes. His pain was so thick in the air, she physically hurt for him.

  Abbey’s expression went blank. “Another one? You’re joking.”

  Jaxon took Kara by the shoulders to look her over, his gaze flitting past the pendant on her neck that bore his symbol. “Why didn’t you summon me? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine.” She couldn’t meet his eyes. Yes, she wanted the two of them to be happy, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about this latest development.

  “What does she mean, ‘another’?” Tray asked.

  Kara released a long breath out of her flared nostrils. “I fell down the stairs a few days ago. Cheese-n-rice, you guys, I was fine.”

  “Yeah, but you would’ve bashed your little hybrid brains out if Jaxon hadn’t caught you,” Abbey countered.

  “And the balcony,” Jaxon reminded her. “It broke while she was leaning on it two days before that.”

  “See, that wasn’t my fault,” Kara said to Tray.

  Abbey’s brow hitched. “Well, you are the apartment manager. Whose fault is it?”

  “I’m having all the railings checked this week. At least we caught it before someone got hurt.”

  Jaxon leveled his no-nonsense gaze at her. “If I couldn’t fly, you would be buried in the earth right now, mistress, awaiting regeneration.”

  Abbey looked at Jaxon. “You see. That’s what I’m telling you. She’s not just reckless—she has a death wish or something. No one has that many ‘accidents’ in a week.”

  Kara looked from one person to another, almost wishing the falling beam had knocked her out for a good long while. “You know what? I’m going out for real this time.” She glanced at her roommates. “I’ll be at least a couple of hours. Carry on, you two. Don’t let us stop you.”

  She barely looked at Tray as she sauntered to the door. “Goodnight, Tray. Thanks for your help. I’m sure you can find your way out.”

  “And leave them here alone? Hell no.”

  Kara turned, grabbed his arm and hauled him to the door. “They live together. They’re alone all the time. Get over it.”

  She knew she was being a bitch, but she had to get out of there. She didn’t have a flippin’ death wish. None of this had been her fault. Well…maybe chasing the witches from the bar…but that was beside the point.

  “Kara,” Abbey called. “Where are you going? Tell me about the accident.”

  Kara got Tray out the door, then turned back with a smile. “I survived.”

  The Gaslamp was a good place to go on a night when you wanted to blend in with the crowds and forget the witch decree burning a hole in your pocket. Kara had never been so happy she could walk out the lobby door straight into the bustle of activity.

  Maybe she would shack up with the first sailor who whistled in her direction. Why not? She couldn’t catch a disease, and if he turned out to be a freak, she could take him down. Either way, it was action. And it had to be better than the damn gnawing pain that had settled in her gut.

  When Gavin told her of Julian’s final demise and then disappeared for good, she’d thought it couldn’t get any worse. But at this moment, she wasn’t sure she’d ever felt so alone. She really was the fifth wheel.

  “Kara,” Tray called from behind her.

  She spun and almost growled. “You’re still here? Go home. It’s not far.”

  “Trust me, I’m going. I couldn’t get far enough from this place right now. I just wanted to tell you something.”

  Her hands flew to her hips. “What?”

  “Be careful.”

  “That’s profound, thanks.”

  “I’m serious. You’ve been involved in three accidents this week. Doesn’t that seem a little strange to you?”

  She stopped and thought. “Actually, it does seem a little strange. The first one I could chalk up to being clumsy, the second to living in a really old building, but tonight…tonight shouldn’t have happened.”

  “Accidents happen. I see them all the time. It’s not impossible that’s what tonight was. But just in case, be careful.”

  “I will. And Tray…I’m sorry.” She didn’t have to say she was sorry about Abbey. Abbey was always the first thing he thought of anyway.

  He nodded slowly. “Yeah, me too.” Then he turned and walked in the direction of his apartment.

  Kara was full of pent-up energy as she passed Horton Plaza and continued walking. Maybe she was headed toward the water. Maybe she was headed toward city hall. It really didn’t matter. She needed to think about the summons from the witch council, and she couldn’t do that at home with the lovebirds sucking face in her living room.

  The night seemed darker than usual, but the streetlamps were lit and the moon was visible above the bay. She couldn’t pinpoint what exactly seemed off. Maybe everything happening at home was finally getting to her.

  She was happy for Abbey and Jaxon…wasn’t she? Jaxon had been pining for Abbey since the first week they’d met
, and Abbey needed him. Kara’s brain thought this might be a good thing, but her stomach was in knots.

  What would happen if it didn’t work out? How would they continue life as it had been? Would Jaxon recover if he was just another of Abbey’s famous one-night stands? Or what if he dumped her? Kara wanted to throttle them both.

  As the streets passed under her feet, she noticed an ominous quality building in the air. It wasn’t the same as hunting when she sensed a spike of evil intent. This was more subtle, yet all the more peculiar because of the heavy weight of the energy. Not evil, more…elemental. A force of nature. She considered turning around, but the presence was all around her, as much where she’d come from as where she was heading, and it was growing stronger by the second.

  She brought her hand to Jaxon’s pendant around her neck and briefly considered calling him to pick her up. Then she decided that at this very moment he and Abbey were probably dealing with the aftermath of the couch incident, talking through the consequences or consoling each other. That, or they were fucking like bunnies. Did she really want him showing up sweaty and half-clothed, wearing nothing but Abbey’s rumpled bed sheet?

  Her fingers found Aiden’s symbol—a beetle—on the cord around her neck. It was nestled against the leaf charm Gavin had taken from Julian’s body before he was buried. She couldn’t bear to part with Julian’s charm, even though it had no use anymore. As for Gavin’s charm, she’d tried it once after he’d gone, but when he didn’t answer, her pride had saved her from reaching out to him again. Four charms…and only two of them were worth anything.

  Should she summon Aiden? She swore to herself after Gavin left that she would only use Aiden’s charm in an emergency. Aiden had forced her to accept it, saying he still considered Kara part of the Mercury Clan and his responsibility, no matter what had become of the two other lords.

  She mulled it over for three heartbeats before dropping it against her chest. No, she wouldn’t be pathetic and call Aiden just because she was lonely and scared. She had her pride—and a hell of a right hook. As long as she had those, she could handle whatever came her way.

  As the heaviness on her shoulders increased, she picked up the pace, heading down Broadway toward the bay, slowing only after she crossed the train tracks.

  She stopped and pulled the night air in slowly through her nostrils. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but it was close, practically trailing its claws down her neck. Her skin broke out in goose bumps, and the hair on her nape stood on end. She whirled and decided to head home. She didn’t need to see the ocean that badly tonight.

  The wind picked up, blowing from the north through clear, dark skies, but Kara scented something like honeysuckle and storm clouds on the breeze. She quickened her steps until she was almost running back toward the train station, then she veered left and trotted past a row of old buildings.

  Breathing hard, she ducked into an alley and rested her back against the painted façade of an office that had closed for the night. She felt ridiculous, as if she was hiding from the boogeyman, but she’d learned to trust her instincts over the years. Maybe she should have stuck to the Gaslamp and ventured out this direction during the day, instead.

  She buried her head in her hands and smiled. Shit. Since when had she been scared to walk the streets? The streets should be scared of her.

  She straightened up and rolled her shoulders, preparing to stroll out of the alley as if she hadn’t just had her tail tucked between her legs, when something sailed through the air behind her and hit the ground with a loud thud. Liquid from the impact sprayed the back of her boots before she even had the chance to spin around.

  There, facedown on the asphalt, lay the body of a large man. He was clothed from the waist down in dark buckskin pants. Two bloody stumps protruded from his back where his wings should have been.

  Kara retreated a step, realizing the wet stains on the bottom of her pants were from the blood that had shot from his body when he’d hit the ground. She couldn’t breathe. In her mind, she was instantly transported back to the island the night Julian was attacked. It was his body she saw there, her love lying limp and helpless with his lifeblood seeping from his veins.

  Suddenly, at the far end of the alley, a dark, winged figure alighted. She couldn’t make out anything other than the ebony wings jutting from his back—wings so velvety black they seemed to devour the moonlight. A black-wing.

  “No,” she whispered, her lungs seizing. Please, no.

  When the black-wing took a step in Kara’s direction, she snapped out of her stupor and spun on her heel, ready to sprint as fast as her feet could carry her.

  She bolted forward—and smacked into an invisible wall. She couldn’t see it, but it was so substantial, she slammed into it face first, cracking the cartilage in her nose with a burst of pain. She tried her limbs and realized she wasn’t frozen, just blocked from moving forward.

  Blood ran from her nose to the corner of her lips. She turned slowly and to her horror, the black-wing was already halfway to her, his stride measured, like a jungle cat.

  As he neared, she could make out the onyx shine of his hair and the wide build of his shoulders. His features were…his features were… Oh my God.

  “Julian?”

  Chapter Four

  She blinked, expecting the black-wing to shift into something hideous instead of the striking vision before her, but as he approached, Julian’s visage remained. His eyes were cold and foreign, but every plane and dip of his features was perfectly placed.

  “Julian?” she said again, hearing the frantic crack of hope and disbelief warring in her voice.

  His lips pulled back in a feral snarl to reveal a long set of glistening fangs. She noticed then that he was completely naked. Not a scrap of clothing covered him. Not one pendant adorned his neck.

  “Julian?” When she took an involuntary step forward, he hissed and fanned his wings, adding to his menacing bulk. Kara stopped and extended her hands. “Are you all right?”

  “Who are you?” His voice was low and rusty, as if he’d just woken up. “Why were those men closing in on you?”

  “What men?”

  He nudged the body with his foot. “The ones I’ve been swatting like flies.”

  She couldn’t believe her eyes. The black-wing looked like Julian. He was Julian. And yet the creature before her didn’t have a glimmer of recognition in his hard gaze.

  “What were you thinking?” She knelt by the warrior and quickly examined him.

  The front of his skull had cracked where he’d hit the pavement, and he was unconscious, but at least he was still breathing. His head was going to feel like the devil had used it for league bowling when he woke up. And his wings…they were nothing but shredded stumps protruding from his shoulder blades.

  She stood. “Those are your scouts, Julian, the men you and the Mercury Lords posted at the four corners of the city to watch for—” she couldn’t raise the word above a whisper, “—Aniliáre.” Maybe they’d been coming to warn her…

  His eyes narrowed on her face with an expression bordering on contempt. “I don’t know you.”

  “It’s me, Kara.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. Nothing made sense. She tugged the leaf charm from the cord around her neck and held it out to him. “This is your symbol. You asked me to wear it. Don’t you remember? Gavin gave it to me after…”

  He eyed the charm suspiciously but didn’t reach his hand out.

  She hadn’t expected Julian to come back. Gavin and Aiden had both confirmed he was truly dead. But when she’d allowed herself to dream of seeing him again, it had never played out like this. What was wrong with him? “Take it. Please.”

  The sound vibrating in his chest was like a rattler before it struck. He stepped forward, tore the charm from her grasp and cast it into a patch of straggly weeds fighting for life in the narrow seam between the building and pavement.

  She tried to stand her ground when he closed in on her,
but his corded muscles and towering height dwarfed her smaller frame. He pressed his nose to the side of her neck and inhaled slowly. “You smell…right.”

  She couldn’t help leaning into him. His skin singed hers as he roughly cupped her chin and inspected her face. She brought her hands to his bare shoulders. “God, I’ve missed you.”

  Her heart felt as if it were swelling in her chest, making it hard to breathe. She wanted to squeeze him tight and never let him go, but his muscles went rigid under her fingertips and his lips quivered with something like rage. “It’s all right, baby,” she soothed as a single tear trickled down her cheek. “You’re alive, and that’s all that matters.”

  Perplexity flashed in his eyes for just an instant before they turned hard again. “I don’t know you.”

  He began to back away, but Kara held firm and rose to her tiptoes. “Do you know this?”

  She brushed her lips tenderly over his. His sharp fangs were still fully extended, so she licked at them with the tip of her tongue as she smoothed a hand down his back. When she got to his rump, he grasped her fingers in a tight grip and shoved her against the building.

  His wings pressed against the wall to either side of her, cocooning her in. “You are a foolish woman.”

  He nuzzled her neck, running his tongue along her pulsing vein before grazing her with his teeth, hard enough to draw blood.

  “Ouch!” She pushed at his chest but couldn’t budge him.

  He might be built like Julian and he might look like Julian, but that was where the physical similarities ended. This man was unbelievably strong. She could feel his energy swallowing up the smaller forces around them. The drying blood on her nose from his “force-field” proved he could do things that her Julian could never have done. And yet, she didn’t want to resist him. Asking herself to step away from the likeness of the man she’d loved and lost was a wasted effort.

  He met her gaze and smiled for the first time. He had the same dimples in his cheeks. “Don’t struggle. You can’t win.”

  He ducked his head to the small wound and lapped up the blood. Kara could feel his body trembling with dark energy. It was hard to expand her lungs with the weight of his need pressing in on her.