by Cecy Robson
Aric nodded slightly and moved close enough that I felt his body heat. The fondness he’d demonstrated to the Elder in that subtle gesture made me realize I’d just met Martin Lockwood, the pack Alpha.
CHAPTER 28
I stepped away. It hurt too much to have Aric near and know we could no longer touch. Martin pursed his lips. A small motion, but I noticed it anyway.
Aric didn’t attempt to close the distance between us. Instead he mirrored his Warriors, who had bowed their heads.
The remaining male Elder stepped forward. He was Native American with waist-length black hair streaked with silver. Unlike Martin, whose expression I couldn’t read, this guy was clearly ticked. “Explain yourselves,” he snapped, unleashing a deep growl.
“Anara, calm,” said the Native American woman behind him. Her pure white hair flowed behind her like a veil. She was petite and slight of figure, but stood strong. And although I placed her at about eighty, her only wrinkles fell along her laugh lines, leaving me the impression she’d smiled a great deal throughout her life. She touched Anara’s shoulder, soothing him and silencing his growls. It was only then the wolves dared speak.
Gemini stepped forward. “Ladies, may I present our distinguished Elders, Martin Lockwood, Anara Running Bear, and Makawee Light-Feather. Honorable Elders, this is—”
“We know who they are,” Anara said tightly. “The question is, why are they here?”
“I allowed them to come, Anara,” Aric interrupted.
Anara’s thick brows appeared menacing enough to crawl off his face and slap me. “Aric, your lapse in judgment astounds me. First last night’s exploits and now this? They need to leave.” He trained his glare specifically at me. “You don’t need any more distractions.”
I glared right back. “We were just leaving.”
Aric stepped in front of me so fast the breeze from his speed pushed my hair back. Bren gave my arm a warning squeeze. Everyone tensed. I realized too late that mouthing off to a pack Elder was probably not the smartest thing to do.
“Then do so now,” Anara snapped.
The Warriors quickly escorted us outside. Someone had already parked our other car in front of the building, no doubt to expedite our departure. Emme and Taran drove off after some hurried encouragement from Liam and Gemini. Shayna chose to ride with me. She climbed into the back of our SUV. Bren took the front. I could feel the Elders continuing to watch us. I wanted to leave just as badly as they wanted me gone, but when I tried to open the driver’s-side door, Aric stopped me.
“Please, wait. I want to talk to you.”
Anara’s voice imitated that of a beast. “Aric. Let her go and return to my office now.”
Makawee interrupted in a serene whisper. “Anara, allow him a moment with Celia.”
I turned to her, puzzled that she knew my name. She greeted me with a small smile. “Yes, child, I know who you are. I recognize your aroma from scenting it on Aric.”
Makawee’s smile widened at my blush. “Anara,” she continued, “you were young once. Let Aric say good-bye.”
Anara didn’t argue. He followed Makawee up the stone steps, stopping once to glare at Aric and me before entering the building. I didn’t see Martin. Yet I sensed his essence all around me.
I turned to Aric. It was the first time I’d allowed myself to really look at him since arriving at the Den. Deep shadows collected beneath his eyes, while lines bracketed the corners. His jaw bore heavy stubble. I couldn’t get over how hard he appeared; it was as if he no longer slept, and no longer cared about anything. He stepped closer to me. “Celia, may I hold your hands?”
Aric’s request aggravated the tension between us. It reminded me that I’d told him never to touch me again. My God, so much had changed. Just a few weeks prior we had slept in each other’s arms. And now . . .
Aric took my hands into his when I nodded. And just like that, the familiar feeling of warmth encompassed us. He let out a deep sigh. “Celia, things are so broken between us. I just wish I knew how to make them right.”
“You can’t, Aric.” My face cracked into a million pieces. “Look, I don’t like what you’re doing, but I realize you don’t have a choice.”
Aric didn’t say anything; instead he squeezed my hands tighter, regarding me with apparent sorrow. I allowed the heat we shared to comfort me one last time before pulling away. The moment we separated, loneliness consumed me. “Good-bye, Aric.”
I slipped into the SUV before I did something stupid. I wanted to kiss him, to beg him not to let me go, to tell him I’d be willing to share him with Barbara. But my tigress managed to hang on to our self-respect. She knew, like I did, that I wanted and deserved more.
My hands trembled badly. It took me several tries to push the key into the ignition and I almost broke the key in the process. I peeled away, raw emotion stirring every nerve in my body.
“Damn. That sucked.” Bren drummed his hand against the armrest. “I mean, it was like a scene right out of Titanic.”
I gripped the steering wheel firmly and tried to focus ahead. A loud crushing sound caused me to glance in the rearview mirror. The lump in my throat grew tighter. Aric stood next to a cracked granite pillar, blood spilling from his knuckles. Yet instead of staring at the destruction, his gaze fixed on my car.
“Oh, shit!” Bren said, looking back. “I hope that was just decorative. You know what, Ceel? I think Aric loves you.”
I tried to stifle a sob. Shayna reached around the front to tug Bren’s arm. “Dude, knock it off. You’re making her feel worse.” Her voice softened to plead with me. “Ceel, please don’t cry. It’s going to be all right, I know it is. Hang in there, tiger.”
I took a few calming breaths, but I couldn’t stop shaking. The road blurred in front of me, and I felt the car swerve off the road. Bren grabbed the wheel and jerked it to the left. I took it back and yanked it away from him. “Celia. Stop the car.”
“No,” I growled at him.
“Damn it, you almost hit a fountain. Stop the car now!”
My foot stomped on the brake. I glared at him when he came around the driver’s side.
“Get out. You’re in no condition to drive.”
I didn’t move. My eyes closed and reached into my inner beast. She alone had kept us safe when we found the bleeding corpses of our beloved mother and father. She had been my strength through our terrifying abuse. She kept us functioning when Ana Lisa’s body failed her. She would help me survive without Aric. Because as much as we hurt, and as much as our loneliness threatened to smother us, we refused to lie down and die.
When my eyes open, Bren frowned back at me, more with worry than the anger he’d held moments before. “My world is shit, Bren. Get back in the car, and allow me some control.”
Shayna stepped out of the car and placed her hand on Bren’s arm. Her eyes glistened with tears. “Please, dude. Just let her drive.”
Bren leaned toward me. I thought at first to haul my ass out. I tightened my hold on the steering wheel hard enough to bend it. Bren surprised me by kissing my cheek. “You’re going to be okay, kid.”
I couldn’t sniff lies. Yet I knew Bren didn’t believe his own words. He ambled around the car, his head lower than usual. The moment he buckled in, I sped off, probably a little too fast. Taran and Emme idled at the gate. Taran rolled down the window when she saw me. “You all right?”
I nodded.
She scowled. “Forget him, Celia. Time to get the hell out of Wolf Central.”
The more I drove down the snaking road, the more I felt my control breaking away. My tigress was strong, but even she would need time to cope without Aric’s wolf. I angled the car to the side, ready to let Bren drive, when a frigid cold struck my body all at once.
Hordes of demon children swept down from the sky and surrounded us. The biggest one I’d ever seen landed on Taran’s sedan and tore into the roof. She slammed down on the accelerator and tried to shake it, but the creature dug his back claws into
the metal and continued its rampage, peeling the exterior like layers of foil.
Bren scrambled out the window. “Get me close!”
I remained at least ten feet away when Bren propelled himself off my hood. He changed midjump and tackled the creature. They toppled off the car and into the thick underbrush. I couldn’t see what happened next. All I heard were Bren’s growls as he fought and my sisters screaming for him.
Two others landed on Taran’s roof and finished breaking through. She jerked the car right and left, and back again, barely keeping the car from veering off the jutted road. I thought her maneuvers would knock them off, but when they started grabbing for my sisters, I was forced to articulate the unthinkable.
“Shayna, drive!”
Shayna climbed to the front and smoothly took over as I crept out. I leapt onto Taran’s mangled car and flung the closest demon against a large tree trunk. It exploded like a piñata, spraying the car behind me.
I went after the other as it pulled Emme, shrieking, out of the damaged roof. I tore off his wings before he could take flight, then jumped on his back and ripped off his head. The demon’s claws abruptly released Emme. I barely managed to grab on to the side of the car and catch her before she toppled onto the road.
Hell must have frozen over because in the distance Bren called for the pack. Farther away, a wolf answered his howl, then another, and another.
My glance shot toward Bren’s call. More demons swooped down from the sky, all large, all strong, all hungry. Drool glistened their yellow fangs, red irises fired with gluttony. Their numbers so vast, their wings and bodies collided against one another as they barreled toward us.
I shoved Emme through the window. “Taran, go. They’re coming, Taran. They’re coming!”
Emme was halfway in when a demon swept down and dug his clawed feet into my shoulders. The stabbing pain rippled across the length of my arms in agonizing spasms. I pushed Emme through before he took flight, thrashing violently, but the demon wouldn’t let me go. He drove his claws deeper into my skin, impeding my movements.
My feet slapped along the treetops when a bolt of lightning sizzled past me and struck the demon. It dropped me in a combustion of limbs. The world spun as my body plummeted to the ground. Emme tried to catch me with her force, but my weight and speed seemed too much for her. I landed hard on my stomach, losing the air in my lungs in one, long, painful exhale.
Sharp stones and pieces of broken branches pierced into my flesh. I struggled to regain my breath, frantically searching for my family. Taran’s car remained lodged between two trees. My car angled next to hers. Chunks of demon parts slithered out from beneath the tires from where Shayna had crashed into them.
My sisters stood in the middle of the road, fighting for their lives. Taran blasted everything she could with her fire, her hair whipping in the breeze as she reeled to face the advancing scourge. Emme launched a hailstorm of jagged stones, puncturing through their chests and slashing through their scaled hides. Shayna had transformed the car antenna into a rapier and sliced off heads and limbs. But there were too many of them, and not enough of us.
Deep within the forest, the pounding of massive paws against the earth announced the wolves’ approach. I growled with frustration. They were still far away. No way would they reach us in time.
I forced myself to stand, only to stagger backward when the strong aroma of vampire reached my nose. They stalked through the trees armed with rifles and dressed in tattered clothing. “Oh my God,” I gasped. They’re not the ones on our side.
My fear turned into panic when a redheaded vamp lifted the barrel and pointed it at Emme. I ran toward her as fast as I could, yelling her name. Another vamp saw me coming and shot me in the collarbone. The force knocked me against the graveled dirt. I roared in agony. I’d never been shot before; the pain was unbearable.
I wrenched myself to my feet. Another bullet struck me in my thigh. Horrible burning spread, but it was quickly replaced by a strange numbness. My limbs failed me, and my breathing slowed. From the hard ground, I watched the same vamp fire at Shayna.
Shayna fell limp and unmoving. The vampire who shot her approached, laughing. He cocked the rifle and aimed for her head, but he never got the chance to shoot.
Bren sprinted out of the trees and tore the vamp’s head off in one ferocious bite. He continued his vicious killing spree while I tried in vain to change. My tigress failed to respond. She tumbled deep within me, clawing with the need to hang on. Tears burned my eyes as the strength of her power receded. She left me. My God, she left me.
My muscles turned flaccid and weak, except I couldn’t understand why. It was more than just blood loss and loss of my beast. Something felt different, and everything around me slowed like a snail’s journey across a ravine.
Another shot was fired, this time hitting Emme. She collapsed, crying out in an earsplitting holler. A demon grabbed her around the waist and took flight while another lifted Shayna’s lifeless body in his arms. His bat wings extended like giant kites. He smiled, clutching Shayna eagerly against him. I tried rolling. My vision doubled from the effort and my heart rate slowed to a weak thud.
Two smaller demons dragged Taran away, each clenching an arm. “Celia, Celia!” She swore when she spotted my unmoving form. Her body thrashed violently and her pale skin dripped with the cold sweat of her terror. Her nightmare had come true. The demons had us, and they weren’t letting go.
Taran tried to gather her magic. A faint brush of her dwindling power raked against my failing senses. One of the monsters halted her efforts by crushing her wrist. As numb as I felt, her wails of pain sent a spear of ice down my spine. They launched into flight with her at the same moment my body left the ground. Below me Bren fought six demons in his desperate effort to reach us.
We soared upward, the flap of the demons’ wings a faint whisper in my ears. Taran unleashed a guttural scream. My eyes burned as blue and white light exploded out of her. The creatures holding her burst into nasty bits while she remained suspended above the treetops. Poor Emme used the last of her strength to keep Taran from falling.
Emme’s hand quivered and her lids fluttered. She was losing her hold. Taran’s body bounced and twitched in the air as the first of the wolf pack arrived. Heidi clawed her way up the nearest tree and leapt off a thick branch, fastening her powerful jaws on to the waist of Taran’s jeans. She ricocheted from tree trunk to tree trunk until she brought my sister safely to the ground.
Tears drenched my cheeks, knowing at least Taran had been spared.
My vision clouded as I scanned the forest floor. What seemed like the entire pack chased us. Aric and Koda thundered in the lead, growling with murderous fury. But I realized their efforts were hopeless as the demons lifted us higher into the darkening sky.
Misha, Misha, please find us.
And then the world went black.
CHAPTER 29
The sound of clanking steel gradually stirred me. At first, I thought I was home, waking to an earthquake. But instead of warm sheets, only cold metal chilled my back.
Metal?
I pried my eyes open. My vision blurred, and the pounding in my head intensified. Every part of my body felt stiff and sore, yet I couldn’t remember why. Then, slowly and painfully, my eyes cleared and the memories rushed back.
I sat up abruptly, only to pitch sideways and curse when every one of my injuries screeched. Shit. My chest, and my right hip and thigh throbbed mercilessly, while a burning sensation coursed through the deep gashes in my shoulders.
When I tried to move again, I realized my wrists were bound behind me. My tigress freaked. I thrashed like a caged beast and dug my nails into the rope. But it was useless. I couldn’t tear free.
“Celia. Celia, stop!”
My growls drowned most of Shayna’s hoarse calls. I searched around anxiously but couldn’t immediately spot her. That’s when it hit me; the heightened senses my tigress gave me were gone, even though her presence had re
turned.
I was . . . human. And it scared the hell out of me.
I shook my head, disoriented. My weakened gaze slowly adjusted and focused on my sisters, slumped and bound across from me. God, they’d taken a beating. Cuts and bruises covered their bodies, but what distressed me most were their bullet wounds.
A tear streaked down Shayna’s dirty face. “We’re in the back of a semi, dude. Tell me you’re okay.”
I couldn’t tell her what she wanted to hear. None of us were okay. Just alive. For the moment.
A million thoughts scrambled through my brain, but as I continued to stare at their injuries, something didn’t make sense. I cleared my throat to speak, further irritating the harsh dryness. “Why haven’t you healed?”
Emme’s face crumbled. “I can’t, Celia. Our powers are gone.”
That horrible dread found its way back into my bones. “What’s happened? The last thing I remember is the demons flying us out of the Den.”
Emme bowed her head, sobs shaking her slight form. Shayna took a calming breath, then another, before finally speaking for her. “The demons carried us to an industrial park, Celia. You were still unconscious, but when they tried to bind your wrists, you woke up and started slaughtering them. You did a lot of damage, and at first I thought we were going to escape. . . .” She shuddered and grimaced into her shoulder.
I didn’t understand her reaction until Emme focused her bloodshot eyes on me. “They shot you four times, Celia. I don’t know how you’re alive.” Fresh tears streamed down her face and she curled into a tight ball.
My lack of memory told me two things. One, my tigress had regained consciousness before I had. And two, she’d woke fighting. Good. That’s what we needed.
Emme choked on a sob. I inched toward her and so did Shayna. We lay against her, trying to keep her body warm with ours. Shayna blew out a shaky breath. “It’s worse than we thought, Ceel. The Tribe recruited a band of dark witches. One of them possesses the ability to bespell the bullets to block our powers—or at least she did possess.” Shayna tried to swallow except the effort seemed too cumbersome. “The Tribesmen bragged about giving her to their Tribemaster once she’d exhausted her use.”
