by Roxy Mews
I couldn’t resist the chance to remind him, “Guess you don’t care about any of your children.”
Amber grabbed my wrist, her palm pressed against my pulse. I wished I had fed. I hoped what I had in my system was enough. Amber was ready. Mary stood tall, taking her new power and meshing it with her old.
His gaze darted back and forth. The howls of pain were getting louder on both sides. The hybrids were strong. Amber’s arm spasmed before she steeled herself again. Then the loudest shout came from her.
“I cared about him.” The Matheo pointed to the window when Jake yelled again. “It was another reason to keep you alive. You drew him back for me. It was the only way to find him. Thank you.”
I reached inside myself. I grabbed hold of that feeling I had when I needed to get away from everything awful. All that pain that I never let myself feel bubbled up, and I drew the circle around us. I felt the barrier seal us in. The cries from outside grew as I blocked the Matheo off from the rest of the world.
Amber grinned at me, feral, but I didn’t have time to analyze it. I had to concentrate. He was fighting against me. I wouldn’t be able to hold him for long.
“Wow, would you listen to them screaming?” Amber peeked out the window next to where the Matheo was pounding against my barrier. She pointed. “That’s your son breaking their legs. I can hear the bones. If I weren’t so damn hungry all the time, I might be a bit sick. But it kinda of makes me want chicken. Does that make me weird?”
The Matheo stopped beating on my circle and his eyes began to flash. He couldn’t dazzle her, but he was trying everything to break his confines. I could feel his power, and as it zeroed in on Amber, I felt the immediate relief of not being his primary focus.
“No,” Mary said. “Your eyes make you weird. The cravings push you over the edge into fucking crazy.”
Amber shrugged. “At least I have a mate that likes crazy. Too bad you can’t compel us, huh pops?”
Frustration tugged his mouth into a tight line, and rage sent his fangs lengthening against tight lips. He ground out his words barely moving his mouth.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance. Those eyes. I knew—”
“About the prophecy?” He lost concentration again as he focused on Mary, and Amber breathed heavy against his mental onslaught.
“Weren’t you human a few months ago? Weak. I see why you hide behind my daughter. At least with you here, she has someone she has to protect. She must need it since she betrayed her own and ran like a coward.” He turned back to me and I widened my stance to keep myself from falling over. “Do you realize that the rest of your Family is out in search of you right now? They are going to take back their miasma. They know you’ve betrayed them. Coming home to find me here will just prove to them you’ve betrayed your maker.”
“He’s lying.” Mary said. “I’m in. He sent them away, but he doesn’t know for sure who they would believe. He was worried they would fight with you. That’s why only his hybrids are fighting.”
Most of the group I protected was not worth a salt to me, but despite my best efforts there were a few who had insinuated themselves in my soul. At least those few weren’t out there fighting. Small consolations.
“Get out of my head, witch.” The Matheo rolled his shoulders and lifted his eyes to focus fully on Mary.
She flew backwards and hit the edge of my circle. My force field wavered and a hum began around it. I couldn’t hear anything outside of the four of us.
“Are you okay, Mary?” Amber called out for her, but she didn’t move toward her friend. Every cell in her body, and the small being inside her, paid attention to the Matheo.
“He’s too strong for me to take total control. His will is too strong.” Mary made herself stand. If the bruising under her eyes and the bit of blood that began to drip from her nose were any indication, she couldn’t take many more hits like that. I damn sure couldn’t hold this whole circle through much more.
“Hey, head vampire dude. You know what happens when you push girls?” Amber called to him, and high on his upper hand, the Matheo smirked.
“You can tell me before you die, if you like.”
“They push back.” Amber stepped forward and her eyes began to strobe. Gold, silver, white, the colors were so bright I almost felt my will bend toward her.
I closed my eyes and did something I never thought I would do. I let someone else protect me. No, that wasn’t right. I wasn’t letting her take over—I was standing tall and doing what I needed to. I wondered how many of the hybrids were dead. I wondered if any of our wolves were dead. The circle wavered for a moment as I thought of my mates, but I couldn’t push it away this time. I needed that emotion. It was longing, pain, love. I cried, but the circle hummed louder as I held it strong now.
“You aren’t going anywhere.” Amber spoke with that harmonic tone that came with compelling another being.
I was about to remind her it wouldn’t work on someone as powerful as the Matheo, but before I could, I heard him say, “I shall not leave.”
“I’ve got him, Amber. Keep him still.” Mary’s voice was strained.
“You can’t form complete thoughts. You can’t use your power as leader of this Family. Your power is ours now.”
Our thoughts were shared. We weren’t on our own. We weren’t three. We were all.
The words belonged to us. Inside our head, and came from us and every witch that was fighting with us. One surge of power. One heady rush of force pushed forward, and we didn’t need to be touching any more. The words were spoken to me, by me, and were a united force that only we could hear.
The time is now. The time is ours. The power will shift.
The buzz of the circle grew louder, the power would have knocked any breath I needed from my lungs. I connected with everyone inside the circle, and the scream became my whole world. Pain blazed inside my head and every part of me knew this was the end of the world as we knew it. Mary pushed us out, along with every blood vessel inside the Matheo’s damaged brain. Then nothing could have been more oppressive than the silence. The force of the explosion knocked me back and I couldn’t hold onto the circle any longer.
I opened my eyes and was glad to be in my house. I needed a change of clothes and a long shower.
“There has got to be a cleaner way for you to do that.”
Mary helped Amber to her feet. “I might have been a little forceful, but feeling his head explode after what he did to Kari, after what he did to all of those witches…” Mary’s eyes turned to me.
I got the feeling if she could have gotten inside my head that second, she would have. Luckily, the Matheo had sapped her reserves.
Thank gods for small fucking favors. She would have seen what a mess I was. More than she already could. I was almost grateful for the brain matter all over my face. It let me wipe away the tears without giving that part of myself to her. I couldn’t give that much of myself to anyone. Then I really would be giving up the control.
Control was the only thing I had left.
“I could go for a rabbit about now.” Leave it to Amber.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Trevor
“Stop!” I ran from man to man, wolf to wolf, and tried to end the attack. Richard had called for them to cease as soon as he saw it too, but it was difficult to pull back so much adrenaline.
The hybrids just started dropping. Their eyes lost the glaze. They weren’t being compelled any longer. We were attacking them while they were trying to figure out why they were fighting in the first place.
The sounds began to settle. The group of combatants all tried to use the magic that throbbed around them to heal the massive wounds rampant on both sides of the battle lines.
“They did it.” Jake pushed through and ran for the front door. The Pack watched him go. Rick began to walk around. I f
elt the Pack grow. All these hybrids were talking to him. They were realizing they were being saved. Meeting the man that orchestrated your freedom brought about serious loyalty.
I followed Jake. I should have stayed with my Alpha and helped the injured, but I knew something serious happened in there.
The heavy front door rebounded off the wall like a flimsy metal screen. Jake ran for the stairs. He took them three at a time. So did I. As the front door slammed shut, the outside world hushed. When the smell of blood flooded my senses, my relief that it wasn’t Shelly’s made the ground shake beneath my feet.
There was a lot of blood. The room we entered was painted with death. Craig’s gasp for air behind me drew my eyes to the floor. Amber, Mary and Shelly all sat on the floor. Hands joined. Covered in the remnants of the Matheo’s head. Looked like Mary hadn’t lost her touch. No one moved.
“It’s my father.” Jake confirmed.
The Matheo’s body was on the floor with a neck that looked like it had met with the wrong end of a stick of dynamite.
“We can take care of the body,” I told Jake.
“We’ll burn it,” was all he said.
“Let’s grab the girls first, and get them cleaned up.” I started for the three of them, and got within a few feet before I saw it. I grabbed Jake’s arm and pressed my forearm against Craig’s chest to stop his momentum.
“What’s the deal, Doc?” Craig asked.
I put my hand forward, but I wasn’t surprised when the force of their circle stopped me. My hand dropped to my thigh and I crouched to watch them as closely as the barrier allowed. Mary’s chest raised with her breath and Amber’s belly fluttered with the little life inside her. They were okay. We just had to wait. I didn’t bother getting back up to address the other men. I wasn’t going anywhere until I saw Shelly’s eyes open again.
“We aren’t part of the circle. They’re alive, but they obviously have something else they need to do over there that we are not privy to. You should go help with the others outside.”
I heard the noises the other men made as they took the body down the stairs. Seeing the Matheo reduced to a lifeless lump was a damn satisfying end to the day. Almost as satisfying as it would be holding Shelly in my arms when she came out of this trance.
A heavy thunk to my left and a controlled descent to my right put a grin on my face. These two men sat next to me and we would support each other. Even though we weren’t Pack.
“I think we’ve done enough of what we should by now, Doc. Don’t you?” Craig wiped his hands on his pants and settled in to wait for his mate.
“It may take time for them to come out of this,” Jake reminded us. “Will Alpha Paulson be okay handling the hybrids by himself?”
I couldn’t reach Rick. Something he’d done had him blocking himself off from me with walls I couldn’t even start to break through. Even with his emotional armor in place, my Alpha had the strength of fifty wolves. He would be fine.
“All I know is I am staying here.”
Jake nodded. “As are we.”
Then we waited.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Shelly
No one wanted to need me. There was always another option they’d choose if they could. I usually preferred to stand alone, but this time I reached for Amber and Mary. They’d reached for me too.
“Well that was all kinds of horrible.” Mary was looking at her clothes like she expected to still see blood.
“At least the alternate world negates the need for a stain stick.” Amber was between us.
“I’m not sure where to go from here. I have to go bring my Family back. If they want to come back to a Family without a Matheo. If we are still a Family.” The miasma told us we wouldn’t be until we sought out a new leader.
I thought about how strong Amber was. Hmm. Interesting thought, but no way I could bow to this chick. Something inside me just said hell to the no.
“I would say sorry about your father, but I can feel you now.” Mary said. “You never really thought of him as a father.”
Mary was right. Our emotions were tangible here. I could tell that she was ready to get back to her mate. She also wanted to check on Kari.
Amber was grateful to know that her baby would grow up without fear of a psycho coming to tear her apart. She knew it was a girl. Mary had told her.
Mary wasn’t sure how she knew.
Amber was getting irritated that I could read her thoughts.
Mary was really hoping this mind meld thing only happened in this realm.
“Okay. That’s weird.” I said. “Please talk out loud.”
“Technically we are all talking in our heads.” Mary cringed. “Our bodies are probably face down in the Matheo’s blood.”
I wasn’t looking forward to leaving this place due to the ick factor alone. Most of the time swimming in blood would be my equivalent of a chocolate river to humans, but vampire blood was more comparable to motor oil. Similar consistency, and just about as tasty.
Werewolf blood wasn’t usually good eats either, but I found myself wondering if it would taste great to me during sex. Bloodsharing with a mate was heaven. Images of Richard and Trevor were brought forward by the miasma. Maybe I could test that theory out before I had to run.
“Gah! Shelly, if you don’t knock that shit off, I am going to vomit all over you and kick your ass on this plane and any other one we happen to astral project to.” Amber covered her ears as if that would do anything. “No sexy thoughts here. Agreed?”
That was like trying not to think of an elephant. Before I could stop it, the feeling of Trevor’s fingers sliding inside me alongside Richard’s cock as he readied me snuck in there. Then, at the look of horror on Amber’s face, I thought about the moment Trevor breached my ass.
The image was replaced with that of my brother fucking Amber along the railing of the bird watching tower.
“I did not need to see that, Amber.” I scrubbed my eyes. “You know I have miasma memory. That will never go away. Someone needs to change the topic of mental dialogue.”
An image of Craig and Mary fornicating by a campfire blasted in.
“Well at least I’m not related to him.” I said. Impressive body too. “Great catch, little witch.”
Mary smiled. “Always happy to help.”
Amber rubbed her belly. “Sex is not why we are here.”
“I think that is the first time you have said that, Amber.” Mary bumped elbows with her.
All it left me thinking was that I was pulled into their relationship and I couldn’t fathom how I belonged here. Mary answered my unspoken fret. This plane was a dangerous place.
“You belong here, Shelly. We belong together because we are people who didn’t belong where we were supposed to. I didn’t learn much from the time I spent with the covens, but I learned that your spirit will find its home. Even if it takes many lifetimes to do so.” Mary reached for me, but I stepped back.
I didn’t want to connect with anyone any more than I had to. I needed to go. I needed to stop thinking. My thoughts were on loudspeaker.
Mary frowned. “I think we found each other because we can create where we belong. Exclusion seems to be the norm in the supernatural world. Hell, it’s like that for humanity too, y’all are just a lot more formal about it. Women had to fight for the vote, and the right to hold the same jobs as men. Maybe someone needs to start the feminist movement on the supernatural side of things.”
“My mild mannered bestie is going all girl-power warrior?” Amber laughed. “I thought wiccans were supposed to be hippie nature lovers? Thought the motto was Do no harm.”
“That is the Wiccan Rede.” Mary thought about how it didn’t really fit with this world. “But my version is more like, Do no harm, but take no shit.”
“So if we are starting the supernatural femin
ism movement, who’s our Gloria Steinem?”
Thanks to the mind meld magic of the place Mary and I didn’t even have to respond. Amber was the touchstone. She would build it. After all, she was the stars.
I had been born into magic. I had been raised in magic, but waking up surrounded by our mates was like a bad Hangover parody. Wiping drool from my mouth, I separated myself from the other two women.
In seconds, Amber was enclosed in Jake’s arms, Craig was crushing Mary in his, and I put another row of bricks on the wall around my heart as I saw Trevor stall in his rush to get to me. My neck burned with his mark, and without me calling for it, the blood in my system began rushing to the surface of my skin.
My body was responding to him. I wasn’t in control. I had to be in control for what was next. Trevor took a deep breath and stepped over the dried blood on the floor. He had something in his hand, and I was never more grateful for the small black water bottle. I swallowed the blood inside. My conscience sighed as I realized it was from Maria, who was a human on our protection detail that gave us regular donations. There was also something else. I held the bottle back with a crease in my brow. It wasn’t like I could see through the sides, but my unasked question didn’t go unanswered.
“I put a few extras in there.” Trevor’s hands pressed into his pockets. “It will help you regain your strength. Astral projection is taxing.”
The tension in my shoulders eased a bit as the witch we’d saved made her way up the stairs and through the doorway to join us as well. For some reason it was important to me that she was okay. It was important that destroying one life saved others. I drank more of the blood. It wasn’t good to feel this attached.
“Kari.” Mary broke free from her wolf and tackled the woman that should have looked much frailer than she did.
