by H. D. Gordon
Lukas’s gaze was pulled away as he heard the cry of his brother, as he watched Lucian burn. I had to blink several times to be certain of what I was seeing, but sure enough, the Mad Wolf had shifted into his human form, but his skin was burned badly enough already that it was hard to make out any features.
From the ground so far below where Lukas stood, Lucian raised a hand to his brother. “Help me,,” the Mad Wolf gasped.
Lukas’s mouth twisted into a sneer of equal parts rage and agony, and he threw one last look of pure hatred at me before turning around and leaping out of the single window behind the loft.
I squeezed my eyes shut and burned under the rising heat of the fire as the Mad Wolf let out an inhuman, blood-curdling scream, and several other cries followed suit behind it.
Chapter 29
I saw my mother, and she was beautiful.
I hadn’t seen her face in so long that I had forgotten what she looked like, but as soon as she appeared, I knew her. I had her features, her same dark brown hair, high cheekbones and full lips. Her strong and slim frame, the way her shoulders were held back with pride, and her chin thrust out in defiance.
She was beautiful, and I missed her. I missed the way she smiled at me when I laid my head in her lap, the feel of her fingers stroking through my hair. I had spent so long being a mother to my siblings, skipping right through my childhood and into being an adult, that I hadn’t realized the absence of a mother in my own life, and how that absence had no doubt shaped me as a person.
The image disappeared as I began choking, something restricting the airflow in my chest and making pain spread there. My mind went dark, and the sounds that had faded during my vision of my mother returned; the painful howls of the burning Wolves, the cries of those who had shifted back into their human forms, the groaning of the burning building and crackling of the fire.
Just before the darkness claimed me, my body jolted backward, the door that I’d been propped up against disappearing from behind me. I fell onto my back as a rush of cold air blew into the storehouse, and only served to make the flames inside grow all the more fearsome. They burst out of the opening in a terrifying whoosh.
Someone gripped me under the arms, but through the smoke and flames I could not see who it was. I was yanked backwards, and then someone slammed the metal door shut again, just as one of the Wolves inside slammed against it.
Through fits of coughing, I saw that it was Kyra who had opened the door and dragged me out while Erek slid it shut after us. My friend swayed on her feet, her hair sticking out every which way and her face smeared with blood and soot.
I tried to find my feet, but my left leg buckled beneath me when I placed my weight on it, so there was nothing I could do as my best friend mumbled, Got ya, and collapsed to the ground beside me in an unconscious heap.
Erek stood to the side also coughing, and cradling his hands, where the skin had been seared off his palms when he’d grabbed the handle of the metal sliding door. Despite this, he grabbed Kyra by the leg and dragged her a little further away from the storehouse while I crawled through the dirt alongside them.
No sooner had we accomplished this feat before there was another magnificent explosion in the storehouse, and Erek and I watched in stunned silence as the roof of the structure caved in.
Our breath plumed out in clouds on the cold winter air, but the heat from the flames caused a sweat to break out over my brow. I scooted over to Kyra and placed my fingers on her neck, searching for a pulse and breathing a small sigh of relief when I found one.
The crazy Sorceress should have been halfway to the Mountain by now… But apparently, she could not bring herself to leave me. I was not ashamed of the tears that burned in my eyes and then slid down my cheeks as I loosed another harsh breath and placed a kiss on her forehead.
She did not stir in the least. Kyra was utterly drained, and would be in a very vulnerable state until she recovered.
I was so fixated on the sacrifice my friend had made, on the gratitude I felt not only toward her sacrifice, but also toward the fact that we were both alive, that I forgot about the Hound standing beside us. I forgot about the fact that Erek now knew about my dealings with Lukas Borden, and while he might not be sure of it yet, he also knew about my involvement in Ezra Iker’s disappearance.
One might think that after the most recent events I’d just faced, looking into the eyes of the Hound would not take so much effort, but one would be wrong. I hadn’t lied when I’d said that I didn’t love Erek, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel some kind of way about all of this, about what he must be thinking about me.
What I did not expect him to say was, “Dita Silvers, you are under arrest.”
A new wave of energy washed through me at this, and I pushed to my feet as Erek approached me. My mouth fell open as if to say something, though I had no idea what words might come out.
“Erek, I can explain,” I said, but could hear the falsity in my own voice. I glanced around, as if a mode of escape would just magically appear. I had not come this far to let the Hound arrest me.
But with all of this going on, with Lukas Borden’s storehouse burning brightly enough to bring every Hound within a hundred miles descending upon us, I had forgotten something.
Lukas Borden himself.
Lukas, however, had not forgotten about me.
I’d never seen him in Wolf form, had only ever encountered the male while he was walking on two legs, with his dark hair combed back neatly and his suits of the finest fabrics.
But I knew it was him, could tell because his eyes were the same, had the same cold rage no matter what form he was in.
So when a large, dark-furred Wolf leapt out of the lavender stalks behind Erek, his mouth opened wide as his jaws aimed for the Hound’s throat, I knew who it was.
The fire roared behind the Lukas Borden’s shoulders as he leapt in for the kill.
I acted without thinking.
My stupid body seemed to be making a habit of that. I’m pretty sure I yelled something unintelligible as I shoved Erek to the side just in time for him to avoid being tackled by Lukas.
Lukas’s large canine body went sailing by, but he landed lithely on his paws and spun around to face us.
To my surprise, he was even larger than Lucian, larger than my father, even. His head was the size of a boulder, his dark fur covering hard muscle, a body built for the kill.
The growl that rumbled up his throat made the hair on my arms stand on end, and I cursed the Gods for dangling the illusion of success before me and then snatching it away.
I did not have the energy left to complete an instantaneous shift, and Kyra was still down for the count. That left only the Hound who wanted to arrest me to fight off the criminal Wolf who still wanted to kill me.
I scrambled back on my feet, dragging Kyra’s unconscious body along with me as Lukas stalked forward. The useless weight of my empty irons at my hips mocked me, and I wished I had saved at least one damn bullet for this occasion.
As I scuttled backward, to my surprise, Erek stepped forward. He let out a low snarl of his own and shifted faster than I had ever witnessed a male Wolf shift in my life. Instantaneous shifting was something that I’d only ever thought female’s capable of, and even then, only a small portion of females ever honed their skill enough to accomplish this.
The clothing tore away from Erek’s muscular body as his form reshaped and remolded. His nose elongated into a snout, his hands and feet becoming massive paws. His fur was dark, just like his hair, and his eyes remained the same as well, as green as the new growth on the rolling hills of the Southlands.
Erek was smaller than Lukas in this form, not small by normal standards, but certainly smaller. His lips pulled back over his teeth as he released another growl that was menacing enough to make me shudder. The dark fur on his back stood on end as he faced down Lukas, as the two male Wolves squared off for a final battle.
As they did this, I glanced back at th
e burning storehouse, half expecting some other Wolves to stumble out and really make this a party, but the cries and howls from inside had fallen silent at some point while I’d been distracted.
The fight was short and bloody, as is often the case with Wolves of their stature. Erek and Lukas circled each other, snapping their jaws and tearing through fur and flesh, their eyes glowing brighter than the almost full moon looking down indifferently through the gathering storm clouds from above. Lightening flashed through the dark winter sky, casting the scene into sharp relief for a couple of seconds.
Lukas caught Erek on his rear flank, and the howl of pain that escaped him twisted at my insides, but I was busy dragging Kyra further away from the dueling males.
Erek was knocked back onto his rear, leaving him in a very vulnerable position, and Lukas stalked forward immediately, apparently as anxious for this whole thing to end as I was. I didn’t want to see it, but could not pull my eyes away to save my life.
It really could have gone either way. The bite that ended it was no more than a lucky strike on Erek’s part, a roll of the dice that played no favorites.
Lukas’s size was his strength, but also his weakness. While his bites were devastating and deadly, being so huge also slowed him down. He moved just a split second too slowly, and Erek used his lower position to surge forward and clamp his jaws around Lukas’s neck—to bite and lock.
Lukas whipped his head from side to side in an effort to throw Erek off, but had no such luck. Erek held tight, and with my sensitive ears, I heard it when he snapped his jaws shut and severed the critical arteries in Lukas’s throat.
I watched as the light in Lukas’s eyes faded, as the murderous rage that had filled them only moments ago blinked out like the last embers of a dying flame.
When Erek released his hold, Lukas’s huge body dropped to the earth with a thud, and the Hound stumbled and sat back on his haunches, his paws splayed in front of him in exhaustion.
While Erek sat staring at the body of the Wolf he had just killed. I picked up a rock the size of an apple and snuck up behind him.
With an unspoken apology on my lips, I raised the rock. By the time he thought to look for me, and pulled his eyes away from Lukas Borden’s body long enough to do so, I was already swinging. His green eyes went wide at the same moment I made contact, hitting him hard enough to render him unconscious, but hopefully not hard enough to cause any permanent damage.
The sound of the rock striking his skull was drowned out by the crackling of the fire as the storehouse collapsed even further in on itself and sent up a brilliant display of sparks and embers.
When I looked up, the thunderclouds had shifted, revealing the pale face of the moon, reflecting the raging fire as if the heavens themselves had been set ablaze.
Chapter 30
Run.
We needed to run, and fast. I didn’t even take the time to check the timepiece in my pocket. I didn’t need to. If we hadn’t already missed our ride out of town, we were going to.
On top of that, the Hounds would be descending upon this place any minute now, and it was a small miracle that they hadn’t yet. By the time they reached this burning barn, Kyra and I needed to be miles away from here.
My left leg screamed with every step as I hobbled around to the rear of the destroyed structure and found a carriage with two horses waiting there. The carriage was nice enough that I was sure it had been meant for Lukas Borden, but seeing as how he would no longer be in any need of it, I saw no problem in helping myself.
I wasted no time deciding to only take one horse and leave the other and the carriage. I would be able to ride much faster on one horse, as well as be able to cut through fields and off the main paths and roadways.
For obvious reasons, the horses were all worked up. They were far enough away from the raging fire that they were safe from harm, but close enough to feel the rushing heat of it against their flesh. They stomped their hooves, whined, and tossed their heads as I approached, surely sensing the frantic urgency within me as well.
It took effort to calm myself enough to cut one free of his harness and lead him around to where I’d left Kyra. Every second that passed was ticking off in my head. And, now, through the rumble of thunder and the pounding of my heart, I could hear the approaching hooves of the Hounds’ horses.
I managed to woo the beast enough to walk him over to my friend. Then I scooped Kyra up into my arms, my supernatural strength more than enough to hoist her over the horse’s back despite my injuries. Once I was sure she was reasonably secure, I hopped up onto the horse behind her, dug my heels into its sides, and we were off.
It was a task making sure that Kyra didn’t fall off while pushing the horse to go faster, to put as much distance between us and the crazy scene back at the storehouse, and rush toward a ride I could only hope had not departed without us.
We cut through the fields of lavender wheat, and at last, the fat clouds overhead opened up and poured down a terrible mixture of rain and sleet. This woke Kyra up, and she popped her head up as we galloped along, nearly knocking me off the damn horse.
I gritted my teeth against the cold and slowed the horse so that she could sit up. Then we were off again.
It was too cold for words, the freezing rain soaking through our clothes and making our teeth chatter. If Kyra had not completely drained herself of magic, she might have been able to use some to keep us warm, but I knew the only thing even keeping her conscious at the moment was the freezing cold. My hands felt like ice cubes, my teeth clenched so tightly that my jaws ached.
The storm raged on and on, and by the time the Murdock Mountains came into sight, I was in so much physical misery that I almost thought them an illusion.
But as we drew closer, and the image did not disappear, I accepted that we were here, that we had made it.
Against all odds, we had made it.
I still didn’t check my timepiece, didn’t want to know if the boat had left without us, wasn’t sure I would be able to handle it emotionally if we reached the spot only to find it empty.
Of course, I could follow my family later on if that was the case; Kyra would heal, and we’d find alternate transportation, but we’d just fled from a veritable mess of a situation, and even the confines of the Murdock Mountains would not be able to shield us for long.
No, we needed to go far, far away.
As at last we drew closer, and I spotted the flickering flame of a single torch, and then the person holding it, I could have cried out in relief had my frozen body been capable. As it was, I rode the horse right up to Devon, who caught me as I tipped sideways off its back.
“Dear Gods,” my big brother mumbled. “I was getting ready to burn Borden to the ground looking for you.”
This brought the image of the burning storehouse to the front of my foggy mind, along with the sounds of the howling, dying Wolves who’d been trapped inside. A fit of shivers wracked through me that I was powerless to control.
A look of intense worry came over Devon’s handsome face, but I managed to tell him between chattering teeth to get Kyra instead.
He followed my orders immediately, pulling the Sorceress off the horse and cradling her in his strong arms as though she weighed nothing.
“Have we missed it?” I asked, barely recognizing my own voice for how strange it sounded.
“Not yet,” he said. “But we need to hurry.”
I followed Devon around an outcropping of rock that led into a small pass through the mountain. How I was making my frozen muscles move at all, I didn’t know. I was pretty sure that I was running on fumes, but somehow, we reached a crack in the mountain that led inside the rock, with a large boulder half blocking the opening.
Devon placed the sole of his boot on the boulder, still holding Kyra aloft in his arms, and shoved it aside easily. As a female Werewolf, I was stronger than a mere mortal, but the males were even more so, and it was a feature I would always envy.
These thoughts
were chased away with the chattering of my teeth as I followed Devon into the cavern.
We moved as quickly as we could manage, me going in first so that I could lead the way with the torch Devon had handed me when he’d picked up Kyra, who had fallen back into unconsciousness.
Deeper and deeper into the mountain. The air down here was cool, not as cold as the freezing rain outside, but cold enough that I could no longer feel the tips of my fingers or toes. Looking at Kyra told me that the Sorceress was in even worse condition. Her beautiful brown skin had taken on a pallid look that worried me enough to almost ignore my own intense discomfort.
“Almost there,” Devon promised.
“Are we going to make it?” I asked. Again, I could hardly recognize the sound of my own voice. It was too small, too weak and uncertain to belong to me.
My brother must have heard it, too, because when I glanced back at him over my shoulder, his face was still awash in that deep concern.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I sure hope so.”
Wolves do not enjoy being in tight spaces, which is why the cages our ancestors used to keep the slaves in were so very cruel. We are creatures that need open space, and lots of it, to roam and move about.
But my claustrophobia was the last thing on my mind as we followed the tunnels to the heart of the Murdock Mountains. The stalactites and stalagmites glittered like icicles in the flickering light of the torch, and my sensitive ears picked up the sound of water trickling somewhere nearby. The air smelled cool and clean, like damp rocks and earth. And when I tilted my head back, I saw hundreds of black shapes hanging from the ceiling.
“Bats,” Devon said, and I was too cold and miserable to thank him for being Captain of the Obvious.
