Forever Broken: A Talon Pack Novel

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Gideon gave a tight nod, then froze, his body going stick-straight, his eyes wide. Then Brie let out a scream as she fell into Mitchell’s arms since he was the one closest to her. Gideon threw back his head and howled so painfully that Cheyenne thought she might die right then along with the rest of the world. Gideon clawed at his chest as the rest of the family either went into protective battle stances; or in Walker’s and Leah’s cases, ran to Gideon and Brie to see how they could help.

  Gideon dropped to his knees, and the other wolves that weren’t family fell as well, their pained howls an echo of their Alpha’s.

  Gideon looked at all of them, his wolf in his eyes, but Cheyenne knew something was wrong.

  She could meet his eyes. That couldn’t be right. He was an Alpha. She wasn’t supposed to be able to meet his gaze.

  “He took it,” Gideon rasped. “He took my power.”

  Blade had done it.

  He’d changed the game.

  And he’d done it right as they talked about it, meaning…Blade knew.

  He could see.

  He could feel.

  And he’d done the unthinkable.

  He’d taken their Alpha.

  And then Cheyenne screamed.

  Chapter Seven

  Max had no idea what was happening, but as soon as Cheyenne screamed, he turned to her, pulling her close. She shook, her hands going to her head as she clawed at her temples, then her chest. If her nails weren’t so short, she’d have been bleeding right then, and Max couldn’t do anything but try to hold her down as she screamed in pain.

  Brie was no longer screaming. Instead, she was holding her mate close as Gideon tried to form words.

  None of them could speak. They couldn’t do anything except watch as their Alpha looked at them with the eyes of a wolf but without power. It was unthinkable. Cheyenne stopped screaming in Max’s hold, her body shaking violently, her teeth chattering. He picked her up, cradling her to his chest as he tried to figure out what to do next.

  Ryder looked at all of them, his hands over his heart as his mouth moved and nothing came out.

  Everyone just stood there, dumbfounded, and Max didn’t blame them, but they couldn’t keep doing that if they wanted to survive this.

  “Ryder? Do you have all the Pack bonds?” Max barked out the words, bringing everyone out of their stupor even though he hated the words themselves.

  “Only as Heir. I don’t feel any different.” Ryder looked at the others. “Any of you?”

  “The same Enforcer bonds as always,” Kameron put in.

  “Same for me as Beta,” Mitchell added.

  “Yes, as Healer.” Walker sat in front of Max and Cheyenne, trying to get close, but Cheyenne couldn’t handle the touch. He’d never seen his cousin look so lost before, not even during the terror of almost losing Aimee.

  Nothing made sense.

  “And for me as Omega.” Brandon held his two mates, Avery and Parker, close. Parker was on the phone with his family, who happened to be Redwoods. Max knew he was keeping the other Pack informed.

  Good, since the Talons might not be able to handle this on their own.

  “So…many…bonds…” Cheyenne bit out the words, and everyone froze, looking down at her.

  “Holy fuck,” Max growled. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be the Alpha. That wasn’t how this worked.

  “If Blade used the artifact to take away power, then her blood might be connected to it. After all, he said her blood, her sacrifice would be the one to activate it.” Xavier knelt beside Walker to try and help, but Cheyenne just burrowed deeper against Max’s chest.

  “She doesn’t smell of Alpha, just power,” Max said through gritted teeth. “She smells of human and mine. What the fuck is going on?”

  Before anyone could answer, Blade was on the screen in the Pack circle, and Max knew the worst was only beginning.

  “Fuck this,” Max whispered, pulling Cheyenne closer to him. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew it couldn’t be good.

  Kameron started barking out orders to his men and women, Mitchell doing the same with his team. Max knew that soon their borders would be far more protected, the teams moving out and filling any holes or pockets that opened up. The Redwoods would be on alert, same with the Centrals.

  “You didn’t listen when I said I was the Supreme Alpha, and now you’re facing the consequences.”

  Max tried not to growl. He tried not to think about what Blade was going to say next. All he could do was focus on his mate and wonder what the Alpha of the Aspen Pack was going on about.

  Cheyenne still scented of power, and it worried him. Gideon still lay on the ground with Walker standing over him. His cousin didn’t smell of Alpha anymore, and he had no idea what might happen next, or what they would do about it when Blade was finished talking and the world stopped falling down around them.

  “You should’ve listened to me. But you didn’t. And now, because of that, you won’t have an Alpha anymore.”

  Max stiffened, wondering what the hell Blade was going to do because there was no way this bastard was done.

  “It’s only temporary. I am the Supreme Alpha. I am the one with power. And when I feel like it’s time for you to have your power as Alpha back, you’ll have it back. Because I am the one who’s going to have the say. The power. And the will.”

  Max let out a growl that echoed throughout the circle, mixing with the other growls from his Pack mates. Blade was a dead man, and he didn’t even know it yet. But what Max did notice was that Blade did not look healthy. The man looked grey, and sweat poured down his face. Whatever power it took for Blade to use the artifact, it had taken something from him. Max didn’t know what, but he would do everything in his power to exploit that fact.

  Cheyenne moaned again in Max’s hold, and he pulled her closer, hoping to hell that he could find a way to fix this. Only he wasn’t the kind of man that could do that anymore. He didn’t have the strength needed to protect his Pack, his family, and his mate.

  But he didn’t have time to worry about himself right then because Blade wasn’t finished.

  The Aspen Alpha lifted a lip in a snarl before speaking again. “If you don’t bow to my will and understand that I am the one who’s going to make all the decisions when it comes to the humans, the witches, and anyone that thinks they can harm shifters, I’ll make sure your precious Gideon loses his power again. That is if I give it back at all.”

  The others began to circle around, finally coming out of their stupor after seeing what had happened to their Alpha. Cheyenne wasn’t shaking as badly as she had been, and her temperature was coming up. That was how Max noticed that she had gone icy-cold. He held her closer, knowing that his body temperature was higher than a human’s because of his wolf. She snuggled into him, even as she opened her eyes, the fear in the depths bright and jarring.

  Cheyenne never looked scared. Even when she had been bloody and beaten, she hadn’t looked scared. But right now, her fear was his fear.

  And the fact that he could sense it across the bond freaked him the hell out.

  Blade continued talking, but Max knew it was just so the other man could hear himself speak. Blade wanted all of the power. He wanted to be the one to control humans, shifters, witches, and everything in between. Because Max knew there was more to the world than just what he could see. After all, his Pack had recently discovered that there were more shifters in the world than wolves. And he had lived a long time to just be finding that out now.

  Blade finally looked around, and that’s when Max figured out that Blade couldn’t see the circle like Max could see Blade. The Alpha was just recording what he wanted to say and doing it live. This wasn’t a two-way conversation. The other man had somehow hacked into the Talon den’s system, but that was all he could do. This wasn’t magic. This was technology, something that any hacker could pull off.

  And Max knew his cousins would never allow this to happen again.

  Blade lif
ted up the artifact, and Max made sure he committed everything about it to memory. And while he knew that several people were recording what was going on, and the system itself would do that, Max wanted to make sure he knew exactly what Blade was holding. Because that artifact was what was hurting his cousin, his Alpha, and his mate right then.

  Blade closed his eyes, and sweat poured down the Alpha’s face. Max hoped to hell that the guy would just die from using too much energy, but today wasn’t going to be that day.

  Gideon threw back his head and screamed. Brie did the same. But Gideon practically glowed as he stood up, his shoulders strong, and the scent of Alpha surrounding him once more. Cheyenne finally stopped shaking, the scent that had scared him and marked her as a new power now gone.

  This had only been a test, but Max knew it wasn’t over.

  “I know you can’t hear me, Blade, but I’m coming for you. You’re a dead man.” Gideon growled out the words, even as he stalked towards his mate and held Brie close to him. He might be holding her, but she was holding him right back. They had never looked stronger, even in the face of near defeat.

  They were the Alpha pair, and Max never wanted that responsibility on his shoulders.

  He might not have a title, might not be part of the hierarchy, but he was glad. He did not want that struggle, that power.

  He kissed the top of Cheyenne’s head and helped her to her feet. “You okay?”

  “I guess. What the hell just happened?” Her hands were clammy, and he held them both in his one palm, using his other arm to bring her closer. His family was still on alert, and so was he for that matter. He kept his attention on the screen as well as anything else that could come at them while they were distracted by what was going on.

  “I don’t know, but I think we were right somewhat in what the artifact does.”

  Cheyenne moved around so she faced Gideon as well as Blade’s image, but she leaned into Max, her back to his front. He didn’t know if she was even aware that she was doing it, but he let it happen. They hadn’t touched much except for on the battlefield at Blade’s old cabin, but ever since the bond had been placed between them, they couldn’t help but touch each other.

  Blade sneered down at them, and Max knew he wasn’t going to like anything that happened next. The air around them sizzled, and he took a deep breath, trying to engage all his senses so he could figure out what might come, what could attack.

  Then, two submissive wolves, both decently young and male, were tugged into the center of the circle. They weren’t pulled by another person or even by ropes. Instead, they looked like marionette dolls without the strings, an unseen force pulling them in, the fear on their eyes drenching the landscape. The fact that they were submissive hurt Max’s soul far more than any other sight he could have seen.

  They should have been protected.

  No matter what.

  Cheyenne sucked in a breath, and Max wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. Others began to move closer to the two wolves, who now had sweat drenching their bodies. But Max knew they would be too late.

  He looked up at Blade on the screen and noticed that, once again, the man looked grey, sweaty, even paler. It would be fitting if the other man died, using too much of a power he didn’t understand. But that was not how things worked. The good didn’t win these days, it seemed, only those who drenched themselves in evil and pretended they were a power they had no idea how to comprehend.

  And as each wolf looked at each other and then over at Max and his family, they screamed, the raw pain in their voices so intense, Max’s own wolf wanted to howl back. He and his family were on their feet, running towards the pair in the next breath.

  Max knew it could be a trap, but submissive wolves were supposed to be treasured. They should be loved and taken care of. They had their rank in the Pack not because they were weak, but because their strength was in things other than claws and fangs. Even Brie was a submissive wolf, and she was cherished above all others as the Alpha’s mate.

  Cheyenne and Max somehow reached the two wolves before the rest of them. And yet he knew it was for a reason, a purpose he didn’t understand. But from the way Cheyenne practically glowed in front of him, he knew that she was connected to whatever was happening. She might not understand why, none of them did, but it was for a reason. He met her eyes, then looked over at their Alpha and prayed to the moon goddess that there would be absolution.

  Absolution that didn’t end in death.

  But as he held one man close to him, and Cheyenne fell to her knees and put the other man’s head in her lap, he knew his wishes and prayers wouldn’t be answered. They never were. One man, Tony, the guy Max held, looked up, the fear in his expression so potent that Max could taste it on his tongue. All he could do was hold him and wonder why there would be such a power in the world that could do this to another from far away. Battles were supposed to be waged on the field.

  They should be fought with blood, fang, and claw. They weren’t supposed to happen far away, where the combatants didn’t have to deal with the raw power and pain that came from torture and death. But Blade had no honor, he never had. He had run away with his tail between his legs when he was outnumbered, and now he had found something and used Cheyenne to control it. And it appeared that something might kill them all. Unless they figured out a way to stop the Aspen Alpha.

  Max went to his knees beside Cheyenne, and while Walker and the rest of the Brentwoods surrounded them, trying to help, Max knew it was too late. And so did the two wolves in their arms. They screamed once more, and then there was silence. Just the breathing of those who’d watched two perfectly sweet and caring wolves die because they were the weakest in power for Blade to attack. Or maybe it was just because Blade had touched them in the past—touched them with his power, with his soul. Not that Blade had a soul.

  Gideon let out a howl of rage, and the others echoed, the song of their pain and horror a haunting melody that Max knew he would hear in his dreams. If he ever slept again. He looked down at Cheyenne, who blinked up at him, tears streaming down her face, but she couldn’t speak. He knew that because she opened her mouth, and nothing came out. Instead, she ran her hands through the man’s hair on her lap, and Max knew that this was the moment everything changed. Or at least a moment that something would change.

  Everything had seemed like moment after moment recently, and Max knew that things had to change if they were to survive.

  Before he could think any more about that, Blade began to speak again.

  Kameron and the others had already run off, most likely to check the homes of every other wolf who hadn’t come to the circle. Someone else had run off to go check on the children, others to check the patrols. Just because they’d only seen two lives lost just then, didn’t mean there wouldn’t be more.

  And as Max thought the word only, he was afraid that it was just the beginning.

  It was always just the beginning.

  “You see what I can do. You can see it clearly because I bet they’re in your arms right now, soulless husks. They never should have been part of the Pack anyway. They were fodder. And they always would have been. But if the other Alphas, including your Alpha, your dear Gideon, do not recognize me as the Supreme Alpha, I will kill more. I will kill your Pack, and I will even kill those Aspens who do not fall in line with me. I will kill so many. I will take their lives, and I will not regret it. You will be the ones who regret it.”

  Gideon growled, and Max joined him. Even Cheyenne let out a snarl of her own, one much more human but just as fierce.

  Blade began again. “So, talk to your precious Alphas, use that network your Voice of the Wolves figured out. Use that and find a way to come together and be the submissive bitches that you are. Because if you do not toe the line, I’ll kill the rest. And know that I have wolves within my own den that I can start with. And I will make sure the humans know it was your fault. And then they will turn on you again, and everything will be as it should
be.”

  Max reached out and gripped Cheyenne’s hand, not knowing what else to do. He needed her touch. His wolf needed her touch. And he didn’t know why he craved it so much. But as soon as his skin made contact with hers, his heart slowed just enough that he could breathe again, so he could think.

  Blade wasn’t finished, however. “If you kill me, if you try to come at me, you will kill all of the innocents. Because I am now connected to everything and everyone. I am the Supreme Alpha. And you will understand what this means soon.”

  And then, Blade was gone, and Max’s Pack mourned.

  But Blade had made a mistake. He hadn’t come at just the Alpha, something that Max knew his family would have to talk about in detail later. No, Blade had come after those who needed to be the most cared for. He had come at those who seemed the weakest. The ones who had the most strength inside. Their deaths would light a fire within them.

  They had already lit a fire within Max, and from the way Cheyenne looked ready to kill anything in her path, even without claws or a weapon, he knew that Blade had lit a fire within her, as well.

  They would have to figure out exactly what had happened, why Gideon had lost his powers, and why they had come back so quickly. And not just because of the artifact itself. They needed to figure out why Cheyenne had scented of power but hadn’t been Alpha. They needed to figure it all out. But first, they would mourn.

  And then, they would fight.

  BLADE

  Blade clicked off the screen and nodded at the others in the room, including his second in command. The second in command he should have had instead of the ill-fated Audrey.

  He gave his men orders to stay alert and to get the next part of their plan situated before he stood up from his chair and made his way to his personal office. He’d done the video feed in the media room they’d built for him since he needed the best lighting to make sure he got his work done.

  Now, though, he needed some space.