by Cecy Robson
I looked at him. He seemed so far away even though only a few feet separated us. It wasn’t right not to be with him. Damn, we’d already spent too much time apart. I wasn’t sure what he saw in my expression, but it was enough to upset him. “Good night,” was all he said.
“Good night,” I mumbled.
Shayna came to see me a few minutes later, carrying roses. “They’re from Aric. He wanted me to tell you that he loves you and that he’s really sorry.”
“Sorry he tried to rape her or sorry for beating her up?” Taran asked.
Anger surged through me. “Shut up, Taran,” I snapped.
Her initial shock turned to fury. “What the hell is your problem? I’m trying to stick up for you. We’re all better off without these damn wolves messing up our lives—”
“Enough,” I hissed, shoving my face into hers. “Do not put the shit you’re going through with Gem back on us.”
We glared at each other. In the end, Taran’s bitch was no match for my tigress. She averted her gaze and snatched her purse from the dresser. “Screw this,” she said, stomping toward the door. “Screw you, too, Celia.”
“Taran, don’t go,” Shayna called after her. “We don’t know what’s happening.”
Taran slammed the door behind her. I slumped to the bed exhausted. I didn’t like fighting with her. And I knew she was angry about my assault. But she was also hurting from her own turmoil and it had begun to cloud her judgment.
Emme sat next to me. “She’ll be back. I’m sure of it.”
I didn’t agree. Taran was angry and feeling alone. I could relate. Aric was my fiancé and we weren’t even allowed in the same room together. For heaven’s sake, how much more drama could there be in one night?
I propped myself up on some pillows and glanced at the flowers Shayna had brought. She’d filled an ice bucket with water and placed the bicolored pink and dark red roses inside. They were gorgeous and yet they made me sad. Aric didn’t owe me an apology. Something else did. And that something would pay if I could get my hands on it.
I stood abruptly and tried to prepare for bed. It was three in the morning when I finally crawled under the sheets and almost six when I crawled back out. I couldn’t sleep, haunted with the memories of my past abuse and the assault. Every time I closed my eyes I relived what I had been forced to endure. The memories were graphic and brutal. I recalled every detail—the lighting in the room, the smells, the sounds, and the horrible feeling of helplessness.
I brushed my teeth, threw on a sports bra and shorts, and left to check out the first floor gym. When I opened the door I found Aric sitting against the wall opposite my room.
He stared back at me with sad eyes encircled with dark shadows. It was him—really him; his aroma of water crashing over stones greeted me with tremendous warmth.
I forced my hand from the door handle and sat against the wall across from him.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
“Hi, wolf.”
He pulled a knee forward to lay his forearm over it. “I couldn’t stay in my room,” he said. “I needed to know you were safe.”
A single tear slid down my face. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Aric inspected me closely. “I don’t want to ask, but I need to know. Are you afraid of me?”
He could have scented my fear from down the hall. My gaze dropped to the carpet. Gold diamonds trailed along the dark burgundy loops. “It’s not that I’m afraid of you,” I answered honestly. “But I am afraid of what this entity could do through you. Your soul wasn’t who hurt me, but your body still did.”
He lowered his head. “I hear what you’re saying,” he said quietly. “Damn, Celia. What’s going to happen to us?”
Aric was a mess. Hell, I wasn’t much better, but I would be damned if I was going to let anything destroy what still existed between us. “Nothing,” I answered him. He looked up at me, unsure what I meant. I swallowed the huge lump in my throat. “I’m not leaving you, Aric. We just need to stop this thing.” I didn’t want to elaborate, knowing it would only upset him further, but I felt he should know. “Listen, what happened last night brought up a lot of bad stuff from my past. I thought I was over it, but now it’s haunting me and keeping me awake.”
Aric was suddenly sitting next to me. I startled, surprised. I’d only just blinked. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “Don’t be frightened. My wolf is just going crazy without you…and so am I.”
I knew what he meant. If it was up to my tigress she’d be leading us back to his room. “I know.”
His stare seared into mine. “Whatever it takes, whatever I have to do, I’m going to stop this thing. Nothing will keep me from taking you as my wife.”
Aric’s words made me smile through my tears. Despite my reservations and fears, I knew he loved me, and that no matter what, I wasn’t alone. I leaned my head against his shoulder when he draped his arm around me. His heat stroked gently against my skin. After a few deep breaths of his scent, my eyelids drooped, feeling heavy. His presence brought me a sense of calm so strong, I fell asleep against his shoulder.
For a long time there was only darkness…until the screams began.
I woke abruptly, unsure what was happening, in time to see Aric racing down the hall toward Shayna and Koda’s room. I bolted after him as the screams grew louder and more distressed.
Aric smashed through the steel door like it was made of thin packing foam. Almost immediately the metallic scent of blood filled my nose. We scrambled toward the bedroom and toward the shrieks to find Koda on top of Shayna, forcing her down to the bed.
Blood soaked the sheets and smeared the walls. I’d barely registered what was happening when Aric tackled Koda to the floor.
I leapt onto the bed, reaching for my sister, who was splattered with blood. “No!” Koda growled. “It’s not Shayna!”
Koda’s warning came too late. I stared down at my chest where the blade of Shayna’s sword had disappeared.
Chapter 23
I don’t remember much of anything. Everything came in bits and pieces. Aric was screaming for Emme. Shayna was sobbing. And there was pain, lots of sharp, aching pain drilling through my chest and into my back. I remember feeling cold and damp and so alone.
You’re not alone, the voices whispered.
“Baby, stay with me,” Aric pleaded. “Emme’s here. She’s going to help you.”
I knew Emme was there, I heard her scream before I felt the familiar touch of her small hands against my face. I sort of recalled her soft yellow light before everything turned black.
Gradually, light trickled in and I found myself in a dark room with Ray and Joe, the boys who had hurt us when we were in foster care.
“We’ve missed you, Celia,” Ray said.
I scanned the room I’d been forced to stay in. Sickly green paint covered the plaster walls. There were no doors, no windows, no escape. My heart pounded into overdrive, forcing adrenaline quicker through my bloodstream.
“You’re not real,” I bit out through clenched teeth. “You’re dead, you’re dead!”
Joe stood and pointed to the opposite corner. “No. They are.”
On the floor lay my mother and father, their bodies pumping the last of their blood through giant holes in their chests. Surrounding them were the gang members who’d shot them, their sawed-off shotguns raised and pointed at me.
You’re not alone, voices said.
The men, all of them, closed in.
You’re not alone, the voices repeated.
But I wasn’t listening. I was whirling around, searching for a way out.
The men moved in a flash, pulling me to them. I drove my clawed hands into faces and kicked out with my legs. But my strikes went right through them while their brutal hands raked along my body.
“Celia,” Aric begged. “Please look at me, baby.”
I was huddled in a corner shaking and crying. My chest and stomach were drenched with blood. Aric knelt a few feet away w
ith his hand outstretched. Koda was holding Shayna as she sobbed uncontrollably, blood covering them both. Emme wasn’t crying, but she appeared ill and unusually pale.
“I’m so sorry, Ceel,” Shayna whimpered. There was something in her voice that told me she meant it for more than just stabbing me.
I tried to stand, but my legs fell out from beneath me. Aric clutched me against him, his own chest heaving with rage and frustration as I wept.
Emme inched her way to my side when I finally started to settle. “It was Ray and Joe. W-wasn’t it?” she stammered. “And those men who killed Mom and Dad.”
I nodded, unable to speak. I stared at the wallpaper’s cream and yellow pattern and the edges of the burgundy curtain. The colors mixed in a swirl from the last of my tears. Crying sucked. I hated to cry. And I’d done more than my share in the past year to last a lifetime. I tried to form words, to say something—anything.
Stupid consonants and unrecognizable syllables spilled out of my blubbering lips, but no actual words took shape. I finally gave up and stared at the bland kaleidoscope of color that swam in my vision. It wasn’t until the numbness set in that I was finally able to speak.
“How did you know?” I asked Emme.
Emme’s voice was disturbingly shaky. “I saw them hurting you.” She briefly closed her eyes. “And I saw Mom and Dad. But I also saw you here, in front of me. You wouldn’t wake up even after I healed you. It was only after you looked at Aric that everything stopped.”
I didn’t remember looking at Aric, and I definitely didn’t remember how I ended up in the corner, but then again I couldn’t comprehend anything that was happening. Several of Misha’s vampires clamored in the hallway, working their mojo on everyone passing by on their way to breakfast.
I stole a glance at Aric. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
His eyes were narrow with fury. “I’m taking you back to the Den. It’s the only place I think you might be safe.”
Might be safe?
Tim stormed in along with Agnes, Edith, and Liz. “The master wants Celia with him,” he said.
“Do you think I give a shit?” Aric growled back. “She’s staying with me and that’s all there is to it.”
Growling and hissing erupted. “Stop it,” Emme insisted. “Do you think your bickering is helping?”
I wiped my eyes and stood. Aric helped steady me. “I’ll go to the Den,” I said quietly. My eyes cut to Shayna. “I just hope it will be enough.”
Aric led me to the door, snarling when the vamps blocked our path. “Celia is coming with us. Get out of the way.”
“Tim, move,” I ordered.
He glanced at the Catholic schoolgirls, nodding stiffly to allow us through.
“Damn, Celia. You all look like shit on a cracker,” Agnes hissed.
I scowled at her, but in a way I was grateful. I’d rather be pissed off than scared and helpless. I tightened my hold on Aric when he and Koda growled at her in challenge.
Liz put down the nail file she’d been using on her protruding fingernails and glared at them. “You hairy beasts can growl all you want, but Celia never bled around us.” She thought about what she said. “Well, at least not that much.”
Aric snarled and yanked me closer to him. His protectiveness amplified the warmth stimulated by our bond, immediately easing my remaining distress. He breathed deeply against me; he had felt it, too. “Come on, sweetness. Let’s get you out of here.”
The vamps followed us into the hotel parking lot and tailed us when we pulled out. I cuddled closer to Aric, fighting to stay awake. My body and brain had had their ass kicked and all they wanted was sleep. But I was too afraid to close my eyes and return to that room where the worst of my memories waited.
Aric kissed my head, grateful for the closeness we were sharing. When we crossed into Nevada he questioned Koda. “What happened in your room before we got there?”
Koda took his time answering, likely disturbed about everything that had transpired. For as big and strong as he was, he wasn’t made of stone. It killed him to see those he loved suffer. “Shayna’s scent disappeared when we were sleeping. At first I thought she had left the bed. But when I felt her body in my arms, I knew something was wrong.”
Shayna turned around, her eyes red and swollen. “It was like what Aric said, Ceel. Something pushed me out of my body.” She took a few breaths, trying to control her fragile emotions. “We ordered room service and left the empty tray on the bedside table. I woke up, looming over the bed, and watched my own body reach for the knife on the tray and form it into a sword.” She stared back at Koda. “It knew how to use my power—whatever this thing is, it knew. I forced my way back in somehow, but I couldn’t stop that thing from hurting you.” She started to cry again. “I can’t believe I stabbed you!”
Koda slipped his arm around her. “It wasn’t you, baby,” he said softly.
“Koda was stabbed through the stomach before we arrived,” Aric whispered.
Shayna buried her face in her hands. “It was trying to pierce through his testicles!” she wailed.
Everyone in the car fell stone still. Oh shit.
Koda slipped his arm away from Shayna’s shoulders. He gawked back and forth from Shayna to the road. I supposed she hadn’t mentioned that little tidbit before.
“How did you get rid of it?” I asked as Koda veered onto the gravel road leading up to the Den.
She shook her head. “I didn’t. Aric did. He touched me and I felt it move. It was like he was shoving it out of me.”
I looked up at Aric, who simply nodded despite the fear that riled his beast. He stroked my cheek with his thumb when I pressed my lips to his. “I thought it had killed you,” he admitted when I pulled away. “My wolf went after it while my human side remained with you. It was my beast who remembered how to fight it and knew how to force it from Shayna’s body.”
Koda watched Aric through the rearview mirror. “I didn’t think it was possible for our halves to separate like that,” he said.
Aric stroked my arm. “Neither did I.”
The vampires followed us into the Den. When the weres refused to allow them in, Agnes cited diplomatic courtesy under section twenty-two of the Alliance agreement. I figured she would find a way in without using brute force. Agnes was annoying at best and an all-around pain in the ass, but she was also one of the smartest dead people I’d ever met.
We entered the large meeting room in the main building. Aric held my hand as we crossed the dark wood floors. The building was empty of students. I welcomed the quiet. Having a bunch of kids gawking at their Leader’s fiancée covered with blood was not my idea of fun.
I kept my focus ahead to the cluster of supernatural elite waiting for us. Some I recognized from Liam’s funeral, most I didn’t know. Taran waited beside Bren, who had been ordered by Koda to track her down and drag her back to the Den.
She leaned against the paneled wall with her arms crossed—scowling at Gemini, who stood between Genevieve and a few members of her coven. Again, Betty Sue was noticeably absent. This time, though, Delilah was present. She shook her head when she saw me, probably wondering how I was still alive. This had to be the sixth attempt on my life since we’d met.
Taran only stopped glaring when she realized the condition we were in. Koda and Shayna were smeared with dried blood and surprise, surprise, so was I. Her annoyed expression was quickly replaced by alarm as she raced toward us. “Son of a bitch. What the hell—?”
Aric hauled me to him as a tremendous funnel of blue and white fire spiraled from Taran’s core, aimed directly at us. His blood-curdling howl echoed in my ears as my back slammed against the hardwood floor and the force of the blast propelled us across the room.
Aric’s lifeless form slumped on top of me. I choked out a scream from the smell of his sizzling and smoking flesh, the pungent odor stinging my nose.
“Taran!” Gemini roared.
Fireballs crashed around us like meteors, spli
ntering and cracking the wood as pained screams bounced against the high walls. Some shrieked in torment, others growled, readying to attack, while countless more were abruptly silenced.
Taran was gone. The entity had claimed her and it had complete control over her power.
Chapter 24
Blue and white flames bathed the ceiling in a giant wave, eating through the wood and plaster with a heat so extreme my tears bubbled against my face.
I squirmed from beneath Aric, knowing he was badly hurt. I needed to save him and escape with him from this inferno. He groaned in agony as I dragged him by the shoulders just when a huge beam broke from above and punctured the floor.
Aric grunted and snarled, wobbling forward and pinning me against a wall. “No!” he muttered.
I thought he was in pain from being moved so carelessly until his face twisted into that sadistic being who’d assaulted me. Aric’s muscles continued to roast, but his underlying aroma had once more disappeared. He lifted me from the floor in his vicious grip, his heartless eyes drilling into mine.
My body tensed, expecting his blows, only to have him abruptly release me. He punched both fists through the wood paneling and into the wall, sending dust and bits of wood raining down on my head. His pained expression met mine. “Celia, run,” he said in his own voice.
I blinked twice before scrambling away. I didn’t know where to go. Most of the room was on fire and everyone was focused on Taran, who’d been backed into a corner. Her eyes were wild with fear, but she was all Taran. “For shit’s sake, back off,” she yelled at them. “It’s me, damnit—it’s me!”
Aric collapsed to his knees, his back resembling a blackened piece of meat—dark and crumbling, and falling away in pieces. I couldn’t run. He needed help.
