by Jenny Penn
“You’re immortal?” Cookie clarified, needing to hear it again before she could even begin to accept the truth.
“For now.” Khal nodded.
“For now?” Cookie repeated, completely confused by that response. “What does that mean?”
“We live in the shadows of the flame that once burned, but once it’s lit again…” Khal trailed off, and Cookie couldn’t tell if he didn’t know what came after or if he just didn’t want to say it.
What Cookie did know was what he was talking about. “You’re talking about the eternal flame.”
“We are.” Ryder nodded, looking every bit as serious as Khal. “We’re talking about relighting it.”
Cookie hesitated, knowing what the next question should be and suspecting she already knew the answer as well. “And who is going to do that?”
“You are.”
She’d been afraid he was going to say that. “And when it is relit…what will happen to you?”
Khal and Ryder shared another look, and then both men shrugged with Khal speaking up for both of them. “We don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Cookie’s eyes bulged at that honest admission. “You don’t know, and you still want to risk that it might kill you? I mean that is what we’re talking about here. You could die!”
“What will be is the will of Malsumis.”
“So it must be.” Ryder nodded solemnly, seeming to have no objection to that absurd bit of logic.
“No. No!” Cookie shook her head, rejecting both men’s complacency about their own death. “I’m not going to do this. I’m not going to be the one who kills you.”
“You have to,” Ryder insisted.
“Why?” Cookie demanded to know. “Why does it have to be me?”
“Because you’re the one who put the flame out.”
* * * *
Khal knew that Ryder’s declaration had thrown Cookie completely for a loop. She just sat there blinking, her full lips parted and her dark eyes blank. It took more than a moment, and he couldn’t help but eye the donuts, wondering just when they were going to get rewarded for all this honest talk.
“Huh?”
“You put that flame out,” Ryder repeated and then waited, along with Khal, for the coming explosion. It took only a few seconds.
“How? How is that even possible?” Cookie demanded to know, clearly torn between outrage and insult, which wasn’t a good sign for what came next. That’s just why Khal left it up to Ryder to explain.
“You cast yourself into it,” Ryder answered bluntly. “And set yourself on fire.”
“What?” The force of Cookie’s shriek propelled her backward and onto her feet. “I’d never do any such thing.”
“You’d do anything to save us,” Ryder countered as Khal took note of the fact that Cookie appeared to have completely forgotten about the donuts. “Even if that meant sacrificing yourself.”
Cookie blinked in that sweetly befuddled way she had and shook her head. “I wouldn’t…would I?”
“You would because you love us,” Ryder insisted as Khal decided to go for the sugar.
He figured the worst she could do was deny him. Not that she did. As he suspected, Cookie didn’t even take note of him popping open the donut box lid and stealing a cream-filled, powered-sugar-covered pastry that was like an orgasm in his mouth. Khal could have moaned it was that good, but he didn’t dare interrupt Cookie and Ryder, not wanting to get sucked into that argument.
“I love you? Who said that?” Cookie shook her head at Ryder, but she wasn’t fooling them. “I mean, yeah, you’re a great fuck and—”
“And you fell in love with us over three hundred years ago,” Ryder cut in. “Loved us so much you didn’t want to see us fight over you or die for you, but you don’t have the right to make those decisions for us. They have to be ours.”
“You…you two were going to fight over me?” Cookie scowled as she finally glanced over at Khal. “But you’re not fighting now.”
Khal snorted at that. “After three hundred years, things change.”
“No more sugar for you,” Cookie snapped, cutting right into their argument as she snapped the lid of the donuts down on Khal’s hand. “Not until you explain how it is I’m twenty-five and yet I was around three hundred years ago.”
“Reincarnation,” Khal answered succinctly and yanked a donut out while Cookie’s eyes narrowed on him.
“I don’t believe in reincarnation.”
“Like that matters?” He lifted a brow. “You don’t have to believe in gravity, but it’s still going to hold you down.”
With that wise declaration he bit into the jellyroll he’d rescued. That prompted Cookie to smack her ass back down into the seat and pull the box closer.
“So what happens next? I’ve just got to light a match?”
“Next?” Khal shared a look with Ryder, both knowing Cookie wasn’t going to like the answer to that question. There was no avoiding it, though. She’d find out sooner or later. It was better to come from them before she did something stupid again.
“Next, we fight.”
“What? No!” Cookie shook her head. “I forbid it!”
“It’s part of the ceremony,” Ryder explained with a shrug. “Normally we’d fight to the death but we can’t die, we’ll just battle it out to we’re exhausted.”
“But not too exhausted not to finish the ritual,” Khal corrected him and drew Cookie’s narrowed gaze in his direction.
“And just how do you finish the ritual?”
“If Malsumis is pleased and accepts our union, his goddesses will give us candles that would normally be lit by the eternal flame, but…”
“But?” Cookie prodded before pointing out the obvious. “There is no flame.”
“Yeah.” Ryder nodded. “I guess we’ll see what happens.”
“You guess?” Cookie gaped at him. “And what if Malsumis is not pleased?”
“Instant death,” both men answered together, leaving Cookie looking horrified, and Khal could all but read her thoughts.
“Gravity is gravity,” he reminded her. “There is no point in fighting the will of the gods.”
“Fine,” Cookie relented reluctantly. “I’ll light the damn thing, and if you die, don’t blame me.”
Khal almost had to laugh at how cutely indignant Cookie looked. She was sulking, which just went to prove she did care. What she didn’t understand, though, was that the flame was already lit and burning, deep inside of her, fueled by her love for them. Neither did she look like she cared to hear that right then…or share the donuts.
“Hey, can I have one—”
“No!” Cookie cut him off, pulling the box of donuts protectively into her arms before snarling at both him and Ryder. “Mine!”
That was a challenge she should have known better than to issue. Sharing a look with Ryder, Khal smiled and narrowed his gaze back on Cookie. She seemed to sense what was coming and didn’t hesitate to grab up her box of treats and haul ass, shrieking at them to stay away with every step.
Like that was going to happen.
Chapter 10
Cookie fell asleep snuggled in the warm afterglow of her lovers’ embraces. It was a peaceful, perfect place that she never wanted to leave, but that didn’t stop her from waking up screaming and smacking at flames that weren’t even there.
Heaving with sobs, she tried to stop the flood of dreams and memories tearing through her, but there was no controlling the tide. It washed over her, lending truth to Ryder’s revelations the previous evening. Both he and Khal had disappeared along with the morning light, and Cookie would have given anything to have them hold her right then.
Hold her and assure her that she didn’t have to do this, didn’t have to risk their lives once again. It was the same brutal choice. Cookie realized that now. She could sacrifice herself or them. It didn’t matter. Either way she’d risk spending the rest of her life alone. That thought terrified Cookie.
&nbs
p; She loved them.
Ryder had been right. She’d fallen in love from the first sight of both men, and now she was going to lose them.
No! Cookie wouldn’t allow that to happen. There had to be a way to save them and relight the fire. All she had to do was find the loophole in the legend. Right then, though, it was hard to see through the memories flooding through her.
There was no one there to offer her comfort when all she wanted was to feel Ryder’s and Khal’s strong arms holding her close, their heady heat keeping her safe. There was no safety, no certainty, only dreams of a father who had denied her the right to choose both men and the horror of the realization that they would each fight to the death to claim her.
Or both die trying.
That was really what would have happened. Both men had been products of their packs. Those two packs were as different as night and day. That is until they’d both been cast into shadow.
Things could be different now, only there was no way to know if they would be. That was up to Malsumis, and his thoughts were his own. It was that fact that Cookie resented. That was also what she had resented three hundred years ago and why she’d made her own choice. Cookie was still not convinced it hadn’t been the right one. She would do anything to save Khal and Ryder.
Anything.
She was going to find a solution. There had to be one. Cookie clung to that grim thought and pulled herself out of the bed. It felt as though she was moving in a trance as she went robotically through the motions of showering and dressing. Then she was headed out the door.
Almost instantly, Cookie felt the owl’s eyes on her, felt the eyes of the gods on her. They were wondering what she’d do this time. What they didn’t know was so was Cookie. What she did know was she felt pressured by the owl following her around.
The damn thing lurked everywhere she went, its unblinking gaze weighing on her, refusing to allow her to avoid the decision she must make. There was no escaping the oversized owl, though, no matter how much she tried to. It haunted her every step and had people cross the street to avoid her as she wandered around the small town as if looking for an answer, an excuse, or possibly even an escape route from the thoughts tormenting her.
There was none, and as the day wore on, Cookie grew more and more depressed because she knew what she had to do. As evening set, she sat out at the little picnic table set up in a small park near to the town’s center and watched as the sun sent out vibrant, blood streaks across the sky. They reflected back on the still waters of the lake like an ominous omen of things to come.
“Excuse me, miss?”
Cookie could sense the hesitation and fear lingering in the tone that interrupted her somber thoughts, surprised to find a cop in uniform standing a ways behind her when she turned to confront the person who had intruded upon her solemn silence. The older man was tense, his hand resting on the butt of his gun and his eyes shifting constantly back toward the owl that now watched him with a narrowed, predatory gaze.
In that moment, Cookie knew she had nothing to fear from this man. His laws were not hers. She was under the protection of Malsumis, subject only to his rule and authority, both of which were symbolized by the bird above. Cookie had a suspicion the cop knew it.
“Yes?” Cookie finally responded, not feeling particularly cooperative in that moment but trying to be polite anyway. “Can I do something for you, Officer?”
“Leave.”
Cookie blinked at that curt command and scowled. “Excuse me?”
“I’m Chief Dickerson. I protect this town,” he stated simply with the obvious implication that she was a threat.
Cookie didn’t know whether to be offended or amused.
“Are you trying to run me out of town, Chief?”
“I’m suggesting to you that we don’t like your kind around here.”
“My kind?” Cookie cocked a brow at that, pretty sure she knew what he meant by that. If she didn’t, then the police chief couldn’t have been more blunt as he explained the situation to her.
“You’re bitten. Marked. You should never have come here.”
A part of she wished she hadn’t, but this was Cookie’s destiny, her choice. The chief, though, was trying to leave her none.
“You need to leave now.”
As if in response to that command, the owl took flight, sailing out and across the lake. Cookie knew it was calling her home. There was only one problem. She wasn’t going to make it across that lake. She needed a boat and knew just where to get one.
“I need a canoe.” Cookie turned back toward the chief. “And you’re going to get me one.”
“I am?” The big man did not look impressed by that command, but Cookie wasn’t intimidated by him either.
“Yes.” She smiled. “Or you will feel the wrath of my god, and you really don’t want that to happen.”
* * * *
“She’s coming,” Ryder whispered as he watched the white owl soar overhead.
The men gathered around him began to shift and stir, his words being mumbled and whispered as they echoed in a soft wave behind him. A sense of excitement and expectation filled the air as Ryder turned to his gathered pack. They were smiling, and so was he. Tonight the curse ended, and a wrong, long awaited, would finally be righted.
Travis nodded in understanding of Ryder’s silent pause. They all savored the moment with him before turning and moving to form a line that squared off with the other pack gathered on the opposite side of the little stone and rock island. Khal’s men, typical to their nature, stood tall and proud and as perfectly silent as their leader.
Ryder glanced across at Khal and nodded. They knew what the men expected, knew the risk of what they planned, but it had to be done. It was the only way to save Cookie. They would battle near to the edge of death tonight in honor of tradition, but in the end there would be no victor. That was going to upset the men because they would soon realize that they’d be forced into one single pack.
Ryder didn’t let that thought bother him as he turned along with all the other men to watch Cookie crawl up over the rocks. She paused when she got to the top of them, clearly hesitant and thrown by the number of men gathered. Though they all still resided in the shadows, the moonlight cast a glow over them that illuminated their strength and numbers.
It would only be natural for a woman to be intimidated, but Cookie was no mere woman. She’d dared three hundred years ago to defy the gods, dared not but days ago to defy the laws of man, and now she dared to climb down off the rocks and walk past the line of men and down the aisle they formed to the center of the island, where the white owl waited.
It sat there silently on the edge of the well from which the eternal flame had once flared. The majestic bird’s unblinking gaze tracked Cookie’s every step and clearly held her transfixed as she walked by without even glancing at either him or Khal. While Cookie’s head was held high, he could scent the unease in her, the uncertainty, and it prickled at him, making him and rest of the men anxious as they all awaited what would come next.
Whatever happened, his only wish was that Cookie lived to tell the tale. Lived and was happy. Ryder would give anything, even his very soul, to see that come true. It was out of his hands, though. That made it a challenge to stand there and let her pass when all he really wanted to do was scoop her up and run as far away from this moment as possible.
Ryder controlled the urge and let Cookie walk by without stopping her. From the clenched and strained look on Khal’s face, Khal was having just as hard a time remaining still as well. Neither man dared to interfere, especially not as the owl slow spread its wings and grew into a glowing ball of light that was too bright to stare into. Even Cookie hesitated until the form shifted into the pure white of the Great Spirit.
The god Malsumis had appeared, and every man there bowed down before him. Flanked by two of his mates, the god watched as each one held a candle out to Cookie. This was the moment, the moment in which she would decide all of their
futures.
* * * *
Cookie stared down at the two candles and knew the choice she had to make. Still, she hesitated, afraid of what would happen next. There was no avoiding it. With hands that trembled, she reached out and took the goddesses’ offerings, accepting that this was her fate. Now she had to trust in Khal and Ryder.
Bracing herself, Cookie turned to confront the crowd of men gathered. There were more of them than she’d ever imagined possible, hundreds of them, and they let out a roar of approval that was almost deafening. It came and went, the silence thickening in the air as Khal and Ryder stepped onto the battlefield.
Now they would fight to the death to win her hand.
Cookie didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t look away and stood there transfixed as Khal and Ryder approached each other. They bowed in a formal acknowledgement that lasted barely a second before Khal’s fist connected with Ryder’s jaw. He flew back, hitting the ground and rolling on to his feet with a snarl. In the blink of an eye, both men took on their other form, colliding in a collision of fur and white sharp teeth snapping at one another.
The men on the sidelines began to shout encouragements and suggestions, closing in around the battling pair with an eagerness Cookie did not share. She couldn’t even watch. Closing her eyes, she prayed for the fight to be over. Her fear had her growing angry.
This wasn’t right. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. This was just nonsense, and after three hundred years, she would have thought they’d learned better than to put her in this position. More than that, she was tired of watching them tear into each other.
With that determination hardening into action, Cookie stormed forward, and the god watching her with curiosity. She didn’t look back at him, or at any of the men who started to growl at her from the sidelines. A few tried to grab her as she approached the battling wolves, but Cookie slapped their hands away, ducking out of reach.
She would have walked right into the middle of Khal and Ryder’s battle if they hadn’t separated at the last minute and shifted back into clearly pissed-off men.
