by Kim Faulks
His dark eyes glinted in the dim. The thick silver streak that ran through his black hair shone. A thick tongue peeked out to skirt his lips before disappearing. His lips curled to a smile. Something inside me clenched with fear as he patted the ground. “Come back to bed, little one.”
I shook my head and stumbled backward. Flames licked the metal links of the chain. If I left them long enough, maybe they’d weaken.
“Come back to bed.”
I swallowed a whimper and dropped my gaze to his hand. My stomach tightened. The pounding in my chest was too loud. Abby sprawled on the ground, inches from his hand. The wolf’s gaze followed mine to my doll. His lips curled. White teeth shone in the glow of the fire.
“You’re not going anywhere. Not without your little doll here. You belong to me, remember? You belong to me.”
A high-pitched scream tore through the night somewhere in the distance. I flinched at the tortured sound, but the warrior never moved. He pushed himself up. His bare chest glinted in the fire. I turned my head from the sight, turning toward the stockade and the others. Wings scraped the inside of my chest, fluttering…fluttering. The scent of fresh blood filled my nose—thick and salty. The sound of footsteps followed, heading toward me.
Moving shadows seemed to swallow the night. The silver-haired warrior inhaled and tracked the heavy tread, until three other warriors stepped into the orange hue. Their thick muscles were covered with skin and fur, and long daggers hung from belts around their waists, slapping their thighs as they moved.
I looked down to my thin arms and pathetic muscles. What hope could I have over such giants when these chains were too much to bear? One scar-faced wolf with dark, menacing eyes turned his attention to me. The skin along the back of my neck tingled with an unseen touch.
“You were told to stay away from this one.”
Silver-hair curled his lip. “You can tell me all you want. This one’s mine.”
“They were Sol’s orders.”
My abductor turned his head toward the remainder of the camp. “The day I take orders from that cripple, is the day I leave the pack.”
“Well, consider today that fucking day, Oron. They’re ready for her.”
Those wings inside beat a path into my throat. I shook my head as one wolf took a step toward me. “Please, don’t do this. Don’t hurt me…don’t hurt me…”
The scarred warrior smiled, and yet there was no warmth in his eyes—no joy and no love as he muttered. “Oh, don’t worry, there’s no knives tonight. They have something else planned.”
I stumbled backward. The chains clattered and pulled taut. Orange flames blurred, melting into the darkness. Something slick slid down my cheek to tickle the end of my jaw. I dragged in the cold night air and forced myself to speak. “I’ll be g-good. I’ll b-be a g-good girl.”
The scarred wolf smiled and closed the distance. The sickly scent of male assaulted me—dark, thrusting, needing…suffocating. I couldn’t get away. The skin along my neck tingled. My arms stretched out, nails turned to claws. Fine golden hair sprouted over my arms, warming me. My wolf was coming.
“Oh no, you don’t.”
The scarred wolf seized my hair and yanked. My back bowed, bones crunched, snapping into place. The orange hue of the fire faded, turning black and white.
“Cut it out.” His face came close.
A growl slipped from my lips as I dropped my weight. I dug my feet into the dirt as the chains turned slack. Rough hands grabbed me. Calloused hands scraped my skin. I was lifted and thrown as though I were nothing at all. I took the brunt of his shoulder in my belly. My blonde hair floated, caught by the wind. My slaps made no difference, only to sting my palms. The cold caress slid over my body and between my legs.
My thoughts scattered. Silver eyes slipped away from me. I clawed for a hold, forcing my heart to thunder. “You shift and I’ll beat you bloody, you hear me?”
My wolf backed off, taking away the warm, downy hair. I shivered, reaching through that connection. Come back. Come back. Metal weighed me down. My hands dropped, falling to smack the curve of his back.
Swing, smack, swing, smack. I twisted, throwing my feet into the air.
The beta dug his fingers into my thighs. Pain gnawed my leg. Pain wasn’t my enemy—it was my friend. I thrashed and kicked, using momentum to pummel his body with the iron.
But it made little impact. I jostled and bounced. The night left me blind. The heavy thud of boots was the only thing I could track, until the crackle of fire echoed in the distance. The ground brightened. I twisted, catching sight of another fire and another girl, shackled and naked.
She gripped the clasp at her ankle and scurried sideways. Her green eyes looked almost brown against the flames. I arched my back. My arms shuddered as I reached for her. “Help me.”
Her whimpers filled me with fear. She shook her head. She was my friend, the only one I had…the only one I knew…Rowen.
The warrior shook as he chuckled. “No one’s going to help you. Don’t you get that by now? No one cares.”
The dancing flames blurred as we passed. Thud, thud, thud. The sound of his boots consumed me. I dropped my head and bounced with every step. The creak of a door echoed in the distance.
“You ready little wolf? You ready to find out what you really are?”
5
Victor
A bandage covered half Odessa’s face and hid her eye. I plucked the edges until a hand whipped out of nowhere to slap me.
“I said don’t touch. Are you deaf, dragon?”
A growl rippled from my chest, dark and feral. I turned to stare at the old woman, her own dressings were crusted with blood, the edges were dried and yellowed. She’d put the wolf’s needs above her own. I slammed my lips shut, silencing the sound. “No, not deaf. I want to…I want to care for her myself.”
One sparse eyebrow rose, pulling the wrinkles taut on the side of her face. “Do you now? You going to be around? You going to stay by her side at all times, dragon? You going to clean her? Talk to her?”
My heart thundered. Heat rose to fill my face. I couldn’t seem to catch my damn breath, or force the simple damn word. All I could manage was a hiss. “Yes.”
Her contorted face sank, filling her cheeks with long lines. She reached out and I couldn’t help but flinch until she shoved a cloth into my hand. “Good. Cause I need a damn rest. You dragons sure know how to run an old woman into the ground. I’m staying in the scorpion’s room, if you need me.”
I froze as those words sank in. “Has anyone told Xael?”
Her bloodless lips curled into a wicked smile. “I’m sure she’ll figure it out…eventually.”
The damp cloth leaked through my fingers. I felt every drop rebound inside my chest like a hammer blow. I clutched the rag, and stepped toward a hard-backed chair. “I’ll stay with you now. I’m here, for as long as you need. Do you hear me, Odessa? I’m here…waiting for you.”
The scuff of the old woman’s steps dragged my gaze away. “She’ll hear that, where ever she is.”
I sucked in a breath. “Why won’t she wake up?”
“I don’t know. In all my years, I’ve never felt anything like her before. It’s like her soul…has broken. The thought of what it would take to break a sweet soul like that fills me with dread. Take care of her, dragon. If there was one person she’d swim the dark depths to see again, it’s you.”
But why? The question lingered on my lips, but that was where it stayed.
The shuffle behind me ended with the soft thump of a closing door and I was alone, with the one who had all the answers. Her dirty blonde hair spilled over the too-thin pillow. I slid my hand under her neck and cradled her head while I shoved the stuffing into a mound.
“You know, I’ve never really done anything like this before. I mean…cared for someone else. I’m not sure if it’s a guy thing, or a me thing. I just…never had cause to, you know?”
The sound of her steady breaths filled the ro
om like the whisper of a heartbeat. I lowered her head to the plump pillow and lowered myself into the chair. The silence was all around me, filling the spaces in my head, opening the door to thoughts I didn’t need.
Odessa’s not the person you think she is.
I tried to shut the words out, but there were too many cracks and doubt slipped in.
The room darkened as I dragged the chair closer to watch the rise and fall of her chest. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but I’d like to change that. I’d like to spend time and figure this all out. But if there’s one thing I do know, it’s that you’re a good person. You have to be. Good people protect, good people care, and if that’s all I’ve got to go on, then that’s all I need—for now.”
Her hand was so small in mine. Her thin fingers draped over the meat of my palm. I gripped her digits, feeling the warmth in her skin and turned her hand over. Thin silver lines blended with the natural lines of her wrist. I lifted her hand and stared at the marks.
They were scars.
I dropped my gaze to her other hand. My fingers trembled as I reached over, grasping her fingers and turning them. Through the dimming room, I stared at the chafed lines across her wrists. There were two, two inches apart. They were too neat to be a knife and too wide.
Metal shackles followed Rowen’s words to slip inside my head. The thick, heavy bracelets would wear the skin. Cold metal—soft, yielding flesh. I dropped her hand and it hit the mattress with a slap.
Goddess… Goddess…
Abandoned…forgotten.
My dragon wasn’t the only one I’d left behind.
I deflated into the chair and placed her hand against the mattress. The fine weave of the sheets held my gaze as the night stole the last traces of light.
I couldn’t touch her—couldn’t look at her…couldn’t help her. If I’d only protected those like her. If only I’d found her and protected her when she needed me the most.
If only was relentless, tearing me apart. I stared at the sheets until my eyes blurred. I stared at the sheets until slick tears rained down my cheeks, and yet the burn of my eyes gave no consolation and my tears bought no peace.
Laughter filtered down the hallway. Outside, a wolf sang into the night and was joined by another…and another. Soft breaths held me here, the rise and fall was all I cared about, and everything else faded away…
“You hungry?”
I blinked and opened my eyes to the harsh rays of the sun. Marcus turned those piercing dark eyes toward the bed, and for some reason I didn’t like him looking at her. I didn’t like him here at all. I gripped the armrest of the chair and heaved myself upright. The sound of her breaths dragged me fully awake.
“Has she woken?”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “No.”
“Why?”
I swallowed my anger and answered. “The old woman didn’t say.”
He bent over and picked up her hand. His thumb moved across her skin.
The touch twisted a knife inside me. My words were a harsh croak. “You’re not still thinking about what the mage said, are you?”
Silence answered for him. He wouldn’t even face me.
I stood up and the chair scraped a haunting sound to fill the room. “You can’t, Marcus. I won’t let you.”
He whipped his head toward me. “Won’t let me? Won’t let me what, try to find our brother with the only hope we have? We have to Victor. We have to try.”
My brother blurred under the shake of my head. “I won’t allow it.”
“It’s the only fucking way. Don’t you get that? What if that was you out there? What if that was you depending on me to try everything in my fucking power?”
“I never asked for her to save me. I never asked for a damn thing. But, if that was me…if that was me instead of Zadoc I’d still tell you, no. You don’t know the mage. You can’t trust what she says is the truth. Hell, you can’t trust any of them.”
I had his full attention now. My brother’s lip curled, showing his teeth. Anger filled those black eyes with sparks of rage. “By them, you mean Abrial, don’t you?”
“No… I didn’t mean…”
Marcus jabbed my chest with his finger and I felt the ache. “I trust her and she trusts her sister. You weren’t there when I saved, Rowen. You didn’t see what I saw. She’s got no reason to lie to us. She’s got no reason to go back to them, yet she’s willing to do that to save our brother.”
I saw how tight he was bound then, how deep into her spell he’d become. There was nothing I could say, no way to make him see reason. “If you think she has no hidden agenda, then you’re wrong, and what’s worse is you’re willing to risk another’s life to find out.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and reached out. My hand felt alien on his arm. In the space of days, we’d become strangers. I gripped the corded muscles of his forearm. “Don’t do this, Marcus. I’m asking you—no, I’m begging you, as your brother. Let me take care of her, let me heal her and we’ll figure this out together.”
The tension built waiting for him to say something—anything—until finally he nodded.
“Okay, we’ll do it your way, for now. Heal her, wake her, and let’s hope we’re not too late. Until then, you better get your ass out there before the wolves have cleaned out our cupboards. Let’s hope Isaiah’s done well on the stock market this month, we’re gonna need every dollar for food.”
Marcus slapped my shoulder as he turned toward the door. He was trying too hard. Being too jovial. Something inside me tightened a little bit more. I turned to stare at Odessa’s face and tracked my brother’s steps toward the door, then out into the hall. Banter and laughter echoed from the belly of the house. My own stomach let out a snarl, until movement from her face drew my focus.
Her lips were parted. I was sure they’d been closed before.
I lowered myself onto the hard chair. The muscles of my back tightened, an ache flared, but all my attention was on this woman.
Her lids fluttered, rolling with the movement of her eyes. She was dreaming. An ache flared through my back, but Odessa took all my attention. A hiss escaped her lips, mingled with an inaudible sound…a word.
I lowered my head against her face. Her breath tickled my ear.
Her words were just a hiss. “Please…please don’t make me.”
I flinched and forced myself to linger.
“I don’t want to do that… I want my doll. Where’s my doll?”
The steady sounds of her breaths replaced her whispers. I waited until my belly snarled and tightened and then stood. She was locked inside there somewhere still fighting demons. I strode from the room and headed for my own. Sweat turned my skin to scales. I needed a shower and food and I needed to hurry.
I fumbled with the buckle on my trousers. The buckle clanged as they hit the bathroom floor.
Hurry, Odessa whispered somewhere inside my head. Hurry.
I twisted the handle and the hiss of water filled the stall. The sting was instant as I stepped inside. A white-hot blade carved its way across my chest once more, sluicing with the rivulet of water. I shifted my gaze to the raised red flesh. Fine black veins spread out on either side.
One hard push and the demon would’ve driven the blade into my heart.
One more push and not even the dragon could’ve kept me alive.
I scrubbed my hair and dragged a razor across my face before ending the stream. There had to be another way to find Zadoc. Something that didn’t involve Odessa dying. These thoughts consumed me as I buffed my body and yanked on blue jeans and a clean white t-shirt.
I stepped out into the hallway to silence. My bare feet slapped the tiles. I raked my wet-hair from my face and strode into the lounge room. All eleven of my family and at least half a dozen wolves were standing there, crowding the room. Rowen stood at the edge—one quick scan and I knew she was watching me.
I scanned at the scowls on their faces. “Did someone die?”
The sheen of silver in their eyes held me. “Another wolf, I take it. Of your pack?”
Abrial was the first to answer. “Maybe, we’re not sure. Maybe they were passing through. In any case we’ll be more vigilant.”
The patter of footsteps drew my head up. One of the women in the pack clutched her baby and raced toward us. Her eyes were wide, the scent of fear mingled with the earthy undertones of wolf.
Fragments of glass crunched under her shoes as she stumbled through the shattered wall. “They’re back and there are more of them.”
Abrial flinched, and for a second no one moved, then the room filled with a flurry. I followed my family outside, searching for Rowen amongst the crowd, but she was gone.
“It’s over here. Do you smell that?”
The woman clutched her baby and waited. Abrial inhaled and moved away from the others to climb the mountain. Some of the shifters broke away to scout the trees. I dragged the air into my lungs. All I smelled was wolf. But Abrial knew. I could see it in her creased brows and the stiffness of her spine. A wolf’s scent to them was a marker, each one different from the next. She knew and she wasn’t happy.
“What is it?” Marcus edged closer. He scanned the forest, alert. “Abrial?”
One shake of her head stilled him. “Back to the house everyone—now.”
I waited and watched. Something passed between them, a look that stilled my brother’s tongue and made the dragon obey. I’d never seen him like this before—so compliant. To me he was the leader. The strong one who guided the rest of us, and yet here he was—bending to another’s will.
Marcus nodded and turned toward the house. He waited for her to move—never too far away, always protecting. My belly clenched. My heart sped. I’d never seen him like this, controlled and focused on something that had nothing to do with us.
We moved quickly, thundering back down the soft slope to the open glass jaws of our broken home.
