by Kim Faulks
Marcus kept his voice low. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I haven’t had time. I thought it was more important to let her know she was safe, than to go running off after you, like one of your damn wolves.”
I caught the flinch as he moved to the chair, dragging it closer to the bed. “How are you feeling?”
She gave him a weak smile and reached for her face. “Okay, considering.”
“You gave us quite a scare. I’m just glad you’re awake and talking.”
Her forced smile widened. She glanced to the open door, then to my brother. “Maddy… is she alone?”
Marcus turned his head toward me, then back to her. “Isaiah’s with her. What is it?”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. “Lion and wolf make for an interesting couple. But you’ve got other things to worry about. They’re coming you know.”
Marcus stiffened, and then leaned over the bed. “Who’s coming?”
Her voice was a whisper, exhaled on the rush of a sigh. “Everyone.”
Marcus waited for more. I waited for more. But this fighter was done, for now. Her breathing deepened. Her chest rose and fell without so much as a hitch and soft snores followed.
Marcus watched her for a second, and then stood. “I’m sorry, but we need you out there. For all we know the Echo pack’s coming. And who knows what they’ll bring this time.”
My belly tightened. I couldn’t move, couldn’t bring myself to leave her.
“You’ll be the first to leave, I promise.”
I could find no lie in his bottomless eyes. I nodded, taking him at his word. Odessa’s slow, steady breaths stayed with me long after I closed the door and followed my brother. Wolves and dragons crowded the gaping wound of our home. Those who couldn’t fit, or wouldn’t be confined, sat in clumps in the courtyard. We took turns at scouring the mountain, one wolf and one dragon. We were stronger together, one scout and one muscle.
Abrial fell in step beside me as I stepped forward. Her steps were fluid, her senses keen. We climbed in silence, taking turns to scout the trees and search the winds.
In the days since the Echo pack battle Abrial had become stronger, more dominant. Taking the lead, making the decisions alongside Marcus. They’d fallen in love, and become inseparable. I couldn’t be happier for them.
But their love had come at a cost—one we were starting to see the effects of.
“You know he cares deeply for you?”
I kept my head down, scanning the tree line along the top of the ridge. “You don’t have to tell me my own brother loves me. I know he does.”
“Then you know just how hard this is for him.”
My steps stilled. I spun, trying to keep the snarl from my voice. “Hard for him? Hard for him? Have any of you come to see Odessa since the attack? Have any of you even cared to ask? In case you’ve forgotten, she saved my life. She may’ve saved many lives that day. She’s been sitting in that bed knowing nothing she has done, or will do will make up for the things she’s done…the things we’ve taken one person’s word for. So please tell me how hard this has been for my brother, spare me the pretense of caring about me, or about my relationship with my brother.”
I looked to the valleys, to the endless pine—to anything other than the hurt in her eyes.
“It isn’t like that, Victor. Rowen’s just as hurt, just as devastated as we all are.”
I shook my head. “I doubt that. I doubt that very much. Some people aren’t loyal to you…they’re only loyal to their need of you. Once that need changes, so does their loyalty.”
Those words echoed, turning icy with each second. I turned to stare through the trees to the house as that feeling grew. “Well done. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone went to Odessa behind my back.”
“Don’t hate him, Victor. He’s doing what’s best for his family. She has to know. She’s our only chance for Christ’s sake.”
Our? How quickly tides change in this new life. My teeth cracked, enamel ground to dust as I clenched my jaw. I forced myself to relax, forced myself to take a breath and answer. “So you keep telling me.”
I should’ve known. I was the one in my brother’s way. My heavy boots ploughed the dirt as I scrambled down the mountainside. Trees bowed as I shouldered them aside until the howl and scream of an animal to my right stilled my steps.
Swearing followed the scent of a human. I sucked in the air, finding the glint of steel through the trees as the deputy charged from the forest to stop downwind.
A dog chain swung in one hand, the other held a shotgun. I winced at the sight of the weapon as Goulding scanned the brush and settled on me. “You. Stop right there.”
I held up my hands as Abrial charged through the trees—missing me by a hair—and skidded to a stop between us. Her dangerous snarl sent a shiver down my spine. Teeth gnashed, white canines grew long as she savaged the air. She was changing. Auburn fur covered her arms, nails lengthened to claws. She was closer to animal than human.
Goulding stopped, dropped the gun and stumbled. The white of his eyes were all I could see. I inhaled the dirt and the dust and spoke softly. “Don’t move. Stop walking. You don’t want to provoke her.”
He turned his head from Abrial to me. Licked his lips and nodded slowly. “Easy now. I’m not here to hurt anyone. I just want to talk.”
Abrial lowered her head; her body shuddered, on the verge of completing the shift. Her voice teetered on the guttural inhuman edge of danger. The ground under my feet shook, an earthquake was coming—in the guise of my brother.
Marcus charged through the underbrush. His nostrils flared, eyes incensed with anger. He careened through trees, kicking up dust and dirt to skid to a stop at the wolf’s side.
He took one quick glance at Abrial, and then turned to Goulding, eyeing the double action clutched in his hand.
Betrayal and rage swirled like a riptide, the current tugged, dragging me under. My long strides ate the distance. I saw nothing, cared about nothing but the fucking demon tearing me apart. Abrial spun, catching me from the corner of her eye.
Tiny fissures ripped through the earth. Water seeped through, softening the dirt. The underground river thrashed and churned along with my rage, bubbling up to the surface and I couldn’t control it. I may as well have screamed sorry in the wind and expected it to stop. The water was tied to me, woven through my most basic of needs and my most primal of emotions.
All I saw was my brother, yet all I felt was pain.
The wolf spun, throwing out her arm. Her nails grazed my arm. “Victor, stop.”
I lunged with a mindless rage that burned my belly and raked claws along my throat. I cocked my fist and swung, hitting Marcus in his cheek. Bones snapped as I drove my body harder.
The bull stumbled, fell, and rolled before climbing to his feet. The flash of pain cut like glass. Shattered bones bowed the skin over his face then they shifted, pulling back into place as he stared. The sight did little to staunch my anger. Blood leaked from the corner of his lip. His tongue snaked out, lapping the drop before disappearing. “Feel better now? Got it all out of your system?”
“Did I miss something here?” the deputy muttered.
Neither of us gave him a second look. I stalked forward, clenching my fist, testing for broken bones.
“Victor…”
I lunged, driving my legs like pistons through the thick mud. The tide was rising, ravaging the dirt. Trees moaned and swayed as the water washed away the ground. I dropped my head, burrowing through the air to drive my brother to the ground.
A sickening snap made me still. I couldn’t breath, couldn’t think. My fists were a blur, swinging, finding my target. My arms were on fire, throwing blow after blow. Marcus stumbled, spun on the ground only to spring back up. He wrapped his arms around me, trying to hold on until his footing slipped.
We fell, slipping and sliding in the mud. Others cried out behind me, but I couldn’t stop, not until the riptid
e let me go.
I gasped and swallowed. I kicked to the surface, fighting for control.
“Enough!” Marcus screamed.
Fire hit the rivulets racing down the mountainside. Water hissed at my feet. I stared at my brother, sucking in gulps of air and felt that vise inside ease. Horns pierced the skin on his forehead. Underneath the smeared mud his skin blazed red, fresh scales glinted. He was growing, morphing into the monster the world had once feared—and would fear again.
“Holy fuck, what the hell is going on?”
Goulding’s voice rose along with the roar of the underground stream. The mountain was emaciated, rocks teetered on top of each other. Trees bowed and fell. No matter how strong the rock, no matter how powerful the structure—everything gave way to water, eventually. I mirrored Marcus’s steps, circling the bull.
I was the quiet one, the controlled one. I was the brother who pretended everything was fine—for the people I loved. But in this moment I was none of those things. I’d become something else—I’d become someone else—someone my brother was afraid of.
His dark eyes glistened as water lapped at his feet. “She needed to hear it, Victor. Odessa needed to—”
I raised my hand cutting him off. A growl ripped from my chest. The same guttural sound echoed through my mind as the Tormentor raised his head. I knew I wasn’t the only one speaking—but we were speaking together, as one. “I’ll say this only once. The wolf is mine. You will never speak to her without my presence again. If you have a problem with Odessa, you will come to me. If you have a request, you will come to me. She doesn’t move or make one fucking decision where you’re concerned, unless I’m with her. I’m her fucking shield. I am her fucking protector. Am I clear?”
Trees groaned as the torrent raced, cleaving the mountainside. Marcus risked looking at the ground as sticks and dirt covered the tops of his boots. He was a wall against a torrent, and there was only a matter of time before the water washed him away.
His shoulders sagged. He dragged that tormented stare to mine. “Fine. Have it your way. I won’t go to her unless you’re there. I only wanted to talk to her, ask her a few questions.”
I nodded, still the river surged, eating away the essence of this world, just as the way Marcus went behind my back ate at mine.
8
Odessa
Do this for Victor…do this for me.
The plan sounded so simple. In essence it was. I die, they find their brother, and then I leave. Energy coursed through the air, blending with the hum inside my head. Victor filled my mind, but this man wasn’t the one I knew.
Anger curled his lips, dark ferocious. The dragon’s tear inside my heart burned, stealing my breath. I wrenched back the covers, and swung my feet over the edge. He was in pain… I slapped my hand to my chest and sucked in great gulping breaths.
The wolf is mine.
His voice filled me. My feet hit the floor. I searched the room with one eye and waited. I waited while the light shifted in the room, waited while the cold, hard stone in my belly softened. A rush swept me away, water…frigid, hard water. It coursed through my veins, it saturated my soul. He was here, under the ground, lifting, sweeping, surging.
A crash echoed deep in the house, followed by another. He was close, surging toward me. Glass shattered, someone screamed. I took a step toward the door as something seeped under it.
Water touched my toes, brown water, filled with grit. Victor. I reached out, grasping the handle as screams echoed to cries of surprise. I twisted it and opened the door. Sticks and leaves coursed into the room and with it, my dragon’s rage.
Victor was alive. He was okay. His pain wasn’t of broken bones or spilled blood. It was a pain of the heart. Marcus…it had to be. The eldest of their line wanted me dead, and then gone.
Do this for Victor…do this for me.
It was always so simple…for them.
My heart battled my head, there would be blood, there would be suffering, but neither would win. I turned from the doorway and made my way to the bed. My wet feet dried against the sheets.
I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try, and if I succeeded—I’d be living alone. I closed my eyes. It wasn’t just me…it wasn’t just a selfish act. I had others to think about. Others I had to save.
My path is with the water dragon. I closed my eyes and searched for that icy spark of clarity. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub. He was there, pulsing with power, filling my world with blue. My water dragon…my Victor.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway, dragging me away from ocean nirvana. Softer, slower. Something dragged and then followed with a thud. Water sloshed under bare feet. I closed my eyes, seeking, finding answers and smiled.
“’Bout time you woke.”
I cracked open my eye. Shadows danced, gathering at the edges of my sight. The old woman’s essence was a rattlesnake in my head, warning, protecting, yet my mouth was filled with the sweet taste of berries. The old witch was molten lava with a stony surface, mother, protector, crone. If only I’d known someone like her before. My words were husky. “About time you came to see me. I’ve been waiting.”
The slosh of her cane stopped. The room settled like dust after a storm. “Have you now? Well lucky I’m in a good mood, don’t want to disappoint. Your dragon’s made a fine mess of things, hasn’t he?”
I shook my head, pain flared like lightning across my face as I whispered. “I’m sure he did what he had to and you could never disappoint me.”
The light dimmed, sun grayed as the shadow swallowed me. Her bony fingers trembled, smoothing down the edges of the bandage against my face. I drowned in the energy of this old woman, biting and soft all at the same time. She felt alive—so alive I wanted to hold her.
“I had a daughter once, maybe not of my blood, but she was real enough for me. I woulda given anything for her, slayed any demon, fought any battle, but it wasn’t to be. When she left me, she left a shell behind. The biggest part of me went with her. It’s with her still, even after all these years.”
I closed my eyes at the sound of her croaky whisper. The bed springs moaned, her frail body barely moved the bed as she sat beside me.
“The dragon is the same for you. I knew it as soon as I saw you, but I saw the darkness as well. It doesn’t just follow you, not like it has the others…the darkness seeps from you like an open wound. You are the darkness…you are death. We all have a role to play here. The dragons to protect…and the wolves to help them, to give them purpose, to hold them true. But you, you consume. You kill, and you leave nothing behind. So why come here? What could you possibly want with a dragon like Victor?”
A tear slipped, sticking the edges of the gauze to my skin. I licked my lips and tasted salt as I whispered. “It wasn’t always like that. It wasn’t always how it was meant to be.”
“No. It wasn’t. I’ve seen glimpses of the past, enough to keep sleep at bay for a very long time. I’ll mourn the child you once were. I’ve said a prayer to the Goddess for her soul, for I know it’s long gone. What’s left of it inside you now is rotten.” She leaned in close. I could taste her stale age on my lips as she exhaled. “I’d kill you if I could. Put you to sleep; wouldn’t take nothin’, just a quick slice between your ribs. I’d even hold you, sing to you, if you wanted. So, tell me child, what will end this? What will end you?”
Tears glistened in her tired eyes. I reached out, swiping the air before finding her hand. Her wrinkled skin slipped under the brush of my thumb. Old bones trembled. Sadness and fear stained the air. There was nothing I could say, nothing that could ease her pain. “I wish it were that easy.”
The shadowed wolf snarled inside my head. Teeth gnashed, sending the jarring sound through my head. My chains were tight. Silver shone. They were the links of my mind. I couldn’t waver, couldn’t tire—not now—not ever.
“You have her chained in there, don’t you?”
I dragged my focus from that dark part of me. My demon self waited for on
e small slip—she waited for me to lose focus. “Yes. She’s always there, always waiting for me to weaken. I didn’t mean to slip. I didn’t mean to let her out.”
“You can never let her out, never again you hear me? I know what the Bloodletter asks of you—you can’t let that happen.” Her nails dug into the flesh of my arm. “Promise me. You have to promise me. If you die, even for a second, she’ll get out, and if she gets out…”
I flinched—my words were a whisper. “She could swallow the world.”
Shadows moved as the old woman nodded. “And if the wolf swallows the world, then it’s over. Night will smother this land and the dark ones will make it home.”
She plucked her nails free, crescent shaped wounds turned red. I didn’t need the reminder as she brushed the bandage at my forehead and whispered. “Next time we won’t be as lucky.”
“I took my mind off her for a second. Just one tiny second. I couldn’t let him die. Not my dragon…not my water dragon.”
Her harsh voice trembled. “Then he’s hope, for you, and for us. Blood will be spilled before this is over. There will be death, there will be danger. You’re a good girl—strange, but good. You’re strong enough to fight that demon you have inside you. I know it, I can feel it and while the dragon is here to protect you, then we have a fighting chance.”
I nodded. The light and the darkness were at war. I felt each gathering their strength, their power. Let me out, the shadowed wolf snarled. Let me out of here.
How cruel it was that the people who wanted me dead were trying to save me. “I’ll fight. You know I will. I just need…”
“An anchor.”
I nodded. A frigid bite raced through my body with every hard thud of my heart. “Yes. An anchor.”
“Then dig in tight, gouge the earth if you have to. But don’t let go—don’t ever let go.”
I lifted my head, finding the dark spark in her eyes and lifted my hand. My fingers brushed the cloth over my face, frayed edges tickled my fingers. “My face…how bad is it?”
“Bad. Bad enough to make a fragile woman topple. The question is, are you fragile, child? Or are you strong enough to see what the cutting edge of a demon’s blade has done?”
