The wolf growled in response. I guess I shouldn’t have expected more. Aric couldn’t speak in wolf form either. He never had a problem getting his point across, though, especially when he wanted a belly rub.
“I know why you’re here,” I said, focusing on the same wolf as it circled. I had no idea whether he was the leader. If I spent too much time watching all of them I’d lose sight of everything. I could only focus on my immediate surroundings. Aric drilled that into my head every chance he got. He was terrified the fight would come to us, and I would be alone when it happened. This was going to gut him. “Tell me what you want.”
“Do you really think arguing with them is the way to go?” Paris asked, her tone shrill. “Fry them!”
“Fry them?”
“Burn them like you did when we were at school,” Paris ordered. “I don’t want to be a wolf snack.”
That was a great suggestion. There was only one problem. “I don’t really do that anymore,” I said, narrowing my eyes at the nearest wolf. “It tends to get a little out of hand when I try to … control my impulses.”
That was an understatement. In an effort to help me control my powers, Aric spent a year putting me through drills. After his pants caught fire three different times … and a load of lumber … and his truck … we put the training on hold. We always found a reason to delay the training. I think Aric feared I would hurt myself, and I was terrified I would hurt him. I never broached the subject.
“Who cares?” Paris screeched, hopping to the side as a wolf snapped at her. “It’s better for things to get out of hand than be gnawed to death.”
That was easy for her to say. Still … . That’s when I realized the wolf pack was geared toward attack. It wasn’t focused in my direction, though. Two outliers paced to cut me off from Paris. The rest focused on Paris. I realized I wasn’t their main target after all.
That was interesting … and annoying.
“Hey, you pack of mangy mutts need to go,” I snapped. “You’re not welcome here. If you stay I can’t make any guarantees about what will happen to you.”
“Oh, well, that was terrifying,” Paris muttered.
I ignored her. “I said I didn’t want to start burning things,” I threatened. “That doesn’t mean I won’t.”
The wolves didn’t appear to care about my words, or my presence. They focused on Paris, and that was the direction they advanced. I was dying to know why, but now wasn’t the time for a question-and-answer session.
“This is your last warning,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “I’m terrifying and mean. I do horrible things to animals. You should hear what I wanted to do to a bunch of bees just this afternoon. This is your last chance.”
“Stop threatening them and do something!” Paris screeched as one of the wolves lunged at her.
I reacted out of instinct, lifting my hand and arcing a bolt of searing energy in the direction of the wolf. I meant for it to be a warning, but I was out of practice. There was enough power in the bolt to incinerate the wolf in mid leap at Paris.
The wolf didn’t even get a chance to howl, instead hitting the ground hard and exploding into ash.
“That was impressive,” Paris said, exhaling heavily. “Do it to the rest of them.”
I hadn’t meant to do it to the first one. I hoped to set his tail on fire and send him yapping into the woods. Well … crap. “Go!” I was hoping the other wolves would see the display of power as a warning and leave. It didn’t work.
“Stop being a complete and total idiot,” Paris hissed. “Kill them!”
I glanced at her, surprised by her bloodthirsty pronouncement. “I … .”
Aric’s howl echoed through the woods, announcing his arrival, and I shifted my attention to the line of trees at the far edge of our property. I wasn’t surprised when the huge black wolf raced into the yard. The other wolves probably expected him, but they were still grappling with their toasted comrade when Aric arrived.
Aric threw himself on the first wolf he saw, snarls and ripping flesh signifying he wasn’t dallying … or playing games. The other wolves turned from Paris and focused on Aric. He was the immediate threat, so they would try to tear him apart first.
“Don’t even think about it,” I hissed, anger coursing through me. “Aric, move!”
He didn’t acknowledge my order. He was too busy fighting. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was enjoying himself. Even though the light was dim, I could see the blood on his snout. The first wolf he attacked lay unmoving on the ground. I had no doubt it was dead.
Aric was already moving to another menacing form. This one was almost as big as he was. I didn’t like this one bit. Aric was ready to take on the remaining eight wolves himself. I was afraid to use my powers. I glanced over my shoulder to find Paris edging up the hill toward the house. Was she running?
I was already angry, but that realization sent me over the edge. They were here for her, not us. She brought a threat to our house and she was slinking away.
Without giving any thought to what I was doing I, pulsed out two energy beams, one catching the wolf closest to me and the other snagging the one following Paris as she retreated. Both wolves reared back, the sickening sound of cracking bones filling the crisp air before they crumpled to the ground. They weren’t dead, but they were incapacitated. They flailed about, whimpering and scratching in an attempt to get back to their feet. I’d broken their backs, snapping their spines without a second thought. They would never walk again – not as wolves or humans. They clawed at the ground with their front paws, but their hind legs lay limp. The realization sent them both into howling fits.
Paris was almost to the house. I opened my mouth to yell every hateful word I knew on the tip of my tongue, but my attention was drawn to my right by Aric’s pain-filled yowl. He was on the ground, three wolves on top of him fighting to rip his throat out.
I reacted the only way I could: with fire.
Rage is an interesting thing. It’s uncontrollable in the best of times. This was not the best of times. Between my anger and fear, it was too late. I knew that when I unleashed the torrent of fire from my hands, hurling all three wolves off of Aric. I didn’t stop to see whether he was okay, instead stalking after the canine offenders.
“I warned you,” I seethed. “I told you what would happen. This isn’t my fault!”
On the ground behind me Aric transformed to human, cradling his side and rolling as he tried to get to his feet. He was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his face grimy and grim. He was obviously in a great deal of pain, yet he fought to get to me.
“Zoe, wait!”
I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t stop myself. The three wolves already burned by my anger raced toward the trees under limited strength as the three untouched wolves tried to slink away to my left.
I knew I wasn’t going to let any of them out alive. I gathered my power again, sending out fiery flames in both directions. Both groups of wolves were engulfed simultaneously. Their howls and dying cries brought me back to reality.
Aric tentatively reached out with his hand, resting it on my elbow. When I turned to him, the concern on his face was for me – not what I’d done. “Baby, don’t start me on fire,” he warned.
I burst into tears at his admonishment, anger seeping out of me as I realized he was terrified I would hurt him. Aric reached for me, pulling my shaking body against his chest.
“It’s okay. You did what you had to do. It’s okay.”
I buried my face in the hollow between his neck and chest, sobbing as he rocked me and repeated over and over again that things would be fine.
After a few minutes I managed to collect myself. I pulled back and scanned his beaten body, realizing he was naked and bleeding. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m okay,” Aric said, brushing his hand down the back of my head. “I’m okay. You’re okay. We’re both okay.”
Were we?
“Baby, look at me,” Aric ordered.
/>
I snapped my eyes to his. “I’m sorry. I didn’t … I tried not to set them on fire and then I didn’t know what else to do.”
The sound of the two injured wolves whimpering behind me caused me to swivel, anger briefly flaring.
“What did you do there?” Aric asked, his voice gentle as he gripped the back of my neck and gently turned my face back toward him. “It’s okay. Whatever you did, it’s fine.”
“I snapped their spines,” I answered, my voice wavering. “I … what should I do? Do I call an ambulance?”
Aric’s dark eyes were mournful. “You know we can’t do that,” he said. “I need you to get my cell phone from the table inside the back door and bring it to me. While you’re in there, I need you to reset the security system. Can you do that?”
I nodded. He was talking to me as if I was a child and would break at any second. I didn’t blame him.
“Bring me a pair of shorts to wear, too,” Aric instructed. “It’s going to be okay, Zoe.”
I let him kiss me before I started moving. I was mired in a dreamlike state as I trudged to the house, the past ten minutes replaying through my mind over and over again. How did this happen?
BY THE time I got back to Aric I was steadier. I wouldn’t call myself calm and collected, but I wasn’t a mess. I wordlessly handed him his phone and started rummaging through the first aid kit I had grabbed from inside.
Aric’s words were a blur. I knew without asking that he was talking to his father. He was ordering a cleanup team. He was covering up my actions, as he always did. When he disconnected, he studied me as I tended the gaping wound across his ribcage.
“You should probably get stitches,” I said, refusing to meet the worried gaze boring into me. “I ... I could’ve really hurt you. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Aric said gruffly. “You saved me. You saved yourself. You saved Paris. You did what you had to do. Don’t ever apologize for saving yourself.”
“I … .”
“Zoe, look at me.” Aric’s voice was soft, his eyes full of concern when I risked a glance at his handsome face. There was a scratch on his cheek, but it was already crusting over. His advanced healing would have him looking better than ever by morning, I reminded myself. He was okay – no thanks to me. “You did the right thing, baby.”
“You’re not safe around me,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as pathetic as I felt. “You’d be better off without me.”
“Don’t ever say that,” Aric snapped, grabbing my wrist and pulling me between his legs so he could crush me with a fervent hug. “Don’t ever say that again, Zoe. I love you. We’re in this together.”
“I … .” I bit my bottom lip, unsure of what to say.
“I know you’re upset,” Aric said, his mouth warm against my ear. “You didn’t want to have to do anything like that ever again. You had to. You didn’t have a choice. I’m the one who is sorry. I shouldn’t have left.”
“You’re not to blame,” I said, resting my face against his shoulder. “You should be able to run naked in the woods whenever you want. You didn’t do this.”
“You didn’t do it either,” Aric said, rubbing soothing circles on my back. “We knew that eventually someone would come looking for you. This doesn’t change anything. You sent a clear message tonight. No one is going to be stupid enough to mess with you again – not anytime soon, at least.”
That rekindled a memory. I pulled back from Aric, although he wouldn’t let me put too much distance between us. He wanted me close. I could see it on his face. The sight of my anger took him by surprise.
“What?”
“They weren’t here for me,” I said, regret turning back to rage. “They weren’t here for either of us.”
“What do you mean?” Aric ran his thumb down my tear-streaked cheek. “Who were they here for?”
I glanced at the door Paris disappeared through in the thick of the fight. “They were here for Paris.”
Aric followed my gaze with his own, fury replacing worry as he did. “Are you sure?”
“They weren’t interested in me other than making sure I didn’t try to stop them from going after Paris,” I replied. “They were here for her. They were focused on Paris.”
“I knew it,” Aric muttered, pulling my body back against his. “I knew she was up to something.”
6
Six
“Where are the boxers I asked you to bring me?” Aric asked, scanning my empty hands.
“I forgot.”
“So you brought the first aid kit I didn’t need and forgot the shorts I did need to cover myself?”
He was furious. I knew it wasn’t directed at me, yet it chafed. “Well, excuse me for trying to take care of the man I love. Why don’t you just flog me and get it over?”
Instead of apologizing as I expected, Aric shot me a small grin. “There’s my troublesome terror.” He leaned forward so he could give me a kiss and another brief hug. “I love you, Zoe. Don’t ever forget that,” he whispered in my ear. “No matter what, I will always love you. Don’t second-guess yourself in situations like this. You always do the right thing. I have faith in you. Try having faith in yourself for a change.”
My mouth dropped open. “How can you go from arguing about shorts to that?”
“I like multi-tasking,” Aric said, looking me up and down. “Are you naked under those boxers?”
“No, I have my bathing suit on,” I replied. “I know it’s a male fantasy for two women to get into a hot tub naked together, but that’s never going to happen with me. If you’re expecting that, you should pick someone else.”
“I’ll stick with you,” Aric said, moving in closer. I thought he was going to hug me again, but instead his hands were busy at my waist, stripping off the boxer shorts. “I’ll wear these.”
“What about me?”
“You’re wearing a bathing suit,” Aric replied, unruffled. “Besides, I like seeing you naked. I’m not sure you want Paris to see me naked.”
Reality smacked me in the face. He was getting dressed so he could go after Paris. “You’re not going to kill her, are you?”
Aric glanced at me, his face unreadable as he shimmied into the shorts. “What if I am?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, restlessly hopping from one foot to the other as I considered the question. “Let me talk to her.”
“We’re both going to talk to her, Zoe,” Aric said. “Then we’re both going to decide what to do. Together.”
“I can’t kill her. You know that.”
“I do know that,” Aric said, his thumb gentle as it rubbed against my cheek. “I wasn’t actually planning to kill her. We can banish her from here, though. I’m not ruling that out. First, I want to know what she’s doing here.”
“You were suspicious from the beginning, weren’t you?”
Aric cleared his throat as he decided how to answer. “I thought there was something odd about her showing up,” he said finally. “I want you to be happy more than anything else in this world. You were thrilled when you saw her. I let myself believe that she was really here because she missed you.”
“She didn’t miss me at all, did she?”
“I think she probably did,” Aric replied. “I know that no one can know you and not miss you. It’s impossible for me. I miss you every time I walk down to the mailbox.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t hide my smile. “You’re officially the hottest and most romantic man in the world,” I said. “Don’t lay it on so thick.”
“I only wanted to see that smile one more time before we blow the roof off the house – and not in the way we usually do,” Aric said. “You need to promise you’ll let me ask all the questions I want to ask without jumping in to protect her.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Aric arched an eyebrow, suspicious.
“The truth is that … well … I got so angry because I saw her sneaking into the house and leaving us behind,” I r
eplied. “I was going to go after her until I heard you cry out. She’s the reason I lost it.”
Aric scanned the yard, taking in the still bodies and still-whimpering wolves a few feet away. “Baby, you make losing it look good,” he said. “You did an amazing job here tonight.”
“When is your father’s cleanup team going to get here?”
“Soon,” Aric said. “I gave them the code to get onto the property. They’ll get in and get the bodies out of here without us even noticing. By morning, you won’t ever know anything happened.”
“I’ll know. This was supposed to be our happy place.”
“As long as we’re together we will always be in our happy place,” Aric replied, not embarrassed in the least to spout the schmaltzy words. “Now, come on,” he said, extending his hand. “We have a hard conversation ahead. We’ll do it together, though.”
I took his hand, squeezing it to show my appreciation. “Did you hear me call you out in the woods?” I asked, falling into step next to him.
“I felt you call me,” Aric replied. “I could feel your terror. I didn’t hear you. I was too far out.”
“I … you felt me?” I was confused. “Are you telling me we’re so codependent now that you can feel my moods?”
Aric chuckled hoarsely. “I guess so.”
“That’s going to make PMS really rough for you.”
“Don’t ever change, Zoe.”
PARIS’ hand was on the front door handle as she quietly tried to sneak out of the house. Aric stealthily moved in behind her, keeping my hand snugly encased in his as he watched her.
“Going somewhere?”
Paris jumped at the sound of his voice, swiveling quickly and pasting an innocent look on her face. “I was coming to check on you guys.”
“Well, we’re right here.”
I could read the tone of Aric’s voice. It was the one he used for business – right before he hammered someone and forced them into a deal they didn’t want to make. I felt a little sorry for Paris. Okay, not really. She had it coming. His anger was going to be easier to face than mine. My mood might leave her literally broken if I didn’t keep myself in check.
Rising Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 1) Page 4
