Kele stared in the direction they came from. “We should make a stand here.”
Ahote, still in feral form, nodded as he followed her gaze. “We can’t afford to lead them to Payami lands.”
“No.” Benic waved his hand in front of him to draw their attention. “We’ve no idea how many are following us or how they’re armed. There could be a full regiment of vampires armed with muskets.”
“For two runaway slaves?” Peder asked.
He swallowed hard. “No, for Timothy’s murderer.” They didn’t understand the repercussions of Peder’s actions. How could they? Wild shifters lived by pack law and killing a slave trader would have been rewarded. As it should be.
Peder stood tall before him. A new confidence radiated from him that was not omega-like. He rested his hand on Benic’s shoulder. “We won’t let them take us.”
The tension in Benic’s shoulders, which he hadn’t been aware of, eased. “If we stay and fight, we’ll die. We should run for my castle. I have ample warriors there. The fastest of us should go ahead of the others.”
Peder glanced at the horse. “Will it be able to run?”
“Without a carriage to pull, yes. The question is can you keep up?” He eyed Peder’s battered body.
The male rolled his arms around and popped a shoulder. He grimaced. “Sure.”
Benic laughed and shook his head. “I can’t ride ahead and leave you behind.”
Kele opened her mouth as if to argue but quieted as Peder puller her against him. “I won’t be alone. Take the horse, get reinforcements, and meet us at the Temple.”
“The Temple?” A low growl rolled in Ahote’s chest. “Is that wise?”
Peder faced the bigger hunter and managed to seem stronger, more dominant. “They already know where it is. We’ll lead them away from Benic to familiar ground and make a stand.”
“Just the three of us?” Kele asked.
“No, me and Ahote, I want you to run to the Payami and bring the hunters.”
Ahote woofed his agreement, his ears forward as he assessed Peder. “Can you fight?”
“I’ve had a lot of practice the last few months with Sorin.”
Ahote raised an eyebrow. “Sorin, is it? Not alpha?” He shook his head. “I’ve heard about your skill, but that’s not what I meant. Are you well enough? No offense, omega, but you look like Benic dragged you behind that carriage instead of inside it.”
Kele crossed her arms over her chest and stepped into Ahote’s personal space. “He’s a hunter, address him as such. I’ve witnessed him fight and win challenges to earn that title.”
Ahote’s ears folded back. “I will choose how to address someone, healer, and not be influenced by a lovesick pup.”
Benic smothered a laugh as Peder scooped Kele away before she launched herself fist first at Ahote’s head.
“Enough.” Peder spoke softly with a new authority that hadn’t existed the last time Benic had seen the omega. It was all it took to settle her. Benic had never seen such magic at work before. “I can fight. My injuries are mostly bruises.” He stroked Kele’s hair in a possessive manner.
Kele rose on her tiptoes to place a gentle kiss on Peder’s purpled cheek. “I won’t leave you.”
He stared into her eyes with his gentle power. “Yes, you will because I need you to bring help.”
Her mouth opened but nothing came out, then she nodded.
Ahote leaned in to his ear and whispered, “You’ll need to teach us this trick.”
Kele glared at them, hearing their exchange. “The forest is still quite a distance.”
“Then let’s begin.” Peder undressed from his threadbare kilt and shifted with the ease of an alpha.
Benic blinked at the thought. Peder wasn’t the same omega male he’d met a few months ago. That male was dead, and this new one was earning his respect. Benic removed the horse’s tacking and jumped on her bare back. Before urging her into a gallop, he watched the three wolf shifters race toward the green haze way ahead of them.
He wasn’t surprised to see the golden shifter leading his small group. Even though Ahote was bigger and stronger, he didn’t have the dominance that Peder had acquired in the slave pens. It would be interesting to see Sorin’s reaction to this new development.
There was only room for one alpha male in a pack.
Pemma eyed the vampire slaver riding next to her. For some reason, he’d slowed to keep pace with her horse.
He wore the rough leathers needed to live in the wild. Knives and blow darts decorated his jacket. His musket lay across his lap, pointed away from her, thank the Goddess. He gave her a toothy smile. “I’ve never seen a shifter ride a horse.” His accent was so thick she almost didn’t recognize his words.
“There’s a first time for everything.” She gave her horse a small kick to hurry closer to Ewald, but the beast ignored her. The hunters ran way ahead and left her by herself with this rough individual at the back of the hunt.
Even though the horse moved quickly, the slaver still was capable of riding close enough that his knee almost touched Pemma’s. “I heard some of the lords kept pets dressed as ladies. I’ve never seen one up close.” He reached to touch her leg.
She slapped his fingers. “I’m not a pet. I’m a companion.” Her heart pounded so hard she was sure everyone could hear it.
“Same difference.” He leaned against his musket, his gaze traveling over her. “I wonder how much he’d ask for you.”
She jolted as if he’d pinched her. “I’m a free shifter, not a slave.”
“You still do what he says. The only difference is you don’t need a collar and a whip to make you do it.” He winked. “In the New World, everything’s for sale. You just watch.” His gaze lingered on her breasts before riding back to the front.
It took all her willpower not to clutch her neckline closed. Let him look. Ewald wouldn’t sell her. She stared at her lord’s strong back as he kept pace with the slavers. Or would he? Kele had cost him some needed funds for their trip west and he’d lost his investment. If he discovered Pemma was involved, he might have a change of heart about her presence in the pack. She was sure Gramp would fight for her, but in the end the slaver was right. Gramp would do as Ewald told him, even if it meant selling his granddaughter to a rough group of slavers.
Tears burned in her eyes and she blinked them away. She wished she had stayed home. She was such a great, big silly fool with delusions of adventure where none existed. The New World consisted of pain and rape and poverty. Was this what living in the West did to people? It served her right to get sold to Huan. She should have listened to her mother. She would have helped Pemma find a nice quiet mate to settle down with, maybe a crafter or another omega. But no, she had to be Lord Skirt-Chasing-Ewald’s lapdog.
Ewald twisted around at that moment and slowed next to her. “Are you tired, Pemma?” He offered her a small water skin from his saddle.
The warm water soothed her parched throat. “I’m all right. I just don’t trust these slavers.” She handed him back the water skin.
“Who says we have to trust them? We need them to retrieve Kele. They can have the others.”
She ran her hand over her face. “I think they’ll want to keep all of us.” She did her best to keep her voice low over the pounding of hooves.
“Us?”
“The hunters and me. They are slavers. To them, we’re just easy coin.”
“I don’t think they’d steal from me.” He pointed to his ring symbolizing his position in vampire society.
“I don’t think they care. They could leave you dead out here and say the wild shifters did it. Who would believe a bunch of slaves?”
Ewald licked his dry lips and watched the vampires ahead.
Huan turned in his saddle and tipped his hat toward them.
“He wants to buy me from you. He said as much.” She took a deep shuddering breath. “I would assume a group of strong hunters would bring a nice pouch of gold.”
/>
“There’s only four slavers against all these hunters and myself.”
“Against muskets and blow darts, tooth and claw is not enough. These vampires make a living trapping wild shifters. I’d assume they’re very good with those weapons, where our hunters have never fought more than in the challenge rings.”
“Fuck,” Ewald muttered. “Stay close to me. I’ll figure something out.”
Ducking her head, she clung to the saddle as he increased their horses’ pace until they reached their hunters. She didn’t know where he thought she’d go. Of course, she’d stay close.
She frowned as something in the distance caught her eye. At first, it looked like a large pile of refuse, but the closer they rode the more details became apparent. Wheels. She was staring at wheels and a door. “Ewald…”
“I see it.”
Clutching her stomach, she searched the surrounding area for bodies. A crashed carriage. It made sense they’d take one. Most shifters wouldn’t climb on a horse like she had. Shifters smelled too much like predators. Why didn’t they run like their hunters in feral form? As they were wild shifters, she would have thought they could manage the distance better than her pack.
Unless one of them was injured.
The hunters reached the wreckage first. They milled around sniffing the ground.
She and Ewald arrived with the vampire slavers close behind.
Pemma jumped off her horse and rushed to the carriage’s side. She searched the interior. Empty. Thank the Goddess and all her moon powers. She leaned against the side and caught her breath.
Ewald grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently. “What are you doing? Stay on your horse. Who knew what could have been waiting inside for you?”
She gave him a slow blink. He cared. In his weird vampire way. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him close. “I thought only to help if someone was injured. It didn’t occur to me they’d be in any shape to hurt me after such an accident.”
He rested his chin on the top of her head. “How will I keep you safe if you rush into danger at every chance? I should have made one of the hunters take you back to the manor.”
She hugged him tighter. How could she help Kele and Benic? If she pleaded for Ewald to take her home, he might just send her back with some hunters. Even if he did return with her, should she leave Kele to her fate with the slavers? She closed her eyes.
“You’re trembling.” The concern in Ewald’s voice made her confusion even worse. Before Pemma agreed to being his companion, her mother had taken her aside and explained the rules of being a vampire’s lover. The number one was to never fall in love. She would age and he wouldn’t. It would only lead to heartache for them both. Ewald needed a vampire wife and Pemma should start looking for a mate.
“I’d send you home,” he whispered in her ear, “but I don’t like the idea of you alone out in the wild with only a few hunters to protect you.”
“What do you think will happen when we go west?”
He remained silent.
Exactly.
A hunter loomed over them with the vampire slavers following still on horseback. “The scent trail is confusing. From what we can tell, it looks like they went to the forest on foot.”
Huan waved to his men and in unison they galloped toward the forest.
She spun toward her horse but was yanked back by Ewald. “We can’t let them get to Kele first.”
“She sealed her fate when she ran away.” He held her fast and wouldn’t let her go. “If they live in those woods, what do you think will happen to us?”
She stopped struggling and watched the slavers grow smaller in the distance. “I hate this.”
“I do too. Benic’s castle must be close. We’ll follow this road.”
“He probably went with the hunters in the forest.”
“Then his people might be willing to send help to him and the packs against the slavers.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Benic leaned forward, gripping the horse’s sides with his knees since he rode without a saddle, and raised his hand to guards on the castle wall.
Shouts could be heard and the gate opened.
Riding through, he slumped in relief. He’d made it. He thought for sure his pursuers would catch him first. The stable boy caught his horse’s reins and he dismounted.
“Take good care of her, she saved my life, and send someone with a fresh mount.”
His vampire warriors already surrounded him, concern on their faces.
“Arm yourselves. We’re riding out to the Temple.” He flagged the closest shifter guard. “Send someone for Inacio.” If he was going into battle, he needed to feed.
The guard looked at the others and shuffled his feet.
“What are you waiting for?” Benic snapped.
Clearing his throat, the guard couldn’t meet his glare. “Inacio left, my lord.”
“Left? Where to?”
“Soon after you left for New Berg without him, he packed some of his belongings and took a horse. We tried to track him but he…vanished.”
“You mean he used his skills on you and you let him go.” Benic rubbed his eyes. The incubus could seduce a whole battalion if he put his mind to it. Of all the crazy things to happen, this was the least expected.
The vampire frowned. “Yes, my lord, and I accept full responsibility for his escape.”
Benic sighed and dropped his hand. “I never kept him here against his will. He was always free to go and he knew it.” Inacio must have gotten tired of Benic’s recent behavior. He admonished Ewald for treating Pemma poorly, but he hadn’t done any better with Inacio. He shook his head. He didn’t have time to ponder about the incubus or look for a new source to feed from. He preferred to know his meals. “Let’s get ready.” He gestured for everyone to start moving.
Sitting on an upturned barrel, he watched the rush of soldiers and horses. A squire brought him a stout ale to clear his scratchy throat. Slumped against the castle wall, he sipped. He should have treated Inacio better. Hindsight was useless to change what he’d done, but maybe he could learn from all this.
He eyed his ale. Maybe.
He called over the vampire captain. “Did Inacio leave me a note?”
“Not that I’m aware of, sir, but I didn’t search for one either.”
“Very well.” He would look within his quarters and his lab for one. Replacing Inacio would be difficult. He’d grown rather fond of incubus blood. The emptiness plaguing his soul the last few months grew larger within his chest, almost engulfing him whole. He looked at his tower and recalled his dark study, his haven from the heartless world.
“The soldiers are ready, my lord.”
He climbed to his feet and accepted the reins of a fresh horse from the stableman. “The poachers have returned to our lands. We need to make an example of them. The shifters living here are under our protection and no one has rights to them but me.” He spoke loudly so all could hear.
“My lord,” shouted a guard from the top of the wall. “Riders approaching with a pack of shifters in feral form.”
Benic ground his teeth and tossed the reins to the closest soldiers. They had followed him home after all. He had hoped he could leave before they tracked him here. Benic climbed the ladders to the top of the wall and watched. One of the riders wore a dress. And who would be using shifters to track him? Not many vampires would feel comfortable outside the city with so many wolves in feral form.
The guard offered him his eyepiece.
He stared through it. Ewald.
And Pemma? Had he discovered that the petite omega helped Kele escape and he wanted to execute them side by side? Over Benic’s dead body. “Arrows.” He shouted the order to draw bows and crank crossbows. His voiced also carried far enough for Ewald’s hunters to hear.
They circled the riders and slowed the horses until Ewald and Pemma came to a stop. The young lord waved his hands above his head in a common fashion, not fit for
someone of his breeding. “Parley?” he shouted.
The guard next to him snorted. “He thinks we’re pirates.” Others chuckled with him.
Benic shook his head. “No, he’s just a fool.” He gave Ewald’s expedition a month before they were all dead. At least Kele was safe since they’d followed him instead. “Go back to New Berg, Ewald. You and your hunters don’t have a chance against my soldiers.”
Pemma half leaped, half fell off her horse and ran toward the castle.
He raised his hand to the archers. “Hold.” God, she was a reckless creature. One early loosed arrow and she would have been dead.
“Benic,” she cried out. “Kele’s in trouble. Slavers have tracked her to the forest.”
Her words had him leaning over the wall and pointing to the guards. “Let her in but not the others.”
The twang of arrows reached his ears. His soldiers sent warning shots toward the hunters who followed Pemma. He descended the ladder to the ground. Benic had the gateman unlock and open the small portico next to the main gate. Sticking his head out, he gestured for Pemma to enter.
She halted just out of his reach. “Let them in too. We came in search of help.”
He gave her a weary smile. “Not to hunt me down for stealing Kele?”
She wrung her hands. “We don’t have time for this.”
“I’m aware someone is hunting us. I was about to depart to help them until you arrived with a party of hunters in feral form. How would you like to proceed from here without Ewald trying to take my head?”
“Let him approach. Only him.” She waved for Ewald before he could agree. “Ewald? He’s agreed to speak to only you.”
Benic blinked and observed Pemma with her back turned toward him. Her long, dusty hair was in a tangle yet she seemed so unaware of her state of road wear. “Let him through,” he shouted to the guards on the wall.
Ewald rode forward while his hunters paced just out of reach of his guards’ arrows. “Lord Benic.” He nodded to Benic as he dismounted. “Thank you for not filling Pemma with arrows.”
Her eyes went wide. “He wouldn’t have.” She glanced at him. “That would have been rude.” Her voice wavered as the reality of where she was sank in.
Scent of Valor (Chronicles of Eorthe #2) Page 24
