by Kim Faulks
“Oof is right.” Xael snickered.
I gave my sister no mind, instead taking in this woman. I stared at her clothes and her body. Freckles splattered her nose—such a cute nose. And those lips. I had to drag my eyes away.
But my damn fingers twitched, itching to follow the valley between her lips and ride that dip all the way into her mouth. I swallowed my breath and felt the hard bubble bruise my damn throat.
No scratches marred her skin, still the smell of blood coated my nostrils. I inhaled again, letting the scent roll over my tongue. Wolf’s blood—a male’s blood.... Not hers. Tension seeped from limbs I hadn’t realized were tense.
I hadn’t hit her with the car. Fire licked my chest and stoked something deeper. I let out my breath and searched for my voice. “So, you’re the cause of all this.”
The laughter died in her eyes. But they sparkled with something else. An animal surged to the surface. I waited. Almost there… rising so fast.
Fangs flickered in her gaze, fangs and fur… wolf.
She bared her teeth, her words every bit as sharp as her glare. “What kind of idiot drives that fast in the dead of night?”
The fire. The fury. My dragon inside lifted his head and drew her scent deeper. “This idiot, apparently.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but took her sweet time. Silence lingered until she muttered, “Well, I’m glad you’re alive. Your car though… it’s a damn wreck. I’ll tell my people to steer clear until you clean the mess up. Not all of us wear shoes, you know. But in case you need it, I saved you this.”
She bent over the arm of the chair, reaching for the floor. Chrome shimmered in her hand. Her steps were silent as she headed for the bed, carrying the broken side mirror of my Chrysler. “Call it my contribution to the clean-up.”
The closer she came, the more I became aware of my lack of clothing. Under the thin sheet my cock stirred inciting the boom inside my chest. I turned to my brothers. “Leave us.”
“We’ll just give you guys some space,” Victor muttered. “That means you too, doc.”
The doctor spun and speared Victor with a glare. “I’m not finished yet.”
Victor shook his head. His calm ‘give no fucks’ demeanor never wavered as he bulldozed the doctor out of the room. “You’ve done enough tests. Now, let’s give my brother and his friend some privacy.”
A rebellious scowl darkened the doctor’s face, before all nine of my brothers followed, shoving the doctor from the room.
Xael followed, sweeping one last chilled stare toward the woman. “We’ll be outside, Marcus. Let us know when you’re ready to leave.”
I nodded and stared at the mirror in this woman’s outstretched hand, then lifted my gaze. “What’s your name?”
The faint buzz of a phone echoed, followed by a bleep. The flame-haired beauty reached for her pocket, pulling a flip-top phone free. I couldn’t look away, absorbed by the furrow of her brow as she stared at the screen. Her lips parted. My pulse gained momentum while her breaths sped.
Something fluttered inside my stomach as the delicate skin on the side of her neck throbbed. The thready beat filled my dragon with excitement. Fear. He tasted her fear.
“Are you okay?”
The erratic sound of her heart filled my head, then in an instant, the beat slowed. The stench of fear was gone, and in its place was something familiar—something that didn’t match her vibrant green eyes or her flaming hair. Cold, she was cold. Ice slipped into her gaze and her tone followed. “I’m fine.”
A frigid finger trailed down my spine. I shook my head. She was lying, but why? And why wouldn’t she answer my questions?
“You guys are really skinny. Atkins, huh? Never had much use for dieting. I like my food running. Still, you look good. Although the girlfriend can ease off the death stare.”
I turned to the doorway. Dieting? “They’re my brothers, and Xael isn’t my girlfriend. She’s my sister.” I reached for my chin and rubbed the stubble. “A little zealous, I’ll admit. But, she only has my best interests at heart.”
Her eyes widened, and for a second that cold emptiness receded. “Jesus. How many of you are there?”
“Twelve. One for each sign of the Zodiac.”
“Humans.” She smiled and shook her head. “Your parents sound like astrology fanatics. Makes my moon-howling, fur-shedding father look almost normal.”
My stomach dropped like a stone. She didn’t recognize a Guardian. Didn’t she smell the dragon? I know didn’t smell of wolf and I sure as hell didn’t move like a demon. The slow thud of my heart ruled out vampires, but surely she felt something.
Her phone buzzed again. She jumped and the smirk disappeared.
“You were running from someone, weren’t you?”
Her head snapped up.
Green eyes sparkled with an intensity only the stars should create. I licked my lips and muttered. “Can you at least tell me your name?”
One shake of her head sent the fiery mane into a flurry. “It doesn’t matter. I won’t be around long enough for you to care.”
The sudden rise of her chest drew my focus. The green rock around her neck shone under the overhead lights, flecked with a red so vibrant it could’ve been blood. The stone was shaped in what would’ve been a canine tooth, but the end was broken.
“The stone you’re wearing. What is it?”
Her chin rose, shoulders straightened. Whatever the necklace meant, she took pride in it. “It’s the stone of my pack—bloodstone.”
The shaman’s words filled inside my mind. My payment. Bloodstone. Before dawn.
My feet hit the cool hospital floor.
Her head tilted, following my rise.
I tried to deny the witch’s warning. I tried to lie to my family and to myself.
But deep down I felt the winds of change, like I felt fate wrestle the wheel. The shaman hadn't sent me out for a stone. She'd sent me to find this woman.
Fangs and fur.
I let my hold slip and my dragon rushed in. The wolf’s gaze widened. My big black eyes reflected in her emerald stare. Her shoes squeaked as she stumbled a step farther from me, and another, and another. Don’t frighten her. Don’t make her run.
Her top lip trembled as it curled. White enamel sparkled. Her breaths were harsh, drawing in my scent. Too deep. Now she’d fear me.
“What are you?”
Her question hung in the air while I tried to find the answer. But there were no words for what we were—not now—maybe not ever.
We were an abomination.
We were the monsters even the wolves needed to fear. We were death. We were destruction. Because of all those things, we were always and forever, alone.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” I edged forward. “I only want to help.”
A whimper slipped her lips. She shuffled backward. I was forcing her wolf into a corner. The thought sliced neatly through my ribs and punctured that cold, dead organ inside. She doesn’t know what you are. Stop scaring her.
I ran my tongue along my lips and edged one step closer. My fingers tingled. I could almost reach her… almost touch her.
I kept my voice steady while inside, a storm unleashed, threatening to bring me down. I stumbled under the weight, grasping the end of the bed and forced out the words. “Let’s try this again. This time I want the truth. Who were you running from and why the hell are you so scared?”
Abrial
Tell him. What if he can help me?
It’s too late. It's already done.
The beta wolf of the Echo packs voice tore through my head. You want your freedom, girl? I clenched my fist at the memory. Then make it quick. Make it brutal. Your sister’s waiting.
It’s just a dream… it’s just a dream. No matter how hard I tried to block the sound, his voice slipped through the cracks. Kill the alpha and it’ll be over.
“You okay? Did you hear me?”
I flinched as a voice shattered the illusion. I lifted my hea
d to the manic driver’s dark, furrowed brow. His lips parted, but I couldn’t hear a sound. I followed the movement. Fire burned in this man’s eyes. But it wasn’t the soft glow of embers. A raging fireball danced within the endless black. The flames twisted and turned like they were alive.
“Yes.” I whispered.
Not wolf and not my pack. Those words filled me. And yet, if he wasn’t wolf, then, what was he? Skinny, that’s what he is. Skinny and sick.
He tilted his head and those gaunt eyes pleaded with me to help him. I couldn’t help him—I could barely help myself. I wrenched my gaze toward the open door. The sister stared at me from the hallway. His eyes—their eyes—were cold and dead.
Run, my wolf whispered.
I’d never make it.
My tongue probed pointed canines as they lengthened. I turned to this man. He’d run his car into a tree to save my life. That had to mean something.
“You’re not wolf, and you’re not human. Then what are you? A vamp?”
Anger flared, sparks exploded from the flames in his obsidian eyes. The sweet curve of his lips turned flat and bloodless. Everything about this man was hard. His body, his lips, even his stare. There was no life there, no warmth, no soul—and no love.
How can a man with so much family have no love?
Are you sick? Those words died on my lips as the bleating ringtone tore me from his gaze. I stared at my phone. A message filled the screen.
WHERE ARE YOU? WHY WON’T YOU ANSWER?
My fingers hovered over the keys. I tried to focus, but the cracked screen was a blur.
“When did you move here?”
I jerked my head up. “What did you say?”
“When did you move here? How long ago?”
The forced smile came so easy. Lies and deceit had become my way of life, especially tonight—and I’d had a good teacher. I shrugged my aching shoulders. “A day or so.”
“A day, huh? Nyx is sacred territory. It’s been off-limits to every were-pack, vamp brood, and any other immortal creature for as long as I can remember. Don’t your kind follow the rules? Does a blood signature mean nothing anymore?”
Blood signature. Sacred territory. Your kind….
Those dark eyes seemed to swallow me. I froze, caught on the glint of other, and missed his movement, allowing him one step too close. Even in his weakened state, my wolf growled. Stay back.
I shoved my phone in my rear pocket. My foot hit the wall as I edged backward. My ass followed suit, smacking against a poster. I wrenched my head to the wall. A mortal woman smiled at me from the photo, holding a baby in her arms. The bright letters mocked me. Have you had your shots today? A healthy boy is a happy boy.
I reached for my chest. Human, or wolf, it didn’t seem to matter in this world. You only mattered if you were male.
“I gotta get out of here.” I turned toward the doorway. I was fast. I could make it.
“I won’t hurt you. I just want to understand why you’re here.”
I cut my gaze back to the stranger and felt the ache of hopelessness. “It’s simple, really. Because we have nowhere else to go.”
My phone vibrated against my hip. I’d said too much.
I took three steps sideways then made for the door. His family filled the hall. I side-stepped the sister, one brother, and then another. They seemed to come from everywhere as I ran straight into a wall of muscle.
The muscle belonged to the biggest of the mortals. The wall of flesh snarled and reached for me. Thick hands the size of a tree swiped the air in front of my face. The impact sent me bouncing into another. I slapped his hands. “Don’t touch me.” As hands reached to steady me—or strangle me—I cried, “I said, don’t touch me.”
“We’re not going to hurt you.” Another of them stepped forward, palms up. Cool blue eyes sparkled like shimmering pools and the scent of the sea washed over me. I licked my lips and tasted salt as he moved closer. “Easy, now. No one’s going to hurt you.”
“Speak for yourself.” The wall growled. “She ran over our brother.”
“Easy, Zadoc,” Blue Eyes muttered. “You’re scaring her.”
I shook my head, skirting the plastic seats lining one side of the corridor. I shouldn’t have come. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
I lunged, my boots echoed, battering the glossy floor. I pumped my arms, pushing my legs to stride wider. White walls blurred until I punched through the ER exit doors. Nurses glared at me from behind desks choked with files and paper coffee cups. I slowed my steps and wrenched my gaze over my shoulder.
Chunks of mud littered the floor behind me. I dropped my gaze to my boots, caked with forest dirt. Blood, screams. Panic swallowed me all over again. I stumbled for the automatic doors and felt the whoosh of fresh air.
The door shuddered to a close behind me. Bright lights lit the ambulance parked in the emergency entrance. ‘Nyx County Hospital’ blazed across the side.
Sacred territory, isn’t that what he said? It’s been off-limits to every were-pack, vamp brood and any other immortal creature for as long as I can remember. Don’t your kind follow the rules?
I reached over my shoulder and snagged my hood with shaking fingers. Your kind. “I’m so fucking stupid. I should’ve left him in the car. They saw me. They’ll put two and two together as soon as they knew of the Alpha’s death. They’ll talk.”
He said he’d help me.
The words did nothing to loosen the ice in my chest. The fist in my belly clenched tight. The void in my soul was a gaping wound that could never be filled. I was past comfort now, past forgiveness. The dried blood on my hands from the murder two hours ago had seen to that.
The frigid air cut through the thin sweater, chilling me to the bone. Frigid grip closed around my heart. I hugged my body and breathed into my cupped hands. I gotta get home….
Home.
Where was that? I dropped my head and stepped over the concrete divide. My boots screeched on the wet grass as I headed for the road. No more running, no more hiding, no more lives lost.
I’d traded the murder of one for the lives of many. And all it took was a stain on my soul.
I picked up the pace, moving from a walk into a slow jog. The sound of my boots filled the night air as I swapped grass for asphalt. Stars mapped the way, sparkling above me, leading me to the woods.
Run, hunt. Be free. My thighs burned as I outran the sound of my boots. The harder I sprinted, the more the wolf enjoyed the strain, until I slowed to yank my gaze over my shoulder. The lights of Nyx glinted far off in the distance like a welcome sign. Could this town be the one we finally called home?
Shattered glass sparkled like fallen stars along the road. It seemed bad luck was the only luck I ever had. I turned my head to stare over my shoulder. Four hours hard running west was the Echo pack. But last night fear and adrenaline made me run the distance in three. I’d been almost back with my pack… almost safe, until the damn car.
Stupid sonofabitch… Marcus.
His name echoed inside my head. I couldn’t leave him like that, not after he ran into a tree to save me. I’d had no choice but to call 911 and pray the damn human lived.
But he wasn’t human, was he? I knew immortal when I saw it. He was something else entirely. Intrigue ruffled my damn fur. But this wasn’t my place and it wasn’t my fight. The Bloodstone pack finally had a chance to move into a new area and I had a chance for something of my own… my sister home with me.
I held my breath at the suffocating smell of fuel and turned to the trees. The ass end of the car poked from the shadows. The paintwork squealed as I ran my finger along the trunk.
Where was he headed in the middle of the night? Why had he been in such a hurry?
There was no warmth in his gaze, no soul, no love. The ache in my chest spread deep, even as it confused me to feel anything for this stranger. I glanced over my shoulder. He looked lost. The thought took hold. Maybe he was running from something, or to something?
T
hey weren’t human and they weren’t wolves. I knew a Vamp when I smelled one. Demons weren’t in these parts as far as I knew, and I’d not met one who could fool the elements.
The bloodstone around my neck was cold. If Marcus was a demon or an elemental, the stone would’ve burned a hole through my skin. Whatever they were, it seemed for the moment, they were considered friend and not foe.
I sucked in the early morning air. The cold burned my lungs. I didn’t have time to waste here mulling over people who didn’t concern me, the others in my pack would be still asleep, but not for long. Branches stung my cheek as I lunged through the forest, bringing tears to my eyes.
Not wolf. Not human.
Dead inside. All of them dead.
Big, black eyes hovered so close. Stay with me, he whispered. I only want to help. I slowed my steps and grasped a tree, wrapping my arms around the trunk. Not wolf. I gulped the cold air and slapped my palm to my chest, rubbing the ache. In my stubborn memory, one slick, black curl fell against his forehead, begging me to comb my fingers through the strands. Marcus.
If I called his name, would the word conjure the man?
Don’t get distracted. Not now, when everything was falling into place. I was so close, so unbelievably close. Bark snagged the threads from my hoodie as I released my hold. The scent of blood still lingered. Get rid of the clothes and get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a brand new day.
I strode around a clump of blackberry bushes and quieted my steps. The clang of pans followed the sharp scent of smoke in the distance. My pack should be sleeping. Why aren’t they sleeping?
I stepped into the small clearing, noting rushed movements and hushed voices. This isn’t right. A mother cradled her whimpering cub against her body with one hand while she shoved pans into a pack with the other.
We were leaving, but why?
Through the glow of the fire, old Owen dragged his sword against a tree, then turned to the laden backpack at his feet. His thin arms strained with the effort. I scrambled over the fallen tree. Grasping the straps from his gnarled fingers, I heaved his pack higher. “What’s going on?”
“Where you been? We’re on the move again, child. Heading north this time.”
