by Kim Faulks
She titled her head and the smile died. “No, what sister, Abrial?”
“The one I thought I’d lost forever.” Movement at the doorway drew my gaze. Maddy smiled, cradling a tiny bundle.
“We’ll talk soon. After I sleep, okay?”
“What sister, Abrial?”
Odessa hunted me every step of the way as I trudged to the house. “Later, Odessa, please.”
“I’m glad you’re okay. We’ve been worried.” Maddy slid her hand around my neck and yanked me close.
I inhaled the smell of life, of new hope and love all wrapped up in this tiny baby. I parted the blanket, staring at her precious closed eyes and parted lips. Her hair felt like feathers under my fingers, and the smell of the familiar resonated. I swallowed and tore my gaze away finding Maddy’s. “I’m fine. I’m just tired. Have they been good to you?”
“Our hosts have, yes. It’s taken some time to get my head around who these people are. I have no idea how you found them, but I’m so damn glad you did.”
My jaw cracked like shattering stone as I ground my teeth. “It’s more like they found me. You just concentrate on Storm. I’ll talk to the pack tomorrow. I doubt they’ll like what I have to say right now.”
She gave me one last squeeze, whispering in my ear. “Be careful with Hurron. He’s out of his depth and he’s acting strange.”
“What? More than normal?”
She leaned in close. “Yes, so watch your back.”
I licked my lips and nodded. “The big one, bald head, carrying a woman.”
“Yes.” Her eyes sparkled. “I think I glimpsed him down there.”
Her hand swept toward the far end of the house. I took one last glance at the sleeping bundle in her arms, then strode into the house. Marcus hovered just out of ear-shot. His gaze swept my face, then fell to my shoulders. He covered the distance in three strides, laying a heavy hand on my arm.
The straps of my pack tightened, then lifted free. I stumbled without the weight. “You don’t need to carry this anymore, not with me. I know this is only temporary. But I want you to think of this place as yours. God knows it’s big enough for us all.”
My lips moved, words tumbled free. “Thank you. I’m sorry I haven’t been... I hope you can understand.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. She’s your sister, she needs you.”
I swayed, falling against him.
If only I could rest.
I closed my eyes. Just for a moment.
Just to feel….
His thick arms wrapped around me, holding me tight, then brushed my hair. The rise and fall of his chest lulling me….
Safe.
A stench filled my nose, rotten eggs, rotting meat. I reared back and slapped my hand over my mouth. I’d smelled that vile stink before. My gaze found his. His wide eyes held me. I felt the fall as his hands found my arm and he held me tight.
“Demon. I smell demon on you… how?”
People pay the price when you leave, do you hear me? The dragon he… changed. Odessa’s words slipped through my mind.
I’d never been able to see things, never gifted with the sight—not like Rowen. But I needed none of those things. I saw the truth in his eyes.
“The demon came after you?”
Marcus nodded, although his eyes never left mine.
“They’re everywhere. They’re buying children, wolves, humans. It doesn’t seem to matter. I’d ask the question why, but I’m afraid of the answer.”
His brows shot high, a slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “I’ve been asking myself that same question.”
“They say once you stare into a demon’s eyes that they mark you for death.”
His hand swept across my shoulders, pulling me gently against him. “That’s what they say.”
I melted like butter against him. “And you killed this demon?”
“Yes.”
“Saving me?”
I pressed my head against his chest, listening to the gallop of his heart as he answered. “Yes. I’d do it again, just to have you in my arms.”
I stared at the small figure in the shaman’s bed. My sister barely moved. If not for the rise of her chest, I’d be certain she was dead. Her long black hair pooled like an oil slick against the dull grey sheets.
My damp hair fell like a curtain as I leaned over and brushed wayward strands from her cheek. The scent of soap and lilac filled me as I swept my thick curls aside. The hot water from the shower had lulled me, bring all the aches and pains to the surface. There was one hurt that lingered, one, no amount of hot water would fix.
The tips of my fingers lingered as I brushed her cheek. Her blackened eye was swollen. The sweet curve of her lip gaped open, raw and red. The fresh split wept. I could still hear her cries. Still hear her beg him to stop, and he did stop.
Once—to offer a trade—me for her.
From then on those blows accompanied silence. The only sound the crack of his hand against her beautiful pale skin. I brushed my thumb across her cheek, to her ear… searching for the strawberry mark just inside her hairline and stopped.
I brushed aside the strands. I knew where the birthmark was. I had one in the exact same place. But her hairline was pure, not a mark, not even a blemish. I leaned backwards. Maybe I was wrong. “She looks different somehow, it’s not the swelling—there’s something else.”
“How, isn’t she your sister?” The old woman snarled from where she sat on the bed.
“Yes, she’s my sister.”
“Then it shouldn’t matter what she looks like.”
I turned to the old woman, watching dip a brush into a clay pot in her hand. The smell of blood was suffocating as the old woman brushed markings across the walls.
Would markings be enough? “Is this to hide all of us?”
The old woman nodded. “It’ll hold for a while, three days at least. The wolves won’t find us.”
“My sister. Is she safe here?”
The shaman’s hand stilled mid-air. One drop of blood fell from her brush to splatter against the floor at her feet. “Is anyone?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
“It’s safer here with the dragons than it is out on your own, that’s all anyone can hope for. Right now, you need to worry about yourself. You need to sleep. You need to rest. You need to be with your pack, they need you the most. Go, I’ll take care of your sister.”
I looked at Rowen’s battered face. I did that. I hurt her.
“It’s for her own good, no sense in weeping about it. She’ll understand, maybe not now, but in time she’ll forgive you. So, go. Shoo. Someone else needs you more than she does.”
I jerked my head toward the closed door.
“You know what he did to save you? Not even a dragon takes on a demon and lives—not until this one did anyway.”
“Okay, find me if she wakes.”
The shaman nodded. “She won’t wake, not tonight. I put her under a healing spell. The child needs rest and love, one I can give her, the other is up to you.”
I trailed my hand along Rowen’s arm and stood. All those years, all that suffering—she needed a lot more than love—she needed a family.
That thought haunted me as I crossed the room and yanked open the door. Marcus leaned against the wall, waiting for me. I eased the door closed and scanned the expansive hall. He was right, this house was big enough for all of us and more. He had a big house, a big family. But did that make him happy?
He lifted his head. “Is she asleep?”
“Yes, the old woman’s taking care of her. I think it’s better she keeps an eye on her. Not that I think she’ll do anything stupid.”
“So, when was the last time you saw her?”
“I can’t have been more than six. Rowen was barely five. Strange men came in the middle of the night and took her and my mother. I didn’t know, not for a long time….”
“You didn’t know what?”
I held his gaze. “I didn’t know it was my father, who sold them.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Abrial.”
I held onto my tears as the truth closed in. “I tried so hard to find her. The packs move around. I didn’t even know it was the Echo pack who took them until a couple of years ago. Got a bead on their direction, they were headed this way. I was the one who suggested the Bloodstone pack move into Nyx County. I was the one who made a deal to get them back.”
I cast my gaze over my shoulder. “She blames me for our mom’s death. Hell, I blame myself.” I turned back to him as the words sliced my throat like razors. “She said Mom died screaming, because Rowen loved our mom more than she loved him. What kind of monster does that? No wonder she hates me.”
“I don’t think she hates you, not when she sees how much you’ve done to get her back. Now, your father, on the other hand. She will hate him.”
I inhaled hard, then shook my head. “I didn’t think about that. Why didn’t I think about that?”
He shoved off the wall and closed the distance, wrapping me in his arms. I pressed my head against his chest and the steady throb of his heart swelled against my ear. “You can’t worry about that now. She’s here. She safe. That’s all that matters.”
“I’m so tired.” I muttered against his chest. “I’m so tired of everything.”
“Then let me take it all away, even for a little while.”
The heavy thud of his heart sped. I caught the tense of his body, waiting for me to pull away. I wasn’t going to pull away, not this time. I lifted my head, capturing his gaze. His lips parted as he lowered his head. One soft brush of his lips and his arms tightened around me.
Stay. His body pleaded. I slid my hands along the thick muscles of his arms. The kiss turned hungry, starved for flesh. His teeth grazed my lips, then fell away as he crouched. I gripped his arms tight and followed his mouth as his arms closed around me, sweeping my feet from the floor.
My hair floated, then stuck against his arm as he turned. “Say the word and I’ll stand guard while you sleep.”
The sway of his steps rocked me. My eyes drifted close. I pressed my head against his chest and inhaled. Sleep was shoved further from my mind. I opened my eyes and lifted my head to his gaze as he climbed the steps. “No, I don’t want to sleep.”
His eyes widened. The corner of his lips twitched. But the thunder of his heart told me everything I needed to know. He wanted me. His steps were a blur as my heart raced to catch up. I slid my hand along his arm, tracking the hardening of his muscles. I remembered the feel of him in my mouth, his heavy hand against my head and the desperate need to love me in his gaze.
The fist around my heart clenched tight. Run. Fight, my wolf screamed. Marcus lowered his head as he climbed the last stair. Those dark eyes caught the overhead light as he passed. Fear glinted on one side of a double-edged sword, lust waited on the other.
I gripped his arm, and trailed my fingers across the smudge of dirt on his shirt to the neckline. My nails dug into the fabric as I yanked the t-shirt lower. Buttons popped, fabric tore. I lowered my head and brushed my lips across smooth skin.
His steps slowed. A hiss slipped free as I trailed my fingers around the edge of his nipple. The soft flesh puckered under the slow sweep. His hands shifted underneath me. One hand balanced, digging his fingers into the soft flesh of my ass.
I grazed my teeth across tender flesh of his neck as the door rattled, then flew open. A moan rumbled through his chest, tingling my lips. The door slammed, shattering the silence with the boom. His hold on me slipped. I clutched his shoulder and gripped tight as his hands found my waist.
His red t-shirt rode high as he lowered me to the floor. Red marks marred his flesh and glistened from my tongue. Desire flared, shoving sleep further away.
I trailed my fingers along his chest and slipped inside the open neckline. The faint silver scar glinted under the lights in one neat line from his chest, then across his ribs. His grubby shirt came away with one small tug and dropped to the floor. I stepped closer, running my hand over the line. “What made that?”
“The demon’s blade.”
I yanked my head up, catching hold of his gaze. “Does it hurt?”
“No.” His eyes widened, lips parted. His throat muscles hardened, riding the wave as he swallowed hard.
“Liar.” I whispered.
“Am I?” One brow climbed as the corner of his mouth twitched.
His hand skirted the swell of my breast, falling to the button of my jeans. I tried to follow the truth in his gaze. His fingers rode the edge of my waistline, then dipped inside.
I stumbled forward as he yanked, popping open the button. My wolf sat up and sniffed the air. Cool air licked my navel as my zipper slid open. The hackles on my wolf rose. A growl slipped into the air.
His smile widened as his hand swept along the outside of my body to tangle in my hair. “I’ve waited for almost three thousand years to find you.”
He shuffled closer, lowering his head to brush my lips with his. His whisper lulled me, soft, seductive. “I want everything. The woman. The wolf. Your mind, and your body. Hell, I’ll even take your damn pack, if I have to. But, don’t run from me again, Abrial. I’ll burn cities to the ground to find you and I’ll kill anyone who stands in my way.”
My hair pulled taut as he swept the strands around my ear. The hard glint of truth shone in those big black eyes. His words lit a fire so deep, a shudder rocked my soul.
His breath tickled my cheek as he lowered his head. “If there were terrifying stories of the Bloodletter when I was young and stupid. Just imagine what those stories would be like if someone ever hurt you… or tried to take you away from me.”
His fingers brushed my neck as his lips collided with mine. The sound of tearing cloth disappeared under the urgency. I clawed his waist, dragging his body harder against mine. The blood-thirsty demon bloomed in my mind. Imagined screams shattered my resolve. Marcus wouldn’t beg. He wouldn’t give up—not for me—never for me.
I followed his mouth as he dipped, shoving my jeans and panties from my hips. I thought of him taken from me. Gone. Just like that. My knees trembled as I wrenched my knee upwards, shedding the jeans as I shed the lies.
I wanted him and I loved him.
He stumbled away, chest heaving, drawing in huge gulps of air. I caught the tremble in his gaze, before the fall. My body hardened, nerves danced under the sweep of his focus. He took a step, and then another circling me like a hunter.
I ran my tongue over the swollen lips and felt the indent of my teeth. I craved his lips, his hands. My body shivered like an addict, and my drug was an inch away.
“Are you tired now, little wolf?”
His lips brushed the side of my neck. The throb of his breath sent a lick of heat against my skin. My feet felt nailed to the floor, caught between the tingle of his lips against my neck and the brush of his fingers as they climbed under my singlet. His touch skirted the swell of my breast, so light, so tender, dragging my shirt along with his hand until he grasped the clothing and tugged it over my head.
“God you’re beautiful.” He whispered against my ear. Skin-to-skin, the warmth of his chest melted into my shoulders. One tiny snap and my bra sprang free. I slapped my palms over my breasts, hiding my nipples against the crook of my wrists.
He raised his hand and brushed my cheek, then swept his thumb down my jaw and along the valley of my vein. “Your pulse is racing.”
My wolf cowered. Underneath the compassion and quiet words, a hurricane raged. I couldn’t hear the wind. I couldn’t see the devastation. But I felt the power rise.
“Thundering.”
Marcus stepped in front of me. Blood-red motes danced in those black eyes. Something ancient echoed from those bottomless pits, an edge that made my hackles rise and turned my belly weak. Fire, fury rose from the darkness. The monster reared his head inside, surging to the surface and called my wolf along with him.
/> A whimper tore free. The pathetic sound, swallowed by one last fight for dominance as my chest rumbled and a growl slipped from my lips.
Betrayed by my own beast, I fought for control. I swallowed the snarl, and prayed for strength. Danger hovered on a razor’s edge. I’d seen what he could do, even weak and damaged. The image would haunt me.
My lips trembled as I whispered. “I’m… fine.”
“No you’re not. You’re scared.”
His knuckles grazed my chest and swept along the curve of my breast, sending a shiver down my spine. One more twist and a wire inside me sang. The stench of death and horror clung to him. This man fought a demon… for me.
A nerve twitched near my eye as he raised his hand. His fingers hovered so close. His lips further away. “You can call my wolf.”
His eyes widened, lips parted. I could see his mind racing, trying to find the truth. “How?”
“When you left me I went a little crazy. The shaman took me between worlds where my Creator existed. She connected us somehow. I can sense your wolf so clearly. I can see her in your eyes. I can scent the air through her nose. I can feel the tightening of her muscles, the rise of her lip. Everything is so clear to me, I her fear, her anger. And under that I can feel her desire. But it’s not a one-way connection, Abrial. Don’t you feel him rising inside you too?”
Him?
My chest quaked with the beat of my heart.
No…. I closed my eyes as his power rose up from that inky blackness to swallow me. I stumbled under the surge as red lightning sliced through my mind and filled me with fury.
The room grew warm… too warm, shimmering like a heat haze on a blood-filled summers day. Bloodletter—I whispered his name—Bloodletter and the red beast answered.
Marcus jerked. His hand fell as red wings tore free from his body and filled the room. A cry echoed from my lips. I stumbled, slipped, and threw my hands out to catch my fall as the room turned red.
Air buffeted my body, scattering my hair into my eyes until something swept me from my feet. I slapped my palm against the long thin bones and felt leathered skin.
These weren’t the torn blackened bones I saw before. These were terrifying and mesmerizing. I brushed my fingers against the webbing and felt him shudder at my touch.
