by Zoe Perdita
The man tried to scream, but Felan’s fangs sliced the windpipe, cutting it off to nothing but a gurgle. The crossbow dropped to the forest floor, and the hunter stilled.
Felan set him down as silently as he could and let the wolf shape morph back into a man. Sometimes it was better to use his hands. This was one of those times.
He snatched the crossbow from the ground and checked the bolt.
Secured.
Good.
Only problem, his sight wasn’t great without his glasses.
Peering through the trees, he saw the hunters who sat outside of the cabin in wait. At least they hadn’t noticed he’d left.
Felan was certain the blurs of gray in their hands were both guns. They weren’t large enough to be crossbows. That meant they were the ones who shot out the windows.
He sniffed the air.
Listened for the beating of another heart.
The alpha heard it to the left.
He could either hunt them down or draw them out.
Felan gritted his teeth.
Aimed the crossbow at one of the hunters and let the bolt fly. It hit her in the leg, and she yelped and fell. The hunter next to her cursed and ducked.
Felan slid closer, behind one tree and then another.
He saw them more clearly now.
Clear enough to shoot them without a problem.
He aimed.
Fired.
The bolt hit one of the hunter’s in the neck—the one who wasn’t injured, and the man crumpled into the dirt, choking on his own blood.
Felan curled his lips into a snarl, his hands oddly calm. He swiped the blood from his mouth and let out a shaky breath.
“What the hell are you doing, you bastard?” the woman cried and tried to stumble toward his hiding place.
Perhaps she thought her fellow hunter had turned on her. With that much money on the line, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
Felan was ready to load another bolt when a smoking bottle flew out of the cabin’s shattered window. It landed at the hunter’s feet, exploded, and surrounded her in purple smoke.
The bitter scent stung Felan’s eyes and filled his lungs. He let out a racking cough and covered his nose, fighting not to breathe, and ducked his head into the crook of his shoulder and fell back into the trees.
Had Ari done that?
Of course he had.
Felan smiled, despite the situation.
The smoke dissipated after a moment, revealing the hunter’s body slumped on the ground. Felan heard her heartbeat, slow and uneven. Whatever that stuff was hadn’t killed her, but it was enough to knock her unconscious that quickly.
If the final hunter was wise, they’d retreat now.
Felan didn’t bet on that, however.
Not when a new pepper of bullets sprayed the front of the cabin.
Felan growled.
Listened.
The last hunter’s heart beat close by.
Felan was about to move toward the sound when a footstep rustled behind him, a body moving through the underbrush.
He turned, crossbow ready to fire, and came face to face with Ari.
The healer held a cloth in his hand that was smeared with green, and had a bag over his shoulder. Felan hoped it held his clothes.
“Can you sneak up on him without getting hurt?” Ari whispered.
The alpha nodded, and Ari pressed the cloth into his hand along with his glasses.
“Good. Hold that up to his mouth and nose. He’ll pass out in less than a minute. Don’t get shot.”
His voice wavered, and his green eyes were as wide as the moon. But his mouth was set into a stubborn line, and he looked at Felan in a way the alpha hadn’t seen in so long it made his heart feel like it could fly out of his chest.
Trust.
Ari trusted him to be able to do this.
The alpha couldn’t let him down.
He nodded and slipped toward the hunter.
The ferns brushed over his nude flesh, cool in the morning air, and he gritted his teeth. Listening for the man’s breath and his heartbeat.
There!
He ducked around a tree.
The hunter was taller and broader than Felan, with a big gun strapped to his chest and a deadly collection of knives on his belt.
The alpha needed to make this quick. Prove to Ari his trust wasn’t misplaced. He bit back a growl and lunged at the man.
Snapped the cloth over his mouth and nose.
The hunter roared and stumbled back, slamming them both into a tree.
Felan coughed, the breath knocked from his lungs, but held firm until the man stopped struggling. Even then, he held on for another minute.
“Was that all of them?” Ari asked when Felan returned.
“For now, but we can’t stay here any longer.”
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Let’s hope they didn’t slash your tires. Forget visiting the Black Wolves. We need to check on my house. If this mystery person wants the Demon’s Sword, they can come get it.”
The tires were in good repair, and Ari didn’t bother looking at the other hunter’s bodies.
He let Felan wash his face and chest and dress before they hit the road.
Ari stared out of the window, a frown on his face and Alwen’s phone clutched in his palm. He hadn’t told the detectives about the hunter attack yet, and Felan didn’t push it. He thought Ari was holding off until they knew it was safe to go back there.
“What did you throw at that hunter?” Felan ventured as he drove the twisty road through Forest Park, hoping no other hunters had followed them to the cabin.
“I picked it last night. It has soporific qualities in high doses. I wasn’t sure that bottle would work, but it did,” he said and gave a tight smile.
Felan had a feeling that ‘soporific qualities’ was an understatement considering how quickly it downed two different people, especially the big guy. “Thank you for the help. Who knew we’d made such a good team?”
Ari shrugged. “I’m not sure I wanted to find out like this. You killed them, didn’t you?”
Felan’s jaw tensed, and he nodded. “I didn’t know how else to stop them.”
“I know but—you haven’t, not since . . . . Sorry. I didn’t want you to have to kill anyone, even to protect me,” Ari said.
Felan forced a smile. He knew what Ari was asking. Knew what he was trying to say. He hadn’t killed anyone on purpose in this life, and the one person who died because of his carelessness (Kian) tore him up. But these hunters weren’t the same thing as his brother. “I did what I had to do, and I don’t regret it.”
“That’s how I feel, but—”
Felan shook his head. Grabbed Ari’s thigh and squeezed. “They put us in this position by trying to kill us, not the other way around. We have every right to protect ourselves.”
Ari let out a breath and nodded. “You’re right.”
Felan’s chest swelled. He couldn’t remember the last time Ari said he was right about anything. He wasn’t about to point it out, but he let it settle over him like a warm blanket.
They reached Ari’s house about twenty minutes later, and Felan pulled the car to a stop a block away.
The street was quiet as was the house, and Felan didn’t spot any of his pack mates hanging around. Good. He needed them to keep as far away as possible until the hunters were gone.
Using the cover of darkness was always better, but those hunters in the woods might wake up soon and come looking for them here.
Ari put a hand on the alpha’s chest before he climbed out of the car. “I’m going in alone. You stay outside and keep watch.”
Felan was about to argue, but Ari’s gaze was hard, and his hand steady.
He knew it made the most sense. Felan would be able to sense an intruder before Ari could, and the healer knew where the knife was hidden.
His gut twisted.
Plus, Kian would protect him again if anything went wrong.
Ari snagged his lips and nodded. “Love you too.”
Felan bit back everything else he wanted to say, his heart stone-like as he watched Ari go.
13
Ari didn’t expect the hunters, but they hardened his resolve all the same. He needed to finish this on his own.
Today, if he could.
He smiled and stepped onto the sidewalk, strolling down the street for all the world like he was on his way home after a short trip away. If he marched up to his front door, it’d notify the hunters where he was.
Perhaps the buyer too.
Just what he wanted.
His gut filled with lead at that thought.
Benson.
Coincidence or not?
He only had one way to find out, and he’d rather do it on his own turf with his own magic to protect him.
The door swung open after he turned the lock, and he stood in the entryway and took in the mood of the house. It felt like it’d been trampled. Stepped on. He noted the scruff marks on the floor, and the blood that was probably now a permanent stain on his floor.
He sucked in a breath and smelled the familiar scent of herbs and dust and musk. The third was new.
“Kian?” he said into the empty space.
Waited.
The piano answered him with a note.
C flat.
His heart calmed, and he stepped into the sitting room.
No one sat at the piano. The cover was closed over the keys, but he’d heard the note as clear as anything.
That room showed more signs of disturbances. The furniture had been moved. One chair knocked over. He didn’t know if Seth wanted him to fix it or not, but leaving it like that pricked at his last nerve. He pushed it upright.
“They’re going to come again,” Ari said and saw a broken lamp in the corner. At least it wasn’t one of the Tiffany lamps. It was only a replica. Replaceable.
The contents of every drawer lay scattered across the floor.
“Did you chase them out or—”
The piano answered again, the notes loud as if Kian slammed his fingers into them. It wasn’t any song, just random noise, and Ari bit the inside of his cheek and waited.
“I’ve been trying to get back here, but I’m in trouble and . . . . I’m here now. I won’t leave you alone again,” he said, the words sticking in the back of his throat. Not sure what kind of promise he was making.
How he’d explain to Kian about Felan and what they’d rekindled.
That could wait.
He scanned the rest of the house as quickly as possible, checking for damages and if any hunters were lying in wait. A few antiques were broken, smashed to pieces, and the bedrooms looked like they’d been tossed, but it was all stuff he could live without.
The downstairs was a different matter.
The table in his healer room was turned over. The shelves and sorted bottles of herbs smashed. A lump the size of a boulder formed in his throat as he calmly shut the door and looked into his herb storage area.
The scent that met his nose told him what he’d find before he flipped on the light. All the bottles and packages of carefully collected herbs, years of work, lay in a wet heap on the floor.
Ruined.
He wasn’t sure how long he stared at it, heart throbbing and hands fisted at his sides.
Not only his shop but this as well. A one-two punch that hit him in both of his most vital organs, heart and mind.
The buyer had done their homework.
Knew what was important to him, somehow, and wreaked havoc on it.
Ari’s eyes pricked, even as his mind told him that he could fix it. But it would take time. A lot of work, and there would be people who needed his help right away. People he’d have to turn away because of some stupid sword.
He took a steadying breath.
Hands brushed his shoulders, the touch as light as feathers. He let out a pained laugh, more hysterical than anything else.
“I know you couldn’t protect it. I didn’t expect you to,” he said.
“Who are you talking to?”
Ari started.
Turned.
The voice didn’t belong to Kian or Felan. The alpha was supposed to be keeping watch outside, and if someone else got in—
He turned slowly and met the ice mage in the leather jacket, the one from the estate sale. She wasn’t holding a weapon, but she eyed him carefully, her hands poised. “You’re a healer.”
Ari didn’t bother to nod. “Why the hell are you following me? What did you do to my alpha?”
The woman blinked. “Shit. There’s a wolf here? I didn’t do anything. Listen, I’m sure you’ve realized by now that you have something extremely dangerous, but if you’d give it to me, I can contain it and—”
Ari laughed, a short bitter sound. His heart throbbed. They might’ve smashed his herbs, but they created a weapon. He snatched a large piece of broken glass from the table and held it in front of him.
“Do you think after everything I’ve been through that I’m that stupid? That I’d believe some stranger and just give away the thing that caused this mess. Where. Is. My. Alpha?”
The woman’s fingers cracked with ice. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to talk to you without the hunters noticing and you put me off. They’ll kill for the Demon's Sword, and it’s not something that should be left lying around. Look, I’m on your side.”
Kian’s presence hung in the room with them. Ari felt his eyes, his weight, taking over. But he didn’t whisper in Ari’s ear or attack the ice mage. Didn’t do anything but watch.
Ari took a breath.
Did that mean Kian trusted her?
“Really? Then why did you wait until now to say so?”
The woman blanched. “We were trying to keep you from getting too involved, and I thought if I could get it before anyone else, no one innocent would get hurt. We both did.”
Ari narrowed his eyes. “Who’s we?”
“My partner! He was with me at the estate sale, but he’s—the hunters got him. Killed him,” she said, and her voice wavered.
“The one in the leather jacket, like you?”
The ice mage nodded. Bit her bottom lip. Either she was an excellent actor, or she wasn’t lying.
Still.
Ari spent too much time with criminals to trust anyone that easily.
The last time Ari had seen the man in leather was outside of Cage’s window a day before.
“What happened?”
She swallowed. “He was tracking you, and followed you to an apartment. Then he lost your trail, but the hunters found him before he got away. They know we want the same thing, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”
“It’s a lot of money,” Ari said, and his voice felt raw. He’d been in the exact same place as she was with a wide open wound, raw and gaping, in the center of his chest.
“Yeah. It is, but I’m not even sure the buyer can pay up. It might be a game to them.”
Ari blinked. He hadn’t thought about it like that. “You haven’t tried to kill me,” he said and watched the ice melt from her fingertips.
“No, I don’t want to kill anyone unless I absolutely have to. And you’re innocent. I have no reason to kill you.”
Kian hummed with approval, and Ari’s shoulders relaxed.
“Go find my alpha, and he’ll see if you’re telling the truth. He’s outside keeping watch. If you’re trustworthy, we can talk.”
The woman nodded, glancing around the room like she expected to see something, and left.
Ari watched her slip out the backdoor.
He locked it after her (like it would help) and went into the back room, the one the foxes had gone through. He’d taken about two-thirds of the haul to his shop, but the items that he was unsure of—the ones with magical properties he had yet to figure out—we’re still here.
But Ari wasn’t about to go leaving them lying around in the open. No, he had them hidden in another lockbox in another safe.
Kian’s watchful gaze followed him down the hall and into the room. The sensation swelled as Ari moved the crates and pressed the hidden button on the clapboard. It swung open, and he let out a sigh. The box was still there, all the wards around it in place as well.
He opened the safe, and Kian buzzed.
Ari stared at the contents. The jewelry tingled against his fingers as he picked through them, looking for the particular set. The gems sparkled in the single overhead light. He moved aside a gold chain and sucked in a sharp breath. That necklace with two matching earrings, set with five rubies, was right where he’d left it.
A phantom growl reverberated inside his head, and Ari wasn’t sure what the hell Kian was trying to tell him. He yanked out the ruby set and shoved them into his pocket before replacing the box and the crate.
He grabbed the shard of glass and headed toward the kitchen to get the knife.
As he rounded the corner, Kian’s shadow rushed down the hall, darting toward the entryway. A heaviness settled on his shoulders, and Ari peeked around the corner. He gripped the piece of glass in his palm.
Margaret stood there with a hopeful smile on her face, and her oversized glasses reflecting the light. She was dressed like she usually did in a loose floral dress and sandals. Her eyes scanned the room, and she wrinkled her nose.
“Sorry, I just came in. The door was open, and I heard you in here. I did knock but . . . .”
It was a lie, and Ari knew it.
He’d shut the door tight, though he hadn’t locked it. He didn’t expect Margaret Benson to show up so quickly.
Ari met her gaze with a grimace. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard what happened at your shop and was worried sick! Then I come here and find you. What’s going on, Ari?” she asked, her voice taking on that hint of motherly concern that used to calm him. Now it set his teeth on edge.
“You wouldn’t understand,” he said, forcing himself to play along, and moved past her. “You should get out of here. It’s dangerous. There are people looking for me.”
“Oh, those men? They came into my shop the other day asking all about you and that Demon's Sword. It must be important to get so many people riled up about it. Did you ever find out if you had it?”
