by Cara Wylde
“My love…”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I just needed to catch my breath.” She sat up and Seth inspected her face and body carefully to make sure there was nothing wrong. “I’m okay, really.” She even managed a smile, even though her lips were frozen.
A shriek of pain came from somewhere behind them, and the deep woods turned it into a never-ending echo. Seth jumped to his feet, his senses trained on the enemy. Amelia looked around her. Her whole body was shaking, and her teeth were clattering. She didn’t know if it was from the cold or the fear anymore, and it didn’t even matter.
“What was that?”
Seth didn’t answer. He sniffed the air and listened, but it didn’t seem like anyone was following them. He heard Amelia struggle to stand up, and he went to help her. She was exhausted, he could tell. Her knees were shaking and her fingers were twitching as she tried to grab onto his arm.
“We have to keep moving,” he said.
“Seth, tell me what’s going on. Who are those fox-shifters? Why did they attack us?”
He sighed. “Blake and I believe they are Tricksters. The assassins are the only ones who would launch such a reckless attack. They are strong and well trained, and when I got to Blake, she was fighting two at once. Elena and Aaron were busy with three more. I counted six, but I can’t know for sure. There might be more hiding in the woods, waiting to see if they are needed.”
“Oh my God! Why? Why would anyone send the Tricksters after us? Why us?”
Seth started rubbing her arms and shoulders vigorously, trying to get her blood flowing. “Blake’s position towards the peace treaty and the new law pissed off a lot of fox-shifters. She might have made more enemies than Roman had ever had.” He took her face between his warm palms and kept his hands there, pressing softly. “Come on, we need to go.”
She caught his wrists before he could remove his hands. “Seth…” She searched his eyes and forced him to pay attention to her and ignore the surrounding noises for just a second. “Seth, no. I can see the lights from here and I know where Damon’s cabin is. I’m going alone.”
“No.”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath although the air stung her lungs. “You have to go back and help Blake. You’re her Yako, Seth. A Beta should always stay by his Alpha’s side.”
“She told me to take care of you. It was an order.”
“And you did. I’m safe now. If there are so many Tricksters, who knows if Elena and Aaron will be able to protect her? Blake needs you.”
“You need me.”
Seth was torn. Again. For the second time that night, he was in a position when he had to choose between two women who meant the world to him. And he had responsibilities towards both of them. On the one hand, Blake was his Inari and, thus, her well-being always came first. On the other hand, Amelia was his mate and she was pregnant with his child. Duty versus family. He could never win. Yes, Blake had given him an order, but was that order sensible?
Amelia turned to look at the lights in the distance. Damon’s earth wasn’t far, and she was positive she could make it there in a couple of minutes. Twenty, maybe? Thirty minutes? She’d have to move fast and get out of the woods first, then it would be easier.
“Seth, I’ll be okay. I’ll bang on Damon’s door and scream my lungs out until he opens it. Go help Blake.”
“Amelia…”
“Listen to me!” She squeezed his arms even though she could barely feel her fingers. It was incredible how he could stand completely naked in the cold and still give off enough heat to warm her bones when she touched him. “I’m safe. I can take care of myself now. If Blake, Elena, or Aaron get hurt because you weren’t there to fight by their side, I will die of guilt. Go stall those Tricksters, and I’ll run to Damon and send help. I can do this, trust me.”
He looked into her eyes and he knew she was telling the truth. She was convinced she could help, and her confidence convinced him too. Despite himself, his heart was with Blake. If anything happened to her, the future of Clan Sylfur and the entire fox faction would be in jeopardy. Her uncles would tear the clan to pieces. He couldn’t forget the state Blake was in when she motioned for him to go get Amelia and take her somewhere safe. One of her ears was torn, she was bleeding all over, and she could barely use her left foreleg. The first fox-shifter Seth had put down had only had one tail, but the ones who attacked Blake had three tails each. The guild had known whom to send.
“Promise me you won’t stop for anything, and once you reach Damon’s cabin, you’ll stay there and wait for us.”
“I promise.”
Seth pressed a desperate kiss to Amelia’s lips, then stepped back and shifted. He waited until Amelia started walking towards the edge of the forest, to be sure that she could move properly and she hadn’t lied to him. She was fine, and her pace was brisk and confident. She would reach the earth in no time. All Seth had to do was get back to the isolated cabins and help the others keep the Tricksters at a distance until reinforcements came and Damon’s foxes surrounded the assassins.
***
It took Amelia a little over 30 minutes to reach Damon’s cabin, but to her it seemed like forever. At some point, she started counting from one to one hundred and then backwards just to distract herself from the pain in her legs and the numbness in her toes and fingers. When she felt she couldn’t breathe anymore, she kept pushing because she couldn’t afford to stop to catch her breath. There was no time for that. Up on Damon’s porch, she started knocking on the door, weakly at first, then harder and louder. It took all her strength to find her voice and yell that she needed help, that Blake was in danger. She couldn’t understand how Damon didn’t hear her when lights had started to appear in the other cabins. The small village the fox-shifters had built was dimly lit by lampposts scattered here and there, and when they started turning their lights on, Amelia could see the details around her. She had walked here almost blindly. When the light in Damon’s cabin was finally turned on, her eyes hurt.
“Please, you have to do something…”
“Amelia?” Damon pulled her inside the warm house before his fox-shifters started asking questions.
“The Tricksters… they attacked us. You have to take your foxes and help Blake and the others. Now!”
Damon looked at her dumbfounded. He didn’t believe her. For the next ten minutes, she did her best to explain what had happened and how Blake had told Seth to take her to safety. Her mind couldn’t wrap around the fact that Damon was just standing there, staring at her, instead of running out to call his Yako and two Ninkos, gather a small army, and do what he had to do, what was sane and normal to do: save his Inari. She tried to explain better. She took everything from the beginning. Maybe she hadn’t been clear, maybe she was tired and he thought she had dreamed everything or had gone insane. It was as if everything she said hit a wall and dispersed before reaching Damon Sylfur’s ears. She didn’t know when the realization hit her, but the second it happened, she jumped to her feet and ran out the door before the fox-shifter understood what was happening. It wasn’t that Damon didn’t believe her, he didn’t care. He didn’t want to run to Blake’s help and he was simply stalling by asking her questions and suggesting her story didn’t make sense.
Amelia was disappointed to see most of the fox-shifters had gone back inside. Nevertheless, she started yelling at the top of her lungs, hoping her voice would cover the merciless rush of the wind. After all, they were shifters. They had to hear her. Not all of them were like Damon, their Inari, were they? They couldn’t be.
Her idea worked and she was soon surrounded by people she barely knew, but who seemed genuinely worried about Blake, Seth, Elena and Aaron. Some of the women even showed concern for her condition and urged her to go back inside while they took care of everything. She ended up in new, dry clothes, in an armchair in front of Damon’s fireplace, with three shifter-brides fussing with her wet hair, the blankets they had buried her under, and the hot tea they insisted she
needed to drink. Of course the shifter-brides would be the ones to make sure she and her baby were okay. The pure blood vixens couldn’t care less. Despite herself, she was so exhausted that she dozed off. The women were massaging her shoulders, caressing her hair, whispering encouraging words in her ear… After everything that had happened on the other side of the lake, Amelia was grateful. They made her feel better and gave her hope. Nothing could happen to Blake. It was impossible. No matter how many Tricksters they sent after her, she was strong and smart. She had five tails and three devoted friends who knew how to fight. Everything would be okay, and now that Damon had been forced by his people to take action, Amelia could rest and wait for Seth to come back to her.
She jumped awake when the door was slammed open and a group of angry men entered the cabin. The three women were still by her side, and they immediately scooted closer to Amelia, ready to protect her from whatever was coming.
“We need a doctor.”
Amelia recognized Seth’s voice and a weight was lifted off her aching heart. He was alive, he was fine. And he was in the next room, so close to her.
“A doctor? He… she doesn’t deserve a fuckin’ doctor!”
That was Damon’s voice, and his words chilled her to the bone.
“Damon, please. Let’s talk about this later. We’ll explain everything. She’s dying! You can’t let her die!”
There was a commotion and Amelia wanted to throw the blankets off and go see what was happening. The women pulled her back down and begged her to be patient. They knew better than anyone how Damon could be when he was angry. Amelia couldn’t tell for sure, but the noise coming from the next room indicated a fight. Screams and curses, accusations, threats… Sometimes, Seth would raise his voice, but Damon would cover him with more curses.
“You bunch of worthless losers lied to everyone! And Roman thought he could deceive us like this, didn’t he? Who did he think he was? Let her die! She’s not my Inari!”
It was clear what was happening and why. Somehow, they had figured out that Blake was a woman. Amelia started crying uncontrollably and begging the three shifter-brides to let go of her and let her run to Blake. Dying? Blake couldn’t die. Damon had to get over himself and call for a doctor. If she was that badly injured, her body wouldn’t be able to heal in time.
“No, Amelia, it’s not safe!”
“They are angry, so angry… They might hurt you.”
“Think about the baby…”
“I don’t care! Let me go! Let go!”
She used all her strength and determination to push them aside and run. Before opening the door to the next room, she turned to see if they were all right, and the looks on their faces made her hesitate. One of them was sprawled on the floor, another had hit her head on the table and was holding her temple, and the other one was cradling her arm. Had she really pushed them that hard? That wasn’t possible. She never wanted to hurt them, she had only wanted to take them off her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Blake’s naked body was on the couch, barely covered with a thin blanket. Amelia ran to her side and caressed her hair. There was blood everywhere, flowing from her ear, her shoulder, right hip, and a huge gash under her left knee. But the worst wound was the one on her abdomen. She took her friend’s head in her arms and swore to protect her no matter what.
Seth and Damon were still fighting. Damon’s fox-shifters were constantly trying to break them apart, so no one was paying much attention to Blake anymore. They knew what they had to know, and now they didn’t care about her. Just like they didn’t care about Elena, who was on the floor, pressing a hand to her neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and Aaron, who was leaning over her, even though it was clear he was close to fainting. He had covered Elena with a coat, but he was naked, just like most of the men in the room. Seth had found a pair of trousers somewhere, and Damon had wrapped a blanket around his hips, but Amelia could tell no one had really had time to think about their appearance.
Someone had called the doctor, because an old man made his way to Blake’s side and reassured Amelia that it was okay, he was there to help and she could let go of her friend. It had probably been a shifter-bride. Apparently, these women were the only ones who actually had a soul. The rest of the night was a blur. Amelia slipped in and out of consciousness, jumped awake every time either Damon or someone else screamed profanities at Blake or Seth, then fell asleep again, but she never let go of Blake’s hand or moved from her spot on the floor, next to the couch. At some point, she woke up in Seth’s arms, his purple eyes staring down at her. Fear and pain. That was all she could read in them.
“It’s okay, beautiful. I’m taking you to bed. It’s okay now. It’s over.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Kyubi
Amelia insisted they went back to Ekviknuna as soon as possible, so the moment it was safe to move Blake, they left Damon and Canada behind. They had no promise they would be safe in Alaska, but Sebastian, Charles, and Julian were a thousand times better than Damon. Amelia and Seth were convinced Blake’s uncle had had something to do with the attack, and the idea of spending another day among his people made them uncomfortable.
Blake was healing quickly, but the trip exhausted her. They arrived in Ekviknuna late in the evening and took her straight to her room before her uncles had a chance to bombard her with questions. Damon had already told everyone about their deceit, so it was natural for the Sylfur brothers to refuse to leave the mansion when Amelia told them there was time to talk about everything later, when Blake would regain her powers. Even though they were tired, Elena and Aaron made it their job to guard Blake’s room from then on. Seth agreed, as he was well aware of the fact that the two Ninkos were the only people he could trust at the moment. He had to look after Amelia and deal with the clan. With their main Inari in disgrace, Clan Sylfur had fallen in complete chaos. Seth knew Sebastian, Charles, and Julian would all want to claim leadership, and he only hoped they would end up arguing amongst themselves, which would buy Blake some time. Unfortunately, the three brothers were smarter than that.
Amelia ended the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket. She looked at Blake’s form under the heavy duvet and sighed. Her friend hadn’t said anything since the night they were attacked, and it wasn’t because she couldn’t talk. She didn’t want to. She wasn’t in shock either. Blake was stronger than that. Elena and Aaron were alive because Blake had protected them. The Tricksters’ intention had been to get rid of the two Ninkos and the Yako as quickly as possible, so they could all focus on Blake. Her five tails and incredible fighting skills had given them a hard time. After Seth took Amelia away from the battlefield, Elena and Aaron tried to stand their ground, but they ended up being saved by their Inari a couple of times. When Seth came back, he found Blake fighting four Tricksters at the same time. She was tired and close to giving up. If he had taken Amelia to Damon, he would have been too late.
No, Blake wasn’t in shock and, physically, she was healing fine. The problem was that she didn’t know how to face her uncles and the whole clan. She had been prepared for many things, but not for that. Amelia sat down on the edge of the bed and ran her fingers through her friend’s short, black hair.
“Blake?”
No answer. Her friend didn’t even flinch, although she had her eyes open.
“I don’t know what more to do,” Amelia said. “I’ve just talked to Max Blackmane and told him everything, told him we’re suspecting Damon. But you heard the conversation, right?” She sighed. “Please say something.”
Blake blinked, but didn’t take her eyes off the ceiling. Amelia stood up and went out of the room. There was no use. Blake wasn’t ready to face the consequences, which meant she and Seth had to take matters into their own hands and confront the three Inaris. If they didn’t do anything, one of them would end up the main Inari of Clan Sylfur, and things would change drastically. Elena and Aaron nodded when she went past them. Seth was waiting for h
er in the living room. She climbed down the stairs slowly, her body tired and her back and feet sore from having run through the woods not even 24 hours ago. She had no idea how she could still keep her eyes open. As she entered the living room, everyone except for Seth stared at her baby bump. Self-aware, she placed her palms on her belly and swallowed heavily. “Right,” she thought. “If Blake is a woman, then whose baby am I carrying?” She could see the disgust in their eyes, but instead of crushing her, it made her stronger and more determined. Back straight and chin up, she took a seat next to Seth, who was nursing a glass of whiskey.
“So… Amelia… You knew all along, didn’t you?” Julian was the first to speak.
“No. Actually, I didn’t.”
Charles laughed mockingly. “When did you find out? Before or after you got pregnant with our chap here?”
Charles motioned to Seth, and Amelia turned to him, a question in her eyes. He shook his head, and she knew he hadn’t been the one who told them. They figured that one out on their own. She knew it would eventually come to this and Blake’s uncles would do everything to make her feel ashamed. She wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction.
“Like it or not, Blake is the main Inari of Clan Sylfur. Gender has nothing to do with her position.”
“Oh, of course not! We all agree.” Sebastian stood up and started pacing the room. “If Roman had told us the truth, everything would have been perfectly fine right now. I honestly don’t know what he was thinking, but I’ve come to the conclusion that he wasn’t quite right in the head.”
Amelia cringed at the words. It hurt even more that Julian and Charles nodded in approval.
