“Got it.” I forced my annoyance down. I had no Plan B. I was out of my element. I couldn’t help her on my own, and that made me feel completely worthless.
“She’s alive.” Lochlan checked her pulse again. “That’s the important thing.”
“This second she’s alive, but that could change. Don’t pretend that isn’t the case.” I fought my anger down. I needed Lochlan’s help.
“Technically any of us could die at any moment.” Bryant held his arms out to the side. “Life is fleeting.”
“Shut the hell up.” I had no patience for Bryant. If it weren’t for him Mara wouldn’t be stuck wherever the heck she was. He’d taken her from me where she’d been safe. And I’d allowed it to happen. I’d never forgive myself.
“Do you think she’s with the demon?” Noah didn’t look at me as he spoke probably because he knew I was already about to lose it.
“Very likely.” Lochlan in contrast made complete eye contact. “But that doesn’t mean she’s in danger.”
“How is it possible for her to be with a super strong demon and not be in danger?” I wanted to believe she was safe, but I also wasn’t going to live in lala land. “Tell me that, huh?”
“She’s smart and strong.” Lochlan locked his jaw.
“You think I don’t know that?” I shook my head in disbelief. “She’s incredibly smart and strong, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be hurt. There are dangers that strength and brains can’t protect you from.”
“You asked.” Lochlan shrugged.
“Enough!” Isadora yelled. “I think I’m ready.”
“You think?” I shifted Mara in my arms. “Please tell me you’re more confident than you sound.”
“I’m new at this. I told you that from the beginning.”
I took a deep breath. “Fine. Let’s start.”
“Please tell me we don’t have to hold hands again.” Bryant scrunched up his nose.
“No hand holding this time because Lochlan’s the only one who can go in.” Isadora ran a hand through her hair.
“What about me?” I wasn’t being kept out. “I need to anchor her.”
Isadora scrunched up her forehead. “You are anchoring her.”
“But I did nothing!” I was angry. I needed to be there for my mate. This whole sitting around thing wasn’t working for me.
“It’s natural. She’s your mate, which means you have her anchored.” Isadora put a hand on her hip. “Got it? Or do you need to waste even more time?”
“Don’t waste time.” I gritted my teeth. I knew we had no time to lose.
“Where do I fit into this? Anything I need to do?” Bryant tossed a coin up in the air and caught it. “I’m fine sitting this one out, but I’m sure there’s something you need me for.”
“I need you to keep your mouth closed so you don’t anger Ian.” Isadora put a hand on her hip. “That’s what I need.”
“I can do that.” Bryant caught the coin and wrapped his hand around it. “I think.”
I focused on Mara. Any comment I would make would start an argument and slow things down. Slowing things down was out of the question.
“Lochlan, you’re going to have to lay down for this.” Isadora pointed to the grass. “You need to go completely into your Séancer state.”
“I figured that much.” Lochlan lay down and waited. He was very trusting. Either that or he really cared and wanted to find Mara. I didn’t quite know which. He’d had some sort of relationship with Mara’s grandfather, but I didn’t know how that played in to the current situation. I was putting a lot of faith into the hands of a man I didn’t really know or understand. That went against my general logic, but at the moment I had no other choice.
“I’m going to use the final crystal, so we only have one shot.” Isadora seemed to be talking to herself as much as the rest of us.
“I’ll find her if you can give me the added strength. I need to be able to connect with her. That’s going to make all of the difference.” Lochlan folded his hands on his chest.
“I can’t promise you that, but I’m going to try.” Isadora nodded.
“Confidence, my dear. You need confidence.” Lochlan crossed his legs at the ankles.
“I’m using all the confidence I have.” Isadora bit her lip. “I promise to give this all I have.”
I watched as she took a crystal in a gloved hand and leaned over Lochlan.
“Stop staring at me,” she snapped in my direction.
“I’m not staring.” I wasn’t. I was watching, which was something entirely different.
“Stop looking. You’re making me nervous, which means I’m going to screw up.”
“Fine.” I turned slightly, cradling Mara in my arms. What was she experiencing? Was she with the demon? The more I wondered, the more worried I got. I needed to protect her.
“You give up easily.” Bryant took the coin out again.
“Lochlan needs to find her.”
“And watching the girl is going to mess that up?” He spun the coin on the ground.
I shrugged. “I’m not taking the chance of losing her.”
“Ignore the Pteron.” Noah glared at him. “Don’t let him get to you.”
I was about to agree with Noah when I felt something. The presence of another shifter. I caught Bryant’s eye, and I could tell he’d felt the same thing. We weren’t alone. He jumped to his feet.
Noah gave me a look before walking toward the woods. Bryant moved toward the road. I felt powerless. I had to stay with Mara. I couldn’t leave her alone. Isadora was chanting something over Lochlan so she had no clue what was happening.
I heard the rustle of leaves and turned toward the trees just in time to watch Noah shift into his bear.
Bryant released his wings and took off into the sky. He was abandoning us already, not that I was surprised.
I watched, debating my best course of action when two very familiar figures walked out of the wooded area beside the road.
“Tyler? Claire?” I called, knowing full well they weren’t alone. I was positive Noah knew that too.
“So we meet again.” Claire grinned. She was dressed, which underscored how much of a set up this was. She would have run to find me in her cheetah form, which meant that she’d normally be naked now. She would have never wasted time getting dressed.
“Where is he?” I assumed Claire would know I meant Willem.
There was a further rustling in the woods, and Noah went after it.
I looked at Tyler who had so far been quiet. His expression said everything. He was saying sorry. That wasn’t a good thing.
“I’m right here,” a voice said from a distance.
I watched as he materialized, and I held Mara tighter against me, calculating the best move.
He stopped right beside us. “If you’d just hand her over we can be done with this quickly.”
I jumped to my feet, still cradling Mara in my arms. “You know you’d have to kill me first.”
“I’ll have to kill you no matter what to make her my mate, but there is still the question of how I kill you.” His eyes were dark. “Do I make it hard or easy on you?”
“She is mine.” I held her motionless body closer to me.
“What’s wrong with her?” Willem stepped closer, seemingly just now noticing she wasn’t awake. “What have you done?”
“Nothing you should concern yourself with.” My heart was beating erratically. Now she was in danger on two fronts.
“A witch.” Willem pointed at Isadora. “It’s her fault.” He turned to his men. “Stop her!”
I froze, unsure of how to protect Mara’s body while defending Isadora. Thankfully Noah solved my dilemma. Still in bear form, he jumped in front of Willem’s men who were still in their human forms and reared up on his hind legs.
He slashed his paw across the four men, easily knocking them to the ground before they could shift.
One by one they started to shift, and for a moment I was s
o distracted I didn’t notice Willem lunged for Mara. I turned just in time to protect her. Placing Mara down, I reached out for my bear. I didn’t want to let go of my mate, but I couldn’t hope to defend her in my human form.
I lunged for Willem, knocking him over just as he shifted. I pressed him down into the ground, smashing his chest with my paws.
Someone grabbed me from behind and tossed me off. I fought against the bear, tossing him aside, but another reached me just as Willem pulled himself up off the ground and headed toward me.
Another bear moved near Mara. As I tried to move to defend her, I found I was surrounded on all sides by Willem and his pack. I fought against the four bears, easily taking out two, but I panicked as the other bear moved closer to my mate.
Suddenly in a blur of black, Bryant swooped down and knocked over the bear before he reached Mara.
I heard a snap, and the bear lay motionless on the ground.
I went for Willem, determined to end him and knowing that the pack would disperse without their leader. He was bleeding. My earlier attack had wounded him worse that I’d originally thought.
Willem rose onto his hind legs and swiped with his giant paw as I approached. I ducked, narrowly avoiding his attack. Before he could recover and attempt to hit again, I used my teeth to grab him by the neck. Once I had a hold of him, I tossed him from side to side until I felt him go motionless.
“He’s dead. You can stop.” Bryant broke me out of my trance. He held Mara in his arms while the rest of the bears stood a fair distance away. Noah and Tyler stood guard surrounding Isadora and Lochlan.
The bears bowed their heads in a sign of submissiveness. I’d defeated their Alpha, which meant they now owed their allegiance to me.
I shifted into my human form so I could speak. “Be gone!” I wanted nothing to do with them.
They ran off into the woods.
“So that was easy.” Bryant handed Mara to me. She was still breathing evenly.
“Easy?” I shook my head. “I don’t think I’d go that far.”
Bryant tossed me his shirt. “Do me a favor and cover your junk.”
I took the shirt without a word and sat back down with Mara.
Isadora had her eyes closed in a trance like state sitting with Lochlan. She’d said nothing since the attack.
“Things are always exciting when I visit you.” Claire had blood dripping from her mouth. I hadn’t noticed the cheetah in the fight, but I was sure she’d joined in.
“You can say thank you.”
“For what?” She crossed her arms.
“Saving your ass.” I kept my eyes on her face rather than her naked body. It came as no surprise that Bryant wasn’t offering her clothing.
“I still need to find Trina.” She uncrossed her arms.
“She called me.” It was time to share all the info I had. “I’d follow those bears, and you’ll find her.”
“Is she dead?” Clare pointed a thumb at Mara.
“No.” I shook my head. .
“Well, then I hope she snaps out of that soon.” Claire’s voice was almost genuine—it surprised me.
“You care?”
“I do.” Claire shrugged. “I care in my own way, but my sister comes first.” In a whirl Claire shifted back to her Cheetah form and ran off.
“I’m sorry.” Tyler shifted back to his human form.
“Sorry for what exactly?” I played dumb in an effort to give him a chance to explain. It’s how he liked things.
“Getting myself caught. I was weak.”
“Getting caught had nothing to do with weakness. You were doing what I asked of you. There is no need to apologize.” There was too much going on to allow Tyler to go down that train of thought.
“I will be stronger next time.” He hung his head.
“Right now I need to know you have my back. I’m hoping that was the only trouble, but until Mara’s back I’m not going to relax.”
“I’m going to search the woods.” Noah shifted back into his bear form without waiting for my response. I understood. He’d killed, and killing never came easy for him. It wasn’t easy for me exactly, but I could handle it better when I knew it had been the only choice. I nodded in understanding and watched him disappear.
“I’ll go with him.” Tyler pointed in the direction Noah went.
I nodded and watched as he followed behind.
“It’s just us again.” Bryant sat down beside me. “How cozy.”
“Isadora is here.”
“She’s in a trance. She doesn’t count.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Your brothers are loyal.”
“They’re my brothers.” And I was lucky to have them.
“You’re Alpha. That’s why.”
“It’s just how it works.” Even if I weren’t Alpha they would have backed me up, but now they were bound to.
“I like being alone, but maybe that would be convenient.”
“Convenient?” I thought over his choice of words. I guess you could say that.”
“Hungry?” Bryant pulled out two sticks of beef jerky from his pocket.
“How could you be hungry right now?”
“Killing shifters makes me hungry.” He bit into one stick and held out the other.
I shook my head. “You’re weird.”
“You aren’t the first person to tell me that.” He demolished the first stick before starting the other.
28
Mara
I felt the tugging again, and this time I immediately grabbed hold of it. I felt a jerk, and the road disappeared. I was back in the blackness.
“Mara?” Lochlan’s voice rang through my head. “I’m here.”
“You brought a friend.” The demon’s voice was back too. Of course I wasn’t lucky enough to have lost him.
“I’m no friend of yours.” Lochlan’s voice was shrill and dangerous—entirely different than how he normally sounded.
“I am well aware of who you are, but the question is, do you truly know who Mara is?” The demon’s voice was the creepy one again.
“Yes.” Lochlan didn’t hesitate with his answer. “I know exactly who she is.”
“You don’t.” The demon laughed. “You have no idea”
“I do. And I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. Your words are poison, and you spin them in any way possible to achieve the result you want.”
“Sounds like you are quoting a book chapter on my kind,” the demon taunted.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have lived most of my life without meeting one of you.”
“Seems your luck has run out.”
“Maybe so, but I want to make a deal with you.” Lochlan’s voice was louder now, as if he was right next to me.
“What?” I asked in surprise. He couldn’t be serious.
“A deal?” The demon asked. “Do tell.”
“I will tell you once you make a promise to me.”
“You expect me to promise you anything until I know your offer?” The demon’s voice cracked. “Before we continue I want to see the Séancer who dares bring such a bargain to the table.”
There was heat and a flash of light before once again we were back on the road. Despite the eeriness of the light I was glad to be able to see again even if I felt even further away from the real world.
Lochlan was standing right next to me. “I know what your kind seeks most. I can give you that. But in exchange you free those girls and let Mara go. Let her live her life.”
“You know who they are, don’t you?” The demon approached us once again looking like a male model rather than the monster he was. “The girls you speak of.”
“I know.” Lochlan met the demon’s eyes. “They are all Séancers. You are using them.” Lochlan stepped in front of me. “That is why what I offer you will be of interest.”
“Don’t, Lochlan.” How could he be offering to help the demon? He’d warned me about that already.
“You’d give your power to me freely and completely? You’d give me all your life blood?” The demon asked with surprise.
Life blood? My chest clenched. Was he going to sacrifice his life? “No!” I struggled to hold myself together. Was this Lochlan’s plan?
“Yes. I will give you all my power, even the parts that can only be given in a sacrificial death, but only after you remove the mark from Mara.” Lochlan put a hand on my arm. “That is non-negotiable.”
“You know of the mark?” The demon’s eyes widened in surprised.
“Yes.” Lochlan nodded. “Her grandfather told me.”
I felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. More secrets? My grandfather had known about the mark and never told me? And Lochlan had too? Someone else had lied to me. Maybe everything Lochlan said were lies and he was using me to get what he wanted.
“I will remove the mark once you swear your oath of sacrifice.” The demon watched Lochlan carefully. “That oath is permanently binding.”
Lochlan nodded. “And you will release the others. Mara can find them after you let her go.”
“Lochlan. You can’t be serious.” I struggled to come up with words. He was supposed to be helping. Agreeing to work with the demon wasn’t helping. Sacrificing himself was ludicrous. “No. He’ll just use your power to hurt others. It’s not worth it.”
Lochlan’s body went rigid. “I promised your grandfather I’d protect you, and I will keep my word.”
“Swear your oath.” The demon’s eyes gleamed.
“Lochlan don’t!” I railed. I’d already made my decision to do everything to stop the demon. He couldn’t do this.
“Get away, Mara. Don’t mess this up.” Lochlan’s turned to me and his eyes peered directly into mine. I saw something there that went beyond a warning. There was a message in his eyes I couldn’t quite decipher, but he wanted me to trust him. How could I? I had no idea what or who to believe anymore.
“I swear to give you use of my power for as long as you live.” Lochlan fell to his knees in front of the demon.
The demon opened his arms wide and closed his eyes. He fell to his knees in front of Lochlan, and I could feel a warm burst of energy. It was Lochlan’s power. It had to be. I lunged for the Demon, grabbing onto Lochlan’s power to take it for my own.
Heat (The Grizzly Brothers Chronicles Book 2) Page 16
