by Dannika Dark
“I don’t think your leader would approve of your renegade actions,” Atticus pointed out. “He might consider it an act of treason and string you up by your toes to set an example.”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
The woman giggled maniacally, walking a straight line back and forth behind him as if she were taking a sobriety test. Her stringy blond hair covered most of her face. “Let’s just kill them and get it over with.”
I glanced up at Atticus, and his fangs punched out.
“You don’t stand a chance against me,” Atticus said, a smile hovering on his lips. “How many of your men are you willing to lose?”
“Maybe I wouldn’t care so much if the man who went missing wasn’t my brother.” He squinted at me as if trying to read my mind.
For all he knew, I was kidding about the golf course comment. Only, I kind of wasn’t. The Cole brothers had a track record for finding unusual places to hide corpses.
April squeaked, and I glanced over my shoulder. She had climbed up the windshield to the top of the car.
“She’s not a Shifter, is she?” the blonde mused to herself. “I bet she’s human.” The woman skipped across the street in her chunky boots and stopped short of the car. “Hi, sweetie. Scared?”
“Only of your bad dye job!” April spat.
I almost wanted to laugh.
Almost.
“Get him!” the man bellowed, backing up a step. A wave of alpha power rippled through his words.
The wolves advanced, circling us until we had no way to escape. Most wolves wouldn’t attack women or children, but after what had happened to Hope, I wasn’t making that stupid assumption.
I adhered myself to Atticus like glue. Vampires were unnaturally strong, and that was all he had going for him since I didn’t think he could charm an animal into submission.
I felt confident until Atticus disappeared. I whirled around and glimpsed him drifting through shadows. Vampires could shadow walk at night, moving quickly in dark spaces.
Which didn’t exactly help my situation.
A wolf on the other side of the street yelped and then went silent.
“Atticus?” I called out, eyeing the two wolves on either side of me.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. I’m going to kill you with my bare hands,” the woman behind me cackled. “I don’t see why my wolf has to have all the fun.”
But she wasn’t talking to me.
I peered over my shoulder just as April kicked the woman in the face.
The blonde whirled around, bright blood streaked across her chin. “You bitch!”
I frantically searched for a weapon, a place to run… anything. That’s when I noticed a sheath on our fearless leader’s hip.
Advancing toward him, I held up my hands submissively. “I’ll surrender myself to you on the condition you call off your men and let my friends go.”
“Nothing’s that easy.”
I continued taking small steps toward him. The wolves flanking me growled but kept their positions. Where the hell is Atticus?
“You’re more submissive than I expected from a Packmaster’s bitch.”
Holy hell, if he called me a bitch one more time…
“Look, if you spill blood on these streets, you’re going to attract attention. Who do you think your leader is going to come after? Him?” I asked, pointing at the brown wolf on my left. “We both know you’ll be the one reprimanded. Take me with you, and we’ll get answers from my mate. Nobody gets hurt, and nobody’s ass is on the line.”
I stopped short of him, my eyes centered on his and not on the dagger on his left hip.
His nostrils flared as he drew in a deep breath. I didn’t think he was old enough to tell right away that I was pregnant, but his proximity made my heart quicken.
“Please,” I urged, my tone submissive.
A wolf yelped from behind, tearing the alpha’s attention away. “You blood-sucking Vamp!”
The alpha suddenly reached for my hair, and I went for his knife.
In a blur of motion, I unsnapped the safety on his sheath and pulled the dagger free. He tugged my hair, forcing me to look up. The human part of my brain told me it was wrong to commit murder, but when the thought of protecting my baby flitted through my mind, I plunged the knife into his side, giving it a sharp twist. Metal scraped against bone, and he let go of my hair.
I ran even though I knew he could pull the knife out and shift. I’d been in fights before, but my wolf had done all the dirty work.
Atticus tangled with a black wolf on my right. He violently slammed it against the concrete before turning to face another attacker emerging from the shadows. One of them lunged at me, and I stood defenseless against him.
He knocked the air out of my lungs on impact and then buried me beneath his weight. I crossed my arms in front of my face to protect my throat. I could hardly breathe, but when his canines pierced into my arm, I screamed.
“Lexi!” April shrieked.
“Stay where you are!” I cried out, pain lancing my arm and forcing tears to my eyes. April wasn’t anywhere in my line of view. The wolf’s dark eyes rolled into the back of his head. Slobber and blood dripped on my neck, and his foul breath heated my skin.
I prayed he didn’t thrash, or my arm would become a mangled mess. His teeth sent a dull throb radiating up to my elbow, but in the frenzy of panic and shock, I knew it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it should have.
From the corner of my eye, the leader had shifted to wolf form and back to human, healing his wound.
The muscles in my shoulders were trembling, and only sheer willpower kept my arms locked in a cross as blood spattered my face. The wolf astride me suddenly yelped, knocked off with immeasurable force and hurtled to the other side of the street.
“They’re everywhere,” Atticus said. “Get up!”
He pulled me to my feet, and I looked around. A trail of bodies littered the street on my right, evidence that Atticus had protected me on a much larger scale.
The alpha shifted, and his wolf set his sights upon us with a vengeance. Atticus made himself a shield, but two more were approaching from the right.
A man appeared as if from thin air and threw a blast of Mage energy into the leader. I immediately recognized Charlie’s stature and thinning hair. He knelt down and put a deathblow of energy into the alpha, wasting no time before flashing to the wolf on his left and delivering the same fate. I’d never seen that man so much as jog to the bathroom, let alone move at such incredible speeds.
The alpha’s blood still warmed my right hand and mingled with my own, drawing the attention of our attackers.
Atticus baited the wolves by waving his arms until they lunged at him instead of me.
Charlie’s eyes went wide. When he flashed toward the shop, a dreadful chill ran up my spine. In that moment, the hands of time stopped. I had no sense of the bitter wind lashing against my flushed cheeks, which were numb from shock. In front of the shop, beneath a canopy of orange light from the lamppost, April was lying on her back in the street near the curb.
Motionless.
Her white off-the-shoulder sweater I loved so much—the one with two conjoined hearts over her own—was soaking up a pool of blood.
Chapter 14
The blonde withdrew from April like a rabid animal, a bloody knife clutched in her left hand and her eyes crazed. Charlie seized the woman’s arm, and she convulsed when his Mage energy knocked her out. She landed on the sidewalk in a heap of pathetic limbs. Dead? I didn’t know.
I didn’t care.
My heart rose to my throat—I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even hear Atticus fighting the wolves anymore because my blood was pulsing in my ears. Hot tears stung my eyes, and a grievous pain rooted in the center of my chest. I’d always imagined losing April to cancer or old age, but never this.
Not like this.
A wail poured out of my mouth that came straight from the dark
est part of my soul. Unable to see through my tears, I stumbled forward.
Charlie was hovering over her so that all I could see were her black boots and leggings. A bluish glow emanated from in front of him, enough that it tinted the dark asphalt.
“Is she—”
“Don’t touch me!” he bellowed. “Don’t touch her.”
I walked around to the other side, and that’s when I got the full view of April gasping for air. Charlie held both of her hands, palms joined, and ripples of energy were transferring between them.
“Are you healing her?”
“I can’t heal a human,” he whispered. “She was barely alive. But maybe it’s just enough…”
Then it struck me what Charlie was doing. I’d heard stories about Mage gifts, and some of them were Creators. They had the ability to turn a human into a Mage, but their Councils and Mageri government were strict from what I’d heard. They had a process of selection and didn’t allow Creators to select their own progeny without formal approval. I suppose it made sense, or a Creator might build himself an army and choose unstable humans who would become the Mageri’s problem.
I couldn’t process this. Did April even want to be a Mage?
Reno’s motorcycle throttled in the distance with an urgency like I’d never heard. When he pulled up, he didn’t bother to use the kickstand. The bike dropped in the middle of the street when he dismounted, and I was so used to hearing the heavy sound of his boots that all I could do was stare at his bare feet.
“Stay back, Shifter!” Charlie yelled. “I’m saving her life!”
The second Reno caught sight of the graphic scene, he covered his face and bent forward. I’d never seen such pain—such devastation. He stood upright, his face as red as his feet, and braved another look.
“I’m right here, princess. You’re not alone,” he said, his voice broken.
My knees gave out, and I collapsed, watching in disbelief.
Two raspy breaths sounded, and April coughed, her glazed eyes taking in her surroundings. Charlie let go of her hands and sat back.
“She’s a fighter,” he said admirably. “And now she’s a Mage.”
Atticus moved past us and entered the shop, closing the door behind him. A wolf savagely barked, and I did my best to tune it out.
“Did she want this?” I asked Charlie.
Reno knelt down and cradled her head in his lap. “I’ve got you,” he said, smoothing her hair away from her face and softly brushing her cheek with his knuckles. “You’re safe.” He examined the hole in her sweater, checking her over in disbelief.
Charlie sat back, dark circles forming beneath his eyes. “It hardly matters what she wants anymore. I owed April an immeasurable debt. A life for a life is only fair, except I have given life to replace one.”
“How did you know we were here?”
He unzipped his Windbreaker. “I promised Austin I’d keep an eye on April—to protect her. He agreed as long as she didn’t become aware, so I’ve had to keep my distance.”
“You’ve been following my woman?” Reno growled.
Charlie didn’t shrink in fear from the way Reno was eyeballing him. “I don’t go near your property when she’s home. That’s the one place I know she’s safe. But I know her work schedule, and I put a tracking device on her car in case she left unexpectedly to go shopping. Anyhow, Austin called a little while ago and said she’d left the house. I traced her here and made it as fast as I could. When I parked up the street, I saw the wolves.”
Austin’s Dodge Challenger throttled in our direction. I squinted from the bright headlamps, and clouds of burning rubber surrounded the tires when he screeched to a halt. Austin emerged from the car and stood motionless behind the door, his eyes glittering with emotion.
I rose to my feet and felt a magnetic pull to him.
Without a word, he strode toward me and lifted me into his embrace. His lips briefly pressed against my head before he held me at arm’s length, scanning my body for injuries. He immediately noticed my bloody arm.
“I’m okay,” I said. “How did you know?”
He cradled my head against his chest, his heart a banging drum.
“I sensed it,” he said, out of breath. “We just knew something was off.”
Shifter men often spoke about the magic between life mates—how the men could sometimes sense the woman was in danger. Not just any woman, but supposedly the woman they were destined for. I’d always laughed at the idea, but I couldn’t think of an explanation as to why Reno would have run out of the house barefoot in this weather.
I wiped my wet cheeks against Austin’s shirt and watched Reno help April sit up. She was in a stupor, as if she were drunk or half-asleep.
“Normally it doesn’t knock them out like this,” Charlie began. “But the knife hit an artery, and she lost a lot of blood, enough that she was barely awake to receive the first spark. I can’t give her my healing magic because I’m tapped, but she’ll be fine. Her body will do the rest. She needs sleep.”
Reno cradled April in his arms and rocked her, kissing her head and whispering reverently in her ear.
Charlie glanced up at Austin with a guarded look. “I had no choice. We can talk about the ramifications in the morning, but you need to ask yourself a question: If you saw Lexi drawing her last breath and you had the power to save her, would you? Even if that meant changing her Breed or making her immortal? It’s such a small price to pay for life. Report me to the higher authority if you wish. They’ll write me up, but this is not a punishable crime. The Mageri will only force me or an assigned Ghuardian to take her in and train her.”
Austin tensed. “And if we refuse?”
“She’ll remain a target for juicers if she doesn’t learn how to protect and conceal her light. Her own kind is her worst enemy.”
A juicer was a Mage who lived outside the law, stealing light for a high. While they could take energy from a non-Mage, it wasn’t as strong and easily led to their death. The core light within a Mage was more potent—the ultimate street drug, provided you could find weaklings. They usually targeted those without a Creator or Ghuardian to protect them.
“I have no doubt her mate will try to protect her,” Charlie said. “But he is only a Shifter, and a Mage is a Breed to be reckoned with. April must learn to control her gifts, whether she likes it or not. I didn’t plan on this, and I’ve always rejected the idea of using my gift to make another Mage, but I’m willing to teach my progeny what she needs to know to survive.” He glanced over his shoulder at April and then hung his head low. “If she refuses me, then the Mageri will assign a Mage to take her under his wing. I’m not leaving town anytime soon. You know where to find me if you want to call the Regulators and file a complaint. What I’ve done isn’t illegal, but I guess you have the right to come after me since I’ve done something to your packmate without consent.”
After a quiet moment, Charlie walked away.
Austin let go of me and surveyed the bloodbath around us. “Shit,” he whispered under his breath. “Did you fight them?”
He stripped out of his shirt and made a tourniquet around my arm.
“I disarmed the leader and stabbed him before fighting off a wolf. I would have done more, but I can’t shift. Atticus protected me as best he could.”
“Reno, take the women home and look after April. I’ve got to move these bodies and call the Council to report the attack. The cleaners need to work fast before dawn comes and people start coming by the shop.”
I placed my good hand on his chest. “Don’t you dare pile those bodies in my shop, Austin Cole. I run a bakery, not a morgue.”
He chuckled softly and hugged me again, kissing the top of my head. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you two.”
That was the first moment when I felt like we were more than just two pieces of a puzzle. Now there was a third in the picture, and we were a family.
“Go home and wash up, Ladybug. I’ll call the Re
lic to meet you there.”
Reno lifted April into his arms and carried her to Austin’s car. I hurried over to open the door, pushing the seat forward so Reno could gently place her in the backseat.
“I don’t want to go to bed,” April groaned incoherently.
Reno handled her like a delicate flower, coaxing her to stay down while he covered her with a thin blanket that Austin kept on the floor. “We’re almost home. And then we’re gonna spoon.”
I shut the door and glanced at April, who was curling into a fetal position. “How do you feel about all this? Because I sure as hell don’t know what to think.”
He rubbed the side of his face and settled his eyes on a dead wolf near the curb. “I should have gotten here sooner,” he mumbled, leaning against the car. “Years ago, I made April an offer. I’ve got a Mage who owes me a favor, and it’s something I’ve brought up with her more than once. But she was scared to be anything but a Shifter, and I accepted that. I always thought I’d be able to let her go—until tonight.”
“Do you think you can love a Mage?”
His eyes were downcast. “Sex is going to be a challenge now.”
I patted his shoulder. “Leave it to you in times of crisis to worry about your sex life.”
He flashed me an irritated glance. “When they get charged up with sexual energy, they blast the hell out of anyone who isn’t a Mage. She won’t be able to touch me with her hands.”
“Well, given rumors I’ve heard about your kinky sex adventures, I’m sure you’ll find a work-around.” I waggled my brows, and his cheeks flamed.
“I don’t ever want to lose her,” he said, his voice rough and broken.
Reno wasn’t much of an affectionate guy, so I gave him a hug in the best way I knew how. His feet were blistering red from the wind and cold, and maybe it bothered me more because of how vulnerable he seemed.
I removed my warm bunny slippers and held them out. “Here, put these on.”
His jaw set. “Those are girly shoes.”
I slapped them against his chest. “One size fits all.”
Or most. Reno had big feet.
Atticus appeared and handed me my purse.
