Mate Bound

by Holly Hook

  But if I leave Cayden to die, I'll still fall. Already the chest pressure starts setting in at the thought.

  Either way, the Savage King wins.

  I take a breath and let it out slowly, despite my body wanting to kill those warlocks for doing this to him. The one with the dagger circles Cayden now, surveying the prisoner like a hungry shark. Even from here I see the wicked smile on the man's scarred face. He has a bruise still from where I hit him, spreading from his temple down to his eye, but it only adds to his terrifying appearance. This man is pure dark. He's too far gone to save.

  "Let me go," I tell Everly, injecting as much authority as I can into my words. I can't let that piece of garbage cut Cayden.

  And then Karina joins in, grabbing my other shoulder.

  "Do not go yet," she says. "There are a lot of dark spirits up ahead. I can almost see them. There's a powerful one hanging over the warlocks."

  I face her, breathing in her face in my silent demand for her to let me go ahead already. Karina, for the first time, has concern in her brown eyes and I watch as her pupils widen. I've forgotten. I have her on my side now.

  And the powerful spirit is waiting for me. I know who it is.

  "Please, do something about them," I say. "Hurry. They're going to cut him."

  The scarred warlock shuffles his feet. "Looks like they left you, wolf," he says with a sneer.

  Karina and Everly maintain their grasps on me. I pull against them it's one against two. All I can do is watch the horror.

  Cayden doesn't lift his head to face the guy. His skin is sunburned, his scent wavering and weak.

  "Aw, giving up, are we?" the warlock asks. I don't miss the disappointment in his voice. I take a breath, commending Cayden for not giving him what he wants.

  "Let go," I repeat to Everly and Karina.

  Shaking, they continue to hold on. They're fighting my authority.

  Far behind me, Remo sinks his teeth into the other Savage Wolf's throat, ending its life with the crunching of teeth against bone. I cringe, thinking Cayden will hear it and lift his head in our direction, but he remains still.

  The warlock's buddy circles around. "I think those Nobles know what we're trying to do," he says. "Those traitors tipped them off. So much for choosing death over weakness."

  Karina tenses, digging her fingernails into my flesh, but I barely feel it.

  Cult members are supposed to pick dying over defecting?

  "Why don't we just end this?" the first warlock asks.

  "No," I mouth, screaming terror filling my chest.

  "Artemis says he's no good to us dead," the second tells the first.

  "I don't care what she says. She's in that house living the high life while we're out here all the time." The scarred warlock is about to snap. He's shaking with the dagger in hand. Cayden still won't look up from the ground, like he's just waiting to die. I can't feel his emotions from here. Maybe there's nothing left. Our connection weakens by the second.

  I watch the second warlock push the scarred one away from Cayden. "You don't want her angry at you," he warns in a low voice.

  Every and Karina let me go. It's time.

  Creeping forward, first through trees and then under open sky, I tense and prepare for the shift to overtake me. The darkness intensifies, like there's a wall of it around Cayden, guarding him, but I'm past caring about it. No matter what we do, we're in for a fight.

  Cayden takes another breath, almost like he's asleep. Callie appears beside me, crossbow raised at the scarred warlock. Alex stands right behind her, a dagger held to the back of her neck. He trembles, eyes shining. The three of us advance together.

  The warlocks stand with their backs to me. The first one shakes. He wants to cut, to hurt. The second seizes his arm. "Easy, partner."

  I cross a wall of invisible darkness as I step between posts and onto dust. The most horrific darkness I've ever felt crawls under my skin like a monster trying to eat me from the inside. Karina was right. The victory site is well-guarded, and now that I'm here, the awful pressure in my chest surges back. I'm twenty feet from the warlocks. Fifteen. Ten...

  "He's useless," the first warlock says. "I say we just throw him in the pond." He waves the dagger at Cayden's form.

  The pressure intensifies. He's here. The Savage King, waiting to pounce and waiting to eat.

  I freeze, taking a sharp breath as the sky deepens to an almost-purple again. Callie steps into the clearing beside me, arms trembling as she aims her weapon at the scarred warlock's neck. She could shoot and kill him now. They have no idea. I can't take my eyes off Cayden. Why won't he look up? He has to be able to smell me.

  All at once, our connection snaps back into existence at full strength, and I gasp at the shock. The barrier had been blocking most of our link. A roaring sound fills my ears as Cayden's inner darkness and turmoil flow into me, inky and pained. A physical ache paints my muscles and my pulse pounds with that same chest pressure. I've never felt this before. Something's off.

  And then Cayden, as if sensing my presence for the first time, snaps his stare up at me. Our stares meet and thunder passes between us. My mate has slash marks across his face. Bruises around his eyes. His unfocused eyes struggle to train on me.

  Something's very wrong with them.

  Callie fires at the first warlock as he follows Cayden's gaze, whirling on us.

  He has no time to react. The bolt rips through his neck. Blood flies. His buddy, a younger man in a hood, lets his jaw drop as the scarred warlock reaches up and grabs the shaft of the bolt, which sticks out of his neck. The scarred man's eyes widen in shock and horror.

  The darkness, as if lapping up the blood and carnage, intensifies. I can't breathe, even though the golden warmth remains around my heart, forming a bubble of safety. The pressure on my chest goes from a single boulder to a mountain.

  The scarred warlock collapses, the life vanishing from his eyes.

  Callie backs away, open-mouthed like she can't believe what she's done.

  "Get out of here!" I shout at her, just as Alex wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her out of the clearing.

  The second warlock runs for the cover of the woods. But a large blond Wolf--Remo--darts out and collides with the young man. The warlock grunts and struggles to get free from under the huge Wolf, and a horrific biting sound follows. More blood flies. Remo's killing him. We're all becoming murderers.

  "Remo!" Everly shouts, bursting out from the weeds.

  The man manages one final scream and then silence falls.

  "Get out of there," Brett shouts from the tree line. "It's a trap. Look!" He points to my mate.

  I take my gaze off Callie as my thoughts fill with Cayden. The pressure crushes my ribs, making breathing impossible, but the world stays in place. Romulus is here. Stronger than he's ever been. But something still feels off. He should be taking me over at this point. This isn't the normal, awful feeling I've had.

  Then I lift my gaze to Cayden and my stomach fills with nauseous horror as we stare at each other. Cayden moves his lips like he's warning me back, but his eyes aren't his. They're dark, almost obscuring the hazel, and when I look closer, a deep, savage red fills them. This isn't Cayden before me. This is the Savage King himself.

  Chapter Twenty

  I backpedal as the connection between us contracts and screams from the horror. My body fills with darkness, but still my mind remains clear. Cayden stares me down, no recognition in his eyes even though his lips still move in silence. Go back.

  Turning away, I dry heave, taking my attention off the others even as scuffling and backpedaling fill the background. The air reeks. Remo growls somewhere. Cayden remains silent, and that's worse than anything. He needs to say something. Anything.

  He can't be possessed. He doesn't have the right blood.

  "We have to go," Callie says, grabbing my arm.

  I look at her. She's normal.

  She was just a distraction. The real trap is behind me
.

  But behind Callie, several robed figures emerge from the trees. I can't smell them from inside the clearing. The darkness has blocked them from our senses.

  And Artemis leads the way, a burning bag in her hand. She lifts her crooked witch nose up at us as Remo, still in wolf form, backs away from the fumes. This is just like the vision.

  "Shoot them!" I shout at Callie and Alex.

  Alex tries to fire.

  His crossbow sticks.

  Brett grabs Karina's arm. "Do something, sis."

  A low growl emerges from Cayden's throat, one he's never made before. Artemis closes in as Remo backs into Everly, pushing her down. Callie tries to fire, but her crossbow, too, refuses to work.

  Silence falls. The cult stops and Artemis lifts her gaze to meet mine.

  "Mates are connected," she explains in a dry, emotionless voice. "You have refused the Savage King, so you have instead infected yours."

  This is just like the twins. The cult knew I could overcome my guilt. They knew I could learn Mr. Hayde's disgusting secret.

  "I haven't infected anyone!" I shout as Cayden pulls against the chains behind me. She's trying to shatter my inner defense. That warmth is still there, around my heart though the chest pressure remains.

  Artemis surveys Brett and Karina for a moment, working her jaw. The wind blows the toxic fumes in our direction, and I breathe through my mouth as the Haydes move aside to avoid it. Karina remains silent. She has to do something to hurt Artemis along with the men and women standing in a half-circle behind her. The darkness is back in her gaze.

  "You are refusing the Savage King's spirit. When you stepped into the circle, the pressure had to go somewhere." As she finishes speaking, a small grin creeps onto her face, turning her wrinkles up.

  Her words are too horrible to bear. She's blaming me. Blaming the victim. I whirl. Cayden's staring at me now, his eyes a mixture of hazel and reddish black. The agony and fight in them is clear. Cayden's whole body spasms now as the monster tries to come through. He groans and then a growl that is not his rips from his throat.

  Horror explodes, making my heart race.

  She wants me to fight Cayden, not Callie.

  And that will shatter my shield. Then it's over.

  "So what do you want me do?" It takes everything I have to turn away from my mate. Our connection tugs, begging me to look at him, to save him. "What's the point of this?" Dumb question. I know the point.

  Alex tries to fire again, but the darkness here is making the trigger of his crossbow stick. Callie backs towards me, fear shining in her eyes. I hyperventilate as Cayden groans again. Muscles pull and tendons pop against each other. The cult waits. Remo and Everly can do nothing but back out of the fumes. Brett and Karina retreat to the other side of the victory site, somewhere behind the post. And then I hear why.

  Low growls and footsteps approach from behind the cult. Grayish-brown Wolves, all with Savage eyes and bared teeth, fan out through the weeds, eyes hungry and watching. I count ten...no, at least fifteen, and as they stop behind the cult, I finally smell them as their stench breaks the barrier of darkness. Remo's fighting has drawn their attention. The cult's, too. The ugliest warts of nature stare us down. This isn't just a war between Nobles and Savages. It's a war between meaning and hopelessness.

  This is all on me now.

  "I'm not fighting Cayden!" I shout, looking to him.

  Cayden's still in human form, but he bares his teeth at me in a half-attempt to force me to run. "Brie, get out of here!" Then he looks down and trembles as another wave of pain overtakes him. It could be his curse. It could be possession. They look the same. "Urgh..."

  Alex pushes me out of the way, raising his weapon. "We need to end this." He looks to me with pained, shining eyes.

  "No!" Sheer panic wins and I shove Alex down as he tries to fire. But the crossbow still won't obey. I take the weapon from his hands, chucking it across the clearing to land beside Brett and Karina. The cultists laugh and the Savages growl.

  And Cayden screams as if my actions have hurt him.

  "Leave me!" he shouts.

  The pressure on my chest stays, but still I breathe. I rise, leaving Alex. We can break the post. Free him. If Cayden leaves this circle this has to stop. "Everly. Help me!"

  "Get away!" His arms quiver and ripple as they try to change shape against the chains. "Save yourself." His eyes train on me, hazel one second and hellish the next. Cayden's fighting. He's strong but he won't hold out forever.

  But Everly and I race to him. I jump, grab the chains holding his arms above his head, and pull, but as I wrap my hands around the silver, they drain the strength from my arms. My senses dull and a curtain of vagueness falls over the world. Laughter fades into the background.

  Cayden opens his mouth, teeth elongating, and roars at me from the depths of decay.

  I backpedal and let go, ice spreading through my whole body. This isn't my mate. Our connection wobbles and I can no longer feel him. The pressure stays in my chest, but I can feel it diverting from me and to him.

  His arms ripple. He pulls against the chains as Everly jumps to safety, watching with her mouth an O of horror.

  "Cayden!" I shout.

  He looks at me one last time, hazel eye pleading with me to go. To just go and leave him to his fate.

  "You must fight," Artemis shouts, cackling over the field.

  Cayden--no, the massive foreleg of the Savage King--pulls one muscular arm away from the post. The silver manacle snaps.

  Cayden pulls against the other manacle with arms that aren't his anymore. I watch him collapse to the ground. My heart races and paralysis roots me to the ground where the Noble King rests. What would he do?

  The warmth tugs at my heart, urging me to protect my friends. Everly. Callie. Even the Haydes, who also stand within the circle.

  He would fight.

  Then he would fall.

  My mate's form pops and snaps, shifting in less than a second until Cayden's no longer there. A massive Wolf falls from the post and stands before me and paces around me as he did that night he took over Mr. Saffron. The connection I share with Cayden snaps.

  It's like we've never met.

  He's gone. I'm alone.

  Rage fills me as the animal within begs for freedom, pushing against my skin in a chorus of pulling and itching. Romulus paces, stomping the remnants of Cayden's clothes into the dust.

  "I'm not going to fight!" I shout. He won't kill me. I'm too valuable.

  A hand clamps down on my shoulder. "Back away!"

  Alex.

  He cuts in front of me, lifting a wicked silver dagger. Alex shakes with years of grief. I smell adrenaline, salt, and pain through his spray.

  "Uncle Alex!" Callie shouts.

  "Back away!" I shout. "This is my--"

  Romulus leaps on the Hunter, pinning him to the ground.

  The cult laughs and the Savages growl behind me.

  But the darkness around me wavers, and Romulus slips, claws digging into dust. Alex, though pinned, rams the silver dagger into the soft flesh under Romulus's forearm. Disgusting blood drips around the handle and onto Alex's hand, but the Savage King continues his attack. He gnashes his teeth, drool flowing onto Alex's chest, as the Hunter shakes and maintains his grip on the dagger. It's the only thing keeping him alive.

  I need to help him. Throwing my jacket off, I beg the animal to overtake me.

  But Cayden--

  He's in there, trapped.

  "Run!" Everly shouts at me. She appears, shoving into me and throwing me back. Spots dance in my vision as we both go down and Everly maintains her grip. She's right. If I fight, it's over. Remus's essence won't protect me if I destroy Cayden.

  Romulus growls in pain and bites into the flesh of Alex's shoulder.

  Callie screams.

  Blood fills the air, choking my nostrils.

  "Let me up!" I throw Everly off and push myself off my back.

  Alex bleeds, Romulus's
jaws around his shoulder. His teeth grind flesh, but still the Hunter maintains his grip on the dagger. Alex grits his teeth, eyes wide with horror. Behind them, Brett and Karina have backed to the far side of the clearing, standing in each other's arms. Karina mumbles low words. She's trying to work magic. The stench of rot and evil leak from Romulus, merging with Alex's terror.

  He's infected.

  "Get off him!" Callie opens fire, crossbow working now, as the Haydes part the darkness for her. Bolts lodge into the Savage King's flesh, one after the other, as Romulus rises from Alex and faces her. But Callie stands strong, refusing to back down. Her eyes shine as she takes one look at me.

  She might have to kill Cayden.

  And the Savage King is going to kill her.

  Taking a sharp breath, I flinch as my chest suddenly fills with an incredible warmth and strength, a desperate golden one. Remus. The Russells have come through. A fatherly, protective light fills me, and I know what I have to do. I must save the others. If I hurt Romulus enough, he'll leave Cayden.

  I let the shift overtake me and the whole world pops and tilts, turning into pure physical pain. My clothes fall away as I sink to all fours, strength flowing through my limbs.

  The Savage King slowly advances on Callie as she fires bolt after bolt, lodging them in the monster's shoulders, but he's healing as fast as she can fire. His flesh pops the bolts out, raining them to the dust. The dagger falls out also, caked in drying blood. He closes the distance, tongue running over long teeth, as Callie loses her nerve and backs away. Even silver-pointed bolts won't stop the Savage King.

  I charge the monster, leaping onto his back. To the chorus of laughter and growls, I sink my teeth into the thick flesh between the Savage King's shoulder blades, injecting every ounce of rage I have into the bite. He stops, letting Callie run to the side, but she's a million miles away.

  It's just me and this beast.

  Light and dark.

  I dig my teeth in harder, scraping bone. The warmth remains, lending me strength. He tries to buck me off. I refuse. The Savage King growls in pain as I maintain my grip. He has to release my mate. Raking claws into flesh, I demand it.