Truce: Book 1 in the Aftermath Series

by Alainna MacPherson

  The room seemed to still as our presence was noted. It was apparent though, that they weren’t looking to me, so much as who I’d brought in with me: The Queen’s Blade.

  Bri all but jumped up from her seat to cross to the assassin, hand extended. “Come in! We were just about to start eating,” she greeted, taking Jeaon’s hand, even though the other woman hadn’t given it, and pulled her into the room. Forcing introduction after introduction, the Queen’s Blade looked to be a bit glassy eyed by the time she was shoved into Bri’s now empty spot on the couch, and a plate of food was plopped in her lap, along with a can of soda.

  Only slightly jealous that she knew how to open the beverage container, I walked into the kitchen area where Maeleigh was talking to a woman I only vaguely remembered seeing the other day on the compound. Gearden was close by, sharing a plate with our mate. When I approached, she spared me a soft smile of welcoming, giving me her cheek to press a kiss there. I took an extra beat to nuzzle her ear, taking in her scent. It was good to see the happiness return to her eyes. It wasn’t complete, but it was a far cry better than the pain I’d seen there after she’d finished weeping on my shirt a few hours earlier.

  When I pulled away, I met Gearden’s eye, seeing that there was only camaraderie in his. I gave a minute nod in his direction, of which he echoed, before tuning back into a conversation he was having with the older male about his position at the steel factory in town.

  Though it was apparent that Maeleigh had some difficulty gathering all that the other woman was saying, they seemed to be enjoying one another’s company all the same. She was coming into her role of Alpha well, I observed. I doubted it would take her long to fall into that of queen.

  Pride filled me as I moved to load my plate with food. Wolves could eat, I thought, noting the mountain of food that would no doubt be consumed before the night’s end.

  I felt the pull in my gut, like falling, a quick grip of my heart and stomach, alerting me that someone was summoning me. There weren’t many who would dare to do so, but it wasn’t irritation that had a fine sweat breaking out over my skin as I tried to catch my breath. It was the panic and fear in the summons itself. Whoever was calling to me, did so under duress.

  “What is it?” Maeleigh asked, suddenly directly in front of me, sensing the change in me. Gearden stood behind me, almost as if he waited for my knees to buckle. The rest of the room had gone still as well, all eyes on me.

  Gasping for breath, feeling my stomach rebel, I swallowed before answering, “Something’s wrong. My people. I have to return to them. Now.”

  Pushing the sickness back, I straightened, moving to the closed bathroom door, raising my hand to pass over the surface of it, an inch above the smooth wood. As it shimmered to life, the portal building, I felt Maeleigh, Gearden and the others come to stand behind me, even Marshall and Shelly. Without knowing what would greet us on the other side, they were ready to fight it alongside us.

  The moment before the portal solidified, I felt Maeleigh’s hand tuck into mine, giving it a squeeze. Holding tight, I didn’t let her go as we stepped through.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Maeleigh

  We stepped into a war zone. In the middle of the McIntire compound, we all stood in shock as we processed what was happening. The coppery smell of blood laced the air, along with what I thought could be gun powder. Who the hell had a gun, I wondered?

  “What’s going on?” I asked Gearden, knowing I was at a disadvantage. People were running all over, like scattered mice, trying to escape but in every direction, no telling where the danger was coming from.

  “Someone’s shooting. A lot of screaming,” he told me. Then, suddenly, Lugh was running off in the direction of the tents.

  We passed by bodies dropped like rag dolls on the ground. I didn’t allow myself the time to decide if they were dead or alive. There wasn’t time for that. Neutralize the danger first, I reminded myself, something Ariela had once said in a one-time lesson about defense in the field.

  It seemed the deeper we got into the lines of tents; the more people were running against us. We were getting close, I thought.

  Lugh stopped so suddenly, I nearly ran into him, Gearden too, as he skidded beside me, hand gripping my shoulder to keep from tipping forward.

  Quickly shuffling around Lugh, I gaped at the sight of Julie facing off with Weis. Her petite form looked even more dwarfed compared to his massiveness. The next thing I noticed was that she was using her magic to help her fight him off.

  “What the hell?” I asked Gearden, seeing that Lugh was saying the same out loud.

  In the faded light, I could barely make out her lips moving as she caught sight of us, a bit of relief in her eyes. I felt the sudden dread in Gearden’s mind the instant before he reported, “Thorn’s dead. Weis killed him.”

  Shocked, I turned wide eyes to him. “What?” He nodded. “Well… whose side are we on?”

  I turned to see Lugh yelling at Weis, but he ignored his king, killing rage etched into his features, bending to ram his shoulder into Julie, and though she tried to deflect, he was too damned big.

  “Fuck this!” I growled and ran to help her. I didn’t know Julie well, but I knew Bri trusted her and that was enough for me. Shifting to my dire form as I rushed for them, I leapt on Weis’ back the second he tossed Julie to the ground. I may not have had my hearing, but I could swear I heard the thudding of her head on the large tree trunk she hit as she landed.

  Not wasting any time at all, I latched my razor-sharp jaws around the side of his neck, going for the jugular, but even my wide grip couldn’t surround his even wider neck. So close now, I wondered if he’d gotten larger somehow, or if he’d always been this incredibly large.

  In my peripheral, I watched as Gearden, in full wolf form, tore into his leg. It was just enough to make him lean to one side, and when he did, Lugh was there to kick him all the way down. To keep from being crushed, I unlatched to twist on top of him, intent on ripping his throat out, only to be backhanded, the blow sending me tumbling to the dirt. Stars filled my vision for a second as I struggled to right myself. This was no wolf or Druid; this was a male made by Danu herself to fight and never lose.

  I watched as the men were losing their struggle to keep him down. Gearden got kicked off. He’d more than likely wear the boot-print on his cheek for days. Lugh was punched back and I wondered if his skull didn’t crack.

  It wasn’t enough. Vaguely aware of my surroundings outside this one fight, I noted the others battling against what looked like hunters, in their tell-tale tactical black clothing and guns blazing, though I didn’t miss the fact that there some even draining their opponents dry.

  I called upon all that Danu had given me – her magic, the gifts passed onto me – and while keeping my wolf-like form, I rushed Weis when I noted that my men were clear of him. I hit him with all that I had, both wolf and magic, gathering an electric shock I’d never felt before from deep within me and letting it loose into his chest as my claws dug hard into his shirt, skin and muscle there.For a moment, it was me and him as blue light surged from my hands and straight into his heart and lungs. Then, somehow, at some point, something changed. I hadn’t just sent lethal magic and rage into him; I’d given him more. I’d given him myself. Inside him then, I was the energy. Unleashed, I tore apart muscles, evaporating into nothing, shocking and shattering bone. Subconsciously, I saw myself covered in blood, his blood. Tissue and sinew splattering over me, like an art piece of justice. I was retribution.

  He’d pay for the damage done, the lives he’d ended today. Thorn. Julie. And likely, Zerena.

  Something tugged at me from far away, making me slow just for a moment, before I went to work on his heart, taking my time, sending shockwaves into the muscle that pumped rapidly from shock.

  “Maeleigh,” came a voice, echoing through me. The power that I was just then, couldn’t name it, but still, I recognized it as home, pulling at me.

  “Stop. You
have to stop,” came another voice, but still, home.

  “We need you,” they both said together, making me stop. The instant I did, though, the instant I fell back into myself, into my body, I collapsed, falling over the Seelie general, or what once was.

  Nothing else touched me except for them, their hands. They were the last memory I had before light was taken from me and I succumbed to the darkest oblivions.

  Gearden

  Shit. Maeleigh fell limply into our arms, deathly pale. “Is she breathing?” Lugh exclaimed, panting as he wrapped an arm around her chest to keep her from rolling to the ground.

  Though I was sure she was – at least I didn’t want to believe for a second that she wasn’t – I checked her pulse and chest, both still moving. “She’s breathing, but it’s weak, so is her heart. We need to get her out of here.”

  A quick glance around told me that Bri and Bobby were working together to fight off a group of vampires, Ro, in the distance, was busy kicking ass while trying to avoid being bit. “Traitors,” Lugh spat as I roared my disgust.

  “Take her to the house,” I told him, turning to help my brother. Though I didn’t wait for a response, I knew he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.

  Racing to Ro, I gripped the shoulder of the vamp that had him pinned to the ground, pulling him off as I planted my fist in his face. As he struggled to stand on both feet, I gave Ro a hand up. Together, we took a fighting stance, back-to-back, like we’d done as kids in training.

  “I think they’re spelled,” Ro rasped over his shoulder just before landing a kick to his opponents’ chest.

  I gave a hard left hook, hitting my mark. “Spelled?”

  “Their eyes!” he shouted, as he raced after a vamp going after a group of Seelie.

  When next my vamp lunged at me, hissing to expose his lengthened canines, I deflected his fists with lightning speed, gripping his throat to shove him to the ground and pinning him there. While he struggled, I watched his eyes. They were full of hate and rage, yeah, but there was also a glow behind them, a faint fog, like mist.

  “Shit,” I sneered, punching the thing in the temple, knocking it out.

  Screams were still echoing through the night.

  “Have you see Dad?” I called to Ro as we both ran to help Marshall and Shelly, seeing that Bri and Bobby had moved on as well. Still standing and looking well enough, I noted.

  “No,” he ground out on a huff. I could hear the worry in his tone as well, but we both knew we couldn’t concentrate on that just then, we had to clear the scene first. There were people dying there, and if we could give them even a little bit of time to get to safety, we would hold out as long as we could. “How many of them are there?” Ro asked, ending with a curse I couldn’t make out as he jumped on the back of a vamp going after a Seelie couple.

  Lugh

  The back door was wide open when I reached the house, Maeleigh in my arms still unconscious. She was dead weight against my chest, making it hard to maneuver. Goddess, the thought of her being dead anything sent a sharp pang in my already pounding heart.

  Slamming it shut with my foot, I made my way to the couch of the living room area, laying her down. Pulling off my shirt, I took her limp hand and pressed it to my bare chest, allowing skin-to-skin, letting her magic – whatever was left – feel mine.

  A shift in the air jerked my head up, just in time to see Reshan enter the room, her eyes flickering in the light, though this time there was something different about them, duller.

  Reluctantly, I dropped Maeleigh’s hand to stand, circling around the couch to head off the ancient. We were similar in age, but where I’d been sheltered beneath the ground, she’d been hardened by the world above, evolved to a terrorizing being that fed on blood, empowered by the fear of their prey.

  And, right then, that was me.

  “What do you want?” I asked. She didn’t answer though, just tilted her head as we started to circle one another, her movements detached, her face, expressionless. Luckily, she hadn’t even looked in Maeleigh’s direction. Good, I thought, let’s dance.

  The second I started to attack, another form joined in, landing a hard backhand with their fist, followed by a quick squat and leg sweep, knocking Reshan on her ass. As she righted herself, the figure turned to gaze at Maeleigh, then quickly back up to me.

  “Take care of her,” Jeaon ordered, then deftly blocked a punch and kick aimed at her center.

  Leaving her to it, I rounded the couch to kneel beside Maeleigh again. This time, when I lifted her hand, I could feel her skin getting colder, her heart beating slower.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” I growled at her, hefting her up again to take her to the small sitting room down the hall, away from the fighting. Away from eyes.

  Not wasting any time at all, as we’d already lost so much, I began to strip my pants, and hers. Sitting down, I pulled her into my lap. Clad in just her under clothes, her skin pressed to mine, I waited for her magic to take what it needed from me. Desperate, I kissed her neck, assuring myself that she still lived as well, hoping to jump start her system to accept what I offered.

  Nothing. Not even a flicker from her. She was too depleted to even refuel.

  “What did you do?” I gasped, cursing her and pleading with her all at once as I murmured more words in her hair.

  “Goddess help me,” I prayed, shutting my eyes as I still tried to will my mate to live.

  “What’s happened?” Benjamin stormed in, bending to peer down at his child’s lifeless face.

  “She’s used up her magic. I can’t get her back. I can’t get her to take my magic. She won’t—”

  “You have to give it to her,” he cut me off, his voice commanding.

  “Give it to her? She won’t—”

  “There’s another way. It will hurt like hell, but it can be done.” He stripped off his sports jacket. Between us, he placed a hand on his daughter’s chest, over her heart. When he raised his other before me, his steel blue eyes bore into me. “Are you ready?”

  I didn’t hesitate to nod, bracing myself for whatever happened, knowing that if it brought Maeleigh back to me, it would be worth it.

  Satisfied, he placed the hand on my chest. Arms crossed in front of him at the wrists, a hand on each of us, he started to chant in the ancient tongue of our people. Druids used the language from which their magic derived from, faerie.

  “From one to the other, from heart to another. Give what is needed, take what is given.” It was all that was required to start the invisible tug between her and I. Already close, it was nearly instantaneous, the feel of my magic flowing out of me. Though it was uncomfortable, it was bearable. Until it met resistance. Her body, shut down the way it was, had to be force fed, which was far from bearable. At first, the line between us was warm, ready, then it was fire, angry, undeniable. Her father helped it to broach the barrier that had erected around his daughter, keeping her from accepting what her body required to survive. Finally, when a sliver had been broken, it was all that my magic needed. The instant it gained access, it was like a vise around my chest released and I could breathe. The relief didn’t last long, however. After the first gasp of cleansing breath, the lancing hot pain of my magic leaching out of me had my back arching and my teeth grinding, keeping from shouting out. It was pointless though, as it was soon unavoidable. Opening my mouth wide, I called out the agony to the heavens.

  Maeleigh

  Like lightning striking me, I felt myself return from the darkness. The cold that seemed to have taken over my body was instantly replaced with an electric shock that seemed to leave me humming. I may have cried out, I wasn’t sure, too many things were happening all at once. I felt pain, but it wasn’t mine. Gearden’s? No, this was different…someone else. Lugh? What was wrong? I tried to pry my eyes open but the electric shock that swept through me had all my muscles clenching. When it let up just a sliver, I opened them to see Lugh’s face, inches from my own, mouth gaping open in a scream. Thoug
h I couldn’t hear it, I still felt it in my toes.

  Realizing his pain somehow had to do with me, I reached a hand to push at his chest, and when I did, I noticed hands fall from my own. Separated now, I would’ve fallen to the floor if Dad hadn’t caught me up against his chest. It was warm there, and I recalled how it felt when I was younger, protected. For a moment, I gave myself over to the memory of being a small child, guarded by her father’s strong arms. Then the world jerked me back to the present.

  “What happened?” I signed, my hands still feeling heavy.

  Panting, with rivers of sweat running down Lugh’s bare chest, he tried to sign back, but his movements were too sluggish so Dad took over, signing with one hand as he still held me up with the other. “You were drained, we had to give you some of Lugh’s magic.”

  Understanding, I nodded, swallowing down the nausea that suddenly hit me. “Where’s Gearden?”

  Dad shook his head. “I only just got here. It’s a mess out there.”

  Slowly, I pushed myself to sit on the couch, resting my hand on Lugh’s thigh as he struggled to calm his own body still racked with aftershocks. I reached out with my mind. “Gearden?”

  I held my breath for a heartbeat, waiting, then, “You’re back!”

  Relieved to hear his voice, I replied, “I am. What’s the status?”

  There was a long pause, but I could feel it was only because he was concentrated on something, perhaps still fighting. Finally, he answered, “The vampires are attacking everyone. We think they’re spelled.”

  “What?” I pushed up, locking my knees so I didn’t fall back down on my ass. Lugh looked to be close to recovering as well.

  He cut off after that, and I didn’t try to bring him back. If he was fighting, I didn’t want to risk distracting him. I saw Lugh get to his feet, looking a little green around the gills.

  I signed, “Gearden believes the vampires attacking are spelled.”