by Elena Lawson
Splashing water up ahead jolted me from my thoughts, and I staggered to a stop. A small ravine guarded by a mass of rocks broke apart the monotony of trees.
Scent.
Could they scent me?
Fuck, if that was the case, I needed to mask it. And couldn’t water do that for me?
I recalled every werewolf movie I had ever watched, every nature documentary.
Deciding quickly, I trudged waist deep into the frigidly cold water, gasping. My dress clung to me like a second skin, prohibiting even basic walking. How did people wear these damn things on a daily basis?
With my walking severely impeded, I lowered myself further into the water until only my head remained out of it. The darkness, hopefully, cloaked me from view.
But knowing my luck, Endurans would be gifted with night vision.
As the seconds dragged on and no man came barreling towards me, I began to relax. Marginally. My body was as taut as the strings on a violin. Frozen from cold and gripped by fear. I didn’t dare move, as if the rippling of water would be heard across the forest.
Everything ached. My cheek from William’s claws. My legs from running. My body from awkwardly holding myself in a crouched position in the too-cold water.
Maybe they left.
Maybe they got bored of hunting down a stupid girl with a mouth that didn’t know when to shut up.
“Little girl!” William called from the obscurity. I heard the crackle of leaves and the heavy thump of footsteps. The man was not afraid of announcing his location. No, not him.
In his mind, I was nothing more than the gazelle to his lion.
I stayed perfectly still in the water. I wasn’t even sure I was breathing. I ground my jaw painfully taut to keep my teeth from chattering.
The footsteps were coming closer. My entire body was tense, coiled, ready to leap into action.
“Come out, come out wherever you are!”
Apparently, the past had creepy, psychotic assholes too. Noted.
Go away. Go away. Go away.
I chanted that in my mind as my eyelids squeezed shut once more.
Go away. Go away. Go away.
Water splashed, and I held myself perfectly still.
Silence.
A sort of deathly stillness and quietness contaminated the air.
When nothing attacked me, I dared to open an eye. Just one.
A gasp escaped me as William’s handsome face came into view, a wicked, malevolent grin spouting on his face. He was inches from me in the water. Fucking inches. He moved with an unnatural, almost ethereal grace. I hadn’t even heard him.
His grin grew with my terror. Impossibly sharp teeth glinted in the moonlight.
“I found you,” he whispered harshly.
There was nothing left for me to do. No way to fight. I could try—and try I would—but any and all attempts against this man would be futile with my limbs and fingers numbed from the cold.
Over his shoulder, a dark bird fluttered its wings and released a squawk. A raven, I realized distantly. Its beady black eyes were fixed firmly on me before it took flight.
Out of options, I did the only thing I could think of. Hopefully, it worked as well in the past as it did in the future.
I screamed.
Chapter 19
JASPER
The dim light from my lantern barely extended a few centimeters on either side of me. The flame flickered intermittently, but it did little to chase away the shadows.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Everett said gruffly. I had lost count of how many times he had repeated that line.
And he was right. Mostly. It wasn’t safe for me to be wandering through the streets, but I hoped the darkness obscured my features. The last thing I needed was them finding me once more and finishing up the job.
Memories assaulted me.
The stench of flesh burning and smoke filtering into the air. My screams reverberating through the quiet forest as the men and women leered at me. Pain. Pain everywhere. It exploded from my veins, a pain so excruciating that words failed to encapsulate it. Agony didn’t come close to describing all I felt as the flames licked at my skin.
Almost absently, I rubbed at my arm and then moved my hand to the gilded side of my mask.
I may have escaped, but I would always bear the horrific scars. No amount of magic could erase them.
Shaking my head, I moved further down the empty streets. Despite the absence of people, it felt more threatening than it would in the day. Every muscle in my body was tightened.
“Do you think Alex and Ellis found anything?” Everett continued, gnawing on his lower lip. It was only then that I realized…he was worried about her. The unfeeling brute who had only ever cared about us actually cared for this girl.
I didn’t know how I felt about that.
Maybe because I, too, cared about this slight girl with the mouth of a sailor but with a body of sin personified.
“I don’t know. They would’ve reached out if they had,” I said, my eyes scouring every alley. Every dark window. Ellis was meant to stay back at the house in case she returned, and Alex tore off out back to saddle Sorcha as we wrestled on our jackets and boots. He’d cover more ground astride a horse than we could on foot.
But where had she gone? We’d have heard from Alex by now if he’d found her. And Ellis would have sent some form of signal if she returned. Could she have gotten lost? If Alex was able to find a map of the area, we may be able to use something of hers to locate her. A hair or perhaps the clothing I’d found her in. Yes. That is what we would do if she didn’t turn up soon…
Obviously, she hadn’t heeded our warning about staying inside at night. The streets of London were dangerous during the day for a beautiful young female, but at night, they were downright terrifying. A cold sweat broke out on my back, and my hands clenched. Perhaps we should head back now and begin the search for a map. It may take a while to rifle through all the papers in and around Alex’s office.
I tried to calm my racing mind…a mind that raced in tandem with my heart. I had always been the rational one, and I couldn’t allow myself to fall to shreds because of one pretty face.
Logically, there was no reason to suspect anything detrimental had happened to her. She was no doubt hiding inside an inn, warming her frigid hands by a roaring fire. Maybe another group had taken pity on her and invited her back with them.
Jealousy like no other pierced my chest at the thought. It was almost a physical ache, and I rubbed my chest.
Why did the thought of her with other men bother me so?
Did I…?
Did I fancy her?
“She’s lying,” Everett broke in, jarring me from my thoughts. I turned towards his shadowed face and quirked a brow.
“Excuse me?”
“She’s lying about where she came from,” he repeated. His voice was cold, but his eyes were incredibly soft, belying his concern.
I considered his words clinically.
What would I do if I was a female plucked from the Thames by a strange man with half a face? And then brought to a house with three other strange men?
I would lie.
That declaration sat heavily in my gut. The poor girl was probably terrified. I knew that if I was in her position, I wouldn’t have acted any differently.
The question was: what did she lie about?
Did she truly lose her memory?
Was she running from something? From someone?
It wasn’t unheard of. I had heard numerous stories of women escaping abusive relationships.
The thought of someone laying a hand on her made me see red, and once more, I smothered the strange, instinctive reaction. My brothers always told me I felt everything too strongly, too passionately. My feelings for this girl were no different.
I felt…protective towards her. After all, it was my hand that had plucked her from the Thames, dripping wet and shaking. It had been my room she had stayed in, curled beneath the co
vers.
I chalked my feelings up to a general protectiveness. A protectiveness I would’ve felt for any female.
But I knew, deep down, that what I felt for her went beyond mere compassion.
“We need her to trust us,” I said to Everett. “We need to finish telling her the truth. Hopefully, she’ll trust us in return with her story.”
“Do you think she’s a runaway?” he replied gruffly. No doubt, his mind had traveled in the same direction as my own.
“That’s a possibility,” I admitted. “But we can’t push her on this. Not yet. That will only make her run once more.”
Everett simply grumbled something in response. For him, that was an agreement.
I had just turned at a fork in the cobblestone road when dark wings fluttered from up ahead. My familiar landed on my arm, its beady, pinprick black eyes fixed intently on me as it squawked.
Suddenly, I was seeing through her eyes.
Soaring high above the ground, the dark trees hindering my view.
Ducking down, past low-hanging branches and towards a cacophony of growls and male screams.
Onto a branch, ruffling my wings.
And then, a figure crouched inside a small pool of water up to her neck.
Blood cascading down her cheeks.
And a familiar shifter materializing before her, his back to me.
Taking flight, the girl’s screams echoing behind me.
I gasped, tearing my gaze away from my familiar’s. Icy dread and fear skittered down my spine.
“We need to go,” I told Everett, already breaking into a run. My raven flew ahead of me, content to lead me where I needed to go.
“What did you see? What did she show you?” Everett asked, keeping pace with me.
I knew that if I told him, his beast would emerge. He needed to remain level-headed, at least for now. The last thing London needed was a monster prowling their streets at night.
So, I kept my mouth shut, picking up speed until the forest came into view.
Hang on, Beck. We’re coming.
Chapter 20
ALEX
The sound o’ her voice screamin’ in the chill wind sent Sorcha into a frenzy tryin’ to pull me in the opposite direction. She thrashed about, stompin’ her great hooves into the damp earth.
“No,” I growled. Damned beast.
Her scream came again, loud and startlingly clear—it was a lance, piercin’ my heart, sending it into a frantic gallop. I turned my head to the west and knew that she was close. I could hear the soft gurglin’ o’ the stream, and the snap o’ twigs in the dark.
“Ah!” I grunted as I jumped from Sorcha’s back and gave her a hard smack on her flank to send her gallopin’ home. I hoped she wouldna come back. Stubborn thing. She didna like to leave me, but if she wouldna help me, it was best she go.
I drew the long blade of my father’s dirk from the worn leather belt at my waist, holdin’ it in a tight fist as I ground my teeth, movin’ through the shadows like a wraith. If someone had harmed her, they would meet the business end of this blade tonight.
I’d never killed a man—never had to—but I knew then and there that if it were to save the lassie, I’d do it without hesitatin’. The revelation shocked me, but it also calmed me, settlin’ my heart into a bearable rhythm.
Another small sound rose from where the stream lay not but a stone’s throw from me. The unmistakable sound of a whimper. My jaw twitched and I narrowed my eyes, tryin’ to see through the leaves still clingin’ to the barest o’ the trees. Tryin’ to stay hidden, but also needin’ to assess what I was up against before barrelin’ in.
A snap to my right had me swingin’ my head just in time to see the wolfish grin o’ a shifter, his clawed hand risen to strike me. A low growl began to leak from his increasingly furry lips, but as his claws came down on my shoulder, I drove the dirk in and up—pushin’ the metal blade into the soft space beneath his ribs, piercin’ his heart. He opened his mouth as though to scream and I silenced him with a hand clamped o’er his mouth.
In the same movement I used to release the dirk, I gripped the back of his head and twisted his neck until it emitted a sickenin’, grindin’ pop and he slumped to the forest floor, lifeless and still. Silent.
Horror at the blood on my hands froze me for an instant as I looked down at the lifeless body lyin’ at my feet. It…it had been so easy. I hardly thought it through.
Wi’ shakin’ fingers, I bent to withdraw my dirk.
I replayed Rebecca’s scream in my head—painful as it was, but it did the work of banishin’ the tremors from my hands and the dark thoughts from my mind.
The shifters would pay for this trespass. Even if the council wouldna do a thing about it. Me and the guys would. This was our turf. Beck was our guest. Ours.
How dare they…
The pump o’ blood through my veins only grew faster, as though the adrenaline tearin’ through them was a foreign thing—beyond controllin’. It gushed through me with an unparalleled fury, ignitin’ my skin with a heat so scorchin’ it was a wonder I didn’t steam.
I withdrew the dirk with a forceful pull o’ the handle and left the dead shifter to mar the mottled leaves beneath him. I didna care how many there were.
I’d kill them all.
Chapter 21
BECK
I struck out at him, trying to catch him in the kneecap, but he was faster. Fuck, he was so much faster. The shifter had me pinned against the flat rise of stone that was at my back, his hands impossibly hot beneath the frigid water where they gripped me painfully just above the creases in my elbows.
I couldn’t move, and when I attempted to kick him again, he dug his claws into my flesh, drawing blood. I whimpered and tried without success to wriggle free.
“Fucking bastard,” I hissed, the words coming out strained with the taint of my pain, much as I tried to hide it. I didn’t want to give this fucker the satisfaction.
The disturbingly handsome shifter licked his lips, and when he leaned in, I saw how the moonlight glinted off his glowing amber eyes, showing me his vapid amusement and beneath that, something more dangerous. Something that not even he himself could control. “Oh, darlin’. You ain’t seen nothing yet.” He dipped his head into the crook of my neck, and I gasped, flinching, thinking he meant to bite me, but instead he stilled, breathing against the sensitive skin on my neck.
I shivered, my stomach convulsing with the urge to vomit.
“First, I’m going to have you,” he crooned against the hollow dip beneath my ear as he pushed his knee between my legs even though I was fighting hard to keep them closed. “And then they are,” he said, and I glanced up into the moonlit dark to find several pairs of hungry, glowing eyes on the banks of the small stream. Grinning. Making biting motions at me. Laughing.
They were fucking laughing at me.
And then a more horrible thought crept in as what the shifter said into my ear sunk in… they are going to rape me.
The dawning realization made my stomach plummet, and my even the marrow of my bones chilled. If I didn’t do something I was going to be had by a pack of wild dogs and judging by the strength of just this one of them, there wasn’t a goddamned thing I could do to stop it.
A hard sob pulled at my chest, but I wouldn’t let it fall from my lips. I wouldn’t give him that, at least.
I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing they broke me.
And I would fight. I would fucking fight until I couldn’t anymore.
As the shifter drew back, his leg now pinning mine against the unyielding stone beneath the rushing water, his hips moving inward. “Come and hold her steady,” he growled at no one in particular, and I took my chance. I smashed my head into his with all the force I could. There was no skill in it. I was beyond analyzing this situation and aiming for important spots to try to knock him out. It was too dark anyway.
I struck out blind and hoped.
A jarring pain exploded in my h
ead, ricocheting like buckshot across my skull and down my neck. Blackish blobs obscured my vision, but I felt his hands around my arms loosen, just for a second, and I slipped free as he bent, cursing as his hands went to his face, where a shimmer of crimson was pouring down his face.
The instant I was unpinned, I surged forward, forcing my knee hard into his groin, and then I fled, wading through the water slowly. Too slowly. My legs felt like cinder blocks and my knee was throbbing. It felt like I was wading through sand instead of water, and the other shifters were already rushing into the water to come after me.
I was surrounded. I’d already known that when I decided to attack. I knew there was no way out, but I’d be damned if I was going to sit there while they fucking violated me.
I was not a woman of this time. Not weak. Not a goddamned lady.
I’m a fighter.
The skirts of my dress weighed heavily around my waist as though there were strong hands in the water dragging me down, pulling me back. The shifter behind still cursed, and the one in front of me was not quite man anymore, but part wolf. With canines slipping free of his gums, clawed hands poised to attack and fur sprouting around his eyes and down his neck.
My heart bleated out a broken rhythm. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I wanted to turn around—to run in the opposite direction, but that wouldn’t save me. If not this one, it would be the one further to my right, or the biggest one—the shifter at my back still cursing, but whom I could sense was now moving his own way through the water with slow, measured steps.
The bastard was in no hurry. He knew I couldn’t outrun them. Couldn’t defeat them.
I wondered what he would do to me for damaging his goods…
Decided I didn’t fucking care.
Powering through the water, I reached down and tore the thin laces holding the heaviest of my skirts to my bodice and pulled. With a loud shhhhh they frayed and came apart, my skirts sinking fast until I could step over them in my sodden boots.
