They’re back sooner? Who were ‘they’? Why did ‘they’ care that she was human? She allowed herself a moment of hope that Kal had meant Nova, and then wiped the optimism away. She’d long since lost her right to look on the bright side. She slid back into her despondency easily, awaiting the inevitable next cut while ‘they’ slowly grew louder in a hum of conversation and comradery and somehow felt like home.
With a gasp, she understood why. It sounded too much like the home she’d made for herself at the Mountain Clan compound for it to be anything else. So as much as her beaten mind fought against it, she allowed herself to believe that Nova and Nemoy and Nate and everyone else were nearby, and maybe… maybe endings like the Trials could happen in real life as well.
But even if ‘they’ were her family, there was no way to tell how. No way to get their attention. Unless…
With a slow scrape of her chair, Amara forced herself upward, just enough the make the chair jump. It leapt off the floor, ever so slightly, and the clatter of metal legs on the cement of the floor was sharp and loud as it echoed off the walls.
Kal jumped in surprise. “What the?” He shouted. “You got a problem?” he growled at Amara. She didn’t speak, she only stared defiantly back. He narrowed a sinister glare in response. “Try that shit again and see what happens.”
Amara weighed her options. She couldn’t tell if slamming the chair was even loud enough to be heard outside of what she could only guess was a shelter or a basement of some sort. Did she risk further harm by slamming the chair again? She looked down at all the cuts and bruises she’d already endured at the hands of the Vann men and figured, what was a few more?
She waited until Kal was comfortable and settled in his chair once more before attempting another slam. The clatter was louder this time, ringing in her ears. The way Kal leapt up frightfully out of his seat was the bonus icing on the cake.
Rage flashed in his eyes and he shot over to Amara. “Why the fuck won’t you listen!” he shouted, the back of his hand connecting with the soft flesh of her cheek in a world-rocking slap. As she fought to recover, Kal leaned in close though he didn’t bother to whisper. “If you honestly think I can’t find other ways to have some fun while your useless band of dogs wanders around upstairs, keep trying me, Princess.” He leaned in even closer, running a hand sensuously down the side of her bare, bloody torso. “I dare you.” His words were feverish with a bit of excitement around the edges, and she knew he meant every word of it.
And yet, before he could finally return back to his seat, she was airborne once more. She propelled herself with all of the force she could muster while fully bound. She went higher than the two times before, and the hind legs of the chair cracked satisfyingly against the stone floor, ringing out like a bell to whoever could hear. The chair continued its descent backward from having landed off-kilter and she fell hard on the concrete, her head bouncing against the floor. Stars exploded across her vision, and before she could fully recover from her fall, all she could see was a bat-shit crazy shifter looming over her as he swung his knife downward.
“Is this what you want?” he screamed right in her face as he sank the knife to the hilt deep into the meat of her shoulder. A cry of pure torture clawed and tore its way up her already ruined throat, reverberating grotesquely against the walls, floor, and ceiling.
He yanked the knife out, and raised it to strike again. As it arced downward, the door to Amara’s cell blasted open and without preamble, Nova launched himself directly at Kal.
Kal and Nova tumbled off Amara in a growling and snarling heap, and as she tried to keep track of the fight, a hand latched over her forearm before she could turn to see who it was. Panic won out, surging forth in excess. She flailed instinctively, thrashing feebly against the hand and chains and knowing that neither would budge.
“Damn it, Amara, stop moving so I can unchain you!” Nemoy barked, pressing her shoulder firmly against the back of the chair as it lay on the floor before starting on the handcuffs. She heard the jingle of Kal’s keys and wondered briefly when Nemoy had gotten ahold of them, but it was a question she could ask later after she was free. He got her wrists first, then her ankles. As the thick rope of chains finally gave way, Amara launched herself—bloody and cut and in pain—right into Nemoy’s arms.
He lifted her easily from the floor, placing her gently on her feet and curling her hand over the bundle of keys. “Go down the hall and up the stairs. It’ll take you right outside the guest house you stayed in. The pack’s inside, you’ll be safe there.”
“Callahan?” was all she could articulate to ask.
Nemoy gave a firm nod. “He’s gone.”
Before Amara could feel relief at the news, Kal roared out savagely and Nova’s pained cry echoed against the cold stone of the room. Kal fired two rapid punches into the deep purple bruises of his arm, bringing forth another scream.
“There’s no way he’s dead!” Kal shouted, launching another punch. “Trash like you couldn’t even get close to Father’s power!” Nova’s eyes were glazed over in near unconsciousness, and this time when Kal raised his arm to strike, the hand was contorted into the clawed paws of a wolf.
Nemoy shoved Amara urgently towards the doorway. “Go!”
She gave one last glance backward before leaving them to fend off Kal alone. Kal was still on top of a semi-conscious Nova with one clawed hand raised, but his gaze flitted from one brother to the other. Amara could see the conflict on his face; if he went for the kill, Nemoy was in the prime position to take him out as well. So he sat frozen, contemplating his next move.
Amara breathed a sigh of relief. All Nova needed was a few more moments to recover; they’d be fine without her. She turned to leave for good as Kal’s paw went right for Nova’s throat. She didn’t even have time to scream her horror.
Nemoy leapt into action, diving right for Kal. Suddenly, Kal’s paw changed direction easily from arcing downward to a jutting motion right out in front of him. Surprise colored Nemoy’s features as blood splattered, Kal’s claws biting deep into Nemoy’s stomach.
Nemoy staggered backward as quickly as he was able, and blood spilled freely from his wound. He was already starting to get glassy eyed and he collapsed to his knees.
Kal barked a hysterical cackle. “Big bro is down!” he bellowed in exaltation. “Now time to make it a two for one.” His grin was grisly and terrifying as he raised the blood-soaked claws above his head once more.
Amara’s mind began to panic, but she fought it down. She knew she had to do something, anything, but what could she do that the two strongest wolves and the pack couldn’t? She looked desperately around the small room for any solution. A glint caught her eye, and in the corner of the room, Kal’s knife lay glimmering and forgotten on the floor like some unspoken answer to her problems. As soon and she saw it, her feet were already in motion. Even she could tell that she wouldn’t be fast enough to make it to Kal before he stuck the still barely there Beta, but maybe she didn’t have to stab him directly.
She snapped up the knife, taking only a second to relish in the feeling of its heavy, cool hilt before launching the blade end over end at the Valley wolf. In a glorious display of Karmic justice, the blade buried itself right into Kal Vann’s shoulder.
Kal yelped out in pain, clutching the knife that was still inside him. He stared at the blade in confusion, overlooking Nova as he shifted his own claws. He didn’t notice until they were stabbed firmly in his side.
With a roar, Nova flipped Kal off of him, finally gaining the high ground. He victoriously raised his clawed hand high to deal the final blow.
“No, Nova,” Nemoy gasped. His wound was still leaking too much blood. Amara was worried that he might not be able to make it upstairs to the help. “Tr-Tribunal,” he struggled.
Both Amara and Nova were distracted by their injured brother, and Kal took the opportunity to wrench the knife from his shoulder with a hiss. “Like hell I’m going to that place to pay for m
y Old Man’s crimes,” he muttered quietly, Amara subconsciously leaning closer to hear his words. He lashed out with the blade, headed directly for her throat. It was too fast for her to dodge but too slow to make its mark before Nova reacted. His sharp claws tore into the soft flesh of Kal’s throat without hesitation. The tawny wolf spasmed once, and then with a final gurgling breath, Kal Vann finally died.
Nemoy breathed a pained sigh. “Damn it! I should have known he’d take the weak way out.” His breathing was labored, getting more ragged by the moment.
Nova nodded, looking down at the graphic wound he’d created as it bubbled blood out around the body. “Once a coward, always a coward.”
“It’s going to be a bitch to explain but… later.” He struggled to lie on his back in the cell. “Get me… a medic…” Amara could tell he was close to passing out and stood to leave.
Nova made sure Kal truly moved no more before rising with Amara. He used his good hand to cup her face in his palm. “Are you okay?” he whispered brushing a light kiss across her forehead.
Amara nodded. “I will be.” A single tear slid down her cheek. “I just want to go home.”
Epilogue
Visions of harsh fluorescent lights as they glinted wickedly off cold, emotionless steel. A manic cackle before pain bites into skin. The angry red flash of blood. Fingers trailing down… down… down… venturing to places that made her mind want to black out, shut down, waste away to end it all, but the fear wouldn’t let her. The fear was in control… and it never wanted to let her go.
Amara felt the urge to scream as arms snaked tightly around her waist.
With a gasp, Amara’ eyes sprung open. She was bathed in sweat, shivering in the darkness of Nova’s bedroom.
“Shhh, shhh,” Nova was cooing softly into her ear as she woke. She felt the cool surety of his hand as he caressed her damp hair back from her face, and almost instantly she felt relieved.
She was almost completely composed before Nova spoke again. “Was it about…” His voice trailed off, leaving the obvious question hanging in the air.
Amara thought back fleetingly over the nightmare. “I…” Her voice cracked, heavy with dream-bidden tears. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I can’t entirely remember, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”
It had been a week since the war ended. A week since Kal and his even more terrifying father had been struck down after over a decade of tyranny and hate. After Nova had dealt the fatal blow that saved her life, Amara thought that she’d finally get some peace of mind. Apparently, her subconscious had different plans.
She hadn’t had a full night’s rest since the night before the battle began. It was worse the first night after; her mind vividly recounted the torture she’d endured in almost uncanny detail, except when Kal slashed the knife outward towards her throat at the end, Nova wasn’t fast enough to save her. She’d woken up in hysterics and unable to sleep the rest of the night.
Her body still ached and stung where the healing marks had begun to scab over. Some would leave scars, but she was alive. That was enough, she kept telling herself, but with every twinge of pain, all she could see, all she could feel, all she could fear was Kal Vann.
Despite her lingering trauma, it had gotten better. She’d sleep a few hours every night, until a dream or nightmare would have her jolting awake in the middle of the night. Over the course of the seven days, Amara had grown accustomed to living off of only a few hours of sleep a night.
Nova cuddled her close. “Babe, are you okay?” He’d been asking her that question a lot lately.
Was she okay? She shook her head. “I don’t think I am. Not yet.” She looked up into his dark, worried eyes. “But I’m getting there. One day at a time. I just need normal. Murphy’s opening back up tomorrow will help.”
She snuggled into the crook of his neck as he held her. “I’m sorry I keep waking you up with my nonsense,” she murmured against the warmth of his skin.
“No, no,” he chastised lightly. “None of that. Nothing about what you’re going through is nonsense, love.”
Amara shrugged. “Maybe, but it feels like nonsense when I can’t deal with it on my own, you know?”
“We’re a unit,” Nova comforted. “When you’re hurting, I want to make you feel better. That’s all I’ll ever want for the rest of my life.”
“I feel the same way, but when you have a nightmare, you can get up quietly and go out for some fresh air. When I have a nightmare…” she shrugged, letting the sentence trail off.
“Oh,” Nova said, voice a bit dulled. Amara hated admitting that the mate bond between them made her feel like a burden, but it was true. From the day they’d completed the Trials, Nova had been gaining a little bit of a sixth sense for her emotions every day. And now they were both kept up at night because of it. She knew that this bond between them was something he took pride in, and to see him look even slightly taken aback by her response pained her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. I know it helps in the long run.”
“I mean, I get it, Mara,” Nova sighed. “And I know you don’t mean anything bad when you mention the mate bond. It’s just that…” She could hear him fighting for the right words and kept silent, thankful for the conversation after being jarred awake so suddenly. “It’s harder for us, do you know that?” He asked.
“Why? Because I’m… human?” She asked, reluctantly.
Nova hesitated a bit, but pressed forward. “I think so. I’ve always been told that the mate bond was easy. As natural as breathing. You should see Nemoy and Ivanah in their element, they’re like one being. But with us… it’s like there’s this barrier. Not quite a wall, but like… a foam. There’s some resistance between us, and it makes the bond feel more like a struggle.”
He sighed. “I know it’s not something you want to hear. I know you like your independence, and probably the very thought of me possibly being able to tap into your thoughts is freaking you out, no matter how many times we tell you it’s not like that. So I’m trying to give you your space, I really am, but I want you to know that when I do feel those emotions, good or bad, it makes me feel like I’m making progress towards becoming the mate I’ve always wanted to be for you.”
Amara thought on it. Did the thought of Nova knowing her feelings and thoughts bother her? “Maybe it does bother me, just a little, but it’s nothing compared to the safety I feel knowing that you will always be there when I need you,” she answered. “I made a vow to fit in as much as possible. I want to live in this pack as Amara Lowery of the Mountain Clan Guard, not Amara Lowery, wife of the Beta. I want everyone to see me as capable. Strong.
“But even then, as a human, I know I have limits. It’s nice to know that you’d know them, too.” She smiled up at him. “I know I have the tendency to go overboard.”
He grinned in response. “A little.” She could tell that he was visibly relieved by her confession.
They shared a laugh before her face sobered a bit. “I love you, Nova. I love everything about you, even the mate bond. I don’t want you to feel like this natural part of you can’t also be a natural part of us.” She kissed the soft skin on his collarbone, reveling in the way his breath caught at the touch of her lips. “Tell me what I can do to make this easier for you.”
“There’s nothing you can do that you haven’t already been doing,” he responded, his voice slightly husky. “Just keep loving me, and let me keep loving you. Our bond can only grow stronger from here.”
She nodded, brushing another kiss across his skin. “Easy peasy,” she whispered in-between kisses.
Nova tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “You make it really hard to think when you do that,” he whispered.
She tilted her cheek into the bend of his hand, cuddling his coarse palm. “Maybe what we need right now is a little less thinking, and a little more doing,” she sighed, gazing up at him suggestively.
He grinned and rolled her on
top of him.
She could already feel him hard and ready beneath her. Just rocking against the thin fabric of his boxers was enough to make him gasp out in pleasure. She ran her hands down his bare chest, feeling him shiver as shockwaves of desire rolled over him every time she teased his crotch with her own. She loved him, everything about him. Every gasp, every moan, every sigh that he emitted only for her, she cherished each one and would until the end of time. She knew, in that moment and any other, she could ask anything of him, have him do any bidding, and all she’d want with every fiber of her being was for him to continue loving her for as long as they both lived. She didn’t feel she deserved such devotion at times, but now, as they rocked in rhythm, teasing one another mercilessly before ultimate bliss, she could think of no better perfection than the two of them together as they were always meant to be.
When she could take no more of the foreplay, Amara raised up long enough to remove her panties. Nova removed his boxers in one fell swoop, and when she settled back on top of him, he slid easily into her wet, hot center. They cried out in unison, riding the first wave of pure ecstasy.
Nova bucked, sheathing himself as far as he could go. Pleasure exploded in, over, and around Amara, and she bit down on her lip as Nova worked mercilessly to bring her closer to the brink. Each thrust was hungry, fevered, and passionate from below, shocking her body with pinpricks of electric sensations that she couldn’t get enough of. With a cry, she spilled over the edge of euphoria, crying her lovers name to the ceiling.
Amara was still shivering with aftershocks as Nova flipped her onto the bed. Before she could catch her breath, he was buried deep within her once more. He nipped at her collarbone, and teased the tender skin around her nipples, and with every eager moan or sigh that Amara couldn’t hold in, Nova grew more frantic in his efforts. His breath became more ragged as he quickened his pace, pumping ruthlessly into her with an unending sense of urgency.
Mountain Wolf Protectors Complete Series: Books 1 - 4 Page 43
