by R. A. Boyd
“How? You shouldn’t be awake?” Willow finally found her voice, but it was full of fear and confusion, and it was so low Charlie could barely make out her words.
“Audra,” the man said, leaning on their table with his palms. He shook his head and raised his eyebrows so high they could have disappeared beneath the few pieces of hair that fell in his face. “Audra. We are an abomination. All of us. We should all be in the ground. The Rogue’s are under my control. I’m going to help them finish what was started. I’m coming to you first. If anyone should understand why we don’t need to be here, it’s you. Don’t you understand? Don’t you remember what I did?” His voice was quiet, level, threatening.
Paige spoke up for the first time. “I know you. Your picture. It was there. Always there.”
His gaze turned to pure hatred as he shifted his gaze to look at Paige. “Lady Bird. You betrayed us. You’ll watch them all die and still be alone.”
Paige sat back in her chair as if she’d been pushed. Her breaths came in short pants as she shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes. “You. It’s you,” she whispered.
This was wrong. All of it. Charlie aimlessly dug around in her bag, but she couldn’t focus. She couldn’t move her eyes away from the man’s face. He was rage and sorrow and evil. This man had managed to pull so much fear from them. It didn’t make any sense.
A slow, cold grin made its way across his face as he reached forward to grab Paige’s arm, but Cass stood from her chair so fast it banged against the wall and fell to the ground.
“Back. Off.” Cass’s voice was deep and a constant growl colored her words. “I know who you are. Get out of here. Now.”
He shook his head, but Charlie didn’t miss the panic that flashed in his eyes. “I don’t have to do a damn thing. You can’t control me.”
“I saw that fear,” Cass said, pushing Riley behind her as she moved closer to the man. Without saying a word, she was putting herself between him and her people, and Charlie was so freaking happy right now to be one of them.
He towered over her by a good ten inches, but Cass’s presence seemed to occupy all the space inside their bubble. Inside the bar. So much so that other people in the small bar started looking around. Could Cass affect all shifters?
“Ronin,” Cass said, now standing in front of the table where all of them sat. Charlie couldn’t see her face, but she imagined that the sharp points of teeth that Cass hid inside her were starting to show. Her words lisped like she was talking around a mouthful of something, and it wasn’t the slur from the alcohol. She pointed to a chair in the corner of the room. “Sit. The fuck. In that chair. Now. And do not say another word to any of my people.” Her words were like a clap of thunder.
Cass’s body shook as she spoke. Not from fear. No. Cass was a fucking badass alpha that hid within the short, full-figured frame of a woman who was sweeter than sugar. But not when you messed with her people. The air wavered around her as if she were a desert mirage, luring someone to their death with her beauty.
The man, Ronin, cowered and backed away from them. The bubble that once encased their section of the bar dwindled into the air like fireflies fading into the rising sunlight. People who were nursing their drinks, eating their meals, and having private conversations took notice of the scene before them. Cass stood like a mother scolding her child as he bared his neck to her, demanding that he have a seat in the corner until his big brothers came in to collect him.
“Ladies,” she said, still facing the man as he sat down in the chair. “Go outside and wait. I’ll keep him here until they come to get us.”
Charlie grabbed her things as Willow and Paige got Audra out of her chair and out the door.
“Come on,” Riley said, walking to stand next to Cass. “I can’t leave you in here with him.” With shaking fingers, she pushed a loose coil of hair behind her ear.
Everyone in the bar watched them leave, but most had their eyes glued to Cass and the man who couldn’t go against her words.
“You alright?” a heavy man with brunette hair poking out from under a skullcap rasped as he took a step toward Cass.
Cass nodded. “Hey, Benny. We’re fine. The ladies are going to wait outside until someone comes to pick us up. Can you go with them and wait?”
“Let me ride you home,” he said, trying to move between Cass and the man she held in her gaze.
She shook her head and motioned for him to stop moving. “It’s okay. I’ve got him. I’m sure the boys will want to talk to this one.”
Pinned to her chair, arm almost elbow deep in her bag, Charlie had to force herself to move out the door where the rest of the women were waiting. If shit went sideways, she was pretty sure Cass would kick that man’s ass. Even though she was human, Charlie could feel the dominance streaming from Cass like a downpour of rain.
Still looking behind her at Cass, Charlie turned to walk to the door but lost her footing and banged against the wall. Cass’s gaze flicked to her, but as soon as she took her eyes off the man, he muttered some words that sounded foreign to her. The lights blinked out.
The scrambling sounds of furniture moving and punches being landed filled the darkened room. Fuck! Where was Cass?
“Cass!” Charlie screamed. She was on the floor now, feeling around and trying to get out of the way of people running toward the door.
Someone loomed over her, put their hands on either side of her waist, and pulled Charlie toward the door. The hands were too small to be the guy who’d made Audra cry. When they were finally out in the lamppost lit street, Charlie could see it was Cass moving her to safety. Her hair was mussed, and her shirt was ripped. Speckles of blood covered her small hands. What the hell did she do in such a short amount of time?
“I’m fine,” Cass said as they moved toward the truck where the women were waiting for them.
Audra was still crying, but when she set her gaze on Cass she broke running and slammed into her, wrapping her arms around their alpha and kissing her cheek.
“Are you okay? Are you okay?” Audra muttered, over and over as she kissed her cheek. She buried her head in the crook of Cass’s neck. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t help. So sorry. I failed. Again I failed. Did he break you? He can do that.”
Cass shushed her as Audra continued to make a fuss, straightening her clothes and checking her hair to make sure she was alright. “Audra, I’m okay. Pretty sure he’s not. Something cracked in his face when I hit him. And his chest.” She looked over to Willow. “How? How is he awake?”
Willow looked at the night sky, hands on her ample hips as she shook her head back and forth. “I don’t know. It should have been cleared by me. It had to have been Samiyah. Maybe he still has contacts within the coven that helped him release Ronin.” She threw her hands to the sky and stomped her foot. “It takes three witches to raise someone from their slumber. I have to go back.”
Hadn’t she just decided she was going to stay? And now she was going to go back into a situation she was unsure of.
“You can’t go,” Charlie blurted out. She didn’t feel qualified to be part of their conversation, but she knew one thing for sure. “If your people freed him and set him loose on us, they can’t be trusted. You have to stay. You could be walking into a trap.”
Willow took a deep breath and chewed on her lips. Confusion brought a worry line between her eyebrows. “I have to. Even if Samiyah has people who are loyal to him, there are just as many who are loyal to me and to the true cause of our coven. I can’t leave them.”
“One of us will go with you,” Paige said. She seemed far away. Something was plaguing her mind, and it wasn’t what had just happened. It was something else.
Charlie wanted to speak up, but she’d just met them. Claiming to know what was best for Willow’s coven or if Paige was keeping secrets was beyond her. She didn’t know enough about what was happening.
“Who was he?” Charlie asked.
“Their brother.” Cass crossed her arms across
her chest and flinched. She was hurt. “He went mad a while ago. Killed a lot of people. Hurt Audra and another one of their brothers. His beast drove him crazy. Drove him to kill. Willow’s coven, the Coven of the Fallen, put him in a deep sleep. It was supposed to help him. Make him sane again. But—” she said, cutting her eyes to Willow, “—apparently Samiyah, another fallen angel who happened to raise Paige, had Ronin woken up to help him run the Rogue pack.”
Charlie closed her eyes, trying to let it all sink in. It still didn’t make sense. “Samiyah was the angel from the Town Hall? The guy you killed.”
Paige nodded. “He deserved it.” Wrapping her arms around her belly, she shifted from foot to foot and wouldn’t meet her gaze. Paige may have known he deserved it, but she still felt guilty.
The vision of Paige cutting off Samiyah’s head played again in her mind. Charlie shuddered and gave her a weak smile. “The shit with my dad doesn’t seem so bad now.” She looked around, hoping it would make them laugh.
It worked. Even Audra had looked up from Cass’s shoulder and chuckled.
They stood next to Riley’s truck, huddled together and waiting. Her new people may be in a crappy situation, but there was no other place Charlie wanted to be. They were there for each other, with each other. She’d never felt so much support for anything in all her life. Not a single one of them batted an eye when she told them about her father. No one judged her or backed away in fear of what was coming after her. Instead, they listened and offered encouragement, telling her that no harm would come to her.
More than anything, she wished her brother could be there with her. He would have loved all of them. She knew he would have found peace and acceptance inside the small Ghost shifter community. And in New Rose.
She would have taken him away from the chaos that was their family. It had always been the plan. Each time she got paid, she stored away enough money for them to make the move far away from their parents. They were three months shy of leaving when the accident changed everything. His life was over. She would never see his happy face again.
“What the hell is that? Get your phone.”
Charlie lifted her head to find out what was happening. A man standing in front of the bar was fighting with his coat pocket to pull out his phone. When she turned her gaze to see what he was looking at, she let out a low scream and dropped her purse.
With her mouth open for any random bug to fly into, Charlie watched as a huge orange and white prehistoric beast came running down the street in their direction. Two dagger-like teeth hung from its closed mouth. Its muscles rolled beneath its skin as he slowed to a trot when it saw them.
“Holy. Crap,” Charlie muttered as the beast walked up and starting sniffing Cass.
It bumped into her arm, and she flinched. Yep, she was definitely hurt.
A muted shimmer kicked up around the beast as it started to shrink and change form. The sound of popping bones and pained grunts filled the air. It was painful to watch, but after only a handful of seconds, Damon stood before them. And he was naked.
“What happened?” he asked as he pulled Cass to him. He ran his hands down the length of her body, asking if she was hurt.
She jerked away and cradled her right arm when his probing hands got too close to it. The sight of her pulling away from his touch sent a visible current through his body. His hazel eyes blazed to life with the dying embers of a fire. He leaned his head down far enough to rest his forehead against hers.
Rubbing his face along Cass’s and breathing her in, Damon asked again in a choked voice, “What happened?”
Cass ran her hand up his arm and cupped his cheek. “I’m fine. We have a problem.” Cass’s voice was soft and held no air of pain. She rubbed herself against him. It wasn’t sexual, but more of a reassurance to him that she was really there with him. The moment was so intimate that Charlie felt like an intruder as she watched.
And that’s when she noticed Damon’s private bits. Charlie tried to avoid looking, but Damon’s cock was half hard and pointing at Cass. She closed her eyes and turned around. She did not need to know him that well.
“Eww,” Audra said, putting her hand up to cover her eyes. “For the love of my sanity, please put it away.”
With her back turned, Charlie listened to the sound of the truck door opening and closing. It echoed through the open space, and when Charlie turned back around Damon was holding two reusable market bags: one in the front and the other on his butt. Would he get mad if she took a picture?
Damon’s eyes scanned the small crowd of people standing between the bar and the inn. “Benny said you were fighting a man. Where the fuck is he?”
Cass let out a steadying breath that shook her words. “We need to talk. We should go home now.”
A black truck came easing down Main Street, and when it got close enough, Charlie could see Simon driving it. His eyes scanned the crowd that stood on the street. Even from where she stood, Charlie could see the anger and panic in his eyes. They glowed in the low light of the street lamps.
He got out and stalked toward them. People standing too close to his car backed away from him. With each oncoming step, Charlie could hear a feral growl emanating from Simon. A hole opened up in her middle as she watched him run his hand roughly through his hair. He was fighting to keep himself together. One of his hands opened and clenched like it was the only thing he could do not to start hitting people, and the other held a bag. When he was close enough, he threw it at Damon.
A few steps in front of her, Simon hesitated and dropped his gaze to her lips. “Tell me you’re okay.”
The desperation in his voice broke something inside her. He was pissed, but he was scared for her. She may have been standing just a few feet from him, but he wanted to hear her say the words.
She closed the distance between them and curled her arms around his waist. “I’m fine. Cass kept us safe. I’m fine.”
His entire body shook, and when he finally wrapped his arms around Charlie he let out a long sigh of relief. It took away some of the tension that held his body taut, and it soothed her as well. Simon put his face in her hair and inhaled, pulling her even closer to his large, warm body. His heart beat so fast and hard Charlie could feel it as if it were her own heart thumping in her chest.
“Who did this?” Simon asked, still holding Charlie close. He was so big, all she could see was his dark blue shirt.
“This is going to hurt a little, but I need to do it now,” Damon said, regret tinging his words.
Charlie looked around to see Damon’s fingers probing up and down Cass’s arm. He was now dressed in a low hung pair of sweatpants and black sneakers. The bag Simon threw at him must have been extra clothes.
With a determined scowl on his face, Damon kept searching along the upper part of Cass’s arm. His now yellow eyes stared upward as if he were visualizing the muscles and bones in Cass’s arm as he examined her. When he found the right spot, he rotated her arm, pulled it, and then pushed it against her.
“Dang nabbed. Son of a bacon…eating…hog.” Cass let out a string of non-curse words that made most of them laugh. When she finished holding her arm close to her body and slapping Damon away every time he reached for her, she took a deep breath and shook her head as if clearing away the pain. “Let’s go home. We can’t talk about this here.”
Damon and Simon both began to protest at the same time, but Cass was too busy rubbing her arm to answer them.
“Boys,” Audra said. She seemed to be more in control of herself. Even though tracks of tears dotted her cheeks, she had stopped crying and repeating the same things over and over. “Trust me. We don’t need to talk about this here. Let’s go home.”
Chapter 9
It took everything inside of Simon not to demand Charlie tell him what the hell happened. Something had scared the shit out of the women in their clan. Cass had gotten into a fight, and Audra hadn’t been covered in the person’s blood defending her sisters. Something had frightened Au
dra. That meant it was bad. Really fucking bad.
Audra’s first response to things that scared others was to gut it, make it bleed to show that she was bigger and stronger.
The only thing Simon had been able to do as he drove them home was to hold onto Charlie’s leg while he navigated the darkened back streets of New Rose. She’d dozed off during the ride but had woken up when he tried to carry her into the community hall where they were all set to meet. He wanted to take her home and tuck her away to sleep off the alcohol, but he needed her to be close to him. He needed to hear what Cass had to say, but he didn’t want his mate out of his sight.
Cass, sweet Cass, had been in a fight. A bar fight. Everyone in town knew she was a saber-tooth cat shifter now. Who the hell tried to pick a fight with her? A death wish must have been the poor bastard’s goal for the night.
Simon held Charlie close to him as she laid on the couch beside him. Her head lay in his lap and he couldn’t stop himself from stroking her soft curls away from her eyes. Even before she fell asleep, she had barely spoken a word. He could feel the turmoil of her emotions. She was scared. And angry.
He needed to do something. His mate was anxious and it ate at his insides. Simon would find and bleed the son of a bitch who’d done this to them. Once they found out exactly who the asshole was, he and his brothers would go hunting. He may not be able to shift just yet, but his hunting and killing skills were excellent.
Simon watched as Charlie’s eyes fluttered as she slept. She was human. Fragile. What would he do if anything happened to her? He wouldn’t survive. Neither would anyone within murdering distance. Miri had placed a protection spell over her, but what good would it do when Miri moved on? Would it still keep her safe? And how safe was it? Miri was due back soon, and Simon had more questions than he thought possible.
“What happened?” Jace asked as he walked through the door. He looked like shit.
To quell the rejection he was dealing with, he’d probably had more liquor than all the women combined. The whites of his eyes were red, and dark circles framed the bright blue orbs. His hair was sticking up in too many directions as if he’d been running his hands through it. It would be hilarious if he weren't so pissed.