Forged by Fire: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Blood and Magic Book 6)

by Danielle Annett

  I slammed on the brakes and rode the wave. It’d was like a tsunami of emotion. My lungs choked and a surge of want and need washed over me. But beneath the emotions I knew weren’t mine was the mate bond between Declan and I.

  I focused on that. On my feelings for him. On the future we would build with one another.

  And then, like another punch to the gut, it hit me.

  What we were planning, it was dangerous. The type of thing one or both of us might not come back from.

  Declan owned me. He would never outright say it, hell I wasn’t sure if he even realized it, but I felt it and it terrified me. For the first time in more years than I could count, I was happy, safe, loved.

  I pinched myself to make sure it was all real. That I hadn’t dreamed him up somehow.

  He was somewhere in the Compound, calling in all available Alphas to discuss a plan of action while I sat in the Hummer right outside the gates.

  Even knowing he wasn’t far, that I’d lain with him only a few hours ago, I still missed him. I conjured up his face. The arrogant slash of brows, the pine and mint scent that clung to his skin. The way he felt as he moved inside of me.

  I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything in the world.

  It was terrifying.

  What was I going to do when my mother stole all of my happiness away? Because she would. She was trying to right now at this very moment. She plotted and she schemed and she hurt my friends. She wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Declan. To kill him and take away the only man I’d ever loved.

  I couldn’t let her. I wouldn’t.

  Resolve settled over me and I put the Hummer back into drive as I let the forest surrounding me clear my mind and prepare me for what was to come. I would do what needed to be done.

  No more sitting by, waiting for her to attack. I would end this.

  14

  A few hours later I sat in the Compound conference room, surrounded by monitors as we waited for Declan to arrive. He’d needed to speak with a few of his men and I’d needed time to come to terms with the revelation that we were going to war. Because that’s what this was. War.

  Our previous encounters with the H.A.C. had all been battles leading up to this.

  I held a stack of papers in my hands. It was everything Twitch had been able to dig up. Headquarter layouts. Estimates of the number of people living inside both combative and civilian.

  It wasn’t enough, but it was all we had and if I were being honest, it was more than I’d expected.

  Time had run out.

  Brock sat to my left. As head of Pack security he was the only non Alpha in the room. Despite his youth, he’d earned his seat at the table and learned to use his age to his advantage. With boyish features and long limbs that had yet to completely fill out, he loved being underestimated.

  The moment you underestimated him was the moment he’d strike. The only other exception to the meeting that would have been made would have been for James Shields, the Pack Hunter and my best friend who still was MIA.

  The next time I got a hold of him, we were going to have words.

  Seated next to Brock was Robert. Blonde, blue-eyed, and boy-band pretty, he was the unmated Alpha of Clan Cadinae and likely the only shifter in the United States who could go toe to toe with Declan should he feel inclined.

  When we’d first met he’d set off every one of my internal alarms but now, for some strange reason I still wasn’t entirely sure of, I trusted him.

  I never thought I’d trust the coyote given our first encounters, but I trusted Robert with my life.

  Eva Padilla sat directly across from him. The Alpha of Clan Felidea had dark brown eyes and ebony hair that hung in waves reaching down to her waist. She shifted into a spotted hyena and while she remained an even one hundred forty pounds in both forms, her bite got a hell of a lot stronger in her beast form.

  Beside her sat Derek and Tegan Keen. Twin brothers and joint Alphas of Clan Wolf. I hadn’t been sure if they’d attend. They were still cleaning shit up at the Clan house and both were both grieving, judging by the expressions on their faces—a mix of sadness and fury. But they’d both refused the offer to sit this one out.

  Caynen Stone stood against the far wall. As the Alpha of Clan Bear, it wasn’t surprising that he was the largest man in the room. Prior to today I’d only ever worked with the Betas of Clan Bear, Mauro Sosa and Jennifer Woodard, but for today’s upcoming battle, we needed all of our heavy hitters and every Clan Alpha had been called in.

  Since he and his mate Kyndra had already been on their way when their home base was attacked, they’d decided to divide and conquer.

  Kyndra had gone back with Mauro and Jennifer to clean up the mess left behind after the attack and ensure their people were okay while Caynen continued to the Compound so he could help put together a plan of attack.

  His arms were crossed over his chest, muscles bulging beneath the flannel button-down shirt he wore. He looked like he needed to hit something … or someone. Not that I could blame him.

  Upon his arrival he’d been rushed in here, unable to find an outlet for his pent up aggression. With any luck, this meeting would be brief and he could spar or do whatever it was he needed to release some steam.

  Yvonne Mendez—Alpha to Clan Muridea—strode in the door. Her gray eyes were cold and calculating, her copper-colored hair wound expertly into a knot atop her head. She nodded at the other Alphas in the room and took her seat.

  Everyone we expected to be here was here. Everyone except Declan.

  Just as the thought slipped through my mind, he stalked into the room. Light on his feet, he moved with the same predatory grace as the white Siberian tiger he shifted into.

  He wore jeans and a plain gray short-sleeved t-shirt, having changed and washed the blood off when we returned from Clan Wolf.

  His T-shirt stretched tight across his broad shoulders, highlighting his corded muscles. There was no hint of submission anywhere in his body. He was built to tear down his opponents with smooth efficiency.

  As Alpha of the Pacific Northwest Pack, he was responsible for every shapeshifter living in his domain and he didn’t take his responsibilities lightly.

  Our eyes connected and my heart skipped a beat.

  He looked like a soldier. From his close-cropped white blonde hair to the trace of stubble on his jaw. He exuded rough, masculine, and competent.

  His emerald-green eyes glowed as he took in the room. He was both predatory and irresistible. And he was mine.

  I couldn’t help but stare at the sheer magnitude of him.

  The bond between us thrummed. Heat suffused me. His eyes met mine again, full of so many promises.

  Everyone was here.

  Showtime.

  The monitors flicked to life behind him, casting images of the H.A.C. on full display and illuminating his form. “This is where our enemy lives.”

  Several pairs of eyes narrowed as they scrutinized the images in front of them. Twitch had provided blueprints of the facility along with aerial images to show the landscape and terrain.

  “The Human Alliance Corporation has proven time and time again that they are our enemy. They’ve attacked my mate, they’ve murdered our people, they’ve stolen our children, and now they’ve chosen to wage war.”

  Snarls filled the room.

  “We will no longer stand by as they seek to destroy us. We will not find peace with this enemy. With an enemy like this, there is only one option …”

  Declan paused and met the eye of every Alpha shifter in the room. “If it is a war they seek, it is war we will give them.”

  The tension rose as shouts and growls filled the space, bloodlust swiftly rising to the forefront of every shifter’s mind. They’d kidnapped my friend and attacked two of the clan houses in the less than one week. I doubted anyone in the room would be opposed to the upcoming battle but still, it was our job to remind them what the H.A.C. had already done and what they were still capable of if we chose no
t to act.

  Declan turned to me and nodded, giving me the floor. He’d pushed for me to step up and have a voice. I still didn’t know what everyone thought of me—the human mate—but Declan had argued that if I wanted them to accept me then I needed a voice. I couldn’t be meek beside him. I had to be his equal.

  “You’ve all seen what I can do,” I said.

  I’d stood here in this very room the first time I’d willingly exposed my pyrokinetic abilities. Since then I’d acquired telekinetic abilities and while I was still untrained, I could do enough damage to give each shifter pause before an attack.

  “My mother has an army of people like me that can do everything I can do, only better. She’s been cultivating her army of psykers for the last six or more years. They’re trained. They’re disciplined. And my mother will do whatever she can to put humans back on top.

  She doesn’t care who she hurts. I’m her daughter, her flesh and blood, and yet she’s proven time and time again if she can’t control me, then she’ll settle for killing me.” More snarls filled the room, a particularly vicious one coming from Declan.

  “But this isn’t just about me. My mother and the H.A.C. want to see every shapeshifter and anyone else they consider a threat dead. You remember what was done to the children.” That was perhaps my mother’s worst transgression. The H.A.C. had been responsible for abducting, abusing, and experimenting on several shifter children between the ages of four and seventeen. To the Pack, every child was precious and harming children was an unforgivable offense. That one act alone demanded more retribution than anything else the H.A.C. could have done.

  I didn’t want to think about what would have happened to them, to Caden, Emma, Jeb, Jordan, and the others if I’d never found them.

  Brock leaned forward in his seat, his eyes defiant. “What are our tactical options?” As head of security, he’d want a plan and he’d want to make sure the odds were in our favor.

  Jason was already working on swaying the allegiance of those psykers within the H.A.C. but even if they left, we couldn’t count on them to fight beside us. The men and women they’d be leaving behind had been their friends and peers for years. Those feelings of camaraderie didn’t go away overnight.

  I chanced a glance at Declan. He sat immobile, his expression predatory. The H.A.C. hadn’t attacked the Compound—yet. But if what Twitch had provided could be counted on—and I only ever assumed that it could—then they were preparing for something. He suspected a large scale attack and it wasn’t a far-off bet to assume that attack would come our way.

  “We have three options. One, we could hole up inside the Compound. We pull all of our people in from the surrounding areas. The Compound is large enough to house every shifter that belongs to our Pack, but that will take time. With the number we’d need to move, some coming all the way from southern Oregon and parts of Montana, we run the risk of losing people during the move.

  My mother isn’t an idiot and we don’t have a way to protect our people en masse while they’re on the move. The H.A.C. has already hit Clan Bear and Clan Wolf. If a plan for the other Clans isn’t in motion yet, it will be soon. Moving everyone will just speed up the H.A.C.’s timeline and they’ll strike at our people when we can’t be there to protect them.”

  Yvonne shook her head. “Next option.”

  I nodded. I knew it would never work but they needed to hear every possible choice before the Clan Alphas would agree on the one course of action that we were going to have to take. They might all thirst for blood but they needed to see that was our one and only option. There could be no reservations. Too many lives were on the lines.

  “We can try and assassinate my mother.” The room grew uneasily quiet. “She’s my mother. I’m sure her death will hurt.” I shrugged my shoulders and swallowed. Here I was, talking about murdering my own mother. That was morbid. “But I’m aware there isn’t a scenario where she survives that leaves us safe. I’ve come to terms with it.”

  A few heads nodded but they didn’t look convinced and I couldn’t blame them. They hated my mother as much if not more than I did, but they weren’t stupid. Whether she was the enemy or not, she was still the Alpha’s mother-in-law. A person whose murder couldn’t be plotted out in the open without severe repercussions under normal circumstances. Lucky for them, these weren’t normal circumstance.

  “The problem with an assassination is that it only solves the immediate threat and it leaves the H.A.C. intact. The Human Alliance Corporation isn’t some small start-up. They’re a massive movement with outfits spread out nationwide. Killing my mother might give the local faction pause before engaging with the Pack. But it could just as likely be the spark that turns them all against us.”

  Caynen slammed a meaty fist against the table. “What then?”

  I took a deep breath. “We go to war, just as Declan suggested. We attack. We don’t have the pleasure of playing defense. Time isn’t on our side. We need to plan an offensive attack on our terms. The H.A.C. won’t confront us on our own land. The Compound is too well fortified. But the longer we wait, the more our people are at risk. We can’t remain on high alert forever. My mother knows that and she’s waiting on us to drop our guard. We need to take the fight to her front door before that happens.”

  I paused letting my words sink in. “We need to hit them with everything we have. The Pack can’t appear weak. We have one chance to send a message and the message needs to be heard loud and clear. We will not bow. We will not let our people be harmed. We will repay our debts.”

  Robert smiled. It was a feral display of teeth that had every hair on my arms standing on end.

  “Option three it is,” he said.

  “We need to wipe out the entire local faction. There needs to be no possibility of them regrouping. It’s our only real option but we have to think carefully. This is going to require us to pull every able-bodied man and woman in for the fight. There are going to be casualties. We’ll lose people. Some of you in this very room might not make it back.”

  Derek and Teagan looked at one another. Silent communication passed between them before Derek spoke. “Do we know their numbers?”

  I shook my head. “No. We know it is over three hundred but we don’t know much beyond that. They have fifty-two psykers. Jason is working to sway them away from the H.A.C. so at the very least, we don’t have to fight against them, but that requires time, and ours is running out. We should prepare to face them. We can’t go in blindly anticipating nothing more than human soldiers.”

  Their faces were grim.

  Declan stood. “Take the rest of the day to discuss amongst yourselves and your people. We’ll reconvene first thing tomorrow and make our decision.”

  Everyone left the room, leaving Declan and me behind. I walked over to where he stood and took a seat on the table in front of him as he resumed his seat in the chair.

  He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  I knew what he was really asking. Was I sure I wanted to kill my mother? Because either she died, or I did. There wasn’t a world where the two of us could coexist anymore.

  She would keep hurting the people I cared about. She would keep trying to get to me.

  “Yes.” There was no alternative.

  Declan nodded and reached out to me. He pulled me from the table into his lap and wrapped his strong muscular arms around me.

  “Once we go down this path, there is no turning back.”

  “I know.” I swallowed. “She gave me no choice.”

  15

  Now that the spelled cuff had fallen from Dia’s wrists, the gloves were coming off. We faced one another in the lower-level sparing room beneath the Compound. Arrangements needed to be made before we struck the H.A.C. so Declan was somewhere above working out the logistics of moving a force against them.

  He’d hinted I could join him in the preparations, and I knew he’d wanted me to, but I still didn’t fe
el right stepping into that role. The Pack needed a united front, and right now wasn’t the time for me to force myself on them.

  Their trust in me would grow with time.

  I didn’t want to overstep.

  Not right now at least.

  After yesterday’s attacks and the Clan meeting, the choice was made: we would strike tonight when darkness fell.

  We couldn’t afford to wait any longer than that.

  But every hour that ticked by was another hour Melody was in my mother’s clutches. It was another hour she was being held captive, trapped, abused, and experimented on for all I knew.

  It was killing me.

  Which led me to where I was right now. In the bowels of the Compound getting my ass kicked by Dia. To say it royally sucked was the understatement of a lifetime.

  “Is that all you’ve got?” Dia sneered as I wiped blood from the corner of my mouth.

  Inarus and Jason stood to the left of us, watching—Jason impassively and Inarus with weary tension. He shouldn’t have been out of bed. He was still recovering but had insisted on coming in case things got out of hand.

  Which given my and Dia’s feelings toward one another, was not only possible, but probable.

  The rules were simple and if you asked me, entirely unfair.

  We could use fists and we could use telekinesis. That was it.

  It was a crapshoot that left me at a severe disadvantage. I relied heavily on my pyrokinesis and skill with my twin daggers. Having neither had me overthinking my strikes and kept me on the defensive as Dia lashed out again and again.

  She fought dirty, easily yanking my feet out from under me by using telekinesis to pull at the soles of my boots or causing the matts beneath our feet to roll like ocean waves.

  I’d been smacked in the face with more inanimate objects than I could count and she never let me get close enough to punch her, which was all I could think about as fury coursed through my veins.

  “I’m just warming up,” I spat.

  Dia’s grin widened “Well, hurry up already. I thought I’d get a workout today and I’m barely breaking a sweat.”