The Burning Claw

by Quinn Loftis

  She looked back at the other two ladies. Jacque was smiling, but it seemed strained.

  Jacque’s head tilted slightly to the side. She took a breath before finally asking, “How was your night?”

  Jen stared at the rumpled bed and the smells of the previous night’s events hit her like speeding train. She knew she had smelled Jericho as soon as she walked in, and she also thought she had caught a whiff of lust as well. She had been right.

  “I’m going to check on Jen,” she heard Peri say.

  As soon as the high fae walked into the room, Jen growled, “Block our conversation please.”

  “Okay, speak,” Peri told her.

  “She slept with him,” she said as she turned to face Peri. Jen pointed at the bed. “Jericho was in that bed with her last night and they weren’t sleeping, sleeping.” Jen was growling. Her wolf was pissed. Sally was the gypsy healer to the Serbian pack. She was also Jen’s best friend. In short, Sally was hers, not Jericho’s.

  “She did it willingly?” Peri asked.

  “I don’t know. She looked pretty agitated when we came in.” Jen pointed out.

  “Let’s go find out.”

  They both entered the living room to find Jacque interrogating Sally about the previous evening. Sally was doing a great job dodging the questions. Peri walked past the chair where Sally sat and, just as she passed, she stopped, turned, and looked down at Sally. “What’s that?” She pointed at the beautiful bracelet on her arm.

  Sally blushed. “Jericho got it for me.”

  “Can I see it?” Peri asked. “I’ve never seen chocolate diamonds in real life. My man’s too cheap.”

  Sally held out her arm and watched as Peri took it off. Jen was looking at Peri when she heard Sally’s gasp.

  Peri’s eyes snapped to their friend. “Feel better?”

  Sally shook her head. “No. I feel…less foggy. But by no means better.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jacque asked in an encouraging voice.

  Sally’s lip trembled as she spoke. “I think I made a huge mistake last night.”

  They nodded, telling her to go on.

  “I slept with Jericho.”

  Peri glared down at the bracelet in her hand. The magic on it had pissed her off. But hearing Sally say she’d slept with the wolf who gave it to her enraged her. Once again, this magic had the taint of Alston all over it. When she got her hands on him, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Viewer discretion advised for anyone under the age of three centuries.

  “It was consensual?” Peri asked her.

  Sally paled. “Y-yes. Jericho didn’t force himself on me. But I feel like I’ve—” She stopped and gasped. Just like the previous night, pain bolted through her head.”

  That’s what you think, Peri thought to herself. But he didn’t use physical force. He forced himself through the use of another’s magic. How will you feel when you know that, Healer?

  “Are the headaches getting worse?” Peri asked her.

  “He used magic to mate with her?” Lucian snarled in her mind. Oh crap, Peri thought. Gotta start remembering to close that stupid bond occasionally.

  “I’m handling it.” Peri tried to ignore her mate and focus on Sally. Things were starting to click and Peri had a feeling that the sky was about to fall.

  “He deserves to know where she is. It’s gone too far, Peri. Another male has taken what belongs to her and to her mate. And he knows she has a true mate. His life is forfeit and the kill belongs to Costin.”

  “I will bring him here,” she told him, “but I’ll need to get Sally to the bar first.” She pulled back so she could focus on the matter at hand.

  “Out of a strange curiosity, Sally,” Peri asked, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it to begin with. “Do you have a tattoo on your back?”

  Sally’s brow drew together. “No.”

  “Could I” —she paused and shrugged— “check? I know, I’m a weirdo. Humor me.”

  Sally was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. Peri hated doing it, but she used a bit of her power to convince Sally that the girl wanted nothing more than to show Peri her back.

  Sally stood and turned around. Peri reached forward and pulled the fabric up. She bit back quick intake of breath. The markings, which had been nonexistent for the past several months that Sally had been living in Oceanside, were beginning to show again. At the moment, they looked almost like a watermark on a piece of paper. Very, very, faint, but there. She dropped the shirt and stepped back.

  Sally turned back around and seemed too distracted to ask Peri if she’d seen anything strange.

  “I work tonight, but I need to talk to Jericho before my shift,” Sally told them. “I know it’s childish, but would you all come with me?”

  “Of course, we will,” Jen said nodding at her. “Hoes before bros, right?”

  Jacque groaned. “Don’t even get started with that mess again.”

  They walked to The Doghouse in tense silence. Sally was a mess and she wasn’t good at hiding her emotions. The proof came as they walked into the bar and Jericho laid eyes on her. He hopped over the bar and was standing before her in an instant.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked her in a voice that made it clear how he felt about her. Peri could tell he wasn’t faking. Jericho was in love with Sally. He was also very, very dead.

  “Can we talk?” Sally asked softly.

  He nodded and led her back behind the counter. They watched as he wrapped his arms around her and attempted to comfort her.

  “I need to step outside,” Jen growled. “If I have to watch him touch her like that, especially after what he did, I might kill him right now. And he’s not mine to kill.”

  “That’s what Lucian said,” Peri told her. “You might turn around and kill him yourself after I tell you two this. What they did wasn’t consensual, at least not in the traditional sense. He used magic to get in her pants. The diamond bracelet had a spell on it that would ensure that she’d want him. Essentially, he gave her a magical date rape drug.”

  Jen snarled and turned to go back but Peri stopped her. “It’s Costin’s kill, remember?”

  “It’s kind of sad,” Jacque said. “It’s obvious that he loves her.”

  “He took a mated female, knowingly. He used magic to make her desire him, slept with her, and marked her damn neck,” Jen growled. “It’s like he wanted to die. He’s practically begging Costin to kill him.”

  “He marked her?” Jacque’s eyes were as wide as saucers.

  Jen nodded. “I didn’t see it until her shirt dipped a little when Jericho put his arms around her.”

  “Bloody hell,” Jacque whispered.

  “I need you guys to stay here and make sure douche bag doesn’t leave the bar, or that Cross character, as well.”

  “Wait,” Jen said. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to get her mate and the other males. This has gone too far,” she repeated her mate’s words. “Not only has her mind been violated, but now he’s violated her body. She’s going to have to live with that for the rest of her life.”

  Jacque gasped as the reality hit her and her hand snapped up to her mouth as if she was holding a scream in. “Why did he do it, Jen?” she asked through her hand.

  “I think she started out as an asset for the Burning Claw, and he was the means in which to draw her in. But somewhere along the way, he fell in love with her. And he took it too far.”

  “When Costin gets here it’s going to be bloodbath,” Jacque said. Jen nodded her agreement.

  Peri didn’t go straight to the wolves. First, she went to visit the Warlock King. She appeared in his great hall and yelled for him.

  “Did you have to scream that loudly?” Cypher said as he came storming in. “Is Lilly okay? And Jacque is she—”

  “Pipe down, warlock. They’re fine. I need your size and your fighting skills. We’re getting Sally out. Costin will be coming which means it’s going to get messy. I’m thinkin
g we will need extra manpower to hold him back when it’s time for that. You game?”

  “Of course, anything to help the wolves. Lead the way,” he told her.

  She grabbed his arm and flashed them both to the bridge where she’d left Decebel, Vasile, and Fane. She needed to move fast. The clock was ticking and she didn’t like leaving Sally with Jericho. The rogue wolf was obviously getting desperate. He had crossed a line and she wanted him to pay. To her shock, when she arrived, the three males were standing there talking to none other than Costin himself.

  “I know where she is,” Costin growled.

  “Cypher,” Vasile nodded to the king.

  “Yes, yes, say your hellos and then let’s go. Costin, you look crazy as hell, which at the moment is a good thing. Crazy people make other people nervous. And nervous people do stupid things. So own the crazy, bar boy, own the crazy.”

  She motioned them to gather around and gave a very, very watered down version of the events. She didn’t even touch on the whole Sally slept with Jericho piece of the puzzle. She needed Costin crazy, not a complete berserker—at least not at first.

  “Okay, so now that you’re filled in. Let’s get going.” She held out her arms and each of the males, even crazy Costin, placed a hand on her. As soon as each of them was touching her, she flashed back to Oceanside, a.k.a., the place where Jericho was about to meet his fate.

  Jen felt like Peri had only been gone for a couple of minutes when the fae reappeared on the sidewalk with a handful of very pissed off looking wolves and, to her surprise, the Warlock King to boot. Jen imagined that Peri must be using some serious fae voodoo to block them all from sight if she was able to appear like that in broad daylight.

  Decebel was in front of her a second after they appeared. He took her hands in his face and cupped her cheeks. His eyes soaked her in hungrily and his wolf growled. “Too long,” he told her. “We’ve been apart too long.”

  Jen didn’t have time to agree because Decebel’s lips had crashed into hers with bruising force. Good thing she healed quickly.

  “Please move,” said a voice thick with the need for violence and Jen pulled back from Dec to look around him. Costin stood about twenty feet from the door. Vasile and Cypher stood in front of him.

  “I can smell her.” Costin and his wolf were so in sync with each other that both of their voices came out at the same time. It was freaking scary.

  “Costin,” Jen spoke up. His eyes snapped to hers and Decebel tried to block her from the feral wolf. She pushed around him. “Let me and Jacque check on her first before you go in.” Jen was motioning for Jacque to go to the door.

  She looked at Jacque and mouthed “open it, peek in.”

  Jacque did, then pulled her head back out and the fear in her eyes told Jen enough. Jericho still had Sally wrapped in his arms. Then Jen remembered Jericho’s scent in her best friend’s room, the bracelet that allowed him to persuade her into bed with him, and the bite mark on her neck.

  She stepped aside. “You know what, on second thought, by all means. Go.”

  Decebel shot her a look. “I’ll fill you in.” Apparently, Peri hadn’t told them anything.

  Jen watched as Costin started forward. Vasile and Cypher flanked him on either side and Decebel and Fane stood next to her and Jacque. Peri was the first to enter. She flinched when she saw the position Jericho and Sally were in.

  She was seated up on the back of the bar and Jericho was between her legs with his arms wrapped around her. This was going to be bad.

  As soon as they were all in, Peri spoke loudly. “If you look at this man,” —she pointed to Costin who looked eerily calm— “and don’t know why he wants to kill that man,” —she pointed at Jericho— “then get out.”

  There were only a handful of patrons and they looked confused.

  “NOW,” Vasile boomed. They no longer looked confused. Now they looked like scurrying mice that had just realized that there was a herd of cats in the room.

  As soon as the last person was out the door, Costin put his hand on the deadbolt and turned it, locking them in. The clicking of the lock seemed to echo in the quiet room.

  “I think I’m going to pass out,” Jacque whispered to Jen.

  “Don’t you dare. Suck it up. Sally needs us.” What she didn’t add was, and we need to get Sally the hell out of the way now. Jericho was going down and Costin might not have enough control to keep from accidentally hurting his gypsy mate.

  Chapter 22

  “She takes my breath away. As soon as my hungry eyes land on her face, I feel my soul reaching for her. My wolf is desperate to get to her. She’s mine. We found her. Now everyone standing too close to her must die. Starting with the mangy wolf who had his hands on her.” ~Costin

  Sally was confused. As soon as she heard Peri’s voice, she had tried to get down off of the bar but Jericho wouldn’t move. He was standing in front of her like a shield, as if one of her friends would hurt her. She looked out at the other people—all very large men—who had entered with the girls. She felt as though she should know them, but the harder she tried to remember, the more painful her headache became.

  Something was wrong, that much was very clear. Each of the men looked ready to murder, especially the one directly in front of the front door. He looked downright terrifying. And each of them were staring directly at her and Jericho.

  “Move,” she told him, again trying to get down.

  “No,” he snapped back. “Be still.”

  Sally was about to tell him not to order her around, but the words froze in her throat at the sound of his voice.

  “Sally.”

  The dangerous one, the one with the dimple—he had spoken her name. Her named rumbled from his lips and filled the room as well as every empty place inside of her. Her breathing hitched as she began to feel the haze that had been there since the death of her parents clear.

  “Sally Miklos,” he called again.

  She had to look at him. She pushed Jericho’s upper body aside and he growled dangerously but she didn’t care. All she cared about was the man on the opposite side of the room.

  Her mouth dropped open as the flood gate of memories opened and crashed into her mind. Her eyes were wide as she continued to stare. “Costin,” she whispered and saw his shoulders tense.

  “Oh god, oh god, oh god.” It’s all she could say as her life before the weird alternate reality in Oceanside came pouring back over her. “Mate,” she said as the memory of their Blood Rites ceremony flashed through her mind. The moment that she uttered the word, she felt an invisible chord snap in place between her and Costin and the bond returned. How could she not have realized that it had been missing?

  “No!” Sally screamed as she tried to erect a wall in her mind but she was too weak. Costin had complete access. She couldn’t control what was playing through her mind. It was like a sick movie—a documentary meant to destroy her. He saw everything.

  Costin saw their first kiss, and then he saw her first kiss with Jericho. Costin saw every moment in his bar, playing and flirting. Then he saw her in Jericho’s bar, doing remarkably similar things. Costin saw the first time he touched her, and then he saw the first time that Jericho touched her. She couldn’t make it stop. She was like a child holding out her hands trying to stop a tsunami.

  She tore her eyes from his; her shame was practically choking her. She couldn’t breathe. Sally grasped at her throat and tried to suck in air. Jen, Jacque, and Peri were at her side in an instant. They pushed Jericho out of the way and pulled her to a table. She could feel Costin’s eyes on her, but she couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t stand to see the pain caused by her betrayal.

  “Sally, calm down,” Peri was telling her.

  “I-I didn’t r-r-remember,” she gasped. How the hell could she have possibly forgotten her mate and that there were such a thing as werewolves? Then something clicked. Her head snapped up and her eyes landed on Jericho. She heard Costin’s growl and felt his anger a
t her giving Jericho attention.

  “You knew,” she told him, grabbing his attention. Jericho was looking back and forth between Costin and her. “You knew, didn’t you?” she said again, pushing away from the table and taking a step toward him. She was stopped by Peri’s hand on her arm.

  “YOU KNEW I HAD A MATE,” Sally roared. She felt her own magic well up inside of her, returning like a long lost friend.

  “Sally,” Jericho began but she cut him off with a slice of her hand whipping out in front of her.

  “All this time. Through everything,” she growled the word and she knew that Jericho understood what she meant by everything. “You knew and you did it anyway.”

  She realized too late that when she’d said everything, she caused unbidden memories to flash through her mind. She tried to put up even a little bit of a wall but Costin was too strong. His wolf refused to let her erect any kind of barrier between them. She saw the minute that the memories of the night before registered. Rage like she’d never seen erupted out of him. She didn’t see him move; it was so fast. And then Peri, Jen, and Jacque were pulling her further away and down, wrapping their arms around her. Sally could hear muffled cries, but Jen’s voice was getting in the way.

  “Don’t look, Sally. Don’t look,” Jen said over and over. But Sally didn’t have to look. She had a front row view of Costin’s emotions. Somehow he managed to keep her from seeing how he was doing it, but she knew he was killing Jericho. Jericho had signed his death warrant the second he’d laid his hand on her in full knowledge that she had a true mate.

  Sally thought about the things that Costin had seen just before he attacked Jericho and she vomited. Right there, with her best friends wrapped around her, she wretched over and over.

  “Let it out, sweetie,” Jacque soothed.

  Her stomach churned at the memories of Jericho’s hands on her, undressing her, kissing her. “Oh, god!” she sobbed. It just wouldn’t end. She remembered Jericho lying on top of her, whispering in her ear, biting. She gasped. “OH SHIT.” It was then that she heard another roar from her mate, and Vasile and Decebel yelling for him to stop.