Ridden by Darkness

by Michelle, Christine

  “Ew! I can’t unhear these things, and you must know we’re all eavesdropping. You’re just arguing in the middle of the kitchen. Bleh!”

  “Well, if you’re all done being children,” Charisma interjected. “I’d like to go on our run now. If we don’t leave soon, we won’t make it back by Dad’s curfew.” The last bit came out curtly. I was really starting to not like this bitch very much.

  Like her or not, with one last kiss from my sweet Moonbeam, the girls were off grabbing some quick snacks for their exclusive little expedition. I locked eyes with Bomber once more, and nodded my head in the direction of the office, indicating that he should follow.

  When we entered the room we used for church, I shut the door so that we would actually have some privacy, and then Bomber and I sat down at the round table and sighed in sync.

  “Are we really going to send them out there without any protection?” I asked, not feeling entirely comfortable with the girl’s plans. Love had really made me soft.

  “Fuck no!” Bomber shouted. “That’s my sister out there. But if they can sense one of us in the woods, they’ll know that we’re keeping tabs on them. That’s why we’re going to send some prospects out to grab cut down some wood for a bonfire tomorrow night. They won’t follow the girls, but they will end up close enough that they can keep an eye and ear out for the girls. We’re at an advantage with their destination most likely being the river since it’s at the bottom of a big hill. If the girls catch on, the prospects will bitch to them about the grunt work they’re being forced to do for the ‘sending off’ party we’re throwing for them. If it’s not you, me, Brace, or Knox, I don’t think they’ll even worry about a few guys walking around.”

  “Well thank God you had a plan, because I did not like the idea of us just sending them out there without protection. Let’s go tell the prospects and get them out there before the girls even get a chance to leave, so it looks more organic.”

  If only I’d just listened to my gut and not let them go. I would rather have Chantal mad at me, hell, I’d rather have held her kicking and screaming against her will, than let her go if I’d known that my worries were valid.

  23

  I thought my run earlier in the week had been spectacular, but compared to the run I was on now, that was nothing.

  Freely moving through the woods with my sisters on either side of me was exhilarating. I felt whole. Seeing them as their shadow cats, sensing the aura of energy that came with the three of us being together in our animal form, that was an entirely new and exciting feeling. I worried for years that we’d lost any and all of our triplet connections, but I could feel them now, as if it had simply been unplugged the entire time, and we’d just been reconnected. In a way, I supposed we had, since this was the first time our animals were able to be together again.

  When we reached the top of the hill, I decided to test our old psychic abilities to see if they were actually there, or if the aura that I was feeling was entirely in my head, from the adrenaline caused by the run or something.

  “Let’s race down to the river, losers.” I didn’t say the words out loud, but I projected them into the atmosphere around us with all of the power I could muster. They must’ve understood because they both looked toward me and grunted their acknowledgments. It was the only encouragement I needed to take off toward the cool water that awaited. They both took off with me as we barreled toward the edge of the water so quickly that any onlooker could miss us entirely if they blinked for too long.

  At the edge of the water, I leapt into the air, shifting into my human form, before crashing into the deeper part of the river like a cannonball. I felt another splash beside me almost instantly, but I knew I’d won the race. I picked my head up out of the water and looked around. Charlotte came up for air, but it was then that I realized Charisma didn’t shift and jump into the water with us.

  “Come on, you big pussy!” I joked, giving her a loud ‘meow’ and mocking her as she continued to sit along the edge of the bank in her shadow cat form. Charlotte laughed along with me, but only for a second because Charisma never joined in. I looked up to meet her eyes, and I saw something in them that I wasn’t expecting.

  She looked as if she were about to hunt. “What the-” I was cut off before I could even finish questioning her, by the sudden searing pain in the back of my neck. Almost instantly, the world began to move more slowly. I reached my arm around my head to feel for what had punctured my skin, and felt the tip of what could only be a dart of some sort. How had I not heard or sensed another person before, where I could now sense two, no- three? I was normally better than most at sensing danger before it could overcome me, but this was twice now that I had lost. I tried to turn my head to determine where the shot had come from, but before my eyes could catch up with my head, I fell forward into the water, as everything went black.

  24

  Feeling useless was a bullshit waste of energy, and I damn sure wasn’t used to losing arguments. Hell, I still wasn’t used to having a woman that could make me feel so many new emotions every single day, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Everything I’d been told throughout my life about what it would be like to find my mate was nothing compared to the reality of it. I always felt connected to her, like she was my other half walking around in a separate body. My awareness of her presence, even when she was nowhere near me, allowed me to feel her emotional state at any given time.

  Her presence disappeared entirely, and no matter what I tried, I could no longer sense my mate. My love. For a moment, everything went black, then I felt a pain unmatched by anything I’d ever felt before. It was as if my soul was being ripped in half.

  “What the hell is going on?” Bomber asked me, bringing me back to reality. I shook my head trying to clear my vision, and when I could finally see, it was to look up into Bomber’s violet-hued eyes. I must’ve passed out, which wasn’t something shifters did without aid of some serious drugs like the Super-K shit we had recently acquired.

  “Chantal!” I shouted, moving to stand before my body was ready, causing me to fall back down. Frustrated, I let out a loud growl that shook the ground beneath me. Knox ran into the room, and with Bomber’s help, he was able to get me into an upright position. I continued to hold my head in my hands. Confusion, dizziness, and immense pain swamped me, but even that was nothing in comparison to the reason for it. Chantal was in trouble, and I never should’ve let the girls leave without me there to protect them.

  “Hey!” Knox commanded. “I need you to snap back to reality and tell me what’s going on. What’s wrong with Chantal?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t feel her anymore, it’s like-” my voice broke trying to enunciate my full thought. “It’s like she’s just gone. We need to find her, I think she’s hurt.” I couldn’t state out loud what I was really thinking, because it couldn’t be true. She couldn’t really be gone. There had to be a reason I couldn’t feel her anymore. A reason that didn’t mean she was gone forever, because I couldn’t accept that. I wouldn’t. There was no life without my mate in it.

  Knox was on his phone immediately, and whoever he called must’ve picked up on the first ring or two. “What’s happening with the girls?” I couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end of the line, probably because of whatever was happening with Chantal that was sapping my strength and stipping my senses from me. It took that thought and the phone call to acknowledge my senses weren’t working properly. All I could think to do was shit, to see if that would heal whatever was going wrong with me and put me back in touch with the pieces of me I would need in order to get my mate back. She was gone, but something deep inside told me that there was no way she was dead. Instead, it was as if our bond had been broken somehow.

  “What the hell do you mean?” A pause. “FUCK! Get back here NOW!” Knox yelled, as he angrily hung up.

  “What’s happening, what do we need to do?” Bomber asked anxiously.

  “Chantal and the girls ar
e missing. Prospects said they were hanging out by the tree line at the top of the hill, and that one second the girls were there by the river, and the next second, they were gone. They couldn’t see them, or even sense a presence nearby. Not just the girls, he couldn’t sense anyone. He never felt another being there at all.”

  “What the fuck does that even mean? Where is she?” I screamed. The gravity of the situation had begun to sink in, making me furious, but able to tap into more of myself at the same time.

  “We don’t know, but we’re going to find her, I promise you that.”

  “I never should’ve let her go. Fuck, fuck FUCK!” My whole body shook with rage, even as a searing pain in my chest made it feel as though I was dying.

  “I know this is a shit situation, but I need you to pull your head out of your ass, and fight that pain! You’re the best man to help me find Chantal because whether you feel it right this second or not, you still have a connection with her. I need you ready to ride at the first sign of new information. Let’s head outside, you can shift and see if you sense her in your animal form, and then we can meet up with the prospects to see if they know anything more. I haven’t known them long enough to count them out as suspects, but I doubt they would have answered the phone if that were the case.” Knox finished as I followed him and Bomber out of the clubhouse, where I shifted immediately. Being in my leopard form gave me a clarity that wasn’t there moments before, but it did little to ease my aching heart because I still couldn’t feel her. Where the hell was my Moonbeam?

  I shifted and slipped back into my clothes as I saw the prospects approaching the clubhouse. Just behind them, Brace and Betina followed, all of them moving briskly. Brace was the first to speak.

  “I was out there too, boss,” he addressed Knox. “Betina and I had gone for a walk alone, though we were both aware the other girls were out there. I felt all of them just vanish from all of my abilities to sense other beings. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was as if something out of those witch stories my mom used to tell me had come to pass. People don’t just fade from existence without so much as a trace, especially in the world of shifters.”

  “I might actually know what happened here, it just didn’t click until you said that,” Betina told us absently, almost as if she was lost in thought.

  “What do you mean, babe?” Brace asked. I could feel Bomber stiffen beside me as the endearment slipped freely from Brace’s mouth, but the issue between the two of them was something they were going to have to table for later unless they wanted to lose their heads. I was about to rip everyone in my vicinity to shreds if someone didn’t say something really valuable really soon.

  “You said something about a witch. Raven’s sister is the only witch I know, and she works closely with the council of feline shifters. I’m not sure if she was capable of this, but it can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

  “I highly doubt it, but I didn’t even think witches were real, or a part of the shifter community. They were just for stories.”

  “Most humans would find it hard to believe that shifters were real. Is it really that far-fetched to think that the stories we’ve all been told about witches are true? It’s the only lead we’ve got right now, and any path that brings us back to Raven makes the most sense. Plus, at the end of the day, they did disappear. Even Gray couldn’t sense Chantal anymore, and they’re mated.” Betina stated, causing me to flinch. She was right, I couldn’t, and I fucking hated myself for it right now.

  “Someone just tell me what we’re going to do to get her back, please,” I pleaded as the hollow ache in my chest threatened to take me out of the game completely.

  25

  The strong scent of burning sage and lavender coaxed me into prying my eyes open. My eyelids felt so heavy, as if each of my lashes were being weighed down with pins. It was impossible to tell where I was, but I could sense that Charlotte was nearby. As the seconds ticked by, and my body adjusted to being awake, awareness of my pain levels also set in. My throat was so dry, it felt like someone had poured sand in my mouth and forced me to swallow it. All of my joints were on fire, and my head was throbbing, all likely due to severe dehydration. I tried to silently take inventory of how my body was feeling without revealing that I was awake, but when I tried to move one of my hands ever so slightly, I realized that I was tied down, causing my heart rate to spike, thus giving me away.

  “Impressive. I wasn’t expecting you to be awake for another few hours.” I didn’t recognize the voice, but I could tell that it belonged to a woman, and I could hear the sincerity in her words. “You’re wondering who I am.” It wasn’t a question. “My name is Solarin. I am Raven’s sister. I believe you two have already met.”

  Well shit.

  I finally got my eyes to stay open long enough to be able to take note of the room around me. Charlotte, who was tied down to another gurney-style bed across the room, still didn’t appear to be awake yet. I worried though, because she was closer to the woman who called herself Solarin. Even though all she was doing was sitting in a chair and reading a book, I wasn’t fooled. She was the reason we were here, and therefore an immediate threat to our survival.

  As if reading my mind, Solarin spoke up again. “She’s not as strong as you are. It’ll be awhile before she wakes up, but she’ll be fine. Neither of you are in danger.” I scoffed at that.

  “Sure,” I answered sarcastically. “You have the best of intentions. That’s why it took a damn dart to the neck to get me here! If I’m not to be harmed, why the FUCK am I tied up?”

  “Oooh, I love the attitude, darling. You’re spicy. No wonder Raven picked you. Unfortunately, you’ve made your distaste for my brother quite clear, hence the blitz attack to get you here. I get it though, I really do. He can be a bit… forward when he wants something, and for some reason, he wants you instead of your more than willing sister.” She looked at me contemplatively for a moment. “I have to say, I do like you a bit more than your sister. She lacks your spunk. Between you and me, if my brother has to have one of you, I’d much rather it be someone with a little personality. Charisma is more bland than white rice.” Solarin erupted in a fit of laughter at her own not-so-funny joke.

  “Solarin, you really are such a bitch, you know that?” My head snapped up instantly when I heard her voice.

  “Charisma? Are you okay?” I yelled frantically, pulling as hard as I could at my restraints so that I could run to my sister. A chill snaked through my spine as my sister started laughing at me.

  “Me? I’m absolutely fine. Then again, I’m not the one in restraints right now, am I?” This couldn’t be right.

  “What the fuck is going on?” I spewed angrily, to which she responded by laughing even louder.

  “You’ll find out soon enough. I would hate to waste my own energy and time explaining things to you, only to have to do it all again for our sister dearest when she wakes up. I’m boring myself just thinking about it.” She tacked on a fake yawn for good measure, and I felt as though I’d just been smacked clear across my face by her words. This couldn’t be real, could it? “I just came to check on things, and I can see that I was a bit premature with my visit. Solarin, call me when my other sister is up. Then we can have our real reunion, the one I’ve been waiting for.” With that, she was gone, and I was left to contemplate the bleak situation Charlotte and I appeared to be in. They wanted me to mate with Raven? Still? I was already mated to Gray, and there was no way that I’d participate in bonding with that coward.

  ‘Snap out of it, Chantal,’ I thought to myself. There has to be a way out of this situation. I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Twisting my hands around the restraints only led me to believe it was a fruitless endeavor. There had to be some sort of silver in the bindings to make them as resistant to preternatural strength as they were. My next logical step was to shift into my leopard, as I would be at my strongest as well as freed from the restraints considering my paw size in comparison to m
y human hands. No matter how hard I focused, the shift never came, and my leopard was actually unusually quiet within me too. That’s when the true panic set in. I tried again, but still nothing.

  “You can’t shift in here. No one can. Once you enter this room, you’re stuck in whatever form you were already in until you leave again.” Solarin informed me, as if reading my mind, or maybe my infernal attempts, once more. “I’ve told you that you’re not in danger here, and there’s really no way for you to escape, so you might as well relax. Maybe take a nap until your sister wakes up and the other one comes back to monologue you to death.”

  Giving up felt like the wrong thing to do, but I couldn’t shift, and I was tied down too well to escape in my human form. I’d be damned if I was going to fall asleep voluntarily in a place like this, but I did decide to relax and conserve my energy. At some point, they were going to have to remove me from these bindings, and when that happened, I would be ready. I kept my eyes shut and focused my entire being on Gray. I called out to him with my soul, and although I couldn’t feel our connection anymore, I knew he was out there, and by now, he had to know I was missing. I prayed that he would feel my cry for help, even as understanding dawned that I wouldn’t feel a response from him. The magic in this room that kept us bound to one form also seemed to dim or nullify my bond with my mate. I hoped for the both of us that it was just the effect of the room and not something that had been done to me with far worse repercussions.

  26

  With some help from Betina, we were able to determine that the most likely place Raven would’ve taken the girls was only about an hour away from the clubhouse. Betina had been living with the council since she was rescued by one of the older members, Gentry, as a child. Apparently, he rescued her and raised her much like his own daughter, while hiding her away from her supposed mate, who claimed her against her will when she was only 12-years-old. Hiding from your mate was nearly impossible because once the bond was complete, whether it was voluntary or not, one could always sense the other. Every so often, Gentry took Betina to a witch named Solarin, Raven’s sister as it turns out, and she helped to conceal Betina from her mate. This morning, I didn’t even know that witches were real, and now I was finding out that they were very real, they were close by, and one of them was hiding Chantal from me. When I got there, anyone standing between me and my mate was going to have their throat ripped out.