by Sienna Aylen
* * * *
The moment they stormed through the door to the main house carrying Emma, unconscious and covered in blood, Tessa jumped up from the couch and rushed forward. One blink later, another woman appeared out of thin air. Silver hair and blue eyes pierced through the scene with keen observation. One look at Emma and she disappeared as though she had never been there in the first place. Damien almost thought he imagined her…that is, until she reappeared a moment later clutching a petite blonde’s arm.
They set the gurney down in the middle of the living room, where the small blonde shooed the men back, except for Damien, who knelt at Emma’s head. Hands on either side of her face, he cradled her head with shaking fingers. Blood streaked her pale skin, dried trails mixed with fresh rivulets meandering down her sloping cheeks. He couldn’t hold back the soft moans of despair that his bear let loose. The whole room was deathly silent. Heads dipped in respect for the fallen Council member.
The others retreated to the kitchen table. They joined a weeping Stella, who stood off to the side. Aaron pulled her into his arms, her head against his chest. Not one word was spoken as the other Council members surrounded their fallen sister.
Everything happened in slow motion for Damien. The smaller woman stepped forward and threw her gloves off and to the side. Kneeling down, she placed both hands on the center of Emma’s chest. Closing her eyes, she moved her lips silently. Damien couldn’t catch the words but he knew they weren’t spoken in English.
A bright light glowed underneath her dainty hands where they lay on Emma’s torso. Gwen, Tessa and what he could only assume was another one of her sisters stood above them. Linking hands, they began to chant. Their voices lilted and harmonized in the ancient tongue. As they rose in volume, a brisk wind blew open the door to the house, entering and lifting the ends of the women’s hair. The fresh breeze never touched him or Emma but took away the scent of death and replaced it with the scent of the forest. Of home.
With a flash, they opened their eyes to reveal an eerie and yet stunning vibrant green light that radiated from their irises. As their chanting gained strength, the light emanating from the tiny blonde’s hands grew brighter.
Taking her hands from Emma’s chest, the blonde woman peeled the pressure bandages away from torn flesh and placed one of her hands on top of the bloody gashes. The teeth that had pierced her had cut all the way down to the bone, leaving her flesh in shreds and gaping wide to reveal the once-hidden muscles and bones underneath. The parted flesh stitched itself together, weaving together one tissue fiber at a time.
They were healing Emma, all of them. He didn’t know how they managed it but he knew they were lending their sister their strength, helping the small blonde newcomer take away her wounds and close the gaping raw edges with surgical precision.
When the worst of the gashes were almost healed, the stranger transferred her attention to Emma’s head. Placing one hand on her forehead, the woman whispered under her breath. Damien watched wide-eyed as the blood on Emma’s face stopped flowing and the trails that had been dripping down her face appeared on the blonde’s face instead. Identical tracks of blood leaked from every available place. Eyes, ears, nose and mouth were soon covered in the same crimson stains Emma bore.
The vivid light faded from their eyes as the women dropped to the floor. Even the petite blonde looked as if she was going to keel over but before she could, Gwen grabbed her shirt and pulled her away from Emma with a quick jerk. “Enough, Aslynn. She’ll live.”
Leaning down, Damien brushed Emma’s forehead with a kiss. Her chest rose steadily as her breathing strengthened.
He sent up a prayer of thanks.
They had saved Emma’s life. But it had drained all of them in the process. All the sisters had bloodshot eyes that matched the crimson lines of blood seeping from their noses and ears. The one they called Aslynn had a bloodstain on her shoulder that widened and seeped down the side of her arm, staining the shirt as it went and leaving a long and horrific trail of red in its wake.
He didn’t even know to begin dealing with any of this. The healing, the wounded Council members, the rogue Clan member, and most importantly Emma’s still critical state… All he knew was that he was in for the longest night of his life.
* * * *
The next morning found Damien pacing next to his bed, waiting for Emma to wake up. He hadn’t slept after they’d brought her up to their room. How could he? Not until she woke up. She had to wake up. He was afraid to touch her, she seemed so frail. The skin that was normally a vibrant hue was now pallid and drawn with fatigue. Eyes that had looked up at his with such pleasure and affection were now sunken and framed with rims of black.
One giant bandage covered her shoulder and back while another wrapped around her left calf. Both were tinged with red where the blood was clotting. One needle pierced the vein in her arm, dispensing fresh blood into Emma’s body. The tube ran up to a bag of blood.
Striding across the floor, Damien then stopped beside his bed. With infinite gentleness, he sank down onto the edge of the mattress and extended one hand to push back a strand of flame-red hair that had fallen into Emma’s face. Emma murmured in her sleep and instinctively turned her face into his rough palm.
She was here, in their bed.
Emma will live.
Renewed moisture clouded his vision, wet droplets of relief cascading down his cheeks. She would live. He had thought that he’d lost her. The light to his darkness. His Emma.
Brushing his lips across hers, Damien whispered, “I love you, Emma.”
The fog was thick, penetrating every crevice of her vision. The searing pain that had been present in her arm and leg was now a dull throb. A touch. A warmth on her cheek.
A caress against her lips. Turning her head, she leaned into it, wanting more of it.
Struggling with the effort, Emma slowly pried open her crusty eyelids, succeeding in lifting them up the barest of cracks. A hulking figure sat on the edge of the bed. Damien.
Trying her parched throat, she cracked out one faint word. “Hey.”
When he raised his face, she could see the damp trails that stained his cheeks. Using her uninjured arm, she brushed the backs of her fingers across his skin, the gesture depleting her energy.
Grabbing her wrist gently but firmly, he didn’t contain his growl. “You’re never going to go off alone like that again, Emma. I don’t care if that is how you’re used to doing things, from now on, you don’t go into the forest without an escort. Period.”
Biting back her immediate snarky response to his growled demand, she took a moment to really look at his face. Dark circles ringed his eyes, as though he hadn’t gotten any sleep at all. Worry etched the features, worry and fear. Wiggling her wrist out of his grip, she hooked her fingers in the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward.
When their lips met, Emma let Damien take the lead. There was the faintest hint of salt on his lips. Gasping at the heated contact, she was relieved when Damien took the hint and sent his tongue to duel with her own. When he let his weight lean farther into the side of the bed, she couldn’t contain her slight wince of pain. He pulled back immediately but not before she grabbed hold of his arm.
Her voice was hoarse even to her own ears. “Damien, I’m going to be fine, I promise. This isn’t the first time I’ve been injured. I managed to snap a few tendons in his spine. I doubt he’ll ever regain the use of his left leg again. He had to drag it away when he heard you coming. It should be easy to identi—”
Emma quieted when Damien placed one finger on her lips with a fierce scowl. “Right now, you’re out of commission. You’re not working. At all. Your sisters and I will finish this. You’re not leaving this bed or even lifting a finger until you’re healed. Don’t even think about getting up on your own because I won’t hesitate to paddle your ass if you test me on this. I’m not going to get over this any time soon. You almost died, Emma. You went off half-cocked on your own and would be dead ri
ght now if we hadn’t found you in time. Your heart stopped beating.” Even as he chastised her, he brought a glass of water to her parched lips and helped her take a sip.
Emma leaned back into the pillows. “Damien…”
The door opened and a pasty-looking Aslynn strode in. The bare edge of a bandage peeked out of the collar of her shirt. Even as Aslynn approached the bed to check Emma’s pulse, Damien stood up and mumbled a hasty, “I’ll be back later to check on you,” before walking out and silently shutting the door behind him.
Emma felt an unbidden tear slip from her eye and roll off the side of her face. She whispered to Aslynn, “He’s furious with me.”
Aslynn looked up from her watch, where she was timing Emma’s pulse. “Angry, yes, I suppose he is. But it comes from a place of worry and relief. It was bad, Em, really bad. You lost a ridiculous amount of blood and if Bella hadn’t gotten me when she did, you wouldn’t be here right now. This bag here is your third transfusion. I warned you about using your powers like that. You ripped open the lesions that were starting to close and made new ones. If you weren’t halfway dead right now, I’d rip you a new one myself.
“What in the world possessed you to go off alone like that? I could see Jade, Bella or even Esmeralda doing that since their gifts are offensive, but yours and mine are defensive. We know how to fight, sure, but neither one of us has enough physical strength to fight off a bear five times larger than we are. I agree with Damien wholeheartedly, it was reckless of you to go on your own.”
Closing her eyes for a moment, Emma gathered her thoughts. Why had she done it? She could have called Damien or some of the other men to go with her. She could have even just waited until it was all over and gone up to the ridge in the daylight to read the rocks. But she hadn’t. She’d gone alone. She hadn’t wanted anyone else to get hurt…she had been protecting her people.
“I was just so angry. He was shooting at the kids. I kept thinking that if I could just get up there, I could end it before anyone else got hurt,” she whispered miserably. The pain was returning with her increased consciousness. Epicenters of burning pain were pulsing in her head, shoulder and leg, spreading the fires up and down along her nerve endings.
Pulling out a hypodermic needle, Aslynn gently tugged off the cap and pushed the tip into the fleshy part of Emma’s arm. “I’m giving you a local painkiller. I would just go in and heal the pain, but as you can see your wounds were more than I expected. I still have to heal my own portion of it before I can help you more. That means you’re officially on bed rest for at least a week. Sitting up on a couch is fine as well but you aren’t to do any lifting at all with this arm. Doctor’s orders.”
Lifting one finger, she pointed it at Emma’s face. “And I swear if I even hear of you using your powers in any way within the next month, I’ll come back over here and knock your ass out with enough sedative to drop an elephant.”
Once she’d released the medicine from the needle, Aslynn placed the used instrument into a small biohazard box she carried in her purse. “You have a Fated now, Em. Your decisions always need to include him. He needs to be your first priority from now on. Don’t neglect him for our unending string of jobs. There will always be another battle to fight, another evildoer to fell. But you will never get another Fated and you won’t get any time you miss with him back. Think about that and rest now.”
The ring of truth in Aslynn’s words followed Emma into her fitful slumber.
* * * *
He should be up there with his mate. With Emma. Watching over her, even while she slept. But he couldn’t, not now. Not when his emotions were all over the place. Anger, frustration, relief and a sense of helplessness all warred within him for supremacy. He was just as likely to yell at her as he was to be sympathetic to her wounds.
Dear god, he had almost lost her.
Aslynn had told him of the extent of her injuries. His Emma had ripped open the lesions even farther than they had been before and she’d added some new ones. According to Aslynn, it looked like a patchwork quilt underneath Emma’s skull, and he was on full orders to keep her contained and on total bed rest.
His vixen was in so much trouble, he didn’t even know where to begin.
What did you think was going to happen? We mated a Council member, remember? She isn’t going to just blend seamlessly into Clan life. There’ll be an adjustment period. You need to be easy with her because she’s been through enough in the last day.
Damien snorted at the patient response from his bear. Of everyone, he’d expected his bear would be the most upset, but he had surprised him by being calm since the moment he’d known Emma would be all right. The thirst for blood was still there but it was in the background. Emma came first, and now that she was stable, he could breathe. The traitor would be dealt with, there was no question about that.
Damien wasn’t stupid. Of course, he knew they were going to have bumps along the way. She was used to doing things on her own—it was more than likely that she just hadn’t thought to ask for any help or backup because she wasn’t used to having any available.
But that wouldn’t be an excuse anymore. She wasn’t going to go anywhere at all in the forest until this guy was caught, and even then, he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight for at least a year. She could take an extended leave of absence from her job. There wasn’t a chance he would let her use her powers now, not when she’d reopened the lesions. He’d forbid it.
They’d never agreed about her job or whether or not she would continue to do it. He had just assumed she’d quit once their mating was official. There were eight other women who could continue to do the jobs. Emma didn’t need to keep putting herself in the line of fire.
But what if she didn’t want to give it up? Would he be able to handle it if she wanted to go off and keep working assignments that would take her away from him? Ones that could end her life. He didn’t think he would survive it.
They had a lot to talk about once she woke up. She wasn’t going to lift one single finger for at least the next week, not one. He would personally see to it.
The door to his office cracked open and a face he hadn’t seen in over a year came into view. Perfectly coifed blonde hair sat atop a head he knew to be full of greed and vanity. Not even bothering to stand up at her entrance, Damien leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his lap to keep from reaching out and strangling the woman.
“Petra. What are you doing here? I told you not to come back into my territory.”
With one manicured hand, Petra waved to the papers that cluttered his desk. “You always were a messy one, especially in the bedroom. That’s one thing I don’t miss. My mother came to see me. Told me the Clan was falling apart now that you’ve shacked up with the red-headed bitch. I came here to warn you, there are forces out there you have no concept of. You won’t be Alpha here much longer. That woman of yours will be dead, as will you if you stand in their way. If you’re keeping the girl here, I suggest you give her to them. They’ll stop at nothing to get her back, although the two boys they couldn’t care less about.”
Standing up with a jerk, Damien marched around his desk until there were only a few inches separating him from his former lover. His voice was soft but full of menace, snapping her attention to the implacable lines of his face with a low growl.
“First off, if you ever refer to my mate as a bitch again, I will personally shred that pretty face of yours, family ties be damned. Second, I am Alpha of this territory and as such, I officially banish you from the Clan entirely. I never want to see your face again. If you even step foot onto any of the territories, you’ll be killed on sight. Now get the fuck out of my house.”
A delicate cough brought both of their attentions to the door. Tessa’s tired gaze was trained on Petra’s face, her mouth turned down in a grimace. “Damien, I was just coming to tell you that Aslynn left.” With determined strides, Tessa closed in on Petra’s personal space. Meeting her eyes squarely, Tessa lowe
red her voice. “I’d say nothing but it’d be cruel of me not to at least warn you. The path you’re on will only lead to death. If you continue what you’re doing, you won’t even live long enough to get wrinkles. Tread carefully with those you trust, because they won’t hesitate to kill you if you become a liability.”
With a delicate snort, Petra took two steps toward the door before turning back to Damien. “We could have been great together, Damien. Ruled the entire region. It’s too bad that you won’t be around to see what happens to the territory you love so much.”
Once the door shut behind Petra, Tessa scowled. It mimicked Emma’s frown almost perfectly. “What a whore. She’ll regret it.” With one finger, Tessa pointed to her temple for emphasis. “If she doesn’t change that attitude she won’t last more than a year or two. I can’t believe you used to date that woman, Damien. Was your brain on hiatus or something when you two hooked up?”
Running one hand over his face, Damien replied, “Something like that.”
* * * *
A few hours later, Hunter opened the door to Damien’s office with a flourish and strode in as if he owned the place. “So I did a headcount like you asked, and guess who was missing this morning. You’ll get a kick out of this.”
Shaking his head irritably, Damien snarled, “Who?”
Sitting down and propping his ankle on the opposite knee, Hunter appeared completely relaxed, but Damien could sense the danger that lurked beneath the easygoing façade. “Why, it’s our little friends Gene and Rafe. According to the rumors, Rafe’s been hooking up with your ex. Petra sure does get around. It’s about time you officially banned her ass from the territory. She’s a viper.” His voice dropped to a deep growl. “Neither Rafe nor Gene have checked in since last night. Wait for it… Ask me who was on duty to set up the fireworks.”