by Cooke, CJ
Kyle pulled back dropping small kisses down my neck before growling in my ear. “You like that, don’t you? I can smell your need, and it’s so sweet, my beautiful mate.”
He ran his hands up and down my sides, and I shivered at the touch of him. Sykes came up behind me, and I leant back into his chest as he added his hands to the caress of my body.
“You’re almost irresistible when you smell like this,” he groaned. I could feel his hard cock pushing against my back.
Liam came up beside us and turned my head to his lips, kissing me softly. I couldn’t help the whimper that crept up my throat. I loved it when they were all touching me. It made my magic purr inside me like a happy little Kitten.
Kyle shook his head and took a half step back. “We can’t get too distracted right now. You’re right. We need to know if anyone is pursuing us,” he sighed sadly at the end, dropping his head to look at the ground. I knew this was hard for him. When he looked back up, I could see the sadness in his eyes. “I hate watching you leave,” he whispered, and I went to him and hugged him.
Kyle coughed and stood up straighter. “You’ve got two hours. Please, please be careful,” he begged.
“You know I will,” I softly told him, running one hand across his cheek. He leant into my touch and sighed softly. I wondered if I had the same calming effect on them, as they did on my magic?
I quickly shifted, and before the guys could say anything else, I opened my wings and took to the sky. I knew it was hard for them to let me go off and do stuff like this on my own. It was getting harder for me too. The closer I got to them, the more protective I felt. It's like my magic had a mind of its own at times. It didn’t like the thought of the guys being in danger. Maybe it was like how they’d described their wolf as something separate to them. I needed to find the other Valkyrie so someone could explain the craziness that was my life at the minute.
I was only about half an hour out from the guys when I saw him darting through the trees. I’d only seen him in his wolf form briefly before, but I recognised Wyatt as he wove in and out of the trees, stopping briefly to scent the ground. Thankfully he was alone. I circled and landed directly in front of him. His wolf eyes glared at me.
“I’m glad you’re alone. Bit stupid on your part though,” I sneered at him. I didn’t draw a weapon yet. I wanted to see what he was going to do.
Wyatt turned back into his human form. “You shouldn’t have come,” he said, he almost looked distressed. “I wanted to be able to tell him I couldn’t find any of you.”
“What does he have on you?” I asked, cocking my head to one side. I couldn’t work Wyatt out, and this was the only option that made sense to me.
“I can’t,” he hissed through gritted teeth.
“You can’t tell me?” I asked him. He just nodded his head once. His jaw was tense, and he almost looked like he was in pain.
“I was going to kill you,” I told him. “I didn’t want Kyle to have to do it, so I thought if I came back and found you first, I could spare him from it.”
Wyatt looked relieved. “Thank you,” he murmured just before he half shifted and leapt for me.
We traded blows for a few minutes. It wasn’t really necessary. I’d let several opportunities slip past where I could have run Wyatt through with a blade. I’d also given him a few openings when he could have landed a harder blow, and he’d let them pass by. He didn’t seem to want to hurt me. Once I’d let it drag out for long enough, I pulled one of my throwing knives and rammed it into his right shoulder socket. As he leant back gasping from the pain, I slammed one foot into his exposed knee and heard it snap.
He went down hard on the other knee, and I followed through with a brutal punch to his side. I felt several of his ribs snap under my fist. Wyatt fell back onto the ground panting in pain. I looked down at him, trying to decide what to do. My magic was pushing me to kill him. He was a threat to my mates, and life would be so much easier if I just killed him.
“What’s your plan, Wyatt?” I asked him, squatting down beside him. He rolled over onto his back and tried to pant through the pain.
I let go of the magic in the blade still sticking in his shoulder, and it faded out. He gritted his teeth and groaned in pain. Once he had it under control, his eyes focused back on me.
“I can’t move until my knee has healed up. Then you’ll be too far away for me to do anything about it. I’ll go back to the pack and tell Marcus you handed my ass to me,” he grinned.
“And why shouldn’t I just kill you now?” I asked him, pulling another of my throwing knives into my hand.
There was a certain outcome I needed from this, but I didn’t know if it was worth pushing him towards it. He needed to get there himself, but I could see this from his position. Whatever Marcus had that had Wyatt so scared he wouldn’t even talk about it, would keep him from doing what we all need him to.
Wyatt just flopped back with a huff. He laid so still as he just stared at the sky, and I sat down on my ass beside him. This was a man who had a difficult decision to make, and no one could make it for him.
“I can’t have you coming for him again if Marcus tells you to, Wyatt,” I told him seriously.
Wyatt sat up, slowly, a very small sick part of me laughed. But only internally because out loud would have just been rude. He hung his head, and his shoulders slumped.
“This is a right pickle you’ve got yourself in, Wyatt,” I sighed.
He nodded at me. “I don’t know what to do, Aria.” He sounded so sad, and my heart broke for him.
“Yeah, you do.”
He looked me in the eyes for the first time, and I saw the tears swimming there. “I can’t, Aria.” He dropped his head and quietly whispered. “Just kill me, please.”
It would be so much easier for him if I did. But maybe I was growing as a person because it wouldn’t be easier for the pack. They needed him, and they needed him to make the right decision. I couldn’t kill him, so I put the knife back.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, and I genuinely meant it. “But you’ve got a hard decision to make, and I think you know you only really have one choice. Life fucking sucks Wyatt. If the universe or fate or some other shit is in charge, then they’ve got a fucked up sense of humour. Whatever decision you make, you’re probably going to lose someone you love, if Marcus is the type of person I think he is. But the pack is innocent in all of this. And they need you to protect them.”
Wyatt was still looking me in the face as his tears started to fall.
“He has your mate.”
It was going to be a question, but through all of this it had run around and around my head and it was the only thing I could think of that would make him do this. The tears started to fall faster, and he nodded his head.
“And you can’t talk about it.” He shook his head.
“I don’t know enough about this world to be able to know why that is,” I sighed.
He started miming a triangle over his head, and I laughed. “Witches,” I guessed, and he nodded. “Argh man, I hate this game. I usually suck at it.”
Wyatt laughed silently at me, and I made sure to kick him gently. I’d broken his knee; it wouldn’t be right to kick him hard.
“They put a spell on you?” I guessed, and he nodded again.
“I can’t ask you to sacrifice her for everyone else,” I sighed. “But I’m not going to kill you either,” I told him firmly.
This was the only father figure Kyle had. He deserved to keep him, and I wasn’t going to let that piece of shit Marcus take it away from him.
“He has to die,” I told him seriously. Wyatt just nodded again. I looked up at him with a wicked grin on my face. “Can I kill him?”
Wyatt looked at me seriously, considering it for a minute. Then he shook his head.
“Pfft, spoilsport,” I pouted.
“I can’t kill him; you can’t kill him. Who can?” I asked him.
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“No, we can’t ask that of him,” I said, shaking my head. “Marcus might be a complete dick, but he’s still his father.”
Wyatt gave me a look which I was taking as his ‘are you being serious now’ face.
“Can you hold out until we get back?” I asked him.
Wyatt nodded his head.
“Just don’t go saving his life in the meantime, okay. In fact, if he walks past any cliffs just shove him off okay.” Wyatt just smiled at me.
“You going to be okay here?” I asked him seriously looking around, and he just nodded at me.
As I went to stand up, Wyatt grabbed my hand and mimed locking his lips.
“You don’t want me to tell the guys?” I asked, confused.
Wyatt shook his head.
“I won’t lie to them, Wyatt. I’ll tell them I found you and I put you down. I’ll let them know you’re not dead and we have to deal with it when we get back. Is that okay?” I was starting to feel a bit weird about this. This was too close to lying to my mates, and I wasn’t okay with that. “If it comes up, if they ask me the question, I refuse to lie to them for you.”
Wyatt nodded with a grateful look on his face. He didn’t let go of my hand for a minute, and I could see the sadness in his eyes. Wyatt was more concerned about Kyle than he was for his own life. He was willing to die for him.
“I’ll train him hard. Marcus won’t stand a chance,” I told him seriously.
Wyatt dropped my hand with a grateful look on his face. There wasn’t much else to say, and I needed to get the guys moved further away so when Wyatt was healed enough, he could go back to the pack. I gave him one last look, and then I opened my wings and took to the sky, seeking out my mates.
It didn’t take me long to find them. They hadn’t gone much further from where I’d left them. I got the impression they were dragging their feet a bit, reluctant to increase the distance between us. As soon as my feet touched the ground, they surrounded me. I loved the way they held me when I got back to them. I hated I worried them enough they were this relieved to see me again, but I had to admit I loved being in the middle of them holding me tight.
Kyle was the first to pull back from me, with a frown on his face. “I can smell blood,” he simply said.
Liam and Sykes both moved away from me, and I could see them scanning their eyes over me again.
“It’s not mine,” I told them gently. For a moment, I worried about how they would take this. “It’s Wyatt’s.”
A brief moment of pain flashed across Kyle’s eyes. If I hadn’t been staring into them at the time, I wouldn’t have seen it. I quickly moved to him and braced his cheek with my hand, resting my forehead against his.
“He’s okay, Kyle. Well, sort of okay. He’s not dead,” I clarified.
I was nervous at first, but when I finally looked up to meet his eyes again, there was just a small smile on his face. I took a step back and cleared my throat. They were all waiting for me to explain and I had a nervous feeling, this was too much like a lie for me to be comfortable with it.
“Your father did send Wyatt after us. We fought. I put him down. When he has enough in him to get up again, he will return to the pack and tell your father he couldn’t get to you. We need to keep moving so we can put enough distance between him and us, so he doesn’t have to keep chasing us,” I told them.
I could see Liam had questions and his gaze flicked between my eyes silently. I gave him a subtle shake of my head, and he smiled in understanding. Sykes broke the standoff by picking up the pack he’d dropped and passing another across to Kyle. We continued on our way. I wrapped my fingers around Kyle’s hand, and he gripped my hand tightly. I’d do everything I could to get him through this. I’d make sure he was strong enough to put down his father, and if he weren’t, I’d do it for him. It’s not like I’d lose any sleep over it. It’d be better if I could do it for him. I didn’t care what Wyatt thought.
Chapter 19
Caleb
When we found out Wyatt had left to go after them, it wasn’t like it was surprising. This was what Marcus did with all his problems. He threw Wyatt at them. Two days later, when Wyatt returned, I thought Dom was about to have a stress-induced heart attack. I didn’t know why he doubted Aria, no one stood a chance against her, especially if they were stupid enough to be threatening her mates. By the look of Wyatt as he stumbled into the packhouse, she’d sent him back with his tail between his legs, and I couldn’t help the small smile that slipped across my lips.
Dominic and I excused ourselves from the library as Wyatt stumbled in and fell into one of the empty chairs. I caught the subtle nod he gave me when Marcus wasn’t looking. As we closed the door behind us, a smile flickered across Dom’s face as well. Neither of us spoke. We couldn’t risk Marcus hearing us.
I cocked my head towards the front door, and Dom nodded in understanding. We both walked out of the house and headed into the forest towards the clearing. Checking my watch, I realised Trent and his pack would be joining us there soon in any event.
We walked in silence. I kept alert, my wolf simmering just below the surface so I could hear anyone who could be following us. We didn’t know who our friends were in the pack and who we couldn’t trust. There was corruption in the pack, but how bad it was, we had no idea.
When we reached the clearing, I walked the perimeter and Dominic cast a spell to make sure we weren’t disturbed by anyone we weren’t expecting. No one had been here since the night of Britt’s funeral, and I couldn’t sense anyone nearby.
“Wyatt failed,” Dominic sighed. “Aria and the boys are still on track.”
It was good news, and it should have made me happy, but I wished I’d been able to go with them. Every problem we came across, it felt like we just threw Aria at it. She was so young. It was wrong. We should be protecting her, not standing behind her every time something came our way.
“You should have known he would,” I chastised him. “Have you heard back from any of the Elites?” I asked him.
Dominic just shook his head. When we’d spoken to the Elites the morning after Aria and the boys made their escape, they were pissed. Mostly because she hadn’t taken them with her. When I explained we needed to stick around the pack and see if we could figure out who was opening the portals, they were more than game for a bit of investigating. Since then they’d all set off to speak with the various survivors of the massacre back at the academy. We didn’t exactly think they would get very far, but it always paid to have an ear open around this pack's gossiping wolves.
It didn’t take long for Trent and his pack to show up. They’d been acting strange since the night of Britt’s funeral, but I hadn’t been able to put my finger on what was going on. And they weren’t exactly forthcoming either.
“Trent, it's good to see you,” Dominic said, shaking his hand and going around and greeting the other members of his pack. “You didn’t run into any trouble I take it?” he asked.
“No, sir. We scouted between here and the ridge, as you asked. There’s no sign of any demons, any magic use or basically anything,” Trent sighed.
“It was to be expected really,” Dominic sighed.
“I can’t believe out of all of us, no one can find any sign of the demons or whoever is helping them. It’s safe to assume whoever is involved in opening the portals had to have been at the academy at the time of the massacre. Only thirty-four survived. Once you rule out Aria and her guys, us and probably the Elites, that only leaves twenty people right?” Trent sighed.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be assuming they were at the Academy?” I wondered aloud, glancing back in the direction of the pack.
“What makes you say that?” Dominic asked.
“You’re going to make me say out loud?” I scoffed. I knew everyone was thinking the same thing.
“Go on,” Dominic urged with a smile on his face.
“Marcus is a dick,” I grumbled.
Dom just threw back his head and laughed. “If only that were
all it took.”
“We’ve no idea who’s doing it and no idea how to stop what we know is coming. All we do know is where the final fight is going to take place,” I sighed.
Dom looked around the clearing and sighed. I think he was feeling the same way I was. It all felt so out of control at the moment. Like the final battle was going to be inevitable and, unfortunately, Aria was going to be our only hope. Yet again, another problem we would just be throwing Aria at and hoping she could fix for us.
Chapter 20
Three days. Three long ass fucking days! That was how long we’d been running through this never-ending forest. I mean there had to be an end to these trees at some point.
When the slippery feeling of magic slid over my skin, my frustrated inner ranting slammed to a halt almost as quickly as I did.
It took the guys several steps before they realised and came to a stop themselves. I was too busy looking around me to take much notice of the questioning looks on their faces, but I knew without looking they would be there. After all, I had suddenly stopped and was now shuffling around in the undergrowth like a crazy person.
“Can you feel that?” I asked them.
I grabbed the compass out of my pocket and started walking in a circle while closely watching the dial.
“Actually, now that you mention it, yes,” Liam said, looking up in the sky.
Sykes had his eyebrows furrowed and raised his head to scent the air. “It’s subtle, but it’s there. I’m surprised you felt it.” He looked at me quizzically.
Kyle just nodded. “You’re getting stronger,” he commented.
I huffed out a breath in annoyance. “Let’s hope not. Last time wings popped out of my back, God only knows what’s going to happen next.”
I kept walking my circle and watched the compass as the needle turned with me. It was still pointing in the same direction, and it turned with me. As far as the compass was concerned, we weren’t there yet.
“Maybe, we’re just getting closer,” I said, passing the compass to Kyle who’d come to stand next to me.