by Gena D. Lutz
“Declan,” I pushed out of my constricting throat.
“What about Declan?” Ember and Nathan asked at the same time.
“He’s in trouble.”
The speed of which Ember had left the room was impressive. One second she was looking down at me with genuine concern, and the next she was flying out the door with Collin hot on her heels.
“Just rest, love. They will take care of everything.” Nathan whispered, his lips brushing against my cheek with the softness of a down feather.
I forced myself to move my neck around, far enough to catch sight of Ariel. Well I’ll be damned, I thought, was that an actual look of concern directed toward me? That was certainly unexpected.
“He is being attacked by something magical. They will probably need you.”
Ariel nodded at me and before she left asked, “Where are they?”
“In the infirmary. It’s the large building out back,” I explained.
And with that, she disappeared in a flash out of the room.
It took several minutes, but eventually Nathan was able to lift me to my feet. I wobbled, my legs feeling like jelly at first before I was able to stand on my own. The spell or energy surge my attacker had thrown at me had taken its toll. If the force of just a backlash of what Declan was receiving garnered that kind of effect on me, I could only imagine how bad it was for him.
“Are you alright to stand?” Nathan asked gently, his warm palm snaking around my waist. He was scared to take his hands from me completely for fear I may fall again. With the near weightlessness my entire body was feeling at the moment, I didn’t blame him and was grateful for the help.
“I am,” I breathed, nodding my head. “We should go check on Declan.”
“I would feel much better if you just sat down for a bit. That was a nasty fall, scared the shit out of me,” Nathan suggested as he steered me back in the direction of the chair I had just been in. “Ember and Collin will take care of Declan. Let me do my job and take care of you.”
I released a sigh, and with no will left in me to fight, let myself be guided by his gentle hand. A groan tore from my lips as my hip brushed up against the arm of the chair. Before I was fully seated, Nathan swept me up into his arms.
“That’s it. You’re going to rest for awhile, whether you like it or not,” He barked. The look I threw at him must have been a doozy because he shook his head as he walked out the door with me enveloped securely within his arms, before saying with a chuckle, “Even if it kills me.”
My brow lifted of its own accord. “Keep up this macho he-man stuff and it just might.” I quipped. However, I snuggled deeper into his arms and secretly enjoyed being fussed over.
I awoke to what I thought was the sound of techno pop, practically bowing the walls of the room Nathan and I were staying in. The kind of music you would expect to hear suffocating the brains of America’s youth in the throes of an epileptic dance at some Goth club. Not in a private home. The loud vibration and bass burrowed a hole in my eardrums and I buried my head under my pillow in hopes of drowning out the god-awful sound.
“What in the world is that?” I yelled over the noise.
“That would be Paige.”
Nathan brought his fist up and banged it hard a few times against the wall. It did no good, however. The loud music just blared on.
“She always plays music when she needs to pump herself up for something. Ember must have asked her to join us when we raid Tyson’s camp,” Nathan explained.
I cringed at the thought of my bonded mate knowing something so intimate about the woman who I was quickly growing to despise. Comments like that were unwanted reminders of the fact that the two of them had a long and rocky past together. The only saving grace was the knowledge that they had never been together intimately. Thank God for small favors.
I threw the pillow off to the side and jumped out of bed. The small nap that Nathan had forced me to take had done wonders and I was feeling good as new; that was if you didn’t count the headache quickly forming from Paige’s warm-up music. I walked past the handsome hunk of mine and opened the bedroom door wide. I exited the room without explanation. Nathan didn’t complain, just poked his head around the jam, watching my retreat. I stopped in front of the entryway of the room right next door to ours and began to pound my fist hard against it. When my knock received no answer, I brought my fist up and pounded again. This time, the door flew open, revealing an irate she-wolf. Her body was covered in sweat, a large round stain forming from the neck of her wife beater and expanding out and down in between a pair of firmly rounded breasts. She brought her arm up, her hands adorned with boxing gloves, and wiped the sweat from her hairline.
“What the fuck is it?” Paige spat, the rims of her eyes opening wide when she recognized which wolf was at her door. She looked at me with such rage in her eyes that I thought I would spontaneously combust into flames where I stood. I had to stop myself from going pale faced. I willed that from happening with all my might. I wasn’t going to allow this Alpha wolf to have domination over me. I was way too pissed off for that.
“Show the rest of the house some common courtesy by turning that god-awful music of yours down,” I growled.
Paige jerked her chin up and crossed her arms. “And if I don’t?”
Well hell. That was a good question. What could I do if she decided to slam the door right in my face?
“The music is extremely loud, Paige. How about giving us all a break?” Nathan said from behind me.
I hadn’t heard him walk up. I whipped around shoving my finger at him. I was acting like a crazy person. I knew that. However, for some reason I didn’t give two shits about it.
“I have this handled.” I said with a low growl.
“Hi, Nathan.” Paige purred over me. “I will turn the volume down right away.” She pinned him with a smoldering look, a look that made my fingers tingle in want of ripping those green peepers out of their damn sockets.
“But, only because you asked so nicely,” she added before slamming the door in my face.
I clenched my fists to the sides of my legs. My blood began to boil to the point of overflow. How in the hell was I going to stay under the same roof with this woman without succumbing to the urge to strangle her in her sleep? Not to mention being able to fight side by side with her against Tyson without accidentally tripping her at the perfect moment, making it possible for one of those altered wolves to dine on her blood and bones for dinner? I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head. Someone was testing me up there, and I was fairly certain that this was a trial I was most likely going to fail. I looked over at Nathan; he was wisely keeping his trap shut. The love that I felt for him was intense, and if I was going to be able to make it through the next few hours without losing my shit and committing, in my opinion, a just murder, it would be accredited to the affection I carried for him. I let out the breath I wasn’t aware I was holding, turned, and with my fists still clenched at my side, stalked back into my room. As soon as I wrenched open my bag to pull out the leather pants and matching top that Harper had given me to wear for today’s raid, the music blaring out of the adjoining room came to an abrupt halt. Didn’t that just make me want to ring that woman’s neck even more. The door to the room slowly opened. From the scent that wafted in I knew who it was immediately.
“Is it safe for me to come in?” Nathan asked, poking half his head in between the door and the jam.
“Nope,” I answered without taking my eyes from the contents of my bag.
All I heard after that was the door closing and the footfalls of my bond mate’s quick retreat.
***
We were all gathered downstairs, standing side-by-side in a makeshift assembly line, decked out in our combat attire. The slide of metal against metal bounced and echoed off the vestibule walls as wolves checked their gun clips and stowed their weapons in easily accessible holsters.
Ember had put together a team of twenty wolves for this missi
on. Out of the twenty, she had selected eight of us to be a part of her main team. Nathan and I were a part of said group, and so were Collin, who would also lead the Adelphi team, Paige and Sebastian, and also Milo and Tegan. Harper, who elected to put off her day sleep, was off to the side helping prepare each one of us for our impending battle against Tyson and his Gatherers. Not to mention a whole shit-load of those infected wolves. She progressed around the beams of sunlight that streamed in through a few of the windows that weren’t completely covered. As long as she wasn’t in the direct sunlight, she would be just fine moving around the space we were grouped in.
“Does anyone know how to properly dress here? For fuck’s sake, I feel like I’m dealing with a bunch of novices. Complete cover, or else those infected fucks are going to kill you!” Harper ordered.
My eyes flew over to the grand staircase. Dane was sitting halfway up the main section of the walkway, his bottom plopped smack dab in the middle of a sea of red carpeting. His legs were drawn up to his chest, thin arms wrapped around them, his chin resting broodingly atop his knees. Sadie, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, had been assigned the task of helping Amos, and the rest of the wolves that would be left behind safeguarded the compound from any surprise attacks. Ember wasn’t going to take any chances with the welfare of her adopted son, so she was making sure to leave a couple of her strongest and most trusted fighters in charge of the wolf prince.
The knock at the door took everyone by surprise. The sharp sound of gun checks and harsh mumbling was replaced with desolate silence. All eyes swung to the door.
“Are you expecting someone?” I asked Ember, resting my hand on the hilt of my gun.
She gave me a quick head shake to the negative.
With all the crazy shit constantly happening around us and taking in account the recent aggression against Declan for the second time on home turf, energies were high and everyone was on perpetual guard. So yeah, we were all acting a bit paranoid. An unwanted visitor at our door most likely spelled trouble for us.
Milo was the one who drew his gun, holding it with both hands down by his side as he walked over to the door. Mojo was right on his heels. There was a low rumbling growl coming from the small white furball, and she stuck close to her master as he pulled on the round brass knob and opened up the one-foot-by-one-foot square peephole. He peered through the iron bars that covered it and his brows scrunched together.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said, shutting the small wooden panel. “There’s a princess and a dragon on our doorstep. I feel like I’m in a modern day fairytale. Who’s up to starring as the prince?”
Even though it was an obvious joke, all the men began to shake their heads. Not even one prince charming in the group.
“Yeah, I don’t blame any of you. You’d have a hell of a time slaying this dragon. He’s huge.” Milo looked over at Collin. “Should I let them in?”
Collin nodded and went back to clipping on one of his many gun harnesses.
“How come no one is surprised to have a dragon at their door?” I leaned in and whispered the question in Nathan’s ear. I had no clue why I had bothered to say it so quietly. Everybody around us had preternatural hearing and could pick up the sound of a pin dropping from several yards away.
“Dragons are rare but not unknown to us. There are a dozen or so of them wandering around this side of the porthole,” he answered with a shrug.
This side of the porthole? Did that mean Dragons were from the other side of it?
I watched Nathan buckle the bottom of his jacket closed over the fastened silver zipper that molded the black leather over the bulk of his chest and arms. We had all chosen to wear the sturdy material to help safeguard us against the infected wolves that we would soon be up against.
“Does that mean that the dragons originate from the Dark realm? Isn’t that where the Darkin dwell?” I inquired, trying to put all the pieces of the supernatural map together.
Nathan slipped on a pair of black, full fingered mesh combat gloves. He then reached down behind me and picked up my jacket from my own pile of unadorned gear.
“Let me,” he said, holding the jacket up.
Smiling warmly, I shoved my arms through the holes.
“There are several different species that live in the dark realm. Our ancestors actually originated from there. Just as vampires were created from the first human who survived a Darkin bite, werewolves came to be in this same manner, except it was a human attacked by a lycon.”
As Milo drew the tall, heavy doors open for Ariel and Harek to enter, I tucked all that information away to ponder over later. It was a time for battle, not history lessons.
“Why didn’t you guys just ‘pop’ in like usual?” I asked Ariel in greeting.
She bypassed everyone in the room, even the alphas, and stopped before me. Harek stood tall and imposing, with two bulging arms crossed lazily over a wide, expansive chest. He was calm and composed standing within the arched threshold, gazing out over everyone and everything before him in the grand vestibule of the Adelphi compound. I noticed a few of the pion wolves, who had been hustling and bustling around us as we readied ourselves, began to shift their eyes nervously at the huge dragon.
“This whole place is lined with iron. The vile stuff is in the bricks and mortar; the entire foundation is built out of it,” Ariel huffed, her nose tilting up almost to the ceiling. She slanted her pixie-like head to the side and continued. “Even the windows are impenetrable. Believe me, I tried pushing through them. I don’t much like having to enter places through the more common means of the less gifted,” She announced.
A chuckle escaped me. I was beginning to appreciate Ariel’s air of superiority that hovered thickly around her like a royal fog. It didn’t bother me as much anymore. She was a princess after all. I guess that in itself allotted her some sort of uppity-leeway, if there was such a thing.
“Why are you here, Nymph?” Ember asked, donning the last of her weapons.
She tucked a 9mm subcompact snuggly in her waist. Our alpha was more heavily armed than any two of us combined, which made no sense considering that she was also the most deadly in her natural form. Ember sure loved her weapons, and draped herself with them like a socialite would adorn herself with diamonds.
“I would like to join you and your warriors on this mission. I am in need of a face-to-face with the vampire, Tyson.” Ariel answered.
Ember pinned the nymph with a deadly stare. “Tyson will die by my hands alone,” She growled.
Everybody in the room dropped their eyes to the ground at the dominant timber of their Alpha. Everyone, that is, but Ariel and Harek.
“I am not interested in taking the vampire’s life, she-wolf. You are more than welcome to it. My only need is for his life’s blood. Enough of it to feed Brady so I can free him from his death-sleep. I am bound to do this,” Arial explained.
Ember nodded, the nymph’s explanation was good enough to sooth her beast. “I will see to it that you have your blood. And I welcome you to join us on this mission; it seems we share the same interests, in regard to Brady.”
Ariel smiled as she tipped her head at Ember. The gesture showed respect to Ember’s position as Alpha, and it also acknowledged that she was pleased with her answer. “I am truly grateful.”
We pulled up in front of an old abandoned warehouse. The structure had broken windows wrapped around each one of its three levels. The large, jagged holes punched through the glass permitted me a clear view of the pure blackness that resided in its depths. An abandoned car sat off to the side of the building, rust and weeds accenting the steel lawn ornament. I focused my hearing on the inside of the warehouse. The only sounds I could pick up were the tap-tap-tap and shrill chirping of thousands of cockroaches and rats. The smell pouring from the place was grotesque; it reeked of urine and mold with an underlying scent of salt. We had traveled twenty minutes east, ending up here at this dilapidated building two blocks from the ocean, prime real
estate being put to waste in my opinion.
“I’m not sensing anyone,” I commented.
Ember nodded and waved to her soldiers, her quick gestures instructing them to line up behind us.
“Why don’t you try that x-ray vision thing of yours?” Milo asked.
The long haired werewolf was standing two bodies down from me, next to Tegan, surveying the building and landscape. His sidekick, Mojo, was sniffing around the base of the building, disappearing one moment and popping up several feet away in the next. Mojo was more than just a little white furball. She was actually a trapped witch who was spelled to live a lifetime in a dog’s body. So far, all I had ever seen her do that would tip anyone off to who she really was was this vanishing act of hers. I was told that Tegan and Mojo could also communicate silently with one another. It was a witch to fellow witch thing.
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” I shrugged.
I pushed away my surroundings and closed my eyes briefly, thinking only of any possible inhabitants residing in the building before me. At first, I registered nothing. No different colored outlines, no red beacons that would indicate the presence of any one of my pack mates. Then, a dawdling pulse of blue light flickered underneath the foundation of the structure. My eye-line flew down, instead of out and around the inside and upper floors of the building I had been originally scanning. I concentrated solely on where the basement or any underground dwelling could have been built. That’s when the flashes became more prominent. They began to multiply and take form into the shapes of bodies.