by Cynthia Eden
The howl came again. Even louder. Even angrier. She swallowed twice and revealed, “You would, Leo. You would dare.”
He backed up. “What?”
“You kill him. You slice away his wings. You destroy him in a river of blood.” She swallowed once more and made sure that her spine was straight. “So I ask you again, do you feel yourself changing on the inside? Is something happening?”
Leo shook his head, a hard, jerky move. “You are wrong.”
If only. “I have been wrong before.” Her voice had turned soft. “I can see it now. But I wasn’t the only one…”
His brows furrowed. “I’m not killing Ramiel. I might want to kick the guy’s ass because of the way he talked to you but—”
Howls. Loud and wild.
“Screw it,” Leo snarled. “One problem at a time. And right now, the wolves are problem one. I’m taking them out before they can go after the humans.” He offered his hand to her. “I need you at my side, Mora. I have to keep you close. If the hellhounds appear, you will not be unprotected.”
She stared at his hand.
“Touching me has never led to a vision before. Not without a blood offering and a mirror.”
But everything is changing with you…
Her hand slowly rose—and settled over his. She tensed, but no visions hit her. There was nothing…just the darkness around them.
“Was that so hard?” Leo murmured.
“You have no idea.”
He stared at her. “When we get to the wolves, when the blood starts flowing and when my fire comes at them, you stay behind me, understand?”
“Leo—”
“I need you safe, Mora. If I think you’re in danger…” He rolled back his shoulders. “Just…let me protect you, okay?”
She hesitated a moment, staring hard at him. Then she gave a grim nod. “You’re the one with the fire power.” Literally, she’d seen fire shoot from his hands. But she wasn’t going to promise to stand back helplessly. That wasn’t her style.
***
“So what’s their story?” Trina asked as her feet lightly touched down on the ground. She could see the light from the humans’ fire. Nearby, there were about two dozen humans, camping out, laughing, pitching their tents for the night and thinking they were safe in the desert. You aren’t safe, not even close. “Leo and Fate, how long have they been together?”
Ramiel’s wings had vanished. He didn’t reply to her question. The other angel—Merius—he was always the quiet one. She’d barely heard the guy speak a handful of words in the last decade. So she wasn’t particularly surprised when he didn’t talk. But Ram? The fellow usually wouldn’t shut up.
“Uh, Ram?” Trina pressed as she crept closer to him. His eyes were on the humans. “Want to clue me in here?”
“I think she owns him. Body and soul.”
Trina blinked. “Seriously?” It was hard for her to imagine Leo falling for anyone. The guy was often so…cold.
Like ice.
“Seriously.” His voice was flat. “She’s a threat to him. To us all.”
Trina licked her lips. The humans couldn’t see them. Humans could never see angels, well, not unless an angel wanted to be seen. But that was kind of against the rules. Leo’s rules. “I think she saw your future.”
He whirled toward her. “She was playing a mind game. That’s what she does. She’s dark. She manipulates humans and paranormals. She makes them think she knows their fates, but she doesn’t. She’s just jerking everyone around.”
Her heart lurched. What could have been fear slid through her. Only—angels didn’t generally experience fear. They didn’t experience many emotions at all.
Ram seems to be feeling plenty, though. Anger is in his eyes. She’d seen anger often enough in the expressions of humans. She could easily recognize that emotion. “Do you think she was…jerking you around?”
“Doesn’t matter.” He squared his shoulders. “She won’t be a problem for long.”
That didn’t sound good. “Ram?”
Merius stalked closer to them.
A howl split the night. Then another…
Trina shivered.
“We have to protect the humans,” Ramiel said curtly. “Nothing else can matter.” His gaze slid to Merius. “Agreed?”
Merius, still silent, nodded.
Ramiel’s gaze turned to her. “Agreed?”
“O-of course.” She knew her duty. “I’ll always keep the humans safe.”
Ramiel smiled at her. “I knew I could count on you.”
Chapter Fourteen
The bar sat in the middle of nowhere—just right on that long, dusty road. Lights gleamed from inside the small building, and over two dozen motorcycles were parked along the place’s perimeter. Music trickled from the windows, something rough and hard, and, behind Leo, Mora let out a little sigh. “Makes me miss my bar.” Her voice was wistful. “Resurrection was a lot like this place.”
“It wasn’t a werewolf den.”
“No…”
More howls reached him. The wolves were all inside—and from the sound of things, they were building themselves up to a fever pitch. “They’re getting ready to attack.” He took a few more steps toward the bar.
Then Mora’s hand curled around his arm. “Wait!”
He glanced back at her.
“Just…what are you going to do? What’s the plan?”
It was a simple, straight forward plan. “I’m going to eliminate the threat.” Luke should have taken care of a wild pack of wolves. To let them go after humans—
Her face scrunched up a bit. “But there isn’t a threat. Not yet. There are just…howls.”
What? “You heard Ramiel. He has intel on these werewolves. They are going to attack the humans. His visions are never wrong.”
She flinched. “But what? Mine are?”
Shit. “No, that’s not what I—”
“Are you going to kill them all, just on Ramiel’s word? Because I’ve got to tell you, I don’t like that angel.”
“You may not like him, but…angels don’t lie. He’s telling me exactly what he saw. I have to stop these wolves or they will torture and kill humans tonight.” And as the Lord of the Light, the humans fell under his domain. He was supposed to—
“Are you going to burn them? Is that it? Send fire bursting from your fingertips and right at the bar, with them all trapped inside? Never giving them any chance?”
His back teeth clenched.
“Because that seems a little familiar to me. I mean, it wasn’t so long ago that I was in my bar, minding my own business, when some fire happy jerk tried to end my life, too.”
It was not the same. Was it? “Mora…”
“I want to give them a chance.”
He shook his head.
“I want to give them a chance.”
Her voice was even stronger the second time she made that statement. He could only stare at her in confusion. “A chance to do what? Attack humans? Attack you?”
“A chance to prove their intent. I want to see their fates for myself.”
That hadn’t been part of the deal. She’d agreed to stay behind him so—
Her eyes trapped him. “I’ve got you at my side. The big, bad Lord of the Light. If they attack, I have no doubt you can take them all down. That’s your thing, right?” She put her hands on his chest and leaned up on her tip toes. “You go all beast mode and you take out the threats near you.”
Yes, he did.
“I’m just saying…hold on. Let me see what’s happening in that bar. Let me see—”
The scent of blood filled the air. He heard a scream. A roar. And the blood and screams and roars—they were coming from inside the bar.
Werewolves…fucking wild animals.
“Let me see,” Mora whispered again. “Hold the fire, okay?”
Her eyes were so big and deep. And she was staring up at him with…what the hell? Hope? What did she hope he’d do?
Werewolves weren’t his to protect. He could end them all and it wouldn’t matter. No loss for him. Humans were his. Humans…Her gaze is so damn deep. “Fine,” he snapped in frustration. “But if a wolf so much as growls in your direction, he’s dead.”
Her smile slid across her face. So beautiful. Then she was grabbing his hand and practically dragging him toward the ramshackle bar. But when they reached the door, he stopped and made sure she was safely shielded behind him.
Another roar echoed in the night.
Leo kicked in the wooden door. It flew back, banging against the wall. He stepped inside and the scent of blood was so much stronger. And he could see why—two werewolves were circling each other in the middle of the bar. All of the others were surrounding the two fighters, cheering and howling.
The two werewolves fighting had fully shifted. One was a long, sleek, brown wolf and the other was a gray wolf—a wolf that was on the floor, slipping in a pool of blood as the beast struggled to rise to his feet.
“You don’t belong here.” A big, burly guy with a mess of red hair stepped into Leo’s path. “You both need to get the fuck out.”
Leo smiled at him. “I belong everywhere.”
The fellow locked his hand around Leo’s shoulder.
Big mistake. “Listen up—”
“Are they fighting for alpha dominance?” Mora asked, breaking right through Leo’s words.
The redhead’s gaze swung to her. His stare narrowed, then swept over her. His eyes began to warm—
“Watch your damn self,” Leo warned him. “She’s with me.”
“Her poor choice,” the wolf shifter tossed back without any pause. “Lord of the Light.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the redheaded wolf.
The wolf smiled grimly. “I’ve met your brother,” the wolf stated with a shrug of his tree-like shoulders. “A time or ten.”
Ramiel had been right. Luke did set this pack to go after the humans—
“He would never show up holding the hand of any woman who wasn’t his Mina.” The wolf shifter stroked his chin. “The guy is lost in her.”
Mina…that was Luke’s mate. For the wolf to know her name…Leo studied the guy with new interest. “Who are you?”
The two wolves were fighting again. The gray wolf had managed to rise, but in the next instant, the brown wolf sliced his claws over the injured beast’s belly. A pain-filled howl shook the bar. The scent of blood deepened.
Mora flinched.
“It is an alpha fight,” the redhead answered Mora’s question with a wave of his hand and another unconcerned shrug. “Looks like we’ll be keeping our current boss. Pity you didn’t arrive five minutes sooner, you could have got in the betting pool before it closed down. Smart money was always on Bruce. He’s the baddest alpha I know.”
Bruce. He had to be the brown wolf. The one who was using claws and teeth to destroy his opponent. As Leo watched, the gray wolf collapsed on the floor, apparently too tired or too weak to fight any longer. He actually appeared more red than gray because so much blood covered him.
“Old Bruce doesn’t much like you or your kind,” the redheaded wolf said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “So if you and your pretty lady don’t want to find yourselves in the middle of a blood bath of your own, then you’d better—”
“I’m betting on the gray wolf.” Mora’s voice rang out—high and strong, clear and feminine. Sexy as hell.
Every eye in the room swung toward her.
Leo tightened his hold on her hand. Mora, baby, what in the hell are you doing?
“The gray wolf is going to be the new alpha.” A smile spread across her face.
Murmurs filled the room.
“Who is that crazy bitch?”
“Is that Luke? Fuck, what’s the Lord of the Dark doing here?”
Ah, obviously, the other wolves weren’t as familiar with Luke as their redheaded greeter was.
Mora’s shouts had attracted the attention of the fighting, brown wolf—the one that had been called Bruce. He turned toward Mora and bared his blood-stained teeth at her.
The hell he did. So the guy didn’t like being told he wasn’t going to win the fight, so—
Bruce leapt into the air and charged straight at Mora. Leo let out a guttural roar and jumped in front of her, more than ready to rip that alpha apart. Claws sprang from Leo’s fingertips and—
The gray wolf shot up from his prone position. As his opponent rushed by him, the gray wolf attacked. His claws ripped into Bruce’s back and then his fangs tore into Bruce’s throat. Bruce let out a choked, desperate cry.
Everyone in that bar froze.
And then Bruce…fell. His body slumped to the floor as the gray wolf finally let him go.
Silence.
The fur slowly melted from Bruce’s body. A man’s pale flesh was revealed. And so was the gaping hole where his throat should have been.
“Holy fuck!”
“We got a new alpha!”
“Did you see that shit? That sexy piece of ass called the winner! She must be a damn witch!”
Leo turned and eyed Mora. “Not a witch,” he muttered. Fate.
Mora bit her lower lip. Her hands twisted in front of her. “Was that…my fault?”
Her fault? She’d distracted Bruce, given his opponent the perfect moment to strike and now…
“We have a new alpha!” It was the redhead’s booming voice. He’d waded through the blood on the floor. The gray wolf was at his feet, slowly transforming. Bones popped and snapped, the fur vanished, and soon, a young male—with jet black hair and bright green eyes—was rising to his feet. “Alpha Patrick!”
Shouts filled the bar. Howls. Growls. Leo couldn’t tell if he was watching a celebration or a coming battle.
But…
“Bring the woman to me.” Patrick’s voice was gravel rough. “I want her, now.”
Just like that—all eyes were back on Leo…and Mora.
Oh, the hell, no.
A slow smile curved Leo’s lips. His fangs were out and so were his claws. His whole body seemed to burn as he stared into Patrick’s gaze. “She’s mine.”
Patrick took a step toward him. All of the wolves had gone dead silent.
“Leo, I think we all need to calm down,” Mora whispered frantically. “Let’s talk—”
“Leo…” Patrick repeated his name. Of course, the guy had heard Mora’s whisper. Werewolves had fantastic enhanced hearing. “The Lord of the Light is here?” He rolled back his shoulders and laughed. “We don’t bow to you. You made one big ass mistake walking into this bar…”
Leo glanced around the place. He counted at least twenty, maybe thirty shifters in his fast survey. He lifted both of his hands and fire began to dance over his palms. “You will be bowing.” He could wipe them all out. And when he did, when he took out the werewolves, Luke would come for him.
War. The end. The battle to the death.
It was at hand.
Either Leo killed those werewolves—and Luke comes for me…
Or the werewolves went out and attacked the humans—and I have no choice but to go after Luke in retaliation.
Fucking hell. Fucking—
Mora stepped in front of Leo. “I’m Fate.” She pointed at Patrick. “And I’m here for you.”
***
“The werewolves haven’t attacked.” Trina’s voice was soft. “And I can see the sun starting to rise.”
Ramiel followed her gaze. Sure enough, he could see the streaks of red and gold sliding faintly across the sky. Night still reigned, for the moment.
“Does that mean that Leo stopped them?” Trina pushed.
Beside her, Merius was silent. But, like Trina, his gaze was on the rising sun.
“Or does it mean…” Her voice was even softer now. “That the werewolves are stopping him?”
“Leo’s stronger than the wolves.” Of that, Ramiel had no doubt. “He’ll kill them all.”
Trina’s ga
ze swung to him. “And then what happens? Luke won’t take kindly to his brother killing those under the Lord of the Dark’s dominion.”
Like he cared what the Lord of the Dark liked. “Everyone has to pick a side, sooner or later.” He’d been waiting for this moment a very long time. He looked back over his shoulder, his gaze sweeping over the human camp. They slept, so easily. So deeply.
Safe…
Because angels are watching over you.
Humans were lucky. They had no idea what dangers really waited in the world.
A faint growl broke the silence of the coming dawn.
Trina tensed.
Merius spun, his gaze searching the darkness.
And then the attack came.
Chapter Fifteen
She could feel the flames behind her, but Mora didn’t think for even a second that Leo would burn her. He’d sure as hell better not.
The new werewolf alpha was standing in front of her—completely naked, with claws springing from his fingertips and blood on his skin. His eyes were glowing and he—
“Thank you.” Patrick inclined his head toward her. “I appreciate the help you gave me.” A faint smile curled his lips. “Though I am sure I would have still defeated Bruce even without your rather timely…distraction.”
Her breath was coming too hard and too fast, and her heart was about to leap right out of her chest. Both were unfortunate side effects of the fear that filled her. She tried to calm her nerves, but she was seriously stressed since she’d never been surrounded by a room full of werewolves before.
“Why did you distract him?” Patrick murmured.
She licked her lips. “Um, because I knew you were going to be alpha.”
A strong hand curled over her shoulder. Leo.
“How did you know that?” Patrick asked as he cocked his head to the side and studied her.
“Damn naked werewolves,” Leo groused. “I swear, I get tired of this crap.” And clothes suddenly appeared on Patrick’s body. In Mora’s ear, Leo rasped, “I don’t want a naked werewolf touching-close to you.”
He was jealous? Right then? With everything else going on? That was almost cute. Or it was crazy. Crazy cute.
“I’m Fate,” Mora announced, making sure that her voice carried. She wanted all of the wolves to hear what she had to say. “And I knew it was your destiny to rule this pack.”