“So you came by yourself, then?”
“There’s no one else,” he muttered, his claws making a clicking sound as he flexed his fingers. “Only me. I didn’t want to risk anyone else getting in my way.”
A flash of movement just to his left caught her eye, and to her horror she spotted Jamie peeking out from behind the nearest oak tree. No! Instead of running away, the little girl had stayed, probably afraid to leave Olivia alone with the monster.
As if fate was determined to conspire against her, the wind suddenly surged from the east, brushing past Jamie’s dark curls, and the Casus froze, his eyes narrowing as he whipped his head in Jamie’s direction. “Where do you think you’re going? Get over here, you little brat. I didn’t say you could go anywhere.”
“Jamie, run!” she screamed, reaching out and wrapping her arms around his left leg. Olivia knew, in the back of her mind, that she wasn’t strong enough to hold him, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try. She’d bite and scratch and kick if she had to. She was more than willing to let the bastard rip her to shreds, so long as it meant Jamie could get away. Her heart twisted as she thought of never seeing Aiden again, but she knew he would understand. That he would have done the same thing if it meant protecting a child. “Get out of here! Run back to Aiden!”
“Shut up,” the Casus snarled, reaching down and twisting his gnarled, claw-tipped fingers in Olivia’s hair. He wrenched her to her feet, pulling a low groan from her throat. Jamie screamed, running toward them, only to be stopped when Noah suddenly burst through the trees, putting his tall body in front of the little girl as he leveled a gun at the Casus’s chest. Olivia nearly sagged with relief, her wild gaze scanning the trees, searching for the others. Where was Aiden? Kellan?
“Jamie,” Noah said in a low, easy voice, “I want you to stay behind me. You got that, honey?”
The Casus curled his lip, eyeing Noah with a hot, malevolent stare. “Well, look who it is. You’re like a bad penny, Winston. You just keep turning up. First Washington. Now here. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had a thing for me.”
“We have you surrounded.” Noah’s deep voice rang with cool, steady confidence. “Let the woman go.”
“I don’t think so,” the Casus drawled, bringing her closer to his body. “I like her right where she is.” His voice sank to a sneer. “I gotta tell ya, Calder has big things planned for your family, half-breed.”
Noah lifted his brows, looking for all the world as if he was discussing nothing more interesting than the weather. “Calder? Oh…yeah, I remember. From what the other Casus have said, we figure he’s some kind of chicken-shit leader who’s still hiding out in Meridian, too afraid to show his face.”
The Casus snorted. “Be cocky now, human. But when Calder finally comes across, maybe it’ll be your pretty little face he’s wearing.”
Olivia reeled, unable to believe what she was hearing. Looking between Noah and the Casus, there was no denying that their eyes were the exact same icy, piercing shade of blue. Understanding slowly dawned, and she swallowed the bile that rose in her throat, a new flavor to the panic that had seized her body and her mind. She got it now—why Noah had always seemed a little something more than human. He was descended from a human female who had been raped by one of the Casus monsters before they’d been imprisoned, which meant that his family could act as hosts to the escaping Casus shades.
Her thoughts spun as she tried to wrap her mind around it—the fact that one of Aiden’s friends could actually become one of the bad guys. That Noah was a walking human shell for the monsters. Hysterical, she struggled in the Casus’s hold, her eyes tearing from the pain as he pulled her hair even tighter, the tips of her toes only just brushing the ground. She fought harder, driven by the knowledge that she had to reach Jamie. Had to get her out of there, away from the madness and the danger.
“I told you to shut up,” the Casus snarled in her face, shaking her, and she realized the screams filling her head were her own. “Stop the bloody screaming or I’ll—”
“You won’t be doing anything,” Kellan barked in a hard, deep voice, “except what I tell you to do.”
Kellan! Olivia’s eyes went wide when she spotted the auburn-haired Lycan moving in from the Casus’s right side with his gun held in front of him, the barrel pointed directly at the monster’s chest, same as Noah’s. The Casus turned his head, a low, gritty bark of laughter slipping from his lips, as if he thought the situation was funny. “You shoot me,” he drawled, scraping the claws of his other hand lightly across her throat, “and there’s no telling what will happen to Olivia here.”
The monster took a step back, dragging her with him, and from the corner of her eye she saw Noah take a step toward Jamie, who had moved off to his left so that she could see what was happening. The rational part of Olivia’s brain knew he just wanted to put himself between her niece and the Casus, but she couldn’t stifle the scream that stopped him in his tracks, the words ripping up out of her, unstoppable and cruel. “Don’t touch her! Just…just stay away from her!”
Noah’s face pulled tight, but he didn’t argue. He simply raised his free hand in a sign of consent, letting her know he wouldn’t move any closer to Jamie.
The Casus barked another low laugh and shook his head. “So judgmental,” he drawled, the truth of his words only intensifying the guilty, sour feeling in her stomach. She blinked away the tears blurring her vision, still scanning the edges of the clearing, searching for Aiden. Why wasn’t he there? Had something happened to him? Had he decided she wasn’t worth the trouble?
A sharp pain twisted through her middle—this one born completely from emotion, rather than a physical wound—and she swallowed, silently praying that he would appear with the next heavy beat of her heart. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and then she felt it, as if there was something electric in the air. She could taste it on her tongue. Feel it shivering across her skin. A heavy, pervasive sense of something powerful watching from the shadowed woods, silently waiting. Was it Aiden? Or someone else? Friend…or enemy?
Kellan still had his gun trained on the Casus, and he lifted the barrel, aiming it right at the monster’s temple. “Where are your Kraven buddies? The Collective soldiers who follow you guys around, cleaning up your messes?”
“I left them behind.” The claws at her throat made a sickening pass down the front of her body, sweeping low across her pelvis, and she sucked in her breath, wondering if Kellan would take his shot. But he waited, obviously too afraid of the Casus cutting her open.
“Not very smart of you to come without your pals,” Kellan drawled, arching one auburn brow.
“I’m not afraid of a few Watchmen,” he claimed with cocky arrogance. “And I wanted to make sure I had the human bitch to myself before handing over the kid. Me and her are gonna have a real special time together,” he added, snickering under his breath.
A deep, chilling snarl suddenly rumbled in the branches above their heads, the thick sound reminding Olivia of some kind of predatory jungle cat, feral and wild and deadly. As the Casus’s gaze swung upward, toward the lofty branches, she twisted to her right, bringing her left knee up and slamming it into the bastard’s groin. He grunted in pain, his hold on her hair loosening as he hunched forward, and she was able to drop to the ground. She’d just rolled to her back when he let out a bloodcurdling roar, pulling back one claw-tipped arm as he prepared to swipe at her, his face twisted into a grotesque expression of hatred and rage. Opening her mouth, Olivia was ready to scream for Kellan to shoot, when Aiden’s body went soaring over her head, as if he’d launched himself from one of the trees. Her mouth fell open in shock as she realized he must have been hiding among the highest branches, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. His trajectory should have had him crashing straight into the Casus, but he twisted at the last second in a sinuous, catlike move, swiping a lethal-looking set of claws across the monster’s gut before landing with perfect balance on the balls of
his feet.
“Well, if it isn’t the kitty,” the Casus sneered, clutching one clawed hand against his shredded stomach. Blood oozed through his fingers, dripping onto the leaf-covered ground. “I was wondering when you were going to show up.”
“Get away from him, Liv.” Aiden didn’t take his glittering amber gaze off the Casus as he spoke to her, his claws battle-ready at his sides, long fangs glistening beneath the curve of his upper lip.
“She can run, but you can’t protect her,” the monster drawled, stepping to the side.
“Like hell I can’t.” Aiden’s mouth curled in a mean smile, the hungry glint in his golden eyes giving the impression that he couldn’t wait for the fight to begin as he countered the Casus’s move. Pushing herself to her feet, Olivia ran for Jamie, while keeping one eye on Aiden. She was mesmerized by the sight of him. By the raw, animal intensity of his rage.
“You kill me,” the Casus rasped, “and something so much worse is going to come for her. He’ll tear her apart, piece by piece, and laugh while he’s doing it.”
Aiden flexed his claws, his muscles bulging beneath the dark sheen of his skin. “He’ll have to get through us first, and that’s not gonna happen.”
“You won’t be able to stop him.” His skin began to ripple, as if something was moving around inside him, and Olivia shoved Jamie behind her, knowing he was getting ready to change into his Casus form. “He’ll find her, take her and then she’s gonna bleed for him like a stuck pig,” he added, his voice turning deeper, grittier, the shape of his mouth changing as bones began to pop and crack, reshaping themselves into something monstrous. “And knowing Josef, he’ll make sure the kid is there to see the whole show. Hell, he might even decide to take the little witch for himself.”
Aiden went deathly still, sliding a dark, tortured look toward her and Jamie. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was across the clearing and yanking the Casus off his feet. Stunned, Olivia watched him drag the monster into the trees, both of them disappearing from sight.
“Aiden!” she cried out, lifting Jamie into her arms and covering her little ears so that the child couldn’t hear the horrific sounds tearing through the woods. There were low, gritty words that she couldn’t understand, followed by vicious snarls and stark, screaming cries of pain. “What’s happening?” she gasped, taking a step forward, terrified that Aiden was going to be hurt. “What is he doing?”
“Leave him,” Kellan muttered, grabbing hold of her arm.
“What?” She whipped around, thinking the Watchman must have lost his mind. “Leave him? Are you crazy? That thing was already changing form!”
Another high-pitched cry cut through the forest, followed by a deep, menacing growl. “Aiden’s got it under control,” Kellan grunted, slanting a meaningful look toward Jamie. She understood what he didn’t want to say in front of the little girl. That Aiden wouldn’t be coming back until he’d destroyed the Casus, sending its shade back to Meridian.
“Oh, God,” she whispered, feeling as if her knees were going to give out. She didn’t know if she was going into shock, but she was acutely aware of her body slipping away from her. Or maybe it’s simply the ground slipping away, she thought fuzzily, tightening her arms around Jamie’s body just as Kellan caught hold of her shoulders.
“I’ll get them back to the car,” he said in a low voice, glancing at Noah. “You stay here. Try to get Morgan on the phone and let her know what’s happened. Then wait for him to finish.”
As more guttural roars ripped through the forest, Kellan lifted her and Jamie into his arms…then got them the hell out of there.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Iowa
Sunday night
STRANGE HOW ONE SMALL, innocuous event, like overthrowing a ball, could lead to such terror. Olivia had never known fear like she had in those minutes that she’d spent with the Casus—and she still hadn’t managed to get over it. Even now, hours later, her hands continued to shake.
By the time Kellan had carried her and Jamie through the forest and back to the rest stop, Morgan Cantrell had arrived and was waiting for them, having already spoken to Noah on her phone. She’d parked in the far corner of the parking lot, and the falling twilight had offered a measure of privacy as she’d used her well-stocked first aid kit to tend to Olivia’s bleeding arm. After giving her a shot of antibiotics, the slender shape-shifter had cleansed the wound, then used a row of small, neat stitches to hold it together. Olivia had sat through the entire process in a numb state of shock, while Kellan talked to Jamie, promising her that Aiden was going to make it back safe and sound.
The instant Morgan was finished bandaging her arm, they had quickly taken to the road. Olivia and Jamie had ridden with Kellan in her car, and Morgan followed in a rental. When Noah finally called Kellan’s cell phone, letting them know that the Casus was dead and that he and Aiden were heading back to the truck, Olivia had nearly sobbed with relief. She’d spent the next hour of the drive just talking to Jamie, and was immeasurably thankful, if not a little surprised, to find that her niece was handling the aftermath better than she was. Olivia didn’t know if it was Jamie’s Mallory blood that enabled her to process the terrifying event so quickly and put it behind her, or if the little girl was simply burying the trauma, but she couldn’t argue the fact that Jamie appeared to feel safe and secure. When Jamie had finally asked to watch a movie, Kellan had done his best to keep Olivia occupied with conversation, probably so that she wouldn’t have time to think about what had happened and freak out on him. But she’d been able to learn a lot from their talks.
The first thing Kellan had done was explain about Noah, and she’d winced every time she recalled how she’d reacted when the Casus had revealed the truth about Noah’s bloodline. She’d asked questions about his family, and had learned that he had several siblings back at home in California. When he’d joined forces with their Watchmen unit and the Buchanans to fight against the Casus, he’d left the running of his Bay Area bar in the hands of his youngest brother, and had quickly proven himself a valuable addition to their team. According to Kellan, Noah was determined to keep his family from being used as “meat puppets” by the Casus, and Olivia didn’t blame him.
They’d also talked about the search for the Markers, and Kellan had explained why they couldn’t just use modern equipment, such as metal detectors, to locate a cross once they had an idea of its location. Apparently they’d run extensive tests back at Ravenswing on the first Marker that Saige had found, and discovered that the crosses were made of some kind of strange alloy they hadn’t been able to identify, almost as if the materials used in their composition were “not of this earth.” In each of their tests, technology had proven useless in the recovery of the crosses—which meant they would just have to keep on digging for them the old-fashioned way.
Olivia had also asked about the mysterious maps Saige Buchanan had found, and had been given a quick explanation regarding the unusual powers that the Buchanan siblings possessed. She’d learned that Ian sometimes had instances of precognition in his dreams, while Riley’s telekinetic powers enabled him to control physical objects with his mind, and Saige’s power made it possible for her to “hear” objects when she touched them.
Then Kellan had gone back to the topic of the maps, explaining that Westmore had actually managed to steal them during Saige’s awakening, though Aiden and his friends had eventually gotten them back. And even though the Watchmen were sure that Westmore had made copies of the maps while they were in his possession, they were holding on to the hope that it would take him a long time to crack the complicated code they were written in, the way Saige had done with the use of her power. But Kellan also admitted that there was something more about the situation that bothered them. According to the Watchman, Westmore had actually tried to kidnap him while they were searching for the third Marker in Washington, in hopes that he could exchange Kellan for the key to the code. But since that time, no other attempts had been made to take any hostag
es from their unit, which raised the question of why. One of the obvious conclusions was that Westmore no longer felt he needed to make the exchange, which meant that he was more than likely on to the way to decoding the maps himself.
The last question she’d asked the Watchman, just before they’d stopped for the night, was why he hadn’t shot the Casus when he’d had the chance, and Kellan had responded with a wry, gruff bark of laughter, saying, “I wanted to drill the ugly son of a bitch with a bullet so bad I could taste it, but Aiden had made it clear that he wanted the bastard for himself. Still, I’d have taken the shot there at the end, if Ade hadn’t been about to make his move.”
It was after ten now, and Olivia found herself sitting at a kitchen table in yet another hotel suite, surrounded by calming shades of blue and cream, while inside her head everything was still flashing with bright, chaotic streaks of orange and red and yellow. Noah and Aiden had arrived not long after them, but she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Aiden. He’d headed straight for one of the rooms, not even making eye contact with her, though he’d stopped long enough to lean down and give Jamie a fierce hug that had nearly brought tears to Olivia’s eyes.
After Aiden had locked himself away, Olivia had pulled Noah aside and apologized profusely for her earlier behavior, admitting that she had no excuse for reacting the way she had. He’d accepted her apology with an easy smile and told her not to worry about it, claiming he would have done the same in her situation. Undone by his kindness, Olivia had started crying again as she argued that he was letting her off far too easily, and he’d laughed as he’d given her a brotherly hug, promising her that his feelings weren’t hurt—then teasingly accused her of trying to ruin his tough-guy reputation by insinuating that he had feelings to begin with.
Seeing as it had been hours since any of them had eaten, they’d ordered in room service, no one up to heading over to the hotel’s restaurant, and then Jamie had cuddled up on the sofa and quickly fallen asleep. Despite the stormy weather, Kellan and Noah had gone out to run patrol, and Olivia had a feeling they’d asked the female Watchman to keep an eye on her while they were gone. Not that she minded. She actually liked Morgan, and found her easy to get along with. Though the woman was incredibly beautiful—tall and slender, with shadowy gray eyes and a heart-shaped face—she had a friendly, comfortable way about her that made her seem like one of those people you’d known forever, even when you’d only just met.
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