The BlackBurne Legacy (The Bloodlines Legacy Series Book 1)

by Apryl Baker

  “You know Star Wars but you don’t know Supernatural?” Disbelief mixes with her laugh. “Seriously?”

  “My dad is a Star Wars junkie. Jason and I could quote that movie by the time we were five.”

  “Alex?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for being here, for being my friend.”

  “Always, Saidie.”

  After that, we both turn our attention to the Supernatural binge-a-thon. Five hours later, I’m officially hooked. Dean Winchester…he gives Luka a good run for his money. The show is addictive, and I realize my weekend is shot because I’ll be glued to the TV, Luka be damned. He needs to discover the awesomeness of the Winchester boys.

  “Told you,” Saidie crowed, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. “You love it.”

  “I do. Dean Winchester. Enough said.”

  “Yup.” Saidie starts to say something else when my phone rings. “Luka spazzing out?”

  “No, it’s Conner. Hello?”

  “Where are you?” he barks, and unease creeps along my spine.

  “I’m at Saidie’s.”

  “Why would you leave Luka’s?” Frustration tinges his voice. “Bree doesn’t have the wards up that Luka does. She said to put that kind of protection up would alert the other families something was up. Alex, you need to get back to Luka’s right now.”

  “Why? What did you see?”

  A knock on the door reverberates through the living room. Saidie jumps up to answer it and before I can tell her no, she’s opening the door. The man standing there is tall, his reddish hair pulled back in a ponytail. He doesn’t say a word, just blows some kind of dust in her face. She sneezes and then falls to the floor. Barely a second passes between the sneeze and the face plant.

  “Alex?” Conner yells in my ear. “What’s going on? I see…dammit!” I can hear his tires squeal.

  “Hello, little one.” Ice blue eyes twinkle at me. I take a step backward. “I’m Jeremiah, Bree’s brother. She sent me to get you.” There is a hint of a southern drawl in his voice.

  I look at Saidie on the floor, and he clucks. “She’ll be fine. I just put her to sleep.”

  The buzzing that heralded my magic begins to hum. The wolf stirs to life inside me. We sniff the air. This is not a scent we know. It smells of danger. I want to panic, but her presence keeps me calm. We take a step to the side and are not surprised when he steps with us. A tracker. The thought hits us with a violent shock.

  Blue, what is it? What’s wrong?

  Someone is here with us, we answer him. He says he is Bree’s brother.

  “Bree would have called.” I try to stay calm, to keep my wolf calm so I can think. If she takes control of us, I don’t know what will happen.

  “Her phone died,” he replies easily. I see two more men behind him. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be, little one.”

  Two more steps backward and we hit the kitchen counter. Our eyes search for a way out.

  I’m coming, Blue. Luka, Jason, and I are coming!

  “What is this?” Jeremiah strides in and grabs my face, his fingers digging into my cheeks. “How?”

  “How, what?” We demand, jerking out of his grasp.

  “Your eyes have amber circles around them. You’re a shifter. That’s impossible.”

  We snarl at him. A real, live, doggy snarl. “Hard way,” he mutters. Before we can guess what’s coming, his fist is flying at our face and we fall. We shake our head to clear it, the wolf hitting against whatever cage holds her inside. Our body starts to shake, to ache in places it shouldn’t.

  “She’s gonna shift!”

  Blue! I’m coming. I swear, just don’t shift. Please don’t shift.

  “No, she’s not.” Something hard hits us in the back of the head and we see black spots. Another blow has the darkness crouching in on our vision, but we still struggle to stand, my wolf demanding release. She aches to sink her teeth into him, but something blocks her. She can’t get out, and she howls in frustration. One final hit to the back of the head and we can’t fight the darkness anymore. I fade into the black hole of unconsciousness.

  ***

  The sound of crunching gravel wakes me. I try to open my eyes, but the minute I do, pain lances through my head. A groan escapes me when I’m hauled up, and my forehead bounces off metal when I’m pulled out of the car. I’d seen that much before I’d closed my eyes again. Memories flash back, of Saidie unconscious on the floor, my wolf trying to shift and then being beaten into unconsciousness.

  “Can you walk?” The gentle voice belies the ironclad hold Jeremiah has on me.

  “Jer?”

  Bree? Was he telling the truth when he said Bree sent him to get me?

  “Hey, I found your friend.”

  “Why does she look like she’s taken a beating?” I can feel her anger all the way over here.

  “You didn’t tell me she was one of them. She almost shifted, and I had to do something to keep her from it. Knocking her out was the best solution.”

  “Alex, are you okay?” Bree is front of me and I blink at her, pain exploding in my head.

  “No,” I whisper.

  “You hit her too hard, Jeremiah!” Bree fusses.

  “Look, I’m sorry. Lorelye said to go fetch her, and I did.”

  “I know, I got her text to meet here. Come on inside. It’ll be safer than standing out here in the open.”

  I don’t understand what’s going on. My head is fuzzy, like the time I had my tonsils out and I woke up all muddled from the anesthesia. Why do I feel so drugged?

  They lead me into the foyer of an abandoned farmhouse and then to the right. It looks to be a large room, maybe a sitting area. There are other people there as well, watching me. Their faces are full of some emotion I can’t define. They almost look…hungry. It scares me.

  “Bree?”

  “Shh, Alex. It’s okay.”

  “You have done well, little brother.”

  The woman who spoke looks young. She can’t be more than twenty-five or so. Long red hair frames a lovely face with beautiful ivory skin and blue eyes. She looks like an angel. Her smile, meant to be welcoming, puts me on edge. There is something almost feral about her. Her eyes, I decide. Predatory eyes. They remind me of the look in the werecats’ eyes right before they attacked me.

  “Alex, this our sister, Lorelye.” Bree pulls a chair over for me and I sink down in it, trying to sort through all this. My head falls. It’s hard for me to even find the energy to sit up and look around. Both Jeremiah and Lorelye are white, but Bree is bi-racial. They must only share one parent. “She’s here to help.”

  No, she’s not, I decide. She doesn’t want to help me at all.

  Micah?

  There is no answer. I can’t find him, can’t feel him. My stomach knots up and bile rises in my throat as fear races through my veins. The wolf in me tries to surface, but something keeps her at bay, sleeping. This is bad. Very, very bad.

  “Ah, yes, Jeremiah informed me of your condition.” Lorelye waltzes over to me. She lifts my head and stares me in the eyes. “No.” The woman smiles at me. “There will be no help coming for you. I made sure of that. You have been cut off from your mate, your compagnon d’âme. Jeremiah slipped a potion into you while you were out.”

  “What’s going on?” Bree sounds confused. “Jeremiah?”

  “Did you honestly think we would pass up this chance to gain true power, Sabrina?” Lorelye’s feet move out of view. “Your friend is going to give our family what it needs to survive the next century.”

  “Grandfather would never have sanctioned this!” The anger rolling off Bree is unmistakable.

  “That old fool would have us walking around in a sea of sharks unarmed. No more. He’ll see the wisdom in taking her magic once it’s done.”

  “I won’t let you hurt her.”

  “You always were the weakest of us, Sabrina.” Scorn drips from her tongue like acid, spraying Bree with contempt. �
�I told Grandfather you would be useless, and I was right. Step aside or I will hurt you to get to her.”

  Bree takes up a defensive position in front of me, feet braced.

  “Bree, think about what you’re doing.” Jeremiah shifts away from us both. “This isn’t going to end well. You know Lorelye is right. We need her magic. Ours is getting weaker every day.”

  “I’m ashamed of you, Jeremiah.” Bree sounds hurt. “You know this is wrong.”

  “It’s not wrong to try and keep our family alive,” he says. “More and more often, the others are beginning to attack. We don’t have the power to fight them off if they decide to ambush all at once. What happens if Abby or Cara is killed? Babies who can’t protect themselves. Can you live with that? This one girl for their lives. Think about it.”

  “No,” Bree shouts. “This is wrong. I will not let either of you hurt her.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you want, Sabrina.” Lorelye’s voice is deceptively soft. “Her power will be ours. If I have to kill you to get it, so be it. Grandfather will be disappointed, of course, but he’ll understand.”

  “I’m sure he’ll understand what I had to do to keep you from murdering an innocent girl for her gifts.”

  “You’re assuming you’re going to live that long.”

  “I’m banking on it.”

  “Let’s see what you have, baby sister.”

  “You first.”

  My eyes widen at the power levels rising in the room. I can feel it burst over my skin, and I’m standing directly in its path. Oh, crap. Luka and Micah are coming, I remind myself. Conner said so. I feel myself panic again as I reach out to Micah and feel only emptiness. They’ll be here soon.

  But will it be before these crazy people destroy each other—or me?

  Chapter

  Twenty-One

  Where to go, where to go? There is nowhere I can go. The minute I step away from Bree, any one of the people standing in the room can grab me. They want my power, and even as fuzzy as I feel, I know they’ll do whatever it takes to get it. No help there.

  Another energy ball flies at us, bouncing off Bree’s shield—an invisible wall of sorts that surrounds us in a circle. When I say energy ball, I mean an actual ball of glowing blue fire. Just like the ones I’d seen demons hurling at the sisters on Charmed. And who says TV can’t teach you anything?

  Good Lord, how do I manage to get myself into these kinds of messes?

  I jump at the sound of Lorelye’s magic bouncing off Bree’s shield. The crazy banshee is relentless. It seems to be all Bree can do to shield us from her attacks. As far as I can tell, she hasn’t even gotten off one good shot of her own. I want to help her, but don’t know how. I’d refused to let Uncle Sabien teach me anything. Now I feel plain stupid. Death watches, waiting for his chance to take me, and there is nothing I can do to defend myself. Stupid, stupid me.

  I’ll sure as certain rectify that if I get out of here alive.

  The enraged cry of a wolf catches my attention. Relief sweeps through me. Bree tenses in front of me, hearing it as well. Micah. If Micah is here, that means Luka is here.

  Thank you, God.

  The doors behind us crash open, and a wolf the size of a small car bursts through, snarling in fury. He leaps, taking down the first guard by the door. His teeth tear into him, ripping his throat out before he can even defend himself. The others come in more slowly, assessing the situation before attacking.

  Luka dives into the group of people hovering close to the west wall. Jason takes the second guard down. Conner hurls himself into the fray after Luka. Micah snarls, throwing bodies as he plows his way to me. I can’t take my eyes off the wolf. I gulp air. Even though I know what he is, knowing and really seeing are two completely different things. It’s a little overwhelming. Then his eyes find and hold mine. They are panic-stricken too. He can’t feel me either.

  I step away from Bree, breaking the circle. I fall to my knees and wrap my arms around him, letting him drown out the sounds of the fight. In that instant, my mind clears. The clean, fresh smell of maple and pine trees washes away the fog clouding my thoughts. My wolf stretches lazily under my skin, awake now that Micah is with us. We close our eyes and let ourselves get lost in the feel of warm fur, of dirt beneath our paws, and of the smell of honeysuckle. We are pack. We are home.

  It has gone quiet, I realize after a moment. Opening my eyes, I see everyone watching us. Except Bree. She’s watching her sister.

  “Alexandria?” Luka asks, pulling my attention to him.

  I’ve never heard him sound so cold, so empty. His is the voice of death. He and Jason have forced Lorelye’s cohorts into a corner. Jason’s eyes glow with his beast rolling behind them. Blood runs from a cut on his face. He looks dangerous. I don’t ever remember seeing him like this before—strong, powerful, an alpha in the making. My wolf growls with pride. Our brother, our pack.

  “Alexandria?” Luka asks again, his voice growling with irritation.

  “I’m fine, Luka.”

  I feel Micah’s muscles bunch beneath my fingers, preparing to spring at Bree.

  “Micah, no!” I tighten my hold on him.

  His growl turns hair-raising.

  I grab his head and force him to look at me.

  You will not hurt her.

  Blue…

  No. She protected me from them.

  She brought you here!

  No, she didn’t. Her brother did. Bree had no idea what they were planning. She risked her life to save me. You will not hurt her.

  But I can hurt the others?

  Let’s try to get out of here without hurting anyone else, okay?

  He growls his frustration at me.

  I get up, really seeing the room for the first time. Lorelye stands a few feet from us, her face flushed in rage as she glares out of eyes the color of the sea after a storm. A table is placed about foot from her. On it rests a long dagger and a silver goblet.

  Taking a shaky breath, I remember my uncle and Lorelye’s words—the power is in the blood. To consume the power, you have to consume the blood. She’d planned to drain me dry.

  Uh, no. So not gonna happen.

  The buzzing gets louder, and my skin crawls with the force of a thousand insects. My magic starts to react to my fear and anger. I need to calm down. If my magic forces its way out again as it had last time, I might really hurt someone. I haven’t learned any kind of control. Idiot, I berate myself. I will learn to control it. I just have to make it out of here first.

  Taking a deep breath, I step out from behind Bree.

  “Decided to stop hiding, sweetling?” Lorelye asks.

  “I wasn’t hiding to begin with.”

  “Really? You seemed to be doing an excellent imitation of it.”

  “But I wasn’t thinking very clearly, now, was I?”

  “You’re not leaving this house alive, sweetling,” Lorelye barks. “Your power is mine!”

  “I don’t think so,” another voice says from behind us.

  My mind goes blank. No. It can’t be. Turning, I see the impossible and fall to my knees. Shock ripples through me. No, no, no. The woman standing in the light of the doorway can’t be here. I look over at my brother, and he’s in a state of shock, his eyes glowing with pain. His gaze meets mine and neither of us can say a single word. It’s just too much.

  She strides forward, stopping about a foot from the redhead. Lorelye gasps, backing up a step. “Impossible…you’re supposed to be dead.”

  My mother smiles. It’s cold and full of teeth. “Never say the word impossible, Lori. You and I both know that’s a bad idea.”

  “They promised me…” Lorelye stutters. “They said you were dead!”

  “So it was you who gave them my location.” My mother’s dark chestnut hair begins to float in an invisible breeze. The power rolling off her makes me cringe. “I wondered who gave them the information.”

  “You!” Lorelye points her hand at Luka. “Kill her now
!”

  Luka barks a laugh at her. “Why would I do that?”

  “You owe my family a blood debt, you filthy Gypsy cur. Do as I say, or the rest of your family will suffer the same fate as your father and sister.”

  Luka’s eyes burn with a rage that is impossible to fathom. I don’t think he ever knew which family the direct orders came from, but now he does. Standing in front of him is the woman responsible for the deaths of the people he loved.

  “No.” The word is ripped from him, low and feral.

  There is no warning. She lashes out, the force of her anger making her magic that much stronger. Luka is simply faster. He lands behind Lorelye before the last word leaves her lips. His hands wrap around her neck and start to squeeze. I swallow, watching Luka’s beast take over. Again, knowing and seeing are two very different things. He is in complete control of the beast within him. His red ringed onyx eyes, full of death, glint black fire. The mask of civility slips away and the monster stares back at me now. He is truly frightening to behold, and I am not the least bit afraid of him.

  Lorelye laughs and whispers a single word. Luka falls.

  Smoke. I smell…smoke.

  And then I understand.

  Oh Jesus. Luka is being burned from the inside out.

  Micah howls in rage. My wolf answers him. The snarl rips from my throat as blind rage blurs my vision. I embrace the feel of the power rushing over me, through me. My blood begins to boil as my power builds. The buzzing becomes a dim echo in my ears. All I can see is Luka in agony on the floor and the glee on Lorelye’s face at the pain she’s inflicted. She stands there, laughing over his body.

  I don’t know any spells or have any potions to aid me, but I truly don’t need them in this moment. My rage is all I need. It compels me, takes over and allows me to do what needs to be done. Holding my hands out, palms facing outward, I focus on Lorelye and let my power rush toward the witch, imagining the fire that slowly burns away at my Luka.