Rhys pushed Amanda aside and stood toe to toe with Trystan. “You knew it was Makenna all along.” Trystan dropped his head and Rhys pushed his chest hard. “How could you keep this from me?”
Trystan raised guilty eyes. “Because I hoped I was wrong. I hoped it wasn't her.” He wiped his hands over his face, staggering back from the wrath of his friend. “I wasn't sure until I saw her tonight.”
“You should have told me.” Rhys paced the room, watching Bowen and Makenna out of the corner of his eye. She stiffened and closed her eyes. He paused, waiting until she relaxed before continuing. “The night I told you I'd found her. That's why you weren't happy for me.” He whirled on Trystan, barely containing his fury. “For all you knew, you could've been sending me to my death.”
“No. I would've never let that happen. I just needed time to be sure.” Trystan deflated, reaching for Amanda.
She pushed him away and moved to stand with Talon. “Too far, Trys. You should've told us.” A tear leaked out as she leaned against her brother and watched Bowen.
The orange light emitting from his hands had darkened. His chants intensified, growing louder and bellowing through the small room. Both he and Makenna trembled violently as his hands bracketed her head, as if their whole bodies fought against some invisible force.
Trystan's chin fell to his chest. “I'm sorry. I thought I was protecting you.”
“Don't do me any favors,” she hissed at him.
Rhys growled at Trystan. “We'll discuss this later. After I make sure Makenna is all right.” He turned back to her as a blood curdling scream rent the air. He dropped by her side and smoothed sweaty hair from her face. He addressed Bowen. “What are you doing to her?”
Bowen’s hands gripped her head tighter. The veins in his arms popped, creating a purple roadmap. His voice was strained. “It's deep, Rhys. She'll be fine. I promise. We're almost there.”
Another scream speared into Rhys' bones. Kenna turned agonized eyes to him as he crooned words of comfort.
“That's it, love. Focus on me. It'll be over soon.” He held her as she convulsed. “How much longer?” Her pain was his. The agony sliced into his gut and pelted his brain.
“Almost...” Bowen leaned forward, sweat dripping from his brow. “There!”
Makenna screamed once more, her body jerking and coming out of the chair. She flopped back down, panting, then passed out.
“Kenna, love, look at me. Can you hear me?” Rhys caressed her face, tapping lightly on her cheek.
His chest tightened. He pulled her from the chair and to the floor with him, cradling her in his lap. Even Trystan stood still and silent, awaiting the outcome. Amanda clung to Talon. Both of them seemed to be holding their breath.
Finally, Makenna opened her eyes.
That's when it hit her. And him.
Her eyes opened wider, and she gripped his arms so tight he swore she'd rip them off. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was getting her through the deluge of repressed memories. The flood was so powerful it spilled over into his own mind through their bond, snapping his head back.
Kylian had named her Three. She’d trained with the others every night, never knowing who she was or where she was from.
Gods, Kylian hadn't told her. He'd let her believe she was no one. Now Rhys would have to tell her. His stomach churned, partly from that revelation, partly from the wave of nausea hitting Makenna as she looked around the room.
She settled on Trystan first. “I was supposed to kill you. But the woman, she...” Tears slid down Makenna's cheeks. “I'm so sorry.” She swallowed hard. “I wanted to stop. I know that doesn't make a difference, but I did.” Her eyes narrowed as her head tilted. “That's when I started to doubt. When I knew I had to get away from him.”
“It doesn't matter. Ciarra is still dead.” Trystan answered quietly. Hate dripped from his words.
Makenna shook her head and turned to Talon. “You, I─”
Rhys put a finger to her lips. “You don't have to do this right now. There's only minutes until your change. We need to get you ready.”
She smiled sadly as she took his hand, moving it to her chest. “I have to.” She kissed him, then rose. Rhys went with her, keeping his hands on her to steady her. She faced Talon. “The other night, we met in the bog. You wouldn't fight me.”
“Of course not. I couldn't.” Talon nearly choked on his words. He set Amanda aside and moved closer.
“I know you. At least, I know I should. But it's not there.” She moved toward him, Rhys following. She placed a hand over Talon's heart, and he covered it with his own. “I couldn't kill you. I was going to find you when I got out of the compound.” Her gaze fell on Amanda. “And you. With both of you I feel this, thing. Here.”
She patted her heart.
Talon looked at Rhys over Makenna's head, the question in his eyes. Rhys nodded. It was his and Amanda's tale to tell. Talon and Amanda each took one of Makenna's hands.
“I'm Amanda. What you feel is a bond. A blood bond not even magic can kill.” She glanced at Talon, then back at Makenna. “You’re our sister.”
The last words were strangled with tears.
Makenna trembled. “I have...family?” The choked words sliced Rhys' heart in two. “I have family. A brother and a sister.” She hesitated for a second then threw herself into Talon's arms, Amanda wrapping around them.
Rhys stepped back, letting the siblings who hadn't seen one another since they were infants embrace.
“This is touching, but we can't forget what she's done.” Trystan's harsh voice cut through the reunion. Rhys moved to stop him, but Trystan kept on. “She's not just an assassin, she's Kylian's damn daughter! Just like Brianna, she chose her side. She can't be trusted!”
Makenna froze. Slowly, she turned to Trystan. Her wolf shown in her eyes.
Amanda stepped in front of her, her own wolf surfacing. She stared Trystan down. “So is that what you think of us? Because I'm his daughter,” she pointed at Talon, “and Talon is his son, we aren't to be trusted?”
“That’s different. You chose the right side.” He jerked his chin at Makenna. “She didn't. She was coming after all of us tonight! How can that be okay with you?”
Makenna moved Amanda to the side and took her place in front of Trystan. Rhys put a hand on her arm, but she shook it off. Tension rode her hard, and the light from her pores brightened, turning a harsh red.
She snarled. “Just so you know, tonight I intended to take out my team. Or Three did. Whichever. She planned on killing them before they got to you all, then requesting asylum.” She turned to Rhys. “I never would've killed you. I couldn't.”
She reached for his hand and he took it, pulling her to him. He'd already felt it but hearing her say it eased something deep in his heart.
“For all we know she's lying! She's the fucking Morrigan. The head of the triad of sisters. Power no one has ever seen before. She could've been aware of the trigger, already broke it, and been playing us this whole time for all we know!”
“Enough!” Rhys barked. Everyone in the room but Makenna froze. She rose taller at his side, squeezing his hand. He released her, and glared at Trystan. “Leave this room. Otherwise I will kill you.”
Trystan snorted. “So you'll take her side over mine. I've fought with you, bled for you, and this is how you repay me? How you repay Ciarra? She was your cousin. Blood.”
Rhys’s wolf pushed at his skin to get to the man threatening his mate. “Leave. Now.”
Talon grabbed Trystan by the shoulder. “Come on, Trys. Let's go cool off.”
He shook Talon off. “No! We can't just let her go free. She has to pay! We have to─”
Whatever he'd been about to say was drowned by the sound of the most chilling howl Rhys had ever heard. Her head thrown back, eyes blazing, Makenna shook uncontrollably as she fell to all fours.
So it began.
CHAPTER TWENTY─FOUR
Big Bad Wolf
The pa
in was fucking unbelievable.
Makenna tried to find Rhys, but her vision had gone hazy. Every bone in her body broke and reformed. Her tissues tore apart and then came back together.
She was being ripped apart and she couldn't stop it. The wolf was coming. There was no way to control it. She wanted out and nothing was gonna stop her.
Why didn't he warn her? Why didn't he tell her it was agony her mind couldn't even comprehend?
Because she hadn't given him the chance.
“Kenna, don't fight it.”
Rhys. His voice carried over the screaming in her mind.
She sought his eyes, needing to see him. Needing his familiar strength as the animal took over her body. Her vision cleared, and she locked onto him. Don't fight it he said. She wasn't fighting, and it still hurt like hell. A long, pitiful whine filled her ears coming from her mouth.
Rhys was shouting. “Everyone out!”
A woman's voice. Amanda. Her sister. “Rhys, we're not leaving her.”
“No way in Ifrin am I leaving Amanda with her.” That voice. She didn't like it.
Makenna's wolf snarled, then whined as the pain consumed her.
Rhys was on his knees, rubbing a hand down her spine. “Shh. Ignore him. Focus on me. Let the wolf out. She's been locked up a long time and she needs out, Kenna. Help her.”
Help her? How the fuck could she help the wolf?
She closed her eyes, for the first time seeing the beautiful black and silver wolf in her mind. The beast threw herself against Makenna's skin, trying to force her way out of her cage. Makenna imagined the walls falling, imagined the wolf bursting free.
Then it happened.
Her nose elongated. The claws she'd used earlier sprouted again, this time on her feet too. No, not feet. They were paws. Just like her hands. Oh God, she had paws. And fur. Luxurious, soft fur sprang out all over her body. Another round of bones breaking. Makenna rode out the pain, trying not to tense.
Let it happen. She had to let it happen.
When she opened her eyes, they were level with Rhys as he knelt beside her.
It was strange, being inside the wolf. The animal was running the show, but Makenna still had her own mind. It just wasn't making the decisions. So far, though, Makenna agreed with her choice.
She leaned into Rhys, burying her nose in his neck and sniffing. That smell. Delicious. She delicately licked his jaw. Her mate. His unique, soothing scent calmed her nerves. He ran his fingers through her fur, whispering words in that language Makenna didn't understand.
But the wolf did. She pushed into his hands, craving the comfort only he could give.
The wolf turned at two familiar scents. She'd remembered when Makenna hadn't. Brother. Sister. Their wolves had played and tussled and learned to hunt together. And then she'd been taken away.
While the ones she’d been sent to loved her, they'd caged her. She hadn't been allowed to run anymore. Now she was free and with her siblings again. Though one was missing, they were together. The wolf disengaged from Rhys and padded the few feet to them.
They knelt and she sniffed them, reacquainting herself. When she rubbed against them, they wrapped their arms around her, burying their faces in her fur. The wolf smelled salt, out of place in the dingy shed. When she looked up, Amanda's face was wet. The wolf licked the moisture away and nipped her chin. Didn't humans cry when they were sad? She didn’t like her sister sad.
Makenna explained that sometimes they cried when they were happy too and that's why Amanda was smiling. It was weird explaining things to herself.
The wolf licked Talon, then backed up toward Rhys. She whined low, still frightened with all that had happened, all the new memories in her mind.
The weight on her heart.
She'd been a pawn in Kylian's games, just like Makenna. Their body, their strength and abilities, hijacked to carry out his plans. To kill her own people.
And he was her father.
Fuck. Makenna screamed in her head. The wolf growled. She'd shoved the information aside earlier, not having the capacity to deal with it. Now it wouldn't let her be. That, and the pain of what she’d been made to do, was too much to bear.
All because her father was a ruthless asshole who wanted to usurp a place that wasn't his. Because he wanted power. He even went so far as to use his own children to get it.
Movement and another scent caught the wolf's attention.
That one she didn't like.
The one who had said she was Kylian's daughter. That she was a liar, a betrayer. A killer. The one who wanted her dead.
Hate poured from him. Hate and the pungent odor of grief and rage. Neither the wolf nor Makenna cared any longer that he was grieving. He'd wanted a target and had chosen her. To be fair, she had killed his woman, but not really. It hadn't been her, but the piece Kylian created and controlled. Yet this hate-filled person still blamed her.
The wolf separated herself from Rhys, brushing off his attempts to hold her. She stared at the one called Trystan. His eyes were wolf. His wolf wanted to rip her apart. Put her down like a rabid dog with no chance of redemption.
She'd kill him first.
She took a deeper whiff of his scent. Beta. He was supposed to follow and protect her. Protect her mate. Not only had he threatened her, he'd betrayed her mate. He'd withheld information. Information Rhys could've used to help her.
Hair stood up along her back. Her ears flattened. Long, lethal teeth bared. She let out a chilling growl.
Trystan pointed at her. “See? She's been wolf for less than five minutes and she's ready to come after one of her own. She's just like him!”
Another growl. Low and long. His second warning. The wolf would allow him one more before she attacked.
Rhys was by her side, but he didn't touch her. Perhaps he could sense in her present state she wouldn't receive it well.
He addressed Trystan. “Get out. Now. If you don't, I can't say I'll try to stop her.”
“You'd let her come after your Beta, your brother?”
“It's not a matter of me letting her. She's the Morrigan, dammit. I'm not sure even I could hold her back.” He rubbed a hand down his face, and the wolf whined low at his distress. “Be smart. Don't antagonize her when she's in a volatile state. Her wolf knows things Makenna doesn't, and she will use all the power she has if you don't back down now.”
Damn fucking straight, Makenna shouted in her head. Rhys' slight head turn toward her said he'd felt her shout. Good. He needed to know that if the Beta didn't back down, he'd be lunch.
She was in no mood for mercy. Makenna and her wolf needed someone to pay for what had been done to them. They wanted blood, and they wanted it now. They echoed the screams of the goddess, now fully awake and ready for battle. She was free and ready to do some damage.
It was time for war.
The goddess slipped into the driver's seat. She was more powerful than them all and had no qualms about spilling blood. In fact, she craved it. She'd been deprived for too long. Chained in the depths of Makenna's psyche. Unable to wage war and defend her people against the evil that threatened them.
Her power flooded Makenna's mind and body, electrifying her and the wolf. Light surrounded them, a dark, seething red. Makenna somehow knew she needed to merge fully with the goddess and the wolf. That they were one. But she had no idea how.
The dissonance tore her up. It was too much power and she was overdosing.
Amanda slipped between the wolf and Trystan. “Trys, back the hell off and do it now.”
His glare landed on Amanda, softening a little. If he made one aggressive move toward Amanda, the wolf would be on his throat before he could blink. Makenna stiffened, ready to lunge. She dared him to move.
Trystan shook his head, but wisely stayed still. “She can't be trusted. No one person should have that much power.”
He cast a glare at Makenna's wolf. His lethal intent weighted the air.
It pulled at the vicious rage blasting t
hrough Makenna. She shook with the need to leap. To fight. To find an outlet for the power and pain that had reached boiling point.
Rhys took a step toward Trystan, moving Amanda to the side. His muscles were tense. The war going on inside Makenna had bled into him. “Trystan, go. That's an order.”
“I can't. I won't let you welcome her to the pack with open arms.” Regret colored his voice, but it was overwhelmed by the desire for revenge.
Whatever Rhys was about to say was lost under the next growl coming from Makenna's throat. Everyone's attention turned to her, eyes wide. The red light pulsated in a swirling mass. Talon, Amanda, and Bowen stepped back. Rhys turned to her, murmuring words she didn't hear.
Makenna, the wolf, and the goddess were all focused with primal intent on Trystan.
He'd had his final warning. He stood tall, his wolf flashing in his eyes. He refused to submit.
It was his funeral.
She lunged, leaping over Rhys.
The room erupted in shouts as the wolf landed on Trystan’s chest, knocking him into a table and scattering the weaponry there. She went for his throat, but he was fast enough to block. Instead, her teeth latched onto his forearm, sinking to bone.
Blood.
It filled her mouth and senses, fueling the need for more.
She shook the arm side to side. Trystan punched her in the body twice and attempted to throw her. She only dug in deeper. He shoved his forearm deeper in, forcing her jaws wide. The pressure was too much. She released her hold.
Trystan rolled to his feet. He faced her with a knife in his hand and a wild look in his eyes. The wolf snarled as she stalked toward him.
“Kenna! Stop!”
A voice cut through the fog. She didn't register the owner. The power and agony inside were overwhelming, frying the circuits in her brain. All she knew was the need to defeat the enemy.
“Kenna!”
“Makenna, please!”
Two voices. This time she turned her head, keeping her opponent in sight. There was her Mate. Her Brother. They inched closer, hands extended. They wanted her to back down. She couldn't do that. There was an enemy in their midst she must eradicate.
Sleeper (Rise of the Fianna Book 1) Page 25