by R. E. Butler
* * *
Lucian groaned as he sat up and stretched. His entire back felt like chewed-up hamburger, and the scent of blood and ink mixed with the sweet woodsy scent of magic filled the air. He stood and stretched, then straddled the chair the other way, resting his hands on his thighs.
Talitha flexed her fingers. “Wanna take a break?”
“I’m good if you are,” he said.
She snapped her fingers with a smile. “Witches are fast healing.”
“Hold on,” Reg said. “Check out the back.”
Talitha leaned over. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“What’s wrong?” Lucian asked.
“The ink’s disappearing!”
Lucian rushed to the mirror on the wall and lifted a hand mirror, turning away and angling the smaller one so he could view his back. As he watched, his skin seemed to absorb not only the normal ink but also the magically inked outline.
He glanced at his arms, where the last of the original tattoos had been, and found them gone as well.
“What. The. Hell!”
Talitha moved toward him, but Reg stopped her and pushed her behind his back. “You need to calm down, man,” the male said.
“What?” Lucian asked.
“Your eyes are red and your voice is deep. We didn’t do anything wrong. Clearly your berserker doesn’t want to be caged anymore.”
Lucian didn’t even realize how angry he’d gotten. Pushing at the berserker, he felt the beast calm. “Sorry.”
Talitha peeked around Reg’s body. “Can your berserker do that? Decide he doesn’t want to be magically bound and just reject it? I’ve never heard of such a thing, and P.S., I’m a damn awesome witch and that was double-strength.”
At a loss for words, Lucian stared at his reflection in the mirror. How the hell was he going to see Mia if he couldn’t cage the beast?
Trying not to feel too defeated, he grabbed the duffel and pulled out a stack of bills. “Thanks for trying,” he said to Talitha and Reggie as he handed her the money. It wasn’t their fault that the tattoos hadn’t stayed, and they deserved to be compensated.
He opened the door and shielded his eyes from the bright sun.
“Sorry I couldn’t help. Let me know if I can do anything else for you,” Talitha said.
He scented the hunters before he even stepped out of the shop, and he snarled. He knew by the tranq guns the males held that they weren’t going to let him do anything but go with them to the office, which meant he’d need to fight. He didn’t want to, but he had to find a way to get his beast under control so he could get to Mia.
No one was going to stand in his way.
Chapter 9
Mia rolled over and yawned, curling around a pillow. It was scratchy and didn’t smell right, which made her wonder where she was. All at once, her mind snapped into gear and she remembered what had happened.
Sitting up with a squeak, she clutched at the blankets that were tucked around her and looked around the room. She recognized it immediately as the guest bedroom in Mal’s house. On the bedside was a bottle of water, and she cracked the lid and took a long drink.
“Mia?” Nila’s voice came through the closed door.
“I’m awake.”
The door opened with a soft creak, and Jack walked in ahead of his mom, holding a stuffed wolf in one hand and a daisy in the other. He handed Mia the flower with a toothy grin.
“Thanks, kiddo,” she said, ruffling his hair.
“How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?”
Mia looked down and saw she was still wearing the hospital gown Lucian had found for her. Just the thought of him made her wolf prance happily in her mind.
“Can you take me home?”
“Um, Mal said you need to stay here.”
“Why?”
“Doc said he wanted to talk to you when you woke up, and also, Mal’s not here.”
“I don’t need to see Doc. I went through a heat-cycle and now it’s over.”
Her brow arched. “It’s not September.”
“I know. It was a drug, but it felt real. Well, worse than real, actually, but it’s over and I’m fine now. Luc saved my life.”
“He’s the reason it was in danger in the first place.”
Mia looked at Nila for a quiet moment. “Do you know where Lucian is?”
Her eyes narrowed. “He’s gone.”
Mia glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. It was two in the afternoon. She had little memory of what happened after Lucian carried her from the ravens’ building. It had been dark out, but she’d felt entirely safe in his arms and had fallen asleep almost immediately.
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
“You can talk to Mal when he gets back from Acksel’s. He’ll be bringing Doc with him. I’m sorry, Mia, but Mal threatened Lucian if he came back here. You’re better off without him. I’m…angry with myself for getting involved. I should’ve told you to get on with your life instead of trying to orchestrate a meet-up between the two of you.”
“He’s my mate, Nila.”
She stood, lifting Jack into her arms. “Well, your wolf is an idiot. I’ve never met a more dangerous male in my life, and that includes my ex and his nutjob pack members. He was covered in blood, Mia. You could’ve died.”
She turned and walked from the room, closing the door behind her.
Mia stared at the door. Part of her wanted to just curl up and cry, but it was the small pathetic part that felt abandoned by Lucian. Larger than that was her wolf, who was howling that they were not going to be a damsel in need of rescuing ever again. She and Lucian had marked each other, and she knew he would come back for her. But rather than wait for him, she was going to go get him herself. Wherever the hell he was. She’d start by finding a phone and calling his cell.
She pulled the blanket off and stood, walking to the closet and sliding the door open. Just as she’d remembered, there was a plastic tub pushed against the wall, with a label that read: ‘Brynn’s Stuff, No Touchie.’ Before Mal had moved into the home, Brynn had rented it from Mia’s parents. Once Brynn had moved in with Acksel, she’d taken most things to his house, but some items had been left behind, including this tub of old clothes.
Tugging the container free of the closet, Mia opened the lid and gave herself a mental high-five. Although what she really wanted was a shower – in her own bathroom – and her favorite comfy lounge pants, she’d settle for Brynn’s old clothes. After finding a pair of jeans, a black tank top, and a pink plaid button-down, Mia dressed and then went looking for socks and shoes. She found a pair of hiking boots on the other side of the closet, but no socks.
Mal’s home was on the other side of the woods from Mia’s. She could cut through the trees, avoiding the main roads and possibly being sighted by pack members who would give Mal a heads-up. She knew her brother very well, and when he got his mind set on something, it took a lot to change it.
He clearly thought that Lucian was to blame for her capture, but she just didn’t feel that way. From her perspective, Lucian had done everything he could to keep her safe. It hadn’t worked, because the ravens were sneaky bastards, but it wasn’t Lucian’s fault – it was theirs. Only assholes targeted mates, and although she’d never been glad to see anyone die before, she wasn’t shedding any tears for the ravens.
Going to the window, she poked her fingers between the blind slats and looked out. She didn’t see anyone patrolling, but it wouldn’t surprise her if Mal had asked some of the pack protectors to keep an eye on the house. She lifted the blinds slowly so they didn’t make a lot of noise. Twisting the locks on the window, she pulled it open and then pressed the buttons on the screen to unlatch it. After angling it, she brought it into the room and then swung her leg over. Fortunately the house was a ranch, so she didn’t have to worry about falling and breaking something.
She wiggled through the window and dropped to the ground. Tilting her head, she listened for voices
or footsteps, but heard none. Settling into her wolf, she held her breath for a few moments to calm her wild pulse, and then she raced away from the house to the woods. She ran as fast as she could, dodging low branches and tree trunks as she made her way home. She stopped at the edge of the tree line behind her house, peeking around a broad trunk and trying not to pant too loudly. Her home wasn’t surrounded by pack members, and no one had followed her through the woods, which made her wonder if Mal was really worried about Lucian coming back.
Stepping from behind the tree, she cast her gaze back and forth along the edge of the woods and listened intently. When she was sure there was no one around, she hurried across the back yard to her home. She kept a spare key taped under a large terra cotta pot on the back patio; she tilted the pot and pulled the key from under the tape. After pushing the sliding door open, she unlocked the back door, replaced the key, and then walked into her house.
The moment the door shut, she knew she wasn’t alone. Fear ratcheted through her. She kept her hand on the door handle and wondered how fast she could get it open.
“Don’t be afraid, Mia,” a male voice said from behind her.
There was the sound of a smack and another male said, “That’s the most idiotic thing to say to someone. It’s like saying ‘don’t look down.’”
Mia frowned and turned. Three males wearing military fatigues stood in her kitchen. There was something vaguely familiar about them, and she scented the air and found the same scent that Lucian had. Not his naturally spicy scent, but the same layer of dirt and metal that overlaid it.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“We’re friends of Lucian’s,” the third male said. “I’m Simon. This is Neil and Isaac.”
“How did you get in here?”
Simon’s brow arched. “You keep a key under the pot by the door. Which is like the second place that criminals will look, by the way.”
“What’s the first?”
“Fake rock in the flower bed,” Isaac answered. “But that’s not important. Lucian needs you.”
Her heart clenched in worry. “He does? What’s wrong?”
“He killed an entire nest of ravens, for one. Our bosses sent hunters to get him, and he’s not doing well in captivity,” Neil said.
“He saved my life by killing those ravens, and not to point out the obvious, but they were criminals.”
“Yeah. But he still has to account for his actions. When the hunters showed up to take him in, he went nuts,” Simon said. “Will you come with us?”
“Let me grab some socks.”
“Hurry,” Neil said.
She rushed past the males to her bedroom, where she toed off Brynn’s boots. Hurrying to the dresser, she pulled out socks, put them on, and then raced to the bathroom to pee. She noticed her reflection in the mirror and groaned. She’d give anything for the time to take a shower. Her hair was a disheveled mess, and she had dark circles under her eyes.
Grabbing a hair tie from the drawer, she ran a brush through her tangled hair a few times and pulled it up into a ponytail. After brushing her teeth, she turned to flip off the light and noticed a strange mark on her neck. Tilting her head, she leaned toward the mirror and inspected it, touching the raised marks with her fingertips. Her wolf wiggled in her mind as Mia’s fingers ran over the scar, and goosebumps rose on her skin.
The mark on her neck was from Lucian – a berserker mating bite. Instead of two fang marks like he had from her, she had a series of white marks that looked like little stars. Two lines of star-shaped scars rose above her skin just slightly, and were a pale cream color against her skin. There were five stars on the top arch of the mark and four on the bottom curve.
“So this is what a berserker does to their mate?” she murmured. It was pretty and unique, and large enough that any supernatural creature who saw it would know that she was mated, even if they didn’t recognize the bite itself.
Turning off the light, she headed out of the room, shoved her feet into her tennis shoes, and grabbed her coat from its hook at the front door.
“Just so you know, I don’t usually look like a nightmare,” she said.
“You can take all the showers you want when Lucian is okay,” Simon said.
Neil opened the front door and reached for his gun. “Who the fuck are you?”
Mia peeked around the door and saw two of the pack protectors, Zander and Gabe.
“Put your gun down, it’s my pack. Zander, did Mal send you here?”
Zander didn’t ease from his defensive stance. “He said you were at his house, but we were to watch for a guy named Lucian.”
She looked at Neil with a smile. “They were here when you guys broke in and they didn’t see you?”
“It’s our job to be sneaky.”
She bit back a laugh. “Lucian isn’t here. I’m leaving with these guys.”
“We need to check with Malachi,” Gabe said.
“Help yourself, but I’m leaving whether he likes it or not.”
Zander stiffened with a growl. “You’re not in control here, Mia. You’re an omega. We’re ranked males. You will wait in your home until Malachi comes to get you.”
Simon said in a low voice, “We need to get gone, Mia.”
“Just don’t hurt them too badly.”
In a heartbeat, Neil and Isaac were out of the house and on Zander and Gabe, and Simon was hurrying her past the ruckus to a black SUV parked down the street. He opened the back passenger door and said, “Duck down until we’re out of town.”
She crawled onto the back row and laid down. Simon got behind the wheel, started the car, and swung around, gunning the engine as the SUV roared down the street. He stopped hard enough to make her almost fall off the seat, and then two doors opened and Isaac was sitting next to her with Neil in the passenger seat. The tires squealed as Simon floored it and she was pushed back against the seat with the force.
She looked at Isaac. “How far away is wherever you’re taking me?”
“An hour,” he said.
Neil turned around to look at her. “Do you know what Lucian is?”
“A berserker.”
He blinked in surprise. “Shit, really? And you’re his mate?”
“He marked me and I marked him, so yes, we’re marked mates. And I’m pregnant.”
“Damn,” Simon said, letting out a low whistle. “No wonder he’s acting like that.”
“Like what?”
“Crazy.”
“So you didn’t know, either?” she asked.
Neil shook his head. “We thought he was human.”
They told her how they’d helped Lucian break Antonio free from the hunters’ prison, but he wouldn’t let them come to help rescue her.
“He had his dad,” she said, sitting up and buckling her seatbelt as they left Wilde Creek. “They killed everyone and set the house on fire.”
“We know,” Simon said. “Show her the video.”
Isaac pulled a small laptop from a pack on the floor and opened it. He clicked a few buttons and then turned it to her as a video began to play. It appeared to be a bodycam like she’d seen police officers use.
“If he won’t come quietly,” a male said, “use the tranqs.”
“Why can’t they just call him to come into the office?” a male asked.
“They tried, but he disappeared. We tracked him here. It’s our job to bring him in, and that’s all,” the male replied.
The door to a tattoo shop opened and Lucian stepped clear, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Thanks for trying,” he said to someone inside the shop.
“Sorry I couldn’t help. Let me know if I can do anything else for you.”
The door shut and he let out a deep sigh, his shoulders slumping. He looked so despondent that she wanted to reach through the screen and comfort him. The camera started to move forward rapidly. Lucian’s head shot up, and he snarled.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
“You’re goin
g to come quietly. The bosses want answers,” a male said.
“I have something to do first,” Lucian said. “I’ll come in after I take care of–”
“No,” the male said, cutting him off. “You don’t go anywhere but with us.”
Lucian’s head tilted and his eyes flashed. She could see the red of his berserker, and knew that Lucian was pissed.
“Uh oh,” she whispered.
“No shit,” Simon said.
From one moment to the next, Lucian changed. His body became taller and bulkier, his shirt and pants ripping as muscles on top of muscles corded his limbs. He roared in fury, and every tooth in his mouth was sharp like a razor, the tips glistening in the sunlight. She hadn’t imagined his shaggy hair or the bright red of his eyes when he’d broken into the lab.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she watched him attack the males, roaring in fury. The hunters used tranquilizer darts on him, but they didn’t seem to slow him down until the blue feathered tufts were sticking out of his chest, back, arms, and legs. He swooned and dropped to his knees, still red-eyed and furious, but finally subdued. As his eyes shuttered closed and he dropped to the ground, he uttered her name. It broke her heart.
Isaac closed the video. “It took ten darts to slow him down. And according to the report, he woke up in-transit. He was chained up enough to keep him from breaking free, but he’s locked up now in our headquarters.”
“What do you need from me?” she asked.
“You need to get him to calm down,” Simon said.
“Is he in trouble? Because he killed the ravens for me?”
“Yes and no. When we got word that the ravens’ compound had been destroyed,” Isaac said, “we went immediately to the higher-ups in the organization and told them everything that he’d done. They’re not happy that he went after you without clearance, but they understand why he did it. He has to answer for what he did, and for sure he’s not going to be a hunter anymore, but he wouldn’t be in any serious trouble if he hadn’t attacked the ones who came for him.”