“No!”
The hoarse cry shattered the peace of the ceremony.
Roga Gabrov sprang from the side door. His eyes were wild and his face was torn apart, but Ellie would recognize her kidnapper anywhere. He wore her mark. A gun gleamed in his outstretched hand and it was pointed at her face.
Ellie didn’t have time to move before the gun barked once, twice.
A horrible roar sounded in her ear and a ripple of unleashed power blasted out through the room. The marble floor buckled and the walls bowed outward. Ellie felt a blow to her arm and staggered just as a body brushed by her.
Eva Sidarova dropped to the floor at Ellie’s feet, blood pouring from her throat. Her limbs were sprawled at odd angles.
Rylek’s big body vaulted the prone form of his fallen cousin. He landed several yards away on top of the traitor. The force of his leap bore the other man to the ground. They slid across the floor with Rylek’s fangs buried in Roga’s throat. The gun clattered to the marble in front of the agitated crowd. One of the Elders scooped it up.
The Cadre enclosed Ellie and Eva in a circle of protection. Miros was kneeling by Eva, swearing, and Vasily was working to help save his daughter. Ellie struggled to see past the wall of male bodies, but they blocked her and no amount of shoving or begging could budge them.
The noise from the crowd cut off suddenly, and when the Cadre shifted positions, Ellie caught a glimpse of Rylek rising, mouth and chin bloody, coat in shreds, to stand over the torn form of Roga Gabrov. Something twitched on the floor. Was that Roga’s…arm? Oh, dear. She winced at all the blood before her view was barred again.
Vasily shouted and Ellie’s attention was drawn to the flurry of activity around Eva. Ellie’s stomach lurched. She thought she might faint. A strange heat began to build in her hands and arms. She stepped closer and knelt beside Vasily.
Eva’s blood pumped out through his fingers. It was coming too fast, a bright river of red pumping out onto the dais. Ellie’s hands itched at the sight of it. She reached out to cover Vasily’s bloody hands with hers. She felt so hot, like she was burning with fever, consumed by it. Her vision was blurring with a film of red, flickering at the edges like a bonfire.
Rylek appeared by her side, and she turned to him blindly.
“Help me,” she said, and her voice sounded strange in her ears. “Rylek, help me.”
His eyes widened and he put his hands on top of Ellie’s. His Alpha power flowed through her and some unknown part of her recognized it, welcomed it. She pulled it in and absorbed it until she felt swollen with the blaze of sparkling energy. Her mind was on fire.
She screamed with the scorching pain of the conflagration as it reached the bursting point and exploded. Waves of power surged out through her hands and down into Eva’s torn body. It went on and on, pouring out until she depleted the terrible overload and was herself again. She was exhausted, leaning against her mate for support, but still Ellie.
She saw the people crying and clinging to one another, heard the hushed whispers, but everything seemed far away and unreal. Even when Eva, who had been so close to death a moment ago, sat up with the aid of her father, it took Ellie another minute to comprehend what had happened.
Eva had been healed. Her clothes were saturated in blood, but the skin of her throat was smooth and there was no sign of a wound. Not even a scar.
She turned to Rylek for confirmation, and was shocked to see tears standing in his eyes. He hugged her tight. The muscles in his strong arms had a fine tremor.
“You are a miracle,” he choked out. “My own miracle and a miracle for my people.”
She didn’t feel miraculous, just bone-tired. Her limbs seemed too heavy, and she didn’t want to move. Breathing deeply was an effort.
“Did we…?” Ellie stopped before she uttered the words. It was too farfetched. She had been an ordinary human just a few days earlier, a woman who was a bit too curvaceous with no illuminating talent and no special powers. It was too much for her mind to believe that she could heal a bullet wound, but her spirit believed.
“You healed my daughter,” Vasily said. Tears ran down his face and he didn’t bother to wipe them away. “You saved her life. She is the Queen’s Guard. She put her body willingly in front of her chosen queen. She understood that it was her life for yours.”
Ellie gulped back a sob. The blow she felt must have come from Eva shoving past her to intercept the gunshots. To take the bullets meant for Ellie.
Eva was sitting up, supported on either side by two stone-faced warriors who looked enough alike to be twins.
“The injury was too severe, right through her vulnerable throat. She was dying.” Vasily’s voice caught. “She was dying, but you saved her.”
Vasily reached out to Ellie, and when she saw his hands, she cried out. His palms were red and blistered; the flesh on the backs of his hands where hers had covered them melted smooth as if he had held them in an open flame.
“Vasily, your poor hands!” Ellie was distraught over the damage she had caused.
“His hands will be scarred, but they will heal,” Rylek murmured in her ear. “He would have traded his life for his daughter. Be at peace.”
“The power moved through me,” Vasily said with wonder, gazing down at his injured hands. “Such power that I felt the healing begin in Eva when her heart was already faltering. She was slipping away from us. You have blessed my family. We are all blessed to have you for our queen.”
He stood and raised his burned hands in the air and the crowd roared with him.
Mura wrapped her arms around Ellie and Rylek and whispered her thanks to them over and over. Valeri joined in, and the couple was encircled by the entire Cadre in a collective hug, including Eva. The vulfen people stomped their feet rhythmically.
Ellie looked at her mate, standing so tall and straight beside her. When the people began to draw away, she leaned against his side and he pulled her closer in his warm embrace.
“Your tuxedo is ruined. We’ll never get all the blood out,” she said. He nodded.
Rylek raised his hand, and the Cadre backed off a few feet. He looked out on his people.
“The traitor is no more, but the threat to our people still exists,” he said. “Nasja, a vulfen female who drugged and helped to capture our Queen, has escaped. She will be found. And we must be wary still of the small group of human hunters who seek to destroy us. We must be more careful now than at any other time in our long history. I will count on each one of you to keep your eyes and ears open and listen for any warning of danger in the outside world. Together we will survive.”
The Cadre roared. The people roared.
Ellie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She smiled instead. Rylek squeezed her hand.
One of the Elders turned off the lights and another threw open the wide doors. The scent of cedar and pine rode in on the cool wind. The moon was round and full and bright moonlight poured into the room.
The people began to shift and run out into the forest.
Rylek caught both Ellie’s hands and brought them to his mouth for a lingering kiss.
“Run with me,” he invited and the hope in his voice sent shivers down her spine.
Ellie rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He responded by taking over the simple kiss, drawing it out until it took on the character of an intimate promise.
“Ellie, you have seen the threats we face, the ugliness of betrayal. Let me show you the beauty of my world. The moon is calling to us. Run with me.”
Ellie looked up into his glowing black eyes. Her mind was unsettled and her heart was racing. She felt nervous, exhausted, and exhilarated all at the same time. A cautious person would refuse, but Ellie was discovering that she was braver than she ever thought she could be. She wanted to run with her mate.
“Yes, I’ll run with you anywhere,” she said. It was a vow. He snatched her up in his arms and twirled her around. When he set her on her feet, she was dizzy and laughing.
&nb
sp; He began to shift and the power foamed and bubbled around her. She let it take over. It pulled her into the form of a black wolf. She felt strong, powerful in this form, but she was much smaller than her Alpha mate.
He nuzzled and lapped at her muzzle in a wolfy kiss then lowered his head and front paws to the floor with his tail wagging in the air.
Ellie’s wolf understood. The danger was over for the moment. Her mate was asking her to play.
With a laugh that came out as a yip, she pounced at him and when he barked and bounced a few feet away, she chased him out into the silvery moonlight to explore her new world.
THE END
HTTP://WWW.BOOKSTRAND.COM/LAINA-KENNEY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laina Kenney is a classically trained singer/instructor with a regular job and a deep love of the written word. Her family is supportive of (or perhaps just resigned to) a house full of books in every genre, with ancient history and romance taking up the majority of the space. She cheerfully admits to having a bizarre sense of humor and enough shiny accessories for any ten women. One of the greatest joys in her life is exploring the wonder of testosterone, both in prose and in person.
Also by Laina Kenney
Siren Classic: DIG Security 1: Overheated
Ménage Amour: DIG Security 2: Overwhelmed
Available at
BOOKSTRAND.COM
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Kenney, Laina - Vulfen Alpha's Mate [Vulfen Cadre 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 11