by C. M. Owens
“What happened to Ella and Chaz?” I ask, still fighting hard not to laugh.
“Went back to Alyssa. It’s better that way. Chaz may or may not be on our side for what we intend to do about Sadie. Speaking of which, Gage said as soon as he’s finished dealing with a werewolf/dark user territory dispute, that we’re going on a witch hunt. He knows where she is.”
My blood hums, and I get the taste for a little killing. Sadie can’t be the big bad if she’s six feet under. And Kimber can finally have peace knowing that her past will never come back to haunt her.
“Good. Where is she?”
He rolls his eyes. “He didn’t say. He knew we’d leave him behind because we’re impatient like that. He’s got Reese helping him out since he’s the head of the Were council, and Gage is the head of the dark user council. I figure it’ll be morning before he’s back.”
Roslyn walks back out, biting her lip in an attempt to not smile.
“It’s all fixed. Sorry about that,” she says shyly.
Zee cocks an eyebrow at me, then looks to her. “Two animals fucking each other in one house could be problematic.”
Roslyn’s cheeks flame, and I laugh while tugging her to me.
“We’ll be back before dawn. We’re going to take a little stroll through the woods. While we’re out there, we’ll do a quick sweep for any of the blood-starved night stalkers.”
Roslyn snuggles in closer, resting her head on my chest as though she can’t get close enough. My immortal girl has lots of stamina, because she doesn’t seem tired.
“I’ll come find you if Gage comes back before dawn. I’m sure you don’t want to miss out on…” His words trail off when he realizes Roslyn’s still in my arms, and she stiffens in my arms.
“Definitely come find me. After we do a sweep, we’ll stay close to the house. Just not too close. Wouldn’t want a tree collapsing on the place.”
Zee laughs while backing away. “I’m about to hit my club. I need a bite.”
Roslyn tilts her head as though she’s confused, but I pull her toward the woods with me. I never bothered putting on a shirt, so her hands keep touching my skin and driving me fucking crazy.
“Club?” she asks as we make our way down the quiet lake beach.
Everyone’s at a party on the other end of the lake right now. Which means the blood-starved night stalkers might be there.
“Zee has a club where humans come to role play. And several people ‘pretend’ to be vampires to feed off them. No one dies. Night stalkers and other blood drinkers get fed.”
She shudders, and I cock my eyebrow. That disgusts her?
“Human blood is so gross,” she explains.
I laugh while she tucks herself against my side, and I run my fingers through her hair. “Well, night stalkers can live off a witch’s blood, but they also go a little crazy if that’s all they have. Unless you’re a creature god like Alyssa and Kane—they can live off each other’s blood, and do.”
And now my girl can live off me.
“You up for handling blood-starved night stalkers? If they have too many, we’ll come back for reinforcements.”
She kisses the side of my chest, and I let my hand move to squeeze her ass. Fuck work. I just want to play.
“I can handle them. Your blood sort of recharged my system. You’re strong. A lot stronger than a changer should be.”
“Gatekeeper,” I remind her.
“What’s going on at dawn, Gatekeeper?” she asks, teasing me a little.
“There’s someone out there we suspect being a part of this slave ring thing—someone who has been a part of it before. We’re going on a witch hunt to get some answers. I’ll probably be gone a while. Don’t say anything to Dice. Not everyone knows.”
She tenses beside me.
“Who’s going?”
“Zee, me, Kimber, and Gage. The others don’t have it in them to do what needs to be done before Sadie does her worst to us.”
“So Sadie is bad?” she asks so earnestly.
“Yeah, love. The wrong kind of bad.”
“Then I’m coming with you. You might need my help.”
I fight hard to restrain my smile. She’s cute when she’s protective.
“I don’t want you seeing this. It won’t be pretty.”
Her grip on me gets tighter, but she blows out a breath.
“If this Sadie chick was part of helping the rings, then it doesn’t need to be pretty. Unless…”
Her voice trails off, and I reach over to tilt her chin up. Those violet eyes hold a lot of guilt suddenly.
“Unless?” I prompt.
She looks away, as though she can’t look at me for some reason.
“Unless she was forced to help them.”
I’m not sure how anyone could be forced to help. I’d die first as opposed to being a monster. Even when I was a monster, I showed mercy by offering the kill instead of torturing people. And that was only until I got control of my beasts.
But Sadie doesn’t get mercy, just like Roslyn didn’t get mercy.
“She wasn’t forced to help. She was one of the reasons Kimber was locked up as a child. It’s just time to collect on a very overdue debt.”
She thinks about it for a minute before she threads her fingers through mine.
“Then I’m in.”
Grinning, I kiss the back of her hand. I’m glad my girl’s not as sweet as I once thought she was.
“Then let’s hurry up and patrol so you can give me what you promised.”
Chapter 29
ROSLYN
I’m sore all over in the best possible way. The sun isn’t far from rising, and Thad and I haven’t done much sleeping.
He stirs as I get up on all fours, shaking away some of the forest debris from my fur, and he lifts up as well, mirroring the same action before I go to nuzzle him.
That’s the first time I’ve enjoyed shifted form in this way. I’m just glad two white wolves didn’t draw any attention.
No blood-starved night stalkers showed up, so I’m assuming they’re feasting somewhere else. Another problem for another day.
Right now I get to have a little revenge of my own against some of the ring runners. My wolf is ready for blood, and it makes it hard to shift back to flesh. But I do, watching as the skin replaces fur, and I end up in a crouched position before standing to my full height.
Thad cocks his wolf head to the side, appraising me, and I roll my eyes when he starts panting. Jackass.
My clothes appear on my body with no more than a thought, and Thad shifts back to flesh, and he tugs me to him mid-transformation. By the time his lips touch mine, he’s fully shifted, and my arms go around his neck, pulling his bare body as close to mine as possible.
“I’m starting to worry I can’t get enough of you,” he murmurs against my lips, which of course makes me smile.
Forcing myself to move away before we lose control, I take inventory of him to make sure I haven’t done any true damage. The marks on his shoulders and neck have healed throughout the night, but the one on his hip is still fresh, since I fed off it just an hour ago.
“I didn’t take too much, did I?” I ask, suddenly feeling a little worried.
“Not even close,” he says before pulling me back to him. “One pack of blood, and I won’t even know anything is missing. Besides, I took some from you, too. And damn you taste good. I’m starting to wonder if I can live off you, because I shouldn’t have healed so easily otherwise. You’re a fireball in the sack. Or in the pine straw, rather.”
I laugh while he starts tugging his jeans back on. I can hear people on the lake beach not too far from where we are, so I decide he needs a shirt. His deep rumble of a chuckle finds my ears when one suddenly appears on him, and I shrug innocently before walking out.
I’m a little worried about dematerializing us. His blood is strong, and it makes me so much stronger. I didn’t mean to sling us outside yesterday. I meant for us to land in the kitche
n. I used the same power as I normally would have, but the distance was a lot farther.
“You’re in your head,” he says, putting his arm around me. “Worried about today? You don’t have to go. I probably wasn’t supposed to tell you, but I don’t want lies or secrets between us.”
Lies or secrets. That makes my stomach clench with unbidden guilt. Could he handle my secrets? Or would Slade be right?
“I was just thinking about how much stronger your blood makes me,” I tell him, deciding to stick with the more innocent secrets. “I can feel it in my veins, almost as though it’s humming with more energy.”
“Me, too, sweet girl,” he says with a smile, leaning down to kiss my cheek. “I feel a lot stronger today. Maybe we should look into that.”
“It makes my power a little off because it takes less to do more. I need to be careful until I adjust.”
His smile blooms, and he picks me up, swinging me up his body until my legs clamp around his waist.
“I like seeing you work magic, so we’ll go to a practice field after we finish up with this. You can fire away, take my blood, and do whatever in the hell else you want to. As long as I get what I want when you’re done.”
He waggles his eyebrows, and I laugh while leaning against him a little farther, brushing my lips against his. A confession of love is a little premature, but I really do think I love him.
I just worry he won’t feel the same when he finds out everything.
“I want to help. Let me go with you.”
He doesn’t even hesitate to nod, which means he trusts me. Another pang of guilt stabs me, but there will be time for sin confessions later. Maybe I should wait until he feels closer to me. Or would that make it more of a betrayal?
Thad carries me all the way back to Gage’s house where everyone is loading up in a Hummer.
“Was just about to come find you,” Zee says as he takes the driver’s seat. “Dice is sleeping if you know what I mean.”
He eyes me before turning his attention back to Thad. I’m not stupid. The way he said it lets me know he just put a sleeper spell on Dice. Or maybe Gage did it, since Zee seems to be struggling with his power.
“I can help you get control,” I tell him while hopping down from Thad’s waist.
Zee’s eyebrows go up. “You? How? Gage is old as fuck and can’t help.”
“Gage can hear your sorry ass from in here,” Gage calls from inside the house.
Thad laughs under his breath while Zee flips off the vacant doorway.
“Gage has probably never had to deal with using magic with a werewolf temper. Having another creature inside you changes everything. You’re two people trying to merge into one, and each half is struggling for dominance. It’s a matter of learning balance. Once you can control both sides, you can control your power.”
He tilts his head, studying her. “How do you know I’m—”
“Your blood hit me in the first fight with Slade. I didn’t remember it at the time, but it’s clear now. I know the taste of a night stalker. But I also know the taste of really strong magic. You have both. I’m assuming you were born hybrid like me.”
Thad groans, and I look up just as he says, “You’re even sexier when you talk, sweet girl. Especially when you prove you’re all smart and shit.”
Yeah—blushing and grinning. Apparently that’s my thing to do any time Thad gives me a compliment.
“Actually it was something freaky Gavin did to me.”
My blood runs cold, and my head snaps back to him.
“We have him chained up somewhere so he can’t do anymore damage,” he adds quickly. “But he did some transferal of power.”
He tugs his shirt over his head and motions to all the ink running up and down his arms and across his sides and chest. “It seems to have stop growing, but these weren’t here before he did whatever he did to me.”
I run my fingers over one of the lines, fascinated, and Thad growls threateningly. Rolling my eyes, I move back into his arms, not touching Zee before Thad fights him.
“He could have broken free from any seal if he hadn’t done that,” I whisper more to myself than him. “By giving you some of his power, he would have weakened himself. Not by much, but enough to keep him locked away.”
Zee and Thad exchange a look just as Gage’s voice finds us.
“It’s because he wants to be locked away.” I look up as he heads toward us, and he adds, “He wants to wait until the blood oath no longer binds him before he’s set free. And I’m not setting him free until we’re done with the big bad—whoever in the fuck that is. It’s the only way I’ll know for sure the oath is severed.”
So Gavin was under oath? That actually makes a lot of sense. He seemed so pissed off all the time when prisoners were brought back. It’s like he wanted it to be over.
“So you think you can actually help?” Zee asks me, bringing my attention back to him.
“I know I can.”
“She could probably help Karma, too,” Kimber says as she joins us from out of nowhere.
She’s light. Why is she going?
Then it hits me—she was the victim.
I wonder how many want vengeance against me. I wonder how many of them would understand I couldn’t help it.
“Thad’s dick actually helped the team,” Zee says through a laugh, and Thad rolls his eyes before tugging me to him before I can question that statement.
“Roslyn’s coming with. Obviously she can be useful.”
Gage’s eyes narrow. “On this mission? You sure that’s a good idea? This isn’t exactly a sanctioned deal.”
Thad studies me before kissing my forehead. “You think she’ll have mercy on someone who helped the rings?”
I put my hand over his as Gage says, “Good point. Load up. We have a witch to torture and kill. And the best news is that we have her trapped. She doesn’t even know she’s as powerless as she made so many others.”
***
ROSLYN
A powerless witch lies somewhere in the shadows of the forest. Apparently holed up in some cabin she won’t be able to escape. How they bound her without her knowledge, I don’t know.
“I’ll be back. Stay here,” Thad says, kissing my cheek like that’s all it takes to keep me in place.
“Hell no. I’m coming with you. You said she’s strong. You might need me.”
He smirks before tipping my chin up.
“I do need you. I need you to stay at the edge and keep an eye out for anyone who might come to help her. If she’s in with the rings, then she probably has some powerful friends. Zee’s taking the other side. We set a trap and have her bound.”
Zee walks by with chains in his hand, and the rattle of them sends flashes of memories into my mind.
“Stop! Please stop!” I’m screaming.
Cheerful whistling is all he does as the whip marks me over and over, slicing through the flesh. Why does it hurt so much? Why is he doing this?
The blood pours as each crack bites into the flesh, and I cry out as the chains rattle against my hands, holding me in place and forcing me to take it.
“Roslyn?” Thad’s loud voice grabs my attention, and I shake away the thoughts while clearing my throat.
Reflexively, I reach down, feeling for the phantom marks on my stomach and chest. Magic covers the scars on the surface but not the ones burrowed deep. Unless you’re Slade. Not even magic can cover the amount of scars he truly has.
“Why the chains?” I ask, not even caring what Thad might have been saying.
His eyes soften, and pity rests in the depths of them. I hate that pity. I hate the monsters who fucked up my head even worse.
“We need her chained up for what we have in mind. That’s why I don’t want you in there.”
“Because you don’t think I can handle it?” I ask him, wishing the tremor wasn’t in my voice.
He brushes the hair away from my face before kissing me on the forehead, while everyone else vanishes
into the woods.
“Because I don’t want to see if you can handle it. I won’t be able to do what’s necessary, and it’ll be me doing the heavy lifting. When it’s done, I’ll come get you.”
Which means he’ll be the one inflicting the pain.
She’s part of the rings. She deserves it.
Taking a deep breath, I nod. I guess I only thought I was ready for revenge.
Gage appears beside us in the deserted forest line. I don’t even know where the hell we are. Thad kept me distracted for the entire, long trip. I know we’re hours away from Pine Shore, though.
Thad’s lips are on mine one second, and they next they’re replaced by the breeze. When I open my eyes, there’s no sight of him or Gage, meaning Gage just dematerialized them to wherever they needed to go.
Sighing, I turn around, still feeling the hum of energy left behind from so much of Thad’s blood. After waiting around for thirty minutes, something weird gnaws at me.
There’s a familiar presence close by—one I didn’t notice until now because of the strong pull Thad’s blood has over me. My stomach twists in knots when I realize whose blood it is, and everything crashes down on me at once.
Chapter 30
THAD
Sadie barely picks herself up off the floor as I shift back into human form. She’s bloody, messy, and on the cusp of death.
“Any time you feel like telling us the truth, you let us know,” Gage says, crossing his arms over his chest like he’s unaffected. I don’t have it in me to do any more. I’m not cut out for torture.
I was always a killer, but never a brutal, merciless son of a bitch.
Kimber walked out after the first slash I made with my claws. She’s not cut out for this either. But Gage wants justice for what was done for his girl.
I just want to prevent my girl from ending back up in their grasp.
“I don’t fucking know anything,” Sadie wheezes.
I turn away as I pull my clothes back on, feeling my flesh fully reinstated as all the fur recedes. Really glad Roslyn isn’t around to see this if I can’t even stomach looking at it.