Ruling Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 4)

by Crowe, Mallory

  “Henry?” Elsie stepped forward and held out a cautious hand to the two frozen bodies in front of her.

  The big, burly Henry and the smaller redhead next to him weren’t exactly frozen. If they’d stopped in place, they would’ve appeared to be moving. A foot in midair perhaps. Definitely their arms stopped mid-swing.

  Instead, both men stood straight. Not even stock-straight. Slightly relaxed. Elsie tapped Henry on the shoulder and jerked her hand back, waiting to see if he moved. Nothing.

  Okay... This wasn’t good. Elsie squeezed around Henry, clutching the old journals to her chest as she eyed the men, looking for any sign of movement. As she reached the front of them, she saw their eyes were open, staring blankly ahead of them. They even blinked every few minutes.

  Yep. Not good. Elsie took a step back as the sound of nails clattering on the hard floors had her flipping around, holding the books up to her like a shield as the black blur raced at her. The massive wolf careened to a stop right in front of Elsie, and as soon as she saw the eyes, she knew it was Brock.

  “You’re not frozen,” she said to the wolf, as though it was normal. In a flash, he was standing in front of her, now his full six-foot-threeish height. “And now you’re naked.” She averted her gaze before she remembered that she didn’t need to be embarrassed. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen before. Recently, actually.

  Brock set a hand on her arm and started to pull her through the hallway, turning left at the first chance into another hall she’d never been in. “You need to get out of here,” he said softly as he pulled her farther into the south end of the ranch.

  “What’s happening?”

  He ushered her into a bedroom and pushed her toward the back. “I hear them coming. You need to stay here, okay? No matter what you hear or think you hear, you need to stay here.”

  “Who’s here? I can help you, Brock. I can—”

  “Cullen is here and you can’t help me.”

  Elsie was taken aback by the blunt statement. But he was right. She’d saved Brock from the myotis once, but she was armed. Now all she had were some old journals. But that didn’t mean she wanted to sit back and listen to Brock die. “Stay here. You can’t take them all on your own.”

  “I need to move them away from here. I’ll be fine. This isn’t the first beta I’ve had to put in his place and this won’t be the last. Okay?”

  No. There was nothing okay about this at all. But Brock didn’t need a mate who was falling apart at the seams. He needed a queen. “Okay.” The word came out in a wisp. Barely there except for those with supernaturally good hearing.

  Brock pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before he left the room, shutting the door softer than she could’ve imagined possible under the circumstances.

  Elsie closed her eyes for a brief second, trying to center herself. With her eyes closed, the sound of her heart beating frantically in her chest was overwhelming.

  Her eyes snapped open. Would Cullen be able to hear it? Would Brock? Could she distract him even from here with her fear?

  But then she heard it—the smash of wood cracking. The fight was on.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Brock had wanted to take the fight outside, but his wolf form was only a few meters from the south section before Cullen’s wolf body slammed into him. He was able to twist around in midair, sinking his teeth into Cullen’s shoulder hard enough that he stayed locked in even when they crashed into the antique wood paneling of the hallway.

  He stayed locked in so tight that Cullen had to rip his shoulder free. In his wolf form, Brock couldn’t think about re-strategizing. He just needed to bite again. He and Cullen went at each other, both trying to get into the other’s neck. Cullen nipped at the delicate spot behind Brock’s ear, but Brock was fast enough to evade any grip Cullen would be able to hold.

  And then Brock was able to sink his teeth into Cullen’s throat. The primitive part of him screamed in victory. This was it. All he needed to do was clamp down and shake and his mate would be protected.

  “Not so fast,” said a feminine voice from behind him. In a heartbeat, he was human again, standing over a wounded and very pissed-off Cullen.

  Brock jerked back, his only saving grace that Cullen seemed as fazed by the sudden change as Brock did. But that didn’t last long. Even though Cullen was injured, he was in wolf form. That beat an alpha in human form on most days.

  Brock just needed to make sure this wasn’t one of those days. He gave one last-ditch effort at changing into his lupine form, but nothing happened. Whatever juju Cullen had on his side, it was keeping him tethered to his two-legged form. He squared his shoulders and stared down Cullen. A low growl escaped his throat.

  Cullen snarled and snapped. A mix of blood and drool dripped onto the floor from the mangled, pissed-off wolf, proving he was still connected to his beast on some level.

  “Brock, sit,” said the woman, who he had to assume was Rachel, behind them.

  Immediately, it felt as though a hundred knives were pushed into his back. His knees gave out as he clutched at his stomach.

  “Now’s your chance.” She came into view. “Kill him and take your place.”

  Brock opened his mouth to tell the woman exactly where she could shove it, but he never got anything out. The pain in his gut twisted and churned, and his vision blurred as unconsciousness beckoned.

  But Elsie was just a few doors down. He needed to keep them away.

  The blood and sweat in the hall was probably enough to mask her scent, but that wouldn’t help her if he was dead.

  “Who...” The pain lurched forward with a vengeance, but Brock forced the words out. “Are you...”

  Rachel stood at Cullen's side and stroked his fur as though he was her pet. “I’m your new queen, Brock. I thought that would be obvious.”

  He shook his head. “No. If you’d defeated Marella, we would know. The pack would’ve felt it.”

  “Not yet. I need to be mated to the alpha first. The king. Luckily, that’s easy enough, isn’t it?” She looked down at Cullen and removed her hand. “Finish it.”

  Brock tried to push himself up. Beads of sweat broke out all over his body as he struggled through the agony. It’s not real... None of this is real.... Just... Fight... Through... It....

  There. He stood. Barely, but he was up. Now all he had to do was break Cullen’s neck. Somehow.

  Rachel stepped back as Cullen approached. Each of the men studied each other in their alternate forms, both working out the best way out of this. Brock only had a few seconds to think fast before Cullen ran and leapt the rest of the short distance between them.

  Brock tried to push the pain back far enough to raise his hands to defend himself, but he found himself frozen in place. Whatever power Rachel had now took away any chance he had to defend himself.

  He braced himself for the blow when an ear-piercing scream seemed to cut right through him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Elsie realized that there was no sound coming out of her mouth any more. And her eyes had closed at some point. Her mouth shut as her eyes opened and she looked for Brock, half expecting to see him dead, with the grayish brown wolf tearing him apart.

  But even though he was on the ground, he was still moving and still in one piece. The wolf next to him was also on the ground, writhing around. The only other person standing she could see was Rachel, who didn’t look the slightest bit fazed. “Is that the best you’ve got, siren?”

  Elsie took a breath. “I’ve got one more.” With one big inhale, she screamed again, calling on all of her new wolf strength, even as the instinct she didn’t even know she had let loose.

  She was still screaming when she passed out.

  Well, she thought she passed out. Because one second she was trying to kill a woman with the power of her voice alone and the next, she was back in the hallway. The hallway from centuries ago on the night Marella was murdered.

  Elsie blinked as she tried to reori
ent herself with the new surroundings. Did the siren scream have the power to transport people? Was she lying motionless on the floor right now?

  Was Brock okay? Should she be trying to get back to him?

  Elsie looked around. She was in the hallway, but she wasn’t in front of the door where she normally started. She was in the middle.

  She frowned at the door that always was behind her back. The one that never opened. Now that she had a real world comparison for the house, she realized the door didn’t exist. It was just a way to cut off this section of the west wing.

  In the blink of an eye, Rachel appeared at the end of the hall, right in front of that door.

  “Shit.” Without waiting for the other woman to strike, Elsie turned and ran.

  Time seemed to bend and shift as her feet pounded on the marble floors that didn’t exist in the present. One second it was as though she was running in place and then she’d suddenly jumped ahead by four windows. Luckily, she hit the queen’s room before Rachel and slammed the door shut behind her, pressing her back against it to keep Rachel out.

  The queen sat where she always sat: on the bed, staring at the wall as though she was in a trance. Rachel started to pound on the door, and the wood shook against Elsie’s back. “Don’t just sit there!” she yelled. “Help me!” This was supposed to be a sorceress powerful enough to create her own dimension and she wasn’t going to cast out an intruder?

  Then again, this intruder was trying to kill Elsie, who was supposed to kill the queen. Maybe her inaction wasn’t completely illogical.

  But then the queen turned her head to look at Elsie. “She’s not allowed here.” Marella’s words were slow and silent, but somehow audible over the constant banging behind Elsie.

  “Feel free to evict her. You can do that, right? This is your place. You can just make them leave.”

  Marella’s brows drew together and then she stood, finally walking over to the door. Elsie flinched as she got closer. If she moved from the door and let Rachel in, she was dead. If she stayed put and the queen took advantage of her distraction, also dead.

  Luckily, Marella ignored Elsie and set her hand against the door. Her frown deepened as she stared at the wood. “She’s back...”

  “She wants to kill you and take over the wolves. You have to stop her!”

  Marella narrowed her eyes at Elsie. “You weren’t sent here to kill me?”

  “No!” Elsie was half angry at the accusation and half panicked that Marella didn’t seem in too much of a rush to do anything. “You’re the one who pulls me in here and then tries to start something.”

  “But you want to be queen. The only way to do that is to kill me.”

  The door shook with even more fervor, blow after blow hitting it. The wood gave signs of giving out as splinters rained down around Elsie. “According to who? You’re the one who made the damn rules!”

  The door gave with one big blast, and the force pushed Elsie across the room as she slammed into the floor, sliding on the marble past the bed and into the wall.

  Rachel stepped into the room and glared over to Elsie. “What did you do?” she bit out.

  Elsie coughed as she pushed herself up. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt your puppy? What do you think Brock is doing to him without you there to be his guard dog?”

  Pure rage clouded Rachel’s features as she reached a hand up, curling her fingers inward. Elsie braced for the magical equivalent of whatever Rachel was trying to do to take over, but there was nothing.

  The queen stepped between the two. “Who are you?” she asked Rachel.

  Rachel smiled bitterly. “You don’t recognize me? It’s been a long time. I’m in a different body... You don’t have a body... Things change.”

  A flash of terror crossed over the queen’s face and Elsie felt her heart sink. If the queen was afraid, what chance did they have?

  “Bianca,” said the queen, any trace of fear hidden from her voice. “I’d assumed you’d be dead by now. How depressing that you failed to meet my expectation.”

  “You two know each other?” Elsie stood up tentatively, not sure whether she should be terrified of both or stick close to Marella.

  Rachel…er, Bianca smiled at Elsie. “Of course we know each other. I’m the one who killed her the first time.”

  “I thought the maid killed her.”

  “She wasn’t a maid,” snapped Marella. “She was my friend.”

  Bianca sneered. “Mahareet. What a waste. She was my original...disguise.”

  “Bianca tried to steal my throne then too. She snuck into the Castle in the body of Mahareet. Except she didn’t know about the alpha rule back then. My loophole to make sure none of my kind stole my work. As long as I was alive, my mate wouldn’t stray. But once I was gone, I had to take precautions.”

  Some of the pieces finally clicked into place. “You put the curse in place to keep Bianca away from the pack.”

  Marella looked at Elsie as though she were a cockroach on the floor. “Do you know how hard it was to do this? To create a new species and to unify a group of unruly alpha wolves and get them to accept a woman as a leader?”

  “Don’t act like it was such a hardship,” said Bianca. “You came here because you were lonely and you knew you could force them to love you by bestowing them with power unlike anyone from Earth knew. This was all so you could have a family.”

  “And you stole that family!” shouted Marella. The walls shook and trembled with the force of the words.

  Elsie’s eyes snapped closed as she waited to see whether the entire building would implode. Please wake up. Please wake up. Please wake up.

  But she didn’t wake up and the dream version of the Ranch didn’t explode. She opened her eyes to the two women still staring each other down.

  “If you couldn’t kill me the last time you were here, why are you back?” asked Marella, as though the whole shouting the walls down thing hadn’t happened.

  “I didn’t come here on purpose.” Bianca’s eyes shot daggers at Elsie. “The siren’s sonic scream did this…somehow.”

  Whoa...how was this my fault? As far as Elsie knew, sirens didn’t have the ability to initiate trans-dimensional travel. But she also didn’t really know what this place was...

  “If the siren is still alive, you’re not mated to the alpha yet. You’re still on my territory.”

  The air around them kicked up, swirling around them and kicking up the decorative canopy on the bed and the curtains on the windows. Elsie’s hair whipped in front of her face as Marella showed off her power.

  Bianca didn’t appear scared. “Your territory, but I’m the one with the power.” She held out a hand; with one blast of pure power, Marella careened across the room.

  As Marella lay on the floor, unmoving, Bianca turned her attention to Elsie.

  Without hesitation, Elsie opened her mouth to scream again, hoping to get back to her own dimension, or at least stun Bianca enough to stall her.

  Nothing happened. Bianca laughed even as she raised her hand to aim her palm at Elsie. “You’re so new. You used up all your power already. That’s the difference between us,” she said cockily. “I don’t run out. Just calm down and let this happen.”

  Calm down... Etta would calm Max when he got angry. When he wanted to leave.

  Elsie opened her mouth again and sang the first song that came to mind. It was a dark, haunting tune she’d sung in her shower. The lyrics didn’t do anything to calm someone down. The song wasn’t popular enough for Bianca to know.

  But it was the only thing Elsie had.

  At first, Bianca started to laugh at the last-ditch effort, but then the laugh softened. Her arm dropped as she cocked her head to listen to Elsie’s song better.

  As she realized it was working, Elsie’s confidence grew. She ramped up on the second verse, her voice strong and sure. The tune echoed off the walls, and Elsie didn’t know whether she was doing that or whether it was the mystical properties of wherever she was.<
br />
  Either way, she continued her song. By the time she reached the bridge, the dramatic climax of the folk song, Bianca was completely under her trance, her eyes glazed over and her arms listless at her side.

  The song faded off into the distance as Elsie finished and Marella appeared beside her. “That was beautiful,” she said softly.

  “I’ve never done that before,” breathed Elsie. “I didn’t think I could.”

  “You’re a siren. Of course you could.”

  “A siren with no practice.”

  “The wolf makes you strong,” said Marella with a cocky smile. “When you have a spirit that strong, you’d be surprised what you’re capable of.”

  “Is that how I was able to scream?”

  Marella chuckled. “That, dear, was probably love.”

  Bianca shifted on her feet, her expression still dreamy and far off.

  “What do we do with her?” Elsie’d been wholly prepared to kill the crazy woman just minutes ago. But now that she was helpless and in front of them, it seemed less like defense and more like murder.

  “I can handle her.” Marella turned her gaze to Elsie. “But you and I are done for the moment.”

  Before Elsie could do anything to stop her, Marella slammed her palm into Elsie’s chest and shot her across the room.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Brock held Elsie tighter as he looked for any sign of consciousness. She was breathing okay, and the violent shaking had finally stopped, but now she was motionless in his arms, covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

  “Come on, Elsie.” He brushed some blonde strands of hair out of her face. “Wake up for me.”

  Cullen laughed from where Henry and Vaughn held him securely between them. His hands, including the one at the end of his badly mangled arm, were now held behind his back in silver cuffs bespelled to prevent the change in any shifter who wore them.

  After Elsie had screamed, Brock and Cullen had both found themselves paralyzed with pain on the ground, but as soon as Elsie had passed out, they were both back to normal. But so was everyone else in the Ranch. Whatever had happened with Elsie’s scream, Rachel had been knocked out too, taking her spells with her for the moment.