Burning

by Carrillo, K. D.

  "Chloë, come back to me, baby," begged Finn.

  I tried to find him, urge him to run, but he just kept calling to me. I felt the ground shake underneath me. I tried to see through the fog, but it was so black.

  "Chloë, open your eyes," Finn ordered.

  I fluttered my eyes open, but the light was so bright. I tried again and saw Finn hovering above me. I pushed at him, desperately trying to save him from the flames. An earsplitting screech tore through the night, and pulled me out of my nightmare.

  I no longer felt the lick of flames against my skin. The putrid stench of burning skin and hair had disappeared. I blinked rapidly and realized that I was in Finn's bed, and he was trying to shake me awake.

  "Stop shaking me. I'm awake," I croaked. I looked out my window and noticed a red-tailed hawk perched on the windowsill outside the room.

  Mickey, my familiar and spirit guide, had returned. She delivered messages to me, psychic visions to help me fulfill my destiny, but she had disappeared after the battle with Angeline. I was glad to see her again, but her return was an ominous sign for the future.

  The images she sent me in the nightmare flashed quickly through my head again. This time, it wasn't my body I saw. It was a tall, beautiful woman with creamy, white skin. Definitely not me.

  I launched myself off the bed and ran for the bathroom. I barely made it over the toilet before I began heaving the entire contents of my stomach. "She's burning. Oh, God! We have to save her," I groaned, heaving again.

  "Who?" Finn asked. He held back my hair and lightly rubbed my back.

  "I don't know who. I just saw it. I felt it. It was the most horrible thing I have ever experienced. We have to do something."

  Finn groaned and rubbed his face hard. "I'll call Grey and Cooper. Come lie down until they get here."

  I heard muffled talking from the hall, and moments later, a slight disturbance in the air blew my hair around my face. Cold fingers trailed down from my temple to my chin.

  "Tell me what you saw," Grey demanded.

  "Don't touch her," Finn snarled.

  "Finn, please don't. Just come here please," I asked, reaching out my hand for him.

  He climbed onto the bed next to me and pulled me into his arms. I looked into his beautiful face, and he was staring back at me with a mixed expression of confusion and joy.

  Grey

  I clenched my teeth as I tried to focus on what Chloë was saying, but the only thing I could pay attention to was Finn's arm around her shoulders. She was snuggled into his side like she was drawing strength from him. I tried to let the image burn into my brain and create a permanent picture to remind myself that she would never be mine again.

  "Grey, are you paying attention?" Chloë asked, interrupting my internal monologue.

  I answered with a tense smile. "Of course. I heard everything you said. Let me call Carlos and find out if the rest of the Watchers have received any news." I didn't wait for her to respond. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and stepped out in the hallway.

  I wasn't really concerned about them overhearing my conversation, but I didn't want to continue facing the truth. When I looked at them wrapped up in each other, I had to remember that I’d done this to myself. I’d run away from her when the odds against us had appeared too high. She hadn't even run back to him as soon as I’d left. I’d been gone for almost a year and she’d waited. If I had come back even a month ago, I might have won her back.

  It wasn't all Watcher's duties that had kept me away either. I had been avoiding the situation, and while I’d been doing that, Finn had been here with her every day. Every day for ten months, he had been here winning her back without any interference from me. I only had myself to blame, and I was pissed that I didn’t have a right to be pissed.

  I found Carlos's number in my contacts and hit send.

  "Grey? Listen, now isn't a good time. There was another attack. It looks like the Auto-da-fé abducted Bridgett's neighbor, Annie Mitchell, last night. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Bridgett. This is a nightmare. We couldn't save her. God, this is exactly like the murder in France."

  "Was she a member of the Aware?" I asked.

  "No. We can't contain this now. This girl was not a part of our world. Her family doesn't have any ties to us, and we can't convince them to let us bring them justice. The local police, the FBI, and Interpol are all involved in this now. Tomorrow, the Council is going to put every coven on notice. If the auto-da-fé enters your territory, you have the legal obligation to pursue and obliterate them."

  "If the Watchers are still pursuing the Auto-da-fé, why was I sent back?" I asked Carlos.

  "Do you know how many refugees most covens are taking in?"

  "Considering your tone, I'm guessing not as many as the Central Coven has," I snapped.

  Carlos laughed without humor. "One, if any. None of them have taken in three. All of the other covens that have taken in refugees have only three members to start off with. Your coven has five permanent members. With three refugees, there are now eight supernaturals living in a small town. I assume Cooper is still in town?"

  "Yeah, Cooper is still here. I think he has something going on with one of the twins," I confirmed.

  "That makes nine supes living in a town of less than twenty thousand people. Comprendes?" Carlos hinted.

  I exhaled forcefully as what he was suggesting sank in. "Damn her. She's doing it again, isn't she? Marguerite is setting us up to be hunted."

  "To Marguerite, Chloë is a very powerful weapon," Carlos said sadly.

  "I've got to go. There is a nineteen-year-old girl I have to go disillusion a little bit more. She might still have a sliver of hope her mother loves her. I should make sure to crush that."

  "Did you learn anything?" Dean asked, stepping out from his room.

  "Yeah. Go grab Anita and meet me in Finn's room. We need to have an emergency coven meeting."

  Dean

  I knocked on Anita's door and entered without waiting for a response. If she thought I’d been kidding earlier, she was in for a rude awakening. I told her that I wasn't going to let her run from me again, and I’d meant it. I walked toward her bed and saw Anita lying in her underwear on top of her covers. She appeared to be covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

  I'd always been drawn to Anita since the first moment I saw her. But this moment, I was pulled towards her. Jerked, yanked, tugged violently toward her. My nostrils flared and I detected the scent of vanilla and honeysuckle hanging in the air. I felt a growl rip from my chest. Once I reached her side, my instincts calmed a bit, except that I wanted to prevent anyone from coming near her.

  I gently stroked her cheek. Her big brown eyes blinked open. "Dean?"

  "C'mon, Angel. We have an emergency coven meeting." I grabbed her discarded T-shirt and shorts, but she shoved them away. "Anita, you have to put something else on or I might end up killing one of my friends," I urged.

  "I can't. I'm so hot," she complained.

  I touched her head again, and she was burning up. "How are you feeling besides hot?" I asked, concerned.

  "My skin hurts, like tiny electrical shocks are traveling up it. I don't feel sick though. Just really uncomfortable," she answered.

  "Do you have anything else you can wear to go into Finn's room?"

  "Yeah. Give me a minute," she said, getting off the bed.

  Moments later, she emerged from her walk-in closet in a tiny sundress. This was almost as bad as her wearing her underwear.

  She snapped her fingers in my face. "Dean, quit scowling at my dress."

  "I think you should wear something else," I grumbled.

  She rolled her eyes at me and walked out of the room.

  I hurried to get ahead of her. It didn't make sense, but I wanted to block her from Finn and Grey. Finn's head snapped up the second she walked into the room. His eyes began to glow a brighter blue, and he pulled Chloë closer to his chest.

  "Where is Grey?" Anita asked, unaware of the te
nse atmosphere around Finn and me.

  "He went to get Cooper," Chloë said, wiggling out of Finn's grasp a little bit.

  My cousin, Cooper James, turned the corner just then, followed by Grey. Cooper's nostrils flared, and he started to move slowly toward Anita. I growled and shoved her behind me.

  "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Grey exclaimed. His eyes bounced between Anita and Chloë. Grey grabbed Cooper's arm and shoved him out in the hall. Moving lightning fast, he ran through the room and tossed open the window. He returned to stand in the doorway, shooting his hand out to bar the door and keep Cooper in the hallway.

  Cooper allowed Grey to keep him in the hallway. The longer Anita and I were in Finn's room, the more Finn seemed to be drugged. He didn't seem to notice we were still in the room. He nuzzled into Chloë’s neck, slowly dragging his nose along the edge of her chin.

  I raised my eyebrows. "Would someone explain to us what is going on?" I demanded.

  Grey pulled at his hair. "It appears the girls are responding to your magical biology. It seems Anita is in heat and Chloë is emitting bonding pheromones."

  "You're kidding me! How is that even possible? I'm not a shifter," Anita exclaimed.

  "It doesn't matter. When a pair is a good match, their biology begins to synchronize to each other. I've never heard of it occurring between two different races before. There is only one perfect mate for each of us, and it is obvious to me that the four of you are perfectly matched," Cooper explained.

  Grey's expression darkened for a moment before he schooled his features to neutral again. I hoped Chloë and Finn figured out how to control themselves. Perhaps I should have staged an intervention and forced them to get married for the sake of the rest of us.

  Anita moved around to my front, but this time, I didn't stop her. "Do you feel it now? We belong together," I whispered in her ear.

  She sighed. "I believe you. I'm sorry I panicked. Can we talk about all of this tomorrow, when we don't have an audience?" she asked.

  I cupped her face in my hand and gave her a crooked smile. "Sure. We can talk about it on our way to see your mother."

  Finn

  Cooper's gaze was bouncing back and forth between Chloë and Anita. His eyes had begun to dimly glow. I hoped this wasn't the way things were going to be until we bonded. I knew that Chloë wasn't ready now to make that commitment, but I didn't want to fight every guy who gravitated toward her in the meantime. I wouldn't be able to help it though. I had a strong instinct to prevent all men from even looking at her. I understood why now, but I didn't think I was strong enough to stop myself. It was taking all of my willpower not to seduce her into bonding with me right now, room full of people or not.

  I cleared my throat and forced my instincts away. We had more important matters to discuss than our magical hormones. "We should probably discuss Chloë's dream, not mating, don't you think?" Chloë relaxed in my arms. I knew she was grateful for my changing the subject.

  Grey nodded. "We need to talk about the refugees, and why they are here."

  "I hate Jo," Anita blurted out.

  "The twins won't separate, so either they both stay here and you take Bridgett, or we leave things as they are now," Grey replied cautiously.

  "Hell no!" Chloë exclaimed.

  I smirked and squeezed her tighter. She was jealous, and I loved it. Not that I was dumb enough to do anything to make her jealous on purpose again. No, that had exploded in my face the last time my dumb ass tried it. I’d managed to shove her into Grey's arms. Hell, I might as well have gift wrapped her.

  "Jo isn't that bad," Cooper murmured.

  "If she comes near Dean, I'm going to rip her throat open," Anita threatened.

  Dean buried his face in Anita's neck, trying not to laugh.

  "I can probably keep her distracted," Cooper offered.

  Hmm, it seemed like he really liked that idea. Good thing too, because Anita hadn’t been joking.

  "So what are we going to do with them, and why are they here?" I asked, steering the conversation back on target.

  "We need to help them blend in and hide in plain sight. No contact with anyone from home. No using powers in public. They probably already know the last part, but we can't make mistakes," Grey answered.

  "It is going to be hard for all of us to blend in with so many of us here. I don't understand why Marguerite insisted we bring three refugees into this coven. There are many other covens with fully mature members that would have been a better choice. More isolated, smaller, and easier to hide two or three new supes," Cooper chimed in.

  Grey cast Cooper a hard stare. "You know why she insisted they come here."

  We all stared at him, waiting for the answer, because we actually didn't know why.

  "My mother is setting us up as bait, isn't she?" Chloë asked sadly.

  I hated that her mother treated her like a tool. If she was supposed to be her heir, why did she keep putting her in danger?

  "Yes," Grey answered Chloë. "Your mother is trying to draw the Inquisitors to us."

  "Why?" Dean asked.

  Cooper shrugged. "It's a power play. When Chloë takes over the Council, the rest of the supernatural groups have to believe she is the most powerful."

  "My mother is never going to want to step down," Chloë argued.

  "Don't be too sure about that, Chloë. There are a lot of things your mother can't do as head of the Council. She is still a woman. Your father has shunned the politics of our world for centuries. As long as she is in charge, he won't be with her. As much as your mother loves power, she just might love Eli more," Grey explained.

  Chloë scoffed. "Don't fool yourself. My mother doesn't love anything or anyone more than she loves herself."

  "I don't like her, but I don't think she is as hardhearted as you believe," Grey responded.

  "Yeah, she's a softy. She is willing to throw her nineteen-year-old daughter to the witch hunters so she can pursue a man," Chloë replied bitterly.

  "I never said she was a great mother, only that she might have a heart," Grey said softly.

  "Who is coming after us? I don't want to be surprised like we were last time," I asked, refocusing our discussion again.

  "The auto-da-fé. They are witch hunters with ancestral ties to the Middle Ages," Cooper answered.

  "When you said inquisitors, you actually meant the Inquisition?" Anita asked, shocked.

  "Unfortunately," Cooper answered.

  "I dreamt about a girl being burned at the stake. It was awful, and it felt real," Chloë said in a quiet voice.

  Grey's face shuttered closed. He didn't want to tell her something. Part of me liked that he still felt protective of her. The primitive part of me wanted to rip his arms off and beat him with them because he still felt that way.

  "It was real. I spoke to Anita's dad, and he told me that one of Bridgett's neighbors was mistaken for her and murdered. Since she was human and not a member of the aware, the Watchers aren't able to influence the authorities. If she had been a member of the aware, we could have promised her family justice and spun an alternate story for the police," Grey finally explained.

  "Burning someone alive seems so barbaric. It is also very public. Isn't this group worried about getting too much attention?" Dean asked.

  "They are fanatics. The Auto-da-fé believes the public will consider them to be heroes when they learn magic is real. Their prejudice is so ingrained in them that they only see evil magic. To them, we aren't people, but demons walking among them. Also, they follow the Malleus Maleficarum, which describes how to interrogate a witch. They have expanded on the text and have come to believe that the only way a witch can be killed is by fire. Their name literally means to punish by burning at the stake," Grey elucidated.

  "Peachy. Chloë, your mom is a bitch. I can't believe she is setting us up as a target for the pyro-terrorists. Doesn't she remember we aren't fully mature and can still die?" Anita ranted.

  Chloë put her hands up. "You won't
hear me defend her. I agree she might as well paint a bull’s-eye on our foreheads and advertise our address to these whack-jobs."

  I could feel the anxiety and fear pouring out of her. I couldn't stop myself from stroking her hair and cheek and nuzzling her neck. I needed to soothe her. The feelings of disappointment and sadness were so strong in my heart, but they were hers, not mine. Her sadness actually hurt me, and I needed to make her feel better. Chloë sighed and pressed deeper into me, and I felt the tension begin to leak from her.

  Grey's eyes narrowed in on my behavior. I couldn't exactly blame the guy. I remembered how gut wrenching it had been watching her with him. If he really loved her, it couldn't be easy to watch her seek comfort from me. Of course, if he really loved her, he wouldn't have left without a word for ten months.

  Cooper and Grey exchanged a look, and Cooper pointed toward us. "That isn't the way it is supposed to happen, is it?" Grey shook his head. "Well then how the hell are they bonding already?" Cooper demanded.

  My head snapped up. "Explain," I demanded.

  "Why did you start trying to comfort her the way you were?" Cooper pressed.

  I rubbed the middle of my chest, trying to chase away the lingering ache caused by Chloë's distress.

  "You did it because you felt what she was feeling, right?"

  I nodded slightly.

  "Only bonded couples can feel each other's emotions," Grey replied flatly.

  Anita

  "Witch hunters are coming after us because we have these three new refugees. Am I understanding this right?" I asked. Grey nodded. "Can we send them away?"

  "No. The Council ordered you to take them in. Marguerite will not reassign them," he answered, resigned.

  "I seriously hate your mom, Chlo," I seethed.

  "Yeah, I'm not a huge fan either," she murmured.

  "We should meet with them all together and start working on a plan to fight if it comes down to that," Dean chimed in.