Love's Salvation

by Jenny Penn

  “They’re part of them,” Brock finished for her as Daisy found it difficult to figure out how to word her question. “The Sami and Chea packs are the reason the eternal flame went out, and they’re also the ones that relit it. Now they guard it.”

  Daisy should have figured somebody would, but she hadn’t actually considered the matter. Now that she had, she couldn’t help but come up with more questions.

  “So they live like we do, in a village in the middle of a lake?”

  “Some of them have taken up residence there, but no.” Tex shook his head, not bothering to glance at her as he explained the differences between the packs. “The Sami and Chea associate more with humans than our pack does. The Chea, in particular, run large casinos while the Klah deal in antiques. Their packs are spread out over the whole country.”

  That brought a frown to Daisy’s face as she wondered why they had such freedom when her own pack didn’t seem to. “And they don’t have problems with people?”

  “If they do, they can just disappear,” Brock pointed out.

  “Well, that’s a neat trick,” Daisy muttered, seeing how that would lend the other two packs a measure of security as they went about the world.

  “On the positive side, you’ll get to sleep in a bed tonight,” Brock offered her, not that Daisy suspected she’d get much sleep wherever she lay. Sleep was not her friend these days.

  “And, if rumors are true, Klah and Ryder recently took a mate. She might have some clothes you could wear,” Tex added on.

  That would have been great, but after another half-hour car ride and a half-hour canoe ride, Daisy arrived on the rocky shores of the island the Sami and the Chea guarded and discovered that Jean Cooke—better known as Cookie, apparently—was a good deal shorter than her. Of course, that was the least of Daisy’s problems.

  She was tired, achy, and surrounded by men who seemed to wear constant frowns and track her every move, leaving Daisy feeling much like a guppy in a tank full of sharks. She just wanted to hide.

  Thankfully there was a place to hide⎯inside Klah, Ryder, and Cookie’s newly built cabin. It was built out of stone with curved walls and actual boulders that had been carved out. Cookie explained that they’d used the natural materials available on the island and the surrounding mountains to build what she referred to as a Gaudi-inspired Flintstone home.

  It really was something else, and so was Cookie. Sweet and openly honest, she was more than eager to listen to Daisy’s tales of ghosts, dreams, and the Devil’s Peak. Cookie seemed particularly interested in the Masters of Cerberus and the legend of the beast. That was when Daisy learned that Cookie had a superpower just like her mates, though very different.

  Cookie was a computer genius, and within an hour, she’d managed to locate and hack into the Masters of Cerberus’s server, and it didn’t take her more than ten minutes of reading before she was jumping out of her seat and rushing out of the small library they’d cloistered themselves in to announce to her mates that she wanted to join the Masters. Daisy joined the conversation just as Klah was putting his foot down.

  “No! Absolutely not!” Klah shook his massive head, sounding very much like Brock had the other day and looking just about as scared. “I forbid it!”

  “Like you have that authority.” Cookie snorted.

  “Cookie⎯”

  “Klah,” Cookie shot back with enough sourness to assure the whole room knew she was not amused.

  Neither was Klah. He glowered at his mate, clearly trying to intimidate her with his glare. It was to no avail. Cookie stood there with her chin held high and stared him down until, finally, Klah growled.

  “We’ll discuss this later. Privately.” Klah’s gaze heated with a look that even Daisy could read. It wasn’t shocking that Cookie knew what he was saying, but what did surprise Daisy was the other woman’s bluntness, especially in a room full of men.

  “You’re not going to fuck me into changing my opinion.”

  “How about I try to spank you into it?” Klah snapped.

  “Not with that tone, you won’t,” Cookie shot back, making the big man snarl once again before he turned to Cookie’s other mate, Ryder, and demanded assistance.

  “Don’t you have anything to say?”

  “I think you’ve said it all.” Ryder shrugged. “Besides Cookie’s not really the problem right now. After all, she didn’t come up with this idea on her own, did she?”

  He directed that question at Daisy, who felt every other eye in the room turn on her. Almost instantly, she began to flush, but before she could say anything, Cookie was coming to her defense.

  “Don’t you look at my new friend like that,” Cookie commanded. “She’s innocent.”

  “Not hardly, if she’s a friend of yours,” Klah muttered, causing Cookie to turn her frown back on him.

  “What was that?” Cookie all but dared him to repeat himself, and Klah wasn’t shy about making his opinions known.

  “You gravitate toward the wrong type of people.”

  “Clearly.” Cookie finally agreed with him on one point, but it didn’t last as she continued on to taunt Klah. “After all, I fell in love with you, didn’t I?”

  That was greeted by an instant tension that had little to do with their argument. When Klah jerked forward, Cookie squealed and darted out of the room. Both her mates were right on her heels, and Daisy had to move fast or get run over. They disappeared down the hall behind Daisy, and seconds later, a door slammed shut, only to slam a second time as Klah and Ryder, no doubt, followed her into a bedroom. There was little doubt as well as to what the three would be doing next.

  That made for a slightly awkward moment. It didn’t help that every other man in the room was glaring at her. Clearly she was being blamed, which had her feeling like a guppy once again. Just like a guppy, she gulped.

  “What did you do?” Brock finally broke the tense silence as Tex began to shake his head at her.

  “We were just talking.” Daisy defended herself, feeling more than a little embarrassed to be the source of such aggravation. Her response was not greeted kindly as the men around her began to mutter to each other.

  “You know how it is when women talk.”

  “Source of all evil.”

  “I think women should be forbidden from talking.”

  “The world would certainly be a more peaceful place.”

  “Or at least a quieter one.”

  “I beg your pardon.” Daisy puckered up, taking instant offense to the raging sexism in the room. She was just about ready to unload on all of them when Tex and Brock hopped off the couch they were lounging on and headed straight for her.

  “On that note, I think we should go to bed.” Tex wasn’t leaving her a choice, but simply announced that to the room at large before latching onto Daisy’s arm and dragging her off down the hall.

  Daisy let him get away with that barbaric action simply because she didn’t really want to hang around in the large great room anymore. Neither did she want to go to sleep. The dreams awaited her, and she hesitated just inside the bedroom that Tex had pulled her into as Brock shut the door behind her.

  “Come on, beautiful,” Brock coaxed her forward. “Let’s get you undressed and tucked into bed. You look exhausted.”

  “You aren’t really mad at me for telling Cookie about the Masters of Cerberus, are you?” Daisy asked as they came to a stop beside the bed.

  “No.” Tex shook his head, coming up to take the hem of her shirt in his hand. “Cookie’s Klah and Ryder’s problem.”

  That seemed like a pragmatic view, but even if she had wanted to issue an objection, Daisy lost her chance as her shirt lifted. She was blinded for a moment, her arms being lifted over her head as Tex undressed her with a tenderness she’d come to crave.

  “What’s this?” Tex frowned, his fingers dancing over the bruise marking her stomach and making her shy away from his touch. “When did you get this?”

  Now he sounded truly upset.
So did Brock.

  “Daisy,” Brock prompted her when she fell silent.

  “It happened in my dreams…last night.”

  “Oh, beautiful,” Brock whispered, his arms wrapping around her to pull her into a hug that brought tears to her eyes.

  It seemed like ever since she’d met them, she’d grown weepy, but it was hard not to let the tears fall as both Tex and Brock lovingly undressed her, soothing every new bruise they found with gentle touches and whisper-soft kisses. When she was naked, they tucked her into bed before joining her and cocooning her once again in their strength. As much as Daisy feared going to sleep, she couldn’t help but be lulled there by the warm, heady pleasure of simply being held.

  Chapter 11

  Brock woke up to a smack on the face. His eyes blinked instantly open as he tensed for a battle, but there was none. There was just Daisy, moaning in her sleep, her little hands flailing about as she clearly tried to fight off the demons filling her mind. Brock’s heart seized as he shifted up onto his elbows and tried to rouse Daisy from her dreams, but she didn’t respond.

  Not to him.

  She was whimpering, her hands lifting as if to hold somebody back while dark bruises grew along her neck. Brock cursed and shook her harder, to no avail. By then, Tex had roused and joined the battle, but neither man seemed capable of breaking through the veil the ghost had wrapped their love in.

  “We need to take her to the fire.” Tex shoved back the covers, rushing out of bed as he tossed that suggestion at Brock.

  Brock was in complete agreement. He was shoving back the sheets wrapped around his waist and dragging Daisy with him. She was kicking out now, but that didn’t stop Tex from snatching up her jeans and shoving them up her legs. Brock held on to Daisy, lifting her up into his arms as Tex reached for her shirt, leaving her bra and underwear on the floor.

  In seconds they had her dressed, and Brock was carrying her out of the room. The sun had barely begun to peek up over the mountains, but Klah and Ryder were already up, talking over a morning cup of coffee. Both men looked up as Brock and Tex cut through the adjoining great room.

  “Something wrong?” Klah asked, already rising out of his seat.

  “Daisy’s trapped in her dreams,” Tex retorted as he rushed ahead to open the door for Brock.

  “Shit,” Ryder muttered, hopping up to follow after Klah and the rest of them. “Where you taking her?”

  “To the flame,” Tex stated simply, his voice quivering with the fear that was making Brock’s heart race. “We need to burn the ghosts out of her.”

  It was a horrible choice, but one they would make out of only love. Brock would never want to see Daisy suffer, but if she had to, better a moment than an eternity. She didn’t have that kind of strength in her. She was too small, too light in his arms to endure the nightmares that had trapped her. They would kill her, and Brock wouldn’t allow that to happen.

  Klah and Ryder had built their home across the way from the flame, and they picked up quite a following as Brock carted Daisy across the rocky yard. Brock paid none of them any mind, already bracing himself for what came next as he finally reached the rocky ring that enclosed the eternal flame.

  Taking a second to close his eyes and offer a prayer up to the Great Owl, who was soaring overhead, Brock kissed the top of Daisy’s head and whispered his love before taking her hand and thrusting it into the flame. Her scream was instantaneous, and then she was bucking in his arms, her eyes flying open as Brock jerked her hand back and crushed her against his chest, murmuring his apologies as Daisy broke down in sobs.

  It was the worst moment of his life.

  “Somebody get the first aid kit,” Tex hollered to the men gathered as he closed in to take Daisy from Brock’s arms.

  He didn’t want to let her go, but he did, knowing that Tex’s need to hold her was as great as his own. It was there in his eyes as their gaze met over Daisy’s head. Between them, it was understood.

  “We need to get this fire back to the mountain, today,” Brock snarled.

  “I’ll tend to her hand…and other injuries. You get the stone,” Tex ordered, his agreement there in his words.

  They would be leaving soon, and Brock didn’t waste any time in rushing back to their room to pack up the few belongings they had stored there. By then, Cookie had woken and was following after him as she pestered Brock with questions he didn’t have answers to. He didn’t really know what was going on, but was desperate to get to the end of the challenge Malsumis had laid out for their mate.

  He feared she wouldn’t last another night, not when the full moon rose. They needed to be back on that mountain before the ghosts were unleashed. Brock could only pray that Daisy was right and that the fire would burn the evil off their mountain and out of their lives. If it didn’t…Brock didn’t know what he’d do.

  He only knew he couldn’t lose Daisy. Not now. They hadn’t even really had a chance to build their life together yet. All those dreams danced before him, leaving an ache in his heart that had him grunting back answers to Cookie’s endless questioning.

  “Where is Daisy?”

  “Outside.”

  “Is she all right?”

  “No.”

  “Wait!” Cookie grabbed onto his arm when Brock would have brushed past her and pressed a slip of paper into his hand. “I snuck out of bed last night and did more research. If the flame fails, then maybe this will help. It’s the name and location of the beast.”

  That had Brock pausing to glance down at the woman who had so quickly befriended his mate. He hated to tell her the truth, hated to hear it himself, but it had to be said.

  “If this fails, then Daisy dies tonight.”

  Brock would kill her himself before he let the demons have her. The horror of that truth was already eating at his soul like acid. Crunching the paper Cookie had handed him, he swore then and there that, if Daisy died, he would hunt down the beast and find a way to kill it. Whatever it took, he would have his revenge.

  * * * *

  Daisy's sobs had died down into whimpers that were punctuated by squeals of pain as Tex held her against his chest with one arm while the other held out her hand for Klah. The big man showed amazing tenderness and gentleness as he cleaned her burn and bandaged it. That would have amazed her if the agony hadn’t blinded her to all things other than Tex’s warm, comforting strength.

  She drew on his strength as the nightmares of her dreams played back through her mind. The ghosts had cut into her so deeply the pain had seared her soul, and all she wanted right then was for Tex and Brock to bathe her in their love and wash her clean of the memories, but there wasn’t time.

  Her brush with damnation had clearly spooked her men, and they weren’t waiting for anything before they were taking her home. The only thing they paused to do was to stuff a little kindling into the hollowed stone that had fallen free of the Devil’s nose. It wouldn’t light, though, and Daisy knew what had to be done.

  It was with her other hand that she took the stone and thrust it back into the flame guarded by the ring of rocks that surrounded it. The burning heat pulled another whimper from her as Tex quickly cussed and pulled her hand back out. It was burnt as badly as the first one, but the fire inside the stone was lit.

  “What the hell do you think you are doing?” Brock demanded, looking at her as if she’d lost her mind, but Daisy’s thinking was quite clear.

  “I can’t burn away the pain unless I’m willing to take the pain with it.”

  She knew that was the truth, and if anybody had any doubts, they were silenced as the Great Owl landed on the edge of the flame’s ring and stared straight at her. Daisy wanted to tell the bird that she hated it for making not only her suffer but all the rest of them. She didn’t dare, though, knowing that the Great Owl held her fate along with the rest in its talons.

  Clearly, Malsumis was not merciful. He didn’t seem to care about her injuries, as the Great Owl took flight once again, soaring back over the
lake. Left with little choice but to follow the owl home, Tex, Brock, and Daisy all began the long trip back to their mountain, each grimly aware of the passage of time and cycle of the sun. It heralded the rise of the moon. They had barely made it back to the edge of their mountain before that luminous orb began its slow ascent up into the sky.

  It was with tears in her eyes and throbbing agony in her hands that Daisy saw the rest of their pack emerge from the woods as Tex steered their canoe toward the shore. The first face Daisy saw separate from the rest to rush down onto the beach was Josie’s.

  “Oh my God, what happened to you?”

  “She was burned,” Tex answered as he stepped out of the boat and into the water. Grabbing hold of the bow, he pulled the canoe all the way up until Daisy could step out onto the sand.

  “It’s okay,” Daisy assured Josie, trying to force a smile for her friend’s benefit.

  The effort was ruined, though, by Brock’s harsh disagreement. “No. It isn’t. We need to get to the trading post.”

  Nobody disagreed with them. Neither did anybody question their motives. Instead, the pack fell in behind Brock as he scooped Daisy off her feet and began to carry her up the mountain. It was a long, treacherous hike better suited for the wolven who had excellent night vision. They also had stamina, and with her sleep so often interrupted over the past few weeks and the horror of the previous evening’s dreams, Daisy was out of stamina. She didn’t even know if she had the strength to do what would come next.

  There was no time for doubts, though.

  Tex and Brock hiked up the mountain with a speed that had them arriving at the valley just as the full moon rose over the edge of the Devil’s Peak, casting down cool, white waves of light that began to reveal the cursed post hidden in the shadows. Already, the pack had it surrounded with torches, keeping the ghosts contained in their prison, but when Brock would have passed through the ring of golden light, Daisy stopped him, her simple declaration bringing him to a halt.

  “No.” Daisy glanced up at him, clutching the stone between her two burnt hands and begging him with her gaze to let her do what needed to be done. “I have to go in alone.”