“Lazarus,” the other fallen Huntress said as she tried to rise, her hand outstretched to find her sword, moving slowly, barely conscious of her actions, it seemed. Darcy’s spell had been a doozy.
Darcy swiped the sword up, keeping it out of her reach. The moment she touched it, she felt the buzzing of magic, which made her giddy with the power of it. “What the fuck?”
“Give me that sword, girl. Keep it away from her. She’ll kill your mate with it,” the injured woman said as she tried to push herself up. “She’s a wolf slayer and that sword means death for your lover.”
“Who are you?” Darcy asked, not at all wanting to give up the sword.
“My name is Saska and I can help your mate if you let me.”
Darcy looked to where Summer still stood frozen, her body shaking. “Summer?”
She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes tearing. “I can’t get close, Darc. Raven, it’s not him inside there. His eyes…”
With a roar Raven took a swipe at Summer, hooking her leg with his claw and pulling her down. She screamed, unable to fight him back. Dy jumped over her, teeth bared, ready to attack. Aubrey trained her arrow on him again.
And then Mayhem came, his big black wolf crashing through the underbrush with a snarling growl. He jumped on Raven’s back and sank his fangs deep into Raven’s neck, yanking to the side as he did. Raven let Summer go with a silent howl, his mouth agape as Mayhem dug his fangs in deeper, bringing Raven fully to the ground in submission. In a blast of light, the transformation took hold and Raven turned from beast to wolf once again.
“Summer, the arrow,” Darcy said. “Stop the poison.”
“You got it.” Summer jumped into action, moving to Raven’s side, the wolf still held in place by Mayhem’s teeth.
She worked fast, snapping the shaft of the arrow, then used her knife to dig out the head. It was a shallow wound, Darcy could tell, but that didn’t mean the poison wasn’t already at work.
Summer closed her eyes, her lips moving silently as her magic rose up in wisps.
It took mere moments, Darcy’s body relaxing as she watched Raven’s do the same. Mayhem released his hold, taking a step back and giving his head a hard flick. Hannah moved to his side, running her fingers though the fur at his nape.
Darcy started toward Raven.
“That’s my sword, Huntress.” The warrior on the ground started to rise. Her movements still slow.
“If you let her get up she’ll take your powers. Don’t let her rise—she’s a danger to you and your pack,” Saska shouted as she tried to reach for Darcy.
Darcy turned to face the warrior, taking a step back as she did, unsure what to do. Jay moved in, putting himself between Darcy and the warrior, his teeth bared in warning. The warrior snapped her eyes to Darcy and then to the wolf, her lips curling as she reached for the blade at her side.
“That’ll be enough of that,” Aubrey said as she pinched the side of the woman’s neck, knocking her out in a tried and true pack manner.
The Huntress dropped in a heap, unconscious.
“How’d you do that?” Darcy was in awe. She’d been the victim of such a technique twice in her experience since joining the pack. Once when she’d been on the run after cursing Raven, and once outside of the raging battle at Wolves’ Bane. She’d never seen it used on someone else though.
Aubrey shrugged, a smirk on her lips. “I told Jay if he didn’t teach me I’d kick the shit out of him.”
Darcy laughed. “The man is wise.”
“I need your help, sisters.” Saska’s voice was a wobble of pain and fear. “I’ve been on the run from this woman, Greer, for months. I’m injured and I need sanctuary.”
Aubrey quickly moved to her side. “I repaired the internal damage, the sword wound wasn’t too deep. I can blast you with more once we’re back at the mansion. Can you walk?”
Saska nodded, accepting Aubrey’s hand to rise. She glanced toward Greer. “That warrior is an enemy to me and also to you and your pack. It would be in your best interest to secure her right away. Her powers allow for her to take another Huntresses’ gift, to drain her to the point of death. She’s taken mine, has rendered me vulnerable.”
Aubrey gasped. “She took your powers?”
The wolves were agitated, Jay and Dy moving restlessly as they listened. Darcy didn’t know what they understood but the she could feel their wariness, she just wasn’t sure where it was directed or who they were most worried about.
“She didn’t extinguish them completely, thank the goddess, but I’m out of commission for a while. You will need to kill her for ultimate security eventually. She can’t be trusted,” Saska said, looking expectantly at Darcy.
“Kill her?” Aubrey shouted. “Like hell! We aren’t killing a Huntress! I’d like to know what the fuck is going on.”
Saska turned her gaze to Aubrey, pinning her with the same look she’d given Darcy. One that commanded respect, obedience. She’d picked the wrong group of girls for that.
“Very well.” Saska looked back at Darcy. “You’ll need to bind her, then. She’s extremely dangerous. You’ve seen what she can do.” She pointed to her stomach.
Darcy frowned. “Who me?” She glanced around. “I don’t have any rope.”
Saska smiled indulgently. “With your magic, Huntress. You have the gift of spells. Use a binding spell to keep her secured.”
Darcy shook her head. “I don’t know how.” She couldn’t have felt more useless in that moment.
Saska’s eyes widened. “Untrained? Here.” With Aubrey’s help, she moved to Darcy, latched on to her arm as she pulled her down to whisper. “Your power comes from within, but you control it with the words. The spell you want can be created if you envision the purpose for your magic. Start with these—I bind you, Huntress—and see where that takes you.”
Darcy straightened up with a nod toward Saska, her advice making sense, like a light bulb turning on. The words. She moved toward Greer and knelt, taking the time to shift Greer’s arms around to her front, folding them together to better bind them. If she had rope, she would tie them together. She closed her eyes, envisioning what it would look like to physically bind the woman.
“I bind you, Huntress, rope to tie you, words to hinder your movement so you won’t harm yourself, so you won’t harm my pack. I bind you.” And in her head, she fashioned a magical rope, twisting it around Greer’s arms from elbow to wrist, tied tight and restricting her completely. Darcy felt her power rise, snapping her spell into place and doing as she bid.
She opened her eyes. The rope was there, purple, and streaked with pulses of her magic.
“You did it, Darcy!” Hannah said with awe.
Darcy smiled. “You bet your ass I did!”
Raven came up next to her, nudging her with his head. She looked over at him, meeting his eyes, searching for what she needed to know. “Are you okay?”
Raven gave a wolfie smile then licked her face.
Chapter Seven
Raven wiped the mirror of steam and stared at his reflection. He looked like shit, dark circles under his eyes, his skin sallow, even his Mohawk was limp. He felt worn out, both physically and emotionally. Drained. He rubbed his neck where Mayhem had bitten him. It had already healed, of course. Aubrey had given him a dose of her magic but the lasting impact was powerful. Raven had gotten out of control. Had been lost to the beast. Mayhem knew he had to subdue Raven in order to leash his wolf again, to regain control and obedience. The bite had worked, but would it always work? Raven just didn’t know.
He sighed as he left the bathroom. Darcy was already downstairs, having presumably taken care of the tainted Huntress—the one she’d bound with her magic. He didn’t understand a lot about what was going on. While in his wolf form, he had limited ability to decipher human conversation. That wasn’t true in his beast form. He unde
rstood and felt like he’d be able to communicate as well, if only in a one-word capacity. But being in that form had been terrifying. He didn’t have control over the beast, over his rage. All he’d felt was power surging through him and the need for possession. Of Darcy. Of the entire group. He wanted the alpha position and if Mayhem hadn’t have taken him down the way he had, Raven would have fought him for it. He’d wanted to kill the Huntresses, all of them. They were natural enemies. Threats to his survival as a beast. All except for Darcy, who he wanted to own, control, empower his beast more with her obedience.
He gritted his teeth, feeling the rage build once again. It had been intoxicating. He knew about addiction like that. It was hard to turn away from. He fingered Mayhem’s mark, the original owning bite that had given him a lasting, if invisible scar on his shoulder. His wolf rose up to give a snarl. There was a battle raging inside of him, one that he really didn’t understand.
He got dressed quickly then made his way to the kitchen where he heard voices. The entire pack was there.
“How ya feeling, Rav?” Jay offered him a beer as he entered.
Raven waved it away. “Feeling like a total asshole.”
Darcy came up next to him, slipping her hand in his and squeezing. He looked down at her and tried to smile.
“We got it under control and now we know what to expect,” Dy said.
“No, we haven’t.” Mayhem downed the rest of his beer and put the bottle on the island, his expression grim. “We are so fucking deficient in our knowledge it’s not funny. And now we have two women here, Huntresses both, and we can’t get a straight fucking story out of either of them.”
“Did you question them?” Raven asked Mayhem.
“No, the girls did.”
“Or tried to at least.” Aubrey shook her head. “Greer confirmed her name then made a request for her sword back. When I said no way, she invoked some kind of prisoner of war statute that she insists is honored by pack and Order alike. She refuses to speak until we bring a member of her tribe here to negotiate. I have no idea what she’s talking about, or if she’s telling the truth about this statute.” Aubrey shrugged. “Saska, she’s a mystery too. Only got a few questions in before she pleaded for sleep. Says she’s been on the run from Greer for months. That Greer is set to kill her for no reason, which I don’t buy. There’s something about her that’s—”
“Off?” Summer chimed in. “Yeah, me too. She feels wrong. Not her words necessarily, but the way she looks at us, like she’s sizing us up.”
“Well, if she’s been targeted and hunted for months, it might explain her wariness,” Dy offered.
“Maybe.” Summer raised a shoulder. “It just doesn’t feel right.”
“No, there’s definitely more going on. I’ve heard her name before, but I can’t quite place it.” Aubrey tapped her lips in contemplation.
“Folklore?” Mayhem asked as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
“That’s what I’m thinking.” Aubrey frowned. “This is where the Order archives would come in handy.”
Jay snorted.
“What about Hannah? Wouldn’t she know about the folklore because of her bond to her Hunter?” Raven asked.
Hannah, who had been staring at a half-eaten bowl of soup, snapped her head up, eyes wide. “Me?” She shook her head. “I don’t know anything about the folklore. Should I?”
“Sometimes that kind of information filters though. It’s possible that your Hunter just didn’t learn enough of it to stick,” Aubrey said with a sigh. “I have an idea, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
Mayhem cocked his head. “Let’s hear it.”
Aubrey nodded. “I’m thinking that it might be a good idea for me to go home.”
“Like hell!” Jaylon bellowed, snatching Aubrey up by the waist and hauling her in close. “This is your home.”
It might have seemed like an overreaction, but Raven felt the same way. If Darcy wanted to go, he’d put himself between her and the door.
“Oh my god, Jay.” Aubrey chuckled indulgently as she tried to free herself. “I’m just talking about a visit with my parents and sister.”
“And they’ll steal you away. As if I’d let you go,” Jay said it playfully as he nipped her neck, but Raven heard the fear there.
She yelped. “Let me go!” Then laughed. “As if you have a choice.” She swatted him. “You need to chill out. My sister has been emailing me lately with some interesting information about the Order changing its perspective on the role of the pack. Our pack.” She pushed Jay until he finally released her. “I didn’t say anything to you all because I wanted to get more information from her first. We talked today, just for a short time, but it was enough. The Order is changing, questing for unity.”
“What are you saying?” Mayhem pushed himself from the wall. “The Order wants to wave a flag of truce?”
“What I’m saying is that they’re interested in talking and I’m offering to be the ambassador for the pack. I mentioned the name Lazarus to my sister—”
“The name that Greer said in the woods?” Summer asked.
“Yeah.” Aubrey nodded. “She reacted…well, she spazzed out, actually. She says he was a dangerous beast who was killed over a year ago.”
“So no threat,” Raven said, although he didn’t actually feel better for it. When he’d heard that name while in beast form, things had started to click in his brain. He’d known it from before too. He just didn’t have any clue where or when.
“I’m not sure.” Aubrey rubbed her forehead, a frown ceasing her brow. “Listen, what I’m proposing here is that I go talk to my family and get some information. I can find out what they know—if they know of Saska and Greer. And what the terms are for their truce.”
“And I’m coming,” Jay said, arms crossed, chest puffed out, eyes hard. If he was looking for a fight, he’d just declared war.
Aubrey cocked an eyebrow and held his stare for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh. “I was hoping to put that off for another time, but yeah, they extended the invitation to you as well.”
“Did they now?” Mayhem frowned. “It doesn’t sound like a trap. It sounds like a family reunion.”
“I will admit that it took me a while to warm up to the idea. My parents have been emailing me regularly since we split but it wasn’t until my sister started contacting me again that I knew something was different. It sounds like a change of heart, if only a tentative one. They want to meet my mate. They even suggested we go somewhere neutral so Jay feels comfortable.” Aubrey gave a slow nod. “I think this is an important first step. I think I need to do this.”
Jay snagged her hand and entwined her arm with his. “Something we need to do. I’m in.” He looked to Mayhem for a final say.
Raven could see Mayhem rolling around the pros and cons, calculating the odds of survival and risk. It took him less time than Raven expected. “You have my blessing. But I want full details on location, distance, travel methods, and I want check-ins every sundown.”
“Absolutely. It’ll only be for a few days, a week tops. I’ll update you on information as I get it.” Aubrey was beaming. “I’ll go call my sister now and let her know.”
Aubrey left with Jay in tow.
“Darcy, you and Hannah go and see to our guest. Wake her up and prepare her for a meeting with me. I want some answers and a straight story.” Mayhem nodded at Dy and Summer. “You two go and make sure our prisoner is comfortable. If we’re entering into some kind of treaty talks with the Order, we need to make sure there won’t be any accusations of unfair treatment.” Mayhem waited for everyone to leave before he turned to Raven, arms once again crossed, eyes stern but not without concern. “What happened out there?”
Raven sucked in a deep breath as he met Mayhem’s stare. “I lost it.”
“You lost control?
Like before, when you were first bitten?”
Raven reflected back on that time. The chaos was what he most remembered and the game, thinking like a predator in some ways but also loving the fear he created when he chased his prey. This time had been different. “The beast is intelligent, calculating. It’s like me and the wolf melded together, but in a really fucking horrible way. All of my rage, all of my frustration, dominance, possession, it rises up and pushes me to do things that I wouldn’t normally do.” He gulped down a giant lump in his throat. “The beast wants power. It wants to have everyone in submission, including you.”
Mayhem weighed his words silently, never once taking his eyes off of Raven. “My bite worked to contain it though. There’s something in that.”
“Yeah, it did work. Like as soon as you bit me I remembered who I was, what I really wanted.” Raven frowned. “I’m scared that this thing will rise again. I know it will. When I saw Darcy barrel into danger, my instinct took over and I didn’t hesitate. When that beast went to attack her, I lost control completely. My beast took over. And the worst part was that I wanted it to. The power… May, holy fuck, it’s intense.”
Mayhem nodded. “I can’t keep biting you to keep it down. At some point the effect of that will wear off.”
“I’m stronger than you in that form.” Raven felt a surge of pride, which he fought to tamp down. There was nothing honorable about overpowering the alpha. It was not something he wanted to do. Mayhem had his loyalty and Raven would figure out a way to collar the fucking beast before he did anything to change that.
“We all have to come into our beasts. We need the advantage, especially if we’re entering talks with the Order. I have no fear that once I’m in my form, your beast will remember its place.” Mayhem rested his hands on the island, shoulder width apart, muscles bulging, face stern. “Tell me everything you remember about the change. I’m determined to find a way to train the pack so we can all come into our beasts.”
“I can help you with that.”
Raven wiped his head around to find their guest—the one named Saska—standing at the door. Neither Hannah nor Darcy were in sight. “Where are the girls?”
Beast Rising: The Order of the Wolf, Book 7 Page 6