“And the portal will be open, the Huntresses are needed to cut down feral beasts that come through,” Morgan said. “Everyone has a role to play in this, Hannah, but Mayhem and the boys are the only ones who can go into this battle. We can’t join them in Tartarus—it’s a place only meant for the werewolves.”
“How will you get there though?” Summer’s eyes grew wide as she put the pieces together. “You’ll have to die to get there, won’t you?”
Mayhem winced. “I think the act of walking through the portal, if it works that way, will kill me, yes.”
“You can definitely go into the portal,” Ariana said. “I’ve seen it happen.”
“With Andrew,” Kelly said.
“So it’s settled then. I’m going in. I just need to get to the portal.” Mayhem avoided looking at Hannah, not wanting to see her disappointment, her fear for him.
“I know where it is. Will take us a while to get there though,” Aubrey said.
“Not with Harper.” Ariana nodded behind her, where the Huntress was leaning against the doorframe. “She can get us all there in a few seconds.”
Lance groaned and shook his head. “Fucking Harper and the vomit train.”
Mayhem frowned but didn’t question. He’d find out soon enough.
Hannah walked past him toward the door, refusing to look at him, her eyes on anyone else. “Mayhem is calling the shots. He’s the alpha. I have to trust that he knows best.” Her tone was devoid of conviction. No belief in her words.
She bypassed the group and left the room. Shutting him out and making his heart ache that he’d hurt her again.
Duty to the pack. He owed it to Raven to bring him back, or die trying.
* * * * *
Mayhem nodded, barely listening to the others when he caught sight of Hannah walking toward them. She was dressed for battle, matching the other Huntresses with her tank top and leather pants. He didn’t know she even had a pair. Wished he’d spent some time with her wearing them. Dressed like a warrior, she was as hot as hell. Her red hair was tied back into a braid and she had her bow on her shoulder, quiver on her thigh, and some mean-looking blades sheathed on her hips.
Mine.
He moved to intercept. She tried to dodge but he blocked her path, hand on her arms to keep her in front of him.
“Hannah,” he coaxed. “Look at me.”
She gulped, anger all over her face, the tension in her body strung so tight she seemed ready to snap. When she looked at him, he saw her disappointment. “Don’t do this.”
“I have to. You know I do.” Mayhem placed one hand on her cheek, happy when she nuzzled him a bit, rubbing her face against his callused palm. “Raven needs me to come for him.”
She lifted her head. “So get Raven but don’t fight Lazarus. He’s the king of the beasts and in a realm of them. He’ll out match you.”
“Ouch, thanks for the vote of confidence, sweetie.” He chuckled, but her lack of faith was upsetting. A blow to his ego that she didn’t think he could beat Lazarus.
She closed her eyes, her frustration clear. When she opened them again he was greeted with sorrow. “I love you so much, Mayhem. You’re my best friend. I’m terrified that you’ll lose, but more terrified that you’ll win.”
Mayhem frowned.
“What if you come back feral? What if Darcy was right and you’re not the same when you come through that portal again? Will I have to kill you? Will you make me do that to you?” Her voice cracked, eyes tearing. “That’s too big of a sacrifice.”
He rubbed his thumb over her lips then leaned down and kissed her tenderly, briefly. “I trust that you’ll be here, waiting for me, ready to bring me back from whatever feral beast I become.” He placed his hand over her heart. “I’m in there, always and forever. Without you, I lose my way, my balance. I need you to be here to pull me off the ledge.”
She stared up at him, tears running down her cheeks. Something clicked in her eyes, a decision. She reached up and wiped the tears away. “I can do that. I can make sure you find your way back.”
Mayhem gave a tight nod. “I know you can.”
“Here, May.” Summer came up to them, offering a blade hilt side to him. “I etched this with a symbol that will put an end to Lazarus. Just in case you can’t kill him there without a Huntress. It’s laced with my poison. Morgan taught me.” She nodded over her shoulder. “And Darcy is ready to help us form the tethers now.”
“You keep that knife for now, Summer. I can’t transform into my beast with it in my hand or I’ll lose it to the change,” Mayhem said. “Offer it to my beast.”
Summer nodded then tucked the blade into the waist of her pants.
Mayhem took Hannah’s hand and they joined the group.
“All you have to do is place your hand on each other’s chests, like where the heart is and repeat after me.” Darcy looked from Mayhem and Hannah to Aubrey, Jay then Summer and Dy, nodding as each couple did what she said. “Bound as one, anchored, in you I find my home.” Her voice cracked on the last few words.
Mayhem stared into Hannah’s eyes as he chanted, watching her lips move to match his. When they finished speaking he felt the snap of magic pull them together, bonding in a way that seemed stronger than his bite. He marveled at the connection. “Do you feel that?”
Hannah smiled tentatively. “Yes, it’s like I can hear your heartbeat in my head.”
Mayhem kissed her then. A deep, passionate kiss so she could feel what she meant to him, through their bond, through his emotions. When he pulled away, she sighed.
“You come home to me, Mayhem. Promise me.”
Mayhem nodded. “I’ll always come home to you.”
“Okay, everyone, let’s get moving. Harper is ready to take us to the portal. She’s beamed in there a few times already and the coast is clear for now,” Ariana said.
“Listen, man, you need to remember to breathe,” Lance said with a hearty pat on Mayhem’s back. “I’m not joking. Breathe like you’ve never breathed before or you are going to lose your bunnies the second your feet hit dirt.”
Lance snickered and turned to say the same thing to Hannah.
Mayhem moved to Aubrey’s side, pulling her away from Jay. “You’ll take the shot.”
Aubrey looked at him, confused at first then understanding clicked.
“If Hannah can’t bring us back to ourselves, if we’ve gone feral, you will take the shot,” Mayhem ordered. “I won’t put anyone in danger. I refuse. You take us out and make sure that portal stays closed.”
Aubrey gave a slow nod. “You have my word.”
Satisfied, he moved back to Hannah and grasped her hand before bringing it to his lips for a final kiss.
“Let’s do this,” Greer roared.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hannah crouched on the forest floor, dry heaving as her world spun. She didn’t like teleporting. It wasn’t pleasant.
Harper had brought them within a mile of the portal where Saska had set up her werewolf camp. Greer and some of the others were scouting to make sure the remaining beasts had scattered, or at least weren’t in the area to cause trouble.
Mayhem had fared better on the journey and, after checking on her, had moved to the boys for a pep talk. His words floated to her in snippets.
“Jay, this is going to be hardest for you,” Mayhem said. “You’re going to need to fight with everything you have to keep a balance.”
Jay nodded, looking solemn. “I can do this. I’ve got your back.”
Mayhem pounded him on the shoulder with a nod. “Yeah, man, I know.”
Hannah wasn’t so sure. They were headed into the underworld where Lazarus and, presumably, his father had their domain. She didn’t know what they would find down there. Her mind just couldn’t envision it. The reality that there even was an underworld was alm
ost too much to accept.
“Here, Hannah, try this.” Ariana held out a satchel.
Hannah pushed herself back so she could sit, feeling drained. She took the satchel and sniffed it. “Mint.”
“Yeah, and a few other things. Ginger too. Take a pinch and chew. I find it helps me a lot.” Ariana nodded as Lance approached, looking a little more than green himself.
“That stuff works.” He motioned to the bag.
Hannah did as she was told, opening the satchel, and taking a bit of the stuff inside. The flavors exploded in her mouth, making her forget for a moment about her nausea as she focused on the almost overwhelming sensations on her tongue. “Wow, this stuff is delicious!” She took another pinch then handed it back to Ariana. “Thank you.”
Lance grabbed for it, plopping a bunch in his mouth before breathing a sigh of relief as he worked his jaw. “Better. You girls ready?”
Ariana offered her hand to Hannah, helping her stand. She bent to retrieve her bow for her as well. “Kelly said that you’re still having some trouble harnessing your powers without putting yourself in danger. Closing your eyes during battle isn’t the most effective method of survival.”
“I know.” Hannah shrugged. “When I bonded with my Hunter, Allan, I got an influx of training information, and something that felt like instinct with my powers. I was able to manipulate emotions, knew exactly what to do with them. But I’ve never gotten anything that would help me do it like an expert. Nothing came from Allan that could guide me to splitting my attention. And I know that’s a huge liability. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Hide in the bushes?”
Ariana nodded. “The bond between Hunter and Huntress needs to be bolstered by touch, contact, constant infusion. Unlike the wolf bite, which is a permanent mark.”
Lance grumbled something, giving her a nudge that made Ariana smirk.
“You’ve got the power, a lot of it. Without Allan to give you a constant boost, though, you don’t have all of his knowledge or training. It’s going to be fragmented so you’re on your own to decipher it.” Ariana touched Hannah’s shoulder. “I think you’ll figure it out though.”
“Sure, with time!” Hannah threw her hands up. “I need it now.”
“I think the best advice I’ve ever been given when it comes to my powers,” Summer said as she approached, “is to trust your gut. You told me that you can see the emotions like colors.”
Hannah nodded.
“You see them when you close your eyes but not when your eyes are open,” Summer stated, already knowing the answer. “It’s like my symbols. At first, they would only come to me as an image when I closed my eyes. Now they pop up all the time, even sometimes on people or things, like they’re directing me where they need to go. I know I’m no expert and I don’t have the bond of a Hunter, but I think you could harness your powers if you kind of forced it to happen the way you want it to.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, take control. Don’t be submissive with your powers. You need them to function for you in a way that aids you. So you need to take ownership of that reality and not let them dictate how they will work. You are the Huntress, the powers are yours to manipulate,” Summer said with a shrug. “That’s what I’ve been doing. I mean, it came out of frustration. I wanted to open a jar of pickles and Dy wasn’t around to offer his brute strength.” She chuckled. “So I glared at the damn bottle and thought about how helpful a symbol would be…and then voila! There it was. Right on the bottle. I etched it, traced the design, and the lid popped off. I demanded it and it happened. And that’s the way it’s been since. Not foolproof, but I’m working on it.”
Hannah contemplated Summer’s advice. Force her powers to work. But what would that mean? Would she constantly see emotions flowing? Would it overwhelm her? She frowned. Was it fear that held her powers back? Just like everything else in her life. Fear of taking risks. Fear of letting Mayhem go even though she knew he had to find Raven.
She nodded slowly. “I think I understand.”
Summer smiled. “I hope it helps. Whatever the case, I’ll have your back. Just make sure the boys return to us a little less like monsters, okay?”
Hannah smiled too. “I promise.”
“We’ve got a big problem,” Greer said as she came crashing through the foliage to greet them, her sword leading the way.
Mayhem turned from the boys and walked to Hannah’s side, sliding his hand over hers and entwining their fingers. “What’s going on?”
“There are beasts coming out of the portal. At least one every five minutes,” Greer said. “We need to close that shit up ASAP.”
Mayhem nodded. “We need to get in there now.”
“Back up is coming,” Aubrey said. “I talked to my sister before we left. She’s got an army of Hunters on their way. ETA is a couple of hours.”
“And the Amazons are on their way,” Ariana said as she pulled her sickles. “They’re closer, probably an hour at most. They ran into some beasts already and cut them down. No casualties on our side though.”
“We’re ready to go in. No sense in waiting. You all can deal with the beasts that come out in the meantime,” Mayhem said with a hard look. “Just try to avoid friendly fire when we return.”
“You got it, big guy,” Greer said before turning to Darcy. “Can we go through that spell one more time before the shit goes down?”
“Of course,” Darcy said as she motioned for Greer to move off to the side.
Hannah turned to Mayhem, hands on his face, staring into those blue eyes she loved. “You come back to me.”
“Oh, I’ll be coming back. No way I can stay away from you, Hannah.” He kissed her, sucking her lips before plunging his tongue deep, thrusting into her, marking her with his mouth.
She came away breathless and he grinned down at her.
“Something to keep you grounded.” He smirked.
“Grounded? That kiss has me flying.” She smiled and kissed his cheek before folding herself into his embrace, feeling the beat of his heart, inhaling his intoxicating scent. Wishing with every ounce of her being that he came back to her normal.
She forced herself not to cry when they parted, despite the urge to wail and cling. That was not how she wanted to be remembered by anyone. She gulped down her feelings and steadied her bow, checking that her arrows were plentiful and ready to go.
Mayhem moved off to the side, giving a few last minute instructions to the pack.
“Let’s go,” Greer said, motioning for everyone to follow her into the trees.
Hannah glanced back at Mayhem, holding his gaze before he let the transformation take hold and he turned beast.
The portal wasn’t visible unless someone went through it, or in this case, came out of it. As group entered the small clearing, two beasts burst out, startling Hannah with their ferocity. Greer slashed her sword through one, quickly detaching head from shoulders. Kelly nailed the other with an arrow, leaving it writhing on the ground for Ariana to impale with a sickle.
“Let’s move these out of the way,” Lance said as he sheathed his sword and motioned for Cal to give him a hand.
Crashing came from behind and Hannah moved closer to the group. Mayhem and the others broke through the tree-line, giving only the slightest look in their direction before moving to the portal. There was no hesitation—all three walked through and were enveloped, leaving behind an eerie silence.
“Well, that’s that,” Greer said. “No idea how long this will take but I guess we need to be ready to close the damn thing, right?”
Darcy nodded. “We should be back building it now anyway. It takes a lot of power and I’m not going to be killing any Huntresses to harness it.” She motioned to the trees. “I also don’t know how to create the bubble of protection that Saska used to keep us out of harm’s way.”
“So tha
t means we’re down two warriors,” Hannah said. All the more need for her to stay in the game. “We stand guard—you girls do what you need to do.”
Greer didn’t look too happy about it but she nodded and followed Darcy out of the clearing.
“So the beasts come out and we kill them,” Hannah said, feeling a little better about the situation. “We seem to have the upper hand here.”
Kelly frowned as she scanned the clearing. “Seems too easy.” She followed a set of tracks from the portal to the tree-line. “Greer said a beast was coming out every five minutes give or take, right? Shouldn’t there be a bunch of them hanging around?”
A blast of aggression hit Hannah so hard she staggered backward. “They’re here, somewhere.” Hannah’s voice rose as she spun toward. “I feel them.”
“Where?” Kelly said over her shoulder.
“Everywhere.” Hannah shivered, the feeling of being watched making her skin crawl.
“Let’s tighten this group up around the girls,” Lance said as he pulled his sword again.
The rest of the group came together, moving toward Darcy and Greer, forming a semicircle around them. They didn’t even notice, so deeply entranced in their spell. Easy pickings.
Hannah shuddered. Vulnerable. Just like she was when she was tapping into her power.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” Summer whispered, two knives in her hands.
“They’re cunning, remember?” Ariana whispered back. “They aren’t as powerful as Lazarus, but they are wolves at heart. They live for the hunt.”
A branch cracked to the right, making Hannah jolt as she aimed her bow in that direction. Another crash came from the left and she swirled her bow there.
“They’re toying with us,” Aubrey growled. “Do they think we’ll run?”
Kelly shook her head. “It’s a game. They know there are Huntresses here. They know we’re protecting something.”
As if on cue, two beasts came sliding out from between the trees in the distance, eyes menacing as they stalked closer. Hannah let an arrow fly and it skidded against the bark of a tree—the beasts were out of range. Kelly tried as well. Same results.
Beast Rising: The Order of the Wolf, Book 7 Page 21