The man brought her to the post and tied her arms to the rope that was hanging there before wrapping her foot with the chains. Cassie turned her head into Jared’s chest. She could feel the eagerness pour off the men in the circle. They were hungry, and Cassie only had one guess who the meal was.
“Oh, princess. You’re going to miss the best part of the night,” Ben told Cassie. “Turn her to face this, Jared. She’s one of us now, so she better get used to our ways.”
Jared paused. His father had given him a command and his hands weren’t automatically moving to do as he wanted.
‘I don’t have to do what he says, either,’ Cassie told Jared. It had been a secret, but now her defiance seemed to also transfer to Jared. ‘Nate told me to just act like I had to, in order to keep your father happy.’
‘It’s probably best if I do the same,’ he added, still unsure why he didn’t have to follow his alpha’s command.
Jared gently turned Cassie around so that she faced the girl in the middle of the monsters. Several men in the circle had already transformed. The young girl couldn’t have been much older than Cassie, maybe a couple years at the most. She stared across the space to Cassie. Jared kept his arms around her waist, and she gripped him tight. She knew what they planned and really didn’t want to see it. She didn’t know the girl, but the young witch could have been anyone Cassie had grown up with.
“Paul, I believe you have won the honors of the first drink tonight,” Ben called to the man who had brought the girl into the circle.
The curly-haired man stepped forward. Maybe in his twenties, Cassie had no idea who he was either, but he looked familiar. She didn’t know the wendigo or the skinwalkers well for the most part, and she had never been allowed to leave town on her own to meet anyone else. Now she wanted to know more. Was he familiar because he used to be a skinwalker?
‘Yes. He was kicked out by the clan three years ago. He’s from a different town, but he has a couple cousins here. We took him in when he had nowhere else to go,’ Jared explained in response to Cassie’s mental questions.
“I wish to take her as my mate,” Paul told Ben.
Ben shrugged. “I know my son demonstrated for you all something that you thought was impossible, but just so you know, it doesn’t always work that way. The bond is a curious thing. Some are meant to be, and others are not. If you want to take that chance, so be it, but if the bond doesn’t take, you will be the one to take her life.”
Paul looked up at Ben. The alpha was serious, and Cassie could feel his eagerness at the witch dying. Ben didn’t think the bond would work at all.
Pushing Jared’s hands down, Cassie walked into the circle. Jared reached for her to stop her, but Ben halted him.
“Let her go. She needs to know this is how it works. The witches raised her to think the world was a kind and beautiful place. It doesn’t work that way in any clan. She needs to understand that and come to the real world. She bonded to you, and is one of us now. Let her go.”
Cassie walked up to the girl. It seemed like the girl wanted to talk but couldn’t do so. She stared with her haunted gray eyes at Cassie. The girl’s dress was perfect without even a wrinkle, even though she already had been fed upon several times. Bite marks lined her arms and neck. Cassie wanted to feel her own neck but knew that her bond healed everything instantly.
Reaching up, she placed her hands on the cheeks of the girl. She wanted to see her past and her future. Cassie needed to understand why this girl was there and why Cassie had to see her die. Ben was completely right. Cassie had been raised and trained by the witches to believe Mother Earth was kind and gentle. She had been taught that if you treated the world with kindness, you would receive kindness in return. Cassie had never really received kindness from her peers, but she never worried about being taken into the woods to be eaten by monsters.
“Why did you leave your clan?” Cassie asked. Images flowed to Cassie.
The girl stood in front of a priestess for a coven. Two other girls about the same age stood beside her. Next to the coven priestess was a young man, not as young as the teenage girls, but at least not in his thirties yet as the two previous men had been. The man came forward and sniffed each girl, running his hands over the front of him as he looked like he was assessing each. He walked back to the priestess.
‘I’ll take the middle one,’ he told her.
The other two girls on each side of her bowed and hurried out of the room. The girl the wendigoes had found was left alone with the priestess and the young man.
‘You will be bonded at tomorrow night’s ceremony,’ the priestess told the girl. She nodded and bowed before leaving.
Outside the door to the room, the girl finally began to cry. She didn’t like the guy and surely didn’t want to spend her life with him. She knew him from growing up in town even though they were far enough in age to have never gone to school together. There were too many reasons she couldn’t even list them all. What was she supposed to do? The priestess’ word was law. The girl didn’t have a choice.
The images flashed forward to the woods. The girl was running. She made her choice. She’d rather be free and alone than be with that man. Her family, the coven, her life, it was all done. She would have to start over. That was it.
Cassie pulled out of her thoughts.
“You wanted to be free,” Cassie whispered. The girl’s eyes grew wide, like Cassie knew a deep, dark secret.
Sighing, Cassie closed her eyes. Freedom was a myth. No one was ever truly free, or if they were, Cassie had yet to meet them. Would death make the girl free?
Cassie looked back into her eyes. New images flashed.
The girl was sitting outside a barn, a familiar red barn that seemed to be a staple at each of the houses the wendigo had. She was watching two little boys run around outside as she rocked a baby in her arms. Soon enough a young man came from the woods. His smile made her heart beat like crazy even after all the years together. The girl was happy. And her heart was free.
Cassie pulled back, a bit disorientated. She was used to seeing the past, but she was sure it was the future she just saw. Cassie looked at the girl who didn’t seem to notice anything new. She was still terrified. Turning, Cassie searched the circle of men. The blond she had seen in the future was standing off to the east.
“He’s your mate,” Cassie stated, pointing at the young man. He seemed shocked by what Cassie was saying as much as the girl had.
Ben laughed behind Cassie. “This is a good show,” he commented. “Sure, let’s go with that one. Paul, sorry, my son’s mate would like Marc to have the first meal tonight. You will lead us in the next ceremony.”
Paul bowed to Ben before backing up. Cassie could feel the relief pour off him. He didn’t want to kill the girl at all.
Marc walked forward to the girl and Cassie. The girl stared at Marc with as much horror as she had Paul. Cassie stopped the girl from looking at him by turning to face her.
‘He’s your mate, but the choice is yours. You either choose him and find the future I know you should have, or you choose to reject him and death will follow. He’s a good man and will kill you swiftly if you choose death. It may not be what you wanted from your life, but you still get to choose.’ Cassie mentally projected to the girl. She was certain the girl had heard, since her face changed from horror to curiosity.
Cassie walked back to Jared, and his arms snaked back around her middle to hold her in place, in case she wanted to interrupt what was to come.
The girl stared up to the wendigo in front of her. After he bit down on his wrist, he held it out for her. She didn’t hesitate as she opened her mouth and drank the blood he was offering. She closed her eyes when he transformed and quickly moved to bite down on her neck. Just as Jared had acted, Marc moved back and his earlier wendigo features faded away; he became a deep gray form of a human with a dog-like face.
The crowd around the two stared in stunned silence. Marc reached down and broke the ch
ains holding the girl in place before scooping her into his arms.
“Guess you’re going to get your couple dozen wendigo pups now, Father,” Jared commented, breaking the silence. The men were still quietly watching the girl as she was carried away. He didn’t even stop at the edge of the circle as he kept walking into the woods with her.
Ben glanced down at Cassie in Jared’s arms. He was completely curious about her now.
“I’ve never trusted the coven,” Cassie told Ben. “They might have preached in all things good, but I wasn’t raised as one of them. I don’t believe all they say, but I do believe in fate. That girl was meant to find the wendigo, as her destined mate was always here.”
The men in the circle all stared at her.
“How did you know she should be with Marc?” Ryder asked, finally speaking from his father’s other side. Ben was still silent, and Cassie didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.
“I remembered my past, and I know who I am now,” Cassie answered.
“She was supposed to be the next seer for the whole coven,” Jared explained as all the men hung on every word being spoken. Ryder already knew that much, but now that Cassie knew, it made all the difference.
Ben smiled like everything clicked into place. “Son, you have brought us the seer as your mate. This calls for a celebration.” There was actual joy behind the evilness that came off Ben. “Paul, Mitch, and Neil, go get us something to eat from the caves. We all need a bit of blood to make this a feast. My son and beta has brought us victory over the skinwalkers. That’s reason enough for us to get drunk on witch blood tonight. Make sure you bring enough for everyone.”
Three men left the circle and hurried away. Cassie leaned back against Jared. They were going to feed upon more witches since she saved the last. Ben wasn’t about to give up his lust for blood.
Cassie was tired from seeing into the future. This was the first time she had been able to do so since she was a kid, and it felt odd, but right at the same time. It was like since Jared unblocked her memories, there was much more she could do that she never knew was possible. The coven had taken all of that away from her.
“I’m taking her back home,” Jared told his father as he scooped Cassie into his arms.
Ben opened his eyes in shock at his son’s directness.
“She’s weak from using her sight. If I keep her out here much longer, she’s going to pass out from exhaustion. I can feel her pulling on my energy to just keep going,” Jared explained. Cassie hadn’t known she was doing that.
Ben nodded and waved his hand like he was dismissing them. “Your loss. Now that you know how good witch blood tastes, maybe you’ll give up that hospital crap you keep in your fridge.”
Jared only nodded at his father. He had no intention of feeding off anyone, especially not the witches they had kidnapped.
‘Kidnapped?’ Cassie asked, suddenly finding a speck of reserved energy. Nate and John were freeing the kidnapped witches tonight. The three wendigo were going there, too.
Ben’s head snapped up as he instantly changed into his wendigo form. Cassie was surprised at how fast he changed, but even more surprised to see that Ben actually wasn’t any bigger than Jared was in his form.
Cassie felt a snap, like she had been smacked with a rubber band. Directing her gaze at Jared, she saw him staring in the direction his father was now storming away. She hadn’t felt it directly, but through the bond with Jared.
‘What’s going on?’ Cassie asked.
‘Neil is dead. Someone just killed him,’ Jared explained, picturing one of the men who had just walked away to get the witches.
CHAPTER 11
Jared didn’t waste any time; he changed instantly into his new wendigo form. Scooping Cassie into his arms, he ran a little bit from the outcrop of stones and into the woods. He jumped into the trees with her in his arms, and gently set her down once they were in the clear. Taking off his coat, which he had picked up on the way, he wrapped it around her shoulders. There was very little commotion below, yet he was leaving her. Jared turned to go, but Cassie refused to let go of his arm.
‘What’s going on? What was that I felt?’ Cassie asked silently. She could feel the wendigo not too far away, but where they were it was eerily quiet.
‘Someone attacked Neil,’ Jared explained. ‘The alpha is linked to the clan, and as the beta, so am I. When someone dies, I feel it.’
‘The witches?’ She was hopeful they were the ones breaking free.
‘Doubtful. Their magic had been drained, and they were locked away,’ Jared replied. Cassie realized that by worrying, Jared might have searched her mind, but she never thought to search his. He was the beta. He knew where the witches were. ‘They couldn’t get out, otherwise they would have already left.’
The silence of the night was shattered. Cassie heard a roar where she sat in the tree. There was definitely a big cat below in the direction of the wendigo. More animal noises sounded before Jared moved to leave again.
‘You can’t leave me here,’ Cassie complained. Animals meant more than likely Nate and her uncle, and anyone else they could find.
‘Cas, I have to. Many of those men below aren’t strong enough to protect themselves. I have to go down there and help,’ Jared explained, looking through the trees with his night vision.
She didn’t want Jared to go risk his life for a bunch of men who planned to feed off and drain innocent witches. ‘But—’
Kneeling beside Cassie, he took her face in his hands. ‘There are bad men in every group just like there are bad witches. Many of them are as far from innocent as you can get. But you had to have seen it with the girl. There are good ones here, too. There are ones who refuse to kill a witch to grow in power. There are ones that are here because of the coven and clan kicking them out. There are good men down there. I need to go protect them,’ Jared explained. ‘They don’t stand a chance against your uncle or Nate in their pledge forms. They need me.’
Cassie understood. The fellow she had just partnered with the young witch was a good man. There was no evil in his head like Ben. Jared was right, even if she didn’t want to admit it, and she was positive the skinwalkers weren’t going to see the difference. They had been raised to view the wendigo as all bad and the skinwalkers all good, with nothing in between.
“Stay safe,” Cassie whispered, knowing she had to let him go.
Jared quickly kissed her before disappearing instantly down below. Cassie squinted into the darkness but could see nothing. She heard it, though. The long scraping of wendigo nails on the rocks as they all transformed to meet the skinwalkers coming for them. Cassie grasped the tree when she heard the roar of a bear. She had seen bears at the zoo before and had heard them roar, but it was nothing like what she heard now. It was as if the whole ground was shaking from his roar. Cassie had no doubts to who that was. Uncle John was down there, fighting the same battle as Jared. He was keeping the younger skinwalkers safe. John wasn’t a killer; he was a protector. Cassie’s heart picked up speed. She hated being locked away from it all. Another roar reverberated through the woods. Nate had to be there, too.
Grasping the tree, she peered through the leaves to see if there was a way down. Her family, her friends, and Jared were all there below. Everyone she cared about was about to fight. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a good foothold to get down with. She would have to jump, and she was afraid it would be a bad idea. If she got hurt, so did Jared, and she didn’t need to make him vulnerable.
Cassie wanted to know what was going on as the air stilled around her. They were on the verge of something, and she was sitting in a tree in the dark. She concentrated on Jared and the bond between them. It only took a little feeling to get into his head. It was like watching a movie as it played in real time. She could see what he was seeing and that made her feel a bit better, until she realized what he was looking at. A line of carnivore animals made a half moon around the outcropping of stones where they had just been standin
g. At the middle of the pack of animals were two tigers and a bear. Cassie immediately recognized them, and her stomach dropped. Other bears and even a couple more tigers made up the front line, but the two she was worried about were obvious to her. Nate stood beside what had to be his father. Their markings were identical, except his father was white and black while Nate was orange and black.
‘Don’t hurt them,’ Cassie begged Jared.
‘I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I will defend the wendigo. I can’t let innocent people get caught in the middle.’ Jared was as much in the middle as an innocent person. He was as far from his father’s ways as one could get.
That wasn’t a yes or no, but Cassie figured she wasn’t getting any better response from him. She could already feel the conflicted feelings inside of him. He didn’t want to fight anyone, but he was backed into a corner as much as the skinwalkers had been since their witches had been taken away.
Uncle John stood up on his hind legs, and in doing so had to be over eight feet tall. He roared, and the animals around him responded. Cassie couldn’t shake the images of the future she had once seen. John was always supposed to be alpha while Mikel raised Nate. Cassie had to wonder what it would have been like then. She knew the wendigo and skinwalkers were sworn enemies, but would it still be the same? John was a much fairer person, and even in his bear form was a more reasonable than Mikel.
Bear John sat back down on all fours, which seemed to be the signal to everyone because they rushed forward. Not to be outdone, Ben raised his arm and signaled for the wendigo to meet them in the middle.
Jared didn’t watch his father as he followed everyone into the fight. Cassie could hear from her tree when the night creatures hit each other head on. She pulled out of Jared’s mind momentarily to look with her own eyes into the night. Her friends were below fighting, and there was nothing she could do.
Focusing, Cassie moved back to Jared’s mind. He was in the middle of the mess of creatures as they swung, cut, bit, and did so much more to each other. Blood was everywhere, and his senses were picking up on the mixture of wendigo and skinwalker. When he felt another wendigo get chopped down, he would move to save them. Cassie’s heart beat wildly while Jared moved through the crowd, keeping his own men safe and never outright attacking the skinwalkers. Cassie didn’t know if it was for her sake or if that was just his way—any move on a skinwalker was non-lethal.
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