by Brenna Lyons
The older woman paled considerably. “I didn’t—”
“Not much fun when the shoe is on the other foot, is it? Welcome to our world, Sarah. Nothing is private anymore. Nothing is secret. As you can steal it from us, I can steal it from you. It might be good for you to learn to live on a level playing field.” Erin pushed to her feet and started to storm away.
“Erin,” Jayde demanded. “Come back here and eat your breakfast.”
She paused momentarily but didn’t look back. “No thanks. I’ve lost my appetite.” Erin started forward then stopped abruptly and faced Sarah with wide eyes. “You can’t exist on even ground. You have to see yourself as superior to live, don’t you?”
“If you don’t like it, turn it off, princess. You don’t have to listen just because it’s there.”
“You wish.” Erin smiled wickedly. “You’ll wish I turned it off by the time I’m through,” she promised.
Sarah’s face paled. “You wouldn’t,” she exploded.
“There are no rules of engagement in battle, and I always win in the end. Keep that in mind before you threaten me again. You have too many secrets to throw that first stone.” She turned on her heel and glided away with a predatory look, while Sarah seethed at her retreating back.
Hunter looked at her barely-controlled fury in amazement. “What was she thinking?” he asked.
Sarah’s face turned pure crimson. She hurled her napkin at him and stormed away. “Stay away from me,” she ordered.
Hunter raised an eyebrow at his parents and sighed. “Well, it works,” he mused unhappily.
“It works all right,” Adam agreed. “Now the question is whether or not they can learn to use it to do anything constructive.”
* * * *
January 17, 2025
Erin growled at the disturbance in her sleep. Sarah was doing it on purpose; she was sure of it. The five days since Sarah’s challenge at the breakfast table had been a mixture of torture and the thrill of battle.
So far, the two had managed to keep the other Warriors out of their skirmish, except for the occasional snippish backlash to a spoken statement. Most of Sarah’s backlash was directed at Hunter, while most of Erin’s were directed at Adam and her father. They circled each other dangerously, two angry Warriors in a whole new type of battle.
By the fourth day, Erin had been aching for a different, more satisfying type of battle. She demanded her training and was granted permission to resume. She carefully closed her mind to Sarah before each match, determined not to allow a cocky psychic to distract her from her task — or injure her to make her go inpatient again.
For some reason, the extra layer of self-control required to leash her inner link to Sarah also bottled her nuclear Blutjagd into a razor-sharp edge with exquisite control. She smiled at Sarah’s fury when Kohl rescinded his offer of letting her leave, as Erin was nothing if not controlled in her bloodlust. She sent taunting laughter after the other woman as Sarah stalked away.
Under other circumstances, had they not been locked in battle as they were, Erin might have let herself slip just to give the woman the freedom she wanted, but there were other considerations. Not only would she thwart whatever Sarah wanted, but also Erin’s own plans depended on the other woman staying right where she was.
For Erin’s plans to succeed, Hunter had to mate and produce children. Hunter wanted Sarah, and he believed Sarah wanted him. The fact that she was simply too obstinate to accept Hunter was completely true according to the thoughts rushing through Sarah’s head — and completely unacceptable. Sarah would make her choice, and she would choose Hunter.
Sarah’s answer to that particular victory was a threat to tell Adam Erin’s deepest secrets, all three of the topics she decidedly detested the idea of having laid bare to the eldest Maher brother. At Adam’s insistence that he wasn’t leaving, Erin made the demand that his continued presence be contingent on the outcome of a challenge match. Unaccustomed to Erin in full Blutjagd and thinking himself immune for correcting his earlier hole, Adam was unprepared for his crushing defeat. It took Erin exactly one and a half minutes and two blows to send the stunned Warrior packing — once he regained consciousness.
The battle was, at times, petty and childish, but neither was willing to back down. It was easy to tell when one was blocking the other for down time. That was one thing they were never childish about. By unspoken agreement, one never shut the other out in the midst of a heated argument.
From Sarah’s reaction, Erin guessed the older woman received an education in the eloquence of baser speech at times. She surmised that Sarah’s brothers had rigid orders to regard her as a young lady in that respect — both in their minds and in spoken communication, something the Warriors around Erin had never worried about, knowing Jayde was akin to a sailor on leave when she was pissed off. Erin laughed at Sarah’s rather grudging and fuming agreement with that assessment.
Earlier that evening, they had celebrated Erin’s sixteenth birthday, crowned by her grant of autonomy. Considering her internal plan — the four-year plan the stone talked about, damn the interfering piece of rock — her autonomy was essentially a joke, but it did mean she had the absolute right to fight her own battles rather than allowing her parents that power.
Sarah had smiled secretively. Gee, autonomy? Her voice drawled inside Erin’s head, sounding smug. Guess that means you can head to town tomorrow and find a warm body to take away your aches and needs.
Sigh. I don’t require the rutting the males find so essential to life. She kept her thoughts as neutral as possible on the subject.
Of course, you could always call Adam’s little brother. As long as you picked a Warrior, I’m sure the whole world would rejoice in you getting a good fuck in. Sarah was getting almost too comfortable with baser speech.
Coming from a person who’s afraid of intimacy with one of my class, I’ll take that with a grain of salt.
Then again, you could always call Adam’s other brother. He’d be glad to take care of your needs with no annoying complications. Wouldn’t that be divine revenge on him?
Erin laughed out loud at that one, stifling it as her parents looked at the two women curiously and rolled their eyes almost in unison.
You do have one more choice. You could always take your amulet off and go find out if Lorian is as good in person as he is in your mind. After all, being so close to beast yourself…
Right after you, dear. After all, you seem to be as cold and dead inside as he is. I think he chose well when he left me and went to you. You’re more his type than Hunter’s anyway. You’re right, you know. You don’t have the balls to live as a König.
Sarah had looked at her miserably as Erin swallowed the last mouthful of her cake and bussed her dishes to the sink. The other Warriors looked from one woman to the other suspiciously but wisely kept their mouths shut.
“Good night, everyone,” she’d called sweetly. “I have a few letters to write tonight, so I’ll see you in the morning.” Sweet dreams, Sarah.
Sarah had remained strangely silent after that except for the deep sadness she was trying to hide. Erin cursed her luck. She’d hoped for anger. She’d hoped Sarah would go to Hunter simply to tick her off, not realizing the one fact Erin kept safely tucked away at all times. Erin wanted exactly that.
Erin felt the stirring in her mind again, a formless nudging. This was her revenge for Erin’s victory. Sarah discovered quickly that Erin lacked the practiced control to shut her out while she was sleeping, and the more experienced psychic exploited the advantage mercilessly, waking Erin and fading away behind her shield before the argument could begin.
Stop it!
Erin issued the command, as the disturbance came again, hoping Sarah would hear it before she closed herself off. With no answer forthcoming, Erin sighed in relief and snuggled down into her pillow. She growled her displeasure as the dark disturbance swirled in her mind again.
Goddamn it, Sarah! I will beat you senseless if yo
u make me come in there.
The warning was laced with as much venom as Erin could manage. Still, the vibrations were circling in her mind, formless and now threatening.
Erin swung her legs off the bed and grabbed her weapons belt, wishing she could use the blades on Sarah to ensure unbroken sleep in the future. She wouldn’t kill her, just a scar to remind her to leave these games out of their struggle.
She kicked the thick carpet in annoyance as she walked, some irrational part of her mind wishing she could share the grief with Hunter. Plan or no plan, he really needed to wise up and get away from Sarah before he did something stupid and printed on her. But, Hunter had taken the easy road and removed himself to the couch and out of the line of fire three days ago. He made it clear that until the two women either came to an equitable agreement or fought to the death, he was not going to be a part of the game they were playing.
Erin stormed through the bathroom and into the other bedroom. “Sarah,” she growled, stilling and looking at the other woman in confusion. Asleep? She sank into the chair next to the bed, cursing this ability to read Sarah yet again. Erin was reading Sarah’s dreams, and there was no way to control that. Wasn’t being Blutjagdfrau curse enough?
She noted the troubled expression that crossed Sarah’s face and sighed, opening her mind fully. The least she could do was look at what Sarah found so disturbing. Maybe it would prove useful. She closed her eyes to allow the impressions free reign without interference of what her eyes actually saw.
Erin sucked in her breath as Lorian leaned close, his breath tickling Sarah’s cheek. At least the young woman had enough sense to fear him, though she seemed to lack in sense at other times.
Sarah sank back to the wall as the black void that represented the elder approached her. The eyes, if one could call them that, were a deeper shade, a darker color than even the fathomless black of the shimmer. His entire being seemed like a black hole, a vacuum dragging her into its depths.
“Back off beast,” a young man demanded.
Sarah’s terror-locked brain dimly identified him as one of her older brothers, Kohl’s youngest son, who was only five years older than Sarah.
Her voice wavered. “Darrien, you have to go. This is an elder — the last elder. You can’t fight him.”
Darrien looked at Lorian uncertainly before he squared his shoulders. “I can’t leave you to him,” he decided. “You know I can’t.”
Lorian’s laugher was piercing, menacing, alive and horrible. Sarah shrank from that laughter.
“You? A mere boy? You think to take my mate from me?”
“Mate? Sarah isn’t a Warrior.”
“She is still cursed, descended from your kind and still cursed. Aren’t you little one?” Those fathomless black eyes crinkled in amusement, and she could see the stunning smile hidden behind the black veil of pure death.
Sarah shook her head and tears ran down her cheeks in a steady stream.
“Ah, Sarah,” he crooned. “What is that so-called gift that gives you such pain if not a curse? You’ve called it such yourself many times. Be honest.” Lorian moved closer until his breath was hot and sweet on her lips.
Sarah pressed her head back into the wall, unwilling to risk a shattering reaction worse than a high-level red caused her. She waved at Darrien to make him halt his rush at the beast. He would be dead if he tried that type of assault. She could read it in the black on black swirls in the shimmer. Lorian wanted Darrien to attack like that.
“Go away. I’m not a blood Warrior. I can’t be what you want.”
“You’re wrong, Sarah. You can and will be exactly what I need.”
“I’ll die from the pain first. Even if you take my amulet, you can’t touch me.”
“You don’t think I have the power to control that reaction?” he replied in a sensuous invitation.
“I don’t want you to.” She managed a slow, strong voice and enunciated each word carefully.
“Another woman that believes the old tales and thinks death would be better. What I wouldn’t give to find just one of you before you were poisoned by those lies. I tire of this refrain. You have no idea the pleasure I could give you.”
“You can’t love me,” she countered. Yes, love was an important thing. Sarah would never have a man she didn’t love.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t treat you like a queen. You wouldn’t even have to know.”
She shuddered in revulsion at that thought. “No. I don’t want that.”
Lorian moved away with a look of disgust. “I have tried honesty. I’ve tried reasoning.” He started to pace the room in anger, waving his hands to punctuate what he was saying. “I’ve put myself out with promises of all I would do for one of you women. I am so tired of it all.”
Darrien glided toward her silently as the beast conducted his private tirade. When he reached her side, he swept her behind him smoothly, shielding Sarah with his larger body as he eased her back toward the door.
Lorian turned abruptly, and Darrien froze. Sarah could smell the mixture of Blutjagd and sweat on the back of his shirt. Her hand closed on the fabric as she pressed her forehead to his shoulder blade, shaking at the thought of what the elder would do next. It was sure to be horrible, she knew.
“I will be direct with you, Sarah.”
She could hear his footsteps coming closer and peeked around Darrien’s chest. Lorian snapped Darrien’s arm with his left hand, as the Warrior attacked, then ripped the young man’s heart from his chest with his right.
Sarah screamed and tried to cradle her brother’s body as it fell. She knew Darrien was already gone. Coated in his blood, she sobbed hopelessly as she kissed his shocked, dying face and surveyed the empty hole in his chest.
Lorian dropped the heart back into the ragged pit with a sickening splat, and Sarah recoiled in horror. The beast squatted to her eye-level across her brother’s body.
“I will not plead with you, Sarah. You will be mine. Either you give yourself to me, or I will take you after wading through every Warrior just like I did this one. The choice is yours.” He shrugged as if it made not a damn bit of difference to him which choice she made and moved away to await her decision, while she rocked her brother’s head in her arms.
Erin snapped her eyes open as Sarah started whimpering and throwing her head back and forth. She cursed herself soundly. She knew what the nightmares were like, but Erin let Sarah live hers so she could see it. Cursing herself again, she reached out and shook the other woman gently.
Sarah reacted violently, flailing and striking out a formidable blow that Erin deflected easily. She pressed her back to the headboard in shock and fear.
Erin met her gaze calmly, steadily and put her hands up to ease her. “Read my mind,” she ordered in a torn voice, knowing she was giving Sarah more ammunition than she was comfortable with, even as she knew that turnabout was fair play. Erin closed her eyes and let the night Lorian came for her flood her mind in startling detail, much more detail than she had allowed herself to experience since the day the Warriors questioned her. She opened her eyes at Sarah’s muted cry of alarm.
“Why did you show me that?” she asked quietly.
“Because you’re not alone. I thought it might help to know that.”
“I thought what he did to me was bad,” she mused bitterly.
“I came away with my brother,” Erin countered sadly. “I’m sorry for Darrien’s loss.”
“And Corwyn’s. I know you loved him.” She looked at Erin suspiciously. “So, where do we go from here? Are we okay — or are we still tearing each other apart?”
“Let’s kill the bastards,” Erin offered with a wicked smile. “Are you hungry?”
“A little. Why?”
“Let’s bring a couple of big slabs of that cake up here and talk. I’m not really tired, and I always wanted another woman I could talk to, one whose major interest in me isn’t my training as a Warrior.” She ran a hand through her curls to fluff them.
“There are hairstyles you can use at night,” she offered quietly. “We can use a tight bun on you or pin braids to your scalp. You don’t have to cut it.”
“Then, why haven’t you let yours grow?”
Erin shrugged. “There’s always that in-between stage where it’s too short to do anything with but too long. I never wanted to take any chances. I wanted to be sure.”
Sarah nodded. “Let’s get that cake. I’m hungrier than I thought.”
* * * *
January 18, 2025
Sarah giggled. “Won’t we get into trouble?” she whispered. “What if someone wakes up and finds us gone?”
“So what? The sun’s coming up. Any beasts around are headed to ground. Besides, you’d be able to see them if they’re close, and I can fight them.”
“I guess that’s all true enough.”
They slipped out into the gray of the morning and sped across the grounds to the old tire swing close to the frozen stream. Laughing like children, they took turns on the swing until the sun was rising behind the clouds. Sarah sat in the tire, swinging herself idly, while Erin leaned against a tree trunk, smiling a more relaxed smile than Sarah had ever seen on her.
“I haven’t had this much fun in years,” the younger woman decided.
“Even when Hunter took you to first night?” Sarah teased, knowing Erin had felt truly alive that night.
Erin sobered. “Yeah, I did,” she admitted. Hunter. He was so upset. We both needed the hunt so badly.
“He needed it because of me, didn’t he?” she whispered.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead roughly. Her smile became strained. “I guess it wouldn’t do any good to lie about it. You can see it for yourself.”
Sarah groaned and settled her cheek against the cold rubber, wrapping her arms around the tire while her feet kicked lightly at the hilltop, keeping the swing rocking gently. “What am I going to do?” she asked the universe in general. “He won’t ever give up, will he?”