by Fel Fern
“Why? Because a shifter like Aubrey would be considered less in our eyes?”
“You don’t know a thing about our relationship,” Dom said tightly.
“Perhaps, but we do know that kid would do anything for Max and you. That kind of loyalty is hard to come by,” were Rhea’s parting words.
Watching them head back to their alpha, Dom clenched his fists at his side. Perhaps Max and he had been blind all along. Maybe they were the real fools, trying to keep appearances and trying to pretend Aubrey meant nothing to them, but the other wolves knew otherwise.
After the meeting room was emptied, Dom went by Max’s shoulder. He leaned back against his chair, exhausted and worn out. Usually it would take time to organize a joint effort with the other crime families, but Dom knew they would take action after Max convinced them their businesses was at stake.
Usually, the talk of a potential and huge loss in investment got most mob bosses moving. If this pesky god was serious then he would only leave destruction in his wake, destroying all the three families had built to secure a political foothold in Stocoma City.
“We’re going to get her back, Max,” Dom reassured him.
“You were right, Dom. We should’ve fought harder for her. If we just told her how much she meant to us, then she wouldn’t stupidly surrender herself.” Max grunted. “I bet she went to the god willingly, under some foolish impression she was protecting us.”
“Sounds just like her.” Dom smiled. “When we get her back, I think we should remind her just who exactly she belongs to.”
Chapter Five
All Aubrey was capable of doing was watching the god Sazgor wreck destruction on her beloved city. She fought the overwhelming press of his mind against her own mind at first, but it was too exhausting. In the end, it was easier to surrender, to let him take her where he willed.
Her job was simple. Sazgor relied on her wings and her knowledge of the city’s nooks and crannies. In essence, her job hadn’t changed. She spied for him just like she spied for Dom and Max, although being a servant to a god wasn’t the most ideal profession in the world. Sazgor couldn’t comprehend most human needs and emotions, and he was occasionally puzzled as to why she needed to sleep and eat.
She learned interesting tidbits too, filing them in her head for future use while she acted compliant and submissive.
Sazgor had both a physical form and an immaterial one. In his immaterial form, he was an unstoppable force of nature. The best way to describe him was a bitter and lingering poltergeist, except instead of tossing simple furniture about he was able to do some serious damage like uproot entire buildings.
Aubrey wondered why he bothered changing back to mortal and flesh bone. She doubted it was for her sake. Perhaps using so much magical energy taxed him, making her deduce that his resources were limited.
“You almost seem bored, little crow. Does the sight of so much destruction not excite you?” Sazgor asked, back in his human form.
Huddled in nothing but a ragged blanket, Aubrey glared at him from her pathetic corner. Sazgor and his followers seemed to favor abandoned places of ruin, and there were a lot of abandoned warehouses in the city slums to choose from.
He never stayed in one place for long though, constantly moving every few nights. She looked away when his black-on-black eyes fastened on her. The action seemed to delight him.
Sazgor laughed, bending down in front of her. He reached out to touch her cheek with his large and scarred fingers. They weren’t exactly alone. Enthralled humans—Aubrey called them Sazgor’s cultists—milled around the warehouse. For a god, Sazgor wasn’t certainly a dumb one.
Men outfitted in matching uniforms and military-standard weapons, eerily walked around makeshift desks set up with computers and monitoring equipment. They had more similarities to brainwashed zombies than real people anyway, their minds and will stripped by Sazgor so they could do his bidding.
Aubrey was essentially alone with a horny god.
Feeling those repulsive fingers move lower, Aubrey asked, “What are you doing?” She tried keeping her voice steady, but it came out uncertain and weak.
“Exploring what is mine. I believe I’ve neglected you these past few days, no?” A strange look settled on his lined face, as if he were struggling to imitate human desire.
“Gods don’t understand human feelings.” Aubrey drew back, but pressed against the wall. She had nowhere to go. His fingers dipped past her collarbone, beginning to trace the edge of her left breast. “Stop it.”
“You seem to enjoy it when your filthy mutts touched you.” Sazgor flashed her his strange ebony teeth. “Didn’t they know you already belonged to me?”
“Why are you so fixated on me anyway?” Aubrey had to keep talking to distract him. She wasn’t sure it would get her anywhere, but the thought of him touching her was beyond abhorrent. Hell. Only Max and Dom could touch her.
Some sort of commotion was happening in the background. Sazgor’s cultists were hurriedly walking around, pointing at their monitors and strapping on more weapons. The god himself didn’t seem concerned.
“Why?” Confusion flittered across Sazgor’s features, as if her question was really difficult to answer. He stopped touching her at least. “You were mine the moment those mortal men decided to offer you and the other children as sacrifice years ago.”
“You still haven’t answered my question. Not exactly.”
Aubrey didn’t think gods were capable of glowering, but Sazgor was clearly glowering at her.
“Centuries ago, the supernatural community in this city bound me so I could never walk this Earth again. When those mortals broke my bindings, I was a weakened ghost of my former self and I needed the souls of the sacrifices to replenish my reserves. By the time those filthy animals came, I was far from being at my full strength and it would’ve taken too much energy to deal with them. So I fled.”
Aubrey lifted her chin. “So…basically you came back for me because I was unfinished business? Why haven’t you killed me and taken my soul then?”
“Why would I need to, when I have happily gorged myself on the poor souls swept away by the fury of my destructive powers?”
“And I’m what, your little pet trophy?”
“Like I said before, don’t sell yourself short. It is an honor to serve a god.” Sazgor’s gaze swept across her body again, and his hand easily pulled the ragged blanket off her shoulders with no effort. “Now, where were we?”
Aubrey wasn’t sure what was worse, having her soul taken away or being raped by a god. Neither notion appealed to her at all, but it was going to happen anyway.
“Get your filthy hands off my property, bastard.”
She let out an embarrassingly small sound of relief when Sazgor parted from her. Aubrey thought she was so delusional she dreamt up Max’s voice at first, but both she and Sazgor turned their heads to see that the doors of the warehouse were shoved opened. Moonlight peered through, highlighting numerous shadowed figures.
Max was one of the few who remained in human form, although Aubrey saw his control was a little frayed. What she wasn’t prepared for was the fact it wasn’t just wolves he brought with him. Vivaldi mountain lions and Perrault hawks and eagles intermingled with lean-bodied Scavos wolves.
“Max, careful! The cultists have heavy assault rifles,” Aubrey managed to yell just as the warehouse erupted into gunfire and animal howls.
Armed humans with no experience fighting the supernatural often underestimated wolves, especially wolves with a human brain directing its actions. A sharp tug on her arm made her forget the battle and return her attention to Sazgor, whose mortal flesh was contorted in fury.
“My patience has run its course. Your soul is mine to eat, little crow.”
He jerked her up to her feet without effort. His black eyes looked down at her, and Aubrey suddenly felt weightless and nauseous. She knew this feeling. Sazgor was invading her mental defenses, forcing his will on her. Once he was
inside her mental landscape, he was going to eradicate all traces of her self and make her a soulless puppet.
An earsplitting growl resounded nearby, and Aubrey felt Sazgor’s control over her waver. Seeing the large black beast bring Sazgor down, Aubrey shrank back against the wall so she wouldn’t interfere in the fight.
“Dom, be careful,” Aubrey whispered.
The two figures rolled and tangled. Dom clawed and tried to bite down on Sazgor’s throat, but the Sazgor kept his great head at a distance with his inhuman strength.
Sazgor didn’t even seem to feel Dom’s claws and only batted them as easily as if he was batting away a fly. Managing to free his legs, Sazgor kicked at Dom, sending him flying a few feet away.
Gut wrenching screams and sounds of pain tore through the air, buried by the sound of repetitive gunfire. The shifters were dying. All of them were dying, Aubrey realized with growing despair. She didn’t care much for most of the Scavos wolves, but her heart twisted when she saw Connor’s injured wolf and Jace’s smaller form protectively hovering beside him.
No. None of the wolves and the other shifters deserved to die this night.
Sazgor stood to one side, his expression one of barely suppressed glee. He reminded her of a child at a carnival.
Watching lives being snuffed out entertained him immensely. He doesn’t even give a damn half his cult worshippers are dead.
All the scratches Dom landed on him were beginning to heal at an astonishing speed. Even a beta couldn’t fight a god, and once Sazgor recovered enough of his strength and returned to his spiritual form, he was practically invincible. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Max in wolf form, bounding toward his mate.
Not him, too. At this rate, they’re really going to die trying to save me.
“Sazgor,” Aubrey called, reaching out for her crow. “You must be bored by now. Let’s play a game. Come catch me.”
She caught Max’s warning snarl, but she ignored him. Spreading her wings, she flew out to the nearest window. Sazgor let out a rumbling, earth-shattering roar of anger, and she knew he was dispensing with his mortal form to chase after her. Aubrey knew she wouldn’t get far, but she had to get as far as she could.
Sazgor didn’t to be close enough to his followers to influence their minds. With his focus scattered, the wolves have no trouble dealing with the armed cultists.
“Where do you think you’re going, little crow? Did you really think you could escape me?” Sazgor whispered in her ear.
Aubrey projected her thoughts as loudly as she could, and she knew Sazgor heard her. No. I always knew I’m nothing compared to a god. Both you and I know my soul is not mine for the keeping, so let’s go back to where we started, Sazgor.
She felt the weight of his presence hovering behind her, letting her lead her back to the warehouse where Max and Dom rescued her. Once inside the warehouse’s empty interior, Aubrey shifted back to human and landed on her feet. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest and sweat rolled down her back despite the cool night air seeping through the warehouse.
Never before did she feel so frightened and terribly alone. Max and Dom came back for her. Just the knowledge was enough to satisfy her.
“You’re a fool, crow. No matter where you lead me, I will devour your soul. Once I’ve assimilated you, you will helplessly watch me slaughter all your wolves.”
“Oh I know that.” Aubrey drove her bare foot into the dust-covered floor, experimentally feeling for traces of magic. She took several steps backward, praying she wasn’t wrong in her assumptions.
“There is nowhere to run.” Sazgor returned to his physical form.
Aubrey tilted her head to study him. Sweat beaded his forehead and he was panting, as if the effort of chasing after her did strain him after all.
“You don’t look so hot there, Sazgor.” Aubrey halted near the edge of one of the walls, finally feeling the subtle and nearly unnoticeable magical energy.
It was the exact opposite of Sazgor’s corrupted dark magic, and the feel of the warm earth magic gave her the dose of courage she needed. Max and Dom probably used her scent to track her, meaning they traced her all the way to this warehouse.
Knowing Max’s way of thinking, Aubrey knew he would have a secondary plan. He understood the warehouse was a place of significance, so he probably left a trap back here just in case Sazgor returned to it. It was one hell of a gamble, but it sure paid off.
“Do you think you have me all figured out, little crow? Even if I’m not at my full strength like this, taking an insignificant thing like you takes no effort at all for me,” Sazgor sneered. “I planned to play with you a little longer, but your soul will replenish the strength I need to crush the shifters.”
Aubrey watched him take the critical step into the magical containment circle Max set up by employing the city’s most powerful wizards.
“If you’re so powerful, Sazgor, then why did you let this insignificant thing lead you to a trap?” Aubrey walked out of the circle’s edge and felt the magical energies shut around Sazgor.
She endured Sazgor’s increasing number of curses and repeatedly checked the circle, but it seemed secured and snug. Max probably told the wizards to consult the old city archives and check for the exact containment spell used to once hold Sazgor. Satisfied, Aubrey sat back down and waited for Max and Dom to pick her up.
Chapter Six
The moment Aubrey woke, she felt all the aches and bruises her body had accumulated over the past few days. Waking up and facing reality was too much of an effort. She’d rather roll around in bed for a while. Groaning, she reached out for a pillow to hug. Aubrey didn’t grasp empty space or a soft pillow, but something hard.
Fuck. If she dreamt up her rescue and woke up to a pathetic corner in some dusty warehouse and Sazgor sneering down at her, she was going to scream. She turned, only to hit another wall. Aubrey muttered a curse under her breath and opened her eyes to half-slits only to see Dom’s amused face looking down at her.
“Good morning, sunshine.” Dom reached out, sliding his large hand up the side of her cheek to tuck some of the black strands of hair that had fallen across her face.
Aubrey blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Behind her, the warm wall of muscle spooned closer to her back and a possessive hand pulled her close and settled over her waist. Even without turning, she knew it was Max.
“Dom?” Aubrey asked, feeling slow and stupid.
She shivered when Max pressed his nose up to the nape of her neck. Was Max sleeping, or was he awake?
It suddenly occurred to her she was naked and sandwiched between the only two men she’d wanted all her life. They were, as all shifters preferred, nude. Nude and very aroused, Aubrey noted, feeling Max’s hard prick pressed between the curve of her buttocks and Dom’s shaft leaning against her belly. Both were hard, begging for her attention.
“You’re safe, little crow. You’re here, right where you belong,” Dom said.
“What happened?” Aubrey steered her thoughts back to that night and tried to ignore how wet she was becoming. “You both came, right? And you brought a wizard?”
Dom nodded. “The wizard we hired felt the containment circle was activated, so we left the other shifters to take care of the remains of Sazgor’s operations and rushed over to the warehouse. You were pretty out of it by then. Max had to carry you out.”
“He…carried me out?” Aubrey asked skeptically.
God. She was actually carried out like some poor damsel in distress by Max? Aubrey wouldn’t be able to live this down.
“Oh yeah,” Dom agreed, eyes looking more solemn. “You were unconscious for three days, but the healer says it’s normal given the physical and mental battering you’ve gone through.”
Aubrey looked down at her body, expecting to see the worst, but she only saw only fading bruises.
“And I’ve been in your room all this time?” Aubrey had to ask.
Feeling something wet on the ba
ck of her neck, she was about to push Max away, but his large hand closed on her wrist. So the big bastard was awake after all.
“Fuck, little crow. Have you always smelled this good?” Max murmured against her ear. “I bet you taste even better.”
He tongued her neck and began nibbling on it while his hand curiously palmed her skin. Max was like an eager lover finally allowed access to something he’d been forbidden to before.
Aubrey was still pissed at both of them for a number of things, like idiotically coming after her knowing they might die, but her traitorous body shuddered and she sighed, instantly reacting to their touch. Years of tension threatened to spill over the surface and it would’ve been so easy to give in, to yield, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t that easy or weak-willed.
Dom stopped Max’s hand from wandering between her legs. “Max, remembered what we’ve discussed beforehand? We need to talk first before we do any sort of fucking.”
“I don’t understand,” Aubrey admitted, trying to clear her head. Anger seeped in her voice. “What the hell are you two doing?”
Dom lifted her chin, his gaze solemn and serious.
“Max and I have been blind, Aubrey, and we’re sorry.” Before Aubrey could process his words, he continued, “but I have to ask, do you still want us? If you do, then we’re about to make you ours. We’re going to put our mating mark on you and bind you to us.”
Aubrey swallowed. Her heart felt like it was about to burst from her chest. Max was rubbing circles into her back, and it felt nice but a little distracting. Never in a million years did she think Max and Dom would offer to make her their third, but here they were, offering her what she’d been dreaming of ever since they’d rescued her.
Her answer should’ve been an automatic yes, but instead she said, “What the fuck, Dom? Have you two really thought this through? This is a mistake none of us can recover from easily. I mean politics—”