Not anymore.
Killing people to protect my master – my friend – my boss – had been engrained in me since before I could even articulate it, and only now did I realize how much I missed that responsibility. The air rippled with magic that waved from my feathers in thick pulses, and even the earth trembled underneath me at the intensity.
“Stop her, Derek!” Cataclysmic energy heaved around my lungs to encircle my heart, and the wolves surrounding us began to fall. Their screams of pain were music to my ears, their writhing tickling my palms through the ground, and euphoria joined the unstable mixture in my blood.
The atmosphere became heavy with the song of the dying as their hearts strained and failed under the psychological torture, and I laughed.
“That’s enough!” Deep, familiar, the voice crackled over me thunderously, and my wings crumpled under the weight of the command. The shadows dissolved; the wails stopped to leave only a shrill ringing in my ears, and I blinked hard as the dark red seeped from my vision.
Slowly and with great discomfort, my wings shrunk, and I arched sharply as magic dissolved the extra muscles in my back. Gasping at the stinging, needle-like pain, I dropped to my elbows as the strength sapped from my arms. I am out of practice.
The thought brought a frown to my face, and I shook my heavy head to pant harshly against the grass. I wasn’t out of practice; I was in the wrong realm to comfortably use so much magic.
Big, callused hands wrapped around my shoulders, sending sharp shivers down my spine and goosebumps across every inch of my skin. My inner struggle vanished into smoke that curled as it joined the atmosphere, and my gaze flickered up under heavy lids. Cold, serious eyes met mine, and my lip twitched in the barest of smiles when he flexed his fingers against the blood and sweat sticking us together.
“Hi.” A thin thread of warmth broke through the ice that stared back at me at my crackling, hoarse whisper. “W-why did you stop-p me?”
“Why should only you get the pleasure of butchering those bigots?” My heart stuttered as he answered my question with his own, and an uncomfortable fluttering tickled in my belly. His expression didn’t change in the slightest, and I reached up with trembling fingers to caress his sharp jaw.
“I like your face.” Just the thinnest crack in his façade was created, and his lips twitched in a smirk at my mumble. It was enough for me, though, and I leaned forward to sprawl across the thick, soft grass. Rough palms caressed my back, stroking my small wings, and a numbing sensation replaced the bite of pain radiating from my wounds.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Derek
“Linne! Fuck – oh fuck – this is bad – ” The only male human of the group – the one that had so stupidly and courageously fought back – came sliding on his knees to her side, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off her back. Shallow, long cuts seeped blood down either side of her spine from neck to tailbone, and her wings twitched as if in pain.
Her wings – God, they were so fucking beautiful. Even now that they’d somehow shrunk, the onyx feathers glowed blue under the bright flood lights. The feathers were so soft even silk couldn’t compare, and the pristine fibers didn’t hint at any abuse.
“ – he can’t heal these injuries, you idiot! Forget how I know her and get a fucking doctor! You got at least one of those, right?” The human Chad – his panicked voice broke through my daze, and my head whipped up even as the girl Linne’s quick, shallow breathing rattled up my arms. His dark eyes swirled with worry, hands balled into fists in his short-cropped hair, and my heart thundered in my chest when he reached to press on her opened flesh.
“Why can’t she heal?” Rasping the question, I frowned deeply as the reality of the situation began to dawn on me with arduous slowness. Turning back to Linne, my eyes widened as I truly saw how much blood bubbled up from her wounds. Following Chad’s lead, I pinched her skin as best I could, but even with the both of us, we didn’t have enough coverage.
“There’s not enough ‘wild magic’. Where’s the rest of your clan? Where are your doctors? Linne – Linne – shit…” Confusion laced my tongue as I clenched my jaw, but I couldn’t dwell on what Chad had said.
Linne was completely unresponsive.
“I got it! I got it!” Sliding on his knees as he shouted frantically, Todd popped open a first aid box with deft fingers, and the desperation rising in my chest clogged my throat. “Sanitize her. I got this – the doc’s not going to get here fast enough – ”
“You’ve never sewn anyone up – ” Even as I protested, I grabbed the bottle of alcohol; the travel bottle wasn’t going to be enough, but no one seemed to care. Snorting roughly, Todd ripped open a needle package, and he curled in on himself as he tried to thread the eye.
“Fuck off – my mom made me learn to sew. It’s basically the same thing.” Grumbling almost to himself, Todd reached with steady hands to carefully pierce the torn skin near Linne’s right hip, and my upper lip curled in a snarl. Now wasn’t the time to be selfish, but annoyance surged through me that he’d touched her ass before I could. Holding my breath as the needle glistened inside her on its way to the other side of her flesh escarpment, I watched through narrowed eyes as he made good on his word.
“How do we get her to heal?” Flinging my question at Chad, I glanced at the sweaty, trembling, blood soaked human as he shook his head sharply.
“I don’t know – I don’t know anything about any of this shit – she never told me if there was a way now that she was in this realm…”
“Derek – you’re O-neg. There’s stuff for a transfusion in he – ”
“No!” Chad’s voice heightened considerably, cutting Todd off to echo around the quiet park, and the human shot the leopard a weak, unsteady glare. “Do not do that – she’s not made up like you – it’ll fuck with her body. She’s already having trouble with turning human…”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Snarling the question, I tensed as Todd sucked in a sharp breath and gave me a glare of his own. Pursing my lips together, I trained my stinging eyes on Linne to focus on holding her wounds together.
“I don’t fucking know! Jesus Christ – all she said was that being here – in the human realm – was turning her human. It’s not like we’ve had in-depth conversations about her fucking biology.”
“Will you two shut the fuck up!” Clenching my jaw at Todd’s wavering snap, I blinked hard as sweat slid down my forehead to cling to my eyelashes. This wasn’t how I expected to meet my mate – in the middle of battle, and to watch her close to death before I even got a chance to know her beyond just a name.
Time seemed to slow in the vacuum that the absence of sound created, and I struggled to take deep breaths.
“…What did she do to them? Do you at least know that?” I spoke up, remembering the unbearable ringing in my ears just moments before, and couldn’t help but furrow my brows as my gaze roamed Linne’s back. Todd was slowly but surely making his way up towards her wings as they lay limp. Her blood acted as glue between her skin and our hands, plastering her wings to her flesh, thick and sticky as Todd thread the needle through and sutured her wounds.
Feeling the warmth of her blood and seeing her injured flesh, I was struck with the notion that we were all connected somehow – humans, shifters, and whatever she was.
“She can make people – anyone really – feel, see, hear, smell, and taste things that aren’t really there. I guess it’s like extremely potent sensory manipulation, but she has her own word for it where she comes from. This all only happened because she physically attacked Alpha Liza instead of using her magic first…and I know it’s my fault. I knew she was here, and I still got stupid and tried to do it myself.” Shame laced Chad’s voice, and I exhaled slowly to close my eyes.
“Her wings are indestructible to us, but the rest of her is slowly becoming human. Using her magic will never take a toll on her, but anything that happens to her body that’ll kill you will kill her, too.”
&nbs
p; “How did you know she was here?”
“There’s a magical parasite in my eye.” At the nonchalant explanation both Todd’s and my eyes whipped up to Chad, and he screwed his expression into a frown. “It’s a long story, but I can see her. Keep working. Where’s the rest of your clan?”
“They’re back on clan grounds – we were only sent to scout. Alpha Jackson didn’t want to send people unless there was absolutely no choice…but they’re on their way – I called him and told him to send the doc snappy.” Quiet with concentration, Todd’s chin hit his chest as he leaned down close to frown deeply. “This is nothing like sewing clothes. Fuck –“
“Are they dead?” Lifting my head to glance around the brightly lit field, pride ripped into my heart at the dozens upon dozens of bodies that surrounded us. Linne clearly had no problem hurting people – or killing people – that she deemed a threat, and I turned my gaze to her pale, sunken face.
“Not most of them, probably – if I had to guess, I’d say she locked them in their own minds. They’re no threat now, and by the time she heals enough to free them, they’ll probably be insane. It’s scary in there.” Chad spoke as if he had real experience with this particular branch of Linne’s magic, and he gave a slight shrug at my glance and arched brows. “I was curious and drunk… What do you expect? She put a fucking parasite in my eye – there’s no way I wouldn’t get piss drunk for that shit.”
“Speaking of that – she seemed super surprised when you were screaming at Liza.” We fell into a respective calm as the conversation shifted; we were doing all we could, and worrying about it any more wasn’t going to help Linne. A ghost of a smile breached Chad’s drawn expression, and he gazed fondly at her – like she was a little sister or something.
Which was perfectly okay with me; at least they weren’t fucking.
“Like I said – she’s from an entirely different realm. She never even ate anything in the entire 8 months or so she’s been here until yesterday. When I hit her with my car, she couldn’t even speak English – just some gibberish that no one could translate. I did teach her ‘damn’ – you know, for when she got frustrated and couldn’t articulate why, but she hasn’t used it in a while.”
“She sounds like a child when you put it all like that…” Grumbling from his hunched position, Todd tugged gently on the thread before reaching to swipe his forehead with his free hand. “I need you to hold her wing up… that’s not something I ever thought I’d say…”
“Oh –oh – trust me – Linne is no kid. She might seem so because of the cultural differences and her lack of understanding of it, but no…just no. She told me once that she was banished here for being made as a spy in her home realm – which makes sense, now that I’ve seen her abilities in full force. Usually, she just adjusts perception so you shifters can’t see her wings and stuff. Those quirks – like calling me ‘human Chad’ and using wrong words – I wouldn’t be surprised if they were deliberate misrepresentations.”
My brows shot up at Chad’s revelation, and I sucked in a sharp breath through my teeth. “Here, she uses the word ‘Unseelie’ to describe herself, which is like a faery kind of thing that’s actually pretty accurate. They’re like…not bad, but susceptible to the darker sides of their personalities. That’s what I think happened here – she liked hurting them – liked having that power over them. Of course, I’m sure she wanted to protect the humans, but that was only a small part of it.”
“Is she dangerous?” Chad blew raspberries at Todd’s question, dribbling with curiosity, and I snorted roughly in wordless agreement.
“Of course, she’s fucking dangerous – look at what she did, in like, seven seconds. And she’s not even in her own realm where she’s much more aware of the rules. However, I don’t think she’s particularly threatening to you if you aren’t threatening to her. She’s done some nice stuff with her powers, too. My little niece had a birthday party, and she made them see a unicorn – stuff like that. It really depends on how you treat her and the people she likes.”
“You sure have a lot of opinions on her for not having anything concrete.” Pictures flashed in my mind’s eye even as Todd offered his rebuttal, and my lip twitched in a slight smirk. Pressing my palms down more firmly, my fingers ached to slip down Linne’s defined cheek. My hands throbbed with the need to hold her – to stroke her beautiful hair and feel every part of her so deeply that I could dip my fingertips into her soul.
For once, not even the darkest part of my mind lingered on my own physicality; every neuron that fired focused entirely on her despite the fact that she was completely unconscious.
CHAPTER NINE
Linne
Cracking my eyes open, I blinked rapidly to clear my blurry vision. There was nothing to look at, but with that information, my mind started to work faster.
And with that work, so, too, did my memories come back faster and clearer.
The humans.
The wolves.
Magic.
Man.
Stiffening at that picture, my body throbbed wildly at the sudden tension, and I couldn’t seem to control any part of me. Tears welled in my eyes, and I let out a shrill shriek as needles stabbed my back. Struggling to bring my hand to my mouth, I tried to muffle the sound – but the screams didn’t stop at one.
Why was I screaming? The ache that spread through me wasn’t painful enough to warrant screaming. I wasn’t angry. I had no reason to scream.
Weakly pushing myself onto my hands and knees, I sucked in a sharp breath with a whistle before vaguely familiar hands slipped around my sides. Whimpering softly, I shivered even as I tried not to move and stretch my tender flesh.
“Sh –h –h – it’s okay, Linne. Breathe.” The deep voice reverberated through me, and I ground my teeth together. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“Should I sedate her again?” Fingertips crept up my spine, and I gasped and shuddered from the tingling sensation that wrapped around my vertebra.
“Fuck off and give me a damn minute.” The growl was tinged in annoyance as it caressed my aching, itching skin, and my eyelids popped open when I finally placed the voice. As if sensing my epiphany, Derek gripped the back of my neck gently to force me down, and his other hand pulled my legs out from under me. “Just stay there – you hurt yourself bad.”
I couldn’t deny him, and I groaned softly as I sunk into the bed. Rubbing my back, careful not to agitate my bandaged injuries, Derek’s hands washed everywhere they went in a tingling numbness. The itching slowly died down, the aching reduced to a slight throb, and I took as deep a breath as I could to sigh.
“What do you remember?” Posing his question softly, Derek’s rough voice caused welts to rise up on my buzzing skin, and I rolled my eyes to glance at him. For the first time, I got a good look, and my lips thinned as I assessed him in the ensuing silence. Thick hair coated his jaw in a thin carpet, as if he didn’t take care of his face, and his blue eyes blazed with intensity as he stiffened his bare shoulders. His shirtless chest displayed large muscles that pulled his skin taut, and there were no markings but faint, raised scars from past battles.
But it wasn’t his face that caught my attention, as my gaze trailed down his left shoulder noticing his skin went from golden tan to a purplish-reddish-brown. Big, thick blotches stretched from the base of his neck down his arm and side, and I furrowed my brows when they stopped just short of his hand and hip. The bridge of regular skin was thin, cresting his hip bone, and more blotches peeked out from the waistline of his pants.
I’d never met a person with skin like his, and I reached automatically to find it smooth and warm. Derek stiffened as I dragged my unsteady finger down the left side of his abdomen, but he didn’t pull away.
“Wow…” My lip twitched in a smile, eyes flickering up to his to find them narrowed and guarded. “Wow – ”
“Stop moving, Linne.” Gruff and short, the command came before Derek grabbed my wrist tightly, and my eyes widened in surp
rise. “Just… rest. Don’t move.”
“Okay…” Accepting his concern, I closed my eyes before realizing he was still waiting for an answer, and a shallow crease formed between my brows. “You – you saw me…the human Chad – I remember everything…you stopped me.”
“Yeah – well, I shouldn’t have considering the problems it’s caused for the city since we had to make a hundred fucking wolves just ‘vanish’.” Grumbling almost to himself, Derek slid a up rough palm down my back, and I fought a shiver. Flexing my little wings, I winced and whimpered slightly when the flesh hugging my ribs stretched and pulled. “I said ‘don’t move’. Is there any way you can heal yourself?”
“There’s no wild magic here – I can’t…” Sadness thickened my voice, and the reality that I would have to suffer at a hospital caused my heart to stutter in my chest. Squeezing my eyes closed, I ground my teeth even as Derek reached to carefully massage my shoulders.
“What is wild magic – Chad said the same thing, but I don’t know what it means.”
“Wild magic is the magic expelled and left behind by spells – or shifting. When you shift, you use magic, and some of it clouds in the air…but…there is not enough.” Licking my dry lips, I let out a puff of air that immediately evaporated my saliva, and I frowned slightly. “It is also created by nature…but again – there is not enough. I will have to heal on my own…again.”
“It’s not that bad – ” The new voice wasn’t as deep as Derek’s, and I cracked open my eye to look around. A man in white, just like during my last hospital visit, shuffled into my view, and my frown deepened as he smiled gently. “The lacerations are long, but they’re not deep. We patched you up, but your friend, Chad, said we should keep you sedated until you can leave. He mentioned that you almost destroyed the hospital you were in when he hit you with his car the first time you met, so we kept you unconscious for two days. You can leave as soon as I check your bandages.”
Finding My Mate Page 5