Defying Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 2)

by Debbie Cassidy

  Victor was last to exit, squeezing out, stretching to his full height and cracking his neck.

  “Let’s get this done,” he said.

  Yes, let’s head into the cabin filled with Yaksha. Heck, what the hell was I scared of? I was standing out here with rakshasa and a yaksha who could go full beast.

  Honey went first, pulled the door open, and stepped into the amber lit interior. Victor stepped aside to let me enter and then followed. His huge bulk was a solid, reassuring presence at my back.

  The hum of conversation stalled as soon as we entered. The tables had been pushed together to form a large one, and male yaksha were seated around it, pints in their hands. A couple of bottles of whiskey were set on the table alongside several plates of chicken and ribs, to soak up the alcohol. Not that yaksha needed to soak it up. They burned calories almost as fast as my hellhound friend Malina.

  One of the alphas stood up with a scrape of his chair. “Honey Dante, always nice to see you, but as you can see we don’t require any catering.”

  Ouch.

  Honey stood tall. “Good to see you too, Rohan, and I’m not here to cater.”

  His gaze flicked over her shoulder to sweep over me and snag on Victor. His eyes narrowed. “What have you brought into our den?”

  “For tonight consider them my pack. The Renegade Alpha’s pack.”

  The room broke into murmurs, and Rohan’s eyes narrowed. “This is a fucking joke, right?”

  A door at the back of the cabin opened and closed, the sound of a toilet flushing trickled out into bar. Everyone fell silent. The thud of boots was accompanied by a huge yaksha’s appearance from the corridor at the side of the bar. He paused to take in the scene, his gaze sweeping over the gathered to land on Honey. He lifted his chin and inhaled, his expression darkening.

  Honey tensed. Her right leg twitched as if resisting the urge to take a step back.

  Victor growled low in his throat.

  “Marco,” Rohan said, “this bitch claims she’s the new Renegade Alpha.”

  Marco, the guy by the bar, strode into the room, past the table surrounded by yaksha, and right up to Honey. Victor moved so fast he was almost a blur. And then he was blocking Marco’s access.

  Marco chuckled, low and mean. “Back off, Fido. I’m just confirming her story is all.”

  “It’s all right, Victor,” Honey said.

  Victor stepped back reluctantly.

  Marco moved in close enough to touch my friend. He closed his eyes and inhaled, and when he opened them his pupils had practically eaten away at his gray irises.

  Honey cocked her head. “Satisfied?”

  “More than. She’s alpha all right.” He turned to his comrades.

  The room erupted in exclamations, growls of disgust, and snorts of displeasure. Yeah, strange how I could distinguish between the two types. I’d been spending way too much time with the monsters.

  Marco held up his hand. “Enough!”

  The room rumbled into silence, all except for Rohan.

  “No way can we have a female alpha.”

  “Why not?” Honey said, striding up to the table. “You think all we’re good for is keeping house and popping out kids?”

  His lips curled. “And fucking. You’d be a real good fuck.”

  Victor tensed, his hands balling into fists. Shit, please don’t lose your … shit. But it was Marco who diffused the situation.

  “She’s alpha Rohan. Deal with it.”

  “Fuck this!” Rohan stepped away from the table. “I ain’t having no meeting with a bitch at the table.”

  The other alphas murmured in agreement, pushing back seats and stretching to their full heights; the room was suddenly way too small.

  “Well there’s an easy way to settle this to everyone’s satisfaction,” Marco said to Honey. “Your pack, against mine. Three on three. What do you say?”

  Honey’s shoulders tensed, but her tone was lazy, almost bored. “Why? Scared of a little one-on-one?”

  Marco chuckled. “Nah, Sweetheart. I prefer my one on ones with bitches to take place in a bed or up against a wall. Fucking hell, I’d one-on-one you anywhere—but not tonight. You swan in here with your pack—these outsiders who know nothing about our ways—and expect a seat at the big boy’s table? Well now you’re gonna have to put your money where your mouth is. Let’s see if your pack is willing to back you up, huh? A friendly brawl. No kill, just disable. What’dya say?”

  Rohan grinned cruelly. A couple of the alphas ducked their heads, clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing. But the majority jeered and banged their pint glasses on the table.

  Victor could hold his own. Honey must know that. She had to know what he was just by scent, and the yaksha must be able to smell it too. They probably thought he’d be the only threat, discounting Honey and me, and yeah, I’d never fought a yaksha before, but I’d fought guys. Plus, I had an untapped reserve of power inside me eager to come out and play. My tummy fluttered with a twisted sense of anticipation. Honey was hesitating because of me.

  No need.

  I stepped up behind her. “Do it. Trust me. We can do this.”

  “Aw, does your little friend want to go home?” Rohan said tauntingly.

  Man, how old was he? Five? How could someone so immature ever be alpha? Sucked for his pack.

  Honey smiled, slow and deliberate. “Actually, she was wondering how long you guys were gonna stand there showcasing your dicks before we could get on with some good old fashioned face pummeling.”

  Rohan stepped forward threateningly. “Fucking bitch.”

  “Watch your tongue,” Victor said. “Unless you want me to tear it out and feed it to you.”

  Marco watched us through hooded eyes. “You win, and you get to sit at the table. You lose, and you walk your pretty little arse right out of here and renounce your claim as alpha of the Renegade Pack. You renounce your claim and you merge your pack with Moonlight.”

  Fucking hell. So that was his game. He wanted the Renegade Pack. Shit.

  He’d backed her into a corner. If she declined, she might as well admit she was too weak to lead, and the other packs would tear at her pack until it was in shreds. If she fought, she risked losing but she’d go down with honor.

  “Outside?” Honey asked.

  Marco inclined his head. “Let’s do this.”

  _____

  “Carmella, you sure about this? I can stop this now.” Honey said as we strode out onto the wood chipped lot.

  I snorted. “And basically admit you suck as alpha? No. We do this.”

  Victor shook his head. “Let me have him.”

  “No. Marco has to be mine,” Honey said.

  Victor made a sound of exasperation. “I’m glad we don’t run in packs. This is pathetic. You’re an alpha. They should accept it.”

  “I’m also a woman. It goes against everything they’ve been raised to believe.” Her smile was hard and determined. “My dad was always a trend setter. Now it’s my turn to make sure his legacy stays alive.”

  The other alphas spilled out onto the cabin decking. Marco, Rohan, and another yaksha I didn’t know joined us on the lot.

  I leaned in toward Honey. “Wait a second, I thought we were fighting his pack?”

  Honey’s lips twisted wryly. “He was being figurative. Since you guys are my pack, he’s just made up his own.”

  “Three alphas against one. How the fuck is that fair?”

  “It isn’t. But yaksha rarely play fair,” Honey said. “Spread out. Carmella, I’m so sorry for dragging you into this.”

  “You can buy me a drink later.”

  Victor snorted.

  Howls rose up into the air and Marco and his pack charged us.

  There was no time to think, only to react. Rohan bee-lined for me, his stocky body primed to take me down. Forget that I was half his size, or that I was a woman, none of that shit mattered, it was written across his feral face. Thank goodness for my IEPEU training, the te
chniques taught us hand to hand combat with supernaturals stronger and faster than us. Most techniques involved shooting it in the face, or running. But when those weren’t possible, we targeted the ears, eyes, throat, and knees. I braced myself and spun out of the way. He skidded to a halt and came at me again. A short, sharp punch to the soft spot above his kidneys had him gasping in shock. I spun and smashed my fist into his throat, sending him back a step, but fuck he was strong. Trick was not to get pinned. Crap, I was actually doing this, fighting a fucking yaksha. Thank god he hadn’t gone all feral. His face rippled and the beast pressed through, muzzle fangs, the works. Shit.

  Okay. No more punching him in the throat. And going for the eyes was out of the question. That left his knees. A heel to the side of his knee could buckle him but—

  “Carmella watch out!” Honey called, just as Rohan launched himself at me.

  He bridged the distance between us in a heartbeat, too fast for me to react, too fast for me to leap out of the way. And then I was down, face pressed to the dirt, his weight on my back. Couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. I was done. It was over. Talons scraped against my back, snagging at the waistband of my jeans, yanking, thrusting. What the fuck? What was he …

  The howls intensified.

  His arousal pressed against my buttocks, and then the seams of my jeans gave way with a terrifying rip.

  “No.” I writhed under him trying to get free.

  “Yes, you like that don’t you.” His breath was hot in my ear. “Fucking makes me hot.”

  “No!” My roar penetrated the whoosh of blood pounding in my ears.

  The kernel inside me exploded and power surged through my limbs: strength, rage, intent. I was on fire with it. Bucking and throwing him off with ease, I advanced on him. The world was a red haze. He picked himself up, his face a mask of confusion and awe.

  “No means no!” My voice sounded odd, warped and deep.

  I charged and shoved him. He went flying back into the tree line.

  “Carmella?” Honey’s voice was a strangled whisper.

  I turned to find Victor and Honey staring at me. Marco stood to one side, his face a bloody mess, and Victor’s opponent was out cold. The world was still tinged red. What was wrong with my eyes?

  “Carmella. What the fuck?” Honey glanced down at my arms.

  What? I looked down at myself, at the rippling silver scales that covered my skin, at my elongated talon-tipped hands.

  “What the fuck?”

  My head grew light. I was gonna—

  6

  I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. The yaksha fight … the scales on my arm. Oh fuck. I sat up, examining my skin—my normal, non-scaly skin. Thank god.

  “Feeling better?” Vritra padded into the room, a towel slung low on his hips, his bare chest glistening with skating droplets of water.

  What the … He was naked. Well almost, but, wow. “How did I get here?”

  He toweled his hair, watching me carefully. “I carried you to the car, and then we drove the rest of the way.”

  Shit he was huge, taut and smooth and bronzed, and no wonder my pulse was doing a canter. Focus dammit. “Where are Honey and Victor?”

  He shrugged. “I have no idea. Your mobile is on the bedside table, so feel free to call them.”

  “They just let you take me?”

  He snorted. “Well, considering you were in the process of going full dragon at the time, they hardly had a choice.”

  The scales on my arms, the red haze that had fallen over my vision. “I don’t understand.” Maybe I kinda did. I just didn’t want to.

  He slid open the huge wardrobe and selected a cream T-shirt and shrugged it on. Then he dropped the towel.

  Oh shitting hell. I slapped my hands over my eyes.

  His chuckle reverberated through the air. “Come now, I’m sure you’ve seen a half-naked male before.”

  Yeah, but not one hung like that. Fucking hell. My ears were on fire. “Look, as much as I’m not enjoying the show, can you please tell me what the heck I’m doing here? What happened to me out there?”

  “You can look now.”

  I dropped my hand to find him lounging by the patio doors in designer jeans and a cream T. He looked younger. Relaxed. Hot.

  “You’re an asura,” he said.

  “Yes, I know that.”

  “And all the asuras have an element of the dragon in them. You just seem to have … more.”

  “Dragons? As in the winged scaly fire breathing creatures?”

  He sighed. “Dragons as in the serpent dragons, and yes some can command fire, turn their skin to armor, but only one could shift fully into that majestic form … until now.” His gaze was speculative.

  “Who?”

  He smiled. “Me. I am the dragon—the bringer of droughts. And you, Miss Hunter, are the only other asura I have come across in a millennium who can take the dragon form. Your friend, Honey, contacted me when you began to shift. By the time I got there, the yaksha had you bound. You were no longer yourself.”

  “I can’t remember.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. It makes sense. Your asura half was locked away for so long you never learned to assimilate with it. In effect, it’s become a separate entity with its own consciousness, and today all it wished to do was protect you.”

  I had a dragon inside me? The kernel that had exploded when Rohan had tried to … oh, man. “What do I do?”

  “You train with me. You learn to master your dragon and tame it. Otherwise, I fear the next time she comes out even I won’t be able to coerce her back into her box.”

  His ember eyes were bright in his face as they raked over me.

  “How did you … coerce her back into her box?”

  He smirked. “My dragon can be mighty persuasive.” Fingers of his power stroked the air an inch from my skin. My breath caught and something inside me shifted. Was that her? The dragon I was housing? Oh god.

  “Why now? Why not when I was being attacked in Soho, or at the Mayfair Mansion, or even at the yaksha gathering, why is she coming out now?”

  He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe she’s finally fully awake, aware, and ready to become a part of this world. She was cocooned and locked away for a long time. She wants to know you. She is you.”

  He sauntered toward me, and his presence, his aura, expanded to push against me until my back was pressed to the headboard and my breath was stuck in my throat. The kernel inside me unfurled. Power stretching lazily as if waking from a nap. It expanded outward, and oh fuck I was touching him … caressing his signature. His aura rubbed against mine … against the dragon inside.

  Vritra exhaled sharply and pulled back, his throat working. “Monday evening. I’ll send a car for you.” His voice was deeper—raspy and almost breathless. “We begin training.”

  Had the contact affected him as much as it had me? What the heck was going on here? The cuff on my wrist tingled and my heart rate slowed.

  “You’re willful, just like your father,” Vritra said.

  My father? Yes, he’d mentioned him at the IEPEU hospital after I’d survived the attack. But I’d had a dad, a good one. Still, I needed to know. “Who was he?”

  “He was my friend. I recall him telling me about a witch he was seeing. He never went into detail, never mentioned it more than a couple of times. I just assumed the liaison fizzled out.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “Dhani was killed in a bar brawl over twenty-five years ago.”

  So, before I’d been born. “I thought you guys were immortal?”

  “Immortal, but not invulnerable. We can still die. Not all asura have super healing abilities or armor skin.”

  Had Mother known what happened to him? Did she wonder where he was and then think he’d abandoned her? Oh god, maybe she’d hated me because I was a reminder of him. It still didn’t answer the question of who had bound my powers, and there’d be no answers until I found her.

  Vritra opened t
he door. “Exit the suite and take the lift down to the ground floor. A car will be waiting to take you home.” He made to step out of the room. “And Miss Hunter? Try not to get into any scrapes between now and Monday.”

  He closed the door softly behind him.

  For several long seconds I didn’t move, expecting the door to open, for him to come sauntering back in, for the tension to fill the air once more and suffocate me with a complicated combination of allure and repulsion. The sheets smelled of him, the room reeked of him—cinnamon and exotic stuff—that made my core ache. I needed to get away. Climbing off the overindulgent bed, I headed to the door, cracked it open, and slipped out into the main suite.

  Vritra was nowhere to be seen, the fancy penthouse was immaculate, masculine, and completely empty. The corridor beyond was wide and spacious and another door, probably to a separate suite, faced me. Ducking out of Vritra’s room I headed toward the lift at the end of the white carpeted corridor. The doors swished open as I approached to reveal a svelte female figure.

  Henna.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” She barreled toward me, all rage and indignation.

  No, I was done being attacked. The power inside me surged up, simmering under my skin. “Back the fuck off!”

  Henna froze, her chest rising and falling as she assessed me. But sod that, I was done being assessed. I wanted my sofa, slippers, and a bucket of chow mien. I pushed past her, stepped into the lift, and jabbed my thumb against the ground floor button. She turned to face me and the doors slid shut on her horrified face.

  7

  “Oh, god, thank god you’re safe.” Honey stepped into the flat and pulled me into a hug. “I didn’t know what to do. You were all grrr, and the other yaksha were freaking out, then Victor mentioned your asura side, and the only person I could think to call was Vritra, thank god you had his number in your phone.”