by Lea Jade
“You know your lion is still unsound, don’t you?”
“I’ve got it under control.”
“No, you don’t. I saw back there; he was trying to force you to shift. If you go on another rampage…”
“I won’t.” The growl comes out before I can stop it.
“Fine, but I’m driving.” She yanks open the driver door, making me curse and go back around the other side.
When we get to the jeep, it’s parked at the side of the road at an angle. Driver side door left wide open, as well as the trunk. Like someone cleared off in a hurry. The rain has let up, but it’s made short work of the dirt road we’re on. I scout around until I find some tracks leading away from the jeep, which are still fresh and can be followed. Trey’s scent is the clearest here. I track him part way down the dirt road and off to the edge of the wood.
Then, I smell Haile too.
My lion snarls. Her scent is spiked with so much fear. She was here, and she was hurt. I stoop down and try to make sense of the tangle of smells, and the traces of them both leading deep into the woods.
If Trey has hurt her… If he’s the one murdering those girls…
I will kill him.
I feel a touch on my arm, and turn to see Tasha, her eyes like two golden orbs in the falling light. Holding me back before I can take off. “I’ll go first?” She says it like a question, but I know it’s not. She doesn’t trust me not to run off in beast form and leave her behind. She’s not wrong. That’s exactly what I was thinking.
I nod as the lioness steps forward and shifts. Skin undulating into sleek fur, clothes shedding away until all that’s left is a huge, golden lioness. She looks back at me, and then tears off into the dark wood.
Rage and relief consumes me as I crouch and allow myself to shift too, the power of my beast finally taking over. Bones and cells rearrange themselves until I’m on all fours. Fur rippling, claws lengthening. My vision getting sharper, brighter. My senses expanding. The black earth tears up with my huge paws as I rush forward. Roaring like a demon as I leap over the brush standing between me and Haile.
It doesn’t take me long to chase down Tasha. Crouched low, almost on her belly, looking out over the edge of the ridge. Down below I can see a figure between a crop of rocks, it’s Haile. Her t-shirt slashed open, revealing scratches all over her and stomach, standing off with one hand held up and the other waving a branch, against a rangy looking, pale lion. A lion I’ve never seen before.
She’s glares at him. Not bending, not submitting. My brave girl.
I don’t recognize the beast. Surely it can’t be my brother? But it is him. As the wind blows and rain slants our way, I catch his scent in the air. He figured out a way to shift. The sight of him towering over Haile, menacing her, has me lashing out at a nearby tree-root. A roar builds inside of me.
I trusted him, and he betrayed me. I didn’t want to think about it until now. I had hoped he wasn’t the one. He’s my brother. He should be the one having my back instead of Tasha.
The wind has picked up and the view ahead indicates we’re on top of the entrance to Hangman Caves. So many have died here. Blown from the top, falling to their deaths onto the stalagmites below.
A fitting choice for my brother’s grave—because this is where I’m going to bury him if he’s hurt her.
The lioness beside me growls a warning, swiping me with her paw until I step back off the ledge. We’re not able to talk telepathically, since Tasha only joined Blackwater a year ago, but I get her intention. She doesn’t trust me in lion form around Haile. She needn’t worry, I wouldn’t ever hurt her. But I can’t tell her that. Instead, I back away to show restraint and let Tasha go first. She edges forward on her belly down the softer side of the slope, breaking out to a run. I’m not far behind, I nudge her, and then take over halfway down, heading straight for the other lion.
My brother, who is snarling at Haile, is ready to pounce.
I rush toward him, but my eyes never leave Haile. She turns her head and looks at me, her emerald eyes burning into mine, just as he bunches forward.
“Don’t come any closer.”
Of all the things, I never expected to hear Haile's voice inside my head. Not in a million years. I break stride, slowing right down to stop and stare at her.
In time to see my brother leap for her throat.
Chapter 10
HAILE
It feels like my whole body is made of glass, and about to break.
Trey shifted the moment he left the cab and I’ve been hiding from him in the woods ever since. But no more hiding or running away. I’m a kick-ass witch priestess not some little girl who needs protecting. I don’t need saving. Not any more.
I step out of my hiding place and let the pale lion see me. He turns slowly, a single yellow eye looking right at me. He bellows a roar, loud enough to wake the dead. The urge to bolt consumes me as he paws the ground with his massive claws, looking ridiculous wearing my necklace. But I stand my ground. Holding a branch in the air, waving it at him. I’m exhausted, but that doesn’t stop me shouting at him at the top of my lungs.
“You want me, psycho? Come and get me!”
Let’s see how you like me now, asshole.
I raise my hand, shaking too much to hold it steady, and order my magic to my fingers. My plan was to use Cal’s energy to cripple the pale lion, but now I’m here exposed, it’s not enough. All the animus shots I fired when the shifter was chasing me earlier, must have drained the reservoir. Now I need to use my own magic, when using my magic has never come easy to me. But this is a life and death situation, right? What’s a little clawing-to-death when a girl needs to get the right motivation?
The pale lion lowers his head, shaking his mane left and right. He takes a few strides in my direction, a big cat with his bum in the air. Going so slowly that I swear he’s enjoying this.
Bastard.
I stretch out my fingertips.
Flashes of memory hit me—Cal on the floor dead.
There’s a second or two when some of my magic flows.
But the sparks don’t come. It fizzles out as soon as realize I’m panicking. Even though I glare at the pale lion, scrawny for a big cat his size, and wave my branch higher, pretending to be something I’m not. Inside I’m falling apart.
Isn’t this what always happens? When push comes to shove, I crumble? It's why Dad left. It’s why the coven gives me a babysitter every time I leave the protection of the Vale.
It’s why Cal is dead. I couldn’t control my magic and now he’s dead.
“Magic happens when you don’t give up—” Cal’s soft, brown eyes lock on mine and he smiles. Enough to start the flutters inside my stomach up again. “—and I know a fighter when I see one.” He brushes a stray lock of hair off my face. His breath is warm as he leans close. “You won’t give up.”
My heart wrenches and a thousand shards of sorrow fill my soul. It took a Lion to remind me not to give up. To believe in me when I didn’t even believe in myself. He might be gone, but I’m here, and I survived. I was kidnapped twice. But I smashed a cab window by myself. I broke my bonds and jumped from speeding car. I even drained a shifter when I thought he might kill me.
If I’m going to die here, then I should at least go out fighting.
Eyes watering. Fists clenched. I drop the branch and put up both hands, just as the pale lion crouches.
Something akin to resolve coils deep in my psyche. There’s a feeling of being lifted, and the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end. Magic—my own, not anyone else’s—trickles into my outstretched hands. It’s not a lot, maybe enough to zap the lion on the nose or something. But it’s enough to get a head start.
A loud roar wakes me out of my trance and suddenly, another huge lion, a golden one this time, comes flying down from the top of the hill.
My heart stops.
Two golden flames in the dark. Golden-Eyes.
Caleb is alive!
My heart soars i
n my chest, and with it my magic.
As the pale lion comes at me, claws and teeth out, I’m ready for him. I’m crying now, tears streaming down my face. I’m not sure if it’s relief or fear driving it, but I feel a connection to the golden lion. As soon as our eyes met, it locked into place. So I put everything I have into one thought and send it to Caleb, hoping he’ll hear me.
“Don’t come any closer.”
I don’t need or want him to save me. Giving up on myself was what got me into this mess. I need to do this alone.
Not waiting to see if he understands, I waste no time. Currents of raw magic rush up and out of my palms, slamming into the paler lion and knocking him back as he lunges for me.
Seconds later, the golden lion bowls him over. Huge paws taking one monstrous swipe, as he locks on to the neck of the other lion with his massive jaws and sinks his teeth into him. The clash and roar between them is deafening.
The pale one, smaller and mangier, and no match for the mighty golden beast, tries to claw and hiss his way out. But Cal’s immense strength overpowers him. He shakes the pale lion, raking his claws over and over until he draws blood, pulling a sharp gasp from my throat.
Suddenly, the bigger lion stops mauling and looks at me. He still has the pale lion pinned to the floor, but he’s no longer ravaging him bloody. A loud rumble from his throat echoes through the valley, and I can’t help but stare. I know that’s Cal in there. He looks at me the way Cal does, golden eyes watching me softly. He’s taller and broader than a normal lion, fur and glorious mane laced with pure gold.
It figures, even as a lion, Caleb is too beautiful for words.
He unclamps his mouth and steps back, leaving the other lion barely breathing.
Another lion, a female, rushes over. She growls and snaps at Cal chasing him away. He takes a step back, and then another. Eyes hot and burning. Mouth soaked in red. The golden lion gives me one last look, a sadness I don’t understand in his eyes, and then he bounds back up the hill.
Leaving me alone.
A pang of emptiness pervades my stomach and rises to my chest, where my heart hammers and my breath catches. My legs give way beneath me and I fall to the ground, soaking in the wet grass.
The way he looked at me. I deserve that look. I almost killed him.
What did I expect him to do? Declare he still wants me? Sweep me off my feet? He’s a lion and I’m a witch, it’s not like we would even have a future. Lions have many mates, a pride. I know that. I can’t expect him to settle for just one mate, if he even sees me as such. It was just a fling for him, that’s all it was.
It doesn’t matter now anyway. None of it matters.
As I sit in the grass, it hits me how exhausted I am. I bury my head in my hands. The smell and sound of big cats is making me feel strange, dizzy, and I really don’t want to faint.
I stay sitting for a while, I don’t know how long. Then someone is talking to me. Asking me if I’m ok. I nod my head. I can’t stop sniffing.
Don’t start crying, Haile Summers. Don’t you dare!
The person is still talking, but to someone else. About magic not working and how they can’t make him shift back. I look up to see a beautiful man I don’t know. Dressed all in black. He sees me and bends down in front of me. Touching me gently on my shoulder.
I flinch.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
I nod. “The stone…around his neck.” At last, I find my voice. “Take it off and he’ll change back.”
He inclines his head, studying me for a moment. In one ear, I notice he has a ruby red earring. He stands up, and walks over to the huge lioness, ignoring her eyes on him like she wants to eat him, and pulls a glittering necklace, hidden within the folds of bloodied fur, from around the pale lion’s neck.
A second after, the pale lion shifts back to his human form, and it’s Cal’s brother, Trey, naked and wounded on the ground. I turn away, not wanting to see anymore.
“Resurrection Stone. I thought as much when my magic wasn’t working on him,” the man in black says, holding it up.
He doesn’t offer it to me, and I don’t ask for it back. Instead, he pockets it.
Normally, I’d be curious as to why and demand it back, but I couldn’t care less about that right now. I just want to sleep for a thousand nights and never look at another lion.
Except Cal’s, I don’t mind his lion.
If I never see him again, I’ll never get to tell him that.
I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I sense it’s the man in black. He squeezes, and I look up. Light is breaking over the hill, scattering through branches and between trees. The sky is crimson and gold, casting everything in a soft glow.
A figure.
Someone is running over the ridge.
Shoving through the tangle of trees and stomping on shrubs. I can’t see who it is because the glare is making me squint. But in that moment, I want it to be Cal and not anyone else.
My heart lifts, and the barest smile teases my lips.
I’m totally screwed.
Chapter 11
HAILE
When Cal ran over the ridge fully clothed, I thought my heart would shatter. He took me in his massive arms and held me tight. Shushing me, stroking my hair, telling me how sorry he was for hurting me. He wasn’t the one who hurt me, but I couldn’t tell him that. I just cried, for once, letting it all out. Until no more tears came.
Then he said he had something to tell me.
I don’t know what he meant by it because the next few hours we weren’t alone. Then he went AWOL. And after the rigmarole of seeing the royal doctor at a private hospital and getting the all clear, I was free to go home.
I found out later from Tasha, that Cal had been at the palace throughout his brother’s confession. Trey was the one who killed the witches. Forcing them to cast their life magic into a shard of the resurrection glass he had, allowing him to shift for the very first time. But when the shard ran out of juice and there were no more witches to kill, Trey kidnapped me in order to steal the full Resurrection Stone.
My stone.
Kaiser, the man in black, gave it back to me in the end.
Although I haven’t worn it since, the stone is now wrapped in a protection cloth in the hotel safe, and I’m not sure what to do with it. If had known what it was, what it could do, I don’t think I would have worn it so openly.
It’s been several days since Trey kidnapped me, and a lifetime since I last saw Cal. I’m not quite ready to go back to New York, though. Despite the shock I’ve had, I’m physically fine. And there are still things to wrap up here. Esme, who turned up during the days of my speedy recovery, agreed to let me help her close out the case.
I tell myself it’s not for Cal’s sake that I’m hanging around.
But who am I kidding?
I keep hoping for a glimpse of him but so far, he’s kept away. That’s probably for the best. After he offered Esme and me the use of his home instead of the hotel while we stay in town. Without him being present of course. Even suggesting the lionesses stick around and guard me. I declined. Esme seemed fine with it; however, everything is so raw and new right now. I’m not ready to move in to the home of a lion shifter I hardly know. Especially if he’s not there. It would be like living with a ghost. I’d rather just move on.
He must think I’m not interested now.
We did accept his offer of the lionesses as bodyguards, since our triquetra is no more due to the warlock leaving town on short notice. We all end up staying together, Me, Esme, and the lionesses, at The Royal hotel where the Lions booked a penthouse suite for us.
They still haven’t found Tia. Trey still says he wasn't the one who attacked her, but no one believes him. Tasha says the lionesses will get it out of him. And we never did find the strange vampire who followed me from the airport. That’s not to say Cal isn’t looking. He’s out there every day searching or so I’m told. Keeping away from me it seems too.
So, wh
atever he wanted to tell me hasn’t been said yet.
I’m not holding my breath.
Not two weeks after we settle into the hotel, I get a strange call from my mother. I’m just putting the phone down when Cal, of all people, turns up with flowers and delicious goodies from the palace kitchens.
I’m wearing tatty old pjs and my hair is snatched back, not a scrap of make-up on, and he comes waltzing in without warning, looking fine in a pair of ripped jeans and a black t-shirt. As he comes to give me a hug, I smell vanilla and dry-earth.
I can’t quite look him in the eye. Jokingly, I tell him I want pancakes. He goes away and comes back with all the ingredients to feed an army with pancakes for a year, including all the toppings. While trying to work out what he’s doing here, after weeks of avoiding me, and what my mother’s cryptic call was all about, I say as much.
“Are you hoping to feed an army with all this food?”
“What army? I’m making you enough pancakes to last the entire year.”
Tasha, who’s lounging on an armchair on the side of the room, snorts. “What about us? Are we invisible to you now you’ve gone all maiden-soft? Where’s our pancakes?”
I start laughing and then have to clutch my chest because of the pain. The scratches Trey inflicted when he was chasing me still haven’t quite healed. Annoyingly, lionesses refuse to let me use the salve again, so I’m stuck healing the slow way. They won’t say why, but I think they’re worried I won’t be able to control myself.
Not that that’s not already a problem now Cal is here.
“Are you ok?” Cal stops cooking and rushes around to where I’m sitting.
I nod, because I can’t speak. And because he looks so serious, I can’t help but snort either. My throat closes in a fit of giggles, making me wince more.