by Lan Chan
It was the only thing that saved both of us right now. Everything about him called to me at a level I couldn’t even describe. He was insanely possessive, completely overprotective, and autocratic to a fault. He was alpha, and submission was a given. But he was also sweet, fiercely loyal, and once upon a time, his laughter was a bright burst that made heads turn more readily than his looks.
Right now, if he caught even the slightest hint of the burning arousal he woke within me, he would do something stupid and I would let him. Shame and fear from what Hugh did to me was still coursing through my veins. I wanted to draw Max’s strength into me and forget for a second that evil stalked me.
Taking in a deep breath, my crap human nose finally picked up a hint of something bitter in the air around him.
I crept slightly closer and sniffed again. Goodness. Now that I was aware, it was a wonder I hadn’t picked up on the scent earlier. Wolfsbane. It clung to him on an intrinsic level. He’d drunk poison to stop himself from coming after me.
This was really messed up. At the same time, something inside me ached for him, because despite all the dominance and aggression that must have been pumping through his veins, he was trying. For me.
There were no words for the hurt that suddenly speared through my chest. If you accept the mating link. He will die. Drawing on the blanket of rage that I tried to keep contained at all times, I used it to smother the hysteria that wanted to pull me under at the thought of loving him and dooming him at the same time.
He caught a hint of my distress and his brow twitched. I held my hands up. “Okay,” I told him. “Let’s go inside.” I took a single step forward. He didn’t budge. That was better than him grabbing me and forcing me inside. Keeping my voice low and emotionless, I said, “I’m trusting you not to make any sudden moves. Don’t make me regret it.”
Blisteringly aware of the many eyes on my back, I took each step carefully and opened the front door. My foot caught on the carpet when I spotted the mess inside. He’d ripped the marble bench top right off. It now sat on top of the couch. Wherever he was, I hoped Charles hadn’t tried to get in the way.
Heat bloomed at my back as Max came in right on my heels. The door closed with an audible creak. Only once we were inside did I see that it was slightly off its hinge. Taking his hand to create some soothing contact before he decided to give in to the hunger of the beast, I led him up the staircase. The bathroom was still a bloody mess, but he didn’t react when I pushed him inside.
“Shoes off, please,” I asked. When I tried to let go of his hand, he held tighter. “Max. You have to help me out here.”
Completely non-verbal. Okay. That would just have to do. Their shower could fit four normal-sized people. It was still difficult to get him inside. I wiped my palm over the rune. “Ice cold,” I said. The spray almost snapped my arm off.
Max gave a shocked roar before letting go. He understood. Even in that state he wouldn’t allow me to stay because the pressure of the spray would drill holes into my skin. My teeth chattered from the temperature drop.
Max smacked his palms out in front of him and forced his head under the freezing water. It soaked the T-shirt in a second, making it cling to his body like a second skin. He was all broad shoulders and wickedly carved muscle.
I didn’t blame any of the women who had come here presenting gifts of food and of themselves. If not for this bloody curse, I would have melted into a puddle in front of him.
Max made a gasping sound without the underlying snarl that represented his psychosis. Thank goodness. I swiped my hand again and pressed the rune for soothing. Steam hissed from all four sides of the shower. The water began to warm, and the scent of vervain, citrus, and lavender filled the air.
Exhaling the hot breath from my lungs, I went in search of the health elixir. On my way back, I heard the scrape of boots being kicked off. My head filled with all kinds of images of Max slowly stripping his T-shirt over his shoulders and – “Sophie!”
Yikes!
I jumped and bolted down the staircase. It was marginally safer down here. I doubted I was fast enough to get out the door before he tore through the place, but I’d been kidding myself about a lot of things, so why stop now.
The living room was semi-tidied when he finally emerged barefoot and wearing a fresh pair of sweats. Tossing the elixir at him, I went to the far end of the couch and sat on the armrest. From here, the broken bench top sat in our way. He could probably remove it with the flick of a finger, but it gave me a false sense of security.
One of the many things I adored about Max and Lex was that they drank everything I gave them without question. Even though sometimes the potions backfired. He chugged the potion in a single gulp, his eyes widening at the same time I watched the green in his complexion leach away.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, voice only slightly rough.
“Health elixir. I made it in Potions. It was going to kick Celeste’s butt in the Halloween Showcase last year but then...”
I tried to look at everything but him. Unfortunately, Max wasn’t having any of it. Grabbing the tabletop, he lifted it off the couch with one hand and set it down on the floor before sitting down. Reaching out with my foot, I attempted to lift the tabletop. The thing wouldn’t move. This was just great.
“We can’t keep doing this,” I blurted out, disconcerted by the way he kept watching me without saying anything.
“There’s an easy solution.”
Oh, how I wished for supernatural strength so I could pick up the tabletop and beat him to death with it. “I’m not going to repeat myself again.”
Leaning forward, he took my ankle in his grip and dragged me from the armrest until I was sitting on the couch properly. He took up too much space. One more foot and I could be in his lap. I kicked him before that happened. “You could have run,” he said.
“Are you kidding me? Where would I have run to? Your pack doesn’t like me. Who was going to protect me? Charles has cleared off somewhere and Noah is loyal to you. So I’ve got nobody. You’d have run me down.”
His expression was deadpan. “If I was that insane, I would have grabbed you straight away.”
“I cannot believe we’re sitting here talking about the levels of your insanity.”
He smirked. “That doesn’t change the fact that you could have run and you didn’t.”
“I...you are so bloody infuriating.”
Yes, okay. I could have run. If I had turned on my heels and bolted out of there, he would have given chase. But he probably wouldn’t have gotten far once the pack tried to stop him. If they did. But I hadn’t run because doing so would leave things open, and I knew there were dozens of others just waiting to pounce. They would have every right to, and Max might have been so out of his head that...I couldn’t even contemplate it. The thought made me sick to my stomach.
He knew it too because his face lit up with a Cheshire grin. Some of the old, playful Max peeked out and my stomach flipped. It only made this thing between us seem destructive.
“This isn’t right,” I heard myself saying even though all of my attention was on the soft curve of his bottom lip.
“I know.” But we weren’t talking about the same thing. His arm wound around the back of the couch and weaved into my hair.
“Max.”
“Sophie.”
I heard a pop. “Andrei,” Andrei said. And then he cackled to himself.
Max went flying off the couch before I even knew what was happening. He left the start of a growl in his wake. Andrei disappeared before Max could grab him and re-materialised beside me.
“Do that again and I’ll take her, and we won’t be coming back.”
Gold rolled over Max’s eyes. I had to admit, more than once I’d considered asking Andrei to take me from here. But seeing the kids so broken and knowing that I was an anchor for them, a substitute for Lex, had made me decide to stay. Right now, it seemed like maybe I had made the wrong choice.
“You touch her again and I’ll hunt you down and shove that ring right up you–”
“Stop,” I said. “Both of you. I’m really tired, and I asked Andrei to come, but if you’re both just going to fight the whole time I would rather you both leave.”
“This is my house,” Max grumbled.
I scowled. “Squatter’s rights. I’ve been living here for weeks and you haven’t been around, so technically, this is my house.”
“I don’t accept these ridiculous human concepts.”
“Well, too bad. I’m human. I never get to use that for anything!”
His nostrils flared. “Are you trying to kick me out of my own house?”
Sighing, I stood up. “Fine, Andrei and I will leave.”
“Sophie –”
“Can you clear out some of the food in the cooler? It’s starting to stink and there’s no room for anything else.”
Death rolled over his face, but Andrei teleported us to the far end of the Reserve before he could do anything about it.
“Trouble in paradise?” Andrei asked. He leaned back on an oak tree. His arms and legs crossed over each other.
“I can’t even explain it.”
“You don’t need to. I could feel it though the teleport. How he’s managed not to just take you is beyond me. Whatever you’re doing to the matin–”
“Shhh. Are you crazy? Someone might hear you!”
He smirked. “Are you?”
“How’s Astrid?”
The abrupt topic change had the intended effect. “She’s coping.” The way he spat out the words said he might not be. It was strange to think of cold-blooded Andrei caring about anyone else. Then again, he’d come for me when I asked.
“How did you even get in and out of Seraphina? They’re not allowing anyone else inside.”
“You know this is Gabriel’s Key, don’t you? They have no defence against a celestial object. That’s half their bloody problem. If the malachim weren’t tainted by the Abyss, they would be sunk.” He watched me pacing. “I assume you didn’t reach out because you needed a body barrier?”
I told him what happened with Hugh. He spat out a few Romanian words that I knew had to be dirty because he only spoke his native tongue when he was highly emotional.
“Can you put a block in my mind so he can’t force me again?” I asked, wringing my hands.
Contrary to popular belief, vampiric compulsion wasn’t just a set-and-forget trick. It was a drain on the vampire and took a certain amount of concentration.
“Are you sure that’s what you want? I mean, maybe this is the out you need?”
I had been thinking the same thing. “Back at the start, why didn’t you just force me to kill those bounties?”
He shoved a hand through his hair. “Because it would have destroyed you. Agatha doesn’t have the same moral compunctions as I do.”
Ha! He had about as much moral fibre as a wet tissue. He cared about very few people and the rest could die a torturous death in front of him and he wouldn’t even blink. Sometimes, I wished we could trade places.
“If you want, remove the first compulsion,” I suggested.
“So you can get killed by a malachim next time? I don’t think so.”
I deflated. “I’m sorry. I wish I was stronger.”
“If you were any stronger, I don’t think I could handle it. I’m sure Fur-face thinks the same thing. Come here.”
It was an odd sensation. At once tingly but also as though I lost a part of myself. Mentally, it didn’t feel any different. That was the scary thing. I’d had about enough of things frightening me. When I told Andrei about the nightmare, he didn’t seem concerned.
“Did Astrid say anything about maybe feeling me?”
He gripped the trunk so hard I heard something crack. “Astrid isn’t saying much except that she saw Kai.”
That was a sore subject for Andrei. He had all kinds of confidence, but measuring up to Kai was a difficult feat for anybody.
“I’ve gotta go,” he said, pushing off the tree. “Try not to get into any more trouble. I thought I would be done with this when the other human disappeared.”
Not once in the past six months had he been able to say Lex’s name aloud. I tried not to put too much stock in it.
When I returned to the Thompsons’, Max was gone. Mini-Max was back, however. And he’d brought reinforcements with him. Cassie and Luther were doing the heavy lifting cleaning up the place. Charles had his head in the cooler which was magically empty.
“Nice of you to show up,” I said.
“Did you want me to get my head bashed in?” he said from inside the cooler. “Lucky I heard him coming, because he wasn’t recognizing people at first. You should see the bruise on Harris’s face.”
I could only glower when I thought of Noah clearing off. “That bastard just left me.”
“Aww, c’mon, Sophie. Cut Noah a break. The worst thing that Max would have done to you was...” He trailed off, unable to speak the words. Cassie and Luther threw each other disgusted smirks. “Anyway, Noah gets to spend all day with you. Do you think Max is happy about that?”
“Max isn’t happy about anything these days!”
“You’re not wrong.”
I’d never been less happy to be right about something. “Are we eating out?” Luther wanted to know.
I gave a heavy sigh. “Do you think the villagers are going to come at me with their pitchforks?”
“For what?” Charles asked. “Killing a few rats?”
I knew he was trying to make light of what happened, but he also didn’t answer my question. Any unpopularity directed my way was offset but the number of shifters who had opted to dine communally. Perhaps they missed their freedom more than they disliked what I represented.
Along with dinner, I treated myself to a health elixir. By the time I lay down in bed, snug in one of Max’s new T-shirts, I almost felt like myself again.
I swear I had only just closed my eyes when they were snatched open by the mournful groaning of a pair of black bears.
25
The next thing I knew, somebody was shouting my name. Months of sleeping rough had me startling upright. Fae lights came on in the house followed by the stamping of feet and Charles swearing up a storm.
When my door burst open, it wasn’t Charles who dashed through. I screamed as Noah came to a halt at the base of my bed. His chest was covered in blood. The shocking burst of red was too much to my sleep-addled brain.
“Downstairs,” Noah ordered. “Now! Bring potion!”
Heart in my throat, I snatched a few vials of potion and raced out behind him. My limbs were so heavy with dread that I felt like I could hardly lift my legs. Don’t let it be Max. Don’t let it be Max. Don’t let it be Max.
It wasn’t Max. But it was just as bad.
Jeremiah held Lizzie in his arms. His face was a storm of aggression, the bear so close to the surface that I swear I blinked and his mouth was a snout. The only reason I could tell it was Lizzie was because of the mop of black hair. The rest of her was a mess of blood and limbs sticking out at the wrong angles. Amy was on the couch, her arms drenched to the elbows in blood, her face sheet-white. She stood up when she saw me. Uncertainty blend into the anguish in her eyes.
Noah pushed me in the back. “Help her!”
In my head, somebody was screaming non-stop. The sound was so high-pitched I thought it might burst my eardrums. A part of me thought she might already be dead, but I didn’t dare allow that thought to take hold. I was already moving.
When I got close however, Jeremiah backed up. His arms constricted around Lizzie. I knew he wasn’t thinking clearly anymore, because he was crushing her in the process.
More people stomped into the living room. Ari and Gwen followed by...Max. His eyes flicked to the T-shirt I was wearing and then he was in front of me. When he pulled me into a hug, I didn’t struggle.
“She’s just barely holding on,” he said, his voice urge
nt in my ear. “Breathe. You can do this.”
Then he turned and issued an order in his implacable alpha voice. “Let go of her, Jeremiah.” The whine came from Amy, but Ari and Gwen were holding her back. Or upright. It was hard to tell. Jeremiah emitted a vicious growl that came from the soul of a father who was paralysed. When Noah and Max moved closer to him, Jeremiah shifted for real, his teeth becoming inch-long spines.
Max’s arm shot out. He snapped a punch that clocked Jeremiah right in the jaw. The bear’s eyes rolled back in his head. Noah raced out and snatched Lizzie from Jeremiah’s grasp while Ari dived to ease his fall.
Noah laid Lizzie down on the soft carpet. I bit my tongue to stop from turning into a sopping mess. The thing that had mauled her wasn’t demonic. There was no necrosis anywhere in her injuries. The wounds were ragged. Though the shifters could be merciless and savage, they weren’t cruel. When they killed, it was quick. This kind of carnage was made by something not used to violence. If I could have guessed, I would think that she was attacked by something with blunter claws than a predatory shifter. I remembered Lizzie telling Edward about her new dog. Unlike in the Academy, the shifters were allowed to keep pets. The thought made me want to throw up.
I had no actual medical training. I wasn’t any kind of healer. Why they didn’t contact a mage or the Fae was beyond me. This was insulation to the worst degree. Something else occurred to me too. They were all experienced soldiers. It stood to reason that they knew what a fatal injury looked like. This was now about hoping for a miracle.
Thoughts of a sterile environment and transfusions filled my head, but I discarded them as well. They were supernatural. Their healing came from sources outside of human medicine. Their bodies were made of a kind of magic we couldn’t fathom. I just wished I was made of the same.