by M. L. Briers
Her heart leapt into her mouth when a hand wrapped around the wood. Dirty long nails curled against the wood, and she swallowed hard, pushing back the urge to scream. Her mind was racing, as the unit started to move with the force he was exerting against the door.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Pushing up from the floor, she knew she had a split second to figure something out. The knife in her hand beckoned to her like the lifeline she needed, and almost without thinking she used all of her force to strike out. Using her whole body to rush forward, and the momentum it created to thrust the knife into his flesh, she embedded the blade through his hand and into the hard wood of the door. The roar the beast let out was almost deafening within the confines of the room.
The door shook with the force of the pounding it was taking. Rocking back and forth against the unit, the constant hammering sound of the wood impacting wood, rattled through her whole body. The sound tweaked her nerves in a way that his constant growls and snarling didn’t.
The wood splintered right down the middle, a large crack forming that centred all of her attention on the weakness that the door now had. One solid punch against the door would see him getting through, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
As he roared and snarled in pain from the other side of that damaged barrier, she wanted to cover her ears. Wanted to run and hide. But instead she just stood there, almost mesmerised by the struggle the man was putting up.
She watched as his other hand came through the gap; tried to reach for the knife and fail. Then the door hit the unit hard, as he wrenched his hand forwards. The knife finally escaping the wood but was still deeply embedded within his flesh. He reached for it with his other hand, tore it out of his flesh with another roar, before letting it drop from his uninjured hand.
She watched as both hands disappeared through the gap. The snarling and growling from the other side, gave her only a moment’s pause for thought.
If he was angry before. Now she had really pissed him off.
Cassidy felt the energy rise up within her body, without even consciously summoning it. Lifting her palms towards the door, she channelled the power through her hands and towards the damaged wood. The force of the energy she pushed out sent the door back against the frame, slamming shut and trapping him on the other side, as she mentally held that force field in place.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it going forever. Her power was not infinite, and there wasn’t much of a natural buzz around her from which she could draw anymore strength.
If he wanted to get in through that door, if he decided to use his strength to turn the wood into tooth picks, she wouldn’t be able to do a lot to keep him out.
But she would damn well zap him. Over and over, until she was drained of everything she had. She had pushed her fear aside enough to draw on her magic, and she wasn’t going to let that slip away until she was drained of every last atom of her energy.
Cassidy could hear only silence from the house. Silence from the other side of the door. She wasn’t brave enough, or was it stupid enough, to dare try to move the unit and investigate whether the big bad wolf had left the building. She just didn’t have it in her.
The urge to curl up in the corner in a ball was still running through her like wildfire. When the sound of the door handle moving greeted her ears, she pushed with everything she had left within her to keep that door from moving even an inch.
“Cassidy?” It was her name, but it wasn’t spoken by a voice that she recognised. The big bad wolf knew her name? He could have overheard Chase when he had come for her earlier out in the snow.
Chase.
Why was that the only thought that warmed her now? The thought of Chase. His strong arms around her, holding her, protecting her, keeping her safe.
She felt the weakness in her magic. Felt the last of her energy slipping away, and allowed her arms to drop to her sides. She had nothing left with which to protect herself. If he wanted into the room, he was now getting in.
Retreating to the far corner of the room, she put her back to the coldness of the wall and let her legs finally give way beneath her. Sliding down onto her backside on the carpeted floor, she hugged her knees to her chest, and let her forehead rest against her knees.
Tired and drained, when the door banged off the back of the unit this time, she didn’t even raise her head. If he was coming, she didn’t want to witness her own demise.
Chase was uncaring of the shattered window and the glass splayed across the kitchen floor, as he powered through the room. Shifting into human form as he exited the kitchen, he sensed and scented his pack brother before he even saw him, standing watch outside the living room door.
Ethan’s eyes took in the fear and rage in his Alpha’s face, and he empathised with his basic instinct to protect his mate. If it was his own mate that had been under threat, Ethan knew he would move heaven and earth to protect her, and he would kill anyone who got in the way.
“She’s inside. The blood on the door is Lycan. I can’t scent human blood. But I can’t get in without scaring the hell out of her either. There’s something in front of the door. Her heart beat is strong brother, but I can’t say she’s not hurt.” Ethan rushed out every bit of information he could think of to try to allay his Alpha’s fears. He moved aside in a heartbeat, as Chase powered down the hall. It was either that or be swept aside.
“Cassidy.” The feral tone of Chase’s voice let Ethan know that his wolf was still strong within him. Barely contained beneath the surface, and as Connor came around the corner, the strain on his face was also evident.
Chase put a shoulder to the door and pushed with the strength that no human could exert. The door creaked and protested under the strain, but the unit had no choice but to make the rough ride over the carpet, allowing him entry into the room.
His eyes found her in an instant. Still, unmoving against the far wall. Her head down on her knees and her legs pulled up, and his heart raced within him. She was in one piece at least. Chase mounted the unit and dropped down on the other side, rushing over to her; he dropped down onto his knees and reached for her in one movement. Fear she was hurt running like wildfire through his mind.
“Cass…” He palmed her cheeks and lifted her head. Her eyes were closed to him, as his made a detailed appraisal of her body. He couldn’t scent her blood, but that didn’t stop his need to know that she was alright consuming him.
When she slowly opened her eyes, it seemed to take her a long moment to register his face in front of her. She saw him and yet didn’t quite believe that he was real, that he was there. And then her mind clicked into gear and she was pushing off from the wall, propelling herself into his arms, her head against his naked chest and her fingers curling against the hard muscles of his body.
He could hear her heart racing within her. Feel the relief and hope that came off of her in waves. The love for him. And he wrapped her into his protective embrace, and would probably have squeezed the life from her very body in that instant, if his mind wasn’t centred on protecting her.
“Chase?” Connor growled from the doorway, careful not to enter the room when his brother’s wolf was so close to the surface, so centred on his mate’s protection.
“She’s unharmed. Physically. Get patrols out, I want the rogue. Find him so I can finish this.” Chase’s need for revenge would not be quenched with anything other than a fight to the death. He would have the rogue’s throat within his wolf’s jaws and make him pay for threatening his mate.
“Pleasure.” Connor lifted the unit and swung it easily out of the way of the door, before he turned towards Ethan whose curious eyes were trying to get a look at his Alpha’s mate.
“What’s she like?” Ethan murmured as they walked away, leaving Chase to care for his mate. Connor grinned wildly.
“Oh she’s a peach. But if she ever does this…” He held out his palms in front of him and raised his brows in warning. “Clench.”
“Clench?” Ethan shook his head not understanding what the hell Connor meant.
“Yeah. Every muscle in your body for impact.”
Chase stroked a soothing hand down her back as she lay curled into him. He never wanted to leave her side again. He never wanted to take the risk that something could happen to her, without him there to protect her.
He had been a fool to fall for the misdirection that the rogue had used to get them away from the house. Away from Cassidy. He didn’t know why the rogue was targeting her, but he was going to end this before the lunatic had another chance to get near her again.
“White wolf.” Cassidy’s voice was small, and it pained him to feel the fire of her spark doused within her.
“I know sweetheart.” He whispered gently against her hair.
“Came through the window.” She said as much in disbelief as giving an explanation to him.
“I know.” He soothed her some more. Every fibre of his being curling around her with the love he felt for her.
“Stabbed his hand.”
“He shifted to human? You saw him?” Chase felt her shake her head against his chest.
“Used my magic to hold the unit in place. He couldn’t get in.”
“How the hell did you move that thing in the first place?” He had wondered that to himself only briefly, when he was trying to get through the door.
“Fear.” She whispered and he couldn’t help the smile of amusement that crossed his lips. He could still scent the fear on her. The room buzzed with her emotions and they were coming off her body in waves.
“Why did he come for me?” That was the thing that Chase couldn’t understand either. The rogue must have know he was signing his own death warrant, and if he wanted human blood that badly there was a town below full of waiting victims. Either the rogue was so far gone that he had lost all rational thought, or there was something about Cassidy that drew the rogue in.
Maybe her Fae blood?
“I don’t know. But he’s not going to get the chance again. Either Connor or I will be with you at all times. You’re not to be alone in or out of the house. Do you understand?” The Alpha tone was so strong in his voice that Cassidy felt the spark of annoyance run through her. He was commanding her to do what he told her. He was demanding she comply. He was dominating her.
“Yes.” She didn’t give a damn right now. She dismissed that little spark of independence and clung onto him. She was a human and there really was a big bad wolf out there that wanted to eat her. She could live with his domineering ways right now.
“You’re not going to fight me on this?” He had expected her protest, expected her to rile up against his protective stance. In a way, he had kind of hoped for it, just to see the spark back in her again.
“No. Not on this.”
“Let’s get you upstairs.” She didn’t protest when he slipped his hand under her knees and against her back. She kept her arms around him and her head against his chest, as he pulled himself up to his feet and carried her through the house. She didn’t even murmur when he took the stairs three at a time. But she did protest when he went to place her down on the bed alone.
“Chase don’t leave me.” Her body hovered in the air over the mattress for a long moment before he pulled her back against his chest, turned and brought them both down onto the bed together, her body still curled into his, like a newborn pup looking for comfort.
“I have you sweetheart. Rest a while.”
Chase didn’t sleep. He couldn’t. He might have had her in his arms, safe and unharmed, but he was still wound up tighter than a child’s spinning top and he was ready to be unleashed at a word from his Beta’s confirming they had found the rogue.
Constantly checking in through the pack’s link throughout the night, as they scouted the area for any sign of the beast and where he had taken himself off too.
Connor was the best tracker that they had, and even he couldn’t find the damn wolf. The blood scent had long since vanished into the night and when the snow came down, Chase called off the hunt. Sending his pack brother’s back to their families until the snow stopped, or the morning came, whichever was sooner.
He still didn’t sleep. But he didn’t leave her side for a moment either. The moment she stirred against him, he soothed her. The moment she murmured in her sleep, he gently placed kisses into her hair. He vowed to himself every time that she whimpered, that she would never have to face fear like that again. Not without him by her side to protect her.
It was a lame promise. He knew it. She was too damn independent to allow him to keep her in a gilded cage, even if it was out of love and for her own protection.
When she woke in the early light of the morning, they made love. Tender, gentle, loving kisses against her lips had her reaching for him, for more. He had trailed his lips over every inch of her body, savouring and exploring her. Knowing that the moments they were now sharing together might never have been, if the rogue had managed to get past her magic.
They had explored each other together, worshiping, desiring with every touch, every kiss and when they finally joined together, neither was in any rush to be apart again.
Long, slow, loving strokes inside her as he kissed away the horrors she had experienced just hours earlier. There was only the two of them together inside their own little cocoon. A world where nothing and no-one else existed.
Cassidy pulled the softness of the blanket around her shoulders and looked out onto another day. Standing at the window with her back to the room, her eyes took in the fresh snowfall that had the lifted the snow banks up by at least another couple of feet.
Chase came up behind her and wrapped her in his strong arms. His breath caressed her cheek, as he stared out at the frosty winter scene and thanked the fates for keeping her safe for him to be able to share his moment together.
“More snow.” She tried for neutral, but he could hear the slight disappointment within her tone.
“Are you eager to get away from me Cass? Do you miss home so much?” His tone was as gentle as he could make it, and he hoped she didn’t catch the sadness within his voice that was running through him in waves.
“I miss my clothes. And it’s kind of lucky that I don’t have a cat. I’m not eager to get away from you Chase, but this isn’t my home and I don’t have my things.” Her words both soothed his worry and pricked his conscience. He had just accepted that this was how things were meant to be. He had never really considered how out of her depth she must feel here, or her need to have the sense of security her own things would provide for her.
“I’m sorry you feel uprooted. Neither of us expected this to happen, and I could kill Nathaniel for dragging you into this. He must have known. Must have seen the rogue coming…” Chase really felt like he could kill the old man. Strangle him with his bare hands, for the danger that he had put his mate in by not being forthcoming with the facts.
“If Nathaniel had told you of all of this, would you still have come for me?”
“Are you crazy? I would have hunted the damn rogue down and killed him with my bare hands before I put you in harm’s way…” He growled out, the anger and venom in his voice, the need for revenge rushing through him like a tidal wave, as she turned in his arms towards him and stared up into black angry eyes.
“Well that’s why Nathaniel didn’t tell you. Fate is fate. We can’t change it, or argue with it. We may be able to mould it slightly to our own will. But in the end, it’s still our fate.” Chase narrowed his eyes and stared at her long and hard. His brain was churning with all of the things she had said, echoes of his elder’s words and cryptic messages ringing true in every word, as he looked down on her.
“Stop being so… Fae.”
Her lips pulled back into a wide grin as she reached up and brushed her fingertips down his cheek, making his eyes lighten with her touch. While amusement danced within her green eyes.
“And how would you have me be, my Alpha?”
He took
a long moment to consider her words, rolling his eyes to the ceiling as he pulled her closer to him. The blanket was in no way thick enough to mask the arousal that he pressed against her stomach.
“Naked, willing, and desperate for me inside you, as you lay beneath me on the bed. Those legs wrapped around me as you whisper you needs, your wants and your deepest desires against my ear.” He brought his eyes back down to hers and she could see that they had darkened again, but this time with the desire he held for her.
“Well that goes without saying…” She teased, her fingers finished with stroking his cheek moved down to the hard muscles of his chest. “But would you have me half starved to death? While you had your wicked way with me, or were you planning on feeding me at some point? Oh great provider of sustenance.”
He grinned down at her before making a show of considering her words.
“Well Connor is the one who cooks around here, although I have been known to throw some eggs on the stove…”
“In the shells or out of them?”
“Get dressed and we shall explore the kitchen together. Because I can hear my brother’s snoring from here.”
“Oh good, more clothes that make me feel like a walking tent pole.” She mused, starting to move back out of his arms, when he yanked her back against his arousal with a soft growl.
“You can always do things the Lycan way and be naked.” He gave her a suggestive double raise of his dark brows and she gazed back at him with amusement.
“And how would Connor appreciate that view?” She asked innocently and watched his brow draw down over his eyes. The low growl that rumbled through his chest was nothing short of murderous this time.
“Get dressed.”
Connor followed his nose downstairs. It smelled like heaven had been wafting up the stairs towards him, crept under his door and slapped him in the face until he woke up. His mouth was salivating by the time he entered the kitchen, and there was Christmas, right on the stove.