Belong To The Night

by Shelly Laurenston

  “It’s Kyle…Buck’s back.”

  Just by the look on Tully’s face, Jamie knew it was Buck. Knew he was coming back here to confront his son. She didn’t understand it and wouldn’t try. Fathers and sons had their own language and she was not one of those women who felt the need to understand or analyze it. Seriously, didn’t she have enough to do?

  “Yep.” Tully disconnected the call and looked at her.

  “It’s all right,” she said. If there was one thing she’d always understood was the need to handle an emergency. You couldn’t be in law enforcement or any kind of crisis-type position and not understand it. “Food’s not done yet anyway. Stew takes a while, so it’ll be ready when you get back.”

  “I wanna talk.”

  “We’ll talk.” She owed him that. “When you get back.”

  Tully nodded and stripped off his clothes. “You’ll be all right here by yourself?” he asked.

  She grinned. “Would you go already?”

  He turned to leave but then, just as quickly, turned back. His hand slid behind the back of her neck and he gripped it tight. The kiss was not friendly. Far from it. But it made what his mother told her seem all the more real.

  Jamie kissed him back, making sure that her mouth and tongue made it clear that when he got back tonight, all the bullshit would be over. She didn’t know how long they kissed, but when he finally pulled back, they were both panting and she knew she’d be counting the seconds until he returned.

  He licked his lips. “Apple.”

  Jamie smiled, watching as he shifted from human to wolf almost faster than her eye could catch. He licked her bare foot and headed toward his front door.

  “Tully.”

  Tully stopped at the front door, looking over his shoulder as Jamie came around the corner.

  She knelt down in front of him and rubbed her hands together for nearly a minute. When she stopped, she ran her hands from his muzzle, across his head, and down his back. She dragged her hands over his entire body until he was pushing into her, pressing his big wolf body against hers. He felt the energy she’d smoothed against his fur. It felt good, but meant more because it was from her. From his Jamie.

  “For luck…and protection,” she said when she stopped. “My gods will watch over you this night.” She kissed his forehead and stood while Tully pressed up against her hip, lifted his head and nuzzled her breast, before he headed out the door and went off to face his father for the last time.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Most of the town had turned out for this. The ones who hadn’t were mostly the bear sows—including grizzlies, polars, and blacks—because they stayed to protect the pups, cubs, and the elderly shifters. Even if the town failed on this ridge, there was no doubt that the sows would never let anything happen to the town’s children. Their strength and power would be missed in the fight, but to have the sows protect everyone’s offspring would always be worth the loss.

  Kyle stood on one side of Tully, Jack on the other. Katie next to Jack, and Bear right behind them. The grizzly stood on his hind legs, sniffed the air, then came down with a Wham!, the ground shaking beneath their feet. He’d seen them. Tully knew because Bear pushed past them and lumbered down the ridge toward the clearing. Halfway down he broke into a run, the rest of the town right behind him. He’d just made it into the clearing when Buck’s Pack exploded from the trees.

  Baring his fangs, already tasting the kill, Tully charged forward and set to work.

  Jamie shut off the heat under the stew and secured the lid. Tully had been gone a while and she was trying really hard not to worry about him. She kept telling herself she couldn’t risk her soul and her power to go running to his rescue. Especially when she didn’t know if he needed to be rescued.

  So this was it, huh? What it felt like to be in love? Panic, nausea, and the slightest sense of doom. Nice. She’d be better off a beat cop in the South Bronx.

  She heard the side door open and let out a breath she’d been unaware she’d been holding.

  “Perfect timing,” she said, not ready to show him yet how scared she’d been for him. “I just finished cooking the stew.” She turned from the stove and only had a second to register the fur leaping at her. What had to be about two hundred and fifty pounds of canine, slammed into her, ramming her back into the counter, her head colliding with the stainless steel.

  Tully tore off somebody’s leg and chucked it over to Dale Sahara, M.D., who chewed on it before he went after somebody else.

  Something wasn’t right. Tully stopped, shook the blood from his eyes and studied the battlefield before him. Kyle pushed into him and they stared at each other. His brother felt it, too. Something wasn’t right.

  Tully watched one of his half-brothers get slapped across the clearing with one swipe of Bear’s claw—and that’s when it hit him.

  Where’s Buck?

  Jamie knew she blacked out because one second she’d been looking down at the stove and now she was lying on the floor looking up at it. Her head was throbbing, her mind confused. A face appeared before her, staring down at her.

  “There you are,” the face said. “Had me worried I’d hit ya too hard. Didn’t mean to do that.”

  The face looked her over. “You’ll be fine. I’ll get you a pillow for your head. That flouncy boy of mine probably has lots of pillows.”

  He stepped over her and walked out of the kitchen. Not sure what she was doing, only knowing she couldn’t lay there, Jamie dragged herself to her feet. It wasn’t easy. Everything around her was turning and she couldn’t focus.

  If only it hadn’t been her head. Any other damage she could handle. A broken arm, cracked ribs, knife wound to the back, gunshot to the neck. She would have been grateful for any of that, as long as it hadn’t killed her outright, because it would have allowed her mind to do what it did best. Call upon the power she held and use it to control the situation. She’d bet that making her dazed and confused wasn’t the face’s idea, but that bitch, uh…his girlfriend…W-something. She probably told him to do that. Now all Jamie could manage was to stumble out of the house and away from that face. What’s his name?

  She had no idea where she was going—although that tree over there looks kind of familiar—she just knew she had to get away. But she wanted to sleep. She wanted to sleep so badly.

  Luther hit him from behind and Tully shrugged him off. He didn’t have the time or patience to fight one of Buck’s sons. He wanted Buck.

  Luther got back to his feet and charged him again. Tully batted him across the muzzle, sending him flying and took another look around.

  Something isn’t right.

  Had Buck ever missed a fight in his life? Especially one that he made sure happened?

  Tully heard a yip and looked down at his baby sister. She was watching him close, her dark gold eyes concerned. He tipped his head and motioned to Luther, who was charging his way back over to Tully. Katie’s gaze followed, then she examined the area, cat eyes narrowing. Tully barked and motioned with his head. She nodded and took off running. If Buck was in town, Katie would find him. She was the best tracker they had.

  He watched his sister sprint across the clearing until she made it into the trees on the other side. And that’s when he was slammed from behind, all three of his half-brothers on him.

  She stumbled through the trees, her eyes trying to clear. Everything was fuzzy. Everything out of focus. But she kept moving anyway. She kept going, pushing. She couldn’t stop. Yet even that one, overpowering thought couldn’t stop her from knowing when he was right behind her. She turned as he launched at her, her body instinctively dodging out of the way so he sailed past her. He turned from animal to human and spun to face her.

  “Now look,” he told her, moving toward her, “I’m trying to make this good for you. But if you keep runnin’, if you fight me, I’ll just take what’s mine anyway. And trust me, little girl—I’ll make sure you don’t enjoy it.”

  She had no idea what
he was talking about. Her head hurt. She was sleepy. And the birds were too loud. Were they always this loud? He was right in front of her now. “Give me what I want, little girl, and I’ll give you anything you need. Together we’ll take over the Packs, then we’ll take over everything.”

  An offer. An offer of power. His hand reached for her, to cup her cheek. She took hold of his fingers in hers and twisted his arm, off and away, while she brought her foot down on his instep. He cried out and she turned so her back was against his chest. She brought her left elbow up and back, impacting directly with his throat. He staggered back and she turned, slammed her fist into his face.

  He dropped to his knees and she walked off. She glanced down at her hands. They were bloody. When did that happen? Am I bleeding? Should I be at a hospital? She kept moving. Part of her felt like she should run but she didn’t know why. So she kept walking but quickly, pushing past hanging tree limbs and going around giant oaks and pines.

  It sure would be nice to know where she was going.

  Tully and Kyle fought off Buck’s sons, pushing them back until a few more of Buck’s Pack ran in to help. It didn’t seem strange to Tully that he was fighting off fellow wolves—blood kin—with a cat by his side. Kyle had always been more brother to him than any of Buck’s boys. They may argue, especially over the last piece of their momma’s pecan pie at every Thanksgiving dinner, but he trusted the feline. Kyle was family. He’d always be family.

  He threw Luther off—yeah, again—but stopped from going after him, instead stepping back and gazing up. The crows sure were complaining about the fight. They were making all sorts of racket.

  Kyle shifted, looked up. “What the hell’s going on?”

  Tully wished he knew.

  Jamie stopped, the odd-looking feline staring at her. Her fangs were odd. She was odd. Or maybe it was her head. Everything around her was pulsating and her headache was getting worse. Yet even with all that going on, she couldn’t stop herself from trying to get the cat or whatever to run. She knew it was in danger.

  “Shoo,” she told it. “Shoo. Go.” She waved her hands at it. “Go. He’ll kill you. Go!”

  Something large and powerful slammed into her from behind, forcing her to the ground. Jamie landed, her hands bracing her fall. But he was on her now, flipping her over.

  “We can do this any way you want, little girl. Even this way.”

  She swung her fist, connected with his jaw. His eyes flashed, shifting from one species to another. Then he punched her back. She felt something snap inside her face, her teeth suddenly not fitting together. The pain had her screaming but she was unable to open her mouth.

  “Much better,” he muttered. He sat back on his haunches, staring down at her. “That’ll keep you quiet until we’re done. Until I’ve fucked ya and marked ya as mine.” He moved his own jaw around, gave her a little smile. “No way that boy of mine could handle a female like you.” He smiled. “But I can.”

  That’s when that strange black cat attacked, slamming into him, wrapping her paws around his head and neck. Snarling, he batted the feline off. She flipped head over tail, slamming into a tree. But she got back to her feet and she shifted to human. “Jamie, run!”

  Jamie forced herself to roll over and crawl off. He watched her. She could actually feel him smiling as she made her slow painful way.

  “Now where are you going, darlin’? Because we both know an ass like yours needs somebody in it.”

  Tully didn’t wait until his sister’s return. He took off but the closer he got to town, the louder those damn birds became. He stopped and turned, quickly realizing he had Kyle, Bear, Daddy, and half the town with him. He glanced back at the way he’d been headed but there were crows there now. They spun like a tornado, clearly blocking his way. They blocked the south and west as well, leaving only the east, which led deeper into the forest and toward the ocean.

  Having no choice but to trust them, he headed that way and hoped for the best.

  She could hear the fight going on between the feline and that wolf. Could hear that the feline was getting her ass kicked. She was smaller than the wolf and although faster, he had years of fighting on his side.

  Jamie reached what she wanted, her hands wrapping around the large limb that was laying there. She closed her eyes and then got to her feet. The pain from her jaw nearly made her black out again, but she fought it hard. She wanted to shake her head but the thought had tears sliding down her cheeks and falling into the leaves around her.

  She turned and walked back to the feline and the wolf. She waited until the wolf had the feline on her back, then Jamie raised the tree limb over her head. She was swinging it down, aimed for the wolf’s head but halfway to its destination it stopped. She yanked but it wouldn’t move, then it was snatched out of her hand.

  She spun around and there were three more of them. Three more like the one who’d grabbed her.

  The one who took the tree limb caught hold of her by the back of the neck and held her.

  “Daddy,” he said, “we better get a move on. A bunch of ’em suddenly went rabbit and took off.”

  “No.” He held the now human feline down while she tried desperately to get loose. “I finish this here. Once she’s marked, there ain’t nothin’ they can do about it.”

  He gripped the feline by her neck and got to his feet. “I took some of the fight out of her,” he said, tossing the feline to the one who had Jamie. “Use her as you want while I deal with this one.”

  He took Jamie by the hair and shoved her forward. “Let’s get this done, darlin’. Lord knows, I’ve been waiting a long time for you.”

  “Daddy?”

  Growling, Buck stopped and faced the other male. The two with him where moving back, their eyes wide, and he’d dropped the feline. She hissed, her back arching.

  “What the hell’s wrong?”

  “Daddy?” he said again. And then he started screaming. Screaming as flames engulfed him. He dropped to the ground, rolling his body, trying to put the flames out.

  The four women who’d been standing behind the one in flames watched but said nothing. Then their gazes moved to Jamie. As soon as she saw them, the headache ended, her mind cleared. She knew where she was, what she was, and what Buck had been trying to do to her.

  She looked up at Buck and the wolf released her, stepping away from her. But it was too late for that. Too late to just walk away.

  Jamie raised her hand, flicked her fingers, and Buck went soaring.

  Tully had just made it past the trees, entering the clearing where he’d saved Jamie from flying hyenas, when something shot out from the other side.

  He slid to a stop, his eyes wide as Buck Smith came tumbling to a stop. Two of Buck’s sons came out after him, running like the devil himself was behind them. They stopped beside Buck, staring at Tully and the others.

  From Tully’s right and left, came the rest of Buck’s Pack. It was a strange standstill. No one moving forward, no one backing off. He felt like they were all waiting for something, but he didn’t know what.

  Tully saw Jamie being helped into the clearing by her cousin. Her arm was around Mac’s neck, she was covered in dirt and bruises. But even from across the clearing he could see she was in terrible pain, and her face looked strange. Swollen…broken.

  Tully felt cold, then hot. His body began to shake and everything turned kind of red. Then his sister ran out of the trees, her human body covered in fresh claw and fang marks. She pointed at Buck and yelled out, “It was him, Tully! Buck did this to Jamie. It was Buck!”

  His father got to his wolf feet and watched his firstborn. He snarled, daring him. But he didn’t need to bother. It was all over now.

  Tully charged across that clearing toward Buck, his family and neighbors behind him, and he knew nothing would stop him from killing that old bastard.

  Jamie and her coven moved through the battle going on in the clearing. No one came near them, and no one tried to stop them. She rested ag
ainst her cousin, Mac’s arm strong around her waist. They reached the circle she’d created several days before when everything had been so simple and Mac helped her kneel in the middle of it.

  Sen kneeled down in front of Jamie, her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, my God, Jamie. What did he do to you?”

  Jamie took Sen’s shaking hands and placed them on her swollen face, fighting the urge to flinch from the pain of that simple, soft touch.

  “It’ll hurt,” Sen warned her between what had quickly turned into sobs. “It’s going to hurt really badly. More than it hurts now.”

  Jamie kept Sen’s hands on her with her own and begged her with her eyes. She didn’t care about more pain. There were worse things than pain. But the pain was distracting her from doing what she needed to do. She needed it to stop.

  Nodding, Sen agreed. “Just hold on. Okay, Jamie?” She glanced at the rest of the coven. “I’ll need you guys, too. Give me what you can but not all of it. Understand?”

  They nodded and moved around the pair, their hands clasped together. And outside the circle the fighting brutally continued. It felt like they were behind glass. Protected. And they were, in a way. Their goddesses were protecting them, the Dark Mothers, allowing them to do their work.

  Sen closed her eyes and focused all her energy on Jamie, the others doing the same. While they worked on her, Jamie looked over at the battle going on all around them.

  She watched as Tully and his father fought, tearing into each other. Two males charged Tully, taking him down to the ground, trying to take pieces out of him with their fangs and claws.

  And Buck focused on her. She tensed, but not from the pain tearing through her from what Sen was doing. But because she couldn’t stop Sen so that they could fight Buck. If she stopped the healing now, it could fuck up her face forever. A long time to go with your jaw unable to open or close.