She reached for me, but I skirted around her. My arms hung limp and heavy at my sides before my hands clenched into fists.
“No…” It hurt to say it. My mind spun in wild, dizzying circles. “I’m sorry. I need time to think.” I backed away. She moved to reach out to me, and I lashed out at her. Hands on her shoulders, I stared her in the eye and growled low and deep, a rumble of thunder in my throat. She froze, her eyes brimming with tears. I hardened myself, shaking my head.
“Give me time. I don’t know what to think right now.” Then I spun and fled back towards the Den and I tried not to listen as she began to cry.
***
My dreams swirled with fire and smoke, turning the sky hazy with the billowing heat. It wrapped around me, a cocoon of cotton, sliding down my throat until I choked. It had the power to suffocate, to destroy.
I watched, my mouth open in a silent scream as our Den, the building I’d come to know and love, turned to smoldering ash. A seal grey wolf with a white-tipped tail darted past me, pausing to stare me in the eyes. Its eyes were cold as ice, a pale blue that held no emotion. It snarled, a vicious sound.
I jerked bolt-upright in bed, a sheen of cold sweat at my brow. I wiped it away with the back of my hand and took a gasping breath. I couldn’t tell dream from vision anymore; the two worked hand in hand. The wolf had to have been one of Kanzi’s—I’d never seen it before.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I kicked off the covers and got to my feet. I needed to walk. I needed air. I could still smell the smoke, lingering from dreamworld. Between the nightmare and Arii’s confession, I felt twisted and worn out and just…beaten. Shaking my head, I reached for the knob.
I jerked back with a snarl. The knob was red-hot.
“What the…” The smoky smell was thicker. I pressed my hands to the door to find heat pulsating out. Shit. No! The fire! The Den was burning to the ground around me. With a frantic sound, I pulled my sleeve down over my hand and wrenched the knob again. The door flew open, depositing me into a smoky haze of flame. I coughed, covering my mouth and nose with the collar of my shirt and bolted into the hall, ducking a burning beam.
I heard screams and sobs and voices, yelling and demanding. Turning the corner, I caught glimpse of Scythe’s red hair and I yelled for him. He spun towards me, concern on his face.
“Kia, get out of here. I’ve got this under control. The whole place is falling down around us—shit, you knew all along. Move out. I’m evacuating. Get to safety.”
I wavered. “No, this place is mine as well as yours. What halls haven’t you gotten? I’ll get the others out. It’ll be faster this way.” My heart hardened at the thought of our people burning to death in the fiery pit that was once-upon-a-time a happy home.
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t try and override me. He had no rank to and he knew it.
“I haven’t gotten the fourth and fifth halls. Tallys is on hall three,” he said and I took off, my feet pounding against the floorboards. The heat only intensified the deeper into the Den I went. I began pounding on doors in hall four, slamming my hands against them. Wolves came out, bleary-eyed and frightened.
“Get to safety, but don’t go into the woods. Gather in the main village.”
Halls four and five quickly fled the burning Den and I found myself lingering in hall six. The doors were shut, wood statues lining the walls. The smoke was thicker here. I went through the members of Altehrei in my head—six was for Faie, pregnant werewolves and those who had just given birth. I thought to Rana, to Harmony and her newborn twins who had been born the week before.
“Shit.”
Pounding my fist against the door, I yelled for her to come out. Faie, especially in the first few weeks of their puppies’ lives, were fiercely protective. They didn’t even let the fathers around them. I heard a resounding growl, then a whimper of a boy on the other side of the door.
“Rana, I’m coming in.” I busted through the door with a splinter of wood.
The room was dark and filled with smoke. I saw little Harmony huddled in the corner of the room behind the bed, sobbing, his arms wrapped around his legs. I saw a sleek, blonde wolf huddled over a box in the corner, her fangs gleaming white as she snarled at me.
“Easy, Rana,” I said softly, passing her to grab Harmony. He coiled in my arms and I hefted him on one hip. He was heavy, but I’d manage. “Come on, girl. Let’s go. You know I’m not gonna hurt them.”
She lunged, snapping the air, sounds reverberating up her throat. I clapped her jaws together with my free hand, deftly twisting her muzzle and stepping between her and the box where her puppies lie whimpering.
“Grab one, damnit,” I snapped as Rana rounded on me again. I scooped up a little white pup, so tiny and delicate. I cradled him in my arm and headed for the door. Rana’s gaze gleamed with distrust and fear, but she quickly snatched the second puppy up and followed me.
Both hands busy, my mouth was free to breathe unfiltered smoke. It roiled in my lungs and I tried my hardest not to breathe as I ran through the corridors. I passed no one in the halls—they were barren and empty, burning slowly, the flames licking at loved pictures and paintings. I bit back a whine of my own. Rana leapt ahead, darting for the doors. I stumbled, tripping on a fallen board. Harmony screamed, pressing his face into my shoulder, and I barely caught my balance. I forced myself to keep going.
Everything hurt—my skin burned, my eyes were gritty, and my lungs were on fire. I kept panting, kept running, even as my legs threatened to buckle and give out. I pushed forward, lunging through the open doors and into the crowd of waiting people. I sucked in clean night air. My vision swam and I was vaguely aware of someone prying Harmony and the pup out of my grip.
“Kia!” I heard a voice calling to me through the din of my mind just as my legs gave out and I collided with the ground. The last thing I saw, a glimpse past the surrounding werewolves, was Sikta with her red eyes shining like the flames engulfing our home.
***
My head throbbed with each sluggish beat of my heart, like an ice pick being driven into my brain. My eyes fluttered open. I was draped in darkness, the only light coming from the sliver of a moon through the slatted-bar window. Still, even that light hurt.
I flung my arm over my eyes before realizing I was curled up on the hardwood floor, my back in a kink. I breathed in the copper tinge of blood. I tried to straighten and yelped out in pain as it lanced down my spine. Slowly, I sat up, rubbing my arms. My fingers stroked across lumpy skin and I froze. I touched my wrist—found thick slices torn into the flesh. Shit.
I surged to my feet, wavering there for a moment before feeling my way blindly across the room. My palms flattened against the wall, finding the light switch and flicking it on, my heart starting to speed before nearly skipping a beat. A single light bulb flickered and buzzed, bathing the room in pallid light, but it was enough.
“Hell…” My voice was thick, hoarse, as if I’d spent the night screaming.
The floorboards were streaked with blood, long claw marks gashed into the wood in twisting, frantic swipes. Bloody paw prints littered the floor, the sheets on the cot, the walls. Mixed with paw prints were hand prints, smeared, nails drug across plaster. It looked like someone had been murdered in here.
Then my gaze fell to my arms. From palm to elbow, they were slashed, the wounds red and puffy. Blood smeared my hands and arms and was caked under my fingernails, which were jagged and torn. I was barely able to make it to the cot before I collapsed, fingers running through my hair, raking through tangles.
Holy shit. I examined my arms, tracing a particularly deep gash. What had happened?
I reached out and touched a perfectly preserved hand print on the wall—my hand print—then recoiled at the wave of images that flooded my brain.
The Den, smoldering as the flames engulfed it. The smell of burning flesh. The shriek of the Rashti, hysterical and pleased with themselves at the slaughter. Sikta’s hard gaze, more hot than the fir
e that ravaged us. The seal grey wolf, an icy look to its face as it strode into the shadows. Aliel huddled in the middle of a dungeon. My father, still and unmoving. Arii—
No. Please, don’t let this be real, I thought, rubbing at my eyes to try and ward the Sight off.
Arii was chained to a wall, clinging to her brother, a fresh gash down her face. Her eyes were frightened, angry, hurt.
My heart ached as I rocked myself back and forth, breathing deep and steadily. No. I wouldn’t let that happen. Whatever had happened here… I didn’t want to think about what had happened. I stood and made my way to the door. It was locked. I pounded on it with my fist.
A moment later, I heard a voice, muffled through the oak. “Kia?”
“Scythe.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Something’s wrong. Really wrong. Where’s Arii?”
“Are you…alright?” The way he said it made me wonder what truly had taken place. “I’m going to open the door, but Skoll help me if this is a trick.” His voice was wary. The door unlocked and swung inward and the guard regarded me with cautious eyes. Violet wound a ring around one eye and a thick scrape arced down his cheek, lined with the stubble of his beard.
“What the hell happened?”
His lips formed a tight smile as he clamped me in a tight hug, his shirt smelling of blood and smoke.
I patted him awkwardly on the back before pulling away, still reeling. “I need to know.”
“The Rashti came. They burned the Den to the ground. We managed to get most everyone out, but…you were in there a long time.”
I tried to remember, getting glimpses of pounding on doors and ushering frightened wolves out. Then I thought to Rana, to little Harmony and her pups.
“We thought you were gone for good, and then you burst from the flames, the children in your arms. You dropped like a rock. We took you to Dinah and she said you’d inhaled a lot of smoke. We kept you in the sick room, along with the others who were wounded.” He paused, a weighty silence. I poked him in the ribs.
“You started thrashing. You went…crazy. You attacked the nurse trying to restrain you. You were frantic, panicked. Furious. We tried to detain you, but you managed a half-shift and were kicking ass.”
“Half-shift?”
“You were, essentially, a wolf-man.” He grimaced. “We managed to lock you in this room, but it wasn’t easy. You wounded a good amount of people. I think…you thought you were being attacked. Your eyes. They weren’t yours. They were glazed and empty.”
I tried to think, but my memory was a gaping black hole. I rubbed the grit from my eyes. Scythe grabbed my wrist, inspecting my arm. “Holy Skoll, you’ve wounded yourself.”
“Yeah. Look around you,” I said, waving to the bloody prints and slashes decorating the walls. He frowned. “I can’t remember anything. I don’t know what happened, but I think Arii’s in danger.”
I stared at him, feeling the edges of my sanity threatening to crumble down, but I held the walls up best I could. “Please, you have to believe me. Have someone search for her.”
One of my first movements as Alpha was to move the Omegas back into the Den, to be among pack, like they deserved. For a breathless moment, I prayed I hadn’t done the wrong thing. “Have them search the woods, the village, and report back. It would ease my mind.”
Scythe nodded. “I’ll have them look. But Kia, come with me. There’s something you have to see.” He turned and I followed him down the corridors until I found myself in the middle of the medical wing, staring down at the face of one of Lyra’s hunters. I knew his name was Harleigh and that he doubled as a guard, but that was the extent of my knowledge. I didn’t know him personally.
His sides were swathed in bandages, blood already staining through them. “What…” I reached out to brush a lock of hair from of his too-pale face.
The vision hit me like a sucker punch and I gasped, falling backwards.
I saw a beast, fangs bared, uttering growls and sharp shrieks. He swung his black-furred arms, slicing thick claws across anything he could reach. I saw Harleigh lunge for him and felt the fury in his soul, fear lighting my heart like a Christmas bulb as the beast—the beast that was me—attacked him mercilessly.
I let out a ragged sob, wrenching away, and found myself in the arms of Scythe. “Kia, what the hell is happening to you?”
I pressed my eyes shut as the vision faded, leaving me with an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wrapped both arms around myself and shook my head. “I’m not sure. I keep getting visions, images of the future. I saw my father. He’s still alive…”
The color drained from Scythe’s face.
“He told me I was a seer. Scythe, don’t look at me like that,” I pleaded, reaching for him. “I’m still the same person I was. I just…” I shook my head and rubbed the ache settling in my temples. “I saw Arii. She and Aliel. They were in the Rashti’s dungeon, Scythe. I need to know if I saw the truth or if they’re okay. I need to protect them. Please.”
He blinked a few times, taking a deep breath. “I’ll send someone out to scout for them. Kia, I’d typically say not to worry, but being a seer isn’t something you should hide. It can be dangerous—who knows if your freak-out was related to your Sight or not. Damn. You need to announce this to the pack. They deserve to know.”
My heart nearly stopped. “Tallys will kill me. Kuska said that Kanzi was a seer, that he saw Brennekah’s death before it happened, and that it made Tallys cold.” I didn’t want the man to hate me. I didn’t want the pack to hate me, either. Fear coiled around my heart like vines around a branch.
Something in Scythe’s gaze rattled me.
“Tallys died in the fire, getting our people out,” he said finally, in a hoarse voice. He dropped his gaze to the floor. “Sikta’s taking it harshly. She wants the Rashti dead. She wants Kanzi’s head on a stake. That was her only remaining relative. Both of her parents have been taken by Kanzi.”
He sighed. “I’d say you’re right—we have a traitor among us.” He rested a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “C’mon, Kia. Let’s get those wounds cleaned up and then we’ll send out scouts for Arii and Aliel. We’ll find them, I promise.”
And if we didn’t, Kanzi was going to pay.
Chapter Eighteen
I felt numb as I made my way to the center of the village, my boots crunching snow underfoot, snow that was fast turning to slush. The weather was almost warm, but I knew it wouldn’t last for long. It would get cold again, frost over for many more nights before spring truly arrived.
My gaze instinctively fled to the Den—or what was left of it. It had once stood proud and strong, and now? It was a pile of rubble, charred wood and ash blowing in the wind. Glass lay glittering in the sun from broken windows and my heart sunk in my chest at the stake driven into the ground. Fluttering at the end was a black scarf, signifying a time to mourn for our loved and lost ones.
I didn’t feel the pain until she was on top of me.
I was slammed into the ground, the air pressed out of me in a whoosh. Sikta snarled, her eyes bleeding hatred as she wound back and punched me again. I heard a sickening crack and my vision tripled. I blinked back stars and reached up to ward her off.
“You little bastard, you knew! You knew all along!” Her howl rose in hysteria as she pummeled my chest, raking sharp claws against my arms and face, anywhere she could reach.
“What the hell?” I touched my definitely-broken nose as it started to throb. When she swung her arm back again, I saw a few of our people rush to my defense. I didn’t give them a chance.
Calling upon my wolf, I grabbed her wrist with strength that surprised even me, wrenching her arm to the ground. A yelp escaped between gritted teeth as she struggled, turning a muzzle and fangs on me. I shifted and clamped my jaws around hers, pinning her to the ground. She screeched, her voice muted as I straddled her, paws on either side of her head.
“Enough!”
After a moment she lay motionless on he
r back, paws limp against her chest, but her eyes seethed with fire. I stared deep into them, willing her to fight me, to try me. I would fight back and I would win. I was stronger, but I didn’t voice it. She would’ve only taken it as a mock to her strength.
I took a deep breath and released her muzzle from my grip. I watched her until she turned her face away, reluctantly offering her throat.
I stepped away and let myself fade back to human. “Talk to me.”
She shifted back as well, wrapping long arms around herself in a wounded manner. She looked like she’d had her heart torn out. She refused me meet my eyes. “Somehow you knew everything was going to burn. You knew what we’d lose…” Her voice was bitter. “This is your fault.”
“I swear to you, I didn’t know this would happen. I was…warned,” I said, “But I didn’t know it would happen so fast. I trusted our warriors to keep our Den safe.” I bit back my words. Obviously, I’d failed. I should’ve staked out myself, I should’ve kept them safe. I had trusted them to do their jobs.
“Then one of them is the traitor.” She lifted her lip in a scowl. “I’ll skin the two-faced little bastard myself if I have to. I want to hear him scream for mercy as he bleeds out!”
“Sikta.”
“Shut up, Silverwind,” she snapped, daring to meet my eyes once more. She rose to her feet and I followed her, grabbing hold of her arm and turning her back towards me. She locked her eyes into mine. “I don’t like you. I’ll never like you. You’re just like your father, and for that…” She shook her head, barking out a harsh laugh.
“Look at me.”
When she refused, I grabbed her chin and yanked her gaze back to mine. “Listen to me. You’ve lost your family. I’ve lost mine. I understand what you’re going through, Sikta, I do, but—”
We couldn’t afford this right now.
“Like hell!” She wrenched away, bristling. “You never even knew him—he is nothing to you. Only a name you can refer to. You don’t know him, not like I knew my father. Mine was there for me, even after Mom died. Kitane left you behind, didn’t even give you second thought. You should be pissed. Why aren’t you angry? Be fucking angry!”
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