Phoenix Rising

by Cara Carnes

  “Nothing’s private from you, Riles.”

  The sentiment made me warm. My skin prickled with awareness. “I wish you were here.”

  I whispered the confession, half ashamed Lane could hear and half terrified Macen would laugh. I didn’t want to be one of those fawning women I used to hear the Alphas from our pack bitching about.

  “Me too, babe. Me, too.”

  Oh. My. God. He wanted me with him. I breathed a few deep breaths, trying not to sound so damn giddy. And clingy. I didn’t want to be the static cling in this relationship, if that’s what it was.

  I didn’t know exactly what to think about all this. I definitely couldn’t risk being clingy. “I’d better let you get back to your business.”

  “Not so quick, sweetheart. You going to tell me why you finally came by the hall?”

  “It can wait. It wasn’t important.”

  “Let me decide that.”

  That couldn’t happen. The moment Macen got wind of what the dean had said, the threats he’d made, he would be pissed. There were other ways to handle my troubles without bugging him. It’d be good for me.

  Empowering.

  “Macen, you need to focus on your family and pack. They need you.”

  “And you don’t?”

  Yes. I need you more than I wish I did. I need your strength, your courage. “Everything’s fine with me, Macen. If anything goes south, I’ll search out Lane or Logan.”

  “You do that. I’ll make sure they give you a phone and program everyone’s numbers into it. And, Riles….”

  “Yeah?”

  “This weekend, you are mine. Pack a bag. One of the guys will bring you up here.”

  Wow. I should argue, politely refuse. He had enough to deal with. Babysitting a freak wasn’t on the priority list.

  But it was for him.

  Elation made my brain stammer, shut down the self-recriminating thoughts that’d become second nature. I mattered to him. He wanted me there.

  “Okay.”

  “I’ve heard your classes are going well.”

  “You’ve heard?”

  “Of course. You didn’t think I’d leave you there without someone watching your back, did you?” He sighed. “You’re pack, Riles. You’re mine.”

  “Vira’s been showing me the ropes. I’ve learned a lot the past few days. She even got me a library card even though my identification paperwork hasn’t gone through yet. Vira had them set me up as part of the Wolf pack. I hope that’s okay.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  I shivered in delight. God, I loved his voice. “I can’t wait to see you.”

  “Me, either. You don’t know how good it is to hear your voice. Shit here hasn’t been good.”

  “Well, I’ll be there soon, and I can help. Don’t think you’re going to coddle me while I’m there. The new Riles Giordano can handle shit much better. Vira’s said so.”

  Lane sputtered and coughed as Macen grew silent.

  “Macen? You there?”

  “Yeah, baby, I’m here. I’m liking the new name a lot. Make sure to use it on your other paperwork, okay?”

  “Okay, I will.” I looked over at Lane, who was silently laughing. Tears tracked down his face. “I’d better go. I think something’s wrong with Lane. He’s acting funny.”

  “Put him on, and I’ll see you soon.”

  Lane took the phone before I said anything more, proving what I’d already known—wolves heard everything. That was so inconvenient. And embarrassing. He smiled at me as he spoke with Macen. “Hey, what’s up?”

  He listened for a few minutes and cursed. “Man, get real. You have any idea how hard that’ll be to keep a lid on?”

  Hearing only one side of a conversation was annoying—especially since the other side was Macen. Was everything okay? I’d see him soon. Right now, I needed to focus on getting out of my predicament on my own. Vira had already done too much. I couldn’t involve her and risk Prince Drecor getting upset with her for helping me.

  “Fine. I’ll handle it. Stay safe, and we’ll see you soon.” Lane clicked the phone off and tossed it onto the chair beside him. “I’m glad you came by, Riles. I should’ve made sure you two spoke earlier. You calm his wolf.”

  A thrill rushed through me. “I’m glad. He calms me.”

  “You need anything?”

  If only it was that simple. Unfortunately, my problem couldn’t involve Wolf Hall or Vira. For once, I was going to stand on my own two feet and sort my own shit. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

  He studied me for a moment and shook his head. “You lie for shit, little one. You want to try again?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “Riles.”

  “Really, I’m fine. If things go too far sideways, I’ll let you know.”

  Chapter Eight

  Getting out of Wolf Hall was more difficult than getting in. Lane, in his infinite Alphaness, assigned a couple of guys to shadow me over to Ruger Hall. Apparently, I needed this.

  His expression had grown grim. He’d grown silent and generally a pain in my ass once I hung up from Macen. After an hour, he finally released me into the trust of Growly Brent and Growlier Corbin. They were thick, massive brick walls of ruggedness that made awesome battering rams as we moved through the crush of students hovering in the quad area of campus. Since classes had dispersed for the day, the common area had become socialization central.

  Once we made it to Ruger, I paused and flashed a smile of gratitude to my two shadows. I waited until they left to exhale my relief. For a moment, I’d been worried they’d keep following me, and I suspected the next hour or so would be quite uncomfortable.

  If they had hung around, they’d try to fix the mess. That’s what Alpha wolves did. This pack had way too many hot-headed men in my humble opinion.

  I’d learned the lay of the land with Ruger Hall from Vira after I vowed never, ever to use said knowledge. She’d grown on me—or rather I had grown on her—the past few days. She’d mellowed. Somewhat. And I’d grown a spine—not that it’d help me when she found out what I did.

  Sorry, Vira. I gotta do this.

  She was totally going to kick my ass for this.

  Fortunately, it was early enough in the late afternoon for me to race up the first couple of flights of stairs without issue. The freshmen and sophomore demons still partied pretty hard, so for them, rising before nightfall was rare—if not downright impossible.

  I got a couple of glares from the third level juniors, but they let me race down the hall in a frantic need to find the next stairwell. Bouts of laughter echoed behind me.

  I didn’t want to know what they found so amusing.

  Ignorance was bliss.

  Vira had warned me the top two stories were deadly for me. Seniors and upper level personnel with zero patience for non-demons resided there. Some were restricted to the hall because they were so violent.

  I gulped a few puffs of air until I surrendered to the fact it wasn’t going to help steady my nerves. They were frayed bundles of Oh-Shit-I’m-Really-Doing-This. I yanked the door open wide and bounded up the stairs two at a time.

  Yes, I was a freshman pansy about to dive, desperation first, into the upper echelon of Ruger Hall. They’d just have to deal with my freakish existence in their airspace long enough for me to get to the last stairwell and make my way up to Prince Drecor.

  Showing up on his floor without an appointment probably wasn’t prudent, but desperate times and all that. He wanted my apology? He’d have to take it when I was darned good and ready to deliver said apology.

  Inner bitch channeled, I charged down the hallway as though I had every right to be there. I tunneled my focus to the exit sign at the end of the narrow tube of a corridor. I managed to get about a quarter of the way to my destination before three shadow-looking figures sidestepped into my path. Guess they weren’t shadows after all. Gulping, I rethought my strategy. They were massive and stunk like wet dog and stale
cigarette smoke. Tribal tattoos—no carvings burned into their skin—ran along both sides of their faces, converging on their foreheads.

  “I believe you’re on the wrong floor, Riletta.”

  “H-how do you know my name?”

  The man smirked and took a step toward me. “I know many things about you. I know you’re going to be making me a very happy man tomorrow night.”

  Erm, no way in hell that’s happening. I considered disagreeing, but silence seemed smarter, given the fact I was outnumbered three to one and by about seven hundred or so pounds.

  “You don’t look very convinced. Perhaps I should give you a sample?”

  “No thanks. I’ll just be surprised tomorrow.” I forced my legs not to tremble and held my ground when he closed the scant distance between us. “Just out of curiosity, where exactly is said happiness going to take place? I don’t want to be in the wrong place or anything.”

  He chuckled. The men behind him grinned, exposing rows of sharp, canine teeth. My stomach heaved. Hellhounds.

  This wasn’t good.

  Jacob used to tell me stories about the hellhounds when I was really young. I still had nightmares.

  “You are quite sweet, Riletta. Perhaps I will keep you after your champion is licking my feet to save your life.”

  “I’m afraid I’m not in the same conversation as you.”

  “Oh, but you are the conversation, my dear.” He reached out to stroke my cheek, but I pulled back. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

  I shook my head, not exactly sure who he was, even though my heart began a dull thud in my chest. Macen. “What did he do?”

  “What he will do, my dear.” He smirked as he adjusted his collar. “Tomorrow, your wolf champion will submit to my prowess in the ring before his entire pack and before all of Demonia. They will all see me turn him into my bitch.”

  The men beside him chuckled. A voice behind me boomed. “I do not recall approving this, Diego.”

  Diego’s eyes narrowed. “Forgive me, Prince. The opportunity to weaken the Alpha’s reputation came so quickly, I had to act. I’m sure you agree.”

  “Frankly, I agree with very little you do. Your pride swells your head so you only see past your nose. Many things are at play, and you are too ignorant to see that.” Prince Drecor approached. He offered his hand. “Riletta, I assume.”

  “Yes, Prince. I was actually on my way to see you…to apologize for the inconvenience my stay has created.” I swallowed and turned to face him fully, even though giving my back to Diego rankled something within me. “I wanted to offer my assurances I’ll clear up the issues with ROAR and Macen as soon as I can. I know my assurances don’t really mean much since you don’t know me, but I’ve always believed a word is a bond, and it’s not like I can do much else because Macen isn’t even here, so I can’t exactly get him to stop ROAR, and they won’t talk to me about it because Macen’s the one who started it and….”

  I drew in a deep breath as I realized I’d lost my audience somewhere toward the start of the long, abrupt rambling. I had a tendency to do that when sheer terror grappled my mind. Everything came out as one giant glob with no filter, no order. No pause.

  “I see. So, this arrangement I didn’t agree to can’t happen because Macen isn’t here because….”

  “That’s not relevant.”

  “I see.” The prince released my hand—the one I hadn’t realized he was touching. “You amuse me. No one ever says such things to me because everything is relevant if I ask. So, Diego, exactly why were you arranging this mock battle?”

  “The wolf dared demand my assurance she would be safe within Ruger, like he commands the hellhounds.”

  The prince maneuvered me against the wall and stood nose-to-nose with Diego. This wasn’t going to be good. I’d seen Jacob do this with the newer Alphas, the whelps who still needed to learn their place.

  “And you think it’s your place to decide this since you command the hellhounds?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see.” Flames shot forward before I could brace myself even though I expected a reaction. No leader worth his salt would take that sort of backtalk. Yes. Diego was an idiot.

  I wanted to laugh. I wanted to scream and run. I wanted a lot of things but chose to remain still as stone and hope they forgot I was there. The flames incinerated Diego. He yelped and knelt, or tumbled, quickly. The fiery torment halted immediately.

  Singed skin permeated the hallway with a disgusting stench I tried to ignore. The few seconds had destroyed his face, the skin sagged, black and peeling like an orange.

  “Forgive me, Father.”

  Shit. Diego was his son? Jacob had nothing on the prince. Wow. I stepped back a bit as the fearful realization settled in me.

  “I must deal with this mess you have created. Remain there and silent as I settle it. You have no idea what you’ve done.” The prince turned and regarded me for a few moments.

  The scrutiny made me shuffle from one foot to the other. I stared at the carpet; I studied the walls; I counted tiles. Finally, I looked at him. A malevolent grin spread across his face.

  “My people are expecting a battle. My family will lose face if there isn’t one, so you’ll battle Diego’s sisters. They’re fierce warriors within their own right. You’ll choose a champion to assist you in battle. A female champion.”

  Battle? Warriors?

  Had I hit my head?

  “Choose now.”

  Choose what? Oh, a champion. A female one. “I only know one female here. Well, I know two female wolves, but they don’t like me much and—”

  “Riletta, I tire of your drivel. Choose.”

  “I only know my roommate, Vira. I must talk to her first, though.” Sure, I’d met a few other demons, but I barely knew their names. It wasn’t like I could ask them to have my back.

  “Vira will do quite nicely.” He smirked. “We’ll move the battle up to tonight, so no one decides to withdraw.”

  “I can’t do this, Prince. I don’t know how to battle. I’m not a warrior.”

  “I suggest you learn quickly.” He looked around at everyone. “This will be much better. My daughters have the battle prowess my son lacks. He has yet to beat the wolf. It’s a shame he’d resort to such tactics. I’m afraid my daughters will not need such antics, even with Vira in your corner.”

  Yeah, well, I was pretty sure they’d be mopping the floor with my blood easily enough. I had no options. All I could do was make sure this so-called battle helped Macen however it could. “If I do this, you’ll forgive all issues you have with me and erase all debts and duties—perceived or otherwise—that Macen and his pack may have with you. And you’ll also owe them one debt, to be paid off at Macen’s discretion. Agreed?”

  The people around the prince gasped. Yeah, I was crazy for adding the last part, but it was worth a shot.

  “This will help you save face with the wolf pack and your own people. That is worth one blood debt.”

  “You are a shrewd bargainer.” The prince laughed. “Very well. I agree.”

  “Whether I win or lose.”

  “Whether you live or die.”

  Well, he didn’t have to summarize it like that. Vira wasn’t going to like this one bit. I guess she was right about staying on the first floor.

  ***

  After Vira spent twenty minutes yelling at me and thirty minutes cursing at no one in particular, we had roughly three hours to turn my doughy softness into a hardened warrior able to kick the twin demon granddaughters of Satan himself.

  Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting much.

  Vira was awesome—a female ninja, wolf warrior, and demon fighter all rolled into one. She taught through example because it was more effective. Personally, I was pretty sure she just wanted to kick my ass for getting her into this.

  A couple of hours into it, I was deflecting most of her maneuvers and even scoring a few hits of my own. Every muscle in my body ached, and I was pretty sure I’d
be bleeding from every orifice if she hadn’t been holding back and not actually striking me.

  She threw down the crazy double sword thingie she’d been wielding and glared at me. “If we survive this tonight, you and me are gonna talk about boundaries. You don’t go dragging me into this shit. We clear?”

  I nodded.

  “Now that you have some basic moves, I’m hoping what I said earlier is beaten into your brain. What’d I say about the fight?”

  “Don’t get pissed. Getting pissed might make me shift, and if I’m what you think I am, that’s not good.” I swallowed and let loose my personal thoughts. “I don’t think I’m that, you know. Whichever you’re thinking. I’m nothing like that.”

  “That’s not something we discuss here.” She looked around the large, empty room. “After we get through this bullshit you got us into, we’ll sit down with your man, my pop, and ROAR. We’ll sort that shit out then, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “Now, remember never to turn your back on either of the twins. They are dirty fighters. We’ll be tagging in and out, but the girl out on their side will be looking to strike if we let our guard down. We won’t be doing that, right?”

  I shook my head. No guard down. Done.

  “That what you’re fighting in?”

  I looked down at my white tee and gray yoga pants. They both hung loosely on me. “It’s what I have.”

  She sighed and looked up to the sky as though speaking to some higher power, which was nuts since she was from down there. I wanted to point that out, but, again, silence was worth more than words at this point.

  “I really appreciate this,” I whispered. “I’m sorry you got dragged in. Really. I couldn’t think about Macen dealing with this when he got back from dealing with his parents’ deaths.”

  “You didn’t share that tidbit with them, did you?”

  “No.” My eyes widened. “I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “I won’t say shit. Macen and his crew saved my dumb ass awhile back. You’re the debt I’m paying, but I think tonight gets me an extra favor. Or two.” She picked up a triple knifed thingie with a curved, wooden handle. “You have any experience in battle?”