From the Ashes (Force of Nature #1)

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  “Why didn't you tell me?” he asked, his expression bleeding to one of sadness.

  “Would you?” I posed the question to him with a little more heat than I'd meant to. “Would you want to run around airing this kind of dirty laundry to people you didn't know?”

  “Piper—”

  “No, Knox. I mean it. Is this something I should just parade around? You don't know where I've been, what I've had to do to survive without a family—a pack—to lean on. I was on my own for longer than I should have been and shit went wrong because of it. And I'm sorry that my baggage led to what happened today. I would give anything to change that if I could, even if it meant reliving this particular hell,” I screamed, gesturing to my stomach. “And believe me, it has been hell in more ways than I can even begin to describe.” Tears were flowing freely down my face by this point, my guilt-driven anger releasing all kinds of emotions that I'd neatly tucked away, never to be dealt with.

  A sudden, single crack of thunder boomed through the air outside, shaking the house.

  “I'm so sorry, Piper,” Knox whispered, looking me in the eyes for the first time since I'd removed my shirt.

  “They don't conveniently stop at my waistband either, you know?” I spat, self-loathing plain in my tone. “That might make this a little more tolerable, but those boys were sure to do a thorough job and start where it counts.” My revelation was met with silence. “So now you know why they're after me. They want to finish the job they started. And I'm sure they'll make me pay for not dying the first time around. Or the second. Or the third for that matter. This particular group of warlocks' arrogance knows no bounds. Their pride was undoubtedly wounded with the knowledge of their failure. Someone will have to suffer for them to feel vindicated. And that someone is me.”

  “That's not going to happen,” Foust growled as I slipped my shirt back on. “Those fuckers won't be getting within a ten-mile radius of you again if I have anything to say about it.”

  “Don't you see?” I said, choking on a sob. “Maybe it would be better if they did. Maybe I need to draw them away from here and let fate run its course. The supernatural world is really no different than the human one in some ways. Survival of the fittest. The strongest. The most powerful.”

  “Don't say that,” Knox warned, his voice low and husky. I looked over to find golden yellow eyes staring back at me. He was so overrun with anger that he was fighting hard against the Change.

  “I'm not trying to be dramatic, Knox. I'm being practical. Those warlocks are only a drop in the bucket. If it isn't them, then it will be someone else. That's how it's always been.”

  “The vampires didn't hurt you when they found you,” Jagger unhelpfully pointed out. I was hoping to skirt that issue without tipping my hand. His observation was going to make that much harder for me.

  “No, they didn't.”

  “Then you have an ally in them as well, don't you?”

  “No. Enforcers are neutral. It's their job to be.”

  Jagger stepped away from his post next to Grayson and made his way toward me.

  “But they let you stay with them until you healed? Until you were well?”

  “Yes.”

  “That doesn't sound neutral. It sounds like they cared.”

  “I guess. Maybe they grew to know and like me, but that doesn't have much bearing on the issue at hand.”

  “I'm just saying that maybe you could bring them into this. Maybe they could help, too. I have a friend in New York. He's tight with one of the enforcers. I could call him—”

  “No!” I screamed. “No. You can't.”

  “Why not?” Knox asked, the narrowing of his eyes an ominous sight.

  I exhaled heavily.

  “Because they turned on me, too. I said that it wasn't just the warlocks after me. The vamps are behind door number two.”

  “Shit,” Foust spat, launching out of his chair. “Those guys don't fuck around, Piper.”

  “I know that, Foust.”

  “You're the one, aren't you?” Knox asked mysteriously, coming to stand right before me, cutting everyone else off from view.

  “The one what?” Foust called from behind him.

  “There was an APB put out about a missing supernatural a couple weeks ago. I never bothered to click on the photo attached to the email...but I don't need to now, do I, Piper?” I bit my cheek to keep the tears at bay. “They're looking for you right now, aren't they?” I nodded. “Those guys won't ever give up, you know that, right? They'll spend eternity hunting you down. There's nowhere you can run that they can't find you eventually.” He stormed away from me, punching a hole in the wall along the way. “Jesus! Why couldn't you have just told me this in the beginning? Why couldn't you have just trusted me?”

  “Because I trusted them and look how well that turned out for me, Knox!” I screamed, my emotions unraveling my resolve. Again the thunder rolled, the perfect soundtrack to my swell of emotions. “I barely escaped that place with my life! I dragged my battered, bleeding body out the front door of their mansion, got in a car, and took off as fast as I could. I drove for two days straight to put some distance between them and me. I stole cars...took back roads to stay away from anything that might be able to take a traffic photo of me. I couldn't withdraw money, use my credit cards, nothing. I don't have a passport, and I didn't know what else to do, so I made my way to the most remote place I could find that had the fewest hours of dark and didn't require international travel. My plan was to get my shit together, find some sketchy human who could get me some fake IDs, and then go on the run on a grander scale.”

  “But I didn't let you...” he said with a frown.

  “I should have left that night I met you. I should have just grabbed my shit, hopped back in my car, and driven away, but I didn't, and I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!” I shouted, choking on the sobs I could no longer withhold. My body shook as I released everything—the stress, the fear, the guilt, the sadness—and Knox was suddenly there, holding me against his chest to quiet me. Soothe me. Offer me something I didn't deserve: absolution.

  “Shhh,” he said, smoothing my hair down to rest his chin atop my head. “If you had, you'd be dead right now, and there isn't a man here that could have lived with that outcome. Especially not me.” I pulled away to look at him, his sage-green eyes full of sorrow. “I know you think the boys are angry with you about what happened; it's written all over your face. But they aren't. Not one of them. Not even Brunton. Grayson will say the same once he's in any sort of shape to do so.”

  My eyes drifted over to the burned pack member, still lying on the couch. And as if I had been struck by lightning, an idea shot through my mind so acutely that I abruptly pushed off of Knox and ran to Grayson's side.

  “Can one of you lift him? Carefully?” They all just stared at me, confused by my request. “Can somebody pick him up and take him outside for me. Please?” I asked, the pitch of my voice rising with every word.

  I had a plan. Maybe it was a bad one, but I had one nonetheless.

  It had been twice now that I had been wounded and lying on the ground when I'd called for help when dying. Perhaps—just maybe by the longest of shots—the same would happen for Grayson if I were the one to make the request. I had no clue who or what exactly I was asking for help, but I'd received it both times before. I was hoping that somehow, some way, this might work. If not, I'd look mildly crazy. But if it did, I could not only save a pack member from the pain I was all too familiar with, but also redeem myself to all the others. Give something back to them for all they’d sacrificed for me.

  It was well worth trying.

  “Piper?” Knox asked, approaching me carefully as though my mind had shattered and he was afraid of what I might do next.

  “I'll do it,” Foust said, coming to squat down beside me.

  “You have to be gentle. Very, very gentle,” I said, staring deep into his eyes.

  “I will,” he agreed. Then he assessed Grayson to see where he co
uld place his hands so as not to disturb the burns any more than necessary. Once he settled on a spot between the werewolf's thighs and shoulders, he hoisted him up with care. “What now?”

  “Take him outside.”

  “What are you doing, Piper?” Knox asked, joining me at my side.

  “I have a plan,” I replied looking up at him. “You told me I'm connected to nature and to your pack. I think it's time I start exploring just how deep those two connections run.”

  He smiled wide.

  “I like your thinking.”

  With that, he escorted me through the living area to the foyer and out to the front porch. Foust was already there, holding Grayson, who was shaking from the pain, though he remained silent. I remembered that—being beyond the point of crying out.

  Knowing the depth of his suffering only strengthened my resolve to help him.

  “Lay him down over there,” I ordered, pointing to the sunniest part of the front yard. Foust did what I asked without question, doing his best not to jolt Grayson any more than he had to as he placed him on the ground. “Perfect.” I think...

  “Do you need us to go?” Knox asked. I choked back a laugh.

  “I have no idea what I need right now, other than a miracle.” I knelt down beside Grayson, placing my hand lightly on top of his head. “I don't know if this will work,” I whispered to him. “But I'm going to try my hardest to make this all go away.” His eyes fluttered open for a moment, searching for my silhouette in the sun. I moved to block it from his face momentarily. He braved a smile for me, then closed his eyes, doing the best he could to relax into the ground beneath him.

  Unsure of what to do next, I laid down beside him, moving my hand to hover just above his torso. I didn't want to touch him—touch the raw open wound that was his upper body—but I didn't know if I would need to or not. I thought physical contact might be better than none at all. So with my body grazing the length of his and my hand nestled on top of his chest, I raised my face to the sky, eyes blinded by the pure light, and spoke the words that I had before. The ones that had only by chance led to my salvation.

  “Help me,” I said softly, pouring every ounce of desperation I felt for Grayson into those words.

  Nothing happened.

  I lifted my hand away from him and rolled over to face the ground, just as I had before when it had worked. Then I repeated those words.

  Again, nothing happened.

  I toyed with the idea of turning Grayson over, but it seemed cruel to do so when the outcome was so uncertain. Instead, I tried something else.

  “Help me,” I pleaded, the desperation to succeed in my endeavor bleeding into my tone.

  Yet again, I was denied.

  “I don't understand,” I muttered to myself. “I don't know what else to do...”

  I could hear Knox and Foust whispering back and forth, the two of them undoubtedly questioning the prudence of dragging their pack brother outside to carry out my harebrained scheme. While I moved around Grayson, trying different positions, I heard Knox approaching.

  “Piper—”

  “No. I know I can do this. I have done this. Sort of...”

  “Maybe we should just—”

  “NO!” I screamed, my frustration boiling over.

  What seemed like only seconds later, Grizz came thundering through the trees and over to my side. Knox and Foust exchanged a look of surprise.

  “It's a long story,” Knox offered before Foust could even ask.

  “Hey buddy,” I said, running my hand through his fur. “Do you know how to help him?”

  The bear shook his head, then nudged my shoulder, pushing me toward Grayson.

  “I tried that. It's not working. Nothing is...” The bear snorted, shaking his head. Again he pushed me with his nose toward the wounded wolf. “I get it. I'm trying to help him.” The grizzly let out what would have most certainly been an exasperated sigh had he been human and sat down right beside Grayson's head. The act brought about a low but thundering growl from Foust. He wasn't a fan of the bear being that close to his wounded friend. The bear, ignoring the werewolf, looked at me with wizened eyes. Once more, he nuzzled me, but this time he gave a long and hard look at the body beside me after. Then he looked at me. Then Grayson. Me. Grayson.

  Then I finally understood.

  Not wanting to waste time, I laid my hand down on the wolf's burnt abdomen and whispered the words I hoped needed to be spoken.

  “Help me help him.”

  The flash of light that exploded from Grayson's torso literally forced me back, as it did both Grizz and the boys. The heat emanating from where he still lay on the ground was intense, not unlike the fire that had caused his wounds in the first place (and I would know).

  “What's happening?” Foust shouted, pulling me back away from Grayson's body.

  “I don't know.” Before I could even begin to concoct an explanation for him, everything stopped. The light and the heat dissipated, leaving Grayson lying in the grass, his body healed.

  “Holy shit,” I mumbled, staring at him in utter disbelief. I turned to look at Knox, who was behind me, but when I did, I found the entire pack standing there, and a few extras to boot. Apparently the light show had drawn just about every creature in the surrounding area. Moose. Elk. Deer. Bears. You name it, it was probably there. And I wasn't the only one that noticed.

  The pack looked around, their faces slack with shock as they took in all the woodland spectators the healing had drawn. I would have done the same, but I couldn't stop staring at Grayson's flawless body. There wasn't a scar to be seen. Not a single demarcation to denote what had happened to him only hours earlier.

  My hand drifted up to my own stomach, tracing the lines of the scars just below the fabric of my shirt. What had I done wrong—done differently—that I had more than my fair share of physical reminders that I had nearly been burned alive?

  But then my hand fell, or rather was pulled down lightly. I looked to my left to find Knox staring down at me in total awe.

  “You did it, Piper. I don't know how, but you did it.”

  “And we all felt it,” Jagger added.

  “Apparently, so did they,” Foust joked, pointing to the wall of wildlife surrounding the yard.

  “You should all probably thank the bear,” I said, jerking my head toward Grizz. “I don't know that I would have put together what now seems rather painfully obvious without him.” They all eyed me dubiously. “What? You can't apologize to him or thank him? That seems a bit harsh, don't you think?”

  “What's she talking about?” Foust asked Knox.

  “It's part of that long story that we weren't going to get into.”

  “He's waking up!” one of the others exclaimed, running over to Grayson's side. In a second, the rest of us were there too.

  “How do you feel, Gray?” Knox asked, helping him to sit up.

  “What the fuck just happened?” The young wolf looked stunned and groggy, but when his eyes found me, his gaze sharpened into focus. “You...I remember you.”

  “She's the reason you're not in excruciating pain anymore,” Knox informed him.

  “The light. Did you see the light?” We all nodded. “I thought I was dying...”

  “No such good luck, I'm afraid,” I deadpanned. That earned me a chuckle from Grayson before his expression sobered.

  “Thanks, Piper. Really.”

  “You wouldn't have been burned if it weren't for me, so no thanks necessary.”

  Foust reached a hand out and helped Grayson to his feet, clapping him on his back in that bizarre way that men do.

  “I'm fucking starving. Is there anything to eat inside?” the young wolf asked. This time the rest of us had a laugh.

  “I'm sure we can whip something up for you, man,” Foust said, throwing an arm around his packmate's shoulders. “Let's go see what we've got.” I watched as they headed off inside, the rest of the pack falling in behind them as they walked past. Once the wolves were in
the lodge, the other animals—the non-magical kind—started to disappear back into the woods, leaving only Knox and me standing in the massive front yard.

  “You're so much more than you seem, Piper. I hope you see that now. I hope you finally believe it.”

  I smiled shyly, turning away from the intensity of his gaze and the weight of his words.

  “We should go inside and check on the others,” I said softly, still averting my eyes.

  “If by check on the others you mean make sure they don't eat everything in the house in a healing-induced food binge, then yes, we should.” I looked up to see him smiling mischievously. I returned the gesture.

  Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, Knox ushered me back to the lodge and into an entirely different kind of chaos than what we'd endured that morning. It reminded me of the night I'd met the pack. Witnessing their antics only deepened my fondness for them and their way of life. They truly did function as one.

  And I was now a part of that.

  18

  The entertaining breakfast fiasco was followed up by a rather sobering discussion. One that involved a whole lot of warlock talk. It put me on edge. Warlocks were far from my favorite subject.

  “The one thing that's plain is that they'll be coming back for her,” I heard Foust say. His words jarred me from the mental happy place I'd drifted off to.

  “How can you be sure they'll find her?” Jagger asked, sitting up a little straighter on the couch across from me.

  “They will,” I said plainly. “It might not be today or tomorrow, but they will eventually.”

  “And we'll need to be ready,” Knox added, walking around the back of the sofa I was seated on. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he gave a reassuring squeeze before continuing around the room. “They had the jump on us last time, but they won't here. This is our turf. It protects us. We'll know they're coming before they get here.”

  “Their turn to be ambushed,” Foust interjected.

  “Exactly.”

  “But how do we contend with their magic?” Brunton asked, never afraid to play devil's advocate. In fairness, it was a valid question, one that I was curious to hear the answer to, providing Knox had one.