Soft Fate (Wolven Moon Book 2)

by Dany Rae Miller

“Not the most potent power,” she screeches. “Not the power that can annihilate any enemy.”

  She's talking about the dark.

  With both hands, Enrique smoothes the hair off my face and tucks it behind my ears. His eyes never leave mine. “Shavone isn't that kind of witch,” he murmurs.

  Another coughing fit rolls up through my lungs.

  “That’s it, get it all out.” Enrique rubs my back.

  I hack up what I hope is the last of it.

  Lauralynn hands me a tissue from her bag. Behind her, fire engulfs the old farmhouse I was just in.

  “You have the power, Shavone, to prevent this and so much more,” Kennedy dark anger singes my psyche. “Naomi Gentil didn’t have to die. Your biological parents didn’t have to die, either.”

  I look for her. There she is, at the other end of a big meadow. So far away. She’s a coward.

  Holding on to Enrique, I try to sit up.

  A car door slams. Ben walks from his car toward us with something draped over his arm. Parked behind Hannah is a van.

  The landscaping van!

  Throwing a pair of sweat pants to Enrique, Ben keeps walking down to the barn where Jack tends to Antonio’s leg wound.

  Still unconscious, Francisco lies next to them. Worry creasing her brow, Val tenderly strokes his long dark hair. She loves him.

  “He has to be okay. He’s going to be an usher at my wedding.” Gabriela puts a hand on Val’s shoulder.

  “Your grandmother hasn’t put the kibosh on that marriage yet?” Another voice yells from the opposite side of the meadow.

  I feel the hair on Enrique’s neck grow and stand on end.

  The voice is Uncle Agustin’s. I recognize it, now. He drove me away from the creek. The sounds of the kidnapping echo in my mind. Agustin is also the wolf who helped Kennedy kidnap me.

  Gabs stands proud. “Why would she?”

  “To prevent you from tainting the Santana lineage with that garbage,” he sneers.

  Did he send the blood threat? Wow. He seemed so nice.

  “Listen to me!” Kennedy is getting angrier and angrier. “We never meant you any harm. Agustin left the white feather with you so you’d understand that.”

  Agustin was the one who stripped me and strapped me onto the table in the Kitten Club.

  She keeps talking, but I’m distracted by the vibration moving through Enrique. The blackest of black eyes lock with mine, slowly they glaze over with a red tint.

  Oh, no.

  “Don’t, Enrique,” I whisper, hand on his arm. But he no longer hears me. The man has been completely taken over by a livid inner beast.

  One second he’s human and kneeling next to me. The next he’s a wolf holding a still beating heart in his massive claw. Clutching the bloody, gaping hole left in his torso, Agustin stares wide-eyed at his nephew. Finally, he falls, sinking hard to the ground.

  “Agustin!” Kennedy screams his name over and over. Her chest heaves with shock as she runs toward the lifeless body.

  Enrique drops the dripping heart. With guttural sounds only a wild animal makes, he points his slicked red claw at Kennedy.

  The dark witch, scared still, stops in her tracks. Tears streak her face.

  A sinister half smile, half snarl on his face, Enrique advances on her. Slowly. Without taking his eyes off her. Making those awful menacing growls.

  The combination terrorizes me and I’m not his target.

  Kennedy takes several steps backward, swallowing hard with each step.

  Enrique’s half snarl becomes a full snarl.

  “Come back to me, my wolf,” I call to him.

  He pauses to look at me. His animalistic expression softens a touch.

  I stand. Wobbly and with Lauralynn’s help, but I stand.

  “She made a mistake.”

  He growls his disagreement.

  “Forgive her.”

  Enrique’s wolf looks at me like I’m speaking a nonsensical language.

  “She’s right,” Kennedy speaks slowly, her voice quivering. “I’ve taken care of you all your life — like a mother.”

  Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. He reacts with a howl of pain and hate.

  “Haides, I call on thee.” Kennedy’s voice stutters with panic.

  She raises an arm. Her thumb juts into the air like she’s hitchhiking.

  “Break these canines, make them bleed.”

  Blood oozes from Enrique’s gums, settling around his fangs. All the wolves are affected — Gabs, Ben, Nash. Antonio wipes blood from his nose as well as his mouth.

  I look closer at her thumb. The ring! That’s my power in that ring!

  “Elders and spirits, elements of mother earth.” I quickly make a pentagram in the air. “Watchers of the east, south, west and north, bring all you have, bring all your force.”

  “Francisco!” Val’s wail breaks my concentration.

  She and Jack have turned him on his side. His body convulses, blood streams from his mouth and leaks from his eyes.

  Focus, Shav, focus.

  Get Kennedy under control.

  Then, help the wolves.

  I zero in on the ring.

  “No matter where, my power is mine. Be I in gold or be I in stone, myself and myself together I bind.”

  I know I’m in when I feel the metal band on her thumb as if it were on mine. I can even feel her trembling.

  She’s scared!

  She should be.

  I hurry on.

  “Charm of protection, shiny and black, you belong to my wolf and he wants you back.”

  I raise my thumb and flick my index finger like I’m flicking off the ring. High in the air it tumbles. She tries to catch it, but it hits her hand and bounces and rolls to Enrique’s feet.

  Val abruptly stands. From her robe pocket, she pulls something that glints in the light.

  What is she doing?

  It’s a gun! Enrique’s gun.

  She points it at Kennedy. “You’re not going to hurt Francisco anymore.”

  “Valerie.” Jack stands.

  “She has to die,” Val says with a curled lip. “Now.”

  Just as Val tightens her index finger on the trigger, Jack shoves her from behind.

  The gun fires.

  At me.

  The entire world slows.

  My heartbeat roars in my ears.

  Enrique lunges to catch the bullet.

  Flesh and fur explodes from the back of his hand.

  Nash, the wolf, appears in front of me.

  The bullet sinks into his massive body with a gruesome thud.

  “Nash!” I hear my own scream echo through the night as his body slams into mine.

  chapter 27

  “He'll expel the toxins, Ben. Don’t worry.” The wolf doc sticks a needle in my cousin’s arm. “This dose of antidote will help speed the process along. If the silver were pure, he'd have been killed instantly.”

  I glare at Val.

  “I'm sorry,” she whispers. She touches his forehead. “I’m really sorry, Nash.”

  “Nash is even stronger than Francisco and you saw how fast he recovered.” Shavone puts an arm around Val. A giant wolf fell on her, and I'm sure she'll have a bruise or two to prove it. But the bullet didn't touch her. Nash made sure of that.

  After surgery to take it out of Nash, the doctor invited Shavone to do a little magick. Apparently, she healed Cruz’s burns. Of course she did.

  The doc puts the used needle in a portable hazmat box.

  “Let him get some rest,” he says as he leaves.

  “You're tired. I can see it on your face.” Cruz helps Shavone put her tools in her tote.

  She's run through every healing spell she can think of. The proof? Every color candle known to wolf or witch burns in Nash’s bedroom.

  The girls blow out the candles and clean up the herbs.

  The sun is starting to come up. There’s a little halo of light on the eastern horizon. I pull the drapes.


  Shavone has washed her face and hands, but her normally shiny hair is still covered with soot. I wonder if that worship robe of hers will ever come clean. But her coughing has stopped. Thank fuck.

  Cruz bends his elbow elevating his right hand. The doc wrapped up what was left of it. He’s gotta be in a shitload of pain.

  He puts her tote over his left shoulder, shifting it to his back.

  “We’ll do a more specific healing spell for you at home.” She slips her hand into his left.

  My eyes move from their linked hands to the mark on her throat. Envy ties my gut in knots. It’s obvious they were always meant to be together.

  Look at them.

  It's so fucking obvious.

  Me? I was always meant to be alone. That's just as fucking obvious.

  Last one out of the room, I look back at Nash. “You better snap out of it, cousin.”

  I leave the door open just a little so it'll be easier to hear him. I follow everyone downstairs to the great room.

  Val hurries down the last few steps, heading straight for Jack. She snags her by the collar and throws her against the wall.

  “Why the hell did you push me?” She gets right in Jack’s face. “I could've killed my sister, almost killed Nash!”

  “Because if you, a witch, kill another witch, you take on her demons. You would’ve been doomed, Valerie. I owe Naomi too much to let that happen.”

  Shavone snorts her disbelief.

  I guess I should say something about a young woman physically assaulting an old lady like Jack, but, hell, I did worse when she tried to stop Shavone’s ritual. I don't feel bad about it either.

  “Where’d you get the gun, Val?” I walk to the bar.

  Since she’s been de-hexed, she smells better. Nice, even.

  “Her ritual tote.” Val points at Shavone.

  Pouring a glass of cognac, I raise my surprised eyebrows at Shavone. She points to Cruz.

  His jaw works. “She was kidnapped by a wolf. I wanted her to be safe.”

  The wolf who kidnapped her was his own uncle. And he took care of that bastard without batting an eye. Word about that will spread fast throughout the wolf world. As long as Cruz is breathing, no one will ever fuck with Shavone, again. She’ll be safe because of what he did tonight.

  “Makes sense.” I offer him the glass of booze.

  He narrows his eyes at me, taking the glass.

  “We can agree. Sometimes.” I reach for another glass, hearing the front door open as I pour a double for myself.

  Cruz turns as Francisco and Antonio walk in.

  “Nothin’,” Francisco says. “The French and Norse can’t scent her either.”

  “It’s like she disappeared off the face of the earth,” Antonio says.

  I feel the blazing anger from Cruz. For a second, I think he’s going to pitch the crystal glass at the rock fireplace. He doesn’t. He reins it in.

  “Keep looking. I want Kennedy found.” His eyes flash red.

  He’s gonna kill her the second he lays eyes on her.

  Val walks toward Francisco. Like he's repelled by her, he steps away, circling back around the couch and toward the foyer.

  “I gotta go,” he says.

  “Where?” Val demands.

  “Durango. My dad called me home.”

  “He’s heard, then.” Cruz sips from the glass.

  Francisco stops, lets out a big breath. “Yeah. He’s pretty pissed, Enrique.”

  No shit. Their Prime killed a Suave, for fuck’s sake. That’ll rip a hole in the Native nation.

  Cruz shrugs. He’s not sorry, nor should he be. He did the right thing.

  Antonio gives Francisco a bro hug. “Stay in touch, huh, prima?”

  “I’ll try.” He returns the shoulder pat. He even shakes Cruz’s hand, his eyes thanking him for something, before walking to the front door.

  “You’re going right now?” Val’s face falls.

  “Yep. Right now.” He waves half heartedly, never looking at Val, and is out the door. Just like that.

  Val stands there still as a statue, staring at the closed door.

  Lauralynn puts a hand on her shoulder. Val shrugs her off.

  Antonio points to the bar asking me for permission.

  “Help yourself,” I say.

  He does.

  “Just an FYI.” He looks sadly at Val. “Francisco had orders from Kennedy, from the Alliance, to get close to you,” Antonio says, gently.

  Val's face falls even more. She was just an assignment to Francisco. That’s gotta sting.

  The silence makes it worse. No one speaks, because no one knows what to say.

  “He thinks Kennedy cursed him to” — Antonio is cut off.

  “Whatever,” Val mumbles. “I gotta go, too. Whitney took my stuff to her new place. She said I can crash there if I need to.”

  “Are you going to do late enrollment?” Shavone walks to her sister.

  Val nods, eyes glassy with tears, her focus moves from the door to Shav. “May as well.”

  Shavone hugs her. “I’m sorry,” she whispers real low.

  “I’m sorry, too,” Val whispers back. They release, but Val hangs on to her sister’s hands. “For everything.”

  “You were ensorcelé,” Shavone says.

  “Actually,” Jack says. “That was an ancient Duret spell Kennedy used on you. It just brought your strongest emotions to the surface. That nastiness was all you, Valerie.” Jack smirks.

  “What’s your excuse?” Shavone glares at Jack.

  “Do you need a ride?” Cherie asks Val, who nods.

  “We’ll walk you out,” Lauralynn says. After quick hugs, she and Gabriela follow Val and Cherie out the door.

  Jack pours herself a shot without asking. Vodka. Straight up. She downs it in one gulp.

  “This isn’t over.” Jack turns to Cruz. “You killing her lover makes my sister a bigger threat than ever.”

  Lover? Every eyebrow in the room just raised.

  “They’ve been together for years. You didn’t know?” Jack scoffs and waves us all off. “Of course you didn’t.” She pours another shot. “Agustin gone and Shavone refusing her” — she downs the second vodka — “I’d bet my eyeteeth that Kennedy will redirect to another sister.”

  “Sophia and Skylar,” Shavone whispers.

  She remembers their names.

  “She’s going to go after them?” Shavone frowns.

  “Most likely, yes. Kennedy wants Soft power on her side.”

  “On her side against who?” I ask.

  “Hunters. She’s carrying on her mother’s crusade.” Jack sets the shot glass on the bar. “Darcelle, her mother, believed that instead of hiding behind wolves, witches should wage a war on the hunters. When Darcelle took over her coven, they went dark. She asked Sage and Sebastien to join them.”

  “A dark coven? They would never. We followed the Rede and the rule of three devoutly.”

  The rule of three is witch speak for karma — what you put out in the world is what you get back, in witch belief it comes back to you times three.

  “Those were my arguments almost exactly. Kennedy’s mother didn’t take kindly to my sentiments.”

  “And that’s why she stripped you,” Shavone mumbles.

  Jack looks down, closes her eyes and nods. When she looks back up, it’s directly at Shavone. “Darcelle never gave up. Kennedy won’t either.”

  Jack reaches for the glass, throws back the third shot.

  “You.” She points the glass in Cruz’s direction. “Are as much to blame.”

  “He is not.” Shavone sticks up for Cruz.

  “He helped Kennedy!” Jack slurs. She’s drunk already. “It started when you killed that hunter at the creek” —

  I cut her off. “That was self-defense.”

  “It was what Kennedy needed to keep the shroud from sealing around Shavone.” Jack pours a fourth.

  “She’d be dead if she didn’t fight back!” I take the
glass away from the old bitch.

  “No, Jack is right.” Cruz narrows his eyes, looking at nothing in particular.

  When Shav opens her mouth to say something, Cruz holds up his hand.

  “They used me, she and my own uncle.” The alpha snarls. “Used me to get to Shavone.”

  “Shavone!” The shouting coming from upstairs is unmistakable. “Shavone!” There’s a loud thump. Nash just fell out of bed. Bet my life on it.

  By the time I’m half way up, he’s at the top of the stairs, naked as the day he was born.

  “Where is she?” Nash is panicked.

  “She’s fine. You saved her,” I say.

  He isn’t convinced. “I want to see her.”

  “I’m here. I’m right here.” Shavone comes up the steps.

  His whole body slumps in relief.

  “C’mon, big guy.” I turn him around and steer him toward the bedroom.

  Shavone and Cruz follow us in.

  “I didn’t think I’d ever be happy to hear you yell.” Shavone hangs back.

  “You’re okay?” He slurs his words a bit.

  She nods, tears in her eyes. “Thanks to you.”

  Nash sighs, doesn't take his eyes off her. He loves her, probably always will.

  “Thank you, LaFontaine,” Cruz says. “For saving her life.”

  Nash glares at him. “I told you that kidnapping was an inside job. That bitch attorney of yours caused Shavone a lot of pain.”

  Cruz looks away. He knows it’s fucking true.

  “But I’ll save her anytime.” Nash’s face softens when he looks at Shavone. “Anytime, baby.”

  Antonio peeks in the door. “Sorry to interrupt. Enrique, we got a lead on Kennedy.”

  “My apologies.” Cruz rushes toward the door.

  “No apology needed. You get that bitch,” I say.

  Once the door closes, Nash turns his attention back to Shav.

  “Will you come home now?” He asks Shavone.

  She shakes her head no.

  “Cruz has put you in so much danger.” His eyes squint. “I heard a rumor that he had you hexed.”

  She looks down. After a few seconds, she nods with a sigh.

  “Why the fuck are you still with him?” Nash raises his voice.

  “We’re mated.”

  “Not if he hexed you into it.”

  “He didn’t. That wasn't what the hex was about.”

  “What then?” I ask.

  “Doesn't matter.” She looks up at me and then at Nash. “I have to forgive him.”