by Tara Brown
“’Cause you’re dead and I’m not a human. Nothing in a human world, where the rules are made for humans, is ever going to be easy. Jesus, look at me and Ari. I know her somehow, even though I don’t. Every time I’m in wolf form, I think about biting her neck, like nibbling it. Anyway”—his face began to glow with embarrassment—“I don’t even know where to start with her.”
“Lydia might ask her to leave. Will you go with her?” I asked.
Luke shrugged. “I’m not sure if I know her well enough to live with her, but it’s like my wolf side does. I think I have to follow her. It’s weird. Not as weird as your love life, but no one’s is that weird.”
“Shut up.” I sneered at him and picked up my cell, realizing the sound was off. Lorri had been blowing it up, leaving seventeen messages. The last one was a cry for help sent to all Roses.
“SHIT!” I jumped off the couch, running. “LORRI NEEDS US! EVERYONE, KITCHEN NOW!”
Lucas leapt up as I ran for the kitchen and Ari came down the stairs, pulling clothes on.
I winked as Brandon, Ari, Lucas, Ben, and Aleks all put a hand on me. I’d never winked so many people before. The strain of it was exactly what I thought it would be—intense.
We landed in a small warehouse, the one Lorri had sent a photo of.
Ari staggered back. “I’ve been here before. They held me here, making me push everyone I loved.”
My stomach sank.
We stood in the corner at the back of the room. The floors were concrete and the ceiling was open with vents and other things. It was desolate and industrial.
Aleks put his hand on my shoulder, whispering, “I’ll slip down this hall. I’ll have my cloak up. You guys stay together.”
I was nervous about him separating, even though nothing could kill him, not even me.
Brandon, Ben, and Lucas phased. They crept low to the ground, checking around the corners.
I walked behind them, ready to wink and attack. Ari stayed beside me, watching their backs. Her training was obvious. She fit into the team perfectly as if she’d trained with us.
“Lorri said she’s hiding in a room with computers. This place is crazy quiet,” I whispered.
“Why isn’t Lorri fighting back?” Ari asked, almost silently.
“I don’t know.” I couldn’t understand how someone as strong as Lorri could be trapped in a room full of computers.
We walked until we reached an unlocked door. I opened the door as Brandon slinked into the darkness of the unlit room. He was back within seconds. I knew that meant it was empty. We cleared all the rooms that way until we reached a door near the end of one of the halls.
Ari stared up at me, her face pale and terrified. “I think it’s the cell. Be careful.”
“Okay, I’ll go in. I can wink out.” I turned the knob and poked my head in the doorway. There was nothing inside but a toilet and a cot. No one was being held prisoner. I closed the door again and pointed forward.
We slipped down the hall to the very last door before the corner and what I assumed was the entryway into the building. I nodded at everyone, sliding the door open.
Pain ripped at my side instantly.
I slammed the door again, gaping down at the huge hole in my side. Ebony liquid seeped from the wound and out through my black tee shirt.
“What the heck was that?” Aleks appeared out of nowhere.
“Not sure.” I was queasy. “I think it’s a bullet.” I winced as he reached his fingers in and fished a slug out of my side. The black goo oozed faster as he pressed his hand over the injury.
“Oh my God.” Ari winced. “Are you okay?”
“It’ll heal in like three minutes. It just stings, a lot.” I looked back at the door. “The room is full.”
Aleks peered at the door also. “They know we’re here apparently. They must have Lorri.”
“Yeah. Ready?”
I turned to him, my rage mounting as the shock of being hit melted away. “Yup.”
As Aleks tore open the door, the wolves and panther dashed into the room, keeping low. I vanished instantly, reappearing behind a huge man with a big knife. I put my hands on him before he realized I was there.
Ari dove in, touching one of the huge men attacking Lucas. He vanished, suddenly changing the people in the room.
“Oh shit!” I cried out, realizing there were more men now.
I scanned the huge room as the fight turned against us. For every person Ari pushed, the dynamics of the Dark Ones changed.
“We’re fighting humans!” I shouted.
“Not needing my powers, I picked up a knife off the floor. Ari snatched one too, stabbing it into the stomach of a man grabbing at her. Aleks ripped someone to pieces. Lucas and Ben worked in tandem, moving as if they were hunting together in the wild. Brandon dragged two men down at once. He used his claws to cut them open, biting their heads and crushing their skulls.
Lorri wasn’t in the room.
It was the surveillance room.
TV monitors and cords were everywhere. The concrete walls and floor became stained with blood spray.
When Luke took a huge slice in the side, Ari shot a light from her hands and pushed the man. As he vanished the cut did too. Luke was better.
“You are a menace. No wonder Andy was trying to get rid of you.” Aleks stared at the woundless wolf.
“Yeah.” Ari laughed weakly. “How crazy was that? I touched one and like eight appeared out of nowhere. I thought they were like us. I thought they would just pass out.”
Aleks laughed. “Most of them were human. Daniel must have modified them. He’s lost his mind completely. Don’t worry about it. You’ve healed us all though. Guess you have your advantages and disadvantages.”
“I think it’s great.” I shrugged. “My gunshot wound is gone too. Let’s find the room with the computers. This place is a lot bigger than I thought.” I walked to the surveillance monitors and pointed to one. “There.”
“That’s Lorri.”
The room was empty to the untrained eye, but anyone who knew Lorri would know to look for her trademark red hue. She could make herself invisible but whenever she did, she gave off a slight red mist. It was creepy, but the room appeared as if it were being viewed at sunset. The slightest red glow misted past the camera several times.
Lucas pulled the plugs from the walls, making each screen go blank, and chewed the cords so they could no longer be attached to the power source.
They slipped from the room and moved toward the front of the building. An open entryway revealed two other possible halls.
“I went down that one. It must be this way.” Aleks walked along, putting his guard up. I was the only one who could see him when he cloaked himself.
It didn’t work on me, not since I’d died too.
The first door Aleks opened was dark inside with a slight red hue in the air. We slipped into the room, all but Aleks, who waited, cloaked in the hall.
“Lorri?” I whispered.
Lorri showed herself. Her right arm and the right side of her face were burned severely.
“Oh my God.” I gasped. “How?”
Lorri tried to maintain her breath. “They shot hellfire at me. We’ve lost the Roses Academy. All the new trainees have been taught the Dark Ones’ way.”
I felt sick. “He’s amassing an army?”
“I believe so.” Lorri sighed. “Get us out of here. They’re gone.”
I put my arm out, watching my shaking hand. I reached for Lucas with my other hand. I would’ve laughed at the sight of their paws in the circle if it had been under any other circumstances.
We exhaled and then we were standing in the kitchen at Lydia’s.
“Lorri, you need to get upstairs now! Hellfire blocks your magic!” Lydia shouted and grabbed Lorri’s good arm, helping her out of the kitchen.
In the chaos I did the oddest thing; I couldn’t fight it. I winked myself home.
I stood outside my father’s house, w
atching him get himself tea. The light inside the house shone onto the street, filling me with a pain my heart couldn’t bear. I wanted to run from it, but I knew what I needed to do. I pulled out my phone and texted the one person I didn’t want to.
He was next to me in an instant, smelling of incense and seduction.
“What do you need?” I adored his British accent. It always made the cruel things he said better.
“I need him to forget me. I need him to believe I’m dead. I need him to be okay.” I said it plainly, as if tears weren’t streaming my cheeks.
Dorian hesitated for a moment before he walked to the door.
I forced myself to stay and watch through the window as Dorian knocked.
“Hello.” My father answered, smiling but confused.
“Hello, Mr. James?” Dorian didn’t try to be cheeky.
“Yes.”
“Good evening, Mr. James. May I come in?”
“Of course, please.” My father welcomed him in and closed the door.
I couldn’t hear what they said but after a moment a shocked look crossed my father’s face as he crumpled to the floor.
Dorian lowered himself to the ground too, gently placing a hand on my father. He spoke tenderly, taking all my dad’s pain away.
A peaceful look crossed my dad’s face as he stopped crying. Dorian hugged him, whispering things, lies of comfort. He took away all the bad things inside my father.
Leaving him happy and at ease.
I dropped to my knees, tears pouring down.
I couldn’t smile, even though I knew I’d saved him. They would be hunting all the Roses. They wanted them dead. They would find any means necessary to destroy each of us. I winked myself to Shane’s backyard and waited. Dorian came a moment later.
His eyes were glassy, something I’d never seen before. “This one too?” he asked softly. Not being cruel or mocking me.
Dorian walked to the door and knocked.
Shane answered, not realizing he’d met Dorian many times before.
His face lost all its color as he shook his head. He threw his soda against the wall, screaming at Dorian. Tears formed in his eyes as Dorian spoke, taking his pain away.
Again, I forced myself to watch the heartbreak. Nothing remained inside me. Everything was dead, just as it should be.
Chapter 30
Mate
Ari
The hot bath revived me. Annabelle sat on the edge of the tub, singing softly. It was haunting—a song I had never heard before. I got lost in it, lost in the night. I was stuck picturing Lorri, the strongest being I knew, huddled in the corner of a room, bleeding and burned. If Lorri could be injured, so could any of us. It all became real in a flash. I glanced at Annabelle. “I need my uncle moved and brainwashed. How do I do that?”
Annabelle nodded. “Dorian. He is the best.”
When I got out of the tub, I went and found Lorri resting in the spare room on the third floor.
“Hey, kid,” Lorri greeted me.
I smiled. “Sorry to bug you, but before they get to him, I need my uncle safe, somewhere else.”
Lorri spoke weakly, “Yeah, Dorian already took care of that. He’s safe.”
“Where?”
She winced. “Can’t say, didn’t ask. Trust me, he’s safe. If we know the location we can be tortured and made to tell. Got me?”
“Uh yeah, thanks. So you need anything? Those burns look pretty bad.” I hadn’t seen anyone there take any amount of time to get better. Everyone in that crazy house healed almost instantly. But Lorri was still burnt.
Lorri laughed bitterly. “It’s the second worst pain I’ve ever been in. I didn’t even know hellfire was known to anyone anymore.”
“Second worst?”
“When I fell. That hurt more than this.”
“You’re more human than I imagined you would be,” I muttered.
Lorri looked at me oddly. “Thank you.”
“Lorri, are you all right?” Dorian brushed past me, entering the room and ignoring my existence.
“Yeah, did you get it?” Lorri’s eyes burned.
“I got it. Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were in trouble?” Dorian sounded upset.
“I needed those things safe more than I needed help.”
He sighed. “This is a real crapstorm.” He looked back at me. “I see you made it out okay.”
“Yeah.” My feelings were hurt by his genuine lack of care about me.
“Well, that’s good then.” He turned back to Lorri.
Certain I wasn't welcome in the room, I walked down the stairs, unsure about the situation. When I got to Lucas’ room I knocked lightly on the door.
He opened it in a pair of light-blue jeans and no shirt. His sun-kissed skin made my thoughts of pain and suffering vanish.
His green eyes seemed lost. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Want to come in?”
“Sure.” I walked into the room. The smell of him surrounded me. It was a perfect blend of his own musk mixed with the woods. I sighed, wanting to curl up in his arms, but he never offered them. He acted awkward and cleared a spot for me to sit in a chair across the room from his bed.
I sat, feeling a million miles away from him.
He pulled a dark-blue long-sleeve tee shirt on. He eyed me expectantly, obviously feeling misplaced and uncomfortable in the silence.
I felt the same.
He raised his eyebrows. “Sooo, that was quite the weird experience, huh?”
“It was.”
He bit his lip and glanced around the room.
“Okay, well, I’m glad you’re okay. I’ll see you around, I guess.” I realized the mistake I’d made in assuming things might be back to normal and hurried from the room, closing the door.
It dawned on me that I had pushed too many people close to me, and I would have to pay the price. I ran out into the foggy day, my shoes squishing against the wet grass. I wished for a moment I could transport the house and everyone in it to the desert. I’d missed them but not the constant dampness. I ran down to the dock and sat, remembering the first time I’d met him. The way he’d saved me from my swim, assuming I was trying to kill myself.
“Who are you?”
I glanced up, seeing Ben staring at me with a strange look in his eyes. “Hi, Ben.”
“Have we met before?” He sat beside me. “You look familiar.”
“I get that a lot. I have that effect on people.”
“Oh shit. You’re the girl?”
“I am.” I hated being that girl.
“Your mad skills are pretty crazy, huh?”
“Crazy is the word for them.”
“What have you changed so far with them?” He honestly just wanted to know. It was a casual question. But it killed me.
I stared into his eyes, seeing the spark of something and turned my face away. I didn’t want him to fall in love with me ever again. I dropped my gaze to my runners. “Everything. Everyone gets to forget, but not me. I remember every detail, like it’s a dream I had once, but more like a nightmare. So I love someone, and he has no idea who I am.”
“I remember you that way too.” Lucas appeared through the mist as he walked down the grass. “Ben, can we have a moment?”
“Sure thing, Bro.” Ben stood from the bench and walked up the lawn. “See you around, Ari.”
Lucas sat and pointed to the lake. “I had a dream you weren’t you, but I saved you. You were swimming or something, and I thought you were drowning. And you had these tattoos and scars.”
“It wasn’t a dream.” I looked down. “That was real.”
“I figured. The dreams I have about you aren’t like any other dreams I’ve ever had.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry because it cost me everything. I just wanted to help people. I never saw what would happen. I couldn’t see the whole picture, just the pain.”
He put a hand up, stopping my rant. “I know to my wolf you are my mate. My
wolf side isn’t fooled by your magic. I know you in the core of my being. I know you.”
My breath stopped, my stomach dropped, and my heart raced. “What?”
He nodded. “I know you. Through it all, my wolf remembers everything. When I shifted and I was with you in the hallway, I remembered things there’s no way I should remember.”
A smile crossed my lips. “Do you still love me?”
“I want to.” He reached over, hauling me into him.
I pulled back, smiling at him. “Well, I still love you, Lucas.”
“It doesn’t matter. Neither of us really have any choice in the matter. My wolf loves you, which is pretty much the end of the discussion for us both.”
I laughed, realizing how serious he was.
Chapter 31
I love you like the last donut on the plate
Aimee
I shoved another donut down my throat.
“That’s really disgusting, love.”
“Shut up.” I sneered at Dorian.
Aleks leaned against the doorway of the kitchen, cocking an eyebrow at me. “Aimee, what’s wrong? Why are you eating like that?”
“My dad thinks I’m dead.”
Lydia rubbed my arm. “Sweetie, it’s okay. It’s for the best. He’s safe if they don’t know who he is.”
Dorian rolled his eyes. “You know for a nerdy little space-camp girl, you’ve gotten very dramatic in your afterlife. Time to toughen up. At least you didn’t have to do it.”
I growled at him. “Not right now, Dorian.”
He raised his eyebrows and took a jelly donut from my plate.
I watched his hand like I should either bite it or slap it.
“I’m saving you from heartburn later.”
I started to laugh like I’d lost my mind.
“Would you like to go for a walk?” Aleks seemed concerned.
I shook my head. “I’m going to eat my donuts and then I’m going to play WOW, ‘cause I’m still a nerdy little space-camp girl at heart. Then maybe tomorrow, I’m going to kill some Dark Ones. I’ll feel better after that.”
Annabelle appeared out of nowhere, hands on her hips and a glare just for me. “Aimee, is there a reason a police officer is roaming my driveway, looking lost?”