Burning to Ashes

by Evi Asher

  Named for the moon her hair resembled, Selene could have chosen any male for her own. At least until she found her Wolf, but Selene had wanted Archer.

  They had been cubs together, an inseparable small group—Archer, Selene and Archer’s adopted brothers Søren and Tor. As they grew older, everyone had believed that Archer’s wolf would choose Selene as his She. For a while, Archer was sure of it, too. He had loved Selene in his own way, and he’d been sure his other self would, too. The wolf inside of him had even started rumbling in pleasure whenever Selene was near. Then, Archer had the vision.

  After that, his lycan had refused to acknowledge Selene at all, and Archer found his own attraction to her fading. He realized he loved her more like a sibling than in any romantic way.

  That was where things went wrong in a hurry. Selene’s beast had chosen Archer, and she refused to look any further.

  Amongst the Lycan, the male werewolf was the one who chose his She. It was unheard of that a female’s wolf would choose, but then Selene had always been headstrong, and Archer suspected it was more her choice than that of her accord mate.

  The situation had deteriorated after that. Selene’s parents were higher in the hierarchy of the pack than Archer’s, and she was their treasured only child.

  Selene’s parents had demanded that Archer take Selene as his She. When he had refused, the pack had come to a decision and gave him an ultimatum—Selene, or banishment.

  Archer faced the choice and knew if he chose Selene, his accord would fail. When it failed, Archer would die, or worse, lose his mind. He chose exile.

  “Archer? Aren’t you happy to see me?” Selene spoke, drawing him back to the present.

  “Of course I am, and thank you for saving my life.” He tried not to frown, but failed.

  “Then why are you scowling at me like that?”

  “You told them you are my She.” He glanced at the door. It was a statement, not a question.

  “Why would that matter? They are a vampire and a pyro… They are beneath us. I’m glad the vampire called, though. Now I can take you home, and you can take your rightful place as my Wolf.”

  Archer’s arms folded over his chest. “I’m not your Wolf, Selene, and we both know that. My wolf does not recognize you as my She, and you know yours does not recognize me.”

  Selene looked away from him for a moment. “That doesn’t matter, Archer. We are meant to be together. We have been since we were cubs.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  She looked at him a moment, then gasped. “You have found your She.”

  He didn’t deny it as he held her gaze.

  “Who is it?”

  Color was rising in her cheeks and the fine hairs on Archer’s arms stood up at the feel of her power filling the small motel room.

  He saw her clench her fists, her claws digging into her hands.

  “Who it is doesn’t matter. All that matters is the choice has been made, and he didn’t choose you. I told you years ago, and we aren’t meant to mate.”

  “I’ll kill her,” she threatened around her elongated incisors.

  “No.” Archer rose to his full height, and stepped closer to the female, dwarfing her with his presence. “You won’t touch her. You cost me my home and my family…everything I’d ever known. That, I forgave you for. Touch my She and I will kill you.” He interwove the words with a low growl as his beast’s voice joined his in warning.

  * * * *

  “I don’t need a babysitter.” Scarlet flung the words over her shoulder as she stomped into the parking lot.

  “Says the woman currently throwing her toys out of the crib,” Zane threw back at her.

  She stopped, and turned to glare at the vampire.

  He shrugged. “What? I’m just sayin’. Jealous much?”

  “I am not.” Scarlet felt her cheeks heat. Was she letting the green-eyed monster get the best of her? It wasn’t as if she and Archer were in a relationship. He felt the need to help her—so what? He wasn’t signing on for a lifetime, or even a few months.

  Rather than admit she was jealous, Scarlet turned and started walking into the deepest part of the parking lot. The weak florescent lights that shone on the cars were making her feel nauseated. She would rather feel the moon’s rays on her skin instead. She had a suspicion they would clear her mind.

  Zane followed her through the parking lot until she stopped in the dark and tilted her face to the moon.

  “I get the feeling that Selene might have been lying,” he said in a soft tone.

  It was Scarlet’s turn to shrug as she looked at him. “What does it matter? Archer and I have nothing going on.”

  Zane’s lips curled in a way that made Scarlet realize that the woman who would get this man, was going to have heart palpitations every time he smiled.

  “Who are you trying to fool? Yourself? Because I’m not buying what you’re selling.”

  “Let it go, Zane, please.” She tilted her head back up to the moon and drew a hungry breath. Something deep in her mind unfurled and stretched in the silver rays.

  What was that?

  Scarlet looked back over at Zane, and wondered if his presence was what caused the feeling.

  She was about to ask him when his eyes widened, and he rushed her. Scarlet had no chance to react as he threw her sideways. She fell to the ground, and rolled to watch him summersault, and launch a kick into the face of the man who had attempted to grab her from behind. Had Zane not seen him, Scarlet would not have noticed.

  Their attacker recovered from the kick, and swung a punch at Zane. The vampire ducked it with no effort, and retaliated with a left hook, staggering the attacker.

  Scarlet scrambled to her feet. She knew there had to be more than one. Her luck was bad enough tonight that there was probably an army hidden in the darkness. She strained her eyes to see more. She was right—more men attacked Zane, trying to remove the threat he posed from the situation.

  “Scar! Behind you,” Zane yelled out, between breaths as one of the men connected a solid punch in Zane’s gut.

  Scarlet gasped as the second assailant grabbed her left arm. “I’ve got the bitch,” he crowed out to his accomplices.

  Scarlet spun, slamming her right elbow into his solar plexus, where the man doubled over, gasping for the breath she’d stolen.

  Someone grabbed her hair and it felt as if her neck would snap as someone else yanked her head back. With tears streaming down her face, she pulled her head forward, leaving a chunk of hair in his hand.

  Scarlet flattened her palm and spun, connecting with the other man’s cheek. He screamed as her hand left a burn mark across his face that glowed orange in the dark. He stumbled back from her, then launched another attack.

  * * * *

  Archer’s warning to Selene was punctuated by a man’s base scream. Both of their heads snapped toward the door, but Selene moved faster than Archer, using her body to barricade the front door of the motel room, so that Archer had to get past her to get out of the room.

  “No.” she emphasized the n sound in the word. “I will not let you leave here. You are coming home with me.”

  “I’ll warn you once to get out of my way, and then I’ll physically remove you. The choice is yours.” He stood with his feet planted in front of her. If she knew him half as well as she claimed to, she’d know he meant to get out of that room and no one was going to stop him.

  She shook her head, her silver hair shifting over her shoulders.

  “You have to come home with me. I’ve waited long enough.” She reached for him. “I need you, baby. I need you like I need oxygen.”

  “Find someone else to need. I’m not on your list anymore. I never was.” Every second he had to waste talking to Selene meant that Scarlet could be getting hurt.

  Archer felt his beast assert control over his body, the change starting, and this time he didn’t do anything to stop it.

  “Move, now,” he ordered, the words distorted as his l
ower and upper canines slid into place, and his jaw changed shape.

  “I can’t,” she whispered, sounding close to tears.

  Archer refused to believe that. Selene could turn on the tear-tap at will, and she often used those saline drops as a weapon. He’d been on the receiving end of that particular weapon more than a few times.

  There was another scream, and this time, it was a woman’s voice.

  Archer tilted his head and shrugged. “Have it your way.” He launched forward, shoving her to the left. In the same fluid motion, he gripped the door handle and opened it with such force that the hinges screamed a protest.

  Braced as she was, Selene still hit the floor hard, her breath exploding from her body in a shocked gasp.

  Archer ignored her as he ran past her prone form into the parking lot, tracking the sounds of a skirmish with his keen hearing.

  * * * *

  The attackers overwhelmed them by sheer numbers. There were twenty men against only Scarlet and Zane. The vampire was bleeding from a number of wounds, but the assailants paid in blood for every drop of his they spilled.

  Zane was facing the brunt of the battle, and Scarlet kept half an eye on him as she fought of her own attackers. She was amazed at the way the vampire fought.

  She would never have guessed from his boyish looks that he could kick ass as well as he did. He moved like liquid and grace, launching kicks and flipping summersaults that made Scarlet wonder where he was hiding his anti-gravity pack.

  She forced her mind back to the fight as another one of the attackers tried to approach her. Scarlet’s rage notched up a level. What the hell had she done to deserve this type of drama in her life?

  Her arms ignited, the flames dancing up along her forearms like a burning gloves.

  “Just co-operate. We won’t hurt you if you co-operate,” one of the attackers wheezed, out of breath.

  “Bite me,” Scarlet barked out as she launched herself at the nearest of the men. She didn’t see the Taser hidden in the dark folds of his jacket, but she felt the hit.

  Scarlet screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground as all her muscles stopped obeying her body’s instructions and spasmed.

  “Cuff her and get her wrapped in that flame resistant tarp.”

  A man stepped forward, pulling her arm behind her back to cuff her. He wasn’t gentle, making Scarlet scream in pain again. He planted a knee in her lower back, and ground down. “Shut up, bitch. I’m going to make you pay for this.”

  Scarlet twisted her head to see the man whose face she had burnt. He dug his knee in deeper as he reached for her other arm.

  Scarlet saw the shadow a moment before the man was flung off her, the air filling with the sweet sound of her attacker screaming like a woman. She turned to see a huge beast rake its claws across the man’s stomach, spilling his intestines all over the tarmac

  Massive shoulders bunched as the creature pivoted and faced the rest of the attackers.

  Zane looked over and yelled out, “About fucking time Archer… Seriously.” Then he went back to putting the attackers in the dust.

  Archer?

  Scarlet couldn’t believe it. So, this is what he looked like as a full wolf-man. She shuffled to sit up and watched him attack the remaining assailants.

  The battle didn’t last more than a moment before the bad guys realized they were out of their depth.

  “Fall back!” The leader yelled as he turned and ran.

  “Retreat!” another ordered.

  “Stand and fight, cowards,” Archer growled as he grabbed for one. He managed to snag a claw in the back of the man’s coat, and Scarlet almost laughed as the man tried to continue running. He didn’t succeed and ended up doing a cartoon-like running-in-the-air motion.

  Archer spun him around and wrapped a big, meaty, clawed hand around the man’s throat. “Who are you working for?”

  The only response Archer got was a gurgling sound.

  “Give him breathing room, Arch.” Zane was bent over with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

  Archer loosened up his hold a little, and repeated the question. “Who do you work for, and what do you want?”

  The man clenched his jaw. “Fuck you, werewolf.”

  Archer growled and shook him almost breaking the guy’s neck. “Answer or die.”

  “Kill me, then.”

  Archer dropped the guy to the ground and pulled back his right hand, curling it, so his claws were at their most dangerous. “Have it your way.”

  “No—wait.” He held up his hands covering his face. “The woman. We were after the woman. Jasmine sent us to get her alive.”

  “Jasmine.” Scarlet gritted her teeth, which made Archer turn to look at her.

  Scarlet couldn’t hide her gasp. Archer was a monster, his face—she took an involuntary step back.

  “Don’t be scared, Scarlet.” Archer’s voice was distorted as he extended a huge paw like hand towards her.

  Scarlet’s eyes widened further as his lower and upper canines grew until his mouth was all teeth. Most of his face was covered in fur and his ears were long and had tufts of hair on them. His nose seemed compressed, half-animal half-human.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he said again.

  “He won’t. You know he won’t hurt you,” Zane said, and then he cursed. “Our little mini drama here has allowed the bad guy to escape.”

  Archer spun back toward where he’d left the man. Then he did some cursing of his own. “I wasn’t done talking to him.”

  “Ha. You mean torturing him for info, right?”

  “Shut up, Zane.” Archer turned back to Scarlet, and she could see the changes in his beautiful face, were beginning to reverse themselves. He was turning human again.

  “Looks like we are gonna have to worry about Jasmine as well as the Enforcers now,” Zane spoke.

  “What do you mean we?” Archer growled.

  “I’m going with you, of course.”

  Chapter Three

  By the time Archer stomped into the motel room, he was fully human again. “You aren’t coming with me, and I’m not arguing about it anymore.”

  “You need me. What if I hadn’t been here tonight?” Zane sat down on the arm chair, and stretched his legs.

  Scarlet voiced her opinion. “He is right. If he hadn’t been there—” She didn’t mention the fact that Archer had been in the motel room with Selene during the attack of Scarlet. “I would have been kidnapped, and for the record, I’m getting really sick of people trying to kill, kidnap, or damage me.” She yanked her shirt sleeves up in frustration.

  She looked around the small room. The woman was gone. ”Where is Selene?”

  Archer looked at the side of the bed where Selene had put the First Heart down. It wasn’t there. “She left.”

  Scarlet raised her brows and stared at him, waiting for more of an answer.

  “She’s gone, and that’s all that’s important.”

  Scarlet raised her arms to the heavens in silent supplication. Why did the male have to be so stubborn?

  “What?” she asked when both men stared at her arms.

  “What’s wrong with your forearms?” Zane asked, sitting forward.

  Archer stepped towards Scarlet, and took one of her hands into his. She stifled a hiss of pain as the calloused skin of his palms scraped a blister open. Her eyes widened as she looked down at her arms. From her finger tips to her elbows, she had blisters covering her arms. She had second-degree burns all over her forearms.

  She fought the urge to panic. Her flame was burning her. She was going to die. Her face must have paled because Zane stood and leaned over her burnt arms, too.

  “Don’t worry, see…” The vampire pointed to the upper part of her forearm. “It’s healing already.”

  He was right. The blisters there were fading back into pink healthy skin.

  “That’s not the point.” Archer’s voice was stark. “Scarlet’s flame is burning her.” He gripped her chin
with his thumb and finger, tilting her face up so she looked him in the eye. “Promise me you won’t use your flame.”

  For a moment, Scarlet felt as if the intense blue of his irises was hypnotizing her. Then his dark hair fell forward to cover one eye, breaking the spell. “How can I make that promise? When I use flame, it’s all knee jerk, and no conscious thought.”

  “We need to buy a little time.” He moved his hand to her cheek splaying his fingers over her face, and Scarlet lost the fight not to rub her cheek against his palm.

  “So, you have to try. Your life literally depends on it.” His voice grew rough. “I don’t want you to burn up.”

  Archer dipped his head forward, his lips a breath away from hers, and Scarlet found herself holding her breath, waiting, desperately wanting his kiss. She forgot all about Selene, and that Archer was Selene’s property.

  Zane cleared his throat and muttered, “Why do I suddenly feel like I need to be anywhere but here?”

  Archer jerked back and let go of her face. Scarlet sat back. How could they have forgotten Zane was standing right there?

  “Yes, sadly, I just ruined that for you,” Zane said, in a deadpan tone. “Now, are we leaving here or what? We have no idea when Jasmine will send her evil henchmen back.” He wiggled his fingers in front of his face and pulled such an evil expression that Scarlet felt her lips curl in a smile.

  “Shotgun.” She had to hide the grin at Zane’s shocked expression.

  “That was low. You didn’t say for sure I was coming with you and Archer, now I’m stuck scrunching my long legs up.”

  “It’s an SUV. You’ll live.” Archer started putting things in the bag and tidying up the room as well as he could.

  Scarlet went into the bathroom to make sure there was no evidence of her cleaning up the bite Archer had given her. She did a turn to double check. Then, she left the bathroom to fetch her stuff.

  Archer and Zane were waiting at the door. “Walk between us.” Archer took the lead, reaching his left hand back to take hers as they walked to the car.

  “Your She is definitely gone.” Zane pointed at an empty parking bay.