I waded in, knocking wargs aside and peeling them off the dog pile forming over Graeson. I had almost reached the bottom when the sterling wolf surged upward, a howl on his lips. We fought them off, back to back, keeping Harlow penned between us.
The onslaught thinned, and I risked a hopeful glance at Graeson.
I didn’t see the slender black wolf bulleting toward me until she hit me in the chest and knocked me sailing backward. I slid in the muck until the back of my head went cold and wet. Aisha stood on my chest, planted one paw on my forehead and dunked me underwater. I came up spluttering and hooked my claws into her sides. All that did was haul her closer, and she clamped her jaws around my throat. Her teeth were sharp on my skin, her breath hot and smelling of copper. I expected the snap—of her jaws, of my neck—but she savored her victory.
Eyes rolling in my head, I spotted Graeson mid-shift. The tension left my body, a weightless sensation ebbing from my center. This wasn’t the way I wanted things to end for us, but at least he would be the last thing I saw on my way out of this world. That mattered to me. A lot, I realized.
Roaring a battle cry, Graeson pivoted on his heel and lunged at Aisha. Jaws ratcheting tighter, she rumbled an eager sound in her chest. Sharp points pierced my skin, hot blood trickled down the sides of my neck, and I gasped a soundless cry as the former alpha female brought her jaws together with a powerful clacking of teeth. I gurgled a scream that died in the throat I no longer had and sank into darkness.
Chapter 19
Sunlight bathed my cheeks and teased my eyes open. Exposed beams slashed dark lines across a white ceiling. Thick log walls and rustic décor swam into focus, and recognition kicked in about the time a grizzled face leaned over me.
Graeson was here, and he had brought me to his home to recover.
“Hey,” I managed, wincing at the searing burn in my throat.
“Hey.” Graeson braced his hand on the pillow beside my head, his thumb smoothing over my cheek. “Are you staying with me this time?”
Eyes tender, I blinked him into focus. “Hmm?”
“You’ve been unconscious for three days.” His thumb ventured lower and stroked my bottom lip. “You’ve woken up a few times, and I’ve fed you and forced you to take blood. Your eyes weren’t so bright then. You look like you’re all here now.”
I rubbed my thumb over the nail concealing my spur and found it crusty with dried crimson flecks. “I’m not a vampire.”
“My blood helped heal you once.” He wisely moved his hand before the thought entered my head to bite him. “I figured it was worth a shot.” He tucked the covers in around my hips. “Aisha did a number on you.”
“Harlow?” My hand went to the bandage wrapping my throat. “Is she okay?”
“She’s gone.”
“The pack?” I jolted upright, tangling my legs in the sheet as I swung them over the edge of the mattress. “We have to get her back before—”
“No, sweetheart, I mean she’s gone.” He grimaced. “I turned my back on her when you were attacked, and she ran for it.”
“We have to find her.” Head swimming, I fisted my hands in the sheets to anchor me. “We can’t leave her out there for Bessemer.”
“The pack swept the forest.” When I would have protested, he added, “I searched the caves myself. She didn’t go back there. An erasure spell was used. There’s no trace of her.”
Gone again. Free in the world half-mad with Charybdis’s influence and no one to protect her. “Is Isaac okay? Aunt Dot?”
“They’re both fine. They’re in town fueling up and gathering supplies for the trip. Isaac mentioned hitting the post office while he was there too. The rest of the pack made it out with mostly bumps and bruises.” Gold rimmed his irises where the wolf pushed against his emotions. “You were the only near-fatality.”
“What happened after…?” My fingertips brushed the edge of the bandage that crinkled when I spoke.
“I returned the favor.” Simmering fury roiled in his eyes. “Aisha has been exiled from the pack, not for what she did to you, but for abandoning her station as Emily’s guardian.”
I doubted she would be missed. “Clearing the way for his new mate by getting rid of the old one.”
“So it seems.” He fussed with the fabric knotted around my feet. “With Harlow missing and Aisha wounded, Bessemer called off the hunt.” He rubbed my toes with his palms. “While you were recovering, he and I had a long-overdue talk about the health of the pack.”
I scooted to the edge of the mattress. “Does that mean you talked him into accepting Dell back?”
“No.” A half-smile crooked his lips. “It means she won’t be going into exile alone.”
“Oh no.” I gazed around his bedroom, through the door leading into the living room and stalled out on the row of neat shoes lined along the wall. “You didn’t.”
“It’s been a long time coming.” His warm palm covered my knee. “The only reason he didn’t kick me out when I started making waves is my mother was a Chandler. I was the only warg in the pack who could have challenged him at any time on the grounds of the land and people being my birthright.”
A sense of awe rolled over me. “Your parents were the alphas?”
“My great-grandparents founded this pack.” His thumb made circles on the inside of my thigh. “Families loyal to the Chandlers haven’t been making Bessemer’s job any easier either.”
“You can’t leave.” I clapped my hand over his. “Graeson, think.”
“I can’t stay here.” He tilted back his head. “The memories… I can’t.”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes at the magnitude of his loss. Marie. His pack. His home. His birthright. “Are you sure?”
His nod was tight. “Any children I have will inherit the right to challenge for control of the Chandler pack, but I gave Bessemer my word I don’t want it. I’ve promised him twenty years of peace, time enough for his daughter to grow into her role, for his pack to strengthen and…for me to form my own.”
My head spun. “You’re founding a new pack.”
“I am.” He laughed at my amazement. “There’s a mountain of paperwork involved. I’ll have to scout property and forge alliances with neighboring packs, but it’s all doable. My parents were well liked and respected. I can make it work.”
“Are you doing this for Dell?” His loyalty to her and hers to him was so absolute I could picture him making a sacrifice this size for her. She was family, and he wouldn’t abandon her. “I just—I want you to be sure.”
“Dell is a good friend, and I wouldn’t let her face this alone, but no. I didn’t do this for her.” He squeezed my knee. “I didn’t do this for you either, so wipe the guilt off your face. This is for me. For them. This was my call, and it was the right one.” He straightened from his crouch and sat beside me. “It was my duty as beta to strengthen this pack, but I let resentment over Bessemer taking the reins when I was too young to hold them poison me against him. I rebelled, and I was dominant enough to drag others with me. I caused strife and turmoil, and he should have booted me out years ago. He would have if not for Marie and our bloodline.”
His weight dragged down the mattress, and I slid against him but wasn’t in any hurry to move away. Was this goodbye? Was that where this was headed? “Where will you go?”
“Wherever you go.” He didn’t miss a beat. “What did you think?” He folded me against his side. “That I would give you up just because we’re no longer betas? No longer Chandlers?” A chuckle worked through his chest and vibrated through mine. “We’re alphas now, mate. These stragglers following us out of Georgia? They’re fifty percent your headache.”
“No.” I sat up and shoved him off me. “I’m not an alpha. I’m not a warg. They won’t listen to me—to a fae.”
He caught my wrists and held me captive. “Did you wonder why they didn’t attack you at the pond?”
The pack had been acting odd around me, odder than usual. “I’m n
ot going to like what you’re about to say, am I?”
“Wargs have their own creation story, and I think it’s time you heard it.” He linked our fingers. “It goes something like this.” He cleared his throat for effect. “The gods created wargs in their image. They were swift and fierce and loyal. One of the gods, Citlali, grew so enamored with their creation that he fell in love with a warrioress. Her name was Zyanya, and she was the most beautiful of all the females. Her fur was silken and the color of silver ingots. Citlali was a fire god, and one day, unable to rein in the impulse, he stroked his hand down her spine and the tips of her fur blackened.” He trailed his fingers down my arm. “Zyanya, who looked to Citlali as a father, was unable to return his affection and told him she had fallen in love with a member of her pack. In his rage, Citlali gripped her—an ear in each fist—and tore her in two. Out of control, he strode through the pack, tearing each member apart.”
I recoiled. “That’s a horrible story.”
“That’s not the best part.” He shushed me. “The other gods were furious that he had destroyed their greatest creation. They tried to put the two halves back together again, but the wargs were indelibly altered.” He lowered his voice. “They remained half wolf and half human. They no longer functioned as one creature but two. From that day on, wargs were either man or beast, but never both.”
And I thought Gemini lore was brutal.
“Once Zyanya had recovered, she petitioned the gods for the right to challenge Citlali, because her chosen mate had been put back together wrong, and she had been forced to take his life to spare him the agony of his deformity.” Graeson paused. “The gods granted her request, and the battle was fierce. Zyanya did a thing no one thought possible and killed Citlali. When he left his mark on her, she became god-touched, a goddess in her own right, and in her rage over losing her mate, she triumphed where they had expected her to fail.”
“So the pack thinks I’m a reincarnation of Zyanya?” I squinted at him. “Why? They know I’m fae.”
“They’ve never seen anything like you.” His smirk told me he liked it that way. “You can tap into the pack bond, you can maintain a half-shift, and even your scent is warg. They’re figuring out what I’ve known all along.”
My eyebrows climbed. “What’s that?”
Mischief sparkled in his eyes, and I knew not to trust what he said next.
Graeson leaned forward, lips brushing my ear, and whispered, “You’re a goddess.”
The burst of laughter that erupted from me caught him in its wake, and we sat there, shoulders bouncing, wheezing, until tears that had needed an excuse to fall pricked my eyes, and I collapsed against Graeson, happy to be in his arms.
There was no time for lounging around now that my eyes had opened. Cradling me in his arms, Graeson carried me through the woods to my trailer. He stole a kiss that left me dizzy, shooed me inside and ordered Dell to stand guard while he finished boxing up his belongings. Apparently my regaining consciousness had derailed the packing of his kitchenware, and he wasn’t going anywhere without his whisks or his impressive collection of frying pans. We had plenty of mouths to feed, so I encouraged his mania. For all he was giving up, he deserved to bring his favorite part of his home with him.
Bessemer had withdrawn his wargs from the area to give the exiled wolves and my family time to pack their things and ready for the long drive to…we didn’t know where yet.
Dell sat on the bottom step of my trailer, muscles tense, with eyes narrowed on the woods as though afraid Aisha lurked just outside her periphery. Graeson hadn’t been the only warg terrified of losing me.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come inside?” I called out to her. “I can brew some chai. I’ll even let you put ice cubes in it.”
The fine hairs lifted on my nape when she didn’t immediately answer, and my wolf aspect rose as I approached the door.
“Do you need a hand with anything?” Graeson ducked his head inside, craning his neck to see me. “Dell’s gone to finish packing.” His forehead creased. “Is something wrong?”
“No. I just—I was talking to Dell and didn’t realize she was gone.” Relieved to be back in my own home, I patted the counter. “I’m good here. It won’t take but another fifteen minutes or so for me to get everything secured and ready to roll.”
Noticing the clear plastic box on the table, he raised his eyebrows in silent question.
I waved him inside and gestured toward my collection. “These are all the items Harlow left me, minus the bunny.”
“Not all.” He bent down and picked something off the ground before joining me in the kitchen. “I brought this too, just in case.” He held out a plastic bag weighted with soggy items that dripped muddy water onto my floor in slow drops. “I brought everything that looked important.”
Taking the bag from him, I set it in the sink until I had time to pick apart its contents. I tore off a paper towel, dropped it on the floor and scuffed my foot to clean up the mess while Graeson looked on with amusement.
“Every little bit helps.” I tossed the used paper towel in the trash. “We need to figure this out. The things Charybdis said through Harlow…”
“Are you sure you want to pursue this solo?” His hand found my nape, and his heat radiated into me. “Things have changed.”
Everything—and yet nothing—had changed.
Charybdis was still out there. Harlow was too. Except now it was personal. “I can’t let this go. He threatened my family.” I bit my lip. “I’ll reach out to Vause if we find something concrete.” It might cost me my future with the Earthen Conclave, but this wasn’t the suicide mission it once might have been. “I won’t be reckless, I promise.”
“I understand.” His thumb caressed my pulse. “I had to ask.”
“You’re starting a new pack.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and dragged my gaze to his. “You have people you’re directly responsible for now.” I huffed out an exhale. “I can’t ask you to come with me.”
A hitch in his grip was the only sign I had stumped him. “I see.”
“Don’t say it that way.” It sounded too much like goodbye.
“You might think mate is a title you can shed like any of your other aspects, but it goes more than skin deep.” He ducked his head and teased his nose across my jaw, breathing me in like the first clean breath of air after the rain. “I can’t say I wanted you from the moment I set eyes on you. We both know that would be a lie.” His lips tickled across my skin as he spoke. “I can say I wanted you from the moment I saw who you are.” He placed one wide palm over my heart, and the heat curled my abdomen tight. “In here.”
“This is crazy,” I rasped, heart frantic under his touch. “I’m not a warg.”
“You’re not a coward either.” His mouth brushed my chin. “You’re mine, Ellis, and I’m not letting you go. You fought for me, very well I might add.” The hand over my heart slid behind my neck and threaded in my hair. “You won me.” A nip on my chin. “And now you’re stuck with me.”
All the years of not belonging crumbled at my feet, and I felt more exposed standing there in front of him, accepting that I was his as he was mine, than if I had been naked.
“We’ll do this your way. We’ll find your parents, make sure they’re okay and warn them.” He hooked a finger in the belt loop of my jeans and hauled me forward. “It’s time I met the in-laws anyway.”
A thousand arguments leapt onto my tongue like it was a diving board.
“Hush now.” Strong arms slid around me. “Don’t ruin the moment.”
Another stolen kiss, this one a fraction longer, hotter, but still too fast for me to react to except to widen my eyes, and then I was pulling back. “Do you hear that?” A buzzing noise interrupted my scrambled thoughts. Leaning around me, Graeson picked my phone off the table and put it in my hands. “Oh.” The number on the screen coaxed a tremor of unease through me. “It’s Isaac.”
Isaac, who never spoke on the phone except
on pain of death. Or when forced to shop, which amounted to the same thing.
“Who’s this? On second thought, I don’t care,” the gruff voice challenged before I got out a hello. “You know when that pump-blocking asshole’s coming back to move his rig?”
Foreboding slithered down my spine. “Why do you have my cousin’s phone?”
“Look, lady, I run the Murphey’s on Round Pond Road. One minute this guy is filling gas cans, and the next he’s gone. I checked the john. He ain’t in there.” Aggravation threaded his voice. “I found his phone when I searched his truck and dialed this number since it showed up in the call history so often. I was trying to ID him so I’d have something to tell the cops when they got here.”
More like he was hoping there was money or a gun in the glove box. I didn’t call him on it. I needed his help more than Isaac needed his twenty-dollar emergency fund.
“There was an older woman with him, his mother.” Eyes crushed shut, I massaged my temples. “She drives a mint blue vintage Ford F100 pickup.”
“Never saw her.” Sirens whirred in the background. “Hey, you going to come claim the truck or…?”
“I’ll be right there.” I ended the call, scrolled through my contacts and dialed Decker Comeaux, an elf I’d met while working on Marie’s drowning. A beep prompted me to leave a message. “Hey, this is Agent Ellis. There’s an incident at the Murphey’s on Round Pond Road. Meet me there as quick as you can.”
A black tide of panic rose until I had trouble sucking in a full breath.
Thanks to his sensitive warg hearing, I didn’t have to waste time catching Graeson up to speed.
Knowing me as well as he did, he guessed the turn of my thoughts with ease. “This doesn’t have to mean Charybdis is involved.”
“I can’t risk it.” I massaged my chest as though that might keep my heart beating. “I have to call Vause.”
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