Rylan snagged her arm and pulled her to a stop. He grabbed her face and lifted it up to his, then swore. He yanked her close, his arms like unbreakable bands as he tucked her against his chest. “Breathe, damn you.”
A trickle of air squeezed through her throat. The scent of him eased the tightness in her chest a fraction. The next breath was easier. She wheezed, her chest rattled, and finally succeeded in taking a full breath.
“It hurts.”
“I know.” He loosened his hold slightly, and she burrowed closer when the pain threatened to return. He ran a hand down her hair. “I know, but being around the pack will help. We need to get to the others.”
She gave a shaky nod. When he released her, the pain wasn’t as crippling. The creature tightened its hold, flooding her with warmth, but it barely filled the chasm of cold that had invaded. Then she got her first real look at Rylan. “You didn’t eat.”
His eyes were solid black. Holding her had to have been pure torture. He narrowed his eyes and bent closer. “Someone didn’t give me time, running off while I was down.”
“Idiot.”
He straightened and tugged at his jacket, the action smoothing his ruffled feathers. “I could say the same about you.”
Without another word, they took off again, quickly gaining ground on the others. “We can’t go home. We need to call them and have them clear out of the house.”
Rylan gave her an odd look. “They know.”
A frown crinkled her brows. “What do you mean?”
“They all felt the loss. They know trouble will be heading their way soon.”
Raven swallowed hard, burying the pain before it sucked her under and drown her. “We’re on our own. We can’t go to the Council for help and risk having more shifters fall under the Prime’s spell.”
“Agreed.”
“We need to give them a call to explain and prepare them for the fallout. They need to be aware of the danger in case we don’t succeed in stopping him.”
A slight sound caught her attention, and Raven picked up her pace. Someone was fighting nearby. Rage flooded her system, and the need for vengeance took over.
Rylan gave her a shove that sent her careening through the trees. She dodge, barely managing to avoid going splat against a large trunk. Her shoulder scraped the edges of the bark, shaving off a few layers of skin, and she snarled at Rylan. “What the hell?”
“They’re our people.”
Raven recoiled in horror, but Rylan grabbed her arm before she could escape. “You would never hurt your pack.”
A bitter laugh escaped. “You don’t know what I did to Dominic.”
Rylan didn’t back down. “What choice did you have?”
“I stripped his wolf from him.” Her voice cracked at the awfulness of it.
Rylan flinched, but stepped closer and hovered over her. “He wouldn’t have allowed you to do it unless there was no other choice. He trusted you. So I will ask again. What would have happened if you’d left him whole?”
She glanced away, unable to say anything.
“Those shifters we took out were completely consumed by magic. It was kill or be killed. Dominic wouldn’t have been able to live like that.”
Raven stared up at him in defeat. “No shifter wants to survive the loss of their beast.”
Rylan stepped closer, no fear in his face, the fool. “You’ll keep him alive long enough to fix it.”
“What if I can’t?” Raven voiced the fear that threatened to cripple her.
Rylan smiled. He lifted a hand as if to touch her, but ended up tugging at a strand of her hair instead. “You’ll do anything for your friends. If there’s any possible way to return his wolf, you’ll be the one to find it.”
He jerked his head in the direction of the others. “We need to keep moving.”
There were about forty people waiting for them, a mixture of witches and shifters. Durant and the shifters were faced off with a few of the witches, each side looking furious enough to come to blows. Dominic lay slumped on the ground, vulnerable without his wolf there to protect him.
Human.
Nicholas had removed his shirt, what was left of it, and covered Dominic. She could have kissed him for his thoughtfulness.
Raven flexed her fingers and tore her attention away from Dominic’s still form, vowing to do whatever it took to fix what she’d done. Pushing aside her doubts, she marched between the two opposing groups. “What’s going on here?”
Durant eased back a fraction, glaring at the small huddle of kids. “They wanted to leave you behind.”
“The longer we’re out in the open, the more dangerous it is for us. We can’t risk it for the life of one person.” The oldest girl turned to her, a certain pleading in her eyes for understanding.
“She saved your life!”
Raven raised her hand to halt Durant’s outburst. “They’re just responding according to the training they received in class. While that’s commendable, we had an agreement. We were covering your escape. There was no present danger to you. Had we been witches, would you have given up so easily?” The girl flushed, whether in anger or shame, Raven didn’t care. “Had we been any other paranormal group, your desertion would likely have started a very unpleasant feud. There comes a point where you have to make sure your decisions are choices you can live with in the end.”
“Where’s Thomas?” One of the shifters kept watching the tree line for him to emerge. “I won’t leave without him. He came back for us and saved our lives.”
Thomas…the jaguar. An immediate lump filled her throat, the ache threatening to suffocate her. She hadn’t even known the name of the man who gave his life for hers. She gripped her hands together to keep them from trembling, and her heart hurt all over again. “He didn’t make it.”
Durant gathered her in his arms. “I’m sorry.”
She shuddered, but his touch helped ease the gaping wound in her soul. She pulled away with a shaky breath. “We need to leave.”
“If you tell the shifters to step aside, I can open up the wards enough for us to enter.” It was a peace offering.
At Raven’s nod, the shifters parted. The girl walked toward the sheer rock face and put her hands on the stone. As if infused, magic rose from the pile of rocks, the strength of it making the hair on her arms stand on end.
A section of the wall shimmered. One moment the girl was there, the next she had walked clear through the mountainside. The rest of the witches quickly followed.
Durant stood in front of her, glaring at the wall suspiciously. “It could be a trap.”
Rylan shook his head, but made no move to enter either. “The witches can’t risk an all-out war.”
“What other options do we have?” Raven stepped between them and entered the void. The dark air felt heavy, and she could feel rock particles slide over her skin, drag against her body as she walked through the soupy mess, and she wondered if it would solidify before she reached open air. By the time she emerged through the twenty-foot side of the mountain, she was covered in dust.
The others quickly followed, all of them resembling a group of miners by the time they emerged. A few of the shifters touched themselves, clearly surprised they’d survived.
“This fortress hasn’t been used for decades. It’s a fallback shelter in case the compound was ever overrun.” The girl turned toward her, exhaustion drooping her shoulders, stealing the color from her face. “I consider our temporary alliance complete.”
“Then you best take us to your command post and alert them to our presence.”
The girl gave a relieved smile that she wouldn’t have to deal with trying to force them to the elders. The fortress was a warren of mazes. They traveled up and down so many slopes Raven lost track of how deep they were underground or how far into the mountain.
The main portion of the tunnel appeared to be a natural cave system, connected by tunnels hewn out of rock. The tunnel had to have been blasted out, but there was a smoo
thness to the floors that made her suspect magic had been used instead of explosives. A layer of scum was cemented over everything. The air was cooler, a bit moist. Instead of lights, there appeared to be gems placed every twenty feet or so, providing enough of a glow for them to navigate the narrow tunnels.
A few of the shifters appeared uneasy in the confined space. The farther they went underground, the more the surroundings began to feel like bunkers. The rock floor changed to cement. The lights switched to electric.
The more military it became, the more uneasy she felt, it was too much like the labs where she’d been imprisoned throughout her childhood.
When they rounded the last corner, a set of great doors stood before them, but instead of wood, they were solid stone. More curious, they had no knobs. The girl pressed her hand to the surface. Magic swelled, lighting up the symbols engraved on the stone. Rock ground against rock as the door rumbled open.
They entered an auditorium. Half the seats were filled. In the center of the room, stood a small group of witches…including Heloise.
A commotion erupted when they entered, and a number of people leapt up to hug the young witches. The shifters glanced at her, showing some loyalty, but she waved them off. “We’ll be fine.”
They scattered, quickly greeting the other shifters who’d managed to survive.
The last person she expected to see stood and strolled toward them.
Randolph.
Her creature hunkered down, so well hidden Raven barely sensed her. She remained alert, her claws pressed lightly against Raven’s gut, as if staking claim. Raven was glad for the support.
“I’m pleased to see you made it, though I expected you sooner.” He spoke as if she was the only one who existed.
Durant crossed his arms, angling himself in front of her to block Randolph’s advance. “How convenient that you managed to disappear so early in the fight.”
Randolph frowned, and turned his attention to Durant. Raven’s breath stuttered in her lungs. She had to get Randolph away from her men. She wouldn’t survive another loss. “We have more important things to discuss at the moment…like how we get out of here and defeat the Prime.”
Taking a gamble, she pushed past both men. When neither moved to follow, her heart plummeted. She glanced over her shoulder and pinned Randolph with her gaze. “Coming?”
With a smug smile, he strolled to her side.
She, on the other hand, wanted to run.
Chapter Seventeen
DAY FIVE: 1 AM – UNDERGROUND FORTRESS
Raven was conscious of every step she took away from her pack, the pain like a railroad spike being hammered into chest. A quick glance revealed that when Durant had tried to follow, Rylan grabbed his arm. She gave him a grateful nod, then focused all her attention at the biggest threat at the moment—Randolph.
“I don’t understand. Why did the Council send you?”
“They didn’t.” He flashed a secretive smile, pleased that she’d figured out his little joke. “I came on my own.”
She nearly stumbled over her own feet. She was trapped inside an impenetrable fortress with the Council’s finest assassin while the Prime waited outside to decimate her pack and claim her for his own.
What had she done to end up wedged between two such destructive forces?
“I didn’t request your service. I won’t be indebted to you.” She picked up her pace, eager to put distance between them, and the trouble that always accompanied him.
He easily kept pace. “I came because it amused me. You owe me nothing.”
He was too agreeable. She didn’t trust it. A chill snaked down her spine at the thought of him being free to roam around where she couldn’t keep an eye on him, using that time to learn about her strengths and weaknesses.
It couldn’t have come at a worse time, when her creature was so volatile and the uneasy truce between them so fragile.
As Raven approached the small knot of witches, they fell silent. Heloise turned, her face set in a fierce frown. “You shouldn’t have come.”
Raven circled until she had her back to the wall. “If I hadn’t, you and your kids would be dead.”
“This is a witch’s safe house. No outsiders have ever been invited.” The woman who spoke was older, her outrage and dislike clear.
“Don’t blame your problems on me. You might want to remember I didn’t start this war.” The woman looked mad enough to spit. “But I might be able to help you. Tell me about this wild magic.”
No one spoke, and Raven sighed at their tightlipped silence, angry that they’d let their secretiveness put everyone in even more danger. “He took on your whole coven, destroyed your school, and none of you were able to do anything to stop him. If you don’t want my help, say so now.”
Heloise gave a short nod, acknowledging that they wouldn’t get out of there alive without help. “The primitive magic he used is a forerunner to our own magic. It’s more powerful, but the costs are higher. It searches for the best and the strongest and will jump from host to host until it gets what it wants.”
“The wolf.” Raven whispered more to herself than anyone else. “He wanted a way to save the shifters from being used as familiars. He turned to magic for a way out.”
“More likely the ancient magic had found him, using the wolf to gain a foothold into our world.” Heloise waved her hand as if it was unimportant. “It fed him the illusion that he could solve the problem by destroying the witches.”
“He was being controlled.” A trickle of pity swept through Raven. “It tries to gauge what you want most then lures you into helping it, almost as if it is sentient. But what does it want?”
“Sentient only up to a point.” Heloise pursed her lips. “It wants to live, but it needs a host in order to survive. Not everyone is suitable, and it’s seeking the perfect candidate, craves to find someone who can endure the burn of a lot of magic.”
“The Prime.” Something about Heloise’s grim tone put Raven’s hackles up. “What happens now it found one? What does it want next?”
The coven members, all of them, stared at her as if she was daft. “You.”
“That makes no sense at all. I’m not a witch. I’m nothing to him.”
Heloise advanced, moving with an angry swish of her skirts. “And yet his first order of business had been to set a trap for you. By coming here, you just endangered everyone. Tell me why you’re so important.”
Raven shook her head, completely baffled. “He shouldn’t even know I exist.” Then she hesitated.
Heloise eyes sharpened like a hawk with a mouse in its sight. “Tell me.”
“I’m nothing to the Prime, but the wild magic has touched me and my men more than once. It seemed…” she searched for the right word, but nothing fit, “…curious.”
Heloise waved her hand. “He didn’t want your men. You’re part of a pack. By taking your men, he weakens you.”
The thought of him going after her pack set Raven’s teeth on edge. She wasn’t going to let it happen. “And once I’m vulnerable?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? He has been waging an all-out war on us, and he didn’t get so much as a hangnail until you came along.” If she could, Raven had no doubt Heloise would cut her open to see what made her tick. “You injured him today.”
“If I’m a threat, then why not kill me outright?”
Heloise studied her in a way that made her skin crawl. Ownership. “That’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it?”
“How many exits does the fortress have?”
Heloise took the change in conversation easily. “Two.”
Lie.
“If what you say is true, your Prime will be heading this way soon. We’ll need to post guards.”
Heloise crossed her arms, clearly not pleased at being told what to do. “They’ve been sealed with wards.”
Raven refused to back down. “He will shred them.”
“Normally, you’d be right, but magic has been u
sed in this place for generations. The very stones are infused with it. Even the Prime doesn’t have enough power to take it all…at least not easily. He’ll have to work for it.”
“Give me and my men time to recoup, a few hours, and we’ll be gone.” Raven had no idea where she could go to keep her people safe, but she knew they needed to strike a deal before the witches decided to hand them over to the Prime in order to ensure their own survival.
“I’d like nothing better than for you to leave, but we cannot afford for him to get his hands on you.” Heloise nodded to a few of the guards in the room. “For the moment, you will be our guest. I’ll have you shown to where you will be staying.”
Raven didn’t put up a fuss. It was better than what she could have bargained for on her own. She suspected Heloise was paying her back for coming to their rescue, but she couldn’t be sure how long her generosity would last. She needed to come up with a plan and fast.
When she joined her men, she surveyed the room, and saw Randolph had slipped away. Escaped the joy of having an armed escort.
They were shown to two rooms. Rylan and Nicholas entered the first room, more of a cubbyhole than a hotel suite. Raven followed Durant to the second room, where he set Dominic down in the middle of the bed.
Dominic had lost weight already, wasting away without his wolf. Lines bracketed his mouth while he slept, struggling with the loss even while he was unconscious. A tiny part of her trembled at knowing he might never wake, too heartsore over the magnitude of the blow she’d dealt him. Since there was nothing she could do to help, she tore herself away and headed down the hall to wash away the gore and stench of battle. The others had already left to do the same. She had one hour before they regrouped.
The bathroom was nothing more than a stall and sink. If she moved, she bumped into one or the other. When her hip collided with the sink for the second time, Raven yearned for Durant’s monstrous shower.
She scrubbed the blood from her hands, but the stains went much deeper. She avoided the ancient, warped mirror above the sink, unable to face herself after today’s epic failure. She’d been cocky, confident she’d be able to rescue everyone. Instead, they were all prisoners now. She delayed meeting the others as long as possible, struggling to pull herself together so they wouldn’t see how close she was to shattering.
Electric Heat (A Raven Investigations Novel Book 3) Page 18