by Jami Gray
Grief, anger, and helpless fury washed over the shifter’s face. “Taking him home.”
“No.”
Carlos leaned over Eric to snarl in Gavin’s face. “You can’t stop me.”
Nothing changed in the way Gavin held himself, but Raine felt his readiness. It wouldn’t take much to send them both back to wrestling in the dirt. They didn’t have time for a pissing contest. They needed answers and the geas was making a comeback, like an annoying flea, snipping at her skin, each bite digging deeper.
Crouching, she snagged Carlos’s chin and dragged his fierce face to her. “Why did Lizbeth attack you?”
“There was a phone call this morning for the alpha. When he got off, he was furious. He told Lizbeth to stay at the ranch and ordered me to watch her. He took Andrew to meet with your alpha. Before he left, Tomás and Lizbeth argued. She wanted him to take both of us. He refused.”
“Smart man,” Gavin commented.
Since Raine still held his face, Carlos rolled his eyes to Gavin. “How do you figure?”
“Our alpha is coming to discuss the kidnapping of his Tracker,” Gavin explained. “If Tomás brought more than one person to stand with him, it would considered a challenge.”
Carlos ripped his face free of Raine’s grip, leaving the red marks of her fingers behind. Anger and arrogance warred over his bruised countenance. “We have nothing to do with your missing wolf. Your alpha shouldn’t even be here.”
“We’re not here to argue with you,” Raine cut in. “Tomás left, Andrew went with him. What did Lizbeth do?”
Carlos narrowed his eyes, something flickering across his face. “She was restless. Unable to settle, on edge.”
“Why?”
His answer was slow in coming. “I don’t know. Perhaps she was still upset with her mate. She wanted to go for walk.”
“A walk?” That made no sense to her. Carlos gave a sharp nod. “Why?”
For the first time, he dropped his gaze, trying to hide the movement as he touched Eric’s still shoulder. “I don’t know.”
“Liar.” Gavin’s accusation rang through the quiet.
Carlos pressed his lips together, grimacing. “When she gets upset, she goes to visit Brett.”
Raine frowned. “Brett’s dead.”
“She loved her son a great deal.” The wolf raised his head, grim acceptance pushing his shoulders down. “He’s buried on the ranch.”
Mulcahy’s earlier statement echoed through her mind, “To raise a Soul Stealer, you have to be walking the edge of madness. That speaks more to a parent’s grief, than a girlfriend’s.”
“You called her crazy,” she accused softly.
Carlos flinched. “We were almost to the grave when we ran across Eric. He was out riding fences and got spooked. Said something was haunting Brett’s grave, that we needed to get someone out to bless the ground.” He paused and visibly swallowed. “Lizbeth went real quiet. She just stared at him. Then she gave him the creepiest smile I’ve ever seen.” A shudder worked its way over him, leaving visible goosebumps in its wake. “She said, ‘It’s just hungry, Eric. Why don’t you feed it?’”
Carlos stared at Eric’s broken body. “Lo siento, hermano. I didn’t know.” A lone tear wove its way down his face. He took a deep breath and raised his head, cold practicality carving his face into harsh angles. “She sent that abomination after Eric. You must stop her.”
Raine felt her fists clench as Carlos provided the final confirmation of who held the Stealer’s leash. “Is Xander with her?”
“I never saw her. The Stealer went after Eric and Lizbeth attacked me. I had a choice to go after her or Eric.” Painful misery clouded his face. “I lost track of Eric and the Stealer. Lizbeth was running in the other direction when I left.” This time neither Raine nor Gavin tried to stop him as he gathered the dying man into his arms. He pushed to his feet, and they rose with him.
“Where would she go?” Gavin asked.
“There’s an old shack out on the edge of the ranch about three miles out. She might go there.” Carlos turned to head back.
Raine touched his arm. He stopped, but didn’t look at her. “Does your alpha know about his mate?”
“No.” His voice was resigned. “He would not believe it.” He looked at the man in his arms. “Even I am having trouble understanding what has happened.” He shrugged off her touch and began his trek back to the ranch.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Gavin tried to reach Vidis once more as they started after Lizbeth. When he got the alpha’s voicemail, his explanation was short and to the point. “Lizbeth has Xander. She raised the Stealer. Tomás doesn’t know. We’re going after her. Ask Carlos for directions.”
The geas’s insistent tugging was back, and now the aching pull of Raine’s tracking magic was getting tougher to ignore.
“You okay?” Gavin stood behind her.
She shook her head. “It’s getting stronger.”
“It knows we’re coming.”
“I don’t think so.” She rubbed her palm over her chest, trying to alleviate the sharp pull of the magic. “The draw is coming from me.”
He raised an eyebrow.
Unable to explain it, she gave him the image burning behind her eyes. The world was a hazy, light-filled landscape of washed-out colors. One distinct band wove through the surreal surroundings, no end in sight. Even as they watched, it brightened briefly and the resulting painful tug dragged her forward a step. Something solid and heavy wrapped around her wrist, holding her still. The watercolor world slid away to be replaced by a broad chest. Tilting her head back, she read the worry and frustration in Gavin’s clenched jaw and furrowed brow.
“We can’t run into this blindly,” he said, his words sharp.
“I realize that,” she snapped. “If you have a suggestion, share, before I do my track-and-field impression.”
“Let me shadow you.”
“No.” The rejection was out before she could stop it. The last time she faced the Stealer, it almost won, taking her and Gavin with it. If she lost Gavin….a soul-chilling fear rose.
His eyes narrowed and his grip became a steel vise, but before he could say anything, the confusing morass of emotions pushed the words out of her mouth. “I can’t risk that.” She wanted to say, You, I can’t risk you. “If you shadow me, then the Stealer will have access to you. I can’t accept that. You save the others.”
He gave her a small shake. “Do you have so little faith in me? I’ve been facing down scarier shit than this for years.” He leaned down until his face was inches from hers, his gaze dominating her world. “Do you think I’m weak?”
There was no warning, no time to prepare as his magic slammed into her, tearing through every shield she possessed, laying her bare. Her initial reaction was to strike back, to destroy this threat, but a simple truth held her in check. This was Gavin. The man she loved. She never considered him weak. A weak man couldn’t capture her soul, couldn’t understand the darkness that made her who she was, could never stand beside her.
As he tore his way to the very heart of her, the warrior in her watched in awe. For the first time, she saw the full measure of the man she had tied her soul to. His magic was a cleaner, more defined version of hers. Where he faced the changes wrought in him by Lawson’s injection, she spent her life fighting and hiding from them. He took those changes and created something beautiful and deadly. She created something deadly, but fractured—not as deeply as it once was, but those fissures still existed.
His furious determination to prove he wasn’t weak burned through her. Her lack of confidence hurt him, and his pain scraped at her, but she knew better. Of the two of them, she was the weak one. Losing him would break the chain holding the monster clawing for dominance sending Raine crashing into a fathomless pit of nightmares. She would cease to exist.
His magic bore down and unable to hide the depth of her emotions, her words were torn from her soul, a plea from one heart to another
. “I can’t lose you. Don’t ask that of me, please.” She showed him what she would become without him, exposing her weakness, giving him the power to destroy her. The ugliness of the lurking monster inside shimmered like a dream on the cusp of reality.
His choice. Stay or leave. Because she would never be able to walk away.
The emotional storm changed, the fury riding the edge gentled, then wrapped around her, filling in the holes, until nothing separated what was Gavin and what was Raine. The feather light touch tracing down her jaw anchored her spirit to her body. She stared into his rough-hewn face as his gaze roamed over her.
“Don’t you understand?” He captured her chin and rasped his thumb over her lower lip.
She let her tongue follow his path, and he repeated the caress. The resulting curl of warmth had her pulse speeding.
“You can’t lose me.” His head swooped down and his lips captured hers.
With a gentle swipe of his tongue he coaxed her mouth open. She held nothing back. All her fear, her love, she poured into her response. Desire flared and the kiss deepened.
She dragged his head closer as she angled her mouth. The need to breathe became secondary. When he tore his lips away, she struggled to recapture them, only to find herself held captive as he rained small nips down her jaw. She arched her neck as he tugged sharply on her hair, leaving a clear path for his destructive caress.
There was no stopping her low moan as her body went pliant, melting against his dominant strength. His teeth raked lightly over the sensitive spot where her neck and shoulder met and her breathing stilled. She waited in almost painful anticipation, keenly aware of his tongue laving the area then the sharp sting as he bit down. Her body liquefied under that primitive press of teeth. Never in her life had she ever given anyone such a submissive response. Only him. Only Gavin.
He raised his head. Her eyes fluttered open and met the burning intensity of his gaze. Desire carved a ruthless beauty on his face. She rested her palm against the strong line of his jaw, the rasp of his stubble causing her stomach to quiver in delight.
He pressed a kiss against her hand. “I’m going to shadow you.” It was a statement with no give in it.
She curled her hand, holding that brief touch tight, and gave a small nod. It was all she could manage as her roiling emotions seethed and her throat constricted. There was no way to win this argument. They were warriors, and in this battle there was no room for her personal insecurities. Together they would find Xander, protect Vidis and Cheveyo, and take down the Stealer. The nasty grip of her trepidation, anger, and resentment began to loosen.
Unfortunately, the sharp tug of the geas and her tracking magic came back with a vengeance. The compelling power was like a blood-sucking tick as it latched on to the magical traces of the Stealer, tugging painfully on her, urging her to follow—now!
A particularly fierce pull had her hissing in a sharp breath and drawing out of his embrace. She stumbled forward a couple of steps before wrestling her body back under control. He grabbed her hand, and she clutched his offered anchor.
The geas was relentless. The demanding magics slammed into her. Her feet flew over the ground, the binding using the faint magical trail of the Stealer as its map. She sent a quick prayer to whomever was listening that Gavin would keep up.
Scenery passed in a blur of watercolors, but the writhing shadows, she now knew belonged to the Stealer, twisted like some evil fog just ahead. The overcast sky grayed the light of the early afternoon, leaching the color from everything. Fighting through the compulsive haze, she struggled to make sense of where she was.
Winter-bare limbs left scratches on her exposed skin as she dodged through the trees. Her boots splashed through sludgy, half-melted snow dotting the ground in drab piles.
Without warning, her body stopped. The abrupt movement sent her to her hands and knees. Head hanging down, she started cursing, low and vicious, as the demanding magic disappeared, leaving her winded and lost. Now that she was back, she reached down the tie to Gavin. “Where are you?”
“Not too far behind.”
She caught the sense of speed as he raced toward her. Relief loosened an unknown knot in her heart. “Hurry the hell up.” The soul-numbing chill heralding the arrival of the Stealer swept over her. “It’s coming.”
She pushed to her feet. The shadows were deeper here. They felt alive and not in a good way. Settling both wrist blades into her palms, she set her emotional upheaval aside and let her calculating Wraith mind weigh her options.
Through the dimming light, she spotted the shack Carlos mentioned. The weathered wood blended in with the surrounding trees. Two small windows sat like empty sockets on either side of the warped door. There was no discernible movement. She crept closer even as a skittering warning crept along her spine. She was being hunted. Considering the ice spreading through her soul, she knew exactly who the hunter was.
Scanning her surroundings, she tried to determine where it would attack first. A sickening sense of déjà vu hit. The scene before her was replaced by the clearing where she and Cheveyo fought the Stealer. Phantom pain tore through her leg, while ghosts shredded her spirit. She wrestled the haunting memories back. Distractions were lethal.
Using the sparse coverage afforded by the surrounding foliage, she worked her way closer to the cabin. Crouching at the foot of a tree, somewhat camouflaged by an olive-gray bush, she took in the deceptively quiet scene. A whisper of touch on the mental plane heralded Gavin’s arrival. She directed him to the other side so the two of them could approach the cabin from the front.
When he was in place, she sent out, “Ready?”
“Ready.”
Taking a deep breath, she pulled the colorful tapestry of magic over the real world. The shack was caught in a living spider web of black tendrils. Through their shared bond Gavin’s shock echoed hers. The web pulsated with evil, the magic a black living weave of flames. Melodramatic, but it was the only way to describe it. Somehow, she knew that to touch it would be lethal. As it undulated in a strangely hypnotic dance, she tried to determine the pattern of the corrupt energy.
“Raine!” Gavin’s mental bark snapped her out of the mesmerizing spell.
Tearing her gaze away, she focused on the ground at her feet. Regaining control took precious moments. She needed to see beyond that web. She needed to know who stood in the center. Using the same formidable will that got her through the months at the lab, she concentrated on the cabin. This time, she kept her attention off the web, peering behind it.
Faint, dull tones of shifter magic in a dusky purple, similar to the evening sky right before a storm, flickered against the far side of the cabin. Xander. The faintness of color worried her.
If she could make a hole in the web large enough for Gavin to get physically through, he could pull Xander free. Problem was, there was no way Lizbeth had left Xander unguarded. So, where was the female wolf?
Raine scanned again, this time taking her time even though every nerve in her body screamed to hurry. She knew Lizbeth was in there. No way in hell was Raine sending Gavin in without knowing where the bitch was hiding. It took several vital minutes, but Raine finally caught a glimpse of something from the corner of her eye. She stilled and waited.
This time she caught the gleam of sickly orange heavily wrapped in shadows. The flashes of color making brief appearances. Lizbeth was pacing in front of the windows. Raine quelled her need to burst in and drag Xander out.
Gavin’s quiet, “Wait,” was unnecessary.
Raine had one more threat to identify. The Stealer.
Chapter Thirty
Frustration mounted as Raine failed to sense the Stealer. Some sixth sense yelled it was close. Too close. “I can’t find it,” she sent to Gavin.
“Can you get me in?” His reply was unruffled, calm.
His steadiness bolstered her. “Maybe.”
On the psychic plane, she drifted closer to the spider-webbed cabin. The sensation of something
oily and smothering inched over her, growing stronger, the closer she got. As hard as it was to ignore, she couldn’t afford to get creeped out. Prowling around the magical web, she realized the ties flowed back into the shadow-covered presence of Lizbeth.
“It’s warding magic,” came Gavin’s quiet observation.
Connected as they were, she drew on his understanding of wards and began to plan. Each strand of the spider web was a ward. Each ward was anchored to something. Tracing the strands of disturbing magic, Raine discovered why the magic contained to the cabin. Lizbeth tied the wards to herself. Which meant, to weaken a strand to let Gavin through, Raine would have to weaken Lizbeth.
Grim satisfaction rose. She knew exactly how to break through Lizbeth’s wards. “Can you create this image?” She sent Gavin a picture of a young man with dark hair and laughing eyes. It was a wild plan and if Lizbeth was still sane, it would never work.
“Got it.” He was silent for a moment then, “Say when.”
Raine slipped back into her body and moved as close as she dared to the undulating wards. As she broke through the shaded protection of the trees. “Now.”
The image of Lizbeth’s son Brett formed in front of her. Standing behind and to the side of the eerily real image, she kept her blades visible. “Lizbeth Chavez,” she called, shattering the early afternoon quiet.
A strange, deafening silence fell. Not even the wind dared to dance through the trees. Raine held her position, half-hidden behind the illusion of the boy. To Lizbeth, it would appear as if Raine held her son hostage, raising every protective instinct the shifter possessed, something Raine counted on.
The door swung open and the blood-spattered mate of the Southwest Alpha stood in the doorway. Gone was the gentle wife and grieving mother. Instead, her honey-brown hair was a rat’s nest and her hazel eyes blazed with an insane fury. “Get away from my son!” She moved with smooth predatory grace to the edge of the rickety porch, only to pause at the first stair, the warding magic holding her in place.