Fighting Fate (Redwood Pack #7)

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  She didn’t break his hold.

  With his other hand, he moved to trace a design on her throat and shoulder, teasing, tempting. She arched her back, and he ran his hand down her front, between her breasts, over her belly.

  When his fingers slid under her underwear, she let out a little gasp. He spread her slowly then circled her clit with his middle finger. Her lower lip trembled as he twisted his wrist so he could use the heel of his hand to grind on her clit as he speared her with his fingers. Logan went slow, soft, relearning every curve of her so he’d never forget.

  As he picked up the pace, her breathing became shallow, her cheeks going pink.

  “Come for me, Cailin. Just to take the edge off. I’ll make you feel good, baby. Come for me.”

  Her head hit the wall softly as she came, her eyelids going half-mast.

  When she came down, he pulled back, licking his fingers. Her sweet taste burst on his tongue. He groaned, wanting more, and Cailin groaned with him.

  “That was so hot,” she whispered.

  “You taste like honey, princess.”

  “I want to see what you taste like,” she said as she stripped off her clothes then knelt at his feet.

  He pulled his shirt off over his head then spread his fingers through her hair so he could cup her chin, forcing her gaze upward.

  “You know what I taste like. Not that I don’t want your mouth wrapped around my dick, but I want tonight to be about you.”

  Cailin went to work on his pants, pulling them down over his ass. He helped her take them off fully then stood naked before her, his cock pressed against her cheek. She wrapped her hand around him and smiled.

  “I want you. Tonight will be about us. Not just me. And you know what makes me feel good? What makes me wet? Having you on my tongue and down my throat so I make you all wet with my mouth before you make love to me. That’s what I want.”

  He swallowed hard and pulled on her hair, loving the way she let out a little gasp. Just a little pain, not much, but what they both needed.

  “Then show me what you want, Cailin.” He gripped the base of his dick with his free hand and lowered his shaft to her lips. “Suck me.”

  He closed his eyes as she sucked the crown of his cock, using the flat of her tongue to tease him. Goddess, he had to see her on her knees in front of him.

  When he opened his eyes, he just about came at the sight of her hollowing her cheeks, sliding back from his dick and letting him go with a pop. He still kept his hand on the base, helping her guide him in, and his other hand tangled in her hair, keeping her hair back so he could see her eyes.

  He loved those eyes.

  She swallowed him then worked back, licking and teasing as she went down on him. Just as his balls tightened and he knew he was about to come, he tugged on her hair and pulled out of her mouth.

  “I want to be in you when I come,” he growled.

  “Then be in me,” she said simply.

  He had her in his arms and on the way to the bedroom in the next breath. Licking his lips, he laid her down on the edge of the mattress then knelt before her, putting her legs over his shoulders.

  “Logan, I thought you were going to make love to me. Not that your dark head doesn’t look amazing between my legs.”

  He lifted the side of his mouth in a grin. “I am making love to you, princess. Before I sink into this gorgeous cunt of yours, I’m going to taste you. I want you on my tongue tonight. That little taste I got from my fingers being tight within your pussy wasn’t enough.”

  It might never be enough.

  Logan spread her lips, taking a good look at her. When he lowered his head, Cailin let out a soft moan, her hand going right to his head. He grinned then blew cool air against her. He flicked her clit with his tongue, exciting another moan out of her. When she started to squirm, he sucked, nibbled, and licked up and down her pussy, putting his hands on her butt so he could get even more access. He toyed with her back hole before sucking on her cunt, her juices running down his chin. As soon as he felt her on the precipice of another orgasm, he pulled up, moved her to the center of the bed, and slid inside her.

  They both groaned, and he started thrusting slowly, flexing his hips. They clasped hands, their gazes on each other as they slowly made love. They’d had it fast, hard, and heady. Tonight, they just needed each other, just needed to remember why they were about to potentially sacrifice everything they had gained.

  With one last gentle push of his hips, they both came, their mating bond flaring. Cailin gasped, tears running down her cheeks, and he kissed them away, wanting nothing more than to take her pain, her worry.

  “I love you, Cailin Anderson.” The mating bond had made her his, just as he was hers. The legalities would be changed later. The actual mating ceremony and even a marriage ceremony performed by the Alpha weren’t necessary for each mating. It was something that could be done later—much later in some cases—if the pair wanted it. Logan wasn’t even sure Cailin would want one for a long time considering her father wouldn’t be performing the ceremony.

  “Love you too, Logan Anderson.”

  Hovering over her as they were still joined, he forced himself to let go of the rage, the worry, the anger over the unknown and what was to come.

  He and Cailin would make it work. They’d persevere.

  They had to.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cailin blinked at the unknown clearing, trying to settle herself. She wasn’t on Redwood land. Wasn’t near her den. No, her Pack and family were far away from what they’d known and hovered near the enemy.

  Waiting.

  The wind brushed through Cailin’s hair, and she turned her face up, needing the connection with the forest and everything moon goddess and wolf more than ever before. Brute strength would be needed soon in the coming battle; she could feel it deep inside. First, though, they needed to use cunning and magic so old that not even Emeline had known of it without searching among the tomes.

  The crowd gathered on the neutral ground, their enemy in their sights, as if from a long distance. The witches had used the remainder of their wards to protect their small group of fighters from the watching eyes of the Centrals, though they all knew it wouldn’t last for long.

  Just long enough to do what must be done.

  She rolled her shoulders then moved from foot to foot, stretching. She had no idea what would happen after they performed the ritual, but she knew it wouldn’t be good. In her worn jeans and tank, she felt ready to fight, even though she knew Logan wanted her to stand on the sidelines.

  If any other case, he would have wanted her to fight alongside him, but with her being pregnant, she had a feeling he wanted to wrap her up in cotton and never let the world touch her.

  That wouldn’t be happening though. Not with her connection to what had to happen next.

  Her wolf took the idea of fate relying on her as their due, something that made Cailin feel as though she was part of something greater than herself.

  Once she and Logan woke after making love, they’d known it was time to end what had been plaguing them for far too long. Today would be the day they killed Caym.

  There was no other option.

  Endless battles, torture, tears, and loss culminated in the moment she and Logan would combine their blood as Emeline chanted the words of a long forgotten race of wolves and opened the door to the hells where the fire burned so bright and hot that not even the demon Caym wanted to go back.

  Logan came to her side and did not speak, but his thoughts were evident on his face. He wanted to protect her but didn’t know if he could.

  She went to her tiptoes and cupped her cheek. “We will win.” She didn’t quite believe it, not yet, but she’d tell him that until they both could say the words and know them as truths.

  Logan leaned into her touch and closed his eyes. “I won’t risk you, Cailin,” he growled.

  “As I won’t risk you. That’s why we’ll be together. We’re not alone ei
ther, Logan. Look around. We’re gathered for a battle, and we’re not backing down. No matter what.”

  Her mate looked up and then over her shoulder. She followed his gaze and took in the sight of what would happen only once—what had never happened before.

  Forty of the strongest Redwood Pack wolves alongside twenty of the strongest Talons.

  It seemed the final battle in this war was on the horizon.

  They would put all of their blood and lives into this to send Caym back to hell. That was the only outcome they could accept. The only outcome they could live with.

  They’d fought the demon and his wolves before and had lost only because of Caym himself. This time, though, they had the magic they had long since searched for. They could break through the dark wards. They could defeat the demon.

  That was, of course, if the magic actually worked.

  Cailin swallowed hard.

  The magic had to work.

  Their plan was simple.

  Use the magic Emeline had found and do the bloodletting of Cailin and Logan. That would start the process that would open the portal to hell. Emeline was sure that the magic would not only open the portal but also alert the demons of Caym’s presence.

  Cailin just prayed that the other demons stayed on their line between the realms.

  They really didn’t need more demons on their lands.

  Then, when the wards were down due to Caym’s attack, they would be able to fight.

  “Are you sure this is going to work?” Gideon, the Talon Alpha, asked Kade for the third time.

  Her brother closed his eyes, and she knew he was begging for patience. It wasn’t that Gideon was annoying or even non-trusting. It was that the man was asking the same question they were all thinking.

  Everything rode on this spell, and they’d never used it before.

  Talk about pressure.

  “We’re here, Gideon,” Ryder, Gideon’s brother and Heir to the Talon Pack, said. “That alone means we’re trusting them. Let’s just get on with it.”

  It had surprised Cailin that so many of the Talons had come to fight. Not only had the Alpha and Heir come, but Gideon had brought one of his other brothers, Walker, who was also the Healer, and one of the Brentwood cousins, Mitchell, the Beta of the Pack. That made four high-ranking and powerful wolves ready to fight with the Redwoods.

  They had promised before they’d be on the Redwood’s side, Gideon and Mitchell even fighting alongside them before, but this show of force solidified something much deeper within the Packs.

  She’d never known of two Packs to work so closely before. Wolves were so secretive, so reclusive, she wasn’t sure this had ever happened.

  Grateful didn’t even begin to cover her feelings.

  The Talons had brought their enforcers and other members of the Pack to help fight if Caym decided to push the battle closer. The other members of the Talons and their hierarchy had been forced or elected to stay behind and protect their Pack.

  It made sense, as the Redwoods had done the same, even going so far as to evacuate to their hidden sanctuaries.

  On the outside, everything seemed as though it was spiraling out of control, but Cailin knew differently. All paths and trials had been coming to this point, this time in space and existence. The final battle was here. She just knew it.

  They would either win and defeat the demon or die trying.

  There would be no in-between.

  They had long since passed that barrier, that option.

  “What is our next step?” Gideon asked Kade, letting his earlier question pass after Ryder’s comment.

  Cailin gripped Logan’s hand, needing an anchor.

  Kade met her eyes, searching, and she gave him a nod. She was ready. As ready as she’d ever be.

  “Logan and Cailin will perform the ritual with Emeline. We will move and station our wolves around the wards and will fight when the time comes. Caym was so worried about Cailin and Logan before that we believe they need to be the ones to kill him. That doesn’t mean we will let them go at the demon on their own.” Kade met Gideon’s gaze. “I want us both near them at all times. Two Alphas against the Central Alpha. Caym might have let most of his stronger wolves die during our war, but I wouldn’t believe that is all he has. He’s incredibly cunning. We will all need to be on our guard. I don’t know what’s up his sleeve, but together we can kill the Centrals that get in our way. With our magic against his, we should be able to finally send Caym back to where he came from.”

  The others around them, her family, her Pack, the Talons, murmured in agreement, the tension and anticipation in the air so thick she could taste it.

  “Send him back to hell?” Walker, the Talon Healer, asked, his head tilted. “Is that your desire? Not to kill him, but to send him away?”

  Emeline, the sole elder in their presence, moved to stand beside Kade. There was a power about her today that Cailin hadn’t seen before. Almost as if the moon goddess herself surrounded the elder.

  Interesting.

  “We can try for both,” Emeline answered once Kade gave her a nod. “While sending his corpse back to the hell realm so no part of him remains with us, we might only be able to lock him back within the demons. We don’t know, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to try to make him pay for every sin, every death, every pain.”

  Cailin raised her head and howled at her elder’s words, the others joining her. The Talons howled as well, their harmony sweet, poignant.

  “We’ll stand beside you,” Gideon promised.

  “As we will you,” Kade vowed.

  The Alphas shook hands, and a sense of power washed over her, tickling her skin, shocking down her back.

  Emeline came to stand before Logan and Cailin. “Are you ready?”

  Cailin looked to Logan, searching his gaze for any sense of worry. Her mate merely nodded then lowered his head, brushing his lips to hers.

  “Together, Cailin. Always.”

  She nodded as well then followed Emeline to a stone bowl that someone, most likely Noah or Hannah, had set up on a pillar.

  “Go to your positions,” Adam called out, a sense of urgency in his tone.

  This was it. All of it. Everything had come to this.

  “We don’t know how long this will take or what Caym will plan,” Kade added. “Stay safe and stand beside your partner. We will not fail. We are Redwoods!”

  “And we are Talons, allies, friends, fighters,” Gideon called out.

  Howls went up, and then they dispersed. She watched her family leave to take their places, mates with mates, friends with friends. Cailin swallowed the ball of emotion in her throat, promising herself that this would not be the last time she’d see them.

  They would not lose.

  They’d already lost too much.

  Kade and Mel stood on one side of the pillar while Gideon and Mitchell stood on the other, surrounding Emeline, Noah, Cailin and Logan. Cailin had a feeling that only Emeline didn’t know why Noah was there beyond his abilities as a doctor, but that was a problem for another time.

  They’d deal with it all in the future because there would be a future to deal with.

  Logan squeezed her fingers then placed their clasped hands over her belly. “For her or him. I’m not letting you go without a fight, princess. I love you too much for that.”

  Cailin blinked back tears but raised her chin, ready to take back her life from the depths of despair and loss.

  “For her or him, Logan. I love you too.”

  Emeline looked between them, the sense of loss so potent within her eyes Cailin had to hold back a sob. The elder had lost even more than Cailin had over her life, but here she was, ready to fight. Cailin would do the same.

  “I’m going to cut your palms and then bind your hands together with rope,” the elder began. Emeline took a deep breath then licked her lips. “The spell calls for a binding of strength and memory.” She held out a fraying piece of rope, so worn and used Cailin knew t
hat this must have been something precious to the bearer. “This was the rope that held together my letters from my mate. I kept every single one he ever wrote to me before he died. We will use this to hold the two of you together in peace, ritual, and sacrifice.”

  Pain marred Emeline’s features, and Noah put a hand on her hip, steadying her. The woman’s eyes widened at the touch, and then she nodded, leaning into Noah’s hold.

  “Ready?” Emeline breathed.

  “Yes,” Cailin and Logan answered at the same time. “Always.”

  “Once I make the cut, the spell should work. Expect Caym to retaliate because we are cutting off his powers in some way in order to do this. I’ll be chanting, weaving the spell, so I won’t be of much use once I begin.”

  “I’ll protect you,” Noah vowed. “Keep your mind on the spell and what you need to do. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  Emeline nodded, not turning to meet Noah’s gaze, and Cailin was grateful for that. She wasn’t sure she could handle the new emotions from either of the two people in front of her along with everything raging inside her own body.

  “Hold out your hands,” Emeline ordered.

  With one last look at Logan, Cailin held out her palm, wincing as Emeline worked the blade with two quick, efficient strokes.

  “Palms together,” the elder ordered then began to chant in a language Cailin couldn’t understand but knew it held power and meaning.

  She started to become lightheaded, a warm sensation floating through her as Emeline bound their hands, the blood from her and her mate filling the small stone bowl.

  All at once, it felt as if a hot poker sliced against her ribs, her lungs. She called out, not able to hold back. Logan yelled with her, something weighty, substantial slamming into her from the inside out.

  Cailin met Logan’s gaze as the demon screamed.

  The fact that they could hear Caym not only in their heads but from the den itself didn’t surprise her.

  Not anymore.

  Caym knew.

  The mountain that the Centrals resided near roared.

  Then all went black.

  ****