by Karin Tabke
Lucien smacked him on the back. “Well done, my friend.”
“How did you know we were here?” Falon asked.
“Because Lucien is my alpha and I his sergeant at arms, we share thoughts,” Joachim explained. “Not to the extent that you and he do, but I get snippets of his thoughts when he opens them up to me.”
Falon nodded, digesting that information. Would she still be able to reach Rafe the same way, now that the marks had been exchanged?
She wrestled with the urge to find out. She could simply wish him well and know for sure…
“I need to make a call, angel face,” Lucien said, his voice light and chipper. She didn’t want to contemplate how much he seemed to be enjoying Rafe’s discomfort. Or if he was gloating. She glanced at him, and he laughed and said, “I am not such a prick as that, Falon. I know any unhappiness Rafe bears, you must in some way bear as well. I’m just happy to be here amongst my family again. It has been too long.”
She smiled brightly, his joy contagious. “I’m happy you are happy.”
He kissed her soundly on the lips and said, “Get something to eat, you’ll need your strength,” then strode back to the office.
Twenty-two
FALON GRABBED A sandwich from a laden tray nearby and ate quietly. It went down like a rock. Her stomach was still nervous.
“Falon, a word with you in private,” Rafael said flatly as he approached her, at the same time indicating they should go outside.
Falon swallowed the last of her sandwich and looked past his shoulder to see Anja watching them with the intensity of a hawk.
What of your chosen one?
She does not control me.
Untold relief flooded Falon. Her connection to Rafe was not lost.
You can still hear me?
I will always hear you.
Rafael extended his arm ahead of him, and Falon moved past him to the bustling compound yard. Rafe touched her elbow and guided her to a quiet place on the side of the large log structure that housed the pack. He did not remove his hand until she stopped and turned to face him. Guilt washed through her. His touch still stirred her. She acknowledged that it always would.
He cleared his throat and took a safe step away from her. He locked his hands behind his back as if he was afraid he would touch her.
“I won’t bite you,” she teased, trying to lighten the tension between them.
His aqua-colored eyes blazed fiercely. “I don’t know how to do this, Falon!”
A different tension filled her. “Rafa,” she said, wanting to reach out and soothe his hurt but knowing she could not. “Neither do I, but it must be what it is.”
“Why must it be?”
Shocked by his words, she stared at him. “You of all people understand the whys better than anyone.”
“I have lived my entire life by the letter of the Blood Law. I have sacrificed everything. What has it gotten me?”
“Rafael, this—what’s happened between us—it has united the nation. Without you, there would be no hope for a future.”
“I don’t want a future without you in it.”
Her heart broke for the hundredth time into as many pieces. “I will always be with you in your heart.”
“That’s not enough, damn it,” he snarled. “I want all of you!”
Falon shook her head, wanting what he wanted but not at the cost of losing Lucien. She was torn between two men she loved equally but differently. She had one, but the other? He belonged to Anja.
“Rafael, you need to stop thinking of what you have lost and instead rejoice in what you have gained. Anja is beautiful and strong, and she loves you. I can see it in the way she looks at you. Give her a chance, as I gave Lucien a chance.”
“Was I that easy to replace?” he sneered.
Rafe’s words stung. But before the pain could overpower her, Falon pushed it back with anger. Everything she’d done had been for the greater good and he thought it was easy? Easy to let him go? Easy to watch him with Anja? Easy to know that a part of her would always yearn for him, even as she luxuriated in Lucien’s arms?
“Don’t do this! I loved you with all my heart. It nearly killed me to lose you!” she shouted. Lowering her voice, she said, “My heart still aches for what we shared, but I love Lucien, too. If it were he who I lost to be given to you, I would feel the same.”
Rafael stilled at her words. He looked past her to the sinking sun then focused his gaze on her. He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “I have been selfless all my life. I have always put the pack first; it is what a true alpha does.” His eyes blazed passionately. “It doesn’t mean that I like it or that if I could change it, I wouldn’t!”
“Rafael, if there was a way none of us would lose, I would move heaven and hell to get it. But you have exchanged marks with Anja, as I have with Lucien. It cannot be undone. I would not have it undone even if there was a way. I won’t hurt Lucien. I don’t want to hurt him. I am sorry that you are the one suffering the most. I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t want to hurt you or myself any more than we already hurt.”
His mouth twisted bitterly. “Lucien was Mother’s favorite. The one she doted upon. I was jealous of that for so long. When she died, the last word she breathed was not my father’s name nor mine, it was Lucien’s. I hated him for that, for having that piece of her heart I did not. I feel the same way now with you.”
Falon smiled sadly. “It’s funny how things reveal themselves. Lucien has always been jealous of you. The golden son, your father’s heir apparent. Don’t you see how your jealousies have driven you apart? He is your only living blood. He loves you! He’s floating on clouds right now being here with his family. Let the shit clogging up your heart go. Let the past go so that you can rebuild a golden future.”
His eyes flared, he opened his mouth to argue. She put her hand up in a stop position. “Don’t say it, Rafe. What is, is. I want no part in hurting your brother or the packs.”
For several long minutes, she watched Rafael wrestle silently with his heart and his honor.
“You are a true alpha, Falon,” he whispered. “Your loyalty is admirable, your integrity above reproach. I will take that lesson from you.” He nodded and stepped farther away from her. “But know that if you need me, for anything, I will be there for you.”
“As I you.”
He nodded again, his arms still locked behind his back. Slowly he turned and walked briskly back into the clubhouse. Falon stood staring at the closed door for long minutes. Her heart hurt. Her head ached. Her soul cried out for fairness. But she didn’t know what fair was anymore.
Her only constant was the knowledge that she would never forsake Lucien or stop loving his brother.
The door opened and she watched her mother limp out, searching for someone. When Layla’s eyes found Falon’s they smiled at the same time. Falon hurried to her mother so that she didn’t have to take the cumbersome steps toward her.
“How is your leg?” she asked.
“Still a little tender but better.” As she spoke, Layla reached up around her neck and lifted the multicolored amulet necklace from her neck then reached up and placed it over Falon’s head, settling it down around her neck. “This was your father’s. He swore it gave him clarity and protection. I want you to have it.”
It warmed on her skin content with its new owner. “Mother, you don’t have to—”
“I want to. You’ll need it tonight and every night until the one after the rising. Call upon it for strength, Falon. I have many times over the years and it has never forsaken me.”
Falon caught the smooth stone in her hand and rubbed it. It pulsed in her hand. Or was that her own pulse she felt against it?
Falon drew her mother into her arms and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.”
“Let’s go!” Rafe shouted, striding from the clubhouse in full leathers and swords. Similarly dressed, Lucien strode beside him.
They were heart-stoppingly hands
ome. One dark, the other light. Powerful, skilled and revered among their kind, the twin alphas, Mondragon and Vulkasin, the last hope for the entire nation.
Rafael’s deep green eyes caught hers before quickly moving on. When Lucien’s gold eyes caught hers and held her gaze, she smiled. Quickly she hugged her mother good-bye, then ran to her alpha.
Lucien’s bike was warmed up. As he mounted, he stood forward to steady the machine as she hopped on. Falon saw Anja doing the same thing on Rafe’s bike. She didn’t think of the last time she rode like that with Rafe. She focused on the man with eyes only for her, making sure she was safely seated.
Falon smiled and put on the helmet Lucien handed her. As she buckled the strap, he gave the bike some gas and pulled up beside Rafe.
“The trucks are waiting in Hayward,” Lucien shouted over the roar of engines. “We’ll pick up Mondragon in Twin Cities, then take the back roads into Stockton, then work our way over to 680 and head south, then west through the canyon, steering clear of Oakland. Once we load the trailers, we’ll go straight up 880 into Oakland.”
Rafe nodded. The gates opened and the packs roared off. Almost seventy-five on bikes followed by several panel vans carrying more. Despite the magnificent showing of might, the pall of foreboding settled around Falon once again. But as they made their way down the Sierras and into the flatlands without incident, she thought maybe she was being overly dramatic.
When they picked up Mondragon along the delta roads, she felt better. Their numbers swelled. Once the long drive into Hayward was finally over, they loaded several bikes into the back of one trailer along with dozens of armed Lycans. The others would follow farther back but with eyes, ears, and noses alert.
As Lucien started the big Mack truck’s twin diesels, Falon was grateful for the opportunity to stretch. She loved riding behind Lucien but doing so for hours on end was uncomfortable. She hoisted herself up to the driver window and said, “Don’t you think it’s odd that we have not caught the scent of one Viper or Slayer since we left Vulkasin?”
Lucien nodded. “It occurred to me, and there is one of two reasons for it. They are in hiding after we took care of so many of them this week, and preparing for their next attack, or they are waiting on the fringes where we can’t detect them and watching our every move. I prefer the first but suspect the latter.”
Falon’s skin chilled. “How many are there?”
“On any given day in Nor Cal, a few hundred, but with the rising looming and Corbet recruiting like he has been, there could be three times that.”
“How many worldwide?”
“Over a thousand.”
“What are our numbers?”
“A little less.”
Falon mulled the numbers over in her head. “If we take out Balor Corbet before the rising, what will that do to the Slayers as a whole?”
“Throw them into a tailspin. Balor Corbet is the only surviving son of the original bloodline of Peter Corbet. We take him out, the remaining Slayers’ magic wanes, as does their will. The Corbets have driven this feud since it began. With that bloodline extinct, eradicating the rest will simply be sport.”
“That was why it was so important to kill Edward? He was a Corbet son? And his son?”
“Yes, and Ian last week. The entire male line with the exception of Balor is gone. Only he can perpetuate it.”
Excitement trilled through Falon. Meeting Balor Corbet would be a good day. It would be a better day when he lay in two pieces at her feet.
When Lucien indicated Rafe and Anja ride with them in the semi, Falon almost asked him to rescind the offer. She didn’t want to be that close to Rafael in the small confines of the cab for so long. And she sure as hell didn’t want to sit anywhere near his imperious mate! But that would make her look weak. She was anything but.
Once the second trailer was loaded, the four alphas climbed into the cab and headed north. As Lucien expertly maneuvered the huge semi onto the freeway, his throwaway cell phone chirped.
“Yeah,” he answered.
The deep drone of a man’s voice spoke for several minutes before Lucien said, “Got it.” He snapped the phone shut and said, “That was my OPD contact. He’s made arrangements for us to enter the dock from a closed road. His boys will be waiting to let us in.”
Falon’s nerves tingled along her spine as they drove north. Downshifting, Lucien took the exit ramp and turned west. The streets were quiet and dark. Ominously so.
As they approached the designated gate, Lucien flashed his headlights. A single flash of light acknowledged him, and the gates rumbled open. As they drove through, several uniformed policemen stood on either side of them and waved them toward the numbered rows of containers.
“It’s too easy,” Falon said. “I think we should turn around, Lucien.”
He reached over and squeezed her damp hands. “No sign or scent of a Slayer. We’re good.”
As they pulled up to the designated container, Falon’s skin chilled. This wasn’t right. Something was terribly wrong.
“Lu—” Falon was about to tell him of her foreboding again but she stopped herself. She didn’t want to freak him out when he was confident all was as it should be. Absently, she stroked the amulet her mother had given her and prayed to a higher power that she was wrong.
She jumped in her seat when the air brakes hissed when Lucien put the truck in park. The second trailer pulled up alongside them. Joachim gave Lucien the thumbs-up from the cab.
Lucien hopped out, followed by Rafe and Anja. Falon sat quietly in the cab, her eyes searching the darkness for any sign of danger. It was there, she could feel it, dark and menacing, but she could not put her finger on any one thing to explain her trepidation.
The passenger door opened. “C’mon, Falon,” Lucien said, extending his hand. “I want you to see these before we load them.”
Not wanting to but having no alternative, Falon took his hand and hopped down into his arms. He pulled her tightly against him and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
She trembled at his words. “I love you, too,” she whispered and hugged him tighter to her.
“Calm down, angel,” Lucien soothed. “You’re starting to make me jumpy.”
Before Falon could beg him to leave, Joachim handed Lucien a large pair of bolt cutters. He returned to the container, and in one snap, the lock fell to the ground with a dull thud. Lucien grinned and looked at her, then at Rafe and Anja.
“Come see.” He pulled the heavy container doors back and stepped into the dark hull. He pulled a flashlight he had taken from the truck from his back pocket and turned it on. And there, at the end of the large container, were stacks of large wooden crates.
Falon scanned the abyss and hurried in behind Lucien. She turned to make sure Rafe was close by. She caught Anja’s nervous glance. It wasn’t just Falon; Anja felt it, too.
As they approached the crates Lucien yelled over his shoulder to Joachim, “I need a crowbar.”
They were answered with the loud boom of the doors slamming shut behind them. And then the light went out.
Twenty-three
DEEP MANIACAL LAUGHER reverberated around them. Terrified, Falon reached for Lucien in the darkness. It took her keen wolf vision just a few seconds to adjust to her blacked-out surroundings. As Lucien’s fingers wrapped around hers, they backed toward Rafe and Anja. Together they might stand a chance against what lurked there in the darkness.
“Balor Corbet!” Lucien shouted. “Show yourself, you spineless coward!”
More laughter mocked them. “Is the life of your beloved whore worth the Eye of Fenrir, Mondragon?”
“I do not possess the ring.”
Falon moved closer to Rafe, and with her free hand she grasped his with the ring. It surged with heat against her skin, the red glow lighting up the room. Falon caught her breath when she looked up. There, perched atop the highest crate, sat a man dressed like he had just stepped out of the thirteenth century, one who looked rema
rkably similar to his brother, Edward. The Corbet brand was strong.
Rafael’s fingers closed tightly around Falon’s hand. Connected to both brothers, their power thrummed through them with the intensity of an electrical current.
Balor threw his head back and laughed. “Ah, yes, the fabled power of the three.” He stood and pointed a condemning finger at Lucien. “Your power is useless against my magic.”
“Come try us on for size,” Falon challenged. With her mind, she lifted one of Rafael’s swords from his back, and with a sharp flick of her head she flung it at the Slayer. Like a lightning bolt it flashed past them, stabbing him in the shoulder.
He laughed. “Impressive, but hardly superior to my power.” Balor pulled the sword from his shoulder and hurled it back. With a sickening thud, it struck Anja in the chest.
Her scream combined with Rafe’s roar of anger reverberated inside the container. Air hissed from Anja’s punctured lung, her muffled sobs heartbreaking to hear. Gently, Rafe laid her down and pressed his hand to the wound to stem the blood flow. Not waiting for an invitation, Falon struck again, and this time it hit Balor closer to home. Furiously, he hurled it back, hitting Anja again, this time impaling her thigh to the plywood container floor.
Lucien snarled and moved toward the Slayer but Falon held him back.
“Go ahead; let the slayer of my daughter come forward to pay the price for her life.”
“She deserved to die, just as you deserve to die, Corbet.” Lucien sneered.
Balor laughed demonically. “My Mara was a beauty. She deserved more than what you gave her.”
Falon’s head snapped back at Balor’s words. “Mara was your daughter?”
Balor’s cold eyes glittered in the darkness. “She was my eldest. My most cunning. The future of clan Corbet! Mondragon killed her!” he shrieked.
Falon shouldn’t have been shocked hearing that Mara had indeed been a Slayer, but a Corbet?
How had Rafe seen what Lucien could not? How—? And then it dawned on her as all of the pieces fell into place. “She used black magic to beguile him, just as the Slayers used magic to change the Vipers into those dogs!”