by Jade White
Erik and Torrent were the best of friends. Before their dearest friend―Michael― was killed, Erik once smiled and enjoyed life as much as any of them did. They were one man short, and Erik was the one who took it the hardest.
Kane was, well he was Kane. He did whatever he wanted, and though Mason protested, Michael always assured him it was for the best. Sex was a daily part in Kane’s life, and women were a consistent need of his. If it wasn’t filled, he wasn’t a happy person. The same was true if he never got his beauty sleep.
He stepped in a puddle, and it was deeper than it should’ve been. Kane nearly tripped and fell on his face. He only hoped no one saw his struggle to keep his balance. Please.
Kane brushed himself off, and straightened out his clothes. When he considered himself suitable enough, he continued on, scouring the streets of a lonely city for women. Kane had bedded so many women in his short time, he was forced to make his way down to the second end of the city. He just hoped none of his previous bed mates would find him. The women in the city had a reputation for being ruthless and vengeful.
A car passed him by, but came to a complete halt. It started to back up, and Kane started to run in the other direction. He was in no condition to fight anyone. He didn’t want to fight either. Kane was more of a lover, not a fighter, and he preferred to keep it that way. Besides, the last fight he got into, he’d nearly lost his head. Kane was still recovering from that. He could still feel the muscle ache in his neck.
Kane wasn’t fast enough to outrun his assailants, and was tackled to the ground. His arms were tied behind his back, and a bag was forced over his head. He couldn’t see anything, and it made his beast very angry. Kane was never good at controlling it, and he sure as hell wouldn’t start now.
He couldn’t shift though. Something was preventing him from shifting, and he didn’t like it. A shifter that couldn’t turn was as good as dead. I lived a good, long life.
Plenty of women. His beast added on with a chuckle.
Plenty of drinking and swearing.
“Shifting would be a little difficult right now,” a young voice said. Male.
The bag was removed off of Kane’s head. Sitting across from him―in a darkened backseat of a car―was a young man.
His features were youthful. His skin was porcelain, completely flawless. He had hungry blood red eyes, and cream-colored skin. His dark hair was rolled into dreadlocks, and was pulled back into a tight ponytail. He was clearly too young to be anything, but still enough to catch the eye of the beauty next to him.
“Aren’t you out past your curfew?” Kane commented before getting slapped across the face by the girl.
“You will respect your alpha.” Her voice was prudent. She looked just as stuck up as she sounded. Her grey-silver hair was pulled into a low bun. Her eyebrows were arched, and she had a mole just at the base of her right brow. She had big brown eyes and a pair of lips that Kane was suddenly imagining wrapped around his cock.
“I don’t respect men who claim things they have no right to. Especially children.” He eyed the boy up and down.
If he was the alpha, it was no wonder the horde had become a complete and total mess. A child was running it. As much as he would hate to admit it, the horde could’ve benefitted greatly if Mason was leading it. The horde needed experience not youth. It needed strength, not energy.
“You will learn to.” Her eyes narrowed at him, looking Kane up and down.
“You can try and make me.” He blew a kiss to her, and she scowled at him in return. At least he got some sort of reaction from her.
“You and I both have a common enemy. I wanted to know if you wanted to destroy him.” The alpha barely paid him any attention. He gazed out the window, watching the people pass by. “You give me his location, and I will kill him.”
“Mason Wilde?” Kane chuckled. “You do know he runs with a pack.”
“You do realize I have command of the entire horde.” That was fair enough. Kane couldn’t argue with that.
“I’ll give you his address, under one condition.” Kane’s eyes fell onto the beautiful girl. “You let me see what her mouth can do.” It had been a while since he had gotten any head. Kane had a feeling he could get the best from her.
“You would be killed for touching my wife. Is that what you want?” If it meant Kane could get a feel of the inside of her mouth wrapped around his cock? He didn’t know. Part of him said yes, and part of him said hell no.
“Would I die before or after she gives me head?” He needed to know.
“During,” she added on. Her eyes narrowed, and her expression growing cold.
“I’ll give you the address. She doesn’t look like much fun.” Dying during the act would defeat the whole purpose of him asking in the first place. It was worth asking though. At least he knew the type of girl he’d have to try and loosen up a bit.
“I don’t know what type of man that gives up his friend. A desperate one, or a foolish one.”
“A little of both. I just mostly want to see his bitch scream.” Kane wasn’t very fond of Katherine. He never would be fond of her. She ruined all that was good in that house. What was left of it anyways.
“He has a mate?” The alpha cocked a dark brow.
Kane nodded his head. “Possibly an offspring too. But both are phoenix.”
The alpha’s woman gave a toothy smile. “I think I know who you’re talking about.” She looked downright deadly, and creepy. It put off any sexy vibe Kane had gotten from her. “Don’t you worry about her. I’ll keep her more than occupied.” She fluttered her eyelashes at her mate.
The car stopped, and the bindings around Kane’s wrists were undone. “Is that seriously all you wanted?”
“Yes. Now give us the location of his home, and we will dispose of the two of them.”
CHAPTER 13
Everyone was overwhelmed by the mess. Someone had tried to take Louis again, and Katherine was barely able to stop him from getting away. Just as she did to the last idiot who tried to take her son, she stomped a hole through his chest.
Killing was never the way to go, and she had to remind herself that every time a moron came to take her son. Now, it was becoming apparent. She was good at killing, as much as she hated to admit it. When she killed she didn’t have any remorse. She didn’t feel any guilt. Things were different now, and she didn’t know if she liked it or not.
Katherine gave Louis to Mason, and told him to make sure that he was watched over carefully. While he did that, she dragged out several corpses to the front yard and burned them as best as she could. The bones would have to be disposed of differently. As she had learned, mortal cops were as annoying and persistent as their justice system. She’d probably be sent to death row, and they wouldn’t be able to kill her. She could imagine the look on their faces as she refused to die.
Her eyes darted upwards to the second floor. She knew on the other side of the building, Mason had Louis in his arms. He was probably doing everything in his power to make him stay awake. That would change after she returned to the room.
Katherine dug a deep hole. She would figure out what to do with the bodies later. For now, she just wanted to take a hot shower and sleep. Of course, her and Mason would take shifts, guarding Louis. There were more and more people coming to try and take him. More and more people were coming to meet their deaths. Everyone was doing a good job at making sure her son was safe, and she didn’t know how she could possibly thank them.
Katherine crept around the front of the house, stopping dead in her tracks. A familiar, dark figure waited at the front of the house. Her stomach knotted. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, taking hasty steps towards him.
The tribal master looked at her with glossy, black eyes. He didn’t say anything to her. He only looked Katherine up and down shaking his head.
“Answer my damn question.” Katherine picked up a gardening tool off the ground, and chucked it at his head.
He caught
it, scowling at her. “I’m here for your child.”
Katherine rolled her eyes. Oh, come on! She growled at him, her nostrils flaring. There were so many things she wanted to say to him. There were so many things she wanted him to feel. “You will go nowhere near my baby!” Katherine got in his face.
“Are you going to stop me?” He cocked his head to the side. His thin lips curved into a Grinch-like smile, his sharpened teeth peering at her. “You can’t even protect yourself.”
Katherine wrapped her hand around his throat. “You want to bet I can’t protect myself, or my child?” She dug her nails into his throat, her skin lighting ablaze with a black fire.
The front door swung open, and a pair of gasps sounded off. Katherine looked to see who was at the door. Her sisters stared at her, shaking their heads with disapproval. They gave her a look silently telling her to release him. Katherine reluctantly did.
“Do you two have a reason for why he is here?” Katherine cocked a brow at the two women, scowling.
“We summoned him here. He has a right to know what your son will be,” Isabel said. She motioned the tribal master inside.
Every bit of Katherine wanted to behead him. She couldn’t though. As long as Katherine had ties to the village of phoenix, she was unable to do him any major harm. Killing him was out of the picture and it was a shame. She knew just what she wanted to do with his remains.
Willow closed the door behind Katherine. She could feel the tenseness around her. From the two sisters, Willow was always the nicer one. Unlike Isabel, she had a conscience and was more than capable of feeling guilt. She couldn’t think for herself, and so she always stood behind Isabel on whatever she said, no matter how much she appeared to disagree with her sister’s ethics.
“You can’t possibly like this,” Katherine whispered back to the girl.
“I wouldn’t know what to do if I wanted to stop this.” Willow took a step to be beside Katherine. “Besides he’s the tribal master. You know we can’t hurt him.” Her brown eyes were pitted with guilt. She looked down at her feet, shaking her head. “You should just let him take Louis.”
It was strange to think Katherine was considered the weak one out of the three sisters. It should’ve been Willow with the title. Katherine stood up for what she thought was right and had no problem trying to get her message across. Though she couldn’t hold her own in a fight like her sisters, she sure as hell had more courage than the two of them combined.
Katherine ran to the stairs, cutting off Willow and the tribal master. “You aren’t going anywhere near him.” Her fire licked over her skin. Katherine could feel her phoenix stretching its wings, finally drawing them out of Katherine’s back.
They were boldly white with fire. Long feathers dressed the massive strips of muscle, making them heavier than she remembered they ever were. It had been a while since Katherine felt her wings, and felt the power they produced.
The tribal master chuckled, shaking his head. “Move out of my way.”
Her body listened to his demand. It pissed Katherine off. She wanted to resist but couldn’t. As both Isabel and the tribal master passed by, she grabbed Isabel’s arm. “If he takes my baby, I will kill you.” It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise.
She scoffed, shaking Katherine off.
“While you’re there why don’t you stay there,” the tribal master said with a raise of his hand.
She couldn’t move. Katherine hated it. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t move. Willow was stuck by the doorway. Katherine looked back at her. The girl mouthed “I’m sorry,” to Katherine. A sorry wouldn’t be enough for her to forgive Willow. She wanted more. She wanted Willow to act the way she was supposed to.
Willow was the eldest, and yet she allowed Isabel to walk all over her at times like this. She was supposed to be the leader of the three of them. She was supposed to look over them. She was supposed to protect them, and ensure rules were abided by, and they were happy. Willow was supposed to be the mother theirs’ never was. She wasn’t though, and it was infuriating.
Katherine could hear Mason screaming in protest. She heard him shift, and felt the presence of his beast grow every bit stronger. He rampaged about for a bit, but was stopped. Everything was silent. There was no sight of Willow or the tribal master.
She felt the hold of the tribal master’s words lift, and she could move. Katherine ran as fast as she could to her room. Her eyes scanned around. Mason was pinned against a wall, unable to move. Though she wanted to help her mate he had to be released on his own.
She ran to the crib. Louis was gone. So was Willow and the tribal master. The window was cracked open, wind blowing in the curtains. It was cold outside, and she could only hope they would keep Louis warm enough. He wasn’t capable of creating his own warmth quite yet.
Katherine looked at Mason, tears in her eyes. She was breathing heavily. The room around her felt like it was spinning, and she could hardly keep herself steady. Katherine forced herself to sit down on the bed.
He must have been released because she felt his arms wrap around her. She sobbed into his chest. There was no way something like this had happened. She felt like she was dreaming. She felt like if she just pinched herself, she’d wake up from this nightmare and her, Mason and Louis would be sleeping on the bed.
It wasn’t though. It was very real. Nothing that she had ever been through was as bad as this. No traumatic event could ever amount to the way this would leave her scarred. Her first child was taken, and neither of his parents could do anything to protect him.
“It’s okay love,” Mason cooed. He kissed the top of her head. “We’ll get him back.” Though he was trying to make her feel better, he couldn’t. “He’s okay.”
How could he know something like that? Mason didn’t know what the Phoenix did to their children on a regular basis. He had no clue how foolish the race of immortals were when it came to eliminating something threatening. Katherine did, and it made her want to murder someone more than she already did.
“WILLOW!” Katherine yelled at the top of her lungs. She turned around, wiping her tears from her eyes.
Willow came to the door. She stood there, looking down at her feet. “Yes sister?” Not once did she make eye contact with her.
Katherine stood up off the bed. She stalked over to her sister and pinned her against the wall by her throat. Katherine tightened her grip, growling at Willow.
Mason had never seen Katherine like this before. He had never seen her look so damn deadly. As she dangled her sister off the floor, against the wall, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. She had finally taken a turn for violence, and he just might be able to see her kill someone else.
After Louis was taken from Mason’s arms by Isabel and some strange, skinny man, he wanted to kill someone probably just as badly as Katherine did. Of course, he didn’t know if that was possible at this point.
“Where are they taking him?” Katherine tightened her grip around Willow’s throat, making her sister gasp for air. “Where are they taking my son?” A fire grew around her. It burned blue and violet. Though it was dim, Mason knew it was enough to burn anything, even a phoenix.
“I suggest you tell her.” Mason stood up, stalking to his wife. “While you’re at it, why don’t you tell me where my men are.”
Willow shook her head. Her eyes started to roll into the back of her head as she struggled against Katherine’s grasp. She released her sister, and kneed her in the face. Blood started to pour from her nose. Willow spat it out. “No.”
Katherine grabbed Willow by the length of her hair. She looked back at Mason. “Get me a dagger.”
He didn’t complain, quickly doing as she said. Mason removed a dagger from one of his nightstands, and quickly gave it to her.
Katherine held the blade at the root of Willow’s hair. “You’ve committed treason against your own family. Do you want the punishment?” She dug the blade under Willow’s skin.
The
girl screamed in pain. “Stop it!” She struggled against the blade, but that only made it go further in.
Katherine worked at the girl, ripping through the thin flesh of her scalp with his dagger. At first, Mason didn’t think she would actually do it. She did though. She was scalping her sister. As the blood ran down Willow’s face, and splattered Katherine with red, a crooked smile grew on her face. When she was finished, she tossed her sister aside. “Now will you tell us what we want to know?”
“No!” Willow was stubborn. She was also stupid. Even Mason knew better than to get between Katherine and Louis.
She flipped Willow over, and laid her on her stomach. She cut open the back of her shirt, and pressed the dagger against the two narrow slits in Willow’s back. Mason assumed that was where her wings were.
This was clearly revenge for what was done to her before she arrived at the slave auction. Mason couldn’t blame Katherine. She didn’t have an opportunity before, but now she did. Now she could give her sisters what they had coming to her―or at least one of them. Mason knew Isabel’s punishment would be worse.
“Where are they taking my son!” Katherine’s voice was shaky. Broken. She didn’t sound like she was up to the deed. Mason didn’t know if he should stop her, but he didn’t want to be at the other end of the dagger. Clearly, bad things would happen when Katherine held a weapon in her hands.
“Tell her so she doesn’t cut your wings out of your back.” His eyes grew narrow as he looked down at Willow. This girl was becoming a real pain in his ass.
“She won’t do it. She doesn’t have enough balls to.” Willow spat at him.
Katherine dug the dagger into one of the slits in her back. She ran the dagger in jagged directions, damaging the tissue and muscles on the inside. The slits spread, and Katherine dug her hand inside. It took her a few tugs, but she ripped out one of Willow’s wings.