by Seere, Diana
Tomas wanted the power that came from possessing that Book.
The prophecy was true.
He saw his One through that bastard’s eyes, taking in her curves, thinking thoughts Asher wanted to strangle with every ounce of energy. The rush to annihilate the threat of his old friend was overpowering, almost too much to bear. The copper scent of fresh blood made Asher’s nose flare, his animal nature taking in the odor with a different mind than he would if he were human.
Of course.
That was it.
Shifting back to a man standing before another man took a few seconds, Samantha’s surprised gasp an “Oh!” that echoed in his ears as he transformed himself, now naked and bare before his mortal enemy. Unlike shifting into animal form, the change to human did not trigger other shifters. His eyes caught his bear brother, his tiger friend, his snake servant, his brother and Eva as cats.
Kind, intense eyes met his, allies attuned to him in whatever form he chose.
He looked at one of the bowing cats.
And shivered.
Exhaustion rattled his bones, hitting so suddenly the room spun.
For only the pure wolf shall win. Should the fox join with the wolf, both shall reign.
If the wolf’s blood is infected with betrayal, the fox must kill him.
Betrayal.
Yes, Tomas said inside his mind, clear as a bell. It made Asher gasp, a double-choked breath drying the back of his throat. Yes, my friend. She will kill you. You must kill her first. It is part of the prophecy you have not yet read.
The smile remained on his old friend’s face.
Directed straight at Samantha.
Reeling, Asher staggered backward, one sole planting on the floor, the ball of his very human foot settling between two stones, his balance slightly off. Tomas’ voice was soothing, enchanting, his dark hair handsome as it settled in waves about his ears, the fine lines of his regal neck so strong, so assured.
With a pulse Asher’s wolf teeth could sink into with glee.
Not yet, my friend, Tomas said as nerve pain blistered through Asher’s body, his joints twitching, the sensation like being electrocuted. It started at his hip. His fingers found the wound, the skin textured but no longer raw.
Ripping off the bandage, he looked.
To find the mark he had carved out of his own skin back in place.
“Why?” he demanded, anger replacing strategy, his body moving to block Tomas’ access to Samantha, who clutched the book to her breast. He felt Tomas’ violence, the bloodlust inside wishing to ravage her, to take her sexually and then extinguish the life from her, all for play. All for fun.
All because he could.
“You ask the wrong question, friend,” Tomas said with a curled smirk as Asher fought the twin impulses inside him, one drawn to Tomas, the other telling him to kill the man. “‘Why’ is beneath you. You know why. You’re arguably the leader of the shifter world—for now.”
The threat was overt, his eyes taking in Samantha with an undertone that was clear:
I want your throne as leader. I will have that Book.
And I’ll take your woman too.
“Anyone but you, Tomas,” Asher said, a rippling pain searing through his skull as the words came out, all the various animals watching.
Waiting.
“Asher,” Samantha said softly, her delicate throat trembling with the speed of her pulse. “I’ll give him the book. He can have it. Look at Molly and Jess. Look at what he’s done.”
Asher’s eyes went to his sisters-in-law, both streaked with blood from surface wounds but otherwise unharmed who were encircled by Derry and Edward, Tomas’ cat army in supplication before him, the immediate danger to the human women paused.
For precious little time.
“No!” Zach shouted, suddenly in human form, surprising Asher. Shifting from one form to another was agony for Zach, who had to work hard to master the change. That he did so now set Asher’s senses at an even higher level of attunement.
Walking on shaky legs, his brother-in-law moved to him, eyes on Tomas, his hand on Asher’s arm. “Don’t.” He looked at Samantha. “Don’t you dare hand it over. That is the key to everything.”
“All the more reason it should be in the hands of someone who knows how to use it,” Tomas said dryly, mouth tightening with displeasure.
“We don’t know that it’s the right one!” Samantha shouted at Zach. “We can give it to him and be done with this!”
“The odds are not in our favor,” Asher called out to her, his own hand mirroring Tomas’, reaching for the book, shaking with the enormity of this moment. A blur of images ripped through his mind, of unchecked power and glory, of cats bowing before him, of the rise of a new empire, his and his alone. Swelling with the tantalizing lure of finding his true place as ruler, he felt the burn of ambition course through him, his eyes meeting Tomas’ with a strange sense of brotherhood.
Ah, there you are, Tomas said to him without moving his lips. Yes, Asher. Together we can rule them all. Come to me. She lied to you, didn’t she? The prophecy says she must kill you if you betray her.
What if she’s betrayed you already?
Fighting with every fiber of his being, Asher held steady. Zach jolted, looking at him with surprise.
“Asher?” he said under his breath, voice filled with more emotion than Asher had a right to elicit in the man he’d treated so poorly for so long. A dark wave of regret and horror washed over him, filling his pores, every cell etched with a shadowed abyss into which his long past and his disappearing future found a home.
Death would be better than this feeling.
Tomas’ eyes remained riveted to his as the feeling grew, crescendoing with a blinding pain that would not relent. The cat shifter was doing this to him, dominating Asher in all the most important ways.
In the mind.
Deep inside him, Tomas’ tainted magic did its dirty work, seeping the insidious suggestion that Samantha was the evil one into the marrow of his bones. He felt the idea take root in him, Tomas’ mindreading injecting images into him, twisting memories, revisiting conversations with his One with a reinterpretation that let doubt do what doubt does best.
Intrude.
“Give him the book!” Samantha demanded, her voice angry, outraged, filled with a venom Asher had never heard before.
Because she is showing her true self, Tomas whispered in his mind, spearing his heart.
“Asher!” Molly called to him, forcing his attention away from Tomas, her sharp cry so urgent, so insistent he could not disobey. Her blue eyes shone like moons, the smear of blood at her cheekbone like war paint from an ancient, forgotten race. “Don’t listen to him. Fight it! Fight it! Her aura is orange! She is good! Her full power is here. Now.”
Molly staggered to her feet and held out her hands, wrists fragile, fingers delicate. Her skin fairly glowed as she turned to Samantha. “You know who you are,” she said in a steady voice, almost hypnotic, as if channeling an energy no one else could see, but Asher could feel. “You know who you must be, my friend. Fulfill the prophecy, Sam. Be your true self. Let it happen. Let it—”
Tomas’ shift was so swift, so startling, Asher didn’t see it so much as he felt it, the man moving too fast, with an abnormal speed. On top of Samantha, front paws on either shoulder, he kicked the book out of her hands and toward his cat army as she screamed, a short sound that brought Asher back into his own goddamned mind.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” he bellowed, snapping in two, the evil cord connecting him to Tomas snapping like high-tension cable wire giving way. Tasting her blood in his own mouth as Tomas bit her neck, feeling her pain and terror inside the very fibers of his own heart, Asher’s inner wolf came forth with such harsh force he tore his hamstrings, his muscles screaming and on fire.
One paw picked Tomas’ cat body up off the ground, Asher moving to his hind legs, dangling the rotten beast in midair.
You can’t, Tomas said triumphantly inside his shatt
ered mind as cat paws tore his fur, scraped against bone, fought as hard with sinew and muscle as he did with the mind. Join me. You know this is what you want.
“Asher,” Samantha gasped as Molly came forward, Edward at her side, fangs bared.
Tomas’ cat army leaped forward, scratching and biting at Asher’s legs, the mongrels digging into his flesh as Asher’s heart tore in two. Samantha’s neck pumped a steady flow of blood to the ground where it pooled in a startlingly beautiful form, covering the stones like a sick artist working with a palette.
Tomas twisted, biting his belly, just as Morgan reared up, the snake striking fast and hard into Tomas, raking his long fangs down the cat’s back but not breaking the skin. Morgan’s precious paralyzing venom would need a second chance.
Asher dropped his nemesis, turning to Morgan at the same second two of Tomas’ minions attacked, Morgan throwing his body in front of Asher as four claws savagely shredded the old snake, who collapsed like a ribbon dropped to the floor.
Eva moved to Morgan, slashing at the zombie-like cats, making space, hissing with an anguish Asher suddenly felt as he dropped to Samantha’s side, sniffing her wound.
He smelled death. His woman was dying. His mate.
Blackness consumed him. Not again. Oh no, never again…
“Asher,” she said as Edward and Derry faced off with Tomas, Molly moving around them to kneel next to Samantha, Jess at her side as well. Sam’s sweet green eyes looked into his soul, willing him to finish what he must.
Heal her, he begged Molly, whose eyes widened as she gripped Samantha’s arm, feeling for some signal Asher did not understand.
“Kill him,” Molly told Asher, voice uncharacteristically cold. “She will not survive if Tomas lives. None of us will. You have some part of him inside you, Asher. It’s paralyzing you.” Her hand went to his neck. “But you are in him too. Take control. This is a fight to the death. If you don’t kill him, his evil will grow. You have no idea what he is planning. You have no idea what he is capable of doing. End this now.”
Nosing Samantha’s hair, he wanted nothing more than to shift into human form, to pick her up and cradle her against him, to undo the blow.
To undo time.
She was never worth it. She will betray you, Tomas called to him, making Asher look up sharply as the words ricocheted in his mind, the resistance rising up in him like a tidal wave, the tsunami of his own racing blood pushing back so hard it was impossible to hold back.
Not that he wanted to.
“Yes!” Molly cried out as Jess touched Samantha, brow furrowed, long hair tickling his One’s shoulders as Jess closed her eyes and tipped her face to the ceiling. Derry, Eva, Lars, and Edward formed a circle around the human women, turned away from them now and facing any attacker, protective as they put their bodies and lives on the line.
For him.
For Samantha.
Fools, Tomas whispered inside his head, energy lower now, waning. You do not know what you are giving up, Asher. Come with me or die.
Never, he said back, searching the room for Tomas, who was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s hidden!” Molly cried out, one finger pointed into the center of the throng of cats. “There! He’s using them as cover!”
The Book skittered across the floor, sliding near one of the minions, who began nosing it toward an exit.
Until Tomas, back to human form, picked it up and held it before him, grinning.
“Foolish Asher,” he said, voice taunting like a playground bully’s, the sound sending Asher back in time to boarding school, where his old friend had dominated everyone but him. Stroking the book, he held it like a baby, an heir, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
Or prophecy.
Their eyes locked, and Asher felt millennia pass in seconds, the pulsing recognition that Samantha was dying at Tomas’ hand incongruous as the cat shifter held the stupid book in his hands, lording it over him.
As if that mattered.
Rage, crisp and clear, filled him to the brim until even his worry about Samantha took backstage.
You will never win, he told Tomas in that mind-meld way that seemed too close to the Beat.
“Watch me,” Tomas said, throaty laughter too evil, too sinister, as he opened the book to find…
Receipts.
Papers.
Detritus.
“What is this?” he roared, flipping page after page, the thin, old pulpy paper tearing as his fury rose. “This is not the Book!”
“Who’s the fool now, you fucking waste of flesh?” said a woman’s voice, so mean it made Asher look, the words tearing through the chaos. “You think you can rule the world when you can’t even tell which one is the real Book?” Her voice went high, mocking, the laughter of a woman whose power comes from peeling back the lies of men who have hurt them.
Molly’s body began to glow, her eyes focused on Tomas, whose face was so devoid of emotion that it was clear.
So clear.
She was right. He could not know. And if he could not know, he would not win. As that reality sank in, as Molly called out his weakness before everyone, Tomas turned even more dangerous.
“Witches!” cried Tomas. “All of you!” Finger pointed at Molly and then Jess, he finally settled on Samantha with such a breathtakingly singular focus that Asher knew.
Saw.
Felt.
It was time.
Time for the prophecy to come true.
Shouts of names, yelps of pain, the fast hiss of too many animals, too many competing agendas, too much bloodshed. It all whirled around Asher, threatening his mind, nothing but distractions that were so much more, interruptions that meant death. Destruction. Chaos.
The end of all he knew.
Asher, Samantha said inside him, so clear her voice was the peal of church bells on a clear summer’s day. Be the king of wolves. Be your destiny.
I need to save you, he argued.
You can only do that by saving yourself, my love, she replied, her voice cutting off abruptly, her energy weak.
Drawing on all his years, every experience, all the energy of thousands of years of ancestors stretching back to past eras, he stared into the black abyss of fur and fang, leaping with one massive burst of certainty, teeth finding home.
Help me, Father! he called out to the universe, the impulse radiating into the past, the future, across dimensions he’d not known until now, pure magic turning his singular sensation into what he needed most.
To end this evil.
With one surprisingly simple move, he ripped Tomas’ artery open, expecting to taste fear, anger, bitterness.
Instead, he tasted victory.
Throwing the cat’s body across the lounge, into the fireplace, the crackling spit of the flames hit Tomas’ lifeless body like the final notes of a symphony.
Just like that, Asher’s vision cleared.
Mind, too.
Shifting back to human, he rushed to Samantha’s side, her eyes dulling but life still there.
“I’m trying, Asher,” Jess cried, sobbing hysterically. “I can’t! I can’t heal her. Molly’s hands and mine, we can’t—”
Zach, now in human form, his ear bleeding profusely, rushed to join Jess. “If we all put our hands on her? Like when Lilah delivered the twins. Let’s join forces and—”
“No,” Samantha gasped as Asher kissed her hand. “I need more than that,” she said with a finality that led Zach to bow his head. “This isn’t as simple as rotating a baby. Tomas…”
“Anything!” Asher cried, body turned into a single nerve, one that pulsed with too many memories of the past. Not again. “Molly, Jess, Zach—do it again! Save her as you saved the babies!”
Edward’s hand closed over his shoulder. In a daze, Asher realized everyone had shifted back to human form, the robotic cats all unconscious, human bodies littering the floors.
“The magic is not strong enough, brother,” Edward said softly. “The vibration in the
club is powerful, but Tomas struck her with mortal purpose. He intended to kill her. A shifter could live through what he did to her, but she cannot. She is but human.”
“She is everything!” Asher roared, hands touching Samantha in random places, mind denying the trust of what his fingers felt. Her life force was dimming. The animal in him knew it, smelled it, sensed it the same way he felt when Claire and Matthew were dying, and now his heart paced inside him like a caged beast.
“Tomas is dead,” Eva said, appearing next to Zach, face smeared with blood. “And Morgan—” She looked down in horror at Samantha, eyes immediately darting to Asher, hand flying to her mouth. “Oh, Asher.”
She had said those same words the day Claire and Matthew had died.
Reeling, he grabbed Zach’s shoulders. “Fix this! Save her!”
“Me?”
“Anyone!”
“Zach,” Samantha said, pointing to him. “He’s right. You know how to save me.”
“I do?”
“The serum.”
Zach froze. “No, Sam. I know I suggested using it, but not like this. Not when you’re so weak. We can’t. We can’t—”
Asher’s fist struck before he could stop himself.
Chapter 22
Sam watched in horror as Zach’s body spun, driven by Asher’s punch, landing beside Manny’s motionless body near the elevator doors.
Zach was anything but motionless, however, quickly regaining his feet, spinning to face Asher with his fists raised. More confusion than anger was in his eyes. Blood from his torn ear was caked along the side of his face. “You hit me! Does Tomas still control you?”
“You hesitate to save her!” Asher shouted, pointing at Sam. His eyes were burning with anguish. How could she ever have thought he was cold? He was fire, he was the molten core of life, her life.
Darling, she said. Silently, because her mouth was filling with blood. The old pain in her ear had become even more devastating than the burning, gaping wound in her neck. All her attention was drawn to that place inside her head, so close to her mind, how it pounded and throbbed with her blood as it seeped out of her onto the ancient flagstones.
“You are injured,” she finally said, reaching for Asher’s abdomen, which was red with a gash.