“Andrej?”
It felt so good to be out again. “No worries, Andrej. I’ll take good care of us.”
The beast stretched out its tired muscles. It had been so long since he’d been allowed out to play.
He looked down at his hands and admired the sharp two-inch razored claws that extended from his fingers. His skin was no longer tanned. Now, it was covered in thick black fur. He knew, if anyone looked at him, his blue eyes would be gone and replaced with a pair of matching black orbs. And his teeth would have changed, too. Gone were the normal human teeth with vampire incisors. Now, they would all look like jagged spears ready to rip into the flesh of his victims.
The beast rubbed its blood-soaked hands together and stared down at them in glee.
It looked over to see Malcom staring at him. He flashed his teeth in a wide smile.
Malcom raised a brow. “You good?”
“I’m fabulous,” Andrej hissed. “Now, let’s eat. I’m famished.”
The beasts leaped into the air and as it came back to earth, it set its sights on its next target. It jumped over flames and leaped over people. When it reached it’s intended, the demon unhinged its mouth and came down on the human. His teeth sunk into the Hunters neck then shook his head vigorously. The warm, wet copper taste floored his mouth and the beast hummed with excitement. It drank only until it felt the human's life force leave its body. Then he released the man and smiled as the body fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. Then it picked another target. The demon raced across the lawn, killing everything in its path.
Death. Death. Death.
Steady, remember our mate feels each life you take!
The demon locked eyes on another Hunter and his smile grew. Blood dripped from his razor-sharp teeth. He leaped into the air, the Hunter screamed, and the chase was on. The beast would stop at nothing to eradicate all those who dared to hurt what was his. As far as he was concerned, they were all enemies. Except for his mate…
Mate…
“Stay away from her,” Andrej demanded.
The beasts laughed. Andrej tried to take over again, but the animal wasn’t haven’t it. Let me back in control!
The beast barked out a hollow laugh. He was in control now. And he was loving every second of it. The freedom. The space. The beast stretched out its shoulders as it wiped away the latest victim’s blood from its face.
Andrej saw through his own eyes that the monster had found a new pray to stalk, and he didn’t like it. “Stay away from her,” Andrej warned.
The beast licked its lips.
Mate. Mine.
And decided, once this was over, he would set his sights on a more delicious dessert, and nobody, not even Andrej, would stop it.
All. Mine.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Brailynn
“Just keep everyone off my back,” Brailynn told Tabatha.
They topped the hill and watched as Derrick tried to slink away like the coward he was, but Brailynn had a better idea.
She called on the powers of the earth.
Placing her hand on the ground, she slammed her energy into it and watched with satisfaction as Derrick ran face-first into a wall of dirt.
He turned around searching for the source of the magic. His eyes landed on her and widened in shock.
“Hear me now, Derrick Petrova, an elder of the Petrova coven,” Tabatha called. “I hereby sentence you to death.”
“You cannot stop me!” He yelled back. His voice sounded confident, but his facial expression told a far different store.
“Maybe not.” Tabatha grinned. “But she can.”
“Derrick Petrova,” Brailynn stood, centering herself. Silently, she called on nature to lend her a hand. “You have committed crimes that you must be punished for.” She kept her eyes locked on him so he wouldn’t notice the vines that were slowly creeping along the ground. “I, Great Mother of Earth and all living things…”
“Wait?” Derrick spat. If it were possible, it seemed his eyes grew even bigger.
“…do hereby find you guilty.” Brailynn had no idea what she was saying. It sounded good to her so she just went on with it, hoping it would give the vines time to reach him and trap him in their binds.
She flexed her fingers and fire formed in her palms.
“You will not be able to stop me, you stupid!” Derrick sneered.
“Oh, but I will.” Brailynn smiled.
She released one flaming ball and then another and to her irritation, Derrick shot water bursts back at her and quickly dosed both.
“You will have to unleash everything you have, Brailynn,” Tabatha told her. “We can do this together.”
One of the vines finally reached him and Derrick jumped and then blasted the vine with a spell of his own.
He looked back at the girls and a chill went down Brailynn’s back as she witnessed the hatred that shone in his eyes.
But when he released his next attack, it wasn’t aimed at them. He shot it toward the sky and right into the underbelly of the dragon that circled overhead.
The girls watched in horror as the shifter fell from the sky. Spirally out of control and plummeting to its death.
At the last minute, Brailynn called upon all the elements around her. They swirled. Twisting and turning so quickly it was nearly impossible to keep up. And right as the body was expected to slam into the ground, Brailynn release the condensation that was so tightly packed together that it formed a soft, fluffy cloud.
Derrick cried out in anger and launched another attack at the two women. Fire and water seemed to go back and forth. For every attack she sent his way, he blocked it and sent one of his own. It seemed to go on forever.
Inside, Brailynn felt a shift. But it wasn’t with her. It was her mate. “Andrej,” she whispered his name.
“What’s wrong?” Tabatha asked.
“I don’t know.” It felt… He felt… gone. But not gone. Like he was there, but not.
In her distraction, Derrick got off a perfect hit. The blast of water hit her in the chest and sent her flying backward. Brailynn hit a small tree and all the air burst from her lungs.
She gulped in one breath after another until she finally felt like she wasn’t suffocating. Slowly, she climbed to her feet.
“You must stop this,” Boanna’s voice rang in her head.
“I’m trying!”
“Not hard enough,” Vesla commented. “You are the Great Mother. Wielder of all magic. More powerful than any living thing. Act like it.”
“Yeah.” Tinia chimed in. “Fry his ass!” Everything went silently at Tinia outburst. Normally the shy, polite one, her comment caused a pause. “Sorry.”
But she was right. Brailynn was the Great Mother now. She needed to act like it. So, she climbed back to her feet and recentered herself as she connected to the world.
Closing her eyes, Brailynn called on the water and the air. She summoned fire and earth to complete the four elements of the world. Pulling them into her, she pushed all other thoughts from her mind.
Derrick sent a magic attack at her; Brailynn countered. Then sent on back of her own, knocking him off his feet. The battle between them went back and forth. Brailynn dodged several attacks before he started getting desperate and turned erratic.
She leaped behind a tree that wasn’t even big enough to hide her as Tabatha did the same. Both women were without shelter as he seemed to be losing his mind.
“Look!” Tabatha pointed.
Brailynn turned to see what looked like a grotesque werewolf-hybrid thing wrap its claws around Derrick and squeeze. The man clawed at the monster's arm.
The werewolf howled out in victory.
Brailynn scrunched up her face and her stomach turned as she listened to the sounds of bones breaking. Within seconds, the elder Petrova was dead.
The beasts dropped him to the ground, let out another howl that almost shattered Brailynn’s ears, and then it ran off.
She and Tabatha look at each other
. Both were too afraid to move.
“What was that?” Tabatha asked.
“I have no idea.” Whatever it was, Brailynn almost felt drawn to it. But she didn’t understand why.
The two women slowly and carefully walked over to Derrick’s body. Tabatha used the toe of her boot to bump against his foot. But he didn’t move.
“He’s dead?” Brailynn asked.
“I think so…”
Tabatha moved toward him but hesitated.
“I got you,” Brailynn said, without her saying a word.
Vines crawled on the ground and wrapped themselves around his arms and legs. Once they were thick and unbreakable, Tabatha moved closer to her brother. She extended her hand and placed it over his heart, listening for any sound.
But there was nothing.
She dropped her hand into her lap, and just sat there.
Brailynn couldn’t help but hurt for her. No matter what he had done, Derrick was still her brother. The only family Tabatha had left, and now he was gone. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered to her friend.
“I just wish…” Her voice broke. “I just wish… I could have helped him.”
“I know.”
Brailynn fell to her knees beside Tabatha and pulled the woman into her embrace. She let her friend cry on her shoulder. There was still a battle between good and evil happening, but at that moment, Brailynn thought Tabatha was more important.
“They’re retreat… Oh, shit. What the fuck happened?” Malcom rushed over to his mate.
Brailynn moved out of his way.
“Some…” Tabatha cried softly. “… thing, just showed up and killed him.”
“What thing?” Malcom asked.
“I don’t know,” Brailynn replied. “Like a monster thing. Black, with long dagger type nails, and…” A chill went down her spine.
“Andrej…” Malcom sighed.
“What?”
“It was Andrej, Brailynn,” Malcom explained. “I don’t know what he is, but he changed into that creature right in front of me. Then he just went full-on ape shit. Ripping heads off and all kinds of stuff.”
“No.” She couldn’t believe it. Not her Andrej.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought you knew.”
“No!” She shook her head vehemently.
She took off and ran back toward the house. Hunters ran past her on their way back to the river, but Brailynn didn’t stop them. She just let them go.
“Andrej!” She shouted. She had to find him. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t her mate. “Andrej!”
“What’s wrong?” She turned to see Wallace.
“Where’s Andrej?” she asked.
“I…” Wallace looked around. “I don’t know. Has anyone seen Andrej?”
“Brailynn…”
“No!” She yelled at Malcom, who was now back at camp, carrying Tabatha. “That was not him!”
“Who wasn’t?” Wallace asked.
Everyone in the complex has started to gather around. Whoever was left out of the Hunters had fled back the way they came. A few other Wiccans who had come with Tabatha were putting out fires with their water magic, and Colton was nursing a woman that Brailynn could only assume was the one who fell from the sky.
“This half-werewolf… half, I don’t even know,” Malcom tried to explain.
“Oh, fuck!” Anders said, drawing attention.
“What?” Brailynn asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“I need you to track him, Brailynn,” Anders asked.
“I can’t…” She tried to find their connection, but it was so faint, it was almost like he was… “He’s gone,” she choked out as unshed tears clogged her throat.
“I think I know where he is,” Evan said as he turned to walk back to where the house once stood. “But we need to put these flames out!”
Brailynn called on her water. She waved her arm in a circle and like tossing a baseball, she dropped a sphere of water over the house. Several other witches came over to help and within a few minutes, all the fires were out.
With everything gone, Evan, Wallace, and a few others kicked rumble out of the way as they tried to find a way into the tunnels with the opener.
“Over here,” said the soft, featherlike voice, that belonged to Paulie. “There’s an entrance in his office.”
They all walked over and when Even shoved the desk and what was left of the rug out of the way, they all starred at a trapdoor. Wallace bent down and lifted it open. He was the first to climb down the hole, followed closely by Brailynn, then the others.
She didn’t know what to think. If he was that creature, why hadn’t he told her? She didn’t understand. But more importantly, what was he?
They turned a corner and Brailynn noticed a row of cells. “What’s this?” she asked. “Why are we here?”
Wallace stopped in the far back. “Shit.” He sighed under his breath. “Andrej.” The one word was filled with so much sadness, that Brailynn’s heart nearly broke.
She and the others walked over, and her breath caught in her throat as she once again saw the creature who killed Derrick.
“Andrej…” Anders walked up to the bars.
The creature lunged.
“Whoa!” Anders jumped back. “Brother, it’s me.”
Brailynn couldn’t believe any of it. How was this her mate? What in the hell was going on? Everything seemed wrong.
The monster moved along the bars until it was standing in front of Brailynn. It reached out a hand to touch her, but out of fear, she jerked back.
The creature's eyes narrowed.
Brailynn started to shake. “Please, Andrej. Please.” She started to cry. “I need you.”
The beasts in the cell started to become frantic. It lunged at the bars, throwing itself against them.
“Stop!” Brailynn shouted, and the beasts froze. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
The monster moved back toward the bars and stepped into the light. For a split second, she saw Andrej's blue eyes, but then they were gone, and she was once against staring into the hollow black orbs of nothingness.
“What happened?” she glanced over at Wallace.
“The reason Andrej was turned in the first place was because he was attacked by a werewolf,” Wallace explained. “At the time, Vlad didn’t know. He just thought Andrej had been attacked by a wild animal. So, to save his life, Vlad turned him.”
“But, by turning him, Vlad created a hybrid,” Anders continued the story. “Half-vampire, half-werewolf. But the wolf side isn’t… civilized, for a lack of a better term.”
Again, the creature lunged at Anders.
“Andrej doesn’t have control of the wolf,” Wallace explained.
“Then how does he return to himself?” Malcom asked.
Wallace gave Brailynn the saddest look she’d ever seen. Immediately, she shook her head. The first thing that came to her mind was, Deny, Deny, Deny!
“He doesn’t,” Wallace finally answered. “I’m so sorry, Brailynn.”
“Why would he let it out if he can’t control it?” DeMarcus asked, just as shocked as she was.
“He wouldn’t have,” Anders answered. “Something happened to trigger this.”
Brailynn looked back at the beasts. It was staring at her. All around, people talked about how to get rid of it. But did anyone ever wonder how to help Andrej co-exist with it? Was that a thing?
She turned to Malcom. “How do you do it?” she asked. “How do you live with two animals inside of you?”
Everyone looked to Malcom as he replied. “I don’t really have two animals. I have one animal, but with multiple traits.”
“Oh.”
She took a step toward the bars. She didn’t want to be afraid of the monster. She wanted to love it the same way she loved Andrej – since they were one and the same. But first, she knew she had to get over her fear of it. Mates couldn’t hurt each other. But would that truth still be the case for the werewolf?
/> Slowly, she reached out a hand and touched the bar. “It’s okay,” she whispered softly. “Come here.”
But the beasts didn’t move. Its eyes bounced from her to everyone else.
“Can y’all leave, please?” she asked them.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Anders said, placing his hand on her shoulder.
And the monster lost it.
It threw itself at the bars. Clawing at them to be released. It hissed and howled in a tone that left no argument, it was calling for someone’s death.
“Don’t touch her!” Wallace shouted.
Anders immediately dropped his hand and stepped away from her.
The monster calmed a fraction. His breath sawing in and out of its long.
“I’m okay,” she told the werewolf. “See?” She stepped back over to the bars and place both hands on the wrung. “I’m right here.”
The beasts took a slow, tentative step toward her, then another. When it finally reached the bars, Brailynn was nearly shaking out of her boots. But she remained calm.
The monster's sharp, nailed finger grazed over her knuckles. Instinct told her to yank her hand back, but she forced herself to not move. She didn’t know anything about this type of thing, but Brailynn knew if she had any hope in getting her mate back, she’d first have to learn to love the monster he kept hidden inside.
“Will you open the gate?” Brailynn asked.
“No!” Tabatha shouted. “Absolutely not.”
Brailynn held up a hand. “It is not up to you.” Then she turned to Wallace. “Open the gate please.”
“Everyone leave!” Wallace ordered.
“This is a bad idea,” Tabatha said.
“If I have any hope of getting Andrej back,” Brailynn told her. “I have to go through him to get it. So, please.”
Tabatha stared her in the eyes for a moment. “Still don’t like it, but okay.” Then, like the others, she turned away and walked out of the area.
Brailynn walked over to the door and waited.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Wallace asked.
Brailynn stared at the beasts on the other side of the protective bars. Once she crossed into the room, there was no going back. She wasn’t worried about her own safety. After all, being the most powerful being on the planet, had its perks. What she feared the most was not being enough to bring Andrej back.
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