Crazed Hearts: Grimm’s Circle, Book 3

by Shiloh Walker

  It had already stolen her brother. It had left a darkness on her that he had to find some way to fix. He had to…had to take it off her before they sensed it, and found a way to exploit it. Again.

  She wondered why she had lifted that knife to him, but he didn’t.

  He had felt that dark edge push her.

  The book.

  He needed to deal with it…and he couldn’t wait much longer to do it.

  “So which one are you?” she asked, interrupting his dark, brooding train of thoughts.

  Crooking a grin at her, he said, “What makes you so certain I’m anybody of note? Not all of us are anybody special.”

  “You would be.” A blush crept up her cheeks and she glanced away. “And besides, a bunch of guardian angels, how can any of you not be somebody special?” She drew her knees up and hugged them to her chest. “So…who are you?”

  “Hmmm, that would be telling.” There was nothing romantic, funny or remotely appealing behind his life. Nothing. Nothing but misery, that is. Bracing his elbows on his knees, he studied her face.

  She was, without a doubt, one of the strongest mortals he’d ever known.

  Blowing out a breath, he said, “I need to deal with the book and it’s best I do it now. Before nightfall.”

  Her smooth, ivory complexion went even paler. “The book,” she whispered. Her eyes seemed too dark against her skin and he could feel that fear. She licked her lips and her gaze skittered away, staring out the window, around the cabin before bouncing back to linger on his face. “Why before nightfall?”

  “Demons are creatures of evil. While sunlight doesn’t harm them, they fear the light. They hide from it. They cower from it. They’ll return in force at night. We need to destroy it before that happens…they can’t find this place, but they can apparently sense something about you. Or the book can. You’ll be safer once the book is destroyed.”

  “Safer.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel safe again.”

  Ren eased off the couch and sank to his knees in front of her. “You’re safe now. Here.” Brushing her hair back from her face, he touched his fingers to her chin and eased her face up until she met his gaze. “Safe with me, and I promise, while there’s life in me, nothing will harm you.”

  Then he glanced past her, staring off into the wood. “And I’m not alone. There are others in the woods today. They’ll return once this threat is done…once you’re safe.”

  “Once I’m safe.” She swallowed and shivered. “Are they after me or that damn book?”

  “Likely both,” Ren said. He lifted his shoulder and looked back at her. “I won’t offer you false comfort or pretty lies, Ali. They want you, otherwise they wouldn’t still be searching my territory for you. It’s not worth it. They know it’s madness to linger here—they know what I am. But they are willing to risk it, and it’s not just for the sake of the book. There are other books.”

  Curling his hands around her ankles, he tugged her legs down. Then he pulled her down until she straddled his lap. “You resisted the book’s call for a long while, even though it was close, very close. Not many mortals can do that. Most would have either dumped it or succumbed.” Resting his hands on her thighs, he asked, “Why didn’t you get rid of it?”

  “It didn’t seem right to just dump it somewhere. I was worried some kid might find it,” she said. It didn’t seem so foolish to voice that fear now. Now that she knew what it was. A nervous laugh escaped her. “I swear, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks thinking I was losing my mind. Right now I should be convinced. But I feel more sane now than I have in a long while.”

  Staring in his familiar, beautiful face, she laid a hand on his cheek and murmured, “Why is that?”

  He turned his face into her hand and kissed it. She swayed closer and would have done more, but then, before she could blink, she was on her feet and he was swearing. “The book,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Quit looking at me like that, Ali. We need to take care of the book.”

  Confused, she said, “Quit looking at you like what?”

  “Like you can’t decide if you’re ready to eat me alive or have me eat you alive.”

  Aileas blinked. Actually, either option sounded kind of appealing. She was tempted to point that out to Ren, but he was already walking away.

  It was eerie, Ren had to admit.

  He had seen it happen a dozen times, and it still bothered him.

  Standing behind Aileas, one arm wrapped around her shoulders, he pressed his lips to her temple and murmured to her as she stared in shock.

  For the first thirty minutes, the book hadn’t done much of anything, resisting the laws of physics, nature, everything. Ren had just piled more wood onto the fire and added more gasoline. Finally, there was a strange little pop and the book had made a weird gasping noise.

  Then it started.

  Screaming.

  Aileas had jumped.

  Now she just stared in shock. It had been nearly twenty minutes since she had made a sound, nearly that long since she had moved. Stroking a hand up and down her arm, he stared into the fire, watched as page by page curled and gave way to flame.

  Another scream sounded through the air and Aileas shuddered.

  “It’s screaming,” she whispered.

  “They do that.”

  “It’s a damn book. It’s inanimate,” she said. “It can’t scream. But it is.”

  “Yes.”

  They did scream, like a thousand terrified children.

  And it smoked, thick, black noxious smoke.

  Ren was prepared for that, burning the thing outside in a cleared circle ringed with stone. The smoke churned up into the sky and he wasn’t surprised when he sensed the approach of his friends sometime after the book had finally started to succumb to the flames.

  He was a bit surprised that Aileas sensed them.

  She stiffened in his arms, her sleek body tensing, the hands she had curled around his arm tightening until her nails bit into his flesh. Not a one of them had made a sound. She couldn’t have heard them.

  And although he felt them, their presence was muffled enough that Aileas shouldn’t have.

  She did though.

  No other way to explain how she knew exactly where Greta and Rip were standing long before the smoke cleared enough to reveal their presence. No other way to explain how she knew that Elle and Michael would approach from behind, or the others who came after.

  It was eerie…almost as eerie as the way the book screamed its demise. Stroking a hand down her back, he pressed his lips to her brow and murmured, “Ali.”

  “Who…” She barely forced the word out past her teeth before her voice died on her.

  “Just friends, Aileas,” he said. “Just friends.”

  Friends.

  They didn’t feel…here.

  Aileas didn’t know how else to explain it, except that they didn’t feel like they were entirely part of this world.

  Terror gripped her, tried to control her, but she forced it aside. Although she already knew what they were, she wasn’t content with that. She had to know who they were—not just what but who, because until she asked, until she knew, she couldn’t make them real in her head.

  Staring at the brunette woman before her, she found her voice. She didn’t even have to ask. The waves of compassion, something about the way she watched Ren, they filled in some of those blanks in Aileas’ head.

  Gretel.

  No. Greta.

  The woman who had trained him.

  She didn’t look much older than twenty-two or twenty-three, her hair a dark, warm brown, twisted up and worn in a complicated knot. Her eyes were deep blue, warm and soft. The man at her shoulder looked like he’d stood there her entire life—a unit. That’s what they looked like—a unit.

  Unsure of what to say, unsure of what she wanted to say, Aileas opened her mouth and said the first thing that came to mind.

  “When my mom read the story Hansel
and Gretel to me, I never once pictured Gretel looking anything like you. I always had this rosy-cheeked little blonde girl in my head.”

  Greta cocked her head. A slow, amused smile curled her lips and then she glanced at Ren. “You’re going to get your ass kicked, my friend…telling secrets.”

  Ren’s hand curled over the back of Aileas’ nape, rested there. She felt the strength there, the warmth. “What fun are secrets, if you don’t share them from time to time?” he asked.

  “Hmmm. Well, then. Have your fun.” Greta looked back at Aileas. “Is the book yours?”

  Aileas curled her lip. “Hell, no. Not my kind of reading material.”

  “Good.” Then Greta rocked back on the back of her heels and focused on the fire.

  Feeling the weight of somebody’s gaze, Aileas looked up and found herself the object of a blonde woman’s attention.

  The blonde was…beautiful. Angelically so. Seductively so. Almost impossibly so. When their gazes met, a smile bowed up the other’s pretty mouth. “Hello,” the woman said, offering a friendly smile. “I’m Elle. Ren and I are old friends.”

  There was the faintest hint of an accent there…something sexy, subtle…French maybe. And although there was nothing about the way Elle looked at Ren, nothing about the way she said it, Aileas knew as well as she knew her own name that these two had been more than friends.

  A lot more.

  Jealousy wanted to curl inside her, wanted to fester.

  But Aileas wouldn’t let it take hold, not here. Not now.

  There were too many of them around.

  If Ren could feel what she was thinking, it was possible one of these newcomers could as well, and Aileas wasn’t interested in broadcasting her thoughts, her feelings, her insecurities for all asunder.

  So instead of letting jealousy take hold, she pushed it aside. She could think about that, focus on it later. “Aileas,” she said.

  Elle gestured to the man at her back. “This is my husband, Michael.”

  Another matched set. Did they all come in pairs? Aileas found her gaze wandering toward Ren, wondering about the women in his life. Where was his mate? The one who made him look like these four…a matched set. Complete. Whole. Had it been the woman she’d first seen with him? Mandy?

  But even as she thought it, she pushed it aside. No. That woman hadn’t been his match—his other half.

  He had one though, Aileas knew, and just the thought was enough to churn up despair inside her.

  Because she couldn’t focus on that, on the jealousy or the pain, she pushed it aside.

  Couldn’t think about that, none of it. Instead, she focused on the book and asked, “So what is this? A book burning party?”

  Ren could feel her pain, her distress, but he didn’t know what to do about it—didn’t understand what had caused it. Taking the time to understand it would be too distracting, and he couldn’t get distracted right now.

  Staring into the flames, he nuzzled Aileas’ hair. “A party…why not? And we’ll have some unwanted guests. That’s why I wanted this done during the day.”

  In his arms, Ali tensed.

  Alarm shimmered through his mind.

  Closing his eyes, he opened his mind, tasted the wind on the back of his tongue.

  One of his birds—the hawk—glimpsed something that didn’t belong in the woods. Moving in fast, so fast.

  Miles away.

  But closing ground fast.

  Before his mind had time to acclimate to that one, there were more whispers. All around. Nine demons in all, coming from all directions. Wrapping his arms around Aileas, he swept her into his arms. “Rip.”

  Without saying a word, the other man reached inside his coat. As he moved to take Ren’s place at the fire, he pulled out the bladed staff he’d designed. Greta took position opposite him. As she pulled her own staff out, she said, “Get her inside, Ren. And stay with her in case one of the bastards try to get in your home.”

  Aileas shoved against his chest, blood rushing to her cheeks.

  “Damn it, put me down,” she said, squirming, blushing.

  “No. I need you in the house. Trouble is coming and you’re too vulnerable.”

  Should have moved the damn book farther away.

  But he hadn’t wanted to leave her alone for more than a few minutes, and destroying a book tended to take upwards of an hour. A few minutes just wasn’t enough.

  At least here he had his friends able to protect her.

  He had her inside the house in a matter of minutes. Settling her on the couch, he focused again.

  Closer. Much closer. Damn monstrosities.

  “You’ll stay inside,” he said quietly, reaching up to brush her hair back from her face. “No matter what. I plan on staying here, but no matter what happens, you don’t leave. Understand?”

  “No matter what happens?” She reached up and closed her fingers around his wrist. “What do you think is going to happen?”

  “I think they’ll all die.” He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip. “But just to be safe, I want your word. You’ll stay in the house.”

  Now his hand curled around the back of her neck and he squeezed. “Your word.”

  A sigh huffed out of her and then she whispered, “You have it.”

  What good did it do to not promise him? she wondered. Seriously.

  Demons.

  Could she really do a damn thing against a demon?

  They aren’t real. You’re going crazy.

  That sly little voice forced its way into her head, creating little worms to feed and fester away inside her.

  Demons. Come on. Go outside and see. People, they are just people. Angels? Those friends of his are just friends. Nothing special.

  Aileas closed her eyes and pressed her hands against her eye sockets, trying to block that voice out of her head.

  You have to get away from this guy. He’s bad for you. You’ve gotten worse since you’ve been around him. If you weren’t going crazy before, you’re certainly going crazy now.

  “Ali?”

  Dazed, she lifted her head and stared at him.

  He stroked a hand down her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

  “Wrong?”

  He pinched her chin lightly and said, “Yes. Something’s wrong. I hear it, feel it. There’s a voice muttering to you—I can feel it in the back of my head, like a forgotten song. But I don’t know what it’s saying to you. I just know something is wrong.”

  “It wants me to leave,” she said quietly, rubbing hands up and down her arms. “Wants me out of this house. Now. Right now.”

  Outside, they heard something whistle through the air. Followed by a roar…then a crash.

  Aileas jumped.

  Ren pulled her into his arms. “Stay with me,” he whispered. He pressed her head against his chest, cradled her close.

  She rubbed her cheek against him, listened to the slow, heavy beat of his heart and tried to ignore that oily, nasty voice.

  Come out, Aileas. Come out…

  The voice was getting louder.

  Louder, louder.

  Taunting her.

  Beckoning…

  And then she heard a voice.

  Not inside her head.

  No. This time, it came from outside the cabin.

  “Ali!”

  She tensed in Ren’s arms and then shoved away from him so hard she almost fell backward.

  Her brother—that was her brother’s voice.

  Ren caught her arm. “Whoever you think that is, you’re wrong.”

  She tried to dislodge him, staring past him out the window. And what she saw outside made her blood run cold.

  Aileas hadn’t lived a sheltered life—not exactly. But bloody, real violence, the sort of thing that happened between the pages of a book or on the silver screen? She had no experience with it, until this very moment.

  The shock of it was enough to jar her out of her daze and she stood there, slack-jawed, with the blood roaring in her
ears and her heart slamming against her rib cage.

  “Oh, shit,” she breathed out.

  They moved so fast, her eyes could hardly keep up with them.

  Blood flew. Weapons flashed.

  Bodies fell only to leap back into the fray with single-minded intent.

  In the midst of it all, there was only one soul not caught up in the fighting.

  He stood out on the very outskirts of the clearing, and Aileas’ heart skipped a beat.

  He was staring straight at her.

  She felt it.

  He opened his mouth and again, she heard her brother’s voice as he said, “Ali. Come here…come talk to me.”

  Her brother’s voice. But not his face, and not his body.

  Not him.

  “Who is he to you?” Ren asked quietly.

  “My brother,” she said. Tears welled in her eyes and burned their way free, rolling down her cheeks in hot, stinging tracks. “He sounds like my brother. What is he? Is he…is he one of these demons?”

  “Yes.”

  Ren didn’t like the way the orin watched Aileas, as though she was already a tasty little treat spread out before him.

  Didn’t like it at all.

  Backing away, Ren glanced around, tried to get a headcount, see which of his friends he could see, where they were.

  Aileas—needed to do something about Aileas.

  Just then, he felt something dark and powerful shudder, rip through the earth.

  Powerful. Something big, something bad.

  And close.

  Aileas screamed.

  Ren went to turn.

  That was when he saw the orin make his move.

  Shifting, keeping Aileas pressed close, he turned to face the other problem that had just arrived.

  Bocans—aw, fuck.

  The dull gold scales caught his eye, warned him and he moved, just in time. A huge, clawed hand swiped through the air, nearly taking his head off.

  He heard glass shatter.

  And again…Aileas.

  According to Ren, this thing had once been human, but Aileas wasn’t entirely sure she believed that.