by Emma Dean
Malachi glared up at her and then punched.
This time she’d been ready, and Mika grabbed his fist like it was nothing. “I’m sorry,” she told him again.
His entire body seemed to deflate as he accepted his defeat. “It wasn’t your fault. My father would have tried to rope me into his bullshit at some point or another.”
“I’m still sorry.” Mika studied the hard lines in his face that hadn’t been there before, and then she reached out before she could stop herself to smooth out the frown between his eyebrows. “No matter what happens with these ravens or anyone else, I’m going to need you.”
“And why is that?” Malachi didn’t bother trying to get up, almost as if he enjoyed their current position, and Mika realized she was still straddling him.
She tried to get up off of him, but those massive hands wrapped around her thighs and held her in place.
“I care about you, asshole.” Mika wasn’t sure what answer he was looking for exactly, but she felt cornered somehow even though she was the one on top of him.
“Sure, okay, but you don’t need me,” Malachi challenged. “I’m not a raven or a fox. I don’t have a useful specialty like Ethan, and I definitely don’t know how to speak Fae.”
Fucking hell, why did all these boys talk to each other like that?
Mika tossed his hands off of her and stood, pissed, but the exact reason why alluded her.
“You don’t have to be the biggest, or strongest, or fastest for me to need you,” she snapped, unwrapping her hands. She tossed them to the ground and made to leave.
Mika didn’t have time for this shit. She was still supposed to meet with the Heads of the Administration and figure out what exactly it was they wanted her to do now. Then she needed to get ready to meet with the Enclave which she knew was going to be an absolute shitshow.
No one was interested in dealing with her and everything she represented.
Change.
Before she was at the door his hand was on the back of her neck and Mika gasped when he whipped her around until she was pressed up against him, staring into those dark eyes that had too many emotions roiling in them for her to properly decipher what it was he was feeling.
Malachi leaned down and she felt his lips against her ear. Mika felt his question rumble in her chest before she heard the words. “Then why?”
“It’s hard to explain,” she breathed. Her hands gripped his biceps and Mika closed her eyes when she felt the difference in their size.
His path had been parallel to hers. She’d seen him overcome the horror of what he went through and Malachi came out stronger.
He’d made his father pay for his crimes in blood and Mika tightened her grip on his arms as she considered how her own father had destroyed innocent lives and she’d been pretending all this time that he was dead and gone.
But deep down, she knew – she knew that he was out there somewhere, potentially still committing violence to lash out at what was done to him.
“Without you around I feel the absence. I feel like there’s something missing,” she confessed. “You are the one I’m constantly wondering about. I never know what you’re thinking or feeling. I don’t even know if you want to be here, but you are, and it would feel wrong if you left.”
“I do want to be here.” His grip tightened on her neck and Mika leaned into it, wishing he would just kiss her already, but Malachi had never been like that. He’d waited for permission when all she wanted him to do was take it.
“Why?” Mika turned and licked his thumb, just to see what he would do.
Malachi watched her with those glittering eyes and one corner of his mouth lifted up in a half smile. “You are my gravity and no matter how hard I try; I keep finding myself falling for you.”
She bit down then and leaned back so Malachi had to wrap his arm around her waist to support her. “Even though I was always a dark witch with issues?”
“Probably because of that,” he confessed, letting go of her throat to trace the line of Corbin’s feather braided into her hair. “Even when I was a naïve idiot, I knew there was something about you that would bring me to my knees.”
She hissed in a breath and grabbed his face, yanking him down. Mika kissed him hard. She didn’t try to be gentle. That wasn’t who she was and there was no use hiding from it anymore.
What she wasn’t expecting though, was his violent reaction to her kiss.
Malachi gripped her hips so hard she knew there would be bruises, if only for a moment. He wrapped his arms around her so tight she almost couldn’t breathe, and his teeth were sharp when he bit her bottom lip.
Mika tasted blood.
Her nails ached and she dug them into his skin when his tongue slid into her mouth and danced with hers. Mika sucked on the tip and had to hold herself back. All she wanted to do was devour him whole.
He groaned when her teeth sharpened and pricked his lips. Mika ate it up and slid her hands up his arms, over his shoulders, and up his neck until she held his face as softly as she could manage.
“I told you I wanted you to hurt me.” The deep rumble of his voice as he said that was almost too much.
“I’m afraid,” she admitted, walking backward when he started walking forward. He was silent, but never once let go of her. His lips were on her the entire time until her back hit a wall and suddenly her feet left the ground as he flexed his arm.
Mika found herself sitting on his thigh when he shoved his leg between her knees. His hand against the wall caged her until she was surround by him completely.
“Don’t ever make yourself less for me.” Malachi took her wrist and placed her hand on his throat.
“I would never.”
It didn’t matter that she could kill him if she squeezed hard enough. Mika did not feel in control of this situation at all. She was not the one leading them through this moment.
“Take what you want,” he told her, lifting his chin slightly as if offering her his throat.
And still, he surrounded her, caged her, pressed her against the wall, molded her body to his will. Mika was definitely not in control, and yet she was still safe and protected. Not everything had to be on her shoulders.
Emily had been right, there was only so much Mika could do, but she could make sure her small corner of the world was handled.
She squeezed Malachi’s throat hard enough she knew there would be marks and he didn’t have shifter healing. They’d be there, showing the world what she’d done to him.
And that’s what he really wanted.
Mika kissed him again, keeping her grip tight as she monitored the beating of his heart.
It was steady as a rock even though his hands tightened on her as if he was afraid she might suddenly disappear.
“I want you,” she admitted, saying it out loud for the first time.
“Good.” Malachi stepped back and she slid down his body, feeling every single muscle. “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”
Mika checked her watch, trying to catch her breath. “I do. Would you like to come with me?”
“Let me get cleaned up, and I’ll go find Dagon.” Malachi unwrapped his hands slowly, grinning down at her. “You should probably get cleaned up too.”
Adjusting her shirt, she glared at him. A single snap of her fingers and her hair was back the way it was supposed to be. “I’ll be fine.” She stalked toward the door and scooped up her jacket on the way out. “Don’t be late.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Mika stopped in the doorway to look back one last time, and she couldn’t help but admire the man Malachi had become.
The world had changed them both. Even though it had made them darker, scarier…it had also made them stronger. There wasn’t much they couldn’t handle anymore.
And they were all going to need that strength to deal with Azrael.
7
Mika adjusted her leather vest and then the holsters on her thigh. Now that she wasn’t o
n campus, she’d taken to wearing the knives Morgana trained her with every midnight. Excalibur was in her room at the eyrie, ready to be summoned at a moment’s notice.
Ethan and Corbin kept trying to get her to wear it at all times because of the invincibility the scabbard gave her, but it felt pretentious and weird to wear a fucking sword strapped to her back all the time.
But the knives, the knives were more comfortable and didn’t get in the way. She was a fucking witch. What was the point of being able to summon weapons if she didn’t use the skills she’d worked so hard for?
Mika hadn’t overcome the block on her magic just to waste the power that was finally at her fingertips again.
Standing on the landing deck before the gates to the eyrie, she stared down at the earth far, far below her. The wind whipped her hair into her face, and she tied it up as she reminded herself that she’d flown before. She could do this again.
“This isn’t going to go well,” Torin reminded her.
The Commander didn’t ever mince words and Mika appreciated that.
“I don’t expect it to,” she murmured, tucking her necklaces into her black turtleneck. Mika eyed Corbin to her left and gave him a half smile. “Ready?”
“I can’t wait.” His sharp grin made her shiver and Mika bit her cheek to keep from licking her lips.
“I’ve never been to the Enclave before,” Dagon told her, his deep voice rumbling through her bones. He stood so close she could feel his heat at her back. “But when you arrive, I’ll be able to track you.”
Mika turned and looked up into the hellhound’s eyes that crackled with the hellfire running through his veins. “Are you positive you want to come?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation to his answer. Mika wasn’t sure how or why he’d taken to her the way he had, but for once she wasn’t interested in questioning it.
At this point in her life, it didn’t seem like there was any point.
“All right. Let’s go.”
Mika watched as Corbin leapt off the edge of the stone floor with a taunting grin on his face. The rest of the ravens followed suit and it was a black wave as they beat their wings in sync. It was terrifying and beautiful to see the depth of their training and power.
After what the Guardian had shown her, she shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was different to see them working as a unit rather than just in the training fields.
Before she lost her nerve, she stepped off the edge and let the wind buffet her entire body as she dropped like a stone. Mika closed her eyes and just let herself fall and fall. All she’d wanted was to know what that felt like.
It was undiluted chaos.
And then she forced her arms down at the same moment she exhaled. Between one breath and the next she was nothing. And then she had wings.
Phantom.
Her feathers were darker than night as she beat her wings, climbing higher and higher in the sky – testing her speed and strength in this form.
Corbin cawed when she caught up, eyes glowing red in pride.
She was just as fast as any raven, but she didn’t have the training they did in this form. There were some things though that were just…innate. Mika thought it might have something to do with the Morrigan’s gift. So many of her animal forms just felt natural.
As easy as breathing.
The flight to the Enclave was something Mika didn’t really understand. It made no logical sense. It was as if the ravens were able to access a different plane of existence to cut through space and time. They had old magic set in place that warped reality.
It was as old as the Morrigan and gifted to them by goddesses, or witches and demons nearly as powerful.
One moment they were flying over endless forest and then clouds covered the earth. Mika felt as though it only took minutes to reach snow-capped peaks and she banked when Corbin did.
They circled what looked like nothing until Torin landed, shifting seamlessly. One minute he was a raven and the next he was walking toward the stone building with his hands clasped behind his back.
Corbin landed next and Mika knew she wasn’t ready for that transition.
When they were close enough, she shifted in the sky and dropped toward the ground as a human. It was like her body could do whatever she demanded of it, and Mika relished the way her feet slammed into the ground.
The sheer force of gravity made her drop to one knee, hand on the stone to keep her face from meeting the ground. Her eyes widened as cracks fissured under the pressure of her weight. As she stood Dagon appeared beside her in his hound form, steam rising from his body in the cold.
“If I’d known we’d be somewhere this cold, I would have worn a jacket,” Mika said as Corbin walked up to her with a smirk that heated her blood in a way that no piece of clothing ever could.
“It’s warmer inside.” Corbin grinned down at Dagon and then jerked his chin toward the building that almost looked like a monastery.
“Where are we?” Mika clapped her hands and threw on the floor-length coat she’d summoned as they walked.
“Denali, Alaska.” Corbin reached the door first and held it open for her as more ravens started to land.
Some of them she recognized and some of them she didn’t. Mika lifted the hood of her coat to cover her hair as she stepped into the dark space, following Torin as hundreds of ravens started to group up.
Dagon disappeared to scope the place out and guard their blind spots, and Mika made sure her face was in shadow. The last thing she needed was everyone’s attention before she was ready for it.
Corbin led her through the open-aired square that was large enough to hold more than one flock to where Torin was clearly waiting. It was dark, and cold, but the blue sky above them was a sharp contrast. The walls cut some of the wind, but Mika still shivered even in her coat.
“Nice landing.” Emily gave Mika a sharp grin as she moved to stand between her and Corbin.
“It’s only my second time flying.” Mika rolled her shoulders back, trying to ignore the nerves in her stomach.
“Oh, I wasn’t being sarcastic.” Emily eyed her with one brow raised. “It definitely reminded them you’re not just a witch.”
“Because my raven was too subtle,” Mika murmured as they settled into place behind the Commander, the Guardian, and the Diplomat. Corbin grinned at her over Emily.
Then he propped his elbow up on her head like any annoying, older brother would.
“Get it off Corbin,” Emily hissed. “Or I will cut it off.”
So, Mika rested her elbow on Emily’s shoulder. Perks of being a tall girl.
“I swear to fucking god…”
“What do you swear?” Mika said, dropping her voice to a whisper when the Commander gave them a look over his shoulder.
A knife pricked her ribs and there was a flash of silver under Corbin’s chin.
“We’re family,” Mika reminded Emily. “You’re not allowed to kill us, or Hunter will surgically remove your intestines.”
Her snarl of irritation instantly made Mika feel better somehow—less nervous. Emily shoved off both arms. “I dare you two to try it again.”
“You and Mika have such nasty attitudes when you don’t get your way,” Corbin teased, pulling a bored face when the Diplomat turned around.
Mika glared and crossed her arms over her chest, resisting the urge to stick out her tongue at him.
“You should be standing next to me, Mika,” Blaise hissed.
She double-checked to make sure her hair was covered by the hood and shook her head. “I’ll wait, thanks.”
Emily smirked and the entire square full of ravens went silent as a gong went off.
Torin stepped toward the center of the square along with twelve others. All thirteen of them faced each other, slightly apart from their flocks. Every single one of them had that dead look in their eyes that Mika knew meant they didn’t have their emotions on, but there were a few ruby red gazes in the crowd.
It didn’t matter that Torin was on her side, or that Dagon had her back. Mika couldn’t afford to forget every single person in this monastery was a trained assassin, even the diplomats and commanders.
They could all slide into the shadow realm and Mika would be fucked. She was powerful, but she didn’t think she was powerful enough to fend off hundreds of assassins if they decided she wasn’t worth worrying about, especially without killing them all which she was currently trying to avoid.
Dagon appeared out of nowhere in his human form and stepped forward to put himself between her and the raven on her left, wrapping his arm around her waist.
Whatever she’d sensed, he must have as well. A blink of an eye and he’d have her out of here.
“Torin, you gathered us here today. Speak your piece,” a female stated.
Mika inspected the building that had to be thousands of years old as she listened. It looked just this side of abandoned. No one seemed to live here, but it was kept up as a place for all of them to meet with torches along the walls and fluttering tapestries.
A place to decide the fates of ravens and the Morrigan knew what else.
What had been decided inside these stone walls on top of the tallest mountain in America that the rest of the world had missed—that the Council had missed? Mika wanted to know the secrets steeped in the walls, in the very air of this place.
“It’s been a few hundred years,” Torin said, almost as if he didn’t care.
And knowing ravens, he probably didn’t.
“But a blood witch has finally graced us with her presence, and not just any blood witch. One personally blessed by the Morrigan.”
Well, Mika hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but getting right to the point was certainly one way to do it.
“And as we all know, a blood witch holds a seat among the Administration in a Collective.”
Mika shoved her hands in her coat pockets and tried to keep her breathing even. This tension was killing her.
“What are you suggesting, Torin?”
“Are there any other Morrigans currently on an Administration?” he asked.