Wild and Free

by Kristen Ashley

  “Ah,” Leah murmured.

  Suddenly, Lucien transferred her weight to Callum and stalked off.

  We all watched.

  Then, noting his destination, we all quickly followed.

  He stopped, looking down at his father, who was on his knees.

  “Yield,” he whispered.

  His father stared up at him, mute.

  I gasped as my next vision was Lucien holding Etienne aloft by his throat.

  “Yield!” he thundered.

  “Neh…ver,” Etienne forced out.

  Lucien hauled him to within an inch of his face.

  “Then you will burn,” he growled and, with no further ado, tossed his father aside.

  Etienne barely landed before I felt Abel’s body jolt.

  I whipped around, panic instantly having a stranglehold on me that we had new aggressors.

  Then I gawked.

  The girl in the pink camisole and polka-dotted pajama pants was hugging my man around the middle.

  My heart squeezed.

  “Come here, Amelia!” a woman standing on the sidewalk shrieked.

  The girl tipped her head way back.

  “I’ll never forget you,” she whispered. “Never. I’ll never ever forget you.”

  Abel lifted a hand and dropped it to the top of her head.

  She grinned. It was weak, it was shaky, but she managed it.

  Then she let him go and ran to her mother, leaping over bodies, sliding on blood and gore.

  We heard vehicles. Some of us looked one way, others looked the other, and we saw army green Jeeps and sparkling black SUVs angling in behind the cop cars.

  “Let’s go home,” Leah said, getting close to her man and hugging him from the side.

  He slid an arm around her shoulders.

  She reached out and grabbed Callum’s hand.

  Callum lifted his other hand and dropped it on Cain’s shoulder.

  Xun shouldered in and wrapped his arms around Leah and Callum. Ryon, Calder, and Caleb pushed in and connected. Ursula did the same. Jezza and Flo, helping a hobbling Ruby, joined us.

  Abel pulled me close and took Cain’s hand, lifting them up and moving their bodies close so their hands were tucked to their sides.

  Even though Abel gave me a tug, I stayed removed.

  And I did this to look up and down the street.

  Finally, I shifted forward, reaching out to clasp hands with Lucien, and I did it with my head thrown back, shouting, “We are The Three!”

  And on a radiating circle of blue light, our huddle disappeared.

  So we missed the cacophony of human cheers.

  * * * * *

  In a home somewhere in Idaho, a husband and wife embraced, his eyes rimmed with red, hers wet with tears.

  In a pub somewhere in London, a bartender called to the unruly crowd, “Pints! All around! On the house!”

  In a convenience store somewhere in Florida and on a street in New York City, perfect strangers embraced, smiles quivered, and tears flowed as all experienced sweet relief.

  And in an apartment somewhere in Washington DC, a woman listened to a newscaster, quietly sobbing.

  But she did it smiling.

  * * * * *

  In a Café Somewhere in Nevada

  The cheers deafening behind her, Naomi kept her eyes to the screen.

  Then she lifted them to the ceiling.

  Her prayer was short and silent.

  I never doubted, but even so, thank you.

  Once done, she turned around and shouted, “Lemon meringue pie all around!”

  The cheer of jubilation split her ears.

  But they didn’t care about pie.

  Knowing this, Naomi smiled.

  * * * * *

  Abel

  Abel opened his eyes and lifted his head.

  He felt his mate stirring beside him, but he saw Jian-Li sitting on the bed and felt her hands clamped tight around his and Delilah’s.

  A tear dropped down her cheek as she caught his gaze, and her lips were trembling when she spoke.

  “Welcome back, tian xin.”

  He grinned at her, and when he felt Delilah lifting up, he helped her, sweeping her in one arm at the same time he caught Jian-Li in his other.

  He tucked his women close.

  He held them tight.

  And he did this for a long fucking time.

  Epilogue

  All That We Can Be

  Delilah

  As the sun snuck beneath the horizon, the sound of Abel’s guitar strings bounced against the rocks of the bay.

  A bay that was crowded shoulder-to-shoulder with vampires, wolves, wraiths, phantoms, and humans.

  Up front, his khaki pants rolled up his ankles, the breeze blowing at his white linen shirt, the sea lapping against his bare feet, stood Yuri.

  To one side, leaning in, her hand in his, her head on his shoulder, stood Aurora.

  On his other, her arm around him, her head also on his shoulder, stood Sonia.

  And at Aurora’s side, also holding hands with her daughter, stood Barb.

  A few feet behind them, arms wrapped around each other, stood Callum and Regan.

  And we stood behind Callum and Regan. Me. Leah and Lucien. Jian-Li, Xun, and Chen, the boys holding up Wei who, even with his injuries, refused not to come. Dad, Ursula, Moose, Poncho, his auntie, Josefa, and Jabber. Aurora’s witch buddies. Ryon, Calder, and Caleb.

  All of us held hands (except one of my hands was unavailable since my arm was in a sling, so Leah held me about the waist at my other side).

  The rest, there to pay respects, stood to our backs.

  Our eyes were on the Viking ship drifting peacefully on the waves.

  Abel’s guitar was joined with another, the power of the strums reverberating through our bodies.

  And as Abel’s voice rang out, the strings of an orchestra joined him.

  In his baritone, he sang John Denver’s “The Eagle and the Hawk.”

  The words tore through me as tears raced down my cheeks.

  But I listened.

  I listened to every beautiful word.

  As the final notes drifted through the still air, hundreds of flaming arrows arced their buttercream light through the dark lavender blanket of sky.

  Some hit the water.

  Most hit the boat, and it and its precious cargo, taking its final journey, burst into flames.

  I failed at swallowing back my sob and Jian-Li’s hand in mine tightened.

  The boat burned.

  No one moved.

  I felt Abel push in beside me and take my hand from Jian-Li’s to hold in his.

  “All that we can be,” Leah whispered.

  At her words, more tears slid down my cheeks. The burning boat was blurry, but I kept my eyes to it.

  Soar, Gregor, I prayed. You’ve done your job. We’re safe now. The whole world is safe now, because of you.

  Sparks shot to the heavens on my thought.

  I tasted salt as I smiled.

  Aurora lifted her head from Yuri’s shoulder and we all heard her say quietly, “I’m glad I got the chance to know him, Yuri.”

  With his gaze straight to the sea, Yuri dropped her hand and curled an arm around her shoulders.

  But he made no reply.

  Callum did.

  “You will never meet a stronger man in your life,” the king of wolves declared, his eyes on the burning ship. “With eternity lying before us, not one of us will.”

  Sonia looked back at her husband and smiled through her tears.

  I dropped my head to Abel’s shoulder and gave him my weight.

  And Abel, my mate, he stood strong and let me.

  * * * * *

  Lucien

  “Where were you?” Lucien demanded.

  “We were there,” Avery replied.

  “You were? You were where?” Lucien clipped.

  “We were there. The Ancients are everywhere. Do you think the insurrectionists h
ad the ability to hack satellites?’ Avery shook his head and his eyes claimed Lucien’s in an unbreakable hold. “The humans, Lucien, they had to see.”

  “You televised it?” Lucien hissed.

  “They had to see.”

  “You’ve said that,” Lucien bit out.

  “The magic, Lucien, the magic that makes us, the magic that binds us, the magic that gives us immortality, links our races, flows through all of our veins only exists because of hope. Hope and love. Etienne and his minions represented the death of that. The Three was its salvation.”

  “If you knew what they had planned, why didn’t you help us?” Lucien asked.

  “We did,” Avery told him.

  “And how’s that?” It was a scoff.

  “For the last several decades, we gave you Gregor.”

  Lucien’s jaw went hard.

  He changed subjects. “After he attacked Leah, I could have dealt with my father. You wouldn’t allow it. I could have done something before he violated concubines, slaughtered villages—”

  “Yes, but if you had, they would not have seen.”

  Lucien blew out an infuriated breath. “I don’t understand your logic. In love and hope, you accept innocent collateral damage?”

  “If you don’t understand, then I’ll tell you this,” Avery returned. “If I’d told Gregor he would lose his life to this fight, he would not have changed one thing he did, including going to aid his son, his daughter, you. That’s love, Lucien. That’s hope. That’s beauty.” He leaned forward. “That’s magic.”

  Fuck, but Lucien couldn’t argue that.

  “They saw,” Avery continued. “All around the globe, they saw you fight. They saw you bleed. They saw you sacrifice. They saw you face an undefeatable foe. And they saw you beat it. They saw the power of hope. They saw the might of love. And now, what do we have?”

  Lucien didn’t answer.

  “Harmony,” Avery whispered. “Immortals and mortals, after millennia, living together in harmony.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  In the five days since the battle, there had been incidents.

  But immortals were outing themselves around the world and none of the incidents had been violent. None of them alarming.

  What Avery said was true.

  The acceptance was astonishing.

  Lucien let that go and asked, “Did you know we would lose Gregor?”

  Avery shook his head. “I am millennia old, I have skills and strengths, but I’m no seer. Neither are the others. We knew what the enemy had planned because we had the skills to find out. But we had no idea of the outcome. Only hope.”

  Lucien held his gaze and said, “Lilah’s light.”

  “She’s the best of you.”

  It was then that Lucien stared. “Pardon?”

  “She was the key all along, Lucien. Her light. Lilah’s light made her the most powerful of all of The Three.”

  “Love,” Lucien guessed, and Avery nodded. “But we all had that,” he pointed out.

  “Acceptance is a word not in Delilah Johnson’s vocabulary,” Avery announced. “I’m sure you’ve noted why.”

  It was dawning on him. “Because she sees no difference. She doesn’t have to accept, because she doesn’t even begin to judge.”

  Avery nodded again. “She takes everyone just as they are. Even under frightening circumstances and even more frightening explanations, she took Abel’s side almost immediately. The power of that, Lucien, coupled with her capacity for love, loyalty, hope…There is nothing more powerful than that on the planet. Delilah is not all that we are. Delilah represents all that we can be.”

  Lucien knew down to his bones that Avery was right.

  There was no more to be said.

  Therefore, he rose from his seat, murmuring, “I wish to get back to my bride.”

  “Give her my love.”

  Standing, looking down at Avery sitting in Gregor’s chair at Gregor’s desk, he felt his throat constrict.

  He liked Avery. Respected him. As angry as he was, that would never change how he felt about him.

  But he detested seeing him in Gregor’s chair.

  “We often do not know what we have until it’s lost,” Avery said gently. “You’ve been on this earth a long time, but that’s a lesson we all seem consistently to forget.” Avery regarded him warmly. “I hope that this time, you won’t forget, Lucien.”

  Lucien lifted his chin.

  He wouldn’t forget.

  None of them would.

  Then he walked out of the room to find his bride.

  * * * * *

  Yuri

  “Douse,” Yuri called.

  When he did, the witches lounging on blankets and in lawn chairs on the grass around him, sipping wine, popping cashews or grapes or crackers slathered with brie in their mouths, lifted lazy hands and the fire consuming the vampire chained to the stake went out.

  It was the vampire who’d killed his father.

  His screams of agony faded to whimpers.

  Yuri, with his back against a tree, legs out in front of him, laptop on his thighs, continued to catch up on email.

  It had taken some time, but when he hit send, he saw he was finally done.

  “Fire,” he said, and Barb, Ruby, Jezza, and Flo lifted their hands again.

  The fire blazed and the screams returned.

  Yuri snapped his laptop shut and rolled to his feet.

  “You know,” Ruby stated casually over the shrieks, staring at the roaring fire like it was a campfire and not a vampire burning at the stake, “this is doing wonders helping me work out my feelings for vampires.”

  Yuri felt one side of his lips hitch up.

  “He’s at your mercy,” he announced, and the witches looked to him. “However, when you’re finished, so is he.”

  Barb nodded.

  “I go to Aurora,” he said to Barb. “We’re dining at a seafood restaurant in town tonight. You’ll join us for dinner?”

  “Of course,” she replied.

  “Be there with bells on,” Ruby called, shoving another cheese-smeared cracker in her mouth.

  She wasn’t exactly invited.

  Then again, she would be amusing company.

  He dipped his chin Ruby’s way.

  Then he walked away to find his little witch.

  * * * * *

  Callum

  “We don’t do things that way in the United States,” the president, on the large screen in front of him, snapped.

  “We’ve had our governments alongside yours for centuries, Darren,” Callum replied. “We dispense justice our way and you do not interfere. You do it your way and we return the favor.”

  “That was before. Now the immortals are out—”

  “We’ve already spoken of this,” Callum cut him off, allowing his impatience to show. “The nation of wolves will continue to be governed by me, the vampires by The Dominion,” he went on, gesturing to Rudolf and Cristiano who were sitting at his side. “And the wraiths and phantoms by Serena and Gastineau,” he finished, gesturing to the pair who floated at his other side. “This is as it was and as it always will be.”

  “He and his army attacked two American towns,” the president shot back.

  “And he and his army will pay for their crimes,” Callum returned. “We’ve already rounded up the golem and all the others. They have fallen.”

  “The vampire Etienne must stand trial,” the president declared.

  “He has and has been found guilty. Which is why we’re speaking,” Callum reminded him.

  “You can’t simply execute him without—” the president began but stopped when Callum leaned forward in his seat and his expression changed.

  “Humans do what they do and much of it I don’t understand. I know what you wish. I know you wish for his trial to be televised. And, in a small way, I understand that would provide closure, not to mention the understanding of justice being done…and vengeance. But mostly, the only purpose i
t would serve would be to provide titillation and an opportunity for voyeurism. Immortals don’t do things that way. We will make the transcripts of the trial available to the ruling bodies of all nations and you can decide to do with them what you will. But Lucien takes Etienne’s head tonight. And then it is done.”

  “We cannot—” the president tried again.

  “This call was a courtesy,” Callum bit out. “It was our people who committed the atrocities. It was also our people who bled and fell to put a stop to it. We will have justice. You will only be assured of it. And now, we’re done.”

  “If this is how you intend to conduct our affairs for the future, Callum, I have grave concerns,” the president sniffed.

  “And if you haven’t learned from our sacrifice that we wish harmony but autonomy, not dominance or interference, I fear for your nation’s future as that would prove you’re not a very astute leader,” Callum retorted.

  The president reared back in his baronial chair.

  “As you are very aware, this threat was not new. We have lost much in order to contain it for a very long time. And further, in all matters, we have kept order amongst our people for an equally long time,” Callum shared something the President knew. “We know how to govern our own. You have no idea. But regardless, at no time during the negotiations to conceive a plan to share the knowledge of immortal existence with humans was such meddling discussed. I’ve carefully gone over the minutes and Gregor’s copious notes on all of your meetings. After we, and we alone, secured a safe transition into society for our people, changing your tactics now would be foolhardy.”

  The president’s brows shot up. “Is that a threat?”

  “If you wish to take it as one, I’ve no control over that,” Callum replied. “However, it wasn’t one. It was simply a statement of fact.”

  The president glared.

  Callum finished it, “We’ll share with you when we’ve concluded the matter with Etienne before we release a statement to the press. Now, I wish you a good day.”

  With that, he leaned forward, moved the mouse, and clicked, disconnecting the call.

  “In the upcoming election, the candidate campaigning against him and favored to win is a much more open-minded human,” Cristiano noted.