by Holly Hook
The pressure increases on my chest and I struggle to breathe. I can’t see it, but I sense an immense darkness settling down on me, lapping up the darkness within.
Nothing will matter in a few minutes.
“Cayden,” I gasp, but the black Wolf runs after Brett, who screams obscenities. I claw at the air as Edwin rises from his chair. A dark film separates me from the rest of the world. Cayden’s feet plod farther and farther away, and Brett’s shouts of pain follow with a thud and the sound of teeth meeting flesh.
He’s not here to help me. Or maybe his darkness is helping the Savage King along.
“What are you doing?” Leonora asks.
Edwin paces around me as I struggle. I can't move or get up. My limbs are stone. Romulus is trying to push me back into a tiny box at the back of my mind, where I won’t have control. There is no existence there.
“Do something,” Leonora begs.
Edwin reaches into his pocket, drawing Brett's silver dagger. Traces of my blood remain on the blade. “Stand back,” he tells her, shaking.
The blade is sharp. Very sharp. Pain and duty seethe in Edwin's eyes.
Edwin waves the blade above me, cutting air. He mutters strange words. My shoulder wound screams again and I open my mouth, uttering a cry of pain. Edwin’s eyes turn to steel as my ears ring. He slices the air above me again, and this time a new line of pain screams into my chest. I grip my flesh, but the wound is invisible. My skin's whole, but the pain digs deeper, crawling towards my heart. Edwin's words float in the air and I scream as the pressure backs away and the Savage King abandons me.
Edwin's going to kill me to stop the Savage King from coming through. He has my blood. He can.
He slices the air again.
I turn over, trying to shield myself, and a third line of pain screams across my back.
“What are you doing?” Leonora asks, grasping my arm.
“I'm fine!” I shout.
“Get back!”
In my head, Romulus gives one final growl.
I scream and the pressure releases. My limbs go slack. The dark veil lifts from my vision, clearing the room.
“I'm fine! He's gone!” I shout, turning over onto my back.
Leonora and Edwin look down at me, eyes wide. Edwin’s hand trembles as he holds the dagger that inflicted invisible pain on me.
“You hurt her,” Leonora gasps, standing up. She pales, bringing out her freckles.
The pain fades away except for the real wound on my shoulder. I listen for Cayden but he's gone.
The older man sheaths the dagger and puts it back into his pocket. “Neither one of you are to speak of this. It was necessary and it may be necessary again to prevent all of our deaths. Do you understand me?”
“Did you almost kill Brie?” Leonora asks. “You know dark magic?”
Edwin chews his lower lip and grips the arm of his chair, but he doesn't sit. “Light magic can't always help us. I had to protect us. Next time, I might have to kill.” Then he stalks out of the room, walks into the guest bedroom, and slams the door. It’s the exclamation point added to the end of his sentence.
I push myself up. The last of the deep cuts vanish as I force in a breath, careful not to make my shoulder flare up again. I look at Leonora and we stare at each other with wide eyes.
Edwin has my blood.
Leonora hugs me. “I'm sorry. He made me give the dagger to him when Cayden and Callie brought you here.”
“What else could you have done?” I manage.
Leonora releases me. “Let’s go outside.” Her face tells me that ratting on Edwin will only make things harder—much harder. He has all the respect in the coven and her parents are still the bottom members, though no one says that out loud.
What do I do? This man could kill me if the Savage King tries coming through me again.
I have to leave. Rising from the floor, I follow Leonora back out the front door. I’ve got to leave the real Edwin behind, the Edwin who may have always had the backup plan of killing me. And maybe he's even right to have that plan.
Cayden and Brett have vanished from the Russells’ front yard, though I smell blood. It’s Brett’s metallic blood and fear. It mixes with Cayden’s forest scent and saliva. My mate has bitten the young warlock. Another sniff tells me they're to the right, off the driveway, and just out of sight behind a clump of trees. Brett seethes. Already, I smell the changes in Brett’s blood. The burning hay smell remains, but it’s warping with each breath. By the second, the fire vanishes from Brett, leaving fresh hay and grass. Cayden's bitten him. And Brett's already starting to turn.
The warlock groans.
“Are you happy?” Brett shouts at Cayden, who still paces around the warlock in wolf form. But underneath that sarcasm is real fear.
Cayden's paws crush wet, dead leaves. Wavng Leonora with me, I walk forward. I make out the dark form of the beautiful Wolf through the tree trunks. As I run through the woods, Brett comes into view, too. He’s lying on the ground, a heap of black fabric with red trim, and he’s grabbing his shin. Blood soaks through the bottom of his robe where Cayden must have landed the bite. And as I approach, he glares at me from behind his sunglasses.
I want to tell Cayden what happened. But when I open my mouth, I can't. Just like Leonora, I'm holding information from my boyfriend.
At the same time, Cayden turns his hazel eyes down to the ground. Brett’s blood smears his muzzle, dark and sticky like it’s never going to come off.
“You’re still getting nothing out of me,” he says, fixing me in his black gaze. “I don’t care what you’ve done. I think you’re a bit unstable for that.”
I sniff. Brett still carries that toxic scent, a smell that matches his attitude. Though he still grasps his leg, he keeps me in his stare, almost like he’s challenging me to try ordering him around.
“Get up,” I say.
But Brett laughs. I'm falling into that pit of rage again. I hold back kicking him. Cayden grunts like he’s trying to tell me something. I meet his gaze to see that he’s shaking his head. I’m not sure what it means, but I’m guessing it’s that Brett will take some time to turn.
And he might end up like Lawrence, or worse, Abigail. But we have no other choice.
“I hope your leg doesn’t hurt too badly,” I say, grabbing Brett’s arm. He tries to punch me, but his fist lands on my arm harmlessly.
Then he seethes as he rises to his feet. “Why don’t you just tear out my throat and get it over with? You know you want to.”
I will not listen.
“You didn’t have a problem killing my father.”
The chest pressure starts in, and I exhale, turning my thoughts to Cayden and I running through the woods. I hope he’s doing the same, but I feel nothing but despair and guilt from him, too.
If you take over here, you will die, I think to the Savage King.
You will die and you'll feel that blade again.
So I talk instead. “You didn’t even like your father. Admit it.” I spit the words from my mouth as I pull Brett to the Russell cabin. Edwin now stands at the door in the distance, waiting for me to wrench him inside, and Cayden follows me, plodding on paws. “You know, Brett, if you bring Romulus out of me now, he’s going to kill you. You're starting to smell funny. So you might want to think about what you’re saying. Helping your sister isn’t going to be possible if you’re dead. In fact, he might kill you anyway even if Cayden hadn’t bitten you.”
Cayden grunts again, like he’s telling me not to remind him.
Brett curses as I drag him through the doorway. Leonora and Edwin stand out of the way to let us and the beautiful black wolf in. But my chest pressure remains. Just looking at Brett is bringing it on now, and Cayden’s mood isn’t helping. Brett's making us weak. Cayden’s struggling again. I'm struggling again. Edwin's display also wasn't a good sign and neither is the way Leonora's hanging her head.
“He can have the floor again,” Edwin says quickly. Th
ough he walks back to the chair, he places his hand near the sheathed dagger in his pocket. The outline taunts me.
I flinch under the slashing memories. Cayden looks at me with worry. If he knows the truth, that will just make his mood even worse. “We tie him up again and then Cayden and I will go decide what to do next.”
Edwin snaps his gaze to me. Though he says nothing, the message is clear. I’m not to speak a word about what he almost did or he’s going to kill me. We’re both walking on a tightrope, and shifting my weight the wrong way will throw us both off. The look in his eyes tells me he's willing to die by Cayden's claws and teeth to protect the world from the Savage King.
Brett's shoulders sag and he looks at the rug. He's no longer trying to run. The truth is hitting him. Brett’s become homeless. And hopeless. With the thought, I help him to lie down since he still has trouble balancing with his bound ankles. Brett seethes. “It hurts,” he groans, biting his lip.
Cayden nods at me, still in wolf form. I get what it means. He’s starting to turn and the process won’t be pleasant. Leonora bites her lip at me. The muscles in Brett’s lower arm seize and he bites in another grunt. But the sound escapes his throat as he curls into a ball.
I release his arm and let him twist and turn in pain.
We did this to him. Turning will be far more torture than Edwin could ever inflict. Before my guilty thoughts can finish themselves, I turn and run out of the house.
Chapter Six
“Cayden, you did the right thing. We did the right thing,” I say, gripping the tree trunk.
I’ve run far enough from the cabin to escape Brett’s pained grunts and cries. He’s a tough guy and so far has managed not to scream. But putting half a mile between myself and the cabin hasn't completely drowned out his cries. Nothing has.
Cayden walks up behind me, now back in human form and pulling on his jacket. I gained distance on him thanks to leaving him to change back and throw on his clothes in front of Leonora and Edwin. That wasn’t awkward at all.
“I know we did. I just…don’t like turning people, even crappy people like Brett,” Cayden says, standing beside me. He caresses my arm with his warm grasp, eyes begging me to help him relieve his guilt. “I thought I was over the whole Remo thing, but maybe I’m not.”
“Remo has gotten better. He doesn’t hate you. If it weren’t for you, he wouldn’t even be alive,” I say, tracing my finger down his chest. But something's wrong. Instead of softening, Cayden flinches. “There was no other way we were going to get to Brett. With luck, he’ll be like Lawrence and I can order him to give us the way to remove your curse and maybe the way to unstick Romulus from me and Callie. We’re making progress.”
“Noble Wolves don’t run around turning people unless it’s to save their lives,” Cayden says. He releases me and paces. “I tortured Brett and then I turned him. Now I have to go to bed with those thoughts. I tortured. And I did it for you.”
Our gazes meet. I swallow as my throat goes dry. As we face each other, tension flows between us. The happy tingles are gone, fleeing from the darkness.
“You did it for all of us,” I say, because what he’s saying is too horrifying. “We have to do what we have to do. You're the one always telling me I'm being too nice and now you're saying we're being too mean. Trust me, I didn't like the torture, either. I don't even think Edwin enjoyed it.” My stomach turns at the thought of him. I should tell Cayden about him right here. But I can't. Cayden will go into a rage and attack Edwin. He's on the edge of a pit and one push will make him fall in. I can't bear to see him in pain again.
“I’m dedicated to you, Brie. We’re mates and that might be our weakness. For a bit, I felt dark. Just being around someone like Brett brings out the worst in all of us. That’s his goal. He’s like Romulus, capable of rotting us from the inside out. That whole cult is.”
“Are you saying…” I start. “No. That’s too horrible.”
Cayden licks his lips, though we won’t be kissing.
A cloud moves over the sun.
“When I’m around Brett, he puts me back to where I was after I lost my parents. And he's not even trying to do anything. Is he? It could be another curse he's using. I hate him for what he’s done to you and that’s not going to change. For a few seconds, I felt that pressure you’re getting. And I know I wasn’t helping you being the way I was. I couldn’t help you. All I could do was make things worse.” Cayden stuffs his hands in his pockets and takes a step back.
No.
“Remember how you held back the curse when Earl was shooting at you?” I ask. “You could do that again, couldn’t you? That would help us both. You can hold off whatever Brett's doing. I felt it, too. Even Leonora said she felt horrible around him.”
“Becoming a Noble Wolf might not change him much. We Nobles aren’t ones to bring people like him into our ranks. He might stay just as dangerous.”
“But we need him if we’re going to help Callie.” I'm digging the hole even deeper. Ouch.
Cayden rushes me, takes my arms, and moves his hands up to my shoulders, sliding his palms along my exposed skin. Tingles spread from his touch only to vanish again. “I know we need him. And that scares me. That guy is poison even without magic.”
I force a nod. My chin quivers. Brett’s taking the Savage King’s approach to fighting us. He wants to sit back and let us destroy ourselves. Even in the Russells’ home, he has power.
“Only one of us should face Brett at a time,” I say. But the words fall to the ground. We need to take more precautions than that. Brett’s poison goes deeper than that, and even now I feel the darkness lurking in Cayden’s chest and spreading over to me. Every bad emotion he’s felt in all his life is rising to the surface. “Until we’ve helped Callie, we have one defense against him and that's to stay away from each other.”
* * * * *
Ordering Cayden away from me is the hardest thing I’ve done in a while. I watch him go. No longer can he help me to fight off the Savage King and all the darkness that acts as his food. His newfound, positive attitude is gone, destroyed by Brett in a matter of minutes.
Cayden walks through the trees, not looking back, and as he goes, I listen to his footsteps fade. The lingering pressure in my chest releases. I hadn’t realized it was still waiting there, ready to crack my armor. Brett’s done more than just throw more tension into our mix.
He’s ripping us apart, and as the thought hits me, I think I hear him laughing. His sister must have taught him some ropes.
I can’t breathe or hear Cayden anymore. Even the bond we share fades the more distance we put between us. Brett wants it this way. But he also wants it the other way, too. He wants to use Cayden as a weapon against me.
And I’ve left Brett with Edwin and Leonora. Once he’s turned, he’ll be stronger than them both.
Turning my focus back to them, I run back to the cabin. By now, I smell Leonora’s parents, who have just come back from the store. I also hear Brett’s grunts and shouts of pain echoing through the trees. Despite that, I want to kill him. I want to wrap my hands around his throat and—
I will not think of that. Already he's affecting me again.
The door’s still open when I get to the front yard. Running through overgrown grass, I enter the house again to find Brett, unconscious, rolling on the living room floor while Leonora, her parents, and Edwin stand over him with wide eyes. Edwin looks up at me and looks over my shoulder, perhaps making sure Cayden hasn’t come back to kill him. He breathes a sigh only I can detect when he sees I’m alone.
I’m in very dangerous territory.
Brett shouts an F-bomb as he turns over, hands curling into impossible shapes as his muscles spasm. Memories surge back. The pain is getting to him even though his eyes are closed and he seems to be out. But pain, I know, can stab through sleep.
I won’t think of that, either. Already dark pulses race under my skin despite the light spirits that brighten this place. It feels as if Brett�
��s sucking the life out of me, piece by piece, and leaving room for the Savage King to take over. And he's not even trying.
“We need the pack,” Leonora shouts at me. “Once Brett’s done turning he’s going to attack us. I’m sure.”
“I’m calling them right now,” I say. “I’ll get Remo and Everly over—“
“I already called him. He’s on his way.”
“Thanks.” At least something’s going right.
Edwin sits in his rocking chair like he owns the place and glares at me again. He still carries that silver dagger that can end me if the darkness wins. Though the Russells can't see it, I'm sure, I make out a tiny fleck of my dried blood on the tip.
I ignore him. “Brett's doing something. Whenever I’m near him I feel like all the light’s going out of me. And that’s not a good thing. Even while he’s out he’s doing it.” I ball my fists.
Leonora’s chin quivers. “I still feel awful, too.”
“Step away from him,” Mr. Russell says, grabbing his daughter's shoulder. “Let Edwin deal with this. Right, Edwin? You don’t need her help.” He pulls Leonora back.
Edwin balks. He’s not used to his nephew standing up to him like this. Then he speaks like Mr. Russell is an idiot. “This young man has learned the art of sucking energy from others. You must learn to protect yourselves.”
Mr. and Mrs. Russell look at each other in shock. Leonora's eyes widen.
“He draws energy from others?” I ask.
The front door opens and Remo steps into the house. Leonora rushes over and hugs him, despite the tension on his face. But Remo doesn't put up with her hug for long and strides over to Brett. “Everly and I will make sure he goes nowhere,” he says, confident and strong. “We’ll take him to our cabin and--“