by Holly Hook
A stab of pain rips down my back and I gasp in Cayden's arms. I thrash and go down on my shoulder, sending another wave of pain through my arm.
“Brie.” He whirls and faces Edwin as I seethe, bend over, and grasp my back. The pain fades by the second. Everly and Remo jump in front of me, though Remo stares at me in confusion. Edwin stands in the doorway as Cayden advances on him at a supernatural pace. Alex lingers behind Edwin, trying to hide in the darkness of the house. Somehow, Cayden knows what Edwin wants to do. He's figured it out.
“Don't touch her!” Cayden shouts, raising a fist. “Whatever you did--”
Thunk.
Cayden decks Edwin so hard that blood flies from his nose. Edwin, stunned, slides down the edge of the doorway. Now Cayden and Alex stand face to face.
I can't get up. My arm screams and turns heavy, and the invisible cut rips my breath away. “Everly. Help him!”
But she and Remo are already moving. Cayden's twin yanks him away from Alex as he raises the blade in self defense. He doesn't want to stab Cayden, but the hardness in his eyes tells me he will if he has to.
“Let go of me!” Cayden shouts. He thrashes in Everly's grasp. And I notice the darkness swirling around him too late.
Edwin won't let his protective spirits shield Cayden anymore. We're no longer at the Russell cabin where the protection is at its strongest.
The dark spirits attack. Edwin slides against the door frame, muttering something, and Cayden goes down, shaking in Everly's hands, and I force myself up to help him. My shoulder screams, amplifed by whatever Edwin has done.
“Cayden!”
I shouldn't have run.
“Get him out of here,” Remo shouts. “L. Get the others.”
“We have to go,” Alex says to Edwin, pulling him back from the doorway.
Edwin groans as I throw myself over Cayden. Everly and Remo chase Edwin and Alex. I won't let him die here. I feel the darkness trying to invade the shield I'm putting over him. Closing my eyes, I focus. Edwin could kill me right now, but I won't let him get to Cayden.
Cayden continues to thrash under me. A motor revs somewhere and Leonora lets out a sob from the edge of the yard. People scuffle in the doorway and the two men backpedal through the house. Cayden groans in pure agony.
“I'm here,” I say, struggling to keep my voice level and soothing. I grip the grass, pinning him down. “I'm here. You don't have to protect me.”
“Come on!” Everly shouts. I've never heard her this full of panic in my life.
“I'm going to die,” Cayden moans. “Brie, I'm sorry.”
“No!”
“Get away from them!”
Brett's voice booms over the yard, making me jump. Cayden freezes and goes limp under me.
The darkness is gone, no longer stabbing through me to get to my mate. Cayden breathes a sigh of relief. He's not going to die. Tears fill the corners of my vision, but I suck them down as I force myself to look up at the person who has control of these dark spirits. For a moment, I forgot about him.
Brett stands in the doorway, having taken the place of Edwin and Alex, and he holds both sides of the door frame with confidence and his usual cocky attitude. For now, he's taken the dark spirits off Cayden. He has some control. Remo and Everly duck out of the house under his arms. “Get up. If you want to get away from these psychos, we might want to take that vehicle coming into the driveway.”
He nods, and now that Cayden is no longer struggling, I hear the motor and the tires coming into the driveway. When I turn my head, it's Noah's car, and he and Olivia are still inside.
“Come on,” Brett says, stepping out of the house and shaking his wrists out. “You have a deal to fulfill. I keep the darkness off your mate, and you get me my sister.”
Chapter Ten
Clearly Brett and Cayden came to some agreement while I was gone but I can't ask about that now. Edwin and Alex are still in the house, somewhere in the back, and I hear the sound of a crossbow loading. Alex is going to attack us, probably at Edwin's insistence. And this is after I helped cook them breakfast.
“Not everyone can fit in the car,” Brett says. “Brie, you and your mate should go. The rest of us will fight off these two.” He motions to Everly and Remo. As he speaks, a glint of sunlight zips across his sunglasses. I imagine he has revenge on his mind.
I won't question this. Cayden and I are the targets. “Will you be okay?” I ask.
Brett nods before turning away from me. Of course he's going to be fine.
The weight of the decision lands on me. Remo and Everly look to me while Leonora backs off to the road. Noah honks his horn (I really wish he wouldn't do that) and waves me over to the car. Cayden and I rise and backpedal towards it.
“Don't put yourselves in too much danger,” I say.
“Get out of here!” Remo shouts, but more to Cayden than me.
The two men inside the house scramble out of the back room. I smell adrenaline. As they do, my shoulder burns, reminding me of my injury.
“I don't want to shoot them,” Alex says.
“Do it or we're all going to die.” Edwin.
Gripping Cayden's hand, I finish running to the car while Everly, Remo, and Brett square off with the still-open front door. The air thickens and my hair stands on end. This will be a war of light and dark spirits and I'm not sure who to root for.
Cayden and I separate and get into the car, slamming the doors. I beat on the back of Noah's seat, urging him to go.
He reverses and switches gears so fast I grab the seat, and as we squeal away, Edwin bursts out of the doorway, the silver dagger in his hands. His gaze searches for me. I duck out of his sight as he turns his head towards the car, but not before he utters some nonsense words. Hugging myself, I brace for more invisible cuts, cuts that will go to the core of my being and end me, but they never come. Instead, Noah squeals around the corner, taking me out of Edwin's sight. I see only Leonora, who's running down the road with her phone in her hands. Edwin's forgotten about her.
“What about Leonora?” I ask.
“She'll be fine,” Cayden says.
I hope so. She can't fight her great uncle. “We need the whole pack together before Edwin can talk to them,” I say.
“I agree,” Cayden says. “Brie, it's too dangerous for you to stay in town.”
Noah turns around another corner as if to throw off Edwin's magical trail even more. “What did I drive into?”
The cuts stay gone. So even though he has my blood, he needs to see me to make the cutting spell work.
“That's what I want to know,” Olivia says. She looks to me, fear shining in her eyes.
“Turns out the head of the Russell Coven knows some dark voodoo magic,” I say. “I bet he's kept that from the others. And he preaches all this light stuff.” What else am I going to learn? “Cayden, how did Brett get out of those chains?”
Cayden blushes. For now, we've thrown all the strain to the side. We're fine now that we're away from Brett. Now we're just running for our lives.
“I let him out,” he says. “It wasn't free. If he's going to help us reach Remus and drive off the Savage King, we have to get his sister away from the cult for good. Brett says he knows a spot where a bunch of Noble Royals are buried and that would be a good place to work sympathetic magic and reach his spirit, or something.”
“There's a place where a bunch of Noble Royals are buried?” I ask. My theory that Brett would be more open to a fellow guy is true.
“He opened up after...” Cayden swallows as the air in the car thickens. “...after I growled at him and almost snapped at his neck. Something came over me suddenly and all I felt was hatred. Brett felt it too. It scared us both.” My mate looks at me with wide eyes. “Brie, did the Savage King almost take over? Something affected all us Nobles for a second.”
Emotion wells back into my throat. I force a nod. “Everly and Remo will tell you about it later,” I say.
Terror comes over Cayden's
face. He must know I overheard what he said. But instead of saying anything, he looks out the window at the passing houses and yards. We're driving out of Breckenridge. I see the wooden sign that welcomes tourists. Poor Noah doesn't know what else to do. He hikes his shoulders in discomfort, which is sure to hurt his injured one later.
“Cayden, it's fine,” I lie.
But thunder rumbles between us. We don't need Brett to help with that now. He won't look at me at all.
“Um, what do we do now?” Noah asks, trying to break the awkward silence.
We can't risk having the Savage King come back. Not with Noah and Olivia in the car. “Stop at that gas station outside of town. Leonora must be contacting everyone. I'll tell her to get everyone to meet us there, and then we're going to have Brett meet us there too.” A new wave of terror fills my body as I remember Everly and Remo back at Edwin's house. “I need to make sure Cayden's siblings are okay.”
That gets Cayden to turn his gaze from the window. He pans over the three of us, not pausing on me any longer than he does Olivia and Noah. “That sounds like a good idea. My siblings...if they were dead, I would probably feel it.”
“Don't say that. Please,” I say. I inject as much meaning as I can into that last word. Letting myself feel responsible for Everly and Remo, who told us to go, will only suck me into darkness again. How can I keep doing this without going insane? If I'm kind, I get run over. If I fight, then the Savage King wins.
Noah pulls into the gas station, which is almost empty except for a woman working behind the counter. Just woods spread out behind it. She smells completely normal, like tobacco and bacon mixed together with a hint of cheap perfume. In fact, she's thumbing through a magazine and doesn't even notice us. I get out and pace around the car, waiting for Cayden to wrap his arm around me. But he doesn't. Instead, he leans against the vehicle, staring down the trail we once took when rescuing Olivia's old friend from Matthew.
Then I remember that I have to message Leonora, and I do so. Since I don't know what else to say, I text, Hey. She'll get the meaning.
But Leonora doesn't respond for a few minutes. Edwin won't hurt her, right? All I can do is wait for word and the signal that they're okay. I watch as Noah and Olivia vanish into the gas station's snack shop and browse the candy inside. They maintain a grip on each other's hands. That makes me look at Cayden's, which curls and uncurls as he looks into the trees.
There's no way I can hold back anymore. “So I hurt your masculinity. I thought you were over that, Cayden.” Right away, I wish I could take that back.
“I'm never going to be over it and it's not your fault. But saying that was the only way I could punch through to Brett. His sister hurts his masculinity. It worked, didn't it?”
The thunder rumbles again between us. I flinch at how much hurt hits me.
“Yeah, it worked. You were doing well for a while,” I say. “Brett drains everyone he's around and that's why you started feeling like that again. He sucks everyone down into the pit he inhabits. If you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean. Brie, I've been feeling like this since Wyatt. Some times I was just better at covering it up, but being around that warlock brought it all back to the surface again. And it's going to take me a while to get it to calm down again.” As he speaks, he refuses to look at me. “But it's not your fault and you can't fix it.”
“You said it was mine yesterday.” He knows what happens when I know things are my fault but that doesn't change the truth. And I didn't help him feeling this way when I jumped over him in Edwin's yard. It was just another kick to his pride. “And once the curse is removed, it'll be better. Brett ordered those dark spirits away from you and it worked. You'll be a lot more useful again. Then you can take revenge for your brother.”
That gets Cayden to look back at me. “I want some, believe me. All the Savages need to die.” His hatred fills me, but also a fierce protectiveness. That's the Cayden I know, that dedicated, guardian Cayden.
“You're the same guy I dated back before we lost Wyatt,” I say.
“You think so?”
“Well, without you, we wouldn't have gotten Brett on our side. And you faced him down when you knew he was going to make you feel like this. That's pretty brave if you ask me.”
“But it almost got you possessed, if you're right. So much for protecting you.” Cayden leans over the car and peers into the gas station, where Noah and Olivia have vanished among the shelves. He's deflating and that's worse than his anger.
“I'll let Everly and Remo tell you about it.”
“It was bad, huh?” I read the meaning in his words. He failed to protect me from that, too.
I advance on him. “Look, we're almost done with all of this. I know it. Once we get Brett's sister out of the cult for good, he's going to help us. Brett might be sort of a jerk, but I can't blame him, and it turns out he didn't even like his father. I know he didn't. Mr. Hayde favored Karina over him to get him to turn dark inside, and it worked. But now he sees that not everyone is a dirt bag. I hope.”
“That girl is evil,” Cayden says. Now he faces me again and frowns. “Even if we capture her and bring her back to her brother, she's going to try going back to the cult.”
“Or will she? We don't know her whole story, and if we can swing her to our side, she might help us,” I say.
“You're too trusting.”
“So now I'm the other extreme. Well, trying to help people doesn't bring the Savage King to me. Or Callie. Speaking of her, I don't know how she's doing, either.” We might not have resolved our emotional problems, so moving on to another subject is welcome, even if it's also terrifying.
Cayden forces a smile. “Well, if Brett ordered those attackers off me, that's a start, right? He didn't actually curse me, but he knows more about them than I do and might have taken the torch from his father. He could help Callie a little.”
“That is a start. If you can fight without worrying about the curse, that'll help a lot.” I check my phone again and text Callie with the same, hey.
She responds right away. Still in motel room. No other incidents.
We might have help, I message back. Then I add a smiley face, glad she hasn't dealt with the Savage King again.
I'm in Davidstown. Super 8. No roaches so far.
I have to admire her sense of humor. Cayden asks who I'm messaging, so I let him see my phone. We now stand shoulder to shoulder, skin touching. For now, our problems fly away on the wind. My still-healing silver cut that Brett inflicted burns with the contact, but I can deal with the physical pain. It'll heal in time and it won't affect our connection.
So, nothing, I message.
Almost wondering if it's safe to go back to Earl.
I swallow as the happy mood in the parking lot drops. The Savage King likes to wait for times when he could do damage, and taking over Callie in a motel room isn't one of those times. He'll want to wait until she's around those who are a threat to him.
Namely, Earl and the other Hunters.
Maybe not, I text. Then I text her the story about how Edwin attacked me and how we're going to get Karina away from the cult. Provided Brett survives holding off Edwin and Alex.
I'm not surprised, Callie says. Maybe you need my help.
No. Stay put. Callie's impulsive. I know how she works and why.
Fine. I'll keep staring at the walls.
Promise me that.
Pinky swear, she says. But if I don't hear from you by the end of the day, I'm coming.
“She has a spark,” Cayden says.
I snort. “No kidding.” This sounds like such an ordinary conversation and it is for us. My life has turned into what Cayden feared: a fight for survival. In that moment, I want Aunt May. I want to have her hug me and act as a shield from all of this, but she can't do that anymore. And I hate that.
So Cayden, despite all our problems, steps in instead.
* * * * *
When Everly and Remo arrive at
the gas station, thanks to Noah sending out texts, I hug them.
Yeah. I hug Everly, who seems unhurt. They arrive in the SUV with Leonora, who remains quiet and shaken. So they got away, went back to the Lowe cabin, and got their vehicle. They're the first to arrive, followed by Aunt May, who also wraps me in her own worried hug. But nowhere is Brett.
“Alex didn't want to shoot us. He refused,” Remo explains to Cayden while I keep hugging Aunt May. “Edwin backed off and started ordering the guy around. We just got away before he could fire any of those bolts at us. That's an experience I don't want to repeat. I don't know what he did to Brie with that dagger--”
There's no point in hiding it anymore. “He had that silver dagger with my blood on it. I saw him tuck it into his pocket earlier.”
“I'm going to destroy him,” Cayden says.
And I don't try to convince him otherwise. He needs this.
“Then he used some kind of sympathetic magic on Brie. I didn't think my great uncle was that kind of man,” Leonora says. “I already messaged my parents about him. I hope they remember to check their phones.”
Remo keeps his arm around her. “Well, he treats your parents like crap and he likes his power trips. Wouldn't that align with dark magic? It's not genetic. I can't believe I'm talking about magic.” He shakes his head.
“He wants to feel all important by being the guy to kill me if I turn dangerous,” I say. “Does he have any idea we're meeting here?” In a place surrounded by just trees with few witnesses, Edwin could kill me and get away with it. Maybe he could do a drive-by magic stabbing. “What about calling the cops? And where's Brett?”
“Brett tried to get his spirits to attack Edwin, but it wasn't working. Maybe he was trying to drain Edwin and Alex. They shrunk back into the house after a few minutes and started to yell at each other, so it must have worked. Then he told us to run ahead. We grabbed the SUV and Leonora and came here.”
Cayden snorts. “Those spirits of yours won't do anything against Edwin.”
“You think he's that powerful?” Remo asks.