Blood of Eden: A wolf shifter romantic suspense (The Guardians Book 1)

by JJ King

  Raphael suddenly stilled and straightened his body. Katherine’s heart leaped in her chest and beat a furious staccato. She quickly closed her eyes and relaxed her body, willing her heart to slow, as Raphael approached her, his nostrils twitching as he breathed in her scent.

  He knelt in front of her and said nothing, did nothing. She could feel the warmth of his putrid breath against her skin and prayed that she wouldn’t cringe back from his stench. The seconds ticked by inside her head; one minute, two minutes, three. Finally, he stood up and turned his back to her. All of her senses were in overdrive, making up for her temporary loss of sight.

  Relief surged through her as Raphael’s footsteps fell further and further away from her. She could have a bit more time to think and plan.

  She couldn’t have been more wrong.

  A searing pain roared through Katherine’s thigh as a palm-sized piece of coal landed on her leg and stuck to her pants, setting them instantly afire. Katherine wrenched her body upright and swiped at the coal, putting out the fire before it burned even more of her skin. A large hole was burned into her pants revealing a serious but easily healed first-degree burn.

  Raphael hadn’t meant the coal to seriously hurt her; he had meant it to startle her enough to reveal herself. His little trick had worked.

  “So you’re awake.”

  His voice seemed completely out of place with the surroundings and his smell. Unlike his mutterings, his real voice was smooth and surprisingly like Quinn’s. Only Quinn’s voice was warm and sane and Raphael’s held only a dangerously sharp edge. A chill ran down her spine and violently stole all traces of warmth from her blood.

  She focused her eyes on him, watching him watching her, but didn’t speak. Maybe he would reveal something important if she let him talk. He was crazy after all and crazy people liked to hear their own voices.

  “Do you know that your name means Pure, little Katherine?”

  It wasn’t at all what she’d expected him to start the conversation with but, she supposed, you could rarely trust a madman to follow social norms. She kept her eyes on him but didn’t so much as blink acknowledgment that he’d spoken to her.

  “Purity is a quality to be much admired you know. I admire it. I aim to achieve it. That’s why they should listen to me. I only want to purify the blood. What’s wrong with that?”

  Here we go.

  “Blood is so easily corrupted by filth and disease Katherine. But your blood,” he waved his hands towards her, “your blood is pure isn’t it? Your blood is exactly what’s needed to cleanse the old wounds. Don’t you want that sweet Katherine?” He looked at her expectantly. “Don’t you want to be the one to bring about a new generation?”

  Holy Mother of full blown crazy! She stared fixedly and tried not to let her contempt for this pathetic excuse for a wolf shine through her eyes. She didn’t need him flying off the handle and killing her before she had a chance to escape.

  He stood rocking from side to side as he spoke, studying her intently. “Of course, I may be wrong about you, but I don’t think so.” His forehead furrowed for a second as though he was having a moment of mental clarity and could see how insane he was acting, but then his brow cleared and his eyes reflected a light that was scary as hell. “I think you’re exactly who I’m looking for and who I’ve found.” He threw his arms up in the air, excited now, then pointed at her and bounced around a bit. “We’ll test you! We’ll make sure you’re who you ought to be.” His face was the epitome of young innocent joy coupled with pure madness. Katherine could feel her heart through her chest, beating in horrified anticipation of where this conversation or monolog rather, was going. His voice was buoyant when he spoke again, “This may hurt a little.”

  Katherine blinked, no longer able to concentrate on keeping silent as Raphael rounded on her with a large knife in one hand and a red hot poker in the other. He had a bundle of material under his arm but he dropped that on the floor nearby and squatted. It wasn’t his weapons that brought the mind-numbing fear, though; it was the expression on his face, the small smile on his lips that looked so innocent and childlike.

  “You don’t need to do this!” Her voice came out shrill and loud. “Wait, we can talk about this!”

  The poker’s tip slid into the tender skin of her stomach like a hot knife into butter. She screamed and caught the scent of her own flesh searing. The hot metal, not silver but iron, cauterized her skin and internal organs as it passed straight through her body and out the other side, sticking into the floorboards momentarily.

  Raphael wrenched the poker free and pulled it from her bleeding torso. Before she could begin to heal from her first serious wound, he brought the knife down and began slashing furiously at her legs and arms. The smell of copper filled her nose and made her urge as her body tried to pull itself inward to protect itself from more injuries.

  The only saving factor was that he wasn’t using any form of silver so the wounds began to heal immediately, the slashes more quickly than the hole through her abdomen.

  She lay on the floor trying not to move as her body healed itself. Raphael sat just inches from her, knife in hand, watching her recovery and, thankfully, not inflicting any more wounds.

  It took her body three minutes to close her opened skin. The newly formed pale pink skin was the only evidence that she’d been hurt in the first place.

  Raphael’s hand rubbed the top of her head but she didn’t move away from his touch. She was petrified that he would cut her again.

  His voice was soothing, like a mother speaking to a child. “You did really well. This won’t take much longer. Soon you can rest.”

  “No!” The one word torn from her lips as he reached just beyond him and pulled open the folded material.

  The firelight glinted off the sharp edges of the silver knives and a spotless gun that lay on the piece of canvas. Katherine felt her mind try to tug away from her as she anticipated the pain she knew would follow. Panic and sheet terror threatened to take her over the mental edge but she pulled back, desperately attempting to control her reactions.

  From a place just outside of herself, she watched Raphael make small incisions in her skin with the silver knives. The pain radiated from the small cuts and burned the muscle beneath, but she managed to continue breathing and refused to scream for him. To give him that satisfaction.

  She hissed in horror as he intently pushed a small silver bullet into one of the gaping holes. Her body jerked in agony and the pain that shot out from the cut magnified until she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  Raphael sat there silently through it all. Studying her body like a scientist studies a bug he’s dissected on the table before him.

  The pain built inside her body, building momentum as more and more silver sliced into her flesh and slipped into the muscles to burn in agony. She heard the keening wail of a dying animal and realized that it was her, finally giving into the horror. Then she heard nothing and knew nothing but welcoming darkness and cold.

  Chapter Twenty

  The first reaction she had upon waking was a feeling of surprise that she was still alive and in one piece.

  Her clothing was shredded from Raphael’s attack and, through the tatters, she could see at least thirty separate patches of healing skin; some small, some long and jagged. She could easily tell where he’d used the silver against her skin. Those areas were still angry and red, though still healing.

  The simple act of raising her head brought a wave of nausea and a grip of pain to her abdomen. The physical pain of the healing cuts was nothing compared to the agony that her memories replayed in her mind.

  Katherine thought in one seemingly never ending moment that she’d lost her mind during the torture and would never be ok again. She was aware enough to know that the pain wasn’t real so she hung onto that truth and pushed past the fear and memories. It took a full minute of focus and breathing to make her body understand that the pain was over.

  Only a few hours
had passed since Raphael had turned her into his own personal voodoo doll and began poking her with pins. She looked toward the window and frowned. She hoped it was only a few hours and that an entire day or more hadn’t passed.

  The room was quiet like it had been the first time she’d woken up in this God forsaken barn. Raphael’s scent was everywhere around her, on her, but she could still tell that he wasn’t in the room.

  The other times she’d awakened, Katherine hadn’t dreamed that Raphael would go where he’d gone, torturing her for no apparent reason besides some incomprehensible mad justification. Those times she’d waited and watched, hoping for a chance, but this time was different. There was no more waiting. There was no chance in hell she was staying here any longer.

  In a fit of desperate rage, Katherine began to jerk her body against her binds. Her wrists grew slick with a mixture of blood and sweat, lubricating the rope. It took a solid fifteen minutes before she felt any give at all around her hands but at the first movement, her heart sang with hope.

  The rope was encrusted with her blood by the time she untangled her feet and crouched, staring about the room, ready to get the hell out of there, or die trying.

  She remained in human form, for now, ready to use her hands and body to defend herself. Once she cleared the building she’d change and run like hell but for now, she desperately needed a weapon of some kind.

  When her hands closed around the poker, now cold, she smiled. She didn’t need to be in wolf form to be deadly.

  Keeping low to the floor, Katherine inhaled sharply and sorted through the scents, rolling them across her tongue and tasting each for Raphael’s reek.

  Satisfied, she moved toward the old door cautiously, continuing to sniff the air, searching for any sign of a trap.

  Her instincts told her that it wasn’t a trap; that this was her chance and that she’d been smart to take it because another one wouldn’t come along in her lifetime. Focusing on that thought, she pushed open the door and slipped outside silently.

  The night was bright, the moon that she’d enjoyed with Quinn still high in the sky. The thought of Quinn fearing for her life, of her family searching for her, filled her with determination and strength.

  One glance at the sky showed her which direction to run and she turned and immediately sprinted toward the tree line.

  The moonlight glinted off the visible skin of her legs and stomach so she bent low to disguise herself and make her less noticeable. The muscles in her midsection still ached and pinched as they healed where he’d stabbed her deeply but she ignored the pain completely and just ran.

  As she hit the end of the field where the barn stood Katherine thanked the Old Ones and opened herself up to the magic of her species. The change came fast this time, as it had when she’d been a child and had changed daily. The power of her wolf steadied her and gave her speed and strength that she desperately needed.

  She ran without thought, only instinct, for almost an hour, then she stopped abruptly and crouched low, terrified. The sound of a male wolf howling echoed through the air and set the fur on her entire body bristling. The howl was enraged, crazed, and thoroughly insane. Katherine felt like sticking her tail between her legs and finding a dark hole to hide in.

  She clenched her jaw, refusing to give into fear and turned back in the direction of Wild River. Raphael’s howl had carried on the wind and had come from the barn or very near it. She had an excellent head start and there was no chance he’d catch up with her if she just kept running.

  The distance gave way under her paws, which eventually tore and left bloody prints on the moss and ground. Every few kilometers she would reach into her mind and search for anyone but every time she found herself still alone, the static in her mind persistent.

  The moon was starting its descent when she stopped for a moment to rest. Every muscle in her body felt weak and tired. She felt as though she’d been running for her life forever. Her paws were raw but she’d stopped feeling them.

  Katherine heard the sounds of trickling water before she smelled the small brook that ran just ahead of where she’d stopped. She limped over to the bank and lowered her head, drinking deeply from its cool depths.

  She was still drinking when she heard a branch snap just behind her and she saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye. Panic and fear merged to give her one last shot of adrenaline and she reared about snarling, her head low to the ground as she prepared to pounce.

  The moonlight glinted off a set of eyes that were a startling gold filled with unspeakable relief and love. Quinn moved forward cautiously, apparently sensing that a quick approach might seem like an attack to her overly frightened brain. Katherine was glad that he did because it gave her a moment to check herself and really see who he was and that he wouldn’t hurt her.

  She launched herself at him with a moan of respite and buried her nose in his neck. The edges of her mind itched as though someone was trying to bypass boundaries and reach her. Raphael still had some hold on her but she was sure that it would soon pass.

  Quinn’s whine had a questioning air and he looked past her to where she’d come from and growled. Not wanting to change in order to explain, Katherine just poked him and motioned her head toward Wild River then began to walk. She couldn’t read Quinn’s thoughts right now but she knew that he wanted to go after Raphael and kill him for hurting her. She understood but right now she needed him more than she needed Raphael dead. She needed the comfort of him beside her to remind her that she wasn’t still locked in that stinking barn with that maniac.

  Quinn turned and fell into stride beside her, lowering his head to sniff at her bloodied paws. He whined his worry and nuzzled his nose into her neck, reassuring her and showing his love. She could feel more nudges against the periphery of her awareness now, members of her family trying to speak with her and still failing. She knew that Quinn would have let them know as soon as he’d seen her, would have sent out a giant mental flair signaling success.

  They walked in silence for a very long time, alone in the forest except for the other animals. Katherine looked up at the sky and the fading moon and wished that she would wake up, that her nightmare would end and she would wake up in Quinn’s arms.

  Eventually, they met up with a tracking party who howled happily into the early morning air. Ronan was there, leading the group alongside Pierre who looked ragged and exhausted. Both men bounded forward and pressed their warm bodies against Katherine’s, looking at her face closely as if they were trying to find a way to make her understand non-verbally how relieved they were. She pushed back a little to ease their minds and let them know that she knew.

  Her homecoming was exhausting. Sylvie cried and ran out onto the lawn in the same clothes she’d had on the day before and sank down into the grass, throwing her arms around Katherine and burying her hands in her daughter’s thick fur. The sound of her mother’s sobs muffled by her own fur broke Katherine’s heart but she was too tired to offer solace.

  For once, Sylvie allowed Katherine to come into the house and go up to her rooms while still in her wolf form. Growing up wolf meant that public nakedness was a normal occurrence but, for once, Katherine didn’t want to let others see her still healing body. She wanted to hide what Raphael had done to her so that she wouldn’t see pity in everyone’s eyes and be constantly reminded of the pain.

  Quinn walked up the stairs with her and opened the door to her bedroom. He stepped into the room behind her and closed it quietly.

  Katherine stood in the middle of her room covered in mud and dried blood. She was so exhausted that a small part of her thought about crawling into bed as she was. The only thing that stopped her from acting on her thought was the lingering stench of Raphael on her body and the tell-tale smears of blood clinging to her fur. She closed her eyes and drew in the magic.

  The change happened quickly but drew the last of her energy and left her lying on the floor, drained.

  The floor vibrated slightly as Quinn
knelt beside her and swept her into his arms. Katherine could hear his heart beating reassuringly against the side of her head and she thanked the Old Ones that he was here with her.

  She was too tired to think about how she’d clean herself but she soon found that it wasn’t an issue. Quinn stepped into the large shower with her still in his arms and turned on the water.

  It sprayed hot against her skin and felt like absolute heaven. She peeked up at her white knight and lifted the edges of her mouth in a small smile.

  “I think I can stand up now.”

  Quinn’s arms still encircled her as her feet touched the wet tile floor of the shower. She realized that he was standing in the hot water with his clothes on and felt a tug of love fill up her heart.