by K Loraine
I can’t hold back, Lucas. They’re all calling me.
I nodded, desperately terrified of what might happen if she changed, but knowing she’d be in torturous pain if she didn’t. It’s all right, love. Just come back to me.
I couldn’t deny her this, and maybe, just maybe she’d survive what was to come. What Azriel had warned me about. If she ran with the shifters, maybe she’d be spared.
With the flick of a razor-sharp claw, the dress she wore pooled to the floor in a heap of fabric and she stood before all the vampires completely nude and unashamed. She was the most beautiful creature I’d ever laid eyes upon. If we made it through…no, when we did, I’d show her just how perfect she was.
Then, she changed. Her wolf locked violet irises on me for the barest second before she joined the pack, running for the edge of the property. I let out a sharp laugh of triumph as they went, until each wolf seemed to hit an invisible barrier, yelping in chorus as they fell to the ground.
“What’s happening to them?” Olivia asked.
“I have no idea.” I bolted for the pack, desperate to see if they were still alive. Rowena had changed back to her human form, where she knelt beside the unmoving body of her husband. He was dead. I could already smell the scent of death on him and all the others who’d hit the barrier.
She stood to her full height, eyes blazing. “What did you do? You ambushed us.”
I shook my head, holding up both hands. “It wasn’t us. There’s no way we could have done something like this.” Glancing wildly around, I looked for Briar. She couldn’t have fallen victim to this, not so quickly. Had I sent her to her fucking death?
“Mother, what is going on?” Her voice was like a balm to my soul.
I rushed to her, pulling her close, inspecting her for injury.
“Your vampires betrayed us. They killed half of the pack with one blow. Are you still set on being with a creature like this?”
Briar stepped away from me, her expression horrified. “Lucas, what is this? Did you know Cashel was doing this?”
“No. Fuck, Briar, you can’t think this was us.”
“Who else? There aren’t any witches around to blame this on this time, Lucas. Did your brother make a deal with a coven? Sun sickness is spreading. It killed my father, but I can cure it. Maybe he thought he’d make a bargain to get rid of his enemies. Me for the death of the shifters.”
A scream, bloodcurdling and very human pierced the air as every window in Blackthorne Manor burst outward, raining glass down on the grounds. Flames turned the sky orange and the clouds purple even in the darkness.
“What…” I couldn’t finish my thought. I ran toward the destruction, desperate to stop it all from happening. But it was like trying to keep water inside a broken bowl. Everything was slipping through my fingers. Not much killed vampires. Not much, but next to sunlight and a stake through the heart, fire was a sure way to end us.
Briar and Rowena followed me. I could sense them both running behind me. Their wolves were fast, but I was faster.
The courtyard burned as a handful of vampires fled, but none were my brother. Knight passed me, holding an unconscious and bleeding Olivia in his arms. “Where is Cash?” I asked him.
“I don’t know. I think he’s still inside. I…I just grabbed her. I couldn’t leave her there.”
Nodding, I ran through the open gate, eyes raking over the charred remnants of vampires who’d trusted us to keep them safe.
“Cashel!” I shouted for him, not able to believe this was how it would all end. “Cashel! Where the fuck are you?”
The flames grew higher, boxing me into the courtyard and ruining any chance I had for escape. Fuck. Azriel had warned me. He’d said we would die here. That my brother would be the cause. It made no sense. Cashel wouldn’t hurt Olivia. He’d die first.
“Who did this?” Briar asked, her voice tight. “Who would kill so many creatures?”
I swallowed. “My brother.” I couldn’t believe Cashel would do something like this, but he was nowhere to be found. He’d sabotaged it all. He was just as vile as my father.
A crumpled form at the edge of the courtyard nearest the door where Briar and I had first entered the party moved. The man gave a pained groan, calling for Briar.
She gasped and bolted toward him before I could stop her. “Sebastian, oh my God. Are you all right?”
As soon as he had her in his sights, he let out a dark laugh and stood. His magic glowed in his eyes, binding her where she stood.
“Let her go, Sebastian. We can get out of this if we work together.”
He laughed again. “I don’t want to get out of this. I want to end it.”
“Why?”
“Because you are a bastard and yet you got everything. The house, the power, the girl. I was shunned simply because my mother was a witch and didn’t tell him.”
“Him?”
“Our father. Haven’t you figured it out yet?”
I stepped toward him, frantic to get Briar out of his hands. “You…”
“Oh, there it is. You are a bit dim, aren’t you? Elias Blackthorne was a notorious lothario. Who knows how many more bastards he’s neglected to claim? Frankly, I’m surprised more haven’t tried to kill you all.”
“You’re a Blackthorne?” My gut clenched, but I saw the truth in his eyes, in the features we shared. He wasn’t lying. My brother.
“Technically, I’m an Eliason. Clever, isn’t it? My mother wanted me to know whose bastard I was without announcing it to the world. They’d kill me after all. I was an abomination.”
Briar growled. “You’re a shifter.”
“No, you pretty little thing. I’m a witch. Magic can do many things. It can change your scent, take away the control another creature might have on her powers, and create a barrier so strong it kills with a single touch.” He sighed. “That one was rather exhausting. Though Petra’s heart helped me sustain that spell. And of course, loyal Jess and sweet Desi. They came when I called like the good dogs they were.” He sucked in a long breath and shuddered in pleasure. “But, it was Rami who really sealed the deal. The raw power of a dragon running through my veins. There’s almost nothing like it.”
I could see the agony etched across Briar’s features. Not solely from the pain of the spell he held her with, but from the knowledge that her friends had been victim to a man she’d trusted.
“Why rescue her? Why do any of this?”
Rowena gasped as a burned and battered Cashel crawled toward us from behind a table. Large splinters of wood were embedded in his side, and half his face was covered in angry burns, but he was alive.
“Because he wanted revenge. On us.” Cashel’s voice was low and pained, but I knew he was right.
“What makes you any better than me? My mother died bringing me into the world. I was raised in filth. All because I wouldn’t turn.” He chuckled. “So, when he finally came to me with his little sun sickness problem, I saw an opportunity.”
“Sounds delightful,” I said, sarcasm thick in my tone.
“He thought I could cure him. Ridiculous.” He turned his gaze on Briar. “But he told me everything I wanted to know about my big brothers. Particularly you, Lucas. You became rather an obsession of mine. When our father told me Briar was still alive and that he was going to use her to get you to turn on Cashel, I had to steal her away. She was my ticket in.”
Rage boiled my blood, but I couldn’t rush him, not with that spell wrapped around Briar. “Why keep her for so long? Why not make your move as soon as you had her?”
A derisive snort had me seeing red. “Well, that would have been no fun at all. I wanted you to burn inside and out, and what better way than to take her heart before you could? She was almost mine. I got her depending on me for every single thing. She couldn’t make a decision without me. Then you showed up and ruined everything.”
Cashel’s voice echoed in my head. Keep him talking. He’s monologuing. Classic mistake.
&nb
sp; I did as my brother suggested. “So, you saw an opportunity to take her, and just…waited for an opening? Her father’s death was the perfect time for you to make a move.”
He rolled his eyes. “You really think a wasting sickness could take down a shifter? I cursed him. One well-placed curse can really do a number on anyone.”
Rowena growled and lunged at him, shifting before he could do anything to stop her. She tore into his throat with her teeth, drawing blood and making him scream. Briar fell to the ground, gasping as I raced to her. Sebastian bellowed, his rage making the hair stand up on my arms as power crackled in the air.
“Get down,” Cashel shouted before the ball of energy exploded from Sebastian, knocking Rowena away from him. I felt the brush of power scrape across me, singeing my skin as I covered Briar with my body. Rowena was nothing but ash.
As soon as I was certain Briar wasn’t hurt, I blurred to Sebastian, wrenching his arms behind his back until the shoulders popped out of the socket, and he let out a wet gurgling cry. His throat was rough and ragged, not torn out, but damaged beyond repair. If he survived, he’d never speak again. Too bad he wasn’t going to survive this.
“Don’t you dare take this from me,” Briar said, standing to her full height and staring me down. “This one is mine.”
Her fangs extended and I nodded. “Be my guest.”
I held him tight as she approached. Then, she shoved her hand inside his chest and pulled out his heart in a savage display of hurt and betrayal. While he watched, dazed and dying, she tossed the beating organ into the flames and walked away, naked and breathtaking.
BRIAR
I was the alpha of a pack that didn’t exist anymore. Everyone was dead. Well, almost everyone. All but Knight, Olivia, Cashel, and Samson, the head of the vampire council, died because of Sebastian. Grateful the entire east wing of the manor had been spared the flames, I stood in the shower, washing the blood from Sebastian’s heart off my hand and arm. I scrubbed until my skin was raw and there was no trace of him on me anywhere. Then I shampooed and conditioned my hair, scrubbed my face, my hips, my breasts, desperate to rid myself of the acrid scent of smoke from the magical fire Sebastian had set. The moment he’d died, so had the flames. They’d been real, but solely powered by him.
“You look better.” Callie’s voice made me flinch as I stepped out of the large stone shower and wrapped my body in a towel.
“You’re back.”
She smiled and nodded, her body almost completely opaque now. “It was him. He was draining me, holding you back, stealing from all of us.”
“I thought it was Cashel. He was trying to find a way to give you a body.”
Shaking her head, she held out a hand and inspected her skin. “I knew about that. I felt it the moment Natalie attempted to latch on. We had a little mental chat and she stopped. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell Cash I’m beyond that part of my existence.” Her brow furrowed. “Sebastian was another matter. He sucked my energy like a parasite I couldn’t find or get rid of.”
“I’m so sorry. I brought Seb here. He came for me.”
“He came for all of us. He was insane with jealousy for a life he wasn’t given. You know that.”
A breeze washed over my damp skin from the broken window, making me shiver. “I know. I can’t help but think I should have seen it. I just blindly trusted him like an idiot.”
She shrugged and sat down on the bench at the vanity. “I blindly trusted a woman who was madly in love with my brother, and she killed me.”
“You’re not making me feel better.”
“The point is, the only person you’ll ever truly know is yourself. Trust that.”
“And me, I hope,” Lucas said, his gaze lingering on my legs, a wicked smirk playing across his lips.
“As long as you don’t give me reason not to trust you.”
He gasped in mock offense. “You wound me.”
I laughed. “Doubtful.”
“Callie,” he said, tipping his head at his sister. “You’re not trying to steal away my mate, are you?”
She giggled. “No, this one’s a lost cause, I’m afraid. She’s gone for you.”
“As it should be.”
Stepping into the bedroom, I shivered again at the cold air streaming in from the broken window.
“Are you nearly ready to go? We need to crack on before the sun rises and I turn into a pile of ash.”
Glancing at Callie, I was hit with a wave of guilt. “What’s going to happen to Callie? She’ll be all alone here, and the repairs could take months.”
“They aren’t repairing it,” Callie said, standing and smiling at me. “Cashel told me he’s going to tear it down and rebuild.”
“What?” Panic clutched my chest. We’d lose her. “They can’t do that. You’re attached to the house. You’d be gone. Stuck in Purgatory.”
She reached out and grabbed my hand, hers solid but cold as ice. “No. When Sebastian died, my energy returned, but I also took everything else he had and freed the spirits he’d stolen over the years. I think it’s only fair.”
“What does that mean for you?”
“I’m literally a free spirit, and it’s bloody fantastic.”
“Come with us,” I offered without even knowing where we were headed.
“No. I have a date.”
That stopped me. “What? How?”
“Her name is Fiona.”
Lucas smirked. “Well, well, my sister. Only a few hours corporeal, and you’re already getting some ghostly action.”
“It’s just lovely to have someone to talk to who understands.”
He cocked a brow. “So, she’s a ghost?”
“Yes.”
“Well, good for you.”
She sighed and stood. “Don’t patronize me. I’ll be fine, and now that I can go wherever I want, I intend to enjoy my afterlife.” Her form began fading away, but she returned quickly. “Don’t cock this up, Lucas. You got her back. You’d better not let her go.”
“I won’t. She’s my entire world.”
My heart swelled with love for this man I never thought I’d get another chance with. Callie vanished, leaving us alone together.
“You’re my world too,” I admitted.
“Are you certain?”
“Why would you ask that?”
He took me by my hands and pulled me close. “You lost your mother and father, your pack, because of me.”
“No. I lost them because of Sebastian. He was the one who killed everyone. It isn’t your fault. If we want to blame someone other than him, we blame your father. But since he’s dead, there isn’t much point.”
“I don’t deserve you. You know that, right?”
I nodded and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I do. I’m far too good for you.”
I dropped my towel before striding across the room, avoiding broken glass and splintered wood as I made my way to the wardrobe. I felt his gaze on my naked form, but he didn’t press me for any attention. Instead, he watched me get dressed in silence.
“So, where are we going?”
“I’m taking you home. To Midnight Rose Manor. I want you to stay there with me for the rest of our lives.”
That sounded like the perfect place for us to start our lives together. A home where we could begin again, where the tragedies of our pasts couldn’t haunt us.
“There will be more like me. Just because Sebastian killed all of our pack, that doesn’t mean I’m the only one left.”
He wrapped me in his arms, and the soothing scent of bergamot engulfed me. “Then we’ll find them and give them the support they need.”
“Really?”
“Who else will help the outcasts but us?”
“It’ll be hard to find them.”
Shrugging, he grinned. “I like a challenge.”
“It might be dangerous.”
“I like to fight.”
“I’m going to fight right next to you.”
The
smirk on his lips turned lascivious. “Good. I like you in leather.”
Epilogue
THREE MONTHS LATER
Midnight Rose Manor
LUCAS
“She’s coming, and she’s not pleased,” Callie whispered in my ear. I couldn’t see her, but now that was simply because she didn’t want me to.
“What did I do now?”
“Who knows? You’re really quite annoying, you know.”
I waved my hand next to the cold spot by my ear, trying to irritate her. “Go haunt someone else. I’m sure Cashel needs a distraction from impending fatherhood.”
Briar stormed into the great room, her eyes blazing. “Lucas, why in God’s name did you leave this on our bed?” She held up a studded dog collar with a leash attached.
“Well, you’ve been rather grumpy the past few nights, and I thought you might need a walk.”
She tossed them at me. “I’m not a dog.”
“Sometimes you are.”
Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “You’re lucky I love you.”
Those words still made my chest ache a little. I never thought I’d see her again. Instead, she was my mate, my wife, and my everything. Even if she was a quick-tempered ball of rage at times. Controlling her two halves would never be easy for her, but honestly, if it were, she wouldn’t be the Briar I loved. We’d built our home together these past few months, found two hybrids and taken them in, and come to an agreement with the local coven to work together to help others like Briar learn to control the monsters inside.
Briar made me a better vampire, a better human. I’d never be as good or kind as her, but I’d love her with my whole heart every second I was on Earth. That was all I could do.
She sat on my lap, the dog collar hanging off one finger. “So, you think I need to be collared?”
I shrugged and fought a chuckle. “Maybe.”
“What if I said it was you who needed to wear this?”
My God, this woman. Everything in me lit up in anticipation of playing with her. “I’d ask you when you wanted me to put it on.”