Consumed By Fate (The Alpha Territories #6)

Prologue

Maverick

I stumbled through the dense bush, wondering if the directions I’d gotten were even real. Sure, I’d been playing poker with a demon, and I’d laid my soul on the line to get the information I wanted, but if she found out I cheated…I was fucked.

Much as I wanted to mutter under my breath, curse the winged demon bitch out, I kept my mouth shut, and sound to a minimum.

Her directions had been simple, and I could still see her brilliant red lips as she gave them.

“Go northeast to the borderlands between us and the fae. The witch’s hut will appear in the fog of a summer morning, as the first kiss of autumn appears.”

Mind you, that had been weeks ago, and I was fighting to get to that unseen border before summer began to wane. Even now, it was possible I was too late. The mornings weren’t as balmy as they’d been when I’d escaped my master.

I ran my fingertip over the stone embedded in my right wrist, pushed deep into the flesh. Or more accurately, where the stone had been. The wound was small and throbbed even now, weeks after I’d dug it out.

I shoved the heavy palm fronds out of my way, stumbling in the dark. I’d traveled at night, hoping to come upon the witch’s hut just as the morning rose.

My last hope of escaping this place.

A shudder went through me. I would get out of the Territories. I didn’t care that I’d been born here, or that my mother had been born here, or that we’d been owned by the same fucking demon.

I was getting out of here, one way or another.

The sunlight sparked through the trees, long beams of light igniting the world in a shower of color. The green of leaves and bush was brighter, the birds sang loudly welcoming the day, and there wasn’t a fucking droplet of mist anywhere.

“Gods.” I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I drove both fists into the sky and tipped my head back. “I just need to find this fucking witch!”

My words echoed through the forest, bouncing around, and then back to me along with…along with a soft laugh. A shiver ran down my spine, and my flesh reacted, hair raising along my arms.

Fucking witch, eh? The voice seemed to float through the air, as if she were not physical but sheer vapor and mist. Fog rolled up from the ground as if it were steaming hot, the air filling with moisture and condensation in a matter of seconds.

I swallowed hard and did a slow turn, realizing I had gotten her attention and that if I wasn’t careful, it would be the end of me and all my plans. Play it smart, Mav.

“I meant no disrespect, my lady! I have been searching for you for weeks and thought that perhaps…I would never find you. Forgive me.”

The mist thickened around me until I could see nothing, not even the hand I held up to my face. I blinked, moisture sliding over my skin.

“I beg a boon, my lady, I am a desperate man in need of your skills and help. There is no one else I can turn to.”

Why should I help you? I remain in my veiled home safe, away from those who have slaughtered so many of my sisters. Why should I help you, human?

My mother said my father had a silver tongue like no other, and that he’d given it to me. Would it be enough to fool a witch? It was about time to find out.

I dropped to my knees and bowed my head. “My daughter Delilah…she will be sacrificed on the next full moon in the demon lands. My master, the Red Baron takes his pleasure with the girls and then tortures them, bathing in their blood. My Delilah…she is to be next.”

I let my voice hitch on the last bit, cracking and dropping so that the words were barely clear.

Now, the trick of telling a good lie, is to keep as much to the truth as you can. The Red Baron did take girls, and rape them, and torture them for days, until he finally ended their lives. I did not, on the other hand, have a daughter.

“She…” My voice ended on a sob, and I covered my face with both hands. The witch herself had given me a way to make her want to help me.

Her sisters were dead, that’s what she’d said.

Then I’d give her a new sister to try and save.

“She carries magic, my lady, like you. I don’t know how she was blessed, but she is still young…only nine, with locks of raven and eyes full of starlight. I would die for her, my lady, but I cannot kill a demon, I cannot escape this place without help. I am a mere man. As you said, just a powerless human.”

A low hiss ripped through the air, and the mist evaporated. I lifted my head. A cloaked figure stood in front of me. One hand lifted, crooking long, elegant fingers tipped with dagger-like nails. “Come with me.”

She turned in a swirl. I caught a glimpse of shimmering black skirts, a flash of leather boots, and a figure so shapely it truly caught me off guard. I expected the witch to be old, shriveled, and ugly.

This…this could be an even easier job than I’d thought. If I could seduce her too, perhaps she would give me more than a way out of this place…

Mind bursting with the possibilities, I hurried after her.

She flicked her fingers, sparks shooting out around her hands. They floated for a moment around her, like stars caught mid-air, before falling to the ground. The thick loamy earth seemed to soak up the sparks, pulling them in deep, as if thirsty for the magic.

A sudden groan split the air, like a beast bellowing early in the morning.

Right before my eyes, a structure sprouted up from the ground, as if it were grown from the seeds of magic she’d let loose. The peaked roof first, dirt flowing down off the shingles, then beams and wooden slats, doors, windows followed.

The earth heaved and shoved the house out, only settling once the door was clear of the ground. Deep green vines with brilliant red flowers worked their way up around one side of the house, smoke puffed softly from the chimney above. A light flickered inside, visible through the warped glass of the front window, but there was no knob that I could see on the door…

The witch stepped to the entrance and the door swung wide without her touching it.

“If you truly mean to save your daughter, then enter. But do not think there will not be a cost. All magic has a cost, Maverick.”

I swallowed hard, fear nearly choking me. If she could read my mind, I was done. “You…know my name?”

“I know a great deal, Maverick.” She tipped her head to look back at me. Her eyes were silvery, rimmed with gold. They made me think of cat eyes, watching the mice while deciding which one it would pounce on.

I found myself bowing—in part for show, in part for real. Her presence commanded respect that I hadn’t felt in a…well maybe my whole life.

A few steps later, and I was inside the witch’s hut. The door clicked shut behind me and…the house rumbled as it began to sink back under the crust of the earth. I put a hand on the wall to steady myself. There was no way out if I fucked this up.

“How…did you know my name?”

She flipped off her cloak over a high-backed chair, revealing herself fully. “I’ve been watching you stumble around my forest, muttering under your breath.”

I nodded and pulled my thoughts together. You’re a terrified father. “My daughter, Delilah. You can help her?”

The witch stepped into the firelight, her hair silvery like her eyes, only unlike her eyes the strands leaned to a lilac tone that made me think of the flowers my mother grew. The urge to reach out and touch it had me lifting my hand. I snapped it back to my side and shook my head, fear wrapping around me.

“Your beauty makes me forget why I am here, my lady.”

A laugh escaped her. “Truly, it has been a spell since I’ve had company. Would you prefer me to hide my true form?”

“No.”

She nodded and then frowned, her expression growing serious. “Time for a bitter truth. Your daughter…to save her the cost will be high. Changing the tides of fate is no small thing.” She moved across the room, the curve of her waist and breast drawing me in like a bee to honey.

Gods, how long had it been since I’d had a woman that wasn’t so malnourished that her bones jabbed at me with every thrust?

Too long.

The demons took the soft, curved women for themselves and left us with nothing but wraiths.

I blew out a breath and clenched my fists. “I am willing to change those tides and pay the price.” I hesitated. “For Delilah. For my daughter.”

She went to a high podium where a book sat. Not a massive book in size. It could have been a simple ledger to account for her wares. Her hand hovered over it and the pages flipped on their own, a soft shush with each page flicking by as she moved two fingers side to side.

“Very well. A man of conviction I can work with.” Her hand paused. “Here. This will be useful.”

I didn’t ask her the cost. I knew that a man who loved his daughter would not ask a price—he would pay anything. And so, I stayed silent as she worked.

Next, she went to a long table against the wall. She moved with ease, not slow, and not fast, as she gathered items. Like a cook, she chopped ingredients on the scarred wood surface, methodically adding them to the cauldron bubbling over the fire.

I inched my way closer, finding myself next to the podium and the ledger-like book that she’d worked from.

With her back turned, I peeked at the page she’d stopped on. To the left, the words were written in a scrawling hand?—

To craft a blade of death.

To the right was another set of words in a different handwriting.

To craft power and fame.

Well fuck me up and twist my balls. Excitement shot through me. “You can truly do this?”

“I am doing it.” She laughed softly and glanced over her shoulder at me. I made sure to be looking straight at her, instead of the book. Which was how I saw the color in her cheeks, and the way her lashes drifted as she looked me up and down. “Your mate, your daughter’s mother…”

“She died of the night scourge. Three years ago. My daughter and I have been alone since then, but every day I am grateful for the child she gave me.”

I bowed my head and touched two fingers between my eyes, a sign of grief and a begging for souls to pass over easily.

When I looked up, she still had her gaze fixed on me, a glimmer or tears in the corner.

Gotcha.

She went back to her work, the herbs and ingredients none that I recognized. Though when I glanced at the book, I could see what they would be.

Heart of posy.

Shells of a gryphon egg.

Sage.

Bone dust from a warrior. But it was the last set of ingredients that truly had my attention.

Powdered blood—vampire, fae, werewolf, angel, and demon.

Even I in my ignorance knew that the blood of the five races was powerful—and all together, they could become a weapon that would save me not only from the demons, but any who came at me.

I would be unstoppable.

The witch stood and put her hands to the small of her back, stretching. “Do you have a blade?”

I blinked and then touched the dagger at my side. “I do, but it’s not much. Certainly not a sword or?—”

“A sword is too much iron for this spell. A dagger will be just fine.” She held out her hand, palm up, crooking her fingers in a wave once more.

I pulled the dagger free from the sheath and walked to her. “It was my father’s blade.”

Another lie. I wasn’t about to tell her I stole it from the demons, after all. I needed her to think I was good and trustworthy if I wanted her help. Without it, I’d be stuck here in the Territories still trying to figure out how to make the supposedly magical dagger work. It would only be a matter of time before the demons I’d escaped found me and dragged me back to serve them.

After they’d finished torturing me, of course…

“Even better that it has a tie to you, Maverick of the desert lands. It will speak to you.” She took the blade and held it to the light. “And the iron is cheap and pitted, so the magic will sink into it good and proper.”

With a turn on her heel, she flipped the blade into the air where it hovered and spun slowly, end over end, until it was just above the cauldron. A snap of her fingers and it dropped into the liquid with a plunk, a bright plume of brilliant blue smoke rolling up around the handles of the cauldron.

“The power will take time to seep into the blade, Maverick.” She turned to face me. “Hours. When the fire dies, the blade will be ready.”

I swallowed hard as she stepped closer, already knowing where this was going. “My lady, I will gladly wait.”

“Ah, but you must pay a price, Maverick.” Her smile spread, showing straight teeth except for her canines, top and bottom. They each had a slight point to them, once more reminding me of the cats that stalked the sands.

I spread my hands. “What price, my lady? You know I would pay anything for my daughter’s safety. To save her from the Red Baron.”

She was my height so when she stepped close, we were nose to nose. “You have a child with magic, Maverick. It came not from her mother, as I sense a lingering line of magic within you.”

What the fuck? “But I am only human.”

Her smile was not unkind. “Perhaps somewhere in your family line, a bastard was born, a child of a slave and master. Perhaps demon. Perhaps fae. Perhaps even witch.” She lifted a hand to my cheek, her touch hot like a brand. “You are rare, Maverick. Perhaps more than you realize.”

My heart was racing. Play it right, man, play it fucking right and you will win the day. “My lady. This…if what you are asking…is more a boon to me than to you. It is not enough for what you are doing for me. For my daughter.”

Her eyes shut, long dark lashes fluttering over her near midnight skin. “A child, Maverick, as you know, is no small boon. I want a child of magic, a daughter to raise in the ways of my sisters and me. That is the payment I require, for the blade to save your daughter. Give me a child of my own.”

This time, I did not hesitate. I stepped into her arms and cupped her face, breathing her in, the smell of herbs fresh around her as my lips brushed over hers, a tingle of power rippling between us, her hands slid under my shirt, drifting to my waist.

I stared into those silver and gold eyes, framed by long coils of lilac hair, and felt myself falling into her spell. As if I were looking into the stars themselves, set into the night sky.

I ran my thumbs along her jaw, feeling something shift within me.

“As you wish, my lady.”

The witch lay sound asleep; the fire having burnt low hours before as she’d screamed for the pleasure I’d given her. I lay on my back, my body relaxed, satiated. The witch was…well she was a phenom, giving pleasure even as I gave it. The taste of her was still there on my lips.

She tasted like magic.

And now I had to leave her. I slipped from the bed, chasing away the desire to slide back under the covers and fuck her one more time, to take everything I could. But I needed her asleep while I made my way out.

Because I wasn’t just taking the knife. That book was coming with me too.

If I was magic, if she truly thought I had something in me that was worthy of planting a child in her womb, then I would find a way to make that book work for me.

Dressing swiftly by the light of the candle, I crept first to the cauldron. The fire below was gone, not even embers were left. I could not see into the bottom. Which meant I had no choice but to trust that the boiling liquid was indeed gone, and reached in.

My fingers encountered nothing, until the bottom, my fingernails scraping along the bottom.

And I found it.

The handle of my dagger was still the same, but as I pulled it out, the blade began to glow with a soft, blue light.

Magic. I grinned and tucked it into my sheath. There was no time to waste staring at it—I was on borrowed time.

Next, I went to the ledger. I could have taken just the single page but…there was so much there.

I scooped the thin book and tucked it under my shirt.

Now I was ready to leave. And I knew just how I was going to get out.

The realization had come to me in a flash, lying in bed next to her. Her. I didn’t even know her name. She never gave it.

Then again, names were powerful, especially for a witch. The last witch by all counts.

I hurried once more to the fireplace, ducking and stepping inside. The chimney was wide enough, I was pretty sure. And the smoke had to go somewhere.

I took a breath, and jumped as high as I could, snapping my hands and feet out wide, catching myself on either side of the brick chimney.

Bingo.

Moving slowly, carefully, I worked my way up to the very top. Now came the moment of truth. I put my hand up and thrust it through the dirt over my head.

My hand encountered air. Grinning, I pushed my way up, my head emerging through the thin layer of soil first, then pulling the rest of my body out.

I always did like being smarter than everyone else, and here once again, I had clearly proven I was even smarter than a witch.

I crawled out of the chimney and was up on my feet and running. I would follow the river south, as it bordered three territories. Demon. Fae. Werewolf. If I could get to the werewolves….well, my understanding was that they were the dumbest of the races. Easily fooled.

It would make getting to the mainland that much easier. I’d find a pretty girl, seduce her, get her to trust me and then bam, I was gone with the wind.

I tipped back my head and laughed. “Well done, Mav, well fucking done!”

The witch woke slowly, her body at ease with what she’d done. Already she could feel the life in her brewing, the spark of magic that Maverick had gifted her. A fair trade indeed. Her hand went to her belly, protectively. “I will keep you safe, little one. You will be the strongest witch our world has ever seen.”

She rolled to her side, expecting Maverick and finding…nothing.

Her feet swung to the side of the bed, and she stood, naked and stunned. How could he be gone?

With a snap of her fingers, her dress of starlight wrapped around her, and she hurried to the cauldron. The blade was gone. Dirt was splattered all over the edges of the fireplace. She looked up, seeing a bit of light at the top of the chimney. He’d climbed all the way out?

She could forgive him, she supposed. His daughter was heavy on his mind. “Good luck, Maverick. I pray you save your daughter, even as I raise ours.”

She blew a kiss up the chimney. He was clever, she’d give him that. It was a great mark that their child would be savvy, and able to problem solve as well as be a powerful witch.

She turned, a smile on her lips. So much to look forward to. So much to plan for…her smile slipped as she looked to her podium. The grimoire…her book of spells…was gone.

She ran and clasped the edges of the podium…he’d seen it, he must have seen it last night.

The only other spell that was on the page was a drought for power and fame. A laugh bubbled up in her.

“You fool. You goddess be damned fool. You think I can’t spell you still?”

A tap of one foot and she raised her hands to the ceiling. The only thing that softened her was the fact that he had indeed given her a daughter. And for that…she would not destroy him…or at least not all at once, at any rate.

“A curse upon you, Maverick, for theft, for deception…your silver tongue will not save you from a long life. I curse you, Maverick of the desert, to live a life too long, to feel the weight of it on your shoulders, to never know safety, or peace, or rest…to feel the pressure of age even as your face remains the same.” Her power flowed through her, the curse growing in strength. “Weaker…until your body becomes as useless as your black heart.”