CHAPTER FOURTEEN
–Bain–
“ENEMIES APPROACH.”
MAVE gave me and Naya a grim look. “Our best option is to shift, split up and regroup in my den.”
“Shift?”
Naya frowned and shook her head. “I have no idea how I did it before and can’t say I’m in any rush to do it again.”
“Nonetheless, you must,”
I said, liking and disliking Mave’s plan, but it was the best option. “Splitting up gives us a chance to confuse our enemy. Mave will go one way and you and I the other, giving us an opportunity to run together for the first time.”
I shook my head. “Either way, we can’t remain human when they pursue us in wolf form. ‘Twill be far too dangerous.”
“Again, I have no clue how I shifted.”
Naya shrugged and eyed me curiously. “And what’s the big deal about running together?”
“’Tis a bonding experience for wolves.”
One I was eager to have with her despite the danger. “Something that brings mates closer together, so ‘twould be good for us to do it now that we’ve begun our Fated Mate Cycle.”
“And what about Niall?”
Naya looked from Mave to me. Her eyebrows flew up. “If I just craved that bastard and his maker despite how you made me feel back there, doesn’t it stand to reason my wolf will head their way if it gets half the chance?”
“’Tis a risk,”
I admitted, well aware our pack would do their best to head off approaching enemies, including Niall. “But ‘tis one we have to take because we’re at the end of this tunnel.”
I gestured at the roots. “Once we climb out, we will travel from our territory to Mave’s, so the odds are in our favor.”
I grew more optimistic when thunder cracked overhead, reverberating down through the hole through which the roots grew. “Tréan has ensured favorable weather for us, too.”
“As to how you shift again, Naya?”
Kaia said, still there with us. “That’ll come more easily than you think when Bain shifts. Heck, your shift earlier in the tunnel was almost flawless, so you’re transitioning faster than I did.”
“Yes, because I was trying to get back to Niall,”
Naya reminded. “To my mate.”
“Exactly,”
Kaia replied. “And now you're trying to stay with your fated mate. Something tells me between that and focusing on protecting your family, you’ll have no issues shifting again because you’re as much a protector by nature as I am. You might go about it differently, but you and I are more alike than I thought.”
“’Twill be a fast run with lots of protection,”
I assured Naya when she continued looking wary. Flaring my wolven eyes at her, I tried to rally her inner beast to mine and gestured at the Viking dagger sheathed at her waist, pointing out what had become clear earlier in her childhood memory when she saw my eyes as a beacon of light through the ocean and storm. How else could it be, given the Viking blade was now the exact shade of my wolf’s eyes? “More than that, you are well protected by not only the dagger but by me.”
I cupped her cheek and shook my head once, never more serious. “And I would die for you, Naya.”
“I’m not sure how comforting that is,”
she said softly, worry flaring in her wolven eyes, showing me her inner beast responded to mine and drew ever closer. “I don’t want you dying for me, Bain.”
“They’d have their work cut out for them taking Bain down,”
Kaia said, praising my battle skills. “I’ve seen him fight, and it’s no joke, so let’s get going.”
There was no missing the refrained urgency in Kaia’s internal voice nor what she was saying without saying it. We were running out of time, and Naya understood because she inhaled and exhaled before she squared her shoulders and nodded at me and Mave, once again showing the courage I’d seen earlier. “Okay, let’s give this a shot.”
Her eyebrows edged together. “Should I assume my weapons will stick with me, somehow? The Viking blade?”
“They will,”
I said. “’Tis part of the magic that is ours. At least in this era.”
I gestured after Mave, who had already climbed up the root-ridden hole into the forest above. “We will await you at the top.”
I gave her a reassuring but hard look because she needed to do this. “Just have faith in me and your inner beast. Trust our growing bond.”
Before I pulled her into my arms and headed in the opposite direction because this was dangerous for her despite how much protection she had, I rallied myself and headed up the hole without looking back. Shifting at the top, I looked at Mave’s cedar-tinted sable wolf. “Stay safe, sister. I will see you soon.”
“Ta,”
she replied and raced into the forest through flashes of lightning and driving rain.
The perfect weather to trick wolven eyes.
Fortunately, Naya emerged from the hole soon after, her wolven eyes still out when her gaze locked on my beast.
“Trust in us,”
I said into her mind, reeling her closer, even if only telepathically. “And protect your family. Your pack.”
“And my mate,”
she said softly, offering promising words. She crouched and kept her gaze locked on my reddish-gold gaze, a beacon in the darkness as her inner beast inched toward the surface—close, so close.
Would she be able to do it again?
Was our growing bond enough?
“Yes,”
she said, her voice stronger now. She no longer looked at me with the fear of a little girl but with the acceptance of a determined woman, and she shifted so flawlessly there could be no doubt she would soon be all mine.
Though considerably smaller than me, I found her wolf as stunning now as I had in the tunnel earlier. Her pelt was the same mahogany color with flecks of blonde and auburn, and her eyes the same striking pale brown. Though I wanted to linger and celebrate because she had shifted so effortlessly, there was no time. So I rubbed my cheek against hers, told her to follow me, and sprinted into the forest.
Within seconds, I felt her chasing after me and all the wonders it entailed when she caught up, and we raced through the stormy woodland together. I had thought nothing compared to running with my pack until that moment. Until I felt what it meant to run with Naya, our wolves falling into a timeless rhythm as we weaved through the lightning flashes and trees. Over slick, pungent leaves and rocks, with the pine-scented, salt-ridden cool wind in our faces. I relished the freedom and exhilaration combined with the feeling of running with my other half because that’s how it felt. So perfect, I felt invincible.
“This is incredible,”
she exclaimed.
The energy and excitement rushing through her matched mine in ways that made us anticipate each other’s every move and enabled us to effortlessly push our muscles and strong, fluid bodies to the limit. As we soared and our excitement grew, I also became aware of another kind of rush we could find together. Would find soon. Naya felt it, too, because the scent her wolf suddenly put off was the best and worst sort of beacon right now.
And I was not the only wolf to catch it.
“They’re coming,”
Tréan warned into our minds. “Get her to safety, Bain.”
“Almost there.”
I urged Naya to run even faster and felt rather than saw wolves crashing against wolves in the distance as our pack fought off the enemy, and the Wolves of Ossary set up an ever-tightening perimeter around Mave’s and Callum’s territories.
Yet, for all our numbers and fierceness, some still got by and drew closer.
“You can't miss the entrance to Mave’s den,”
I said to Naya. “’Tis a special opening only the Wolves of Ossary know about, and you are one of us now.”
“Why does that sound like you won’t be with me?”
“Just get there,”
I ordered, counting on her loyalty to me as one of her alphas. She needed to obey now more than ever. Those coming for her might be loyal to Tadc, but the temptation of a female in heat could be too much to handle, and I wouldn’t risk it.
“Go,”
I roared into her mind, then turned, shifted back to human, and pulled free a dagger and my battle axe, knowing it was better to fight in this form if I hoped to attract less attention. While the two who approached could fight me as wolves, it wasn’t recommended because I would most likely down them swiftly with a few whips of my blades. They could intercept and evade more efficiently as humans, so I wasn’t surprised to see them emerge as men in the dark forest moments later.
They were some of Tadc’s stronger, more sizeable pack members, but I was ready for them when they headed my way, eager to get through me to Naya. Moving fast within lightning flashes, I whipped a dagger into the shoulder of one moments before he evaded, then spun out of the way of an incoming blade, meeting my mark with another dagger when it landed in his throat, and he fell to his knees.
Meanwhile, the other warrior withdrew a sword and came at me, but I crouched and avoided his first thrust. Then, I spun, side-kicked him, and drove him through with my axe before he even saw it coming. Full of battle lust and a need to protect my mate, I was ready when a few more emerged through the storm, grateful they weren’t Niall or Tadc. Could I fight and defeat them? Possibly. Hopefully. But it wouldn’t be easy with Naya within range.
“Then let’s end these assholes and get out of here,”
she said into my mind seconds before a dagger came out of nowhere and landed in one man’s chest with deadly accuracy.
I swore under my breath when Naya emerged from the darkness in human form with the Viking blade in hand and shrugged. “Sorry, but where I come from, we don’t run but stay and take care of our own.”
Though frustrated she hadn’t listened to me, I could not help but be proud of her, too, because I would have done the same if I were her. Not defy my alpha, necessarily, unless it meant leaving my fated mate alone to defend me. Even so, I let her know with a disgruntled look she would be punished for it later because her life was too precious.
She offered me a crooked, naughty grin and let me know where she stood on being punished with words I had already come to relish. “You promise?”
I had never met another woman like her and knew I never would. This time, rather than fighting against each other, we fought alongside each other, and we were good. Better. As in sync when fighting as we were in other areas, whether kissing or running. I could only imagine what it would be like when I finally claimed her, anticipating it would be as perfect as battling alongside her.
“Oh, you have no idea what you’re in for,”
she mused under her breath, whipping another blade that caught one of several men in the thigh when they emerged from the stormy darkness.
No, but I had a better idea, not just based on how her mouth had felt against mine or the heightened awareness I felt around her, but because of how she moved in general, seen clearly when she fought not just with weapons but her body.
Kaia had taught Naya a lot, but I knew, as we worked together, taking down several more men, the way she moved her body so fluidly, almost sensually, distracting her opponent, was all her. Yes, she was in heat and used that to her advantage, catching her rival unaware when she kicked him in an erection he couldn’t control, but it was also natural.
She might not be as full-figured as I usually liked, but her body seemed voluptuous as she arched to dodge a sword or spread her legs in a high-arching kick that knocked the wind out of her opponent long enough to drive her blade up under his chin.
While Naya had achieved much in her life, climbing the ranks from poverty to wealth, it was evident in her fighting abilities she’d had to do things she wasn’t proud of because she killed without flinching. While her inner Renegade certainly aided her, she had some life experience, too. I didn’t get the sense she had ever hurt an innocent person, but she knew how to take care of herself. Seen clearly when she ended one warrior with a blade across his neck before punching the last warrior racing at us square in the face.
Then, she did something that truly showed me what she was capable of, and I could not have been more proud.
Not when she crouched beside the man she'd felled, her wet clothes and hair clinging to her, held her Viking blade to his ballsack, narrowed her wolven eyes at him, and ground out, “Tell your assfuck alpha and his new prodigy that it’s too late. Bain has claimed me, and I belong to him now.”
She leaned close, nearly nose to nose, and dug in her blade enough to make him tense. “If you don't relay that message, this magical Viking blade will castrate you, whether I’m holding it or not.”
The truth was he would be put to death for letting us go anyway, but when a man’s ballocks were at risk, we were willing to do almost anything, so I wasn’t surprised when he nodded nervously, and Naya let him scramble off.
“I might not know much about how this Renegade wolf business works, Bain—”
Naya wiped her blade free of blood and sheathed it while eyeing the man shifting into a wolf and racing off— “but I do know Niall will get every bit of information out of that guy he can before castrating him himself for daring to get aroused around me because he’ll assume he had.”
She shot me a triumphant look. “That means Niall will know how well you and I fought together, which will translate. Believe it or not, it'll back up what I just told that swine about me picking you, and it will get under Niall’s skin.”
She offered me a little shrug and wink. “And when things get under Niall’s skin, he makes stupid mistakes.”
I could only hope as we headed toward safety without any further trouble.
Fortunately, our pack had closed ranks around us without anyone getting hurt, and we made it down into the catacombs Mave lovingly called her Den of Dens. Having only had to skirmish with a few enemy wolves, she awaited us with a look of approval aimed at Naya as she handed her a cup of wine and lowered her head in respect. “Well done, my new sister. May you and my brother run and battle side by side for many years to come.”
Naya didn’t say anything to that because I knew she still grappled with calling this era her own, but tapped her cup against Mave’s. Then, she lowered her head in return and drank enough to tell me although she had seemed calm, focused, and unaffected when fighting, she actually did struggle with everything she’d just experienced.
In fact, I felt her so intimately now I sensed her deeply repressed, true emotions bubbling up from the darkness of her mental sea. Sensing she needed me, I told Mave we would dine with her soon, yanked Naya into a darkened corner like I meant to enjoy a kiss first, then pulled her against me and held her. Only then, in the safety of my arms, did I learn just how good she had become at hiding how she felt when her entire body began trembling.
“I’m sorry,”
she whispered against my chest as I swung her into my arms and sat against the wall with her on my lap, shrouding her from curious eyes. “This is just something that happens after...”
I felt her shame as she struggled to explain what had become a delayed coping mechanism after all she’d dealt with since losing her parents. “It just happens sometimes after intense situations. I thought maybe turning half-wolf would fix it, but I guess not.”
“’Tis nothing that needs fixing,”
I said softly, holding her trembling body as I had when she released, only now for a different reason. “You have long learned to bury your emotions, which served you well.”
I tipped her chin until our eyes were aligned so she saw how proud my human and wolf were of her with a reddish-gold gaze that was her safety. Then I told her something I realized even she didn’t know, but my inner beast did. Our beasts did now they were mating.
“You tremble like this because every time you fear or fight and stand strong, you release more of the darkness from the ocean of your mind and the sadness of that fateful day you lost your family. You push it down deep, but your mind and body know you cannot hold onto it.”
I wiped away a tear I knew she hated me seeing. “Nor will you anymore with me. We will fight and fear together until I finally save you from that fateful day's deep, dark ocean, and we become one. My strength is yours, and yours, mine.”
It felt like every word I said had been hovering on my tongue for years, waiting to be told. Waiting for her and this moment, wrapped up in my arms, staring into my eyes, safe at last. Mine at last, or so I prayed as she brought her trembling lips to mine and kissed me like we had never kissed before.
Kissed me so softly and with so much emotion I didn't see what was coming next, though I probably should have.