Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
RAMONA
“ L eader! We got one!” Harrison ran from the forest over to us. His dark hair was disheveled, and he was missing a shirt, but he drew everyone’s attention.
Orion nodded and looked down at Sylvie’s face, held in his hands. She seemed to be back to her normal self, staring up at him with wide, trusting eyes, and he nuzzled his nose against hers. Roz, who I’d met once before, gave Sylvie’s back a few more pats and started to back away. “I’mma handle these nosy neighbors while y’all take care of things.”
As she marched over to the humans that were trickling away, I gathered to my feet and helped Río to stand. He leaned on me a little too much for my liking, but I steadied us both until he rose to his full height. I watched as he took a deep breath, and his face smoothed into a cold mask. His lids lowered a bit, his mouth became a flat line while his shoulders relaxed. Was this how he’d been in his old life? Where he killed and was abused by the people that should’ve been the kindest to him?
Our little group followed Harrison into the woods, running with Orion and Sylvie in the lead right behind him.
Up ahead, there was a circle of three naked Wolves with another shifter on the ground that was dressed in a suit and already roughed up. He smelled feline, like the pine and wind of a mountain lion. His lip was already busted, his eye already swelling and blackening, but he just smiled when my brother stopped and stood over them.
“Should’ve agreed to the terms, dog.” His mousey brown hair was pulled back into a short ponytail that was dirty and bloody. Ana, the blonde Wolf Vera had tried to taunt me with those weeks ago, crouched and punched the mountain lion in his other eye, and his head thumped against the forest floor.
O raised a halting hand at her and the pack members that were snarling and ready to rip the shifter to shreds. By the barely-suppressed frenzied energy around all of them, they’d tracked this member of the Serafim Group down. Herding and hunting him and now ready to sink their fangs. Even I felt restless looking down at the mountain lion, wanting to join in.
Río, myself, Harrison, and Delaney and Tyler stood a few paces away, though.
Orion crouched, and completely in sync with him, the Wolves did too. They grabbed the shifter’s arms and legs, holding him down so that there was no escape. “Where are Catalina and her brother?”
He managed to tilt his head, though. Around Ana, I saw his deep blue eyes land on Río. “The traitor? You have him right there.” I tried to step in front of Río, growling at the accusation, but his arm around my waist held me at his side.
“No. The other one. Where are they?”
The mountain lion just grinned a bloody smile, which was met with the deepening of Wolf snarls and snapping of fangs. Río stiffened around me, and his voice cut through their rage, “Leader. Who is protecting your house?”
In confirmation, the mountain lion began to chuckle. At least long enough for the raspy sound to release into the air before my brother bent over him to rip out his throat with his teeth. Blood splattered over his pale skin and the bare forms of the Wolves that were still holding him down. Orion spat out a mess of blood and flesh while his pack was still waiting for his permission to take the spoils of their hunt.
My mouth watered as I watched the last twitches of the body on the ground, but Orion’s Leader command snapped my mind to attention. Sylvie wiped a hand through the blood that dripped down his chin and muttered almost inaudibly to herself before dragging her tongue through the bright red.
“We’re going to the cabin. We’ll run faster through the forest,” his glowing green eyes landed on me. “All non-shifters go to Tina’s. Meredith should already be there with the pups.” I wanted to object, but the disobeying words literally wouldn’t form without a strong feeling of dread passing over my mind.
The Wolves around us started to shift, and the agitated air cranked up even higher. Río’s arm unwound from my waist, and I watched, stunned, as he plucked his contacts out of his eyes and threw them to the ground. He handed me his phone and keys, and a jangling beside us proved Orion was doing the same to Sylvie. Not even taking the time to undress, my mate joined the others in shifting, the visceral sound of bones popping and skin rippling even louder, now. It made my own body jittery and frustrated. My Wolf recognizing her pack but unable to take part.
And I was fucking pissed.
Río must’ve sensed that too, because his Jaguar with fur dark like the depths of the forest around us nudged my chest toward Delaney and Tyler to my right. Orion was doing the same to Sylvie who was outright arguing with him. It should’ve been comical, her going back and forth with a Wolf that only grunted back at her, but they seemed to understand each other just fine.
Tyler spoke up. “We need to let them go. I’ll drive.”
Sylvie gave Orion one last frustrated kiss on his head, smearing blood on his white fur. Still simmering with anger, I did the same to Río’s and whispered in his ear. “Be good, and don’t fucking die. Te amo.” He licked the scar on my right arm before darting toward the trees with the five Wolves, prepared to take on his family.
My heart felt like it was being torn in two as we followed Tyler back to his car. His small hand in Delaney’s was something else to ponder, but my main, terrifying concerns were for my mate, my brother, and my niece and nephew.
When we all stuffed into Tyler’s car, I tried calling Mom, only to have the phone ring until it got sent to voicemail. I tried twice more, and nothing. “Mom’s not answering the phone.” I glanced out of the window, where the city lights were dwindling and giving way to the more open road.
Sylvie’s eyes were also set on the world outside of the car. “I told him the directions to take us to the cabin. Like hell are we not helping.” She turned back to me and bit at her lip. “I’m sorry I almost killed your mate.”
My Wolf grumbled, and it came out of my mouth as a weaker, human-stained version. “I would’ve killed you if it’d gotten any closer to that. Just put that scary shit to good use on the actual bad guys.” My sister didn’t fight back, and I watched steely determination settle over her face in the form of a small smile. She nodded.
“I’m scared,” Delaney whispered from up front, and I saw the searching, desperate look he gave Tyler who kept his eyes on the road, more than breaking the speed limit.
The vampire sighed as we raced down the road that connected Antler Pointe to my brother’s land. “I’ve never willingly gotten involved in shifter bullshit, but I agree with the witch. And I’ll keep you safe, boy.” Without turning his head, Tyler wove his fingers into Delaney’s blond locks, drawing out a tiny mewl from my friend who was a full foot and a half taller than him.
“Okay.” I ran my hands over my face while Sylvie was quietly reciting her fucking elf words to herself. “Once we’re done with this bullshit, there are many explanations that need to be shared.”
Tyler just chuckled, continuing to pet Delaney who, from where I could see, appeared to be in heaven with Tyler’s hands on him. Thoughts of the dynamic that Tyler once admitted he preferred tried to step into the forefront of my racing mind, but I just shoved it back as the smooth road gave way to gravel.
The car slowed as we went through the trees, and my body vibrated. Even encased in the metal shield of the car, the scent of too many shifters made my mouth go dry and my heart beat even faster. There were Wolves, but also a smattering of other species, and?—
The sound of gunfire startled all of us but Tyler. Delaney yelped and covered his ears, and the light up ahead wasn’t just from the cabin. Multiple unknown vehicles were parked on the edge of the yard, and when I looked to the front porch, across the moonlit distance, I saw Mom.
She was half-shifted, gray fur winding down her bare arms and her fangs out with her snarl. A few other Wolves, fully shifted, stood beside her, as they faced a fucking line of people in suits with guns.
“Stop!” I shouted at Tyler who obeyed, just as one of the attackers turned their head, and my heart dropped.
They… looked like Río. At least, from the side. Their more feminine features, cheekbones and chin slightly softer slopes, were so startlingly like my mate’s that I knew exactly who had just had a gun drawn on my mother. The black eyes weren’t bottomless safety like Río’s but all-knowing.
“Aside from the height difference, you’d know Cata from her sharpness and Mara from her smile. Both are fucking deadly in their own way.”
Delaney started to release a stream of “No no no no no no no,” hands holding his ears and eyes clenched shut as if he could will everything to stop.
Catalina, I identified, waved her gun at us. “Get out of the car.” The soft command was heard by us all, but it wasn’t until she shot one of the headlights of Tyler’s car, glass smashing, that we moved to comply.
Tyler was hissing, though whether his anger was about the car or Delaney turning into a sobbing mess, I didn’t know.
As I closed the black car door, my own anger was eclipsing everything. Finally, I was faced with one of my mate’s torturers. When would I get this chance again? My Wolf paced within my chest, wanting to exact revenge, but my more logical mind tried to remind us both that my niece and nephew were certainly inside and in danger. And where were Río and Orion?
Howls from the woods reached my ears, as well as a grating, sawing roar, just as I began to worry. How had we beat them?
The four of us stood beside Tyler’s car, but it wasn’t enough to make the Serafim goons lose their attention on Mom and the Wolves from the pack that’d probably been sent here to escort her and the babies to Tina’s.
I sniffed the air, trying to get my bearings on who I was facing, but, who was I kidding? Even with the four of us—well, three, since Delaney was a trembling mass hunched into Tyler’s side—how were we to take down a Shifter with a gun?
“And Cata is like my father. She can shift into pretty much any animal. I’m the only sibling that’s limited to just one other form.”
Catalina Serafim, my… sister-in-law, crossed her arms while still holding her gun. Her white silk blouse was tucked elegantly into her black trousers, her hair slicked into a neat bun at the base of her skull. “Well,” her brows rose. “Now, this is interesting.”
Tyler and I both growled, and I cracked my knuckles down at my sides. Sylvie had gone quiet, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed her expression taking on that eerie, witchy vacancy. The one that filled with darkness as she’d tried to go for Río. Here’s hoping her grandparents truly taught her a thing or two.
“Now, how did the whore of Howl’s Fury team up with the mate of the arrogant Pack Leader here? And ,” Catalina zeroed in on me , “ why in the hell do you smell like my brother?”
I felt the presence of Wolves around me, scented blood that I prayed wasn’t theirs, and straightened my spine. Stretching my senses, I felt my mate not too far away, his calm heartbeat influencing mine to not be afraid. At least enough to speak when I had no weapon of my own but my fists.
“I’m his mate.”
Sylvie’s featherlight whispers reached my ears, but I kept my attention forward, facing Catalina’s scrutiny. Hopefully it would buy Orion and the others time to get the babies out.
Río’s sister tilted her head, appraising me like I was an abstract painting. Trying to understand what the appeal was when she just saw a bunch of paint splatters. “Hm. And the sister of the Pack Leader, if my scenting is to be believed.” She continued to search, mind practically buzzing with calculations. She turned to Delaney, “And did you sleep with this entire pack too, Wolf whore? I guess anything to ingratiate yourself, right?” Tyler gave a louder, more grating hiss and stepped in front of my friend who was barely conscious at this point. My guess was that the Serafim Group had been brutally responsible for his old pack’s demise.
“Mommy!” A scream sounded from inside the house, and it seemed to startle even Catalina. The Wolves on the porch, including Mom, growled at the guns trained on them, ramped up by Dahlia’s call of distress.
Sylvie started forward, but Catalina pointed the gun at her. “Try anything, and I’ll shoot you between the eyes.”
My chest tugged, the distance of the golden thread shortening, and called to it, I looked to my right, where Río emerged, half-shifted. He was nude and held his clawed hands up. “Cata. Stop this.”
She rolled her eyes and shot him an annoyed glance. Her sharp lip sneered his way. “Oh, perfect. Something else. Hello, Río.”
My mate stepped even closer, but he wouldn’t look at me. Why wasn’t he looking at me? “You have the power to stop this. To leave and let these people be.”
She watched her brother with everything but love and care. No relief after not seeing him for eight years. A nearly silent shuffle sounded to my left, but I fought not to react to Sylvie moving closer to the firing squad. Her mumbling was a string of fervent chants, tingling the air around us that seemed to grow even hotter by the second. The nighttime insects that were undoubtedly all around us were scared to silence with the volume of shifters congregated here. On my brother’s sacred land.
“Of course, I do. But this is business, which you never had the patience to understand. And this pack has been uncooperative. So,” she shrugged and started to turn her head back toward us.
“I’ll go back,” Río said, taking another step toward his sister and ripping my breath away. “Leave this pack and my mate alone, and I’ll join the family again.”
Catalina waved her gun, as if batting away Río’s bargaining. “As if I care about any of that. Pai hasn’t said anything about you in years, and crossing paths with you now is an unfortunate blip.”
Almost too fast to see, her arm straightened, aiming the gun at me. Before I had time to gasp, Tyler materialized in front of me just as she pulled the trigger. The smell of vampire blood, like dead roses, tickled at my nose, and I stood, frozen, as Tyler dropped to his knees.
Delaney screamed and ran to Tyler to catch his head before he hit the ground. Río growled, fangs and claws drawn, as Catalina turned the gun on him. “Never seen a vampire trade their life for another before. What a waste of immortality.” She shrugged, as if it couldn’t be helped.
Río’s Jaguar was pulling forward again, his features twisting and his rational mind taking a backseat to his desire to protect me. At the expense of himself when someone important to him was already lying bleeding. “I’m okay, baby. I’m okay,” my voice trembled, but Río stopped looking like he was going to do something stupid that Catalina was more than prepared to counter as she stared him down. “Te amo, te amo.”
I glanced back at Sylvie who was even closer behind the Serafim goons and caught her eye. She muttered something else to herself before nodding, just a minute tilt of her head, and turned to do the same at Mom and the Wolves on the front porch.
What the hell did that mean? Go, right?
Drawing on every class and training session I ever took, boxing, judo, and otherwise, I shot forward, swerved around Delaney and Tyler, reaching for Catalina’s wrist that held her gun. Using all my strength, I forced both of our arms skyward, sending up her rounds in reaction straight toward the stars. Snarls broke out behind me, but no other guns sounded. Switching hands and wrapping my arm around her waist, I twisted my body. Planting my hip against the small of her back, I felt her tense, her muscles bunch, but I managed to send my own force up and backward. I flipped Catalina over my shoulder until she landed face-down on the ground.
She screeched, but I dove on top of her and wrestled the gun out of her hand. Her fingernails scratched at my skin, drawing blood, but I kept on until I was able to flip her over and pin her wrists. She was just as strong as Río had been in the throws of his night terror that she had a hand in causing, but what I lacked in ability to shift, my body made up for in adrenaline-boosted brute strength.
With the butt of her gun, I pistol whipped her face twice, as hard as I could, before cracking into her cheekbone with my elbow. My heart raced in my chest, but my rage, remembering the exact flavor of Río’s terror when I’d witnessed his nightmare, made my vision a bright crimson. Catalina’s head lolled to the side, her breaths shallow. I hit her once more for good measure, feeling her body go lax beneath me.
“Mommy!” Dahlia’s voice cried out again, though this time, it wasn’t from inside the cabin. Risking a glance to my left, I saw Sylvie amongst the flurry of Wolves and suited shifters that were fighting with fists instead of their weapons or other forms. They were quickly losing to my mother and the Wolves. Especially—I almost couldn’t tear my eyes away—as Sylvie held one heart in her hand and was snatching another out of the suited chest of a felled shifter on the ground. She was a mixture of elegant and feral with blood staining her t-shirt and shorts, the lower half of her face dripping as she took bites of the still-beating hearts and muttered with each swallow.
Scrabbling footsteps stole both of our attention, and when I looked in the direction of the lake, I saw my brother, naked from shifting to human form and pulling Dahlia toward the trees. Where was Ollie? I looked and saw my mom, a silver-colored Wolf amongst the bloodshed at the front of the house. Sylvie was already starting over as Dahlia’s piercing scream had me whirling back around.
To see Río pounce behind Orion, wind his arm around his shoulders, and grasp his throat, plunging his claws into his neck.
My body jerked in shock, and the second plunge was my mate’s other hand sinking into Orion’s torso. Blood spurted from his throat, and he dropped Dahlia’s wrist, who kept running straight for the trees.
In paralyzing horror, not knowing what way was up or down, I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out as Orion writhed and shook in Río’s hold.
My brother turned his head to the side, to look Río in the eye as blood spurted out of his mouth and ran down his front.
And he grinned a cheek-splitting smile.