Chapter 8 - Sam
The demons didn’t go down easy, but one by one, they fell. I slaughtered as many as I could, taking revenge for the terror they had made Rachel feel. I would never be able to get her fear and confusion out of my head, and I was going to make these things pay for doing that to my mate.
Eventually, though, the last demon fell. Those that weren’t on the ground had run off before we could hold them for questioning. Two of the guards charged after them, trying to keep pace.
Rachel and Emma were both waiting just in town, as if they had refused to let Oz take them any further.
Exhaustion filled Emma’s entire body, as if using her magic like that had worn her out.
Rachel was pacing back and forth, biting her thumbnail as her eyes darted everywhere, searching for us.
The second she saw me, relief flooded through her.
“Thank God,” she muttered. Then, to my surprise, she raced forward, wrapping her arms around me. I wrapped my arm around her and held her tight against me. She returned the embrace, nuzzling against my chest as if she had done it a thousand times before.
“Are you all right?” I asked, murmuring into her ear.
She raised her head to shoot me a look. “You’re the one who just fought a bunch of demons,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be asking you that.”
Her eyes landed on the blood trickling down next to my eye, and she frowned. She reached up and swiped her thumb across the cut on my forehead. I didn’t need the mating bond to sense the guilt and anger radiating off her. I caught her wrist, making sure she was looking in my eyes.
“I’m fine, Rachel,” I said.
Her lips pursed, making a thin line. Though she couldn’t shift, I could see that furious flash of wolf in her eyes. She wanted to tear the world to shreds in that moment. I had to admire it. I stared down, eyes locked on her lips, and for a wild moment, I almost kissed her.
Elias appeared, barely giving Rachel and me a second glance despite the embrace, too preoccupied with finding Emma. He pulled her against him before she even got the chance to take a step toward him.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said. “I wanted to tear every last one of those creatures to shreds.”
He pressed his lips to hers, not caring about the onlookers as he held his mate tight. Rachel watched, something inscrutable in her gaze. After a long moment, he pulled away, turning to me with a murderous glint in his eyes.
“I think I figured out what the wraith wants the demons for,” Elias growled.
I nodded. I had come to the same conclusion. “Emma.”
Emma frowned, looking between the two of us. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it. You’re the best weapon we have against the wraith,” Elias said. “You’re the only one who can wield magic in town. He wants you.”
Chewing her lip, Emma contemplated this angle, nodding slowly as she took a deep breath. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re right. If it weren’t for the canteen, they probably would have carted me off in no time,” Emma admitted.
Elias snarled.
“It also makes sense from a tactical perspective,” Oz said.
“You might be able to spray demons with water and push them around with it, but they aren’t going to get hurt like the wraith does when it comes to magic.
My guess is the wraith didn’t expect us to find out about the demons for a while longer, and he thought that he could get you before we learned about iron. ”
“Lucky for us that we have you on our side, then,” I said with a nod to Oz.
“Damn straight,” he said cheerfully.
Rachel shifted restlessly from foot to foot even as she still pressed against me. Anger and anxiety pulsed through the mating bond. My hand went from the small of her back up to her shoulder, pressing a steadying weight there.
“It’s okay,” I muttered into her ear, thumb stroking along her collarbone. “It’s over now.”
She didn’t answer, but she still pressed against me as if for comfort.
“We’re going to go home,” I told Elias.
Elias nodded, taking in Rachel’s bedraggled appearance. “Take care of her,” he said.
“I will,” I promised, then guided Rachel to one of the waiting cars.
It wasn’t until we got back in the house that either of us spoke.
“Are you okay?” I repeated. When she shrugged, I added, “Thank you, by the way.”
She let out a bitter snort. “For what? It wasn’t as though I did anything other than run.”
“I’m thanking you for running,” I said. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if something had happened to you. I’m supposed to look out for you.”
Her jaw tightened, and I watched as her fingers flexed and unflexed. Irritation wafted off her.
“I’m also thanking you for wanting to stay,” I added. “I could sense how badly you wanted to fight. Other women would have just run.”
Her irritation ebbed, though not entirely. She hesitated, running her fingers through her hair as she tried to come up with the words.
“I hated it,” she said, then hesitated as she took a deep breath. “I couldn’t do anything. Emma was at least able to hold them off, but I hated being that helpless.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Not everyone has to fight. It’s not for everyone.”
She pushed away, scowling, though not at me, at herself.
“It’s embarrassing. I can’t shift, I can’t fight, I don’t have any way of protecting myself.
” She took a deep breath as she ran her fingers through her hair once again.
Her hands were trembling a little. The fact that someone had done something to her that would make her feel that way made me want to tear those demons to shreds all over again. “I hate it.”
Without realizing what I was doing, I had cleared the short distance between us and pulled her into a hug, wrapping my arms tight around her. “I know,” I said. My hands ran through her hair. “I promise, though, that I will always be there to protect you. No matter what.”
She took a deep breath and shook her head, craning her neck to look up at me. “You can’t promise that. You know you can’t.”
I didn’t answer because I knew she was right. I hated that she was right, but I couldn’t be by her side at all times.
“Besides,” she continued, still nestled against me, looking up at me through her eyelashes. “I also want to be able to defend myself for my own sake. I don’t want to have to rely on you or anyone else to come running after me. I want to be able to fight on my own.”
I blinked, not bothering to hide my surprise. I shouldn’t have been surprised, not after seeing how badly she wanted to fight the demons. But it still took me aback, and a rush of admiration rushed through me.
“You’re really not what I expected, you know that?”
“What can I say?” she asked flippantly. “I’m just full of surprises.”
“I would say that’s an understatement.”
She pressed tight against me, her body flush against mine. Pink spread across her cheeks. I held her tighter.
I breathed in her scent, letting it fill me, quelling those last few panicked thoughts of my wolf.
It was over. Rachel was safe. As I let that knowledge settle into my mind, I became acutely aware of every inch of her pressing against me, the way her arms held her against me.
Her scent drowned out everything else. All I could think about was her heat and how badly I wanted her, how badly I had always wanted her.
Her breath hitched, her body stiffening as if she had realized at the same moment I had just how close we were.
She looked up at me through thick eyelashes, want and uncertainty flickering in her gaze, her lips slightly parted as she looked up at me, her chin tilted up.
It would take almost nothing for me to grab the back of her head and bring her lips to mine.
An overwhelming need for her, for all of her, wrapped around me.
My grip on her tightened as everything seemed to stand still.
She’s your best friend’s sister, a voice reminded me. And for the first time, I realized just how little I cared.
Then her hands slipped away from my waist, and I took a step back. The world resumed spinning. She stared up at me, stunned, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“I, um, I have to go,” she said.
She turned and hurried out of the room.