12. The Marked Path
The Marked Path
Malcolm
M alcom hungrily kissed the person beneath him, the bed creaking under his continuous onslaught. Nails scratched at his back, as little mewls egged him on. All his life he’d waited to get his mate, legs spread and pinned beneath him.
Tightening his hold of his mates wrist, he looked down at them with a piercing stare. Eager to see their face crumble from the ceaseless ecstasy he provided them with. Brown eyes watered as the holder of said eyes, tried to decide whether they were experiencing pleasure or pain, and when they did decide he enjoyed watching them embrace the pain while taking delight in him gorging himself on their spine tingling lasciviousness.
“Ah, that’s it baby, you’re so tight, come on, you can hold me tighter. I know you can,” he soothed as he started deepening his thrust and just as he felt himself reaching the peak, something hit him in his back, and his eyes popped open.
Sitting up, Malcolm sleepily looked around the cabin room. When he realized he’d been dreaming, he grimaced and looked down, only to see he’d spilled in his sweatpants. Nervous, he looked over his shoulder at Eliza, realizing that she’d been the one to kick him in the back. She was the reason he’d had a pleasurable yet frustrating dream every night since her little show in the shower.
Groaning, he stood and decided to go ahead and get ready. Robert had offered to take him to the campsite, so now was a good time to get up and head out.
He decided to pretend it had nothing to do with trying not to come face-to-face with the star of his dream just yet.
“Is this where they were last seen?
Malcolm queried from where he crouched looking down at the dirt. He pressed his fingers into the ground.
“Yes." One of the guards who’d gone running with him said, holding a blanket out towards him. “The teens usually hang out here and camp out.”
Malcolm hadn’t expected the wolves who kept up the security of the place to assist him in his search for clues. But the minute he’d entered the main mess hall and told his uncle what he’d planned to do, Robert had asked for volunteers to assist him. A few of the men stood up without protest and had gone with him.
The part of him that had worked for Tiller didn’t believe the offer to be innocent. Robert wanted him to be watched; whether it was an effort to keep him from sneaking away or to make sure no one got it in their head to bump heads with him, he didn’t know.
The change to wolf form hadn’t been as hard as he’d thought it would be maybe it was because he was back home.
Usually, he had to wrestle with his bloodlust longer and quell it, but the change today had been done seamlessly. With little issue, they’d run three miles to a well-known campground where Teen Wolves hung out.
Seeing the blanket out of the corner of his eye, he took it as he stood, wrapping it around his hip. “In the report, it was stated that they were last seen by the guards setting up camp, and by the time the guards did their second check, they were gone.” He sniffed the air, his eyes narrowing. “There is barely anything left in the air; just the faint traces of spilled blood.”
The other man nodded as he tied his own blanket into place.
Malcolm watched as a few other guards walked over to what looked like an emergency chest.
The guard added, “That’s why Alpha Robert reached out to the Council. When he scented it, he could pick up a bit of magic mixed in.”
Malcolm nodded, giving the man a curious look. “What’s your name?”
“Agun,” he announced, pulling a few of the braids that fell into his face back. His brow wrinkled. “I know you may not remember me, but we trained together when we were pups.”
Malcolm barely remembered anything about his childhood, especially since he’d spent so many years suppressing memories of home.
“Don’t feel too bad. Agun, he treated me like a stranger, too, when we first met,” someone shouted, their tone acerbic. A large male, who stood a little away sneered as he took a sip of water from his bottle. When he finished, he glared at Agun. “Must already think he’s the Alpha of the pack.”
“Is that so,” Malcolm asked, amused.
“Yeah, it is,” the male asserted, eyeing Malcolm with little regard. “Your uncle thinks he’s being slick calling you here, just in time for him to announce that he’s stepping down as Alpha. Your whole family has always been nothing but snakes, and it appears they’re newest scheme is to make a murdering snake the next leader of the pack.”
Malcolm had been a lot of things, but he wasn’t the type to let insults slide. Pride moved him more than his own feelings. Running at the other man, he grabbed him by the throat and raised him up. The bottle the man had been drinking out of hit the ground as his hands came up to grab Malcolm’s wrist.
“For a man who knows I’ve killed one of our own, it’s interesting that you keep running your mouth so foolishly in front of me,” he said with condescension.
A hand landed on his shoulder.
“Now, Malcolm, don’t kill the poor idiot,” Robert said, obviously trying to cool the situation.
Anger swiftly abating, Malcolm loosened his hold of the other's throat but not by much.
Robert, seeing that he wasn’t as angry added, “Killen isn’t the smartest in the box, but it would be hard for me to explain to his mate why I let you kill him.”
With a curse, Malcolm fully released him taking a step back, he glared down at him. “I’m not letting you go because of my uncle; I’m letting you go because it would be annoying as fuck to explain why I killed you.”
Turning away, he marched back over to the large campsite. As far as he could see, there was nothing left from that night; obviously, the bodies had been removed, and the scent of blood was no longer strong. He sniffed, only to frown, but there was something in the air. Something he knew well, the magic only made it stronger, a floral scent that was almost imperceptible. “I thought the land was marked with Anti-Barrier Magic?”
His uncle gave him a curious look. “Yeah, it’s been spelled for a while. We got tired of warlocks and young witches trespassing just to have a good time on our land. As a matter of fact, we had it upgraded around two years ago.”
Hearing this made Malcolm frown; if they had upgraded the anti-barrier walls two years ago, then how did someone create a pathway? It was unmistakably traveling Magic in the air. If only he could have someone figure out where the root of the spell was placed.
Immediately, Eliza popped into his head, “Uncle, I’m going to head back,” He said, not waiting for his uncle to respond before he took off running again, only this time remaining in his human form. He wouldn’t have to change again; it would be rude to surprise Eliza with his nude body.
Eliza
“I wonder how old this forest is?”
Eliza spoke aloud to herself; she’d been hopelessly left to her own devices. Everyone else seemed to know what to do and where to go after breakfast. She’d wanted to help, but every time she’d offered, they’d brushed her off, saying she was a guest.
Which had left her wandering on her own. A part of her wished there was a bar she could go to or something, anything but sit around twiddling her thumbs. That’s why she was currently wandering in the woods.
The Magic was thick here; after a few minutes of walking, she’d dropped her disguise. “I guess this is what I’ll be doing for the time being,” she couldn’t help chuckling at herself. When she’d been working at the Shade, she couldn’t help but think about her next day off. A day where she could catch up with her human friends and drink a beer as she watched a movie at home. She sighed at how time passed.
She stopped and stretched her back, groaning as she heard a pop. Opening her eyes, she stared at the blue sky overhead. Ashe would have loved it here; her friend had always talked about how much she liked the outside.
At the memory of her friend, she looked down at her feet. Ashe hadn’t died immediately; she’d been whittled down day after day until she resembled the corpses she could commune with.
She jerked her hand up, and what followed her sharp movement was the sound of something heavy hitting the tree. A sizzling sound followed, and she watched a hole formed in the center of it. The acrid smell of burning wood emanated from it. How many times had she wanted to do that to the very people who called themselves her handlers? The tattoos on her hands shifted as if alive, and raised them to watch as a few words slid down her wrist.
“I’m a super-powered Franken Fran,” she said, but there was no humor in her voice. One day she’d used what they’d forced in her, against them.
“Hey, watch where you’re going,” a kid yelled.
Surprised, she looked over at what looked to be another path a few feet away. She hid slightly in the shadow of a tree to watch the; the kids were running. Her eyes widened when she noticed they were nude.
As they ran, their laughter was loud, and right before her eyes, their skin seemed to almost tear at the seams as they became small pups. Their fur varied in colors as they ran, releasing short yips and barks that were just as loud as their yells had been.
Eliza decided to follow them silently; after all, she was still without something to do. She could watch them and make sure they didn’t do anything too reckless.
As she followed them, eventually, she heard the sound of rushing water, and two of the pups ran up a slight boulder that reminded her of a cartoon she’d watched as a kid. She frowned, trying to remember. Just as she got lost in thought, the little pup went to jump off.
“Wait!” she yelled, her hand shooting out. He stopped midair.
His eyes widened and he flailed in the air before, with a yelp, he hit the water.
She winced; she hadn’t meant to stop him. Immediately, a head covered in blond curls burst from the water, spluttering. The child whipped his head around. “What was that?” He looked up at his friends, who’d returned to their human form as well. “Did you guys see that? I stopped midair.”
Covering her mouth, Eliza dared not even breathe. Slowly, she made to leave; how could she be so stupid? Lanias had always preached to them all on how ‘not’ to use their Magic accidentally. While she, a dub witch, had been one of the weakest, she hadn’t paid the most attention, but to accidentally use her Magic in this situation, something was wrong with her. She finally calmed down as she quickly distanced herself from the children, who were still talking about what had happened.
The last thing she needed was for one of the werewolves to think she was trying to spell their children. From what Eliza knew, witches weren’t popular with many people, but the shifters, Lykans, and werewolves could be particularly hateful.
This made her wonder about Malcolm; then again, if the man was already used to Lanias and Sabina, then there was no reason for him to be weary of her, right?
She sighed; thinking so hard was giving her a headache. Something made a popping sound behind her, and she half-turned. Seeing nothing, she turned back around and heard another popping sound. Turning around fully, she called, “Hello, is anyone there?”
No one answered. She didn’t like the feeling she was getting. She went to move again; hearing the shuffle once more, she spun and pointed her finger at a tree. It bent at the center, and its branches became limber. It swooped around and plucked up whoever had been following her, and the next thing she heard was two squeaks, and two small snow-colored pups were hanging before her with baleful looks.
Looking from her hand to the two pups wriggling in the grip of the tree branches, she lowered her arm. The two pups rolled onto the ground before one of them turned into a little boy. The one next to him remained a little puppy, she realized the other was a real dog.
“Who are you?” she asked softly as the boy pulled his puppy into his lap. He seemed not likely to talk as he stared up at her with big blue eyes. His red curls were a mess around his head. She sighed and walked towards him, bending down. “Where are your parents?”
He didn’t answer, burying his head in the wriggling puppies’ fur. She looked at his shoulders and saw that he was shivering; she glanced over her shoulder. It wasn’t likely she was going to be able to keep exploring. “Hey, do you want to see a trick?” she asked, turning her eyes back on the little boy.
He leaned over and she could get a small glimpse of his eye. She smiled, lifting her right hand; she pointed up and watched as it flared with a small flame. “Now watch,” she said, seeing he’d lowered the puppy fully. The slight flare expanded and turned into a fan before it folded in half and came apart, turning into a bird-shaped flame.
The boy’s mouth fell open, as his eyes widened. “Wow.”
She smiled, snapping her fingers so that the flame exploded into little flowers. She waited until the last flower had dissipated before she spoke again.
“Well, come on. Let’s go find your mom,” she said, standing up and pulling the shawl from around her shoulders. She wrapped it around his shoulders. finished she held her hand out to him, he stood, letting the puppy finally go.
And that’s how Malcolm found her, with her hands full of a puppy and a kid pressed against her side drinking a warm cup of milk. Eliza hadn’t managed to figure out who his mother was yet.
Eliza was thinking of just what she could do to escape to her cabin. Having to use Magic to disguise herself was exhausting. When Malcolm entered in nothing but a blanket, for a second, Eliza was so stunned by his lack of clothes she couldn’t say anything. The number of times she’d seen Malcolm without a shirt could only be counted on one hand. But every time, she couldn’t help being impressed.
Her thighs tightened, and her eyes drifted from the blanket that rode low on his hip, up the flat planes of his stomach to the man’s chest. His whole body looked so damn good she bit her lip, she reached his chin, and that’s when her cheeks flushed because she realized he was looking directly at her. She moved her eyes away, turning her attention to the puppy in her hands.
“Malcolm, you’re back.”
This came from Morgan; the women had joined her as she’d walked to the Main building. Eliza had spent her time talking to the little kid who still hadn’t told her his name, to the wriggling puppy, and then to her about the weather and other random things. Morgan stood and put her basket of crochet in her lap aside as she got up to talk to her brother.
Before she could approach him, he gave her a short shake of the head. She stopped in her tracks and sighed before turning back around and retaking her seat. Eliza wondered what she wanted to talk to him about, though a part of her already knew it was probably related to becoming the Alpha. She’d been listening to passing people, and apparently, it was a big deal. Some openly wondered if Malcolm would try for it.
“What’s the brat doing here,” one of the men asked as he came to the long table and unceremoniously took a seat; he reached out to snatch a cookie only to pause when a fork stabbed down. He frowned, the big beard of his ruffling.
“Where I come from, usually people ask if they can have some of your food,” Eliza said gently but sternly. The man released a nervous laugh, glancing over his shoulder at Malcolm. “My apologies, I didn’t realize your mate was so fierce.”
“I’m not his mate,” Eliza insisted, jerking the fork from the table. “I’m his partner,” she said this, handing the little boy another cookie.
“Oh, is that right,” he drawled, leaning forward.
She frowned, drawing back especially at the sight of interest in his eyes.
“Then why don’t we get a bit more acquainted and?—”
“Enough, Gerlic.”
Robert cut in, as Malcolm had already been headed towards the man, death written on his face. Gerlic turned around just in time to see it; he quickly jumped up and retreated from the long table with his hands up. “Sorry, didn’t know she was claimed by the Alpha.”
“I’m not your Alpha,” Malcolm snapped. Making his way to Eliza’s side, he placed a hand on her right shoulder. Eliza wondered why she instantly felt better than she had with him gone. She wanted to cover his hand with hers, but instead, she looked up at him in question.
“Eliza, can we talk for a minute?” he asked.
She glanced at the kid who’d obviously taken a liking to her, back to him. “Sure, but can it wait? I’m trying to get him back to his mom.”’
“Ah, he doesn’t have a mother.” This came from Robert. Eliza frowned at him; he sheepishly rubbed a hand on the back of his head. “Sorry, that was insensitive of me. I mean, Kai is an orphan.”
“An orphan?” Eliza repeated, looking down at the kid. He looked back up at her. For some reason, she wondered if he was used to hearing he was an orphan. He hadn’t even reacted to what Robert had said earlier. “Then he’s like me,” she acknowledged looking back at Robert. “Well, where does Kai stay?”
“At Hens Roost,” Robert explained. “If you leave from here and take a left, “You can’t miss it. There should be plenty of young pups playing outside.”
She nodded, and immediately stood, she put her hand out. “Come on, let’s go.” Kai stood placing his hand in hers easily, and Malcolm who’d taken a step back followed her as she left the hall.
Malcolm
As they walked together, he observed her expression before looking away. Kai ran ahead with his puppy.
“You were an orphan?”
“For a time,” Eliza casually answered. “I was adopted shortly after I turned one.”
“Was it hard?” he asked, and then winced.
Of course, it had been hard.
“It was different, being the only black girl in my family,” she said, glancing at him. “I was adopted as a last-ditch effort on my mother’s part to regain my father's love.” She shrugged. “Turns out babies don’t save marriages.”
“I’m sorry.”
She stopped forcing him to do the same and scrutinized him. “Why are you sorry?”
“I—” He paused, unsure how to answer her.
“It’s not like you’re the person who abandoned me on someone's doorstep when I was a baby,” she said, her brown eyes clear of any dark emotions. “You know, I never notice how people have a tendency to apologize when they hear about something horrible happening to you.” She sighed, facing forward. “I don’t need to be soothed; it’s a fact. I was adopted. Plus, I was loved and never treated badly.” She smiled. “So, there is no reason for you to apologize.”
He could only give a short nod. “Okay, I won’t apologize.”
“Good,” she said as she walked along. “To be honest, with regard to everything that happened to me, that life wasn’t hard at all.” Her tone changed, turning somber. “It’s nothing like being kidnapped to have your perspective on life change.”
A shiver ran down his spine, and he stopped short, watching her continue. At some point, it was like he’d forgotten what had happened to her. Not in a literal sense but more in the way she acted; Eliza acted as if everything was okay.
Malcolm couldn’t shake his worry over her. Especially since she hadn’t vented anything from that experience; Eliza barely mentioned where she’d been held. He’d told himself not to pry, not to push her to remember the horrors, because from what he’d seen of the laboratory and the stacks of bodies in the basement, there was no way she hadn’t seen horrors.
Malcolm watched as she smiled at something Kai said, as the little boy grabbed at her skirt. She didn’t show it, not at all. He frowned; her smiles were always bright. They were almost too bright, her calm a bit abrasive.
One could almost call it detached, as if she had no connection to the world around her.
He bit his lip to keep the panicked words he wanted to say from slipping out.
Now wasn’t the time. The wolf in him howled to be free, to punish the people who’d done this to her. The violence rode him so hard that he found himself turning around and walking away.
He needed to cool his head before he did something he regretted.
His mate was in pain, but she didn’t feel that he was the one she could rely on. It was abundantly clear she intended to go it alone, and intended to hide her pain to protect others from it.
Malcolm needed to clear his head, he would go home and shower.
It took him a twenty-minute cold shower to calm down, just as he stepped out his towel slip off his shoulder. Bending down he paused at the sound of a gasp.
“Oh, wow.” The feminine exclamation made him glance up in surprise over his shoulder. He quickly grabbed it, bringing it back up to his waist. He flushed to his ear, “Sorry, I-I…” he trailed off, still struggling to lift the towel up.
Eliza laughed shortly. “It’s okay, just—” She covered her eyes. “Go get dressed. I’ll wait.”
He nodded, quickly grabbing the outfit he’d set out and running into the bathroom. He wasn’t usually worried about being naked; in fact, one could say it was the opposite. Most werewolves enjoyed their nudity and didn’t see anything wrong with it. The problem was being naked around Eliza put ideas into his head he couldn’t act on. It was already becoming a problem holding his wolf back in her presence.
Since he’d changed back to a human, he’d felt his wolf scratching at the corner of his mind wanting to be let out. The damn beast was eager to show off, but it only made him tense and worried he wouldn’t be able to allow her time to get used to him before he pushed onto her some claiming she may not be ready for.
Finished changing into grey sweats and a T-shirt, he exited the bathroom to find her in shorts and a T-shirt, her hair loose and down her back. The mass was thick and hovered around her shoulders. He felt special at seeing her fully uncovered face like he’d told her he wasn’t bothered with the script that ran there or the scars. She looked up from the book she was reading and smirked. “Well, I can’t say that grey sweat makes it better, but it’s an improvement.” She shifted, so she sat cross-legged on the bed, “So, what did you want to talk about?”
He moved to her side and sat down and laid down.
“H-hey, what are you doing?” she demanded, lifting her arms just as he laid his head on her thigh.
“Shush, I’m trying to see something,” he said, closing his eyes as she ignored her wriggling.
“Oh really.” Her voice was thick with sarcasm. “And just what is it you’re trying to see?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “They say laying your head on a pair of thick thighs will soothe a man's sad heart. I need to test that theory.”
He could feel her stomach trembling, as she tried to hold back her laughter. “And here I thought you had something important to ask me.”
“I do, but right now. I don’t want to think about it.” He wanted to pretend for a moment that none of it mattered, but he couldn’t, not really. Three things were bothering him: his claim on Eliza, the possibility of an outsider being the one kidnapping the teen wolves, and the Alpha tryouts, his only chance at becoming the Alpha. He squeezed his eyes shut; he didn’t want to think about any of it.
He let himself drift, the silence was interrupted by the occasional flipping of a page by Eliza, and her lighthearted chuckles. Soon, he was asleep, followed by the woman he’d been lying on.
Eliza
When Eliza awoke, she found herself once again in Malcolm’s arms. Looking from his sleeping face to the window, she saw that it was dark outside. Surprised, she pulled away from him slowly.
Her body must have been tired after everything she’d been through; she slipped from the bed and walked over to the window. No matter what time, anytime she saw the moon, she couldn’t stop herself from looking at it. It reminded her of Ashe, and too often, she wondered if her dead friend was watching her. Then she’d look at her hands and remember that she’d been the one to kill her.
Curling her fingers, she looked away from the moon to the small village below and spotted something odd at the front gate: a woman with raven-colored hair standing there. Her eyes focused directly on her, and she felt a chill run down her spine before the woman turned and continued down the path, disappearing from sight.
“Follow her.”
Eliza headed out of the room, trying to move quietly. Her body moving of its own accord, the feeling of chill was sharper at night. She’d been tricked by the warm sun of the day. Her movements were quick, and soon she was walking out of the yard and onto the well-worn path. The night air filled her lungs, and before she could fully appreciate the empty yard, she was running.
“Where are we going?” she asked as she watched her body move towards the woods.
“What I desire has been hidden in the slight cracks of here and there.” A figure with no shape appeared next to her. Their face was missing, along with their arms and legs, and the only thing they had to denote they were there was a blood-red dress. “The minute I woke in your body, I knew what needed to be done.”
“Killing,” Eliza said, looking away from her bodies scrabbling through the dirt. “You wanted to kill and hurt…everyone.”
“I did.” The voice held amusement. “My people lived centuries for the ability to no longer wear flesh, and here come fools with a bit of magic, binding us and tying us to it again. Killing was the nicest thing I planned to do. Luckily for you, I held back in my desire to see blood.”
Eliza scoffed. “Is it luck?” she asked, just as she watched herself stop before a large boulder where the pale moonlight danced along its smooth surface. Her hand lifted and pressed against the flat surface of the black stone that resided next to her. A tingling sensation invaded her arm, making her gasp as her body was surrounded by light.
“W-What’s this?”
“Do not panic; we are merely leaving your world behind,” the goddess responded calmly, just as warm light covered her. The view of the forest fell away, exposing the gleaming view of tall pillars and polished floors. The goddess walked forward, her body thrumming with energy as her arms became solid within the sleeves of her dress, just like the rest of her body.
Eliza followed her, watching her own limbs turn to shadow and smoke. They were switching places in the world. The weight of their existence changed, and as the goddess moved forward, her black curls fell to her back. And her long thin fingers reached out to skim along the wall of gold, each indention empty.
“The wall.” Her brow creased in confusion. “Someone else has been here,” she said, turning away from it. She clapped her hands together, and the gold and pretty cover fell away. Turning into a dark cave, the walls held purplish stones that glowed ominously.
The goddess released her hold, her eyes turning red with anger. “I can see it,” she sneered as a round flat mirror lowered in front of her. Its surface became blue as the letters on it bled across the mirror. “They stole it—” Her mouth opened inhumanely as she released a high-pitched scream
Eliza raised her hands sharply.
Eliza’s body shot up as she gasped for air.
“Eliza,” Malcolm questioned.
A hand landed on her shoulder, and she shuddered with relief. She could feel the disturbing sensation of tattooed Sanskrit moving under her skin. She pressed her hand against Malcolm’s face, ignoring the worry in his eyes. His body shuddered as his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell forward into her lap.
Breathing heavily, she let her arm drop to the bed sheets. The goddess's screams of rage were still echoing in her ears.
“You must calm down,” she pleaded, wincing at the pained screams ringing in her ears.
The silence was so abrupt that at first, Eliza wasn’t sure it was real. Breathing heavily, she stared ahead, her eyes losing their brown color. The goddess inside of her was angry, but that didn’t mean their plans were ruined.
They would just have to hunt down whoever stole it.
“Yesss. Hunt them. Kill them,” the goddess hissed in her ears .
She looked at Malcolm's sleeping face; she couldn’t tell him the truth about why knocked him out. Lifting a hand to her throat, she swallowed. She would get something to eat first, and after eating, she would go back to the woods and explore.
Beliel
Whistling, he brushed his fingers along the low wall of Dougal land. Between his fingers, he flipped a golden coin. The sound of the Dougal pack gathering inside their walls filled the night. People were cheering as they celebrated the wedding inside.
“Have you found her?” The annoyed tone came from behind him. Stopping Beliel in his tracks.
He released a heavy sigh. “Why, hello there, Phen.”
Beliel slowly turned around, ignoring the line of dead bodies that circled the outer walls of the Dougal land. “You’ve called me every day to ask me that,” he said, baring his teeth and swiping his blood-covered hands against his plaid, “I know where she is, you’re favorite.”
Phen glared at him. “Then why haven’t you gotten her yet?” he demanded.
“Because she is on McLaren land, the land his lordship has had trouble getting close to. I’m currently doing my best to bring these tamed dogs to heel,” he explained, releasing another long-suffering sigh. “Now, be a good doctor—well, we really can’t call you that. After all, you're not exactly healing people, are you?
Phen's expression hardened before he disappeared. Beliel lost his amusement immediately. His father had been a fool to sell their treasure to his lordship. It hadn’t saved him when the McLaren boy killed his brother or helped him when he, along with Beliel and his wife, were banished as Malcolm’s uncle retook power. The fool hadn’t known at all what he was offering.
“Well, we’ll simply have to fix a few things, won’t we,” Beliel muttered to himself, before he was swallowed in the shadows of the castle.