Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Corbin
Holding Karsyn’s delicate body in my arms, I adjust her there as Dane steps forward.
“Here, give her to me. I’ll put—”
“No,” I snarl, stopping him before he can say another word, “I’ve got her.”
“She’s my sister.” Dane cocks a brow.
“And she’s my fuckin’ mate, I’ve got her,” I growl, the words more animalistic than I expect them to be.
“How about I take her,” Daniel states, his eyes on his daughter. “I’ll take her and put her back in your room while you take care of this.”
“I said I’ve got her.” My wolf is more than ready to come out if anyone tries to take her from me.
“I’m not trying to take her from you, Corbin.” Daniel keeps his voice calm and lifts his gaze from Karsyn’s slight form. “But right now, there’s more to deal with than just my daughter.”
He’s right and I know it, but this is my mate. My responsibility.
“Your daughter?” Big Daddy speaks up. That booming voice of his, for once, sounds surprised. “Since when the fuck do you have a daughter?”
“Just found her,” Daniel answers, not looking away. “You know you can trust me with her. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”
I believe him. I know I can, but after what she showed me, I don’t want to risk her being away from me. Hell, I’m still reeling from what she showed me.
“Can someone fuckin’ do something with her so we can find my goddamn daughter?” Cyrus snarls, and I shoot him a glare.
“We’ll find her. Give me a minute to go lay Karsyn back down,” I snap, not taking kindly to my brother’s demanding tone. He’s not the Alpha here, and he sure as hell isn’t a part of this club.
“Daddy.” The trembling in my daughter’s voice is the only thing that cuts through the haze starting to overtake me where my brother is concerned.
“It’s okay, Sage,” I tell her, calming my voice as I glance at her. “I promise. I’ll help find your cousin. Just let me put Karsyn in my room, okay?”
“Okay.” Sage nods, her expression one of confusion and fear. She doesn’t understand what’s going on, and she’s scared out of her mind because she and Jazmine have all but been raised together despite the rivalry between my club and Cyrus’s. Mostly because of my brother and me, not just the clubs.
Turning away from those in the room, I ignore the scent of question, confusion, anger, and fear, and carry Karsyn back to my room.
My head was still spinning from the vision she shared with me.
I didn’t even know that witches could do that.
Then again, as I’ve learned, she’s more than just an earth witch, and I got to admit it’s damn freaky because if what conclusion comes to mind, it’s more than imperative that Karsyn is protected.
Her and my daughter both. And I can only assume this other woman she mentioned is just as important as my niece.
Karsyn said the other woman was Cyrus’s mate. Ironic as it is it’s still enough to fuck with anyone’s head. Cyrus is a single dad just as I am. Maybe fate has a funny way of going about things.
Yeah, right.
What I still don’t understand is what she meant about Death coming. Who the hell are we looking for? I understand from her vision that whoever he is, he’s powerful.
In my room, I lay Karsyn’s small form in the middle of the unmade bed and pull the covers over her to keep her warm.
Last night, carrying her back here her body is definitely not like a shifter’s.
The blood that runs through her veins isn’t warming as others who are half-shifters.
Then again, I didn’t know witches and shifters could mate until yesterday.
Fuck. It’s completely unheard of.
Leaning down, I brace an arm on either side of Karsyn and dip my face down into her neck, smelling the sweet floral scent that seems to be all her. It’s unique, and already there’s a hint of mine mixing with hers. I haven’t even marked her, yet that scent is there as if I had begun the process.
Pushing away from her, I shove thoughts of her and this being a mating to the back of my mind. Right now, it needs to be about finding my niece.
I need to get to the school, making my way back to where everyone is waiting. First thing, I meet Cyrus’s gaze.
“I do this my way. You don’t like it, get fucked, you got me?” I don’t bother waiting for him to answer as I turn toward my brothers. “Dane, Tucker, Tobias, get to the school, see if you can’t pick up the scent trail.”
“Got it, Prez,” Tobia grumbles.
“We’ll find her,” Tucker growls, his voice taking on the sound of the tiger inside him. He’s not a shifter to fuck with. He’s one of my best trackers and damn protective when it comes to kids. Secretly, I think he’s Sage’s favorite brother in the club.
Dane steps forward so that no others could hear him. “Don’t leave my sister unprotected.”
“Not leaving her without someone watching over her.” My wolf wouldn’t let me even if I wanted to. He and I are both in agreement when it comes to our little Syn.
Syn.
Yeah, it suits her. She’s definitely got a body meant for sinning, that’s for sure.
“I’ll sit with her,” Daniel announces, and without waiting for my agreement, he turns and heads in the direction I’d just left.
I let out a heavy breath and look at my little girl once more.
Holding my arms out, I motion for her to come to me.
Sage doesn’t disappoint and rushes to me, throwing herself in my arms. Lifting her into my arms, I inhale the scent that is solely hers.
But it’s not just her scent that I catch.
It’s the faint hint of a blood witch, meaning one had been close to her.
“You’re going to save Jazmine, aren’t you, Daddy?” she utters, wrapping those little arms of hers around my neck, her head laying against my shoulder.
“Yeah, sweetheart, you’re gonna stick close to Big Daddy while I help your uncle find your cousin,” I answer, give her a squeeze, and set her back on her feet. “Until I get back, you don’t go anywhere, even around here, without Big Daddy right by your side.”
“I’ll take her back to the house,” Big Daddy states, wrapping an arm around her and tucking her into his side.
“No, keep her here,” I command, not liking the idea of her being away from where I know she’s safe.
“Not with that witch . . .”
The growl that rumbles in my chest, loud enough to halt Big Daddy from speaking further.
He might be an Alpha, but he knows I top him.
My strength is unlike any other. It’s another reason Cyrus and I never got along.
He and I both are from the same cloth and would end up killing each other because of it.
“Karsyn is more than a fuckin’ witch,” I snarl, leveling my dad and brother with a glare.
“Not only is she my mate, she’s an earth witch blessed by the moon and gifted in ways I can’t even begin to explain to you all. ”
“How the fuck do you know she’s not tricking you?” Cyrus demands. “That she’s not a part of why my daughter is now being taken?”
“Because I fuckin’ well know. Mates can’t trick the other without it hurting them.”
“It looked like she was hurt when you took her away,” Big Daddy pointed out.
“We don’t have time for this.” I growl, my nostrils flaring, my wolf ready to jump forward and put them both in their place in order to protect our little Syn.
“Karsyn has been through hell and is still recovering from everything she’s damn well endured over the years.
Her passing out the way she did is because her body is too damn exhausted for what she did to prove to me she wasn’t fuckin’ playing games and knew what she was talking about. ”
“I believe you, Daddy,” Sage whispers, her legs crossing, and she leans into her granddad, arms wrapping around his waist. “I could see.”
Furrowing down at her, I move in close and squat in front of her. “What do you mean you could see?”
“I saw what you saw,” she whispers nervously, glances around, and licks her lips. “I can sometimes see things I shouldn’t. When you took her hand, I saw what you saw. It was like I was seeing through your eyes. It’s always like that.”
“Can you explain that to me, Sage? You see through my eyes?”
“Yeah.” She nods, almost desperately like she doesn’t believe I’ll believe her. “Last night, you went running. You were running through the trees, you didn’t seem happy, and you ran faster, harder than you normally do.”
Blinking at her, shock seeping through my veins. “What else have you seen through my eyes?” I ask her, doing my best not to scare her.
“It’s always been when you’re running. Except when you touched the lady’s hand. Then I saw what you saw.”
“Have you seen through anyone else’s eyes?
” I’m not sure what to think of this, but for my daughter to have such a gift is rare.
I’ve only heard of stories around this. It’s a wonder why the blood witches would want her.
Her sight could be useful to them. More than that, it could be a danger to us all if they got a hold of her.
“I haven’t tried.” The honesty in the words is a sweet relief, that is, until she speaks again. “But I don’t know how to do that. It just usually happens when it wants to.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” I murmur and lean in to kiss her cheek. Rising to my full height, I look to both Cyrus and Big Daddy, giving them the warning without words that this is to go no further. My brothers here at the club already know that what they heard stays within these walls.
Big Daddy nods sharply and lifts Sage into his arms. “We’ll stay here.”
“Good,” I grunt and start for the exit. Time is of the essence more now than ever. With the knowledge I now have, knowing my daughter has a gift of sight, we need to get my niece before it’s too late.
Karsyn and Cyrus’s mate might be the key together, but the two little girls could be used to destroy them all.
It’s something I can’t allow to happen not just because it’s my daughter at stake here.
Or because Karsyn is my mate. This Death person wants to kill us all, or, at the very least, control shifters in general. If that’s even possible.
“Corbin, wait the fuck up,” Cyrus snarls, fury all but rolling off him in waves matching the scent of rage surrounding him.
“What, Cyrus?” Getting to my bike, I throw a leg over and straddle the beast, ready to feel her rumbling beneath me. When I’m not in my wolf form, this is my other escape, but right now, it’s my way of getting where I need to be.
“What’s the damn plan here?” he demands furiously.
“First, I’m going to the school, catch the fuckin’ scent if Tucker hasn’t already, and go from there.
We’re going to find my niece. That’s the damn plan, and if we get to kill any damn blood witches in the process, then that’s a bonus,” I answer him, start my bike, lift the kickstand, and hit the throttle, taking off and leaving him in a swirl of dust to follow behind knowing he’ll catch up.
I’m done talking about it. The time for that is over.
Finding my niece is imperative, just as getting back to my own daughter and Karsyn so I can find out how the hell I’m going to make sure nothing happens to either of them.