Marked in Flames, page 8
“Declan, what are you doing here?” I asked the coven member.
Declan had almost died numerous times in his life because of his power, and his uniqueness.
The coven before did not like anyone different. They only liked elementals they could control. When they were taken down years ago, it was because they had hunted those who were unlike them. Those who didn’t believe in their righteousness. And then the coven had fixed itself, and new powers came forward, and people had been able to live freely as they were. I had even thought there was hope, which was odd for me because I didn’t believe in hope most days.
Declan and Leta and Bishop and Dara and the ones we had lost along the way had all thought that perhaps we had a chance. It had been a small hope on my part, because I was not a team player. I had learned the hard way what happened when you relied on too many people. But I believed in Dara, and so when Dara had become an Aspen Pack member, I had waited.
I hadn’t joined. Then Declan and Sawyer joined. Although Sawyer wasn’t a witch, he was still powerful in strength of mind and loyalty.
In the end, the demon and Lily, the consort and traitorous bitch, had killed the old coven, and siphoned their power to bloat their own.
The siphon was a monster. Because you couldn’t handle power not of your own.
A siphon could only hold onto power for so long. Eventually it would destroy them from the inside out, and it would take even darker magic to hold onto that. It became an addiction. Because that power would fade and they would need more and more.
So when Lily and the demon had taken all of the magic of the coven, performing the worst taboo of magic, as a dark magic user, she had sealed her fate.
I would kill her for daring to hurt those I loved. And now I would kill her for taking Steele.
He wasn’t mine forever, but he was mine for now. And I did not share.
“The coven’s here, we’ll help you find him.” Declan looked at me, then gestured towards the Alpha. “I know you didn’t ask, but we are allies now. If you need us, we’re there.”
“And you just happened to be on your way here?” Cruz asked, and let out an oof as Dara elbowed him.
“I called them before Steele was taken, because we were all meeting to discuss how we could help in the first place. I just updated them. We’re all friends now, so if you could stop antagonizing one another that would be great,” Dara added.
My lips twitched, even though it was hard to find any humor in this moment.
“Yes. Let’s all be friends. And find the fuckers who took him.”
Gavin came forward, rubbing the back of his neck. “I might be the Tracker, and I can search along my bonds for him, but they’re using some pretty dark magic to hide him from me.”
“Then we use the magic of light to aid you,” I said, as if it were obvious.
“Bishop and Leta are working with the wards, trying to seal up any holes,” Dara explained, and I nodded at the mention of our other coven members.
“Good. They’ll be good at that.”
Leta was old, far older than she even told others, but she was also tired. I didn’t know how she stayed so strong for all of us, but I had a feeling if we didn’t let her rest at some point, it wouldn’t be good for anyone.
And Bishop? Well, Bishop had his own reasons for wanting to stay away from the wolves. The fact that he was here at all was a testament to his own inner strength, even though he was more of an asshole than Declan and myself put together most days.
“Okay, I will use any help you can give me,” Gavin put in. “Steele’s alive,” he said, and I pressed my lips together, the fire within me pushing. Because I needed to hear those words.
He wasn’t mine. He wasn’t my mate, and would never be. We had both been damn sure about that. But part of me wanted that bond just so I could keep an eye on him. That might make me crazy, but it was honest.
“Okay, find him. Bring him back, and try not to burn down the entire world when you do it,” Dara said, death in her eyes.
Dara was a harvester death witch and had brought people back from death before. I wouldn’t ask her to do that for Steele, because I knew there were consequences to every action. The vampires and demon would rue the day they decided to hurt him.
And I would deal with whatever that meant to me later.
In the end, there was a small group of us on the trail. It only took twenty minutes for us to gather our things and go. Gavin at the forefront, Declan at his side, the two of them using their magics in order to search for Steele.
I stood with Sawyer, as my friend hadn’t wanted to be left behind. He had just raised a brow when I had asked why he would come.
I didn’t know how he felt about Steele, but in the end, Sawyer was now an Aspen Pack member. It galled me that I hadn’t even known. That he had put himself in harm’s way to find me. To protect me. So, I would do whatever I could for him.
“Will you become a wolf?” I asked as we continued through the trees, searching for Steele or any evidence we could find.
Sawyer blinked at me, as did one of Steele’s lieutenants as he walked past. Damn shifter hearing.
“I don’t have any plans to. But I’m a member now. You never know.”
“You have to be near death, and even then, with the bite and the claws and everything that comes from a very dominant wolf turning you, it doesn’t mean you’ll actually shift.”
“That’s true. It’s not a high conversion rate, but it does happen. Ronan is a good example.”
I nodded, thinking of the young man who had been turned by a rogue, and saved by the Aspens. The Aspens had almost been reprimanded by the US government for turning a shifter that wasn’t Pack. But in the end Chase had said something to convince the president and senators who had been up in arms, doing what he did best.
He had protected his Pack. And now Ronan was safe, a newer member of the Aspen Pack and wolf that was learning his ways.
“You don’t have to be magical in order to be an Aspen Pack member. Wynter is proof of that.”
I nodded, thinking of the human woman who fought side-by-side with the others, training and learning to work with Chase so she was faster than any witch out there. But not as fast as a shifter.
“And you know, I could become a cat or maybe even a bear. It’d be fun to be a polar bear, don’t you think?” he asked, speaking of the Omega who was the only polar bear I knew of in existence. In fact, the Aspens were the only Pack I knew with shifters other than wolves. The world was only just now coming to realize that there were other kinds of animal shifters. The wolves themselves and other Packs hadn’t even realized. The former Aspen Pack Alpha had kept his secret because he had liked power, and Chase had continued to keep the secret to keep people safe.
“I can fight well as a human. I don’t need to be magical in order to protect my friends. I have a purpose, Jade,” Sawyer said softly. I reached out and squeezed his hand. The familiar argument between us not painful in the way it had once been.
Sawyer had saved me one day, when I had been lost in my own power, not able to protect myself. He had saved me because he had needed help, and it was easier to protect others than myself.
And we had been friends and confidants ever since.
There was no coming back from pain like that. No coming back from the power that overreached and took your soul.
And if I thought about the power within me, reaching out, tainted, it would overwhelm me. So instead I thought about who we needed to find, and how we would find him.
He had to be alive. Gavin kept telling us he was. As did Cruz, who had come with us. We had left Dara behind to shore up the wards and keep others safe, so Cruz was worried about his mate, and his friend, but we would find him. We had to.
“Something’s different,” I whispered as I stopped walking and looked around, feeling the fire within me dance along the inside of my skin. Sawyer froze and stared at me, the others realizing quickly that I had quit moving. They turned towards me, confusion on their faces, as I looked in a new direction.
“I don’t know what’s wrong, but there’s dark magic there. Don’t you feel it?”
Declan came forward, eyes narrowed. “Is it demonic? It’s hard to tell.”
“They’re hiding Steele’s location from me,” Gavin growled. “I can’t track him from here on. But if you’re thinking the dark magic is that way, do we go towards it?”
“I don’t think we have a choice,” I whispered.
That song of fire crept up my body, aching, wanting more. And I knew I would have to move soon. I wouldn’t have a choice.
A sense of urgency pulsed in my veins, and I began to run, ignoring the shouts from the others. Sawyer tried to pull me back.
They were there. I knew they had to be. I needed to fix this. Needed to stop it. Steele was there. We were going to be too late.
The others were at my side quickly. Did they sense the urgency that I did? The absolute horror that would come if we weren’t fast enough?
We had to move. We had to get closer.
I burst through the trees into a clearing and froze, my blood throbbing, fire at my fingertips.
We were too late.
We had been too late.
Magic slammed at me and I threw up my hands, creating a wall of fire around all of us. Declan swore, then tossed out a coin, manipulating the metal into a barrier.
“Is that a fucking demon?” Declan asked.
I nodded, eyes wide. “It’s the same demon who came at me. I would never forget his beautiful face.”
“You’re too late,” the demon purred.
Lily stood at his side, looking radiant, and yet there was something in her eyes, something wrong.
Something was wrong with Lily. Beyond the fact that she had hated her place in the Pack so much she betrayed them.
Perhaps it was the fact that she was a siphon now. Always hungry for power but never getting enough.
Or perhaps it was just the fact that she was consort to a demon.
“I was hoping you would come, my firebird,” the demon whispered, and I froze.
Did the others know? Did they know what that word meant?
No, they couldn’t.
But the fire within me burned, wanting more, wanting to touch. It wanted that demonic fire that surrounded him. Like called to like.
I wasn’t a demon, wasn’t bonded to one or blooded by one. I was a witch with the power of fire, but I also had demon fire—the firebird.
It was what others called a monstrosity, what others cursed to hell.
I contained that power within me because I refused to let it break. I refused to become the siphon Lily had become.
I looked between the two of them, past the vampires that stood ready to fight us all, the dozens waiting for their master to order them to slaughter us.
And I looked at the kneeling man between them.
Steele was shirtless, cuts all over his body. His eye was blackened and bruised and swollen. He had burns and slices all down his flesh, and his arms were tied with magic in front of him. Steele continued to fight the bonds, pushing at them, trying to get free.
Those were demonic shackles. Even worse than the ones that had kept me down.
I met his gaze, saw the anger and the determination. I would not let him die here. I would save him just like he had saved me.
I met Declan’s gaze and he nodded, and then the wolves howled and attacked.
The demon seemed to have been waiting for this moment, because he laughed and the vampires moved as one.
We were far outnumbered, but we were strong.
I slammed out a wave of fire towards a dozen vampires. They screamed, going to their knees. Declan buried them in metal, while Sawyer stabbed his way through, the wolves that had come with us barreling their way through with teeth and claws.
And I kept moving, my eyes only on Steele.
I just had to get through.
Then the demon moved and slid his hand along Steele’s shoulder. He squeezed, and I kept moving, slamming out fire, letting the firebird come closer to the surface than I’d ever let her before.
“And now he’s mine, isn’t he?” the demon asked softly, as he knelt down and bit directly into Steele’s neck.
Steele’s body bucked and he screamed, an unearthly scream that never should have been ripped from his lips.
Shock slammed into me and I kept moving, knowing I was far too late.
It was all far too late.
When the demon cut his palm I reached out, throwing firebomb after firebomb at him. But Lily used her stolen magic to deflect me, one blow after another. But I ignored her and kept going, using every ounce of power and magic I had in me. I had to stop him.
The demon bite wouldn’t be fatal, it couldn’t be. But what the demon was planning next would.
The demon dripped a single drop of blood from his cut palm onto the open wound at Steele’s neck.
And the world shattered.
Chapter
Ten
Steele
With every breath, I fought.
Darkness, fire, anger.
Despair.
It was all there, it had to be. It pushed at me, clawing into my flesh as if it were the demon from my nightmares, not the demon that stood behind me.
I fought at my bonds, but the magical chains seemed to dig into my skin with each passing moment. As if the harder I fought, the tighter I was bound.
They had taken me from my home because I saved a child. I tried to save Jade. Now Jade was running towards me, flames in her hands, and I wasn’t going to be able to save her. Maybe if I was lucky, she would save me.
I wasn’t too proud to be saved. If somebody could help me out of this, I would appreciate it. Because I did not want to die here, screaming for my mother.
Even though those words weren’t ripped out of me, that’s all I could hear.
That familiar refrain of a memory.
I screamed for her once, and she hadn’t broken free.
I screamed for my father, but he hadn’t broken free.
Instead, I had watched their heads roll towards me, abject fear on their faces.
I watched it all, and I screamed. And it was the same scream that ripped from my throat today.
Icy fire dug deep into my shoulder where the demon had bitten, and I knew what this had to be. I knew what this had all been about. They wanted hybrids. They wanted their next phase of evolution.
And this monster wanted me to be it.
Well, fuck that. I would fight. I wouldn’t hurt my Pack. I wouldn’t become a liability.
I pulled my arms up, ignoring the way that the bonds against me felt as if I were breaking each bone little by little, sawdust and powder the only thing left.
I could hardly breathe, but I had to try. I had to get out of this.
I would not die like this.
I couldn’t die like this.
And then the demon bit down again. I fought, I pushed, I clawed. It was as if there was a film over my eyes, it was hard to figure out exactly what was going on.
Only Jade was there, bowling down vampires with fire as if she had been doing this for a thousand years. She moved with a grace I had never seen before. As if there was something else propelling her. The fire in her eyes danced blue and then purple and then white, before sliding back into reds and oranges. It wasn’t the fire I was used to seeing, but she seemed to still be in control, moving towards me. The horror on her face though reminded me that this could be the end.
The demon wanted me as its hybrid. But it wasn’t going to be like before. No, this was going to be something new. Something I didn’t know if I was going to be able to control.
I pushed at my bonds again, but the demon slammed into me, trying to knock me out.
I couldn’t tell what was happening, couldn’t tell what I needed to do.
The demon was gone, and so was Lily.
The traitor was gone, and I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t focus.
I watched my friends fight through the horror that were these vampires, and it was as if there was no return. No way to stop this.
When they took me, they knocked me out. By the time I awoke, they had already etched runes onto my skin for whatever ceremonial engravings they needed. They had cut some into my skin, but my wolf had tried its best to heal.
Now my wolf was howling, trying to push us both through.
I would not let my wolf die for this. I would not let any of us die for this.
And then something changed.
Jade was still running towards me, still fighting through vampires. Sawyer was there, slicing them up as quickly as he could, moving so fast for a human, but not fast enough. Not fast enough to get to me.
I was on my own.
Another scream ripped from my throat, but I couldn’t even hear it.
Because there was something new inside me, a beast. A monster.
Was this what a hybrid was? A monstrous being that just plowed through his friends and killed innocents?
I couldn’t let that happen. I fought and pushed down whatever was telling me to kill my friends.
But it whispered.
Change who you are.
Cut them. Gut them. They are meat.
Serve your master.
I ignored it. I ignored everything that it was saying, but it kept growling at me. And it was strong. I had to fight back.
My hands changed into claws, and they were wolf, but then they slid back into human. I was shaking, sweat pouring down my body and mixing with the blood already there.
I had to fight, I had to fight this.
And then my friends were there.
Cruz grabbed ahold of me, keeping my head still, as Sawyer rinsed off the blood with water he had in his flask.
Gavin was yelling into a phone, my lieutenants surrounding us, creating a perimeter.
And then Jade was there.
The monster inside me bucked, trying to get to her. My hands were free, someone having removed my restraints and I hadn’t even noticed.
