Lunaria (A Soulmark Series Finale), page 2
He stepped forward, muscles constricting and relaxing across his body at the single stride. "A connection between our kind is not uncommon." His words were stated somberly and meant to pacify my fear. They didn’t. "My pack is rife with pairs not of the same origin, and those who are, we—"
"It does not matter," I cut in fiercely. "Your kind is a menace. I would rather die than be taken by the likes of you. You—you, savage dog."
Anger sparked in his obsidian eyes. The rokama's muscles bunched tightly as a ferocious growl tore from his throat at the insult. "A savage dog? Is that what you think of my kind? We were made in the image of the Storm Bringer and hold such, as an honor of the highest regard. Whatever menace of my kind you have encountered before was surely culled from a pack.”
“It matters not!” I cried.
“You would deny a gift from the Gods above?" he asked, astonished by my refusal. My heart squeezed tight as I forced my response out.
"This is no gift, and I bear no mark such as the one you've revealed to me." A lump formed in my throat as my pulse cantered in frantic disbelief of my lie. "I will not consent to this devious plot of yours.”—I cringed at the crack in my voice—"Leave now and I shall spare you the forest's wrath."
He stalked forward, and I back. Channeling the adrenaline roaring in my ears and through my veins, I called upon the divine magic all cultivators possessed. The ground trembled as the plant life grew around us at my will. The rokama eyed my methods of retreat and denial with distaste and lunged without warning. Vines and weeds shot out to capture him as I turned and sprinted away.
His roar of displeasure shook the forest floor.
My feet and wings knew not where to take me as I propelled myself through the thickening forest. As the earth slowed the mongrel after me, I did my best to expel him from my mind and reach safety—wherever it might be. A dizzying sensation enveloped me. How could I dispel him or his confession? I would never be free from the visage of hunger in his eyes, or the mark of our heart's content. Mine tingled in recognition around my right hip.
A frightful notion came upon me. Would I truly upset the Gods by denying this divine match? My feet faltered. My arms pinwheeled to keep me upright, and in that moment, a different sensation grabbed hold of me. It was the vibration of magic calling out in distress. I slowed to home in on its call.
This was my life’s purpose as a cultivator: help the land flourish and grow. I was not meant to be whisked away by some beast for their carnal pleasure. I was meant to nurture the forest.
I raced off toward the calling, acutely aware that the thundering and chaos in the distance was the rokama's pursuit. The mysterious object's distress was easily spotted in a clearing several lengths ahead. A crystal. It emitted a pinkish glow around its rugged exterior. The crystal's radiance became stronger the closer I got.
I came to a sliding halt before it, my chest heaving from the chase. Dropping to my knees, I scanned the large purple and dusty rose quartz.
"What do you need?" I asked as I took in its energy.
Passage.
The wordless reply hummed into my mind even as I frowned. More understanding pressed into my head. Its other half was calling from a place far away, but it was not strong enough alone to meet it. A ragged shout sounded from nearby. My head snapped in its direction. The rokama barreled through the forest, mindless of the roots and plants thrusting out their green and brown limbs to deter him.
The crystal continued to plead with me and promised to take me away too, latching onto my visceral fear.
I met the rokama’s gaze from afar. Eyes latched onto one another—both stony as could be—I pressed my hands to the crystal.
"Avio." Go, I said in the old language of the realm.
"How did you get here?" I demand of the rokama. A tension radiates off of me, settling heavily upon the frozen street beneath us. The group stills. Before I can stop myself, I ask another. "Why are you here?"
"You know exactly why I'm here," Adrian all but snarls back. There is a smolder in his dark eyes—a dare, and suddenly my desire to stay and fight falters. "As for how I came to be in this miserable realm, I arrived through the same means as your friends did."
"There are more fairies here?" Keenan's voice resembles the distant sound of thunder. "Luna?"
"That can't be..." My head moves slowly from side to side. "I would know—"
"Obviously not." Adrian's condescension is grating. I grind my teeth as he inches forward, the world around us falling to the wayside as we standoff. "I watched as they searched for you in the Forest of Dan Furth. It didn't take them long to find the place where you vanished or learn from trees how you left. They tried but couldn't replicate your success."
I force my pressed lips apart to speak. "That doesn't explain anything," I seethe, latching onto my anger and letting it sink into the earth. "How did they find their way here? How did you, and when?"
"Months ago."
His answer is too calm for my liking. It douses the flames of my fire, leaving me off-kilter as his heated stare smolders on.
"It was during one of their examinations of your disappearance site that they succeeded, though not through any effort of their own. The ground began to split. Fractures lined the ground, and one of the fools jumped in... and then another."
"And then you," Jax states the obvious, but his tone is far from impressed. "What exactly do you mean by fractures?"
Keenan is quick to fill in the details. "This past summer the coven’s crystal was damaged. It caused an instant chain reaction. The protective border the crystal provided around our territory started to break and split... as did the ground. Creatures came up from the fractures, but we didn't see any fairies come through. We didn't see you."
Adrian's sneer is pure contempt and aimed at Keenan.
"So, you came for Luna?" Jax asks at the same time Keenan pipes up again.
"What then?"
The two men share a cross look with each other, but quickly dismiss the offenses in favor of their shared ire toward the rokama.
Adrian drops his sneer and returns to his study of me. I avert my gaze to the ground, pouring over the new information as my anger buoys with the news. My friends looked for me. They came for me!
"Who was it? Who came for me?"
Adrian doesn't respond until I lift my eyes to meet his.
"I don't know."
The throes of my anger return in a flash leaving my foot twitching to stomp the ground and make it quake. "You said it yourself that you watched them. Surely you know who they are."
"Their names were of no consequence to me."
"Describe them," I demand.
"Luna... I really think we should get in the car now," Winter whispers with urgent care hovering a hairsbreadth from me. But I will not be swayed. I must know.
"Tell me." A hundred times over I wish my words to not sound like the desperate plea they are, but the knowledge that I have been sought after cannot be undone. "Please."
There is a gentleness that comes to the rokama's eyes, and it strikes me then—quite precisely in the heart—that he came for me too. I push down this fact until it is tucked away at the back of my mind until it is something to be forgotten.
"There were two in total. One was tall, with roughened skin, layered and cracked at the joints. His hair was shades darker than the dusty brown of his flesh. His eyes were made of gold and green."
"Alekos! It must be Alekos!" My hands clamp over my mouth in muted excitement.
Adrian grunts and continues. "The other was female. She had skin that seemed to glow—"
"Celosia!" Never was one of my best friends without the other, nor I without them.
Another grunt sounds from the rokama as he shuffles forward again, despite the warning snarls emitted by both Keenan and Atticus.
"Don't make any more movements," Atticus commands. "You're outnumbered and outmatched. Winter. Car. Now."
She huffs and delivers one last meaningful glare my way before heading off to the car by herself. I swallow down my momentary guilt and remind myself that without any supernatural abilities in her coffer, Winter is the most vulnerable. The car is the safest place for her. I consider following, but I worry that any movement from me will undoubtedly bring the rokama closer.
My body tenses. I know his kind. I know what terror he is capable of, and I have seen what remains of those who dare tangle with the rokama. It is not much more than flesh and bone for those unfortunate souls. I make a short study of the rokama, my regard flicking between him and the lycans. From my time with the pack, I know they share many similarities with the rokama, but not enough. The rokama remained superior because they seemed to me to be an evolution of the lycan; stronger, faster, and with hellish wings to aid in every pursuit. My eyebrows hunch as my regard sweeps once more across the rokama. Where are his wings? Are they hidden?
"It is you who are in over their heads. Give the fairy to me and I shall allow your passage."
An underlying threat lingers in his delivery. I stiffen as a callous wind rips across the road and rattles the branches of the trees that frame the road. Jax stiffens as well, shoulders hiking up as he skims the surrounding forest line with a downturned mouth. A moment later, Atticus goes rigid as well. He tilts his handsome head back and inhales deeply before cursing.
"Everybody in the car. It's a trap."
"Clever boy," the rokama mocks and steps forward with confidence. Atticus sends a sideways glance to Keenan, but the burly man doesn't budge. Nor does Jax. "But it's too late."
"He's right," Jax admits. "It's too late. Get out of here."
The Adolphus wolves hesitate. "We all go. Irina will have my head if I leave you behind."
Jax sends a wink filled with cynicism Atticus's way. "Your concern is duly noted, but the only one capable of standing a fighting chance against my old clan is me."
"Jax..." The whispered tenor of his name slips from my tongue in mild distress. He spares me a kinder wink, but there is no hiding the strain in his pinched lips.
"Better get going, sweetheart. I'm more than capable of putting on a show-stealing performance while you make your getaway." Adrian lets loose a terrible noise of fury in Jax's general direction.
"She isn't going anywhere."
Adrian strides forward as Atticus reaches my side and ushers me back. And then the other wolves appear. They emerge from the forest, seemingly from every direction, teeth bared and fur on end. Atticus curses.
“Well, the Wselfwulfs have clearly figured out the curse no longer constrains them,” he says and angles toward me. Atticus herds me blindly back toward the car, but I stumble and stop, frozen in fear as a wolf lunges at me. Acting on instinct alone, I wrench at the earth with my powers. The wolf stops a meter away, yanked back by a root that has shot out from the ground at the street's edge.
I swirl around, panic seizing my chest as I watch the others take on the remaining four wolves. Atticus snatches one by its neck and slams it onto the ground, enduring its scratching claws to gain the upper hand. When it lands, Atticus’s boot flies out to collide with its rib cage. The wolf scrambles away from the offending limb.
"Luna, go!" Atticus shouts, rushing to Keenan's side as he releases several curses that would normally make me blush.
But I do not go. I cannot. The rokama is advancing.
With nature heeding my call, I lean into what courage I manage to scrounge up. I order my quivering hands to stop their nonsense and pull from the earth once more, clenching my fists in concentration. The flora beneath my skin whirls at the order and demands the land to obey. It does. Plants and roots dart onto the lonely road to stifle the enemy wolves progress. Adrian's upper lip curls back in frustration, but before he can make his next move, Jax appears. He stands before me and blocks the rokama from my view.
"I'm afraid I can't let you take my friend here." Jax's words ignite my heart and soul, and I peek around his body to glare at Adrian. His stormy expression only darkens.
"You are not strong enough to stop me. Or them." Adrian steps to the side. Jax mimics the movement. With haste, I do as well, conscious that we are slowly driven away from the car, and my concentration with the earth is wavering. The sound of snapping jaws and yelps barrage my hearing. They block the back and forth commentary between my sorcerer and the rokama.
"Just take it!" Keenan shouts above the raucous.
I startle with fright at his urgency and peer over my shoulder at Atticus and Keenan. They are panting wildly. Two wolves lay motionless at their feet, while the remaining two snarl from nearby, ensnared by my work. Hope flutters inside my chest then dies as three more wolves prowl onto the road.
"No—"
"You have to, man," Keenan continues heatedly. "You'll never wake her without it, and we can't let them get Winter. She won't survive."
I watch with horror at the indecision and guilt leveling Atticus's face into something unrecognizable. Tears well in my eyes as dread claws up my throat. "Atticus?"
But my quiet inquiry goes unheard. A lonesome tear falls down Atticus's cheek, followed quickly by another. He snatches up the paper Keenan holds out to him and shoves it in his pocket.
"Don't let Callie come after me."
Atticus nods sharply and sucks in a deep breath. "You are not allowed to die, do you understand?" The order in his voice is clear, even over the shuddering growls released by the enemy wolves stalking forward.
"Go!" Keenan shouts, charging toward the wolves. Their collision is blocked from my view as Atticus darts toward me and hauls me into his arms. The action takes my breath away in a whoosh.
I release a scared cry as Jax thrusts whirling red sparks from his staff at the rokama at the exact moment the wolves overtake Keenan.
"We'll come back for them." Atticus rushes us in a wide arc around Adrian toward the car. But it is not to be.
In a flurry of movement that makes me nauseous to watch, Adrian dodges Jax's magic and manages to beat us to the car. He rips open Winter's door. Atticus lets out a guttural cry and releases me as Adrian grabs Winter by the neck and hauls her out of the car.
"Let her go!" Atticus hollers.
The rokama looks to me pointedly, then back to my defenseless friend. Winter claws at Adrian's wrist and hand, her face turning a deep red.
"Give me the fairy."
Atticus drops to a knee, his own breath coming in wheezes like his soulmark. The beta casts me a helpless look before his chin drops to his chest.
I step forward, my legs as wobbly as the jello Aunt Lydia likes to make for dessert. "Let her go."
"Luna, don't," Jax urges from behind, but I continue forward.
"Help Keenan," I reply, my words flat. "Let her go." Adrian releases Winter's neck, in favor of snatching her by the hair. She gulps down air as he holds out his free hand to me.
"Luna... don't." Winter's voice is raw, but I cannot let my friends’ death be by my hand.
"Let them go."
Adrian cocks his head to the side. "Come here and I will."
I stop a few feet short of them. Sparing Winter a meaningful glance, the rokama lets out a huff and shoves her back into the car. Winter slams into the front passenger seat with a yelp but climbs inside, nonetheless. Her frightened gray eyes swim with tears as she tries to shut her door. When it finally clicks shut, I hear her whimpered relief.
Not wasting a moment more, Adrian pounces.
His hands snatch me up and pull me into the full custody of his arms. I squirm and shout, but there is little to be done as he backs us away from the chaos still unfolding in the street. I cast my sights over my shoulder to see Jax and Keenan finishing off the last of the wolves, both looking worse for wear, then catch Atticus dashing to the driver's seat. Our eyes meet for a fleeting second. Though his words are not loud enough for me to hear over the roaring rush of my blood, I dare hope I've read his lips right.
We'll come back for you.
The car's engine roars to life and peels off seconds later, leaving behind myself, Jax, and Keenan... and the rokama.
The rokama's chilled nose drags itself down the length of my neck, inhaling as if my very scent is the most precious air on this earth. I tremble in his hold, unprepared for him to pull back abruptly and stare down at me with his dark eyes.
"It will be easier this way," he says as I hear Jax let out a startled cry. I don't have time to search him out as fingers press knowingly down on an artery in my neck and the world becomes a distant memory.
Chapter 2
The car is quiet as it pulls up to the picturesque two-story house, home to the Elder Triad. Winter and Atticus remain lost to their shock hours after the fateful roadside ambush. With red-rimmed eyes, Winter reaches out a hand to her husband. Thin fingers clutch at his leather jacket. Neither acknowledges the coiled muscles beneath her miserable hold or how it maintained its stoic flex for the last portion of their journey.
"Atticus..." Her voice comes out in a hoarse whisper. The engine is cut by a hand gone numb long ago. Blood tingles through Atticus's veins as he relinquishes his chokehold on both the keys and steering wheel. "He didn't have to stay behind." Dark lashes shutter closed upon the tops of Atticus's cheeks. "We texted Xander a picture of the list yesterday evening."
Atticus turns to face his wife. His blue eyes rake over Winter's stricken pallor and the sadness pooling in her eyes. The hard press of disappointment turns down his mouth and his stomach to lead.
"I know." The words come out as a haggard sigh. "But he knew too, Winter. He knew exactly what he was doing. You saw what it was like out there. We wouldn't have made it out without him and Jax holding them back." Atticus runs both hands over his face. "And Jax... I thought he'd used up all his magic and energy to help us reverse the curse that prevented lycans from shifting at will and the soulmark curse upon your family. You saw how exhausted he was after it all. What he did out there, hell, I didn't think he had anything left in him. He must have used every ounce of magic he possessed to fend them off, and those wolves—"
