Electric Heat (21 page)

“Where’s Thomas?” One of the shifters kept watching the tree
line for him to emerge. “I won’t leave without him. He came back for us and
saved our lives.”

Thomas…the jaguar. An immediate lump filled her throat, the
ache threatening to suffocate her. She hadn’t even known the name of the man
who gave his life for hers. She gripped her hands together to keep them from
trembling, and her heart hurt all over again. “He didn’t make it.”

Durant gathered her in his arms. “I’m sorry.”

She shuddered, but his touch helped ease the gaping wound in
her soul. She pulled away with a shaky breath. “We need to leave.”

“If you tell the shifters to step aside, I can open up the
wards enough for us to enter.” It was a peace offering.

At Raven’s nod, the shifters parted. The girl walked toward
the sheer rock face and put her hands on the stone. As if infused, magic rose
from the pile of rocks, the strength of it making the hair on her arms stand on
end.

A section of the wall shimmered. One moment the girl was
there, the next she had walked clear through the mountainside. The rest of the
witches quickly followed.

Durant stood in front of her, glaring at the wall
suspiciously. “It could be a trap.”

Rylan shook his head, but made no move to enter either. “The
witches can’t risk an all-out war.”

“What other options do we have?” Raven stepped between them
and entered the void. The dark air felt heavy, and she could feel rock
particles slide over her skin, drag against her body as she walked through the
soupy mess, and she wondered if it would solidify before she reached open air.
By the time she emerged through the twenty-foot side of the mountain, she was
covered in dust.

The others quickly followed, all of them resembling a group
of miners by the time they emerged. A few of the shifters touched themselves, clearly
surprised they’d survived.

“This fortress hasn’t been used for decades. It’s a fallback
shelter in case the compound was ever overrun.” The girl turned toward her,
exhaustion drooping her shoulders, stealing the color from her face. “I
consider our temporary alliance complete.”

“Then you best take us to your command post and alert them
to our presence.”

The girl gave a relieved smile that she wouldn’t have to
deal with trying to force them to the elders. The fortress was a warren of
mazes. They traveled up and down so many slopes Raven lost track of how deep
they were underground or how far into the mountain.

The main portion of the tunnel appeared to be a natural cave
system, connected by tunnels hewn out of rock. The tunnel had to have been
blasted out, but there was a smoothness to the floors that made her suspect
magic had been used instead of explosives. A layer of scum was cemented over
everything. The air was cooler, a bit moist. Instead of lights, there appeared
to be gems placed every twenty feet or so, providing enough of a glow for them
to navigate the narrow tunnels.

A few of the shifters appeared uneasy in the confined space.
The farther they went underground, the more the surroundings began to feel like
bunkers. The rock floor changed to cement. The lights switched to electric.

The more military it became, the more uneasy she felt, it
was too much like the labs where she’d been imprisoned throughout her childhood.

When they rounded the last corner, a set of great doors
stood before them, but instead of wood, they were solid stone. More curious,
they had no knobs. The girl pressed her hand to the surface. Magic swelled,
lighting up the symbols engraved on the stone. Rock ground against rock as the
door rumbled open.

They entered an auditorium. Half the seats were filled. In
the center of the room, stood a small group of witches…including Heloise.

A commotion erupted when they entered, and a number of
people leapt up to hug the young witches. The shifters glanced at her, showing
some loyalty, but she waved them off. “We’ll be fine.”

They scattered, quickly greeting the other shifters who’d
managed to survive.

The last person she expected to see stood and strolled
toward them.

Randolph.

Her creature hunkered down, so well hidden Raven barely
sensed her. She remained alert, her claws pressed lightly against Raven’s gut,
as if staking claim. Raven was glad for the support.

“I’m pleased to see you made it, though I expected you
sooner.” He spoke as if she was the only one who existed.

Durant crossed his arms, angling himself in front of her to
block Randolph’s advance. “How convenient that you managed to disappear so
early in the fight.”

Randolph frowned, and turned his attention to Durant. Raven’s
breath stuttered in her lungs. She had to get Randolph away from her men. She
wouldn’t survive another loss. “We have more important things to discuss at the
moment…like how we get out of here and defeat the Prime.”

Taking a gamble, she pushed past both men. When neither moved
to follow, her heart plummeted. She glanced over her shoulder and pinned
Randolph with her gaze. “Coming?”

With a smug smile, he strolled to her side.

She, on the other hand, wanted to run.

 Chapter Seventeen

DAY FIVE: 1 AM
– UNDERGROUND FORTRESS

R
aven
was conscious of every step she took away from her pack, the pain like a
railroad spike being hammered into chest. A quick glance revealed that when Durant
had tried to follow, Rylan grabbed his arm. She gave him a grateful nod, then
focused all her attention at the biggest threat at the moment—Randolph.

“I don’t understand. Why did the Council send you?”

“They didn’t.” He flashed a secretive smile, pleased that
she’d figured out his little joke. “I came on my own.”

She nearly stumbled over her own feet. She was trapped inside
an impenetrable fortress with the Council’s finest assassin while the Prime
waited outside to decimate her pack and claim her for his own.

What had she done to end up wedged between two such
destructive forces?

“I didn’t request your service. I won’t be indebted to you.”
She picked up her pace, eager to put distance between them, and the trouble
that always accompanied him.

He easily kept pace. “I came because it amused me. You owe
me nothing.”

He was too agreeable. She didn’t trust it. A chill snaked
down her spine at the thought of him being free to roam around where she
couldn’t keep an eye on him, using that time to learn about her strengths and
weaknesses.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time, when her creature was
so volatile and the uneasy truce between them so fragile.

As Raven approached the small knot of witches, they fell
silent. Heloise turned, her face set in a fierce frown. “You shouldn’t have
come.”

Raven circled until she had her back to the wall. “If I
hadn’t, you and your kids would be dead.”

“This is a witch’s safe house. No outsiders have ever been
invited.” The woman who spoke was older, her outrage and dislike clear.

“Don’t blame your problems on me. You might want to remember
I didn’t start this war.” The woman looked mad enough to spit. “But I might be
able to help you. Tell me about this wild magic.”

No one spoke, and Raven sighed at their tightlipped silence,
angry that they’d let their secretiveness put everyone in even more danger. “He
took on your whole coven, destroyed your school, and none of you were able to
do anything to stop him. If you don’t want my help, say so now.”

Heloise gave a short nod, acknowledging that they wouldn’t
get out of there alive without help. “The primitive magic he used is a
forerunner to our own magic. It’s more powerful, but the costs are higher. It
searches for the best and the strongest and will jump from host to host until
it gets what it wants.”

“The wolf.” Raven whispered more to herself than anyone
else. “He wanted a way to save the shifters from being used as familiars. He
turned to magic for a way out.”

“More likely the ancient magic had found him, using the wolf
to gain a foothold into our world.” Heloise waved her hand as if it was
unimportant. “It fed him the illusion that he could solve the problem by
destroying the witches.”

“He was being controlled.” A trickle of pity swept through Raven.
“It tries to gauge what you want most then lures you into helping it, almost as
if it is sentient. But what does it want?”

“Sentient only up to a point.” Heloise pursed her lips. “It wants
to live, but it needs a host in order to survive. Not everyone is suitable, and
it’s seeking the perfect candidate, craves to find someone who can endure the
burn of a lot of magic.”

“The Prime.” Something about Heloise’s grim tone put Raven’s
hackles up. “What happens now it found one? What does it want next?”

The coven members, all of them, stared at her as if she was
daft. “You.”

“That makes no sense at all. I’m not a witch. I’m nothing to
him.”

Heloise advanced, moving with an angry swish of her skirts.
“And yet his first order of business had been to set a trap for you. By coming
here, you just endangered everyone. Tell me why you’re so important.”

Raven shook her head, completely baffled. “He shouldn’t even
know I exist.” Then she hesitated.

Heloise eyes sharpened like a hawk with a mouse in its sight.
“Tell me.”

“I’m nothing to the Prime, but the wild magic has touched me
and my men more than once. It seemed…” she searched for the right word, but
nothing fit, “…curious.”

Heloise waved her hand. “He didn’t want your men. You’re
part of a pack. By taking your men, he weakens you.”

The thought of him going after her pack set Raven’s teeth on
edge. She wasn’t going to let it happen. “And once I’m vulnerable?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it? He has been waging an
all-out war on us, and he didn’t get so much as a hangnail until you came
along.” If she could, Raven had no doubt Heloise would cut her open to see what
made her tick. “You injured him today.”

“If I’m a threat, then why not kill me outright?”

Heloise studied her in a way that made her skin crawl.
Ownership. “That’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it?”

“How many exits does the fortress have?”

Heloise took the change in conversation easily. “Two.”

Lie.

“If what you say is true, your Prime will be heading this
way soon. We’ll need to post guards.”

Heloise crossed her arms, clearly not pleased at being told
what to do. “They’ve been sealed with wards.”

Raven refused to back down. “He will shred them.”

“Normally, you’d be right, but magic has been used in this
place for generations. The very stones are infused with it. Even the Prime
doesn’t have enough power to take it all…at least not easily. He’ll have to
work for it.”

“Give me and my men time to recoup, a few hours, and we’ll
be gone.” Raven had no idea where she could go to keep her people safe, but she
knew they needed to strike a deal before the witches decided to hand them over
to the Prime in order to ensure their own survival.

“I’d like nothing better than for you to leave, but we cannot
afford for him to get his hands on you.” Heloise nodded to a few of the guards
in the room. “For the moment, you will be our guest. I’ll have you shown to
where you will be staying.”

Raven didn’t put up a fuss. It was better than what she
could have bargained for on her own. She suspected Heloise was paying her back
for coming to their rescue, but she couldn’t be sure how long her generosity
would last. She needed to come up with a plan and fast.

When she joined her men, she surveyed the room, and saw
Randolph had slipped away. Escaped the joy of having an armed escort.

They were shown to two rooms. Rylan and Nicholas entered the
first room, more of a cubbyhole than a hotel suite. Raven followed Durant to
the second room, where he set Dominic down in the middle of the bed.

Dominic had lost weight already, wasting away without his
wolf. Lines bracketed his mouth while he slept, struggling with the loss even
while he was unconscious. A tiny part of her trembled at knowing he might never
wake, too heartsore over the magnitude of the blow she’d dealt him. Since there
was nothing she could do to help, she tore herself away and headed down the hall
to wash away the gore and stench of battle. The others had already left to do
the same. She had one hour before they regrouped.

The bathroom was nothing more than a stall and sink. If she
moved, she bumped into one or the other. When her hip collided with the sink
for the second time, Raven yearned for Durant’s monstrous shower.

She scrubbed the blood from her hands, but the stains went
much deeper. She avoided the ancient, warped mirror above the sink, unable to
face herself after today’s epic failure. She’d been cocky, confident she’d be
able to rescue everyone. Instead, they were all prisoners now. She delayed
meeting the others as long as possible, struggling to pull herself together so
they wouldn’t see how close she was to shattering.

They had already knocked once.

She grabbed the edges of the sink and blew out a breath.

She couldn’t put it off any longer.

She trudged along the short passage down the hall and pushed
open the door to the cramped dorm room they had been assigned. Durant and Rylan
stood waiting, not that they had much choice. The bed and chair nearly scraped all
four walls. The men took up what little space remained. Dominic hadn’t moved
since they deposited him on the bed. While she was gone, they had cleaned and
bandaged the worst of his injuries and dressed him in sweats. She kept staring,
hoping to find some sign that he was healing, but nothing had changed.

She wondered if that was how the others felt when they saw
her, helpless and protective and unable to do a damned thing to change any of
it.

“Nicholas is resting. He’s suffered some severe injuries.
When he wakes, he’ll need blood.”

Raven tore her gaze away from Dominic. “I’ll ask a few of
the shifters who helped us yesterday and see if any will volunteer.”

Rylan nodded and turned away, but not before she saw the
ravenous hunger behind his blue eyes.

“When’s the last time you fed?”

He stiffened as if she’d asked him the last time he had sex.

His silence spoke volumes.

“You’re injured, balanced on a sword’s edge. Can you go
another night without feeding?” The last thing they could afford was for him to
lose control. “I can—”

“No!” Both men spoke at once.

Rylan’s eyes changed from one blink to the next, the lovely
blue gone, revealing the pure predator beneath.

“He can take mine.” Durant spoke the words behind clenched
teeth.

Both men grimaced.

“You’re injured as well.” Raven headed toward the door. “I’ll
talk to the shifters—”

“It’ll be better if it come from me.” Durant rolled up his
sleeve, and her eyes automatically dropped to gawk at the lovely muscles that
corded his arm. They were so distracting that it took her a full minute to
notice the claw marks that twisted up his forearm.

He was healing but slowly.

She found herself drawn closer. “You need time to heal.”

He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his chest, his
tiger giving a faint rumble of pleasure at the simple touch. “Even injured, I’m
the strongest shifter here. My blood is more potent than the others’. Your
vampire will heal faster and won’t need to take as much.”

She glanced over her shoulder to see Rylan shrug, his face
betraying none of his emotions. “He’s correct.”

Raven tightened her lips against arguing. The decision was
difficult enough for them without her saying anything more. Because of their
distrust of each other, Durant wouldn’t have offered, nor would Rylan have
accepted, if they had any other choice. “Very well. How do you want to do
this?”

She pulled away, nervous energy skating up her spine, and
she couldn’t stop fidgeting. Before she could take another step, Durant grabbed
her arm and dragged her closer. “This will go better if you stay in sight.”

Apparently in sight meant plastered against his chest.

“We’re both predators. Neither of us was built to tolerate the
other in our territory. We can use you as a buffer.” He ran a hand up her back
in a way that made her shiver and melt against him. “It will keep both of us in
check.”

It sounded logical, but the closer Rylan came, the more she
felt ready to jump out of her skin. Durant growled low in his throat, narrowing
his eyes over her head, his hold leaving bruises.

“Distract him.”

Raven jolted at Rylan’s soft demand.

Easy for him to say.

How do you distract an animal from its prey?

Feeling foolish, Raven stood on her tiptoes, placed her hands
on either side of Durant’s face and pulled his head down to hers. The growling
stopped. She leaned in closer, her lips only inches apart from his, and held
him still. “Hold out your arm.”

His brows furrowed, and Raven leaned back infinitesimally.
Not an inch passed before he thrust out an arm. “My kiss.”