Mayhem: The Order of the Wolf, Book 5 (9 page)

Chapter Eighteen

They made it to Hannah’s apartment before ten that night and confirmed what Mayhem already knew, what his wolf had been growling from the second he’d heard that phone message. Hannah was gone. And his gut told him that the Hunters had found her.

They stood in her living room, her scent like an attack on Mayhem’s senses, making him crazed to find her.
Mine.

“We need to go to Hannah’s work, track her from there.”

“No, man,” Raven was shaking his head. “We stay here until the rest of the pack arrives.”

Mayhem growled, his fangs dropping against his bottom lip. “I’m not waiting.”

“You’re not thinking,” Raven growled back. “Don’t make me kick your ass again!”

Mayhem launched, had Raven in a headlock, squeezing his neck between biceps and forearm within seconds. “Is this a joke to you?”

“No,” he choked, arms raised to show submission.

Mayhem released his throat grip to let some air in. “We track her from her work,” he growled again.

“She got into a truck, remember? That’s what her cousin said. You won’t be able to track her. We need Darcy.”

Mayhem processed the words.
Fuck.
He let Raven go, feeling like a total asshole for going after his pack brother yet again. “Sorry, man. It’s just…” He ran his hand through his hair, let out an explosion of breath.

Raven stood as he sucked in a deep lungful of air and let it seep back out slowly. “I understand.” He nudged Mayhem to sit down on the couch. “If it was Darcy out there, I’d be acting like a feral beast too.”

Mayhem rubbed his hand over his face, taking calming breaths to get his wolf under control. “Yeah, the wolf is clawing at me, pushing for an out.” He took two steps back and collapsed on the plush couch, sinking almost to the floor with his weight. “How much time do we have? Hours? What happens if he marks her first? Will she be lost to me?”

Raven shook his head, “I don’t know, May. Without your bite, it’s hard to say what kind of power they can get over her.”

Mayhem let out a low growl as he punched the arm of the couch, the crack of wood beneath his fist making him feel fractionally better. “I will kill every single one of them.”

A screech of tires had Raven moving to the sliding doors and peering out over the balcony. He bit out a curse. “We’ve got a problem, May.”

Mayhem sighed as he stood, knowing without looking what that problem was. “Paparazzi, right?”

Raven nodded as he walked back into the apartment, then shut and locked the door behind him. “Yep, at least ten, more probably on the way.”

“There’s a fire escape outside the bedroom window. We can get out that way if we’re quick.” He was in no mood to deal with the media. They’d have the place surrounded in no time, making it difficult to do any searching for Hannah without a camera clicking away.

Raven nodded. “Hang on a sec.” He moved into the kitchen and hunted through the cupboards for a minute before finding what he was looking for. He held up a plastic bag. “We need to gather some of Hannah’s personal stuff for Darcy, just in case she can work that tracking spell she mentioned.”

“Good idea.” Mayhem walked into Hannah’s bedroom and searched her dresser for something that would count as personal. There was a picture of her and Dani hugging. He snatched up the photo and held it out to Raven. “Will this work?”

Raven shrugged. “Fuck if I know.” He took it and shoved it into the bag. “I’ll go into the bathroom and grab her hairbrush.”

“Her hairbrush?” Mayhem said, eyebrows raised. “You think that’s what Darcy needs?”

Raven shrugged again. “Don’t know, but can’t hurt, right? It’s got DNA on it, doesn’t it? That’s what the cops use to find people.”

“I guess.” Mayhem turned to scan the dresser again, his gaze landing on a small jewelry box. Personal. Right. There had to be something personal in there. He picked up the box and slipped it into his jacket. “Rav, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“Can I have your autograph, Mayhem?”

They were blocks away from Hannah’s place, walking briskly through the back alleys in an attempt to dodge the media. The voice came from behind, he barely halted, a fuck off lying heavy on his tongue.

“Looking for something? Or should I say…someone?” the same female voice asked, her tone mocking.

He spun on a growl, fists clenched, claws digging into his palms, fangs ready to pop. Raven tried to push him behind, an attempt to protect the alpha that only pissed Mayhem off more.

“What?” He roared as he took two steps toward the woman, her face partially hidden in the darkness of the alley.

“Mayhem!” Raven shouted.

She had a knife in her hand a second after that, a cocky grin on her face. “One more step, big guy, and this is going in you.”

Raven pulled him back, “Huntress,” he hissed in Mayhem’s ear.

“That’s right. I am.” She twirled the knife on her fingers, like she was playing a game, her smile telling him she had a thing or two to learn about respect.

He shook Raven’s hand off and launched himself, going low, swiping her legs out from under her. She hadn’t seen it coming but that didn’t mean she wasn’t prepared. She went down and rolled, from ass to knees in a heartbeat, two blades, one at Mayhem’s throat, the other at his gut. Mayhem had his hand clasped around her small neck, claws pushing the flesh almost to the breaking point. Their eyes were locked, breaths coming out in hard pants, frozen in place.

“That was dumb,” she said with another smile. “One nick and you’re dead.”

Eventually, maybe…if he didn’t have Aubrey as a healer. Summer too. He pushed forward, allowing the blade at his throat to press deeper as he clenched her neck tighter, claws puncturing. “Not if I rip your goddamned head off first,” he growled. “Go ahead, do your worst.”

Eyes wide with shock, she stared him down, doing her best to breathe around his vise-like grip.

Something flickered in her eyes. Doubt? Uncertainty. Defeat? “I can help you find her,” she whispered, her cheeks flashing red. She lowered her blades, letting them clatter to the ground a second later. She raised her hands to show that she was unarmed.

With a frown, he released her. “Fuck you,” he spat as he pushed her back and stood, ready to walk away. He didn’t have a clue what was going on, had yet to meet a Huntress who backed down so easily. Not that he’d had a lot of experience with the deadly women. But still, weakness wasn’t their usual MO.

“I know who has her. I know where they have taken her. I know a way in.”

“Oh yeah?” Mayhem growled. “And why the fuck, Huntress, would you help me take my mate away from your people?”

“Because I need something from you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You expect me to believe that?”

She rose slowly to her feet and moved toward him. “I can show you.”

“Show me what?”

She spun to face Raven, somehow sensing his subtle movements toward her. He had his claws bared, fangs glistening. He would have taken her head off if he’d had the chance. As soon as she locked eyes with Raven, the man stopped all movement, hands sliding to his sides, body relaxing.

Mayhem felt her power radiate out, restraining him like a barrier. He raised his hands, tried to push against it and couldn’t move an inch. “Raven!”

With pupils dilating, she held Raven in a trance, like a snake, her eyes enthralling. “Raven? Is that your name? You will do as I say, won’t you, sweetie?” Her voice was coaxing, making suggestions just with her tone.

Mayhem felt the power of her gift, persuasion that was nudging even his willpower.

“You’ll run your fingers through your hair, won’t you, Raven?”

And like a puppet on strings he did, damn her. Raven lifted his hand and ran his fingers through his short Mohawk, his eyes vacant, no thought happening there.

Mayhem watched with growing horror, not knowing how far-reaching this skill was, how much power she had to take over someone’s mind. He opened his mouth to say something, to demand she release Raven…and then he felt something else, her power waning, the strings snapping, the barrier dropping.

Raven shook his head and roared. “You fucking bitch!” He swiped at her, claws catching her cheek, tearing three deep scratches down.

She screamed, reeling back as blood flew from her face.

Mayhem held his hand up, halting Raven’s attack as he moved toward the Huntress, putting himself between the two of them.

She backed away from them both, blades in her hands once again, the angry welts still bleeding. “You killed my fucking mate, you asshole,” she snarled at Mayhem, her face a mask of anguish. “I should cut your motherfucking head off!”

He remembered her now—his wolf pushing through, showing him the memory of a hotel, of a dark haired Hunter standing guard. Of Dyami in pain, dying, his Huntress, Summer, inside the room, scared, battling for his life. And yes, Mayhem had taken that Hunter down. Ripped his throat out and swallowed the hot blood that sprayed into his mouth. He felt no remorse.

“What do you want?” Mayhem didn’t like negotiating, but there was something about this woman that made him pause. His wolf was wary, nudging him to listen.
Just wait,
it said.

She took in a few steadying breaths, raised her arm so that her bicep rubbed against her cheek, swiping some of the blood onto her shirt. “You have no idea what you’ve taken from me,” she hissed. “My mate, and now my powers.”

Mayhem shook his head. “I just felt your powers. You enthralled Raven with little effort.”

“You have no idea how powerful I was before you took him!” she whispered, her voice hoarse, cracking a little. “My powers are disappearing with each week, each day.” A few tears slipped down her face, mixing with the smeared blood.

Mayhem saw weakness in those tears but he didn’t feel sympathy. She would not beguile him. She was not a normal woman. He knew she would kill him in a heartbeat if she could. It was in her nature. The question was, why didn’t she?

“What do you want from me?” he said.

“I need a wolf’s bite.”

Mayhem reeled back, the thought too repulsive to comprehend, his fangs bared as he growled. “Fuck that!”

“Not from you, asshole.” She barked a humorless laugh. “As if.”

“Okay.” Mayhem pulled his beast back. “From who then?”

“Every Huntress has a Hunter and a wolf, you know this right?” When Mayhem gave a tight nod, she continued. “I was marked by my Hunter when we bonded, but the bond isn’t permanent. It is a spell that’s bolstered repeatedly, by touch, close contact, intimacy…or at least that’s what we think.”

An exploitable weakness to The Order of the Wolf, a boon from this strange Huntress. If Mayhem wanted to attack the Order, he needed to go for the males rather than the deadly females. “So what you’re telling me is that your Hunter’s passing means you’re losing your powers?”

“My Hunter’s murder,” she hissed, eyes stabbing him with hatred. “And yes, that’s exactly what’s happening. The wolf’s bite is permanent. I need the bite of a wolf, my wolf, and I need you to help me find him.”

“I don’t have any contacts in the werewolf world,” Mayhem said with a shake of his head. “No pack politics for me, no ins, no…”

“I don’t need your contacts. I know where my beast is. I need an ambassador—a liaison, someone who speaks wolf—who can get me in without having my head ripped off. A bodyguard,” she hissed. “However you want to spin it, what I need is you.”

“And why would I do this?”

“Because if you do this for me, if you help me get my bite, I will take you to your mate and help you get her back.”

“And what’s to stop you from turning on us when you’ve gotten your powers back?” Raven said, arms crossed, not buying it even in the least.

She shot him a nasty look, her arm coming up reflexively to wipe at her cheek again. “Because I will vow it and unlike my Hunter brothers, a vow means something to me.” She turned to Mayhem. “If you help me get my powers back, I vow to help you get your mate, even if it means killing some Hunters. I vow it on my life and I vow it because there would be nothing more satisfying to me than to see the look on those bastards’ faces when I come back for them with a pack at my side.”

Chapter Nineteen

Allan had done something to her, that was how he’d gotten Hannah into his SUV again, driving even farther away from her apartment. He’d shown her the pictures of the wolves. Beautiful pictures that captured the animals—four in total—running, hunting, even playing, albeit with fangs and claws. She’d been enthralled, eyes locked as he flipped from one photo to the next, listening as he described to her the impossible truth. At least, what he believed was true.

“Have you ever wondered why you can’t get a hold of him during the day? That’s when he and his pack—the band—are wolves, Hannah. That’s when they grow fangs and fur, when they attack and kill.”

She’d snapped her gaze to meet his, ready to leave the table, walk out on this crazy man. “Mayhem isn’t dangerous!” Why had she said that? Why hadn’t she said, “Mayhem isn’t a werewolf!” She frowned. Allan believed what he was saying—that much was clear.

“Oh no?” He pushed his phone toward her, tapped the screen to show a video loaded there. A still shot in a blur. “Watch this.”

He’d tapped it again and Hannah had watched as a scene of fantasy world proportions played out right before her eyes. It had been daylight, the black wolf was there, the others coming into the shot shortly after, the camera panning all four. All at the edge of a forest, thick trees hiding them from view for a moment before they came out in the open on an expanse of lawn. As the light faded, the sun presumably sinking below the horizon, the impossible happened. In a dancing array of light, sparkling like small fireworks almost, the wolves transformed into men. Beast to human. Big black wolf to Mayhem.

She’d wanted to say it was a trick—that there was no way—but instead, she’d taken the phone from Allan’s hand and hit play again.

“Mayhem is dangerous, especially to you,” he’d said.

He’d whispered some things to her, coaxing her to come with him, convinced her with a touch of his hand on hers, stroking her like a cat. Her stunned brain didn’t process his words as much as the feeling that came with them. Allan was offering her safety, protection and answers—things that she suddenly craved above all else.

She gave her head a shake, yanking her mind back to her present predicament. In an SUV, no control over where she was headed, no clue, for that matter, where she was going. “Where are you taking me?”

Allan glanced at her briefly, barely taking his eyes off the road ahead. “To my home. A compound designed to protect the Huntresses, to protect you.”

She balked at him, confusion banging her brain, giving her a massive headache. “I don’t understand a word that you’re saying.”

“Remember when I told you that I was part of a group, The Order of the Wolf?”

She gave a tight nod.
My people
is what he had said. The same words that Mayhem had used to describe where he’d come from. Strange words she somehow knew meant different things to each man.

“What you don’t know is that you are a very important person to my group. A vital member of the Order.”

“Me?” she croaked, raising a hand to her throat.

“Yes, you were born a Huntress, a wolf slayer. Destined to kill the beasts that I showed you in that video.”

“I’m not a killer!” she gasped, her mind reeling. What was he saying, that she was destined to kill Mayhem? That thought alone made tears burn her eyes. “This is insane.”

“You grew up outside of the Order, an unfortunate reality of our times. We’ve been finding our wayward Huntresses, bringing them into the fold where they belong. You are destined to be part of our group, to destroy the dangerous beast, to protect humanity.”

“I am not a killer! I have no ability to do what you are saying!” She needed to get out of the truck, to get away from this man. To find Mayhem…

He pulled the truck to the side of the road and put it in park, turned and touched her hand a second after they’d come to a stop. “Hannah, I know that this is difficult for you to understand, for you to accept, but trust me when I say I am not joking with you. I am not lying to you.”

Looking into his eyes felt right all of a sudden, her confusion slipping beyond her reach, acceptance taking its place. She struggled to hold onto her concerns, fighting to maintain her distance. Something strange was going on here. “I get that you believe what you’re saying,” she started, her thoughts muddled, warring with conflicting feelings. Allan was safety, protection, love? She pulled her hand away from his, raised it to her forehead. “None of this makes any sense.”

“Mayhem is a wolf. He and his band are a pack. They are dangerous, have killed Hunters in cold blood with little provocation.” His eyes flicked away from her when he said that, and she knew that there was more to the story. In that moment, he wasn’t being honest. Her doubts returned.

“Mayhem is a wolf,” she repeated, barely believing her own words. “But he’s not dangerous to me, I don’t believe that.”

When Allan looked at her again, she felt the snap of rebellion disappear at once. “That may be true—Mayhem may not harm you himself. But being with him endangers you. If you side with him, you are against us, which will put your life in grave danger. Mayhem is a young wolf, barely able to control his beast, barely able to use his powers to protect you. Being with him, on the side of the wolf, will mean you become the enemy to the Order, to humanity. Is that what you want?”

Hannah couldn’t even comprehend what this man was telling her—not really—only that looking into his eyes made her feel less lost. “You’re telling me that I have to choose between the Order and Mayhem?”
How did I get to this place?
“This is surreal, I can’t…”

Allan laid his hand on hers again, leaning forward so that his face was close to hers, gaze flicking from her lips to her eyes. “You belong with me just as much as you belong with him. We are destined to be together as well, you know.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “I’m asking you to give us a chance, Hannah. Give me the chance to prove myself to you. I have so much to give you.”

His words, his touch, confused her more. She’d met this man hours ago, and just as it had been with Mayhem, she felt like she was connected to him somehow. “None of this makes any sense,” she whispered as she moved back a little, resisting his thrall.

“I have to take you to the Order,” he said as he pulled away. The elastic band of control he’d had over her snapped when he took his touch from her, his gaze now on the road ahead.

“Whether I like it or not?” she asked.

“I’ve been tracking Mayhem and his pack for years, monitoring their movements, leaving them alone until they began stumbling on their Huntresses. That’s when things started getting bad. People started dying.”

“Humans?”

Allan cleared his throat. “No, Hunters.” He sighed as he pulled his cell from his pocket. “And then he found you, which is when I found you as well. His mate, my Huntress. I can prove the reality of this to you, Hannah. So yes, whether you like it or not, I will show you the danger that you are in if you side with the wolves.” He called someone, phone to his ear, eyes on the road as he navigated back into traffic. “We’re coming. Be ready for us.”

It took them a long time to get to the compound that Allan spoke of. They drove all afternoon, stopping for a hasty dinner before continuing. She thought about running but the idea came and went like a flash. She was beyond exhausted and every time he touched her, even just a small gesture, like his hand on her arm, she couldn’t help feeling like running would be the most dangerous thing she could possibly do. It was weird and felt unreal, but she couldn’t explain it any more than she could explain what she’d seen on that video.

So she gotten back into the SUV and had spent the rest of the drive dozing, her slumber fitful as she dreamt of Mayhem, knowing that by now he’d have guessed she wasn’t on that flight, wondering if he was worried about her. She discreetly checked her phone hours before only to find that the battery had died. By the time they made it to their destination, it was the early morning, not long before dawn.

“This is Wolves’ Bane, Hannah, primary headquarters of the Order.”

Hannah gaped at the grand mansion. With its impressive wings buffeting each side, it rivaled many of the mansions she’d admired from afar having grown up in California.

As Allan pulled the SUV around the circular drive, Hannah noticed a small grouping of people gathered off to one side of the massive lawn. There were men she noted. Big, muscular men. She squinted into the limited light, the moon crescent doing little to help her distinguish more of their features.

“The Hunters await.” Allan stopped the truck and placed a hand on her knee. “I have something to show you.”

She got out of the truck reluctantly, Allan at her side within moments of her feet hitting the ground. She was wary, not wanting to leave the safety of the truck, her senses pinging that something was not quite safe. As soon as Allan laid his arm on her shoulders, though, she felt a calming sense of relief cascade over her. He would protect her—that much she knew simply by his touch. He led her to the group of men, which parted as they neared, revealing the figure of a lone woman.

“Hannah,” the woman said, her red hair, bright despite the limited light, hung in cascading waves past her shoulders. “So happy to have you here. My name is Kelly.” She extended a hand.

Hannah stared at it for a few seconds, her brain misfiring.
Kelly?
She seemed so normal, so nice. “I don’t understand what’s going on.” She’d imagined this place would be like a cult, even picturing black capes and hoods, chanting, weirdness.

Kelly smiled, lowered her hand. “I know, sweetie, but I think you will understand very soon.”

Allan nudged her forward and the group parted further, revealing an open span of lawn. “What’s the status?”

“The team has tracked a lone wolf, are herding it this way.” Kelly motioned to the trees. “We’ve opened the wards just there. Look to the west.”

Hannah’s nerves prickled at those words. “Lone wolf?” Wards? What did that mean?

Kelly glanced toward her, the smile still there, warm, meant to be comforting. “Allan has told you a bit about the Order, that you are a Huntress, that your destiny is entwined with two men. One a Hunter, one a beast.”

“Yes.”

“You carry the DNA of an ancient line of female warriors, strong women whose purpose is to protect humanity from the beasts. For years, near the beginning, the Huntresses were cherished, protected, raised within the Order, but now they are scattered, growing up without knowing their destined role. The beasts have been hunting us, killing the Huntresses before they can come fully into their powers.”

Hannah stared at Kelly feeling like this had to be the biggest prank on record. Where were the cameras? “Powers?”

“Have you ever noticed that you elicit certain emotions from others? That your mood sometimes impacts others to feel the same thing?” Kelly asked expectantly.

Dani said that to her all the time that when Hannah was down, she couldn’t help feeling down too, even if they weren’t together. Hannah frowned.
You make me feel things. Strong, powerful things,
Mayhem had said to her. “I guess, maybe, I mean, not that I noticed until…”

“Until you met Mayhem?” Kelly nodded. “That happens. Sometimes our powers are dormant until we are bonded. Sometimes they trickle out through our lives without us really understanding what is going on. The point is, what you’re feeling, what you experienced with Mayhem is your power, one that you will come to fully realize once you bond with your Hunter.”

Hannah shook her head. “You know how fantastical this all is right? How can I believe—?”

Her words were cut off by a roar, a sound that sent a tremor of fear from her scalp to her toes. She snapped her gaze to the tree line that surrounded the house, noticing for the first time that the place seemed immersed by it.

“He’s coming,” Allan said, his words a whisper in her ear that made tears pop to her eyes.

“Hannah, the only way you’re going to understand is if you see things for yourself.” Kelly reached over and squeezed her hand, then nudged her to walk at her side, toward the tree line, toward that roar. “What you need to remember is that you have the power to end this. You and I alone can protect everyone here from the beast.”

Hannah opened her mouth to argue, to question, to refuse…and then she saw movement at the trees, something break out, running for moments on all fours then up on two legs. It let loose another roar, huge, monstrous, head to the sky, with glowing eyes and massive fangs.

She froze as those eyes locked on her, seeming to pull her out of the crowd. A shout from the trees had the beast glancing over its shoulder, as a group of huge men came rushing from the forest, weapons raised. The beast whipped its head around, locked its wide, angry looking eyes on Hannah. She glanced around her and realized she was no longer surrounded by the group. Left to stand on her own as this thing zeroed in, turned and came at her on all fours, running full tilt with a growl that ripped a scream from her throat.

Thirty feet, twenty, speed the likes of which Hannah could barely understand. Something cold and heavy slipped into her palm. She tore her gaze away from the terrible beast to find a huge knife there. The beast roared again, the thunder of its approach rattling through Hannah’s body. She snapped her eyes up, dread soaking through her as she realized she was about to die.

The monster was bearing down on her, fangs gleaming, snarling as it ran. It appeared to be enraged and solely focused on her. Why she couldn’t understand—not that there was any way logic would work at that moment anyway. Less than ten feet separated her from it, closing fast.

She wanted to run, her legs trembling, but suddenly Allan was just behind her, his hand coming to her back, giving her a bizarre sense of calm in the face of imminent death. And as the beast neared, barreling toward her like a truck, she made a decision. She lifted her hand, the one that held the knife, and threw it just as she’d seen people do on TV, expecting that it would flip end over end and impale itself in the creature, stopping it dead in its tracks. Saving herself and everyone else.