Harbored in Silence, page 2
It didn’t help that it wasn’t only the wards that were draining the life from me.
There was something else.
Someone else.
I shook that thought away as the girls moved forward.
“Let’s go, especially before we get told we’re not allowed to,” Wren said with a sigh.
We were going to see the coven. One last-ditch effort. But because the coven no longer wanted to work with the Pack, and were adamant about it, my Alpha could warn us away from it. So as long as he didn’t know where we were going, as long as those in the Pack hierarchy didn’t know, we could still do this. We could try to protect our people.
I would beg for help if I had to.
We got in the car and were waved through past the sentries.
“Chase is going to know where we’re going. He always does,” Wren said with a sigh.
“True, but he hasn’t told us not to go, so I’m going to take that as permission,” Wynter added.
“I’m sure Cruz and Steele know as well. And they’ll yell at us.”
Chase was our Alpha, Cruz the Heir—second in command, one who helped hold the mantle of Pack bonds. Steele was our Enforcer, in charge of the outside security of the Pack. Any outside forces that came at us would alert his Pack bonds. The fact that we had been in constant battles and wars since the vampires came out had to be stressing his own powers. I didn’t know how he dealt with it, but he did. Because he was the Enforcer, and that was what he did.
We made our way out of the forest and into the city, where the coven was located. They used to be within the forest with us, hiding from the humans. But when magic had begun to come out into the public, when the shifters had, they’d had to hide in different ways.
“I still can’t believe that they live in a townhouse here,” Wynter said with a sigh.
My lips twisted in a sneer. “Because the new coven didn’t want to be hidden.”
“Do you still believe that the new coven hierarchy killed the others?” Wren asked softly, her Healer heart breaking.
“Yes. Those who created this coven originally wouldn’t have left us like this. They wouldn’t have disappeared into the night without a word.” Hope twisted inside me, and I swallowed hard, the grief of my friends’ deaths still wrapped around me. “They could have run, could have been forced into it by having their families threatened. But nobody has sent word. Nobody has heard from them. I fully believe that the new coven leaders killed the old ones. Because they wanted power.”
“And now we’re going there to beg for help. For them not to renege on their prior promises,” Wynter said with a sigh. “Sounds like fun.”
“It sounds like we should have brought more firepower,” Wren said with a wince.
“And if we did that, they would’ve taken it as an act of war. If I go as a witch with my two friends to beg, maybe it’ll be enough.”
“I don’t like the thought of you having to beg. They should just want to do this.”
“They should, but they don’t. They pushed out everybody with a connection to the past. Everybody who wasn’t as special as they are.”
We were silent after that because there was nothing else to say. We had gone over this countless times, and I wasn’t sure what else there was to do.
When we pulled into the small neighborhood and saw the house at the end of the drive, hidden amongst trees, something strummed along my magic, and I knew something was wrong.
I opened the door, not bothering to turn off the car, and ran toward the wrongness, my soul aching as death once again sung toward me, calling me.
Wren cursed under her breath, following me, running even faster. She wasn’t the strongest wolf, but the power of Healer ebbed within her. She was a shifter and naturally faster and stronger than me. “I smell blood.”
Wynter was right behind us, running quickly, just not as fast as Wren could. She had her blades in her hands, in open view of anyone who was watching, but it didn’t matter. I held out my hands, my power strumming along my palms.
It was a dark orb, power of death. I didn’t kill with it, not unless I had to, but I could stun, I could push back. My power was unlike anyone else’s, but I used it how I could.
“Something’s wrong. Wynter, call the others. Get the Pack here.”
“I’m not letting you go alone. There could be vampires in there.”
I turned to her for a moment before looking at Wren. “Do you scent them? Feel them? Because I don’t.”
The Healer looked torn before she shook her head. “No. I only scent blood…and magic. But no vampires.” A pause. “Dara.”
“We don’t have a choice,” I murmured.
Wynter cursed and pulled out her phone, Wren between us, then I moved.
The door was ajar, the magical wards that protected the coven from the outside world broken. But they hadn’t just been broken. No, they were tattered and jagged shards of magic that pierced my skin as I moved forward, unable to keep me out.
I tasted death on the air, not just blood, not just magic, but death.
I had brought someone back before, something the goddess had forbidden me to do, but I had done it. I wouldn’t do it again to others, I wouldn’t do it here.
I walked past the blood and the death of the coven who had forsaken us, and knew that whoever had killed them wasn’t our friend.
This was not the enemy of my enemy, no, this was death itself.
A rasping sound hit my ear while Wren and Wynter went to each fallen witch, trying to help. But I knew they were dead, I could feel their death.
I moved towards the rasping breath where Henrick lay like a broken doll over a torn armchair.
The coven leader—the one who hated us the most—looked at me, his eyes wide, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, and I felt only pity.
Nobody deserved to die like this.
He held his hand over his stomach, trying to keep what was inside inside. Everything stank of death, of what was to come. But I didn’t say anything. And so he moved my hand over his heart, and pushed in magic. His eyes widened, and that was when he knew.
I was the death witch, but I was not death. I couldn’t control it.
“It was her,” he whispered.
I leaned forward, doing my best to save him. I hated him, hated what he had done and what he stood for. But I would not let him die in agony. I knew death called to him, and there was nothing I could do, not without sacrificing my own soul—and his. And that was the crux. I would control his soul if I wasn’t careful, and he was too close to death for me not to. But I could ease his pain. As I did so, he reached out with his free hand, his bloody fingerprints on my skin.
“It was her. She promised to help us. And she killed us.” Blood burbled from his mouth as I tried to understand what was going on.
“Who was it? Who did this?” I asked, holding his hand as tightly as I could. There was nothing more I could do. He could feel no more pain, but I couldn’t stave off death, not without risking his soul.
“It was her. The coven is dead. And it was her.”
And with that, the coven leader died, right along with the coven. Death kissed my cheek and left me kneeling in a pool of blood, with the promise of what was to come.
The coven was dead. The humans and their laws would be here soon. The Pack would be close by.
And death beckoned.
Chapter
Two
Cruz
She did what?
That was the phrase that constantly ran through my mind in a loop.
Dara had run into a house that scented of dark magic and blood.
Check.
Dara had done some form of magic on her own, the likes which nobody could explain to me, and hadn’t said a thing.
Check.
Dara had been kneeling in the blood of our enemy, head bent over the coven leader, when I’d run into the townhouse.
Check.
The entire coven was dead, and it stank of vampires and dark magic. And Dara was in the middle of it.
Check.
Dara had come to this place on her own without letting anybody know and bringing two other Packmates with her. Two other Packmates who were not fighters.
Check.
I was going to kill the woman who might be my mate.
That was it. She might be a death witch, but I was going to be her death.
I could not believe I had walked in and shouted at the woman who could be my mate standing in blood.
And I didn’t shout.
I was the calm and collected one when everyone else felt like death was coming. That was what I did.
But when I’d seen her, I’d lost my damn mind.
“What the hell are you doing?” I said, and she rolled on me.
“Trying to do what I could. You’re here, so help me clean up this mess. We don’t need the humans to find it.”
And then she passed out. I cursed, catching her before she landed in the gore.
She had used too much magic, like always. Because she only took care of others and never thought about herself.
What was I supposed to do with a mate like that?
Nothing, that’s what. There was nothing for me to do with a mate who not only didn’t want me but was trying to kill herself in the process.
My wolf paced, shuddering. Because it knew the truth.
Because even if she continued this, if she stopped this and found a way to protect the Pack without killing herself along the way, I knew I would be that last step.
And neither one of us wanted to think about that.
Wren was there in an instant, her lynx pulling at my wolf, needing my power as Heir. That was what I was good for, the legacy for our Alpha, Chase, and to help push power into those who needed it.
Wren wasn’t exactly a submissive, but she wasn’t a dominant either. All of her power came from her inner strength and the fact that she was a Healer. So she used what she could to push healing into Dara, but when she cursed under her breath for the fifth time in just a few minutes, I knew it didn’t work the way that it should. I could sense that Dara was just sleeping at that point, exhausted, but whatever magic that Dara held didn’t always mesh well with Pack magic.
Another strike against whatever the goddess had foretold for us.
The thing with mating was that you had potentials. Yes, we were fated mates. Yes, the goddess had put us together so we could see who we could be together. Our souls would combine, and we would find passion and hope and prosperity. And all that other bullshit that came with fated mates.
But it was never forced. It was a potential. I could find another potential in my long lifetime. I had friends who had found two mates in their lifetimes, and had ended up being able to choose the one that was perfect for them because of circumstances that wouldn’t make sense to anyone outside of our world.
I had to keep telling myself that Dara wasn’t mine.
When they took her away and left me behind, along with Steele and a few others to clean up the mess in the estate, I wondered why the hell the goddess hated me so much.
I had yelled at Dara, and that was the last thing I said before she passed out and left me here surrounded by death and wondered how long it would take to remove blood from carpet.
“I miss the old coven,” Steele grumbled. “It was easier when we had the witches to clean stuff like this up. Right now, I don’t think Dara could lift her pinky, let alone the blood from this carpet.”
I scowled over at my best friend and Enforcer. “Don’t you dare ask Dara to help with this. She already did some whammy on Henrick, trying to save him or some bullshit. And now she’s hurt and unconscious. She doesn’t think about herself at all.”
Steele raised a single brow which spoke volumes.
“If you’re done with that, why don’t you take a breath? Because what the hell, man?”
“What about the other witches from the Talon Pack? The Redwoods? They should have people.”
“We’re on it. Don’t worry. We will clean this up. Although I’m surprised that humans aren’t here already, thanks to the smell.” Steele scrunched his nose, and my wolf hummed in agreement.
It stank of death and all of the disgusting things that came with it. It wasn’t just blood. And these people had died horribly.
I might not have liked any of them, but I didn’t want them dead.
Nobody deserved to die like this.
They had become their own ending, and it didn’t make any sense.
“There was a geas.” I looked up as Cassius came through, soldier and dominant wolf and friend.
Cassius nodded at us and frowned at the tablet in his hand. “Novah mentioned it to me, as one of the council members had it in their notes. Just like we use wards, and our old wards used to be able to have a ‘don’t look here’ or something like to prevent humans from finding us, the witches had one too.”
My eyes widened. “In the middle of a city? That’s got some balls on it.”
Cassius snorted. “Pretty much. But they haven’t figured it out yet.”
“So the authorities won’t be here. Meaning we have time to figure out exactly what the witches were up to.” That left a metallic taste in my mouth, annoyed with myself for even thinking it.
“These witches,” Steele chided gently. “These witches who decided to go against the former coven.”
“Did we ever find out what happened to Diana or Amelia?” I asked, my voice quiet, not sure I wanted to know the answer.
Cassius shook his head. “No. Either the witches hid their bodies, or they hid themselves well enough from whatever other crap these people were up to that we couldn’t find them.”
“I wouldn’t blame them for leaving and hiding. I just hope they get back to us at some point. Although if Henrick’s last words were true, that means whoever they were working with turned on them.” I clenched my jaw, as Cassius nodded tightly. “Turned on them and took everything from them. The coven is gone. No more.”
I couldn’t help but think of Dara, about the fact that she had been here most likely to ask for help, help from a coven that had shunned her and had never let her be part of them. She was a witch, goddess damn it. And yet they hadn’t let her be part of them.
“It was going to be hard enough to continue this war without the coven, but that was just when we were fighting with them. Now that they’re gone completely? I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
“That will be a question for Chase and the other Alphas. Let’s clean up here, be careful of any traps that the coven’s enemy or the coven themselves may have laid for us, and then we’ll get back to the den. I don’t like being gone for too long.”
They nodded and we moved around, cleaning up the death, which lay heavy in the air and I knew would never fade away.
By the time we made it back to the den, dawn was on its way to the Pacific Northwest. I rubbed my temples and knew that sleep wouldn’t be coming anytime soon. Not when we had a Pack council meeting coming up.
Not everyone there would be part of the hierarchy, but since I was the Heir, I had to be there. I had to tell them what I saw, and we needed to make plans for what to do about this.
But first, I needed to shower.
I resisted the urge to stop by Dara’s place though, to ensure that she was actually resting.
It should not be my problem if she was sleeping or not. When I went to her and asked her why we hadn’t spoken of being mates, she had rebuffed me, pushed me away.
I wasn’t going to force her into taking me. Into believing in what we could have, because I didn’t even know what that could be in the first place.
The goddess had made a mistake.
I couldn’t be with a woman who didn’t want me.
And I wasn’t going to be forced into a situation where I needed to be bonded again.
I was already part of the Aspen Pack for those reasons. I wasn’t going to force a mating where it clearly wasn’t wanted. Nor was I going to let what had happened stand between us forever, though.
There were answers that needed to come out. And not just about our mating.
I jumped into the shower, grateful to wash off the scent of blood and death, as I rubbed my hand over my chest.
I remembered dying.
It was odd to think that I could remember death. No, that wasn’t quite true. I didn’t remember death. I only remembered dying, gasping that last breath as vampire black-splintered magic slid into my chest and took me away from this earth.
I remembered that pain, the agony. And then I remembered a gasping breath, fiery burning wrath wrapping around me, and looking up into Dara’s coal-black eyes as she screamed for me.
Only her mouth had been open, but no sound came out.
We had been on the battlefield, and I’d felt my bond to my Alpha, to my Pack, break.
I didn’t know what to say about that.
Dara had saved my life, had brought me back from death. Not the brink of it, but actual death, and now my mate was dying.
There was something between us, not a mating bond. No, neither one of us would allow that. But there was something, and as I continued in this existence I was afraid I knew the answer.
Dara was dying because of me.
All because she had saved my life. And I didn’t know how to fix that, or if there was even a way to fix that.
I shook my head, telling myself once again that there was no point in rehashing this. When we finally did, we would probably end up blowing apart half of the damn den, but we’d figure it out.
First, though, we needed magic.
For the wards, the den, and to fight against these vampire powers.
And I wasn’t going to lie. A small part of me also wanted that magic to help Dara. No, that was indeed a lie. It wasn’t just a small part.
We needed witches, Dara needed witches. So, despite the fact that we were never going to be truly mates, I would do all that I could to make sure she got them.
My phone buzzed and I looked down, noting that I was being summoned to the Pack meeting. It wouldn’t be all of us, as not even the entire Pack lived within the den wards, but it would be enough of us with the power to make choices for each other, and it was important that I be there.
