Beast Rising: The Order of the Wolf, Book 7 Page 20

  If they survived whatever was to come.

  The air shimmered. Magic sparked.

  “Show time,” Greer said then nodded to Summer. “You better lock that up before the trouble starts.”

  Hannah frowned. Lock what up?

  Summer shut the back door then quickly etched something there. Hannah looked around for Mayhem and the boys.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered.

  “Better that the pack isn’t involved in this. Just in case,” Kelly said as she drew the string on her bow. “Don’t want any bad vibes to sneak through.”

  Hannah gaped at her. They were keeping Mayhem out of the fight? “He’ll get out. It’s not like the house doesn’t have another exit.”

  “Yeah, but he won’t be expecting it. This is going to happen quickly and we don’t want unnecessary risk to the pack at the moment.”

  “But the prophecy—”

  “No, it isn’t going down, not yet. Trust me,” Kelly said as she tapped her head with her index finger before readjusting her hold on the arrow.

  Hannah snapped her eyes to the door, watching with horror as it seemed to shake like it was being rammed. “He’s going to come through it.”

  “Not if Summer’s magic holds,” Kelly said. “The portal opens.”

  Hannah shifted her gaze to see a magical opening, same as before, refracting the light, sending a rainbow of color out before exploding into a gaping hole.

  Darcy was there, hands bound behind her, bloodied, dirty, hair wild, mouth moving in a sneer. Aubrey came behind her, one hand on Darcy’s tied wrists, one on her back, guiding her forward, moving fast.

  “Get down, get down!” Aubrey shouted as she pushed Darcy’s head toward the ground and ducked herself. A blast of magic came through the portal, hitting the house, sending a cascade of bricks to smash into the ground. Hannah yelped, jumped away.

  Kelly let loose an arrow. Hannah hesitated. Where was she aiming? Who was the enemy? She squinted into the portal, the chaos inside making it hard to determine what was going on.

  Greer moved to intercept Aubrey and Darcy. Her task at hand was to shackle Darcy so she didn’t hurt anyone. She moved past the portal but not before her gaze snagged on something inside. Hannah followed her sightline to see Saska, with Kelly’s arrow embedded in her shoulder. Her hands raised with a glowing sword, face a mask of fury. Greer paused, raised her own sword, then stormed right inside the portal.

  “Greer!” Kelly shouted, taking a few steps in her direction.

  Greer ignored her as she charged for Saska.

  “Shit!” Ariana shouted as she hauled Darcy out of the way, getting her to the ground and pinning her there with a knee to the back. “Someone go help Greer!”

  Aubrey collapsed onto her knees, her face a bloody mess, her eye battered and swollen shut, her bottom lip split. “Darcy, close the portal.”

  “Not yet!” Hannah shouted. “Greer’s inside!”

  Greer gave a loud cry, the clang of metal on metal making Hannah’s ears hurt. She raised her bow, hands shaking as she readied to take a shot if it presented itself. She felt a wallop of anger, shifted her eyes to Darcy—the source.

  Then another hit of fear.

  Mayhem came around the side of the house, his chest heaving, body transformed into that of a beast. Truly monstrous.

  A spike of terror hit Hannah, sending her back a step. She swirled her eyes back to Darcy. Darcy’s lips were moving, her eyes blazing with intent locked on Mayhem. She was terrified of him, her fear pulsing toward him like he was going to destroy her. If Darcy launched a spell, Hannah knew, it would be directed at her mate. Hannah turned her aim and let the arrow fly. It landed just in front of Darcy, nicking her lips. She glared at Hannah but the message was received.

  Back off, sister.

  Hannah sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, knowing she was taking a risk but needing to diffuse Darcy’s fear.

  Something hit Hannah’s shoulder, knocking her back. A magical burn made her cry out.

  She opened her eyes to see Greer and Saska come barreling out of the portal, a mess of arms and legs, punching, slashing, screaming.

  “Close that fucking portal now, Darcy!” Ariana yelled.

  Darcy shifted her head, her eyes now locked on a new target. Her lips moving, magic building.

  Mayhem roared as he charged for the group, Jay and Dy following close behind.

  With a scream of rage, Greer staggered back, her arm bleeding. Hannah raised her bow without thinking and released another arrow, striking Saska in the throat. The woman’s eyes went wide, her hands reaching up to grab her neck, the bolt making it impossible for her to breathe. Saska dropped the sword.

  Greer snatched it up, then ran it through Saska’s gut. And as she bent over, Greer took her by the hair and yanked her face to hers, planting her lips straight onto Saska’s gaping mouth.

  Time seemed to stop. Everyone watched as Greer took Saska’s magic. The other woman’s body slumped with both blood loss and whatever it was Greer had done to her.

  Hannah’s eyes were drawn to the portal where a beast as huge as a tank was coming at them.

  “Lazarus,” she whispered.

  She shifted her gaze to Mayhem who was approaching at a steady clip, ready for battle.

  Kelly said this wasn’t going to happen!

  “Kelly!” Hannah screamed. “What’s going on?”

  But it was too late. Mayhem and Lazarus collided in a mess of fur, fang, and claw. There would be no negotiation, no ploy to get on the inside. No mistake where Mayhem’s loyalty lay. The battle escalated brutally within seconds. Hannah’s heart thundered, a scream trapped in her throat. There was nothing she could do. If she tried to control the rage, to tame Mayhem’s beast, she would weaken him.

  But if she let him go, what would happen to him afterward? Would she lose him to the beast inside?

  As the portal shimmered, more beasts spilled out. They needed no direction. As soon as they hit the ground, they launched themselves into the battle.

  There was no time to argue over what should or shouldn’t be happening. The battle was on. Hannah armed her bow, tried to focus her power on the emotions, controlling them but she couldn’t do it without full concentration. What good was it if she couldn’t use it to manipulate the fighting? She couldn’t just hunker down in a corner, curled up and trying to manage the raging waves of emotion, and she couldn’t pinpoint just one source either. It was all or nothing. If she dimmed the rage, she’d make her pack vulnerable. She needed Mayhem to be a beast. She needed him to fight for them. And so she’d have to be a Huntress in other ways.

  She leveled her bow at the target, whispered a prayer to whatever gods were listening and then fired. The arrow sunk into a furry arm. Lazarus bellowed, his eyes snapping to meet hers as he yanked it out. His distraction cost him and he took a slash from Mayhem’s claw across his chest. Lazarus fell back a step, but she could see that he was coiling for another attack. She raised another arrow, ready to hit him again.

  And then Morgan appeared just behind Lazarus, Harper, having teleported her, was at her side. Morgan jumped on Lazarus’s back, arms around his neck. She shifted her face out of the way at the last second when Mayhem struck him from the front. Harper latched on to his legs, striking him with a blade to the thigh as Morgan sank her knife into his chest.

  “Stay dead this time,” Morgan shouted as she pushed the knife in deeper, then jumped off his back before he crushed her in his fall

  With a snap, the portal closed. Hannah trained her arrow on one of the remaining beasts who was battling Dy. She took the shot from behind to drop the monster. The two remaining beasts were quickly dispatched by the others.

  The only sounds were heaving breaths from beast and human alike. Everyone seemed stunned.

  “I thought you said that
wasn’t going to happen now?” Hannah turned on Kelly, fury making her snarl. “You said that this battle wasn’t meant to go down now!”

  Kelly’s eyes were wide, her mouth opening, closing.

  “There are infinite number of ways a prophecy can change,” Morgan said as she bent down and yanked her blade from Lazarus’s chest. “Even with mine. We didn’t know until the last minute what way it would go.”

  Hannah’s chest was heaving, her patience at its limit. “We weren’t prepared for this!”

  Kelly laid her hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “We were.” She smiled when Hannah looked at her. “We’re always prepared. That’s what it means to be a Huntress.”

  Hannah felt that like a slap to the face. She needed training. She needed to be ready no matter what. “Things are going to change.”

  Kelly nodded. “No doubt.”

  She looked over at Mayhem who was panting, trying to keep control, clawed fists clenched teeth bared. Hannah sighed, closed her eyes, and brought him back down from his raging high.

  Things are going to change. That’s the last time I feel out of control when the stakes are high. Time to claim the role. Be the Huntress.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Mayhem knew what needed to happen. He knew the chaos he felt, the rage, had a purpose. Now that he’d battled Lazarus once, he knew what the next step was. He just needed to figure out a way around Hannah.

  The pack’s wounds were being tended. Darcy was back, unrestrained and looking beaten and broken. She sobbed quietly in Hannah’s arms as Mayhem paced a short circuit around the room.

  “What happened over there?” Mayhem barked. His brain was revving too high for a sensitive approach; instead, he went straight into alpha mode.

  Hannah shot him a dirty look, shaking her head as she cooed into Darcy’s ear. “It’s going to be okay, Darc.” She stroked the woman’s hair, smoothing it back from her face. “Can you tell us what happened?”

  “I had to do it.” Darcy’s chest heaved as she cried out again. “It wasn’t Raven. Deep down, it wasn’t him in there. Not after Saska got a hold of him.”

  “Did she manipulate him somehow?” Mayhem growled, wanting to kill that bitch all over again.

  Darcy pushed herself up, nodded as she wiped her face with the back of her hand, smearing dirt and blood. Hannah passed her a tissue so she could blow her nose.

  Mayhem crossed his arms and squeezed his biceps, his frustration mounting as he flexed and tensed. What he really wanted was to kick some beast ass.

  Darcy sucked in a deep breath, blew it out, then looked at Mayhem. “Right from the start. When we fell through the portal days ago.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t even know how long ago that was.”

  “A week, give or take,” Mayhem muttered. Time was wasting. He wanted action but he needed information first.

  She opened her eyes again and nodded. “It’s a haze, all of it. Saska had this power to get into our heads, to make us do things. When Aubrey killed Raven the first time…” Her throat caught. “After he killed that Huntress, I was so angry, blinded by it. Saska took advantage. Warped my thinking. She was whispering in my head constantly. Directing my power to serve her needs. Threatening to sever my bond to Raven with her sword.” She gulped. “Which would have been a blessing now that my mind is clear. The way he treated me—”

  “Was she in Raven’s head too?” Mayhem barked. There had to be a reason for his behavior. Raven may have been tainted by Lazarus’s bite, but he wasn’t evil. He just couldn’t accept that. He caught another nasty look from Hannah and altered his tone, checking himself and softening his approach. “Did she make him do it?”

  Darcy sucked back a sob. “I want to believe that. He wasn’t himself. He turned into a monster. She was in my head so I’m sure she was in his. She was good at making you think what you were doing was the right thing.”

  “And he came back?” Hannah asked, her eyes shifting to Mayhem. “He came back from Tartarus?”

  Darcy nodded. “I was so happy. I had clarity when I saw him. Snapped out of my horrible thoughts. Was ready to get the hell out of there and come back home.” She lowered her head. “But Raven wasn’t the same when he came back. He was insane right from the get go. Saska harnessed it. And when I made the mistake of suggesting we leave, Raven went ballistic. He was an animal. He did this.” She pulled at the collar of her shirt to reveal an angry open wound on her shoulder.

  “He bit you?” Hannah gasped, lifting her hand to her mouth, tears budding in her eyes.

  “He marked me in anger and it’s not healing properly,” Darcy said, her voice breaking again. “And then Lazarus came through and the others and it was all about strategy. They were brutal, fighting one another, battling for position in Lazarus’s army. I watched Raven rip the throat out of a beast, leaving it to writhe in agony for hours before Saska put it out of its misery.” She grimaced. “It was a nightmare. I was so scared of what Raven would do. Looking into his eyes was like facing a predator. Always calculating. Looking for an advantage or an angle.”

  “He’s dead again. That’s what Aubrey said.” Hannah was speaking softly, urging Darcy to open up about what happened.

  Darcy nodded, her lips quivering a bit as she seemed to struggle with her next words.

  “It’s okay, Darc. You don’t have to tell us if it’s too hard,” Hannah said.

  Like hell! Mayhem frowned, ready to argue when Aubrey entered the room, a steaming cup of something in her hand.

  “He was being a fucking bastard. Feral for sure.” Aubrey walked straight to Darcy and handed her the cup, then turned to Mayhem. “I found Darcy alone, bound, coaxed her to follow me. She was definitely enthralled but I could see a glimmer of Darcy in there still, fighting to get out. We ran into the woods and Raven found us within minutes. Charged.”

  “I was terrified,” Darcy muttered. “I’ve seen that look in his eyes before.”

  “Darcy hit him with a spell and he went down hard. Like he was being strangled, clawing at his throat.”

  “It’s a spell Saska taught me,” Darcy said, her tone flat. “I don’t even need to use my hands anymore. She didn’t know that though. Underestimated me the whole damn time. Raven needed to be stopped.”

  “Popped his head right off,” Aubrey said quietly as she motioned her finger across her throat.

  Mayhem looked over her shoulder at Darcy. “You did what you had to do.” He turned back to Aubrey. “As did you.”

  Aubrey’s eyes shot wide. She didn’t say a word though, just stepped aside.

  “They wanted to get you on side, Mayhem,” Darcy said with a sigh, sounding beyond exhausted. “The one named Andrew—Kelly’s mate—he said that you were pivotal in this. Either you were to be brought into the fold or you were to be killed, they couldn’t decide. Lazarus ended up killing Andrew over it. I mean, Saska killed him but it was Lazarus who ordered it. I think the king of the wolves is scared of you, Mayhem. He didn’t admit it but I could tell. You’re a threat to him for some reason.”

  Mayhem snorted. “Well, he’s dead for now.”

  “He’ll be back,” Morgan said as she came into the room, Cal following closely behind. “As long as the portal is open.”

  Darcy shuddered, her body shaking. “Without Saska, I don’t know how it can be closed again.”

  “I have her powers.” Greer came into the room next, eating an apple, still covered in blood. “I don’t know how to use them exactly but I sure as shit took them all before she died.”

  “I know how to close it,” Darcy said. “I’m just not powerful enough to do it alone.”

  “Can you teach me the spell?” Greer asked.

  Darcy shrugged, her eyes uncertain. “I can try.”

  “If the portal is closed then Lazarus can’t get back out,” Kelly said from the doorway. “But it’s not sitting in my gut righ
t that this is over so easily. That battle didn’t unfold the way I thought it would.”

  “That’s because it’s not over,” Mayhem said with a glance toward Hannah. “I’m going in to Tartarus.”

  “What!” Darcy jumped up. “May, you can’t go in there. You’ll come out wrong if you come out at all. Raven came out all wrong.” She shook her head. “It’s not safe.”

  Hannah’s eyes sparkled with fresh tears as she looked up at him.

  “We need to close the portal but I’m not leaving Raven in there,” Mayhem continued. “I’m going in for him and I’m bringing him back.”

  “If you die in there, May,” Kelly said, “that’s it. There’s no coming back at all.”

  “Can he die in there? I mean, there are no Huntresses,” Summer said, sounding like she’d struck a fantastic idea.

  “All bets are off in Tartarus. I have no idea what can or can’t happen in there,” Mayhem said with a meaningful look at Hannah. “I don’t intend to die.”

  “I think you need to prepare yourself for another battle while you’re in there,” Kelly said. “I think that maybe why this isn’t sitting right. You and Lazarus are destined to meet again.”

  “I’m going in too,” Dy said as he and Jay stepped through the crowd gathered at the doorway.

  “And me,” Jay said, his eyes flashing yellow streaks.

  Aubrey moved over to Jay and took his hand, standing strong with her man, meeting Mayhem’s stare with bold determination. She wasn’t going to stop Jay from going. He needed to be with his alpha, united if only for the last time…

  “So that’s it then.” Hannah pushed herself up from the couch, looking like she could either burst into tears or punch him out. “The pack is going in and we’re being left behind. Just as you always wanted, Mayhem. We’ll be left behind to pine for you when you die.”

  “No, Hannah, they need us.” Darcy reached up to grab Hannah’s hand. “There’s a spell I know—it can tether us to the men, like a lifeline that keeps them rooted so they can find their way home.”