Borrowed Ember (25 page)

The normal tones with which he spoke eased my fretting mind. In fact, I was just about to relax when I rounded the corner and saw him standing over Lady

Sheelah.

From behind Aidan’s shoulder, I could only see her head. Her dark brown hair was spread out around her, fanned out almost purposefuly. Her face was

turned to one side, her expression blank, her jaw slack. When I saw the splatters of silver on her pale cheek, I gasped. There was only one thing I knew of that looked like that. It would’ve been red inside her body, but outside it…

Numbly, I edged my way around Aidan. My stomach rebeled at the sight that lay before my eyes.

At the foot of her twin bed, Lady Sheelah lay prone on the floor, surrounded by a pool of liquid silver. It was mercury, the blood of the mermaid.

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Excerpt

Out of the Dark

Book 4 in the Grey Wolves Series

By: Quinn Loftis

What do you do when your Alpha was nearly assassinated and is now out of commission; you've kiled a pack member; your mate is dying and beyond your reach;

and the house you are standing in has gone up in flames – al in the last two hours?

Yeah,
Decebel thought.
Hell if I know either.

As the mansion burned and smoke filed the spaces the flames had not, Decebel and the other males in his pack continued to search around, making sure no one

was left inside.

Decebel and Fane finaly reached the suite where they'd last seen Vasile and Alina. Much to their relief, the Alpha and his mate were gone. Hopefuly that meant they'd gotten to safety. Decebel looked into the adjoining room. The dining table there was stil perfectly set, food half-eaten, glasses filed. The only thing out of place were the two spiled glasses on the floor – Vasile's and Alina's – surrounded by the poison that had almost kiled them.

Just goes to show there's never a dull moment in the life of a Canis lupis.

"I can't smel anyone, but that doesn't mean anything with the fire and smoke," Decebel told Fane.

"We need to get out. Now," Fane urged his Beta.

"Jacque is safe?"

Fane nodded. "She says Vasile and Alina are as wel. It appears al of our pack made it out, as wel as her father. And she says to tel you that if we don't get our furry butts out of here right now she wil personaly," Fane paused and, cringing, shook his head, "it's better if you didn't know. I say we just heed her warning and get out."

Fane and Decebel took off at a run, heading for the front door of the mansion, which was quickly becoming a death trap. Several times the two had to jump over flames and duck under faling boards that had weakened from the fire eating through the plaster and sheet rock down to the frame of the house.

Finaly, they pushed through the front door, stil surrounded by smoke-filed air. They kept running. Their lungs cried out for fresh oxygen, burning with each breath.

Fane flew straight into Jacque's waiting arms. Decebel watched and it reinforced the fact that his mate was cold, lost, and hurt. He wanted to howl at the injustice of it.

Finaly hearing her in his head only for her to be taken from him. He gritted his teeth and put his anger to good use, checking over the pack.

He saw Vasile and Alina seated in front of a tree, leaning against the large, rough trunk. The ground around them had been swept free of snow in an attempt to keep the Alphas as dry as possible. He headed straight for them, pausing on his way to touch his pack mates, sending reassurance through the simple act.

"How are you feeling, Alpha?" Decebel asked as he crouched down in front of Vasile and Alina, who was finaly awake. Decebel tried to keep a submissive stance as he knew it was difficult for his Alpha to be seated on the ground with everyone else standing.

"Getting stronger, thanks to Saly." Vasile's eyes briefly shimmered with moisture as he looked over at the soot-covered brunette who – to every one's astonishment

– was a gypsy healer.

"Luna." Decebel addressed his female Alpha in a rare show of formality. "Are you regaining your strength as wel?"

Alina nodded and gave him a smal, reassuring smile. "I wil live another day, so long as Vasile needs someone to keep him in line."

Decebel chuckled. "Thank goodness for that." His smile faded quickly as his wolf stirred, reminding him that he needed to be searching for Jennifer. He shook his head, trying to clear the fog. He did need to search for Jennifer, but he had promised her he would get her friends to safety first. That meant getting them as far away as possible from whatever magic fueled that unnatural fire.

He looked back at Vasile."That fire... It moved like it was alive, like someone was controling it, maneuvering it."

Vasile nodded. "We need to talk to Saly. As a healer she can feel magic, especialy dark magic."

"We need to get to safety first," Decebel told him carefuly, making sure it didn't come across as an order.

"I agree, Beta. I trust you to make that happen."

Decebel caled Sorin over.

"I need you to get a head count of our pack. Advise the other Alphas to do the same," Decebel's voice was commanding. It was time to get things in order and get out of the open, where they were most vulnerable.

Sorin nodded and moved quickly through the crowd to an open area. He made the announcements and then began caling out pack member names.

Skender, Boian, Fane, Jacque, Costin, Crina, Saly, and Cynthia formed a circle around Decebel. He noticed the humans shivering in the cold, but not complaining.

Their faces were covered in soot, their clothes were singed, and determination filed their eyes as they waited trustingly.

"What's the plan, Beta?" Skender asked.

Dilon walked over from his pack stepping next to Jacque.

"Whatever I can do to help. My pack is at your disposal." He told the Romanian Beta.

Decebel nodded, but did not respond verbaly.

Jacque gave a brief smile to her father and then turned her attention back to Decebel.

"We need to get out of here. There's a vilage we drove through about ten miles down the mountain. We can see if there's a place we can stay there. We need to check and see if any vehicles are salvageable." Decebel began giving orders, needing to stay busy, building a plan towards fulfiling his promise to Jennifer. The sooner he did that, the sooner he could look for her. "Males, you check out the vehicles. Females, organize our pack into groups to ride. Ask the other packs to do the same."

Without a word, al the wolves turned from Decebel to carry out his orders.

"Can I please have your attention?" Saly tried speaking above the pack, teeth chattering.

Cynthia and Crina looked at her in sympathy when nobody paid any mind

Jacque smiled. "Step aside, healer – how can you even speak with your chops going to town like that? Let me show you how it's done."

Saly did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at her best friend.

Jacque stuck her thumb and middle finger in her mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle – which was even more piercing for the wolves, with their sensitive ears.

Silence fel and al that could be heard was the crackling of the fire that continued to rage, giving the only light to the dark night.

"Listen up, please." Jacque spoke loudly to make sure she reached the ears of those at the very back. "Some of the Romanian males are checking to see if any of the vehicles are stil in working order. We need to divide everyone up into groups so we can take as many as we can at a time down to the vilage ten miles from here."

Jacque watched as the other packs began to break up into groups. She looked over at Saly and winked. "That, my gypsy friend, is how you do it."

Saly roled her eyes. "How kind of you to take time to teach me, oh wise wolf princess."

Jacque's smile faltered. "That sounds like something Jen would say."

Saly wrapped her in a firm embrace. "He wil find her. There is nothing, and no one, that wil stand in his way."

"I don’t doubt that. My worry is what he'l find when he does." Jacque wiped a tear that slipped down her face.

Crina and Cynthia wrapped their arms around Jacque and Saly, and Jacque could feel comfort flowing from her pack mates.
My pack mates
she thought, and for the first time truly felt like a member of the Romanian Grey Wolf pack.

"I would tell you not to worry, love, but I know that's not fair to you. What I will tell you is that I'm here for you."
Fane reached out to her, no doubt having felt her grief.

"Thank you, wolf-man. There will be time for tears later. We've got to get our pack to safety."

"I knew you were going to make an amazing Alpha."
Jacque felt his lips on her forehead and warmth seeped into her as Fane used their bond for more than just words.

The girls stepped back from the embrace and Saly grabbed Jacque's hand, looking over at Cynthia and Crina. "Come on, let's do this. Jen would kick our butts if she thought we were standing around not – as she would say – getting our asses in gear."

"She does have a way with words." Jacque smiled and they began to separate their pack into groups to travel to the vilage – and hopefuly to safety.

"Rachel?" Jen's voice was weak as she spoke, and growing weaker.

"I know you don't know who I am but you can trust me. I'm on your side," Rachel tried to reassure the girl at the bottom of the cavern. "Gavril, my mate, is going to jump down and get you. Please don't be afraid of him."

Jen chuckled weakly. "You should meet my mate, then you wouldn't worry about me being afraid of yours." Her words were strained as she tried to speak around the pain that wracked her broken body.

Rachel turned as she saw the sky light up in the direction of the large estate south of them.

"We must hurry. I can't shield us much longer," she told her mate.

"I'm coming down," Jen heard a gruff voice announce, which was quickly folowed by a soft thud.

Jen tried hard to be unafraid, but when a strange wolf jumps into a hole you've been pushed into, you tend to be afraid of everything.

"I won't hurt you," the voice told her.

"I don't think you're going to be able to avoid hurting me if you're going to move me." Jen cringed at the thought of being moved or even touched, for that matter.

Gavril knelt down in front of her. "I know you can't see me, but I can see you. You are losing blood from that head wound. I'm going to take off my shirt so you can apply pressure to it to help stem the flow."

Jen nodded, knowing he would see her response. She heard some rustling and then felt soft fabric against her head. She reached up with her good arm and pushed the shirt firmly against her scalp.

"Okay, I'm going to lift you now. I know it's going to hurt and I apologize," Gavril told her gently.

"Not your fault." Jen's voice came out hoarse and shaky.

She felt his arm come around her back and the other under her knees. As he lifted her from the ground, Jen bit her lip to keep from crying out and it was hard enough that she drew blood. The pain was so intense that, though she tried to fight it, her exhausted brain shut down in an attempt to escape the hurt her body was enduring.

Gavril bent at the knees and jumped from the cavern with one powerful push, landing gently in front of his mate.

"She's passed out," he told Rachel.

"I'm surprised she is even alive after that fal." Rachel gently pushed Jen's blonde locks from her face. "She's a pretty one," she took a deep breath of Jen's scent,

"and she's a dormant."

"Come, Rachel," Gavril urged. "We mustn't linger. The witch is near and she cannot discover you."

"It's going to take a lot to heal her," Rachel admitted as they started off in the direction of their home. "She said she has a mate. He's going to want to know where she is."

"We have to be careful or he wil lead Thad's witch straight to our door," Gavril warned his mate.

"I understand that, love, but you know as wel as I do that he wil tear this mountain apart to find her."

Gavril didn't respond. He knew how dangerous a mated male was, especialy if his mate was injured. His first priority was to Rachel, to keep her existence a

secret. The only thing the Serbian Alpha Thad wanted more than a mate was a healer, and his mate was the most powerful healer in the history of their species. He had to protect her at al costs, even at the cost of one dormant's life.

Jen's head swam as the darkness began to recede. She tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn't cooperate. She felt pain course through her body – someone was carrying her.

"Decebel."
She reached out instinctively.

"Jennifer!"
Jen smiled to herself as she listened to the worry in his voice. Why was he worried if he had found her?

"You found me."
Jen made it a statement rather than a question.

"No, baby. I haven't found you. Why would you think that?"

"But you're carrying me. I can feel you."

"Jennifer, who has you?"
Decebel's voice was ful of fear and anger.

Jen was trying desperately to remember what had happened, how she had ended up being carried… The girl, her mate – she began to get glimpses in her mind.

"Her mate, he jumped down. He put his shirt on my head."
Jen's voice faded as she tried to think.

"
He?"
Even through their very new mental bond Jen could hear the anger lacing his words,
"A male has you? He doesn't have a shirt on? Jennifer, think!

Who are the female and her mate?"

"Quit growling at me, damn it! Oow! Crap, that hurts."
Jen cringed as she felt her body being jarred.