From the Ashes (Force of Nature Book 1) (33 page)

“Remember what I told you,” Brunton called to me from the far side of the room.

I nodded once, mustering every bit of bravery I had to do what I needed to do.

“I can't...I can't do this in here,” I said, suddenly feeling lightheaded. “I need to go outside.”

I started heading for the front door with Knox at my heels. He never tried to stop me. Never told me no. He knew that I'd find strength in the outdoors, so he let me go.

Smart guy.

I pulled up Jase's previous text message and started to reply. Before I knew what had happened, I had already hit send. I had signed their death warrants.

All I could do was wait for them to appear before my eyes and pray that I had stalled just enough to buy them the time they needed. Regardless of whether or not they'd betrayed me or planned to in the future, I couldn't watch them die that way. That just isn't who I am.

With the pack spread out across the yard, scanning it methodically, we awaited the enforcers' arrival. With every second we waited, the sun grew fainter and fainter. And just when I thought it had died, stepping aside to let the moon prevail in the darkness, I saw two foggy patches appear near the trees. Smoky silhouettes that, in a matter of seconds, would become Jase and Dean.

“Oh my God,” I whispered to myself as I moved toward the ever-thickening clouds. “NO!”

22

I was in a full sprint the second their forms solidified. By the time I reached them, they were fully ablaze.

“Piper!” Knox screamed, grabbing me around the waist before I could grab one of them and burn myself in the process.

“Help them!” I screamed at him, kicking violently in an attempt to free myself. But it didn't work. Nor did it matter.

For a moment, I couldn't see anything at all, my eyes having great difficulty adapting to the sudden darkness that surrounded me. Both the fire and the sun were gone.

“Jase!” I called out, squinting hard to try and make out his body.

“Piper?” he replied. The confusion in his voice nearly undid me.

“Let me go!” My voice thundered through the open area like a storm itself. Much to my surprise, Knox did as I demanded. The second my feet hit the ground, I sped toward Jase, the bright light of the moon now illuminating my path.

“Are you okay?” I asked, crashing beside the boys, both of whom were curled up on the ground, their burns healing quickly. But the sun did more to a vampire than just torch him. It drained him almost entirely of energy. The two of them were beyond vulnerable lying there before the pack of wolves. I was all that stood between them and another painful means of death.

“I've been better,” Dean replied through gritted teeth. His deep, dark eyes turned to me, and the second I saw them, I knew: he meant me no harm. He never had.

“Where's Kat?” Jase asked, turning his attention to the wall of supernaturals staring him down. “I guess we found the welcoming committee...”

“She's indisposed at the moment, I'm afraid,” Knox said tersely. He started to walk toward the enforcers, who were pushing themselves up to stand but still weak. Lambs for the slaughter.

“I need to talk to them, Knox,” I said, standing my ground.

“Funny. So do I.”

“Not funny at all. I mean it. If you kill them now then I'll never know what really happened back in New York. Something isn't right about all of this. I want to know what. If I think they betrayed me, then I'll be the first to step aside and let you tear them to bits. But if they didn't, then you need to leave them alone.” The glow of his eyes let me know just how happy he was with my idea. He took a step closer. “Don't let them near,” I whispered, closing my eyes. Right on cue, a violent wind picked up from the north, blowing around Jase, Dean, and me before slamming into the pack. They weren't bowled over by it, but they sure as hell couldn't advance into it.

The look in Knox's eyes was murderous.

“Your new friend doesn't seem too keen on us,” Jase shouted over the cacophony blowing around us.

“He's a bit overprotective,” I shouted back. “Listen, I meant what I said to him. You boys and I need to set some things straight and I mean right now.” The two of them wavered on their feet, their skin healed but their energy still perilously low. They needed blood and rest, and they weren't going to be getting either anytime soon. I wondered if I could heal them myself if need be, but I decided to deal with the matter at hand first. “Tell me why you didn't tell the king about Merc.”

“What?” Dean asked, seemingly thrown by the question I’d posed.

“I want to know why you didn't involve the king in this. And I want to know why Kat seems to think that you two are in a hurry to bring me back to Merc? Do you want me dead that badly? Just to save his ass?”

The two of them shared one of their glances, then turned their eyes back to me.

“Piper,” Jase started, the hurt plain in his voice. “How could you possibly think we would want to hurt you?”

“Kat thinks that because that's what we want her to think,” Dean added. “New York is a shitshow right now. You have no idea what happened after you left.”

“To put it simply, we don't know who to trust right now, so we're playing the part of impartial enforcers to the letter.”

“You couldn't trust Kat?”

“No, Piper. We couldn't be sure since she was—” Dean started before cutting himself off.

“Since she was what?”

“The king sent her, right?” he asked, willing me to put the pieces together.

“That's what she said, but—”

“We don't know who we can trust right now, Piper,” Jase said, looking over to the pack. “And that includes the king.”

My eyes widened with the realization of what he was saying. Things were beyond bad if the king's motives were in question.

“That still doesn't explain why you want to bring me back there,” I argued, the dream I had in the car playing repeatedly through my mind.
She'll believe us...she trusts us.

“We don't have to, Piper. We just wanted to find you and make sure you were safe—” Jase started before Dean cut him off.

“And we wanted to let you know what happened with Merc once you left. You need to know the truth.”

“I'd love to hear that story,” Knox interjected, shouting through the wall of wind. Somehow the sarcasm in his tone came across loud and clear. “I'd love to know why you think she should give a fuck about what happened to him after what he did.”

“She shouldn't,” Jase bit out, doing his best to stand tall and strong.

“Then why bother?” the alpha pressed.

“Because the disparity in his behavior from that night and now is remarkable. Something else is going on. Something outside of his control...”

“Says you!” Knox shouted, lunging toward us.

“It's okay,” I said, throwing my arm out to defend Jase. As I did, the wind died down, then disappeared altogether. “I want to hear this. I need to know.”

“I don't think you do,” Knox countered.

“We know Piper,” Dean said. His passive-aggressive slight was not lost on Knox, judging by the werewolf's harsh expression. “We think she does want to hear this.”

“Kat told me that he went off the deep end in a different way,” I said, returning my attention to the brothers.

“Yeah, that's what she would say since she's been gone almost as long as you have. She didn't see what happened after that—what happened once he got hold of himself.” Dean stepped toward me, reaching for my hands. Knox's growl cut him short. “Not long after Kat was sent to find you, Merc settled down. It took a fuckload of work on our parts to make that happen, but it did. And the second he realized what had gone on that night, he started rambling—out loud—about not knowing why he did it. That it was like it hadn't been him.”

“And you believe that?” Knox asked sardonically.

“Yes. I do,” Dean snarled. “He's my brother. I know him.”

“I know him, too,” Knox countered. “He doesn't seem like the contrite sort.”

“When it comes to Piper, all bets are off where Merc is concerned,” Jase added. “You'd be wise to remember that.”

“And you'd be wise to remember where you are and who you're in the presence of,” Knox said, golden eyes blazing in the dark of night.

“Please,” I said curtly. “Let them finish.”

“Piper, I don't know how to say this so that it makes sense, but I don't think Merc was in his right mind that night. Not in the way you've heard about before. This was something different. Something unnatural.”

“It also makes sense of his behaviors that we’d attributed to the drinking of your blood. The signs were all there. We just didn't see them for what they were at the time.”

“So you kept this from the king because you want a chance to get to the bottom of this?” I asked, trying to keep up. “You think something was done to him?”

“We don't know, Piper. But we failed him last time. We don't want to do it again.”

“How did you convince the others to keep quiet about it?”

“Jensen and Kendrick owe Merc their lives. Getting them to sit on this information was easy.”

“And Kat?”

They shared another look before answering.

“Her loyalties lie with Jensen, but deliberately defying the king ends only one way. We couldn't be certain that she would do right by you. That was why we acted the way we did.”

“She tried to help me run when she got here,” I said in her defense.

“Good,” Jase replied. “Then she's an ally after all.”

“As are we,” Knox growled from directly behind me.

“We have to tell them about the warlocks,” I said, looking up over my shoulder at the alpha. The set of his jaw told me that he wanted to argue that point, if for no other reason than to piss off the vampires, but he knew I was right. They needed to know.

“Not here,” he said, scanning the trees. “Inside.” He called forth a few of the werewolves, including Jagger and Foust, and told them to escort the vampires inside. If Jase and Dean could have dematerialized, they would have just to show Knox that he wasn't in charge, but neither had the resources for that at the moment, so they begrudgingly followed the pack into the lodge. Knox, however, held me behind for a private sidebar. “I don't like this, Piper. I'm not convinced that they're on your side.”

“You don't know them like I do, Knox. I need you to trust me on this. Can you do that?” His jaw once again worked furiously as he mulled over my question. Could he trust my judgment when it potentially put his pack in danger?

“I can, but the second I think something is off, it's kill first, ask questions later. Agreed?” I swallowed hard, knowing that it wouldn't take much for him to implement that plan. The brothers needed to be on their most diplomatic behavior. Jase could do it; I'd seen him pull it off in the past. Dean, however, was a walking loose cannon. If anyone could push Knox's buttons, it was him.

I nodded in agreement, and the two of us made our way inside to where the others were waiting. Foust had brought Kat out as well. She looked as though she were back to normal, if not a little thin. Werewolves burned through calories like a blast furnace burned through coal. She'd need to eat soon if she hoped to regain her strength. Hopefully after food and a good night's rest, she'd be back to herself again.

Initially, I didn't notice that she was eyeing the brothers, a wariness in her expression that on second glance was impossible to deny.

“It's cool, Kat. They're good. They weren't sure if you could be trusted so they put on an act to maintain neutrality.”

“They thought they couldn't trust me? I'm not the one keeping secrets.”

“But you are the one in the direct service of the king at the moment,” Dean snapped.

“So?”

“We're not getting into this right now,” Jase yelled at both of them. “Know that all we've cared about this whole time is keeping Piper safe and telling her the whole story about Merc. The story you don't know because you've been gone.”

Kat seemed unimpressed with Jase's argument.

“He tried to kill her. He should die. That's how I see it. If you don't agree, then we're not on the same side.”

After a long silent standoff, Knox interrupted, getting the group debriefing back on track.

“Here's the deal, kids. The warlocks seem to have tracked Piper down, too. My boys took a few of them out, but the main one got away.”

“Kingston,” Jase spat as if the name were rancid on his tongue.

“Yeah. That guy. We expect he'll be coming here for her,” he explained, shooting a sideways glance to me.

“I knew I sensed them in Anchorage,” Kat muttered under her breath.

“You were there that night?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“No. It was early morning when I arrived, but the residue of magic was all around the downtown area. I knew something had gone down. I was freaking out at first, but then I found your trail leading to a car—away from where the battle was waged. I was confident that you had gotten away.”