One True Mate 1: Shifter's Sacrifice (29 page)

She skidded to a stop just outside the door and dropped to her knees next to her mate. His fur, his beautiful black and gray and silver fur was burnt to the skin in places and badly singed in others. His eyes were shut and sunken and his ears were burnt and curled in on themselves. “Oh God, no,” she breathed, holding her hands over his body, not daring to touch him, not wanting to hurt him. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.” Worse, she still couldn’t tell if he was breathing. If he was, it was shallow.

Thick, fat anger, hot enough to burn the place down, filled her soul. He’d been so beautiful, so perfect, so strong and noble. And now he was twisted and burnt on the floor. All because he’d wanted to help her.

“I do love you, Trevor, I just didn’t know it until now.” she whispered, feeling it inside her, strong enough to force the anger aside for just a moment. She placed one chaste kiss on his burnt muzzle, then stood and faced the demon. Time for her to find out exactly what she could do.

Could she kill him? Avenge her mate?

Or not?

Troy picked his way slowly through the woods over the bluff as night fell and the sun disappeared from the sky, Trent beside him. He couldn’t help but feel that they were on a
foxen’s
errand, one doomed to fail. But he was willing to try. Graeme had schooled them both for hours on exactly what to do, until Troy had snapped at him and told him if they didn’t do it soon, there would be no sense anymore. None of them had been surprised when Ella had never appeared at the appointed time.

Graeme and Kalista walked ahead of them, talking softly, Kalista occasionally pointing to an area of the ground and Graeme always shaking his head.

Choose
, Trent rumbled, apparently as ready to be moving as Troy was.

Graeme stopped and looked back at them.
You’re right. I choose here. It’s as good a place as any.

He turned to Kalista. “Thank you, Madame, for your help. We must prepare now.”

She nodded, all business, no flirtatiousness, which was rare for her. “I would like to come.”

Graeme’s eyes narrowed. “Come, to the
Pravus
?”

“To the fight. I have fought him before, which is more than you can say for any of the rest of you.”

“You have not heard of the battle of Loch Bee, then, Madame?”

“Just Kalista, please.” She turned her head to look at him from just one eye. “That was you?”

“Aye, and my brothers.”

“But that was, what, six centuries ago?”

“
Dragen
live longer than other
shiften
.”

She nodded. “Consider it. I won’t be leaving until it’s done.”

Graeme bowed slightly, looking every bit the Scottish lord, even in his work boots and clothes. “Thank you Kalista of the
felen
, I shall talk to Wade.”

Trent and Troy stopped on exactly the spot where Graeme stood. Troy whined and tossed his head.

“Calm, gentle wolf. We will move soon enough.”

Troy flashed his teeth at Graeme, but the male was already moving through the underbrush, gathering up the rest of their team.

Within a few minutes, Harlan, Mac, and Beckett stood near them, the three of them stomping their feet and swinging their arms as if warming up for the Olympics.

Wade arrived with Graeme. “Just shift already, you aren’t going over there like that and nobody’s getting any gold medals.” The three males did what they were told, dropping to the earth, their clothes falling off in small, messy piles.

An earthquake shook the area, making the tree limbs rustle and the ground move under their feet. Troy looked around guardedly. Small earthquakes were not entirely rare in Illinois, but there had been no warning, no disturbance that any of them had noticed beforehand, and that was unheard of. Mac sat on his haunches and howled away his agitation.

Wade squared his feet, holding up a hand until Mac stopped, then spoke loud enough for Kalista, waiting twenty feet away in the woods, to hear. “No, you say only six can go, it’s going to be this six. All KSRT.” He waved Kalista over. “If all six go through the portal and it’s still open, you can go through, but be warned, if it shuts on you, you will be cut in half.”

Kalista nodded and Troy could almost see her ears twitch.

Graeme stepped in the center of the wolves. “I go first, then Troy, then Trent. I am certain we will be able to open the portal, but there is a chance we won’t be able to hold it open long enough for everyone. If it starts closing you get through fast or stay on this side. You don’t want half of your body here and half there, believe me. The three of us
must
go together and first or we won’t be able to make a big enough portal to get back if one gets stuck over here. Once over there,
ruhi
does not work there, for us anyway. Our communication will be nil. We stick together. We grab Trevor and the one true mate.”

Ella, her name is Ella
, Trent interrupted.

“Ella, of course. As soon as we have them, we will open the portal. You three, if you have to hold Khain off of us while we are doing that, you do so, but keep an eye on the portal. You three leave first and take Trevor and Ella. If they have to be carried, you’ll have to shift. We three will come last. We could be under heavy fire so it will have to be quick.”

He stopped talking and looked around for agreement. All the wolves nodded. Mac barked his approval.

Wade stepped forward. “If you can only bring one back, it must be Ella. Is that understood?” he said, his voice apologetic, but firm as he stared at Trent and Troy.

Don’t worry about Troy and me
, Trent said.
We love Ella like we love Trevor and we understand the stakes.

Troy shook his head till his ears flew. Trent was eloquent as shit. But damned if he was going to leave anyone. Even Mac.

Another earthquake rattled the bluff, as much of a surprise as the first one.

Graeme squared his shoulders. “I’m afraid that’s not good. They’re fighting over there.”

Mac howled again and Troy couldn’t take it anymore.

Now! Let’s do it!

“As you wish.” Graeme disappeared and a red and yellow dragon stood in his place, no bigger than Troy.

Troy snorted.
I thought you fellas were bigger
.

Just wait.
The dragon’s neck stretched out and Troy felt a gathering in the air, like a strong wind, but centered only in front of him. A tiny black spot appeared in his line of sight. He stared into the dragon’s eyes, concentrating as hard as he could, doing what the dragon had told him to, thinking of what Graeme had described the
Pravus
as being like, and lending the dragon all the mental energy he had. Next to him, he could hear a deep mental rumble that sounded almost like a cat purring, as his brother did the same.

“Go boys, you’re doing it,” Wade whispered.

The spot widened, grew, and leaves began to lift from the ground. When the black spot was a foot across, the leaves trembled and flew directly into it, along with some dirt and twigs. Troy watched as a moth whipped in front of his face and into the hole.

Sorry, little flying buddy.

Concentrate!
his brother threw at him.

Right, sorry
. Troy doubled down, fixing the image of the
Pravus
in his mind and giving it everything he had. The hole grew wide enough to allow him in. He prepared to jump, still straining as hard as he could. Graeme went through first, then Trent, then Troy last. The hole slipped as he was jumping but when he landed hard on the other side, he turned and stared at it, holding the image in his mind still, not daring to look around at reality.

The hole was closing at an alarming rate. It was Graeme. He was flagging. Troy doubled down again, but he couldn’t hold it by himself. He felt his mind slipping, ripping free from where it had always been.

Mac’s white wolf sailed through the hole, landing between Troy and Trent, even as the hole fell shut and disappeared, clipping a bit of the hair off Mac’s tail.

Shit. They hadn’t all made it through! Troy whirled around to see Graeme passed out on the pale, dusty ground, a bit of fire coming up from a crack and hitting him on his scaly cheek that was pressed against it.

Troy latched onto the dragon’s tail as gently as he could, pulling the dragon away from the fire, though why he bothered he didn’t know, dragons couldn’t be burnt, right?

That done, he looked around at the bleak and empty landscape to their fronts, and the wall of fire twenty feet to their backs.

What were they going to do now?

Ella faced the too-big Khain and watched him grow before her eyes, the cuts her offensive had made on him healing like they’d never been there.

So, your father gave you power to fight me with. Too bad. He should have kept some for himself. Then he wouldn’t have been my prisoner for so long.

Ella put a hand to her head. Khain’s voice in there was just as awful as what she had heard before, and it made her brain crawl.

She ignored what he was saying. Whether or not he had her father was irrelevant. He was trying to distract her. Trying to make her forget what she was about to do.

She stood in front of Trevor, arms out, and let loose the anger inside her with a scream, just like she had before. But this time, the energy did not come. She tried again, her cry echoing off the walls of the dark chamber as Khain squared his shoulders, waiting for her onslaught.

Curdled laughter entered her head.
Let me just help you out, shall I?

Khain held out both his hands and Ella could see the power building in them. She was about to be flash-fried. Terror built in her chest and she retreated, throwing her body over Trevor’s.

But the pulse came as soon as her body touched Trevor’s. It stopped the double-wide flame Khain had sent at her and hit him square in the face and body, knocking him backward against the far wall, but not incapacitating him.

Trevor did not respond in the slightest.

Ella felt a great wind move over her and she looked up to see what could only be a dragon the size of a cow flying at full speed towards a winded Khain. Ella gaped, watching it as it grew to match Khain’s size, then opened its mouth and spit fire at Khain. Fire against fire, although she could tell the dragon’s fire was different than Khain’s, and it hurt him.

Her attention was drawn by a pounding of feet behind her, almost like a stampede. She turned, never so glad in her life to see Troy and Trent, and another wolf running at them full speed. The wolves separated, running around her and Trevor like water, all heading for Khain, launching themselves at him. She could see their feet burning as they jumped from rock to rock over the barely cooled lava.

Ella held her breath as all three wolves jumped on Khain, biting and tearing, their mouths and noses filling with that awful black blood, their snarls terrifying her, even from across the room.

With a great bellow, Khain pushed himself away from the fray, swatting the wolves off his knees and running towards her. Ella threw herself over Trevor, knowing she was poor protection.

Khain was shrinking as he ran, his gray face set, his eyes on the door behind her. The dragon shrieked and flew for him, but Khain feinted and shot straight up into the ceiling instead, seeming to disappear completely.

Ella stared after him for a long time. Even when the wolves came to her, whining and pushing Trevor’s limp body with their noses, she could not look away. The white wolf transformed. She knew him. He was Mac. And he was naked. She kept her eyes averted as he lifted her mate from the floor.

She scrambled to her feet, still not looking. “Be careful with him, he’s hurt,” she said.

“Graeme, let’s go!” Mac shouted at the ceiling where Graeme was flying in slow circles. “Get us out of here.”

The dragon stared hard at their group, and Ella felt wind pick up around her. Ash began to fly through the air, then in front of her, a small black hole opened. Through it, she could see only darkness, but the smell! It smelled of home. She waited for the hole to grow bigger but it didn’t. Trent and Troy were staring at the hole with the same concentration the dragon seemed to have. She held her breath and prayed whatever they were doing would work.

A piece of whirling ash landed on her arm, burning her. She slapped it away. And still the hole did not grow. The dragon dropped to the outcropping she had been held on and stretched out its somehow graceful neck. She could see his eyes glow purple.

“Come on, come on,” Mac urged.

Trent barked once, deep and low and Troy whined and sat down, his neck stretched in the same way the dragon’s was.

“Yes!” Mac exclaimed and Ella snapped her head to the portal. It was almost the size of a small window.

“You first,” Mac said, pushing at her with Trevor’s body. Ella was not about to argue. She jumped at it, having to leap through, since it hung four feet above the floor.

She hit the ground rolling, sticks and twigs scratching her skin, leaves gathering in her hair. Above her, the moon shone brightly, welcoming her. She scrambled to her feet, watching Mac jump through, drop Trevor with a thump, then turn and yell through the hole.

Oh no.
“My sister!” she screamed, but Mac ignored her, yelling encouragement at the others. A man came next that she’d never seen before, diving like he was going headfirst into water. No, she’d seen him. The man in the wall crack. Next came Trent, who jumped neatly through, then turned and focused on the portal. Then was Troy and he did the same.

Ella waited for the dragon to come, knowing they couldn’t risk any more lives for her sister. Tears streamed down her face. She’d always hoped that one day they would reconcile. Now that would never happen.

The dragon’s snout was first and she wondered if he was going to make it, the hole was closing already. But then his neck and body came, and in his great claws, he held the limp body of her sister. He pulled his tail close to his body and tumbled to the ground as the hole closed with a deafening snap.

Ella couldn’t believe it. She sat in the dirt and underbrush for long enough to pinch herself, then scrambled to her feet and ran to Trevor.