Release (The Protector Book 3) (2 page)

Willy rubbed the side of his face and broke away from the group. As he walked towards me, I could see him trying to hide the pain he was obviously in.

“You okay?” I asked.

Willy rubbed his face and winced. “I was more worried about you. Rayna hits really hard.”

I would never admit it, but he was right. “I’ll be fine.”

“Everything okay wi—with you two? You seem…off.”

“We’re fine. I think…nothing you need to worry about. You look like you’re healing up nicely, but we’ve missed you around here. How’s the pack treating you?”

“I should be back to normal in another week. Things are better now that Ja—Jax has taken over. I’m still the Omega though. Not much has changed there.”

Willy was no longer on crutches, but he still had a limp. His body should’ve healed already, but Arian, the former Hollowlight leader that Riley had recruited, had done a lot of the damage himself. Whatever powers Riley had given Arian were affecting the rate at which his victims healed.

“Do you need me to talk to Jax or any of the guys?”

Willy glared at me.

“I know you don’t want me involved, but you’re my friend. Besides, you’re better than all of this. You could have so much more than what the Shadowpack offers. You could have more than what we offer you. There’s a whole world out there, Willy, and you don’t need to be anyone’s punching bag.”

“You said you und—understood. Can’t we just leave it at that?” Willy sighed. “I’m happy here, Chase. I’m a part of all this and I’m no—not going anywhere, so stop talking like that.”

“I’m trying to understand...I mean, I do. It’s not that I want you to leave, I just…I hate seeing you like this.” That was only partially true and I knew it, but I’d never admit it to Willy. There was a part of me that didn’t want him around any of this. Willy was my best friend, and even though he was a werewolf, I was still worried about him. I wanted more for him than this. I wanted more than this for everybody.

“I’m fine, Chase. Really.”

“If you say so,” I said.

The door behind me squeaked open and people began to shuffle in. This was the first time everyone would be meeting together and a nervous tension had settled in my shoulders. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the meeting, but with Eric here, I doubted it would be dull.

Chapter 2

Kate walked in first. She led a group of rogue hunters based out of New York City. It had taken Marcus a while, but he managed to convince her to join up with us a few weeks ago.

Kate’s chocolate brown hair hung past her shoulders and her green eyes devoured the room. The t-shirt she was wearing revealed the battle scars that covered her arms—a true sign of a hunter. She kept her chin high and her back straight as she walked across the room, taking a seat at the table. Two hunters I didn’t recognize followed her in and stood silently behind her chair.

Chief, the leader of the werecats, gave me a curt nod as he passed with Garrett and Karissa following behind him. Willy’s eyes instantly lowered as Jax walked in. “I guess that’s my cue.” Willy gave me a half-smile and fell in line behind his Alpha and the wolves who accompanied him.

As an Omega, Willy was the lowest wolf on the totem pole. According to werewolf law, Willy shouldn’t have been attending the meetings, but Jax knew I wanted him here. I didn’t care if it broke their rules or not; Willy was one of us.

As more rogue hunters from the surrounding states shuffled into the room, it didn’t take long before all the chairs were full. I took a spot leaning against the wall and Marcus moved to the head of the table. It was the only thing in the room other than the chairs that wasn’t concrete.

Chief had bought this place in hopes of converting it into apartment-like living quarters for his pride, but since he hadn’t started construction yet, it was perfect for us. It gave us space to train and a private place to meet.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming,” Marcus said. “Grams and the rest of the Triquerta Coven are running late, so we’ll get started and fill them in later.” He leaned forward against the table. “If everyone agrees, I think it’s only right that we begin our discussion with Riley.”

“What’s there to discuss?” Eric asked. “He’s Chase’s dad, a powerful fire elemental, he abandoned the Circle, and he wants to invoke Ithreal and destroy us all. Enough said. We find him, we kill him.”

“If only it were that easy. We’ve all seen the extent of Riley’s power in the past few weeks. Since the attack on the wolves, he’s taken on several rogue hunter outposts.”

“Do we know what he wants exactly?” Kate asked.

“His agenda is to invoke Ithreal. He believes if he takes over the god’s power, he can rule the Underworlders and stop the war between hunters and demons. In order to do that, we’ve learned he needs all of Ithreal’s soul pieces. Why he’s attacking our people, however, is a question that remains unanswered.”

“So what’s your plan, Marcus?” Brendan asked, his voice unsure.

“To get the pieces first, stupid.” Cory cut in.

“Don’t call me stupid.”

“Don’t ask stupid questions then.”

Brendan crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, and Cory continued to glare at him.

Cory and Brendan ran a hunter’s group out of New Jersey, and although Brendan was older, it seemed Cory was always the one calling the shots.

“Yes,” Marcus said. “And that’s why we’re here. Unfortunately, we don’t have their locations, and as far as we know neither does Riley, but they have something we don’t.”

“Yeah, a power complex and the Dark Douchebags on either side of him.” Cory laughed.

“Right…” Marcus said. “Recently we lost possession of The Ring of Contact, an ancient artifact that gives its wearer the ability to speak with the gods. Some say—”

“And whose fault was that?” Eric glared at me.

Anger filled me and I opened my mouth to reply, but I thought better of it. I swallowed the emotions and turned back to Marcus. Apparently his training was working.

“As I was saying,” Marcus said, “some believe it can summon the gods here. Tonight we need to decide on an action. We have no idea where Riley is or what his next move might be. What we do know is they have one of the soul pieces—Ithreal’s dagger—and he needs all of them in order to fully invoke Ithreal.”

Eric snorted. “Don’t forget the fact that they aren’t in our world. They’re in some other dimension filled with pure blood demons that are more powerful than any of us. That, and we don’t even know how many soul pieces there are.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Tiki said. “I think I do know how many there are. “Unfortunately, if I am correct, there may be only two remaining, and they are in very unfriendly territory.”

“Of course you know,” Eric said. “Why don’t we all just put our faith into the demon from these demonic dimensions? Then we can all follow him blindly to our death.”

“Why do you think that, Tiki?” Kate leaned forward.

“As the legends go, and as Serephina confirmed, Ithreal merged his essence with other gods. This would have forced Ithreal to create new soul pieces for each new world that fell under his command. However, after cross-referencing my people’s legends with many others, I’ve found many believe the only true soul pieces are the ones that were created when each god originally created their world.”

“And what does that mean for us?” Kate asked.

“There are only three Ithreal-born dimensions: Theral, Proto, and Vortan. If this is true, Riley already has the dagger of Theral, leaving only one soul piece remaining in each of the other worlds. And Proto and Vortan are very dark dimensions.”

Eric moved to the head of the table, stepping in front of Marcus. “You expect us to go into the Underworld’s darkest dimensions, full of who knows what, all based on some Underworld storytelling? No thanks. What we need to do is focus on finding Riley and killing the son of a bitch.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Marcus asked.

“We split up into groups and track him. Hell, if we have to, we’ll use the Triquerta Coven to help. Riley’s flexed his muscles enough. It’s time we push back.”

“Riley is a lot stronger than you’re giving him credit for,” I said. “He hasn’t even invoked Ithreal and his powers are nearing god-like already. Now that he has Ithreal’s dagger, he’ll be even stronger. Before we assemble an army and prepare for a war we can’t win, we need to try preventative measures. Getting one of his soul pieces should be first priority.”

“Why don’t you lean back against that wall and let the adults talk? You’re just a kid. You don’t have the experience to offer suggestions.”

“Chase has more experience with Riley and the Brothers than any of us,” Rayna said. “You should listen to what he has to say.”

“Says the mixed breed. Look, missy, I’ve lost enough people to this game to know how it works. After Riley’s last attack, I lost four hunters and all their kids. I’m not about to take advice from the son of their killer and risk losing anyone else.”

“You think you’re the only one who lost someone?” I asked. “We’ve all lost people to this.”

Eric laughed and walked around the table towards me. “Please tell me the little boy whose stupidity put us in this situation isn’t comparing his loss to ours. Your ‘experience’ is the reason why all this happened. It’s the reason my hunters, their children, and your mother are dead.”

Anger didn’t have time to rise; it just appeared. Fire exploded around my arms and I swung at Eric, but he jumped back and pulled out his blade.

“Be smart, boy. You don’t want to go toe-to-toe with me.”

“I won’t be going toe-to-toe with you. You’ll be flat on your back before we start.”

Eric’s brows furrowed and he shook his head. “You’re an arrogant little shit, you know that? And I’ve had just about enough of you.”

Blue flames covered both my arms, and as Eric lunged towards me, I cocked my fist back. Before either of us could finish what we’d started, Marcus’s power took over.

My flames went out and Eric’s body stopped mid-lunge. Marcus’s air element pinned Eric to the wall and held me back. “That’s enough!” Marcus’s voice was loud, echoing off the concrete.

“It’s true.” Eric struggled against Marcus’s magic. “If it wasn’t for him, they’d all still be alive. You can’t deny that.”

“Riley had an objective. Sooner or later, he would’ve gotten what he wanted. If we choose to let the past control us, we’ll lose any opportunities we have for a future. We need to work together—all of us—and find a way to stop him.”

Eric stopped fighting Marcus’s magic and the muscles in his jaw flexed. “I’m only saying this once, Marcus. Let me go. Now.”

Marcus waited a moment, his gaze panning back and forth between Eric and me. After a long moment, his magic faded and released us.

“Don’t you dare pull a stunt like that on me again. You don’t have the numbers to be pissing me off.”

“You’re right,” Marcus said. “You bring a lot to the table, but I won’t have us fighting amongst ourselves. If that means losing your help, so be it.”

“Well, you best keep these folks in check. I won’t give them the same courtesy I just awarded you.”

The fire that had engulfed my arms was gone, but anger still boiled beneath the surface. With Marcus’s training the past few weeks, I was learning to control my emotions and my elements, but it was still a work in progress.

I could feel Eric’s eyes burning through me, but I didn’t let it bother me. I took a long, deep breath, letting the water in my soul soothe the anger. My element washed the emotions away bit by bit, and I moved back to lean against the wall.

“That’s right,” Eric said. “Walk away.”

“Dammit, Eric, that’s enough!” Kate kicked her chair behind her. “I’m tired of your bullshit. Chase made a mistake, it happens. Gods know you’ve made your fair share. Rayna’s right, Chase has more experience with our adversaries than all of us in this room combined. So cut the crap and listen or get the hell out.”

Everyone went still. Eric stared up at Kate with fury in his eyes but he didn’t respond. The tension in the air was so thick I felt that if I reached out my arm, I could touch it.

After a long silence, Cody chuckled and slammed his fist on the table. “Hot diggity, that was intense! I thought we was getting some fireworks.”

Nobody responded to the outburst, and Kate nodded, pulling her chair back underneath her. “Marcus, please carry on.”

“As I was saying,” Marcus continued hesitantly, “Riley is at a level of power we can’t match. He’s turned Arian, a former werecat with the Hollowlights, into a multi-shifter. If he can readily hand out that kind of magic, there’s no telling what he is fully capable of.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Cory asked.

“We don’t need all of Ithreal’s soul pieces. If we can eliminate one, not only does that weaken him, but it also means he can’t come back. We’ll have stopped Riley’s plan for good.”

“So you want us to just hop into another dimension and start searching?” Cory asked. “That don’t exactly sound like a winning plan.”

“Not exactly.” Marcus stepped forward. “As Tiki stated, there should be a piece in each of his two original worlds. Our best bet is to research legends, myths, and anything we can get our hands on about these dimensions. We’ve all managed to gain small collections of our own over the years. If we combine all our texts, our odds of finding answers are greatly increased.”