Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series) (25 page)

“No.” Again, she tried to push away from him, and again he stopped her. “We’re staying here,” she added, watching his expression closely to see how he was going to take that.

Stunned, his jaw tensed. Waiting for what he was going to say next, she checked past his shoulder to make sure his embrace wouldn’t draw arrows. Apparently they feared hitting her, and they wanted her essence more than they wanted him dead at the moment. As her brain tried to figure out some way of using that knowledge and shielding him so he could escape, his fingers touched her chin when he drew even closer.

Too close. She pushed back another time, but he didn’t allow her to create more distance between them. “I’m serious. You and Max have to go.”

Like her request was a silly one, Ethan chuckled softly. But it was a nervous sound. Obviously he could already sense something was very wrong. “I can’t leave you.”

He wasn’t listening, and she knew she had to cut deeper with her words for him to understand. “I can’t take this anymore,” she tried, knowing the topic was a sore spot for him.

His hopeful expression fell, a muscle jumped along his jawbone. His arms tightened around her. “What do you mean?”

It seemed like the words scraped her insides as she forced them out. “I need our child to be safe.”

His smile was enough to haunt her soul for the rest of her life. “So it’s true?”

Nodding, she went on, “I can’t bring a child into this life of running and danger, Ethan. They’ve promised to keep us and our babies safe from everything. I’m leaving you.”

Air whooshed out of his lungs like she’d punched him in the gut. That anger that she’d seen directed at Lucas many times blazed in his narrowed gaze. “They’ve threatened you.” His gaze again checked the enemy. Still they danced, seeming to ignore them. The illusion probably made him confused, but also gave him a false sense of security.

“No.”
Yes.
For a moment she considered telling him the truth, that his life was in danger and that he needed to leave for that reason. He could come back later, better prepared, but when she opened her mouth to tell him this, her gaze caught onto a flash of red. The red-headed witch stood behind him, close enough to hear what Danielle was saying, but far enough that he hadn’t noticed her. Danielle also noticed that the archers had simply found another angle to strike so they didn’t hit her while he held her in his arms. There was no possible way she could wrap herself around Ethan and protect him from every angle. Letting the reckless thoughts slip away, she looked down to gather her senses.

Knowing she’d almost made a fatal mistake, she returned her gaze to his and managed to say, “Does it look like they’ve threatened us? We were dancing and having fun.” Danielle nearly choked on that lie. Red smiled.

Ethan’s tactics changed, just as she should have known they would. Bending down, he nudged up on her chin and fed his breath into her. Unable and unwilling to resist, she parted her lips, letting his essence fill her lungs. So delicious and so perfect ... and if this was the last time she’d ever see him, then she needed this. Ethan carefully kissed every inch of her face. His hand traveled the length of her spine, as he awakened hope in her heart. They were supposed to be together, they belonged together. Vivid memories of their life together filled her thoughts—images of him dressed as a Victorian hero taking her to a ball flashed in her mind. The shared dreams of their forgotten past replayed before her eyes ... their wedding ... their time with the fairies.... Danielle latched onto his clothes and pulled him against her. The skilled and gentle fingers of his hand left her back and curled around her nape, pressing in and massaging her in the exact way she loved. He was the only one that made her soul content, gave her mind peace, and soothed her when the world turned against them.

It was a mistake for her to think he wouldn’t be able to affect her and enchant her. It was so easy for him to make her forget everything else in the world, making him the center of it. Just as his mouth connected with hers, but before she’d lowered her lashes, movement in her peripheral snapped her out of it and she remembered the danger he was in. Using all of her strength, along with every ounce of her will, she shoved him back. “Don’t!” Danielle shoved again and he stumbled back a couple of steps before regaining his balance. The command had come out so sharp, she’d surprised herself. But he couldn’t know it was panic for him, and not anger at him, that drew the tone from her. “Please, Ethan, I’m begging you to let me go.”

Bewildered and extremely annoyed blue eyes settled onto hers. “I love you and our baby more than anything. I can’t let you do this. If you keep arguing with me, you know I’ll just pick you up and force you to come with me. We’ll discuss this later—”

Danielle’s eyes widened in panic because she knew he would, and then what would the witches do? “Don’t make me throw you,” she threatened back.

His eyes narrowed a split second before he discarded the cumbersome rifle and launched forward. To her utter surprise, Ethan was able to avoid her defense and lock his arms around her waist. Once she was on his shoulder, he announced, “You’ve thrown me enough times, darling, for me to avoid it if I want to by now.”

Dang it! She’d taught him too well! Terrified she’d see arrows land in his back, she kicked and scanned the threats surrounding them. The archers advanced and the brutal eagerness to commit murder in their eyes made her blood run cold. “No! No!” she screamed at the witches while hitting Ethan, pounding as hard as she could on his back. She had to make him let go.

Ethan wouldn’t let go.

The last thing Danielle expected was for Max to walk up to them and belt out an order, “Ethan! Let her go!”

“Have you lost your mind?” he asked, not obeying.

Being stronger, the knight pulled her from Ethan’s shoulder and set her aside. “They’re right. Living with us is too dangerous. We have to let them go.”

What? Gaping in surprise, she looked at Nadia. How had her friend done a better job of convincing them to leave than she had?

The battle between the men drew her gaze. Max captured Ethan by the arms and gave him a shake. “We’re leaving. Now,” growled the knight.

An aggressive anger twisted Ethan’s features. “I’m not leaving her!” Ethan shoved Max off and started back toward her.

Max caught him again and stopped his forward momentum. Desperation overtook his tone when Ethan looked at her, the shoving match between the men growing violent, and he shouted, “Danielle! I’ll keep you safe. Don’t give up on us. I’m begging you.”

“Stop this, Ethan. We’re leaving,” said Max, winning the shoving match because he was able to force more distance between them.

“There’s no bloody way in he—”

Ethan’s words were cut short when Max punched him in the face and the force of it knocked him out. Spinning, he slammed into the grass and went still.

“Is he hurt?” she asked, stepping forward.

Nadia caught at her arms. “This is what we wanted, right?” her tone soothing, “Let them go.”

“But he could be hurt—”

The knight hauled Ethan to his shoulder and started to leave without looking back.

“I’m sure he’s fine.” He didn’t look fine. His limp arms dangled down Max’s back. His broken glasses lay in the grass. Danielle felt the quiver in her bottom lip.

Reality sank in. They were going to die tonight and she would never see Ethan again. Tears streamed down her face as she watched the men go, and a sob tore past her lips. The emotions surging through her were so intense, she finally collapsed. Nadia’s arms came around her. The witches were also there, lifting her. “Bring them inside,” said one of them.

Held up by Nadia and one of the witches, she wasn’t really surprised she was dumped roughly on the hard stone flooring in what looked like a cozy family room. Nadia was pushed down next to her. When the witches bent toward them with ropes, Danielle instinctively resisted, but was punished with a sharp smack across her face. Momentarily stunned, Danielle watched in a shocked daze as their wrists and ankles were bound.

Of course she was glad Ethan would be okay, but now she was going to die without him knowing the truth, and guilt twisted her insides into knots tighter than the ones binding her.

“What if they come back?” asked one of the witches. Danielle didn’t care enough to lift her head and look to see who the speaker was.

“Maybe we should lock them in the dungeon until the next full moon,” suggested another.

“We can’t risk that,” was the reply.

Ignoring the witches, she turned to Nadia, and asked, “How?” How had she convinced Max, who was a hundred times more stubborn than Ethan, to leave?

“We have a word,” whispered her friend, like that explained everything. After speaking, Nadia’s green eyes darted around as though she feared she’d been overheard, but Danielle couldn’t see the point of that when she couldn’t even comprehend what Nadia had meant anyway.

Danielle frowned. “What?”

“A
word
.” Her friend wagged her sable eyebrows at her.

Just as she was starting to think Nadia was a bit mental, it hit her. With eyes widening, she muttered softly, “Oh.” A
code word
that told him they were in danger, and Max the knight, would be sharp enough to change their plans. Danielle rolled her eyes. Why didn’t she and Ethan have a code word? That would have made that intense exchange so much easier.

Nadia squeaked and she gasped in surprise when they were suddenly seized by the arms and dragged back outside.

Air was forced out of her lungs when her back connected with a solid surface. Looking around, she decided this might be the altar where the witches sacrificed victims like her and Nadia, and performed their demented beauty ritual. When the witches began another chanting dance encircling them, the two knives being waved above their heads, she felt like their words were sapping her strength and that drove her actions with desperation. Frantic to escape before they finished their chant, she tried to pull her hand loose of the ropes. A thin layer of skin scraped off against the rope as Danielle managed to get one hand free.

Before she was able to do anything more, the sound of a howling wolf rent the air. The witches froze, their eyes going wide with terror.

Chapter 13

Werewolves, Vampires, and Witches

Silhouetted against the orange flames of a fire, Ethan took in the feminine forms making up the circle of witches dancing around it. If he hadn’t looked away, he might have been entranced by their liquid and seductive movement. His eyes scanned the area as he sought any signs of Danielle or Nadia. A large and dark structure stood to the left. Between that and the building was a dark shape he believed to be shrubs. Near the back of the property was a very large and very old tree. The tree was obviously special to these witches because it was decorated with lights and glittering stars. When his gaze landed on ropes at the base of the tree, he raised an eyebrow at Max. “What do you think?”

Nestling the butt of the rifle he held against his shoulder as he looked through the sights, Max scowled at the dancers around the fire. “I think I’m going to murder a witch.”

The rifle Ethan held was heavy, and it felt unnatural in his hands, but he knew how to use it, and was more than willing to take out a witch to get his wife back. With his senses on high alert, they approached the dancing witches, and he wondered where the women could be when his eyes snagged on the movement of one of the witches. He recognized the way those hips swayed back and forth and his next words lodged in his esophagus. “What the hell?”

Danielle’s resistance and her words were a complete surprise. How could she give up? Panic welled inside him. No ... No.... I can’t let this happen.

“Ethan.”

He tried to shake his head free of the devastating emotions gathering in the back of his throat, choking him. Their baby! She can’t really think she can take their baby away from him, can she? Sure she could, and it made perfect sense. Why would she want to risk another child’s life? Why would she want to be with him at all? It didn’t matter that they’d chosen each other before; his past mistakes had changed all of that.

“Ethan.”

His eyes flew open. He blinked as his hand lifted and he rubbed at his aching jaw, the growth from several days rasping against his fingers. Someone was bending down over him. Ethan blinked again, but he couldn’t quite focus on who it was. Patting at his pockets, he tried to find his glasses.

“I broke them. I’m sorry.”

Max. A flood of anger made him shove his friend aside and surge to his feet. He dropped against a tree for support because he wasn’t quite steady on his legs yet. “You hit me! Why?”

Ethan flinched when Max grabbed his shoulders and gave him a shake, making his back bounce off the trunk. Another shove at Max made him feel a little better, and his fingers curled into a fist and he tried to punch Max for payback. The knight caught his hand, easily stopping him. “Snap out of it you moron. She still wants you.”

Danielle. The way she’d rejected him came back so vividly he felt his eyes begin to sting. His right hand clawed at his shirt over his heart as it broke in two. “She left me.” Ethan closed his eyes and dropped his head against the tree. “She said she didn’t want to put our next child in danger, so she’s leaving me, and staying with those wicked— But maybe she’s right. What if they can protect her better than we can?” They knew how to kill vampires. Besides sorcerers, he knew of nothing else that could accomplish that.

Max made a scoffing sound, drawing Ethan’s returned gaze. “Stop being a thickheaded idiot, would you? Or I’ll be sorely tempted to deck you again.”

“I beg your pardon?” Ethan asked, confusion soaking his brain so much he couldn’t rationalize properly.

“You’re so damn lovesick you can’t even see straight, and you were completely useless in that situation.”

A frown tugged his eyebrows together. “What the hell are you talking about? I had her! They could be safe right now if you hadn’t—!” Using what Danielle had taught him, he caught Max in the ribs with a swift undercut.

The knight expelled a gratifying grunt and stumbled back a step or two, but he was quick to react and returned with fists ready. Ethan managed to block Max’s jab, but he missed the left hook that landed against his jaw, right where he’d been hit before. Pain exploded in his face. Clamping his teeth together to soothe it, Ethan retaliated with a cross and a kick. But Max ended the confrontation with another hook that sent him sprawling in the dead pine needles and dirt on the forest floor. Ethan rolled to his back, breathing heavily.

Max reached a hand out to help him up. Ethan stared at it feeling his lip curl. The knight hadn’t even broken into a sweat. How was it this guy sweated buckets when running, but had the endurance of a gladiator in a fight? Releasing a breath and with a roll of his eyes, Ethan accepted Max’s offered assistance. “We both would have been dead,” Max explained, letting go of Ethan’s hand once he’d gained his feet. “And as dead men, we wouldn’t be much help to them.”

“I still don’t understand what happened. The witches kept dancing. They were ignoring us...”

Max laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “They weren’t ignoring us at all.” When Ethan just stared at him in confusion, brushing himself off, Max finally elaborated, “The girls were
forced
to send us away. It’s obvious you didn’t notice the archers hiding in the woods ready to kill us if they didn’t accomplish that.”

Sir Roland’s two warnings came to mind.
M
ind their cunning nature, an
d watch out for poisoned arrows.
Of course he still wondered what the third warning would have been, had the old man remembered it, but Ethan supposed that didn’t matter any longer. This explained the warnings and Danielle’s actions. It was quite cunning of them to use her love for him to make her do what they wanted. He’d known how affected she was when he’d let her taste his breath. The way she’d melted into him, the way she’d clutched at his clothes, and the welcoming little sounds she’d made when he went to kiss her all proved that. And he knew by the passion shining in her eyes she would have followed him anywhere—until she remembered the danger he was in, and she’d pushed him away. Ethan could only imagine how many witches stood behind him, for her to see, to keep her in line. As everything slid into place, Ethan mentally berated himself for being so stupid. “That explains it.”

“Of course it does.”

“Was it the archers that tipped you off?” Ethan asked with frustration in himself for not noticing.

“No. I taught Nadia to use a code word in case she needed my help but couldn’t explain. I saw the archers as we left.”

“Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You’re just not amazing, like I am,” commented the knight dryly.

“My head isn’t swelled with exceeding pride either,” Ethan added in a mocking tone.

“A certain amount of pride comes naturally with such brilliance.”

Deciding that perhaps it was best to change the subject, Ethan asked, “What do you think the witches want with them?”

“It can’t be good, whatever it is.” Max’s throat worked when he swallowed. “We should get back there.”

Ethan nodded in agreement, urgency still driving him. “Which way is it?”

Max pointed. Ethan marked the direction as north based on the position of the moon in the sky. They started running. As they went, the knight began checking his weapons, pulling the gun out of its holster, removing the clip and popping it back in. Ethan had already checked his gear earlier, and besides, without his glasses, he really had to focus to keep from smacking into a tree as they ran.

“How long has it been?” he asked, as worry for Danielle’s and Nadia’s safety returned.

“Not long.”

“What’s the plan?”

“The only thing I can think of is stealth right now.” The knight tested the sight on his rifle. “Maybe I can pick them off from a distance.”

With regret, Ethan took mental inventory of what he had left since he’d dropped the rifle to grab Danielle. He carried a handgun that was best suited for close range, and a knife strapped to his thigh, again, a weapon best suited for close range. His mind went over the scene when they’d first arrived. When his brain called up the ropes he’d seen around the base of the tree, he said, “They knew we were coming. I think they’d had them tied to the tree.”

“I agree, and then they made the girls dance with them to throw us off guard.”

Ethan hated himself for falling for that, but Danielle really had done a great job of playing up her fear for the baby’s safety to mask her concern for him. At the idea of a child, his heart soared, and he recalled his hasty wish to be a vampire again. Would that really solve all of his problems? Now that he thought about it again, he wasn’t so sure.

Rubbing at his bruised knuckles, Ethan considered his friend as they moved ahead. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Max angled a look his way. “I get it.”

Ethan suspected he did since Nadia was involved in this too. “I’m sorry about Nadia.”

Max waved away the apology. “We’ll rescue them. We just need to reassess our tactics.” Making a sound of frustration, Max’s gaze swung to the moon. It was getting low in the sky, but there were probably a few more hours before morning came, and Ethan didn’t understand Max’s annoyance with the moon until he said, “You noticed it’s a full moon tonight, didn’t you?”

Ethan swore. No, he’d been so worried about Danielle he hadn’t noticed.

As if on cue, a wolf howled.

An intense sense of fear enveloped him. In Ethan’s past, fear hadn’t been one of those emotions he’d had to deal with much. But since meeting Danielle, he feared many things. As mortal men, they
really
didn’t need to encounter these things, in the woods, without any kind of protection. His palm landed on the butt of his gun. Just as with the pixies, he doubted it would do him any good in this situation. Desperate, Ethan shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed. Max raised an eyebrow at him, probably wondering who he was calling. Ethan didn’t take the time to explain. When they picked up, he said, “This is Deveroux. We—”

“
The
Deveroux?” the man on the other end of the line asked, interrupting. “The cured vampire, Deveroux? The—”

“Yes,
that
Deveroux.”

“Truly, it is an honor to speak with you. What brings you to Hungary?”

“I don’t have time to explain, but we need Order members here now.”

“Where is here?” asked the man. His tone had shifted from friendly to professional.

After he explained where they were and the vampires had promised to come, Ethan disconnected.

“The Hungarian vamps?” asked Max.

“Yeah.”

“I wanted to call them before we got here actually, but after Sir Roland’s warning about the arrows killing them too, I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk.”

Ethan shook his head. “Me either.” He did feel guilt for bringing others into this, but he didn’t see how they could survive without reinforcements.

Another keening howl sliced through the quiet, sending chills along his nerve endings. “Do you think they really could have found them as fast as we did?” Or was this simply another group of werewolves out on a full moon?

Max turned regret-filled eyes on him. “This is Lucas we’re talking about, right?”

“Bloody hell.” Lucas
was
resourceful enough to have found them, especially since they didn’t have the fairy necklaces to hide them any longer. He had to find some way of killing that blackguard, and he wished he’d asked Sir Roland if he knew anything. It was believed that the beasts had actually turned on and killed the sorcerer or sorceress who had created them. Because of that, there was a chance they couldn’t be destroyed, but Ethan was willing to ask anyway.