Jericho Junction (9 page)

She aimed at Jericho but Anya knocked the woman back before she let loose her magic—just as Serena had planned it. As soon as Anya got close, the deceptively petite woman wrapped her arms around her and squeezed. This close, Anya couldn’t miss the evil swelling underneath the sorceress’s fine face, her bones and flesh constantly realigning to contain the power there. Age and decay shone through her eyes, voids to the nothing that lay inside Serena’s soul.

“I knew we’d be best friends, eventually.” Serena kissed Anya, and the cat inside her shrieked in agony. She siphoned Anya’s breath and magic into her own body.

Seino shouted something, but Anya couldn’t hear him as she tried desperately to hold onto herself, to give her mates time to kill their enemy. She hoped they’d make use of her sacrifice, because she didn’t think she’d last much longer.

And then she was free. Jericho lay in a heap on the ground, a pool of blood beneath him. Beside him, Seino flashed his sword that raged with bloodlust.

“Get that thing away from me.” Serena pointed at Anya in warning. “I’ll kill her.”

“No, you will not. You will deal with your sentence, witch.”

Serena’s eyes widened. “Witch?” she shrieked. “I’m a sorceress, not some human communing with nature, you dark bastard. It’s time you took Master Fel and his Highness a message from me.”

But when she raised her hand in Seino’s direction, he disappeared.

Anya could have told him not to waste his time. Athmae had been trying to kill the woman using any and all magic available to them for months. But the ability to teleport never penetrated Serena’s thick shields.

To her shock, Seino reappeared directly beside Anya and sliced off her hand at the wrist. Instead of blood spurting, a thick black goo oozed from her arm. She screamed and stirred up a small whirlwind.

Anya, see to Jericho. Hurry. Into her mind Seino sent directions to speed his healing.

Relieved she could help, Anya tried to crawl towards Jericho. Weakness invaded her limbs. She could barely move while her mate bled out. At the thought of him dying because she’d once again been too weak to protect those she cared about, Anya drew on her inner strength and reached his side.

Once there, she laid a paw over her chest, where the amulet throbbed under her fur. Then she placed her mouth at the wound in Jericho’s neck and licked.

A stream of red light infused the wound and glowed as an exchange of power linked them together.

Behind her, Serena yelled and blasphemed until Anya wondered if Banathmae himself had heard her. The noise gradually diminished, until she could only hear her pulse and Jericho’s beating as one.

The weakness she’d beaten back returned, and she knew her time had come.

She eased into slumber, overjoyed that she’d finally saved someone she loved before coming to her end. She deserved her death, and she let the thundering heartbeat under her ear lull her to her eternal rest.

Seino didn’t like the thoughts of his little mate, but he had bigger problems to deal with. Anya wasn’t going anywhere, not with her spirit tethered to his and that stubborn bear’s. Her propensity towards melodrama would have to end, and Jericho… Trust the bear to revert to his dominating ways during battle. As if Seino needed protection from this puny sorceress. Before bonding he might have. But the power he and his mates had shared had not only filled him with joy, it had made him near invincible. He felt he could do anything, and with that belief came strength.

Unlike Serena, who now felt her mortality rushing out of the wounds his sword ached to fill, her power ebbed and seized. He let his blade have its due and chopped off a few more of Serena’s fingers before teleporting away again. Interestingly enough, with every wound she took, more of her henchmen fell. The undead crumbled into dust, and her hounds whined and ran fast and far away. Only a few remained to come between them.

Had he been on the run from an enemy, he’d have used his minions to attack his enemy’s weakest point. In Seino’s case, Anya and Jericho. But the selfish sorceress thought only of herself and her own needs, and in doing so, had already lost the battle.

He reappeared behind her and sank his blade into her back, just under her heart.

She screamed and vanished.

He wanted to think he’d won, but caution compelled him to wait.

A twisting sensation in his belly caught him unaware. A churning emptiness moved deeper into his being.

His sword pulled and prodded him to let go, but he dared not. He had a bad feeling Serena had entered into him, somehow. His sword hungered to devour her energy, but in the doing, it would consume him as well. If Seino fell, so did his mates. That he had no intention of allowing. Yet how to stop it?

He lost the ability to stand and went down on one knee. His sword hummed, and he fought to breathe.

“Did you really think a lowborn demon like you could vanquish me?” Serena whispered in his ear from behind him. “I was born centuries ago, awash in the blood and fury of the Third Kingdom’s rebirth. Magic fucked with reason and your blessed Banathmae pulled me out of my mother’s womb, killing her in the process. For years I’ve honed my skills killing creatures much more powerful than you.” She laughed, a light titter that didn’t belong to something so evil. “In your arrogance you think to defeat me. When even your king and his lackey, Fel, could barely see fit to banish me from their realm.”

It would have been nice if his grandfather had mentioned that.

“Yet you think you, a pitiful athmae, a bear and a cat can defeat me? It’s laughable, really.” She wiggled her stump at him, and to his shock her hand began to grow back. Never had his blade failed him in battle. A wound from the demon bone meant fatality. “Once I’ve consumed you and the cat, I’ll take the bear with me and savage the wolves. Your precious athmae and those shifters are already history.”

“Not quite,” Jericho growled before yanking the woman back by the hair. He was in his human form, and he didn’t look happy. To Seino’s shock, his eyes glowed red, and his body turned night-dark. “You fucked with the wrong people, bitch. My mates. Mine.”

Anya joined him without a scratch on her and cried out, the cat hissing in fury. She dragged her claws down Serena’s leg and clamped her teeth around the sorceress’s ankle. She held her tight, while with her claws she raked at Serena’s belly.

Serena screamed for all she was worth. And her pain relieved the ache in his middle.

His sword quivered in his hands, hungry for another taste of her. “Now you know. The power of Banathmae always rings true.”

Jericho grinned, his mouth full of sharp teeth. He wasn’t normal even for a Kin. “Yes, it does.”

Before Seino could blink, Jericho put his hand around the sword and shoved the blade home between Serena’s ribs. Her life poured into the demon bone as fast as her tainted blood spilled to the ground.

The power over his hand dwarfed that under it. As Seino looked into Jericho’s eyes, he saw more than his mate there, but another presence as well. Anya had let go of Serena and stood at his back, hugging him tight, in human form once more. The energy radiating from her frame poured strength into him at a rapid rate.

“There we go.” Jericho finally let go.

Seino pulled his blade free of the husk that used to be the sorceress. The moment her body hit the ground, she burst into ash.

“Nasty.” Anya rubbed her cheek against his back.

“Yeah.” Jericho shook his head, and to Seino’s disappointment, the fine darkness that had bathed his flesh faded into his mate’s normally tanned skin. “What the hell?” he asked as he noticed the black streaks on his body.

“You were so handsome, Jericho,” Anya said. “A true Kin. Black with white hair and red eyes. I wonder if you can do that again, so the next time I’m making love with my mates, you’ll look the same.”

Seino heard the tears he couldn’t see. “Anya?”

She hurried between him and Jericho, and he saw the same concern in the bear’s eyes. “I was so scared for you.”

“For me?” they both asked at the same time. Jericho frowned, but Seino continued, “Love, I told you not to worry. I do not suffer defeat. Ever.”

Jericho sighed. “Oh yeah. That ego is huge.”

“As big as the rest of him,” Anya teased and hugged them to her.

Seino had never been so replete. “I told you that together we are unbeatable.” He glanced at Jericho. “But this propensity of yours for not following orders. We need to fix this.”

Anya nodded. “Oh yes. Maybe some spanking or flogging?”

“Damn it, woman. Whose side are you on?” Jericho growled, but the glow in his eyes showed his pleasure. “And you,” he said to Seino. “Don’t even think about ordering me around when it comes to battle. Because in case it escaped your notice, I’ve got a god-thing going on. Banathmae likes us bears more than you demons.” He mock-glared at Anya. “Or you cats.”

“Hey.” She tried to scoot out from between them but Jericho wouldn’t let her.

Instead he whooped and tossed her in the air, only to catch her in his arms and kiss the breath out of her. “Now how about you teleport us out of here so I can get some discipline and fuck this little pussy at the same time? Sound good to you?”

Seino grinned. “Sounds perfect.”

“Well, let’s get to it, Lord Seino.”

Seino bowed his head. “As you wish, love.”

Fenris didn’t like it. Things had been too quiet for too long. A great rush of magic in the Great Forest that spilled over the trees and lit up the night sky, and then nothing. He turned to his twin. “Anson? Anything?”

Anson sniffed the air. He turned to his mate and their guards.

Liam shook his head. “Nothing. It’s strange though.”

“How?” Fenris and Anson spoke as one.

“I can’t sense the evil that once was.”

“But that’s a good thing, right?” Rudra asked.

She’d refused to sit with their pup away from danger. Instead she’d left Petra with her parents and had come to stay by his side. He couldn’t have asked for a better mate.

“Still no word from Lord Seino and Jericho?” he asked softly, not wanting to upset her.

“He’s okay. I’d know it if he wasn’t.” She continued to say that anytime he asked. As if willing it to be so would make their bear all right.

“I feel something coming.” Liam shook his head.

His men and Anson gathered close and brandished their swords.

Fenris pulled Rudra back with him, aware she balled her energy in her fists, ready to fight. His werewolf pushed forth, fangs and claws tearing through flesh, ready to kill to defend his family, his clan.

“Wait, wait. Stand down,” Liam said moments before three bodies shimmered before them.

A beam of moonlight pierced the overhead clouds and illuminated the newly arrived trio, as if The Wolf in the Forest had sent them herself. Then again, from all that Fenris had seen since finding his mate, he wouldn’t put anything past the spirits.

Jericho, a huge athmae, and a beautiful woman smiled at them. All three wore sparkling amulets, dark trousers, and vests. The woman’s hinted at assets many of those standing with him would like to know better. As Fenris watched, a rosy glow imbued the trio anytime they touched. How odd.

“Jericho!” Not one to stand on ceremony, Rudra flung herself at the bear.

He laughed and swung her around, much to the annoyance of the woman with him.

“Uh, Rudra?” Fenris turned to apologise to the female. “Sorry, she’s been worried about him.”

The female nodded, and a faint breeze stirred her scent. Fenris caught hints of athmae, feline, and…Jericho?

He blinked at the group, stunned to see the stamp of possession on the athmae’s face as he regarded Jericho.

“Holy shit.” Fenris’s vision of Jericho and another male had come true. Mated to a male. And by the look of things, to a cat. He started laughing and couldn’t stop.

“Fenris?” Rudra joined him, and when she caught what he’d said, she laughed as well.

Jericho’s smile faded and he frowned. “Oh, come on, Goldie. Not this again.”

“Told you.” Just as Fenris had foreseen.

Jericho rumbled something, and the woman with him snuggled under his arm.

“Don’t mind the wolves, Jericho. You know how they can be.” With an arrogance that did her breed credit, she looked down at Fenris as he tried to catch his breath.

Anson and Liam had taken the athmae aside and were speaking with him while Jericho fielded Rudra’s many questions.

When Fenris pulled himself together, he joined his brother.

“I’m glad to see you all in one piece. Lord Seino, I take it?” From everything Anson and Liam had shared about the male, Fenris knew better than to offend him. He made Liam’s tough guards look like children playing with swords.

The athmae cocked his head and studied Fenris with what he’d like to think was respect. “You are Jericho’s alpha? You and Rudra?”

“We are.” Rudra came to stand next to him and squeezed his hand, and Fenris still thanked the Wolf for giving him such a wonderful mate.

“I regret to inform you Jericho is no longer part of your pack.”

“What?” Rudra stiffened next to him. “What the hell does that mean?”

Jericho had joined them and sighed. “Didn’t I tell you I’d handle this?”

He dragged the athmae back, and Fenris didn’t like the menace coming off the male at all. The athmae looked like he planned to smack the bear around. And at his size, he might be able to do it.

To Fenris’s surprise, Jericho turned his back on the pointy-eared bastard and apologised. “Sorry. Let me introduce my new friends. Fenris, Rudra, this is Anya.” The cute, curvy cat. “And that’s Lord Seino. My partners on this quest to kill Serena, the sorceress.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “Serena?”

Jericho nodded.

Fenris frowned. “Who the hell is Serena?”

“Was,” Seino corrected with a malevolent grin. “We took care of her yesterday.”

Liam explained. “Years ago my father suffered a curse. A sorceress killed him and almost stole my wolf. Anson saved me.”

Fenris knew the story, of how his brother had mated with Liam and given him the magic to free his bound inner wolf.