Nights Embrace (Others of Seattle) (32 page)

He huffed a breath.
“We’ve been through this, Roxy. I watch myself, you watch you.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”
Her hand squeezed his tightly.

“Love
you.”

Her eyes flashed brighter.

He nudged her chin up. “All right. I promise to do my best to watch my own ass.”

“Thank you.”
Her head whipped to the side. “I hear them.”

Shane shook his head, his expression tight.
“Slater and his people aren’t here yet.”

“They’ll be here,” Fiona promised.

“Maybe not soon enough,” Trevor answered.

Shane took a breath and reminded everyone,
“Don’t start. We’ll all be fine as long as we’re smart about how we deal with William’s clan.”

Fiona held up her hand and
directed. “Find a place to hide. Let them show themselves first.”

Trevor growled low in his throat but he pulled
Roxy behind a large tree and stared down into her eyes. No time for words, she tiptoed up and placed a kiss over his heart.

He
froze a second later and sniffed the air. He could smell her father. He no longer felt guilty for what he’d tried to do in the past. Now his only goal was to protect her and keep her safe. Roxy peeked around the tree and Trevor followed. He watched as two eagles landed in the center of the clearing. They shifted into Kathryn and William. Then Dina and Boyd stepped through the trees as humans.

There were other wolves with them, but he
only recognized a few of them. Fear took root in Trevor’s heart. They needed the Edenton pack.

“This could be very simple,” William s
tated. “You bring my daughter to me, and she can have a long happy life without you. Or I can make you suffer in front of her until she begs for her death. She won’t have it, she’ll have yours, but she will still beg.”

Roxy reached up to push him back. Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head.
“Watch your own ass.”

He had every intention of it. He hoped she knew what she was doing.

* * * *

A cold dread crept through Roxy.
She couldn’t help feeling like something was about to go seriously wrong.

“Roxana, be smart. Y
ou don’t want your mate to suffer because you’re being a spoiled brat. You are outmatched and outnumbered. Your best decision right now would be to come quietly.”

Roxy snorted
, then called from behind her tree. “There is no way in hell you will let my people go even if I come with you. What makes you think I’m that stupid?”

“
The fact that you’re still with them,” he retorted. Then he started to sing an old spell. Kathryn joined in.

Fiona looked to Roxy.
“Resist. I’ll keep as many wolves back as I can.”

Invisible hands began to pull at Roxy
’s clothes, but they slipped past her. She knew it was a spell, but she wasn’t doing anything to avoid it, she was naturally resisting.

“Get them,” Kathryn shouted when it became clear magic wasn’t going to work.

Dina and Boyd came bounding around the trees. Trevor caught Dina, throwing her against a boulder.

Roxy
slammed her hand into Boyd’s throat as he came face to face with her. While he was still choking, she grabbed his face and slammed him into the ground, landing on his chest. She swung once, her fist connecting with his head. “That’s for the blade in my side.” Then she grabbed a fistful of his dark hair and slammed his head into the rock beneath him. “And that’s for using me as a punching bag.” He went still beneath her, blood flowing from his head.

A screech rent the air. Her head snapped up to see
Trevor slam his clawed hand into Dina’s chest.

Roxy
took a deep breath and felt Others closing in. Fallon told her she would be able to tell who was what with time, but she could feel Fallon, one of the mages from the other day, and Brody. She knew at least a dozen Others were coming.

Kathryn moved through the clearing and spotted Fiona who was engaged in a fight with another wolf. With a hate filled spell, Kathryn raised her hands as electricity sparked along her fingertips.

Roxy ran into the clearing. She lifted her arms, calling on the storm that was rolling in. She breathed in the scent of rain and ozone. No one told her she could do it, but she could feel the power humming in her bones.

White hair whipped around Kathryn’s face, and her silver eyes took on a yellow glow
when she redirected her spell at Roxy.

Whipping her hand up,
Roxy deflected the spell, slinging it at William’s feet.

“Are you afraid?” Roxy asked coldly
.

Kathryn glared at her.
She threw her head back to howl. Her dress shredded as she turned into a werewolf.

“Don’t
kill her, Kathryn. I’ve already told you we need her,” William warned.

His shouted warning
didn’t stop Kathryn from running at her. Roxy closed her eyes and called the lightening into a tight circle around her. A wall of dancing blue electricity circled her, weaving to form a barrier.

Kathryn
collided into it with a crackle and hiss. Her fur began to burn. Roxy pushed, directing the energy at Kathryn. Once the spell was wrapped around the writhing heap of fur, she turned to William.

“You shouldn’t have been able to do that,” he
declared.

“Surprise. I did.”

Kathryn screamed and howled, her body dancing in agony as the electricity flowed over and through her, setting her fur on fire.

“You’ll pay for that,” he charged at her, shifting into his own
half-man form. He was fast, but she managed to shift into an owl and fly up into the trees.

William screamed his frustration as he turned in a slow circle. He froze
for a second. She saw where his gaze landed a second before he started running. Roxy flew out of the tree and shifted back mid-air, landing on his back. She grabbed his head and twisted with every ounce of strength she could muster. She heard the sickening snaps, crackles and pops as he fell.

* * * *

Trevor had Dina in a chokehold when he looked over to see Boyd bleeding on the ground with his head bashed in. Then he saw Roxy rush into the clearing to take on William and Kathryn on her own.

His heart nearly stopped at the sight,
and his grip loosened. Then he felt the blade tear at his side. He spun away in time to avoid any permanent damage.

Trevor punched Dina in the face, shattering her nose and sending her crashing into a
large boulder. She fell to the ground unconscious as he slumped against a tree.

P
ain blurred his vision, but he fought to clear it. He saw William running for him, but before he could move, a white owl flew at William. Roxy shifted back to human, landing on his back. She nearly tore William’s head from his body as he fell.

She stood and stumbled away from the
corpse, staring in mute horror. He wished he could take the pain from her. He slid a little further down the tree as her eyes met his. Tears fell down her face.

Roxy screamed,
“No!” Then she was racing toward him as claws tore into his chest, tearing skin and breaking ribs.

Confusion reigned as
Dina was thrown from him. He heard the thud and then a blood curdling scream followed by a series of thunks that grew wetter with each strike. He saw Roxy
slamming a rock into Dina’s broken head.

Joey pulled her away.
“Go to Trevor. He needs you.”

Roxy looked over. She hurried to his side, collapsing next to him.
“Trevor, you weren’t watching,” she answered breathlessly. She covered as much of the wounds as her cool hands could. Surprisingly, they soothed the burning tears. “Oh god, you weren’t watching, Trevor.”

“You were in trouble. I had to make sure you were okay
.”

“No. I was fine. You should have watched yourself.
You promised.” Her tears splashed on his ruined chest.

He managed to look down and then back up at her. The pain
was too much. He knew he didn’t have long. “I’m sorry. So sorry, Roxy.”

“No, you can’t. Don’t you dare leave me,” she whimpered, falling on his chest. He could hardly hear her, and his vision was fading.

“Always love you,
A Chroí
.” Then it was all gone, his beautiful mate and everything else.

“I can’t lose you,” she wailed. “I can’t. I just found you. I can’t lose you.”

His eyes were dull, staring up at her, his chest wasn
’t moving. A sob broke free as she stared down at him. His fur was receding as he shifted back to human before her very eyes. He was gone.

She heard wind and then leaves rustling but Roxy didn
’t have it in her to look.

“Sing to him,” someone
instructed.

Roxy didn
’t question, she did as she was told. She softly sang her song. The same one he sang with her the night before. Her voice broke, like her heart that shattered into a million pieces.

“Don’t stop,” the woman
encouraged. “Keep singing.”

She did, but Trevor was cold, gone, and she didn
’t know how to go on. She poured all of her heart and soul into the song.

She
didn’t register the renewed rise and fall of his chest. There was only the song and the pain of loss tearing her apart.

She felt h
is hand in her hair, but she thought she imagined it. Her throat closed around the lump and the song ended. Roxy imagined his arms wrapping around her.

“You did it,” the woman
praised.

“Did what?” she
questioned from her fog of grief and exhaustion. All she wanted to do was sleep. Her energy was sapped and she couldn’t fathom a single reason to go on.

“Roxy,” Trevor murmured. “Roxy, what’s wrong?”

Great, now my imagination is going to torture me.

He lifted her face, but it was
only a dream. “Look at me, Roxy. Please.”

Roxy blinked. Trevor was pale, but he was there and he was awake. She looked over and found Fallon sitting n
ext to her. Beside Fallon sat a big ass gray half-man werewolf with glacial blue eyes.

“What the fuck?”
Roxy didn’t believe her eyes as sat up and inspected Trevor’s chest. Her hands smoothed over all the blood but she couldn’t find a single scratch. “What the hell?”

Trevor sat up, taking her hands.
“I’m okay. Whatever you did, I’m okay.”

She looked back at Fallon.
“Did you tell me to sing?”

“Yeah. And don’t get up too fast when you
are ready to move. You’re going to be dizzy as fuck.” Fallon smiled though.

The
werewolf shook his head. His voice was deeper and rougher, but it was still Brody. “She gets weaker when she heals me too.” His eyes narrowed at Fallon. “Thankfully she doesn’t do it often.”

She smirked back.
“It’s a good thing you don’t need it often.”

Fiona rushed over. She was out of breath and scratched up.
“You okay?”

Roxy took another look at Trevor and nodded dumbly. He pulled her into his lap and wound his arms around her.
“You’re pale,” he told her.

“Part of healing,” Fallon
assured.

Fiona
’s brow arched. “Healing? Her magic is more like yours. I thought you weren’t very skilled at healing.”

Fallon looked back at her mate and lifted a shoulder.
“Seems I have an exception to my rule, for my mate. And it looks like Roxy does too.”

Fiona fell to her knees.
“When William died, Kathryn got free. I had to stop her. She’s really dead now, as are William and Dina.”

“And Boyd?”

“He’s not moving,” Joey said as he sat down beside them. “You okay, Trev?”

He nodded.

Roxy shoved him, anger finally replacing fear. “Next time, you had better watch yourself.”

He pulled her tighter.
“Lesson learned, love.”

“You two need food.” Shane told them as he made his way into the clearing.

“I can take them back to the cabin,” a blond said. His clothes were far too expensive for a forest hike. Liz was standing beside them with Tremaine on her other side.

Liz nodded.
“Let Robert take you to the cabin. The trip will take seconds. One of you needs to visualize it.”

The blond tipped his head, stepping forward.

“Here, take my hands.” He reached toward Roxy and Trevor where they sat on the ground.

The world spun as air whooshed around them. Then they were sitting in the middle of the kitchen. Roxy managed to get up and aim for the sink as breakfast left her.

Then there was a hand smoothing down her back. “Roxy, baby, what’s wrong?”

The mage said,
“Sorry. Maybe I should have warned you both first. Some people get sick when they translocate. I need to get back. We’re trying to round up the ones who got away.” Then he was gone.

* * * *

Trevor stood there stunned as the mage disappeared. Roxy started to fall and Trevor caught her. He carried her to the couch where he sat beside her, brushing his fingers through her hair.

“You need to talk to me,” he
pleaded. “What’s wrong?”

“Exhausted. Hungry. Just want to curl up with you.”

“I’ll be right back.” He hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a hunk of the bear meat Joey brought back yesterday, and a bottle of water. While he cared for her, his mind recounted the memory of darkness, and then light as he floated through nothing. All he saw were Roxy’s pale blue eyes as she pleaded with him not to go.

He ran his hand over his chest where Dina had torn him open. There was no damage,
only drying blood. He slid his hand to where Dina had cut him with the silver blade and found no hint of the wound.

Everything clicked. Roxy had healed him. Fiona was wiped out right after finding Nick because she had done the same thing. They hadn
’t even mated and she had healed him of all the damage.

Fiona could help heal bad injuries, but not like she could for Nick. Roxy had done the same for him.

He hurried back to Roxy and sat down beside her. “Eat, then drink. I’ll be right back.”

She caught his hand with more force than she should have.
“Don’t go. I need you here.” There were tears in her eyes again. “Can’t lose you.”

“
Roxana, I’m not leaving. I need to clean up the blood,” he explained.

She looked down at herself and shook her head.
“Wait. I need to shower too.” Her gaze locked on his. “Please?”

“I’m right here,” he
knelt on the floor beside her.
She saw me die, I was gone. Shit.
“You eat and drink what I brought you, then we’ll shower, together.”

Her head bobbed, she took the meat he handed her and
ate it. Then she downed the water.

Trevor didn’t wait.
He scooped her up and wound her arms around his neck, burying her face against his neck.

“I thought you were gone,” she
wept.

“I’m here, right here. You kept me here. You, no one else,
A Chroí
.”

He climbed the stairs, stepped into their room and into the adjoining bathroom.
After sitting her on the counter, he started the water. When he turned, he found her stripping out of her clothes.

Before she could look at her hands again, he swept her off her feet and carried her under the water
.

He held her tight
. “I’m sorry. I should have listened to you.”

Her head snapped up, her eyes widening as her bottom lip trembled.

Trevor continued, “I thought she was down, and then you were fighting with William. You scared the hell out of me. Then he was coming, and you did what I couldn’t. I’m so sorry you had to be the one to kill him.”

“I don’t care about him
!” she shouted, shoving at him. “I was fine. You let that bitch kill you. You didn’t keep an eye on her.”

He took her face in his hands. “I can’t change that, but I’ve learned my lesson. You killed her, and then you turned around and saved me. I won’t make that mistake again. It’s all I can give you.”

She fell into him, and he held her tight. “I’ll take it.”

* * * *

Twenty minutes later, Roxy was feeling more herself. Trevor held her on the couch. She stared up at him and smiled. “Think you might take me to Ireland?”

“When?” he asked.

“Tomorrow?”

“Do you have a passport?”

“I do,” she grinned. “Never used it, but always wanted to travel.”

“Why
did you never go?”

“Never had anyone to go with.” She shrugged, running her fingers over his heart. “Now I do.”

He pressed her hand to his chest. “I know what I want to have tattooed there.”

Her eyes sparkled as she smiled.
“What’s that?”

“
It’s a surprise.”

Joey threw the door open, and several wolves hurried up the stairs, with Joey and Shane following them.

“Right, they need to change.” Roxy let out a strained laugh as Fiona walked over and slumped into the chair.

Fiona asked,
“You okay, Roxy?”

“Better than I was,” she smiled weakly. There was still a twinge of heartbreak lingering
. She’d seen Trevor dead on the ground and had a feeling the sight would give her nightmares for a longtime.

“Roxy, love, I’m right here,” Trevor
soothed, sensing her pain.

“I know.”

Fiona sighed. “Fallon and Brody will be here before long. I left the wards down and we gave them the coordinates. They managed to round up Boyd and the other two survivors. The rest are dead, no one got away. But now we all need to decide what to do with those three. I’ve never seen the two. Neither had Shane or Joey.”

Joey came thundering down the stairs with Sorcha on his heels. As soon as they made the first floor,
Sorcha slipped around Joey.

“Oh my
god, Roxy, are you okay?” Sorcha was near tears.

“Fine. Why?”

“You were a mess when he…” her eyes cut to Trevor and narrowed, “when he had to go be a stupid man, and get himself killed!”

Roxy growled, her eyes flashing to Sorcha. “Leave him alone.”

Trevor chuckled, tipping her face back to his. “Roxy, I was pretty stupid, you said so yourself.”

She frowned. “Sorcha doesn’t get to call you stupid.”

He took a quick kiss. “She’s fine,” Trevor told Sorcha.

Joey shook his head. “You were pretty damned stupid, Trevor.”

Roxy couldn’t stop the growl, even knowing she completely agreed.

“See, you’re one of us now, sis.” Joey ruffled her hair.

She slapped his hand away and he yelped.

“Damn, way to shock me
!”

With a sheepish grin, she shrugged, “Sorry, Joey. Try not to piss me of
f yet. I don’t have a handle on the magic.”

“Forgiven. You brought him back to us. Without you,” he shook his head, closing his eyes, “I don’t want to think about that. So, thank you, Rox.”

“My pleasure.”

There was a knock on the door. Siobhan opened it as Shane came into the living room with Nick.

Siobhan said, “Hi, right this way.” She led Brody and Fallon into to the living room.

Brody cut right to the chase. “We have Boyd Hargrave, Ian Clive, and
Judith Collins in custody. They’re locked up in silver cells until you all decide what to do with them.”

Trevor growled, “Boyd is still alive?”

“He’s still unconscious,” Fallon offered. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a vegetable the way his skull is shattered.”

Trevor shook his head, squeezing Roxy tight.

She shrugged. “I didn’t want him getting back up. There were a lot of wolves. I went for who I could.”

Fiona spoke up. “I can banish them from the surrounding lands. It would probably stretch in a three hundred mile radius, give or
take.”

“How does that work?” Brody asked.

“Once we send them off, I would cast a spell that would repel them from this spot. If they manage to step across the border, they will spontaneously self-combust. It’s not pretty, and it’s an old spell, but it would effectively keep them from coming back.”

Fallon shrugged. “If you all are comfortable with that, we are. However, it won’t protect anyone who leaves the area.”

“The two new wolves aren’t likely to come back. They’ll find a new pack and maybe learn to be proper wolves. Boyd, well, if he’s brain-dead, there’s not much that can be done for him other than kill him.”

“Shit,” Roxy
cursed.

Trevor tipped her head up. “You wouldn’t have to be the one who does it.”

“I know.” She nodded, but then shook her head. “I wish I had killed him. Then it wouldn’t even be a conversation.”