Three’s a Clan (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Shelly

I fell out of step every time he tried to break through. Rick was hitting my metaphysical walls like an army with a battering ram. Trevor hadn’t even tried to make his way through.

Why was I more upset by the fact that Trevor hadn’t tried to violate my privacy? He was the one that obviously understood it was better for us to go our separate ways. He was the one who was going to make this easier on me.

What the hell was his problem?

“Shelly, get your shit together. Even I know that floorboard squeaks, and I have only been here twice.” Amber hissed the words low in my ear.

There was a sudden absence from Rick slamming against my defenses and it gave me time to rebuild my walls. I was in full lockdown as I started up the stairs. The noise I had already made was more than enough for Matheo Meyers to hear. He had to know we were coming. No point in pussyfooting around.

“Let’s go. It’s not necessary to sneak in anyway.” Amber, Mary and I had talked before we entered the building. This was a confrontation.

Every step seemed to have a spot that shifted beneath our weight. The vibrations echoed loudly through the house. The doors and windows to the front were shut. The Matheo was a stickler for soundproofing as a way to ensure privacy if a donor got out of hand. The noise out front was violent, but it felt like a far off event or something we were hearing from a television in another room. The noises from our feet and the shifting of the house hit harder.

Two flights of stairs and three doors down the hall, and I stood in front of the room I had entered many, many times over the years. This was where I’d gone over plans with the Matheo. I would report on supplies. We would discuss additions to the Family. I was an employee. Now I was a traitor. I couldn’t work up the emotion to feel badly about it in the least.

I opened the door. He heard me, but he kept his back to us. His eyes were on the violent scene outside. The ass didn’t even feel threatened enough to turn around.

“Somehow, I doubt you are here to reconcile, dear daughter.”

He was trying to put our relationship at the front. I’d been working on shutting off my feelings with everyone. The bastard in front of me didn’t rank near high enough to blip on my emotional Richter scale. This one was a cake walk.

“Well, Daddy, seeing as how you are trying to slaughter my mates with your zombie horde, yeah, that’s not really happening.”

That got him to turn around. I heard the wails of his army. He needed to concentrate to keep them fighting their best. The Matheo moved so he could keep an eye in both directions. He wasn’t as stoic now. His body took on the stillness I recognized as him building his power. “You felt our connection snap. You didn’t try and repair the damage. Your entire Family knows you are a traitor. Thank you for coming back and allowing me to set that up. It saves me the trouble of explaining your death.”

Some men would pause at killing a woman, especially one he’d fathered. It wouldn’t stop a man like my sire.

But I knew something. I knew none of my Family were on those front lines. “None of them would stay and fight would they?”

His oily smile slipped.

“None of them?” Mary asked.

I didn’t bother looking at her. I knew she was backing me.

“The Family my Matheo leads now, they wouldn’t want to work with something as tainted as a hybrid, would they, father?”

Any hint of pleasure was gone from Matheo Meyers. He practically vibrated with fury over being called out at his failing.

“The Family wasn’t ready for my vision. After our victory here, they will understand. They will return.”

Amber spoke from behind me. “It’s too bad you’re not going to win.”

We moved into position before him. I stood in front, flanked behind by Amber and Mary. I was within reaching distance when I folded my hands behind my back, and flashed a fast smile. He built his power further and I could hear more cries from his hybrids as he diverted attention again. Our plan was working.

I couldn’t resist the chance to remind him, “Guess you don’t care about any of your children.”

Amber grabbed my wrist, her palm pressed against my pulse. I wished I had fed. I hoped what I had in my system was enough. Amber was ready. Mary stood tall, taking her new power and meshing it with her old.

His gaze darted back and forth. The howls of pain were getting louder on both sides. The hybrids were strong. Amber’s arm spasmed before she steeled herself again. Then the loudest shout came from her.

“I cared about him.” The Matheo pointed to the window when Jake yelled again. “It was another reason to keep you alive. You drew him back for me. It was the only way to find him. Thank you.”

I reached inside myself. I grabbed hold of that feeling I had when I needed to get away from everything awful. All that pain that I never let myself feel bubbled up, and I drew the circle around us. I felt the barrier seal us in. The cries from outside grew as I blocked the Matheo off from the rest of the world.

Amber grinned at me, feral, but I didn’t have time to analyze it. I had to concentrate. He was fighting against me. I wouldn’t be able to hold him for long.

“Wow, would you listen to them screaming?” Amber peeked out the window next to where the Matheo was pounding against my barrier. She pointed. “That’s your son breaking their legs. I can hear the bones. If I weren’t so damn hungry all the time, I might be a bit sick. But it kinda of makes me want chicken. Does that make me weird?”

The Matheo stopped beating on my circle and his eyes began to flash. He couldn’t dazzle her, but he was trying everything to break his confines. I could feel his power, and as it zeroed in on Amber, I felt the immediate relief of not being his primary focus.

“No,” Mary said. “Your eyes make you weird. The cravings push you over the edge into fucking crazy.”

Amber shrugged. “At least I have a mate that likes crazy. Too bad you can’t compel us, huh pops?”

Frustration tugged his mouth into a tight line, and rage sent his fangs lengthening against tight lips. He ground out his words barely moving his mouth.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance. Those eyes. I knew—”

“About the prophecy?” He lost concentration again as he focused on Mary, and Amber breathed heavy against his mental onslaught.

“Weren’t you human a few months ago? Weak. I see why you hide behind my daughter. At least with you here, she has someone she has to protect. She must need it since she betrayed her own and ran like a coward.” He turned back to me and I widened my stance to keep myself from falling over. “Do you realize that the rest of your Family is out in search of you right now? They are going to take back their miasma. They know you’ve betrayed them. Coming home to find me here will just prove to them you’ve betrayed your maker.”

“He’s lying.” Mary said. “I’m in. He sent them away, but he doesn’t know for sure who they would believe. He was worried they would fight with you. That’s why only his hybrids are fighting.”

Most of the group I protected was not worth a salt to me, but despite my best efforts there were a few who had insinuated themselves in my soul. At least those few weren’t out there fighting. Small consolations.

“Get out of my head, witch.” The Matheo rolled his shoulders and lifted his eyes to focus fully on Mary.

She flew backwards and hit the edge of my circle. My force field wavered and a hum began around it. I couldn’t hear anything outside of the four of us.

“Are you okay, Mary?” Amber called out for her, but she didn’t move toward her friend. Every cell in her body, and the small being inside her, paid attention to the Matheo.

“He’s too strong for me to take total control. His will is too strong.” Mary made herself stand. If the bruising under her eyes and the bit of blood that began to drip from her nose were any indication, she couldn’t take many more hits like that. I damn sure couldn’t hold this whole circle through much more.

“Hey, head vampire dude. You know what happens when you push girls?” Amber called to him, and high on his upper hand, the Matheo smirked.

“You can tell me before you die, if you like.”

“They push back.” Amber stepped forward and her eyes began to strobe. Gold, silver, white, the colors were so bright I almost felt my will bend toward her.

I closed my eyes and did something I never thought I would do. I let someone else protect me. No, that wasn’t right. I wasn’t letting her take over—I was standing tall and doing what I needed to. I wondered how many of the hybrids were dead. I wondered if any of our wolves were dead. The circle wavered for a moment as I thought of my mates, but I couldn’t push it away this time. I needed that emotion. It was longing, pain, love. I cried, but the circle hummed louder as I held it strong now.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Amber spoke with that harmonic tone that came with compelling another being.

I was about to remind her it wouldn’t work on someone as powerful as the Matheo, but before I could, I heard him say, “I shall not leave.”

“I’ve got him, Amber. Keep him still.” Mary’s voice was strained.

“You can’t form complete thoughts. You can’t use your power as leader of this Family. Your power is ours now.”

Our thoughts were shared. We weren’t on our own. We weren’t three. We were all.

The words belonged to us. Inside our head, and came from us and every witch that was fighting with us. One surge of power. One heady rush of force pushed forward, and we didn’t need to be touching any more. The words were spoken to me, by me, and were a united force that only we could hear.

The time is now. The time is ours. The power will shift.

The buzz of the circle grew louder, the power would have knocked any breath I needed from my lungs. I connected with everyone inside the circle, and the scream became my whole world. Pain blazed inside my head and every part of me knew this was the end of the world as we knew it. Mary pushed us out, along with every blood vessel inside the Matheo’s damaged brain. Then nothing could have been more oppressive than the silence. The force of the explosion knocked me back and I couldn’t hold onto the circle any longer.

I opened my eyes and was glad to be in my house. I needed a change of clothes and a long shower.

“There has got to be a cleaner way for you to do that.”

Mary helped Amber to her feet. “I might have been a little forceful, but feeling his head explode after what he did to Kari, after what he did to all of those witches…” Mary’s eyes turned to me.

I got the feeling if she could have gotten inside my head that second, she would have. Luckily, the Matheo had sapped her reserves.

Thank gods for small fucking favors. She would have seen what a mess I was. More than she already could. I was almost grateful for the brain matter all over my face. It let me wipe away the tears without giving that part of myself to her. I couldn’t give that much of myself to anyone. Then I really would be giving up the control.

Control was the only thing I had left.

“I could go for a rabbit about now.” Leave it to Amber.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Trevor

“Stop!” I ran from man to man, wolf to wolf, and tried to end the attack. Richard had called for them to cease as soon as he saw it too, but it was difficult to pull back so much adrenaline.

The hybrids just started dropping. Their eyes lost the glaze. They weren’t being compelled any longer. We were attacking them while they were trying to figure out why they were fighting in the first place.

The sounds began to settle. The group of combatants all tried to use the magic that throbbed around them to heal the massive wounds rampant on both sides of the battle lines.

“They did it.” Jake pushed through and ran for the front door. The Pack watched him go. Rick began to walk around. I felt the Pack grow. All these hybrids were talking to him. They were realizing they were being saved. Meeting the man that orchestrated your freedom brought about serious loyalty.

I followed Jake. I should have stayed with my Alpha and helped the injured, but I knew something serious happened in there.

The heavy front door rebounded off the wall like a flimsy metal screen. Jake ran for the stairs. He took them three at a time. So did I. As the front door slammed shut, the outside world hushed. When the smell of blood flooded my senses, my relief that it wasn’t Shelly’s made the ground shake beneath my feet.

There was a lot of blood. The room we entered was painted with death. Craig’s gasp for air behind me drew my eyes to the floor. Amber, Mary and Shelly all sat on the floor. Hands joined. Covered in the remnants of the Matheo’s head. Looked like Mary hadn’t lost her touch. No one moved.

“It’s my father.” Jake confirmed.

The Matheo’s body was on the floor with a neck that looked like it had met with the wrong end of a stick of dynamite.

“We can take care of the body,” I told Jake.

“We’ll burn it,” was all he said.

“Let’s grab the girls first, and get them cleaned up.” I started for the three of them, and got within a few feet before I saw it. I grabbed Jake’s arm and pressed my forearm against Craig’s chest to stop his momentum.

“What’s the deal, Doc?” Craig asked.

I put my hand forward, but I wasn’t surprised when the force of their circle stopped me. My hand dropped to my thigh and I crouched to watch them as closely as the barrier allowed. Mary’s chest raised with her breath and Amber’s belly fluttered with the little life inside her. They were okay. We just had to wait. I didn’t bother getting back up to address the other men. I wasn’t going anywhere until I saw Shelly’s eyes open again.

“We aren’t part of the circle. They’re alive, but they obviously have something else they need to do over there that we are not privy to. You should go help with the others outside.”

I heard the noises the other men made as they took the body down the stairs. Seeing the Matheo reduced to a lifeless lump was a damn satisfying end to the day. Almost as satisfying as it would be holding Shelly in my arms when she came out of this trance.

A heavy
thunk
to my left and a controlled descent to my right put a grin on my face. These two men sat next to me and we would support each other. Even though we weren’t Pack.

“I think we’ve done enough of what we should by now, Doc. Don’t you?” Craig wiped his hands on his pants and settled in to wait for his mate.

“It may take time for them to come out of this,” Jake reminded us. “Will Alpha Paulson be okay handling the hybrids by himself?”

I couldn’t reach Rick. Something he’d done had him blocking himself off from me with walls I couldn’t even start to break through. Even with his emotional armor in place, my Alpha had the strength of fifty wolves. He would be fine.

“All I know is I am staying here.”

Jake nodded. “As are we.”

Then we waited.