Wild Hearts (Blood & Judgment #1) (6 page)

“You are in my home,” he says stiffly. “Courtesy, Ember.”

“Fine, next time I’ll ask your permission, shall I?” I snarl at him, wishing he would go away and leave me to sort through my vision flashes.

“At least ask if I want to join in,” he says with a slight twinkle in his eye.

“It was just a fuck.” I tell him what he wants to hear. “No big deal.” Which, while I have to say that
is
all it was, there is something about that man that intrigues me.

“Well, I won’t be inviting him back, if that’s what you are hoping,” he responds.

“So not,” I say and push him off the bed. “Go now and sleep. And be careful on your way back to your bedroom… I wouldn’t want your ass fried from all the bastard windows you have in this place.”

“Ah, she does care,” Simon says, putting his hand over his heart.

“Humph,” I mutter and turn my back to him and feign sleep so he will leave.

Thankfully he does and I creep out of bed. I need to wash the stink of warlock off me that is mixing in with the sweat from my vision. One thing has become clear to me, I think, as I make my way to the shower. My partner in this, or at least one of them, is a shifter, a wolf shifter, and not just any wolf.

“She leads them,” I mutter out loud.

Wolves live in packs and packs of shifter-wolves live all together in one big happy family unit. That thought makes me shudder. Not only am I alone because I am on the run, but because I am a loner by nature. I was happier as a child to sit in my room at home and read a book, than to make friends and have play dates. That was, of course, before dear, old dad decided to
try
and make me do his bidding. The thought of having all of those creatures crawling all over one another is a very unpleasant one. However, it does make this a bit easier. They would need a place big enough to house them all. A large compound of some sort. And I’d be willing to bet my last dollar that there aren’t too many of those around here.

I am pleased with my findings; grateful that something came out of the axe-in-the-head agony and following nausea, before I am once again struck down by what feels like a bolt of lightning all the way from
Zeus
himself.

“Christ,” I growl as I again find myself on my hands and knees.

I close my eyes tight against the pain and I feel a flash of fear, before I see the woman, Aria Heart, I now know she is called.

I give a rictus grin because this vision has told me what I want to know.

I know exactly where she is.

Chapter 5

~Aria~

“You’re sure?” Carter asks me down the line.

I kick the steel gate closed with a burst of wolf strength and stride through the courtyard of the compound. A twenty-foot-high chain link fence protects the ugly, two-story, concrete structure within. It’s a former prison. It’s perfect for our needs, though. We converted the cells into bedrooms for each member of the pack. There’s a huge mess hall where we all gather to eat. There’s even a surveillance room that was non-operational and offline when we first moved in six months ago, which we restored to full working order. It’s provided us with great surveillance capabilities and I use the PA system to issue daily commands to the entire pack. It’s been very useful.

And now all that’s gone.

After I left Tony’s place, I reached out to some of my other contacts and managed to find another safe house. A large log cabin hidden in the valley of the Cormon Mountains, a good couple of hundred miles from here. The terrain around there is difficult and treacherous. For humans. Not a problem for wolves, though.

Carter’s just called me to confirm they’ve reached the new location. He’s settling them in right now.

I won’t head there until tomorrow, though.

I had to come back here to calm the hell down.

After my confrontation with Tony, I need the alone time to quell the threat of the wolf rising to the surface again. So much for using him to take away the heat there. He screwed that up by challenging me.

“Aria?” Carter presses.

“Yeah?”

“I asked if you’re sure about Tony having eyes on you.”

“Of course, I’m sure.”

“Your senses are more finely attuned than any other wolf. How would you not sense his spies?”

I blow out a frustrated breath. Isn’t it obvious? “Magic. He must be using a witch to mask his wolves’ scents from me.”

“You think he’s followed the pack to our new location?” he asks, worriedly.

“No. I think he’s consistent with his fixations.”

“His
obsession
with you.”

“Yes. He has eyes on
me
, not the pack.”

“What happened tonight? Did he threaten you?”

“He tried to claim me.”

He hesitates down the line, which means he has something to say that he knows I won’t like.

“What? Just spit it out, Carter.”

“It’s just…you are unmated, despite your age. Any physical interaction with a male wolf at this point is…trying for said male. It will automatically awaken his instincts to claim, to mate.”

“Please. Tony isn’t a new wolf. He has self-control. He’s just choosing not to use it, because he wants power. Mating with me would give him that. These are just the actions of a megalomaniac, not from the desire to claim a mate.”

“Are you sure you’re okay staying alone at the compound tonight? If you’ve incurred his wrath—”

“He needs to worry that he’s incurred
mine
!” I growl.

This conversation is getting under my skin and I really don’t want to snap at Carter. He’s not only my second-in-command, he’s the closest thing I have to an actual friend. He’s had my back since my father’s death six months ago.

“I’ll be fine,” I force myself to say, as softly as I can manage. “Worry about settling in the pack. I’ll see you soon.”

We hang up and I pocket my phone as I reach the door of the compound. It’s a huge titanium thing, intimidating to unwelcome visitors. I punch in the eight-digit access code on the keypad. It emits a high-pitched beep that my wolf hearing cringes at and it screeches open slowly, one inch at a time. I step inside and it closes behind me, locking itself automatically.

All this talk of mating and male wolves’ expectations has me pissed off.

I know that it’s the way Carter has been raised and he’s only telling me what he knows to be true.

But it’s not
my
truth.

Unfortunately, it
is
the way that all wolves see things.

Alpha wolves are almost always male. Female wolves are little more than arm candy and a means to bear children. It’s been that way through the ages.

At twenty-five, I’m considered way beyond the acceptable age of being mated. The average female wolf is mated when she reaches the age of maturity. Eighteen. So, me still being single at my age is frowned upon and considered bad practice.

It’s archaic, is what it is.

Wolf law claims that the ‘rule’ is for the good of a pack. Weaker females must be mated with the supposedly stronger males as a means of protection
and
to also begin spawning baby wolves to continue on the bloodline.

Screw that bullshit to hell and back.

I’m no ordinary wolf.

I am stronger than any other wolf in existence.

My father purposely kept me away from male wolves when I reached the age of maturity. He went to great lengths. He knew I wasn’t a
normal
wolf. He even warned me that the likelihood of a male wolf being able to survive the mating ritual with a wolf as powerful as me was very slim. It could very well kill them. He raised me to believe in my own strength and power, always telling me that I didn’t need a male wolf to make me stronger like the other females did. I was different. A leader in my own right. An
Alpha
beyond any that had ever come before.

That’s exactly what I am and I won’t bow down to any of this mating pressure.

But I’m not a fool. What happened with Tony tonight will have consequences. An Alpha wolf like him won’t take kindly to my rejection
or
to me kicking his ass. I have no doubt that he’ll try to come at me.

God help him if he does, because he won’t be walking away.

Bring it, bitch! I’ll show you what I’m really made of.

No
one fucks with me and gets away with it. If the pack wasn’t my priority and if we weren’t on the run, I would finish it now with him. But I can’t risk waging a war against him. It would expose me and, by extension, the pack. I can’t allow that. They’re my responsibility.

I draw in a breath in an effort to calm myself, as I reach the door to my room. I turn the knob and step inside to the near-empty space. A small cot for a bed, a window overlooking the courtyard below and two of my black duffel bags make up the entirety of everything within the room. I reach for one of the duffel bags—the one with the clothes in it. The other is full to the brim with weapons. It’s my portable armory. But I stop myself. I can’t be bothered to change. The strain of holding the wolf at bay for the last few hours amid three bouts of extreme violence—the bikers, Vicki and Tony—has left me feeling absolutely exhausted.

I crawl onto my bed.

As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out.

Chapter 6

~Aria~

The air is rancid.

Fire and death everywhere.

The stench of burning flesh. Their screams piercing through the eerie stillness of our decimated campsite. Too much. It’s all too much. It’s all I can do to stop myself from retching.

The thick smoke is drawing too much oxygen from the air, making it a struggle just to breathe.

I’m fighting to center myself. To get a hold of myself.

I can hear my father calling to me, begging me to leave with the others he’s evacuated. The few who haven’t already perished.

It’s just him and me.

He wants me to run. Wants me to leave.

But I won’t.

I can’t leave my father here to die.

He doesn’t want them to see what I really am.

They would never stop coming for me.

Right now they have no idea. Our wolf camp is just another victory to them. More wolves they’ve stomped out of existence.

“Aria!”

My father’s mammoth form stands in front of me. All height and muscle. Power and intimidation. His eyes are on fire with the sign of a coming shift. He’s seconds away from wolfing out.

“Run. Now. I will hold them off long enough for you to escape.”

I shake my head, tears stinging my eyes. “No. I won’t let you die.”

“That is not for you to decide. My fate is my choice, sweetheart. Now, leave. The pack needs you. You are their leader. Their Alpha.”

“Father—”

“You have more to do! Tonight is not your time to die!” he bellows at me. “Go! Now!”

When I still don’t move, he wolfs out. A mass of dark brown fur and glistening teeth fills my vision.

He swipes his paw at me, catching me off guard.

I hurtle back several feet, just shy of the concealment provided by the surrounding forest, and land hard on my back. The back of my head smacks painfully against the hard earth and it disorientates me for a few moments.

Groaning, I roll onto my side.

I take in the sight of our camp. It’s been our happy home for the last two years.

Until tonight. Until they found us.

Now it’s nothing but ash.

Rage rises within me as I watch a wall of gold form a semi-circle at the entry to the camp. Ten of them in total. They stand identically, impossible to tell apart, with their golden armor and their death-dealing swords. They call them Swords of Judgment. Made from pure silver and infused with a golden substance found only in their realm, they burn like a bitch when they strike one of our kind. They condemn the Tainted
with them. That’s what they call my kind. Vampires and witches, too. To them we’re impure supernatural beings. To us, they are monsters. Evil warriors. Their swords aren’t the only thing to worry about either. Some of them don’t always use their swords. They use their black magic if the situation warrants it.

They close in around one of the camper vans.

And that’s when he emerges.

My father.

In wolf form, he prowls around the side of the camper van, coming into full view of the semi-circle of them before him.

The ten soldiers step forward in unison.

My father lets out a primal, throaty roar.

And then they advance on him.

I’m burning from the inside out now. My wolf is fighting desperately to break free. The rage coursing through me, coupled with the terror of seeing my father in mortal danger, has me losing my grip.