Lunar Marked (Sky Brooks Series Book 4) (16 page)

The moment I entered the kitchen Ethan fixed me with a hard stare, his jaw clenched so tightly he could turn coal into diamonds. “Did you sleep well last night?” he asked.

“As good as could be expected,” I said, moving toward the plate of food. Ethan was a lot of things but a bad cook wasn’t one of them. I filled my plate with French toast, egg, steak and grabbed a yogurt from the refrigerator. “And you?”

Ethan shifted closer to me. The turbulence of his emotions filled the space between us and his predacious gaze remained planted on me. We stayed like that too long, a repeat of yesterday. He chewed on his words but refused to let them out and finally he turned and started out of the room. “Nothing is going on between me and Josh,” I said.

His shoulders relaxed and by the time he had turned to face me, the tension in his jaw had eased some. “I’m not a teenager,” I said, softly repeating his words from yesterday while looking over in his direction. Despite everything, there was still that hint of arrogance, and I just wanted to strip it away. I walked over to him and met his gaze with the same intensity. “Since you’re not one, shouldn’t you stop acting like one?”

The scowl was so firmly etched on his face that he had to work at relaxing it when Josh walked into the kitchen—dressed similarly to Ethan in a pair of boxers and nothing else. Neither one had bothered to comb their hair, the mussed bedhead didn’t take away from their appearance at all. Standing in the kitchen half-naked seemed like just another morning to them. For a brief moment, I couldn’t help but imagine what it was like for their mother, trying to wrangle two boys who clearly had an aversion to clothes into them every day. Something they carried into adulthood.

Returning to the food, I added some fruit to my plate and took a seat. “I didn’t know breakfast was so formal.”

E
than and Sebastian
both thought that Marcia was the likely culprit to have hired Sean and his crew, and like Sean she had disappeared, which made her guilt seem even more apparent. But while Sebastian and Ethan considered her disappearance evidence of her being dormant I didn’t hold such belief. I had a feeling she was plotting something bigger, more extravagant, and that made me nervous. As we drove to my home, I tried not to display the nervousness that I felt with each passing moment. Sitting next to Ethan I was reminded of it as the steady beat of his fingers against the steering wheel kept time with my heartbeat, which was racing. Since her hired help failed, I doubted she would outsource next time. I wasn’t safe. Even Josh’s strongest ward wouldn’t be a match for the five powerful witches of the Creed. Marcia was violent. She had derived great pleasure in gutting Ethan with shards of glass just to get me to give her the Aufero, and I’m sure she would do even worse to me.

“We can go back to the condo,” Ethan suggested as we neared my house, and I was grateful for the offer.

I nodded, and he turned around and started back toward it.

J
osh hadn’t said
a lot the entire trip, sitting in the backseat preoccupied by whatever was on his phone. He shuddered, his face becoming flushed, beads of perspiration forming along his brow. The turgid muscles of his neck protruded as his eyes eclipsed to night. He tensed again, closed his eyes, and whispered, evoking a spell. “Someone’s trying to break the ward at the retreat—” Before he could finish Ethan’s phone rang.

Sebastian’s rushed voice was on the other line telling him that he needed to get to the pack’s retreat home because it was under attack.

Neither Ethan nor Josh asked by whom. They assumed it was the Ares Pack in retaliation but I suspected it was Samuel. He had been gone for too long. It was only a matter of time before he attempted to get the third Clostra again. A fanatic with an agenda like him wouldn’t go away quietly. A world without magic was such a heavily held tenet, he would not rest until he had done everything he could to make it a reality.

* * *

I
expected
it to be a full onslaught attack but I wasn’t prepared for the number of were-animals that surrounded the house. Dismembered parts and lifeless bodies scattered over the open space, some so battered I barely recognized the faces and others I didn’t know because they were part of the other pack. The ground was tinted red and sodden with blood. How did Samuel get them to come over to his side? How did a man offering to divest them of the ability to change into their animal forms convince them to fight for him?

While I focused on the fighting outside, Ethan watched his brother with concern. Josh winced, beads of sweat pooled at his temple, his eyes shifting to that darkness as he did when he used stronger magic. “He’s breaking the blood ward.”

It was the strongest ward a witch could do and because it required them to be actively connected to it at all times, they were rarely done. He’d placed one on the pack’s retreat once we had the Clostra in our possession. And now Samuel was trying to get to them.

Ethan jumped out of the car, Josh close behind him. I scanned the area but didn’t see Samuel. We couldn’t let him get to them.

Nearly thirty members of the pack were trying to hold off a small army of were-animals. Steven, Gavin, and Dr. Jeremy were in animal form along with the others. Steven stood over the body of a disemboweled lynx and was baring his bloodstained teeth at an approaching wolf. The vicious massive tiger that showed no signs of being our pack’s mild-mannered physician took off after a retreating leopard that had realized it had lost the battle. Gavin coalesced with his panther whether in human or animal form; it was always present, making his transition to savage animal seamless. His black coat was sodden with blood, the bodies of several animals lying at his feet. Winter held her sword steady, prepared to engage as a small pack of wolves and a man started to approach the house.

Another man, who I hadn’t seen before, approached Sebastian who was still in human form. The man’s stocky build easily emulated that of an animal, I suspected he was a feline. His agile, graceful movements were quick and sharp and Sebastian watched his approach carefully. Within moments, it was a run as he charged at our Alpha. Sebastian lunged at him, and they hit the ground with a powerful impact.

A quick jab into his throat left the man gasping for air, and tears streamed down his face. A sharp thrust into his nose and his face became stained with the blood streaming from it. Unable to breathe or see, he wasn’t able to respond when Sebastian tossed him to the ground, then grabbed him, a hand on his head and chin. I looked away—seeing someone’s neck get broken is something you only need to experience once. I turned in time to dodge a hyena that lunged at me, hammering a front kick into his torso hard enough to send him back a few feet. He started for me again, and I shot another side kick into his jaw. I couldn’t let him near me, or he would be able to use his best weapons: his claws and his teeth.

He was about to charge at me again when a sharp pop barked through the commotion. I looked over in time to see a bullet slice through Sebastian. The impact sent him back; another shot went through his chest and he collapsed to the ground. Winter tried to get to him as she slashed her sword chaotically through air, cutting through anything in her path. Ethan also started toward Sebastian but another were-animal lunged at him and they crashed to the ground. Seconds later that animal lay on the ground, its head twisted at an odd angle away from its body. The attacks continued, preventing us from getting to Sebastian. The car door was still open so I jumped into it to check the glove compartment for a weapon while trying to keep the hyena away. As I kicked at its face, it clenched my ankle in its mouth but the positioning put it at a disadvantage and its grip faltered enough for me to yank it loose while hammering my fist into the side of its skull. Its withdrawal allowed me enough time to search the glove compartment. I knew there had to be a weapon of some kind in it. A hunter’s knife nearly fell out when I opened it. I had just grabbed it when the hyena jumped into the car, his teeth clamping down on my arm as he attempted to drag me out. I shoved the knife into his gut and twisted. It snarled and whimpered and I only had to twist a few more times before it released my arm. I lunged at it again, and forced it back until it gave up and took to the woods.

Scanning the area, I could see Winter heading toward Sebastian. Another shot whirled past her; it missed her but hit its intended target—Sebastian. He had stopped moving.

Winter’s scream rang out through the commotion, a bloodcurdling sorrowful wail. Although I knew things weren’t slowing down, it seemed like they did. Another shot punched through the ground barely missing his head. We all tried to get to Sebastian. Josh got to him first, his body covering his, and a protective field stretched out and covered them both. Sebastian was dead weight, solid muscle, and Josh struggled to lift him and position him in a way to move with him. Seconds later they were gone, a pool of blood left in his place. The animals retreated, running to get away. I wanted the shooter.

I ran in the direction from which the shots came. It was level, so the shooter wouldn’t be in a tree. I didn’t have to look long or hard. The piercing gaze stared at me from the woods, and a satisfied smile swept over his face as he turned and ran. Clenching the knife, I gave chase, following him into the thick bosk that was once our haven but now had been turned on us, camouflaging our enemies and cloaking them from sight. He darted around the trees, swiftly changing direction once in the middle of the thicket. It was too late when I realized I wasn’t chasing him; he was leading me somewhere. To someone.

The jackal stood between two large oaks. That odd aura of magic drifted off it, its eyes different than I remembered, and as it slowly padded toward me, it shed his animal form with the ease of a person taking off a shirt. The odd platinum hair was the same as before, the distinctive amethyst eyes fixed on me in a hard stare. And I would never forget the ominous smile that vowed torture and death if his demands weren’t met. Ethos.

I held the knife closer as he approached, ready to defend myself when he attacked. He was going to attack. I was sure of that. After all, I had stabbed him in the neck and left him for dead, and now Ethos was back.

We stood in silence just inches from each other; his relaxed appearance didn’t match the stern gaze. He opened his hand; a sword appeared and he held it casually at his side. “Derrick, please stay, I may need you to hold something for me if Ms. Brooks chooses to become unnecessarily violent.”

The violence was necessary. He may have just been responsible for killing Sebastian or at the very least had a big hand in it happening. Derrick didn’t understand, but I did. Once I was dead he would need another body to host Maya.

“Ms. Brooks, are we going to be civilized so that I can allow Derrick to leave?” he asked in a low, polite voice. I forgot he was a courteous psycho—the worst kind. Polite enough to ask if it was okay for him to kill you now or if you wanted to wait to enjoy the moment a bit longer. He was that kind of cruel.

I hesitated and dropped the hand with the knife to my side, making sure to keep a distance between us. His sword disappeared, which most would have considered a good thing, but as easy as it disappeared for him, he could make my knife disappear, too. Without the Aufero, I was magicless and needed to be near it to use it. Josh and I had estimated that I had a range of about fifty to sixty feet to have access to its magic.

“My little amphora, we meet again. You’ve been quite busy since we last met, haven’t you?”

“You seem to have been, too. After all, the not being dead part surely had to be rather time consuming,” I said with a forced smile.

He chuckled. “That glorious sense of humor. How often has it nearly gotten you killed?”

“I lost count.”

“
Hmm
. Well, this will be the only warning you get from me. I don’t care to hear it. The next one will cost you dearly.”

I guess I won’t be cutting the tension with a joke this time around.
“What do you want?”

“My desires haven’t changed. Now that I’ve seen what has become of the Midwest Pack, I see they are in need of guidance more than ever.”

It took everything in me to keep my eyes from rolling at the absurdity of his desires. Ethos wanted to be the “Lord of the Otherworld.” His words, not mine. Because the vampires and the pack were the most powerful, he wanted to acquire their allegiance first and force the others to concede to him. He failed, and it ended in an epic battle with me stabbing him in the neck and him trying to suffocate me with his magic. Ethan told me that Ethos was Maya’s brother. It seemed like he was trying to reunite with his sister.

Taking several large steps, he was just arm’s reach away from me, and I gripped the knife tighter.

“You are just full of surprises. I thought I had you when Marcia and I cursed you. I thought you’d be desperate enough that you would accept my help when I came to you. And once again, my little amphora rose to the occasion. How clever you have proven to be.” There was an amused expectant look on his face. Did he expect me to be flattered that a narcissistic psycho was blandishing me?