Fated for the Alphas: The Complete Collection (Nine Book Paranormal Romance Box Set) (57 page)

“You tell me. Do you think she’ll ever stop hounding you?”

“No.” Lia gazed at Magda. She couldn’t help but pity her. Magda had probably never known love in her life.

“Are you ready for this?” Magnus gripped his staff. “She’ll fight us, you know.”

Lia wasn’t ready. This wasn’t the same as bringing down a deer in flight, or killing an enemy in the heat of battle. This felt cold-blooded.

“We have to do this, Lia. If she could, she’d kill us both without hesitating.”

Unfortunately, Lia knew this to be true. “All right. I don’t have any magic, though. It waxes and wanes with the moon, and I’ve used mine up.”

“Time is of no consequence here. You can do whatever magic you please.”

Lia opened her hand, calling for a spark. It blossomed in her hand. Sighing, she closed her fist, extinguishing it.

“Tell me what to do.”

“It’s a simple matter of taking back the years she’s stolen.” He walked her through how to find them in Magda’s blood and draw them out. “Do you think you can handle that?”

“Give me a minute.” Lia pretended to think, but really she probed Magnus. She could feel the blood pulsing in his veins, singing with the joy of years. 152 had been natural. 587 had been stolen, and of those, 573 had passed. She licked her lips. He would be seeking more years soon. But from whom?

“I’m ready,” she said. It was time to get back to her pack.

The mage waved his hand, and Magda’s face crumpled. “Don’t do this, No Name.”

“That’s the last time you’ll call me that.” Like Magnus had taught her, Lia reached toward Magda. Her veins pulsed with stolen years. They reminded her lungs to swell, her heart to beat. They kept her bones from aching, her mind from dulling.

“Take them,” Magnus said.

Together, they stripped the years away from her. They seeped from her pores, gathering like a ghostly mist. Magda shrieked, falling to her knees. Her hair began to thin, then fall out. Her cheeks became sunken. Her skin grew desiccated, then began to flake away.

“Stop,” she cried, “I beg of you!”

The years kept coming, crowding them. Magda put her hands to the earth, held up by shaking arms.

“Don’t do this to me!” Her words came out in a wizened croak.

Her teeth fell out, dissolving as they hit the ground. Her face was a map of wrinkles. Lia wasn’t even sure if Magda could see them anymore, as her eyes had gone cloudy.

Finally, there were no more years to take.

Magda wheezed, collapsing in the dust. She was bald, shriveled, helpless. Her stolen years swirled thick in the air around them.

“Is she going to die?” Lia asked quietly.

“She has one more hour. Maybe.” Magnus swept his cloak aside. “Come. We’ll leave her to her coven.” With a word, he called back his time bubble.

There was sound in the world again. She sagged with relief. The feeling was short-lived, as she found herself in a circle of angry witches.

“Magda!” Hecuba cawed. “I told you No Name would destroy us!”

“That’s because you won’t leave me alone!” Lia shouted over the rising voices. “Leave me be, I don’t want to kill you!”

“And she will,” Magnus said. “This is your last chance.”

“You saw your fate,” Lia said to Hecuba. “But
you
can prevent it. Just go.”

The witches were silent. Hecuba looked over all of them with her sightless eyes.

“Even I can see that we have enough dead. We will go, No Name. Take care not to seek us out, or trouble us. I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

The crone nodded to the remaining witches. As one, they mounted their boughs and kicked off. Some of them carried the dead. Hecuba wrapped Magda in her robe. One bough carried the bodies of Mayella and Blanche. Perpetua clung to her bough with her remaining arm. The body of Bellerose was slumped behind her, an arrow through her throat.

Lia swallowed. The coven hadn’t been kind to her, but she never would have wished this upon them.

They soared over the trees and out of sight.

Across the meadow, Lia heard a snarl. Shade was sprinting toward them, his paws pounding the earth.

“Run!” Lia cried. All she could think about was getting back to the den. She was exhausted, though, and it seemed far away.

All the Twin River wolves who could rushed from the den, though some of them were looking ragged.

The pack was weak, but Shade’s allies had just flown away. For him, it was now or never.

Lia had to make sure it was never.

She reached her pack before Shade could catch her. Ronan and Kane stood in front of her, howling a challenge.

Shade snarled a response, urging his pack forward. They met with a clash.

Cougar fell, an arrow sticking from his leg. Ivy pounced on Razor, biting the back of his neck with such ferocity that Lia was sure he was the one who had wounded Clove.

Weevil gurgled a last howl, his blood seeping into the dirt at Dove’s paws.

Pike shifted. “That’s my brother!” Grabbing an ax, he tore after Dove.

Lia felt dizzy. She was so tired of blood, of battle, of death. Why couldn’t this be over?

Dove tripped over the body of Canker, and Pike brought down his ax.

“Dove!” Lia tried to call her magic, but it was gone again.

Lilah appeared beside Lia. Leaning back, she coolly aimed a spear at Pike. It ran him through, pinning him to the meadow. He scratched at the wood, gasping.

“How’s it going?” Lilah asked.

“I need to get to Dove.” Lia tried to keep from crying. Dove wasn’t moving, and she was bleeding from a shoulder wound.

“No, you don’t.” Lilah steered her away. “There’s about to be a volley of arrows…” They streaked past from the heights. “That’s them. They would have made you into a pincushion.”

“Fine. Can I go now?”

“Are you crazy? Leave her, she’ll be fine. Eventually.”

“It’ll be over soon, right?” Lia tried not to let Lilah hear her fear. “And everything will be fine as long as I stay away from Shade.”

Lilah narrowed her eyes. “Why do you think that?”

“You told me. Last night.”

“I told you that?” Lilah cursed. “I did, didn’t I. I really need to stop giving warnings. Every time I do, something horrible happens—”

“Lia!” Shade’s voice cut through the sounds of battle. “I have your friend, Lia. Surrender, or she dies.”

His hand was on Lark’s throat. She clawed at him, sputtering for air.

“Mom, don’t—”

Lia pushed her away. She wouldn’t let anything happen to Lark.

“Leave her alone, Shade!”

Lia sprinted forward. Lark fumbled at her belt, retrieving her knife. She slashed it across Shade’s jaw. He bellowed, letting her go. Lark dropped her knife, scrambling away as blood seeped from Shade’s cut.

Lark was safe, because Shade had turned to Lia. He was too fast for her. He grabbed her, holding Lark’s knife to her face. Lia was forced to stare at its wicked edge.

“You haven’t learned obedience yet,” he growled. “It’s time to make the lesson sink in.”

Shade spun her around, laughing. “Crossbones and Viper are holding up your Alphas. I have all the time in the world to decide where to stick you. Face?” He ran the blade over her cheek. “Breast? Thigh? I don’t want to ruin you for my future enjoyment, but I’d rather have a disfigured mate than a disobedient one.”

He pressed the knife to her neck. She could feel her veins pulse against it. He was really going to kill her. She closed her eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Shade whispered. “I’ll make sure it hurts.”

“This’ll hurt.” There was the sound of flesh meeting flesh.

Shade was reeling. From the looks of it, Lilah had kicked him in the face.

Kane howled, leaping over a gasping Viper. Lia’s heart soared. Everything was going to be okay.

Lilah reached out to her. “Let’s go. I’m not supposed to be here—”

Shade turned with a snarl, Lark’s knife in his hand. Kane was almost on him. Lia turned to warn him when Shade slashed Lilah across the belly.

“Oh no.” Lilah touched the wound, raising her reddened hand. “That’s a lot of blood.” She looked at Lia, then flickered out.

Kane smashed into Shade, sending him flying. The knife fell from his hands.

“All right!” Shade’s voice cut across the meadow. “Shadow pack, stand down. You win, Twin River. We’ll take our leave.”

Kane shifted. “Leave? You don’t get to leave.”

Lia let out a sob. Kane turned, alarmed, and Shade took the opportunity to run. The rest of his pack followed.

“Let them go,” Ronan said. “We’ll mop them up another day.” He gave orders for everyone to return to the den, then hurried over to Lia. “What’s wrong?”

Kane looked at the spot where Lilah had vanished. “Who was that?”

Lia couldn’t say. How could she tell them that Shade had just stabbed their daughter?

Ronan carried her into the den, holding her tight. He tried to take her up to his room, but Lia insisted on staying with Dove. She wanted to hear what Ivy had to say.

Flint was limping. Sequoia had been grazed by a witch’s spell. Even Ivy was letting one arm hang limp at her side, but she snapped at Kane when he suggested she get herself a sling before checking on Dove.

“Her arm’s been turned to mincemeat,” Ivy told Lia. “I’m going to make her some tea to help her sleep. Will you make sure she takes it?”

Lia nodded. Huck and Cricket had their own wounds to nurse.

She coaxed Dove to drink a few sips, trying not to think about how heavy their victory had been. She had lost Lilah, the daughter she hardly even knew. Maybe the grave wound could have been fixed by Ivy, but Lilah had gone too soon. She needed care within minutes. Instead, she’d probably bleed out alone.

Then there was Lizabeth, who could have been so much more. Absently, Lia rubbed at one of the bands on her arm. It itched, and the clay wouldn’t fall away. It seemed to have been scorched onto her skin since Lizabeth’s fiery hand grabbed her there. That was all that remained of what had once been her best friend.

Lia even felt strangely sad about Magda. Though she was unrelentingly awful, the crone had been a fixture of her childhood.

Once Dove had drunk all her tea, Lia climbed onto the heights. She looked over the meadow. Grasses had been burned and torn up. Arrows lay all around. So did bodies, since the Shadow pack had left their dead where they had fallen.

Lia sighed. She wished she had some magic left. She would use it to warm her heart.

She took a step back. Now that she was alone, she could feel something odd, deep inside her. A strange spark she had never felt before. It had a pulse to it, in harmony with her own.

Gasping, Lia leaned against the stone. New life bloomed within her.

She was going to have a babe.

Part Nine

Chapter One

The days slid by. Lia kept busy, changing bandages and bringing food and drink to the wounded. Once Ivy regained the use of her arm, she and Lia gathered herbs and beeswax and set to work making a salve. They labored over the fire until their arms ached and sweat poured down their backs, but Lia didn’t mind. Clove’s moan of relief when they rubbed the salve on her bruised head made it all worth it.

Though Lia or Ivy checked Dove once an hour, she never seemed to get any better. Her wounds festered. Ivy thought the ax might have been coated in something foul. At least Dove stayed mercifully unconscious, only stirring when they spread fresh salve on her fevered skin.

Thankfully, Kane and Ronan kept any questions about the end of the battle to themselves. Lia wasn’t sure if they had forgotten about the disappearing girl in all the work of cleaning up the field of battle, or if they were just waiting for her to tell them in her own time, but either way, she appreciated it. Lia threw herself into tending the wounded to keep from thinking about it too much.

Lark worked alongside her, pressing a cool cloth to Dove’s head. “Are you busy after this?”

Lia shook her head.

“Do you want to help me gather?”

“Sure. What are we gathering?”

Lark’s face was grim. “Kindling.”

Later that night, they stuffed sticks and twigs under the pyre that had been built for the wolves of the Shadow pack. Everyone gathered as Kane and Ronan lit it, watching the flames eat the dead.

Clove was there, one arm over Ivy’s steadying shoulder. They both glared at the pyre. Lia guessed that they weren’t pleased that Razor had escaped it.

There was a light touch on her shoulder. Lia turned to find Magnus there.

“Can I ask you something?” he murmured in her ear. “Who was that girl?”

“What girl?” she asked, though she knew who he meant. Maybe he would get the hint and drop it.

“The one who disappeared after Shade stabbed her—for a second, I thought that was you.”

She wasn’t ready to talk about it. “She was a friend.”

“A friend? That’s all?”

Lia shrugged.

“I wish you’d tell me,” Magnus said softly. “I can’t help you if you keep everything from me.”

He backed away, leaving her to watch the pyre. Lia stared at the flames, hoping desperately that no one else she loved would have to burn.

Dawn had barely broken when Lia knelt beside Dove’s cot. Not even Ivy was awake yet, but Lia couldn’t sleep. Dove turned fitfully as Lia changed her bandages. The sight of her wounds made Lia’s stomach turn. When would they heal? Six days had passed since the battle, and Dove was no better.

Lia rinsed her hands in a basin, trying to hold back tears. Dove healing wasn’t the only thing that should have happened by now. The knot in her stomach tightened with every passing day. If Lilah had survived the battle, she would have let Lia know by now… wouldn’t she?

“Awake already?” Magnus was behind her, leaning on his staff.

Lia motioned to Dove. “I have to take care of her.”

He frowned. “She has other friends, does she not?”

“She does. That doesn’t mean I won’t help her.”

Magnus pulled out an apple, peeling it with a knife. “I was hoping to teach you more of blood magic. Can you spare a few hours?”

Lia shook her head. “Dove’s not healing. I need to check on her every hour.”