Page 23 of Beginnings

The sweet, metallic scent of Ember’s blood was all I could smell. I rattled the bars, bellowing from the base of my lungs. My chest squeezed, an adrenaline surge lending me strength. Dust fell from the concrete surrounding the bars. Opposite me, Rawson raised his head, then shook it as if trying to clear his vision.

Ember shuffled away from Vice, who thrashed his arms and staggered about.

Ember felt her throat, where her blood still flowed. Her fingers turned slick and red, but her touch cauterised the wound enough that it stopped bleeding. She snarled and kicked the burning man to the ground. Agonised screams erupted from his mouth.

“That’s right! Burn you fucker!” I yelled.

Ember’s beautiful red hair swung over her shoulder as she twisted to her feet. She cocked her head and touched the silver collar until it glowed brightly. It fell away, melted by the heat. Reaching down, she picked up Vice’s knife with her uninjured arm. “Nice blade,” she commented coldly, and thrust it through the flames straight into his heart. “I really should have let you suffer, you evil fuck, but I need those keys.” She knelt down and unclipped a glowing-hot bunch of keys from Vice’s waistband. At the same time an alarm began to blare out in the building above. The smoke had drifted up through the open door.

“Shit.” She ran to me. Blood had dripped down her neck soaking the collar of her vest top.

She tried to find a key that looked like it might fit my cell, but she was shaking and using one hand. They fell from her grip and clattered to the ground. “Sorry.” Her eyes darted to mine. “My-my fire...she’s gone.”

“Hey.” I reached through the bars and touched her cheek before she could kneel down to pick them up, then yanked my hand back when I noticed I was covered in blood. I wouldn’t touch her with Perversion’s blood contaminating my skin. “It’s okay. You did amazing, Firecracker. Now let me help. Give me the keys.” My eyes drifted to the cauterised wound on her neck. I swallowed hard, wanting badly to heal her. My wolf rumbled in agreement. “And use your wolf to heal your shoulder.”

She swallowed and nodded, but I suspected she was too weak to heal herself. With her right hand she scooped the keys from the floor, trying to hide her wince. I took the keys, and within moments, I was free. Her emerald gaze searched my face as if she couldn’t believe I was in front of her. “They told us you died.” Her voice broke. I cursed Doherty for the pain he’d caused my family. Careful of her injuries, I pulled her into my arms. “No, Firecracker, I didn’t,” I whispered into her hair. “And even if I did, I’d somehow find my way back to you.”

“Hey! That’s nice and all, but get me the fuck out of here!” Owen roared.

I pulled back. She stared up at me, her face softening. Without any hesitation I kissed her. It was a mere brush of my lips over hers, but heat seared my chest. A strange energy sizzled over my skin, combining with my own, and stirred my wolf into a frenzy. A small whimper fell from her lips. I smiled as she leaned closer, her lips parted, and her eyes closed. I ignored the baying of my friend and kissed her again, deeper this time. She was my mate, she was alive and she was amazing; unlike anyone I’d ever met; a storm of fury and power just waiting to erupt. Heat seared through my chest. I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but my eyes burned, my whole body shaking and my knees trembling as I held her in my arms.

“Hey!” yelled Owen again, banging his cell bars.

I released a heavy breath, staring at Ember’s wide eyes and pale face when I pulled away. I couldn’t resist dropping another kiss on her swollen lips. “Don’t go anywhere,” I whispered against her mouth. I turned away from her and unlocked Rawson’s cell, then Owen’s. I eyed the other cells, then looked back at Rawson’s ruined body. He needed help. Fighting my urge to keep Ember by my side, I held the keys out to her. “I know you’re hurt, but can you free them while we get Rawson up? I’ll put your shoulder back in once they’re out.”

Without hesitation, she took the keys and nodded.

Owen helped me haul Rawson up. Once on his feet, he groaned, but pushed us away; swaying, though he managed to stay up right. How, I had no idea. His face was badly damaged and his eyes...Jesus… The bleak look in them was something I’d never forget.

“Can you walk?” I held back, keeping my distance out of respect for him. He was a strong alpha who would never admit to any weakness. I pressed my lips into a tight line. But it wasn’t just his body that was broken; it was his mind and spirit, and until he healed I’d be his strength, even if he didn’t want it.

His eyes shifted to the burned and ravaged corpses of his captors. His eyes darkened as his bear fought for release against the collar. I could see his skin burn beneath it. I narrowed my eyes studying his features. Rawson was normally objective and the strongest shifter I knew—as strong as me—but he had lost his soul mate, been beaten and imprisoned all in one night. He was not thinking straight. If he lost control, we were all at risk. And once we figured out how to get the collars off, an injured and grieving bear would not be easy to subdue, not even for so many alphas. He nodded and peered at me through his swollen eyes. “I can. And I want Doherty’s blood, not any of yours.” His nostrils flared and his gaze met mine as if he had read my thoughts.

The door at the top of the stairs swung shut with a loud slam. It clicked, locking us in.

Owen swung his head to the noise. “Damn! Those fire alarms have closed it.”

Ember had worked her way down one side of the corridor, opening the cells, and then back up the other. Walker gave her his dead eyed stare and she halted in front of him. “I know what you are, and if you try and hurt anyone, especially Connor, I’ll shove fire so far down your throat, there will be nothing but dust left.”

Heat slammed through me, warming the coldest reaches of my heart as I grasped that she would protect me as fiercely as I would her. I didn’t bother to hide the lust her words ignited inside me and fixed my heated stare on her face.

She soon noticed. “Stop looking at me like that.”

I smirked.

Walker stepped out of his cell, giving the iron bars a wide berth. He prowled up to her, and even at only five feet four inches, my Firecracker didn’t give an inch. The fae wasn’t stacked with muscle like me, but moved with a beautiful grace that spoke of hidden power and speed. Maybe all fae moved like him. I didn’t know. The only ones I’d ever seen before I’d been required to kill, which I generally did from a distance with a weapon that fired iron bullets.

Ember’s eyes flashed with warning, but Walker just tilted his head. Then he did the damnedest thing—he bowed—low. Like some kind of ancient knight. “Thank you. I owe you a debt.” He stood tall, and turned to me. “Both of you.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. Fae did not put themselves in debt to others easily.

Walker’s clothes were caked in grime and dirt, but it didn’t hide how well made and expensive they were. He wore a heavily embroidered silk shirt, leather trousers and knee high boots. No weapons. By all accounts, he looked expensively dressed- as if he’d just stepped out of the pages of some historical romance novel—that was until you looked in his eyes and a predator stared back at you.

He moved his hand, and something in me went on alert. Jumping in front of Ember, I snarled into the fae’s face. At six foot five, we seemed evenly matched. I still had that damn collar on, but my hands were weapons enough, as Perversion had found out. “Don’t touch her.”

Walker blinked but was otherwise totally unaffected by my protective reaction or the threat in my voice.

“I can heal your mate.” He looked around my shoulder and down at Ember, who tutted and shoved me sideways.

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