Branches for Cover: Legends of Kake Book 1 Page 3

  “Here are my terms,” he started in that grim, dead voice.

  My head burst forward in lightning speed, pain exploding on my forehead as it made contact with his nose. A crack, a guttural, resounding shout, and I was up and over the man’s hulking, folded form as he held his broken nose. I got as far as the door.

  My legs were pulled out from under me, and I turned my head to avoid another forehead wound. My ear and jaw smacked the ground, and I felt my magic rise in me, the aching need to shift, to emit power. The shift refused, and I refused to pull my magic back out. I knew this man wouldn’t kill me. He said himself he wanted answers, and knowing he was with Casey meant he wanted to return me to him.

  I was dragged across the floor and pulled up by my hair. Pain shot through my scalp, cascading like branches of lightning down my face and neck. I should have shaved it after all.

  I was hauled up and thrown over his shoulder, and before I knew it, the cold wind whipped over my bare skin, up my spine, and against the scalp that still prickled smartly in suffering.

  With one hand he held my hair, his harsh breath in my ear as he ran through the woods. His other arm wrapped around the back of my legs, just under my ass, his right hand clenching brutally around my right thigh. My arms were still secured behind my back.

  I could have used my magic at this point, but I was afraid. There was more to be afraid of discovering me than Casey. There was more in these silent woods that brought fear in the hearts of men and shifters alike. Ones that were drawn to the magic. I didn’t want to release yet another monster onto me at the moment.

  Pine needles and woodsmoke became pungent, to the point that I wrinkled my nose against the scent, hormones making scents stronger.

  Then we stopped. A kick to a door, and we were inside. The smell of pine needles and woodsmoke still there but accompanying softer notes of clean linen and musk.

  I was deposited onto something soft, springing me up and bouncing me a few times before I stilled.

  The man had left, not even bothering to watch me, yet I still heard the hard thud of his boots on the wooden floor.

  I looked around, only my enhanced sight and the veiled moonlight shining into the room allowing me to see. A bed. I was on a bed, white sheets and a gray quilt under me. A nightstand, a candle, a pile of clothes, and a window. That was it. The door open, I peered out into the rest of the cabin. Where was this? He’d been walking in my forest, on my land. Where the hell had this cabin been? I’d never seen it. Of course, I’d never bothered to go this far on the land, either.

  When he returned, he carried a chair, turned it and placed it with a sharp smack next to the bed, then sat, leaning forward. The blood was cleaned from his face, but his nose was a mess of mottled bruises and swelling.

  “Fix my nose,” was the first thing he said.

  I laughed, the sound shrill and crazed. “No.”

  His claws were back, threatening, though his tone remained calm. “I could rip that ripe body to shreds, lass. It would take nearly nothing to do it.” I knew he would do it.

  I bit my cheek. “If I do this, I risk bringing unfamiliar creatures here. I already used my magic last night. I shouldn’t—”

  He scoffed and leaned closer, the claws so close to my face that I tilted my head out of the way, showing weakness. “This is beginner witching from what I’ve learned. It won’t take very much magic at all.”

  He was sort of correct, although my particular brand of magic wasn’t anywhere near ‘beginner.’ It also wasn’t even on the charts of what I would call “witching.” Instead of regular witching—spells, potions, broomsticks, etc.—it was more...Baba Yaga level. In its winding, dark, natural-born place it took up inside of me, my witching was a bottomless crater of sooty, raw power. Think chicken feet on hut, not striped stockings under cottage. More decrepit crone with a dead baby, less young heroine with a wand. Not that I used my power for dark things. In fact, I took great pains to not use it at all...until recently.

  I swallowed, then raised my arm toward his face. He dug his claws lightly into the side of my neck, a warning that if I did anything but heal him, he’d kill me.

  I released a thread of magic, one that felt like growth and vernal, fresh flowers bursting from dark soil.

  His nose transformed—the bruises fading, the swelling going down. A crack and a slight wince, and it was straight again, or at least as straight as it had been before, which wasn’t perfect, but at least it was no longer bruised or swollen. I couldn’t heal his scars.

  I glared at him as he touched his nose lightly, appearing satisfied. But his claws remained on my neck as he licked his lower lip slowly. Despite everything, my inner muscles clenched again in preparation for mating. Just from seeing an abusive, insane stranger lick his lip. It was like being drunk, this Blood Moon effect. I was myself, but not quite. So, when he finally spoke again, I was caught off guard.

  “First question. Why did you curse our pack?”

  Chapter 4

  The Bear

  I blinked at him, warring with thoughts. This man was a Bear shifter; how was he a part of Casey’s pack? Casey’s pack, my former pack. Unless for some reason Casey took him in—which wouldn’t surprise me. This man had raw strength that was hard to deny, and Casey liked to use that to his advantage. I sighed.

  “Casey’s pack isn’t cursed just because I’m not there to birth his pups. He can find another female, one less dominant. This magic is a curse, truth be told. He must understand that I cannot pass this onto anyone, even if I wanted to mate with Casey.”

  The man stared at me, unmoving. “Who is Casey?”

  We were at a standstill as my mind blanked, utter confusion tearing through me. What was going on?

  “Who are you?” I finally asked, something I probably should have asked when he first broke into my house.

  He growled, standing to lean over me. “Don’t play with me, witch.”

  My breath quickened at his proximity, as much from the danger as his scent and warmth driving my near-Blood Moon body insane. The mixture of fury, arousal, and fear was making my stomach swirl. I was going to be sick soon. “I don’t know who you are. I have no memory of cursing a pack of Bears.”

  He grabbed my chin in pinching fingers, making my bones underneath ache. “If you lie to me, I hurt you. You understand?” His voice was calm, cold. It made his words that much more troubling.

  While I could fight, it wouldn’t help my cause. It wouldn’t make this Bear go away. He’d best me, force me to heal him, and the magic would lure things that would make it hard even for this man to fight. I met his eyes, baring myself emotionally. Showing him the truth, my eye’s windows. “I am not lying to you. If I cursed anyone’s pack, I have absolutely no recollection of it. Why do you think it was me?”

  He heaved in a breath and threw me back on the pillows. I slowly sat up, cursing the fool silently. He paced, his boots thudding incessantly at his quick strides. “There are no Wolf Witches left, save you. You are it. Am I wrong?”

  My stomach sank. He already knew what I was. There was no use pretending. “I am the last, as far as I know,” I admitted.

  “My sources informed me a Skinwalker lived in this remote village in Alaska. I was hunting in the woods last night and happened upon you—a Wolf that shifted and then used magic. You’d imagine my utter delight that I’d found you.”

  I blanched, internally reeling that I’d revealed myself so thoughtlessly. “I would have never used my magic if I’d known you were a Bear. I thought you were just an animal that was going to kill me. Why couldn’t I scent you?”

  He turned, glinting eyes on me, ignoring my question. “I wonder why you didn’t shift back and attack me? Your story doesn’t add up.”

  I blinked, stalling. Did I tell him that, for some unknown reason, I couldn’t shift in his presence? No, I decided, he knew enough already.

  He smirked at me from his chair, leaning back and folding his arms. “That’s what I thought. You tried to spell me. You knew I was Bear. Knew I belonged to a pack you cursed. Maybe not using your magic for so long made you a bit rusty, eh?”

  I clenched my teeth. “It was only a defense spell. I had no intention of harming the animal. If I’d known you were shifter, and were going to attack me the next day, I would have killed you.”

  He smiled, this time his eyes lighting up in true amusement. “You would have tried.”

  I breathed in the silence, inhaling his scent, exhaling pheromones. “But I didn’t try. Because I thought you were just an animal.”

  He shifted, and for the first time his eyes dipped to my body. Briefly scanning from the neck down, and then back up before meeting my eyes again. His pupils were slightly dilated, but otherwise, his face was bored, emotionless. “New terms. I torture the truth from you, until you promise to undo the curse.”

  “I don’t know anything about a curse!” I screamed abruptly, surprising myself with my emotion.

  A knock on the door pounded, pulling shock from us both.

  “Ren!” a muffled shout from behind the thick door.

  Ren, as I knew he was now called, clenched his teeth, his eyes lifting to the ceiling in exasperation. Then he scooted back from the chair and lunged from the room, slamming the door closed with a clap behind him.

  The muffled voice sounded again, and I strained my ear. Something about it was familiar. “...can’t find her…check…”

  Alarm shot through me all at once. “Simon!” I screamed.

  Silence followed for several minutes. Then the door opened slowly on a low creak, and there stood lanky Simon, confusion on his features. When he saw my body, he looked away, half turning, but not leaving. “What is going on, Ren?”

  “All is well,” he said smoothly. “I
was just questioning her.”

  A fury boiled my blood. “Simon? What the fuck is going on? Who is this man?”

  Simon didn’t look at me, only raised his eyes to Ren. “What did you do to her? I trusted you—”

  Ren casually put his hands in his jean pockets, ones that clung to his heavily muscled legs nicely. As if I should notice such a thing. “Questioning her. You did well. Thank you for your time.” He dug something from his pocket and handed it to Simon, but Simon didn’t take it. “Why is she bleeding?” His voice teetered on the edge, somewhere between fear and rage.

  “Simon, you have to go to the police,” I started.

  But that was the worst thing to say, because Ren lunged and punched Simon in the jaw, knocking him out so hard he was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

  I screamed and jumped from the bed, falling awkwardly to my knees next to him. He was out cold. I put my head on his chest and calmed only slightly when I heard his heart beating faintly.

  “Charm him,” Ren said shortly. “Make him forget about this. About you.”

  I gaped at the evil man. “I will not! You’ve done enough. You’ve gotten your fucking information. I had nothing to do with that curse. Now leave us the fuck alone!”

  He strode over to me, looking down at me with his hands in his pockets again. “I can’t have him going to the police. He knows too much.”

  My blood boiled again when tears smacked my eyeballs. “We won’t, I promise. Just let us go.” As if the fucking Juneau police would listen to the crazed ramblings of someone from Kake, anyhow.

  He hauled me up and got in my face. I tried to bash his nose again, but he twisted me, putting me into a chokehold. His arm tightened around my carotids, and I knew that in a few minutes, I would be out, like him. He eased up at the last minute, before the stars totally stained my vision. His whisper in my ear was sharp. “Make him forget or I will kill him.”

  “You run a very fine line, Ren. I could kill you right now with my eyes closed.” The tears were back, my emotions high for some inexplicable reason. I’d never been a crier. Even when I was burying my mom.

  “You won’t. Because if I die, a pack of bloodthirsty, feral shifters will find you, rape you, kill you, and eat you. Not particularly in that order.”

  I shivered; an uncontrollable convulsion that shook my insides. “What is this pack? Packs don’t do that. There are laws—”

  “My pack does that. Daily. Because you cursed them into mindless flesh-eaters. Many I’ve had to kill myself: my best friends, my brothers, my sisters,” he groused, tightening his arms again as tight emotion bled into his voice.

  I grimaced, focusing on breathing. How could this be? What was this curse? “I didn’t,” I choked. “Please. I’m sorry this happened to your pack, but I didn’t do it.”

  “Charm him, and I’ll think about believing you.”

  He released me, and I stumbled, then fell onto the ground. I was clumsy and weak; my stomach began rumbling again in hunger even as the thought of food soured my stomach. My Wolf was gone. I was naked and restrained and humiliated. Even with Casey, I’d never felt so submissive. I wasn’t a submissive Wolf.

  I knelt in front of Simon, smoothing his curls to the side. “Why is he involved in this? He’s just a human,” I murmured.

  “I had him keep an eye on you this past month. Report anything to me—”

  I looked at him sharply. “I thought you didn’t know I was a Skinwalker until you met me.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “I didn’t. But I knew you were shifter. And a lone one, such as myself. I found nothing on you, and the boy gathered nothing either.”

  I squared my shoulders, even as the nausea returned. How had he found out about me? If he knew, then someone else knew. Casey could find out, find out where I was. “Then that should absolve me.”

  He lifted a brow as if I were daft. “Hardly.”

  Simon lay prone next to me, so weak. He shouldn’t have been brought into any of this, into the violence of my twisted, monster world. My heart ached for him, even though I was angry at him for lying to me. I set my jaw and kept my eyes on Simon as I spoke. “I will not wipe myself from his memories entirely. He’s all I have left.”

  A beat of silence blanketed the air. “Fine,” he said coolly. “Erase me, my request, and all that pertain to it.”

  I drew in a long breath before I reached out to his mind with mine. I searched through falling, fading images until I plucked the ones that showed Ren approaching him and offering him money to follow me. I plucked them and shattered them, all the feelings of intent to get information from me. I peeked his mother, sick in bed, the cash from Ren funding her treatments. I changed where he thought the money came from, made it an anonymous donation. I let him keep his growing love for me, even as embarrassed as I was when I felt it. Then I withdrew and opened my eyes, lifting them to my attacker. “It’s done.”

  He stared at me, his eyes glued to mine. “Go home. But do not leave Kake. I will kill your boyfriend if you do.”

  I stood, opening myself again to him. “I’m not the witch you want.”

  “Skinwalkers are the only ones who can curse,” he said, a sudden hint of apprehension coming over his face, “or am I mistaken?”

  I took the opportunity of weakness. “Take the cuffs off and I’ll enlighten you.”

  He didn’t respond but walked around to my back and, in a click, they were off. “You aren’t free, Miss Blaine. I will always find you. If you have lied to me, I will make you take back the curse. And if you withhold any information, I will kill your boyfriend.”

  “So, you’ve said.”

  And with that, I hauled Simon up onto my shoulder and fled into the night.

  Chapter 5

  The Truth

  The moment he was awake, I knew. His whole body tensed, the lean muscle against my nightgown-covered back. He breathed, and I felt his heart pounding. “Kin—Kinna?”

  He was confused, obviously, as he had every right to be. Last night, after I’d gotten him home, I pulled his shirt and pants off, leaving his boxers on, and put him to bed. I gave him a memory of skin on skin, of a kiss, of empty wine bottles. It was the only way I could explain why he was in my house. I couldn’t have very well dragged him through town to his own apartment. And, besides, this was better. Something to make up for the horror I’d released on him, even if it was unintentional.

  His arm tightened around me and I turned and grinned at him. His brows furrowed for a moment, and then he groaned and lowered his mouth to my shoulder. My near-Blood Moon body stirred when I felt his growing erection pressing into my ass.

  “How much did we drink last night, Kinna?” His voice held a soft chuckle.

  Carefully, I turned in his arms, taking care not to rub against him. Tingles of awareness ran through me as he looked down on me, a seduction in his gaze that I’d never seen before. He was quite handsome, after all. Tlingit native, dark complexion, eyes, and dimples. A well-formed body, taller than I, if not as muscular as...other men. He was a year younger than me at twenty-four, but he was no less manly. If he’d been a Wolf, he’d probably be a submissive, but that hardly mattered. He wasn’t a shifter, thank the fates. Otherwise, I’d probably have had real sex with him by now.

  His head swooped down, and he placed his mouth on mine. He tasted like mint and sweetness, and I let him kiss me, close-mouthed.

  When he leaned back, his pupils were full-blown. He wasn’t immune to my pheromones.

  He dove back in, and I kissed him back, threading my fingers through his silky curls. His hands smoothed down my ribcage to clutch my waist, and I broke the kiss. “Breakfast?” I asked, too cheerily.

  He grinned, flashing his dimples at me. “I have a taste for cupcakes.”

  My face heated, and then he kissed me again. The sensuality, the passion in his kiss moved over me, infecting me. My ovulating body was just happy a male was giving me attention—even if it wasn’t a male I was outright attracted to. But emotionally, I did love Simon as a dear friend, and I remembered when that evil man had knocked him out, and I thought for one terrible moment that he was dead.