Chapter Sixteen

A bird fell out of the sky. It plummeted like a stone. Cohen ran for it, unable to stop his body, unable to tell himself no. He moved on instinct alone. The larger than life owl crashed into his arms.

It was beautiful. White feathers covered her body, tipped with soft silver. Rings of dove grey surrounded her eyes, making them seem larger than possible. He ran his hand along her head, willing her to wake up.

He looked into the sky, wondering what had caused her to fall. Finding nothing, he looked back down. When he ran his hand over her, it came away wet with blood. His heart lurched into his throat. As much as he might try to remind himself she was a traitor, an enchantress, he still found panic welling inside him.

He clutched her close. Others ran out of the house. What could he do? She wasn’t healing like a shifter. Whatever happened to her hadn’t happened here, yet it hadn’t healed yet.

“What the hell is that?” Kaylee scoffed, her eyes wide as she took in the beast in his arms.

“Ashe,” he said, his voice breathless. “It’s Ashe.”

“Well, fuck me. She’s gorgeous.”

“She’s dying,” he snapped.

He could hear Kaylee’s heartbeat pick up. She jumped into motion, running back into the house. What did she think she was doing? She was no healer. Cohen wanted to sink to the ground, but he forced himself to stagger toward the house. The moments from driveway to the front door seemed to drag on, lasting forever. He carried her to his bedroom, laying on the bed with her curled into his body.

He rubbed his cheek against her, wishing he’d never said the awful things he’d said. She was his goddess, the light to his darkness. She was not a goddess of death, but the spring light that brightened his life. His Persephone.

His bedroom door swung open. He snarled, but Kaylee only raised a brow. There was a first aid kit in her hand.

“What are you going to do with that?” He snapped. “It’s not like you’re a damned veterinarian.”

She didn’t look at him. She didn’t even answer him. Instead, Kaylee knelt on the floor. She reached for Ashe’s face and gently forced the owl’s eyes open. “Hey there beasty. I know what it’s like to be free for the first time. I know the confusion and exhilaration and fear, but you need to give the reins back to Ashe. If you don’t, the both of you will die.”

The owl pulled its eye closed again.

“Nope. This isn’t how we’re going to do this. Listen to me beasty or else you won’t have another chance to disobey me. I know you rank higher than me as his mate, but you have to listen.”

“She’s right,” he croaked into the owl’s head. “You need to shift back. I need you to live.”

The owl shifted against him. It let out a breath and his heart stopped. The bear’s agony was a roar inside his head, a sound that drowned out all others. No, she couldn’t be dead.

Not long ago he’d thought she’d betrayed him and his family. He’d been ready to watch her die for what he thought she’d done, yet watching her like this broke him in half.

Then he felt something writhing in his arms. He opened his eyes to find the owl shape shifting. It pulled back, feathers sloughing away and disappearing to reveal a very naked Ashe. He held his breath, knowing their kind shifted back to human when they died. What would he do if she…

Then, her head titled back, and she looked up at him. Relief washed through him. It felt like his body broke apart. He let out a long breath and watched a soft smile brighten her face.

“Alright,” Kaylee said in her most matter of fact voice. “Roll you ass over so I can tend your wounds. You can, uh, declare your affections once I’m done and outside, so I don’t have to listen to it.”

Cohen glowered at his packmate, but she seemed unaffected as she focused on finding the source of the blood on Ashe. There were small pellets of silver birdshot lodged in her arm and side. Once Kaylee pulled the pieces out, they watched Ashe’s wounds begin to close. The silver would have brought anyone else down from the sky. She was lucky her mixed blood lessened its effect on her.

“I think we need to have a conversation,” Cohen muttered into her hair.

She looked back with fear written across her face. It was a stab through his heart. He shook his head. It was nothing like that. He grabbed a bathrobe for Ashe while Kaylee slipped out. She shrugged it on and slowly, hesitantly, tied the sash around her waist. As if she wasn’t ready to turn around and face him.

Cohen couldn’t wait any longer. He spun her around and dropped to his knees.

“I owe you an apology,” he confessed.

***

Ashe’s body ached all over, but seeing Cohen kneel before her made her head light and her body weightless. She clutched the bathrobe wrapped around her and tried to keep herself standing. It helped that Cohen couldn’t keep from touching her, his hands rising up her legs to rest on her hips. He held her steady.

“I was an asshole and jumped the gun. I was ready to believe the worst and there’s no forgiving that.” He went on apologizing with his shaky voice.

“To be fair,” Ashe began. “I didn’t exactly give you the best impression. There were moments when… moments when I almost did betray you. I almost turned on my own people out of fear.”

He let his head fall against her stomach. “How the hell are the two of us supposed to do anything? We’re two broken idiots.”

Ashe laughed, a fractured sound. She swallowed and tried to gather her thoughts. “We do the best we can. Right?”

He looked up at her. She couldn’t help but run her fingers through his hair, watching the gold and bronze strands flow. His eyes melted into gold and her core warmed. She felt his fingers tighten on her.

“I thought I was going to lose you. Several times.”

“I never left, Cohen.”

It must have been hearing his name in her mouth. He launched himself off the floor and captured her mouth. She staggered back, but he held onto her. She groaned and leaned into his warmth, into his strength.

Her body protested, the ache of the wounds she’d had only moments ago biting through her. She did her best to ignore it. The pain seemed to blend with the growing warmth in her core. She wanted this. She needed this.

Cohen pulled back, one hand clutching her jaw. He tilted her head back and studied her eyes. “You never betrayed me?”

The edge to his voice sent a thrill through her. “Not once.”

He groaned and leaned into her. His lips crashed into hers, all hungry teeth as if he might devour her. He lifted her off the floor and spun her around to throw her onto the bed. She bounced on the groaning mattress. Cohen was on top of her before she could move. His hands slipped beneath the thin fabric of the bathrobe, pushing it aside.

Her breasts were freed to the cold air. Cohen pulled back and took them in. One hand slipped beneath her breast, tracing the curve of it along her rib cage. She shuddered beneath his touch and arched into him with a soft groan of her own.

Her core pulsed and ached. She wanted him inside her, wanted Cohen as close as she could possibly get. She grabbed for him, ran her hands beneath his shirt, over the planes of muscle. He growled into her ear and she felt a thrill shoot through her.

She grinned and reached for the skin of his shoulder while he worked at the button on his jeans. He smelled like a fresh spring night as she clamped her teeth onto his skin. His head fell back, and his hips thrust against her. She felt his cock, hard and ready, rub against her.

She felt a new fire burn through her. It was a cold burning fire that consumed the both of them. He was the Hades to her Persephone, the darkness that she felt inside herself.

“Pants off,” she commanded.

He growled, the beast in his eyes as he met her gaze. He moved to capture her wrists when she tugged on the power inside herself. She threw it at him and pushed him back. His molten eyes gleamed with defiance, but she smiled.

“What did I say? Pants off.”

She watched as her power commanded him to slowly and carefully unbutton his pants. Her mouth grew dry as the sight of his cock, long and thick. She’d beheld it before, but each time it still took her breath away. He was silken beneath her hands and she watched his eyes drift close when she cupped his balls.

Ashe liked having the power. Her whole life had been powerless. She’d made herself small and insignificant, but everything about Cohen made her feel strong. She’d brought Sampson’s beast to his knees. She’d escaped her worst fear by discovering her animal.

She was unstoppable.

“Ashe,” he whispered. He bit his lip and her heart fluttered.

She leaned forward, tugging at his cock as she gently claimed his mouth. Her gentle passion turned to one of fiery need. Her hands worked him, and her power slipped away, pulled back inside of herself.

His hands freed, he found the wet evidence of her desire. His fingers slipped inside, and he growled with need. Together, they fell back onto the bed. Cohen pushed her legs apart and set his cock at her entrance. Swirling in small circles, he teased.

Ashe groaned and arched. She wanted him inside her. She couldn’t take the teasing. Each time she thought he would plunge deep, he pulled back. She cried out with frustration. She dug her nails into his shoulders, trying to pull him inside her, but he held back with a smile on his lips.

She’d had the power and now he’d turned the tables. And, he was enjoying it. She cursed, and he laughed right before he finally took the plunge. She cried out. He filled her so completely that, for a moment, she thought she might burst. She struggled to breathe as her heart raced.

Cohen lowered himself, resting his weight on his elbows, and began the slow thrusting rhythm. Pleasure pooled deep inside her, slowly spreading through her body. She’d never thought this was what it could be like to be with a man, but perhaps it wasn’t. Perhaps, this was what happened when a shifter found its mate.

This was the ecstasy of finding her perfect match and she was glad she had waited for this. She was glad this was all she would ever know because it was so much more than she ever expected. Ashe clung to his shoulders as he rode her. His pace quickened, a fierce expression taking over his face as he grit his teeth and growled.

She smiled and arched into him, so he could thrust deeper. He slammed against a wall and she felt a sharp pain, only for a moment. It was there and then gone, exploding in the sea of pleasure that was taking her over.

“You’re mine,” he grunted as he slammed inside her.

“I’m yours,” she breathed, feeling weightless. “And, you’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” he agreed with one final thrust.

It sent her over the edge. His hand slipped over her mouth to muffle her cry of pleasure. It burst inside her and crashed into the walls of her body, throwing her in every direction. She thought she might drown in it, might sink beneath its surface and never rise again.

Cohen’s head tipped back and his own orgasm spasmed through his body. He pulled out and spilled over her belly, warm as it left his scent in her skin. His eyes burned with molten gold as he pulled back. She knotted her fingers in his hair and yanked him down for a long kiss.

“Now clean your mess,” she whispered into his lips.

He growled in response, but didn’t argue. He found a shirt on the floor and offered it to her as a towel. She gave him a skeptical look, but knew she wasn’t getting anything better any time soon. When they lived together, he was going to have to learn about the magical thing called a towel. Until then, she would make do.

He sat back on his haunches as she cleaned herself, his face scrunching up as he was sucked deeper into thought.

“What is it?”

“We’re going to have to invest in some condoms. I’m assuming you aren’t on birth control.”

“Uh, no. I’m not.”

He nodded, slowly. “It’s not that I’m against children, but I want us to both be ready for something like that. I want it to be our decision.”

She smiled and leaned back into the bed. “That’s if we survive this war.”

“You keep calling it a war,” Cohen said as he crawled over to her and laid beside her. He tugged her into his body and laid a possessive arm over her.

That’s what it felt like. The blank cards had thrown her and planted a deep-seated fear inside her. While she’d almost died, she hadn’t. So, she still didn’t know what the blank cards meant. Were they supposed to represent the spell her mother had placed over the Pack? The one that wiped this brother from their memories?

Or was there a different kind of blankness coming, one that took lives with abandon?

“I have a feeling this won’t be as simple as a dominance challenge. This man, your older brother, is crazy. He’s angry about what happened to him and I think it festered inside him all of these past years. That kind of embitterment has turned into this sense of righteous revenge.

“Trying to kill me last night might have been a part of that revenge. It was my mother who helped Sampson, after all. Pushing her towards insanity might not have been enough.”

Cohen gripped her tight.

“And I shudder to think what he might do to the Packs.”

She ran her hands down his back as he rested his head on her bare chest. A thought skittered through her mind, a whisper until she snatched it and inspected it closer. Could it work? Her nails dug into his back as she mulled it over, making his head rise.

He was patient, the shadows that normally surrounded his eyes now gone, and waited for her to bring voice to whatever was bothering her.

She licked her lips. “I know you weren’t a fan of this idea, but… but what if it could stop this war before it even starts?”

He hesitated and swallowed. “I’ll do anything to keep the Packs from getting hurt.”

“Even if it means doing the very last thing you wanted to do?”

She saw it the moment he realized what she was saying. He rolled away from her. His feet hit the floor. She moved to watch him rest his elbows on his knees. He sucked in a deep breath. She could tell he didn’t want this. It’d been the first thing he’d asked of her.

Break his bond to the Pack that’d pledged to him.

Now, she was asking him to lead his father’s Pack. As it was, they were vulnerable without an Alpha. His brother could sweep in and steal leadership from them, starting a vicious cycle all over again. Killian had been awful, but Ashe was certain this shifter would be so much worse.

“I know… I know what you’re asking, but are you sure? I mean, are you sure I’m the right person? What if I hurt them?”

She inched closer to him so that her stomach pressed against his back. His warmth seeped into her and steadied her. “I’ve told you before that I think you’re the perfect man for the job. Gage is bound to you, but Archer is trapped here. If you walk away from this…”

She let her unsaid words hang in the air. It was a low blow, using Archer to sway her mate’s decision. Yet, she knew this was the right move. She knew it deep in her soul, even without the use of her cards.

“Archer has an Alpha,” Cohen argued without turning to face her.

She heard the wobble in his voice. He was unsure of his own argument. The desire to protect was rising inside of him. It was what his beast had been built for. He just needed to see it.

There was a long pause that stretched out. Cohen was still beneath her touch. She waited, holding her breath.

“Fine.”

She exhaled.

“I’ll do what I have to.”

His voice was strong and confident. He meant what he said, and it warmed her. This was her mate, her warrior.

“Alright,” she said as she nodded. “First thing’s first, I need some damned clothing.”

Cohen laughed, the weight of their future suspended for a brief moment. He rolled away and she was left cold until he returned with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was too tight across her breasts, even if he liked the way it showcased her nipples. He gave her a hoodie to cover them and, together, they went in search of the rest of the Packs.