It was two weeks later when Marena awoke to excruciating pain. She curled into a fetal position at the corner of Phelan’s bed resisting the urge to scream out in agony, but slowly losing the battle.
The pain had all but subsided during the last weeks as she and Phelan had remained virtually inseparable. They’d continued to search for Davis, and by “they” Marena meant the other lycans. Channing was steadily contacting other Devoted packs in the California area, asking questions about Davis and anyone he might have been associated with, while Malec, Blaez, and Kira worked to figure out what Davis’s endgame might be. They were all certain there would be an endgame, especially Marena.
He’d stayed in her head. Day in and day out she’d heard him calling to her. Only his voice hadn’t seemed as loud as it had before in the last couple of days. In fact, Marena had noticed that she wasn’t as irritated by his calling to her, declaring her his, and telling her that he was still coming for her. She hadn’t told Phelan about this new development. That thought came as a surprise to her, especially since lately she’d been telling Phelan a lot. In fact, she and Phelan had been sharing much more than Marena had ever thought they would.
“You’re bonding,” Blaez had told her yesterday morning right after breakfast.
It had been one of the first times that she’d been left alone with the alpha and she’d admitted to feeling just a little nervous in the first few seconds of their interaction. Blaez Trekas was a tall and imposing-looking man with his muscled physique, bald head, and thick goatee. The air of leadership was apparent in everything from his walk to the arch of his brow when he watched her as if he were actually looking inside of her, revealing everything he wanted to know about her without asking one single question.
“I know what that means in the human world,” she’d said with her back facing the mantel.
They were in Phelan’s room and Phelan was in the shower. In the mornings after breakfast she and Phelan had begun going for long walks throughout the forest. There he would explain to her more about the lycan world, the curse, and sometimes what might be coming with tomorrow’s supermoon. They did not talk about Davis during these times, which could be the reason Marena hadn’t told Phelan about the change in what she was feeling about the other lycan.
This was how she knew that things said in the human world often had different meanings in the lycan one. A huge part of her had begun to accept more openly that there were two worlds, both of which she would now have to deal with.
“It’s normally when a new blood begins to cling to the lycan that created it,” Blaez answered.
He’d slipped his hands into the side pockets of his black cargo pants that were tucked down into black steel-toed boots. The T-shirt he wore was also black and melded to his broad chest like a second skin. He looked as if he was ready for combat, sans a gun or some other type of weapon. The only other lycan in this house who dressed more like he was still in the marines than the others was Phelan. So Marena was well used to this look. Only on Phelan it had a very different effect on her. Blaez struck her as a commander about to either give an unwanted assignment or unveil an enemy. She wasn’t certain which one was about to happen but squared her shoulders and lifted her chin to let him know she was ready for the confrontation regardless.
“He did not create me,” she’d replied clearly, as if she needed to reveal this fact to him.
“No,” Blaez said with a quizzical tilt of his head. “And that is what’s so very interesting about you, Marena Panos. You have been in this house for more than two weeks now and in that time I have been watching you. I’ve observed you with Kira and Caroline, Channing and Malec, and most certainly with Phelan. We were all shocked the night he brought you here and curious to see how this would unfold.”
“Nothing is unfolding,” she told him. “You’re trying to find a Hunter and I’m hoping that when you do I’ll be able to salvage what’s left of my career.”
The words sounded hollow to her ears and it made her unsteady. Marena had never heard from Gail. Phelan had given her a brand-new laptop to use and a secure Internet connection that would allow her to log into both her work and personal e-mail without being detected or traced. Unfortunately, with that she’d immediately discovered that her work e-mail account had been deactivated. The automated message received when Phelan had attempted to send her a message from one of his many e-mail accounts was that she was no longer with the firm and to contact Tammi Logan to find out which attorney in the firm had inherited Marena’s cases.
It had taken her a couple of days to deal with that bit of news, days when Phelan had remained closer to her than ever.
“You will never be able to return to your old life,” Blaez said as easily as if he were telling her the time of day. “That time has passed.”
No shit, she thought with an inward sigh. Since learning of her seemingly easy dismissal from the firm she’d dedicated countless hours to, Marena had thought long and hard about her next steps. She was still an attorney and still planned to practice, regardless of what might now be inside of her.
“I am still part of the human world. My family is human and there’s no way I’m going to walk away from them, or from what I’ve worked so hard for all my life.”
“No one is asking you to do that,” Blaez told her. “It will simply be on a different level at this point. As I said, you are bonding with Phelan. That is a very interesting development.”
“He’s helping me to embrace the change,” she stated, just as Phelan had told her often.
“Yes,” Blaez said with a nod of his head. “He is doing that very well. And you are adapting. I’ve seen you reading the books and speaking with the females. I know that you are coming to terms with what we are and what we are facing.”
“I’m doing the best that I can,” she admitted.
“You are doing a phenomenal job and I believe that is because of your connection to Phelan. I’ve never seen him this way before. He is different with you.”
Now Marena folded her arms across her chest. She did not want to talk about what was between her and Phelan on a personal level with Blaez. Hell, she and Phelan did a damn good job not discussing that particular topic between themselves; no way was she about to let someone else have that privilege.
“He is doing what has to be done,” she stated seriously, not liking the emptiness in the pit of her stomach as the words were released.
“Yes, Phelan will always do what has to be done. But with you, he is also doing what he wants to do. I can see it in the way he watches over you, how he protects you. It is the way a lycan looks at their mate,” he told her.
Marena didn’t openly flinch, but a barrier immediately went up in her mind. She’d heard this word many times since she’d been here. Kira and Caroline were sure to talk about this particular aspect of the lycan life with her as often as they could. So Marena knew how serious it was for a lycan to find and claim a mate. She also knew that this would never happen between her and Phelan because he did not do girlfriends, as she often reminded herself. And Marena was not looking for a boyfriend. It was as simple as that.
“I am not his mate,” she replied. “He is not looking for a mate. He doesn’t want one.”
“We don’t always get what we want,” Blaez stated flatly.
“Right,” she replied. “That’s why that bitch of a fury tried to maim him, because she wasn’t getting what she wanted.”
Since learning about what had happened between Phelan and Eureka, the fury, Marena had begun to despise the woman for being so petty. For days after Phelan had shared the truth with Marena she’d looked at that scar on his face and wanted to yell with how stupid and immature that act had been. Now, however, she really just wanted to slap some sense into the otherworldly bitch but doubted she’d ever have the chance to release that bit of tension.
Blaez arched a brow as if what she’d said had been extremely interesting to him. Marena frowned the second she realized she’d just played right into his hand. He was here trying to tell her that Phelan was her mate and, despite her denial of that connection, she’d just responded like a jealous lover.
“All I’m saying is that she shouldn’t have done that. If he didn’t want to be with her she should have been mature enough to walk away. Leaving him scarred wasn’t going to make him want her.”
“Yet you want him even with the scar. Even knowing about his past and why he holds himself at a distance, you want him. You walk beside him every day. You sit with him during meals and sleep with him at night. You two are intimate on a level that he has never been before. I’m betting you haven’t been this way with anyone else, either.”
“We’re not going to do this,” Marena stated. “Whatever is between Phelan and me stays between us. It is none of your concern.”
Blaez took a step toward her then and Marena let her arms fall to her sides.
“Any- and everything that happens to one of my betas is my concern,” he told her.
“I’m not one of your betas,” she’d insisted in as respectful a tone as she could muster since the guy was the leader of this pack, even while totally pissing her off.
“You have yet to accept who and what you are,” he’d said simply before leaving the room.
Now, as the pain dominated every bone in her body, Marena wondered if what the alpha had said was correct after all. This wasn’t a human pain; she knew that instinctively. The cracking sound she heard each time she moved or even took a deep breath was that of bones breaking. The rapid beating of her heart and the heat soaring throughout her insides were beyond the tachycardia symptoms she knew well from all the medical malpractice cases she’d handled. When she opened her eyes everything around her spun out of control until she was certain she would lose consciousness, but she never did. She felt as if she might actually be dying and if that was true what the hell would she be reborn as? Because even through this heavy haze of pain, Marena knew without a doubt that it wasn’t over. It was just beginning.
* * *
Phelan heard her moaning. He felt the shift in the bed as she moved and his eyes instantly opened. Seconds later, when he could hear the rapid pace of her heartbeat as if she were hooked up to the surround-sound system in his room, he sat straight up in the bed and looked to where she should have been lying beside him. That’s when he’d seen her.
She was curled into a ball in the corner of the bed, shaking and moaning. Changing.
He rolled over and immediately pulled her back into his arms. Cuddled close behind her, he could feel her body trembling and wished like hell he could take this part away. He knew he couldn’t; every new blood had to go through it. This was the last stages of their body accepting the lycan. Phelan moved in closer, burying his face in her neck and holding her as tightly as he could, hoping his body heat was providing some sort of solace.
After weeks of being with her, Phelan still had no idea why he was the one she needed to be near, but he’d long since stopped trying to figure it out. To be perfectly honest, he’d stopped thinking on that subject because Kira and Caroline had been so adamant about giving him their reasoning for this occurrence.
“You’re her mate,” Kira had said bluntly, two nights ago when Channing was just a few feet away explaining something in a book to Marena.
“I am not,” Phelan replied tersely.
“You can’t fight it,” Caroline added.
Phelan had sighed. “I’m not fighting anything. I’m simply trying to keep her comfortable until the change is complete.”
“And then what?” Caroline asked.
“You ever wonder why you’re the only one that can keep her comfortable?” Kira asked.
Phelan felt like he was in front of a firing squad.
“I found her, so I’m stuck with her. It’s as simple as that,” he’d replied, and hoped that it would end the conversation.
“Love is never simple,” Caroline said with a shake of her head.
Phelan did not hesitate. “I’m not in love with anyone.”
Kira patted him on the shoulder. “Maybe not just yet, but it will come.”
Phelan had instantly been alarmed. “What did you see?” he asked Kira, hating that he had to at least give her words the benefit of the doubt because she had that sight power. There was a very good chance that she had seen something that substantiated the claim she and Caroline were so adamantly trying to make. He had to admit if that was the case it would explain a lot.
Yet Phelan didn’t want that to be the case. Malec had brought this same issue up a couple of weeks ago when he’d asked why Phelan had thought he’d scented a Hunter that night when who he’d really scented was Marena, all on her own. He’d known then that something was up between them, because she did not have a Hunter scent but something definitely different and yet still totally alluring.
He’d thought she was his mate. Then he’d dismissed it. Or rather Eureka had. He’d put that thought in the back of his mind and dared it to resurface, until now, when he was staring into the eyes of the one person who could see if it was actually true. But Kira had only shaken her head.
“I have not seen you claiming her. But you will fight for her, Phelan. You will save her. And why else would you do that if she’s not your mate?”
The question had haunted him in the quiet hours of the night, while during the day Phelan had proceeded like there was no change in the situation.
Until now.
Holding her at this moment felt different. There was the need that he hoped he was fulfilling, but there was also something else. Something more.
“I can’t breathe,” she whispered, snapping Phelan out of his own thoughts.
He turned her quickly so that she was lying on her back. Brushing the hair away from her face, he ran his thumbs over her slightly parted lips. Her eyes were half-closed, long lashes feathering out. She was the prettiest woman in the world to him, even without one ounce of makeup or being dressed in stylish clothes and high-heeled shoes. Lying here with her hair all over the place and nothing on her mind but the impossible pain, she was the most enticing creature Phelan had ever seen. And all he wanted was for her pain to go away.
Leaning forward, he touched his lips to hers then. It was a slow touch and she stiffened, not sure what to expect. Phelan cupped her cheeks, keeping his eyes open and trained on hers. He parted his lips farther, tilting his mouth over hers. He breathed in slowly then, one deep breath at a time. Her eyes opened wide with the first breath, but by the third try she’d relaxed and accepted. He was breathing for her, giving her each breath she needed to make it through each bout of pain. He had no idea why he’d done that, just that it had seemed like the right thing to do.
After a few more tense moments Marena’s eyes opened totally, her hand going to her face to push back more of the wild strands of hair.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” she said when Phelan pulled back from her.
“You’re continuing to change. Your bones are reshaping and preparing to go from one form to another. It’s a painful process, but you’re handling it like a true soldier.”
She smiled at that. “Am I going to get an honorary badge of honor or something like that for my courage in the midst of crazy-ass lycan gene shifting?”
Phelan smiled and realized that he liked seeing her do the same. “I’d give you a million medals of honor for all that you’ve been through.” Then he sobered. “I wish you hadn’t been put in this position.”
She blinked a couple of times before finally saying, “If I hadn’t been bitten, I wouldn’t be here with you now. Is that what you wish hadn’t happened?”
“No,” he replied immediately, Kira’s words coming quickly to mind. “I am not saying that. I want … I mean, I am fine with you being here. More than fine, actually.”
“In spite of all this,” she replied. “I think I’m more than fine with it, too.”
With those words and because he wasn’t certain what else might come tumbling out of his mouth, Phelan moved on the bed, sliding his arms beneath Marena until she was cradled in his arms. He stepped off the bed and headed to the bathroom.
“We’ll shower and then take our walk before breakfast,” he told her. “I think we could both use the fresh air this morning.”
She nodded, resting her head on his chest.
“You may have to carry me, Phelan. I don’t think my legs are in the mood to cooperate.”
Entering the bathroom, Phelan switched on the light and dropped a kiss to her forehead. “To the ends of the earth, Marena. I’d carry you there and back if it would make you feel better.” And if he could somehow take back what had been done to her.
* * *
What made Marena much better was the feel of Phelan’s soapy palms rubbing over her shoulders and down to her heavy breasts. As his fingers grazed over her nipples she shivered where she sat in his lap on the bench in the shower. The stall was huge and made her wonder why she didn’t have a bigger one in her condo. Possibly because she’d never thought of showering with anyone before. Now, after these weeks with Phelan, who seemed to take particular pleasure in bathing her, she didn’t think she’d ever be able to live with a shower-for-one again.
He held each breast, cupping them in his hand, being sure to get soap beneath each mound. Then he was moving down her torso, the warm water and scented soap filling the stall with a steamy fresh scent.
“I’m going to forget how to bathe myself,” she said just because he was moving between her legs and she needed to say something to keep from screaming in ecstasy.
“I won’t ever forget how good it felt to have my hands on you this way,” he replied, and Marena couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness at his words.
He was speaking as if at some point he expected not to have this opportunity. It was a totally logical summation since she lived in San Francisco and he in Montana. Not to mention the fact that they weren’t really in a relationship together, no matter how much this situation seemed to contradict that. Once Davis was found this would all be over.
She would never see Phelan again.
He’d moved so that she was now standing, water cascading down the front of her body while his soapy hands ran down her back and over her ass. She was glad for this position, not because she liked how it felt when his hand went between her crease and even farther until he was once again touching her pussy, but because she didn’t want him to see how disappointed she was at the realization that she may never see him again.
Thirty minutes later they were walking out the back door, taking the wooden steps from the porch and heading down the now-familiar trek across the length of the grassy property until they entered the thick brush of trees. Marena had been used to walking around the office, around the courthouse when she was in trial, and even a few occasions when she’d allowed Gail to drag her to the gym. She’d never walked through a forest with its uneven terrain, twigs, and leaves and rocks and tree branches hanging low enough to smack her in the face a few times. Nor had she packed for such an endeavor. Phelan hadn’t seemed to mind and had immediately ordered her tennis shoes and a number of outfits made of spandex that gripped every ounce of her thick physique. She’d seen the way he looked at her each morning when she’d dressed in one of the outfits, so she knew they’d been selected because he liked them. That made it much easier to put them on each day and she hadn’t realized that until this morning.
She liked that Phelan enjoyed what she was wearing. The way he looked at her appreciatively had also put a smile on her face. Albeit a temporary one.
What she still hadn’t come around to liking was this walking along the steep inclines and trekking over rocks to cross the creek. It was the same path she’d traveled for days now, and while she’d become accustomed to the sounds of the many animals that Phelan had described as living in this area, she wasn’t any more comfortable about being so close to them.
“It’s a Black Swift,” Phelan said when she jumped once again at a sound from above.
“A what?” Marena asked, folding her arms over her head, wishing she’d had the good sense to wear a hat. She had no idea what a Black Swift was or whether it would peck the head of or poop on the intruder making noise so early in the morning.
“It’s a bird. There’s probably a nest back there behind the waterfall.” He was pointing straight ahead to where Marena knew the jagged rocks would drop down about thirty to forty feet into rolling water that poured from the beautiful waterfall above.
“I’m not a fan of birds,” she admitted just as another squawking sound ripped through the air.
This time Phelan stopped. Marena would have bumped into him if she hadn’t felt the immediate tension ripple through his body. So she stopped as well, looking up in the direction where she knew she’d heard the noise. For endless moments there was nothing else, not one sound at all, which itself was strange.
“We’re not alone,” Phelan announced in a tone lower than he had been using.
“More birds?” she whispered as over her head the tallest of the trees swayed.
Any bird or other creature that may have been resting in said trees was now fleeing, without making a sound. Amidst the silence was a quick gust of wind and Phelan moved closer to where Marena stood, reaching out a hand to touch her arm. She looked to him in question, quickly noting the seriousness and also the warning in his gaze.
“The realms are open,” he said seconds before they heard the heavy footsteps coming toward them.
Marena only had a split second to react as through the trees to her right came a loud noise. She had no idea what the noise was or who or what was making it; all she knew was that she needed to move. With speed and agility she’d never known she possessed, Marena sidestepped and watched in awe as a huge spike-edged club slammed into the ground, spitting dirt and leaves into the air.
Her heart thumped wildly as she followed the beefy hand that held the club upward, tilting her neck until she stared into the eyes of a man with long, dark hair and a wicked scowl. He was clearly angry that he’d missed his target. He was also very tall and part horse.
“Run!” Phelan yelled when the creature had turned his attention fully on Marena.
She heard Phelan’s words and knew they made perfect sense. This was one big bad monster and he was coming right for her. She should run, scream, get the hell out of Dodge. But she didn’t.
Instead, something along her spine shifted and tingled. She moved her head, rolling her neck until it cracked, and this time when the creature lifted his arm, yelling some hideous-sounding battle cry as he once again aimed that deadly-looking club at her, Marena opened her mouth and growled right back.
She had no idea where the sound came from but felt it vibrating through her entire body. Still, it did not stop the creature from proceeding with his assault, but this time as the heavy club came barreling toward her Marena lifted her arm, folding it over to block the horrific blow. Her body jolted with the contact, but she did not fall to the ground and she was not clobbered by the club. Instead, she pushed back with another vicious growl sounding through the air.
Above, she saw Phelan in his lycan form jumping down onto the creature’s back, straddling him as a man would a normal horse. With his mouth open, sharp teeth protruding, Phelan lifted his arms, bringing both his hands and those long claws down to sink into the creature’s flesh. He roared and reared back, but Phelan held on tight.
Marena wasn’t certain how long he’d be able to hold on that tight and knew she needed to do something to help him. Without another thought she charged forward, coming to a stop just as the creature’s front hooves came stomping down. She was beneath him now and he turned his human head to see where she’d gone. Feeling a sting in her own fingers, Marena looked down quickly, saw that her own set of vicious claws had sprung free. They looked surreal, like a manicure gone hideously wrong, but she didn’t think on that too long. Instead, she followed Phelan’s lead and lifted her arms, thrusting them deep into the creature’s underbelly. When he roared again, coming up on his hind legs, Phelan growled from above. Marena growled as well, sinking her nails into the creature again and this time pulling back so that she was creating long and jagged cuts that bled ferociously.
In the next moments there was more growling and footsteps. Marena couldn’t see what was going on from where she still stood beneath the beast, but she’d felt a growing warmth inside of her as the growling had continued. It was a comfortable and expected feeling. Yet she had no idea why she was feeling it in the first place.
The creature began to wobble and Marena knew he was going to fall. He would land directly on her when he did. She pulled her claws from the beast one last time and turned to see which way she could run, but it was too late; the creature was already going down, his dark shadow covering Marena completely.
She screamed when it felt like her arm was being pulled out of its socket, her body sliding roughly over the ground, dirt flying up into her face and mouth. Then she was moving upward, being lifted into strong arms and cradled like a baby.
“I told you to run,” Phelan said, his chin resting on the top of her head. “‘Run’ means ‘run,’ dammit! It does not mean ‘stay’!”
He continued to talk, his arms around her tightly, his head holding hers down against his chest as they moved.
“You weren’t ready for that. None of us were, but especially not you,” he continued. “You should have run! Hell, you shouldn’t have been there. That’s my fault. I shouldn’t have taken you out. I should have known they’d be watching. That they would eventually come. Fuck! I should have protected you!”
They were moving fast, so fast Marena only felt the brush of wind on her cheeks. Even when she tried to open her eyes she didn’t see anything but a blur of movement. Seconds later—or at least that’s what it felt like to her—his booted feet sounded on the planked steps and then they were inside. She recognized the scent immediately. They were in Phelan’s room.
It smelled like him in here: rich, exotic, masculine. As she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, still cradled in his arms, Marena realized with a start that it also smelled like her. The sweet floral scent of her lotion was in the air, and the scent of her clothes, of her body when she stripped naked, it was all here, all circulating, blending to become one heady aroma that had her body immediately reacting.
She squirmed in his arms then, struggling to get free, to stand on her own two feet so that she could think clearly.
“I won’t let it happen again,” Phelan said, holding her even tighter. “I swear I won’t let anything happen to you again.”
“Stop,” she said, too softly at first, because Phelan simply continued.
He moved until finally he sat on the edge of the bed, adjusting her on his lap. Marena pushed away, using more strength than she knew she had until she was on her feet. She stumbled so that she wouldn’t fall on her ass. Righting herself, Marena pushed back the thick strands of hair that had fallen in her face. Her legs were steady almost immediately, her body extending until she was standing straight up, her gaze zeroing in on Phelan quickly.
“What was that out there?” she asked, her fingers still running through her hair, trying to untangle it.
Phelan looked at her oddly for a few seconds. He was back to his human form, his eyes green again, not that glowing blue she’d seen in the forest. His teeth and nails and the rest of his face were normal. No, she thought with a start, nothing about him was normal.
And now, she thought with a start, neither was she.
“That was a centaur. Most likely sent by Zeus to hunt and kill our pack. He knows that Blaez is close, that we’re all protecting him,” Phelan said with a shake of his head. “He knows.”
Marena shook her head.
“No. I meant what was it that happened to me?” Her hair was fine, Marena decided, and dropped her hands to her sides. “What did I do and how was I able to do it?”
Saying the words emphasized the memory and Marena looked down at herself. She saw the blood from the centaur on her clothes, her arms, her hands. She should be repelled, should run into the bathroom in a hurry to shower, but she did not. Instead, she stood perfectly still, lifting her head to Phelan, the one she knew had answers, once more.
He took a deep breath, his hands and arms covered in blood as well, and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
“The pain you felt this morning was the last of the physical change your body would make to accept lycan DNA. Your bones, muscles, every ligament and cell in your body, are now lycan. The first shift will come in the next twenty-four hours, on the night of the full moon. But for now, the strength, the sight, the hearing, everything, will begin to fall into place.” He’d been looking down at the floor as he spoke, but now he lifted his head and gaze to her.
“You were able to fight the centaur as a partial lycan using your claws and your strength. Even when Blaez and the others arrived you continued to fight, along with us, against the hideous beast. This is your life now, Marena. This is who and what you are.”
She didn’t shake her head even though a part of her screamed the word “no” as loudly as it could. Only Marena knew the truth. She knew it because she felt it, moving just beneath her skin, slithering along her spine, and opening her eyes. Phelan was right: she could see differently now, more clearly.
“I am a lycan,” she said, tasting the words for the first time.
“You are a lycan,” he repeated, and came to stand in front of her.
“I fought as a lycan with you and the others,” she said. “Just as I was supposed to because I am—”
“You,” Phelan said, catching her chin between his fingers, “are a gorgeous and fearless Devoted lycan. There is no doubt in my mind of that fact now. Not one damned doubt.”
“This is my life now,” she said, licking her lips and shifting from one foot to the other.
“Your life is what you make of it,” Phelan told her. “I could stand here and tell you that only the lycan matters, but I know that’s not true for you. I’ve accepted who and what I am and now you must do the same. If you’re an attorney and a lycan, that’s your choice. But there is no more room for denial, Marena. No more time for questions and guesses. Zeus knows we’re here. He won’t be thwarted again.”
“Phelan’s right,” Blaez said, walking into the bedroom where they stood. “He knew exactly where we were almost as if he’d been tipped off.”
The others filed into the room after Blaez, all eyes on Marena.
“She’s been right here with us … with me this entire time,” Phelan said as he moved to stand in front of her, separating her from them.
“But he knows her scent; his DNA is inside her. He would know how to find her wherever she went,” Malec stated sternly with his arms folded over his chest.
“Did you know what was coming?” Caroline asked her. “Did you feel it ahead of time, Marena?”
“No,” she instantly replied, then frowned as she stepped from behind Phelan. “I did not know who or what was coming and I resent being accused of doing something I wouldn’t have known how to do in the first place.”
“No one is accusing you of anything,” Kira said from beside Blaez. Her hair had been pulled back from her face, her shirtsleeves pushed up over her elbows.
“Bullshit!” Marena snapped back. “You’re all standing here accusing me of telling Davis where you were and who you were hiding. It’s taken me weeks to wrap my head around all that is going on here and you think the first thing I’d do was run and tell that bastard something like this?”
“We think that we’ve been safe here in this forest for over a year and now, when you’ve been here for just about three weeks, the centaur appears,” Channing said. “Coincidence?”
It was Marena’s turn to stand with one hip jutting forward, arms folded over her chest. “Call it what you want, but if I’m not mistaken, before I arrived—hell, before I was even bitten—a Solo was here and before that her old pack came calling for a fight, so don’t act like my appearance is the only questionable one here. Besides, I didn’t come here on my own; I was brought here,” Marena finished.
“She’s right. I found her and I brought her here. This could not have been a setup,” he said.
“It wasn’t,” Kira added. “Not in that way.”
Marena and the others looked to her for a more detailed explanation.
“You didn’t know she was going to get bitten or that you were going to be the one to find her,” Kira said, “but that act alone proved to be the perfect opportunity for someone.”
“The harpy,” Phelan mumbled, and then cursed. “She set us up. Eureka,” Phelan mumbled. “That bitch.”
“You think she’s somehow involved?” Blaez asked Phelan.
“She has to be,” he replied, clenching his fists. “Her allegiance is to Zeus. It always has been. Dammit!”
Marena shook her head quickly digesting everything that was being said. “Eureka being the one that put those scars on your face? The one that’s probably still in love with you?”
Caroline made a sound but quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, while Kira stared at Phelan with an expectant look on her face. Marena frowned because if anyone expected an answer from Phelan, it was her. Not because they were committed to each other or anything like that, but because she’d been sharing a bed with him and having sex with him; if his ex was about to make some violent comeback into his life, she damn sure had a right to know.
“I can’t prove it,” Phelan said tightly. “I just have a feeling.”
“A feeling?” Marena asked, not liking the fact that Eureka could still illicit “a feeling” in him.
“We need to figure out if that feeling is true or not,” Malec said as if Marena hadn’t just asked a question. “Because if it is and she knows of our location, we need to be prepared to fight back when the next bounty hunter shows up.”
Blaez nodded, extending his arm so that Kira immediately laced her fingers with his. “We’re going to be prepared regardless. We’ll go and make plans. Malec and Channing will try to figure out which bounty hunters might likely appear next. You,” he said, nodding to Phelan, “get cleaned up and figure out Eureka’s involvement, if any. We need to eliminate her from the situation if she’s not a threat and look in other directions.”
“Like toward Davis,” Marena added since they’d all been acting as if she weren’t standing right there. It was one thing when they weren’t including her in their conversations because they thought she hadn’t fully accepted her lycan status, but now, after she’d almost been killed by a beast she was still reeling from seeing right here on earth, she wasn’t going to be ignored. She was a part of this battle, whether she wanted to believe or was ready to accept.
“What if he is using his DNA lingering in my body to track me down? Why wouldn’t he simply show up at the door? How or why would he summon that thing that was out there? It doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
They all looked at her then and Marena continued.
“He has to have a stake in this. What is it? Why me? I didn’t know any of you before Phelan came into my room at the B and B that night.”
“She’s right,” Kira said, speaking slowly as she continued to stare at Marena. “Why did he bite her now? She said she’s known him for years and he’s kept his distance? There was no way that anybody could have known that she would end up here, nobody but … another being with the power of sight.”
The room grew quiet, until Marena asked the question she figured might be on the rest of their minds.
“Who else would have this power? I thought the Moon Goddess gave it to you specifically?” she asked.
“That’s true in my case,” Kira said. “But others may have been born with their own power. But the way Phelan can cross the realms and Blaez … well, Blaez is who and what he is. It could just be in another being’s genetic makeup that they can see the future and the past, or maybe just the future. Maybe there was someone that knew this was how things would turn out, that knew this would all unfold on the night of the supermoon.”
“It makes sense,” Channing added. “Since that’s the night when we and every other being within the two realms are at our most powerful. The otherworldly veil over the earth will be lifted and we’ll all see equally even though there is no equality among us. Humans will see other beings and we’ll see them. We’ll walk beside each other and for the first and only time know exactly who and what each other really are.”
“The perfect time for a battle,” Malec declared.
Phelan nodded. “A battle the other beings are betting on winning.”