Endure (9 page)

“My gods,” Marcus said, leaving the room and returning with two glasses of water and some towels. Chief and Jax ignored everything else and devoured the liquid. “Is this all that’s left?”

Jax shook his head. “There are more outside and at the warehouse. Nothing compared to what we had. Between the witches and both our groups, a few dozen of each survived.”

“The witches—” Chief hunched over in a coughing fit and Marcus fetched him more water. “The witches barely had enough strength to bring us back.” He gasped for air after a long drink. “Your father is…strong.” His eyes fought a silent battle between sadness and exhaustion.

“What happened after the fight with the Visceratti?” I asked.

“We made it to the temple, but Riley and the Brothers were already there. We couldn’t stop them. Riley’s power wiped most of us out. They would’ve killed us all too, but Riley became panicked and they left in a rush.” Chief leaned back on the couch, taking deep breaths. He seemed winded from talking.

“Who all did you lose?” Rayna asked quietly, a visible tension scrunched in her shoulders. “Is Jonathan…”

Chief glanced up at Rayna and shook his head softly. “No, Jonathan was one of the few to survive. He’s at the warehouse now, helping take care of the injured.”

Rayna’s shoulders dropped in a sigh of relief. She still hadn’t spent any time with him, but her reaction told me she wished she had. Maybe if we survived they could.

“Let me help you,” I said, crouching in front of both of them.

“No,” Chief said. “You need to save your strength.”

I ignored him, placing a hand on both their chests. The water element rose, not as the destructive force I’d used at the lake, but as the healing magic that kept the water still. It slid down my arms and into their bodies. I felt their pain subside and in moments, all that remained were the stains of blood.

Jax’s eyes opened wide and he rose to his feet. He looked strong and refreshed. “That’s some magic you have there, hunter. I’ve seen it in action, but never been on the receiving end. I feel incredible.” He walked across the room, his bones cracking and muscles popping as he stretched. “Where is Willy?” The room fell quiet and Jax looked from me to Marcus. His brow furrowed and the intensity of his gaze amplified. “Where is my Omega?”

Marcus cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Jax, but—”

“He didn’t make it,” I said.

Jax stared at me before kicking the wooden wall. The plank cracked and the sound echoed in the quiet of the room. His shoulders rose and fell, breathing slow and deep. “I’ve lost too many wolves to this fight. My entire pack has been nearly destroyed.”

“Then we’ll rebuild,” I said. “Riley will
not
win this.”

“Rebuild?” Jax turned around and in a blur of animalistic speed. “What do you think we do, go out and bite every person we see? Becoming a member of the Shadowpack is a slow and selective process—it’s an honor. These wolves are my
family
, not fodder for your fight.”

“This is
our
fight. We’re in this together,” I said.

“Is that what you think?”

“Hey, I’m not the one who wanted to split up. I told you we should all stick together.”

“So this is
my
fault?” A low growl rumbled in Jax’s throat.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, calming the anger that swelled inside me. The power of his beast rolled over his skin, making it difficult to quell my own frustration. “I didn’t say that. If you’re angry and you want revenge, he’s the one you’re after, not me.”

“I don’t want revenge, Chase. I want my family back.”

“And you think I don’t?” Jax’s tension lifted slightly, his brows arching above dark eyes. “Do you have any idea what I’d do to have Willy and my mother back?”

He stared back at me and although it had lessened, he still looked far more aggressive than I felt. I wanted to be angry. I wanted him to see the fire in my eyes and back down, but right now all I felt was sadness.

“Chase is right,” Chief rose from the couch. “We need to rebuild. Now is not the time for us to show weakness and fight among ourselves.”

“So you think we should just turn everyone we can?” Jax’s anger was back and directed at Chief.

“No, we don’t need to turn anyone. We need to reach out to the other shifters.”

“We tried that. They weren’t interested in joining, remember?”

“Then we try again, this time going further than before. Let’s reach beyond the local packs. New York is a haven for all types of shifters, but we can go further than that too. We reach out to Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, hell, we can try Michigan. We put a call out for help. I’ll contact the smaller, rare shifter groups locally, like the foxes and eagles. They
will
join us, and they can help us cover more ground.”

“Our numbers are minimal,” Jax said. “And we don’t know how much time we have. We have far surpassed the underdog category in this fight. For all we know, Riley is already starting the ritual.”

“It isn’t over yet,” Chief said. “If Chase could be so kind as to use his magic to heal the rest of our people, we can split up. Garrett and Karissa can lead one group and I’ll lead another. You and your men can take different paths. Together, we can be successful.”

Everyone watched the shifters eagerly, but silence prevailed. Jax and Chief had a conversation with their eyes and an eternity passed between that moment and the next.

“I need you in this fight, Jax,” I said. “I need all of you.”

The muscles in his jaw flexed and his knuckles popped as he squeezed his hands. Prickles of tension bit at my neck before Jax nodded. “Okay, if you want to build an army, I’m in, but we do it all the way. I’m not sending my wolves to their slaughter.”

“Agreed. I’ll come heal your injured and after that, you do what Chief suggested—find every shifter you can and convince them to fight. Marcus, you contact the other Circles and—”

“I’ve already tried that. They will no longer take my calls.”

“Once he’s up for it, use Riddley. They wouldn’t dare ignore a Circle elder.”

Marcus shifted his weight and nodded. “We can try that.”

“Good. Grams can round up the witches and recruit any others they can find. If Riddley can get the Circle on our side, you, Rayna, Tiki, and I will get Vincent and the scroll. Once I have that, the four of us are going back to the Underworlds. Drakar, Silas, and anywhere Tiki thinks we can get a vote. We’ve got an army to build.”

The room fell silent. Everyone’s eyes focused on me and they all looked surprised. My chest tightened as the quietness lingered in the room. For a moment I thought everyone would discard my plan, but after a moment, they all began to nod.

“I’m going to change and then we’re heading back to Stonewall.” I climbed the stairs, two at a time. I’d update Tiki on what was going to happen, get into yet another dry set of clothes, and we’d be on our way.

“Chase, wait, we need to talk about this.” Marcus clambered up the steps behind me.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“I understand how hard losing Willy is. It’s a wake-up call to all of us, but you’re acting out of anger.”

“No, I’m not.” I stopped at the top of the stairs and faced him. His expression wasn’t the neutral one I expected—he looked worried. “I promised you I wouldn’t make stupid, emotional decisions anymore. I intend to keep that promise.”

“Then how do you explain what just happened down there?”

“What just happened is we made a plan and we’re moving forward. No more sitting around and ‘mulling it over.’ There
will
be a fight, or Riley will win. We can sit around and talk all we want, but Riley isn’t going to stop. We need to fight back.”

“All I’m suggesting is that we take a little time, do some research, and make a decision from there.”

“Most of this is unwritten, and anyone who knows anything isn’t talking. We know what needs to happen, so why waste our time turning pages? We
know
I need to get the scroll and bind these souls to mine. It’s the only way I stay alive. And we
know
Riley’s building an army. He has vampires, witches, hunters, Cyclops, gladiator demons, and as far as I can tell, the Visceratti and Kivrakai. All the monsters we’ve seen in Ithreal’s worlds will be fighting for him. If we don’t have an army of our own, we’re all going to suffer the same fate as Willy.”

“I…” Marcus trailed off, but his gaze didn’t move from mine.

“We need to watch each other’s backs, Marcus. Or at least I need you to watch mine. Am I hurting? Hell yeah I am, but I’m not fighting back out of anger, I’m fighting back because that’s what Willy did for me, and that’s what we need to do for everyone else. It’s time to stop worrying about the
right
decision and start doing what needs to be done, don’t you think?”

Marcus studied my face and after a few moments, nodded. “Perhaps you’re right.”

“What? Did you just say I’m right?”

Marcus shook his head. “Let’s get moving.”

Chapter 9

Rayna hadn’t spoken to me since our altercation by the lake. I had tried to talk to her before we left, but she had ignored me. With the exception of rocks clanking against the undercarriage, the ride into Stonewall remained silent. Tiki sat beside me in the passenger seat, Rayna sat in the back with Rai in a small cage beside her. Everyone else followed in a short convoy of vehicles.

We were a few hours north of Stonewall and as we closed in on the last hundred miles, we were finally close enough to break the awkward silence with a radio station. It was fuzzy and distorted, but it was better than the quiet I’d endured so far. Rayna laid her head back in her seat and closed her eyes, but with the way her eyes seemed to flutter and how she continually shifted her position, I thought she was only pretending to sleep. Maybe she just didn’t want to run the risk of making eye contact. I wasn’t upset with her for not talking to me. I had been a jerk and it took her screaming and hitting me for me to realize it.

“Chase,” Tiki said, staring out the window. “You may want to drive faster.”

“It’s a gravel road. Anytime I go above fifty the Jeep starts fishtailing pretty bad. Trust me, the moment I can speed up, I will.”

“Then you might want to pull over and prepare for a fight.”

Rayna perked up and looked out the window. “What the hell are those?”

The tree-lined edges of the road had disappeared a mile behind us and to either side were open fields. Out of Tiki’s window I could see things in the distance moving toward us at what seemed like an unnatural speed. They swerved left and right over the ground and all at once, they jumped in the air and hit the earth. Dirt and rocks shot up like an earthy fireworks, and then they were gone.

“Visceratti,” Tiki said.

The road was long and straight with no turnoff in sight. I adjusted my grip on the steering wheel and leaned back in my seat. “If you don’t have your seatbelt on, now might be a good time.”

Rayna slid into the middle and snapped the buckle in place. Tiki checked his buckle and I pinned the gas pedal to the floor. The Jeep’s tires spun out for a moment before gaining traction and lurching forward. Grams swerved her car to avoid the rocks spewing behind us. She laid on the horn in angry bursts, but soon her car was gone in a cloud of dust.

“Call Marcus, let him know what’s going on.” I grabbed the cell phone from the console and threw it back to Rayna. The Jeep’s rear end began to swing left and right and I kept both hands planted on the wheel, my knuckles white from my tightened grip.

Rayna spoke to Marcus, frantically looking out on either side of the Jeep. “I don’t know how they found us!” she shouted. “Just step on it.” She put the phone down and gripped her seatbelt. Our eyes met momentarily in the rearview mirror but she didn’t look angry, she looked scared.

I let off the gas pedal as the Jeep began to swerve dramatically. When I regained control, a loud rumbling came and it had had nothing to do with gravel hitting the vehicle. Bursts of dirt flew into the air and three Visceratti launched out of their tunnels. They slid across the ground, trying to keep up. Two more came on the other side and a thick layer of dirt landed on the windshield, cutting off my vision.

I was forced to slow down and hit the windshield wipers, but in my adrenaline-infused state, I accidently pulled back the lever. The sound of the wiper fluid’s motor came and I cursed as the rubber blades swept away the dirt, only to create a pasty brown mud that smeared across the windshield.

One Visceratti jumped from the side of the road and slammed into the Jeep, rocking it to the right. Next came one from the other side, forcing the Jeep to shift to the left. We fishtailed violently, and after hitting a bump, I felt the Jeep slanting into the ditch. I kept my hand on the wiper blade lever. More fluid splattered the windshield, breaking up the mud just enough for me to see a sliver of road. The Jeep was half riding the gravel and half tearing up the weed-lined ditch. The Visceratti hissed in unison and as a demon from the right slammed into the Jeep, it gave me the nudge I needed to get back on the road.

We lurched forward and more gravel shot back. The demons’ hands covered their eyes as rocks fired toward them. The Jeep skidded left to right again as we passed fifty on the odometer, but this time I didn’t let off the gas.