Jericho Junction

Jericho Junction

ISBN # 978-0-85715-914-4

©Copyright Marie Harte 2012

Cover Art by April Martinez ©Copyright April 2012

Edited by Penny Chapman

Total-E-Bound Publishing

Mark of Lycos

JERICHO JUNCTION

Marie Harte

Book three in the Mark of Lycos Series

He just didn’t think he could do it anymore. A fight he could handle. Spurting blood, broken bones, hell, even a three-way with the Loren sisters. But this…watching the wolves, foxes and bears play soccer together. It was unnatural.

“Where are the fucking cats when you need them?” Jericho muttered, not surprised no one answered, engrossed in the game.

Not even a year ago, he’d been part of the outcast Red Wolf Clan. Before the Great Forest had been united, clan wars had ripped the shifter alliance apart. Anyone not a silver wolf was forced to leave. Jericho’s alpha, Rudra, had rallied the red wolves and accepted anyone into her clan who wanted revenge. Bears, foxes, wolves, it didn’t matter. She’d intended to bring them all back to where they belonged. And then the fool woman had gone and mated Fenris—nephew to their enemy’s alpha. Prior alpha, he corrected himself, now that Fenris and Rudra ruled the clan.

And Jericho’s life had gone straight to hell.

When he’d envisioned peace, he’d never thought about how boring it might be. Getting along offered everyone the easy life in the Great Forest. It meant fresh honey, trees to scratch, and a plenitude of women, from which he might find a mate.

The horror of it all made him sick to his stomach.

“Score!” Someone kicked a goal, and the clan went wild.

Apparently it was too much to ask the half of the clan to grow incensed at the loss and beat the shit out of the winners. Instead, they smiled and laughed as they took the defeat with good-natured cheer.

It was enough to drive Jericho to drink.

He left the cheering idiots behind before they broke into a round of Kumbaya and headed out to replace the guards patrolling the outer edge of the clan’s keep. For the most part, things had remained quiet since peace had settled over the Great Forest. Rudra and Fenris ruled together, in harmony. But his alphas weren’t counting on the calm lasting forever.

“Gibson, take a break. I’ve got this.”

The brown fox smiled and raced away after rendering a half-hearted salute.

Jericho waited until the fox had left before venturing deeper into the forest. He couldn’t say why, but lately he’d been waking unable to remember his dreams, an odd sense of foreboding hanging around his neck like a curse.

No doubt thanks to his inherited visions, his ability to portend the future came into question whenever he had a dream he couldn’t shake. If his visions had been clearer, he’d thank the Bear in the Cave for granting them. But the stubborn spirit toyed with his shaman, expecting Jericho to figure out his blasted messages.

Annoyed all over again, he stomped deeper into the shadows and used his night vision to better see through the darkening daylight. The sun poked out from between a few clouds and made short work of the shadows. Better for him all around to make use of this form’s stronger sense—eyesight. As a human, he had the same advantages and drawbacks as normal people, except that Jericho stood much taller. At six foot six, he dwarfed most men, and his brawn lent to his ability to shift into a huge-ass grizzly.

A noise ahead alerted him to be cautious, and he slowed his movement to minimise sound. The closer he drew, the more the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The odd taint of dark magic layered over the air, mixing with the coppery tang of blood he could all but taste.

Alarmed, Jericho pressed forward until he came to a sight he could have done without. For all that he’d wanted some excitement, this hadn’t been what he’d had in mind. Before him, a family of cats lay dead, their guts and throats ripped out, their innards pulverised, as if crushed then chewed up and spat out. The scent of wrongness pervaded the place, and he knew no normal shifter had done this.

But who? Those capable of hurting shifters in the enchanted Great Forest were the sorcerers, but they hadn’t come near here in centuries. The only sorcerer who had was father to Rudra, the alpha. And Rudra, though part sorceress, was also part wolf.

Jericho’s mind raced as he considered his options.

The athmae might be responsible. Demons who lived with Fenris’s brother, they’d visited the Great Forest a time or two. But those dark beings lived peaceably half a world away. The incubi wanted nothing more than to have sex, not kill indiscriminately.

Yet the blood and bodies didn’t lie. Something magical had done this. No mere shifter or creature out to mark territory would leave this behind, except as a message.

Scowling, Jericho stripped off his clothes and shifted into his bear. Then he ran like hell back to the clan, needing to warn his alphas before something more dire happened.

A month later he rose from a crouch and turned to Fenris, the male alpha and a golden wolf he’d follow to his grave. “That makes two dozen now.” He leaned in to close the open eyelids of a dead wolf caught mid-change. “I can’t track our enemy except to see the footprints. They’re human, or at least in human form when they do this. And those look like dog prints. I don’t understand it. There’s no smell other than the evil lingering over everything.”

Fenris looked bleak. “I know. I didn’t want to do this, but I have no choice. We need help.”

Jericho sighed. “Anson?”

Fenris nodded. His brother had mated an athmae prince. The wolf had found love and happiness with demons after a terrible trial defeating an evil sorceress. Jericho knew Fenris hadn’t wanted to pull him back into danger, but with a new pup in hand and so much carnage among the Great Forest, his alpha had no other choice.

Had one shifter in the clan been killed, Fenris wouldn’t have waited. But the enemy had wisely killed only those shifters who didn’t belong to the Great Clan. Mostly cats and the odd wolf, bear or fox determined to live alone.

“I’ll go,” Jericho offered. “You need to stay with Rudra and Petra and protect the clan. Contact Anson and have him take me out there. You know.” He wiggled his fingers, signifying magical means.

But Fenris shook his head. “Anson already knows about this, but I told him I had it handled. Apparently there’s been some unrest in one of the demon kingdoms.”

“Kingdoms?”

“Yeah. Apparently the athmae who live out in Germany with Anson are part of the fourth kingdom. There are seven of them. And one of those seven is experiencing the same things we are.”

“No shit.” Every time Jericho learned something more about demonkind, he found himself surprised at how civilised they were. For all that they were demons, they didn’t act very demonic. “So what? They have queens and princes, hunting parties, and a police force?”

Fenris shrugged. “I’m not sure, but Anson seemed to think we’d need him at some point. Especially if the enemy is targeting more than shifters, but athmae too.”

“If it’s the same enemy.” But his gut said it was. Then he noticed the intense look in Fenris’s eyes. “What?”

“You have to do this for us.”

“I said I would.”

Fenris continued in a funny voice. “You’re going on a long trip. One you won’t return the same from.”

Jericho shivered inside. He wasn’t the only one who had visions of the future. Fenris had on occasion seen odd happenstances that would later occur. “Fenris?”

“By claw and by blade, you’ll be reborn. Of truth and fear, will your eyes be opened. And only then will the Bear come home.”

“Shit. I hate this destiny crap.” He growled low, his chest vibrating with tension. “I’ll go wherever the hell I want to go,” he yelled out at the spirits, despite knowing his folly. His father hadn’t heeded what he’d foreseen, and the bears had been routed from the Great Forest for decades. Now a prophecy spoke about his future. A smarter man would have embraced the telling.

Then again, Jericho wasn’t a man. He was a bear.

As if the Bear in the Cave heard him, a cool breeze nearly knocked him over but didn’t touch Fenris. Like laughter on the wind.

They returned to the clan centre with sombre news and gathered a detail to bury the bodies and hunt down survivors.

Fenris gathered his mate to him and cuddled their baby girl, Petra.

“Good thing she looks more like her mother than you,” Jericho said to lighten the mood.

Rudra smiled.

Fenris rolled his eyes. “Don’t give my mate any more of an ego. She’s hard enough to live with as it is.”

Having grown up with her, Jericho knew better than to agree out loud. So when she glanced down at her baby, he nodded and mouthed, “I know.”

“I heard that,” she said without looking up.

“Damn.” He winked at his other alpha and tightened the straps on his pack. An extra set of clothing and a bone dagger. He’d kill what he needed to eat and drink from what nature provided when in the athmae demesne. Wherever the demon kingdom actually was. “I’ll take care of this, don’t you worry,” he promised his alphas.

Rudra’s eyes filled, the once hard-hearted ruler was now a marshmallow when it came to those she loved. “Brother bear, don’t even think of dying, or I’ll cast a spell to wake you right back up.”

“From the Great Sleep? Good luck.” He hugged her tightly, careful of Petra, then set her back next to her mate. “Take care of Petra and your other pup,” he teased, referring to her younger mate.

Fenris frowned, but Rudra laughed past her tears.

“I’ll be back. Don’t think I won’t.” When Jericho set his mind to something, nothing stood in his way. Not the spirits, fate, or any enemy they might find for him to battle.

“Take care, and don’t tempt fate, Jer.” Fenris’s smile returned, this time with a sly slant to it. “But feel free to tempt the demons all you want. I hear those males can do things our women only wish they could.”

“Hey.” Rudra glared at him.

“Not my fault. Something Anson told me.”

Jericho grimaced. “Yeah, well, what works for Anson and his many lovers doesn’t work for me. I’m not into guys.”

“Neither was Anson.” Fenris’s eyes gleamed with mirth. Had the wolf seen something he hadn’t mentioned? “Apparently the incubi are very persuasive.”

“Dammit, Fenris…”

Rudra stared at her mate wide-eyed. “But you said he’d be hunting here. That his partner would be a hunter, not an incubus.” She turned back to Jericho. “Seriously. You need help, you call for me. Out loud. I’m going to cast a spell to enable me to help you if your words float on the wind.” Half wolf, half sorceress, she could probably do anything she put her mind to.

“I’ll let you know.” But he wouldn’t.

“Stay safe, bear.” Fenris nodded and wrapped his arms around Rudra. “And don’t talk to strangers.”

“Funny, smart ass. I mean, yes, my alpha.” He gave a half-hearted bow, pleased to hear his alphas chuckle. Then he stepped forward into the circle made of magic. And disappeared.

As if Anson’s athmae didn’t make him feel uncomfortable enough with the touching and talking in tongues he didn’t understand, they’d brought more friends with them to escort Jericho to their castle. In friggin’ Germany.

Talk about a world away. One minute he’d been standing in Alaska in the Great Forest, the next, dizzy and weak, he stumbled into Bavaria.

He felt a jolt of relief when he recognised Liam—Anson’s mate and the athmae prince.

“Ah, Jericho.” That the man was only half demon didn’t soothe his need to get far, far away. The sexual vibes emanating from the pointy-eared athmae put Jericho on the defensive.

Arousal had always been his to control, and Jericho prized being in possession of all his faculties. He pushed away this need to move closer to the demons and sent Liam a warning glare to stand back.

Jericho had come upon them at night. And damn if the athmae weren’t some strange-looking bastards, even though he knew them to be quite harmless, at least to shifters. According to Fenris, they only raided human dreams. Their skin was dark at night and pale during daylight. Definitely on the other side of normal.

“Impressive,” Liam’s largest guard noted with a lingering glance down Jericho’s frame. “Most impressive. A bear, you say?”

“I’m here to find a killer,” Jericho said through gritted teeth. Damn athmae. More interested in fucking than finding out how to defeat the enemy.

“Easy, Jericho.” Liam’s lips twitched. “It’s just that we haven’t been around many bears. My wolf, though large, isn’t nearly as big as you.” By wolf, he meant Anson, Fenris’s twin brother.

“Where is he, by the way?”

Liam sighed. “Getting your partner, who’s just as irritable as you are, I’m sorry to say.”

“Partner?” Jericho had assumed he’d join a hunting party to take down their enemy, provided the athmae could shed some light on who—or what—had been killing shifters.

“Ah, there he is,” another dark-skinned demon said. “Danger walking on two legs.”

Anson walked beside a male surprisingly as large and brawny as Jericho. He had the same night-dark skin as the other athmae, as well as their long white hair and red eyes. The tips of his ears were pointed, and when he spoke to Anson, Jericho caught the flash of sharp fangs. Yet his build appeared more bear-like than demon.