Mates in Life and Death (9 page)

out of him, owning him, branding him. He felt their connection

strengthen through the carnal union, soaring higher and higher.

Different moments passed through his mind, when he’d shared this

with Caesar. The experience had been special, but Linden now

acknowledged they’d missed something vital—or rather someone.

With Ash here, they swayed in a perfect, complete dance of passion.

As his mates sped up, emotion mixed with lust and pure desire.

When at last, the two of them let go, the carnal blended into the

spiritual, until he couldn’t tell where his mates ended and he began.

Ash’s thrusts hit Linden’s prostate with increasing intensity, bringing

another orgasm closer and closer. The grip of Dan’s hands in his hair

grew almost painful, and oddly, Linden discovered he liked the rough

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hold. The slight tingle in his scalp pooled into the bigger well of

sensation, combining with the ache in his jaw and the pressure of

Ash’s fingers on his hips. It made everything even more real, even

more beautiful.

Soon, it became too intense for their bodies to even contain.

Linden moaned around Dan’s cock as every muscle inside him went

rigid with pleasure. Ecstasy flourished in every cell of his body,

climax sweeping over him, short-circuiting his brain cells. In two

thrusts, his lovers embedded their shafts deep within him. Their

essence filled him with wet heat. Dan’s taste on his tongue and Ash’s

warmth deep inside him made him whole, prolonging the nirvana.

His hands and legs gave out, and he’d have collapsed if not for his

mates’ support. A slight feeling of abandonment gripped him when

his mates’ cocks left him, and a part of him knew they needed to do

something else. His mates had to claim him. But they couldn’t do this,

not yet, not until they figured out how to avoid what happened before.

A few moments later, they fell on the ground in a sweaty heap.

“That was amazing,” Ash whispered.

“I only wish we could complete the bond,” Linden said with a

sigh.

Dan hugged them both tight. “We’ll be all right. You’ll see. Drew

will help us.”

They remained like that for the longest time, with their limbs

entwined, until at last, Linden admitted they needed to go back.

He got up, and they wiped down as much as they could in the

circumstances. Or rather, Linden did because his two mates decided

to shift in their wolf form. Together, they began to head back toward

the town.

They didn’t rush, just enjoying each other’s proximity and the

post-coital contentment. But his glee vanished when an ominous

feeling gripped him. Immediately, his mates took notice and changed

back into their human form. “What is it?” Ash asked. “What’s the

matter?”

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“I don’t know,” Linden answered. “But something’s not right. We

have to hurry back.”

Dan took Linden in his arms and hastened back in the direction of

the house. At first, Linden couldn’t figure out much of anything, the

speed with which they went so high it made his breath catch. But

when they got within view of the house, what he saw horrified him.

There seemed to be dozens of soldiers around, all engaged in crazed

fights. Some had shifted into wolves while others remained in their

human form. The entire thing was so chaotic Linden could hardly

discern a thing. However, he did recognize some of the men as

belonging to Grant Hart’s company. He couldn’t figure out the

identity of the second group. He thought one or two looked vaguely

familiar, but for the life of him couldn’t remember from where.

Dan, however, didn’t have the same problem. He cursed under his

breath. “They’re Lucius D’Averam’s people, and some others belong

with the Magistrate’s guard.”

Linden might not have remembered much from his previous

existence, but he did recall the Magistrate was the leader of the spirit

wolves, the equivalent of the alpha if compared to animals in the wild.

Lucius D’Averam, Caesar’s father, had been cool and unpredictable

even two hundred years back. Violence from him didn’t surprise

Linden. But the Magistrate concerned him even more. Fighting an

individual madman was different than going against the ultimate

authority of one’s people.

“I just came from the Magistrate’s Den,” Dan continued. “He

helped me with sorting out my memories. Why would he suddenly

change his attitude? This makes no sense.”

“What about Lucius?” Linden asked. “Does he know about you?”

Dan shook his head. “From my point of view, I’m still an orphan.

The only relative I accept is Valerius. The D’Averam couple nearly

killed Drew, and I can never forgive them for it.”

“They don’t like humans much,” Ash said, looking glum. Linden

knew that. They hadn’t agreed with his mating with Caesar, and their

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63

attitude wouldn’t have improved when their son died. “You stay here

with Linden,” Ash told Dan. “I’ll go check things out.”

None of them wanted to be parted from one another, not now that

they’d finally found each other once again. But they didn’t have much

choice. Their friends and family were in danger.

Linden wished he could go with Ash, but he’d be useless in a

battle. If anything, he’d just get in the way. He thought about his mom

and her getting attacked while he was not there. “Please, take care,”

he told Ash. “And help my mother.”

Ash nodded. Without another word, Ash turned into his wolf form

once again and rushed off toward the house. Linden watched him go,

and then Dan pulled him into the thick shrubbery to hide. “It’s all

right. He’s a warrior. He’ll be fine. He’ll keep her safe.”

Linden wanted to believe that, but no matter how much he tried,

he couldn’t quite manage. He soon realized neither him nor Dan could

just stand around waiting. The not-knowing was killing him. No

matter what happened, Linden wanted to be with his mate and his

family.

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Chapter Five

Ash snuck out of the forest and into the city. He used the

vegetation around the houses to keep himself from being seen and

remained as stealthy as possible.

He had no clue why the Magistrate would attack them. They’d

done nothing wrong. True, Ash should have reported in once he

finished the mission, but his failure to do so hardly warranted for such

a large scale action, let alone an outbreak of violence in the middle of

a human town.

Police officers, and even populace, were beginning to gather

around the area. Ash would have expected panic, but instead, he just

saw curiosity, which soon melted into disinterest. He doubted the law

enforcement had ever seen anything quite like this, let alone the

people. But the crowd began to disperse, and the police just stood

there, looking puzzled. Clearly, they didn’t have the man force

required to control the situation, but neither did they care. What the

fuck?

The human woman from before lingered, like a frustrating

shadow. Her name had been J… Jocelyn. Yes, Jocelyn. She’d pissed

Ash off with her irritating badgering of Linden, but he had not

considered her important before. All of a sudden, it seemed to him

something was not quite right about her.

He snuck closer and watched her talk to a tall man. “You were

right about him all along, Jocelyn,” the man said. “We should have

never allowed them to stay in this town.”

Jocelyn played with the lapels of his jacket. “That boy and his

mother are bad news. Hell, he doesn’t even have a father. Most likely,

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65

with her previous lifestyle, not even she knows who got her pregnant.

No wonder he turned out the way he did.” She paused for effect. “As

the chief of police, you have to deal with this. They were never like

us.”

Like them? What did she mean by that?

The chief of police nodded. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right.

And all these outsiders who have been coming in the past few days

are not welcome. They must be disposed of.”

He talked like an automaton, and for the first time, Ash

acknowledged the fact that something was seriously wrong in Timber

Lake. A veil lifted off his eyes. This town might seem a common and

quaint American town, but it was anything but.

Renewed urgency filled him, and he rushed to Linden’s house.

The struggle continued, with Ash’s friends severely outnumbered. But

something seemed off about them all. He felt as if he walked through

a picture, a movie he experienced with only a part of him.

The desire to see his family urged him forward, and he dodged the

irrational combatants in favor of entering the house. The door was

cracked open, and he slipped inside with ease. The sight that greeted

his gaze looked surreal. Willow moved around the house, serving tea

to the Hart and D’Averam families. Everyone was there, from Drew

and his mates to Lucius and his wife, Clara.

Ash made no motion to cloak his approach. His brother turned

toward him and gave him an unreadable look. Ash shifted and headed

toward Trent. “What’s going on here?”

Trent took off his jacket and tossed it toward Ash. “There. Cover

yourself. We’ve got ladies here.”

Ash did so in silence, understanding less and less. At last, Drew

began to speak. “Valerius’s father found it interesting to pay us a

visit. Apparently, he told the Magistrate about my existence and got

the expected reaction.”

“The Magistrate is doing the right thing,” Lucius piped in. “Your

existence remains a problem in whichever way you wish to put it.”

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Valerius shook his head at his father. “I can’t believe you’d do

something like this after what happened.”

Ash could believe it. Lucius’s eyes were wild, and he seemed a

step away from turning feral. At the same time, he looked harmless,

as if drained of spiritual strength. Occasionally, he’d let out an absent

chuckle, as if his mind wasn’t really there.

Ash frowned and focused on the immediate urgency. “You know,

that’s all well and good, but it still doesn’t explain this whole…

eeriness.”

Out of nowhere, he felt a powerful force emerge, as if in reply to

his answer. At first, Ash couldn’t identify it, and he tensed. But then,

he sensed the warmth and power of the one man who ruled over them

all, the same one who’d inexplicably sent soldiers here. “I can explain

that,” the Magistrate said as he entered the room.

On instinct, Ash bowed in front of his leader. Wolfram could do

and undo their destinies. “Finding out about your little… decision to

try to find a cure was not a pleasant thing for me. But, in spite of what

you might think, I didn’t come here because of it.”

“Then why?”

Willow spoke for the first time. “It is a well-kept secret, a secret

you should have never known. But Lord D’Averam spoiled

everything when he brought his hatred here.”

The Magistrate offered his arm to Willow. “Follow us.”

As if through a dream, Ash allowed his lord to lead them outside.

Nothing had changed, the men still fighting in slow motion, and the

weird policemen watching them like they would a theatre show.

Wolfram lifted his hands, and the houses all around him began to

dissipate into thin air, to become chalk- like structures. As if by magic, the façade of the normal folk vanished, leaving behind wraith- like

beings. In the distance, Jocelyn’s figure became marble white and

transparent.

As the magic swept over the town, the spirit wolf soldiers seemed

to break out of the trance, and they collapsed on the now withered

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67

grass like puppets with their strings cut. They just fell there, on the so-called lawn of Willow's supposed residence, and remained very still.

Unlike the townspeople, they didn't change appearances, but their

peculiar behavior made Ash think of a possible spell.

Truth be told, Ash didn’t know what to believe anymore. Timber

Lake looked like some sort of ghost town now. But surely, it couldn’t

be true. There had to be some sort of different explanation.

The answer that came from the Magistrate didn’t compute for a

few seconds. “This is the spirit wolves well-kept secret. This is where

souls come to die,” Wolfram said.

Ash felt the world tilt on its axis. “But… Linden. Linden is alive. I

would have known…”

“Yes, he is alive,” Willow confirmed. “He is the only live person

in this entire town.”

So this was what Jocelyn meant when she’d accused Linden of

being an outsider. But everyone had been so welcoming. The

transformation confused Ash, but he clung to Willow’s words. “So

why do you live here then?”

“It’s because of what I saw, in his past and in his future,” she

answered. “We were waiting for young Daniel to show up.”