The spectral above Ash’s head screeched and flew in circles in her magical cage. The slack form that used to be his mother, stood unmoving like everyone else.
A shape outside of the spell of frozen time moved. A flash of red caught his eye, but he couldn’t make it out. Ash turned her head, slowly as if it hurt her to do so.
When her face came into view, Russet’s heart shattered in his chest. She was covered in scratches that looked self-inflicted. Tears streaked her face, but her eyes were blank as they stared at him.
He’d seen that look before. On his uncles’ mate, just before she’d killed herself. When the claiming and joining of her soul with the ill-fated twins had destroyed her. Destroyed them all.
Ten: Ashes to Ashes
Ash only knew fear now.
It utterly consumed her.
“You can’t save them now. It’s too late. I should know.” Red, the woman who claimed to own the lab at Area 51 stood a few feet away, with an army of Omega agents and their spectrals lined up behind her.
They had a witch with them too, although, she hid behind the wall of MIBs, who had blocked Ash’s spell to freeze them all in time. But, she had been able to protect Magic, her sister, her mates.
The Omega witch couldn’t penetrate the bubble Ash had formed around the garden where almost everyone had gathered. She never would have been able to hold the invasion back if Russet and Dunn hadn’t helped her find her soul magic.
Hadn’t loved her.
Hadn’t demanded her love in return.
Now, she would lose them. One way or another.
“You can’t hold your spell forever, Ashmiza. But, the spectrals do not tire. When you fall, they will take the town and everyone in it. Nothing can stop that now. You should have finished the weapon when I needed you to.”
That didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Why would this woman want a weapon against her own army? Ash didn’t have the time or energy to figure that problem out. It did give her an idea though.
“What you wanted me to make was never going to work. I understand now that science alone can’t stop the spectrals.”
Red moved closer, not quite penetrating the veil of magic, but enough to study Ash’s face, her reactions. There would be no lying to her. “Have you and the Elite Star Rangers found another way to stop them?”
“Yes.” She was telling the truth.
“Then prove it.” Red called one of the Omega agents with a spectral hanging above up from the ranks. A woman, dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the MIBs, with the sunglasses and dark suit.
There was something familiar about her that Ash couldn’t quite put her finger on. Didn’t matter.
The spectral screeched and dove for Ash. She closed her eyes and pulled magic that was not her own, but her sisters, up and out, surrounding the spectral with the BEC-like bubble.
She and Kady had discovered while working together that afternoon, that when they combined their magic the way that they were, some of each rubbed off on the other. Ash had probably only enough of Kady’s magic to do this once, so she hoped it would be enough.
Red did not look impressed. “We’ve seen this before from Kaden. It only traps them. What am I supposed to do with trapped warriors? Eventually they will figure out how to break free.”
“Why have you brought the spectrals here to destroy Magic, if what you really want is to get rid of them?” How could this woman be working both for and against them?
“That is irrelevant.” Anger or pain, or both created a mask on Red’s face. She called up two more MIBs and their spectral soul stealers. They hovered just outside of Ash’s field of magic. One approached the magic and smashed into the edge of it. It recoiled, only a part of it pulling away. The MIB below it stumbled and gripped his chest, finding it hard to breath.
Ash felt the hit to her magic as well and a scratch appeared on her arm.
Red looked up at the spectral, over to the fallen man, and then to Ash.
“I see,” Red said. “I suspect you don’t fully know how to use that power yet or you wouldn’t have thrown up a shield. Come with me. We have people who will train you.”
“And you’ll call off the spectral warriors, leave Magic alone?”
“I can’t do that. We all have masters, Ashmiza. Mine want Magic and the threat it’s people represent wiped off the face of the Earth. But, together you and I might be able to stop them from destroying the rest of the galaxy.”
People were confusing, in fact this woman was a thousand percent crazy. That’s why Ash liked science. Numbers didn’t lie.
“I can’t do that.” She mirrored Red’s words back to her. “If they go, I go. The rest of the galaxy never did a thing for me, so you can all be damned as far as I’m concerned.”
Red shook her head, then straightened and touched her ear, listening to something. “We’re out of time. Last chance.”
Several more spectrals flew forward, slamming into the barrier and recoiling. Their human counterparts fell, and Ash cried out, new scratches that looked and felt as though she’d scraped her own fingernails into her skin deep enough to draw blood had formed.
A woman’s voice came from behind the MIBs. “If you kill her now, all hope of defeating the soul stealers dies with her.”
Red spun on her heel and stared through the MIBs. “Then make her join us.”
The witch pushed her way through the army and stood before Red. She was beautiful and curvy with sad eyes and slumped shoulders, her posture like a tired letter T. “Only if we leave Magic.”
Red threw her hands in the air. “Fine. But, do it quickly.”
The T witch approached Ash and stood just outside the barrier. She had the same brown eyes as Ash and Kady. “You have no choice Ashmiza. If you do not come with us now, she will destroy the town, and your mates. You will survive. Trust me, I know.”
Ash didn’t understand why, but she believed the T witch. “But, Russet and Dunn will come after me.”
“And if they do, she will destroy them, to keep you.”
The fear of losing them to the spectral warriors cut her deeper than any wounds she’d suffered. Ash understood what she had to do.
If they didn’t love her, if she broke their fragile new connection, they wouldn’t try to protect her anymore. She could protect them. By breaking their hearts and their souls. But, at least they would be alive.
She nodded and the T witch walked to Red’s side. “It will be done.”
Ash couldn’t breathe, her own heart was already shattering knowing that she had to hurt the two people in the entire galaxy that meant something to her and with whom she had finally found family, found herself.
She felt the instant Russet emerged from the cocoon of their tiny house and hit the spell she’d thrown over the garden. Dunn was already trapped in it. He’d followed her out into the evening air when she couldn’t sleep. She hadn’t known what had disturbed that peaceful place the three of them had drifted into after their lovemaking until she’d gotten outside and saw the approaching army.
Ash slowly turned, the tears already streaming down her face. She froze them in time too, leaving only streaks over the scrapes and cuts.
When she met Russet’s eyes, she saw the despair already in them. Dunn’s were the same. They both tried to mask and protect themselves for so long. When they had claimed her and given her their souls, she’d experienced every base emotion, been flooded with their thoughts and memories. She knew exactly what to say and do to make sure they would never come after her.
Her last words to them came in shattered tears. “I only needed you to help me find my magic so that I could help Omega. I don’t love you, I never have.”
She removed the necklace she thought she’d never take off. The one they had each given her a piece of. She knew it had made them whole, it had done the same for her.
She dropped it on the ground at the feet of the woman in black. She’d figured out where she’d seen her before and hoped she
would be spared in the upcoming annihilation of souls.
Ash released the woman’s spectral from above. It streaked down as if to attack and Ash held out her hand shooting her last bit of her own and when she couldn’t hold it, Kady’s magic at it.
T witch at Red’s side also shot a bolt of magic at the spectral.
A detonation of light and magic and boomed, throwing Red, the MIBs and their spectrals, the witch and Ash away from the edge of her shield around Magic.
Ash crawled to her feet and saw scorch marks from the explosion marking the outside of the bubble of magic. It hadn’t taken the protection down but had blackened it. She couldn’t see in. The spectral had disappeared and the woman’s body lay on the ground. Oh no. One more loss to mourn.
Red slapped the witch across the face, then glared at Ash. She couldn’t afford for their deal to be broken, so Ash walked away from the fallen body and to Red’s other side.
Her time spell would hold until they were away. Then life in Magic would resume. Russet and Dunn would hate her, feel betrayed, hopefully grieve and move on.
Ash never would.
They marched a good half-mile out of town to a ship not dissimilar to the one she’d ridden in with Russet and Dunn. Red directed her and the witch to get in, followed them and sat down in the cockpit.
Within a few minutes they were back at the Omega compound. Soldiers, not MIB escorted them off the ship.
“I will deal with the two of you later. Maybe in the meantime you can work on defending yourself from the spectrals.” Red handed the nearest soldier a tablet. “Take them to this holding area and do not let them out until I say so. I have to go explain why that damn town hasn’t been wiped out.”
The soldier grabbed Ash’s arm and dragged her toward the nearest entrance to the compound. “Let go, dickhead.”
She didn’t know very much magic, besides her own time spell. But, she figured removing the soldier’s clothes would be a good enough distraction. She felt the wisps of magic go out, but nothing happened.
“Don’t bother. One of the first things she had me do was cast a ward around her team that negates any magic.” T did manage to pull her arm away from the soldier that had grabbed her.
“Who is she?”
The soldier gripped her arm tighter. “Shut up, both of you.”
Ash stuck her tongue out at the dickhead but didn’t try anything else. She may have a broken heart, and no idea how she would survive, but she would. She always had. It may be a miserable life, especially after knowing how much better it could be. The memory of having had true love and a family, if only for a day would have to sustain her.
They took her and T down several levels, even deeper into the Earth than her lab had been. They threw the both of them into a cold, dark room and bolted the door.
T waited only until they were out of sight before she worked a spell, turning the room into a cozy sitting room complete with easy chairs, a fireplace, and two cups of tea. She plonked down into one of the chairs and stirred sugar into one of the cups.
“Tea?”
Ash wanted to say no, to tell the woman she wanted nothing to do with her. But, she was so cold inside now and tired, oh so tired. She took the cup and sat in the other chair. It molded to her backside like she’d sat in it a thousand times.
“Must be nice to know how to use your magic so easily.”
“Not really. I’d rather I didn’t have it at all.”
Ash got that.
“Not likely with our genes though. We never had a shot.”
Umm. Their genes? Ash examined the woman again. It was the eyes that did it. Yes. They were too familiar. Like staring into her own. “We’re related, aren’t we?”
The woman coughed on her tea. When she’d recovered she stared at Ash like she’d said something dumb, which was not normal.
“It’s me, Tia.”
“Okay.”
“Tiaret Ayininruhu.”
“Are you speaking English?”
“Ashmiza.” She said Ash’s name with both frustration and surprise. “You and Kaden are my sisters.”
“What in the Stephen Hawking are you talking about?” How many alternate universes was she going to be subjected to in one day?
The tables, chairs, and tea disappeared in and instant and Tia looked around like she was seeing ghosts. “I’ll fill you in on the details later, but the gist is our parents were murdered, the four of us were separated and hidden away so no one would find us, until it was time to fulfill our destinies. Now, get on your feet because that practice defending ourselves from the spectral soul stealers is about to begin.”
Today’s craziness has been brought to you by the number four. Four sisters, four alternate universes, four fucking seconds until she was going to rip someone’s head off for taking her nice, normal, boring life and turning it into this utter crapfest.
But, also four orgasm, four new friends, and four new members of her family, including her mates.
Also, four seconds until they were in a heap of trouble, because just then, a spectral flew in through the wall and darted for Tia’s head.
Tia shot a burst of magic at it but missed when it swerved to avoid. It screeched at her and swooped up and away.
Ash had lost just enough for one day. Now she was ready to throw down. While it hurt her freshly wounded heart, she brought up the image of Russet and Dunn in her mind and let the soul magic stir inside.
When the spectral swooped again, she hit it with a whoosh of her magic. It froze right where it was an inch or so from Tia’s face.
Tia blinked and swallowed, taking a step back. “Scarlet must be dead if they’re letting the soul stealers out.”
Red. Red’s dead. If that was true, the deal they’d made was off too. Magic would be in danger again. Russet and Dunn might not be happy to see her, but she could not let them, or the town come under attack.
“We’ve got to get out of here.”
“And go where? This place is going to be in absolute chaos. We’d be better to hide out here. This is the beginning of the end.”
Not acceptable. “We have to warn Magic.”
Tia shook her head and Ash suddenly realized Tia was her younger sister. Weren’t they known for being brats? “We can’t go back there.”
Little sisters were also for bossing around. “We can, and we will. Don’t make me pull your hair.”
That got a look from Tia. “But, they’ll be mad at you, they’ll hate you for leaving them.”
“Maybe. But if even if they do, it doesn’t mean I stopped loving them. Now use that magic ass of your and get us out of here.”
Tia frowned, but waved her hand over the door lock and it popped open. She had to learn how to do that.
They snuck out into the hallway and Tia had been right. Total chaos. Spectrals everywhere, men and women looking gray with blank eyes slumped against walls and in corners.
That’s when they heard the lion roar.
Eleven: Dunn with this Bearshit
Dunn lay on the ground near the edge of the garden where Ash’s explosion had thrown him.
Unseeing, unfeeling, uncaring.
They had destroyed her.
He’d been so sure Ash could handle their souls. But, it had been such a burden that it had driven her crazy within an hour and she’d killed herself in a blaze of magic.
One Fates forsaken hour. That was all they’d gotten with their mate. It wasn’t enough.
Why had the Fates given her to them only to take her away?
Fuck the Fates.
Russet, in the same daze as he, walked over and fell into the grass next to Dunn. He had that same shell-shocked look that reflected exactly how Dunn felt.
“What were we thinking to fucking think we were the special ones? We never should have claimed her.” The hurt came through in Russet’s voice like a sharp razor to the jugular. It would hurt if Dunn didn’t feel so dead inside.
Even his bear couldn’t be bothered to care
if the world burned down around them. It may never surface again, simply go into permanent hibernation.
“Russet, Dunn, where is she, where did she go? I couldn’t see anything, and then there was an explosion, but I couldn’t move. Did someone or something take her?” Kady ran up to them and stopped short, peering off in the direction that Ash had – he couldn’t say it, couldn’t even think it.
Black was only a moment behind her. “Come, mah wah. Leave them be. They have lost their mate, and you, your sister. I will explain it to you at home.”
“What do you mean lost? No. She was right here a minute ago.”
Dunn’s bear chose that moment to change its mind about hibernating. It roared to the surface, taking over, shifting the man into beast.
He snapped at Kady, wanting her and her words and questions gone.
Black shifted to his bear and stood on his back legs, defending his mate from Dunn’s attack. Dunn didn’t want to hurt her. He backed away and turned, lumbering off in the direction Ash had... died.
Before he took three more steps, Russet in his bear form was at his side. Together they broke into a run. He didn’t know where they were going, just that they needed to not be here.
He could smell her, the taste of her was on the wind.
She couldn’t be dead. He would feel it if she was.
Would he? When he noticed her gone from their bed, he hadn’t known he was losing her already. When he found her she’d already injured herself so badly.
She’d frozen him and everything around him in time and all he could do was watch from afar as the cuts appeared all over her body right in front of his eyes, but no one, nothing had been attacking her. Self-inflicted.
Then she’d said those fateful words.
I don’t love you. I never did.
He wouldn’t believe it.
She had loved him and Russet. Too much.
Together he and Russet ran and ran, until they’d both exhausted themselves and their bears. It only made the pain worse.
His life was destroyed. He needed to destroy something else.
He and Russet glanced at each other. They didn’t need words to know they were thinking the same thing.