Out of Smoke and Ashes

  “Hold on,” Daniel barked to the person on the phone as he hurried over to them. “Callie, back down, it’s fine.”

  “Who the fuck is this woman?” she asked as she turned to him. “And why am I not allowed to kill her for breaking into our house?”

  “The woman whose throat you almost just ripped out because she stupidly didn’t bother to warn us she was dropping by is my little sister, Kitty,” he explained. “So no, you’re not allowed to kill her, pet.” He smiled. “Not today.”

  * * * *

  Daniel stepped into his office and shut the door to finish his call after a hurried introduction. “My mate, Callie, this is Kitty, my little sister. Kitty, Callie. Play nice.”

  The two women stood there in silence for a moment staring at each other. The other woman looked more than a little embarrassed. Without the desire to eviscerate her interfering, Callie now saw the family resemblance. Her jet-black hair was pulled into a long braid that hung down her back, and her grey-green eyes bore the same hint of amber as her brother’s.

  Kitty cleared her throat and stuck out her hand. “Sorry. Jocko didn’t mention Danny was mated now. Kathleen Blackestone. Danny calls me Kitty. So since you’re family, you can, too.” She offered up a tentative smile.

  Callie shook with her. Yes, he’d mentioned a little sister, his only surviving close family member after the cockatrice slaughtered them. But beyond saying they hadn’t seen each other in years, he’d said little else and she hadn’t pressed him for details.

  “So that’s how you got in? He told you where the key was?”

  She nodded. “Sorry.” Her face reddened slightly. “If you want me to leave, I will.”

  Callie took a deep breath and let it out, clearing the anger and stress from her body enough that she could talk rationally. “No, it’s okay. You’ve just hit us at a really crappy time, sorry about that. How long have you been here?”

  “Just a couple of hours. I…uh, put my stuff in what I hope is the guest room.”

  It was Callie’s turn to redden. They didn’t usually keep the playroom locked unless they knew there was company coming over. “Oh, um, the door on the left?”

  “Yes.”

  “Annnd I’m guessing you saw what was behind the door on the right.”

  Kitty nodded, blushing again.

  Callie was far too old for this bullshit. “Okay, yes, your brother and I are a Master and slave couple and we…do things. That’s our playroom. If we’d known you were coming, we wouldn’t have left it open. Sorry.”

  Kitty’s smile widened. “I’m glad he finally found someone who could put up with his control freak ways. I was beginning to think he’d die alone.”

  Callie found herself liking the woman despite their initial rocky meeting. “So what brings you here?”

  The woman’s face grew hard. “I’m tracking a cockatrice nest, and I think I’ve located them. I came to ask for his help in taking them out.”

  * * * *

  Daniel was still on the phone nearly thirty minutes later while the women were in the kitchen talking and preparing a quick dinner for the three of them. Callie found out Kitty wasn’t an easy woman to keep in touch with since she spent her life literally on the road with no permanent home as she tracked down and killed cockatrice wherever she found them.

  “Funny you should say that,” Callie said. “We’ve had a few run-ins with them ourselves. And we’re trying to track down a nest reported in the area. Maybe it’s the same one.”

  Kitty looked grim as Callie gave her a quick update of the past couple of years, including her trip to Brussels with Lina and the group.

  “I’ll be honest,” Kitty said, “I haven’t had any run-ins personally with Abernathy. I do know everyone hates his guts. I haven’t found any evidence to show he’s partnered with the cockatrice. Honestly? They rarely trust shifters of other races, and they would also see someone aggressive like Abernathy as a threat, not someone to ally themselves with.”

  Daniel looked grim when he emerged from his office and joined them in the kitchen.

  “Any news?” Callie asked.

  “No. But get this, Abernathy is demanding another hearing in front of the Clan Council.”

  Callie’s mouth gaped. “Why? Never mind, I don’t care why. Can I blast him now? Please? And did he say anything about Mom?”

  “No, he didn’t mention her. But the why is because of her, and Mai.”

  “But you already ruled against him with Mai!”

  He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes, I did. Now he’s claiming Mai’s rightful Clan is contesting her mating.”

  “What? She’s an orphan!”

  “When her parents died her uncle was given custody of her and made executor of her parents’ estate.”

  “And blew all the cash, robbing her blind.”

  “Exactly. I just got off the phone with head of the coyotes in Montana, the Clan her family was part of. He has no idea what’s going on. He agreed I was within my rights to rule the way I did, but that yes, under their normal way of doing things, the uncle was, technically, supposed to okay the mating first. Although usually it’s just a formality in modern times, and the few times they’ve ever overruled a mating was if the person wanting it was a minor and their parents objected to it. He told me he has no problem with me upholding my original ruling and he’s not about to object to it.”

  Callie found herself speechless.

  Daniel stared at her, a smile spreading across his face. “I can’t believe it. Finally fried your brain?”

  “So you told Abernathy no fucking way, right?” Callie finally managed.

  He looked grim again. “Nope. Head of the coyote Clan agreed it might be prudent to let the fucker have another hearing. So I told Abernathy this coming Saturday we have a full-moon Council meeting scheduled and he’ll have five minutes to state his case and present evidence and witnesses.”

  Her jaw flapped a few times before she finally managed to speak. “Why? Why in the Goddess’ name would you give him another hearing? Especially when you heard from the head coyote’s mouth he doesn’t have a problem with Mai’s mating?”

  “Because even though Abernathy denies any hand in Carla’s disappearance, and he even had the balls to offer assistance if we wanted it, I suspect if we deny him the hearing we might never see Carla alive again.”

  * * * *

  Daniel had another slew of phone calls to handle after wolfing down his dinner. Once he finally cleared those, he collapsed onto the sofa in the living room, next to Callie. Kitty was curled up in a chair across from them.

  “So, what brings you up here?” he asked her. “Not that I mind you dropping in, because I haven’t seen you in a while. How’d you even know where I was?”

  “I called Jocko when I hit New York yesterday. He told me. I just flew in from a lovely little shit hole in the Ukraine where there is now one less cockatrice nest polluting the world.”

  “That’s quite a jump, from Eastern Europe to the US.”

  “I found info there possibly linking them to someone here. Callie and I were comparing notes. I think the nest you all have a line on is the same one I’m hunting down.”

  Daniel looked at Callie. “Have you tried your sisters again?”

  “They won’t get involved about the cockatrice.”

  “I meant about Carla.”

  “Oh. Not yet.”

  He smiled. “Go ahead.”

  He enjoyed watching the shock on his sister’s face as Callie disappeared from the couch.

  “Where’d she go?”

  “Neat trick, huh?”

  “Um, listen, what is she?”

  “She didn’t introduce herself?”

  “Yeah, she did. She didn’t say anything about being able to do that.”

  “No, I mean did she tell you her full name?”

  “Callie Maher Blackestone.”

  “Callie is short for Cailleach. As in The Cailleach.
”

  Her eyes widened. “No fucking way,” she whispered. “You nailed yourself an Immortal as your mate? Do you have a death wish?”

  He laughed. “Nope, but I wasn’t sure if our first date would be my last meal or not.”

  Callie returned, dejection on her face. “They’re not home. Either of them. Bitches.” She looked at Kitty. “What’s wrong?”

  Kitty wordlessly shook her head.

  Daniel laughed again as he slung an arm around her shoulders, glad to have at least one light moment in the evening. “I just blew your cover, pet.”

  Chapter Nine

  With every minute that ticked by, despite the assurances of Lina and Lacey and even her own gut instincts, Elain couldn’t help but wonder if her mom was okay.

  Or if she was even still alive.

  They heard nothing from the kidnappers or Abernathy. When Daniel finally called Ain back and told him about Abernathy’s request for another meeting, she thought her head would explode.

  “Why the fuck are we not tracking him down now and torturing him to death?”

  “Because if we do,” Ain said, “we’ll likely never see Mom again.”

  “Not alive,” Ortega Montalvo agreed.

  Elain pushed herself up out of her chair. “I can’t just sit here,” she said as she headed for the sliders leading out back. “I need a run or I’m going to kill something.”

  Cail and Brodey followed her outside. When she tried to protest, Cail grabbed her hands and held them close to her chest. “This is what people do when they’re married,” he softly said. “They lean on each other. We’ll run with you.”

  “Are you going to make me take you with me?”

  “No, but we hope you won’t push us away.”

  She stared into his sweet brown eyes. Even the Alpha rearing its raging head inside her couldn’t help but agree. “Okay,” she softly said.

  Together they undressed. The men waited until Elain had completed her shift to make their own. They let her take the lead. As she loped toward the woods behind the house, Brodey, then Cail, fell in step behind her.

  Run…run…run… Part of Elain wanted to completely let go to the Alpha, let it take over the way it had that night of the chase, rob her of conscious thought and give her a few moments of blissful relief from this waking nightmare.

  Around her, the world melted away until the blood pounding through her veins and the air burning in her lungs were the only things on her mind. Without conscious thought, her stride lengthened, pace increased, until she was in a flat-out run. Her body flew across the ground as a mournful howl ripped from her lips, echoing the pain in her soul.

  * * * *

  Just a few steps behind her and having to push himself to keep up, Brodey’s heart nearly broke over the sound of her howl. He’d loved and lost a lot in his years, friends and family both, not to mention the deaths of their parents. Fought a lot of battles. Said a lot of good-byes.

  This hurt even more, knowing that at this time there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to take her pain away.

  Behind them Cail stumbled going over a log and took a header on the other side, causing him to fall behind. Brodey didn’t even take the time to laugh or call back a taunt, not wanting to lose sight of Elain. He didn’t want to leave her alone.

  He didn’t even know if she had a destination in mind or planned on running until she exhausted herself. He hoped she had enough sense of mind to stay on their property and not leave the relative safety of the ranch. If she didn’t, he was prepared to head her off.

  On they ran, Cail struggling to catch up with them under the blistering pace.

  Damn, she must have been great at cross-country track. Even in his younger days he’d rarely kept up such a pace for this long without his hide or someone else’s being on the line. As the hours ticked on and she wove a convoluted path around the wooded areas of the ranch, he felt his own energy waning. A few times he’d tried to talk with her, break through her Alpha to the woman inside, but each attempt met with the mindless buzz of a wolf encased in anger and grief.

  He wasn’t sure what time it was, but by the position of the moon in the sky he guessed it was well after midnight when she took a path that would lead her straight at the fence along the ranch’s far eastern boundary. When she made no move to change trajectory, he realized she was planning on staying her course and leaving the ranch.

  Fuck.

  Cail had dropped back a good hundred yards by that point, probably only keeping up by tracking their scent.

  Babe, take a turn. Don’t leave the ranch.

  Nothing but a low buzz of static met his attempts to talk with her through their mate bond.

  Digging deep, he pushed himself harder and managed to pull close enough to her he could reach out and snap at her hindquarters. It took him three attempts to get more than a mouthful of fur, but he finally latched on and just stopped running, the momentum sending them both tumbling in a pile of legs and fur.

  Before she could recover, he shifted back and pinned her to the ground, his forearm across her throat, the full weight of his body covering hers. “Shift back, Elain!” he bellowed, hoping she wasn’t so far gone the edict wouldn’t work.

  She struggled, whining and snapping at him, unable to throw him off.

  Cail finally caught up and shifted mid-run to join him.

  “What happened?”

  “Just fucking help me hold her down!” Brodey yelled.

  Cail lay across her hindquarters while Brodey changed position across her shoulders, finally managing to clamp his fingers around her muzzle and forcing her to look at him, to make eye contact.

  “Shift back!” he ordered again.

  Both men had to quickly readjust position as she was suddenly naked and struggling beneath them, wordlessly screaming, tears streaming from her eyes.

  “Oh, babe,” Cail said.

  Brodey gathered her into his arms and rocked her while Cail cuddled close and stroked her hair. She screamed and screamed, sobbing, wailing, the keening sound biting through Brodey’s soul every bit as sharply as he knew it was Cail’s. Their gaze met over her head and the brothers knew all they could do was let her get it out of her system.

  Eventually she cried herself hoarse as she worked the worst of the anger and grief out of her system. Still wracked by choking sobs, she finally opened her eyes and stared up at the sky. “Why can’t he just leave us all alone?” she managed.

  Cail carefully wiped at her tears with his thumbs. “I don’t know, babe,” he softly said. “I wish I had an answer for you.”

  “Some people,” Brodey added, “are just batcrap crazy.”

  * * * *

  Elain couldn’t process her emotions. The Alpha inside her, only temporarily sated by the run, still angrily paced. Wanting justice.

  Wanting vengeance.

  Wanting to maim and kill.

  She knew she needed something to take her mind off wanting to commit mayhem.

  No better way I know. She grabbed Brodey and kissed him, hard and deep. At first taken by surprise, he barely missed a beat as he rolled her onto her back and pinned her to the grass.

  Cail grabbed her hands and held them over her head. “Submit,” he growled.

  This was what she wanted. A struggle she knew she wouldn’t win, but that would help release some of the pent-up rage inside her in a healthy way.

  She tried to throw Brodey off, knowing she couldn’t and hoping her horny bonehead would immediately take the hint.

  Thrashing against him, she did manage to get a leg loose and kick him in the chest, sending him flying. It was enough she could twist free of Cail’s grip and try to scramble away from him across the grass.

  “So that’s the way you want to play it,” Brodey said as he got to his feet.

  Cail bolted after her, dropping her a few feet away with a flying tackle that sent them both sprawling across the ground. Brodey, now fully into the action, got a fistful of her hair and pulled as he t
hrew his body on top of hers.

  “Submit, mate!” he bellowed.

  But it wasn’t an edict.

  She continued struggling, fighting, until Brodey handed her hair off to Cail and flipped her onto her stomach. He got a knee wedged between her thighs without getting himself kicked in the balls and hooked an arm around her waist. Cail managed to grab one of her wrists and twist her arm up and behind her, limiting her ability to fight.

  When Cail’s stiff cock smacked her in the cheek, she knew he was fully into the battle to dominate her.

  Which was exactly where she wanted both men. She’d already felt Brodey’s eager cock jabbing against her butt as she squirmed and struggled.

  Brodey managed to get another knee between her legs and shoved his cock deep into her pussy. Then he fell on top of her and sank his teeth into her shoulder.

  “Yes!” she screamed.

  Cail wrenched her head back. “Submit!”

  “Yes, yes, yes!” and still she fought, struggled, feeling like the energy inside her would rip her apart from the inside out if she didn’t rid herself of it somehow.

  Brodey growled against her back, his teeth still buried in her flesh. “Fight all you want,” he said through their mate bond, “I’ll only fuck you longer and harder.”

  “Yes!”

  Cail handed off her wrist to Brodey. Then he shoved a thumb into her mouth. When she started sucking it, he yanked it out and fed his cock between her lips. With both hands clamped around her head, he started roughly fucking her mouth.

  This!

  Cail leaned over as Brodey pulled her to her knees and started fucking her. Somehow, Cail managed to sink his teeth into her side.

  The orgasm that ripped through her made her feel like the top of her head would explode.

  And still, they kept fucking her, Brodey shoving her deep onto Cail’s cock with each stroke as Cail kept his fingers clamped around her head and digging into her scalp.

  Yet she still fought. She fought them as another orgasm shredded her control and she growled as best she could around Cail’s cock in her mouth.