Rhain's Pov
The cabin of the witch stinks of herbs and stale magic, but underneath that, I can smell death. Not hunt death, but death itself, something tainted, corrupted. Maya is stiff next to me on the frayed leather sofa, her perfume laced with fear and something more. Something that's making my wolf stir restlessly under my epidermis.
Selene emerges from behind the back room carrying a cup of steaming liquid that seems to be darkness itself. Her hair, which is silver, shines in the candlelight when she looks at Maya through eyes that have seen too many centuries.
"Drink," she commands, holding out the cup to Maya. "All of it."
Maya's shaky hands cradle it as she takes it. I can smell her hesitation, but she drinks from it without complaining. Good girl. Selene doesn't question, it only gives orders that reasonable people follow.
The witch rests back in her seat across from us, her fingers laced together and steepled. "Show me the mark."
Maya stops and looks at me. I keep my face blank, even as my entire body screams at me to protect her from prying eyes. She belongs to me to keep safe now, whether she wants me to or not.
She rises, pulling her top up, revealing the mark on her back between her shoulder blades. I've never seen it like this before, and all those symbols and patterns that appear to curl and twist in the dancing candlelight. Ancient. Powerful. Deadly.
"Save us, Goddess," Selene says spitting through her teeth.
"What is it?" Barely audible is Maya's whisper.
"A bond of bloodline. Omega-class." The witch's face has gone white. "I've only seen three in my five hundred years, child. The last one caused the War of Seven Packs."
The temperature in the room drops. My wolf growls, picking up on the threat before my human mind is able to. "Explain."
Selene's eyes fix on me, and I sense the weight of prophecy in them. "Your mate here differs from any wolf. She's Omega-bonded, a union of alphas. Her emotions, her loyalties, flow outward like waves on water. When she's centered, happy, the supernatural world is at peace."
"And when she's not?" I inquire, though already guessing that I won't enjoy what I am hearing.
"War." The term falls like an executioner's blade. "Alphas will find her distraught, her breakdown. They'll battle for her, one after the other, each believing they can claim her, stabilize her. The wars won't cease until a single pack is left."
Maya releases a cry of pain. "Two bonds. One heart." Her words are hollow, distant. "That's what my grandmother used to say. She used to tell me stories about this girl who was torn between the warrior she loved and the wolf king who needed her."
"Grandmother was a seer," Selene whispers. "She saw what you would be."
"And said nothing?" Maya's smell is laced with fury, bitter and acrid. "She let me think that I was like everyone else, that I was capable of falling for Marcus, that..."
"She protected you." I reach for her, fighting not to pull her into my arms. "This kind of knowledge would have spoiled your entire life. Made you afraid of what you felt."
Maya glances at me, and I see the exact instant she realizes what this means. The connection with Marcus, tainted by the presence of Vincent. The connection between us, dangerous and inevitable. Her emotions, already fragmenting under the strain.
"How long?" she asks softly. "How long until war erupts?"
The face of Selene is serious. "It might have begun already. Three of our alphas died during border skirmishes last week. The Council is gathering. And there are rumors."
"What whispers?"
"Vincent's group is speaking with others about you being real. They refer to you as the Breaker of Bonds, the Bringer of Change." The witch stands up, strolling over to a cabinet full of bottles and bones. "They desire chaos, child. And you're the perfect catalyst."
Maya's cup breaks in her hand. Her wild and unruly magic flails about like a living thing in response to her fear. I move on impulse, my arm encircling her to pull her against me. She conforms to me like she was built for me.
"Control it," I breathe in her ear, my voice dropping to the alpha frequency that commands obedience. "Feel my power. Let it center you."
Her breathing slackens and the lethal aura surrounding her dissipates. But I don't let go of her. Can't let go of her. She's warm and supple in my arms, and every gasp pulls her scent further into my lungs.
"We're going to have to leave," I tell Selene, still looking at Maya's face. "The longer she stays there..."
"The more dangerous it becomes. Yes." The witch stuffs a small bag of herbs into Maya's willing palm. "Burning them when nightmares assail will keep Vincent's soul from reaching you through dreams."
Maya's head jerks up. "He can do that?"
"The necromancer's curse is multi-toothed, child. Slumber will be no refuge for you anymore."
We step out of the cottage in silence, Maya in the lead along the woodland path. I watch as moonlight gets caught in her hair, the beautiful curve of her neck, the gentle swing of her hips. My wolf grapples to claim her, to mark her, to tell all the males in a fifty-mile radius that she belongs to me.
But she doesn't. At least not yet. Perhaps never.
She stops suddenly in a clearing, her back still facing me. "I can feel you watching me."
"Good." I step forward, close enough for her to feel the heat of my body if she took one step backward. "You always have to know where I am."
"Why?" She turns around, and we're standing toe to toe, inches from each other. Her eyes are bright with unshed tears and something that looks startlingly like longing. "Why do you care what happens to me?"
The question hits me like a punch. Because I should be calculating, strategic. Maya is a tool that can unite the world of the supernatural or destroy it. To own her would make me the most powerful alpha North America has to offer. Any responsible leader would see the potential.
But looking at her now, looking at the vulnerability which she's working so hard to cover up, I recognize that strategy is not a factor.
"Because you are mine." My words come out harsher than I intend them to. "The moment I smelled you, the moment I saw that mark for the first time, you were mine to protect."
"I'm not an object..."
I step closer and pin her against the bark of a tree. My fingers brush over the sides of her head, holding her without touching her. "Isn't it? Your wolf knows what you won't admit. She knows her alpha."
Maya's untamed pulse thunders against her neck. Her scent bursts forth with passion and an undercurrent of darkness, savagerness. "I belong to Marcus."
"M arcus sold you." I bend so my lips are a whisper from her ear. "I never would. I'd burn the world down before I'd let anyone take you from me."
She shakes, and I see the exact moment her resolve weakens. Her arms go up to rest against my chest, and for a perfect instant, I think that she will give in.
She pushes me then, hard. "No. I won't. I won't betray him, after all of this..."
She backs away from me, taking a step back. There are tears on her face now, and I see them, and I feel some wild thing stir up in my chest.
"Maya."
"I need some space. I need to be able to think." She's already moving back, further into the trees. "I can't. I can't think when you're there."
She twists and runs, her form disappearing between trunks. Every nerve in me shouts to run after her, to follow, to seize her. But I force myself to stay still, to let her go.
The wind shifts, and another fragrance wafts in my direction. Smoke. Wood fire. And under all of that, the acrid flavor of blood on metal. Orange light flickers far away among
trees where there should be Maya's village. I am already running when the scream is first heard.