Chapter 14: Chapter Fourteen

To my great relief, Grant did not introduce himself as my mate.

“Ben Harlow,” he said instead, “there is a warrant out for your arrest.”

Ben took a step back, pushing me with him. Grant’s eyes cut to mine; they held a single question and a promise to follow: ~Are you okay?~ and ~I’ll kill them if you’re not.~

I went to move from Ben’s side, but he held tight, his grasp on the cusp of becoming painful. I tried to keep my expression as neutral as possible.

If Grant knew that I was in any sort of discomfort, not caring how small, I wouldn’t be able to stop the fight that would occur.

“Yes,” Ben rumbled, “there is.”

“I’m here to collect you and deliver you to the Royals of the North. It has been decided that you must pay for your past crimes by serving an indefinite sentence in the Royal Prison.”

Outrage burned in my throat. He hadn’t told me about the indefinite part.

Ben’s skin was starting to heat up and tremor. I pressed my hand to his back, trying to calm him. I felt him relax under my touch.

I looked over to Grant and felt my stomach tumble, he had seen me comfort Ben and wasn’t happy about it.

“Where’s the rest of your pack?” Fitz asked, reintroducing me to his presence.

Grant barely spared him a glance as he kept his eyes on me and Ben. “I’m not here to answer questions. Unless you’d also like to be detained today, I suggest you keep quiet, Leo Fitzpatrick.”

Fitz was pale but kept his mouth shut. Will bristled beside him but stayed silent.

“Let my pack leave,” Ben rumbled, “and we’ll talk.” I clenched my fingers into his shirt, tugging gently at the fabric. It was the first time I had heard him refer to Will and Fitz as his packmates.

Grant conjured a cruel smile. “A pack of criminals? A pack of rogues?” Grant stepped forward, and Ben braced himself, his grip on me starting to hurt.

“You don’t know the first thing about packs, son of the moon, you’re incapable of forming that bond.”

“Hey—” Fitz cried despite Will’s warning not to.

Grant didn’t even glance their way.

“If you think I’m letting the other rogues flee, you’re mistaken. As soon as I have you in custody, the rest of Cerberus will be here to collect them, including the wolf in the woods.”

All three boys shifted at the mention of Oak.

“Then let my mate go,” Ben snapped, fingers pressing hard into my skin.

I yelped and tried to yank my hand away, but he was heating up again, too far lost in whatever emotion he was feeling to register that I was in pain.

Grant kept his face perfectly smooth. If he felt any surprise from Ben’s declaration of our bond, then he didn’t let it show.

“I didn’t know sons of the moon could have mates,” he said, his voice light. His eyes stayed away from mine.

Ben ignored his inquiry. “She’s innocent in all this, let her leave.”

Grant inclined his head.

Ben turned quickly, his grip cutting into my skin. I ripped my arm away from his as soon as I could, cradling my burning skin to my chest. Ben took hold of my shoulders, his eyes feverish.

“Go into the house,” he ordered, “stay there until—”

“Quickly,” Grant drawled, his voice so unlike the one he used with me in his apartment.

“—I’ll circle back for you, and we’ll take off—”

“What?”

Ben pushed me backward lightly, urging me toward his porch.

I might have made it there if I hadn’t dropped my arm from my chest, if Grant hadn’t seen the imprint of Ben’s hold blazing against my skin. As soon as he saw that I was hurt, it was all over.

“Stop!” I yelled as he rocketed forward, shifting from one form to another in the time it took me to blink.

He snarled as he hit the ground, shaking out his white fur and curling his muzzle up so his canines were exposed.

Fitz and Will saw the color of his fur and took a few rapid steps back. Ben stood his ground, moving so he stood directly in front of me as his protecting instincts kicked into high gear.

Grant growled as he stalked forward, tail swishing low against the ground as the hackles along his back rose, making him appear beefier than he truly was.

The sight of him sent an instinctual wave of terror through me. He was a true predator.

“Ben,” I urged, my voice pinched. I reached a hand out to him. “You need to run.”

Ben ignored me, sizing up Grant as he sunk into a crouch. Whatever strength Ben had, he had no chance against Grant in this form. “Go inside, Morda,” Ben ordered. Grant snarled at the sound of my name.

Will and Fitz shifted at the edge of the field, spreading out so the boys roughly surrounded Grant. The White Wolf didn’t seem fazed at all, he kept his eyes forward and his ears tall and twitching.

Fitz pounced first, and Grant spun so fast he was a blur. There was a sharp whine, and then Fitz was on the ground, his golden flank bright red.

Anger sparked in me as I watched Grant turn, Fitz’s blood dripping from his shining muzzle.

I rushed forward and gripped Ben’s arm, not caring about the savage growl that tore itself from Grant’s throat.

“Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work. You’re not going to win against him. Please—~please~ listen to me. Even if you do fight him, you’re only going to draw the rest of Cerberus here.

“You guys might have escaped them the other day, but you won’t if Grant is fighting too. Please, Ben.”

Ben turned slightly, body still angled toward Grant but his eyes on me. “How do you know his name?” I couldn’t speak, not to answer and not to warn him as Grant lunged, tackling Ben to the ground.

But before Grant could pin him, Ben had danced away, shaking out his shoulders and hopping from foot to foot. My mother’s voice bounced around my skull.

~You’ll find that the sons are fast—faster than you could imagine.~

Grant snarled as he turned, fury and surprise mixing on his face. He attacked again, swiping at Ben’s shoulder but unable to find purchase.

Both men growled, and then the dance really began, Grant striking and Ben dodging. They began moving faster and faster until I couldn’t follow the fight with my eyes.

I ran around them instead, giving them a wide berth as I made my way to Will who was trying to help Fitz get to the cover of the trees.

Fitz growled at me when I approached, trying to tell me to leave him and run. I rolled my eyes as I moved to his flank, assessing the damage.

The wound wasn’t deep, Grant hadn’t lamed him, only taken him out of the fight for the next few hours.

“Shift back,” I told him, trying to catch the wolf’s eye.

He growled. I gave him a flat look, and he growled again before closing his eyes and shifting. Fitz screamed as he shifted, the skin on his thigh pulling on his wound.

He shoved his fist into his mouth and bit down hard, eyes watering the next time he looked up at me.

I laid my hand on his shoulder, trying to ignore the snarls from Grant. “Get on Will’s back,” I instructed, “he can run you somewhere safe to recover.”

Will huffed and growled.

Fitz looked stricken. “Get on ~his back~?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just like riding a horse, remember?”

Fitz swallowed. “But it’s ~Will~.”

Will snapped at him playfully.

I grabbed Fitz’s arm and slung it over my shoulders, heaving him up with as much strength as I could muster. He pushed himself up with his good leg, leaning heavily on me once he was standing.

Will shuffled over and dropped low to the ground, trying to ease Fitz’s climb onto his back.

With a lot of grunting and a lot of swearing, Fitz wrangled his way onto Will’s back, and the dark wolf took off sprinting.

I watched them leave, making sure they were lost to the trees before I turned around and watched the other two boys fight.

My mind was racing as I watched them, going back between worrying that Grant was going to hurt Ben to worrying the Grant was going to exhaust himself trying to catch Ben.

The next scream chilled me to the bone and stopped the fighting.

Grant had come out on top, his paw jamming down on Ben’s shoulder joint, popping his arm out of the socket with a sickening crunch.

Ben swore and squirmed, but his arm was pinned, and there was no getting out of the hold without Grant’s permission.

Grant was panting hard, his hackles lowering as he adjusted to victory.

He turned and caught my eye, reading whatever horror was in them, and then turned back to Ben, giving his massive head a sharp shake.

I walked forward slowly, my hands raised. “Grant,” I pleaded, “let him go.”

Grant growled lightly, snapping his teeth in front of Ben’s face. Ben was sweating and shaking, his entire body revolting against the intense pain he must have been in.

He swore, muttering my name as he tried to push himself off the ground, attempting to get some leverage over Grant.

Grant pushed his paw farther down, and another crunch echoed in the air. Ben screamed, his voice breaking as he did. I felt my entire body jolt for him, as if his pain were mine.

As if I could feel the shadows of his suffering. The sound of his scream broke something in me, some deep barrier.

I threw my arms out, heat rushing through me as flames burst from my hands and swirled in the air for a fleeting second before sputtering and dying out.

Grant released Ben out of surprise, and Ben jumped to his feet, staring as I fell to my knees, my energy depleted from the magic I was sure I wasn’t supposed to be able to access yet.

Grant whined and ran forward, shifting between one step and the next. I felt Ben’s hands on me first, reaching for my face and then drawing back sharply at the temperature my skin was.

I blinked heavily, my head swirling as I started to heat up all over. I didn’t know what magic I had tapped into, but it was burning me alive. My lungs felt shriveled, and my head was blazing.

I fell from my knees onto my palms and felt Grant’s hands on my ribcage, lifting me into the air and cradling me against his chest.

I heard Ben’s sharp protest and then felt my head loll back over Grant’s arm. I struggled to open my eyes, catching only small glances of the night’s sky as I was moved toward the house.

I blacked out for a few seconds. When I came to, we were running, the boys arguing in whispers as they raced for the house.

In the distance, I heard a wolf howl. It was a rallying sound, a howl meant to elicit the pack into a hunt.

“Inside,” Grant barked, shouldering the front door open and swinging me inside. Ben followed quickly, closing the door and bolting it behind us.

Grant took the stairs two at a time, descending rapidly into a dank basement.

“Grant,” I slurred, “wha—what’s happen…”

He carried me into the back corner of the dark space and set me carefully on the concrete floor. He crouched so his face was level with mine, a brilliant smile lighting up those electric eyes.

“Looks like you found your powers, witch,” he said with a wink. I winced, and he laid a hand to my cheek, my skin already cooling. “A little short-lived but we can work on it.”

I tried to grab his hand, but my movements were too slow, he was already moving around the room. “What—”

“Shh,” he scolded me, “not now.”

I struggled to keep my head straight.

Ben descended the stairs next, meeting Grant’s eye. They seemed to have a silent conversation, and then Grant took off, leaving the basement.

I listened, following his movements as he crossed the upstairs and left the house.

A moment passed in silence. It was just me and Ben in the dark space. He cleared his throat and started searching, not stopping until he unearthed a few candles from the pile of boxes by the stairs.

He struck a match and lit the wicks, giving the room some light.

“He’s going to lead his pack away,” Ben explained. “They showed up right after you… you…” He swallowed, his voice shaking.

I rolled my head so it was resting against the wall. I blinked slowly at him. “I’m a witch,” I told him, “an enchantress. A daughter of the moon.”

His tawny eyes stared. “You never told me.”

“I couldn’t find the right time,” I murmured, wincing as a headache spiked. “You’ve been preoccupied.”

Ben opened his mouth and then shut it quickly, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “I could have made any time the right time—you’re my mate—I’ll always make time for you.”

I was too tired to argue, too tired to bicker. The truth was I had been afraid of telling Ben.

I couldn’t guess his reaction, I didn’t know what kind of questions he’d ask and whether or not I could answer. With Grant, it was easier.

Slowly, Ben moved across the room, his one arm hanging lower on his frame than the other. He slid down the wall beside me, wincing as his dislocated shoulder caught.

When he was seated beside me, he reached out and took my hand in his good one.

“I never want you to keep things from me,” he said. “I want you to be able to confide in me.”

My head thumped. “Like you confided in me about the girl who died because of you?”

Ben recoiled. “How do you know?”

I swallowed back the instant revulsion that flowed through me. It was true then. “Does it matter how I know? Or does it only matter that I do and I didn’t find out from you?”

Ben leaned his head against the concrete wall and closed his eyes. He took a few deep breaths, his look slowly becoming more and more tortured.

When he opened his eyes, the candlelight caught them, setting them ablaze.

“I met her in school,” Ben said. “I was sixteen or so. Her name was Maria. She helped me through a lot, helped me after I was branded by my pack. She saw me change by accident.

“I went to some party and stumbled off drunk into the woods. I hadn’t realized how close to the change I was until it was already happening. My pack found out about it, and Maria was executed swiftly.

“Before that, they had barely tolerated me. It was just an excuse to force me out.”

“Did you love her?” I asked, my voice husky.

Ben nodded, unafraid of the truth. “I did,” he said.

“I loved her as fiercely as I could as a broken boy. I gave her every fractured piece of my heart in the hopes she could repair it. But that’s not real love, that’s desperation.”

“Were you there when they…”

“Yes,” Ben answered, eyes dropping to the floor, “I was there.”

I sucked in a breath. The horror of it all overcame me, and suddenly I wasn’t so curious anymore. What did I ask anyway? How did she die? If it was painful?

What did those details mean when a young girl had lost her life because she had been deemed untrustworthy before she had the chance to prove herself otherwise?

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I murmured, looking at our intertwined hands. “I’m sorry that Maria was killed so senselessly.”

Ben's voice was heavy with unresolved guilt. “So am I.”

The door to the basement cracked open, and light poured down the stairs as Grant descended. He was stone-faced as he walked toward us, no doubt seeing my hand in Ben’s.

I had to ignore the urge to shirk Ben off and go to Grant.

“You have ten seconds to convince me that I shouldn’t turn you in,” Grant growled. I felt my stomach flip. Ben holding my hand probably wasn’t helping his case.

“What happened with the human girl was a senseless mistake. I was a kid and forced into reckless behavior because my pack shunned me.

“It will never happen again because I’ll never seek out human comfort again.” Ben squeezed my hand for effect.

“As for the secret of werewolves, it is also in my best interest to make sure your kind is never discovered.”

Grant looked to me and then back at Ben. “They’re gone for now, I told them I checked the house and the area and that you guys had fled. This house isn’t safe anymore.

“Now that Dane and the others know you’ve been here, they’ll circle back every few hours and search for you.”

Ben nodded. “Thank you,” he said, “for what you did for us.”

Grant’s mouth pinched at the mention of us. “You’re welcome.” He switched his gaze to me, his neck stiff. “Can I speak to you alone, Morda?”

Ben squeezed my hand. “Why would you need to speak to her?”

Grant shrugged. “You’re stuck hiding in this basement, but she isn’t. I thought she’d like to stretch her legs, breathe in air that isn’t damp.” He turned to me and narrowed his eyes.

Nerves flipped in my stomach. “Fresh air might be a good idea for someone who just fainted.”

I nodded, pulling my hand gently from Ben’s. He tugged a little on my fingertips, asking me to stay. “Let’s go,” I said to Grant, “we’ll see if we can hail Will and Fitz back too.”

Ben frowned and stood as I did, his shoulder still pitched in the wrong direction. “I can come with you,” he offered. “I can help find Will and Fitz.”

Grant held out his hand. “You stay, Cerberus is still around, and it’s dangerous for you to leave. Stay, heal your shoulder, we’ll be back soon.”

I held his gaze. “It’s okay. I’ll be right back.”

Ben nodded reluctantly, his eyes appraising Grant as he laid a light hand on my shoulder and guided me out of the dank basement and up the stairs.

We didn’t speak until we were out of the house and outside. Grant stepped in front of me just before we hit the trees.

“What the f—”

“I can explain,” I interrupted. “Ben is…” I faltered. I couldn’t explain, didn’t know how to explain what I didn’t understand myself.

“A prick,” Grant offered, “a mutt, a—”

“Grant,” I reprimanded with a frown.

Gently, Grant took my arm and ran his fingers over the bruises Ben had inflicted without noticing. Four long bruises for his fingers and a deep purple one for his thumb.

I snuck a look up at Grant and wished I hadn’t, wished I hadn’t seen the look.

“I should hand him over to Cerberus,” he rumbled, “let them rip him apart, let him put himself back together in the Royal Prison.”

I pulled my hand away from his touch. “Stop,” I begged. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I just need a few seconds to breathe.”

Grant’s eyes clouded over. He took a step toward me and slipped his hand to my cheek, his thumb skimming just underneath my bottom lip.

My hands went to his waist on instinct, our bodies gravitating toward one another. He moved slowly, bringing his face to mine.

“You scared the shit out of me with that fire,” he whispered, his mouth picking up into a half smile. His left hand moved into my hair.

I suppressed a smile of my own, biting my lip. “I scared myself.”

“No way,” he murmured, “you’re the toughest witch I know.”

I tilted my head. “I might be the ~only~ witch you know.”

“True,” he conceded, “but you are tough.”

My eyelids fluttered as my body heated up under his touch, his gaze. His thumb followed the line of my lip slowly, the corner of his mouth lifting up as he leaned down toward me.

My entire body tensed as I waited for his lips to touch mine. My mind was fuzz as my eyes slid closed and my heart thrummed.

“Morda?”

We broke apart, nearly jumping a foot away from each other. I looked to the woods where Will and Fitz were standing looking a little more than confused and a lot more than pissed.