To Fear Death

RORY

I can’t suppress a scream as Professor Xander steps fully out of the shadows. I wish I could recoil, get away from the horror in front of me, but I’m forced to take in every detail.

What’s in front of me isn’t a living person. It’s a rotting corpse. His skin is slack and an awful green-gray. I can see muscle and bone in places where it’s fallen away.

Whatever is animating him, it’s not natural. It’s evil. A faint, rotten-sweet smell that turns my stomach wafts from him. His smile reveals a gray tongue and dull, dry teeth.

His eyes are pure black with no sign of humanity in them, shark’s eyes in a human face. I thought I couldn’t be more disgusted by him, more frightened. I was wrong.

“Here you are at last,” he says in a voice that echoes oddly and doesn’t seem to quite match the movement of his lips. I wonder if he’s using magic to speak.

If he is, it’s probably because his vocal cords are still shredded from when Everett ripped his throat out. He’s wearing a scarf to hide his neck, but I’m sure the gaping wound is still there.

Nemesis’s laughter rings in my head, on and on, with no sign of stopping. She’s radiating triumph, feral joy in anticipation of the slaughter to come.

Professor Xander leans against the wall, crossing his legs at the ankle, casual and calm like he’s not something out of a nightmare. “Well, Rory? Don’t you have any questions for me?”

“How are you doing this?” I blurt, then gasp. I try to move my hand, to run, but nothing budges. Nemesis has only given me back my voice. She’s still laughing, and I try to ignore it.

Xander laughs and the sound mingles with Nemesis’s laugh unpleasantly well. “Children are such sensitive little things, aren’t they? So full of energy. Enough to make a corpse walk, even.”

For a moment, I’m confused. Children? How can children—it hits me. The orphans. The illness. Bitter revulsion swirls in me. “You’re the reason they’re sick. You’ve been…feeding off of them?”

“Better than coffee,” he says with a wink and a smirk. His eyelid sticks, only opening again slowly and I watch in awful fascination.

I want to slap him, to run to the kids in the orphanage and shield them, but all I can do is talk. So I spit insults at him. “You’re a monster. You’re actually eating children.”

He sighs, like I’m being obtuse about the fine points of the lesson. “Not eating, don’t be dramatic, Rory. Just stealing their life-force. And soon, I won’t need it any longer.”

He pushes away from the wall, eyeing Freya and Mia hungrily. “These girls will do wonderfully. Their souls are powerful enough to completely restore the life your mate took from me.”

He circles around them, looking them up and down. They stand still, faces empty, held prisoner by Nemesis, just like me. “A luna wolf, and a human with a wolf for a mate. Potent, indeed.”

He comes up to me, puts his decaying mouth right next to my ear. There’s no breath as he whispers. “And, of course, there’s the added bonus of taking the lives of your dear friends.”

“Monster. Murderer! You’re the foulest man to ever walk this earth—” My ability to speak abruptly vanishes again, much to Professor Xander’s amusement.

Nemesis wants my attention again, curling around me like smoke. ~“But that’s not the best part, Aurora. No, it gets far worse for you. Did you really think I’d somehow forgotten about your spawn?”~

Oh, goddess, no. I really thought she had, thought I’d hidden the baby from her. I thought her lack of cruelty about it meant they were safe. But she was just waiting, enjoying my false security.

I gather myself up, all of my remaining strength. I try to make myself dense, make myself steel, wrap the tiny life I’m carrying in my protection. “No. You can’t. I won’t let you hurt them!”

Nemesis just laughs, always laughing. “You don’t have a choice, girl. It’s too late. My victory is already at hand. But don’t worry, I won’t hurt a hair on your baby’s head…”

Her voice drops to a silken whisper, her words are like a knife between my ribs. “After all, I wouldn’t want to damage my vessel.”

My baby, my sweet little one, not even born yet and already a target. Nemesis wants to steal their life before they even get to begin it. An image comes to me, unbidden.

My hair is soaked with sweat and I’m exhausted from childbirth. I’m holding my baby in my arms. Their eyes open, but instead of Everett’s blue, they’re Nemesis’s poison yellow.

I scream at her, desperate to find a way to stop it, to convince her not to do this. It would hurt me, but surely it would be worse for her. “Why would you want a baby? You’ll be weak, powerless!”

“Foolish as ever. You have no idea what you carry inside of you. This child will be wolf-blooded, goddess-blooded.” I’ve never heard Nemesis like this. She sounds almost reverent.

“They’ll be immensely powerful. And that power will be all mine.” Nemesis cackles again, her laughter filling my mind, crushing me down like a physical weight.

My baby, our baby, powerful? I want to sob. It’s everything I don’t want. I know better than anyone that power makes you a target. They’ll never live a normal life. Just like me.

I will always love you for yourself, I think, desperately, knowing they can’t hear me. I don’t want you for whatever power you have. I just want to meet you.

Something stirs in response, but before I can understand it, I feel a tearing pain, like my guts are being ripped out. I feel Nemesis slipping out of me, releasing me, but I don’t regain control.

Instead, I drop to the floor, heavy and numb. Darkness closes in no matter how I try to stay awake. I have to stop her. I have to save my…baby…

EVERETT

It took some looking, but I picked up the scent, Aurora’s wonderful scent, the one that always brought me peace. I followed it across pack lands, searching for the freshest traces.

I knew I had the right one when it mingled with two other scents, less familiar, but recognizable still. I’d smelled Freya on Ace often enough. I follow the trail the three of them had walked together.

When it ended, I stopped and waited for the others, keeping watch to ensure Nemesis didn’t escape. It was hard not to go in alone, knowing that Aurora was in trouble, but I held myself in check.

Now, it’s time. Aurora and the others are in a small shed on the outskirts of the orphanage property. My warriors are with me, ready. My Beta and Gamma are flanking me. We’re as ready as we can be.

I approach cautiously, the others following my lead. We stay in human shape, the better to sneak up undetected. I’m thinking of nothing but Aurora, rescuing her from whatever has happened.

I stop about five yards from the building. The warriors fan out, surrounding it. They’ll ensure no one gets away and will come if I call. I feel a bit better once they’re in place.

We need to look inside, get a sense of what’s happening in there. Then, we can make a plan of attack. Chaos grumbles approvingly at the idea of “attack.”

I motion for Ace and Lucius to come with me. We creep up to the window and peek through it, moving as slowly as we can, not wanting to give away our position.

The glass is filthy, but we can still make out four figures within the shed. One of them is Xander. A growl builds in my chest and I suppress it with an effort. The bastard is still alive, after all.

How he can be alive after I ripped out his throat, I don’t know. But the foul magician had spent his life studying the reversal of death. If anyone could cheat it, it would be him.

Mia and Freya stand off to the side, motionless, arms loose, clearly possessed. How had Nemesis stolen so many, right under my nose? I feel like a failure of an alpha and it burns me.

And there, Xander leaning over her like a predator, is my Aurora. She’s stiff and still, and yet unlike the possessed girls. But I can tell that something is very, very wrong.

Ace and I knew that our mates were inside, but that isn’t the same as seeing them. Our wolves go wild, taking us with them. We both tense, rumbling with fury, ready to leap through the window.

Lucius grabs us both. “Wait! The plan! Don’t just barge in, that’s not the way to save them. Get your wolves under control!”

I try. I know my Beta is making a good point. But inside me Chaos is howling, ~Don’t save her? Don’t go after her? She is mine! She is in danger! What more needs to be known?~

Xander puts his lips to her ear and Lucius tightens his hold on me. ~How dare that man touch her?” Chaos thunders. ~“I will rip him apart and bury his bones so deep he’ll never climb out!~

Lucius is talking to me in a low, urgent voice, shaking me like an unruly pup. Something only he could get away with. “Stay with me, Everett. We need you to focus, to lead us. We need a plan.”

Lucius is right, I know he’s right. I shove Chaos back. ~We will save her, but we must choose the right moment.~ He doesn’t settle, but I hold him. I draw in breath to tell Ace to stand down.

Aurora drops to the ground and my hold on Chaos snaps. I tear away from Lucius, shifting without even thinking, Chaos and I in perfect accord. ~Mate, mate, mate; must save our mate!~

I run around to the front of the building before anyone can stop me. It’s easy, simple, and clear. I’m not doubting anymore, not second-guessing myself. I know what I need to do.

There’s nothing in my mind other than getting to my mate, ripping apart the man threatening her, taking her home where I can look after her. Where no one will ever touch her again.

I look at the door to the shack. It’s old, weathered wood. Flimsy. I’m sure that I can bust my way through it, tear it down and then the blood will flow.

I back up and crouch, wanting as much momentum as I can get. As I’m about to break down the door, another thought burns through the white-hot need to get to Aurora. ~Is the baby okay?~

I stop in my tracks, muscles trembling with the effort of staying still. Rationality bubbles up in my mind like cold water, taking the edge off of my fury.

Chaos is still raging, howling for blood. I long to give it to him. But I can’t lose my head now. I’m going to be a father. I need to think. I can’t afford to make any mistakes.

I have to know what’s going on. It’s the only way to save Aurora, to ensure I don’t make anything worse. It’s easy to be a snarling beast. But I want to be more. I will be more.

I’ll be the man she needs, one that can protect her and our child. I swore that anyone who wanted to hurt her would have to go through me during our mating ceremony, and I’ll die before I break my vow.

RORY

I open my eyes to the familiar bright white light and mists of the spirit realm. The door stands ready as ever, waiting for me to return. Achlys isn’t here, at least not yet. I’m sure she will be soon.

Nemesis’s possession had robbed me of too much of my strength. I’d used up too much life force fighting her and didn’t realize it. I died, again.

That’s bad enough in itself. But this time, I died pregnant. Fear chokes me and I wrap my hands around my stomach, which suddenly feels empty. What does it mean for my baby?