Blood Law (32 page)

She
nodded and turned toward the front of the hall. Corbet continued to stare up at
Rafael.

“Come
down, Vulkasin. And let us discuss a reasonable exchange.”

“The
lives of my entire pack for what? You killing my chosen one for the hell of
it?”

“Give
me the Eye of Fenrir, and I give you my word I will release her and allow all
of you to leave in peace.”

Rafael
laughed. “Your timing stinks, Corbet. I left the ring behind.” A lie. As he’d
always done before, he had swallowed it. If Corbet knew he had, he’d gut him.

“That
is unfortunate for your whore. But fortunate for me,” Corbet said, grabbing
Falon’s leg and yanking her hard against the metal bars. He shoved back her
pant leg and ran his hand along her smooth calf. “Such supple skin. You do
remember, Vulkasin, how skilled I am at skinning.”

Rafael
snarled as the beast in him fought for release.

“Robert
paid for your despicable acts, Corbet. Do you want your daughter to pay for
another?”

Corbet
shrieked with such fury the sound reverberated against his ears. The Slayer
drew his short blade, sliced Falon’s ankle, and ripped a slice of skin from
her. Falon screamed in pain, yanking her leg back through the metal bars.
Stunned by the vicious act, Rafe looked down at the bloody pulp of her skin.
His vision clouded crimson. Corbet would regret he was ever born. An eye for an
eye. He would exact more than a pound of skin from him.

He
may have to take Falon’s life to settle the Blood Law, but no one hurt his
chosen one. No one. Rafael howled, his rage so complete the beast in him took
over. He dropped to the floor in full wolf.

FALON
FOCUSED ALL of her energy on blowing out the front door, but she couldn’t get
the visual of Rafael in all his wolfen fury out of her head. And something else
was happening to her . . . she was having trouble focusing. Her vision honed
then blurred. Her bones ached. Her organs were tight. Primal fury clawed at her
from her insides out, demanding release. Only she didn’t know how to release
it.

Each
time Rafael lunged at Corbet, taking a bite out of him, the Slayer got in his
own licks. Her mate’s blood splattered in a high arc into the air. Warm drops
spattered across her face. Falon snarled and lunged at the cage. Her teeth
gnashed at the metal bars while her hands and feet dug and tore at the corner.
Her vision clouded. Her heart beat furiously. When she couldn’t break free, she
sat back on her haunches and looked around the room, seeing it so clearly it
was like 3-D magnified.

More
Slayers circled Rafael, each taking a hack or a stab at him. Some paid for it
with the loss of a hand, but the combined efforts began to take their toll.
Blood smeared his beautiful coat. His lunges were shorter, his bites less
accurate. Falon turned toward the door and the howling from beyond. Hurry, she
urged the pack before turning back to Rafael. The Slayers closed in a tight
circle around him. He snarled and lunged, tearing into them. But for each bite
he took, two Slayers wounded him. Blood dripped from his fur to the stone
floor. His front legs buckled beneath him. She felt his weakening.

She
strengthened. He needed her.

Falon
grabbed the bars to her cage and pulled, never taking her gaze off Rafael. The
howls outside of the building intensified. The Slayers within rallied, their
weapons drawn as they prepared to battle. She knew she had to find a way to let
the pack in, but she knew if she focused on the door, Rafe would fall beneath
Edward’s sword.

“Fight
me as a man!” Edward screamed, jabbing Rafe’s right flank. “Or die like the cur
you are!”

“No!”
Falon shouted. If Rafe shifted back to his human form, he would have no weapon,
no protection. It was best for him to remain in his wolf form.

Rafe
snarled, snapping at Edward’s hand. His fangs sank deep into the Slayer’s flesh
and bone. Corbet kicked Rafael from him into another Slayer, who impaled Rafael
from behind through the shoulder blades, pinning him to the floor. He howled in
agony.

Another
just as excruciating howl followed. With jarring reality, Falon realized the
sound came from her.

Edward
turned to look at her, shock registering on his face. At that moment, all
movement stopped. Eerie silence followed. The Slayers stared at her as her skin
rippled. Realization, shock, and horror slammed into her but was quickly followed
by relief.

She
was Lycan.

Her
gaze swept to Rafael. He’d dropped to the floor, the sword buried to the hilt
between his shoulders. Its bloody blade protruded just below his neck into the
floor.

Agony
twisted and tugged every fiber of her body. He could not die! She would not
allow it!

His
deep turquoise eyes darkened, and through them she saw into his soul. The
turmoil of his life played out in front of her. His pain, his heartache, his
life as an alpha that refused to mark an innocent for the sake of his brother’s
revenge. And there, in the middle of it all, she saw his love for her. Despite
what he thought she had done, it burned bright and hot. Only death could
extinguish it.

Falon
threw her head back and howled another ungodly howl. Her hands pulled at the
bars, then slipped off, no longer able to grip. Her bones crunched and
stretched, her heart rate spiked, her skin tightened. She lost her balance and
fell in agony to the floor of her cage. She closed her eyes, wanting to fight
off what she was sure was the most torturous death imaginable but instead
welcoming it. Because even if it meant her death, she would save the man she
loved.

RAFAEL
SHIFTED AND lay in stunned silence. He could not believe what he witnessed.
Falon shifting into a sleek black she-wolf. When it was done, she opened her
wolfen eyes, and he was mesmerized by their deep blue depths. She snarled,
lunging through the opening she’d made in the cage, and dove into Edward. The
Slayer was as stunned as Rafe, enabling his hesitation to give her the opening
she needed. A clear shot to his throat. Corbet screamed and raised his sword to
defend himself, but she was too quick. Like a pit bull—no, like a wolf
protecting its young—she latched on to Rafe’s enemy and hung on, her head viciously
shaking back and forth, until Corbet’s screams became only gurgling whimpers.
He dropped to his hands and knees, tearing at her fur, and still she hung on.
Rafael lay impaled, having lost too much blood to offer his assistance. Seeing
their leader downed by a crazed wolf, the Slayers who had attacked Rafe fled
toward the back entrance.

Falon
finally released Edward’s limp body and turned her attention to Rafael. She
hesitated slightly before approaching him. She licked his face, making small
whimpering noises.

Automatically,
his hands reached out for her, burying themselves in her coat. He closed his
eyes, relishing her touch even as he choked out, “The door, Falon, open the
front door.”

In
three bounding strides, she was at the door. She pounced on the thick metal bar
with her jaws and pulled it up. The door swung open as she bounded back to him.
Rafe was able to raise himself on an elbow but could not remove the sword.
Falon frantically licked his wounds, her tongue warm and healing. His pack
bounded after the retreating Slayers. Yet Falon acted as if she was not aware
of anything but him.

Overcome
with emotion, awe, and recrimination, Rafe lay quietly against the floor. How
had he not known she was Lycan? He understood in that instant that Falon had
not known it either. She’d shifted hard, like he had on his sixteenth birthday.
But at least he knew what would come, how it would feel and what he should do.
While he’d had the support of his pack to help him through it, she’d had no
one. He swallowed hard. He was not there for her, his own chosen one. The Blood
Law aside, he should have known. Should have prepared her.

His
pack was in for a monumental surprise. Sacrificing a human was one thing, but a
powerful Lycan, and one who had saved their alpha’s life, was entirely
different.

He
dug his fingers into her thick, luxurious coat and hugged her close to him.
Moist heat stung his eyes as he was once again overcome with emotion. Even with
how he’d treated her, even after he’d sworn to kill her, she had risked her own
life to save his and, in so doing, had destroyed his mortal enemy.

“Falon,”
he said against her fur, “I’m sorry.”

She
licked him fervently, her emotion as high as his. He even felt her tail
thumping against his leg. And wolves did not wag their tails. He couldn’t help
laughing as her tongue licked his belly, tickling him. She soothed away the
deep wounds, just as he had done for her the night he killed Salene.

“Rafael!”
Anton called as he came running naked toward them. “The Slayers have fled into
the woods. We caught a few, but I sense more are on their way. We need to get
you out of here.” He looked at Falon, blinked his eyes as he processed the
scene before him. As realization surfaced, his jaw dropped in shock.

“Get
this damn sword out of me,” Rafe cursed, trying to sit up. Save that wound,
Falon had smoothed away the others. He wasn’t losing as much blood, but he was
still losing some.

“Jesus,
Rafe,” Anton said squatting down behind him. “The bastard nearly decapitated
you.” He firmly gripped the handle and slowly pulled. Falon growled low when
Rafe hissed in a sharp breath. As the blade cleared his back, blood leaked down
his chest.

“Now
finish off Corbet,” Rafe gritted as the pain of his wound burned.

Falon
immediately licked the wound between his shoulder blades. Rafe closed his eyes
and lay back, enjoying, despite the dire situation, the warmth of her touch
while Anton deftly separated the Slayer’s head from his body.

He
tossed the sword onto the floor and bent down to help Rafe up. As he did, Yuri
approached in human form and tossed clothing atat them. He stopped short when
he saw Falon. He glanced at Rafe, then at Anton, and back to the black
she-wolf. A smile tugged his lips.

“Is
that who I think it is?” he asked Rafe.

“Damn
straight it is,” Anton, answered. “I knew she was special, shoulda known she
was Lycan.” He looked up at Yuri as he helped dress Rafe. “Ripped Corbet’s
throat out as he was about to send Rafe to the Great White Spirit in the sky.”

Yuri’s
smile widened. “Thank you, Falon,” he said. She barked and nudged Rafe to get a
move on.

Anton
helped Rafe dress then dressed himself. With Yuri’s help, they each looped one
of Rafe’s arms around their shoulders and proceeded to help him out.

“What
about me?” a female voice screamed. “You can’t leave me here! They’ll come back
and kill me!”

At
Rafe’s side, Falon snarled. Rafael, however, would not leave one of his own,
traitor or not, behind. He looked down at Falon, “She is one of us. Do you know
where the key is?”

She
growled in assent.

“Take
it to Lana. She can let herself out. Make sure she comes with us.”

All
of the Lycans save Falon had shifted back to human form. They were dressed and
mounted. Though still wobbly on his feet, Rafael didn’t mount his bike. “Amon,
take my bike. Lana, you ride bitch. Anton, load yours up, I want you to drive
the van.”

“Rafe,”
Angel, pack Ruiz’s alpha, said, stepping toward him. He extended his arm, and
each man grasped the other’s at the elbow. “Edward’s death will not only weaken
the clan but empower the packs. Many thought him undefeatable. With his death,
the Lycan nation will rise to do the same to his brother and all who call
themselves Corbet.”

Damon,
pack Casares’s leader, offered his arm, as well. “Well done, my friend.”

Rafael
appreciated all of the praise, but they were thanking the wrong person. He
shook his head and looked down at Falon, who lay quietly at his feet. “Don’t
give me the props. I didn’t touch him. Falon shifted and ripped that poor bastard’s
throat out. Thank her.”

A
wave of confused mumbles and questions echoed through the packs. In one
collective step, they all moved closer to get a better look at the sleek black
she-wolf who had single-handedly saved the day. “She killed Corbet and saved my
life.”

“But
she is human?” Angel said.

“Apparently
not,” Rafe said, smiling like a proud parent. If he could have conjured up the
perfect mate, Rafael could not have topped Falon. She was one of a kind. And
she was his.

“It
will not change the Blood Law,” Lana sneered.

Every
eye turned on her. Low snarls erupted around her. She paled and stepped back.
Falon rose and walked stiffly toward the woman who had the good sense to hop
into the van.

Rafe
turned back to the packs. He saw the reluctant agreement with what Lana had
said on their faces.

His
heart could take no more of this. He turned and fiercely said to the packs,
“Falon is my chosen one! She is Lycan as are we! She saved my life, an alpha’s
life! She destroyed our mortal enemy, an enemy scores of Lycans have lost their
lives to. Does that not count for something? Surely, the Blood Law can be
avenged another way!”