Blood Wolf Dawning (22 page)

“Uh...”

Tilting her head back, she looked up at him and said, “You left before I got the chance
to talk to you.”

His right eyebrow slowly lifted. “You came an awfully long way for the two of us to talk, lass. You could have just used my number.”

She smirked, the spark in her brown eyes telling him that she’d figured something out. He just didn’t know what it was.

“Jillian, what’s going on?”

She gave him another hard squeeze, then let him go and moved back to Jeremy’s
side, before she said, “I knew I couldn’t have been as wrong about you as it seemed.”

As relieved as he was that Jillian no longer looked like she wanted to kill him, he needed to find Sayre. Cutting a sharp look toward Jeremy, he growled, “Where’s Sayre? And for the second time, what the hell are you all doing here?”

“What do you think we’re doing here?” Jillian asked, looking at him
as if he were being ridiculous.

He tried to catch Brody’s eye, but the Runner was purposefully avoiding his gaze. The bastard. Cian knew that Brody had told them all where he was headed, even though he’d asked the Runner not to say anything until he’d contacted him.

And if he hadn’t heard from him by the end of the week, well...he’d given the Runner strict instructions on what he wanted
to happen then.

Struggling for patience, he cast another frustrated look over the group. “Would someone
please
tell me what the hell is going on?”

Eli Drake, who was mated to the only female Runner, muttered something under his breath that sounded like
stubborn jackass
, but it was Cian’s old friend Wyatt Pallaton who finally took mercy on him. “We’re here to help you, man.”

“I don’t
need anyone’s bloody help,” he argued. “I have a plan.”

Brody finally looked him right in the eye and snorted. “You have an invitation to the psycho to come and face you, knowing damn well he’s going to be foaming at the mouth. But you don’t have the answer.” His partner’s green eyes narrowed with suspicion. “At least not one that you’ve shared with the rest of us.”

“I know what I’m
doing. That’s all you need to know.”

“What the hell, Cian? You never used to be this stupid,” the Runner yelled, taking an aggressive step forward. “You really think that’s how we’re going to let this play out?”

“You aren’t letting anything happen one way or another. This is
my
fight.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t be here to support you,” Mason said, speaking up for the first time.

Cian rubbed his tongue over his front teeth and seethed with frustration, a goddamn red haze falling over his eyes as he snarled, “You’re not doing jack shit but getting in my way.”

“Even me?”

He flinched, that soft voice dragging his gaze up to the top of the stairs at the back of the entryway. And there she was. Sayre. Dressed in jeans, sandals and a summery white blouse, she kept
those storm-dark eyes locked tight on his as she walked down the stairs, the group parting to make way for her as she came toward him. She was so beautiful to his starved senses, he didn’t know how to take it all in. Luminous skin, fiery hair in a wave of curls that fell around her heart-shaped face. Those eyes...her pink, glossy mouth...and that pale, tender throat that he wanted to bite so badly
it was a physical pain that ripped through his insides and twisted him into knots.

“We’ll let you two have some time alone,” Mason told him, “but you need to know that we’re not going anywhere, Cian. Jeremy and Brody have been keeping us updated on what was happening, and we wanted to be there. The only reason we stayed away was because we didn’t want to make things harder for Sayre. But
we’re here to stay for as long as you need us.”

The group filed out then, going back to whatever they’d been doing before he barged in, and he found himself standing alone with Sayre.

“Baby,” he breathed, shaking with fear and anger and too many other explosive emotions to put a name to. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she arched one of her golden
brows and smirked. “Did you really think I was going to let you bring me back to this crazy bunch and then just let you leave me? That hardly seems fair, Cian.”

“Who the hell cares about what’s fair? You have no reason to give a fuck what I do. I left you.
Again
, Sayre. As far as you know, we’re over.”

Instead of bursting into tears, she looked like she was fighting back a grin, her
big eyes shimmering with humor. “Yeah, that’s not really going to work for me.”

“S-aa-y-re,”
he growled, drawing her name out with a healthy dose of frustration.

Trapping him in that smoldering, breathtaking gaze, she said, “You’ve got some weird hang-up about your past and your jerk-face of a father, and that’s fine. I get it. But I’m not willing to give up our future because of it.”

“You’re being unreason—”

“Why?” she asked, cutting him off. “Because I refuse to let you go? If I really thought that was what you wanted, then I would.” Taking a step closer to him, she lowered her arms and straightened her spine, looking like a regal little goddess as she faced him down. “So go ahead, Cian. Look me in the eye, right now, and tell me you don’t want me.”

“It’s not
that simple,” he snapped.

She lifted her chin, her sharp gaze burning with determination. “Tell. Me.”

He opened his mouth, but couldn’t force the words out.

She waited, her breath held, and then her gaze softened, the corner of her lush mouth tipping up in a heartbreaking smile of relief. “I knew it. I knew I couldn’t be completely alone in this. Fate isn’t
that
cruel.”

“You
might not feel that way when this is all said and done,” he muttered, knowing there was no way in hell he could stay away from her now, and wondering if she were truly ready for him. For what he’d want from her. He’d missed her more with each second that went by since he’d walked away, and now...damn it, he was done. “God, Sayre. You have no idea how badly I want you.”

“That’s why you don’t
get to touch me until it’s over,” she told him, her voice dropping to a soft, provocative murmur.

“Wait.
What?
”

Her big eyes were beginning to sparkle with mischief. “You need incentive, Cian. Beat Aedan’s ass down when he shows his ugly face, and then you can you do whatever you want to me. We’re talking a completely open menu. I’m ready for your A game, big guy.”

“Jesus,” he hissed
under his breath, squeezing his eyes shut as he covered them with his hand. If he’d ever been this painfully hard before, he’d blocked it from his memory. “Have you lost your friggin’ mind?” he growled.

“Nope,” she replied, popping the
p
. “But I’ve finally found my backbone. I thought that to be strong, I had to hold myself back from you. From what I wanted. But that isn’t strength. That
was nothing but fear. And fear doesn’t have any place between two people like us.”

Lowering his hand, he opened his eyes, needing to see her more than he needed to hide. “And what kind of people are those?” he rasped, forcing the words from his tight throat.

“Ones who
belong
to each other. Who
need
each other.” Her lips trembled, then curved into a sexy, breathtaking smile. “Ones who
are ready to spend the rest of their lives, every day and night, getting lost in each other.”

“Christ,” he groaned. “You’re wrecking me, baby.”

Unable to wait a moment longer to have her in his arms, he started toward her, but she held up her hands and said, “Stop right there, Cian.”

He exhaled a sharp breath. “Damn it, Sayre. I
need
you.”

She kept that beautiful, luminous
gaze locked tight on his. “I need you, too. But I need
all
of you, not just the parts that you’re willing to share with me.”

“I’m using everything I have to protect you, lass.
Everything
.”

“But you’re not
giving
me everything.”

He couldn’t believe she was being this stubborn. “I
can’t
. Not yet.”

Taking a step back from him, she said, “Then I guess we’re at a stalemate. Because
until you share your soul with me, Cian, I can’t share my body. And no, before you look at me like that, it’s not because I don’t want you to see what’s inside me. All you have to do is look at me to know that I love you. That I’m
in love
with you. So, so much.”

He shuddered, unable to believe what he was hearing. Yeah, he’d known that she lusted for him—but he’d been too goddamn terrified
to let himself believe that she might already be in love with him. And while it was what he wanted most, he couldn’t accept it. Not now, when God only knew what would happen when he faced off against Aedan.

So he forced himself to bite out a foul-tasting response. “You shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t what? Tell you? Love you?”

“Yes! Damn it, I don’t deserve it,” he snapped, feeling the weight
of his old self-loathing climbing over his back like a clinging demon. He wanted to shake off that fucker, but he didn’t know how.

“
I
deserve it, Cian. I deserve
you
.”

“You have no idea how badly I wish that was true. But you deserve a hell of a lot better than me.”

“Stop!” she shouted, and he knew she was pissed when those sparks started pinging around in the air. “I won’t listen
to you talk about yourself that way.”

“Sayre.”

“No, just stop it, Cian. I’m so sick of hearing crap like that. No more. You don’t get to keep spouting that same old bullshit. It’s
done
. Do you understand me?”

“I...
fuck
.”

Bright eyes flashing with anger, she said, “You either believe that we belong together or you don’t. And if you don’t, then it’s already over. All of it. You
won’t walk away from this thing with Aedan if you don’t believe.”

He froze, something in her tone telling him that she was keeping a secret. “What is it, Sayre? What aren’t you telling me?”

She quickly tore her gaze from his, but not before he’d seen the confirmation in her eyes. Already turning away from him, she said, “Goodbye, Cian. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He got it then, figuring
that she must have had a vision—a moment of insight where she saw into the future. He didn’t know if it’d ever happened that way for her before, but if any witch were strong enough for a premonition, it was this one.
His
witch. “Damn it, Sayre, what did you see?”

Still making her way toward the stairs, he could have sworn there was a smile in her voice as she said, “Sleep tight tonight. I
wouldn’t want you to tire yourself out with a bunch of dirty dreams about everything you’re planning on doing to me. An old guy like you needs his rest.”

Torn between wanting to kiss the hell out of her smart-ass little mouth and the sudden urge to put her over his goddamn knee, he growled, “Get back here!”

“Can’t,” she said over her shoulder. “And just so you know, the next time you
touch me, this
is
finally happening. I don’t care if I have to tie your sexy ass up, you are
mine
.”

For a moment, all he could do was watch her walk away from him, wondering what she’d done to him. How she’d so completely turned his entire world around until he didn’t even know which way was up anymore. And then he heard himself say, “Sayre.”

She watched him over her shoulder as she
slowly made her way up the stairs. “Yeah?”

“You...” His voice trailed off, and he ran a shaky hand down his face before continuing. “You mean everything to me. If it all goes to shit tomorrow, I just want you to know that.”

She stopped about halfway up the staircase and turned around, one hand gripping the railing as she stared down at him. “You know, you’ve spent so much time worrying
about what I deserve, but what about you?”

He gave a hard swallow. “What about me?”

Her precious face was flushed with color, and her bright eyes gleamed. “What do
you
deserve, Cian? What do you
want
to deserve?”

“Just you,” he managed to choke out in a husky rasp. “I want to deserve
you
.”

She turned around again, but not before he caught the beautiful smile that touched her
lips. “And nothing’s going to go to shit,” she called out, looking back over her shoulder to give him a wink. “Just get your head out of your ass and try not to do anything stupid tomorrow.”

Crazy, beautiful, kick-ass little witch. God, she was going to be the death of him.

I just hope you don’t mean that literally
, his wolf grumbled, and he had to bite back a sharp bark of laughter,
in complete agreement.

Grinning like an idiot, Cian watched the sway of her hips as she climbed the stairs for a few more seconds, then forced himself to turn and walk away, knowing damn well that he couldn’t stay in the same building as Sayre and not be all over her. It struck him, then, like a physical force that knocked the smile right off his face, that he was always turning and walking
away from her, when all he really wanted was to have her in his arms, holding her as close as possible.

But fate was always working against him, blocking his shot, and he was tired as hell of it. He was ready to teach that bastard a lesson and make him bleed.

Then he wanted to grab up the girl, bare his fangs in a vicious snarl to anyone who tried to get in his way and carry her off
into the night.

He wanted his own goddamn happily-ever-after. And he wanted it
now
.

He just had to get rid of the bastard standing in his way.

And that meant that it was time for Aedan Hennessey to finally meet his maker in Hell.

Chapter 16

C
ian had spent the entire day doing his best to avoid Sayre, knowing he needed to be sharp for when Aedan arrived. And now that time was almost here. A violent storm loomed out over the churning sea, keeping company with the crimson sun as it made its final dip beneath the horizon, while a million stars looked down from above, the sparks of light like curious eyes, eager
to see what would happen.

He’d known his brother wouldn’t make him wait long. As soon as Aedan sensed that Cian had taken Sayre’s blood, he would have been driven mad with frenzy. Aside from the fact that she tasted like friggin’ nirvana, sumptuous and hot and rich,
that
was the reason why Cian had licked her blood from her body the night he’d left the Alley. Because he’d known it would turn
Aedan into his puppet, ensuring his brother followed after him like a faithful bloodhound. And with Sayre safely under lockdown in Maryland, there’d been no reason for Aedan to think she wasn’t traveling with him. Cian had even purchased an extra ticket in her name for the flight, just in case his brother had checked.

But she wasn’t under lockdown in the Alley. The headstrong girl had followed
him to Ireland, putting everything he’d planned in jeopardy.

In fact, she was there with him now, standing at the far side of the cliff-top clearing, the Runners flanking her sides. She looked so insanely beautiful it was difficult not to stare, the golden glow of one of the swinging oil lamps that had been placed around the perimeter making the red in her hair burn like a flame.

The
only bright spot in his day had been when Brody came to see him at the bachelor’s house where Cian was staying, and handed him a flask of Sayre’s blood. According to the grim-faced Runner, she’d wanted him to have something to drink for
luck
. Of course, there’d been the added benefit of how her blood affected him, hitting his system like a shot of pure, high-voltage adrenaline. He was ready for
this fight, and knew it wouldn’t be long now. Moments ago, Colin had received word that Aedan was nearing his land.

“I know why you chose this place to face him,” his father called out, standing on the opposite side of the clearing from Sayre and the Runners, surrounded by a sprawling group of people who Cian refused to look at too closely, not wanting to see his same features staring back
at him. “And I spoke with Simone this morning. I know what you bought from her.”

“What’s he talking about?” his friend Eric asked him, but Cian shook his head, making it clear he didn’t want to talk or make explanations. He knew the Runner was asking about Simone, because Cian had already explained to Brody why it was imperative that he fight Aedan in Ireland, on their father’s land. It had
to do with a unique spell Colin had paid to have cast over the grounds decades ago. A spell that ensured Colin remained the dominant male by weakening the power of any other male once they set foot on Killian’s Mount. He didn’t see it having much effect on males as strong as he and Aedan were, but given his brother’s physical power these days, Cian was willing to take any advantage he could get,
no matter how slight.

And as for Simone—well, if things went badly, the Runners would learn soon enough what he’d purchased from the elderly witch the previous day, when he’d first arrived at his father’s estate.

They waited another breathless span of seconds, while lightning thundered and crashed out over the violent sea, the winds so strong they whipped at people’s clothing and lifted
their hair, shaking the trees like invisible monsters. And then the monster they’d all been waiting for finally made his appearance.

“Are we having a party that no one told me about?” his brother drawled, moving so quickly that he seemed to have come out of nowhere and assuming a place not five yards from where Cian stood. He could hear the Runners talking in quiet, worried voices, since
this was the first time they’d set eyes on Aedan. But Sayre remained silent, her steady gaze giving him strength.

Come on, you bastard
, he thought.
Let’s do this.

He didn’t bother to respond to Aedan’s inane question, determined to get this nightmare over and done with as quickly as possible. Unlike the last time he’d seen his brother, tonight he was facing Aedan beneath the full light
of the moon, and as he pulled in a deep breath of the sea-scented air, Cian gave himself over completely to its power, letting it call not only to his beast, but also to that dark well of strength he always kept so firmly locked inside him. Within seconds, his clothes had shredded as his body expanded in height and muscle mass, bones cracking and reshaping themselves into the predatory shape of
a killer, his fangs dropping as his claws burst through the tips of his fingers. Even his face reshaped itself into the intimidating muzzle of a wolf, complete with razor-sharp teeth that could tear through flesh and bone like a knife slipping into warm butter. And instead of the fur that normally covered his body when he shifted, his skin darkened to a sinister blue-black, while his eyes changed
from gray to crimson.

This was the first time the Runners had seen him in his “true” vampire-wolf form, and he could hear their collective sounds of surprise, as well as Brody’s guttural
“What the ever-loving fuck?”

Before he could give his former partner a hard time about his reaction, Aedan let out a vicious snarl, allowing his own transformation to take place. Long, sinister fangs
dripped with saliva from beneath his thin upper lip, his talons curling longer around his fingers as his body turned that cadaverous shade of white again, his bones popping and extending until he was nearly Cian’s height.

They waited for a heaving, weighted second, then bared their fangs and charged. Their bodies met in midair, slamming together with a brutal sound of flesh hitting flesh
as they spun, twisting, delivering blows that had the night quickly smelling of blood. They’d traveled nearly twenty yards by the time they hit the ground, rolling dangerously close to the edge of the craggy cliffs. As they sprang to their feet, a lightning-fast kick to Cian’s back sent him careening precariously close to the edge again. Aedan’s maniacal laughter rang out, and from the far side of
the clearing, he could hear the Runners shouting. Someone had apparently tried to join the fight to help him, only to realize that Colin had put a shield in place to keep everyone out until either he or Aedan had fallen.

“It will be a fair fight or there will be no fight at all,” his father called out across the clearing, while he and Aedan circled each other, searching for a weakness.

A muttered collection of curses filled the air in response to Colin’s words, and Brody sounded angry enough to shift into the shape of his beast then and there. “The vampire’s a goddamn psycho! How the hell is that fair?”

“My sons are
both
strong,” Colin responded, which made Aedan laugh.

“Aw, isn’t that sweet, Cian? Dear ol’ Daddy actually thinks you have a chance. What a fucking
moron. You and I both know I’ll be the one pounding inside your little witch tonight.”

He snarled, and then they were at it again, fighting with a ferocity that brought constant gasps and curses from those around them. But their father simply watched in silence, standing tall and proud, as if he thought he was a god among men. Arrogant bastard.

When Cian looked back on this day, if he
survived, he had a feeling he wouldn’t recall the gruesome individual details. Instead, he would remember the spray of crimson that constantly filled his vision, the blood both his and Aedan’s, while pain seared his system, burning him from the inside out. Dark, engulfing, savage waves of pain that came like the raging of the off-shore storm, hitting him one after another, until he couldn’t even
catch his breath.

As if she sensed that he was reaching the end, Sayre’s power was unleashing with a force unlike anything he’d ever witnessed. Hawks and gulls swarmed overhead, their stark, constant cries echoing over the crashing sound of the waves, almost as though she’d called them to bear witness to her rage. But it wasn’t just the animals falling under her spell—the tall trees that
surrounded the clearing leaned eerily toward its perimeter, as if they’d been bent by a violent wind. Snakelike, meandering vines slithered across the ground, thumping repeatedly against the metaphysical shield that Colin had put in place.

She was desperately trying to reach him, her husky voice screaming in his head for him to keep fighting—but he knew if he didn’t make his final move now,
it would be too late. And there wasn’t a chance in hell he was letting Aedan walk away from this, knowing the bastard would make Sayre suffer long and hard before he killed her.

“Tell me, brother,” he panted, when they’d broken apart to gain their bearings after another brutal bout of combat. “Was your little Elizabeth really worth all of this?” he asked, deliberately taunting the monster
as he carefully made his way toward the spiky patch of broken limbs and rotting tree trunks that sat clumped together at the eastern edge of the clearing. “Was she really worth all the hate? Because all I recall is a broken little girl who detested even the sound of your name. She didn’t love you. She despised everything about you!”

Rising to the bait, Aedan let out a bloodcurdling roar and
slammed into Cian so hard that it sent them both crashing to the ground—but the bastard was already too late. After wrapping the “binding tie” that he’d hidden earlier that day in one of the rotting trunks around Aedan’s wrist, Cian quickly looped it around his own, the simple-looking strip of black leather instantly searing its way into their flesh. Then he locked his burning gaze with Aedan’s,
and gave him a chilling smile. “Thanks to Simone’s witchcraft, you’re bound to me now. Which means it’s time for you to die.”

“You
can’t
kill me,” Aedan scoffed, looking at him as if he were the one who’d been lost to madness. “Not when we’re bound, brother.”

“Just watch me,” he snarled, and it was almost enough to make him laugh, the look of shock that spilled over Aedan’s face like
a stain.

Shaking his head with disbelief, Aedan’s pierced brows pulled together in a deep frown as he looked toward Sayre, who was watching them with wide, terrified eyes. And then he slowly brought his crimson gaze back to Cian. “Is this real?” he asked, and there was something in his tone that reminded Cian of the boy he’d known all those years ago, and it broke his fucking heart. “You’re
willing to do that for her?”

“I’m willing to do
anything
for her,” he rasped, his goddamn eyes filling with tears. “Whatever it takes.” And with those final words, Cian shot one last, smoldering look at Sayre, drinking in the breathtaking sight of her until it fueled him with the strength he needed for one final burst of energy—and then he launched both him and Aedan through the air. They
crashed into the middle of the rotten, broken trees, both of them crying out from the shared pain of their landing. Blood gurgled on Aedan’s lips from the gaping wound that had been made when a jagged, protruding branch pierced through his upper back and tore straight through his chest, the spearlike tip hovering just beneath Cian’s throat. But as brutal as the wound appeared, it wasn’t enough to
kill him, and Cian knew what he had to do.

With Sayre’s screams echoing in his head, he whispered, “Time to die,” and shoved himself onto the branch, the wood puncturing his throat and driving straight through to his spinal column, severing it in two.

After that, there was nothing but a hazy, icy darkness, as if he were floating through the nighttime sky. He could hear arguing, but it
was far away. Someone was shouting that he was dead, that Sayre was going to kill herself trying to save him, and he struggled to tell her
no
, not to risk herself, but she was screaming for everyone to stay away from her, threatening to zap them over the side of the cliffs if they tried to stop her. Then a strange, shimmering vein of warmth started to snake its way through his weightless body,
growing steadily hotter and more brilliant, until it felt as if he were lying in the center of a burning flame.

Only...he wasn’t burning. Yes, there was pain, but his skin wasn’t charring, or turning to ash. Instead, it was his throat and spine that seared as though lava had been poured directly into his wounds, and he suddenly realized that it was Sayre’s healing powers being injected into
his broken body.

“Did you make sure that goddamn binding tie is off him?” someone grunted, followed by a voice that sounded like Jillian’s still screaming, “Jesus, someone stop her. She’s going to kill herself!”

“Don’t you understand what’s happening?” Sayre growled, sounding like an enraged goddess. “He was tied to that asshole when he died, so he goes where his brother goes. If I let
go of the hold I have on his soul, he’s going to follow right behind him, straight into Hell!”

“And if you’re linked with him like this, then so will you!” Jillian sobbed.

“I don’t care!” Sayre shouted, her voice cracking at the end. “He doesn’t get to come back, make me fall in love with his cocky ass and then leave me. Screw that! I won’t let him! I know I can save him. Why the hell
do you think I came here after he walked away from me all over again? I
saw
this, Jilly. I knew he would need me!”

“Whatever you saw, it’s impossible to bring back a soul once it’s gone. You know that, Sayre. You’re not thinking straight.”

“Maybe it’s impossible for most,” he heard Jeremy murmur. “But you Murphy girls are special, sweetheart.”

Murphy girl? No! She needed his name,
damn it. Needed to be a Hennessey.

And why in God’s name was he just lying there, listening to them argue, when he needed to fight for her? When he needed to fight his way back to her, so that she didn’t end up following him into the
after
? And while he was all for having this woman by his side for eternity—
though preferably not in Hell
—he wanted a lifetime with her first. He wanted the wedding
and births. The holidays and family vacations. He wanted the whole goddamn package!