Chapter Twenty

Union of the wolf and raven shall bring glory to the battlefield

A lthough still gray, Toby had regained a bit of his color and his breathing was slow and deep along with a now steady heartbeat. Bash needed to reassure himself with his own eyes that his charge was at the very least stable, before he sent the boy, a medic, and another wolf back to his apartment where treatment could continue without them having to constantly look over their shoulders.

The wave of guilt that washed through him as he watched the teenager breathe in and out nearly brought him to his knees. He was responsible for his nephew, and he knew that since the boy’s father died, he’d been taking too many risks, yet he still hadn’t discouraged his involvement with the team. His sister-in-law had made a huge mistake entrusting him with Toby’s safety. No wonder Fenrir never offered him a mate; he didn’t deserve one. If gods had any fairness about them, they would have left James on the earthly side of the veil. Then none of this would have happened. With a low whine, his wolf tentatively reached out to offer praise and reassurance to the boy’s wolf.

The wendigo would die, they both promised.

But that was easier said than done. Ordering the witch, Summer, to stay and form a sound barrier from their group and the outside world had been the last simple order Bash had issued. Despite Kai’s knowledge of the wendigo, an attack wasn’t as simple as a full-frontal assault. The creature had had decades of time to build the compound, and it could simply lie low until they left. Despite Ravyn making her way out of the compound, neither she nor anyone else could make the return trip. The magic trapping them outside still held.

Used to leading the team but clearly not the expert, he allowed Kai and Ravyn to talk possibilities and strategy while he simply listened, soaking in Ravyn’s bits of information on the compound’s layout and manpower while his mind ticked through any discarded possibilities. His admiration for the both of them grew as he listened. Despite his youth, Kai was confident and knowledgeable about the wendigo, especially this one. Unable to destroy the creature on his own, he’d used the time to gather intel, learning its habits.

As Ravyn listened intently to the shaman, adding her own insights as well, Bash could see the calculating warrior from years gone by staying firmly in the forefront of her actions. This lifetime had allowed Ravyn to pursue acting as a career, but it was easy to forget that even that was an act. First and foremost, she was a shrewd predator and at the least, a battle-hardened warrior. Could he ever learn all the layers she possessed?

Just a few hours before it began its final descent over yet another day, the sun was ticking off the need for timeliness of their attack. The closer they came to the new moon, the stronger the creature became. The night allowed the strength of the vampires to rise and the wolves, just days off the pull of the full moon, were still at almost full strength themselves. There was no chance of successfully waiting the wendigo out, and if it went on the run, they might never find it again. A creature its age hadn’t survived without its wits, and the crafty thing surely had other funds as well as hidey holes to sink down into. Cutting off its current funds was simple enough, definitely an easy assignment for Oliver’s side of the security business. Tracking down other sources of revenue and accounts wouldn’t be as simple, but a team was already working on it. Bertrando Roland would exist no more one way or another.

“We need to focus on its weaknesses,” stated Ravyn, much to Kai’s frustration. “And we need to bind the demon Ibis’s power.”

Delta interjected, “I doubt that Ibis is currently a problem. It sounds like by killing the other witches and mage on staff, you’ve effectively neutered her. At least temporarily. Her magic is utterly useless unless she has someone to channel or boost. At this point, she’s a side quest. The living magic that formed and entwined her needs to be unraveled, but despite her hatred of you, Ravyn, she’s completely defenseless.”

Delta didn’t seem to have any qualms about battling the black magic that had kept Ibis alive as well as warding the place against their every attack. In fact, at the news of a powerful witch abomination, she’d nearly shaken with the glee of taking down the creature. Delta was an odd one, but Oliver trusted her with his life as well as the life of his mate, and if he trusted her, then Sebastian could do no less.

Bash hadn’t fully understood Ravyn’s explanation that perverted demon magic had kept a part of her sister Ibis alive. The sweet Anya he’d met would never have made the choices and decisions that her dark side had, and wrapping his mind around it had been difficult. Unfortunately, the remains of Ibis had fed on and used the connection that she held on Anya to manipulate the woman into seeking out Ravyn and placing a talisman in her home.

Whatever talisman she’d planted had weakened their resolve and given the creature yet another crack back into Ravyn’s home. The wards were designed to keep out those who wished to harm Ravyn, but Anya had no such designs. She was simply another tool used by Ibis to get what she wanted.

“Of course we do,” Kai hissed out, responding to Ravyn’s words as he rubbed a frustrated hand across his eyes. Bash had noticed early on that he was clearly not used to working with others but was trying. “The damn thing just doesn’t have any that we can use.”

“Wrong,” Ravyn insisted, and Bash noticed that despite their disagreements, she didn’t attempt to control the youth or squash his thought process. “We do know some.” Ticking off on her fingers, she listed, “First, the thing is all ego; it literally thinks we can do nothing to it. That ego is a huge weakness. Second, we know that however it’s controlling its minions isn’t all that great. Clearly, it doesn’t inspire loyalty; its housekeeper or slave wouldn’t have given us help. And the damn thing is obsessed. It’s so fixated on me it can’t see straight. Since it began its stalking of me, it has made more mistakes than it probably has over the entire course of its lifetime.”

Since the Donner Party attempted to cross the mountain , Bash mused after Ravyn had shared its origins nearly two hundred years ago. All that time, it had been quietly living in California, killing off its only known enemy as well as countless victims without a hint of it wafting to other parts of the paranormal world. It had grown confident and careless with its hunger for all things.

“I think Ravyn’s right…” Bash finally allowed the words to leave his mouth.

The two turned, a surprising and questioning look passing between them before settling on him.

He continued with a deep breath that caused his wolf to whine as if begging him to not say the words, but they both knew this was their best chance. “Ravyn needs to draw it out. It’s obsessed enough to try to recapture her and egoistical enough that it thinks it easily can. And for all we know, it still thinks that we think it’s dead. But the longer we hang out here, the more it’s going to realize we aren’t just considering the best way to destroy the compound. No slash and burn operation takes this long to formulate.”

The fake voiceovers that added to their cover could easily be discerned if one listened long enough and if the limited pattern repeated itself enough, even the demon would recognize the illusion for the time-stopper it was.

“Getting out of its lair isn’t the problem. We need to be allowed in.”

Bash hated himself for saying the words. He, as well as his wolf, wanted to protect the dark-haired woman with their dying breath, but they also knew that Ravyn didn’t need protecting. Their team had always been in place to make her life easier and to keep her secrets hidden, but not to protect her; never to protect her—until this wendigo turned it all upside down.

Then, not caring who watched, he did what he’d been wanting to do since the moment Ravyn had emerged from the tree line in all her glory. Looking deep into her eyes, he pulled her close and kissed her while the others watched in surprised silence. At that moment, Bash didn’t care who knew or who saw. If he waited until they were alone, the moment might never come.

For a half a second, Ravyn stood frozen against him before she relaxed into his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down closer, melting into him.

Drawing back, he closed his eyes as he leaned his forehead on hers. “I thought I’d lost you,” he admitted quietly, knowing that all those around them with enhanced hearing could hear his admission.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Ravyn vowed, “and this time won’t be the same at all. I don’t need to come back; you just need to come with me.”

The creature, the wendigo, would pay for maiming his nephew and torturing his mate. “Mate,” his wolf growled, ready to spill blood for Ravyn, and Bash wasn’t about to argue semantics with himself before going into battle.

At that moment, Sebastian understood the fear and agony Fenrir himself had felt when his own mate was threatened by the other gods. Nothing could stop the flood of vengeance.