Immortal Wolf - By Bonnie Vanak Page 0,86

pale face. Gabe flashed him a wry look.

“That’s some handshake your draicara has, Rafe. Remind me to keep my hands off her.”

“How do you feel?” Raphael asked.

“As if someone shocked my insides with a 220 line. In a good way, though. I feel stronger.” Gabe frowned. “Like I’ve been pumped full of power.”

It made sense now, the tingle he’d felt when Emily first touched him with her bare hands. Jubilant, he flipped the Scian into the air and caught it by the hilt. “You have. Emily’s power. Aibelle’s power, of the earth. For Draicon, her touch is not death but inner strength. It overcomes you, because your body is too weak to receive it. Shocks you. But when you regain consciousness, you’re stronger.” His tender glance fell on his mate. “She isn’t the cursed one but the one who will save us.”

Emily held out her hands. “Then why, why did I kill my papa?”

The broken tone nearly undid him. Very gently, he picked up her hands. “I doubt you did. You stunned him, as you did to Gabe. Urien killed your father. Not you. Urien realized your newfound powers spelled the end for his rule, and he made it look like you killed your father, in order to condemn you with a curse that would result in your execution.”

He bent his head to her, tenderly embracing her and fusing his mouth to hers. He didn’t care if his brothers watched. The moment was only for her, a celebration of life. His and hers.

“Ah, Rafe, man, we’ve got company,” Etienne said softly.

The moment shattered like glass against rock. He lifted his head, protectively shoving Emily behind him. The stench of rot and raw sewage nearly overpowered his senses. Shuffling noises sounded in the forest as the enemy neared.

Emily’s pack had returned.

Chapter 17

O nce they were her family. Her pack. They had carried her on their strong shoulders, helped to raise her, showered her with kisses and adoring hugs. Emily, their hope, Urien called her. The only youngling born among them in more than fifty years.

Now they were the enemy.

They would kill her, if they could.

Emily watched Raphael, wind ruffling his long hair. Moonlight touched the streak of pure white in his head, glinted off the earring in his left ear. Once she thought him different, a loner like herself, and feared him.

Love poured through her. He was different, like her. She embraced the difference in her heart and slipped to his side.

Looking up at him, she clutched his arm. “Not behind you, protected, but beside you. This is what is meant to be, my draicaron. We will fight in this form.”

Still, his brow was furrowed with worry. “Stay low,” he warned, as his brothers growled, shifted and prepared to fight.

The attack came like thunder rumbling down the mountain. Her pack rushed forward, shifting into their true Morph shapes, yellowed fangs shining, saliva dripping from their reddened, twisted mouths.

She recognized Urien’s tall form as the leader snarled and attacked the first Draicon he encountered: Gabriel, who went for his throat. Raphael’s brother sank his teeth into Urien’s skin and ripped. Acid blood flowed, burning Gabriel’s muzzle, but the Draicon bravely kept attacking Urien. Yet each time he feinted forward and his fangs sank into the Morph’s skin, Urien healed. Cruel laughter echoed in the valley as Urien pointed a finger at them.

“You can’t kill us,” sneered the thing that had once been her uncle. “We’re immortal, invincible.”

A melee broke out, Raphael’s brothers pouncing on the Burkes, who kept healing each time the Draicon attacked them. Then Urien sprang forward and aimed for Gabriel.

Talons extended from his fingers. He slashed at the wolf’s throat. Blood spurted and Gabriel fell, howling. Shivering, he shifted back to his human form, clutching the crimson pumping between his fingers.

Emily saw her pack stop, lean forward to inhale the Draicon’s fear and dying energy.

Feed.

“No,” Raphael said, stricken. He started forward, but she laid a hand on his arm, staying him. She took the Scian from her mate and slashed her wrist.

Emily raced to Gabriel’s side. She dripped her life-giving blood into his mouth, forcing him to swallow. His eyes closed, then flared open, shining with renewed strength and determination.

Glaring at the thing that had been her uncle, whom she once loved, Emily let all her anger surface. “It’s your turn now, Urien. You’re not invincible. You’re toast.”

She pounced forward, touching him just once.

Urien screamed and dropped down. All around them, everyone went still, even the Burkes.

A heartbeat of