Wolf Reborn

Chapter Eight

Faith watched, her eyes huge in awe, as piece after piece of Theo's soul moved into hers. Really, the parts of him she received didn't surprise her. Red for love and loyalty, she'd never have to doubt how he felt about her. How many women really ever felt as assured as she would from this day on about their partner's true feelings?

Next came honor and forgiveness. The second one did startle her. She had no idea Theo let go of slights or wrongs so completely but there it was. She couldn't help smiling, he really was turning out to be a better person than she was. What did he receive from her? She could hardly imagine except maybe it was a general distrust of new people and a need for vengeance.

Reaching up, she stroked a line of worry that formed on his forehead. What had put that there? She had no more thought the question when she was hit hard with what she could best describe as a sledgehammer through her soul. Both of her eyes shut in agony and she felt pinned to the ground.

"Damn it, no." She felt Theo tried to pull off of her but they were stuck, each where they were, until the ritual was over.

"What is it?" Her voice sounded hoarse.

"It's the demon. You're getting it too." Eyes flying open, she stared into his horrified gaze. "I'm putting a stop this, there has to be a way to make this cease."

She shook her head. "No." She grasped at his neck. "I want it."

"What?" Theo tried to wrench his body from hers.

"If you have it, I want it too."

"That's ridiculous."

Pointing one finger at him, she narrowed her eyes. "I think you've received enough pieces of me now to know you never call me ridiculous or anything like that." Glad when the small smile graced the edges of his mouth, she continued. "If I have it too then we can handle it together."

"We're talking about a demon coming into your body who will now have the power to call you to him and who may or may not be able to make you shift into its entity."

"If you can handle it Theo, I can, and besides nothing about any of this has been random. I'm your mate. I'm supposed to go through this with you. Either we'll both find a way out or we'll suffer together."

If she could have she would put her hands on her hips. She felt resolute and she'd be damned if he argued with her more. The pain receded and now she was actually pretty content again, although the argument had put a slight damper on the afterglow of their lovemaking.

The restraint on her muscles lessened and Theo pulled off of her. As he stood she was gifted with a spectacular view of his hard muscled body. Maybe she could convince him to come back down and see if they could have another go. He turned to walk to the window, his back to her. Placing both hands on the windowsill, he bowed his head and Faith had a feeling a second time was probably out of the question.

"What's wrong?"

Theo whirled around, his eyes intense. She dug deep in her soul to where her wolf had stored their connection and found her answers. He held himself responsible, always had, for whatever went wrong for the people he loved.

As children, if Michael got in trouble with their father, Theo felt it should have been him. When Kendrick had nearly destroyed the pack, Theo hadn't been able to get rid of the feeling that he should have somehow foreseen what was going to happen, and now with her--and he had never loved anyone as much as he loved her--he blamed himself for not realizing there was a chance she would now carry the demon too.

It was odd to know exactly what he thought without having to hear his verbal response. She rose from the bed and silently pressed herself against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. For a moment, she allowed herself to do nothing but linger in his scent.

Days removed from the woods and he still smelled like early springtime air. Her wolf paced inside of her, loving the scent, wanting to roll around in it. "I can't make this better for you, can I? No matter what I say, somewhere inside of you there will be this doubt--this inkling--that you should have done something better? I have no other word for it Theo, except to tell you to stop being such a control freak."

He snorted and she grinned. "So I guess you're saying the world doesn't revolve around me?"

She nodded. "That's it exactly."

"I accept that. What I don't accept is that something I did caused something bad to happen to you. I'd rather gouge out my liver."

Faith squinted. "Theo, that's disgusting."

A wave of dizziness overcame her senses and she nearly fell but Theo's arms kept her upright.

"Damn, how can this be happening?"

Attempting to see straight, she looked up at her mate. "What are you talking about?"

"The demons are taking us."

Faith did her best impression of a nod but she suspected it looked more like a waver.

I won't be in there with you. Every time the demons come, I disappear from you.

I noticed. Truly, for a person who hadn't known she had a wolf until she was nearly forty she missed it a ton when it wasn't around.

Remember, even if I'm not with you, you're always a wolf.

What did that even mean? Faith had no time to contemplate the subject as she found herself falling through an endless pit of color. Hell, if this is what happened to Theo every time one of the demons called she wouldn't blame him for hiding out in his wolf form. She might even suggest they go do that together.

She landed with a thump and a second later Theo landed next to her. He groaned and sat up faster than she did.

"Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. Not hurt, just nauseous as hell but she wouldn't tell him that. There was no use making him feel guiltier.

Faith looked around the room and gasped. She grabbed Theo's hand and squeezed it tightly. No way would anyone call her a coward but she needed all the support she could get as she stared at the grotesque, distorted faces of over a thousand fire demons sitting in what could best be described as stadium seating staring down at them as if they were the evening's entertainment in a gladiator show.

Whispering, although it was stupid because she knew they could probably hear her, she inched closer to Theo. "Are there always this many?"

"Never seen more than the one inside of me." Theo's eyes were stone as she watched him methodically move from one demon to the next assessing its danger level.

"Do you have your wolf with you?"

"Nope."

She sighed. "So neither of us will be shifting to get out of here then."

"Afraid not."

Faith decided it wasn't a good sign of how Theo felt their chances of survival were that he had resorted to one and two word sentences. They had just mated. Was this the end for them?

"Theo Kane." A voice from the center of the seats caught their attention and Faith adjusted her gaze to try to figure out who it was.

One of the creatures flew over the seats hovering in mid air just two feet above the others. With its arms crossed over its body, it looked bored and put out. Faith could have laughed at the image if she hadn't been so completely terrified. It's not like they'd asked to come and perform. Were they supposed to be juggling?

Theo narrowed his eyes. "You have me at a disadvantage since you obviously know my name but I don't know yours."

"If I told you my name it would do you no good, you couldn't pronounce it even if you could understand it."

"Alright, if we're so primitive let us go and we won't bother you again."

The sigh that escaped the creature's mouth was universal and Faith knew it was losing patience. Her mate was filled with Alpha aggressive instincts but in this circumstance where they were so clearly outnumbered her own skills might be more useful to them. There hadn't been a situation yet where Faith hadn't escaped alive. Perhaps she could maneuver that today--if she was lucky.

"Why don't you tell us why you brought us here?" She hoped her voice didn't waver.

"We have been waiting for the two of you to get together for some time so we could proceed. Most of us thought it would be nine months ago. None of us like being kept waiting."

Theo opened his mouth but Faith squeezed his hand to stop him from speaking.

I don't like you being out there in front of these things.

We're both here whether we like it or not. Let me try to handle this and then if it doesn't work you can step up and growl even without your wolf and try to fight our way out of here.

Theo nodded and Faith let out the breath she'd held. The last thing they needed was for her newly found mate to lose his composure.

"I can assure you, we wish we had met earlier too. But, things worked out as they worked out. I can't tell you how confused we are. Why don't you tell us first why you brought us here and second how it could possibly matter to you how or when we found each other?"

"One year ago, a member of our society chose you," The creature raised its claw to point at Theo. "Thinking you would be worthy to save our people from the enslavement your father has inflicted on two hundred of our number."

"My father inflicts lots of things on lots of people. I'm still not following exactly what you want."

Faith grabbed his arm. She needed to keep Theo cool and collected.

"When you say the demon chose Theo, do you mean that when he did this to him?" Faith reached out and rubbed the scarred half of her mate's face. "He somehow chose him for something?"

Next to her, Theo jerked as if he'd been struck. Faith couldn't blame him. It was as if someone kicked you hard in the gut and then told you how honored you should be to have been injured. It went against every normal instinct that she possessed and she wanted to throw something.

But she was a woman so therefore she was used to smiling when she wanted to vomit and this time would be no different.

"That's right. Our comrade felt that Theo held the strength of character to undergo the task and since we are able to see certain futures before they occur, he felt your arrival would assist him in this."

Faith shook her head. She wouldn't be lied to. "He may have decided that but it wasn't because of some future he saw. He saw us. We were standing right in front of him and he looked at us even though nobody else could see us at all. Not to mention we were there because you sent us there to begin with. So it seems to me you've manipulated this whole thing--whatever it may be--since the beginning."

The demon shrugged his wings. "It's neither here nor there. These things are not lateral. You couldn't possibly comprehend it."

"So explain it so we can understand it."

The crowd murmured. It sounded like a tape player sped up so that everyone sounded like chipmunks except they spoke a language she couldn't even begin to differentiate.

Still floating over the group, the leader nodded and looked at Theo. "Your father has bound two hundred of our kin to him against their will. They are once again being forced to remain on your plane of existence and do things they would prefer not to do."

Theo raised an eyebrow. "Like attempting to kidnap my nephew and then take Cullen and Summer instead?"

The creature nodded. "Exactly."

"We are powerless to help them and are forced to do nothing while they are under Kane's power. One of our kind sacrificed his life--placing his essence inside of you--so that you might free them all."

Before she could speak, Theo broke in. "Look this is all very interesting but the Westervelt Wolves have our own problems. Please believe me about that. I don't know how your friend thought I could help or why he didn't just ask me instead of burning away half of my face and causing me endless pain but I don't think I can help you."

Inside of Faith, something started to rumble. At first, she thought it was her stomach, but soon the whole of her insides felt like they had been lit on fire. She toppled over.

"What are you doing to her?" Theo pulled her off her knees and cradled her in his lap. He looked out at the audience of agitated demons with nothing less than venom in his eyes.

A hissing noise came from the crowd. "We will stop it as soon as you consent."

"You think to blackmail me? I will do nothing for you if you behave like this."

She could tell by his tone that he meant it too. A man like Theo who believed in love and honor would have none of this. He simply wouldn't be able to tolerate this. Grabbing his arm, she forced herself to speak.

"I'm confused. Tell me how rescuing them, assuming we can, will even help anything. How did Kendrick get them in the first place and why can't you get them back yourself?"

The pain started to lessen in her stomach and she took a much-needed deep breath. When she felt controlled, she looked up at Theo and gave him what she hoped was a steady smile.

The demon leader replied, "We are not meant to live with your kind. The only way we are with you is if we are summoned and the only way to perform a summoning is to possess and read a copy of a certain spell, and only that spell can bind us. The spell was created in such a way that it can't be memorized. The magic makes it impossible. So Kendrick must be in possession of a copy of it and which he then reads out loud during the summoning ceremony."

Her patience for this was wavering. "Well that explains the how so now you can tell me why you don't just swoop down, take the spell, rescue your people, and burn Kendrick to death. It would solve a lot of problems for all of us."

"If only it were that easy. We cannot come to your place of living unless we are summoned and bound. The only way we can communicate is like this where we live in your mind and body but that does not help us rescue our people."

Faith nodded. She could actually be sympathetic to that. What if someone could pull her across space and time and make her do terrible things? She blinked. Come to think of it that was exactly what they were doing to her.

"We'll help you but we have conditions."

My love, what the hell are you doing?

There you go with the profanity again. She couldn't keep the smile out of her voice.

"We are not prepared to listen to any conditions." The creature acted like she just suggested he balance on his head.

"Then we're not prepared to help you." She held up a hand to stop him from causing the hot pain to start in her abdomen again. "You can go ahead and kill me if you want. Theo will go ballistic and then moments later cause his own death so he can follow me and you'll be out all the months you spent setting this whole thing up."

I'm so incredibly proud of you right now.

Don't be. It hasn't worked yet. We could still end up needing you to go kick some ass and we'll still get eaten.

Now who's cursing?

"What are you conditions?"

Bravo. Theo's eyes twinkled.

"First of all, we aren't doing this alone. No matter how fabulous you think Theo is--and I can't argue with it, he is wonderful--we can't break into Kendrick's place alone. Hell, we can't even find it. We need the whole pack with us. You can't imagine what we can accomplish when we're all together."

"That sounds acceptable."

Faith shoulders relaxed with relief. Tristan was their Alpha, he needed to be in on the planning of what was sure to be a problematic plan and Theo would be stronger with his brothers around.

"My second condition, and this is the most important--when this is over and we've completed the mission, you will take the essence of your comrade or however you put it, out of us and return us to the way we were."

Having no idea if they could even do that, Faith felt compelled to ask for it. If she could give Theo a moment's peace from all the trauma surrounding him she had to do it.

"You will return the piece of paper with the spell on it so that we cannot be summoned again. If you agree to this then we will remove our presence from you."

Theo cleared his throat. "That sounds fair. We will do that. It will be an even trade but we still have no idea where my father's new compound is."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that we do."

Theo grasped his head and fell to the floor. He appeared to be unmoving and Faith's heart nearly stopped. "Theo." Tears were in her voice. What had just happened?

"Do not fret, we are merely instilling him with information he needed and did not have. In a moment he will be okay."

"It's not okay." Faith screamed at the crowd. "You can't just come in and out of our heads as you please, infecting us with your acid or your essence or whatever the hell else you feel like."

"If it makes you feel any better, we die when we burn you."

Like a bee. The thought of the creatures in a Halloween costume dressed like a bumblebee almost made her laugh and she covered her mouth with her hand. When she was composed, she answered. "It does actually."

She knew that wasn't nice but she wasn't as kind and forgiving as her mate. If someone hurt a loved one, she wanted them to pay.

Theo groaned and sat up. "That was like the worst migraine I've ever had."

She nodded. "I can imagine."

"So are we done here? Are you going to send us back so we can do what you want?"

"Don't disappoint us."

Swirls of color surrounded them but this time Faith prepared for it. She didn't try to struggle the sensation away and rather than flail around when she fell through space she stayed still. They hit the ground at the same time, each one flat on their back staring at the ceiling.

After a moment of silence, Faith sat up. "We'd better find Tristan."

"Oh boy, is he going to love this."