Page 27 of Finding Embers and Stars (Twin Flames Duet #1)
Chapter twenty-seven
I watch Liam scoop Sage into his arms and spin her in a circle. Such a silly thing, but it makes my mate laugh.
I love the sound of her laughter.
Even though I want to be the one holding her close, I can be thankful that she has someone that will. We’ve been alone for too long.
I’ve barely registered Piper’s longing to be held like Sage is before Maverick effortlessly picks her up and holds her close.
The way he nuzzles his nose along her throat is inherently a wolf trait and I can appreciate that one of her mates will understand my behavior and how it can influence Piper.
I don’t want my instincts to prevent Piper from finding happiness. Like Sage, she deserves someone to take care of her, even if the thought of needing such help would grate against her independence.
The breeze brings a rush of new scents to my nose, ones that I’d hoped to never encounter again.
“Piper, beware.”
Liam is already pushing Sage behind him. Normally, I know my mate wouldn’t stand for such treatment, but I can smell her terror. Her own personal nightmare is walking up to the bonfire as if he has a right to be here. And a right to Sage.
Over my dead body.
“Atlas, be ready. He’s not going to walk away this time.” Piper’s words soothe me. Knowing she’s just as eager for vengeance as I am allows me to wait patiently for the right moment to strike.
Piper steps to the side until she’s directly in front of Sage. Even with five mates, Piper and Sage will always move to protect each other first. Years of only being able to rely on each other have made it instinctive.
When we glance back at Sage, I can see her pale face and trembling hands. She’s terrified. Milo steps up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist. We give him a nod of approval before turning back to the threat before us.
Maverick looks at Piper, clearly needing an explanation of the tension that surrounds us.
“Atlas and I have kicked their asses before. It will be a pleasure to do it again.”
I growl in agreement. Their reckoning is long overdue.
Wyatt looks over at us, confusion and distrust thick in his scent. “You know these guys?
Piper snorts. “Not by choice. They’re from my father’s pack.”
Three men come to a stop, shoulder to shoulder just inside the ring of fire light. Doug smirks, “Piper, long time no see. Your father sends his regards. He says it’s time for you to come home and to bring the hybrid with you. Since she’s the only way to keep you in line.”
I hear a faint whimper from my mate. Sadly, she’s already experienced firsthand how the Alpha Supreme keeps Piper in line.
Piper chuckles, her entire demeanor has changed. There is a note of cruelty to her voice that I appreciate. “Doug, this didn’t work out so well for you and Jerry when you faced me at the Ceremony of the Moon.” Piper smirks at them and I can tell her taunt hit home. Doug flushes a deep red and glares at us.
“And Matt, you really are dumb as fuck to show up here. Do you honestly think I won’t end you for what you did to Sage?” Piper cracks her neck and her fingers one by one. The popping noise is almost lost in the crackle of the fire, but she makes her point. She’s ready for this to get bloody.
Matt steps closer, his eyes never leaving Sage. “These games have gone on long enough. I claimed you the night of the ceremony and then you ran off like the little bitch you are.”
Sage’s frightened whimper has all of us growling. How dare he speak to my mate like that.
The dumbass doesn’t even notice or care. Do these idiots really think that the three of them can stand up to seven of us? How delusional are they?
“Now get your whoring ass away from that guy and crawl to me. I’ve waited years to slide back into your tight little pussy.” Matt snaps his fingers and points to his feet like he’s calling a fucking pet.
I can faintly hear Milo whispering to Sage, but when another whimper slips past her lips followed by a broken ‘No’ it’s all that Piper and I can take.
I feel Piper’s push to shift as she lunges towards Doug. Changing mid leap, I strike his chest with my paws and clamp my jaws around his neck, ripping his throat out.
Jerry makes it one stumbling step backward, but my second leap is just as quick as the first and his body crumples across Doug’s. I fling the blood and flesh from my teeth across the fire before stalking towards Matt, a deep growl rumbling in my chest. This time, instead of going for his throat, I grab his ankle. The crunch of his leg bone as it shatters in my jaws thrills me. Wolves don’t normally play with their food, but for this worthless excuse of a shifter I will make an exception.
When I pause to listen to Matt’s pathetic screams, Wyatt loses his shit. “What the fuck is going on?! Who are these guys and what did he mean by saying he’s your mate? Did you sleep with him? Did you sleep with all of them? I can’t even look at you right now and we need to clean up Piper’s fucking mess before anyone sees a pile of dead bodies lying here!”
How fucking dare he!
I will end him for speaking to my mate this way!
Wyatt finally stops to breathe, and that's when I can hear the sound of Sage’s sobs. She’s fallen to her knees, shaking her head and whispering ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again. “I’m worthless and broken. You shouldn’t be stuck with me as your mate. I’m sorry.”
I take a running leap towards the demon but as I fly through the air intent on ripping out my third throat of the evening, Piper pushes her will against mine. “Atlas shift!”
I concede to her command, but our body is already in motion. She uses the momentum of my jump to punch Wyatt in the nose. I chuckle at the satisfying crunch of bone and the fountain of blood pouring down his face.
Serves the fucker right.
When Wyatt rights himself, she slaps her hands into his chest and shoves him to the ground.
“You fucking disgust me. Did you not open your eyes and see how she was reacting to him? Could you not get a thought to filter through your tiny fucking brain that she might have a reason for her reaction, or that maybe the random men that show up from my father’s abusive pack might be lying?”
Piper’s voice is deceptively calm and quiet, but I can feel her turmoil. She let herself hope that these men would embrace the mate bond and join the family. Yet at the first sign of trouble, one of her supposed mates starts slinging accusations.
Sage’s sobs break off and I hear her whisper, “I’m so sorry you’ve been forced to mate with someone so broken. I’ll stay out of your way so you can bond with Piper. She needs you. I should never have been part of this.”
I take a step towards her, but she shifts to her raven form and flies away as fast as she can. A savage snarl rumbles in my chest. One of her mates has caused her to flee. I will not stand for this.
Piper watches her fly away and then looks around the fire. Her mates all appear to be in shock, though Milo and Liam seem to be the most concerned about Sage, their eyes trying to track her dark form in the even darker night sky.
Everyone is in so much shock that they don’t even notice that Matt is trying to crawl away. That won’t do at all.
“Piper, he’s escaping. We must kill him.”
She shoves Wyatt and Maverick out of the way and grabs Matt by his broken leg. He screams as she drags him back to the fire.
“Well Wyatt, you were all up in Sage’s business asking if she had slept with this asshole. You seem to think you have some kind of say over what we do with our bodies and let me make this very fucking clear—you don’t. We have never asked any of you if you had lovers in the past, because that’s the fucking past. It shouldn’t matter if we’ve slept with every willing dick in the state, that is our fucking choice.”
Piper pauses for a moment, but no one interrupts her. The way she’s shaking Matt’s leg and dragging out his pain seems to have stunned all of them.
“Matt here raped Sage when she was fourteen.”
The blood drains from Wyatt’s face so quickly it wouldn’t surprise me if he passes out. How fitting.
“Worse than that is that he did it at the request of my father. Dear old dad overheard us discussing trying to leave the pack. So, he did what he had been threatening me with for years. That any disobedience on my part will be felt by Sage and her family.”
“These three tortured us our whole fucking lives, and it wasn’t only allowed, it was encouraged by my father. The night of our first shift, he tried to claim her and bit her wing so hard that she would never have been able to fly if we hadn’t escaped and met the dragon of spring at the DV shelter. Matt has no claim on her then or now.”
Piper drops Matt’s leg and grips his head giving one hard twist she snaps his neck, ending his miserable life.
“And I hope I’ve made it absolutely fucking clear that we don’t need you to protect us. If you figure your shit out, we may want you around, but we will never need you. This is the one and only time I will offer a second chance. Sage is my world, and I will protect her from everything, even our mates.”
Piper whispers, “Fly,” and activates her raven spell, then I see Milo walk up and punch Wyatt square in his broken nose.
That one might be worth keeping.
The others have a long way to go before I will allow them near my mate again.