Valiant Heart
by Angela Addams
Copyright © 2017 by Angela Addams. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Chapter One
Battle Scars
“What do you see, Ariana?”
“Wolves, beasts, Hunters.” My heart was pounding, my fingers clenching the leather wrapped handle of my sickle, palms sweating. I was so ready for this. “Huntresses in trouble.” I took a step forward.
Greer stopped me with a firm touch to my arm. “Look closer.” Greer extended her hand, elegant fingers tipped with sharpened nails pointing toward the melee.
I narrowed my eyes, zoned in on the fighting. The mansion stood off in the distance, Wolves’ Bane it was called, and Order of the Wolf headquarters. Massive, beautifully ornate, decadent, and in total contrast to the chaos that unfolded outside of it. Bricks now painted by blood.
The beasts were coming out of the strange catatonic state they’d been in, rising up against the one who’d enthralled them. The two Huntresses who’d been entrapped by the same magic shook off the bonds that had held them frozen and jumped into the fray once again, fighting alongside the Hunters, cutting down beasts with each stroke of their weapons. Blood was flying. Beasts were falling.
“The Huntresses are still outnumbered.” And I itched to join them.
Greer turned to me and smiled, her red painted lips looking as wicked as her sparkling green eyes. “Not for long.” She motioned in front of us again. “Cut the beasts down and save the Huntresses, even the corrupted one.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the small army of women behind me. Huntresses all, we’d come prepared to fight, to slay the beasts as was decreed by our Amazon foremother, Alkaia the Great.
“And the Hunters, Greer? What should we do with them?” I asked, a smile creeping, knowing what her answer would be.
She cackled. “Keep them alive too.” She winked. “Never do know what will come of tonight.”
And so we ran into the fray, our twenty, all well-trained Huntresses, battle ready and bloodthirsty. The beasts didn’t stand a chance.
I spun to the left, the side swipe of a gnarled and clawed paw tickling my flesh, reminding me of the danger even though my heart sang and my body trilled like it was a game. I knocked my elbow into its jaw as I turned, the vibration like a jolt through my body as bone met bone. Bringing my arm up and around, I cycled down to swing my sickle so it hooked into the back of its shoulder. Tearing into its flesh, I forced the beast around to face me, reversing its momentum in a dizzying spin. Wild eyes met mine, spittle flying from its gaping mouth, fangs bared. Rage. It roared furiously, rank breath washing over me, and then it dove, claws out to crush my skull. I swung my sickle up again and smashed the handle into its snout. Warm blood splattered as the beast howled, reeling back from me as if it were going to run.
“Nuh uh, beastie, your days end here.” I spun down, avoiding any more flying claws, and hooked my sickle into the meat of its calf before yanking it with a hard pull, the beast’s backward fall a thunderous rumble as it hit the ground in a furry heap. I quickly pulled my weapon free and brought it down to the beast’s throat in an effortless swipe. Stepping back from the bloody fountain, I wiped my blade clean on my leather pants then turned to find my next foe.
Movement caught in my periphery. A beast running. Coward. I took off after it, my lungs burning, my pounding heart, the stitch forming in my side, all making me want to laugh with exhilaration. God, I loved this. The chase, the game. Winning.
I narrowed my gaze on the beast’s back, so intent on my prize that I didn’t see where it was headed, not until it was too late. The young Huntress didn’t see it coming either, didn’t stand a chance. The beast knocked her sword aside, then raked its claws across her face, tearing her from eye to lips in four devastating gullies. She fell, a Hunter suddenly at her side, torn between tending her wounds and attacking the beast who’d maimed her. The werewolf appeared to have no interest in finishing the job. It kept running, as did I.
I pulled my second sickle from my back sheath—this one not as curved, more like a short sword—and pumped my legs faster, bellowing as I launched myself toward the beast to cut it down. My sickle slipped into its rib cage, wedged between the bones. I didn’t let go as we tumbled to the ground. My weight on its back no match, it threw me off mid roll, and made to leap up as if to run again. I crouched low, then sprang, catching it at the waist, hooking my curved sickle into its gut, using our momentum to cut him across, disemboweling him in the process. The beast fell to its knees, insides spilling to the grass in a gruesome mess, the putrid smell making bile rise in my throat. I pulled my blade from its ribs and sank it into the monster’s heart. Instant death. Beast no more.
I scanned the battle. Beasts were dead or dying, the Huntress poison doing its job slowly. A few small skirmishes here and there but nothing that my sisters couldn’t handle on their own. I turned my attention back to the young Huntress who lay cradled in her Hunter’s arms, her face covered in blood, a tattered mess of flesh.
Damn. I guess I should go fix that.
I resheathed both sickles as I approached, hands raised in truce when the Hunter thrust his sword higher.
“I can help her,” I said as I stretched my fingers, turning my hands slightly. “I can mend her wounds.”
The Hunter nodded once, lowered his weapon and returned his gaze to his mate. She was unconscious, thankfully, her wounds grotesque. Four wide tracks stretched down her face, her left eye destroyed where the claw point had dug in, bone clearly visible, her upper lip split in two so it flapped to the side. It wouldn’t be a fatal wound, but modern medicine wouldn’t be able to heal it as I could.
“What’s her name?” I lowered onto my knees.
“Candy,” the Hunter said, his voice gruff.
I nodded then tentatively touched her marred flesh. Candy moaned and thrashed away from me. “I’m going to need you to help me out here.” With a delicate touch, I brought the torn pieces back together, pinching them closed with one hand. “You’re going to need to hold her still while I work, okay?”
The Hunter nodded, then pulled his mate closer into his embrace, leaving her face free for me to work.
“Hold her tight, this is gonna hurt.”
I closed my eyes and started from the bottom, envisioning the wounds, the muscles, the tendons, veins, tissue all coming together, fusing back as one. Her pain radiated toward me through my fingers until they burned. Her screams pulled her from unconsciousness, her struggles tearing my concentration away. I opened my eyes and locked them with hers before squeezing her wounds tightly and forcing her to spasm with agony. Her one good eye rolled back, her eyelid closing once again, the pain taking her down so I could do my work in peace. The look her mate gave me was scorching. I shrugged then returned to the task at hand.
I sucked in another deep breath as I traced a gentle line over the minimal repair I’d already done. It was good work, fine mending, but I’d need to use more power. I dug deep within, searching for the source of my skill, the fire that stoked with my intent to heal. Magic surged across my fingers, like a faint blue flame radiating, static like arcs touching the flesh, eager to mend. I shivered with its intensity, sucked in another breath, heard an echo from above, a gasp of sorts. I looked up to see a blond haired Adonis standing over us, his beautiful body coated in gore, his chest heaving, his eyes blazing.
“You’re mending her flesh.”
I frowned, nodded, suddenly my mouth was parched, my heart thundering, my gaze riveted. The impulse to jump up and hump the man was almost more than I could withstand.
Uh oh…
He collapsed to his knees next to me, hands gripping my face, pulling me away from Candy. “My Huntress,” he whispered then pressed his lips to mine and I wanted to eat him alive.
Ahhh, shit.
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