Midnight Guardian

by Tamara White

  I watch as she does exactly as the witches taught her, taking in three deep breaths, exhaling slowly after each one. It’s to channel what she wishes to discover. Any witch could dig around in someone’s mind, but if they have no clue how to focus themselves, then they could destroy what makes that person complete.

  Isobel, however, was very good at entering the mind and leaving no trace of her doing so. The witches all thought she’d been practicing long before we visited due to her skill, but I think Isobel was meant to become a supe. This world has come naturally to her. She knew, even though she was scared, that she had to be top dog in the room or the others would scent weakness. She knew when to question the council and when to stay quiet. And even now, she has been able to keep her ass hidden from me and the council for over six months. No supe in our history could boast hiding that long without being found.

  Isobel lightly touches her fingertips to my temples, the initial sting causing me to grimace, but I keep my lips pressed tight and don’t make a sound. Isobel may not like me right now, but she’s the type of person who won’t hurt someone maliciously unless they truly deserve it.

  My eyes roll back in my head as I feel her delve deep into my mind. Already the exhaustion has overtaken me, but I fight it, needing to see what she finds. To know the truth.

  After god knows how long, a vision starts to appear before me. It’s creepy as hell, but the scene is of something I haven’t seen before. As I watch, whatever magic the council had pulled over me completely dissipates and I remember everything.

  It’s the day before Isobel left, and I came to her to ask her if she wanted to plan a surprise for when Jordan returns. She was excited to have her other mate back, feeling anxious the whole time he was gone. She confessed she had no clue what to do, so I embraced her in a hug in an effort to comfort her while I thought of a solution, one that Jordan would like and that Isobel would be happy with. But that’s when I scented it.

  The change from her normal soft floral fragrance to one with a sharp tartness that marked her as pregnant. I don’t say anything to her, wanting to let her find out on her own. Her world was weird enough that she didn’t need me telling her. She would find out in the weeks to come so there was no need.

  The scene in my mind changes, and when I see where we are, I squirm, wanting to be free. But it’s like a dream. I’m in my past body, strapped to a table while Isobel is on an identical one to my right. She’s crying as the council stands against the back wall, watching the ritual happening with disinterest.

  There are close to a dozen witches, each of them adding a drop of blood to a purple potion in a bottle. One by one, they take the bottle, muttering under their breath. With each witch the bottle passes to, it turns darker and darker until the final witch murmurs a spell that turns it pitch-black.

  The council holds Isobel down while the witches use magic to restrain her. Her body glows bright gold, but they managed to pry open her mouth and pour the black liquid down her throat and force her to swallow. I thrash against my bindings, screaming as Isobel starts to convulse on the table.

  Jebediah comes to stand over me and bends down to whisper in my ear. “You did this. If you had of kept your mouth shut, she wouldn’t be thinking of leaving. Now we have no choice but to recreate her child on our own terms.”

  He steps back with a wicked smile and I want nothing more than to kill him where he stands. He and the other council members all back up and the witches form a circle around us. They link hands and begin chanting loud enough that it drowns out everything. I watch as Isobel’s eyes glaze over, seeing something that isn’t there, and then my own mind is overtaken with images. The very images of Isobel having sex with Locke like I thought I’d witnessed, which would mean Isobel is seeing whatever it is she thought Karla and I were doing.

  The echoing laughter of the council is the last thing I hear before Isobel flings herself away from me, breaking the connection. Her breath is heaving and tears are streaming down her face.

  “Th-They did that to me...” She gently cradles her stomach, the loss in her eyes echoing what I feel. “How could they kill my baby, our child, so heartlessly?” She hiccups on a sob and turns away, unable to look at me.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper, incapable of articulating just how much it kills me that they did such a thing. “Jordan tried to make me see reason, but what they did with the binding, it blinded me to everything except anger.”

  Isobel turns back, wiping away the tears that flow freely. “Where is he? Why did you come here alone?” Her eyes are back to angry and I can tell she knows something is up. I kind of hoped she wouldn’t notice his disappearance. But of course I’d stupidly thought I was going to get some time with her before telling her the truth.

  “Well, about that… Only one of us could escape. We had to take the chance when the opportunity arose and, well, I was the one to escape the dungeons. Jordan is still back there and probably about to be sent to Nochte prison if he hasn’t already.”

  “Nochte? The one underneath the compound?” she asks, her face paling considerably.

  I nod, wondering how she knows where it is. I don’t know if we ever told her that there was a prison somewhere under the dungeons, but I guess it would make sense for her to put two and two together.

  “Fuck,” Isobel mutters. She turns away, and I know she’s hiding something. The only time she used to look away from me was when she didn’t want me to know something. I could read her like a damn book, so she’d refuse to look at me if she tried to conceal something, like how hungry she was.

  Instead, she directs her attention to Quinn. “Untie him.” She moves to leave the room and my brother steps in her way to stop her, but she just shakes her head. “Tris, just give me a moment, okay? I need to process this shit. Just try not to kill your brother until I get back.” She rises up and gives him a quick kiss, which surprises the hell out of me. But just as quickly as the kiss occurs, Isobel bolts from the room like being in close proximity to me is too much.

  I stare at my brother, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on between him and Isobel, because while I don’t mind sharing Isobel, I don’t think my brother is going to feel the same, especially if it’s with me.

  Then again, I need to work my ass off to redeem myself in her eyes before I even think of shit like that. For all I know, Isobel will hate me for the rest of her life, but so long as she lets me be near her and keep her safe, I can live with that.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Isobel

  My ears are ringing as I race through the house. Once outside, I drop to my knees, dragging in lungfuls of air. It feels like someone has cut off all oxygen in the world and I’m dying a slow, painful death.

  Someone is at my shoulder, and I look up to see Ellen. How does this woman seem to appear out of fucking nowhere?

  She’s saying words but my ears are still buzzing. She must notice that I have no clue what she’s saying because she slows down, mouthing, “Calm down, slow breaths, you’re safe.”

  When the ringing finally stops and sound filters back in, Ellen is still by my side. She helps me to my feet, her eyes filled with worry. “What happened?”

  I shake my head, unable to voice everything. I still don’t understand it all myself. “I can’t talk about it, Ellen. I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta go. I need to find the Alphas.”

  She scrutinizes me for a moment, ready to ask a million and one questions, but whatever she sees on my face stops all that. “Go. I’ll tell your boys where you’ve gone.”

  I nod, thankful she’s here because I can’t go back inside. I need to go, now. I don’t think about it a second longer before bolting away from the house and the guys. I can’t even begin to handle this shit.

  Drake was down there, tied up like a present, only it wasn’t like I thought our meeting would go when we saw each other again. I imagined a man who would be groveling at my feet as I beat him within an inch of his life. I wanted to make him pay for eve
rything, but seeing all that in his mind, I know I can’t blame him for a thing.

  It was the council. I blamed Drake, I blamed myself, but all along it was those sick fucks on the council who did this to us. First, they took my family, then they took my baby. But that wasn’t enough for them, they had to rip the relationship Drake and I shared to pieces, all for what? Because they didn’t like us together? Because they wanted some super powerful baby and they thought Drake wasn’t good enough?

  All I know for sure is I’ll make them pay for everything. I will break into their precious prison, and I will take back what’s mine, and then I will make them regret creating a monster as powerful as me, because when I see them next, they will all tremble in fear.

  I make it out of the woods and head straight across campus. People stop and stare at me, but I do my best to ignore them. It’s not until I reach the car and the three Alphas scramble out of it to stare at me with awe and fear that I realize I’m once again glowing.

  “What the fuck happened?” Vincent demands, his eyes looking beyond me as if a threat is going to suddenly appear.

  I don’t answer, walking past him and getting in the car. When they realize I’m not going to say a damn word, they all clamber into the vehicle. Flynn drives while Vincent gets into the passenger side and Tyler climbs into the back with me.

  I take deep breaths, trying to calm this raging inferno of anger inside me, but it just won’t stop. I want the council to pay for what they did, and it burns fiercely within me, this need for revenge.

  They have Jordan now, but I won’t let them keep him. He’s mine.

  “Holy shit, your hands are on fire,” Tyler exclaims. I look down at my hands and sure enough, they shimmer with golden flames, but yet I don’t feel a thing.

  “What the fuck?” I mutter, trying to shake my hands in an effort to extinguish them. “How the fuck do I turn this off?”

  “How do you normally stop yourself from shifting? Control,” Vincent drawls from the front seat. “You need to get yourself under control, or whatever that is will just get worse.”

  I try to focus on calming myself, but when I look down again, my hands are still on fire and it’s growing up my arms.

  “Fuck, Flynn, you’re gonna have to find a safe place to pull over. Seems our Alpha is going to go supernova on us.”

  “Don’t worry, Vincent, I got this,” Tyler retorts smugly. He rifles in his bag at his feet until he finds whatever he’s looking for. He curses suddenly before dropping whatever he had grabbed.

  “Hey, Isobel, how long will this last?” Tyler asks me, and I turn at him, wondering how on earth I’m supposed to answer when this is a fucking first for me. Only when I turn to him, it’s to see him pointing to his head where the word “Thief” has been branded to his skull.

  My eyes bug out in shock and I glance down to see it was one of my blades he’d grasped. “What the hell, Tyler?”

  He chuckles, reaches out, and grabs my hand in his. “Figured that might work.” He grins and I notice that my hands are no longer on fire, nor is my skin glowing. It seems his surprise and shock tactic was enough to pause my momentary, anger-filled internal tirade.

  I breathe a sigh of relief and offer him a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

  He chuckles, his eyes twinkling. “No problemo, Alpha. Now, seriously though, how long does this last?”

  I use my hold on his hand and unbind the magic that’s tied to the branding spell. When it’s over, I release his hand. “There, all gone.”

  Tyler reaches up and feels the spot where the word is no longer scrawled, relaxing slightly.

  I lean back and close my eyes and try to keep calm. There will be time for revenge soon.

  “You gonna tell us what that was all about?” Flynn questions, his eyes glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

  It takes me a moment to decide whether to be honest or not. But maybe before then, I need my answer on their situation.

  “I’ll tell you if you tell me why all three of you are willing to break back into a prison that apparently took you a while to break free from. So what is the reason you’re going in? Is one of you Andrea’s mate?”

  It’s suddenly silent, nothing but the wind outside and the other traffic going by. I could force them to speak up, but I will let them take their time. Either they will be upfront and honest with me or they’ll keep their secrets. I know I need to have Alphas backing me to rule effectively, but there’s nothing that says I need to bare everything to them all.

  After ten minutes of silence, Vincent is the one to speak. “Yes, she’s our mate. Her father doesn’t know for certain, but I’m sure he suspects something. And if he doesn’t, then he will when we return with her because there is no way in hell we’ll ever let her out of our sight again.”

  Flynn and Tyler are both frowning, obviously not happy that their mate is not by their sides. Something I can sympathize with.

  “That little power show earlier…” I begin, not looking at any of them. “I just found out the council was more involved in stuff that happened to me than I thought. The icing on the cake, though, is my mate, the father of my child, is currently in Nochte too.”

  Flynn swerves on the road and I have to grip the door to stop myself from sliding around. When the car is back on track, he glances back. “Sorry, I was surprised. I didn’t think Supreme Alphas could get pregnant.”

  “Neither did I,” I admit.

  Vincent and Tyler are both staring at me. The former with a conflicted expression, bordering on disapproving, while Tyler is straight up shocked.

  Vincent is the one to speak though. “You understand Nochte is not the place for a woman carrying a child, right? Especially a woman of your status.”

  I roll my eyes, not believing what I’m hearing. “Are you seriously saying that if I wasn’t pregnant then it would be fine to go into a prison filled with supes who are practically insane, but now that I’m pregnant the rules have changed?” I scoff when I see the guilty expressions on all three of their faces. “Look, guys, my mate is in there. Now, I’m going to go in, help you find Andrea, then you three can get the hell out. But I’ll be staying behind until I get Jordan out of there. If anyone tries to stop me, then I will destroy them all.”

  Epilogue

  Marcus

  Quinn is helping lift Drake’s chair into a sitting position and untying his binds when Ellen walks into our basement like she owns the damn place.

  “Well, this place is quite impressive,” she says as she studies the room and approaches us all.

  How the hell did she even know we were here? And where is Isobel? Why isn’t she with her?

  Drake gets to his feet just as Ellen saunters into the room. She eyes him up and down, her lips twitching and a subtle scent of attraction coming off her.

  “And just who might you be?” she drawls, her eyes calculating.

  Tristan moves to Ellen’s side, his eyes on Drake. Now that he’s no longer being held back, I worry what he’ll do but I think he knows that the moment Isobel said to free him, he knew Drake would be sticking around a little longer.

  “That, Ellen, is my older brother Drake. He’s the one Isobel has been running from,” Tristan growls, his voice filled with anger.

  “Oh, wow,” Ellen breathes, her voice filled with excitement. She moves to stand in front of Drake with a coy smile. “I’ve been dying to meet you.”

  Drake frowns, confused by Ellen’s approach. “You have?”

  “Oh, yes,” she nods and moves lightning fast, her knee colliding with Drake’s cock. We all watch on in stunned fascination as he tumbles to the ground clutching his groin in pain. Ellen crouches down over him, a twisted smile on her face. “I know all about you, young man and I just want to say one thing. You ever, and I mean ever, hurt Isobel like you did in the past, I will hunt you down and wipe you from existence. That girl is one of the purest people in this world and I will not have you destroying her. Understood?”

  He nods,
and I see a good amount of fear in his eyes. Who knew Ellen could be so vicious?

  Ellen stands, appearing thoroughly pleased with herself. “Excellent. Now for the real reason I came down here.” She turns to face the rest of my family. “Isobel wanted me to let you know she left. Before any of you worry, she will come back soon, but she didn’t want any of you to worry.”

  “What? She left?” I ask, knowing I should have followed her.

  “Yep. She’s finally taking a stand and getting her ducks in a row.” Ellen is grinning with pride. “I just wish she wasn’t doing all this in her condition.”

  “Condition?” Jesse is watching Ellen with suspicion. “What on earth are you talking about Ellen? Stop speaking in riddles and just spit it all out.”

  Ellen simply grins and moves to leave the room. She pauses in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder. “Have none of you men had ‘the talk’ with your parents? You should all know what happens when you have sex with a female, especially an extremely fertile one at that. Put that with why she left like her ass was on fire, and well you’ll figure it out.”

  She turns back away and leaves the basement without a backward glance while we all ponder over what the hell she meant.

  Tristan is the first to speak. “Does anyone know what she was talking about?”

  I glance around at my family, trying like hell to understand what Ellen meant. What does having sex with Isobel got to do with anything?

  Drake groans, cursing as he gets to his feet with pain filled movements. “She meant that she’s pregnant you fools.”

  Ohhhhhhh.

  All eyes swing to Tristan and Jesse, both who appear paler than normal. Well life just got even more interesting.

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