“I knew it,” Ranulf growled at the Fae who escorted us. “Lying bastard.”
“Malakai,” Drusilla purred. “What might you be doing here…with them?”
Malakai—our escort—froze in place. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he attempted to come up with an excuse for being caught.
“Apologies, my Queen,” he bowed before her. “I thought I’d have a little fun with the wolves before you sent for them. It was selfish.”
“Don’t fret, my lovely boy. I can understand the temptation,” she gleamed. “Now, why don’t you assist Warren in bringing out the surprise I have for our guest of honor.”
Malakai didn’t look our way. He only nodded once and marched off with one of the Fae guards to fetch what Drusilla had planned for us.
“I have to admit, Mackenzie Grey, you are unpredictable,” she sized me up. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon—much less in my realm. I’m curious as to why—”
“Touch your nose,” I tapped mine and winked at her.
She grimaced. “When you’re in my home, it becomes my business. Tell me, Mackenzie, what is it that you seek in my treasure trove?”
I sighed. “Here’s the thing, your highness, I have this party coming up with a spectacular dress to boot, but I’m lacking in the accessories department. Someone said you were the go-to person for that,” I smiled. “I gotta say though, it didn’t live up to the hype.”
“Oh, dear lord,” Ranulf groaned.
Her fake smile stretched and I was sure she wanted to strangle me, or rip out my tongue, I couldn’t figure out which.
“I’m going to have so much fun with you, Mackenzie Grey.”
“That’s what they all say,” I shrugged. “Unfortunately for you, it won’t be so pleasant.”
She chuckled. “Such bravado for a moon-bound pup.”
My confidence plummeted, but I tried to conceal it from my face.
“Oh, you thought I didn’t know?” She arched a brow. “Darling, why do you think we have to offer a sacrifice to the Druid? You aren’t enough of a life source to keep the realms open.”
Fuck. Me.
“Had I known,” she sighed and waved a hand in dismissal, “well, I still would have used you, but I would have found another way.”
“You’re a bitch,” I snarled. “And I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
She grinned. “Oh yes, little wolf, it will be quite the showdown. Dare I say, the battle of the century. What shall we call it?” She turned to one of her guards. “Ah yes, the Battle of the Queens. Quite fitting. A legendary war that will go down in history as I take what’s mine.”
What’s hers? The Lycan weren’t hers, nothing was hers besides the Fae—and maybe not even them.
“What the hell are you rambling about?” I deadpanned, trying to hide my confusion.
“Mackenzie,” Ranulf muttered, pulling me back. I hadn’t noticed I was taking steps toward Drusilla.
“Should I tell her or you?” The Queen asked Ranulf. My head whipped in his direction so fast, you would have thought I’d have whiplash. The King’s guard’s face turned stoney as he stared Drusilla down.
“Tell me what?”
I hated that she held a secret that everyone was privy to beside me.
“It’s a long story, Princess. We’ll discuss it later.”
I didn’t pursue it. This wasn’t the time or place to throw a tantrum and it wasn’t wise to show the Queen the wedge she threw between us.
Drusilla did a double take. “Aren’t you dying to know?” She asked me.
I lifted a shoulder in boredom. “Not really.”
“I’m not one to give up a good story,” she beamed as she stood from her throne and sauntered over to us. “Your great-great-great-grandfather, King of the Lycan—Conall MacCoinnich. Conall was a lovely man. We did everything together. He was the one who opened the realms for us with the Slade witches. The moment I laid eyes on him—”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t make me hurl.”
Her gaze snapped to me and I glimpsed a flame blaze behind her pale eyes.
“I loved Conall. I gave him everything and he was supposed to give me the world. You think the MacCoinnichs are the most powerful family in the world just because?” She threw her head back and laughed. “I gave him that. I blessed your lineage, and look how he repayed me!”
That took me by surprise. Ophelia said a witch blessed the MacCoinnichs, but it all actuality, it was the Fae. Mind. Blown. I guess I had Dru to thank for my Oracle visions. It made me dislike her even more.
“Yer Fae, Drusilla. What did ye expect?” Ranulf said.
“I expected to be Queen!” She roared and the castle trembled.
“Let me guess,” I sighed. “He dumped your Fae ass?”
“You stupid wolves and your dangerous love,” she sneered. “Those unbreakable bonds and outdated mating rituals. You can’t help yourselves.”
I laughed. Loudly. I probably shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t stop it.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” My gaze hopped between Drusilla and Ranulf. “All of this because you’re a woman scorned?”
“Wars have been fought for less,” Ranulf said. “When King Conall mated with yer great great-great-granny, everything Drusilla had been promised, disappeared, but ye should have known, ye could never be Queen of the Lycan. The MacCoinnich bloodline is p-pure.” He stuttered on the last part.
“Until her,” Drusilla jeered as she pointed a finger at me. “I want what was owed to me.”
“Give it a rest, Dru,” I said. “Your plan with Andrew backfired. Anyway, you’re like hella old if you were getting down with my great-great-great-grandfather. Get over it already.”
“No,” she snapped. “Imagine. If Alexander could make you, a hybrid, with the magic I gifted his line, imagine what could be done with a Fae…”
That question hung in the air and I felt sick. Ranulf tensed, but he didn’t dare look my way. No one beside Ophelia knew what I was. No one.
“I know everything, Mackenzie Grey. Know that the Fae are always watching,” she grinned before she clapped her hands. “Ah! There he is. My surprise!”
The world stopped spinning and every nonchalant attitude or careless wave went out the window when Warren and Malakai brought in the last person I thought I’d see in the Fae realm—Jonah.
I couldn’t stop the wolf as she erupted from me. The claws and canines slipped out of me with ease and my eyes flashed silver.
“Mackenzie,” Jonah rasped as he tried to get out of his captors’ grips, but it was no use. A silver collar was wrapped around his neck like a dog—making him weak and vulnerable.
“I will kill you!” I roared at the queen as she stood, stroking Jonah’s cheek.
“We’ve had a grand time, haven’t we love?” She said to him.
Jonah flinched and I knew that feeling all too well.
I took a step toward him, but Malakai stopped me. I hadn’t seen him move. Before I could snap at him, he slipped the Key of Janus into my back pocket and held my arms back, restraining me. Another Fae guard went for Ranulf and immobilized us.
My eyes watered as I couldn’t shake the images of what Jonah was going through—what she’d been doing to him.
“Run,” Jonah drawled in his weakened state. “Run, Kenz.” His dull chocolate eyes stared at me.
Malakai loosened his grip on me and I elbowed him in the gut and head-butted him. I staggered back from the force, but I had tunnel vision. All I could think about was Jonah and I chopped everyone down who got in my way. My claws sliced through the guards that stood between Jonah and I. With the rage building up inside me, they didn’t stand a chance. All I saw was red.
A whoosh swept behind me, like a vacuum trying to pull me back, but I had to get to Jonah.
“Run!” He yelled. The sound of a fan roared louder and louder. “Kenz…”
The suction strengthened and I dug the claws of my left hand into the glass floor and
stretched out my right hand for Jonah. He struggled against the guard, but he didn’t have the strength. Before I knew it, Ranulf wrapped an arm around my midsection and pulled me back.
“No!” I screamed. “I’m not leaving without him!”
“We have to, Princess,” Ranulf yelled in my ear. “We’ll come back for him.”
“No!”
As Ranulf pulled me into the portal, Drusilla kissed Jonah and waved us goodbye.
22
I landed on my hands and knees, dry heaving as I emptied my stomach of its contents. My nails dug into the grass and soil of Central Park, my vision blurred as tears spilled down my face.
“Let it out, lass,” Alexander cooed. He pulled my hair away from my face, and his hand rubbed soothing circles on my back.
I should have been mortified and disgusted, but I didn’t care at that point. I’d left Jonah in the Fae realm. I hadn’t been strong enough to save him and now…
I vomited again.
“Ranulf,” Alexander grunted. “What happened?”
“They have the Cadwell boy. They must have gotten through the portal at Loch Lomond.”
“That’s nae possible…how could they have gotten into the castle?”
“I’ll find out,” Ranulf promised. “The Queen—she shared her reasons for pursuing control of our realm.”
I could hear the undertone in Ranulf’s voice—a hidden message he was trying to send Alexander.
“All for a stupid man,” I grumbled.
“Ye don’ know the whole story, lass,” the King whispered.
“So tell me!” I turned to him in desperation. “You want the key?” I took it out of my back pocket and threw it at him. “No more secrets! What sins of the past am I paying for?”
Alex’s face contorted and I knew my answer. “We don’ have time for idle chit chat, Mackenzie.” Of course we didn’t.
“If you’re not going to tell me, whatever, but we have to go back!” I cried. “We have to get Jonah!”
Alexander helped me to my feet; he wrapped his arm around me, but I pushed him away. I didn't want sympathy or apologies. I wanted to take action. Drusilla had gone too far.
“What’s going on?” Briggs demanded as he walked down to the shore with Cas trailing behind him.
I ran to Cassidy, gripping the front of his shirt, not caring how I looked or smelled.
“I need your help,” I pleaded. “Jonah—he-he's in the Fae realm, Drusilla has him, we need to get him back.”
“Mackenzie,” Cas held me in place, scanned me from head-to-toe, and then met my eyes. “You need to calm down.”
“No! We need to do something!”
“We cannae,” Ranulf said. “It's what the Queen expects. She's taunting you.”
“Well, it worked,” I sneered. “I don't care how predictable it is, I'm going back for him.”
“Yer nae going anywhere,” Alexander said. “Yer going home and getting rest.”
How could they expect me to go home to do nothing? Did they even know me?
“Princess,” Ranulf approached me. “We'll get him out...just nae right now.”
Calming breaths. That was all I needed to do, take deep, calming breaths. I had vomit breath and my clothes were grimy beyond repair—I stunk, but I needed to get myself together. If I lost my shit again, I would be no closer to getting Jonah back. Think smart, Kenz. I had to play it cool, like I’d calmed down and was thinking rationally—I wasn’t.
“How long have I been gone?” I asked Cas as we entered my apartment.
“Two days.”
Time had passed, but I didn't expect to have been away so long and without any sleep. Oddly enough, I felt wired—determined. If Alexander and the others wouldn't help me, I'd figure it out on my own. I imagined what kind of fun Drusilla was having with Jonah. It made my skin crawl.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight, Mackenzie,” Cas said. “You're a loose canon right now and I'm not falling for any of your schemes.”
“My schemes? You make me sound like a villain.”
“You gave me a horse tranquilizer,” he deadpanned.
“Eh, technically it was a potion but hey, whatever floats your boat.”
Cassidy huffed. “You're grounded.”
“Okay, Pops,” I chuckled. “Do you want to take away my cell phone too?”
“Very funny, Kenz. Now get cleaned up because you reek.”
“Yes sir,” I saluted before grabbing a set of clean clothes and heading to the bathroom.
I wasn't going anywhere looking the way I did. To make me further reliable in Cassidy's eyes, I left my cellphone on the kitchen counter, as well as my wallet.
Once showered and dressed, I kept the water running. Above the toilet was a small window that was a foot away from the fire escape. Easy-peasy, lemon squeazy.
I shimmied out of the bathroom window, holding myself up by the windowsill, and swung my body a few times before flinging myself onto the fire escape. Dusting my hands, I grinned as I looked into my apartment window and saw Cassidy watching television.
“Sucker,” I muttered and ran down the stairs.
It was obvious where I had to go—to the only person who would be willing to help Jonah.
I banged on the locked warehouse door.
“Bash!” I yelled. “Open up!”
My fists pounded with desperation. I was lucky this neighborhood was void of any residents or someone would have called the cops.
“Open the goddamn do—”
The metal door swung open and Bernard's massive chest blocked my view of the inside.
“Mackenzie,” he grumbled. “What do you want?”
“I need to speak with Sebastian,” I said as I ducked under his arm and squeezed my way inside.
“Kenzie!” the lumberjack yelled as he chased after me. I would have partaken in some friendly banter with the wolf, but I was on a time crunch.
The main floor of the warehouse was empty aside from a few lingering wolves. I whirled around, trying to get my thoughts together when a pair of calloused hands gripped my arms.
“Mackenzie?” Sebastian stopped me. My chest was heaving at a rapid pace and tendrils of sweat dripped down my face. “Whats wrong?” After all I’d done to him as of late, he still cared. I was such an idiot.
Bash brought me down to the basement and away from prying eyes, closing the door to his office behind us.
“It’s Jonah,” I blurted. “The Queen has him. We need to go get him. You're the only one who might help me.” I could hear myself, and I sounded crazy.
“How do you know?” his sapphire eyes blazed.
“I was in the Fae realm. Drusilla was taunting me, she knew I'd come. The things she's doing to him, Bash…”
His face hardened and he growled.
“How do we get in?”
There hadn't been a doubt in my mind that he would help me. The three of us might be one big clusterfuck, but when it mattered, we were there for one another.
“I have a friend who can help,” I bit my lip and crossed my fingers when I said “friend”—I meant that in the loosest way possible.
“Before I do anything, Mackenzie, I need full disclosure. You need to tell me everything.”
And so I did.
On the ride to Chinatown I let my loose lips do all the work. First Amy, now Bash—although I kept my new Oracle abilities out of it. I wasn’t ready to drop that bomb.
“Why didn’t you come to me? I would have helped you,” Bash said as we walked toward The Fortune Cookie.
“I know you would have.”
“You make no sense,” he rumbled.
“I know,” I said, “but we can deal with our personal shit later.” We had no time to worry about anything other than Jonah. We couldn’t afford to get distracted.
We walked into the Chinese restaurant and I went straight to the back where I knew I’d find Bobby. I hadn’t given Bash any insight as to who we were going to meet or where and I did i
t on purpose. He’d been hounding me the whole way to Queens.
“I told you I’d give you a call if I found—” Bobby started. I cleared my throat and he turned around. “Oh, you brought a guest.”
Sebastian scanned the room with the ease and calmness of an Alpha. Not letting a single emotion show.
“Sebastian Steel. Alpha of the Brooklyn Pack,” Bash introduced himself.
Bobby glared at me. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Hear me out,” I started. “I need you to open a portal.”
He scoffed. “A portal? Are you nuts, Princess? You’re already indebted to me, are you sure you want to dig yourself a deeper hole?”
“Indebted?” Bash interrupted, but I ignored him. I followed the warlock around his workstation.
“I need to get into the Fae realm, same offer as before. Come on, Bobby,” I pleaded. I sounded like a crackhead talking to her dealer. The lows I’ve succumbed to….
Wu bit the inside of his cheek. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Princess,” he shrugged.
I held in a grin and waited for Bobby to work his magic. He moved throughout his workstation, grabbing bottles of herbs that smelled horrendous, and picking out a book from his bookshelf. Bash stood beside me, his body vibrated with the need to ask a million questions. There were some secrets I had to keep to myself. No one else could find out I was working with Bobby.
“Do you know where in the Fae realm you need to go?”
“The Glass Castle. Maybe in a storage closet?” Going through that whole obstacle course I went through with Ranulf to get to the castle was tedious. We were on a time limit, Cas would have figured by now that I was gone.
Bobby let out a long whistle. “Damn, Princess. The Glass Castle? Drusilla already wants your head on a spike.”
I frowned. “How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “The real question is who doesn't. There's a bounty on your head.”
That caught me off guard.
“How much?” Sebastian asked, and I nearly snapped my own neck.
OMEGA: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Mackenzie Grey Book 4) Page 15
