by Linzi Baxter
Because the council was corrupt for years.
Kia continued. “I made a few calls and figured out who the woman was who died the night you saved Diem. It was Darius’s sister. She took the girls and planned to run away with them. But when Darius came home early, he killed three people and threatened more until someone told him where she was.”
Gideon had known Darius was a horrible person, but killing his own sister… What would he do to his own children?
“Did anyone know where their mother is?” Gideon flinched as Lucy pushed the needle into his arm.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“One day, he appeared with the girls. Nobody was going to question him or where they came from.”
“So there’s a chance they aren’t his. Maybe he stole them from someone.”
“I thought the same at first,” Kia said. “But Lucy ran Diem’s DNA against Darius, and he is her father. There were no hits for her mother. I even hacked CODIS to see if I could get some type of match. Nothing.”
“So we have to figure out where Darius has—” He glared at Lucy. “What the fuck? Tell someone before you stab them next time.”
“It wasn’t that big of a needle.”
Bullshit. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a needle that large used on humans before. But it wasn’t the size that hurt—it was the fact that she shoved it all the way to his bone. The needle was still stuck in his arm as he watched her push a clear liquid into this body.
“You going to tell me what the hell you are doing?” Gideon asked.
“I’m working to help you get your memories back. I already told you.”
A dull throb in his head started to intensify. That shouldn’t happen. My body should heal faster, not get worse.
“What is that?” Gideon asked.
Lucy chewed on her lip for a second. “Since the other day, there were changes in your blood. It’s hard to explain without going all nerd, and you wouldn’t understand anyways. In simple terms, I found something that your blood increased. And I think it’s helping fight what is blocking your memories.”
“Is my head supposed to hurt?”
The pain was getting worse by the second. His vision was getting cloudy.
“That could be a sign it’s working.”
“Did you just experiment on me and say it could be a sign?” He didn’t mean to yell, but Diem was counting on him, and his vision was fading fast.
Kia growled, but Gideon couldn’t even see him anymore. The room went completely black, and he bent over and screamed. The pain in his head intensified for a few more seconds.
Nobody said a word. He worried his hearing was gone until Lucy said his name. “Gideon?”
“Yes,” he grumbled.
“Ah, thank God you didn’t die.”
He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the little pregnant human. “There was a chance I would die?”
“Well… when I was researching your blood the other day, Kirin mentioned you were immortal. So I don’t think there was a chance you could have died.”
He was about to say something when a memory came back. Darius and Kael fighting in a lab. He couldn’t make out what they were saying. The harder he tried to hear, the more his head throbbed. A light hand brushed his arm, pulling him out of the memory.
“I almost had something,” he said.
Lucy let out a sigh. “You can’t force the memory.”
“How would you know? A second ago, you didn’t even know if it would work.”
The memory was the key. He had a feeling deep down that this would help lead them to Diem.
“What did you see?” Kirin asked.
“It was a lab, but not one I recognize.”
Kia tapped his finger on the table. “Why don’t we have Nyx come, and she can project the image? That way, we can all see. Maybe one of us will know where the place is.”
Gideon hadn’t seen Nyx since the day Kael killed Conley. Pandora was the only reason Conley was alive now. He wasn’t sure how Pandora had brought someone back from the dead, but he knew that type of magic had a cost.
He was still lost in thought when Nyx and Conley walked into the lab. Conley kept a protective arm around Nyx. He didn’t blame Kia’s younger brother.
Nyx broke away from Conley and walked to his side. She didn’t have the same scowl Conley had. She smiled down at him, a genuine smile. “Hi, Gideon.”
“Hello, Nyx.”
“I’m sure you already know this, but you should only think about what you want me to project. I will try not to project anything you wouldn’t want someone to see.”
He glared at her. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
Her lip ticked up. “I’m not saying you have something to hide. But if Diem is on your mind, and you slip to a private moment, this might turn into a very awkward encounter. Just trying to keep everything somewhat PG.”
His head still hurt, and he hoped he could control his thoughts. If any of the men saw Diem naked, he would have to kill them. Even if it was from his own damn mind.
“Ready?” Nyx asked.
He nodded, and she took off her glove and placed her hand on his arm. The image of the lab flashed on the wall. In the background, Kael and Darius argued. Nothing looked familiar. He couldn’t pinpoint where it was.
The image was flickering in and out. The memory wasn’t complete. He tried to figure out what had happened next, but Nyx’s projection went blank.
“Maybe if Lucy gives me more of that stuff, my memories will come back.”
Kia was typing on his tablet. “I don’t think we need it. There was a company logo in the background. I’ve seen it before. They have a lab, and it’s not that far from here.”
Gideon stood and walked over to Kia and watched his fingers fly across the screen. He didn’t know how Kia was reading so fast. “Found it. Let’s head to my office, and I can pull up the surveillance footage.”
He followed the three brothers down the hall until they got to his office. Kia sat behind the three large monitors. Seconds later, he brought up a screen with an aerial image. The satellite moved over a large warehouse, and at the back entrance was the same black SUV.
“Let’s go,” Gideon said.
“It’s not that simple. We need a plan.”
For the next hour, they worked out every angle. Lucy pointed out the device on the roof—the same one Kael had used to stop shifters from turning.
Gideon had learned years before how to use one. It didn’t mean he liked them. He preferred to rely on his magic, but rescuing Diem was more important.
16
Diem
“What did you do?” Kayda whispered at her.
Her head throbbed. Even the hushed words screeched in her head.
She’d fucked up. Gideon would kill her when he found her. If he could find her.
At least she would see her sister before she died. She rubbed her hand over her heart. What worried her most was that she couldn’t sense her dragon. For months, she’d wanted her dragon gone and to be human. Now she wished more than anything that her dragon was back.
“Can you hear me?” Kayda asked.
“Yes.” Even her throat hurt.
Her back rested against the cold brick wall, and her ass sat against the cold cement floor. Silver cuffs locked her wrists together. Even her ankles had cuffs around them. A metal chain connected her wrists and feet together. There were no windows in the cell to tell her how long she’d been out. It could be hours or days.
Kayda moved next to her. She wore the same set of cuffs, and her blond hair was pulled back. The bags under her eyes worried Diem.
“Why did you come back?” Kayda let out a sigh. “You were supposed to go free. This is all my fault.” Moisture pooled in Kayda’s eyes.
Diem didn’t like how sad her sister was. “When was I supposed to go free?”
“Kael promised if I helped him, he would let you go.”
Everything seemed to lead back to the corrupt warlock. The ma
n she was falling for had lost so many years of his life because of Kael. Then Kael had killed Conley. Her mind went back to the moment Gideon had killed Kael. Her warlock didn’t have a glimpse of remorse, and she didn’t fault him for killing Kael. But Kael’s death had left them with too many unanswered questions.
“Kael is a lying bastard,” she told her sister. “When they took me from this place, they used me by putting a collar around my neck.”
“He promised,” Kayda spat out. “Things are worse now, and Kael hasn’t been back in over two months.”
“Because he’s dead.”
Diem took her eyes off her sister to take a look around the room. The cages were all empty, and there were no guards. This lab looked different from the one Diem had been turned in. Hopefully, they could get out of this. If her dragon would wake up, it would make everything better.
“Kayda, can you feel your dragon?”
“I was never turned.”
Her stomach clenched. She could have sworn she’d seen her sister turn from human to dragon when she was taken from the last facility. “I know I saw you turn.”
“No, you saw another woman turn, but she didn’t make it. Her body couldn’t take the dragon. And they didn’t want to take the chance of killing me as well.”
“Why?”
As Diem had told Gideon, she was sure her sister didn’t work for the DOD. She worked for someone else—maybe a secret department in the government. Kayda’s fascination with science would anger their foster parents when the girls were growing up. Sometimes it was the smell of her experiments. Other times, it was when things blew up. And honestly, she didn’t care what her sister did, as long as they both made it out of the lab alive. She couldn’t live without her twin.
“I’ve been working on a top-secret project for years. Kael recruited me out of college to come work for a lab.”
Wait a minute. “Then why the fuck did he kidnap us from a bar?”
“Because I refused to continue the research. He wasn’t telling me what they were using it for. I thought we were working on something to help people heal faster. During an experiment in college, I accidentally used my blood, and it helped cure a baby bear quicker.”
Wait one goddamned minute. “And you documented the findings?”
“I never knew about this world,” she huffed. “I thought there was something special in my blood. My professor helped me publish a paper I was working on. I couldn’t wait to tell you about it. I was on my way to your place when I got the call. It was a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity for someone in grad school.”
How could I have been so dumb not to ask Kayda more questions when she told me the DOD recruited her out of college? Diem had only congratulated her sister for getting the job.
“And when did you figure out we were shifters?” Diem asked.
“Not until after we were taken.” Kayda rested her handcuffed hands on her knees. “I have an IQ at the genius level, but I never realized what was around me for a long time—not just for a week or days but for years.”
No matter how high an IQ her sister had, she wouldn’t have been able to figure out that shifters existed. Shifters were something people read about in fantasy, not real life.
“You can’t possibly think that way,” Diem said.
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Have you met a man named Darius?”
“Yes.” Kayda’s shoulders dropped. “He’s our—”
“Dad.” Diem wasn’t positive, but something inside her told her that Darius was their father.
Kayda’s eyes widened.
The main double door crashed open, and a tall man walked in. His long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. With each step, his army boots stomped against the floor. He gripped the cell bars and leaned forward, glaring at Diem. They were the same black eyes she remembered from the ritual. It was Darius. He pushed his nail into her side.
Darius's lip curled, showing his yellow teeth. “Hello, daughters.”
“I don’t understand.” Kayda looked from Darius to Diem.
“Kael always had a soft spot for you. He wanted to let you go and live your life. I was the one who brought you back. You work for me now.”
“I will never work for you,” Diem spat out.
A loud growl erupted from Darius, and he opened the cage door. In two short steps, he was in the cage. “You’re wrong. Both of you will do everything I ask. See this?” He held up a syringe. “You’re going to go kill that warlock you’re screwing, or I’m going to inject this into your sister.”
She couldn’t keep her eyes off the syringe with purple liquid—the same liquid she remembered going into her body. The ringing in her ears started again. She had to make a choice between her sister and the man she hadn’t even told that she loved. So much anger was coursing through her body, but she still couldn’t call on her dragon.
Darius took a step toward Kayda. Diem tried to stand up, but the chains were stuck to the ground. Darius pressed the needle to Kayda’s skin.
“I’ll do it. Leave her alone.”
She hoped she could figure something out. Darius watched her for a second before walking to her. He ripped the chain from the ground and took the cuffs off her wrists and ankles. She was free, but her sister wasn’t.
“You have twenty-four hours to kill Gideon.” His lip twisted. “Better go.”
This was her chance to come up with a plan. Her father was making a mistake. He thought she would do anything for her sister. She would, but she would do what she could to save Gideon as well.
The second Diem’s foot was out of the cell, she heard the cry of her sister. The sound would be engraved in her mind forever. She turned to see her father pulling the needle from Kayda’s arm.
Her scream must have alerted other people in the building, because two guards rushed into the cell area. Diem turned to run back to her sister, but an arm wrapped around her. She couldn’t get out of the grip.
“You think I trust you to kill Gideon?” He glared down at her. “I’m going to have him brought here and killed in front of you. He’s worthless. My daughters are both dragons now. I’m going to sell you to the highest bidder.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
The hands around her arms gripped her tighter the more she struggled to get to her sister. Kayda lay on the floor, screaming. The sound echoed through the large room.
“We need to help her,” Diem said.
Darius looked down at Kayda, who was struggling on the ground, and shrugged. “If she’s strong enough, she will come out of it.”
One second Diem thought she was going to watch her sister die in front of her, and the next second, all hell broke loose. The door to the room slammed open, and a bullet whizzed through the air, straight for her dad. His head exploded, and the smell of copper filled the room.
The hands on her arms loosened for a second, and she broke free. Another shot rang through the room, but she didn’t take the time to see if the man holding her had died. She dropped to the ground next to her sister. Kayda’s eyes were closed, but she was still screaming in pain. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Diem placed her hand to her cheek. Her sister was burning up.
Diem’s strength still wasn’t back, and she couldn’t feel her dragon. She took a deep breath before turning back to her dad and looking for the cuff key. Blood pooled on the floor as she crawled to him, looking for the keys.
An arm encircled Diem’s waist, pulling her back. She threw her arms back, fighting.
“Stop, Diem.”
She couldn’t stop. Her sister needed her.
The grip tightened more, and she was dragged out of the cell.
“You need to listen to me, Diem,” Gideon growled.
He was there. He’d come for her, but she needed to help her sister. Urgency overwhelmed her, but Gideon didn’t loosen his grip.
“I need to help her,” she cried out.
“Lucy is the best. Let her work.”
Gideon’s words cut through the fog.
Lucy was kneeling on the ground next to Kayda. Arrow stood next to her, taking orders. Kirin and Kia were piling the guards to the side. All three men were dressed in full black tactical gear. It took Diem a few minutes to realize they all had guns strapped to them.
“You came.”
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” he said.
Before she could respond, Kayda cried out again, and Arrow lifted her into his arms.
“I have to go with them,” Diem said.
Gideon nodded and stepped back. “I’m going to help Kirin.”
But there was something he wasn’t saying. She wanted to reach out for him again, but he was already across the room.
Lucy turned. “I need to get her back to my lab.”
Diem’s body went numb as she followed Lucy out of the facility. Gideon watched her but didn’t come with them.
Lucy sat in the back with Kayda, and Diem sat in the front seat as Arrow raced down the road. In the distance, she saw a helicopter. The farther they got from the facility, the more she could feel her dragon come to life. And her beast wasn’t happy with being silenced.
Arrow shot her a glare. “You need to keep your shit together. If you change in the car, we won’t be able to get your sister help in time.”
“Diem?” Kayda asked weakly from the back seat.
“Is she going to be okay?” Diem asked.
“Darius gave her the medicine to turn into something. We don’t know what, but she couldn’t shift in the building, and he knew that.”
“Why would he kill her?”
“I don’t know.” Lucy frowned.
Arrow slammed on the brakes. They were at the helicopter. When he opened the back door and grabbed Kayda, she let out a blood-curdling scream before the air started to shift.
“Put her down,” Lucy shrieked.
Seconds later, Kayda changed into a giant dragon, bigger than Diem’s. The dragon let out a long stream of purple fire, burning the grass and trees. Diem ran toward Lucy to try to protect her. Arrow stepped toward the large dragon. The dragon snarled for a second until Arrow placed his hand on her leg, calming her immediately.
