by Ally Summers
“Damn it,” I muttered.
If I was going to watch anything, I would have to use Wi-Fi. I looked next to the bed for my laptop bag. It wasn’t there. I looked by the dresser and next to the master suite door. I must have left it in the car.
I thought about paging one of the guys to get it, but they were in a serious strategy meeting. I tied the belt across my waist, slipped on matching slippers, and walked down the back staircase toward the kitchen entrance. Case had parked close to the house. Hopefully no one had moved the car yet.
I unlocked the door and rummaged through the trunk for my bag. I kept all of my catering appointments and my portfolio inside it. If I did end up moving Achording to Cadence here, I needed something impressive to share with new clients.
It wasn’t in the front seat either.
I huffed, moving boxes and one of Case’s gym bags. “Ah-hah!” I felt triumphant when I spotted the leather case behind the driver’s side. I sprawled across the seat to pull it from the floor, when I felt a rough hand shove my legs onto the floor and slam the door behind me.
I looked up and screamed when I saw two men climb into the front seat and wrestled the keys from my hands.
They put the keys in the ignition and backed out of the driveway, kicking gravel as they spun out of the alley.
“Who are you? What’s going on?” I squeaked.
The passenger shoved my head to the floor of the SUV.
“Shut up,” he growled.
My heart clenched with fear and anxiety. I felt like crying and screaming, but I held it in.
He had my neck twisted in an awkward position as he pressed me into the floorboards. “Just tell me what you want,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice even and calm.
They both laughed.
“As if you don’t know.”
My eyes widened. “I-I don’t.” My throat almost clamped shut. I didn’t know how long I could keep it together.
I couldn’t even get a look at them. They had dark smooth voices, and the one who shoved me beneath the seats was strong. Shifter kind of strong.
I closed my eyes, trying to take in a breath to steady myself. Think, Cadence. Think.
They laughed. “We get that you’re blond, but don’t try to play the dumb card. You wouldn’t be the Maddox queen if you were that stupid.”
I squeezed my eyes together. Shit. That’s what this was. Some kind of kidnapping because of Case. Because of the shifter war. They were going to use me to get something from Case.
They took so many turns, there was no way I could get my bearings. I couldn’t tell what direction we were headed. The car began to slow.
As soon as it came to a full stop, the passenger jumped from his seat, yanked open the back door, and hauled me into a long black SUV, bigger than Case’s.
I tried to watch him. Study any thing I could about his appearance.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, buckling me into the backseat.
I nodded.
He hopped into the driver’s seat and we took off, leaving his co-captor behind.
“What about the other guy?” I asked
He ignored me.
“Are we going far?” I tried another question.
I tugged the top of my robe together.
“You’ll see.”
I was surprised he answered. All I could see was the back of his head, but every once in a while he would glance at me from the rearview mirror.
The city was cloaked in darkness. At this time of night, there was no one out. No one, but the supernatural residents.
I began to shake. I locked my knees together to keep them from rattling. I gripped my hands. I was losing control.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. Hayden is going to take care of you.”
I let out a whimper. It was the way he said it. The condescending malice. The fact that he knew things I didn’t. He knew where we were going. Why this was happening. He knew who was on the other end.
5
Case
Noah and I finished off the last of the bourbon. He stretched out on the couch. We were both drunk. We were also the last ones still awake.
The empty bottle rolled on the floor by my feet.
I looked at the walls. My father’s picture hung over the fireplace. I thought it was a fitting tribute, but sometimes I was left wondering if Gareth was staring down at me in disappointment.
I was his first son. The first in line to take his throne. But I had dismantled the order that kept shifter law together. I was responsible for dislodging the magic that kept the panthers under our control.
I slung back the last drops of bourbon, knowing I was thinking like a drunk man. Letting the alcohol lull me into thoughts I didn’t need. It was taking me under to a place I shouldn’t visit. A place where doubt lived. Where confidence was suffocated. Where success didn’t have a name.
My arm dangled by my side, almost useless.
“You think I’m a good king, Noah?”
He hiccupped. “You’re a dick, your majesty.” He laughed.
“Thanks.”
“No, no, I take that back. A royal asshole.” He held his glass high.
I choked out a grunt in agreement.
“I’m ready to get this war over with.”
Noah was quiet. “We all are.”
“And this war … this one compared to fighting against the Council. Is everyone in?” I knew Noah would tell me the truth.
“They’ll follow you into any battle, you know that.”
I sat forward, my eyes glowering. “That’s not what I’m asking you. I want to know how committed they are. It’s different this time.” I hung my head, feeling the bourbon beat between my temples. “The last fight they had a stake. They either wanted control of the Nox, or they wanted to help them break free. I don’t know if they even knew what they wanted.”
I looked up into the dark eyes of my father’s portrait.
“The stakes are high for me. They always are.”
I thought about what it meant that the Litchfields were in town. Cadence was upstairs sleeping. She was my life now. My mate. My future.
I wasn’t going to let one sliver of land slip through my hands that belonged to my heirs. And I damn sure wasn’t going to let jaguars from Florida encroach on my territory. It wasn’t only the land I wanted to keep, it was the territory I wanted to protect. My friends lived here. My family. And now my love. If I had to take the entire South to keep her safe, I would.
Noah ran a hand through his hair. “We are part of the Tribe. There isn’t a jaguar here who doesn’t want to keep this land in the Maddox line. Not one.”
Even through the drunken stupor I heard his words.
“Donovan is too conservative.”
Noah nodded. “He has a different way. That’s for sure. But the good thing for him is Caroline seems to like the action. She pushes him. She’s a kick ass mate for that guy.”
“If he had moved faster on this, we wouldn’t be waiting on intel to make our next move, we’d already have a plan.” I beat my hand on the table next to me. “I don’t like playing catch up, damn it.”
The embers in the fireplace burned low. Noah laid back on the couch. His eyes slowly closed.
“Mmm … hmm. Bastard is too slow,” he mumbled.
I crossed one ankle over the other as my head leaned into the plush leather chair. My father’s scowl bared down on me.
“I’d like to see you do any better,” I whispered.
“Huh?” Noah turned on his side.
These were the decisions I had to live with as king. I was the one who had to sleep at night, knowing I shoved my brothers into war. That I chose a new way over the ancient traditions. That I became a king who paved his own path.
My lids began to close. I fought to keep them open as if I could somehow win a staring contest with a painting.
“This is the way it has to be,” I growled. The glass fell from my fingertips and I gave into sleep.
6
Cadence
I stopped asking questions and accepted my driver was taking me far from Case. It was too dark to recognize any landmarks once we were out of the city.
When he turned down a windy road, I peered through the window looking for clues of our location.
There was a long fence, bordering the drive.
He pulled up in front of an enormous house. One that looked like it belonged on a tourist brochure for a plantation.
“What is this place?” I whispered in awe.
He chuckled. “Home, your majesty.”
He stepped from the car and opened the door for me. He held his hand forward as if he were a chauffeur, not my kidnapper. I looked at him quizzically. He couldn’t be serious, could he?
“Your majesty.” He bowed.
It felt stupid, but I took his hand and he helped me from the SUV. His other hand immediately landed on the small of my back and I jumped at the touch. I realized I was wearing nothing but my spa robe and slippers.
He maneuvered me up the stairs. We stood in front of the massive set of doors and I couldn’t take another step.
“This way, your majesty.”
I shook my head.
If I crossed over the threshold, I was walking inside my kidnapper’s domain. I thought I had read somewhere to never go inside. To kick and fight. Spit and vomit if you had to, but always escape.
And then I thought about my cub. Case’s baby.
A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t fight. I had to keep this baby as safe as possible. I couldn’t risk some kind of violent capture. I needed to stay calm. I needed to keep my baby alive.
“Your majesty?”
“What’s your name?” I asked, trying to convey an smidgen of confidence into my voice.
“Anthony.”
“Anthony, do you have anyone in your life?”
He cocked his head to the side. “I do.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “And if she were here, would she be safe inside this house?”
He nodded. “Yes, she would. You need to come with me. You will be ok.”
The door creaked open and I looked inside.
The hall was lit with rows of candles and at the center of the foyer was a winding staircase.
I held my robe tightly, afraid that if it fell open Anthony would smell the fear rolling off of me. I was barely keeping my thoughts together. My knees shook.
“All right,” I agreed. “I’ll go if you insist.”
“I do, your majesty.” He gave me his arm.
Whatever I did from this point forward was solely to keep my baby safe. To protect Case’s child from anything and everything that came at me.
I might be human. I may not have super shifter strength like all my new friends, but I was a mama. That much I knew. And there was nothing on this planet that would hurt my cub.
“Let’s go.” I looked up at him and walked over the threshold.
7
Case
I rubbed my temple. Noah was snoring like a damn bear. The embers were ash in the fireplace.
“Get up,” I barked at him.
He hopped forward. “Hell, we slept in the study.” He looked around, realizing we never made it out of here last night.
I kicked the ottoman out of the way and stretched my arms overhead. “No one came in to wake us.”
My ears perked. The house was quiet.
“Make sure there’s coffee on. I’m going to check on Cadence.”
Noah wobbled to his feet and staggered off toward the kitchen. There was an entire staff that ran the house whether I was here or not. They knew what I liked. In the morning the request was always strong coffee. The blacker the better.
I made my way to the third floor. I had converted the top floors of two of the houses into one encompassing suite for myself. It had his and hers closets. A bathroom larger than most apartments, and a bedroom that was so lavish and spacious I could have housed half a school up there.
I remembered the first time I took Cadence on a tour of the house. She had no idea that once she stepped inside, it wasn’t only one row home, but three transformed together. The expression on her face had been priceless. Those blue eyes lit up. Her mouth turned up with the most gorgeous smile, as she fell in love with it. And I fell in love with her even more.
She was all in. She wanted to be in Charleston or Georgia—wherever Maddox business took me. And she kept pressing me for cubs.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to give them to her. I did. Fuck, it was all I could think about every time I claimed her. But right now, with a shifter war on the horizon, I couldn’t deal with cubs. I wanted her to have my baby though. I wanted her to have lots of them.
Last night, when I was inside her, a part of me wanted that to be true. I wanted to fill her with my cubs. It was a need so deep in my soul I didn’t have words. It was instinct and desire. I wanted to see her round and filled with my baby.
But I didn’t have the heart to tell her that we were going to need help to make that happen. And even then, it may never happen.
She was human. Completely and utterly human.
And for a woman to carry a jaguar cub—well that was going to take more voodoo than I had. Shifter laws had changed and moved. Without the Council’s help, she couldn’t get pregnant. We needed Council approval to allow that kind of magic to take place.
I hung my head. It was my fault.
I hadn’t realized how much damage I had done to the magic. How many lives had been effected. When I decided to take down the Council, I hadn’t realized that the price of freedom was so steep.
I stopped outside the doors to the master suite.
The first time I’d realized how impossible the situation was, I almost destroyed everything in sight. My fist had gone through the wall.
“Stop, Case, stop,” Cadence screamed pulling me away from the plaster.
There had been so much rage in my muscles, coursing through my blood, I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t tell her how shitty it was.
I turned and faced her. We hadn’t made it out of the cottage yet.
“It’s going to be ok,” she’d whispered, taking my face between her hands.
I stared at her. I didn’t think I could speak the words that boiled on my tongue. I had to have an heir.
“What that Keeper in there told us…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
Cadence tugged at my hands. “I don’t believe her.”
My eyes closed. Of course she didn’t. She was human. She didn’t know anything about this world. She didn’t know that the Keeper had more knowledge than we could fathom.
“Why not?” I questioned.
She tipped forward on the edge of her toes and brushed her lips over mine. “Because I love you, Case Maddox. And one day we’re going to be parents. You are going to have so many kids you aren’t going to be able to stand how loud they all are. They’ll climb all over you and play with you. They’ll want you to help them throw a football and do history homework. And I guess somewhere in there you have to teach them jaguar stuff, right?”
I nodded slowly. “Right.” My heart was heavy with disappointment.
She settled back on her heels. “I know in my heart that I’m going to have your cubs. I just know it. I don’t care what the Keeper said. I don’t care what anyone says about me being human. We have magic between us and that’s all that matters.”
I pressed my lips to her forehead. That’s why I loved her. She was stubborn, but it was for all the right reasons. She was loyal to me. Committed. Devoted. And for that brief moment outside of the Keeper’s cottage, I believed Cadence. I believed she knew more about shifter magic than I did.
For the past three months I had tried to put that Keeper meeting behind me. I tried not to let those words haunt me.
“This woman will not be the mother of your heirs,” she had hissed at us.
It was a nightmare that kept replaying
in my head.
But right now I had to focus on the report from Bey. I had to gather the Tribe again. I had to wrap up this war.
I tapped on the bedroom door as I walked inside. “Babe, you want some coffee?”
I looked at the bed. The quilt had a small indentation on top, but the covers weren’t pulled back. I walked to the bathroom. Cadence’s clothes from last night were in the hamper. Her toothbrush was next to the sink. Where in the hell was she?
“Darlin’?” I called out.
My pulse quickened under my skin. I rushed to the sitting room. I checked the closet. I ran to the exercise room, and on to the balcony that overlooked the city.
I took off down the staircase to the first floor, running from room to room.
I ran into Noah coming out of the kitchen.
“Hey, coffee’s ready.”
“Have you seen Cadence?”
He shook his head. “Not down here.”
There was a sour pit in my stomach. “Get everyone together, now!” I ordered.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s not in the house.” I didn’t need to search twenty more rooms to know she wasn’t here. My chest rumbled with a growl. Cadence was gone.
8
Cadence
I heard footsteps outside the door and I huddled to the center of the bed.
There was a knock before it opened. Anthony stood, frowning at me.
“You didn’t sleep?” he asked.
“N-no. Would you sleep if you were being held against your will?”
He dropped his hands to his side and exhaled. “Hayden would like for you to join him for breakfast.”
“I’ll pass.”
He took a step toward me. “I don’t think that’s wise. He is your host.”
“Hosts don’t lock people in bedrooms,” I fired.
Anthony looked irritated. “There is a full wardrobe for you through there.” He pointed at a door before the bathroom. “Find something suitable to wear for breakfast. I’ll wait outside to escort you to the dining room.”
