by Rachel Jonas
Evangeline had done it. She’d created the diversion she intended to in order to free the woman. While I was certain there would be an ecstatic little girl leaping into her mother’s arms in a moment, I wasn’t sure any of us would be so pleased with this outcome.
“She’s got him pinned down!” Beth announced.
I focused my eyes and finally made out the same scene. Evangeline had the soldier on his stomach, using her weight to hold him in the dirt. She yelled out in pure rage as she sank her fingers into his side, getting a grip on one of his thick ribs before snapping it free with ease.
The sound of his voice when he cried out into the night told of his agony.
She stayed on him, her hands locking beneath his head as she pulled. Pulled with everything in her as she grunted with the force she applied. It was enough to snap the soldier’s neck, relieving us all when the apparent threat was no longer.
Beth panted beside me when we slowed to a stop. I, on the other hand, was not even winded. Evangeline slumped against a tree, fatigued from the fight.
“Are you hurt?” I asked in a rush, quickly kneeling when I was at her side.
“I’m fine,” she nodded, catching her breath. “Did she … did the woman get away?”
Her priorities hadn’t shifted in the least. This question made that clear.
“I didn’t see her, but I think so,” I answered. “Hopefully, she makes it to the house, but there’s no way to know.”
And, I didn’t say this part out loud, but even if she did make it, there was still no guarantee our home hadn’t been compromised. The thought made me glance around, taking in our surroundings. We were alone for now, but that could change in an instant.
“We need to go,” I asserted, gripping Evangeline beneath her arm.
Beth agreed with a nod. With Evangeline on her feet, we started back in our original intended direction, but what I feared came to pass within a few steps. The quiet stretch of woods we stood in a moment ago was now crawling with mutts, soldiers, more dragons … and witches. With so many seeming to manifest out of thin air, I questioned whether we had been surrounded the entire time, their presence hidden by a charm.
Like … a trap.
The pieces began to fit together—how the small family had so closely resembled Evangeline’s, how the soldier chose to take the woman instead of the man to turn into a mutt, instead of taking the child to sire, how the woman had seemingly vanished into thin air the moment Evangeline reached them.
This … it was the work of witches. I figured it out, but unfortunately, much, much too late.
My chest heaved with labored breath, taking in the breadth of the situation. We were grossly outnumbered—three of us to nearly thirty of them. The witches had already begun the work of suppressing my powers. It could be felt, the added weight on my limbs, weakening me as much as they could with my increased strength. Even my flames dimmed a bit, but there was still a hue of red engulfing my skin, my hair where it rested on my shoulders.
Other than distant screams and cries for help, this circle of the woods was eerily quiet. So quiet I heard the heavy footsteps trudging through the soil long before there was a face to go along with it. But then there was, and at the sight of Blaise, my flames glowed bright again, resisting the witches’ magic.
Confused, they passed fleeting glances toward one another as their stench wafted in the breeze.
Blaise approached, first settling his attention on me, the red of my flames that stood out in comparison to the dragons that had aligned with them in this fight. His gaze did a quick sweep, scanning me from head to toe, taking in my size as I towered over the others in my shifted form. There was a brief moment of confusion, but that look was replaced by another as his gaze passed over to Evangeline. Now, all that remained was a dark smile.
My fists clenched and my thoughts turned morbid, focused on this war ending once and for all with Blaise and Sebastian both meeting a gruesome, untimely end.
Blaise closed the distance between him and Evangeline. My mind signaled my limbs to move, to step in between them, but the magic made this impossible. Instead, I was forced to be a spectator.
“Don’t take another step,” I warned, the words leaving my mouth as more of a growl as they hissed from between my teeth.
“Or what?” Blaise mocked, that grin of his widening as he eyed me again. When I began to struggle against his witches’ spell, he released a bored sigh. “Relax. I won’t be hurting your beloved today. It’s recently come to our attention that she’s far more valuable to us alive than dead,” he explained, adding, “for now.”
He was nearly face-to-face with her now and I noted how she tensed. When she passed a quick glance my way, I was certain she had attempted to communicate via our thoughts, but the spell had likely jammed up our frequency on my end, seeing as how it couldn’t affect her.
Blaise’s sights were set on me again after walking a slow circle around Evangeline, staring with that dead look that always dwelled behind his eyes.
“Looks like we win again, dragon,” he laughed, signaling over his shoulder for a handful of his soldiers to step forward. “Tie her up and head east. The others are waiting for us. Bring the blonde, too,” he added. “I’m sure I’ll find some use for her.”
With that command issued, the soldiers began the ascent on Evangeline and Beth, both beginning to shift, thinking their best bet was to fight in their true form.
“Don’t … even think about it,” Blaise called out, leveling a glare on them both. “Shift and I’ll finish what we started with your dragon.”
His gaze came back to me and so did that smile I wanted to rip from his face. “This is a good look for you,” he commented, adding, “The new wings and all.”
His smirk fueled my rage and I felt the magic beginning to slip. It wasn’t strong enough to hold me forever. Not like before. Not as bits of the memories from the time I spent with Sebastian and Blaise splintered into my thoughts.
Blaise turned to Evangeline and Beth one last time. “Are we clear on the rules, ladies?” he asked.
I locked gazes with Evangeline and could pinpoint the moment she saw the situation for exactly what it was. Hopeless. At the sight of it, that look, my heart broke in a million pieces. She eventually nodded, agreeing to this bastard’s terms because her back was against a wall.
“Glad to hear it,” he crooned, tipping his chin to signal his men to carry on.
“Are we taking the dragon, too?” one soldier asked.
Blaise, without hesitation, gave his next order. “As amused as Father would be to see the upgrades he’s acquired since his brief stint as a human, I’m going to do us all a favor. This one is quite vicious when left to his own devices. Let’s just put an end to this once and for all.”
Sweat poured down my face and neck as I fought the spell, as hard as I could, feeling the strain of tendons and veins as I pushed my dragon to it’s limits. This … what they were trying to do … it couldn’t happen. They couldn’t take her from me.
Couldn’t take them from me—my love, my … child.
“You should know something before you die, Reaper,” Blaise said, casting one final look my way as his men closed in on me. “We’ve got the Liberator with us, too.”
When I managed to press forward a few feet, fighting the spell, Blaise’s brow twitched.
“Settle down. We’re working on a way to keep both alive. And, if our sovereign king succeeds, rest assured the child won’t be fatherless,” he grinned sinisterly. “We’ll raise the little brat up like one of our own. And with a bit of our influence, he or she will one day be the greatest weapon this world has ever known. You can count on that.”
With so few words, Blaise had just made my worst fear a reality.
Chapter Fifteen
Evie
They knew exactly how to separate me from the herd, knew my weakness was family. Or more specifically, knew my weakness was having my family ripped from me.
But it
was easy because they knew me, knew all of us. I suppose spying through the Elders’ and Hilda’s thoughts provided the Sovereign quite the advantage.
I originally thought the soldier had come out of nowhere, snatching this woman from her daughter’s grasp. Seeing it, my heart was nearly torn from my chest. I’d seen the look that little girl wore before—in the mirror on my own face. It was still fresh in my memory what it was like for a parent to suddenly be gone, how helpless that felt. I couldn’t, in good conscience, standby and let a child feel that.
Only … there wasn’t really a child, wasn’t really a woman. Only the work of witches and their clever illusions. Apparently, their magic didn’t work on me, but I was susceptible to their manifestations just like everyone else.
Blaise had two soldiers inject Beth and I with something the moment we were shoved inside a dark van waiting on the outskirts of the woods. Once the injection took effect, our wrists and ankles were bound with heavy chains. Whatever the syringe contained made it hard to focus on any one thought, any particular face or conversation. It all ran together in a blur. Still, my thoughts managed to settle on Liam.
I tried desperately to communicate with him before being taken away, but the witches must have blocked him. This, too, had been a disadvantage of being watched, of them knowing each of our abilities like the back of their hands.
With the scene that unfolded as we were taken away, I would have thought they killed him, but … I still felt him. So strong. It was my hope that, once whatever spell the witches had cast to separate our mental connection had faded, I’d be able to speak to him again.
I was worried—about him, the family, the clan. I hadn’t even had time to process how bad things had gotten in just a matter of minutes.
There was a sound just outside the van, and then a flash of light that filtered in beneath the door.
“Evie, we can’t let them separate us,” Beth grumbled, clearly feeling just as groggy as I did. “We have to stay together. It’s the only way I can protect you and the baby.”
I reached for her hand beside me and held on, the closeness to my best friend being my only comfort. She’d taken off running right behind me as I chased after the woman. In this instance, Beth’s loyalty had come back to bite her. Although, I was almost certain she wouldn’t see it that way. Like she said, she was determined to protect us.
The back doors of the van unlatched, and then flung open. Behind two massive silhouettes were the headlights of a second vehicle.
“Out,” came a hard voice.
They didn’t wait for Beth and I to get to our feet before grabbing us each by our arms and snatching us toward the back bumper, and then to the dirt.
“Careful.”
I glanced left to spot Blaise’s boots, realizing he’d been the one to bark the command at the rough soldier.
“This one’s carrying precious cargo,” he added as he approached, pointing a finger toward me. His feet stopped and the headlights illuminated the dust he kicked up on his walk closer.
He stopped where I rested on all fours on the ground, and when he extended a hand, I flinched, remembering our last encounter. I’d been jabbed with that awful cattle prod of his, sending electricity all through my body, causing pain I didn’t even know was possible. In fact, had it not been for Liam’s dragon suddenly awakening, I would have died beneath Blaise’s boot that day.
My gaze lifted to meet his. Without accepting his help, I stood to my feet, hearing the thick chains I’d been placed in rattle with each movement.
Blaise smiled and stood upright again. “Very well then.”
He didn’t bother offering the same to Beth as she, too, stood to her feet, knowing it would only earn him another rejection.
“We’ve just got a short walk ahead of us,” he said jovially.
At his command, the soldiers moved swiftly—most escorting us up the side of a steep, rugged hill, the others hopping back inside the two vans before continuing on down the road.
I had no idea where we were, how long we’d driven. I suppose that had been the point of dosing us. Well, that and the fact that we would have given the guards hell the entire way here. Even if it proved to be our last fight.
Beth passed a look my way and I noticed she didn’t seem as incoherent as before. I, too, felt clearer in thought and used that to my advantage, searching for any landmarks or details that might tell me where we were. When my eyes found hers again, she did a quick glance toward one of the soldiers and mine did the same, settling on something visible in his back pocket.
A knife.
The chains on my wrist were heavy, but getting lighter by the second, as the substance we’d been given wore off.
I swallowed hard, knowing that once we reached our destination, the odds of escaping were slim to none.
It had to be now.
Right now.
My thoughts aligned and I saw each action I took half a second before moving. Energy pulsed through my fingers as I prepared to lunge forward.
“I’d think twice about that if I were you,” Blaise growled, his voice breaking my concentration and foiling my plan to stab one of his men.
It might have been the last chance of escape Beth and I had.
“My father may think you’re more valuable alive than dead, but make no mistake,” he warned, “I am not my father.”
Heat blazed in my neck and face. I hated him. For too many reasons to name. He seemed to sense this and smirked before barking a command at the soldiers leading Beth and I by our chains.
“Keep moving.”
We walked for miles, leaving the road quite some time ago. When we neared our destination, blindfolds were placed over our eyes and we stumbled our way onto pavement again. My only visual reference was my shoes through the sliver of open space beneath the material. The uncertainty was enough to raise my heartrate a little.
“Inside,” Blaise ordered.
A second later, a heavy, metal door screeched open and we crossed a threshold. Our footsteps echoed throughout, bouncing off unseen surfaces as Beth and I were led in. I could hear her breaths coming as quickly as my own. We were completely at the mercy of these men, and I couldn’t think of a worse scenario.
“Get them to the cell,” Blaise ordered.
The soldiers leading us didn’t ask questions, just followed directions. My wrists were tugged, pinching in the links of the chains that bound us. The pain was only a slight distraction from everything else—fear, regret, defeat.
A hard shove to my back and I tripped into the small space they brought us to. The blindfolds we wore were snatched from our eyes and I stood face to face with one of the guards as he retrieved a key from his pocket, unlocking my ankles, and then my wrists.
He backed away, waiting for his comrade to free Beth, and then both turned to leave the cell of what I could only guess to be an abandoned prison. And judging by the specs of the room—size, extensive security measures, single barred window—we were in solitary confinement.
The sound of the door being slammed shut was jarring, because of the startling noise, yes, but mostly because we had no clue what Sebastian had planned for us.
Outside the door, footsteps shuffled, some going quieter, others growing louder. I turned toward Beth and there were no words, there was no plan. All we could do was cleave to each other, so that’s what we did. My hand went into hers and we moved toward the back wall.
I could feel her shaking beside me and I was certain she could feel the same. While I wished she’d been able to get away, I was eternally grateful I wasn’t alone here.
The sound of a voice startled a gasp from my throat.
“What a lovely surprise,” the visitor crooned.
With the structure of the door, there was only a small peephole up top meant for someone to see in, not for us to see out. Our only visual of the person who spoke was a small, waist-high slit where I guessed meals were meant to be exchanged. Through it, a black jacket could be seen, hands folded
in front, a gaudy ring on one hand as the head of a cane pressed into his palm.
Still, even with so little to go on, I’d know that voice anywhere … Sebastian.
“I do hope my men weren’t too rough. They’re used to dealing with the more rugged variety of shifter, not the likes of a queen,” he expressed. There was an air of mockery in his tone. “And I see you’ve brought a friend with you this time.”
At his words, Beth inched closer to my side.
“No need to be afraid, little wolf,” he laughed. “My son seems to be intrigued by you, so I can almost guarantee your safety as much as Evangeline’s. Assuming you’re … accommodating.”
I felt my stomach turn, but held my composure because I was certain he watched us through that peephole, waiting to see us squirm.
My lips parted, and I’d just gotten my thoughts together to try reasoning with this man—a tyrant—but then there was a sound. A sound that silenced me after uttering only one syllable.
It was a roar, one that echoed from … everywhere.
Beth spoke up before I had the chance. “What was that?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she was on guard.
“Oh, what a pity he spoiled it. I was so looking forward to you seeing my surprise as opposed to just hearing it, but I suppose the cat is out of the bag now,” he teased, the sound of amusement marking his tone. “We have another interesting guest and I believe the two of you are actually very well acquainted. And, judging by how excited he is all of a sudden, I’m guessing he knows you’re here.”
From the other side of the door, Sebastian bellowed a dark laugh. It was the laugh of a man who got off on toying with the lives of others, a man who enjoyed playing the role of puppeteer. It was the laugh of a man who thought nothing of bringing me here, under the same roof as the one who wanted nothing as much as he wanted me dead.
