14
The Queen’s shriek rocked the foundation and vamps came running from every direction. They filled the stairway and hallways, most appearing to be fresh from sleep.
Eudoxia flew forward, coming to a halt inches from me. Her eyes were fully black, her fangs as sharp as I’d ever seen them. Her power struck me hard, but I was ready. My wolf had infused us with adrenaline, fortifying us in a cloak of our own power. The golden strands, my magic signature, coated me, providing a solid barrier against Eudoxia’s magic as it tried to needle its way in.
We kept her out for now.
I ran the back of my hand over my mouth, anchoring myself.
“You will answer for that.” The Queen hissed. “I will happily skewer you to the wall and lap up your blood as it drains from your body.” White light shot out of her hands, hitting me fully in the chest, as it had once before.
The impact launched me backward, right into Rourke’s body. His hands steadied me and a fierce growl erupted from his chest. “I’ve had enough,” he snarled. “No one strikes us and lives. We came in here to offer you a deal, which could’ve been beneficial to you, but I see you’ve lost your touch when it comes to negotiations, Eudoxia.” Power radiated off of him, his muscles tightening under his skin. “But you’re not the one doing the killing here. I am. I will tear your head from your shoulders so fast your body won’t have time to react.”
Eudoxia’s hands were fisted, and she vibrated with anger, more livid than I’d ever seen her. She was beside herself that her magic had not worked against us. By all rights I should be a babbling puddle on the floor. And as much as I wouldn’t mind seeing Rourke tear her to pieces, I still needed her.
I wrapped my hand around his arm lightly, tugging him back. “Nobody is killing anyone,” I said. “At least for the moment. Because the bigger problem here is the man you’ve trusted for years has turned against you. Valdov’s a spy. You can’t ignore that.”
“How dare you make such accusations. You know nothing!” the Queen spat. “He has been my loyal servant for centuries and I will not listen to nonsense spouted by a lowly dog like yourself.” Her power continued its assault against me, my wolf working diligently to keep her out. At this pace, she was going to break down our barriers shortly.
Valdov had risen from the ground already healed. He moved forward, spitting his malice, but his Queen put her arm out to stop him.
She wanted me for herself.
Tyler and Danny both stepped toward Valdov and they all eyed each other critically. Nick slid to the right, ready to come up from behind if necessary. Valdov was outnumbered.
“Eamon couldn’t have been a traitor on his own. You and I both know that,” I pressed. “Even if you don’t want to admit it, it’s clear Valdov has been with you from the very beginning, and how very tired he must be of taking orders from his lowly pupil. He betrayed himself to me a moment ago, but if you need more proof, ask yourself this: Whose idea was it to bring in the goddess when you cornered me? Yours or his? You don’t seem like the type to hire an archrival to do your dirty work.” It was a hunch Selene and the Queen were rivals based on what Naomi had confided to me on the road. When the Queen’s eyes flicked quickly to Valdov, I knew I’d guessed correctly. “Once you ordered Eamon and Naomi to accompany me, it must have played perfectly into his hands. Get Selene to kill me, finally get the cross from Naomi for himself—something you had failed to do—and finish you off so he could finally rule. Over five hundred years of taking orders from a nineteen-year-old girl. I bet he didn’t even like you that much when you were human.”
“You speak filthy lies,” Valdov snarled as he came forward, ignoring his Queen’s objections. “And I will enjoy ripping your neck out for speaking them.” His face morphed further, and energy ricocheted around the room, bouncing off everything.
Before he could reach me, Rourke stepped deftly in front of us.
The vamps around the room went crazy, hissing and chomping their fangs. Rourke’s snarl was enough to stop Valdov in his tracks, but Valdov was so worked up it wouldn’t last long. There was going to be a serious throw-down in less than one minute unless I could end this and make some kind of deal to benefit me, as well as free Naomi and Ray. I wasn’t going to leave here without them, especially now that I knew they were in trouble.
The Queen’s eyes darted to Valdov.
I smiled inwardly. “You know what I’m saying is true.” I addressed only the Queen, dropping my voice. “I bet he leaves sometimes and you don’t know where he’s been. You don’t torture him like the others because of his loyalty and servitude. You have given him incredible freedom. The kind most vamps don’t get. You thought in exchange for your leniency there would be unconditional—”
“Stop!” she commanded. My mouth snapped shut and so did every vamp’s in the room. Mine shut because she surprised me, everyone else because she was the boss. She turned toward Valdov. “You will join me in my chambers now. The rest of you go back to sleep.” She gnashed her teeth once and all the vamps slid out of the area as quickly as they’d come, including a reluctant Valdov. She hissed, her fangs still down, “I will make you suffer for playing me the fool, starting with your cherished friends, who are being tortured as we speak. Leave this house now before I rip your heart from your chest. Your chaos will not be tolerated here any longer.”
“If I leave now, I leave with everyone,” I said. There was no way I could go without them now. “In my world, exposing a traitor wins the recipient a favor. You have honor, Eudoxia. I can smell it on you.”
She lashed at me, her curved nails coming within a hairsbreadth of my chest. I didn’t flinch as she screeched, “I owe you nothing!”
“I just aided you,” I said calmly. “If you choose to ignore me, you bring the riot down on your own head. How long before Valdov escapes from here, worried you will change your mind and believe me after all? Who does he take with him? Does your Coterie become fractured? If there’s truth to my words, my reward should be a favor and we both know it. All I want is to take Naomi and Ray with me and I will leave peacefully.”
She took a step backward. A slow smile crept across her features. Her demeanor changed in an instant, the grin making her fangs appear more exposed and her face skeletal. Her power continued to press against me, seeking to injure. She was still frustrated it was having little affect and it showed. “You chose that word correctly—if. If I uncover an untruth. And if I do not? If I find my dearest Valdov innocent? What then? Are you willing to wager on that, Little Wolf Girl? How much are your poor friends worth to you? Enough to pay the price—your life for theirs? Swear to me and you have a deal.”
“The hell she will,” Rourke snarled. “She already owes you one oath, vampire. She will not give a second.”
The Queen gave her hand an errant wave. “I am willing to amend the guidelines of our prior agreement to allow for her stupidity.” Her eyes flickered. “And standing in our way will not help your lover’s quest, cat. You should know such things by now.” Her eyes went to mine. “So what will it be? Your life or theirs?”
This was an abrupt change. I had to think fast. She obviously thought she’d found a way to gain the upper hand in this situation, but if it meant I could stick around without a fight, I had to play along. “It depends on your conditions,” I answered as Rourke’s displeasure jumped between us. He kept quiet, but I knew it took everything he had. The Queen smiled, almost giddy in the hopes of snaring me. “What do you want in exchange for setting them free?”
“You, and you alone, will stay inside these walls.” Her face dared me to object. “You will be held in a cell until I decide whether my trusted second is a traitor. You will have no contact with the outside while you are here as my prisoner. In the end you must abide by my decision whatever it may be. If he is found guilty, you and your friends go free. If he is innocent, I release the vampires, but you will remain until I choose your fate.”
A bevy of snarls erupted behind me. I put my
hand up. “If I agree to this, there has to be a timeline. I don’t stay your prisoner forever. That would be—”
“There is no timeline,” she snapped. “Do not forget, by harboring you I am giving you my protection and you will pay for it dearly. I will negotiate nothing more with you.” Her hand made a decisive gesture downward to punctuate her point.
I met her stare, power zinging between us. “Eudoxia, if you keep me prisoner, the wolves will tear this place down and you know it. My father will not allow you to hold me indefinitely. I agree to give myself over to you to protect my friends, but I will not agree to an open-ended deal. Three days. I’ll give you three days.”
“You will give her no days,” Rourke boomed, his voice stony. He turned to the Queen. “She will not be your prisoner. Amassing wolves to free you isn’t necessary, because I will take this place apart before that happens, Eudoxia.” He paced closer to her, snarling deeply. “There is no way you are taking my mate hostage.”
Eudoxia put her hands on her waist, a smug look settling into her face. “Is that so?” Her eyes bled slowly to black. “Then you can kiss your precious allies goodbye. They are as good as dead once she sets foot outside this house. I will see to it myself.”
I placed my hand on Rourke’s shoulder as he made a move forward, restraining him as best I could. One hand was not enough. I encircled my other hand on his arm and tugged him back with effort.
My touch seemed to wake him up.
He was so angry he’d almost given himself over to his beast. Fur sprouted along his forearms as he turned and gazed at me, his face incredulous. “You can’t be serious, Jessica! I can’t stand here and let you agree to this. I’ve spent a lot of time in the company of vamps, and this is … madness. They drink their prisoners dry. Eudoxia has a plan and I can’t let you—”
“Rourke,” I said quietly, trying to reassure him by channeling my power into him through my touch as fast as I could. After a second it seemed to work. His eyes dimmed as his gaze locked on mine. I needed to convey the urgency in my words because we couldn’t talk internally, so I picked them with care. “Eudoxia is a businesswoman. I am certain she will see reason in the end. Valdov is a traitor. There’s no doubt. We have no reason not to negotiate and I can’t let Naomi and Ray die at her hands, so we have no other option at the moment.”
His tension was palpable. “Jessica, my beast won’t allow it. I’m a fraction of a second away from taking this house down.”
“Jess,” Tyler added quickly, his trepidation running through me. “He’s right. We can’t let you do it. It’s our job to protect you, and giving you over to the vamps as a hostage is not happening. We can bring an army back here later. There are too many risks and unknowns.”
Gathering up an army would take too long. Ray and Naomi didn’t have that kind of time. Instead of trying to convince them, which wasn’t going to happen, I did what I had to do. I turned to face Eudoxia. “Three days. I leave with my life. My previous oath to you will be null and void, or I will not acquiesce. My friends go free after your judgment no matter what. After my sentence is complete, I owe you nothing.”
“Done,” she said loudly over the howls and outrage from my family.
“You have a deal, Eudoxia. But I want a word with my team privately before they go.”
“Five minutes,” she said. “The library is here.” She walked with purpose to a room on the left. We followed, Rourke’s rage barely contained as Eudoxia grabbed the double doors and pulled them open. We entered, and I turned to meet her gaze as she tugged them closed behind her. Haughtiness and superiority was written all over her face. “You will find one of my servants when you emerge. He will escort you to your new home. I hope you enjoy your stay.” Her lips cracked into a crafty grin. “I’m certain you will find the accommodations … inviting.”
Once the doors were closed a furious eruption of protests flooded the room.
Rourke was the only one who stayed quiet, awaiting my explanation. His expression was hooded, and a moment of regret took hold of my heart. Being mated to me was going to be a constant trial for him, because none of these decisions—decisions I had to make to save the lives of people I loved—was ever going to be easy. He knew what had to be done, but his beast wasn’t rational, and he had clearly been fighting with him, and his instincts, to let me choose the right course of action to take. A decision that would land me in peril.
“Jessica,” Nick’s patient voice cut through my thoughts first. “This doesn’t seem like the most logical choice. We could’ve done more to negotiate. Or come back with reinforcements as Tyler pointed out. Being the Queen’s prisoner will put you at a grave disadvantage, one that will be hard to overcome.”
“I agree,” Danny said, shaking his head. “Inviting yourself into the Queen’s dungeons isn’t going to end well.”
“That’s exactly why I did it, Danny.” I spread my hands in front of me. “None of this was going to end well. They weren’t going to give Naomi and Ray up without a fight and they weren’t willing to give us protection. I just bought us some much needed time and ensured us protection.” I lowered my voice. “You can’t forget the real reason why we’re here. My father has to survive. I would sacrifice myself a thousand times over to keep him safe and so would each of you.” I challenged the boys with my stare and they all nodded. “He has to live, and to ensure his life, I have to keep Ray safe. That’s my only priority. Eudoxia would have killed Ray—there was no question. You are all going to have to trust me on this, especially you.” I gazed for the first time at Rourke. “I know this is exceptionally hard for you, and your beast, but I had to do this. Eudoxia was about to kick us out. It was the only choice I had left, other than start a war where we were outnumbered fifty to one.”
“Jess,” Tyler pleaded. “I hear what you’re saying, but three days is too long. Maybe we could’ve worked a day, but we can’t let you stay in there for three.”
“I’ll be down there for a few hours at the most.”
Danny cocked his head at me. “Did I hear you correctly just then?” he asked. “Did the word ‘hours’ come out of your mouth?”
All four of them looked at me incredulously.
“How could you possibly know that?” Tyler asked. “You just made a deal to stay for three days!”
“Because when the sun goes down, the Queen is going to have her hands full and there will be no more room to think about me.”
Nick’s expression opened up. “And you’re stronger than she expects, so she’s underestimating your abilities.”
Rourke unfolded his arms, his expression still guarded. “I hear what you’re saying,” he said. “But Eudoxia has a plan. You can’t forget that. She wasn’t fooling anyone by making this agreement. Even if that asshole is a traitor, she’ll never admit it. Something else is going on here.”
“Of course she’s not going to admit it,” I said. “But she never stipulated I couldn’t fight back.” I gave him a slow smile. “Or that I had to stay in my cell.”
Rourke raised a single eyebrow.
I inclined my head to him. “My plan is to get free as soon as possible, find Naomi and Ray, and get someplace safe.” My voice was barely above the smallest whisper. “And if you don’t hear from me just before sunset, you have my permission to tear the house apart.”
After a moment he finally nodded.
“While you’re outside, scope out the grounds and keep an eye out for James and Marcy,” I told them. “Nick, I want you to make your way back over the wall and see what you can find. If you’re successful in locating James, he can help coordinate the wolves. If my father is badly injured, we need him. We can’t afford status fights in the middle of all this. Maggie said they would turn up here and Marcy has to stay safe.”
“Will do,” Nick said. “I have all the emergency Pack numbers in the SUV. If James and Marcy are free, he has likely put a call in to the Safe House. I can let them know where we are and make sure the rest of the Pack member
s are alerted.”
I turned to Tyler and Danny. “Don’t worry about me in here. Contacting Dad is your top priority. Go somewhere to shift. Keep trying. If you don’t hear from me once the sun sets, find Ray and keep him safe.”
The library door clicked open by itself.
Our five minutes were up.
“Are we all good?” I asked, glancing around the group.
Everyone nodded. I walked out into the foyer, Rourke behind me, followed by the boys.
There was a lone vampire waiting for me, as the Queen had promised.
He was the exact opposite of Valdov in every way: young, blond, and built like a Mack truck. I had no idea vampires could have that many muscles. He must’ve been changed in his absolute prime as a bodybuilder. It was weird to see, because most vamps were lean with sinewy muscle.
His incisors snapped down as he took a step toward me.
“No need to touch me,” I told Conan the Vampire Barbarian, blocking Rourke with my back. If given a chance, my mate would go for his throat if this vamp mistreated me in any way, especially with a buildup of adrenaline bouncing around his system. “I will go with you willingly, as agreed. I won’t put up a fight. Just let me say goodbye to them.”
“You will not dictate what I can and can’t do,” he sneered as he reached a beefy arm toward me.
One second before Rourke took a step forward to snap him in half, I snarled, “If you touch me, I will kill you. How about that instead?” To accentuate my point, I lashed my power outward. This vamp was a baby, and even though he tried to keep up his macho façade, he shrank back against my power. “Like I said, I will follow you. Your Queen left you in charge because she knew I would not resist. I gave her my word and I will honor it. If you don’t fight me on this, nobody has to get hurt.”
Cold Blooded Page 14
