“I would think that’s obvious. I’m taking you with me. My master is still demanding the princess omega even after I’ve brought him five others.” His evil sneer and disgust spoke of his dislike at being ordered to kidnap her, as if it were actually beneath him. How had she not seen just how evil and vicious this man truly was?
“Why would you do this? You have a good life here.” She kept a close eye on the gun. Giselle was understandably frozen in fear.
“Power. Why else? I’m so much more than a measly advisor to a king. Once my master takes over, I’ll be at his side, ruling all paranormals.” Emmerich’s eyes wildly scanned the room.
Helena eventually noticed the small hidden opening in the wall beside the fireplace. That must be how he was able to avoid the guards. She had never heard of any secret passages in the palace and wondered how Emmerich had found them.
“As you can see, this is our way out, Princess. These were supposed to be sealed years ago, but I knew they would come in handy someday. Your uncle didn’t even bother to double check. He blindly trusted me to have them sealed. What a fool.” Emmerich’s laugh caused Helena’s skin to crawl.
“We trusted you, Emmerich.”
“Bad choice. Now put these on quickly or I’ll shoot you both and be gone before anyone even opens the door,” he demanded before showing Helena handcuffs that reeked of dark magic. “They’ll bind your powers. We wouldn’t want you calling on your mate for help. By my estimation, we have less than thirty seconds before Alpha Aldric is breaking down your door.”
Helena had no choice. If she didn’t go with him, Emmerich would follow through and kill them both and her unborn pup. She had to protect them all and pray Aldric found her in time. She held out her wrists and allowed him to cuff her. Instantly she felt her powers rear back and away from the cuffs and slam back into her body, unable to flow freely as they normally did.
Emmerich proceeded to tie Giselle to a chair and gag her before dragging Helena from the room and into the dark tunnel behind the walls. Thankfully, with her enhanced vision, she could see perfectly. They continued through the winding tunnel until she was hopelessly lost. She had heard a few voices through the walls, but with one look at the gun Emmerich waved in her direction, she kept silent. She wondered why no one was scenting her, but soon realized her scent had vanished just as her powers had when the cuffs were placed on her wrists.
After what seemed like hours but in actuality was closer to mere minutes, Emmerich opened another concealed doorway and pulled her into his quarters. Immediately, she saw another omega cuffed and tied up on the floor. He had been left gagged and unable to move. His eyes widened when he saw Helena, and he began to fight his bonds even harder in an effort to get free. His wrists were bloody from his tugging.
“Stop fighting, you little shit. You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass since I took you.” Emmerich kicked the man in his leg hard enough to break it if he hadn’t been a werewolf. The omega stopped fighting and surely would’ve cried out in pain when Emmerich cruelly dragged him to his feet if it weren’t for the gag in his mouth. Standing, the other omega was shorter than her, but the fire in his eyes promised Helena that no matter his size he would rip Emmerich apart if he were free.
Alarms began blaring throughout the palace. She prayed they found Giselle tied up. Help had to be on its way.
“Time to go,” Emmerich announced. But instead of being dragged back through the hidden tunnels, he pulled them into the center of the room where she noticed runes and a circle written in blood on the floor. It was a type of portal or summoning circle, and she wondered whose blood he had used. Her question was quickly answered when Emmerich pulled out a knife, sliced his palm, and began to drip his own blood along the circle that she and the other omega were now standing in. He was chanting in an unfamiliar language and dark magic rose in answer to his call, opening the portal.
She knew they were running out of time. They were about to be sent to gods know where, and she was powerless to stop it. The runes began to glow red and the circle was complete with the last drop of blood. She could feel the pull getting stronger and knew the two of them would be gone in scant seconds.
Suddenly, Emmerich’s door crashed open and warriors poured in. Aldric and another alpha were in the lead. Even as they both struggled to get free of the circle, it was too late. Helena could hear Aldric roaring his anger, yelling her name just before everything around them vanished.
Moments later, they stood in the center of a dark, damp cave. Torches lit various areas and exposed tables covered in bottles filled with strange-colored liquids, and a few even had dead creatures inside. Helena thought the word “creatures” was appropriate, considering they resembled nothing she had ever seen in her life. They seemed to have parts of different paranormals sewn together but were miniature. Dear gods, were these children?
Large books littered the cold, stone floor and dampness quickly settled in her bones, making her shiver. The truly frightening surprises in the cave were the ogres stationed shoulder to shoulder along the outer walls and a tall, skeletally thin man standing just a few feet away from them. He was easily over seven feet tall with pale, ashen skin. He was dressed in shabby black clothing. His eyes were as black as night and seemed soulless. He brought one reedy hand to his mouth and licked at a wound that was identical to Emmerich’s, which was when Helena realized their kidnapper wasn’t with them.
Mr. Pasty must have realized who she was looking for. “He was no longer of use to me. Let the wolves tear him apart. Did you enjoy the flowers I had sent to you, Princess?”
“Who are you? What do you want?” Her voice remained strong and sure. There was no use transmitting the fact that she was scared to death to the man who held her life and those of the other omegas in his creepy hands.
The cold, calculating look that flashed through his obsidian eyes only confirmed her earlier suspicions—whoever this was, he wanted their powers for his own.
“My name is Rhazien the Dark.” He opened his arms wide and turned in a complete circle. “And this is your new home.”
Aldric.
Chapter Ten
Aldric was being forcibly held back by his family and a few of his warriors. It was taking all of them to slow him down. He wanted to rip and tear Emmerich to pieces, as did the other alpha in the room who was in much the same position. Seeing his beloved being sucked away through that portal snapped something deep inside Aldric, and he knew soon he wouldn’t be able to control the beast’s need for vengeance. At one point, he actually thought he’d heard Helena calling his name but was too caught up in his anger to give it much notice. It hadn’t happened again.
Emmerich was tied to a chair in his chambers. The stench of dark magic, anger, and fear filled the room. He had been left behind to his fate by whoever had Aldric’s mate, and he wanted that information even if he had to tear it out of the traitor. They had been searching the palace and surrounding estate when his tattoo began to glow, and he knew his mate had been attacked. As they ran back to their suite, he was surprised to learn yet another omega was missing as well. Royal guards were pouring in and out of hidden entrances throughout the estate, securing them as they went. This had explained how someone was able to get in and out of the rooms unnoticed.
The king stormed into the room, with Ceva at his side, and walked right up to Emmerich before backhanding him so hard that he and the chair he was tied to flew eight feet away. The power flooding through the room from the irate alphas and the king was almost suffocating.
“You wanted to cause pain and suffering. I’ll give you the pain and suffering you so desire,” King Leonidas growled angrily, causing many to bear their throats to him, including Emmerich. The king turned to Ceva. “Get what we need quickly. I don’t care how.”
Ceva smiled. Her eyes turned red and a shock of electricity washed through the room when she released her wings and stood in front of the traitor.
“You dared to take my family, to hurt tho
se innocent omegas. It’s time for you to feel real fear,” she spoke softly, but it carried with deadly force to everyone in the room. Aldric watched as she placed the palm of her outstretched hand on the top of a now struggling Emmerich’s head. Her hand instantly began to glow bright red and the screaming began.
Helena and the other omega, whose name she learned was Conrad, were placed in a cell off the main chamber with the five other kidnapped omegas. Their handcuffs were still in place, binding all their powers. Though they all looked scared, there was a strength running through them that was evident.
Rhazien the Dark took great pleasure in explaining that he intended to drain each and every last one of them of their powers slowly and painfully over years. Helena and the other omegas had no intention of sticking around that long.
Without their powers, Mr. Pasty assumed them to be of little threat and left them alone locked in their cage without a guard. Stupid warlock. Occasionally, an ogre would wander past and all the other omegas would stand and place a wall between her and the guard. They were trying to protect her even without their powers.
Thankfully, for the most part, they were left alone. It had been hours since the last guard walked by, and they filled in the time learning about one another as they sat on straw mats covering the cave floor. Corrinna and Liesa were the two omegas who had just arrived the night before. Conrad, Ernust, Klara, and Lili were all in new courting relationships with alphas at the celebration.
Their combined powers ranged and intermixed from degrees of healing, fire and water manipulation, precognition, amplification of another’s powers—omega or alpha, telekinesis, protective fields, and duplication of objects or people. Others had the power over time, weather, flora, and fauna—in essence, a powerhouse for the warlock to pick from.
They had to get out of here.
Helena had no idea what time it was, but she and the other omegas were becoming hungry. They hadn’t been given any food or water. There had to be a way out of this cell. She paced back and forth, crossing the ten-by-ten room over and over again.
“Any ideas?” Helena asked.
“If we could just get these damn cuffs off, at least we’d have a fighting chance,” Corrinna growled while pulling on the offending metal.
“I can try to pick the locks if you want, Princess?” Lili asked. She was just a little sprite of an omega, but she was powerful. She could amplify anyone’s power and move or bend an object with just her mind, the same as Klara.
“You know how to pick locks?”
“I can try, but I’m not the best. My brother taught me. Don’t ask why.” Lili had a sparkle of mischief in her eyes.
“Okay, that’s a story for another time. What do you need?” They might actually have a chance at making it out of here if they had their powers back. She looked down at her cuffs, noticing for the first time just how old they were. They weren’t new and shiny. The chunky black metal was actually rusted. The two round pieces of metal around their wrists branched out from the center plate, which containing the locking mechanism.
“This may sound a bit cliché, but two hairpins or paperclips,” Lili replied.
Several women, including Helena, began pulling pins from their hair. Since she had her hair in a braid today, she had used pins this morning to hold the stray hairs back. Was that still this morning or yesterday morning?
Together, the women produced seven hairpins and Lili went right to work bending them with skill. The first she flattened out straight and then bent the end slightly upward. The other end had a loop that mimicked a handle. She then proceeded to pull a jeweled dagger from her boot and cut off the plastic tips. Helena wondered how many others had hidden weapons, as she did. Though they all knew these smaller weapons would never win against an ogre, these omegas were not as physically weak as some may believe.
The second hairpin was bent to almost a right angle, and Lili told Helena it would act as the key to turn the lock once she freed the tiny pins inside.
Just as Lili was about to start on Helena’s cuffs, she stepped back. “Just in case there’s some sort of magical alarm alerting them that we’ve removed the cuffs, I think it might be best to leave the cuffs around our wrists. That way they still bind our power but they’ll be open so we can slide them off together easily. That way we’ll all have our powers at full strength to fight our way out.”
“Good idea,” Conrad agreed. “It makes sense that they would know if one of the cuffs was removed.” His powers were over time and the weather, and he could actually stop time for thirty seconds on either an entire area or on a single person. The only drawback was he needed two minutes to recharge before he could do it a second time.
“How many of you have weapons stashed away?” Helena asked, and almost laughed as every single omega raised a hand. Hers were small daggers slid into a covering on her belt.
Lili soon had unlocked everyone’s handcuffs and was working on her own, which was difficult considering her hands were bound, but she soon had herself unlocked.
They all huddled together near the bars of their cell, preparing to slide their hands free. “Once we remove the cuffs, be ready for an attack. Klara and Lili will bend the bars out of our way. We stick together and find a way out. If we have to fight, we fight together. No one is left here.”
Everyone agreed and held their wrists out, preparing to slide their cuffs off together.
“Okay, on three. One, two…three.”
Simultaneously, all seven pulled their hands free. Helena felt her powers rushing forward and multiplying in strength. Klara and Lili bent the bars aside, and all seven stepped out of the cell. Helena led them down the stone tunnel, taking the same direction she remembered being brought down from the main chamber. She could see no light coming down any of the side tunnels they passed and knew they had to risk trying to get through the ogres and Mr. Pasty. If they made it past the main chamber, they would shift into their wolves and run down the only guarded tunnel toward the light.
Slowly, they inched their way forward. Helena could feel their combined powers buzzing through the air and knew Rhazien would be able to feel them too. Crystals embedded into the rock shone in an array of colors, and she thought the cave was actually quite beautiful, if not for the evil asshole living in it.
Aldric? Aldric, my love, can you hear me? Nothing.
“They’re waiting for us in the main chamber,” Ernust said softly, his power of precognition kicking in. “I can see that’s where we battle.”
“Okay, we knew we would have to fight our way out of here. At least now we have a fix on where they are.” Helena would take any bright spot she could grab onto, but this might be pushing it.
Slowly, the tunnel opened up until they were almost standing in the main chamber. She could now hear vicious growls, snapping teeth, and the nails of the ogres scraping the stone floor. It was a macabre symphony of death. She knew this was suicide, but they had no choice. Rhazien intended to kill all of them slowly and painfully.
She thought of Aldric, praying he would come in time. She loved him so completely and wanted to spend the rest of her days with him and their pups. Unconsciously, she caressed her stomach where their growing pup lay.
I love you, Aldric.
Helena. Can you hear me?
Aldric?
She came up short, stopping everyone behind her. At their questioning looks, she tapped the side of her head and whispered, “I can finally hear my mate.”
Helena, we’re almost there. Are you hurt?
No, I’m fine, but there’s a powerful warlock here named Rhazien, and he has control over dozens of ogres. He intends to drain our powers, essentially killing us. We’ve escaped our cell and are trying to make it to the cave opening. There are seven of us.
Don’t move. Hide. We’ll be there soon. We know about Rhazien. Apparently, he’s an old acquaintance of your godmother’s and she wishes to slice and dice his ass—her words.
Before Helena could answer, Mr. Past
y’s voice came booming down the corridor and throughout the cave. “My smart little omegas. I see I’ll have to keep better control over each of my new pets. Do come join us.”
Too late to hide, Aldric. He’s found us. Hurry.
We are only minutes away. We’re searching for the opening. Hold on and stay safe. I won’t live without you, understand?
Helena and the six other omegas moved toward the main chamber. “Remember the plan. Rescue is almost here.”
As they entered, Helena counted at least twenty ogres. Rhazien was standing in the center of the chamber behind one of his large wooden tables. They understood they would only have one chance at this. The omegas would either make it out of this cave or die. Her pup would never survive if Rhazien attempted to drain her powers. They had to come out fighting, or else he would attempt to bind them again or kill them. It was now or never.
Helena sent up a quick prayer to the gods, squared her shoulders, and stepped into the main chamber.
Liesa threw a protective shield over their group. Corrinna shot fire from her hands while Klara manipulated water from the nearby spring. The elements began to pummel ogres left and right. Lili used her telekinesis to lift one large wooden table and began using it like a club against the ogres. Ernust duplicated the tables, giving Lili more ammunition. Helena was able to send feelings of calm to various ogres at close range, allowing the tables to do their work unimpeded. Ogres were now attacking from all sides, sensing the frenzy around them, but they couldn’t break through Liesa’s shield.
“That shield won’t be able to hold me back, you insignificant wolves. I’ll drain every last one of you.” Rhazien bellowed and began chanting in the same language Emmerich had used to open the portal.
“I can’t hold the shield much longer.” Liesa screamed.
Flames were snaking through the chamber, targeting one ogre after another. Waterspouts kept pushing the ogres back. Splintered tables were flying through the air, smashing everything in its path, but Ernust was duplicating table after table just as quickly. If Helena couldn’t stop Rhazien from tearing down their shield, they would all be dead.
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