by Leah Blake
Nico.
His Nico. His mate.
Tears stung his eyes and his heart ached. “Nico.”
“Yes, love. It’s me.”
“What do I do again?”
“Drink the dark potion. Then you’ll drink the light potion. It will protect you in the short duration of death. Cael will revive you when we get you free.”
“Got it.”
“Hey. I love you, Mikhail.”
Mik grinned. He’d heard those words before, whispered in his ear. “Do I love you?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I love you, too.”
“I’ll see you shortly.”
Mik sighed. He stared at the vials. One sip, then another. He was going to kill himself to live free.
A twisted modern day Romeo and Juliet.
Fuck, he was such a train wreck.
Sucking in a deep breath, he popped open the vial with the dark liquid and brought it to his lips.
“Here goes.”
He tipped the vial and poured the contents into his mouth. The sweet flavor of the thick concoction took him by surprise. Wasn’t death supposed to taste foul? Then again, who tasted death and lived to tell a story?
The door to the bathroom crashed against the wall as he transferred out the empty vial to the full one.
“As I suspected,” Jude said.
Mik scrambled to his feet, but Jude latched onto his wrist. He tightened his hand around the vial and tried to pry Jude’s fingers off his wrist. Panic exploded inside him.
“What did they set you up to do, Mik?”
Mik winced as Jude’s hand tightened. The pressure on the bones in his wrist shot pain up his arm. His fingers struggled to remain locked around the vial that would save him.
“Nothing. I don’t know what is going on!” Mik yanked at his arm. Guards blocked the doorway. He was trapped, facing the devil himself.
“Give me the vial.”
“No!”
Jude’s upper lip twitched. His nostrils flared and coldness filled his dark eyes. “Give. Me. The. Vial.”
Mik snarled. “No.”
A deafening snap echoed in the small room. Blinding, stomach-cinching agony speared straight up Mik’s arm and shot in every direction of his body. He screamed, his fingers going lax. Fire scorched around his broken wrist.
Jude pulled the vial from his palm, holding his fingers open. He lifted his palm, brows raised. “What is this, Mikhail?”
A scar marked his palm, pink and scabbed. Against the flesh, impressions of strange letters and designs appeared branded.
“You have a bite on your neck. A mark from a beast. And a mark on your palm.” Jude’s voice dropped to sub-zero. “You’ve mated. With our enemy. And now you’re in my headquarters, a puppet to their game.”
“Fuck you!” Mik swiped for the vial.
He never saw Jude’s fist move until it connected with the side of his face. The force of the punch spun him around until he crashed into the sink. Stars filled his vision and blood seeped into his mouth.
“Watch your mouth, Mikhail. What’s in the vial?”
“I don’t know,” he gasped, cradling his wrist to his chest. He straightened up and slowly turned to Jude. Frozen orbs of black filled his eyes. The man had no mercy. Mik had just become the target for his rooted hatred of paranormals. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
“What was in the first vial?”
Mik swallowed a lump in his throat. His gaze switched between Jude’s frozen gaze and the vial he pinched between his fingers.
He needed that vial.
The first ripple of fatigue caressed him, a subtle breath that settled along his muscles and made him sway on his feet.
He straightened up and shuffled to Jude. Maybe he could snatch the vial away.
“I don’t know what was in it. Something is telling me to drink them.” He wasn’t going to say “someone.” Not until he had that second vial’s contents in his system. “I don’t know where that cut came from, or a bite. Jude, I don’t fucking remember anything. I’m trying but I can’t.”
Mik blinked his eyes several times as his vision pulsed, fading with each strange beat. His heart fluttered, and not in a good way. A wave of weakness rolled down his legs. He stumbled, sucking in a deep breath.
“I can’t have you taking their poison.”
Jude pinched the vial. The thin glass shattered, the light-colored liquid with its pink tinge dripping down his fingers. Mik cried out, swatting his good hand toward the small drops on Jude’s hand.
Jude snatched his forearm, spun around, and launched his weakened body into the wall. Pain burst through his head and his shoulder. He slid to the floor, unable to stay on his feet as the dark potion started to take hold.
His heart sank, his stomach spinning.
Fear gripped him, as raw as open wounds.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Mikhail? Mikhail, what’s going on? Honey?”
“He destroyed the second vial.”
“What? Who? Jude? Baby, did you take the first?”
“Yes.”
“Mikhail, don’t you give up. I’m coming.”
“What the hell have you done, Jude?”
Jude scowled, flicking his hand. He wiped the potion and glass on his jeans. “Releasing you from duty.” He motioned toward Mik. “Get him the fuck out of here. Make sure he’s dead when you leave the body.” Jude hunched down in front of Mik. His glower couldn’t touch the pain that swelled along his body or the breaking of his heart. “You were one of my best, Mikhail. One of my most loyal. I don’t know what the fuck happened to you, but you can be sure I will never make this mistake again.”
Jude’s hand shot out, fisted Mik’s hair, and smacked his head against the hard wall. Mik gasped, stunned by the pain that tore through his head, splitting his skull. His vision grayed until he couldn’t see.
He took one last, quivering breath before he slipped into the dark abyss.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nico fought against Storme and Ezra holding his arms, keeping him from reaching Mikhail. His fur broke along the surface of his body, his face contorting and reforming, but the shift didn’t fully occur.
Raul appeared before him, a hyper focused vision pulsing red.
“You can’t blitz the place. You’ll be killed.” Raul snapped his teeth at Nico, following up the motion with a deep, dangerous rumbling growl. Nico thrashed, his mind pulsing with pain. Pain his Mikhail was experiencing. His heart ripped open. “We’ll get him out.”
“Alive, Raul. Alive.” Nico trembled as he reined in the wolf. He was overcome by fear and grief. A minute had passed since Mikhail told him that the worst possible scenario had unfolded. His mate didn’t have much time. “How are we going to get in there? We have to do it. Now. Where’s Cael?”
“He and Aeson are at the truck.”
Nico glanced over Raul’s shoulder. Those walls. They towered at least ten feet high with security cameras lining the top. Armed guards walked the outer perimeter of the property. The only way in was through the gate, currently closed and manned by two guards with assault rifles and two dogs.
“Raul, I can’t stand here and wait. I’m going.”
“You can’t, Nico. They will shoot you down without a second thought.”
Nico peeled his lips back from his teeth. “If Mikhail dies, I’ll die. I need him and right now, he needs me.”
The concern in Raul’s eyes as he panned to the fortress, then back to Nico, was anything but comforting. Nico’s anxiety skyrocketed.
“You have no clue how to get in.”
Raul held his gaze. “We’ll figure out a way.”
“Mikhail, love. Can you hear me?”
The glow of their link was still alive, but dim. The line was silent, the faint resonance of Mikhail’s pain flowing into Nico.
He was running out of time.
“Raul—”
“There is a vehicle leaving the garage,
heading your way, Raul,” Khor, a raven shifter, announced over the guards’ telepathic link. “I can’t get close. There’s a dog pacing beneath me, watching me. I have to head out before that dog attracts attention.”
The announcement drew everyone’s attention to the gates. Nico took a half-step backward. The two guards at the gate stepped aside as the gates began to open.
A large black SUV pulled out of the fortress.
Nico shifted into his full wolf form and sprinted toward the open gates.
“Nico!” Raul barked. “Don’t!”
“Fuck, Nico. You’re asking for a death sentence.”
Leave it to Storme to point out the obvious.
Nico didn’t slow down as he burst from the forest’s edge. The guard dogs started howling and barking, pulling at their leashes. The guards spun around.
Nico leaped onto the nearest guard, knocking him to the ground with the sheer force of his body. The second guard lifted his rifle. Nico clamped his jaws around the barrel, twisted, and kicked his hind legs into the guard’s chest. The man released the gun. His dog snapped at Nico, but he avoided the chomping teeth until he swung his head and cast the gun aside.
The gates began to close.
Three wolves dove out from the trees. Four more followed.
Nico spun around and launched through the gates. His comrades followed behind him until Raul took the lead.
“Damn it, guys! What the hell are you thinking?” Talon asked. He squawked from overhead before circling around and hauling ass away from the wall.
Shots rang out.
Raul swerved. Nico followed suit, zig-zagging as bullets pounded into the ground around their paws.
“How many are shooting?” Raul demanded. He banked right, leading Nico and the guards toward two glass doors.
“You’ve got a total of six, three coming around from each side. There are two that I can see on the roof.”
Nico glanced up for a split second, trying to locate the men Devon saw on the roof.
Bullets rained down on them.
Fire erupted in Nico’s flank, but he kept from stumbling and pressed forward. Cusses opened up on the telepathic line.
Then, the night became silent.
Raul leaped up the stairs to the front doors, transforming into his human form through a mist of black. Nico pulled in the wolf until he stood in his human form. A singed tear cut through his jeans along his outer thigh. Blood soaked the fabric.
He looked up, at Raul, who was scanning the grounds to the side of the glass doors. Dark shadows of cloaked figures glided back into the darkness, away from the crumpled bodies of the guards. Weapons were bent and destroyed.
Despite Raul’s insistence for Victor to remain out of this, apparently the vampire had the insight not to listen.
The vampires saved their asses when it was getting dicey.
The sweet golden light linking him and Mikhail dimmed until all that was left was the essence of light, a fading breath of life.
Nico threw himself into the door, and bounced off. A dull throb radiated up through his shoulder.
A breeze ruffled his hair and shirt. A clink echoed in the silent night. The doors drifted open. Nico looked down at the stoop to find the door handles in shambles.
Vampires as true allies were a gift.
“Can you sense him?” Raul asked.
“Barely.” Nico rushed through the doors, his senses hyper aware of his surroundings. Hunters were converging on them.
“They’re coming, guys.” Ezra scanned the foyer. “I feel them.”
Nico veered past the stairway toward a hallway running along the back of the compound. He started to the left when he heard hurried shuffles from the right.
He turned and caught two hunters hauling a blanket-wrapped figure between them.
One of the hunters lifted his gaze and froze when it clashed with Nico’s.
“You’re dead.”
Nico bolted down the hallway. His wolf tore free when he lunged toward the men. His claws slipped across the polished floor when he landed, sending him into a skid. He tried to gain traction, but failed.
He plowed uncontrollably into the hunters, knocking them off their feet. He shifted as the blanketed figure dropped on top of them.
Nico inhaled and received a lungful of Mikhail’s scent.
The fragrant scent of death lingered close.
Nico scrambled to his knees, delivering a punch to one guard’s face as the man reached for something in his belt. He ripped open the blanket.
There, lying in a gray hospital gown, Mikhail. His skin was pale with a gray tint. His lips had a faint hint of blue.
The side of his head was covered in blood.
“Sweet Goddess,” Nico whispered. He fought against the sting that threatened his eyes. “I have you, love.”
Raul arrived with Storme, both taking one guard as Nico gathered Mikhail in his arms, blanket and all.
“Victor’s on the other side of the gate. He’ll get Mikhail to Cael. We’ll handle this,” Raul said, his voice fierce as he knocked the hunter out cold. “Go!”
Nico sprinted, pure adrenaline coursing through his veins. He leaped over the front stairs, hitting the ground without a stumble. A figure in a black-hooded cloak appeared in front of the gate. A pale hand lifted to the lock mechanism. A moment later, the gates rattled and separated.
Victor lifted the hood from his cloak enough to catch Nico’s eyes. He held his arms out for Mikhail. Nico handed him over without hesitation. His mate’s outcome depended on time and speed.
Neither of which Nico possessed in a greater level over Victor.
“Meet us at the truck.”
In a breeze that kicked dirt over Nico’s boots, Victor vanished.
The dim light in his mind flickered. Then died.
Shock held him still, cementing his feet to the ground.
“Mikhail?” He waited for a sign of light, a hum, however soft. “Mikhail, love?”
Nothing. Not a single spark or vibration. Nothing but endless darkness.
“No, no, no.” Nico’s throat swelled. His spirit fractured as his wolf howled a most painful, heart wrenching sound.
A strong hand grabbed his bicep. Nico tossed an unseeing glance at the hand, then lifted his gaze to Vuk.
“He’ll pull through.” Vuk gave his arm a squeeze. “As much as I hated the bitch in the beginning, he’s grown on me like a wart. I won’t be so quick to give up on him. I know you won’t either.” He started toward the truck parked half a mile down the road hidden in a patch of trees. “Come on. Time to watch some real magic at work.”
Nico refused to fall victim to his tears. He nodded to Vuk and followed his fellow guard down the deserted driveway until they reached the truck.
Nico came up short of the lowered tailgate. Cael worked frantically with another man, one Nico was unfamiliar with, as they pushed lifesaving medications into Mikhail’s vein. Cael held a hand over Mikhail’s chest, sizzling bolts of white-blue electricity consuming his hand.
Those bolts struck Mikhail’s chest. Nico cringed, watching in horror as Mikhail’s body bowed off the pad spread beneath him. His limbs stiffened, then went limp at his body dropped back to the pad.
Victor snatched up his hand and pulled him close to the truck. Nico wanted nothing more than to pull Mikhail’s lifeless body into his arms and scream.
“Give him a reason to survive.”
Nico gasped the second Victor’s hand closed around Mikhail’s and a powerful surge of energy swept through him. He grabbed hold of the truck to keep the impact from knocking him to his ass, his knees weakening beneath the pummeling storm.
“Nico, waste no time. Speak to him. Show him there’s a reason to live.”
Nico closed his eyes, steeling himself against the battering darkness. He pushed through the dense senseless emotions until he reached a faint, flickering white spark.
“Mikhail, love. It’s me. Nico. You have to hear me. You must becaus
e I can’t let you go. We have only begun this journey together, and we have so much more to experience. To be, as one. Do not leave me. Not yet. We’ve come this far to set you free. We’ve succeeded, not to give up now.”
Nico pressed his lips together, unable to stop the tear that squeezed out from behind his eyelid. He winced when he heard the familiar sizzle, followed by the rock of the truck, and the gentle thump of Mikhail’s body after another shock.
“Mikhail, don’t quit. Don’t give up. Do not let Jude win. You are a fighter. You survived a lamabra attack. You survived the torture Jude put you through. You not only fight, but you survive.” He squeezed Victor’s hand. “Don’t stop now.”
“Anything?”
Nico looked up at the stranger who spoke that grim question. The man had a hard gaze focused on Cael. Cael shook his head.
“No. He’s not dead.” Nico pulled himself into the bed of the truck and shoved the stranger aside. He gathered Mikhail into his arms. “He’s not dead.”
“Nico.” Cael tried to ease Mikhail away, but Nico pulled him closer, tighter. He wasn’t giving up on his mate. Not now. “Nico, please. Lay him down.”
“Why?” Nico’s voice cracked as the onset of a sob threatened to burst from his throat. Sweet spirits, his wolf was howling and whining with grief. The same grief that tore him up inside. “No.”
“Nico—”
“You let him do this! You came up with this fucking plan! Look, Cael! It killed him. You killed him!”
“Listen—”
“I’m through listening to you and your ingenious ideas,” Nico growled.
Cael cast a glance toward the tailgate. Nico started to follow his gaze when Victor shoved a palm to his temple and murmured a single word.
“Rest.”
No degree of grief or pain could keep him from falling under Victor’s command. His entire body became lax and he toppled to the side.
“My apologies, Nico. You will thank me when you wake.”
Nico blinked once and watched the scene in front of him begin to fade. The second blink, all he could see was Mikhail’s blood-caked head. The third blink, he saw nothing but gray.
He shut his eyes for the fourth time.
And did not open them again.
