“No.” She stared at my hand, not taking it. “I understand that you believe you’re doing the right thing. But the right thing for you isn’t the right thing for me. If you truly love me like you say you do, then let me go. Please.”
“Go?” I lowered my hand, anger rushing through my veins. “Where?”
“I’ll take one of the cars and drive to Amber’s,” she said, sounding desperate now. “She and the others in her circle will get me to Avalon. You might not believe Avalon exists, but I know it does. I’ll be safe there. Away from all of this.”
“No.” I shook my head, unable to believe this. “Even if I wanted to allow it, I couldn’t. Azazel would know I’d let you go. It would ruin everything I’ve built for us.”
“Azazel’s a demon!” Hatred flared in her eyes. “Imprinting on Mara has blinded you, but it hasn’t blinded me. Once Azazel’s gotten all the use from you that he needs, he’ll destroy you. He’ll destroy us all.” Her voice was dark—haunted. She believed what she was saying with every ounce of her soul.
I backed away, realization setting in. Sage was brainwashed by Noah’s fantasies of the Earth Angel saving the world from a magical island that probably didn’t exist. An island that no one who had gone to had ever returned from.
The truth was that the angels weren’t going to help us. If they were going to, they would have come already. Instead, they were hiding out in Heaven, doing nothing. The angels didn’t care about us. They never would.
But Sage wasn’t going to understand any of that. At least not until the binding ceremony with Azazel was complete.
I was starting to see why Azazel had commanded her not to speak. I’d always admired my sister for speaking her mind no matter what, but it was too painful seeing her refuse to face reality.
“Azazel will return soon with Mara and their witch,” I said, keeping all emotion from my tone. “Sit down while we wait for him. And no more speaking. I see now that there’s no getting through to you, and I can’t listen to this idealistic nonsense any longer.”
She did as I said, shaking and glaring at me the entire time.
I tried to hold on to the hope that once the blood binding ceremony was over, she’d forgive me.
But from the way she was looking at me—like I was the enemy instead of her brother who loved her and was doing everything to protect her—I was starting to wonder if she ever truly would.
37
Flint
Azazel teleported back to my bedroom an hour later. This time, he was accompanied by Mara and a dark haired witch.
Mara hurried to my side the moment they arrived. “It’s time,” she said with a knowing smile. She glanced at Sage and asked, “Is this your sister?”
I also glanced at Sage, who was still sitting in the armchair I’d commanded her to. Her arms were crossed, and while she couldn’t speak, her eyes fumed with revulsion. “Yes,” I said. Wanting to show a united front, I reached for Mara’s hand and took it in mine. “This is Sage. Azazel found her and brought her back home so she can take part in the ceremony.”
“Welcome, Sage.” Mara smiled warmly. “I hope you find as good of a fortune with one of my brothers as I’ve found with yours.”
Sage’s eyes widened, and she shook her head in horror. Her eyes begged me to release her.
But of course, I wouldn’t.
Mara turned to me, confused. “You didn’t tell her?” she asked.
“I told her about you and me,” I assured her. “As for the rest… I thought it best to wait until after the binding ceremony is complete.”
“I understand.” She lowered her eyes. “I’m sure she’s still mourning the loss of the shifter she imprinted on and ran off with.”
That was the cover story I’d told them, since I doubted Azazel would have taken too kindly to knowing Sage was on a hunt with the First Prophet to kill demons.
“As discussed, her boyfriend has been taken care of,” Azazel said simply.
Shifters never referred to the people we imprinted on as boyfriends or girlfriends, but I dared not correct Azazel.
Sage’s expression collapsed in devastation, a few tears running down her face.
I looked away from her, unable to see her in such pain.
The only relief I had was that once the blood binding ceremony was complete, her pain would feel like it was from a lifetime ago.
“Wonderful,” I said, although I said a silent prayer that Noah would have an easy transition to the Beyond. “I have faith she’ll be as lucky as Mara and I have been.”
“She better be.” Azazel twisted a piece of Sage’s hair around his finger and smiled down at her. “How come you never told me she has such an… agreeable appearance?”
I swallowed, not liking where this was going. “She’s my sister,” I replied, remaining as neutral as possible. If Azazel suspected that the thought of his being attracted to Sage disgusted me, we’d have a problem on our hands. “I don’t look at her that way.”
“Of course, of course.” Azazel released the strand of her hair, although he remained close to her. “Anyway, I’ve been quite rude, as I still haven’t introduced you to Lavinia here.” He motioned to the witch he’d brought with him, and I turned my focus to her.
With her pale skin and jet-black hair, she looked like a ghost. Especially given the long white nightgown she wore that touched the floor. Apparently she wasn’t the only one of us here who’d been woken from a slumber. And like all dark witches, her magic smelled sickly sweet, like syrup that had been sitting out for too long and was starting to coagulate.
“Lavinia comes from a long line of dark witches,” Azazel continued. “Like you, she also recognizes a great opportunity for an alliance when it presents itself.”
“Pleasure.” I nodded at her.
“Likewise.” She didn’t move as she spoke.
Azazel watched the exchange with pride—like a pet owner when two of their animals took a liking to one another. “While you were in here watching your sister, Lavinia cast a perimeter spell around the complex,” he said. “Until the blood binding spell is complete, no one will be able to leave the property.”
“That’s some very powerful dark magic,” I said.
“I’m a very powerful witch,” Lavinia replied.
Mara stepped closer to me, apparently not liking the way Lavinia was looking at me. I couldn’t blame her—Lavinia looked like she wanted to eat me alive. However, I suspected the witch looked at everyone that way. It was just the nature of her features.
The humans had a name for that look.
Oh, right. Resting bitch face.
Azazel looked at each of us and smiled, apparently pleased by the outcome of this meeting. His gaze lingered on Sage’s for extra long before returning to mine. “Now that the perimeter spell is up and we’re all introduced, it’s time for you to wake your pack,” he said. “Because we have a blood binding ceremony to complete.”
38
Flint
As planned, Azazel, Mara, and Lavinia waited in my room with Sage as I woke the pack and brought them outside. My pack mates weren’t thrilled to be woken up in the dead of night, but since it was a command from their alpha, they grumbled and dealt with it.
It didn’t take long to gather them in the yard. The moon wasn’t out, making it a darker night than most, and I looked around to double check that everyone was there. They were.
The Montgomery pack was large—there were twenty-six of us in all, which was why we needed such a large complex to house all of us. An average pack had between six to ten members. Anything larger than that usually resulted in more than one alpha. When that happened, the pack would split.
The Montgomery pack was the strongest in the country, so even the most dominant of our members submitted to me. No one wanted to leave a pack as powerful as ours. Large packs had drama, yes, but I never failed to keep them in line.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve woken you in the middle of the night,” I said
, and a chorus of nods showed me that yes, they were.
I stepped atop a large slab of rock, ready to say what I’d rehearsed many times leading up to this moment.
“As you know, dark times are ahead.” I looked around at all of them, my tone grave and serious. “Hundreds of demons have been released from Hell—creatures with powers greater than any supernatural on Earth can comprehend. As shifters, we’re strong, but our powers are no match to the demons. It won’t be long until the demons take their place on the top of the food chain and eliminate all supernaturals that try to defy them. Our time as the apex predator has sadly reached its end.”
Unhappy grumbling sounded from the crowd, concern flashing in the eyes of my pack mates.
I held out my hands to silence them, and they watched me expectantly. “I know this isn’t what you expected to hear,” I said. “The truth isn’t always easy to swallow. However, as your alpha, I take my duty to protect each and every one of you seriously—your lives are as precious to me as my own. For weeks, I’ve been searching for a way to ensure our safety. And tonight, I’m pleased to tell you that I’ve found the solution—an alliance that guarantees the Montgomery pack will remain alive and protected in the times to come.”
I paused to scan their eyes, pleased to find them watching me breathlessly, waiting for me to continue.
“Actually, it’s fairer to say that this alliance found me.” I chuckled, pretending that this part was unrehearsed. “Last week, when I imprinted on the woman who will soon become my mate.”
On cue, Azazel teleported in with Mara.
She stood beside me, flanked on the other side by Azazel. Lavinia had also teleported in with Sage, although the two of them stood off to the side, so they wouldn’t steal my thunder.
Gasps erupted from the crowd, and my two strongest men shifted and rushed at Azazel.
“Stop!” I commanded, but I was too late.
In seconds, Azazel reached for his sword and beheaded them, leaving their corpses bleeding out at our feet.
The moment they died, their bonds to the pack broke and chills rushed to my bones.
I glanced down at their bodies in horror. I hadn’t given Azazel permission to kill members of my pack.
He was supposed to want them alive. The men who were dead at our feet were future numbers who would have been on our side.
“Why did you do that?” I asked Azazel, shocked.
“They tried to attack me,” he said simply. “You saw.”
“They didn’t have a chance to understand what I’d done for them—what you were offering them.” I clenched my fists, furious at him for killing my pack mates—and his future alliance—so callously. “They didn’t know what they were doing. Once they knew, they would have apologized. They would have been on our side.”
If my plea affected the greater demon at all, I couldn’t tell. He just stared at me emptily, and then looked out at the members of my pack.
Most of them gazed up at him in horror. Two women held onto each other in tears—the mates of the men who had died.
The men Azazel had murdered.
“Let them serve as an example.” Azazel stepped up and pointed at the bodies at his feet, his voice echoing throughout the yard. “You will listen to what your alpha has to say,” he commanded. “Flint has made an alliance that will keep you alive. You have no idea how lucky you are to be part of the Montgomery pack. But if you don’t hear him out—if you react like these two did—you’re not going to remain alive for long enough to hear about this incredible opportunity you’re being offered. Understood?”
Seeing Azazel destroy two of our strongest warriors so easily must have scared the rest of my pack into submission, because they remained silent.
“Fantastic.” Azazel smiled and looked to me. “Flint, please continue.”
I continued on to tell them all about Mara. She stood strong next to me the entire time, despite numerous pack members looking at her in disgust and disdain. As I told the story, the disgust lessened on some of their faces, but not all.
I hated seeing them look at her like that. I wanted them to see her beauty as much as I did.
They would. Once the blood binding ceremony was complete, they would.
“I’m the first shifter to imprint outside of our species,” I finished, looking out at them in pride. “This is not a coincidence. It’s a sign. A sign that I—Flint, the alpha of the Montgomery pack, the strongest pack in the country—is meant to make this alliance. You saw Azazel’s power just now!” I glanced down at the two dead men at my feet, my stomach churning at how their deaths were coming in handy. But I didn’t let it show. Because I’d do anything to show my pack the truth, even if that meant using the death of our two strongest men to help them understand. “Once the blood binding ceremony is complete, we’ll protect Azazel, and we’ll be under his protection. We’ll be invincible! After the war, we won’t just survive—we’ll thrive!” I raised my fist into the air at the end, punctuating the finale of my speech and looking into the eyes of each of my pack mates to get my message across.
By now, a few of them were smiling and nodding. But when I reached Sage, she was watching me like I was a total stranger.
I clenched my fist tighter, refusing to let her get to me. Under the complacent potion, she would go through with this. She was going to get Azazel’s protection whether she wanted it or not.
But we didn’t have complacent potion for anyone else. So I looked away from my sister and refocused on the rest of my pack, determined to get all of them to understand. Determined to save them.
I refused to have any more casualties like the two men at my feet.
“I’ve brought this opportunity straight to our doorstep.” I lowered my voice, more serious now than ever. “I did this for you—for our pack. I’m your alpha, and this alliance with Azazel is my choice. More than that—it’s fate’s choice, by having me imprint on Mara. So now, I ask—will you follow me? Will you complete the blood binding ceremony with me today to commit to Azazel and make our pack stronger than it’s ever been before?”
Most of them chorused yes. Even the ones who looked scared.
Three of them who were standing to the side of the pack—a husband, a woman, and their child—shifted and made a run for it.
They didn’t get far before colliding with an invisible barrier. The perimeter spell.
The woman—Joanie—shifted back into human form and banged her fists against the barrier. “No!” she screamed. “Let us out! We won’t tell anyone what you’re doing. Just please—let us go.”
Her husband Kevin and son Michael shifted into human form while she was talking. Kevin placed a hand lovingly on her shoulder, and she wrapped an arm protectively around her child.
She looked to me, as if I was still the one in charge here.
I wished I could tell them that Azazel would give them another chance.
But I knew the greater demon better than that. I also knew their fate wasn’t in my hands. Not anymore.
Azazel teleported over to them in an instant. Before I could blink, he ripped Kevin’s head off his shoulders and dropped it to the ground like a bowling ball.
Joanie fell to her knees and wailed. She was one of the most submissive wolves in the pack. She wouldn’t try to fight.
“You’re just going to stand by and watch him do this to us?” She looked at our pack mates standing before me and pointed to Azazel. “We’re your pack. We deserve better than this… monster.” She looked up at Azazel when she said the final word, her eyes blazing with hatred.
Azazel shoved his hand into her chest and yanked out her still-beating heart.
Her eyes went blank and she collapsed to the ground. No one said a word as they watched her fall. The silence weighed down heavy upon us, like a blanket.
A blanket of fear.
Next, the greater demon turned to Michael.
The boy trembled, looking down at what remained of his parents in shock.
I kn
ew what he was going through. The tragedy was so recent that it still hadn’t had time to settle in… it didn’t feel real to him yet. There was no saying what he’d do now.
I held my breath, preparing for the worst.
Azazel let go of Joanie’s bloody heart, letting it fall to the ground next to Michael’s feet. “Did you truly want to flee and reject this great opportunity I’m giving you?” he asked, backing the boy against the edge of the boundary. “Or were you just following your parents and doing what they said?”
Michael looked to me in fear. The boy was only eight years old. With his parents gone, he was looking to me—his alpha—for guidance.
I gave him a single nod, hoping he understood what he needed to do to survive.
Michael swallowed and looked back up at the great demon towering before him. “I… was following my parents.” His voice shook, and he stared up at Azazel in terror. “I’m sorry.”
Azazel said nothing. He just studied the boy, as if he was waiting for something else.
Everyone was silent. I could barely breathe as I waited for what Azazel was going to do next.
“Your Grace,” Azazel corrected him. “You’ll call me Your Grace.”
Michael lowered his eyes, blinking away tears. “Your Grace,” he repeated. “I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
After what felt like the longest few seconds of my life, Azazel grinned. “Fantastic.” He reached for Michael’s hand and led him—well, more like dragged him—back to the rest of the pack. Once they reached us, he held up their joined hands in victory and said, “It’s time for the blood binding ceremony to begin!”
39
Sage
I stood by Lavinia’s side the entire time my brother addressed our pack, trapped in my own body by the complacent potion. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move.
All I could do was watch in horror.
The Angel Trials- The Complete Series Page 45
