by Tara Sampson
No! Leo wouldn’t let it happen. He would die before he let his bride or his son come into harm’s way. His fangs began to lengthen in his mouth and he felt his anger start to take control. This time, he didn’t try to hold it back. He let the anger slowly seep inside what little heart he had and feed his beast. His eyes narrowed into slits and the desire for blood started to consume him.
Standing at the entry to the alcove, Leo couldn’t hold back any longer. The beast raged inside him; out in full force. With a loud roar, he stormed into the room hands raised above his head, ready to do battle. Reaching the edge of the bed, he sliced his talon-like fingernails downwards and across the bed with both hands, shredding the sheets to mere scraps. All he could think about was the moment that Tatiana thought she could break his bond with Shelby had been the moment she had incidentally signed her own death sentence; and he was the executioner.
Fisting his hands, he pounded the bed ruthlessly, determined that the wench would die by his hand. He pounded again and again and again until the bed frame cracked and splintered, bringing the entire king-sized bed crashing to the floor.
For a moment, everything just stopped. Standing there, Leo’s chest rapidly rose up and down from the chaotic exertion. He stared sightlessly at the bed and it took him several minutes to realize that it was just a broken bed—nothing else was there.
No Tatiana- nothing.
He bared his teeth, ready to scream his rage when Leo heard the slightest sound at the window behind him. He snapped his head to the side and froze.
“I told them that you wouldn’t be that stupid,” Tatiana said to him softly. “I knew their idiotic plan was too simple for someone as smart as you. That’s why I had my own backup plan. But this isn’t the last you’ll see of me, my dear sweet Leo. We still have some unfinished business. Our time will come though, love. You’ll see soon enough.” She offered him a wicked grin. “Until then, I bid you adieu.”
A bright flash of light illuminated the room with a stark golden color, temporarily blinding Leo. By the time the glow was gone and his vision readjusted, Tatiana was gone. He put a feeler out on her aurora and received nothing as to where she went. There wasn’t a trace of her presence anywhere.
“No!” Leo ran to the window. He could still smell her rose water perfume but that was it. She was well and truly gone and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes.
This can’t be happening. He had too much riding on this for anything to go wrong. His heart, his unborn child…the future… it all hinged on his ability to keep his family safe.
Opening up his eyes, he glanced back at the window and hissed. As long as Tatiana breathed, the threat was still present. He didn’t want to live with that kind of threat dangling over their heads.
Leo was itching for the chance to rip Tatiana’s heart out of her chest with his bare hands but right now, he had more pressing matters to deal with—namely, Ric and his mother. Once they were taken care of, then he would just have to go hunting because there was no way in hell he would allow that female to roam the earth and pose that kind of threat to the ones he cared about most.
Forcing himself to back away from the window, Leo left the room. There was nothing left for him in there and he needed to get his ass down to the Lucidio Room. It only took him seconds to cross the Council House and arrive at his destination. This time, he didn’t hesitate when he walked into the set of rooms. He slammed his palm on the front of the door and sent it flying backwards, dangling off its hinges.
“Where are they?” he breathed out raggedly through his fangs. Alex and Victor both stood in front of him, their faces a mask of confusion.
“You mean that you didn’t see them?” Alex stepped forward and asked.
“No, I haven’t seen them. They were supposed to be here with you,” he barked. He could feel the beast pacing back and forth inside himself. Ric and his mother were supposed to be there in that room. That’s the way the witch envisioned it.
If they’re not here then where the hell are they?
Alex placed his hands on his hips and shook his head.
“Something’s wrong. I can feel it in the house. What about you? Can you feel it?” He looked over at Victor whose eyes had glazed over. They typically looked like that when he was using his thoughts to communicate with someone.
“What do you mean you can feel it? Feel what, Alex? Talk to me here because I have no patience left. Where are my mother and Ric?”
He held up his hand up to silence Leo. The tension in the air was so thick that you could almost smell it. Leo’s eyes burned bright red as he glared at Victor. He didn’t have time for this. He needed a resolution and sitting around wasn’t yielding results.
Victor blinked and his eyes came into focus. He ignored Leo and faced Alex.
“We have a problem,” he clipped.
“What is it?”
“Marko has disappeared. When we left, security made their move and he just vanished into mist. No one can get a read on him.”
Alex’s face paled and his eyes grew to the size of saucers when the information sank in.
“But, how? How is that even possible? You can’t just vanish inside the Council House. It’s protected. And what about his Council ring? Can’t they use that to put a tracer on him?”
Victor was already shaking his head.
“They found his ring on his dining room chair. He left it behind but it’s strange they still couldn’t sense him. We can usually track each other unless they have some sort of protection.”
“That’s odd. And you’re sure that security said they can’t sense him at all?”
“Positive. But that’s not all.” Victor turned his attention to Leo. “They found the servant you refer to as Ric.”
Leo was still stunned about the news regarding Marko. He was trying to understand what all this was going to mean to his Shelby.
“Where is he?” he asked mechanically.
“He’s dead,” Marko said flatly. “And it’s a messy death. The only way that he was identified was by the Risso pendent he wore around his neck. Security said it looked like the work of shifters.”
“Dead?” Leo was long past his limit. First Tatiana escapes with no trace, then Marko is said to be gone too which is virtually impossible and now he’s being told that his own retribution had been taken from him?
“What is going on here? We are in the Council House. It’s supposed to be safe.” He turned to Alex and stared at him accusingly. “You said that your witch saw this evening and knew how it was going to go down. You took my Shelby away from me; away from my protection so that we could end this thing tonight.” He jerked his arm out wide. “Now, Marko is out there and only the devil himself knows where he is. Tatiana is missing-”
“You mean she wasn’t in your room?”
“No. She was in my room alright but she was ready for me,” Leo spat out. “Somehow I think she knew that I was prepared for the blood root. She vanished too; just like Marko. There was no aura for me trace either.”
Alex interrupted them.
“That doesn’t explain your mother. Where is she? She should have been here by now.”
“Your right,” Victor agreed. “Unless she went to find Ric first…”
Leo didn’t wait for Victor to finish his statement. He spun on his heels and ran out the door. His mother’s death was already a certainty but it was to be by his hands and his hands only. If she disappeared the same way that Tatiana and Marko had then he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He didn’t even want to think about all the possibilities that could happen.
An hour later and after searching the entire second and third floors, Leo was at his wit’s end. His mother was obviously gone too. Even with the help of the most powerful coven in the world, they hadn’t been able to eliminate the threat to his love or to his son. His mother was bound and determined that his bride would die and his son would never come to fruiti
on. She wanted him paired up with Tatiana, to lead the rebellion against the humans and Leo was just as determined that none of it would ever happen.
He came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs and leaned his back against the wall. His eyes shuttered closed as he recalled an image of Shelby from their honeymoon as she lay out completely naked on the beach sands. She was smiling at him, her eyes darkened with desire. Since he couldn’t sense Shelby’s aura, he felt so bereft and empty without her. He dug his nails into his palms. He would do anything right now just to be able to hold Shelby in his arms. He wanted her close to him so he could breathe in her heavenly scent. He wanted to be able to feel her perfectly rounded curves pressed intimately up against him.
“Leo, I think you need to come to the kitchen,” Alex called out.
Leo pushed himself off the wall and saw Alex disappear into the dining room. He frowned and decided to follow him. Walking through the dining room, he noticed the servants as they carefully averted their gazes from him.
Already irritated, he kept walking until he entered the kitchen. Again, he froze at the sight in front of him. It seemed as if this night was just full of surprises.
Hanging from a noose that was tied to the rafters above the stove was his mother. Her eyes had been gouged out of the sockets and her body decimated. Her heart had been torn out of her chest which was the ultimate cause of her death.
“Shifters,” he muttered unable to even come up with a tiny morsel of grief. The woman that swung from the rafter might have granted him his gifted life but in that moment, he couldn’t even conjure up a tear of regret for her demise.
“More than likely,” Alex said quietly from beside him. “Smells like hyenas.”
Leo grunted.
“Marko and Tatiana are working with shifters,” he concluded.
“Yes,” Alex agreed, “and something else with magical ability. Clara will be here shortly with your bride. She wants to use the coven to hide the two of you until your son is born.”
“I’ve never hidden from anyone, Alex,” he all but growled. “I’m not about to start now. I’ll find Marko and Tatiana and hunt down anyone else who thinks that they can harm what belongs to me. I will not hunker in the shadows like a sniveling recreant.”
“You don’t have a choice, Leo. The Council has made the decision for you. You and your bride are going under Clara’s coven’s protection until the birth of your son. He is too important to our future to let your improprieties get in the way.”
Leo’s face burned with unfettered anger. His eyes started to glow an eerie dark red color.
“I’m a Risso, God damn it! Risso’s aren’t cowards! We don’t-”
“Leo? What about what I want?”
At the sound of Shelby’s voice, Leo spun around. She was standing by the door, looking straight at him. He remembered his mother’s body hanging from the ceiling and wanted nothing more than to get his life partner out of there. After everything that his beautiful bride had been forced to endure, the last thing he wanted her to see was this type of death.
“Shelby, sweetheart,” he started toward her with his arms held out. His only thoughts were to get her out of the kitchen. “Let’s go into the dining room and talk about what it is that you want.”
Shelby held her hand up.
“Stop right there, mister. I want to talk about what I want, right now.”
Leo wavered. He ached to hold Shelby in his arms but the hard look she was giving him warned him to not even think about it.
“Let’s be reasonable, sweetheart. We can go into the dining room and-”
“And what, Leo? You want me to go in there why you tell me all your reasons for not wanting to go into hiding?” He briefly nodded. “Screw that! I’ve sat in a chair and watched you for the last few hours. I saw what happened with Tatiana. I know what happened with Marko. I saw Ric’s body and now I see your mother’s. I know what we’re up against and my concern is right here,” she told him patting her belly. “Our baby.”
“That’s my main concern too, Shelby; the both of you—you and our son.”
Shelby took a couple of steps forward so that she was standing in front of Leo. His large body dwarfed hers and she had to look up to see him.
“If you care about us, then come. Come with us into hiding. Let the Council handle Marko and Tatiana.”
Leo warred with himself. It went against his every instinct to go into hiding. He was a person of action and he wanted to be the one to take out the threat to his bride.
Shelby stood up on her toes and cradled his stubbled cheek with the palm of her hand.
“Please,” she begged him, “come with me. Choose us.”
It was the way that she looked at him, that was his final undoing. Her eyes bore into his and he swore that she could see him all the way down to the depths of his soul.
“Is this what you want, Shelby?” She opened her mouth to speak and he pressed his fingers to her lips. “Think before you speak. We may never be able to come out of hiding once we make this decision. We have no idea how long it could take to eliminate all the threats to you and our child.”
“It’s what I want. I will do whatever it takes to protect our child. If it means I’ll be hidden in a dark castle for the rest of my life then that’s what I’ll do—with or without you.”
Leo swallowed hard and leaned his head down so that he hovered just above her lips. The strength of this woman simply amazed him. She would go to hell and back to protect their son. How could he deny her anything?
“Then I’ll be right there with you,” he whispered, “holding your hand; every step of the way.”
She smiled.
“I love you.”
“And I love you, too,” he replied, and unable to deny himself any longer, he stamped his mouth over hers in a kiss that stole both their breaths away.
