“Now,” Dante said loudly, and the front door burst open. Alex screamed, as did Nicole beside her. Nick bolted upright, knocking his chair over as over a dozen men in riot gear streamed in, drawing submachine guns and pistols out, pointing them all at him.
“On your knees!” shouted one with bleach-blonde hair, and jerked his foot at the back of Nick’s leg, forcing him to collapse to his knees. “Where’s the other one?” he asked Dante.
“Basement.” Dante gestured with his head. Three broke off from the group and jogged in that direction.
“Dante, who are these people? What are you doing?” Alex yelled.
“These are the Elements of Night. They are here for the same reason I am, to protect you all from him,” he said, pointing to Nick.
Nick glared at Dante, frozen in anger. “What?”
“Protect us? Dante, what the hell is wrong with you?” Alex screamed.
“He is not what you think he is. He has been lying to you for months.” Dante faced Nicole. “Your boyfriend murdered Jason Trodd.”
“What? I—I don’t believe you,” Nicole breathed, eyes wide. She looked across at Nick. If it was a joke, he wasn’t in on it either.
“Believe what you want. Nick is a werewolf. And tonight, the moon is full.”
Alex felt like the room was spinning. What was he even saying? Nick? A werewolf? What? It just didn’t make sense.
“I already know. What’s it to you?”
“What do you mean ‘you know’? What the fuck is going here?!” Alex looked all around at every face and no one could or would answer her.
“You will see soon enough.” Dante spoke over the commotion.
An angry scream erupted from behind and Alex saw Melina and another woman struggling with the two Elements of Night soldiers who were half-dragging, half-carrying her from the basement, in their attempt to get her out.
“What the hell is she doing here?” Alex asked.
“Alejandro! You fucking traitor! How could you tell them? How could you do this to me?”
The shorter woman burst free and rushed over to Dante. The blonde man aimed his weapon but Dante halted him. She gripped Dante with tears in her eyes. “Please tell me it’s not true. Please tell me this is some sort of trick. We trusted you.”
“You should choose your friends more carefully, Nadia. I am no longer Alejandro, the boy she loved. I am Dante, the monster she made. I will never forgive her for that.” Alex thought she had never heard Dante sound so cold.
Nadia, devastated, allowed herself to be led away.
“Take the rest,” the blonde said.
“Dante, where are they taking us?” Alex tried to grab his hand, but was wrested toward the door by the blonde man and another of these vampire thugs. Dante seemed not to notice. He had eyes only for Nick and Nicole.
Nick lunged at a vampire closing in on Nicole. “Get away from her!” He reached back for a full swing when his arm was caught by Dante, who flashed his eyes and fangs at him.
“Don’t try it. You’re not that strong…not yet.”
One of the Elements of Night took the presented opportunity and plunged a needle into the vein in the teenager’s neck. The effect was instantaneous. Nick collapsed and the vampire caught him. A terrified Nicole was beside him, fighting a losing battle to extricate herself from another vampire’s grip.
“Let’s go,” Dante said. Margaret moved past him and out the door, not forced by anyone, just followed by a guard with a gun at her back. Maybe she just couldn’t watch anymore.
“Where?” Alex bellowed.
“Vincent is waiting.”
Chapter 37
Ask and You Shall Receive
Alex was shoved into one of two black sedans, along with Margaret and Nicole. The others travelled with Dante.
Alex could not sit still, hands held together so tight her knuckles were pale, the ties digging painfully into her wrists. This couldn’t be real. Dante would never treat her like this. Nick couldn’t be the werewolf he was talking about. The flashes of light from the streetlights were like signals for the memories that flooded her brain, pounding into her skull one by one, fuelling her confusion, her shock and her fear.
Nick smiling at her, such genuine warmth… Dante’s kisses, so delicate, so tender… Nick’s abrupt weight gain, his destroyed clothing… The cold way Dante spoke to her, to them all. Nothing but contempt.
“Try to calm down,” Margaret said, squeezing Alex’s hands briefly.
“How can you say that? Even your voice is shaking. I can’t let this happen.”
“Alex, stop and think. You said this was about British wolves from the beginning. Where is Nick from?”
The question hit Alex like a brick, but she recovered quickly. “But they were here well before Nick was!”
“And why do you suppose Nick is here?”
“Because he had trouble! Alicia asked us to help him. You already kn—”
“Why did Alicia send him, Alex? What was the reason?”
Now Alex understood what Margaret meant. He had never told them the reason. To this day, he had kept it to himself. Was it because he feared they would judge him? Cast him out? If so, who could blame him?
Alex shook her head. “I don’t care about the reason. What if he didn’t know what he was?”
“I wasn’t sure either. But I suspected. I said nothing because he hadn’t shown any signs. But when he gained those muscles, and then the boy turned up dead on the full moon. As hard as it is, it fits.”
“I don’t care! Even if it was him, he would never hurt anyone deliberately.”
“He hasn’t just hurt anyone Alex. He has brutally killed a boy.”
“And Dante hasn’t? If Nick did do something, he couldn’t help it. If it was him, he didn’t know what he was doing.”
“Which is exactly what makes him so dangerous. Look, I love him too. He’s family. But we need to do what’s right. Even if he didn’t know what he was doing, or can’t remember, you have to understand he is two people, and we are the ones caught in the middle. You don’t think I want to scream and rave too? That I don’t want to protect him? But I will not stand by and do nothing with you in danger. Neither will Dante. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. I’m sorry, Alex but you are not thinking logically. As hard as this is for everyone, I support Dante.”
“Stop, mother. I can’t listen to this right now.” Alex couldn’t think about logic. Her head pounded, the flesh of her wrists stung. She pressed the fingertips of both hands to her temples. Margaret sat staring out the window now, a vacant expression cemented on her face. Alex realized that both she and Margaret knew Dante, and he had drunk from both, but could either claim to know him better? Margaret had known him longer, but he had been far more intimate with Alex. Did any of that even matter now?
The vans holding the captives pulled up into the drive way of the Kent mansion. Dante was the first to get out of the lead vehicle heading into the already open door. Alex and her group were shoved out and guided just behind him, to be greeted by Vincent who smiled warmly.
“You have done me a great service, Dante.”
“I did not do this for you. I did it for my city. I did it for them.” He gestured toward Alex and her mother. “These are humans I care for and they would’ve been in danger had this beast been allowed to roam free.”
Alex gritted her teeth. He forced us out of our home and brought us here because he cares? It didn’t make any sense.
“Indeed. A maturing Alpha wolf is a danger to all. I vow tonight we will settle all werewolf affairs once and for all. This will be an historic occasion.”
“Spare me the speech. Just tell me everything is as we agreed.”
“The humans will not be harmed. No other vampires are in the house. We are alone.”
“Good,” Dante said as Melina and the rest were brought inside. “I want no one knowing I helped you.”
“You want no one knowing what a traitor you are?” M
elina screamed. “What a fucking sycophant you have become? How could you?”
“Be silent, bitch!” Dante fired back. Vincent was delighted.
“And here I thought you two secretly still loved each other. Hello again, Melina my pet. I must say it brings me great joy to see Dante be the one to put you in your place.”
Melina spat at Vincent. “Put that in its place while you’re at it, fucking prick.”
Vincent laughed. “Charming to the last.”
Dante stepped forward and addressed the Elements of Night. “Take the women to the observation deck and the redhead to the king’s office. Bring the wolf and his lover with me.”
Alex pulled out of an attempted grasp and lunged for the vampire holding Nick. It was no use. The vampire held her at bay with a mere fend and the first slung her over his shoulder. “Dante, god-fucking-dammit! Don’t do this! Listen to me!”
Margaret called to Nicole to be brave, Nadia called for Melina but there was no use. The vampires holding them were too strong, and they all parted directions as per Dante’s orders.
*
Nicole tried to keep up as best she could, but the men around her moved ridiculously quickly. Her vision blurred until she blinked the tears away. All she could see was a long stretch of tunnel. No doors, no corners. Her plan if nothing else, was to get Nick and bolt. But he hadn’t woken. She had no idea what they injected him with, or how strong it was. But there was no way she could carry him on her own.
Ok, think… You need to get out. You have to get Nick out too. Stall for time. “Please, I didn’t do anything.”
Dante did not look at her. “I know that.”
“Why are you doing this to me, then?”
Dante stopped and slowly turned. “I meant it when I said you were intelligent. But I know what it is like to love someone that would only ever end in heartbreak. I am truly sorry about this. It gives me no pleasure.”
Dante led them down a corridor lined with nothing but torches and down a short staircase, coming to an open door opening into a large round room.
Nicole looked around at the vacuous space. She was surrounded by walls of brick and cement. No decorations of any kind, only a shiny, silver-coloured box on the floor. Above to her left were three gigantic window panes, behind which stood the shocked, miserable forms of Alex, Margaret and…the other woman, Nadine was it? Nadia. So that was the observation deck. Directly above her, she guessed some twenty feet, was a perfectly circular opening like a skylight. Except this had no glass pane; it was open to the night air. The sky was clearly visible, as were the endless stars. On any other night, it would’ve been breathtaking and beautiful.
On the other side of the entrance, two chains were bolted to the brick walls. Dante walked over to the box, opened it and pulled out a gleaming pistol. “Put the wolf over there. Make sure he is secure before he wakes.”
“Don’t hurt him, please,” Nicole begged.
“What makes you think I will?” Dante said, holding up the pistol.
“Please don’t do this. I know him. He wouldn’t kill anybody. It’s a mistake.”
Dante looked at her. “Is that what you really believe?”
“Yes!” she fired.
“So kind of you to think that. I hope you feel the same way when he treats your liver like chewing gum.”
He gestured upwards to an opening in the ceiling. “In about five minutes, the light of the full moon will shine directly in the spot he is standing in. There is no holding him back now. He has claimed his first kill, and is now one with his wolf nature.” He stopped and looked up at the observation deck, yelling so the women could hear the seriousness of his voice. “The Slade line has never been broken, meaning he will be a tenth-generation Alpha. This makes him unimaginably powerful. Do you understand? If I hadn’t brought you here, he would have killed all of you.”
“Dante,” came a voice from the entrance. “His Majesty requests your presence.”
Dante nodded. “Tell the other Elements guards to retreat.”
“We were ordered to ensure the dog is put down…”
Dante whipped his head around and sneered at the guard. “You think your weapons will be enough? You think those chains will actually hold him? By all means, stay here with her. You will be torn to pieces before firing a single, worthless shot.”
The guards looked at each other uncomfortably and filed out. Dante returned his attention to Nicole, who was shaking from head to foot. They were going to leave her alone. This might be her chance to get Nick out of here. But then, a voice she didn’t want to acknowledge crept into her thoughts.
What if he wants to leave, but the wolf doesn’t? What if Dante was right about everything? Nicole believed with all her heart that Nick truly cared for her, maybe even loved her. But what did the wolf want? Did the wolf feel human emotion? Did it care? It had already killed Jason, what was another body to it?
“Why do you want me here? If you think he’s going to kill me, why bring me here?”
“You can stop all of this. Here and now. You can save him and yourself. You can save many lives by making a choice.”
“A choice to do what? To kill him?” Nicole shrieked.
“To save him.” Dante said, placing the gun on the floor in front of her. Behind him, Nick began to stir. “This has one silver bullet loaded and ready. An Alpha can only be killed by a silver bullet through the heart or head. You are the reason he has embraced his nature. You are the one that can stop him.”
“Why me?” Nicole cried, tears beginning to fall. “Because he slept with me?”
Dante placed the gun in her hand and replied heavily. “Because he loves you. His fate and the fate of many are in your hands.”
Dante walked towards the door behind her and as he passed, he stopped, leaning in to her ear, whispering. “Everything will be all right if you let your feelings for him guide you. You will know what to do. I trust you will do the right thing.”
Dante stepped out of the room and closed the door. The loud clang roused Nick. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs, looking around bemused. “Nikki…”
“Nick!” she said rushing towards him. “Come on, we have to get you out of here.”
She pulled at the chains but to no effect. In truth, she knew she couldn’t break them herself, but she had to do try something.
“Where are we? What’s that gun for?” Nick asked softly.
“Don’t worry about that,” Nicole said quickly. “Come on, pull with me.”
“Wait, can’t you shoot the chains?”
“There is only one bullet in it.”
Nick grabbed her wrist gently that had been pulling on the chains. “Wait,” he said. “I remember. Jason’s dead… Miller too. I—the wolf—ripped them to pieces. I’m a murderer.”
He pushed Nicole toward the gun and the door.
“Get out!”
*
Dante walked into Vincent’s private quarters. Melina sat with her back to him at a huge desk, Vincent opposite her.
“Ah, Dante, welcome—”
Vincent stopped speaking as Melina lunged at Dante. She was quick, but he was quicker, using her own force and speed to slam her face into the door he had just entered, splintering it. She whimpered in pain, crumpling to the floor. Dante looked at her with contempt and snapped the lock.
“Just in case you get any funny ideas.” Dante stepped over her and then lifted her up and shoved her violently back in her seat.
“Dear me, you really can’t trust anyone these days, can you, Melina? Imagine the man whose heart you broke having no qualms about giving you up to his king.”
Melina said nothing, dropping her face and slowly reaching a trembling hand to her bleeding forehead. She even appeared to be crying.
“Now the time has come for remuneration,” Vincent said.
“You know my terms. The humans will be freed after they witness what a monster they have been protecting. The slave girl is not to be harmed as she was forc
ed to do Melina’s bidding.”
“Wonderful, and the wolf’s mate?”
“If she survives, let her go after giving her a memory wipe.” Dante shrugged. “If she survives.”
*
“I’m not going to leave you,” Nicole said.
Nick looked up at the opening, and saw the partial moon. Nicole was sure he felt a surge in his stomach as she did, putting the situation together. This could be stopped. She was sure. Just had to keep him calm, focused on her. She wanted to run. She wanted to stay and defend him from anything. Even himself.
“Nicole please…pick up the gun.”
Nicole was aghast. “What?”
“Do it!” he screamed.
“No!” she replied even louder.
A stream of moonlight filtered through the opening. As it touched Nick, he tensed and fell forward. Nicole rushed to him and knelt in from of him. She clasped his face, forcing him to look up.
“Nick…baby look at me. Look at me. You have to fight this. You hear me? Remember the story. Don’t let it control you.”
Another burst of moonlight hit him as the moon rose higher, making Nick scream in agony. Nicole felt his skin begin to burn and quiver. Tears streamed down her face. “Please don’t give in.”
Nicole was shoved to her back and Nick spoke, in a voice that wasn’t his own. It snaked around the room as if made of smoke, rising in coldness to her ears. “Kill me…”
Nicole shook her head, lips trembling. Finally, Nick raised his head and Nicole crumbled to her knees, covering her mouth. “Oh god…no…”
Nick was heaving, staring at her with silver eyes and gleaming fangs.
*
“You know, I feel quite joyous!” Vincent paced the room, hands behind his back
Dante crossed his arms. “And why is that?”
“I have proven my eminence, that’s why. Yes, with your help making things a great deal simpler. After all, you practically handed the boy to me once I discovered who he was. But despite receiving a letter instructing me to give up my kingdom, I have managed to fix all the city’s problems in one fell swoop. The letter means nothing now, which proves there is no rightful person or way to take away what is mine.”
Day Dreamer (Undeadly Secrets Book 2) Page 30
