by Lola Taylor
“How dare you harm her,” he seethed. “Let me make this clear: You both report straight to the dungeons when we get back. You will each receive twenty lashes.”
Their faces went pale.
Alara had had about enough. Livid, she tapped Gerard on the shoulder. Soon as he turned to look at her, she let her hand fly across his face. His head jerked to the side, and he blinked, stunned.
“They will receive no such punishment,” she said in her strongest voice. “They were only doing what they thought best.” She jerked her arms up. “They’re only blisters. They’ll heal.”
Gerard recovered, straightening his shirt. “Lady Alara—”
“That’s an order,” she said coldly. “Or shall I tell my father you’re questioning my command now?”
His jaw ticked. The guards looked anxiously between them. At last, Gerard nodded curtly. “Very well. As you wish.” He opened the front passenger-side door and motioned toward the car. “After you, my lady.”
She glanced around. The parking lot was full. He must have brought half his guards to go after her. There was no way she could escape. They might be loyal to the crown, but they were still his soldiers.
She looked at the car. “Where’s Nik?”
“Unharmed, so long as you cooperate.”
Conniving bastard. She chastised herself for ever being attracted to him. Why couldn’t she see how brutal he was before?
Because you were seeing only what you wanted to see—your prince charming. You’re no better than Izzy’s brainless friends. You saw a pretty face and overlooked the heart of stone within.
Glaring at him, she reluctantly got in the car. Gerard shut the door, muttered something to his guards, then walked around the other side and climbed in the driver’s seat. “Buckle up,” he said quietly as he started the engine.
She threw daggers at him with her gaze, not moving.
He looked at her pointedly. “Please?”
Think of Nik. She gritted her teeth and buckled her seat belt.
He took off, several cars falling in behind them on the open road.
They drove in tense silence for several minutes.
“You’re welcome,” he finally said.
“I don’t recall saying ‘thank you.’”
His grip tightened on the steering wheel. “I rescued you.”
“You coerced me,” she snapped. “There’s a difference.”
“Oh, come on, Your Highness,” he said, rolling his eyes. “He kidnapped you.”
“I left of my own free will!”
Gerard’s brows furrowed as he spared her a glance. He pressed his lips together until the blood drained out of them. “Why?” he finally asked.
She blinked, caught off guard. She’d been expecting a reprimand. She found it surprisingly difficult to say the answer. “Because if he was leaving, I couldn’t stay.”
“You can’t tell me you love him.”
“No,” she admitted. “But I think I could. And that chance is worth holding on to.”
He stared straight ahead, then chuckled sadly. “The first time I saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on. Your passion for life shone through in everything you did. You weren’t like the rest of them. You made life at the palace bearable. You didn’t treat me as street scum, as the thief the king decided to adopt and make into a soldier instead of executing him. You saw value in a human being other royals had deemed as worthless.”
“You’re not worthless,” she said, her anger leaving her.
He turned off the road, heading down a dirt path. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I was capable of.”
She frowned, looking around as the drive grew bumpier. She sat up straighter. “This isn’t the way to the castle.”
“It’s a shortcut.”
He’s lying, a warning voice whispered inside her head.
Swallowing hard and trying to get a grip on her fears before they took control of her, she said, “None of us can help who we’ve been. It’s what we do now that counts.”
His mouth twitched in the imitation of a smile. “I wish it were as easy as that.”
“It can be. It’s all about the choices you make, right here, right now.”
He froze. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched his reaction.
He’s up to something. Don’t trust him.
This time, she decided to listen to her gut. She discreetly reached for the door handle.
His hand shot up, locking it at the last second. She pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. “What’s going on?”
For a moment, she thought he hadn’t heard her. He continued to stare straight ahead, face blank. Then his gaze finally met hers.
“I’m sorry, Alara.” Regret shone in his eyes. “Please understand I didn’t have a choice.”
The blood drained from her face as an eerie chill crept over her. “What’s going on?” she whispered. “Gerard, what have you done?”
His eyes dropped to her arm just as something pricked her. She lowered her gaze, catching him withdrawing a syringe.
Her heart started pounding. “What did you give… me?” The wave of dizziness hit her with surprising quickness. In the blink of an eye, her thoughts began to slow to a crawl, and her vision blurred as she slumped in the seat.
The last thing she felt was Gerard’s cold fingers brushing the hair out of her eyes.
When Nik came to, the first thing he noticed was he had a bitching headache.
“Christ,” he groaned. It felt like with the slightest movement his brain would drip right out of his ears. He sniffed.
Was that… gasoline? God, it was strong, like he’d been doused in it.
As his addled brain slowly came to, he took note of his still blurry surroundings. It was dark. He and Gage were tied to the bed, back in one of the rooms. They seemed to be the only captives. Where the hell were Danica, Jason, and Shawna?
Something wet splashed him in the face. He nearly gagged when he went to lick his lips. “What the hell?”
“Shit. This one’s awake.” Two of Gerard’s lackeys stood over him. “Should we knock him out?”
“Nah. Let him roast. People burn the same whether they’re awake or unconscious.”
Nik’s eyes snapped open, his senses fully wired. He looked around. Dark stains ran across the carpet as if the whole room had been doused in—
“Oh, my God.” He immediately began working at his binds, but it was no use. Someone knew what they were doing when it came to tying knots because the rope wasn’t budging. “You assholes think this is justice?” he roared as they walked toward the door. “Think about Alara. She’s a royal, a high were. If you kill me, she won’t be able to complete the mating ceremony. She’ll lose her ranking—”
“Good thing we’re not loyal to the crown.” One of the guys grinned. “The hell if I care what happens to some spoiled princess. Pretty soon, it won’t matter whether she’s mated or not.”
They slammed the door and locked it. A trail of gasoline went under the door.
Nik’s heart slammed against his ribcage. What the hell did they mean “it wouldn’t matter soon?” Were they going to do something to Alara?
He had to get out of here.
Frantically, he worked at breaking free, nearly tearing his limbs off in the process. “Gage!” he yelled. “Dammit, wake up!”
When Gage wouldn’t move, he racked his brain. Left with no other choice, he focused on shifting his teeth to fangs. “Sorry, bro,” he said, right before chomping down on his brother’s shoulder.
That got his attention.
Gage’s eyes snapped open with a gasp. He looked down, incredulous. “You bit me.”
“Had to. You were in a coma. Heads-up. We’re about to be burned alive. Are your binds loose at all?”
Gage blinked several times as if trying to clear his head. His gaze turned serious and he started shuffling around. “It’s no use,” he said between gritted teeth. “Someone k
nows what they’re doing.”
“We had to get intelligent henchmen. Typical.”
“And not just that,” Gage said, his gaze drunken. “They’ve injected us with something. We should be able to break through rope. I feel like that time I came down with mono and had to be put in the hospital.”
Nik frowned. He’d noticed the absence of strength too, but he thought maybe he’d imagined it because he had a concussion.
A match struck from outside the door. Nik and Gage both held their breaths, right before flames started crawling along the floor, right toward them. The fire crept closer and closer, seeming to gain speed as it drew near.
Nik and Gage both struggled more violently, but they might as well have wrestled steel. They clearly weren’t going anywhere, and any minute now, they would both be werewolf-kabobs.
The door shuddered as someone tried forcing it open. A moment later, they succeeded, and Danica rushed into the room carting a fire extinguisher. She wasted no time. Foam shot through the air, ending the fire’s life an inch or two from their feet. White dust settled around the room, coating the furniture in a powdery sheen.
Danica rushed forward and immediately started working at their binds with a switchblade. Within a minute, Gage was free. He hugged Danica fiercely. “I thought I’d lost you,” he said hoarsely into her hair.
She clung to him, breathing hard. “I stayed hidden back in our room and waited for them to leave. When I saw them light that match… God, Gage.”
“Sssh,” he said soothingly, stroking her hair. “It’s fine, love. We’re safe.”
Nik cleared his throat. They both looked at him as if suddenly remembering he was there. “Not that I want to get in the way of true love or nothing, but I would appreciate being cut free.”
Danica smiled and wiped away a stray tear that had fallen down her cheek. She blushed as she leaned in to work at his binds. “Of course. Sorry.”
“Nothing to apologize for. You saved our lives.”
Once he was free, he flexed his wrists. “Much better.” His eyes looked at Danica. “Since when do you carry around a knife?”
She got a proud look on her face as she lifted her chin. “I used to live in the ghetto. Old habits die hard I guess.”
Nik raised a brow. “Because Moonstruck is full of gangsters and thugs.”
“It’s not the gangsters and thugs I’m worried about—it’s the werewolves.”
Nik blinked, amused. “Right.” They all stood, and Nik became all business. “Do you know which way they went?”
“Out the front. All the others are gone. Guess these guys are so far down the totem pole they got left behind to do the dirty work.”
“Did you see Jason and Shawna?” Gage asked.
She nodded. “They shot them up with something, then tied them up and blindfolded them before loading them up into the cars and driving off.”
Gage swore and ran a hand over his face. It was every Alpha’s worst nightmare—not being there to take care of his packmates, the people who counted on him to protect them.
Nik silently prayed they were all right. He started forward. “We can’t let those two wannabe murderers escape. They may be our only lead to finding Alara and the others.”
He ran out the door—or stumbled was more like it. His balance was thrown way off. He had to keep a hand pressed against the wall to keep from falling over. Same went for Gage, though he had Danica to lean on.
They stopped to pick up some abandoned guns off the bodies that had been left behind. Nik and Gage checked the cartridges. “Still loaded. Good.”
They crept toward the front entrance. Nik’s heart raced faster with every step. His mind kept reeling back to the moment Verika had left him and the crushing sensation that had followed soon after. It was happening again. He was losing someone he cared about.
They paused by the doors and peeked out. The guards were having a freaking smoke break.
“You have got to be joking,” Nik muttered.
“Shall we sneak up on them?” Gage said.
Nik nodded. “We’ll rush them.”
Danica rolled her eyes. “You’re such men. All brute force and no strategy.” She ripped the seam of her shirt so her cleavage was fully exposed. “Allow me.”
Gage’s eyes grew big. “Danica, no!” he said, swiping for her, but she’d already waltzed out the door.
She walked right past the men, letting her hair down and ruffling it. “Hey, boys,” she said with a wide smile. “Are you lonely tonight?”
They looked at each other and chuckled. “Maybe. We don’t get to enjoy the company of she-wolves very often in our line of work.”
“Is that so?” she said as Nik and Gage crept out the doors and behind the men. “Well, I was going to offer a threesome, but if you’re too busy….” She started to walk away, and one of the men grabbed her.
“Hold up there, sweetheart. We didn’t say nothin’ about being too busy.”
She smiled coldly. “Good. I was hoping you’d stick around a bit longer.”
At once, Nik and Gage pressed the barrels of their guns to the backs of the guys’ heads. “Drop your weapons,” Gage demanded in a stone-cold voice. “Now.”
They both froze, moving only to do as they were told. “How the hell did you two escape?”
Danica twiddled her fingers, then formed a fist and decked both of them, one right after the other. “That was for trying to kill my mate and my brother-in-law. Sort of.”
She and Gage weren’t technically married yet. Mating was enough in were law to practically make them married, but Danica still clung to her human traditions. She wanted a wedding, though no date had been set yet.
Gage and Nik’s brows shot up at the same time. Nik whistled as the men swore, clutching at their jaws. “Nice one, sis. We might make a fighter out of you yet.”
She grinned at him.
Nik grabbed one of the men and put the gun against his temple. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes. We were at the part where you tell us where to find our friends.”
Alara came to with a groan. The lights were too bright. She hadn’t had a migraine like this since she was a child.
She was lying on something soft, like a bed. Candles were lit about the room, but her vision was still too blurry for her to make out much. When she finally did see clearly, she wished she was still unconscious.
What at first she thought was a bed was actually an altar. The candles were lined up in a star shape, of which she was in the center—a pentagram.
Her heart started racing as she tried to sit up and found her wrists and ankles had been bound to the altar. She struggled, but it was useless. Why was she so weak? It was like she’d had all her strength zapped out of her. She craned her head enough to see what she was wearing. Someone had removed Gerard’s coat and dressed her in a red silk nightgown.
“Ah, you’re awake,” said a dark voice that sent chills up her spine.
No. No, it can’t be….
She slowly lifted her eyes to see her father standing outside the pentagram. Gerard stood behind him, his face conflicted. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. Both men wore long, black cloaks with a pentagram symbol etched in silver thread and a word in a language she couldn’t read in the middle.
Her blood ran cold. “What’s going on?” she asked, the words coming out choked. She could barely breathe, her heart was beating so fast.
Her father’s black gaze regarded her with disgust. “I’m fulfilling my rights to the Order of the Sun.”
“What Order? What are you talking about?” She thought of what Nik told her, and she looked again at the symbol on their robes. “You’re part of the witch mafia.”
He snorted. “People have started calling it that, but yes, they’re one and the same.”
“But you’re not a warlock.”
His eyes flashed gold, then green. “Not a whole one, anyway.” He raised both hands and the ground began to shake. A moment later, he dropped his hands and the earthqu
ake stopped.
Her eyes widened. “You’re a Green Warlock?”
“My mother was a Green Witch. As was her mother before her, and so on. Her gift for earth magic passed on to me.”
“But…” Her face scrunched in confusion. “You don’t have the signature of a warlock.”
“Are you daft, girl?” he said sharply. “Signatures can be masked, if you know the right people. Do you think our family got this high up without some magical help?”
“I thought…” she stammered, blinking back tears. “I thought it was because the people admired you. They respected our bloodline.”
Alara had always suspected her father had obtained his power through other means. She just wanted to believe he was better than that, that he wasn’t corrupt. Nik was right all along. He had been right about everything. Her father hadn’t just been turning an eye to the witch mafia activities because he’d been paid off—he’d helped them because he was actually in the Order.
She felt sick.
“Don’t worry,” he said soothingly. His attempt at making her feel better only made her skin crawl. “Gerard injected you with a sedative. It started to wear off, which is why you woke up, but you’ll still feel the side effects long enough for us to complete the ritual.”
She could barely swallow. “What ritual?”
He grinned, stepping into the circle. He looked like a demon. “Our Mistress has great plans,” he purred, lifting a dagger from the inside of his cloak. “Three werewolves of royal descent must be sacrificed in order for the spell to work.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the dagger. Her mind raced, reviewing what he’d said. “Three…” Her eyes snapped to his. “Where are Mother and Izzy?”
He grinned. “Your mother is dead,” he said without remorse. “I’d been waiting years to drive a blade through that cheating whore’s heart.”
A single tear ran down Alara’s cheek as she shook with anger. She didn’t know how to feel. Her mother was dead. She’d always resented her mother in a way, but now she just felt… empty. The familiar numbness was taking over, her emotional self-defense mechanism. God, it hurt so much to feel.
