“Jacob! Jax!” I called, pulling out my keys. “Let’s go!”
We tore through the audience, as Desirée commanded me to stop, but I ran up the hill toward the Jeep anyway. After yanking off the sign on the back, I jumped into the driver’s seat. Jax and Jacob climbed into the back.
“Fin!” Dad called, running up the hill. “Wait. We need to regroup. Figure out—”
I tore out of my spot. “They took her, Dad! And I can’t just wait around and hope she comes home. I have to find her! I’ll call you—”
I patted my pocket for my phone when I remembered Badger had it. “Shit!”
My mind raced, trying to think of what to do. My only lead, after my search for ARC online was a bust, was to interrogate Ash’s former stalker. But in order to do that, I had to return to the cellphone headquarters in Reno and see if I could track down his cell phone like I’d done before.
Dad stood in the way of me backing up the Jeep, hands lifted out. “Just wait. We can interview the guards. Find out if they saw anything first.”
A scream came from Ash’s front yard. I craned my neck around, then turned off the engine. The three of us jumped out and followed Dad as he ran over to the lawn behind Ash’s house. A mer woman wearing a fine dress sobbed over the lifeless body of a guard. His blood had pooled in the street.
Hysteria broke out. Women screamed and men yelled, as mer trampled one another and rushed for the lake, diving in en masse. Desirée ran to the podium and snatched the microphone.
“Everyone, calm down,” she said. “I need the Council members, the wedding party, and the king’s guard to meet me inside Jack and Maggie’s house. The rest of you need to return to Natatoria peaceably through the hatch. Oberon, you’re in charge.”
The mass of mers slowed, but they continued to head for the lake all the same, completely ignoring the fact they were instructed not to be so obvious.
Desirée sighed and motioned to Colin. He took the microphone.
“If you’re human, it’s time for you to go home as well,” he sang. “The wedding has been canceled, and that’s the only detail you’ll remember.”
His satisfied smirk found me as he returned the microphone to its stand. I clenched my fists. If he had anything to do with this, there’d be Hades to pay.
The few family members and friends Ash had invited gathered up their things, and returned to their cars, but we were running out of time.
“Dad, I’m going!”
He grabbed my arm. “No, Son. You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“This is a security breach. The Council has to come up with a plan first.”
“The plan is I go to Reno and find this son of a bass.”
“Yes, I agree with you, but you must abide by Natatorian law!”
My hackles rose. How in his right mind did he think Natatorian law had any say over whether I tracked down this guy or not? “This is my promised mate’s life we’re talking about!” I blew out an angered breath. “So help me if something happens to her—”
“I know. A few extra minutes to come together and hatch a plan could save hours in the long run.”
“Fine.” I threw up my hands and headed to my parents’ house completely unwilling.
THIRTY-NINE – ASH – June 11 – 2:11 p.m.
Noise from the room assaulted my senses, and I pulled in a breath, my throat parched. The pungent smell of antiseptic and cleaner flooded my nose. Looking through half-lidded eyes, I tried to see who was there, but my vision was blurry. I lifted my hands, only to find them tethered to the bed. My heart started to pound, making a machine close by beep faster. I checked my legs, instead flipping my tail.
My tail!
“It’s okay, honey. Just relax.” A dark-haired woman dressed in a white coat placed a gloved hand on my arm.
I pulled in a deep breath and squinted in the dim light. IV’s were attached to my arm. One had clear liquid while the other had red. Blood maybe? The tube ran somewhere I couldn’t see.
“Where am I?” I croaked out.
“Just relax,” she said.
The beeping didn’t slow, then something warm flooded into my arm. My eyes slipped shut. “I’ll die out of the water.”
“I’m almost finished.”
Finished? With what? And why wasn’t she freaking out over the fact I had a tail?
My mind felt warm and soft once more. I opened my eyes again when the thirst was too great. The red IV was gone. Only the white remained.
Alaster stood at the foot of my bed. I tried to scream, but nothing but air came out of my throat.
“Catfish got your tongue?” he asked with a slippery smile.
Around his neck was a silver ring that shot orange light onto his face, casting horrific shadows.
“Alaster,” I croaked.
“Good to see you’ve remembered my name.”
I looked at the drying scales on my fin. If it was night already, why wasn’t he a fish, too?
“You’re alive?”
“Of course I am.” He chuckled, darkly. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
“Why am I here?”
“Oh, I think you know.”
My fingers throbbed at the memory of what he’d done to me in the cave — the forced promise and then how he’d cut off my fingers to pawn me off as Galadriel. This couldn’t be for power, could it? There wasn’t royalty in Natatoria any longer. Was this all for revenge?
My stomach tightened with a cramp, but I was too weak and restricted to clutch my stomach. “I’m going to die.”
“No, you’re not.” Alaster took out something from his pocket and flipped a switch. Light turned on from a similar device that circled my neck. My fin shifted into legs. I tried to tuck them under me, but they wouldn’t move. Luckily, what remained of my wedding gown covered the tops of my legs, but my chest constricted in fear. Fin was waiting for me to walk down the aisle. He’d be hysterical with worry to find me missing.
“Imagine my thrill when investigators showed up at your door looking for the girl with magical blood,” he said. “An opportunity waiting for my exploitation.”
I licked my chapped lips. “What?”
“Yes. After you left us with my Dradux friends, I returned here to Lake Tahoe to clean up your mess. And I’ve found a better partnership than what Natatoria could give. One more lucrative and responsive to my tastes.”
He snapped his fingers and three girls ran in, a redhead, a blonde, and a brunette, all in heels and tight dresses showing way too much cleavage. They fought over who would get to stand next to him.
“Meet Candy, Brandy, and Sue,” he said.
They scowled at me.
“He’s mine tonight,” the blonde said.
“You had him last night,” the brunette whined. “Don’t you remember?”
“If you would have remembered to check the schedule, girls, you’d see he’s mine,” the third said as she rubbed her hand over his chest. “Aren’t you, Al?”
Alaster’s smile broadened as he brushed the redhead’s hair off her forehead. “There’s enough of me to go around, ladies.”
A sick feeling washed over me, watching him toy with these women, and I turned my head. Then the light clicked off, and my legs phased into a fin.
“Wow!” the blonde said with a giggle. “Do that again.”
He let her click the button, and my legs returned.
“I want one of those.” The redhead pointed to my fin.
“All in good time, my pet.” He leaned over and gave her a sloppy kiss. She leaned against him, moaning. The other girls watched on longingly.
I tried my hardest not to cry, but the tears formed on my lids anyway, then another cramp gripped my stomach. I withheld a groan.
He broke from the redhead’s lips, and stepped forward, tracing his finger along my ankle and up my leg. “But I might have a change in plans. It is, after all, Ash’s wedding night, and I’d hate for her to have to sleep alone.”
I
slid my leg away from him. “Don’t touch me, you son of a bass.”
He lashed out and grabbed onto my leg, hard. “I’ll do what I want!”
I yelped out in pain. The tears falling freely down my cheeks now.
“Oh, Al. Stop teasing. You can’t rearrange the schedule, you promised,” the redhead whined. “I’ll be your bride.”
“Me, too,” the blonde said.
“Me, four,” the brunette followed.
But even with three willing participants, Alaster’s eyes raked over my body lasciviously. My skin crawled.
“I guess you’re right,” he said to them. “I’ll have to put Ash on the schedule like the rest of them.”
“Nooo.” The redhead clicked her tongue. “Then that means less time with you, and you already have a redhead. Me.”
“That’s right, I do.” He kissed her again, and the ghastly memory of his lips on mine made me gag. “We’ll work it out, now that I’ve added another.” Alaster’s eyes gleamed with treachery.
The redhead pouted. “You said if we added anyone else, it would be a girl with black hair.”
“You’re right, Candy.” He ran his finger down her arm. “And I wonder who that could be.”
I felt my stomach clench, deeper and harder this time and prayed he wasn’t talking about my little sister, Lucy. I hated how she tricked me yes, but if she’d been kissed, she’d be loyal to my worst enemy. Tied to him until death.
A memory of Alaster swearing he’d go after Lucy if I didn’t cooperate packed a punch to my stomach, making it knot in pain. Is that what he meant by revenge? My body started to tremble as the four left the room. I rolled over and clutched my stomach with the closest hand, praying Fin would find me, praying it wasn’t too late.
FORTY – FIN – June 11 – 2:16 p.m.
“You lied to me!” Desirée bellowed at my father while standing at the head of the table. Six Council members, including my father, sat three on each side.
“We didn’t lie,” Dad defended.
“You didn’t tell me that Ash had been stalked by some assailant that tried to take her,” Desirée clarified.
A few of the men mumbled their disdain.
Girra folded her arms and glared at her mother as she sat on the couch in the corner of my parents’ great room where the rest of the mer sat. “We mojoed him,” she mumbled.
“Silence!” Desirée slammed her fist on the table. “We have a problem, Jack. This has been mismanaged and is now completely out of control.”
“We can fix it,” he said.
“Fix it?” She turned her back on us and stared out of the bay windows. “We have one guard dead and now my daughter is missing.”
“Yes, and we know an employee who works for the company. Fin just needs—” Jack started.
“Company?” She swiveled around, her eyes narrowed.
“Companies are places that hire people and make stuff,” Girra explained.
“I know what a company is.” Desirée’s chin lifted. “Are you telling me this man was hired to steal my daughter?”
Dad took a deep breath. “We mind-wiped the employee. Unfortunately, he wasn’t privy to where the company was located, and we’ve been looking for it ever since.”
Desirée’s eyes hardened. “Then if you didn’t find the source, the wedding should have been canceled and Ash returned to Natatoria.”
Yes, that probably would have been the best idea, but that was hindsight now. I clenched my jaw to keep from speaking and looked to the ceiling. We were wasting time casting blame.
“We didn’t think it required such drastic measures,” Dad stated. “And it was, after all, Ash’s choice.”
“You left it up to a headstrong, pregnant girl who has no idea of the consequences of our secret being discovered?” Desirée chuckled. “This is preposterous, Jack. Even for you. What makes you think you’re above the law?”
“We aren’t above the law.” I stood, my muscles strung tight. “But while we’re pointing fingers, your daughter is in trouble. I need to go to Reno now.”
Desirée turned to me as if it shocked her that I spoke. “Where is this Reno?”
“It’s an hour away.”
Her expression turned reflective, almost like she appeared to be mulling it over. “What do you need?”
“Nothing other than Jax, Jacob, and my dad. Once we find the employee, we’ll question him.” I flipped my keys in my hand and motioned we leave.
“You can have Jax, Jacob, and… Colin.” Her eyes tightened. “Jack, you’re under arrest!”
“No!” Maggie jumped up and tried to prevent a guard from grabbing him.
“This is insane,” one of the Council members said. “We need to vote on this.”
“As Chancellor Pro-tem, I must take charge,” Desirée stated. “In two short months of doing things your way and changing the laws, our secret has been exposed. You may not have agreed with how things were run in the past, but they were there for a reason, and just look what Jack’s foolish ideas of mer living with humans have given us. We cannot afford any more mistakes and at this moment I am stopping this foolishness. The Council will no longer have governing rights until Ash has been returned to us. Fin. Go to Reno and report back to me. Only me!”
I stared at Dad, torn to defend him or leave for Reno.
“Go, Son,” Dad said curtly. “I’ll be fine.”
My mother’s expression was filled with worry, but I ran out anyway, keys in hand, and rushed to the Jeep.
Badger followed behind us. “Aye, Son!”
I turned and he tossed something in the air to which I caught. My cell phone.
“But I thought—” I started, looking at it.
“I wouldn’t be tossing your technology into the drink. Now go and get our girl back.”
Jax and Jacob hopped in the back while Colin took the front.
“Oh, no,” I said. “You’ll wait here.”
“The Queen said for me to go.”
“She’s not the Queen,” I seethed.
Colin didn’t move out of the seat.
“Fine, but you’ll stay in the truck.” I threw the Jeep into reverse and spun out of my spot. We’d get there in an hour since I finally had some power underneath me.
FORTY-ONE – ASH – June 11 – 2:58 p.m.
I rolled over onto my side and clutched my stomach with one hand. The cramps had been squeezing my abdomen every so often, growing with intensity each time.
The next one hit and all I could think about was the pain. Then hot water gushed between my thighs. Holy heck. Was I going into labor? I couldn’t be. It was too early.
I panted for air. I needed help. I couldn’t do this alone.
“Ohhhh!” I groaned as the ring of fire between my legs only grew hotter and more intense, shooting pain up my back.
Then the contraction hit again, but a new urge hit me. One to push. I sucked in a breath, fighting it, but the fire spread and burned down my thighs instead and I couldn’t stop myself.
No, Joey. Stay inside. It’s too early.
Another wave hit, and I grunted through it, finally giving in. Grabbing onto my knee, I bore down. Pushing felt so good, freeing, and I had no choice but to let my body take over. Another contraction hit, and I pushed again. Then another.
After several pushes, something slipped out of me and plopped onto the white fabric between my legs. I sucked in a tortured gasp and looked down at a tuft of fiery red hair. A tiny silver tail flipped upward, then smacked the liquid.
“Oh.” I tried to reach for the child, but couldn’t with my wrists tethered.
I could feel the child wiggle against my thighs, but it made no sound. Was it a girl? A boy?
“Help!” I called out, but no one came. “I need help!”
I grunted again, trying to break free of the straps on my arms. Eventually, I just scooted my butt upward so I could see. A tiny body, small and pink, lay in the goo between my legs. A boy, my son.
“Oh, Joey
.” I scissored my legs closer so they pressed softly against him to cradle him. “Mommy is here.”
But I knew something was wrong. He wasn’t moving. I tried to nudge him, but he didn’t respond.
“No. NO!” I cried out. “Please, someone help me!”
“What’s going on in here?” The dark-haired woman who’d been in my room earlier stood in the doorway, hands on her hips.
I looked over at her, desperate. “My child needs help. Please.”
“Child?” She walked over, then her eyes grew as she looked at the baby lying between my thighs. “Oh my stars!”
“Untie me!”
She ignored me as I continued to beg, and instead fumbled in the drawers of the metal cart against the wall. She pulled out a blanket, and then bundled up the child into her arms — a tiny bundle no bigger than a shoe. “Edna! Come quick!”
I tried to reach for him as another blonde woman arrived. The dark-haired nurse passed off the bundle to her, and they looked at one another. I watched Edna’s lips move and say, “dead.”
Panic overwhelmed me. I yanked my arms, jolting the bed.
“No, he’s not! I want my baby! He’s mine!”
Edna looked over at me with sadness in her eyes, but the nurse shooed her out. “Just… deal with it.”
“No! Give him to me.”
“Shhh… Now, now.” The nurse smoothed the hair off my forehead. “This will make you feel better.”
“I want my child! I want my Joey!” Something warm filled my veins, and I fought to keep alert, keep my eyes open. I wouldn’t sleep. Couldn’t sleep, not when my son was being taken away by strangers. “Give him to me, please. I’ll do anything.” My voice slurred, foreign to my ears.
But no matter how hard I fought, sleep overtook me anyway.
FORTY-TWO – FIN – June 11 – 3:21 p.m.
After just having broken every traffic law known to man, we squealed into the parking lot at the customer service building fifteen minutes earlier than expected.
“Stay here!” I jumped out and nodded at my passengers, who were still white knuckling the roll bar for dear life. Wussies.
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