by C. M. Owens
“I suppose you’ve decided to stop keeping secrets,” she says, not sounding pleased as she gazes up at him.
“It’s time, Mother,” is his tight reply.
Mother? This is his mother?
Why am I fidgeting awkwardly?
Chaz runs a thumb over my hand when I step closer, and I fight the urge to consider it an invitation to hold his hand. His mother’s eyes drop and definitely notice the contact. A frown twists on her perfect lips as she darts her gaze up to study me.
The sound of growling draws my eyes to our side to see fangs showing, along with predatory eyes glowing. Zee and Leah have stepped closer, and Zee’s eyes are narrowing on the others.
Maybe this was a terrible idea, since we’re all a bunch of savages trapped in skin.
I open my mouth to tell our people to stand down before a fight breaks out, when suddenly there’s a loud, thunderous roar that rattles the ground. I stumble when the ground quakes, and Chaz locks his arm around my waist, anchoring me to him as my eyes take in the grim issue.
The trees are parting like a massive beast is running down the middle of them, and my heart thunders in my chest as another bone-chilling roar is released.
“Watch out!” someone shouts just as a flurry of blood-starved night stalkers burst free from the forest, hundreds and hundreds of them all shooting out at once.
Chaz releases me to rush to his friends on the front line, as power shoots free from all of them in some way. My people scramble to do the same, myself included, but I trip over my own feet when that deadly, ruthless roar ripples through the air again.
I almost feel that roar in my bones.
My breath leaves in a harsh rush as an ashy gray beast comes barreling out behind the blood-starved night stalkers. It looks like it used to be a werewolf, but so much bigger. And... Oh shit!
“It’s a first blood!” I yell, pushing my power out as hard as I can.
A red streak of dark energy shoots from me, slamming into the beast, but all it does is snarl in my direction. That hit should have at least drawn blood!
Leaping into the air, I slam my fist through the skull of a blood-starved night stalker, and I land my foot into the skull of another, spinning to end them both. Twirling, I release another deadly ray, keeping it concentrated enough not to hit anyone outside of the small circle. It slices through several of the crazed bodies at once.
Fire blazes beside me in time to thwart off an attack from my blind side, and I gratefully look over at Chaz. His eyes are leaking with black fire, but there’s also a mingling of gold.
Dark energy rattles the ground, a series of deafening roars ring out, but this time it’s from our side. I gasp and stumble back when I see the absolute impossible. Above us... dragons... Holy shit... Dragons!
Hundreds of them swarm, and fire slices to the ground. The blood-starved night stalkers shriek and retreat, and the first blood werewolf races back into the woods with them.
“Holy motherfucking dragons!” the incubus squeals, diving for the ground, taking Karma with him, and covering them both up like lying down makes them fireproof.
Slade appears from thin air at my side, his eyes widening as he takes in the fire-breathing impossibility. But just as suddenly as they appeared, they disappear, fading into nothing as though they were never there.
It was an illusion... Only one person can control an illusion on that scale.
My gaze darts to Chaz whose eyes are solid gold this time, and his lips tense as Slade goes stiff beside me. Shit. Now Slade will know I lied to him.
“Kya,” Slade says softly, as everyone now gives the fake duster a wide berth. “Something you forgot to say?”
Only the woman he called his mother moves to his side, and she glares over at us like we’re going to make the wrong move. I guess she doesn’t know that I already know what Chaz is. But it freaking terrifies me when I see his powers on display like that.
I could smell the fire as though it was really burning through the land. I could see the dragons with such clarity to believe they were genuinely flying above me like majestic beasts. It was real and terrifying enough to send a horde of mindless savages racing back into the woods.
And he’s just started using those dormant powers. What will he be capable of as he develops them even more?
“Simone!” Slade shouts, snapping me out of my trance as he stalks toward her. “Take a group and follow them. Keep a safe distance. Make sure they aren’t just circling back.”
Simone smirks over at me before nodding at Slade. Normally it’d be me he sent to lead such a mission. But he’s pissed at me right now. And he’s letting everyone else know it by sending Simone out in lead. It’s as humiliating as it is degrading.
Simone is far beneath me in ranks, so sending her is nothing more than a slap to my face.
She picks a few people who all eye me with judgment before racing behind Simone, following her into the woods.
I turn and walk away as everyone else starts to gather up their things. We obviously can’t stay here now that they know our location. Not that we were going to anyway, since this was a temporary location. Tears sting my eyes, but I have no idea why.
Maybe it’s because the one person I thought had my back just pretty much humiliated me.
I walk inside and grab the notes to hand over to one of the Scooby gang. This was a terrible idea. Chaz is stronger than I thought, and I should—
“Kya?” Chaz’s voice has me startling, and I turn in time to see him approaching me with a furrowed brow.
When he steps too close, I stumble back, not realizing just how much that show of power rattled me until this moment.
Instead of acting offended, his look changes to something more... enticed?
He steps closer again, and I swallow down the knot in my throat, reading the predatory gaze in his eyes now. Shit. Shit. Shit.
“There’s the information you came for,” I tell him, motioning toward the scattered papers on the desk. “It’s all we’ve learned.”
“You kicking me out?”
I glance through the window, seeing his people disappearing.
“They’re leaving. You should too. This was a bad idea, and now... Now... I have no idea why I thought it’d be smart to bring you here,” I say on a sigh, running a hand through my hair.
This time he moves so fast that I don’t have time to dart away. He shoves me against the wall and cages me in, pinning me between him and the wall as he smirks down at me.
“I know what’s going on in your head right now, Kya. You’re confused but unable to stop yourself,” he says, his warm, sweet breath skittering across my skin that hums with the contact.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie, albeit my voice isn’t quite as strong as I wish it was.
His hand slides up, cupping my face with a gentleness that conflicts with his aggressive nature—the nature he’s recently fallen into. My body arches against him involuntarily, and he grins like he was expecting it.
“It drives you crazy,” he goes on, keeping his words whisper-soft. “Because what I really am scares the living hell out of you. But you can’t seem to stay away.”
He bends, and his lips brush over mine, teasing and taunting. “The only thing holding me back is the fact my beast wants you too. And I don’t know why.”
There’s suddenly vacant air in front of me, and I stumble forward. The papers I showed him are gone, and I groan until my eyes lock on Slade’s.
Where’d he come from? I suck in a sharp breath as he glares at me.
“You lied to me,” he says simply, his jaw tensing.
“You won’t stop trying to kill them when you know the truth,” I remind him.
His lips purse like he’s thinking that over.
“You’re attracted to him,” he says, no emotion in his tone as he crosses his arms over his chest, studying me. “That’s dangerous. He has the dragon inside him, even if he can’t shift.”
“What
do you mean?” I ask, clearing my throat.
He disappears instead of answering, and I sag to a chair, wondering where this leaves us. Slade doesn’t like being lied to, and certainly not by me. It wasn’t a true lie more than a lie of omission.
Before I can stew over it too long, Slade reappears and tosses me an ancient, red book I’ve never seen before. It’s thin and bound by the cracked red leather with a symbol of a curved dragon on the front.
“I’m not naïve enough to think I can ban your affections for him. But you should know the fate that awaits you if you decide to continue on this path. He’s drawn to you, Kya. There’s a reason for that. I wrote the highlights down in our language so you could read it for yourself. Let me know if you’re interested in me reading the rest of the book to you.”
When he disappears again, I collect the book, and I dematerialize, heading to one of our private bunkers.
Without another thought, I open the book, and my heart hammers my chest as I read the slave language notes Slade promised me, each stuck on a page with highlighted passages that I can’t read. The slave language are the only words that make sense.
At least now I know what his beast wants with me.
The door swings open, and Slade steps in, confusing me. He hunted me down?
“There’s a problem,” he says, his lips tensing.
“What?”
“The lycan who fought with Simone—”
“Amy... Wait, you saw that?”
“I heard of it. Amy is missing, and it looks like someone took her.”
That fleeting feeling that nagged me earlier returns. The blood-starved came at us in ambush formation. The night stalker was on his phone, and I had a bad feeling about him that I pushed aside.
“You’re positive?”
He shrugs. “I’m not, but we need to know. There’s only one reason they’d take her.”
“To find the queen,” I say on a quiet breath.
“Or the princess,” he adds, sending a gut-clenching fear into the pit of my stomach.
They’ll kill them all.
Chapter 13
The eyes of another...
Amy lifts her head, trying to remember why it aches so badly. She tries to move, then curses when she realizes she’s chained to the wall. Her breath catches in her throat when she finally remembers what happened.
They have her. They took her. They probably want to find Alyssa and the others, but they have no idea how resilient she can be. Death will come before she betrays any of her friends.
Her eyes search the room, seeing a window to the far side. Stones surround her, as well as another man who is chained at a distance to her side. His head hangs low, and she shifts, trying to see him better.
“Hey!” she whisper yells.
He stirs just slightly, slowly rousing from what looks like an exhausted sleep. His eyes sluggishly open, and he peers at her with a familiar gaze... His eyes look just like Leah’s...
“You’re Leah’s father,” she says aloud, then grimaces at the fact she said it too loudly. The last thing she needs is to call attention to herself before she can escape and kill that bastard she thought she loved. That bastard she did love.
Ignoring the pang of hurt in her chest, she focuses on the groggy man at her side.
“I am,” he says in a rasp. “Is she alive?”
His hopefulness doesn’t mix with the fact he abandoned his daughter. They suspected he was in Pine Shore. Zee had seen him in his club. He never attacked or even tried to attack any of them.
“Why are you here?”
He grimly smiles. “I came to stop them from opening the portal. In my arrogance, I thought I could do it alone. Instead, I found out the hard way they’re stronger than all the books said.”
“They who? Who is the master? And what portal?”
He winces when he tries to move. “They’ll kill us all if they succeed,” he says, licking his dry, cracked lips. “It was in the book of omens.”
“What book?”
Speaking has come at a price for the weary Aquarius who has been dehydrated and poorly taken care of. He coughs for several long minutes, and he spits out blood. Just the scent of it has Amy’s beast stirring... hungry, wanting...
Shaking her head, she ignores the urges. Years of practice still offer her very little control, but it’s enough.
The Aquarius studies the female. She doesn’t know why she’s here, but he does. He knows what they plan to do with her, but his throat hurts too much to speak any longer.
His daughter is safe. That’s what the female lycan just told him. But for how long? He failed. He gave up his life, his daughter, his entire world, all to fulfill his destiny as an Aquarius the day the bloodline became active again. He has trained since that day to stop this omen.
But he’s failed. He walked right into their hands, giving them one more piece of the puzzle they needed in order to succeed—the blood of a true Aquarius.
Shamed and disheartened, he lets his head drop again as unconsciousness starts to swallow him. He hears the female lycan trying to wake him, needing answers of her own. But he doesn’t have the energy or the fight left in him to battle exhaustion.
He also doesn’t want to be awake when they come to do their worst to her. She won’t survive this day, and he can’t handle any more of the screams. They’ve battered his soul with their darkness, and a shell remains in his place.
He knows he’ll hear them no matter how deep the sleep is, but he silently prays for mercy despite the other unanswered prayers.
Amy watches with a frown as the Aquarius starts breathing evenly. He’s passed out, now useless to her.
She doesn’t speak as she hears others approaching. Instead, she drops her head, pretending she too is asleep. It might buy her some time to find a way out of these chains and what looks to be a stone tower. Where is she? How did she get here? There are no stone towers in Pine Shore, are there?
“You let them get away?” a sickeningly familiar voice hisses.
“Dragons. There were dragons, Master,” the night stalker says—the night stalker Amy wants dead now. “I watched from the shadows. Our night stalkers and first blood smelled the threat and ran. They are only beasts, and their instincts control them. I did everything just the way we planned. As soon as we found them, I sent you their location.”
“Dragons are not of this world!”
“I’m aware. It was a well-designed illusion. The red jinn was much stronger than we believed.”
The master takes a deep breath then walks over to where the newest addition has arrived. The first blood lycan was the only missing piece. The other died after a violent reaction to the sunlight. Quite unexpected, given the fact lycans were never noted for that reaction in the early days. The blood might not have been pure though. You can’t prepare for any reactions if the bloodline was tainted hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
The replacement looks up, giving up the ruse of pretending to be asleep. Those dark eyes narrow to slits as she spits at the master’s feet.
“They’ll kill you, and I can’t wait to watch.”
Amy studies the master from her chained position on the wall, hating that she was captured. Will anyone notice she’s missing? Will anyone know they’ve been betrayed?
She can’t escape to tell them. The chains are too strong, even though she’d kill to get just one hand free and strangle the master.
The master smirks at Amy as she struggles in vain. “At least we got one thing. What of the princess?”
“She wasn’t there. Neither was the queen or king.”
The master’s lips thin. “They’re suspicious or cautious. You know we need the princess to finish this.”
“Maybe not. Not if we can get one of the Gemini,” a man says as he enters the chambers, his eyes familiar.
He has the eyes of a visionary...
“You foresaw them being killed today. What happened?” the master demands.
“My forced v
isions are not always set in stone. You know this. There was a factor I was unprepared for. It is why I should never force the visions. Only the ones that come naturally are of any worth.”
“And those are fewer and fewer,” the master growls.
The visionary tenses, finding his value to be depreciating. Will he be killed if he fails to prove his worth?
“I saw the lycan’s blood that we needed to recomplete the circle,” he says, bowing. “I saw us retrieving her as well.”
He straightens back to his full height, and all eyes turn to Amy.
She hated this life. Hated being the monster she was forced to be. Unlike other lycans, she’s been unable to control her hunger. She walks the earth in misery, constantly hungry and angry. Rage stays simmering just under the surface, and the day was coming when she’d have to be killed.
Then she found Adam—her night stalker. They bonded, and she finally felt peace in her heart. Enough to surrender herself completely to him, giving him the love she thought would always belong to Kane.
The others teased him, never remembering his name. They called him whatever name they deemed fit, never fearing him in the least. It was a silly hazing. Adam seemed so harmless.
Until he shattered her heart with a betrayal no bonded should ever have to suffer.
The master nears, holding a glowing blue bottle of some kind, forcing Amy to struggle once again.
“How could you?” Amy whimpers, staring at the man she loved. The man she trusted with her life and the life of her adoptive family.
Adam stoops, smirking at her. “The reward was worth the sacrifice. I never wanted a bond with a lycan. My sire was killed too early. I loved her. She turned a child by mistake—the urge to sire too strong to resist. You know what happened to her?”
Amy glares at him, not responding.
“Ella killed her as punishment. That’s what happened. Imagine the luck that you bonded to me. So weak and eager, desperate to feel a connection.”
He runs his finger down her cheek, and tears heat her eyes as she jerks her head away.
“Are you quite done?” the master drawls, annoyed with the prolonged dialogue that continues to procrastinate with the lycan’s new purpose.
