“Even if it saved your mate?”
“You would need to have her, to use her as a threat,” I replied coolly, relieved when she moved her hand.
“And what makes you think I don’t?”
“Because you wouldn’t be wasting your time doing this,” I spat out confidently. “Because if you truly did know me, you’d understand that the best way to break me, would be to bring her in here and hurt her in front of me, while I was helpless to stop you. My body can heal. Do whatever you want. I don’t care. You and I both know . . . you wouldn’t be holding back if you truly had anything to manipulate me with.”
I recognized the second the truth registered with her. She’d been bluffing about Darcy all along. I was right in thinking she was using the threat as a ploy to shake me and I hadn’t fallen for it. Darcy was with Daniel and Devlin right now, being protected and kept safe. Regardless of how this played out, that was a surety.
“You’re so smart, aren’t you? Figuring out my little white lie.” Helena sneered.
“No, you’re just that stupid.”
“Enough!” she shrieked, grabbing a handful of knives and waving them in front of me. “I’m in control here, not you.” Slashing across the length of my chest, fire blazed like a million needles pricked my skin simultaneously. Sweat dripped down from my temple to my ear as I fought to keep myself from screaming. A sound emerged from my mouth, a strangled soft moan; the only noise to give away the pain that constantly pulsed through me.
“It’s not a scream, but it’s a start.” Like a switch had been flipped, Helena’s calm exterior returned. “It hadn’t occurred to me that you might be thirsty.” Raising a wooden bowl to my mouth, water sloshed messily over the sides as she waited for me part my lips.
There was no way I was going to drink from it. I didn’t trust her and I needed all my senses sharp and alert.
“Drink,” she demanded, pressing it hard enough that my teeth cut the inside of my top lip.
I shook my head in defiance.
Slamming her fist down on the center of my chest, there was a crack from a rib, causing me to involuntarily gasp. She seized her opportunity and tipped the mystery liquid into my mouth. The second it touched my tongue, and I tasted the extreme saltiness, I gagged.
Helena clamped her hand over my lips, effectively preventing me from spitting out. “Swallow it. Now. There’s a good wolf.”
The mixture burned the cuts inside my mouth and I had no other choice but to swallow. I spluttered as it instantly came back up, bile leaving a trail of acid tinged pain. There was no stopping it as I vomited up the vile salt water. Even with an empty stomach, the liquid spurted over my skin, mixing with the blood from my wounds.
“Well, look what you’ve done,” Helena scolded, tipping the rest of salt water over my chest. My back arched against the table as my fists clenched and I fought to be free from my restraints. Pain exploded in my mind. “Don’t blame me when you scar, Mason. If you’d swallowed like I told you, you could’ve healed from these pretty cuts.”
“Go to hell,” I groaned, my temper flaring again.
“No, that’s where you’ll be going once I’m done with you.”
There was a knock at the door, and someone entered, murmuring in Helena’s ear. I didn’t recognize the newcomer, but that didn’t mean anything. There was always a constant influx within the community as people came and went. Scenting the air, he was definitely supernatural. A vampire.
“What do you mean there’s a complication? You all had one task given to you. How bloody hard is it to secure the property?” Helena’s voice shilled as she returned the knives in her hand to the tray and faced one of her guards.
He whispered something low again, something that angered her further.
“Then your incompetence leaves me no choice. Bring everyone here. Now.” Keeping her back to me, Helena stood rigid as she watched the vampire nod and rush from the room. While I didn’t know what was exchanged between them, I did know one thing—something had gone wrong and somehow I would make sure to use it to my advantage.
Twirling about on her heels, Helena’s face was far from composed. “It seems like our time has been cut short before I could really enjoy myself. I’d say you managed to dodge a bullet, but that will depend on how much you enjoy my parting gift.”
“They’re coming for you, aren’t they?” The only reason she’d leave me behind was if she was in a hurry. If my friends had found me, I wouldn’t want to be her when they arrived, either. I’d place money on that being the reason why she could barely keep the fear from her eyes.
“It’s irrelevant,” she retorted, dipping her hand into her pocket again and withdrawing another syringe. “I’d rather you be awake for this, but I’m sure waking up will be just as rewarding. Give my regards to your lovely mate. Tell the bitch I hope she can still love you once I’m done with you.” Jabbing the needle into my neck, my vision immediately started fading as she pressed the plunger. “Let’s just hope you’re still capable of anything once we’re done.”
The room began filling—Ross and the strange vampire returning with others.
“You know what to do,” Helena ordered, stepping back so they could reach me. Careless hands held me down, even though my limbs were too drugged and tired to resist. As the straps and chains were removed, my mind screamed for my body to seize this chance—to fight or die trying.
The room spun as they heaved me up, only to bind me against the wall. They weren’t taking me with them. They were merely displaying my body differently—a surprise for whomever was coming.
“No need to hold back now, boys.” Helena blew me a kiss as the first fist pummeled my chin, cracking my head backward as it slammed into the concrete wall.
There was only a flash of pain before nothing came lurching for me.
Sometimes oblivion was a gift—one I didn’t hesitate to embrace.
****
Oblivion didn’t last forever. As agony crept around the edges, each second reduced the blackness that protected my mind, new sounds filtering in. Footsteps. Yells. Angry curses.
Then finally hands gingerly touching me, checking to see whether I still lived.
“Shit.” The voice belonged to Daniel.
“Careful,” a second voice said. Devlin.
They’d found me and it was over.
Parting my lips, I attempted to warn them that maybe Helena was still here. She’d gloated about leaving while her thugs did her dirty work, but the witch was unpredictable. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’d pretended to vacate the premises only to wait and capture everyone.
My words came out distorted. Trying again, the same thing happened.
“Easy, Mason,” Daniel whispered, his breath heating the skin by my ear. He was standing so close. “Don’t move, okay? Let us take care of you. Just don’t move.”
Nodding, it felt like a bomb detonated inside my skull, the blast sending a wave of pain through my pain. Inch by insane inch, I became more aware of my body. Something was horribly wrong. While I wasn’t going to complain about how everything seemed to be coming at me through a tunnel, it was never good when you couldn’t feel your limbs properly.
I tried talking.
“He needs something to drink,” Devlin spoke. There was the sound of footsteps again before something was being held to mouth. It was the bowl Helena had filled with salt water. Clamping my lips together, I shook my head. The action had me gasping for air. Everything hurt. With each breath, I was beginning to realize they hadn’t simply left me hanging there without inflicting further damage.
Helena had left her parting gift. It was me—broken.
“Just a sip. It’ll help,” Devlin coaxed.
“Poison,” I managed to whisper.
The bowl clattered to the ground. “What the hell did she do to you?” Devlin cursed.
“Look at his hands,” Daniel added. “They’re . . .” The pain was making me fade in and out. I missed what he said, but something
told me I would find out shortly.
“The bitch must’ve taken a sledge hammer to them.”
I released a loud groan as I felt one of my arms freed from the chains that kept me hanging. Leaning all my weight on whoever held me, fingers rushed to fully release me. When the bindings that secured me around the waist were removed, all that was left were the manacles at my ankles. Tears streamed down my cheeks the moment I was finally free.
Unable to stand, it was Devlin who caught me. Every inch of my body shrieked from abuse. When I tried to open my eyes, they were swollen shut.
“She can’t see me like this,” I groaned, barely able to get the words out. My wolf chomped within me, desperate to take control so we could shift. Revenge was all-consuming. Once I let him off the leash, there would be no reining him back. Even though I needed him to heal, the process being faster in wolf form, there was no telling what would happen with me too weak to keep control.
I wanted blood. I just wanted to be able to stand on my own two feet when I delivered the killing blow.
“Did you see the message?” Daniel asked, his question more to Devlin than me. From the barely visible slit between my eyelids, I could see their fuzzy outlines, their heads looking about the room, taking it all in.
“And it’s in his blood,” Devlin answered.
“Get him out of here and I’ll follow behind. Meet me at the front and I’ll go see what Wade found. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find someone hiding.” There was a hint of bloodthirsty anger in Daniel’s voice.
“Yell if you stumble across anything. Don’t take any risks.”
“The way I feel right now, there’s nothing they could do—even if they were still here. They’d be dead within moments.”
“Do what you need to,” Devlin replied, giving Daniel the answer he needed. There would be no trials in this matter—just a swift and exact punishment, a deserving execution.
Devlin maneuvered himself and carefully hoisted me over his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hurt you more, Mason, but we need to get you home.”
Each step jolted my body, bringing me out of shock and into full-blown torture. Attempting to curl my fingers, my body refused to obey. “How bad is it?” I asked, my small question depleting all my energy.
“I’m not going to sugar coat it,” Devlin said, as he climbed the set of stairs up to the main floor of the house I’d been kept in. “You’re heavily bruised and cut, some of the lacerations look like they’ll scar. Your arms and chest are covered with them . . . as well as the left side of your face. Your eyes are black, you’ve got a split lip, and I’m pretty sure both your hands are broken. You’ll need time to recover fully from this.”
I knew what he was saying made sense, but it didn’t help hearing it. “And Darcy?” Fresh air brushed against my skin, the warmth of the sun hitting my exposed flesh. We were outside, mere steps from being truly free.
“She’s safe at home. I left Vlad there to protect her.”
I spluttered at the thought of his nephew being the one guarding my mate.
“Easy, she’s in good hands. He did well outside the council offices when the fight broke out. At one point, I saw him deflect an attack aimed at her. Maybe I misjudged him.”
Devlin shifted my weight as he lowered the tailgate to the truck he’d driven. I recognized it as I vaguely saw it through my swollen lids. It was the truck Daniel and I had adapted for whenever we had to transport an injured wolf—the back enclosed by a silver barred cage, a thin mattress spread across the bed.
“It’s not going to be the most comfortable, but something tells me once you shift, your wolf is going to be pissed. This will be safer.”
I would’ve done the same. I could feel the drugs’ effects slipping away, each second making me feel like a ticking time bomb. I knew the explosion was coming; the only thing I didn’t know was just how bad it would be. I’d never been in a situation like this. Maybe this was the event that would push me over the edge—shredding my control.
As gently as he could, Devlin laid me down, arranging me into the best position possible, before retreating and locking the cage. I was contained. When my wolf came, at least everyone would be safe.
“Where are they?” I murmured, hoping Devlin’s vampire hearing caught my question.
“I was thinking the same thing.” There was a hint of worry in his voice.
“Go,” I groaned as I felt the last of the drug dissolve and my body convulsed. There was no grace in my change—only blinding anguish as muscles contorted slowly, my limbs bending and lengthening to accommodate the shift. It didn’t happen quickly, a testament to the battering my body had taken. Screaming to each beat of my heart, for a second I thought I’d go insane. As I hovered over the precipice, ready to free fall into savagery, my wolf burst forward, snarling and snapping his powerful jaws.
Launching my body at the cage, furious at being trapped, I caught the first glance of Daniel and Wade limping around the corner, Daniel helping Wade walk.
It didn’t matter, though.
The only thing worth focusing on was the overwhelming thirst for vengeance.
Someone would pay for this.
Someone would die.
And I wouldn’t stop until justice was mine.
Chapter Eighteen
Darcy
Waiting was torturous. I understood why I couldn’t go, but there was no shaking the feeling that Mason needed me. Impatiently waiting in the office, pacing back and forth, desperate to reconnect with him, my mind on overdrive as it tormented me with possibilities.
They would be too late to save him.
They’d arrive and discover it was a false alarm, that we were still no closer to finding my mate.
Or worse, that Helena had broken him.
It was the later that terrified me the most as memories of the excruciating pain surfaced. There was no word to describe the intensity I’d experienced through our mental link. In the time that had passed since Devlin, Daniel, and Wade had left, I’d tried. Just when I thought I found a suitable description, my body began trembling and it didn’t seem adequate.
Praying over and over, my silent pleas a mantra, I didn’t care how they found him, as long as he was alive. I could deal with anything. I refused to accept that he was ripped from me.
“They’re here,” Vlad spoke softly, startling me from my agonizing reflections.
Instantly, my heart began racing, a large lump forming in my throat as I whipped around from where I’d been standing. My cousin had tried getting me to sit, offering me food—anything to get me to relax. I knew he had good intentions, but all it did was keep me on edge. After a while, he’d backed off, leaving me to brood on my own. He’d never been too far away, watching me from the couch as I stalked about like a caged tiger.
Now that they’d returned, the entire office seemed too confining—claustrophobic. “Mason,” I whispered, reaching the door quickly.
“Maybe we should wait until they come in?” He was close behind me, his hand outstretched as if to stop me.
There was no way I was staying another second in this room. “I need to know.” Sidestepping his touch, I escaped, leaving Vlad behind to follow. The closer I got, the more I could hear—Devlin and Daniel’s murmured conversation between themselves, Wade announcing he’d go get the silver cage ready.
Relief and fear warred within me—the two powerful emotions struggling for control—as I burst from the house, racing down the steps toward the vehicle where everyone stood. They were safe and in one piece. They’d brought him home, but as I caught sight of the black furred body in the truck bed, I heard the aggressive growls filling the air and knew that danger was far from over.
I knew Mason would shift the moment he could. It was a natural response to being hurt. As werewolves, our bodies could withstand a lot of damage, but even we had our limits. Whenever that was breached, the magic and energy could speed up our healing—making us stronger than most, by our changing to our wolf forms. I’d go
ne through it when recovering from the conversion and from having Amber removed from inside me, as well as countless other times.
As Alpha, Mason’s ability to heal was incredible. Approaching Devlin and Daniel, and silently greeting Wade as he passed by and disappeared into the house, I prayed that Mason’s abilities wouldn’t fail him.
Daniel heard me first. He turned around, his brows furrowed. “It’s not good, Darcy.” Worry laced his voice.
“How long has he been like this?” Studying Mason, I didn’t need to know details of how they’d discovered him. The fact he was acting so hostile, slamming his heavy body repeatedly against the cage, told me everything I needed to know. There was only one reason his wolf would react so savagely, more animal than the human.
Extreme distress, trauma, and threat often triggered this kind of display—making Mason extremely volatile. Unless we could somehow calm him, soothe his spirit, there was no telling when his wolf would release him to shift back.
If ever.
“He was himself when we reached him. He was in bad shape, but he was talking. He shifted as soon as the drugs left his system and he’s been like this ever since.”
My heart hurt for the man I loved. His suffering all but made the air around us vibrate. But that wasn’t the scent that was practically palpable, the sensation that stirred my own wolf, making her want to come forth and protect what was hers. Rage and fury screamed with each growl and snarl from Mason.
It was a call to war, an order to seek out vengeance.
It was anger at being caged.
It was a demand to be released so the bloodshed could begin.
If there was ever a time Mason needed me, it was now. Tears filled my eyes as his pain crushed down over me. Others might see their Alpha uncontrolled, ferocious, and completely wild. But I saw beyond that. Beneath the fur and sinewy muscles of a predator, lay the gentle spirit of my mate. He was in there—struggling to rein his wolf in—no doubt unable to in his weakened state.
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