Carlotta snapped her fingers. Nicole fought to slow her breathing and her racing pulse. Tempe came running with two robes. She handed the first to Carlotta and then moved closer, handing the other to Nicole.
Nicole accepted the covering and wrapped herself in it tightly.
Tempe fled the hillside and Nicole wished she was going with her, but a sickening feeling said her grandmother wasn’t quite finished.
“Follow me.” Carlotta’s voice was colder than ice and sharper than any weapon.
She plodded quietly behind her grandmother to a large building behind the palace. It resembled a barn, but it was made of metal. Carlotta fiddled with a screen next to a large, steel door. She pushed a button and spoke into a pad.
“Aaron, come here.”
Nicole bit her lip to keep from screaming. Her body trembled and her stomach turned again. Carlotta wouldn’t kill him too, would she? He’d warned her it would come down on all of them. She just hadn’t realized how serious it was. But Carlotta hadn’t hurt Tempe ... yet. What was she going to do to Aaron?
I can’t lose him. I can’t. What have I done?
Her wolf was silent, but she could feel their joined fear and it terrified her.
The heavy door creaked and screeched. Aaron emerged from the dark, bringing with him the vile stench of feces and rot. His eyes widened when she met his gaze and he fell to his knees in front of Carlotta.
***
“Mistress.”
“You left your charge with another and it cost him his life.”
A moan tore from his throat as he followed Carlotta’s gaze to the hillside. Two young guards were struggling to carry Henrick’s body. No. He looked back at Nicole. She was naked beneath her robe, trembling, pale; her eyes were bloodshot from crying. It may have been her fault, but it hadn’t been on purpose. Nicole wielded a sharp tongue and rebelled against authority, but she would never have purposefully acted out if she’d known the consequences.
Carlotta was cruel and would punish harshly for even the smallest offense to make a point. Nicole didn’t know the rules of society here. It was so different in America. All the shifters were different, even those who were still loyal to the Council. Life had more value where she’d grown up. Life here was forfeit to whoever owned you.
“I beg your forgiveness, Mistress. It will not happen again.”
“Oh, I know it won’t. Go to the post.”
He flinched and held back a scream of frustration. His leopard yowled, pacing just below the surface. It was everything he could do to keep his claws hidden.
“Yes, Mistress,” he gritted through clenched teeth.
He stood and walked a few yards to the large post standing to the right of the building. The old wood post was stained with the blood of years of punishments. He was no stranger to its torture, but he’d hoped to avoid ever touching it again. That wish was denied.
He turned back toward Nicole when she cried out.
“Grandmother, please. It wasn’t his fault. It’s mine. I should be punished, not him.”
Carlotta’s syrupy sweet voice echoed through the courtyard. “Dear girl, I am punishing you. You have to watch.” She pointed to a box below the screen by the door. “Now, go get me the whip inside that chest.”
Sobs tore from Nicole’s body, but she did as she was told and fetched what he knew was a bullwhip from the chest. It wasn’t his first encounter with it and Carlotta was very adept with the weapon.
Nicole handed the whip over and fell to her knees beside her grandmother. He turned away slowly and hugged the post, waiting for the pain and wishing he could protect his mate from this horror. Watching Henrick die should’ve been enough punishment, but causing pain was Carlotta’s favorite pastime. Her husband Reginald could be harsh, too, but Carlotta took pleasure in the punishments.
The whistle of the whip heralded the shot of fire that tore down his back. He clenched his fists and his leopard screamed. His claws extended, digging deep into his palms. He couldn’t let her see. The punishment would only go on longer if she thought he was resisting in any way.
Nicole cried harder every time the whip struck, sending her grief and guilt and worry across the bond without even knowing it. Damn. Aaron struggled to maintain his composure. Pain sliced across his back and sides like fire-heated knives. His mind fell to a place where the pain dissipated and he could survive the torture. Through his years here, he’d felt the kiss of Carlotta’s whip on many occasions.
He tried to soothe Nicole through the bond, but her mind was singly on him. She ... loved … him. No. It couldn’t be love. She desired him. That he knew, but she couldn’t love him. He’d betrayed her by bringing her here.
“As long as you are both alive, it’s never too late.”
If he were her true mate, there was no happiness without each other. If he allowed her to go through with the ceremony and bond to another, her words would be true. They would both be miserable for their entire lives. Fate didn’t provide mates on a whim. He’d only heard legends of shifters who found another mate centuries after losing their first. Surviving a century knowing he’d abandoned her wasn’t a choice he could live with. He’d thought it was, but even his heart to heart with Sasha just this morning had proved him wrong.
The whip caught the edge of his neck and he hissed. Damn bitch. She always tried to find a way to pull him back into the pain. She knew he was able to block it out, and she whipped him harder because of it.
A pause came. The whir of the whip ceased and he released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He let his hand fall to his side, letting go of his death grip on the post. What was left of his t-shirt stuck painfully to the welts on his back and his pants clung, sticky with blood, to the backs of his legs.
“Since he was in charge of you, Nicole, you are in charge of him. Clean him up. You can get a close look at the pain you caused him.”
Another grief-filled sob wrenched from Nicole’s shuddering form. Her heart was much softer than she let on. He wished her no ill and Henrick wouldn’t have either. The two hundred-year-old wolf had no family and no one to live for. His mother had died in the cages a few months ago. Carlotta would have killed him soon anyway. They had no hold over him anymore. He’d already been planning his revenge, but it took time to inflict pain on people who were masters at it already.
Carlotta and Reginald were anything but careless.
He turned around, meeting Nicole’s pained expression. His first instinct was to hug her and assure her he’d be fine. His back had seen this and worse before. He pushed his resolve through the bond and she nodded, rising from her knees. Her bare feet barely made a sound on the paved ground. She offered him a shoulder and he accepted, not out of need, but so he could touch her without being scrutinized.
She was so soft and smelled like the hillside after a rain shower. They walked in silence to a door at the back of the palace, probably the very one she’d fled through only a short time ago.
Carlotta had already disappeared inside. Tempe stood waiting at the door for them, her eyes glued to the floor.
“Henrick would not hold you responsible,” Aaron started. “His head’s been on Carlotta’s chopping block for almost a month. His mother died and with it their ability to force his loyalty. She would’ve killed him within the week.”
She didn’t respond to his assurances.
Her guilt was thick and heavy on her soul. She was so strong, but this life and the politics would crush her. Her heart wasn’t hard enough to survive without ruining the woman within. The ceremony on Friday would break her. He’d witnessed the results of these arena matings before.
Bodies torn limb from limb. Blood flowing as freely as the wine the Council drank while they watched. The winner, if you could call him that, was required to take his mate in front of them all and mark her. The humiliation and degradation was intolerable. How could the gods have ever sanctioned such traditions?
“They never did, Aaron,” his leopa
rd whispered.
Why did they abandon us? Where are they?
“It didn’t used to be this way. The royals have gotten crueler through the centuries. Even gods get old and tired.”
The walk through the palace was slow and painful. Every step was torture. His magick was already beginning to knit the wounds back together, but they were deep. It would take days for them to heal completely. The scars would take longer and they’d never completely fade. Just like the dozens of old scars he already wore.
At least his leopard was speaking to him again. That was progress.
They entered her bedroom and she closed the door behind them.
He ripped the last of his shirt from his body and tossed it into a corner of the room.
She gasped. “You need to get cleaned up. I’ll start a shower.”
“Thank you.” He followed her into the spa-sized bathroom. She turned on the water in the large, glass shower centered in the room. It was at least a ten-by-ten square and had two rain-style showerheads hanging from the ceiling. Water also ran down the glass walls and into the drains below, creating a wall of running water. It was beautiful.
He shrugged out of his pants and stepped inside, wincing as the hot water seared the still-open wounds. Footsteps vibrated through the floor near him. He opened his eyes, widening them at the sight of her naked body. Water ran in perfect streams over and between her round, upturned breasts. He reached and she came forward into his arms.
Her lips pressed softly to his chest and he shuddered. If only this could really happen. If only he could really have her. But he couldn’t.
“I’m sorry.” The running water nearly drowned out her soft apology.
“You didn’t do it maliciously. But.” He pulled back and looked down, meeting her saddened eyes. “Why did you run?”
“I didn’t run away … My wolf was going stir crazy. I just needed to run.”
He sighed and pulled her close to his chest again, relishing the softness of her round curves pressing against him in all the right places.
“I can’t believe my grandmother just ...”
“I told you,” he growled. “It wasn’t your fault. She would’ve killed him anyway. He could’ve forgotten to close a door or dropped a plate. Any tiny little slip would’ve cost his life. It wasn’t you.”
“I can’t do this. I can’t live here. I’ll go crazy like my mother did.” She pulled away from him and stepped out of the shower. “I want you, but if we do this, they’ll kill you for sure. I’d rather live without you and know you are alive.”
“Nicole.”
She shook her head and fled the bathroom.
It was the truth. Even the small amount of contact just now had strengthened the bond between them. He could feel her guilt, confusion, desire, and misery. Gods, it was like a mid-morning soap opera in her head. It wasn’t much different in his, but he had to protect his sister in all of this, too. As much as he wanted to steal away with Nicole, he was tied here.
He rolled his shoulders in the soft downpour of the shower. The water ran clear to the drain. His wounds had stopped bleeding. They no longer burned like fire. Now his back just throbbed and ached. His magick surged through his body, repairing the damage cell by cell. Tomorrow, only raised pink scars would remain. Those would slowly fade to lighter pale stripes to match the older ones that crisscrossed his whole back already.
After rinsing off, he wrapped a towel around his waist before walking into the bedroom. Nicole’s voice carried from near the bed, but he couldn’t see her. She sounded like she was talking to someone. Shit! His eyes flew to his rumpled pants on the bathroom floor. She had his phone!
“Nicole!” he growled, his deep voice reverberating through the large bedroom suite.
“Siobhan, you have to tell Kate. She has to come now ... No, they are killing shifters and spelling them to be stuck in animal form. Siobhan. I don’t give a crap if my sisters called her to come to New York. What the hell are the twins doing with Aunt Melinda anyway? Never mind. I don’t want to know. Tell Kate to come to Greece. NOW!” Her voice was quiet, but clear and demanding.
He knelt to the floor and pulled up the ruffled bed skirt. He reached to grab her but she squeaked in surprise and edged to the other side before his fingers closed on her wrist.
“Damn it, Nicole. You will get us both killed!”
“You tell her I found my true mate, Siobhan. Tell her I’ll go as bat shit crazy as my mother if she doesn’t help me.”
He lunged forward, reaching farther under the bed. The barely closed wounds on his back sent agonizing darts of white-hot pain through his nervous system.
She wasn’t giving up. Her little body slithered farther to the other side of the bed.
He pulled back and jumped over the mattress, landing softly on the opposite side and reached under the bed. His hand closed around the soft flesh of her thigh and he yanked, pulling her clear of the bed.
“Please, Siobhan,” she begged through the phone.
He snatched the phone from her and held it to his ear. “If anyone tries to interfere with the ceremony, they will kill her on principle.”
“I’m on my way,” a quiet female voice responded on the other end of the line.
“Who are you?” he snarled.
“I’m your creator. Protect her, Aaron.”
Damn it all to hell. He put the phone on the floor and crushed it under his palm. The call could easily be traced and would be. He was a dead man. It was just a matter of time.
“What did Kate say? Siobhan was handing her the phone!” Nicole demanded, twisting in his arms.
“Nothing.” He swallowed, lying. Kate Aribas was coming. Here.
“Damn it! You overgrown kitty ca—”
He slapped a hand over her mouth. Why she insisted on calling him a kitty cat was beyond understanding. It only irritated him.
His leopard chuckled. “That’s why she does it.”
She growled and slithered from his wet arms, rolling to her feet. “I was trying to help,” she whispered. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“They’ll track the call, Nicole. Why must you insist on being a pain in my ass?”
He looked up. Her face caught a beam of moonlight from the window and her eyes were glowing gold. Such beauty and strength. She’d gone from tortured soul to sneaky bitch in a matter of seconds. If he ever claimed her as his mate, his life would never be the same. Damn it. She’d done it again. First she pissed him off and then she found a way to arouse him to the point of pain.
A smile curved the corner of her lips upward. He followed her gaze downward. The towel had conveniently come loose and his erection stood proudly, announcing his desires. So much for playing the cold shoulder.
“Pain in your ass?” She smirked. “I don’t think that’s what most men call an erection.”
“You’re something else. You know that, right?”
She shrugged and pulled loose the ties holding her robe closed.
“No, Nicole.” He grabbed the towel from the floor and stood, wrapping it quickly around his errant dick. “If I want to continue breathing for any length of time, we can’t let the bond progress any further. As much as it pains me not to ravish you right here and now, I can’t betray my sister and leave her to rot in that cage.”
“Kate is coming. I know it. Siobhan will make sure of it.”
“I don’t know why you think one woman can make such a difference. You’ve seen Carlotta. The rest of the lower Council is just as bad. The Originals haven’t been around in centuries. No one cares anymore, Nicole. These royal families run everything. What can one woman really do?”
A tap at the door silenced them both. He held his breath and turned toward her bedroom door.
“Miss Demakis, I brought some clothes for Aaron. Is he still with you?” Tempe’s voice was barely over a whisper.
A few strides brought him to the closed door. He opened it and pulled Tempe inside, holding the bath towel firmly in plac
e around his waist with his other hand.
She gave him a frown. “Aaron, you know better than this,” she hissed and shoved a folded stack of clothing at his chest. “The bond between you two is growing stronger. Carlotta and Reginald will kill you, or worse, if they notice. What about your sister?”
“What about your husband, Tempe? Should we all just exist in misery when there’s a chance we could get everyone out of those cages?”
“Where did that come from?” his leopard asked.
He’d said again and again he wouldn’t do anything. Risking Sasha’s life wasn’t a choice. I don’t know, but there has to be something I can do.
Tempe’s eyebrows raised, curiosity piqued. “How?”
“I’m not sure, yet.”
Tempe frowned, but didn’t reply.
“So you’re going to help me?” Nicole whispered from across the room.
He turned. Her shoulders slumped as she sat slowly on the bench at the foot of the bed. Tears ran down her cheeks.
The hushed sobs confused him. This was what she wanted. She wanted to leave and get as far away from her grandparents as she could.
She wanted him ... didn’t she?
“I’m going to find a way to get you out of here, Nicole. If Kate can help the prisoners, we can all escape this prison. Maybe, just maybe, we can be together then.”
Nicole shook her head. “That’s not enough. We can’t just run. They’ll just come after me again … or worse, my sisters. I can’t run and hide and pass this cursed fate on to them.”
“But ... isn’t that why you ran earlier?” Tempe asked.
“I wasn’t leaving. My wolf needed to run. No one ever shifts around here. I was going crazy.” She glared at him and Tempe. “When was the last time either of you shifted?”
“A year.” Tempe sighed. “Maybe longer.”
Nicole gasped, shaking her head.
He met Nicole’s gaze and nodded. “The last time I shifted was in the forest outside of Woodhaven. The royals consider our animal side weak. They embrace the supernatural strength and long life that comes with being a shifter, but they shun the soul within.”
“Well I don’t shun my wolf and I won’t start now.”
Taking Nicole (Vegas Mates Series)(#4) Page 6
