The panther clan leader was already in attendance, conversing with some important people he invited that looked like humans to Simon. He spotted Isabella a few meters away with Dylan, and Dylan had his arm around her waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. Right. The pretend courting thing.
Dylan had briefed him and Robin about that, saying that it was an option he needed to take to get Isaac out of his comfort zone. It was a strategy Simon understood well, considering how many people spilled secrets when taken out of their comfort zones. He’d witnessed enough prisoners under interrogation during missions who let go of their pleasant masks when properly aggravated.
And based on the looks Isaac shot Dylan when he wasn’t looking, the panther shifter was aggravated.
Robin had been briefed to get her magic ready in case they needed to make an emergency escape. Speaking of the witch, she didn’t seem to be around yet. It worried Simon that she’d been too tired to join him for a proper meal earlier, and how her tiredness seemed to be lasting too long. Usually, a witch recovered after a few days—and Simon suspected that this had to do with her using more of her powers than she let on to heal.
She was so stubborn when it came to matters like that. Maybe he could give her a little scolding. He was older, after all, and had more experience.
Simon was already thinking about checking up on her when he heard her voice through his sensitive ears just a few meters away, right by the cave’s back entrance. Relief coursed through him, and he looked up to acknowledge her presence.
Time froze, and all other voices faded into nothingness.
The world took a step back.
Robin was being escorted by one of the guards, and she was smiling at the guard graciously. She was wearing a dress that was probably lent to her by one of the women here, because unlike him, she admitted that she wasn’t ready for any parties in this mission. The dress was a combination of silver and white, the sleeves resting just slightly off her shoulders and showing off the color of her skin perfectly. It cinched at the waist naturally, then fell down in a soft trail past her ankles, where he got a glimpse below of silver shoes and painted nails. Her hair was down and loose on her back, where some pearls were arranged to glint whenever they caught the light. But it was her face that made the difference—glowing, luminescent, and simply gorgeous, her lips looked plumper and her green eyes looked bigger and darker than ever.
His thoughts suddenly making him uncomfortable, Simon shook his head slightly. At the same time, she turned her head in his direction and caught sight of him. She moved in his direction right away, though her eyes were busy looking around, probably observing already.
“My head itches,” she hissed under her breath. “And my feet hurt.”
Simon’s lips twitched as he tried not to smile. That was the sarcastic Robin he knew underneath all the glamorous façade, and it made relief course through him.
“Part of the job,” was all he said before he decided to turn his attention back to the crowd. “Where did you get the dress?”
“Isabella lent it to me,” she muttered. “And had her darned friend Lana do my hair and makeup. Seriously, next mission with a party, I’m calling in sick.”
“Hmm.”
Robin tugged on Simon’s sleeves and led the way towards the food, where they spent a few minutes filling their plates and commenting on how much they missed New York food. The food here was good—it was just too exotic for Simon’s tastes, though he couldn’t complain. She didn’t seem to mind, either, as she worked her way through her food, paying particular attention to the desserts that were mostly delightful chocolate concoctions.
Dylan, Isaac and Isabella were now in the same spot and looking pleasant enough, with no tense undertones. Simon took that as a good sign. But there was something else he noticed.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing, Rob?”
“That my scalp is practically showing in this hairstyle?”
Simon half-choked on his chicken.
Robin snorted. Then she stopped chewing and glanced in the direction he subtly indicated, fluttering her mascara-filled lashes and making him almost choke again. She ignored him and started chewing on a chocolate ball again.
“Odd,” she commented. “This should be a big sibling moment.”
“Exactly,” he murmured. Simon looked around again. Jason had to be around here somewhere, and he intended to find out where. It was more worry for the guy than anything, considering what he’d been through on that horrible island…but then again, one couldn’t be too sure about anyone these days. “Let’s investigate.”
Some dancers came, taking the middle of the clearing and twirling sticks with fire in the air. The crowd cheered, and Robin took advantage. She used a spell to mask their presence, and in less than a second they were both invisible except to each other. Impressed at her growing abilities, Simon put a thumb up.
She nodded in the direction of the cave entrance, where Jason had just shown up in his party attire. They both stood by as they watched Jason watch the dancers, then look to his siblings, then Dylan. Then he went back inside, leaving the show unannounced.
Simon and Robin took that as their cue to follow. They slipped through the crowd and guards and back inside the cave, with Robin removing her heels and the two of them keeping as quiet as possible. Jason kept walking until he reached the other end of the hallway, where he entered an inner courtyard and bypassed it. He took out his phone and called his sister, telling her that he was headed to the library and thought it would be best to lure their older brother there for a heart-to-heart talk without the intrusion of their brother’s men.
The two teens looked at each other. This wasn’t part of the plan—at least, not any part that Dylan had told them. And their clan leader basically told them everything that had gone on in their closed door meeting.
Just as the puzzle rolled around his mind, Jason turned to the left and disappeared from their sight. Simon inwardly cursed himself for missing the turn, knowing now they were going to have to find that library and find out what Jason was up to.
Robin signaled at Simon, insisting that they had to separate to find the panther shifter. Simon shook his head, knowing that wouldn’t be effective when Robin held the invisibility and Simon the strength. He was about to signal back at her that they needed to stick together when something happened—too fast for him to notice, and too late for him to stop.
Simon felt a blunt object hit the back of his head, at the same time he saw Robin crumple to the ground. There were claw marks on her dress. Then a second hit came, and pain reverberated.
Then the pain was gone as darkness took over.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Isabella didn’t know what the hell Jason was up to, but ignoring his request for them to meet in the library was futile—especially when Isaac heard the last part of the conversation, and she reluctantly had to give the phone to him. Dylan was watching the whole exchange in puzzlement, but made no comment and instead sidled up closer to her as support.
The heat of his body so near was distracting enough as it was, but with him in a suit tonight and looking too polished and handsome for his own good, she was barely able to concentrate on any conversation. He, in the meantime, hadn’t missed a beat, charming everyone with his knowledge of all things political and culture-wise, at the same time aggravating her older brother quietly.
The pretend thing was working—a little too much, in fact, so that Isabella had to remind herself a couple of times it wasn’t real. Dylan was doing everything he could to make sure the crowd knew he was serious about courting her, and it reflected in the way he touched her arm and leaned a little close to whisper in her ear, even when he was just saying random stuff. The fact that Isaac wasn’t in his usual pleasant mood at parties like this spoke of what he thought of the courting thing, and what he thought of Isabella’s non-protest of it.
If it worked as planned, it would result in him being careless with his thoughts
, or was just going to murder Dylan in his sleep. Either way, it was going to be dangerous for them.
Jason’s sudden call put their plans in a different motion, but they all went nonetheless, waiting until another dance number was up before slipping back in the cave. Isaac led the way while Dylan and Isabella followed behind him, and it was obvious from her older brother’s body language that he didn’t like this interruption one bit.
When they got to the library, Jason had already set up four drinks for them, offering the first glass to Isaac. Isaac ignored the offer and demanded to know why the hell he was being called here and away from his own party.
With a shrug, Jason took a sip of the drink that was declined. Then, to Isabella’s shock, he began to go into detail of their suspicion of Isaac’s involvement in the slavery business, starting from the note up to the other evidence they found in the vault.
It was safe to say that Isaac didn’t like this accusation one bit. What calm expression he’d held dissolved immediately into one of anger, reminding Isabella of the man that was quick to temper beneath. He got in Jason’s face, panther claws coming out.
“Who exactly orchestrated this?” he all but snarled.
Jason smirked. “Mr. Masters had been kind enough to assist me in the investigation.”
Her name wasn’t mentioned, much to her surprise. But if it had been, she doubted it would have made a difference with the way Isaac’s blue eyes flared, pinning Dylan in place with a look of utter dislike.
“You betrayed my trust,” he told Dylan, voice full of quiet menace.
Isabella shot Jason a look before making a move to step forward—but before she could do so, Dylan patted her back once in warning and stepped forward first, facing the other coolly and nodding his head.
“It was necessary,” was all Dylan said.
A thunderous look filled Isaac before he composed himself. Isabella tensed, knowing it was the calm before the storm.
“In our clan,” Isaac began, “We have a tradition. We challenge those who betray us to a fight to death, especially if we have something to prove.”
“And what is it that you want to prove?” Dylan asked, a hint of curiosity in his tone.
“That everything you’re saying is lies,” Isaac replied. “And you will be served justice for it.”
There wasn’t even any hesitation when Dylan answered. “I’m not lying. And I accept your challenge.”
Isabella shot Jason another look, but Jason was too busy smirking. As they filed out of the room and tried not to let a fight break out now, Isabella did her best to walk between the two—her older brother and her pretend fiancé, one of whose life was going to be lost by the end of the night.
The scary part was, she didn’t know which one she wanted to make it out alive.
*****
She’d scolded Jason as all the guests left about how he didn’t think things through and this was the worst idea he’s had so far—but her younger brother merely assured her that this was for the best, because he had a plan at hand that involved throwing something at Isaac to help create an accidental confession. He apparently had a man on the inside working with him, with a recording ready for foolproof evidence.
“I’ll stop the fight before they can kill each other,” Jason said. “Just trust me on this one, Iz.”
Reluctantly, Isabella nodded her head and stood beside him as they gathered in a circle around the pair.
The panther clan tradition in regards to a battle to the death was like this: in the middle of an open area, with only the panther shifters as witnesses and circling the fight until it was finished. This meant that none of the leaders got elevated and they were all equal, something that was important as they reverted to their very beastly nature.
Jason’s hand on her arm was a small comfort, and she held on to it like an anchor as the two shifter leaders shifted—Isaac to his panther form, sleek and black, his light blue eyes iridescent in the firelight.
But it was Dylan who took her breath away.
His wolf form was pure black, as black as Isaac’s panther form, but with more fur and an almost shiny glow. It was such a contrast to his blond human hair that it left her speechless. She’d heard shifters could shift to the opposite of their form only when they were really powerful, and this was proof—proof that Dylan’s power had been hidden all along.
They stalked each other in the circle, paws deadly quiet on the soil as they measured each other out. Then, in a blur of motion and strength, they attacked at the same time, and Isabella’s eyes watched claws striking out before the blur was too much for her to follow.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect the guy to be courting you when this all started out,” Jason whispered in her ear. “And based on your reactions to his…actions, I take it you’re going to say yes if he offers his hand in marriage?”
Isabella shrugged, distracted as Isaac took a swipe in. Blood sprayed on the ground, the smell rusty and fresh. Her own blood was pumping, and she knew it was the beast in her raring to get out. After all, she hadn’t let it out in days. “They both have to survive first.”
“Yeah, well, I should have expected where that was going, I guess.”
“Where what was going?” Isabella asked automatically, though she wasn’t really listening. Jason needed to stop talking and pay attention to the fight if he wanted his so-called plan to come to fruit. She was still slightly pissed about that and was going to keep railing at him later in private.
But not now. Now was for the fight.
The two were evenly matched, with Dylan maybe winning by a whisper. It wasn’t much, because Isaac gave as good as he got, and soon they were both covered with wounds. Isaac was the more graceful one with his cat-like abilities, but Dylan was a pure, raw aggressor, his wolf instincts never allowing him to be manipulated.
She’d have watched more and would have ignored Jason altogether—if not for the next words out of his mouth. He said it casually, almost as an afterthought, and her mind told her he was just talking for the sake of talking.
“Whatever happened in that fat man’s office, it really shouldn’t cloud your judgment about Masters. He may be our enemy for all we know, and him kissing you was part of some elaborate seduction plan.”
Her blood ran cold.
She had never told anyone about her kiss with Dylan in Henley’s office, and she doubted Henley would have given that information freely to an enemy.
Things clicked into place as she realized this wasn’t a fight to get Isaac to reveal his involvement—because he was never involved in the first place.
This was a fight to either usurp Isaac or kill Dylan altogether.
And Jason had orchestrated it all.
She took a step back—a mistake, she knew, and something she was going to regret for a long time. As it was, she glanced at Jason.
His blue eyes widened in realization. Then, regret.
Isabella started shifting, ready to break the fight and shout. But a hand clamped on her arm, bringing her back. She turned her head to growl—
And found Clay on her other side, essentially trapping her.
Clay didn’t use force. He used something else, a quiet move, and Isabella felt the needle slide inside the skin of her hip smoothly. Then her whole body became numb in the span of a second.
They both led her away. No one saw.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The explosion rocked the cave enough to give the two fighters pause—a much needed pause for Dylan, who was already too wounded for his own good and had felt wrong during the whole battle. A niggling feeling had started in his stomach and hadn’t gone away, even while Isaac attacked him with fervor and showed even more dislike in his beast form.
When a second explosion sounded, Dylan’s wolf form stilled as Isaac shifted back to human form in the blink of an eye. He glared at Dylan, his rage showing.
“If you had anything to do with that, you don’t deserve a chance to fight. I will kill you instantly.”
A hot vibration filled his body as Dylan shifted back to his human form, too. He eyed Isaac coldly. “That’s not mine, Hart.”
Guards surrounded him, with one handing him a pair of cotton trousers to wear. He did so hurriedly and watched as Isaac barked orders all over the place, then positioned himself to shift back into his panther form. But before he could, a commotion sounded—and suddenly Dylan heard familiar voices shouting and running in their direction.
It was Simon and Robin. Robin had a spell in place that wrapped the two in a ball of transparent light, and inside, their clothes were charred. Dylan surged forward and kicked at the first guard that tried to stop him, running towards the teenagers and arriving there at the same time that Isaac did.
“Don’t hurt them,” Dylan growled in warning.
“What have you done?” Isaac snapped at the same time.
“You’re both fighting the wrong guy!” Simon yelled, his voice muffled by the spell.
Robin dropped it instantly. “We used an explosive spell to free ourselves and we’re not sorry.”
“Free yourselves?” Dylan echoed.
Robin nodded impatiently. Then she stepped forward, fearless and a tiny bit pissed, placing her hand on the two leaders’ arms. Isaac’s claw came out and dug on Robin’s skin. Both Simon and Dylan held on to him to stop him, and the hair at the back of Dylan’s neck rose up as threatening growls sounded from around them.
Then Isaac froze.
And so did Dylan, as Robin’s hand glowed and bombarded them with images after images of what happened.
The courtyard was vivid, and so was the image of Clay as he clawed at Robin and knocked Simon. But Robin had seen him—and so he dragged the two of them towards a nearby closet, tying them with simple ropes but using magic to enhance it.
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