“I’m not doing it,” the tall, dark-haired guy with yellow eyes said.
Slade grinned menacingly. “You’re Zephyr, right?”
The guy crossed his arms over his chest, unaffected by Slade’s intimidation. “That’s right, and threatening my brother just gained you a spot on my shit list. If Ace is going to try and kill Clay anyway, why help him?”
Slade rubbed his goatee as he chuckled. His eyebrows rose before he spoke. “Look, you might be something from where you’re from, but you’re nothing to me. Ace is part of my family. Make sure he and Andra get through this alive and I’ll make sure your brother gets a head start to the other side of the world before I tell Ace.” Slade shrugged. “You never know. Ace may not even care about what Clay did. He may even want to thank him. He never was one to commit. Your brother was the one who did this. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with him. Don’t let an innocent person die for his mistake.”
Zephyr’s lips thinned, and Slade thought he was about to say no, but he huffed in defeat instead. “Swear to me that you won’t let Ace kill Clay and I’ll do it. I can’t be where Clay is at all times to protect him, but I can’t make myself do this knowing he has a target on his back, either.”
Slade thought about it, and decided he would just let the cards fall where they may. “Fine. I won’t say a word to Ace unless he gives me a direct order to. I’ll let him think it was all part of the bond that made him lose his memory.”
Zephyr uncrossed his arms and went to Clay.
Slade left the room. He had to check on Ace. If the fucker died, he didn’t know what he would do. Unfortunately, he couldn’t blame anyone for the death of his Alpha but the people who shot him. He hoped like hell the group left behind could pull through on killing every damn one of them, and he prayed they suffered greatly. Even though Andra was the one who left and got herself abducted, he really couldn’t blame her; Ace should have told her about the danger he’d put everyone in from the very start. So, Slade supposed, it was Ace’s fault that this whole thing happened. Nevertheless, he wasn’t about to hold it against the guy. He’d just help him fix the fuck-up and pray nobody else got hurt in the process.
That thing about him losing his memory didn’t sit well with Slade, though. But there was nothing that could be done about it, not now that the mages couldn’t get more ingredients to do the spell before the bond took Ace and Andra out. As much as he hated it, he would keep his word to Zephyr. Maybe it was best that Ace didn’t find out. He would go back to being the Ace everyone knew before he bonded with Andra. The trouble with that was, loving Andra was the best thing that had ever happened to the guy. Slade had never seen Ace so happy and determined to better himself and his pride.
As he was about to take the three steps down into the living quarters of the mansion, he stopped dead and stared in awe at his Alpha. Ace was awake and looking at his phone, the stark white bandages on his neck and shoulder sticking out like a sore thumb.
Ace slowly turned his head and looked at Slade with a saddened expression. “We only have minutes left. I tried sitting up a few minutes ago, but the dizziness overwhelmed me. It’s killing me that I can’t be out there looking for her.”
Slade nodded as he walked into the room and sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch Ace was lying on. “You lost a lot of blood. It’s only natural that you would feel light—”
Ace shook his head as he handed his phone to Slade. The first thing Slade noticed was the picture on Ace’s phone. It was an image of Ace kissing Andra on the cheek, and Andra was beaming, the love she felt for her mate evident in her eyes and smile. The second thing he realized was the time: 10:31 p.m. They had thirteen minutes, give or take a few if the bond wasn’t exact on that eight-hour pattern.
“Help me sit up,” Ace said, holding out his hand. “I want you to record a video of me and send it to Andra in case I’m not the one who makes it through this.”
Slade did as he was told, but he couldn’t make himself accept that Ace could be the one to die. “Clay and his siblings are about to start the spell. You’re not dying—”
Ace grunted as he settled his back against the couch cushions. “Shut up. I don’t have time to argue with you. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this it’s that if it can go wrong, it will. If they can’t get the bond reversed for some reason, me being the one to make it through this would definitely be wrong. I’ve done my time, Slade, and I haven’t accomplished even a tenth of what she will be able to once she embraces the power of the Alpha. Andra will do great things, and you will make sure she does, because you will stand beside her… in my place.”
Slade swallowed as fear began to creep its way into his mind. “Ace—”
Ace huffed. “You’ll do it, Slade. You had faith in me when I asked you to turn me. I have faith in you. You can do this. You can lead a pride and a pack with her. Say it.” Ace’s breathing was getting shallower by the minute.
Slade nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
Ace sighed in what sounded like relief. “Good, now turn on the recorder on your phone. I need to send Andra a message before it’s too late.”
Chapter 54
Friday, February 6th 2015 10:37 PST
Las Vegas, Nevada
Andromeda
The first thing Andra realized when she came to was that there was something cold and hard beneath her. A table? Yes. She was lying on a metal table, and she was bare of any clothing.
With an anxious whimper, she lifted her groggy head and opened her eyes to see that her left wrist was shackled. Twisting her head around to her other wrist and then down the length of her body, she found that she was tied at all four points with steel bindings.
One glance to the table on her left made the blood freeze in her veins. Scalpels, mallets, a few things that looked like clamps and two different sized saws were laid out neatly on a counter. Her eyes shifted to a bald light bulb above her, but it was either set to a dim setting or the wattage was extremely low, because it was fairly dark in the room, despite the illumination it threw off.
There were quiet, muffled voices on the other side of the closed door, harsh and indistinct, but Andra strained to catch what the man and woman were saying. Anything might help her in this situation. If two people were arguing, it was possible that one of them didn’t agree with what they were doing to her—or what they were about to do to her.
“This is not how we do things,” the woman said in a pleading tone, and Andra pegged the voice as Freedom’s. “You promised that the death would be quick. Please don’t do this. I think we were wrong,” she said in a lower voice. “I don’t believe her to be moonrising. She’s real. I talked to her. She wanted to help me when I was being held captive at the shifters’ compound. She brought me food.”
Hope bloomed in Andra’s chest, but she was too weak to cry out in agreement or even cry period, for that matter. Her time was nearly up. Ace hadn’t come for her, and now it was almost too late. He would be feeling the strain of the bond by now, too.
“We can’t risk it, Freedom,” the man said in a stern voice. “She bonded with the Alpha Lion. The bond is what is keeping the moonrising wolf from showing its true colors. Once the bond weakens, the moonrising shifter in her will take over. But since you insisted that she isn’t moonrising, this little experiment will prove that you are wrong.”
“Torturing her will prove nothing,” Freedom said shortly.
Andra’s stomach clenched and threatened to regurgitate, though there was probably nothing left to come up. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten anything.
“The monster in her will want to come out. If she is truly not a moonrising wolf, she will be able to prevent the shift from happening.”
“Have you lost your mind? Moonrising wolf or not, she’s not going to just let you torture her. This is wrong and you know it!”
The man’s voice was low and sinister as he responded. “Perhaps we wouldn’t be here
and doing this if you had done your job of terminating her two days ago, instead of getting Jason killed and yourself captured.” After a sharp intake of breath from Freedom, the man continued. “Get out of my way, girl. Our location has been compromised and her friends are trying to get in. I’d like to be done with this and gone before they succeed in their endeavors. You, however, will be dealt with at a later date for what you have done—or should I say, for what you didn’t do.”
There was a loud thump on the door, as if someone kicked or punched it. “Let me do it!” Freedom said. “Let me kill her now. I revoke what I said about her not being moonrising. If you believe she is, then so do I. Trust me to fulfill my duties, Executioner. If her friends are coming, there is no time for playing with her, not with any hope of us getting out alive.”
Rushed voices, shouts and bangs echoed through the walls of her room, and Andra turned her head, too weak to even hope Ace had succeeded in rescuing her. She couldn’t hear his thoughts, and what emotions she felt from him weren’t those of a warrior in pursuit of his kidnapped mate. She only felt sadness and weakness from him which meant he had given up hope that she would be found alive.
“Go!” Freedom shouted. “Save yourself, Executioner. Let me finish this! Allow me to fix my mistake. I will bring her head to you in St. Louis myself by tomorrow.”
The man’s voice sounded nervous as he replied. “Yes—yes, you do that. I await your word of a job completed.” His tone hardened, becoming steadier as he talked to the girl. “Do not fail again, Freedom. She is a danger to us all.”
“I will not fail, Executioner.” A few moments later, the heavy creak of a door filled Andra’s ears, and she winced at the sound. “Your friends are here,” Freedom said, and it sounded as though she was talking from inside a tunnel. The bond was about to take Andra under. She could feel the pressure weighing her down, fogging her mind and body. It was a struggle to even hold her eyes open.
Andra licked her lips. “You should run,” she said, but no sound passed her lips. Desperate pulls at her wrists had Andra frowning, and then one of her arms was free. “What…”
“I’m setting you free. My people will kill me for this, but I have to do what I believe to be right. If you shift and kill me, I can’t honestly say that I’d blame you. It will be a quicker death than they will give me.” After all restraints were unlocked and Andra was freed, Freedom ran to the door and opened it. “Go! Get out of here!”
Andra breathed in deeply as exhaustion consumed her. “Can’t…”
“Shift! If my people find you before your friends do, they won’t hesitate to kill you!”
“Go…” Andra whispered. “Get out—”
“Freedom! What are you doing?” a guy said. Andra remembered the human’s voice from the room she was in earlier, the guy who had cut her with the silver blade. A familiar energy stirred within her at hearing his voice, stretching its long, tired limbs and giving her a bit of strength, enough so that she could open her eyes to see the man who intended her harm.
“Josh.” The restiveness in Freedom’s voice made Andra want to protect the girl. Yes, Freedom had made a mistake and put Andra in more danger than she had ever been in before, but she had proved herself and tried to right her wrong. In Andra’s book, that was enough.
Freedom cried out when Josh grabbed her arm with one hand and backhanded her with the other. A low growl rumbled up Andra’s throat and Josh glanced nervously at the naked girl on the table as she pushed her weight to her elbow and stared at him with glowing, silver eyes.
His eyes shifted to Freedom and back to Andra. “You’ve done it now. I’ll have to end what you started, and then I’m going to end you. The council will reward me for it.” His grin was menacing as he palmed a silver dagger in each hand and stalked toward the table, toward Andra.
Andra’s flesh warmed as the blood in her veins began to rush, racing through the arteries, through her heart, through her mind and bringing to life the beast that she was always meant to be. She had never felt more alive and full of energy as she sprang from the table in her human form and landed on the male a full-grown, silver Alpha wolf.
No doubts entered her mind as the weight of her massive body knocked the guy against the wall. She knew what she should do, what had to be done in order to save herself and the girl who had risked her own life to save her.
Freedom shrieked as Andra’s jowls closed around Josh’s throat and clamped down, stopping the scream that came from his chest mid-way to his throat. His blood was sweet on her tongue, and she swallowed, drawing in the energy and power it lent her.
“Stop! Please, stop!” Freedom wailed, but Andra didn’t, not until the pulse in Josh’s neck stopped throbbing.
Bright flashes of light gave Andra pause, and she blinked and shook her big wolf head to clear the irritation, but either that made it worse or she was about to have some sort of a seizure. Flashes of her memories of Ace were traveling through her mind at an alarming speed, and her knees buckled in, instead of the way they would have in her human form, leaving her bowed to the floor.
A single fleeting thought of having no clue where she was passed through her mind, and then Mena whined as a pain shot through her head, but through the pain and the panic attack—or whatever it was—she heard Phoenix’s frantic voice.
“Mena!” Phoenix shouted. “Here’s one more. Don’t move, girl!” he shouted, and Mena opened her eyes to see a young woman with blond hair, cowering in a corner of a dimly lit room, and shaking violently.
Protect her, Mena thought, and then she lunged toward a guy who had an arrow strung taut in a bow and aimed at the girl’s heart.
“Mena, no!” Phoenix shouted, but just before her teeth sank into the guy’s throat, he disappeared and she slammed into the wall beside the girl.
The guy reappeared beside Phoenix as Mena put herself between him and the girl. Her lips pulled back over her teeth, and she let out a low growl of warning as she stared both men down.
Roel ran into the room and came to an abrupt halt when he took in the scene before him. “Damien, put your weapon down,” Roel said. “Mena is protecting her.” The guy lowered the bow to his side, but Mena didn’t take her eyes off him. Slowly, Roel stepped forward, his empty hands out in front of him to prove to her that he wouldn’t hurt either of them.
“But why am I here?” Mena screamed through her thoughts. “Why am I protecting this girl?”
“We won’t hurt her, Mena,” Roel said. “I swear. We’ll get her to safety. Okay? You can shift back now. We found you. You’re safe now. They are all dead.”
“I don’t understand!” she thought. “Who is dead?” There was no answer. For some reason, she thought someone should have answered her.
Chapter 55
3 Days Later
Monday, February 9th 2015 10:57 a.m. CST
Montgomery, Alabama
Phoenix
From his standing position beside his four-poster bed, Phoenix let his nervous eyes roam over her still form. For three full nights, and going on the third day, Mena had been in a coma-like state. As soon as she shifted back to her human form, she had collapsed to the floor of the room they found her in.
One call to Las Vegas let them know that the Alpha lion was suffering the same unusual side effect. Not that any of Ace’s pride would talk to Phoenix, but Slade informed Roel when he and Rhodes had gone back to the house to get Heather, Lea and all of Mena’s belongings that the Alpha had been unconscious since about three minutes after the witches did their spell.
Slade had conversed with Clay and his siblings, but none of them knew what could have gone wrong.
All Mena’s injuries had healed since then, even her shattered cheekbone and the ones she’d sustained during the vehicle accident, but she wouldn’t wake up or respond in any way, not even when talked to.
A soft knock came at Phoenix’s chamber door, but instead of inviting the person in he walked over and slipped silently out into the corridor.
With regret, Phoenix shook his head.
Roel swore. “I should have called and had them stop the spell. Ace mentioned that they had four hours after they passed out to get back in contact with each other. They should have waited longer before doing the ritual. I should have told them to wait.”
“Roel, it isn’t your fault. It is nobody’s fault. We just need to wait. She is in perfect health. I have faith she will wake up soon.”
Roel’s lips thinned. “Liar.”
Phoenix sighed. “It has only been three nights. Her mind, body and soul have been through a lot. She is only resting—”
“Can’t Meridia and her sisters help her?” Roel asked.
Phoenix nodded once. “If she hasn’t woken up by dusk, I will send for the sisters. Will that make you feel better?”
Roel let out a huge breath. “Yes. I’ll even go pick them up myself and risk their horrid booby-trap if they will just come see if they can help her.”
Phoenix dipped his head. “I will call you if there is any change.”
Roel ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Alright. I think I’m going to stay here with Lea today, so I’ll be upstairs.”
“How is she doing?”
Roel shook his head. “She’s still in shock, but at least she’s eating and drinking now. I’m not sure if finding Jaxon like that was what sent her over the edge or if it was him telling her he was her father before he took his last breath, but it really messed her up bad. At least there is some progress. Anyway, I took some time off work to help her and you with Mena, so text me if you need me to do any daytime stuff.”
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