“I know that you want to get out there, trust me I do.” An edge of steel entered Chloe’s voice that he’d never heard before. “She is my friend, too. But you aren’t going to be of any use to us if you get yourself killed. We’re looking for her. Don’t make us cuff you to the bed like we did with Kristoff.”
Lucas turned his head away from Chloe. “But you don’t know.”
“I know that you love her,” Chloe said softly. “And that you’re desperate to get her back.”
Love. Lucas turned back to her, staring with wide eyes. How had she figured it out before he did?
“Yes, love. Don’t try to deny it; I recognize the signs. She’s your mate.” Fear and pain flashed over her face as she pressed her hand to his shoulder. “Just rest, Lucas. Try to heal.”
But how could he rest when Miriam was out there somewhere. “I want to see Sly.”
“Lucas—”
“I will raise holy hell if I have to,” Lucas rasped. He gave Chloe a wry look. “You know I will.”
Chloe sighed. “As long as you let me put you in a wheelchair. I shouldn’t, but you’re going to bust open your stomach again if I leave you alone, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Lucas replied without even having to think about it.
Chloe sighed again but told him to stay put and that she would be back soon. It seemed like forever, but Lucas forced himself to lay still, to focus on coaxing his wolf back through the fuzzy blockers so he could start healing. He’d barely managed to clear it up at all before she was back with a wheelchair and a nurse who looked like a professional wrestler.
It hurt so much just getting out of the bed and into the wheelchair that sweat beaded Lucas’ brow. He licked his lips, slumping back, trying to ease the pressure on his gut as Chloe wheeled him out. The nurse muttered something about that they shouldn’t be doing this, but Lucas snapped at him that it was this or Lucas walking down the hallway. The nurse rolled his eyes but left Chloe to wheel him after that.
He heard Sly’s shouting long before he got to the room he was in. Chloe shook her head as they got closer. “He’s been yelling at them for ten minutes.”
“Yelling at who?” Lucas whispered back. Hopefully being in bad physical shape would cause Sly to take pity on him.
“Roman and Omar. We’d heard that the vampire might have gotten his hands on blockers, and Sly wanted them to stay at your cabin. You only ended up like this because they ignored orders.”
Lucas winced. So that was the real reason they went to the party. But they didn’t stick around. “Why weren’t Kristoff and I told about the vampire getting blockers?”
“Because Sly thought you’d do something stupid like go after the vampire and get yourselves killed trying to protect Miriam.” Chloe growled low in her throat. “And instead…”
Lucas shifted slightly, wincing as he did so.
They entered the room without knocking, not that Sly could have heard them if they had. Omar and Roman both stood in front of Sly, their heads bowed and fists clenched at their sides. Both of them looked like they were on the verge of shouting back. Lucas knew from experience that they were wise in being silent. Part of him thought he ought to speak up on their behalf—he was the one who sent them away, after all—but they had had more information than he had. They should have obeyed orders.
Sly, his face beet-red from shouting, suddenly cut himself off. He frowned at Lucas and Chloe. “What is he doing out of bed?”
“His mate has been taken,” Chloe responded gently, and Lucas saw Sly’s posture soften just like that. Amazing. She really did have him wrapped around her little finger. “He needs to talk to you.”
Am I like that with Miriam? Lucas found he didn’t care if he was.
“You two go join the search party,” Sly snapped at Roman and Omar. “And you had better get your act together before I decide to kick you out of the pack altogether.”
Both of them nodded stiffly and walked out. Chloe sighed, shooting Sly a look before she went after them. Sly opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to call something after her, but shut it again and shook his head. He ran a hand through his hair, focusing his gaze back on Lucas. His frown deepened.
“You just had your guts cut open and sewn back up. You are in no condition to do anything besides lie in your bed. I’ll have you knocked out if I need to.”
Lucas shrugged, gasping, as the movement sent pain ricocheting throughout him. Sly stepped forward, looking concerned, but Lucas held his hand up. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” Sly snorted.
“Fine. I’m not fine. But I don’t need you weeping over me. You said something about search parties. Does that mean you don’t know where she is?”
Sly’s look became one of pity. Lucas hated seeing that expression directed at him. It made his heart beat faster and his hands start to shake. Had they found her… dead? Was the search party for the vampire instead of Miriam? If they had found her body, Sly might not tell Chloe until they had the vampire, too. He stared up at his alpha, eyes wide with fear and pleading.
“No,” Sly murmured. “We don’t know where she is. We know that the vampire took her into the tunnels but have found no evidence of where they’ve ended up. I have the pack searching for her. I’ll be joining them as soon as I’m sure that Kristoff isn’t going to chew his own hand off to join us.”
There was a possibility. Lucas hesitated. He knew that in his current state Sly wouldn’t let him join in. But still… “Maybe—”
“No.” Sly narrowed his eyes. “You and Kristoff would only slow us down, you know that.”
Lucas rolled his eyes—there was the answer, just as he thought it would be. “I was going to say that maybe the vampire doubled back. He might have returned to the cabin, knowing nobody would search there after they found his trail. Or any other of the cabins up in the woods. He knows we know about the tunnels. Being above ground would corner him in the daytime, but it’s also the last place we’d think of looking.”
“Unlikely,” Sly muttered. “But possible. Fuck! I don’t have the manpower to search the tunnels and every abandoned cabin on Devil Mountain!”
And this time Lucas grinned. Not a triumphant grin, no. He was not feeling triumphant in any way. But he already knew this. The pack was only twelve strong. With two of them gone and another two of them laid up, they were down to a search party of eight. They couldn’t involve humans because they wouldn’t stand a chance against vampires. They had the women, of course, but no wolf would send their mate into a situation like that.
“You have to let Kristoff and me help.”
Sly glared at him. “While you’re in a wheelchair?”
“Shoot us up with adrenaline. It’ll bring our wolves back and accelerate healing. I don’t care what the doctors have to say,” Lucas continued as Sly opened his mouth, already knowing what the argument would be. “They’ll let us go easy enough, seeing as we’re shifters. I promise you, if Miriam dies, you won’t have us around much longer anyway.”
Sly slowly closed his mouth and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You know it’s true,” Lucas urged, lowering his voice. “What would you do if you lost Chloe?”
“You, Kristoff, and Miriam, then?”
“Well, Chloe did just point out that I lost my mate.”
Sly sighed. “I knew it. I just…” he shook his head. “How do you think she would feel if she could hear you right now?”
“She’d be furious with me.” Lucas smiled wryly. His heart pricked, and he clenched his hands. “But I don’t have time to worry about what she’d feel, Sly. You know I don’t. So please. Let us do this. We can drive to the cabins we know of on the mountain, so it’s not like we’ll be tearing up our insides again. Please. Otherwise, you know we’ll chew off our hands to get out of here and look for her.”
Sly growled and kicked the wall. But he nodded, and relief washed over Lucas. “Fine. We shoot you up and you take extra adrenaline with you just in case
. But you do not take any unnecessary risks. Understood? You find them, and you don’t engage.”
Lucas nodded. “Yes, sir. If we find them we’ll report back to you before we engage.”
“Did I fucking stutter? I said don’t engage. Period.” Sly glared at him with all the power and strength of an alpha.
Lucas ducked his head. “We won’t engage,” he lied. “Now can we get going on this? We don’t have any time to waste.”
Chapter Fourteen
The ropes cut into her ankles and wrists as the hard edge of the chair she sat in cut off the circulation below her knees. Charles had tied her so tightly that she couldn’t move half an inch to relieve the pressure on her body. Her mouth was dry, tasting of bile. Her head throbbed, and the chill of the damp room worked through her thin nightgown, making goosebumps rise on her skin.
The floor and walls were wooden, but Miriam had no idea where she might be. Everything was a confusing blur. She hadn’t even regained consciousness until she was already tied up. Charles was nowhere in sight. A naked black light swung from the ceiling. Her eyes strained to see anything that she could use, but there was nothing.
Miriam grunted as she struggled against the ropes holding her, but it was useless.
Blinding light poured into the room as the door opened. Miriam flinched back, crying out as the light stabbed her eyes. They watered, smarting terribly. Before they had a chance to adjust, the door slammed shut. Once more the only light was from the black bulb above her. Only now her eyes were so blinded that she couldn’t see a thing, only hear movement around her.
“Your wolf friends are real idiots,” Charles’ voice was all the more frightening since she couldn’t see him, only the glowing flash of his white teeth. “They think that just because a vampire can’t have sunlight on their skin it means we have no way to work around that.”
“They’ll figure out where you are,” Miriam gasped, her heart pounding.
Charles laughed. “No, they won’t. They’re all in the tunnels, following the false trails I left. I’m very good at this sort of thing, Miriam. I’ve never been caught before.”
“What does that mean?” she lifted her head, blinking the flashing lights from her vision. He took off a leather jacket and tossed it over a shaded motorcycle helmet. So that was how he kept the sunlight off of him. “Never been caught doing what?”
“Oh, I don’t think we need to get into that. Your innocent little ears can’t handle it.” Charles grinned, his fangs glowing beneath the black light. “Let’s just say I have experience in this sort of thing, shall we? And your friends are never going to find you. They are too arrogant to look here.”
They were above ground. That much was clear. Miriam’s heart raced as she tugged at the ropes again. If she could just get away, maybe Charles would have difficulty following? Even in his getup there had to be some effect from the sun on him… didn’t there?
“Can you untie me? Please?” she ducked her head, deliberately making herself look weaker. She made her voice tremble, surprised that it didn’t just go there naturally. With how often and how easily he had made her cry in the past, she would have thought that it would be a Pavlovian response by now. But instead, anger, thick and hot, poured through her veins. He wanted to hurt the boys—and she wasn’t going to let him. But she whimpered, making herself seem like the same fragile girl he always liked breaking. “I can’t feel my hands.”
“But how else can I be sure you won’t try to run away?” Charles threw a pair of gloves with the rest of his outfit.
Miriam flinched as he came closer. “What do you want, Charles?”
“I already told you what I want. I want my boys back. You are only their aunt, Miriam. They’re my boys. I’m their father. Don’t you think I deserve to know where they are?”
Miriam bent her head more, letting her hair fall over her face. Their father? Maybe, but they didn’t belong to him! She whimpered out her next words, “But… they said that you crave the blood of your relatives—”
“You’re really going to listen to those mangy beasts over your own brother, Miriam? They took you as a slave!” Charles knelt beside her, resting a hand on her knee. “You can’t tell me that you’re going to believe them over me.”
“How do you know?”
“What?” Charles’ sounded taken aback.
Miriam lifted her head. Her hair still fell over her face and in the dim light she couldn’t see much of Charles’ face, but the feeling of strength and determination was only growing in her. “How do you know that we were playing slave games?”
“Those weren’t games—”
“How do you know?”
Charles shut his mouth. He seemed to consider it before he said softly, “You don’t think that I haven’t been watching out for you? You’re my only sister, Miriam. I’m going to look out for you. I figured it out. And I’m sorry for taking you away like I did. I’m sorry for tying you up. I’m sorry for not writing. The truth was, I was ashamed. I didn’t want you or the boys to see me like this. But now I know I was made into a vampire for a reason.”
Miriam shivered, both to make him think she was more afraid than she was and to repress the desire to shout at him. “Reason?”
He didn’t seem to notice that the tremble had left her voice. “I can make sure that you and the boys are taken care of for eternity. I can control my bloodlust, Miriam. Don’t be afraid.” He brushed the hair from her face. “I’ll make sure you learn how to control yours as well.”
Her eyes widened as the air left her lungs. He meant to turn them into vampires? Or was he lying, to try to make her trust him? “You want… to turn the boys?”
“Yes.” Charles nodded. His eyes glowed beneath the black light, making her shudder. “Everybody wants to be Peter Pan, don’t you think? To be a kid forever?”
Miriam shuddered again. “No! No, you can’t do that.”
Charles’ gentle hand became rough and closed around her throat, hard and merciless. “What was that?”
Miriam pulled back, trying to put distance between her neck and his hand, but it was useless. She could feel the strength of his fingers. If he wanted to, he could break her neck as easily as if she was a twig. Bile rose up in her throat, and she fought the urge to cringe. The anger and determination still burned strongly in her, but fear was making its presence known.
Ever since she was little, Charles would bully her. It didn’t matter what it was for, he always had to make sure she knew he was far more important than she ever could be.
Their parents had let him. Because he was the son, the golden boy who would carry on the family name, the family business, really make something of himself. She was just the girl who would marry into someone else’s family and stay home and have kids—until she wasn’t even good enough for that. The last conversation with her mother had been filled with her mother asking questions like ‘Are you sure?’ and ‘Maybe there is something that doctors can do.’ and ‘How will you ever get married now?’.
So many years. So much pain. It could all end today with Charles breaking her neck. And he would do it if she made him angry enough.
“You know, this is why you’re not married, Miriam,” Charles growled, that false softness gone. “You’re nothing but a useless dead weight. God! I’m ashamed you’re even my sister. You’re trying to keep me from my boys, aren’t you? You’re jealous that I have kids when you will never be a mother. But whose fault is that? Maybe if you weren’t such a slut you wouldn’t have broken your womb.”
He released her and she sucked in a shuddering breath. Don’t listen to him. Don’t listen. He is just trying to break you down so that you give away where the boys are.
“I don’t have to turn you, you know,” Charles said softly, hiding in the shadows right beside her, only the flash of his fangs visible. “Your wolf friend was right. The desire to drink a relative’s blood… it’s strong. I could just drain you dry and find the boys myself. What do you think of that?”
She flinched back as he snapped his teeth together right beside her ear. She panted, the fear getting ever stronger. But even though she was starting to feel weak, it didn’t mean she was anywhere close to breaking. No. Those boys were going to be safe.
“If you cared, you wouldn’t be threatening to kill me. I don’t think you want to turn the boys. I think you want to drink their blood. I love them more than you are capable of.” She lifted her head once more and glowered at him with all her strength. “I am not going to let you hurt them again. I will die first.”
“You selfish bitch.” Charles paced around her, circling her like a vulture. Miriam got the feeling that he was contemplating how best to kill her. Or was he going to torture her first? “You’re going to make them grow old and die, aren’t you? You’re jealous because you’re never going to amount to anything and so they aren’t allowed to either, is that right?”
She kept her lips sealed, knowing that he was toying with her. He wanted her to burst out, to give him an inch so he could rip her apart. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see him. Wouldn’t have to see that hateful face. Her heart ached, knowing that he was going to kill her. Part of her wanted to rage against that. She was his sister! How could he do this to his own sister? His own children?
But Charles never cared about anybody but Charles. He’d left the boys with her without warning enough times to prove that. Just showed up and said they were her problems now. How many times had she soothed their tears and tried to assure them that Daddy didn’t hate them?
It would have been better for all of them, she realized, if he had just disappeared from their lives. Even if the question of what had happened would have haunted them, she wished that he had died while he was somewhere on one of his trips. So that she and the boys never had to deal with him again. Was it wicked of her to wish that her brother was dead?
Is it wicked for me to wish he was dead rather than standing here, wanting to kill me and the boys?
Charles cut one of her arms free. Miriam’s eyes flew open and her head jerked up. But he wasn’t freeing her. Her other hand was still tightly bound, and Charles had such a hold on her that she couldn’t break free. His teeth seemed to glow even brighter as he shoved her sleeve up past her elbow.
Enslaved by the Wolves Page 9
