Ascended Page 5

  Vanne nodded. “There’s more. Marita has Caia’s pack under guard. They’re all holed up at Lucien’s home, surrounded by magiks. Lucien, Ryder, and the pack children were all taken. I know Lucien and Ryder are in the containment center, but I have no idea what she has done with the children.”

  The blood rushed in Caia’s ears. That witch had Lucien and the kids and Ryder! Without thought, Caia burst out of the room, racing with an ever-thrashing heartbeat through the mansion toward the trio. She burst into the reception area. “We need to get them back!”

  Annoyance flickered across the vampyre’s face. “I might have known you were following Nikolai’s trace rather than doing what we asked you to do.” He gestured toward the scroll crushed in her hand.

  At the direction of his gaze, Caia tucked the Septum behind her back. “I’m not doing anything for you unless you help me.” She turned pointedly to Vanne. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  He at least had the decency to look sheepish. “Hi.”

  “The children,” Caia addressed them all abruptly. “She is experimenting on them. When I was at the Center, I followed her into the Altar of Gaia. She has a secret basement lab underneath the altar. I know she’s experimenting on lykan children because I saw it for myself, but I suspect she’s also experimenting on vampyres.”

  “What?”

  “Aah, something you don’t know, Mr. 479 BC.”

  “Oh good, you were listening.”

  She grunted in annoyance before continuing, “We need to get back to the pack and save them, and then somehow, we need to get into the Center and free Lucien, Ryder, and the Council. And we have to get those kids out of there. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I have a feeling it’s connected to the fact that Jaeden has particular abilities after being tortured by Ethan.”

  Nikolai looked aghast. “You don’t think she’s torturing the children, do you?”

  Caia sighed. “It didn’t look like torture exactly. There were chemicals and test tubes … who knows. We just have to get in there.”

  Reuben sighed. “You’re giving me a headache. If you calm down, I will come up with a plan.”

  Her eyes widened hopefully. “You’re going to help me?”

  “I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

  4

  Prisoners

  The ugly truth is, a magik could take a lykan in human form anytime, anywhere. Hence why he was here now, staring at a bright white ceiling, clenching his teeth and fists in rage. When Lucien had woken up in this cell with Ryder by his side, he’d not been surprised to see Marita glaring at them from the other side of the Plexiglas. He had been surprised by the first words out of her mouth, however.

  “So the little monster is missing?” she hissed in outrage. “And unless you two are extremely good at hiding things from me, you don’t have her.”

  “Why don’t you let us out of here, you insane bitch, and then we’ll talk.” Ryder said.

  Marita’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “I want to know where Caia is now, or I won’t be so kind in my experiments on the pack children. Stop shutting your minds to me and tell me everyone who has been in touch with you.”

  If Lucien hadn’t been so shocked by her line of questioning, he would’ve pounced (an idiotic mistake since the Plexiglas was magikally electrified). His frown of deep concern was unmistakable. “You mean you don’t have her?”

  “Don’t play games with me, Lucien.”

  “I’m not!” He growled, springing to his feet. “Do you or do you not have her?”

  Marita sighed. “No. I don’t. I thought you might know something. Now I see you don’t.”

  His mind whirled with the possibilities. Who had Caia? What did they want with her?

  Ryder seemed to sense his slow unraveling and answered for him. “She was taken a few hours before your guard arrived. We thought you’d kidnapped her.”

  “Clearly you were wrong.” Marita huffed and turned to the guard behind her. “I want her found. Go back to Lucien’s home and look for any evidence of her kidnapping. I will have a look at the trace, see what I can find.”

  She left without another word.

  As he lay there, Lucien’s mind tripped over and over again his last moments with Caia, and he began traveling toward dark conclusions. His heart picked up and his only outlet was to let rip a garble of snarling growls that built into a howl. It did nothing to ease his fear over Caia. He felt impotent and lost. Desperate. But he knew those feelings weren’t going to get him any closer to finding her. He knew he needed to maintain his self-control if he was going to escape in time to find her before …

  At his sudden silence, he heard Ryder sigh from behind him. “After that, at least the Council members know they’re not alone down here.”

  Ryder’s words sunk in. Crap. Lucien growled. Crap, of course.

  “What? What did I say?” Ryder asked wide-eyed as Lucien spun on him.

  “If the Council can’t get out of here, how the hell are we going to? No wonder she stuck us in here together.”

  “Come on, man, we just need to think of a plan.”

  What if Caia was already gone? What if one of the Midnights had gotten wind of her existence and had snuck up on her before Caia knew what was happening? What if she was lying somewhere …

  Feeling his chest constrict, Lucien braced himself against the wall of the cell, fighting to catch a breath.

  “Lucien, you have to calm down. Jeez, I never took you for the claustrophobic kind.”

  “It’s not that.” He scored his nails down the brickwork, ignoring each pop of broken skin and the prickles of blood.

  He felt the moment when his friend understood. His stillness caught hold of Lucien and pressed even harder on his chest.

  “We’ll find her.”

  “And if it’s too late when we do?” At the words he felt the prick of tears, the painful grip of grief clogging his throat.

  “She’s not dead,” Ryder promised. “You would feel if she were gone. And this is Caia Ribeiro we’re talking about here. She’s a frickin’ nuclear warhead. Have a little faith.”

  The pressure eased a little. “You think?”

  “I know.”

  Slowly, his breathing grew less labored and he turned to Ryder. “Sorry.”

  “No need. If I thought for a second something had happened to Jae, I would be ripping this place apart.”

  “We’re lucky Jaeden’s quick. They couldn’t touch her once she was in wolf form. And it looks like Caia was right about Marita wanting her specifically. She was more than a little pissed off she couldn’t get to Jae.”

  Ryder grinned proudly. “Yup, plus she got a few slices in while they grabbed us.”

  “Sorry you didn’t get your wedding night.”

  His friend shrugged lazily. “We’ll be out of here soon enough.”

  “You really are an optimistic son of a bitch, aren’t you?”

  “Have to be.” Ryder frowned. “She’s got the kids. And I’m guessing she’s got them in that lab Caia told us about. We have to get out of here and get those kids back to the pack.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Lucien spun at the voice that had caused Ryder’s eyes to narrow in disgust.

  “Marion,” Lucien snarled. “How nice of you to show up.”

  Her presence was like a punch to his gut. All these years she’d been a close friend of the pack, one of Magnus’s best friends, in fact. Now she had betrayed them just as her sister had betrayed the coven. He was about to spit and vent his fear over Caia and his fury over his predicament in her face, when he took in her appearance. The witch flinched at his tone, her pale features wan and drawn. Her mouth was pinched with strain and her eyes dark with distress.

  “I … I don’t know what’s going on here, Lucien,” she whispered, drawing slowly closer to the Plexiglas. “I can’t stay. She doesn’t know I’m here.”

  As the truth of the situation hit him, he deflated, his ang
er just as suddenly replaced with reluctant sympathy for her. “She’s threatened you?”

  Marion nodded. “With imprisonment.”

  “You know the Council didn’t do anything wrong.”

  She threw up her hands. “Lucien, I don’t know anything. I thought I believed her about the Council … maybe … I don’t know. But taking you and Ryder? Telling me Caia betrayed the Coven?”

  Lucien growled, rushing forward. He almost blasted into the Plexiglas without thought, but Ryder was fast, grabbing hold of his shirt and tugging him back. “Caia didn’t betray the coven. She found out your sister was playing with the dark side.”

  Marion shook her head, her wide eyes filled with fear and confusion. “No. No. She couldn’t be … we … our family are the ones who put the coven to right.”

  “Then why did she take the pack kids?”

  Marion frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Lucien snorted. “You’re telling me you didn’t see us come to the Center with all the pack kids in tow?”

  “I missed your arrival.”

  “That’s a nice way to put it. Almost as if we came here by choice.”

  “Lucien, I’m so sorry. Maybe if I could speak to Caia—”

  “CAIA’S GONE!” he roared, causing her to stumble back in shock.

  “Lucien,” Ryder cajoled, pulling him back. Ryder turned more gently to Marion. “Caia was kidnapped before we were. Not by your sister. We don’t know who has her.”

  The witch stiffened. “How is that possible? Are you sure it was kidnap?”

  Ryder snarled this time. “Her blood was at the scene of the kidnap.”

  “Oh goddess,” Marion gasped, running her trembling hands through her wild hair as she digested the news. Finally, she looked up, her face taut with determination. “I’ll find her.”

  “So your sister can have her killed?” Lucien spat.

  Marion appeared appalled by the idea. “No … she would never …”

  “Before you go making any statements of assurance on your sister’s high moral standing, why don’t you go into the Altar of Gaia. To the right of the statue, you’ll find a small metal stud embedded in the marble flooring. The slab opens up, revealing an entrance to an underground lab, where your sister is running illegal experiments on lykan children. Possibly even vampyres.”

  A bit of her usual fire flared in her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Would you believe Caia? She’s the one who found it. That’s the reason she went to the Council. They were investigating her claims. I guess they found out it was true. Otherwise why would Marita have them imprisoned?”

  She shook her head, dazed … “No,” she whispered.

  Lucien sighed and stepped slowly toward her. “Marion, please. We need your help. Please just check it out. If we’re right, you have to get us out of here. We have to free the Council and those children.”

  At her continued silence, Lucien pushed, “Please, Marion …”

  “I have to go,” she blurted, and as suddenly as she had appeared, she was gone.

  Ryder looked over at him. “Do you think she’ll check it out?”

  Marita was still Head of the Coven, and despite the controversy over her imprisonment of the Council, a majority of the Daylights at the Center still seemed to trust her. It didn’t help matters that she’d won them a number of great victories over the last few months (all of which were Caia’s doing, but most Daylights didn’t know that). She was a powerful being, and one with a hell of a lot of support. It would be foolish to go against her. Especially a Daylight. She could see the treachery coming in the trace if she thought to look. And he was guessing Marita was keeping a close eye on the major players, including her very own sister.

  Lucien dropped to the floor, pressing his back against the wall. “I don’t know. Marion is a brave woman, but sometimes going into battle is easier than facing the awful truth.”

  Life as a lykan was growing increasingly dull. For instance, there were very few ways to express yourself—there really was only so much growling and snapping you could do. Jaeden huffed and once more circled her mother’s legs. She felt the stroke of her mom’s fingers through her fur and relaxed a little. Yes. She needed to relax so she could come up with a plan. Her wolf eyes took in the pack, excluding all six of the pack children who’d been taken. She growled again, worrying over the fate of her beautiful, innocent niece, Jaela, and Jaela’s three cousins.

  Sebastian’s parents sat in the corner clinging to one another, the remainder of their family—Seana and Sunday—also taken, leaving them momentarily childless. A sort of numbness seemed to have descended over them, and Jaeden let out a small howl in sympathy. Her mother’s hand swept through her coat again and she trembled, trying to rein in her anxiety. She had to think. Think.

  The pack was stuck inside Lucien’s house, with a spell around it keeping them trapped inside. She could smell five magiks surrounding the house. There had been more when they first came. Marita used her opportunity well, descending on her and Ryder’s mating celebrations as soon she realized Caia wasn’t going to come so easily.

  Caia, she whined. She could still smell her blood on the car outside. What had happened to her friend? And it was bad enough being parted from Ryder, their night stolen from them, but for the pack to lose their Alpha … on top of having the children taken and not knowing why (although she had the unsettling feeling it had something to do with the lab Caia said she’d found). The pack was shaken. Frightened. Desolate, without the guidance of their young leader, and in no frame of mind to take on the Head of the Coven.

  They all feared the worst, but Jae would know if something had happened to Ryder. He was going to be okay. He and Lucien were together, looking out for one another. Still … she would feel a lot better if she had some kind of plan to get him back.

  Hmm.

  Jaeden padded away from her mother and wandered into the kitchen. A magik stood on the porch, but he was a few meters from the kitchen doors.

  She was fast. Perhaps not as fast as Caia and Lucien, but fast enough to get past the magik.

  Plus, it wasn’t like he could do anything to her while she was in lykan form. Her head swiveled and she gazed toward the hallway. She wished she could tell her parents where she was going.

  Bracing herself mentally, she hopped up onto the kitchen table, backing toward the near edge.

  One. Two. Three.

  She sped along the long wooden tabletop and as she neared the end of its length, she leapt, pushing her wolf body with enough force to smash through the glass of the kitchen door. Ignoring the fragments that sliced through her skin and clung to her pelt, Jaeden shot down the porch and into the woods, delighting in the outraged shouts of the magik behind her.

  Five minutes into the forest, she felt guilty leaving the pack when she was their only defense, but she needed to get to Vil and Laila. Three heads were better than her lousy one, especially when it was clouded with fury and fear.

  She followed the woods along the highway. Then there was the difficult task of keeping out of sight as she made her way through town. Garbage cans and cars came in handy, but when she turned up a back alleyway a few blocks from Ryder’s apartment building, she surprised a drunk who mistook her for a dog. He kept scrambling at her and even managed to grab her tail. With a huff of unease, Jaeden swiped at his trouser leg, creating shallow scratches across his skin. He howled as though he had been shredded, and Jae used the moment to bounce off the wall and soar behind him, dropping to the ground with ease before running out the other end of the alley.

  Making it to the apartment led to another problem. She had to wait forever for someone to come out of the building to get in; sneaking past as if invisible was impossible. The woman who opened the door shrieked in terror, clearly not mistaking her for anything other than what she was. Jaeden raced up the staircase and slammed into Ryder’s door, hoping Vil would be suspicious enough to check the peephole. That woman would be calling animal
control, and Jae really needed to be back in human form before they got there.

  Her racing heart almost stopped when the door peeled away from the jamb slowly and cautiously. She didn’t give him a second to hesitate. She threw herself into the gap and past him with her lykan strength and gave a wolfy laugh at Vil’s shocked “Hey!”

  She shot past a startled Laila, who dived out of her way, and loped into Ryder’s room, his scent enveloping her and bringing her anger back to the surface.

  She missed him.

  He’d only been gone a little over twenty-four hours, but she missed him with every molecule of her being. She wished he were here. Helping her through this. She whacked the door shut for privacy and began to change, reveling in the burn and crack of the transformation. Finally, she lay in human form, her body drenched in sweat. That was the fastest she’d ever gone through the change.

  At the sounds of Vil and Laila’s anxious whispering, Jae struggled to her feet and rummaged through Ryder’s clothes. She found a large Death Cab T-shirt and a pair of shorts, the waist of which was held up with one of his belts. She opened the bedroom door only to be confronted by Vil, who in his nervousness shot out a stream of energy. A wave of nausea overcame her.

  “Jaeden!” he yelped, and the overwhelming feeling disappeared. “I’m so sorry … we just … I was …”

  “It’s fine,” she assured him, brushing off his apology. “I get it. It’s okay.”

  “Are you all right?” Laila approached cautiously. “Something … is wrong … yes?”

  “You bet.”

  After ushering them into the living room, Jaeden explained the full scope of the situation.

  Vil paled considerably. “What are we going to do?”

  Jaeden looked at them wide-eyed. “I don’t suppose you guys would consider helping me take out those guards?”

  “Of course.”

  “What? Are you crazy?”

  Their replies came in unison. Jaeden laughed. She wasn’t surprised. For all her gentleness and appearance of fragility, Laila was brave and strong from her experiences. Vil … well, he just didn’t want anything bad to happen to Laila.