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  Grief marred Saffron’s every word, and Caia shook her head in denial. “No. Take me to her.”

  “Caia—” Reuben tried to interrupt.

  “No!” she yelled, angry tears blurring her vision.

  “She’s gone, Caia,” Saffron whispered, her own tears rolling quietly down her cheeks. “She’s dead.”

  6

  Compartmentalizing

  “I can’t take much more of this man.” Ryder’s grumble reached him from his place on the floor. The Hunter was sitting with his back against the cold brick wall, his knees drawn to his chest and his head tilted back to stare blankly at the ceiling. Lucien wondered if the ceiling was any more interesting than the blank wall he was staring at from his seat on the metal bench at the back of the cell.

  Another few hours passed, and yet it could have been days. Their constant worrying over Caia and the pack had filled the cell with so much tension, Lucien was sure one spark would blow the whole place up.

  “I can’t hear anyone else down here. Can you?” Lucien asked softly.

  “Nope. Not a damn thing.”

  Lucien grunted. They had tried to let the change happen, to shift into lykan form numerous times, but there was no getting past the spell cast around the cell preventing them from doing it. This helplessness was sure to drive him crazy. If not that, then the constant images of Caia would. He growled and threw his memory of finding her blood on the car out of his mind.

  “Lucien?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Uh-huh. Just think about other stuff.”

  Despite his dismal mood, he found himself smirking at his friend. “It is scary how well you know me.”

  Ryder chuckled. “Nah, it’s just scary how other people think you’re actually hard to read.”

  Scowling, Lucien scoffed, “I am hard to read. I’ve perfected being hard to read. If I weren’t, Caia wouldn’t have taken so damn long to come to her senses now, would she?”

  “Not to criticize your mate, but she’s kinda dense when it comes to you. I mean … she’s attracted to you for a start.”

  “I could say the same thing about Jaeden.”

  “When Jae agreed to be my mate, she provided the world with an example of her supreme intellectual and emotional superiority.”

  Lucien snorted. “I’d like—”

  “Ssh,” Ryder interrupted, gesturing for him to be silent. He jumped to his feet noiselessly.

  Immediately Lucien’s own ears perked up, and he heard approaching footsteps. They shared a wary glance just before Marita appeared. His heart, seeming to perceive something he didn’t, pumped loudly in his chest at the sight of her. Usually so together, so coiffed, Marita stood before them somewhat disheveled, her eyes filled with a war of emotions.

  “I’ve come to update you,” she informed them crisply, hollowly. “My sister, under your suggestion, found the laboratory. She was … unwilling to reach an agreement with me and foolishly tried to fight me off.” She stopped as if trying to compose herself, and when she looked back at him, he was almost knocked off his feet by the fury he saw there. “She took the children on a suicide mission.”

  Ryder tensed. Lucien cleared his throat, hating to ask. “What does that mean?”

  Marita hissed like a snake readying to strike. “She did a communication spell with five children clinging to her. I know her destination was her faerie Saffron’s, where, despite much investigation, I’ve never been able to find—treacherous bitch. I know she reached there.” She stiffened and bleakness flashed across her eyes before disappearing altogether. “I know the children survived. I know she died. The spell is too much for any witch or warlock, no matter how powerful.”

  What? Was she saying?

  “Is …” He shared a brief look of horror with Ryder. “Is Marion dead?”

  Marita nodded, her lips pinched cruelly. “Thanks to you.”

  His blood boiled. “Thanks to me? Thanks to you! What am I supposed to tell Caia? I will kill you for this! I will—”

  His last words were cut off as he was blasted against the wall, his head connecting with eye-watering accuracy on one of the shelving units. He slumped to the floor trying to focus his vision. In all that pain, all he could think about was how devastated Caia was going to be. Marion meant the world to her.

  “I don’t care what Caia thinks,” Marita clipped. “She was my sister. This is my pain, not hers! Any thoughts I had of granting mercy to that little perversion of nature you call a mate is gone now. She is the reason our coven is falling apart, that my sister, one of the greatest magiks of our time, killed herself trying to save some low-bred lykan pups!”

  “Do you hear yourself?” Ryder countered as Lucien got to his feet. “You sound like a Midnight.”

  Marita flinched. “How dare you? I have no racial prejudice against other species, but no society, natural or supernatural, can survive without class order. My sister, a witch of noble lineage, should not have had to die for five common lykans.”

  A growl erupted from Lucien’s chest so abruptly, he was just as taken aback as the insane witch in front of him. “Your sister was a hero. She upheld her place within your ‘noble lineage’ as you call it. You … have shit all over it. And you can bet when you travel to the Underworld, the dead won’t be as understanding as the idiots in this Center pandering to your lunacy.”

  Marita made no comment but Lucien was satisfied by the pallor of her skin. She narrowed her eyes and straightened her shoulders, pretending his words hadn’t affected her. “I just came to warn you that your time is nearly up. I will be executing the Council in a few days and with them … I will be executing you. By then I hope to have found your precious mate so she can witness your death. Before I send her to her own.”

  She couldn’t catch her breath. She could feel the others hovering outside the bedroom door, their worry and grief adding to the thick claustrophobia she felt clawing at her throat. How could Marion be dead?

  A sob caught in the back of her throat, but she refused to let the tears spill. They all thought she was in here crying her heart out, but in truth, she was trying to plug the hole the death had made in it. She was trying to force her brain to switch off, to pretend that Marion was alive, that she hadn’t died protecting the children Caia had left alone down in that lab. Oh goddess, it was like losing Sebastian all over again.

  No, she snarled at herself, shaking her head as if she could empty the thoughts right out of her ears.

  “Caia,” Reuben’s cool voice filtered through the door.

  She took a deep breath. She could do this. She had no other choice but to do this. Slowly, she made her way to the door and peeled it open, unsurprised by the four anxious faces staring back at her. Caia frowned. “Where is Saffron?”

  Jaeden’s lip trembled a little. “She’s gone back to look after the children. She’s keeping them safe while we …” She stopped, her huge blue eyes glimmering with pity. “Caia, are you going to be okay

  ?”

  She shouldered past them, quite a feat considering how small she was compared to the three of them acting as a wall. “I don’t want to discuss it.”

  “But Cy—”

  “I said I don’t want to discuss it.” She whirled on them, completely unaware of how much she looked and sounded like a young queen commanding her army to obey. Jaeden stiffened a little but nodded, clamping her mouth shut. Reuben stared at Caia in admiration (unnerving, to say the least) while Vil looked uncomfortable. Laila, however, slowly moved toward her and Caia braced herself. If the girl said anything comforting, she knew she was going to fall apart. But the Midnight merely placed a soothing hand on her shoulder and said, “We should go to the Council members’ families at once, Caia.”

  At her touch, an almost medicinal peace flowed through Caia, and the lump at the back of her throat eased, her lungs opening to allow the air to flow freely.

  “You’re right.” She nodded, feeling far more confident she could continue on with the plan, d
espite her grief.

  Jaeden strode forward, the pity gone from her face to be replaced with a far more familiar determination and mulishness. “We aren’t going anywhere until we rescue the pack.”

  “Jaeden—” Reuben began to warn her, but Caia help up a hand to quiet him. She took a brief moment to enjoy the little power she had over the formidable vampyre.

  “She’s right.” Caia nodded. “We’re taking the pack back first.”

  “That gives us less time to gather the families of the Council and the MacLachlan pack.”

  “How so?” Jae glared at him.

  “Because Marita must be checking in with her guards that surround the pack. What happens when she checks in and she gets no answer?”

  Jae curled her lip sardonically. “What … you can’t muddle their trace with that masking trick of yours so that she thinks everything is alright?”

  “Uh …” Reuben stopped and scowled at her. “Yes. I can do that.”

  Jaeden chortled at her little victory. “Not so much with the smarts, are you?”

  “I’ve just been given very trying news. Marion was a good person and a portentous ally. Forgive me if I’m not thinking straight.”

  At the mention of the witch, they all tensed, waiting for Caia to react. She glared at the vampyre. “The big bad vampyre, who would sacrifice his own children for this war, actually feels grief?”

  His dark eyes narrowed and he looked nothing like a young gang leader and very much like a dangerously old being that could rip them apart in seconds. “Don’t provoke me, Caia. I am not in the mood.”

  Caia stared back stonily. “Neither am I. So let’s move.”

  7

  Ambushed

  Birds twittered and squawked in the trees, insects buzzed around her ears, and the wind rustled every piece of foliage its fingers brushed against. Her pounding heart provided the back drumbeat to their musical surroundings, and as her pale hair got caught gently in the breeze, Caia was sure the guards surrounding Lucien’s must be able to hear and see them hiding in the sullen cover of the woods. She glanced back at Laila and Vil who had refused to be left alone at Ryder’s apartment. Caia had given into their wishes because she was sure she would need Vil at some point. For now, however, she had them hiding behind a couple of trees, farther back from herself and Jaeden.

  “Where is he?” Jae hissed, her hands clenched into fists.

  Caia raised a finger to her lips, her eyes telling her to be patient.

  “It’s done.”

  They both jumped, startled, and turned to find Reuben inches from Caia. She stepped back, uncomfortable with his nearness. He was possibly the most unnerving person she’d ever met. By “it’s done,” they both knew Reuben meant he had successfully manipulated each of the five guards’ trace, so that if Marita tapped in to see if everything was all right, she would find nothing but a mixture of bored thoughts and loyal determination to do a good job. Moreover, he was masking the trace of the entire pack so Marita would think they were still under guard. Caia almost shuddered in apprehension at the thought of the vampyre’s seemingly unlimited abilities.

  “OK.” Caia nodded, drawing a breath. “Are we ready?”

  After a successful attack on Midnight magiks in similar surroundings a few weeks ago, Caia had assumed her nerves over going into battle again would be few, but it seemed she still had enough butterflies in her to open a riotous farm. Jae nodded militantly and quickly stripped, Reuben watching avidly. Rolling her eyes, Caia reached up and grabbed him by the chin, forcing him to look away. He grinned unabashed and turned his attention to her face. She tried not to squirm under his penetrating gaze, but she would give anything to know what was going on in the vampyre’s mind.

  At the cracking of bones, Caia felt a rush of unexpected envy. She used to love the feel of the change, the burning, the breaking and bending. Now she changed so fast, all she ever felt was a quick flush of hot energy. It left her with that irritating feeling of when your back aches and you know if you could just crack it, you’d be satisfied.

  Something wet touched her hand, and she looked down to see Jae nuzzling her nose into her open palm. Caia smiled reassuringly down at her and gave her the nod. Wolf Jae turned in an instant and rushed through the woods in a blur. They heard the distant cry of two guards, and they were off.

  She wasn’t as fast on two legs as she was on four, but Caia was faster than the average human. Reuben … was a streak of movement. Caia knew he was heading for the magik guarding the back porch. As she raced around the edge of the house, she saw he had a hold of the magik by the neck. A loud sickening crack reached her ears. Oh my.

  She squeezed her eyes shut briefly and then forced her flight to the driveway to confront the two magiks Jaeden was momentarily distracting. Their cries had alerted the other two guards, and they were heading toward them from opposite ends of the grounds. Pushing away any gentle feelings, Caia pressed her magik into the approaching guards’ lungs and they both collapsed, clutching their chests as water filled their airways. Seeing the downing of their comrades, the other magiks turned on Caia. Jaeden took that moment of distraction to lunge at the one closest to her.

  Flooring him, she swiped at his face with her claws, eliciting a piercing scream of agony that was quietly culled by her jaws as they clamped onto his throat. The other warlock seemed to hesitate, deciding whether to save his friend or deal with Caia. His decision was made in seconds, and he turned on Caia. She threw up a shield to stop whatever energy he was pushing her way. His face mottled red with determination, his black eyes blazing with fury.

  A blur shot past the two magiks she’d suffocated and came to an abrupt stop behind the one trying to get past her shield with what she was sure was air magik. The blur cleared into Reuben, and his large hands gripped the warlock’s head before giving a forceful tug that removed it from his body. Caia watched in horror as his body fell away from the vampyre in a loud thump across the gravel. Reuben sneered and let the head roll from his hands to land in the bloody pool that oozed from his victim’s decapitated corpse.

  It was only as he turned to look down at Jaeden that Caia remembered her. Jae was hacking up the blood of her own victim, and Caia knew all too well how disgusting the taste and feel of death was.

  “What now?” Caia gestured a little shakily to them. “Marita wouldn’t have felt the attack but won’t she feel their deaths? Won’t it be like … white noise?” She felt a little stupid for not having thought that part through … more than a little stupid, really.

  Reuben’s lips twisted as if he was insulted by the mere suggestion he would’ve been idiotic enough to not have thought out every second of the attack. “The manipulation can last past death as long as something of their physical body remains.”

  She shook her head in amazement. “If Marita ever knew of your existence, you would be enemy number one, you know that, right?”

  He snorted. “Caia, she does know of my existence. She would just prefer to believe I am merely a legend, a myth … makes it easier to sleep at night.”

  “If you’re so powerful, why didn’t you take over years ago?”

  Reuben laughed, his eyes glittering darkly. “This really isn’t the time for that discussion. But the short answer is … I’m just not interested.”

  Laughing, Caia strode past him, stroking her fingers through Jae’s pelt in comfort as she walked into the house.

  “Caia!” Magnus yelled. He’d obviously detected her scent amid the sounds of the disturbance outside. The thundering of feet could be heard from all over the house as people rushed to the entrance.

  Magnus was the first to reach her, and she was dragged into a crushing hug. She felt his lips in her hair and the shudder of his relief, and as she breathed in his familiar scent, Caia felt a rush of painful affection. Marion. She’d been one of Magnus’s closest friends. Caia would have to break the news to him.

  “Uncle Magnus.” She burrowed deeper into his chest.

  The e
xclamations of the pack got louder when Jaeden and Reuben entered. Caia managed to pull back from her uncle’s tight grip to see Dimitri and Julia hovering over Jaeden, aghast at the blood on her muzzle. Christian and Lucia stood close by, clinging to one another, grief over the kidnap of their toddler tightening their features.

  “Caia!” She felt herself being yanked out of Magnus’s arms and into Irini’s. At the feel of her sister-in-law’s trembling, Caia felt a rush of emotion she wasn’t expecting. All the years Irini had looked after her, Caia had wondered if the lykan had resented her existence. But her tight hug, and the way she pulled back to brush the hair from Caia’s face, told her something she had missed all this time. Irini cared for her, truly and deeply. She smiled tremulously, not sure if she could handle any more sentimental outbursts.

  “We were so worried,” Irini whispered, her eyes bright with unshed tears. Aidan stood by her side, his hand on her shoulder. “Lucien was … I’ve never seen him so …”

  Caia blanched. “He must be thinking the worst.”

  “Caia, he’s been taken,” Aidan announced, causing the riot in the hallway to dissipate. “So have Ryder and the children—”

  “I know.” She nodded, turning to look at them all.

  She didn’t have a chance to say anything more before she Ella embraced her. “Caia, I am so sorry.” The words tumbled out of Lucien’s mother’s mouth in an incredible flood of remorse. “You were right about Marita and everything and we—”

  “Yeah, we’re so sorry—”

  “Can you—”

  Feelings and apologies engulfed her as the pack urged her to forgive them for not believing her about Marita. She tried shushing them but to no avail. They were determined to have their say, and they were far louder than she was.

  “Quiet.” The vampyre didn’t raise his voice, but the pack puttered to a stop and stared sullenly at him.