Zacal had barely shifted into his wolf form when my teeth sank deep into his neck. Snarling, I ripped out his throat, and he fell limp to the ground. Tipping my head up, I howled as I stood over him, rage and revenge singing in my bones. The black wolf, Tristan, lifted weakly to his feet and limped over to Kasey. The outlier she’d fought was down, but Kasey lay bleeding, her breathing labored.
She shifted into human form, and black blood gushed from a deep slash that stretched across the length of her stomach. Tristan shifted to human form, and he frantically pressed his hands to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Blood flowed between his fingers, pooling onto the ground, and he let out a pained whine.
“Kasey,” he rasped, his voice tight, and his angry glare found me.
“Don’t,” Kasey wheezed. “It’s not Kade’s fault we’ve been so blind.”
Kasey peered at me, and for the first time since that night when my family was murdered, she didn’t look at me with loathing and anger. “I never knew Zacal helped kill the wolves. My brother’s death…” Blood gurgled from her mouth, and something rattled in her chest when she took a pained breath. “All this time, I blamed you, and I couldn’t see through my anger. Z-Zacal was half the alpha you would have been.” She coughed, and a tear leaked from the corner of her eye. “We’ve been lost for so long. Save our pack…Alpha. Go and find your mate.”
Alpha.In the past, I’d detested the word, the title, but now it made my chest swell and my ears straighten. I’d killed Zacal while he was in wolf form, and that made me alpha of the House of Worzel again. I’d stepped down before. I’d submitted to Zacal publicly and removed myself from the pack, but here I was. Rightful alpha to the pack once again.
“If what Kasey says is true, the wolves need to know that our alliance with Warrick was built on a lie,” Tristan growled quietly. “The vampire must pay for what he’s done.”
I nodded. Oh, I planned to make Warrick suffer.
Digging my paws into the mud, I ran for the door.
CHAPTER 21
~ Raine ~
Plop.Plop.Plop.Thesteady drip of water was loud in my ears, and I slowly cracked my eyes open. Pain pulsed in my head and radiated throughout my whole body.Goddess, did I get pummeled by an ogre?
The darkness was dimly lit by torches lining the walls around me, and I blinked rapidly as my eyes adjusted to the blue light. An image of Kasey’s gloating face formed in my mind, and it didn’t take me long to figure out the bitch had knocked me out.Where did she take me?
Aside from the stone slab I was cuffed to in the middle of the room, the large space was bare, with smooth white walls and a single iron door opposite me. The musty air smelled of earth and mildew, and I gaped in horror at the single tube that protruded from my aching right wrist. The tube was colored red, and it took me a moment to realize I was actually seeing my blood leaving my body and going somewhere beyond my line of sight. From the continuous dripping, I guessed there was a steel bucket below the slab I was on, much like when I’d found Prince Azaren not too long ago in Warrick’s lab. Nausea made me gag, and my head spun.But…I’m not in Warrick’s lab beneath the mountain.The room is the wrong shape, and none of his drawings or furniture are here. Was I taken to some secret location Locke and the others don’t know about?Panic shot through me at the thought.So much for the hope of them finding me.
My breathing became rapid as I tried yanking my hands upward, pulling against the cuffs and not caring when the metal rubbed painfully against my skin. I’m not really sure why I bothered trying. Like in the fae realm, the restraints held me fast, pinning me to the table like some sort of sick sacrifice.
What the fuck does he want with me?But it was a stupid question to even consider. Of course, the ancient vampire wanted me. Warrick had been studying the newbloods for years, and for the first time, he’d found himself an enigma. I shuddered when I remembered the curiosity that glinted in the vampire’s eyes every time he stared at me. I needed to get the hell out of there.
Closing my eyes, I focused my mind and mentally tried to find the magic spark inside me.If I could disintegrate the enchanted cuffs in the fae realm, these plain iron ones will be a piece of cake.
Except…they weren’t. In fact, I couldn’t access my magic at all. I could feel the spark somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind, but it was as if my power had lessened. Every time I tried to reach for the magic, it would slip away from me, like some kind of skittish ghost. Gritting my teeth, I tried harder to mentally reach for it, but the power dulled with every passing moment like it was fading away. It wasn’t like how the dazra had suppressed my magic, but more like…
“I wouldn’t bother trying to use your power. You’re beyond that now,” said a silky masculine voice, and I jerked in surprise, snapping my eyes open.
Warrick stood just inside the doorway, and his cruel black eyes gleamed with delight as he stalked closer to me. Two outliers entered the room after him—four-legged beasts with crowns of spikes on their scaled heads and long snouts filled with rows of teeth. Their red eyes fixed hungrily on me, but following Warrick’s command, they waited on either side of the door, their long forked tongues often darting from their open mouths to flick at the air.
I turned my attention from the outliers to the ancient vampire who had stopped at the foot of my stone slab. “Beyond that?” I asked. I wasn’t sure what he meant, but dread filled my gut.
Before I could blink, Warrick was at my side and inspecting the tube that ran from my wrist. When his attention went back to my face, he gave me a cold, clinical smile. “I’ve long since known that our power is linked to our blood, and considering the amount of blood I’ve drained from you…” He trailed off as he became thoughtful. “I’d say the chances of you being able to access whatever magic you have is slim.”
I glared at him and struggled against my restraints as he trailed a cold, clawed finger up the inside of my arm.
“For all you know, torturing me like this might be just what tips me over the edge. I could turn into a monster right now and kill you,” I seethed, but despite my words, my chin wobbled, betraying my fear.
His lips curled upward with amusement as he stared at me like I was the most fascinating specimen he’d ever captured. “I highly doubt that, but in case you’re right…”
I didn’t see the dagger until the blade was buried deep in my thigh. Warrick’s pale hand clasped the hilt of the weapon, and it wasn’t until he wrenched the blade back out that pain exploded in my leg, and I cried out in agony.
“I don’t imagine you’ll last long now, but I figure it’s worth trying a final time,” Warrick said, speaking as casually as if he’d just offered me a glass of wine and we were sitting down for a meal rather than some sick torture session. “And even if you don’t change, I’ll have enough of your blood that I’ll be able to test and work with it for some time.”
I focused on breathing through the pain, but my whole body was weak, and even that task felt like it took what remained of my energy. I thought of the bond tying me to Kade and the others, and what Prince Azaren had said about it being a blessing intended to ensure my protection. Who put the magic on me, and would I be letting them down now by dying?
Goddess, I was so cold. When did it get so cold?
“Killing me won’t change anything,” I said weakly. “There are many in Katakin who don’t want to be monsters. They’ll find a way to break the curse.” I didn’t tell him about how the answers to breaking the curse were embedded in my memory. Without me, the secrets were lost unless Kade and the others went back to the fae realm and risked trying to obtain them again.
