“Having a mate is a convenient excuse for your actions or lack thereof. And if you believe your own lies to be truth, then even pack magic can be negated to a certain degree. Is that the problem? Have you told yourselves the lies so many times that they have become your truths?” Vasile asked, his eyes boring into the wolf before him.
“I’ve told you what happened.” Skender said simply, meeting Vasile’s eyes for a second before dropping them.
“I hope you will confess your lies before you die, especially if you’ve bonded with your female because her life is in your hands. At least then you can go before the Great Luna with a humbled spirit,” Vasile said as he turned and moved to the door. Just as he was pulling it open, Skender spoke.
“I can help with the letter.”
Vasile froze with his hand on the knob.
“You might not want to kill me right away. I know you have received a letter from the Order. I might have information that will help you fight against what they have planned.”
Vasile growled low as he spoke. “Manipulation will only keep you alive for so long. It will not buy you a pardon.”
Stephanie let out a low growl of her own. Vasile returned the favor, and her growl quickly turned to a pathetic whine.
“Maybe not,” Skender agreed. “But it might be a step in the right direction for me to receive a merciful death.”
Vasile’s head snapped around and his glowing eyes met Skender’s. His power filled the room as his rage flooded his veins. Both wolves before him cringed under his stare. “Sally Miklos was abducted, stripped of her life and memories, and raped because the Order took her,” he said through clenched teeth that had begun to elongate. “Was Sally shown mercy by the man who used magic in order to mate with her? Was Sally shown mercy when her memories were ripped from her mind? You need to be ready to crawl on your knees and beg for Costin’s mercy, and then you need to accept that he will deny it to you. And you…” He looked at the female. She wasn’t returning his gaze. She couldn’t. “Regardless of whether you are bound or not, your life is forfeit for aligning yourself with an organization guilty of murder, bribery, rape, and dozens of other atrocities.”
“VASILE, NO.” Skender snarled, his head still bowed under the Alpha’s fury. “Show her mercy. She’s a female, for crying out loud!”
“If she has been a member of the Order, she isn’t just a female. She’s a female with the blood of innocents on her hands. I have no mercy for one such as her.” Vasile turned and fled the room before he gave into the urge to kill the traitor himself.
Skender staredat the door long after it had shut behind the angry Alpha. He’d known the wolves were going to give him an icy reception, but he had no idea they’d throw him in a cage before he even had a chance to explain himself, nor did he expect them to treat Stephanie with such contempt. This complicated things. Alston had sent him back to gain information about his former pack. The high fae wanted to find out just exactly what Vasile knew about the Order and what his plans were to stop their movements. Skender was the group’s key to staying one step ahead of the wolves, and Stephanie had been the tool he was going to use to soften their anger. Apparently, even a true mate isn’t reason enough to betray one’s pack. He had to find a way to recapture the healer they’d lost in Oceanside. He and Stephanie’s place in the Order depended on them succeeding in the mission they’d been given.
But there was no way they were going to be able to do any of that from behind bars. Somehow, he’d have to convince Vasile that he was telling the truth, before the Alpha carried out his sentence. In Vasile’s eyes, Skender had betrayed the pack by failing to inform him of the location of the pack’s kidnapped gypsy healer. While this was an offense against the pack as a whole, the true crime was against the healer’s mate, Costin. So Vasile would allow Costin to carry out the sentence. But what Skender didn’t know was whether Vasile would require Costin to simply execute Skender, or whether the Alpha would allow a trial by combat.
Skender knew Costin would argue for the latter. Skender had known Costin for a long time, and he knew the wolf considered himself noble. He would want to challenge Skender on an even playing field. Costin was powerful, but not as much as some of the other wolves in the pack. Because of this, under his easy demeanor and cool façade, Skender knew the young wolf had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He likely felt he needed to prove himself, to prove he has what it takes to protect his mate, especially considering how she’d been kidnapped right out from under his nose. The pup was probably still reeling over that failure. Costin’s own dominance wouldn’t let himself execute Skender without a fair fight. Perhaps Skender could use that to his advantage. But how?
And how could he convince Vasile not to kill Stephanie? He was going to have to help her escape before that could happen. But considering he didn’t have a clue how to make that possible, they were both up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
As for himself he needed to simply best Costin in the fight. This was a possibility, but not a certainty. Both wolves were dominant. Skender had sparred with Costin several times in the past. Sometimes he got the upper hand, and sometimes the younger wolf prevailed. Now that the wolf was fighting to avenge the offenses against his precious gypsy healer, he’d probably fight much harder. Victory would be anything but certain. No, a fair fight was not the best plan. Skender would only go that route if all else failed. But how could he plan anything from the confines of his cage? He needed to find a way out of this prison and fast. At worst, he needed to escape simply so he or Stephanie could contact the Order and tell them the wolves had not accepted him like he’d expected. If they wanted to gather intel on Vasile, they’d better try alternative means.
Chapter Eight
“It’s easy to want to bury things in our past that are painful, scary, or shameful. But I’m learning that the more we bury those things, the more likely we are to one day wake up and find that we have buried ourselves beneath it all. Instead of capturing it and sealing it off, it has captured us, and we find ourselves sealed off from all hope.” ~Lilly
“Iwant to see him.I want to grab him by the muzzle and separate his jaws until his skull snaps in half, and don’t even get me started on this so-called mate,” Peri said as she stood in the large foyer of the Warlock stronghold. The cavernous entrance echoed with her voice as the fire of her rage began to rekindle.
Alina looked at Lilly and simply shrugged. “If I had the strength, I’d do it.”
“We are all lucky that Vasile did not handle it earlier,” Alina said. “He rarely struggles with his control but Skender said something that set him off, and I seriously thought he was going to rip out the wolf’s throat.”
Peri held out a hand to Alina and Lilly. “I honestly don’t know if I can handle seeing Sally break again.”
“She won’t,” Lilly said. “But if she does, she will have us to hold her together.”
Alina bowed her head as Peri flashed them back to the Romania mansion and prayed to the Great Luna that their healer would be surrounded by the Creator’s strength. She prayed that Sally would be filled with the light for which her kind was known because it was with that light she’d be able to fight the coming darkness.
They reappeared outside of Vasile’s office. Alina immediately stepped forward and opened the door. As soon as she entered, her eyes met Sally’s, and the healer smiled at her. Alina returned the smile and walked over to sit beside her on the couch. She noticed that Costin stood behind her, his arms folded across his chest and his hazel eyes glowing with his wolf.
“Thank you for coming, Lilly,” Vasile said. “And Peri, as always, thank you for your assistance to the pack. We may not say it enough, but we do greatly appreciate it.”
Peri bowed slightly. “I can only stay briefly. I need to get back to madness that is happening with the new healers. But I will return.”
“Of course.” Vasile nodded.
Alina took Sally’s hand as she watched her mate. He walked over to the chair beside the couch and sat down on the edge, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. He was wearing dark slacks and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. She took a moment to appreciate the handsome man she called her own, but it was only a moment because then she felt his pain through their bond. It hurt him to have to tell Costin and Sally about Skender. Alina wished she could bear the burden for him.
