Chapter 24
Calum could see movement in the back garden, and he tensed up. He’d known that Ali had told him the truth and now it was becoming a reality. By the number of little flecks moving, Cal could see how this could have been the end for him if he hadn’t been told to keep his eyes open. Ali had saved her pack once already. It looked like she was going to save it again with his child inside of her.
The leader was being watched by all. They were waiting for the signal that was going to tell them what to do. Cal had known they were coming, but they were coming all at once, and another plan that was discussed started to make more sense. Instead of charging, he was going to let them all sneak in and take them out that way.
He made the command to retreat, and he put four fingers up. They never went into battle with only one idea. He needed multiple ones, and number four was now the plan. They had to stay quick on their feet when it came to fighting nightwalkers, especially a battle of that much consequence.
The pack started to retreat out of the house and waited while movement was seen from the windows. A few were going into the village, but everyone that wasn’t to fight was hiding off in the woods, safe and sound. Cal would round up the stragglers soon enough, but he was worried about the bulk of them in his house. It was a big house, but it was filling up quickly. The only hope that he had was that the mating room was left intact. He figured it would be; the rest meant nothing.
The signal was given when most of the vampires were roaming around in the house. He could hear them breaking stuff, and it looked like they were in the village to make a mess. They were here for destruction, and he wanted to make sure that was what they got.
Cal watched the houses get boarded up. The boards were ready, preparations for six plans were in place, but this one was going to be the easiest and lowest kill ratio on his side. The vampires didn’t realize what was happening until the house started up in a blaze.
The screams were heard, and because all the windows were barred and the doors were locked, save for one, it gave a good choke point to finish off the rest of them. Some nightwalkers saw and heard the fire and came rushing to help. They never imagined that the mutts would have them all in the house, burning them alive. There must have been more than twenty still roaming around, but Cal’s brothers took care of that while Calum made sure no more escaped. He wanted to know who all was in there but knew it was going to be some time before he checked.
Something was missing, and Calum looked around. It had been too easy. Sure, they had prior knowledge but he wasn’t ready to howl in exaltation either. Only when he knew everyone was safe, and all the vampires were dead would he be able to sleep better.
In the distance, over everything else, Calum heard a scream that sent his head spinning. He knew that it was Ali and that something was wrong. He left Fredrick in charge of overseeing the house, but the vampires had pushed and burned through the only unbarred window and they’d trapped the rest of them inside with the bodies.
Calum raced towards the jail that sat in the middle of the village. He knew that he shouldn’t have left her alone, but where else would she have been safer? He just hoped that she was okay when he got there. Her health and the baby’s health were all that mattered.
* * *
“Putthat key down and kick it over to me.”
Ali wanted to scoff and tell him that there was no way that she was going to do that. But her mouth couldn’t say the words and she did as he asked. Ali wasn’t thinking, her brain turned to mush by the vampire that had created her. That distinction made it impossible to tell him no. He had a hold over her that was undeniable and the more he pushed it, the less Ali wanted to push back. It just felt like the right thing to do to make him happy, like he was her master.
“Good, Ali. Now you’re going to come out and come with me. We’re going to get out of here. They knew that we were coming, and I can only guess who told them. You have caused all of my coven to die, so you’re going to help me start a new one, far away from here and far away from your precious beast.”
Ali knew who he was talking about and her mind was screaming at him as her foot kicked the key through the bottom of the bars and she watched him pick it up. Her body felt all the strain of the moment, but there was nothing that she could do to stop it.
Trenton walked towards the bars that held her in and kept her safe. Their eyes had not stopped holding each other’s, and she felt a moment of sanity while he looked down to get the key in the hole.
“They were smart to put you in here. If you didn’t give me the key, I would have never been able to make it in.”
“She didn’t give you the key, Trenton. Not the right one.”
Trenton didn’t believe the voice behind him. He knew who it belonged to because he could smell the man. It was the same man whose smell had been all over Ali when she’d been found.
He tried the key in the lock and looked at Ali suspiciously. How had she denied him what he wanted? None in his coven had ever been able to while under his spell. Was he losing it?
“You betrayed me again, you little bitch.”
She shook her head that she hadn’t, her eyes still glued to his, but broken once the man turned around to face the one behind him.
“My pack wasn’t sure if we could trust her and here you are saving her. I wouldn’t have believed it if I wouldn’t have seen it with my own two eyes.”
Ali tried to protest that truth and validity of his claims, but Calum wasn’t going to hear it. Everyone had told him that he was making a mistake. He’d volunteered to make sure that she was on the up and up. This was the test, and unfortunately, she’d failed. Calum was far more upset about that than anything else.
He looked to the girl in the cage and told her that he was going to deal with her next. It didn’t scare Ali, well, it did a little bit, but she was more worried about Calum getting hurt, sidetracked by her.
This time Calum wasn’t going to let that happen. Ali was safe in the cage, and she was going to stay there until he figured out what to do with her. He wasn’t sure of the best course of action, but he was going to have to think about it. Ali couldn’t leave with the baby, so all his attention was on the nightwalker in front of him. It was the one that he’d been trying to get for a very long time.
“Trenton, I’ve waited a long time for this.”
The vampire laughed, his eyes flicking around the building and only seeing one way out: behind the beast with the angry eyes.
“I waited a long time for a nice queen like Ali. Do you know how long I searched? And how disappointed I was to get her in bed and to find out that you had already spoiled her, but she was still ripe enough. I had to give her a long, hot bath, but that was all that she needed to get warmed right up to me. I would have been upset to lose her as well. Did you steal her back?”
