Page 71 of Only You, No One Else

Zeke frowned.

“Why would you work with her?” The frown deepened, and Mark sensed he was losing him. They needed him distracted, just a little longer, give Pierce time to find what he needed. “I’m just trying to understand.”

That self-assured side of him, the one Mark sought to exploit, appeared, and Mark had to stifle his smile. “I should be Prime Alpha.”

“How do you figure that?” Not that it mattered, but it seemed Pierce needed a few seconds.

“Your grandfather was supposed to be the last. Then it was my father’s turn and mine.” He stood, his anger almost palpable. “Ethel promised my family the Prime. But then she found out about you and everything changed.”

It was Mark’s turn to frown. “What do you mean?”

“She told me you were the key. I needed to convince you to join her side, then she would make me Prime Alpha.” He shrugged. “But your brother and his war derailed that plan.”

“How did she know about me?”

Zeke opened his mouth to answer, but Pierce had chosen his moment. Yellow smoke gathered at Zeke’s feet, but the realization on his face that this had been a trap came too late. The smoke that Mark assumed was one of Pierce’s many forms coiled around Zeke, tightening the longer he tried to fight it. He was powerless in every sense of the word. His roars turned to whines when the yellow smoke entered his open mouth, stifling all sound in a few seconds.

“Riley, now!” Mark gave the signal and the unsettling sensation of sailing through space and time took over. In the space of a split second, he was back in his body, grateful to see Caster. It took a moment more, but Zeke appeared in the room, spit out by the same darkness Pierce seemed to carry everywhere he went.

The look on Zeke’s face was murderous, the promise of vengeance in his wolf’s disapproval, even if its growl was stifled by Pierce’s hold. But that was the least of his worries. The first part of their plan done, it was time to summon the witch. Mark only hoped Zeke was as important to her plans as they’d bargained on.

CHAPTER 46

The memory of the last time he’d seen the Alpha interfered with Caster’s resolve to stay calm. If it hadn’t been for the promise he’d made to Mark, he would have taken the scant two steps separating them and torn his head from his shoulders.

Mark’s hand grabbed his wrist in a tight hold, and his claws retreated into his nailbeds, his hands curling into fists. The look on his brother’s face told him he hadn’t hidden his murderous intent as well as he thought. He shrugged at Cy, and his brother’s smile, though small, was an indication that the message had been received.

A potent injection of the inexplicable power Pierce carried with him filled the room, overtaking Riley’s power and drawing everyone’s attention. It was time for the second phase of the plan. This one was their greatest gamble yet. They were banking on two things; the odds were in their favor on the first. The witch needed Mark if she wanted more power, and she had already demonstrated her thirst for power knew no bounds. The second was a little tricky and would require a level of ingenuity he was unsure they would pull off. They needed to convince her that Mark was coming to her of his own free will, and that meant finding a way to get Zeke on their side.

Caster had seen the wisdom of the plan when Mark had suggested it. Everyone, including his father, could not see how they could come up with a better solution. But this part was the most concerning to him. Ethel was far from stupid, and there was the slight chance she would see through it.

He nodded at Riley as the yellow smoke keeping Zeke quiet released its hold and their prisoner fell to his knees, choking on a breath he’d been denied minutes earlier. The potency of Pierce’s power eased to give way to Riley’s.

Zeke roared his frustration as he found his feet, the amber of the animal in him overtaking the blue of his eyes. His claws extended, his chief target Mark, but Caster put his body between them, daring him to give him a reason. In a haze of only what could be madness given his predicament, he pounced at Caster, but Caster only smiled when Riley’s power halted his advance, holding him in place. The same bonds that had held Uncle Mason surrounded Zeke in an instant; his struggles as violent as they were, would not break the bonds keeping him rooted to the spot. Riley’s power was impossible to overcome.

They allowed him his struggle for a minute more, his growls rising to intolerable proportions, but Caster refused to look away from him, daring him to make one wrong move. Seconds passed and a deep sigh almost as loud as his growls filled the room, his shoulders sagging as he realized he’d lost the battle.

His head came up slow, the amber hue in his eyes gone, the animal replaced by the pathetic state of his weaker human form. He looked around, his eyes landing on the Prime Alpha first. Mark stepped forward, seeing Dean’s desire to derail their plan, but his brother held his ground, his fury apparent in the way he didn’t try to restrain his animal from making his presence known.

As they’d hoped, the Prime Alpha’s growl took effect, and Zeke seemed to sink further into himself, a low whine he didn’t seem willing to stifle, sailing past his closed lips. Caster kept his smile bottled in. This was going as well as they’d hoped.

Their prisoner took a breath. “What do you want?” His voice was a low whisper, scratched, as if he was still catching his breath.

“You will tell the witch that you have Mark and he wants to meet with her.” Dean’s demand came through a jaw held tight by his fury, the growl of his Alpha infusing each word.

Zeke raised his gaze, staring straight at Mark. He shook his head. “You can’t fool her. She will sense all of you.”

“That is not for you to worry about,” Mark said. “We just need you to get her here.”

He looked around, his voice shaking a bit as he tried and failed again to shake out of the invisible bonds of Riley’s spell. “And if I say no?”

This time Caster could not hold in his smile, but it was not out of joy; it was appreciation to the Alpha for giving him reason to hurt him. He nodded at Riley, who relaxed his hold enough for Cy to grab Zeke from behind, his arm pressing against the Alpha’s throat. Caster’s claws extended, and Mark stepped out of his way. His claws sank through Zeke’s chest with a satisfying crunch, his ribs ripping apart like paper. Experience told him how close he was to his heart. He could feel the Alpha’s natural rapid healing attempting to repair the considerable damage, but he took a second to revel in the howl of pain that was now a pathetic whimper.

The Alpha’s head fell as he lost more blood, more strength, and Caster rolled his wrist, pushing his arm further inside, expanding the wound. Cy used his hold to force the wolf to look at Caster. Tears shone in blue, defeated eyes, the pain he couldn’t contain apparent.

“I told you.” Caster punctuated his words by wrapping his hand around Zeke’s beating heart. “I told you if you touch him, nothing would save you.” He tightened his hold, and Zeke’s eyes widened, his wolf’s howl filling the room. “The only reason you’re still alive is that we need you. Don’t give me a reason to change the plan.”

He tore his hand from the wolf’s chest with a snarl, his desire to tear his heart out of his chest and be done with this almost too much to bear. But they needed to see Mark’s plan through, and that meant they needed Zeke alive.