17. Seventeen

seventeen

Half blind, I purged my stomach, kneeling in place and heaving until there was nothing left except for bile. Even then, I kept going.

It wasn’t until the world came back into focus that I stopped.

Weak and slightly shaky, I slumped onto my haunches. “God, I hate throwing up.”

It was the worst feeling in the world. My mouth tasted like a sewer. Probably smelled like one too.

A soft huff came from my right.

Alches regarded me with judgmental eyes. The tentacles around his jowls waved, twining in and around themselves with something I might have labeled unease.

“Thanks for the save,” I told him, my voice still raw from all the puking I’d just done.

Alches whined, pressing his nose and forehead against my shoulder. I rubbed his head and ears, taking comfort. And giving it.

“How did you find me anyway?”

Well, me and Baran since Alches had stolen the Fae away with me. He now lay unconscious on the ground by my feet.

Alches didn’t answer. Then again, I wasn’t really expecting him to.

It was surprising enough that Alches had been able to come to my rescue. As Noctessa’s realm guardian, he had an affinity for the deepest shadows that hid in the night. During the height of day, in the heart of enemy territory, it would have cost him greatly to whisk me away as he had.

I had an idea of what that oak and its meadow actually were. It wasn’t a harmless grove. I could tell that much. It had given me the same feeling I’d had the last time I stood before Noctessa’s creator. A deep pool of magic emanating from its core. The likes of which could support an entire realm. One that acted like a battery. Without that source, the realm would fall. Like Noctessa had.

Unless something—or someone—could replace it.

I was betting the meadow—or more likely its guardian— was why all the weirdness had been happening to me since arriving in the barrow. Something had lured me to that place. Guided and manipulated me until I fell onto the desired path.

Baran just happened to get caught up in everything.

I felt a little guilty about that actually.

Gears rumbled from somewhere out of sight.

The floor started to move.

I shielded my eyes as I squinted up at the sudden beam of bright light now pouring through a hole that had just opened in the ceiling. Like the aperture of a camera, it opened wide as we started to ascend.

“Where are you going?” I called after Alches as he padded away. Cheering spilled from above as the realm guardian disappeared between one step and the next. “The least you could do is take me with you,” I grumbled, looking up at the ceiling in dismay as a tiny stream of sand fell into the room.

A crowd going wild. Sand trickling down. A platform ascending.

I think I knew where I was.

“Liam is going to be so mad at me,” I muttered.

A few moments later, I found myself back where I’d begun the evening. Except rather than an audience member’s vantage from the stands, I was in the pit. High walls surrounded me. A thin layer of sand covered the ground. Metal bars for a ceiling. And the grinding of gears and stone as a second platform began its ascent.

“Ah, crap. This isn’t good.”

I shot a quick look at the stands where Liam and the rest had been sitting earlier. Electric blue eyes pinned mine.

“What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing?” Liam mouthed, looking incensed.

I opened my hands to show my confusion. I had no idea. This wasn’t in my plans for the evening.

Seeing Nathan standing beside Liam, I half heartedly waved.

Nathan shook his head. “You are in so much trouble.”

Didn’t I know it.

Liam’s features tightened. “Stay there. I’m coming.”

Sure thing, husband. I’ll do just that.

I blew out a frustrated breath, knowing I was on my own. The barrow owners weren’t likely to let anyone interfere with their evening’s entertainment.

Let alone a vampire who was Vitus’s enemy.

I wasn’t walking away from this. Not without getting my hands a little dirty.

From what I could tell, there were spells coating the walls and ceiling of the pit. Death magic. Nasty stuff.

No wonder all the fights had ended so gruesomely. The fighters would have lost their rationality minutes after stepping onto the sands. To the point where all they cared about was drawing the blood of whoever was unlucky enough to be in here with them.

Up above, Thomas and Liam were arguing with several Fae.

I took a closer look at the Fae standing just behind the other two. Both of whom looked frazzled but determined. I recognized the one keeping himself apart. He’d been part of the trio that had trespassed on my land.

Not the one I’d shot. Their leader.

I guess that answered the question of whether this place had ties to the Summer King.

You never fail to surprise me, my dear , Ahrun whispered in my head.

In contrast to the amusement I could hear in his voice, Ahrun’s expression remained bored as he lounged in his chair, letting Liam and Thomas do the talking.

If you wanted a larger role in our schemes, you simply had to ask. There was no need to go to these lengths.

Like this was part of my plan.

I nudged Baran with my toe. His body shifted before flopping back into the position it had just been in.

There was no help coming from that corner.

From the snarls growing in volume and intensity, I could tell my opponent was nearly here.

Remember, my dear. Morality has no place on those sands. If you fail, it won’t just be you who pays the price.

The meaningful look he slid toward Liam left me in no doubt what he meant.

Unless you want blood to flow and bodies to decorate the streets of this city, I suggest you do your best to survive.

Connor raced down the steps of the arena. Seeing me standing in the pit, he shouted something at the others before heading for the pit’s edge.

Nathan and Daniel grabbed his shoulders, struggling to hold him back as they spoke urgently in his ear.

I didn’t have time to see how the exchange ended as my opponent arrived. The platform rose into view. A feral wolf chained to the post at its center.

The wolf snapped and bit at the air. He reared onto his hind legs, thrashing his head back and forth as he tried to rid himself of the restraint.

I eased back a step. “Oh fuck.”

I don’t think things are going to be as simple as you assume , I thought at Ahrun.

Silver lining—Caroline and her pack mates no longer had to wonder about their alpha’s whereabouts.

Because I’d just found him. Lucky me.

A chant started in the stands. The audience demanding blood.

“Hey there, Brax,” I called softly.

The wolf’s head snapped toward mine, his struggle easing as the intensity of his growls lowered.

Something moved in his eyes. I was afraid to call it intelligence or reason but it gave me hope that he could still be reached.

“I’ve been looking for you, buddy. What do you say we forget this whole death match thing and reunite you with your pack?”

The wolf cocked his ears, his head tilting as if to catch the lift and fall of every word.

Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as I thought. Brax was an alpha. From what Liam had let slip, one of the most powerful in the United States. It was possible that all he needed to slip the enthrallment was a slight push.

The terrible snarl that reverberated from his throat dashed that hope. His head lowered as his lips peeled back to show me his teeth.

Very well then. Reasoning was out.

I eyed the iron dagger that I’d taken from Baran’s shoulder. Why couldn’t it have been silver?

At least then I might have had a chance.

What are you doing? Ahrun thundered as I dug the blade into my forearm to draw blood.

“Getting his attention,” I muttered, using the tip of the dagger to flick my blood onto the sand around me as I backed carefully away from Baran’s unconscious body.

Much as I disliked the Fae, I didn’t want him dead yet.

The good thing about my opponent’s current state was that he was a slave to instinct. Brax’s wolf would lock onto the scent of my blood and come after me.

In that sense, I was lucky he’d gone feral. If he was sane, he would have eliminated the weaker target before dealing with the more troublesome one. I wasn’t strong enough to protect two people. Especially when one was unconscious.

This won’t help you survive, Ahrun snarled in a surprising loss of temper that made me smile. Kill the alpha. Do it now before he is released.

“You have your way of doing things. I have mine.”

And mine didn’t involve starting a war with the pack. My best friend would never forgive me if I murdered the man she was trying so hard to save.

Fool!

He was learning. And he’d been so certain he could make me dance in the palm of his hand.

The metal collar around the wolf’s neck shattered.

Freed, Brax launched himself in my direction, powerful muscles carrying him toward me like a freight train.

I hit the ground and rolled.

The wolf sailed over me, the wind from his passage making my stomach drop.

That was close. A little too close.

Getting to my feet, I studied him carefully.

He’d gone silent. His snarls and growls disappearing as he slipped into hunting mode. His head lowered as he slunk toward me. He crept closer, inch by painstaking inch.

“I need you to listen to me, Brax,” I said, fighting to control my voice. Fear was the worst thing I could show right now. “We’re friends.”

Okay, that sounded like a lie.

“We’re acquaintances. Friendly acquaintances.”

The wolf burst into motion.

This time I wasn’t quick enough to avoid him. Fire ignited in my thigh.

I screamed, punching the wolf in the temple to force him to unlatch. He let go and staggered a few steps while shaking his head.

“Fuck.”

Hopping slightly, I checked my wound. It was bleeding profusely from several large tears. The most nauseating part was the glint of white from bone and the stringy looking matter that I was pretty sure were tendons or muscles.

“I’m trying to save your dumb ass,” I hissed at the wolf.

A jolt of renewed pain traveled up and down my leg every time I took a step. Burning not unlike silver poisoning moved through my bloodstream, making the wound even more inflamed.

Werewolf bites might not kill an older vampire, but they would certainly weaken them.

That held doubly so for me.

Forget saving Brax. I’d be lucky to survive the next five minutes.

Displaying a shocking amount of tactical awareness given his state, the wolf came at me from my wounded side.

I dodged, his teeth clicking on air.

He turned with me, checking me with the side of his body. A pained cry left me as the blow landed on my wound.

Pain splintered my vision.

Blind, scared, and desperate, I lashed out.

It was luck that I found my target, my blade sinking into something hard. Fur brushed my hand, followed by the gush of something hot and sticky.

Blood. Powerful and full of life.

My fangs snicked down as hunger tightened my belly.

If not for the wolf’s yelp and the sound of scrabbling against the sand as he shot away from me, I might have tried to bury my teeth in his throat.

I shook my head, blinking away the dark spots in my vision.

The wolf glared balefully at me from a distance of a few meters. To my disappointment, the wound I’d inflicted was already healing.

“Stubborn bastard.”

Was it too much to ask for him to need a little recovery time? Just a tiny bit. Enough for me to catch my breath.

Movement from above made me realize I’d somehow fetched up against a wall of the arena. Right under where Liam and the rest had been seated.

Nathan leaned over the edge to peer at me through the pit’s bars. “You were supposed to stay by my side.”

I craned my head back to look up at him tiredly. “Is that really what’s important right now?”

“It feels pertinent to the situation—yes.”

Liam planted a hand on the ledge, dropping down onto the bars covering the pit.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to do that, boss,” Nathan said as the Fae still arguing with Thomas raised their voices in objection.

Liam crouched, grabbing hold of two bars and yanking. Metal groaned, creaking and complaining as he exerted his strength. The veins in his neck bulged from the effort.

Liam’s furious gaze found mine. “Climb!”

I stared at the smooth rock of the wall, my thigh on fire. How exactly did he expect me to do that?

“Now, Aileen!” Liam barked.

There was a sound from behind me. The slightest shift of sand that warned me of Brax’s charge.

More desperate than graceful, I scrambled up the wall, turning barely-there depressions and pockmarks into makeshift hand holds, ripping a few nails and scraping my fingers and knuckles in the process.

Halfway up, I launched myself toward the ceiling and safety.

It was a miracle that I got one hand around the bars. The tingling, numbing sensation that immediately followed made my grip loosen.

For a moment, I felt myself slip.

Then Liam’s hand covered mine, forcing my fingers to remain closed despite the pain traveling from my palm to my wrist and down to my shoulder.

“Don’t you dare let go,” Liam ordered.

Brax’s wolf hit the wall, catapulting himself upward.

I pulled my feet out of reach, tightening my abs as I crunched upwards.

The wolf snapped at air, missing me by millimeters. He fell, his body twisting in midair so he landed on his feet.

The wolf circled, eyes trained on me. First in one direction, then the opposite.

He yapped, sounding frustrated as he tossed his head.

The bars trembled as Connor jumped down next to Liam.

“No. Go back,” I moaned.

My brother ignored me, focusing on his uncle. “I can help.”

“Connor,” I tried.

They shouldn’t be out here. Either of them.

From the raised voices of the Fae Thomas and Daniel were obstructing, I could tell our host was upset.

The pit didn’t release its victims. And it didn’t allow them to be saved. Those truths might as well be engraved somewhere.

It had been foolish on my part to have attempted an escape.

In my defense, I was pretty sure Liam intended to try to rip a hole in the ceiling regardless.

“Hush, sister. It’s pointless arguing,” Connor soothed before focusing a grim look on Liam. “There’s magic in the bars to prevent them from breaking.”

Liam gave no sign of hearing as he grabbed the bar next to the one I was holding and pulled, the veins and muscles in his neck standing out from the effort.

Connor got on his other side, doing the same.

The metal creaked in protest but it didn’t budge.

“I’ll help too,” Drake said, already half over the wall.

Deborah was at his side, looking like she was about to jump down in here with the rest of them.

“Stay there,” Connor ordered, releasing the bars to gesture them back. “You’re no use out here and you wouldn’t survive anyway.”

“He’s right,” I told Deborah. “Don’t risk it.”

Liam pounded his fist into the bar. “Damn it.”

“You tried,” I told him.

It wasn’t his fault that it hadn’t worked.

I glanced down at the sands of the pit. Brax’s wolf had lost interest in me and had started to wander toward Baran.

“Don’t you dare let go,” Liam ordered.

That was my lover. So autocratic. Even in a life and death situation.

Others might waste time with flowery words and pretty sentiments. He barked orders up until the very last second. As if he could bend circumstances through sheer force of will.

“I mean it, Aileen. Do. Not. Let. Go.”

Liam was scared, I realized. Terrified and helpless. Two things he wasn’t used to.

To be fair—this was Brax I was up against. The two went back centuries. At times uneasy allies. Other times foes. Liam knew better than anyone what the werewolf was capable of.

“I’m not going to die,” I told him.

There was too much that I still needed to live for. Fights we needed to have. Followed by really great makeup sex.

I didn’t want to miss a moment of our future.

Liam heaved on the bars one last time, uncaring of the damage he was doing to himself. His palms were blackened and charred as the magic zapped him.

Still, he refused to let go. Despite the scent of burning flesh and the sizzle of magic biting into him. It was worse than what I was enduring. Likely because he was actively trying to tear open the bars.

“Liam, look at me.” I waited for his gaze to find mine, my heart clenching at the desperation there. “I will survive this.”

It was a promise to him and the werewolf standing frozen on the steps not far away.

Caroline’s stricken gaze went from Brax’s pacing wolf to where I dangled just above. Her expression showed she was at a loss. For perhaps the first time in her life, she didn’t know what to do next.

Her best friend. Her alpha. One of them was supposed to die tonight.

Except I refused to accept that.

Lurching upward, I grabbed Liam’s arm and hauled his torso down toward the bars. Letting go of his arm, I nabbed him around the back of the neck, using that leverage to raise myself closer to him.

My lips touched Liam’s in a kiss I savored. If this was the last time we touched, I’d take the pain with the pleasure and count myself lucky.

Before I was ready, I drew back. “Have a little faith, lover. I’ve yet to give you the hell you deserve for tricking me into this marriage.”

“You’d better keep your promise, mo chuisle . This world won’t survive what I’ll do to it if you don’t.”

“Always so bossy.”

I dropped, the desperation and pain that wracked Liam’s expression accompanying my fall.

Hitting the ground a second later, I rolled to my feet in one smooth movement, my gaze on the wolf that was inching his way toward Baran.

“Alright, Brax. Let’s me and you tango.”

Lucky for me, the wolf was fixated on his new prey. The powerful muscles in his shoulders bunching as he prepared to pounce.

I raced across the sands, barreling into him from the side.

My arm flashed, burying my dagger anywhere I could find.

Once.

Twice.

Over and over again as the wolf went crazy under me.

Undeterred, I wrapped my legs around his back, riding him like a bucking bronco as I tried to bleed him as much as possible.

It was unlikely that I’d kill him this way, but it might weaken him enough for me to figure something else out.

Howls lifted from the stands. His pack mates protesting his treatment.

Hypocritical bastards. I noticed they hadn’t seemed nearly as upset when I was the one getting savaged.

Brax thrashed under me in a violent heave that nearly dislodged my grip. I lurched forward to wrap my arms around whatever part of him I could get hold of, the dagger dropping in the process.

There went that plan.

The world revolved as he threw himself onto his side, alligator rolling in an effort to crush me under his two hundred some odd pounds.

I was guessing. Truthfully, I had no idea what the werewolf’s weight was.

He certainly felt heavy enough as my chest compressed and breath exploded from my lungs. He was built like a brick house. All muscle and bones that he exerted in an effort to escape.

His skull collided with my nose in a crunch that made my eyes smart. Blood flowed down my lips and cheeks as I blinked away tears.

That was it. If he got to tear my throat out, I got to do the same to him.

A vampire’s bite worked against a werewolf the same way theirs did us. Maybe mine wouldn’t be as potent as an older vampire, but it would at least slow him down.

Maybe.

Either way, my fangs were the only weapon I currently had.

I lunged, my first bite earning me nothing but a mouthful of fur.

Gross.

Note to self—chowing down on a werewolf was best done when they were not wearing their fur suit.

Adjusting my grip, I got a better hold on Brax’s wolf and struck again. It was just as awkward as my last attempt. Only this time, instead of just a mouthful of fur, my fangs actually found their target.

Liquid life, painfully hot, filled my mouth.

Savage snarls erupted from the wolf’s throat. His struggle renewed. One last desperate attempt to evict me from his back.

It worked.

My grip slipped, my fangs coming loose.

He bucked. My body flew off. I hit the sand on my side, rolling.

He was on me before I could recover. A blur of teeth and claws.

Desperate, I jammed my left arm into his mouth, hoping it would prevent him from ripping out my intestines or throat. Always better to lose a limb than something more vital.

I screamed as his jaw closed around it. Bone cracked, blood flowing from the wound as he shook his head hard.

My shoulder wrenched, sending another flood of pain through my body.

With the last dregs of my willpower, I clung to consciousness.

Preoccupied with my looming demise and weakened from blood loss and the venom of my bite, the wolf’s defenses finally dropped.

It was what I’d been waiting for.

I struck, my power diving into him and arrowing right for the complicated metaphysical collar of golden light wrapped around his neck. Thank God I’d already done this once. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known where to start and Brax would have finished tearing my body apart before I could free him.

My magic breaking power ate through the light, smothering its brilliance with a shadow that looked like ink.

Before I could finish, my consciousness started to slip away. Blood loss stealing my will.

I was past caring as the growls coming from above me slowed and then stopped. My body had gone numb. Pain and fear so far away.

I was going into shock, I thought distantly.

Was that even possible for a vampire? Or was that a human thing?

The wolf’s jaw loosened.

I barely felt it as he withdrew his fangs from my arm.

He retreated a step and then another.

“Oh good, you’re back.” My eyes blinked downward. So sleepy. “I can explain everything.”

Brax’s howl followed me as I sank below the waves. A funeral dirge that felt fitting as a last requiem for a vampire who’d promised miracles and then failed to deliver.