Chapter Twenty-Nine

We weren't in Black Wind territory. I'd never been there before, and for all I knew it could have been on the top of a mountain or at the bottom of the ocean, or anywhere in between. But I was pretty sure, wherever the hell it was, that I wouldn't find Ezekiel standing there.

"Daughter. I see you've brought some friends."

"Where's my mom?" I demanded.

"No hug for your dear father?" he asked, an amused glint in his eye.

"I don't have a father," I ground out. "Just a poor excuse for a sperm donor."

Ew. No, stop. I did not want to think about this guy's…

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You're being very rude," he replied calmly. "You haven't even introduced me to your friends. And what interesting company you keep. A shifter…and what might you be, my dear?"

"She's not your dear," I snapped. "She's not your anything."

From the corner of my eye I saw Ling take a small step back before steeling herself. It had been a bad idea to let her come. Jax could take care of himself, but Ling was…well, I didn't know what Ling was, really. But she didn't strike me as a fighter, and Ezekiel was as dangerous as they came.

"Jax, Ling," I said, without taking my eyes from Ezekiel—because something told me that would be a mistake, "you should both head back to the academy."

"Yes, indeed," my father said. "After all, this is between you and I."

"Not a chance," Jax said, his voice low and steady.

"We're staying here," Ling said.

"So be it," Ezekiel said, moving his left hand away from the ring I'd seen open a portal before.

"Just give me my mom and we'll all leave," I told him.

"And why would I do a thing like that?"

"It was you who took her, wasn't it?"

"Of course. It was easy enough to convince that angry little pack to time their attack for my convenience, and bring her to me. One or two little trinkets was all it took to buy their compliance. A deal well struck, I'm sure you'll agree."

I swallowed bile. He'd sent the Black Winds. He was the reason four of Cole's pack were dead.

"Truth be told, I'm disappointed it took you this long to work it out, though I suppose you cannot be blamed. You are half-human, after all. And not, it would seem, from particularly resilient stock."

I ground my teeth together. "You better not be hurting her."

"Why should I?" he asked. "She's of no consequence to me. She has, however, served her purpose. And she did steal my daughter from me. That has proved rather the inconvenience. Perhaps it's time to end her miserable existence."

"So she's still alive?" Hope and terror warred inside me.

"For the moment."

"Then let her go. You've got me. That's what you wanted, right? You wanted me to come back here. I have. You don't need her anymore, so just let her go."

"I could do that, I suppose. But what would be in it for me?"

I swallowed bile and opened my mouth, but before I could get a sound out, Jax yanked my arm and pulled me a few steps away.

"Don't," he hissed.

"I didn't do anything."

"No," Ling said, her voice low and quick, "but you were about to. Even Jax can see it." She shot him a quick, teasing smile. "No offence."

"None taken. I didn't major in Cali. But it's pretty obvious that's what he wants you to do."

"That doesn't change anything," I told them both. "I have to help her."

"You don't even know he's got her!"

"Ling's right—you only have his word. And the word of a leech? That's not worth a whole hell of a lot."

"Xenophobe." But he was right, Ezekiel's word wasn't trustworthy. I whirled around. "I want to see her."

"Again with the poor manners," Ezekiel said, tutting his disapproval.

"They're about to get a whole lot worse if you don't let me see her right now. You might be old and powerful, but there are three of us." A bookworm, a dhampir who couldn't control her powers, and a shifter who'd recently been fed from—but he didn't know any of that. "Do you really want to get into a fight over this? Because it seems to me like you should do a better job of picking your battles."

Ezekiel curled his lip in a sneer as he looked between us, and I got the distinct impression that he knew exactly what we all were. His eyes lingered on Ling a moment longer, and then he dipped his chin.

"So be it. A gesture of good faith. But you'll forgive me for taking precautions."

He removed a charm—a small, pierced coin wrapped in red thread—from around his neck, and touched it briefly to the ground. I felt a wave of energy rush out from it, making the tiny hairs on my arms stand on end. Jax rolled out his shoulders, and Ling took a small step closer to him.

"What was that?" I asked.

"A simple sealing spell. It's now impossible to enter or leave this place by anything other than esoteric means."

"In English?"

"He means by portal," Ling murmured in my ear.

"Indeed. I wouldn't want you to get any ideas about running off with my leverage before we have a chance to speak. I seem to recall you have a penchant for running."

"And you have a penchant for taking what isn't yours. Shame you haven't overcome that."

"Humor," he said, his brow furrowing. "Interesting."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure I didn't get it from you."

"So it would seem."

He touched the ring on his right hand and a small portal popped into existence, unlike any I'd seen before. It was smaller than most portals, and there was a strange sheen over the front of it. He put his arm through and I stared in shock. Either the man was a complete idiot—which I wasn't willing to rule out right now—or this portal was different in more ways than one. And then I watched in amazement as he drew his arm back out of the portal.

And then none of that mattered, because I saw what his hand was wrapped around.

"Mom!"

"Cali!"

I bit back a sob of relief. Her hair was disheveled, her face dirty and drawn, and her eyes wide…but she recognized me. Whatever this asshole had done, she'd managed to hang on to enough of herself to recognize me.

She lurched forward but Ezekiel snagged a fistful of her hair and she fell back with a cry of pain.

"Get off her, you asshole!"

"You will not speak to me that way!" he thundered, shaking my mother so that her cry of pain became a sob.

I took a step toward them but the look in his eye pulled me up short.

"Okay! Okay, I'm sorry," I said, raising my hands and then remembering what he'd said last time we'd met and quickly dropping them, in case he got the wrong idea and took it out on my mom. "I was out of line. I'm sorry. Please don't hurt her."

"See?" he said, smiling darkly. "It's much easier if you just remember your place."

He released my mom and she collapsed to the floor, crying softly. I was going to kill him. Maybe not here, maybe not today, but I was going to kill him. Because I might run with monsters, I might even be becoming one, but this guy? He was the devil, and he belonged in hell.

"What's it going to take for you to let her go?" I asked, as calmly as I could.

"What you ought have done last time we met," he said. "And then this whole untidiness could have been avoided. You will leave with me, and I will permit your mother to leave with your…friends."

"No deal," Jax said from behind me. "We'll take option number two."

I whirled on him.

"Jax, you don't have to do this. This is my mess."

"Pack is pack."

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat, and notched my chin as I turned back to Ezekiel.

"It'll be a cold day in hell before I make a deal with you." I rolled out my shoulders, readying myself to fight. Because he might be older and stronger than us, but we had one thing in our favor. He needed me alive—for some reason—and that meant he'd be fighting with one hand behind his back. I, on the other hand, would have no trouble wiping his stain from existence.

He sighed. "As you will. Rest assured you will be punished for your defiance."

"You're pretty cocky for an aging vampire who's outnumbered three to one."

"A pup, a halfbreed, and a…what are you exactly?" he asked Ling, smiling a smile that was all teeth.

Her expression hardened, despite the fear in her eyes. "Ready to fight you."

He laughed. "Fight is a strong word. It will be a slaughter." He turned his cold eyes on me. "And when I have finished dispatching your friends, I shall allow you to watch as I drain the human. And then you and I shall leave. Together."

"Over my dead body."

"No, my dear, over everyone else's. This is your last chance. Avoid all this unpleasantness and come with me willingly."

"If you want her," Jax said, stepped forward, "then you're going to have to fight for her, leech."

He pulled his shirt over his head, and tossed it aside. I guess he wasn't planning to fight human. I wondered if… Would I be able to call on my wolf side, too? Because it sure as hell would be good be in a more durable form right now.

I reached inside myself, taking a slow and steady breath as I searched for that primal energy that lived somewhere deep inside. And then I stopped. Jax's shift wouldn't be seamless, and I didn't think Ezekiel would be giving him time to change in peace. Someone needed to defend him while he did it—and if I was writhing on the floor with both my shoulders dislocated, the fight would be over in seconds. No. Him first, then me.

He gasped and staggered back, and I frowned. I'd never seen him start a shift that way before.

"Jax?"

"Shit, we need…"

Ling was at his side in a heartbeat.

"Need what?" she asked, and he ducked his head and then forced himself to straighten, glaring at Ezekiel. Then he staggered back again, doubling at the waist like he'd been driven back by a gut punch. I wrenched my eyes back to Ezekiel.

"What are you doing to him?" I demanded. It came and went so quickly that I almost missed it, but it had been there. The look of surprise on his face. The realization was like ice dripping down my spine. I shook my head slowly. "You're not the one doing this. Jax? What's happening?"

"Pack summons," he ground out, dropping into a crouch as his face contorted in pain. "Fuck."

"What the hell is a pack summons?"

Ezekiel tutted his disapproval. "Almost two years at the academy and you have learned nothing of your world."

"Bite me," I snapped. "Jax?"

"Your friend is being called by his alpha," Ezekiel said. "The longer he ignores the summons, the worse his discomfort will get."

I looked at the agony on Jax's face, and felt horror dawning on mine. "It's going to get worse."

"Much."

"What the hell does Cain want with him?" I spat under my breath. Of all the shitty, awful timing.

"Pack summons are used for alpha challenges…or executions," Ling murmured, her face pale. I felt the blood drain from mine. Cole.

And Jax was trapped here by Ezekiel's barrier.

"You have to let him go."

"I need do no such thing," Ezekiel replied calmly. "And with your guard dog otherwise engaged, I do believe we shall conclude our business rather quickly—and then his pain shall be over."

"There are still two of us who can fight," I said, with more composure than I felt, because without Jax, we were fucked. And we all needed to get out of here in one piece if we were going to help Cole. "I wouldn't be so sure you're going to win."

"It amuses me that you think the outcome is anything other than predetermined," he said, but his eyes flicked to Ling for just a second. He didn't know what she was any more than I did, and the uncertainty was making him wary.

Jax's groan of pain ripped through the air and Ling crouched down next to him, speaking in quick, hushed tones in his ear.

"I am not without pity," my father said.

"Right. And I'm a fae."

"Agree to my terms, and I'll allow them to leave."

"What are your terms?"

"You will come with me, of course."

I shook my head. "Why? What's your obsession?"

"Obsession is such a vulgar word. I am merely concluding a business deal begun long ago. You will come with me, and be married to the suitor I have chosen for you."

"Married?" I blinked, processing the word. "That's crazy. I have a mate!"

"To whom you are not yet mated. And what do I care for such trivialities?"

"It's not going to happen, Ezekiel."

"I assure you, it is. The only thing that remains in doubt is whether I shall kill your friends and your mother before I take you with me."

I glanced at my mom, cowering at his feet, and then at Jax, doubled over in pain with Ling still whispering urgently in his ear.

"The clock is ticking, my dear."

As if to underscore his point, Jax's head rolled back as another cry of pain ripped from him. Fuck!

"Getting colder by the moment, isn't it?"

Smug asshole. He was right though; I was out of options and we both knew it. Cole needed me, needed Jax, and Jax needed to be back at the pack. We were in no state to fight, and even if we had been, we didn't have time.

"Alright! I'll do it. I'll come with you. But not now."

"Oh?" He arched a brow, sounding amused. Asshole.

"Let all four of us go back to my pack, unharmed. I need to know that Cole is going to be okay, and my mom will be safe there. Let us all go, and give me long enough to get everything settled, and then I'll go with you. Willingly."

"Nice try. But ‘long enough to get everything settled' is a little vague. I'll give you three moons to get your affairs in order. Not a day longer."

Three months. It was longer than I'd dared to hope. I swallowed. "Done."

I felt the weight of the deal settle around my shoulders, and hoped this wasn't going to come back to bite me. I also hoped I could get out of here before Ezekiel had time to consider my wording too closely. Because no way in hell was I agreeing to whatever arranged marriage he thought could get him the most power.

"Well?" I said, glancing anxiously at Jax and then my mother. "Open the portal. Now. Or did you intend to go back on the ‘unharmed' part of the deal?"

"Oh, I've no intention of jeopardizing our little deal. And I will be collecting. Three moons."

He touched his hand to the ring on his finger, and a portal sprang into existence.

"Go," I called to Ling. "Get Jax back to the pack."

She didn't wait for me to ask twice, grabbing Jax and turning him to the portal. The pain eased from his face as soon as he started moving, as the pack magic recognized that he was no longer fighting the summons.

"Come on, mom. Time to go."

Without waiting for her to respond, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hurried her towards the portal. Ezekiel's voice followed me.

"I'll be in touch," he said. "Soon."

I ignored him, and stepped through.