Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Your bodyguard stays outside," Theo said, expecting Everest gave a fuck about what he wanted.

"Non. McKeon never leaves my side, not even when I take a piss." Especially not when surrounded by Shadow Board assholes. Everest walked into the small office. The desk and filing cabinets took up most of the space. On top of one cabinet was a plant that had tendrils that reached across three walls.

"And when does he piss?" Theo snapped.

"When I do." At home, he didn't care. His bodyguards were more decorative. But he wanted Theo to believe he had complete control over the lion shifter.

"And he also fucks on command, from what I hear."

Cadel's low grumble vibrated through Everest.

Everest grinned. "I value loyalty over fear. I do not need dampeners to keep my staff in line. As for the fucking…" Everest shrugged. "If you have never had your cock licked by a cat shifter, you are missing out."

"Your country allows you to fuck animals? "

Everest turned to glance at Cadel, who was scowling so hard that it was surprising his face hadn't broken. His nose gave the smallest twitch.

Fuck. Everest sniffed and wiped his nose on the napkin in his pocket, making sure to fold the blood inside. He blamed the fireball and holding back his rage. He took his time appraising Cadel. "He looks human to me."

"Part-time human."

"And you are a full-time witch, yet you call yourself human?" Everest walked around Cadel, running his hand over the shifter's back, needing his touch and strength. "Do you see me as a part-time human because I can shift, or is it different for me because I do not turn into a flesh and blood creature?"

Cadel lifted a hand, catching the tendril of vine that reached for Everest. It wrapped around his wrist. Another reached for Everest, and he let it grab his arm.

"You are a shifter—I don't care how much you claim to be a witch, and you will kneel before the Board." Theo's fingers danced through the air, conducting the movements of the vines.

Cadel struggled as they grabbed him.

"The negotiations are off?" Another vine wrapped around Everest's chest and squeezed him tight.

"You will beg your father to save you. He will agree with our demands, or he will watch you die." The vine grew rapidly now as Theo drew on his bound shifter…or was he drawing on Oliver?

When a tendril tickled his throat, Everest grew tired of the game. His skin ignited. Burning away his clothes and the vines. The chess piece that had been in his pocket dropped to the ground. He threw the fireball at the plant, and it burst into flames.

"No!" Theo dropped to his knees, clutching his head.

"Were you connected to it? I'm sorry. What were you saying about begging for your life?"

Cadel put Theo face down on the floor and held him there.

"You don't hear the plants screaming." Tears spilled over Theo's cheek, but they were for show.

Everest had put on enough of them to know when he saw one. "Do you hear the shifters screaming, or do you not care because, to you, they aren't people? My father will never surrender, but he was willing to grant you safety. I see now that your request for amnesty was a lie and that your objective remains taking over my country."

"If you kill me, you will never leave here alive. I have to type in a code every hour." Theo wheezed.

"Or what?"

"Or a magical detonation happens." Theo's tears stopped, and he grinned like a shark.

Everest squatted and tilted his head to glare at the witch. He had a plan for some kind of suicide cult behavior. It happened in the past when witches were cornered. Shifters tended to run off and go feral. But he hadn't accounted for technology.

This was a bit of a fuck fest.

And not the fun kind.

"I guess I create a fire, and we all evacuate."

"No one gets in or out without my code. And if your brother leaves that room, he dies."

Everest leaned a little closer. "And then he will be reborn. With none of the lies you told him filling his head."

"I won't give you the code. You'll die in here with everyone else."

Everest laughed. "You're threatening a phoenix with death? My father already has retrieval teams on standby. He will collect the eggs, and Oliver and I will be reborn. "

Theo struggled against Cadel's grip. "What about your bodyguard?"

Everest didn't glance at Cadel; he kept his gaze on Theo. "He agreed to die for me when he became my bodyguard. We are at an impasse."

He picked up the queen, closing his fist around the piece and enjoying the way the metal bit into his skin. He stood, and with his first step, his shoes fell apart, leaving him completely naked. Fire witches were the only witches who understood what it was like for shifters: clothing was always an issue.

He perched on the edge of the desk, one leg swinging. He much preferred being bent over a desk, but now wasn't the time. Though there had been plenty of times. They danced through his mind, tempting him with the comfort of the past instead of dealing with the dangers of the present and his lack of future. He wiped his nose before the trickle of blood could spill onto his lip.

"You were so close to leading your people to safety, but you couldn't handle the thought of being ruled by someone with the ability to shift. People more powerful than you'll ever be."

"I'm a lord," Theo whined.

"Not in this country and not in mine. You fled England." Everest spun the laptop to face him. "I guess the question is, do you want to die? Do your witches and shifters understand what you have done? Or did you rig the building without them knowing?"

"I'm not telling you anything."

Everest glanced at the clock and did the math from the original summons. He doubted Theo had selected a random code time. By his best guess, they had thirty minutes. It was a good thing he'd stalled, or they would have much less time.

Jacob had gotten into the building without being detected, which meant Jacob also knew a way out unless he'd come in with staff, but Everest doubted as Theo wouldn't have let a stranger in.

"I guess that means you want to die. McKeon, shall we bring him with us and find some good liquor to drink? Perhaps we can squeeze in one more game of chess?" He gave Cadel a wink as he rolled the queen between his fingers.

Cadel's gaze was steady. "Do you think the other witches will attempt to save him?"

"No idea, but I guess we'll have some fun finding out. When was the last time you had a fight and let your lion loose?"

"I haven't hunted in a few months." Cadel leaned in and growled in the witch's ear. "Shifters have a very strong survival instinct. I wonder how many will turn on you now that you are offering only death?"

Theo kicked his legs and struggled harder. "You can't hunt people. It's wrong."

"But you can kill everyone in the building? Or was that a bluff?" Everest got off the desk. His father would wonder what the hell was going on. "Let's go talk to some of your witches."

He flung open the door, not caring that he was naked. The woman was still in the hallway. Her eyes widened when she saw him, and then Theo pinned beneath Cadel.

"He tried to kill me with a plant. It turns out he has rigged this entire place to blow. We have about thirty minutes before we die. Can you gather everyone?"

"What?" Her gaze dropped to his dick.

Right, he needed to remember not everyone performed well under pressure. She looked as though she was about to freak out. Maybe he should cover himself. Being naked couldn't be helping her focus.

What he needed was Cadel to action these steps, but he was busy with Theo.

"I need all the staff here, now. Can you fetch them?" The staff, from what he'd overheard, were locals. They wouldn't want to be caught up in Shadow Board drama, and Everest doubted they wanted to die. They might have also noticed any weird goings-on and be able to point him to the magical bombs.

"Why are we going to die?" Her bottom lip quivered. She didn't want to die for the cause. There were always some true believers and some who just liked the power kick. Then there were those who'd been born into it and didn't know that there was a better way. As tempting as it was to assume they were all like Theo, that would also be a mistake, especially when he needed boots on the ground.

His mind drummed with the footsteps of an army that had died centuries ago. People fighting for survival always fought harder than those fighting for power.

"Your friend decided that dying was better than living under phoenix rule. We're running out of time." He grabbed her hand because he needed the contact to stay here. Now was not the time to get caught up in a past battle. "Please send me the staff. If you could assemble everyone else in the dining room, I will be there soon."

"You need clothes."

He didn't give a fuck about clothes. The odds of them getting burned away, again, were high. "When you send me the staff, I will have them fetch me clothes. Please hurry." He released her hand and gave her a nudge.

Fortunately, she moved.

Everest turned back to Cadel and Theo. "Knock him out. Not too hard, though. We still want to get the code out of him."

"You're not allowed to torture me." Theo squirmed harder.

"When I'm done with you, there'll be nothing left to find, so it's not going to fucking matter," Everest snapped.

Cadel squeezed the man's throat until Theo's flailing stilled. "We need to restrain him. "

"And get rid of all plants. I thought it was just our window that didn't open…but it will be all of them." He walked back into the office and checked out the window. Like the others, it was sealed.

"Intentional death house?"

"The building is old, but the Shadow Board set it up as a secure place. Wouldn't want their precious shifters to escape."

"We can't smash the glass?"

Everest pointed up to the top corner of the frame. "Anything thrown at the window will bounce off, with double the force. Old technology, but reliable, as it doesn't need much maintenance."

He opened the desk drawers, looking for anything that might be useful, like an instruction booklet for the house.

"You're pretty confident that the code has to be typed in on the hour." Cadel watched him warily.

"It's an easy-to-remember time, and he probably activated it when he summoned me, expecting me to obey. I can't do much in five minutes. However, in twenty-five minutes…" He paused. "Where are the staff?"

Cadel tilted his head, listening. "They're either coming up the stairs, or the witches are turning up with pitchforks."

"I do enjoy barbecue." Everest's smile was grim.

"I do not want roast lion to be on the menu."

"Everyone is getting out." He hoped he was right.

Half a dozen staff members filed into the room, including Jacob. Excellent.

"Do any of you know the code in or out of the building?"

Heads turned, and expressions were blank.

"This guy." Everest pointed to the unconscious Theo on the floor. "Is he only one with the code?"

"We were told it was for security reasons. Why are you naked?" An older man wearing an apron asked .

Of course, the naked man was losing his mind…in this case, the assumption was correct. "He kidnapped me yesterday, and I attempted to escape. When he tried to kill me, my bodyguard stopped him. I'm the Crown Prince of Mont de Leucoy, and I want my people. Now. How do they enter without the code? How do you receive deliveries?"

"He dealt with it all." The apron man said.

Everest drew in a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. The pounding in his head intensified.

"There's an exit on the roof," Jacob said it as though it killed him to give away his exit strategy. "From there, you have to jump down to the fire escape."

Everest turned to Cadel. "Get them out of here. Return to the hotel. You know what to do."

From the look on Cadel's face, it would've been kinder if Everest had slapped him. "Sir, I can't leave you."

"I'm not asking, I'm ordering." The words echoed around him and in a dozen different languages. Snippets of other lives and other conversations.

Cadel nodded. Then he pulled off his shirt and held it out like a peace offering. Everest hesitated, then took it. The fabric was warm from his body, and as he slipped it around Everest's shoulders, Cadel's scent wrapped around him, soothing his mind for a couple of heartbeats.

"Be safe." Then Cadel pulled him in for an inappropriate hug in front of people. He kissed Everest's neck. "I mean it."

"I'll do my best." Was his best ever good enough? The past rushed back up, filling his ears with noise.

He'd lied to Theo about being willing to die. He wanted to live this life instead of trying to fix past mistakes. He didn't want Cadel to be a mistake that left a mark on his soul.

The voices whispered in his mind .

Cadel was going to leave a mark no matter what Everest did.

Cadel released him and took a step back before turning and walking away.

They were down to twenty minutes.