6. Isabelle

6

ISABELLE

" O h, Isabelle," my mother says when I appear in the spacious sitting room inside our family's mansion. It's more like a castle with its stone walls and thick tapestries. "Nice of you to finally show up."

My heart cracks a little, although I remind myself that I have no reason to be surprised by her words. Time means little to vampires, especially older ones. It has been months since I vanished at the hands of our enemies, but to my mother my absence has only been a brief interval.

It shouldn't bother me, but it does. It always has, I've just learned to school my feelings so that it doesn't show.

"Sorry, mother. I've been… indisposed."

The regal matriarch of our coven doesn't look a day over twenty. Her hair was once the same vibrant ruby shade as mine, until the millennia faded it to a softer strawberry blond. It's the only change that shows her age. Her complexion is still the same flawless alabaster that it's always been. Her mind just as sharp and scheming as ever.

With a sniff, she picks up her teacup and saucer that was steaming beside her when I arrived. The calming chamomile is infused with blood and tinted crimson as she lifts it to her lips to sip.

"Your father and I don't appreciate your disappearing act," she sneers at me over the eggshell thin china. "We don't ask much from you. Just that you do your part for the coven."

I swallow down my scoff and carefully school my expression, when I want to tilt my head back and scream at her. To ask what exactly she has done for the coven? What has she sacrificed?

"There is a function tomorrow night at the Den. Jarik and his human bitch will be the guests of honor," my mother continues, completely oblivious to my inner turmoil. With a practiced elegance, she sets her tea on the small table beside her. "The coven has decided that he's had his fun with the human, but he needs a more fitting mate."

My stomach drops. Oh, Fates, no.

"There will be a distraction, and they will be separated, that is when you will inject yourself at his side. Keep him busy while we…" she sniffs as if the very thought is too tacky to speak of, "while we take care of her."

For a moment I'm too shocked to do much more than stare at her. This is underhanded, even for my power-hungry coven.

"Mother," my fingers come up to rub at my temples and I squeeze my eyes shut, letting my emotionless facade crack. "Jarik is a mated beast. If you try to take Mercy from him, he's going to fly into a rage unlike anything you've ever seen."

Surely, she knows this. Right?

My mother lifts her chin and looks down her straight nose at me, even though she's sitting and I'm standing over her. It's a look I know well. A look that usually has me cowering. A look I have mimicked to my own advantage.

"Don't talk back, you useless little bitch! You'll do as you're told," she hisses.

In a blink of an eye, she vanishes from her chair and appears directly in front of me. We're nearly identical in height, but her age puts her strength far beyond mine. She may not look it, but if she wants to, she could end me in a heartbeat.

Not that she will.

She needs me.

That doesn't stop her from slapping me hard enough to send me flying across the room. I hit the bookshelves and crumple to the hardwood floor. Through dazed eyes, I watch a pair of expensive leather shoes stride across the room toward me.

"You will do your part and this time you will succeed!" my father, the alpha of our coven, spits down at me. "We will have control of the Alpha of Alphas and this time you will make sure that happens. If you fail us again, there will be no second chances, and we will have no more use for you."

"But don't think that you'll escape a quick death," my father's face twists into a maniacal grin as he describes my punishment for failing. For the first time, I'm truly frightened. Not just for myself, but for all the factions. If something happens to Jarik's mate, his beast will fall into a berserker-like rage that no one will be able to control. If I let this happen, all the factions will be doomed.

"We'll keep you imprisoned for the rest of your life," my father promises. "Allowing you just enough blood so you don't die, but you'll never be satisfied."

My parents have truly lost their minds in their desire for power, and we're all going to pay for it. I need to run. I need to go to Jarik and tell him what they are planning, but who would believe me after everything I've done. I have no friends within the factions. I've destroyed any trust I might have garnered. Even my mate finally sent me away. I have no one.

Luka, forgive me.