It’d be the perfect place. Deserted. Close to the water. Any number of things to weigh her body down with when they tossed her into the harbor. The twins weren’t coming to save her this time. They didn’t know they’d grabbed her outside the hotel. Even if they did, would they attempt a rescue from these…whoever the hell these guys were?
Faucherians.That’s what Louis had said back in the suite. Is that what they called themselves? It fit with the tattoo. But… Her throat tightened. Pierre and Louis had sent the malware. They’d lied to her and betrayed her. They’dusedher. Could she believe anything the twins said anymore?
I’m so in over my head.Werewolves. Witches. Armed men with neck tattoos. She couldn’t trust any of them.
The hub of the city receded, the streets getting wider and office buildings becoming houses. Melinda tried to keep track of the turns, the landmarks, but she was soon lost. One thing she knew, this wasn’t the way to the docks. They were taking her somewhere else. But where?
The car slowed and they turned down a street, the houses stately manors, the neighborhood quiet. It did little to settle her nerves. Mob bosses lived in mansions, in gated communities, didn’t they?
They pulled into the driveway at the back of a three-story home, driving straight into the garage. The home of Robert King, her client’s husband? Or this Regis Veilleux Pierre had spoken of? Or was she to be dragged in front of Maxime, the alpha of the Langeais wolves? No. The twin’s betrayal twisted in her gut, but she didn’t think they were working with these Faucherians. Louis had killed the guy in her flat. Pierre, Louis and Gabriel had torn six of them apart in the warehouse.
Cordelia had warned Melinda that her husband had money. He could have hired this Veilluex and his tattooed men. He could have hired Wolf Enterprises. Or both. Put a bounty on his wife’s head. Winner takes all. That was the only scenario that made any sense.
The garage door closing behind them made her jump. Strong arms pulled her out and, despite her struggling, pushed her toward a door. It opened on a lift. The house had its own damnedlift? Money. It bought a lot of things. Was it about to buy her silence?
The air in the lift was suffocating, the walls pressing in as soon as the doors closed. Melinda wanted to vomit. She wanted to cower. She wanted the security of the Ritz-Carlton and the two sexy men who’d protected her so far.
The lift stopped and Melinda was a split second away from hyperventilating. The door slid open on a living area decoratedin cream and gold, with antiques and fine art that put the penthouse suite in the Ritz-Carlton to shame. She sucked in fresh air, but it did nothing to ease the tightness in her chest, or the nausea threatening to overwhelm her. Was this it? Was her life to be snuffed out? Not here. Not on the cream carpet, surely?
Three people—a woman and two men—stood with their backs to her. There was a nervous-looking couple by the window. And… Her vision narrowed. On the brocade chair in the center of the room. On the woman sitting in it. Like a queen overseeing her subjects. MysticMage.
No. It…it couldn’t be. It wasn’t… But it was. MysticMage. Or rather, Cordelia King.
Gone was the frail old lady with the frightened, haunted look that reminded Melinda so much of her mother in her last few years. This woman would’ve given the Iron Lady pause. The steel in her smile, the cold, flat stare. An evil witch. A time-traveling witch. That’s what Pierre had called her. And she was inno waya captive.
Oh God.They’d told her the truth. The twins. It all tumbled into place now. The email she’d sent to MysticMage, warning her, mentioning Pierre and Louis by name. The lack of a reply. The intruder breaking into her flat hours after she’d sent it, trashing her computers. There to kill her. How quickly Cordelia had agreed to meet, in an abandoned warehouse of all places.
She tried to kill Gabriel and kidnapped Annabelle.
They’d tried to tell her, but she hadn’t listened. So convinced Cordelia was another poor soul who needed saving, so hurt by what they’d done, Melinda hadn’t stopped to think. To listen. She’d fled. Not willing to hear another word from them.
Louis, with his love of food, who wore his heart on his sleeve. And Pierre—dominant, controlled, thoughtful. He’d rescued Manchu and her mother’s teapot. For her. Sure, they’d lied toher. Betrayed her, but they’d also saved her. Twice. They’d each taken a bullet for her.
Louis and Pierre… They’d done the wrong thing by her, but they weren’t the enemy.
“Our cipher is here. Excellent.” The unusual blue and green gaze Melinda had become so familiar with over the last three months raked over her. “I’ll deal with you in a moment.”
Cordelia turned back to the young woman in front of her. “You have your orders, Grace. See that you follow through.” That terrible smile again, as she held a wrinkled hand out to encompass a couple standing by the window. “Your mother’s position in this family depends on it. You may go.”
The woman nodded and made a beeline for her mother, embracing her as though it might be the last time she’d have the chance. Maybe it was. Grace glanced at Melinda as she left the room, a well of sympathy in her dark eyes. If Cordelia could threaten a member of her own family, what would she do to Melinda?
“Bring her forward.”
A voice as icy as the River Thames in winter sliced through her misery. Rough hands dragged her forward. What she wouldn’t give to have the twins by her side right now.
“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, girl.” A disapproving frown added lines to Cordelia’s face. “A tiny slip of a thing, aren’t you? What they see in you, I’ll never understand.” Her gnarled hand clenched around the armrest. “The Langeais wolves have always made poor choices in women, but you are useful to me still. Veilleux.” Cordelia beckoned forward one of the men in front of her. “Are you ready?”
So this was Veilluex. The leader of the Faucherians. A Hugo Boss suit with a mercenary army at his command.
“Oui.I ’ave men stationed throughout ze house, on every floor and at every entrance. More men in ze gardens. If ze twins come, we will get zem.”
Cordelia chortled, an unpleasant sound. “Oh, they’ll come. Langeais wolves wouldn’t shift in front of human. Not unless she were something special to them.”
This was a trap? For the twins?
“She iz zeir mate?” Veilluex’s predatory smile would have been at home on an alligator. “Zen she will be a useful test subject in ze laboratory.”
Their mate?Was he right? A tiny bubble of warmth blossomed in her chest. But…Wait.Test subject? What the hell?No.No.Melinda wasnotgoing to be the subject of some weird-ass science experiment. And it didn’t matter what the twins had done. She couldn’t let that happen to them, either. But what choice did she have? Even if she were to break free of the hands that gripped her, she’d never make it past all the men Veilluex had stationed about the house.
