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Ignoring the pang of hurt in her chest, she focuses on the groggy man at her side.
“I am,” he says in a rasp. “Is she alive?”
His hopefulness doesn’t mix with the fact he abandoned his daughter. They suspected he was in Pine Shore. Zee had seen him in his club. He never attacked or even tried to attack any of them.
“Why are you here?”
He grimly smiles. “I came to stop them from opening the portal. In my arrogance, I thought I could do it alone. Instead, I found out the hard way they’re stronger than all the books said.”
“They who? Who is the master? And what portal?”
He winces when he tries to move. “They’ll kill us all if they succeed,” he says, licking his dry, cracked lips. “It was in the book of omens.”
“What book?”
Speaking has come at a price for the weary Aquarius who has been dehydrated and poorly taken care of. He coughs for several long minutes, and he spits out blood. Just the scent of it has Amy’s beast stirring... hungry, wanting...
Shaking her head, she ignores the urges. Years of practice still offer her very little control, but it’s enough.
The Aquarius studies the female. She doesn’t know why she’s here, but he does. He knows what they plan to do with her, but his throat hurts too much to speak any longer.
His daughter is safe. That’s what the female lycan just told him. But for how long? He failed. He gave up his life, his daughter, his entire world, all to fulfill his destiny as an Aquarius the day the bloodline became active again. He has trained since that day to stop this omen.
But he’s failed. He walked right into their hands, giving them one more piece of the puzzle they needed in order to succeed—the blood of a true Aquarius.
Shamed and disheartened, he lets his head drop again as unconsciousness starts to swallow him. He hears the female lycan trying to wake him, needing answers of her own. But he doesn’t have the energy or the fight left in him to battle exhaustion.
He also doesn’t want to be awake when they come to do their worst to her. She won’t survive this day, and he can’t handle any more of the screams. They’ve battered his soul with their darkness, and a shell remains in his place.
He knows he’ll hear them no matter how deep the sleep is, but he silently prays for mercy despite the other unanswered prayers.
Amy watches with a frown as the Aquarius starts breathing evenly. He’s passed out, now useless to her.
She doesn’t speak as she hears others approaching. Instead, she drops her head, pretending she too is asleep. It might buy her some time to find a way out of these chains and what looks to be a stone tower. Where is she? How did she get here? There are no stone towers in Pine Shore, are there?
“You let them get away?” a sickeningly familiar voice hisses.
“Dragons. There were dragons, Master,” the night stalker says—the night stalker Amy wants dead now. “I watched from the shadows. Our night stalkers and first blood smelled the threat and ran. They are only beasts, and their instincts control them. I did everything just the way we planned. As soon as we found them, I sent you their location.”
“Dragons are not of this world!”
“I’m aware. It was a well-designed illusion. The red jinn was much stronger than we believed.”
The master takes a deep breath then walks over to where the newest addition has arrived. The first blood lycan was the only missing piece. The other died after a violent reaction to the sunlight. Quite unexpected, given the fact lycans were never noted for that reaction in the early days. The blood might not have been pure though. You can’t prepare for any reactions if the bloodline was tainted hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
The replacement looks up, giving up the ruse of pretending to be asleep. Those dark eyes narrow to slits as she spits at the master’s feet.
“They’ll kill you, and I can’t wait to watch.”
Amy studies the master from her chained position on the wall, hating that she was captured. Will anyone notice she’s missing? Will anyone know they’ve been betrayed?
She can’t escape to tell them. The chains are too strong, even though she’d kill to get just one hand free and strangle the master.
The master smirks at Amy as she struggles in vain. “At least we got one thing. What of the princess?”
“She wasn’t there. Neither was the queen or king.”
The master’s lips thin. “They’re suspicious or cautious. You know we need the princess to finish this.”
