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I extended my hand to my mate. She hesitated for a moment, biting her lip, but decided to trust me enough to put her hand in mine. A bolt of electricity went through my body all the way to my cock. This response was my body reacting to her sweet touch but now was not a good time to be hard, so I thought about cold ice to stop my carnal thoughts. It didn’t really work.
I reminded myself that Victor’s goons were coming closer and would be upon us at any minute; the realization helped me focus enough to lead Daphne to our car. Esteban followed behind us.
I was just opening the back passenger door when Esteban called out to our people in his Alpha voice. “Cease fire!”
Everyone stopped shooting. I looked at my best friend, confused. He was staring in the direction of the castle, his mouth open wide, pale as if he’d seen a ghost.
I followed his gaze to see that Victor’s goons had stopped within shouting distance of us, hiding behind the small fence. They barely had any cover, so why had Esteban commanded our people to stop shooting? We could hit our enemies now and get rid of as many of them as we wanted. We could weaken Victor.
I stared intently at the people behind the fence. There were a lot of them – forty men, armed with all manner of guns and rifles. This situation wasn’t good at all. They outnumbered us two to one. We would be better off going back to Santuario than picking a fight with them, so maybe Esteban’s choice was right. But what was my cousin looking at that terrified him so much?
I continued looking, and finally I spotted… Victor himself. He was right there, with a giant smile on his face. And he held someone firmly by the arm. A starved-looking tall woman with a mane of brown curly hair. She had a defiant look on her face, staring at Victor with contempt. She had a collar on her neck, as if she was property not a human.
My blood froze when I saw whom Victor was holding.
“Hanny!” I screamed my sister’s name. I moved in closer towards the enemies, but a heavy hand came down on my shoulder, stopping me. Ban. He didn’t want me to go to her. “Let me go!” I turned around to him.
Esteban shook his head. “If you go to him now, he will kill you for sure.” He gestured at the distance between our cars and the fence. The area was open ground; Victor would have no problem taking my life.
“But Hanny… she’s alive!” I couldn’t believe it was true. The past three years I had thought my sister dead. Yet, here she stood, thinner than I remembered but very much alive.
I focused on her again. Hanny stared back at me. When our gazes connected, she recognized me. She gave me a sad smile. Why did Victor bring her to the battlefield? I was glad to see her alive but she was in the villain’s clutches.
“You bastard!” I shouted at Victor who seemed to be amused by the situation.
“How do you like seeing your sister again after all those years? I’ve been holding her prisoner in Fort Torres the past three years. She’s a good servant. You wouldn’t guess she used to be shifter royalty.” Victor laughed, his voice full of malice.
I gritted my teeth, disgusted by how he was treating Hanny. I had always known Victor was a despicable man. Of course he would make a Torres his servant. The concept must have been amusing to him. Still, it beat the other thing he could have done to Hanny – making her part of his harem of women. My sister still had defiance in her gaze. Despite Victor’s treatment she hadn’t lost her will to fight.
I turned back to Esteban. “We need to save Hanny! We need to run over there and take her away!”
My sister spoke up. “Even if you take me away from him, the collar on my neck is magical. Only Victor knows where the key is and here is as far as I can go. I cannot run away from the Torres castle grounds.”
My eyes widened. I focused on my magical senses. Indeed, the collar shone brightly with purple light, indicating that a spell had been placed upon the object. And as much as I hated to face the truth, I also knew Hanny wouldn’t lie about something this serious.
“The bitch has tried to run away before!” Victor pulled on Hanny’s arm, and she stumbled but caught herself before she fell. My hands curled into fists. It took everything I had in me not to run up to them, and take my sister away. “So she knows now: she can never run away from me!”
The realization that we couldn’t save Hanny from Victor today hit me like a ton of bricks. I wanted her to be safe with us but achieving that goal would require a bigger fight than any we were currently prepared to win. Twenty of our men couldn’t succeed against forty of Victor’s. Such a battle would be a massacre.
I had always thought I hated Victor with boiling passion and yet, right now, I despised him even more than I ever had before. I had wanted to get revenge on him for killing our family and especially for taking Hanny’s life, but now that I knew he hadn’t killed her but made her his servant instead, I detested him even more.
“I’m stronger than I look. I will wait for you to save me,” Hanny gave me a small smile.
Victor pushed her, and she had to grip the fence in order not to fall flat on her face.
I clenched my jaw to stop myself from cursing Victor.
“They will never save you. You will always be with me, as my property.” The disgusting man spit out the words.
He wanted to break Hanny’s spirit completely, but I knew my sister. She wasn’t one to give up. The past three years must have been hard for her, but she had persevered. Now that we knew she still lived, we could come back for her and finally end the suffering Victor had put her through for so long.
“As much as I hate to say it, right now we only have twenty men with us. If we engage with Victor and his forty men, we’re bound to lose. And then Daphne will be in danger of having the same fate as Hanny, and we will be dead and unable to save anybody.” Esteban was the voice of reason, saying the things I already knew but I still needed to hear him say them so I could accept the reality of our situation.
For Hanny I would go up against anything. However, if I tried to do so now, the lives of the people of my sleuth would be the cost. I couldn’t put them in such danger. I was an Alpha. My task was to protect my clan.
As much as I thirsted for revenge and wanted Hanny safe with us, I had to admit that Ban was right. We hadn’t come here for a final attack against Victor. Such an assault would require far more preparation, people, and resources. Victor’s goons weren’t behind good cover, but their numbers were greater than our own. We couldn’t win here, not without heavy losses.
“I’m sorry, Hanny…” I had tears in my eyes as I came to accept that I couldn’t help her right now.
