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"We don't want anything too obvious, or Mickael will see us coming a mile away," Sybil says.
"I'll do it," I offer confidently. This is my chance to prove to my coven sisters that I can come up with good ideas and be just as powerful as them. "I have the perfect spell. I'll use my magic to craft crowns of blackthorn and hawthorn. Both can be used as protection against them, and the crowns won't be easily visible in the dark club."
"Itcouldwork," Sybil says hesitantly.
"I can do this," I say to her with a stubbornness in my voice. I turn to Gregory and Renna. "Can you and your pack find Lucian and get him out of there in a short amount of time? The crowns won't hold them off for long, not if Tala and the traitor werewolves are there."
Renna nods eagerly. "We can find Lucian quickly. The scent of an alpha is unmistakable, and we can track him for miles, even through stone walls. We only need a minute or two to locate him and pull him out of there."
"Even if they have him restrained," Gregory picks up where Renna left off, "I can shift and use my teeth to cut through even the toughest shackles. The vampires aren't as powerful as us—they might be sneaky, but we still have the advantage of brute force."
I nod, and the other witches agree with the plan.
"Let's do it," I say. "Let's go rescue Lucian."
10
LUCIAN
"Are you enjoying yourself?" I ask through gritted teeth as Mickael pulls a pointed nail out of my flesh.
I never understood why vampires keep their nails so long. With fangs like theirs, they really don't need for any other sharp appendage.
"Thoroughly." He sneers at me with a wide and toothy grin.
It's beenhoursof torture with the vampires doing everything short of draining my blood—and that's only because they're repulsed by the taste of wolf blood. I let my chin drop down to my chest and my arms hang from their chains as I survey my new collection of injuries. Honestly, Mickael could have done more. Vampires are harmless compared to wolves.
Our two factions have feuded for as long as I can remember, and since Mickael took over the clan, it's gotten worse. His thirst for territory is unstoppable; it's why I decided to offer myself to him. It was the only plan that would save Elspeth and avoid a war.
I also assumed I'd be able to find a way out of here, but so far, I haven't been able to come up with a single viable idea. Maybe Tala was right—maybe I'm losing my touch and shouldn't be alpha anymore. Or maybe I'm just too consumed with thoughts of Elspeth.
"You should know by now, Lucian, that the vampires are the superior species," Mickael says, monologuing despite my lack of attention. "The fact that some of your own people betrayed you is proof enough that your kind have no loyalty. I will use Tala to make the wolf pack heel at my feet, and then I will—"
As much as I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of his delusional rant, a sudden and abrupt noise makes Mickael pause. He cocks his head toward the door and listens, then dashes out of the room and into the hallway, leaving me alone and tied up like a chained dog.
I wonder what caught his attention. I strain my senses, but I don't notice anything other than the faint, sweet smell of—
"Elspeth?" I call out quietly toward the open doorway.
She steps in through the door like an apparition. I can barely believe my eyes. What is she doing here? How did she get past the vampires?
"Elspeth, you shouldn't have come!" I say with urgency. It's not that I'm unhappy to see her; I've been thinking of nothingbuther, but she's going to get captured and killed. I bartered with Mickael for her life the last time, but now I have nothing left to bargain with.
"Well, I actually wasn'tsupposedto come looking for you," she says as her eyes dart from side to side. "Gregory, Renna, and a few of your other wolves were supposed to find you while I momentarily incapacitated the vampires. But I couldn't wait to see you, so, I came to find you myself."
"Wait, Gregory and Renna are here too?"
"Yes, and the coven witches. We're here to rescue you," Elspeth says. "And now that I'm here, let's get you out."
Elspeth steps closer into the light of the room and gasps.
"Oh, Lucian," she says with a look of distress and an instant flood of tears in her eyes. "What have they done to you?"
I suppose I am in rough condition. It probably would have been better if the wolf pack rescue party had found me before she did. That way, she wouldn't be quite so horrified.
"It's alright," I say with a forced smile. "I'm fine,really."
Elspeth visibly straightens her back and grimaces as she fights back tears.
