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“He says it was bound to happen. This problem has been festering for far too long. They need to settle it,” Kota interpreted for me, easily reading the rapid signs.
“And what happens to the person who loses, huh?” I questioned, watching apprehension filter through the look they shared. “What if Jolon loses? You won’t be a beta any longer.” I’d never asked Syler if he enjoyed being a beta, but I assumed he did. Then again, in a pack of two, it wasn’t like he’d had much choice in the matter.
Syler shrugged and his hands flew through a few more signs.
“As long as he’s with you, that’s all that matters to him,” Kota translated.
A tear broke free and trailed down my cheek.
“As sweet as that is, do you really think that Jolon or Dason will be okay simply walking away from being an alpha? They were each born to lead.” What I didn’t voice was that I was scared I wouldn’t be enough to ease the pain of this outcome for whoever lost. They were only fighting this fight because they all belonged to me. Because someone had to sacrifice. “I can’t watch this.”
Shaking my head, I spun, gave my mates my back, and paced away just as magick brightened the night behind me, lighting the dark, cracked asphalt in shades of gray and silver. Their growls broke my heart into a million pieces with each step I took, but at the first wounded sound one of them made, I whirled again, ready to beg them to stop this nonsense.
But before I could open my mouth to yell and plead with my hard-headed mates to stop hurting each other, to find another way to work this out, the wolf necklace settled against my chest began to glow and burn. Another sort of magick flared behind me, and all I saw were my mates’ wide eyed reactions as they all began sprinting toward me just as a muscular arm barred around my stomach and yanked me into a hard chest.
Air left my lungs as strange magick enveloped me, and the portal that opened at my back swirled shut around me and my captor, sealing me off from my men and thrusting me into darkness.
Chapter Two
Lorn
Istumbled when the portal dumped me out on the other side, and the only thing that stopped me from sprawling face first into the floor was a pair of large hands on my arms.
Large hands that led to a large body that smelled enticingly like leather, spice, and a hint of smoke and blood. The scent was intoxicating and oddly familiar, but before I could focus on it, my stomach lurched, craving the sweetness of that blood. My feeding from earlier in the evening was wearing off, and that insatiable hunger was creeping back in. Swallowing hard, I pushed the thirst down before my fangs descended, then growled at the stranger who held me.
I tried to jerk out of the fuckwad’s grip, but his fingers tightened mercilessly.
Leaning closer, my captor’s hard jaw brushed against my ear, his lips barely grazing my skin when he whispered deep and low, “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
That voice felt intimate, as though we knew each other, yet my head was spinning so much I couldn’t place where I’d heard it before. But if this fucker thought I was going to go wherever it was he was leading me without complaint, he had another thing coming.
No way in hell.
I struggled the entire way, making him half drag me through the dark entryway into a much brighter room. Wainscotted walls gave the space a rich appearance. A fire burned in the enormous brick fireplace despite the late summer weather, and the shelves that flanked it brimmed with old looking books. A large cherry desk sat at one end of the room, imposing in its size. But it was the person who pushed to their feet behind it that captured my attention.
“Lorn,” Elan purred, much too friendly to be sincere. The shadow touched elder didn’t look a day over forty, though I knew he had to be past that age. Polished and put together, he wore an impeccable dark suit that he smoothed down and buttoned as he stared at my disheveled state.
My clothing lay in tatters, the rips and holes stained with blood from the ordeal I’d been through in the veil. I was keenly aware of the scent of brimstone and smoke that clung to the fabric and still played through the strands of my hair. Pissed to hell and back, I didn’t care about my grimy state in such a pristine house. As it stood, I hoped I stained the shit out of his carpet.
You didn’t kidnap someone if you had good intentions, and I’d never gotten a good vibe from the surly elder.
“Elan,” I addressed coldly. “If you wanted me to visit, you simply needed to ask,” I snarked, trying once more to remove myself from my asshole captor’s grip.
Another wave of hunger and something suspiciously like need washed over me when I drew a deep breath to scent the man behind me. Now that I knew where I was, at least generally, it was easy to guess Tye, Elan’s son, was the one who’d kidnapped me. Pushing past the hunger that clouded my mind at his aroma, I confirmed my suspicion.
I also confirmed something else that I was definitely not ready to deal with.
Finally, Tye released me and I whirled on him, smacking him with the grimoire as a punishment for his manhandling. He only smirked, his eyes a strange red that flashed with an emotion that looked oddly like… pride.
It melted away as soon as he turned back to his father. “She’s here. I’ve done as you commanded,” he said bitterly, as cold and harsh as jagged ice.
“Yes, yes. You’re dismissed. For now.” Elan waved him off, but Tye didn’t move.
Instead, he took a small step closer, placing himself between me and his father. “I’m not leaving. We have a deal,” he warned.
I had no idea what they were talking about, but it didn’t matter. Placing some distance between us, I backed away from both of them as best I could. Absorbing my surroundings, I ran through a list of exits and sized up the room for possible weapons.
“Why are you kidnapping me?” I asked outright. There was no use beating around the bush. Elan wanted something. I just needed to figure out his end game so I could gain some leverage.
