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“I won’t if you won’t,” I replied, reaching up to cup his cheek. I lifted myself up on the tips of my toes, pressing my lips to his and opening my mouth as he deepened the kiss. I could taste the anguish he felt - the dread that this could be our last kiss. I couldn’t let him think that. “I’ve seen our victory, Nyte. We are going to go home together. You just have to trust me.”
Something flashed in his eyes before he nodded, cupping my cheek as I held his. “I trust you, Paige.”
He kissed me once more before turning away and jumping down into the cave, the pack quickly following him. Only Madi and Thompson remained at my side, bound by their Beta duties to guard their Luna with their lives.
I looked between the two of them. “Which one of you is gonna help me down in there? I have a witch to cleanse.”
Chapter twenty-six
Nyte
Trust her. The words kept coming back around to me. I have to trust her. I should have trusted her from the beginning, yet that fear of never seeing her again - never holding her - clenched my heart like a vice. It had taken all my strength to dive into the cave and lead my pack into the fray of battle as my mate sought out her own fight - one I had to trust she would come out of unscathed.
I don’t spare a glance back at her, my pack colliding with the vampires as they shift in midair. I have to trust that she can take care of herself. I have to trust in her strength. She swore to me that she could handle this. So, instead of looking back for her, I look for the vampire who caused all this. I land in my fully shifted form, my thick coat shining in the risen moonlight. A vampire attempts to dive at me, his fangs bared in an attempt to attack me, but I swat him away like a fly. My claws tear into him, his body falling motionless at my feet. My opponent wouldn’t fall so easily.
I help my pack as I search for the ancient vampire lord, knocking the lesser vampires from their backs as I pass. Appreciative yelps greeted me as they were freed, running off to help another packmate now that they were freed. A flash of purple-streaked hair catches my attention momentarily, my head following the color just in time to see Paige on Madi’s back and Thompson running beside them. The Betas would stay close to her, the knowledge that she had two protecting her giving me solace before continuing in my search for the leader of the vampire horde.
“You undoubtedly are a werewolf king,” a deep voice chuckled at my left, my head whipping around to search for the source. Only wisps of smoke remained, the deep laughing echoing around me, but the scent of death was heavy in the air.
“Your size and power are impressive, I must admit; however, you aren’t the most impressive werewolf king I have faced in my time.”
I growled low as I turned my head, still missing the voice's owner at the last second.
“My witch was so concerned about you. She wouldn’t dare target any of the major pack branches outright. She always uses her little pendulum to decide which packs to take. Now that I see you, I’m wondering what it was that concerned her so much about you.” His voice came from all around, his scent circling me and the battle surrounding us fading away as a dark aura settled around me.
I shifted back to human form, turning in a circle to find the demon. “If you’re so unimpressed, then why don’t you stop hiding from me?” I called out with a sneer.
“Where is the fun in that?” he whispered back, his voice directly in my ear. I turned my head just in time to see him fade from sight, still laughing, although his voice echoed around me again.
“I’ve found many who hide their cowardice behind the guise of playing a game,” I chuckled. “Never thought an Ancient would be amongst those fools.”
“Trying to bait me?” the disembodied voice asked with amusement. “I’m far too old to fall for that. I’ve killed many werewolf kings in my time that I think I’ve earned the fun of playing with my food.”
I gritted my teeth as his voice bounced around me, his aura blocking my view of the pack and Paige. I couldn’t even hear them behind his miasma. I didn’t know how their battles were going. For all I knew, the witch who worked with this ancient being was wiping them all out as I was distracted by her partner.
No! I scolded myself.I have to trust her.
I shook my head, focusing on the vampire lord. “If you are so powerful, then why are you only now trying to bring back the werewolf slaves? From what I’ve heard, the werewolf kings of the past nearly wiped all you ancients off the face of the planet and ended this bullshit. Yet here you are, centuries later, trying to revitalize the practice.” I let out a deep laugh of my own, mocking his amusement. “Seems to me that you only had a chance at this because of the witch helping you. Maybe it’s her I should be focusing on. Take out the real power.”
“She is simply a weapon. A tool. A means to an end. If she were to be taken from me, well, there are more witches where she comes from. Like your Luna.”
I held back my snarl, refusing to allow him to bait me. He already had the upper hand in creating his battlefield with his aura. I didn’t need him to manipulate my emotions.
“I think you’ll find that my mate isn’t interested in helping you revive the past,” I said, catching his scent behind me, but I didn’t turn. I remained still, waiting to see if he would make a move. The moment he did, I would turn it against him instead.
“I can just do to her what I did to my current witch,” he whispered behind me. “It’s amazing what a few sweet nothings whispered into a woman’s ear can earn you.”
A growl slipped past my lips that I couldn’t hold back. “It takes a lot more than that to win over Paige.”
“I’m sure that’s what Silva’s mate thought, too.”
I felt the air swift between us, moving quickly to dodge his clawed hand. Liquid dripped from his nails, the scent of wolfsbane nearly making me gag. His scent of death had covered the poison’s scent up until now. I could only smell it because his hand had been less than a foot from my face. I shifted back to my wolf form with a snarl, jumping back farther, finally getting a full view of the vampire lord. I had heard the rumors of the Ancient Vampires and their beauty. The kind of beauty that drew in victims like moths to a flame, but I hadn’t believed it. Not until now.
He was pale, although not as pale as I would have expected him to be. Behind the years of no sunlight, you could still make out some color to him - a soft brown that spoke of his region of origin. His bone structure was sharp and strong, his hair tumbling in curls around his face. Even I had to admit the man was handsome. If what he had said were true and he wooed the witch to turn to the dark arts to help him, I could see why she would.
“You certainly are quick,” he laughed. “I will give you that. Possibly the fastest werewolf king I’ve come across to date, but you will fall just the same.”
I growled, bending my legs to prepare to dodge him again. He only laughed more, running his hands through his hair as his head turned skyward in his laughter.
