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Chapter23
Fenris
Fenris’s Private Villa
Isla Lobo, Panama
Click, click, click.
The sound of my heels against the floor irritated me with each step, but standing still was much worse. Every time I stopped to think, I saw Celeste’s face, the hurt and shock flashing across her face before the anger took hold. Anger, I could deal with; it didn’t bother me. But to see the betrayal, the pain in her expression, and to know I’d put it there—
I snarled to myself and wheeled around to pace in the other direction.I shouldn’t have done that.But it was practically automatic at this point. If someone wouldn’t agree with me, I simply made their agreement inevitable, or I walked away if it wasn’t worth the effort. Celeste was always worth the effort, butcommandingyour mate was something no alpha should do. EvenIknew that, and yet I’d almost done it without even thinking.
I was disgusted with myself.
I paused and turned to look at the door to Lyka’s cell. Silence echoed back at me. Late last night, before I returned to Celeste’s side, he was practically a rabid monster. Entirely unrecognizable. It was awful to listen to, but imagining him staring blankly at a wall while he withered away to nothing wasn’t much better.
Before I’d decided whether to check on him, I sensed someone approaching. Piers sauntered over, offering me a little dip of his head. “Fenris! Hello!” He paused and eyed the cell I was standing in front of. “Ah, have we a prisoner? Did you lock someone up?”
My wolf snarled, and I didn’t stop myself from mirroring the action. “Either tell me what you need to, or get out,” I snapped.
Piers recoiled, but my wolf growled, pleased with the fear. For once, I let him savor it, and he lapped it up like fresh spring water.
“Ah, yes. Obviously, we’re back from Romania. No Solar Sovereign, I’m afraid,” Piers managed to say. My wolf reveled in the little tremble in the vampire’s voice, and I knew I was too irritated to keep a tighter rein on him. “However, a few vampires were missing. Most notable was Viorel, Sire of the Carpathians. However, I was told he was looking into a disturbance in southern Poland.” He shrugged. “It seemed reasonable.”
“Hmm.” I thought of the siren off the coast of Carmel Valley almost at once. “I need you to track them down.” Either I needed their locations confirmed—or wherever they were off on their little errands—or I needed their missing statuses confirmed. It didn’t make much of a pattern if I wasn’t certain. I frowned. “And keep your ear to the ground for Sabine. We can’t let her get away with all she’s done.”
Celeste had mentioned she thought the psychic witch had been looking for my brother. If her interpretation was correct, and Sabine did have a magical way to track Lyka, I didn’t want her to find Isla Lobo.
“Of course,” Piers replied, nodding. He paused, and for a moment, I thought he was going to spout yet another excuse for whyhewasn’t the best one to find Sabine or look for missing vampires, or whatever his latest complaint involved. “Fenris, the meeting you’ve just held with the Order of the Stars…there are already murmurs in the world—in our world—about the fight that’s coming up. Now, normally, I would tell you that I’m a lover, not a fighter, but…” He looked so uncharacteristically serious that I forgot the smart remark I was about to fire off. “If you need something, Gilbert and I are here.”
I frowned, realizing a bit belatedly that Piers was attempting to express his friendship without using those words. I opened my mouth, trying to find my own words, when an absolute racket exploded out of the cell behind me.
Clearly back in his own mind, Lyka roared, enraged at finding himself trapped in a box. I heard the scratch of claws against the floor and the heavy slam of his shoulder against the door.
Piers jumped, eyebrows shooting up. “I donotneed to know who’s being held in there,” the vampire rambled as he quickly turned and hurried away.
I chuckled darkly and turned back to the door. I couldn’t see within the cell, but could only assume Lyka was in his wolf form. There was another slam, and I closed my eyes, mentally directing my brother to be calm again. I hated seeing him so vacant, but at least he was no longer at risk of hurting himself. Not here, at least. There was no ocean to drown in.
Where have you gone, Lyka?
Once, my brother was my most trusted confidant. I would’ve told him anything. These days, I doubted he’d understand if I spoke. Instead, he’d only become enraged by the sound of my voice, or completely despondent. Both possibilities were awful. Even what I’d seen on Isla Caida had been such an improvement. If I could just witness that again…
Celeste did mention she might be able to help.
But at what cost?
Seeing her perform dark magic to get us to Lyka’s location had sent fear through me like nothing I’d ever known. I didn’t want to live through that again, and I didn’t want to risk my mate’s safety, even for Lyka.
But perhaps in his weakened state…
I wasn’t a warlock, so I couldn’t be certain, but perhaps she would be able toseeinto his mind. More information would be better than where I stood now.
I should ask—properly. I am sure she would help if I asked.I paused, a sour taste in my mouth.Well, if she isn’t still angry with me.
My alpha command was a gut reaction, and I’d allowed my wolf and my emotions to rule me. She had every right to be upset, loath as I was to admit it.
Steeling myself, I left Lyka’s cell to speak to Celeste.
