I’d hoped for this, but I didn’t think I’d actually find it.
This is it. I take it out and tuck it in the pocket of my sundress. My heart feels as if it’s filled with butterflies.
Finally, something is going right.
But maybe, I realize right away, I’ve thought that too soon.
Deep voices sound just outside, and shock like being struck with lightning hits every part of me. I snap the labyrinth lid back down, and the metal ball drops further into the hole and then reappears a moment later back at the beginning. I’d love to take the box with me, but he can’t find out that I’ve been here.
As fast as I can, I begin to slide the pieces of thin wood panel back into the sides of the box, and I get to the piece where the key goes, just as I hear the door of his rooms open. I fumble as I hear him talking and get the key put into place. My heart is going to beat itself right out of my chest.
Whoever he’s talking to speaks up. “I think you might have left it in the meeting room.”
“No, I know I didn’t. I brought it back in here. It’s in my desk.”
I push the panel back into place and wish like mad that my hands weren’t shaking terribly as I struggle with the last panel.
“Wait,” I hear him say, and my breath catches as I wriggle the piece of wood, which doesn’t seem to want to go back in.
“Someone’s in here.”
Panic and fear explode in every cell of my body, and by nothing short of a blind miracle, the last panel slips back in. I hurriedly set the box on the shelf and much to my own surprise, have the presence of mind to grab the photograph as I turn to face him.
“Sydney!” he thunders at me in shock. “What are you doing in my quarters?”
I shrug lightly, praying with everything in me to the goddess that he won’t sense my wild emotions right now. “I was just exploring a bit. You said I could go anywhere in the compound.”
He strides toward me swiftly and rips the photograph out of my hand.
“What are you doing with this?” he asks coldly, staring straight into my eyes.
“I was only looking at it.” I smart off back to him, frowning. Taking on an attitude is a help. “I was curious about you. I want to know who I’m marrying. That’s your father, isn’t it?”
Rylan sets the photograph back up on the mantle and glares at me, ignoring my question.
“You may not ever come into my quarters unless I call you to my bedroom.” He raises his voice sharply at me. “Do you understand me?”
I glower at him. “Fine! Don’t come into mine then, either. What kind of a partnership do you expect to build if you’re going to keep walls between us?”
Rylan’s hand closes hard over my arm just as Sergei walks into the room. I glance at him and see his eyes flash angrily as he takes in the scene. Rylan marches me over to Sergei and shoves me at him.
“Get her out of here and put a guard at my door full time. I don’t want anyone in here again!”
Sergei pulls me behind him protectively, putting himself between Rylan and me for the second time. He lifts his chin.
“I’ll set the guard.”
He walks out with me as Rylan follows us and slams the door behind us. Sergei walks me to my room and once there, stands in the doorway after I’m safely inside.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think he’d be back so soon. I never should have told you about it. I put you in great danger today. I didn’t mean to.” There’s deep remorse in his voice.
I shake my head. “It’s all right. I’m fine. He believed me. Besides, it was worth it.”
Sergei lifts a brow. “Did you find it?”
I grin as I reach in the pocket of my sundress and slip it out, holding it in the palm of my hand to show him. “Just in time.”
The waxing moon shines brightly through the window, calling to me, pulling me as if my very blood is the tide—and to the moon it’s irrevocably drawn. My draw to the heavenly body is undoubtedly tied to my new form as a shifter, but this moon in particular deepens a crevice in my heart every single night. It keeps bringing me closer, moment by moment, to a marriage I don’t want, and to a future that I cannot escape.
I stare up at it through the window, missing my boys so much—missing Roman, Teague, and Elon. I’ve only known them for a short while, but as short as that time may be, it’s long enough to know in my heart that I’ll never feel for another the way I feel for them.
I certainly won’t feel the same way about Rylan, no matter how the bond that ties me to him might tug at me in a primal, unmistakable way as well.
But with the others, with Roman, Teague, and Elon … it’s like no matter how much time I’m apart from them, my mind continues to drift over to them in the quiet moments. I wonder what they’re doing, and more importantly … how they’re doing. I know they miss me too. I can feel that, faintly, even though they’re so far from me. What I wouldn’t give to be lying with them beneath the moon, wrapped in their warm, strong arms, hearing the soft thud of their hearts and feeling the invisible caress of their breath in slow, steady waves on my skin as they sleep.
The need for them makes me ache all the way to my soul.
More important than my need for them, however, is my desire to keep them safe; to protect them and the rest of the pack at all costs. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them, including marrying Rylan if that’s what it takes to save their lives.
The moonlight bathes me, illuminating me and giving me some peace. In my hand I hold the beautiful white stone pendant, and I trace my fingertip over its intricate design. I’ve never seen something more beautiful. It seems to glisten and glow as the moonlight touches it in my palm.
I’m not even aware of it when sleep finally steals me away; closing my eyes and opening my mind to dreams in the darkness. I find myself strolling through a strange place in the moonlight. It feels like a jungle, and somehow, I know I’m on a small island—lost at sea once again. I look up at the moon, and as its light shines down on me I see a figure begin to take shape.
So maybe I’m not so lost after all. Or not alone, anyway.
It’s a woman, a powerful woman. I know her, but I’ve never seen her this way—as if she’s real and being sculpted before me out of moonlight itself. Her head takes the shape of a wolf and I gasp.
It’s the goddess.
The nameless and yet no less powerful goddess of the shifters I now belong to.
Her body changes again and takes the full form of a wolf. Her eyes are so luminous, glowing pale and soft gold. I stare into them and see myself reflected in them. There’s something profound and sacred between us—we are the same, she and I, and we are different.
Two parts that make a whole, yet I know she is whole without me, but I am not without her. She makes me whole, and I make her larger.
She turns and moves through the thick foliage around us and I follow her. It’s not easy going, but I remain just behind her until we reach a small clearing, and there she stops and turns, her eyes focused intently on me as she sits. Beside her grows a breathtakingly beautiful flower; crimson petals, long and wide, with a golden center. It reminds me of a tulip, though it’s much more exotic, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. There is only one on a single stalk amidst tapering, slender, jade leaves.
“Take the flower.”
I can hear the voice of the goddess in my mind, though her mouth does not move.
“Use great care; it is delicate and dangerous beyond measure. Dilute its poisoned nectar in drink, and whomsoever consumes it will perish. Be mindful, there is but this single bloom.”
Everything goes black and my heart begins to race. I snap awake and push myself bolt upright in the bed. My body is drenched in a cold sweat. My mind is locked on the vision of the crimson flower.
I know what I have to do.
It is the only way out.
But it’s a way out.
Chapter Ten
Roman
I tip the bottle bac
k, but nothing comes to meet my tongue. A frown tugs at my brow as I hold the bottle up, peering closely into it. The temporary release of all my anguish is stemmed by the absence of liquor. With a deep groan I toss the bottle onto the floor and lean my head back, staring up at the ceiling.
I haven’t stopped drinking since Sydney left us. Everyone is bitter about it, but honestly, I couldn’t care any less what they think.
All I know is that there’s a black hole in my chest where she should be, and it’s sucking me into it slowly and painfully, shredding me as it consumes me entirely. I know it’s going to take forever—like a true black hole, it’ll be an eternity of soul rending torture, and there’s no way out of it for me.
“Polished off another one, have you Roman?” Teague gives me a narrow look and bends to scoop the empty bottle from the floor. “You have to stop this. It’s no way to handle the situation. Sydney’d be pissed if she knew you were reacting this way.”
I lift my wavering finger into the air as if to make a point. “You know what … what I keep seeing?” I wish the booze would make me pass out. Unfortunately, my shifter body processes it too quickly, and the best I can manage is a good buzz. No black out drunk option for me.
“The bottom of the empty bottle?”
I don’t even care that he’s being snide. I stare at the ceiling, mumbling onward.
“I keep seeing her face as she left with him, and at the hotel. I keep hearing her voice telling us to let her go and not do anything. She left us, mate. She ditched us for that son-of-a-bitch.”
I sigh, dropping my hand out of the air onto my chest as I groan. “I never loved anyone as much as I love her, and she left us. I can’t even breathe, it hurts so bad.”
Teague stands motionless for a moment before suddenly settling down to sit beside me.
“It hurts me too, brother, but you can’t keep drowning your sorrows. You’re just going to have to suck it up. We lost her, but by goddess, we are going to go rescue her, and we’re not going to stop until we have her back again.”
I scoff and roll my eyes, but it only makes my head hurt. “Yeah? And how do you propose we do that?”
Elon grins at me, waving a rolled-up paper in his hand. “I’ve got a plan!”
I frown and try to focus on him. “You do?”
“Yes, we do,” Teague answers him, closing his hand on the front of my hoodie. With no effort at all, he hauls me to my feet and gives me a travel mug filled with espresso. “Now, let’s go.”
I sniff at it. There’s so much caffeine in it that the hairs in my nose quiver.
“I think I’m going to need more than this,” I mumble.
“I’ve got a thermos of it in the truck. Let’s go.” Elon heads straight out of the door, and Teague pushes me out in front of him.
“Where are we going?” I don’t bother to protest or fight them.
“Florida,” Teague answers evenly from behind me as he continues to drive me like I’m a staggering bovine.
I’ve never sobered up so quickly.
By the time we find ourselves looking at the walls of Rylan’s compound from a distance, I’m actually sober—thanks to more than a few days of recon. Now we’re here, I know the plan, and I’ve had so much espresso that I’m completely wired. So wired that I can almost see sound.
Not that I’d need to, what with the way this place reeks of shifter.
For a place that’s supposed to be a well-guarded secret, it was surprisingly easy to find. Or maybe it’s just because between the three of us, it was almost like the closer we got to Sydney the closer that invisible thread that binds us together seemed to draw us physically closer to her.
Now that we’re here, however, the sight of the compound is more than a little daunting. I see why the pack back in Nashville was so hesitant to consider launching a rescue mission to save her—even if she’s one of their own.
This place is a fortress.
“You guys ready?” Teague asks quietly, staring hard out of the front window of our SUV. We’re very carefully camouflaged in thick vegetation. There’s no way Rylan’s people can see us; not even the guards in the tower, and we’re a good distance from the compound, but still close enough to see it well.
At least one thing works in our favor—the sheer number of shifters inside that compound should camouflage any scent or sense of us.
“I was ready the moment he took her.” Elon gets out and closes the door quietly. I follow suit.
We’re all dressed from our necks down in black. In the hot, muggy night we become one with the shadows. There’s almost no sound at all as we slip through the darkness toward the side of one wall.
After a huge amount of research, Elon discovered the blueprints to the compound. The architect of the place made more than one copy of the plans and was willing to be bought by a breathtaking succubus, one who took a whole lot more from him than just his blueprints in one night of lust and passion. We’re on tenuous ground with the incubi and succubi, but they were willing to share at least these plans with us.
Now we have more than one debt to pay should our mission fail … if we somehow don’t all end up dead.
There’s a door in the great wall up ahead, one that isn’t far from some gardens. We think if we can get through the door, we can sneak through the gardens to what we’re betting are Rylan’s quarters. He’s far too vain to leave the largest set of rooms for anyone other than himself.
Search lights sweep the grounds around the compound, and it occurs to me that my cousin might be better served if he just had light flooding the area all the way around the compound the entire night, but then, perhaps he’s so cocky about his power and control that he thinks no one would dare come after him, day or night, and he doesn’t need security of that level. For once, I’m grateful for his conceit. It affords us the cover of darkness we need, at least in part.
We dodge the roving light and make it to the rusted looking old metal door undetected. Elon reaches for the long-bar handle and gives it a turn. Nothing happens. He sighs and tries again, giving it all he’s got.
Still nothing.
I’m so wired I’m quivering. “Let me give it a shot,” I whisper.
Elon moves aside and I grip the thing as if my life depends on it. Somewhere deep inside me, I think it does. I grit my teeth and draw it back until every muscle in my body is straining and taut. Something inside the door suddenly gives a loud snap then rattles loosely—and the bar turns.
Teague reaches his hand forward and gives the door a solid push. It creaks open, and he steps through, past me. Elon follows him and looks over his shoulder at me.
“You know I loosened that for you, right?”
I smirk and shake my head at him.
We’re in a garden, and all I can think about is that I’m so close to Sydney. I can’t wait to get to her. I need to feel her skin, to breathe her scent in, to see her eyes and hear her heartbeat.
The need to be with her consumes me, my breathing grows shallow as my heartbeat speeds up.
We haven’t gone ten feet when Teague holds a fist up in the air near his head. The silent signal to stop. We freeze, looking around and listening sharply.
There are footsteps not twenty feet away, coming from somewhere on the other side of the garden. They’re headed straight toward us.
“South gate, I heard something along the wall. I’m checking it out.”
It’s a hunter. I know the voice. It’s someone that used to serve my father—another shifter turned with Anuba. Traitorous bastards.
My mind races. We can move and try to get away, but there’s a good chance the hunter will hear us and follow. The alternative is that we’ll be caught by the hunter, and killed by Rylan, and … I hate to admit it to myself, but he’ll probably kill my sister right along with us. He did vow to do it if we tried anything. Rylan may be a monster straight from hell, but he’s true to his word.
The footsteps are growing louder. Teague, Elon, and I share looks. Teague
jerks his head to the path leading off behind us. It leads away from the hunter, so we nod and follow his lead. Step by careful step, we take the path, going as fast as we dare, doing everything we can not to make a sound, but we haven’t gone far when we hear his voice again.
“The old garden door on the south wall has been forced open. We have intruders. Send backup immediately.”
I cringe inwardly, and beside me, I feel Teague and Elon do the same. We’d hoped to go just a little longer before they discovered we were here.
The squelch of a radio crackles after his message and the three of us hurry even faster. It’s only moments before the thunder of several footsteps sounds behind us, and my stomach drops to the ground as we hear them coming toward us as well. There’s no way out.
We’re about to be caught.
We glance at each other with wide eyes, looking around desperately for any way out. The foliage in the garden is thick and unkempt, like no one has bothered to take care of it in years. We could hide in it, but it wouldn’t be long before we’re found.
There’s a building behind the garden. It’s large, stretching out a fair way—and our best bet for cover.
The guards call back and forth to each other, their flashlights cutting through the darkness like ravenous serpents, relentless in the hunt for their prey.
All three of us hold our breath as we search frantically for some way out. One stray beam of light flashes across Teague’s shoulder, and we duck immediately.
“I thought I saw something!” its bearer cries out. “Over by the building!”
Their footsteps grow louder and closer. I can hear their breathing and taste their scent. It’s my own struggle to keep my emotions under check. If they get much closer, they’ll pick up on it despite all the other shifters around us.
Then, there’s another scent aside from the encroaching hunters. A sweet, mouthwatering scent. We turn our heads, and there, near us in the path, is a stunningly beautiful young woman in a beige sackcloth servants dress.
Alpha Returned: A Rejected Mates Reverse Harem Shifter Series (Feral Mates Book 3) Page 8