I teleported him right next to the ogre, who still hadn’t moved.
A slightly wasted couple walked up to us while we recovered from the teleporting. “Excuse me, Miss. Can you take a picture?” They motioned to the ogre, and I understood they thought he was an attraction.
“Sure.” I took their camera and snapped away. Of course, I had my finger halfway over the lens, so the picture would be mostly of my finger. I didn’t feel right mind controlling humans, so a blurry picture was the best I could do.
As soon as they left, Camden said, “You didn’t get us next to the portal.”
“Well, excuse me. I’m kind of new to this, you know.”
Camden searched on his phone. “It’s only a half a mile from here, so we will walk.”
“The ogre is coming with us.” Before he could argue, I said, “They will just think he is in costume.”
“This is a horrible idea. He’s eleven feet tall and looks like he fell out of a scary movie.”
“Look around you, Camden. This place is full of attractions and drag queens. Lots and lots of drag queens. Look at Marilyn Monroe over there. She’s wearing a boa in this heat while walking in the sand in stilettos. Anyone who sees us will think it’s part of a show. They will assume he’s walking on stilts. We can be at the bar in less than five minutes.”
Camden sighed, but we all started towards the portal. Several times, people stopped to get a picture. Some complimented the ogre on his stage make-up, and some asked him how he could walk on stilts without falling off. He just waved and smiled. Camden was barely keeping it together before we reached our destination. The bar was colorful. The owner was probably trying to hide the fact that the whole building looked like it was about to collapse. Drunken customers were weaving in and out of the establishment. Camden steered us to the back of the bar. The portal that could only be seen by supernaturals was a thin piece of shimmering air beside a dumpster.
“Most portals strip supernaturals of their powers. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember if this portal is like that or not. Just remember that you’re different. I’m not positive that you will be able to use your powers, but if Ariana sent you with me, there is a good chance that you can.”
Oh crap. Now would be a good time to tell him the truth, but I couldn’t get my mouth to work. He took out the key, put it together, and placed it within the shimmery atmosphere.
“Humans will see nothing, but we need to hurry.”
Camden went in first, then the ogre, and I went in last. I honestly couldn’t believe I’d complained about my ordinary life. How foolish I was to crave adventure. If someone were to ask me now what I thought about adventure, I would say it was highly overrated. I just prayed that whatever was on the other side of that portal didn’t try to kill me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I turned fifty shades of red at what I saw, Camden cleared his throat, and the ogre shuffled his feet. Naked men and women ran around the streets, and people who I assumed were drunk were passed out in every lane. We were in some kind of market where people were trying to barter and trade goods ranging from animal skins to alcohol. They looked like humans, and they spoke like humans, but when I saw a woman lean over to kiss a man and her fourteen-inch tongue stroked his neck, I knew they were anything but human. As soon as I was spotted, catcalls sounded out, and Camden shoved me behind him.
He released a heavy sigh. “I wish I would have known that portal fourteen was where most incubi and succubi were sent. This is not going to go well.”
“What should we do?” I asked.
“Put a paper bag over your face.”
“What?” Just then a man tried to snatch me from behind Camden.
I squealed, as Camden grabbed the man’s wrist and rotated it until his whole arm was at an abnormal angle.
His shoulder popped, and the incubus fell to his knees, where Camden drove the palm of his hand into the man’s nose.
“Don’t touch. Mine!” Camden roared loud enough to be heard by all the people in the market. His hand laced with mine as we walked down the cobblestone path. Most people got out of his way, but the braver ones leered at us openly, which he ignored, so I followed his lead. However, the moment they showed any sign of aggression, his hand would snake out and punch them so hard I feared their head would pop off. The ogre growled at a group of incubi, and they scattered like ants. It was hard to believe that everyone wasn’t scattering to the wind after one glance from my companions. Either they were all very stupid, immortal, or were dying of boredom from being stuck on this plane. I took a couple of deep breaths. With Camden and the ogre guarding me, I was safe. I kept my eyes to the ground hoping to draw less attention to myself, but it didn’t help block out the nasty sounds some of the incubi and succubi were making behind closed tents. This place was hella gross.
A curvy brunette in a sheer dress that left nothing to the imagination sidled up to Camden, blocking the path. “I would love an hour of your time.”
Oh, I just bet she would. Tramp. I waited for him to punch her like he’d done to at least twenty others since we’d started walking through the market but nothing happened. I tapped my foot, as she ran her hands up his chest. Not letting go of my hand, he removed both of hers with one of his.
“Please step to the side,” he said.
Oh, so now we were asking nicely just because of a couple of curves. Her whole body started to lean in towards him, as if she was a cat in need of affection. That was it. I’d had it. Jealousy reared its ugly head. I stepped beside Camden, almost falling off the narrow path and into one of the tents in doing so, and throat punched her. She grabbed her neck, making a gurgling sound.
Camden was trying hard not to laugh. I glared at him. “Are you going to lead the way or not?”
He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it. “That took you longer than I would’ve liked.”
Oh, the arrogant pig. I tried to pull my hand away, but he just held it tighter. Ugh. “Do you have a plan for finding Cecil? Or are we just going to walk the streets until we stumble upon him?”
“If he were anywhere close to the portal opening, Merek would’ve already opened it a long time ago and let him out, but instead he sends me to retrieve him. This tells me that Cecil is someone’s slave here. We just have to find where they are keeping him.”
Cecil had become someone’s biatch. Things were getting interesting. The three of us continued on the path leading us out of the market and to what I assumed was where the majority of the inhabitants in this portal resided. There were lean-tos and pop-up tents on either side of the narrow cobblestone path. If only I had some red shoes and the trail was paved yellow because we sure as heck weren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.
“Hungry,” the ogre said.
I patted his arm. “I know, big guy. As soon as we can find you something to eat that won’t try to eat you back, we will feed you.” I swear he stuck out his bottom lip. He was pouting. A freaking ogre was pouting. I squeezed his hand. “I can’t keep calling you ogre. Do you have a name?” He just looked at me and blinked. “Okay, cool. How about Dan?” He shook his head, and for the next thirty minutes, I threw names at him and he refused every one.
Camden laughed. “If there weren’t leering naked supernaturals poking their heads out from behind their tents to plot our death, this would be highly entertaining.”
“Herold?” I suggested. The ogre just shrugged.
“In the film industry,” Camden said to the ogre, “there was a massive beast that was highly misunderstood. He also protected a female with his life. He was feared by many, and everyone in Hollywood knows his name.”
The ogre had stopped walking, giving Camden his full attention. His deep voice boomed. “Name?”
“King Kong,” Camden said.
The ogre nodded his head once then twice. “Kong. Me Kong.”
Seriously? I had just spent more than thirty minutes of my life trying to urbanize the ogre with American names like Steven and Ky
le, but Camden came in with a fake gorilla name, and the ogre was all about that. Whatever.
Camden pulled me to a stop. His head tilted to the side, making his hair fall on his brow. “There is a mining cave. My guess is Cecil is somewhere in there working.”
“Of course, he is,” I grumbled. “Because lord forbid him to be in an air-conditioned bar.”
I was sandwiched in the middle of Camden and the ogre—um, Kong—as we went into the open-mouthed tunnel. Two beefy looking men stopped us upon our entry. “Who are you, and what are you doing down here?” the one with no shirt asked.
Camden whispered, “Sadie, convince them that we have just been sentenced to this plane. Find a reason we need to be a slave, and make sure you ask them to escort us to their leader.”
“Boys, you just found us. We were disturbing the peace. You witnessed us beating up a whole bunch of naked people. Now, you need to take us to your leader.”
Both guards’ eyes were glazed over as they gave each other a look before they nodded. Without saying a word, they started down the tunnel. Poor Kong had to nearly bend over as he trailed behind us. I was trying to keep track of the tunnels we had taken but after the fifth switchback, I gave up. The last tunnel we went through opened up to a vast underground cave. There were torches lit in all corners. The floor of the cave had stains everywhere bleeding through the dirt. I tried to avoid those spots as I followed Camden. A boy with no aura, about my age, sat on an old chair, and there were bones scattered in piles all around his feet. His rusty-colored hair fell to his chin, and he had faded blue eyes. This was who was in charge of portal fourteen? A kid? He made eye contact with me, and everything went incredibly still.
Was his hair rusty or was it the most beautiful burnt gold I’d ever seen? His eyes weren’t just blue—that was too normal of a description. They were an aquamarine like the ocean, pulling me. I couldn’t believe I didn’t notice his chair was actually a throne fit for a king. Fit for someone like him. Someone magnificent. What happened to the bones and where did all the gold come from? So many beautiful jewels littered his feet. I glided across the marble floor towards him. He was a beacon of light in this dreary, dirty place, and I had to get closer. Someone was talking to me but I ignored them. The boy smiled at me and I almost tripped. He was so beautiful. I needed to touch him to see if he was real. That same annoying person dared to lay a hand on me to stop me from my goal, so I slapped at their hands. Then they blocked me.
I was beyond frustrated. I stared at the chest in front of me until fingertips forced my chin up. “What?” I snapped.
Camden wouldn’t let my chin go when I desperately wanted to look around him to see the boy. “This isn’t real. Whatever you think you’re seeing isn’t real. I need you to find your way back to me.”
Back to him? I was trying to get around him, and he was stopping me. I think I hated him. “Let me go.”
Camden never took his eyes off of me as he said, “If you do not let her out of this illusion, I will kill you.”
The boy laughed. “But she wants me, and you’re in my world now.”
“This is my mate you are messing with; I won’t ask you again to release her.”
My eyes narrowed. Oh, now he was declaring me as his mate. Like he was proud of me, instead of denying our bond. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work for me. If I recalled correctly, he didn’t want anything to do with me. I was just about to crack that handsome face of his when the room became darker. A fog lifted from me and everything shifted. The floors were dirt again, there was no gold, and if I was guessing… I peered around Camden to the boy. Yep, he was no longer stunning.
“Cute trick,” I snarled. The lively twinkle in the boy’s eye only infuriated me more.
Kong patted me on the head. His meaty hand tried to be gentle, but instead he almost walloped me. I felt a headache coming on. “Not friend.”
“Thanks, Kong, I got that,” I sighed.
Camden was boiling with anger, and it was all focused on the boy who couldn’t quit smiling at us. The tension was increasing by the second.
“So,” the boy said, “welcome to my portal. I’ve ruled it for the last ten years, and since then I have renamed this plane to ‘Rapture,’ and my name is Monad.”
Ten years and he couldn’t come up with a better name?
For his colony or himself?
He studied Camden briefly. “I can tell we are going to have a problem with you, so unfortunately I’ll have to kill you, but first tell me, how did you get here? I do love a good story,” Monad said.
“The Lux are still dragging degenerates through portals,” Camden said. His voice never faltered.
“Rumor has it that the keys were misplaced. This is not true?”
“Apparently not,” Camden said.
“You just came before the king of this place and threatened him, and you let some Degenerates throw you and your mate through a portal?” Something about the boy’s tone said he wasn’t falling for it.
Camden crossed his arms. “Things happen.”
The boy stroked his hairless chin. “Interesting. And what did you do to land yourselves here?”
“Your guards there,” I said, nodding to the two who were almost hidden in the shadows, “brought us here. Apparently, we were being too disruptive.”
I realized the boy needed to believe the words coming from my mouth or none of us would be leaving this portal. I gently probed his mind. He didn’t believe us, and we were in trouble.
Camden read my face. “See if your storage bank can help us.”
That was code for make him believe us or we’re screwed. I gave Monad a smile. “Listen, we need to go through those tunnels, so that’s what we’re going to do, and you’re going to let us.”
The boy’s gaze raked over me. There was a brief moment of shock, or maybe I imagined that, and then he bowed his head. “Yes, of course. The guards will show you the way.”
Something in his tone made me believe my powers didn’t work on him. But then again, he was letting us go as I requested.
Before we moved in the direction of the tunnels, the boy stopped us. His gaze never left mine as he said, “When you get back here, I would like to proposition you. I would love nothing more than for you to become my lover.”
Camden’s voice was hard as steel. “No. That is not going to happen.”
“You dare take that tone with me? Do not presume that you can come into my kingdom and tell me what to do. Make that mistake again and your bones will be lying at my feet as well.”
What was happening? Was my power not strong enough? This boy’s eyes weren’t glazed over like the guards were, but he acted like he was under my control. After all, he’d granted my wishes about the tunnels. But he didn’t have an aura. Was he acting?
Camden was an alpha, and he was struggling with backing down. Intervening, I tried again more forcibly this time. “Monad, we need in those tunnels.”
“Of course, you do.” Monad tilted his head and studied me. As I met his eyes again, I could feel him trying to cast another illusion. My eyes darted to the left of him and he laughed.
The boy got up from his chair and did a slow circle around us, stopping right in front of us both. “I can sense you are a wolf. Am I correct?”
“Not a very powerful one, but yes,” Camden said with his eyes downcast, like he was embarrassed by the admission.
Monad looked pleased by his disclosure. “Regardless, your powers here will be totally useless. I’m the only one who can wield any powers. It helps keep everyone in check, you see.” Facing me, he put his hands behind his back while he studied me. “But this beauty… what are you?”
“I’m a complete dud. Every once and a while when my concentration is at its peak, I can crawl walls. I know that’s not useful, but we don’t get to pick our powers.” Thanks Stacy! I never thought that conniving heifer would be useful.
“Hmm. Interesting. Well, unfortunately, you won’t be able to crawl any walls here. Like I
said, powers are suppressed on this plane.”
“We completely understand,” Camden said.
“Good.” Monad resumed his seat on his makeshift throne. “This will be our first time having an ogre here with us on this plane, so we will need to make sure you all are chained. Just as a precaution.”
I was about to argue with him about the chains but I was starting to feel a little dizzy. Trying to convince him to do my bidding was like hitting a brick wall repeatedly. My voice was strained as I said, “We need to go now. Please send us on our way, and don’t think of us for the rest of the day.”
Monad nodded and waved us away with his hand. I had lots of questions, like why did I feel like my powers didn’t work on him even though he was doing my bidding? We were escorted down a shaft where the guards put chains on all three of us, including a magical collar on Kong. My heart squeezed when I saw the panic in his eyes. I had just rescued him from chains to have him shackled again. Some friend I was.
I was about to apologize when Camden clapped him on the shoulder. “This is very temporary. Just hang in there, all right?”
When the ogre nodded at him, my heart swelled. Camden had lots of layers, but I was learning to appreciate every single one of them. He noticed me staring at him. I reached up on my toes and placed a kiss on each of his cheeks.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“For being nice.”
“Remind me to be nice more often.”
I started to laugh, but I felt something warm trickle down my nose. I was exhausted, and I hadn’t had a moment to rest since Merek’s. I tried to wipe the blood away before anyone could see it, but it was too late. Camden studied me with a look of concern.
He pulled my body into his, as we followed the guards. “You’ve done too much. Your body is giving you warnings. Listen to it.”
I whispered, “This is a bad place to heed warnings. Especially since I might be the one that can get us out of this place.”
“You’re mortal. This could kill you. From here on out, bare minimum, understand? The powers that drain you the most, stay away from.”
The Werewolf Queen Page 14