My heart was thundering in my chest now, sweat beading on my back. “Where is he?” I asked. “Where could he have gone?”
“I don’t know,” Trick said. “All I know is that we need to find him, and soon.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and hunted for a signal before asking, “Can I just make a phone call quickly?”
I nodded. Anything he could do to help.
A minute later he was outside talking to Louis, one of his pack mates. I couldn’t make out much from his end of the conversation; only that he seemed to be sending out wolves to hunt through the woods around the district.
As soon as he’d hung up, he turned to me. “Let’s go,” he said.
“Go where? Do you know where he is?” I asked hopefully.
But he shook his head. “No, but we’re going to drive, and if that fucking phone rings, I’ll grab it.” With that he ushered me outside and pulled the door shut. “Don’t worry, my pack’s excellent at tracking. They found out within an hour where your friend went.”
“Marcus?” I asked. In all the madness I’d nearly forgotten about him.
Trick nodded as he marched over to an old, beat-up pickup truck. “Yeah. They think he’s with the shifter who came out of the woods yesterday. The…”
“The Marquis,” I said, opening the passenger side door and climbing in, my blood ready to boil. “That bastard—why the hell would Marcus ever go off with him?”
“Maybe he likes his name?” Trick said, smirking. “Marcus—Marquis?”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I asked. I might not have had a wolf inside me, but I was about ready to punch him.
“Sorry. I thought we could use a little levity.” He turned to me as he started the engine. “Look, I don’t know why he would have left like that. But this is my territory, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure you get both men back, safe and sound.”
“Thank you.” I was clenching my hands together, trying not to scream. It wasn’t Trick’s fault that I felt so helpless, but fuck, I needed to take it out on someone.
“As for Marcus, he’s a Lesser, right?” he asked, pulling onto the dirt road.
“He is,” I said. “He wasn’t doing well. Tristan was about to free him after the wedding, but then everything went haywire.”
“So you’re telling me he’s desperate.”
I nodded. “Yeah, but where are you going with this?”
“Desperate men with nothing to lose tend to do really stupid things, Ariana. Your friend might not have had a choice.”
“You think the Marquis offered him some kind of deal?”
“I don’t know,” Trick said, stepping on the gas. “All I can say is there are some pretty ugly deals being struck around these parts right now, and I don’t like it one bit. Damn it, Tristan.”
My spine straightened at the mention of my husband’s name. “What’s Tristan got to do with this?”
“Every time that husband of yours comes to my territory, shit goes down. I’m not saying it’s his fault. Just that trouble follows him like a lost damn puppy.”
“So let’s find him, then,” I said. “I’ll bring him back to New York, and I promise you that as long as I live, we’ll never step foot in the bayous of Louisiana again.”
“Deal.”
We drove until Trick pulled down a narrow lane flanked by tall trees, their branches draped in delicate strands of moss. At its end was a beaten-up one-story building with a sign outside that said Trick’s Boat Tours.
“What are we doing at your business?” I asked as we approached, panic surging up in my chest again. “I thought we were going to hunt for Tristan.”
Trick shook his head. “I need you to wait here while I head out and see what I can uncover. You need to be somewhere quiet. If we drive around all day, trust me—it’ll make you nuts.”
“But what if…” I began, but he held a hand up to stop me.
“Look, I promise that if I find something, I’ll be back here so fast you won’t know what hit you. I need to hunt, which means I need to be in my wolf form. You can’t come with me trudging through the bayou; you’d only slow me down. So do me a favor and stay here, with Sierra. She’ll look after you. I promise, Ariana—I’ll get you to Tristan before they…”
He stopped talking, but we both knew exactly what he was about to say.
“It’s only three,” he told me, glancing at his watch. “Those fucking dragons like to pull their shit at night. They like the drama of it. Torches, fires, you name it. Tristan will be alive at least until dusk—you can take my word for that.”
When he’d parked the truck we climbed out and made our way to the screen door at the side of the building. Trick pulled it open and escorted me through as I glanced at his left hand, which was clutching his phone in anticipation of the all-important call that never seemed to come.
Inside, a blond woman was sitting at a large desk, filling out a series of forms. She looked up when we came in, shooting Trick a smile before offering me a sympathetic nod.
“Sierra, Ariana. Ariana, Sierra,” Trick said quickly, gesturing between us as his mate rose to her feet and made her way towards us. “You two can get to know each other. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Thanks,” I muttered as Sierra put an arm around my shoulder and escorted me to a nearby couch. Somehow she managed to get me to sit down, though my body refused to relax. My hands dug into the couch cushions, my eyes locked needlessly on the coffee table in front of me.
“Tea?” Sierra asked. “You definitely need some chamomile for your nerves.”
“Sure. Thank you,” I mustered, pressing my hands to my forehead. I couldn’t weep, not yet. Weeping meant that I was accepting what was going to happen. It meant an end to my happiness. It meant that Tristan was really gone…and I couldn’t even think about accepting that notion.
Sierra was back a minute later, seating herself next to me, offering me the steaming cup in her hands. I took it gratefully and sipped, recalling that I hadn’t eaten anything in over twenty-four hours. “Do you have something to chew on?” I asked. “Crackers, cheese, anything?”
She raced back into the adjacent kitchen and came back carrying a box of saltines and a bowl of fruit.
“Thank you,” I said. “I can’t quite believe I have an appetite at all…I’m only eating so I don’t pass out.”
“Is there any news at all?” she asked. But when I pulled my moist eyes to hers, she slumped her shoulders like she could read everything in my face already.
“I can’t lose him,” I said softly. “I can’t. He’s everything. He’s my family, my life. My future. If I lose him, I have nothing. His money doesn’t matter to me—I’d give all of it away just for one more day by his side…”
Sierra rubbed my shoulder. “I know,” she said. “I know how that feels.”
“Yes. Of course you do,” I said, looking up at her again. “You and Trick have been through hard times…”
“When he was fighting in his Alpha Trials, there was more than one moment when I thought he was going to die. The pain of it was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Nothing else compares to that feeling.”
“It’s the bond,” I said. “Our bond with their kind. It’s more than love. It’s stronger than anything in the world.”
She nodded. “It is. Which is how I know Tristan is all right.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, taking a tiny, life-sustaining bite of a cracker.
“You’re sitting up, like there’s strength in you,” she said. “You’re not curled up on the floor in pain. That means he’s still out there somewhere, breathing. Thinking of you, just like you’re thinking of him. You will find him, Ariana. Trick is an amazing hunter. Don’t worry.”
I managed the weakest of smiles. “You’re right,” I said, setting my tea cup down and leaning back into the couch. “Tristan is still alive. I can feel him.”
Trick returned an hour later, moving all too slowly through the doo
r, which rattled on its hinges as it slammed behind him.
“Anything?” I asked, leaping to my feet to face him.
He shook his head. “We’re still looking,” he said. “We have a few hours yet, but…”
My heart sank. He looked so dejected, so lost. I knew this had to be hard on him, too.
I opened my mouth to say something but a moment later, his phone rang. He grabbed it, jamming it to his ear. “Talk to me.”
I could almost make out what the male voice on the other end was saying, but not quite.
“Okay,” Trick said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Keep the pack away, do you understand? They’ll be looking for intruders. We don’t have the strength to fight the Seven. I’ll take Ariana over, but we’ll have to do it quietly.”
The moment I heard him mention the Seven, my heart sank. Wherever we were about to go, whatever we were about to see, I would be even more helpless than I was now.
All too often I’d seen Tristan’s eyes when he’d spoken of the Seven. They were dragon shifters like Elodie and Krane. The most powerful beings on earth. Stronger than any pack of wolves.
Trick was right. There was no way to take them on, not unless we could build up an army between now and dusk.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s happening?”
“They’re taking Tristan to a clearing out behind the Demarche plantation in an hour,” he said. “I know the place. It’s where…” He turned and glanced at me, and I stared back at him, swallowing the sob that wanted to choke its way up my chest. “It’s where they used to beat and hang men who’d betrayed Demarche.”
“Oh my God,” I said, memories shooting through my mind of the horrible accounts I’d read in Tristan’s journal. Of Demarche’s alleged punishment of his workers…and of course, of Tristan’s own brutal whipping.
There was no longer any doubt left in my mind that they were planning to end my husband’s life.
Chapter 20
As we drove towards Demarche’s plantation I couldn’t help recalling the last time I’d seen it. Tristan had taken us by in his Aston Martin on a quick tour of the area, stopping only briefly to point out the place where he’d once been employed by a wealthy landowner. At the time I hadn’t known much about his sordid history there. I hadn’t known that it was the place that had led to his downfall…and ultimately his rebirth.
Demarche, the man who’d owned the mansion and its vast surrounding property, had turned out to be horrific. Cruel and sadistic, just like his minion the Marquis. Two centuries after he’d beaten Tristan nearly to death, Demarche’s property was run-down, decrepit, a haunted aura lingering about its perimeter.
“We’re not going to drive up to the house, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Trick told me as he eyed my shaking hands. “You and I will have to approach the property from the back way, through the woods. We don’t have a choice in the matter—if they see us, we’re dead.”
I gave him a half-hearted nod. “It doesn’t matter,” I murmured. “If they kill Tristan, I may as well die, too.” I was all too aware of how pathetic I sounded. I’d resolved all my life never to be a woman dominated by a man, never to allow myself to fall so deeply in love with someone that I became dependent on his very existence. But the thought of losing him was more than a result of mere infatuation. More, even, than love. Tristan was my life, my soul. He was my blood. Losing him would set a prolonged, insidious sickness into the very marrow of my bones, and there was no way I could ever heal from it.
By the time we arrived at the property, the sky had darkened over with ominous clouds. Trick parked the truck down an overgrown side road, knowing the sound of the engine would alert the Seven of our arrival if we dared venture any closer.
“Are you going to be able to do this?” he asked, turning to me as he pulled the key out of the ignition. By now I knew I was pale, my brow beaded with perspiration. I probably looked like the walking dead.
I nodded. “I have no choice,” I said. “I have to see him. I have to save him.” I pulled my eyes to the shifter, who opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but wisely closed it once again. He probably knew there was no sense in arguing with me; I wasn’t going to back down. If there was anything I could possibly do to keep Tristan from meeting his hideous fate, I’d do it.
When we’d climbed out of the truck we hiked our way through thick underbrush towards the property, shoving brambles and branches out of the way as we went. Trick moved ahead of me, sniffing the air occasionally for threats or signs that we were headed to the right place.
“Shouldn’t you shift?” I whispered after a time, watching the big man in front of me push himself along, his long arms shoving branches out of the way so they wouldn’t whip me in the face. “Just in case…?”
“There’s no point,” he whispered loudly enough for me to hear. “I’m not here to fight, Ariana. There’s nothing you and I can do against what we’re about to see. You’ll understand when you lay your eyes on the Seven. They’re not just scrappers. They’re war machines, each and every one of them.”
“Just what do you mean by that?” I asked, reaching for his arm and twisting him around to look at me. “Are you seriously telling me there’s nothing we can do? You’re saying you brought me here just to watch my husband die?”
His brows met in defiance. “I’m telling you that barring some miracle, things are going to go badly,” he said. “Look, I promised you I’d find Tristan. Ariana, I may be strong, but in the end I’m just a wolf shifter. I can’t get enough of my kind here in time to do anything, and on my own I’m not equipped to fight one dragon, let alone seven. You already know that. You know what we’re here to do, and I’m sorry, but the sooner you accept it, the easier it will be for you. For Tristan, too.”
“But couldn’t we call…” I began, but I quickly realized there was no one to call, at least no one with enough fire power. Kara was too far away now to get here in a matter of minutes. The leaders of the New York factions were all in Manhattan. We were on our own.
Helpless.
“I wish to God I could assemble an army in time,” Trick said, sympathy tracing its way over his face. “If I had even twelve hours, I could do it. I’d do anything to be able to give you two that much. But given the time we have, all I can hope to do is get you to him before they…”
“Before they kill him,” I choked out. “You want to get me there in time to say good-bye. So you’re saying all I can possibly do is hope for a miracle, because nothing will change the outcome of today’s events.”
“We can still turn around and go back,” Trick told me. “You don’t need to do this. Don’t forget what Tristan said in his note. He didn’t want you to go looking for him. He knew how dangerous this would be.”
I shook my head. “I need to,” I said, a steady flood of tears tumbling down my cheeks again. “I can’t let him go without telling him I love him one more time…even if I have to do it silently.”
With a nod, the Southern Alpha turned and led me deeper into the woods, crouching low to the ground so he wouldn’t disturb the flora around us too much. I stayed as close behind him as I could, all too tempted to break free and sprint ahead in an attempt to get to Tristan before Trick could stop me.
After a few minutes, my eyes caught a strange flicker of orange light somewhere up ahead through the trees. The sky, overcast with thick, heavy clouds, had begun to grow more eerily dark with each step we took, and I realized that what I was seeing was a series of torches planted in the ground in a large, ominous circle.
“Stay with me,” Trick whispered, putting his hand out to reach for me. His touch was gentle, but I could feel his fingers circling my forearm, telling me that if I tried anything he’d have no choice but to stop me. “We have to stay upwind, or they’ll pick up our scent.”
“Who will?” I asked, but as my eyes moved to the far end of the clearing, my question was answered.
I could see several figures process
ing towards the circle of torches, each dressed in a dark, hooded robe piped with gold trim. They looked like something out of a secret society, something twisted and mysterious. I had no doubt in my mind that what I was seeing now were the powerful members of the Seven.
As we edged forward, I picked out a familiar face among them, surrounded by a head of flowing bright red hair that trailed around her features, defying the hood that covered most of her head.
Elodie.
Surrounding her were six other figures, some immensely tall. Three women, three men, their faces bathed in the orange glow of the flames before them. A hard shiver drove its way down my spine as I stared at them.
“So, they’re all here,” said Trick. “I’ve never seen most of them, but there’s no mistaking what they are.”
“Really?” I asked. “I would have thought you’d know most of them.”
Trick grimaced. “I’ve only ever set eyes on Nero—he’s the one on the far left.”
The man he was pointing out was the tallest of them, with dark brown hair and piercing eyes that looked gold from this distance. His jaw was square, his shoulders broad. He was exquisitely beautiful, and reminded me a little of Krane. Something about him drew my eyes to his features, in particular his sensual lips. For a moment I managed to forget what he was and why he was here. All I saw was pure, uncontaminated sexuality.
But of course, I knew by now that his kind thrived on the art of manipulation. Even from this distance, his appearance sought to pull me in, to deceive me with thoughts of his beauty rather than his despicable cruelty.
“I’ve heard his name,” I whispered, pulling my eyes back to Trick to save myself from being drawn in further. “He’s the one who lives in the States?”
Trick nodded. “The others are from all over the world. To be honest, I’m a little confused. I don’t know why they’re all here. Tristan’s an important man, but this is the sort of thing Elodie could have looked after on her own, if she’d really wanted to. It seems like she’s planning on something bigger. The question is what?”
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