by Caris Roane
Willow found she could move her eyes, the only thing that worked in the stasis spell. She shifted her gaze to the illuminated wraith-fae who smelled sickly sweet. She tried to speak, but couldn’t.
Margetta narrowed her gaze and waved her hand once more. “You may speak.”
Willow gasped at the sudden freeing of her vocal chords, then said, “I despise you.”
Margetta smiled. “Despise me all you want. Just tell me you understand that I’m giving you the choice of life or death? And answer me, Willow, or I will kill one of your ineffective guards.”
Willow glanced at the Guardsmen out the window of her home. All were unaware of the events inside the house. “I understand.”
Margetta stepped back. “Axton, this party is all yours and I have other critical business to attend to. Once she bonds, the stasis will end or you can also end it by giving her a solid blow anywhere on her body. Enjoy.”
The golden light dissipated and Willow felt the evil presence fade then disappear.
Axton slid his hand up around Willow’s neck and held her gaze. “The moment I caught your blood rose scent the other night, I made a vow to myself that I’d make you mine.” He leaned close and sniffed her throat.
The part of Willow that was a blood rose failed to differentiate even a little bit between Axton and Malik. Her heart thrummed heavily now, while her body created an excess of rich blood intended to ease the suffering of any mastyr, whether good or evil.
His fangs descended.
~ ~ ~
Sweat poured off Malik’s brow. He’d never worked so hard in his life as he strove to find a way out of the trap that had been laid for him. His heart beat hard and every muscle in his body ached with the effort to try to move. But all he’d succeeded in doing was flexing to the point of causing more than one muscle to cramp painfully.
As a man used to fighting, of doing battle with either the energy from his palms or his fists, being held in stasis was nothing less than torture.
He forced himself to take a few deep breaths and calm down. There had to be a way out.
Willow. Sweet Goddess, what was happening to her right now? He tried to reach for her telepathically, but couldn’t.
He then searched through each of his frequencies, including both his mating frequency and his battle vibration but nothing had the smallest effect on the stasis. And he still couldn’t reach anyone beyond the spell that had bound him.
When a new wave of dizziness hit him, he would have fallen had the spell not held him upright.
A golden light suddenly filled the entryway, and a very beautiful woman appeared. Yet he knew without having to be told that he was looking at the Ancient Fae, the woman responsible for centuries of anguish in every realm of his world.
Margetta, a wraith-fae of enormous power who worked in tandem with her husband, Gustave, had discovered how to forge a bond between wraiths and any other realm-folk. These bonds created violent fighting teams that Margetta was presently using in an attempt to take over the Nine Realms.
Malik thought back to Davido’s warning that the entire fate of their world depended on what happened right now in his realm.
“How are you, Mastyr Malik?” For someone so evil, she had a voice that sounded of soft wind chimes, but he wasn’t about to be drawn in.
She waved a hand. “You may speak.”
“Fuck you, Margetta.”
She clucked her tongue, tsking at him. The bitch. “Is that anyway to talk to the woman who holds your life in her hands? But I do have something I need to tell you and though it gives me great joy, you probably won’t like it. I just wanted you to know that I’ve brought my army into your realm, and I’ll shortly begin my invasion of the wraith colony.”
In his effort to separate from Willow, he knew he’d just brought disaster down on his realm.
“And again, fuck you.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Well, for that little piece of insolence, I am going to have kill you. But don’t worry, I’ll do it slow, that way you’ll have the illusion you can escape. And while you’re breathing your last, Axton will take Willow for his own and the power they will create together will change the future of the Nine Realms forever, make no mistake.”
She laughed this time, and the tips of her wraith-fangs showed. She waved her arm and a wave hit him, this time of terrible pain. But when it passed, he was left with what felt like an invisible band around his chest.
She watched him carefully, smiling all the while.
He took a deep breath, ready to shout her down, but the band tightened into a vise, and with each breath that followed, it tightened a little more.
Margetta had cast a spell that would slowly suffocate him.
Mentally, he cursed long and loud but worked to draw as little air into his lungs as possible, yet with each breath he felt the band cinch.
Without the ability to reach out for help, or to move, or to stop the band-spell, he knew he was going to die.
His spirit caved within him and again, if he hadn’t been held in stasis, he would have fallen to his knees.
Margetta drew close and touched his face. “You’re one of the most handsome men I’ve ever seen. I can end this agony you’re suffering if you’ll agree to be with me, to share my bed.”
“I’d rather be dead.” The band tightened some more.
She waved her hand again. “And now no more talking and I definitely don’t want you calling out for help.”
He tried to answer her, but the paralysis had returned to his vocal chords.
“I wish I could stay, Mastyr, because it would give me great pleasure to watch you breathe your last, but I really do need to coordinate my wraith-pairs. They’re hopeless without me.” She lifted an arm and vanished.
Another breath. Another tightening of the band.
He thought of Willow caught in Axton’s trap and how he’d failed to protect her. Why hadn’t it occurred to him that Axton would make Willow his priority instead of the wraith colony?
He trembled head-to-foot at the thought of another vampire feeding from Willow and the woman that belonged to him. He would always think of her as his.
Then a thought even worse surfaced. Axton would bond with the woman Malik loved.
His chest ached as though he’d just been punched hard right over his heart. Why hadn’t he seen the truth sooner about what Willow was to him?
He understood now that she wasn’t just his blood rose. Somewhere during all those months of chasing her, she’d gotten under his skin.
And he loved her.
But as the bands tightened and full-on suffocation drew close, he had to admit another horrible truth. He wouldn’t even be in this mess if he hadn’t been in such a Goddess be-damned hurry to leave Willow.
He could see the signs now that Margetta had been after her. Willow had complained of headaches and she hadn’t slept well all night. A fae as powerful as Willow could have self-healed easily, but he’d been intent on creating some distance, and now here he was having fallen into Margetta’s trap.
He felt like five kinds of fool. Alexandra the Bad had called it right when she kept slapping at his chest and calling him a stupid man, because right now that’s exactly what he was. He’d been lying to himself and calling it smart.
With barely any air now flowing into his lungs, his arrogance left him. What remained was humility and the truth that if given the chance, he’d bond with her and not think twice about it.
This time, a new dizziness came over him, because his brain was slowly being deprived of oxygen.
The whole situation lay before him from the time Axton had begun his attacks on the entrance to the wraith colony until this moment. What struck him was that he no longer worked alone but had functioned as part of a team, whether with Alexandra and the fae leadership, or with Zane and his Guard, or with Willow.
He felt in his bones that his going-it-alone days were gone. He saw a new future of greater cooperation all over his realm and
that was when he realized he’d forgotten one of the vibrations that he and Willow had tapped into.
The earth itself.
But could he reach this most primal frequency so far away from the wraith colony?
He had no idea, but he had to try.
With black spots coming and going in front of his eyes, he opened to the gift Willow had given him of the ability to feel the power of the Nine Realms itself as it lay deep in the earth.
He drew the vibrations up into his body and felt the frequency begin to push back against Margetta’s spell.
Magically, the bands loosened enough for him to start gasping in air. With each breath, the spots before his eyes lessened, and the bands stretched wide until finally the band-spell broke.
Unfortunately, the stasis spell still held, but he relaxed and kept the earth’s vibration moving through his body. This time, he reached out to Alexandra the Bad and discovered she was right outside his door. He could feel her there, but he still couldn’t reach her telepathically or move a muscle.
With a new-found conviction that he would only save Ashleaf by including everyone, he kept aiming the earth-vibration in Alexandra’s direction until could he actually feel her reaching back toward him.
Something was happening.
Something good.
He pressed harder and now he could feel her telepathic frequency through the door.
So close. Almost there.
He put on one last, strong effort and the moment he connected with Alexandra, a white light exploded all around him and the stasis spell dissolved.
He whirled toward the door and jerked it open.
“Thank the Goddess you’re alive,” she shouted. “I could feel you were almost gone!”
He’d never been so grateful to see anyone in his entire life as Alexandra, and behind her the remaining fae leadership.
He moved swiftly and caught her up in a gigantic hug, whirling her in a circle until she was slapping at his arms. “Put me down! Your woman is near death, idiot.”
He almost took off, but he remembered his hard-earned lesson. Turning to her, he said, “Please, you must come with me. All of you.”
Alexandra looked almost thunderstruck. “Of course we will, and you are learning at last.”
“I hope to the Goddess I am.”
As he took to the skies, the fae with him, he contacted Zane, pathing, Get all our forces, including the Troll Brigade over to the entrance to the colony. Margetta and her army are about to attack.
~ ~ ~
Willow wept.
Her body and soul felt ripped into two pieces. One part of her craved the heinous vampire that drank her down and the other tried to find some way out.
Axton hurt her where he sucked heavily at her neck. He was strong like Malik and held her trapped in his arms. She still couldn’t move because of the stasis. She found it hard to breathe.
She tried to access her vine-power, thinking she could bring the vines close and tie him up. But the vines merely hovered a few inches away, apparently torn to act because she was equally torn.
So her vine power was of no use and each drop of blood Axton took powered him more and more, while draining her of strength.
And still she craved him as a blood rose to his mastyr status, needing to bond with him.
As she reached the point of having to choose between death or bonding with a madman, she wondered how she’d gotten into such a terrible predicament. Until now, she and Malik had stuck close to each other in order to keep this very thing from happening.
But Malik had left because of his need to get back to his men.
And she’d let him go.
Now she was here, unable to move and hardly able to breathe and so close to surrendering to her cravings for Axton, that she trembled head-to foot.
As her tears flowed, however, what began to rise up within her was a kind of rage she’d never experienced before, or perhaps never allowed herself to feel.
Throughout most of her life, everything that happened outside of her control had dictated her path, swallowing up her will and her belief in self-direction.
But why was she always at the mercy of the willfulness of others or of events she couldn’t control like the deaths of her parents or the arrival of a supernatural gift she’d never asked for?
Maybe the fault lay within her, and just maybe she’d accepted things far too easily and given up her right to vote. She thought about what was within her control: the vines, her ability to connect with the earth, her telepathy, and her connection with Malik and the five powerful fae.
She’d tried reaching out to Malik, but he hadn’t responded to her efforts.
As Axton’s mating vibration flowed over hers, spiking her need to bond with him, something within her refused to acquiesce. From this point forward, she would have a say in her life’s path and right now that meant refusing to bond with Axton, despite her almost overpowering cravings for him.
She realized that this would mean her death, but it would be far worse to be bonded with such a monster.
The moment she made the decision, she felt his mating vibration retreat as though seriously rebuffed.
But he didn’t seem to care. He merely squeezed her tighter and pathed, Then death it is, Willow, which is for the best, since I can smell the wraith on you.
Axton hated wraiths and half-breeds with a passion, even though he pretended otherwise during all his PR moments. That he’d joined forces with Margetta, a wraith-fae, was the absolute height of hypocrisy.
Well guess what, she responded, I’ve learned at the knee of two of the oldest wraiths in our world that we’re all descended from the first wraith our Creator made. That’s right. Even you are part wraith.
He drew back, his eyes blistered with rage. “You fucking bitch. How dare you say something like that to me?”
She couldn’t believe he’d stopped drinking, which was a big mistake. The second mistake was that he raised his arm and back-handed her hard so that she flew across the room, hitting the living room floor and slamming into the wall by the door.
He must have forgotten that Margetta had told him that a solid blow would break the spell.
And it did.
Willow didn’t hesitate, but ordered the vines nearest him to attack. They instantly surrounded every part of his body, whipping his arms close to his sides and sealing his legs together. “What the hell?”
She knew a strong impulse to go to the kitchen, grab one of her sharpest blades, and end his sorry life. But there was so much more at stake than her own need for revenge.
But she didn’t think it would hurt to toy with the bastard a little.
She went to the kitchen, found her butcher knife, then and returned. The vines responded to her intent by creating an opening across his throat just below his Adam’s apple.
“What are you doing?” His eyes were wild as he stared down at the knife. “Don’t. Please, don’t.”
“You’re begging me? Why just a minute ago you were drinking me to death and happy to do it.”
She pressed the blade against Axton’s throat and the bastard screamed like a little girl.
A hand caught her wrist. “Don’t Willow, we need this asshole.”
Malik.
Her heart did three quick cartwheels.
She glanced up at him, but turned just enough to wink at him. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t cut him ear-to-ear.”
Malik picked up her cue. “Because he has the information we need to deliver up the name of every member of The Society.”
“It won’t help you now,” Axton spat.
“Why’s that?” Willow asked.
“Because Margetta’s already inside the colony taking her prize. Ashleaf won’t last long now.”
Once more, she pressed the knife to his throat. “Listen up, Axton. I don’t care how many names you have. I’m the one with the blade in my hand and the power of the vines and I will cut your throat open if I have to.”
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br /> His eyes widened, but he shifted his gaze to Malik. “You won’t get a single name if she kills me.”
Willow shifted slightly and met Malik’s gaze. He wore a half-smile on his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You know what? Have at him, Willow. This is your party right now and I’ll back your play. Kill the bastard.”
Once more he begged. “What do you want, Mistress? I’ll give you anything you want.”
She eased the blade back. “That’s better. So here it is. I want to know how and where Margetta is going to attack, especially if she’s got some kind of spell going on. And since you’ve said she’s already inside the colony, I want the exact location.” Just for emphasis, she cut him just off to the side of his vein.”
He yelped once more and sweat poured down his face.
“She’s at the northernmost end of the colony. She gave a new charm to one of my men and he was able to break through while you were held in stasis.”
Willow narrowed her eyes. “I just have one question. Why did she even need your help? She’s got so much power all on her own.”
“Because she’s a wraith, that’s why. Something about the colony wouldn’t let her act directly against your shield. I don’t understand it myself. Wraiths aren’t anxious to hurt their own kind though they love enslaving others. A real paradox, don’t you think?”
Willow didn’t think she could despise anyone as much as she did Axton.
Turning to Malik, she nodded to him.
~ ~ ~
Malik barked his first order. “We head to the colony entrance now.”
He held out his arm for Willow, but she stunned him by shaking her head. “There might be a better way.”
“I need to get my men in there.”
He felt wild with desperation, but Willow put a hand on his arm. “I’ve come to a couple of decisions, and we need to tend to each of them first.”
He glanced at Alexandra who was frowning at him, her brows forming the usual porcupine quills again. She shook her head and he watched her shape the words, ‘stupid man’, on her lips.
He put a hand to his head. “Sweet Goddess, I’m an idiot.”