by Brenda Trim
On that thought, her gaze scanned the tree-line. They were at the Dark Warrior’s vacation property. It was nice having friends in high places because the location was isolated and perfect for their purposes. They had wanted to be as far from populated areas as possible, in the event that something went wrong.
Isis went over their plan in her head. The hardest part had been when she had sent Braeden to lay the trap. He was a terrible liar, and she had been worried about him all afternoon and evening. She had been praying to the Goddess that he was safe.
“I know you’re right, but it’s not as easy as you think. I’m worried about him and one day you will understand when you find your mate. Let’s move upwind and put the cliffs behind us.” They placed the diamond in its box and buried it then traipsed silently through the woods and found a new hiding spot.
Suvi huddled into her thick, winter jacket. “Do you think she’ll buy the story about us burying the talisman here?” Fall on the islands was bitterly cold, and their breath puffed in white clouds as they talked.
“Yes, I think she’ll buy it hook, line, and sinker. She wants our power badly, and everyone knows this property is the most protected in the realm. The question is how she will get past those protections. It won’t be easy given the combined powers that the sorcerers, shifters, cambions and vampires poured into them,” Pema divulged and pulled on her gloves. Each of the Dark Warriors poured the magic of their kind into their wards. They had contemplated lifting some of the layers, but realized it would rouse her suspicions.
“Where is Ronan?” Isis looked around and expanded her senses, unable to detect his location.
“He is inside the house with Bhric and Gerrick,” Pema shared. The Vampire Prince and Dark Warrior had refused to allow them to do this alone.
“If she does come, are we really letting her take the diamond? I mean, that has our power in it. Why didn’t we give her a decoy? No way in hell do I want her to have even part of our power,” Suvi declared, worrying her lower lip.
“Yes, we are letting her take the gem. And, we couldn’t have placed a fake. She never would have come close if she couldn’t sense our signature. She wouldn’t risk it. She needs to believe this and take it with her. It is our ticket to freeing Donovan,” Isis reminded her sister. The stripling’s haunted blue eyes continued to trouble her, and she would not allow him to suffer any longer.
A rustling grabbed their attention and had Pema lifting a finger to her mouth. They all pulled their wands out and chanted a cloaking spell for their new location, hoping they hadn’t tipped their hand. They had already cloaked the house where Ronan, the Vampire Prince, and Gerrick were hiding. There was no way Cele would be able to detect any of them.
A tall, lanky, human male emerged from the trees next to the dirt drive. He looked to be in his mid-forties and had thinning, brown hair. He was not dressed for the cold in his short-sleeved, button-down shirt and dress slacks. It was highly doubtful he was merely lost. No one would come out this far on the island. The moon shone on his glazed, brown eyes and Isis knew that he was under compulsion.
He lumbered ungainly toward the house, and the night creatures suddenly went silent, as if sensing evil lurked nearby. Isis scanned the surrounding property, but saw nothing. She felt the nearby critters huddling in burrows. It was eerie how silent the night had become and not even the insects chirped.
Several yards beyond the spot where the human emerged, Isis detected the taint of malevolence. It had to be Cele, and she shared a knowing look with her sisters, then turned back and watched as the human faltered near the perimeter. Humans didn’t have the ability to see power, but they felt it. The male grimaced, his face a mask of fear and pain. Isis thought the pain momentarily broke through the spell he was under when he shivered and wrapped his arms around his torso, looking lost and uncertain.
At that moment, Cele emerged, wielding her wand. She raised the implement and her mouth moved, but Isis was too far to hear what she said. A split second later, orange light emanated from the tip and surged into the human’s chest.
Isis wanted to race from cover and intervene to save the innocent victim, but remained in place. As difficult as it was to ignore anyone’s suffering, this was bigger than one human. She wasn’t surprised that Cele was using a sacrifice to cross the boundary. She had no idea that the many magical protections would shred anything crossing it from the inside out, but she wasn’t going to risk herself either way. Isis hated that this human was being used as fodder. At the same time, she was curious to see how this worked out for the High Priestess.
Cele muttered another enchantment and the orange light spread further out and trailed through the trees. Isis felt its fingers moving through the forest. They all held their breath as it probed their invisible wall and passed on. Suddenly, the man ran across the field and a brilliant, white light lit the sky like the mid-day sun. It burned her eyes, causing her to squint against the brightness.
The human screamed out in agony and fell to his knees, clutching his chest. Isis started forward to save the male, but was pulled back by Pema. She nodded to her sister as another insidious incantation left the High Priestess, and then the poor tortured creature began crawling to the spot where they had buried the diamond. His skin began opening in slivers, at first, and then started falling off in chunks, exposing muscle and bone. How the creature was even alive, Isis had no idea, but the thought made her sick. No one should suffer such a fate.
He frantically dug through the dirt until he found their talisman. The male was a bloody, dirty mess and had left a trail of flesh and blood behind him. The only reason she hadn’t rushed Cele yet was the memory of Donovan sitting helplessly in his crystal prison. This human was beyond saving, but Braeden’s son wasn’t.
He tried to gain his feet, but wasn’t able to, and awkwardly crawled back to the barrier. One of his legs was severed at the knee during his trek, slowing him down. Cele kept muttering spells to spur him on.
The carnage deteriorated to the point that he was dragging himself through the dirt by the hand that was clutching the small wooden box. He extended an arm that was now stripped down to bone through the magical barrier and collapsed once his burden was free of the protections. Like a balloon that had been deflated, his body crumpled and the inlaid box tumbled from his grasp and into the dirt.
Cele raced from safety and snatched it from the ground. The smile that spread across her face was chilling. Before Isis and her sister rounded the evergreen they’d been hiding behind, Cele had disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
Ronan, Gerrick and Bhric ran at a clip from the house while Isis and her sisters crossed the property to the dead human. Isis could not understand what possessed the leader of her race to use an innocent in such a manner. She had no idea why she was even questioning it, given what she had done to Donovan. The female was one of the vilest creatures ever born.
“What the hell was that? I havena seen anything like that in my life,” Bhric exclaimed in his thick Scottish brogue. Isis glanced at the remains and grimaced. No, she hadn’t seen anything like that, either.
“That was dark magic, Bhric. No respectable witch would ever use compulsion, let alone, keep a being alive under such circumstances,” Pema said, striding across the lawn.
“Just like witches can’t disappear into thin air,” Suvi added, crossing to Bhric’s side. Isis checked her phone, but hadn’t received a message from Braeden letting her know he was okay.
“How do you think she accessed dark magic?” Gerrick asked.
“Our best guess is that she has allied herself with demons from Lucifer’s realm. They are the ones who practice the dark arts,” Pema replied, grabbing Isis’s hand and Suvi followed suit. She appreciated the close bond she shared with her sisters. She didn’t have to voice her anxiety for them to pick up on it and offer comfort.
“Why would she do such a thing?” Bhric asked.
“She wants our power. Not only that, we think she has found a way to
detect Fated Mates. It isn’t a coincidence that she used Isis’ Fated Mate against us,” Suvi explained.
Bhric ran his hand through his short brown hair, his agitation clear. “Och, that would be a verra dangerous power for a malicious creature like her to have. Zander and the council need to be told aboot this.”
“We can tell him on our way back,” Isis said as she made her way toward the car they had hidden on the neighbor’s property. “I haven’t heard from Braeden and I’m worried about him. Besides, we need to act while Cele’s guard is down.”
“We can’t just leave this poor male here. He has a family who deserves to know what happened to him,” Suvi pointed out.
“Doona fash, I’ll call Orlando and have him and Santiago handle it.”
“Isis is right, we need to act quickly. Evzen was at Zeum when I left. I’ll call Jace and ask them to open a portal to Zeum,” Gerrick interjected.
“Do it,” Bhric ordered as Isis sent a message to Braeden, unable to wait any
longer. She prayed that they hadn’t sacrificed her mate, along with the human.
* * *
CHAPTER TWELVE
Braeden had been pacing his house for what seemed like an eternity as he waited for word from Isis. He hadn’t dared contact her for fear of giving her presence away. He had no problem placing himself at risk with Cele, but had wanted to forbid Isis from going to the island with her sisters. The only reason he hadn’t chained her to his bed was because of the power the three of them wielded together. Besides, she would never forgive him if something happened to her sisters because she wasn’t there with them.
He thought back to how he’d set the trap with Cele. He had returned to Cele’s home for his nightly visit. Donovan had been huddled in a ball crying, and it had almost made him lose sight of the plan.
He had crossed to the sphere and placed his hand on the outside and when Donovan mirrored his move, Cele had sneered, “How quaint. I hope you have information for me. It would be a shame for little Donovan to lose a hand when he hasn’t yet gained his immortality. There would be no regeneration,” she let the threat fall heavily into the room.
Braeden had jumped forward, without thinking, and ran into an invisible force field. The sensation of a million knives cutting into his flesh stole his breath. He stood, glaring at Cele as he rode out the pain, while sweat poured down his back from the effort of remaining upright. He refused to allow her to see his pain. “I…have…information,” he managed.
The pain left him as quickly as it started, leaving him weak and staggering for balance. “For Donovan’s sake, I hope it’s more useful than your last.”
He breathed raggedly, calming his out of control nerves. “I overheard Isis and her sisters talking about a diamond they infused with some of their power. Apparently, they are worried about you stealing it from them and wanted to have a reserve to draw from should you ever succeed.”
The excitement that lit Cele’s eyes sickened him. “Where is it? Did you bring it with you?”
He scowled at her. “No, I didn’t get it from them. They made a deal with the Vampire King to hide it on his vacation property. I think they said it’s on Whidbey Island, but I don’t know for certain. Now, free my son,” Braeden demanded.
“Now, that wouldn’t be very smart of me, would it? For all I know, you aren’t telling me the truth. I’ll free him when I have the stone in my possession. I will contact you when I have it.”
It had been difficult to leave her house after she had refused to release his son. He didn’t believe for a minute that she would let Donovan go once she had the talisman in hand. Her refusal reinforced Braeden’s belief that she was planning to kill them both and he wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Not only would he get his son back, he would complete his mating to Isis.
Just when he thought he’d go mad with worry over Isis, his phone vibrated in his hand. He glanced at the screen and breathed a sigh of relief. Cele had taken the bait, and thankfully, his mate hadn’t been hurt. She was safe and headed back to Zeum. He typed a reply, ensuring he would meet her at the compound as planned.
Anxiety rode him as he rushed from his house and climbed into his jeep. He was speeding down the road with the wind whipping through the broken windows. It was a chilling reminder of the power of his mate’s anger, but, on the flip side of the coin, her passion and fire unhinged him.
It didn’t take long before he pulled in and stopped at a huge, iron gate that was set into a thirty-foot, stone wall. He pressed the button on the square, black box that was at the entrance to the gate.
“May I help you?” asked a male with a friendly, Scottish accent.
“I’m Braeden Hall, here to meet my mate, Isis Rowan,” he replied.
“Aye, good timing. She and the others returned through the portal aboot fifteen minutes ago. Drive to the main residence, please,” instructed the disembodied voice.
Braeden drove through the gates and marveled at the feel of crossing the barrier, noting the sensation was far stronger than when he crossed Cele’s. He continued down a tree-lined drive to what looked more like a castle than a house. He parked under the portico and was greeted by a tall male with black hair and pale green eyes.
“Welcome to Zeum. I am Angus, the majordomo. Please let me know if I can help you in anyway,” the male said, greeting him as soon as he exited his vehicle.
“I will. Thank you. Right now, I’d like to see my mate.”
“Follow me.”
Braeden followed the majordomo through double-doors and into a large foyer. He heard voices, and before he could turn to ask Angus which way to go, his mate suddenly appeared in one of the hallways and ran to him, her bound, red hair flying behind her.
He grabbed her up roughly and held her close, kissing her with everything he had. When their lips meshed together, electricity sparked hotly between them. He stroked his tongue across her lips and she opened immediately. The feel of her tongue stroking against his was the most erotic feeling ever.
He was elated that they were both alive and soon his son would be rescued and they’d be free of Cele. And, none of it would have been possible without his little flame. A flood of emotion poured over him, enhancing their passionate kiss.
After several long minutes, he pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. Just her being close was enough that the claws in his gut released their hold. “I love you so much, little flame. I cannot thank the Goddess enough for blessing me with the perfect mate.” He let the faith he had in her shine through.
“I love you, too, Braeden. I told them to finish planning how we will infiltrate Cele’s house and fill us in later. I knew you would be weak, and from your pale skin, I was right. We need you to be at the top of your game, baby. Follow me, I know where the guest rooms are,” she said, grabbing his hand and heading to the stairs.
*****
Isis felt like she had been on a roller coaster. Her anger had been going up and down in drastic measures over the past few days and it was exhausting. She needed her mate as much as he needed her. He grounded her and made it easier to control the hatred for Cele that was sure to make her temper explode.
She glanced over and perused his body as they entered a guest room decorated in blue paisley. His broad shoulders filled the doorway before she pulled him inside and shut the door. He had muscles everywhere and she planned to burn the memory of each and every one in her mind, but right now, she wanted to trace each one with her tongue. Looking down, she saw that Braeden was hard and ready to take her.
“Undress me,” she ordered as she unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. He sucked in a breath when her hand touched the hot tip of his erection. She loved the sight of his long, thick shaft barely contained by the fabric.
A wickedly-sexy smile broke across his face. “First things first,” he reached back and pulled the band from her ponytail, freeing her long, red hair. Her eyes slipped closed as he ran his hands through the length. “I love your silky hair.”
He reached out and began to slip her top over her head. She shivered as cool air hit her stomach, making it clench with need. Her top hit the floor followed closely by her bra. He paused to appreciate her breasts. Her aching nipples brushed the inside of his palms as he cupped them in both hands. A moan escaped her as he lowered his head and sucked one nipple into his mouth while his fingers trailed fire down her torso. She wanted to shout her happiness when he finally unfastened her pants.
“No panties? You wicked, wicked witch,” he growled when he caught sight of her bare flesh and kissed her roughly.
“I couldn’t bear the friction. You enter my thoughts a hundred times a day, and my libido goes crazy.” Caught up in the excitement, he had her pants around her knees and then off in the next heartbeat. She was burning up and would ignite if he didn’t make love to her soon.
Impatient, she gripped his cock through his boxers and squeezed him while she pushed his pants out of her way with her free hand. He hissed against her breast. “Fuck, baby. You need to stop that before I pound into you.”
“Good. What are you waiting for?” She laughed as he wrapped one arm around her waist and picked her up. When he set her down, she realized he had walked them to the bedroom.
He laughed, and it was a truly, carefree sound that warmed her heart. She helped him shimmy out of his pants after he kicked off his boots. A dark thatch of curls surrounded his cock and she noticed his balls had drawn up tight. He was so well-endowed that the thought of having his length and thickness fill her had her instantly wet.
He knelt down and gently lifted her right foot to his shoulder, exposing her core to him completely. He ran his fingers through the nest of red curls at the juncture of her thighs. He looked up from under thick, dark lashes and his eyes were glowing brightly with his desire. “I am going to be selfish right now because I need this. I’m too hungry for a taste of you.”