Fighting the Lies

by Anna Edwards

  "This isn't giving up. This is saving my energy for the fight. Unless you have anything remotely interesting to say then I suggest you leave." She gritted her teeth against the rage bubbling within her. She wanted this man, she should feel love for, gone. He was her brother; she'd never even met him until this moment. They should be joyous at finding each other, but all she felt was overwhelming despondency.

  “Make your peace, sister, because I intend to ensure that you are punished to the full extent of the law. Death with be your only option.” Phillip’s evil laugh filled the dungeon as he left. The ire in her was rising. This shouldn’t be happening to her. She was on her feet and gripping tightly to the bars again. Rattling them to the same tempo as her whole body, which was shaking; she was rocking. Her knees bending her up and down as she tried to calm herself down. But it didn't work. She let out a loud, anguished roar; her head thrusting backwards, so the sound vibrated off the walls. Tears started to fall from her eyes. She was a fighter, point her in the direction of a battle and she would be there leading the army, but this, this was so lonely and scary. She didn’t have the first clue how to save herself from certain death. She had no control over her future.

  She brought her head back down and straight into another pair of eyes observing her. This time, they were a dark mahogany and full of anguish, not retribution.

  "Selene, get me in that cage," Scott demanded as his hands encased Emma’s on the bars. His warmth wrapping her in a comforting blanket.

  "Kas said…" Selene's sentence was interrupted by a roar of annoyance

  "I don't care. He tasked me with looking after Emma, and I need to be in that cage with her to do so."

  In the blink of an eye, Scott disappeared and reappeared beside her. The same side of the bars as her.

  “We won’t have long. I’ll keep a look out.” Selene ran up to her and gave her a massive embrace, before shifting into a snake and slithering through the bars and underneath a gap in the door. Emma didn’t even really have a chance to register what was going on.

  “Talk to me.” Scott brought her to his chest. His heart beat so fast. He was worried for her. He pulled her back and tenderly used his thumb to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

  “My..my brother was here.” She stuttered.

  “Did he hurt you?” Scott’s eyes were scanning her body to check for injuries.

  “No, he's behind all this. He and Nuka. They are setting me up. Scott, I didn't kill my father. I promise you. You believe me? Please, say you trust me." She was panicking now. What if her pack didn't believe her? There was evidence, evidence that suggested she did it. Would they abandon her? Is that what Scott was here for? To tell her that she was on her own from now on?

  “Emma, we’ve never doubted your innocence. We know Nuka is behind this. He confronted Kas and as good as told him so. Everyone is back at the mansion working on getting you out of here. You need to stay calm. One of us is always going to be watching you from now on to make sure that you’re not hurt while here. Whatever your brother said to you will not happen. I’ll not let it.” Scott’s face was inches from hers, his eyes boring deep into hers to reassure her. “I need you to talk to me. I need to know about your childhood. Anything that you can remember from your time in the Las Vegas pack.”

  “I was four when I left. Too young to remember it.” Scott was still holding her tight, she needed the comfort. It felt like normality. Mind you, normality with her and Scott was normally her kicking his arse in a practice fight.

  "Please, anything. No matter how small." He led her to the bed, and she saw him turn his nose up at the filth on it. He was such a clean freak but only if he didn't have to do the cleaning. He sat on it though and held her under the crook of his arm. She fitted perfectly.

  "I don't know. I remember my mom and dad. Lots of people were always around us. We were never alone. Dad was famous as the Alpha. He wasn’t like Kas. He liked to show that he was important. People bowed to him, when they entered a room. My mother was head lioness, but there was a harem of others doing tasks for him. Looking back at it now, I wouldn’t be surprised if he slept with them all. There were always children around. Typical male lion.” She remembered who she was talking to. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. You’re different.”

  "No, I'm not." Scott snorted a retort. “I’m as much of a player as your father was. I’m just a bit more discreet about it.”

  This time Emma let out the disbelieving response. "You forget I've heard some of the wailing banshees you've entertained. That is hardly discreet."

  “Not my fault I have a magic dick.” Leave it to the lion with his arms around her to make her feel like rolling around on the floor in a fit of giggles when she was facing a death sentence.

  “Anyway, back to my father. I remember one night. One of the lioness' was crying. I didn't know why. I sat with her, and we had a tea party. It made her smile again. That was until my father came with another man; his smell was funny. It wasn't until I met Tyler that I realised he was a wolf. My mum was there and told me it was time for me to go to bed. I protested like the spoilt little princess I was in those days. My father snapped at me. Told me I was ungrateful and that would need to change. He looked to the other man, and he nodded his agreement. I got to my feet feeling ashamed that I'd made them angry at me and went to my room. When I looked out of the window a little later, I saw the man dragging the lioness away. My father was there watching. She was protesting that she didn’t want to leave. That she would marry any man in the pack and do whatever he asked but she didn't want to leave her family for another pack. The man shoved her into the car and shut the door. I never saw her again. I asked my mother the next day where she had gone, and she replied that she was doing her duty for the pack. It was shortly after that I woke up in Kas' pack." She exhaled a long breath. The story brought fresh memories to the surface, and they stung.

  “Your father had sold her?” Scott quizzed.

  “I thought so as well. Many of the lionesses were simply put, consorts to my father's needs. I know that now. Back then, it just seemed like a regular pack. I never forgot the girl. When I was older, I tracked down what had happened to her. My father hadn’t sold her for cash; he’d bartered her. She was soiled goods so would never make an Alpha or Beta’s wife, but she made a good whore for buying the allegiance of the wolf pack. She’d been given to them to do with what they wished, and when she was used up, they killed her and switched loyalty to the next Alpha willing to provide them with a girl." She sniffed back the tears that threatened to fall again. That tea party was so vivid in her imagination, the laughter of the poor lioness. It was probably the last happy moment in her life, and Emma had shared it with her.

  “Did you tell Kas?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “What would it have it done? The lioness was already dead. She was no longer suffering.”

  “Nothing I suppose.” Scott shrugged his shoulders. “When did you investigate her?”

  “Not long ago, actually. A couple of years.”

  “Around the same time that your father died!”

  The room went silent, and they both just stared at each other.

  “You think this is something to do with that?”

  “We need to look into all avenues to find possible reasons for this heinous injustice.”

  Emma touched Scott’s hand. “You should call Selene and get back to Kas and tell him. My diary. I wrote all the details in there. It’s…”

  "It's ok, I know where you keep your journal." Scott grimaced at his confession.

  “You’ve read my private thoughts.”

  “No, I’ve never read it. I know almost everything about you already though.”

  “Scott.”

  "Emma, Everything I do, I do it for you."

  She giggled. The tension within her dissipating and leaving her ready for the ensuing fight. "Are you going through that Bryan Adams phase again?" She wasn't sure why she said that
. It wasn't the moment for them to be joking around. It just felt right.

  "What?" Scott stepped back from her and struck a chord on a phantom guitar. He let his head fall forward and proceed to head bang.

  "I would lie for you, walk the wire for you....."

  He growled out the lyrics in a melodic chorus of feeling.

  "He is such a lion."

  "Who?" She queried.

  "Bryan Adams."

  "Why?"

  "Oh come on? That voice? The colour of his hair?"

  She laughed again. Scott dropped the fake guitar and stepped forward to her. He stroked his hand down her cheek. The gossamer skin warmed under the heated affection of his touch. The damp dungeon no longer chilled her frozen flesh. The air caught in the back of her throat.

  "I'm scared."

  "I'm going to get you out of here. Trust me."

  "Scott?"

  He leaned in, and his lips brushed against hers.

  "I've loved you since the first moment I saw you."

  "You can't." She shuddered under his touch.

  "I love you, Emma."

  “Please.” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I can’t.”

  “I’m not asking for anything now. We will get you out of here first. Get you back home and safe.” He brought his mouth down to hers again. She responded this time. His taste was spicy with a hint of pork. It made her feel hungry not only for food but for what the man in front of her could give her. But it wouldn’t work. It couldn’t. She pulled away. Her hand flew up to her lips and rubbed where his imprint throbbed.

  “No, please don’t love me, because I can’t love you back.”

  “I know this is all a shock. I wish we’d done it properly, and I’d told you over a romantic dinner.”

  She pushed him away and kept shaking her head.

  "Please no more." Her arms folded across her chest. It was suddenly freezing cold again. The chill of the dungeon freezing her bones or was it the fact that she knew she was about to destroy the best thing that had ever happened to her?

  “Listen to me. I don’t love you. I can’t.” Scott halted.

  “Why?”

  “Do I need a reason?”

  “Yes.” He widened his stance, his broad chest and perfect hair doing nothing to dampen the rising feeling in her that she knew she shouldn’t have.

  “Selene.” She called.

  “Don’t.” He warned.

  “Selene.” The multi-shifter re-appeared.

  “I was just on my way back to you. Ciaran is on his way. We need to go.” Selene shifted into her witch state. It always amazed Emma to see her with green skin.

  “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me.” Scott pushed the multi-shifter away when she tried to touch him.

  “Take him.”

  "Look, I don't know what is going on here, but you two need to stop arguing. Emma tell Scott what he wants to know. NOW." Selene looked towards the door. Faint footsteps could be heard approaching.

  "I can't love you, Scott, because it was my mother who left me with Kas' pack. She cried the entire time we travelled there, and the last thing she said to me was never love a man. They will break your heart and destroy you. Now go. Please, go.”

  Scott reached out for Selene, and they disappeared in a puff of smoke just as Ciaran and several guards barged into the room. Emma took one look at them and collapsed on the floor in tears.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Brayden held onto the nearest palm tree to steady his swirling head. Travel wasn’t meant to be done via magic it was meant to be done in style and preferably in a luxury sports car. His mate, however, loved the fact that she could transport herself and anyone she was touching to anywhere. Admittedly, when she projected herself naked into the shower earlier, he’d enjoyed that, but it was when he had to travel this way he was a bit disgruntled.

  “You ok?” Selene placed her tiny manicured hand on his. He stared at it. It still amazed him that when he touched her she did not shift like she had done in the early days of their relationship. It had been the worst time of his life. To not touch the woman, he loved was the most indescribable torture.

  “I’m all good. You go set up as look out. When I call, you need to get us out of there as quickly as possible.”

  “There is a lot of magic here. I can sense it.” Selene pursed her lips together tightly and looked towards the imposing terracotta manor house in front of them. It was the seat of the Las Vegas pack. They knew that most of the pack were in Berlin for the trial, so despite the neighbourhood being busy, the house itself was closed up with a few guards left to ensure no trouble.

  “Ciaran?” Tyler stepped forward and handed Brayden a gun. Jessica had done a little recognisance and had seen the guards were lions but still had weapons like humans.

  “I don’t think so. I don’t know. I’m still learning his ways. Sorry.” Selene replied nibbling on her lip.

  “You are doing brilliantly. Go hide. If anything happens, get out of here.” He leant forward and gave her a departing kiss before she transformed into a white-tailed kite and fluttered up into the setting sun skyline.

  “You ready?” Tyler questioned. He was low to the ground already sniffing the air for trouble.

  “In and out; that’s all Kas wants us to do. You know where the room is?” Brayden replied and tucked the gun into the back of his black jeans and also crouched low.

  “Top floor, third door on the left. Key code for the room seven, three, two, one.” They both prowled quietly towards the house so as not to make a sound. The ground was covered in dusty sand and succulent plants, so it was easy to be fleet of foot. When one of the guards shifted his head towards them, his nose going up in the air and sniffing, they both froze. Being down wind should mean that their scents would not be detected. The guard, satisfied there was no imminent threat, resumed his observation pose. Brayden looked up and saw Selene flying around ready to provide a distraction if needed. Even as a bird, his mate was damn sexy. Now really wasn’t the time for thinking about that. Get your head in the game he chastised himself. They reached the house with ease and slipped inside. Just as they suspected, it was empty. It looked like it had been for a long time; a thin layer of dust covered the furniture and the house smelt musky as though it had not been open to the elements to air it for a while.

  “Isn’t Emma’s brother supposed to live here?” Tyler queried as they climbed the grand staircase to the upper levels.

  “I thought so, but who knows. You can check it out later, computer whizz.” Despite being a wolf and spending most of his time in the kitchen cooking for the pack, Tyler was also a genius with computers. He seemed to be able to find out just about anything from them. It was something he liked to keep hidden, unless it was desperately required. Brayden had accidentally learned about it when he’d caught the wolf hacking into a bank account for Kas.

  “Will do.” They approached the third door with caution. The mansion was old fashioned in its style. The doors were heavy oak, impregnable without a key to unlock them. This was too easy so far. By keeping Selene away from the property, they were able to bypass a lot of the security that was focused to detect magic, but something was off, Brayden’s gut instinct was telling him that this was all wrong. He needed to persist, though, for Emma’s sake. He keyed in the code, and the lock clicked. He pushed it open, and both he and Tyler stopped midstride, muscles tensing. Tyler grabbed Brayden’s arm.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  He tried to find the words to respond, but they weren’t coming that easily with what was laid out before him.

  “That’s Emma’s father’s skeleton.” The pile of bones was on the unmade bed, exactly as it would have been found the day he died. The head was separated from the body. Brayden looked around the room, trying to take in the scene. It was covered in dust and grime. “This place hasn’t been touched since the day he died.”

  “Is that normal for lions not to bury their dead?” Tyler took a step int
o the room but shivered and stopped.

  “No.” He took his own few steps into the room. The shiver hit him as well. This place was evil in every sense of the word. Evil and completely fucked up. Why leave the body here? “Selene.” He called, and his mate appeared by his side in a flash. She took one look at the bed and screamed. An alarm started to ring out. “Get us out of here.” He and Tyler both grabbed a hand each, and the next thing he knew, he was back in the dining room at the Glacial Blood Manor.

  Kas looked up at them from over a pile of papers spread over the seventeenth century dining room table complete with candelabra in the centre. “You ok Brayden? You look paler than usual, if that is possible?” Being a snow leopard, he was always waxen in colour, but he was pretty sure he must resemble the colour of several of the pieces of crisp paper on the table.

  “Skeleton.” Selene spoke and then fell into his side, and he wrapped his arms around her trembling mate.

  “What?” Kas questioned.

  “Something bad is going on. We got into the room without any trouble, but I don’t think anyone has been in that room for two years.” Brayden replied.

  “What do you mean?” Kas watched with his brows furrowing as Tyler took a seat at the table and sat quietly, staring at the wall.

  “Emma’s father is still in there. In exactly the same position he would have been on the day he died. The only thing missing is the sword. That place is a preserved crime scene.”

  Jane and Katia, who’d been reading as well, both exclaimed a gasping ‘what’. Jane took Selene from his arms and helped her over to the French sideboard and poured her a glass of brandy.

  It was then that Brayden noticed Kas didn’t look shocked or the least bit concerned.

  “You knew?” Brayden bit out, coming to stand in front of him.

  “I suspected. I didn’t want you going in there with minimal regard for your safety, though. I wanted you be aware of everything, so I didn’t say.” Kas showed no regret for leaving out vital information before sending them on a task. Brayden was furious. He clenched his fist and bashed it into the table.