by Anna Edwards
“Oh thank God.” Selene ran for him and gave him a big cuddle. “You are such an idiot to think that you could sleep with anyone but Emma, now. You love her.”
“I need to save her life” He pushed the over enthusiastic multi-shifter away.
“Well, getting your groove on isn’t going to do that.” She placed her hands on her hips and gave him the evil eye.
Brayden picked her up and moved her aside. “Go get green beautiful. We need to be prepared.” She pushed him away.
“Don’t you get all bossy with me, Brayden Dillon. Scott’s being a great big dorkasaurus. His idea of saving Emma is stupid.”
“It is, but right now, he doesn’t need to be lectured.”
“And hearing you two having a domestic isn’t really what I need either.” He would never have a domestic with Emma again. He pulled the blanket over his head, which promptly uncovered his manhood, so Brayden pulled it down a little. Scott hoped, in true ostrich fashion, that if he couldn’t see them then maybe, just maybe, they would leave him alone. What exactly were they here for anyway? It wasn’t to judge his performance, because that was a big fat zero.
“Sorry mate.” Brayden perched on the side of the bed. “She’s a bit stressed at the moment. A lot going on.”
“Tell me about it.” He spoke from under the blanket.
“Kas sent us here.” Brayden continued
“What does he want? I’m not changing my mind.”
“Emma’s been released.” Scott’s heart leaped. They could get her to safety, and his inability to perform wouldn’t matter. His plan had worked. He let out a sign of relief.
“Is she safe?” He questioned the snow leopard.
“No.” Brayden’s reply was short. Scott pulled the blanket down from over his head.
“What do you mean, no?”
“Kas asked us to bring you back, because we are going to need you for a big fight.” Brayden was deadly serious. Emma. She was still in trouble. He sat up.
“Where is she?” He asked.
“At Nuka’s mansion.”
The woman he loved was mere metres away? He could go to her and rescue her.
He was on his feet and putting his clothes on, before Brayden rose from the bed.
“I’m going to the mansion now. Bring Kas, I’ll meet him there.” He was heading for the door. He knew exactly how to get to the mansion from his accommodation.
“No, you have to come back to the mansion first. We need to go in with a fool proof plan.”
“What more of a plan do we need? Go in there. Beat the crap out of the lying fuck that is Nuka Lincoln and get Emma back.” What was the hold up? It was simple. He shifted his hands to claws ready to attack anyone who would stop him on the way.
“She is to marry Nuka.”
He halted in his path.
“Marry Nuka?”
“He released her as he promised you, but she was released to her brother who gave her to Nuka as means of sealing an alliance between their packs. She will not leave as Nuka is threatening to go after Kas if she does. We’re going to have to take her by force. A force that will involve all of us working as one.”
Scott looked towards Selene. The multi-shifter had turned green and patterns adorned her skin.
“Let’s go.” He took Selene’s hand. Brayden took the other, and they disappeared into the ether.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
She knew the delaying tactics could only work for so long and that time was up. As the sun set on the horizon, its spectacular light show of purples, pinks, reds, and oranges should be enthralling to watch, but they filled Emma with terror. She was walking down the hastily made aisle in Nuka's grand hallway. Her heels clicked on the floor, their tune an ominous death march. Her intended stood at the front of the small assembled crowd. She didn’t recognise anyone, not that she expected to. These were Nuka’s people, and this wedding was an elaborate façade, designed to show his power. If it wasn’t so terrifying, it would be the most hilarious farce ever written. He had won. He’d taken a prized possession from his brother, and he would use her to display his intentions to the world. She would never be lady of the manor. She would be a slave to his whims and sexual proclivities. Dragged out and forced to perform before the audience of unsuspecting nobodies. For that is what all people were to Nuka Lincoln. Nothing but pawns in his game. She arrived at the alter, and he tried to take her hand. She pulled away, so he forcibly took it this time.
“Play the part, and I’ll not hurt you later.” He grunted the ominous threat into her ear and presented her to Ciaran, who would perform the ceremony. The druid was dressed in his robes of office and gave off every sense of self-importance. Nuka Lincoln was the only man that Ciaran would ever bow to. He was a force to be reckoned with. His power superior to most warlocks in the world. All his success had been achieved through hard work and selling his soul to the devil. A devil named Nuka.
“Do you want the short or the long version?” Ciaran asked
“Short.”
“Long.”
Both she and Nuka replied at the same time, she obviously choosing the long version.
“I’ll meet in the middle.” Ciaran’s response only earned a growl from Nuka. It was welcome with a half sigh of relief from her.
“If this is to be my wedding day…” Maybe if she waffled on for a bit, maybe that would delay them even more. “Then I want it done properly. Besides you wouldn’t want my brother, or even yours, to say somewhere down the line that this was a messed up wedding so doesn’t count and would be declared void.”
Nuka pulled her close to him. A fake look of love in his eyes. He was playing a part for the audience as well.
“I see what you are doing, but it will not work. They will not come for you. He will not come for you.” The smirk that formed next on the polar bears face had her swallowing deeply. “Do you know what your lover is doing at this precise moment?”
“Planning every way that he can decapitate you and deciding on which one will be the most painful.” She spat in his face.
Nuka threw her at Ciaran and then turned to address the small crowd. It was mostly made up of senior members of his pack and a few from her brother’s, including the monster himself.
“If you would all be so kind as to give us a few moments. It appears that my fiancée is experiencing a few jitters. It is nerve wracking for her to be marrying a man of such renown and importance such as myself. If you could just wait outside, while I reaffirm to her my desire for a happy and bountiful future, I will call you in when we are ready.” The crowd filed out. Phillip remained behind. He stepped up to the alter.
“Do your duty sister. Believe me, what Nuka will do you if you don’t will be the vastly preferred alternative to what I’ll do. With me, you’ll be broken within days not months.” She tried to lash out at him, her claws emerging from behind her manicured nails. It felt good to have the bones in her hands crack and reform as a lion. Nuka grabbed her hand.
“If you shift to a lioness, I will have Ciaran force the change back, and I will marry and consummate this marriage with you naked in front of our audience. I’m offering you respect, Emma. Do not waste it.”
She retracted her claws and growled out a moan of frustration.
“Good girl,” he said patronisingly.
“I’m not a pet. You don’t need to speak to me that way.” She responded through gritted teeth.
“You seem to think that you have a say in what happens here. You are my property now. A chattel to do with as I wish. And what I desire is to get enough babies out of you before your body gives up. Then you die.” Nuka was almost foaming at the mouth, when he spoke.
“That’s assuming you aren’t firing blanks. You ever fathered a child with one of the whores I’m sure you keep around here.” Time, she needed to kill time. Even if it involved her getting hurt or beaten up. Antagonising Nuka was not the smartest idea that she’d ever had, but it was one that could work. Delay. It was all she was r
eciting in her head. Hurry up Kas.
“You bitch.” Nuka pulled his fist back and sent a punch flying into her face. Fuck. She staggered back. Yeah, smart one Emma, insult the seven foot almost three-hundred-pound guy come polar bear. She was lucky that he hadn’t broken her jaw. He grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her to him. She could feel his erection digging into her thigh. “You think that will not be able to get you pregnant. It will tear you apart, so no man will ever want your used and abused body again.”
“Scott would. He’ll come for me.” She tried to twist away, but his grip was far too strong.
Nuka let out a bellowing laugh.
“He’s the reason that you are here. He talked me into giving you freedom, halt the death sentence.” She gulped at Nuka’s response. This wasn’t how she was expecting the argument to go.
“What do you mean?” She hesitantly enquired.
“He gave himself to my pack. He’s currently not thinking about saving you. He’s fucking my lionesses and impregnating them with an army for me. Selective breeding at its best. You and I will create leaders; he will create the soldiers to fight. An army of Moroccan Kings to annihilate the Glacial Blood pack and then the Council.”
“Moroccan King?” She stammered. Scott was a King? Why hadn’t he told her. Why had he given himself in that way to save her. A vision of him in a romantic twist with another lioness ripped through her heart.
“The strongest and most well connected of the lions. If one of their brothers is hurt, the entire clan will fight against who hurt them. Your little insurrection is at an end. You cannot win.” She went limp in Nuka’s arms; her vision clouding at the edges where tears formed in her eyes. Even if they came for her, she would have nothing. Scott was gone. He was creating children with Nuka’s pack. He was sleeping with others. It didn’t matter that he was doing it to save her; she’d never be able to look at him again. Her thoughts turned to the tiny child growing within her womb. A part of her and Scott created when they could love each other. Circumstances had destroyed that. Ciaran would find out about the baby soon, and it would die. The alternative, as it would be a Moroccan King’s child, would be too frightening to consider, raised in Nuka’s army; the destroyer of the world. Instinctively her hand grazed over her stomach and in her head she whispered.
“I’m sorry I cannot save you. Heaven will welcome you. You’ll be safe there. My mother will protect you.”
Nuka pulled her back up to standing by the hair.
“Now will you marry me and quit this little game?”
“Yes.” Defeat started to shut her body down. She would exist from this point in a shadow. She was vaguely aware of Nuka calling the guests back into the wedding. He had straightened her dress out and pulled her hair back into position. The tears in the corners of her eyes didn’t fall. They couldn’t, not when she was little more than the shell of a person. The ceremony continued around her. She nodded when required and spoke when prompted. The words meant nothing to her. The words ‘man and….’ flooded into the part of her consciousness that was left, but the sentence was never finished.
Chaos broke out all around her. Silhouettes of people fighting. The sound of Ethern calling out ‘Stop’ permeated her brain and with a rush of air she came back to the here and now. He was here. She sensed it. Scott. He had come for her.
“Scott.” She called out in desperation, the echoing plea vibrating off the high vaulted ceiling.
Nuka pulled her close to him, his hand tight around her throat. “Do you mind we’ve just been married?”
“Hey babe, Nuka has seen our favourite film as well.” Scott was there in front of her sporting a cheeky grin. She couldn’t help but chuckle at the reference to the line from hers and Scott’s favourite film. “I wonder if he remembers what happens to the bad guy in the end.” His face turned to thunder. Scott’s hands turned to claws.
“Stop the fighting.” Ethern interrupted again.
“I want them all arrested.” Nuka spat out. “They’re trespassing.”
“They came with me.” The multi-shifter Council member held his hand up and suspended all the sparring pack members in mid-air. Katia was mid punch on Nuka’s delta, Jackson. The black panther’s features were contorted in shock at the svelte tigress being about to best him. Brayden and Selene were tag teaming another couple, and they also looked to have the advantage. Kas, as always, stood back at the door. He was the tactical master. He didn’t enter the affray until the time was right, and it would inflict the most damage. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. “Bring in the jury and judge.”
“What is going on?” Ciaran stepped forward and entered Ethern’s personal space.
“New evidence has come to light surrounding the murder of Emma’s father.”
“What new evidence?” Her brother, who had been cowering in the corner when the fighting started, emerged to stamp his foot like a petulant child at the interruption.
“New evidence. Mr Kas Lincoln will present it, when the jury and judges are settled.” Emma observed the hesitant parties file into the room. The chairs had been knocked over in the tussle, and when Ethern removed the suspension, the Glacial Blood pack helped right them for the judges and jury to sit on. Nuka’s pack surrounded their alpha in a protective cocoon. She was still held by the polar bear, but Scott was directly in front of them. He would not let her out of his sight for even an instant. When one of Nuka’s pack tried to stand in front of her, the glare from her lover, which reminded everyone there that he, Scott, was a Moroccan King and all that entailed, had the wolf move sharpish with his tail between his legs.
“I don’t see why we are being brought here.” The judge flustered when Ethern came to his side. “I have already passed judgement. That was commuted and a different sentence imposed.
“This new evidence is likely to clear Miss Bryant of all wrong doing.” Ethern explained. “This marriage that she is currently being forced into is not one that she chooses. She was given to her brother’s pack as her punishment. If the evidence clears her, she will be free to choose her own path and marriage. She will not be prescribed to do as her brother requires.
“Should we not have a re-trial and return Miss Bryant to prison?” The judge enquired. The response was an air filled with growls from both Nuka and Scott.
“I believe that we are able to save time and money for the Council by carrying out the trial here. I’m sure nobody could have any objections.” Ethern’s gaze was solely on Nuka when he spoke.
“Very well. I just want to make sure I’m home soon. You pulled me away from dinner with my wife. She’d caught a massive hog today.” The judge rubbed his rotund tummy.
“My apologies, your honour.” Ethern turned to Kas. “Mr Lincoln, the floor is all yours.”
“Thank you.” Kas stepped forward with a confident swagger. Nuka rumbled a warning low in his throat. Where she was still pressed hard up against him, she felt it cascade through her body. “The evidence on which Miss Bryant was convicted is the sword and the resulting fingerprints on it.” Kas motioned towards Jessica who carried a large case. She opened it and revealed the sword. The fingerprints were still on it; Emma could see them glowing eerily fluorescent blue. “What if I were to present evidence of a genetic anomaly that Miss Bryant has which results in her having the same fingerprints as another human being.”
“That is not possible.” The judge slammed his fist down on the table.
“Your honour, many people would say that we are not possible. Humans who shift into a variety of animals. Some of our type would even say that a shifter who can change into more than one animal is not possible, but we have two in the room. As if on cue, Ethern and Selene, in tandem, changed from a snow leopard, to wolf, to lion, to polar bear and finally to a bird. They were proving Kas’ point. A few members of the jury, who had obviously never seen a multi-shifter, gasped and covered their mouths in shock.
“Oh please.” Nuka grumbled.
“You’re just jealous that
you can only be a pathetic little bear, and the little is not referring to your height.” She retorted, Nuka strengthened the grip around Emma’s neck. She coughed, and Scott stepped forward. She pushed into his head and told him she was fine. He retreated back to his observation vantage part and continued to listen to Kas.
“Miss Bryant has the same fingerprints as her mother. Therefore, it is conceivable that Mrs Isabella Bryant could have murdered the victim.”
“Is that your argument to try and clear my bitch of a sister.” Phillip stood up to Kas. The height different was over a foot, and her portly brother looked stupid next to the towering figure of her Alpha. “My mother died the day I was born. She couldn’t have possibly killed my father.”
“I have to agree with Mr Bryant.” The judge spoke up. “It is not possible for dead people to murder someone. Mrs Bryant’s death is documentation in the archives were signed off by her husband himself. He would know if the woman had died. This is a waste of our time. Miss Bryant is guilty.” The judge picked his gavel up and went to hammer it onto the chair next to him to end the case for a second time. She held her breath, but with a subtle flick of his hand, Ethern knocked the gavel away.
“I do believe that Mr Lincoln has not finished yet.”
“I haven’t. Thank you, Mr Lennox.”
“Whatever.” The judge folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes. “Make yourselves look stupid.”
“As Mr Bryant so rightly pointed out, Mrs Isabella Bryant died the night of his birth. It was certified by her husband and thus to all intents and purposes she’s dead. However, something else happened that night. Mrs Isabella Bryant was also reborn.”
“What?” Emma spoke out this time. Her mother was reborn. She was thoroughly confused.
“My apologies, Emma, this must be stressful for you. I will get to my point.” Kas smiled at her, and she nodded back.
“Emma’s father, Isabella’s husband, had found out something about his wife. He found out that nine months previously she had taken their daughter and given her to my pack. There was nothing that Mr Bryant could do to get his daughter back as she refused to leave. Therefore, she was under my protection as that is the governing rule of my pack. He could not take her without starting a war. That was not something he was equipped to win at the time. Instead, he took his anger out on Mrs Bryant. He raped her and she conceived a child, Nicholas. Mr Bryant had planned to kill his wife to make an example of her, but when he discovered she was carrying a child, and a male at that, he allowed her to live. He started rumours of her ill health during the pregnancy, so that when he came to kill her after the boy was born, nobody would be the wiser. There was a problem with this. When he came to kill his wife, she’d already disappeared. He had her declared dead, after a lengthy search. It had been surmised that she had indeed died during the escape as it was so soon after the birth. Mrs Bryant didn’t die, though, and is happily living her life.” Kas sat down happy at the argument he presented.