by Anna Santos
“Do you?” He hugged me tighter.
I nodded, a smile tugging at my lips. Then, I said the words that I had always feared and longed to say. “I love you. More and more each day.”
Jacob pressed his forehead against mine. “I’m happy.” His body quivered under my hands. “You have no idea… My heart is beating like mad.”
I kissed his cheeks, the tip of his nose, his closed eyelids, and finished with a soft kiss on his lips. He relaxed, and I redirected his attention to the pressing matter.
“Now, about my phone? What should we do about it?”
He opened his mesmerizing eyes and smiled at me. “Are you ready to be the bait?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to stop Simon and save my brother.”
I meant every single word that I was saying because I couldn’t feel more relieved about the severed bond I had with that lunatic which allowed me to find my true mate—the man of my dreams—Jacob.
Late in the night, I was still feeling sick to my stomach when we met up with the prince. I wasn’t the only one disgusted by what we found out in the meeting. All the Alphas were outraged and demanded a plan to put a stop to Alpha Simon’s madness.
Before joining the others for a meal, Jacob reported to Cedric in the palace’s library.
“Are you sure?” Cedric asked while frowning.
“We have witnesses. Pack members who hid and witnessed the carnage.”
“But eating them…that’s just mad. Of course, there are reports of werewolves attacking humans and feeding on them but not of werewolves eating their own kind. This cannibalistic behavior is disgusting and must be stopped.” The prince’s jaw tensed as he fisted his hand over the desk.
“They force the werewolf fighters to kill and feed on one of their former pack members. They kill the weaker ones like females and elders. They also hunt and kill the fighters who don’t accept Simon as their new Alpha. Then, in their wolf form, they need to feast on the remains of the victims,” Jacob further elaborated.
The image of what was described made me sicker than I already was. I covered my mouth and lingered to what little hope I had. Maybe Thierry was still alive, and Simon hadn’t killed and fed him to his wolves.
Jacob placed his hand over mine which were clutching the chair.
“What do they need from us?” the prince asked Jacob.
“They aren’t sure where Simon’s pack is hiding. I told them that I would ask your permission to send a few angels to join their tracking team. They can use air support. They also need gear like firearms, assault rifles, and bulletproof vests. The enemy is carrying guns. We need to be prepared. Our private security company has all the necessary gear. I just need your permission.”
“Whatever they need,” the prince agreed. His eyes shifted to me, but he didn’t say anything. “What was the other matter you wanted to talk to me about, Jacob?”
Jacob moved uncomfortably in his seat. “Camille wants to turn her phone on to find where Simon is hiding. He may have tried to contact her.”
Cedric pursed his lips as he leaned forward with folded hands. “She wants to be the bait.”
I gazed down at my feet while taking a deep breath.
“It’s too dangerous. He can kill you,” the prince added.
I gazed up at him and blurted out, “I need to know what happened to my brother. The other packs are in danger, and he’s killing innocent people. He needs to be stopped.”
“I agree,” Cedric said nonchalantly. He got up from his chair. “Let’s go eat, and then we’ll teleport to our secure facilities in Paris where you can turn on your phone.”
My heart almost came out of my mouth when I stood up. “Thank you!”
Cedric’s voice was serious when he said, “Just be aware that if you die while you are bonded to Jacob, he’ll also disappear. Forever.”
My head snapped to Jacob. My eyes were wide and my throat went dry as fear washed over me. I didn’t know that.
Chapter Ten—Strategies
I don’t think I have ever cried so much. Not even when Simon rejected me. It was also a different kind of cry. My pain was because what happened to Thierry was my fault. I felt helpless, outraged, and angry. I wanted Simon to pay for what he did to me, my brother, my pack, and everybody else he did wrong to.
When we arrived at the private security facility, an office building with a glass facade in Paris, Cedric took us to the Computer Lab. There, he asked one of his IT guys to plug my phone in and access all the data. That was when we read and listened to the deranged messages Simon had texted me and left on my voicemail. It was also when we discovered the video messages he had sent me. What we witnessed in those video messages was disturbing and heartbreaking. From one video to another, the level of violence escalated. Simon began by beating Thierry. Not to know my whereabouts. He did it for fun. Then, he began torturing my brother only so that I could watch it if I ever turned on my phone. He went from removing his nails to cutting his fingers and electrocuting my brother until he was unconscious. Only to wake him up with cold water, so he could start all over again.
By the third video, Jacob removed me from the room and took me away from there. We stood in an empty office while I shook and cried in his arms. Minutes later, the prince joined us to announce that they had watched all the videos and, they had no luck, despite their best effort to find a clue that would help locate my brother.
It was my turn to pick up my phone and call Simon. I had no idea if he was going to answer me or not. I didn’t know if he still had the insane idea that I belonged to him. However, I was going to call him and demand to talk to my brother to confirm if he was still living or not. The angels were going to use his phone number to track his location. There was just one small problem. Simon’s phone was turned off. But, we managed to find out where he was when the phone was last turned on: Annecy, one of the biggest cities of Haute-Savoie, a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the southeastern part of France.
After leaving Simon a message on his voicemail, I returned home with Jacob and cried in his arms again until I fell asleep from exhaustion.
I woke up the next morning to the sound of the phone ringing. I searched for the device and answered it. “Yes?”
“Did you watch them?” The voice on the other side was sadistic and amused.
I woke up instantly and sat up as I gulped with shivers running down my spine. “Simon?”
“Alpha Simon to you!” he growled.
My hand grabbed the phone tighter. I looked at my right side and noticed that the bed was empty. Jacob wasn’t there. The sun shone outside, and I must have overslept.
“Aren’t you going to say anything, Cami?” he teased.
“I want to talk to my brother.”
“You are going to listen really carefully to what I’m about to tell you. You are going to stop hiding with the angels and come back home. Then, you can see your brother.”
I clenched my teeth and narrowed my eyes. “No!” I turned off the phone.
With my heart threatening to leap out from my chest, I ran down the corridor with the phone still in my hand. “Jacob! Jacob!”
By the time I arrived at the stairs, Jacob was climbing up, his face showing how worried he was because of my shouting.
“He called me,” I explained when he stopped in front of me.
His hands cupped my face and forced me to calm down. “What is going on?”
“Simon called me.”
“What did he want?”
“I hung up!” I blurted out, not answering his question. “I was angry. He thinks he can boss me around. I hung up on him without letting him talk any further.”
When I finished talking, the phone rang again. It was Simon. I'd hoped he would call again, but it was a huge gamble.
“Yes?” I asked in the softest and calmest way I could, only to detach the phone from my ear while Simon kept shouting and calling me the ugliest names.
Jacob frowned at me with
questioning eyes and clenched teeth. He listened to the name calling but didn't say a word, so Simon didn't know he was next to me.
Stroking Jacob's chest, I tried to calm him down. Then, I breathed deeply and, once Simon shut up, I talked again. “Are you done? Can we talk now?”
The next five minutes were excruciating. I had to pretend to be calm and manipulate Simon into doing what I wanted, even if he thought I was falling for his blackmailing speech. I hoped they could track Simon's whereabouts if I managed to keep him talking longer, even if he mostly cursed and talked nonsense.
“If I don’t have proof that my brother is alive, then it’s pointless to keep talking to you,” I explained. With that said, I turned off the phone and collapsed on the floor.
Jacob sat next to me and, while the phone dropped to the floor, he reached out and comforted me.
Simon didn’t call again. For an hour, I was left to think that he would never call back. Until I received a video message called ‘proof of life’. It was a video of Simon grabbing Thierry's hair and snapping his head back to show his bruised face to the camera. Afterwards, I received a message that stated, ‘Come tomorrow morning, alone, to the coordinates below or Thierry will die a slow and painful death.’
By then, Jacob was by my side in the kitchen, trying to make me eat.
“I’ll call Michel, so he can pinpoint the place the coordinates lead to. Can you drive?”
I nodded.
“We are going to find you a car. We will put a tracking device on you and in the car, place hidden cameras in the car, and assemble a strike team to attack the place where he keeps the prisoners and where he wants to take you.”
I nodded again as my stomach flipped with nerves. “I don’t think this is going to be this easy. Simon doesn’t trust me. This could be a trap.”
Jacob held my hands. “We are going to find out where he wants you to meet him. Then, I’m going to call Alpha Jerome to gather the other pack leaders. Alpha Simon isn’t bringing your brother to you. He will take you to the place where he’s hiding him. As soon as we have the location, we will attack, and you just have to teleport out of there. Or you will teleport out of there if he tries something. If he touches you…Do you understand?” His voice trembled.
My heart fluttered inside my chest because I knew that he worried about what my former mate could do to me. I was well aware of the risks. “He turned on his phone to talk to me. The prince said that they would monitor all calls made to my phone. We can track him down and discover where he’s hiding.”
“Let’s hope he was dumb enough to make things easier for us so that you don’t need to serve as bait.”
“I’ve been thinking, that he didn’t say anything about my parents. He only mentioned Thierry. Why didn’t he use them as leverage?”
“Maybe he doesn’t have them.”
“Maybe they are dead,” I mumbled and held my hands against my chest.
“Camille, please eat something, so we can leave.”
I puckered my lips with sadness. My throat was dry as paper, and I wasn’t hungry. But, to please Jacob, I drank my coffee and bit into my toast.
The gatherings for dinner used to be a joyful event for me. But, in the past two days, the happiness around the banquet tables and all the music that was played couldn’t cheer me up. I was afraid for my life and for Jacob’s existence. Nonetheless, I wasn’t going to be constantly voicing my fears. Thus, I shrunk into my seat and let Jacob have his fun with his friends. I watched how Cedric teased him, as any good friend would do. I watched how Jacob went to get Cedric’s guitar and convinced him to play them a song.
The prince had a beautiful voice: raspy, deep, and sexy. He also knew how to play the guitar like a professional and liked to play rock songs with a mix of pop music and post-grunge. So, it wasn’t a surprise when he sang Nickelback and Creed’s songs.
Nobody seemed to be in a hurry to patrol since they were all having fun after dinner. I walked to the balcony and looked at the dark sky and the portal opening to Paris. I could see the river from where I was. I wondered how it would feel to fly through that opening and cruise the skies of Paris.
“Is everything okay?”
I looked back and saw the prince behind me. “Everything is fine, your grace,” I said with a smile as I straightened up. I had my shoulder resting against one of the several columns on the balcony.
“Are you worried about tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“I wished I could join you sooner, but as soon as the sun goes down, angels will teleport us to wherever Simon takes you, and we’ll save you, Camille. I won’t let anything happen to you.” The prince put his hand on my shoulder. “Jacob and you deserve to be happy.”
“Who is taking care of the innocents in Paris when you are here having fun?” I asked to change the subject.
Cedric’s lips curled into a smile. “Angels are patrolling. And, we have an alarm sound if there’s something that needs our immediate attention. Like a glowing light in need of help running around the city.”
I frowned. “How did you know I needed help? When I first arrived at the city, I was underground.”
“We have patrols on the ground and the underground. Gargoyles also have good hearing, better than angels.”
I backed up against the column and folded my arms. “Why do you look sadder than the rest of them?”
The prince tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Jacob told me that gargoyles don’t feel like humans or angels do. However, you seem to act differently.”
“I’m older than the rest of them. As we get older, we become…lonelier.”
“Do you want to find your mate?” I asked.
“I do, but there isn’t really anything I can do about it. Plus, being a prince is an additional responsibility. I need to marry to have an heir. There are also a lot of gargoyles and angels under my protection. Every time we have a mated couple, we risk losing one of ours.”
“You are worried about Jacob.”
“I am. But, he made his decision, and he’s in love with you. I just hope that you don’t break his heart. I would rather have Jacob in one piece than gone.”
“What are you trying to tell me?” I unfolded my arms and shifted the weight of my body.
“Let him go if you aren’t sure that you love him with all your heart. Let him have an opportunity to find a new mate if you feel that you aren’t strong enough to break your bond with your former mate.”
The prince was blunt. I balled my hands into fists. “The angels have matched us for a reason. I’m not playing with Jacob’s emotions. We are in love.”
“Good. Even if they believe that catching Simon alive is an option, the only reasonable thing to do is kill him before he can kill anyone else. Jacob may hesitate because of you, Camille. Don’t make him choose. If you want Jacob to survive the trial, you need to be sure that you choose him over Simon.”
Cedric towered over me with his limpid blue eyes and angelic face. His words resonated inside my soul and tangled around my heart. Though the prince might seem intimidating, I knew he wasn’t trying to scare me. He was just trying to protect his friend.
“Is everything okay?”
I looked past Cedric and saw Jacob.
The prince stepped back and turned to my mate. “We were just talking about tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll play another song before sending the guys on patrol. That will be enough fun for today. I hope you get a good night’s sleep because you need to keep your strength for tomorrow.” He looked at me. “Good evening, Camille. Don’t be scared about tomorrow. We will have your back. You are one of us now.”
“Good evening, your majesty,” I mumbled and watched him leave.
Jacob’s fingers brushed my chin as he got closer.
I grinned at him, my heart fluttering faster because of how his eyes were shining with love. I always melted when he looked at me like that.
His voice was soft and caring when he asked, “
Is everything really okay?”
“Cedric is worried about us, about you in particular. He doesn’t want you to die.”
“We aren’t going to die. Are you having second thoughts about this?”
“I’m scared. I’m not going to lie. But, we need to stop Simon.”
Jacob’s lips touched mine, and I laced my arms around his neck. “I have a special place that I want to show you tonight.”
“Jacob.” My fingers fiddled with the collar of his blue sweatshirt. I nibbled my lip as I tried to find the right words. His thumb brushed my lower lip, and I looked up at him. “If it comes down to a fight between you and Simon, don’t hesitate to kill him.”
The words left my mouth without a lot of effort even though my heart raced and my hands trembled.
Cedric’s voice filled the space as he sang another sad rock song. Nostalgia weaved its way into my soul as Jacob’s arms reached down, and he brought my body against his.
I swallowed my tears and talked against his ear. “I don’t want you to die. You do whatever you need to do to save me, save my brother, and make this world a safer place.”
His hands pressed harder against my ribs, but he didn’t say anything.
“Promise me, Jacob.”
“I’ll do everything it takes to bring you back safe.”
“And I’ll do anything to come back to you.”
Tears fell from my eyes as the words sung by Cedric touched the depth of my heart and made me realize that I didn’t want to let go of what I had. I had found a new family and someone to love with all my heart and soul. I had new friends and a bright, happy life ahead of me. I would do whatever it took to keep it.
Later in the night, after our stroll in the woods, Jacob took me to a special place under the palace, deeper than the catacombs and sacred to every one of the gargoyles and angels.
“For more than thirty years, I've been living an endless night until I found you, and you brought back the sun and the possibility of being free from my curse and having an eternal soul,” Jacob spoke softly, caressing my face and hair and gazing at me as if I were the most precious thing in the world. “I'll dedicate the rest of my life to you. These thirty days under the sun if we only have that. But, until my very last breath, I'll protect and care for you.”