In response, his body shimmered and shifted into that of a lovely fae woman, dressed in fighting garb: breeches, boots and a loose top tied at the waist. Her platinum blonde hair floated in the air like Liam’s and her light amethyst eyes swirled with a golden power. Her face was grim as she took a step toward Kent, hatred as deep as Liam’s burning in her eyes.
Suddenly a peal of laughter echoed from the trees behind us. “Senora, you pop up in the most extraordinary places.” Angel walked gracefully to stand on my left, apparently ready to join in our defense. He must have suspected Jason’s true identity and followed the weres when he saw Brina leave with them. I was very glad to see him and gave him a quick grin.
“You have no idea.”
Brina glanced at the brick building. “Liam and Garrett are freeing them.” She nodded at me and then glared a challenge at Kent. He and his two remaining weres growled at us, their lips curling back in a snarl. I pulled up more power from the lines and could feel Angel doing the same as he traced a pattern with his left hand.
Bridgett’s knees were buckling and she was becoming a dead weight in my arms. I needed to get her out of the way before the fight started so I pushed her behind us, freeing up my hands. She landed hard on the ground and stayed there, trembling, too weak to shift again or even crawl away.
The door of the building sprang open and Liam led out six fae, shaky and ragged but still alive. They sat on the ground by the building, too weak to walk any farther, but now that they were unchained and away from the iron, they could access their unique magic and heal themselves. Garrett came up the stairs last and using his vamp speed, was instantly at my side, hissing and baring his fangs at Kent. Liam and Garrett were both covered with blood, but looked uninjured. The three wolves in the corridor below were probably not as lucky.
“Bridgett, did you rat us out?” asked one of the weres next to Kent.
“They made me tell them. He was going to kill me.” Still trembling in the dirt she nodded at Liam.
“You should have let him,” snarled her packmate. She looked to her father to defend her, but he turned his head aside, so she curled up on the ground and whimpered. I listened in again to his thoughts and knew immediately what I had to do to save Bridgett. Kent had decided on a plan and I would help him carry it out, because we both wanted her to live. He hadn’t changed to wolf form because he wanted to die as a man, even though he’d be stronger as a wolf. Looking at Liam and Brina, there was no doubt that this would be his last battle.
I forced a message into Kent’s mind. “Make the fae believe you and I’ll make sure she lives and is cared for.” He whipped his head around and met my gaze. I backed up slowly and pulled her to the left forcing a message into her mind. “Run to your father when I tell you to,” I sliced open the ropes binding her hands.
Liam's body flowed like mercury as he moved to stand between my group and Kent’s, his magical blade drawn and his eyes sparkling with flickering golden flames. “You imprisoned and tortured my people for money." He spit on the ground at Kent's feet, drawing growls from the two other wolves."The adult males in your pack will die because of your actions. My people are alive, barely, so we will not harm their families.
"Kent Brownlow, I am Liam, Seelie fae of Cascade, son of Lord Caelen. I will kill you slowly in accordance with our laws. I promise you that Bridgett will die quickly and mercifully.” The words were formal, delivered with a steady voice, but Liam's obvious rage was evidence of his human half. The ground began to shimmer with magical energy. Liam had pulled in enough magic to make my eyes water. Holy shit.
Kent’s eyes locked on mine, pleading with me to live up to my promise. “Run now.” I shoved Bridgett in his direction. She ran to her father, sobbing. He folded her in his arms and closed his eyes, holding her tightly for a tiny moment, almost too short to see. His expression changed suddenly to a snarling rage and he yanked her away, twisting her body to make her look him in the eye.
“You useless piece of shit, I guess those beatings didn’t knock any sense into you. I told you I’d kill you if you didn’t keep your mouth shut, and now we’re all going to die because of you.”
I watched anger flare in her eyes. "Did mom die because you were driving drunk? Is it true? Liam said that's what happened."
"So you're calling the dirty fae by his name, now? Yeah, that's what happened. You should have died with her."
He hauled his hand back and slapped her so hard that she went flying across the clearing, landing on the hard ground and laying there without moving. There was a tear glistening in the corner of Kent's eye.
The sound of howling cut through the woods as eight wolves raced out of the trees surrounding us. Garrett turned to face the two directly behind him: his rage palpable in the magic he’d pulled up. Angel sent a bolt of fire out to meet a third and Brina’s blade made incredibly fast work of another two. I left Liam to deal with Kent and his two bodyguards as I turned to face the remaining three racing toward me. I moved with vampire speed as I slashed with the blade Liam had given me, to bring down the first two. The third managed to get behind me and bite my leg, forcing me down. He let go of my calf when I hit the ground and then leaped toward my neck, probably intending to rip out my throat. Instead, he suddenly stilled and collapsed on the ground next to me, no longer breathing.
I pushed myself into a sitting position. Angel was standing over me, extending his hand. He was grinning and looked as neat and clean as if he’d just stepped out of his house for a day on the town. I was in my usual state of disarray, covered in blood and dirt, my hair splayed out around my face in a matted fright wig.
I took his offered hand and stood, trying my best to brush myself off as I looked down at the chaos below. All the weres were dead except for Kent. Liam had him on the ground, shirtless, with the tip of his blade burning deep bloody patterns on his arms and chest. Liam was speaking in another language as Kent moaned and screamed, obviously in excruciating pain from whatever mental and physical games Liam was playing. I remembered what Kennet had done to Ethan’s mind and what Garrett had said the fae were capable of, even Liam. I shuddered and turned away to find Bridgett.
She was shaking her head and trying to sit up, so I raced over to her and crouched down to block her view of her father’s torture. Kent’s anguished screams were impossible to ignore so she looked in that direction, terrified for her father.
“Dad!” She tried to get up but I held her down. “Let go of me.” She struck out at me, smacking me across the face and splitting my lip. “I need to go to him.”
I spoke in a hoarse whisper. “He knocked you unconscious to save your life.”
She looked at me in disbelief. “He never hit me before."
“If you go to him now, you’ll die. He wants you to live, that's why he hit you, so just keep your mouth shut and lie back down.”
She collapsed to the ground and sobbed, covering her ears to keep from hearing his screams. I held her because there was really nothing else I could do for her. What Kent had done to those fae was beyond forgiveness. They’d been tortured for months, living in an underground cell, the touch of the iron burning through their skin down to the bone. I rocked her smaller body back and forth as I held her . When Liam began peeling Kent's skin where he’d woven his magical patterns, I pushed her face against my shoulder so she couldn’t see. Soon after, Kent took his last breath and the screaming stopped. Tears were running down my cheeks, not for Kent or even for Bridgett, but for Liam who would suffer terribly for what he’d done today.
I heard footsteps. Garrett, Liam and Brina were walking toward us, all of them splattered with a good amount of blood and gore. I laid Bridgett back on the ground and stood in front of her. I'd meet Liam's eyes when he delivered his message, and then we'd see.
Liam came directly to me. “Bridgett has to die. It will be fast, a clean death. I can have Brina do it if you'd rather I didn't.”
“Bridgett was forced to help her father. The pack would have kil
led her.” So much depended on me convincing him, but I knew by his expression that his heart was closed up tight.
He managed a half smile, which only worried me more because there was no warmth in his eyes. “Her father tried to make it seem that way, but it doesn’t matter, Jacqueline. She is considered an adult. She knew that my people were suffering and she told no one.”
“Liam, please listen to me.”
“You cannot save her. Step away.”
I looked at Garrett. He shook his head sadly and held out his arms to me. He was being practical, thinking about the alliance and his friendship with Liam. More than anything, I wanted to walk into his embrace and feel him wrap his strong arms around me and make me forget that this day had ever happened.
Instead, I turned back to Bridgett who was still sobbing on the ground. Like the vampires Garrett had taken as his nest, this girl deserved a chance. I crouched down again to hold her as Garrett’s concern washed over me. I stroked her hair and rubbed her back and sent to them all simultaneously, “She’s mine. You can’t take her.” I’d told her that I'd do all that I could to save her life. I wasn’t prepared to die for her, but I wouldn’t hand her over to be executed either. There had to be some compromise, some middle ground.
Garrett left Liam’s side and stood beside me, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing it. Liam took a step toward Bridgett, so I clutched her more tightly against me. The tension between the four of us was extreme. This could go very badly.
Brina stepped up quickly and said, “Liam, the girl is the sister of your father’s ally.” He turned and glared at her. "Perhaps we can leave it up to our people who were held prisoner.” They continued to speak for another minute in Fae, their conversation seeming to become more heated as it went on. Brina turned in a huff to walk back toward the building where the rescued fae sat to rest. Liam and I locked eyes, his expression an ice storm of anger and hurt. He turned away and reluctantly followed Brina back down the hill to the freed prisoners.
Garrett crouched next to me and kissed my cheek. ”I’ll support your decision, my love, even if it means the end of our alliance with the fae. But I won’t allow you to sacrifice your life to save hers. I will protect you and let her die.” He stood again and moved in front of Bridgett and myself, standing ready. He was willing to stand against Liam and possibly even Lord Caelen for my sake: two people that he loved and respected. He would break his hard won alliance. I swallowed down a sob as I contemplated his sacrifice. I hoped with all my heart that I was making the right choice by protecting Bridgett.
I looked around for Angel and saw him leaning against the Saab, far away from the action. Apparently, he wasn’t interested in taking sides. My throbbing calf distracted me enough to glance at it. Blood was seeping through the rip in my jeans where the wolf had bitten me, so I concentrated and sent a little healing magic into the wound, closing it up as the pain dissolved away. I wished, not for the first time, that emotional pain could be healed so easily.
Liam, Brina and another fae female walked back toward me. I stood up and moved next to Garrett. I took a deep breath of his comforting scent as I put my hand in his for support and he twined his fingers through mine.
The unfamiliar fae was shaky on her feet, but still she nodded her head at me and I nodded back. “I am Ashlyn, daughter of Lord Howett and Lady Dinestri. I have been a prisoner of the wolves for six cycles of the moon. This one,” she pointed to Bridgett, “brought us food and water and sometimes stayed with us to talk. She was not cruel as the males were. I don’t believe she knew of the true effects of the chains or the lack of sunshine. The other prisoners and I have discussed her fate and agree to allow her to live, as long as she serves the fae in some way to make up for what she has done. You, Jacqueline, must guarantee that she will perform the services that we require of her.”
“What do you have in mind for her? She’s only a young girl.”
“She is seventeen, an adult.” Brina answered. “We will ask nothing of her that would be beyond her abilities.”
“Will I be able to negotiate on her behalf?”
Ashlyn smiled at me. “You and Liam have saved our lives today. You will of course be allowed to negotiate with my mother, Lady Dinestri, regarding her years of service.”
“Years?”
“We will accept two mortal years. It is nothing compared to what we’ve suffered.” I couldn’t really argue with her. “We will give her time to recover from the death of her father and her pack, and then Lady Dinestri will contact you regarding her service.” She nodded and walked with great dignity back to the others still seated by the building, already looking healthier. When she rejoined the rest they all disappeared into the ley lines, heading back to Faerie and their families.
I looked at Liam and was shocked to see a stranger staring at me. He was furious because I hadn't agreed to her death. From the cold way he was looking at me, I guessed our friendship was probably over. Tears welled up in my eyes but I bit my lip to hold them back.
“Do you agree to these terms, Jacqueline Crawford?” Liam’s voice held no emotion.
“Yes, I agree.” I could barely whisper the words out.
“Bring her here to me.”
I went back to Bridgett who was still sitting on the ground and grabbed her arm, pulling her up and leading her to stand before Liam. She trembled, as tears streaked through the dirt on her face.
“Bridgett Brownlow, the fae prisoners you tortured have agreed to be merciful and spare your life. However, as punishment for your part in their imprisonment, you will pledge your service to the fae of Cascade for a period of two mortal years. Jacqueline Crawford, your sister, and now sponsor, will also be held responsible. If you renege on your pledge of service, or if any of your future actions are injurious to any fae, you will be executed. There will be no trial. Do you agree to this?”
“Yes.” She nodded and then sank against me. Garrett reached out quickly to help me hold her upright.
Liam nodded toward me and then Garrett, turning away immediately and disappearing. “Thank you.” I sent to him but I was already too late.
I leaned against my vampire and breathed in his wonderful scent as he rubbed my back. There was a pain in my heart that seemed to be growing with each passing minute. “I need to go home.”
He held me in his arms for too brief a moment and then whispered, “I need to make a call to Aaron to send over a few wolves to clean up the mess. Why don’t you take Bridgett to the car?” I nodded and snatched her hand and led her up the hill. She walked like a zombie all the way to the back door of the Saab but then she spun around at the last moment. For the first time she saw the devastation: including her father’s bloody body lying in the middle of the clearing. Her hand went up to her mouth and she ran to the side of the road and heaved. I watched her, too numb to make an effort to help. Instead, I leaned against the car next to Angel.
“Senora, I would adore the chance to fight by your side once again. Your magic is devastating.” A light wash of power brushed my body with a pleasant sensation. He smelled like caramel and I love caramel. I turned and looked at his handsome face and watched him lick his lips. Subtle he wasn’t. Why couldn’t he smell like skunk cabbage?
“Angel, thank you for your help during the fight with the wolves. I’ll tell Garrett that you’d like to help us in the future.” I walked over to grab Bridgett who seemed to have stopped retching into the bushes and pushed her into the back seat of the car. “Do you need a ride somewhere?” I asked Angel.
“Thank you, but that is not necessary.” He waved his hand and poof he was gone, leaving the delicious smell of caramel in the air. Another supernatural showoff.
I pulled out my cell phone and called Maya. After giving her a shortened version of what happened, I walked away from the car and said, “Maya, I’m stressed beyond my limits. I have three vampires moving into my house tonight. Could you please take Bridgett home with you? I don’t want her to be freaked out by the vam
ps and I really need a break from her right now. I know that sounds harsh, since she’s just lost her father and her whole life has fallen apart. But I can’t deal with her on top of everything else.” Of course, what I was thinking about was losing Liam’s friendship. Just that one simple thought brought stabbing pains to my chest. I wanted to crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep in the worst way. I couldn’t do that with Bridgett clinging to me.
“I’ll meet you at your house. I’ll keep her with me for as long as you like. I can’t wait to meet another cheetah.” That was Maya's inner scientist talking.
"I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
“You and Garrett just saved six lives, killed some powerful wolves and have to deal with his nest moving into your house. You have enough on your plate.” She sounded like her usual professional self, cool and matter of fact. I couldn’t tell her about Liam. I didn’t think I’d be able to talk to anyone about how I was feeling. Garrett might not even understand.
Sliding into the front passenger seat, I noticed that Bridgett was still crying quietly in the back. I turned around and said, “Bridgett, you’re going to sleep at Maya’s house. She’s a great lady, a cheetah shifter like us. She’s taught me a lot about how to use my powers. She can help you too.”
“You’re passing me off to someone else? That’s fucked up.” My eyes widened in complete shock. She actually had the nerve to be pissed at me. I just saved her freakin’ life by sticking my neck out for her and she was giving me a hard time?
I got out of the front passenger seat and slid in next to her. “You are going to listen to me Bridgett or else I’m going to leave you here in the woods and drive away. I'm sorry about your dad and I’m sorry that you had to witness what happened to him. But because of you, I’ve lost one of my closest friends. He wanted you to die and I stood up for you. I exchanged your life for our friendship. So now, Bridgett, I kind of own you. You will do what I tell you to do until these two years with the fae are up. Then you can go and do whatever the fuck you want.” At this point she’d lost the pouty frown and was looking a little shocked by my anger.
Stalked (Rogues Shifter #2) Page 18