by Sarah Marsh
“Molly brought you some new clothes, love. I laid them out on the bed for you,” he said as he walked up and kissed her. “We need to go in forty minutes. I intend to leave as little a time gap as possible between our arrival and our appointment time for things to go wrong.”
“Okay, no problem,” she answered, trying to sound a lot braver than she was feeling.
“Molly has breakfast ready for us downstairs,” Viktor said before he took her hand. “I know you’re worried, Halle, but it will be okay. In a few hours, we’ll be back here and we can start planning our life together.”
“I know, I’ve just never had this much to lose before, and it’s scaring the hell out of me.” She stepped into his arms and snuggled close.
“I have no intention of losing you, now that I’ve found you, Halle. The universe couldn’t be so cruel.”
Halle just stood there in his arms, soaking up the warmth. She hoped that the universe wasn’t going to screw them over this morning. She hoped that she’d done enough to ensure Conrad wouldn’t get his way. But then again, she knew from experience that the world wasn’t a fair place.
She could barely eat as they sat at the table downstairs. She knew that Viktor had to be just as worried as she was when she saw Molly and Gerald join them for breakfast. In the week that she’d been there, not once had the other couple sat and eaten with them. When breakfast was over, Molly gathered her into a tight hug.
“I wish that we could go with you, love, but here, let me send a little bit of me own protection with ya,” the small woman said, as she placed an old amulet around Halle’s neck. Halle could feel the wild magic in it, and it sent a shiver through her.
Brownies were technically categorized as under-fae and had a magic that was much different from that of shifters and vampires. It was raw and wild, and they could manipulate it in many different ways. You never wanted to offend any of the under-fae species as they could become quite unpredictable and aggressive. But they were also fiercely protective once they’d taken a liking to you, and Halle felt blessed to have won over the sweet female.
“You both take care now. We’ll be making you a grand dinner tonight to celebrate your official mating. We will be seeing you soon,” Gerald added with a confident nod, as he put his arm around his wife’s small shoulders.
“Thank you, Gerald. That makes me feel better,” Viktor said, as he took Halle’s hand and led her out to the car.
“What was that all about?” Halle asked as they pulled out of the drive.
“Gerald’s great-grandmother was a full fae noblewoman. He has the gift of foresight passed down from her. He doesn’t see things all the time, but he has saved my ass on more than one occasion over the years. Although, brownies are a tricky lot, so hopefully that wasn’t just him trying to make us feel better about us driving off to our impending doom,” he said with a small smile.
“They’ve been with you a long time, haven’t they?”
“Over sixty years now. Molly’s family has worked for me for three generations, and brownies can live to be hundreds of years old. They’re the closest thing to family I’ve had since I was turned.”
“Well I hope they’re right about dinner then,” Halle said, as she took his hand in hers and wrapped the other around the necklace Molly had given her.
Chapter Nineteen
They were about two blocks from the Council Building, waiting for a red light to change when suddenly Halle’s hackles rose. She had two seconds to look towards Viktor before the driver’s door was ripped right off its hinges, and two huge grey, unnatural arms reached inside and grabbed her mate, dragging him away.
“Halle!”
“Viktor!” she screamed his name at the same time he did hers. She reached for him, but the door on her side opened up as well and she glanced at the smirking vamp as her fangs slid down with a growl.
“Now, now, pretty kitty.” The stranger pointed a gun at her as he slowly took a step back. “Conrad doesn’t want you hurt, but I’ll shoot you if you come at me.”
“What do you want? Where is Viktor?” She glanced around her, but couldn’t see her mate or the grey monster that had pulled him out of the car.
“Viktor is busy right now, trying not to lose his head to an ogre, I imagine.”
“I’ll kill you.” Her heart almost stopped when she thought about something happening to Viktor. “I swear I will.”
“Making sure that no one gets killed to today is up to you. You’ve got that part right, Halle.” His face was no longer smiling. “We have more than just Viktor, as I have no doubt that eventually, he’ll get away from that beast—he always does. But I’m afraid Tavin won’t be so lucky. Conrad has your brother, and if you don’t come with me and do what he says, your brother will lose his life today.”
She couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be true. She was so fucking close to being happy—why couldn’t fate just leave them be?
“Why should I just believe that you have my brother?”
The vamp dialed his phone and held it up for her as it rang until finally it connected and Conrad’s cruel face filled the screen.
“Do you have her, Joe? Ah, sweet Halle, so good to see your beautiful face once again.” The asshole had the nerve to smile at her, like they were old friends. “Such an angry look, however, I’m assuming that means you didn’t offer to come willingly? Here … let your brother convince you otherwise.”
He stepped back, and she cried out to see her strong, big brother, strapped to a chair and bleeding from too many places to count. One of the skanky vampire bitches was leisurely lapping at the blood dripping from a cut right below his collarbone.
“Don’t go with him, Halle! Stay away from this bastard! Find Krescech!”
But her brother's words were cut off by his own scream as the woman sank her teeth deep into his neck.
“Stop!” she screamed. “Stop it! What do you want?”
“Just what was promised to me is all, my dear,” Conrad answered calmly. “Let Joe bring you to me and you fulfill your mating agreement with me in front of the Council, and your darling brother will be sent back to your pard safe and sound. You have my word on that.”
“The word of a sociopath? Even if I agreed, Conrad, it's too late,” she sobbed. “I found my true mate, and we’ve marked each other. I am already mated.”
She waited for the other shoe to drop, for the horrible consequences of her telling Conrad the truth, but he just laughed instead.
“Silly girl, you think I care if you are already mated?” he sneered. “Your genes will ensure me an heir regardless of if you are my mate or not, which is all that I require from you. Taking you away from that irritating bastard Krescech is simply a lovely bonus to make my day even brighter than it already is.”
Halle’s heart raced as she hoped against hope that Viktor would suddenly appear and save her. Her mind tried to come up with a plan, but there was nothing she could think of besides going along with this monster to save her brother.
“Don’t think too long, dear—your brother doesn’t have that much blood left in him to give…”
“Fine!” She broke when Tavin’s groan sounded out from behind Conrad. “I’ll go with him and do what you want. But you’d better keep your bargain, Dair, or so help me, I will find a way to end you.”
“As soon as our mating paperwork is signed, your brother will be released.”
Halle took one more look around them, hoping to catch a glimpse of Viktor before she slid into the car with Joe. She said a prayer to the Goddess that he was all right. She didn’t know anything about ogres, but anything that could have surprised her mate and taken off with him like that had to be a frightening opponent. Silent tears ran down her cheeks. It had only taken minutes for her entire world to implode, her dreams of happiness plowed over by some megalomaniac’s master plan. She knew for a certainty that she would never allow Conrad to bring a child of hers into his sick care. Once Tavin was safe back with the pard, Halle wou
ld do whatever it took to make sure that never happened. She was the only female in the family line of childbearing age, so his plan would end with her, freeing the rest of her family from his debt. If death was the only way to flee him, then she would have to be brave enough.
****
“I will kill you for this, beast!” Viktor raged as he tried to break free of the ogre’s hold. The male had grabbed him and the next thing he knew, they were suddenly running through the woods. Viktor had desperately tried to subdue him and get back to his mate, but the thing’s arms were like an ungiving vise that he could not escape.
“I have no quarrel with you, vampire,” the deep, echoing voice answered back.
“No quarrel?” Viktor’s voice was high in disbelief. “You just took me away so I cannot protect my mate from a madman who wishes to mate and enslave her against her will!”
“I simply collected what I was told, I have not harmed you,” he answered almost nonchalantly. “I made a bargain with Dair to get my cousin out of his debt. I am to hold you for thirty minutes, no less, no more.”
“Where are we? How did we get here?”
“We traced, of course,” The beast looked at him like Viktor was slow, but he’d never heard of an ogre having the ability to trace before. There was more to this one than brute strength, so he needed to be cautious.
“I didn’t realize that ogres could travel that way.”
“They can’t.” The large, dark eyes stared back at him, unblinking.
“But, you just did,” Viktor screamed in frustration. This creature had to be being deliberately obtuse, and he didn’t have time for such games. He needed to get back to his mate.
Viktor didn’t want to think about what Halle must be going through right now. She must be terrified. He tried to break free of the beast once again, thrashing and biting at every exposed inch of skin.
“You are quite persistent—and wiggly, but you cannot harm me. You will only harm yourself if you insist on this.” The coal black eyes peered down at him. “Dair said he would not harm the girl, that she was contracted to him through her family. He said that you had stolen her and held her against her will.”
“Conrad is a lying bastard! Halle and I are true mates, and we were on our way to the council to register our mating officially. All he wants is an heir from her, and he would take what she is unwilling to give.”
It was odd to watch the words he’d just spoken seem to sink into the mind of the huge grey beast, and when his overly large brow began to furrow in anger, hope began to blossom in Viktor’s chest.
“He would force her?” The deep voice was surprisingly gentle. “I don’t abide by that at all.”
“Will you help me get her back then? Do you know where he’s taken her? I can pay you anything you want.”
Viktor wasn’t one to normally ask for help from others, but things were different now. He had Halle to protect and he would do anything to make that happen.
“I try not to get involved in things in the outside world,” the large beast sighed.
“Well, then you should have left me alone to protect my mate.”
“…and that is exactly why I try to keep to myself. Why don’t people just leave me alone?” His big stone, grey shoulders slumped in defeat, and Viktor almost yelped as he was released and he fell to the ground, “I will show you where Conrad is, and then I’m going home—where other people aren’t.”
With those final words, the huge ogre put his meaty paw on Viktor’s shoulder and then suddenly, everything went black.
Chapter Twenty
“What the hell is going on, Dori? Halle’s been taken by that awful man!” her mother screeched behind her, scaring the bejesus right out of her.
“Son of bitch, Mom! Don’t sneak up on me like that or I’m gonna make you wear a bell!”
“Aren’t you going to do something to rescue her?”
Her mother’s hands were now flailing all over the damned place, and of course, she could see how there might be some concern for the little leopard’s welfare—if you didn’t have the inside track like Dori did. She’d put all the players in motion after all. Conrad would have never been able to get Barrett out of his ogre hidey-hole if not for her, and without this little deviation from the plan, there would have been no Happy Ending for Halle’s adorable big brother, Tavin. Which of course she couldn’t have. Super-hot leopard shifters did not get sucked dry and ganked by a group of douchey vamps on Dori’s watch, no siree.
“Relax, Mom, you’ve got to have a little more faith than that.” She began the countdown to when the cavalry would arrive, “…and three, two, one. Bam! View crystal switch to channel two, Viktor.”
When the swirling mist cleared from the crystal, it showed a well-manicured back yard in what appeared to be any random neighborhood, but then suddenly, two beings were there, standing beside the shrubbery, one very large, grey mass of muscles and one very angry, handsome vampire.
“Hey, isn’t that your mechanic?” Her mom’s face scrunched up and took a closer look before Dori tried to shove her away.
“What? Nah, that’s just some rando ogre, never seen him before.” She avoided her mom’s lie detecting eye-contact. “Now shh, this is where it all comes together.”
“Oh!” Her mom’s excited whisper was almost right next to her ear, crowding her. “Is this where Viktor rescues Halle again from the bad guys?”
“Nah, Conrad left about seven minutes ago with her, they’re en route to the Council Building to get the mating papers signed.”
“What!”
Her dear old mom’s shrill scream totally scattered the crystal’s magic, and it went dark right before Viktor was about to break down the back door to the house.
“Thanks a lot, Ma.” She sighed and threw her hands up. “Now I’m going to have to do it old school and go monitor this in person!”
Dori sighed loudly and turned to attempt to stuff her laptop back into her bag without crushing all her other super important stuff, like the Cheetos and chocolate almond Pocky sticks.
“This is precisely the kind of hitch that sends all those inferior Fairy Godmother's crying into their cotton candy milkshakes. I've planned everything right down to the minutiae. Just because I didn't give my clients the heads up on how things were going to unfold, doesn't mean I'm not prepared for it,” she muttered as she turned back to give the crystal ball a flick with her fingers to see if she could get the signal back.
“But why couldn't you tell them? Halle must be freaking out!” Her mom’s voice surprised her.
“Oh, you're still here. I thought I was just talking to myself.”
Her mom's eyes narrowed and then her arms came up to cross over her chest, and Dori knew she'd screwed up.
“I'm sorry!” she yelped.
“Too late, I'm emailing your therapist for her to put this on your 'we're working on it' list.” Her mother's smug smile had Dori groaning in anticipated emotional pain.
“Ah, Mom, that means she's going to make me go out and 'interact' with other people in public so that I learn to pay attention when other people are in the room.” She purposely air-quoted the word interact, as she was anticipating utter failure. “She'll probably make us go to the Stop ‘N’ Shop and say yes to all those little old ladies trying to peddle their free samples. Who wants free samples of yogurt? No one! That's who! You know I don't trust strangers … or grocery stores. You always end up buying more than you actually need, and how are you supposed to trust that you really wanted to try the spicy Kraft Dinner, or if you only got sucked into buying it because it had a cool display beside the Doritos? They are manipulating us at every turn, I tell you!”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Okay I’m here, now let my brother go just like you agreed.” Halle stood her ground in front of Conrad, even though being this close to him made her skin crawl.
“Not that I don’t trust you, my dear,” he stepped closer and walked a slow circle around her, “but I will rele
ase your brother as soon as your signature is next to mine on those mating papers. I wouldn’t want to think you had some foolish hope of double-crossing me.”
“Of course not.”
There goes that plan.
“I’m insulted that you would even think that.” She lifted her chin to look down on him. Okay, even Halle had to admit that it was a weak protest, but come on! Of course, she was going to try to save her brother and then bail on this creep. Who wouldn’t?
“Well then, my little bride,” Conrad held out his arm for her to take and she forced herself to accept. “Shall we make our way to the Council Building?”
Halle took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. What was that Dori had told her right before they’d left this morning? I am stronger than I know. All she could do was pray that her Fairy Godmother was right because she needed to figure out a plan before they signed those papers, and leaving her brother to die at the hands of hungry vamps wasn’t going to happen.
****
“Halle!” Viktor yelled as he kicked in the back door of the little suburban home the ogre had traced them to. A thousand scenarios of what she could be enduring right now swam through his head, making him crazed. He knew he wasn’t being careful, but damned if he could help himself.
“By all means,” the ogre muttered as he followed Viktor inside, “let us not use the element of surprise when attacking a house that is possibly full of hungry vampires.”
Viktor grabbed the first vamp that came running into the kitchen by the throat, holding him up against the wall. “Where is she?”
His only answer was hissing and flailing arms as he slowly cut off the man’s air supply, hoping to entice him to answer. Two more vamps came swarming in and were literally batted away by the ogre’s giant grey arms. Over and over again, he would punt them into the next room and they would come back trying to get to Viktor and their ally.
“Tell me or die,” he demanded, and the bastard finally broke just as his pale skin began to turn a disturbing shade of puce.