Darkest Wolf

by Rebecca Royce

  Chapter Twelve

  The two wolves tore into each other. Elizabeth wished she were the fainting type because she would love to lose consciousness as she watched Rex, in his black wolf form, take a hit from whom she thought, from his conversation, was his father’s extended claws. Rex wasn’t as big as Kendrick, whose name she remembered from Rex talking about him, but he looked to be just as strong.

  She couldn’t believe any of this was happening. The look in Rex’s eyes before he’d shifted had told her all she needed to know. He believed she had done this to him. And he wasn’t wrong. Not when it came down to it.

  In a million years, she couldn’t have predicted Kendrick Kane would show up. She’d never seen him before in her life. Why would she have thought Drea would be in contact with him? She swallowed. On the other hand, she shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe evil simply attracted evil.

  The wolves growled and snarled as they tore into each other. A piece of black fur torn from Rex’s body, flew across the room, and she cried out.

  “I think you like wolf-boy.” Charra spoke in her ear, a whisper of evil traveling throughout Elizabeth’s spine. “Killing him will be so much better knowing the pain it will cause you.”

  “You’re not going to kill him.” Liz spoke through clenched teeth. Her jaw ached and every bone in her body felt brittle. Any sudden movements and she feared her body might snap apart from the tension.

  “Want to bet? Mom is going to let us take our turn hurting him before we destroy you.”

  Elizabeth would never count Rex out of a fight. She could feel his fierce determination in her soul where it had settled when they had mated. If she ever got the chance, she would study whatever spell it was that bound mates together the way it did.

  Now that she had him inside of her, she was never letting him go.

  Well, if he was still speaking to her when this was over…

  The door swung open to the hotel room with a bang. Next to her, Penny squealed.

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Only one thing ever made the twins happy and it was seeing their mother. Drea must have arrived.

  “Enough, Kendrick. If you keep that up, you’ll kill him, and you promised me we would use him first.”

  Kendrick grunted as he shifted back into his human form. Elizabeth flinched at the sight of his naked body. She hadn’t minded looking at Rex during his changes, but his father in the nude was not something she ever wanted to see. Evil seemed to radiate through his skin, like an infection which could be caught if she wasn’t careful. He made her want to go bathe in disinfectant.

  Kendrick shook his head. “Whatever you want, my love.” What? Elizabeth swallowed back a shriek as Rex lunged at his father, teeth bared, and was slammed back against the wall.

  Drea laughed. “Other witches might not be able to handle him, but he’ll never be able to beat me.”

  Rex lay still against the wall, eyes closed, unmoving. Elizabeth struggled in Charra’s arms. Penny grabbed onto her, and between the two of them Liz knew she’d never be able to break away. Still, it didn’t stop her from trying. Her love was on the floor, maybe dead, and she wasn’t going to leave him there alone. Not while she had breath in her body.

  “He’s not dead.” Drea addressed her directly. “Just stunned. He’ll stay frozen until we can get him back home to play with him. Although, I think it’s just adorable you’ve developed feelings for the Kane runt. Not that I blame you, mind you. I’ve been in love with a Kane my entire life.”

  If Elizabeth could have growled, she would have. “You’re not his mate.”

  “Oh, but I am. And I always have been. Right, Kendrick?” He nodded. “It’s right. And Rex isn’t a Kane. Not my son. His mother briefly woke up from her spell and had him with her actual mate. Of course, I had to kill the son-of-a-bitch. Couldn’t let him going around telling people what we had done. Anyone with a brain could have seen he wasn’t mine. Looks just like his mother, which I suppose confused people. Same dark hair, dark eyes.”

  Elizabeth wanted to point out Kendrick had those same features, but he was still talking, and she wasn’t given the chance to interrupt as Charra kicked her in the shin to stop her. It hurt and she promised she’d get the other woman back just as soon as she got the chance.

  “You don’t have to tell her anything, Kendrick. She’s just our slave. Her whole family is under our control. She takes care of my girls.” Kendrick sniffed the air. “She’s mated with Rex. I can smell it all over both of them.”

  Drea raised a brown eyebrow. “Really? How fascinating. Bring them both back to the mansion. Maybe we’ll perform some tests.”

  Mansion? Elizabeth had no time to contemplate what she’d just been told. Drea pointed at her, and she had one second to realize she’d just been attacked by a spell before everything went black around her.

  * * * *

  A cold cloth being wiped across her forehead roused Elizabeth from her stupor. Her mother’s face, just as she always remembered it except now it held more worry lines around her eyes and mouth, regarded her. She couldn’t help smiling. The aging aside, her mother’s rounded cheeks, pixie nose and oval blue eyes were something she’d been dreaming about for years. Even though she knew the happiness could only last a moment, she was glad to revel in it for a few seconds.

  “Drea hit you pretty hard with her spell. You’ve been out for hours.” Her mother’s words penetrated her happy haze and she sat up fast, making the world spin for a few seconds before it finally righted itself. “Hours? Where is Rex? What have they done to him?”

  Rex? She called out telepathically and got no response. Her heart picked up in terror.

  It didn’t have to mean anything. He’d ignored her in the hotel room too. Her mate thought she’d betrayed him, which was true. Only not in exactly the way he believed.

  “The wolf? I haven’t seen him. Everyone is abuzz about the fact he’s here. But we’ve been locked up with you and he was not brought here.”

  “Damn it.” That was not the answer she wanted.

  “Elizabeth, language, please.”

  She looked down sheepishly at her mother’s rebuke. Apparently, no matter how old she got, her mother would have the ability to make her feel like a child. “Sorry.” Her mother laughed. “I suppose if there was ever time for swearing, it’s now. By the way, not to bring up a bad topic, but you are looking less … distorted than you did when you left.”

  “Really?” She touched her face. She’d never been able to see herself cursed. The back of her neck tingled in the strange way it had been doing since she’d mated with Randolph. “More like myself?”

  “Exactly. Not quite there yet, but closer.”

  Elizabeth stood up, needing to move. “It must have to do with the mating. Where are the others?”

  “They are in the other room. I asked them to give us some space when you woke up.” Her mother crossed her arms over her chest. “What mating?”

  “Rex and I … we’re mates.”

  “Like Drea is mated with Kendrick Kane?” The way her mom said “Kendrick Kane” it was clear she did not think highly of the man. It sounded more like she’d rather swallow venom than see him.

  “I doubt anything Rex does is anything like Kendrick. But I’m not really sure. I was only mated for about a minute before everything went crazy.” She wished she had time to think about some of the things Drea had told her. Like, for example, the fact Drea was mated to Kendrick. How could that be? And something about Rex’s mother coming out of a spell. When she rescued Rex—and convinced him she had not meant to turn him over to his father—she would have to get him to explain some of it to her. If it made any more sense to him than it did to her.

  “I have to get out of here. I have to get to Rex.” He needed her. She could feel it.

  Every pore on her body had turned into a goosebump. Her desire to see him was so immense she thought she might actually spontaneously combust.

  “Daughter, relax.” Her mother placed a calm
ing hand on her arm. Seconds later, she could feel her whole body sigh with relief.

  “You have power?” That was the only explanation she could come up with for why her mother had been able to use a calming spell on her.

  “You just saw about the extent of it.”

  A calming spell was the upper range of her mother’s power. It was really horrendous. Her mother had once held so much power in her soul she could have shifted the course of the world if she’d wanted to. Unlike Drea, however, her mother would never have used it, which was how they’d ended up in this situation to begin with.

  “Mom, how did this happen? How did you not see Drea for what she was right away?”

  Her mother sat down, her formerly brown hair which was not entirely gray moved up and down as she shrugged. “I’m a foolish woman.”

  “No.” Elizabeth shook her head as she positioned herself next to her mom. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “If anyone has the right to ask me, it’s you, daughter. All I can think about all the time is you, out there with them, being asked to do who knows what. How could the goddess let this happen to us?”

  “I don’t see any point in dealing with anything but reality. Asking whys doesn’t help anything.”

  Her mother looked at her through the corner of her eye. “When did you become so wise?”

  “As you pointed out, I’ve been having a rough time lately.” Rex. She called to him again and still got no response. Biting down on her fingernail, she wished there was something she could do, anything to not feel so completely helpless.

  A thought dawned on her and she rubbed her forehead as she contemplated her next move. How could she expect to win if she played by all the rules laid out for them by Drea? They were doing just what their enemy wanted them to do. She thought about when Rex had stopped the car to confuse the wolves. If she hadn’t showed up and distracted him that might have actually worked.

  “Mom, do you have a phone?”

  Her mother paused. “There is a phone, in the other room. But who would we call?

  All of our supporters are here with us?”

  Elizabeth got up and walked to the door where the rest of their group waited.

  “You’re thinking too much like a witch. We have no power. We have to think like humans.”

  “I don’t understand; you still have to explain this mating Rex Kane thing to me.” She nodded. Hopefully, there would be time for all of it, later. “I will. But right now I have to save Rex Kane so I have a mate to introduce you to.” Elizabeth didn’t want to mention to her mother if Rex died she would most likely perish too. Or, at the very least, she would want to. Life without Rex would be unbearable. She could never live without his soul tucked safely inside of her. The loss would be like losing an internal organ she needed to exist.

  Purpose helped to make her footsteps fast and steady. She swung open the door to the room and smiled at the faces she had thought she might never see again. Fifteen witches were seated around the room. Only fifteen out of the fifty who made up their coven.

  She nodded. These were the people she would have expected to stand by them. The others could take a hike. She was sure her mother would oust them once things got back to the way they should be.

  Some of her friends looked away and others groaned. Steeling herself, she walked toward the phone. There was no point in addressing their problems viewing her. She might look slightly better than she had earlier, but it was still enough to make most people disgusted. The curse would lift, one way or another. Then she could go back to being normal to regard. However, she would never forget what this felt like, ever.

  “I’m going to do something to get us out of here. I realize when I left here, I was, for all intents and purposes, a child, but I’m going to need all of you to trust me now. I know what I’m doing.”

  She hoped. Around her, the men and women of her mother’s coven whispered amongst themselves. Forcing herself to tune them out, she picked up the phone. It was an old-fashioned model. Brown and large, it still had a large cord connecting the receiver to the base. As long as it still dialed, she wasn’t going to complain. “Where are we, exactly?” Having never been in the house where they were being held before, she had no idea how to describe their current location.

  Her mother’s best friend, Beth, stood up and crossed to her, putting her arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder. Liz couldn’t help but notice the woman couldn’t look her directly in the eyes, but at least she made an effort.

  “Right around the corner from the Ritz Carlton. If I’m not mistaken, this house we’re in is actually part of the Ritz’s property, dear.” Beth squeezed her shoulder. “How does knowing this information help you?”

  Elizabeth placed the phone receiver against her ear, glad to hear the dial tone.

  Maybe, at last, something might finally go her way. Taking a deep breath, she punched in the numbers they all should have used a long time ago. 9-1-1.

  The phone rang once before a female voice answered on the other end. “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

  Tears welled up in Liz’s eyes. She could have sobbed from the relief. There was life on the other end of the phone, someone unaffiliated with what was happening around them. A human who could come and get them out. Or at least create enough of a distraction she could get to Rex. That was all she needed.

  “My name is Elizabeth Willow. I am being held against my will. I am not alone.

  There are seventeen of us being held in a house on the Ritz Carlton property. Please can you come and rescue us?”

  Her mother walked into the room, regarding her silently. The woman on the other end of the phone asked her some questions, and she did her best to answer them, but all she could really focus on was the look in her mother’s eyes. Was it pride?

  Her mother gave her a slight nod, and in the distance Elizabeth could hear the faint sounds of police sirens approaching. Thanking the dispatcher, she placed the receiver back down on the cradle. This was only the first part of the plan. Drea would most likely perform a spell on the police to send them away. There was no way the human law enforcement would ever make it through the door. But, boy, would the coven leader be really pissed off. In a rage, she’d storm down to the rooms where they were held prisoner and that was when Elizabeth intended to make her move. “Mom, the little bit of magic you have, does anyone else have any or are you it?”

  “A few of them can do what I did. Little things, like a relaxation spell. No one has any real magic except Drea and her daughters. They’ve drained it all out of us.” Elizabeth darted forward, grabbing on to her mom’s cheeks. “Little magic?

  Relaxation is huge. We are going to take our little magic and we are going to make it work for us in a huge way. And then you are going to have your coven back.” And if Elizabeth were lucky, she’d have Rex back. Please, she silently begged the goddess, please let me get to him in time to help him. Please let him forgive me.

  The sirens were loud outside the house and she could hear a lot of hoopla happening in the hallway. Some of Drea’s supporters seemed to be running away. Others were yelling, and Drea herself hollered at the officers who had come to the door.

  It would just be a matter of minutes—seconds, maybe.

  Elizabeth whirled around. “Listen up. Enough relaxation and Drea is going to hit the ground. None of us can do it by ourselves. I’m not sure I have any magic at all. But all together—seventeen people using what little they have—it will be enough to put her down long enough for all of you to get out of here.”

  “All of us?” Her mother’s voice sounded squeaky. “Where will you go, daughter?”

  “To get Rex.” She wouldn’t be leaving here without him. If he didn’t go, then neither did she. “Now, everyone line up around me. When she comes through the door, I will lunge at her, and you will grab onto her and not let go until you’ve given everything you have to a relaxation spell.”

  One of the older members of the coven, James,
slowly got to his feet. “It’s been so long since I did any magic, I’m not sure I remember how.” Elizabeth waved her hand in a way she hoped conveyed her feelings that it was a silly thought. “I’m sure it’s like riding a bike. You never forget how to do it. The practice will come right back.”

  She moved in front of the door and heard the rest of the people in the room step behind her. In truth, she knew she asked a lot. Some of the members of the coven were very old. They’d never been able to stand up to Drea. Why should they suddenly be able to?

  Steeling her shoulders, she pushed those thoughts from her mind. They would do what they had to do because it was past time they did. All of the years she’d been out on the road taking the twins to various dance clubs and Disney events and not one of the folks behind her had managed to take down Drea. Clearly, it was going to have to fall to her to handle this. After she made sure Rex was okay.

  Drea’s stomping footsteps down the hall alerted Elizabeth she was coming seconds before the door banged open.

  “Did you think you were being amusing?” Drea spoke through clenched teeth and addressed Elizabeth directly. Good, the woman should know who had orchestrated this. If it all went to hell, Drea could blame the right culprit.

  “No.” Elizabeth sighed dramatically seconds before she put all of her strength into plowing into the older witch. Drea’s eyes widened.

  Someone behind Elizabeth screamed “get her” right before the other sixteen members of the coven exploded into action. Hands assaulted Drea as Liz rolled to get out of the way. She had no working power. Her presence in the front of the small mob just put her in the way.

  Laughing, she jumped to her feet. “It’s time for you to take a nap, Drea.” Chapter Thirteen

  Rex’s wrists, bound together by some kind of rope, took the brunt of the pain, as they were what supported his weight as he hung from the ceiling. He swayed slightly, his feet dangling above the ground.

  For hours now he’d been able to think about absolutely nothing. His mind felt like it had gone completely blank and it wasn’t because of the magic Drea had shoved at him back at the hotel room. He also couldn’t blame his father or the weird conversation he’d caught pieces of in the hotel room, which now threw into question his lineage. No, it was all because of Elizabeth. His mate had betrayed him. He closed his eyes.