Taking Nicole (Vegas Mates Series)(#4)

by Krystal Shannan

  From the dampness of the floor, it seemed they had imprisoned her in a basement, most likely the pack headquarters. Why hadn’t they killed her? She’d killed enough of them. What reason could they have to prolong her captivity? Melinda didn’t hold any special affection for the woman who’d treated her brother terribly for the last century.

  She smiled. No. No affection indeed. In fact, the last time Melinda had seen Renata she had told her she would kill her. Of course, it wasn’t truly Renata. Her wolf had gradually been taking control of the human side of her host for years. The guilt and anger over losing her true match had slowly but surely eaten away at Renata’s resolve. Like a rock in a river, eventually all the resistance just wore away.

  The door squeaked and she blinked. Her twin daughters, Tess and Hallie, walked into the room, followed by Melinda. Both girls were fidgety and wouldn’t look her in the eye. Melinda, on the other hand, stared straight at her.

  “You have visitors, Renata, if Renata is even in there anymore.”

  She stood and walked slowly to the edge of the cage and stretched an arm through the bars. “Girls. My babies.”

  Both the twins hesitated before taking a few steps forward.

  “Stop, girls. That isn’t your mother. You can’t get within reach of her. You promised me. That’s the only reason I let you come down here.” Melinda pulled both girls back toward the door.

  “No, wait. We won’t,” Hallie assured her.

  “Of course it’s me,” Renata coaxed. “The wolf is resting. The drugs make her weaker. My girls, it’s so good to see you.”

  “Don’t you dare hurt my babies.” Renata’s human soul hissed in the back of her mind.

  The wolf just smiled and shut her out again. If she could just get hold of one, she might be able to talk her way out of this rat hole.

  “Tess and Hallie, if you move toward her, this visit is over.”

  “Bitch!” She hissed at Melinda before correcting the flare of her temper. “I deserve to get my revenge on the Council for sentencing me to a lifetime without my true mate,” she snarled. The hoax was revealed. The terror in her daughters’ eyes said as much. They wouldn’t trust her again. “They all deserve to die for what they did to me.”

  Melinda sighed. “Only the Originals can pass judgments, Renata. You would’ve been killed the second you stepped foot in Greece. That’s what you really wanted, wasn’t it? You wanted them to have to kill you.”

  “Well, their agents were doing a piss-poor job of it. So it was high time they did some of their own dirty work. Now the damn rebels are going to do it for them. Why am I still alive, Melinda?”

  Tears were streaming down Tess’s and Hallie’s cheeks. “We wanted a chance to talk to you. Sam and Nicole deserve to be able to say goodbye as well,” Tess whispered.

  “So I am to be executed then? And the Council gets away with everything? Nicole is being prepared for her ceremony as we speak. I know that agent snagged her in exchange for your mongrel latent. She’s never coming back, Tess. If I know anyone better than myself, it’s my parents. They won’t ever let her go.”

  “Kate promised to—”

  “Hallie,” Melinda cut in.

  Renata raised her eyebrows. The pack loved that human witch. Whispers about her being a creator had floated around since she married Daniel Taylor, one of the pack betas, but there was no proof. They were myths and stories—gods who had melted into the mist of time and history like the damned Originals.

  ***

  Nicole followed Tempe and Karl down the carpeted hallway. They rode the elevator in silence and she never once looked up from Tempe’s ankles. Sweat dripped from her neck and ran in rivulets between her breasts. It wasn’t going to be long before the thin dress clung to her fuming body like a second skin. She cracked her knuckles and paused at the doorway, Tempe had moved aside to let a group of guests pass through the front door first.

  One man Nicole had never seen before reached out and touched her arm. She took a step forward, raising her gaze to meet his, and bringing her face to a halt inches from his.

  “Do not touch me.” Her magick thrashed about her like a wildfire. It was hard to keep from using it to lash out, but she had to control it, for now.

  Her magick swirled against the stranger’s and she could sense his immediate discomfort. The older man’s eyes widened in surprise. He backed away and followed his party out the door.

  What’s happening with my magick?

  “I don’t know. Just try to stay calm.”

  I know we run hot, but I’m melting.

  “Nicole, are you okay?” Tempe whispered. Her face was ashen and her hands were trembling.

  “I’ve been better.”

  “Are you ill, Miss Demakis?” Karl’s low voice rumbled next to her.

  She shook her head and walked out the front door. “I’m fine.”

  The next limo was pulling up. Karl moved swiftly to open the passenger door. She and Tempe climbed inside, while he took a seat in the front next to the driver.

  The vehicle pulled onto the driveway. The procession of limousines moved slowly along the winding roads. It would be at least a half-hour before they reached the Council arena.

  “Tempe, as soon as we get there, you have to get as far away from me as you can. Leave Greece.”

  “I can’t leave. I have someone in the cages, just like Aaron. Just like Karl and the driver of this limo. We all serve the Antipas household because there is no other choice for us. Just like you have no other choice. You agreed to go through with this.”

  Nicole breathed deeply, filling her heavy lungs. They couldn’t have planned it better. Only a defiant, selfish person would fight the system and knowingly endanger the lives of others. But she had to fight. She couldn’t just lie down like a beaten dog and take whatever her grandparents dished out.

  “You’ll just lose whatever shred of freedom you’re convinced you still have,” Tempe snapped. “You already saw what your misbehavior cost Henrick. Would you have her snap my neck in front of you as well?”

  Nicole shifted in the seat, peeling her drenched back from the leather upholstery. She took another labored breath and shuddered as her magick sparked along her skin. What the hell was happening? Her wolf whined in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t deal with those worries right now, too. First, she had to find a way out of this ceremony without killing Tempe, Karl, Aaron, and whomever else Carlotta deemed responsible for her.

  “She’s already going to beat me when she sees you in that dress. What is wrong with you? You might as well be wearing wet tissue paper.”

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I feel like I’m in a sauna. If I could turn it off, I would!”

  “Please, Nicole. Just accept your fate.”

  “I can’t. I saw what it did to my mother. Aaron is my true mate. I won’t leave him without a fight.” Shit. That shouldn’t have slipped out.

  If Tempe’s face could get any paler, she might be accused of being a ghost. “No.” The little redhead shook her head and groaned. “I was afraid of that the first time I saw you two together.”

  The driver and Karl remained silent while words spewed from Tempe’s mouth about how she needed to forget Aaron. Something about it being the best choice for everyone. How Carlotta would torture and kill them all if she ever found out Nicole had been sneaking around the palace with one of her own bodyguards.

  “Nicole.” Tempe touched her shoulder. “Nicole, are you listening to me?”

  “No, not really.” Nicole stared out the window at the passing landscape. Beautiful, blue ocean stretched as far as the eye could see. Little white dots bobbed here and there, the evening wave of fishermen was getting an early start.

  “They wouldn’t be able to fight you all at once. You could stop all of this if you’d just fight together.” Nicole turned to face Tempe. “But you won’t fight. You just lie down and take beating after beating. Suffering isn’t something reserved just for you, Temperance.�
��

  “You royal, preening princess. The only thing you’ve suffered through is a life of luxury and people doing everything for you.”

  More angry words hung on Nicole’s lips, but they wouldn’t help her. Tempe didn’t want to fight. She had accepted the status quo and wouldn’t rock the boat. That made her more dangerous to Aaron right now than anyone else.

  “Karl,” she whispered.

  Tempe quieted and Karl turned his head to meet Nicole’s gaze. His blue eyes glowed gold. He would fight. He wanted out.

  “Call Aaron.” She inclined her head toward Tempe.

  He nodded and turned away. At least Aaron could take advantage of most of the staff being gone from the palace and try to escape. If he stayed, Tempe would reveal their relationship—if you could call it that. A few stolen moments and kisses hardly constituted a relationship. But, if that’s all she ever had with him, it would have to be enough.

  “Call Aaron? Call him for what?” Tempe asked. Then her eyes narrowed. She pulled her phone from her purse.

  Nicole snarled, lunging forward she grabbed the cell phone and crushed it in her hand. “Betraying the one I love is a mistake.”

  Tempe growled and grabbed Nicole’s arm. Nicole twisted, wrenching Tempe to the side and forcing her face down on the floor of the limo. Tempe’s body flailed beneath her, but steady pressure against the traitor’s windpipe stilled her quickly.

  Nicole glanced up, catching the eye of the driver in the rearview mirror. He winked. Thank the gods.

  “I’ll make sure she doesn’t interfere tonight,” the big driver’s voice rumbled. “Karl needs to be with you on the inside if you have even a prayer of getting out of this alive.”

  “Getting out alive isn’t an option for me. I’ve made peace with that. I just want all of you to have time to get as far from here as possible. You shouldn’t have to pay for my choices.”

  A rumbling growl from Karl shook the limo. “I’ll fight for you. The old laws say I can participate. They won’t be able to deny me. Not in front of the whole lower Council.”

  “I don’t want your blood on my hands, too!” Nicole shook her head and wiped her sweat-drenched hands on her lap. What the hell is going on with my body? Her magick licked at her skin, the same way it did when she transformed. But she wasn’t calling out her wolf and her wolf wasn’t pushing forward either.

  “Something is wrong,” her wolf whimpered. “The magick feels wrong.”

  The vehicle pulled to a stop and Nicole pushed open the door and fell onto the gravel driveway. The rocks bit into her palms and knees. She hissed out a breath, trying not to cry out. More sweat dripped from her body as she tried to fight the urge to shift.

  What the hell?

  Karl was at her side in an instant. “Nicole?”

  “Something is trying to force me to shift.” She peered up into his face and saw fear reflecting back in his icy blue eyes. “What? Tell me what it is.”

  “It’s a witch. It’s the spell they use to trap our people in their animal form.” He shook his head and helped her to her feet. “I’ve never seen anyone resist it before. But the sweating makes sense now. It … just never gets this far.”

  “Bitch!” Nicole screamed, clinging to Karl’s arm. Her grandmother knew she would fight.

  Another scalding wave of magick flowed over her body, pulling her wolf to the surface. She growled and pushed back with everything she had.

  “Get me inside. Maybe they’ll stop if I can get inside.”

  Karl slipped one of his arms beneath her legs and scooped her up. His chest felt cool beneath his thin cotton shirt. Strange. Shifters were always warm.

  “It’s because we are running so hot right now. I’m not sure I can hold back much longer.”

  Try.

  They approached the grand entrance and two men at each side opened the doors for them. Karl moved quickly through the crowd, shoving shifters to the left and right like mere paper dolls. Growls and snarls followed in his wake, but he never slowed. It was good to have a mountain-sized wolf on your side when storming a villa full of royal werewolves bent on watching a bloodbath.

  “Karl,” Carlotta’s raspy voice cut through the throng and the hallway din fell into a hush. “Put her down.”

  Nicole looked up, meeting his somber gaze and nodded. He let her feet slip slowly until they met the ground and steadied her as she took a few steps toward Carlotta. Her grandparents’ faces wore looks of surprise. Good.

  “Did you think he’d be leading me in on a leash by now?”

  She spied a small woman dressed in flowing red robes standing just behind Carlotta. By scent, she knew the robed female was human. Her moving lips gave her away as a witch. The chant she was repeating was Greek, if she had to guess.

  Carlotta’s frown straightened and her eyes narrowed. “How?”

  “Her blood is stronger than most, love.” Reginald Antipas stepped forward.

  Nicole shifted her gaze to him and shuddered. She blinked, her eyes smarting from the salty beads of sweat running down her face.

  He snapped his fingers and a young man appeared at his side. “Fetch two more witches from their quarters and bring them here. I look forward to seeing just how strong my little granddaughter is.”

  Shit. “Why are you trying to make me shift?”

  “To keep you from doing anything stupid,” he answered. “Now, follow your grandmother. You can sit with us until you succumb to the spell.”

  “I won’t stop fighting it.”

  He winked at her. “I would expect nothing less.”

  Evil bastard.

  “I wish to fight for the right to claim her, Master.” Karl knelt before them and bowed his head.

  “No.” She turned to approach him but the back of her grandfather’s hand sent her sprawling to the floor. It was too much. The heat from the magick was cooking her from the inside out and black spots grew in her vision from the heavy hit dealt to her cheek.

  “Stay awake. I can’t hold back unless you are fighting this, too.”

  I’m trying. Nicole blinked a few times and struggled back to her feet, shaking her head, trying to make the spots disappear. Karl hadn’t moved. He still knelt before Reginald.

  The crowd around them was still silent. All waited for Reginald to answer. Karl had timed his request perfectly. The old laws allowed any unattached male wolf to fight in a claiming. These unannounced requests were usually dealt with swiftly and swept under the rug. But Karl stated his request in front of half the lower Council.

  A low growl rumbled from her grandfather’s chest. “By our laws, I have to grant your request. But, I warn you. This choice you are making will not end well for you or the brother of yours I have in a cage.”

  “Only if I lose,” Karl answered and stood.

  A few chuckles echoed from around the hall.

  “You will fight first, Karl Vogt, and you will die. Then I’ll kill your brother, too.”

  “Dying for the sake of Nicole will be my honor. My brother would see it as a worthy sacrifice as well.” Karl’s gaze swept up to hers.

  Tears mixed with the droplets of sweat running down her cheeks. Stupid. She mouthed at him.

  He shook his head and struck his chest with his fist.

  The fights would all be to the death. Perhaps he would survive the first, maybe even the second. But no man or supernatural could fight through four rested men one right after the other. Being thrown in the ring first was almost the same as signing an order of execution. The other suitors knew this too, but their fight order was randomly determined by drawing a straw. They would not be pleased when they found out another round had been added to the ceremony.

  “Please,” Reginald’s voice boomed through the large hall. “Let us move into the arena and let the ceremony begin.”

  A cheer went up and doors opened every thirty feet or so to their left. She followed Carlotta through the closest open door. The arena was lit with hundreds of torches and was void of any a
rtificial lighting. Shadows danced along the stone, creating a frightening illusion of darkness dancing on the walls of the arena. Devils had come to claim the dead.

  Nicole took a deep breath and sank into the chair next to Carlotta. The old stone benches had long been replaced by gilded and beautifully carved, high-backed chairs. The chair she sat in had an intricately carved ‘A’ at the top. As did both the chairs her grandparents sat in and several empty ones around them. About ten steps above and behind them, one single chair sat alone and empty. It was meant for the Original Antipas werewolf.

  Small groups of chairs encircled the arena, each group marked by the letter of the family that sat there. On a higher level behind each group, sat a single chair where the Original of each family would have sat … if they cared at all to attend. From what she’d been told, the Originals hadn’t been seen or heard from in centuries. A lot of centuries.

  She wiped her brow and sucked in another breath. Another wave of magick hit her like a ton of bricks and she clenched her fists, grimacing as it burned along her skin. She could hear the witch chanting just behind her chair. Two other female voices had joined in the casting.

  “You could just give up, darling.” Pleasure dripped from Carlotta’s voice.

  “Never.”

  Her grandmother smiled and idly tapped the armrest of her chair.

  The drumming of that one fingernail against the wood echoed as loudly as a drum in her ear. Nicole shook her head, trying desperately to regain control of her overwhelmed senses.

  Silence fell over the arena as a man dressed in a loose, white linen shirt and pants strode into the center of the sand-filled circle. He proceeded to prattle on about the greatness of the werewolf through the centuries and how the royal families worked diligently to keep the magick strong in the original lines. Then he launched into more bullshit about how epic this ceremony was and that it marked the end of a great family.

  The nerve! Nicole stood from her chair. “My father has a brother and a sister, and the Demakis line is far from ended. It’s this belligerent, self-absorbed pack of wolves that has decided to just eliminate them from the Council. I wonder what the Demakis Original would have to say about that.”