Fated

by Karen Lynch

“What I don’t understand is why you need to take human girls if you can breed with other demons. These girls don’t have to die.”

  “I can breed with demons, but I have to feed them more of my power to ensure the child is one of my kind. I could only have one or two children that way. With humans, I can have many sons.”

  I exhaled in defeat. There was no getting through to him when he really believed there was nothing wrong with what he was doing.

  I studied the large room. Except for the lack of windows, it resembled a typical drawing room with oriental rugs, fine artwork, and a crystal chandelier. In addition to the door I’d entered through, there was another door that led to a dining room with a long table set for a large party. Incubi stood guard at the door to the hallway, so there was no getting out that way. Maybe there was another door in the dining room that led to a kitchen. The food had to come from somewhere.

  Adam leaned close, startling me.

  “I can see what you’re doing, and it’s no use. This lair was built specifically for me. It’s underground and heavily fortified with warlock magic. You can’t escape, and no one will find it.”

  “Chris will find me,” I declared. “He’ll never stop looking for me.”

  He sighed heavily and placed a hand on the small of my back. “Come. I want to show you something.”

  I eyed him warily. “What?”

  “Our security room. It’s just down the hall.”

  I went with him because the more I knew about this place, the more information I’d have to formulate an escape plan.

  At the end of the hall, we stopped at a door with an electronic card reader. Adam swiped a key card, and the lock flashed green. He grabbed the door handle and held the door open for me.

  Inside the dimly lit room, two Incubi sat at computer stations similar to the ones we had at the command center. On the wall in front of them were monitors showing the live video feeds from at least twenty security cameras. Some of the cameras were internal, and others showed a backyard, a driveway, and other outside locations.

  “Bring up camera four from twenty minutes ago,” Adam said.

  “Yes, Father,” one of the Incubi said.

  He typed into his computer, and one of the monitors began playing a recording. The video showed an exterior view of the open front door of a house. At first, nothing happened. Then someone exited the house.

  Nikolas.

  A cry slipped from me when I saw the person behind him. Even from here, I could see the strain and exhaustion on Chris’s face. I put a hand over my mouth as I watched him walk down a wide set of steps. I drank in the sight of him like it had been weeks instead of a day since I last saw him.

  The monitor changed to a new camera feed, and I could see Chris and Nikolas walking to their bikes. They weren’t alone. I saw Jordan, Mason, Sara, Raoul, Seamus, Niall, and…Rachel. Two more people came into view. Chris’s parents.

  “No,” I whispered when Chris straddled his bike. He couldn’t leave.

  “The entrance to this place is at the back of the property, and unless you know it’s there, it’s virtually undetectable,” Adam said as I watched Chris ride away.

  Tears streamed down my face. He’d been so close, and I hadn’t even known it. It was too cruel to bear.

  “I didn’t feel him,” I said, dazed from shock. “Why didn’t I feel him?”

  “What do you mean?” Adam asked, puzzled.

  I stared through blurry eyes at the screen where Chris had been a moment ago. “Our bond. I couldn’t feel our bond.” My voice broke on the last word, and it felt like my world started to crumble along with it. What did this mean? Had Adam’s power weakened my bond with Chris?

  “You have a bond with the male even though you aren’t mated with him?” Adam asked curiously, oblivious to the pain ripping me apart inside.

  I turned on him. “He is my mate,” I shouted. “I love him, and nothing you do will ever change that.”

  “Time changes all things,” he said, unaffected by my outburst.

  In that moment, I got my first real look at the unfeeling, ruthless monster that hid beneath the good looks and charm. All he cared about was a pretty face at his table and a vessel for his future children. And he’d hurt anyone to get what he wanted.

  I lowered my gaze, unable to stomach looking at him for a moment longer.

  “I don’t feel well. Please, take me back to my room.”

  “You need to eat,” he admonished softly as if we’d been talking about nothing more serious than the weather. “You’ll feel better after we dine.”

  The last thing I wanted was to go back to that room with all those happy, innocent girls fawning over the male who had already sentenced them to die.

  “I’d rather be alone.”

  Adam released an impatient breath. “You are going to be my mate, so you’ll dine with me tonight and every night after.”

  I didn’t respond. Nor did I pull away when he took my arm to lead me back to the drawing room. I was too numb to feel anything.

  I sat beside Adam through dinner as he smiled and charmed everyone else at the table. I didn’t speak unless spoken to, not caring if anyone thought my behavior strange. A small army of mox demons served us, placing course after course in front of us. Adam had spared no expense, and the food looked delicious.

  My mouth watered, and my stomach ached with hunger. But I didn’t eat a single bite.

  Chris

  “What do you mean it’s a dead end?” I hit the top of the conference table as the rage that had been boiling beneath the surface for days threatened to erupt.

  Five days. That was how long it had been since I’d last seen Beth. Five days since I’d held her and kissed her, not knowing it might be the last time I’d ever touch her. I never should have let her go out that day, and now she and I were both paying the price. The Lilin had Beth, and I was a hairsbreadth away from losing my sanity, imagining what he could be doing to her.

  “Most of these leads are dead ends,” David said calmly from the phone’s speaker. “Demon archives are all over the place, and they only started creating their digital library two decades ago. Kelvan has a network of demons helping him track down data, but some of it is still only in written form and not always reliable. But if anyone can make sense of it, it’s him. I promise you, this is our only priority right now.”

  I dragged my hands through my already messy hair and let out a ragged breath. “I know. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’d probably do the same in your place.”

  Nikolas leaned forward on the opposite side of the table. “David, have you had any luck with the property search?”

  “Nothing in California. I found a building Jonathan Wells owned in New York, but that was sold ten years ago. Based on what we’ve found so far, he creates a new identity every thirty years, so he could have property under a different name.”

  My eyes met Nikolas’s, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. The Lilin created a new identity whenever he came out of hiding to breed. That meant it would be even harder to find him, unless David and Kelvan somehow managed to discover a link to his new name.

  I picked up my tablet and opened the photos he’d sent days ago. “What about these pictures Kelvan found from New York?” I asked, desperate for something, anything, to keep me from coming apart. “Do we have a positive ID on Jonathan Wells?”

  “No. I’m sorry, Chris. I wish I had more for you.”

  I had to stop myself from throwing the tablet across the room. I’d always considered myself easygoing and even-tempered, until Beth disappeared. Now it was a constant struggle to keep it together. I didn’t know how much more of this I could take.

  “You’re not going to throw that at me, are you?”

  I looked up to see Jordan approaching us cautiously. She’d been here constantly since Beth was taken – when she wasn’t out running down leads with Raoul. Like everyone else, she was working around the clock to
find Beth.

  I laid the tablet on the table. “You’re safe.”

  She pulled out the chair beside me and picked up the tablet to scroll through the photos. “What’s this? Hey, I know this guy.”

  My body jerked like I’d been shot. “You know one of these men?”

  “I don’t know him well. I’ve seen him around a few times. He’s actually a friend of Beth’s.”

  My body froze for several seconds like it was encased in ice. Reaching over, I tapped the face of the dark-haired male in the photo. “Beth knows him?”

  The last word came out as a growl, causing Jordan’s eyes to widen.

  “No. I mean…not that one,” she stammered.

  She pointed to the blond male who was in all the pictures with the male we thought might be the Lilin.

  “Him.”

  I fought to control my breathing. “How do you and Beth know this man?”

  “Beth met him at Luna the night we went to the rave. We saw him a few days later while we were out shopping, and she introduced us. He was at Suave the night we all went there, too.”

  I remembered the blond man kissing Beth’s hand that night at the club, and how she and Jordan had seemed to know him. Red tinged my vision. He’d been there. The bastard had been in the same goddamn club, and we’d had no idea. And he’d touched Beth.

  “Chris,” Nikolas barked.

  I looked at him, and he shook his head in warning.

  He turned to Jordan, who was watching me warily. “Can you remember the man’s name?”

  “Adam,” she replied instantly. Her brow creased. “Adam…Woods, I think. No. It was Woodward. He said he was a student at UCLA.”

  “Jesus.” I pushed back from the table and began pacing as a new realization hit me like a punch in the gut. “He was stalking her this whole time.”

  “Who?” Jordan asked. Her eyes went from me to the photo, and an expression of horrified disbelief crossed her face. “This is the Lilin? Adam is the Lilin?”

  David’s voice came from the phone before anyone could answer her. “You guys want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Jordan recognized the blond man in the photos you sent us,” Nikolas told him. “He’s going by the name Adam Woodward, and he’s passing himself off as a UCLA student.”

  “Shit,” David said. “Okay, let me run that name. I doubt he’d give her his real name, but you never know.”

  I stopped pacing. “How long?”

  “Two hours at the most if there’s anything to find,” David replied. “I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”

  I gripped the back of a chair and stared at the phone for a few seconds after he hung up, trying not to get my hopes up. If this turned out to be another dead end, I wasn’t going to handle it well.

  “You okay?” Nikolas asked.

  I shook my head. “He was under our noses this whole time. Christ, he spent time with Beth. He got to know her before he took her. Why?”

  “I don’t think he’ll hurt her.”

  Nikolas and I looked at Jordan.

  “How do you know that?” Nikolas asked.

  She cleared her throat. “The few times I saw him, he seemed really taken with Beth. I think… I think he took her because he likes her.”

  The metal in the chair buckled under my hands.

  Nikolas looked at Jordan. “Contact everyone, and tell them to be ready to move on my word.”

  “On it,” she said, almost running away.

  He turned back to me. “You going to be able to hold it together?”

  “I will for Beth.”

  “No one is better at this than David. Give him the time he asked for, and he’ll find them.”

  I inhaled deeply and let it out. “Just promise me one thing. The demon is mine.”

  Nikolas nodded. “He’s yours.”

  Chapter 22

  Beth

  I RUBBED AT my ankle under the shackle. Even with padding, the thing started to chafe after a day, and I’d been wearing it for three now. The only time it came off was when Ree brought me my meals or to bathe, or when I was required to join Adam for dinner. The rest of the time, I was chained in my room. And they say romance is dead.

  It was my own fault they’d put me back in the shackle, but I’d never regret the reason for it. During my second dinner with Adam, I’d managed to slip away through the door in the dining room that led to the kitchen. I’d had no idea where I was going, but I’d led my captors on a chase before they’d cornered me in a supply room.

  Weston had caught me, but I’d managed to give him a kick to the groin he wouldn’t soon forget. It didn’t matter how big and strong a male was. He’d whimper like a little girl when you got him where it hurts. Needless to say, he stayed away from me after that.

  Someone knocked softly on the door. I didn’t bother to call out because they were coming in whether I wanted them to or not. Judging by how long it had been since Ree had delivered lunch, I figured it was time for dinner.

  The door opened, and Ree entered, shutting it behind her. As she did every night, she carried a garment bag that contained whatever Adam had picked out for me to wear to dinner. He liked to dress me up in alluring outfits and pretend we were in some relationship that existed only in his fantasies.

  “Hey, Ree.”

  I’d given up being cool to her by day three. Mox demons were so mild-natured and apologetic about everything that it was impossible to be mean to her. Besides, it wasn’t as if my imprisonment was her fault.

  She smiled and laid the garment bag on the foot of the bed. “Good evening, Beth. I hope you are well.”

  “As well as can be expected.”

  She came around the bed to unlock my shackle, and nodded in approval when she saw my empty lunch plate. Ree was a bit of a worrier, and she’d pleaded with me for two days about my refusal to eat. I’d been drinking water from the bathroom tap so I wouldn’t die of thirst. But by day three, my body had started to suffer from my self-imposed starvation. I had a fast metabolism, which meant I needed a lot of nutrients.

  It was Ree who’d convinced me I had to eat to keep up my strength. Not eating was the same as slowly killing myself, and I was no quitter. Someday, I’d get an opportunity to escape this place, and I needed to stay strong for that.

  My food wasn’t drugged, but I’d already learned Adam didn’t need to drug me to get what he wanted.

  Once I was free of my shackle, I went to shower. I returned to the bedroom to see what I was to wear tonight, and I came up short at the sight of an elegant pink cocktail dress laid out on the bed. It had short sleeves and a modest neckline, and the skirt came all the way to my knees when I put it on. It was nothing like the other dresses he’d sent me and looked more like what the other girls wore.

  I studied my reflection. “This is different.”

  “You look lovely as always,” Ree said as she handed me a pair of white shoes.

  Slipping on the shoes, I sat in the room’s only chair to await our escort to dinner. I watched Ree move around the room, tidying it efficiently, and I couldn’t help but be curious about how she’d come to work in Adam’s household.

  I’d never thought much about the lives of demons like her until I met Sara, probably because I’d been trained to focus on the dangerous ones. Sara had a different way of looking at the world, which was one of the reasons I liked being around her so much.

  “Where are you from, Ree? Where is your family?”

  She straightened from making the bed and gave me a look of surprise. “You wish to know about me?”

  “If you want to tell me.”

  “There is not much to say.” She sat on the edge of the bed with her hands folded in her lap. “I was taken from my family by gulak slavers when I was fourteen. Master bought me, and I’ve been with him ever since.”

  She spoke so matter-of-factly, but I could see the trace of sadness in her eyes. How cruel to be taken from her family so young and sold into slavery.
/>   “How long have you been with him?”

  “Twenty years.”

  I pressed my lips together, angry on her behalf.

  “Please, don’t think I’ve had a bad life here. I miss my family, but Master has never mistreated me. I could have gone to an owner who was abusive and cruel.”

  “But you’re a slave. You don’t have the freedom to leave if you want to.”

  She shrugged. “I have decided to be content with my lot.”

  Her voice held a note of resignation, of one who had given up hoping for more out of life. In that moment, I resolved to never let Adam destroy my hope or my fighting spirit. It might take weeks or months or even years, but one day I’d be free again.

  Pain lanced me when I thought about being away from Chris for that long. They said a bond could survive a long separation as long as both people wanted it. But did it weaken over time? If it took me years to make my way back to him, would he still want me, knowing who I’d been with that whole time?

  “Don’t be sad, Beth,” Ree said softly. “Master will be a good mate to you.”

  A loud rap came on the door before I could tell her he would never be my mate, and she hurried to open it. Weston and another Incubus stood there, and there was no mistaking the satisfied expression on Weston’s face when he looked at me. Something about it made my stomach knot with dread, and I suddenly didn’t want to leave this room.

  Weston motioned for me to come, and I complied despite my misgivings. Denying Adam my presence at dinner wasn’t an option. I’d tried that on my second night here, and my Incubus guard had threatened to dress me himself and carry me to the dining room if I refused.

  We walked down the hallway in our usual formation, with one guard in front of Ree and me and one taking up the rear. As we neared the drawing room, I expected to hear the now familiar murmur of feminine voices, but silence greeted me.

  Weston walked past the empty drawing room and opened a door to an office decorated with old mahogany furniture and several Degas paintings. I was meeting Adam here?

  I expected Weston to tell me to have a seat, but he went over to the paneled wall and pressed something I couldn’t see. A door-sized panel separated from the wall, revealing a narrow stairwell.