My eyes are glassy when he finishes. Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I try to pull my hand back, but he doesn’t allow me to. Heartbroken, I whisper, “Let me have a second.”
He brings his lips to my forehead and kisses it, stepping away. My strength fails me as my heart breaks, and I fold in half, taking in heaving breaths. Letting down my walls, I reach out to him and feel just how much pain he’s in. His emotions overwhelm me, and it’s hard to breathe. I feel the forest floor beneath me as I sit down.
Arms surround me as I’m placed on his lap. “Sweetheart, take a deep breath,” he urges.
His hands rub up and down my back as I try to catch my breath while I put some of my mental shield back up. My lip quivers as I lay my head on his chest. “I want it back, Alaric.” Looking up, I plead with him. “Tell me we can get it back.”
Before he can respond, a twig snaps nearby, and he stands up quickly, displacing me. We both become further alarmed when there’s a howl, and Alaric grabs my hand and pulls me up. “Go, wake up the others.”
My heart is racing as I watch him transform, but I stop when a familiar voice cackles. “Well, isn’t this a touching scene.”
The first thing I see is bright red hair flowing around semi-bare shoulders. Before I can say anything, there’s another howl, and Alaric urgently says, “Go, Rosalyn.”
A hiss comes from my lips as I look over at Jacque. “If you touch him, I’ll end you.”
As I turn my back to her, I see the blood drain from her face. Fabric tears in the background, and I run. As one foot hits the forest floor, my other foot comes up. Panting, I see the tent in sight, and I rip the front open.
“Wake up!”
Lawrence jumps out of bed, running to me. “What’s going on?”
I grab his arm as my shoulders tense. “We’re under attack.”
Another howl is heard closer to the tent.
Scarlett stirs and so does Alizon. Grabbing Lawrence’s hand, I pull him from the tent as my heart pounds in my chest. He gasps, and my eyes dart up. Blinking quickly to make sure my eyes are seeing what’s in front of me, three figures emerge from the trees, they’re shadowy in the darkness.
Lawrence hisses behind me, “How are they out at night?”
My thoughts exactly.
There are three Vampires, and one of them smiles. The points of her canines glow in the darkness. “There she is,” a feminine voice croons.
She takes a step toward me, but a wolf jumps in front of her and blocks her. A soft whoosh sails through the air. The wolf yelps, and it isn’t until I feel the burn that I realize it was Alaric.
Five more wolves come to defend us. The Vampire’s whip flies through the air. Red invades my vision as I scream at the top of my lungs, “You dare touch one of my mates, and the werewolf prince? Prepare to die.”
A tug on my arm doesn’t stop me. A black wolf jumps on a Vampire and tears at its arm. The whip hits its back, tearing through its fur. Directing my eyes toward the woman, I pull the whip toward me. It slices my skin as it wraps around my arm. Tearing the leather cord from her, I walk toward her when another whip cuts through my clothes. Alaric is making his way toward me, but he’s got another slice going through his fur. The woman goes for him.
Everyone falls to the ground in pain. But I don’t lose focus, it gives me the chance to rip the arms and legs off the woman. Alaric grabs her while she’s on the ground, and grasps her neck in his jaw, shaking hard. It’s like a dummy being thrown back and forth. The next thing I use my powers on is her head. Alizon is concentrating, and I can tell she’s trying to help anyone who needs more power because I feel a power boost. Moving on to the next Vampire, I do the same thing again. But all of a sudden, weakness fills me, and I’m confused until a metallic smell fills my nostrils, and I gag. Blood drips down my back, and when I look over at Alaric, he has the same gash on his flank. Everything around me spins, and from the corner of my eye, I see everyone get up.
A Vampire walks to me with a smile before everything goes dark.
A beautiful woman with dark brown hair stands in front of me. She looks down at a bed, and a young girl stands beside her. Walking around them, I see a bed, with Lucas laying in it. When I look up, I see that the young girl is Lucas’s daughter, Cassie.
“Mother.” She tenses as she speaks, “what’s wrong with him?”
The woman’s breathing speeds up as she slowly looks over at her daughter and places her hand on Lucas’s chest possessively. “All I can say is whoever dared to harm the King of Endennia will die.”
Chapter Thirty
Lawrence
The last Vampire stalks to Rosalyn with a smile on his face. My heart pounds in my chest so loud I can barely hear anything around me. Running, I try to make it to her. She collapses. Two wolves jump in front of Rosalyn, which gives me a chance to pull a knife from my boot. It turns over and over as it sails through the air, landing in the side of the dark man’s neck. He snarls, baring his teeth as he whips his head in my direction. His screams pierce the air as he’s pulled backwards into the trees by the wolves.
Not wasting any time, I run to my wife to check on her injuries. She mutters, “Lucas.”
My brain’s scrambling until I realize she’s just said the name of one of her mates. My eyes glance to the side to see if I can find the other bastard, and his wolf is unconscious on the forest floor. Bending down, I pick her up and gather her close to my chest before rushing her back to the tent. The most we can do tonight is place wards. As I lay Rosalyn down, there’s movement behind me. Two guys are carrying Alaric into the tent, and they lay him on another bed.
I’m pushing aside Rosalyn’s shirt to reveal her back when I’m shoved out of the way by Alizon. “I’ve got her. Help the others clean up,” she snaps. I start to argue with her when her lips set in a firm line, and she harshly asks, “Where were you when she needed your help?” Her voice sounds exhausted, but she’s livid.
My eyes are drawn to the floor, and I rub at the back of my neck. In immense shame, I walk from the tent to help the others dispose of the Vampires. When my wife needed me most, I wasn’t there. No matter what I do, I’m a failure to her and will never amount to what she needs or wants. If something had happened to her, my reason for breathing would have been taken away. She’s now what keeps me going each day.
Someone clears their throat next to me, but before I can look over at them, a woman with dark brown hair advances on me.
“You,” she growls.
There’s a man’s arms around her trying to hold her back. “Steise, don’t,” the man tells her firmly.
Her attention goes to him. “Really, Thomas? He’s the reason everything happened that night.” Steise sets her sights on me again. “The reason I was unconscious for weeks.”
Thomas flips her around so she’s facing him. “Don’t make accusations when you don’t remember that night,” he tells her, his tone calm but also commanding.
Running my hand across the top of my head, I take a few calming breaths. A finger taps my shoulder a couple of times, and I turn. It’s a girl, only a little older than Rosalyn. She barely has any clothes on, and the only significant thing about her is her hair.
She puts her hands behind her back and examines me. “Hi, I’m Jacque.” She has one of the most annoying voices I’ve ever heard. It’s like a child screaming for what they want.
Ignoring her, I walk away. If anything, I just need to get through this night. Thomas and Steise are fighting in the background, but I still feel Jacque’s presence behind me.
Turning around, my eyes zero in on her. “What do you want?”
Bouncing past me, she motions for me to follow her. “I think we have a common interest,” she whispers over her shoulder.
Alarms go off, and everything tells me this is a horrible idea, but I follow her as she leads us behind the tent. We go a little deeper into the forest before she stops.
Plopping down on the ground, she pats the earth next to her.
Shaking my head, I state, “I’ll stand.” Arms folded and leaning against a tree, I ask, “What is it you want, Jacque?”
Her teeth play with her lower lip as she leans back on her hands. Taking in a nervous breath, she hesitantly explains, “I was to be Alaric’s mate until Rosalyn came along.” She shakes her head and looks up at the clear sky. “Suddenly, he didn’t care about me anymore, and I didn’t matter. Now I know why.” Sadness and heartbreak make her voice crack.
Everything dawns on me, and I realize she wants my help to get him back. Standing up straight, I walk closer to her. “Cut to the chase, Jacque. Is there a reason you wanted to talk to me? I’d rather be by my wife right now.”
A single tear falls down her cheek as she looks at me. “We could work together to keep them apart.”
Bitter laughter escapes. “I’m not even going to continue this discussion.”
Getting as far away from that girl as I can is what I want. The purple and orange of the sun rise is cresting the horizon, which means we need to get moving once everyone wakes up.
When I return to the tent, I’m stunned when I see not only Xavier sitting up, but Rosalyn and Alaric, as well. It hasn’t been very long since Rosalyn passed out from over-exertion, and she should have been out for hours, recuperating. Nonetheless, she’s in fresh clothes and sitting next to Alaric, softly talking to him.
Her eyes narrow when she notices me. “Good, you’re back.” Her voice is cold. “We need to go.”
When I glance at Xavier, he smirks. “Busted.”
Without replying to Xavier, I make quick work of packing everything up. Scarlett taps my shoulder. “You missed a lot of drama.” I look at her, and she grins. “Xavier was livid when he woke up and wanted to kill Alaric until he saw Rosalyn laying on the bed unconscious.”
Furrowing my brows, I ask, “What happened next?”
She frowns. “He ended up kissing her, and she woke up, but so did Alaric. That’s when they started fighting, and Rosalyn had to break it up. She asked where you were. Steise told her you were with Jacque.”
Looking to the side, I see Alizon brooding and sticking close to Xavier’s side. She has no reason to be so upset, not like me. We take off from the campsite to continue with our mission, and I think about everything that happened.
Last night, I watched my wife run to a man who wasn’t me. My soul demanded that I stop her, and like everything, it was completely out of my control. Every second I spend on this mission, Rosalyn hurts me with things she does or says. Love has never consumed me before, and now I’m losing the woman I thought I would spend forever with. This was supposed to be my time, and my opportunity to try to win her affections while making our relationship stronger. But with each second, she moves further away from me.
My feet throb in my boots from the hours of walking. The trees are finally thinning, and we’ve hit high grass. Scarlett is limping. She’s not used to this kind of hiking, but we’re almost to the Wildlands.
Scarlett and I are walking next to each other when I notice that Alaric and Rosalyn are holding hands. The muscles in my neck tense, and Scarlett puts a hand on my arm. I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what transpired between them last night.
The closer we get to the Wildlands, the more howling we hear. We come to a complete stop with Rosalyn and Alaric in the lead. My senses are on high alert. I look around, waiting for a fight. A dark man with tattoos covering his arms appears in front of us—Vampire! My wife takes off running and jumps into his arms, wrapping her legs around him. She looks deeply into his eyes and says, “I’ve missed you so much, Quinn.”
My fists curl up at my sides. I’m about to storm toward her when Scarlett squeezes my arm. “Don’t, Lawrence.” When I look over, her lips are trembling.
“I know you’re hurting, and you don’t want this, but causing a scene and taking the focus off this mission isn’t a good idea.” Her eyes bore into mine as she firmly tells me, “Just don’t.”
I’m taking fast, short breaths between my clenched teeth, and I feel like they’ll break if I clench them harder. They say you never know anything about love until you experience it. Well, it’s the same with heartbreak. Love can make you want to give up everything you are just to keep it, and that’s what’s happening to me. With every second, I seem to lose sight of myself and she moves further out of my reach. Fate continually plays games with my life, and it played the biggest game of all by giving me the love of my life and then ripping her from my arms.
When I look forward again, Quinn is running his hands through Rosalyn’s hair. He tenderly tells her, “I’ve missed you every second I’ve been away from you.”
Scarlett grabs my hand and makes me turn around so my back is to them. “Look at me, Lawrence.” When I raise my eyes to meet hers, she explains, “Rosalyn’s fate is to be with them. You two were interfering with something far bigger than you realized when you got together, and all you did was leave a path of broken hearts in your wake.” Looking around, I see Jacque, and she’s looking at the same scene with her fists clenched. “Not only are you devastated, but so is Rosalyn. If you think she isn’t hurting, you’re wrong,” she tells me tragically. Looking at Rosalyn, I catch her eyes, and she looks down quickly. I return my eyes to Scarlett. “She’s doing her best to keep going and move on. You need to do the same.” There’s fire in her eyes when she says, “What Andreya did to the two of you was wrong. You can never be together. Stop trying to keep her tethered to you. Let her go.” She shakes my arms to try to get it through my head.
My lips thin. “You know nothing of love, Scarlett, so don’t talk to me about it,” I snap at her in anger as I pull away.
“Lawrence,” she mutters on trembling lips, “you’re so wrong.” She steps closer to me, glaring. “You need to let go before you drag everybody under and get people killed. Your head needs to be focused on this mission.” She slams her fists into my chest and hisses, “If I die because of you and your games, I’ll never forgive you.” She snarls. “Rosalyn is the leader. Either learn to follow her orders or fucking leave.” Turning on her heels, she marches away.
Dazed, I stare straight ahead until I feel a hand on my arm. “What are you doing, Lawrence?” the sweet voice of my wife asks.
Looking straight ahead, I answer, “I can’t watch you with those other men and pretend like I’m okay with it. It’s more than I can bear, Rosalyn.”
Rosalyn walks in front of me and lays a hand on my shoulder. “This morning, I heard you were with Jacque, and I was furious.” My eyes meet hers, hope beating in my chest. “That doesn’t change the fact that when I found out about this prophecy, I knew those four men had captured my heart. Don’t think for a second that I don’t love you, Lawrence.” She gulps and looks away for a brief second. “What you don’t understand is I’m not in love with you anymore.” Her voice is thick as unshed tears glisten in her eyes. “They get me now, Lawrence, not you. You need to understand that what we had is over and will never be again.” She rubs my shoulder tenderly and softly says, “I don’t want to do this to you, but I’m not yours to keep.” She gets up on her toes and gives me a chaste kiss on my lips before leaning over and whispering in my ear, “I’ll always love you, Lawrence. You were the first man I chose to love, but it’s time to let go.” She gives me a hug, and I crush her to me. That’s what you do when the woman you love is about to walk away from you.
When I let her go, she walks toward Alaric and Quinn. She looks back at me with tears in her eyes. One falls down her cheek, and Quinn catches it. My eyes narrow. Taking a step, I move to confront him when we all hear howling. As I look up, I see wolves racing toward us. It’s official. We’ve arrived in the Wildlands. Alaric and Jacque transform into wolves, and all of us prepare for battle. I count ten wolves headed toward us.
We run to meet them head-on. Rosalyn’s voice is in my head. We each pick a wolf and kill them. No one lives. We protect Scarlett at all costs. If you see someone struggling and
can help, do it. Let’s go. We’ve got this.
My eyes are set on a wolf dark as a night with no moon. It has blood dripping from its mouth. Rolling, I pull my other knife from my boot. Using my telekinesis, I throw the wolf on the ground. Not wanting to use my knife unless I have to, I whisper, “Somnum.” Inhaling sharply, I use a spell of my own making. “Your heart is mine and will beat no more.”
Glancing around, it’s utter chaos. It’s hard to tell friend from foe when it comes to the Lycanthropes. Xavier is playing with his opponent. It’s crippled on the ground in pain. There’s a growl behind me, and I’m thrown to the ground. The wolf’s jaw snaps just centimeters from my neck, and I throw it off me. Jumping up, I go after it. When our eyes meet, I see its are crazed. Scarlett steps into its path as it runs back at me.
Scarlett freezes. She runs a second too late. The wolf jumps to rip out her throat. “Scarlett!” Rosalyn screams. The wolf flies back, and its head is ripped off, covering Scarlett in blood.
I sprint to Scarlett and shake her. She stares at me and doesn’t respond. She needs to snap out of it. If there are more wolves coming, she must be ready.
I’m ripped away from Scarlett. “What the hell was that, Lawrence?” Rosalyn yells. “Did you not hear me say protect her at all costs? You were just standing there.”
Flexing my arms, I glare at her. “You interrupted when I was getting ready to use my powers.”
Throwing her hands to the sky, she walks to Scarlett and grabs her. “You almost got her killed. I should’ve never let you come on this mission. You’re going to be the death of us all,” she tells me as she storms away.
When I turn around, I see that I’m one of the only ones not covered in blood, and everyone is glaring at me. When did I become public enemy number one?
Alizon comes to me slowly. “She’s being unfair,” she tells me. “You’re doing a good job, Lawrence. I saw you. You were doing your best to protect both you and Scarlett. If she hadn’t stepped in the path of that wolf, she wouldn’t have almost gotten killed.” She leans in and whispers, “Rosalyn saw you almost get killed, and I think this is misplaced anger and panic. She’s responsible for everyone here. She’s going to feel terrible if she loses someone from this mission. Putting blame on someone else for something going wrong is how she’s handling it, and it looks like you’re that person. I’m sorry.” She walks away from me and moves back to Xavier.
Decadence (Tree of Life Series Book 1) Page 24