Wild and Free

by Kristen Ashley

  “Ruby, Jezza, Flo…Yuri’s vowed to keep you safe,” Aurora added at that juncture.

  “I believe, my sweet, I vowed to keep you safe,” Yuri drawled, and she jerked her head around and back to look up at him.

  “And, by extension, my sisters,” she declared.

  “It doesn’t work like that, Aurora,” he explained.

  She turned fully to him. “Well, vow you’ll keep them safe.”

  His tone didn’t change when he replied, “I will not.”

  “Yuri!” she cried. “You’ve vowed to keep me safe. I don’t know why you can’t do the same for them.”

  He bent slightly toward her. “I like you.”

  He left it there. Then again, him leaving it there said it all.

  Abel’s lips were again twitching.

  She leaned into him and hissed, “I can’t believe you!”

  “All right, all right,” Gregor broke in, and Abel looked to him to see his gaze on the other witches. “I’ll vow to keep you safe. Does that work?”

  “Works for me,” Barb said instantly. “Now, when’s breakfast? I’m starved.”

  “Barb!” Flo exclaimed.

  Barb turned gentle eyes to her sister and said softly, “Video.”

  All the witches suddenly started looking at anything that wasn’t breathing and shuffled their feet.

  They’d seen the videos.

  This surprised Abel. He cut his eyes to Aurora, who was still glaring up at Yuri, then to Yuri, who was looking at Abel.

  “Barb saw it before I could stop her. Aurora has not seen it, nor will she,” he declared.

  “Keep that oath, brother,” Abel muttered.

  Yuri dipped his chin.

  Abel looked to the other witches. “Stay. You’d be fools to go out there. These assholes we’re dealin’ with are cold as ice. Don’t know you and still know you’re a lot better people than they are, seein’ as it would be hard not to be. So it’d suck you not bein’ on this earth.” His looked to Gregor. “That’s it. I said my bit. Now, if you’ll let me know when that potion’s done, I’d appreciate it.”

  On that, seeing as he didn’t have time for that shit considering the fact he had to prepare to find out where his brother was, he walked out.

  * * * * *

  Abel was training as wolf with Callum, Ryon, Calder, and Caleb when he saw Xun heading their way.

  He communicated this to his brothers, turned, jogged to his clothes, and jumped to man.

  He had his jeans on, the others around him having turned into man and also dressing, when Xun made it to them.

  “Patricio took a day-trip this morning,” Xun said as an opener. “Gregor put a human on him. He drove about a hundred miles out, had his meet, they took his head.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Abel snarled.

  “Guess they’re not taking any chances,” Calder muttered.

  “That’s it?” Callum asked.

  “The guy we sent after him couldn’t get close enough to hear what they were saying. He just reported the conversation didn’t last long before things got bloody. Figure they weren’t real big on the rest of those concubines gettin’ rescued last night and decided cleanup crews were necessary.”

  All the missions had been successful the night before and a further twelve had been rescued utilizing local intel on turncoat vampires.

  That still left hundreds in the hands of the enemy, though they’d had no more videos or any other communication, such as threats or ransom demands.

  “’Nother bit of news,” Xun went on. “That Gastineau phantom has been in touch.”

  “And he said…?” Abel asked.

  “Said he’s on it,” Xun answered.

  “Nothing more?” Callum pressed.

  “Nope, just that he’s on it,” Xun told him.

  Abel looked to Callum. “You got any clue what that means?”

  “My read, the phantoms don’t like their queen held captive, but they aren’t asking for allies to assist in rescuing her,” Callum replied.

  “They got what it takes to be successful on their own?” Abel asked.

  “Phantoms and wraiths are like brothers and sisters,” Callum said. “You watch them, you’d think they hated each other. But you are not one of their own and say one word against them, they’ll rip your head off. So I would assume he’s very determined to be successful. Whether his determination will bear fruit…” He shrugged.

  Abel broke it down. “So now we got no inside men, a bunch of concubines who are in mortal danger, a rogue phantom determined to rescue his mate and the outcome of that is iffy, a gaggle of witches in the compound who don’t want to be here because they hate vampires, and they got magic. And last, we got fuck all knowledge of what our enemies are planning next, but the last shit they pulled was fucked way the hell up. Did I get it all?”

  Callum grinned a grin that was more a grimace and confirmed, “You got it all.”

  “So we’re again sitting on our hands,” Abel concluded.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Callum replied.

  Abel made a nonverbal snarl.

  Callum looked to Calder. “Perhaps you should go back to your network.”

  Calder shook his head. “Told you, brother, this True identified, recruited, and closed ranks. There’s no getting in. And the only way out is to give up your head. The single shot we had was the wraiths and they had to give it up to save The Three. Other than that, no one has heard anything and it’d be impossible to infiltrate.”

  “I need to get my hands on another one,” Abel declared, and all eyes came to him. “The ones who met Patricio, did our guy follow them?”

  “Not his orders,” Xun answered. “Stay safe. Report back. We all know it’s not safe gettin’ near these guys. He did his job, finished it breathing, and is on his way back.”

  Dead end.

  Abel kept at it.

  “During the rescues, were any vampires detained?”

  Callum shook his head. “To my knowledge, so far, the need for termination was utilized.”

  “Then we need to tell the teams who locate the next concubines to bring a vampire in breathing,” Abel returned.

  “Even if we found one, they’re chipped,” Ryon pointed out. “They’d know that he, or she, has been to the compound.”

  “Then I go to them,” Abel returned.

  “Brother,” Xun said quietly.

  Abel looked to him. “Saved twenty-seven women with what I got outta Miko.”

  “You did, within the safety of the compound,” Callum noted.

  “Yeah,” Abel shot back. “Now we don’t got that choice. So we locate one, or twelve or a hundred of those motherfuckers, and go to them.”

  Callum held his eyes.

  Then he turned to Ryon. “We’re tracking the three men who Miko was entertaining, yes?”

  “Yes,” Ryon confirmed.

  Callum turned back to Abel. “Lucien’s in constant contact with Cosmo. We’ll watch those three men. They might lead us to someone. We’ll notify all those on the hunt for concubines to attempt to bring the vampire captors in alive. And we’ll ask Lucien to tell Cosmo to put together a team to aggressively hunt The True, find a vulnerable one, or several of them, then we go in.”

  “Puts Cosmo out there, man,” Xun pointed out.

  “He’s already out there as he’s already trying to sniff them out. But we’ll send Stephanie to him. Teffie will have his back,” Callum replied. “And Cosmo will be setting up a team. Won’t be difficult to find vampires willing to undertake a dangerous mission. We just have to approach ones who had their concubines taken.”

  “Brother, those vampires will be hostile and unstable,” Ryon warned.

  “They’ll also be determined,” Callum returned.

  “The vampires don’t want escalation,” Ryon told him. “They want to end this as quietly as possible.”

  “Rape and murder were videotaped and posted to share with the masses, Ryon,” Callum noted. “I think quie
t is becoming an impossibility.”

  Ryon studied his cousin a moment before jerking up his chin.

  “Let’s get on this,” Abel growled, bending to snatch up his thermal.

  “Right,” Callum agreed.

  They finished dressing. They went back to the compound. They did their thing.

  Then, fuck them all, they had nothing else to do but wait.

  * * * * *

  “You got any more of these macadamia nuts, Yuri?” Ruby asked, lounging in an armchair by a window in the library, one leg thrown over an arm, popping macadamia nuts into her mouth after plucking them from a huge-ass silver bowl that lay on her round stomach.

  Abel, sitting on a couch next to Delilah and opposite Aurora, who was staring at her bowl on the table between them, her eyebrows pulled together, looked to the witch.

  Yuri, standing behind Aurora, looked to his witch.

  Aurora twisted her neck and looked up at her vampire.

  Then she aimed her eyes back at the bowl on the table and said, “Ruby, can you please be cool? We’re doing something important here.”

  “What’s not cool about wanting more macadamia nuts?” Ruby asked. “It’s not like anything is happening.”

  “I’d like to know that too,” Jabber said, wandering over to Ruby. “You mind?” he asked her.

  “Got no problem sharing the wealth,” Ruby answered, lifting the bowl to Jabber. He took a massive handful, several of them dropping to the carpet.

  At that, Abel’s eyes shifted through the room.

  All the witches were there, as were Jian-Li, Xun, Wei, and Chen. Hook was there too.

  Yuri was there because Abel reckoned he didn’t let Aurora too far out of his sight. And with them were Jabber, Moose, and Gregor.

  His family being there, Abel could get. Aurora had told him the potion was ready and a reading was due any second. His family would want to be close to him when he found out where his brother was. And Hook was now family.

  He had no fucking clue why the rest were there.

  He turned his eyes to Delilah and she gave him big ones before she shrugged.

  Not getting the answer he wanted, he decided to communicate verbally.

  “You wanna help me out, pussycat?”

  “They’re here for moral support,” she explained.

  “You wanna help me out, pussycat?” he repeated and watched her fight her grin.

  “Jesus! What’s takin’ so fuckin’ long?” Hook suddenly exploded.

  “Hook, calm. It’ll happen when it happens,” Jian-Li said. “Patience.”

  “It’s not like we’re waitin’ for cookies to bake, for Christ’s sake,” Hook fired back. “A man’s waiting to find his long-lost brother.” He pinned Aurora with his gaze. “Girl, I get this is probably a delicate procedure, but you said you were close and we been in this room for forty-five minutes.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand,” Aurora replied, shaking her head. “It should be ready.” She looked back to the bowl with confusion. “It’s given every indication it’s ready.”

  “It’s magic and magic is done when magic is done,” Barb put in from her spot next to her daughter on the couch.

  “Which means it could take some time so we need more macadamia nuts,” Ruby added.

  Abel growled.

  “And some beer,” Moose threw in, prowling toward the window, which meant prowling toward the bowl of nuts.

  Abel caught Delilah’s eyes and growled again.

  “Yuri, son, can’t she zap it with a wand or somethin’?” Hook asked.

  “I’ve no idea,” Yuri returned. “I’m a vampire, not a witch. And no offense intended, Hook, but I’m six hundred and fifty years older than you so I’m far from your son.”

  Aurora let out a nervous giggle.

  “You get me though, yeah?” Hook asked.

  “I do, indeed, get you,” Yuri replied, and Aurora let out another nervous giggle, this one she stifled.

  “Honey,” Delilah said softly, and Abel watched her lean toward Aurora. “My man is two hundred years old. He’s lived his entire life around humans. Humans he watched being born and fell in love with. Then he watched them grow until they grew old and died. He only found out he had an immortal brother a few days ago. A brother who’s been looking out for him. A brother who could be in his life for the rest of it, which is a very long time. This is tough on him. If that stuff isn’t ready yet, maybe we should go so he could turn his mind to other things.”

  Abel wanted to kiss her, but instead, for some reason, he looked to Jian-Li, who was sitting in a chair positioned at the end of the couches.

  She was watching Delilah, her face soft, her eyes a mixture of warm, happy, and melancholy. But finally, since Delilah showed in their lives, the warm and happy were winning out.

  “I—” Aurora started, then cried, “Oh! It’s happening!”

  Abel tensed and Delilah shot back and leaned into his side, her hand coming out to grip his knee.

  A poof of gray, green, and red smoke exploded out of the bowl with some green and red sparks. It lifted up, floating straight into the air before it disbursed at the ceiling.

  Aurora leaned over the bowl.

  “I…wait…but…oh no!” she cried and looked to her mother. “He’s blocked us!”

  “Fuck,” Abel snarled.

  “Goddammit!” Hook burst out.

  “Let me see,” Barb said, leaning forward too. Attention never leaving the bowl, she lifted her hand her daughter’s way, palm up. “Athame, sweetheart.”

  Immediately, Aurora reached for a knife on the table and handed it to her mother. Barb used the tip of the blade to stir the liquid in the bowl and they both mumbled over it.

  Then Abel saw it happening and knew Delilah did too because he heard her gasp.

  The image of a compass formed, undulating with the liquid but looking like it was spinning.

  Barb pulled the knife out.

  “There it is, there it is,” she whispered. “There!” she exclaimed.

  He leaned forward, Delilah leaned with him, he felt everyone gather around them and lean in too, and in the bowl they saw a street map.

  “Drat! He’s cloaked,” Aurora snapped.

  “What’s that in the bowl?” Delilah asked.

  Aurora sat back and lifted her eyes to Delilah. “A street map. Where he is. It should pinpoint him with some kind of beacon, but it isn’t. We just have that street map and nothing further. And that map could be anywhere.”

  Abel heard a camera click and looked up to see Chen had taken a picture of the map with his phone.

  He wandered away, head bent to his phone, muttering, “Let me see what I can do with this.”

  “Use Abel.”

  Abel’s head jerked back to look at Yuri, who said these words.

  “I’m sorry?” Jian-Li asked.

  Yuri looked to her. “Aurora said if she touched Abel, she could find his brother.” He cast his eyes down to Aurora. “Use Abel, my sweet.”

  “He’s so digging on her,” Delilah whispered to no one, her lips tipped up, her gaze on Yuri.

  “Use me,” Abel said, and Delilah turned her attention to him.

  “I…well, I already did. I used your blood,” she told him.

  “Try again,” he replied.

  “Um…are you sure?” Aurora asked.

  “Would it harm him?” Jian-Li asked.

  “No, but it could take even more time,” Aurora answered. “I only didn’t suggest it before because the potion had been marinating and, as you know, should have produced results a while ago.”

  Abel stood. “Use me.”

  Aurora pressed her lips together, straightened from the couch, and moved to him.

  “If we’re lucky, this will go fast. But if he’s blocked us, it may take a while,” she shared.

  “Whatever,” he muttered. “Just do it.”

  “Ladies, let’s help her out,” Barb called, moving from the couch to come close t
o where Aurora joined Abel.

  Delilah stood and backed away to give them room as Aurora took his hand and led him to an open area. The other witches circled them.

  “Ready?” Aurora asked.

  “Yep,” he answered.

  She nodded.

  Then they started. Lifting their hands, all of them, they began chanting. It was disjointed at first, then they got it together and chanted as one.

  It turned out Aurora was right.

  It did not go fast. Green and red sparkling motes drifted up from their hands and floated all around Abel, but nothing happened.

  They kept chanting and the motes kept coming, floating, blinking out, and disappearing.

  More chanting. More motes. More nothing.

  This went on for what felt like fucking ever and Abel trained his eyes on Delilah.

  “Keep with it, baby,” she called her encouragement.

  He stood, crossed his arms on his chest, and kept with it.

  Barb’s voice started rising and the rest of the witches’ voices rose with hers. They weren’t shouting, but they were loud and more motes formed. Tons of them. They lit the space to the point Abel could see nothing but them.

  More chanting (a lot more) and they stopped floating and started swirling.

  “What the fuck?” he heard Hook ask.

  But he couldn’t see him. He was enveloped in red and green sparks that were spinning around him, now so fast, they were streaks.

  “Shh, Hook,” Jian-Li shushed him.

  More chanting. More motes. And now the things were blowing like a breeze in his hair and against his clothes and skin.

  The witches got louder.

  “I am not liking this,” Delilah said.

  Then Abel growled and crouched as if to turn to wolf, his fangs descending when he felt it, the threat, right before the swirls exploded in a firework of white sparks and all five of the witches flew back, right to their asses, Aurora doing it and landing on the edge of the table.

  Yuri was at her side in a flash, down on a knee, bending over her.

  But the threat was gone.

  Abel retracted his fangs.

  The motes were also gone. The sparks were gone. The room was clear.

  “She good?” Abel asked.

  Not taking his attention from Aurora, Yuri answered, “Banged up but okay.”