Justin scoffed. “Bring the girl in here. Or are you afraid of her being unmasked?”
“These are serious accusations,” Mr. Morgan said with a frown. “Who are you accusing of this?”
“Anna,” Justin said triumphantly. “The pretty white wolf who showed up here with no explanation for where she’d come from.”
The council members exchanged glances among themselves. “Her lack of background is odd for many reasons,” Mr. Reed said with a frown.
Justin smirked at Austin. “And I have several of your pack mates who are willing to to support my accusations.”
“Austin, perhaps it would be best for you to bring her in,” Mr. Morgan suggested.
Justin grinned in delight and I wanted to punch the smug look right off his face. “Yes, Austin, bring her here to answer for her crimes.”
Mr. Reed scowled at Justin. “Bringing accusations against another wolf without merit is a serious crime. For your sake, I hope you aren’t wasting our time.”
Anna had come with us in case we needed her to testify against Justin, but I didn’t like this at all.
Several enforcers were sent to escort Anna in from where she had been waiting outside of the council chambers. She walked in with her head held high, but I could tell that she was nervous.
“Anna, I hate to see you again under these circumstances,” Mr. Morgan said. “But there have been some serious accusations made against you.”
Anna swallowed nervously and I hated that Justin had put her in this situation.
“You’ve been accused of murdering your fellow pack members and draining the magic out of them using fae powers that you have kept hidden from this council. What do you have to say in your defense?”
“I first want to say that I’m innocent of those accusations,” Anna said firmly but politely. “I have never harmed another one of my pack mates.”
“And the accusations of you having fae powers?”
Anna hesitated and looked toward Austin and I could tell by the looks on everyone’s faces that her hesitation was as good as an admission of guilt. Fuck.
“If I may?” One of the enforcers spoke up. “We have a witch on the premises who has been helping us with a case completely unrelated to this one. Jade has proved herself to be a friend to the council over the last year and I believe she could be an impartial judge of Anna’s…heritage.”
Mr. Morgan gave a nod and Jade was ushered in. I recognized the witch from when we had hired her in the past, but I hadn’t been aware she was in the area. We hadn’t crossed the witches off the list as suspects in our murder cases, and Jade’s name just moved a couple spots up the list.
“Jade, we called you in here to help us identify the source of Anna’s magic. Would you be able to identify if she’s fae or wolf?”
Jade nodded confidently. “Anna and I have met before.” She moved closer to Anna to take her hand. “But the last time we met; you had a barrier over the majority of your magic.”
“To hide it?” Mr. Morgan asked with a frown.
Jade shrugged. “It wasn’t any of my business at the time, but I can see that the barrier is now gone.”
“And her magic?” Mr. Morgan prompted.
Jade closed her eyes to focus and the room was absolutely silent as if everyone was holding their breath for Jade to answer. “That’s odd,” Jade said with a frown. “I can feel some fae magic, your natural magic as a wolf, but I also sense the magic of several other wolves inside you. I’ve never heard of that being possible without the death of the other wolves.” Jade dropped Anna’s hand as if horrified and the room exploded into motion.
Enforcers surrounded Anna as if she was a dangerous criminal, and she backed up as if she was terrified. Justin smirked as Austin shouted at the enforcers not to touch Anna. Two of the council members were telling Austin to back down, and violence simmered in the air.
I tried to push my way through the line of enforcers to get to Anna, but two of them threatened to tranq me before I could even get close to her.
Because I couldn’t get to Anna without making the situation worse, I stood by Austin. He calmed down slightly when the enforcers had merely surrounded Anna but not harmed her. “Aus, relax,” I told him with the pack bond. “If you’re not cool and rational, they won’t listen to your arguments.”
Austin gave me a quick nod and I could tell he was communicating with Anna. Her eyes were wide and scared, but she was handling this really well. I knew she had the ability to take down the entire room full of wolves without breaking a sweat, but she hadn’t moved against any of them. That showed a lot of self-control and restraint on her part.
The room settled as Mr. Morgan called for order. “Thank you, Jade. Do you have anything else to offer?”
Jade shook her head. “I have no idea why anyone would do something like that. Is getting a little more power really worth the death of other wolves?” She turned to Anna. “You already have so much, why would you want more?”
I could see Austin vibrating with rage and I laid a hand on his arm to try and calm him.
“Thank you, Jade,” Mr. Morgan said. “Justin, who were the witnesses from Austin’s pack that you had mentioned?”
How had Justin managed to turn the situation around on us? We had come here to accuse him of Emily’s death and have him locked up so that he couldn’t hurt anyone else until we found more evidence to link him to Blendel’s and Derek’s deaths. I had expected him to fight us or fling accusations back in our direction. But Austin and I had assumed he would come after Austin directly, neither of us had expected an attack on Anna. If we had, we would have left her safe and protected in Seaside, not brought her here into the lion’s den.
“Blaze and Tony,” Justin called out.
The two men were brought in and while Tony avoided Austin’s eyes, Blaze had no problem meeting them. “This might seem like a betrayal now,” Blaze called to Austin. “But once you’re free of her influence, you’ll see her for what she really is. I swore an oath to protect you and the rest of our pack and I won’t let you down.”
Austin shook his head. “You’re wrong.”
“Gentlemen, let’s hear what you have to say,” Mr. Morgan interrupted.
Blaze described how he and his team had come back to the states to find that Austin and five other pack mates had quickly fallen for Anna. “The biggest red flag was James,” Blaze stated. “That man has never been capable of feeling an emotion like love.”
I clenched my fists angrily. James might be an asshole most of the time, but it had been a good thing that Anna had managed to thaw his heart and show him that love was possible, even for him.
Tony stepped in to describe Anna’s mysterious disappearances that were never explained. He told the council how Austin had invited a member of the fae to live with them and how he had instructed the pack to start adopting the ways of the fae, beginning with sword training. But Tony didn’t stop there, he told an exaggerated account of the events that had led to Gemma’s unmasking and Talen’s death.
“Who’s to say that the fight between Gemma and Anna wasn’t just a fight between two fae that both wanted to feed off the same pack of unsuspecting wolves?” Blaze pointed out. “I overheard the twins discussing what Gemma had done to them and Jade just stated that Anna is capable of doing the same. It’s no coincidence that our pack mates are showing up dead and drained of their magic.”
I couldn’t believe Tony would betray us after everything Austin had done for him and Alex, and I had considered Blaze to be like a brother for years. He might have been overseas for the last year, but that wasn’t enough to excuse him from what he was doing to Anna right now. If he had concerns, he should have come to me or Aus, not brought the council into this.
“Austin,” Mr. Reed said. “We’re going to have to ask you to excuse yourself from the following discussions for obvious reasons.”
I could feel waves of anger rolling off Austin, but I wasn’t sure how to handle this. Austin wa
s usually the one who was in control of every situation and guided the rest of us on what we needed to do. “We need some time to figure out how to handle this anyway,” I told Austin with the bond. “Let’s step out of here.”
Austin acknowledged that he heard me, but he didn’t respond. “I request that Anna be relinquished into my custody,” he asked the council.
“Denied,” Mr. Morgan stated. “The crimes she is accused of are serious and by your inability to see the strong case against her, I have to assume that you’ve fallen under her fae influence.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Austin said.
“Calm, dude,” I sent him through the bond. “You’re hurting Anna more than helping her right now.”
“She won’t be harmed unless she attacks the guards,” Mr. Phillips assured Austin.
Austin took a deep breath, but I could tell it was taking all of his self control not to attack when Anna was led away. “Don’t worry,” I sent to Anna. “We just need some time to clear this up.”
Guilt flooded through me when Anna looked back at me with hopeful and trusting eyes. I had no idea how we were going to dig ourselves out of this shithole, but I needed to get Austin’s head back in the game if we were going to save Anna.
Chapter 16
Anna
I sat down on the cot in the cell that the enforcers had directed me into. They were all hesitant to touch me, as if I were just waiting to suck the life right out of them. It hurt me that they looked at me with caution and kept their hands on their weapons at all times. This is what I had been afraid of since the moment that I’d found out I was something other than a regular wolf.
Cody had assured me that everything would be okay as I was led out of the council’s presence like a criminal, but how could it? Even I had to admit the evidence seemed damning, even though I knew most of it was lies. Jade’s testimony had shocked me. At first, I thought that she was mistaking my mate bonds for a foreign wolf presence inside of me. It wasn’t until I sensed the darkness inside of her that I realized she was probably the witch that had been helping Justin kill our pack mates. Did she realize that the whispers in her mind were from the fae?
I knew that standing up in front of the council and ranting about an ancient fae power of darkness influencing Justin and Jade wouldn’t have helped my case at all. It would have just made me look like a complete lunatic. I wish I hadn’t been escorted out of the room, because I’d like to hear the council’s debate on Justin. There was no way anyone could believe that he wasn’t unhinged after ranting about wolves getting their rightful place in the world. He had sounded like the wolf version of Hitler.
I closed my eyes and tried to push aside all of my worry to focus on what I could do in this situation. Panicking wouldn’t help me; I needed a plan. The most damaging part of the testimony against me had been Jade’s assertion that I was fae and had stolen the magic of other wolves. My first step would have to be finding a way to discredit her. The problem was that part of what she had said was actually true. I was actually half fae. After everything that had just happened, there was no way that the council would believe that I was an innocent child of the fae. They would condemn me for my heritage alone.
My eyes snapped open when the enforcers set to guard my cell filed out of the jail and let the door shut behind them with a metal clank. To my surprise, Justin then entered the area with two other men. “Did you seriously come here just to gloat over me being locked up here?” I asked derisively.
Justin smiled at me, but the darkness radiating from him gave me pause. Whatever was going on with him, it had gotten worse. “Not at all, Anna. I’m here to save you.”
Before I could throw up a magic barrier to protect myself, I felt a sting in my arm and looked down to see a dart. I hurriedly pulled it out, but I could already feel my vision getting hazy. I wrapped a barrier around myself, hoping it would keep me safe even if I did pass out from whatever Justin had drugged me with. As I slid down to the floor, I saw both guys pulling what looked like welding equipment out of their bags. Were they kidding right now? Why not just get the key?
“Make it look like she used magic to escape,” Justin urged them.
I tried to use my bond with Austin and Cody to contact them for help, but I was already weak and fumbling. The evil gleam in Justin’s eyes was the last thing I saw before I passed out.
Chapter 17
Anna
I woke up to the unmistakable sound of a plane in flight. I blinked in confusion and tried to clear the fuzziness that was preventing my brain from functioning correctly. The sound of Justin’s voice brought everything back in a rush. I tried to sit up but grimaced at the heavy weight of chains around my wrists and ankles along with a heavy collar around my neck. Panic set in when I reached for my magic and couldn’t sense it – at all. I frantically searched within myself for even the little spark of magic that I would have used to trigger my shift and I felt nothing. My breathing came heavier and faster. Having the ability to use magic to protect myself had made me more confident and bolder. Without that extra layer of protection, I felt like the old Anna again. I felt helpless and weak.
I tried to calm down, knowing that my panic could be making the situation worse. Maybe I needed my metabolism to burn more of the drugs out of my system? I’d never heard of a tranquilizer being able to cut someone off from their ability to shift, but I knew that hunger and exhaustion could make the little spark of magic within us almost imperceptible. But it would have taken a lot to drain me of my fae magic, and why couldn’t I sense the magic inside of anything or anyone around me? I should have been able to take in ambient magic from around me to refuel.
Heavy boots thudded in my direction and I looked up to see Justin heading towards me with an annoying smirk on his face. “Were you admiring your new jewelry?” he asked in delight. “I had it made especially for you out of pure iron.”
I stared at him blankly. Could iron be what was blocking my ability to sense magic? It seemed unbelievable that something so simple could accomplish something so devastating, but nothing about magic was logical.
Justin crouched near me and I flinched when he reached out to touch the collar. “In the fae world, they use these to keep control of their prisoners. Iron blocks your ability to sense or touch any type of magic at all, and it also continuously drains the magic within you so that you can never replenish.” Justin laughed. “Of course, the fae can’t live without their magic, so it ends up being fatal for most of them. But as long as you cooperate with what I need, I won’t need to keep it on you for that long.”
Madness glowed from within Justin’s eyes and I knew I was in deep shit. “Where are you taking me?” I asked cautiously.
Even if Justin hadn’t gone through the trouble of making it look like I had deliberately broken out of the council’s jail to reinforce their assumption of my guilt, I still would have known that Justin had something nefarious planned.
Justin smiled. “We’re going back to your mother’s homeland. Rest up, because this is going to be difficult without your magic to help you through.” Justin pulled a syringe out of his jacket pocket and uncapped it. I scooted back as far as I could, but there was nowhere for me to go. Knowing I couldn’t get away, I prepared myself to attack when he came close enough. But my body was still sluggish from the drugs and Justin subdued me with an ease that was humiliating. After he had jabbed me with the syringe full of drugs, he inhaled my scent deeply. I struggled against him, but my body was growing weaker by the second.
“How do you think Austin would feel if I took you right now?”
“You need someone else to tie down helpless women for you?” I managed to mutter through lips that didn’t want to obey my command to move.
Justin laughed and nuzzled my neck as I attempted to head-butt him without success. “I can wait,” he murmured in my ear. “My victory will be sweeter if you give yourself to me willingly.” Justin let me fall to the ground and I saw his boots heading away from me
as my eyes slowly closed.
Hate burned through me as I started to fade back into unconsciousness. I had no idea how I was going to get out of this, but I wasn’t willing to be a helpless victim again. I would find a way to fight back and take Justin down.
Chapter 18
Anna
I was floating in a world full of nothing but white mist. It was peaceful and calm, but deep down I had the feeling that something wasn’t right. There was something that I needed to be doing right now.
I glided through the sky until the mists parted and my feet touched the ground. Wherever I was, it was absolutely beautiful here. Bright green grass was studded with wildflowers and the sun shown brightly in a cerulean blue sky. The air was sweet with the natural perfume of the flowers and I could hear birds chirping from the forest to my left.
“Anna?” a female voice called to me.
I turned to see a tall blond woman who was the mirror image of Ingrid. Only where Ingrid had hard eyes, rigid posture, and a cold attitude, this woman exuded warmth and familiarity. I took a step closer to her and gazed into green eyes that were so much like my own. The softness and vulnerability there told me exactly who this was.
“Mom?” I whispered, tears streaming down my face.
“Anna!” she cried out as she ran towards me. I held my arms open and she crashed into me and held me tight. It was more than a few moments until either of us were ready to pull away, but she held onto my shoulders. “My sweet baby girl, let me look at you.”
I smiled at her, but I examined her just as much as she did me. My mother looked exactly like Ingrid, only slightly younger and not far from my own age. “Ingrid gave me a picture of you holding me as a baby,” I told her as she wiped her eyes.
Astrid laughed through her tears. “It seems like just yesterday that picture was taken, it’s so hard to believe that you’re grown up already. How did you get into the dream world?”
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