7. Weston
Chapter 7
Here, with more light, I could see her in minute detail. She was so beautiful it hurt to breathe. Perfection in the flesh, my dream woman conjured up for just me to enjoy.
Her teeth were bared and pain showed clearly in her beautiful sunburst eyes as she advanced on me with some sort of long, thin object. It looked almost like a knitting needle, aimed for my face. Stunned by her appearance and aggression, by the exquisite feel of her presence, I didn’t move.
“I got it, Alpha.” Dante labored forward, blood pouring from a deep wound in his shoulder. He also held a weapon of sorts, something round and blunt. He swung it toward her before I could snap myself out of my stupor.
“No,” I barked, reaching forward to stop him but it was too late. He crashed the object down onto her head with a sickening crack.
Bile rose up into my throat. I struck out before I’d thought about it, landing a hard blow to his wound. He sucked in a surprised breath, his knees giving out. He sank to the ground as I grabbed the crumpling woman. Her feeble weapon fell from suddenly limp fingers and tinkled along the floor.
“No one touches her,” I growled, anger riding that command. I sank to the ground with her in my arms, one hand on her head to stem the flow of blood and the other arm wrapped around her back. Her skull was crushed in that area, the bone splintered. A shifter would come back easily. She would not.
Panic quickened my heart.
“Hurry! Tanix, get the Everlass elixir. The miracle worker.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Tanix said, yanking an axe out of Sixten’s chest as he passed by. Tanix was the only one of the four in the room who hadn’t felt my true mate’s wrath.
I squashed down the pride. She wasn’t mine. I had to remember that. She was a stranger, an enemy. She was nothing but a natural, magical connection that I had no control over. It didn’t somehow make her the love of my life. It just made me want to fuck her.
“And protect her, and claim her as ours,” my wolf said, and that was true, too. But none of that was anything I could give in to. My duty and my kingdom forbade it, as did all the people I was sworn to lead and protect.
“What’s... going on?” Sixten said as Dante gave a ragged cough from where he still knelt, bowed in pain. “Why are we patching up the enemy?”
I gritted my teeth and thought about lying. I’d never be able to hide this, though, not for any length of time. My body would respond to her even if I did not.
“First, because I have reason to believe she’s one of the people we came here to find,” I said, my voice filling the small space. “I cataloged her leaving the workhouse on the edge of the forest, by the creek. It’s very likely she has a hand in creating the product we’re trying to eradicate. Second...” I swallowed, not wanting to admit my connection to someone who’d done such terrible deeds. “She’s my true mate.”
Sixten sucked in a sharp breath. Dead silence filled the cottage for a long moment. The atmosphere changed, shifted, now heavy with uncertainty and shock.
“Are you sure, Alpha?” Dante said. “She’s hot, but maybe?—“
“Enough,” I barked, rage spiking at his notice of her.
“Of course he’s sure, idiot,” Sixten murmured, her hand still palming her chest. Dark red blood seeped down to her belt line. “The second someone meets their true mate, they know.”
“And you saw her last night?” Niven asked, arms wrapped around the axe wound in his stomach.
“Yes. I knew then.” I didn’t elaborate about what happened after. “Her animal is suppressed. As far as I can tell, it always has been.”
“Can you feel it calling to your wolf?” Sixten asked in a hush.
“Yes, but it’ll remain suppressed. She’s already deadly fast and agile. I assume she is, at any rate, given the state of you lot.”
All three nodded slowly.
Dante said, “I didn’t even have time to react, bro. She was wicked fast.”
“Wicked fast,” Sixten repeated. “She nearly sliced off a tit. I didn’t see it coming and I was the third to get a whack.”
Tanix hurried back in, both hands holding an elixir. He held one up. “Miracle cure or”—he held up the other—“normal cure?”
“Miracle,” I said softly, bowed over the woman with one hand still on the bleeding wound and the other across her neck, two fingers feeling her pulse flutter too rapidly. She was losing too much blood. “Hurry!”
“I’m just going to sit over here and put my feet up for a sec,” Sixten groaned, staggering to a rocking chair facing a smoldering fire. “Damn it, how does this lady not have a foot rest? What is this horrible place?”
Tanix knelt beside me. “Let her go, Alpha. I’ve got it.”
“Bro, that’s his true mate.” Dante wiped his forehead. “How’s he gonna let her go when she’s all fucked up like that. Just give her the stuff.”
Tanix’s head didn’t snap up to look at me as I’d expected. Instead, he nodded like he’d already known and pulled out a syringe. She was unconscious so she couldn’t simply swallow; injecting the elixir was the best way to administer it, and would yield the fastest results.
I forced myself to unlatch my grip and pull back my hands, giving him some space.
“I need a numbing agent or something,” Niven murmured, leaning hard against the wall. “Or that other elixir. She got me good. How the hell can she move like that without access to her animal?”
“She obviously has a shit load of power, fuckwad,” Dante replied. “She’s the Alpha’s true mate. Have you ever met an alpha as powerful as him? No. Even without access to her animal, she’s lethal.” Dante issued a prolonged grunt, forming a ball on the ground. “Fuck this hurts. Like... this really fucking hurts. I want a numbing agent too. An axe? This is the first time I’ve been cleaved. Cloven? I don’t even know the right term for it!”
“It sucks—that’s the term for it. I just stood there and watched as it happened, too.” Niven straightened up a little, his expression tight. “I saw her cut into you, then just stupidly watched her prance toward me with the edge dripping blood.”
“She threw that fucking thing perfectly, that’s my excuse,” Sixten said, her head resting on the back of the rocking chair. “Well... that and she’s seriously fucking beautiful. I was too busy being jealous?—“
“That’s enough,” I barked, issuing a pulse of power within that command. “You four should’ve been watching for any enemy we missed along the perimeter.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Sixten said dutifully, though we were pretty well secured at this point. We’d taken out the sentries with no problem, as well as most of the patrol. They hadn’t known when they were beaten, rising up against my pack only to be efficiently struck down. I’d roped the rest of their patrol into our pack bond, holding them for now. They’d be smuggled out of this kingdom and placed before the dragon king and queen for their part in the atrocities they’d committed. They’d have their day of judgment, and dragons were not so lenient as wolves.
“It felt like she stunned us,” Tanix said, leaning back and looking at the woman. “Confused us might be a better term. It was like a whirlwind, almost. I knew something was happening but couldn’t seem to react as I normally would have.” He shook his head. “If you weren’t sure she was your true mate, I’d wonder if she was even a shifter.”
“She’s a shifter,” I said, doing everything in my power not to lean forward and cup her head. It was still gushing blood, pooling on the ground underneath her head. That elixir would heal her, though. Anything enhanced with the blood of a phoenix, a mythical and incredibly rare type of shifter, could bring people back from the brink of death. All we had to do was wait.
“What are we going to do with her?” Tanix asked me, his expression neutral and his eyes full of pity.
He was asking if I’d go through with this, knowing if they killed her, it would kill a piece of me as well. I’d feel her loss even though I didn’t even know her. That’s what everyone said would happen, at any rate. Given the tight knot in my middle at seeing her bleeding now, it was probably accurate.
I steeled myself. “I’m going to fulfill my duty. I’ll deliver her to the dragon king and queen, as promised. She committed a crime against the people in my care. She will face judgment for her sins.”
The room was quiet as I watched her face, my fingers on her pulse, feeling it struggle to keep going. I wanted to hug her to me. To carry her in my arms and secure her in our—no, my tent, watching over her until she got better.
I clenched my jaw. That was a primal response. It wasn’t rational. I didn’t even know this woman, and given what she did for a living, I didn’t want to. I could not give in to nature’s siren song.
“Put her in Hadriel’s care.” I pulled my fingers away from her and forced myself to stand. “The rest of you, get the healing you need and meet us in the village.”
“Yes, alpha,” they all said dutifully if not exactly sharply.
I rolled out my shoulders as Tanix scooped her up carefully and carried her from the room. I pulled my gaze away, refusing the suddenly overwhelming urge to rip her from his grasp and carry her myself.
“Anything of note in this cottage?” I asked when he’d gone, closing my eyes against the woman’s lingering scent.
“Yeah. The axe wielder has been here before,” Sixten said. “Someone stoke that fire. It’s cold, isn’t it?”
“No, you’re just dying, thank the gods,” Dante said, still curled up in a ball. “I’m tired of listening to you snore.”
“Won’t you feel bad if I am actually dying,” Sixten muttered.
“No,” Dante replied.
“There’s only a few scents around this place, and hers is one of them.” Niven pulled his crimson arms away from his stomach. He looked down at the wound, stitching together fast. “From what we know of Granny, she keeps her private quarters in the city for essential personnel only. It means the axe wielder was important. If she was in the workhouse, as you said, she’s likely important in their operation. Does she also have a personal connection? That’s the question.”
“It’s a good thing our fearless leader punched Dante where it’d hurt the most and ensured her survival,” Sixten said. “Though punching him might’ve just been for funsies.”
“We’re going to see how you like getting punched for funsies just as soon as I can use this arm, how about that?” Dante bit back.
I picked through the various items around the cottage seeing very little of note. “Granny doesn’t have personal connections. Anyone around her is expendable.”
“Begging your pardon, sir,” Niven said, “but that’s true of anyone around her in the city. She could be hiding a relative away in this forgotten place.”
“Forgotten?” Sixten huffed. “This place isn’t forgotten. It’s secludedness has been orchestrated. Don’t you remember learning that Granny shut down all trade routes of the neighboring villages and forced those people to move nearer Ridge Town or starve? I’m not convinced she didn’t kill a few people off to make the situation a threat, as well. That woman is ruthless. Then she fortified the territory boundary and populated the outer forest with demon beasts, magically kept to the area. I mean, for all intents and purposes, she made this town an island. She cut these people off from the outside world.”
“And then people forgot about the village, yes,” Niven said patiently. “I figured we could all surmise the how of it and skip to the important points.”
“Like?” Sixten pushed, her attitude hard to manage when she was healing from a wound.
“Like the fact that there is a scent in Granny’s personal space that we don’t recognize from the city. The owner of that scent has been stashed in this territory for safekeeping, and she could be the key to this whole operation.”
Silence rang in his wake. It was a succinct summary and my insides felt like they were shriveling in response to it.
She could be the key to this whole operation.
She could be enemy number two, second-in-command behind Granny.
“Let’s see what Granny was hiding,” I growled, leaving the cottage, needing air. The idea that my true mate could be responsible for the largest, most expansive drug trade in the magical world and the horror it had brought to so many sickened me. Her connection to me sickened me. The gods were punishing me—it had to be. Karma had come back around for the part I’d played in this very kingdom, stealing people, ripping apart families. How fitting that my true mate would be doing the same thing with the new-found blessing of the crown.
“Wait—dang that axe! I’ll meet up with you—“ Sixten was cut off as I slammed the door shut behind me.
Tanix in wolf form loped up in the quiet. None of the night creatures made a sound. They clearly felt danger in their midst, as they had last night, at least until the woman and I had been thoroughly engaged. Then they’d crept back in, the glow bugs lending an ethereal quality to the moment.
I shoved the memory from my mind and started walking in my human form. Tanix shifted immediately from a gray wolf to a brawny man with red-gold hair worn tight to his head, low eyebrows and a mean expression. He fell in at my side. I noticed his glance down at my rigid cock.
“You didn’t seem surprised,” I said.
“In the cottage, I recognized her scent from last night when you came back from checking things out. I’d figured you’d killed someone and didn’t feel it necessary to let me know. When she came in, though, I knew it had to be something else. Something more... dire to explain your loss of control.”
Dire. That was the right word for it. Very astute, Tanix.
He’d served time in the demon dungeons with me. He’d followed me to the dragon kingdom and stayed with me there, challenging to become my next in line. Not a lot got past him where it concerned me.
Just this once, I wished that wasn’t the case. I didn’t want him knowing my struggle to keep her at a distance, and I definitely didn’t want him nervous that she would prevent me from doing my duty. Those were two things I badly wanted to hide from the pack.
“Last night I had been blindsided by her,” I said by way of explanation. “Today I recognized her for what she almost certainly is—the creator. One of them, at any rate. We’ll protect her until we can get her back to the dragons. Then we’ll hand her over. They are not a forgiving breed. She’ll see her justice.”
Bile tasted acidic in the back of my throat. I swallowed it down. I would do what was necessary, regardless of how it affected me. That was what it meant to be an alpha, second in the kingdom only to the king and queen.
He was quiet for a moment. “Understood,” he finally said. “For now, she’s secure with Hadriel. I filled him in on the situation while I was tying her up. She might be fast, but she doesn’t have the strength to break the ropes. She’ll be there when we get back.”
Damn it, I couldn’t read his tone. What was he suggesting, that I wanted her there for personal reasons? Intimate, sexual reasons unlike any I’d ever experienced? To use her maybe, until I had to give her away, knowing she’d be using me in the process. She’d probably try to loosen me up, to work on my primal desire to protect her so I’d let her free.
Heat boiled my blood. I didn’t care why, I wanted her to use me. It was a testament to how desperately I craved her. The last time I was used, it was against my will, my body languishing in a dungeon. I never thought I’d willingly give up that kind of control again. Yet here I was, wanting her to take what she desired from me, as many times as she wanted, drawing out her pleasure as she bobbed on my cock and then struggled to take my knot.
Butterflies filled my belly, but I shoved those thoughts away. “For questioning,” I said firmly.
His pause was brief. “Exactly. For questioning.”
This time I could read his tone all too clearly. He hadn’t been thinking of anything more than our duty.
Fuck. She was so thoroughly in my head that I was even questioning those most loyal to the cause. He’d never want anything but to turn her over or kill her on the spot. I knew that. She’d been responsible for the death of his sister. He probably worried I’d grow weak and set her loose, allowing her to continue in her dangerous profession.
I didn’t know what to say to secure his confidence, so I said nothing. I’d have to show him I would remain loyal to the cause, regardless of this trial. This punishment from the gods.
“One thing, Alpha,” Tanix said.
“Go on.”
“Is Hadriel not an odd choice to watch her? He only wanted to come on this expedition for a little excitement and to see his old kingdom. I know he was entrusted to watch the queen back when the kingdom was cursed, but he turned into her accomplice more than her jailor. He says himself that he’s nothing but mediocre, something he’s proven on this expedition.”
“You haven’t heard even a quarter of the stories. His ability to steer the queen and king through that dark time is commendable. To even survive in that castle when the demons ran it is exceptional. We didn’t fare so well, as you recall. He’s a lot more than he looks, trust me. He’ll manage her just fine. She’ll be there when we get back and he’ll stay the course as befits the kingdom.”
I didn’t say it, because I hated that I even thought it, but men were his sexual preference. He would not be drawn to her beauty beyond appreciating it, like studying a piece of art. I might hate myself for it, but it didn’t change the fact that I didn’t want anyone else to touch her.
A travel pack waited on the path as though dropped and forgotten. I bent to it, catching her scent. She must’ve discarded it in her haste to get to Granny’s cottage.
My fingers wrapped around the strap before I could think it through, pulling it in to my chest. Tanix’s hand came out, offering to carry it. Him holding any items of note was standard procedure. He did it all the time. Yet this time, I couldn’t help a low growl in the back of my throat, gripping her pack a little tighter. He backed off. Her things would stay with me.
We continued on until we reached the spot burned into my brain from last night. I’d dreamed of her, of my hands running along her curves, of working my cock deep inside her pussy. I’d fantasized this morning about doing it again, losing myself in her hard suction, her tight grip.
It made no sense how true mates worked. I shouldn’t be this attracted to a perfect stranger. I shouldn’t feel this pull to go back to her and ensure her safety. It wasn’t natural. I didn’t even know her name! Her very presence had the ability to undo everything I’d worked so hard to build, and I had zero say in it.
The path split off toward the village and I stopped, going over the timing of this invasion. By now, the pack would have secured the workhouse. They’d been instructed to go there first while another group took Granny’s cottage. The garden should’ve been locked down by now, too, also a good distance away from the village. We’d scouted the locations ahead of time but hadn’t stationed anyone close by in case they caught our scent or noticed any tracks. I’d need to visit both, collecting evidence from one and writing out detailed notes and getting samples from the other. The pack might not be within the village yet, quelling any rebellion.
“Should we check out the workhouse first?” Tanix asked, clearly doing the math as well.
Curse me, but I wanted to see where the woman lived. I wanted to look through her things and stand within that entrancing smell, unlike anything I’d ever experienced. This would be the only opportunity I’d have for a glimpse into her personal life. I wanted to get to it as soon as I possibly could, wading through any angry villagers if I must.
But that was stupid. Reckless. I had to maintain some semblance of rationality here!
I gave Tanix a curt nod and started forward again, toward the workhouse.
The path widened the closer we got until a clearing opened up under the pale moonlight. As expected, my people were there, though only a few of them stood sentry around the building.
“What news?” I asked as I approached, finding the door standing open and Nova stationed beside it.
She had pulled her dark hair into a tight bun but, like the rest of them, hadn’t donned any clothing yet. We didn’t know if we’d need to quickly shift and continue to battle. Granny’s people hadn’t posed much of a threat for an alpha like me or my detail, despite its small size, but the old woman was cunning. There was no telling what surprises might await us before we left this place with the prize.
No, not the prize. The villain.
“It was empty when we got here. No guards, no booby traps, nothing. No one has come by.”
I furrowed my brow as she stepped farther away, giving me space. Why wouldn’t they have at least one guard protecting the heart of their operation? That was odd.
The door moved on well-oiled hinges. A mostly clean and orderly work area presented itself. Tubs lined the walls, some with water and some with dried plants, not unlike the queen’s workhouses. Instead of tables, though, they had three desks. One was close to the door and mostly bare, holding a few items that maybe didn’t have a home elsewhere. Another was pushed against the back wall, a mess of plants and dirt and gardening tools on its surface, their placements haphazard and the tools not well cared for. The person working at that station didn’t seem overly fond of the work. That, or they were a horrible slob. Maybe both.
The final desk, sitting in a far corner, held various canisters and jars. A tub sat next to that with vines soaking within. It looked as though everything was placed in a specific spot, as orderly as most of the workhouse itself.
She was the boss—I’d bet my life on it. The one who called the shots and mixed the product. The operation’s heart and soul.
“It’s tiny,” Tanix said, having walked in behind me. “For the amount of product they produce, I mean. I would’ve assumed their workhouse would be three times this size.”
“Check with Nova to make sure we didn’t miss any work areas. Maybe the garden has a space that we missed.”
I found myself sitting at the desk in the corner without remembering how I’d gotten there, her pack placed delicately on the floor beside my feet. I didn’t need her scent to tell me she worked here day in and day out. It had her feel about it, her essence. From just two meetings I knew it like I knew myself, the feeling etched into my soul.
I placed my palms on the flat workspace and then traced a couple grooves that had been cut into the wood. The edges of those grooves were dulled now, perhaps having been a novice’s mistake from long ago. No new scratches existed, demonstrating a mastery at work. The surface shone as though freshly cleaned, maybe tidied at the end of each day. Polished, too, though that didn’t smell fresh.
I bent to peer in the little cubbies on the right side, each labeled with a delicate, loopy scroll. The left had drawers and I opened each one, breathing in her scent, envisioning her sitting here, completing her tasks. She was probably studious, missing no details, painstakingly getting each part of the process correct. A hard worker, diligent.
Did she smile while she worked? Did she sit there, humming a little tune, unbothered by the destruction she was creating in the world beyond?
Another thought flashed. Maybe she wasn’t happy at all. Maybe she was forced into this labor, toiling at a job she didn’t have a choice in.
But if that were the case, would she really try to defend her mistress? Take on a room full of warriors with nothing but an axe? Those weren’t the actions of a captive.
Her tools were clean, well-tended to. The canisters and jars stood in a perfect line along the side. I pushed one just a bit out of line and wondered if she’d immediately fix it when she sat down to work, or if she only straightened everything at the day’s end. Not that I’d ever find out. We had her now, their drug maker. The brains behind this operation. The “talent.” She was done with this line of work; I’d make sure of it.
Disgusted with myself, I pushed up to standing.
Tanix stepped back into the room after talking with Nova and I was glad he missed my overly detailed analysis of the workstation.
“Nova says they found a work area in the garden, but it’s for pruning. Not for mixing,” Tanix said, standing by the wall. “There’s another little work area outside here, which we’ve seen, and the one by the creek, even smaller. Which we’ve also seen. Nothing else.”
I nodded, crossing to the other desk. “The woman we caught is obviously the backbone of this organization.”
“Is that her desk then?” Tanix jerked his chin toward the desk in the corner.
“Yes. This other desk has another scent entirely. It’s habitually used, as well. We need to find the person responsible.”
“The pack is spreading into the village now. We can place the other scents—the one from this shed and the other in the garden—once we have better access to the villagers.”
“Good.” I bent to the messy surface, pushing a pair of garden sheers out of the way. A note was scratched into the desk, the scribble looking almost like that of a child.
Grow eyes in the back of your head, son. She’s wily. She’ll stick a knife in your back.