11. Weston
Chapter 11
“What’s the status?” I asked Tanix at the east end of the camp, the sun at its zenith and the need to be out of here tugging at me.
Despite my plan playing out to the letter and locking that village down early, some of the enemy had escaped. A few had slipped from our lines and somehow evaded our control. They’d know we had their prize. They’d come for her, I knew they would. In order to salvage their operation, they’d have to, and I knew they wouldn’t hesitate to go through us to do it.
They’d also, almost assuredly, inform their royalty of our actions. Aurelia had elevated this kingdom to one of the hottest markets in the magical world. Royalty here, as disreputable as they were, would surely want to retain their market share, if not increase the growing dependency of other kingdoms on her product. They’d want to rescue her for their own needs, and this would provide the perfect opportunity to do it.
If they caught us, it wouldn’t just be our heads. They’d either pull the dragon court into war or demand unrealistic compensation for catching us meddling. I had sworn I could get this done without putting our kingdom in that position, and it was a promise I intended to keep.
“The pack has an hour of rest time remaining,” Tanix said, sitting at the last table in what we thought of as the common area of the camp. The rest of our seating and supplies had been packed away, ready for transport. He studied a pile of papers spread out over the surface. “We need to make fast time out of this kingdom and I don’t want—“ He glanced up and then did a double-take.
I couldn’t imagine what he saw. A man that felt like every nerve in his body was still firing with exquisite pleasure and hating-while-loving every fucking moment of it? A guy that had watched a beautiful woman get off on his cock for twice as long as he’d ever been in that position? Or maybe a usually balanced and in-control alpha with a suddenly dark and turbulent disposition.
I’d completely lost control last night-turned-this-morning and I’d gotten no information while doing it. I had to do better.
“Is there a problem?” I growled. It happened. Fine. Time to move on and forget it.
“No, sir. I was just saying that the closer we get to the sea, the greater the need to move fast and stay vigilant. I want to give the pack adequate rest. We’re a long way from the worst of the danger way out here and I think we should make the most of it. Anyone intending to intercept us will do it when we are closer to civilization.”
I nodded, looking toward the village. “Agreed. You got the product?”
“The drugs?”
Many years of showing no emotion kept my flinch hidden. I’d used her vague term for it.
“We did,” Tanix said when I didn’t comment. “They are loaded in the carts. The pack knows not to touch it. The sheer quantity of it suggests that this is, in fact, the sole origin. The woman must do little other than make it.”
“Just not package it.”
“Doesn’t seem so. We spoke to a great many of the villagers. Once they realized we meant them no harm, and that their territory borders were now open, they had no problem answering questions. Certain villagers take the crates to the border in hand-pulled carts. They leave them for the patrol or whoever to take over. We found hoof marks at that location.”
I furrowed my brow, adjusting my stance as I processed. “They made the villagers tote the crates all the way out? Why not have the horses come in and collect it?”
“I have no idea. It didn’t seem like these villagers had seen a horse within the boundaries inyears. Over a decade.”
“Yet they were being used to transport the drugs to another location.”
“The tracks suggest they were.”
“And no one knew where that location might be? The details of what they did there?”
Tanix shook his head. “The villagers didn’t have a clue. Not about Aurelia’s operation, Granny’s—anything. Occasionally Alexander would let slip some things that happened ‘Outside.’ They used the term ‘outside’ like it was a specific place. The most recent incident got several people punished. I guess punishment for rule breaking is severe here—beatings, whippings, cut with tools.”
I shivered with the memories of when I’d endured such treatment in the demon dungeons. I knew exactly what these people had been through.
“Is there anyone we need to take with us?” I asked.
Tanix pulled his lips to the side while slowly shaking his head. “I really don’t think so. Mr. Poet was the closest to the woman’s—Aurelia’s—operation. No one else worked in her vicinity. He never actually helped her, though. Didn’t know how. He just learned what plants she’d need next and made sure she had them. He seemed to be her errand boy, mostly. Granny’s as well. He dreaded delivering both of them things—Aurelia because of her lack of magic, Granny because she was prone to bad moods. Apparently, Granny’s bad moods had the potential to result in punishment at any time.”
“Did you get any sort of history from him?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Tanix said. “It seems that when Aurelia advanced in her craft, Granny quickly shut down the borders. Alexander let slip around that time that their business was taking off and Granny needed to protect it. This, too, was years and years ago. The villagers let it happen because Granny brought in gold to fix up dwellings and the village square, and offered them more food than they knew what to do with.”
“They didn’t look like people that had more food than they knew what to do with.”
“Offer them plenty so that they will choose to enter the cage. After they are trapped, take it away. By the time they realize what they’ve done, it’s too late.”
That was true.
“Mr. Poet remembers Aurelia entering the kingdom half-starved,” Tanix said. “Only a kid. This was before the borders closed. He learned quickly that she didn’t have any magic and from that moment on he—and most of the village, it seemed—didn’t much trust her. What quickly befell the village ensured no one would warm up to her. She was an outcast while also being Granny’s prized worker. The village around her was collateral damage. She has no friends here.”
“I gathered that.” I inflated my chest with a deep breath.
She’d been just a child when she’d come here. A child without her mother who’d obviously fallen on hard times. When she’d needed support and love, she got the censure of a village and put to work by a calculating woman. I couldn’t help thinking how heartbreaking her life was. She’d been set up for the loneliness I’d read in her journals. She’d been trapped in it by an unfeeling person who wouldn’t pull out her animal and make her part of the village. She’d been kept separate on purpose.
“Terrible fucking life,” I murmured. “Why would she care about those she’s hurting when she doesn’t have a friend in the world to protect?”
“With Granny’s help, it certainly made her dangerous.”
“Indeed.”
“There’s something I’ve been wondering...” Tanix snagged his lip in his teeth. “If she’s your true mate, that obviously means her animal is just suppressed. And powerful, we’d have to guess. I can feel it and I’m not even an alpha.”
“Very powerful,” I supplied. “It is pulsing within her.”
“It wouldn’t take much for you to yank it out, right?”
“Correct. I’ve almost done it by accident a couple of times.” I didn’t elaborate, unwilling to admit that it had been at the height of pleasure. I’d barely known my name, drunk as I was on the euphoric feeling of her pulling me into her climaxes. I’d never experienced an intimacy so overpowering.
“You never got close to Granny,” Tanix went on, “but we’ve always heard she’s a fairly strong alpha.”
“Why didn’t she pull out Aurelia’s wolf?” I said, surmising the question. Tanix nodded. “I honestly have no idea.”
“Do you think it was about control? Keep her weak, keep her an outcast, show her the only kindness she’s liable to get, and thus keep her dependent. Do those things and you maintain control of the prized asset.”
“It’s very possible. Aurelia must’ve seen what was going on within the village, though. She was helping to cage people. That and making the types of drugs she does—drugs ten times more dangerous than any of her competitors— remain inexcusable. She needs to stand in judgment, and if this disgusting kingdom won’t do it, ours will.”
He stiffened. “No doubt, alpha. I wasn’t trying to let her off the hook. I was just trying to understand is all.”
I nodded, needing that reminder myself.
“Were you able to get anything out of her?” Tanix asked before I could turn.
“No. The situation got away from me.”
“I figured.” He looked down at his papers. “I heard about the table and the... noise. I could always try, if you had other matters to attend to? We still have some of the truth elixir Queen Finley sent with us.”
Yes was on the tip of my tongue. I wanted nothing more than to shrug her off on someone who was better able to handle her. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t seem to keep a straight head where she was concerned. But the idea of them possibly getting rough with her, or gods forbid, hurting her, raked down my middle with razor tipped claws. I wouldn’t be able to endure someone else touching her, not for any reason.
“I’ll use the elixir. We’ll have ample time when we get moving. Did someone bring her clothes?”
“Hadriel grabbed something for her at about dawn. He was wearing his castle clothes.”
“I saw.” Yet another fucking hassle. That wolf was wily. He’d picked up too many traits from the dragons. The second you thought you had him in line, he went and threw everything into chaos. If he wasn’t so damned good at information gathering and making the right sort of friends, I’d send him home. As it was, he was a valuable member of the team, just one that constantly tested me.
“Do you want me to send him her way?”
“Don’t bother. I’ll grab them both.”
Nearly an hour later, as the pack was getting ready to tear down the rest of the tents and get moving, I stood outside of my tent with Aurelia’s attire. I’d washed myself off and changed clothes so that the scent of her body wouldn’t linger on my skin. Doing so had cleared my head enough to get my affairs in order and would hopefully keep me steady during this meeting.
She lay on the bed with her wrists bound to the frame, the rope just under the marks she’d caused from last night. Her eyes were closed and the sheets rested just above those luscious breasts. Her pert nipples stuck up through the material. My mouth started to salivate with an overpowering urge to rip off that sheet, take one of those taut nipples into my mouth, and tease a moan out of her.
Struggling for control, I approached the bed. I could just bark wake up at her, but the memory of how she’d been treated in that village still rubbed my heart raw. She might be on the road to her death, but the least I could do was make it a decent journey.
“Hey.” I stopped beside her, shaking her hip gently. “Wake?—”
She flipped to her side and a foot came out of nowhere, fluttering the bedsheet and kicking me in the balls.
“Fucking—” I bent and backed up, cupping my dick. “Fuck!”
She adjusted and kicked out again, for my head this time, faster than she should’ve been without the help of her animal.
I dodged, the movement eliciting a fresh stab of agony in my groin.
“I was trying . . . to be . . . fucking nice,” I grit out, standing with effort.
“Tying me to a bed is very nice, yes.” Her sunburst eyes, beautiful with their flare of golden yellows, fiery oranges and soft browns, were brilliant and brimming with violence. “I kicked you in the balls as a thank you. Now we’re both fucking nice.”
“I tied you to the bed to keep you from running off.” I flung the clothes at her face. “You’re a captive, remember?”
She shook her head to get them off. “The epitome of nice, yes.” She quirked an eyebrow at me. “What a gentleman you are.”
I moved around to the frame and untied the rope. “There. Freed. Run and you’ll be punished. I hear you’re familiar with that.”
“Are you going to punish me with your fists or your dick?” She pulled her wrists apart and threw the rope away before yanking the sheet back over her breasts with a glare. Too late. The picture of her nudity was re-burned into my brain. My cock was painfully hard.
“You made it pretty clear last night and into this morning that my dick was not a punishment. Come on, get dressed. They need to pack this tent up and get everything stowed away. We’re due to head out.”
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “You have zero guilt that you are tearing me away from my home, huh?”
My chest tightened but I didn’t show it. I had a lot of guilt, yes, but duty and justice didn’t give a shit about her feelings or mine.
“None.” I lied smoothly, and then couldn’t help a little dig as retaliation for my aching balls. “Especially since removing you means the people of this village can go free. Their cage has been pried open. I’m a hero.”
“You’re delusional, is what you are.” Her fists balled. “A hero doesn’t murder villagers.”
“We left all the innocents alive, darling. We only killed or captured the poison in this place.”
Her eyes narrowed. “This village is anything but a cage. Is that how you sleep at night? By inventing your own reality? The people here stayed because they have food and shelter and a good life for their children. If not for Granny, they’d still live in poverty, their children uneducated. Now they’re obviously going to have to leave because you killed their provider and are abducting the one person who could still find a way to keep them in their lifestyle.”
I stared at her incredulously. “Do you seriously believe that? Granny’s people wouldn’t let anyone leave without an escort.”
“I know. A couple months ago I was punished because they thought I’d tried to leave—it was a misunderstanding. We’re in a dangerous line of work. We need protection when we venture out, me most of all. We can’t risk anyone knowing our location because they’d invade and do exactly what you did—kill Granny, take me, and steal the product. Congratulations, you proved her right and validated the rules we live by.”
I held up a hand, the surge of rage taking me unexpectedly. “You were punished? You were?”
Her chin tilted up a fraction. “Yes. I live by the same rules as everyone else. I’m not special.”
“They punished you even though it was a misunderstanding?”
“Yes. I did something stupid, and to keep the peace, I accepted the punishment.”
“To keep the peace...” I huffed out a sardonic laugh and turned away for a moment, the rage still pumping strongly. I couldn’t seem to make my way around it. “Who did it?” I asked softly. I turned back to her. “Who hurt you?”
Her eyes widened a little and a flush crept into her cheeks. “It doesn’t matter.”
I stepped toward her, each word clipped. “Who. Hurt. You?”
Her breath came faster. She wet her lips and I realized she was aroused. She was responding to my primal need to kill anyone who laid a finger on her.
“Alexander,” she whispered, desire filling those beautiful eyes.
“Did he hurt you as badly as he did Mr. Poet?”
“Who?”
“The man who worked with you.”
“Raz. I don’t know, but probably not. Granny always supervised my punishments so I could heal within a couple days. I heard that Alexander hadn’t been supervised for Raz’s latest punishment.”
Her words died away, still watching me, no doubt seeing my struggle for control.
“He’ll die for what he did,” I ground out. “I’ll ensure it. And someday you can explain to me how you think it is okay to punish people for wanting free will. How you turned a blind eye to villagers not being allowed to leave because of a dangerous profession they were forced to take part in. How you’re so fucking naive that you think it’s okay for Granny to cage a village of people under the threat of pain using rules they were tricked into agreeing to. But that can wait. Right now, you need to get your fucking ass up and get dressed. We need to get underway.”
“First of all—” she started, her eyes dipping to the clothes that currently lay on her lap. “Wait, these are mine.”
“Well now, it seems you do have powers of observation. I guess you just didn’t care what you and Granny were doing to your village. The dragons won’t spare you long.”
Her glare was now accusatory, holding up the garments. “Stop saying that. You’re twisting things.” She shook the clothes. “I mean that these were pulled from my cottage.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “They’ll fit you. You’re welcome.”
“You looked through my things?”
“Yes. I look forward to reading your journals.”
Her face paled. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Why? Afraid I’ll have proof of your lies?”
“I’m not lying,” she ground out, getting off the bed. The sheet pulled away and I refused to let my gaze wander from her eyes. “I have personal stuff in those journals. Private stuff.”
“You also have work stuff. Recipes. Procedures. I can only assume you’ll have organizational notes, people visiting the village you’ve talked to, things Granny said?—”
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“I don’t believe you. Get dressed. I’m leaving for a moment. If you run, you will be caught immediately. You’ll ride with Hadriel today. I don’t need you well, I need you barely alive. You’d be wise to remember that. I can make Alexander look like a puppy.”
She stood mute and rigid, a kindling of fear in her eyes. My gut pinched and I turned away. I hated even bluffing about hurting her. I hated the situation she continued to put me in. I hated her for making this all so fucking miserable. For making me so fucking miserable.
Today I’d stick her with a babysitter so that I could skim those journals and see if the packaging and organizational information was easy to come by. If it was—and I hoped to fuck that it was—I could stick her on a cart and ignore she even existed. If I kept her at an arm’s length, it wouldn’t be so easy to be affected by her.
If not . . .
I gritted my teeth.
If not, I’d need that truth elixir to pry the answers out of her. One way or another I would shed light on the entirety of Granny’s organization, including the parts we hadn’t yet uncovered. We needed to make sure, with one-hundred percent accuracy, that Aurelia was the only creator. It would also be nice to bring in any other co-conspirators to stand in judgment with her.
I would do as I’d promised and bring this drug-running operation to its fucking knees. The woman, my true mate or not, would not stand in my way. I wouldn’t, under any circumstances, lose my control around her again.