Chapter 13 #2
I’d seen them briefly through our link, but I had no doubt who she was.
She was even more beautiful in person, and the little boy was a carbon copy of her and his uncle.
Eliza Farkas stood firm, her arms protecting her son, her shoulders back, the same determined strength I saw in Warwick running through her veins.
“You fucking coward!” Warwick seethed at Killian, barely holding himself back. “This your only play? Holding them prisoner? Using an innocent child and woman as bait?”
“I didn’t want to do anything.” Killian pulled his hands away, advancing back toward Warwick.
“You forced my hand. Betrayed me. Blew up my home and stole what was mine when I had graciously let you be free—let your family free. You are the one who put their lives back in danger.” He tipped his head at Eliza, her chin notching up, her lids lowering in a glower at the Seelie lord.
“And we both know she’s not some damsel in distress. She’s too much of a Farkas.”
“Fuck you,” she spat at him.
“See?” Killian motioned to her.
“Someday, Killian.” Warwick bared his teeth, his tone low and threatening. “I’m going to kill you.”
“I look forward to seeing you try,” Killian replied, flicking his chin at me. “But until then, Wolf, you keep her alive, and I will keep your family unharmed and secure.”
Both men peered at me. I felt the heaviness of the quest pressing down on me.
“Why me?” I indicated to myself. “I mean, you knew the people who took it from here. They were your friends, right?” I trailed off, seeing Killian’s eyes darken with warning, his jaw clenching.
“They are not my friends.” His silky voice had a jagged edge through it. “And I have already been down that road. It’s a dead end. They no longer have it.”
“What happened?”
“Someone got the better of them.” A slight glint shone in his eyes, as if he loved the idea his old friends had been defeated too. “The only thing I know is it was lost here in Hungary. The thieves escaped with it by boat.”
“It could be anywhere by now. How am I supposed to find it?”
“That is not my problem, Ms. Kovacs.” His gaze zeroed in on me with intensity, the feel of his magic tingling my skin. “I’m letting all of you live, walk out of here unscathed, even though you’ve broken into my property, planning to rob me. Do you know what happens to people who do that?”
“I’ve already been through your house of horrors, Killian.” I folded my arms, feeling the power of his name on my tongue grazing my thighs and forcing him to inhale sharply. I forgot how powerful names, especially his, could be. “And survived.”
“You think you would survive again?” His teeth ground together. “There will be no escaping the new prison. I can guarantee that. You two made sure of that.”
Fighting back the chill shaking my bones and the sickness knotting in my stomach, I knew there would be no way I’d endure another time in prison, not with my mind intact. Death sounded far more desirable than going back to the House of Death.
But I had no leads on where the nectar was taken after it left here fifteen years ago. If the pirate and his group lost it soon after, it could be anywhere, with anyone. It could be gone for good.
“You have one month, Ms. Kovacs.” Killian moved in so close I could feel his body heat soaking through my clothes. Leaning in, he whispered in my ear. “And then I come to collect.”
Escorted by a few guards, we were shoved roughly out the same door we came in, with fewer weapons than we started with. Killian’s men took all but one from each of us, which he considered a “favor.”
Nyx and Zander stayed with Killian when we left, both looking unhappy they didn’t get the opportunity to chaperone me out, but for opposite reasons.
I didn’t even chance to look at Zander as I passed him, knowing Killian was watching me, but I could feel Zander’s eyes on me. Burning with concerns and questions.
The tunnel door slammed shut, leaving the seven of us back on Gellert Hill. Dawn was over an hour away—the time when everything was at its darkest, when even night dwellers were thinning out and heading back home. The silence of the dead lands was unnerving and eerie.
The time when nothing good happened.
Blame, anger, aggression, and resentment fueled the spark in the air around us like gasoline. Tracker came after me, his fury bellowing from his mouth. “I knew not to trust you!” He stomped up to me. “I knew something was off about you! You are a fucking traitor!”
“How am I a traitor?” I didn’t back down, instead getting right back in his face. I would gladly fight him. “Because of me, you are still alive.”
“I’m only here because of you,” he shouted, trying to loom over me. “It seems it was all bullshit. You’re working with Lord Killian!”
“I didn’t have a choice. You should be thanking me. You are still breathing.”
“Thanking you?” He huffed. “I don’t thank traitors. Kaptain thinks you’re getting the nectar for him, to help our cause, to help us. However, it appears you are getting it for a fae lord . . . so which side are you on? You can only have one.”
“Mine,” I snapped. “I’m not working for anybody. And right now, no one gets it. I have to find it first.”
“So what?” Tracker sneered, his eyes darting to Warwick. “He let us live, do his bidding like little bitches, because you are the fae lord’s little whore too.”
Crack!
A fist smashed into his face, snapping cartilage and bone. Blood spurted everywhere as Tracker crashed to the ground with a howl of agony.
Warwick moved over him. Leaning down, he fisted Tracker’s jacket, yanking him until their faces were inches apart. I could already see the bruise pillowing the side of Tracker’s face, his lip and nose cut and bleeding all over.
“I warned you,” Warwick seethed, furiously spitting his words.
“You speak to her again like you did, and I will have no problem cracking your human spine like a twig. Or I’ll let her do it.
” He flicked his head to me. “Don’t for one minute think she couldn’t kill you and not even break a sweat.
You are nothing but a puffed-up facade. You have no idea what true strength is.
” As Warwick brought him closer, Tracker’s swollen and wounded face tried to glare back.
“I know you’ve heard the tales about me.
They are all true. Give me a reason to kill you . . . I’m begging you.”
“Warwick.” I felt his rage humming like a live wire, summoning up the darkness of death.
He was close to slipping, to falling over.
My invisible hand slid up his spine. His muscles locked at my touch, then relaxed, his shoulders lowering.
He took a deep breath, growling at Tracker before shoving his head back into the cement and stepping back like he was a vile piece of shit.
“Next time you’re dead,” Warwick snarled at Track, pushing past me to where the motorcycles were hidden in the brush.
It wasn’t a threat; it was a promise. I remember him killing Rodriguez’s buddy in prison without hesitation or conscience.
Tracker was lucky to be getting more than one warning. And I knew it was only because of me.
Ava darted to Tracker the moment Warwick was no longer a threat, pulling him into her lap and inspecting the damage.
“Damn, that was so hot.” Kek blew out, cutting through the thick silence. “Anyone else so fucking turned on right now they could dry hump a wall?” She peered around, and her hand raised. “Just me?”
“I’m a tree fairy . . . when am I not turned on?” Ash rubbed his head, hitching his bag with the book and my two friends higher on his shoulder. Taking a moment, he closed his lids briefly before he glanced up. “So, what now?”
“I have no idea.” I shrugged. I felt so lost, like being told I had to find one single strand of hair in the entire world. “But I think we need to get far away from here, regroup, and talk then.”
“We can’t go to my house, too many people, and it’s certainly being watched.” Ash frowned.
“Kitty’s?” I spoke to Warwick privately.
“Fuck no. I don’t trust anyone except you and Ash. I’m not putting her in more danger. It’s enough when I do it.” He straddled the bike. “But she’s not the only place that takes in vagabonds and the depraved in the Savage Lands.”
“So, we’re going to your house then?” I sneered.
Warwick’s brow arched up at me, dripping with carnal wickedness, the feel of his mouth grazing my pussy. “Don’t have one . . . there’s only one place I plan on burrowing into.”
He smirked as he watched my breath hitch, turning to the group.
“Follow me,” he said, revving the engine and pulling the motorbike up to me. I hopped on behind him, feeling eased and turned on when I tucked myself behind him.
“What about Tracker?” Ava hissed, waving down at him.
“Figure it out.” Warwick gave her no shred of concern. “Or leave him here. I don’t care. We ride now.”
Ava’s face twisted with anxiety, probably knowing she would be left if she didn’t act quickly.
“I’ll take him.” Luk rushed over to help her pick Tracker up and set him on Luk’s bike. Tracker was conscious, but not alert enough to be the one driving. “You two ride together.” Luk nodded at Ava and Kek, neither looking happy about the switch.
Without another word, Warwick tore down the road, away from the place where we used to be imprisoned. We had left this hell before on a bike, but this time we weren’t shredding through wilderness, being shot at, with guards on our tail and an owl overhead tracking us.
Though I strangely felt we were still running for our lives.