Chapter 70
Ahush descended as they approached the main living area.
Caster’s status as a Royal meant that he was never alone, but the loaded attention he was about to receive was different.
He reached for Mark’s hand as they turned the corner into a room that seemed to be waiting for them.
Mark squeezed his hand, offering silent support that he hadn’t known he needed.
Put those walls back up. The vampires in that room didn’t need to see the images flooding his mind.
Mark stopped at the doorway, the hush from everyone just beyond the threshold louder. He took a breath, nodded once, and his mind went silent.
Caster was not sure of his plan to revisit what was the worst night of his life, but he had a point.
Pierce had been very convincing in his argument, but Caster wasn’t about to trust that he could help them get rid of the witch, not without additional information.
Still, his heart ached at the thought of Mark’s pain.
It made him want to wrap him in his love, lock him away somewhere the world wouldn’t hurt him. If only such a place existed.
He couldn’t hide away from his mother’s tear-filled eyes as they entered the room full of the family they’d grown into. Decorum and her status wouldn’t let those tears fall, but he knew her well enough to see the pain she tried to hold back.
He released Mark’s hand and went to her, engulfing her smaller frame in his arms, and it was his turn to guard against the emotion that threatened to break loose. She squeezed tighter, sniffing back her tears, her body trembling in his arms.
Another body slammed into him from behind. It could only be one person. Never one to hold his emotions back, his little brother’s tears reached his ears. He released his mother, turned, and engulfed Ben in an even tighter hold, the battle with his own emotions intensifying.
“Welcome back,” Marcus said. To anyone else, his tone was calm, even, but Caster heard the relief.
He opened his eyes, keeping an arm around his youngest brother’s shoulders, and nodded at Marcus. Damien caught his eye, giving him the same simple nod.
He caught Riley’s eye. “Thank you.”
The powerful witch’s smile was subdued. “I wasn’t going to leave you there.”
He smiled back, grateful for his family. Their support strengthened his resolve to find a way to defeat the witch, the enormity of her power notwithstanding.
“What are we doing about the witch?” Dean’s hard voice drew his attention. He had his arm around his brother, his expression a far cry from the confident Prime Alpha Caster had come to expect.
“We need to bring the fight to her,” Marcus said.
“I now know the source of her power,” Caster said, memory of Pierce and his unsettling nature imposing on the newfound comfort his family provided. He looked at Riley. “That demon.”
The only indication of surprise was the almost imperceptible widening of Riley’s eyes. “I saw him, and the energy signature matched hers.”
“So he was telling the truth?”
Riley nodded.
“Would you mind letting the rest of us in on this?” Damien’s impatient frustration interrupted whatever Riley had been about to say.
Caster squeezed Ben’s shoulder and released his younger brother.
“There in that…void I was stuck in, there was a demon. He pulled me away from the darkness that I think is of Ethel’s design, saving me from joining the ranks of her dead army.
He looked human, but there was no hiding his nature.
” He caught Mark’s nod. “He said he was the source of her power and therefore knew how to destroy her.”
“You don’t trust him,” Marcus said.
He shook his head. “Everything about him screamed self-interest.”
“But you think he can help.” Again, Marcus could read him better than anyone.
He blew out a breath. He’d been thinking it from the moment he’d woken from that nightmare, from the moment silence replaced the Underworld’s insistent call. “He might be our only hope.”
“But we need more information,” Mark said, the strength of his voice surprising considering what he was about to propose.
“We can’t go back there,” Riley said. “There is no doubt that this time she will see us coming, and that is her turf. We can’t win that fight.”
“No,” Mark moved closer to Riley. “That’s not what I’m saying.
” He glanced at Caster, almost as if to seek his permission.
Caster granted it with a nod. “The darkness and the way that demon smiled felt familiar, like a memory I’d lost.” He paused for a breath.
“Riley, I think he was there the night I lost my wolf. The night the witch attacked me.”
Riley frowned and then gasped, his mind connecting the dots before anyone else could. “You want me to send you back there?”
“No!” A growl infused the Prime Alpha’s voice. “Fuck no.”
Caster couldn’t blame him. He would die a thousand deaths to spare Mark a replay of that night, but there was no other way. If the enemy of their enemy was to join the fight, his role in creating the problem had to be clearer.
Mark turned to his brother. “It’s the only way, Dean.”
Marcus’s voice in his mind drowned out the rest of their argument. You’re sure about this?
He is. That’s all that matters.
Is it dangerous?
He shrugged. I’m hoping Riley says it’s not.
He’s the chief cause of your distress? The smile in his words shone through the telepathy even as his face remained impassive.
Caster could only nod.
Still want to talk about it?
Yes.
First, we make sure nothing happens to him.
“…then I’m coming with you.” The growl in the Prime Alpha’s emphatic pronouncement reached through his mind as Marcus’s words faded.
Caster had missed most of the argument, but he smiled, having predicted the Prime Alpha would not let his brother go through it alone, not again. It was the primary reason he trusted Dean. His love for his family, the chief reason he’d chosen the treaty over a protracted war, was dependable.
“Can you do it?” Mark asked Riley, and Caster saw the new understanding between the two.
Mark had grown to trust the powerful witch.
He also didn’t fail to notice the tension radiating off his younger brother or the subtle change in his heartbeat.
He glanced at his brother, but Ben shuttered his expression.
Riley’s nod was automatic. “It is a simple spell.” He looked at Caster. “I assume you’re going too?”
“Of course.”
Riley’s sigh seemed tired. “OK.” His full attention was on Mark. “Are you sure? Your subconscious may have had a good reason to bury those memories.”
Mark glanced at him. “I am. It’s the only way.”
His courage, the determination to face his pain, made Caster’s heart swell with love and pride. Whoever had aided the witch in inflicting that pain would suffer consequences like they’d never imagined.