Chapter Twenty-Four
Wilder
Well, to say this had been the weirdest week of my life, would be an understatement. I’d all but moved in with a psychopath, met my dead mother, found out more about me than I’d ever thought possible and I was now standing in Misthaven Central Park about to take down my father.
Oh, and I was pretty sure something strange was going to happen at midnight. I had no idea if it was going to be good or bad, but I was here, in the freezing cold, with people who actually cared about me.
I just never thought it would be a mafia full of vampires.
“Why is it so fucking cold?” Aleksey grumbled, a black beanie pulled over his white blonde hair.
“It’s December,” Benji snorted. “It’s supposed to be cold.”
“Can’t you regulate your body temperature?” Byron asked, his head cocked to one side.
“Fuck you, Byron. You know some vampires are better at it than others.” Aleksey pulled the collar up on his coat and slipped on some black leather gloves.
Damyr and Benji were only wearing a thin outer jacket—black, of course—and Byron only had a simple coat on.
Vlad was in a black t-shirt that looked like it was about to rip at the seams, and Acheron was decked out in a black velvet jump suit.
I’d never really noticed that Aleksey struggled with the cold more than other vampires, but I guess there were differences between them, just like there were with witches.
I checked my watch. Ten minutes to midnight.
Ten minutes until the shit was going to hit the fan.
Byron walked over and snaked his hand around my hip. “Are you okay?”
Ha. Okay? Was I okay? I was as far from okay as I could possibly be. I was holding myself together on a wing and a fucking prayer and my nerves were shot to shit. “I’m fine.”
Byron chuckled and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Sure you are, baby. But it’s okay. You don’t have to be fine.”
“I know, I just…” Fuck. I couldn’t even find the words. My head was all over the place, my hands trembled and my stomach had fallen somewhere beneath my feet.
Byron laced his fingers with mine and brought my hand to his lips, placing a kiss on the back of it. “We’re in this together. You and me. You’re not alone, Wilder and you will never be alone again.”
There was so much sincerity in his words, so much belief that doubting him wasn’t even an option. I nodded, my heart too far up my throat to allow me to say any words.
Damyr huddled us all together so we could go over positions, but I wasn’t really paying any attention. I knew what I was doing. I was going to meet my father and his mysterious buyer and hopefully I wouldn’t die. Hopefully, no one would die.
I couldn’t help feeling that I was out of my depth here, though.
There were so many possibilities unaccounted for, so many things that could go wrong.
I couldn’t rely on my magic, that was an unknown until the suppressant wore off.
I had no idea who the buyer was, this ‘King’ and who even knew what he was capable of.
This whole thing was madness and yet, as I looked around at the faces of the people who were willing to risk their lives for me, all I saw was determination.
Even from Acheron who really hated my guts.
My watch beeped on my wrist. 11:55pm. Five minutes to go.
It was time to end this.
I walked into the open space with my head held high. I wasn’t going to show any fear. Not to him and certainly not to the buyer. Byron walked with me, shoulder to shoulder, until we were no more than a few feet away from my father.
As always, he was prompt. He stood in the clearing with his hands tucked into his pockets like he wasn’t about to try to ruin my life.
Just looking at him had my stomach twisting in knots. I had to fight the instinct to kneel and surrender. He’d beaten that into me for so long, that it was instinctual. But I wasn’t going to do it. I wasn’t going to let him have a hold over me anymore.
Lawler smiled as if he knew exactly what I was fighting in my own mind.
Prick.
“Good evening, Wilder. How kind of you to join us.” His voice grated on my ears. It was cold and empty. Lacking any real emotion or interest.
“Hello, Father,” I replied, like the dutiful son. I wanted to give Damyr and the others time to get in position. “It’s been a while.”
He cocked a dark brow. “It’s been ten years. I’ve been waiting for this moment for ten years, Wilder. It’s a good job that I’m a patient man.”
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“Find you?” he chuckled. “I never really lost you, Wilder.”
That surprised me. He’d known exactly where I was, all these years? Which meant that me turning twenty-five and the suppressant on my magic was all part of his grand plan.
This moment was always supposed to happen.
“You said ‘us’ but I only see you,” Byron said. His fingers were tucked into his pockets, but I knew that was an act. He was ready to move at a moment’s notice. A predator playing pliant.
Lawler cast a passing glance over at Byron then looked away, dismissing him. That would most likely cost him. Byron was definitely not someone to dismiss.
“I see you’ve brought your dog with you, Wilder. Couldn’t bear to do this on your own? How utterly pathetic. But since your dog asked, the buyer is here, he’s just waiting in the shadows.”
A dark wisp started to materialise next to my father, embers sparking in the dark swirls. There was only one type of creature that travelled by hellfire.
Demons.
Fuck. I’d been sold to a demon?
A man materialised from the shadows, all pale skin and dark features.
He wore round black sunglasses, despite the time of day, and his clothes were all luxurious shades of black and grey.
He smiled and his grin was full of sharp teeth.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to collect you, Wilder.
I hope you’ve come willing to hand yourself over to me. ”
I shook my head. “Sorry, no can do. I already belong to someone else.”
The King’s smile dropped and his mouth pulled back into a snarl. “You are mine, Shadow Witch, and I will have what I am owed.”
“Now, now,” my father said placatingly. “We’re still waiting on the main event.”
Ah, yes. The fucking suppressant. “What’s supposed to happen at midnight?”
I sensed Byron stepping closer, readying himself to protect me. The others were scattered around the perimeter and I had no idea how many people my father would have brought with him. Then again, he probably thought he was untouchable.
I was about to show him how wrong he was.
“When you were born, I knew you were a Shadow Witch,” my father said as if he were telling me a bedtime story.
“Female Shadow Witches will always give birth to a Shadow Witch. If a male Shadow Witch mated with another type of witch, it was rare the offspring would be of their heritage. They’d most likely take after their mother. ”
“You kidnapped Adela Hawthorne,” I said, fury starting to bubble in my veins. I hated him for what he’d stolen from me, that chance I could have had at a normal life with someone who truly loved me.
“My, you have been busy,” Lawler crooned.
The King positively beamed. “Must be powerful if the suppressants aren’t working as they should.”
“Be careful,” Byron whispered into my ear. “I don’t know what this demon’s game is.”
Neither did I, but there was only one way to find out. “Why did you suppress my magic? What was the point?”
My father barked a laugh. “I knew what Dara was planning, knew that the council would most likely banish me and that I’d need time.
The suppression ensured me a decade to hunt you down and also that no one else would know what you are.
I didn’t want anybody else thinking they could siphon the power that belonged to me. ”
“And what of Dara? Where did she fit in with your grand plan?” I asked, my voice harsh and aggressive.
“I only needed her as a pawn to convince you that you were safe. I planted a memory in Dara’s mind so she thought that your magic was triggered by your twenty-fifth birthday. She was so easy to manipulate. She’d been a better daughter than you had been a son.”
I was going to claw his fucking face off. How dare he do this? At least that cleared up Dara’s involvement. Although, I’d believed what Byron had said so my father’s words were a moot point. But still, to crow over he manipulated her memories was a complete dick move.
Somewhere in the city, a distant bell started to chime. This was it.
A wind blew in from the east, swirling around me and tugging at my coat and hair.
The air crackled with electricity, vibrating against my skin and bringing with it the sense of transformation.
Power surged in my core, impossibly bright and incomprehensive to behold.
It was raw and hungry, new and exciting and I could feel it changing me on a cellular level.
“Now!” my father yelled. “While he is most vulnerable.”
Vulnerable?
I called my magic to me, but it was wild and free. Uncontained. Unresponsive. Reaching outwards and overflowing.
No. No, no, no.
It swirled through my veins, and the wind circled around me like a tornado, lifting my feet from the ground. Purple lightning arced from my hands and feet, useless as it fizzled into nothing.
What was the point of all this power if I couldn’t fucking use it?
Lesser demons crawled up through the soil, their bodies aged and decomposing, and I watched helplessly as Damyr and the others fought them off.
The King charged towards me, blade held high.
Byron lunged into his path, but he’d be no match for a demon. I had to save him.
Come on, Wilder. Do something.
But all I could feel was chaos.
A soft breeze twirled through my fingers, carrying the spray of the sea and pulling me from my spiralling panic. I concentrated on the feel of Byron; on the love I had for him and let him soothe my mind through the tether.
I called my power to me. I’d force it into submission if I had to, but I was going to beat this. Beat him. My father would not win.