Chapter 26
DARIUS
It took hours to reach Xander’s uncle’s mansion.
Xander and my relationship had been undermined and sabotaged from the start.
When we’d realized that someone had made a deliberate attempt to undermine Xander’s confidence, and his happiness, we’d concluded it was his uncle.
Now I wondered if maybe there was more to it than that.
But Xander had disappeared, and I knew he wouldn’t have gone voluntarily.
A week ago, I would have thought differently, but we’d been getting along like a fucking house on fire, both in and out of the bedroom.
I’d been fond of him from the start, and I was fairly certain he was starting to have feelings for me as well.
So, no, there was no way he would have run off now.
I worried over our lost telepathic link, but Xander had given me a clue as to where he might be, long before this had happened.
Xander had been brought to me through Zendius’ association with Xander’s uncle.
It seemed probable that Zendius was trying to destroy my position in the pack and having failed at destroying my relationship with my new mate, had taken a different tack and was now undermining it with rumors.
That had required Xander to disappear. Either he was dead – and I could feel the existence of the link, even if I couldn’t use it – or he had been kidnapped and detained.
Xander had told me about his uncle’s dungeon and his threats.
It wasn’t a long shot to guess that was where he was.
The problem was I had no idea where Xander’s uncle lived. That detail had never been a part of the mating arrangements, and it hadn’t seemed necessary after the event. I hadn’t thought we’d ever need to see him again.
Fortunately, we had a mage, who, for whatever reason, was showing an unusual degree of interest in Xander.
At the time, I’d thought he was passingly curious about whom the Alpha of his pack was forming a union with, but he had posed some unusual questions to my mate, and made a few comments from time to time that had me wondering.
I knew better than to interrogate the mage, however.
Whatever his motivation, when I explained the situation to Xeres, he wasted no time in scrying for Xander’s uncle’s location.
Then because he wasn’t necessarily at home, Xeres also located Xander’s cousins and aunt.
When he found a location with several of them clustered in the one place, it was a fair bet that we’d found their house.
Xeres insisted on accompanying me. My distracted brain noted that this was unusual behavior – the mage didn’t normally take a hands-on approach with pack matters – but I didn’t argue.
It wasn’t wise to go alone, and the alternative was to take Zendius with me.
I wasn’t sure if I could trust him now, so that was definitely a ‘no’.
And having a mage with me would be intimidating to anyone with a sense of self-preservation.
We didn’t speak at all for the several hours it took to drive to Xander’s old home.
Xeres sat silently in his seat, staring fixedly out the windshield.
His hood hung down behind his neck, his short brown curls making a rare showing.
His youthful features were even more pronounced like this, and I wondered again what his story was. It was likely I would never find out.
What was he thinking, I wondered, his unblinking gaze rattling me somewhat.Was he practicing spells? Remembering moments from his past?
“Actually I’m hoping you don’t crash the car.”
I nearly did crash the car. How the fuck…?
“Can you read my thoughts or something?” I demanded, casting a suspicious glance sideways at him. Fuck! What if he could? Every dirty thought I’d had about my mate…
He pointed to the road ahead. “You are driving rather fast,” he said, as the vehicle fish-tailed a little going through the curve.
“I can’t slow down,” I said grimly, knuckles white on the steering wheel.
“And I probably could, if I chose to,” the smirk was evident in his tone, “but… eew.”
Despite the urgency of the situation, I did allow myself a small smile. That was the closest to a sense of humor I’d ever seen from the mage. He was always so serious, too serious for someone that age. Well, I reminded myself, no-one knew exactly how old he actually was.
Several hours later I pulled up at the house.
It was a very fine two-story building set amongst well-tended gardens.
Camellia bushes nestled against its beige walls, the soft pink flowers deceptively charming.
A perfectly manicured lawn wrapped itself around the building, split by the graveled driveway.
The perfect house, for a perfectly respectable family.
Except they weren’t, were they? I silently fumed.
For all Xander’s uncle had projected a superior, snobby, attitude, he wasn’t above treating his own nephew like a second-class citizen, and if he truly had a dungeon here, what else was he capable of?
The steps of societal power in the shifter world were paved with evil.
The car crunched to a halt in the turning area, and I got out. Xeres materialized beside me, his dark hood falling softly into place over his head. He looked so much more mysterious like this, unlike the young man who had briefly allowed me to see his playful side in the car.
I nodded at him and strode towards the door.
I couldn’t fail to be acutely aware of Xeres’ presence behind me, bolstering my confidence.
With my shifter hearing I could hear the rustle of his robe despite the crunch of our footsteps, but even more so, I felt the powerful aura he projected now he had mantled himself again in his mage persona.
I put him out of my mind. He would do what he would do.
There was no commanding a mage. But I trusted he had my back.
The door swung open before I reached the top step and a man stepped out.
The hostile glare I received was not exactly unexpected.
But I was startled by the way my blood roared in my ears as I detected Xander’s scent on his uncle’s clothes.
It wasn’t strong, but it was fresh enough.
A new and alarming thought occurred to me.
“Where is he? What have you done to him?” My hand closed around his throat as I slammed him up against the wall. I wasn’t a killer, but if he had done anything more inappropriate than abduction, Goddess help me if I didn’t come back and gut him.
My hand vibrated as he choked and struggled.
The very air seemed to shudder with my rage.
The roaring in my head grew louder. The alpha’s eyes were wide, all white sclera and dilated pupil, none of the iris showing.
His mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish.
He looked panicked. As well he should be, I raged inside.
A gentle pressure on my shoulder, startled me and I snapped my head around to find Xeres beside me, a strained look on his face.
His other hand pointed towards the upper level of the house…
which was crumbling. I watched one of the window frames slide down and out of sight as the wall around it disappeared in a cloud of pink and beige dust. Another section of the roof collapsed inwards, disappearing behind the red-tiled slope in front of it.
Vibrations shook the house dislodging another window and a section of wall.
The center of the roof had collapsed completely, particles floating in the air where it used to be.
A rumble from within the collapsed roof suggested further destruction.
Upper story walls crumbled from the top down, picture frames and lights clattering downwards into the melee.
My brain was struggling to make sense of what my eyes were seeing.
Beside me, Xeres’ hood was tossed back and he was muttering through gritted teeth. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face. Strain lines marked his features.
His hand remained outstretched, pointing towards the door. “Hurry,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. My brain finally caught up - he wasn’t pointing at the house, he was holding it up. Barely.
“Where is he?” I demanded, turning to face the older alpha who was starting to turn blue with the unintentional extra pressure I’d been applying to his throat.
His hands were around mine, claws out, rivulets of bright red blood dripping from the back of my hand.
I eased my grip slightly, enough for him to gasp in a breath.
I shook him, “Where is he?”
He pointed inside. Another shake.
“Where?”
Xander’s uncle shrugged. Then his eyes flicked to the doorway where a young alpha struggled as the debris from the house fell around him.
He was a younger version of the alpha I had pinned to the wall, and the contortions of his face and body as he struggled frantically against… thin air?... were grotesque.
Xander’s uncle eyes were wide with horror, eyes flicking to something beyond me. Oh yes, Xeres. The mage was the reason the alpha’s son couldn’t leave the house. The force of his magic was not just supporting the house, it was blocking the young man from leaving.
Xander’s uncle realized it too. “Through the kitchen,” he gurgled.
Xeres’ luminous eyes flicked to mine. His face was set in an expressionless mask, but the sweat rolled freely down his face, his curls dark with moisture.
I dipped my head in consent. Timber from a window frame clattered to the doorstep in front of us.
I could see the whites of the young alpha’s panicked eyes.
A chunk of stone landed in the garden with a thud.
Xeres changed the direction of his arm, angling it higher.
The force preventing the younger man from leaving having been suddenly redirected, he lunged forward and fell forward onto the top steps.
At the same time, Xeres grabbed my shoulder and pulled me forward.
By necessity I let go of the older alpha.
I didn’t wait to see what happened to the two of them.
Inside the building, debris was swirling everywhere, pieces of furniture, broken mirrors, lamp shades, crumbling roof tiles and chunks of concrete.
A loose edge of carpet that had apparently been attached to the now partly destroyed staircase flapped wildly in the mayhem.
Glass shards and dust and small articles spun crazily through the air.
Light poured in from the hole where the upper floor and roof had been, diluted to a paltry gloom by the thick dust swirling in the air.
Despite everything, Xeres was doing an amazing job creating a tunnel for us to walk through, his outstretched hand and incantations holding the debris at bay.
It was costing him though, the muscles of his neck corded and taut, his skin flushed dark with exertion.
Beyond the foyer, and the remnants of the staircase, was a doorway (still intact) leading into a formal dining room. We hurried that way, knowing the kitchen would lead off it somewhere. A chunk of the ceiling bounced off my foot.
“Sorry,” ground out Xeres.
“It’s fine. Come on, through here.” I led him into the kitchen, which was somewhat wrecked.
Benchtops twisted, cupboards broken open, doors akimbo, pans scattered and crockery smashed.
We struggled over the large chunks of ceiling covering the floor.
If the entrance to the dungeon was a trapdoor, we would never find it.
Xeres had his hands full giving us safe passage, he wouldn’t be able to lift the stone as well.
“The kitchen… where would the entrance be?” I looked around, trying not to let panic blanket my mind.
Sure and steady , I schooled myself to scan the room methodically.
There was nothing. My eyes fell on the pans scattered around the room, the glassware, china…
something was missing…something felt wrong…
what was it? Then it hit me. Food, pantry supplies…
they should have been scattered through the mess too, but they weren’t.
An archway opened out to a space with a large metal tub, now hanging half-way off the wall, water gushing from a torn pipe.
Beyond that a wire screen door presumably led outdoors.
There had to be a pantry somewhere, and if it wasn’t in the kitchen, it had to be close by for easy access.
Clambering over the rubble, I headed for the back door, and as I came through the archway, on my left, and hidden from view from the kitchen, a door clung to its frame despite the chaos around it.
I turned the knob and entered. A shaft of light, complete with requisite dust, lanced through a hole in the ceiling, illuminating the bags of flour and canned goods still clinging precariously to the uneven shelves, and a stack of boxes splayed in front of a door.
I tried the handle, praying for some luck, but the door was locked. There was no key. The door appeared solid, but there was an uneven gap near the top doorjamb, likely from the shaking and movement of the rapidly crumbling house. We didn't have time to hunt for a key.
I stood back a couple of steps and lunged forward ramming my shoulder into the door near where the gap was.
Pain shot through my shoulder and down my arm, but I felt the door move slightly.
I tried again. At the same time, a loud crack sounded as the top corner of the door frame splintered under the weight of the shifting ceiling.
Any minute now it was going to come down.
I gave it another try with my other shoulder and this time the timber screamed as it tore away from the hinges. Ahead of me was darkness, a set of pale stairs disappearing down into the gloom.
“Xander?” I called, as a block of plaster and concrete smashed on the step below me.
There was a half-sob way down in the darkness. “Down here!” a wobbly voice replied. The chattering of teeth was unmistakable. Then, “Hurry up! I’m fucking freezing!”
Ah! There was my omega.