Chapter 5
Iblinked, thinking the image would change, but it didn’t.
A lump formed in my throat that was so large I couldn’t swallow.
The first picture had been taken outside a small one-story brick warehouse that looked abandoned. Raffe stood at the back entrance by a beat-up metal garage door, waving toward the building with ten men stepping from the woods behind him, including Adam and Keith, which wasn’t surprising. There was no telling how many more werent in the frame. In their black clothing, they blended in with the night.
The next picture was from inside the warehouse. The garage door was opened, and a fight was underway. Raffe was stabbing a vampire in the heart while the other men were attacking fifteen vampires clustered together. I searched for captive humans but couldn’t find anyone who looked scared or restrained. In fact, everyone there was angry. Everyone fighting looked supernatural.
Why were the wolves attacking? There had to be a reason. “Why are you showing me these?” I understood that she wanted me to see Raffe differently … to see him as a puppet or an aggressor.
“This was a warehouse for a liquidation shop that went out of business five years ago.” Warin tapped the image of Raffe. “Someone alerted the wolves that a group of vampires were staying at the edge of the city, and Raffe organized the attack. There were no humans there, and all fifteen vampires were killed.”
Glinda removed another photo that showed fifteen corpses on the ground and puddles of blood across the cement floor. Blood was spattered over the eleven wolf shifters with Raffe being the bloodiest.
My stomach churned, the half sandwich I’d eaten not sitting well.
No. I scanned the shot, but all I saw was a door that led outside, nowhere for a human to be hidden.
I tried swallowing unsuccessfully. “There has to be a reason they did this.”
“Oh, there is.” Warin straightened and went still as a statue. Right when I thought he wasn’t going to explain, he spoke, startling me. “They didn’t like how close the vampires were to the city even though it was a smaller population outside of Silverton, Oregon. That was their ‘reason.’”
Silverton was a small city about an hour from here, so proximity must be why Raffe had led the charge. With all the grievances the covens and vampires had against the wolf shifters, I understood how disheartening this could be, and worse, these photos made me wonder if I knew Raffe at all.
That had to be Glinda’s plan and damn if it wasn’t effective. Still, I refused to be manipulated. There were always two sides to any story. Though I wasn’t sure how Raffe could have a good reason for this slaughter.
“Warin, we’ve shown her enough.” Glinda clucked her tongue. “Look at the poor girl. She’s pale and shaking.”
I glanced at my hands. They were visibly quivering. Shit. I clasped them together and straightened my back. “Seeing all those people like that …” I shuddered. Though I was used to blood from my studies, it usually belonged to animals and wasn’t the result of anger or maliciousness. Even though I wasn’t looking at the pictures anymore, the glint in Raffe’s eyes would stay with me. “It’s … hard.” I’d like to paint the supernaturals as animals, but whether I wanted to admit it or not, humans had the same tendency toward violence, war, and power.
“Her blood has a hint of an intoxicating coppery smell.” Warin sniffed, breathing it in. “It smells as if her medicine is wearing off.” He smiled creepily.
Without pausing, Glinda lifted a syringe from her pocket. Just like the past few days, Warin’s hand blurred as he snatched it, and I tried to stand to get out of the way, though it was pointless. But just sitting here and letting them drug me, as though it were inevitable, made me feel as if I was giving in or breaking. I needed to fight back, even only on principle.
The needle sank into my arm before I could put weight on my feet, and my blood fizzed. Warin’s pupils dilated, and the rims around his irises turned a faint red.
Strange.
I’d never noticed that before. A chill ran down my back, and something warm churned inside me. I had this feeling whenever Warin drugged me.
He and Glinda felt proud of themselves, and I knew why. They’d made me doubt Raffe, and I hated that I’d allowed them to see that.
“Leave before you get out of control,” Glinda commanded as she took the empty syringe from Warin’s hand. “If you don’t, I’ll make you.”
He frowned and swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. His breathing quickened from being near me, but the drug began to kick in, and my blood eased.
Soon, my limbs would be hard to move for a couple of hours. I’d be so lethargic that the two of them could do anything they wanted to me with very little fight.
“I’m better now.” Warin exhaled. “Her magic is calming.”
Between the drug and the pictures I’d seen, I didn’t have the energy to keep up any sort of charade around them. I placed my hands on the desk and pushed back slowly, not wanting to lose my balance. “Thank you for the information and food, but I need to be alone.”
Glinda touched her chest. “I’m sure you do. It must be hard, seeing the proof and then coming to terms with the fact that the wolf shifter you trusted has been manipulating you.” She waved toward the bedroom door. “We should respect her wishes.”
“There’s so much more we could show her, though.” Warin pouted and crossed his arms.
Even as my body calmed, my heart beat faster than it should’ve been able to. What else could they show me? I didn’t want to know the answer because I feared their plan would succeed. Something inside me prickled with hot anger that I’d allowed someone to make me think differently of Raffe. Soul mates or not, we weren’t perfect people, and maybe his dad had more influence over him than I realized. He’d wanted to keep me secret and feared retribution. Fear had a way of making you do things, and I understood that more than anyone.
“Look at her.” Glinda tsked. “We can’t do that to her. We’ll show them tomorrow. We don’t want to overwhelm her all at once.”
Warin rolled his eyes. “Fine. She is human, or mostly, but I will show her more tomorrow. She needs to see that we aren’t in the wrong and the shifters need to be stopped.”
My mouth went dry. I didn’t want to see any more pictures, but I also needed to know what Raffe and his dad had been up to. There had to be a way to convince Raffe he couldn’t follow in his dad’s footsteps and needed to right the wrongs they’d done. No species or person deserved to be starved, slaughtered, and bullied, and I refused to be with someone who treated people like that, so I had to believe he could change.
I wanted to wrap my arms around myself, but I forced them to remain at my sides until the two of them left.
“I’ll come back later for your tray.” Glinda leaned over and patted my arm. “That will give you time to settle and eat.”
After those images, I couldn’t imagine having an appetite tonight. The food was still sitting way too heavily in my stomach. “No need. I’m done. I just want to sleep.” I yawned, not even attempting to hide it like normal.
“Very well.” Glinda took the tray as Warin exited the room. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” She left the water on the table and carried the items from the room.
Once the door shut, the weight of everything pressed on me. I couldn’t believe that Raffe would do something like that to anyone, even vampires. At least the vampire who’d attacked me in the woods had shown he wasn’t rational and could have killed me and other humans. I understood Raffe’s decision to kill him. But vampires hiding out in a warehouse alone didn’t sound worthy of execution. If the shifters didn’t want them there, they could have told them to leave instead of attacking them.
Taking a deep breath, I spun the chair around and scooted closer to the bed. With the drug in full effect, moving those three feet took a few minutes.
Once there, I plopped onto the bed and rolled into the center. Now that I was here, I had nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and let my mind wander.
No matter how I tried to control my line of thought, it kept coming back to those pictures. My heart ached as doubt about Raffe crept in. A picture had a way of telling a story, but not the whole one. I wouldn’t know more until I talked to Raffe and heard his side of things.
That was when I became more certain than ever.
I had to get out of here. They were poisoning me against Raffe, which wasn’t right because he wasn’t here to defend himself. They would continue to do that and show me more and more “proof” until I agreed with their side. That’s how manipulators worked and why they were so effective.
The best thing I could do was sleep off the drug. Then I’d find a way out of here, no matter what.
My eyelids became heavy, and instead of fighting to keep them open like I usually did, I slowly succumbed to sleep.
The doorknob turned,and my eyes fluttered open.
“Let me go!”
The familiar male voice had my heart squeezing.
Slade.
“Shut up,” Warin snarled. “And get in there!”
The door swung open fast and hit the wall with a bang. Light from the hallway streamed into the room, and Slade stumbled inside. Blood poured from his nose, and he was hunched over, clutching his stomach. “You damn bloodsucker, you won’t get away with this!”
Warin blurred inside and kicked Slade in the stomach. A strangled scream lodged in my chest as Warin spun and exited, slamming the door and locking us inside.
The drug was halfway burned off in my system. I moved more sluggishly than normal, but I sat up. Even in the darkness, my eyes adjusted, and I could see Slade slumped against the wall. “Slade,” I whispered, my voice hoarse from sleep.
His head snapped toward me. “Sky?” His emerald eyes bulged, and he clambered to his feet awkwardly. “Is that really you?”
The two of us shuffled toward each other and embraced.
Tears poured down my face. Finally, someone I trusted was here with me.
“Hey, it’s okay. You’re not alone anymore.” He rubbed his hands up and down my arms. His dark-blond scruff prickled my cheek, and the deep void inside me ached.
I wanted Raffe.
This moment suddenly felt wrong, and I stepped backward with a bitter laugh. “That’s not okay. You shouldn’t be here.” I stared at his face and noted that his spiky blond hair was full of dirt, and blood had dried on his lip and congealed at his nostrils. “We need to clean you up.” I took another step back and almost lost my balance.
“Whoa.” He clutched my arms, stabilizing me, and winced. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I straightened, not wanting to put more weight on him while he was injured. “Just drugged. Didn’t they do the same to you?”
He smiled then wrapped an arm around his waist and groaned. “They think they did. Warin snuck up on me on campus while we were searching the woods for you, and he tried to inject me with the drug. I managed to kick him away before he could empty the entire syringe in me, but it was enough to impact me. Then he beat the shit out of me.” He rubbed his ribs and winced. “I’m pretty sure he broke a fucking rib. I can’t breathe without my ribs hurting worse at this point.”
There wasn’t anything you could do for a broken rib other than rest. “You should lie down on the bed.” I pointed at the spot where I’d been lying. “That should take the edge off the pain.” At least, I hoped it would. I needed him to heal before Warin came back.
He shook his head. “I’m good. I don’t want to lie down.” He scanned the area.
“There’s no way out.” I shook my hands to help the drug wear off. “The door has a perimeter spell we can’t cross.”
Slade froze. “Perimeter spell? Vampires can’t use magic.” He turned to me, his face strained. “How is that possible?”
I swallowed uncomfortably. He didn’t know. “A witch is involved. Her name is Glinda.”
His face fell. “No fucking way.”
Something like a faint eggy fart hit my nose. I held my breath, not wanting to smell it. He’d broken a rib and got kicked in the gut—he probably didn’t realize he’d passed gas. The last thing I wanted to do was call him out on it, so I tried to focus on the conversation. “Yeah, why are you surprised by that?”
“She’s Mom’s most trusted priestess. No one’s been able to reach her since before you disappeared.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Why would she do this?”
I filled him in on everything I’d learned, leaving out the pictures of Raffe and the wolves killing vampires.
When I finished, noises sounded outside the door.
Slade and I stared at one another, waiting for the door to open, but the faint scuffle of footsteps headed away.
Slade shook his head. “Shit. This isn’t good. This must be why Warin took me. We’ve got to alert Mom and Raffe.”
I tensed and tilted my head. “You want to alert Raffe? I thought you’d be behind the wolf shifters losing control.”
“Yeah, I am. But taking me gives Glinda control, and don’t you think kidnapping people goes a touch too far? We need to stop whatever she’s doing before it goes further.”
On that, we were in agreement. “I’m not sure what we can do. I’ve tried getting out of here with no luck. The vent is too small, and those blinds just cover a painting of the outdoors.” That latter part killed me.
“Seriously?” His brows furrowed. “So we’re in some sort of underground bunker.”
“Once you heal, maybe we can find a way out.” I hated to think how long that would take and what they’d make me look at and learn about until then, but I couldn’t escape and leave Slade behind.
“We can’t wait.” He shook his head. “They’ll keep drugging us, and right now, I can use my magic. I’m also at my weakest physically, so our captors won’t expect us to try.”
His determination to leave had me more eager than before. “But your ribs …”
“I’ll be fine. It’s important that we get out of here tonight.” He went to the door and placed his ear to the wood. After several seconds, he pulled away. “The hall is empty, so we need to run. I can heal once we get out of here.”
He turned the doorknob and raised his brows when it opened.
“Yeah, they don’t lock it because of the perimeter spell,” I murmured, heading toward him. He wasn’t listening to me.
Turning to me, he grinned. “Watch this.” He raised a hand, and I braced myself for the impact.
But something else happened.