Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Z
G od, I thought my head was going to implode with the revelation that the mages had willingly joined our side.
But to discover that my mates thought I was capable of somehow…changing sins into virtues? That threatened to send brain matter in every direction.
I scrubbed my hands down my face and leaned back in the rickety wooden chair. Early morning sunlight illuminated the walls of the tent, painting everything in a pastel shade of orange.
I spent more time in this particular tent than anywhere else, even the one reserved for me and my mates. I was intimately familiar with every tiny tear in the tent’s fabric. Every water stain marking the wooden table. Every figurine adorning the immaculately smooth map.
B, Mali, and Davia had arrived a few minutes earlier for the meeting. HH had come shortly after that, dark shadows beneath both of his eyes and his hair disheveled. I still didn’t see Turner, the only other member of the council.
I’d learned from B that the two mermaids who’d helped us arrive here had joined the army near the Vampire Kingdom’s border. What remained behind was a skeletal crew.
We did have one new addition to the ragtag team.
Paco was only wearing a pair of pants, and even that was a battle Bash had to fight for. His gray chest hairs were braided—because why the fuck not?—and he wore a pair of glasses without any lenses. The eccentric mage was currently eyeing the pastries on the table as if he were envisioning… well, not eating them. I didn’t even want to know what he’d do if he got his hands on those donuts.
Crazy old fuck.
“We need to figure out how to stop Aaliyah’s army,” I said without preamble.
I anxiously chewed on the tip of my fingernail. I hadn’t done that nervous habit since I was a little girl. I honestly thought I’d grown out of it.
Restless energy skittered beneath my skin, and I stood and began to pace.
Devlin caught me one of the times I passed him and coiled an arm around my waist, pulling me to a stop. When I glanced at him, he silently grabbed my wrist and removed my nail from my mouth. I glared but obliged without complaint. The second he released me, I began to pace again.
“We have scouts searching for them now,” Davia said calmly. I envied her sometimes. Even when facing down a threat like we’d never seen before, she managed to remain calm and serene. “They’ll report back as soon as they know more.”
“We’re not positive her army is even trying to free the kings,” B pointed out gruffly. His eyes had been following me this entire time, and his right brow began to twitch. “Now sit the fuck down before I have a stroke watching you.”
I narrowed my eyes but continued pacing…until an exasperated Devlin once again stopped me and yanked me into the seat beside him. When I glared at him, he simply shrugged unrepentantly before focusing on the others.
“What creatures do you think Aaliyah raised this time?” Bash ran his fingers through his ash-blond hair. “I know the scout couldn’t give us a description, but you guys must have some idea what we’re dealing with.”
“Does it matter?” Dair placed his strong arms on the table with a sigh. “Whatever it is, we know that it’ll be scary and hard to kill.” He slid his gaze to me and offered a tentative smile. “And not every terrifying creature wants to be kept as a pet, Z.”
“Pet?” HH frowned.
“Yeah. Z has a pet kraken.” Bash waved a hand in the air flippantly. “Slippy. The bastard tried to kill her.”
“Because he was under Aaliyah’s control, just like the others were,” I pointed out, a tiny piece of my heart chiseling and turning to dust.
I had no doubt her newest army would be under her command as well, unable to control their actions.
And I would have to kill them.
I wouldn’t have a choice, not if it meant protecting my mates and all of the other innocents here.
I thought of S then, and the tightening in my stomach increased, resembling a pinching sensation. I brought my hand to my belly absently, willing the nausea to subside.
“You okay?” Devlin asked, leaning in close so the others wouldn’t overhear our conversation.
“Just feeling a little sick,” I replied dismissively.
Being tied up for hours, transported to and from some sort of pocket dimension, and discovering I might have the ability to alter the basic nature of nightmares did that to a girl.
Devlin still appeared concerned but let it go without protest.
Killian shifted slightly on his seat. His long, reptilian tail twitched back and forth on the ground behind him. “We know that Aaliyah doesn’t want to see Z dead, which I suppose is a good thing.”
I raised my eyebrow at that.
When she had me as her prisoner, she didn’t kill me or even hurt me. At least, not at first. She wanted the two of us to act like…sisters. But if there was one thing I’d learned from my time there, it was that Aaliyah didn’t know how to love someone. Not truly. Not in the way I loved my mates. Sure, she might be willing to leave me alive for now, but how long would that last? What if she decided she preferred my non-combative corpse instead of someone who could fight against her?
Killian must’ve seen something in my expression, because his cheeks flushed, and he quickly tried to explain himself. “I saw the way Aaliyah was with you, Z. You m-might not believe it, but she does care about you in her own fucked-up, twisted way. Sh-she wouldn’t want you dead or harmed.”
His stutter became slightly more pronounced with all of us focused on him.
“So what does this mean for us?” Davia asked, gesturing towards the map in front of her to indicate the “us” in question.
“I think what my brother is trying to say is that Aaliyah would be least likely to stage an attack on an area she knows Z will be,” Devlin cut in.
Bash’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that Z should go to the front lines and pray that Aaliyah decides to be lenient?”
“Fuck no.” Devlin shook his head adamantly. “But it is something to consider—not that idea, exactly, but we should look into ways to use Aaliyah’s affection for Z against her.”
Something about that didn’t sit right with me, as strange as that sounded. Aaliyah was a horrible, malicious, evil being, yet…her entire life, the people in it used her love for me against her. Even her own mates. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was why she grew up the way she did—isolated, insane, and desperate for me to love her. For anyone to love her.
An indecipherable emotion expanded the knot in my throat. I didn’t know what it was, exactly, but it felt like a cross between guilt, frustration, and anger.
I hated it.
Killian sighed and brushed at a strand of lambent red hair, highlighted here and there with gold streaks. Muted early morning sunlight dappled across his skin. Even with his tail and horns, he was still unfairly gorgeous.
“I just don’t want Aaliyah to get her hands on Z,” he whispered, shivering slightly. “Not again. Never again.”
“That won’t happen,” I replied resolutely.
And it wouldn’t. I would sooner slit my own throat than allow Aaliyah to take me prisoner again. Of course, I didn’t say that particular thought to my mates. They would no doubt go insane with worry.
Dair abruptly sat upright in his chair, as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Where’s Lupe? And Jax?”
“I last saw Lupe near our tent,” Killian replied, already pushing to his feet. “I’ll go grab him.”
“And Jax’s five minutes are over,” Devlin added. He, too, stood and stalked towards the tent flap. His jaw ticked away like the tiny hand of a clock. “I’m going to drag that damn vampire back by his fangs if I need to.”
“He’s thirsty,” I said softly.
I had recognized the desperation in Jax’s eyes instantly, though he’d tried to hide it. I hoped he would tell me on his own time that he needed to drink. And perhaps he would, as soon as he got his thoughts in order.
Devlin’s expression softened. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I’m okay with him wandering on his own.”
“The camp is perfectly safe,” Davia said, sounding slightly indignant. “We have dozens of enchantments on it?—”
“That may be true, but I still don’t like being separated from my family,” Devlin told her. “Not with everything going on.”
“Ohhh. Does this mean we have to walk in lines of two and hold hands whenever we leave the tent?” Bash asked, blinking up at the genie innocently.
Devlin simply flipped the mage off and stalked outside.
Once Killian and Devlin were gone, I turned to the others. “I want to get in touch with Axel and Atta at the capital.”
Mali’s breath hitched at the mention of her mate. One of her tan hands fluttered upwards until it landed on her throat, her nails digging into her flesh.
“Lupe sent a letter to Atta days ago,” Ryland said.
“And?” A thread of trepidation unfurled in my stomach, curling around the knot of wariness already present there.
“No response yet,” Dair answered. He offered Mali a sympathetic smile when her shoulders slumped. “But we had to be careful sending it. Didn’t want to risk it falling into the wrong hands.”
“Like the council members,” Davia said stiffly, her eyes turning flinty. “They still have way too much damn power for my liking. I don’t understand why we can’t just kill them?—”
“The same way we can’t just murder the kings,” B answered, and from his tone, it sounded like they’d had this conversation before. Numerous times. “There would be riots. Nothing can be done until Z and all of her mates receive Lilith’s blessing.”
“Besides,” Ryland added, “it’ll be harder to kill the council members than it would be to kill the kings. The kings are at least contained for the time being. But the council members have their own security in place and fail-safes. Who knows what can of worms we’ll open if we attack them?”
“I think?—”
Whatever Bash was going to say was lost by a blinding white light that sent disconcerting shivers through me. The entire room faded away, one minute molecule at a time.
No. Not again.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I blinked the bright light away, half expecting to find myself tied up in an abandoned hospital again.
But I wasn’t.
I actually had no idea where the fuck I was, but it certainly wasn’t any building I’d seen before.
The walls were made out of a strange red rock I didn’t know the name of, as was the roof overhead. The flooring was nothing but tightly compacted dirt. I wasn’t in a room, per se, but a hall that was twice the size of me in both length and width. It made me feel oddly claustrophobic, as if at any moment, the walls would close in on me and crush me alive.
Directly in front of me, the path branched in three directions. I peered down the right hall first, unsurprised to see nothing but red walls, red ceiling, and brown flooring. It was the same with the left and middle pathway.
Holy fuck.
How was I supposed to know where to go?
The answer came to me with startling swiftness.
I wasn’t supposed to know.
I was in a goddamn maze.
Another one of Lilith’s trials.
But which mate was here with me?
I chose a direction at random—left—and hurried down it, veering down another pathway when the cave branched out again. There was no sound that I could hear. No water trickling over rocks. No birds chirping in the distance. No crickets serenading the night sky. The silence was almost uncanny, and goose bumps pebbled on both of my arms.
And then, slicing through the silence like a katana, came a roar. My heart squeezed.
Something was in this maze with me.
Something bad.
I quickened my pace, trying to control my rampant heartbeat, fear lacing my bloodstream like a poison.
At first, I tried going the same direction at every turn. I’d read once that you could get out of any maze by doing that.
But after what felt like the fiftieth left turn, I realized I was completely and utterly lost. Every damn place looked the same. I needed a way to track my progress.
An idea occurred to me then, but I quickly squashed it down.
The only thing I could possibly use was…my own blood. But I had no idea what was in here with me and if it could follow my scent or be attracted to my blood.
Deciding quickly, I ripped off the bottom of my shirt, directly beneath my breasts, and then began to tear it into tiny pieces. It would be my own version of a breadcrumb trail.
I chose to go right this time, dropping pieces of my shirt intermittently behind me. When I ran out of that fabric, I debated what I wanted to use next. I really, really didn’t want to traverse this maze naked. I had a pair of panties on underneath my pants—which were, thankfully, new, according to Ryland—so I shrugged out of my jeans. Surprisingly, my knife had made the journey with me, so I pulled it out of its sheath and used it to cut at the denim.
I walked for what felt like hours, stopping whenever I reached a path that already had clothing running the length of it.
Right. Left. Straight. Left. Left. Right. Straight.
My legs began to ache, and exhaustion settled deep into my bones, weighing me down. Each of my steps became more sluggish the farther into the maze I ventured.
I hadn’t heard that growl since I first arrived, and I wondered if I’d lost whatever creature was in here with me. Did that mean I was reaching the end of the maze? Was one of my mates here as well? Was I supposed to find him? Ice tumbled through my veins at the thought.
What if that monster had my mate? Was that the trial? Was I supposed to?—?
Something growled directly behind me, and I froze, every muscle in my body locking together. A finger of ice touched my spine and cascaded downwards. Slowly, my fingers flexing around my dagger, I spun around.
My breath left me when I caught sight of the “beast” trapped in the maze with me.
It was Jax…but it wasn’t. Fuck, it wasn’t. Not anymore.
His eyes were so red, they seemed to glow in the dimly lit labyrinth. His features looked sharper than normal, his collarbones sticking out like the wings of a bird. He snarled, and his fingers appeared extended, longer than I’d ever seen before. Combined with his hollow cheeks and gaunt frame, he looked as if he had been here for months instead of hours.
And he was starving .
“Jax,” I began, my voice cracking, but it was like he didn’t recognize me.
He advanced slowly and methodically—a predator who’d caught sight of delicious-smelling prey and was going in for the kill. His gaze homed in on my rapidly pounding pulse.
“Jax,” I tried again.
Apprehension settled like a lead weight in my chest.
What had Lilith done to him?
“Jax?” I didn’t know why I tried again.
I knew it would do no good.
With a snarl full of rage and hunger, my mate pounced on me.
I didn’t even have a chance to scream before his fangs sank deep into my throat.