CHAPTER 23
Rue
My eyes snap open and I gasp, disoriented as I try to make sense of my surroundings. I’m still in the living room, surrounded by my men who are slowly beginning to stir.
As I sit up, pushing off Rhys who lets out a grunt, a sharp pain shoots through my head. My brain feels foggy and heavy, like cotton balls have replaced my thoughts.
“What the hell happened?” Rhys demands, shooting eye daggers in Dar’tha‘s direction, but she’s still out like a light. His gaze swivels to me, checking me for any injuries, but I’m completely fine. I think. Have Rhys’ eyes always been this blue?
Slade lifts me from the couch into his arms and everywhere his skin touches mine feels electrified. Caylix stands at my back, his breath hot on my neck. Kathan observes everything with a sharp eye, but his worry is evident in the way he’s poised to strike at a moment’s notice.
The air is heavy with traces of magic, so much so they’re almost tangible, but out of sight. The room pulsates with an otherworldly energy, causing my skin to tingle and my hair to stand on end. Something big is coming. I can feel it in my very bones.
When Slade lets me go, I get a glance out the window behind Dar’tha, and I startle, doing a double take. It’s as if a veil has been lifted from my eyes. The world is more vibrant, more vivid and alive than I’ve ever seen it. The autumn leaves are ablaze in a kaleidoscope of reds and oranges, their fiery hues dancing in the sunlight.
Even the room itself is aglow with hues of golden light, giving everything a radiant sheen. The colors of the furniture and décor seem to pop with a newfound richness, as if they’d been dull and faded before.
I glance at my arms, finding them radiating a soft red glow before it fades under my skin. I’ve experienced this feeling once before. Right before that mystery woman stopped that feral enforcer from ripping my throat out. Was that my fae side slipping out then?
Gah, that’s still such a weird thought to have, but even I can’t deny the evidence when it’s all around me.
Dar’tha lets out a groan and sits up slowly, rubbing her temples. Then it seems like everything hits her and she shoves to her feet, surprising us all. “Shit! Every supernatural for miles will have felt that blast.” She mumbles a few things under her breath while she paces in a circle.
“What do you mean?” Kathan asks, his voice deathly quiet.
Dar’tha stops her pacing and turns to face us, her expression grim. “The surge of magic we just experienced... It was like a beacon. Every supernatural creature in the vicinity will have felt it. And they’ll be drawn to it, to her.”
Slade snarls, and he’s not the only one. My mates have gotten scarily in sync the last few weeks. “Then we need to get Rue somewhere safe.”
Dar’tha nods in agreement. “I know a place, but we need to hurry. It might already be too late—“
A thunderous bang echoes through the room as the front door is flung open. My neck jerks toward the sound, my heart racing in fear of who or what it might be. A wave of relief washes over me when I see Henri standing in the entryway, his eyes wide and searching. “My Lord, there are hundreds of ferals gathering outside.”
A cold chill runs down my spine at Henri’s words.
Caylix marches over to the window. Whatever he sees causes him to growl, low and deep, and it’s all the confirmation I need to know Henri is right. “Fuck! There are too many. We need a plan B.”
My stomach drops to my toes, my heart flying to my throat. Slade stands next to me, gripping my arm protectively while Rhys and Kathan move toward the window, surveying the situation outside with furrowed brows.
“Damn it!” Rhys curses, his eyes frantically scanning the trees outside. “We need a way out of here. Now!”
A grim look of determination hardens Kathan’s features. “We fight. Simple as that,” he says. “We protect our mate at any cost.”
But Slade shakes his head. “No. We’re vastly outnumbered. It would be suicide.”
Caylix scans the tree line again, his head tilted in confusion. “They’re not getting any closer. Why is that?”
“That,” a hard, familiar voice remarks from behind, “is because they’re being controlled.”
We all turn to see a tall figure standing in the doorway. It’s the feral who attacked me that night after The Growl. The one who killed the bartender. He looks like hell rolled over, bruises mottling his skin, his lip split and cracked like it hasn’t been allowed to heal. A spike of anxiety shoots through me when his eyes land on me. It’s as if there’s a thousand tiny needles poking me where his gaze roams.
Slade phases over to him, gripping him by the throat as he smashes him into one of the columns on the front porch. “Wait! I have information,” the man manages to gasp out.
Slade drops him, and he flops to his knees, coughing and choking. The man doesn’t seem to have any of the previous strength he used to have. Actually, he seems sort of pitiful in comparison. What the hex happened?
“Talk,” Slade demands, his voice a threatening rasp. The man gulps and mutters something.
“I was captured shortly after that day I attempted to draw you out. I’ve been held and experimented on since then by some witch and wizard.” He shudders, and his gaze goes far away like he’s reliving the horrors he’s experienced. He seemingly shakes himself out of it. “Suffice to say, they’re fucking depraved and want to see the world burn.”
“Who are they?” Slade demands.
“I don’t know—“ He’s cut off when Slade lifts him up by the neck again.
He puts his hands out in surrender. “Seriously, it’s not like we shared names or anything!”
And splat, back to his knees he goes as Slade releases him. It reminds me too much of my experience being kidnapped, and I put a hand on Slade’s arm to stop him from doing it again. Anyone with eyes can tell this vampire has been through a lot. Me asking Slade to be merciful doesn’t mean I trust him for one single second, though.
Besides, I know damn well Slade would rip his heart out without a second thought if the need arose.
“What did they want with you?” Caylix interjects.
“They studied me, pushed me to the limits, experimented on me, injected me with blood to see if I’d turn feral again.” He rubs at his throat where Slade’s grip left angry red marks, his eyes glazed. “And I wasn’t the only one. There were many of us. Some already feral, some still lucid. But none of them came out of their torture unscathed. “
“And the ferals out there...?” Slade prompts.
“Under their control. When they discovered I could manipulate other ferals in short bursts, they put all their energy into seeing if they could replicate it. And they did. Everyone except for me. I seem to be the only one able to resist whatever compulsion they put on the others.” He eyes me up and down. “Likely thanks to you, beacon.”
A collective gasp echoes through the room at his revelation. The implications are terrifying. Witches and wizards that hold the power to control ferals? They’d have an entire army of virtually unstoppable mindless creatures.
“How did you manage to escape? And why did you come here?” Kathan asks.
“Lately, they’ve become distracted. Sloppy. Your display of power presented the perfect opportunity for me to escape while they were so distracted letting their puppets free to intercept you. They had no idea I simply slipped out with the rest of the horde.”
A pissed off feminine growl sounds behind us. We turn to find Arya with Ian and Calisto right behind her. “What the fuck is going on?” she demands. “Why did we pass—“ Her sentence abruptly cuts off as she spots the ferals waiting at the edge of the trees, surrounding us, and she lets out a horrified gasp.
Dar’tha, who has been relatively quiet during all of this, finally speaks up. “We should get back inside. We’re too exposed out here.”
I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself despite the panic surging through my veins. I’ve no sooner made it through the door when something emits an awful, gurgling noise behind us. I turn to find the cured feral, his eyes wide with shock, blood leaking from his mouth, and a stake sticking through his chest. My mates are around me in an instant, their stances protective as whoever killed him yanks the stake out and flings him aside.
“There. That’s enough out of you.”