Chapter 42
AXE
For the third time today, I return from a shift in the forest to ease my high-strung nerves.
Back in my office, Demi yaks on the phone with her mate, who is looking after their daughters back in Belcarra.
Opposite of her is Nell, combing through two decades’ worth of estranged rogue files.
Not a single report regarding Vessa or Dr. Caulder has come in over the last twelve hours.
But we have every reason to believe that the same group is responsible for their abductions.
Slumping back into my chair, I fix my attention on the GIS file of updated vampire activity in the region.
Before I’d burst out of the office, I’d been comparing the notes I had taken from the map prior to Tesni’s mission to the Ugruk Circle.
Nothing jumps out to me as I meticulously scan the pages.
Most of the attacks circulate in the outskirts of major cities, where human prey is far easier to come by and enforcer units are sparse.
Somewhere, there must be a point of contact connecting vampires to the active mercenary network.
Unlike packs, rogue teams never stick together long, especially if a job has the potential to go sideways.
We need to catch this crew soon, before the Blood Master arrives and scatters them.
Nell frowns as I fiddle with the recovered metal orb, studying its eerie familiarity. “Her creations weren’t well-kept secrets, you know. That thing could’ve come from anywhere . . .”
Everyone comes to an immediate halt when Jabir appears in the doorway, breathing heavily. “Axe. You need to have a look at this.”
My feet are moving before it even registers, Demi and Nell right at my heels. Two doors down, Jabir's computer monitor displays an encrypted email from an unfamiliar sender: stingerstarved@
My sister frowns at the subject line. "‘For your viewing pleasure’? What the hell is this?"
"Just wait," my second mutters, voice unbearably small.
When his mouse opens the next window, Nell gasps. Two photos appear. One is a brunette lying face down, naked body bound in an intricate rope harness. Blood is smeared along her thighs. The next is a closer shot from the side, focusing on a crescent moon tattoo on her shoulder. Fuck!
It’s her.
I lunge towards the computer with shaking fists. My sister puts a hand on my chest.
“Easy,” she warns.
Jabir navigates to his second monitor, opening his browser which contains the link sent in the message. It’s a livestream. Though the webcam is slightly out of focus, there’s no questioning who is in the center of the frame, strapped to a chair, mangled and bruised.
I fall to my knees at the sight of my mate.
Hair hangs over her face, drawing attention to her shorn pink lingerie and the handkerchief around her neck.
A steady stream of blood spills down her arm, even spilling from the soaked tourniquets around her thighs.
The sound of the video is muted, but I can tell she's hyperventilating.
A vicious growl erupts out of Demi's throat. "When we get our hands on these pricks, I’m gonna skin them alive and feed it back to them."
Two men appear behind the chair, faces cleverly cut out of the frame.
One of them manhandles Vessa by the nape, forcing her to stare down the camera.
Her face is splotchy, save for the massive black eye that's had a few days to take shape.
A hand removes the cloth stuffed in her mouth.
Vessa immediately jerks away from it, and like a pinch collar, the scarf pulls tight around her windpipe.
Horrified, Nell begins to cry.
Jabir slides his chair over to the first monitor, typing a complex chain of codes into the keyboard. "I'm trying to track the IP address, Axe. I'm sorry, there’s a few barriers I need to break through.”
The audio kicks in abruptly.
“Skornokovy,” the male offscreen begins.
"I hope that we have your undivided attention.
But just in case we don't . . ." He brushes Vessa's tangled hair aside, revealing her bruised breasts and the flaming red mark not on her neck, but her shoulder, where blood still oozes. Blood, from a second lycan’s bite.
My entire body goes slack. For a second, it feels as if I am dreaming. As if my sleep paralysis is on the verge of locking me down. No! My wolf roars loud enough that my ears are ringing, tinting my vision red.
The frame cuts just below the neck of a second male as he reaches down to stroke her cheek. She whips her head away, eliciting a deep laugh from him.
"Just wanted to give you an update on your feisty little Luna. I wish we could say that she's being a good girl, but I don't think she's ever been good one day in her life. Must be one of the things you like so much about her. Other than that five-star pussy."
"Anything?" I ask Jabir desperately, chest heaving. I’m about to lose it. My wolf is clawing me so hard he may end up shredding my sternum.
He shakes his head, still typing furiously.
"Fuck you, you spineless piece of shit," Vessa croaks.
The other wolf who is restraining her snorts. "Spineless? Don't think we've heard that one before."
Vessa’s eyes blaze with promise. "When Axe comes, it'll be the very last thing you hear. Right before he demonstrates."
I don’t have to reach for the connection between us to know she’s exhausted, trying to buy herself time that I know she doesn’t have.
“Why don’t we show him who the real Alpha is?”
The leader motions to the male who holds Vessa in place with the scarf.
He clamps a hand over her mouth and his partner sidesteps the chair, unzipping his jeans.
Pointing his shaft upwards, he proceeds to urinate on the inflamed bitemark that burns on Vessa's neck.
My mark. Her screams are muffled, but they are felt though our screen, nonetheless.
My fist connects with the wall then, shattering my fingers.
Nell whimpers. “Lehrohina, please.”
"I needed that IP yesterday, Jabir," Demi barks.
"I’m trying. Almost through the firewall," he answers.
Moments away from my wolf taking hold, my sister latches onto my shoulder, plastering me against the back wall. “Breathe, Axe. Let him do his job.”
Everyone freezes at an urgent commotion. A woman’s voice shouts over the video footage. "Shut the video down. Do it now!"
That voice. I know it.
The only thing the camera captures before everything goes dark is a head of short, white-blonde hair. A tattoo of winding flames that stretches from ear to neck. It's enough to make my sister go completely still.
“No,” I breathe. No way. It can’t be.
Demi’s face blanches as she whispers the name she dreads the most on this Earth. “Kiersten?”
Vessa
My wounds scream with newfound agony. I’ve never smelled—never looked—worse in my entire life.
Trembling before the camera, I almost miss the announcement. "We've got a confirmed match. Skornokovy’s girl is the one."
Levi looks more pissed than ever. "She's the Sponsa Noctis? This sweet little thing? Don’t play with me, cousin."
His partner shakes her head. She steals a quick look at me, her expression souring. "I wish I was.”
I blink with a shudder. The secret’s out.
Preston steps into the room, hands stuffed in his pockets. He comes to a halt as he beholds my battered face with disgust. “Remick is going to flay all of you for this. Look what you animals have done to her.”
Buzzcut checks his phone. A promising smile spreads on his thin mouth. "500K deposit just hit. We'll get the rest when the Big Man comes to collect."
Levi slices through the bonds on my chair. The scientist puts a hand on his shoulder, breathing heavily above me. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked. Now it’s time you held up your end of the bargain. Release my daughter.”
The scorpion snarls, nostrils flaring. “Not until after the exchange. Now take your hands off me.”
Preston panics. “Give her back, Levi!”
Levi delivers a hefty punch to his jaw, dropping him instantly. I gasp as his partner yanks me out of the cold chair, dragging me away from the scene. The woman then shoves me through the doorway, quickening her pace as the guards bolt out of the interrogation room.
Already, I am panting. Every step is strenuous. "Why is this so personal for you? The others couldn’t give a shit about who I am. But you’ve got hatred written all over you.”
“Shut it,” Levi growls from the rear. In his pocket, his phone blares. He breaks off to answer it, waving his partner onward.
My throat burns as she ignores me. “Unless it isn’t me?”
She refuses to look at me as her mouth parts.
“Axe Skornokovy sentenced me to a life behind bars and ruined my chances of ever having a career or a pack ever again.
Every day, I remember the sneer on his face as he told me I would never walk out of that prison, nor would I ever see the woman I love again.
As a reward for my patience, eventually, I was released.
Well, technically I released myself. Enjoyed about forty-eight hours of freedom before that brute and his squad of heathens found me crossing into Bissex.
He ordered the Alpha of Silverback to shoot me full of silver and left me there to die. "
What? Axe is brutal, but from what I’ve encountered, his reasons are justifiable. Surely there must be more to the story . . .
I gulp. "Looks like you found a loophole."
The barrel of her gun digs into the middle of my spine. We bypass the staircase that leads to the bowels of the building, where my cell awaits. Panning my eyes furtively, I chart the layout of the floor, noting all possible exits. Windows.
Fear coils in my stomach as we approach a new corridor, which is apparently unguarded.
For the first time in days, I am dragged into a private bathroom.
She jerks the shower handle and nudges me inside.
I quickly rinse, trembling as the blood and urine wash clean from my skin.
After I reemerge, the blonde replaces my bandages along with a new set of garments.
As I slip them on, I shudder. When the bathroom door clicks open, so does the realization of who is gripping my arm.
Who must’ve inked the tattooed flames that extend beneath her sleeve and collar.
"She wasn't just any woman, was she? It was Demi."
Levi reappears in the doorway, wearing a look of shock . Like I've used a name that is forbidden among their group.
“. . . Which makes you Kiersten.”
Her grip remains unshaken. “It’s Snow now.
Though I’m flattered your mate went out of his way to mention me.
Believe me, Vessa, as much as I'd love to snap that flimsy little neck of yours, nothing fills me with more satisfaction than knowing that in two days from now, the person most precious to him will be in the hands of the man he’s devoted his entire life to destroying. ”
Shit.
I have two days to miraculously escape, or I’ll never see Axe again. Goddess only knows if he’ll find me in time. I could be held up on another continent for all I know.
Pushing me back into the hall, her fingernails dig deeper into my arm.
“After Bleeding Sun’s sentencing, Demi sent me away.
Everything I did—I regret nothing. I loved her .
. . and yet, it scraped out every ounce of goodness I had.
It drove me to insanity. To abandon my own species.
For years, I couldn’t live with myself. Twice, I almost hung myself in my cell.
But one day, through a mercenary channel, Levi caught wind of a human who could redeem us.
So, he smuggled me out of prison and promised to come back for me after he’d retrieved the Sponsa Noctis.
It didn’t exactly go the way we planned.
But sure enough, a few years later, we succeeded. ”
“You would willingly side with the very monster who butchered your own parents? Demi’s and Tesni’s?”
“The only way to survive in this world is by aligning yourself with those who are heartless. Like me, they have nothing left to lose.”
I stare into the eyes of the revenant. Kiersten’s pain is overwhelming, though her words are chosen carefully to disguise it. She is patient. Determined to wait to strike until the pendulum of fate finally swings in her favor.
Genuine sorrow fills my heart. “I’m sorry for what you went through. I’m sorry that she chose someone else.”
She nibbles on her lip. For a moment, I think she might be grateful for my empathy. That maybe this is the first time anyone has ever shown it to her.
Next, I am escorted into a small bedroom—no, a parlor.
A sofa sits against one wall, facing four chairs that form a half-circle.
Standing in the back corner with his shirt collar gripped tightly by a guard is a dark-skinned man in his late thirties.
Silver chains constrict his wrists and ankles.
Nostrils expanding, the Lycan prisoner warily meets my eyes.
"Who's ready for a little fun?" Levi chimes, nudging me towards the sofa.
A disquieting alert comes through on Kiersten's radio, causing her to promptly turn back the way she came.
Levi rubs his palms together, leaning against a conveniently placed liquor cabinet. “Bring her in,” he says to the guard who swaps places with his cousin.
My stomach somersaults when Esmé is pushed through the doorway. Her eyes pan over to me first, then widen with horror at the sight of the other unexpected guest. "Joseph," she whispers on a shaky breath, taking in the sight of her mate.