Chapter 26 - Naia
Pain drags me back first with a heaviness in my limbs like my entire body has been dropped somewhere it doesn’t belong.
I groan under my breath as my eyes slowly adjust, trying to shift in an attempt to regain some control, but something tightens around my wrists before I can move.
Glancing down, I find restraints around my wrists, but they’re not ordinary ones. Instead, these flicker with an icy-blue light as they circle each wrist, glowing faintly against my skin.
More magic…that paired with the vaguely oppressive air around me brings those memories rushing back again.
She’s suppressing me again and stopping me from using my own powers. I can’t even reach my wolf.
The world comes back in pieces of blurred shapes, flickering light, and the scent of damp earth. Soon, it’s overtaken by the smell of too many wolves packed into one space.
My pulse spikes instantly when I register them there, knowing exactly what they are. The rogue pack.
I jerk against the semi-transparent bindings, but they hold firm, and the more I struggle, the more they bite into my skin, making me wince.
“Easy.”
That softer voice cuts through the noise, and I look up.
The woman from before stands a few feet away, watching me with that same neutral expression, and something twists in my chest.
“You,” I breathe.
“Me,” she says, quieter than I expect her to.
Not knowing what else to do, I stare at her, catching a different gleam in her eyes now. In a way, she seems less intimidating and more out of place than anything. From the way she looks back at me, it feels like there’s something she isn’t saying, or maybe can’t.
At least five others are lingering around us, potentially with more just outside my line of sight. Their attention shifts between her and me, both restless and expectant like they’re waiting for something, or someone.
“What do you want?” I snap, feeling my anger rise all over again.
One of the wolves nearby scoffs. “What do we want? You really don’t get it, do you?”
I ignore him and focus on her instead. “Answer me.”
She doesn’t move and doesn’t react, but I feel the change in her, along with the magic holding me down like a dome overhead. It presses in around me again, tighter than before, as it coils under my skin, locking everything down.
My breath stutters, and I try to keep myself from succumbing to it entirely, but after just regaining consciousness, I feel weaker now.
“I’m Rhea,” she says quietly, more like a secret.
My brows furrow, confused by her involvement and the way she seems disjointed from the others. What’s the point of telling me her name in the first place?
“Why are you doing what they want?” I ask, trying to understand what’s happening around me.
A spark of something unreadable crosses her expression, then it’s gone almost instantly. I still saw it, and that’s what matters.
“Stop talking and keep her under,” another wolf snaps as he steps closer, pointing a finger at Rhea. “We don’t need a repeat of earlier.”
“I know what I’m doing,” she replies, her tone clipped now. It immediately catches my attention and doesn’t go unnoticed by them either.
“You’d better,” he presses with cold intentions in his eyes. “Because if she breaks loose again, it’s your head.”
Even if reluctantly, she corrects herself and stands in near perfect silence while making sure the trap holds. She’s tense and uneasy, but constantly looking at me.
My gaze sharpens as the pieces start falling into place. “They’re threatening you.”
Rhea averts her eyes, surely to keep the others appeased, but her control tightens just a fraction, and it serves as enough of an answer.
Something cold settles in my chest. “So that’s it, you’re just going to do whatever they say?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It never is,” I mutter.
One of the other wolves scowls in our direction. “She does what she’s told, or she gets put down. Same as you.”
I turn my head slightly to glare at him. “Try it.”
He grins. “Don’t tempt me.”
“Enough,” another shifter snaps, sharper now. The others hesitate, as if he has some sort of authority, but that doesn’t mean they respect him any more, as they grumble to themselves. The wolf rolls his eyes but backs off a step.
They’re obviously working together, but without an Alpha, they don’t have proper ranks. It seems precarious at best.
I shift my attention back to her. “They have others, don’t they?”
She hesitates for a beat, and that’s all I need.
“How many?” I press.
“You sure love talking,” one of them cuts in. “It doesn’t matter how many are here…you’re not leaving until the buyer comes.”
My stomach twists as that word sinks into my skin. “Buyer?”
“Yeah,” he says. “You’re worth a lot more than we expected.”
“You already sold me once.”
“Technically, yeah. Now we get to do it again,” another says as he smirks to himself. Regardless of their potential differences, the others all look satisfied with this notion.
My blood runs cold. “You’re double-crossing.”
The one who seems like he’s more or less leading this thing forces out a breath, but entertains me anyway. “That’s right. Whether it’s your boy toy or your brother, it doesn’t matter. We get paid twice the amount either way.”
Zane.
The bond flickers faintly on my end from the thought, but it feels like the connection has been blocked somehow, and I assume it has something to do with Rhea’s powers.
My heart clenches at the thought of it being completely severed.
“And you think that’s going to end well for you?”
He shrugs. “It doesn’t have to. As long as we get our money, we’ll be out of here soon enough.”
So they plan on making their money and leaving…but even if that’s what they claim, I have the feeling they’d be back anyway.
Before I can say anything else, a distant sound cuts through the tension. Movement registers first as something hurtles through the trees, and the shifters correct themselves instantly, attention snapping outward.
“Finally,” one mutters, apparently assuming it’s the person they’ve been waiting for.
I tense, instincts kicking in while I brace myself for whoever they might be, whoever plans on buying me for whatever sick reasons they might have.
Heavy footsteps move in, followed by the scent of blood in the air. The scent hits before the figure even steps into view, fresh and masking a smell I’m all too familiar with. Then I see him.
Hayes.
My brother moves like stormy wind breaking through the trees and into the opening, fast, brutal, and unrelenting even in his half-shifted state.
The first wolf doesn’t even have time to react before Hayes tears through him, claws ripping as blood sprays across the ground. Chaos erupts without warning, and his eyes glow as he bares his teeth.
The others watch in horror as the scene unfolds, trying to quickly grasp what’s happening.
“What the—”
“Move!”
Another wolf lunges, but Hayes takes him down just as easily with a snarl ripping from his throat. “You think you can play me?” he roars, anger directed at the rogue wolves. “You’ve stolen from me…but now I’m taking her back.”
The clearing explodes into motion as the carefully planned rendezvous breaks, and in that exact moment, the pressure on me lifts.
Rhea.
Her control snaps away completely, and I suck in a sharp breath as magic surges back under my skin all at once. It’s wild and unrestrained, but it’s exactly what I need.
I move on instinct as the restraints disappear, and I lunge to my feet, but I hesitate once I glance in her direction. Despite her powers, she hesitates, glancing around in confusion and fear. She stumbles back as one of the rogues turns on her.
“Get her back under control!” he snaps, grabbing her arm.
Rhea flinches, and her breath catches, not at all looking like the unruffled magic user from before.
Within a split second, I see something familiar in her, well aware of how they’ve been controlling her and using her against me, just like the way my own pack has used me. I can only imagine how long they’ve been doing this for.
Something deep inside me snaps, and I’m moving before I can think it through.
My magic lashes out, slamming into the wolf and throwing him off her. He hits the ground with a grunt, and the wolves closest to us freeze.
I step in front of her without realizing it, positioning myself between her and the others.
“What are you doing?” one of the wolves demands.
“She’s not your weapon,” I mutter, bracing myself for more.
I know exactly what it feels like to be used and seen as nothing more than a tool. But if she can be more than this, just like Zane has shown me, then it’s worth putting my own life on the line.
When another shifter is taken down, the others hesitate as they bare their teeth, some shifted and some not. Even then, they’re not strong enough to take my brother on, even when he’s still just a man.
Hayes steps forward with his gaze locking onto me, and everything in me goes still. “Naia.”
My name sounds wrong coming from him now. It sounds too controlled and far too pleased.
His eyes flick over me, taking in everything from my stance to the magic still flickering under my skin. Something darker takes over his features now, just like it does when he has found something that will benefit him.
“You’ve been hiding things from me, Naia.”
My stomach drops, and it takes everything in me not to be instinctively submissive. “I didn’t know…not for a while.”
His jaw tightens as he studies me, searching for lies. “Those powers of yours would’ve been convenient before, but now I understand why these bastards were so interested in you.”
I step back slightly to maintain distance between us. “My magic isn’t for you to use. You don’t get to just take me back.”
Hayes’ expression doesn’t change. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do, and you don’t have much say in the matter.”
The rogues move uneasily around us, caught between two sides now.
“You can’t be here,” one of them snaps. “The buyer—”
Hayes doesn’t even look at him, eyes trained on me. “I am the buyer…and you made a very stupid mistake.”
Mutual shock moves through them at once, anger rising all over.
They planned on double-crossing Zane for the sake of earning more money, only to find themselves outsmarted after all. Given their expressions, this is the last thing they expected.
A wolf lunges with a snarl in a desperate and reckless attempt, but Hayes wastes no time, using his current form to his benefit.
With no hesitation, he lets the wolf close the space, only to scrape his elongated nails along the beast’s throat and grab him to finish the job. He drops him fast, forcing the others to act.
The clearing erupts into full chaos now as the other Wraith Peak wolves flood in, and the rogues attack from all sides while their lives depend on it.
Blood and snarls collide at once, and I keep my guard up as I grab Rhea’s arm and pull her back right when a wolf charges.
“Stay behind me,” I snap, throwing another burst of energy in its direction.
Rhea doesn’t argue, thankfully, which I wouldn’t have time to deal with if she did.
Another rogue comes at us from the left, and I turn, magic flaring. It slams into him before he can reach us, and he goes down hard. Even as I stop them, more seem to fill their place.
“They’re targeting you,” Rhea says sharply, lifting a hand to catch another wolf before he can surprise me. A bolt of her magic launches outward, sending him flying back before one of my brother’s wolves ends it.
“I noticed.”
We keep fighting, trying to keep the rogues from recapturing us while Hayes and the others work on collapsing them at the same time. Even if he’s not technically fighting us, this brief alliance will only last so long. He means to take me back, but I have no intention of going.
For a split second, everything seems to pause as more movement crowds in.
A beat later, bodies crash through the trees, both stronger and faster, wrapped in familiar smells.
My breath catches. I recognize that scent even before I see him.
Zane.