Chapter 28
SEBASTIAN
“Why do you go to them, darling? They should come to you. You are their king.”
“I’m very fucking aware of that. Thank you.” I ignore Manon’s roll of her eyes and storm down the private stairwell that joins my penthouse floor to the one below.
That’s where Finn, Rune, and Josie reside.
“I’ve left four messages for Fintan, and he hasn’t returned one. I realize he and his sire are at odds right now, but perhaps Rune knows where the hell his brother has fucked off to.”
At the bottom of the stairs, I place my hand over the scanner and the door opens. With long, quick strides, I close the distance to Finn’s suite.
I knock, but there’s no answer.
My patience has worn threadbare, and the last strings have snapped. A kick to the door has the wood splintering and the door swinging wildly out of my way. “Celt? Are you here?”
A quick search of Fintan’s suite makes it clear he is not here.
Maybe I can get some answers out of Rune.
That’s assuming that the Viking can keep his cock in his pants long enough to actually be of use to me. Since he bonded with Josie he’s been nothing but?—
“Oh, Sebastian, excellent.” Josie is standing at the wooden table in Finn’s library with her family grimoire open before her. “Do you have a moment to talk?”
“Have you seen either of the two assholes who are supposed to be running things for me?”
She blinks and gestures to where Rune is sitting in a chair in the corner reading a book.
Seriously?
When has the Viking ever read a fucking book?
Rune rises out of his chair, the muscle in his jaw flexing. “Asshole number one at your service, majesty. What the fuck can I do for you?”
I don’t like his tone. Then again, I don’t like much of anything right now. “Where the fuck is Fintan? I’ve been trying to get him—” the Viking’s hair is damp, and he smells of orgasms.
Again.
I take a closer look at Josie and she’s fresh from the shower too, with two pink puncture marks at the crook of her neck.
“Do you ever get tired of distracting my men? You’re one gigantic suck and fuck these days, aren’t you?”
The growl that tears out of Rune is the only warning I get before he slams me up against the wall. “Watch how you speak to her, Sebastian. She’s not one of your seethe, she’s your Unity Witch. Show her some respect.”
The Viking’s fists are like concrete, and with one of his hands clamped around my throat, it’s a good thing vampires don’t need to breathe. When I hold my palms up, Rune pushes off me and takes a step back.
I adjust my shirt and stretch out my neck. “My point is that we can’t afford distractions. Between Egan, the Moon Witches, and your trials for high priestess, we need to fucking focus.”
Rune props his fists on his hips and pegs me with a glare. “I’m well aware. I spent the morning outside Egan’s camp while he made Aiden and a half-dozen random men into wolves. He’s turning a fucking army.”
Of course he is.“The missing tourists?”
“Yep.”
I pace across the room and try to gather my fragmented thoughts. “So, we know what the wolves are up to. Now, what about the Moon Witches? Where’s Fintan? He isn’t answering my texts.”
Rune frowns. “Mine either. I asked for backup this morning to help me get Aiden free, but he didn’t answer, and he didn’t come.”
“Has that ever happened before?” Josie asks.
Rune sighs. “No, but he’s never been jealous and pissy like he’s been lately, either.”
Josie points to her grimoire. “I have a theory about that. I think Sebastian’s mental and emotional struggle is leaching through the unity bond. Finn’s been the most affected because he’s an empath, but it’s affecting all of us.”
I narrow my gaze on Josie. “I don’t know what you’re referring to, little witch, but you’d do well to keep your opinions to yourself.”
Josie rolls her eyes at me. “I told them about the curse.”
Fury burns in me, so hot my vision goes blurry with spots. “You swore that would remain between us. You asked for my trust and then betrayed it.”
“Only after you betrayed Rune! You enthralled him and took his memories.”
“So sharing my business was payback?”
“No! I was explaining to Rune what might’ve happened.” She rounds the table and rushes toward me. “Sebastian. You have to realize you’re struggling. That’s not me judging you. That’s me trying to assess how bad it’s gotten for you.”
“And what makes you think I need a Dumont witch shrinking me? Everything that’s gone wrong in my life is because of a Dumont witch.”
“So, let me help make it right.”
“Can you undo what your mother did?”
“Not yet, but?—”
“—Then you have nothing to say that I want to hear.”
Rune pushes in to stand between us, his hands held out to keep us at bay. “Okay, enough. It doesn’t do us any good to scratch at each other. We’ve got enough problems coming at us from the outside world.”
Josie takes a deep breath. “You’re right. The first thing we need to do is figure out where Finn is and why he’s gone quiet.”
Rune nods. “Agreed. I say we take a page out of his book and use the unity bond to track him down. If he’s avoiding us, we can give him shit. If it’s something more, then the three of us will be there to handle it.”
“It’s still daylight out. That brings me back to the original thing I wanted to speak to you about, Sebastian.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“I want you to feed from me.”
Her words pierce my heart like the jagged tip of a broken spear. “You can’t be serious.”
She has the nerve to look insulted. “Of course I am. Rune and Fintan have completed our bond. They are stronger for it. They can walk in the daylight. If Mother Gaia bound us, there is a reason. It might even help me reverse the curse if you carry my blood within you.”
I can’t…if I got even a taste of her…
The scent of her blood is hard enough to resist but if my fangs were in her flesh…
“Bas?” The anxiety in Rune’s voice doesn’t surprise me. What does he see right now? My descended fangs? My scarlet eyes? My cock pushing at the fly of my slacks?
Hunger.
“Sebastian, it’s all right. What you’re feeling is natural. You’ve gone too long without your Unity Witch. I believe it’s a big part of your struggle.”
She comes closer and I can’t shut out the constant thumping of her heart, the flow of blood in her veins.
The sweet blood.
Fuck. The path before me passes in a blur, and I don’t breathe again until I’m safely at the end of the hall and away from the temptation of draining my Unity Witch dry.
Shit. I can’t keep doing this…
FINN
I come to with a start, my gasp of breath turning into a groan. Moving makes things worse as something sharp jabs into my side, then my back, and my stomach.
I hiss at the inescapable stinging pain radiating everywhere, all at once.
It’s gold—and it’s piercing my flesh.
I force myself to be still and take stock of my surroundings.
I’m standing in a full-body cage. It’s like an Egyptian sarcophagus or something, trapping me within an inch or two over every surface of my body. The bars are made of pure gold and every couple of inches there are gold spikes protruding through the gaps.
I’m enclosed so tightly, I can’t lift a hand or move without the sharp needles sticking me and making me bleed.
Already, the scent of my blood permeates the air, my clothes stained red where they’ve been ripped and shredded by the spikes while I was unconscious.
Pure gold means my wounds are slow to heal.
The iron maiden is situated in the center of an empty room, the only window blocked out with a thick curtain that leaks a few slivers of light around the edges. The orange glow of the light tells me it’s almost sunset.
Who managed to knock me out for an entire day? It’s been decades since someone got the jump on me.
Movement in the next room has me straining to hear beyond the closed door. With my power dampened by all this gold, it’s hard to make out anything. Is the fear I’m feeling mine or coming from my captor?
The gentle click of the door opening makes me flinch before I still the reflex to look over my shoulder. I regret the slip instantly when gold spikes sink into my hip.
“Still adjusting to your accommodations?” Summer circles the cage, staying along the edges of the room.
She can play the role of evil mastermind villainess all she wants, but it’s clear how scared she really is. Which likely means she isn’t the mastermind behind this kidnapping.
Either that or she knows my brothers are on their way and realizes she’s about to die.
I might as well try to get answers while I’m trapped here. “What are you doing, Summer? Why take me? You clearly don’t want me dead, or I wouldn’t be here right now.”
It would be easier to figure out if I could read her emotions.
Bas and Rune always said it wasn’t my powers as an empath that made the witches like me, it was my Celtic charm.
Time to test their theory.
If I can get her talking, she might slip up.
“Do you want something from Sebastian?”
Summer frowns. “What I want is none of your business. All you need to be concerned with right now is staying still and keeping your blood in you until tomorrow.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
She heads for the door.
“What is Egan offering you? I guarantee I can beat his offer.”
She spins, her hair swinging through the air as she turns. “Why does everything have to be werewolf related with you vampires? They aren’t the only ones who hate you, you know.”
There is a fierce loathing in her gaze as she whirls on me, but also pain—agony. Even with my emotions muted by the confinement, I sense it to the depths of my soul.
“You’re here to convince Josie to drop out of the running for high priestess. Once she does, I’ll let you go.”
Seriously? She’s willing to make an enemy out of the vampires just to win the witch trials? “And how will you be able to enjoy your new position if you’re dead?
She smiles as if I said something funny. “If you knew me at all, you’d know I’ve thought this through and have a plan for all contingencies.”
“If you knew Josie at all, you’d know she’ll never allow a corrupt witch to lead her sisters. We may be bonded, but she’s a witch first and values her love for Gaia above all else.”
Summer chuckles. “Nice try. I saw the way she looked at you at the masquerade ball. She’s fallen prey to the unity bond clouding her mind and making her a slave to you and your brothers.”
“If you think she’s been tainted by the vile vampires, why not beat her in the third trial and face Gaia with a clear conscience?”
“Please. As if I stand a chance against her.” Summer’s hands ball into fists, her anger flaring. “The Dumonts have held the high priestess position for centuries. The only reason Adelaide got the spot is because Claudette ran away.”
“Maybe the Dumonts are the ones who earn the position because they don’t resort to killing and kidnapping to get what they want.”
“No, they rely on their family name. That entitlement is more than enough to get them by.”
“And what happens when the coven finds out you won the position by blackmailing your competition into bowing out?”
“I don’t care how I’m thought of. With the power that comes with the position, Lilian and I can undo the mistake that cost my grandmother and my husband their lives.”
Lilian. Sebastian was right from the start.
Wait…”Your grandmother? She was killed during the time of the ritual?”
“She was killed performing the ritual.”
I’m not at my mental best now, but that can only mean… “You’re Gisele’s granddaughter. You’re a Caron.”
“Ding-ding-ding. Caron is my maiden name.”
“Highly unusual for a witch to take her husband’s name.”
“I loved my husband, and, unlike Josephine Dumont, I don’t need the influence of my family name to speak for me.” She pulls her phone from her pocket and glides toward the door. “Off to call your witch. Wish me luck.”
“Josie’s too smart to fall for this. You’re going to regret it. When Sebastian gets wind of this, he’s going to snap your neck.”
Summer laughs. “Then I can join my husband, both of us dying at the hand of a vampire. Seems ironically fitting to me. You see, it’s a win-win.”