Chapter 33 #2
Murielle smirked when she glanced at our clasped hands, tilting her head to the side and rolling her eyes. “Well, considering Roman killed a dozen of my coven members in cold blood, he’s been arrested for murder.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out.
“That little deceitful fae of yours has apparently been embezzling money from the bank he co-owns. And the werewolf? Well, that poor man has a penchant for young, underage women.” She leaned forward like she was telling us a secret. “The humans don’t like pedophiles so much.”
I ripped my hand out of Blaise’s before he could stop me.
In just a few steps, I was directly in front of Murielle so I could slap her across the face.
It wasn’t clear if she didn’t think I’d do it or just hadn’t considered me a threat, but as my palm slammed into her cheek, and my skin stung with the pain from the hit, I let out a fierce scream. “You bitch!”
She stumbled backward a little, holding her cheek and eyes wide with surprise. I swung my arm back, readying for another blow when Blaise lifted me into the air. “The cameras, Katarina,” he whispered into my ear.
I thrashed against him, not giving a flying fuck about who was watching. Dorian a pedophile? How dare she? How dare she take my men away from me!
With another shout, I flung out my arms toward Murielle, hoping to grab her throat. Instead, her hair flew backward, and she stumbled again like some kind of energy force slammed into her. Her mouth opened and she stared at me with a look of fear dancing across her eyes.
“You better be afraid, you bitch,” I yelled as Blaise dragged me away, kicking and screaming. Murielle composed herself while I continued to act like a raging banshee. I saw the cameras pointing toward me, but I didn’t care. The Crescent Coven would not get away with this.
Blaise had me tucked under his arm like a package as he made his way toward the police cars. “Put me down!” I grunted.
“You need to keep control of yourself, Katarina. It will only make things worse.”
“Fine.”
“I mean it.”
“Fine!” Fully aware I sounded like a petulant child, I let the tears fall in the hopes they might release some of the fear gnawing at my gut.
Blaise set me down, grabbed my hand, and pulled me through the crowd until we got to the three police cruisers lined up closest to the entrance. They were just now pressing Roman’s head down as they shoved him into the car.
“Hey!” I shouted, and Blaise pulled me closer.
“Please, Katarina. Let me handle this?”
He wasn’t demanding it, simply asking me to trust him.
I didn’t want to… after all, it had been just me and Grim for a long time.
But Blaise had perfected his aura of nonchalance and no bullshit, and he was right.
I should let him do the talking. I bobbed my chin in compliance and allowed him to lead me toward the car holding Roman.
“Katarina,” Roman whispered as we got closer. Unfortunately, two of the human cops stepped in front of me and put their hands out.
Blaise let out a low warning growl, and the two humans blanched. “Do not touch her,” he threatened.
“Blaise!” Roman called over to him, definitely speaking louder than he needed to. “Just keep her safe and call my lawyers.”
“You sure?” Blaise asked while I started to back away.
“Tell the others to stay quiet,” he answered instead.
I was already on my way to the others, slipping into the crowd and running around the other side of the cars so I could see my men. “Aiden! Dorian!”
“Kitty Cat,” Dorian called out through the back window of the first police cruiser in line.
I ran up to him, slamming my hands against the glass. Tears flowed down my cheeks, and as I watched his handsome face scrunch up in worry, I shook my head. “We will get you out of this!” I yelled into the glass.
“I didn’t do it.”
“I know,” I cried. “Just stay quiet, and we’ll get this straightened out.”
“I love you,” he mouthed as the driver approached the vehicle and started shooing me away.
As much as I didn’t want to leave his side, I complied with the cop’s request to back off, mouthing the same words back to my wolf. My heart squeezed with fear. And when his car started pulling away and I saw Aiden in the one behind him, I fell to my knees and sobbed.
Blaise was suddenly at my side, kneeling next to me and covering my back with his heavy arm.
How could the coven do this to us? I knew Murielle was twisted and evil, but to get the human law involved?
It would complicate everything. It wasn’t like Blaise could go in there and break them out without facing consequences.
And the coven knew that.
We stayed silent as the cops drove off with our family, but when the news stations realized we were still outside, Blaise quickly pulled me to my feet and started to usher us into the abbey.
I caught one last glimpse of Murielle standing next to a man in a dark, tailored suit.
She was watching me, glaring at me like she wished I’d been the one hauled away. Perhaps that was her next step.
There was no fucking way she was going to win.
As we stepped safely inside the front doors, Blaise barked a few commands at the handful of staff who were working today.
One of those orders was to direct everyone outside to get off the private property.
I had no idea how well that was going to work, but I suddenly had no energy in my bones to care.
This war between the coven and the House of Shadows really needed to end. Too many people had been hurt. And now that my men were being harmed in a whole new way, anger reared its ugly head again. “We can’t let them win,” I snapped at Blaise.
I was following him through the house toward the wing where our rooms were. “They won’t,” he growled. He practically slid around the corner as he turned right and headed toward his suite.
“How did she do this?” I wondered out loud.
“Sorinah.”
“Roman’s sire?”
“It has to be.” Blaise kicked open his door and immediately disappeared inside. I stayed in the hallway, unsure if I should follow. Something in me said to wait, and a few seconds later, he stomped out of his room with a laptop tucked under his arm.
“I have to make some calls.”
“Okay.”
“But when I’m done, I need you to do me a favor.”
My breath hitched in my throat, and I knew that whatever he was about to say next would change everything. “What do you want?”
His eyes had that golden ring around his reddish pupil again. With jaw tight and pain etched across his handsome features, he took a deep breath and said, “I need you to release my dragon.”