Chapter 6 Silas #2
This is different from before, I remind myself. I wasn't prepared when Deidre first caught me.
I think through the plan again, the same plan I had before I met my mate. Obey, feign subjugation. Yes, Deidre can control me, but no one else can, and it's weakening. And the moment I can rip that vial of my blood from her neck and burn this house down, I'll be free of them all.
Nothing has changed. I've done this all before.
I drop my head down, hands resting on my knees. The skin is already repairing, slowly.
The delta knows better than to touch me right now, but she's watching me closely, a healthy distance away. She knows I know what's coming.
This is so fucked up.
"I've apologized more in the last few weeks than I have in years," I muse.
I can feel Lily's hesitation. She's listening, but scared. Of me, of the situation. She's right to be.
"Okay…" she hedges, but doesn't move any closer. But then her voice softens. "Silas, I didn't know—none of us knew, all this time, that you were here…"
Her compassion feels itchy.
I don't turn to face her. Instead, I say, "I'm sorry for what's coming."
Deidre can't change this new thing inside me, this shift in my existence.
My omega mate is a part of me now. But the high priestess is going to try to make Lily and me fuck against our will, likely hoping I'll impregnate the little delta.
I know that's her plan. She's done it before, in the early days.
It won't work, but might well drive us both insane.
I resume pacing, feeling Lily's fear ratchet. She has a pleasant scent. Like an ocean breeze, the smell of sand in the hot sun, coconut. It's fresh and warm. So unlike this place. But it's sour, too, tinged with terror.
A door creaks, followed by footsteps echoing throughout the empty room. Lily sucks in her breath, staying very still and quiet like the prey she is.
"That smells awful," Deidre whines. I bare my teeth in response. "Really, Silas, it smells like burnt hair down here. Disgusting." She waves her hand at her nose, as if she hadn't burned me with deadly witch fire just last week.
I grip the silver bars again, barely registering the pain, and don't take my eyes off her.
She struts slowly, hips swaying, accentuated by the tight red dress.
Her long auburn hair is in waves, styled like some movie star out of the 40s.
I don't know how old she is, not as old as Kendrick, but older than most. Like the rest of us supernaturals, her appearance doesn't show her age.
"This is why wolves have never taken the lead in the supernatural community.
Savages," Pierre spits, trailing after his priestess like a little parasite.
I snarl, but keep my focus off him for now.
I've tried to kill him many times in the past, but the geas always prevents it, since Deidre expressly forbade me from killing any of her coven.
There's a special place in my black heart reserved for that sadistic fuck.
I've got bigger problems right now, though.
"I've offered a reward to bring the girl home. Since you failed so spectacularly, I've had to employ wolves," she spits, like we're so beneath her. "All I had to do was whisper omega, and I had several rogues panting to grab her for me."
Most wolves hate witches, but some will do a witch's bidding if the price is right. Mostly rogues, or packs who avoid clan life.
I bark out a laugh and push away from the bars. "You're fucking delusional if you think any wolf, alpha or otherwise, is going to bring her back to you. Doesn't matter what you pay them. They'll never let go of an omega."
She hums. "Then, why not keep her for yourself?
You could have brought her back here, spent days inside her.
" If she hasn't figured out what Mona is to me, she will soon.
I can't ignore an express directive from the witch, but my alpha meeting his fated mate gave us the strength to leave after giving her the one thing she'd need to stay alive: her wolf.
My alpha is horrified, thinking of her out there alone with wolves after her. If she follows her instincts, if she does as I said, she'll be okay. She just needs to go north and her wolf will guide her to safety.
I keep my expression blank and don't reply. Deidre narrows her eyes.
"Come." She crooks her finger. I should pretend and obey, but I'm too fucking angry. But then she taps her long, sharpened fingernail against the tiny glass vial hanging around her neck and gives it a squeeze.
"Come," she snaps again. My knees buckle and the top of my foot drags across the floor, taking one step, then another closer, until I'm pressed against the silver bars again.
"That omega is mine, beast. Mine." Her voice drops to a guttural whisper.
"When I find that little cunt, I'll make her pay for what you've cost me.
Years of planning. Hundreds of thousands of dollars keeping her hidden, all that investment, and you just let her slip away!
You're useless! Incompetent. Do you even know whose blood runs through her veins? "
I know nothing of her lineage. Deidre instructed me to bring Paulie Gresser's daughter back here. But I knew by scent the moment I met her—Mona is not Paulie's daughter. Combined with the power of meeting our fated mate, the loophole in Deidre's directive was the only reason I could leave her.
Deidre snarls, twisting her classically beautiful face to look rotten.
"Your clan is on alert, you know? Your meathead brother amped up security; it was all quite an inconvenience.
Without the omega, I'd have preferred an alpha female, or at least a beta…
Whatever happens to this girl is on you, Silas. " Deidre tilts her head toward Lily.
She needn't worry. I already feel the weight of responsibility for Lily's fate.
Her gaze slides to Lily, lips curling. I step sideways, my shadow falling in front of the girl.
"Leave her the fuck alone. You have enough toys to play with," I seethe.
Pierre throws up his palm, magic flying from his fingertips. An electric voltage rips through my body, and my knees quake from the pain.
"Tsk, tsk," Deidre taunts while my teeth chatter and I gasp for breath.
My hand snatches through the bars, fingers narrowly missing Deidre's throat. It is fucking rare that I fight back anymore. Her eyes widen, then flash in anger.
"You think you can protect her?" She laughs, flicking her wrist, and Pierre shoots more voltage into my body.
My muscles contract, fingertips to toes, and I gag on my own spit.
My wolf tries to fight against the magic, but it's useless.
In one last ditch effort to keep her attention on me and not Lily, I spit as hard as I can.
White, foamy saliva lands on her face and chest. Her expression sneers into something hideous and volcanic.
Deidre's right hand contorts in the air while her left extends toward Pierre. The electric agony subsides, replaced by an invisible vise crushing my windpipe. Lily whimpers beside me, but I wave my hand behind me to keep her back.
Deidre leans away from the cage and wipes my spit off her face with her left hand. My wolf lets out a low, rumbling growl, emanating from my chest as she chokes me. Deidre peeks around me at Lily and giggles, squeezing tighter.
"I don't think I've ever played with a delta before. What was it you said? I have enough toys to play with?"
Pierre unlocks the cage. The metal sounds like a death knell.
Deidre releases me, and I gasp for breath.
She strolls around the bars, then steps inside.
She grips my chin and presses her lips to mine.
I tense, her sulfuric taste making me want to vomit.
Her lips press harder, then she lets go, pushing my head back.
"What can I say, Silas? I grow bored with my old toys. Need something new to keep me entertained. Pierre, darling, did you bring the herbs?" She asks him without pulling her eyes from mine.
Witches are strong on their own, but many spells require ingredients.
Powerful as she is, Deidre still has to prepare a lot of her spells.
She spent literal decades preparing all contingencies to capture me.
She had everything and her entire coven ready for me.
Even Kendrick, the king of the shifters—Máni is his proper title—wouldn't have been able to fight her off.
But he might have got out a lot sooner, I add shamefully. My alpha stirs. He doesn't agree, but I think that's just his way of holding onto a shred of dignity.
"I'm ready," Pierre says, as he looks at me with excitement. His eyes drag to Lily, a serpentine smile pulling at the corner of his lips as he takes in her small form, cowering in the corner. Fucking pervert.
"This isn't going to work, Deidre." I cross my arms, mimicking her posture. "Whatever you think is going to happen—"
She holds up her hand. "A pregnant shifter has the most powerful blood of all. Between an alpha and omega is best, but since you failed to bring me the omega I've been keeping on the back-burner for fucking decades, we're going to use—I'm sorry, what's your name, dear?"
Lily doesn't answer. Deidre's eyes twitch and shift to me. The witch has a temper and the patience of a toddler. And neither Lily nor I need to test her patience more than necessary at the moment. I've pushed her enough today. Uselessly at that.
"Lily," I grit.
"Lily. Yes. Well, she's a bit pathetic and was easy to grab, but she's still a wolf.
If you impregnate her, her blood will hold both of your shifter magic.
It'll keep us busy until I can get the omega back here.
Just remember, dear—" Deidre steps closer, voice bright. "You brought this on yourself."
The chanting begins, and Pierre moves closer to the cowering delta, now openly whimpering, since she's finally aware of their plans. Within the hour, Lily will throw herself at me, and she won't stop until…
"Be grateful, Silas. I could make you fall into a rut, but I don't want you to kill the girl yet, so I won't. For now."
Sadly, there is consolation in that.
But even Deidre's geas won't make my body respond to Lily, not with the scent of my mate so fresh in my memory. I close my eyes and commune with my alpha. I let the new calm settle over me.
Whatever they have planned will fail. I can handle what they throw at me. Hopefully, Lily makes it out of this alive. If not… Well, it's just another dead soul on my conscience.