Page 16 of Betrayed Mate (Rejected Fate Trilogy #1)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I blinked several times, hoping that my mind was once again playing tricks on me. However, I recognized the oaks of the forest I’d run by so many times, and then Ryker took a turn down the dirt road that led to the place shifters were forbidden to go unless invited by the vampire royal.

Each time I tried opening my mouth, no words would form and soon, the royal vampire house on the outskirts of Shadowbrook towered before me.

Even though I’d never seen it before, rumors of the opulence of this house had spread throughout the supernatural world because of the splendor but also because of the way it was guarded. The queen was over a thousand years old—one of the oldest rulers in vampire history—and wards had been placed around her estate by witches who’d owed her favors during the nine hundred fifty years she’d reigned.

The essence of magic pulsed past my skin, and an iridescent sheen seemed to roll over the lawn, faintly lighting up the dark night. Together, it enhanced the Victorian sensibility of the stone mansion that stood in front of us. Dark green slanted roofs jutted above each window of the top floor, faint golden light peeking through thin white curtains.

A matching stone driveway seemed to go on for miles until it circled in front of a square porch with stairs leading up to an arched entryway. A dark stone statue of a gorgeous woman with long flowing hair towered in the center of the circular drive…and I suspected that it was of the queen herself. Even in stone, she was stunning.

No one but the royal wolf-shifter pack had ever ventured here, and even then, it was only once a year for the centuries-old tradition that kept the peace between wolf shifters and vampires. Something that had been established about three hundred years ago by the queen herself and one of the strongest shifter alphas who had ever lived, though the disdain and mistrust between our two species had never truly gone away.

My stomach dropped. I’d be surrounded by vampires. Though not as strong as wolves, they were fast, and here we were greatly outnumbered.

“What the fuck are we doing here?” Had the vampire queen learned what they’d done to Simon and somehow forced Ryker to bring us here? “And why didn’t you wake me up before pulling up to the fucking front door?”

“Wow. I don’t think I’ve heard you cuss that much the entire time we’ve been around you.” Gage’s head popped up in the middle-row opening. His expression was relaxed, like nothing was amiss. “And here I didn’t think I could like you any more than I already did, you little spitfire.”

Ryker slammed the car in park and snarled, “Shut up, Gage, before I make you.”

Of all the things to be upset about, Ryker was focused on Gage?

Kendric glanced over his shoulder. “There’s nothing to worry about. We aren’t in danger.”

My mouth dropped open. Was I experiencing some demented nightmare? “We’re surrounded by vampires!” What they’d done to Simon must have been haunting me for me to have a messed-up dream like this one. The fact that I clearly felt guilty and thought I should be punished alongside them, despite me being the one who freed him, spoke volumes.

“I told you we should’ve woken her up sooner.” Xander crossed his arms and frowned. “If I were her, I’d be upset as well.”

At least he understood, but the fact that he didn’t seem upset about it himself made the world spin around me. “If someone doesn’t explain what the hell we’re doing here, I may actually lose my damn mind.” I pinched the inside of my wrist, hoping that would shock me out of whatever sort of hell we were in and pronto. Sharp pain radiated from my wrist, but I remained sitting in the car in front of the vampire queen’s house. Awake.

I never should’ve agreed to rejoin these idiots. I should’ve gone with my gut and left them behind despite Ryker’s appeal.

“There’s no need to be alarmed.” Ryker sighed.

I could see him roll his eyes in the rearview mirror.

“No need to be alarmed?” I parroted back, my heartbeat quickening and my wolf stirring. “Look at where you’ve brought us. Did the vampire queen learn about Simon? Were we summoned? Is that why we’re here?” That was one of the rules established between vampires and shifters. If any sort of atrocious act of violence was committed against one species by the other, the royals of each species could summon the leaders and those accused of the crimes. To date, that had never occurred, mostly because the conflicts were intraspecies fights or disagreements, but we had tortured one of their own after two houses full of vampires had been slaughtered. If atrocious needed a definition, I could get behind that one.

“We weren’t summoned.” Kendric’s eyes warmed. “We came here to inform them of what we found at the two houses.”

I blinked several times, my brain glitching. “Why not just call?” Even though I could get behind transparency, especially if we were fighting against the same enemy, we didn’t need to show up at the door and hand ourselves over. What if they learned what had happened with Simon?

“Because something like this should be communicated in person.” Kendric hung his head.

Before I could ask, the front door of the mansion opened, and a breathtaking woman came out. Her dark hair streamed behind her as she ran barefoot to the vehicle.

“Here we go. I’m not looking forward to telling her all the details and how we found Adira,” Kendric muttered and then opened his car door.

When the woman ran straight into his arms, my head jerked back, but that was nothing compared to the way my lungs seized when I watched Kendric wrap his arms tenderly around her. The gestures were intimate—but they weren’t of the same species.

Chuckling, Gage shook his head. “I told you not to worry. I understand your concern and discomfort, but after the deaths of the royals, the vampire queen reached out and offered us assistance and a place to stay. They’ve treated us better than any of the wolf shifters have, and we’ve grown close to many of them.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, needing to do something with my hands. Even though I understood his words, the combination of them didn’t make sense. I exhaled, trying to gather my wits and calm my racing heart. “That’s why the vampires called you for help.” Now that didn’t seem so random and strange.

“Unlike the wolf shifters our pack protected for centuries, the vampires opened their homes to shelter and protect us when we were abandoned by our own kind.” Ryker’s jaw worked, his muscles constricting.

“Maybe if your pack wasn’t known for being so cutthroat and the four of you hadn’t run off so suddenly beforehand, the other packs wouldn’t be so suspicious of you.” I didn’t like most other packs, but the sudden deaths of the royals and Ryker’s father had placed Ryker one step from the throne. The fact that he hadn’t tried to take it left everyone even more on edge, wondering what he was planning. That was one reason the other packs had pressured Dad or me to ascend. We had the bloodline claim that Ryker didn’t.

Ryker became a statue, and a chill ran down my spine. When Gage and Xander both grimaced and all the warmth they’d emanated toward me vanished, my heart seemed to stop. I’d just insulted the four people who were supposed to help me find my sister.

But they had to be held accountable for their actions.

“We didn’t run—we were called away to a nearby vampire attack,” Ryker snapped, and then he shoved open his door and got out.

Xander shook his head, his disapproval cutting worse than Ryker’s, and followed his alpha’s lead, leaving me in the vehicle with Gage.

A knot of shame sat heavy in my stomach, and I tried to push the sensation away. I kept my eyes forward, waiting for Gage to voice his displeasure and climb out, but all he did was sit there, staring at me.

After a few seconds, I couldn’t take it any longer. “Just say what you want and go out with the others. I plan on sleeping in here tonight.” There was no way I’d enter a nest full of Fate knew how many vampires. These guys might trust them and have an understanding, but I did not.

“Ember, I know you’re struggling. Hell, we all are.” Gage cleared his throat and placed a hand on my knee before continuing, “But a lot of people could claim that you ran when your pack was being killed too. Don’t you think it’s a little hypocritical to be tossing around the same accusation that could be used against you?”

His words were worse than a punch to the gut. The pain was so sharp and intense that I even wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to minimize the pain. I hadn’t considered that some would claim I ran for self-preservation. I’d acted to protect my sister and obey my father, but I had no way to prove that beyond my own word. “I—”

“Don’t.” Gage shook his head and smiled sadly. “I think you’ve said enough for now. You’ve never asked us for our version of our story, and I get why. Not only would you be forcing us to relive our personal hell, but you’d be reliving your own as well. Yet, with the attacks escalating, I don’t think any of us can afford the luxury of ignoring those days. At least, not until we locate your sister and defeat our enemies. You do realize that we all need to work together to accomplish that, right?”

My face flamed—he was completely right, and I was allowing my emotions to get in my way. I’d never had that problem before, but Ryker somehow brought out in me all the anger and frustration I never even realized I had. It was a very hard lesson to learn. “I…I can’t trust you four. The last person I thought would protect me shamed me in front of everyone and might have slaughtered my family.” The sting of rejection flared inside me along with the words Reid had said— There’s something wrong with her.

Gage chuckled, the sparkle that I’d already grown accustomed to returning to his irises. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Ryker doesn’t trust you at all either, but you did agree to an alliance with us. We’re not asking for anything beyond that…yet. And even then, it could just be an added bonus of pleasuring one another.” He winked and scanned me from head to toe, making his intentions clear.

Even though Gage was one of the sexiest men I’d encountered, and I could use a distraction, nothing sparked between us.

Strange.

All I could assume was that it had something to do with Reid being my fated mate, which meant I might never be attracted to another person as long as I lived. At least I’d had a few partners before I became celibate.

This night kept getting better and better.

“As nice as that sounds, I’m going to pass.” I tried to smile, but I had no doubt my strained expression made it fall flat.

A hand pounded against the glass, startling me.

Gage exhaled and leaned back. “It’s time to tell the vampires what happened. Raven is falling apart, knowing that none of the vampires are answering her calls. They sent a group of their guards there to check things out, and the queen is demanding an update.”

Lovely. I could only imagine how our story was going to sound, especially after they learned about Simon. I could only hope and pray that they’d believe Ryker and the others when they said we weren’t behind the attack. “Do we have to go inside to speak to her? What if it doesn’t go well?” I had no clue why the hell we’d risked coming here, knowing that one nest had been slaughtered and we were the last ones there.

“Yes, but she’s not here,” Gage reassured me.

My brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“This is her primary residence, but she has several other houses where she spends time.” He lowered his voice. “All of them are near the Blue Ridge Mountain range because she wants to be where the majority of the shifters and about half the witches live. She also has houses in several of the cities in the area, including here, Asheville, and Charlottesville, Virginia, plus a location that no one outside her closest circle knows the whereabouts of. Raven told Kendric earlier that Queen Ambrosia left two days ago, heading to Asheville for some sort of celebration.”

A weight lifted from my shoulders, and my lungs worked freely once more. But I didn’t want to get my hopes up. We were surrounded by vampires and at their mercy. “Still, they—”

“Raven was the one who asked us to go.” Gage squeezed my leg. “They know we aren’t the ones who attacked the vampires. They just want an update.”

I swallowed and inhaled. There was no stench of a lie. He truly believed it, which did help, but what if he was wrong? Either way, it didn’t matter now. I was already here and surrounded. It wasn’t as if I could leave. Ryker and the others wouldn’t let me, even if the vampires wouldn’t stop me.

Gage’s eyes glowed, and there was another round of pounding on the door. I leaned forward as Ryker shoved Xander out of the way, his eyes a bright yellow from how hard his wolf was surging forward. He yanked open the door and snarled, “Get the fuck out of the car.”

“What the—” Gage exclaimed, but when his head snapped in Ryker’s direction, his voice cut off. “Damn, okay. I was just talking to her for a moment. She was freaked out!” He climbed out of the car, and Ryker jumped into the seat, taking his place.

His gaze met mine, and my wolf responded.

A deep growl came from his chest, and I lifted my chin in defiance.