Page 194 of Dark Souls

“Who?”

“The Knowltons. The witch coven that was murdered over forty years ago? Was she related to them somehow? A woman called Belladonna?”

“I don’t–” Suddenly an intense pain burst through my body, knocking the air from my lungs and causing me to fall to my knees as I gripped my stomach. I panted through the pain as Lia fell to my side and put a nervous hand on my shoulder. “Ilaria? What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

A deep voice boomed through the house and I glanced up at Lia’s face in panic. Our wide eyes locked as the voice grew closer, and heavy footsteps came our way.

“Fuck,” Lia whispered. “It’s my dad. We need to get out of here.”

I couldn’t stand up on my feet yet. The pain was too excruciating, but Lia gripped my hand that was still holding the box and I transported us outside into the garden, pressing our backs up against the outside wall of his office. The pain remained, but I breathed through it, trying to focus and think clearly. Even though it felt like physical pain, it wasn’t. I wasn’t harmed. Which meant the pain wasn’t mine but Luka’s.

“What’s going on?” Lia whispered, her face scanning my tense body with concern as I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Luka. He’s hurt.”

Which made little sense. Who was hurting him if The Devil was here? Parisa?

I peered carefully into the bay window just as the door opened, and Mitchell Morton strolled in with his phone pressed to his ear. My blood set alight with hatred as I took in his designer suit, handsome and distinguished features and well-styled brown hair that was peppered at the sides, the only sign that he was well over a century old. He stormed towards his desk, throwing himself down in his chair as he trapped his phone between his ear and shoulder so he could start typing frantically at his computer. I glimpsed the silver chain around his neck and breathed out a small sigh of relief. They hadn’t destroyed it yet.

“That doesn’t make fucking sense, does it? How the fuck did not one single bouncer see The Dealer leave the club, and no one has any idea where he is? His phone was in the office and his car was outside his house. What the fuck happened?” Silence as someone replied. “I want every name of every female member who attended last night sent to me in the next five minutes.”

He hung up and threw his phone across his desk in a rage. “Fucccckkkk!” he swore loudly, running his hands through his hair before focusing his attention on the computer. He must have been going through the CCTV footage of last night’s event, trying to figure out what had happened to Wesley. I smirked a little despite the ache in my stomach, enjoying the sight of the stress lines around his eyes and forehead deepening as he watched some of the footage.

“We should go,” Lia whispered, but I pressed my finger to my lips to silence her. I had him right there. There was no way I was leaving now. Especially if Luka was in trouble. He was my only ticket to finding my mate.

Mitchell picked up his phone again, his sharp jaw working overtime as he ground his teeth together with frustration. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose as he exhaled a long breath to get his anger under control.

“Arius, hi,” he said, sitting up straighter and causing my nostrils to flare. “I’m really sorry, man, but could we rearrange this morning’s meeting for the soldier’s rotas? I’m not going to make it.”

My chest rose and fell rapidly, adrenaline coursing through me and I thanked my lucky stars that I was here to witness this because my family’s plan was about to fall through. They wouldn’t be arresting him the moment he entered the castle grounds because he had no intention of fucking going.

“I know. I understand how important it is, but something really serious has come up, and I need to deal with it. A family matter.”

A response from Grandpapi. Mitchell closed his eyes again, his stress levels growing more visible as his face reddened.

“I appreciate that you are a busy man, Arius. It’s just… there has been a sudden death of someone close to us.” Mitchell opened his eyes when an email notification pinged, and he multitasked, speaking with my grandpapi and reading it. “Parisa’s childhood friend. It was sudden and Parisa really needs me right now. She is distraught.”

Fucking liar.I dug my fingernails into my palms because I knew my grandpapi had no choice but to go along with this conversation, so Mitchell was none the wiser to my family coming for him.

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Yes, of course, I will send my love to Parisa. Yes. Okay. Thanks. I’ll be in touch.” He hung up the phone, shaking his head, and made another call.

“Ilaria, come on. You don’t look well—” Lia started, but I slammed my hand over her mouth to silence her, keeping my gaze fixed on Mitchell through the window as my heart constricted in my chest, making it harder and harder to breathe. Whatever was happening to Luka right now was bad. Really fucking bad.

“Where are you?” he asked whoever was on the other end of the phone. He ran his hand down his face and then stood up, pacing the room. “Wesley is missing. And Hana is gone. I mean exactly that!” He moved closer to the window and I plastered myself back against the wall, turning to look at Lia. Her eyes were wide with anxiety. “He was seen with a female member last night, but no one seemed to know anything more. When he didn’t answer all night and no one had seen him, I went over to his house. Hana was gone and so was her sigil. Maybe he has just taken her somewhere but I don’t think so. He knows never to do that. This isn’t like him to just leave his shit and fuck off. It had to be Hana. She must have escaped and attacked him. I knew trusting him with her was a mistake. The stupid fucking twat. We need to find her. How close are you to completing the spell to kill Heathen?”

He exhaled a breath and closed his eyes. At that very moment, the most profound sense of loss crippled me from one beat of my heart to the next, forcing me to the floor as I clutched my chest. Rue roared in my mind.No. No. No.

“Ilaria!” Lia whisper-yelled, yanking me back to the wall and out of view from the window.

“What do you mean Luka just died?” Mitchell shouted down the phone as my whole body trembled with such force it caused my teeth to chatter and eyes to squeeze shut. No. He couldn’t be dead. A piercing sound of white noise took over my senses, blocking the next words from Mitchell’s mouth and making Lia’s soundless begging in my ear to disappear under its volume. It was the sound of nothingness; of my entire world ending. Rage. Hate. Despair. They burned my veins, poisoning every cell in my body. I refused to believe this, despite the excruciating pain in my heart that said it was true.

Leif’s phone started vibrating, and I glanced down to see it was my grandpapi calling. I silenced it quickly before Mitchell heard, unable to speak, let alone endure this pain a second longer. A text came through immediately after.

Ilaria. Mitchell isn’t coming. Where are you? Ring me. We are going to ambush them but something is up with Luka. I felt the blood oath break, Ilaria. We need you back here ASAP.

To hell with their back-up plan. Mitchell was right there and the need to see physical proof that my mate was really dead took full force as I grabbed Lia by the throat. She gasped at my sudden aggression as I hissed, “Go the fuck along with this. Otherwise, I will kill you.”

Before she could even open her mouth to protest, I transported us both back into Mitchell’s office. His blue eyes widened in shock and alarm when he saw me holding Lia’s body against mine with my extended claws wrapped around her throat.