Page 194 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

CYRUS

My body burned with need and my hard-as-hell cock ached and wept precum. It hadn’t even been an hour since I’d said the vow to create a mating bond with Audrey, and already I was burning up inside to seal it.

Why had I waited so damn long to tell her how I felt?

Sisters, I was so stupid to put the pack first. Bishop had been right, it shouldn’t have mattered what was going on even though I hadn’t wanted to risk being killed and hurting Audrey because we’d bonded.

Inside me, my wolf paced restlessly, as desperate as I was to get the dark magic out of her and wake her up while my soul screamed at me to save her, wake her, love her.

Please. I’d do anything, risk anything, for her.

With Audrey carried protectively in Bishop’s arms and Knox in his wolf form, we followed the angel, Priam, across the field with the strangely short grass toward a large, ten-story building with purple-tinted windows. The structure loomed two hundred feet away on top of a hill and was separated from us by a stretch of hard, black earth that reeked of unfamiliar smells, and held a bizarre collection of large metal and glass boxes on wheels.

I glanced over my shoulder at Voth’s massive shadow still standing behind us. He’d looked more human when his wings and horns had disappeared but without a doubt he wasn’t, and I knew if we tried to make a break for it, he’d hunt us down.

Of course, making a break would mean we’d be back to the drawing board looking for someone to get us into Faerie while being dangerously unfamiliar with this realm. And that wasn’t good for Audrey.

At least here in Voth’s custody — I wasn’t going to fool myself and think the situation was anything else — a fae sorcerer was coming to us.

If he wasn’t lying.

Which he could be. But all my instincts said the angel wasn’t.

I hadn’t read any of the books Bishop had about mythical beings from other realms I was never going to meet, so I had no idea what angel personalities were like. Priam had even suggested Voth lure someone onto his territory so Voth could kill him. But even then, the angel’s frustration had been because whoever was at war with the man-monster who owned this territory was killing people. No, I believed Priam’s words to be true and that he genuinely wanted to help.

And please, Sisters, help.

I turned my attention to Audrey, barely able to look away long enough to avoid walking into the metal boxes on wheels. Even in the moonlight it was clear her skin was too pale, and she hung limp in Bishop’s arms, far too still even for someone fast asleep.

My throat tightened and I wanted to howl with frustration. She’d just found herself, her confidence, her power, and her wolf. This couldn’t be how it ended. My mate deserved a long, amazing life, filled with Knox’s passion and Bishop’s laughter.

On top of that, she’d made friends in Stonehaven who I know were going to be upset if she was gone. Nova and Deacon had taken a liking to her, and Finn, much to my surprise had fully submitted to her as a pack alpha and begged her not to banish him from the pack.

And of course, she hadn’t. She was grace and love and forgiveness. She was what a true alpha was supposed to be. She’d risked her life to protect her pack while also gently nurturing them.

I hadn’t realized how much our pack and me and my brothers had needed her until she’d crashed into our lives and changed everything.

“This way,” Priam said, his voice soft, almost soothing.

He turned away from a grand entrance fully lit by light streaming through the windows of the double doors along with bright lights attached to the brickwork. We walked around down a hill to a tucked-away side of the building, where an enormous door stood beside a smaller, human-sized one, making me even more wary.

My wolf growled low within us, suddenly concerned that he was taking us away from potential help… although really, given our reception when we’d entered this realm, I couldn’t count on anyone inside helping us.

Except the angel hadn’t lied.

I was sure of that.

But Sisters, it was hard to trust him when the life of my mate was on the line and when all I wanted to do was bury myself inside her and claim her.

Mine.

Always.

Priam opened the human-sized door and walked inside, and I glanced at Knox. Alpha power rolled off him in great waves and his body shook with tension. His ears flattened and he snarled, but followed the angel, and I prayed he’d be able to hold on long enough to help Audrey.

He wasn’t going to leave her side until he knew she was safe, but I could tell he was barely holding on to his human consciousness. And I wasn’t surprised he hadn’t shifted into his human form and taken her from Bishop, even though he needed her to calm himself. His instincts were going wild, just like mine, and if he shifted, he’d exhaust himself. He couldn’t protect her if he was unconscious.

Inside, the space opened up into a vast rectangular area filled with a strange, smooth, grayish-white stone. At the back sat a platform that stood at chest height for me and along the righthand wall were a set of stairs, also made from the strange stone.

We followed Priam up the stairs to a metal door, into a plan white hall with stark lights running along the ceiling, where he finally stopped about ten feet down at a small room.

Or rather, a medium-sized room that looked small because a glass wall blocked off the back third. It was crammed with two narrow beds like the bed Nova used in triage, a counter, cupboards, a sink, and a whole array of odd equipment.

“Set her on that bed and let me look at you guys,” Priam said as he headed to the sink and washed his hands.

Bishop gently laid Audrey on the bed, his expression a mix of worry and determination while I sat on the other bed, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her, to feel her warmth again, to love her like she deserved.

My precum now dampened the front of my pants, and my cock throbbed as my soul screamed to complete the bond.

But I couldn’t, not with her unconscious. She needed to say the vow too, or bond with me like she’d bonded with Bishop and Knox. But I couldn’t feel that connection within me, only the burning need threatening to consume me.

Knox snarled, his body tense, ready to attack if Priam blinked in the wrong way.

I was sure the angel noticed — who wouldn’t notice a wolf the size of a pony in the middle of their medical clinic? — but he just pulled out gauze and tape and a few other things from the cupboards, set them on a metal tray on wheels, and rolled it over to me.

“Can I touch you?” Priam asked, gesturing toward me. “I’m blessed with the ability to heal. I won’t use it if you don’t want—” He gestured to the tray. “But it would be faster. I can sense without touching any of you that you’re exhausted, and I wouldn’t recommend shifting until you’ve rested. Healing your injuries will help.”

I gave him a tight nod and he gently set his hands against my chest. Soft white light radiated around his hands, and a warmth flooded through me that only made my longing for Audrey burn hotter.

The gashes on my arms from the vampires’ claws sealed shut as I watched, and I blinked, unable to fully believe that my flesh was mending right before my eyes.

“Oh wow,” Bishop breathed. “When the book said angels could heal any wound, I never imagined…”

“If you’re not familiar with it, it can look unreal,” Priam chuckled. “Like a movie on fast forward or something.”

That had been the thing Audrey had tried to explain to Bishop when we’d headed north to break her mating bond with Knox.

My heart ached at the thought. Fuck. I needed her so much. She was mine. She’d always been mine and my wolf was furious at me for being a fucking idiot.

I was about to hop off the table and crawl onto her bed and lie beside her when two men strode into the clinic, making the small room feel even smaller.

Knox hunched, his muscles bunching ready for attack, and he growled, threatening the newcomers. They weren’t enormous men like me, but they both had an aura about them that screamed power. It wasn’t nearly as much as Voth, but enough that I didn’t want to start a fight with them if I didn’t have to.

Knox, I said, fighting to keep my mental voice calm. They could be help.

They better be help, he snarled back, his attention never leaving the men.

The first guy was strikingly handsome, with blue eyes so pale they were almost clear and spiky white-and-silver hair. His ears were pointed, marking him as the fae sorcerer Priam had called, although his ears were only half the size of Whil’s, and his perpetual full-body fae glow — which was a soft white instead of Whil’s gold— was only half as strong. A hint of black tattoos poked out from his shirtsleeves and snaked up from the collar of his dress shirt, and everything about him screamed cocky confidence with a dark edge.

The other man was so beautiful he stole my breath even as my need for Audrey erupted into a scorching volcano and made me pant. Little horns poked through his shoulder-length sandy blood hair and his presence screamed sex. Raw, unbridled, mind-blowing sex… something I needed with Audrey. Now now now.

I clench my teeth, biting back a groan, and fought to stay in control of myself. I just needed to wait a little longer. If, of course, these men were actually going to help.

Fuck, I’d make them help if they wouldn’t.

It didn’t matter that the odds were fifty-fifty of winning a fight against them. I would save my mate and I would claim her.

“So,” the fae said, his expression dark, his attention already on Audrey. “Voth said you’re from another realm.”

“Don’t look at her,” I snarled.

His sharp gaze snapped to mine, capturing me in endless ice, before the other man bumped him with his elbow and pressed a hand over his heart.

The fae sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine. I won’t poke the wolf shifter whose mate is in trouble.”

Knox bristled at that and growled a warning, before Bishop sank his fingers into his fur, trying to calm him.

We already knew Audrey was in danger. That was why we were here.

And now I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if we couldn’t convince these men to help. What if this fae sorcerer thought she was too dangerous or couldn’t get the evil power out of her? Would he lock her away, or worse, kill her?

They couldn’t. I wouldn’t let them.

I opened my mouth to tell them that, but Bishop cut me off.

“We’ve been told you’re a fae sorcerer,” he said. “Please save our mate. We have money.”

He pulled the small purse with the gems out of one of our packs and opened it up so the other men could see.

The guy with horns whistled and the angel cleared his throat.

“They’ve traveled between realms to save her,” Priam said. “They have to be fated mates, Bane.”

The fae pinched the bridge of his nose. “And Amiah just got pregnant again.”

The angel’s face lit up.

“Titus’s,” the man with horns said.

“Even more amazing,” Priam exclaimed. “But we should save—” He paused and glanced at me.

“Audrey,” I replied. “Her name is Audrey.”

Bishop introduced us, and the fae turned out to be Sebastian Bane and the guy with horns, Hawk.

“Okay,” Sebastian said. “I can already tell from here that I can get that shit out of your mate.”

“And he has the juice to open a non-fixed gate and send you home,” Hawk added, making Sebastian snort even as he started to roll up his sleeves, revealing that his tattoos traveled up to his elbows.

A shadow crossed Bishop’s expression, and I almost leaped from the bed and slapped a hand over his mouth. I could see it in his eyes. He was going to tell them the truth.

But then I remembered these beings might be able to tell if we were lying. We just didn’t know anything about them or their abilities.

“The gates to our realm were locked because of a curse. It put the most powerful beings to sleep hundreds of years ago,” Bishop confessed. “One of the fae was trapped in our realm and she says she’s had time to research the curse and it’s safe to reopen the gates. But it might take extra magic to get us there.”

“If the gates are locked, how did you get here?” Hawk asked.

“Incomplete mating bond,” Bishop replied and Hawk’s gaze instantly jumped to me.

Hawk gave a solemn nod. “That’s what that is.”

Stop talking and fix Audrey, Knox snarled in my head.

“Right.” Sebastian strode the three steps to Audrey’s bedside and set his hands over her heart, thankfully mindful of where he placed his fingers and palms. Then he closed his eyes and light radiated from his shoulder, turning his white shirt see-through and revealing that his arms and chest were covered in tattoos as well.

A moment later his full-body glow flared blindingly bright, brighter than I’d ever seen Whil’s, and my eyes watered because I couldn’t look away from Audrey.

Whil had said she wasn’t a very powerful sorcerer but I hadn’t known until now what that really meant. This man radiated brilliant, blinding power, power that I knew could crush all of us with a single word.

As I watched, the muscles in Sebastian’s jaw tightened and Hawk grew tense. Black smoke rose from Audrey, jerking and thrashing against an unseen force, straining to get back inside her.

“Come on, you fucker,” Sebastian snarled, and he yanked one of his hands up, drawing out a writhing black core the size of a walnut. “There you are.”

With a deep breath, he brought his other hand up and smashed the core between his palms. It exploded into smoke that burst apart and vanished.

“Got it,” Sebastian hissed as he sagged forward, clutching the edge of the bed to stay upright.

Hawk stepped close and stared at Audrey’s chest, his gaze unfocused. “Looks good.”

“It’s gone?” Bishop asked and I realized Priam must have used his magic on him while I was distracted since his wounds were healed.

Hawk nodded. “All that’s left is a perfect shifter with two and a half mating bonds.”

Relief flooded me.

Thank the Sisters. Thank all the sleeping gods. Thank anyone and anything. She was safe.

“Is ah—” Bishop looked at Audrey, his eyes glassy, his relief clear. “Is she still cursed. Her wolf was locked away.”

“Cursed?” Hawk frowned.

“There was only the curse woven into the evil power,” Sebastian said. “Nothing else.”

Which meant my mate had broken her curse when she’d found her wolf while fighting Sterling.

More relief washed through me. I would have loved her whether she had a wolf form or not, but I knew how much not having one had hurt her… that and her white wolf was stunning. I wanted Audrey to meet her.

And even as I thought that, my body burned. My mate was safe and she needed to wake up. I needed to have her, needed her so damned much I couldn’t catch my breath.

“Cyrus?” Bishop asked as I felt my wolf take over.

He needed her too and he’d waited too long. He didn’t care that she was unconscious, he had to claim her, now now now.

“Fuck,” Hawk hissed. “Priam, call Voth. These two need a room, like ten minutes ago. They shouldn’t have to seal their bond in here.”

“If they used an incomplete mating bond to get here, it shouldn’t be affecting him so soon,” Priam said as he took his square device from his pocket while also laying a glowing hand over Audrey’s heart and healing her. “But you’re the incubus. You’d know best.”

I had no idea what an incubus was, but he was right. If I didn’t get Audrey some place more comfortable, I was going to claim her on this strange, too-narrow bed and she deserved better than that.