Page 14

CHAPTER 14

brYNN

The alphas were about to do something reckless. They had some unspoken conversation with their eyes, and then locked in on the door. I felt kind of useless. I couldn’t shift, and Goddess knows I fucking tried. I was feisty, agile, and strong for an omega with no formal fighting training, but I was no match for a bunch of guards with weapons, and if I did try to fight, I’d probably just get in the twins’ way and make whatever plan they had harder.

Which meant I was once again cowering behind them. I was so fucking over this damsel in distress bullshit. My eyes scoured the room looking for a weapon, anything I could use to at least protect myself and allow Reeve and Riven to do their thing.

I’d come up empty when the door flew open, a wave of Magic behind it that had me stumbling back against the wall. Then I came face to face with the bastard who got me into this situation in the first place.

I wished I could say that I stared him down with no fear, gave him a big fuck you. But the second the tendrils of his insidious Magic touched my skin, since he seemed to instantly suffocate the room with it, I froze. Not literally this time, thank Goddess, but I was back there. Back in front of that abandoned building where I couldn’t move, could barely breathe, completely paralyzed as the darkness seeped through my bones. I slumped against the back wall, clawing at my throat, desperate for air that wasn’t tainted by this darkness.

My vision was hazy at the edges, and it was hard to focus on anything. The wolf howls snapped me out of my panic enough to get my first glimpse of Reeve and Riven’s midnight black wolves since that first night. They were beautiful.

That was the last thought I had before all hell broke loose. The guards were screaming, weapons drawn at the two wolves who shouldn’t have been there, but before anyone could shoot them, the guards slumped to the ground, clawing at their throats and screaming bloody murder. The mage must’ve done something to them, and now, with glowing eyes, he turned his attention to the twins. My mates.

They were both in an attack stance, positioned between me and everyone else. I wanted to tell them to worry about themselves, but the words wouldn’t come out, the tendrils of darkness once again leaving me helpless and paralyzed.

“Leopold, what are you doing?” the warden screamed, but I noticed he hadn’t entered the room. He was standing at the doorway, obviously smart enough to realize the second he walked in he’d be a victim of the mage’s Magic.

The mage, Leopold, smiled cruelly. He waved his hand, and the guard closest to him started to seize, then burst into fucking flames.

Tears fell down my face. This was the man who had captured me? Suddenly I realized how lucky I’d been. Just seeing what this man was capable of had me feeling sick. If I had control of my own body I’d be vomiting. The smell of burned flesh overpowering every other scent in this place.

The twins were going crazy, their jaws snapping as they snarled and growled, but neither were attacking. It was too much of a risk. With just a wave of a hand, they could become nothing but a pile of ash.

“I’d think carefully before you make another move,Hollinger,” Leopold sneered. “Wouldn’t want my hand to slip.”

The warden hissed but wisely didn’t move. No other guards entered the room, and I couldn’t get eyes on the guy who was supposed to buy me. Did he know what this psychopath was going to do?

“I won’t move,” the warden responded carefully, like the way you’d talk to a spooked animal, “What is it that you want, Leopold? Say it, and it’s yours.”

“Oh come now, Hollinger. I don’t need you to get exactly what I want.” Leopold turned to me, looking over the head of the two wolves, and smiled sadistically at me, “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

Oh, fuck no. My skin crawled as the twins completely lost it, and one of them–by the pull on my mate bond, likely Riven–launched at the dark mage.

Nooooo! I tried to scream in warning but no words came out. Reeve leaped right after his brother, whether to attack or to stop him, I wasn’t sure.

If I had the power, I’d have closed my eyes. It was the coward’s way out, but I couldn’t sit here helplessly and watch the two men I was quickly beginning to care for, the two men who had claimed me and who fate had destined for me, be reduced to a pile of ashes or worse.

I’m sorry .

I braced myself, preparing for anything, for losing my mates before I really got them, for whatever would happen to me and everyone else in this place afterward. I watched in horrific slow motion as time turned to sludge and braced for impact.

And then it was all gone. One second I was huddled in the corner of my newest prison, surrounded by dead bodies and waiting for my mates to die, and then next I was in an alley of some kind. Graffiti colored buildings on either side of me, and the unmistakable scent of rotted trash overpowering everything else.

“What the–”

I couldn’t finish my thought before I was being barrelled over, falling on my ass, my bare naked ass, on the filthy concrete, as two wolves covered my body, licking and scenting, and whining.

Despite everything I couldn’t help but laugh. My hands curled in their thick fur, and I buried my nose in the neck of the wolf who was currently licking my mate bond. I sucked in a breath. Riven. It was Riven. A little bit of giddiness was threatening to overwhelm me. I could tell them apart by their scent. I don’t know why that made me so happy.

“Ugh, I’m happy you’re both alive too, but you’re crushing me.” Immediately both wolves froze and pulled back. I grinned, tears springing to my eyes once again, but this time they were relieved ones. I had no fucking idea what happened, but they were okay, they were alive. I thought that would be the last of them. Leopold would’ve killed them and then taken me, for whatever fucking reason, and I’d never be free. I would die eventually, people didn’t survive broken mate bonds, but even before it literally ended, my life would be over.

Instead, I was naked with two massive black wolves in a narrow alley, and I had never been happier in my life.

I pet both of them, to let them know I was okay. I loved to see how both these huge scary men pushed into my hand, like little puppies, desperate for pats.

“I’d love to give you more pats later, but do you think you can shift back? We need to figure out what the fuck just happened.”

“I can help with that.” Dress shoes clicked across the alleyway street, the sound breaking the silence of the night.

Any chance of Reeve and Riven shifting was up in smoke as they immediately took a protective stance in front of me, blocking whoever was coming toward us. I pulled myself up into a crouch, really wishing I was wearing clothes, and curled my fingers into the fur of my alphas. If they tried to attack, I doubt I could stop them, but I was hoping my hold would be enough to keep them still. At least long enough to figure out what the hell was going on here.

“Who are you?” I called out, relieved my voice didn’t shake.

A figure emerged from the shadows, standing in the dim light of the alley. The man was tall, a little over six feet probably, with slicked back blond hair that was graying around the temples. He was wearing a suit that probably cost more than I made in my entire lifetime and stood out in this place like a sore thumb.

I tensed and tightened my grip on the twins. Unlike Leopold, this man’s Magic didn’t didn’t have the stink of dark Magic. His soul wasn’t tainted. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. His aura was thick with it. It was the prey in me. I could always sense danger, and whoever this was, could be the most dangerous thing I ever faced.

“My name is Laurent,” he replied, his voice deep and confident, “And I was the one who got you out of Western State Penitentiary.”