Page 31

Volis

I send my eyes out to check on the warehouse again. It’s been relatively quiet overall. Lilith sends updates when she can, although I haven’t heard from her in almost a week. The warehouse looks the same as it did this morning, but I see that Zypher is on the phone.

“What do you mean you killed her?” Zypher growls. “You were supposed to bring the bitch to me. We had an agreement… No, I said you could do whatever you wanted, but she had to be alive. What the fuck am I going to do with her dead body?”

My stomach churns at his words. My concern for Lilith grows. Is this why I haven’t heard from her, and now Zypher has a dead body?

“No. No. Our deal is off… Remember who decided to bring you in on this rather than killing you like I’ve done all the other witches… No, Lilith Deverall is dead, and now I have three hundred foxes to kill.” Zypher ends his call and throws it across the room in a fit of rage.

I pull back to my body as emotions of anger and sadness well up. “What’s wrong?” Alatar asks.

“She’s dead,” I say quietly. “Zypher got a call, and some witches killed her. He’s going to kill all the foxes.”

“Fuck,” he sighs. “Are you sure…”

“Zypher wanted her. He wouldn’t kill his only leverage unless he had no use for them,” I snap.

“Okay,” he says simply. “What do you want to do?”

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I growl and turn to face everyone. “Change of plans. Rogue witches have apparently killed Lilith. I don’t know any other details about the attack or if there are any survivors. What do I know? I know that the foxes inside that building are in danger. These are the people that Lilith was working to save. People that she gave her life for. We finish this for Lilith!” I cry out.

“Let’s kill the bastard,” Ciaran shouts. A mix of rage and sadness sweeps over everyone, but we get loaded up anyway and push on.

We stay low and hidden as we navigate the streets to the warehouse. I tuck all of the emotions away and turn to my team as we are lined up alone at the back wall. I point to Ciaran to take her team around and gesture for Alatar and his team to come with me. I stop at the door and take a deep breath.

“For Lilith,” Alatar whispers, patting my shoulder. I nod as I crack the door open. Ciaran enters from the other side. Quietly, we slip into the room. Zypher and Morwen aren’t here, so we begin our work to free the shifters from the collars around their necks. A few of them shift immediately and run away. There are a few that are too weak, some of the others help guide them to the safety of the tree line.

I come to a woman who has her head bowed slightly. “What’s your name?” I ask as I move her burnt orange hair out of the way so I can unhook the collar from around her neck.

“Kira,” she says quietly. When she looks up at me finally, it feels like the wind has been knocked out of me.

“Mate,” I say, stunned. She jumps up and hugs me. I instinctively wrap my arms around her as if I’ve known her for years. “Kira, it’s not safe here. Okay? I need you to get to the Capitol, okay? They’ll keep you safe until I can get to you.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she says, stomping her foot at me. I can’t help but grin at her. She’s a feisty one.

“Fine. Stay with me. Understand?” I ask, and she nods, a smile on her face. We work our way around the room until they are all unhooked. They are leaving through the door closest to the trees.

Suddenly the other door behind us swings open. Wolf shifters pour in, weapons in hand, as they move around us in a circle. Coming in behind one group are Zypher and Morwen. “Well, I heard your family was incompetent, but I didn’t think it would be this easy,” Zypher laughs.

“Fuck,” I hiss, turning to Kira. “You need to get out of here. Find a way and get out.”

“No,” she frowns, and I groan. What a great time to be freshly mated.

“Volis Deverell,” Zypher says as he walks up to me. I intentionally don’t pay Kira any attention or make any moves to try and protect her. If he sees at all that she is connected to me, he will latch onto her and hurt her just to get to me. Kira must understand what I’m trying to do because she doesn’t move toward me or even look at me.

“You’re a dead man,” I growl.

“Says the one who’s trapped,” he laughs. “Get your people to go find a chain and sit down, or I kill them all. All I need is you. Once she finds out, your little sister will come running right into my arms.”

“Why are you so fucking obsessed with her?” I ask with venom in my tone.

“Because I own that whore,” he whispers harshly as he leans in. “Either way, that bitch will be mine again soon. Get your people killed or sit the fuck down and shut up. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“She’s alive?” I ask. I can’t help but feel a little bit of hope that I haven’t truly lost her. His answer is a sick laugh.

“Yeah. She has a brown-nosing little fox in her group who’s been selling her out at every turn just for a chance of freedom,” he says, proud of himself. “What Fermin doesn’t know is he’s already dead. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

I grit my teeth and keep my mouth shut. I’m going to get everyone in this place killed if I let any of my anger out. “Clock is ticking…tick tock…tick tock…,” Morwen says with a smile.

“Find a collar and put it on,” I say dejectedly to my team, not taking my eyes off Morwen. He’s the bastard who killed my mom and raped both of my sisters. Everyone listens to me as they spread out along the room. Everyone finds a place to sit and locks themselves up without question. They know just as well as I do that there is no way out of this right now. We just have to sit and wait.

Zypher shoves me back and hooks a collar around my neck before pushing me down to sit. “Now, let’s see what little sister is up to, shall we?” Zypher says as he pulls out his phone and walks away. A hand slips into mine and squeezes gently. I squeeze back, holding onto Kira. We keep our hands tucked away between us so no one can see. She relaxes when I squeeze her hand, and it helps me relax as well. We will get through this together. Forgive me Lilith.