Page 5 of Pack Rage (The Splintered Bond #4)

Chapter 4

Guests and Prisoners

FINNICK

I ’d had years to learn precisely how to hide my pain. Both the physical pain inflicted on me from childhood, as a method of toughening me up, and the deeper pain of knowing my parents didn’t love me. Or at least, not as much as they loved the power or influence I could help them amass.

I’d gotten good at hiding my reactions, until the pain coloring my connection with Flor threatened to make me forget all my hard-won lessons, and bawl like a baby in the lower levels of the Eastern pack Mansion. I wasn’t certain what was happening to her, but it felt like she was dying. My own vision went black as energy rushed out of me like it was dropping down into a bottomless well.

To my relief, I passed out briefly, coming to before the guards who watched those halls even realized what had happened. I made my way up to my room, and slept that night like a dead man.

When I woke, I still felt half-dead, but I had work to do.I spent the next few hours learning all I could from the house staff about what had happened, though it was difficult to gather intel when every move was being recorded and watched by the men in the tech room below.

I did find out a few things, though. Mother had gone to Southern, met with Torran, and was on her way back, with prisoners. “And a guest,” the soft-spoken maid whispered, her lips hardly moving. Both of our faces were turned away from the camera in the corner of the parlor, where she was serving me tea. “We’re to make up the best guest room, for one.” She placed a few sandwiches on a plate and passed it over. “For one of the Heirs.”

“Brand Becker?” The others had all been given rooms in my wing when they’d fostered here. Brand’s was across from mine.

“No, he’ll stay in his old room. The other one.”

I blinked. If Brand wasn’t the Heir who was coming… “Luke?”

Her eyes dropped once, a silent yes, and she gave a little curtsey before leaving the room.

The Mansion was silent, the staff staying out of sight more than normal, a calm before a storm. Unusually, Father hadn’t come home the evening before. It was possible that he’d stayed in the city at the penthouse apartment he kept for late meetings and socializing.

It was also possible he was with another woman. My gut twisted as I remembered the agony of being unfaithful to Flor, even with an incomplete bond. My parents were true mates; Father had shared the story of their meeting once, at a Conclave here at Eastern, thirty-two years ago. He’d spoken about how impossible it was to refuse that metaphysical connection. Apparently, both my parents had figured out how to work around it, in order to have their many affairs.

Calvin Callaway had claimed my mother was a witch, that she wasn’t from a small pack on the Georgia side of the border, but from the Florida side.From a coven, one that was known to harbor dark witches.

The same coven that Callaway had secretly contracted to kill his own true mate, Lily.

I’d never considered that my own mother might have magic. Might be guilty of an unforgivable crime, which she had somehow hidden for my whole life. Now that Callaway had said it out loud, though, so much I’d wondered about began to make sense.

I had no knowledge of magic. Almost no shifters did, since it was forbidden to speak about it. But if witches could manipulate bonds… Maybe she’d been able to do something to her own mating bond to make infidelity painless, for both mates.

What else could she do? What else had she done? I’d known she, Niall, and Torran had murdered more than one visiting shifter, one of them an Heir to a small but influential Italian pack. A pack that should be abducting Tana from the sidewalk outside her school any minute now, I thought, checking my phone.

My sister walked to a nearby dance studio seven blocks from the pack schoolhouse in the city. It was a safe walk, with cameras always on, and guards in place.

Cameras and guards that I’d made certain the Italians knew about. I had to trust they would honor our contract and take her out of the packlands, and the country, and keep her hidden for as long as she needed.

For as long as my parents were alive.

The ornate clock on the mantel chimed once, and my phone buzzed in my hand at the same time, with what appeared to be a spam text about a local human politician. My heart raced, knowing what it meant, that she was safely away. I had given them the private code words she and I had used since we were children that meant everything was okay. She would know exactly who had sent these unfamiliar shifters.

It was the only contact we would have, unless I traveled to Italy to retrieve her myself.

It was done. I stared at the food and tea that sat untouched on the table, and waited for the next call. It came an hour later.

“Alpha Heir. Your sister didn’t make it to her dance class. The cameras were out. We don’t know where she went.”

“What about her guards?”

“They were… slacking.”

Perfect. I wasn’t sure what the team assigned to evacuate Tana had done to distract the guards, but it had obviously worked. “That’s the last mistake they’ll make. Bring them to the lower levels of the Mansion for questioning.”

“Yes, sir. Any other orders?”

“Search the school again. Maybe she never left campus. The other girls may be up to some mischief. Look in the closets, restrooms, everywhere.”

Tana didn’t have friends at school. She’d confided that the others either saw her as a way to increase their status in the pack, or stayed away from her out of fear of drawing the Alpha’s eye.

“I’ll let my parents know. Follow the protocols.” I hung up and went down to the lower levels, calling Mother and Father on the way. Neither one answered.

Odd.

I let myself into the main tech hub of the pack in the lower levels, making sure the Enforcers on duty were doing everything they could think of to locate Tana, and that they witnessed my supposed anger and frustration at their failure.

By the end of the first hour, they were every bit as frustrated. I’d hacked into traffic cameras and sent our own drones in every direction except the one I believed her abductors would have taken. Giving them the time they needed to get her out of the city.

I’d just picked up my phone to call Mother, when it rang in my hand.It was her, and she was pissed. “Finnick, come to the back. We have a special delivery.”

I ran to the secret rear entrance to the lower levels, opening the door just in time for Mother to stride through, followed by two Enforcers carrying a body bag, and then… “Luke?”

“Hey, Finn,” he said, his lips tight, but his tone casual. “I didn’t know your pack had a dungeon.”

“We like to call them containment cells,” I said, stunned when Mother ignored me entirely, following the Enforcers down the hall to the cell next to where the Hilliers were being kept. The males carried the body bag into the room, dumping it in the center.

Mother began barking orders. “Get every scrap of silver chain you can find. Silver nails and the nail gun as well. The entire cart, and?—”

“Mother?” I interrupted. “Thank the moon you’re here.”

Her eyes were wild when they met mine, though I couldn’t tell if the mania in them was from excitement, or fear. “Finnick, escort Luke to the guest room that’s been prepared. The emergency Council meeting’s in two days. We’ll have a family meal tonight where we can discuss the week ahead. He’ll be staying until?—”

“Mother, you haven’t checked your phone.” Sparks flashed in her eyes when I interrupted her again. I bowed my head slightly. “It’s an emergency. It’s Tana.”

“What has that useless little bitch done now?” My gaze flicked to Luke, then back to her. “ Speak! ” she demanded, a whip of her dominance in the word.

“Vanished on the way to her dance lesson,” I said. “We can’t find any trace of her. She may have been taken. If she was, it was a professional job.”

A wave of power—the dominance she’d honed and used as a weapon—rushed out of her along with a scream of fury. The Enforcers fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Luke staggered slightly under it, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him down with me as I pretended not to be able to stand under it.

“Where is your father?”

“In the city,” I told her. “I couldn’t reach him.”

“What? What is he…” She closed her eyes, her nostrils flaring slightly, one hand moving to her neck and the old, silver mating claim mark there. A flicker of what might have been pain crossed her features before her expression went cold again. “Of course. Of fucking course.”She didn’t explain, but stalked toward the exit. “Take Luke to his room; assign Niall to keep him safe . Lock down the Mansion, then get back in here and make sure none of our… guests… vanish.”

I understood. Luke was as much a prisoner as the Hilliers, or the poor soul in the body bag, whoever he was. As the door closed behind her, I stood and held a hand out to Luke, taking in his altered state. He was skinny, dirty, and with odd specks of blood dotting him from head to toe… but he had a small set of teeth marks low on his neck, and a faint hint of cinnamon in his scent.

“We have some catching up to do,” I murmured.

“You have no idea,” he replied as we went to follow Mother’s orders.

“There are cameras in every room of the Mansion.” I breathed the words as we made our way to the guest room that had been prepared for him. He nodded, his lips tightening almost imperceptibly. While we walked, I messaged Niall, then sent another notification to the house staff and Enforcers to lock down the Mansion.

The maid I’d spoken to before was waiting in the hall, and opened the door to the guest room my parents reserved for their most important visitors. You could almost hear the hum of all the cameras and microphones inside. Even the closets and bathrooms of this room were constantly monitored from the tech hub.

Usually, it was human guests who stayed here. Chief executives, politicians, every kind of white-collar criminal who wanted to work with, invest in, or beg money from my family’s businesses. There were no guests in the Mansion now, though I knew Father had invited some of the smaller packs for the Council meeting under the full moon this week. With Tana missing, I knew he’d send them to some of the hotels in the city. He would never allow anyone to witness this family scandal.

“I’ll need some new clothing,” Luke said, hesitating at the open door. He was noting the cameras inside the room. In the distance, a buzzing alarm announced the lockdown.

I paused, knowing I only had a few minutes to speak with Luke at all before Niall would join us. “We’re close to the same size. Come to my room, and I’ll find you something to wear. Then you should rest in your room until dinner.”

Our eyes met, and we both turned together toward my wing. In less than a minute, we were almost at my door. Luke murmured, “I’m sorry to hear about Tana.”

“She’ll be fine,” I said, letting some of my relief color my tone. “She’s too important to let anything happen to her.” Luke’s hand on my arm had me glancing at his startled expression. I let even more of my relief show, then opened the door to my room, dropped my phone on my bed, and escorted him into my closet.

“I was always jealous of your closet. It’s every bit as big as most of the rooms back at Southern,” Luke said, pointing to the corners of the room.

I shook my head and mouthed, No cameras.

“Let me find you some things.” I pulled clothing down and placed the stack on a table, then pulled him close, my mouth nearly touching his ear. Her scent was even stronger now, the cinnamon and jasmine making it hard to contain my wolf. “Tana’s safe. I made sure of that.”

It may have cost me my future with Flor, but at least I had saved my sister.

He gripped my arm. “Thank the moon.” I breathed deeply, allowing myself to scent my lost mate, while Luke spoke. “Your mother is a witch, Finn.” I nodded, and he went on. “She forced me to tell her about Flor. Who she is to me.”

“Does she know who she is to me? The others?”

“No. She commanded me to tell her everything .” He huffed a quiet laugh. “I’ve been obsessed with Flor since I was a little boy. I gave your mother so many trivial details, she almost fell asleep listening.” He paused. “Although, I think that may have been exhaustion.”

My mother, exhausted? I couldn’t imagine it. “Who was in the bag?”

“The reason she’s tired. Somehow, she captured Grigor Dimitrivich,” he whispered. “He’s alive.”

“Why?” I knew Flor had claimed Grigor saved her when she was abducted from Northern, but I’d been relieved not to hear anything about him since. Though I’d spent most of the time in the weeks since I’d left Northern either being tortured by Niall, or suffering from mate sickness.

“I don’t know. But it’s a good thing.” When I reared back to see if he was joking, he blinked before breathing the words, “He’s hers as well. One of hers.”

I gasped. “Oh shit.” Flor was mated to that monster? He’d slaughtered tens of thousands of our kind. “Does Mother know?”

“No. And they aren’t bonded yet, though he has some kind of connection. But the thing is, he’s bonded to Glen… and me.”

My mind spun as I registered the honesty in his words. Some kind of connection?It had to be a magical one. My thoughts about Mother’s ability to manipulate bonds were answered.

“Tell me everything, fast.”

He spoke until his voice was raw, and my heart was racing. I’d suspected some of what he shared, but nowhere near all of it.

“Grigor Dimitrivich. You’re sure?” I was dizzy from the implications of everything Luke had just told me. My mind, trained to strategize from the time I was small, was whirling with possibilities.

And impossibilities.

Magic. Mother had it, Grigor had it, and Flor… Flor was his mate, or would be.

“Yes. You have to get him out,” Luke whispered, his voice raspy. “He’s alive, but he’s done something to keep me from feeling the pain he’s in through the bond. If he dies, I’m pretty sure Glen and I will, too.”

“And Flor is mated to you both.”

“Yes.”

I knew what that meant. Once a mating bond had been completed, there was no backing out. All of us were tied together now, unless… unless the Russian had magic to cut us all free.

“Luke, your father is here,” I began. “Callaway.” He sucked in a breath, but I could hear my phone buzzing on the bed outside, and knew our time was up. “He’s in the lower levels, along with the Hilliers. He spilled a lot of dangerous secrets. Flor’s his daughter. Her mother is from—” My mouth worked, but I couldn’t speak the name of her pack.

“I know. He’s insurance. If I don’t vote the way your parents want, they’ll kill me and reinstall him somehow.” Luke swallowed. “Your mother made it clear on the trip here. I’m to pledge myself to the Council, after which Aidan will reinstate me as Acting Alpha. Then I’m to pledge my pack to the Council, and vote to give permanent power to your father as Council Head, and to execute Bradley and Margarette for crimes against their pack. I’m assuming they’ll execute Callaway at some point, so that the Alpha power really moves to me.”

“Luke, if you do all that…” There weren’t that many shifters left at Southern, but his vote would still count, and his power… I didn’t even know how the bonds he had would work. But if he was mated to Flor, and connected to Brand, it was possible the Council would have access to that power through him.

“I know. They’ll have every scrap of power they’ll ever need, with no way to stop them short of war.”

I thought of all the weapons my parents had amassed. The poisons that worked on shifters. The silver-coated bullets and the thousands of forbidden blades that lined the walls of more than one “storm cellar” on our property. They’d been preparing for this for years. “War may not save us either. We need a miracle.”

A pounding on the door to my bedroom brought us back to the moment. Niall’s voice had us rushing out of the closet. I quickly grabbed some clothing and slung an arm around Luke’s waist.

When I opened the door, Niall was red-faced. “We’re meant to be on lockdown, Finnick. Where’s the… Alpha Heir Callaway.” He nodded to Luke. “There you are.”

“ Alpha Callaway,” I corrected. “He’s here for the emergency Council meeting.” Luke slumped against me. I hoped he was pretending to be this weak, but I wasn’t sure. “Help him.”

Niall hesitated. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Weak,” Luke panted out. “Need… to rest.”

Niall took him from me, the shy maid behind him rushing forward to grab the clothing from my other arm. I waited a moment, then grabbed my phone and headed back to the lower levels.

From my parents’ messages, I had an hour before they would be back. Just enough time to find out if Mother had brought a prisoner home.

Or a Trojan horse.