Page 27

TWENTY-TWO

DANICA

D anica woke up to the taste of rust and molasses in her mouth. Her head throbbed incessantly, and her vision still blurred slightly at the edges. She blinked several times, trying to focus on the shadowy space around her.

"What the hell...?" she murmured, the words coming out slurred.

That's when she realized she couldn't move.

Her wrists burned, and when she looked up above her head, she saw they were bound with rough rope to what looked like an iron crossbeam.

Her ankles were also secured together and tied to another iron beam below her bare feet.

She looked down past her feet, realizing she was suspended several feet above the ground against some kind of metal framework.

The ceremonial white dress they'd put her in—wait, who had changed her clothes?—fluttered in the draft coming through broken windows. The garment was thin, almost sheer, with embroidered symbols she didn't recognize at the edges. Some kind of ritualistic nonsense.

"Oh, dear god," she whispered, memories flooding back. Joni in her apartment. The water. The phone call.

The cavernous space around her was all crumbling brick and rusted metal.

Massive iron vats lined one wall, ancient machinery stood frozen in time, and the sickly-sweet smell of decades-old sugar permeated everything.

An abandoned sugar mill. Probably somewhere in the bayou where screams would attract nothing but bullfrogs and alligators.

Danica twisted her wrists, testing the restraints. The rope bit deeper, fresh pain blooming across her skin. Already her circulation was compromised, her fingers tingling unpleasantly.

"Asher," she whispered, her voice cracking.

Danica was always the one saving others from their crises. Now, she found herself desperately wishing someone would come save her. Specifically Asher. His fierce protectiveness, his commanding presence, and his absolute refusal to back down from a fight—she needed all of it now.

A strange warmth blossomed in her chest despite the terror. She closed her eyes and focused on it, somehow knowing it was connected to him.

Help me, Asher.

Outside, voices grew closer. Multiple sets of footsteps and hushed conversations. Danica's entire body tensed, alert for any opportunity or any weakness she could exploit. She might be a human in a supernatural world, but she wasn't going out without a fight.

The dilapidated metal door at the far end of the mill creaked open.

Joni stepped through, transformed from the friendly woman at the festival into something altogether more sinister.

Her long red hair fell over one slender shoulder, and the crimson dress she wore clung to her tall frame like a second skin, slashing to the thigh with a neckline that plunged almost to her navel.

"You're finally awake." Joni's smile was that of a predator watching wounded prey. "Perfect. I was worried we'd have to start without you."

"Kidnapping and drugging aren't exactly friendship bracelets, Joni." Danica kept her voice steady despite the fear coursing through her. "What's with the virgin sacrifice aesthetic? Not really my color."

Joni circled the metal structure, her high heels clicking on the concrete floor. "You know, I almost felt sorry for you when you first showed up in Ectorius." Her fingertips trailed along the rusty metalwork. "A little human party planner, so out of her depth. Playing with dragons."

"I wasn't playing."

"No?" Joni's laugh was musical and cruel.

"You actually thought you belonged with someone like Asher?

That's adorable." She stopped directly in front of Danica, her green-gold eyes glittering.

"He's a dragon Alpha, honey. A king among monsters.

And you? You're just a temporary distraction. A novelty fuck."

The words stung more than Danica wanted to admit. "You don't know anything about us."

"I know everything about Asher." Joni's smile sharpened.

"I know exactly what he needs in bed. How wild he gets when his dragon is close to the surface.

How he likes it rough and dirty and primal.

" She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"You think your fragile little human body could ever handle what he truly wants to do?

You'd break under the force of his passion. "

Danica thought about Asher's powerful body moving against hers and the marks he'd left on her skin—marks she'd begged for. The memory gave her unexpected strength.

"Just let me go and no one has to know about this," Danica said, trying to sound reasonable despite her rising anger. "I won't tell anyone what happened to me or what you told me today."

Fresh blood trickled from her wrists where the rope had chafed her skin raw, but Danica kept her expression neutral. Whatever Joni had planned, showing weakness wouldn't help.

Behind her predatory smile, Joni's eyes burned with a jealousy so potent it was almost palpable. Danica realized with sudden clarity that this wasn't just about power or politics. This was about a woman who couldn't stand seeing someone else have what she'd convinced herself she deserved.

Joni finally scoffed, her perfectly manicured fingers flicking dismissively through the air. "Tell anyone? Honey, who would you tell? The dead don't talk."

She circled Danica like a shark, the crimson dress rippling like blood in water. "But let's not rush to the finale just yet. I think you deserve to know exactly why this is happening."

Danica pulled against her restraints again, wincing as the rope cut even deeper. "Let me guess—you're evil and crazy? Or is it crazy and evil? I always mix up the order."

"Cute." Joni's smile never reached her eyes. "No, what I am is ambitious. I don't just want Asher—though I'll certainly take him. I want Ectorius. The clutch. And eventually, the entire shifter community in the South."

"You see," Joni continued, running her fingernail down the metal framework, "as long as Asher is separated from you, he'll never be whole.

He's weakened—physically and mentally. A broken Alpha is worthless in our world.

The council will see it, the town will feel it, and they'll need someone to step up. "

"And that someone is you." Danica's voice dripped with contempt.

"Smart girl." Joni's smile widened. "I was born to lead. Not Asher with his progressive ideas and human sympathies. And once I take control, I'll make him my mate for life."

Danica's stomach clenched. "He'd never agree to that."

"Agreement is optional." Joni's laugh echoed through the abandoned mill. "He'll do what I want, when I want. And trust me, I have very specific desires for that magnificent body of his."

Joni leaned in, her voice lowering to a silky whisper. "Every night, I'll have him pleasure me until I'm satisfied. I know exactly how talented that tongue of his is, and how those strong hands can make a woman scream. And you'll be nothing but a fading memory while I'm writhing beneath him."

The image of Asher with Joni sent white-hot rage coursing through Danica's veins. Her wrists burned as she strained against the ropes with renewed vigor. If she weren't tied up, she'd have launched herself at Joni's throat without hesitation.

"Asher is going to find out what you've done. That you planted the poison that killed Garron," Danica hissed.

"Oh, I'm counting on it. He is very clever and persistent." Joni traced a pattern on Danica's bare foot, her nails grazing the skin. "But by then, it'll be too late for both of you."

Danica tried to jerk away. "You know what I think? I think you're terrified. Because you know that what Asher and I have is real—and you'll never have that with anyone."

Something dangerous flashed in Joni's eyes. "What you have is a fantasy. A fleeting human delusion."

"It's fate," Danica countered. "Something no amount of scheming can replace or change."

Looking back, Danica realized all the signs had been there all along.

Joni's too-eager friendship, her convenient appearances at critical moments, and the way she'd positioned herself between Danica and the truth at every opportunity.

The note, the poison, the frame job—it had all been carefully orchestrated to drive a wedge between Danica and Asher.

And now here she was, trussed up like a sacrifice in a sheer white dress, waiting to die for the crime of falling in love with the wrong dragon.

"You won't win," Danica said, summoning every ounce of conviction she could muster. "Asher will find me."

Joni's smile was cold as winter. "I'm banking on it, darling. That's exactly the plan."

She strutted in a slow circle around Danica, the hem of her crimson dress trailing across the dusty sugar mill floor like a bloodstain. Her heels clicked rhythmically, each step punctuating her gleeful monologue.

"You see, killing you quietly would be so... unsatisfying." Joni's voice dripped with pride as she examined her manicured nails. "A proper coup requires witnesses. It requires spectacle."

Danica's mouth went dry. "You're planning to kill me in public?"

"Precisely! A public execution to demonstrate my strength and loyalty." Joni's eyes glittered with manic excitement. "My followers need to see me eliminate the Alpha's chosen human mate with my own hands. That's how I prove I'm strong enough to lead."

Danica's stomach flipped, not from the grotesque image of her own death, but from the crushing realization that she'd never again feel Asher's arms encircling her, never taste his lips against hers, and never hear those three words she now desperately craved.

"In thirty minutes," Joni continued, reveling in her moment, "an emergency alert will go out to the entire town—well, minus Asher and his most loyal followers.

Can't have them spoiling the surprise too early.

" She checked the delicate watch on her wrist. "The message will claim those wolves from the festival are back, threatening to invade homes.

Everyone will be directed here for safety. "

Danica's mind raced. "And instead they'll find?—"

"Me. Standing near your tied-up body on this metal framework." Joni's smile widened. "My followers inside, wolves positioned in the bayou trees outside, ready to attack on my command should anyone object. By dawn, I'll be Alpha of the Ectorius clutch."

A tall, bearded shifter appeared in the doorway, nodding to Joni, who brushed her hands together with satisfaction.

"Well, I need to prepare for my moment of glory. Get comfortable—though I suppose that's impossible in your position." Joni laughed lightly. "Consider this your wake. Reflect on your short, insignificant life."

As Joni sashayed toward the door, her crimson dress shimmering in the dim light, she paused to instruct the guard. "Watch her. If she makes a sound, gag her."

The heavy door slammed shut, leaving Danica alone with the silent guard who positioned himself by the entrance, his eyes fixed forward.

Desperate, Danica scanned the cavernous mill. Rusted machinery offered no salvation. The ancient beams creaked overhead, too high to reach even if she weren't bound. The guard maintained his distance, frustratingly beyond her ability to manipulate or attack.

Minutes ticked by, marked only by the steady drip of water somewhere in the darkness. Danica strained against her restraints until fresh blood slicked her wrists, but the ropes refused to yield.

The reality of her situation crystallized with terrible clarity. There was no escape. No last-minute rescue. No clever plan that would save her. Danica closed her eyes, trying to slow her frantic heartbeat. If these were truly her final moments, she wouldn't spend them in terror.

Instead, she focused on the strange, warm connection she'd felt with Asher from the beginning. That invisible thread that had drawn them together despite all odds. Fated mates, he'd called it.

"Asher," she whispered, so softly the guard couldn't hear. She concentrated on pushing her thoughts through that bond between them, willing her love to reach him across whatever distance separated them.

"I don't know if you can hear me," she continued in her mind, "but if you can... I love you. I love your strength and your gentleness. Your dedication to your people and even that little crease between your eyebrows when you concentrate."

Tears slipped silently down her cheeks as she poured her heart into this impossible connection.

"Thank you for seeing me—truly seeing me. For making me feel whole for the first time in my life. For showing me I'm capable of more than I ever believed."

The warmth in her chest intensified, a glow that seemed to pulse with each heartbeat.

"I wish we had more time," her thoughts continued. "I wish I could've woken up in your strong arms every morning for the rest of our lives. I wish I could've stood by your side for years instead of days."

The connection burned brighter and stronger, and somehow Danica knew—he was listening.