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CHAPTER 2 - ASTRA

T his was it, folks. Time to say goodbye. Adios, Astra. Say hello to my maker. Confess the gamut of sins throughout my life. Face judgement on whether I was worthy of the Pearly Gates.

Yes, I ate too many of the cookies my mom baked.

Yes, I cussed. A Lot.

Yes, I overstepped the lines of professionalism by checking out Raze’s cock. In my defense, he shifted back from being a Lycan and was naked, and the Almighty blessed him with spectacular junk.

A big feather scratched across a scroll glowing with golden light.

Please don’t write that on my file, I asked the Almighty. I blabber when I get nervous.

The feather impatiently flicked at me to continue my confession.

Damn. I had way too much to confess for this restless deity. Maybe a summary of the important parts might do. A paragraph, not a novel.

Yes, I definitely sinned. Imagined you smiting my enemies. Took your name in vain way too many times to count.

Another sweep of the feather.

Oh, God. I hadn’t even gotten to being carnal with four men at once, and out of wedlock, no less. Yep, I was going straight to Hell and burning for an eternity. Still, I tried to bargain my way out of it.

Doesn’t confession absolve me of my sins? I asked the Almighty.

The feather noted that.

Can you reconsider writing all that in my file? I’ll be good from now on.

The nervy feather gestured at me again, urging me to continue, since he had another three thousand souls to judge today.

I sinned with four gorgeous, extraordinary men, who I fell in love with and gave my heart to.

Love is not a sin, the Almighty replied.

Wait. That didn’t sound right. I snapped out of my imaginary judgment session, where I retreated into the depths of my mind to avoid reality.

Metal hinges squeaked as the door to my cage yanked open. Adrenaline dampened the numbness over my mind from the drugs these bastards fed me. Rough fingers gouged my arm as two vampires dragged me out, kicking and screaming. Yeah, my body worked all right, though not as well as it would when fully conscious.

I found myself in this precarious predicament when Pascal and I investigated a Brotherhood of Serpents trafficking ring of gantii, and we were ambushed by vampires, him injured, possibly dead. My heart ached, and I hadn’t stopped crying since they dragged me away from him and prevented me from saving him. Now I might never see him again. Drugged and out of it, I awoke in a cave where a very large and intimidating vampire hovered over me, threatening to kill Raze if I didn’t find a cure for his race.

Oh, yeah, karma caught up with me, that bitch dragging me through hell and back. Surely, the Almighty would take pity on me for that. A girl could dream.

I dangled furiously in the vamps’ hold as they carried me to a chair, dumping me roughly on my ass, ready to face my next torture session with their cruel leader, Styx. The reason why I languished in a dreamlike state and got all my sins off my chest before I perished, hoping to make good with the Almighty and save myself from Hell.

Computer screens winked letters and numbers, and I blinked at them, the last of my drug haze wearing off. Blood test results, DNA sequences, gene maps, and medical scans, some conducted by me, others by Dr. Jeffries—the geneticist kidnapped by the vampires and rescued by my team. The damn vamps forced her to find a cure under duress of the threat of killing her child if she didn’t comply. Exactly the MO they used on me. My men and I rescued the good doctor, and I prayed over and over that they came for me.

Head groggy and back aching from being stuffed into a cage fit for a test dog, I glanced back at the enclosure next to mine. Raze lay curled in a ball, barely able to move, drugged and out of it on his side, crammed into a cage far too small for his size.

How many of my men were going to lose their lives in the pursuit of these dangerous gantii? The ache in my chest sank deeper, and I could barely breathe at the possibility of us not making it out alive.

An MRI device at the back of the lab caught my eye, and I had to force aside any thought of my men if I had any hope of surviving this. The tech made me wonder how the vamps got hold of it and with what money. I put that in the unsolved mystery files fit for my former competitor, Bailey Sarien, because my brain wasn’t in the game to solve it.

Styx hissed and spat sinister words at me that my bracelet translated. “Are you ready to comply, Little Witch? Or shall we send your mate to the Lycans to earn the bounty on his head?”

Bounty for killing the Lycans’ Alpha. That bastard slaughtered Raze’s dad before his eyes. My wolf was only doing what was natural to avenge his father and protect me from the gantii threatening to do the same to us.

Entering the Lycan world to visit Raze’s father for his birthday created chaos for us. Raze got bitten by the Alpha and injected with werewolf venom and nearly died. The secret my mate hid brought the trust of the team crashing down and nearly cost me my relationship with Knoxe. The warden banished Raze from the Guardians, and the rest, as they say, was history.

My wolf groaned behind me, shifting in his cage, the damn thing rocking, barely able to hold his weight and size. I resisted the urge to look at him.

Styx tapped his long, clawed finger at the computer screen, conveying his demand. “Review the data, Little Witch.”

Data. Tests. Scans. Blood. DNA. Computers. I dared the greatest scientific minds to find answers under duress and with their mind scrambled by drugs.

I raised my bound palms. “If you release the magick-suppression cuffs, I can speed this up and read the answers with my powers.”

DNA molecules were made of chemical nucleotides, which my magick interpreted quicker than any computer. The faster I performed this impossible task, the faster I got Raze and me out of here… preferably not in a body bag.

Styx’s waxy fingers wrapped around the back of my neck, making Raze growl. “You’re not getting your magick to use against us, so don’t ask again, witch.” He shoved me away, and my chest bounced against the desk, knocking the wind from me, and my wolf thundered.

Point taken, loud and clear.

I tried to form words. Tried to unscramble my brain. Tried to work beyond the burn in my nerves and body. Tried to swallow with my parched throat. Tried to operate with my pinched skin in desperate need of water in my veins.

I swallowed, barely getting anything down over my thick tongue. “Can I have some water, please? I’ve got a headache.”

The vampires weren’t very hospitable when it came to their prisoners. No wonder the doctor they kidnapped didn’t find anything, though her genetic research looked promising.

Styx barked something, and one of his soldiers grabbed me a bottle of water from a fridge and slammed it on the table.

“Thank you.” I uncapped it, took a long pull and recapped it, setting it aside to examine the numbers and words on the computer screen to get bearings on the test results I completed yesterday.

I tapped my finger on the side of the keyboard, bringing together all the pieces I knew so far, and to the best of my ability given my current circumstances. Genetic markers collected by Dr. Jeffries showed the vamps had a defect that prevented their young from reaching adulthood to continue breeding, culling their numbers. Experiments she conducted aimed to synthesize a serum that prevented the vampires’ inevitable extinction. Injection of six serum batches failed to correct this abnormality, and the vamps grew desperate and violent for salvation.

Head in my palm, I reviewed the data for the third time to see where she went wrong and determine if I could correct it. Every step she took agreed with the science. The experiments should have worked. Why didn’t they? I leaned back in my chair and yawned.

The movement prompted Raze to rumble behind me, a wolf letting his mate know he was near.

I used all my self-control not to twist in my chair and smile at him. I didn’t want to feed the vamps any more ammo to use against me. I flicked some finger signals we used on missions.

Wait for my signal.

Stay safe.

I crushed my fingers into my hands, hoping he deciphered them correctly in his out-of-it state under the human tranquilizer, which wasn’t strong enough to knock him all the way out, given his Lycan blood.

Raze grunted at my communication, and I took that as his acceptance.

I had to find a way out of here. A weakness to exploit to get my magick cuffs off me and eliminate the threat to our lives. Get Raze back to Luna and her crew and get my ass back to the Guardians.

Another hour passed, according to the time on the computer. I took a quick break, threw back some water, rubbed my forehead, and climbed from my chair to stretch my complaining back.

Styx thumped over to me. “What did you find, Little Witch?”

“Nothing. I’ve reviewed Dr. Jeffries’ notes and can’t find a mistake—” A hand clamped on my throat and cut off my air, silencing the rest of my sentence.

“Get him out,” Styx ordered. “Give the witch some incentive!”

“No, please,” I croaked. “Don’t hurt him. Hurt me. I failed you!”

Styx's second-in-command dragged Raze from his cage and placed electrodes on his forehead. My wolf’s muscles twitched but didn’t respond to his commands as he roared. Electric current pumped into him, every muscle in his body flexing, his neck straining, eyes rolling back in his head, agony sprawled across his features. I felt every spasm and agony in my heart and soul. If they kept doing this, they’d kill my big, bad wolf.

“No, please, don’t!” I wriggled in Styx’s neck hold, a child fighting an adult far more powerful and larger. “You’re hurting him. I’ll find your cure. Just give me a chance!”

Empty words when I reviewed the data. Something was missing. A test with critical science Dr. Jeffries missed.

The current ceased, and Raze groaned, his body spasming.

Styx grabbed me by the hair and hissed, “Get me the answers I seek, Little Witch, or the next time we switch on this machine, your wolf is dead.”

I glared into those bloodshot, baleful eyes of my captor. “I told you, I need my magick. Otherwise, this process could take me months. I’m slowed down by the drugs, that’s why I asked you to take the cuffs off. There’s something missing in the data.”

Good work, Astra.

Play on their fears. They could be dead in a matter of months. Coax them into releasing your wrists and get the fuck out of here.

Styx gestured to his soldier, and the lanky creature stalked over to me and treated me to the same shock as Raze. Fire scorched every muscle, and my brain felt incinerated to ash. Involuntary contractions racked my entire body. The current ended, and my nerves sighed with relief, the fire still raging.

“Little Wolf,” Raze rasped, extending his hand.

I didn’t look at him. Didn’t give Styx the satisfaction of showing weakness. I stared him down, a woman determined to kill him as soon I got the chance.

“I … I…” It took a few tries to form the words on my tongue and get them out with my neurons on fire. “I can get instant answers…” The pain. The heat. “If you take these off.” The weight of my arms was impossible to lift more than an inch from the bench, my bracelet clunking loudly on the surface.

The translation came through my bracelet, and Styx considered it. “Absolutely not.”

I went through round twenty of agony before I formed my next sentence. “If you kill my mate…” I panted and had a breather. “I will die with him, and so will you, unless you give me what I need to help you.” I took in some air and swallowed the fire.

Styx hissed at me. Then the words I dreaded hearing fell with lethal certainty. “Kill them both. We have no more use for them.”