Page 16

Chapter 16

Bitten

VANESSA

M y spidey senses start to tingle the lower we descend into the castle and the more security staff we pass. I glance at one of them, but his eyes remain foreword, though his brow wrinkles at our presence.

Sarina ignores him, striding past as if she has every right to be here.

“Are we going to the dungeon?” I ask in a whisper, bumping into Sarina as she stops to peek around a corner.

We’ve already explored the rest of the castle, including the Great Hall, a massive kitchen, wine cellar, family suites, guest suites, the courtyard. The place is as impressive and steeped in history as I’d hoped, but Sarina has very little interest in shifter history and gave vague, unhelpful answers to my questions.

“We’re exploring the tunnel system beneath the castle,” she says, still looking around the corner.

“And it just happens to go through the dungeon?” I ask drily.

She smirks at me. “I can’t help the way they set up this labyrinth of a castle. Not my fault if we wander into an off-limits area.” She straightens, her face assuming a professional look. “Besides, I’m Queen of this place. I can go anywhere I want.”

“Despite your husband’s preference that you not?” I grin, liking the odd white-haired Queen.

She shrugs and motions me to follow her down the corridor. “Lock isn’t worried about me, it’s whoever’s in the prison he’s worried about.” At my frown, she adds, “I’ve been known to de-throat my enemies.” She pauses, then adds, “Two, to be exact. I’ve only had two kills so far.”

I arrange my face into what I hope is commiseration. “Perhaps more will come along with time. You’re still young.”

She nods seriously. “Only two hundred and twenty-six. I’ve not even participated in a single battle. Lock has killed way more than I have. It’s embarrassing.”

We descend further into the bowels of the castle and the air becomes noticeably cooler and more damp. I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself. Noticing, Sarina drags her heavy cloak off and tosses it around my shoulders, stretching up until her bare breast bumps my chin. She isn’t wearing a stitch of clothing under the heavy cloak. Only a string of pearls around her neck.

“Better?” she asks in a whisper. At my nod, she motions for me to follow again. “C’mon, I think he’s down this way.”

“Who?” I whisper back.

“I don’t know.” At my frown, she adds, “I just know they’re keeping someone down here. I overheard Lock discussing him. I think he’s been living here for a while.”

Intrigued, I follow her, my heart hammering in anticipation. It’s like I’m in a creepy horror movie, slowly being led to my doom by a beautiful bloodthirsty seductress. Will I faint from shock when I set eyes on the beast languishing in the castle prison? Probably not, since I’ve never been a fainter, but I’m an actor. I can hit the floor with grace and believability.

“Here he is,” she whispers, leading me to a closed door with a small window in it and a digital keypad. She frowns at the keypad, poking the numbers and jumping back when the screen flashes red and beeps. She makes a frustrated sound. “They updated the prison a few years ago. I liked it better when there were real bars.”

She goes up onto her toes to see through the window and I join her. At first, I don’t see anything, then I catch sight of movement. Disappointment rushes through me. “He’s just a man.” A rather unassuming one too.

She turns shining eyes to me. “Shifters can come in the most amusing human disguises. Maybe he’s a crocodile shifter or even a dragon shifter.” She frowns. “Though they’re usually flashier than this guy.”

“My best friend is a dragon shifter,” I say, thinking of Pinky’s eye-catching hair.

Sarina stares at me, her eyes wide. “You know a real live dragon? I’d love to see her.”

“I’m sure she’d be happy to come for a visit.”

A voice interrupts our conversation. “Your Majesty?” When Sarina turns around, a castle guard bows his head. “What are you doing down here?”

“Excuse me, is this man a shifter or a human?” I ask.

His gaze swings from Sarina to me. “Who are you?”

Sarina straightens and assumes a Queenly expression. “She is mate to Prince Keenan. You may answer her question.”

He nods respectfully. “The prisoner is human. He is Magistrate Barry Banbridge, formerly of Pendle.”

Sarina gasps. “From Pendle!”

The guard nods. “Been here a few years now. I’m surprised you didn’t know.”

Her brows lower into a thunderous frown. “Lock,” she mutters. “My overprotective fur-between-the-ears mate. Thinks he’s protecting me.”

“From what?” I have to imagine if she’s ‘de-throated’ someone before, a frail human would be no match for her.

“Probably from getting blood all over myself when I kill him.” She motions to the guard. “Open the door.”

His eyes widen in alarm and he hesitates.

“Are you really going to kill him?” I ask Sarina.

She nods. “Yup. He gave the order for my best friend to be tortured. I thought he died when all those witches were released from the Pendle asylum, but I guess he managed to escape.”

“Your Majesty, I can’t allow you to kill this prisoner,” the guard says respectfully.

She turns to him with a growl that has the hair standing up on my arms. “You are refusing to allow me to avenge my dear friend, Magdalene?”

He pales and takes a step back, which would be laughable given he’s much larger than his Queen, but the tension now filling the dungeon is not remotely amusing.

Thinking fast, I ask Sarina, “Do you think Magdalene would want this man to die?” I don’t know Magdalene, but I’m hoping she isn’t quite as bloodthirsty.

Sarina’s head tilts and her brows wrinkle. A moment later, she answers seriously, “It depends on her mood. She was really cranky after Rush was killed and she did murder several humans that day. But she has since calmed down and I suppose she probably wouldn’t want him to die.” She lets out a ferocious growl and hits the door with her fist. “Which is why I should do it for her.”

Desperately, I turn to the guard. “Why is he being kept here?”

“We need him alive,” he says quickly. “He has information about a network of anti-shifter humans and their magical allies.”

Gripping Sarina’s arm, I pull her away from the door hoping I don’t lose a hand. “You see? They need him alive. Maybe when they’re done with him, they’ll let you de-throat him.”

She brightens and stops resisting me. “You think so?”

“Does your husband often deny your requests?”

“Almost never,” she says seriously.

“Then you have nothing to worry about. Where to next?”

As we ascend to the main floor of the castle, she gives my question some thought. “I haven’t shown you the gardens yet. I had them installed so I can feel closer to nature when the castle starts getting to me. Let’s go collect the children and take them with us.”

I stop and turn towards her. “The children?”

Sarina smiles softly. “Twins. Their names are Ebony and Winter.”

After the children join us, we head towards the gardens, which are nothing less than spectacular. They sprawl over several acres of wooded land behind the castle. As we enter, the trees seem to close around us, welcoming us to the royal sanctuary. The city noise dies away and we’re enveloped by nature, exactly as Sarina described it.

“Come, there’s a small lake at the center,” she says, her wolf children running ahead of us, nipping at each other and tumbling in the brush as they play.

“You built an entire lake?” I ask incredulously.

A soft smile curves her lips. “Lock had it added because it reminds me of where I used to live.”

We wind our way through the trees, stopping when we emerge into a brightly lit glen next to a beach. The lake isn’t large but it’s private and the clear sparkling blue of the water is inviting.

So inviting, one of the pups takes off in a furry blur, cannon balling into the lake and splashing everyone. Not to be outdone, the other chases after and they continue their game of rough and tumble in the water.

“Your children are beautiful,” I tell Sarina.

She pulls her cloak from my shoulders and spreads it out on the sand. As we sit, she says, “I love them so much, but they are definitely a handful. I tried to do it all myself, but eventually had to hire a nanny. It was that or drown one of them.”

I laugh. “I’m glad you chose the nanny.”

We continue to talk while the children swim, switching from wolf to human, then human to wolf. Though I’ve seen Thorny, Keenan and Pinky shift, it never stops being an awesome experience.

“Vanessa, come swim!” Ebony demands after shifting to human form. She takes hold of my hand and pulls me up.

I smile gently at her, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring a bathing suit with me.”

“A what?” she asks, continuing to tug. She’s strong for a five-year-old and I nearly go tumbling into the water with her.

“Ebony, leave her alone,” Sarina says lazily from where she’s sunbathing on the cloak.

Winter, still in his wolf form, races out of the water and shakes in front of me, then gives me a big blue-eyed stare. I laugh. They truly are hard to resist, but I still have too many silly human sensibilities to strip down in front of two children and a woman I met only a few hours ago.

I’m about to reiterate gently but firmly my ‘no’ when Winter excitedly nips at my fingers, catching one of them with his sharp teeth.

“Ouch!” I yank my finger out of his mouth and hold it up for inspection.

Two puncture marks from where his incisors sank through my flesh begin to well with blood. I turn to ask Sarina if she can take me back to the castle so I can grab a Band-Aid, but her stricken expression stops me cold. “Are you alright?”

She stares at my bloody finger, her face paling, her expression crumpling into panic. I’m about to reassure her that I’ll be fine once I rinse and dress the wound, but she lets out an ear-piercing shriek.

“Help!” She leaps to her feet. “Someone help! Oh my god, there’s blood! We’ve killed her, we killed Keenan’s mate!”

She rushes away, screaming.

Glancing down at her bewildered children, one human and one wolf, I say, “I don’t think your mother has ever seen a human bleed before.”