Den of Sorrows (24 page)

The information they'd gleaned from the police wasn't nearly as helpful as they thought it would be. The kidnappings weren't localized in any one section of the city. The vamps were doing a very good job of spreading them out. Peri thought that, though the vampires were looking for dormants, the majority of their prey were probably simply human children. Like a shark who gains a taste for human flesh after enough attacks, the vampires had grown very addicted to the young blood.

“Okay, that was frustratingly fruitless,” Jen said as she rubbed her forehead. “We—” Jen suddenly stopped in midsentence and narrowed her eyes. She was looking at something behind Peri.

The fae turned to find Drake crossing the street some twenty yards away from them. The girls watched as he turned and strode purposefully away from them.

"Why isn't he frozen?" Jacque asked.

"And where is he going?" Sally asked the other question they were all thinking.

Something was wrong. "He must not have been in the building when my magic hit it," Peri said as she continued to watch the wolf. His gate was stiff and his shoulders tense. Drake's jaw was clenched and he seemed to be holding onto his control by a mere thread.

"New plan," Peri said, never taking her eyes off of Decebel's third. "Follow that wolf." Peri started after him and the others hurried to keep up.

"What about the others?" Sally asked.

"I'll release them once I know what's going on. I don't want Decebel interfering just yet. Not to mention, they are going to be pissed. I don’t really feel like being snarled at. Do you?"

All three girls were quick to agree.

"Is he alright?" Jacque asked, motioning toward the male they were following.

Peri's lips drew tight across her face. "Honestly, I don't think so."

D
rake could feel her. He knew something was off when they first arrived, but then out of nowhere, he'd felt her and she was terrified. He'd removed himself from the group with the excuse of having to use the restroom. Now he was walking down the streets of Phoenix trying his hardest to not look like a crazed werewolf.

He could feel his wolf attempting to force him to phase. He wanted to move faster; he needed to run, to get to her, to save her, to protect her, to claim her. That last thought nearly had him stopping in his tracks. For a moment the darkness cleared and he was able to think. It was his mate. He was feeling his true mate. How the hell had he missed that? He should have known the minute he felt her fear, but all he could think of was death. He wanted to kill whatever it was that was hurting her. He wanted flesh between his teeth and blood coating his fur. Drake wanted to howl in victory as he stood over his fallen foe, and then he wanted to lay claim to the one female who had been created for him. He wanted it with a strength that was nearly violent in its power.

Drake didn't want to examine that thought too carefully, not when he knew the darkness was so very close to consuming him that it actually might have already won. The sky was nearly pitch dark now and the city lights were glowing harshly. Something seemed to shift in the city, something sinister and malevolent weaving its way through the air. Drake felt it rubbing against him, welcoming him like a long lost friend.

His feet continued to move forward though he had no idea where he was going. He only knew that he needed to find her, needed to make her his. His steps quickened with his urgency and he felt fur begin to ripple over his arms. He wasn't even able to completely hold his human form anymore. He didn't stop to consider the consequences of that development. Just as he rounded a corner that would lead him between two tall buildings, Drake heard her scream not only in his mind but with his ears as well. At nearly the same moment, two forms sprang from an open manhole nearby.

They froze at the sight of him and then hissed like pissed off wet cats. “Vampires,” his wolf snarled to him.

Drake didn't even think. He moved faster than he ever had as he lunged for them. His claws raked across the stomach of one of the vamps and its intestines spilled from the huge wound. At the same time, Drake wrapped his other hand around the throat of the second vampire and gave a sharp jerk, snapping his neck.

He wasted no time ripping their hearts from their chests and dropping them next to their limp bodies. His breathing was harsh as the rage rolled through him. He started toward the manhole from which the vamps had emerged, but stopped when he heard a curse behind him. Drake turned, ready to fight again, but stopped when he saw the four figures standing before him.

“
T
hey’re up to something,” Decebel growled.

Fane scoffed. “What gave you that idea? Being suddenly unable to move, or was it your mate closing the bond up tight?”

Decebel's wolf hummed with anger. “Those three are worse than a plague. They should come with a damn warning label."

This brought a laugh from Vasile, who was sitting in the chair at the lone table in the hotel room.

“They are no different than any of our she-wolves. They’re strong. We wouldn’t want them any other way because, otherwise, they would not be able to handle our world.”

“That doesn’t mean that I’m fine with them having that irritating high fae bind us—
again
,” Fane pointed out.

"How long do you think Peri will leave us like this?" Cypher asked.

"Until they're in so much trouble that they finally realize they need our help," Decebel answered.

Cypher's eyes widened. "You're being serious, aren't you?"

"They will be fine," Alina attempted to reassure them. "They just need to feel helpful. Once they've done something that they feel will help, Peri will release you."

"Can't you do something?" Fane growled at Alston, who was just as unmoving as the rest of them.

"Had I known what she was doing before it had affected me, yes I could have. But I didn't and therefore the spell is just as effective on me as it is you."

Decebel closed his eyes and said a prayer to the Great Luna to keep his mate safe. His eyes popped open when he got a quick flash from their bond. "Drake has lost his mind." The words slipped into his mind and then the bond was slammed shut.

Chapter 15

"Rage like I've never felt was washing over me in great waves. Mixed with it was need, confusion, desire, and darkness. They aren’t my emotions and yet they are so intense it seems impossible for them not to be. Whoever they belonged to, they were coming, for me. She was sure of it, and with him, death would follow." ~Bethany

P
ain radiated down Bethany's thigh along with a trail of blood. Sincaro had been especially brutal in his feeding and had bitten her multiple times, all in areas where there were large veins. He'd only bitten her on her upper thigh a handful of times before. This was the femoral artery, he'd explained to her once. For whatever reason, there were times when he would tell her exactly what he was doing. She was pretty sure he did it to increase her fear—sometimes it worked. Sometimes it just made her angrier.

The barred door to her cell slammed shut. The vampire that had carried her back to her cell turned and walked away without a word, taking the light with him and leaving Bethany in complete darkness.

She was anxious. If her leg didn't hurt so badly, she'd have been up pacing. But as it was, she couldn't walk without causing herself significant pain. So instead, she closed her eyes and attempted to center herself. She needed to figure out what was happening to her.

She didn’t understand what was going, but something was definitely different. Sincaro had sunk his long teeth into her thigh and she’d screamed in agony. In that instant, she'd felt a new presence inside of her. It was as though someone else was in her mind. The presence felt distinctly male. She wasn't sure how she knew it, but she guessed it might have been because of the possessive nature of his thoughts. They had to be his thoughts because they definitely weren't hers.

"Mine,"
the deep voice growled. It was raw, animalistic, and something inside of her was agreeing with him. No, she tried to tell herself.
I am not his.
No matter how she tried to convince herself of that fact, however, there was another voice inside of her that disagreed. Somehow this new voice was both hers and yet not hers. And this voice said that she was definitely his.

Bethany leaned her head against the wall behind her. Her body ached from Sincaro’s rough treatment and her mind was a turbulent storm of thoughts and feelings that she couldn't separate. So instead, she just tried to shut it all down. Attempting to ignore the deep voice and the pain, she let exhaustion settle over her and begged for sleep to claim her.

P
eri couldn't believe what she was seeing. Drake had lost it. She had really believed that he'd be able to hold on, but the feral look in the eyes of the man/wolf looking back at her told her otherwise.

"What's wrong with him?" Sally asked quietly.

"He's feral," Jen answered before Peri could.

The male stared at them for a few minutes longer before turning back to the manhole and suddenly jumped down into it and disappeared from view.

"How did he find the entrance?" Jacque wondered out loud.

"Maybe it’s because he’s feral?" Jen offered. “The darkness inside of him was probably drawn to it.”

Peri waved them off. "Doesn't really matter at this point. We need to follow him."

"Um, why?" Jacque asked nervously.

"Because he's going to get himself killed," Peri snapped. "And feral or not, the vamps don't get to have him. If he's going to die because he's lost control, then I will be the one to put him down for lying to me. Dumb wolf."

Peri headed to the manhole and held out her hands. The girls grabbed them and she flashed them into the underground. She lit an orb to light the tunnels and saw Drake about a hundred feet ahead of them. "Keep holding onto me," she told them as she continued to flash after the wolf.

Peri was shocked at the vastness of the tunnels. Apparently these vamps had a thing for expansion because these tunnels went deep into the earth. Down and down the girls went as the tunnels funneled them deeper. She lost sight of him for a while and was considering turning back to wait for the others, who she'd released from the spell. But just as she was about to flash them back, they entered into a large chamber.

Peri dropped her arms as she looked around and realized that they were surrounded by cages. Drake was in his wolf form and, before she could call his name, he had slammed his head into one of the cage doors. It flew open and he lunged inside, stopping only inches from a small form sitting at the back of the cage.

Peri was just as shocked as the girls when Drake stepped even closer to the small human and pulled his lips back from his very long fangs. As gently as a wolf with big ass teeth could, he bit into the flesh where her neck and shoulder met. The girl screamed and jumped back pulling herself away from Drake. The possessive flea bag obviously didn't appreciate that because he was now snarling at the female he'd just claimed.

"Did he just do what I think he did?" Jen asked, her voice higher than Peri had ever heard.

"If you're thinking that he bit her in the way of his species when claiming a true mate, then yes, yes he did," Peri said as they continued to watch the wolf.

"What are we going to do?" Sally whispered.

"We're going to not panic," Peri offered.

Jacque scoffed. "Right, okay we'll get right on that whole not panicking thing after we get the feral wolf away from the terrified girl."

"Never thought I'd say this," Jen whispered next. "But did you release our mates and are they on their way?"

Peri nodded. "Yep. I'm sure they will be crashing in momentarily, which means those two need to be gone. If that really is his true mate and he's really feral, he will kill any male who even breathes the same air as her."

"Then let's get this whole rescuing thing under way," Jen said as she took a step toward the cage.

B
ethany stared into the silver eyes of the huge—strike that—ginormous wolf less than a foot away from her. His fur was grey with a white undercoat, and she only knew that because he was standing right next to her. His head didn’t look like the beasts from the maze, but he was every bit as big as them. His deep growl rose up, filling the space around her and causing a shiver to run down her spine.

“He won’t hurt you.” Bethany heard a feminine voice from somewhere beyond the wolf. She tried to look around him to see who was speaking but when she shifted, he shifted with her.

“Uh, he sort of already bit me so I’m not feeling reassured,” Bethany called out. “The snarling and sharp teeth say otherwise.”

“Fair assumption, but I promise the bite wasn't because he was trying to hurt you. He was just being friendly," the voice responded.

Another voice spoke up right after. "I imagine, being in her shoes would be quite frightening, even if she knew that he wouldn’t hurt her. The males can be quite intimidating once they go into Tarzan mode and can no longer speak in full sentences.”

Bethany noted that this voice, also female, was different from the first one that spoke. Exactly how many people were down there, and why weren’t they doing something about the wolf growling at her?

“True enough,” a new voice chimed in. “They
are
pretty scary when they start snarling and foaming at the mouth, not to mention how big they are. But like Jen said, he’d never hurt her. You know he wasn't biting to hurt her.”

“Hello?” Bethany called out. “There is a big, freaking wolf in my face, am I afraid or not?” she asked as the wolf took a small step toward her. His eyes began to glow and her breath caught.

All three voices spoke up at once.

“Not.”

“Afraid.”

“Well…”

Bethany nearly rolled her eyes but stopped herself. She was too afraid to look anywhere but at the beast in front of her.
Great
, she thought,
they can’t even agree on whether she should be scared of the big bad wolf.
Wait, who said
well
? What does
well
mean?”

“Oh, that would be me. I’m Sally.”

“Okay, Sally, what does
well
mean?”

“
Well
means…what are his eyes doing?”

“They’re glowing.”

“Ohhhh,” all three girls said at the same time.

Then a fourth voice chimed in. "Would you three quit with the commentary."

“No, no don't quit with the commentary. Tell me,” Bethany said as her voice rose an octave, “what does 'oh' mean?”

“Basically it means dude man has lost control of his wolf and fluffy is in the driver seat now,” the girl who had been deemed as Jen, according to the voice that wasn’t Sally, said.

Bethany didn’t have any idea what Jen meant. “What man? I don’t see a man.” She was beginning to feel a tad agitated. Why weren’t they helping her? Instead they were talking as though they came upon giant wolves threatening helpless girls all the time.

“Okay, before we dig ourselves any deeper into the rabbit hole, what’s your name?” Jen asked her.

“Bethany.”

“I’m Jen, my three amigos are Sally, Jacque, and Peri. We came to rescue you.”

“You’re doing a bang up job of it,” Bethany said before she could stop herself.

“Nice,” Jen laughed. “Able to be sarcastic in stressful situations. You’re going to fit in just fine,” she said sounding proud.

Bethany once again felt as though the girls were speaking a whole other language.

“So we came to rescue you, but Drake here flipped his lid and thinks you belong to him,” Jacque finished for Jen.

“Drake? Is he your pet?” she asked incredulously.

They laughed and, once Jen finally composed herself, said, “If he were my pet, I’d totally have him neutered.”

The large wolf’s head swung around to look at the girls and his growl got louder. Bethany was able to get her first look at the four girls when he moved his head. Three of them seemed like normal girls, probably about her age—maybe a year or two older. Her eyes widened when they fell on the one with a very large, very pregnant, belly. When they saw her staring at them, they all gave her a smile and wave as if she wasn’t sitting on the floor cowering within chomping distance of a pissed off wolf. The fourth one, well, she definitely didn't look normal. She was beautiful in an unearthly way. Though she looked very young, her eyes were ageless.

“Now, now, Drake,” Jen cooed. “You’re frightening her. It's bad enough that you bit her without her permission." The last part was bit out through gritted teeth.

Drake's snarl only got bigger as he stared them down.

"Oh hell, enough!" the unearthly beauty yelled.

She pointed at Bethany. "You be still." Then she pointed at Drake. "Unless you want a bunch of other males, not to mention vampires, all crawling around your mate, we need to leave—now. I can take you back to the Serbia mansion but you are going to have to be caged. You aren't safe and you know it. You lied to me, Drake. That is not cool. Not. Cool."

Bethany didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The woman was talking to the wolf as though he could understand her. She didn't think things could get any weirder. Until they did.

Suddenly there were huge bodies running into the room from the far right tunnel. They weren't vampires, at least not any that she'd ever seen. And judging by the looks on the girls’ faces, they knew the new additions.

The wolf in front of her tensed and slowly turned his body. He remained crouched over her, only now he was facing the large group on the outside of the cage. The sound of his growls increased and she felt that at any minute he was going to attack. The only one paying any attention was the beautiful woman with the ageless eyes.

The woman cursed under her breath and in the blink of an eye was standing in the cage next to the wolf and her. She reached down and grabbed Bethany's arm and placed the other hand on the wolf and then Bethany was swallowed by darkness.

P
eri was pretty sure she'd never been involved in a bigger cluster in all her long life. She'd just witnessed a feral wolf claim his true mate by biting her in his wolf form. Who the hell does that? She wanted to smack Drake upside his head with a concrete wall.