Taking Nicole (Vegas Mates Series)(#4) (12 page)

“You royal, preening princess. The only thing you’ve suffered through is a life of luxury and people doing everything for you.”

More angry words hung on Nicole’s lips, but they wouldn’t help her. Tempe didn’t want to fight. She had accepted the status quo and wouldn’t rock the boat. That made her more dangerous to Aaron right now than anyone else.

“Karl,” she whispered.

Tempe quieted and Karl turned his head to meet Nicole’s gaze. His blue eyes glowed gold. He would fight. He wanted out.

“Call Aaron.” She inclined her head toward Tempe.
 

He nodded and turned away. At least Aaron could take advantage of most of the staff being gone from the palace and try to escape. If he stayed, Tempe would reveal their relationship—if you could call it that. A few stolen moments and kisses hardly constituted a relationship. But, if that’s all she ever had with him, it would have to be enough.

“Call Aaron? Call him for what?” Tempe asked. Then her eyes narrowed. She pulled her phone from her purse.

Nicole snarled, lunging forward she grabbed the cell phone and crushed it in her hand. “Betraying the one I love is a mistake.”

Tempe growled and grabbed Nicole’s arm. Nicole twisted, wrenching Tempe to the side and forcing her face down on the floor of the limo. Tempe’s body flailed beneath her, but steady pressure against the traitor’s windpipe stilled her quickly.

Nicole glanced up, catching the eye of the driver in the rearview mirror. He winked.
Thank the gods.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t interfere tonight,” the big driver’s voice rumbled. “Karl needs to be with you on the inside if you have even a prayer of getting out of this alive.”

“Getting out alive isn’t an option for me. I’ve made peace with that. I just want all of you to have time to get as far from here as possible. You shouldn’t have to pay for my choices.”

A rumbling growl from Karl shook the limo. “I’ll fight for you. The old laws say I can participate. They won’t be able to deny me. Not in front of the whole lower Council.”

“I don’t want your blood on my hands, too!” Nicole shook her head and wiped her sweat-drenched hands on her lap.
What the hell is going on with my body?
Her magick licked at her skin, the same way it did when she transformed. But she wasn’t calling out her wolf and her wolf wasn’t pushing forward either.
 

“Something is wrong,”
her wolf whimpered.
“The magick feels wrong.”

The vehicle pulled to a stop and Nicole pushed open the door and fell onto the gravel driveway. The rocks bit into her palms and knees. She hissed out a breath, trying not to cry out. More sweat dripped from her body as she tried to fight the urge to shift.

What the hell?

Karl was at her side in an instant. “Nicole?”

“Something is trying to force me to shift.” She peered up into his face and saw fear reflecting back in his icy blue eyes. “What? Tell me what it is.”

“It’s a witch. It’s the spell they use to trap our people in their animal form.” He shook his head and helped her to her feet. “I’ve never seen anyone resist it before. But the sweating makes sense now. It … just never gets this far.”

“Bitch!” Nicole screamed, clinging to Karl’s arm. Her grandmother knew she would fight.

Another scalding wave of magick flowed over her body, pulling her wolf to the surface. She growled and pushed back with everything she had.

“Get me inside. Maybe they’ll stop if I can get inside.”

Karl slipped one of his arms beneath her legs and scooped her up. His chest felt cool beneath his thin cotton shirt.
Strange.
Shifters were always warm.

“It’s because we are running so hot right now. I’m not sure I can hold back much longer.”

Try.

They approached the grand entrance and two men at each side opened the doors for them. Karl moved quickly through the crowd, shoving shifters to the left and right like mere paper dolls. Growls and snarls followed in his wake, but he never slowed. It was good to have a mountain-sized wolf on your side when storming a villa full of royal werewolves bent on watching a bloodbath.

“Karl,” Carlotta’s raspy voice cut through the throng and the hallway din fell into a hush. “Put her down.”

Nicole looked up, meeting his somber gaze and nodded. He let her feet slip slowly until they met the ground and steadied her as she took a few steps toward Carlotta. Her grandparents’ faces wore looks of surprise.
Good.

“Did you think he’d be leading me in on a leash by now?”
 

She spied a small woman dressed in flowing red robes standing just behind Carlotta. By scent, she knew the robed female was human. Her moving lips gave her away as a witch. The chant she was repeating was Greek, if she had to guess.

Carlotta’s frown straightened and her eyes narrowed. “How?”

“Her blood is stronger than most, love.” Reginald Antipas stepped forward.
 

Nicole shifted her gaze to him and shuddered. She blinked, her eyes smarting from the salty beads of sweat running down her face.

He snapped his fingers and a young man appeared at his side. “Fetch two more witches from their quarters and bring them here. I look forward to seeing just how strong my little granddaughter is.”

Shit.
“Why are you trying to make me shift?”

“To keep you from doing anything stupid,” he answered. “Now, follow your grandmother. You can sit with us until you succumb to the spell.”

“I won’t stop fighting it.”

He winked at her. “I would expect nothing less.”

Evil bastard.

“I wish to fight for the right to claim her, Master.” Karl knelt before them and bowed his head.

“No.” She turned to approach him but the back of her grandfather’s hand sent her sprawling to the floor. It was too much. The heat from the magick was cooking her from the inside out and black spots grew in her vision from the heavy hit dealt to her cheek.

“Stay awake. I can’t hold back unless you are fighting this, too.”

I’m trying.
Nicole blinked a few times and struggled back to her feet, shaking her head, trying to make the spots disappear. Karl hadn’t moved. He still knelt before Reginald.

The crowd around them was still silent. All waited for Reginald to answer. Karl had timed his request perfectly. The old laws allowed any unattached male wolf to fight in a claiming. These unannounced requests were usually dealt with swiftly and swept under the rug. But Karl stated his request in front of half the lower Council.

A low growl rumbled from her grandfather’s chest. “By our laws, I have to grant your request. But, I warn you. This choice you are making will not end well for you or the brother of yours I have in a cage.”

“Only if I lose,” Karl answered and stood.

A few chuckles echoed from around the hall.

“You will fight first, Karl Vogt, and you will die. Then I’ll kill your brother, too.”

“Dying for the sake of Nicole will be my honor. My brother would see it as a worthy sacrifice as well.” Karl’s gaze swept up to hers.
 

Tears mixed with the droplets of sweat running down her cheeks.
Stupid.
She mouthed at him.

He shook his head and struck his chest with his fist.

The fights would all be to the death. Perhaps he would survive the first, maybe even the second. But no man or supernatural could fight through four rested men one right after the other. Being thrown in the ring first was almost the same as signing an order of execution. The other suitors knew this too, but their fight order was randomly determined by drawing a straw. They would not be pleased when they found out another round had been added to the ceremony.

“Please,” Reginald’s voice boomed through the large hall. “Let us move into the arena and let the ceremony begin.”

A cheer went up and doors opened every thirty feet or so to their left. She followed Carlotta through the closest open door. The arena was lit with hundreds of torches and was void of any artificial lighting. Shadows danced along the stone, creating a frightening illusion of darkness dancing on the walls of the arena. Devils had come to claim the dead.

Nicole took a deep breath and sank into the chair next to Carlotta. The old stone benches had long been replaced by gilded and beautifully carved, high-backed chairs. The chair she sat in had an intricately carved ‘A’ at the top. As did both the chairs her grandparents sat in and several empty ones around them. About ten steps above and behind them, one single chair sat alone and empty. It was meant for the Original Antipas werewolf.

Small groups of chairs encircled the arena, each group marked by the letter of the family that sat there. On a higher level behind each group, sat a single chair where the Original of each family would have sat … if they cared at all to attend. From what she’d been told, the Originals hadn’t been seen or heard from in centuries. A
lot
of centuries.

She wiped her brow and sucked in another breath. Another wave of magick hit her like a ton of bricks and she clenched her fists, grimacing as it burned along her skin. She could hear the witch chanting just behind her chair. Two other female voices had joined in the casting.
 

“You could just give up, darling.” Pleasure dripped from Carlotta’s voice.
 

“Never.”

Her grandmother smiled and idly tapped the armrest of her chair.
 

The drumming of that one fingernail against the wood echoed as loudly as a drum in her ear. Nicole shook her head, trying desperately to regain control of her overwhelmed senses.
 

Silence fell over the arena as a man dressed in a loose, white linen shirt and pants strode into the center of the sand-filled circle. He proceeded to prattle on about the greatness of the werewolf through the centuries and how the royal families worked diligently to keep the magick strong in the original lines. Then he launched into more bullshit about how epic this ceremony was and that it marked the end of a great family.

The nerve!
Nicole stood from her chair. “My father has a brother and a sister, and the Demakis line is far from ended. It’s this belligerent, self-absorbed pack of wolves that has decided to just eliminate them from the Council. I wonder what the Demakis Original would have to say about that.”

She sucked in a breath. Silence filled the arena. She could see and feel eyes boring into her. She sank back into her chair.

One of her grandmother’s hands flew at her and connected with the uninjured side of her face. Pain shot through her temple and she lifted her arm to block another swing, but one seemed to be all Carlotta was handing out at the moment.
Now I’ll have matching shiners, one from each grandparent.
 

“Keep quiet and sit up straight. Everyone wants a good look at the sacrifice we are offering up tonight.”

“Back off, Grandma.” She faced Carlotta straight on, fully expecting another swipe at her face, but her grandmother’s stoicism surprised her. Carlotta sat quietly in her chair and gestured toward the sunken arena.

“Your champion prepares to die.”

Karl.
Nicole turned and tried to slow her anxious breathing. He was there. All seven feet of him, shirtless and muscle-bound.
Damn, he’s a big guy. He’d give Scott a run for his money.

“Really? While we are fighting the chanting sisters behind us, you are ogling the werewolf in the ring?”

I can appreciate the male physique any time I damn please. Though the only body I’d really like to see naked is Aaron’s.

“I’m on board with that. Right after we escape from this stone-age amphitheater.”

I’d say we are holding off the spell quite well, wouldn’t you?

“Sure, if you think you can keep it up once you’re completely dehydrated and unconscious.”

Nicole wiped her brow and shook the beads of sweat from her hand. Her wolf was right. She wasn’t going to last much longer, losing water as fast as she was. Magick or not, she would pass out from dehydration soon.

A growl rumbled through the arena and one of the royal suitors joined Karl in the sandy pit. It was Renaldo.
Damn.
He didn’t stand a chance.

They circled each other for several minutes before Renaldo made the first move and charged straight at Karl. At the last second he dove to the right and tried to knock Karl’s leg out from under him. Karl moved with more grace than she could’ve imagined he possessed. A quick sidestep and he easily evaded Renaldo’s attack. Again and again they circled and lunged. Finally, Spartan-style swords were tossed down to them to speed up the demise of at least one of the men.

Renaldo was starting to drag. His dark hair was plastered to the back of his neck and sweat poured down his forehead.

Karl, on the other hand, looked like he’d just stretched and was ready for a morning run. He dwarfed the Mediterranean royal and completely outmatched him.

Their swords clashed twice before the sickening sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones brought a cheer from the crowd. Karl yanked his sword out of Renaldo’s chest and stepped back, allowing the younger man to drop first to his knees and then facedown in the sand. Blood pooled on the sand’s surface for a few minutes before it started to soak into the ground.

Bile rose in Nicole’s throat. Another life lost because of her.

Karl backed away from Renaldo and two men ran into the arena to drag away the body. Without missing a beat, another suitor walked out on the sand.
 

No break. No rest.

Masterson grabbed up the short sword Renaldo had dropped and slowly approached Karl. She met the British man’s gaze for a moment and he grinned.
 

Cocky bastard. Karl’s not even winded.

Nicole closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The magick was pulling so hard. She could feel her wolf struggling to fight the call as well.