“Explain this!” Gideon growled at the Beta as he uploaded the video on the big
screen.
Maya watched it calmly, her face vacant of any emotions.
“What exactly should I explain?” she asked lazily, only fuelling his anger.
He rewound the video back to when she was fighting Roxanne and pointed at
Riannon standing not far from them.
“She was there! And you saw her!” he was playing those seconds again and
again, making her watch this. “You didn’t even move to help her. I want to know
why!
“I did not notice her!” Maya turned away and he just knew that she was lying
through her teeth.
“I am not buying this!” he growled. He could feel how his own Beta, Ried, was
trying to reach him via the mind link. He was worried sick about his mate, and it
was one of the reasons why he couldn’t kill her on the spot.
Yet she was too calm. A traitor who was just caught couldn’t possibly be this
serene!
“Maya,” he said through clenched teeth, “what do you know that I don’t? You
clearly saw each other. Ria didn’t even fight that damn fox when he caught her!”
She averted his gaze and he knew that he was on the right path.
“You have to tell me!” he growled and it suddenly became harder to breathe in
the room. He never used his royal lycan power. It was dangerous. And not only
for others, for him as well. Because unleashing that pressing darkness within him
could have consequences beyond repairing. There was a reason why only the
royal lycans had the second battle form now. Only they could shift into wolf-like
feral beasts who
could walk on their feet. Common lycians could die if they tried that.
The blood of royals was the purest and they were the only ones who had enough
strength to channel and control true beasts. Those beasts were giving them
power beyond imaginable, but that came with a price. The longer they stayed in
that form, the less they wanted to come back to being human. It was too
tempting, too
wolf, hence they were saving it for the worst battles. When they were becoming
true lycans, all emotions were gone. Only instincts stayed. And every time
Gideon had to use any part of his feral powers, he knew that once he reached a
certain point, he had to stop and go back to being human.
That form was making him stronger and any other shifter could sense his power
from afar. Right now he only let it out a bit but Maya already lowered her head
in submission. This was something out of her control now.
“What. Happened. There?” Gideon demanded in a firm menacing tone and she
gulped, trying to fight it. But it was useless.
“I can’t,” she whispered desperately.
“I am your king,” Gideon insisted, letting her know that he would make her if she
didn’t do it herself.
“You might be my king but she is my Alpha,” Maya’s voice was faint but she
faced him with a determination which he couldn’t not respect.
He didn’t even need more details. It was clear what had happened back in the
woods now. And he wanted to crush things, break them, destroy...
“Just tell me why she did it,” he used all his strength to get the beast to back
down, so that he could return to his senses and so that the girl in front of him
could stop suffocating. It was her first time experiencing something like this. Most
would probably have already fainted.
Maya took a deep breath as soon as the power stopped pressing down on her.
She hesitated... but looking at him panting as well, she gave up. There was no
point hiding anything anymore. She stalled him as much as she could. Just like
her friend
wanted.
“She said that he would not hurt her. She was certain of it.” The Beta sighed,
her voice bleak, as he snapped his head in her direction.
“He drugged her to make her pass out!” the king growled. “He could do anything
to her while she is helpless.”
“Riannon is blessed by the Moon Goddess.” The Beta said firmly. “She is never
“When?” Gideon stopped her with a gesture, because he did not want to hear
those explanations. He just needed facts. “When did she make the decision?”
“Right before all this,” Maya confessed. “She told me via the mind link and then
she rejected my every protest. She was sure that we would be able to win the
war only if we got enough intel. And the only way to get it was to get inside their
lair. Ria said that there were too many secrets and no way to find out whom we
can trust. She wanted to fix that problem. She was sure that Castiel would be
co.cky enough to try and get her. And she told me to make sure that it happens if
he tries.”
“And what about her?” Gideon pointed at the siren/fox behind the glass.
“It was my initiative,” Maya admitted, “I thought everything was over. I saw
Riannon and Castiel behind Roxanne. But when he attacked and covered her
face with that cloth, I knew that it was exactly what she wanted. This was why I
played with Roxy longer and waited for him to be gone. As a Beta, I cannot
disobey my Alpha.”
“You could have followed them!” He reproached her.
“I would be noticed,” the woman stated honestly and firmly. “She ordered not to
do it. And also...”
She went to her little cross-body bag and got out a little note. Riannon’s scent hit
his nostrils and he got instantly calmer. Maya handed him the little folded piece of
paper and he secretly took another breath just to feel closer to her.
“She left this for you,” the girl stepped away to give him space.
He unfolded the note carefully as if it was some kind of treasure. Trust me. I trust
you to find me.
He was really hoping to see more. But these words... these words were exactly
what he needed right now. She trusted him. She needed him to trust her. And
she needed him to find a way to get her back. All while she was risking her life to
help him win the war.
Gideon closed his eyes, pain rippling through his body, tearing him apart.
But she needed him.
His gaze met Maya’s and there was this silent understanding between the two of
them now. He knew that she would do anything to get her best friend and Alpha
back. All they needed was the location.
“So, what’s the plan?” the Beta girl asked, and he turned to look at the glass.
Behind it the tiny fox was weeping again, trying to fill the air around her with
pheromones.
“For a start, make sure only females guard her,” Gideon said coldly. “We need to
make sure that she loses any hope of ever getting out of here. And when she
does, we will break her. Part by part. Until she tells us what we want to know.”
Roxanne sat alone in that white room for goddess knew how long. She knew that
they had not forgotten about her. She knew that she was their only chance to get
the information they needed.
She knew a lot indeed. But weighing her options, she was not going to share
anything. She had two tasks now – to save her baby and to get back to Castiel.
Roxy hoped that he would send someone to save her. He also knew that she
was a valuable asset. So, she needed to hold on until then. She could still play
on Brayden’s fatherly feelings. It could still work if she tried hard enough...
She heard the sound of the lock and turned to see the doors opening. The ability
to cry was lost to her as she had already drained all the liquid out of herself. But
the pheromones were in the air, all she needed now was to add some good
acting to that.
But when she saw two women in black leather looking down at her, she couldn’t
believe her eyes.
Women. Not men. This was bad. The worst-case scenario, no less. Her
pheromones only worked on males!
“Seriously?” one of them chuckled, bringing in the tray with a paper plate and
some food on it, as well as a water bottle. “This ginger hobbit is the big bad
criminal they asked us to guard? Couldn’t they do it themselves?”
on her chest. “They say she is vicious and can easily get under your skin.”
“Eat,” the one with bushy curly hair ordered and pointed to the chair. Roxy
decided not to cause a scene and obeyed quietly.
“You are not wolves,” she stated calmly to test her theory.
“Neither are you,” the other one, with straight black hair reaching her shoulders
pointed out.
“Who are you?” Roxy asked, prying for information.
“Werecats,” the first one answered, “Now, eat. We are not staying here forever.
And nothing will be left for you in this room”
She started eating slowly, listening to their every word.
“I hope our Alpha arrives soon. I don’t want to hang here when the lycan king is
this furious.” The two women whispered to each other, not bothered with her
presence.
“Yeah, I mean, I get it. He lost his queen and now she is captive. Who knows
what the fox king is doing to her this very moment? He did not contact the Union,
he did not demand anything. It looks like he only wanted her and now he got
that.”
Roxanne slammed her fist on the table, not caring that she attracted their
attention.
“What’s up?” one of the girls asked her with an indifferent expression.
“I am not hungry anymore,” the fox replied.
Without saying anything else, they gathered everything that they had brought and
left her alone, locking her again.
Roxanne sat in the same place for a while, keeping her composure. But the
images of Castiel and Riannon were flooding her mind. She knew him the best
and she knew far too well when he wanted a woman. He always had a harem,
yes. But he had consent from every girl inside of it, herself included. They all
wanted to be there, craved it. And as far as she knew, it was the first time that he
had taken someone there against their will.
She had no doubt that he would take Riannon to his personal house and the
spend his first night with her? Did he like it?
The perfect Luna would be fighting it, there was no doubt about that as well. And
deep inside she was really scared that he would like her even more because of
that.
Roxy tried to get rid of these thoughts. There were millions of perfectly sane
explanations as to why he needed Riannon. She was the lycan king’s mate and it
would make so much sense to use her to weaken him.
She chose to believe in this one. It was easier and more comfortable this way.
She prohibited herself from going into the dangerous territory of imagining
Riannon in his bed, of thinking about what he would do to her and how he would
take her. She knew everything that he liked, so imagining this scenario was easy.
But it was so painful. Too painful for her to bear. Hell, now she would gladly agree
to Bridgit, her oldest rival, warming up Castiel’s bed while she was absent. At
least she knew that he wasn’t in love with her. She wasn’t so sure about
Riannon. Could Castiel even love? Just like that?
Her whole body was aching from sitting on the firm surfaces for hours and she
decided to lie down on the floor to try and stretch her sore muscles a bit.
Did it hurt Riannon that much when she was with her husband? To her, Brayden
was never the prize and she took their mating as a part of her job. It helped that
he was good looking and could bring pleasure to a woman when he wanted to.
But for Roxanne, he wasn’t Castiel. All that she wished now was that she had
never stepped her foot in this wretched place.
Hugging herself, she tried to rock herself to sleep.
***
Gideon wasn’t happy. Everything was going slowly. Too slowly for his liking. He
knew he couldn’t push the fake omega too early. And now, sadly, she was the
only one who could give him any information. He sent Brayden in again to make
it seem like this was their plan – interrogation after interrogation. Of course, the
Alpha was returning with no news. But this was something that they expected.
he invited were already there.
“Are you sure that they can all be trusted?” Alpha Ramina asked him as she
joined him earlier than others. She was the first one he called from the Union.
“No,” Gideon replied honestly, “I can never be sure. But these ones seem to be
the most reliable.”
They went to the conference hall and greeted each Alpha as they came in and
took their place. They would have to act as a united front from now on. After all, it
was their common war and their common enemy. The Summit helped them to
understand that.
“Looking gorgeous as always, Ramina,” Zack Morgan winked at the Alpha who
was sitting opposite of him at the table.
“I know,” the cat flicked her long sleek hair to the back, looking clearly
unimpressed with the compliment. “My Luna says it all the time.”
“She has good taste,” Zack smirked and the woman rolled her eyes.
“Are we waiting for someone?” Alpha Caleb asked impatiently.
“My sister will be joining us too,” Gideon took his seat at the head of the table.
Maya, Reid and Ash stayed behind him.
“What for?” Alpha Maddox knitted his brows. Not every pack even loved seeing
females at such gatherings.
“She is bringing my warriors from the kingdom. And she will stay because she
chose to take part in this fight,” the lycan king replied emotionlessly.
He could already hear the cars pulling down right next to the mansion. In just a
few seconds the doors opened, revealing Savannah dressed in black head to
toe, something that was unusual for her.
“I am sorry I am late,” she looked only at her brother when she felt it... This warm
feeling, the scent, the myriads of overwhelming sensations. She couldn’t take it
for anything else as she looked around the room full of alphas.
“Mate!” a loud growl echoed through the house as everyone gasped in
disbelief.