Force of Knight Magic (30 page)

“Leave here and find your brothers.
Send them to me as soon as you’re safe.
I can
…
”

“Don’t be fucking stupid.
I’m not leaving you.
I’m just getting my second wind.
Let’s kill this bitch.”
He could hear her lie for what it was and loved her all the more for it, but she had to get out before Jose returned.

“Holly, I’m ordering you to leave here now.”
As soon as the words left his mouth
,
he knew he’d made a mistake. She didn’t take orders any better than his friend CJ
. W
ors
e,
he would imagine.

Her snarl made them both look at her.
The sight of her standing there as a full grown wolf would forever be burned into his mind.
She looked like an avenging angel and one pissed off bitch.
He turned and shifted as soon as he saw Jose join in the fray.

He stepped to Anye and brushed against her.
He knew she was aware of what would happen
,
but by the time he was going for Jose, she was already screaming.
Phil lunged at Jose just as he saw a blur of fur going after the vampire.
Phil was never so grateful in his entire life to see Austin.

“You fucking prick.
Why couldn’t you have just left us alone?
All we wanted was to get some money and leave.
Now look what you’ve made us do.”

Phil grinned.
“Me?
No, the moment you touched what was mine
,
you sealed your fate.
I take my role as a mate very seriously.
You should have left when you
had the chance
.
Now, well
,
now you’re going to join the other prisoners in the cells below the castle keep.”

Jose pulled a sword from the air.
He waved it in front of Phil several times before he spoke again. “I’m not going anywhere with you.
You are going to let me walk away and when you do, I might let your bitch live.
But I’m not making any sort of promises.”

Phil wasn’t worried.
His armor would keep him safe and the sword that Jose had now was nothing more than a stainless steel blade and not a very good one at that.
He did worry about Holly
,
though.
She was still hurt and
—

He looked behind him just as another scream came from Anye.
It wasn’t Austin like he’d assumed
,
but Holly.
Christ
,
she was the most stubborn woman he’d ever—

The blade hit him in the chest.
The sparks sprayed over Jose and him
,
but did little to nothing to either man.
But the other man knew that he wasn’t going to penetrate his shield so easily.
He stepped back and seemingly pulled another blade from the air as the first one disappeared.

“Steel doesn’t work
,
but that’s fine.
I have a whole arsenal here that I can keep banging away at you with until I find a good one.”
This time
,
when the blade came at him, Phil leapt forward.
He grabbed Jose by the throat.

“I don’t have that kind of time.”
Another scream rent the air and Phil snapped Jose
’s
neck.
It wouldn’t kill him
,
but it would slow him down a bit.
Just as he turned to help Holly, Austin entered the small room.

“Take him.
But don’t let his blood touch you. It’s poison because of his position in the
T
rustees.”
Phil moved to Holly and Anye.
“Holly
,
love, you have to come away from her.”

She growled low in her throat and Phil hoped that as his mate
,
even in her pain
-
riddled body
,
she’d not be able to hurt him.
He dropped to his knees as he shifted to his regular street clothes.

Holly had Anye by the throat.
The vampire was still alive
,
but no
t
by much.
She was bleeding out quickly and Phil knew that if she died this way
,
they might never figure out why she’d done it.
Not that it matter
ed,
he supposed
,
but he would like to know why she’d betrayed her entire race.

“Holly Campbell, let her go.
Now.”
The compulsion in Austin’s voice was hard to miss.
Phil had the feeling that the alpha rarely used that tone and
,
if he did, he got results.
Holly whimpered once again and let the woman go.

“Thank you. Now
,
Anye
,
you are hereby ordered by the High Trustees of Vampires to be brought before them in trial.
You’ll be imprisoned until such time that—
”

“You can’t do this to me.
I’m not some nobody that you can take to prison like a common criminal.
I demand that you take me to be healed
,
then we’ll see about where I’ll go from there.”
She stood up
,
bit her wrist
,
and rubbed if over her neck.
Then when she had that taken care of, she straightened up her clothing.
No one spoke as she did this.

“You finished prim
p
ing?”
Holly laughed.
“Christ
,
you’d think you were on your way to a tea party and not your own death.”

Phil laughed too.
He couldn’t help it.
He was standing in a room covered in blood and gore with a vampire who lay behind him with a boot at his broken neck and one in front of him that was fixing her hair.
He had a naked…no
,
make that two naked wolves standing around him and one at the door laughing as well.

“I do not think there is anything funny about this.
You may take me to my office now.
I’m quite ready to explain what happened here today.”
Anye looked over at Holly and grinned.
“I always knew that you’d be trouble.
When I’m finished speaking
,
you’ll wish you’d never met me.”

Holly stood up and was handed a shirt by Dallas.
Then
a
man was handing his brother some clothes as well.
He’d have to remember to thank the wolf later.

“You think I don’t already wish I’d never met you?
Honey
,
you have no idea how true that statement is.”
The shirt covered most of her body
,
but to Phil
,
it was still too short.
“Phil
,
why don’t you deliver this bitch to her cell and I’ll meet you back at the house?”

He nodded to Dallas
,
who came forward and stood in front of Anye.
That was when Phil noticed that he had on a pair of thick gloves and a silver chain in his hands.
Phil laughed again.

“You wolves?
Are you always so prepared?”

Dallas laughed as he wrapped the chain around Anye’s waist and wrists.
No amount of her screaming had him remov
e
them. “Connor handed me this pack before I left the mall.
He said that I’d probably need it
,
but I had to refill it when I gave it back to him.” Dallas held the chain in his hand as he slapped Anye and shut her up.
“
I’m t
hinking he might not get this back until I get a good inventory of what he packed in the sucker.
Might have to make me a couple of these for myself.
Whatcha think?”

Phil laughed and pulled Holly to him.
“I think you might be on the right path with that.
I’m taking Holly to the clinic.
I will be back in a few minutes.
If these two give you any trouble—
”

Austin’s snort cut him off.
“They won’t.
Take her to the clinic. We’ll be here when you get back.”

Phil kissed Holly when she started to protest.
He leaned near her ear and licked the still open wound closed.
“I’m going to feed you and if I have time, fuck you.
But if you protest too long, I won’t have time for either.”

Her mouth closed with a snap.
When she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back
,
he took them to the clinic.
He’d completely forgotten about his family there with Myles.

He fed the human again.
One more and he’d be fully vampire.
The man wasn’t doing as well as he’d hoped
a
nd
he
thought about the odds of conversion.
One in every fifty survived if the human was too injured to recover.
He looked over at Holly as she was brought to him.

“He needs to live.
I won’t let that bitch take his life just because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He pulled his wrist away and sealed the wounds.
“I like the stupid human.”

“Me too.
I’ll stay with him.”
She took Myles
’
hand into hers and Phil felt the stirring of his own beast.
She must have felt it too.
“Oh for heavens sake, go to my brothers so they can come here to see the baby when it’s born.
Go.”

He didn’t like it
,
but he left.
When he had time
,
he was going to have to tell her the rules about mates.
He grinned as he walked down the stairs to where her brothers were.
She more than likely knew them as well as he did.

It took them only a few minutes to gather the idiots up. Jose had healed his neck
,
but he was no match for a pissed off wolf.
Austin had left a considerable print on his neck and Phil found himself being jealous.
He and Austin put the prisoners in the separate cells in the castle
,
stood outside the doors
,
and said nothing for several minutes.

“What happens now?
Do they have a trial?”
He nodded toward the cell where Theresa was yelling obscenities at them both.
“Will they all three be put out of our miseries?”

“Yes.
They will each have their time in court
,
but
…y
ou don’t have to worry about them getting out, Austin.
Even if they did somehow manage to escape death, I’ll make sure they don’t ever get out.”

Austin took his hand and pulled him close.
“See that you do.
I’d really hate to have to kick your ass over something like this.”
He stepped back.
“Besides, I think I’ll let CJ take care of you.
She’s a little hell cat when she’s upset.”

Phil laughed and was still laughing when another member of the
T
rustees came toward them.
Phil wasn’t as trusting as he had been and stood in front of the wolf and shifted.

“You’re to meet with the High Council, sire.
They await your…
s
ire?”

Phil didn’t move and he was glad for once
that
Austin didn’t growl.
“Who is it?
The one I’m suppose to meet.
Who is it?”
The man looked nervous and Phil nearly felt sorry for him.
“Is it someone strong enough to carry us?”

“Sire.
You’ve been asked…she’s not happy
,
sire. Not happy at all. She is tearing up the office as we…do you think it is possible that you hurry?
Your mother…she is scary
,
is she not?”

Phil took a few seconds to figure out what the scribe was saying.
“My mother? She’s on the—
g
ood Christ, no wonder you’re terrified.
Take me to her.
And if you want to stay on her good side…”

The man practically crawled up his arm in his attempt to beg Phil for anything to keep him on his mother’s good side.
“Please
,
sire.
Anything would be most helpful.
How does one stay on her good side?”