In Too Deep (30 page)

Now that she knew where half of her group was, she flew
passed them to catch up with the rest of her people. They carried Fallon, Brody, Slater and the mages into another room lined with black candles, with a strange table in the middle and piles of chains against the wall. Most of the cats stayed, so she went back to see what she could do for Tomahawk.

Her father taught her enough about fae toxins that she knew most of them would be asleep for at least a few hours. Werewolves have ridiculous
ly high metabolism and the more powerful they were, the faster they would burn off the effects. Some shaman were resistant to toxins, but she wasn’t sure if that went for fae ones. She bet Hayden would be the first one to wake. Earth fae naturally burned through all toxins quickly.

No one stayed to guard them, so she took her shape inside Tomahawk’s cell. She could feel the wards in the walls, and she knew she didn’t want to trip any alarms, so she had to be careful.

She cut away Tom’s shirt and tore the fabric into strips. Then she managed to pull the branch free. Thankfully, the shaft was straight and narrow, so she was able to pack the wound and tie the rest of the strips into a makeshift bandage. She couldn’t risk using her magic to heal Tom, so she left him and moved on to Hayden. Then she would do what she could for the wolves.

* * * *

The drip, drip, drip of water pounded in his head. Hayden was slumped to the side on a lumpy cot. He opened his eyes and found himself in what looked like a stone cell. The door had iron bars which wasn’t a problem for Hayden but would be for Dacia. He slowly sat up and looked around.

Tomahawk
lay on the other cot, pale and sweaty. His t-shirt was torn into strips and wound around his shoulder like a bandage.

Hayden tried to stand and didn’t get very far. Looking down, he saw his hands and feet shackled with enchanted irons. Iron wasn’t the issue, but the enchantments were. Knowing better, he tried to pull the chains apart, but they held.

He felt like he was being watched, but Tom was passed out on the next cot. The wolves were all asleep in the other cell. There was no one there, no one he could see. He tried to at least pull the chains from the wall, but he couldn’t do that either. He did feel the strain of a bandage against a slice in his ribs.

Someone had torn his shirt into strips to bandage him. If the Dales had treated them, they would have used real bandages. So someone was helping them who shouldn’t be there.

“Dacia? Are you here?” he whispered harshly. She was fighting, and then just disappeared during the battle. He thought she had switched sides. Was she helping? That was out of character.

He took another look at the wolves, and they were bandaged as well. What in the abyss was that woman trying to do? Get herself caught? He hoped she had some kind of plan, because he couldn’t see a way out of the mess from his end.

Fallon, where was Fallon?

Brody woke with a start and jerked against the chains. His skin burned everywhere the chains touched, but that all faded into the background when he saw Fallon across the room. He saw red. She was nude except for the thick leather collar around her throat, and the bands around her wrists, upper arms, thighs and ankles that held her legs open at the end of some kind of table.

She wasn’t awake, wasn’t hurt, but she was drugged. The stench of chemicals burned his nose from across the room. Brody turned his head to take in the surroundings. Robert and Preston were chained to his right. Slater was to his left. The mages looked as if they were mummified with chains instead of linen, and they were still out cold. Slater moaned and his head rolled to the side but he wasn’t awake yet.

They were still naked, which was the penalty of shifting.
No wonder the chains burned
. And the silver would keep him from changing forms. He couldn’t leave her there like that. Maybe the mages could do something. God, he hoped so.

Brody could sense the enforcers nearby but he couldn’t tell where. His senses were all jumbled, Normally he could sense exactly where they were within a mile or so.

The room was dark except for the candles. Fallon appeared to be unharmed, only stripped and bound. Maybe Malachi was waiting for a captive audience. Considering what he did in the past, that seemed likely. He needed to get her out of there and now. Except struggling only hurt him worse, and the chains were too thick to break.

“
Brody, don’t fight. Not yet,” Slater rumbled, still groggy from the drugs. “There were pixies in the woods. Couldn’t sense them, couldn’t smell them.”

“
The darts?” Brody asked, glancing back at Slater, who was still bleeding from the claw marks lining his ribs and arms. Once they lost the chains those would heal in a matter of minutes.

“
Yeah,” Robert croaked. “There were pixies in the woods. It was an ambush. They waited until we were in the middle of battle to shoot those darts.” He nodded to Fallon but didn’t look. “Is she all right?”

“
So far, but I swear to God, I am going to kill whoever tries to touch her,” Brody growled.

Preston groaned and looked his way.
“Bastard strangled her before the fucking pixie shot her with the dart. Isaac didn’t try anything yet, at least not that I saw, but I was hit with a dart before I could get to her. Preston shook his head. “We need to come up with a plan. She has that drug in her system and won’t burn it out of her bloodstream for hours.”

“
What?” Brody renewed his struggle to get free. “Then why are you awake and she’s not?”

“
Robert and I have built a resistance to the toxin. Remember, we’re Council Enforcers and the pixie darts aren’t a new tactic.”

Slater snapped at him.
“Chill out, Brody. We need to figure this out. We’re not going to let them hurt her if we can stop them.”

“
Fuck,” Brody growled. He was so pissed he couldn’t think straight.

“
We have worse problems,” Preston said quietly. “That tramp Dacia disappeared after protecting you. Just fucking disappeared.”

“
She didn’t show back up?” Slater growled.

“
Afraid not. At least not that I saw. I can’t sense shit with these chains. These chains are fae crafted and enchanted. I can’t even sense others and I can’t break the spells.”

“
I’m not giving up,” Robert muttered as he struggled himself. At least Brody wasn’t the only one.

“
May as well stop struggling.” Malachi’s voice was cold as ice as he strolled into the room. Brody didn’t look into his eyes but looked in his direction, figuring he shouldn’t tempt fate. The vampire was grotesquely tall and emaciated. His bald head was shiny, his eyes dark, and his blood red mouth was a thin line. “I doubt anyone in this room has the ability to break those chains.”

“
Let her go,” Brody snarled. “Let her fucking go.”

“
Oh, no. Now you don’t understand.” The vampire’s smile was evil. “I want her to ward the fighters so they don’t die as easily. Finding new combatants to replace the dead is so exhausting. She won’t ward them, won’t do a damn thing for me. Now that I have you, I might be able to convince her do as I wish. I can harm you every time she tries to refuse. Maybe let Isaac play with her until she’s willing to cooperate.”

“
Why should she do a damned thing for you?” Brody demanded.

“
She finally winds up binding, and to a werewolf.” The vampire laughed coldly. “Maybe I should have started with wolves, but solitary cats are so much easier than werewolves and their pack bullshit.”

Slater calmly answered.
“Cat’s don’t form bonds.”

“
Oh, cats form bonds. Just ask Isaac. Fallon’s just too stubborn to form a real bond. If anyone can find a way out of one, that woman will.” Malachi looked toward the door. “Oh look, just the cat I was waiting for.”

The weretiger stalked in. He was big and his dark hair fell past his shoulders. His eyes were an unusual shade of gray-green. Black leather pants stretched over his muscular thighs. A long raw scar started just under his ribs and slashed into his pants
. There was a newer, freshly stitched wound across his chest.

Isaac had tattoos that were obviously Fallon’s work. He wasn’t enthralled. He was doing this of his own free choice. Brody wanted
to gut and strangle him with his own intestines.

“
She’s mine.” Isaac grinned, raising a challenging brow at him.

Brody growled and strained to get free.
“No, she’s not.”

The tiger prowled toward Fallon, his eyes falling on her body. He purred as he laid his hands on her open thighs. Fallon didn’t even stir as the piece of shit squeezed hard enough to bruise her skin.

“Don’t fucking touch her,” he snarled.

“
Oh, I’ll do plenty of touching. I know just what she likes and how far I can push her before she gets pissed off. But with these….” He ran his fingers over the leather restraints and met Brody’s gaze. “Now she can’t stop me.”

Brody howled. He felt blood drip down his skin as the silver cut into chest and arms.

Slater growled. “Brody, listen to me. Calm the fuck down, right now. You’re not going to help her by tearing yourself to pieces. Look at me.”

Compelled, Brody turned his head. His breath shot out in heavy pants, but his body froze as he glared at the alpha.
“What?”

“
Think this through,” Slater said, like Brody could think clearly about anything.

He heard a slap, and his head flew around to find a red handprint on Fallon’s thigh. Isaac ran his hands up and down her bare body. Then he stopped to pull her nipple rings hard.

“She’s out cold,” Robert said mildly. “She’s too far under to feel anything. Trust me. If she were awake, he’d already be in a world of hurt.”

Except she wasn’t awake, and she couldn’t fight, and he couldn’t do a damned thing to stop Isaac. He forced himself to calm down and try to figure something, anything out because he couldn’t watch the bastard molest her when she was helpless.

“She was always so responsive.” Isaac glared at Malachi. “I need her to be responsive.”

“
I’m afraid you’ll have to make do. I have no antidote for the pixies toxin.” Malachi rolled his eyes and looked toward Brody.

Robert was right, Fallon was out cold. Brody knew she would fight if she
were awake. Then Isaac covered her sex with his hand. The only thing Brody could think of was ripping that weretiger’s head off and shoving it up the vampire’s ass.

“
Brody,” Slater whispered urgently. “She commanded you to calm down the other day. That goes both ways, command her to wake up.”

“
What?” Robert whispered.

“
I want her wet,” Isaac whined at the vampire as he rubbed his palm against her.

Brody hoped like hell Slater was right, and that such a command would break whatever hold the drug had.
“Fallon,” He screamed and her head turned toward him, but her eyes were closed until he yelled. “Wake up.”

* * * *

Brody’s voice brought her out of the haze. “Fallon.”

She tried to turn toward him.

“Wake up,” he screamed. She did, through an ocean of fog. He was chained to the wall, blood streaked down his naked body. He looked wicked pissed and she couldn’t move. “Fight,” Brody panted. “Fight him.”

Feeling started to come back to her. Something moved roughly against her, and she tried to move away but couldn’t. She looked down her body to find Isaac trying to work her with his hand. She was chained down and collared with thick leather.

“Stop, Isaac,” she yelled, but it came out more of a whimper because she was cutting off half her oxygen by pulling at the restraints.

His smile chilled her to the bone.
“You always liked rough sex. Now I can go as hard as I want.” Isaac pulled his hand away to open his pants.

She was going to kill him. No matter what else she did, Isaac was going to die.

Brody breathed hard but didn’t say a word. She couldn’t imagine what was going through his head.

“
Fallon, you can’t win,” Malachi laughed maniacally. “You know you’re outmatched.”

“
Fuck that.” She felt Isaac nudging at her entrance, his beast’s energy washed over her. He was going to change.
Oh hell no.

Her anger exploded into pure energy that pulsed into Isaac
that sent him flying into the wall a good twenty feet away from her. “You won’t touch me again, Isaac. I will fucking kill you.”

“
I’ll touch you all I want. And you’ll learn to love being my toy. I’ll break you Fallon, I swear,” he hissed back but he wasn’t moving. Blood trickled down his mouth and he coughed before his body slumped to the side. She hoped he was dead.

Someone caught her throat in his hand. She looked up into Malachi’s pitch black eyes
. He hissed, “You shouldn’t have been able to do that.” He bared his fangs as he twisted her head to the side.

* * * *

Brody watched in horror as Malachi grabbed Fallon by the throat and bent to bite her. Everything happened in a single second.

First the adder tattooed around her left ankle began to move, slithering up her leg in a blur. Then there was a flash of brilliant light, and Brody
had to look away. When he looked back the vampire was on the floor, clutching his smoking face.

Fallon was gone. There was just an adder in her place. The snake slithered off the table and streaked across the room behind a trunk.
Did she shift?

He’d heard of mated werewolves calming, and even sometimes commanding the other to do the impossible. But that was only supposed to work between two werewolves. Or so he thought, but she did everything he told her, and he could still smell the chemical on her. At least Slater was right.

A terrible screech filled the room. Brody looked up to find the vampire rolling around on the floor like he was trying to put a fire out.

He didn’t see Fallon and he needed to know she was okay.

Seconds ticked by, almost a full minute until Fallon appeared next to the trunk, crouched low, and ready to fight with both her six inch blades in her hands. Her hair was a tangled mess, her muscles were flexed and ready, and her eyes glittered with fire.

Everything went silent, and Brody looked up just in time to see Malachi streaking toward him. Then there was a flash of blade from Fallon’s direction. Her dagger cut right into Malachi’s chest with a crunch as the dagger passed through ribs. A blood curdling scream threatened to shatter his eardrums as Malachi landed in a writhing heap in front of Brody.

Malachi was only down a second before he sprang to his feet. Fallon leapt at him, and tackled him to the ground as she slammed the second blade right through his eye.

“
You won’t touch my mate. You won’t touch me. You won’t touch anyone ever again.” Her voice was so cold, so deadly.

Every instinct Brody
possessed screamed at him to get free, but the silver chains prevented that.

The vampire wasn’t giving up though. He rolled Fallon over, straddling her. Brody saw the flash of his elongated fangs angling for her throat. Fallon yanked the blade out of his chest and slashed his throat. Malachi caught her arm and pinned her wrist down.

The vampire threw his head back and roared. Smoke wisped out of his eye socket. He reached up to pull the blade out, but Fallon got there first. She slammed it right into Malachi’s heart and started chanting. Robert and Preston both joined in.

Malachi
was still sitting on Fallon’s chest as he went up in flames.
Oh God, the flames.