Infinity Unleashed (14 page)

She threw out her hand with swirling flourish, sending a bolt of gold energy that whirled and danced before slamming into his body, sending him flying through the air.

“And you broke that deal the minute you attempted to kill her by tipping off the rogue vampires to her whereabouts in the garage.” She smiled coldly as he bounced against the wall with a resounding crunch. “I can do this all day, wolf king,” she spat. “You want it. Let’s rumble, you coward.”

Maxim scrambled to his feet, wiping the blood dripping from his lips. “Lies. You have no proof of any such thing.”

“Yes. I do. Don’t make me play that card too, Maxim.” She looked at him coldly.

Sanchez looked at him icily. “This is a new low even for you, Maxim. You hide her existence at the same time plotting to kill her.” He looked at Kara. “Go on.”

“I don’t have to tell the Council exactly how powerful she is. To leave her in the hands of the tiger-shifters endangers everyone’s existence.”

Drago looked at her sharply. “Is she more powerful than the Valkyries?”

“Yes!” she responded quickly.

Maxim dusted off his clothes pompously. “I still don’t see how this benefits us. To go to war over that creature is suicide and pointless.”

The whole room turned to look at him coldly.

“Creature?” Boulder charged at him, only to be caught by Torch. “Don’t you dare call her a creature. She’s my mate, and I’ll fucking kill you if you even breathe on her, Maxim.”

Sanchez’s eyes turned starkly white. “As much I despise myself for saying this, Maxim is right. The tigers have lived with us peacefully for centuries and they are close to uniting under one king. Why should we break the pact over—” He looked at Boulder carefully. “Infinity.”

Kara looked over at Boulder. He nodded at her, knowing she had no choice but to reveal her last card. She looked back at the Council. “Because there’s more.”

“Don’t you fucking say it, Kara.” Maxim sputtered. “I’m warning you.”

She arched a brow. “Warning me? The mangy wolf is warning me?” She looked around the room incredulously. “I’ll have you know I went to him before this shit hit the fan, but he wouldn’t listen.” She looked up in the air, then levelled them with a hard stare. “Mark my words. If we don’t get her back, we are handing over a powerful weapon strong enough to finish what Mist could not. The final battle and the annihilation of all Others.”

“So there we have it. We retrieve her and kill her,” Maxim said coolly as if he were discussing the weather.

Torch snarled. “I swear I’ve enough of your shit. She’s Boulder’s true-mate. You fuck with her and I won’t be responsible for what happens to you.”



Maxim puffed out his chest. “You challenging me, boy?”

Torch stepped forward. “Any day, old man.”

“Again, Maxim’s right. Why shouldn’t we just kill her?” Sanchez asked.

“The same fucking reason Maxim and Ivan shouldn’t have killed Mist, the Immortals’ favorite daughter. You’ll only piss off my parents… again,” Kara replied.

Drago stepped forward, assessing her with too much interest. “Favorite? Hardly, they allowed her to die.”

She looked at him blankly. “Drago, you of all people know death is not the end.”

“This is all bullshit,” Maxim shouted. “She’ll say anything to get her way. Have you people forgotten who she is? She’s the Immortals’ guard dog. Before the Fire and Ash, she was the one handing out punishment to your people when they stepped out of line. She can’t be trusted.”

“And neither can you,” Cortez stated loudly. “You do remember that deceiving the Council is punishable by death?”

Maxim looked at Cortez nervously. “I didn’t disclose that information for valid reasons that I’d rather not go into around non-Council members.” He looked at Kara, Boulder, and Torch pointedly. “As I see it, the solution to this situation is very clear. She’s a weapon created to kill us. I vote we destroy her and be done with it. We’ll deal with the Immortals’ wrath
if
and when it comes.”

Boulder snarled. “No! I’ll go to war with every one of you in this damn room before I let that happen.”

Kara jammed her hands on her hips. “When are you people going to get it? You can’t just kill a Valkyrie and expect the problem to go away. That moron”—she jabbed a finger at Maxim—“killed their daughter, Mist, and helped create a Valkyrie who has the ability to wipe us all out. Why are you even listening to anything he says? Have you wondered whose side he’s really on?”

“And what of the Immortals’ Prophecy?” Sanchez asked with narrowed eyes.

Drago laughed. “That is nothing but a ridiculous urban legend. A fucking bedtime story.”

Sanchez scoffed. “Hardly. The Immortals care about no one but themselves, yet Infinity has managed to survive undetected by Others for these years. She’s very important to them and I want to know why,” he said with a grim expression.

Kara looked at Sanchez silently.

He shook his head with dismay. “Your silence is deafening.”

Drago snarled. “Well, then I vote to kill her. I’d rather kill her now than wait to see what the Immortals want to use her for.”

Kara looked at each of them coldly. “You kill her, they’ll kill us. She lives and it is up to her whether we all live or die. She may have compassion, but I fucking guarantee you the High Council will not. Make your choice.”

They all grumbled with displeasure.

Boulder stepped forward. “Vote yes to nullifying the pact with the tigers, and then we form a recovery team comprised of each of your best warriors. This will show the tigers our solidarity.” He could tell that they were not happy with the current situation. It was truly a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” scenario, but logic had to prevail.

They all nodded and in unison said, “The pact is nullified.”

Maxim gritted his teeth, looking at Kara with displeasure. “Fine. Whatever. The pact is nullified.”

Sanchez stepped forward. “Understand that we will not actively take part in the attack, but I agree that we need to show some solidarity. I give two of my best warriors.”

“Not like I have a choice…” Maxim nodded over at Torch and Boulder. “They will act on the behalf of the New York Covenant.”

Kara stepped forward. “Of course, I represent the Valkyries.”

Drago bowed. “Two of my dragon warriors will join.”

Cortez looked at them coolly. “I’ll send my best warrior and my newly appointed second.”

Kara levelled him with a cold stare. “What second? You didn’t mention you chose a second.”

His eyes locked with hers. “I had nothing to do with this. Stephan is making organizational adjustments.”

Boulder didn’t like surprises, especially not when it came to something as monumental as this. Stephan, the king of all vampires, hadn’t appointed a new lieutenant in centuries. He was too paranoid and neurotic to give someone that much power. Whoever this newly appointed second was would change the power structure within the Collective, sending ripples of anarchy that would have a far-reaching impact on all Others.

Kara pursed her lips. “You and I will talk about this later, vampire king.”

The ruckus outside the meeting room caused everyone in the room to stare at the entrance.

“Excellent. Right on time.” Cortez sneered.

Alik sauntered into the room, and immediately, the air chilled. “Just in time, I gather.” He looked around with a smirk.

Boulder’s canines dropped. “Hell no! You can’t be fucking serious?”

Cortez locked eyes with Boulder. “Deadly serious. Alik will act on my behalf, therefore joining the rescue team.”

Boulder pointed at Alik. “He can’t be trusted.”

Cortez gave him a look of disdain. “No one in this damn room can be trusted, yet the unity of nine warriors has been forged. Be happy with our concession, wolf, and hope to hell that one of us doesn’t change our minds and opt to kill her.”

Boulder looked at them menacingly because that was exactly what he feared.

CHAPTER 11

Colorado… Saturday

It was terrifying. Blood was everywhere. Vampires ripping into humans. Wolves mauling humans. Mom and fierce female warriors fighting side by side. Boulder running toward me, transforming mid-run into a big, ferocious red wolf. Me with jet-black raven wings extended from my back with a deranged, bloodthirsty look in my eyes as I exchanged deadly blows with Torch. He was determined to kill me. I knew that when he pulled out a gun, aiming at me with cold eyes. I howled with outrage.

Howled?

He squeezed the trigger. The bullet pierced my chest. There was something unnatural in the bullet. I smelled it, tasted the bitterness as it raced through my bloodstream, burning me from the inside out. Boulder’s teeth sank into Torch’s neck, ripping into it savagely. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I looked up at the sky, smiling at the wave of angry ravens that blackened the sky like dark clouds.

Gasping for air, I sprang upright in my bed, looking around in confusion until I remembered I was still at Degrassi Creek. My limbs were tangled in the sweat-soaked sheets. Panicked, I clutched them to my chest. My fingers trembled when I felt the hot stickiness. My vision swam as I stared down at my blood-coated fingers. Tearing aside the sheets, my chest constricted at the sight of the small bullet hole over my heart.

I was going to die.

Scrambling off the bed, I ran into the en-suite bathroom and stopped with shock when I caught my reflection in the mirror. I was a hot mess. My normally shiny hair looked brittle and dull. My emerald-green eyes looked lifeless. My mocha skin had a decidedly sick, yellow undertone.

My chest stung, pulling me back to the matter at hand, the rivulets of blood soaking through the heavy silk of my slip. Yanking off the slip frantically, I balled it up, wiping the wound with trembling fingers. I stopped mid-blot at the sight of my skin slowly mending itself back together, the bullet hole completely disappearing.

Collapsing against the marble floor, I dropped my head against my knees. It was confirmed; I was going crazy. My visions of the future were getting worse, and I was going to die at the hands of Torch.

Meticulously, I sorted through the pieces of the vision, pausing when I remembered Mom being in it. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be if this was my horrible future. She had to be looking for me. Suddenly, my throat constricted. I couldn’t breathe and I clawed at my throat helplessly. It felt like I was drowning, being pulled under a sea of murky darkness.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I slowly suffocated. Feeling helpless and scared, my gaze swept through the bathroom as I inched across the cold marble floor with the sensation of eyes crawling over me like spiders.

My mind reached out desperately.

I know you’re watching. Please! Do something. Help me!

The darkness in the air closed in on me, setting my body on fire before my throat released, allowing me to take one big gulp of air before I heaved from nausea. Bile rushed up my throat as I scrambled over to the toilet, vomiting. My body racked with convulsions until there was nothing left in my stomach. Sinking to my heels in exhaustion, I gulped the clean air into my lungs before I felt a weird tingling along my skin.

My arms started to blister like I had an allergic reaction. The blisters oozed a foul-smelling fluid that made me gag. The fluid smelled… familiar, and then it all clicked into place. It smelled like the broth that Mason had been plying onto me since the moment I awoke at the compound. And with nothing left to throw up, I dry heaved. He was drugging me. Tears of anger rolled down my cheeks.

My fists clenched with resentment. My mind howled with rage. I longed to wrap my hands around his throat and watch the life ebb from his eyes. For hours, he pretended to be looking after my welfare, making sure my every need was attended to as I lay in bed, alternating between sleep and being awakened to eat. Hours that had melted into each other as I drifted into a semi-conscious existence, dreaming of frightening things while he sat by my side, talking to me, feeding me, keeping me company. It was fucking diabolical.

Stepping into the seamless, glass-enclosed shower, I let the hot water wash away the stench of the drug. I needed to leave this pit of hell, but I was in his world now. Isolated from everyone I loved like a caged bird. He was desperate to keep me here, for reasons unknown to me… yet.

I had to be smarter than he was. I had to figure out a way out of this place alive, and that meant I had to bide my time. Make him continue to believe I was still drugged and under his thumb. It would take acting skills and patience that, frankly, I didn’t possess. But I knew Mason. He had a superior, I’m-smarter-than-you streak, and eventually, I knew that he’d get sloppy, allowing my escape. And I was determined to beat that sleazy motherfucker at his own game or die trying.

Stepping out of the shower and wrapping myself in the opulent robe, I felt refreshed but not a hundred percent better. It would take time for the drugs to work their way out of my system. Wiping the steam from the mirror, I just stared at my reflection. My hair looked a little shinier. My eyes were not as glazed over like some drug addict, but inside, I still felt fragmented. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, I struggled to clear the fog from my mind. I shook my head with disbelief. I still couldn’t believe he would stoop so low as to drug me.

My eyes narrowed. Was Skylar helping him? I swallowed over the anger. She was the only person I was comfortable being around in the whole damn place. In between Mason keeping me company, Skylar stayed by my side vigilantly, talking non-stop about her life. At first, her bubbly chatter was annoying, but I started to find her openness refreshing.

Plus, she seemed happy to have someone to talk to. She was a leper in the pride. They resented her for being the Alpha’s favorite and they hated that she was a hybrid. I learned she was an orphan of the Fire and Ash war like me, adopted by the Alpha twenty-three years ago.

The most surprising part was that she believed Nick was her mate, but he refused to mate her because she was a hybrid. Even more curious was that she was under some delusion that Nick would change his mind about her when he realized that she was the only woman for him. She seemed somewhat delusional, but who was I to judge a fucked-up relationship, or lack thereof. I had my own damn issues to deal with.