Taking Nicole (Vegas Mates Series)(#4) (11 page)

Just quiet acceptance. Defeat.

She’s given up.

“I don’t think so,”
his cat countered.
“Her magick is running hot behind those cold, blue eyes. Was it only me who saw the tornado of destruction in her room?”

I can see just fine. But look at her.

Nicole was stunning without the clothes and jewels, but the blue dye of the silk gown brought out the ocean blue in her eyes and the pristine luster of her skin. Her golden hair flowed from a single twist on top of her head, like a waterfall.

She was dressed to be a queen, and she looked the part. Sadly, though, she was being treated as a mere pawn.

“Nicole, what happened?” He stood just to the side, watching Tempe outline Nicole’s eyes with a black pen.
 

No eye contact was given. She continued to stare downward. Not a single muscle twitched through her whole body.

 
“Tempe.” His voice rumbled with agitation.

“She spoke out against her grandmother.” Tempe paused and put the pen on the counter. “Then Carlotta threatened my life.”

“And?”

“And, nothing. That was the end of it. Nicole submitted and said she wouldn’t resist the claiming.”

His hackles raised and his fangs descended as he crouched next to Nicole. “Liar. You plan to fight them.” His claws were attempting to lengthen as well. He flexed his arms and neck, controlling the shift and pushing it back. Anger surged through his body. He wanted to protect his mate. Keep her safe.

She turned her head slowly, her blue eyes flashing with gold. “Of course I’m going to fight. There will only be one left at the end and he will be exhausted.” She smiled and a wicked chuckle rolled from her chest. “Then they can kill me and you can return to searching for a way to free your sister. Win, win.”

“Fuck winning. You’ll be dead, Nicole. I can’t lose you!”

“You already lost me. You should’ve helped me contact Kate. You should never have brought me here. People have already died because you brought me here, and more people will die because I’m here.”

“I had no choice. I couldn’t risk my sister’s life.”

“We could’ve found a way to rescue your sister. The pack would’ve helped. Kate would’ve helped.”

“Why would I have ever thought a wolf pack might help me? I’m not family. I’m not even a wolf.”

“You are my true match. They would’ve done anything for you.” She turned away from him and stared into the mirror. “After this, the pack will seek revenge for my death. You and your friends should get as far from my grandparents as you can.”

“Kate said she would come.” He whispered. “Before I smashed the phone.”

Nicole gasped, but still didn’t look up.
 

“She didn’t come, love.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said. “You’re just trying to convince me not to fight.”

He squeezed his eyes closed, refusing to let any tears fall.
Damn it all.
He’d really screwed up. He’d done everything Carlotta had said for so many years. Questioning an order was so foreign to him. He’d already stepped way outside his comfort zone by letting that latent wolf live back in Utah. Carlotta would have beaten him within an inch of his life if she’d known he went against orders. Hell, she might have beaten Sasha, too. But he’d taken the risk anyway.
For her.

“It was the right thing to do.”

Why couldn’t I do the right thing with my own mate?

“Sarah was a calculated risk. Carlotta would never know about her. Taking Nicole was an endgame move. You couldn’t return without her, nor could you stay with her.”

He sighed and knelt on the floor beside Nicole. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he buried his face in her lap and breathed in her scent. She tensed at first. Then stroked her fingers lightly through his hair. The struggling mate bond between them flared and he heard her catch her breath in another small gasp.

“Please leave. I can’t do this with you here,” she whispered.

“Don’t fight. I’ll find a way to get you back. I promise.” He raised his head and released her body, instantly missing the connection he and his leopard craved so desperately.

“No, you won’t.” She shook her head slowly. “I know now why my sister was so angry last year when my parents forced her mate hunt. It didn’t sink in then, but it does now. I won’t let a man rape me and claim me because some senseless tradition says that’s the way it should be. I will die fighting, Aaron. There is no other way for me now.”

He rocked back onto his heels, trying to swallow the rolling sensation in the pit of his stomach. The weight of her words pressed on him like a vice. Air refused to fill his lungs. Anything he did against Carlotta and Reginald would result in the loss of his sister or the loss of his true match … or both.

“It’s time.” Tempe’s voice was hushed from the corner of the bathroom. He’d forgotten she was there with them. “We have to go now. Karl will accompany us. You need to stay as far from Nicole as possible, Aaron.”

He nodded. Tempe was right. If he went with them to the arena, he’d end up dead before the ceremony even started.

Nicole rose from her chair and edged around him to the doorway. Her body moved silently, hips swaying back and forth. The silk of her dress swished back and forth, caressing her skin. The translucent fabric left nothing to the imagination and he growled, jealous that someone else would take pleasure in her delectable curves by the end of the night.

She should be his … was his.

But fate had not been kind to them.

Renata lifted her head and peered between the bars of the cage she’d been locked in for days, maybe a week. It could have been longer. There were no windows. No clocks. They fed her sparingly, keeping her very hungry, and the food was laced with something that kept her unsteady. But she kept eating. Her instinct to survive was stronger than anything else.
 

Guards were posted outside the door to the concrete room at all times. Even now, she could see one through the window, across the fluorescent-lighted hallway.

From the dampness of the floor, it seemed they had imprisoned her in a basement, most likely the pack headquarters. Why hadn’t they killed her? She’d killed enough of them. What reason could they have to prolong her captivity? Melinda didn’t hold any special affection for the woman who’d treated her brother terribly for the last century.

She smiled. No. No affection indeed. In fact, the last time Melinda had seen Renata she had told her she
would
kill her. Of course, it wasn’t truly Renata. Her wolf had gradually been taking control of the human side of her host for years. The guilt and anger over losing her true match had slowly but surely eaten away at Renata’s resolve. Like a rock in a river, eventually all the resistance just wore away.

The door squeaked and she blinked. Her twin daughters, Tess and Hallie, walked into the room, followed by Melinda. Both girls were fidgety and wouldn’t look her in the eye. Melinda, on the other hand, stared straight at her.

“You have visitors, Renata, if Renata is even in there anymore.”

She stood and walked slowly to the edge of the cage and stretched an arm through the bars. “Girls. My babies.”
 

Both the twins hesitated before taking a few steps forward.

“Stop, girls. That isn’t your mother. You can’t get within reach of her. You promised me. That’s the only reason I let you come down here.” Melinda pulled both girls back toward the door.

“No, wait. We won’t,” Hallie assured her.

“Of course it’s me,” Renata coaxed. “The wolf is resting. The drugs make her weaker. My girls, it’s so good to see you.”

“Don’t you dare hurt my babies.”
Renata’s human soul hissed in the back of her mind.
 

The wolf just smiled and shut her out again. If she could just get hold of one, she might be able to talk her way out of this rat hole.

“Tess and Hallie, if you move toward her, this visit is over.”

“Bitch!” She hissed at Melinda before correcting the flare of her temper. “I deserve to get my revenge on the Council for sentencing me to a lifetime without my true mate,” she snarled. The hoax was revealed. The terror in her daughters’ eyes said as much. They wouldn’t trust her again. “They all deserve to die for what they did to me.”

Melinda sighed. “Only the Originals can pass judgments, Renata. You would’ve been killed the second you stepped foot in Greece. That’s what you really wanted, wasn’t it? You wanted them to have to kill you.”

“Well, their agents were doing a piss-poor job of it. So it was high time they did some of their own dirty work. Now the damn rebels are going to do it for them. Why am I still alive, Melinda?”

Tears were streaming down Tess’s and Hallie’s cheeks. “We wanted a chance to talk to you. Sam and Nicole deserve to be able to say goodbye as well,” Tess whispered.

“So I am to be executed then? And the Council gets away with everything? Nicole is being prepared for her ceremony as we speak. I know that agent snagged her in exchange for your mongrel latent. She’s never coming back, Tess. If I know anyone better than myself, it’s my parents. They won’t ever let her go.”

“Kate promised to—”

“Hallie,” Melinda cut in.

Renata raised her eyebrows. The pack loved that human witch. Whispers about her being a creator had floated around since she married Daniel Taylor, one of the pack betas, but there was no proof. They were myths and stories—gods who had melted into the mist of time and history like the damned Originals.

***

Nicole followed Tempe and Karl down the carpeted hallway. They rode the elevator in silence and she never once looked up from Tempe’s ankles. Sweat dripped from her neck and ran in rivulets between her breasts. It wasn’t going to be long before the thin dress clung to her fuming body like a second skin. She cracked her knuckles and paused at the doorway, Tempe had moved aside to let a group of guests pass through the front door first.

One man Nicole had never seen before reached out and touched her arm. She took a step forward, raising her gaze to meet his, and bringing her face to a halt inches from his.

“Do not touch me.” Her magick thrashed about her like a wildfire. It was hard to keep from using it to lash out, but she had to control it, for now.

Her magick swirled against the stranger’s and she could sense his immediate discomfort. The older man’s eyes widened in surprise. He backed away and followed his party out the door.

What’s happening with my magick?

“I don’t know. Just try to stay calm.”

I know we run hot, but I’m melting.

“Nicole, are you okay?” Tempe whispered. Her face was ashen and her hands were trembling.

“I’ve been better.”

“Are you ill, Miss Demakis?” Karl’s low voice rumbled next to her.

She shook her head and walked out the front door. “I’m fine.”

The next limo was pulling up. Karl moved swiftly to open the passenger door. She and Tempe climbed inside, while he took a seat in the front next to the driver.

The vehicle pulled onto the driveway. The procession of limousines moved slowly along the winding roads. It would be at least a half-hour before they reached the Council arena.

“Tempe, as soon as we get there, you have to get as far away from me as you can. Leave Greece.”

“I can’t leave. I have someone in the cages, just like Aaron. Just like Karl and the driver of this limo. We all serve the Antipas household because there is no other choice for us. Just like you have no other choice. You agreed to go through with this.”

Nicole breathed deeply, filling her heavy lungs. They couldn’t have planned it better. Only a defiant, selfish person would fight the system and knowingly endanger the lives of others. But she had to fight. She couldn’t just lie down like a beaten dog and take whatever her grandparents dished out.

“You’ll just lose whatever shred of freedom you’re convinced you still have,” Tempe snapped. “You already saw what your misbehavior cost Henrick. Would you have her snap my neck in front of you as well?”

Nicole shifted in the seat, peeling her drenched back from the leather upholstery. She took another labored breath and shuddered as her magick sparked along her skin.
What the hell was happening?
Her wolf whined in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t deal with those worries right now, too. First, she had to find a way out of this ceremony without killing Tempe, Karl, Aaron, and whomever else Carlotta deemed responsible for her.

“She’s already going to beat me when she sees you in that dress. What is wrong with you? You might as well be wearing wet tissue paper.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I feel like I’m in a sauna. If I could turn it off, I would!”

“Please, Nicole. Just accept your fate.”

“I can’t. I saw what it did to my mother. Aaron is my true mate. I won’t leave him without a fight.”
Shit. That shouldn’t have slipped out.

If Tempe’s face could get any paler, she might be accused of being a ghost. “No.” The little redhead shook her head and groaned. “I was afraid of that the first time I saw you two together.”

The driver and Karl remained silent while words spewed from Tempe’s mouth about how she needed to forget Aaron. Something about it being the best choice for everyone. How Carlotta would torture and kill them all if she ever found out Nicole had been sneaking around the palace with one of her own bodyguards.
 

“Nicole.” Tempe touched her shoulder. “Nicole, are you listening to me?”

“No, not really.” Nicole stared out the window at the passing landscape. Beautiful, blue ocean stretched as far as the eye could see. Little white dots bobbed here and there, the evening wave of fishermen was getting an early start.

“They wouldn’t be able to fight you all at once. You could stop all of this if you’d just fight together.” Nicole turned to face Tempe. “But you won’t fight. You just lie down and take beating after beating. Suffering isn’t something reserved just for you, Temperance.”