Vice (Fireborn Wolves Book 1) (16 page)

L
aina came
awake on a hard marble floor with her arms chained to the wall behind her. The back of her head ached and it took her sitting up and shaking it for her vision to clear. She was in some kind of dungeon. Across the room from her, a familiar mass of human muscle lay in an unconscious heap.

“Kyle! Kyle!” she called, trying her best to rouse him.

“He’ll be out for a while,” a voice said from her left.

Scrambling to her feet, she turned her head to face the dark figure in the shadowy corner of the room. He was tall, lanky, with dark blond hair and eyes that twinkled purple when the light hit them—although she assumed this was a product of the dragon fae amulet that hung around his neck. She knew without a doubt that under his tuxedo, his right upper shoulder sported the tattoo of a harvest moon with three claw marks ripping through it.

“Jonah,” she said.

“Think again.” He stepped into the light. “You don’t remember me, Laina? I kissed you in the game room at Rivergate when we were children.”

“No…”

“And then there was that time I murdered your parents.”

“Impossible. We found your body.”

“You found my
old
body. I rather like this new one. My Zafka, Jonah, worked out regularly—more than I ever did. It was brilliant, if I do say so myself, to use the amulet to switch bodies with Jonah when it was clear your brother Silas had the advantage. It was the last magic I performed with this”—he fingered the amulet—“before they took it from me. Before your brother took
everything
from me.”

“Alex,” she spat. She shook her head, pulled against the chains binding her.

“I love to hear you say my name.” He smirked. “Now here’s how this is going to go. In approximately twelve hours, you’re going to shift.”

“Shift? What are you talking about?” Nate said from across the room. The big, balding man hovered over his brother, patting Kyle’s face and feeling his neck for a pulse. He hadn’t been there before, and wasn’t chained to the wall. Laina looked between Alex and Nate confused. Nate was still alive, which meant he’d cooperated with Alex to some extent, but clearly he wasn’t happy about the state of things.

Alex ignored him and focused on Laina. “As I’m sure you know, those chains are not meant to hold you in your wolf form. By that time, you should be fairly hungry, practically starving with your accelerated metabolism. How much control do you have over your wolf, Princess? Enough not to make a meal of your boyfriend?”

“What do you want, Alex?” Laina desperately tried to work the manacles over her cupped hands, but they were hopelessly tight.

Alex laughed through his nose. “Only my true place. For me to obtain what’s rightfully mine, your two brothers must die. Then, Fireborn pack will bow down to me. Oh, I’m not so crass as to believe the Lycanthropic Society will accept me as their leader, not at first anyway. But blood rules. I will take you as my mate, and we will sire a legion of purebred children. Eventually, the other packs will have no choice but to recognize our superior race.”

“You’re insane.”

“Probably. Love will do that to you.”

“Love? You don’t love me.”

Alex stepped closer to her, squatting down to her level. A wicked smile spread across his face. Close up, his skin took on the appearance of plastic, not quite human or werewolf. A sourceless breeze cycled through the room. “Silas returned the amulet to the dragon fae himself. How do you suppose I got it back, Princess? No, I don’t love
you
, but thankfully that emotion is not necessary to sire werewolf children. The one I do love understands the importance of my work and my rule and supports my use of you.”

Laina’s thoughts swirled. Rumor had it that a dragon fae princess had fallen deeply in love with Alex and had given him the dragon fae amulet as a gift, but he left her and chose to murder his own parents rather than return it. What if the dragon fae princess still had feelings for him? What if she was helping him now? She tried to remember the name of the princess but couldn’t. Why hadn’t she paid closer attention to Silas?

“Now, you will help me call your brothers out to play.”

“Never. Go fuck yourself.” She spit on the side of his face.

Alex paused for only a moment to wipe away her saliva with a handkerchief before pulling a phone from his pocket. Her heart sank when she realized it was hers, the untraceable phone Silas had given her for emergencies. He tapped the screen a few times.

“Laina?” Silas’s voice came from the speaker.

“Tell him to come for you.” He held the phone toward her face.

She shook her head.

“Laina!” Silas yelled.

“Do you know why Kyle was attracted to you? Do you want to know the magic behind love at first sight?”

She shook her head again slowly, a dark ribbon of preemptive grief unraveling like a worm in her torso.

“It seems his father had a penchant for supernaturals. Kyle is a dormant. Not even a quarter shifter but it was enough. That hole, the missing thing, the something wild he’s felt deep within his soul, recognized you. He would have never shifted on his own—his mother’s blood was too diluted, but I have the power to make him.”

With a wave of Alex’s hand Kyle bucked off the marble floor, waking with a scream and contorting with the grotesque snap and slurp of breaking bones. Kyle’s screams grew more tormented until Laina could stand no more.

“No! Stop! I’ll do anything. His physiology isn’t adaptable. He won’t survive.”

“Tell Silas to come or I’ll test your theory.” He held out the phone.

“Silas, Alex is alive. He has me,” she whimpered as Kyle screamed even louder. The connection ended. “He hung up. Please.”

Kyle’s body slapped the floor, rattling his chains. He groaned and curled into the fetal position, facing her.

“Don’t worry, Princess. Your brother heard enough. He’s on his way.”

Nate whispered something to Kyle, who was awake now but disoriented. “This was not our deal, Alex.”

“What did you do?” Laina glared at Nate, her body tensing.

Ignoring her, he pointed a chubby finger toward Alex. “You said you wanted the girl. Let us out of here. My brother needs help.”

“Hmm. You are correct. I did promise I’d only take the girl in exchange for you planning this event and providing me with your blood. That was our bargain,” Alex said, nodding.

“So, unlock Kyle. Let us go,” Nate growled.

Alex stepped closer to Nate, his wicked grin growing. “Can you guess what Nate’s mother was, Laina?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Nate said.

Laina shook her head.

“Half ogre. I almost think the senior Kingsley had a goal of sleeping with every type of supernatural there is. What other explanation is there for bedding an ogre?”

“Hey! Fuck you.” Nate’s fist connected with Alex’s chin, but he might as well have punched stone. Nate cried out, shaking his hand in pain, but Alex only smiled wider. He dragged Nate away from his brother, pushing him into a cage between a row of floggers and a rack of canes. Ignoring Nate’s struggle and protests, Alex locked him inside and stored the key in his pocket.

“You should know,” Alex said, eyeing Nate, “that I rarely keep my promises. I’m kind of a bad guy that way.”

“Let me outta here Alex. We had a deal.”

Alex shrugged. “No. Now silence yourself or I’ll remove your voice box.”

Nate distractedly rubbed the base of his throat.

“I need your brother for what I’m planning to do to this one.” He pointed his thumb in Laina’s direction. “Considering we are in your playroom, Nate, I’ll assume you understand that women need to be broken. Laina here has always had an indomitable spirit, even as a little girl. But when I’m done with her, she’ll be an empty shell. I’m going to make her kill the man she loves.”

All color drained from Nate’s face. “What do you want? Money? I can make you very rich.”

Alex laughed. “Your money is worthless to me, as are you. And you’ve broken the rules.” Alex snapped his fingers. Nate’s protest turned into a cough. His lips moved as if he was trying to speak but nothing came out. A growing panic seized the heavier brother and he banged against the bars, eyes red and chest heaving.

“Don’t make me remove your arms as well as your voice,” Alex said softly. “Here’s how this is going to go down. I’m going to kill Laina’s brothers. Meanwhile, Laina is going to shift and break those chains. She’ll be hungry and Kyle will be easy prey. You get to watch, Nate, if she doesn’t make short work of those bars and kill you too.”

Kyle shook his head and got to his knees. “Laina, what is he talking about? Who is this?”

Alex chuckled wickedly and tipped an invisible hat in her direction. “That’s my cue. The sun is rising. This is going to be a good day. A very good day.”

He climbed the stairs and exited the “playroom” without ever opening the door, leaving Laina staring helplessly at the look of betrayal on the face of the man she loved.

“
W
hat did
he mean when he said you would shift?” Kyle asked.

“He could come back at any time. We have to get out of here. See if you can reach one of those silver… things behind you to pry your chains off the wall,” Laina commanded.

As much as Kyle needed to know what was going on, he couldn’t argue with the pragmatism of Laina’s suggestion. The man who’d just left the room had carried a certain Hannibal Lecter quality that Kyle had no intention of getting to know better. Chances were what he’d said to Laina was nothing more than the ramblings of a madman.

Assessing the situation, Kyle tugged at the chains binding his hands behind his back and threaded his legs through the loop of his arms. He noticed a Wartenberg wheel on the rack to his right. Damn, his brother was into some sick shit. But maybe, just maybe his perversion would be their salvation. The steel handle ended in a flat edge.

He reached with his toe, careful to overshoot the mark, and knocked the tool toward him onto the floor. Once it rattled to a stop, he slid it closer, until he could pick it up with his bound hands. He dug the point of the handle behind the metal plate of the iron ring bolted to the wall and attempted to pry it away from the marble.

“Nate, why the hell did you help that guy?”

Nate gasped like a fish out of water.

“He can’t answer you,” Laina said. “Alex took his voice box.”

“You can’t take someone’s voice box by snapping your fingers.”

“He’s magic, Kyle. He can and he did.”

Kyle sighed. “You need to start talking, Laina. What do you know about this? You said his name was Alex. Was that the Alex you told me about? I thought you said he was dead.”

“We thought he was. We were wrong.”

“So, he wants to kill your brothers and impregnate you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Laina grew quiet behind him. He stopped chipping away at the stone and turned to face her. “Since the day I met you, I’ve known you were keeping something from me. I have no doubt there is more to this dark family secret than what you’ve told me. It’s time to come clean. Tell me the truth. All of it.”

Her body shook like he’d demanded something impossible of her, something that made her physically ill to accommodate. She closed her eyes tightly, parted her lips.

“I love you, Laina. Nothing you could say to me is going to change that. But the truth could save our lives.”

“I told you my family is not like other families,” she blurted out. “But I didn’t tell you how we’re different.”

“You said you were medical miracles. You’re strong and you heal fast.”

“But that’s not all. There’s more to it. We are also… magical.”

“Magical.”

“Alex left you here because he wants me to kill you.”

“I heard. But you won’t. Why would you kill me?” He succeeded in wedging the handle deeper between the metal and marble.

“Because when the sun sets and the moon rises, I will change.” Her voice cracked and tears spilled from her eyes. “I will change into something that could kill you.”

He snorted. “I’ve seen you after sunset. I’ve spent the night with you. I think I would have noticed if you were a killer after dark.”

“It only happens during the full moon,” she said in a voice so soft he could hardly hear it.

“The full moon? What, are you like a werewolf or something?” He chuckled and rolled his eyes.

She wasn’t laughing. In fact, she was crying harder. Her head bobbed once. “Not just me, my entire family. Alex too, although dragon magic has warped him into something else altogether.”

Kyle shook his head. “Don’t fuck with me on this, Laina. It’s not funny.”

“No, it’s not.” She bowed her head. “When the sun sets, I will shift into a wolf. My fur is dark brown, like a mink. And I won’t necessarily know you, not like I do now. When I’m the wolf, I’m completely in the moment, in the animal brain. When I’m myself again, I remember flashes of what I did as a wolf but in the moment, I can’t control her. She’ll be hungry. She’ll kill you, Kyle. If it comes down to that, promise me you’ll use something in this room to kill her first.”

Kyle turned his back to her and used his foot to leverage the handle and pry up the iron plaque. It worked. The bolt slipped a quarter of an inch.

“Kyle, are you listening to me?” She sobbed.

He braced a foot on the wall and pulled with all his weight against the chains. One of the bolts gave slightly. He dug the handle in again.

“Say something. What are you thinking?”

He paused, staring at the veining in the marble. “When I was getting my business degree, I took some classes in psychology. I’ve read about this. You probably have some kind of schizophrenia. I mean you talk about this wolf like you have another person in your head.”

“No… No… Kyle this isn’t that.”

“I’m guessing that if your family believes it, it’s a sort of mass hysteria. I’m going to get us out of here and then I’m going to get you help.” He leaned his entire weight against the handle and tried a different angle, carefully avoiding the sharp pins at the end of the wheel.

“You sensed something wild in me. You weren’t wrong. You sensed my wolf.”

“Yep,” he said, hoping that by agreeing she’d give up on trying to convince him.

“You know in your heart that this isn’t in my head. You’ve known for a while there is something different about me. How fast I can run. How easily I trained Milo, almost as if I could communicate with him in his language. How I can take a bullet and be healed the next day. How I make love.”

He stopped, took a deep breath, and let it out. He couldn’t deny that she was freakishly strong and unlike any woman he’d ever known. Whatever this was, it was weird, and it was wrong, and at the moment, he couldn’t process anything but the problem in front of him. He braced and pulled until the chains cut into his palms. This was taking too long.

He looked at Laina over his shoulder. “Hey! Catch.” He tossed the silver tool across the room to her. It clattered to the floor halfway and skidded into her feet. “You’re stronger. Free yourself—then you can free me.”

Laina, whose hands were still chained behind her back, threaded her legs through and picked up the Wartenberg wheel. Instead of trying to pry the ring from the wall, she tucked the handle into a single link of chain spread taut between her feet. With a groan, she twisted and lifted. The steel started to bend.

Nate stood up and approached the corner of his cell, pumping his arm in the air and mouthing
go, go, go.
Kyle still didn’t understand Nate’s role in this. Why had he lured them to Alex? Or maybe it had been a coincidence. He couldn’t remember clearly. They’d been following Nate and next thing he knew, he woke up in Nate’s BDSM playroom. But he was troubled by a brief memory of Nate outside the cage, raising his voice to Alex and pointing at Laina. When had that happened?

With one last grunt of effort, Laina broke the link and tumbled into the wall behind her. She dropped the tool near her feet and unhooked the broken link. Although her hands were still manacled to each other, she was no longer bound to the wall. She bent to pick up the tool again but Nate slapped the bars viciously and pointed to a wooden box at the far end of the room.

“I think he’s trying to tell you to look in the box,” Kyle said.

“What’s in there?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Like I said, I try to stay out of my brother’s personal proclivities. BDSM is not my cup of tea.”

“That’s what this is? Some kind of fetish room?” Laina asked, crossing to the box.

“Well, it isn’t a torture chamber for his business adversaries.”

She propped open the lid and laughed, her eyes widening at Nate as her lips spread. “I’ve never been so glad your brother was a sick bastard.” She reached inside and pulled a heavy, double-edged sword from the box.

Nate clapped his hands and pointed excitedly at the lock on the cage door.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Laina said to him. “Do you think I’d free you after how you set us up?”

“What are you talking about?” Kyle asked.

“Your brother was working with Alex. He wanted to get rid of me. He couldn’t stand the thought of our monogamy getting in the way of Hunt Club’s profits.” She shot Nate a nasty glare. “He cooperated with Alex and let him use his identity and image to lure us down here.”

Nate couldn’t speak but the gesture he gave her with his right middle finger said everything.

Kyle looked at his brother and shook his head. “You fucking asshole. You just couldn’t stand to see me happy.”

Nate spread his hands and shrugged, then rubbed his fingers together. Money. It was always about money.

“We don’t have much time.” Laina approached Kyle with desperate eyes. Raising the sword above her head, she brought it down on the chain binding him to the wall with everything she had. “Hold it taut. I need to hit the same spot.”

Laina pounded the chain again and again. The spark and the chink of metal against metal assaulted his senses. The muscles in her arms flexed. Her jaw clenched.
She isn’t human,
Kyle thought
.
Not just a special human or a mutant. Not someone who suffered from a rare condition. She was something entirely different, someone he didn’t know at all.

“Got it,” she said. She dropped the sword and heaved both ends of the link, expanding the opening, until it was wide enough to unhook him from the wall. “Come on.” She retrieved the sword again before running for the door.

“Wait, what do we do with him?” Kyle asked, gesturing toward his brother.

“We leave him right where he is. He’ll be safe there until we can get help.” Her words said
he’d
be safe where he was but her expression suggested she thought
they’d
be safe from him as well. Kyle couldn’t argue. He jogged after her, up the stairs to the door to the main part of the house. But when he reached the top, he found Laina with her fists pressed against a solid wall. Her wrists were still bound and excess chain swung between her elbows.

“I don’t understand. Where’s the door?” Kyle asked.

“There isn’t one,” Laina said. “Alex has sealed us in.”

“Over my dead body.” Kyle snatched the sword from her hands, raised it above his head, and wailed on the doorless wall.