Vice (Fireborn Wolves Book 1) (17 page)

“
N
o
!” Laina yelled, but she was too late. When Kyle stabbed the sword into the wall, a shower of sparks repelled the blade and knocked Kyle back. He tumbled down the stairs, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge of the weapon.

“Kyle! Are you all right?” She raced to his side.

“Fine,” he said, scrambling to his feet. “What just happened?”

Laina shivered. “The chains were never meant to hold either of us, just distract us while the clock counted down. Alex sealed us in using magic. We won’t be able to escape.”
And no one can get in to save us
, she thought.

“Magic,” Kyle repeated. He stared at the sword in his hands like he was going into shock.

“Sundown is coming.” She paced the room. How would she save Kyle? She needed a plan.

“It can’t be that late. We haven’t been in here that long.” Kyle tapped the crystal of his watch. “Hmm. It’s not working.”

Laina paced faster. “Alex enchanted the room to distort our perception of time. I don’t need a watch. The moon is coming.” She met his eyes and tried to explain. “A werewolf senses the full moon as you might sense a train coming, by the vibration of the track. Our hearts flutter, our fingers tingle and grow cold, the air ripples with energy. The hair on my arms is longer than it was this morning. I can smell the soap you used yesterday. I can smell that you need to pee.”

“You can smell that?”

“Your blood is pulsing in your veins, a raging river of life. It makes my mouth water.”

“What?”

She lowered her head and continued. “Everything about you is sharper, how slow you move”—her breath quickened—“how easy it would be to catch you if you ran. I don’t want to chase you now, but I can feel my wolf, just under the surface, and she’s tracking you with her nose to the ground. The closer she gets to taking over, the stronger I get.” She gripped the manacle on her wrist and tore it off easily, shedding the other just as quickly.

Kyle backed against the wall like a scared rabbit. “Your eyes.”

“It’s coming.” Hands up, she approached him, tentatively reaching for his wrists. She broke his manacles one by one and dropped the chains at his feet. The process wasn’t easy; her fingers bled from the effort. But with the moon so close, it took only moments for the wounds to heal.

The change was close, very close. She turned on her heel. “I need the cage. You’ll lock me in. It’s our only hope.” Laina tugged with all her strength at the cage door holding Nate. Nate tried to help, but it wasn’t just locked. Alex had sealed it with magic.

“Fuck!” She dug her hands into her hair.
Think, Laina,
she said to herself. She was a doctor of veterinary medicine. She solved complex problems before breakfast. All she needed was to focus. What could she use? Her eyes darted around the room. Her spine popped and a ripple rolled through her body. “No. Time.”

Giving up on the lock, she grabbed the bars themselves and bent them apart. Nate joined in to help once he saw what she was doing. She slipped inside easily enough.

Nate wasted no time moving for the promise of freedom. His portly form wedged to a stop halfway through. Kyle tugged at his arms to no avail.

Laina screamed as her ankles turned and her hips narrowed. She ignored Kyle’s expression and pulled off her shirt and pants at record speed. “I can’t hold it back much longer.” Panting, she moved to the back of the cage, then lunged forward, plowing into Nate and freeing him.

As her jaw lengthened, she bent the bars back into position. She’d barely accomplished her goal when she pitched forward, claws sprouting from the bend of her knuckles and thick black fur spreading up her arms. She had just enough time to register Kyle’s horrified expression before the human mind that was Laina disappeared.

And then there was only the wolf.

N
othing could have
prepared Kyle for what he saw happen inside the cage. The woman he thought he loved, the one he’d been obsessed with for months, shifted into a wolf in a grisly display of breaking bones and stretching muscle. Kyle’s stomach twisted like a wrung towel and he had to close his eyes to keep from becoming ill.

Nate slapped Kyle’s cheek and shook him vigorously by the shoulders.

“I’ve seen enough. I can’t watch anymore,” Kyle said.

His brother shook harder.

Kyle opened his eyes to look at his brother. He was holding out a cell phone. “What the fuck, Nate? Have you had this the entire time?”

With a flip of his middle finger, Nate went into a series of mouthed words and gestures that clearly indicated he had no plans of helping them as long as he was locked in the cage. He patted his throat and pointed at him, then at the phone.

Kyle poked the text icon. Nate had, in fact, attempted to text his personal security detail but the text hadn’t gone through. “For all I know, the magic that’s keeping us in is blocking the signal. I’ll try a call.”

The cage rattled as Laina’s wolf threw herself against the door. She lowered her head and growled at the two of them. Kyle thumbed through the contacts in Nate’s phone. He stopped on the one person he hated to involve but trusted more than anyone else. It couldn’t be helped. He pressed the call button.

“Kyle, where are you! Everyone is out looking for you,” Gerty said.

“I’m trapped in Nate’s basement. Gerty, everything is crazy. Laina’s a werewolf. The room is magic and won’t let us out. The door is gone. I don’t think anyone can get to us. They took Nate’s voice. I know I’m not making any sense, but you have to help me. Send help to Nate’s.”

“Kyle,” Gerty said calmly, “are you safely away from Laina? It’s a full moon.”

“She’s locked in a cage.” The wolf threw herself against the bars again, the sound of bending metal making the hair on his arms stand on end.

“Do you remember the song I sang to you as a child?”

“What? Gerty…”

“Sing it, Kyle. Sing it now.”

“We don’t have time! You have to get us out of here.”

“Don’t overthink it. I’m trying to help. Sing the song.”

“But—”

“Now!” she yelled.

Kyle’s eyes flashed to Nate, who was waiting expectantly, unable to hear Gerty on the other end of the line. With a sigh, he began to sing.

“Deep in the woods

where the willows bloom

lives a fairy queen

and her handsome groom.

No children have they

But love them they do

Call to her child

and she’ll watch over you.

Fairy queen, fairy queen,

I call unto to thee.

I am a child and

you are my queen.”

Nate’s frog mouth morphed into an exaggerated scowl. But before he could issue a silent protest, they were distracted with a metallic screech. Laina’s wolf had worked herself between the bars, and she was almost free.

“I love you, Gerty,” Kyle said. He swallowed a lump in his throat, prepared for the end. “You were the mother I never had.”

A flash of light beamed through the room, blinding him before forming into an elderly woman in a sparkling aqua pantsuit, carrying a silver wand. “I love you too, Kyle.”

“Gerty?”

With a crash, Laina barreled through the cage and bound straight toward them, snarling with teeth bared. Kyle could accept being torn apart, but he’d never forgive himself if something happened to Gerty. He squared his shoulders, made eye contact with the wolf, and yelled the only words he could think to yell. “No! Laina, stop!”

The wolf skidded to a halt at his feet, head down and tail between her legs. Kyle remembered this from his lesson with Laina. Submissive posture.

“She knows you, Kyle,” Gerty said. “Even in her animal form.”

He held his hand out, let her take a good sniff. “Is this real, Gerty? Have I hit my head or something?” He shifted to scratch Laina’s wolf under the chin.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way,” Gerty said.

“You knew about Laina?”

“From the moment she stepped through my protective spell.”

Mouth gaping, Kyle faced the woman who’d been nanny, housekeeper, and friend.

“I’ve always been more than your nanny and your housekeeper,” she said. “I’m your fairy godmother, Kyle. Your father hired me to look after you, both of you, in case something like this were to happen.”

Kyle shook his head. “My father expected my girlfriend would be a werewolf?”

“Yes! Because your mother was a shifter,” Gerty exclaimed. “Nate’s mother was half ogre.” She lowered her voice and shook her head. “Your daddy couldn’t keep it in his pants to save his life.”

Nate gestured wildly.

“What’s wrong with him?” Gerty asked.

“The thing that locked us up in here zapped his vocal cords.”

“Hmm. Don’t make me regret this, Nate.”

With a wave of her wand, Gerty muttered a string of syllables, then pointed the tip at Nate’s throat. A shower of sparks cascaded over his Adam’s apple.

“—get us the hell out of here!” Nate finished.

“You always were the direct one. Now, I imagine Laina wants to help her brother against that thing they call Alex. We must bring her to her siblings.”

“Wait, Gerty, I have so many questions,” Kyle pleaded.

She placed her hands on his cheeks and gave him an authentic look of sympathy. “I know, Kyle. I’ve waited so long to be able to tell you the truth. Just wait a little longer. There is too much at stake.” She threaded her fingers into his and hooked her arm into Nate’s. “You’ll have to carry her.”

“Who? The wolf?”

“We have to be touching or I can’t transport us all.”

Kyle eyed the enormous black beast that paced the room hungrily. If Laina was in there, he couldn’t see her or sense her, and the claws and sharp teeth were enough of a deterrent for him to challenge Gerty on the issue. “I can’t just hold a wolf, Gerty. She could kill me.”

“She could, but she won’t. Laina’s wolf has accepted you as an alpha. I’m not sure she thinks of you as
her
alpha, but this wolf respects you. Tell her to come. As long as you are touching her the spell will work.”

Kyle took a deep breath. “Laina, come.”

The wolf stopped pacing and perked her ears but didn’t move.

“Don’t ask her, Kyle. Tell her, in no uncertain terms.”

He straightened, made eye contact with the wolf, and said in a firm, confident tone, “Come!”

All the bravado he’d mustered faded fast as she charged him. She reared and placed her front feet on his shoulders. Gerty didn’t waste the opportunity.

“Stars above and depths below, take us where we need to go.” With a swirl of her silver wand, Gerty sent a shower of sparks toward the ceiling. The magic plumed out like a sparkling umbrella, encasing them in white-hot fire.

Kyle had the distinct impression of weightlessness followed by tumbling. In the time it took to blink, the sparks rained down and disappeared in the grass and twigs now under his feet. The wolf’s face brushed against his cheek as she pushed off his shoulders. She took off running at full speed through the thick band of trees.

“Where are we?”

“Laina’s brother, Silas, is no fool. He lured Alex behind Hunt Club. He must have figured out what I was. They’re in the clearing behind the house.”

“Alex will kill her entire family,” Kyle said. “We’ve got to help them.”

“This way,” Gerty said, heading in the direction Laina had gone.

But Nate objected. “What do we know about these wolves anyway? I got no skin in this game. I’m not going to risk my neck to save three freaks I barely know.”

Kyle turned to face Nate. “Then find your way back home or wait here. Either way, you’re on your own.” He jogged to catch up to Gerty.

It wasn’t long before the growls and snaps of a full-fledged dogfight reached Kyle’s ears. He ran faster, breaking from the trees into a clearing filled with fur and claws and nails. He found Laina quickly enough, her mink-colored fur shining silky in the moonlight. He assumed the larger black wolf next to her was her brother Silas. His fur was darker and duller and his jade eyes carried the wary look of a leader. The third wolf fighting side by side with them had a dark stripe that ran along his back from his ears to his tail, with a lighter, tawny underside that made him seem patched together.

Despite the odds being in their favor, the red wolf, who he assumed was Alex, was winning the fight. He was faster, unnaturally so, and Silas and Jason already had patches of bloody fur where Alex had struck successfully. When Jason turned, one entire leg was matted with blood, a pronounced limp putting him at a disadvantage. Silas’s wolf wore a nasty gash across his shoulder.

Laina had arrived just in time. She reared up. Alex went for her throat.

“Gerty, do something!” Kyle said.

Gerty raised her wand but paused as if she were caught in an invisible tractor beam.

“Don’t you dare,” said a woman’s voice from behind them.

Kyle whirled. “What are you doing here?”

The amulet around Nickie’s neck pulsed faintly against her pale skin, framed by the red-and-black-sequined dress she wore. It depicted a dragon holding a red ruby in its claws. “You should go,” she said. “I don’t want to hurt any of you, but I will if you get in our way.”

“So, let Gerty go,” Kyle said, noticing his housekeeper was still frozen with her wand in the air.

“I can’t. She’ll interfere. It’s imperative that Alex succeeds in overpowering Silas on his own. If Gerty ends the duel, the pack will not recognize his authority. He is the one true ruler of all wolves. You must understand this.” Her voice had taken on a slight foreign accent.

“What does any of this have to do with you?” Kyle asked. “Why do you care about Alex?”

“Why do you care about Liana?”

“Because I love—” Kyle froze, thinking back to the conversation between Alex and Laina in Nate’s basement. “You’re the dragon fae princess.”

“My name is Nickelova Rallinth, heir to the Siberian dragon fae dynasty.”

“But I thought you were scorned. I thought you hated Alex!”

“A lie my parents told to save face. They couldn’t admit that their oh-so-perfect daughter freely gave the amulet to a wolf. They never understood our love. Never understood that Alex was born to rule, and I was born to be by his side. He’s stronger than you, any of you.”

“Let her go, Nickie,” Kyle said again, eyeing Gerty who seemed to be in pain.

Nickie shook her head. “No.”

A small tree, four inches in diameter barreled out of nowhere and connected with the side of Nickelova’s head, knocking her to the grass. Nate tossed the branch aside. “Stupid broad. Nobody hurts our Gert and gets away with it.”

Gerty rolled her shoulders and waved her wand, a pulse of magic slamming the red wolf away from the three siblings. Alex landed on his side with a yelp.

“You bitch!” Nickie yelled. A pulse of energy plowed into Gerty, knocking her down. The older woman popped back up almost immediately, casting a spell back toward Nickelova with a flick of her silver wand.

Nate grabbed Kyle by the shoulders and shook. “Did Tanaka slip something in our drinks or did we fall down the rabbit hole?”

All Kyle could do was shake his head.

“For the record, I never meant to hurt you. I thought Alex was going to offer her a job, lure her away. I had no idea he wanted to kill her. Fuck, who woulda thought he was some kind of supernatural creature? It’s not my fault, Kyle!”

Kyle frowned, turning his attention back to the wolves. Jason lay on his side, incapacitated. Silas limped, front leg tucked close to his sternum. Laina and Alex were entangled in a brawl that seemed destined to end in the larger red wolf’s favor.

“Hey, asshole!” Kyle yelled, picking up a rock and whipping it at the red wolf. The moment’s distraction was enough for Laina to get a new grip on Alex’s neck. She sank her teeth in and rolled.

Nickelova and Gerty were still at it, magic flying like a barrage of exploding bullets between them. Kyle could barely follow the fight. At one point, Gerty shattered, blown to bits, only to reform behind Nickie, uninjured. With a flick of her wrist, she encased the dragon fae princess in a sheet of ice. One pulse of her amulet and Nickie turned the ice into a steaming cloud of vapor.

“I know how you can make it up to me, Nate.”

“How?”

“I’ve got to help Laina which means
you
need to find a way to get that amulet off Nickie. It pulses every time she fires at Gerty. It must be the source of her power.”

Nate looked at him like he was out of his mind and placed his fists on his hips. “And just how do you expect me to do that?”

“If what Gerty says is true, you’re part ogre. Ogre it off her.”

Nate’s eyelids sank and his frog mouth pursed. “If I’m part ogre, you’re part shifter. Do you plan to use your teeth on Alex?” Nate pointed at the skirmish defiantly.

“This is crazy. This is crazy.” Kyle swung his arms like he was warming up to play football. “This is the craziest shit that has ever happened to us. God I need a drink.”

“That I have.” Nate reached into his pant leg and ripped a Velcro flask off his ankle. “Help yourself.”

“What’s in here?”

“Think of it as liquid courage. I keep it in case of emergencies.”

Kyle took a swig, liquid fire coursing down his throat. He burst into a fit of coughing. “Damn.”

Nate gave a low laugh and grabbed the flask. “Arthur’s moonshine. It’ll put hair on your chest.”

“Arthur, Gerty’s husband Arthur?”

“The one and only. He makes it for me. I find it’s useful when I need a boost in the boardroom.”

Kyle took another long swig. His toes curled; his skin grew warm. “Do you think Arthur knows Gerty is… a fairy?” A blast of magic skipped across the grass to his left and he took one large step back.

Nate shrugged and took another swig. “Anything is possible. Dad must’ve known too.”

“I can’t even.” Kyle shook his head.

“I’m ready when you are,” Nate said. “Only, if I do this, you forgive me for today and put it behind us. Bros before hos.”