“Easy.”
“Something’s wrong.” Shadows creep up the walls. The lights dim, and the smell of rot and ruin fill the room. The floor beneath us trembles. Ori pulls me close, anchoring my body. Pain explodes in my head. I clamp my jaw to keep from screaming as images flood my brain. Clay Richmond peers over a fire directly at me. Surrounding my men in black robes, he drips his blood in a stone bowl. His lips stretch back.
“You belong to me. You were promised with blood. There’s nowhere you can run where I won’t find you.”
“No,” I whisper.
He laughs. “Silly Omega. Stop this nonsense and come home. I won’t punish you too badly.” His eyes flicker to yellow, and his voice distorts.
I shake my head, too afraid to talk back.
“If not for me. For your brother.” The robed men part, and Canyon is brought forward. His face is black and blue, swollen, nearly past recognition. Bound at the wrists, his head lolls forward onto his chest.
“Don’t hurt him.”
“A life for a life, Brook. The choice is up to you. Meet us in the sacred caves by midnight.” He smiles. “Or I’ll assume you forfeit your brother’s life in lieu of your freedom.”
“You can’t!”
Thrust from the vision, I’m flung into total darkness.
* * *
Lev
Brook slumps over in a dead faint. O holds her body to his, keeping her aloft.
“Brook.” He calls. Striding forward, I tap her cheek. She’s cold to the touch, the exact opposite of what she should be with her heat upon her.
“What’s going on?” O asks.
“I’m not sure.” I cup her face. An invisible force tosses me across the room. I hit the wall and slam down onto the floor. I glance up to see O pinned to the ceiling and Brook levitating. A red crescent moon appears on her forehead.
Shadows creep up the wall. The lights flicker, and the stench of decay fills the space. Brook’s head snaps up, and her eyes turn black.
“Did you really think you could take what was mine?” The deep voice doesn’t belong coming out of my mate’s sensual mouth.
“She’s found her mates. There’s nothing you can do about that.”
She chuckles. The insidious noise sickens me. I struggle to break the hold the force has on me. The wolf inside me claws at my chest, anxious to get out.
“It won’t matter once we’re bonded by blood. We have ways around those biological responses. We don’t have to be savages just because we’re animals.”
I stare at Brook, helpless and trapped inside her own body, and will her she-wolf to wake. Snarling, I gnash my teeth, feeling the fangs extend as my bones vibrate.
Fight them, Cub. You haven’t come this far to let them win.
I feel her faint, but there on the edge of my mind.
Claim her, O.
O’s brow dips.I can’t move.
I’m making an opening. Take it.
“Omega. Wake up.” I put the power of an Alpha behind the command.
Her body jerks, and we all fall to the floor as her eyes return to their normal hazel shade. Groaning, she pushes up with her arms, and I move to her right as O lines up with her left.