“Who’s that next to Elise?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
“It’s no one other than my brother, Etan.”
My eyes widened as I observed the couple. The way she touched his arm and laughed at his jokes nauseated me. She had her act down to a T, flipping her hair just so and fluttering her dark eyelashes at him with pure feminine seduction.
It was sickening. If anyone could win the award for best actress, it was Elise. She had tricked me all my life, and now she was working her magic on Ephrem’s brother.
Possibly for the throne.
No… could she?
I narrowed my eyes, casting all the evil in the world in her direction. She was after the MarkTier throne! With the magic of my talisman and three others, she might be able to get what she wanted. That didn’t answer my question about why she wanted the damn throne in the first place. Besides power, of course. For some people, that was enough. She had no prospects of gaining such a position in the ArcKnight court, but here, the world was her oyster.
My hatred burned an inferno deep inside my broken heart. That traitorous fiend!
I wasn’t the only one flustered by what I saw. Ephrem was showing signs of losing it as we both slipped back down out of sight. I hated to think that this was what we were up against. We were doomed if she was under Etan’s protection. How could I swipe my talisman back when she was being guarded like that? There was a ring of bodyguards around them, mostly for Etan, but hell, it might as well be an iron wall.
“Well, there goes our plan to do this discreetly,” Ephrem groaned.
“He’s your brother. Surely you can convince him to help us.”
Ephrem looked away, frowning. “He won’t help us.”
“Why not?”
“We haven’t spoken since the Pit. We haven’t even seen each other since. I doubt he’d help us.”
I glared at him, feeling all hope for retrieving my talisman float away with the breeze.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. Now think of something else, or we might as well leave.”
I stood and paced the roof we stood on. The perimeter had a half wall to keep the people down below from seeing us so there was no fear that we’d be spotted. I couldn’t just sit there and watch all hope to save myself drain away. There had to be a way. Why was he so stubborn?
“Okay, fine. Look. She has to be staying somewhere in the palace, right? Any royal harem is usually kept near them for entertainment purposes, if I recall right. Gil had something like that, but none of his concubines were up for the throne. Rafaela hated that he had a harem and immediately got rid of the girls when they were engaged, much to his dismay. There were special hallways the girls used so as to not be seen entering and leaving Gil’s room. Do you have that here? Where do you think he would’ve set her up?”
Ephrem scowled at the suggestion, but it disintegrated a moment later as his face brightened with a new idea.
“You’re on to something there. That’s exactly what we’re going to do. Come on.”
“Wait! Where are we going?”
He grinned wickedly at me and winked. “You’ll see.”
***
From inside the tunnels, which ran along the walls of the palace and underneath, I felt sure we’d never discover where Etan was keeping Elise. I bet she was living in the lap of luxury while I was out here busting my ass and walking through dusty passageways that hadn’t seen a good thorough cleaning since they’d been secretly inserted into the building plans. The amount of cobwebs alone made me want to squeal in horror. It made my blood boil at the thought, and I couldn’t wait to pay her a visit to show her just how much pain she’d caused me.
First, we had to find the place. Luckily, Ephrem had been a curious child and knew these passages by heart. Now he led us to the part of the royal stronghold he believed would’ve been given to my ex-best friend. Though it could house a harem if need be, the practice was now frowned upon. Etan would probably have Elise there all by herself.
How quaint.
“Are we there yet?” I hissed out into the darkness. The sole light came from a lonely lamp Ephrem carried in his hand. In the other he held out a short sword, a Casinlan. It was a sword he’d pulled out right before leaving his apartment in the Outlands of Temple. I’d seen one before. Gil had one just like it. Only royalty had these kinds of swords because the metal to make them was exceedingly rare and the process used to create a single blade was an extremely specialized technique. Few blacksmiths knew how to duplicate them. I didn’t even know if there were any more alive who knew how to make one of those swords.
I had one with a slightly different design back home. I wished I could have grabbed it before being unceremoniously tossed out into the Outlands. Rafaela hadn’t even been there when they’d led me out the doors and slammed them shut behind me. It was a special sword given to me by my mother, and the metal had a luminescent quality. I’d forgotten about it until now.
It was bittersweet to think about how much hell Rafaela had probably given Gil for not letting her say goodbye to me. I hoped she gave him and the Elders an earful of contempt.
The thought of my sister comforted me as we walked along the damp, rank halls. These had been made for the royals to escape through in case of emergency, but I bet that Etan didn’t even remember they were there. Ephrem hadn’t spoken much about his brother since he’d told me what he did to save him. I didn’t ask. It was probably a sore subject.
“Here.” Ephrem tugged me toward the right and into a small inlet where an old rusty door stood, the same color as the stone. He felt around the top of the doorframe and produced a dusty key. As he turned it in the keyhole, the old lock screamed through the silence. In the darkness, it sounded like a battleship landing in the middle of the city.
I gulped as he paused and listened hard for anyone who might’ve heard us. After a few moments, he turned the key once more. The lock gave a resonating click, and the door swung open toward us.
“No one uses this much, do they?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nope. I think I had the only key, actually. Strange, but I loved wandering these halls as a kid. I forgot about them until you reminded me. I doubt Etan has even bothered to check them out since then.”
“That's a shame; this could be a fun exploration.”
“Yeah. When this is all over and our packs are best friends again, I’ll take you around the whole thing. It’s huge.”
“Sounds like a date.”
He smiled, revealing a small dimple on his right cheek that made my heart jump. Never was I so relieved that the darkness shielded my red face. He was sexy as hell, and one taste wasn’t enough for me.
We continued through the doorway into a sort of in-between crawlspace. I could see the support beams behind the walls of the interior room. There were pinpricks of light all over this area. I stepped forward, pressing my face against one such hole to find that we were inside the wall of a vast apartment furnished to the nines with silk pillows, silk settees and luxurious amenities throughout. I was immediately jealous, for if this was what Elise was basking in, I’d been ever so wrong about every part of our friendship all these years.
I hated that she had betrayed me. I’d confided in her like no other. No one knew me as she had. Every significant event in my life, every sordid detail, every crush, every tragedy, every secret… she knew them all. When she’d turned on me, she’d ripped out the last bit of trust I’d had left. It would be a long time before I let anyone else in like that.
“Is this it?” I asked, my question was loud in the silence of the room. Ephrem nodded and motioned me toward him. He stood before a carved-out rectangular area in the wall where hung what looked like the back of a painting. I was betting this was the way in.
He pushed at the painting, and it made a soft whirring sound followed by several nearly inaudible clicks. I hoped no one was in the room, for when the picture started to move to the side, it would b
e obvious we were there.
I held my breath and stayed to the side of the entrance in case we were suddenly ambushed. When nothing happened, we both stepped in and took in the immaculate surroundings. Ephrem reached back to replace the painting. At least we had a route of escape. I really hoped we didn’t need it. If the talisman was here, it would make things all too easy.
“Okay, look around, where would she keep her valuables?” Ephrem began checking drawers in the sitting area, and I headed toward the adjoining bedroom. Inside was an oversized bed with a lush satin comforter and mounds of pillows. Even the vanity desk to one side was abnormally large and strewn with jewels, brushes and hair clips. I had a sickening feeling she’d been there a lot longer than just the short time since she’d stolen my talisman. She’d been a mole the entire time, and I’d been none the wiser. I swore it would never happen again, and if I got ahold of her, her death would not come fast enough.
I sifted through her jewelry chest and found a false bottom in one of the drawers. Surprised, I shifted the plank of wood and scooped out a small burlap sack. I could feel my fingers tingle as I turned it over in my palm. This was it. I knew it. I ripped the cord loose and dumped my talisman plus two others into my hand.
Pay dirt!
“I got it!” I rushed back into the living room to find Ephrem with his arms up and a gun pointed at his chest. Elise had entered the room when I’d been in the bedroom. I stared hard at my old friend.
“I should’ve known you’d try to steal it back. Stupid, really. I never thought you’d get this far. This place is a fortress. How did you get in here, anyway?” Elise scowled as she moved the gun from Ephrem to me and back again, not knowing which one to shoot first. I could see she wanted to do it. Her eyes burned with rage, and her psychosis was apparent to me now. What an actress. Absolutely award-winning. What a fool I’d been to believe she was my best friend.
“Elise, put the gun down. We’re friends, remember? I was banished and never gave them your name. No one is searching for you. I swear.”
I hoped to appeal to her good side, but I was afraid I was going to lose this battle. One of us had to subdue her, and I was scared that one of us would get shot in the process.
Her gun flashed under the bright overhead lights. The scent of silver oozed from its metal encasing. There would be blood, she craved it, wanted it. There would be death along with it. There was no way either of us could get far with a silver bullet in our guts.
I glanced at Ephrem, relieved to find that he was the picture of pure calm under pressure. Something had to give, but I didn’t know what.
“Elise… please. Put the gun down. You were my friend. Don’t you remember? We did everything together. Our tea parties were all the rage at the palace. We’d wear the best crinoline dresses, tiaras, jewels, things most little girls couldn’t even dream of. You did it all with me. We were partners in crime. Remember that? Please remember.”
Elise’s evil smirk melted in confusion. Her eyes glistened with a swell of unshed tears as her thoughts jerked her back into the past. I wanted her to remember that it couldn’t have all been an act. It had to have been real in some way, right? There wasn’t a person alive who could fake that kind of kinship for so long. I had to play with those tiny threads of hope I was tugging at in the hope of pulling her back into the life we’d shared. She had to know it’d been real. She had to.
“I stole your talisman. There’s no going back from that. I’ve taken three of them; yours, one from each ArcKnight and MarkTier armories, and I’ll get one more tonight. All four will be mine to use as I wish.” She looked like she was brushing off the cobwebs of the past, and her devious side had taken control once more.
“Elise, please don’t do this. If you do, I’ll die. You’re my friend. You were my only friend for the longest time. You know that. You still are. Don’t do this. I won’t give you away, I promise.”
“What do you mean you’re stealing another talisman tonight?” Ephrem interrupted. I wanted to strangle him to keep him quiet, but he had a point. If she was going to steal another talisman, who was her intended victim?
I met Ephrem’s eyes as we both realized what was going on. Tonight Etan was to marry Elise in a royal ceremony and he would give his amulet to her. She didn’t have a talisman to give him in exchange—she wasn’t of royal blood—so one would be made for her. With the three others she’d stolen, she’d have everything she needed. She would then kill Etan and me when she used our powers and took the throne as ruler of the MarkTier pack. Then she’d be able to overtake the ArcKnight stronghold. With her unnatural powers from the talismans, it’d be a one-sided fight.
I had to stop her. She could never marry Etan. It would be disastrous for both packs.
“You think I’m stupid enough to tell you?” Elise scoffed. “I shall have everything I’ve ever wanted tonight, and you won’t be getting in my way. I’ll have you strung on the gallows and burned before you can even call for reinforcements. This is just the way it is. Now… give me the talismans, old friend. I promise I will make the deaths of your sister and her beau as quick and painless as yours.”
She stepped forward, her gun still aimed at Ephrem, the naturally larger threat, but she was heading toward me. She was a little too confident. Before she took another step, I’d decided who was going to live through this.
I slid the talismans around my neck to join with mine and summoned their powers. A soft vibrating hum came from each of them, surprising me. I gasped as the four talismans reached for one another, connecting their energies through my flesh.
The moment they linked, I took off running toward Elise, shifting as I flew through the air. She had half a second to realize that I’d already been wearing a talisman, and confusion spread across her face. Soft fur blossomed over my skin as my bones transformed and slid into position. My clothes ripped and fell away, and I was a wolf before my feet even hit the ground. I slammed right into Elise, sinking my canines into her forearm.
Her scream hurt my ears, but I held on with a ferocious grip as she attempted to shake me off.
“Get off me!” Her screech echoed out through the door and down the hall.
Elise’s eyes widened in surprise, her gun had flown to the floor and under the sofa. She growled and roared as she morphed, trying to throw me off with the shift. Her arm got loose of my jaw, but the moment she changed to a wolf, I had my mouth clamped at her throat.
Her whine was barely audible over my growl as I shook her body back and forth. Blood sprayed across the doorway and stained the walls. She scratched helplessly at my legs, never one to give up easily.
Right as she was starting to yield and weaken, the world lit up like an atom bomb explosion as a gun fired and something feeling like a runaway train smacked into me.
Chapter Fifteen
Ephrem
I barely heard the shot. I felt it more than anything, but I wasn’t the one injured. It came as an odd, disjointed sensation followed by Lily’s collapse to the ground. I was stunned, and pain had me hunching over as I lost breath. Lily’s body morphed back to human a moment later, and her naked body lay eerily still while a blooming puddle of blood poured from her chest.
I rushed toward Elise, who was now turning back into a human, grasping at her neck as blood sprayed out in time with her pulse. She gasped for air and flopped about the floor in confusion.
My anger surged against that woman for hurting my Lily, and I could feel my wolf surface as I fought the morph, growling at the maniacal woman. I would’ve torn her to pieces with my claws right that second if I hadn’t spotted my brother standing in the doorway with a gun raised toward me.
“Ephrem!” Etan shouted. He’d caught me off guard, but I continued to approach Elise, hungering to finish what Lily had started. My face was partially transformed, and I gave Etan a show of fangs as I unexpectedly pounced toward him and knocked the gun from his hands.
“Thieves!” Elise gurgled. “They’re trespassing in my apar
tment! They’re nothing but thieving traitors! Kill them now!” The outburst did nothing to help her condition, and she fell back onto her knees, struggling to breathe while still clutching her bleeding neck. She was paling by the second but didn’t seem to notice how much blood she was losing.
“Elise….” Etan’s voice was filled with panicked concern for his mate.
She slumped to the floor, tears streaming down her face.
“Elise!” Etan jumped toward her, but I was already there and gave him a shove backward.
“You shot Lily!” I hollered and gave my brother a sucker punch to his face. Blood oozed from his lip, and he touched his swelling cheek before bum-rushing me, slamming into my chest and sending us both toppling across the room, smashing furniture as we went.
We kept at it, punching and kicking, shoving and pulling each other until the room was shattered and there was nothing left unbroken. Exhausted, we both crawled to our knees, huffing for breath and spitting blood to the floor.
I waited, crouched and ready to pounce if needed. My snarls were now a low vibrating hum in the back of my throat as I eyed Etan, keeping his every movement in my periphery. At least my brother hadn’t also shot me before I disarmed him. He very well could have. I hoped he knew what was going on here. If not, he was in for a rude awakening.
Movement in the hallway caught my attention, and Etan backed away from me as his guards rushed into the room. Realization passed across his face as he finally took a moment to consider what was happening.
He pointed at Elise. “Guards, strip her of any weapons or artifacts and bring them to me. Then take her away and have her wounds treated, but do not let her out of your sight.”
As more guards surrounded me, I held my hands up and morphed completely back to my human form, blood dripping from my nose. I didn’t care. It bothered me little to be beaten and bruised. Etan looked worse for wear. I was more concerned for Lily, who was unconscious on the floor and still bleeding.