Suddenly Fated (Wolves of Riverton #1)

21. Ari

21. Ari

“So what’s the plan? Jamie asked me quietly. We stood in the forest, hidden behind a group of large trees. We could see Blackwell’s house just beyond the tree line. We’d gotten past the border guards, but the house itself had more posted at all of the entrances. “You know he lured us here on purpose. We need to get in and out without being seen.”

I shushed him. Closing my eyes, I reached out with my mind. Esyn? Can you hear me?

Ari! Yes, I can hear you! We’re here!

I breathed a huge sigh, reassured by her voice. “They’re in there and Esyn can hear me. She’s responding, Jamie,” I told him. I suddenly felt hope and excitement. I couldn’t tell if the feeling was mine or hers.

Esyn, are you hurt? Is the baby ok?

I’m alright. A bump on the head is all. We’re cold and hungry, but the baby is perfect.

Avelin?

She’s just fine. We’re locked in her old bedroom.

“Av is ok too, and not hurt.” Jamie’s shoulders sagged in relief.

Baby, I have Jamie with me. We’re going to try to find a way in. There are guards everywhere. There was silence for a good 30 seconds.

Avelin says that there’s a tunnel under the house. You access it through a grate in the floor of a ruined shed on the northern side of the property. It comes out in the basement. But there are more guards inside the house, and we don’t know where Blackwell is. Please, please be careful!

I relayed the information that Esyn gave me. Thanks to bags that we wore around our necks in wolf form, we had shorts to change into. We dressed and then crept as silently as possible around the house, trying to stay hidden in the trees. The property was nearly as large as ours, so it took quite some time to make our way around to the ruins of the shed.

“I’m not surprised that this thing is unguarded,” Jamie whispered. “It’s a pile of rotten lumber. How the hell are we going to get in there?”

We ended up crawling on our stomachs through the grass, snaking our way up to the shed. A small hole in what was once the back wall was the best way in, but it was partially blocked with debris. Sweat dripped down my forehead despite the cold as we struggled with moving the heavy pieces of wood and stone without being overheard. Finally, we made enough progress to squeeze through. Jamie went in first, and I followed, scraping my shoulders along the sides of the hole. Once we were through, there was a bit more room and we could stand up, though we were forced to remain bent at the waist. The ceiling had partially fallen in and old cans, tools, and other detritus lay around everywhere.

The grate miraculously remained unblocked by anything but overgrown grass and weeds that pushed up through the dirt. I reached down and lifted the heavy iron. We peered down into a narrow, pitch black hole with a rusty ladder bolted to the side of the stone wall, leading down into what appeared to be a void. “Between you and me, I’d rather eat my shoes than go down there,” Jamie admitted, cringing. “Never tell Av I told you that. We’re doing this shit anyway, right?”

“We are. Let’s go get our women.” It was so dark, I couldn’t see my own hands in front of me. Roots pushed through the stone in the walls and scraped against us. I felt glad that neither of us was particularly claustrophobic. We moved down the rungs of the ladder slowly, purely by feel. I had no idea how far down this hole went, but I didn’t want to risk falling to my death now.

“ UGH, ” Jamie whisper-shouted just above me.

“What?”

“A spider.”

“Dude, you are a Werewolf. You can literally tear someone apart with your teeth, and you’re afraid of a spider?”

“It’s a big fucking spider, ok? Fuck you.”

At last we reached the ground, still encased in darkness. The passageway widened, but I could reach out my arms and touch the damp, slightly slimy sides.

As we made our way underneath the property toward Blackwell’s house, sounds reached our ears just before light began to make things more visible.

“Don’t you touch her! She can walk on her own! Father, make your thugs put her down!” Avelin’s voice rang out, while at the same time Esyn said in a strong voice “If I get the chance, I’m going to twist your balls until they snap off.”

I felt rage at the idea of them touching her, but a part of me thought that’s my girl.

A male voice, undoubtedly Blackwell, broke in. “Shut your traps! Donny, strap them up. You girls put up a fight and this will be over before it starts, because I’ll gut you both. Besides, you don’t want to miss the show, do you?”

“What show?” Avelin demanded.

“Get your fucking hands off of them right now!” I commanded as we thundered in from the entrance to the tunnel. I went straight for Blackwell, intending to take him out first thing, but guards thwarted my plan when they came out of nowhere. Stupid of us to leap before we looked, but we weren’t thinking rationally with our women in danger. I cursed inwardly. One of them tackled Jamie and another got me in a brief chokehold, but I shook him off. Sunset guards descended on us like ants as we fought our way across the room, kicking and punching, but not getting enough time to shift before the next one was on us. I ducked under one punch as I came up with an uppercut, a guard’s head snapping back and blood pouring from his mouth. Hands attempted to hold me while a short, burly guard barreled toward me with his head lowered like a bull. I used the arms locked around me for leverage and kicked out with my feet, catching the bull in the temple and knocking him unconscious as my bodyweight came back down, forcing the guard holding me to let go. I somersaulted and jumped up, facing him. We grappled until three more, who had already managed to get Jamie on the ground and tied up, joined the fray. I got one last good punch in, likely knocking some teeth loose, but with four remaining guards working together, they overpowered me. I struggled and kicked one in the kneecap as they pushed me into a chair and tied me up. He went down, howling.

“Don’t be a pussy!” Blackwell shouted at the man. The whole time we’d been fighting he’d been pressed against the wall, out of the way of danger and shouting encouragement at his men, but he’d never attempted to join the fight himself.

Jamie and I now sat side by side, sweating and breathing hard, tied to huge iron chairs by the wrists and ankles. The buckles on the thick leather restraints had to be made of silver, because when I tried to shift and break free, I couldn’t do it. Three of the guards left the room, one of them hopping along while being supported between his friends. Avelin and Esyn were strapped to the opposite wall by the same leather straps attached to chains anchored in the stone. Blackwell grinned down at us maniacally as the remaining guard wheeled in a table with several silver weapons set on top. He had to maneuver around his fallen comrades, passed out all over the floor. Several others tromped down the stairs and hauled up the unconscious men, removing them from the room. The guard then moved to secure the basement doorway, standing with arms crossed and averting his eyes.

No one said a word as we all watched. I took the time to assess the situation, but couldn’t come up with an immediate plan of escape. What the hell are we going to do now? I thought. I growled, enraged.

“This is too perfect.” Blackwell gestured around the room. “Like a fucking Shakespeare play. I thought you’d be smarter than this, Michael. Seems like you’re as dumb as your Dad was, though, playing right into my hands like this. You did exactly what I thought you were going to do. Now,” he said, surveying the contents of the table. “The big question is, what do I do first? Do I take this big, sharp silver knife,” he asked as he moved toward Esyn, “and cut the cub out of her while you watch them both bleed to death?” He ran the side of the blade across Esyn’s stomach as she fought to stay still, even as she quivered with terror. “I could do that. That would be a damn shame though, wasting such a fine piece.” He stroked the side of Esyn’s cheek, and she spat in his face. Sputtering, he slapped her. Then he turned to us, laughing.

“A girl with fire! I love it!”

I strained my entire body, trying to break out of my restraints.

“Or, how about the love birds?” he said. He picked up a small, silver dagger and plunged it into Jamie’s thigh. Jamie screamed in agony but cut it off abruptly as if he didn’t want to show any weakness. His breath whistled in and out through his nose as he forced his mouth to remain closed. Avelin screamed along with him, sobbing. “Father, please! Please stop, please! I’ll do anything!”

“Oh, you’ll do anything, huh? That’s what you said before, when I told you to kill this bitch-” he gestured toward Esyn, “but you didn’t keep your promise, did you Girl?”

With his words, the entire world seemed to slow on its axis. I whipped my head around to Avelin. Esyn’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide as she took in her hysterical friend. Jamie cried, “What? Avelin! No!”

“Esyn, I didn’t…”

“Oh but you did, didn’t you Girl. You weren’t successful, but you sure as hell did.”

Avelin shrieked, “You made me , you fucking son of a bitch! You told me if I didn’t you’d have Jamie tortured and killed!”

She continued to bawl as Blackwell looked on in obvious glee, just watching the show play out. I tried to make sense of my chaotic thoughts. Avelin, sweet, proper Avelin, my best friend, had betrayed us. Had tried to kill Esyn. Had she-

“Did you kill my father?” I asked her quietly, my voice coming out hoarse. As she shook her head and opened her mouth to reply, a voice from the stairs interrupted her.

“She did not. That was all me.” Mother!

“Well hello, Beautiful.” Blackwell welcomed her with a kiss on the cheek. My mother stood on the dirt floor in the center of the makeshift torture chamber dressed in a sleek silk pantsuit and heels, as if she were going to a society event.

“Darling, you started without me!” she whined.

“Sorry, Love. You take forever to get ready.” Love?

“What the fuck is this?” I demanded.

“Oh, Michael. I’ve told you a thousand times to watch your language. You know it isn’t proper,” She chastised like we were sitting in the formal parlor. “I’d like you to meet my fated mate.” She moved to Blackwell, taking his hand and staring at him with adoration in her eyes. “We lost our love once, years ago. But now he’s going to give us another chance.” Behind her, I noticed Blackwell rolling his eyes.

She turned to me. “Michael, everything is going to be perfect, just like I wanted all along. Except now, you and Avelin won’t need to worry about being together if you don’t want to. We’re just going to get rid of you all. Then you can all be lovey dovey together in the next realm with the Goddess, and my Ab and I will take over the River Pack.”

“Mother! You are insane! You can’t seriously mean-”

“Oh yes, I can.” Her voice turned sharp and angry. “I put up with your father for thirty five years! For over three decades I had to endure his face, and his voice, and his unilateral decisions. I gave up heaven for sheer hell. And you. I had to lie with that man, letting him put his hands on me when it made me sick. All to have you. The golden child, the one everyone worshiped. I had to vomit and get fat. He wouldn’t allow me to get a nanny, did you know? I had to change your disgusting diapers. I had to feed you until my breasts became flat and shriveled. You ruined my body! I spent all of my time and energy on you, training you to become something great. And this is how you repay me? So yes, I do ‘seriously mean’. I’m finally going to have everything I’ve ever wanted for myself ! Power! Control! A say over my own life! And all I need to gain that power and control is to do what I’ve been dreaming of all this time. Starting with her.” She pointed a manicured fingernail at Esyn. Mother took up the long knife and moved toward the wall until they were face to face.

“If only you’d listened to me in the first place and rejected one another. Alas-” She raised her knife wielding arm. She didn’t get the chance to follow through, as Blackwell grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the knife, reached around, and slit my mother’s throat with the silver dagger he’d used on Jamie.

Blood spattered in an arc, covering Esyn’s face and body. She flinched and screamed as Mother’s body fell to the floor, and spat blood from her mouth, retching. The rest of us watched in shock.

“Stupid whore,” Blackwell said, grimacing down at her body. “I rejected you once, and once was enough.” He turned to us, his eyes lit with an evil glee. “I don’t share my toys. This is my show and mine alone.”