The Forbidden Wolf King: Kings of Avalier, Book 4(60)

I steeled myself as one of the guards left the cell in which the fight had been broken up and made his way to the center of the room.

Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed that the woman was still halfway through shoving my brother out the window. It was an extremely tight fit and he was having to crawl on his elbows to pull himself through.

I scrambled for ideas on how to get the guard to look away but my mind was drawing a blank. Anything I did would just draw his attention in this direction.

“Hey!” a male in one of the cells to the left side of the room shouted. The guard turned in his direction and then the man pulled his trousers down and flashed his backside, pressing it against the bars. “Kiss my arse, you bloodsucker sell-outs!” he cried.

The guard pulled out a baton and ran forward, rapping it hard against the bars and the man fell forward laughing.

“That’s enough!” the guard yelled. “Or you’ll all be put down!”

I looked back at the window just in time to see the woman replace the bar with shaking cuffed hands and then face forward as if nothing happened. I could just see Oslo’s feet as they grew smaller in the distance and he ran away.

Tears built up in my eyes but I forced them down.

He was safe. Now it was time to fight.

I walked closer to the bars and pressed my face against them, looking at the man who had helped distract the guard.

I gave him a nod which I hoped conveyed my gratitude. He nodded back in solidarity.

Kailani stood next to me then, laying her head on my shoulder. It was the equivalent of a hug. Or the best you could do for a hug when you were both handcuffed.

“Do you have family?” I asked her.

“Just my aunt. No siblings. Parents are dead,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Mine too. He … was, is all I have,” I told her.

She nudged me and forced me to face her. There was a calmness in her gaze that brought me peace.

“We’re going to get out of this and then you, Madelynn, Arwen and I are going to go on a yearly women’s retreat. Like the men did when they were younger,” she declared.

I grinned. “Oh yeah?”

She nodded. “There is an elvin spa I know of that gives great massages and they have mud baths and all the confections you could hope to eat.”

“What will the men do without us?” I inquired, playing into her fantasy because it was taking my mind off things.

“Watch the children and tend to the kitchen of course,” she replied which caused me to bark out into laughter.

My face fell pretty quickly though. “How did we get here? War. It seems so … wrong.”

She looked at the guards. “Hatred. Division. If people focused on what they had in common, or how they could help one another, rather than how they were different, it would solve a lot of problems.”

Well said.

“Kailani?”

She looked at me seriously.

“Zaphira killed my big brother. She kidnapped my little brother. I can’t let her live. I may have to lose my life in order to kill her, so please tell Axil I’m sorry.”

Her face fell at that and she looked at my stomach where a child grew inside of me. I didn’t want to think about that right now. I just wanted revenge. It was a steady banging war drum in my chest, a thirst that could not be quenched until Zaphira’s head was severed from her body.

Kailani nodded. “You will have a small window of time if they put you in the machine that steals your magic. They take off your cuffs. Only then can you use your power to try and overtake them.”

I dipped my chin in understanding. “Thank you.”

We fell silent then, sitting against the bars and waiting for the next move. Eventually someone would come take one or both of us. And after several hours, they did. My head had fully healed by the time the guard came for Kailani and me.

“Where are you taking us?” Kailani asked as we were hauled out of the cell.

“Shut up,” the guard told her and then peered into the cell, blinking rapidly. “Where is the kid?”

“Do you want me to answer or should I shut up?” Kailani said.

He reached up and smacked her hard across the face and her lip split back open.

“They already took him!” I screamed at him.

He glared at me. “Where? Who?”

Kailani was holding her cheek. “How should we know? We don’t work here. A guard took him to the lab.”

He growled and pointed the sharp tip of a knife at my throat. “Walk and don’t get any ideas or I start stabbing.”

I did as he asked, feeling like it was a good sign that my brother hadn’t been brought back down to the dungeon since he’d left.

Was he free? Already outside the gates? Was Axil okay? I felt for our bond, hidden among all of my anxiety for my brother, and could sense that he was still alive. I would know if my mate was dead, right?

We were marched up the stairs and down a hallway to a large dining room. Outside the room, two more guards were stationed. One of them broke away and stepped up beside Kailani. “They’re ready,” he said to the guard that held us.

They?

The doors opened and I steeled myself as I took in the space before us. The Nightfall queen sat at the head of a large table with a regal-looking bloodsucker next to her. I didn’t know anything about necromerian royalty but this man reeked of power and influence. His black high-collared jacket framed his pale face and he stared at me with a gaze I didn’t like. One that was hungry, like a half-starved animal.