Chapter 13
Taken
I don't know what to do. My heart won't stop pounding, and I'm scared to throw any power for fear of hitting Zee or Deke. It wouldn't hurt Kane, but I don't want to hurt the other two.
Yelps and roars escape the blurry scenery, and Sierra charges in to join them. Chaz swoops in to scoop up the naked girl who has passed out. They vanish from sight as he takes her away.
Amy's sire came to claim her, forcing her into submission. But how did he find her? And why now? Of all the times, why now?
Gage materializes beside me, and wraps his arms around me, threatening to haul me away, but I shock the hell out of him with a blast of power before he can vaporize us.
"Alyssa," he growls, chastising me only after he sees I haven't lost it.
Where's my crazy powerful, badass bitch self when I need her?
I'm not sitting back this time. I'm not letting everyone else fight while I sit on the sidelines. I'm strong enough to help, damn it.
Kane and the others are tossed back, and Sierra lets out a yelp of pain as the beast chomps on her much smaller side, drawing blood and terror.
"Sierra!" Deke yells, only to be met by almost the same fate.
Zee dives on Deke, knocking him to the ground before the monster can reach him, and Kane throws a blast of power that knocks the beast off his feet. Gage does the same, and the two of them continue to hit him over and over, but it does no good. He's too strong.
He charges Kane, but as he does, that darkness within me stirs, inviting in the crazy, the powerful, and the badass. Finally.
My scream goes out like an eerie, powerful echo, honing in on the lycan, and drawing the beast's attention. He stumbles to a halt, seeming to roar out in pain as blood creeps free from his eyes and ears. He staggers, as if he's drunk, and groans deep from his throat, until he collapses to the ground, unconscious before he even hits the earth.
My high leaves as quickly as it came, and I look around at all the faces questioning what the hell just happened. I look down at my hands, confused about what power I just used. All I did was scream. Why did I scream?
"A banshee's scream? How can she—"
"Just drop it, Deke," Kane growls, walking over to the slumbering lycan still collapsed on the ground.
I jerk my head away when Kane reaches down to grab the beast's head, wrapping his hands in a motion that foretells what's to come.
I hear the crack, and I gag, trying my best not to lose everything in my stomach. Bones crunch more, and I do lose it, dropping to my knees as I heave.
A chill washes over me, and I jerk my head up to see shadows materializing all around us, making me gasp and scramble backwards.
"Step away, night stalker," one man says, shattering the stealthy approach.
Kane does as he's told, and he starts toward me.
"I didn't say move!" the man barks, finally becoming visible.
"Don't say a word," Gage whispers to me as he comes to stand directly behind me. "Don't even breathe loudly."
What the hell is going on?
Several vehicles with bright lights come to join us, and I look around, growing all the more confused. Glowing orange eyes, glowing blue eyes, and several other entities join us. Then I see the marks. The tattoos that creep out at different places. They're all council members.
Why are they here?
"He attacked us," Kane says, not showing them an ounce of fear.
I start to go to him, but Gage grabs my arm, making me stay put as the members of the various councils go to view the dead body of the beastly lycan.
"I'm sure he did, but that's not why we're here. It has come to our attention that you've knowingly been harboring a fugitive lycan who never registered herself. The spawn of this one, no doubt.
No. No. No.
Kane's jaw tenses, and Chaz materializes with Amy in tow, making me almost crunch my teeth in two.
"I've got her right here," Chaz says, carrying her sheet-wrapped body toward them.
"You betraying bas—"
Gage clamps his hand over my mouth, holding me steady and muffling the rest of my words. I struggle, but it's in vain. I almost wish there was a red moon out right now.
"How many of them knew?" A woman in white asks as she materializes to join us.
I've seen her before. She's on the light council.
"As far as I can tell, just the coven was aware—the three night stalkers and the other lycan. Alyssa Coldwell was unaware. Gage is Somage. He would have reported it himself if he had known."
Gage presses his hand harder against my mouth as I beg to tell the truth. Kane tenses, but he doesn't waver or cower.
"And the incubus?" she asks, glancing over to Dice who is concreted to his spot.
"Unaware. He's as new to the group as the rest. The coven kept this very secretive for obvious reasons."
"Very well. You did good. Now, get them out of here while we take care of this."
Chaz walks toward me. That's very dangerous to do right now.
My power starts stirring. I can't let them take Kane. I won't.
Just as they walk toward him, my eyes catch the blurring of everything around me, and the arms around my waist grip tighter as we barrel through the different planes. When we materialize in a field, I release a shot of power, but Gage dodges it, shaking his head.
Chaz appears with Dice, and I lash out, throwing orb after orb, inviting the dark high to come in. But it never does. The one time I want it, it leaves me abandoned.
Chaz manages to successfully avoid each of my frenzied attacks, and Gage finally throws up a force field, halting anything else I throw from even coming close to reaching them.
"Calm the fuck down!" Chaz blares, as if he has a right.
"Calm down? Seriously? Calm down?" I ask incredulously. "You just sent my boyfriend to the fucking council on a silver platter. They'll kill him, you stupid son of a bitch!"
I try to crack through Gage's force field, but it holds steady. I need my darkness. Where the hell is it?
"I had no choice," Chaz says, sounding exasperated. "If I hadn't turned him over, they would have known you all knew. Then they would have arrested you. They've already got the damn dark angel. It wouldn't have posed them a problem to take you if they managed to take him. Do you know what would happen if they saw your true fey origins? They'd fucking kill you. That's what they'd do. Then they'd go after your mother and Drackus. We're talking about a full scale war before it's over, Alyssa. Do you understand that? They wouldn't have believed me if I had told them no one from his coven knew about Amy. We'd all be in jail and there would be no one to break them out."
Dray? Shit. They've got Dray, too.
I take several deep breaths as I let his words resonate. "So you're going to help me?"
He rolls his eyes as if I'm stupid.
"Of course I'm going to help you."
Gage drops the force field when he feels me slowly calming down, but when he least suspects it, I knock him and Chaz both on their asses with a powerful shot. They fall to the ground with a thud, and Dice cackles. I cut him a glare, and he smothers his laughter with his hand.
"We need to get out of here. Pine Shore would be better than staying here," Gage grumbles while climbing to his feet. "We need a fool-proof plan. Nothing rash."
I sigh out heavily while walking toward him. "How did they know? How did that lycan find us?"
Gage shrugs. "Is that what you want to focus on, or do you want to get to Pine Shore so we can form a plan? Because we can only do one thing at a time."
I'm almost tempted to strike him again, but instead, I pull him to me, ignoring the small spark between us. "Get us out of here."