Chapter 12

Jacob

Somewhere in West Virginia

 

A low static sound broke the night sounds of a mountain deep in the heart of West Virginia coal country. As the sound cracked the night a flash of orange fire briefly lit up the night. Anyone glancing out would dismiss the flash as a trick of their eyes, as the rumored foxfire said to plague the hills, or an odd flash of the millions of fireflies that turned the night into a fairy forest.

As Jacob looked around he stared in awe as tiny greenish yellow lights winked off and on, and for a moment he knew why fairy stories were told. Nights like this, filled with reality but hued with a sense of magic in an age without science. Then his own reality sank in and he dismissed his wonder. Fairies were real after all, not glowing bugs in the darkness. He looked at his brothers and found their eyes on him, waiting for his direction.

Jacob had begun to adjust to his new position but sometimes he still felt a moment of doubt. He had no time for doubt now. His plan was clear.

“We go in hard, fast, shifted. I go in first. No, Cade, before you start, I’ll go first. You know that’ll be for the best, trust me.” Jacob had yet to reveal he wasn’t just a vampire shifter but a vampire dragon shifter to his other brothers, only to Cade. He was all but invincible and he knew it, he was going in first.

“I hear you, brother. I don’t like it, but I hear you.” Cade closed his mouth again and leaned against a scrubby pine tree, one of the many trees dotting the mountainside.

Jacob looked up for a moment, seeing the moonlight. It had taken them longer to get here than he thought, he realized suddenly. It had been morning when they left but now it was night. Or maybe the forest canopy was so thick in these hills that it looked like night all the time. Either way, he had a job to do.

“Alright, Jadrian, I want you to shift. Concentrate on something—anything that will give you strength and power, you hear me? Go ahead.” Jacob knew that Jadrian had been hesitant to shift since that first time and wanted to get this out of the way. If Jadrian shifted into something harmless they needed to sort that now.

Jadrian closed his eyes, his face a mask of concentration and in an instant another creature had taken his place. All of the brothers stared down at the creature shorter than Jadrian’s normal stature with awe, impressed at his choice. This was an animal that could fight.

Jacob looked down at the silverback gorilla staring up at him with glowing orange eyes.

“That’ll do just fine, well done. The rest of you?” Jacob looked at his brothers expectantly.

Kane shifted into a brown bear, his claws long and capable of flaying flesh from bone. Cade went for the black panther again, his blond streak back above his eyes. Jacob intended to save his for the moment he needed it. No need to try and ramble through the area as a cumbersome dragon.

Leaning on his instincts once more, Jacob led the small group through the woods until he found an abandoned mine shaft. Something was pulling him in that direction, some invisible force that he couldn’t explain. His gut told him the few surviving Mungons were down there hiding in the darkness, holding the women as insurance for their lives.

He peered into the darkness, his vampire eyes making it seem almost like daylight once he’d focused. He doubted his instincts for a moment, doubted there was anyone in there. There had to be, though, this is where his instincts, his search for Sabrina through the ether, had led him.

A low growl from behind him and a nudge from Cade’s panther head let him know his brothers agreed; this was the place. Jacob knew some of those interrogated had mentioned a place such as this but hadn’t believed it. From that intel alone he knew there must be dozens of Mungons down there but he didn’t sense any of them. Jacob stepped into the shaft, his brothers stalking behind him.

They followed the shaft and went further down until the cold and damp turned into a steady heat and the air became stuffy. Jacob had no idea how men could work down here, crawling along shafts that went from head height to passages they practically had to crawl through. They walked for a half hour before they heard anything.

The shaft they’d followed, one of many, turned to the right and he edged to the end, seeing the faint flickering in flames on the wall. A man stood there on his own, playing a game on his phone.

On silent feet Jacob moved towards the man, not realizing he had turned into a form of fog until he reached out and punched the man in the head. The man looked up as he felt something brush his face but saw only a mist. He examined it but saw nothing so went back to his game. Jacob changed in a flicker, turning human once more, and punching the man in the head, knocking him out.

Jacob knew the Mungons leader was close. They were down here and stupidly burning something for light. Jacob might have grown up a farm boy in Kansas but even he knew you didn’t allow so much as a spark down in a coal mine, the places were notorious for filling up with explosive methane without anyone realizing it. The idiots had placed themselves in danger that went beyond just taking the women.

There was some kind of room that had been dug into the space off to the left, voices came from the area, but that was it. There wasn’t even a guard posted, as far as he could see. Too easy, his instincts screamed. Far too easy.

What might not be easy was the mass of Mungons rejects not far below. Jacob could sense them now, their anger, their thirst for blood, but not the blood of their leader. Those shifters still wanted to fight for their leader, to have a chance to prove themselves once more. Fanatics that would do anything. Jacob shuddered, hoping they wouldn’t find their way free.

He looked back at his brothers, tried to urge caution with his eyes, and went into the shaft heading straight for the room he had spotted. Sabrina was close, and he felt his heartbeat pick up the closer he got to her.

* * *

Sabrina

 

Sabrina stared at the people sitting around a tall rough pine wire spool, obviously something that had been used down in the mine. The men sat on wooden boxes with the words “dynamite” printed on them. How long had it been since those boxes were brought down here? Were they really sitting on dynamite or had the boxes been emptied? Stupid men. Her gaze shifted as the men, six of them, finally turned to the woman sitting at the end, her hands tied behind her back.

Allana, the shifter Alpha with the flaming red hair. Sabrina planned to drain her of blood and life as soon as she was freed from the enchanted chains wrapped around her wrists and waist. Sabrina had known other chains like the ones she’d used on Jacob existed but she didn’t realize anyone in America had them. They were an ancient tool, expensive and hard to come by.

They also worked on vampires, though they didn’t burn her skin, they simply rendered her muscles too weak to fight. Sabrina felt her fangs slide out of her gums as she watched the women. A man began to speak, a handsome man but for the cruel twist of his lips.

“So the prodigal daughter returns, bearing gifts as well.” His hand spread out to indicate Sabrina, Jacqui and Damesha. He looked them over, his sneer somehow growing deeper, his eyes becoming ugly with hateful glee. He had a bargaining tool now. And if the Alexanders didn’t want to play ball, well, he would enjoy torturing each woman to death.

Sabrina saw his thoughts and felt her own anger growing. She didn’t need the Alexander men to take this piece of shit out. She just needed to somehow break these chains.

“Father, I did as you bid me. I went out and found a new clan decades ago. They adopted me and kept me safe. They learned to trust me, and in time I became their Alpha. I brought you the women of our sworn enemies. I come in peace, please untie me,” Allana pleaded pitifully, her eyes round with an innocence Sabrina had never seen before.

She was this monster’s daughter and she was truly loyal to him. Holy hell! The news of Allana’s parentage somehow didn’t shock Sabrina but her duplicity did.

Sabrina had taken little interest in the other woman but wished she had now. She’d seemed like another arrogant shifter, not worth Sabrina’s notice, but now Sabrina saw that was probably what Allana had hoped for. Jadrian must be whipping himself into a frenzy of hatred if he knew that Allana was behind this. If anyone even realized they were missing at all.

She knew that as a shifter, Jacob was probably aware of her absence. The soul mating would not allow them to be separated for long before the consequences would be felt. That meant Cade had to be aware of it too. Jacob’s vampirism would protect him partly but Cade didn’t have that protection. Would they be able to fight? Sabrina didn’t know how quickly being separated from a soulmate would affect a shifter.

Sabrina went back to listening to the group as Allana spoke once more.

“Please, father? How can you doubt me?”

“I haven’t seen you in over a century, daughter. Why?”

“You told me to let the world think I hated you! How was I supposed to contact you and make them believe it?” Allana appeared desperate and that made Sabrina start to wonder.

Allana could be afraid the brutal man sitting beside her would kill her, but did that totally explain her desperation? Sabrina watched as the beautiful woman collected herself, her pale skin flushing slightly as she sat back. Sabrina could see Allana was wondering if she had overstepped herself.

“I suppose you’re right, daughter. You’ve brought me the Alexander women. The Alpha of the clan must already be feeling the effects of being so far from his mate. It’s just a pity there are only three of them. I’d have liked to take them all out.” James waved a hand at one of the other men around the table and looked bored with the whole thing.

Sabrina started to form a plan as she watched the exchange that ended with Allana being freed. She looked over at the other women and caught their eyes. She knew Jacqui was a witch, Damesha a psychic and she used those skills to communicate with the women quietly.

“Can you use your powers to free yourself, Jacqui?” The thought obviously hit its target when Jacqui tensed and looked over at her. A subtle nod of the witch’s head let her know Jacqui knew it was her.

“Good, do it quietly, then free Damesha.”

Sabrina was certain the men would want them to sit quietly until they came to the rescue but that wasn’t her style. She hadn’t lived for centuries without learning how to survive dangerous situations.

A few moments later a warm hand nudged hers, and Sabrina resisted the urge to jump. It was just Jacqui letting her know she was free. It was Sabrina’s turn to nod her head softly.

“Now, can you free me?” They were all huddled on the floor in a corner of the room, left in the shadows as the Mungons made plans for their dwindling future.

“We’re not done yet and now with my daughter and her clan here to help, they’ll not be so fast to attack us. If they can even figure out where we are. Even with that clown they have claiming my throne, they’re not going to find us here.” James spoke with a sneer that Sabrina was hoping to remove from his face, permanently.

That ‘clown’ was her man, not the joke this cretin was trying to make him out to be. She still wasn’t sure what she needed to do but she didn’t feel like sitting around waiting for someone to come and save her. Jacqui nudged her hand once more and Sabrina turned to her, wordless, as the other woman’s hand clasped hers. Her chains fell away and Sabrina tensed, ready to make her move.

* * *

Jacob

 

Jacob listened at the door, hearing the murmur of people within. He knew Allana was in the room but didn’t know the others. He also knew the women were in there but he didn’t sense Sabrina. He moved around, trying to hear what was being said. A shout came from the other end of the shaft and Jacob turned, blasting the man with a bright white light that made him disintegrate into a pile of dust.

He heard the startled sounds his shifted brothers made but ignored them as he made a sudden decision, time to end this. He pushed into the door, forcing the warped wood open as his brothers took up a position behind him. Bullets wouldn’t hurt him, knives couldn’t kill him, he was invincible as he walked into the room. That is, until he saw Sabrina standing tall and proud on the other side of the room. He knew he loved her in that instant, but didn’t have the time to ponder over it as they were all in danger.

She stood there, palm pointed at the table, the full brunt of her regal anger focused on a man sneering at the table. His heart stopped for a moment as he took in her beauty, as he felt love making his head spin, when a gun was pointed at Damesha’s head, the woman standing behind Sabrina but not covered enough to be out of the way of bullets.

Pushing down the sudden wobbliness of his knees, Jacob strode into the room, his black leather work boots making a hollow thump on the rock floor, and clawed his hands into the shirt of the man sneering at the table and pulled him across the wooden spool.

“You want to be king? You’re barely qualified to run a low-budget diner and you want to rule over the entire magical realm? You’re a total joke.” Throwing him against the wall, Jacob watched the man’s head bounce, hoping the landing split his skull.

Jacob’s hand shot out for the next one, a scraggly looking little prick with a narrow face and dirty hair. That one went flying as well, the others taking off at a run before Jacob could get to them but coming to a sudden halt when they saw the shifted brothers. They stood stock still with nowhere to run, their eyes huge as they began to plead.

“Look, we’ll do what you want, just let us go. We’ll even tell you where he hid your parents’ bodies! Please, would you not like to give them a proper burial?” The Ratman’s eyes peered up at Jacob, his hopes growing.

The room had come to a complete standstill, Jacob in the middle. His eyes shifted to Allana’s, and he gave her credit for not cowering. She sat there defiantly, eyes wide as he strode over to her.

“I’m not sure what to do with you yet, but you’ll have a chance to speak, to tell us your side. Later.”

He’d sensed bodies moving up from the depths of the mine, and knew they had little time. Turning to his brothers, he walked out of the room knowing Sabrina would keep the leaders in the room. She was magnificently furious but cold as she moved behind him, pinning the men to the walls with her eyes alone. She did have a rather stunning gaze.

Taking a deep breath, he moved out into the hallway, the tide of shifters looking like a wave as they jumped over each other to get to the brothers. Even after decades of being trapped below, they were still loyal to the one who’d put them there. He knew what he had to do, though he might not have enough room, even with the taller ceiling in this area.

Shifting into his dragon form, Jacob looked down at the tide of shifters. They moved as one and twitched as one. His was hunched down to fit into the narrow space, but he had room.

With a deep breath into his massive dragon lungs, Jacob breathed out, the dragon brain taking over the human as fire blazed from his mouth. He felt the heat but it didn’t burn him and it poured out his throat like napalm, coating the moving mass aimed at him and his brothers. They all came to a halt as the fire poured over them, the force of the blast stopping them in their tracks just as much as being covered in liquid fire did. The screams of dying shifters filled the heated air, but Jacob kept blasting at them, too angry, too determined to stop to worry about gases that may be present in the mine.

His brothers stood behind him, gasping in shock at the large red and black scaled creature with a red streak going from the crown of his head down to the tips of his three-pronged tale. Large horn like structures made the tail heavy and powerful and they avoided it as it began to thrash around, threatening to knock the shaft down entirely.

On Jacob went, fire blazing from the nostrils of his horned snout, his orange eyes large and round, gleaming with cold, animalistic hatred until the last scream faded away.

Breathing in once more gave the few that remained a moment to raise a hand. Even in his dragon state Jacob felt pity for these creatures that had given their loyalty to the wrong person. Breathing out, Jacob pushed the pity away. They’d made their choice, as stupid as it may be. They had to go as well, for even after decades in the dark they were still loyal to the man that had put them in their darkness. Once more he breathed in air and blew out fire, watching the last of them disappear into flames, the heat making the room unbearable for those near to it.

Jacob, his brain turning back towards its human side, looked at the pile of ashes and all that remained of the men and women who’d come for him and his brothers, all that was left of decades of hate. The mine was quiet now, the screams done, the sound of thundering feet gone, and Jacob hoped he could forget the sound of it all, the sight of it all, when he laid down to sleep.

A strangled cry of rage came from the room and Jacob turned, ready to deal death to whoever was stupid enough to come for him now. James was struggling to his feet, gun in hand as he wobbled towards Damesha. Jacob knew he couldn’t send a flame into the small room, he’d already pressed his luck sending so much out in a mine that could be filling with methane as they stood there, but more importantly, the women were in there. Turning, he saw Jacqui and Sabrina joining hands as a powerful white beam of energy shot out from the ceiling, Jacqui creating it and Sabrina directing it.

They blasted James first, whatever he was about to scream at them left unsaid as his body exploded into dust from the blasts. Over and over again the light exploded where he’d been before moving on. Each of his co-conspirators took a chance, tried to run, but the women simply weren’t having it. Each man disappeared as the blasts of light moved across the floor, the noise almost unbearable as energy exploded inside of the small room. The men had nowhere to run and the screams slowly died away as the women destroyed them one by one. They didn’t stop as their gazes locked together, whatever they were creating too powerful to let them loose for the moment. Jacob watched, stunned, as the beam took on a pink hue, blasting the bodies over and over until there was nothing left but the scar the blasts left on the floor.

Allana took off running while everyone was too stunned to move, escaping down the shaft and aiming for the lower levels. Jacob let her go. He’d seen the fear on her face. She wasn’t going to be a problem ever again. He was confident of that.

Jacob thought for a minute that the women would not allow her to leave, kept his ears tilted in the direction she had run and waited for a blast but none came. The women fell apart, their fingers slowly disentangling as their bodies started to fall.

The men shifted back to their human forms and ran for the women, Jacob and Cade catching their mates just as they fainted, their bodies exhausted from the energy they’d just expelled.

“Sabrina. Oh, you beautiful creature you. Come on, you’re a vampire, wake up my love.” His tone was teasing, a hint of affection in his voice.

Sabrina’s eyes blinked open and Jacob began to smile. “There’s my girl. Come on, everybody’s leaving.”

Sabrina got her feet under her and began to look around. “That’s it? We’re done?”

“It would seem so honey. But we have a few things to discuss, I believe.”

Sabrina looked around, dazed at the fact that it was all over. Truly over.

Jacob helped her out of the mine, the others following close behind. Once they reached the forest, Jacob used his skills to take them back to the sanctuary in New Orleans. Jadrian groaned as he saw where he was, his hatred for the place growing now that he knew it was the place where he’d almost fallen into the hands of a traitorous demon.

“Did you really have to bring me back here? Why not send me home? At least there I haven’t been humiliated or turned into a shifter, or anything else. Why can’t I catch one single break?” He stalked off to be alone, and Jacob let him go.

“Thank you, brother, you saved us all. Including my wife, and for that I’ll be eternally grateful.” Cade came up to shake his brother’s hand.

Jacob realized their roles were reversed, and he was back to being the brother in the shadows. The world shifted again and Jacob stood tall, a king who knew his place.

“It was my duty and my pleasure, brother.” He pulled his brother in for a hug, knowing that no matter where they ended up in life, they would always have each other’s back.

A few months ago this kind of hug would have made all of them feel awkward, they would have shied away from the contact but now they knew what was most important in life.

“Same from me, Jacob. You have saved me a lot of heartache, and my daughter even more.” Kane joined in on the hug, but let his brothers go when Sabrina spoke up.

“I think you two need to feed your wives and put them to bed. We have had quite the experience. Allana flew us to West Virginia in a private jet but then we walked into that mountain and down through the mine for what felt like hours. We deserve some rest.” Sabrina looked at the women with sympathy and they looked back with gratitude. She had made two very powerful, lifelong friends in a matter of moments.

Jacob knew relations between vampires and shifters could be strained, but those two women had only just been introduced to the magical world. The magical world was still new to them, an amazement that took their breath away sometimes, but they’d been coping. They’d both tried to include Sabrina in their lives but couldn’t hide their fear of her. That was gone now, obliterated the moment they’d all become pawns together.

Jacob took Sabrina to their chamber as his brothers wandered off with their wives. He would have to inform his guards that the world was safe now, that they could stand down, but he still couldn’t believe it was all over. He’d spent such a long time now fighting them, waiting for the day when they would be gone that he didn’t know what to do now, how to live without fearing them.

“I wish I’d known about Allana sooner,” he murmured as they made it to their chamber.

“You can’t know absolutely everything, Jacob. You’re definitely a smart man and filled with knowledge, but you can’t blame yourself for that woman, do you hear me?” She closed the door and pulled him close, brushing her soft, peach-flavoured lips against his. “Would you have taken that man up on his offer to let him live?”

“No, my parents have been dead for a long time.” He sighed and stepped away, sinking onto the bed as she followed him, standing between his thighs. “We buried them in our hearts. We knew when they died, we felt it. We don’t need to see their remains to accept it. It’s not something I really want to see now anyway. It would ruin our memories of them, seeing them like that. We’d remember that and not the good times we had.”

“I understand.”

She brushed her fingers through his hair, loving the silky texture of the dark strands. Her breasts moved closer to his face and Jacob inhaled her scent.

He needed her but knew that she likely needed some time to settle her nerves. She had been kidnapped, after all, vampire or not. He pushed her back and looked up at her with a smile.

“Would a bath be in order?” He knew she loved a hot bath, the hotter the better.

“I’d love one! And, before you ask, no we weren’t touched by any of the men. We were saved that humiliation at least.” She moved away, undoing the metal closures holding her long dark sapphire blue gown together.

“I suppose that’s something to be thankful for. I would hate to have to resurrect any of them and kill them again at a much slower pace.” He was joking but deep inside he was deadly serious.

He’d known in the mine shaft that he loved her. He might have hated her for turning him, for killing him, but she’d given him an opportunity unlike any other he would ever have in life. And on top of that, she’d offered herself. He’d ignored her since he’d become the king of all magicals, but he wasn’t about to let that happen again. There weren’t going to be anymore long lonely nights for her, or days spent wondering when she would see him again. Never again.

He went behind the screen to fill the tub, leaving the cold tap off, and went back in to fetch her. She stood wrapped in a robe of white silk with red poppies dotted across it. Her eyes met his, her love clear to see, and Jacob went to his knees in front of her.

“Say you’ll be mine for eternity, Sabrina?” He was speaking of more than marriage, more than living together, when he asked her. Jacob knew he’d spend the rest of his life devoted to this beautiful, smart and brave woman.

Sabrina didn’t answer him, she went to the tub and got in, flinging her robe over the screen dividing the room.

Jacob’s brow scrunched up as he followed her. “Well?”

“Jacob, my darling,” she began, but stopped to soap up a sponge to scrub over her skin. “If you have to ask you’ve not been paying attention.”

His feet went out from under him somehow and he landed on a chair just behind him. “What do you mean?”

Fear tightened his stomach. Perhaps she didn’t love him, perhaps he’d been a pawn just as much as Jadrian had. Is that what she was telling him?

“Darling, Adrian is gone, off to find his own way in life now. I have released him, he is his own now. Just like you. The moment you took the throne I released you from your tie to me.” She was still scrubbing her skin, the pink sponge smoothing down the curves of her calves as she held each one up to wash.

Jacob was distracted for a moment, her pearly white flesh making his mouth go dry as he felt something tighten lower than his stomach. She was perfection, absolute perfection. Her words sank in, though, and he looked at her, even more confused now.

“But, I always know where you are.”

“That’s because we’re soulmates now. Our souls have chosen each other. We may have fights in the future, we may argue and spit at each other, but we’re bound together for eternity, my love. I will not be going anywhere without you ever again.”

“Oh.” So she only loved him because of their nature then?

“No, I love you for you, you obtuse man!” She finally turned and threw the sponge at him, striking him in the head with it before it bounced away. “I love you because you’re wonderful, caring, and a death-dealer to those that threaten us. I love you because you make me whole. Something I’ve never felt in all of my centuries on this planet. Not once. You make me feel as if life is worth living and exploring! Geez!”

Jacob looked at her exasperated expression and went down on his knees in front of her.

“You love me?” He breathed the words, his throat too tight to let him speak.

“Of course I do, you idiot!

He dove into the water, not caring that he soaked the floor or that he was soaking his own clothes, he just wanted to hold her. He’d waited long enough now!

“We’ll have to live here, of course, but we can travel too, go wherever you want to go.” He was kissing her as he spoke, his lips moving over her face. She was pulling at his clothes, wanting to get him naked.

He assisted her with her removals and pulled her out of the tub, carrying her to the bed, wet hair and all.

“Mm, well, if we are going to spend eternity doing this we had better get started now. Eternity isn’t that long, you know?” His mouth came down to hers as they landed on the bed, the passion growing as they moved together.

Not a bad way to end such a massively insane day, he thought.