Chapter Thirty-Four
Benic leaned forward, gripping the horse’s sides with his knees since he rode without a saddle, and raised his hand to guards on the castle wall.
Shouts could be heard and the gate opened.
Riding through, he slumped in relief. He’d made it. He thought for sure his pursuers would catch him first. The stable boy caught his horse’s reins and he dismounted.
“Take good care of her, she saved my life, and send someone with a fresh mount.”
His vampire warriors already surrounded him, concern on their faces.
“Arm yourselves. We’re riding out to the Temple.” He flagged the closest shifter guard. “Send someone for Inacio.” If he was going into battle, he needed to feed.
The guard looked at the others and shuffled his feet.
“What are you waiting for?” Benic snapped.
Clearing his throat, the guard couldn’t meet his glare. “Inacio left, my lord.”
“Left? Where to?”
“Soon after you left for New Berg without him, he packed some of his belongings and took a horse. We tried to track him but he…vanished.”
“You mean he used his skills on you and you let him go.” Benic rubbed his eyes. The incubus could seduce a whole battalion if he put his mind to it. Of all the crazy things to happen, this was the least expected.
The vampire frowned. “Yes, my lord, and I accept full responsibility for his escape.”
Benic sighed and dropped his hand. “I never kept him here against his will. He was always free to go and he knew it.” Inacio must have gotten tired of Benic’s recent behavior. He admonished Ewald for treating Pemma poorly, but he hadn’t done any better with Inacio. He shook his head. He didn’t have time to ponder about the incubus or look for a new source to feed from. He preferred to know his meals. “Let’s get ready.” He gestured for everyone to start moving.
Sitting on an upturned barrel, he watched the rush of soldiers and horses. A squire brought him a stout ale to clear his scratchy throat. Slumped against the castle wall, he sipped. He should have treated Inacio better. Hindsight was useless to change what he’d done, but maybe he could learn from all this.
He eyed his ale. Maybe.
He called over the vampire captain. “Did Inacio leave me a note?”
“Not that I’m aware of, sir, but I didn’t search for one either.”
“Very well.” He would look within his quarters and his lab for one. Replacing Inacio would be difficult. He’d grown rather fond of incubus blood. The emptiness plaguing his soul the last few months grew larger within his chest, almost engulfing him whole. He looked at his tower and recalled his dark study, his haven from the heartless world.
“The soldiers are ready, my lord.”
He climbed to his feet and accepted the reins of a fresh horse from the stableman. “The poachers have returned to our lands. We need to make an example of them. The shifters living here are under our protection and no one has rights to them but me.” He spoke loudly so all could hear.
“My lord,” shouted a guard from the top of the wall. “Riders approaching with a pack of shifters in feral form.”
Benic ground his teeth and tossed the reins to the closest soldiers. They had followed him home after all. He had hoped he could leave before they tracked him here. Benic climbed the ladders to the top of the wall and watched. One of the riders wore a dress. And who would be using shifters to track him? Not many vampires would feel comfortable outside the city with so many wolves in feral form.
The guard offered him his eyepiece.
He stared through it. Ewald.
And Pemma? Had he discovered that the petite omega helped Kele escape and he wanted to execute them side by side? Over Benic’s dead body. “Arrows.” He shouted the order to draw bows and crank crossbows. His voiced also carried far enough for Ewald’s hunters to hear.
They circled the riders and slowed the horses until Ewald and Pemma came to a stop. The young lord waved his hands above his head in a common fashion, not fit for someone of his breeding. “Parley?” he shouted.
The guard next to him snorted. “He thinks we’re pirates.” Others chuckled with him.
Benic shook his head. “No, he’s just a fool.” He gave Ewald’s expedition a month before they were all dead. At least Kele was safe since they’d followed him instead. “Go back to New Berg, Ewald. You and your hunters don’t have a chance against my soldiers.”
Pemma half leaped, half fell off her horse and ran toward the castle.
He raised his hand to the archers. “Hold.” God, she was a reckless creature. One early loosed arrow and she would have been dead.
“Benic,” she cried out. “Kele’s in trouble. Slavers have tracked her to the forest.”
Her words had him leaning over the wall and pointing to the guards. “Let her in but not the others.”
The twang of arrows reached his ears. His soldiers sent warning shots toward the hunters who followed Pemma. He descended the ladder to the ground. Benic had the gateman unlock and open the small portico next to the main gate. Sticking his head out, he gestured for Pemma to enter.
She halted just out of his reach. “Let them in too. We came in search of help.”
He gave her a weary smile. “Not to hunt me down for stealing Kele?”
She wrung her hands. “We don’t have time for this.”
“I’m aware someone is hunting us. I was about to depart to help them until you arrived with a party of hunters in feral form. How would you like to proceed from here without Ewald trying to take my head?”
“Let him approach. Only him.” She waved for Ewald before he could agree. “Ewald? He’s agreed to speak to only you.”
Benic blinked and observed Pemma with her back turned toward him. Her long, dusty hair was in a tangle yet she seemed so unaware of her state of road wear. “Let him through,” he shouted to the guards on the wall.
Ewald rode forward while his hunters paced just out of reach of his guards’ arrows. “Lord Benic.” He nodded to Benic as he dismounted. “Thank you for not filling Pemma with arrows.”
Her eyes went wide. “He wouldn’t have.” She glanced at him. “That would have been rude.” Her voice wavered as the reality of where she was sank in.
Setting his arm around the slight shifter, Ewald faced him. “We were following Kele’s trail and it seemed to merge with yours at some point. Is she here?” He stared at the stone walls of the castle as if expecting her to peek over.
“No, we parted ways.” He ground his teeth. “Let’s stop with the pleasantries. I’m pressed for time. Kele belonged to me before the slavers poached on my lands and stole some of my shifters. I came to New Berg to retrieve them.”
Pemma clutched her hands together. “All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Peder too?”
He raised an eyebrow. “He’s with Kele.”
She sighed and pressed her hand over her heart. “I’m so glad to hear it.”
“Pemma?” Understanding finally dawned on Ewald’s face.
“Kele told me about her soul mate trapped in the slaver’s compound. I didn’t think she’d leave New Berg without him.” She leaned her face against Ewald’s chest. “All the wrongs are made right. What’s a little gold in the face of true love?”
“Yes, Ewald.” Benic smirked. “What’s a little gold?”
The young lord’s frown grew deeper. “It means better supplies when we head west. It means a better chance at surviving.”
Benic nodded. “I’ll reimburse you the gold you’ve lost if you set aside your charges of thievery.”
“Deal, but you must know that the slavers tracking Kele were originally searching for you. The magistrate has placed a price on your head for the death of the slaver Timothy.”
“Fuck.” Timothy’s men must have run to the magistrate as soon as he’d left with Peder. He’d hoped fear would still their tongues. He should have killed them, but how could he after all his years searching for a way to save his people? “How many?”
“Six. You don’t deny it?” Ewald appeared clearly perplexed.
He shrugged. “No.” He gestured for them to enter his castle. There wasn’t any point to telling them Peder had done it. If the hunter hadn’t done it, Benic would have. “You can freshen up and stay overnight. We’ll discuss the details further in the morning. I need to save my shifters from these slavers.”
Pemma rushed toward him with a hug. “I knew you would.” Then she skipped inside. “Are these shifters wild as well?” She pointed to his guards.
Ewald rolled his eyes at her comment. “Do you want my hunters to accompany you?”
“Do you want them all to die? Wild shifters are incredibly territorial.” Benic shook his head in disbelief. “Learn quickly, Ewald, if you really want to travel west and survive.”