Unleashed, page 3
I closed the door behind me. The hinges squealed. I winced, but the guards didn’t come running back. I blew out my held breath and walked farther into the room, glad I hadn’t ruined Jaxon’s subterfuge to get me in here unseen.
“No,” I said, answering his earlier question, even though I couldn’t believe he’d think it of me. “Why would I gloat? I spoke in your defense.”
As much as he’d hurt me, I wasn’t that much of an asshole. I knew what it was like to be in his position, unable to change anything. If he was feeling the weight of that as deeply as I had, I didn’t want to add to it. If it was anything like the mix of guilt, fear, and self-loathing that I was getting hit with from Jaxon because he believed the only way this ended was in brother killing brother, that pain was almost unbearable.
“You spoke about how hard the compulsion was to break, yes, but that narrative suits you, too,” he said, his dark-hazel eyes devouring me.
I shivered when his gaze lingered on my curves, remembering our time in the back of Tup’s. He’d given me pleasure before he’d turned on me, and my succubus wasn’t likely to forget that. But it was the way he then met my eyes and the sly knowledge there that made my heart skip—like he saw me as a worthy adversary.
“You’ll want your mates and their packs to accept your presence,” he continued, with an oh-so-casual shrug. “That means getting them to forgive you for controlling them like toys. The tougher it was for you to rebel, the better.”
Fucking bastard. He really thought I’d supported him because it’d help me fit into the pack, and what’s worse, he respected me for that kind of duplicity! I looked at the ceiling, marred with damp spots, and gathered my frayed patience. I needed to dig deeper than his sniping. He was hurt, worried about what his next steps were. And Zeke thinking I spoke in his defense for selfish reasons said more about him than me. Maybe I could use that? I dismissed the thought that made me as duplicitous as he claimed. Turnabout was fair play.
I dropped the spell book on the table with a thunk and sat on the bench seat opposite him.
Zeke’s hands twitched toward the pages and then quickly stilled. His dark eyes watched my every movement. I watched him, enjoying his muscled physique and how hard he was trying to hide how much he wanted to explore that spell book. That eagerness soon morphed into an assessment of my intentions. The twins were so alike but at the same time so different that I knew I could never mistake one for the other. But despite this knowledge, the way Zeke was looking at me like a puzzle he could master made my panties wet.
“Why did you bring that?” he asked, breaking the stare-off.
I shook myself. This was a business transaction, nothing more, and I had two mates waiting for me who were more than happy to see to my every need. Even the darker ones. Probably. “You know why. I want to know if you can translate it.”
“I told you before. The sorcerer never let me look at his precious spell book.”
I smiled sweetly. “Maybe because he knew you could read it. Why not look and see?”
His lips twisted, but he reached for the cover and opened the book to a random page. He tried to school his expression, but I saw the quick jump in his temple and flare of his nostrils. He’d seen encoding like this before. Probably in his research of all those ancient magical artifacts lost on Earth.
“You understand it, don’t you?”
“And if I did, why would I help you read it?” He arched an eyebrow. “You’ve asked me before. The answer is still no.”
I could’ve tried to guilt him by talking about Amma and the demon lord, but what was the point? That wouldn’t touch any of his emotional buttons. No, I had to think about this like I was scheming to win the political and power game he loved to play. How could I spin this so it helped him?
“When I asked you before, we didn’t know where the sorcerer was. Now we do, and with the right spell, we can get to him. I thought you’d be interested in getting your revenge. But if that’s not the case . . .” I pulled the spell book toward me and tried not to jump when Zeke slammed his hand down on the cover, halting its movement and jolting my arm.
“What spell is it you’re hoping to learn?” Now he was interested.
“All of them, ideally.”
Zeke snorted. “The way that thing is coded, that could take years. You’ll have to be more specific, oh, demon of mine.”
My hellhound growled. How dare he try to take ownership of us again? We weren’t his to talk about like that. The two sides of me were giving me whiplash. Did we want Zeke, or were we furious with him? I shook myself. “You mean you want me to tell you exactly what our plan is? No deal.”
Zeke spat out a laugh, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t see that you have much choice. You wouldn’t keep coming here and asking for my help otherwise. I know Jaxon would’ve practically exhausted his other options before letting you come here and beg for help all over again.”
“Look, do you want your revenge or not? It’s that simple.”
Zeke eased his hand off the spell book and clutched the edge of the table. “I want to see that bastard’s face when I put him down.”
That would be difficult, considering where the asshole was hiding out. But I couldn’t give that much away. Not yet.
“How about you prove you can read the spell book? Translate one spell. Your pick.” I opened the book’s pages and waited.
Zeke blinked slowly, looking from the book to me and back again. “You think you can decode this whole book with one translated spell?” He smirked. “You’d be lucky. It took me more than a year to crack this. You wouldn’t believe the lengths I had to go to. But fine.” He thumbed through several pages and picked a spell with strange runes around the edges of the pages. “I’ll translate this one. You got pen and paper? This stuff doesn’t input into a phone all that well, what with all the diagrams and specific layouts required.”
My eyes almost boggled, but I blinked before he could notice. He’d fallen for the bait. Maybe he really could do this.
We’d have to use magic to check the spell—providing it sounded harmless—but this could really work. But how did we test it? Tarzi had said the sorcerer used the mountain’s power along with some trinket. Could we channel the power that way too?
Dread fizzed in my stomach acid, bubbling up my throat. How did I sell this to Jaxon? He’d never trust this spell if it was decoded by Zeke. But Zeke was right, too. We had no other viable options.
Fucking hell, why did my life have to become so complicated? I sighed. I knew why—it was because two brothers were incapable of listening to each other and making peace.
Zeke
As I expected, Jaxon came to visit me late at night—safely outside the notice of his mostly sleeping pack. He’d never take my word for anything. He just had to face me down in person and demand answers to his questions.
The only strange thing was how he hadn’t confronted me already. Instead, he stood over me while I pretended to be asleep, like he was waiting for something or collecting his nerve. Better to get it over with.
I pushed the covers off me and stretched, making a big fuss like he’d woken me up. Goading him was too fun to skip after how he’d presided over my trial like the king of morality. Besides, I’d have to sell my reluctance to help them if I was ever going to get close enough to the sorcerer to take him out. The sorcerer had done me dirty, and he was going down.
“Cut the act, Zeke.”
That irritation was beautiful—it brought him right back down to earth with the rest of us—proof his strict, noble alpha act wasn’t impenetrable. But he was guessing. He didn’t know I’d been awake this whole time for sure. I hadn’t moved. His guards wouldn’t know. Though perhaps I should be more unpredictable if he could guess my moves so well.
Of course, that was the problem with being a twin. We knew each other too well. We’d grown up dogging each other’s footsteps and teasing each other mercilessly. I couldn’t help a small grin at the memories. Too bad that was all they were—memories from long ago. Once I’d challenged him for the pack, there’d been no turning back.
“Why are you here, Jaxon?” I muttered, sitting up and facing him. “Mining more information for the trial? ‘Cause if that’s the case, I’ll have to remain silent.”
Jaxon growled and banged his fist on the table. “Do you take anything seriously?”
Tugging on his strings was so much fun. “Plenty. Not you, though.” I smirked. Petty, but fuck it. We’d not got along since we were kids. Why start now? He wasn’t going to lessen my sentence just because I sucked up to the teacher. Although I should consider sucking up to Del. She was damn hot, all perfect curves and luscious lips—for a demon anyway.
Jaxon pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and threw it at me. Like he seemed to expect, I unfolded it to see the location spell I’d translated for them.
My knowledge of demon codes was rusty, and the spell book had used a tricky twist on an ancient, rare one. Unsurprisingly, considering how his spell book was encoded, it wasn’t an area Gabriel pushed me toward in our work. Still, I’d come across codes like that before I worked with the sorcerer, and I picked it up again well enough. This particular spell should find any object if you had a token that had a connection to the target object. A blanket for a child’s blankie, a car for car keys, and so on.
That is, if it did what it said it did—nothing that came from Hell was straightforward, or so I’d found. Like a certain too-hot-for-her-own-good demon. Damn, why was I even thinking about her? Get your head in the game, Zeke.
“Did you find a way to test it yet?” I asked as casually as I could. “I’m guessing not if you’re flinging it at me.”
Jaxon’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You think I’d let just anyone try this spell? I’ve spent all night locating people who may be experts on this kind of thing, and none of them have seen something like this before.”
Yes, that’s because none of them had ever seen demon magic before. If they had, they’d never have been able to decode it. I’d assumed the magic only worked for demons until I saw Gabriel’s book. I’d worried someone might find a way to use the magical artifacts and dusty tomes I found to attack our mountain, but Gabriel had gone far beyond my worst nightmares. I’d been trying to protect us, not that Jaxon would ever believe it.
I ran a hand through my hair. It didn’t matter. Jaxon didn’t need to know any of that. To him, right now, I needed to be the all-knowing expert, and if I pissed him off in the process, all the better.
“I came across coded text like this when I researched magical artifacts. You know, the ones you dismissed?” I waved my hand over the paper as if to say look how important that research came to be. You idiot.
“And yet you won’t help us?” Jaxon’s sharp question accused and demanded an acceptable answer all at once, but I wasn’t a lackey for him to command.
“I didn’t say that. I did say that I was failing to see a reason for me to stick my neck out here. I’ve proved I can translate these spells. So, what are you offering?” Why should I help them for free? My brother always thought people should do things because it was good or right, at least for him, but that wasn’t the way the world worked. That wasn’t the way I worked, and he damn well knew it. Now, if Del came in and asked, “Pretty please,” with her mouth wrapped around my . . . well, I might consider it.
“Zeke—”
”What? Do I get a lesser sentence? How about I get to go back to my camp, and we can call all this quits?” He’d never agree, but he already knew my conditions. I had no doubt Del had reported that much back to him. He just wanted a freebie because he didn’t like my terms. Because everything he’d ever wanted had been handed to him like a goddamn spoiled princess. Well, tough.
Jaxon’s face turned beet red from the neck up, and his fisted hands shook at his sides, he clenched them so tightly.
“Like hell,” he snarled.
I laughed so hard I had to haul in a breath. “I thought as much. Well, brother, you have a decision to make.”
He glared at me, and I gave an exaggerated shrug. “You obviously need a spell or more from that book pretty desperately. Like I said to Del, I’m willing to trade if I get to go after the sorcerer with whoever you send. He may have fucked you over, but he used me too. And I intend to take my due out of his hide.”
I put up my hand to stop the start of his spluttered retort. “Before you lash out with all your arrogant triumphant bullshit, remember you’ve found no one else who can help you. And you seem pretty desperate. I’m guessing there’s a time crunch. Can you really afford to wait for another option?”
His shoulders hunched the slightest fraction and I knew I’d hit the nail on the damned head. They needed me. Badly. I’d had a far bigger hand than I’d known, and I’d played it perfectly.
Cooper
Jaxon stomped in the door and slammed it closed behind him. The metal door shook in its frame. His anger shuddered in the air around him, and I grimaced. If he’d been Zeke, I’d have dragged him out for a few rounds at Tup’s, but that wasn’t how one handled Jaxon.
I grabbed his shoulder, yanking him to a halt. I met his eyes and hissed, “Knock it off, asshole.”
He growled, his eyes flashing, ready for a fight.
I jerked my head toward Del. She was curled up asleep on the couch, a green and blue knit blanket tucked in around her. She looked like a china doll with her strawberry blond hair floating around her and her body curled up under the thick folds. She’d finally drifted off after agonizing over Amma for hours. I wasn’t having this heavy-footed oaf wake her up because his brother gave him a boo-boo.
“Zeke is a power-hungry dick,” he hissed.
I snorted. “Tell me something new.”
His eyebrows shot up, ready for another fight.
“No, I mean it,” I said. They didn’t get along—so what? The information was more important. Del was more important. “Did he give you anything we can use?”
Jaxon’s lips pinched. “No.” He stalked over to the table and slammed his hands onto its surface.
Del stirred, and I glared at him. We both watched carefully until she settled back to sleep.
A pained expression crossed Jaxon’s face, and he pitched his voice lower. “Not a hint of anyone who could test or check the spell for us.”
“Shit,” I muttered, scratching my neck.
“And he worked out how desperate we are,” Jaxon said with a sigh. “He’s unlikely to give anything more now. He knows he has the upper hand here.”
“He was bound to guess that much sooner or later.” And Zeke wanted his revenge. Not that I blamed him. The sorcerer had done him wrong, and what was here for him? A brother and a pack determined to punish him? No matter how much Zeke really did care about protecting the mountain, its magic, and the pack, it wasn’t worth it. I glanced at Jaxon. The verdict was going to be death. He didn’t see any way around it. Would it be that bad to let Zeke run away to Hell instead? Assuming that’s what he wanted.
“Yeah, but I . . .” Jaxon sighed.
He probably hadn’t wanted to give so much away. But his brother was sharp. As much as Jaxon derided him, Zeke had found a valid threat Jaxon had ignored and he was quick on his feet. His wits had kept our fragmented pack safe until Gabriel came along. Knowing Zeke, he’d put a plan into action once he found out what we wanted.
“What did Zeke offer? Del said he wanted to go after the sorcerer? Did he change his mind, or is that his condition?”
Jaxon frowned. “I hoped he’d pick something else—something reasonable—but no. He’s sticking to that.”
“Yeah. Zeke doesn’t let things go without a fight. Trust me, I’d rather have him with us going up against Gabriel than most of our pack. He’ll tear the sorcerer’s skin off his bones.” And maybe you won’t have to kill your brother. It wasn’t that hard to read someone I’d grown up alongside. This whole thing—the trial, the verdict—was tearing him up inside.
“And you let me go in there anyway, expecting to get different results? You knew he wouldn’t change his mind.”
Jaxon pouted worse than a pup. I snorted. “Come on, stop with the bruised ego crap. You know you’d have gone in there whatever I said. You didn’t want him coming with us to be our only option.”
Jaxon’s lips twisted. “If it was just us, I’d probably allow it. Hell would take him so far away from our packs, he’d hardly be a threat. But with Del . . . the way he treated her, and she still speaks for him . . . it worries me.”
And would it be so bad if Del brought your brother back into the fold? I’d never imagined I’d be the “more the merrier” type, but Del’s heart was big enough for more and I’d been friends with Zeke my whole life. He deserved something good, someone who cared, and I’d never been happier.
Besides, Jaxon and Zeke had been fighting too long. Something needed to happen. Fuck. Was I thinking it’d be a good thing to have another alpha in our grouping? I was an idiot.
“Del can take care of herself,” I said, shaking myself out of my thoughts. “Besides, you can damned well bet she’d put her sister above any emotional bruises from Zeke. I think we should do it.”
Jaxon’s eyes almost fell out of his head. “You’re considering this?”
I nodded. “I already told Del I think it’s the best option we’ve got. Zeke understands the spell book. What if we encounter more magic over there? We could need him to translate more spells.”
“And how will we perform these spells?” Jaxon asked, dropping down onto the seat next to the table. The booth was small for his big form. We needed something more wolf-sized and multi-mate sized in our next home.
I blinked. This was going to be our life. I guess I hadn’t realized how much I’d accepted our new lifestyle and all it entailed.
Jaxon was looking at me like he expected an answer. I gave a non-committal, “Hmmm . . .” Could Zeke do spells? I didn’t think I’d ever seen him try, but I hadn’t seen everything or I would have known the sorcerer was coming in sooner.
