Forget Me Not (Phased Moonlight Series Book 2) (17 page)

              “That’s interesting.”

              “What?”

              “That you didn’t know. You should have been able to sense it.”

              “What? How? I’m just a weak human,” she said, referring to Nodin’s cruel remarks about her race. 

              “Faith, I do not know what you are, but you are not human…and I am sure you are not weak either.”

* * *

              Koda clenched his fist as he sat at the large rectangle table of the Council. Food filled the table, and the High Five beckoned them to eat, but he had no appetite. Every morsel of food seemed revolting to him, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it down.

              “So, Koda,” Elessar said, “tell us about your mate. Sera, is it?”

              “She is important to me. That’s all you need to know. Are you going to help us or not?”

              “You ask for our help, yet you treat us with such disrespect,” Dario said, snarling.

              “I give you all the respect I feel you deserve. High Council or not, you must earn my respect.” 

              “How dare you!?” Dario said, jumping to his feet.

              “Enough!” Kioshi said with a deafening growl that silenced the room. “Sit down, Dario. Clearly, he is trying to rile you up, and you are taking the bait. Do not be a fool.”

              Dario gave Kioshi a hot stare but finally plopped angrily back down in his seat. He took a gulp of the sugar wine from his goblet, staring harshly at Koda. 

              The large doors to the dining hall were pushed open, and Mistress Shego walked in, with her wolf trailing behind her. Koda’s eyebrow arched when he saw Faith in tow.

              Her long, raven-black hair glistened in the light of the lumus balls that floated around the room, and the dress she wore didn’t even compare to the one Trisha had been given. Her pale skin glistened as if small diamonds had been painted directly onto her, and her sea foam-green eyes seemed to stand out and shine more brightly. She took the seat between Koda and Trisha and smiled at them.

              “Where have you been?” Nodin asked, growling.

              “She has been in my company,” Shego said, taking her seat between Thaddeus and Dario. “I had words sent to your alpha.”

              Nodin looked at Koda, his eyes glowing. Both Thaddeus and Koda growled, causing him to drop his gaze.

              “Moving on. Please, Alpha,” Shego said, “eat something.”

              “No thank you. I would rather discuss the decision that has been made in regard to my mate.”

              Thaddeus stood and cleared his throat. “It has been decided that the Council can play no role in this matter.”

              Shego looked at Thaddeus and frowned. “Why was this discussed during my absence?” 

              “As is justified by our laws, the representative of the race asking for help has the right to make the ultimate decision as to whether or not aid will be given. I have decided that we cannot help.”

              Trisha was the first to snarl, and she slammed her fists down on the table. “How can you say that, Thad? This is Sera, my best friend and practically your niece! How can you just brush off the fact that she is missing?”

              “He cannot be impartial to the law  just because he is a close acquaintance of the alleged victim,” Dario said, then smirked.

              “I wasn’t talking to you, bloodsucker.”

              “Enough,” Thaddeus said with a growl, releasing his power on them all.

              Koda’s small pack fell to their knees, whimpering in pain, but Koda fought the control as long as he could. He snarled at Thaddeus until the weight of his power became too much for him to bear.

              “Cuff him,” Thaddeus said.

              Koda tried to move, but a pair of shackles were quickly slapped on his wrists and latched tight. He instantly felt the draining powers of the chains and knew they were cursed with wolfsbane.

              “Thad!” Trisha cried as she looked at the man she’d once thought of as her uncle. “How could you?”

              “Take them to the dungeons in the wolf wing,” Thaddeus barked.

              “And what of this one?” an elf asked, gripping Faith’s arm.

              “Hey! Let me go.”

              “She is my guest. Leave her,” Shego said.

              Faith looked questioningly at the mistress, who simply nodded to her.

              “Take them away,” Thaddeus growled.

              “I will not leave her,” Nodin snarled, fighting the beings who restrained him.

              Thaddeus nodded, and a needle was plunged into his neck. He growled before his eyes rolled back into his skull, then fell limp to the ground.

              Faith screamed and ran to his side and put his head in her lap. “What did you do to him?”

              “He is merely asleep. He will be fine,” Thaddeus said as he watched Trisha being carried away by her mate, who was trying to console her.

              “Faith, please sit back down,” Shego urged.

              Faith shook her head and faced Thaddeus. Angry tears spilled down her cheeks as she looked at him, clenching her fists at her sides. “She trusted you. She defended you against all our negative thoughts, and you just betrayed her. I hope you can bear to sleep at night, because if we can’t find Sera, not only will Koda die, but the whole pack will as well, including Trisha. How will it feel to have so much blood on your hands, blood of your own kind?” 

              “Faith,” Shego said gently, “that is enough.”

              “Don’t! Don’t act like you’re my friend. You don’t even know me.”

              “
Somnus
(sleep),” Shego whispered.

              Faith’s eyes closed, and she fell softly into the arms of a waiting witch who had realized the mistress’s intent.

              “Take her to my personal chamber and lay her in my bed. I will be there soon.”

              The witch nodded and cradled Faith close to his chest as he quickly flashed out of the room.

              Thaddeus rubbed his eyes and took a sip of beer.

              Dario chuckled as a woman came to sit on his lap. “You did the right thing, Thaddeus, old friend.”

              Thaddeus stood and snarled at him. “Shut up. You wouldn’t have given it a second thought if it was someone from your old coven.”

              Dario moved the dazed woman’s hair from her neck, admiring the large vein pulsating there. “You’re wrong, my friend. Unlike you, I have completely cut ties with my past life, as was requested when I was reincarnated. It is you who have shamelessly broken tradition.”

              “Aye. You are right about that, and I am not ashamed of it. A pack looks out for its own, and I have left them out in the cold.”

              Dario sank his teeth into the woman’s neck, sucking greedily at her blood.

Thaddeus’s nose scrunched up in disgust as he watched the life slowly fade from the woman’s face.

When she was almost completely dead, Dario removed his fangs and dropped her unconscious body to the floor. She would live, but she would wake up in the forest, confused and with a hell of a headache. 

              “You have no pack, Thaddeus. We are your family now, and you better remember that and remain on our side. It is not that hard to dispose of an elder, particularly a wolf.”

* * *

              Faith groaned as she opened her eyes. She looked up at the ceiling and shot up when she remembered all that had happened. 

              “Easy. Take it slow.”

              Faith looked up and saw a man staring at her from a chair next to the bed. She hurriedly scampered out of the bed. “Who the hell are you?”

              “Roland, one of Mistress Shego’s servants.”

              Faith looked around and noticed the mistress’s  absence. “Where is she? What happened?”

              Roland stood and poured a cup of red liquid. He slowly walked toward her, holding out the goblet. “It’s sugar wine. It will ease your headache. Please calm down, and I will share all with you.”

              Faith accepted the goblet and took a sip. The sweet substance actually took the throbbing out of her head, allowing her to think more clearly. “Now, what happened?”

              “You were lashing out at Master Thaddeus. My mistress silenced you before you truly offended him and were sent to your death.”

              “I have a right to my opinion.”

              “Maybe in the mortal realm. It is not the same here.”

              “Where are my friends?”              

              Roland sighed and rubbed his bald head. “In the wolf dungeons.”

              “Take me to them.”

              “I cannot, for I have not been given any such orders. Mistress Shego told me to bring you here.”

              “Then I will find them myself.” Faith turned toward the door and walked at a fast pace to get there.

Roland flashed before the door, holding out his large hand. “Miss, please. I have to keep you here.”

              “Please let me go. I need to find my friends.”

              Roland shook his head. “I cannot, miss.”

              Faith closed her eyes, fending off tears. When he reached out to her, she swung upward, hitting him square in the jaw. He grunted before he fell unconscious.

              A bit surprised by her own strength, she stepped over his body and exited the room. She took a left and ran as fast as her fancy dress would permit. She gasped when she found Broran standing in the middle of the hall, staring at her. She jutted her jaw out at him and said, “I need to find them, Broran. Please take me to them.”

              He held her stare for a second, then barked and turned.

Faith smiled and followed him. She thanked every deity she knew of that he had understood her and answered her plea for help.

              Broran led her down many hallways and winding corridors, and they descended several flights for stairs. They finally stopped at a large wooden door with a cast-iron lock on it, and he looked up at her.

              “I don’t have the key.”

              Broran rolled his eyes and tapped the lock with his nose. It slowly disintegrated, and the door slowly swung open with a
creak
. She looked down the steep staircase and gulped. A roar suddenly met her ears, and her heart constricted. Faith didn’t know how she knew, but she was sure the roar was coming from Nodin. She picked up the hem of her dress and raced down the stairs, following the sound of a raging wolf.

She finally found a hall where large cells lined the side. She ran toward the end and found Nodin thrashing against the bars in his wolf form. “Nodin!” she screamed, falling to her knees in front of his cage.

He instantly stopped his assault on the bars and whimpered, then lay down.

She reached through the bars and pet his soft head. “Oh God, Nodin.”

              “He’ll be fine,” Koda said from the cell next to him. “I, however, will not. Faith, when I snap, you must be as far from me as you can be. I won’t know who you are, and I won’t hesitate to kill you. I won’t hesitate to kill anyone.”

              Faith gasped. “You would do that?”

              “He won’t have a choice,” Trisha said from down the hall.

              “I’ll be back,” Faith whispered to Nodin. She then ran down to Trisha’s cell. “Hey,” she said as tears fell from her cheeks.

              “How did you find us?”

              “Doesn’t matter. Are you all right?”

              Trisha shook her head, and a single tear dripped down her flushed cheek.

              The hall was lit only with torches that lined walls, but Faith could see the toll Thad’s betrayal had taken. “I need to get you outta here,” she whispered, then started looking around for keys. 

              “That won’t be necessary.”

              Faith squeaked and turned to face Thaddeus, who was looking down at her.

Trisha snarled, her eyes glowing.

              “Trisha, enough.”

              “Oh, I see. Now I mean nothing to you either?”

              “If you will just let me explain—”

              “Explain what? You betrayed us.”

              “I most certainly did not. It was all part of the plan. There is no way in hell I’d leave Sera out in the cold like that. I just needed to fool Dario. He was threatening to remove me from the Council, and you will need my power to find Sera.”

              Faith took a step forward and looked into his eyes. “I apologize for everything I said to you.”

              Thaddeus placed his hands on Faith’s shoulders. “I understand. You were distraught and were worried that you might never find your friend.”