Isis' Betrayal (11 page)

He collapsed on her back, heaving for breath. She was panting and still pulsing around his still-erect cock. “Shit, that was unfuckingbelievable,” he panted.

“Beyond anything I ever imagined,” she whispered and turned her head to kiss his mouth tenderly.

“I will never be the same Braeden, and it scares the shit out of me, but we need to talk.”

That cooled his ardor faster than a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped on his head. He was falling for this witch and was worried about what she was going to say. He didn’t want to lose her. “I know we do. I want you to remember that no matter what happens, I would never willingly hurt you. I would die to protect you…and my son.”

She looked at him and his heart twisted at the vulnerability he saw. “Speaking of your son, why is Cele holding him prisoner in her basement?”

He knew this was a make or break moment for them. Unfortunately, he had a bad feeling this was going to break them. No female would ever accept betrayal.

Isis looked at Braeden, waiting for him to explain why Cele had his son and suddenly realized she was still naked in the back of his jeep. She needed to get her clothing on. It was distracting enough looking at his sexy body. As she dragged on her bra, her mate mark burned. She cursed the consequences of once again denying the compulsion to complete the mating, only this time the pain was worse. She searched for her underwear and thought about the reason she’d ended up naked in the back of his vehicle.

She had intended to talk to him about what he was keeping from her, but the moment he walked into her shop, she had been consumed with desire. The dark circles beneath his eyes and his restless energy told her how desperately he needed sex. The confines of the jeep and their combined arousal had her hormones hijacking her common sense.

She quickly threw on her shirt and pants, not wanting her hormones to win out again. They needed to talk. She refused to have this secret between them any longer and his silence only made her angry. She figured he didn’t trust her, but it still hurt. She closed her eyes, using every method she’d ever learned to control her emotions. She didn’t want to blow up the vehicle with them in it. When he began speaking, her eyes flew open in shock at his words.

“Goddess, I’m so glad you know about this. You have no idea how many times I have tried to talk to you about this, but couldn’t get any words out. She put a spell on me and it prohibited me from communicating about Donovan’s captivity in any way. That vile female never told me why she targeted me and my son,” he murmured. Nothing about Cele’s behavior shocked Isis anymore. The High Priestess was a bottom-feeder and needed to have her power stripped from her and then tossed into pits to be devoured by hellhounds.

Isis was relieved his silence hadn’t been because he lacked trust in her, but because he wasn’t physically able to share with her. Her heart went out to him, while at the same time, her anger towards Cele’s treachery escalated. She felt guilty that she hadn’t had more faith in him, or wonder if there was more at play, because they carried part of each other’s soul, and mates didn’t usually have distrust between them.

“That female just keeps sinking lower. Do you owe her money? Or is this about your son’s mother? And, I never thought I’d say this, but can you get dressed? You are entirely too distracting sitting there naked.” she asked and watched the emotions play over his face. She saw in his features when his amusement turned serious.

He smiled at her and grabbed his jeans, sliding them on. “Almost two weeks ago, Cele arrived on my doorstep. She told me that she had seen some of my sculptures at Confetti Too and was interested in purchasing a piece. I let her in to see some of my completed projects and was asking her what she was interested in when Donovan came running out of his bedroom,” he paused, clenching his hands into fists where they rested on his knees and his eyes darkened to black with his fury.

“The next thing I knew she had muttered a spell and I couldn’t move. I sat there helpless while she stole my son from me. I had never seen her before that night, and certainly never took a loan from her. I have no idea why she chose me to do her dirty work…” he trailed off and looked away, but not before she caught the guilty look in his eyes.

“What did she ask you to do?” Isis’ gut churned at the thought of what was coming next.

“She asked me to spy on you and your sisters and gain your trust so I could learn your weaknesses,” he replied, meeting her gaze.

That didn’t surprise her since it fit with Cele’s tyrannical tactics. What she didn’t understand was of all the supernaturals in the Tehrex Realm, why she had chosen him. It brought her back to the question if dark magic had afforded Cele a way to discover Braeden was her mate. “Did she tell you that I was your mate?”

“No, she didn’t tell me anything about that. All she told me was that I’d find you at the club.”

Her anger stirred and she felt the car rock on its wheels. She wanted to rip the High Priestess to shreds. This was the last straw. “What exactly did you tell her about me and my sisters?” she gritted out between clenched teeth.

He held her gaze for several long moments before looking down at his clasped hands. “Please understand that I would never willingly hurt you. I genuinely care for you, and would love nothing more than to complete our mating.”

“What did you tell her?” she asked more pointedly.

“I told her that I smelled black licorice when I watched you and your sisters perform that spell. You have to understand that she hurt my son. She cut his stomach and was torturing him with a spell, I had no choice.” She heard the regret in his voice, but it was drowned out by her explosive rage towards Cele and her mate for betraying her.

She felt the rage bubble to the surface, unable to control her fury, and the windows in his jeep shattered, rocking the jeep violently. Thankfully, their souls took that moment to step up and calm her and luckily the storm died before any permanent damage was done.

“You led her to our doorstep and everything we have worked so hard for was destroyed. Please take me home. I can’t even look at you right now,” she spat, turning away from him.

“It went against every instinct to tell her anything about you, but I couldn’t allow my son to be hurt.”

“I know, Braeden. And, honestly, I don’t know what I would do if I were in your shoes, but it still hurts. I just really need to talk to my sisters.”

He cranked the vehicle and pulled onto the street. They drove in silence, except for Isis giving him directions to her house. It took about fifteen minutes to get to her house and she managed to calm down just a bit. As soon as he parked in the driveway, Suvi opened their front door.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Suvi asked as she looked Isis over.

“Where’s Pema? I need both of you here.” It wouldn’t be wise to try and talk about this without caging her rage. Her sisters had always been her lightning rod, dampening her emotions.

“She’s in the house with Ronan. C’mon.”

Braeden followed them up to the house, grabbing her hand as they walked down the hall to the great-room.

“Pema, get off your bear. Isis needs us,” Suvi called out.

Braeden smiled down at her. “Things in your house sound interesting,” he said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes as Pema and Ronan came around the corner. “You have no idea. You and Donovan are going to love it here,” she replied automatically and then flushed when she realized what she’d said. More surprising was that she really meant it. She wanted both of them with her whole heart.

“Yes, I believe we will.” He gave her hand a tight squeeze.

“Okay, sis. Tell us what’s going on,” Pema interjected.

“In a nutshell, the stripling we saw in Cele’s basement is Braeden’s son, Donovan. She kidnapped and hurt him to force Braeden to gain my trust and gather information on us. That’s how she knew we had broken into her house. Braeden told her what our magic smells like and she pieced the rest together,” Isis said, getting angry all over again. “And, to top it all off, she placed Braeden under a spell so he couldn’t do anything to let me know what had happened or ask for help. I swear, she has a way of finding Fated Mates. There is no other explanation as to why she would have picked him. I think she knew and did this as a way to not only learn our weaknesses, but to try and destroy our relationship before it ever began.”

Suvi gaped at her. “Say again?”

“I think her dark magic has a way of telling her who Fated Mates are.”

“Not that part. Although, I do think you are right about that. And, yeah we need to address that, but right now, we need to rescue that sweet little stripling,” Suvi responded. Braeden’s hand tightened on hers to the point of pain, and when she looked up at him, she saw tears in his eyes.

“Can you imagine what Donovan is going through with Cele? I know Suvi said she was going to be his favorite auntie, but I am going to bake him the biggest chocolate cake when we get him out of there. He is going to need a lot of love to help him through this ordeal,” Pema added, wrapping her arm around her mate.

“I am touched at how much you all care about my son. I believed that you would despise me for what I was forced to do. When I saw you and your sisters trying to break the spell on the crystal sphere, I wanted so badly to tell you what Cele had done, but nothing came out. You have no idea what it’s like to watch someone shed your child’s blood and be helpless to stop it.”

Isis stepped into his side and he wrapped her in his arms. “You’re right Braeden, we don’t know what it’s like, but you are both a part of me now. It has been killing me since we left him in the house. The only thing that matters now is Donovan and saving him. Do you trust us to help you rescue him?”

*****

Braeden considered his mate’s question. By their own admission, Cele was using dark magic and their light magic hadn’t been able to combat it. Would he be putting Donovan or his mate in danger if they were unsuccessful? Neither prospect was acceptable. Cele had harmed his son in grievous ways few would do to their grown enemies and any attempt to cross her would only serve to anger her. She was rotten to her core.

Through his bond to Isis, he felt how desperately she wanted to save Donovan and sensed her growing love for them both. He was no longer alone in life. He had the perfect partner and someone who had already opened her heart to his son and accepted his as one of her own.

“I trust you with my life. It is a relief to have help. I worried that Cele would never let either of us go. The five of us can’t do this alone. We are going to need others. I need you to tell Dante. The Cambion Lord will surely help us, but what is the plan?”

“We don’t have a plan yet, but speaking of Dante, I think we need to involve Zander and the Dark Warriors, maybe even the rest of the council,” Isis replied, absently running her hand up his arm, which soothed his inner demon. He hadn’t realized how talking about the situation had roused the beast.

“Cele has gotten away with too much for too long now. Did she tell you why she wanted you to infiltrate our group?” Pema asked.

“She said she wanted a way to force you to give her your power,” he replied.

“No surprise there. She’s always wanted our power,” Suvi, quipped.

“That female is really starting to piss me off. I don’t get why she targeted my mate if she wants our power. Why did she wait so long to make her move? She could have used us to control each other years ago,” Isis mused.

“It could be that she waited until we came into our full power two years ago, but more likely, she didn’t have the dark magic needed to accomplish her end goal. She targeted your mate because there is no better way to control you than to use the one being made for you. He is your vulnerability, as Ronan is mine,” Pema confessed.

“Whether or not we wanted to be the cause of a revolution, we are. There is no way we will ignore what she has done and allow her to continue to lead and teach our young,” Isis added with a ferocity that shocked and also excited him. He stared in awe at her confidence and beauty. He couldn’t look upon her without his ardor growing. Pain shot through his mate mark, making him wince slightly. As if sensing his discomfort, Isis reached up and ran her hand over his chest, immediately soothing the ache.

“What do we do?” he asked, needing a plan of action and distraction from losing himself in his mate.

“We give her what she wants, of course,” Pema said, sharing a smile with Isis and Suvi.

“That’s brilliant,” Isis and Suvi said simultaneously. Braeden looked to Ronan and saw his own bewilderment echoed on the rugged male’s face. At least he wasn’t the only one in the dark.

“You call Dante, and I’ll call Zander,” Pema instructed, taking charge. “We are going to need a diamond and the Dark Warrior property on Whidbey Island. How good of an actor are you?” Pema asked him.

“I’m terrible, why?” Braeden replied.

“Because, you need to be convincing in order to lure Cele to us.”