Resisting the Moon: A Royal Shifters Novel (18 page)

Sebastian

“F
uck, fuck, fuck.” The doors slammed and I couldn’t see her anymore.
“Keep your mind open to me, Tyla.”
I knew she could take care of herself, but I had to know she was okay. If I would’ve known for a fact she’d be safe, I’d have killed every one of those fucking wolves.

“I will. I’m getting into Jaret’s car now. Don’t worry about me, just please focus on Amelie.”

Amelie sat in the corner of the van with her hands over her face. I felt sorry for the girl. Turning to her, I tried to get her attention. “Amelie?”

She lowered her hands. “I’m so confused. Why would Jaret do this? He said he wasn’t part of a pack.”

This was one of the very reasons every wolf needed to belong to a pack. She had no defenses being out here on her own. “He lied to you,” I said. “His real name is Jaret Connery, not Bleddyn. I believe you know who his father is.”

“Oh my God,” she cried, slapping a hand over her mouth just as Tyla did when she was upset. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

She doubled over and I rushed to her side, putting my arm around her. “You didn’t know,” I soothed. She coughed and dry heaved, but nothing came up. Her despair was all I could feel.

“Why would he mate with me?”

Thoughts of my friend Alina plagued my mind. She too had been taken by a Connery, and paid the ultimate price. I wished every day I could turn back time and save her, but I’d failed. “To follow in his father’s footsteps; it’s what he grew up watching. But in your case, it was probably more about revenge. He’s been killing your people for years, including your parents.”

She cried even harder and shook her head. “They’d warned me something wasn’t right. I should’ve known it was wrong when I couldn’t hear his thoughts. The signs were all there. And now my parents are dead because of me.”

“That’s not true, Amelie. Connery was coming after you no matter what. You just happened to be the one he picked to charm.”

“And I fell for it,” she spat. Her overwhelming sadness had morphed into intense anger. “What’s worse is, I believed the asshole. How could I be so stupid? I trusted him and his sister. Other than Tyla, she was my best friend.”

My pulse spiked. “Sister? What does she look like?”

Amelie wiped her face off on her shirt. “Beautiful. She has silky red hair, and blue eyes. Not exactly the look of a gray wolf, but she was one. I’ve never seen her shift though . . .”

That was because she took after her mother and Jaret probably brainwashed her. “Did she ever talk about her mother?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Only that she’d died a long time ago. She was obviously skilled in magic. Laila’s very powerful as well. She taught me a lot about stones and their magical properties.”

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the moonstone. “What about this one? Do you know anything about it?”

Eyes wide, she grabbed it. “It’s Laila’s. Where did you get it?”

“In your room. We found it on top of your journal. It’s how we knew you were back.”

She squinted and shook her head. “How?”

I pointed to it. “When Tyla touches it, she’s able to see inside your mind. While you slept, she saw your dreams. While you were awake, she saw through your eyes. You were kept in a dark basement the past few nights.”

As if the memories haunted her, she shuddered. “I don’t understand. Why would the stone be linked to my mind?” She handed it back to me and I put it in my pocket.

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find out.” One way or another, I needed to find Laila and tell her the truth.

“What is he going to do to Tyla?” she asked, turning her tear streaked face to mine.

My blood boiled. “I don’t know. But whatever happens, I’m not going to stop until he’s dead. You will never be free until he’s gone.”

Tyla

M
y goal was to not give into Jaret, to ignore him, but of course my patience ran thin. He opened the back door and waved me in. What I really wanted to do was smack the leer off his face, but I was outnumbered. I had a feeling his wolves didn’t care whether I was a male or female; they’d make sure I was punished.

“Any day now,” he said.

From the tension in the air, they were expecting me to run. I never ran from a fight. Holding my head high, I slid into the middle seat and he joined me. There were two men up front, and two guys in the very back. I tried to clear my mind so Sebastian wouldn’t know how dire my situation was. The last thing I wanted was for him to do some insane rescue attempt.

Once we were on our way to wherever it was they were taking me, I turned my body toward the window, intentionally ignoring them.

“Tyla Rand . . . it’s
such
a pleasure to finally meet you,” Jaret said coolly.

I scoffed. “I bet.”

“It is. I kind of wish I’d found you first. We could’ve had lots of fun together.” He touched my shoulder and I growled, slapping his hand away. His eyes flashed and he smiled. “Yep, it should’ve been you. No wonder my father was determined to have you.”

“Your father was a sick bastard. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

He burst out laughing. “I guess not. Don’t worry though, you’ll get to see just what I’m capable of. What makes it even better is that you’re mated to the one man I’ve been hunting for the past thirty years. Did you know he was the one who killed my father?”

I could still see Sebastian’s visions in my mind. He’d killed Vincent, but I had no clue why. Why had he been in California when he was supposed to be in Canada? And there was still the mystery of the red-haired girl.

“I didn’t know,” I answered honestly. “Sebastian wasn’t associated with my pack. His agenda was all his own.”

His eyes flared. “We would’ve won if it wasn’t for him. He’s going to pay for his actions.”

My blood boiled. “What about what
you
did? Your father’s the one who led the attack on
my
people over his greed.” I snorted in disgust. “If anyone deserves vengeance, it’s us. You’re the one who’s going to pay.”

“I don’t think so, sweetheart.” He moved closer, twirling one of my curls around his finger. Feeling him touch me made me sick. “You see,” he whispered in my ear, “I always get what I want. Wherever you are, Finn will follow. My men smelled him in the woods. If you tell me where he is, I’ll make your death as painless as possible.”

Everything inside of me trembled in rage. “Fuck off,” I spat.

His jaw clenched. “You might regret saying that come tonight. We’ll see how long you last.”

Heart pounding, I turned away from him and kept my gaze out the window. Fear crept its way up my spine and I hated myself for feeling it. I didn’t want to be afraid, but something about his words terrified me.

“I’m going to get you out of this,”
Sebastian said.
“Both you and Amelie.”

“How is she?”

“Not good. I can’t imagine what that fuckhead’s done to her. If he’s truly like his father, we’re dealing with a sociopath.”

“How do you know him?”
I asked.

“I didn’t. I knew one of his mates.”

“The red-haired girl?”

More visions of her flashed through his mind.
“She was special, Tyla, and he killed her. I had to make sure he paid for what he did.”
And he did pay. I watched as he relived that night, showing me how he’d ripped Vincent apart, limb by limb.

But what really surprised me was what happened after. The battle was over, the rest of Vincent’s wolves had retreated, yet Sebastian stayed back to tend to my pack. Many of my people were dead, but there were several who were wounded, including Finn. He’d carried him to safety along with the others and sat with them through the night.

“When I knew they were healed, I left before they woke up. I didn’t recognize Finn until just now,”
he said.

My eyes burned but I held back the tears. I didn’t want dipshit beside me to think I was crying because of him.
“He’s alive because of you, Sebastian. We both are. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. Vincent would’ve won.”

“And he’s not going to now. Whatever happens, I will get you out safe.”

“Not without you.”

We were in Virginia, headed deep into the woods. The driveway had to be at least a mile long, surrounded by nothing but trees. We’d finally caught up to the van Sebastian and Amelie were in and I breathed a sigh of relief. There was a man who let them out, but then another who bound their hands together. Amelie hissed in pain and Sebastian clenched his jaw. I opened the door, desperate to get to them.

Jaret grabbed my arm, his claws digging into my skin. “Not so fast, sweetheart. If you don’t want to see them in pain, all you have to do is tell me where Finn is.”

“I don’t know,” I shouted, feeling my own claws lengthen.

“Suit yourself.” He pulled me out of the car and dragged me over to Sebastian and Amelie. One of his men wrapped a rope around my wrists and it burned, my skin raw underneath.
Wolfsbane.
The rope was soaked in it. “Take them to the basement,” he commanded. “I’ll deal with them later.”

He stalked off and Amelie shouted after him, but he ignored her. The look of pain on her face made my heart break. Even though my skin was on fire, I leaned into Sebastian until one of the men pushed us apart.

“Walk,” he shouted. There were four men guarding us as we made our way toward the massive cabin. They were all gray wolves, most likely the survivors from the battle thirty years ago.

I breathed in as deep as I could go, hoping to sense other people around, but there was nothing. We were in the middle of nowhere. Sebastian was behind me, and Amelie was out in front, her shoulders hunched.

Instead of going to the main door of the cabin, we were led to one on the bottom floor, underneath the patio. It was dark inside, with cement floor and walls—exactly like the room Amelie had been kept in earlier.

“This can’t be happening,” Amelie gasped, glancing around the room. There was a small cot and a clock in the corner, the same one as before.

The man in front of her turned and smiled. “You’re more than welcome to stay here again. Unless you’d rather be with them?” he asked, nodding toward us.

Amelie turned her head and nodded. “Keep me with them.”

He burst out laughing. “Okay. Just so you know, their living accommodations are going to be a little . . . different.”