Resisting the Moon: A Royal Shifters Novel (19 page)

I could only imagine what he meant by that. The lights were bright as we walked through another room, and when he opened the door, I coughed. The room reeked of wolfsbane. There were plants in every corner of the room. We wouldn’t die from breathing in the fumes, but it would surely burn our lungs.

There was also the scent of blood. Splatters of it were on the floor and in the separate cages scattered around the room. They allowed enough room to stand and lie down on the floor, but that was it. All of them were empty except one. When the captive lifted his head, I gasped. It’d been thirty years since I’d seen him last, but he looked the same. He was one of Finn’s closest friends.

His eyes went wide and he jumped to his feet. “Tyla? Amelie?”

“Josef,” I whispered. The guy beside me pushed me into the cell next to him and locked the door while the others secured Sebastian and Amelie in theirs. Josef faced me from his cell and I latched onto the bars, hissing as my hands burned. The bars had been soaked in wolfsbane. “Okay! We get it already. Don’t you think you went a little overboard with the wolfsbane?”

They completely ignored me and walked out of the room, locking the door behind them.

Sebastian growled and touched the bars. “More like, afraid we’ll kill them.”

I turned to Josef. “What’s going on? How long have you been here?” His clothes were torn and dirty, and covered in blood. But it wasn’t his blood all over the floor.

“Only a day. Jaret’s men found me in Tennessee a couple of days after Finn left, asking me to come back to his pack. I was on my way to join him when I was ambushed and brought here. They’re trying to find him, but it looks like they found you instead.”

“More like
me
,” Amelie corrected.

He turned in her direction and sighed. “Where are your parents?”

Her eyes flashed. “Dead. They killed them. I’d called Tyla and told her we needed help, but all it did was drag her down with me.” She dropped her head, tears splashing on the concrete floor. “I’m so sorry, Tyla. I never meant to bring you into this.”

“It’s not your fault,” I murmured. “You didn’t know what was going on.”

“Does Finn even know?” Josef asked, glancing at us all before settling his gaze on mine. “When I talked to him, he said you were dead.”

“It was a lie my aunt and uncle had told him.”

Amelie’s brows furrowed when I looked at her. “You can’t be serious. Why in the hell would they do that? How did they even know Finn was alive? I thought he was dead!”

“He found them about twenty years ago. At that point, my mother told your parents to tell him I was dead. They knew if he found me, he’d want me to be his mate.”

Her gaze shifted to Sebastian. “And if that would’ve happened . . . you wouldn’t have met him.” She sighed and reached for the bars, but stopped short. “Tyla, I promise I didn’t know. I would never lie to you.”

I nodded. “I know, it’s okay. It all worked out in the end. Finn and I talked about it. He knows the truth now.”

“So you’ve seen him?” Josef asked.

“A couple of days ago, but I honestly don’t know where he’s at right now. If he can’t track Jaret’s wolves, there’s no way he’ll find us here.”

“He’ll find us,” Josef said, taking a seat on the floor. “One way or another, they’ll draw him in. They have the perfect bait.” He looked directly at me.

Tyla

“T
yla, wake up.”
Sebastian’s voice echoed in my mind.

I didn’t want to wake up. I wanted to imagine I was back at home and not sleeping on a hard concrete floor in my enemy’s basement.
“I don’t want to.”

“There’s movement upstairs. I have a feeling we’ll be having company soon.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Amelie and Josef were still asleep, and Sebastian sat in the cell across from me, his gaze tormented.
“I hate seeing you like this.”

“I’m fine, I promise. I’ll feel even better when I can rip Jaret in half.”

“You’ll be waiting in line for that one, love. There’s a special place in Hell for him, right next to his father.”

I glanced around the room. There were two windows near the ceiling, but they were too small to even attempt to sneak out of. It didn’t matter anyway because the cages hindered us from escaping. Even if we could get out, it’d take time to pry away the bars. That time would cost us our hands.
“How are we going to get out of here?”

He looked around the room and shook his head.
“I don’t know. We just have to wait it out.”

As much as I wanted to think we’d get through this living hell alive, I had to question it. There were no visions of a happily ever after when we’d shared blood. It was obvious what was going to happen. Sebastian jerked his head my way, his gaze heated.

“You don’t know that, Tyla. I told you I’ll get you out safely and I won’t let you down.”

“But what is my life without you? You’re my mate, Sebastian. I’m not going anywhere without you. We fight together, we die together. The sooner you realize that, the easier this will be.”
I was prepared to die fighting. Jaret wasn’t going to get anything from me.

Sebastian clenched his fists, his mind going in a thousand different directions. In his craze, I caught one particular emotion he was trying to hide from me. Guilt.

“What are you hiding from me?”
Before he could reply, footsteps sounded down the stairs. “Amelie? Josef? Wake up.” They both sat up and we waited. It was like they’d deliberately kept us guessing just to toy with us.

The door to the room unlocked and Jaret strolled in, freshly showered. Amelie turned her head, not even acknowledging him. He went straight to her cell and bent down. “Good morning, dear,” he said to her. “The bed was awfully cold without you this morning.”

It’s a shame you didn’t freeze to death,” she spat.

Chuckling, he glanced over my way. “A few hours with you and your snarkiness rubs off on her. I might have to keep you both around a little longer, and make things interesting.” Another of his men walked through the door and stood guard, while Jaret paced back and forth. Sebastian and I met his stare, not afraid to back down.

“Let’s see, who should I pick first? It can’t be you,” he said to me. “I need you for the grand finale, and for your mate to watch.” Sebastian’s power blasted through the room, bringing Josef, Amelie, and Jaret’s wolves to their knees. Jaret froze, sweat beading on his forehead.

It was only for a split second, but I saw how hard he was fighting the urge to kneel. Sebastian was stronger than him.

Clearing his throat, Jaret stood between Amelie and Josef’s cells, ignoring the fact Sebastian almost put him to his knees. He looked at Amelie and then at Josef, pursing his lips. “I can’t choose my mate because I’m not done with her yet. I guess there’s no other option.”

Amelie jumped to her feet, eyes wild. “Jaret, no!”

“Stefan, if you would please,” Jaret commanded. Stefan brushed off his jeans from where Sebastian dropped him to his knees, and glared at him before doing his alpha’s bidding.

Josef stood and released a heavy sigh. “It was good seeing you again, Tyla. I fear this is goodbye.”

“No,” I shouted. “You hang on, you hear me?”

Stefan grabbed his arm and wrapped him in a wolfsbane soaked rope. I could hear the burning of his skin, but he looked at me and smiled. “It was an honor serving the Redwood Pack. Make sure you pass the message along to Finn.”

Jaret pushed him toward the door and stopped in front of my cage. “Let the fun begin.”

Hours had passed and no one had been down to our dungeon. My stomach growled but I knew there’d be no food. I fought better when I was hangry anyway.

Sebastian looked to me, lifting his brows. “What does that mean?”

Even if we were locked in a basement, the way he said it made me laugh. “It’s when you’re hungry and angry at the same time. For a woman, it’s a lethal combination.”

“Don’t I know that,” he teased.

Amelie looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “What are you talking about?”

He pointed at me. “She said she was hangry. I’ve never heard that before.”

Amelie shook her head. “But she didn’t say anything.” Then it clicked into place. “Never mind, I get it. You’re true mates.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach, averting her gaze.

“You’ll find your true mate one day,” I promised. “We can’t help who we fall in love with. Jaret tricked you.”

“And I fell for it. That never would’ve happened to you. You would’ve seen through his lies.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I’m not Wonder Woman, Amelie. Who knows what I would’ve done if the situation was turned. You’re just as strong and smart as I am. When we get home, the first thing I’m going to do is teach you how to fight. Sebastian and his brother can help too.”

She looked back and forth between us. “That’s just it, I don’t have a home anymore. I thought it was here, but I was wrong. My parents are gone because of me and I’m mated to a psychotic bastard. Unless one of us can miraculously kill Jaret, I’m screwed.”

“How do you feel about that?” I wondered.

Sighing, she ran her hands down her face, her eyes misting with unshed tears. “I loved him, Tyla . . . shit, or at least I thought I did. If I’m given the chance, I’ll kill him myself. I’ll only be free once he’s gone.”

“When do you think his sister will show up?” Sebastian asked her.

Amelie started to speak, but I cut in. “What’s going on? What are you two talking about?”

Amelie sighed. “Laila is Jaret’s sister. We were good friends, until she betrayed me. I haven’t seen her in almost two weeks.”

“The moonstone is hers,” Sebastian added. “She’s the one who linked Amelie’s mind to it.”

“How do you know that?”

They looked at each other. “Because she has magic,” Amelie said. “She’s . . . different. I don’t know why she did it though.”

“How is she different?” I asked her.

Footsteps approached and the door swung wide open. Stefan walked in with two other men and they unlocked my cage, moving to Amelie’s next. Stefan grabbed my arms and pulled them behind me, wrapping my wrists with wolfsbane ropes.

“What are you doing?”

“Jaret wants you to be part of the entertainment tonight. The show starts in an hour.” He nudged me toward the door, and I looked back at Sebastian.