The Half-Breed Who Found His Other Half (11 page)

“Yes, Isaac, but it might be out of your hands.”
Isaac sensed Chantay’s pain and fear as his own.
“What if that vile warlock hurts
you like he did Rhys? And my brother…I can’t even think about what
must have happened to him.”

Sadly, Chantay had a point, and the likelihood that Rhys Whitaker had been killed was increasing more and more. Ironically, Isaac was relying on the obvious arrogance and sadism of the man-child in front of him, hoping that the boy had not deemed Rhys dangerous enough to kill.

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Even as he thought about this, Isaac did his best to memorize the way they’d come. Every corridor looked the same, dark and gloomy, and even the occasional decorations were set in the same place and looked identical. In fact, Isaac got the impression that the guards were leading them in circle, perhaps to confuse them. Honestly, Isaac doubted such precautions were necessary since the warlocks’ home looked like a rabbit warren to him, and Isaac was particularly worried because of the man-child’s intention to separate them. Navigating through this labyrinth would be next to impossible while trying to escape this lunatic.

Sadly, his concern proved to be justified. At one crossroads between corridors, his companions were pushed right, while he continued forward. He heard his brother protest, but he did not look in Brody’s direction. He had a feeling he would need his wits to shoulder what was to come.

He was taken two levels down, into the very bowels of the mansion. Here, the air smelled like mold and fear, and among his own apprehension, Isaac felt a dose of excitement. If there was anywhere in this place where he could find Rhys, this would be it.

The guards opened a cell door and pushed him inside. He staggered and bared his canines at them as he regained his balance.

The child warlock tsked at him from the doorway. “Now, now. Let’s not be violent. You were doing so well, too.”

At that, Isaac couldn’t contain himself. “Who do you think you are, you little freak? Once I get out of here, I’m going to skin you alive.”

An unpleasant smile graced the boy’s young, chubby face. “Oh, where are my manners? I am Tyrell, the leader of this coven. And you, my dear Isaac, will be my weapon.”

It was the last thing Isaac registered before a wave of power crushed over him. The walls he’d struggled to erect all his life crumbled under the onslaught of the spell. All of a sudden, the two parts of him were face-to-face once again and at odds with each other.

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And as the contrasting instincts emerged, Isaac’s human mind got lost in the darkness of his own animalistic nature, and there was nothing else but darkness, a wolf, and a ram.

* * * *

A few hours later

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, Chantay sent his mind out, seeking his mate, testing their bond. He was met with nothing else but static. His head throbbed with the effort, and he curled into a ball, trying to push it back. No matter how much it hurt, he needed to hear from Isaac. He needed to know
something
.

Ever since he’d felt that overwhelming wave of pain coming from Isaac, Chantay had been unable to contact his mate through their connection. The only thing that kept him going was the certainty that Isaac remained alive. But at the same time, he felt helpless, powerless to aid his mate. The leaders of the various nations knew about the situation and had basically told him to stay out. Elder Wade had been angered just by Chantay’s presence, and he’d refused to listen to anything Chantay had to say.

Chantay suspected that if Brody’s mate, Carson, hadn’t confirmed this news, the werewolf would have discarded it entirely. Chantay had no idea why Isaac’s father hated him so much, but right then and there, he’d have been willing to kneel in front of the elder just as long as Wade did something for Isaac.

But more and more time was passing with no news and no success in reaching out to Isaac. Chantay was starting to get desperate.

“Please, Isaac,”
he sent out.
“If you can hear me, please come
back to me.”

No answer. Chantay would have wept, except he sensed a small trickle of light at the back of his mind, the brush of a familiar touch. It
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was so elusive Chantay might have missed it entirely had he not been searching for it so avidly.

The tenuous connection didn’t hold for much longer, vanishing into thin air like strands of wispy smoke. But it had been enough to give Chantay hope. Isaac could still hear him. Chantay just needed to keep trying.

He was so busy in his self-assigned task that the sound of someone knocking at his door startled him tremendously. Chantay blinked and got up, swooning as his headache intensified at the sudden motion. He took a deep breath to calm himself and went to greet his mysterious visitor.

As he opened the door, he was not surprised to see Carson Williams-Wade at the other side. “Hey there,” the shifter greeted him.

“I wanted to see if you’re all right. Elder Wade treated you pretty badly earlier.”

Chantay couldn’t find the strength to pretend he was fine like he normally might have. “I don’t care about that,” he said, stepping aside and gesturing the older man to come in. “It’s Isaac that worries me.”

Carson stepped inside and sighed. “I know it hurts, but they’ll come back to us. You’ll see.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Chantay couldn’t help but snap at the ram-shifter. “You can still hear your mate.”

“You mean you can’t?” Carson’s dark eyes grew even more concerned than they’d been before. “Is Isaac—?”

Chantay shook his head, interrupting the ram before Carson could say the dreaded word. “No. But there’s something in the way of our bond. It’s very strange. It’s like Isaac is there, but he isn’t. I can’t explain it.”

Carson seemed to gain a distant expression, as if he was remembering something very painful. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about this,” he finally said, “but many years ago, when Brody and I met, his father did everything in his power to part us. He even forced him to mate someone else in exchange for sparing my life. That
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mating wiped out our mind link, but not completely. I could still see and hear Brody sometimes. Is this like that?”

“I…I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Honestly, Chantay would have preferred it had that been the case, but he had a feeling something more sinister was involved. “I just suddenly felt him in pain, and then…He was just gone, at least, the way I knew him to be.”

“Have you told the elder this?” Carson asked.

Chantay nodded, already beginning to fall into depression again.

“Yes, but he doesn’t believe I’m Isaac’s mate. Everyone ignores me altogether. What use am I to Isaac if I don’t even know what’s happening with him?”

Carson released a heavy sigh. “I wish I could help, but Brody doesn’t know what’s going on, either. He and the others are being held apart from Isaac.”

Chantay dropped back down on the couch and buried his face in his hands. “Why? Why is that monster so intent on Isaac? It’s the same person who attacked me, and he has so much hate inside him.

What made him choose Isaac?”

It was a question Carson obviously couldn’t answer. None of them could, except maybe Isaac. In the end, there was no way around it.

Chantay was done waiting here like an idiot. His mate needed him, and Chantay intended to save him or die trying.

“I’m done wondering, Carson,” he said, “and I’m done asking for people to give me attention. I know where they went, and I know what they’re up against. I’m going after Isaac.”

“That’s what I was coming to tell you,” Carson said. “A group of soldiers have already left in search of our mates. I’d have gone, too, but Brody convinced me to remain here. Angel and Clark need me to get through this, and I have to be there for my kids.” Carson squeezed Chantay’s shoulder. “But if you want to go, don’t let anyone stand in your way. Fight for your mate, Chantay. If your bond is under strain, he will need you there.”

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Chantay appreciated the ram’s encouragement. “Can you help me arrange transportation? Without King Sterling, I’m really not sure who to address.”

The shifter hugged him tightly. “I can, and I will. Follow me. And be careful. I don’t like the fact that Elder Wade chose to disregard your words so lightly.”

Chantay followed behind Carson as the two of them left the room.

The ram seemed intent on helping, and Chantay could find no fault in that. He only hoped he would reach his mate in time.

Just as they were going down the stairs, they were intercepted by Chantay’s friend, Reed. “Are you going after them?” the swan asked breathlessly. “Please, take me with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Reed,” Carson replied in a reprimanding tone. “Liam wouldn’t want you to be in danger. And what would Shiloh say?”

As if summoned by Carson’s words, Reed’s swan father, Shiloh, appeared, going up the staircase at great speed. Chantay hadn’t talked too much with either of the two, but they gave him the impression of being very much alike, in spite of the fact that they weren’t blood.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Shiloh practically screeched. “It’s enough that Liam is in danger. I don’t need to worry about you as well.”

Reed rolled his eyes. “It’s always about you, isn’t it, Dad? Well, guess what? I can make my own choices now, and you’re not the boss of me. I deserve to go.”

Chantay felt the hurt coming from Shiloh, disguised under the thin façade of bravado. Both Shiloh and Carson were barely hanging on, extremely concerned for their respective mates. He might have berated Reed for his cruelty, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it, not when the same agony rushed at him from the younger swan.

It was probably just his own fear for Isaac anchoring him, keeping him from crumbling in the face of so much emotion. “Please don’t fight,” he told his companions. “This isn’t helping our mates.”

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Reed turned toward him, and there was something in his expression that startled Chantay. “You must understand me. Take me with you, Chantay. If I stay here for much longer, I’ll lose my mind.”

There was more to Reed’s behavior than just concern for his father. Chantay might have attempted to draw out the truth, but all of a sudden, Carson and Shiloh released twin cries, gripping their foreheads as if in deep pain. Chantay sensed the wave of increasing agony coming from the two shifters, and this time, he couldn’t contain it within himself. He fell to the ground on his knees, desperately reaching out for his mate in hope to find an answer to all his questions and pleas.

As he did so, however, Carson and Shiloh turned into their animal forms. To Chantay’s shock, Carson didn’t even turn into a ram, as Chantay knew he could, but into a smaller, defenseless lamb.

Reed was obviously panicking. “What is it?” he shouted. “What’s wrong?”

“I think…” Chantay clutched his chest as he attempted to speak.

“I think they’re dead.”

And then, a voice drifted inside his mind, familiar, yet not.

“Please,”
Isaac said.
“Please, help them.”

* * * *

Isaac swam between the void of unconsciousness and the feral agony he experienced when awake. He didn’t know how much time had passed since he’d fallen into Tyrell’s hands. The warlock had done something to him, something that had torn into Isaac’s very being. The only thing that told Isaac he still existed as a rational being was the fact that he still sensed his connection with his mate. He sensed Chantay reaching out to him, desperately trying to make contact with him. Isaac wished he could speak to the half fae, but Tyrell’s spell seemed to have drilled into that, too.

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In a way, Isaac was only aware of this at a very basic level. Even when he awoke from the trance Tyrell had pushed him into, it felt like he wasn’t really there, at least not completely. He watched his body shift from ram to wolf over and over, the two beasts battling for supremacy. It was like when he’d been a child, only so much worse.

Now that he was an adult, his instincts were sharper and more aggressive, and he clawed at himself, hit his head against the floor, writhed helplessly like a trapped worm, his skin crawling with two powers that ached to get out.

The pain was so intense he might have killed himself already had he not known Chantay waited for him. The instinct for survival was strong in both beasts, and even as they battled each other, Isaac didn’t want to die.

At one point, he collapsed on the floor, exhausted, uncertain as to what form he’d even taken. He heard someone chuckle and realized it was Tyrell. “How very interesting,” the man-child said. “You’re like…the missing link, or something. Half man, half wolf, and half ram? Oh, my, I think I made a mathematical error there. No wonder you look so fucked up.”

The vulgarity sounded odd on a child’s lips, or should have had Isaac not known all too well what was hiding behind that façade. It also spoke volumes of Isaac’s current condition. He struggled to get up, but his legs, or rather, his paws, felt awkward. He thought that maybe he had hooves, but couldn’t be certain. His body seemed to have been put together by a rushed Doctor Frankenstein. It was exactly what Isaac had always feared, losing control and becoming a monster.

As if guessing his thoughts, Tyrell laughed. “Enjoy your new form, Isaac. I’m sure your friends and family will, as well.”

There was nothing that horrified Isaac more than the idea of having his loved ones see him like this. He didn’t think he could bear it if he saw disgust in Chantay’s eyes. From somewhere deep inside, Isaac drew on strength. If Tyrell mentioned friends and family, it
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meant that the warlock intended to leave him alive. That was a good thing. Death was the only thing that didn’t have a remedy, and the part of Isaac that remained a person held onto the hope that he would figure things out eventually.