Oak, Sophie - Beast [A Faery Story 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) (17 page)

A wave of stock numbers began to crawl across the bottom of his monitor. The Dellacorp symbol flowed by, along with a ridiculously huge number attached to it. Chalen felt his fists clench. Palgrave Industries was in the toilet stock wise, and it had been since the day his brother had walked into the arena. The press had gotten word that Kinsey Palgrave was fighting Beck Finn, and the company’s stock had taken a dive because no one believed Kinsey could best the Fae warrior king. The stock dove even further when news of Kinsey’s disappearance had made the press.

No one believed he could handle the company the way his brother had.

Well, he would prove them wrong. He would bring Palgrave Industries back to its rightful place, and he would bring Dellacorp to its knees.

Starting with Dante.

* * * *

Dante’s head pounded. The pain was like a sharp hammer beating a quick rhythm against his skull.

Fuck, he was in trouble. How much Scotch had he had last night? It was pretty much a blank, so it had to have been considerable.
A party?
He remembered climbing a really big tree and thinking that a dog was hot.

Yep, he was going to rehab.

“Dante.” An annoyed feminine voice screeched his name.

“Mom?” He tried to focus, but his eyes weren’t working. “Don’t yell. I know I’m in trouble, but I seriously need something for this hangover.”

“I am not your mother, Dante. Wake up!”

He felt something kick him.

“Wake up, or we’re going to die!”

Drama queen
. Whoever was yelling at him was a total drama queen. “Susie? Susie, don’t tell mom. And whatever you do, don’t tell Dad. He’s pissed enough as it is. Don’t tell him I got drunk and blacked out. Fuck, did the paparazzi catch me?”

“Oh, for god’s sake, Dante, it’s Meg.”

Dante forced his eyes open. Meg. His brain started to function again. He had been with Meg, and there was a tremendously smelly mountain he’d had to climb and shoot through the eye, and he was married.

“Where’s Kaja?”

He focused, putting all his will into figuring out just how screwed they were. He tried to pull his hands up, but they held tight. His hands were tied behind his back, and his feet were bound as well. He was lying on the floor of a tent. He couldn’t see Meg. Where was Meg?

“I don’t know where Kaja is.”

Dante turned his head up and to the right. Meg had been given the courtesy of a chair. Her worried face stared down at him.

“Just tell me they didn’t kill her.” He couldn’t stand the thought. How long had he been out? What terrible things had been done to Meg and his wife?

The flap to the tent opened, and a shadow fell over Dante. Three mercenaries strode into the room.

“Who is this Kaja?” a cultured British voice asked. There was a snap of his fingers, and Dante felt himself being hauled up to seated position.

That was when Dante saw her. A brown wolf poked her nose through the door and glided in on graceful paws. Lovely, undeniably feminine, and way smarter than he had given her credit for. His Kaja.

“She’s just a girl I was fucking,” Dante said as though it really didn’t matter.

The wolf growled just a bit.

“I don’t think she likes you,” the asshole mercenary said. His hand came up to pet the wolf at his feet.

Dante felt like growling, too. “The feeling isn’t mutual. She’s gorgeous. Where did you find her?”

Kaja sat back on her haunches. Dante fancied he could feel her satisfaction.

“She was at the site of your victory over the ogre,” the man explained. “I thought she was yours.”

The fuckers had hit him with a Taser. He could use that to his advantage. “I don’t really remember much about that fight.”

“That’s a shame. I would really like to hear that tale.” The mercenary turned to Meg and bowed deeply. “Your Highness. My name is Sergeant Major Simon Roan. I lead a small group of vampires who take on all sorts of jobs.”

“We call them mercenaries where I come from,” Meg replied.

“Ah, we have that in common then.” The vampire stood in front of Meg. “Are you feeling all right, Your Highness? I deeply apologize for the bindings. They are made from the finest silk, so they shouldn’t cut your delicate skin. Are you thirsty? I can have my men bring you anything you like.”

“I would like to go home,” Meg stated plainly.

“Alas, that is the one thing I cannot give you. I assure you that you will be treated with the utmost respect while we await your husbands.” Roan took a long breath. “And after the inevitable happens, please know that I will personally ensure your safety. I believe my employer intends to leave you on your own, but I will not allow that to happen.”

“Inevitable?” Meg asked, glancing Dante’s way.

Dante shrugged. “When they execute Beck and Ci.”

Meg laughed, her chest bouncing a little with the effort. She had little tears dripping from the corners of her eyes. Dante had to admit, it was a little funny. Even if they’d brought a small army with them, he didn’t see how this Roan fellow was going to take down Beck Finn.

Dante knew something the rest of the world didn’t know yet. Beck and Cian had come into their powers several months ago. Beck Finn had been born the greatest warrior of his generation. Now he was also a storm lord. With the flick of his hand, he could call on the power of a hurricane. His cousin didn’t have perfect command over his powers yet, but Dante knew he could handle a band of mercenaries.

Meg bit her bottom lip and nodded. “I am very grateful to you, sir. I would rather not have to watch my beloved husbands being executed, if you don’t mind.”

Roan stared down at her and seemed to come to some decision. “I can see I’ve upset you. I apologize, but it is necessary. Trade must flow between our nations.”

His hand came out. It almost touched Meg’s hair.

“Hey,” Dante said. “Her husbands aren’t dead yet, Roan. You have no fucking right.”

The mercenary pulled his hand back immediately. His face was blankly polite. “Of course. I am terribly sorry.”

“Show me your fangs, asshole,” Dante said. He had a very nasty suspicion. If it was true, it might be very bad for Meg—and it might be a tool to use.

Roan growled a little, baring his teeth. It was just as Dante suspected. Roan’s fangs were curved and thin. Unlike a peasant’s, Roan’s fangs were meant to feed, but not kill. Those fangs told Dante everything.

“How the hell did a royal end up as a mercenary?”

Now those blank eyes went black and cold. “Even a royal can fall, Mr. Dellacourt. I believe you’re about to find that out for yourself. I will protect the consort. She is merely a pawn in this game. But you, I will allow my employer to slaughter as he sees fit. You’re everything that is wrong with our system.”

The mercenary got to one knee. He patted it, and Kaja walked obediently to him. His hands slipped into the wolf’s fur.

Now Dante really wanted to slit the fucker’s throat. Dante could see that even in wolf form, Kaja had a slight glow. In human form, she practically had a halo, but in wolf form it was slightly muted. Dante knew to look for it. He doubted that Roan would notice it. It was better that he didn’t. The vampire was obviously hungry for a consort.

The mercenary didn’t move his hands. “I’ll take care of this one, too, Mr. Dellacourt. I have a weakness for the beautiful creatures of this world.”

He stood and walked from the tent, Kaja following.

Though it made him crazy, Dante understood. Kaja could learn a lot in this form. She could figure out what they were planning. She could learn what weapons they had. She could get a lay of the land.

She could run away from him. She could decide that he wasn’t worth the trouble. She could decide that Roan would take better care of her.

Damn it, he wanted to kill that fucker.

“Dante.” Meg pulled him from his fantasy about taking the very fit Simon Roan apart with his bare hands. “What the hell is going on? Why is my captor being so very nice to me even as he talks about killing my husbands?”

“He’s a royal,” Dante replied. If Simon Roan got a look at Kaja in human form, he just might fall at her feet. “You haven’t spent a lot of time in vampire society. Royals treat consorts like they were made of gold.”

“You don’t.”

He shrugged. “Only with you, sweetheart. You’re like my sister now. I don’t treat my sister very well.”

It was true. Ever since the instant he’d seen Kaja, Meg had kind of faded to the background. She was where she should be, relegated to the role of a loved relative.

Kaja had followed Roan.

“She’s playing a game, Dante.” Meg was looking at him with sympathetic eyes.

Was he that transparent? “I know that.”

“No, you don’t. But I know what she’s doing. If she’d wanted to run, she’d be long gone. She’s going to help us. Is this man working with Torin?”

The fight Dante had been so eager for seemed to be coming at him like a steam train. “Yes. There’s a faction on the Vampire plane that wants to make a deal with Torin. The royals are desperate for consorts. We age until the moment we take a consort. You’re kind of our version of the fountain of youth. We’ll still die one day, but as long as we’re taking consort blood, we’ll look damn good when we go, if you know what I mean.”

Meg let her head fall forward. “What would happen to me if they managed to kill Beck and Ci?”

He didn’t even want to think about it. “Right now there would be a riot if you hit the open market. The tournament would be huge and bloody. I don’t think Roan intends to allow that to happen. He fully intends to take you when you’re available. If he gets his fangs into you, no one will question his claim.”

“God, I don’t understand any of this. Not really.” Meg sounded tired, her voice soft and weary.

Meg hadn’t grown up on the linked planes. She’d been born on the Earth plane. It was a difficult plane to travel to. It was very isolated. She didn’t have any real comprehension of how special she was.

She needed to understand the power she had over Roan. “Royals are raised to treat a woman like you with great reverence. If you play your cards right, he’ll take care of you no matter what happens. But you should understand, he’ll have a price for his care. He’ll feed off you, and he’ll definitely want to fuck you.”

Meg shuddered.

“It’s going to be okay,” Dante said. If he’d had hands to do it, he would have put them on her shoulders. “They don’t understand what Beck is. Roan is a royal. He was raised to be very gentle around women like you. Just be sweet, and he won’t let anything happen to you. It shouldn’t be too long before Beck shows up and blows the roof off this place.”

But a lot could happen in a very short amount of time. Roan was a royal, but Dante would bet the rest were peasants. Peasants didn’t have the same worshipful reverence for consorts that royals did. If the rest of Roan’s team decided they could make more by selling Meg, they would. If they gave her to Torin—he didn’t want to think about what would happen to her.

Beck could handle these guys easily, but Beck wasn’t here. Dante was responsible for Meg and for Kaja.

He had to get them away from here.

“Can you move at all?” Dante asked.

He was bound tightly in sonic cuffs. The mercenaries were well equipped. They had all the latest sonic equipment. The swords at their sides could slice through flesh with almost no effort. If they managed to get Beck in hand, they could kill him. Killing Beck would almost certainly kill Cian.