Page 60 of The Worst Mate Ever

I connected, and in that moment, the direction and location became unmistakably clear, as if guided by fate. I could almost see the building they took her to in my mind. An old burned up building at the edge of the county line, far enough away that our patrols wouldn’t have thought to check in that area. I could almost smell the scent of charred and wet wood; as the connection strengthened even more.

I let out a piercing howl, the sound echoing through the air, beckoning the pack to follow me as I guided them towards my mate.

“I’m coming, Tinkerbell. Don’t you worry.”

I sent the thought through the bond, in the hopes that she would receive it without issue.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Madilyn

I must have lost consciousness at some point. The last clear memory I held was the forest blurring past as the vampire adeptly navigated from tree to tree, an airborne predator in his own right.

Awakening to the smell of must and decay, I hadn’t yet opened my eyes but already understood my grim surroundings—I was in the vampire’s lair. His voice, distant yet distinct, mingled with the rogue’s voice in what sounded like a heated argument.

“You promised me my revenge! Now let me have her!” demanded the rogue, his voice laced with betrayal.

My body stiffened at the words: Brady’s warnings crystallized into a harsh reality as my body tensed in fear. Once again, my stupidity, driven by reckless desire and disregarding the danger I was in. The danger that my child would also be in.

I cautiously opened my eyes and surveyed the dark confines of the room I was in.

“There was a change of plans,” came the vampire’s bored retort, as if the very conversation was an imposition, as if speaking to the rogue was beneath him. His disdain for shifters, a sentiment I’d come to expect from my past dealings with vampires, hung heavily in the air. “Minerva has use for her.”

The mention of the dark witch sent a wave of revulsion through me, a fate seemingly worse than captivity by these two. It was then the air’s sinister tinge, unmistakable and familiar, reached me—it was the same dark magic that had once suffocated the caves before Paige and her coven cleansed it.

She was close. The witch couldn’t have been more than a couple of rooms away from me.

“Shit,” I breathed. I had to get out of here. The thought of any harm coming from the witch made me realize how vulnerable my baby and I were.

Suddenly, his voice pierced the silence, unexpectedly close. “Ah, you’re awake. Good.”

Struggling against the ropes binding me, I winced as they seared my skin. “Let me go!”

The vampire’s scoff and the dismissive roll of his blood-red eyes were infuriating. “I never understood why captives bother with such pleas, as if the captors would just simply let them go as if they never meant to take them in the first place.”

He sauntered over, dragging a chair with him and perching on it with a casual ease that belied the situation’s gravity, the chair’s back legs balancing his weight. “Believe me, Little Wolf, you’re better off here with me.”

My scoff mirrored his earlier disdain, my eyes rolling in skepticism. “Bullshit. When my mate finds me, you’ll regret ever crossing paths with me,” I retorted, defiance lacing my words. The idea of safety in the presence of a vampire, particularly for a pregnant she-wolf, was nothing short of ridiculous.

“If your mate does manage to find his way here, he’ll discover you unscathed, exactly as you sit now,” he responded, his gesture dismissive, as if the matter were trivial. “And I will be long gone, not a trace left to find me. Not even dust in the wind.”

Abruptly, the door burst open with such force that its hinges gave way, revealing the rogue in full fury. “God damn it! She’s mine!”

As the rogue stepped into the room, I gasped, taking in every detail of his menacing appearance. In all the previous encounters, I only caught glimpses of him. I knew his face had been burned. I knew it had gone beyond his scalp, but the damage was far worse than I could have imagined.

I wasn’t sure what I had expected. It should have been obvious, given the source of Brady’s powers and the strength he had behind them. Yet still, to see what appeared to be a half-melted man was beyond my own imagination.

“I told you,” the vampire hissed, positioning himself between the rogue and me, a barrier of cold resolve. “She’s off limits.”

“Tristan,” came a soft, commanding feminine voice from behind him, both the men stepping aside to reveal the witch now standing in the doorway. The room’s atmosphere changed as the witch entered, commanding the attention of both men.

She barely spared me a glance, a hint of disgust in her eyes as she turned away from me and to the rogue, her hand gently brushing over the rivets and scars on his face.

“You can’t have her; she belongs to me now. You may seek your revenge on the one who did this to you. He is in the forest and headed this way at this very minute. Cut him off and do what you like with him. Gut him, skin him, destroy his body the way he destroyed yours. But you cannot touch her. Not now.”

“Why?” Tristan snarled, yet he held back from attacking the witch. I could smell the fear coming off of him as she continued to trace his scarred skin up into his scalp.

“Because all the hybrid children belong to me. I allowed you the younger Crete born hybrid only because his bloodline is not ended with him.” Her dark veined eyes turned to me then, a terrifying grin along her lips as she looked back at me.

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