Page 13 of Fighting the Lies

CHAPTER SIX

Brayden held onto the nearest palm tree to steady his swirling head. Travel wasn’t meant to be done via magic it was meant to be done in style and preferably in a luxury sports car. His mate, however, loved the fact that she could transport herself and anyone she was touching to anywhere. Admittedly, when she projected herself naked into the shower earlier, he’d enjoyed that, but it was when he had to travel this way he was a bit disgruntled.

“You ok?” Selene placed her tiny manicured hand on his. He stared at it. It still amazed him that when he touched her she did not shift like she had done in the early days of their relationship. It had been the worst time of his life. To not touch the woman, he loved was the most indescribable torture.

“I’m all good. You go set up as look out. When I call, you need to get us out of there as quickly as possible.”

“There is a lot of magic here. I can sense it.” Selene pursed her lips together tightly and looked towards the imposing terracotta manor house in front of them. It was the seat of the Las Vegas pack. They knew that most of the pack were in Berlin for the trial, so despite the neighbourhood being busy, the house itself was closed up with a few guards left to ensure no trouble.

“Ciaran?” Tyler stepped forward and handed Brayden a gun. Jessica had done a little recognisance and had seen the guards were lions but still had weapons like humans.

“I don’t think so. I don’t know. I’m still learning his ways. Sorry.” Selene replied nibbling on her lip.

“You are doing brilliantly. Go hide. If anything happens, get out of here.” He leant forward and gave her a departing kiss before she transformed into a white-tailed kite and fluttered up into the setting sun skyline.

“You ready?” Tyler questioned. He was low to the ground already sniffing the air for trouble.

“In and out; that’s all Kas wants us to do. You know where the room is?” Brayden replied and tucked the gun into the back of his black jeans and also crouched low.

“Top floor, third door on the left. Key code for the room seven, three, two, one.” They both prowled quietly towards the house so as not to make a sound. The ground was covered in dusty sand and succulent plants, so it was easy to be fleet of foot. When one of the guards shifted his head towards them, his nose going up in the air and sniffing, they both froze. Being down wind should mean that their scents would not be detected. The guard, satisfied there was no imminent threat, resumed his observation pose. Brayden looked up and saw Selene flying around ready to provide a distraction if needed. Even as a bird, his mate was damn sexy. Now really wasn’t the time for thinking about that. Get your head in the game he chastised himself. They reached the house with ease and slipped inside. Just as they suspected, it was empty. It looked like it had been for a long time; a thin layer of dust covered the furniture and the house smelt musky as though it had not been open to the elements to air it for a while.

“Isn’t Emma’s brother supposed to live here?” Tyler queried as they climbed the grand staircase to the upper levels.

“I thought so, but who knows. You can check it out later, computer whizz.” Despite being a wolf and spending most of his time in the kitchen cooking for the pack, Tyler was also a genius with computers. He seemed to be able to find out just about anything from them. It was something he liked to keep hidden, unless it was desperately required. Brayden had accidentally learned about it when he’d caught the wolf hacking into a bank account for Kas.

“Will do.” They approached the third door with caution. The mansion was old fashioned in its style. The doors were heavy oak, impregnable without a key to unlock them. This was too easy so far. By keeping Selene away from the property, they were able to bypass a lot of the security that was focused to detect magic, but something was off, Brayden’s gut instinct was telling him that this was all wrong. He needed to persist, though, for Emma’s sake. He keyed in the code, and the lock clicked. He pushed it open, and both he and Tyler stopped midstride, muscles tensing. Tyler grabbed Brayden’s arm.

“Is that what I think it is?”

He tried to find the words to respond, but they weren’t coming that easily with what was laid out before him.

“That’s Emma’s father’s skeleton.” The pile of bones was on the unmade bed, exactly as it would have been found the day he died. The head was separated from the body. Brayden looked around the room, trying to take in the scene. It was covered in dust and grime. “This place hasn’t been touched since the day he died.”

“Is that normal for lions not to bury their dead?” Tyler took a step into the room but shivered and stopped.

“No.” He took his own few steps into the room. The shiver hit him as well. This place was evil in every sense of the word. Evil and completely fucked up. Why leave the body here? “Selene.” He called, and his mate appeared by his side in a flash. She took one look at the bed and screamed. An alarm started to ring out. “Get us out of here.” He and Tyler both grabbed a hand each, and the next thing he knew, he was back in the dining room at the Glacial Blood Manor.

Kas looked up at them from over a pile of papers spread over the seventeenth century dining room table complete with candelabra in the centre. “You ok Brayden? You look paler than usual, if that is possible?” Being a snow leopard, he was always waxen in colour, but he was pretty sure he must resemble the colour of several of the pieces of crisp paper on the table.

“Skeleton.” Selene spoke and then fell into his side, and he wrapped his arms around her trembling mate.

“What?” Kas questioned.

“Something bad is going on. We got into the room without any trouble, but I don’t think anyone has been in that room for two years.” Brayden replied.

“What do you mean?” Kas watched with his brows furrowing as Tyler took a seat at the table and sat quietly, staring at the wall.

“Emma’s father is still in there. In exactly the same position he would have been on the day he died. The only thing missing is the sword. That place is a preserved crime scene.”

Jane and Katia, who’d been reading as well, both exclaimed a gasping ‘what’. Jane took Selene from his arms and helped her over to the French sideboard and poured her a glass of brandy.

It was then that Brayden noticed Kas didn’t look shocked or the least bit concerned.

“You knew?” Brayden bit out, coming to stand in front of him.

“I suspected. I didn’t want you going in there with minimal regard for your safety, though. I wanted you be aware of everything, so I didn’t say.” Kas showed no regret for leaving out vital information before sending them on a task. Brayden was furious. He clenched his fist and bashed it into the table.

“How did you suspect?” He spat the words out.

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