Page 22 of Reign

Jed smiled, though there was little humour in it. “Right through the front door. I’ll give you the security codes for the front gate. There are always two guards in the gatehouse, and all of the guards carry weapons. They are all shifters of one kind or another, and they are all party to what happens in that house; the experiments, the imprisonments, the beatings and rapes.” His nostrils flared.

Yeah, my father was despicable, but Jed should have walked or gotten Ember out when he learned what Rex was doing. A little voice nagged that he was doing just that now, helping get Ember out.

“There are cameras on the driveway, but I can disable them before you attack. Come at one am when Rex is more likely to be alone in his room. I’ll do my best to keep Ember away from him this evening. Make sure you have access to silenced weapons.”

I nodded that we did.

“Good. I’ll keep Ember in her room. When the fighting starts, I’ll stop her from running out and getting hurt.” He looked me in the eye, and I saw his silverback glare out. “But remember, when she does see you, that she’ll not know you or trust you, not at first.”

“Don’t tell me whatmy matewill, or won’t, do. No matter what you think, she is mine! And if it takes me the rest of my life, I’ll make her see that.”

He scowled, but his mouth ticked up very slightly. “I doubt even you’ll be able tomakeher do anything, Prime. Even with her wolf and phoenix trapped, she’s as stubborn as a mule.”

I grunted, not willing to acknowledge he knew her that well. “Do you have a map of the house?”

“Yes. If you give me your email and unbind me, I’ll send it to you now.”

I indicated to Stone. The binds around Jed’s body dissolved into nothing. Jed stretched out his limbs and reached into his back pocket to pull out his phone. He placed it on the table. I watched the screen as he pulled up some plans of the house, typed in my email and pressed send.

“In all seriousness, Prime, she’s suffered a total loss of memory, not just from the drugs but from a head injury too. Her identity is lost. She knows that her headaches and dreams mean something. She just doesn’t know what. If you come in all guns blazing and try to force her to remember, she’ll just run. She isn’t the same woman you knew. She’s different…more fragile. She’ll need time to get to know you again, to learn to trust you, and to recover from the suppression of her wolf.”

I smashed my fist into the table, breaking it in two and sending his phone skittering over the floor. “And whose fault is that!?”

Jed stiffened, his shoulders heaving with shallow, frantic breaths. “Alright! It’s mine. Fucking hell, Prime! I’m sorry for all the hurt I’ve caused her, not for you or your band of merry men, but because she deserves better than being kept in the dark about who she is. Shit, she doesn’t even know she’s pregnant! She thinks she’s throwing up because of some stomach bug and that her headaches are purely the result of a head injury she got in a car accident. And yeah, it’s partly my fault she thinks I’m her fiance; and because of that, she trusts me. But I’m trying to put this right. I can’t watch her keep getting more depressed and confused about what’s going on in her head, not for Rex Manivera. Hewantsher pregnant. That’s why he didn’t sell her to the Devil himself. He wants to keep her child to study it, dissect it, see what it can do, and see if it will benefit him if the Devil does unleash Hell on Earth. As soon as Rex scents that she’s pregnant, he’ll have her in those labs under his home; definitely long before she has any idea what the fuck he’s doing or why.”

He lifted his gaze to mine, and my fists clenched. So, he fell in love with my mate. But that wasn’t enough to exonerate him from stealing her away from me. I was grateful he’d decided to return her to me, but he’d get no sympathy from me. None. He was lucky I didn’t rip his heart out, and the only thing stopping me was his knowledge of where she was.

“Ember has to stop those meds,” he rushed on, his brow furrowed. “I have no idea if they could hurt a baby, and I might be a cold-hearted bastard, but even I draw the line at hurting or imprisoning innocent babies. That’s why I’m here, I want you to get her out of there, and as much as I don’t want to let her go, especially to you, it’s where she belongs. It’s your child she’s carrying, and I will never come between a male and his child, no matter how much I don’t want to let her go.”

I snarled, Prime pushing through my skin. My bones shifted in the blink of an eye, and I towered over the man who, along with my father, had taken my soulmate from me. Warmth covered my body. It was an instant soothing blanket that quelled my anger, not extinguishing it, more tempering it so that I could think clearly. Prime shook his head, as did I, feeling almost drunk, or drugged, or something. I shifted back.

“Connor, walk with me.” Sophie’s words were not a request. “Owen? Why don’t you get more details from Jed. Our Prime needs to process all the information he has so he can decide what’s best for his mate and how to get her out safely.”

I heard my beta growl. “Yeah, I’m sure his mind’s blown to shit by this wanker’s confessions.”

I didn’t look at Jed again, not sure I’d be able to contain my fury a moment longer. No matter if he was trying to do right by her now, he’d touched my mate, slept with her when he knew she was mine!Mine. And pregnant with my child! He’d taken advantage of her when she was vulnerable, manipulated and lied to her about who and what she was. I snarled, my fury heating up all over again.

“Out. Now.” Sophie gave me a shove towards the door with her magic, so did B’nar and Stone. Together their force was enough to move me. Outside Sophie linked her arm with mine and pulled me across the square and along the road. She didn’t speak, and I was grateful. My head was a mess. What was I going to do when I saw Ember? How the hell did I convince her who I was? That I was her mate. Would she feel our bond? Mother Wolf, she’d spent months believing Jed was the one she loved. What if her memories never came back?

I wanted to smash my fists into the wall of the nearest building, but there were humans everywhere, kids and their parents just spending time together. Me tearing down a building with my bare hands would pretty much bring the authorities down on my head, as well as inform my father someone powerful was sniffing around his turf.

“Connor, she’s your mate. She might not recognise you, but she will know you mean something important to her.”

Sophie held my hand, guiding me through the small streets until I found myself standing outside the hotel doors.

“Come on, let’s get a stiff drink. It’ll give you something to do until Owen gets back, and you can plan the attack. I can check the floor plan Jed sent and tell you if anything is missing or any additions that weren't there last time I was. While you drink, I’ll tell you more about my life with Rex, what I know about his men, the security systems, and the way his set-up works. It will help you beat him. And you have to now because if you don’t, he’ll never stop hunting you—or me, down.”

“Oh, he’s definitely gonna die. But first he’ll tell me everything about his operation, his set-up, his other prisoners, and any other siblings we might have.”

Sophie ordered us two whiskeys, and we sat in a quiet corner of the bar. I was intently listening to her tales of Rex when I sensed someone watching us. I met my brother’s gaze, too strung out over the attack and too impatient to get to Ember to worry about this meeting. Still, I knew this would be a big thing for my sister, so I shoved my own anxieties down and tried to ease this for her. Drake had no idea what the next few minutes would mean to Sophie—not unless he had been dream-sharing with her too. And he had no idea who she was to me, not yet.

“My angel powers aren’t fully-fledged, of course, but I can pretty much control them. I hide them mostly because, just like Rex and the Count, there are supernaturals who want angels for one reason or another, and not one of them is pleasant…” Her words dried up when she saw my attention was on a spot over her shoulder somewhere.

“Hey, man! Sorry to barge in on your meeting, but I need to talk to you.” Drake’s deep voice resonated through the air and before she even saw his face, the colour drained from Sophie’s face. I smirked, though I was a little worried at how sick she looked. Yeah, she'd been dreaming about my brother for years. She even had his face tattooed on her arm. He was her mate. I wondered if he'd realise it immediately or fight it.

I stood up and clasped Drake's hand, pulling him in for a quick bro hug. "Hey, Drake. Thanks for coming."

“Don’t sweat it, Prime. Ember’s worth it. Besides, you and those other miserable sons ’a bitches are my pack now. Where else would I be?”

---