Page 76 of Fated Exile

"And then I live happily ever after with the mutts?" His fangs elongate as he peels his lips back, the stench of his blood-tinged breath clouding the air. "I'm dust either way, so you may as well kill me now."

Stepping back, I consider him for a long moment. He's been with us all day, getting interrogated repeatedly, but unlike Demetri he hasn't had his neck broken by what I can only guess was some kind of spell. That must mean that he hasn't told us anything incriminating yet—or possibly something worse.

It could mean that him being here is part of Delphine's plan. Maybe she was hoping he would be able to interrupt the Summit, but didn't mind the thought of him being kidnapped. Right now, he's her best eyes and ears on the ground here—a thought that disturbs me, especially since he was paying attention to the information his interrogators let slip even as he kept his own lips sealed.

I'll have to be careful what I say around him. And more than a little brutal with my interviewing techniques. Jerking my chin at Bastian, I retreat with him to the corner of the room, lowering my voice to wolf-ear levels.

Vampires may be able to smell blood and see the pulse of a living heart beneath the skin, but they're terrible listeners. Just ask any of their teenage exes.

"We need to step up our game if we're going to get anything out of him," I murmur to Bastian. "You've spent the most time with vampires out of any wolf I know. Is there anything you think might help?"

"I'm not sure," he admits. "Ignacio wasn't someone I spent much time with, but I don't think he was an idiot. He wouldn't normally get caught. I think we were lucky."

"He was Demetri's right-hand man, correct?"

"One of them."

"And now that he's dead, he must be Ambrosia's," I murmur. "Do you think she sent him in here to spy on us?"

Bastian cocks his head to the side, thick brows furrowed. "I don't know. Ambrosia never really liked Demetri's lieutenants. If she's in charge now... she probably just sent him because she doesn't care if he lives or dies."

I chew my lower lip. If Ambrosia's in charge, we need to be able to think like her. But Delphine will be in charge above that, and there's no telling what she's after or what she wants, other than destruction for the pack. I've gleaned bits and pieces of the vampires' plans from them, but nothing I can use to get to Delphine before she attacks us, or kill her once and for all.

"We need to know the hybrid's weakness, if he knows it," I murmur. "So what do you think he'd hate the most? Physical pain doesn't seem to be doing much. Is there anything else we could try?"

"Hunger," Bastian answers right away. "But it'll take days or weeks for that to set in. We don't have that much time."

"Agreed. We have to take the fight to Delphine as soon as possible, before she attacks. Which means we need to get what we can from him tonight. If only we had a way to speed up time..."

"Yeah, but we can't."

An idea pops into my head the instant I say the words, and I shoot Bastian a grin. "We can't do that, but there's something else I can try. Watch my back while I perform a heavy spell?"

"Always." His eyes are warm, the gentle curve of his lips sparking warmth between my thighs as the memories of his raw, untamed passion last night come back to me. "I've got you, Delilah. No matter where we go next, I'll follow you. Into the dark and beyond."

I don't doubt he means that, and it makes me want to drop a kiss on his plush lips and comb my fingers through his long silky hair—but a mirthless chuckle interrupts my romantic thoughts and drags my attention back to the bloodsucker at hand. Ignacio is watching us with a cruel smile, his neck twisted around, head lolled to the side and limp hair falling over his pale, lifeless face.

"How cute," he drawls, flashing his fangs. "Even mutts can fall in love."

"And even vampires can die," I remind him, stalking to the middle of the room to face off with him. "Unfortunately we don't have time to wait for you to expire from this earth. We're going to have to speed up the process."

"Oh? And how will that get you what you want?" He grins at me, looking up from under his lashes, his eyes pools of deep nothingness without a soul to be found in them. "Just admit it, mutt: you're out of your depths. You'd be better off rolling over and giving my mistress what she wants."

"Which is?"

Ignacio chuckles. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"I would." As Bastian takes up position behind me, his warm, strong presence a comfort, I draw in a deep breath and center myself in the earth below. "Unfortunately for you, I have ways of getting what I want. Unsavory ways that you're not going to enjoy."

"Oh?"

Leaping forward, I push my palm onto Ignacio's forehead and dig my fingers into his skull, gritting my teeth as the unwashed smell of him drifts around me, his scalp greasy beneath my fingertips. "Trust me—this will hurt you more than it hurts me."

Before he can respond to that with some hollow, snarky comment, I reach into myself and find the place where I stored the darkness I used to attack John deLance. It's right there, alongside the energy I can draw on from my pack and my mates. Unspooling it, I imagine it sliding out of my fingertips and wrapping around the vampire's thin body.

He stiffens beneath me, and I can tell that he senses something wrong is coming for him. Something dark, and painful, and horrifying. He's right. That something is me.

The words to the curse are easy to remember, because it's one of the ones I read over and over again, teasing at it for signs it might be key to unraveling the pack's predicament. I lick my lips and speak them clearly, a shudder going through me as dark energy rolls off me and sinks beneath the bloodsucker's skin.

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