Page 3 of Captivated
But this felt right. Hope burned in my chest. This time, it would be different. I’d find her. I’d save her from Arthur. We’d break the curse. Somehow. I refused to consider anything less.
“The real question is do we risk trying to free Merlin now?” Mordred asked softly. “Or do we wait and hope she can call us first?”
My hope crackled with ice, shards that cut my heart to ribbons. I didn’t answer right away. I wasn’t necessarily the best one to make this decision.
Alphas weren’t supposed to be afraid, or to hesitate to make a decision that affected his queen and the rest of the Blood. But alphas weren’t meant to be forced into service and raped, either.
Elaine Shalott had taken me by force—not in this lifetime, but in many previous ones. My blood, my bond, my mind, and yes, my body. Numerous times over the centuries. The thought of falling back into her control made every muscle in my body rebel.
The risk was astronomical for all of us. If our queen’s alpha was taken by another, what hope would Guinevere have of defeating Arthur and breaking the curse? How could the rest of her Blood defend her if they had no alpha to guide them? But if I went to our queen’s side with only three Blood…
She might not be strong enough to protect us all. In all likelihood, we’d be defeated yet again. She’d had ten Blood before and we’d failed.
Because we hadn’t been complete. We hadn’t freed Merlin.
The legendary wizard had been locked in Avalon since before Arthur had even cursed us. Over the many lifetimes since, we’d failed over and over. Guinevere died. We died.
Merlin was the key. We needed him. Our queen needed him.
But if we failed to free him…
We’d die before she could even call us, and a queen with no Blood of her own would surely die too.
“I say hell no,” Bors said, his voice as hard as steel. “We know he’s crucial, yes. We’ll all die without him. But we’ve tried to free him before and died. We can’t risk dying before she calls us. Or worse, if we lose Lance toher, then how can our queen possibly defeat her?”
“We have to face the probability that Arthur already has our queen,” Mordred whispered. “Perhaps that’s why she hasn’t called us.”
Rage surged through me, a hot, thick flood of hatred and fury that choked me. As much as I dreaded the thought of ending up in Elaine’s control again, I’d rather serve her indefinitely than lose Guinevere to Arthur again.
“No,” Bors retorted. “I refuse to even consider it.”
“We—” Whatever I’d meant to say died on my tongue. My head rang like I was standing in the top of Notre Dame while Quasimodo clanged the bells all around me.
The call.
My queen.
My senses locked on her halfway around the world. I couldn’t hear her voice in my head, not until I tasted her blood, but she tugged on me like the moon drags the tides.
I was on my feet racing for the door. Someone grabbed my arm and I whirled, ready to tear the offending hand from his body for daring to slow me down.
Bors. I lowered my fists, though I still vibrated with the call. Finally.Goddess above, thank you.
“We go together,” Bors said, squeezing my arm until I nodded. The chances of one of us failing to reach her would lessen if we protected each other’s backs. It made perfect sense, even while I screamed internally because they weren’t moving quickly enough.
Mordred threw some bills down on the table to cover our drinks and slipped past me through the door. “What the fuck is taking you so long?”
