Chapter Fifty

Axel

Jaxton shoved Axel toward the staircase, one hand wrapped around the back of his neck, guiding him down each step. His wolf became so irate that Axel couldn’t focus on his own thoughts. When he gave his dad the signal to proceed into the kingdom, he could hardly hear his father's reply. Everything blurred red. The entitlement this family held boiled his blood into lava. The sheer lack of respect for the goddess that blessed them with a mate.

It all rolled over his skin like nails. Not to mention the fact his own roommate and Claire's friend knew everything. They had been in on it all along. Which made sense to why Cat wanted Claire to attend that party, and the hunt. To capture her.

Axel's wolf sensed Claire's and became more frustrated that he couldn’t save her, wreaking havoc inside of him, building a fury that he could hardly control without shifting.

"Stop it," he mumbled, shaking his head to calm himself.

"Keep going," Jaxton said, pushing him off the last step. Jaxton led him into what he assumed was the parlor. With antique wooden framed furniture, and plush curtains and rugs. The burgundy velvet screamed old money, and all Axel could envision was setting it all on fire.

Tristian walked in with Claire, who was still chained in her silver handcuffs. Axel noticed she wore a gown that was ripped and dirty. Maybe she'd tried to escape already.

Perhaps when she first shifted into her wolf, she'd been in the woods. It looked like she'd gotten away for a bit. Axel swallowed his nerves, and met Claire's gaze across the room.

If she was scared, she didn't look it. She looked pissed enough for all of them.

Tristian pointed for her to sit next to one of his men, and sat down in his high-backed chair in front of a giant mahogany desk. "How close are they to bringing in the witch?" he asked, propping his heels on top of the wood.

"Close. She's weak, they are trying to feed her. She won't wake."

"Have they not been feeding her?" he asked, swinging his feet down.

"She's refused to eat," Jaxton said.

Tristian hissed underneath his breath, and rubbed his palm down his face roughly. "Why haven't I been informed about this?"

Cat chuckled. "Because you've had your head up Claire's ass—,"

"Don’t," he said softly, but full of anger. "Just because you're screwing around with my brother, doesn't mean I won't end you."

She rolled her eyes as if she wasn't worried about it.

"Wait a second," Tristian said, his gaze shifted toward Demetria who hadn't said a word. "You're a witch."

Demetria's face turned to stone. "If you think I will take my niece's mark off, you're stupider than I imagined. You'll have to kill me first."

Tristian spun in his chair like a child. "That can be arranged. Get her up."

The lycan behind her lifted her to her feet, and Kerry struggled to get loose. "Ah," Tristian said. "Do you fancy the witch, wolf?"

Kerry didn't answer.

"Sweet," he said. "You should encourage her to do this, or she'll die."

"We're all going to die anyway," Demetria spat.

Tristian looked over at Dan. "Not everyone," he said. "I have plans to keep Claire's father here because I fear losing her mate and her father may hurt her wolf too badly. She may not recover. We need someone to run the guards. I think that's a nice fit for you."

Dan didn't answer; he kept his mouth sealed tightly, which made Tristian laugh. "You're already good at following orders. Don't speak unless spoken to. You know all about the old rules, don't you Dan Summers? Since you were in charge of them. Fancy how things have come full circle. You're back at the lycan kingdom. The one place you gave up for love. I'm a sucker for a love story," he said, glancing back at Axel. "Just not yours. It's a shame. I think Jaxton actually liked you."

"So," he said. "Bring in the other witch. I want to make sure, when Demetria does this, that she's doing it correctly. I don't want to be blindsided by some counter spell. Or yatta yatta. Whatever it is you witchy girls do."

Minutes tick by when the parlor doors opened and two shewolves brought in a skinny woman with long dark hair. Jaxton hadn't lied when he said she wasn't eating. She looked two seconds away from death.

"Finally. Cynthia," he said, drawing her attention.

She glanced over in-between a curtain of her hair, and stared at him. Bright blue orbs stared back at him. "Why haven't you been eating?"

She responded something to him in a different language that made him irritated. "You know I don't speak that," he said. "I see you're too weak to perform the spell I want, so I need you to make sure Demetria is performing it well. We're taking my new queen's mark from her."

Cynthia chuckled, more like cackled, and it made the hair on Axel's neck stand on end. "It'll never work," she said. "I sense her power, and it's greater than anyone in this room. She doesn't know it yet, but she'll tear down this kingdom brick by brick." Tristian narrowed his eyes at her. "Her Aunt's power won't stand a chance. Neither will mine."

"Well, we're going to try, Cynthia. By the hostile tone of your voice, I'm not sure you're telling me the truth. How will she do it?"

Cynthia caught herself on the corner of his desk from falling, her frail legs hardly keeping her upright. "She'll use a piece of Claire's mate's hair," she said, pointing at Axel, "and a piece of her own. She'll then perform her spell with both mates holding hands, giving their bond away. But it won't work unless both of the mates are willing. They don't look willing to me."

Tristan slid his tongue across his teeth. "I think we can make them willing, Cynthia." He walked over toward Axel and straightened his arm out, his claws extended from his hand.

"How about we mess up Pretty Boy's face, and slowly dismember him, while he's wearing silver, so he can't heal? Let's see how long it takes Claire to become willing."

Claire jerked against her chains, her eyes narrowed to slits. Tristan slid the tip of his claw against the side of Axel's face, drawing blood that traveled down his neck to his torso.

He didn't flinch at the pain, because he knew the pain from having his mate ripped from him would outweigh anything else. "Tough for your mate, huh?" he asked, piercing his claw through his deltoid.

Claire whimpered, and pulled at her chains again, this time trying to get up, but the lycan behind her sat her back down. "If you think I'll willingly give Claire up to you, all that power has gone to your head."

Tristian smiled as he slid his claw from his shoulder. "Says the soon-to-be-Alpha that will soon not be—,"

A thunder of noise blasted from outside of the castle, and Axel sensed his father's pack. Tristan turned on his heel and stared out the parlor window, nonchalance weaved into his walk as he glanced out the stained glass. "Your father's pack. Better late than never," he mumbled. "Jaxton, go oversee the lycans. I have a mark to erase."

Cat and Jaxton both raced out of the parlor. When Tristan came back this time, Axel noticed Demetria eyeing the witch on the other side. Demetria lifted a brow as if they were communicating somehow, and stuck her leg out, tripping Tristan.

In that one moment, the witch on the other side turned and braced her palms at Claire, freeing her hands from the silver chains. Tristan's roar pierced Axel's eardrums but didn't stop the witch from unchaining every last one of them.

The guards standing by sprang into action with Tristan's go-ahead, and tried to contain Dan who stalked toward Claire.

But her sight was set on Tristan.

Axel watched as Tristan's face began to pale, and the sheer horror that overtook him. "I'd run if I were you," Claire whispered.

Tristan backed into his desk, maneuvering around, never losing eye contact with Claire. Axel felt proud at his fear, but nothing compared him for when Claire jumped and shifted into mid-air.

Her white coat was flawless, sleek and everything about her called to Axel like a siren at sea. She was easily twice the size of Tristan as he shifted into his lycan form. She stalked toward Tristan, like prey, and all Axel could do was watch in amazement at his Luna.

The grace. The beauty. The fierceness. It was all overwhelmingly perfect, and it made his wolf howl in anticipation of running with her. Finally being free with her.

Dan cleared his throat, knocking Axel out of his daze. "Wipe that drool son. We have a kingdom to takedown."