Chapter 110 Delirium
☽ Bastian ☽
The very ground seemed to vibrate from the pounding in my skull. When I raised my head from the ground, the world tilted, then spun.
My face slammed back into the hard dirt floor.
That bastard.
I groaned around the incessant pressure in my head.
Then I forced open my eyes.
Through the slits of vision, I saw thick metal bars caging me in.
The dungeons.
A deep sniff confirmed it. I was in the belly of the beast, surrounded by leeches imprisoned as I was.
The cell opposite me held a figure bent over its knees, rocking like a child.
My own knees creaked as I stood up and staggered to the bars.
What had the leech stabbed me with? It hadn’t been any ordinary blade. I’d been knocked out for gods knew how long.
The thought jerked me out of my misery.
I shot my gaze left and right. The cells were endless. Identical cubes barricaded with mystically enforced metal to keep supernaturals in.
I fisted the thick bars, testing their strength.
My jaw tightened as I applied pressure. The metal didn’t fold. But I was weakened, and although physically healed, I could still feel the toxins from that cursed blade.
My mate had had it.
A dark thought came to mind. The design favored the vampires’ style.
Had she gotten it from Nikolai in a plot to… use it on me?
I shook my head hard. No.
This was exactly what the leech wanted. To drive a wedge between Maeve and me.
The blade belonged to her. She could have gotten it from Blackbridge, where IronWolf and Veilmoor overlap. The vampire must have taken it from her during her capture.
My chest burned to imagine what else he could have taken from her.
I glared at the metal holding me in.
As long as I was within the city, I was halfway to her. All I had to do was heal enough to effect the rescue mission—
That scent.
My instincts soared, spine snapping ramrod straight.
Mate.
It was everything I could do not to howl.
I could perceive her, plain as day. Jasmine and that fresh rain mist.
I pressed my lips together to bite back a yell. I could endanger her by announcing my presence.
Teeth gritted against the blinding pain in my skull, I held on to the cold bars to prevent my knees from striking the ground.
Four months.
I’d taken four months to get to her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she rejected me the moment I rescued her.
But would she understand the risk I had to take? Leaving my pack, our pack… with nothing more than bars similar to these to hold back a feral alpha?
Mordane had sworn to the goddess that he felt well enough to rule. Naturally, no one had believed him, least of all me.
I’d instructed Sorin, Commander Leif, Ashar, and Yara to never, under any circumstances, let him out of the iron keep.
As long as that amulet hung around his neck, he was a danger.
If the alpha slipped into one of his feral rages, he would kill them all.
I’d be taking my mate back into a fortress littered with corpses.
A whimper echoed to my left.
I turned my attention in that direction, scowling to see a starved vampire staring back at me.
The male was rangy. Skin and bones tented by rags. But his eyes still blazed red with hunger.
“Come a little closer,” he rasped. “I have a key.”
“Keep your key,” I snapped.
The leech was starved for blood, and I wondered how many had fallen for his ruse. Not many, by his appearance.
Something wet struck me in the face. He’d spat at me.
My chest burned, rage overcoming me in a rush.
I stalked toward him. With every step, his eyes brightened with glee. Spittle trailed down his lower lip.
My hand shot through the crusted bars to wrap around his scrawny throat.
“I’ll put you out of your misery for that.”
“I have a key,” he insisted, fangs lengthening. The sight disgusted me.
“Again, damn your key, leech.”
I squeezed.
It took more time than usual, my fingers pressing wetly against tendon and bone.
When his head finally snapped off, I was sick to my stomach.
I dropped the body, stepping back away from the mess.
What had that knife been poisoned with? What could be strong enough to affect me, a lycan, so?
I sat back on my haunches, head in my hands.
The idea of being locked up in a leech stronghold, my mate’s scent wrapping around me so wantonly, was almost too much to reconcile.
Where was she? In another cell? How far from me?
My mind raced, thoughts scattered.
Cold sweat beaded my upper lip.
A fever.
I clasped my hands together, jaw tightening against the onslaught of oversensitivity.
Cold flashes whipped across my skin in turn with heat flashes.
Suddenly, I caught myself rocking on my haunches much like the man in the opposite cell had done.
Delirium.
That blade. My mate had wielded a weapon so potent, an intent so deadly.
That night of the mating ceremony, hadn’t I felt it? How wrong she was. How suspicious.
A wolfless runt from Blackbridge in cohorts with a Crimson vampire.
I should have known.
Hate bloomed in my heart in time with the cursed pounding in my head:
Were they both up there? Laughing over the mutt trapped in the dungeons?
She’d choose Nikolai’s castle over my fortress.
I should’ve known she was only after the comforts. She’d said so herself. Anything for soft silks and a warm place to sleep.
My feet tapped an enraged rhythm out of beat.
Why had I left my pack?
To take the head of the offending leech and drag my unruly mate back to IronWolf where she belonged.
My lids grew heavy. I fought the darkness, fearing what it would reveal—
A lone wolf, chasing a female who couldn’t be brought to heel.