Chapter 212: Sacrifices

Chapter 212: Sacrifices
\[Amaryllis\]

Standing nearly naked on the sidewalk, I watched the Brotherhood jeep ride towards Calyx’s “home.” Once it reaches us, the plan will spring into action, one that Calyx had been crafting in secret over the last few days as we made arrangements for the spell. He knew that the best way forward to success was to gut the brotherhood from the inside out. So, in typical Calyx fashion, while working with the Alpha King and my father, the pack’s lead Gamma on a defensive attack plan, he had also gone rogue, planning a mission of his own. 

“If I had told you, and the others, they wouldn’t have let me do this,” he responded with his signature arrogance. “I’m too young for most of them to take me seriously. But I know the Brotherhood better than any one of them ever will. They don’t understand how they think, how they work, but I do.” 

As much as it made me bristle knowing that Calyx developed a plan to use me as bait, I knew that what he said was true. Just like I understand my uncle like no one else, Calyx had been molded by the Brotherhood to serve their purposes. He was raised by their leader as a son. No one else has experienced the Brotherhood like he has, and none of our people would ever be trusted well enough to play the role of double agent. This had to be executed by Calyx and me. There was no other option. 

Alpha King Sylvester and my mother, Coven Mistress Araminta Thorpe are going to be livid when they find out. 

If they find out. 

If the spell works, however, neither Calyx nor I see a reason to tell them. 

Earlier that evening, after our vigorous lovemaking session, Calyx tended to me with care, treating me gently like I might shatter with too much pressure. It had bothered him, seeing me fall apart. “I should have told you more than what I shared in the car,” he eventually apologized, going back on what he had said earlier about my emotions needing to look convincing. “It wasn’t fair to you.” 

Calyx, apparently, had made plans on multiple fronts without letting me know a goddessdamned thing. He had collaborated with Parris to arrange a prison break at the right moment, to serve as a distraction, giving us an advantage as we shifted the spell into a well coordinated attack.

As part of this secret grand plan, Calyx had sold the Brotherhood’s special troops of hybrid human witches a lot of mumbo-jumbo bullshit about what was necessary for the spell, and like the superstitious loons that they are, they bought it. Whatever legacy to magic these poor fools once had within them had been rejected long ago to pursue their mission of hate. Not a single one of them had been properly trained beyond the ability to mix up a few protective runes for painting on the sides of their vehicles in the blood of their captured cousins. 

So it didn’t take much to convince them that everything Calyx told them about the spell, the preparations, everything, had been secret information stolen directly from Covenmistress Araminta Thrope. It was a ridiculous amount of nonsense with no basis in reality, and any witch worth the salt of her warding circle would have seen through his nonsense. 

But apparently, they weren’t clever enough to spot my mate’s very obvious lies. And my uncle, only caring about the promise of power my sacrifice would provide him, didn’t care enough to oversee any of the preparations.

My mate explained all this to me with an unabashed smirk painted boldly on his face as he massaged my warm, clean flesh with soothing oils. “I’ve always hated the Witch Force,” Calyx spat. “They’re loyal to a cause who bred them only to serve the brotherhood in order to use their weak connection to abilities that will always mark them as second-class members of our order. They’ve been bred specifically for the purpose of being expendable and loyal.” 

Calyx fell silent, his eyes swirling with dark thoughts. Even without the growing feelings of self-hate washing over me from our bond, I could sense he was thinking about himself as well. He was a hybrid crafted from DNA and created in a lab for a very specific purpose as well. 

“You are not like them,” I tried to convince him, “You chose a different path. That’s more important than…” 

“No, love,” he stopped me. “I’m exactly like them. I was just…bred for a different purpose. I needed to be a leader, so they raised me to be. I needed to be a weapon, so they made sure I grew up hard and cold. I…” 

Reaching up, I placed a hand on his cheek. “You are so much more than that, mate.” I kissed his chin. “They were fools to underestimate you.” 

As my words settled into his heart, his eyes sparked with a refreshed light. Squeezing my shoulder, he continued to outline the plan. “We need them to underestimate us,” he clarified. “I don’t want them to know what hit them until they’re twitching and dead at our feet.” 

Thinking of my uncle lying dead and broken, his body burned and scattered to the four winds with no chance of being stitched back together made my soul sing. That bastard and his brotherhood warped my mind and heart more than my mother had when she blocked off half of my memories. His gaslighting and brain washing and goddess knew what else twisted my thoughts, using me as a weapon, his fool, and his whore. I was his niece, but he never saw me as family, never had a kind word for me, unless I helped him forward HIS plan. 

And I almost lost everything because of him. My father is gone because he manipulated my actions. My first mate was almost slaughtered for the same reasons. And now, he’s coming after my family again. I have finally earned my place, not as someone to be hated, but as someone to be trusted and respected. I have my memories back, my mother’s love, and a fated mate who adores me. I even regained my ex-husband’s respect. 

Now was the time to prove I deserved it. 

“For this to work, you need to convince them that you are completely under my command.” Calyx clarified. “Your uncle and his soldiers believe that I’ve used trickery and borrowed magic to turn you into my devoted slave. As long as you fit that role, they won’t question us.” 

I nodded, “I’m good at playing weak.” 

Sighing he pulled my hair up, twisting it elegantly and clipping it in place with golden combs. “Don’t start that again, Amy. I don’t have enough time to show you again how strong you are.” 

My cheeks flushed at the remembered feeling of his lips and tongue tasting me between my thighs as he made a snack of me on the stairwell. 

Noting my embarrassed blush he chuckled mischievously, enjoying how his gaze and words almost have me undone. I’ve never been shy before meeting this clever wolf, but there is something about him that chips away at my old, jaded nature. It’s almost like getting a reset on life.

“If you keep looking at me like that,” he whispered in my ear. “We’ll never make it there in time.” He warned. “Now listen, mate, you need to be careful. Keep your face blank and your expression neutral. If your uncle catches even the smallest whiff of our true affection, this will fall apart.”

Exhaling slowly, I reminded him that he started this. “It’s a two-way street, Cal,” I scolded. “Stop riling me up.” 

A challenging eyebrow raised behind me in the mirror as he kissed the top of my head and continued to adorn me with jewels and gold. “None of that back talk either, love. You need to be submissive. You need to look like a willing sacrifice,” Calyx grinned as he asked me to stand, helping me step into an outfit that looked like something out of Ancient Greece, “that way they won’t see that you’re the predator.” 

Turning from side to side in the full-length mirror, there was nothing predatory about how I appeared. I looked like a well garnished offering, a snack to be devoured. My dress was little more than a gauzy curtain draped over one shoulder leaving one breast bare with the exception of a solid gold cone shaped pasty that barely covered my right nipple.  Belting it in place was a “sacred” corset in a bright gold fabric laced so tightly that my hips looked unnaturally full, my waist nipped in so tightly that I couldn’t take a deep breath. 

I looked vulnerable, defenseless, someone easily caught and contained. 

“This stitching,” Calyx explained, “was designed to keep you from shifting. The thing is, none of those idiot witches noticed that they made a typo,” he snorted, where a rune for power was shifted to pure nonsense by removing a well placed slash. “But we want to keep the play going for as long as possible, so wait until the very end to show them the truth.” 

“In the meantime,” he smiled as he pressed thin, daggers underneath the boning, “I have no intention of leaving you undefended.”

Returning his smile, I wrapped my arms around my husband and gave him a slow, long, scintillating kiss that warmed us both from the inside out as the current of power balanced between us. There was just enough witch blended with his DNA to give him a rush and I watched with pleasure as his eyes widened just before closing with ecstasy as our zing blended with our mating bond.

“Let’s get these bastards,” I agreed. “Tonight, we will end this.” 

“We’re going to win,” Calyx said with certainty. “And then we’re going to join the spell and erase all of this misery once and for all.” 

>>>

The jeep stops before me and I look down at my feet, my neck braced with a golden collar held by a delicate golden chain. Calyx grasps it, tugging me along and I follow, allowing him to help me into the back, where I’m strapped down. 

“Drive,” Calyx orders. “We don’t have a moment to spare.”