The Wizard King (16 page)

“You got the dick part right, anyway.” Zach dodged the half-hearted swipe Daniel took at him. “So. How do we go about finding Kerry?”

“We get some rest, start fresh in the morning.” Gareth held out his hand, stilling her immediate protest. “We won’t do her any good if we stumble after, dead on our feet and with no idea of where to look other than ‘water’. And you both know I’m right, so don’t bother arguing with me.”

“I keep feeling like we need to find her soon, or it will be too late.” She almost wished she’d kept her mouth shut when Daniel’s soft whimper reached her. The agony on his face was quickly masked, but she was certain everyone in the room was aware that Daniel was hurting for Kerry.

Not his mate my ass.
If Kerry wasn’t mated and marked within a month of her return, Gen would be deeply surprised. Daniel’s wolf was pushing the edges of his control, testing him. If he went unmated for much longer, the feral nature of the Beckett curse would take hold of him. He would lose himself to his beast, forcing his brothers to put him down for the safety of all of them.

And if Kerry dies, we might as well kill him immediately.
Nothing would stop Daniel from going feral if his mate was lost to them. Not Gareth’s power, not Zach’s love for his brother, not even Gen’s power as an Own would keep Daniel from becoming even more dangerous than Hugh and Arthur combined.

Gen would find Kerry and save her, not only because the woman had helped Gen when no one else would. No, she would do it for the Beckett family, for the people who’d accepted her despite what her family had done to them. She would save Daniel, and keep him safe.

The Becketts deserved no less.

Chapter Ten

“Sire, I must protest this.”

Gareth gritted his teeth and tried to pretend he was just a doggy.
Nice, sweet doggy. Watch me wag my tail. Ignore the idiot holding my leash.

“Really. Putting the king on a leash. Even for Manhattan, that’s a bit out of the ordinary.” Mac sniffed disdainfully. “Now, if we were in L.A., that would be different. They’re very strange out there.”

Gareth panted, allowing his tongue to loll out of his head. This was the only way he’d gotten Gen, Zach and Daniel to agree to let him come, but had the bejeweled collar really been necessary?

“Sire? Please tell me this isn’t some sort of strange fetish of yours and that we won’t find her majesty walking you around Central Park as some bizarre form of foreplay.”

Gareth paused, Mac actually getting two steps ahead of him before the steward realized Gareth wasn’t moving.

Foreplay? Seriously?

Gareth gave a deep growl, hoping he got his point across. He wasn’t thrilled with this whole pretend-you’re-a-dog thing any more than Mac was, but at least he got to use his wolf’s senses to try and sniff Hugh out.

They’d been walking up and down the river all day. Unfortunately, the only things Gareth had scented were river water, exhaust fumes and people. Lots of people. None of whom smelled like the fucking warlock.

The people walking on the riverfront kept giving them strange looks. Gareth could understand why. They were probably wondering how Mac could handle a dog that looked so much like a wolf. Either that or they were trying to figure out what breed he was. After all, who would own a pet wolf, even in Manhattan?

Gareth turned his head to sniff a particularly interesting scent, wincing at the jingle of the ultimate indignity. They might as well have microchipped his ass, because this? Was never happening again. He should have known better than to send Zach to the pet store.

Who named a goddamned wolf Pookie?

But Mac had been right. Without the tags, Gareth could wind up in doggy jail, his ass slated for euthanasia. At least this way he was safe from that.

Still. He was going to kick Zach’s ass.

“I wonder if Lord Daniel has found anything.”

Daniel was in the same predicament Gareth was in, except his dog tag read Wiggles. Last he’d seen, Gen had been giggling almost nonstop over that one.

Gen was walking Daniel and looking very un-Gen-like. She’d donned huge sunglasses, pulled her golden hair back into a simple bun. And her clothes?

Gareth had wanted to rip those too-tight clothes from her body and put her in his bed. The dark designer jeans hugged her ass, the shirred, V-neck top showing far too much of her cleavage. She wore these strange sneakers with wedge heels that made her legs seem a mile long. She’d looked good enough to eat, and Gareth was just the wolf to do so.

His mate had been uncomfortable in the tight clothing, but she looked so different from how she usually went out in the world they were hoping Hugh wouldn’t recognize her until it was too late. She looked just like all the other Manhattanites out walking their dogs, blending in perfectly with the socialites and businesswomen. He’d caught glimpses of her, chatting away on her cell phone, her voice pitched higher than normal and a huge, vapid smile on her face.

Zach was with Chris, the two brothers seated in a car not too far away from the riverfront, keeping an eye on them through Chris’s crystal ball. Chris had Mac arrange to fetch the scrying device, along with his familiar, Alasdair, overnight while they slept. If either Mac and Gareth or Daniel and Gen found themselves in trouble the brothers would know almost immediately and ride to their rescue as quickly as Manhattan traffic would allow.

Yeah. Gareth was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. He didn’t have an hour or two to wait for backup if it came to a fight. But if Kerry was hurt, at least they’d be able to transport her quickly back to the hotel and help without having to alert the mundane authorities. The last thing they wanted was innocent humans, like Kerry, caught up in the magical war between the Becketts and the Godwins.

Gareth tilted his head as a strange scent drifted by him. What in the world? It smelled like…

It smelled of mandrake root, aconite…and blood.

“Sire?”

He didn’t even realize he was snarling and straining at his leash until Mac’s worried tone filtered through the rage that filled him. That was Kerry’s blood he’d scented, Kerry’s pain that now filled his senses.

Daniel was racing toward them, dragging Gen behind him. His mate could barely keep up with the wolf, but her hand never left the leash, never let Daniel get too far ahead of her.

The scent led to a construction site. It looked like one of many luxury apartment sites that were being built along the Hudson, from Brooklyn to Manhattan. This one had the outer shell of the building up, the scaffolding still clinging like steel ivy to the facing. A piece of plywood on hinges served as the front door.

Mac stepped forward and pushed open the plywood door just as Daniel and Gen reached them. The squeal of the hinges made Gareth wince. Any hope of surprising Hugh, if he was indeed in the building, had just flown out the window.

Mac closed the door behind Daniel and Gen. Their grating sound seemed even louder in the darkness of the building.

There was a musty smell to the inside, as if no one had been within it for some time. Construction debris littered the floor. Drywall was up, but not mudded, the screws visible. The cobwebs in the corners were thick with dust.

The blood smell was thicker as well, almost overpowering the dust.

Gareth waited patiently for Mac to remove the collar before shifting. He dressed quickly in the clothing Mac pulled out of his backpack, aware that Hugh could attack at any moment.

The silence was getting to him. It was as if something waited for them in the quiet darkness. The boarded-over windows cast shadows across the walls that his wolf eyes could barely penetrate.

Daniel held out one of the wolf-headed pendants Zach had made for them back when they’d faced Cole Godwin and began to chant.

“Lord and Lady, hear my plea.

Guard us from adversity.

By the law of three times three,

As I will so mote it be.”

Daniel repeated the chant three times before lowering his hand. “Ready?”

Gareth nodded sharply. “Mac, stay here. Contact Zach and Chris, give them our position. Have them meet us outside.”

Gen grimaced. “I doubt Zach will remain in the car for long.”

“Good. I don’t think Hugh is expecting all the Becketts to show, not for a human.”

“We did once before.” Daniel pulled out a small pocket flashlight.

“No. We rescued Jo, a mate. Kerry was a surprise for all of us.”

“Not for the Godwins.” Daniel began moving forward, Gen right on his heels.

“And what does that tell us, boys and girls?” Gareth ignored Daniel’s glare, moving around his brother and placing himself in front of both him and Gen.

“That Kerry needs a keeper.” Daniel tried to push his way past Gareth, but Gareth was having none of that. His brother could stay behind him, nice and safe.

“Follow the scent of blood. It should lead us to Kerry.” Gen somehow wiggled her way between Daniel and Gareth, taking the lead from both of them. She began to glow with that beautiful green light, her eyes shining as she stared at them both. “Can you use your wolf senses in human form?”

Gareth shook his head. “I’ve got normal senses when human.”

“Then we need to allow the Goddess to guide us.” Gen looked left, then right, before striding straight ahead, a warrior goddess in three-hundred-dollar jeans.

Gareth exchanged a look with Daniel and shrugged before following his mate into the dark.

On the second floor they finally found the source of the blood scent. A blonde woman lay sprawled on an altar Gareth found eerily familiar. A dark altar etched with demonic symbols, it had been placed in the center of the room. The symbols had Gareth gasping in fear.

They were the symbols of the Rabisu.

Gareth swore viciously. Vampiric demons who walked the pathways between life and death, the ancient Akkadian demons were said to lurk in the darkness, attacking the unwary living and feasting on the spirits that travelled the Road of Bone to the City of the Dead. It was said that those who bound themselves to Rabisu would themselves gain their demon’s immortality, but at a terrible price. The hunger for flesh and blood would become overwhelming, forcing the warlock to become the very thing he’d bound himself to. Eventually the warlock’s humanity would drop away like rotted flesh, revealing the monster within. At that point, the only thing an Own could do would be to banish the warlock as if he were the very demon who inhabited him, sentencing the warlock to eternal torment at the hands of his master.

No. Not even Hugh Godwin could be
that
stupid, could he?

A hooded man stood over the naked woman, bound to the altar with silver enchanted chains. Blood stained that silver. The son of a bitch had been using the fucking altar, had sacrificed others before strapping the blonde woman to it. The girl locked in the silver chains was unconscious, bleeding from multiple wounds, bruised and battered almost beyond recognition.

But there was no mistaking her for anyone else. Kerry Andrews, Daniel’s mate, was going to be the latest sacrifice to the Godwin greed for power and the demon’s hunger for blood.

Not today. Not on my watch.

Below Kerry the runes on the altar glowed a vicious green, the warlock’s power flooding the ritual. They had minutes, if that, to stop Hugh before Kerry became a midday snack.

He pointed the athame at Hugh, ready to stop the horror Hugh wanted to unleash on the world, but before he could act Chris stepped between them.

“Any ill you send to me

Will return to you times three.

As I will so mote it be!”

Hugh looked up, his athame raised high over his head, his eyes wide with horror. “You.”

“Me.” Gareth stood his ground, ready to battle the warlock for his brother’s mate. Beside him, Gen’s glow intensified, cocooned him in her warmth.

Hugh tossed a reddish-gold circlet, a suspiciously familiar-looking one, on the ground. He pointed a long, reddish-silver knife, his dark athame, at it, the blade glowing with a sickly green light.

“By Lucifer’s might and Lilith’s hate

I conjure thee, come through the gate.”

Oh shit. Those were the same words Cole had used when he’d attempted to summon a demon during his duel with Chris. They had to stop him, fast.

But the only way Chris had done so had been to sacrifice Cole, forcing the demon to suck the warlock through the portal rather than emerging itself.

“Bound by blood, obey my call

Holding demon’s might in thrall.

By the Compact take your toll

Feast upon this gifted soul.”

Gifted soul? Kerry?

Daniel shifted, heedless of his clothes that tore and pulled at him. The wolf snarled at Hugh, and leapt.

“By your oath you will—shit!”

Well. That was one way to stop a demonic summoning. Daniel had latched onto Hugh’s arm, his teeth sinking deep as the warlock shrieked.

Gareth darted forward, his only focus the bleeding woman on the altar. He had to get her free before Hugh managed to shake free of Daniel.

He could hear Gen chanting, her hands poised, ready to strike Hugh’s altar and destroy its evil. She’d done so once before, breaking Davis Godwin’s altar and ending his reign of terror before it had a chance to truly begin. She glowed so brightly it dazzled his eyes. Her hair whipped around in a wind that didn’t exist. She was channeling the Goddess herself, and she was glorious.