73
Tony
I snarled through the bars at the SCF operative who looked completely unfazed.
“I will kill you.”
The woman smiled coldly. “Please give me a reason to kill you both. It would make my day.”
I growled at her. “Where the hell is our liaison? You can’t confine us like this for no reason.”
“I know you’re mostly animal but do try to keep up,” she said. “You attacked a highly respected and important inter-species official unprovoked—”
“She stole our mate!” Matt roared beside me.
“—endangered her life and the life of her beloved familiar, and nearly revealed the entire supernatural community when you transformed in full view of a very large gathering and the hundreds of drivers on the road.” She smiled. “You’ll be in there until the Council can push and shove itself around enough let you out.”
“You’re going to let me out right now, or that witch won’t be the only one I’ll be attacking.”
She bared her teeth, her eyes filled with hellfire. “As I said, give me a reason wolf.”
I growled at her as the door behind her opened. “The Blue Moon Liaison is here.”
She turned. “Dagon, I’d thought you would never come.”
“I considered it, but duty calls,” Dagon said, entering the longer room. “You’ve been riling them up I see.”
“They started it,” she said and turned away. She left the room as Dagon shook his head.
“When are we getting out of here?” Matt growled. “Where’s Lucy? I know you and your sister had something to do with her disappearance.”
I glared at Dagon. “Answer the questions, Dagon.”
He smiled. “As your liaison, it’s my duty to inform you that the Council has declared that you are to be confined to your Den until the full breach you’ve caused is dealt with. You’ll also be fined for the breach.”
I scoffed. “Peter’s little turning attempts barely get a slap on the wrist.”
“Peter’s assaults on humans are far more easily contained,” Dagon said. “You two shifting in front of a human residence during a large gathering, then running onto a major highway is a little more complicated to control.”
“I don’t care about any of that,” I said. “Blue Moon can pay a few stupid fines. Where is Lucy?”
“I’ll be getting to Miss Graves soon enough. Your car has been taken into custody by the SCF, you can pick it up from the pound when you leave. As for your crimes against Miss Graves—”
“We’ve never committed a crime against our mate, dragon!” I snarled. “Watch your mouth.”
“What would you call purchasing her from an illegal auction?” Dagon asked, narrowing his eyes. “Keeping an underaged and undocumented potential war refugee isolated?”
“She’s our mate,” I growled. “You and the Council’s stupid rules have no bearing on us. Werewolves—”
“Miss Graves has been granted every right and ability to leave Blue Moon as she wishes. The Council has determined that any money you spent in providing Miss Graves medical care, food, housing, and clothing will be considered full payment for the fine of buying her in the first place and keeping her a secret.”
I growled at her. “The Council has no business sticking their nose into how werewolves run things.”
He chuckled and went on. “Miss Graves has been granted further protection by the Council. Her refugee status has been certified and she has been formally released from Blue Moon custody.”
Matt went still and my eyes bulged. “What the hell does that mean? She can’t be released from us! We’re her mates.”
“She has been relocated,” Dagon said. “Per her wishes.”
The words struck through me like a knife.
Per her wishes…
I stared at him and tightened my grip on the bars. “No werewolf would wish to be parted from their mates.”
“You’re lying! Lucy wouldn’t leave us! We’re mates! She’s ours.”
Dagon met my gaze. “As your liaison, I am also… duty-bound to inform you that if you attempt to make contact Miss Graves by means determined to be underhanded, abusive, and otherwise unwanted her new handler and whoever is stewarding over her will have every reason and ability to press charges against you on her behalf in the human and supernatural world.”
Matt growled and Dagon smiled. “Being alpha twins won’t mean a thing in the face of that, so I’d watch yourselves carefully.”
He turned and scoffed. “You’ll be released and escorted to your Den within the hour.”
Dagon walked away. Matt was screaming after him to come back, but his words echoed through my mind.
Per her wishes…
It was all I could think about. Dagon hadn’t been smug about it. I wasn’t sure if that made it worse or not. Matt looked on the edge of panic, and it was taking everything in me to keep calm. About an hour later, another officer came in, opened the door, and ushered us out of the building. We were escorted to our car. A pile of papers were put in my hand, and a SCF caravan escorted us back to the Blue Moon Estate.
I led Matt inside and found no one waiting for us. I heard our pack moving around, but there was no sign of anyone coming.
“T-Tony,” Matt said shakily. “You-Your eyes…”
I walked forward into the ballroom as I heard footsteps rushing towards me from outside.
Our beta rushed up the stairs. “Alpha Tony! They didn’t—"
“Get everyone together in the ballroom,” I bit out as I walked outside. “We’re having a pack meeting in ten minutes.”
I didn’t wait for him to answer.
Follow me, I told Matt as I broke into a run just beyond the clear space behind the house. I felt Matt following me at a distance until we reached the place in the woods that we would go to when our father was in a rage. The wounds from Yvonne’s blade still hadn’t healed fully, and that other witch’s spell was still on us. We couldn’t shift. We couldn’t do anything, but I could feel the rage of being denied our mate starting to boil even as Dagon’s words drifted through my mind.
“We… haven’t been out here in a while,” Matt said from a distance.
This can’t go on. I told Matt as he came up to stand beside me. I can feel my control slipping.
“We’ll find her,” Matt said. “If we can just figure out where she’s gone and how she got there…”
“It’s it obvious?” I said, barely breathing through my fury as I started to pace. “Witches. That witch might not have been a part of it, but there were other witches at that party.”
“How… do you know that?”
“How else would they have been able to contain the situation so quickly,” I asked. “There had to be other operatives there and witches are the only ones who can wipe memories….”
I growled, turning again. I felt my powers starting to push at the spell, but it was still too heavy to break through.
“But that’s not the biggest problem.”
“Our mate being missing or the witches?” Matt huffed. “I know you’re not worried about the fines, but…”
“Dagon doesn’t understand the mating draw like we do,” I said. “But he’s not a liar. He wouldn’t… He wouldn’t know how to lie about Lucy’s wishes.”
“They’ve hurt her. They’ve done something to her that she can’t feel like we can.”
“That’s fixable,” I said. “If that’s… the case.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s been poisoned and kidnapped from within our den… Perhaps what he meant was that she…” I swallowed. The words felt so hard to say, but I had to say it. “Maybe she wants to return to us, but she doesn’t wish to return here.”