The Rejected Luna’s Vengeance

Sovereign Target

“Stay down!” Kaelan bellowed, slamming his arm into my collar bone and pressing me back against the leather seat.

“I can’t breathe! Please stop crushing my throat!” I gasped, pushing his arm away.

“They’re got a lock on your pulse. If you move two inches up, they’ll slice your head clean off.” Kaelan told me, his amber eyes blazing in the darkness.

“Marcus!” I yelled.

“No way! There’s no way in this weather with a three-ton armored vehicle! Unless we leave the main boulevard, I can’t shake them. The High Sovereign Guard aren't concerned about collateral damage, Lyra. If they miss, they’ll blow three city blocks to get a better shot." Valerie just left Julian's house. It wouldn’t have taken her five minutes to call in capital executioners.”

“She didn’t. The Sovereign Guard reports directly to the Grand Council Elder in the capital. Valerie’s a puppet who plays with local spells. Someone at the highest level wants you removed before morning.”

“Because I froze the corporate register. Because my blood line negates their legal spells.”

“Or maybe because they know what’s down here.” Kaelan rumbled, looking up at Marcus. “Get us down to the underground loading bay beneath the river bridge. The dampeners down there will break their lock." "It's locked after midnight, boss.” Marcus replied, stomping the accelerator. “We’ll be doing eighty miles an hour into reinforced steel!”

“Do it! I’ll deal with the gate.” Kaelan ordered.

“Hold on.” I urged, sitting up slightly. “Look at the back mirror. The black car’s not shooting.”

“They’re marking you for a heavy shot.” Kaelan replied, pulling me down. “Stay down Lyra!”

“No! Listen to me! If they wanted to blow us up, they’d have dropped a missile three blocks back. That’s not a targeting system. It’s an aura tracker!”

“An Aura tracker?” Marcus questioned from the driver's seat, “It means they aren’t trying to kill us. They’re trying to read my spark. They don’t know whether my royal bloodline has actually sparked or not. Or if I’ve just used a blood-spiced blade to fool the notary spellbook.”

“You are right.” Kaelan muttered, looking down at my bleeding palm. “If they find out your royal spark has sparked, they’ll not only execute you, but they’ll enact a full purge on every pack related to your family.”

“So don’t let them find out.”

“How?

Your royal blue sparks are pouring down my back seat!”

“Hide it.” I commanded.

Kaelan looked at my hand. “Lyra, if our blood mixes whilst your spark is flaring”

“Do it!” I shouted over the roaring engine. “Or they’ll pin us before we get to the bridge!”

Kaelan didn’t argue. He grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand to his chest. He pressed his palm firmly against mine.

The mate bond crackled between us. I gasped as Kaelan’s dark alpha aura flared and collided with my bright blue bloodline aura. Sparks flared from the friction between us.

Outside, the violet laser dot disappeared. “They lost target lock!” Marcus shouted. “They’re retreating! Their tracking beam has gone dead!”

“Did it work?” I asked, my forehead almost touching Kaelan's shoulder as we held hands. We were both panting.

“It hid your signal.” Kaelan rasped. His eyes were dark, and his pupils had expanded to almost swallow his amber color. “Our blood mixed. All they can see is that you're an extension of my pack aura.” “Good.” I said, trying to pull my hand away.

He held firm. “Your draining yourself, Lyra. If your wolf isn’t fully awake, you’ll tear your core apart by using royal magic." "I survived silver poisoning in a transport van, Kaelan. I think I can survive a cut palm.”

“Brace yourself!” Marcus yelled.

The SUV swerved off the main road and down a steep concrete ramp. We came to a stop at the entrance to the dark cave-like tunnel. In front of us was a huge reinforced iron blast door. Red warning lights blinked.

“Kaelan!”

Kaelan didn’t hesitate. He stuck his head out of the smashed back window and transformed into his half-wolf state. His shoulders broadened into massive muscles as his dark fur pushed through his suit jacket. Long silver claws glinted in the rain. He roared and blasted a focused sonic wave towards the blast door.

The lockbox exploded.

The heavy iron doors buckled, and the hydraulic chains snapped with a loud screech as Marcus rammed the front of the SUV into the gap.

We sped through the metal barrier and scraped along the concrete. We shot into the dark lower loading bay of Voss Global. Marcus slammed on the brakes, and we skidded to a stop.

We sat in silence. Only the ticking of the cooling engine and our heavy breathing could be heard.

“We’re in.” Marcus said, resting his head against the wheel for a second. “We’re on basement level three. Only emergency power.”

Kaelan transformed back into his human form and climbed back into the car. His shirt was ripped open, and he wiped some blood from his lips. "Are you okay?” “I'm fine.” I replied, unbuckling my seat belt and opening the door. “Where’s level seven?”

Kaelan climbed out behind me. His boots clicked against the wet concrete. “Main elevators are out due to your blood challenge. We have to use the main security shaft.”

“Lead the way.”

“Lyra.” Marcus said, climbing out of the drivers seat. He handed me a heavy pulse rifle. “Take this. If the security grid is down, then the automated defense drones on level seven might be on hardwire fail-safe. They won’t care who you are.”

I took the rifle and checked the weight of the magazine. “How many guards are on level seven?”

“None.” Kaelan replied, walking towards a heavy steel door at the end of the bay. “No one is allowed below level five. My father set the security levels twenty years ago.”

“You never checked?” I asked, walking behind him. “You’ve owned this building for five years and never wondered what was under your feet?”

“I tried.” Kaelan replied, reaching the steel door. He pressed his palm against the scanning plate. It beeped red. He gritted his teeth and pressed harder, making a drop of blood fall onto the glass. It chimed green, and the heavy door slid open. “This system needs two blood keys. Mine and an heir of the royal line.”

I stopped dead. “You needed me.”

“What?” Kaelan asked, turning to face me. His face was unreadable in the red emergency lights.

“That’s why you kept me at the Citadel. Not just because of the corporate spells and to keep Valerie away. You couldn’t open level seven without a Vance heir.”

“Lyra-”

“Did you know your mother was down here before tonight? Or did you just need my blood to open your fathers vault?”

“I didn’t know my mother was down here!” Kaelan shouted, walking towards me. He ignored the rifle pointed at his chest. “I thought my father had hidden the royal treasure down here. I thought if I opened it, I could return your family's assets and secure your complete immunity from the council!” So you wanted to use me as a key.”

“I wanted to save your life!” Kaelan roared. His alpha aura flared. “Do you know what the council would have done to you if I hadn’t pulled you from that border road? You would have been dead in a ditch before sunrise!”

“And now I’m stuck in your basement playing key to your dead fathers secrets.”

“Enough!” Marcus shouted from behind us. He kept his eyes on the entrance to the loading bay. “They’re cutting through the blast doors. We’ve got three minutes until the Sovereign Guard gets in.”

Kaelan didn’t look away. “Are we opening the door?”

I stared at him for three agonizing seconds. The mate bond pulsed between us, thick with doubt.

“Move.” I said coldly.

I walked past him. In the center of the small chamber was a large circular elevator. Suspended above a dark pit. In the center of the control panel there was a double biometric glass plate.

I didn’t wait. I pressed my bleeding palm onto the left side.

The panel whirred to life. Blue light flashed down the wiring.

Kaelan walked up to me. He placed his palm onto the right side.

BIOMETRIC MATCH CONFIRMED. WELCOME, KING KAELEN AND QUEEN LYRA. UNLOCKING LEVEL SEVEN.

The elevator dropped suddenly.

The temperature plummeted. The smell of rain and concrete faded. It was replaced with a strong metallic smell of old blood and silver.

“Keep your g*n up,” Kaelan whispered in the darkness. His hand rested lightly against my waist. This time I didn’t pull away.

The elevator stopped with a heavy thud.

A series of blue lights flickered to life. We were in a huge cavernous vault. The walls were made of black stone and thick glass.

In the center of the room was a woman with long silver hair. Her eyes were closed, and she was wrapped in thick silver chains. She floated inside a tall glass cylinder filled with bubbling blue liquid.

Beside her tank was another glass cylinder.

It wasn’t empty.

Inside was a man. His chest rose and fell slightly. His face was covered in a silver breathing mask. Across his chest was a torn royal crest from the Silvermoon Pack. He floated in the same blue liquid.

I gasped. The rifle slipped from my hands and clattered against the metal floor.

“Father?” I whispered.