Love and Deception

Chapter Sixteen

Noah

Noah stood in Carlie’s apartment ready to smash it all to kindling no matter what Wade was cautioning him against. The security system his brother had put in place hadn’t alerted him to any issue because she had been here. It automatically processed anyone she let in and wasn’t fighting as not a threat. Except that didn’t really cover magic now did it? He was starting to understand his father’s kill on sight policy for these damned slithery assholes. He didn’t smell any blood which was a good thing. Relatively speaking of course. Wade was trying to trace any magic performed in the space but was coming up with nothing. Where would she have gone? From the look of Luca’s room she’d been stopped halfway through her packing. He didn’t trust himself to finish in his current state without breaking everything the boy owned. He had a feeling that wouldn’t go over well.

The worst part was he couldn’t get a scent trail even. Her house was covered in her scent of course. Her, Luca, Lucius, himself, that thug from the other day. Yet as soon as he went in the hall the scents dimmed. Once he was at the front door hers was gone completely. Luca’s was the barest of wisps. There was no way he shouldn’t be able to follow her wherever she had gone. Not only should her scent have permeated such a well worn path but she was his mate for f**k’s sake. Her scent normally stood out like a golden thread against all others. And yet...nothing. The theme of his goddamn entire rotten stay in Chicago. He was so frustrated he squeezed the chair he’d been leaning against too hard and sent the pathetic thing to the floor in a pile of scrap wood. Whatever.

After half listening to Wade mutter about his difficulties with Lucius and how he wished he would just die, Noah decided to try his last ditch effort. If, by some miracle, Carlie was not in any danger and was doing something pertinent then she was going to be upset with him for intruding on her space. She still wasn’t comfortable with their mated link and while she’d never said anything to him, he could sense her resistance to the intrusion. He tried not to take offense to it as it was new to her. She hadn’t grown up a wolf like he had. He assumed she probably still resisted some of her wolf’s needs and desires. He hoped that prolonged immersion with him and his family would help ease that schism in herself.

He closed his eyes and reached out tentatively through his bond with Carlie to find her consciousness. He met...nothing. An instant flood of panic seized his entire being as he frantically pushed every corner of his mind to find the smallest trace of hers. More nothing. She wasn’t there. The only way she could be severed from their link was if…. Noah howled deep and loud, crashing to his knees on the floor. Not again. He couldn’t live through this again. He was convinced the only reason he had last time was because she wasn’t really dead. He’d always felt the ghost of a presence tickling his mind. Teasing him. Taunting him. He desperately used all of his abilities to locate her. Throwing himself wildly against the confines of his mind. He felt hands on his physical form and gripped them tightly before flinging them off him. The only person he needed to touch him was gone.

At that realization he finally felt the tethers of his sanity slip free. His mind careened around in an aimless haze of pain, grief and overwhelming despair. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. He wanted to follow her. He wanted to let go and be free from all of this pain. How could something so perfect be offered to him only to have it snatched away again? He didn’t want this. He didn’t need it. The wolf howled mournfully and laid down in defeat. It wanted it’s mate. He didn’t need or want a life without Carlie. It would be empty and meaningless. He felt a sigh of relief wash over his consciousness as he made the decision to let go. To follow her into the nothing.

Only to be viciously yanked back to his father’s bright yellow eyes filling his vision. He felt a firm unbreakable grip holding his mind in place. No.

:Let me go. I can’t…:

:You will not leave your son fatherless Noah.: The words were weighted heavily with the tone of command reserved for his pack wolves. Those that owed him fealty. Noah could feel the need to accept his command. But he couldn’t. Luca would have his family. :That is the most selfish, heartless thing you have ever thought. Did I raise you to be this weak?: The word resounded through his mind with a deep growl. It sent a shiver down his physical spine while grabbing the attention of the wolf. They weren’t weak. They were broken. :Broken is not unfixable.: There was a moment where the force of the presence of his father weakened in his mind. Enough for Noah to psychologically stand beneath the weight of it. Then it returned yet the pressure did not. :Your mother says she is not gone. She is being heavily shielded.:

Noah was afraid to hope. He knew his parents would do anything to ensure he survived. They’d done it before. In fact, this felt familiar. Him locked in his mind, in his pain, while his father forced him to stay. :Was I wrong? Don’t for one second believe that I will not use every tool at my disposal to keep any and all of my family alive. You are my blood. I watched your mother bring you into this world. I will not watch her bury you.: He said it with such unwavering finality that Noah realized exactly what had happened before. What was happening now. The Alpha was using his power on his son. Removing Noah’s will and replacing it with his own. :It’s not quite that dramatic. I am forcing you to remain here, yes. The rest is all your own thoughts.:

:Release me.:

:It won’t change the outcome. I forbid you from abandoning your family. No matter what pain you may experience, your child is your life. You are responsible for ensuring that life thrives.: Noah felt the heavy command blanket his consciousness. It would suffocate him if he fought it. He resented the action. Let his father feel the anger at his interference. Naturally, his father remained unfazed. Hell he didn’t even blink. Noah’s wolf shook itself and rose from its prone position in his mind. With a slow gait that Noah didn’t even try to resist the wolf moved to the foreground, wresting control from a distraught Noah. It didn’t shift but ascended to the decision making position in the consciousness.

The Alpha released his hold and faded back into his ever present place in the back of the mind. He sent a wordless comfort through the pack link which the human mind rebuffed. The wolf accepted and let it wash over the rawness it still felt. If the Luna said their mate was not gone then the wolf would find it. Simple as that. The wolf opened the body’s eyes and located the sorcerer, huddling far on the other side of the kitchen island. He sported a fresh set of claw marks from his chin to his elbow on his right. “We didn’t mean to hurt you.” He tried to reason with the not quite human. He felt a small amount of remorse though they hadn’t really been in their right mind at the time.

“It’s my bad. I shouldn’t have tried to restrain you.” Wade stayed at the far end of the apartment but relaxed slightly. The man came forward enough in the consciousness to blend it’s knowledge with the wolf’s. The wolf was still in control though. The man seemed happy with that. “Are you okay now?”

“The Luna says our mate is not gone, only shielded. We will locate her now and deal with the dark sorcerer after.” The wolf was no longer asking. He was relaying the plan to let the friend sorcerer know what was going to happen. He fixed the human with a straight stare until he saw the understanding in his eyes.

“Alright. Where are we starting?”

“The death room. If the mate is not there then we will destroy every dark object in that room. The dark one works at a nightclub. We’ll look there next.” Wade nodded and muttered a few quick words in his magic language before they left. As he finished speaking the remains of the widespread destruction caused by their violent reaction to the loss of their mate either righted itself or vanished. The wolf watched in fascination and a little admiration. That magic would be particularly useful to a wolf. The pocket of the sorcerer beeped, distracting it from finishing the spell. He read it with a frown on his face.

“I just got a message from your sister. She said she’s meeting Carlie at her place.” The wolf growled angrily. No way was their mate going to his sister instead of him. But...they knew where she was. Wade looked just as angrily at his phone, a subtle purple ring starting to form around his irises. “This way is faster.” He grabbed the body’s arm and then they disappeared.

Carlie

She watched Lucius pour the blood in a circle around himself and Elizabeth, locking them into a magically protected ring. She felt like she was in a fog. Why was he doing this? Elizabeth was nothing to him and his actions were going to bring the wrath of one of the most powerful beings on the planet down on their heads. She was just as guilty as he was at this point. She’d gone to Elizabeth’s house. She’d shown Lucius where she lived. She’d watched stoically as he’d shot her with three tranquilizer darts measured for an elephant and then helped him carry her unconscious body to the back of the SUV.

Why? Why would she do such a thing? She may not have known Elizabeth very well but she wasn’t exactly the type to let someone get kidnapped, much less help. And she was Pack. Wasn’t she? Her mind clouded again and she had trouble finding the thread of her thoughts. She tried to call her wolf who was still nestled far back in the recesses of her consciousness. It should have recovered by now from the panic attack. Even when sulking at Carlie’s forced control, it never retreated as far as it was now. She felt like that part of her was trying to cut itself out. Which was ridiculous and impossible but was probably contributing to her disorientation.

She felt a brush of fur against the back of her mind and focused what she could on that space. If she could clear out the fog then the wolf could come out. They could figure it out together. The wolf always seemed to have a firmer grasp on situations than she did. She felt a painful slam against a barrier between her mind and the wolf’s as it no doubt tried to force it’s way back in. She winced and instinctively began to reach for her head. She stopped before her arm reached her shoulder, realizing that any kind of reaction could alert Lucius to the situation. She didn’t want that. He must have been the one to put the barrier there in the first place. She hadn’t known it existed until that moment. Even though he was kind and her friend. She didn’t want him to know that she knew. What if he needed her help again? Elizabeth was a full blown werewolf after all. She was pretty much a princess too. Lucius would have a difficult time keeping her subdued.

The wolf inside raked a paw of painful claws down the barrier. Carlie had to clench her jaw to keep from gasping at the sensation but she felt the obstruction waver. She hoped that the wolf felt it too as she started to be afraid. What if the wolf never got back? What if she was now back to being a normal human? Would Noah still be her mate? The thought of Noah immediately crystalized some of her mental landscape into clarity. Noah. She needed to find Noah. That was why the wolf needed to be in control. Carlie didn’t know how to use the metaphysical part of her werewolf nature. She gritted her teeth and pushed with her own strength against the spot of the barrier that the wolf was ravaging from the other side.

It hurt. A lot. She gritted her teeth as the repeated attempts caused more and more pain to rush down her spine and through her legs. Her nerve endings felt hyper sensitive as both she and the wolf stepped up their ferocity. The barrier was weakening. She could feel the mutual frustration of herself and the wolf. Still separate emotions but it meant they were close. Which was good because the few seconds she allowed herself to focus once more on the situation in the foul smelling room she was in let her know that Elizabeth was stirring. Lucius was still chanting in his dark guttural language of magic. She needed to stop him before he did something to her packmate. Noah’s sister.

She called an image of Noah to mind. Holding onto it when whatever the cause for the confusion tried to push it down. But Noah was her life line. He would free her and god willing forgive her for what Lucius had no doubt made her do. The wolf’s attacks grew stronger with the image of it’s mate fueling it on. She also felt like she had a fount of renewed vigor. She shoved the pain to the side and used her less effective human hands and nails to get through the thinning barrier. The closer they got the more difficult the resistance they met. At times it almost felt like there were little electrical pulses adding a new kind of pain into the cocktail. It almost tripped her up and threatened to pull her beneath the waves of it. Yet she managed to persevere. She reached out to the wolf for what was probably the first time, looking for strength and the will to keep fighting.

The barrier finally gave with what felt like a deafening snap. The wolf immediately rushed to the forefront of her mind, giving her no option other than to relinquish control. It surged forward and shifted to its true form faster than it ever had before. A fact which was probably aided by Carlie’s consciousness using all of her thoughts to spur the process. They needed to get strong and get out. Even Lucius had trouble with werewolves in their wolf form. The change was still a painful process though and she lost precious seconds panting from the release of all that stress and pain. Seconds that the sorcerer in question used to his advantage.

She raised her now sharper wolven eyes to find his glowing a deep purple. Magic pulsed through the air, rippling through her fur in a discomforting parody of a heartbeat. She pulled her lips off her fangs and snarled deeply. Lucius was a dead man. He could have a swift easy death at her jaws or a prolonged one at her mate’s. And she finally didn’t care. She saw him for what he really was and felt a surge of rage at all that she’d suffered at his hands.

She felt the instant Lucius started attempting to cast a new spell on her and put all of her will into resisting it. She was no one’s servant to order or puppet to manipulate. She was a powerful werewolf. A pissed off powerful werewolf. Lucius frowned when he met the resistance she was putting up. But his irritation didn’t last long. He used his magic to lash out at Elizabeth, drawing blood and rousing her from her drugged sleep. He used the blood to launch another, stronger, spell at Carlie. She growled again and snapped her now frothing jaws at him. This battle of wills was a long time coming and the wolf was finally able to use her full strength. She was no longer befuddled by the human’s confusing feelings about the not quite human attempting to steal her free will.

She fought the spell. The wolf was infuriated that it was even being attempted. Yet it also knew that it was starting to lose the fight. The sorcerer could merely hurt Elizabeth more and get all the power it needed to force the issue. And she couldn’t allow her mate’s sister to be harmed so that she could waste precious energy in an inevitable defeat. The wolf was nothing if not practical. It could and probably would survive the spell. There was no way Elizabeth’s family were not searching for her. Though they weren’t stupid wolves and they must have known who had her. Her mate was scouring the city for any trace of her. Of that she had no doubt. So she silently asked for Elizabeth’s forgiveness as another lash created a new line of red across her chest as she stalled for a few more minutes.

The pressure of the spell was distracting as the wolf sought out the mate bond. It was buried deep within the mind but the wolf would not be deterred. No one would keep her from her mate ever again. She concentrated on establishing even the briefest of links. Even a second would be enough for Noah to get her location and then come for her and his sister. With the calvary. Of course, Lucius was fighting hard to refuse her access to it. The strain of fighting her in two different mental conflicts was thankfully splitting his focus so he was unable to force the control collar of the new spell on her at the same time. And this was a battle she would win. It was another moment or two before Lucius realized he was out of his depth and diverted his attention back to his original attack. It was all she needed. She felt the bond open wide and Noah’s startled relief. She shouted a cry for help before the magical chains fastened themselves securely around her metaphorical neck and she was cut off from her mate once more.

She had expected to not be aware of what was going on while under the spell. Yet the wolf was fully conscious of everything occurring. It couldn’t fight the commands the master issued but it was no longer enthralled. That was an excellent development. If the wolf was patient enough and vigilant it would be able to take full advantage of the slightest weakening in the sorcerer’s hold. Then she would get her revenge. Not the slow simple one she’d thought of earlier either. Now the pretentious human would die as slowly as she could manage. Preferably screaming and bleeding.

The wolf paced the edge of the circle, growling menacingly at Elizabeth despite not being interested in doing so. Elizabeth paid her no mind and focused her own bright yellow eyes on the sorcerer. The last marks had healed leaving only tears in her clothes. She had stared long and hard at Carlie for a moment before turning her attention to Lucius with a smirk. When she got no response she shook her head and chuckled. “You must be Lucius.” He put his hand down and stopped muttering with the most regal motion Carlie had ever seen him use. It made her want to laugh and puke at the same time.

“You’ve heard of my power I assume.” Elizabeth nodded in return.

“Wade also told me how stupid you are but I honestly didn’t believe him. I mean...how did you possibly think this was going to end?” She laughed again, infuriating the master. Carlie moved closer the edge of the circle and bared her sharp fangs at the other werewolf. Once again, she was ignored. The wolf didn’t mind.

“You think they can get to you in time?”

“I think that whatever you plan to do with me better be enough to take down the s**t storm you just started. And you better pray its my brother that gets here first. I wouldn’t wish the fury of my parents on anyone. Even you.” Carlie could feel the truth behind Elizabeth’s words. She remembered the powerful Alpha pair that were her parents with a slight shudder. Yes she imagined their vengeance would be brutal and terrifying. And she would do exactly the same in their place.

“If they can find you my arrogant little plaything. I am quite capable of shielding my activities from unwanted attention. Even from such a talented sorcerer as Wade Harper.” Lucius rolled his eyes as he extolled his adversary’s skills. Talk about arrogant. Elizabeth watched him curiously and then tilted her head back and laughed full and loud. Lucius got more and more angry as she continued to chortle. When she finally stopped, wiping at her eyes as she did so, she held a hand up as if in apology.

“I’m a twin, you ignorant ass. They know where I am.” As if they were waiting for her to utter those words, Wade and Noah materialized in the far corner of the room. Elizabeth smirked at Lucius, I told you so clearly displayed in her expression. Carlie growled at the intruders and stalked towards her mate and his friend. She watched her beloved’s face as he tried to reach her through their locked gaze and no doubt their mind. She watched the resolution take hold and felt the subtle gathering of energy before he called his own wolf to the front.

“I’ve got Lucius. You get them out of here.” Lucius scoffed in response to Wade’s directive.

Then the game truly began.