Ashlee’s wolf knew what would happen. If Tristan was attacked on both sides, he would kill his attackers. She was sure about it. And even if they then found a way to stop this madness, Tristan would never be okay again.
At that moment, the stair door swung open behind her. Ashlee was suddenly aware of the amount of noise they made because Michael, Gabriel, and Azriel poured through the door one after another, each panting. They must have been drawn to the sounds of the fight. Ashlee watched as Gabriel assessed the scene and within seconds the wolf appeared in his eyes. According to Theo, he might actually be able to take Tristan down. Less than a minute later, the Aunts and the remote man they called Cullen followed through the door.
“Everyone is here, Tristan,” Ashlee whispered, crouching down to the floor to act non-threatening.
“Oh God, not again,” Adeline screamed. “Not like Chester.” Adeline’s husband had been Chester, as Ashlee had learned the day before. He had killed himself rather than kill her, although from her desperation to end her own life it seemed to Ashlee she might have preferred the other option.
“Quiet,” Ashlee commanded everyone. “Tristan, you don’t want to kill me. You told me to run. You’re in there somewhere.” Tears filled Ashlee’s eyes but she didn’t let them fall. It wasn’t the time for hysterics, but her eyes burned from the effort to hold them back. “Neither of us has to die. We can beat this. Do you hear me? What we just shared, it makes us stronger. The others, they didn’t know what happened, they couldn’t reason through it. But we know the past, we know the events of thirty years ago. We can beat this now. You told my mother you were your mother’s son, not your father’s. She foiled your Dad, her Alpha, thirty years ago. Let’s destroy him now too.”
A white light swept over Tristan and he changed back into his human form. He writhed on the ground, naked, and Ashlee had to resist every primal instinct she possessed and stop herself from running over to him. She swallowed hard; her mouth was so dry, her throat hurt.
“Brother,” Tristan called out to Theo. “Please, brother, I beg you. Kill me or give me something to get the job done myself. Please…it is too painful. I cannot take anymore. It is eating my brain, devouring me from the inside out. Please.”
Theo turned around to them and Ashlee saw him blink away tears.
Michael stepped forward. “If you kill yourself, brother, you will doom Ashlee to follow or live a half-life like our aunts have all these years. You do not want that. You and Ashlee are our salvation. If you die, all hope will be lost. I am your Alpha; I command you to hold on.”
“Ha! You are not my Alpha.” Drool escaped Tristan’s mouth as he rolled over on to his stomach. He tried to stand up and failed. “You have never been willing to be my Alpha, so you cannot claim to be now. Do the ceremony if you want the respect.”
Ashlee stepped towards Tristan and he jerked off the floor as if he was possessed. He rolled over and groaned. “Knock him out, Gabriel. Don’t kill him, just render him unconscious and then we will lock him up where he cannot hurt himself while we figure out what to do to rid him of this.”
Gabriel looked to Michael for confirmation; he nodded. As Gabriel stepped towards Tristan, he growled low in his throat. Tristan answered in kind. The hairs on Ashlee’s arms stood up in alarm. She didn’t want to watch this. Even if it was the best possible thing for Tristan, she couldn’t watch her mate get injured and not interfere. Ashlee whirled around to not look at what was about to happen. She covered her ears with her hands, and when that was not enough of a separation, she ran for the stairs.
Ashlee called to the gathered people behind her as she ran. “All of you who don’t need to be here, come with me, please. We have work to do.”
They had to find the witch who’d done this and remove the spell from the shifters so Tristan could be restored to health. And when all of that was done, she was going to string the wretched woman from the roof of the Institute. She would leave her out there to rot or freeze, and laugh when the crows got to her.
For a moment, she wondered if she was channeling Tristan’s feelings again, but no, they were her own. It seemed when it came to protecting the people she loved, she was a bloodthirsty bitch.
Tristan jerked awake. He snarled and looked around his enclosure with impotent fury. Trapped again. The bars closed in on him for a moment, then he composed himself and walked the length of his five-by-five cell. He knew the measurements because he designed the damn thing. He was Prince Tristan; he would find a way out of this. He pounded on the door.
“Let me out,” he bellowed.
The guards always responded to him. They vied for his good favor. One of them was going to help him take care of the pain in his head. He looked down at his hands. They shook violently. He pounded on the door again.
“We’re not letting you out, Trip.” Rex’s voice answered him. They’d been smart, they’d known he could have ordered the guards around. But Rex would never tolerate his demands. It wasn’t going to be so easy.
“Rex, please, it will be very fast. I won’t even let her suffer. One, two, three, I’ll break her neck and then you and I can go to Portland to do whatever it is that you do there.” He was being reasonable, despite the throbbing on his front lobe and the needles that poked every inch of his body. Surely, Rex would see that.
“If you could just hear yourself, Trip. You sound just like him. It’s horrible.” Rex’s voice sounded strained.
“Sound like whom? What are you blathering on about, Rexy?” Why couldn’t Randolph just be reasonable this one time? Why must he always put up with such a huge amount of incompetence from his family?
“You sound like our fucking father. Even your tone of voice has changed. Keep it together, Trip; you have the best thing in the world, and she is working like a lunatic to save you.”
What? Something about what Rex said stuck Tristan as strange. What was the best thing in the world? He just needed to kill Ashlee and then he would remember, and then the pain would stop. Ashlee…her name brought a pain to his stomach and he doubled over. His love, his life, his mate. He wanted her, needed her to love him.
Obey me.
Oh no.
Kill her.
No.
Obey me. I am your Alpha.
No, Tristan shook his head and fell to his knees. He clutched his head.
Then you will suffer.
The pain started in his feet; a hundred needles attacked him, and then the burning started. He didn’t even know when he started screaming, but he was grateful when he lost consciousness again.
Ashlee knew the second Tristan awoke and the second he lost consciousness again.
She blinked in frustration and bit her fingernail down to the skin. She was running out of fingernails to destroy.
Michael, Gabriel, Azriel, Theo—who was a little worse for wear after his fight with Tristan—Adeline, Clarinda, Cullen, and five other pack members who Michael called the top ‘dominants’ who were named, in seated order, Parker, Sean, Jack, Don, and Marlin.
Ashlee blinked again. “Tell me again.”
Cullen sighed. Ashlee didn’t need to read minds to know he rapidly lost patience with her. “The witch is in the facility with our former Alpha; she is virtually un-obtainable.”
“Not true. We just haven’t figured out how to get her yet.” Ashlee was right and no one would tell her otherwise.
“Say you actually manage to get her out of there. She is a very powerful witch. How do you plan to subdue her?” Cullen’s tone started to annoy her.