Chapter 54
Viviane
Turning to face my fate head on,
my heart sinks when I see the rough looking men striding towards me. Every man
has a hard and haggard exterior which exudes menace, and I hate the idea of
facing them alone.
“Well, well, well.” The leader
drawls, leering at me salaciously, “what do we have here? Aren’t you a pretty
one?”
“What do you want with me?” I
ask them nervously.
“What do we want?” He counters. “You
were the one following us, not the other way around.”
“I was just curious.” I lie, “I
saw you taking those girls, I thought maybe something bad was happening, but I
realize now I was wrong. I’ll leave you to go on your way.”
I try to turn away, but a
powerful hand clamps around my arm. “Oh no, it’s too late for that.” The man
smirks, his nostrils flaring as he scents me. “You’re a clever one too, I see.”
He chuckles, “Hiding your scent. Now it makes more sense. Only bottom-feeders
go near the settlements. Is your little friend a mermaid in disguise too?”
“No!” I half-shout, answering
far too quickly.
His eyes glint greedily, and he
gestures to one of his men. “Go after her.”
“Where are you taking them?” I
ask now that my cover is blown, “What are you planning on doing?”
“Don’t worry sweetheart, you’ll
be able to see for yourself.” He promises with a cruel laugh, “In fact, it’s
lucky we found you. I imagine you’ll sell for more than any of the others.”
One of the men behind me pulls
my hair away from my throat, and I flinch violently. “This one has been
marked.” A gruff voice sounds at my back.
“Oh ho!” The leader remarks,
sounding more thrilled than ever, “And by an Alpha no less. You really are
something special aren’t you.”
“No.” I insist. “I’m nothing
special - honest.”
“I beg to differ.” His fist
curls in my hair, “I hunt your kind for a living little girl. I’ve seen
hundreds of young mermaids like you. That’s precisely how I know you’re worth
more than all those mewling quims combined.” He remarks crudely, gesturing in
the direction of his other prisoners.
“I can’t produce tears.” I lie
again, “I cried myself dry in the pearl farms. I won’t make the Bloodstones any
money.”
“That’s okay baby.” A dirty
finger trails down my cheek with such obvious, lude intent that my skin crawls.
“We have no intention of taking you to the pearl farms. There’s more than one way
for little fish to make us money.” He grins, exposing his lethal fangs and
watching me with gleeful malice. “You’re going straight to auction, if a
private buyer doesn’t take you, the brothels will.”
Caspian
Something is wrong.
I can feel it deep in my bones.
Something is terribly, terribly wrong. Leaping up from my chair, I storm out of
my father’s office, Chase close behind me. “What’s wrong?” He presses urgently.
“It’s Viviane.” I choke, “She’s
in danger.”
“Isn’t she in your rooms?” My
beta questions, jogging alongside me.
I reach out through our link,
calling for my mate with every ounce of energy I possess. “No.” I hiss,
“Wherever she is, she’s out of reach.”
We’re almost to the front door
when Chase pulls up short, exuding agitation. “Kiera.” He whispers, slamming
through the front door. Then I realize why he had that strange look on his
face, and why he’s running ahead of me now. Kiera is sprinting up the front lawn
in the strangest get up, tears streaming down her face
Instantly I know her distress
has something to do with Viviane, and my blood runs cold. “What’s wrong?” Chase
demands, catching her shoulders just as I pull up beside him and demand,
“Where’s Viviane?”
“T-they t-took her.” She sobs,
looking frantically between myself and her mate.
The words trigger some primal
rage deep inside me, and I surge forward without thinking. “Who?”
Chase shoved Kiera behind his
body before I could reach her, baring his fangs at me protectively. I can see
the little lynx cowering behind him, clutching the back of his shirt in her
small fists and leaning her head between his shoulder blades. “I’m sorry!” She
cries. “We never should have gone!”
“Gone where?” I bark, growing more
and more furious with every moment that passes.
Chase has one arm twisted behind
his back, no doubt trying to comfort the overwrought feline even as concern
paints his features. “The mermaid settlement.” Kiera squeaks.
“What the hell are you saying?”
I thunder. I’m prepared for another admonishing look from my Beta, but he now
seems as distressed as I am.
“Why on earth would you go to
the settlements?” He asks.
“We saw Mordred there last
time.” Kiera explains, gulping in a series of heaving breaths. “He’s working
with the traffickers.”
At this I go apoplectic, and I
have to wrench myself away from my friend and his mate in order to prevent
myself from lashing out. Luckily Chase has my back, turning to face Kiera and
gripping her salt-stained cheeks between his hands, “Kiera, who took Viviane?”
“Traffickers.” She whispers
sorrowfully, “Mordred wasn’t with them, I don’t know who they were but we saw
them dragging mermaids out of their homes and Viviane was so determined to
follow,” the worlds are spilling out of her uninhibited now, as if she cannot
stop, “I think she was feeling guilt about what happened with Courtney and
Madison. When they saw us and came after us she made me promise to go ahead
without her. She said they would kill me but they wouldn’t kill her b-because
they’d want to sell her.”
A wave of terror, fury and
outrage washes over me so forcefully my knees go weak. I can’t think, I can’t
process what the lynx is saying. This
isn’t right. This isn’t happening.
“I didn’t want to leave her.”
Kiera moans, “I didn’t want to go in the first place. She was going to go on
her own if I didn’t go with her.”
“So you chose to help her get
herself killed and risk your own life in the process?” I roar, making her
flinch and not feeling an ounce of regret about it. “You should have come to me
the moment you knew what she intended!”
“I’m sorry.” Kiera wails. “I’m
so sorry.”
“You should be.” I snarl.
“Hey!” Chase snaps, wrapping his
arms around his mate and pulling her close. “Watch it, Caspian. She feels badly
enough as it is.”
“We don’t have time for you to
coddle her.” I snap, “We need to go, we have to catch up to them.”
Kiera nods vigorously, “I’ll
show you where they were.”
“No.” Chase and I growl in
unison. “It’s too dangerous.” He states firmly.
“You’ll tell us.” I command.
“Then you’ll stay here and think about what you’ve done.”
“But-” Kiera objects.
“No arguing,” Chase orders,
“this isn’t up for discussion. Now tell us exactly
what happened.
We
search until dawn, but we were too late. The time it took Kiera to reach the
pack house gave the traffickers more than enough opportunity to disappear with
my precious mate, and the rain washed away any trail we might have otherwise
uncovered.
She’s gone. Viviane is gone.
I still can’t believe this is
happening. It’s too horrific. I’ve been doing everything in my power to protect
her, and it was all for nothing. How could she take this risk? How could she
think I wouldn’t be trying to stop such a heinous crime taking place in my
city?How could she have omitted the fact that she saw Mordred after he escaped?
“They’ll
have taken her to the Bloodstone territory.” Chase surmises. “If we go now we
can be there by this time tomorrow.”
“We
can’t jump to any conclusions.” My voice sounds strange and hollow to my own
ears. “If Mordred is involved… there’s no guarantee it’s the bloodstones, we
need to know for sure. We can’t risk running off in the wrong direction.”
“Then
we’ll get the enforcers out here immediately to investigate.” My beta decides.
“Yes,
good.” I agree, wanting to howl into the night for my Viviane. “She must be so
afraid.” I murmur, guilt ripping me apart from the inside out. I can’t stop
seeing the terror on her beautiful face the day I lost my temper at the pack
house, the day Mordred turned up at the stadium.
“We’ll
get her back.” Chase promises.
“And
if we don’t?” I reply hoarsely, horribly, gorey images flashing in my mind’s
eye. “Either they’ll beat her to death in the pearl farms or abuse her into
oblivion in the brothels.”
“We
will get her back.” Chase repeats,
emphasizing the words as if he hopes he can hammer them through my thick skull.
“Viviane is strong. She’s survived more horrors than most people can imagine
and still came out thriving.”
“I
don’t care what she’s already survived.” I grouse, “I don’t want her to
experience any more pain.”
“That isn’t what I meant.” My
friend exhales grimly.
“Besides,” I growl, “no matter
how strong she is - how many more horrors do you think she can take before she
succumbs?”
