CeCe
Lashed into a standing position, Tivo's wrists are tied above his head to a large hook bolted to the roof beams. He is nude and thinner than I've ever seen him, with ribs poking out of skin that is stretched too tightly. His wrists are raw and red, with a trickle of blood slowly dripping from the cuffs. There are no whip marks, no stab wounds or excessive bruising. His feet are able to touch the floor. With my stomach churning, I know that Gavin is preserving Tivo's health for a reason.
Swallowing the bile surging, I meet the gaze of my truemate. I can't fathom what he's thinking or feeling. In fact, when I meet his eyes, I feel nothing. My she-wolf also ignores him, going as far as to turn her back on him completely.
I drag my gaze away from Tivo. In his eyes I see defeat and I don't want to look anymore. Stubbornly I glance around the meat shed until my eyes lock on something so grotesque that it takes a moment to register.
In the corner of the room, the king has placed my mother. Right next to her is Luna Lucretia. The two females are dangling from hooks and chains around their naked torsos. The wicked metal curves out from under their armpits toward their faces. I see a wound on Luna Lucretia's right cheek that must be from her head dipping into the pointed end of one hook. Unlike Tivo, their feet are dangling in the air. My mother is spinning slowly, and when she rotates enough, I see that one of the hooks has pierced her flesh. The wound is a terrible, angry red, exposing muscle down to the bone. Other than their sneering, agony-filled faces, they resemble nothing more than rotting flesh and bone.
"Don't look, love," Gavin grabs me and hides my face in his chest. His chest rumbles under my ears in a deep, soothing sound.
I pull away. "I'm fine," I whisper. I won't cringe away from this. I'm not an omega wolf. I can't be so queasy in the face of what my mate does. My she-wolf, on the other hand, hides her eyes under her paws.
Slowly, I look again at the former MoonGlist luna. How is she still alive? She reeks of dead flesh and despair. Part of her left leg looks blackened and greenish from rot. Angry red lines radiate from the wound. It resembles what I think my mother's leg will look like in a few days. Claw marks run along her sides, her arms, her face. They are shallow, meant to torture not kill, but it's a bit of a miracle that she's still breathing when her mate of over twenty years is dead. Unless... "were the luna and Alpha Tilain not truemates?" I ask.
My oldest brother, Malcolm, speaks up, "I have always wondered that."
Startled, I glance at him. I hadn't even noticed him lurking in the shadows, arms crossed over his chest as he voluntarily shares space with his mother and stepmother.
"I want this done. Then you are coming back home," the king suddenly orders.
Gavin grimaces at his father. "You go home. It's been how long since you saw Mom?"
"Four days and seventeen hours," the king mutters. "Twenty minutes," he adds under his breath. With a heavy sigh, his arms fall to his side. "They'll need to be taken care of before you bring my daughter south," he says abruptly.
Gavin nods. "I am aware."
I look between the two males worriedly. "Who needs to?" I ask.
Gavin kisses my forehead. "We'll discuss it, later, my love." To his father, he says, "go. This won't take long. Bring our son with you."
The king nods abruptly before walking over to me. To my shock, he grabs me to his chest and hugs me tightly. He never did this in the Knowing. I wonder if being away from the queen is affecting him more than I understood at first.
Gavin snickers. "She thinks you're going soft from missing mom."
Without letting me go, the king responds, "I'll bring CeCe with me and see how long you last, little asshole."
Gavin snarls and the king laughs but lets me go. Immediately, I'm snatched back into my mate's arms. These males.
"Be safe, little one," the king pats my head, then slaps his son's back before striding out of the meat hut.
"Wait, is he taking Salvatore, too?" I ask, worriedly.
Gavin kisses me softly. "It's safer with my dad, sweetheart."
"But we didn't say goodbye!" I exclaim.
"He won't leave without letting us say 'goodbye.'"
I turn to leave the hut, eager to go find Salvatore right this minute, when a raspy voice speaks, "you've replaced me."
Slowly, I spin back around. I glance at Gavin, but my mate's face is inscrutable. He's leaving this up to me, for now. I walk a few steps closer to Tivo. Being in this hut, with three wolves who would rip my throat out without any hesitation, isn't doing my shaky state of mind any favors. "I found a mate," I correct Tivo. My voice is cold, but holds a quivering note.
Tivo laughs. "You always had a thing for him. I remember," he swallows. "Mom used to say we had to hide you."
"From my mother," I tell him. "Penelope wanted to kill me. I'm surprised that your mother didn't allow her to."
Tivo laughs. "She couldn't kill you. Mom knew I needed you for pups. She was hiding you from him." I wrinkle my nose, utterly disgusted at the idea of having sex with Tivo. "And he can't kill me," Tivo sneers, "because he can't give you pups." He is panting, his eyes blown wide in fury.
Gavin is utterly silent. I'm baffled. I can barely make sense of his emotions through our bond. Is my mate testing my reaction? "I don't want your pups, Tivo. I never did. What if they grew up like you?" Tivo flinches from my sally. "Besides, I have a son, Salvatore, and if Gavin could have one pup with-"
A rusty laugh echoes out. I fall silent, just watching Tivo. "Can't," he gasps out. "You're special," he mocks, "you can't have pups without me."
I frown. "My mother did," I say bluntly.
"Because she was never the high priestess," Malcolm explains softly. "She called herself that, but she's never been able to reach your height with the Sight. She turned to dark magic for that reason."
"How do you know?" I ask Malcolm. "How do you know how powerful I am compared to my mother?"
His smile twists bitterly. "I am the eldest son of the clan. We are trained from puphood to serve the ones who have the Sight. And... I spent my entire life spying. First on my mother, then Penelope. You don't need them alive," he says to Gavin. "I know everything they do. I know all the laws of the moon. I can teach my sister what she needs to know."
Gavin sits on an overturned barrel and pulls me to perch on his thigh. His golden eyes don't leave Tivo. I blush when my mate's lips touch my ear softly. His next words prove that he's hung up on one particular rule of the moon. "I'll keep the prick alive for you if you want," he murmurs to me. He looks at Malcolm, "is it true? Can I give my CeCe pups?" His warm hand slides under my cloak to rest on my lower tummy.
Malcolm shrugs. "No high priestess has ever had pups with anyone other than her mate. It's important, you see, because her defenders and guardians are very... close to her."
"That will not happen," Gavin says in a calm voice. "I am her only lover." His eyes glow so brightly that they look like two golden lamps shining out of his face. His canines are glinting from his lips. I kiss his throat, but he doesn't relax.
Malcolm nods. "I didn't say it ever did, but jealous tongues wag." Luna Lucretia makes an awful gagging noise, her eyes opening just enough to glare with utter hatred at me. "Just like you, Mother," Malcolm says with a derisive scoff. "You're another one I know all about. Your two young lovers. The fact that your male was thinking of taking CeCe for himself when Tivo mated to Amber officially."
Luna Lucretia lets out a garbled shriek, but it's drowned out by Tivo's snarl. Gavin growls low. Malcolm smirks, "why not? Do you know what would have happened if the black wolf didn't come north when he did?"
I gasp. The cage, its bars iron-hot, but I'm so desperately cold. The black wolf nudges the door open and I chitter away. Gavin saved me from the cage. I thought that it was Gavin who put me in it in the first place. I scold him for it... don't I?
"You would die in a tragic accident and my sister would be forced to be Tilain's whore." Malcolm's face peels back into a snarl as he continues to address his mother. "And I," he slaps his chest, "couldn't stop it because it would reveal Cecelia's location to my stepmother." He flashes a wicked grin at Penelope. "So when the black wolf came north, all of our warriors withdrew from the field. We allowed him to do what Cecelia foretold as a pup: Claim her. Save her."
As if she's choking on Malcolm's words, my mother makes a rasping sound deep in her throat. Malcolm turns his attention to Penelope. "Did you think I would fight a war for you? Do you think I ever wanted to see my sister's blood spilt on the stone?" Agitated, Malcolm can no longer hide in the shadows, but starts to pace. His eyes, unlike Gavin's, grow darker as he thinks about everything.
"What is the stone?" I ask Malcolm in a shaky voice.
"Fool," my mother croaks. We ignore her. She is nothing more than rotting flesh.
"An ancient place of power," he says. "All of the priestesses hold their important ceremonies there. Penelope believed she could steal your Sight if she sacrificed you on the stone."
My cave. The flames. The black wolf settles me between his paws and starts to groom me. The stone under us is cool to the touch despite the raging fire all around us.
"Claiming ceremonies?" Gavin kisses my forehead. Malcolm heaves a sigh as a response. "You didn't know CeCe was meant to be mine. What if I hurt her?" Gavin remarks casually. Inside, the black wolf paces, seething with fury. It's fascinating, the fire of the wolf and the ice of the male.
"You have no reason to hurt my sister," he responds. It was a little predictable, in fact, that you would eventually Claim her as yours."
I blush as Gavin laughs out loud. "Eventually," he says, grinning.
"I met her, once. You," Malcolm says to me. "At the fair when you were four. Dad never knew until then that you existed. Penelope hid you from us, then tried to hide you again. I was only two years from shifting. I was a big male. Scary. You were a tiny scrap of a thing." Malcolm smiles fondly. "You told me one day I would meet my mate in the south. You told me," he chuckles, "that I had a long, long time to wait. Your eyes were so big when you told me that. As if to emphasize just how long I would have to wait." He pauses, "you were something special." He gives a silent Tivo a significant glance.
"You knew who she was when you met," Gavin says.
"I knew who she was. My sister and a priestess. I didn't know, yet, that she was going to be abused. Later, when Penelope left you there, I wished I had just taken you and left. Gone south, like you said I would one day."
"You... weren't abused," Tivo snarls. We ignore him.
"I don't remember," I whisper softly.
Malcolm grimaces. "I know. My mistake, Cecelia. I told Penelope I met you. I was excited," he spits, his eyes narrowing dangerously at his stepmother, "to tell her."
"Is there any reason for either of these females to live?" Gavin asks quietly.
The room is quiet except for the pained sputtering of Luna Lucretia and the agonized whimpers of my mother. Gavin stands back up and walks to me. His eyes are still aglow, but his hands are gentle when he cups my cheeks and lowers his mouth to mine. "CeCe," he rumbles, "close your eyes for me."
"Why?" I ask him. Panic starts to rise. How do we know that my mother has spilled all her secrets? What do I tell my father, Uther, when she dies?
"Close your pretty eyes for me," Gavin croons. I can't close them. My breath is escaping my body in soft, panicked gasps. I'm trembling in horror and Gavin's steady gaze keeps me grounded.
I hear a soft gurgle, then a wet, sodden thump. Gavin gently kisses my forehead, before he straightens up. "Pack the bodies-"
The Knowing screams. I slam my hands down over my ears to try and drown out the horrifying noise. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
Silver scales slither and flash and hiss and spit. The floor is covered, every spot hidden in those wriggling bodies. I scream as my body sinks into the mass of serpents. My lower body is heavy. I can't feel my legs, but I flail my arms widely. I'm trapped in quicksand made of snakes.
My fingers brush the softest fur. My hands sink in and clench desperately. Golden eyes catch mine as my black wolf snaps his dangerous canines at the pile of vipers.
I kick my legs, clinging to my black wolf as he circles me, over and over. Slowly, bit by bit, my legs come free. My black wolf wraps his body around me, surrounding me in darkness. His canines sink into my shoulder.
"My love," I whisper.
—
Gavin
I take my teeth out of her shoulder as she goes limp. "I'm here, beloved. Shh, I'm right here. I have you." I look up at an ashen-faced Malcolm, with my mate cradled in my arms, weeping. "What the fuck was that?" I growl at my CeCe's oldest brother.
"I-I don't know," he murmurs. His claws still drip with blood from Penelope's bloody, gaping neck. My beloved's mother has died, her eyes glassy. In the far distance, I hear shouts and growls. Uther knows his mate is dead.
"I... fuck! I don't know what happened," Malcolm says. "Did Penelope have a spell I missed?" he mutters to himself.
"It was her Knowing. A warning. Not from her mother," I tell him. "CeCe?" I croon her name until she opens her beautiful green eyes. I can't stop the shocked inhale I let escape. My wolf snarls as we gaze into her bloodshot eyes. "My beloved," I murmur. "Talk to me."
"Snakes. Everywhere." She starts to cry. "I couldn't move."
"Oh, love." I adjust her in my lap. Her she-wolf is frantic, clawing at the ground as if they're still trapped in a pit of snakes. Her fur ripples in agitation, her tail twitching like a snake itself. CeCe's tiny claws rake my shoulders, digging into my skin, ripping it up. I kiss her, swallowing her cries until she's exhausted herself.
She lays her head on my chest. "May I bathe, now?" she asks me pitifully. All of her fire has burned out for the moment.
"Yes, sweetheart," I promise. "Anything you want." I stand with her in my arms and move to pass her to her deathly quiet guards.
"No," she stubbornly clings to me. "With you."
"Beloved," I croon, stroking her dark curls out of her eyes. "I need to speak with Malcolm." I need to torture some more information out of Luna Lucretia, make sure her story aligns with Malcolm's. It's not a surprise that Tilain wanted my CeCe, but then why encourage Tivo to reject her?
"My mother is dead," CeCe says quietly.
She looks so worn and tired that every protective, brutal instinct in my fiend fires up. I can't leave her with her guards yet. "Wrap the body and come to the lodge," I say to Malcolm. I hold his gaze, until a look of sheer disappointment crosses his face. To his credit, he shakes it off quickly and starts to pack up Penelope's body.
I carry CeCe outside. We both inhale the fresh air deeply as it hits our faces. "You need to eat, love."
"You knew I would be sick after seeing that," she guesses correctly.
I hum in agreement. "And now you eat."
"Crazy male," she mutters, but there's a fondness in her voice, and a little bit of her fire is back as we leave the prison behind us.
—
"Bye, Ceely. Love you," Salvatore says sleepily as I tuck the blankets around my exhausted mate. Dad picks up his half-asleep grandson. Salvatore is so tired he doesn't protest, despite he and CeCe finding every reason under the sun to stay together at dinner.
"Her Sight knocks her out, huh?" Dad observes as he double-checks Sal's boots and mittens.
"Every time."
Dad nods. His hands shake as he carries Salvatore out of the room with me on his heels. "You sure you have this handled?" Dad asks me as he walks outside. The night is bitterly cold. Dawn is still a few hours away.
"I do. Learned a few things tonight," I tell him.
He nods and smiles, his canines jutting from his lips as he fights his shift. "You were always a devious little ass."
I smirk back, watching as bone and flesh melt and warp into the terrifying HalfForm. I put the harness over Dad's head as he ducks down, then fasten Salvatore into it. Dad stands back up to his full height and pats his grandson, checking the weight distribution to make sure the harness doesn't slip.
"Give Mom a kiss for me," I tell him. The HalfForm snarls lowly to keep from waking up Salvatore. I smirk, knowing that the Beast is a jealous fuck. "Bye, Dad. Be safe."
He nods, and slaps my shoulder, before twisting around and vanishing into the night.
"Fuck. I never saw a HalfForm before," Malcolm steps out of the shadows.
"He's calmed down a lot since I was young," I respond.
"Thank the goddess for that," Malcolm mutters. He approaches me cautiously, staying out of striking range. He's a smart male. A spymaster. Not MateLess, according to my CeCe, or I would convince him to join the ranks of my elite.
We stare off into the dark night for a while, silent. "Why?" Malcolm asks me suddenly.
"Lucretia is bait. Just in case my mate isn't enough of an incentive."
"Bait?" Malcolm says, his eyes narrowed on my face. "For who?"
I just smile and change the subject. "I think your mother was Uther's truemate."
Malcolm takes a startled breath. "I wondered," he admits. "It would explain the extreme hatred and prejudice. I mean, can you imagine? You have a male, and a son, then another female steals him away?"
"Penelope had dark magic. She could have made certain she could bear Uther's pups," I point out. "Could she have also made certain that Lucretia could bear Tilain's pup?"
"Sealing everyone's fate," Malcolm says. "It's possible."
"So... Lucretia and Uther are mates. Lucretia has you. Then... Penelope comes into the picture. She wants Uther because..?"
"Of the stone. The clans protect the priestess. We always have."
"Which was Penelope's ultimate goal for coming north," I puzzle through it. "It wasn't just to escape my Dad, but to gain a position akin to being a princess. She meets Uther and has my CeCe. Then hides from him," I mutter.
Malcolm is quiet. "Because... maybe Lucretia threatened her. Maybe Penelope didn't know Lucretia was Uther's mate until it was too late? Lucretia was already Tilain's luna. Tivo was already born, before Penelope met Uther. How did Lucreta have Tivo?"
"Sire!" Pietr jogs up, his jaw set tight and his eyes hard. "He's escaped. We gave him half an hour."
"Who? Uther?" Malcolm looks between us.
I smile. "You know what the worst torture is, Malcolm? Giving hope, only to snatch it away." I look at Pietr. "We are going north. Is everyone ready?"
"Packed and waiting," he responds. "Except for some of the more stubborn females." He smirks.
"Tell their males they have until my CeCe wakes up. Secure the prisoners. We don't want more escapes," I say breezily. "Then we go north."
Malcolm looks at me steadily before blowing out his breath. "Fucking goddess, you let Tivo escape."
He'll be a good spymaster, eventually.