“What about the fae girl?” Reyaz asked.

“Elle cannot flash; I made sure of it. Although I think my sister might have already bound her powers.”

Reyaz stood from the chair he had occupied. He walked slowly around the room as he held his hands steepled together. His mind wandered to the mates of the females Lorelle had captured for him. He nearly laughed at the thought of their reactions once they realized their females had been taken while they fought the warlocks. But he relished even more the thought of his brother’s pain when he realized that his mate had been taken because he had sent her away, unprotected. He would have to live with the knowledge that his woman had been taken because of his foolishness.

“That will be all,” he told Lorelle absentmindedly.

“Our deal changed when I agreed to this, warlock. I expect you to uphold your end.”

He looked up at her and his lip curled. “You will get what is coming to you. But you will be patient because things that get rushed get ruined.”

“As long as you follow through.”

Reyaz watched as the fae flashed, leaving an empty spot where she had been standing. He stared at the vacant space for several minutes as he considered what his next move should be. So much of his plan had been changed and now he found himself in the possession of not just one mate, but seven, plus an unmated female. One of those mated females just happened to be the mate of the most powerful Alpha in history. For a moment he thought that it was either the stupidest thing he had ever done or the bravest. He figured the answer to that would come if he found himself at the other end of the Alpha’s jaws.

Chapter 15

“Once in a lifetime, someone will grab onto your heart, dig in deep, and grasp with all their might. They will have the power to strengthen it, to crush it, or to keep it beating when it threatens to stop. Once in a lifetime, love will seep into you, filling every empty place, warming every cold spot, and illuminating all the dark spaces that threaten to engulf you. Once in a lifetime, one person will have the ability to bring you back from the edge of insanity just by reminding you that they chose you; that they love you.”  ~Cypher

“Something has got to give,” Peri shouted to Alston.

The battle against the warlocks had been going on for nearly two days. Vasile and Peri had organized a rotation between the fae, elves, and wolves, to fight in waves so that everyone would get a chance at rest. The problem was for every ten warlocks they knocked out, five were waking up. They continued to fight without killing as Vasile had instructed, but frustration levels were running high and exhaustion was beginning to take over.

“CYPHER!” Peri yelled across the trampled battle field. Trees had been knocked over and plants crushed and destroyed as feet and bodies pounded into the ground. She called on her power and drew into her the magic of all the supernatural creatures around her. “How much longer will you fight a battle you cannot win?”

Cypher paused from his fight with Decebel and looked over at her. His eyes burned red with madness and rage. His body was tight with the need to destroy. He stared at the fae who was bathed in light. He felt her goodness pulsating off of her and he wondered why she was fighting him. He hadn’t come here to fight the fae, or the wolves, or the elves for that matter. He had come to kill the trolls.

“Until my enemy comes out from hiding,” he answered calmly. His head whipped back around to Vasile and he pulled the sword back, ready to slash out at the Alpha.

Peri’s hand swung out just as Alston and Adam’s did and they all pushed power into the Warlock King, staying his sword from completing the arc.

“You have no enemy here Cypher, King of the Warlocks. You have been at peace with the trolls for centuries. You have no cause to declare war on them.” The battle around Peri came to a halt as they all began to realize that Cypher was no longer fighting and that there was a powerful, glowing fae in their midst.

“I have every cause! They took the life of one of my own; they murdered her.” The words were right, but there was no passion, no conviction behind them in his voice.

“That crime has been dealt with and the debt paid for by the lives of those who committed the crime. You would not condemn a whole race as evil just for the actions of a few. You agreed to this with the troll King. Why would you change your mind now, especially when you have found your mate? Why go to war now with your mate in danger from your brother?” Peri was trying to get him to think about his actions, to push past this intense desire to destroy and to contemplate why it is he wants to destroy.

Cypher’s eyes flashed briefly to their usual yellow color as he spoke. “Mate,” the word tasted foreign on his tongue, and yet he knew it to be true in his heart. He had a mate.

“Yes,” Peri told him. “Lilly, your mate.”

Lilly, he thought, that’s her name. That’s my mate’s name. He shook his head as he squeezed his eyes closed. He felt a haze trying to wrap around his mind and push the thoughts of her from him but he latched onto them like a rabid dog latches on to its prey. He had a mate, but now he was going after the trolls. That wasn’t right, was it? Did he want to go to war with the trolls? He knew the answer was no, but something inside of him was driving him to attack, to kill.

“Fight it, Cypher,” Vasile said as he phased back to his human form. “Fight the spell your brother has put on you.”

Peri, Alston, and Adam all lowered their hands as they watched Cypher lower his sword.

One by one, the wolves all phased back and watched as the king’s eyes flashed from red to yellow over and over as he struggled to regain control of his own mind.

“You have to fight it, Cypher. Your brother has our mates,” Decebel snarled as he stood up from where he had just been standing in his wolf form. His eyes still glowed bright and his canines were still too long to belong in a human mouth, evidence of how close his wolf still was to the surface.

“What?” Cypher snapped, and this time his eyes stayed yellow a little longer and when they flashed back to red, it was much duller.

“Sally told me as well,” Costin spoke up.

Vasile nodded as his lips tightened into a straight line. “Alina said the same thing. Lorelle came.”

“Lorelle?” Peri’s voice carried from her where she stood, still in her fae glory. The light around her brightened and her eyes began to pulse with power. “My sister has taken the girls?” The warlocks that had been standing close to her slowly began to back away, as well as a few of the elves. Peri’s eyes snapped over to Cypher. “Okay you have to pull your crap together because your bastard of a brother has my girls and that is not cool. So you can either get a clue and fight the rest of that spell off or I will zap your ass with so much power that you’ll walk around asking everyone if they’re your mamma.”