For a full minute Lucille didn’t move or show any indication that the finger of the enemy was against her, was pointing at her.
She stood, a blank expression on her face, as Legardo’s finger wavered-her reaction hadn’t been what the man had expected-and then fell to his side. She watched him shift on his feet, watched him blankly as he barked out a nervous laughter and said “this one is a strong fellow, Sheila. It makes me wonder how the Emma is, you know the one you stupidly exiled…” Derek had his attention now.
But Lucille was perusing the man, surprised at herself that she could read the man’s powers, that she could tell it was mighty. Fayot had been right, this man was no ordinary werewolf-he must have involved himself in something dark and sinister.
She cocked her head to the side, and checked the powers on his feet and hands, his powers were in a better ration there than the others. She wondered if he could run as fast as her father or lifemate.
When she noticed that Legardo was more than uncomfortable with her gaze, she smiled widely at him, working on disarming him further. If there was something she had learnt, from both of her foster fathers who had been in military service to the United States, it was not to show weakness in front of the enemy, no matter how weak one was.
She watched him balk at the missile of her psychotic smile, watched him return back to his former position, before the males, shielding them. Already, she knew that they had walked into a trap of some sort, maybe a cage. Surely, a cage. She thought, looking around them. She could sense the energy bristling.
There was a cage around them. Lucille refused to sink down in despair. She didn’t know what manner of magic the cage was made of, but since Aiden or Dobah made no attempt to go close to it, she surmised that it would be very dangerous, that it was obviously made with dark magic.
“Let me have her, and I will let you all go.” Legardo said, after shoveling down the shiver of fear that had run past his spine when Lucille had smiled at him. He had thought his daughter was a psycho, but it seems he had found a match for Diana.
What happens then when he finally had the redhead in his arsenal? Legardo’s mind hit a point of highness thinking of this possibility. He was sure that Diana would be pleased to have the addition in her life, howbeit jealous. But jealousy was a good thing. It facilitates healthy competitions.
Dobah cackled in laughter, at Legardo’s request which he deemed insane, and folded his hands across his chest, refusing to bask in the feeling of uncertainty about their present precarious situation.
“Well, you have to come and get her by yourself. Although, that wouldn’t be advisable.”
Legardo shook his head slowly. “I had a feeling you might say that. Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Another measure of dread added to the already existing one In Claire’s stomach as she watched Legardo lift his hands above his hand and clap them together, as she heard the dark chuckle that burst from him then.
At that moment, a throng of shadow warriors fell to the ground from the air with a speed of light.
Sheila stepped back a bit, swallowing her spittle in fear. Shadow warriors were not supposed to be that fast. What has he done to them? She thought, a frown appearing on her face, when Legardo asked “What do you think of my creations?”
Silence greeted him, but that was to be expected.
“You see, when I found Arnold and Leonarya conspiring, without involving me, I was sure that they had started suspecting me. So, what did I do to gain back their trust? I told them about your species, the ancients, giving so many intricate details about you all. And then I told them of the recent findings of my spy, that the other two children are already on ground, except for the third. Well, we will find that one soon. But we needed to get at least one of the girls. It was then that Arnold had proposed the plan of using the Faugers pack as bait. It didn’t take much to threaten the Alpha…”
Alpha Lorenzo shifted on his feet, his face bowed in shame.
“I just held up his little daughter and he was gone. He had betrayed his mentor. Arnold had mentioned that Peter wouldn’t leave him standing, that his brother was soft as that, and that he will send some of the ancients. And since shadow warriors were only fought with magic, he insisted that one of Sheila’s daughters will be sent here, since there were only a few mages, since there were only two mages, and look…”
Legardo paused, gesturing, with his hands apart, at the people in the invisible cage. “He had been right!”
Legardo still couldn’t believe that Arnold’s plan had worked. If he had known the success rate of the latter’s plans, he might have included him in his plans all along. Well, now he knew better. The three had sworn to work together until their purposes were met. Arnold and the witch’s plans were inferior to his of course, but they didn’t need to know that.
“So, we sent the shadow warriors to the Blue moon’s pack, not sure of their victory or their defeat. We weren’t really concerned about that, so I didn’t touch them specially. But we needed to be sure of victory for the ones we would send here, so I made some changes to the other batch of shadow warriors that Leonarya had raised, just like I had done to the stupid boy from the shifters family who had thought himself honorable to be used as an experiment. He would understand what had befallen him in the next two years…” Legardo chuckled snidely, and beckoned one of the shadow warriors to him.
“They are very fast, and would take thrice as much magic to defeat. I can’t even defeat them in a battle. That’s to show you how powerful they are. So, let me have the girl, or I will open the cage and they will consume you all at once-except the girl of course-and then proceed to consume the pack, and maybe even the Blue moon’s pack. I don’t think you have much magic to defeat a shadow warrior, not to mention an enhanced one. Do you, Aiden?”
Aiden gave no response. He already knew they were in huge trouble, but he still couldn’t give up his lifemate’s sister.
“Oh, and before you try sending a call for help through your mind paths, the cage is also anti communication. Nothing escapes it, not even a thought. It’s that powerful.” Legardo added, folding his hands with flourish when he saw Claire and Sheila pale to an extent. He watched them fidget on their feet, watched them grit their teeth, and knew he had gotten them.
Lucille knew that what Legardo had said was true. She had felt the others with her, reach to those they could mindlink on a normal basis, and knew that they hadn’t gotten through. She had seen Dobah grit his teeth in frustration. But she was deterred. She had to try.
Taking a deep breath, she tried reaching Kane, but she was met with a stony blockage. She hissed, unable to help it, stamping her foot on the floor in annoyance and frustration, but then Derek stepped closer to her. “Have you mated with him?”
Lucille frowned, ready to bash Derek’s head into the ground, right there. Here they were in the midst of trouble, and he was talking about mating? What has that got to do with anything?
“If not, then don’t bother communicating with him. I think mating with him would have given him a deeper access to your mind. You are not like the rest of us, Lucille. Your mind won’t function as ours. You know what, try reaching Freya. You both have established a mind path?” Derek asked, unfazed by the unbelief on Lucille’s face. He was only doing what his Lycan had suggested.
Lucille furrowed her eyebrows, digesting the fact that Derek just presented. When she became suddenly aware of Legardo watching her and Derek, she reached out to her sister, through the bond that was between them. There was no time.
“Hey..” She tried.
There was a little resistance, but then the path opened further when she tried again. And from it, she could tell Freya was busy, that her sister was burning with an intensity she had never seen or known.
Lucille signaled Derek to cover her from the sight of Legardo, even though she knew that the latter could easily turn aside and see her, and then she sank herself into her sister’s mind, amazed as she watched, as in a film, what was going on around Freya.
She didn’t know how long she spent there, watching as Freya went past her chambers, as her sister struggled against the last, as she gave up when Margo called for her to return.
Lucille watched, felt, as Freya became something else, a god in the sight of mere supernaturals. She felt the flow of power, and watched the submission of the shadow warriors to Freya. And then, gaining confidence from that, gaining knowledge from Freya’s acts, she sent a message-just for formality sake, should in case no one called her back from the insanity she was about to let loose- to her sister. “It’s a trap.”
Then, she laughed.