SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Five: Control
“That’s him,” Daryl whispered to Tate as they stood in the shadows, watching a couple of elders talking to each other.
“Are you sure?” Tate asked.
Dylan nodded. “He’s the one who tried to kidnap Ruby when he couldn’t find Pearl.”
Tate grinned. “He’s our top suspect.”
It has been over a week since Daryl joined the elder hunt. And this is the first time he has seen this elder since he’s been here. He wondered if the man spent his time below—looking for Pearl and Ruby. And possibly Joy?
“He has been looking for all three,” Tate growled. “He knows it was Joy who knocked Ruby away from him while he was porting up here.”
“But why bring Ruby or Pearl—or even Joy—up here, where everyone can see what he has done?”
“He had planned to hide them in a part of the dungeon they don’t use anymore,” Tate hissed.
Daryl grumbled. No one is doing that to anyone in his pack.
“Let’s go tell Kristoph.” Tate turned from the men talking in the hall.
“Aren’t we going to arrest him?” Daryl asked as he followed Tate.
Tate shook his head, and Daryl grumbled.
“I thought that was why we’re here. To stop them….”
“It is,” Tate said without looking at him. “But we have to go through the channels.”
“Wait a second.” Daryl grabbed the vampire’s arm to stop him.
Tate turned to face the Alpha. He already knew what the shifter was going to ask him.
“Yes,” Tate answered before Daryl could word his question. “Your nephew will be powerful enough; he will be offered a seat at the elder’s table.”
Daryl blinked. “Shar’s family was that strong?”
Tate shrugged. “I don’t know much about Sharissa’s family. I do know that her cub was foreseen ages ago. And the elders have been waiting a long time for him.”
Daryl shook his head. “Why had you never told us?”
“Because we didn’t know when this cub would be born. Just to expect him.”
Daryl sighed heavily. “Does Shar know?”
Tate nodded. “She does. And so does Dustin. They have agreed to not interfere if the elders promise it will be their son’s choice to join them.”
Daryl nodded. “If my brother and sister are okay with it, so am I.”
Tate gave a single nod. “Good. Now let’s go tell Kristoph that we found the traitor.”
~🐾~
It took another week for them to take the elder down. He was stripped of his rank and banished to the Nether.
The Nether is a prison realm the elders created thousands of years ago. It’s like hell, except you’re not dead, and the torture there is worse than anything hell could dish out.
~🐾~
“What now?” Dustin asked Tate as he watched the vampire pace their room.
Tate stopped and looked at his best friend. “Something is nagging at me.”
“Do you think we got the wrong man?” Shar asked.
If they’d had the wrong man sent to the Nether, she would die inside.
Tate took hold of her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “We didn’t get the wrong man, Sharissa. He was planning to torture Pearl and Ruby until they created the spell. He needed to force your son from your body before he was due. And who knows whatever spells he needed to accomplish his tasks.”
Shar gasped and started to cry.
Tate pulled her against his chest and held her.
Dustin grumbled as he rubbed Shar’s back.
“He was evil, Seliana,” Daryl said from the other side of the room.
“Him being guilty or not is not what has been weighing on my mind,” Tate said as he held Shar back from him and looked into her beautiful blue eyes. “I have a feeling that he was not working alone.”
“Guess that means my work here isn’t done.” Daryl grinned.
Tate looked over at Daryl and nodded. “You’re right there, Alpha. Our work is far from finished.”
~🐾~
“Just one more week, and our son will be here,” Sharissa said, smiling up at her mate.
They were lying in bed, and Dustin was making lazy circles on her large stomach.
“I miss Joy,” he said as he leaned over and kissed the bare skin of her stomach.
She sighed. “So do I. Weekly reports from Pike just aren’t enough.”
He nodded. “I’m going to take her to the Zoo when we get home.”
She chuckled. “I think Joy and Easton would enjoy that.”
Dustin paused in the middle of making a circle on his mate’s stomach and looked at her. “Easton?” he asked.
She smiled. “You named Joy, so I thought I’d name our son. It means—magical power.”
Dustin grinned. “I like it.” He leaned down and kissed her on the lips.
She moaned as she leaned into him. “Fuck me,” she whispered.
He chuckled. “Are you sure? You’re getting pretty big….” He stopped talking when she pulled him over her and forced herself onto his cock. “Fuck, me,” he groaned.
His mate has gotten so strong that he sometimes forgets she was born human.
They fucked through the night and into the morning. When they finally fell asleep, Shar had a happy and satisfied grin on her face.
He kissed the side of her mouth, then wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep.
~🐾~
“Wake up.”
Dustin opened his eyes when he felt a hand shake him awake. “What the fuck?”
“Get up, Brother, and get Sharissa dressed,” Daryl hissed, then turned and walked back over to the door.
“Shar,” Dustin whispered as he shook his mate.
Shar’s eyes opened, and she smiled at him. “Ready to go again, Mafilio?”
“Not while I’m in here,” Daryl said from the door.
Shar looked over at her brother and grunted. “What are you doing here?”
Daryl looked at her and smiled. “Thought I’d check out my brother and his mate while they’re….”
“Finish that, and Alpha or not, I’ll rip your head off,” Dustin warned.
Daryl chuckled. “Get dressed,” he hissed, then opened the door and stepped into the hall.
“What was that about?” Shar asked, looking at her mate.
Dustin shrugged. “Guess we’ll have to get dressed and find out.”
~🐾~
Daryl stood outside his brother’s door, keeping an eye out for anyone who may think they’re strong enough to defeat an Alpha and a Fated Mate.
“What’s going on?” Dustin asked as he and Shar stepped into the hall.
“We’ve discovered that the elder wasn’t working alone. Tate and I are going to get you two out of here.”
“But don’t I need to be here to have Easton?” Shar asked.
Daryl looked at Shar and smiled. “Nice name. And yes. We won’t be leaving the realm, just the castle.”
Shar nodded, and she and Dustin followed Daryl down the hall.
“Why doesn’t Tate transport Shar out of here?” Dustin asked.
“Because they’ll know that we’re onto them.” Daryl looked around a corner, then motioned for them to follow him.
“Where are we going?” Shar whispered.
“Tate found a room we can hide in until he finds a safer place to stash you,” Daryl said as they stopped at a large door. “Here we go.”
Daryl opened the door, and the three of them entered.
“Did you really think you’d escape?”
Daryl cursed as they looked across the room at a man with long white hair and beady silver eyes.
Tate was right. That description described over half the elders.
“Elder.” Dustin got to one knee.
“Fuck,” Daryl cursed.
Only he and Shar were immune to an elder’s proximity.
“Dustin, stand,” Daryl ordered his brother with his Alpha voice.
With a sigh of relief, Dustin got to his feet.
“Alpha.” The elder looked at Daryl.
Daryl grinned. “In the flesh.”
“Easily fixed.” The elder snapped his fingers.
They watched as half a dozen shifters walked out of the shadows. Figures, since this elder is a shifter.
“This is going to be fun.” Dustin grinned. “I’m all pumped up from last night.”
Shar’s cheeks turned a bright red, and Daryl chuckled.
“Ready, Brother?” Dustin asked with a wicked grin.
Daryl grinned. “Fuck yeah, I am.”
They haven’t had a good fight in a while. Sharissa and Tamara had taken care of Vega and his goons on their own.
“Kill them,” the elder growled to his men.
The shifters jumped at Sharissa and her bodyguards.
Shar helped her mate and brother fight off the shifters as best she could with her large stomach in the way. A shifter captured her from behind, and she screamed, then took hold of his head and flipped him over her shoulder.
Dustin heard his mate scream and turned to watch her toss the fucker over her shoulder. He grinned at her, then turned just as a shifter approached him with a knife. He dodged the knife, and when the man fell forward, he karate chopped the back of the man’s neck, severing his spine. The shifter fell to the floor—dead.
The three of them fought off the six shifters, killing four of them. When they were the only ones standing, the elder growled at them.
“I had hoped I wouldn’t have to go this far,” the elder said, then clapped his hands together three times.
Twelve large shifters walked into the room, all wielding swords almost as big as themselves.
“This isn’t good,” Shar whispered.
“Don’t forget that we’re Fated Mates,” Dustin whispered into her ear.
“Being a Fated Mate won’t save you from your fate.” The elder laughed.
Shar groaned and rolled her eyes. “I don’t like him.”
Her mate and brother chuckled.
“Looks like you could use some help.”
Everyone turned to the newcomers. Shar smiled when she saw Tate standing in front of their pack. Their family.
“Hi Shar,” Lyvia said with a smile as she waved at her best friend.
Sharissa wiped a tear from her eye. “Hi, Lyv.”
“It has been a long time,” Lyvia said, still smiling.
Shar nodded. “Too long.”
“Indeed.” Dylan smiled. “Nice to see you, Seliana,” he said, then looked at his brothers. “Brothers.”
“Are we going to kick some ass or just stand around gushing over how long it’s been?” Drezden asked as he watched the twelve shifters shift their swords.
“We’ll take the two over there.” Gerald lifted his mate into the air and tossed him toward the two men he’d picked out to fight.
Shar watched Josiah flip in the air and land between two of the shifter. He ducked the first sword, and Gerald took hold of the second one as he swung his sword at Josiah.
“No one touches my mate,” Gerald growled as he broke the shifter’s arm.
The man screamed as he dropped the sword. Then all hell broke loose as the other ten shifters came after the Fated Mate pack.
“Enough!”
A booming voice vibrated through the room, and everyone stopped all movement.
“About fucking time you got here,” the elder said as he watched the other elder walk into the room.
“That makes three,” Tate whispered to his friends.
“I can’t move,” Lyvia hissed.
“It’s the elder control,” Pearl whispered. “He must have found a witch to create a spell. Because I can’t move, either.”
“He has control of me, too,” Tate hissed with agitation.
“Shar, can you move?” Pearl whispered.
Shar moved her fingers and nodded.
Pearl nodded in return. “No one can overpower my father’s magic.”
“Don’t let them know you have free will,” Dustin hissed.
Shar looked at her mate. “Okay.”
“So. You thought you could beat them with a bunch of normal shifters, did you?” the new elder asked the elder who attacked the Fated Mates with shifters.
“Was worth a shot.” The elder shrugged.
The elder who had control of them turned to face them. “This would have been simple if you’d just let us have the boy.”
“Not going to happen,” Dustin growled.
The elder tsked. “Now I’ll have to kill all of you. What a pity. The Goddesses will have to start all over again.”
“Is he really that dumb?” Lyvia asked.
“Appears so,” Raj said, watching the elders.
“Tate, take the women and get them out of here,” Daryl demanded.
Tate shook his head. “I can’t move, which means no teleporting.”
“Why is it that when someone has control of your body, you can still move your head?” Drezden asked as he looked around at his family.
“It’s so you can nod your head,” Tate grunted.
“What are they going to do?” Shar asked.
“Probably kill us,” Tate said.
“But we’re Fated Mates,” Dylan hissed.
“Tate isn’t.” Lyvia looked at the vampire.
“No, but he’s our guardian. His parents were Fated Mates. The Goddesses won’t let him stay dead either,” Dustin reminded them.
“Face me,” the elder commanded the group of Fated Mates.
They all turned to the elders.
“Now. I know you have been stabbed and shot, and the Goddesses brought you back. But I doubt they can bring you back if your head is missing.”
The group looked at each other. Fear in their eyes.
“Take them out,” the elder commanded.
Shar screamed when her best friend’s head fell to the floor, followed by her body. She knew she couldn’t move; she couldn’t let the elders know she had control of her body. Shar closed her eyes and listened as her family was beheaded.
Soon, it was only Shar and Dustin standing.