Fight or Flight
Kane
I don’t want to leave Emory and my newborn son even for a moment, but the serious look in Rainer’s eyes tells me that whatever he has to tell me is urgent. I have my most trusted guards right outside the door. Nellie and Helga are there along with Emory’s mother. I know all the people would lay down their lives before letting anything happen to Emory and our son.
Emory looks exhausted. Her face is clammy with sweat. Michael is tiny in her arms. His scrunched up little face makes a fierce protective urge roar in me.
I lean down and k*ss the top of Emory’s head. “I’m sorry. I’ll be right back.”
Her green eyes are half–lidded. She looks half asleep. She gives a little nod. I make my way quickly to the door.
Rainer looks antsy. I immediately ask, “What is it?”
“Jacob escaped.”
Alarm makes me want to start swearing. “What?”
“Alistair snuck into the dungeons while we were all focused on Emory in labor,” he explains. “There were two guards on duty directly outside the dungeon door, and they’re dead. There didn’t seem to be much of a struggle, so Alistair must’ve gotten the jump on them.”
I want to punch something. I can never get a moment of peace anywhere.” Where are Alistair and Jacob now?”
“I’m sure they’ve made it out of the castle. I was only informing you because I have to go after them before they can get to Scarlett Thunder.”
Panic is setting in, but I try to remain calm. If Jacob reaches Scarlett Thunder, we lose our bargaining chip. There will be no reaching him. Lex will be in danger as King Peter will have little reason not to harm him anymore.
“Go then,” I order. “Get Jacob back at all costs. You can bring back Alistair dead or alive.”
care less of stair comes back in one piece fee troubled with the Sars of vents and even diplomacy when Alinair safe once i have my fate agents, man
end her again’s a nuisance want to get rid of as soon as docsible King Peter can get snappy withine for all I care
“There’s one resee thing” Rainer says
Í álmont close my eyes in dismay at the prospect of more bad news. “What is is
“Bernard’s dead. He was drained dry I suspect that was Jacob’s doing. He’s going to need his strength for the escape
rut my temples with my fingers. This is meant to be one of the happiest days of my Me. it seems the universe will not let me have anything for free. Too many things have happened, and I need to focus on what I can control.
“Get Jacob back,” I reply “He’s the priority”
Rainer nods. Right away”
He leaves, and I contemplate what I’m going to do. I glance back at the door to Emory’s room. I will have to tell Emory about Bernard’s death, but she has just gone through labor, and she needs to rest first. Helena will need to be
informed about her mate’s demise, but I want to see the condition of Bernard’s body first
I make my way to the dungeons, alerting more guards to come with me to see the mess Painer described. The two dead guards are still lying right outside the doors. They’re bodies are slumped against the wall, blood pooling around them. Their severed heads tell me nothing about how Alistair managed to get the jump on both of them. It’s possible he had help from one of my own
servants.
The doors are unlocked, but none of the other prisoners seem to have escaped. They’re still in their cells. I walk past the prisoners to Bernard’s cell and find his limp body on the ground.
His skin is pale, indicating all the blood has been drained from him. There is a large gash in his neck where Jacob bit him, and the wound is gaping. Jacob wasn’t gentle as he fed on the former Alpha for the last time. Blood drips down.
Bernard’s collarbone to the front of his glay tunic..
He has lost a lot of weight. The plain food in the dungeons and no access to sunlight has taken its toll on the shifter. Even if he tried to fight Jacob off, at weakened vampire is still stronger than a healthy shifter. In this leaner state, Bernard stood no chance.
Bernard’s gray lifeless eyes stare off into nothing, his face frozen in an
expression of shock. I’ve never cared for this man. I’ve had even less respect for him. But he’s still Emory’s father. Before the truth of who he truly was had been revealed, she’d worshipped him.
Reaching down, I close Bernard’s eyes. Moving closer to the cot near the wall of the cell, I pull off the threadbare blanket and drape it over his corpse. I’ll need to have his body removed from the dungeon and Helena will need to be consulted on how she wanted to bury him. I don’t know much about the burial traditions of shifters, so I’ll leave that for her to decide on.
It can wait a day. I tell the guards to make sure the body is undisturbed. The past few days have been long and wearing on all of us. As important as this is, Bernard’s grandson is waiting for me to return, and I need to tend to my family.
Rainer
Alistair and Jacob are unable to steal a vehicle which is a saving grace as it makes it easier for me to chase them. They’ve had to go on foot, and I can gain on them in a fast car. Even vampire speed has its limitations. They’re nearing the border when I see them running as fast as they can toward their freedom. Unlike his first attempt to escape, he had a huge lead on me, but this time I was wise to pause to grab a car.
Jacob is slower than Alistair as months in the dungeon with drops of blood. and lean meals has made him a gangly mass that lumbers ungracefully. Hist leg took a while to heal as it was left unattended too for so long. He didn’t have the chance to exercise his newly healed bones and muscles, and the consequences are obvious. Alistair has to slow down to make sure the prince. isn’t left behind.
The older man sees me as he turns back to check on Jacob. His pale blue
even widen in panic as he urges Jacobs forward. Alistair spreads his arms out, sacrificing himself as a shield for Jacob escape Grimly, I step on the gas and swerve the car to stop it right behind Alistair. I’m barely out of the car before he launches himself at me, trying to slam my head into the car window.
Fw stronger, and I fight him off by grabbing his arm and twisting him around till I have him in a headlock. He tries to buck me off, kic
at the ground and clawing at my arm around his neck. He reaches up to claw at my face, but I move my head away, keeping my arm around his throat until he finally goes
limp in my arms.
I drop him to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I have to resist the urge to twist his head off. He will get his punishment, but that’ll be for Kane to decide. I have bigger fish to focus on.
Jacob shifts directions, attempting to go around me, but he’s still within sight. I look around me for anything I can use to stop him and regretfully realize what I have to do. Damn it. I like this car.
I pull off the back car door, the metal giving way under my superior strength. Pulling my arm back I aim and throw it like a frisbee. It spins in the air, the metal door large and shining under the moonlight. It hits Jacob in the back, knocking him to the ground.
Quickly getting into the e car, I shift into drive and head straight to where Jacob lies flattened on the ground. He’s clearly in pain and struggling to get out from under the door. He’s gasping as I stop the car and step out to loom
over him.
His pale blue eyes gleam with hatred. “F*ck you….”
“I missed you too, Jake.” I lean down and grab Jacob by the shoulders, hauling him up like a limp marionette. “Come on, princess. I’m taking you back to the dungeon.”
“No!” The threat of being imprisoned again brings the fight back to Jacob, and he pushes me away. He’s full of shifter blood and has the strength he wouldn’t have had otherwise. “I’m never going back there.”
“I have orders to bring you back alive,” I tell him. “Don’t make this difficult for the both of us.”
He bares his fangs at me, reminding me of a cobra about to strike. He lunges, but I’m ready for him. I catch him by the shoulders and slam him to the ground. The earth rattles from the force, dirt flying into the air from the impact.
He snarls and kicks out my legs, knocking me to the ground. He crawls over me landing a punch to my face and pain blooms in my jaw. He lands another blow to my nose and blood gushes out. Snarling, I pup and hit him in the eye causing him to yelp like a wounded animal.
Kane wants Jacob alive, but he never said the prince has to come back unharmed. We tussle for a moment, exchanging blows until I’ve had enough. and grab Jacob’s injured leg. I pull hard and the bone snaps again. He screams in pain, and I manage to knock him off me, scrambling to my feet.
I grab him by his remaining arm and start dragging him toward the car.
“111 rip off your other arm if you keep fighting me, Jacob,” I threaten. “I will do it. Don’t test me.”
“I’m going to kill you. You are the scum of the earth!” He kicks my shin, but it’s no use. He can’t fight me off with only one arm and a broken leg. “Once my father knows what you’ve done to me, he’s going to chop you into tiny pieces, and he’ll feed you to the dogs!”
“Isn’t that some lovely imagery?” I quip.
I open the door to the passenger side with one arm and toss Jacob in. I’m about to slam the car door when something hits me in the back of the head. I fall forward, my face hitting the car. My scalp feels wet.
Jacob slips out of the car and kicks me in the ribs with his broken leg, wincing in the process. “You filthy, stupid peasant!”
“Prince Jacob, you must get to Scarlett Thunder.” Alistair pleads. He must’ve woken up during the struggle with Jacob. “I’ll take care of this. You have to save yourself.”
Jacob kicks me in the ribs again. “I’m going to kill this f*cker before I go!”
“Prince Jacob, please! Your father is waiting!”
Jacob snarls and kicks me in the stomach. I cough up blood.
Fight or Flight
+25 BONUS
“I’ll get you next time,” he growls.
I dig my hands into the ground, trying to get up. I wince as I struggle to get to my feet. There are black spots in my vision.
Alistair looks panicked and exclaims, “Prince Jacob, go! I’ll hold him off!”
Jacob limps away without looking back as Alistair lunges at me, but I push him back, hard. He hits the hood of the car. I wrap my arms around his throat and squeeze. He reaches for my face, hands grasping at my nose and mouth. I resist the urge to bite off his fingers.
He grabs at my hair and tries to pull. The sting at my scalp reminds me of the head injury I have. I need to end this. I twist his neck, and it snaps like a twig. He stops moving.
Jacob is gone.
