Luther

Leander and I park our motorcycles outside the front of Greenrock packhouse. We both climb off and place our helmets on the seats.

When Lilly finally managed to get through to me using our triplet link, this is where she said she’d be. Captured, she told me, but for what reason? They thought she was a rogue. Stupid motherfuckers!

I didn’t tell Mum and Dad that I’d heard from Lilly; I didn’t want to give them false hope. However, I contacted Leander, and he met me a few miles away. My brother has just found his mate, but he hasn’t approached her yet. She doesn’t belong to our pack. Hell, she doesn’t belong to any pack, though she isn’t a rogue. Humans raised her, adopted her, Leander told me. Goddess knows if the girl even knows what she is, but she’s definitely a wolf shifter.

I would have given Leander advice on approaching the girl, but I didn’t have time. Lilly needs us right now, more than she ever has. Lilly may be younger than Leander and me by a few minutes, but she’s our Alpha and future Queen, and she needs us.

Leander and I were born Romerian’s, we’re Alpha’s, but we’re not future rulers of Zidiah; Lilly took that title. It doesn’t bother us; we’re still stronger than most Alphas in existence. We’ll be loyal to our Queen because Lilly means everything to us.

When she disappeared almost three days ago, the whole Kingdom was in a panic. None could get through to her; it was as if the pack link had been severed. Even little Harry, who has a link to Lilly, which is crazy when he’s not biologically hers, couldn’t get through to his mother. No one knows why yet, but Leander and I will find out.

When Lilly said that she’d found her mate and that he’d rejected her, I knew what that meant. She told me that she was dying, but I won’t let that happen. No matter what Leander and I have to do, we’ll do it. We are not losing our sister!

‘We better not; because nothing will stop me tearing this pack apart!’

‘It’ll be alright, Lorcan.’ I tell the voice in my head, the brother my siblings and I lost before he was born. My mother carried the four of us at the same time, but Lorcan was lost to us before he ever took a breath.

His subconscious sits inside of me thanks to a jealous witch who cast a spell upon my pregnant mother. She threw Lorcan into me, and now he shares my body and mind. If I could separate us, I would. However, there’s nothing I can do about it, no matter how much I try.

Lilly means as much to Lorcan as she does to Leander and me. The trouble is, if I allow Lorcan to take over my body, Greenrock pack will cease to exist. That cannot happen; it will be down to my father what happens here once we collect Lilly.

‘It better be, Luther, because if anything happens to Lilly, I’ll kill every last one of these mangy mutts.’

I sigh while cutting Lorcan off.

“This place is bigger than I thought,” Leander raises an eyebrow at the large packhouse.

It’s big, as packhouses go, but nothing like ours back home. This place looks like a three-story cabin. It’s large, but nothing special.

“Think Bastian has any idea what’s coming?”

I smirk at my brother. “Do you really care?”

Leander laughs and shakes his head. “You know that I don’t.”

We haven’t seen Bastian Ashworth in ten years, but surely he knew who Lilly was when he saw her?

If he did, then that makes things so much worse. It means he knowingly committed treason against the crown. The punishment for such is death, not just to the Alpha but the whole pack. Not a nice thought, but my mother’s rules are absolute. If that comes about, Lorcan will take great pleasure in ending these people.

“Let’s go,” Leander and I make our way inside the packhouse.

A tall blond guy comes out of nowhere. I assume he’s coming to try and stop us from walking in like we own the place. “Who are you, and what are you doing in our packhouse without an invite? How did you even get past the guards?” They were easy to mesmerise into letting us through. I do love being part vampire, the abilities we possess come in handy.

Leander looks at me before we both turn to the man in front of us, eyes flashing grey for Leander, black for me. The man in front of us, the Beta by the sense I’m getting, gasps. His eyes widen, and he swallows hard.

‘Did you really need to scare the man?’

‘Yes, Valerian, I did,’ I laugh inwardly as I sense my wolf rolling his eyes. I can feel Leander’s inward laughter as Valerius, his wolf, harps on about the same thing.

“Luther, Leander,”

“Save it!” I snap. “What’s your name?”

“Chris. I’m Greenrock’s Beta,”

“Where’s our sister?” The Beta stammers at Leander’s words. Big mistake. With the speed of a vampire, Leander is in front of Chris. Leander wraps his hand around the Beta’s throat faster than the man can blink. “I asked you a question. Don’t make us angry; you won’t like us when we’re angry.”

“In … infirmary.” He points toward the end of the hall. “Down the stairs to the left.”

Leander drops Chris on his arse, and we both take off running. Screams hit my ears, and pain pushes against my chest. Leander grunts beside me; he can feel the same thing that I can. Leander, Lillian, and I are entwined in ways most will never understand. We each feel the other’s emotional pain, but this is something else.

“Oh, my Goddess,” A beautiful looking woman stands outside the infirmary’s double doors gasps.

Leander and I both stop in front of her. “Move.” The petite blonde doesn’t hesitate to step aside at my only word.

A scream splits the air the second we’re through the doors. It’s so loud that myself, Leander, the three men, and one woman in the room all fall to our knees, hands holding our ears. I manage to look up and see Lilly tied down on a hospital bed. Her hair is matted in sweat and clinging to her face. Her clothes are torn, as is her chest. Not to mention her bare legs and arms are covered in cuts and bruises.

I’ve never seen anybody react this badly to rejection before. Then again, I’ve never known another Omerian other than my mother before.

“This is not good at all!” Leander yells towards me.

He’s right; this is bad, really bad. Lilly rarely feels pain, but when she does, she handles it well. However, this is the pain of the mate bond breaking. I never thought it would happen like this, but Lilly is dying, and there’s not a damn thing either of us can do about it.

I have to push past the pain in my head from Lilly’s screams. I get to my feet in an attempt to touch my sister’s hand, hoping it will calm her, but I can’t get near. I’m being pushed back by the vibrations of her screams.

“What the hell is happening to her?” I ask no one in particular. Seeing Lilly thrashing about like a wild beast draws emotions from me that I didn’t know I possessed. Lorcan is growling inside my head; he’s feeling the pain too and wants to save Lilly. But I have to keep him at bay; I cannot let Lorcan take over.

“She’s in heat,” The guy, doctor I can tell from his white coat, speaks. “Meeting her mate and being rejected, and the fact she’s an Omerian is causing her body to go into deep shock.”

“And the wide-open tear in her chest?” Which is so big, I can almost see her heart.

Lilly screams again before letting out a sob that cuts me deeply. Leander and I share a look; he can feel it too.

“She clawed at herself, all over her body. When she clawed her chest, she almost went too deep. We had to restrain Lilly so that she couldn’t hurt herself anymore. We’re trying to heal her, but it’s not working the way we hoped.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Leander comes to my side. “With Lilly’s abilities, she should have healed immediately.”

The screams stop, and Lilly’s body goes lax. We have a moments reprieve.

“Who are you?”

I stare at the woman holding the Doc’s hand. My eyes blacken over, Leander’s turn smokey grey, and she gasps. “We are Luther and Leander Dalgaard, Princes’s of Zidiah. Hybrid wolf and vampire. Lillian is our sister and future Alpha and Queen. Who might you be?”

“My name is Micha,” The doctor tells us. “This is my mate, Mel, my attending. Over there are Jin and Colin. They’re my medics, and we’re all here to help Lilly survive this.”

“Why is her mate not here fixing the mess he made?” No one answers me, but the looks they share irk me. “Sniff him out,” Leander nods at me. One of my brother’s abilities is tracking those who think they can hide from us.

Leander walks closer to our now breathing harsh sister and sniffs hard. A smirk creeps across his face. “Got him.”

“Now find him. I don’t give a damn if he wants to be here or not, don’t give him a choice. He needs to be near Lilly until this heat is over. Then we can leave after we tear his fuckin’ head from his shoulders.”

The tension in the room is palpable as Leander nods his head. He turns to leave when a voice fills the air. ‘Must I do everything myself?’

“Who the hell is saying that?”

“No,” Leander whispers, but I hear it. Hell is about to break loose!

Lilly suddenly floats upwards, arms and legs still strapped to the bed.

“Leander, go! We don’t have time to waste. If Vasara breaks free, we may never get Lilly back.” Leander is gone in the blink of an eye. The air from the rush of his body hits me in the face.

“What’s happening? Why is she floating like that?”

“Because,” I turn to Mel. “Vasara, Lilly’s wolf, is trying to break free. Believe me when I say that if she does, no one will be safe. Do you think you’ve seen wolves? You’ve seen nothing compared to Vasara.”

‘Now, now, Luther,’ The words are spoken using Lilly’s mouth, but it’s not her voice. This voice is ethereal, otherworldly, Vasara. ‘Are you making up stories about me? Do you really think my brothers would like that? I’m sure Valerian and Valerius would agree with me that that is not nice.’

“Vasara,” I tentatively take a step towards Lilly. My eyes widen when I see her chest close, and the skin mends itself. I wasn’t expecting that; I thought we’d have to do some sort of ritual or something. It looks as though Vasara had other ideas. “I know right now you’re worried about what’s happening to Lilly. I also know that you want to save her, but you can’t tear through right now. Leander is looking for her mate, he’ll be here soon, and everything will be okay.”

‘Fool.’ Lilly’s head snaps back, the restraints buckle, and I know it’s too late...