Chapter 11

MATEO

This situation was absolutely terrible. It felt like déjà vu.

“Where the fuck are we?” Lucien growled, yanking against his chains.

Once again, we found ourselves in a cell, chained to the wall. It was as if we enjoyed getting kidnapped in our spare time, given how frequently it happened.

“Don’t start, wolf. We know just as much as you,” Nick responded tiredly, clearly not in the mood to argue with him.

Lucien growled in response, having nothing to say. That was a first.

I looked around, noticing Sebastian passed out in the far corner.

“Is he okay?”

“How would we know? It’s not like his heart beats on a normal day.”

I rolled my eyes at his words. Lucien could really be an asshole sometimes.

“I can’t feel her,” Nick suddenly blurted out, his eyes wide in panic.

Automatically, I searched for my connection with Catalina, but it was radio silence. Lucien snarled, and I knew he had the same results.

“What does this mean?”

“That someone’s going to die,” he said.

His eyes switched to the yellow of his lycan, warning us that he was really close to losing his shit—closer than usual, that is.

“We need to think, come up with a plan. Figure out who has us.”

I couldn’t remember anything past going to school that morning. Not even my first few classes. Did they wipe our memories?

The sound of a door rattling halted our conversation. I guessed we were about to find out who had us.

KOL

We landed in the middle of a forest. My eyes quickly scanned the area, looking for any sign of civilization. There was none.

“Your doctor is an idiot and your tracking chips are ass,” I declared with a glare.

We had wasted our time coming here, leaving my girl alone and defenseless. I started to close my shadows around me, planning to leave the two useless gremlins behind. Then something whizzed past my face. I paused, my eyes going straight to the red dart now sticking out of a tree.

What the fuck?

“Someone is here,” Lucifer pointed out the obvious.

Because darts naturally shot themselves at you.

“No shit.”

I scanned the forest quickly, my eyes narrowing on a particular dark spot.

“Be right back.”

In a flash, I was standing over a crouched figure.

“Well, what do we have here?”

Reaching down, I yanked them up by their neck. A gun dropped to the ground as they struggled. Scoffing, I flexed my fingers, preparing to break his neck.

“Wait!” Jayden called out, walking toward me with Lucifer in tow.

“We can use him for intel.”

I nodded, squeezing tighter. I shook him.

“Where are they!?” I growled.

A whimper left him. He tried to speak, but I realized I was holding him too tightly. I slackened my grip a tad bit.

“I don’t know who—”

Instantly, my grip tightened.

“I have no time for your lies, kid. You know who we are and who we’re looking for. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have shot at us.”

Lucifer cleared his throat behind me.

I turned, arching one eyebrow.

“My tracking chip works just fine,” he said, pointing behind me.

With a huff, I looked behind me, cocking my head to the side.

“We no longer need him for intel.” He smirked.

I flicked my thumb, then dropped his limp body.

“Well then, boys, let us follow the yellow brick road, shall we?”

The large black one-story building was harder to miss than you’d think. With all the overgrown grass on it, it blended in perfectly with its surroundings. Without exchanging any more words between us, we made our way toward it.

CATALINA

“Hello?” I called out into the darkness.

Where was I? Where were my mates?

“Lucifer? Kol?”

My voice echoed around me, making the space seem even more eerie. Why couldn’t I see anything? I reached my hands out, trying to touch something, only to feel open air.

Was Kol doing this? As some form of protection? If so, why couldn’t I feel him? Or any of my mates?

Panic started to set in. Something wasn’t right. The last thing I remembered was talking to my mates. How did I end up in this place? Were my mates okay?

“Catalina.”

A distorted voice called out, making it hard to determine if it was male or female. I froze, not moving an inch.

“Walk forward,” the voice said, making it clear they could see me, but I couldn’t see them.

My lycan surfaced in response to my panic. My claws extended and my teeth sharpened.

“Who’s there?” I growled out.

“We mean you no harm.”

Suddenly, a bright light appeared a few steps away.

“Step into the light, Catalina.”

I scoffed at the cliché. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

I tried to stand my ground as a strong force of wind started pushing me toward the light. Unfortunately for me, I had nothing to hold onto. I was easily pushed forward. I shielded my eyes the closer I got and didn’t lower my arms until the brightness subsided.

“Catalina.”

When my eyes finally adjusted, I stepped back in surprise. I was standing in the center of a very large temple. Ahead of me, three men sat in chairs, dressed in sheets. It didn’t take me long to realize these men were my fathers.

Hades, with his pitch-black hair and harsh features; Poseidon, with his electric blue hair and very soft features, almost feminine; then there was Zeus. With the blondest hair I’d ever seen, his features were a mix of soft and hard. I also favored him the most.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Why did they bring me here?

Hades leaned forward, resting an elbow on his knee.

“You’re in danger, sweet pea.”

I cringed at the nickname. Kol would flip his shit if he heard another male outside of my mates give me a nickname. Hades smirked, as if he could hear my thoughts.

“I’m always in danger,” I stated, making it clear I felt as if I were in danger now.

Poseidon chuckled.

“Oh no, my dear child, what you’ve been through has simply been child’s play.”

He made eye contact with me.

“The gods know of your existence now.”

As if I didn’t already know that.

“You may have known that, but you don’t know the magnitude of the situation.”

Great, so they could hear my thoughts.

“Are you talking about Athena? We know she’s in close proximity to us,” I stated.

Zeus laughed.

“Athena is a child compared to what’s coming.”

His words sent a shiver through me.

“What’s coming?”

“I think it’s more of ~who’s~ coming, sweet pea,” Hades added.

“And that would be your mother,” Poseidon finished.

“The lycan queen? But she’s dead.” Something finally clicked for me. The lycan queen was Lucien’s mother as well. Holy sins of incest, was Lucien my brother? Oh my god, I thought I was going to barf.

“The lycan queen isn’t your mother. She was simply a cover story to hide your true origin.”

My heart rate slowed at hearing this. Thank god for small miracles. I couldn’t even think about that other path.

“Who’s my mother?”

They glanced at each other, then Zeus answered. “Nyx, the Goddess of Night.”

KOL

It took us no time to get rid of the guards. Whoever stationed them here clearly didn’t expect a search and rescue. Why would they? If they were responsible for Catalina’s condition, then they wouldn’t count on anyone else coming to get her mates.

“Should we split up to cover more ground?” Jayden suggested, looking into one of the nearby rooms.

“No,” Lucifer responded.

We still didn’t trust him; it was best to keep him in our sight at all times.

As a unit, we searched through the many rooms, all coming up empty. Frustration quickly took hold of me. “There has to be a basement or something we’re missing.” I would not return to my girl without the rest of her mates.

Lucifer took a knee, placing his hands on the floor. “I hope this isn’t you asking God for help. It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”

I smirked, but he ignored me.

After five long minutes, he stood again. “There’s a dungeon beneath us. Six cells and five of them are occupied.” His eyes cut to me. “There’s something or someone else down there.”

MATEO

“Who the hell are you?” Lucien demanded, his question aimed at the tall male figure standing in the doorway. His eyes glowed an eerie green.

Silently, he walked into our cell, his head cocked to the side.

“Well, this isn’t weird at all,” Nick stated.

Sebastian hissed, no longer passed out. The man appeared to be of Asian descent, no older than us. But there was something off about him, and I knew the others could sense it as well.

“The others are coming,” he said, his voice hoarse as if it were rarely used. One long, slender finger pointed at the ceiling. “Your friends.”

My body stiffened. Was Catalina here? I didn’t want her anywhere near this guy.

He turned around, his hands glowing as he touched the bars of the cell. Was he setting a trap? Right in front of us?

“What are you doing?” Lucien snarled.

The man snapped his head around to look at him, and he was smiling. I’d never seen a smile look so unsettling.

“My master wishes to have some fun.”

“Who is your master?” Sebastian asked calmly.

He seemed more relaxed than he was a few minutes ago after he awoke. Could he smell who was coming? Vampires had the strongest sense of smell out of all supernaturals.

The man only smiled, then went back to his task. The four of us glanced at each other. Something wasn’t right with this creature.

Creaking sounds echoed from the end of the hall. The creature went ramrod straight. “Too early, too early, too early,” it mumbled.

His hands moved faster, and he even threw in a few Latin words. That’s when I realized he was casting a spell.

“This can’t be good.”

Footsteps echoed down the hall. Before our very eyes, the man disappeared. Seconds later, Lucifer appeared.

“I’ll free them, you go find the other thing,” Kol said next to him, appearing at his side.

I was shocked to see Lucifer was a part of this rescue mission. He and Jayden both.

“Wait.” Nick stopped Kol from touching the bars. “It’s spelled with old Magik.”

“What? What spell?” I could hear the agitation in his voice.

Nick shook his head. “Nothing I’ve ever seen. I can’t remove it, even if my hands weren’t tied.”

“Just free us. We’ll deal with the consequences of the spell later. If whoever brought us here wanted us dead, we’d be dead already.” Sebastian did have a point.

“But what if this spell somehow affects Catalina? Or the baby?” Lucien grunted. He hated to be the voice of reason, it seemed.

“No need to worry about that,” Kol started, reaching for the bars.

I expected some type of electric shock, but nothing happened. “She’s in some kind of coma. I’m hoping getting you four will wake her.”

“What?” Lucien roared.

That would explain why we couldn’t feel her.

Lucifer came back at that moment. “There’s nothing here.”

“There was someone else here. He’s the one that cast the spell,” I informed them.

Kol pulled the bars apart and stepped through. Lucifer followed him. I held my breath, waiting for something to happen to them. But nothing did.

Minutes later, we were no longer tied.

“Maybe the spell isn’t something physical we can see? Maybe it’s mental,” Nick suggested, studying the bars.

It would help to know what the spell was before passing through it.

“Maybe we’re wasting time. I need to get you four back now.” Kol reached for me and Nick at the same time—no doubt to shadow travel. Then he grunted in frustration. “Something is blocking me down here. We have to head out.”

He marched back out of the cell. Lucien shrugged, then followed him.

I stopped Nick as he walked forward. “He said something in Latin about exchange when casting the spell,” I told him what little I heard.

He nodded. “I just hope it doesn’t hurt my mate.”

Tentatively, he walked out. Taking a deep breath, I followed. I sighed in relief when I felt no change.

The six of us followed Lucifer as he led us out of the dungeon. What was with these people and putting us in dungeons?

It wasn’t until we were outside that I felt a shift among the group. Our steps started to slow, and we were sweating. Nick swayed ahead of me. Was it him swaying, or was I swaying?

Kol gathered us in a circle to shadow travel, but I could barely stand on my own two feet.

“Something isn’t right.” My words slurred, my vision getting darker. “Something is—”

Everything went dark before I could finish my sentence.