Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 26 - Changes

By two in the morning, the last curious guests had left, except for Thane, Akira, and their people.

"Cat, take your team and do a security sweep and check the perimeters," Marcus ordered, and she obeyed.

"Thane, why don't we speak in the large living room in my suite? There's lots of space and comfortable chairs," Darius invited. "It has been a long evening, and I am in no mood to spend the early morning hours in the uncomfortable lavishness of the meeting room."

"As you wish."

They followed the two men, but all Kay wanted was a shower and her bed.

***

"Make yourselves comfortable," Adrian invited, glancing pointedly at the guards who accompanied Thane.

"Talia, please escort the guards to the kitchen and make sure they get something to eat and drink," Claudia ordered as if she were already Marcus's wife, and Talia obeyed. It showed their solidarity, and Thane noted it.

"Morgenson, go with them. We do not need you right now," Akira followed suit.

A meeting like this had never happened before. Not in all the millennia since Thane's people crafted the vampires and werewolves.

"Despite you wanting peace, Darius, there are those of your kind who crave a fight. However, I am tired of these wars, and even if I grant you peace, many of my kind will oppose the notion. My presence tonight means I stand by your side, or I declare war against you, and I doubt they know what choice I will make."

Thane seated himself and relaxed momentarily as if he forgot he was speaking, and the ancient looked wearied beyond bearing.

"Although I may have intoned that I am not happy with this unsanctioned union, it was a device. A way to buy time for me to set my plans in motion. Azera and Carduran do not want this peace between vampires and werewolves, and they stand aggressively against it, but I will not side with them, even if it means that some of my people turn away from me."

He wiped his face and motioned for Akira to pour him some water.

"When this all started, you were not our equals and were little more than the human population beneath our rule, but that changed. Both of your species proved yourselves equal in measure to the threat of us, persevering and refusing to allow us to annihilate you."

Thane took the water gratefully and drained the glass. This almost human gesture made Kay see him as a person, but she fought her instincts, hating him only slightly less than her former mistress.

"Azera aligned herself with Carduran for reasons of her own. However, I always believed he was behind the revolt my seedlings created to overthrow me. He and my beloved wife.

"The two of them want dominion, but this time they don't just want to rule over us, but the entire world. They plan to fashion themselves into gods and intend to take what they believe rightfully belongs to them, but I will not allow it.

"There is no world where I will allow them to subjugate humans to their perversions. If I must destroy every dark fae or dissident white fae in my path and anything else that dares aid them, I will do it."

The ancient came across as casually chilling, conviction shining in his eyes. Dark emotions ran under the surface of his face, and the room became quiet in the wake of his words.

Thane's eyes shifted to her, and she could not look away. Despite the turmoil it caused in her, their connection was compelling and undeniable.

"My daughter, Kay, is your new pack member, Darius, and she personally suffered Azera's tender mercies. The dark fae queen will leave a path of blood, death, and suffering in her wake among both humans and immortals.

"Azera only sees immortals as worthy, and the rest are animals to her, although she is a seedling herself. No purer than Kay, but as close as can be," Thane explained, and Darius almost growled at the ancient's casual use of the word "daughter."

"Under her thumb, millions will die. Without the rule of law and restraint, she will take humanity back to the dark ages, turning them into animals fighting for survival. Horrifyingly, she has managed to seduce so many to her cause with false promises and half-truths," Akira continued as the men stared each other down.

"Akira and I have concluded that too many of our own have secret agendas, and we need a force behind us—a secret army comprising you both and all your people. Publically, we need you to keep up the image of your rivalry with us and this little revolution, but in secret, we need you to do what we cannot—move amongst the shadows and destroy Azera's network."

Thane glanced at Akira, and she continued. Father and daughter seemed close, and for some unknown reason, it stirred a bitter resentment in Kay that she didn't expect. Why did she care? Biology made her his daughter, but he was not her father. Was she jealous? No. Despite his noble plans, he was a monster. Something she should never forget, and she held the image of those poor dead girls closer to her heart.

"But it needs to look as if someone is sabotaging her from within her ranks and making a bid to replace her. Would it not be poetic if it seemed like some of her close associates and friendly rivals had formed a plot against her? With her prone to reacting rather than investigating, she will kill them or put them in her dungeon. No matter how they plead, she would never believe them."

An unholy light of anticipation shone in her eyes, and it was easy to see she bore her stepmother no fondness. Despite her sister having suffered at Azera's hands as she had, she couldn't forgive her for her part in handing her over to the woman. Good reasons be damned. No one deserved to be used as a sacrifice in such a manner, least of all an innocent in this power play. Nothing they did would ever make that right.

Their latest ploy might have secured her release from Azera, but it wasn't enough. Grateful as she was for it, it didn't make up for the years she lost or what happened to her.

Had Thane planned all of this from the start? Her presence in the dark fae queen's lair had been very convenient for the current situation. Was she being paranoid? Or was she not paranoid enough?

"Darius and Marcus, I grant you your freedom, and I will let this matter rest with you. If you feel that you wish to speak to the finer points, we can discuss it in a meeting place of your choice."

Thane took an old-fashioned, rolled scroll of parchment and put it on the table, followed by another, and Darius and Marcus seemed to both know what it meant.

The elder got to his feet, ready to leave.

"Kay? Do you believe them?" Darius asked, and all eyes settled on her.

Her gaze met that of Thane.

"What they say is true, but I do not believe it on their word. Their theory makes sense of Azera's strange behavior and odd bedfellows these last few years. The manic increase in her private security, odd little snatches of conversations, meetings that were so secret she locked out even Nero and his sidekick. Important humans allowed in her inner sanctum, plotting with strangers, making massive orders for weapons, the hiring of mercenaries and assassins.

"All of it happened in a manner that made her staff anxious and insecure. They never knew whether she was replacing them or who she planned to destroy," Kay stopped speaking, and a cold sense of dread snaked through her abdomen as icy fear inched through her veins.

Okay, manic Azera is actually whopping crazy. Newest Version ©2014-2023 All rights reserved. If you find this on any other platform but Wattpad under @CSDreamer, please report it. No part of this book may be copied or reposted without the author's permission.