Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

Lucien

Bodies lay at my feet. So many that I could no longer tell one from the other. The only one still standing was Shadow, his beast form in place as we cleansed the vampire world of the disease. Turned out there was more than one vampire who’d contributed to the events at the blessing. Carter was top of my list, but that bastard was in the wind with Simone. No matter how many internal organs I’d ripped from fucking chests, the only thing his accomplices knew was that he’d taken her somewhere to heal.

Everyone who’d helped him was dead now.

The two selected who had prepped the stone. Almost all of the upper echelons of Jade House—with their tier one master already destroyed, they’d crumbled fast. And a few of the security guards.

“Donovan planned this all along to help Carter,” Shadow rumbled. “But why? Why was this so important to Carter?”

That part I still hadn’t figured out, but I was going to when I found my mate. She was still out there; the faint trickle of blood that we shared continued to pulse within me, and it was the one factor preventing me from becoming a mindless monster.

Well, more of a monster—my kill count was close to twenty today. But so far I’d managed to spare the innocent.

“Where do we go now?” Shadow asked. “Mera still hasn’t returned, so I should check on her and see why she hasn’t been able to track down our brothers.”

I nodded. “Yes, do that, and I will continue my interrogations.”

Shadow’s heavy hand landed on my shoulder. “We’re going to find her, even if we have to search the damn underworld to do it. Don’t give up hope.”

“She’s barely here,” I rasped. “Just a thin thread that feels like it could be cut with a light breeze. Her life force can go either way.”

His hold tightened on my shoulder, and the pain was nothing to the fire raging inside me. “We will find her,” he repeated. “I’ll be back with reinforcements.”

I didn’t need help dealing with vampires, but I always felt better when my brothers were around me. My pack, as Simone would put it. Vampires might normally be solitary creatures, but I hadn’t been a normal vampire for centuries.

My blood was part wolf now, too, and I couldn’t live without my pack.

Without my mate.

“I’ll see you soon,” I told Shadow. “I have one more lead to track.”

His hand lifted. “I’ll follow your energy when I return to Valdor.”

Then he was gone.

Walking to the sink, I washed my hands, removing blood and debris. The killing itself gave me no pleasure; my emotions were shut down tight so I could remain focused on finding my mate. I’d been through all the master’s chambers, including Carter’s, and there was no sign of Simone.

After I’d cleaned up, I rolled up the sleeves on my jacket to hide the blood stains and exited the estate of a tier two jade master. In the streets, I followed a path I hadn’t taken in decades. The vampire I was going to see was an old friend of my father’s. I’d never liked or trusted this vampire, but he had his finger on the pulse of this city.

As one of the oldest vampires I knew, there was very little that went on without Emanuel’s knowledge. He lived in a small, nondescript home that blended into the shops on either side. He was one of my last hopes for information, and I didn’t hesitate to slam my fist into his door.

I’d give him one minute to answer before I busted inside.

At fifty seconds, the door opened, and the vampire stepped into view. Emanuel looked the same: burly and snarling with an unruly beard and black hair. He was almost as big as me, just as my dad had been.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he snapped, pulling the door wider. “Get the fuck inside.”

I entered, unbothered that he had fewer than zero social skills. I wasn’t here for tea and catching up. I wanted answers.

He led me inside, and although I’d never been here before, it looked as I expected: a small, dark rat’s maze. Emanuel had always enjoyed the way Crimson City was set up, and since he’d had a hand in the original design, it wasn’t a surprise to see his home’s layout was similar.

“Where is my mate,” I snapped. “Just give me one place to look.”

We were in a skinny hall, and he couldn’t easily turn back to look at me since our shoulders were almost touching the walls. He could speak, though, but chose not to as he led me into a sitting area with shelves of books and a few couches.

“Where. Is. My. Mate?” I growled between gritted teeth. My fangs were permanently extended at this point, but it wasn’t to feed. I’d never feed from any but my mate.

I might have ripped out a few throats today, but none of that blood touched my lips.

“I don’t know where your mate is,” Emanuel growled back. “But I do have one piece of information that might help in your search.”

If he didn’t tell me what that information was in the next five seconds, he would be dead.

“There’s a series of ancient tunnels that run under Crimson City,” he continued. “Not just this city but across much of Valdor. It was a network used eons ago to infiltrate other cities, back when we were a little more war loving. They were closed off long ago, but Carter is aware of them. Only a few of us ancients remember them now.”

“Carter might be using them to get around,” I said. “To take Simone out of the city and make it harder to track her.”

Emanuel took his life into his hands when he clasped my shoulder in the same spot Shadow had.

“Let your vampire free,” he said as I shook him off. “You will track her blood that way. You’re holding yourself back by trying to stay rational. Trust me, your vampire will not let you down.”

Embracing the fire burning through me, I stepped forward, and he was smart enough to retreat. “Where is an entrance?”

“I have one here,” he said, stepping back again.

Whatever expression I was wearing had him wary, and that pleased the simmering darkness in my chest. When I moved toward him again, Emanuel turned and raced away.

In my heightened state, I easily followed him through the winding path of his home. It had clearly been designed to confuse, but Emanuel didn’t miss a turn as he led me to a nondescript opening next to a set of stairs.

Dust covered me the moment I stepped inside the stone-lined walls, and it was clear no one had been down here for centuries. “If Shadow comes looking for me,” I said to Emanuel, sending one last glance his way, “send him down here as well or he will kill you.”

The vampire just nodded. “Good luck, Master Lucien. Fight for your mate.”

I was already down the stairs and didn’t bother to reply. Simone was literally the only reason Valdor and everything in it still stood.

If she wasn’t in one of these tunnels, those who had betrayed her would find out soon enough… Their time was coming to an end.