chapter 21
“Selene, can you hear me?” Griffin’s voice sounded as if it were coming from far away. All she could see was blackness.
“Fight your way out of it, Selene. Listen to my voice.” Griffin seemed to be getting closer to her. But she still couldn’t see through the dark. “You enter and leave dreams. Use that power now, and shut him out of your mind.”
Selene furrowed her brow. “Shut who out of my mind?”
“Thank God you can hear me.” Griffin gave a relieved sigh. “Someone named Maddox is manipulating you. Fight him, Selene. Use your power and push him out of your head.”
At the sound of Maddox’s name, everything fell into horrible, awful place. Selene knew exactly what was going on. She’d been convinced of her guilt until that very moment. With a concerted effort, Selene tried to turn off the power that Maddox was using on her now but still couldn’t dig her way out of the dark pit.
“Tell Ellie that she needs to amplify my power-blocking ability,” she instructed Griffin. Concentrating harder, Selene could tell the second that Ellie added her boost to the power pool. Suddenly, the oppressive dark started to shift. Selene pushed harder against the walls in her mind and felt the pressure lift, lightening further and further.
“Keep going, Selene,” she heard Griffin in her mind. “Almost there.” And with one final push and with Ellie’s help, Selene opened her eyes.
She was still on the couch in Lucy and Hugh’s living room. Griffin knelt beside her and was rubbing her hands.
“Welcome back to the land of the conscious,” he said with a grin.
Confusion clouded her silver eyes. Was that all really just a dream? “What happened?”
“I don’t usually say ‘I told you so’—”
“Yes, you do,” Ellie interrupted him.
Griffin ignored her. “— but I have to say that I’m extremely happy to be right in this instance.”
“I didn’t kill those people?” Selene held back the tears of relief. She sat up and held a hand to her throbbing head. Kicking Maddox out of her mind was going to leave quite a nasty psychic hangover.
“No.” Griffin’s eyes hardened as he leaned back to give her some space. “Another Vyusher did, though.”
“Maddox?” A grim foreboding settled in the pit of Selene’s stomach.
“Do you know who that is?” Hugh asked.
Suddenly, Selene was aware of an extra person in the room. Someone who hadn’t been there before.
“Zara,” Selene addressed the lanky blond huddled in the corner, surrounded by rings of flame that Selene assumed Ramsey had placed about her. “I should have realized. How the hell did you get here?”
“You know her?” Griffin asked.
Selene swung her legs to the floor as he moved to sit beside her on the couch. “She’s Maddox’s mate. Maddox was one of my brother’s four lieutenants. Our High Council of Elders and I decided to allow any Vyusher who wanted to leave the pack to go. Only a few left, maybe about twenty or so. That group included all four of Gideon’s lieutenants and their mates, including Maddox and Zara.” She nodded toward their captive. “How’d she get here?” she repeated.
Ellie offered the explanation. “Charlotte teleported us to the place in your dream. Zara over there was the white wolf impersonating you. Alex managed to freeze her just as she started to attack an old man. We brought her back with us so you could decide what to do next.”
Selene looked at Zara. “Were you controlling my dreams?”
“You thought you were so clever, keeping your abilities from Gideon,” Zara hissed. “But I figured you out, Princess. Maddox told me not to say anything years ago. I was keeping his own secret about dream control after all. And he knew exactly what to do with both of us when the time came.” Zara gave Selene a smug smile, malice shining from her eyes.
“What’d I ever do to you, Zara?” Selene asked quietly. The other girl just smirked.
“So this Maddox guy, is he dangerous?” Ramsey asked.
Selene thought about that for a moment. “He didn’t seem to have any particular skill beyond an impressive tactical mind. Maddox coordinated our army of fighters. I’ve shown you before how when Gideon was killed, all the Vyusher minds were released. Until that moment, none of them knew what they were doing. We assumed that was true for every wolf in our pack except me. I thought I was the only one aware of what was truly happening. We honestly didn’t consider those who decided to leave to be any kind of threat or danger to others.” Selene focused an intense look on their captive.
“You betrayed us, and she killed Maddox’s brother,” Zara pointed at Ellie. She almost spat in her fury, though she was careful not to move an inch, clearly afraid of the flames surrounding her.
“Huh?” Ellie was confused.
“Maddox’s brother was in the group sent to kill the Jenners and the Pierces. He was one of the wolves you fought and killed.”
“Oh.” Ellie grimaced.
“But how did I betray the Vyusher?” Selene asked.
Zara regarded her with a stubborn look despite her burning cage and refused to answer.
“We need more information. What’s Maddox’s play here?” Alex said.
“Griffin, are you able to read Zara’s mind?” Hugh asked.
Griffin trained his gaze on the girl. But he was silent so long that Ellie and Selene exchanged concerned glances.
“Well?” Ellie prompted.
Griffin held up one finger. After another few minutes he blinked and looked away from Zara.
“Sorry that took a little while. Her mind is a bit of a jumble. From what I could gather, Maddox and the other three lieutenants are trying to discredit Selene in some way. Take away her right to rule.” He turned to Selene. “Can that be right? Rule what?”
She bit her lip. “Rule the Vyusher,” she said quietly. “I’m technically their Queen now that Gideon is gone.”
“Awesome!” Nate gave a fist pump while the others groaned. “What? I’m just sayin’… we’ve got Svatura gypsy royalty over there—” He waved a hand at Ellie and Griffin, “And now we’ve got the Vyusher wolf Queen over there. It’s pretty cool, if you ask me.”
“Um, no one is asking you,” Lila said, as the others looked at him with incredulous expressions.
Nate shrugged, unfazed. “Okay, so maybe now wasn’t the best time. I’m just sayin’ it’s awesome is all,” he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. Adelaide shook her head but snuggled into him and ran a hand over his sandy brown hair, receiving a hug in return.
“As far as I can tell, Maddox wants to overthrow you,” Griffin continued.
Selene chewed on her lower lip as she thought through her options. Her people couldn’t afford to be deceived by yet another homicidal, power-hungry monster.
“You have proof of his plan, Selene,” Alex reminded her. He was standing beside Ellie with one arm wrapped around her waist. “Take Zara to your Council. Charlotte can take you there. Bring Ellie, Griffin, Lucy, and Lila, and they can help you convince the Council of the truth.”
Selene saw the logic in Alex’s suggestion. “All right.” She glanced at Griffin and was saddened to see hesitation in his face. With a nod, she added, “We’ll go first thing tomorrow.”
“Let’s all try and get some sleep tonight,” Hugh suggested. “Those of us who are able to contain her can take turns keeping tabs on Zara.”
“She has the wolf and the dream control but no other abilities,” Ellie said. “Shouldn’t be too hard to keep her locked up.”