Adam held up a hand. “You’re right. Everyone bank the fire, and let’s talk.”
“I sentence you to death,” Gallagher thundered.
Nessa punched him in the arm hard enough to knock him sideways. “You, alone, can’t pronounce that sentence. Now everyone relax, and let’s figure this out.” She retook her seat, regal as ever.
“I kinda like her,” Tori murmured.
Adam turned to face the Council, and the group from the other side of the wall formed a barrier around him and Tori. “I have proof that Peter Gallagher was the person to set up Simone Brightston.”
Nessa gasped. “Excuse me? Where is this proof?”
Adam faltered. “In the States.”
“No it isn’t.” Kellach moved forward and tugged a manila file and a flash drive from behind his back. “Adam traced the money and the paper trail, and we found a couple of videos. The evidence is here, and it’s damning.”
Peter shook his head. “This is ridiculous.”
Adam cleared his throat. “In addition, we’ve discovered that Peter Gallagher is working with or for the manufacturer of Apollo. We don’t know why, but we do know he engineered the release of Parker Monzelle for the sole purpose of distributing the drugs.”
“That is crazy,” Peter yelled. “Why would I do that?”
Adam lifted a shoulder. “We don’t have the motive as of yet, but I believe it’s all about power. Whoever is behind Apollo promised you the world once the rest of the Council was taken out, now didn’t they?”
Peter’s face turned so red his eyes bugged out. “These are all lies. I’m innocent.”
Nessa eyed him. “Yet we must investigate. I’ll set our best investigators on the matter right now.”
Rage distorted Peter’s face. “That’s your choice, and it’s the wrong one.” He turned back toward Adam, hatred in his dark eyes. “Regardless of any investigation, I’m the head of the Council at this very moment, and our existing orders still stand. Guards? Take Kellach, Daire, Simone, and the human to cells to await death. Arrest everybody else.”
Tori glared. “Stop calling me ‘the human.’ My name is Victoria Monzelle, and you can use it, dickhead.”
Adam’s lips twitched. “You’re correct in that the current Council’s orders stand while any investigation is taking place.”
Gallagher shook his head, triumph lifting his weak chin. “There will not be a stay in the orders while we await any silly investigation.”
“I’m no’ asking for a stay,” Adam said, his brogue out in full force.
“No?” Gallagher asked, his gaze narrowing.
“No. I, Adam Dunne, Enforcer for the Coven Nine, hereby challenge you for your seat on the Council of the Coven Nine, Peter Gallagher. The challenge starts now.”
Kellach moved forward and grabbed Adam’s arm. “You can’t do this. The Apollo poison is still in your system. You’re nowhere near full power.”
Adam shrugged. “It’s done.”
Tori trembled, just from the tension emanating from the two men. “Wh-what does that mean? The challenge?”
Adam looked down at her, his face stoic and no emotion in his eyes. “It means we fight to the death. Right now.”
Chapter 34
Adam faced Peter Gallagher, showing no emotion, although his left leg had gone partially numb. “Pete?” he asked.
Peter’s head lifted, and his entire face hardened. “You’re making a mistake.”
Adam forced a smile. “You could avoid a fight and resign. If not, prepare to bleed.” It truly was that simple.
Gallagher focused, his gaze narrowing and his forehead seeming to elongate. Although he was a diplomat, and a political genius, he came from a long line of warriors. The guy definitely had skills. “Last chance, Dunne. I’ve already read the report on your fight in Seattle. The poison in your blood will make it an easy kill for me.” He jerked his head toward Victoria. “With your woman watching.”
It was those words—those callous words about Victoria—that sent power surging through Adam. “Remember this second.”
“Oh?” Gallagher asked, arrogance in every line of his body.
“Aye. The second I decided to kill you instead of just burn your powers away,” Adam said, the battle songs of his ancestors singing through his blood.
Gallagher stood. “Challenge accepted.”
With those words, the entire room came to life. Dimensional commands created centuries before took over, pushing all the spectators into a gallery area with a one-way mirror and pressing them to their seats. The stone bench and tables disappeared, and the wall that had just been destroyed reappeared, darker and thicker than even before.
A simple circular-shaped battle area with dirt floor and solid rock walls was all that remained on the other side of the mirror.
Magic and life whispered through the air, rolling with tension, peopled by souls from times past—magic and the application of psychics in configurations and spells that were long forgotten. Yet in this one second in time, in a battle for a Coven seat, they ruled.
Adam opened his hands at his sides, allowing the power in. Allowed it to lift him, to darken him.
Gallagher circled around, flames already morphing on his hands. Thick flames, a deep brown. “After I kill you, your woman is next.”
Adam lifted an eyebrow, hoping she was all right behind the mirror. Oh, all he could see was a blank wall, but he knew how it worked, and he knew she could see but not hear what was going on. “Victoria has more power in her little finger than you’ve accumulated in two hundred years. My money is on her.”
“Is that a fact?” Gallagher feinted left and then back.
“She’d kick your ass, Petey.” The vision was still blurry in Adam’s left eye, so he made sure to keep track of Gallagher with his right.
“We’ll have to see,” Gallagher said, forming a vibrating brown ball of flame.
If the guy was trying to motivate Adam, it was working. Without giving a hint of warning, he lifted his hand and arced pure blue fire at Gallagher.
The witch yelped and jumped out of the way, his gaze wild.
Adam smiled and followed suit with his other hand. This time, the fire caught Gallagher in the thigh before he could move far enough away. “Funny thing about being an Enforcer.” Adam circle around, using his good eye. “You learn to throw fire without forming it first. Well, forming it outside your body.”
“Good to know.” Gallagher arced brown fire toward him.
Adam easily stepped to the side, just as three rapid fireballs came from Gallagher’s other hand. One impacted Adam’s ribs and burned right through his shirt, shooting pain to his spine. “Guess you already know that,” Adam gasped.
“Guess so.” Gallagher gracefully edged to the other side. “How’s the pain? Your left eye isn’t looking so good. Purple and all of that.”
“Colored contacts. Matches Victoria’s hair,” Adam said, feinting left and right. “Your pants are still on fire.”
Gallagher ignored the flames licking away his pants. “How good is the evidence you’ve found?”
“Excellent. Enough to put you away,” Adam said.
Gallagher nodded toward the southern wall. “Not if I’m still on the Council. I’ll bury it.” He smiled. “You have to appreciate the architecture here.”
“Stone walls and dirt floor? Definitely,” Adam said, forcing pain away from his eye. Fucking Apollo.
Gallagher focused back on him. “No. The fact that people can watch the match, know what happens, but not hear a word.” He gazed in appreciation at the magical walls. “It’s the perfect confessional. Either for the killer or the one to die. A last time to state sins.”
“You want to state your sins?” Adam asked, creating three smaller plasma balls on his right hand.
“No. I just like that I could,” Gallagher said, sweeping his arm in a wide arc and throwing a furious plane of fire.
Adam ducked and rolled. The plane hit the wall and was s
mothered out. “How about one admission? Who are you working with?” Adam lobbed the three balls, throwing hard. The first hit Gallagher in the shoulder, the second in the thigh, and the third the wall behind him.
Gallagher dropped to the ground, hissing in pain, then leapfrogged back up, swinging three sharp plasma fireballs at Adam.
Adam jumped high and to the right. “Who?”
Gallagher shook his head and patted fire away from his shirt. The smell of burned skin filled the room. “Nobody. Do you really think I need help creating a false paper trail, especially for somebody like Simone? She hasn’t exactly been careful through the years, and I truly needed her off the Council. Your whole family needed to be gone.”
“Yeah, but you had council documents that you had to have gotten from somewhere. Give it up,” Adam said. He held his empty hands out wide. “Unless you think you’re going to lose.”
Gallagher moved surprisingly fast and shot a narrow arc of fire right into Adam’s chest.
Pain detonated in his solar plexus, winging out to every nerve. Adam fell back, his head impacting the wall with a thick thud. He could swear he heard a woman scream his name. Victoria? The vision in his left eye went completely black. He slid down, his ass hitting dirt, fire sparking uselessly from his fingertips.
Peter advanced, a kill ball in his hands. “Well, I guess I could confess now.”
Adam’s head lolled, but he managed to point his good eye toward Gallagher. The emotion coming through the wall, raw and fierce, almost stole his concentration, but he held on by a thread. “Let me guess. That traitor, Grace Sadler?”
Gallagher blinked. “You’re not as dumb as you look.”
Grace Sadler had been a council member removed from the bench, and she’d borne two sons, both of whom were recently dead after pursing a vendetta against the Dunne family. Adam blew out air, and real fire singed his mouth. “Tell me you’re not involved in the Apollo trade.”
“Of course not. Grace offered the documents, and I took them. That’s it.” Gallagher raised his hand high, preparing to strike down with the kill shot. “No idea about Apollo.”
“Stop lying.”
Gallagher sighed. “Fair enough. The manufacturer of Apollo has his own agenda, and while I don’t agree with it, for now, being his ally suits my purpose.”
“Of taking over the Council?” Adam gasped for air.
“Yes,” Gallagher said. “After I’m in control, the real kind, I’ll take care of the threat. It’ll be my first true action in the new organization.”
“Who is it?” Adam asked, his mind nearly blanking. He was running out of time.
Gallagher advanced, fire burning down his arms.
A woman screamed again, and this time Adam felt her fear in his chest. Victoria.
“You don’t know who it is,” Adam muttered, realization dawning.
Gallagher smiled. “Not yet. Good-bye, Adam Dunne.” He pivoted back to throw a killing arc.
Adam lifted his left hand and shot a disk of razor-sharp fire. It sliced through Peter’s neck and kept going. His eyes widened, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. The disk spun through and careened across the room to bounce off the wall. Peter’s head fell down his back, and his body dropped straight down, landing on the knees and falling sideways.
Adam kicked him away. “If you’d read my complete dossier, you’d know I can do that. Moron.”
The wall hiding the spectators shimmered and disappeared. The long raised dais reappeared, as did the stone tables on each side of the aisle. Victoria ran to him, sliding on her knees. “Adam?” She reached him a second before the king did.
Dage’s fangs dropped, and he ripped open his own wrist, holding it to Adam’s mouth. Blood poured inside Adam, tasting of something . . . grape? Power followed the grape taste, flashing through his limbs, returning his eyesight immediately. Adam gasped and pushed Dage’s arm away.
“Thanks,” Adam mumbled. Damn vampires had it good, now didn’t they, to be able to heal with blood?
Victoria snuggled into his side, tears on her face. “Are you all right? Seriously?”
Power nearly shook him apart. Not only had Dage’s blood helped, but he’d felt something move through him, something ancient and mighty, the second he’d killed Gallagher. “Aye, baby. I’m fine.” He helped her to stand and then handed her to his brother. “I’ll be right back.” He strode up the steps of the dais, feeling the Apollo finally give up its hold on him.
He’d won Peter’s position, which meant for the moment that he ruled the entire council. How convenient. When he reached Peter’s seat, he sat down. Nessa and Sal took their respective seats.
Look at that. A nice gavel was already there. “Based not only on the evidence brought in earlier but on Peter Gallagher’s own confession, I hereby vacate the death sentence imposed on Simone Brightston and reinstate her to her position on the Coven Nine.” For good measure, Adam slammed the gavel. “I next reinstate Enforcers Daire Dunne, Kellach Dunne, and Moira Kayrs-Dunne, effective immediately.” He slammed the damn thing again. “Finally, I reinstate the remaining council members who have been discharged temporarily of duty, especially Vivienne Northcutt as the head of the Council.” He threw the gavel behind his head.
The people gathered in the room clapped, cheered, or looked on as if he’d gone crazy.
“Oh yeah.” Adam stood tall. “The witch nation wants to realign itself with the Realm. Let’s forget the withdrawal ever happened.”
Dage gave one short nod. “It’s already forgotten.”
Nessa cleared her throat. “I, ah, am in agreement with such proclamation.”
Sal looked on, his forehead dotting with sweat. “Agreed.”
Adam eyed him. They needed to investigate the old witch. “Good.”
Nessa looked around and nodded. “’Tis good. The Council is back and in control.”
Adam took a deep breath. “I hereby resign as a council member and want my job as an Enforcer back. We have three council seats to fill, and I’m thinking maybe we should find people who aren’t related to our family. Just to make things more balanced.” Neither Sal nor Nessa was related, so that was a good start.
“Now.” He focused on Victoria, who stood near Kellach, watching the entire show with wide eyes. “I believe you said you loved me and wanted to mate me.”
She drew back. “I thought we were dying.”
Oh, she was fucking adorable. “I also believe that you said you want all of me and am tired of my holding back with you.” His heart started to beat faster, and the beast inside him roared wide fucking awake. He stood and bounded over the stone dais, landing squarely on his feet.
She took a step back, and the hunter inside him howled in joy. “Adam, I—”
“You also said you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, and that I should know it and want to mate you.” He reached her and ran a gentle finger down her face.
She trembled. “Adam,” she sighed.
“I do love you,” he said. “With everything I am, and you can definitely have all of me.”
Her smile started to spread.
He ducked and tossed her over his shoulder, turning toward the suddenly appearing doors.
“Where are you going?” Kellach called out.
“To fulfill my vow,” he shot back, ignoring Victoria’s panicked squeak. “On my time.”
Chapter 35
Tori’s head spun so much she couldn’t catch one single thought as she rode on the back of Adam’s bike through the rainy streets. Was it even Adam’s bike? He carried her out of the Coven Nine headquarters and plunked her on the back of a Harley before starting it with fire from his hand.
Had he stolen the bike?
What the hell was going on? He’d said he loved her. After getting in a weird fire-throwing fight where he’d cut off Peter Gallagher’s head.
Whatever had been in the king’s blood had seemed to fully heal Adam from the Apollo darts. Or had he been healed after th
e fight? He’d seemed different—even stronger than before, if that were possible. His tenor, the vibrations, felt deadly. In a good way, if that made any sense at all.
Her arms were wrapped around his waist, and his heated body warmed her. The hard angles beneath her palms shortened her breath and softened her thighs. When they got to wherever he was driving, they needed to have a talk. A long talk to figure things out. The man had to stop tossing her over his shoulder every damn time he wanted to leave a room.
He drove up into the hills, and green surrounded them on both sides. Finally, he took a turn around a long bend, and an imposing rock house appeared on the top of a rolling green cliff. A river rushed below.
He jumped off the bike and took her with him.
“Where are we?” she asked, the wind chilling her.
“Wicklow Mountains, south of Dublin.” He swept her up against his hard chest, striding around rocks to the door. There he rearranged stones, per usual, and the heavy door swung open. “It’s my getaway.”
“Oh.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, looking at the stone fireplace in the corner fronted by living room furniture in a deep gray. Then the floor-to-ceiling windows caught her eye. Outside were rolling hills and water and rocks. Beautiful and barren. Lonely and stunning. “Put me down.” They needed to talk.
“Gladly.” He set her on her feet gently and ripped her shirt over her head—not so gently.
Her mouth went slack. “What are you doing?”
He kissed her then, going deep, driving her head back. She had no choice but to grab onto his nearly shredded T-shirt to keep from falling on her butt. His tongue swept inside, heated and insistent. Her head spun, and every nerve in her body flared wide awake and ready to play.
She jerked free. “Adam. Wait.” She took a step back. Caution scored through her.
“Wait?” His hungry gaze nearly devoured her as he tracked her. “I’ve waited.”
She held out a hand, as if that one simple act could ward him off. “I know, but—”