8. CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 8
“Do you smell that?” Regis said way too excitedly. Then again, Regis wasn’t exactly that bright. In fact, Aban was willing to say he was an idiot. The guy had nearly gotten himself and several others killed because he wouldn’t stop whining about the work being too hard.
The guy was a walrus shifter, for fuck’s sake. His muscles had muscles, and it was obvious, even in human form, that he kept his body in top shape. How could he possibly keep bitching about hard work? What was worse, in their small group sitting on some rocks eating the measly dinner of a roll and beans, was a seahorse who couldn’t have been over five-foot-two and maybe ninety pounds soaking wet who pulled up more tin in an hour than Regis had his entire shift.
Aban had to bite his tongue to stop from mouthing off to Regis. He’d found out that was never wise. First of all, Regis was a whiner and would complain to their captors, acting as if Aban had punched him instead of calling him a weak excuse for a shifter.
That had gotten Aban beat—badly. The only positive was that Regis had also gotten kicked around for daring to bitch. That didn’t mean he was just going to say nothing when Regis was about to get them all killed just when they were about to be rescued because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. If it meant getting beaten again, it would have been more than worth it not to alert their captors that others were there to save them.
Not just anyone, either. His mate. For a time, he’d almost thought he might have been imagining the sweet aroma of chocolate and orange. It had come and gone all day, but he hadn’t dared to truly hope his mate was near. Then again, he hadn’t wanted him anywhere near that stupid place.
The humans were some seriously sadistic fucks who loved causing much pain and humiliation. The last thing he wanted was for his mate to be caught by one of them.
Thankfully, he was sitting close enough to Regis he could reach out and grab his wrist to silence him. Not that Regis knew how to take a hint.
“Hey,” Regis jerked his arm to break it free of Aban’s hold, but he’d been ready and held on even tighter. It was too important the idiot understand what it would mean if their guards found out about Saber’s team coming for them.
“Quiet,” he bit out through clenched teeth. He kept his voice low so the humans wouldn’t hear, yet his tone was hard as steel, which was likely the only reason Regis sat there—mercifully not saying a word as he stared, wide-eyed, at Aban. “Those other shifters are here to rescue us, and if you act any differently, the humans will know something is up, and our rescuers lose the element of surprise. In the meantime, the enemy will have lots of time to kill us before our people can breach this cavern.”
What he’d expected of Regis, Aban couldn’t say, but he had to admit to being shocked when the man nodded and stayed blessedly silent. He even went back to eating tiredly. If he hadn’t seen the man’s excitement with his own eyes, Aban wouldn’t have any clue Regis was anything but exhausted and defeated.
Miracles really do happen. It was probably too much to hope that would continue until they were all safe with the Council.
Even though it would be a huge risk, they needed to get the word out to be ready. Admittedly, none of them could shift, but they could still fight. Leaning down, he grabbed several rocks. They were small enough to hold in their hand, yet with enough sharp edges to hopefully do some damage if they needed to join the battle.
He handed them out to those eating near him. “Be ready to fight. We need to get the word out to remain silent about being rescued, yet tell everyone to try to find something they can use as a weapon,” he told the others.
Finishing his food, he slowly got up to bring his tray to the bin by the mouth of the cave they were in. Twenty of them were packed in there like sardines. He gestured to those that had been around him when Regis almost gave away that there were other shifters nearby when he talked to the others in their cave.
In the meantime, he approached the guard at the entrance. “Bathroom,” Aban said.
The guard gestured toward the front of the cavern, which they thankfully couldn’t see from the mouth of their cave. Once he was out of sight, he slipped into another cave as the guard at the entrance was beating one of the other prisoners. It killed Aban to not do anything to help, but getting killed when his mate was nearby wasn’t something he would risk. His only hope was the guard wouldn’t kill the poor shifter.
He approached the first prisoner near the entrance and quickly explained what was about to happen. The guy nodded and shuffled off to tell the others. Aban somehow told two more prisoners in different alcoves before he was too close to the humans to keep going.
Quickly, without drawing attention to himself, he slipped back into his own cave and sat on one of the larger boulders while reaching around him for various rocks he could use as weapons. Not that he’d need many. Once he took out one guard, he’d grab the guy’s gun. Still, it was always smart to have a Plan B.
Now they just had to wait. Not that it would be long. Their scents were nearly upon them. “Get ready,” he whispered, just loud enough that the shifters in the room would hear him.
Sure enough, gunfire erupted outside.
Not wasting any time, Aban sprinted to where their guard had his back to them as he tried to figure out what was happening. The sharp edge of the rock was pointed outward, and he slammed it against the human’s temple and he crumbled like a rag doll.
Grabbing the gun and opening the pockets where the extra ammo was stored, he pulled the boxes out. Without pausing, he rushed out into the corridor, putting two bullets in the closest guard’s head. He hadn’t waited for the asshole to hit the ground before sprinting further down.
Now that he’d shot the gun in the cavern, other guards would know he was coming. Probably. Then again, considering orders were being barked over their walkie-talkies for the guards inside to converge on the mouth of the entire cavern to stop anyone from escaping, they probably wouldn’t notice him.
It split their focus and before they knew what was happening, Aban had downed two more of them.
“Should have known you wouldn’t be sitting meekly around waiting to be saved,” chuckled Chadwick as he suddenly appeared from a small alcove that wouldn’t have offered any protection, but its darkened recess had effectively hidden him just the same.
That was when Aban was hit with a wave of sweetness in the dank cavern. His gaze went to the gorgeous man with tears in his eyes, staring right at Aban as if he were the most important thing in the beautiful shifter’s world.
“Mate,” the man said as he raced around Chadwick and threw himself into Aban’s arms, who had just barely opened them to catch him.
Holding him tightly, Aban never wanted to let go, but he also needed to get his mate back to safety.
“Oh, good.” Chadwick chuckled. “That was far easier to find you than I would have thought.” Footfalls came at them from further down the corridor. Chadwick had barely even looked in their direction before dropping all five who thought they would sneak up on them.
When would humans learn shifters had far better hearing? Idiots.
“How many humans are down here?” Chadwick asked, even as he pulled all five knives from his victims. The thing was, Aban had trained with Chadwick, and no matter how many times he watched the mountain lion shifter throw those knives, not even Aban’s keen eyes could count as quickly as Chadwick could pull one out and throw it.
He usually saw the first two or three, but that was all. After that, it was all a blur.
He shook his head. “I haven’t been here long enough to have found out. It didn’t help that I was put in a cave that was out of the way enough not to see any of the other caves.”
Chadwick grinned and turned to the cavern entrance. “It’s about time you arrived at the party,” he said cheekily to his mate.
Saber growled with a hard edge to his tone and the glare he aimed at Chadwick. Then he grabbed his mate and pulled him in for a searing kiss. When they finally came up for air, that growl was still present in Saber’s voice as he said, “You promised no heroics, kitten.”
It was comical to watch Chadwick try for an innocent look. If there was one thing the mountain lion shifter wasn’t, that was innocent. He was pure mischief at all times. Don’t get him wrong, there were a few more fierce and sadistic than Chadwick in a fight, but even then, when he beat his opponent, Chadwick had somehow embarrassed that person.
Mean? A little, but Aban had to admit Chadwick’s tactics brought out the best in his fighters. They had been taught to never give up. Never admit defeat. More importantly, never get so bogged down in the fight that one wasn’t also paying attention to all that was going around the fight.
Sometimes, in training, Chadwick joined the fight just to teach everyone that there was no such thing as a sure thing. Even one-on-one fighting didn’t mean someone wouldn’t come along to change the odds.
There was one constant Chadwick taught: fairness doesn't exist in both a fight and life. It was how he came out fairly unscathed. Sure, they all had been hurt a time or two, but relative to dying, they survived.
Ignoring Saber and Chadwick’s interaction as they bickered despite a battle going on around them, Aban turned to stare into beautiful green eyes. “I’m Aban, my sweet one. What’s your name?”
His mate’s entire face lit up at the term of endearment Aban had used. “Nessim,” his mate told him.
“Nessim. A sweet name just like you.”
Unable to hold back any longer, he pressed their lips together and found there was such a thing as paradise.