These Wicked Desires (Fates #3)

24. Sterling

Sterling

All hell has broken loose. I knew as soon as we crawled through the window and found no guards in the hall outside, they would all be waiting in the basement for us. And I was right.

As soon as we stepped out of the stairwell, chaos ensued.

Half of our enemies are magicals—mages and shifters—the other half are the creatures Sam has been creating. Some combination of magical or human laced with the blood of another magical. However it works, it results in almost zombie-like creatures with extreme strength and speed and no sense of pain that I can tell.

Connor’s red magic flashes non-stop in the dim lighting. His hits kill the magicals, but the ones who have been altered, the creatures, they get back up—sometimes missing a limb or with smoke rising from an empty eye socket. It’s absolutely nauseating to watch.

Drew has given up his crow form. Against these creatures, he’s useless. They are too fast, and he almost got his head pulled from his body when one of them caught him mid-air. Instead, he’s using fists. It’s not doing much, but it is providing a distraction.

I make my way down the hall, dodging what I can, and taking out what I can’t. It would be easier in my wolf form, but I don’t want to scare Grace by barging into her cell as a wolf. I’m almost to the room where they’re keeping her, when someone calls my name. I turn around and freeze.

“Where is she?” I shout.

Kai, Cade, and Cole have joined the fray in the basement. But there is no sign of Ellis. Or Sam.

“I was hoping you’d seen her!” Kai yells back.

What the fuck does he mean? They were supposed to be with her. I dart back the way I’d come, stopping to slide my knife into a creature's back, right between its ribs and into its kidney. That doesn’t kill them, but it stops them long enough for me to wrap my hands around their head and twist. That kills them.

I grab Kai’s shoulder and shove him into a room, kicking the door shut behind me. “Where the fuck is she?” I growl.

“Sam had us by the throat,” Kai says, panting slightly. His eyes are wild, ruby red and utterly terrified. “Literally. She went with him to save us. Cade and Cole have been injected with whatever you were injected with that one time. They have no access to their magic.”

“Fuck. Fuck!” I pace back and forth a few times, tugging at my hair in agitation. Fear and anger swirl inside of me, mixing to create a volatile combination. “He’ll have taken her to the torture room, most likely. But I didn’t see them come down this way. There must be another way into the room.”

“It’s at the end of the hall?” Kai asks, already turning back toward the door, ready to go save his beloved.

“Yes.”

“I’ll get her. You get Grace out of here. Take out as many of these bastards as you can.”

He opens the door and rushes into the hall, his image blurring as he taps into his supernatural speed, but he doesn’t get far. A creature stops him, and he has to engage it to get past. I use the distraction once again to slip by. I manage to get to Grace’s room without having to fight anyone. Behind me, the battle continues. Flashes of Connor’s magic, gun shots, grunts and cries of pain. One look shows me Connor, Drew, Kai, and Cole fighting for their lives. I don’t see Cade, but I don’t have the time to look for him. Ignoring my anxiety and fear, I push into Grace’s room.

She’s curled in the corner, looking like a pile of skin and bones with a threadbare blanket wrapped around her frail body.

“Grace?” I say quietly, taking another step inside and closing the door. “Grace?”

She stirs, her body jerking slightly before she lifts her head. It takes all of her strength to do so, and she can only hold it up for a moment before she lays it back down, panting slightly. But her light brown eyes blearily focus on me.

“Grace, it’s me. Sterling. Ellis’s mate.” I kneel in front of her, projecting all of my movements to avoid scaring her. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

Her eyes widen and she sucks in a breath. “Ellis?” she rasps, her voice barely audible.

I nod. “Can I pick you up? We need to move fast.”

She pales, her skin somehow losing even more color, but she swallows thickly. “Okay.”

As gently as I can, I scoop her into my arms. I know she has no visible injuries. Sam makes sure to heal her after every torture session. But her bones protrude from her skin and I can’t imagine that doesn’t hurt. She weighs nothing in my arms, and before I slip back into the hall I warn her.

“There is fighting in the hallway. I’m going to get you out of there as fast as I can.”

She closes her eyes and buries her face in my chest, and I shove through the door into the chaos. It’s moved closer to this end of the hallway, no doubt due to Kai trying to get to Ellis. He sees me with Grace and nods, working on opening a path for me to get through.

Between him and Cole I make it to the stairwell, but before I step inside, an explosion rattles the building. I look down the hall to find golden flames billowing from the torture room. They grow quickly, spreading faster and faster toward us. My heart stops.

Ellis.

“Go!” Kai yells, motioning to all of us. “Get out of here. I’ll keep going.”

Kai would be the only one able to withstand that fire. I hesitate though. My mate is down there. Clearly in trouble. And I need to go for her. But Cole grabs my arm and yanks me through the door. Already, the heat of the golden flames warms the stairwell.

“Get Grace out of here!” Cole yells, darting up the stairs.

Drew gives me a push and we hurry up to the first floor. Golden flames lick up the walls on the first floor, seeping through the floor where they burn the hottest down below. I don’t give myself time to think. I follow Cole and Drew into a classroom and hand Grace to Drew before climbing out, running to the edge of the property.

When I turn around, I fall to my knees. The building is consumed in golden fire. It writhes and undulates, dancing and burning as it eats away at the wood and metal.

“Where’s Connor?” Cole asks, glancing at Grace. “I think she needs some healing.”

I don’t take my eyes from the building, barely hearing my brother speak.

“He’s not here,” Drew says. “Did he get caught inside?”

I don’t fucking care about Connor. Where is my mate? Where is Ellis? I jump to my feet, moving faster than I ever have before. As if sensing what I’m about to do, Cole grabs me around the waist and holds me still, keeping me from running into the golden inferno. My heart pounds fast enough to make my chest ache. Or maybe that’s the bond that hurts. I thrash against Cole, trying to get free, but he’s too strong. My beta is almost equal to me in strength.

“Let me go, Cole!” I growl.

“I can’t let you go in there.” His voice is irritatingly calm, and I want nothing more than to ram my fist into his nose.

“My mate …” The words are choked when they come out, and the pain in my chest intensifies. I double over, as much as I can in Cole’s grasp. “Ellis,” I rasp. My wolf is at the surface. I’m seconds from shifting, when Cole stiffens behind me.

“Wait.” He points, and I squint past the brightness of the flames.

I can make out two figures walking toward us. Two figures, each carrying …

My knees give out, and Cole gently lowers me to the grass. Kai is singed, his clothing hanging in burning tatters to his frame. Dried bloody tears track down his cheeks. And in his arms is my mate. Hanging lifeless and naked. Her white wings trail limply behind them.

And Connor. In Connor’s arms is Cade.

The world tips precariously around me. My heart stutters. Stops. Stutters again. Every dream I’ve had, every hope and fantasy of a life with my brothers and Ellis goes up like smoke. Ash from the warehouse falls around me as Ellis’s golden fire continues to consume the building and everything inside of it.

And I wish it would consume me too.