Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
brIANNA
I didn’t think it was possible to need someone as deeply as I need Declan. Not just in my bed, even though that is definitely a huge perk. It feels like he’s the second half of my heart, the part I didn’t even know I was missing before he came into my life.
Knowing he feels just as strongly, knowing that he sees me as not just a partner, not just a mate, but as everything he’s ever wanted, ever needed, feels like it could shatter me.
I’m hardly moving at all anymore, just holding onto him, feeling him, our connection. Our tether together hums like a strung guitar string between us.
Ellie could be back at any moment, and even though I would be mortified if she saw us like this, his hands down my shorts, completely bare chests pressed together like even the strongest glue wouldn’t hold as tightly as we are right now, I can’t bear the idea of pushing this further, of riding him to climax. Our connection is thrumming like an electrical current in through my body and into his like an infinity ring, and I’m not even sure if all the emotions are mine, or if Declan’s are bleeding in, swaying me to need more and more. It doesn’t even matter, I don’t want it to end.
This is just the beginning of our mating, Brianna. Believe me when I say I will never get tired of feeling you like this, but I want your release soaking my cock. I want to feel you let go, to feel your body tighten around me, to demand my release as well.
There’s no way in hell a human relationship could ever begin to compare with what I have with Declan, and if his claiming me, if us claiming each other intensifies that, I’m not sure we’ll ever manage to leave the bedroom after I wear his bite.
He chuckles and kisses me again, his tongue sliding across mine roughly. I’m sure we can make time to spend at least a month in bed, as soon as we’re free from this cell. I want to feast on you, to make you come so hard, so often, that you’ll forget any idea of ever dating a human again.
I don’t want a human. I break the kiss and pull back to look at him, so that he can see how serious I am. “You’re it for me, Declan. You’re my everything. Mine.” The last word comes out almost as a growl, as I start riding him again, taking him harder and harder.
Declan’s hips rise to meet mine, rocking against me with every thrust. My hands slide over his chest, his shoulders, up into his hair, everywhere I can touch him, everywhere I can reach.
I am completely overwhelmed, completely entranced with my mate, and as I come, I kiss him hard, groaning out his name into his mouth.
Declan keeps thrusting into me, keeps massaging my ass, as he comes too, filling me with his release.
Even though I don’t think it’s possible for us to physically get any closer than we are right now, I press into him with my whole chest, needing more.
Desperation aches inside of me because I know I’ll leave him again.
As I start to come down from my climax, I slowly break our kiss, stealing smaller and smaller kisses until I can slowly rock back to look at him again.
“I guess we should probably get dressed.” I sigh, frowning even as I say it, knowing that clothes mean I won’t get to touch as much of him. That I won’t get to be as close.
He chuckles, still breathing hard from our exertion. “Give a guy a minute to recover after fucking him like that. You think I can walk? Let alone do anything else?”
I snuggle into him again, more than happy to stay connected like this. “If it means I get to free you from this place, it’ll be worth it.”
He kisses the top of my head, and his fingers trace shapes over my lower back, as if he can’t get enough of touching me, any more than I can get of him.
The clatter of metal hitting concrete surprises us both. Even in the dim light, I have no trouble seeing the open cuff resting next to my knee, but my brain can’t wrap itself around what I’m seeing.
I sit up as Declan brings his hands around so that they’re between us.I start to reach for the cuff, until I really take in his wrists.
Completely devoid of the cuffs.
“Ellie.” I gasp her name, and quickly crawl off Declan’s lap so that I can grab my shirt. “Come on. We need to check on the others.”
My cheeks are flaming with embarrassment, but there’s no time to dwell on it. Declan frowns as I put my shirt back on, but the frown quickly turns into a grimace, and he rolls forward, like he’s about to throw up and he needs to put his head between his knees.
The runes branded into his back are glowing, looking red hot and angry, and the sounds he’s making almost make me are inhuman.
I clutch my hands to my chest unsure of what to do. Do I tell her stop? I shake the thought immediately. I take a deep breath and trust my friend. Magic isn’t easy. That’s one thing I’ve learned. There has to be consequences to what my father has put them through. I just hope he’s going to survive it.
If this is the cost to set him free, if he’ll be able to shift freely again and be in his own home and not this hell, I’m not going to interrupt that unless he demands it of me.
He doesn’t deserve pain, but he does deserve freedom.
What. Is. Happening?
Declan’s thoughts are stilted, like he can’t even think clearly.
“I think she’s removing the marks on your back. Focus on me.” I kneel in front of him, cupping his face in my hands. “We’re going to get out of here.”
His handsome face is contorted in pain, his teeth clenching in a grimace, and his neck muscles are all flexed. His entire body seizes and then arches and seizes again as he rides out the runes being removed from his skin.
There’s nothing I can do, nothing but be here, close to him. Trying to will the pain to stop. I take deep breaths in between holding my breath. I squeeze my eyes shut when it’s too much to watch, but then force myself to endure it, because I’m not experiencing the pain, so I can keep my eyes on him for his sake.
The blood curdling screams and wails coming from the other cells make me wonder if I’ve made a horrible mistake asking Ellie to do this.
I hope Ellie’s spell ball is keeping all the noise from reaching my father’s quarters.
Declan’s pain seems to be getting worse as he writhes on the floor. What if she wasn’t my friend? What if this is just making everything worse? What if she works for Grey and this is the end of Declan?
Declan roars so loud my ears are ringing. The sight of his fangs makes me gasp. Then he collapses to the floor. His body is slack. Sweat drips off his skin like he was out in the rain. His hair is soaked through. He groans a little as he starts to move. Declan’s breathing starts to return to normal, and I watch as he slowly rolls back up into a sitting position. His face is red, and his nails are elongated into black talons and puncturing the soft flesh of his palms.
I take in every inch of him making sure he’s not injured more. The scars on his back are gone. The runes carved into his skin are gone.
The talons retract and the wounds on his palms close and heal leaving fresh skin and little droplets of blood behind.
He lets out a shaky breath and meets my gaze. “Let’s never do this again.”
I kiss him softly. “Get dressed. We need to go. Now.”
Before he has a chance to respond, I pull open the door and run out into the hallway.
Ellie is standing in front of Kayden’s door, where the majority of the noise is coming from now. I can hear Ewan, but barely under Kayden’s roars.
“Take your dragon and go. I’ll get the bear out of here.”
“What about Ewan?” I go to his door, but I don’t touch the handle.
She shakes her head. “I’ll try to get him to move, but I don’t know what they did to him last night. He’s shut down, and I don’t know whether he wants to reconnect with his wolf now.”
I frown, opening the door slowly. “Ewan?”
“Go away.” He growls it, but it doesn’t have much bite to it, especially as he lays on his cinder block bed in the fetal position. “You should’ve just left me, little dragon-mate.”
I walk into the room, refusing to let him stay this way. “You can go. We all can.” I reach out to touch him and he recoils so fast, you’d think I was trying to burn him with a hot poker.
“What happened?” I whisper.
“Your dragon is lucky. Go, be with him. Leave me to the fighting pits. Let me die with what little dignity I have left.”
Declan’s behind me before I can fully comprehend he’s left his cell, and he growls, “Move. You’re done fighting. You’re done putting yourself through their torture.” He steps around me, getting face-to-face with Ewan. “Don’t make me carry you out of here.”
What happened to him?
Declan looks over his shoulder and projects just one word. Later.
When Ewan doesn’t make any effort to get up on his own, Declan picks him up in a fireman's carry and strides through the open cell door.
Ellie and Kayden are standing outside his cell, and I watch in wonder as she opens a door I didn’t even know was there.
There’s a shimmer as a dark, dirt tunnel lights up with antiquated torches long the walls beyond the door. Ellie leads the way, Kayden leaning heavily on her as they walk. Ellie’s petite in general but looks like a matchstick trying to hold up an ancient tree of a man. She manages anyway, like she’s determined.
Declan carries Ewan out behind her, and as I pull the door shut again behind us, a sliver of a thought I might never see my father again comes and goes just as quickly as the latch clicks into place. The door disappears and there’s more tunnel going the opposite direction.
I turn to find Ellie a few yards ahead opening another door. Boosted with adrenaline I pick up speed to catch up. I exit the doorway close behind Declan, who quickly turns to make sure I’ve come out as well. The early morning sunlight caresses the green sprawling lawn of our estate.
I turn back to find the door is gone, like it never existed.
“Brianna.” Ellie’s voice is crisp and stern, snapping my attention back to the mission at hand and not the wonder of magic and all the questions I have.
Ellie tosses me a set of keys that I don’t catch and have to pick up from the grass. She gestures at me to take her car, which is parked just outside of the tunnel.
“What about you?” I ask.
Ellie shakes her head. “He needs more help than I can get him on this plane. I’ll take care of Kayden. You get your dragon and the wolf to safety. I’ll find you when you’ve settled far from here.”
Declan’s already loading Ewan into the back seat, and he looks beyond broken as he just slumps over the seat and stares blankly ahead. Seeing the wolf for the first time, he hardly looks human or animal. He just looks broken. With all the blood, grime, and hair, I can’t really make out any defining features.
Whatever my father and his cronies did to him, I’m going to make damned sure they pay for it.
Declan slides the keys out of my hand and moves around the car and drops into the seat, starting the engine as I get into the passenger side.
I’m still pulling my seat belt on when he slams on the gas, and we jerk forward onto the residential street outside of the gate. I don’t even care to look back. There’s nothing in that house I want.
“Where are we going to go?”
“For now, we’re getting as far from D.C. as we can. After that, I don’t know.” He looks over at me, reaching for my hand. “Are you sure you’re ready to leave everything you’ve ever known behind?”
I nod once, more sure than I’ve ever been before. My life was never really mine before, but now, all I want is to make sure that no one can ever hurt my dragon, my family, ever again.
Declan drives through the city like he’s done it a thousand times and heads south once we’re on the highway. He’s determined to go as fast as possible but tries to blend in with the flow of traffic. Eventually Ewan’s whimpers fade into the sounds of driving on the highway as he finally falls asleep in the backseat.
I can’t help but keep checking on him, afraid he might just give up and die right there.
“What happened to him?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
The muscle in Declan’s jaw ticks like he clenched it. Nothing else changes, but when he speaks the anger is clear. “The humans who bought his time last night took advantage of him in ways no one should ever suffer. They must have drugged him, but I doubt that’s saved him from feeling everything they forced him to do. I can smell it on him.” Declan’s hands grip the steering wheel so hard it whines a little with the pressure.
Tears sting my eyes. I want to comfort the poor wolf somehow, but it’s not another human forcing themselves on him that he needs, even if it is trying to comfort him. “I can’t believe anyone would do that.” I pause. “I don’t know why humans are so terrified of supernaturals. Not when they’ve done more monstrous things than I’ve ever heard from even the worst mythology.”
“It’s not exclusively a human trait. Every group has bad seeds. It’s inevitable, but humans have perfected the art of destroying someone by using their bodies until they break.” He shakes his head, his fingers stretching like he’s trying to keep himself from tearing off the steering wheel. “I doubt he’ll speak of it, at least not with us, but maybe if I can get him to other wolves, if I can find him friends, he’ll be able to reconnect with his beast and attempt to heal.”
My brow furrows, confused. “What do you mean? Did Ellie not get rid of his marks?”
“There are a lot of ways someone can lose connection to their animal. It’ll take time before he feels comfortable letting his beast out.” He frowns and lets out a deep sigh, his shoulders dropping a little. “Especially if they made him include his wolf in the torture.”
Terrible, horrifying thoughts flicker through my mind as I try to decide what sort of horrendous things could’ve been done to him too quickly to stop the onslaught. I squeeze my eyes shut and clap my hand to my mouth trying to keep the sob inside of me. I hold my breath as the panic and anger simmer down to a level where I can think straight again.
Declan’s hand on my thigh and soft, deep voice slowly brings me back to myself. “Only he can tell us what happened, and he’s in no position to do so. If we can get to my brother, to our clan witch, maybe they can help him through this. If not, we’ll call in other wolves. It’s hard to deny the call of an alpha wolf, even if it’s not his alpha, and they might be able to reach parts of him a dragon or a witch cannot.” Declan reaches over and gives my thigh a gentle squeeze. “If they can’t, he might never know the joy of finding his mate. Or he might let the wolf take over, so that he doesn’t have to dwell on what they made his human side do. Dragons aren’t the only ones who can get lost in their beast. Although I’ve never heard of a wolf losing it as much as a dragon who has succumbed to the Craze.”
There’s so much I still don’t know about shifters, about dragons, and every time I think I’m getting the hang of things, I learn something new that makes me worried for Declan, for Ewan, for Kayden, and for anyone else that’s been forced into captivity by people like my father.
My father is a monster.
We drive on in the quiet for a while, and even though Declan seems to have blocked his thoughts from me, he keeps one hand touching me at all times, whether it’s holding mine, or he’s resting his hot palm over my bare thigh.
It’s like he can’t quite believe we’re free either. I’m glad for the contact, because sometimes I’m afraid I’m going to wake up in my bedroom and he’ll still be locked in the basement.
Declan seems to be the least damaged from the time in my basement, but I know he’s got scars he won’t let me see, and he’s done things that he’s not proud of, things he had to do to survive.
I just hope he knows that no matter what, he’s never going to have to face this stuff alone ever again.