15. Croy #2
“I told you,” a sinister voice echoed, “I told you to come home, Maya. Your fate there would have been far better than what they have planned for you here. All that struggle, all that fighting and running, only to end up back where you belong, serving the only purpose you have.”
His voice went lower. “And you will be serving that fucking purpose. I’ve lost everything, you fucking bitch. I lost half my coven and had to move them all here to live under this asshole’s reign, just to make sure I got you back. I would say it’s worth it, but you haven’t proven that to me yet.”
“Why here? Why now?” Maya’s voice was rough and uneven.
“That bastard wanted to wait until you’d completed all of your mating bonds. I told him to leave your mates back there, but he insists that having them here could aid in convincing you to behave.”
Maya inhaled sharply. “This isn’t about them. Let them go. I’ll stay. I promise I’ll stay. They don’t need to be part of this.”
“Oh, but they do,” the voice responded. “You need to be taught a lesson, and after I kill your mates in front of you, I can break you in the proper way this time.”
My wolf had me fighting against the thick, oily darkness that was invading every element of my subconscious. It was trying to drown me, but the feeling of fear in my mate bond was overruling it as I continued to push and prod at it.
I would not give up.
I would not allow this to be the end of me. After over two hundred years, I would survive long enough to make sure that my sugar got out of this bullshit.
I did know one thing, though—the magic we were dealing with was sick and unnatural. It had completely drained my power until there was absolutely nothing left of it, my wolf’s voice growing weaker. I kept pushing through.
My magic was such an innate part of me, and had been for hundreds of years, so I felt almost blind without the full use of it.
I felt like I was missing a limb. But I kept pushing.
I had never realized how much willpower I had before I was fighting against magic that wanted to completely blackout my life force.
Maya’s scream echoed somewhere in my head, and my wolf surged forward in a final effort…
I flung up and broke from the darkness, the veil of it falling, and searched for my mate.
Nothing else mattered more than finding her in that moment.
I heard the sound of something cracking in my body, and the scent of my mate’s blood had me in a panic as I looked around.
My vision went dizzy as I looked down, blood dripping from my head where I’d hit it against the iron bars…
Maya.
This time, Maya wasn’t looking up at me.
Instead, she was seemingly unconscious, curled on her side.
There was far more trauma on her body, and she was bleeding from her nose.
Rage and fury boiled in me as my breathing went fast. I almost fucking shifted, but I fisted the bars and kept my head down, reminding myself that I couldn’t help her if I lost it.
At least…at least her bleeding meant she would heal.
It was so fucked up to think, but if I didn’t find something remotely encouraging, I would be lost to a completely different darkness.
I looked around the dark cell of hers, trying to see if she was in any immediate danger, but all I could see was a small, curled up form in the corner, seemingly half the size of Maya.
I knew the flight was behind me, our cage empty outside of ourselves, so I instead focused on the possible threat to Maya.
I whistled, attempting to get the individual’s attention, and almost immediately they looked up. My chest squeezed uncomfortably as a girl that I had to assume was only twelve looked directly at me.
I winced when I noticed how battered she was.
Most of her bruises were old—really fucking old—but some of them were new.
Her hair was also shorter in some places, and her eyes were bloodshot and dark, contrasting her pale, almost gaunt face.
Poor kid. I didn’t want to even consider how long she’d been here.
“Please don’t talk to me,” she whispered. “The witch just came in here and hurt her for talking to you. I don’t want to get in trouble. He’s so much worse than any of the guards.”
I looked around, confirming there were no guards around at the moment. “Just answer me this—you’ve been here for some time, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t know how long it’s been,” she answered honestly. She curled up further, and the sound of a meow had me narrowing my eyes at her.
“Bella?” I called. As the kitten in question peeked her head out from the girl’s arms, the girl made a worried noise.
“I am taking care of her and protecting her until Maya wakes up. I promise, that’s all.
She asked me to.” The girl looked terrified of me, and to be fair, I probably looked horrifying.
I nodded and looked back down at my mate, frowning as I reached through the bars and placed my fingers on her pulse, relieved to feel it thrumming strongly.
“She will be fine soon. He made her bleed… The other guards made sure to not do that, but he seemed to know her. I hope he doesn’t stay. He’s new and he uses a belt to hurt people,” the girl offered in a sad voice.
“You know what she is?” I demanded softly.
She nodded and swallowed, her eyes darting over my shoulder before she answered. “A phoenix, like me,” she murmured, tucking her head into Bella’s fur.
The kitten looked in pretty good shape. Her fur was a bit dirty, but she was licking the side of the girl’s face, making me know that Maya had really assigned Bella to protect the girl, not the other way around. I shook my head. My mate was so damn sweet, it was actually dangerous sometimes.
I still didn’t understand why or how Bella even got here…
“Maya was telling me how worried she was about her, and the demon brought her in a few minutes later.” The girl’s voice turned confused.
“She got really mad at him. Yelled at him and everything about bringing her here…which seemed to confuse him, and then he got mad. She swore at him and told him to go away… He actually listened to her. It was insane.”
That’s my girl. I would have paid to see that fucking bastard run from her.
Before I could respond, Marco’s voice had me looking over at where he was struggling to get up. “What the hell?—”
“Some type of prison. Malcolm is here. I don’t really know what else is going on,” I admitted roughly. “Apparently the guards tried to do a number on us.”
“Tried is a goddamn understatement,” he muttered before seeming to realize the seriousness of the situation.
His emotions slipped into a mask of fury as he took in Maya’s limp body. I exhaled sharply. “Marco, how the hell are we going to get out of this?”
The flight leader looked at me, and his jaw tightened. “I have no idea.”