Chapter Thirty-Eight #2
In fact, they recognized several people and had reported their names into the comms so our guys outside could do some background checks.
Bas turned to us with his hand on the basement doorknob. “Ready?”
We gave nods, and he slowly opened the door.
Having to open doors to go in and out of the rooms had been an issue the entire time we’d been here.
There were video cameras—and actual people around—so anything could pick up random doors opening and closing by what seemed to be an invisible person.
And if someone was paying attention, they’d see a pattern of us checking the rooms and making our way down here.
I was afraid the alarm would sound, but so far, it hadn’t.
We all held still, listening, waiting, but no one came.
With a nod, Bas headed down the stairs and into the basement.
I kind of expected it to be dark and dank down here, but there were actually a lot of lights on… and a lot more people down here than any of us expected.
The basement was very large, taking up the entire length of the building. I was a little horrified by what we might find, but nothing could’ve prepared me for the first thing I saw.
On the far side in the back, there was a row of cages. There was no other word for them.
They were cages for people.
There were at least sixteen cages—they were kind of stacked with two rows to walk through, so I didn’t know the exact number yet.
Each one was probably fifteen by fifteen, and every single one of them was jam-packed with people.
In some of them, the people were practically sitting on top of each other.
They were dirty, skinny, many had tear stains or were actively crying, and all of them looked terrified.
In front of the cages were a few tables, a small kitchenette, lots of chairs, and a few cots—a hell of a lot more than the poor people in the cages had.
And all of the people walking around were carrying assault rifles, knives, handguns, and an array of spells, potions, and tonics.
I couldn’t even count how many each of the… soldiers had. But it was a lot.
And there were a lot of them.
It was going to take a lot of firepower to take them all down.
There were also quite a few people walking around who didn’t have any weapons or spells at all.
I watched them for a few seconds before I realized they were acting as servants to the soldiers—cooking, cleaning, bringing them food and drinks, taking them clean clothes, and was that a washer and dryer next to the kitchenette?
All of the servants had chains around their ankles.
I wanted to puke.
I wanted to rage.
I wanted to set each and every soldier on fire, burn them to a crisp, and eat them so they could never hurt another soul again.
Were the servants people they’d taken out of the cages? Were they rotated in and out, or did they keep them?
A woman in one of the cages off to the left let out a loud sob, and a nearby soldier banged on the cage threateningly and yelled, “Shut up, whore, or I’ll cut out your tongue and make you.”
The woman tried to quiet down, but she was crying harder and having trouble.
I was about to suggest we make a distraction to give the woman a chance to quiet herself when a loud bang happened in front of the last cage on the right.
Everyone’s attention, including the asshole soldier’s, turned that way, and I winced when I saw a young girl, a teenager, kneeling on the ground and picking up a bunch of dishes she’d obviously dropped.
Hiro murmured, “She did that on purpose.”
Oh. Oh wow. The girl had the same idea as me, and my heart pounded in my chest as I watched one of the soldiers backhand her so hard her body swung around, making her cry out and land on her hands and knees.
Even from here, I could tell she was in pain when she glanced up, moved her hair out of her face, and I got a good look at her. She was in pain, but she was also pissed and determined.
“Sorry, sir,” she spat out, sounding anything but respectful. “I’ll clean up my mess.”
“You better or I’ll show you exactly what happens to little girls who don’t know how to follow orders.”
“Yes, sir.” The sir was so sarcastic, I was afraid she’d be hit again.
Luckily, another soldier stepped in, blocking the first guy and trying to calm him down.
Oakley’s small whimper caught my attention, and I turned to them to find them holding back tears, one hand over their mouth, staring at the teenager.
When I paid more attention, I could feel their turmoil.
They were terrified, happy, sad, felt guilty, and about a million other things that were too overwhelming to examine when we were in the middle of hostile territory.
“Oak?” I whispered, but they ignored me, still staring at the little girl.
I looked at her again, back at Oak, and back at the girl. Something clicked in my head. All of the turmoil Oak felt, all of the pain.
The story they’d told me about their friend, Coral, about her being killed, about her younger siblings. That had happened when Oakley was sixteen—eleven years ago—and they’d said Coral’s younger siblings were three and four at the time.
I glanced at the girl again. She looked to be around fifteen, so she was the right age.
Finally, Oakley breathed out, “Isidore,” and I knew I was right.
Before I even registered what I was doing, I had my arms wrapped around Oakley from behind, holding them to my chest. They pulled against me, and my heart wrenched when they let out a sob.
“I have to get her. I have to save her. Please, Roman, let me go. I have to save her. Please… please.” They were full-on crying now, and I glanced around to make sure our soundproofing spells were still working. No one was reacting, so I figured they were.
“Shhh… it’s okay, Oak. It’s alright.” I kept my lips close to their ear, even as I tightened my hold on them, and they struggled forcefully. “We’re going to get her. We’ll save her, Oak. We will. We just have to be smart about it.”
“I can’t leave her. Not again. I can’t, I can’t… I can’t…”
“Babydoll, you’re not leaving her. We’d be killed if we tried to save her right now, okay? We need to get out, regroup, and come back.”
“Please, Roman, don’t make me leave her again… please.”
Basil stepped in front of us, blocking Oakley’s view, and they thrashed harder in my arms, trying to see the teenager.
“Move, Bas,” I growled out. I was having enough trouble holding onto a damn dragon as it was. I was pretty sure the only reason they hadn’t escaped was because they didn’t want to hurt me.
Bas said, “Listen to your comm. Listen, Oak. It’s gonna be okay.”
Oakley didn’t stop thrashing, but they did quiet down enough for me to hear my own comm.
“Oakley, listen to me,” a voice said. “We are going to get that girl and all the others out, okay? I promise you, we will save them.” The voice had softened so much, speaking in such a soothing tone, that it took me a moment to realize it was Ailin speaking.
Normally, he was so gruff and almost angry-sounding, but not now. Now he sounded gentle and calm.
Bas remained in front of us with Hiro at his back, clearly guarding us all so we could focus on Oakley.
“Are you hearing me, Oak? I promise we’ll get them out,” Ailin said softly.
Oakley wasn’t happy about it, but they stopped thrashing and used their own magic, just a brief thought, to turn their mic on. “I have to save her. I can’t leave her alone. Not again.”
“And you won’t.” That sounded like Ailin’s typical gruffness. “We’re going to get her out.”
“I can’t leave—”
“If you try to save that girl right now, all you’re going to do is get yourself, her, and everyone else, including your viramore, killed. Do you hear me, Oakley? You can’t take her. Not right now.”
“But—” They were crying now, but Ailin kept going anyway.
“We. Will. Save. Her. I. Promise. We can come back in a matter of hours if we have to. But you need to leave right now. Come out to your team so we can figure this out together.”
They were trembling in my arms and suddenly leaned heavily into me. “You promise?”
“Yes, Oak.” Ailin’s voice was soft again. “We will save her and all the other children they have there, all the other people. We. Will.”
Oakley took another shuddering breath before nodding and standing on their own, although I didn’t let go of them.
Bas said, “We’re good, Dad.”
“Then get the fuck out of there right the fuck now.” He definitely sounded like his normal self now. In another circumstance, I would’ve laughed.
Bas met my gaze, and I gave a nod. Yes, I would do whatever it took to get Oakley out of here without notifying the entire cult we were here.
Basil nodded back. “With me.” He started walking.
It took me another thirty seconds to convince Oak to move, and although they were reluctant, they allowed me to walk them through the basement, up the stairs, down the hallway, and outside.
We went across the street and behind another building where some of our team were waiting for us—the rest were still watching the building. The second Ailin saw us, he walked over.
Without a word, he pulled Oakley into his arms, hugging them and holding the back of their head as he whispered, “You did the right thing. I promise. It’s gonna be okay, kiddo. It’s gonna be okay.”
I thought my dragon would freak out, but he didn’t see Ailin as a threat. He was so very clearly stepping in for Garrick right now that I couldn’t even be upset at him. Ailin was in Dad Mode, and my dragon recognized that. He recognized that was exactly what Oakley needed right now.
Oakley sobbed, and my eyes watered, and before I knew it, I found myself in Sebastian’s arms. He hugged me tight, giving me that dad hug everyone always talked about, and even though I was so much older than him, he still somehow felt fatherly.
I guess Oak wasn’t the only one who needed some Dad Mode right now.
Seb whispered, “They’ll be alright, Rome. We’ve got this, okay? We’ve got you, both of you.”
I nodded and hugged him back for a long time before releasing him and offering a small smile.
When I turned back to Oakley, they seemed calmer, and Ailin slowly released them from his arms, passing my viramore off to me. I pulled Oak into me, holding them as tight as I dared, kissing their hair, and breathing them in.
Ailin patted me on the back and whispered, “We still have our perimeter up. I’m gonna collect a handful of people and meet you in our base of operations.
” We’d rented out a small office space in the guise of a new business close by so we’d have somewhere to be without leaving the area or possibly leading the cult back to our safe houses.
“We’ll make a plan, but we’ll have eyes on the building at all times. No one is escaping us.”
I gave a nod, relieved that he was taking charge for a few minutes so I could concentrate on Oakley.
Leaning back, I cupped Oak’s face in my hands. “Babydoll…” I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t okay. Nothing about this situation was.
They only met my gaze for half a beat, looking off to the side as they spoke. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have acted like that in the middle of a mission. That was horrible and so unprofessional. I’m sor—”
I popped a kiss on their mouth. “Don’t do that. You’re fine.”
They snorted. “I’m not, and I almost cost us the mission. Hell, I almost got us all killed. You should be firing me.”
“No one’s firing you. You’re fine, love. You’re really fine.”
They blew out a breath and let their forehead fall to my chest. “I’m sorry.”
Letting out a sigh, I rubbed their back and held them for a long time before I led them to our base of operations to figure out how the hell we were going to pull this off.
There were a lot more victims than we’d expected, between those in the cages and those walking around in chains, and there were a lot more soldiers with a lot more weapons and spells than we’d thought.
This was going to be harder than we’d expected.