Chapter 9
NINE
BASH
“ M otherfucker!” I roared as I finally managed to free myself from the handcuffs restraining me.
Every muscle in my body hurt fiercely, and I was nearly one hundred percent certain I’d temporarily lost feeling in my left hand.
At least I hadn’t been suspended in the air by my cock. That would’ve been fucking embarrassing.
I rolled my neck from side to side, attempting futilely to alleviate some of the tension residing there, and then called out, “You still good in there, Z?”
“Just hanging around!” she chirped back, and yeah, I couldn’t help but laugh.
The girl was a menace to society, but I loved the shit out of her.
Something dark and insidious descended on my mood, turning it somber. I couldn’t believe I had hurt her. Me. Or…my magic, to be specific. I didn’t know what exactly happened, but her pained cry and tiny whimpers would haunt me for as long as I lived.
Now that I was on my own two feet, I could take a closer look at the room I was in.
It reminded me of a patient’s room you would see in a hospital—those institutions having long been abandoned and replaced by apothecaries run by mages.
A single cot devoid of any blankets rested against the far wall, with a bunch of strange devices and equipment surrounding it. Lupe would no doubt know the names of each and every one of these things. Nerd.
Opposite the cot sat a tiny stool and a rolling cart that had a bunch of white hospital gowns and rags. It was there I looked first, pushing clothing away until I clasped the handle of a dagger.
“Ha!” I called, satisfied.
“You found something?”
“I wouldn’t be your knight in shining armor if I didn’t,” I retorted, already moving towards the door in the room.
It was stainless steel and had no window that I could see.
Something akin to panic seized my chest.
What the fuck was on the other side of that door?
“Bash?” Z tentatively called.
I must’ve been silent for too long.
“I’m coming,” I assured her, straightening my spine nearly imperceptibly.
I could do this. I had to fucking do this.
For Z.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed down on the handle, half expecting the door to be locked, and then threw it open.
I didn’t know what I expected to greet me on the other side—a one-hundred-pound beast, perhaps, with glowing red eyes, serrated teeth, and claws the size of my forearm—but all I saw was an empty hallway. Dust covered every square inch, and the windows were boarded up, allowing only tiny slivers of light to penetrate the darkened hallway. Certainly not enough to see by.
Dozens of doors lined the walls on either side, but I knew which one belonged to Z, so I bypassed the others and moved towards where I assumed hers would be.
Only to discover there was no door.
None.
Zippo.
Zero.
I tapped my knuckles against the wall. “Z?”
“Yeah?” Her voice was more muffled than it had been before, almost as if this wall separating us was thicker than the one in my cell.
“There’s no door.”
There was a beat of silence. “Yeah. I probably should’ve mentioned that sooner…”
I pinched the bridge of my nose to fend off the encroaching migraine. “You are so lucky I think your butt is cute.”
“I’ll have to thank my butt at a later time,” she quipped.
“I’ll thank your butt,” I retorted, then frowned.
How the fuck was I supposed to get her out of a room that didn’t have a door?
My magic tingled just beneath my skin, ravaging my veins like molten lava, and I could feel it begin to congregate in my hands. Green orbs lit up the darkness?—
And a familiar scream rended the air.
“Z!” My magic dissipated, retreating back into itself, but my panic remained, blasting through me and seizing the air in my lungs.
“I’m.” Gasp. “Fine.”
“Motherfucker!” I roared, throwing my fist at the plaster.
“You used your magic again, didn’t you?” Z didn’t sound angry or even upset. Yes, her voice was raspy and rough, as if she hadn’t used her vocal cords in far too long, but there wasn’t an ounce of malice in her question.
“Z, I’m so fucking sorry?—”
“Not your fault,” she interrupted. “I blame Lilith.”
“Z—” It probably wasn’t a smart idea to talk badly about the demoness when we were in her domain, undergoing her trial.
“Do you hear that, Lilith? You’re a bitch!” Z hollered, and I wondered if she was staring up at the ceiling, imagining her mother looking down on her.
I braced myself for…something. I didn’t know what.
For Lilith to magically appear and smite Z down?
For the ground to shake and crumble beneath our feet?
For the building to begin to shatter?
Nothing happened.
Relief loosened a few of the rigid muscles lining my shoulders—not all of them, though—and I dropped my forehead against the wall, directly over the hole I’d made with my fist. I wanted to see Z with my own two eyes, ensure she was okay, but there was another layer obscuring her from view.
“I’m going to get you out of here, Z. Just hang in there,” I vowed.
“Poor choice of words,” she said.
“I’m trying to be serious and loving,” I told her with feigned sternness. “Can you stop with the jokes? Is that too hard for you?”
“You would know that I like things hard…”
I once again pinched the bridge of my nose. I was beginning to understand how Devlin always felt when he had to deal with us.
“Think of her ass, Bash. Think of her ass. You can deal with her shitty personality,” I muttered to myself—though I kept my voice just loud enough for Z to hear.
Her laughter permeated the air, light and free, and I felt an answering one bubble in my chest. I would never get tired of hearing that sound. It soothed my frayed nerves in a way nothing else did.
Now I just needed to figure out how the fuck I could get Z out of there.
A shiver stole up my spine, and a seed of panic took root.
What if I couldn’t get her out in time? Was there even a time limit? How long could a human dangle from the motherfucking ceiling?
Why was my magic hurting her? Was this a part of the test?
“Bash?” Z’s tentative voice once again curled around me like fog.
“Yeah.” I kept my forehead pressed against the wall.
“I can hear you thinking hard.” There was another prolonged pause, then she said, “I know you’ll be able to get me out of here.”
“You have a lot of faith in me, Z,” I confessed. “But I can’t even use my magic?—”
“So?” I could practically see Z arching an incredulous eyebrow at me. The visual brought a fleeting smile to my face, one I quickly suppressed. “Your magic doesn’t define you. You don’t need it to get me out of this mess.”
I wanted to believe her. I truly did, but…
I was a mage, a nightmare descended from one of the seven deadly sins, Sloth. We were inherently lazy, choosing to use our magic to fix every little inconvenience. I’d be the first to admit that I’d become complacent over the years. I’d barely noticed when I was using my magic versus when I wasn’t. My powers… They were a part of me, as crucial to my anatomy as a limb.
Swallowing around a ball of fire, I straightened.
I might have been a mage, but I was a mate first and foremost. And right now, she needed me. I would punch this damn wall until my knuckles were broken and bloody before I would even consider giving up.
No…not even then.
If I couldn’t use my knuckles, I would kick the wall instead. Fuck, I would use my goddamn head if that was what it took.
Determination settling inside of me, I stomped down the hall, searching for anything I could use as a tool. I opened up rooms at random, unsurprised to see that most of them looked identical to the one I was held in.
At the very end of the hall, I found what I’d been looking for.
A sledgehammer.
Satisfaction lit a fire in my belly, and a grin curved my lips as I gripped the weapon.
“Come to daddy, you little slugger,” I purred, then instantly winced, praying Z hadn’t overheard that.
She would never let me live it down.
I returned to her room and proudly held the sledgehammer up in the air…before remembering that she couldn’t see it no matter how many times I brandished it.
“Did you find something?”
“Of course I did,” I responded, trying to decide where I should hit first. “Ye of little faith.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, you dork. I’m the one who gave you that encouraging pep talk. Now, get your sexy ass to work and get me out of here. I think my arm is about to break off.”
Her words, though lighthearted, caused my heart to gallop in fear. Chills careened down my spine.
Once again, I couldn’t help but ask myself—how long could a human survive these conditions? Logically, I knew that she would be okay, but a tiny niggle of fear persisted, clawing at my defenses, demanding to be let in.
Forcing myself to chuckle warily, I returned to my abandoned room and pushed the cot away. The wall seemed to be thinner here. Z’s voice came through clearer.
“Why do I get the impression you only like me for my body?” I teased, rolling my shoulders back and lifting the sledgehammer.
“That’s not true!” Z insisted. Then she added, “I only like you for your cock.”
“It is a damn good cock,” I conceded, throwing the hammer at the wall.
Plaster and debris tumbled down, and a tiny crack emerged.
“Ehhh…”
“I’ll leave you trapped in there forever,” I warned her, already hitting that spot again.
The crack broadened slightly.
“You love my butt too much.”
“That’s true.”
On and on this continued. I threw the sledgehammer at the wall with all my might, sweat dripping down my forehead and plastering my shirt to my skin, while Z teased me mercilessly. I felt as if I’d been pounding on the wall for hours, yet there was only a fist-sized crack in the plaster. If I had any doubt before, it dissipated.
Some sort of magic imbued this wall.
Motherfucker.
Still, I wasn’t going to give up. I refused to.
I swung and swung and swung. My arms—which were already sore from the contortions I’d put them through trying to grab the key—ached and felt as if they were seconds from popping out of their sockets. So much sweat and debris covered me that I imagined I would need at least five baths to clean myself completely.
At one point, Z told me to take a breath, that she would be okay, that she could hear how haggard my breathing had become.
I simply snarled at her and continued hitting at the damn wall.
Hours later, when my arms felt like lead and my knees were trembling, the hole in the wall was big enough for me to slip through. I had to arch my back in a way that probably made me look like a camel, but soon I was in Z’s room.
The sight of her nearly broke my damn heart.
“Z!” I breathed, stumbling towards her.
My legs threatened to give out from underneath me, but sheer determination and stubbornness kept me upright.
“My hero,” she whispered breathily, her lids drooping.
Dark bruises marred the skin of her shoulders and upper back, and I imagined she’d gotten them when she was attempting to deliver the key to me.
Fierce anger rose to life, and I never wanted to murder someone more than I did Lilith. And that was saying something, considering we had a list of enemies more than a mile long.
I tugged the cot in her room closer to her, then stood on it, reaching forward to cut at the strange band around her neck. Red, mottled skin greeted me as soon as I removed the restraint.
“I’m going to kill that bitch,” I growled, already moving on to her wrists.
“Why do I have to have such a fucked-up family?” Z asked, her tone drowsy, her head lolling against her chest.
“Why don’t we just kill all of our parents and become orphans?” I suggest, only half kidding.
Okay, a quarter kidding.
Z snorted. “Except for Seth. I like him.”
“Yeah, he’s one of the good ones,” I admitted, thinking of Ryland’s father.
We discovered a short bit ago that the shadow king was actually a member of the human resistance. He had been trying to help humans this entire time. When the other kings discovered this, they locked him away.
I finally cut away the last sliver of rope, and Z slumped forward. I caught her before she hit the ground, and the two of us fell onto the cot, me on my back with her on top.
She lifted her head slightly to smile at me—a sad, weary, droopy smile that made my heart squeeze like it was being fed to a meat grinder.
“Hi,” she breathed shakily.
I smirked and brushed at a strand of her curly hair. “Hi.”
“You’re stinky,” she said, ever the romantic.
“Right back at you.”
With a tired, contented sigh, she rested her cheek on my chest. My arms came around her instinctively, holding her to me.
“Where do we go next?” Her voice sounded muffled from where her lips pressed to my shirt. “How do we get out of here?”
“The front door?” I suggested, though I didn’t want to move.
I would never get tired of having her in my arms. A weight eased from my shoulders, slid down my arms, and then took a running leap off the tips of my fingers. It felt like I could finally breathe.
“We should?—”
Z’s words were cut off by a bright light slicing through the room. I instinctively squeezed my eyelids shut and held Z tighter. The light grew in intensity until I feared I would go blind. Even with my eyes shut, I could feel it cutting at my eyeballs.
As abruptly as it arrived, the light faded.
I opened my eyes.
“What the…?” Z squinted slightly as she lifted her head, glancing in both directions. Shock crowded her perfect features. “How did we…?”
I sat up on the bed, still holding her in my arms, only to see that we were no longer in the abandoned hospital. We were back at the resistance camp, in the tent, on my bed.
“Z! Bash!” The stunned voice drew my attention to Mali, who stood at the entrance of the tent, her features abnormally pale. “Oh my god.”
“Mali?” Z shifted slightly, attempting to raise her head.
Mali spun on her heel and began to scream at the top of her lungs, “They’re back! Z and Bash are back!”
I exchanged an uneasy glance with Z.
If we had truly been transported to some other location and had been gone for hours, then the others…
Six men ran into the tent, all but pushing each other over in their rush to get to us.
Ryland reached us first, no doubt with the help of his shadows, and knelt directly in front of us. For once, the darkness that always lingered around his face was nowhere to be seen. His ice-blue eyes were wide and wild in his scarred face as they zeroed in on us.
He shakily brought a hand to Z’s cheek and cradled it.
“Z…” he breathed, then pressed his lips to her own, seemingly unaware—or not caring—that she was still sitting in my lap.
Not that I cared, per se…
But now was probably not the time to get a boner.
As Ryland kissed Z like his life depended on it, I allowed my gaze to drift to my other brothers.
Devlin’s olive complexion looked sickly, and his hair stood up in all directions. Killian had dark shadows beneath both of his eyes. Jax was repeatedly scratching at his wrist, his eyes darting from face to face without ever sticking on one person longer than a second. It almost reminded me of when he went years without feeding on blood.
Which was impossible. He had just fed on Z.
Lupe was pacing, repeatedly running a hand through his dark-brown hair, his glasses slightly askew on his large nose. And Dair… Dair sat in a wheelchair, his hands gripping the wheels so tightly his knuckles were white.
What the fuck happened in the few hours we were away?
Z must’ve had the same thought as me because she gently disengaged herself from Ryland and turned to face the others.
“What happened when we were gone?” She canted her head to the side.
“Lilith really should’ve given us a warning before she poofed us away,” I grumbled, frowning.
My frown deepened when Z stood from my lap and shakily moved to stand in the middle of her other mates.
“Are you okay?”
“Are you hurt?”
“What happened?”
They all rushed towards her at once.
Z stared down at herself and frowned. Her fingers tentatively moved to her neck, caressing the skin there.
Her unblemished skin.
What the fuck?
Come to think of it, I was no longer covered in sweat, dirt, or debris. I felt as I had when I was first transported into the trial. The pain in my shoulders had all but diminished.
“I’m fine,” Z said softly, more to herself than to any of them. Confusion drew her brows together before she forced her features to relax. She turned towards Devlin, who was closest, and placed her hand on his cheek. “I’m sorry that we worried you guys.”
“Probably was weird as fuck to see,” I agreed, thinking back. “One second, we were there, and the next, poof. And then to have us magically appear a few hours later…”
I shook my head and released a mirthless chuckle.
Devlin’s brows dipped. “What are you talking about?”
Z and I exchanged another look. “The Trial of Lilith. Don’t you remember?”
“Of course we remember,” Ryland hissed. He sounded more agitated than I’d ever heard him in my life. My unease ratcheted up a dozen notches. “You guys just fucking vanished without a trace.”
“We knew it had to be the first Trial of Lilith.” An unnamed emotion roughened Lupe’s voice. “But…”
“But then days passed, and you still hadn’t returned,” Dair finished gravely.
He lowered his gaze to his lap.
Z released a strangled, high-pitched noise. “Days?”
Devlin’s lips pressed together into a firm line. “You two have been gone for just over a week.”
“Eight days, seven hours, and forty-six minutes to be exact,” Jax intoned quietly from the back of the group.
His dazed eyes rested on something just above Z’s head.
Z swallowed, the color leaching from her face, turning it a ghostly shade of white. “Oh…fuck.”