Chapter 20 #2
“I will gut you if you even touch him,” she promised.
Gareth simply shook his head and threw a sadistic laugh her way. “It’s unfortunate for you that you won’t be there to stop it. You’ll be unconscious, in a state of slumber until you’ve been entirely used up.”
A shudder ran down her spine. She flung her fists at him again, not even caring that the bars were molten and her skin burned on impact.
She screamed through the pain, grabbing his face hard, and her nails found sensitive skin and dug in deep.
Gareth yelped, prying himself free and stepping back just out of reach.
His eyes were red, his skin marked with her nails. His eyes flared with anger. “You’ll pay for that with your life.”
With that, he spun on his heel, leaving her and the rest of them caged and helpless.
She had to find her son. She didn’t care what happened to her.
This was exactly what she had feared, and it had happened.
Her heart clenched as tears stung her eyes.
She cried out, smashing her hand against the rough rock wall that lined the back of the cell.
She could sense the others staring at her, and she turned to them. They didn’t speak for fear of what other tricks Gareth would pull on them if he heard them. From the cameras that blinked around them, she was certain he would hear every word.
Batting at the tears that threatened to spill, she let the anger wash over her and fill her entire being with the emptiness she’d felt since leaving Cole for his own protection.
Felice’s eyes widened—at what, Zera couldn’t figure out.
Maverick even looked startled, along with the vamp whose bloodred eyes were dim, due to the bracelets they all donned.
That was when she realized what was wrong.
“It was him,” she gasped.
“Who?” asked Felice, whose wounds looked the least gnarly. The troll had definitely taken it out more on the others. Even Irdeel lay unconscious on the vamp’s lap.
“The demon. Your forger.” The one who’d attacked her outside the cell moments before. Maverick stiffened, and Zera knew he’d also put the pieces together. “He’s how Gareth knew where to find Cole. He sold my son out to that ugly piece of elven shit!”
She took a steady breath, and as she exhaled, she let out a wail that shook her entire core.
Bones cracked. Perhaps they were hers. She couldn’t feel anything.
All she saw was blood. Gareth’s blood, which she would use to paint these walls.
She was no one’s prisoner. She’d lived as though she was trapped for long enough, trapped with fear from the expectations pressed upon her from others.
She was done conforming to what others wanted or needed from her.
The blood in her veins chilled, and suddenly that familiar warmth of magic moved an inch.
The siphons orbiting her wrists and ankles quivered, but still her magic froze, and her wings flattened farther into her back before melting into her spine, dormant once again.
But she felt the give in the binds that locked her magic.
She would keep pressing, pushing them until she was free.
Breathless, she panted and stared at everything and nothing at all.
A primal energy hummed beneath her skin, and she knew she was close.
The siphons would give, and she’d save her son.
Cole would be free. She would give anything to kill Gareth and get her son to safety.
That wasn’t just a wish. It was a promise.
She balled her hands into fists as her heart hummed to the beat of the vengeance that prowled inside her heart.
“Whoa.” Felice’s eyebrows shot up. “That puts even my siren call to shame.”
Maverick choked on a laugh, sweat beading across his brow before he turned serious at the look in Zera’s eyes.
“Did you know it was Quill?” she asked.
Something in his gaze broke, and a muscle in his temple quivered. “I swear on my life I didn’t.”
Zera trained her gaze on the siren and vamp, who both shook their heads adamantly.
“Irdeel wouldn’t have known either,” Cillian said, the tightness in his eyes proof enough for Zera to believe him.
“That bastard,” Maverick said, spitting on the floor where Gareth had stood.
“How long do you think Quill was spying on us?” Zera asked. Sweat beaded across her forehead. “From the beginning?”
“No,” Maverick said firmly. “I believe he wasn’t interested in the bounty, but Gareth must’ve sweetened the deal later. Which is why he gave us that tip about Kraven. Shit.”
The guilt in his voice and expression was palpable even through the pain of the wolfsbane burning through his skin. The silver liquid crusted where the rope held him bound.
He slumped against the restraints and fixed Zera with a pleading gaze. “I’m so sorry, Zera. I should’ve known. Should’ve—”
“Don’t.” She shook her head. She couldn’t hear another apology. He’d done enough for her. He’d given up everything to protect her and her son. She knew that. He wasn’t to blame for this. He wasn’t the one who should be begging for her forgiveness.
Judging from the change in his eyes, he knew what she meant. Even without their bond—she got emptiness when she reached for his mind—he still understood her in a way that no one else could.
“He will pay,” Maverick choked out. “Both of them. But not until your son is safe.”
It was all she needed to hear to fuel her.
Her son was out there in this stronghold somewhere.
Scared, alone, and in the arms of that hideous man who would use them, drain them for their pixie dust. A pit formed in her throat at the thought of what Gareth might do, what he would have already done to her baby.
“Yes, he will,” she hissed. The siphons quivered again as her rage flared in a rush of fire and ice through her bones.
“But how?” Felice asked, motioning to Irdeel, who was just now beginning to stir. “We’re already one fae down, we don’t have any magic, plus we’re trapped in this cell for who knows how long.”
Zera was opening her mouth to respond when a metal door clanged open. At least she wouldn’t have to wait very long to get out of here.
The elven fae with the red key ring marched down the hall, the keys rattling with each of his massive steps. His nose scrunched up, and his bloodred eyes flickered over each one of them.
“Filth,” he muttered before unlocking the gate. He focused his hateful gaze on Zera. It took all of her power not to cringe back. “The master will see you in the dining hall. The investor wants to see his product.”
Her lip curled upward at the corners, and she snarled as the elf grabbed her with a death grip. The siphons were weakening. If she could break free of them by the time they reached the dining room, she would destroy each and every one of them.
“Do it,” Maverick said, as if he’d read her thoughts. She looked back and met his eyes filled with determination. “And don’t you dare come back.”
Tears sprang up when his eyes bulged as he silently pleaded for her to get far away from them once she got her son.
She blinked the moisture away. She couldn’t manage a response.
He was prepared to give up his life so that she and her son could be free.
She ground her teeth and forced her legs to move down that hallway, farther away from the one man who truly loved her the way she deserved to be loved.
The one man who she knew in her heart would be the only one she would ever feel this way for. Her mate.
She swallowed hard, but her heart remained elsewhere.
Despite her love for Maverick, her son would always be her priority.
Cole deserved a long and happy life, and it was her duty to ensure that happened.
It was an honor, and when she got her baby out of here, she would be eternally grateful for each person who made it possible.
That was the future. She wouldn’t let herself doubt it.
The elven fae shoved her through the endless halls, past even more metal doorways.
Scratches lined the stones around them, as if something massive had been dragged past them.
She wouldn’t think about what that might be.
The stagnant air smelled more of rotting blood and feces the deeper into the mountain they went.
It took all of Zera’s willpower to keep her empty stomach from retching.
Finally, the narrow halls opened into a giant room carved out of the stone itself.
A massive rug with threads of blue and green covered the center, stained with dark blood that a fairy clothed in rags scrubbed with a hard-bristle brush.
A red collar circled her neck. A prisoner to the elves.
Like they all were. It wasn’t right. These were crimes against the Fae Realm.
Did the Fae Tribunal even know? Were they aware of Gareth and what he did in the dark?
The fairy’s sad eyes lifted, and Zera tensed.
She had to look away so she didn’t run to the poor fairy to break her chains.
Soon. She would save them all. This was more than just about herself and her son, though he would always be her top priority.
She would get him out first, but the others didn’t deserve this either.
The FBI should’ve saved them, and yet Gareth was here, living only a short flight from the capital.
Zera couldn’t ignore the faint screams that echoed through the halls as she forced herself to move forward. She had to rescue these innocent fae. She didn’t know how, but she would find a way.
Double doors groaned open as two heavily armed elves met them.
“He will see the pixie now,” the elf with onyx-black hair and pallid features said, nodding toward Zera.
She rolled her eyes, not even bothering to hide her contempt. What else could they do to her? They already had her child captive, and who knew what conditions her sister and her wife were in? Might as well make a show of getting under their skin.
The elven fae bared his teeth at her as she was pushed into the dining hall.