- SIXTEEN
Cece
"Hate to break you two lovebirds up," Doyle said, sounding awake and weary at the same time. "But we need to get a move on soon."
I don't think either of us had actually slept.
Behind me, Jasper's breathing was slow and steady, his body too still for sleep.
I had closed my eyes quickly after he moved in behind me, but the last thing on my mind was sleep.
So I put up my mental shield and I thought all that shit over.
In privacy for a change. I tried, and failed, to not over-think the situation with Jasper.
And after hours of mulling it over, with intermittent worries about Jade and our potential bloody death in a few hours, I had decided to stop fighting it, to let things happen naturally.
If that meant that my feelings that were very firmly planted in genuine respect, admiration, attraction, and warmth toward Jasper started to develop into something more, I was going to allow that.
It was useless to wrap my past around me like a shield, to push Jasper away because he could hurt me.
Doing that only made me one thing... a coward.
And I had been through way too much lately to be chickenshit about getting my heart bruised or busted.
Besides, if I was going to get hurt again, I preferred it was by someone as brave, loyal, intelligent, snarky, sexy, and amazing as Jasper than some lame, cheating, delicate-prided, milksop like Corbin had been, like all my exes had been.
If I was going to give my heart, as gnarled and battered as it might have been, to anyone, at least it was going to go to someone who would be worthy of holding onto it for a change. Even if he didn't hold onto it forever.
So, yeah, that was about where my thoughts were when Jasper's arm squeezed me tight then released me to get his feet and plot with Doyle.
I stretched out my tight muscles, smiling a little at the perfect soreness between my legs and, judging by the way Jasper stumbled mid-sentence, he noticed my mind going there as well.
He shook his head, refocusing back on his conversation as I got up and rummaged in the backpack for a couple spare nuts and dandelion greens.
"Hey sweetheart," Doyle called and I looked up just in time to snag a giant mushroom he threw at me.
"You're sure this is edible?"
"It's fine," Jasper said with a shrug.
"You need all the energy you can get to make sure the fireworks work properly."
Figuring they were, yet again, not hungry, I quickly broke it up and tried to get it down with minimal chewing, figuring they were right, any little bit would probably help.
"Alright, so, you remember where the girls are kept?" Doyle asked.
"If I am facing the guard tower, the building to the right. I go in with Onyx, find Jade, and get the hell back out."
"And don't..." Jasper prompted, knowing I was leaving out the part I didn't like.
"And don't be a hero and try to come back for either of you."
"How about at least trying to sound convincing?" Jasper asked.
"Let's not hope for miracles."
I took a sip of water and stood, shaking the tension out of my limbs and reaching up to lift my filthy hair off my sweat-sticky neck.
"Let's hope we all make it out of here and can take two-hour long showers and wash this whole thing off of us.
Ready?" I asked, reaching down to pet Onyx who didn't seem to lavish in it as much as he usually did. Jealous beast.
"Better we don't over think it," Jasper agreed, handing Doyle a vial of something I was glad I knew nothing about.
Doyle took off in front of us, his whole body tense and I worried, not for the first time, that him going back in there was a terrible idea. Maybe the memories would pop back up. Maybe he would see the people who used to torment him and his family and just... lose it.
"That's his battle to fight if it happens," Jasper said, taking my hand and squeezing it reassuringly. "We each have our missions tonight. Yours is the most important so don't get hung up on everyone else's. Okay?"
"Okay."
We fell into an agreed upon silence as we trudged closer, all of us caught in our own thoughts and worries.
The camp came into view fifteen minutes later, nestled down from the small hill we stood on.
It was an open field with a massive fence, at least three tall men in height.
And even if you were strong enough despite the grueling work and hunger, there was one more deterrent.
"That's iron," I whispered and Jasper's hand tightened on mine as I realized that a very young, very determined Doyle must have been in searing agony the entire time he scaled it.
As I was told, there was a guard tower in the center with what looked like floodlights around the bottom, though they were off.
On each side of the guard tower were two shipping containers that, I was informed the night before, were made of steel.
And apparently I missed the lesson in school that told us that steel was an alloy, meaning it was made out of several metals, but most prominently...
iron. So while it wasn't pure iron, it kept all the fae inside sick and in a constant, small amount of pain.
Jasper released my hand as we kept under the cover of trees, moving around to the back of the guard tower where the occasional guard would go out for a pee or a fuck or who-knew-what.
We stood, watching, for the better part of twenty minutes before one finally appeared, using his key to open the gate with his gloved hands.
Jasper flew across the field, making my stomach clench hard as my breath got caught.
Doyle was poised to run too, but waited, as was the plan.
Jasper took out the guard because he was faster.
Doyle would run down and the two of them would go in.
So long as complete and utter chaos didn't ensue immediately, I was to charge in with Onyx as fast and silently as possible and get Jade out.
"See you on the other side," Doyle said ominously as the fae Jasper sneaked up on slumped to the ground, a little too lifeless to be just passed out.
Jasper wrestled the gloves free and slipped them on, another thing that had been previously agreed upon.
Jasper got whatever protection they could find because he was already so banged up.
I watched as they both disappeared and felt my mouth go sandpaper-dry because I knew what was next.
It was my turn.
I looked down at Onyx with a tight nod and then we both ran.
Fear was a weird thing, how it quieted the world, how it made my vision go tunnel and my limbs go numb. We flew in through the gates, taking a sharp turn toward the women's container. I wrenched the door open with a less than quiet groan and flew inside.
"Jade," I whisper-yelled as at least a dozen eyes found me in the dark. "Jade!"
"Is that door open?" a tentative voice said at my side.
I knew I wasn't supposed to try to free anyone else.
I knew that wasn't part of my plan, that it would create problems. But two thoughts came to me at once.
One, Baba Yaga and her steadfast determination for women to stick together, to champion for one another.
Two, the fact that Doyle told me the guards dragged the women out to the fields to rape them whenever they wanted.
So yeah. I wasn't going to deny any of them a chance at a life free from that.
"Yes. Run. Run and find Baba Yaga and curse these mother fuckers with whatever foul shit you can come up with."
The woman who spoke grabbed my arms and held on tight, looking me in the eye so I got the full meaning. "Thank you," she said and ran.
"Jade!"
"Cece?" a very weak version of Jade's voice reached me from my right, making my heart fly into my throat.
I dropped down beside the prone body on the floor as more feet shuffled past me.
I was vaguely aware of some of the women plotting on freeing the men and I knew that if we all made it out of there, Jasper and Doyle were going to have my head for fucking with the plan.
But it was too late to worry about that.
"Can you stand? I need you to get on Onyx and hold on and he will get you out of here."
"Onyx?" she asked, pushing up, and I tried to swallow back the rage I felt building at the blood covering the back of her dress.
"He's a barguest and he's here to get you out of here. Come on," I said, grabbing her a little roughly, knowing I didn't have time for soft and sweet, and dragging her onto her feet.
"How are you here?" she asked as I saw the guard lights flash on, flooding the room in light and I could see the bruises all over her delicate face.
"Don't worry about that now," I said as I heard the shit hit the fan out in the yard.
I pushed her onto Onyx's back and coaxed her to wrap her arms around his throat.
Onyx gave me a look that said he understood things just went really bad.
And we didn't really have a concrete plan for what to do.
All I knew was Jade needed to get out. And there was only one place I knew that was safe.
"Take her to Baba Yaga. Now!" I said when he whined, obviously not wanting to leave without me.
"She needs you more than I do. She's the damsel in distress," I reasoned and his eyes went a little red, full of determination, as he reared back then charged forward, moving faster than my eyes could follow.
I took a breath and made my way tentatively toward the opening in the doorway, trying to figure out what my best course of action was with all the chaos around.