Hunted (The Half-Breed Prison Book 1)

by Jen L. Grey

  Now wasn't the time. I clasped my phone and turned it back on. The light shone, and soon there were messages coming through. There were a few from my parents, but I didn't have time to check those now. The most recent one was from Jess.

  We're here and ready to go. We parked across the street from the woods and are running through the trees toward you right now. We'll be in position in ten minutes. We'll wait for you in the woods and will come out once you're visible.

  "Is everything okay?" Deissy's voice quivered a little.

  "Yeah. Jess texted that they'll be there in ten minutes. That should be perfect timing with us." I placed the cell phone in my satchel. "Are you okay?"

  "Just nervous." She held the badge up and glanced at it. "I didn't realize how much I missed this and started wondering what would happen if we don't make it out."

  "We can't think like that." Thinking that way would be our downfall.

  "You're right." She nodded and put the badge in her satchel.

  We stood there in silence, waiting for the five minutes to pass. When my phone flashed, we knew it was time for us to move. "You ready?"

  "As much as I'll ever be." She sighed, and we made our way to the door. "Let's go."

  When I reached the door, I slowly pushed it open. There weren't any noises around us, so it seemed that we were safe. I gestured for her to follow me.

  We stepped outside and quietly ran toward the woods. All the guards around the woods were in the process of locking the prisoners up for the night, so we were able to reach the woods within seconds. We slipped deep enough into them that we couldn't be easily seen.

  Both of us were scared to say anything, so we stayed there, quietly waiting on Aaron and Sol.

  After a few minutes, we heard footsteps heading our way. It sounded like two sets. My heart took off. Who the hell was coming this way? I wasn't sure what to do.

  Deissy grabbed my arm and pulled both of us behind the largest tree that was closest. It didn't do much, but it was better than nothing.

  I was getting ready to strike when Aaron and Sol's faces appeared.

  "Lexy, are you here?" Aaron's voice was low.

  "They're right there, dumbass." Sol had spotted us as soon as they set foot into the woods. She nodded in our direction.

  "What the hell?" I barely whispered the words, afraid someone would hear us. "I thought you were coming separately."

  "We hadn't considered the roommate." Sol rolled her eyes. "So I'm technically being taken to the hole with Knox." She showed us her hands, which were handcuffed behind her. "Now take these damn things off."

  "Give me a second," he huffed as he pulled the key out and removed them from her wrists. "There."

  "Let's get moving." Aaron took off, following a worn trail. "This is the way to the hole."

  Not wasting any time, the three of us followed behind him. It only took a few more minutes until a small building appeared in the distance.

  "Here we are." Aaron glanced around and then went for the door. It creaked as it opened.

  Now that I was closer, I could see this wasn't a building but rather a rundown shack. The building was haphazardly standing, and right in the center was what must be considered the hole.

  Aaron walked over to the side and picked up an old, worn rope. "We're here, and I’m throwing the rope down."

  "Got it." Knox's voice echoed.

  "How deep is that thing?" I scurried over to the edge and glanced down. Even with my supernatural vision, I couldn't see the bottom.

  "No one knows, but let's say it's cold and watery down there." Sol shivered as the words rocked her body. "And they leave you down there for days."

  This place was horrible. I wanted to burn it down and destroy everyone who worked here.

  Aaron kept tossing more and more of the rope down. All of a sudden, there was a tug on the other end, and he stopped. "Okay, let's reel him up." He stepped over to a wooden wheel that rolled the rope back up around it. It took a few minutes, but eventually, Knox's head surfaced.

  His face was now covered in mud, and his clothes clung to him more.

  "At least the mud blends in with the clothes." I smirked. Times like these, we always needed to find a bright spot.

  Aaron gave me a strange look and shook his head. "Yeah, thank God for that."

  A branch snapped not too far away, followed by some rustling.

  "Shit, someone is coming." My words were louder than I intended.

  "Come on, we need to go." Aaron opened the door and motioned for us to get out.

  He didn't have to tell me twice. I rushed through the door and headed a little deeper into the woods. The trees were thicker and made it easier to hide the further in I trekked.

  I waited for the others to catch up and turned to watch the area for someone to pop out.

  Luckily, we all got out of the area before the person could catch us.

  "Let's wait and see who it is." Knox glanced over at Aaron. "I thought you took care of this."

  "Guys, be quiet." Deissy glared at them.

  Sol leaned to the side so she could peek through the small opening. Her eyes widened, and she turned toward us and placed her pointer finger to her lips. She mouthed the words, 'We have a problem.'

  Moving so I could peek too, I felt my stomach drop. The warden opened the door to the hole and glanced around. "Where is that boy?" he grumbled as he scanned the area.

  In all of our planning, we hadn't prepared for the warden to be here. We had set the escape attempt to happen at night when he should have been at home. His appearance as he searched for Aaron presented a huge problem. One for which we had no solution.

  Chapter Twenty

  The warden spun around searching for any sign of Aaron ... or someone.

  "Where is that stupid boy?" He opened the shack door and went inside.

  "Let's go. Now." Knox's voice sounded dark and low.

  He didn't have to tell me twice. The five of us moved as quickly as possible while remaining as quiet as we could so as not to risk the warden hearing us.

  "Do you have your phone?" Aaron whispered when we were several miles away. "We are going to run into complications."

  "What do you mean?" I wanted to freak out and demand answers, but at this point, running was the only option.

  "Once he realizes ..." His voice was cut off by the gargling of his walkie talkie.

  "This is Warden Andrews." His voice was clear and loud. "The prisoners are not in the hole, and my son is missing. Sound the alarm."

  Great, our perfectly timed plan had just been flushed down the toilet. "Why is he here?"

  "I have no clue," he huffed, but none of us slowed our pace. "I had to eat dinner with them before coming here. He was asking questions about why I'd been doing more guard duties and slacking on hunting. When I told him I had to cover a shift tonight, he stopped. He told me that he understood and to go on."

  "Right now, we can't slow down." Knox glanced around before moving behind everyone. "I'm going to cover the rear. You may want to call Jess and give her a heads up."

  He was right. We all needed to be on the same page. I pulled the phone from my pocket and hit Call. As always, she picked up on the first ring.

  "Hey, is there a problem?" Her voice was low, and there was complete silence on the other end.

  "The warden came and ..." A loud siren filled the air.

  "Shit, get over here as soon as possible." Jess's voice cracked.

  "I don't want anything to happen to you." I hated to say this, but we had no chance if they got caught. "Go. We'll figure out something else."

  "Oh, hell no." Jess's voice went up an octave. "I'm not leaving here without you. So run and get your ass here now."

  That was something I hadn't expected. I had thought that they only gave me their number and helped me escape out of guilt. Though, it sounded like they cared about me.

  "Should we turn around?" Deissy was out of breath, but I was able to pick up what she was saying.


  "No, they said they weren't leaving without us." I tried to sound confident, but damn, this was bad.

  "Slow down, we're close." Aaron took the lead, and the rest of us followed behind. "You all have your badges, right?"

  "Yeah, but how is that going to help?" Sol didn’t sound as confident as normal.

  "Because we're going to need your magic to get out of here." Aaron crept into an opening. "Dammit, this is going to be harder than it should be."

  "Cover the area." The warden's voice sounded on the walkie talkie.

  Aaron startled and pulled the walkie talkie from his belt, turning it off. He raised his finger to his lips.

  "What was that?" A voice called out from somewhere that couldn't be more than twenty feet away.

  "It sounded like a walkie talkie." Another voice answered. "Let me go look."

  Aaron waved his hands, indicating we needed to go deeper into the woods.

  The five of us quietly took several large footsteps back.

  A guard strutted into the tree line and scanned the area. I held my breath. It wasn't going to take him long before his eyes landed on us.

  As expected, he found me, pinning me with his gaze. I was ready to run and attack, but he blew out a breath. "Must have been my walkie talkie." He turned, heading back to the clearing. "Nothing out there."

  "How the ..." That made no sense. He should've seen me.

  "Be glad I had time to practice the craft before getting locked in here." Sol wiggled her fingers. "A cloaking spell was the last one I'd learned before landing here."

  "Thank God." Deissy wrapped an arm around her friend. "I thought we were done for."

  "Why didn't we go through the fence near the shack?" Knox shook his head and pointed backward.

  "Because the area right outside it is spelled." Aaron frowned but kept his eyes forward. "A group of witches cast a spell making it damn near impossible for people to get through it. It would take another huge coven to undo the spell. They prepared for all probabilities. So anyone who attempted to leave would have to come this way." He pointed at the woods that continued a few more feet on the other side of the fence. "They want us to hit the spot we're going to, so we need to be prepared. That's why I told your parents to make sure they stayed at least fifty feet away from the fence when they got here."

  "So, can you hide us all the way through the fence?" Deissy crossed her fingers as she glanced at Sol.

  "Not really." Sol looked out there. "I might be able to help us some, but it's more of a camouflage spell, and I'm out of practice. I'm not sure if I could cover all five of us at one time."

  "Don't worry about it." I didn't want to put so much pressure on her. "We've got this." I wasn't sure what the hell we were going to do, but we had to find a way through the fence.

  "Who has the wire cutters?" I couldn't help but laugh when I thought back to the other day. When I had told the others that we needed wire cutters to get out, they had stared at me. I had to gloat to Knox about how me being raised human would be a benefit.

  "Here." Aaron handed them to me. "Whatever you do, don't stop cutting and get out first."

  "But ..."

  "No, he's right, Lexy." Knox's hand landed on my shoulder. "They need you for something. If you can't leave, then I'm afraid all of us are doomed."

  When he put it like that, they had a good point. Despite that fact, it still didn't seem right thinking about leaving someone behind.

  "Are you guys ready to use your magic?" Aaron stood straight now that the immediate threat had gone.

  "How are we supposed to beat them?" Deissy kicked at the ground and sighed. "We're stupid, weak hybrids."

  Aaron bit his thumb. "What if I told you that you weren't?" He dropped his hand and turned to face us. "That, in fact, you're more powerful than us full breeds."

  "But ..." Deissy started.

  "Let him finish." I needed to know what he was going to say.

  "Might as well tell you everything since my father's going to disown me anyway." He dropped his hands and faced our group. "That's why you're stripped of your powers and found while you're young. You are stronger than us. We aren't saving you from your own demise or any stupid shit like the story you might have been fed. They are scared of what you would all do if the truth came out."

  "Are you fucking serious?" Knox's voice had never been so devoid of emotion. "This was all because you're afraid we might become something."

  "That's how it started, but there is more." Aaron avoided my gaze. "I'll tell you everything when we get out of here."

  "So it's not relevant to us getting out?" Sol placed her hand on her hip. "Any other little tidbits to help there."

  "Nope, use your powers, and let's get out of here." Aaron turned forward again and nodded his head. "Let's do this. I'm going to try to distract them for as long as I can." He walked toward the opening and marched into the spotlight.

  One of the guards spun around and held out his gun. "Damn, you scared the shit out of me." He lowered his arms and glanced behind him. "What were you doing in there?"

  "Oh, I had to take someone to the hole and got turned around." He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at the ground. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."

  "Are you kidding?" The guard laughed.

  "Hey." Sol's hushed words were right in my ear. "I think I can cloak both of us while you're cutting the wire."

  "Really?" That would be helpful. "Yeah. My power is strengthening inside. I think I'm good."

  "Okay, then you two." I pointed to Knox and Deissy. "Stay behind and get ready if the shit hits the fan."

  "Maybe I should go out there with you." Knox frowned as he took my hand in his. "I hate for you to be out there without me."

  "That's because I need my two strong shifters to keep an eye out and protect my ass." It was sweet that he wanted to be right beside me, but now wasn't the time for stupid self-sacrifices.

  "Of course I will." He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. "Work fast. Let's get out of here."

  Sol mumbled words I couldn't understand, and then something blanketed me.

  "Did you do it?" It felt like when I was a little girl and put the covers over my head. It was still warm and humid.

  "Hell, yeah she did." Deissy chuckled. "I can't see either of you."

  "Good, let's get moving." Sol grabbed my arm. "I'm not sure how long I can hold this."

  It was strange since I could see all three of them, but it was clear that Deissy and Knox couldn't see us. Their eyes were searching everywhere.

  "We're going now." I watched my step, making sure I didn't make any noise. She may have hidden us but not our sounds.

  When I took the first step out into the open, I was ready for the guards to shoot or attack us. However, nothing happened.

  Aaron was still standing there talking to the guard, but the alarm was so much louder out here that I couldn't make out their words. It was probably a good thing. I didn't need any distractions.

  I stood right at the edge of where the trees stopped and lifted the wire cutters right at my eye level. I had to make sure it was large enough for Knox and Aaron. It didn't take much to clip them, but it was a much slower process than I had thought it would be.

  "Hurry up," Sol whispered the words. "The warden is coming."

  Great, that was the last thing we needed. Right when I had about four more wires to cut, the alarm stopped ringing, and the warden's cruel voice hit my ears.

  "What the hell are you doing?" The warden's footsteps pounded as he made his way to Aaron.

  "I had two prisoners I had to take to the hole." Aaron shrugged and met his Dad's gaze head-on.

  "That's what I had heard, but no one was down the hole, and I couldn't find you." His dad's voice was deeper than normal.

  "Don't know what to tell you." Aaron's voice seemed indifferent.

  I clipped the last wire. "There, it's done." The problem was when we moved this, it was going to be obvious. There was no getting
out of here without causing a scene. "Let's head back to the others."

  "Okay." She nodded her head, and we made our way back into the tree line.

  My body shivered as the cloak disappeared from around me.

  "Is everything okay?" Deissy wrung her hands together as she chewed on her bottom lip.

  "Yeah, but they're going to notice a huge hole in the fence, so we need a plan." Sol glanced over her shoulder and back to where the warden and Aaron were still talking.

  "I'll yank it open for you three, and then you go through. I'll cover for you all." Knox hurried over so he was in front of our little group.

  "What about Aaron?" I hated to ask the question, but we couldn't leave him behind. It wouldn't be right.

  Knox huffed and closed his eyes. "I'll make sure he comes too."

  It felt selfish being one of the first to leave. "I can help."

  "No, you'll distract me. I need to know you're safe and taken care of." Knox touched my arm and lowered his voice. "Besides, your parents will need to see you to know it's not a trap."

  That was true, but that didn't make it any better. "Fine, but if you aren't right behind us, I'm coming back in."

  He nodded. "Fine."

  "What the fuck are you doing?" The warden's voice was loud, and there was a loud crunching noise.

  I turned around and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Aaron's nose poured blood, and his father was standing over him.

  "You are an embarrassment." His dad kicked him right in the side. "I told your mother this was a bad idea, but she wouldn't listen."

  Before I realized it, Knox yanked me back against his body. "Go, I'll help him, but I won't until I see you walk through that fucking fence."

  "Fine." The longer we stayed here, the worse it was going to be.

  Something silky covered me once again, and Sol took my hand, tugging both Deissy and me to the exit.

  Knox ran out of the tree line and ripped the wiring from the gate.

  "Warden, look." One of the guards pointed in the direction of Knox.

  "What the hell?" The warden glared at Knox then focused back on his son. "What have you done?"