I blew out a breath and lowered my head down as slowly as I could manage until I could see more of the corridor.
Windows ran along the walls on either side of the space, the edges of white rooms showing through the glass. A heavy door stood at the far end of the corridor leading back into the main prison and above it, a camera sat watching the hallway.
Luckily for me, it was trained down the corridor not up at the ceiling and I lowered my arm as I took aim at it. A vine shot from my palm, snaking along the ceiling before dropping down to encircle the camera. I tightened my fist and the vine snapped back, ripping the camera from the roof and dropping it inside the cage that contained it with a clatter.
I froze, listening to the sounds from my amplifying spell to see if anyone had heard that.
The screams came again in the distance and I chewed on my lip as I listened to them.
Someone somewhere close was in a shit load of pain.
I wriggled forward on my stomach until I made it through the hole in the vent, clinging to the edge as I swung my legs down beneath me. I pulled the grate back into place above me, balancing it so that no one would notice it had been loosened without a close look, before dropping to the floor.
I landed in a crouch and stilled as I took in my surroundings.
The windows which dotted the walls on either side of me drew my attention as I straightened and I looked into the first one curiously.
Inside the room were padded walls, a single mattress and a hole in the floor which I guessed served as a toilet.
A guy lay sleeping on the bed, his features pinched like he was in pain and his lip curled back in a snarl.
I glanced at the symbols which were painted on the top right corner of the glass. They matched those which decorated the lapels of our orange jumpsuits. A magic Element, Order sign and prisoner number. This guy was a Harpy with fire magic. Number eighty three.
I moved away from him, heading deeper into the unit as I searched for Sook.
Most of the cells I passed held sleeping Fae, but as I turned a corner, I found a girl who was racing back and forth, bouncing off of the padded walls while screaming at the roof. I couldn’t hear her voice through the walls though and I had to guess that the rooms were spelled to keep sound in.
I upped my pace as I hurried down the corridor, using my vines to disable any cameras ahead before they could catch sight of me.
Another Psych patient spotted me and raced up to the window, shrieking something I couldn’t hear.
I took a step back as she pounded her fists on the glass in frustration, frowning as I wondered what the hell was wrong with her. There was something truly disturbing about her eyes. Like there was nothing where her soul should be.
I backed up until I bumped into the far wall and turned as another Fae leapt up before the glass.
The guy in there was a Manticore and as his eyes fixed on me, tears welled in them. He pressed his hands to the glass, his mouth forming two words which were impossible to mistake. Help me.
I shook my head uselessly. The door beside the glass didn’t even have a handle, just a keypad and magic scanner to allow entry. There was nothing I could do to open it. And nowhere for him to run to even if I could.
I shrugged apologetically, shaking my head as I backed away from him.
He dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together as he begged, but what could I do? I didn’t have access to that door. It would only open for someone who’s magical signature was in the system and that definitely wasn’t me.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed, my gut twisting guiltily as I turned away from the desperation in his eyes.
The next window held a woman with the same hollow expression who started waving her arms anxiously, pointing me back the way I’d come like she was trying to warn me to run. But I didn’t need her to tell me that. My instincts had been telling me to get the fuck out of here since before I’d climbed out of the vent. But I refused to let myself turn back. I had to escape this fucking prison. And to do that I needed Sook Min.
I hurried on, refusing to do more than glance in each cell to make sure Sook wasn’t there. I couldn’t take the emptiness in their eyes. I couldn’t bear to think about the fact that I wasn’t saving them too.
The screams came again from up ahead and I stilled as I recognised Sook’s voice.
“Merda,” I breathed.
I upped my pace, only pausing to wait as my vines sought out the next camera and destroyed it before I headed around the corner.
I stepped under the broken camera as it swung from a single bracket above my head and jogged down the hall as the screams got louder.
A set of double doors stood at the end of the hallway and as another scream cut through the air, I was sure that it came from beyond them.
My heart was pounding, my magic spinning through my limbs as it hunted for an outlet, even my inner Wolf was aching to break free of her chains. Everything inside me was screaming at me to run the fuck away from those doors instead of towards them.
But that was Sook in there. I knew it. And whether she knew it or not, when I’d decided to give her a place on my escape team, I’d welcomed her into my pack. And a true Alpha never abandoned one of their own.
A snarl tore from my lips as she screamed again and my instincts screamed at me in turn. I had to find out what was happening to her. I had to help her. I had to-
The door swung open suddenly and I gasped as I leapt to my left in a panic. The stars were shining on me. The guy who came out of the doors had his back to me as he dragged a trolley along behind him.
A door stood ajar on the wall beside me and I dove inside it without bothering to think it through. It was my salvation or my doom. Either way, staying out in that corridor meant getting caught which meant the hole or worse. So screw that.
I stumbled into a dark room, only sparing it enough attention to make sure it was empty before hurriedly pressing the door almost closed behind me. I used the gap to peer back out into the corridor with my heart thundering. Thank the stars I still had my silencing bubble in place.
The guy pulling the trolley kept backing up with it. Sweat coated his bald head and blood splattered his green scrubs. His gaze was dark and his jaw tight with tension.
Whatever was on the metal trolley he was pulling had been covered with a white cloth, but curiosity begged for me to get a look at it.
My heart pounded as I opened my hand, twitching my fingers as I commanded the thinnest vine I could conjure into existence. I directed it after the guy and his creepy bloodstained trolley until it hitched itself around the corner of the cloth and I yanked it off.
My lips parted in surprise as I stared at the huge glass jar which sat on the trolley. It had a gold lid inscribed with runes and whatever the hell was inside it twisted and danced like bright blue starlight. Something about it called to me in a desperate kind of way, like it was aching to be set loose from the jar.
I flinched as moisture slipped along my cheek and it took me a moment to realise that it was a tear tracking down my skin. But I didn’t know why.
The guy cursed as he moved to pull the cloth back over the jar and I flinched back into the shadows of the room I’d used to hide.
I backed up, dispersing the magic that had created my vine as I sank into the shadows of the room.
I turned around slowly as my eyes adjusted to the darkness after so much white.
There was light spilling into the space from the furthest wall and I moved towards it as I realised it was a window looking into the room with the double doors.
The one way glass was tinted, letting me see into the huge operating theatre while hiding me from those inside.
The lights were dimmed and men and women in scrubs were moving around the room as they cleared bloody scalpels and trays away, their faces covered with surgical masks and their hair beneath nets.
I swallowed thickly as I looked through the glass at the figure who was laid out on the operating tabl
e.
Sook’s eyes were open as she stared up at the ceiling and her lips moved in a repeating pattern as she murmured something over and over again.
A shiver crept along my limbs as I looked at her. Blood stained her naked skin, but whatever they’d done to her body had been magically healed already.
I wasn’t concerned with her flesh. I was more concerned with the empty look in her eyes as she stared up at nothing and everything at once.
There was something wrong with her. Something hopelessly, endlessly, wrong.
I moved closer to the glass, aching to understand what I was seeing. Because despite the fact that she lay there right before my eyes, it felt like there was something I couldn’t see.
Sook jerked on the table and the Fae in the room all turned to look at her. She jerked again and one of the men cursed, hurrying forward with healing magic flashing beneath his palms.
“Shit, not again,” he snarled.
Sook jerked once more and the man grabbed her shoulders, driving her down onto the table as one of the women raced forward to help too.
My heart squeezed as I watched, unable to tear my gaze from the room as they scrambled around her.
Sook’s head fell back, her mouth wide as she screamed at the top of her lungs. The sound was filled with a grief and pain so pure that it cut right into my soul.
A snarl left my lips and fear unlike anything I’d ever felt raced through my body.
I backed away as Sook fell still, her eyes glazing over in death. The worst part of it was that a piece of me was glad. Because whatever they’d just done to her had been too much for her to bear. In death she might claim some solace from it. And the pain of that scream had sounded like the worst of fates.
I kept backing away from the window as my mind scrambled to catch up to the desperate need to flee which was taking hold of my body.
I was an Alpha. I didn’t run from anything. This feeling was alien and terrifying in its own right, but I knew I had to obey it or my own fate would be tied to the dead girl’s in that room.
Heart pounding and tears blurring my vision, I lunged for the door and without even bothering to check if the coast was clear, I ran.
I rammed my shoulder against the door to the library as that motherfucking son of a worm’s asshole tried to get in from the outside. Some of my pack were hunting for movable furniture to barricade us in, but everything was bolted down. They didn’t want inmates shutting themselves in here, but apparently the Warden hadn’t considered the possibility that we might have a star-damned reason to.
“I’ll take over Alpha, you need to direct us,” Harper said firmly, pulling me away from the door and pressing herself into my spot.
Sweat beaded on my brow and I frowned, hating to step back. But she was right. If anyone was gonna get us out of this mess, it needed to be their leader. Unfortunately, me and my pack weren’t the only ones who’d been in here when that freak had attacked. Gustard and his Watchers were gathered together on the far side of the room, not helping us block the door for shit while they talked in low voices.
I jumped up onto the nearest table and howled to grab my pack’s attention. I caught The Watchers’ attention too and they sidled closer, eyeing me like I might be the answer to their problems. And something about that did nothing to put me at ease.
“We have two options,” I said loudly so everyone could hear. “We let it in here and lure it to the back of the room while we make a run for it. Or, someone goes out there to lure it away from here.”
“We’re not letting it in, I won’t allow it,” Gustard growled, his tattooed features twisting into a snarl. I eyed his group; there were as many of them as there were of us. And though part of me was aware that now might be a good time to kill the fucker while the guards weren’t watching, I also knew that with the Belorian knocking at the door and four cameras pointing at us from every direction, it probably wasn’t worth the hell I’d pay for it.
“Well either it gets in before we make a decision, or we act now to give us a chance,” I demanded, pressing my shoulders back.
Gustard ran his tongue across his teeth, nodding in seeming agreement. He caught hold of a guy with a large gut, shoving him towards the door.
“Move aside!” he barked at my Wolves and I snarled at him for ordering them about. They looked to me for a command, ignoring him and I glanced at the man Gustard had chosen for the job.
“Are you willing?” I asked and he looked at Gustard with fear in his eyes.
The guy swallowed hard then nodded. “For my master,” he breathed.
Gustard sneered in some semblance of a smile and I directed my Wolves away from the doors.
Before I could give the guy any pointers on how to handle this or how quickly we should all run after him, Gustard wrenched one door open and shoved him out.
My pack quickly threw themselves into place once more, closing ranks and laying their weight against the frosted glass doors. Shadows moved beyond the glass before the guy screamed in terror and blood splattered all over it.
“Holy fuck,” I breathed.
Gustard turned to his people, pointing at another girl. “You next.”
“Wait! We need a fucking plan,” I barked at him.
“I have one. Feed it enough bodies to keep it satisfied enough for us to stroll on past it,” Gustard said simply. “My people will happily die for me.”
“So would we for our leader!” Harper called to me with a plea in her eyes.
“That doesn’t mean I’d choose to send them to their deaths!” I snapped and my Wolves howled together, their voices filled with love. “Besides, the more blood you spill, the more you’re going to send that thing into a frenzy. We have to lead it away from here.”
“So pick the fastest of your people and I’ll pick the fastest of mine. We’ll draw straws to decide who goes,” Gustard suggested.
I jumped down from the table, landing with a hard thud in front of him, nose to nose. “A true leader faces danger for the sake of his people. I’ll go for my pack, but will you go for yours?” I slammed my shoulder into his and walked toward the door. My Wolves cried mournfully, brushing their hands over my arms.
Gustard rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands in his pockets in a clear show that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Please Alpha, let me go for you,” Harper begged and every other member of the pack started offering the same thing.
I cupped Harper’s cheek, shaking my head. “I’m the fastest. I can do it. I’ll lead it downstairs then howl when it’s time for you to run. Get to our cell block, don’t look back.”
She bowed her head in agreement, a tear tracking down her cheek which I quickly wiped away.
“Let’s see what you’re made of, Shadowbrook,” Gustard taunted, moving up beside me with a psycho smile on his lips.
One of my pack handed me a table leg they must have broken off and I took it with a nod of thanks. It wasn’t much against the Belorian, but it felt better to have the weight of it in my hands.
My Wolves readied to open the door and Gustard leaned in close to me, whispering in my ear. “I’m looking forward to seeing your innards splattered on the walls. You can’t be a king beyond the grave, but I’ll be sure to send your queen to you soon.”
I growled, ignoring the flash of heat in my gut that told me to destroy him here and now. I didn’t have time to respond to him as the doors were tugged open. Harper was glaring at Gustard like she might just murder him and the second I darted through the doors, she shoved him out with me.
“Fuck!” he roared as the doors closed and the beast came at us in an instant.
Its eyeless head swung toward me, its huge mouth full of serrated teeth ready to devour me whole. I smashed the table leg into its face with a cry of effort, making it shriek in pain and back up a few steps. I raced around it, my heart thrashing like a wild animal in a cage as I tore towards the end of the corridor.
Footsteps behind me said Gustard had made it aw
ay from the monster too and I cursed my luck. If the Belorian finished him, it would save me the damn bother.
His weight collided with me from behind and I slammed to the ground, the makeshift bat skittering away across the floor as I lost my grip on it.
“What the fuck?” I snarled as Gustard leapt off of me, laughing as he ran towards the stairwell.
A spiny foot slammed into the ground beside my head and I rolled in alarm as the Belorian lunged for me with its teeth bared. I scrambled to my feet, ducking half a second before its spiny tail whipped out to the side and almost decapitated me.
With my pulse elevating, I snatched up the table leg, swinging it around with a wild cry of defiance and slamming it into the monster’s ugly face.
It screeched so loud my ears felt like they were bleeding as it raised up onto its back legs and tried to regain its senses. I ran before it took chase again, powering along the corridor to where Gustard was rounding into the stairwell. I threw the bat with all my might and it crashed into the back of his head, knocking him off balance. He stumbled with a groan of pain and I put on a burst of speed as the sound of the Belorian came right behind me. I could feel its hot breath on my neck as I tried to outrun it, but it was a fast piece of shit. I needed my Wolf, but I couldn’t reach it now. I had to rely on nothing but flesh and bones, not even a hint of magic at my aid.
I dropped down to skid into the stairwell and a snap of teeth sounded above me. Gustard threw a kick at my head and I yelled as his foot impacted with my jaw and knocked me down the steps to my left. The Belorian raced between us and as blood coated my tongue and the smell of it hit the air, I knew which of us it was going to chase. It turned towards me with a hungry growl and I forced myself upright, half falling down the stairs as I fled. Gustard’s manic laughter carried to me as he ran up the steps in the opposite direction.
I lifted my head, cupping my hands around my mouth and howling as loudly as I could to let my Wolves know they could flee. The sound of a crowd surging above me filled my ears and relief flooded me.
Now I just have to escape this asshole of a slug and I’ll have songs sung about me until the end of time.
Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1) Page 48
