Unstoppable

by R. L. Mathewson

  Within seconds, she heard the heavy metal door open and found herself carried into a small, white room and-

  “I-I think he wanted you to put me in another cell,” Indie mumbled weakly as she found herself dropped on a cot across from a man who really didn’t look happy to see her.

  Not. At. All.

  “Stay on the cot and you’ll be fine,” the man that had carried her around like a sack of potatoes said, chuckling when her new cellmate released a warning growl that had Indie quickly pressing her back against the wall.

  Swallowing hard, Indie took in the man sitting in the corner, noting the heavy chain around his ankle, the jeans that looked like they’d seen better days, a golden torso lined with muscle, bruises, cuts, and burns, and found herself looking at the incredibly handsome face of the man that looked angrier than anyone she’d ever seen before and that was saying a lot.

  “I’m Indie,” she said with a hopeful smile that quickly died when he released another growl. Deciding that it would probably be in her best interest to focus her attention elsewhere, Indie shifted a few more inches away from the incredibly pissed off man and turned her head only to feel her stomach drop when she spotted what could only be described as a frat boy standing in the doorway.

  With a wave of his hand, he had the guard watching over them step aside. With a long-suffering sigh, he leaned back against the door. “Over two hundred shifters, demons, and vampires and not one single bid, dog,” he said, making Indie frown only to feel her stomach drop when she realized that they were auctioning them off, letting her know that this really wasn’t going to end well for her.

  “I was hoping to make a little money off you, Lucan, but I guess I’m stuck with you,” Frat Boy, as she now thought of him, said, making Indie frown as she glanced back at her cellmate to find him glaring down at the floor in a move that she knew all too well. He knew better than to make eye contact, something that she’d learned before she could walk.

  “I’ve earned my freedom,” Lucan bit out, keeping his eyes locked on the floor.

  “You think so?” Frat Boy murmured, sounding thoughtful as she watched him pull a folded piece of cloth out of his pocket.

  “Yes,” Lucan said firmly.

  “I tell you what,” Frat Boy said, carefully pulling the folds back, revealing a small tube filled with what she was guessing was holy water. “If you ask me nicely, I might consider releasing you.”

  When Lucan continued glaring down at the floor, Frat Boy chuckled as he pushed away from the door. “But you won’t do that, will you, dog?”

  Indie’s stomach turned as she watched Lucan’s jaw clench as he glared down at the floor as Frat Boy moved closer, toying with the small vial of holy water in his hand as he went. “I wonder how long it will take you to grow your arm back without blood this time?”

  “Leave him alone,” Indie said, keeping her eyes locked on Frat Boy, refusing to look away as he cocked his head to the side as he considered her.

  “Are you really talking to me?” Frat Boy asked, looking amused.

  “Yes,” Indie said firmly, clenching her hands tightly into fists as she waited for the blow that she knew was coming.

  Nodding, Frat Boy absently turned the vial over in his hand as he asked, “Do you really have a death wish, human?”

  “I have a feeling that we’re about to find out,” Indie said, already knowing that she wasn’t leaving here alive.

  She’d betrayed the Pack that kidnapped her when she was a baby and there was no coming back from that. It didn’t matter that she was human, hadn’t been marked by the Pack, or that the Pack had broken shifter rules by keeping her, the only thing that they cared about was the fact that one of their own had been killed thanks to her. When they got their hands on her…

  “Yes, we are,” Frat Boy murmured, considering her before taking her by surprise by asking, “How much money do you have on you, human?”

  Frowning, Indie reached into her pocket and pulled out the dollar that she’d been carrying around, hoping to entice Jessica to use the potty. There was a heavy sigh and then, the dollar was plucked out of her hand and was replaced with the small vial of holy water.

  “He’s all yours,” Frat Boy said, further confusing her and, by the looks of it, really pissing off Lucan, who was now glaring at her. “Congratulations on your new dog.”

  “Ummm,” was really the only response that Indie could come up with at that moment as she looked from the small vial in her hand to the vampire glaring at her and-

  “Enjoy,” Frat Boy said with a satisfied sigh that seemed to piss Lucan off even more as he turned around and left, leaving them alone once again.

  “I have no idea what just happened,” Indie found herself admitting with a nod for some reason as Lucan continued to glare.

  “Put that away,” Lucan bit out with a pointed look at the small vial in her hand.

  Not really sure that was a good idea, especially since he looked like he wanted to tear her throat out, Indie found herself doing as she was told and shoved the vial in her pocket. When she was done, she went for another hopeful smile and-

  “You’re a fucking minion,” Lucan said in disgust, not really sounding all that pleased with the discovery.

  “No, I’m not,” Indie bit out.

  “That mark on your neck says otherwise,” Lucan said evenly, his silver-eyed glare never leaving her as he sat back against the wall.

  “The mark says that I’m an idiot, nothing more,” Indie said, absolutely refusing to discuss this with a man that seemed to love glaring more than the jerk that she was no longer speaking with.

  She-

  “This one’s ours,” came the announcement that she was really hoping wasn’t about her. Releasing a shaky breath, Indie turned her head and felt her stomach drop when she spotted several large men standing in the doorway.

  “Do you know why we’re here?” the largest man asked as his gray eyes turned silver when they locked on her.

  “I have a pretty good idea,” Indie mumbled hollowly.

  “Then you know what’s about to happen,” he said, gesturing for the guard to open their cell.

  “Unfortunately,” she whispered weakly when they reached for her.

  “Bring the dog with you. She just bought him off the Master,” their guard said, sounding amused.

  Before she could correct him, Indie found herself grabbed by the back of her neck and shoved towards the door. Clenching her hands into fists, she slowly exhaled as she forced her feet to move, refusing to beg or say anything that would make this worse, and she already knew that it was going to be worse than anything that Mary’s Pack had put her through.

  When they gestured for her to head back towards the large double doors at the end of the long hallway that she’d been dragged through only minutes earlier, Indie swallowed hard and moved to do what she was told when she saw them grab Lucan. His glare never left her as they chained his hands together. She opened her mouth to tell him that she was sorry only to reluctantly close it, knowing that he would be punished if she said anything.

  Telling herself that this would be over soon, Indie followed the large shifter through the doors. Any doubt that this was an auction quickly died when she heard one of the men tell Frat Boy that the bid on Ashley was now at sixty million dollars.

  “They want the option to buy her baby for ten million, Master,” one of the men said as he approached Frat Boy.

  Indie watched Frat Boy purse his lips up thoughtfully before she shifted her attention to the man standing next to him and felt the air rush out of her lungs. Telling herself that she was wrong, she ran her eyes over the handsome man standing next to Frat Boy, taking in his perfectly combed dark blonde hair, his laughing green eyes and thought back to the picture of Ephraim and his children that she walked past every day on the way to the kitchen and-

  “Joshua,” Indie whispered, swallowing hard as she stared at the large man that everyone in the Williams family had been searching for a
nd found him watching her, looking amused as he shot her a wink.

  This really wasn’t going to end well, Indie realized as she was forced to keep moving past them. When she moved to glance over her shoulder to make sure that she hadn’t been imagining things, the grip on her right arm tightened, sending the unspoken command to keep her eyes forward. As she forced herself to look ahead, she couldn’t help but wonder how much they’d paid for her.

  For a moment, Indie considered offering them the money that the Council had given her, but she knew that wouldn’t help. They wanted revenge and nothing she said or did would stop this, Indie told herself as the large shifter in front of her suddenly turned right and she felt her stomach drop when she saw that the tub waiting for them in the middle of the large room right around the time that her legs stopped working. She stumbled back only to find herself suddenly grabbed and dragged over to the tub as terror had her legs giving out again when she saw the chunks of ice floating on top of the water.

  “Do you know what we’re going to do with you?” the large shifter asked, sounding bored as they dragged Lucan over to join them.

  “Yes,” Indie whispered weakly.

  “Then you know that you have a choice. You can take your punishment or let the leech take it for you.”

  Swallowing hard, Indie looked up and met the silver glare of the man that looked resigned to what was coming and she’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t tempted to let him take the punishment for her. He was a vampire and she…

  Couldn’t do it.

  She couldn’t let someone else take her punishment, no matter how terrified she was and right now, she was probably more terrified than she’d ever been before. She’d told herself that she would never have to worry about being punished again, but in the back of her mind she always knew that she was lying to herself.

  “I’ll do it,” Indie said, barely getting the words out before they picked her up. Her body began trembling before her sneakers broke through the ice and once she was in the tub, she forgot how to breathe.

  “This is only the beginning,” came the warning as she was shoved beneath the ice-cold water.

  Chapter 76

  Laymon Pack Safe House

  Two Hundred Miles South of the Williams Mansion

  One Month Later…

  “Took you long enough,” came the absently murmured announcement as Kale lay there, trying to make sense out of what he was seeing as he watched Jacob reach over and-

  “Asshole,” Kale said, sighing heavily as he grabbed the candy bowl off his chest and shoved it in the asshole’s arms as he squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that it would be enough to block out the light that felt like it was piercing his fucking brain only to end up pressing his palms against his eyes when the move only made things worse.

  God, this fucking hurt, Kale thought as he tried to breathe through the pain only to regret that decision when he was hit by what seemed like every fucking scent within a hundred-mile radius as he tried to figure out what happened.

  “Where’s Ashley?” he managed to get out between clenched teeth when he couldn’t make out her scent among the hundreds of scents currently tearing his fucking head apart.

  “Most likely regretting her decision to hide under the bed instead of making a run for it like any sane person would do when Chris offered to give her sparring lessons,” Jacob murmured, sounding really fucking amused for someone who was about to be thrown headfirst into oncoming traffic.

  “Why is he trying to teach my pregnant mate how to fight?” Kale demanded as he dropped his hands away and tried to sit up only to drop back down on the bed that definitely wasn’t his, with a pained groan when the move caused his head to spin.

  “Because we took a vote,” Jacob said, sounding bored as he added, “She’s too nice,” further pissing him off.

  “She doesn’t need to learn how to fight, asshole,” Kale bit out as he forced his eyes open just wide enough so that he could glare at the bastard, only to frown when Jacob said, “You have really pretty eyes.”

  “What?” Kale asked, trying to make sense out of what Jacob just said when he felt something cold pressed against his hand.

  “This should help,” Jacob said, gesturing to the cup in Kale’s hand with a handful of M&M’s.

  “What is it?” Kale asked, plucking the pink straw out of the cup and tossing it aside before taking a sip, not really caring what it was, not when he was this thirsty.

  “Coke,” Jacob said, shoving another handful of candy in his mouth as Kale was forced to bite back a groan when the sweet elixir that had gotten him through more sleepless nights than he could remember, hit his tongue.

  God, he couldn’t remember it ever tasting this good before, Kale thought as he finished off every last drop. When he was done, Jacob plucked the cup out of his hand and replaced it with another one. “What happened?” Kale asked, barely managing to finish the second cup off before Jacob was replacing it again.

  “What do you remember?” Jacob asked, his gaze lingering on the cup in Kale’s hand, making him frown as he looked down and…

  “Tell me that you have a good reason for giving me blood,” Kale said hollowly as he stared down at the red liquid that had his mouth-watering.

  “Because I’m thoughtful,” Jacob said, gesturing for him to drink it.

  “What the hell is going on?” Kale demanded, narrowing his eyes on the large bastard that better start talking.

  “You want the condensed version or the one that they told me not to tell you?” Jacob asked, blinking innocently.

  “Start. Talking,” Kale bit out, allowing his eyes to shift silver and-

  Oh…fuck…

  -forgot how to breathe when everything suddenly turned red.

  “Well,” Jacob murmured, pausing to grab more candy only to grumble in disappointment when he found the bowl empty. Sighing heavily, he tossed the bowl aside and climbed off the bed while Kale watched his every move, “it seems as though our traitor, Michael, came up with a dastardly plan to get revenge against Caine, who, according to the Council, killed the Sentinel’s mate a long fucking time ago when he was in the throes of bloodlust, which is why they never punished him.”

  “She intercepted a message meant for another Sentinel, decided to ignore the Council’s rule about pregnant Sentinels avoiding patrol and went after the asshole on her own. She waited until he was asleep before sneaking up on him and putting a bullet in his chest. Unfortunately, she missed his heart, hit his lung, and put him into bloodlust. She decided to try her luck by putting a second bullet in him instead of running when she had the chance. It didn’t end well for her, leaving behind her seriously pissed-off mate, who waited a really fucking long time to get revenge.”

  “He was behind the auction,” Kale guessed, taking in the room that he’d never been in before, taking note of everything from the windows overlooking a large backyard to the hardwood floors and everything in between. They weren’t in a Sentinel Compound, he realized, breathing a little easier knowing that Ashley was safe.

  “Yes and no, the asshole gave us all up to get his hands on Occultus blood so that he could get the cancer back into Danni’s system without her knowing. It also fucked with her hormones, making sure that they didn’t find out that she was pregnant until it was too late to do anything about it, thus ensuring Caine’s downfall,” Jacob finished with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of his head.

  “Get to the part where I’m drinking blood and seeing red,” Kale snapped, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and-

  “Why are my toenails pink?” he demanded with a glare aimed at the little bastard.

  “Because someone loves me,” Jacob murmured absently as he pulled out his phone and quickly snapped a picture before putting his phone away with a satisfied sigh. “Now, where were we?”

  “You were giving me a reason to rip your throat out,” Kale snapped, forcing himself to stand up only to end up grabbing hold of the headboard when his legs threatened t
o drop him on his ass.

  “That does seem like something that I would do,” Jacob said, nodding in agreement as he dropped down in the oversized leather chair in the corner that looked similar to the one that Ashley bought for him at the house.

  “What happened?” Kale asked, closing his eyes and slowly exhaled, willing his head to stop spinning.

  “From what we’ve gathered so far, something tipped them off that we knew about the auction and they set their plan into motion early. The problem was the Occultus demons that they needed to pull it off weren’t exactly cooperative. The only thing that they cared about was getting their sister back. When they realized that we’d set our own trap at the prison, they sat back and watched as we killed the shifters and vampires that had been sent to burn us alive and bury our ashes beneath the rubble.”

  “They were gone by the time that we were done. We managed to get back to the mansion in time to stop anyone from setting foot in the house, but unfortunately, Michael managed to get his hands on little Ash,” Jacob said, only to add, “They named the baby after Ashley,” at Kale’s questioning look.

  “Is he okay?”

  “He’s a very healthy and happy baby boy, thanks to your mate and Ephraim. He got the baby safely away from the Sentinel before he could hurt him,” Jacob said with a warm smile.

  “Good,” Kale said, beyond fucking relieved that the little boy was okay. He’d been worried about him since he found out that Danni was pregnant.

  “Michael managed to force Danni to drink more demon blood laced with the cancer. The mix was more potent this time, causing the cancer to spread quickly. Before it could take over, Noah was able to set up a transfusion with Christofer’s blood. They nearly drained him, but they managed to kill every last cancer cell while they got everyone out of the mansion before the fire spread.”

  “They burned down the mansion?” Kale asked, releasing his hold on the headboard only to immediately drop back down on the bed when his legs refused to cooperate.