Shattered (Alchemy Series Book #3)

by Augustine, Donna

  "It's just something to sedate you. Make the whole process go smoother," the senator explained.

  He had sworn I wouldn't be tortured. He said he had no intention of killing me. It didn't matter, because just living with him like this was going to be torture but it was the price I'd been willing to pay. I'd bide my time until I knew I was stronger, then I would kill him; but my plans had rested on being cognizant. If I was doped up all the time, there was no hope.

  I felt the cuffs on my wrists but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't speak. I needed my hands, at the very least. Panic shot through me at the years that rolled ahead in my mind. I didn't know if I'd ever die of natural causes; I could spend an eternity like this.

  The man in the white coat was next to me, holding the syringe up, removing any air bubbles, when the ground started to shake violently. I fell to my knees as everyone scattered. They all sought cover and squatted down to avoid falling as the vibrations ripped across the ground. Even the senator ran as the earth shook more than it had since the shattering, when the greatest transformation had taken place.

  It felt like the shaking was intensifying and was aimed right for where I was. I sat there, alone for twenty feet in every direction. A familiar buzzing whipped around my head and it took me a minute to realize it was the lightning bugs. "Jo, Jo," they repeated excitedly as the whizzed around me. "He's coming!"

  I tried to ask who, but my voice was muffled by the tape.

  "What, Jo?" one of them asked. "We can't hear you, Jo!" another chimed in.

  "Wait! Maybe without the tape we can hear her!"

  A chorus of "ahhh" followed. They converged on my face and I felt the tape being pried from my skin.

  "Owww, I'm stuck! I'm stuck! I'm gonna die!" I heard a little voice scream out.

  "You're fine, Lucy!" came another voice. "There."

  "Don't yell at me! You didn't get stuck to that yellow paper for a day! I have PTPS!" Lucy yelled back.

  "You don't have Post Traumatic Paper Syndrome! Now help us."

  I felt the tugging at my mouth again and the tape fell. I took a deep breath. "Who's coming?"

  "Him!" they screamed in chorus. Now that I didn't have to keep my head still for them, I swiveled around and saw a hill in the ground that was growing before my eyes. It had everyone's attention, which was why no one was paying attention to the fact that a bunch of bugs were trying to save me.

  The hill was about seven feet, when all of a sudden everything stopped shaking. The sand slowly started to slide down its sides revealing black hair. Another inch and it looked like there might be tan skin under all that sand clinging to what was starting to look like a human form.

  The sand continued to slide down what I now could confirm was a man's form. When the sand was down to only a few feet high, the man stepped out of the pile and everyone there instinctively moved back a few more feet.

  His whole body vibrated and the sand flew from his skin. Dark black hair, tanned skin, pale blue eyes, and muscled perfection stood there in the nude. The guy could have been Cormac's brother.

  "Excuse the lack of apparel," he said as he took a few steps out of the small mound of sand still at his feet. "My traveling conditions aren't conducive to clothing."

  I was on the fringe of screaming and trying to get to my feet to run for cover when the man, or whatever he was, walked over to me. Something about him made me hold my tongue and stay in place. It was the way he cocked his head to the side and the gait of his walk. I didn't know him but my gut told me I did.

  "Time to get this mess worked out," he said. His hand reached down to help me up but I pulled back. "What's wrong, Jo? Don't you trust me?"

  My jaw dropped and there was no way to hide the shock I was feeling. It couldn't be. No way. He was supposed to be underground for fifty years.

  "Burrom?"

  The corners of his mouth lifted and his eyes squinted slightly. The package was perfection and looked nothing like the stout ground Fae I'd helped send off to hibernation. But it was him. Somehow, underneath all those good looks, I could see him. Staring as I did now, I even thought I noticed a slight green tint in his black hair.

  Who he was remained a mystery to everyone else there, but his alliance was clear to all as I let him help me to my feet.

  "How did you know what was happening?" I asked.

  The bugs came swooping around again. "We told him, Jo! We saved you, Jo!"

  "Time to get this show going and get the hell out of here," Burrom said. "I don't like this side of the wall."

  My heart sunk at his words. "I appreciate you coming, but it doesn't change anything."

  "He'll let you leave."

  "I made a deal."

  "He'll reconsider. Just watch and see." Burrom cleared his throat and spoke loud and clear to the senator, loud enough that everyone could hear. "We'll be leaving now."

  "The deal is done." The senator took a step forward, making, his determination clear. "She stays."

  "I don't think so," Burrom said, not flinching and speaking a bit softer as the senator came closer.

  "I don't know who you are, but I told you, the deal is done. Go back to your side and be glad I let you live."

  Burrom closed the distance to the senator and I followed. I wasn't going to let him go down alone for me.

  We got within a foot of him and Burrom dropped his voice even lower for his next words. "I know. And if you don't let us leave now, everyone here will know as well."

  What the hell was Burrom talking about? I could see the senator blanch. Whatever he was saying had the senator on the ropes.

  Burrom took a step closer to me and rested his hand upon the back of my neck in a menacing manner before he spoke again. "You might not know me, but I've been here a lot longer than you. I'm not willing to hand everything over that easy."

  "You could lose as well. Are you willing to chance that?"

  "What do you think?" Burrom asked, only having eyes for the senator.

  I didn't know what was going on, but I was getting the feeling I shouldn't be trusting Burrom, either. He pulled me in front of him and placed his other hand on my neck. What the fuck?

  The senator didn't move, and neither did Burrom.

  The senator broke the tension first. "I don't want to see any of you on my land again or I will take the chance." The senator turned his back on us and walked away.

  "You were willing to kill me?" I asked Burrom, as we stood in the center together.

  "Not here," he said, not answering the question or giving me the opportunity to know if he really would've or not.

  Rage boiled up in me at this latest possible betrayal and the day's events. The fear I'd wanted to feel but couldn't. Or maybe, it was because I knew I was going to be able to leave this place and I didn't even know if Cormac would speak to me again. The feelings I'd been holding back rushed to the surface.

  White smoke poured out of every pore in my body, the sky opened up above me as bolts of lightning flashed and claps of thunder filled the air.

  Burrom looked startled as he took a step back. "Jo, calm down."

  My hands shook in front of me and the bugs were whizzing past my head in a complete frenzy screaming, "Oh no! Jo's real mad, now," over and over again.

  "Jo!" Burrom yelled. "You need to calm down." The wind had started to whip around us and it hit me: whatever was going on right now, I was creating it and it was getting pretty scary. I looked at everyone staring at me, the horrified expressions on their faces was a jolt. Enough to start cutting through the well of emotion I was drowning in.

  The thunder and lightning lessened as the smoke started to subside.

  The senator had stopped and was looking at me. And when our eyes met this time, he was scared.

  "You should be," I said softly as I watched him. I knew he heard me.

  "Jo," Burrom said. "Not now."

  "Why?" I asked, turning on him, forcing an answer.

  "Because if you don't win, I'm not sure anyone w
ill survive."

  Burrom's words sunk in as well as his actions. I looked over to where the senator had rejoined his men and the many rippers, that looked less calm than they had an hour ago but still swarmed around him in a protective manner.

  White smoke was still pouring out of my pores as I eyed up the scene. "Get him," I said, directing my words at the rippers.

  The rippers instantly turned on the senator and chaos ensued as he had to quickly conjure up his own smoke to back them off and get them under control again, but not before they had torn through a few of his men, trying to reach him to rip him apart.

  I turned to Burrom. "Now we can go."

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Burrom burrowed through the ground and got us back to the other side. Lizard Man had disappeared into the ground and refused to come out while Cormac had repeatedly tried to force his way through the tornado wall.

  All eyes were on us as we stood there. Cormac looked nowhere but at me and stood frozen for a second. Then he was on top of me, almost strangling me in his embrace. He didn't let me out of his sight the entire way back, but he also wasn't speaking to me. Cormac's only words were he was getting me back to the penthouse and not letting me out again. I didn't care. I was just grateful to be leaving there with him.

  After Cormac let me go he looked Burrom up and down, shook his head and made a disgusted grunt. The way Cormac reacted to him made me positive he somehow knew who it was.

  "Hey, don't give me grief for this," Burrom said. "I never would've picked a get up this pretty."

  That was the end of the conversation. No one felt comfortable talking this close to the senator's lands, or anywhere, now that we knew even the bugs could have ears.

  "Wow," was the only word I could think of when we got back to the Lacard a day later, and it was echoed by the rest of the group. It looked more like a castle than a casino. It was hard to find even a glimpse of the modern structure that used to be there, except perhaps for its size. I doubted castles this big had ever existed.

  Our makeshift bridge had turned into a full-blown drawbridge as we crossed over the moat. I paused before we entered through the wooden doors that were once glass, to touch the stone of the outside wall. Yep, real stone. If this was a magical façade, it was a damn good one.

  Dodd and Buzz were in the foyer, which should probably be renamed the great hall. It came complete with the biggest fireplace I'd ever seen. Inside, with remnants of modern furnishings still, wasn't as bad as the exterior. The magic had seen fit to spare our electricity, as well.

  Dodd rushed toward Sabrina, only acknowledging the rest us with a glance and a nod as he embraced her. I watched her hand self-consciously move to her forehead where the scales had grown. I'm sure Dodd noticed them but it didn't look like he cared. All pretense of acting as if he wasn't hopelessly in love with her was gone. He scooped her up in his arms despite her protests, and whisked her away from the hall.

  "Where are the senator's men that were left behind?" Cormac asked Buzz.

  "They tried to sneak out of here but we caught them and threw them into the dungeons."

  "Dungeons?" I asked.

  Kever came to stand next to Buzz. "Yeah, we've got dungeons now and it's the real deal." Then they both caught sight of Burrom. "Boss, you've got a brother?"

  "No, and don't call him that again," Cormac said. "Penthouse in one hour. Only us. Kever, you watch the floor." As soon as Buzz and Kever left, I watched Cormac take off down the hall.

  Burrom came over and stood next to me as I watched Cormac walk off. Shirtless and in his borrowed pants, he was getting quite a bit of attention.

  "Still not talking to you?" he asked.

  "Nope."

  "He will."

  "I hope."

  "This is going to be good," he said, laughing at a joke I didn't get.

  I saw Cormac stop in his tracks and look backward, as if expecting to see someone. Then he stormed back to me.

  "Yeah, see you in an hour," I said to Burrom as he grabbed my arm and pulled me with him. I wasn't sure what the situation was with us. It was hard to know exactly where you stood with someone who wasn't speaking to you.

  He didn't let go until we walked into the bedroom and he shut the door. He still wasn't speaking as he started taking off his own dusty clothes.

  "What's the deal? Are you kicking me out?" I asked, intent on getting some sort of acknowledgment out of him.

  "No," he said. He finished undressing and threw his dirty clothes into a pile in the corner.

  "You're just not talking to me?" I asked as I followed him around the room with my eyes.

  "It's too hard right now."

  "Why?"

  He swung around to face me and I tried to ignore the fact that he was completely naked, but it was difficult. That whole bucket list and hot sex thing did enter my mind.

  "Because I'm too..." he paused, shook his head and turned away for a minute. "You made a choice with me the other night and then you act as if it's only you again, the one woman show."

  "I did it for you. He had snipers aimed at you."

  "And if you had told me, you would've known I didn't need you to save me." He walked over to where his holster was lying on the night table, pulled out the gun, turned it on himself and shot it all within a minute. The bullet didn't even break the skin, just dropped to the floor.

  I suspected he'd been experiencing some differences since the shattering and now I knew for sure.

  "The senator has stronger bullets. You don't know how you would've handled those."

  He didn't answer, just walked into the bathroom and started running the shower. I picked up the bullet from the ground and looked at it. I recognized the odd hue it possessed and realized it was one of the senator's.

  I stepped into the bathroom, expecting to find him in the shower already. He was just standing there, arm outstretched, palm resting on the wall. His head was bowed and I could tell he was struggling with the situation. I got it. He was pissed about how things went down, but I'd done what I thought was best at the time.

  "Should I leave?" I asked, not knowing what else to do.

  I instantly knew those were the wrong words when his eyes bored into me. He didn't say anything, just walked over and pulled my shirt off.

  He tugged off my pants but this didn't require and explanation. I still wasn't sure where we stood but I needed this more than him and the desperate way he was running his hands over my body made me think he might need it as much as I did.

  His hands lifted me and my legs wrapped around his waist. He stepped under the hot water, pressed me up against the shower wall and impaled me on his erection in one deep thrust, covering my moan with his mouth.

  He was almost violent in his need as he thrust into me fast and hard. I clung to him, pulled to his intensity. With each stroke, I could feel myself getting closer, his need driving my own. I looked into his eyes and lost myself. I heard him find his own release as I sagged against him.

  "Did I hurt you?" he asked as he pulled back just enough to look at me.

  "No." I ran my hands over his shoulders and pulled him back closer to me.

  "I thought you were gone." His voice was ragged and I could feel the tension still in him. "I was scared and I don't get scared. I don't even know what to do with that emotion." He pressed even more closely to me.

  "I did it for you. I couldn't let you die." I buried my face in his neck.

  "I would've preferred death."

  #

  A little less than an hour later, my limbs turned to mush, I was waiting in the living room for everyone. Burrom showed up in ripped jeans and a snug shirt that clung to him, looking like he planned to make the most of his new form. Buzz strolled in next with Dark. Dodd came in a few minutes later, with Sabrina. That was it; no one else had been invited to this meeting, at Burrom's request. He said what he wanted to discuss had to remain between just us.

  We all took a seat on the couches, except for Cormac. I was gla
d that other than losing some of the windows to stone, the penthouse had pretty much remained the same.

  "Sabrina, are you okay?" Cormac asked.

  Dodd's arm was around her shoulders, lending her emotional support. She looked so much more fragile than I'd ever seen her. I didn't know what she had gone through while she was with them, but it had done a real job on her. I wondered if she'd ever be the same.

  She didn't look like she was okay at all, but she nodded her head. "When we were hijacked in the desert, they just stumbled onto us by accident. When they saw we were changed, they brought us back with them. Except for Jimmy, the guy with the horns. He had tried to fight and they made an example of him."

  "How did you end up with the senator?" I asked.

  "I explained to them where we were heading, hoping they'd see the larger picture. They did, it just didn't work out the way I'd hoped. They went to the senator and struck a deal."

  "Care to fill us in now, Burrom, on why he let us leave?" I asked.

  "Not everyone here knows this, and I don't want it talked about outside of this meeting, but I'm a Ground Fae. I enlisted the help of Jo to seal my sleeping grounds. That's when things started getting strange. Instead of sleeping for fifty years, which is typical, give or take a year or two, I slept for less than a week. And I think it's because of you," Burrom said, looking straight at me. "When you sealed me, what happened?"

  I explained the steps I went through and the blast at the end. I told them how I hadn't thought much of it, not knowing what was normal.

  "I'm going to speak freely now," he said, looking at me. I nodded. I trusted everyone in this room.

  "When the senator helped your mother conceive, he used magic, the same magic that rules this world, to help her. I think you are linked to this magic, in a way that is much deeper than what would be considered the norm, even in these strange times."

  "I don't get it. What are you trying to say?" Dodd asked.

  "I think it's similar to a person's circulatory system and she's a main artery. I think the magic of this world flows freely through her, like a conduit. I think he's realized the same thing and is afraid to kill her."