“Noted,” I respond, sure of myself.
Glen and Scott finally get out of the car. “Sorry,” Scott says, closing the door.
“Don’t worry about it. Make the car disappear,” Nathan tells him.
“I didn’t know you could make things disappear!” Glen mentions.
Scott pats Glen’s lower back. “That’s not important right now, darling.” He focuses on the car, and it slowly fades out.
Nathan takes me by my shoulders and turns me around. We face a large, fenced in, dark tunnel. Hurrying me, he instructs, “Use your hot hands to melt the metal and make a hole.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. At least my height.”
A concrete wall to my left goes up over eight feet high and shapes an arch. This may have been a train tunnel at some point long ago, or a mining transport hole. The chain-link fence encloses the opening, keeping in the creepy darkness that rests in the depths of the tunnel where the dim light of the underpass can’t reach. Willing my hand to heat, I place it to the coiled metal, reaching as high as I can. To my liking, it quickly melts beneath my touch. I run my hand out about five inches more than Nathan’s body width, melting the metal down. The fence bends backward and breaks off before I make it to the ground. Nathan lurches forward, catching it before it clinks against the muddy concrete.
He steps through first and quietly places down the broken fence. After he examines the entry, he extends his hand behind him. I enter with Glen and Scott hot on my heels.
We creep through the darkness, following Nathan until he can’t see any more.
Sparks?
I’m on it. I will the film to cloak my eyes, allowing us sight in the darkness.
We’re following Sparks. Stay close, Nathan says to all of us.
You sure you will be okay, Cey?
What? I blurt with pure joy. Oh my gosh! I jump excitedly. Glen, you did it!
Yeah. I’m happy, Cey. I swear I’ve never felt this good about anything.
Nathan! I squeal.
I know, Sparks. Stay focused. You two can celebrate later. We’re on limited time.
Right. Sorry. Oh my gosh, she did it! Yay, Glen! Two-second dance party. I throw my arms in the air and move my hips with one swift motion. Woo♪! Okay, now focus and celebrate later. I’m so happy for her and Scott, I can’t wait to celebrate.
There’s nothing but space down this empty tunnel.
We’re following the tunnel until it ends. When it does, make a left, Nathan informs.
When required, we make the left, and the tunnel grows darker. The air’s warm, thick and muggy, and reeks of musty mildew. It coats my sweaty skin, making me sticky. Critters scamper across the ground as we carefully stroll through the blackness, and I train my eyes not to scan the concrete.
We come upon an iron, screen-like door that’s sealed closed by a deadbolt and padlock. Now, what? I ask.
Melt the lock. I’ll unlock the bolt. Just look at it so I know where it is, Nathan says.
I melt the lock, and the bolt unlocks. Nathan pulls the door open. It’s silent as it swings open; I suspected there would be a whine from its rustic look, but maybe it’s used more often than this disgusting tunnel lets on.
We continue, not yet allowed a glimpse of light.
Walk down to the first door on your left. Everybody, stay quiet. Don’t even let your steps sound. Once we make it through, Scott, you and Glen move to the left side of the room. We’ll take a right. There will be three in there. I’ll take care of them. If I need you, Sparks, I’ll let you know. Don’t move unless I say.
I lead us to the door. It opens on its own. The dim lighting from the room frees us from the dreary shadows. Scott and Glen take their spot, and I take mine. Nathan moves faster than my eyes can follow, dropping the three guys before they’re able to speak. Sparks, close the door, he rushes.
I rush over, quietly pushing the door closed. We meet in the middle of the office-like room.
The next door we go through is where Olar’s supposed to be. Stay by my side. Use my instincts to guide you. I’ll stay open. Touch me if you get scared or uncomfortable. Stay focused, Sparks.
I nod, lacing my fingers through his. Sealing our hold, I’m flooded by him, seeing through his eyes. I feel every bit of him; the breeze from the air blowing past his head that I can’t directly feel being shorter than he, the warmth of the room to him where, to me, it’s freezing. His determined and confident aura impels me, and as he is, I become.
You ready? he asks, and I’m echoing him.
We nod.
We approach the door, breathing on the same breath and stepping with the same foot. The dark wooden door swings open.
We’re hit head on by two men the size of Top. I dust one before he can wrap his blood-drenched hand around my face. Nathan takes care of the other one.
Jail-like cells aligning the walls hold men and women who scream for freedom and beg to be released. They blare at the top of their lungs, demanding we help them. We spot Olar on the ground level, hanging from the ceiling by barbed wire wrapped around him from his arms down to his torso. We race to his cell, and I yank at the gigantic padlock. Being a larger lock, it takes longer to melt. Snatching it off, Nathan and I yank the cell open, and Glen and Scott rush in. Scott climbs Olar, and with his mouth morphed animal-like with razor-sharp teeth, he chews the wires loose.
Olar drops to his feet, unwrapping himself.
We turn, looking around the gigantic room, making sure no one’s coming up behind us. The oversized room filled three floors high with occupied cells holding screaming humans and blaring creatures echo as they grow louder, seeing Olar set free.
Easy, let’s go, Nathan and I say.
Olar slowly approaches us. His expression makes us question his action with his eyes sad, yet eager, and a frown to his mouth. I can’t, he says. I have to find Lana.
We dig our teeth into our tongue, biting back our irritation. He’s lost his damn mind. Who the hell is Lana and why do we give a damn about her? We came here for you. We have you, and now it’s time to go. Before we can’t go! we say harshly.
I’m sorry. You can leave, but I can’t leave her. I saw her, and the attraction I had toward this woman was undeniable. Her heart became mine. She’s my beautiful creature. We can’t leave her.
Fuck. She’s your mate. Our heads lower with the realization coming over us.
She is. I need her. The desperation’s in his eyes accompanies a plea for us to not walk away but help him rescue his mate too.
Do you at least know where she is? we ask.
Yes.
Throwing our left arm out, we edgily instruct, Lead the way.
Olar exits the cell and runs to our left. We follow him down the cell wall.
Where are we going? Scott barks.
To find Olar’s mate, we answer.
He mated with someone in here? How the hell is that even possible?
Not now, Scott, we fire back.
Crowded by the double flow of irritation, my hands shake. I grab Nathan’s hand, and I’m able to feel my touch through his. Washed in confidence, I push forward, sure we have everything under control.
We come upon an empty cell that has a small hole sat in its back wall. We crawl through it, making it to a cramped space with a hatch Olar pulls back. We drop down, barging into a small room that holds only a bed. A thin girl jumps up from it. At first, she looks afraid, then shows excitement when her sight rests on Olar. They kiss and then she nods. She pulls a ladder down from the hatch, and we climb it out of the room. First Olar and then Lana.
Going back the way we came, we run as fast as we can, bursting from the crawl space, fleeing from the cell, and racing across the floor with the brown, wooden door in sight.
Scott! Glen shrills in our mind.
We skid to a stop, twisting around.
Three bulky men stand before us. The one in the middle. . . His thick arm is wrapped around Glen’s petite neck. Terror spills tears fr
om her eyes. She trembles.
“Kegic, let her go,” Olar demands.
Standing on the other side of Nathan, Scott shakes with anger, morphing and changing color.
“If he takes one step, I will drop her,” Kegic warns, gesturing toward Scott. “You’re surrounded.”
We don’t tear our eyes away to check our surroundings. Chewing on her lip, Glen squints her eyes and puckers her brows. Her beg is loud, but she’s learned to stay quiet. Her gaze never breaks away from Scott’s. With trembling lips, she mouths, Please. Scott steps forward . . .
Before a thought can process, before we can take our next breath, before we can blink.
Fast as a strike of lightning, Kegic reaches his free hand to the top of Glen’s head and then yanks it away, taking the top of her head and brain with it. Her eyes roll to the back of her head at the removal, and my best friend slowly drops to the floor—lifeless.
Numb, I turn to my right, looking past Nathan to Scott. Disbelief sears his face as his pupils and irises cloud with a darkness that empties me. He pales, drops to his knees, and falls over on his shoulder. His head hits the ground, and his cloudy eyes remain open though the life in him is gone.
The world sucks the air from my body. My agony fights against my focus on Nathan. Nathan grabs my hand, and my attention redirects to Kegic, who’s smiling at us. The asshole who took the life of my friends in less than a second.
“You can’t escape—” He evaporates. No ash.
The other two charge. I dust one and Nathan vaporizes the other.
The room’s silent as we turn to make a run for it. Three men rush through the door we need to leave from.
“I have them, you two keep running,” Olar yells. The three guys drop to their knees, clawing at their heads, and ripping out their hair.
We rush through the rooms to the dark hall, and I carefully but quickly lead us back through, out of the steel door. We round the corner, fence in sight. I stumble, unable to keep up. Nathan’s car has reappeared, and the moment we make it to the sidewalk, I drop to my knees, choking.
I can’t. . . I can’t hold it in. Nathan lifts me from the ground, pulling me with him into the backseat. He separates himself from me, and I feel every inch of my chest cave in, my heartbreak, my lungs constrict. The scene replays over and over and over again.
“Not yet, Sparks.” Nathan grabs my hand, pushing a calm through me that doesn’t do it.
The feelings fight against each other, and I grit my teeth, trying to manage.
Hold on, Sparks. I know. Just hold on. He lays my head in his lap, and I black out.
bitter sweet
I peel my eyes open, peering into the night. I breathe deeply. Phlegm forces me to cough.
Drowning in an immeasurable sorrow, I scream at the top of my lungs. The tears don’t relieve the pain.
Nathan pulls me against him as he sits up, holding my head in his neck. He squeezes me tightly, trying to suppress the crowding hurt, the jolting stab of loss. Burying his head in my neck, he breathes, breaths warm and heavy as he cries.
My sobs are muffled against his skin, and I wish the boa-constricting grip I have on him—he has on me—did something for this sting.
But like this. . . We sit for hours. It never lifts. We don’t break apart, but break piece by piece.
Eventually, we lie down. The collars of our shirts are damp. My nose and lips are raw. My throat and eyes are sore.
Glen’s voice is a whistle in my ears. Her laugh, a croon to my smile. I shiver when I see her as a movie in my mind, a time when we were kids, and she passed me her pink princess eraser to the hug we shared before leaving this afternoon. My best friend, happy only hours ago, now a memory. The things I’ll never get to enjoy with her again, gone. I cry until I’m drained, and my drying sobs echo against my human wall.
Nathan’s hard as a brick, jaw tight, and still as stone, never removing his arm from being thrown over his eyes. When he loosens, a soft sob escapes him, and that worsens my aching. Scott was to him more than Glen was to me. Reminded of that, the role Scott played in both our lives, my tears return, and I cry myself to sleep.
I wake to a sleeping Nathan, snuggled close beside me, arm slung over his eyes. The glow from the closet light cuts through the darkness of his room. I sit up and look him over, seeing discomfort resting heavily on his wincing face. I kiss the corner of his mouth twice. The apparent distress in his sleeping expression lessens, being replaced by tranquility. I kiss him again. “Nate?” His brows twitch. I kiss him once more. “Nathan?”
His eyes open to thin slits. “You’re right, that is a good way to wake up,” he says, deep and sleepily.
“Can we take a walk? I can’t lay here awake on my own.” And my thoughts and this misery. . .
Black, pain-filled eyes meet mine. “Yes.”
We slide on our running shoes and leave the house for the trail, passing Olar and his new mate sitting in the gazebo. The night breeze rustles the trees, making them sound like waves on a sea. The coolness of the wind is comforting to my tempered flesh. It smells of arriving summer, and the relief I hoped to feel from this stroll is short.
I interlock our fingers and suck in a deep breath.
Nathan pulls me to his front and rests his head on mine. I tilt my head back and kiss the bottom of his chin. “Thank you, Sparks.” He exhales, straightening.
I rub his arms. “Thank you, Nate.”
We stroll, trying to ease off today. I rest my head on his shoulder, wanting a relief greater than the graze of his hand.
Stopping, he twists me around and hugs me close. We both need each other. Beyond the extra ability to physically comfort one another, but to just be here and be held. Nathan draws back, hands resting on my neck. I look up at him as he says, “I’m sorry, Tracey. I let you down.”
Peering into black, non-swirling eyes, I shake my head “It’s not your fault, Nate. Neither of us knew it was going to happen.” Tears cloud my eyes. His thumb brushes my jawline, and he sucks away my sadness. I clear the growing lump from my throat. “I appreciate that,” I gurgle and clear my throat again.
“I can’t take it.”
“I know.” Needing the high, I pull him down and press my lips to his.
His caress is gentle, also willing my comfort.
“Nate, I don’t like you kissing my woman like this.” My hand heats at the sound of Roehl’s voice. I turn around, seeing he’s with two other men taller than him.
“Now is not a good time,” Nathan snarls in a low, venomous voice, taking on his demon. I tilt my head back, watching him grow larger than his previous size.
“Whoa,” I say under my breath.
Roehl’s eyes widen, then he squints. Sobering, he says, “Tracey, I’ve come to take you home.” The whimsical tone of his voice lightens my mood. “I love you, and I need you at my side, Cey.”
A smile tickles my cheeks as his bright eyes capture me. I head in his direction. Nathan snatches me back by the crux of my arm.
“Let her choose, Nate. You can’t do anything to me based on her choice.”
I remove my arm from Nathan’s grasp and regain the step I took.
Roehl extends his hand toward me, palm up, ready for my hand to slide over his. “Come here, Tracey, I’d like to talk to you.”
I nod, taking another step toward him, gazing into his golden eyes as they travel me over. He appeals to me, entices me. I halt after another two steps. I look over my shoulder at Nathan and then back to him.
“Come on, Sparks, let me love you,” Roehl encourages with a sweet smile.
A roughened pound attacks my heart as I continue toward him. With every step, it gets worse.
Nathan grabs me again. With nothing more than a foot between Roehl and us, I reach for him, but the space between us grows as the warm hands wrapped around my arm and waist pull me away.
I turn up my nose, ordering, “Nathan, release me.” I snatch my arm from him, inching toward Roehl. “You said you loved me?�
�� I ask him.
Roehl nods. “I do love you, Sparks.”
I rub my arms, taking another step in his direction. “But you don’t know me.”
“I do. Everything about you. From your need for freedom to your desire to be cared for. Your wish of comfort. Even the admiration you crave. Not only do I love you, but I can give all of that to you and more.”
“Really?” My heart thumps hard in my chest. I place the hand I removed from Nathan to it, feeling its hollow beat. It’s eager. Maybe eager for me to chase the freedom I crave.
“Really.” Roehl smiles, and I return it.
I close the remaining distance to him, and he grabs my waist. A void is filled with his touch. I’d indulge in it, but I’m not allowed the opportunity. I’m snatched away, and a different comforting touch replaces Roehl’s.
Nathan’s. . .
There’s a part of me that says that touch was right, but another, like a gut feeling that says it wasn’t. The weight of frustration makes my hands match, but I settle the fire as Roehl struts forward.
He snaps, “Don’t interfere, Nate.”
“I’ll interfere, and you’ll have to go through me to get her. She’ll have to kill me to choose you,” Nathan swears.
“Do you doubt her, Nate? Your mate?”
I watch their exchange, studying them. Both worthy of my time. I’ve been with Nathan, and it has been one hell of a rollercoaster ride. He’s made me touch the stars, but he’s also taken me to the core of the Earth with some things we’ve experienced. Like today.
Roehl, he offers a life I want. If I could find peace and freedom in him—. No . . . Is that right? Roehl promises things . . . Things I already have. None of what’s happened has been Nathan’s fault. And honestly, my peace and freedom are in my mate. Shouldn’t it be?
I move Nathan aside, stepping in front of him. Going back to Roehl, he welcomes me in his stocky arms, and I gaze into his striking, gold eyes. Studying . . . Considering.
Brazen: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Sephlem Trials Book 2) Page 35
