Caged

by Helene Gadot

  Dara needs to hurry the fuck up and get back here.

  We need to leave now more than ever with that creepy ass guard back in Al’s life.

  Even I’ve noticed the way he’s constantly lurking around.

  And the stories Zak has whispered to me while we work has signed that prick’s death sentence.

  I know Allegra wants to be the one to end his life, but if I get the chance, I’m taking it.

  She’ll forgive me eventually.

  And if not, I’m confident it’ll still be worth it.

  Zak and I chat back and forth, sharing our pasts and secrets in low voices while we work.

  What do the humans even do with all this wealth?

  Ravenswood is filled with poverty and desperation. It’s how they got relatively decent humans to turn against Arcanes.

  We gave them a convenient scapegoat, someone to blame all their strife and misfortunes on.

  These gems are probably going directly to the government to line their pockets. Or the wardens.

  Like the one we’re after.

  Who’s going to die for what he’s done.

  I consider telling Zak about the reasoning for our mission to the next prison. What we’re supposed to be doing here.

  But it’s not really my secret.

  And we should really explain things to Allegra first.

  We should’ve explained things to her days ago.

  Or weeks.

  Agony spears my chest, stealing my breath and my vision, painting everything black.

  A scream builds in my throat and I’m powerless to keep it inside.

  It explodes out of me and echoes off the walls, continuing deeper and deeper into the mines before boomeranging back to me.

  This isn’t a panic attack.

  Something is happening to her.

  Something bad.

  I’ve got to get out of here and save her.

  Except I might be too late.

  Again.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Allegra

  FEAR HAS A SOUR FRAGRANCE. Death has a bitter taste.

  Both of which I’ve grown quite accustomed to at this point.

  I hide from the pain as long as I can, but it grows and grows and grows until I know nothing but the torment pulsing through me.

  I’m alive.

  I think.

  Barely.

  I don’t even know what he did for me since I checked out for the majority of the session.

  Borus gets right in my face and grabs my jaw between his punishing fingers. “You’ve gotten even stronger than when I left. We’re going to have a lot of fun together.”

  He releases me and reaches for the shackles, not catching or steadying me, instead letting me fall to the ground with a thud and a pained groan as I try to curl in a protective ball.

  Borus always did like to kick me when I was down.

  He bends low over me. “Want to know a secret?”

  I groan. Just let me crawl back to my cell in peace.

  “Remember the last time we saw each other?”

  Of course I do.

  I’ll never forget as long as I live.

  In fact, I’ll probably take that pain and rage into whatever life lies beyond this one.

  “I’m sure you probably assumed your little lion died.”

  I stop breathing.

  What?

  “But he didn’t. Well, he did technically die for a couple minutes, but the doctor brought him back.” He snorts.

  No.

  Impossible.

  He’s lying.

  “Somehow, he escaped. The doctor removed his collar and left him unattended too long. He healed faster than usual and he left.”

  No. Rowan wouldn’t have done that.

  Borus keeps going, his words stabbing me over and over. “He didn’t come back for you. He didn’t take you with him. He just left you behind.”

  I refuse to believe this. There’s no way.

  It can’t be true.

  It just can’t be.

  He strokes my hair. “I’ve spent the last six months tracking him, but he’s vanished. But don’t worry, flower. I came back for you. I’ll never leave you behind. Because you’re mine.”

  My hand finds a small abandoned tool and my fingers wrap around whatever it is.

  Get up. Get up. Get up.

  Get up and stab him right in the eye.

  Shut him up for good.

  Stop his lies and cruelty.

  Rowan wouldn’t have left me behind.

  On the slight chance he did escape, he would’ve come back for me.

  Get up, Allegra.

  I crawl to my knees, my arms shaking and unsteady, barely keeping my face from slamming into the floor.

  But Borus kicks me hard in my ribs, sending me back into a broken pile of pain sliding across the ground.

  “Tell me you’re mine.”

  It takes every single bit of strength in me, but I somehow shake my head. No way in hell am I saying that.

  I’m Rowan’s.

  I’m starting to maybe be Zak’s.

  I’ll even accept ownership by my new mates before I ever admit Borus gets a part of me.

  “Say it. Say you’re mine.” He screams it in my face, spittle landing on my nose and forehead.

  My stomach lurches, bile burning my throat.

  “Fuck no she isn’t. She’s mine.” A furious and familiar voice breaks up our standoff.

  And Borus ends up hauled away from me before landing in a crumpled, whimpering heap right next to me, Sterling standing over both of us with so much rage emitting from him, it soothes me.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Sterling

  MY WHOLE BODY QUAKES with the need to pummel this prick until he’s begging for mercy.

  And then I want to carve every bit of flesh from his bones, inch by inch, bathing in his screams and blood.

  But first, there’s a little birdie I need to check on.

  I stomp right on the shit’s face, knocking him out and stepping on and over him to get to Allegra.

  She’s curled on the ground, staring at the guard with hope and horror at war on her swollen and bloody face.

  I crouch at her other side, my hands hovering above her, unsure where it’s safe to touch her. “Hey, birdie. I think you should shift. You’re small enough I can hide you. We’ll leave this prick strung up here until you’re feeling well enough to come back and finish the job.”

  A moaning breath releases from her lungs as she struggles to turn over and face me.

  I cringe as she grunts and whimpers, not a single clue how to help her in her current state without causing her more pain and harm.

  She’s finally able to flop over and I’m about to smash my fist over and over and over into a wall from watching like a useless and helpless lump.

  “I’ll be okay. Thank you. For coming for me.” She tries to reach out and pat my leg, her face twisted.

  “I felt your agony.” I growl at the memory of the way it knocked me on my ass.

  Before I knocked the sentries guarding us on theirs and raced here.

  “You’re going to end up in trouble.” She coughs, blood splattering her lips and the ground beneath her.

  My fingers itch to smooth the hair from her face. “I don’t give a fuck. We can talk later. Now shift so we can get the hell out of here.”

  Her eyes close as she reaches for her Arcane powers and I sit back on my heels to wait. When you’re this injured, it takes a few moments to coax your animal out.

  Though my unicorn is raging and demanding to be let out to be with her.

  He can hurry the healing.

  Her shoulders slump. “I can’t. My nightingale is too weak.”

  Okay. Okay.

  We can fix this.

  We can fix her.

  I barely need to reach out for my unicorn, he’s already here, pushing to be released.

  Awe shines from Allegra’s gaze as she takes in my Arcane
form. We preen at her attention, wanting her to find us beautiful. We toss our head with a snort before dipping down to nudge our nose against her soft cheek.

  A pure laugh of wonder spills from her as she reaches up to stroke our neck. We lean in to her soothing touch, releasing our magic through the physical connection and the mating one, letting it surge through us and into her.

  We don’t care if we’re discovered with broken collars. We just want our mate uninjured and healthy again.

  But we’re weak from the lack of food and the constant hard labor and from feeding Archer so many times.

  Our magic isn’t enough.

  Not for how badly she’s injured.

  With my magic, I can feel how dire it is. How close she came to dying.

  Again.

  We’ve only been here a couple weeks and she’s almost died twice.

  She certainly had a fucking point the other night when she reminded us how dangerous her entire life has been.

  We came here and immediately made assumptions about who she is and what she’s gone through and treated her like glass.

  Instead, this woman seems able to survive anything. Horrible beatings, sick experiments, losing her mate.

  And she’s still a bright light in this gray place.

  Someone who’s held on to her kindness and inner strength and purity of spirit in spite of all of it. Someone who is still willing to do the right thing. Still willing to fight. Still willing to protect.

  While I’m the asshole who has heaped more cruelty on top of her head.

  We lose our balance, our front legs giving out, almost falling right on Allegra.

  She’s healed enough to scoot out of the way, removing our physical connection.

  Allegra is still a bit battered and bruised, but her internal bleeding has stopped and most of her wounds have faded into barely visible scars.

  Our head spins as we try to force our trembling legs to push us back to standing.

  “What’s wrong? You used too much. Dammit Sterling. Stop healing me. I can shift and handle the rest.”

  Worried we’ll black out and leave her alone and vulnerable, we listen and cut off the healing we’re sending through the mating bond.

  She cups our face and strength pours into us, giving us the energy we need to rise.

  “Thank you.”

  My unicorn is exhausted, so he hands me back the reins after chuffing and saving his nose into our mate’s neck. She’s still clutching my face when I return to my human form.

  “You’re welcome.” My voice is raspy as I fight the stupid emotion clogging my throat.

  The regret and awe and pain and rage are a mix of something dangerous and explosive.

  I don’t know if it’ll end in murder or love.

  Glee hits me from my unicorn when I reach out to run hands over Allegra, checking her over, making sure we didn’t miss anything.

  She grabs my hands to put a halt to my search. “I’m okay. I promise. It’s probably best to leave me looking like this so they don’t discover our collars don’t work. That could ruin the plan.”

  “Fuck the plan. You don’t need to walk around in pain for days just for the plan.”

  Right now, I just want to make sure she’s okay and I want to kill this motherfucker. Everything else can wait.

  She jerks back. “What? I thought the mission was all?”

  “I guess I changed my mind.” I curl my hands around her upper arms and draw her in slowly, watching her face carefully for the first hint of panic or fear.

  But all I see on her face and feel through our bond is curiosity and tenderness and relief.

  Our lips meet and she tastes like berries growing wild in the woods. Fragile things that somehow always survive the elements no matter how hard they try to kill the fruit.

  She fits perfectly against me, tucked in close as I plunder her mouth, growling when she melts against me, pleased at her show of sweet submission.

  My unicorn nickers in my head, thrilled to finally have her in our arms.

  Neither of us give a single shit about the asshole lying in his blood and hers at our sides.

  I’ll take her right here.

  Then he can start screaming about her being his once she’s bathed in my scent.

  A sudden noise breaks us apart.

  Zakar steps out of the shadows with wide eyes, lust heating them to a molten gold color.

  The kid likes to watch.

  Allegra stumbles farther away from me, her hands clutching her filthy and red-stained uniform. “Zak? How are you here?”

  Zak blinks and shakes himself. “Archer started freaking out when he felt what was happening to you through your connection. Since I have my powers, it was easier for me to sneak here and find you.”

  I’m surprised Gavyn hasn’t found his way here. He must be completely losing his mind. Especially since she was with him before all of this went down.

  It’s not like he could’ve done anything. Something I’m sure I’ll need to remind him of later.

  “How’d you know where I was?” Allegra asks.

  Zakar shoots her a knowing glance. “Where else would you be?”

  “Right. Well...” Allegra trails off, patches of pink staining her cheeks.

  I clear my throat and haul myself to my feet. “Help me get this prick strung up. Then we all need to get out of here.”

  A dark and violent shadow passes across his gaze, a lethal smile spreading across his lips. “It would be my pleasure.”

  Allegra notices our rising fury. “Remember. He’s my kill.”

  I snort. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten. It’s the only reason he’s still breathing.”

  Part of me had hoped me stomping him in the head would kill him, but alas he’s made of stronger stuff than that.

  The jinn and I heave the piece of shit off the floor and get him nice and chained.

  Once he’s strung up, I rip the arm off his uniform and shove it into his mouth so he can’t scream for help. “Who else knows about this place?”

  Allegra shrugs. “If they think about it, all the guards. But it hasn’t been touched or used in six months since he was here before. I doubt they’ll look for him here.”

  I smile, satisfied at the picture the guard makes, limp and painted in bruises and blood. “Then he can hang here and suffer until we can get back here and give him a little taste of what he’s done to you.”

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t just kill him now?” Zakar asks, worry in his voice.

  Allegra shakes her head and her jaw hardens. “No. He doesn’t deserve such a mercy. Not after what he did to Rowan.”

  If it weren’t for the circumstances, her vengeful and violent words would get me hard.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Allegra

  I CAN’T LAND ON A SINGLE emotion, too many feelings bang around in my head of my own to decide whether I should smile, cry, scream, or fly far away as fast as I can.

  I can’t even begin to explore the kiss with Sterling or the information Borus dropped on me.

  Dark amusement and glee win as I regard the shit stain hanging from the ceiling. I can’t imagine a more fitting scene than this.

  A grunt pushes out of me when I rear back and punch him right in his nasty dick.

  Sterling barks a laugh, looking impressed and weirdly turned on. I can’t look at him right now because it only makes me think of his lips on mine. His taste of fresh air and sunlight.

  Zak shakes his head, but his lips curl as he approaches me, reaching out and pulling me into a tentative hug. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

  “I almost wasn’t. If it wasn’t for Sterling, I might not have survived this time. Borus had a lot of pent up stuff to work out.”

  Zak scoffs and releases me, running his hands through his hair.

  Sterling turns to Zak. “Can you get her somewhere safe? Your powers will probably work best for that.”

  Zak nods. “Sure. What are you going to do?”

>   “Go back to the gardens.”

  I frown, my chest tightening, my arms wrapping around my middle. “They’re going to punish you.”

  Sterling shrugs. “I’ll live. I’ll heal. When they do, you need to make damn sure you block me, okay? You don’t need to experience it with me.”

  I’ll certainly try, but I’m not sure it’ll be possible.

  “Were you able to block me out?”

  Sterling shakes his head. “I didn’t try. I needed to find you.”

  “Maybe you should just break out now.” I hug myself tighter, hating the thought of feeling as they strip the skin from his back.

  His smile is so sweet and intimate it disturbs me a little bit. “I can’t fly like you can, little birdie. And remember the plan?”

  I raise a brow. “I thought you said fuck the plan?”

  He chuckles. “I did. But we should be able to still salvage it.”

  “If you say so.” I hope he’s right.

  More than ever, I need to get out of here. I need to find out if Borus was telling the truth.

  Information I plan to beat out of him later.

  “What are you going to say about Brutus missing?” Zak asks.

  “They never asked questions before the last time he disappeared or any of the times he pulled me away for work.”

  The guards stay out of each other’s business for the most part.

  “What will they do when he doesn’t show up?” Sterling asks.

  “I don’t know. Search for him? Hopefully they’ll assume the same thing they did with the last missing guard.” I gnaw at my bottom lip as my gaze darts to Borus, who still hasn’t made a sound or a movement.

  Sterling really did a number on him. I’m a little surprised his skull didn’t cave in from the force of the kick to the head.

  I’m glad Borus is still alive though. He has answers I need.

  “Let’s get moving,” Zak says. “The longer you’re missing, the more trouble you’ll be in.”

  As much as I hate the idea of Sterling suffering for saving me, I don’t know what else to do, how to get us all out of this.

  Sterling stiffens and his eyes wide. He puts his finger up to his lips in warning and takes silent steps towards the opening of the mine.