Ransomed to the World

by Stacey Brutger

  “There’s no more time to train.” Edgar rubbed his brow as he gazed at her, his blue eyes troubled. “We’ll have to head toward the city.”

  Without a plan or a firm grasp of her powers.

  She and her men were going to be easy pickings for her father and his minions.

  Fuck.

  “The witches must have officially called a hunt,” Camden snarled and began to pace.

  “I don’t think so.” Xander crossed his arms, his legs spread. “Director Greenwood would’ve gotten word to us if it was true.”

  “If it’s only a small group of witches who are hunting you, there could be a third option.” Willa flicked her nails, seemingly unaware of the small flame dancing between her fingers, her powers rising with her unease. “They knew you were getting farther away from them, so they must have called in outsiders who have no affiliation to the covens.

  “Hedge witches aren’t usually as powerful as a classically trained witch, but they can be more vicious and deadly if given enough incentive. If they’re offering a place in a coven, they’ll do anything to bring you in…even if it kills them.” She looked down, scowling when she noticed the flame. She clenched her hand into a fist and doused it.

  “I thought we’d have more time,” Logan muttered, running a hand over the back of his head, a hint of snow fluttering around him.

  Xander grabbed Logan’s shoulder, then nudged Mason. “We’d better gather supplies.”

  When Logan passed, Prem jumped off Loulou’s shoulder and landed on his back. The kitsune swore and spun while he tried to pry the critter off as they disappeared into the crowd.

  A few of the wolves chuckled and followed. Unease churned in her gut, and Annora braced herself for a fight. “We can’t take the wolves with us.”

  “Whoa!” Loulou stalked forward, waving her arms in front of her. “Not acceptable. We do this together.”

  Warmth filled Annora’s chest at Loulou’s ferocious scowl, and it was all she could do not to hug her. “You’re one of my best friends, and I need you to be okay when I get back. Taking you and the wolves will be too dangerous, especially if we have rogue witches after us.”

  Loulou huffed, plopping her hands on her hips, her big blue eyes fierce as they shimmered in the firelight. “I don’t like it.”

  “Annora’s right.” Willa nibbled on her lip. “But we might be able to help by giving them a head start.”

  “What do you mean?” Edgar cocked his head, his muscles tense, as if he expected Annora to be taken away at any moment.

  Willa smirked, her green eyes sparkling. “While my main devotion might be fire, I picked up a few things on the streets before I entered the university.”

  She didn’t stay anything, just lifted her hands and ran them up over her face and over her hair. Static crackled in the air as magic stirred.

  Standing directly across from Annora was a taller, curvier version of herself. It was like looking in a mirror. Willa’s blue hair was now a mahogany brown and reached past her shoulders. Her green eyes morphed to nearly black, but there was a spark of mischief that flickered in their depths.

  Willa smiled and winked. “I’ll leave in the morning with Loulou and the wolves. The hedge witches should recognize you, but it’s doubtful they have any idea what your men look like.”

  “No, absolutely not.” Annora dug her nails into her palms to keep the panic creeping up her spine at bay. “It’s too dangerous.”

  Willa shook her head, her hair flying, the spell fading with the movement. “The spell lasts only a few hours. Those few hours could be the lead you need to escape.”

  Annora opened her mouth when Loulou grabbed her arm. “If we can’t go with you, then you will let us do this for you. We can move faster than the witches, keep just ahead of them. By the time they discover the ruse, you’ll be gone. They’ll forget about us when they realize you’re not with us.”

  “She’s right.” Camden cupped the back of her neck, the toxins in his touch tingling at the contact. Despite her immunity, he was trying to soothe her, and she bit back her objections. This wasn’t just about her—it was about keeping her men safe too.

  Annora sighed, and Loulou and Willa shared a grin so wicked, she almost felt sorry for anyone who went after them. As they huddled together to plot, Annora turned to see Edgar watching her carefully.

  She asked the question that had been at the tip of her tongue since learning they were being hunted. “Why do we need to go through the tunnels? Wouldn’t it just be easier to portal us where we want to go?”

  He tugged her close, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “The distance is too great to travel with a large group, not to mention that going through solid rock is a risk. Traveling through the tunnels is our best course of action.”

  Shit.

  Fucking tunnels.

  Dark particles nipped at her skin, worry churning in her stomach. Nothing like being trapped under a gazillion pounds of pure rock with no escape if she freaked out again and raised the dead or summoned more reapers.

  Chapter Twelve

  It seemed like hours since they’d entered the tunnels, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. The trolls gave them two torches to help navigate the underground passageway, but the flames barely penetrated the darkness.

  Annora was in the middle of the pack. Mason took the lead, Xander next, leaving Logan to walk by her side, ever alert, while the other two guys remained behind her. Smoke lingered in the tunnels, but much less dense than expected. It dried out her eyes but didn’t irritate her throat, thank goodness.

  Shadows danced along the walls from the flames, until she’d swear the beetles and spiders that had escaped into the afterworld were zipping between worlds, scuttling along the wall, before diving back into the rock, the darkness swallowing them whole. Lights flickered a second later, showing only a smooth surface.

  As her control wavered, the phantom realm bled into the real world. She clenched and unclenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms, the pain steadying her.

  She wasn’t losing her mind.

  And to prove it, Prem darted past her feet, nipping and munching on the bugs on both sides of the veil, absolutely having the time of his life, the little freak.

  As if sensing her watching, he gave her a fierce little grin, his dark eyes gleaming, then zipped away to do battle when a beetle skittered in front of him, and she lost sight of him.

  The deeper they went, the more the passageway narrowed, until they were walking single file. There were dozens of offshoots in the tunnels, guaranteed to trap the unwary. The air thickened and the walls closed in on her until her skin became clammy.

  Memories of the years she lived trapped underground, screaming herself hoarse, desperate to be heard, rose in her mind. Her fists ached from the remembered pain of beating them against the walls until her bones broke, not even chipping the granite for all her effort. Trying to dig herself out, clawing at stones and dirt, snapping nails and fingers when panic took root.

  Her uncle was dead.

  He wasn’t coming back.

  No one could hurt her, keep her prisoner until her mind finally broke, or make her willing to do anything to escape her cage.

  Needing a distraction, knowing she was minutes away from losing her shit, Annora inched forward until she was practically smashed up against Xander’s back, the warmth of his nearness pushing back the terrors. “How do you know where you’re going?”

  Mason turned at her panicked tone, his face softening, and he spoke in a soothing rumble. “There are markings that show the way every time the tunnels branch out.”

  He took a few steps, then paused by a crack in the wall. He tapped the chipped surface that was near her shoulder. “See these markings?”

  Markings?

  Annora squinted and leaned closer to get a better look, brushing her fingertips against the cold stone and feeling the tiny ridges. “You mean the scratches?”

  “Exactly.” M
ason smiled down at her. “The half circle means dead end, while a full circle means it’s a passage. Slanted lines mean elevation, either an increase or a decrease depending on which way they’re turned. Wavy lines mean water.”

  “That’s amazing!” Annora smiled up at him. “Were these tunnels here before the trolls?”

  Camden raised his torch and widened his stance. “I’m sorry, but we need to keep moving. We have to pass through the mountain and put distance between us before the witches realize we’re gone.”

  Mason nodded, the animation leaving his face as the task of getting them to safety settled back onto his broad shoulders. He turned and began to follow the path again, and she sighed.

  Until he spoke again.

  “Yes, most of the tunnels were here before us. We mapped them out, then expanded them as needed.” He dipped down to fit under a small arch, his voice fading as he went, and she didn’t want him to stop.

  “How?” She reached out and touched the walls. They weren’t smoothed out by machines, but rough and jagged in spots. She passed under the arch without having to duck, once again amazed by the sheer size of him.

  To her, he was just…Mason.

  The troll smirked at her over his shoulder, then stooped and picked up a rock. Xander gave an amused quirk of his eyebrows, then stood back so she could see.

  “With a lot of blood and sweat.” Mason held a rock the size of a basketball. Without even blinking, he crushed it in his fists. It practically exploded under the pressure. Rock chips rained down. He tipped over his hand and dropped the crumbs, then ran his palm down his shirt to brush away the dust.

  He did it without even flinching.

  “Some might think trolls are big, dumb beasts. While our size makes it difficult to kill us, our survival instincts are sharper than most.” He shot her a wink, turning back to the task before Camden could order him to keep pushing forward.

  Annora couldn’t stop her frown. “You’re not dumb. You’re one of the smartest people I know.”

  Mason cast her a startled look over his shoulder, his pink hair perking up, a slight blush on his cheeks, and her chest warmed to see the pleasure that sparked in his purple eyes.

  Silence fell among them, and a familiar itch built once more under her skin as her nightmares began to stir. The shadows began to dance again. She reached forward, grabbing the belt of Xander’s duster and squeezed her eyes shut.

  The warmth of him seeped into her gradually, relaxing her a smidge, but not enough to keep her imagination at bay. She stumbled over stones and rocks, barely resisting the urge to growl. “Someone talk to me.”

  Then Logan was there, running his hand up and down her spine soothingly, shuffling closer until she was practically sandwiched between the two men. Her breath hitched, and her body hummed in recognition of her mates.

  They both calmed her and excited her at the same time.

  Logan’s chin brushed her shoulder, and he whispered in her ear. “What do you want to know, Annora?”

  Everything.

  She barely held back her instinctual reply. Though she knew the basics about the guys, she was desperate to know more. Unfortunately, now was not the time.

  “Explain pack grá to me.” If she was supposed to protect them, she needed to understand how it all worked.

  Logan retreated, and she reluctantly fell back into line. Silence reigned for a few moments, and she reached forward to poke Xander.

  He stiffened, catching her hand, then nibbled at the tips of her fingers, brushing them against his lips, and her heart thundered in her chest. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never met one before you.”

  Annora glanced at each of the guys, and they shook their heads.

  Well, shit.

  “None of us come from very good backgrounds,” Camden commented, his voice devoid of emotions. “We’ve only heard about them, but they haven’t existed in our packs for decades.”

  Sorrow clutched inside her at his confession.

  It seemed so terribly sad.

  A dream that would never come true.

  Logan tugged at her hair, giving her a gentle smile, his blue eyes solemn. “They were myths to us. All my pack cared about were influence and money.”

  Emotions shimmered between her and the guys through their connections.

  Their joy at being claimed.

  Reverence.

  Peace.

  Contentment.

  Worry for her safety.

  “She’s right,” Edgar spoke up from the back. “If it can give her an edge when facing the phantoms, we need to know everything about them.”

  Xander replied first. “Some can sense emotions, even thoughts.”

  Annora brushed her thumb against the tattoo at her wrist. “Or that could just be because of the mating marks.”

  “But you heard me before the marks,” Mason protested. “The marks only strengthened the bond.”

  “Some can borrow powers,” Camden chimed in, his tone thoughtful. “You have a natural immunity, but maybe it’s how you’re able to tolerate my touch.”

  He studied her carefully, his neon green eyes almost calculating, but Annora caught the cautiously hopeful spark in his eyes. Heat swamped her, then quickly turned to hunger.

  “You’ve more than proved your need to protect those you consider your pack.” Logan gave her a lopsided grin, but his shoulders remained tense. Since the first time they met, his need to protect her was something that drew her to him.

  “You also crave our touch.” Edgar watched her with sadness, his focus on where her hand was once again resting against Xander.

  She jerked her arm back, but Xander was having none of it. He lashed out, quickly grabbing her wrist and returned her hand to his belt.

  “It’s the mating marks…touch helps cement the bond.” Edgar gave her a gentle smile. “The craving is on both sides. It’s like an addiction, a need we don’t want to fight.”

  Her heart ached as she gazed into his fathomless blue eyes. While she’d forgiven him, the closeness they once shared was gone, and she longed to get it back…only she didn’t know how to fix the problem.

  Xander interrupted her thoughts. “Shifters with a pack grá are said to be more powerful, because they share the powers among them. Strength is drawn to strength. Others will be drawn to you as well, either to take advantage or because they want to join our pack.”

  Annora stifled a groan at the thought of more people entering her life. In a few short weeks, she’d gone from an existence so lonely she could go weeks without speaking a word, to gaining an entire family, something she would never have dreamed possible.

  Chaos seemed to follow her wherever she went.

  Sometimes, the outside world threatened to overwhelm her, swallow her down into a black hole of despair, but then she’d remember the guys and couldn’t imagine her life without them.

  “If you die, the pack will crumble.” Camden moved the torch, shadows dancing on his face, pulling her out of her ruminations, and she shuddered at his complete conviction. “Our beasts will take over until we’re no longer human. It would only be a matter of time before we all died.”

  “No.” Fear turned her stomach sour. She glared at each of them in turn, struggling to hold back the darkness that threatened to explode out of her. “If I’m the leader of this group, I order you to go on living if anything happens to me.”

  “We’ll fight every second for the chance to stand by your side.” Logan cracked a fierce smile and ran a possessive finger down her cheek. “We’re more powerful together. We’re family. We’re pack. You need to trust us to protect you.”

  She gritted her teeth when none of them acknowledged her command and stewed in silence as they marched through the tunnels, her anger keeping her focused and the darkness at bay. Time dragged, and she startled when Logan tapped her shoulder, passing her a piece of jerky and a canteen of water, trailing his fingers into her hair, like he couldn’t be close and not touch her.

  She bit
into the jerky savagely, then glared at him when she saw blissful contentment on his face. She reached for the thread connecting them. What?

  He jerked in surprise, his hand tangling in her hair, then his gaze caressed her face once again. You would risk everything to make sure we survive…how can you expect it to be any different for us? You don’t have the luxury of deciding your own fate anymore. No more throwing yourself at danger without weighing the consequences. We can survive anything as long as we stand together.

  Annora sighed. For the first time in a long time, she wanted to do more than survive, she wanted to live…for them. They gave her hope for a brighter future. She would do anything for them, sacrifice anything to make sure they survived.

  Her chest tightened when she realized they felt the same about her.

  It was the definition of pack, the bonds between them something few would understand.

  And she wouldn’t give it up for the world.

  Lost in her thoughts, time passed quickly, and it wasn’t long before a bright light at the end of the tunnel nearly blinded her. Mason carefully put out his torch, leaving it on a ledge for others.

  “I’m going to loop back and leave a few roadblocks for anyone who might be following us.” Camden stepped back, glancing at her over his shoulder, as if to assure himself she was all right.

  “Traps?” Logan perked up, rubbing his hands together, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that had been absent for too long.

  “I don’t like it.” Annora tore her attention away from the entrance, twitching with the need to break into a run and escape the stifling tunnels. The only thing keeping her grounded was the thought of leaving her men behind.

  Camden strode toward her, then cupped her jaw. “We won’t engage. The roadblocks—”

  “Traps,” Logan piped up.

  “—traps,” Camden corrected and continued without missing a beat, “will not be harmful to the trolls. We’ll be right behind you.”

  She bit her lip in indecision when he kissed her forehead and nudged her toward the entrance. “Go. We’ll be fine. I promise.”