Chapter 17 : He Sacrificed Himself for Her

*Kael* I didn't expect the mystery female from the Niburgh square to be so… irksome. Though she definitely thought the same about me. Especially after what I felt—what I knew she felt too—in the throne room. I could only have described it as a rope—no, it was less abrasive than that. A ribbon, maybe. It wrapped itself around my heart like a snake squeezing its prey, but I could sense its other end just faded into darkness and it wanted to find something in it. Rather, someone. When I saw her standing in front of me against all odds, looking stricken in a skimpy nightgown, the ribbon seemed to rest at her feet, no longer squeezing. I was so rocked that I couldn't help but breathe, "You." When I heard her name, I felt delirious—more than I already was—with relief. Gemma Brooks. She was alive and real and… And we were likely in mortal danger. Well, maybe just me, as she was the one looking pampered while I was beaten to a pulp. I needed to stay alive. For Rian, for Jerah, Jaci, and Tara, for the rest of my pack… and for Gemma Brooks. I had to put on the act of a lifetime—pretend I wasn't the Alpha of a decimated pack that had escaped Connor Herrick's clutches over a decade ago. Unluckily for him, I'd had all that time to practice the perfect facade. It would cost some spilled blood, but at least I could get some humor out of it and live to tell it all around a campfire, how 'the lost king' humiliated the Beast of the West with some smart-ass comments. Present a fake personality. Give a fake name. Spin a fake backstory. Sprinkle in a truth or two here and there so it's not totally unbelievable. Like how my parents had been humble, even if my father was born in a manor far more beautiful than this depressing fortress. Or how Connor had murdered him and the rest of my family in cold blood. My blood had coursed with rage, stronger than I expected from myself, hypocritically hating myself for contemplating revenge. I was far from being a formidable opponent against Herrick, but I could give it a go. I hadn't spent my entire life training to be a warrior to let it go to waste on a straw dummy. I was too beaten to lay out the perfect revenge. I didn't want to consider how many injuries big and small I'd endured on the journey from Niburgh to Hazelstone. I could barely see out of one eye it was so swollen. But at least all I needed was one to see Gemma. When she was dragged away by Herrick, a dozen horrible scenarios played in my imagination in rapid succession, but it all made me go single-minded. I needed to get back to her. And I needed to get us both the hell out of this place. Despite all of Herrick's threats that I was affected by, I was confident that he wouldn't even get the chance. Jerah always said the best way to come out on top was to give the enemy a false sense of security. So I let Cillian and Herrick's Epsilons drag me all the way down a spiral staircase into what I assumed was a prison and-or a torture chamber. I made some jokes along the way, even though it cost me a punch or a slap. The more ridiculous they thought of me, the more dangerous I became. "You wouldn't happen to know how far away the nearest town is, would you?" I asked the Beta. We'd both got a couple of clips on each other, and I took pride in the bruise on his jaw. Cillian barked a harsh, unamused laugh as he shoved me onto a large wooden chair. An Epsilon guard handed him a set of irons. "A town. Ha! Who knew a dead man would have so much humor." "Alright," I reasoned, eyeing the handcuffs as Cade dangled them in front of me. "Where's the nearest infirmary?" "Miles and miles. You'll bleed out before you get anywhere close." "I could always steal a car." Cade snorted at my musing. "Where do you put them, anyway? Is there somewhere at the back of the fortress or something? Which is really quite fantastic—" "Enough!" Cade roared, punching me so hard that my head snapped to the side. "You ramble more than Connor does! Just shut up and stay still." I didn't have the luxury of waiting for an opportune moment; I had to make one. As Cade moved to clamp on the irons around my wrists that I willingly offered, I moved as quick as an adder to bite as hard as a wolf. Cade roared in pain and dropped the irons with an echoing chatter, stumbling away as blood spurted from the stump that used to be his forefinger. I spit the finger on the floor. "Ugh, disgusting. Well, I'll see you all hopefully never." Completely unbound—idiots—I bolted back the way I'd come. I dodged Epsilons better than I thought I could even with the dark space being close quarters. They had to follow me single-file as I took the steps three at a time. No one blocked the top of the stairs and I couldn't believe that these were the same shifters who toppled an entire city. When I stumbled onto the next floor up, I saw more Epsilons in scatter mode. "Get the bitches in one room! Now!" They must have meant those young females. Herrick was so despicable; some of those girls couldn't have been anywhere near twenty. Following them was my best bet to find Gemma. It was pathetic how long it took for my pursuers to catch up. There was a large vase next to me. I grabbed it with both hands, turned toward the staircase, and brought it down on the first Epsilon's head. He wavered, but when I realized he would catch his balance, I brought my foot up and slammed it into his chest. With a shout, he fell backward—right into the guard behind him, and they all tumbled down the stairs like ugly dominos. I couldn't help that my laugh sounded a little crazed and evil. This was such an adrenaline rush. Being trapped in abandoned buildings was really holding back my potential. I ascended the stairs to the floor where the guards—only six of them—were banging on doors and yelling at the screaming girls, ushering them into one of the rooms. One of the guards was shouting, "Raisa! Come out here! If you're hiding that Eastern b*tch in there, you're dead! She attacked the Alpha!" No one noticed me at the top of the landing. My heart skipped a beat and dread squeezed my throat. Gemma had attacked Connor? Was she alright? Only one way to find out. I lunged into the fray. I didn't have the strength to punch every jaw, but I did have claws. I feigned as each guard bolted toward me and slashed as viciously as I could. Blood sprayed in my face as my half-shifted nails sliced into skin and muscle. It took mere seconds to reach the yelling guard. "Ha!" he barked. "I heard her! Come out here—F*ck!" I slashed the guard's chest and elbowed him square in the nose, slamming him into the door before he slid down it. It drained me to the dregs. I collapsed as I tried to catch my breath. I heard Gemma's heartbeat pounding. I rapped my knuckles and wheezed, "Can I come in please?" Before, Gemma had only looked like she'd just woken up. Now she was smeared with blood too—considerably less, thankfully, and none of it was hers—and when the guards said "attacked" they meant "tried to kill." Whether she tried to or not, Connor was still alive and he had us trapped in the corner of a kitchen with only a four-foot by four-foot square in the floor to escape through. Raisa's mate had already helped her down, and now she was demanding what was going on. "Bryn!" she cried out. "Hurry!" I met Cillian's eyes just after briefly meeting Connor's. The fires of hell burned in them. "How's your hand, Cade?" Both the Alpha and Beta's features were starting to look more wolf. They were struggling to retain their base forms. But shifting into their wolf forms would do no one any good. Gemma grabbed my hand—again. I'd teased her, but I wouldn't admit that. "Stop being so stupid! Bryn—" "You'll never know!" Connor cackled. He was stalking toward us—no, staggering like an old drunk. "You'll never know what I traded you for! Now get over here and—" I heard paper crinkle. Bryn shoved a fistful of folded paper at Gemma. "Take it," he ordered, "and don't lose it. You two go ahead. I'll fend them off." Gemma's voice broke on her words, "No! Raisa—you can't leave her!" Connor barked and lunged. I shoved Gemma behind me and slashed. Connor dodged, but he was sloppy, and I managed a classic palms-to-chest shove into the stove. His back hit it and he yowled in agony, collapsing. "Get a move on," I snapped over my shoulder. Both females were protesting, crying out Bryn's name as well as mine. I glanced in my peripheral as Bryn nearly pushed Gemma into the hole. She screamed and my heart dropped. "Go." Bryn put himself in front of me. I could see his features start to shift toward his wolf's as he faced the small army. "Tell Raisa I love her." I'd met the male barely minutes ago, but my sympathy went out to him. "Just follow us, for Goddess's sake! No one has to sacrifice themselves—" "No! Go! Take the third tunnel on the right to the car." Cillian lunged. Bryn shoved me toward the hole. I had to honor his wish. I turned and dropped into darkness just as the sounds of a wolf fight broke out. The trap door slammed shut, plunging us into resounding black. Gemma's friend who hated me with all her being, Raisa, probably hated me more than Connor now, which was saying a great deal. Her fists pounded my chest. "What the f*ck! What did you do?! You disgusting, selfish, shitty bastard—" "Raisa!" Gemma pleaded, pulling Raisa away before I could. "Please. We have to keep moving. I'm sorry. I'm—I'm so sorry." "We have to go back," she sobbed. "I—I didn't get to—I didn't get to tell him he's going to be a father." When Gemma told me Raisa was pregnant, it complicated things. She wouldn't be able to shift, which we needed to do if we were going to put any distance between— I couldn't see shit, but I managed to get a hand on both of them, luckily their arms. "Ladies, my heart breaks, but we need to move. There's a car waiting for us at the end of the third tunnel on the right. Start feeling the wall." "No, it doesn't! You just let my mate—my mate! My—" Raisa's sobs speared through my chest. No, my heart didn't break, but it was certainly stabbed and aching like all hell. But I couldn't let that stop us from reaching freedom. "If we don't move," I said through gritted teeth, "we will be killed. Is that what Bryn would want? You to just give up?" Above us, Connor yowled, "I'll give you a head start, pathetic prey! One! Two! Three!" I swore and yanked the females with me, forcing them to try and keep up with my long stride. They stumbled and panted, Raisa resisting, Gemma actually attempting to keep up. Blessedly she'd ended up on my right side; I heard her hand scraping the rock wall. She hissed in pain as we all heard her skin rip and tear. "One!" she suddenly gasped when there was a break. We kept running. "Two!" Just a little further. "Three! Three! Kael, stop!" I skidded to a halt, slipping on the damp ground, but gritted my teeth and managed to steer them into another pitch-black tunnel. But not for long. Ahead, there was a faint flicker of light—gas lamps. As it drew closer, Gemma gasped again, "Car! Car, car, car! Go!" We stumbled into a huge cave with a wide-open mouth that overlooked the bluff. When I'd arrived at this hellhole, it was the dead of night. Now it was past dawn. I released both females, hoping Gemma would take care of Raisa, and ran to the nearest car. The Moon Goddess must be on our side because the keys were still in it. I wrenched open the door to usher them inside the backseat as the sounds of pursuit tickled my eardrum. Gemma grappled with Raisa for a moment as she blubbered but quickly managed to get her inside, following a moment later. I slammed the door shut and hauled ass into the driver's seat. 'Start the car. Wrench the wheel all the way to the side. Slam on the gas. Swear when it was much faster than I expected. Speed right out of the cave. Slam on brakes when you see the edge of a cliff just feet away.' Gemma screamed my name.