by K. A Knight
“Women first,” I order. The others don’t argue, and we are quickly led through the maze to a rock wall with a piece of wood before it.
“They are in there, be quiet though. This is their room, which joins onto the main chamber.”
Clay opens the door, and we rush in. Archel shuts it and stands guard as I look around in disgust. There are no beds, just blankets on the floor with ten women shoved in there together. Some are in various states of pregnancy, some are asleep. One is watching us as we come in, her eyes narrowed as she holds a baby in her arms, suckling on her naked breast.
“We are here to help,” I whisper. “To set you free.”
Her hair is tangled and matted, and her skin is dirty. How long has she been down here? Her body is bare, and there’s blood between her legs, running down her thighs as if she was just hurt…or gave birth. What the fuck?
“Please, wake the others and let’s get you out of here—”
She opens her mouth and screams.
Loudly.
Fuck.
“I told you. Now you’re all dead.” The man laughs and escapes Archel’s hold. “They are in here!” he yells before Archel slips up behind him and knocks him out.
I rush over to the woman and press my hand over her mouth, but she tries to bite it. “Shit, stop, we want to help—”
I hear the thunder of footsteps and the shouts of the approaching men. I look to the others in panic. “We have to leave them and get Jago.”
The other women are waking up and yelling for the men. They don’t want to be saved. I know it’s brainwashing, but we don’t have time to convince them otherwise. We will have to come back for them once we have Jago out and they aren’t expecting it. They will be safe for now—not mentally, but at least they won’t die. Not like Jago, who serves them no purpose.
“Side door! Go!” Evan barks and points at me. It’s past the women and seems more like a hole than anything, but I rush through it with them following after me. Archel waits until last, holding the wooden door back as they slam into it to get to us and the women scream encouragement.
The side door opens into the main area of the mine, with raised platforms, ladders, and lowered sections going down. There’s a giant well in the middle leading into the dark, and lights flood the entire space. It’s filled to the brink with men. There must be forty or more of them here.
And right at the back, tied to a post with chains, is Jago. His head is lowered, and his eyes are closed. His top is missing, his chest is covered in blood, and he’s unmoving. I scream his name.
My heart stops, and uncaring about the army between him and me, I rush forward. I hear my men chasing after me. I punch and kick those that get in my way. They are all half-dead, as Gravel explained, and are standing immobile, as if unsure what to do—until a roar of command sounds.
“Kill the intruders!”
They move then, surging around us. I fight them off, headbutting and kicking, ignoring my own pain. I pull a knife and stab and slash. Clay presses to my back, protecting it. Archel and Evan are next to us as we work our way through the room. Each step seems to take forever as more and more of them rush into the chamber. I spot the man whom we originally chased waiting next to Jago, watching us with a grin. There’s another bald-headed man next to him, and three others wade towards us. They toss the half-dead away, and that’s when I realise those we are fighting now have nearly no energy.
The approaching men are warriors. We don’t stand a chance, but still, I don’t stop.
Clay roars and starts ripping them to pieces. Archel slides through their masses, killing them before they can even turn. Clay leaps at one of the bald-headed men when they reach us, and Archel takes the other to protect me. Evan pushes against my back, fighting even though he’s not the best at it. He keeps going as I slip and move through the half-dead, my entire focus on Jago.
I manage to get to the end where he is before I’m tackled. The half-dead pile onto me. I elbow, kick, and buck as the weight slowly lifts. I roll to see Evan holding them off. “Go!” he yells, giving me the opening I need to get to my beast. Even though he was always jealous, and even though he still struggles with the thought of me choosing another, he doesn’t hesitate to risk his life to give me a chance to get to Jago.
I climb to my feet, stumbling as the pain blooms like hammers in my head down in this mining hell, but I don’t give up. I climb up the rocks and rush to his side, using the opening as the other two leaders are shouting orders, their backs to me.
I reach Jago, tears in my eyes. “Jago,” I whisper as a half-dead leaps next to me, crouching as he hisses like an animal. I kick him right in the face, and he tumbles down the rock. Lifting onto my toes, I cup Jago’s chin. “Baby, talk to me,” I beg, but he doesn’t move.
No, he can’t…
I turn his head and press my fingers to his neck. My own heart is thundering so loudly, I can barely hear over it as I wait… Then it comes—his throbbing pulse. He’s alive but knocked out. I run my hands over his head as far as I can reach and pull them away to see my fingers coated in blood
Fuck, what did they do to him?
We need to get him out of here before it’s too late.
The two bald men on this ledge turn and spot me. Without pause, they rush in my direction. Clay and Archel are split up now, fighting their way to me, while Evan is still holding back as many as he can.
I’m all alone, but they will not kill me, nor will they kill him.
Jago starts to wake up, the noise jarring him, and I cup his cheeks and lean in, having one moment of weakness. “I’m not leaving you. Do you hear me, Beast?” His eyes open and lock on mine. I kiss his lips, tasting his pain and hopelessness. I’m unwilling to flee, to leave without him. Live or die, we’ll do it together. “I’m with you, I’m here, stay with us,” I plead before I’m ripped away and tossed to the rock. The impact makes me groan as I roll and get to my feet, pulling my sword. Blood runs down my head again as I face off with both men.
“We knew you would come. Don’t worry, we won’t kill you. You’ll do well as a breeder, I’m going first,” one taunts, running his eyes across my body.
“Yeah, the only way you are ever touching me is when I rip out your throats,” I snarl and look at Jago. “That’s my man, and you’re in my way.” I spin my sword. “Do the math, assholes.”
The one on the left jerks his head at me. “Get her, and you can have that little cunt first.”
The one on the right turns to me with a smirk, and with a crack of his fists, he rushes me. I have more to fight for than he does. He only has his own desires. I will win, and his blood will run across my blade before the sun rises.
I duck his feral grab and get under his arms, slicing across his stomach and spinning away. He roars and turns. Blood covers the giant wound I made as he stumbles. He turns pale and sweaty, but he still lumbers towards me, unwilling to give up on his prize—me.
Arms wrap around me from behind and lift me into the air. I snarl as I kick and throw back my head, hitting something solid. Pain shoots through my already aching skull, but I ignore it. I am dropped to the floor, so I roll and slice as I get up. I gut the man facing me from his cock to his neck. Blood sprays me as I spin to face the remaining man.
Their followers have noticed me now. They’re worried about their leaders and are fighting to get to me, even as my men try to hold them back to give me time to get our man, trusting me to save our family.
I wag my finger at the other man in a come here gesture. He snarls but waits for me, standing between Jago and me, learning from his friend’s mistake. I hear others behind me and Archel’s snarl as his attacks increase. Clay roars as he takes them on, while Evan is still trying his best to protect me. I have to kill this man fast and get Jago out of here. I don’t know how, since the odds seem overwhelming, but I’ll do it.
Kill man.
Get Jago.
Get out of here.
Make untamed, dirty love to
my beast.
With a twist of my lips, I rush across the rock. The man waits, bending slightly, and at the last moment, I turn, sprinting to the back wall. He follows, and I race up as high as I can and then flip over him. When I land, I want to whoop at my success, but I don’t have time. I rush towards his unprotected back and slice his knees. He screams as he falls, and I grab his head, yank it back, and slice his throat. Blood squirts from the wound, and I push him away and turn.
No one is looking. Seriously? No one saw my badass worthy flip and kill?
Fine, I’ll just regale them with my heroics later and be rewarded with orgasms. For now, I hurry towards Jago. His eyes are barely open, and they are fuzzy, like he can’t focus. Blood covers nearly every inch of him, but there is fresh crimson trickling down his head, which could explain the confusion. He probably has a concussion like me.
How cute, matching wounds.
I debate how to get him down, but in the end, with the screams of the half-dead behind me, I slice the cords, and he falls forward. I try to catch him, but honestly, he’s too big, and he doesn’t even try to stop his fall, as if his limbs won’t work. He just grunts as he plummets, pinning me to the rock floor, crushing the air from my lungs.
“A little help!” I squeak, but when I tilt my head back, I see my men are still fighting the half-dead, even though they are slowing, confused now that their leaders are deceased.
Shit, I’m on my own. Wrapping my legs around Jago, I start to rock, eventually getting enough momentum to tip and roll us until I’m sprawled across his chest. His eyes are shut now, and I start to panic, but his mouth is parted, and his breathing is slow and harsh. He’s alive, but he needs Evan’s help.
I hear a noise—the air moving—and quickly roll just as a blade goes over where I was moments before. It misses Jago, but it would have hit me in the side. I turn to Gravel as he smirks down at me with bloodied teeth. “Now you’ll be wholly mine, or I can sell you.” He shrugs. “Gotta thank you for clearing out these assholes for me. Less competition, less mouths to feed.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re an evil man with an evil plan. Can we skip that shit? I’m getting tired, and big man isn’t doing well.”
“Skip it?” he repeats, frowning.
“Yeah, let’s get straight to the killing.” I laugh and leap at him. It takes him by surprise and we go down hard, his weapon spinning away across the rock. He snarls and smashes his head forward, hitting mine as I fall back, gripping it with a yell.
“Fucking nutsucker! Why is it always the head?” I grab my blade and slam it into his leg over and over as he screams. “Don’t” —stab— “you” —stab— “know” —stab— “I have” —stab— “a concussion!” I yell in his face, but his eyes are closed, his mouth slack and face pale. He passed out. I stumble back, the pain making me wince as I turn, and the room spins.
“Let’s get out of here!” I scream and then groan. My own voice hurts my aching head, but I try to push it back as quickly as I can to concentrate on our escape. But I’m slow, my ears are ringing again, and I feel like I might pass out. I fight it, but everything seems far away.
“No!” someone roars, and then I’m thrown over a shoulder. I yelp, closing my eyes as the world spins. When I open them again, I’m upside down… Now that’s not right.
I’m on a rope, looking at the ground. I lift my head to see Clay climbing towards a hole in the ceiling. “Jago!” I cough.
Clay holds me tight, stopping my wiggling so he doesn’t drop me. That’s when I notice Archel perched before Jago’s body below, and Evan is with him, holding back the surge. Clay climbs quickly, and when he’s through the hole, he drops me on my ass and plunges back in. I scramble across the rock, ignoring my blurry vision, and gaze down to see him hauling Jago across his back. Archel helps strap him to Clay like a backpack, and then Clay is climbing again.
Eyes narrowed and determined, Clay holds Jago with one hand and climbs with the other. Evan follows him, and Archel is right behind him, but the half-dead are pursuing them. I search around me and find some sharp loose rocks. Grabbing them, I chuck them into the hole. Archel has to duck, and when he looks up, he grins at me as I throw more, hitting some of the half-dead. It stops the surge enough for him to climb the rope faster. A few leap to follow him, and one falls off almost instantly, not having enough strength to climb. The others are slower but still coming.
Clay makes it through the hole, and then Evan and finally Archel. As soon as he is through, I turn to Clay. “Bomb,” I yell. He nods, pulls one from his pack, and starts to light it when I remember something. “Wait, the women!” I shout, shoving to my feet with a gasp.
“They already left,” Archel mutters. “They saw their men losing and took off.” He kicks one of the half-dead that’s climbing through the hole. “They have a single-minded focus, they won’t stop. Toss it!” Archel snarls at Clay, who lights it and throws it in.
Archel grabs my arm and yanks me after him, my weapons slung over his shoulder with his own as I’m pulled across the rock. I force my legs to work as we get as far away as we can. We reach an edge and slide down it, making me yell. It’s over quickly, and when my feet hit the dirt, we are running again. The ground shakes with the first blast, and we finally stop. I look back to see smoke billowing from the rock.
“Yippee-ki-yeah-yeah, mother!” Clay calls and looks at me proudly. I smile, even as I shake my head. “That’s the one you told me, right, Pascha?”
“Close enough, babe. Close enough,” I tell him and sigh. “My head fucking hurts.” I moan before looking at Jago. “Let’s get him somewhere safe.” As much as I don’t want to, I know where we need to go, so do the others. It’s the closest place, and it’s safe enough for us to look after Jago.
“He needs to rest, and I need to check you both over. I agree, let’s go back. Pip? Play nice this time,” Evan mutters as we head towards our bikes.
“I always play nice.” I pout, which makes them all laugh.
My head aches, my chest fills with worry for Jago, and my anger soars at having to go back to the man who would have made me leave him for dead.
Play nice… Yeah, I’ll try as long as he does, but it seems when it comes to my family, I get a bit…stabby.
I struggle to drive my bike back, but I force myself to keep going for Jago’s sake. He’s slung over Clay’s bike, and Evan and Archel are on their own. By the time we reach the blocked entrance to Abel’s house, I slump on my ride. Archel scoops me up and carries me, and the fact that I don’t complain is a testament to how tired and in pain I am. We wind up the dirt path, and the light comes on and the door opens to reveal Abel.
He peers at us, noticing Jago in Clay’s arms, and then glances at me. I don’t even say ‘I told you so.’ He just winces and looks down before moving back to let us in. Archel goes in first and sits me on the table. Jago is taken upstairs, and Evan hesitates, clearly wanting to check me over first.
“I’ll get her some pain medication while you look at your man,” Abel murmurs, and Evan nods but still waits until I give him a thumbs-up to go to Jago.
“I need to see if he’s okay,” I slur as Archel props me up against his side.
“Soon. Let Evan work. We need to treat you, or you’ll be no use to anyone, Princess,” he pleads, and then kisses my cheek. I sigh and nod, closing my eyes as I lean into him.
I hear Abel shuffling around, and then something warm and hard is pressed to my lips. “Drink,” he orders, and despite my anger, I open my mouth and swallow as he tilts it, unable to open my eyes. “Good. That will lessen the pain and any swelling, but you need to be careful,” he warns me before addressing Archel. “I’m sure your doctor will tell you this, but don’t let her sleep for too long, and keep waking her up for her concussion. She can have more of this in four hours. Try not to let her exercise too much, and make sure she eats and drinks.” He moves away after he finishes, and I finally force my eyes open.
“Thank you,” I croak. Even thoug
h I’m annoyed, he let us in and helped again when he didn’t have to. His shoulders hunch, and he looks back at me.
“No, thank you for ending those animals and stopping their reign of terror. You were right—I should have taken care of them a long time ago, but I can’t change that. I’m just glad you were able to and I am in your debt for that, but we will speak again when you feel better. Until then, make yourself at home. There are beds and food and whatever else you need. I will be on the cliff.” He heads out of a backdoor, and I watch through the window as he stops at the top of the cliff and sits on the bench I saw, staring out at the Dead Sea. He seems so alone and guilt creeps in for what I said, but my abused head can’t handle too many emotions at the moment, so I push it away to deal with another day and instead close my eyes again.
“I’ll wake you in an hour. Try to get some sleep, the medicine should work soon.” He’s not wrong—I can already feel it working. My muscles loosen, the pain is diminishing, and I sigh out a relieved breath as sleepiness winds through me.
Before I know it, I’m asleep, curled up against Archel.
Archel wakes me an hour later, and Evan looks me over, coming to the same conclusion—concussion and a reopened head wound. I can’t have any more pain meds—which is okay, I’m used to pain—but they let me snooze. Jago is resting too. He has many wounds, but none are life threatening. He’s got a huge gash on the back of his head, which Evan had to sew, and a few others. Evan gave him antibiotics and something to help him sleep and heal. As I fall asleep, he promises me I can see him later.
When I wake up, I’m in a bed with Evan awake next to me. Archel is with Jago, I am told as I blink through the haze of pain. “Is he okay?” I croak out, and Evan helps me sit up and sip water.
“He’s still resting. I checked on him though. His bleeding has stopped, his heart rate is normal, and he’s doing good,” Evan informs me as he gets me comfortable. “Clay is securing the bikes and checking to make sure we were not followed.”