“You mean, no one ever comes back?” I breathed. I’d been hoping that I could at least try and get Sook returned to gen pop if she was sectioned, but it sounded like that plan could fester and die.
“Never. And the way the Warden guards that place from us is…suspicious.”
“Why?” I asked, tilting my head slightly to give him a better view of my throat as my pulse hammered against my skin.
His gaze caressed my neck for a moment before slipping over my mouth and back to my eyes.
“She never lets any of us put a single toe over the threshold. The excuses she gives are poor at best. There’s clearly something else going on down there and…”
“What?” I asked, inching closer to him as he hesitated.
“We get a fair few deaths in this place,” Cain said slowly. “And because so many of our inmates are lowlife scum, they often don’t have anyone who gives two shits about them.”
“I don’t understated what this has to do with-”
“When a Fae has no one who wants to bury them, it’s the responsibility of the prison to dispose of the body safely so that there is no chance of the remains being stolen for use in Dark Magic.”
I nodded in understanding. A Fae’s magic remained in their bones after death and some dark practices allowed it to be wielded by a living soul in addition to their own power. It was dangerous as fuck and even more illegal than murder, but there were always stronzos willing to risk it all for power. So by law, all Fae bodies had to be disposed of properly which either meant cremation so that the magic could be released back to the stars. Or burial in a high security graveyard which cost a fucking fortune. My family could afford the plots to bury us, but most Fae weren’t so well off.
“As a fire Elemental, I sometimes lend my power to the furnaces in the crematorium. And on more than one occasion, there have been additional bodies to burn. I’m the chief officer here. No inmate dies without me filling out the paperwork so I know exactly which bodies should be arriving for cremation. And which ones have been tossed on the heap in hopes that no one would notice.”
“You think they come from Psych?” I asked, wondering what the hell could be going on down there to have a regular body count. As far as I was aware, the prisoners kept there should be housed separately and suicide was pretty difficult to achieve in a padded cell.
“I know they come from Psych. There’s nowhere else down here. I just don’t know why or what happened to them. There’s never any stab wounds, ligature marks, signs of suffocation or anything else that would point towards the kinds of deaths I’m used to dealing with in here,” Cain growled. “Which means there’s something else going on down there. And I want to get to the bottom of it.”
I looked up into his grey eyes for a long moment before reaching out to take his fingers between mine.
“Thank you for telling me,” I breathed.
Cain’s jaw locked at the contact and his large fingers certainly didn’t curl to encircle mine, but he didn’t snatch his hand away either.
“Now tell me what you know,” he demanded.
I batted my eyelashes as I looked up at him innocently, biting my bottom lip. This was the part where he would probably lose his shit.
“Today, I noticed Sook Min acting kind of crazy,” I murmured.
“What of it?”
“So I asked Roary what it meant…and he said she’d be taken to Psych soon and wouldn’t come back.”
“And what else have you figured out about that?”
“Well…I just got a guard to tell me quite a lot about it…”
Cain blinked at me as my words sank in and I smiled as he realised he’d just been played.
“Are you telling me you don’t know anything?” he growled, sending a shiver of fear dancing along my spine as his gaze darkened and he suddenly gripped my hand with his gifted strength, crushing my fingers in his grasp.
“I’m telling you I didn’t…before our little chat.”
A growl tore from his throat and my heart leapt as rage filled his eyes.
“You’d better run, Twelve,” he snarled. “And if your worthless life means anything to you, you might wanna make sure I don’t catch you this time. Because like I said, I’m the one who files away the deaths in here. So how easy do you think it would be for me to fake a form with your name on it?”
I inhaled sharply as he released me and he shoved me back a step.
I hesitated for another moment as he snarled at me, revealing his lengthening fangs in the dim red light of the maintenance room.
Oh fuck.
I whirled away from him and started running, his footsteps pounding after me in the next second.
I didn’t even make it five steps before he collided with me, grabbing a fistful of my hair and bending me over a huge chest which sat against the wall. He slammed my face down against the rusty metal, wrenching my head to the side a moment before his fangs ripped into my neck.
I cried out as he crushed me beneath him, snarling like a beast as he took what he craved from my blood and my heart raced in panic. His fangs stayed deep in my skin and he drew my blood from my body with such vigour that for a moment I feared he wouldn’t stop.
But as his growls slowly quietened and he fell into the full grip of the bloodlust, the panic faded from my limbs.
Cain may have just assaulted me and I might have pissed him off to no end. But he wasn’t going to kill me, he liked the taste of my blood too much to give it up. And the risk was worth it, because now I knew that Sook wasn’t coming back out of Psych if she was hauled down there and I couldn’t afford to let that happen.
So I was going to have to work doubly hard at completing my plans before they took her away. And in the meantime, I’d try to figure out a way to keep her insanity hidden from the guards.
I wasn’t going to let this destroy my plans. It was just time to up my game.
“Ah! Shark Shifter!” Sook Min jumped out of her seat across the Mess Hall and I looked over at her with a frown. She dropped to the floor, crawling under the table with a plastic cup in her grip. “You won’t get in my water. Where will you swim? Ha -ha! Where will you swim you shifty shark?!”
She chugged the water then wiped her mouth, a manic gleam in her eyes as she peaked out from under the table. Several inmates moved away from her and the guards exchanged glances around the room. She wouldn’t be sent to Psych unless the Warden ordered it, but if she carried on like that, one of the guards was surely gonna write her up.
Rosalie gave me a concerned look from amongst her pack, biting down on her lip. I rose from my seat, pushing a hand into my hair and moving towards the table where Sook was holing up.
I’d seen too many inmates go crazy in this place. Whatever it was that fucked them in the head must have been in the air. And that was just one more thing to worry about. I could survive my sentence so long as I didn’t lose my mind in the process. But if that shit ever happened to me, I’d be forcing Rosa’s plans into action tomorrow. No fucking way was I gonna go crazy in Darkmore. I’d already sacrificed too much to this place.
I dropped down to a crouch and cocked my head to one side. “Hey Sook, there’s no sharks about right now, so come on out, yeah?”
She cleared her throat, wiping a line of sweat from her brow. “Right…yeah. Of course there’s not.” She laughed nervously then crawled out from under the bench.
I slung an arm around her shoulders, chuckling as I led her back to her seat. “You’re such a prankster, Sook.”
The guards eyed us closely but soon lost interest as I planted her on the bench and dropped down beside her. She picked up her fruit pot, picking at her grapes, her eyes watering. I frowned, nudging her with my elbow to catch her attention, but she didn’t look at me.
“You alright?” I asked in a low tone.
“No,” she whispered. “Nothing’s alright. They’re going to come for me.”
I didn’t tend to make emotional connections in here if I could he
lp it, but I couldn’t deny the tug in my chest at the broken expression on her face.
“Hey,” I breathed, leaning forward to catch her eye. “You’re ninety percent saner than Sin Wilder and no one’s calling him crazy. The guards aren’t going to come for you.”
“Do you promise?” she asked, her eyes burning with emotion. She was a tough girl, I’d seen her take out a Bear Shifter in the Magic Compound once without getting up from her seat. But Darkmore was designed to break everyone in here eventually. I was gonna get out before I fell prey to that fate, but Sook? I didn’t know how much time she had left. I wasn’t gonna crush what was left of her spirit though.
“Promise,” I agreed and her shoulders relaxed a bit.
Free time was coming to an end soon so I parted from Sook and headed back to my cell block. Rosalie appeared at my side as we reached the bridge and she arched a brow at me.
“Is Sook okay?”
“I guess.” I shrugged and she reached out to cling onto my arm, her nails digging in.
“Nothing can happen to her, Roar,” she said seriously and my brows lowered. “I got something out of Cain.”
“The guard?” I balked.
“No, the happy-go-lucky sea turtle who lives under my bed – of course the guard.” She rolled her eyes at me and I fought a grin, gesturing for her to go on. She drew in a deep breath and I could see the stress of this situation was eating at her. “He said the Warden doesn’t let any of the Darkmore guards in there. It’s run as its own unit. And bodies come out of there regularly without a mark on them.”
I ground my jaw as I worked over that piece of information in my mind. There wasn’t much we could do about it if the Warden decided to send Sook for analysis. And it killed me that I couldn’t do more to help ease Rosa’s mind.
I was tempted to reached out and brush her hair behind her ear and tell her everything would be alright. But I couldn’t lie to Rosa in that moment. She would see right through me anyway.
“We just have to hope we have enough time before she’s taken away. How close are you with the plan?” I asked as we headed up to the top floor of our cell block.
“I’m getting closer,” she said and a gleam of hope entered her eyes. I felt that gleam right through to my soul. It was my salvation. My one chance at a way out of here before I lost half my life to this place.
“The closer the better,” I murmured as we parted.
She headed into her cell and I headed into mine, trying not to stare at her ass as she went but fuck, I lost that bet with myself. I dropped down onto my bed and grabbed the tattered copy of A Pride To Be Proud Of and flipped it open to the page I’d last been reading.
I didn’t know why I still clung to the ways of my kind when I’d lost the one thing that made me a true Lion. My family. I didn’t have a pride. And I certainly couldn’t be proud of what I did have; a criminal record which tarnished my family’s reputation. My name was probably whispered behind hands between the Nights and the Oscuras. My father would throw sharp looks every time the subject came up.
Leon would never tell me the whole truth about what went on at home, he was too damn upbeat for his own good. So when he said Dad was ‘not nearly as upset about me as he used to be’, that was code for, he’d stopped talking about me. I’d bet my mane that any pictures of me in the house were hastily stuffed in drawers any time they had guests over. And maybe, after time, they’d stopped coming back out of those drawers.
My brother wasn’t supposed to come and visit me. When a Lion brought shame on their family, they were meant to be ostracised from the pride. But Leon and his wife came anyway because they’d never been ones to follow the rules. And I was more grateful to them for that than they could ever really know.
A growl rumbled through my chest as I read the passage on the page for the hundredth time. It was a code I’d once lived by, a way of life I’d embodied, taken pride in. But now…
A Lion is a king in every aspect of life. A king is firm, patient and fair. To use one’s Charisma for selfish gain is the way of a cub. To become a true Lion, the gifts of your Order must be wielded to build a clan of powerful followers. To bend their will gently in the name of your kingdom. Once a true king is made, his first queen will appear. And only a true test of Lionship by courting her without the aid of Charisma will prove you to be worthy of your Lioness and prepare you to earn the love of more queens and build your pride.
I sighed, continuing to read until a heavy weight descended on me. I didn’t know why I tortured myself with this book. It only served to remind me of my fall from grace. But some part of me hoped I could have another shot at becoming a true king of my kind one day. And breaking out of here with Rosalie would certainly make my dad sit up and pay attention.
The bell soon rang to announce the cell doors closing and the headcount started up throughout the block.
“Get up Sixty Nine!” Officer Cain barked and I pushed myself to my feet, yawning broadly as I moved to the closed door and waited to be scanned. His eyes slid down me like I was a piece of shit on his shoe and I pressed my tongue into my cheek.
“Problem?” I questioned.
“You just have a really punchable fucking face, Sixty Nine. Anyone ever tell you that?” he asked coolly, lifting the scanner so it counted me.
I rubbed the stubble on my jaw, feigning a thoughtful expression. “That’s funny, I was just thinking the same about you, Officer.”
He lowered the scanner, shifting closer to glare in at me. “Well the difference between you and me, inmate, is if you punched me, I could throw you in the hole for a month. If I punched you, I could keep punching until my knuckles busted.” He sneered and I growled.
“I guess this job makes you feel like the big man, huh? Does it compensate for your tiny dick, sir?”
He released a derisive breath, lowering his hand to rest on his baton. “Just give me one more reason to come in there, inmate, and I’ll leave you bloody and bruised until morning.”
I clenched my fists, almost tempted to goad him further. That book had put me in a pissy mood and I would have relished a fight to burn off some of this energy.
“I don’t think he needs to compensate for anything,” Rosa’s voice came from her cell and Cain looked away from me, his eyes narrowing on her. I knew she’d saved my ass and maybe it was for the best. Though why the fuck was she bigging the guy up to do it?
A twinge of jealousy made my fists tighten as Cain stepped toward her, clearly fixated. And why wouldn’t he be? To any warm blooded man, she was a fucking Siren calling them in. Even I was a slave to it at times. But I had logic on my side, even though my dick had a whole lot to say to the contrary sometimes.
“Always flirting,” Cain taunted her. “Does that mouth of yours do anything other than weave pretty words and give adequate blowjobs?”
“They’re not adequate, are they Roar?” she called over to me and I snorted a laugh.
“They’re supreme,” I answered and Cain shot me a glare that could have melted glass back into sand.
“I’d rather put my dick in a blender than in some Wolf whore’s mouth,” he said coldly and a growl rumbled through my chest. I was about to step in when I remembered Rosa was perfectly able to fight her own battles.
“I didn’t realise you had a thing for kitchen appliances, sir,” Rosa mocked. “You will be careful to keep them unplugged while you dip your dick in them, won’t you? My Uncle Ricardo got a nasty shock off of a toaster once when he shoved his finger in it, I can’t imagine the mess it would make of your-”
“That’s enough, Twelve.” Cain scanned her in and I headed back to my bed with a chuckle, pulling my jumpsuit and tank off and lying down in my boxers.
I snatched up the book again, flicking to the front page where my dad had written a message for me back when I was a teenager. It had been a gift for my sixteenth birthday and Leon had sent it in to Darkmore after I’d been incarcerated. Part of me regretting asking him to do that now, but back the
n I’d still had hope that our dad could forgive me. These days, I knew my Lionhood had been flushed down the drain the second the FIB had slapped me in cuffs.
I ran my thumb over the strong strokes my father had inked on the inside of the cover, my throat thickening as I read them.
My boy, it’s time you became a man.
My father gave me this book as a cub, and it helped transform me into the Lion I am today. I hope it can do the same for you, son.
The Nights can’t shine without stars. Always aim to be the brightest one in our sky.
All my love,
Dad x
My heart hurt as I closed the book and put it back on the shelf above my bunk and wondered if he even still loved me. Or if I was just a dark space in the sky he’d wished for me to shine in one day.
“Hey,” Rosa’s voice carried through the vent and I was half tempted to pretend I was asleep. I had a reputation to uphold in this prison and right now I could feel it cracking, letting out the weakness in me.
“What’s up Rosa?” I asked, a heaviness to my tone.
“Hang a sheet, I’m coming in,” she breathed and I sensed a silencing bubble slipping around the cell.
I heard her setting to work and I was forced to obey, jumping up and hanging a sheet over the bars before her head appeared through the vent she’d forced open. She crawled through, rising to her feet and brushing down her jumpsuit.
She immediately cocked her head to one side and a low whine escaped her. “What’s up?”
Dammit, how the fuck can she read me so well?
I shrugged, dropping down onto my bed and she followed me onto it, folding her legs up beneath her. Her jumpsuit was tied around her waist, revealing the gym sports bra beneath it and my gaze automatically traced the curve of her spine. My fingers itched to follow the path it made up to her neck and I blinked hard, forcing myself to look away.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” She turned to me with her eyes glimmering and I leaned toward her on instinct.
Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1) Page 41