Shackled to the World: A Phantom Touched Novel

by Brutger, Stacey

  They were spit out on the other side, dumping them into another room.

  Only it wasn’t empty.

  Four wolves were playing cards, clearly bored. At their entrance, they froze, staring at them in complete shock. Mason was the first to react, taking advantage of their inaction by charging them. Though the man was massive, he moved like a wild animal on the hunt…all lethal and deadly grace. Annora was a step behind him, not nearly as fast as the troll, the trip through the wall disorienting her slightly and leaving her off-balance.

  She hid behind Mason’s bulk, sliding out from behind him at the last possible minute, diving low to take the nearest wolf out at the knees. Without a hint of hesitation or remorse, she brought up her elbow and rammed it right into his nose.

  The kid kept his cool, not reaching for his nose as she expected, but going for his gun while she was distracted. As he took aim, she grabbed the barrel and yanked it aside just as the ping of the paintball launching breezed by her ear. She took control of the gun, ramming it backwards, smacking him between the eyes and knocking him out cold.

  As she hauled herself off the prone body, she saw Edgar was no less deadly, his movements sure and practiced as he popped in and out of existence, avoiding the punches directed at him, dodging the paintballs that went off with a muted potch of compressed air.

  It didn’t take more than a minute to incapacitate the four wolves. Her men moved as a team that had worked together for years. After the raid, they checked each other for injuries. She and Edgar were clean, but Mason had a bright pink splash on his outer thigh.

  Though she didn’t like that he’d been theoretically injured, the shot was in a non-life-threatening area at least. He was used to taking abuse, and she had to trust that he knew what he was doing.

  What she didn’t expect was for him to collect the paintball guns and hit each of the downed wolves with the requisite four shots to show they were dead. “Mason?”

  “We must eliminate the threat.” He shrugged those broad shoulders of his, completely unconcerned that he would’ve murdered four people in cold blood. “If they were really after us, if it came to choosing between you and them, I wouldn’t take any chances.”

  She tucked away her squeamishness.

  He was right.

  The kind of people who took Logan didn’t deserve her mercy.

  “Where to next, boss?” Edgar asked, while Mason wrapped the straps of one of the guns around his forearm. He offered one to Edgar, who looked intrigued, but ultimately waved it away. When Mason raised a brow at her, lifting up a gun in offer, she too declined.

  “I have no training with guns. It would be more of a distraction.” Then she focused on Edgar’s question. “Since no alarm has been sounded, I say we avoid the hallways, move from room to room in a straight line, and clear as many as we can before they catch on to what we’re doing.”

  It was a gamble not to head directly for the rest of her men, but she needed more practice, and the team needed time to fall into a rhythm of working together. In under an hour, they’d cleared most of the basement and collected the rest of the team members.

  She also discovered that only one person at a time could follow in her wake. If she wanted to take more than one person with her, she needed to travel with them into the afterworld. She could keep the portal open and reach back for them, but it was taxing.

  They were nearing the exit of the pit, but their escape had been discovered. The rest of the people hunting them would be waiting, and now they were prepared for her tricks.

  A single wall separated them from their freedom.

  The guys had various bruises, a few of them had paint shots—herself included, when she was shot in the back by none other than Vicki, and another one to the shoulder when Loulou gave her a disarming smile and shot her point-blank.

  That shit hurt!

  She almost felt bad for grabbing the gun and shooting Loulou four times to take her out. No way in hell could she punch her best friend. Thankfully, Lionel wasn’t in the same room, so she was still alive and not shredded about the room in itty-bitty pieces.

  Nearly everyone who broke free from Erickson’s lab volunteered today. Lionel and more than a few members of his pack joined as well. Overall, there were more than forty people who participated in the training session.

  She was exhausted from avoiding the afterworld and dragging the guys with her, sweat plastering her shirt to her, her hair snarled and matted. She was reaching her breaking point, but kept her mouth shut. They were close to the end. They would win, and she’d finally prove to herself that she could keep her guys safe.

  While the guys noticed her deterioration, taking the lead more and more, they didn’t protest or call it quits. Their trust in her pulled her back from the brink, their nearness having a calming effect.

  She’d take the exhaustion and bruises over the anger and despair that had been threatening to consume her, the aches keeping her from going off the deep end.

  Pain meant she was alive.

  Pain kept her focused on the task that needed to be done.

  As the men discussed options, she studied the last wall separating her from freedom. “Edgar…can we manipulate inanimate objects?”

  As if seeing the direction of her thoughts, he shook his head. “Not normally, not without calling on the afterworld.”

  So not only could she not see into the other room without being spotted, she couldn’t pull the guys in with her. Edgar was adamant that she refrain from entering the afterworld, and it was taking its toll on her mind and body.

  She could feel it reaching for her, brushing against her, tempting her to just take a little, like an addict, and she was practically shaking with need. It was like someone was pressing on her chest, cutting off her air supply, allowing her just enough to function with only half her senses.

  Mason gave her a broad smile and nudged her aside, cracking his knuckles as he did, his arms bulging. “My turn, pretty one.” He pressed his fingertips against the wall, the paneling bowing under his touch, and he smiled. “I got this one.”

  Camden rubbed his jaw, his head cocked. “They’ll be expecting us to come through the walls.” He walked toward the door and placed his hand on the knob. “I say we send Edgar and Annora to pop into the center of the room, and then the rest of us will just walk through the door.”

  “We’re at the end…I could just open up the afterworld and transport us all to the stairs.” When the guys looked at each other, she knew they were going to say no, and she barely resisted the urge to stomp her foot. “You’re asking me to fight with my hands tied behind my back while you guys are able to use your full shifter abilities—why deny my abilities when it could help us win...and possibly save us later?”

  She understood their fears, but she refused to allow it to control her.

  Edgar edged in front of her. “Because this is practice. You’re getting better and faster each time you use your abilities. What happens if you use your abilities and the phantoms find you? What will happen to Logan and your men then?”

  “Fine.” She pursed her lips, hating that he was right. It was just so damn frustrating. “What about you? Why are you allowed to use your normal abilities?”

  Edgar blinked down at her, then shook his head. “Because I can’t do what you do. While I might be powerful, I can’t manipulate the afterworld the way you can.”

  Annora stared at him for a heartbeat longer, unsettled to realize he was telling her the truth. “That’s the real reason why you think my father will allow me to live, isn’t it? How many people can actually ghost the way I do?”

  Only very reluctantly did he respond. “A handful of people, most of them elders who’ve accumulated their powers over centuries.”

  Which meant that she was screwed.

  Even if she fought her way free of the phantoms, they would always come for her, wanting to control her…unless she found a way to make them regret coming after her in the first place.

&
nbsp; Acid churned in her guts as the answer came to her—she was either going to have to go to war or find a way to kill her father.

  Fuck!

  Chapter Ten

  Annora didn’t say anything after they breached the last room. The fight was intense and brutal, and though they managed to escape, they’d taken serious damage in the process. The guys were sweaty and covered in an assortment of colors from the paintballs.

  While none of them took enough to die from their injuries, it left them weak.

  Open to another attack.

  As the guys talked strategies, she headed off to the showers, since it was too late in the evening to run through the pit again.

  “Hey, wait up!” Loulou bounced into view, her energy boundless, her smile bright and cheery. She was splatted everywhere with paint, but instead of looking defeated, she wore them like badges of honor. Her almost-white hair was piled on top of her hair in a messy knot, making her too-large blue eyes appear even bigger and brighter. “Where’ve you been the past week? I’ve been trying to get ahold of you. Don’t tell me the guys are keeping you prisoner, not when I know you can slip away to say hello to your bestie.”

  Annora had to look away from her earnest expression, guilt piling up around her like thick sludge that made walking, even breathing, a chore. “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough week.”

  Sympathy oozed from Loulou for all of two seconds, when her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “That better be the answer. If you’re trying to push me away because of the danger, you can forget it. I’m not going anywhere.”

  The stubborn little rabbit crossed her arms defiantly, her pointy chin hiked up in the air, her hair practically quivering in outrage.

  “The danger—”

  “Fuck the danger.” She skipped ahead, then turned around until she was walking backwards, forcing them to walk face-to-face. “Some things are worth the risks.”

  Annora studied her fierce little friend and realized she meant every word. Her throat tightened, and she had to swallow the surge of emotion threatening to drown her. When she said nothing, Loulou smiled, her grin spreading across her face while she did a bouncy victory dance.

  “I knew you’d see things my way.” She twisted around, not missing a beat and began walking next to her again. “Next time, you call me.”

  She bumped shoulders with her, the girl nothing more than a ball of fluff. Then what Loulou said registered, and Annora narrowed her eyes. “Someone called you.”

  Loulou suddenly found the concrete walls fascinating. “I have no idea what you mean.”

  “Mmm-hmmm.” Annora didn’t believe her for a second. Right before they passed through the doorway, she flung her arm across the path, blocking the exit. “Spill it.”

  Looking guilty for a second, Loulou blinked up at her with those big eyes of hers, lips quivering, and Annora snorted. “Don’t work your wiles on me. I’m not falling for it.”

  But she did have to look away.

  Loulou sighed and grumbled. “Figured you’d be the one who could withstand my special allure.”

  Annora smothered her laugh, not willing to admit how close she came to cracking. “Spill.”

  “Edgar showed up out of the blue.” Loulou ducked under her arm and continued out the door. “And I mean literally. Poof!” She flung out her hands like an explosion, humor making her eyes honest-to-gods twinkle. “I thought Lionel and his men were going to have a heart attack.”

  Annora’s mind went completely blank. “He did?”

  “Uh-huh.” Loulou nodded like a bobble head, her hair flopping as she practically skipped down the hall. “He was worried about you.”

  Annora bit her lip, not certain how to react. Most of the time Edgar was a possessive asshole who thought of her as his property to protect. But getting Loulou…this was more than just returning the ferret to her. He was trying to be considerate of her feelings.

  As they entered the shower area, Annora cocked her head at her friend. “What did your Lionel say about you coming out today?”

  She couldn’t imagine that he was pleased about it.

  “Pshhh.” Loulou shrugged it away with a flap of her arm. “We’re not mated yet, and if he thinks he can tell me what to do after, he has another think coming.”

  She was all attitude and sass, but Annora saw the way her face softened when she mentioned Lionel. Annora lifted a brow and thrust her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the door. “Is that why he followed us down the hall?”

  Instead of refuting it, a broad smile crossed her face, pure joy lighting her up from the inside as she practically bounced on her feet. She clasped her hands together, bringing them up to her chest, and fluttered her lashes. “Isn’t he just the best?!?”

  Annora snorted as the girl whirled away, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Loulou was so happy it filled her whole soul. Annora wanted that for her and the guys. She just wished it was as easy.

  Then she kicked herself for the thought. Loulou and Lionel had fought hard for their love, and they deserved all the happiness they could get. Their life wouldn’t be an easy one, but their love for each other was strong enough to withstand anything.

  As she stripped and stepped into the shower, Annora wasn’t sure if she was ready to call what she felt for the guys love. She was devoted to them, would do anything for them, but her emotions were too fragile and new to examine more closely.

  Not yet, not until they were all safe.

  As she walked out of the shower, she wasn’t surprised to find a subdued Loulou dressed and pacing restlessly, the bubbly personality that made up so much of her was gone.

  “Loulou?”

  “I know Logan is gone for now.” She stopped pacing then whirled and advanced on her, the rabbit’s expression fierce as she waved her finger in Annora’s face. “You call me if you need a good cry.” Then a wry smile came to her face. “Or if we need to go get coffee and plot a war party to retrieve your boy.”

  Annora blinked away the tears before they could fall and rubbed at the heaviness in her chest. Taking a step forward, she engulfed the petite woman in a hug, nearly sobbing when Loulou hugged her back just as fiercely. “I will.”

  Loulou sniffled, ducking her head and pulling away. “Well, you do that.”

  Then she was gone, out the door faster than lightning.

  No matter how determined Annora was to keep her distance from everyone when she first arrived at the university, she was glad she’d failed in such an epic fashion. Even with all the trouble that followed her, she couldn’t—didn’t want to—imagine her life without Loulou and the guys.

  As she opened the door to leave, she nearly slammed into Xander. Freshly washed, his black hair hung into his face, the white tips stark against his tanned skin. Big and rugged, he made her want to snuggle up against him and forget her cares for a while. His teal eyes were sharp as he studied her, and she gave him a small smile. “I’m okay.”

  “Liar.” His low voice was gruff, not letting her get away with anything. He looped his arm around her neck and pulled her close.

  Annora sighed against his shoulder, allowing herself to relax against him, the fresh sea breeze scent he carried loosening her tongue. “Yeah, but I’m dealing with it.”

  * * *

  Xander stifled the rage that threatened to consume him, the piercing caw of his gryphon echoing his sentiments exactly. They both wanted to fight, maim, and kill anyone who would dare harm her. It was a physical ache to hold himself back.

  But him losing his shit wouldn’t help her. If he thought he could sneak in and retrieve Logan for her, he would do it in a heartbeat.

  Every one of the guys would.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple.

  No matter how well-trained, how deadly they were in battle, they couldn’t win against an army.

  Annora frowned up at him, standing on her toes to try and see past him into the hallway. “Where are the others?”

  Her question snapped him out
of his funk, and he stepped back. As much as he might wish to keep her all to himself for the rest of the day, he had to content himself with a few stolen moments. “They’re waiting for us topside.”

  “No doubt plotting our next step without me.” Annora winced and cast him a commiserating look. “Leaving you stuck babysitting.”

  Xander didn’t even try to cover his snort. “More like I won the bet.”

  Annora was so worried they’d be too late to save Logan that she was becoming desperate.

  Taking unnecessary risks.

  Pushing herself too far, too fast, and that worried him. He’d been like that before he met her, focused only on the job, and he didn’t want that life for her. She deserved better.

  He meandered down the tunnel next to her, not in any rush to return to the others. Wanting to distract her, take her mind off her worries, he captured her hand when it brushed past his and wove their fingers together.

  When she faltered, glancing at him sideways, he couldn’t resist the temptation to see how far he could push her. He tugged on her arm, spinning her around in a dramatic, tango-like dance move, and pressed her up against the cement stone wall.

  She peered up at him with wide-eyed innocence, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m not letting you get caught in the same trap as me.” He ducked his head until their noses brushed. “There is more to life than training and work. You taught me that.”

  When she tried to duck her head, he caught her hand and put it over his heart, determined to make her understand. He worried that if he couldn’t find the right words, she would slip through his fingers and fall prey to the insanity of hatred and war, forgetting what mattered most.

  He was used to fighting with his fists, teeth and talons. He wasn’t any good at expressing himself.

  But for her, he would try.