Mine to Save

by Megs Pritchard

  His eyes scanned the basement, noticing it had been separated into cages. Each cage housed around ten, maybe fifteen slaves. His numbers were wrong. There were far more slaves than they had anticipated. There had to be at least a hundred.

  “Jensen. Check the locks.” Jensen nodded, and they made their way down the cages, checking all the locks. Simple padlocks that they could break.

  He tried to ignore the condition of the slaves, but he knew Niles and the team had to know. He touched the ear piece and muttered, “We’re in. At least one hundred slaves. Poor condition. Malnourished, underfed, with numerous injuries and possible broken bones.”

  A second later, Chester hissed, “Copy that. Over a hundred?”

  “We’re opening the cages now. We have the bus and the Jeep...”

  “Copy that. Do what you need to.”

  He watched a young man approach, covered in dirt, bones sticking out. “Are you...”

  “We’re here to free you. Are you all down here?”

  “Yes,” the man whispered and winced.

  “Don’t talk. Save your strength. Let me get the locks and we’ll leave here.”

  Both him and Jensen worked quickly to open all the locks. “Up the stairs. At the top you’ll see two men dressed like us. One will show you out.”

  Brayden touched the earpiece again. “Tank—”

  “Outside.” It was then he heard the low thrum of an engine and knew Tank had driven the bus over.

  They had to move fast, but even moving as quickly as possible, it still took close to thirty minutes to get everyone out. The bus was full, people sitting wherever they could, and they still had people outside.

  They heard another engine and pulled out their weapons as a large van approached. When they saw who was driving it, they lowered them, relaxing. Jacques had a death grip on the steering wheel and a determined look on his pale face.

  “In the van. Go,” Brayden urged. They needed to leave now.

  Teal went back into the house as the bus pulled away and the rest helped the slaves into the van. It was cramped, but they somehow did it. Indigo and Jensen jogged away towards the Jeep, as Brayden waited for Teal, covering him in case someone turned up expectantly. He caught the faint hint of smoke on the air and then Teal was leaving, closing the door behind him.

  They both jogged over the grass to where the Jeep stood waiting. Getting in, Brayden slammed the door shut as Indigo drove away.

  ❊❊❊

  “Shit,” Teal muttered. “How could the numbers have been wrong?”

  “I altered them to show less, but I kept a record, so I knew exactly how many slaves were held there.”

  “Looks like they got their own slaves,” Jensen muttered.

  He could still smell the stench on his clothes, the images burned into his memory. He knew what to expect but actually seeing it in the flesh was entirely different. The looks of horror and defeat on their faces were hard to bear and he knew he would never forget it.

  “We’re ten minutes out from the warehouse,” Indigo muttered from the front.

  “They seemed so complacent,” Teal muttered. “They just did as they were told.”

  “They would have been trained that way. Not following orders led to painful consequences. Blood slaves learn quickly.”

  “No one should have to experience that,” Jensen muttered harshly. “Certainly not at the hands of vampires.”

  “You’re right, they shouldn’t be treated like that, but they don’t care about slaves. They’re there to serve a purpose, whether it’s a hole to fuck or a vein to tap.”

  “Fuck, Brayden.” Jensen glared at his mate. How fucking thoughtless.

  “Want me to sugar-coat it for you?”

  “I want you to remember who you’re mated to! I’m a human, asshole!”

  “I know. I knew the second I scented you and I still mated with you, didn’t I?”

  Jensen twisted on his seat and pointed a finger at Brayden. “Not like you had a fucking choice, is it? You only get one mate, so it was me or no one.”

  “Maybe we should all calm down,” Indigo murmured.

  Thanks, mate. Is that what I am? A hole and a vein?

  No, never. I lived with them for years, Jensen, and that is how slaves are treated. They’re nothing to most of the people who follow the king. I love you, Jensen. You know I do. You can feel it.

  Jensen turned away and he could admit he pouted. He was angry at how they had been treated and he wanted to take it out on Brayden because he was a vampire and had been involved in it. Sighing, he shook his head. It wasn’t Brayden’s fault. If he’d tried to do anything, he would probably be dead.

  I’m sorry.

  You’re hurt and angry, I get that, and me being a vampire doesn’t help.

  It’s not your fault.

  But I didn’t do much to stop it.

  You gathered information that’s helping us now and we’re going after the others.

  We need to kill the king. I said it before but kill him and it will have a catastrophic effect.

  So, when we go for Garrick at the mansion, we should kill him too.

  Yes, the next in line will take over, and he’s a far better man than the king.

  You know who it is? Jensen’s eyes widened in surprise. Who is it?

  Brayden nodded. Don’t ask me who, Jensen. I can’t tell you. It’s a responsibility like no other. He would have to decide which direction our species goes in. So, do we reveal the king, or continue to hide him away? Does he tell the humans what was planned and risk the repercussions, or keep it a secret and break the laws we agreed between our species?

  I never thought of that. I’m sorry, Brayden.

  Don’t. We both made mistakes and we will continue to do so. We listen, we talk, that’s how we overcome any issues in our future.

  Jensen sighed. Brayden made complete sense. He was furious at the conditions those people had been kept in and he wanted to find all the vampires responsible and make them pay.

  They sat in silence until they reached the warehouse and parked. There was a flurry of activity outside, with people coming in and out to help. Several buses were lined along one side of the dirt track, and as Jensen watched, those who had been slaves were being led to one.

  “Those are the ones well enough to go to the hospital near our town.”

  “How many can it take, Indigo?”

  “We’ve cleared an entire wing plus we have smaller clinics that can be used as well. We can take over two hundred and I think Mich’s brother is taking some as well. Do we know the total rescued?”

  Jensen shook his head. “No, not yet. Our numbers were wrong, maybe theirs were too.”

  “Let’s find out.” Brayden walked towards the warehouse and the others trailed behind. Jensen saw Tank jog past them and knew he was heading inside to his mate, Dr. Niles Conway, who would be the lead in treating any injuries.

  He stopped outside when he heard quiet sobs and slowly walked towards the side of the building. When he spotted who it was, he stopped walking and lifted a hand up in apology. It was Jacques, but he wasn’t alone. Miguel, his mate, was with him, comforting him.

  He left them alone, knowing Jacques needed privacy to deal with his emotions. It wasn’t easy for him to do this after what he’d suffered at their hands. He had an intimate knowledge of what happened to the former slaves and would do anything to help them, even if that came at a personal cost.

  He walked through the door and paused, his eyes scanning the area, trying to pick out his mate in the organized chaos inside. When he found him stood with Ale and Chester, he made his way over, side-stepping some people and stepping over others. The place was full to bursting with every inch of available space taken. There were far more people than any of them had accounted for.

  “--the four properties.” Chester was saying when Jensen finally arrived.

  “How many in total? There seems more than we had originally thought.”

  “At last
count, it was five hundred and twenty-two. There’s another bus load coming in which should be the last.”

  “Close to six hundred? Shit! Where are we going to house them all?” Jensen ran a hand over his face, his eyes scanning the crowd of people around them.

  Where were they all going to go?

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Two hundred are going with the Blues Brothers. Another hundred with Mich’s brother’s friends.”

  “That still leaves almost three hundred,” Brayden muttered.

  “The Blues Brothers are calling on some of their friends to help us.”

  “They were with us. How did they get this arranged?”

  “Cyan,” Ale smirked.

  “She sure did have a thing for blue.” Chester smiled and then sighed, his eyes taking in the chaos around them and then settling on Silas. “Looks like we might be taking two.”

  “Ah. The siblings.”

  Jensen glanced at where Chester and Ale were looking and saw Silas sat on the floor with a little girl sat in his lap and a boy who looked slightly older cuddled into his side.

  “They had children for slaves too? Did you know, Bray?”

  “No, Jensen. I didn’t. I wouldn’t have stood by and let children be slaves. This is something they did themselves and didn’t inform the commanders about.”

  “What about their families?” Jensen asked Chester and Ale.

  Ale sighed and shook his head. “Parents were killed when they were captured. Apparently, they have no other family. Silas has got his men chasing down identities for everyone we’ve rescued, trying to notify families where possible. Most of them are teenagers or younger. There are a few older ones, early twenties. Most appear to have been kicked out or run away from home.”

  “We’re still trying to figure it all out. It’s thrown our plans having so many people. It concerns me how many are in the other locations. Could all of our numbers be wrong?” Chester was pulled away at that moment when Silas waved him over.

  “Where do you need us?” Brayden asked.

  Ale tugged his hair out of his elastic then retied it. “Ask Niles. He’ll know where he needs you.”

  At that second, a cry rang out. “He’s crashing!”

  Everyone who could move, did, running towards the voice. By the time Jensen got there, Niles was using the defibrillator machine on the emaciated body of a young man, a look of determination on his face.

  Jensen watched them do everything they could to save him and when Niles stepped back with a small smile on his face, he sighed in relief.

  “Hospital now. Do we have a fake ID we can use for him?”

  “Here.” A man Jensen didn’t recognize, but looked suspiciously like one of the Blues Brothers, showed him some papers and a card.

  “Good. He needs to go now. I’ve done what I can, but if he doesn’t get to a hospital, we’ll lose him.”

  “I’ve got the papers, so I’ll take him.”

  “Thanks, Vir.”

  “Teal! With me!”

  Within minutes, Viridian and his brother had taken the young man and disappeared.

  Niles began working on a woman who had taken the young man’s place, assessing her with an efficiency that came from years of work. Once she was assessed, he handed her over to someone else and moved on.

  “How long before everyone is seen?”

  “No idea.” Ale shook his head. “Niles assessed everyone as soon as they entered, and he graded each one. The worst were treated first, then the next, and so on.”

  “A typical triage situation,” Brayden muttered.

  “Come on. Let’s see where they need us.”

  Niles pointed them to Tank who gave them an area to work in. Jensen didn’t know how many hours had passed, but by the time the majority had been assessed and treated, he was exhausted. He looked at his watch and walked outside, realizing that it was now the next day.

  Niles stepped next to him and sighed. Jensen looked at him, noticing the paleness to his skin and the dark circles under his eyes.

  “You need to feed?”

  Niles smiled. “I need to sleep for about a day, but I’m on shift tonight, so I’ll go home get a few hours’ sleep before heading into the hospital.”

  Jensen nodded. “How many did we lose?”

  Niles grimaced and ran a hand over his stubble-covered jaw. “Twenty.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah, but some were simply too far gone to save and there were others who needed help. A hospital would have struggled with these numbers. Next time, we need to be certain. We can’t have this again.”

  Jensen nodded, then Niles walked over to Tank as he pulled up in his truck. They both waved as they left, and Jensen went back into the warehouse and stared at the mess. Wrappings, dirty clothes, and medical equipment were littered everywhere.

  “I want to go home too, but we need to clean this place up. No one can--”

  “Yeah, about that. Ale,” Teal said as he approached. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “These men will deal with clean up. It’s their specialty.”

  Ale arched an eyebrow. “Specialty?”

  “Yep. Go home. We’ve got this covered.”

  Ale stared at Teal, then sighed and nodded. “It would be nice to go home to Troy.”

  “Give your young man a hug from me.” Teal licked his lips then laughed when Ale growled. He made a shooing move with his hand. “Go, before I change my mind.”

  Jensen didn’t need to be told twice. He left the building and found Brayden leaning up against a Jeep. He smiled as he approached, and Brayden opened the door.

  “Get in. I can feel how tired you are.”

  “How did we manage to treat that many people in sixteen hours?”

  “The Blues Brothers.”

  “They are... “

  “Yeah, they are.”

  Brayden started the engine and pulled away. The hum of the engine and gentle motion of the car lulled Jensen to sleep. He woke briefly as Brayden carried him inside.

  “Shh, sleep my mate, I’ve got you.”

  And Jensen did.

  Epilogue

  Five days later...

  “Are we in position?”

  A chorus of yeses came over the earpiece.

  “Go.”

  As one, they moved, their targets in sight. There was no going back now.

  The End

  Thank You

  Thanks for reading Mine to Save. Poor Jensen, but at least Brayden knew just how great his mate was.

  I’d be grateful if you could leave a short review on Amazon. Your support really does make a difference and I read all the reviews personally so I can get your feedback and make this book even better.

  Book eight is with the editor and book ten is planned. I’ll start writing it soon.

  Book two in the Sater’s Creek series is complete and being edited and I’ve started book three. My shifter.vampires series has a title which I will be revealing very soon” Stayed tuned!

  I can’t wait for you all to read these books!

  Thanks again for your support and if you want more information or sneak peeks, join my Facebook group and sign up for my newsletter.

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  https://www.facebook.com/groups/MegsSSBs/

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  About the Author

  Megs Pritchard lives in England and is a mother to two crazy boys who like to say embarrassing things in public. When she isn’t working or being mummy, she is busy writing about complex characters that know the harsh realities of life but want a HEA.

  A lover of M/M and M/F romances she believes everyone deserves to be happy, healthy and loved.

  Growing up in a military family, Megs has travelled Europe and has a great deal of respect and gratitude for all the men and women who have and who still serve. Her dream job was to be a Bomb Disposal Expert and even had her own ‘kit’ when she was younger.

  Books by Megs Pritchar
d

  Valentine’s Surprise - Standalone Novella

  Growing Pains - Standalone Novella

  Read and Blue - Standalone Novella

  Crossing Desires Series

  Awakening

  Struggle

  Terrible Twos - Standalone Novel

  Second Chances Series

  Take A Chance

  New Beginnings

  The Bonds Within

  Breaking Free

  Rescue Inc Series

  Mate of Mine

  Forever Mine

  Mine to Protect

  Mine to Keep

  Say You’ll Be Mine

  Please Be Mine

  Mine for Eternity

  Mine to Love

  Mine to Save

  Contact Information

  You can learn more about Megs’ writing at:

  http://www.megspritchardauthor.com

  Facebook:

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/MegsSSBs/

  Newsletter:

  http://bit.ly/2p4aROT