by Leia Stone
But they would soon.
One of them turned toward my wolf, and a wolf prisoner in the nearest cell shouted, “I’m bleeding!” He clutched his stomach and fell over.
The two fey guards ran to his cell and it dawned on me that he was buying me time.
Thanks, dude.
My wolf resumed the acrobatic nuzzling, trying to get the dead fey guard’s finger up to the clasp at the back of his neck. Finally she succeeded and the necklace fell away with a click.
Yes!
Without a moment to waste, she picked the necklace up into her mouth and bolted away from the lifeless guard.
Her eyes scanned doors, grateful that the dude in the cell was having some fake fit to distract the new guards.
Bathroom.
Utility closet.
Gym.
Gotcha.
Walking through the door that said “Gym,” my wolf stopped dead at the sight of Sawyer, and all the breath whooshed out of my human form sitting on Pearl.
Holy hot felon.
My sweet preppy billionaire husband had changed. He now had a full beard and was standing shirtless under the bar where he was doing chin-ups. The muscles in his arms popped as my wolf’s gaze ran over the biggest change to Sawyer.
His body was covered in tattoos.
RIP Dad was written in cursive above an anatomical heart on his forearm. Alpha was written above an image of a howling wolf on his bicep. Hudson was in huge block letters across his abs, and then my wolf’s gaze flicked to his chest. Right over his heart was my name in a beautiful cursive script.
Demi.
A whine caught in my wolf’s throat, and Sawyer’s eyes snapped to her.
He’d always been able to see me no matter if I was invisible to others or not. He stilled, and I suddenly became aware of all the other people in the room who couldn’t see me: eight guards and ten scary-ass looking supernaturals. I almost yipped in joy when I saw Walsh standing behind a male vampire who was punching a speedbag. The vampire’s hair was dark black, slicked back with sweat, and holy yum I hated to admit it but he was insanely hot. All of these dudes were. They were ripped as hell, covered in tattoos and beards and sweating testosterone like it was air. My wolf shook herself to clear her thoughts and padded slowly over to Sawyer. He hadn’t moved, just stood frozen as he stared at me.
Sawyer coughed twice, really short, and it must have been some signal, because Walsh, the hot vampire dude, and some fey prisoner all started to move in unison over to Sawyer.
“Hudson! Walsh! Bennett! No congregating,” a guard called. My wolf had reached Sawyer, and when he bent down to tie his shoe, she spit the necklace onto the ground at his feet. He grabbed it with shaking fingers just as the vampire—it must be Luka, Sawyer’s roommate— started to heckle the guard.
“I pulled my back, man,” Luka said as Walsh started to inspect Luka’s back.
“Let me see,” the fey called out, moving closer as they covered the fact that Sawyer was uncuffing himself.
“I fucking missed you so much,” Sawyer whispered as he looked right into the eyes of my wolf and unclicked the remaining cuff, putting the glowing blue set, which now stood open, behind a floormat to hide them. Sawyer ran his fingers through my wolf’s fur and I whimpered again. It felt so good to be touched by him, to see him, smell him.
Back on Pearl, I instructed Marmal with a half sob of joy. “It’s time.”
Back in the room, Sawyer handed the key to Walsh next and started to inspect Luka’s back. “Oh shit, is that a bone sticking out?” Sawyer yelled loudly, looking at Luka’s perfect, muscled back, covered with tattoos and zero bones sticking out.
“He’s a vampire. He’ll heal. Break it up!” A fey guard pushed off the wall and walked over to Sawyer, gun raised.
Back on Pearl, I shook myself. Shit was going to go down and we needed to do this, now.
“Fly me as close as you can to that window and be ready to scram the second I get them out!” I yelled to Marmal, who sat in front of me.
She nodded, and directed Pearl over to the far window on the very top floor. There was a tiny ledge, maybe six inches in depth. Nothing I could stand on. The closer Pearl flew to the window, the more I could sense the magic at work in the protective shields. It was like a rainbow sheen of oil or bubbles suspended in the air.
“She can’t get any closer or her wing will hit the shield!” Marmal shouted.
Frick. I was a good ten feet away from the shimmering shield. But it was now or never. I was so close to getting Sawyer out and I still had Sage to worry about.
“When I start to fall, catch me!” I shouted. “I’m going to jump and bring down the shield.”
I held up the fey blade and Marmal’s eyes widened. She was quiet a moment, but then nodded.
I looked down, barely able to see the river as we were over eight hundred feet into the air.
Please don’t let this be how I die, I sent up a silent prayer to whomever might be listening, and then I plunged the fey blade into my palm. A slice of burning pain radiated along my hand as a thick line of crimson blood pooled into my palm and saturated the knife.
I mumbled the incantation that Star had told me, and the knife glowed with a sickly green hue.
Well, that was something at least. I was fully just going to have to trust that this spell worked, and the second I drove the blade into the protective shield … it would break.
“Old magic. I have old magic and that’s good, it’s going to work,” I ranted out loud, trying to psych myself up for this jump.
My wolf pulled on my attention and I snapped my focus to her just in time to see Luka headbutt a security guard in the face, and then Sawyer roundhouse kick another.
Oh shit.
Okay.
Here goes nothing.
“One.” I stood on Pearl’s back, teetering in the air as she flapped her wings to try to keep me steady. “Two.” I gripped the blade tighter in my fist. “Three!” I shouted.
And then I leapt. Out into the air, stabbing with my blade hand into the protective shield, sending a ripple of pain up my elbow. There was a cracking noise … and then I was falling.
Oh fuck.
Freefalling from eight hundred feet is probably the most terrifying thing I could ever imagine, and I’d been through some scary shit. Even knowing Pearl would try her best to catch me did nothing to quell my nerves.
‘Demi!’ Sawyer screamed. He must have picked up on my emotions and felt my terror. I ignored him, just focusing on breathing and not passing out when Pearl materialized just beneath me.
“Here!” Marmal shouted and I reached for her. With surprising force, I slammed onto Pearl’s back, sending her jerking to the left. Marmal latched onto me, planting both arms onto my shoulders to steady me. We nearly both fell off, but then Pearl was able to right herself.
Reaching out, I stroked her scales. “I’m so sorry if that hurt.”
Marmal looked at me with a halfcocked grin. “She said it felt like a deep tissue massage.”
I frowned. How the hell did an ancient dragon know what a deep tissue massage was? Shaking my head, I forced myself to focus. “Get me back up there. We might only have minutes before they get the shield back up.”
“You got it!” Marmal instructed her and then Pearl flapped her wings maddingly as she careened closer to the building now that the protective shield was gone. As we drew closer and closer, I readied myself for what was likely to be the most painful part of this process. Smashing the window open with my body. From what Sawyer said there was nothing heavy or dangerous inside that could be used as a weapon. No free weights or anything. That left me, hurling through the air like a ball—
“Do you want Pearl to smash the window with her tail?” Marmal suddenly asked, breaking my thoughts.
I looked back at Pearl’s tail. At the tip were six knobby horns of various sizes.
Oh … that was a better option. I wanted to facepalm myself but refrained. There was a crazy pri
son fight going on inside and I needed to help.
“Yes please!” I shouted, and seconds later the sound of shattering glass rang through the air.
Sawyer!
I sensed him before I saw him. Looking up from Pearl’s back, I pivoted and there he was, standing in front of the broken window, fingers curled deep into my wolf’s fur as she stood at his feet. Blood trickled down his neck from a wound at his ear and his chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath. But even still, he gave me a full panty-dropping grin, complete with dimple.
Holy fuck, I’d missed that smile.
“Demi!” he screamed, opening his arms.
I wasted no time. Standing on Pearl’s back, I jumped from the dragon in one leap, trying to keep all my shit together so I didn’t break down into sobs. It had been so long since I held him, smelled him, tasted him. We had a fucking baby together and he didn’t even know until recently. The second I crashed into his chest, his arms came around me like a vise.
“Holy hell, woman,” he rasped as I wrapped my legs around his waist, trying to get closer to him. His breath shuddered against me as I released the sobs I’d been keeping in. He squeezed me so hard it hurt, but I didn’t care because on some level it felt good. Being held so tightly against his shirtless body was the best damn feeling I’d had in a long time.
Pulling back from him a little, I looked up into his searing blue eyes and allowed our imprint to fully enmesh once more. I opened myself to him, every emotion, every experience I’d had since we had been apart. Having Creek, becoming Paladin alpha, surviving the Dark Woods, missing him. All of it. He just looked into my eyes and nodded. Then I felt him open. He’d kept so much from me. There was so much darkness in him now, I wasn’t prepared for it. He’d contemplated suicide so many times in our absence together. He was beaten daily by guards and other rival prison gangs. He’d been starved, electrocuted thousands of time, near death. My chest felt like a five-hundred-pound weight sat on it as he pushed his emotions into me, sharing all he’d been through. He almost lost his mind not knowing what had become of me. The only thing that kept him together and going was his new pack of friends and the hope that I was alive. A tear slipped down my cheek knowing he’d been through so much pain. Leaning forward, he kissed the tear, melting it into his mouth.
“I love you so much,” I croaked.
His lips landed on mine and I couldn’t breathe for a moment, couldn’t move. Was this actually real? Were we finally together? I moaned as his warm wet tongue slipped into my mouth and I tasted him for the first time in forever.
“Hey, lovebirds, a little help!” Walsh suddenly cried.
Shaken from our reunion, Sawyer pulled back from our kiss and set me down, then we both spun.
Crap.
I noticed Luka, Walsh, and two other guys. I was assuming they were the rest of his “crew.” One was fey and the other troll. They were all locked into a vicious fight with five guards. Fists pounded, blood flew, bodies cracked, all in an effort to wrestle the guns away from them. The other men in the workout room were in the corner pulling weapons off of the dead fey guards and arming themselves.
Great.
Luka, the vampire, had uncuffed himself, and now tossed a guard across the room as if he were made of paper. The guard hit the wall with a thud just as another fey guard lunged for Luka, blade drawn. Sawyer jumped into the fight and I felt my power surge within me. We needed to get the hell out of here—and we needed to get Sage. That shield could go back up any minute, trapping us all inside of it. I surged forward with vampire speed and slammed into the fey guard about to stab Luka. His body crashed against the wall and I took his head into my hands and twisted. The sickening crunch of his neck breaking rang throughout the room and I dropped him on the floor and turned. Two remaining guards were rushing toward me.
“Demi!” Sawyer screamed, panic in his face. The guards had guns raised.
A pulse of power flared to life under my skin and I flung my arms out, sending a shield of magic at them akin to a bomb blast. It looked like a wave of blue light, and when it slammed into their bodies, they turned to ash.
“Holy shit,” Sawyer breathed, looking at the two piles of ash.
Okay that was freaky. I’d never done that before.
I swallowed hard, a bit shaken, and glanced around the room. The other guards had been killed or subdued.
“Damn, where can I find a woman like that?” Luka appraised me with pride. My gaze ran over his tattoos. Five Crew was printed in big block letters across his collarbone. I looked at Sawyer’s collarbone. Then Walsh. Then the fey and troll. They all had the same thing. This was Sawyer’s pack.
I’d accepted Marmal and Sage as my pack. And this was how Sawyer got through the last year. I wasn’t going to be a prick just because I hated vampires.
Sawyer grinned. “I told you she was amazing.”
Luka bowed before me, taking my hand into his and lightly kissing the top. “My lady Alpha, I am forever in your debt.”
Whoa. Was it hot in here or…? This charmer was nothing like the cold vampires I had met. I squirmed under his gaze and nodded as he released my hand.
“A friend of Sawyer’s is a friend of mine,” I told him.
He chuckled. “I know you hate my kind. That’s okay. My family is a bunch of douchebags.”
“Family?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
Sawyer cleared his throat. “We should get out of here.”
Right.
“I’m Talon,” the troll dude said. He was a giant guy, standing well over six feet tall and looked like he was cut out of stone.
“Bennett.” The fey male saluted me. “Thanks for the save.”
All of the men in Sawyer’s little crew were extremely good looking and I knew Marmal and Sage would have no qualms about spending the next few days with them.
I nodded. “Well met.” We walked over to the busted-out window just as an alarm rang throughout the prison.
Sage.
They had finally figured out there was a prison break going on.
“Lockdown procedures commence now. We have an active infiltration,” a robotic female voice said over the loudspeaker.
“Go!” I shouted just as Pearl appeared in front of the window in all her glory.
“Holy fuck,” Luka breathed beside me. Bennett and Talon wasted no time leaping onto Pearl’s back, with Marmal’s help to steady them, as I bent down to my wolf.
“You have to make sure they don’t give Sage another injection. It will be easier to get her out if she’s not unconscious. Chew through the binds on her hands and feet and we’ll fly down right now and get you both out.”
She nodded and then took off, going ghostly as she plowed through the wall.
“Babe!” Sawyer called to me, and I looked up. We were the only two left. He reached out his hand to me. I slipped my cuffs back on and took his outstretched arm.
“Hey, take us with you!” a male snapped behind me. I craned my head to see the rest of the guys who’d been working out when the whole fight began. The one who had spoken was a tall vampire and he was holding a sleek handgun he’d stolen from the guard. His cuffs were still on, which let me know Sawyer hadn’t shared the key with them.
‘These pricks have been trying to kill me since the day I got here,’ Sawyer growled into my head.
I grabbed Sawyer’s offered hand. “Sure thing. Let me just check in with my friend,” I told him, and stood.
He lifted the gun, and then Sawyer’s arms came around my waist, yanking me backward as he jumped. I sailed through the air, landing on top of Sawyer as we both hit Pearl’s gigantic back, hard. Marmal and Sawyer’s crew held us in place just as the gun clicked. I steeled myself, ready to catch bullets or whatever magical shit I would need to, but then nothing happened.
“Needs the guard’s fingerprint, you asshole,” Luka called out.
Sawyer grinned viciously. “Enjoy the next fifty years knowing we got out.”
Wal
sh just flipped the dudes the bird. Then the wind picked up behind us as Pearl started to descend.
Wow, these guys must have had a lot of beef together—stories for another time.
I needed to focus on my bestie.
“Take me to the bottom floor, back side of the building where they are keeping Sage!” I yelled to Marmal.
Everything was happening so fast I couldn’t process it properly.
‘I snuck in an elevator, overheard them say they were taking the dead guard down to medical on the first floor,’ my wolf said.
Thank God.
“Sage is here?” Walsh’s voice broke.
I looked back at him and noticed the pained expression that crossed his face. I nodded. “She got my wolf inside, but they’re holding her on the bottom floor, so we need to get her.”
As Pearl flew down the eighty floors to the bottom, I watched the flickering lights inside. Red and white flashes pulsed as the siren wailed and the robot voice played out over a loudspeaker: “Prison break. Lockdown procedures active. Shield down. Remain in your cells.”
My wolf pulled my attention and I focused on her just in time to see her enter Sage’s room. She was still lying motionless in the bed with cloth straps around her feet and arms. The cloth bands were connected with silver chains, but my wolf had already started to chew at the band on her right arm, sawing it with her back teeth.
Sage moaned.
‘Sage, wake up!’ I used our pack bond to rouse her. ‘I got the guys. Walsh and Sawyer are safe. We need to get you out of there.’
I felt her consciousness stir. ‘Demi?’ she rasped through our bond.
My wolf looked up at her just as she opened her eyes and the cuff fell away from her right hand. She slowly brought her hand up to pet my wolf’s head, and then nodded as if coming out of a deep sleep.
‘I’m so groggy,’ she said.
‘It’s okay. Just try to help undo your binds. I’m almost to you.’
Sage lazily reached over and started to unclip the left arm binding as my wolf chewed on the left leg loop. Once she got her hands free, she sat up, looking more alert, and helped get out of the binds at her feet just as voices could be heard shouting down the hallway.