“Okay, well start pushing.” They all seemed to take note and pushed on various rocks trying to see if anything would move. He pushed on so many rocks, he was losing his place on where he had been when Cece yelled.
“I got something.” She pointed to a small amount of water that was trickling into the cracks. “It used to hold all this water, and even though it’s dry, water still finds all the holes. I can’t push, not strong enough.”
Gage went over and started to push it. He could feel the bricks shift some, but nothing to move it totally. Axel gave it a shot next, and just like him, only got them to shift. Travis followed and did get them to move an inch, but not enough to let them in.
“Why don’t you guys push together?” Not wanting to stop now, he nodded and the three of them pushed and the door gave way to a brick tunnel. “Good job, boys, now let’s kick some troll ass and get our girl back,” without even a look back she headed forward. The tunnel was full of spider webs and wet dog smell. He wanted to plug his nose, but walked. It grew darker and he was happy to see that Cece had pulled a small flashlight out of her pocket. She seemed to be the only one who thought a little ahead. Soon they hit another wall, again like the first the three of them pushed to revel a small looking room. Walking inside, they placed Cece in the middle as one took the front, and each took a side. The door behind them suddenly shut. Turning they were shocked to see Malak and several wolves looking at them.
“Oh, it is so nice that you came to play today. Hope you can stay and watch the festivities tonight. I am going to be taking my mate, and I would love it if you would stay and watch.” Shifting slightly he let his claws reach out only to be stopped short by several shifters grabbing them. Malak laughed and before he could even react everything around them went dark. Fuck.
*****
Millie woke to the sound of the door opening. A small woman, who seemed to be about her Gran’s age, walked in with yet another tray of food. She smiled at her but frowned when she looked at her clothes and the uneaten food from yesterday.
“Did you not like the food and clothes, miss?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“No, they are fine, I just want to leave. Can you help me?”
“I cannot, miss, you see you are to be mated tonight to the king.”
“Please, I am a prisoner here.” The woman looked up at her and frowned.
“I am only doing my job, miss. Your dress for tonight will be here soon.” And once again she turned and head out the door. Millie had had a thought last night and knew what she needed to do. The king said she couldn’t work her power on trolls, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get the hell out of here. Running to the bathroom she took off the top lid and ran to the door stepping far enough away so she could do this right. She would only get one shot. Then, she cried out for help.
“Help, help, please, I fell. I think I broke something. Please, I need someone to come and help me.” She pretended and just as she had predicted the doors opened and she swung the lid down on top of the guard’s head, knocking him out, and leaving the door open. She didn’t miss her chance and she bolted. She ran as fast as she could down the hall to where she found some stairs. She heard someone coming, and she ducked into the small section behind a potted plant, trying to make her body as small as possible. Once they left, she ran down, and she could see the front door. No one was near and she just about made it when someone chuckled, echoing in the halls.
“So you think you’re so smart you could leave. Well let me tell you, this is going to happen and you will be my mate.” She spun to see Malak standing at the bottom of the steps looking at her, his eyes glowing a bright red.
“I will never be your mate you sicko. I have two mates and they will come for me.”
“Your right they will and they have,” he snapped his fingers and several men carried in four bodies. She screamed and went to them. She checked and all of them were breathing.
“What did you do to them?” she asked as she ran her hands across Gage’s face and then Axel's.
“They are just taking a little nap, don’t worry, they will wake for the ceremony. But if you don’t make the ceremony, they will die, Millie. And your special little friend here.” He walked over to Cece who looked so small and frail. “Will serve as a replacement for me and my men. She is rather pretty, in a plain sort of way. She won’t be my mate, oh no, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have her tied to my bed while I break her.” He ran his finger down Cece’s cheekbone and Millie didn’t know what to do. She needed a plan, well another one, which included getting out of here, and getting her friends back safe and sound.
“Fine, but I want them unharmed. If anything happens to them it will be your last breath.” She turned and headed back up the stairs, as if she knew what she was doing. Once she made her way to her room, or prison chamber, she spotted a bright red dress sitting there and more food. Shutting the door behind her she allowed the tears to fall without caring this time. She was royally fucked.
Chapter Sixteen
She now sat on the bed pondering if she could make it out of this situation. The answer was simple, no she wasn’t. She wouldn’t let the tears leave her this time, he wanted to break her and use her power, but so far that hadn't gotten her anywhere. Some power she had, she couldn’t even get someone to try to help her. Disgusted with everything, now more than before with her mother’s lack of letting her know what the hell she was, she glanced at the stupid dress she was to wear. It was bright red, and under normal circumstance she would have loved to have gotten dressed up in it and look pretty for her mates, but this was different. Resigned to her fate she went and took a shower. She was grimy and dirty, and to be honest, she really just wanted time to think without the fear of someone bothering her.
Stepping into the bathroom, she turned on the water and found that soaps had been provided along with towels. She really wished she had something else, like a razor or something she could take and maybe use to her advantage later. She would do whatever she could to save her friends, and if it mean sacrificing herself, she would, she just prayed that Axel and Gage would survive without her. She didn’t know what else to do. Once the water was on and started to warm, she jumped in allowing the warm water to run down her body. She closed her eyes and tried to relax and free her mind and maybe something would come. However, when she thought of her mates, she thought of home, and home brought her back to her Gran.
Her Gran had been a woman who you didn’t mess with. You simply did as you were told, but she gave so much for her, and she never gave up. Her Gran would probably tan her ass a nice red for giving up the way she was doing right now, but she didn’t think she was, she was just doing her best to try to save her mates and best friend. Or was she, was she just looking for the easy way out like she had always done her whole life. She had been the person who found things easily and just did them, Cece was the thinker, Becky was the one who was the momma bear, and her, she just did what she felt like and tried to get by. It was time for her to grow the hell up and save herself too.
After she washed, she headed into the room to find the same older woman there waiting for her.
“Good afternoon, miss. I have a robe for you, and some food since you have not eaten anything.” She went to turn and leave but this time Millie used everything she had to beg the woman to stay.
“Please stay, for just a minute. I just want to talk, please talk to me.” Millie was surprised when the woman turned and nodded to her. Okay this was a start. “Umm, did you guys do anything to the food?” She really wanted to know because her stomach was growling and she needed something to think about other than that small factor.
“No, miss. Nothing was done. I prepared it myself.” Letting out a relieving sign she nodded back to the woman, who still just stared at her blankly.
“Okay, then.” She sat and found a bowl of fruit again, and a turkey sandwich. She started to eat as the woman watched her. “Umm, why don’t you sit and we could talk some.” Th
e woman once again nodded and sat. “Can you tell me what happened to the last queen?” The woman blinked again as if trying to fight an internal struggle. She realized she must have used her stupid useless power on her. Awesome, it finally works and I don’t ask for help to escape, but maybe I can after I find answers.
“Well, miss, it was said she went ill. Although I helped the queen all the time, she never was ill until her lasts day. The king grew angry she was spending more time with her son, and trying to control him more. He wanted to expand the kingdom into the other realm, but she wanted to keep our people safe and here. He started to bring shifters in to act as guards and it is said that she had found a mate, a true mate in one. The poor man was killed for his indiscretions, but the king didn’t place blame on his wife and said the shifter took her against her will. But, like I said she grew ill, and I think she died from a broken heart. This set the king in rage and he didn’t care anymore about his people, he just wanted people to bow down to him. It’s probably why he wanted you. You can get people who don’t agree to see his ways.” Millie was now starting to see the bigger picture.
“Thanks for talking with me. I have to ask another question, do you by chance have a small mirror. You gave me make-up and such, but I have no way of seeing how I look.”
“Oh yes, miss, I can get you one. I will only be a moment.” Millie knew she could try to run again, but where would she run too. She had her friends and the thought of leaving her mates made her ill. She needed to end the Troll King in order to save not only their lives, but hers. The woman come in moments later and handed it to her before leaving. Mille looked down at the small hand mirror and smiled, she finally had a plan.
*****
Axel woke with his hands shackled to some sort of stone wall. What the hell is this, the Middle Ages and then throw us in the dungeon. He looked around and saw that Gage was hanging just as he was, but he was still out. Travis looked bloody and was in some type of cage. While Cece, he couldn’t see her. His heart broke because if anything happened to her, Millie wasn’t going to forgive him for that one. He was pissed off more than he ever could be. The fucker who took his mate was going to pay, well as soon as he got out of these chains. He kicked out trying to see if he could move at all, and growled in frustration when the metal bit into his wrists. His frustration must have woken Gage enough because he woke with a look of frustration.
“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. What the hell are we doing here?” Gage nodded then he took looked around. He too noticed Cece was missing, but spotted Travis in the cage who was starting to stir. “So we need a plan,” he might as well cut to the chance.
“What the fuck, seriously, I’m in cage?” Travis started to rattle the bar and Gage, just like he had done, they started to tug on their restraints. They found they made no room. “Wait, where is Cece?” Travis started to panic and he knew the feeling well. He wondered if maybe something was going on between the two. He didn’t think it would be a mate thing, but then again, they didn’t know Millie was their mate until after she found out she was a fairy. But even then they were attracted to her, at least when she didn’t talk about other men.
“I have no clue and I don’t like this one bit.” Just as they were about to talk more a door opened filling the room with some light.
“Aww good, I see our guests have woken. We are going to be starting the ceremony in about an hour. So just sit tight and we will be with you shortly.”
“Where’s the girl?” Travis said through gritted teeth. The asshole at the door laughed.
“Oh, don’t worry about her. She is still out, and the boss is keeping a close eye on her, for now.” And the steel doors shut again.
“Well who has a plan?” Travis asked as he tried once again to break out of his cage.
“Only plan I have is to kill the fucker who took our mate, and then get the hell out of dodge!”
“Okay, good plan,” Travis replied as they sat around like idiots twiddling their thumbs as fury and aggression built.
*****
Millie looked in the mirror one last time to see if she would look the part. Year of theater had taught her to do make-up. She over accentuated her lips with a ruby red color and left her hair down. The dress she put on fit like a glove, but she still felt like screaming as the material clung to her, reminding her of what she was about to do. So no one would hear her, she went into the restroom and turned on the sink and flush the toilet seconds before she took the mirror and smashed it on the floor, creating shards of pointy glass. She carefully took a piece and tucked it in the side of her dress under her arm and beneath her bra. She took care on how she placed it making sure she wouldn’t cut herself, but even then, it would be worth it if she could get everyone the hell out of here. She heard the sound of the door opening and she rushed out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her to hide her evidence.
“I’m here to escort you to the ceremony.” It was Zalph, but he seemed more distracted than normal.
“Oh, okay.” Walking to him, he held his arm out. “You okay?” she asked, looking up at him. He just nodded and proceeded to tug her along through the hall and down the stairs. She almost tripped at his hurried pace but she clung to him knowing he might not let her fall. It was a short ten minutes until they reached a grand ballroom. Millie didn’t even notice her surroundings as much as she had before, but it seemed like she was in a type of castle. She would have loved to be able to look at everything but she didn’t want to look at anything at this moment but her mates and her best friend.
As the doors open she saw Malak standing in front of people she didn’t know. Some of them seemed kinda out of sorts and under a type of spell and it made her wonder what Malak had done to them, but what caught her eye was Axel and Gage in iron shackles screwed to the ground. Travis was in a weird cage and he looked pissed off. Starting to feel the panic rise up, she spotted Cece, she was looking at her. She wasn’t chained to anything, but a guard was standing by to make sure she didn’t do anything. She was making small motions and she tried to figure out what he was. She kept moving forward and Cece made a motion, but this time she watched her hands. She reached around her neck and tugged her necklace. Automatically she reached up and noticed she didn’t have one. She shook her head to try to tell her she didn’t have one, but Cece had moved her eyes in a different direction. Realizing she was trying to tell her something, she followed the direction of her eyes. When they landed on Malak, she looked him over from head to toes and took notice of the small stone hung around his neck. Is this what they wanted? Could it be something simple to bring him down?
Taking the final steps she reached him. He smiled at her, but it wasn’t one of happiness, but one of glee, like he knew she would be his. This made her sick and she wanted nothing more than to wipe the look off his face. He didn’t smile back when he grabbed her hand and Zalph stepped away. He leaned down so only she could hear what he said, “I have brought your mates, and they will keep you alive so you will always be mine. And just so you know, your little friend over there has created a lot of interest in my men. They love something so pure.” Without thinking she reached in her dress as if to adjust it and grabbed the glass and swung it at him. He must have seen her move as he was raising up from leaning over to her, because the glass only sliced through his cheek. He lunged and had her pinned against the wall with his hand around her throat. She could feel the air start to leave her as he squeezed harder.
“You know you, little bitch, I was going to make this easy on you, but it seems I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.” She looked up and saw that a guard had taken a knife and held it up to Gage’s throat. He was struggling to get free, as he did, blood trickled making her move more, the air in her running short. She glanced at Axel who was pulling at his chains, growling and Gage was too, but the knife was already cutting into him, and Cece now crying out as Travis had shifted into his lion in the cage. She remembered what Cece had said. With quick movement she grabbed th
e necklace pulling it from him. He yelled dropping her to the ground as if he wasn’t able to hold her up.
The world started to spin as someone yelled to her, "Smash it." Without a second look she smashed the stone, sending it into a million pieces across the marble floor. Malak roared in fury and sprung for her again, with her being down on the ground she found the shard of glass and held it up. Just as she did, Malak had impaled himself on it. His blood ran down her as his body became limp and lifeless. She had killed him. She had killed another person, she really needed to stop doing that. She was about to stand and run to her mates to free them when she tripped, smacking her head on a marble statue. She saw the floor coming up to meet her face as people started to yell her name and the world once again went black.
Chapter Seventeen
Axel watched in horror as his mate lay on the ground with blood coming from her head. People were yelling and screaming at her, at them, at hell he didn’t know, he only had one person in mind, Millie. With force he didn’t know he had, he pulled and the chains snapped from the ground and he ran to her. She was limp, but she was breathing. His panther roared in anger as the bruises started to appear around her neck. The bastard was lucky he was dead too because he would kill him twice over. He moved the hair out of her face to try to get her to respond. Nothing. He was worried again, but someone touched him on the shoulder and noticed it was Cece. Looking around he saw everyone had stopped moving and were watching them, but it was another man, one who shared the same blood and smell as Malak who approached. He started to growl letting his panther slip when Gage in panther form came from behind him baring his teeth, protecting their mate.
Panther Protection Page 10