He wasn’t strong enough to protect his mate, and now she would know that.
She would see his weakness.
The next slash cut deeper, and he met her gaze.
He’d protect her. Not matter what.
He had to.
Chapter Ten
Cailin clutched at Logan, holding back her screams at the pain on his face. Damn him for taking the brunt of the pain, for protecting her. Her wolf howled, clawing at her. Their mate was in pain, and the only way to stop it was to take the pain herself.
She’d do that in a heartbeat, but Logan wouldn’t be budged.
He was stronger than her, even as he bled.
Her Logan.
Her poor, sweet, Logan.
“Oh look, little princess, another wolf is bleeding for you,” Caym taunted as he cracked the whip again. Each time it hit Logan’s skin, her mate flinched but didn’t let his gaze leave hers. Blood seeped into her clothes, and a tear slid down her cheek.
“Your parents died for you, and now you’re letting your mate do it too? No wonder you’re nothing in the Pack. You’re weak. Useless. Unwanted. People die for you, but you’re not worth it, and you know it. You’ll die soon. Alone. Unworthy. Never remembered because the people who would care are already dead because of your selfishness.”
Each word slapped at her, but it was nothing compared to the pain Logan must be feeling. The pain she felt through the bond alone made her want to weep—or claw the fucking demon’s face off.
Yes, the latter would help.
She could cry later when she and Logan were safe and warm. Because they would be. They wouldn’t end like this, damn it.
“Fuck you, Caym,” Logan grunted.
She cupped his cheek and licked her lips. “Let me take some, Logan. Move.”
“Never, mate of mine. Never.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have a choice, love.” Love. Yes. That’s what she felt. But she’d tell him properly when he wasn’t bleeding on her. Bleeding for her.
With one last look, she kissed him softly then pushed.
Hard.
Cailin rolled on top of him then screamed as the lash of the whip cut through her shirt and into her skin, marking her back, left shoulder to right hip. She would be marked for life, but she didn’t care. Logan didn’t deserve to take all the pain.
She could bear it for him.
Logan gripped her hips and tried to move her. “Cailin! Don’t you dare.”
“You don’t get to bleed for me alone, Logan.”
Caym laughed behind them. “So sweet. Fighting over who shall take my whip. That makes it a little more fun for me in some respects, but don’t worry. I have enough pain for each of you.”
It felt like hands clutched at her, but she knew it was Caym’s magic. The force threw her into the wall, and she grunted. Logan reached for her, but he couldn’t touch her. The magic threw him into the opposite wall, and she blinked, her head aching from the impact.
Chains slid out from the wall and locked Logan into place, the pressure so tight she could see them digging into his skin. One chain wrapped around his neck, forcing his gaze in one place.
Hers.
Oh, God.
What did Caym have planned?
She tried to move, but invisible hands held her back. Caym took the few steps needed so he was in her line of sight, the whip in his hand, a menacing grin on his face.
“It’s always the same with you mates,” the demon drawled. “I hurt you, you bleed. But you don’t feel nearly the amount of pain I need until I hurt someone you love. It happened with every single one of you, and now I suppose you and your fucking precious dark wolf are the same. You didn’t scream until I hurt Logan. So, now, in order to make sure Logan feels what I want him to, what I need him to, I’ll make you bleed, dear princess. I’ll make you bleed while he watches, helpless to do anything knowing that he wasn’t strong enough to protect you. Yes, I do believe that will be perfect.”
Cailin swallowed the bile in her throat.
Yes, the pain would be excruciating, but goddess, she didn’t want Logan to see this. Not when he couldn’t do anything but watch.
This demon needed to die.
Now.
But she wasn’t strong enough.
No one was.
Caym grinned then flicked his wrist. The tail of the whip barely touched her skin, but goddess, it hurt. The blades dug into her skin and tugged along the wounds before the demon drew the whip back for another strike.
She held back her tears, her screams.
She’d do that for Logan.
Forcing herself to stay as calm as possible, she met Logan’s gaze. His eyes glowed gold, his wolf fully at the surface. He growled, his need for her to be safe so powerful over the bond. If she hadn’t been held up by magic, she surely would have fallen to her knees under the weight of it.
Caym hit her again, this time the side of the whip marking her chest. The glass shards cut into her skin, and she held back another scream. Blood seeped from her wounds, dripping down to the floor.
Goddess, make it be over.
Soon.
She couldn’t bear to have Logan watch it.
Caym hit her again. Then again. Each time the numbness surrounding her gained strength, but not enough that she couldn’t feel the whip. No, she felt every strike, but the ongoing torture of it burned to a sweet numbness that she knew was all Logan.
Oh yes, her mate was taking her pain along the bond.
She didn’t know how she could do it, but she’d get on him later for helping her when he needed to worry for himself.
Then she’d learn to take his pain as well.
Logan screamed from his side of the room. Blood seeped from his wrists and ankles where manacles and chains bound him to the wall. She tried to speak, tell him she’d be okay and to close his eyes, but she couldn’t get her throat to work over the pain.
Or the numbness.
The damn wolf was taking her pain, and she hated it. He wasn’t a Healer or an Omega who had been trained to dampen some of it so it didn’t hurt as much. He was her damn mate, and he didn’t deserve what he was doing to himself.
Caym hit her again then stepped back. She opened her one good eye, the other swollen from the edge of the whip. If she lived through this, she’d end up with a scar—or four.
Not that she cared. She just needed to get her mind off of what was happening…what could be happening.
“It was always you two, you know,” Caym whispered, and her wolf perked up.
“What?” she rasped out, her tongue thick.
“It was always the fucking princess and her bastard mate.”
She had no idea what he was talking about, but she’d keep that information for later. And there would be a later. She couldn’t die like this.
She couldn’t die with Logan watching and without being able to touch him one more time.
They hadn’t even had a full day with the mating bond, and now Caym had ruined it all.
She’d be damned if she’d let the demon take Logan from her.
She’d just lost her parents.
She couldn’t lose anymore.
“It’s always the last,” Caym murmured as he set the whip down, the echoing sound sharp against the stone walls.
Thank God.
“Always the useless.”
Killing this demon would make her day, her week, her life.
“I’ve always wanted to try this,” he whispered.
That couldn’t be good.
She met Logan’s gaze, mouthing her words. “Okay?”
He tried to nod, winced, then mouthed. “Yes. Be safe.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. She had a feeling neither of them would ever be safe again. Maybe they never had been. Maybe safety had always been an illusion and she’d wasted too much time running from her fate and her feelings. Now she could lose it all before she’d even grasped it fully.
Regret
s meant nothing, only actions. She had to remember that. Though being bound and bleeding didn’t allow for much action. If only there was a way to escape.
If only…
Caym grinned then snapped his fingers. All at once, the walls melted away, forcing Logan and Cailin to their knees. She slammed into the ground, pain radiating through her legs. At least she was alive to feel pain. That was something.
Magic pushed her down to the ground. She forced her head up to glance at Logan, who struggled with the same force pushing him. Goddess, she just wanted to touch him.
Then gut the fucking demon.
“Stupid wolves,” the demon sneered. “There were never any walls. Never any ways to escape because everything was an illusion. My illusion. You’ve always been my puppets now you’ll die in a way that will make the others remember. There is only death for the Redwoods. I watched the life drain out of the pathetic Alpha and his mate’s eyes. I’ll now watch the two of you beg for your lives then die. There will be no rescue. No survival. You’ll die like you’ve always been fated to.”
“Fuck you,” she grunted.
“You’ve always been so insolent,” Caym said, his voice bored now.
Cailin tried to lift her hand, reaching for Logan, or a rock to smash the demon’s head in. Right then, she and her wolf didn’t know which she wanted more, and she had a feeling Logan wouldn’t begrudge her for choosing death and maiming over him.
Caym strode over to them until he stood between her and Logan. He blocked her view of her mate, and she growled, only to suck in a sharp breath as the magic pressed down on her harder. Caym knelt in front of her then trailed a finger down her cheek. She flinched, and he slapped her.
Hard.
“Bitch. But don’t worry. Flinch all you want. I’m going to chain you both to the trees you love and break down the dam holding back the lake. Not only will you drown next to your precious, precious mate, I’ll destroy the border to the neutral zone, killing the forest you love. All in a day’s work, and then my plans can continue. Without you two in my path, I’m unstoppable.”
So many things ran through her head at once. Drowning? Goddess, that was one of the ways she really didn’t want to go out if she had to die. Destroy the forest? Her Pack would survive this, but the forest was part of her soul, just like her wolf. That’s why she was a werewolf. And why were she and Logan so important? It didn’t make any sense.
She had to live so she could figure it out.
Then kill the demon.
Magic slammed into her, forcing her back into a tree. Logan rocked into the tree beside her. They were close enough that she could feel the heat from him, but she couldn’t touch him, couldn’t lean in and promise everything would be okay.
Because it wouldn’t be.
Caym appeared before them then grinned.
Evil bastard.
He tilted his head, and chains dug into her skin, tying her to the tree. She gulped and fought against them. Each tug bruised, each pull burned and cut.
Caym reached out, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, and she held back the bile rising in her throat. Only Logan got to do that. Only Logan got to touch her, love her.
No, this wasn’t love from the demon. She knew that. This was something so dark, so endless, she didn’t know if they could live through it. As her body worked itself against the chains, she tried to think of another way out of it, but she couldn’t.
She would die there, a breath away from the mate she’d finally had a chance with, and no one would hear her scream.
No one but the mate who would die by her side.
“Goodbye, princess,” Caym sneered before blinking away.
She hated the word from his lips. That was Logan’s name for her. Logan’s alone.
“Logan,” she whispered. Her voice hurt, and goddess, she didn’t know what to say.
“Don’t give up, Cailin,” he grunted. He still had cuts and bruises all over his body, and she knew he was still bleeding, just as she was.
She struggled against her bonds. If she could just get her right hand from the twisted position Caym had placed her in, she could maybe move a little better.
“I won’t. Damn it. I wish I could at least touch you.” Her wolf clawed at her, wanting their mate. “I think if I could just do that, my wolf wouldn’t be freaking out so much.”
She turned her head, facing Logan, who struggled against his chains the same way she did. Blood had seeped into his jeans, and his bare chest looked somewhat clean. She knew it was his back that had been hurt the most. His back that was currently pressed up against the hard, rough bark of the tree as he tried to free himself.
“I think I can get my arm free if I keep going, princess. Don’t give up.”
Cailin curled a lip. “I won’t give up. I’m stronger than that.” Though she wasn’t quite sure if that was exactly true anymore.
“I know, baby. I’m just saying that to needle you. The angrier you are, the stronger you are, the harder you fight.”
“You’re such a brute, but I’ll take it all.” She cried out as she twisted her wrist too hard, the bone snapping. “Oh fuck.” Her vision went blurry for a moment, and she had to take deep breaths.
Logan growled. “What did you break?”
“My wrist,” she groaned. “Fuck. I can’t move it. He chained me too fucking good.”
The sound of roaring started to fill her ears, and the hairs on her arms rose. Animals screeched around them, running away. Birds above them flew in the opposite direction from the roar, and Cailin met Logan’s gaze again, the worry in them just as potent as her own.
“He broke the damn,” he whispered.
“I can’t move, Logan.” She heard the panic in her voice, but he didn’t comment on it.
“I’m almost there, Cailin. Don’t give up. You got me?” If only she could reach him. “Don’t give up, princess. I’ll get you. I promise.”
The intensity in his eyes grew with each word, so thick she could almost reach out and touch it.
That was if she could move.
They each struggled against their bonds in a futile hope they could move. The pain of not being able to touch him became unbearable, almost as much as the pain in her body from the bruises and cuts.
“Get out, Cailin. You got me? We won’t have much time.” The roaring increased, and she knew the water was coming.
Fast.
“The water will hit us hard. If we’re lucky, it will break the trees, and then we can get out. Use all your strength to get free and break the surface. I’ll find you. I promise.” Her wolf begged for him, and she nodded. “I’ll find you.”
“Not if I find you first.”
He cracked a grin even in the dissolute situation, and she knew she loved him.
“Logan, I—”
Before she could profess her love, the water slammed into the tree. She hit her head against the bark, her vision going hazy. The water rushed around her, covering her head. She couldn’t see Logan anymore.
She couldn’t see anything.
Think, Cailin.
Go slow.
You can do this.
She swore the words were spoken in her mother’s voice, and that calmed her enough to think about what she had to do next. The tree broke under her feet, and she hit the ground, still attached. The rush of water pulled her against the dirt and rocks, cutting her more.
Some of the chains loosened, and she wiggled free except for her broken wrist. The damn chain held her down, the pain excruciating. She couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t see beyond making out shapes. Every time she tried to move, blinding pain shot through her making her want to vomit.
She bore down, ignoring the agony, and pulled. She felt another bone pop, but she didn’t care. She’d live without that hand if she had to.
She just had to live.
Her head went hazy as she pulled. She was running out of oxygen. Fast. She couldn’t make out where Logan had gone. Couldn’t bear to think it.
Her limbs became heavy, but she couldn’t give up. Not without knowing if Logan had made it. She pulled one more time, the pain nauseating, but she couldn’t move.
Oh goddess, this was it.
Damn it. This couldn’t be it.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist, and she leaned into them.
Logan.
Her head bowed, and her body was dying even though she couldn’t give up. He bent over her, pulled at her chains at the angle she hadn’t been able to get, and broke her free. She used her last remaining energy to kick up. Logan pulled her with him.
As they broke the surface of the water, she took a deep breath. Choking on water and the burn of new oxygen.
“Hold on to me,” Logan shouted over the water.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, careful of her wrist, and took in their surroundings. The fucking demon had broken the damn. Water rushed around them, breaking trees and rocks in its path. They’d been directly in the center of it all, and if they hadn’t been wolves, they’d have died right away.
If it hadn’t been for Logan, she’d have died.
“We need to get to a safe place,” she yelled. “Once we get to land, we can wait for the water to pass, and then we can swim to safety.”
“I’m looking.”
She stayed wrapped around him, swimming with him because she couldn’t let him go. She had the energy to swim alone, but she’d be damned if she’d let go of his touch.
“There!” he shouted. “There’s land over there that the water isn’t rising up against. It’s not going to get any deeper, so we can rest.”
He faced that direction, and they swam as hard as they could.
She looked over her shoulder and screamed. “Logan!”
He looked over his shoulder and pivoted, protecting her. A log slammed into him, and he cursed before dropping his head to her neck.
“Logan! Damn it. No.” She could feel his breath, and her wolf calmed slightly. He was just knocked out. Thank God. With her remaining strength, she swam, forcing Logan to float beside her. He’d gotten hurt because of her, damn bastard, but if the log had hit both of them, she would have been knocked out too.
Damn him.
Finally, sweet finally, she made it to land. It must have once been a large hill, but now it looked like an island in a new lake. She pulled Logan to the dry soil and threw her body next to his. It hurt like hell, but she didn’t have the energy to do anything better.
Fighting Fate (Redwood Pack #7) Page 12