by Helene Gadot
The guard shoves me through the door and the doctor looks up from his metal tray of torture.
Just seeing the doctor’s face makes my fingers and toes go numb and a roaring blast in my head.
His assistant hurries to my other side so he and the guard can haul me over to the odd wooden table the doctor had specially made and strap me in. My body goes limp and weak, not fighting as I’m tied down and immobilized from my head to my ankles.
Tears burn the back of my eyes and my throat, but I fight to keep them buried, not wanting to give them the satisfaction this fast.
I’ll be screaming soon enough.
THEY DON’T LET UP UNTIL my insides are raw and pulsing with agony, my nightingale silent inside of me. I can’t tell if she’s hiding deep in some place where the torture can’t reach her or if she’s passed out. I’ve never been completely without her like this before. Usually, she stays with me, trying to keep me strong, keep me alive, keep me from breaking completely.
What if she’s dead?
What if I’ve lost her before we’ve ever had a chance to be truly one? To be truly whole.
A sob breaks past my lips and I fight to keep breathing, a silent scream building in my chest, begging to be set free.
The pain they put me through no longer matters. I care for nothing except the only thing in my life I’ve never feared losing, no matter how we can’t be together fully, the way we’re supposed to be.
They’ve killed her.
And now I’m truly alone.
They’ve taken everything from me.
My childhood, my freedom, my mate, my future, and now my arcane side.
They’ve won.
Why do I keep struggling to live another day when this is all there is to my existence?
With my nightingale gone, there’s no point.
All I do is cause more trouble for those who try to protect me.
It’ll be better for them if I fade away.
I can’t rise above any longer.
I can’t lie to myself and whisper my hopes of freedom to the stars at night any longer.
Just let me die.
Go too far until I’m unable to be brought back and stitched back together.
The only thing I can still feel in my empty soul are the threads binding me to those three males. Males I don’t want and can’t have. Males I’ll only end up getting killed just like Rowan.
Wanting to fly, I thrash against the binds, blind to everything but red in my vision and I scream.
And scream.
And scream.
Until the blessed black comes to carry me away.
Chapter Nine
Sterling
INSTEAD OF SENDING me to the gardens to weed and dig up potatoes or whatever they expect me to do here, I’m taken in the same direction they took our nameless mate.
My unicorn is relieved, wanting to see her and make sure she’s alright. And I have to admit, I’m a little concerned myself. The way that idiot satyr in the refectory spoke, the stone building at the far edge of the prison terrifies everyone.
Hearing she’s spent her entire life here makes me sick to my stomach. And even more determined we don’t end up saddled with her. She’s got to be completely messed up. No wonder she’s so small and gaunt looking.
Fuck.
I don’t want to worry about this woman.
If I let myself give even the slightest shit, it could threaten our mission. One sad girl isn’t worth failing, mate or not.
It takes everything inside of me to let this asshole guard drag me across the ugly brown place without knocking him out. Gavyn really should’ve chosen someone else for this. I’m too pissed off to be able to handle this sort of treatment for long without exploding and killing some people.
Or killing everyone.
My unicorn is a bloodthirsty bastard and so am I.
Waiting for the day I can finally send this place back to the hell it came from is taking way too long to arrive.
A scream rips through the air with such violence, the guard and I both stumble. My unicorn starts neighing and stampeding through me, recognizing the voice faster than I do.
Another scream, this one even more hopeless and agonizing it almost sends me to my knees.
This scream so loud a flock of birds from a tree outside the fence bursts into the air with a chorus of caws and takes flight to escape the dark pain echoing through the air.
My steps speed up and now I’m the one dragging the guard, unable to stop myself from trying to get to her. I can’t ignore that kind of pain.
What the fuck are they doing to her?
The spot in my chest that leads to her tugs at me harder, demanding I get to her faster, demanding I soothe her pain, demanding I save her from her torturers.
Whoever is causing this will be the first to die once I’m let off my leash.
I can at least do that for the little bird whose name I still don’t know.
The guard escorting me finally catches up and I let him take back control. He’s hurrying, so I don’t care if he needs to swing his dick around to prove he’s the big, bad human as long as he gets me where I need to be.
A cavern opens up inside my chest and I stumble again, this time going down on one knee before the guard yanks me back to my feet. I barely notice, too shaken and horrified at the chunk of my soul missing. The connection to the bird is gone.
They fucking killed her.
Chapter Ten
Gavyn
MY INCUBUS SIDE HOWLS in response to our mate’s.
We’re at least five furlongs from the building they took her and Sterling to, but her scream is so loud and desperate, it still reaches the kitchens, reverberating in my soul, making me clutch my heart, trying to calm the arcane monster inside me snarling and scratching, demanding release so he can kill whoever is causing that noise.
He’ll swarm them with so much lust and desire they’ll mistake a bear for their lover and watch smiling as they’re ripped apart.
He’s done something similar before.
My incubus has disturbing violent tendencies I have a hard time keeping buried.
How the fuck am I supposed to focus on cleaning this ridiculous kitchen when my mate is going through something so horrible and Sterling is on his way to probably experience the same.
I grasp my chest with both hands, the rag I’m using dropping to the floor.
Shit, I can’t breathe.
Something’s being ripped away from me. Something I didn’t want in the first place, but now I try to grasp onto it before it disappears.
Our mating bond.
The thread tying us together.
It’s unraveled.
It’s gone.
She’s gone.
Chapter Eleven
Archer
A HAUNTING CRY SLITHERS through the tunnels of the mine and echoes against the stone and dirt walls, sending shivers across my skin like I’ve just walked through a ghost.
My vampire freaks out, ready for blood and it takes me a minute to figure out why.
It’s her.
Our mate.
She’s the one making that horrible sound.
What are those pricks doing to her?
I turn around and stomp towards the exit, poised for violence, thirsting for blood, but a guard slams me in the face with the handle of his whip.
Really? Again?
Is this their favorite move?
Weak from lack of blood and too much sun, I crumple to the ground with a growl.
He kicks me in the ribs, stopping me from getting back up and making another run for it. My fingers claw at the ground as I fight to rise back to my feet.
I need to get to her.
I have to stop whatever is going on.
My face slams against the rocky floor of the mine as agony slams through me.
It hurts.
It burns worse than the constant thirst in the back of my throat.
Something’s wrong.
Something bigger than a beating.
The connection is fading.
Vanishing.
She’s dying.
Chapter Twelve
Sterling
MY PULSE POUNDS IN my ears, drowning out all sounds except the drumming telling me they killed her.
And they’re going to die for it.
All of them.
I will burn this place to the ground along with every single human here.
And any Arcane who gets in my way.
While I may not have wanted her, it doesn’t mean they were allowed to harm her.
She was still mine to protect.
The guard and I finish the trip to the house of horrors and I gulp before he pulls me inside, not ready to see what they’ve done to her, not sure I’ll be able to keep my unicorn from completely losing his mind or laying down to die with her.
The mission is the last thing on my mind now.
Gavyn and Archer must be experiencing the same thing. I hope they don’t get themselves killed reacting to it.
The reminder of my real family helps straighten my head out.
I have to stay calm.
I have to play this smart.
If I get myself killed trying to exact revenge, it’ll leave them in danger.
They’re who matters to me.
Sure, the little bird was our mate, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t have been a terrible fit. Or was possibly a terrible person. She was raised here, knows nothing else. It’s highly likely they’ve brainwashed her into believing who and what she is is wrong. She probably had any rebellion trained out of her a long time ago if she ever even had any.
This is a mercy.
After a deep breath in and out through my mouth, I raise my head, taking in the alarming sight in front of me.
She’s covered in blood, straps across her forehead, her chest, her thighs, her ankles, binding her to a table. I can’t even find wounds. The blood is so thick, head to toe.
Her uniform has been sliced up the middle and peeled back to reveal her to their disgusting eyes. My hands clench at my sides as I fight the urge to cover her up, give her some dignity.
A weaselly looking man looks up from his spot next to her where he’s scooping her blood into a glass tube. “You’re early. I wanted to have this mess cleaned up before you brought me someone new.”
This must be the doctor. He’s the one I’m going to look so forward to killing.
A growl builds in my chest at the way the doctor eyes me with an almost lustful expression.
The guard who escorted me here clears his throat. “Sorry, sir. You might want to go easy with this one. He seems pretty weak.”
“What are you talking about?” The doctor frowns as he wipes my mate’s blood off his hands.
“He kept tripping over his feet and acting odd on the walk over.” The guard shoves me forward another step.
I grit my teeth to hold back my growl, still unable to look away at the bloody mess in front of me.
Did they cut out her insides?
What’s he trying to achieve here?
I’ve heard rumors that they do these sort of experiments in the prisons so humans can figure out a way to steal our powers. Or at least learn more of our weaknesses. A way to strip us of our abilities without the collars.
The doctor tosses his dirty rag on my mate’s body without a care for respect or decency. “Interesting. It’s not uncommon for those who have been trapped in those carts for a long period of time. I’ll be careful. We’ve never gotten a unicorn before so I want him to last longer than the others.”
I really do not appreciate the way he’s eyeing me. If he thinks I’m just going to bend over for him, he has a rude awakening in his future. I’ll cut it off.
I plan to do that anyway for what he’s done here, the sick bastard.
“Do you need help with the girl?” The guard nods his head towards my mate.
The doctor grunts. “She’s not a girl. She’s Arcane. An animal.”
The growl trapped in my chest burns. That piece of shit.
The guard gulps and nods. “Right. Of course.”
Even the guards are apparently scared of this prick.
The doctor sighs and points to something under a blanket in the corner. “Yes, you can help. Grab that cage. When she shifts, I don’t want her flying away. We have to get her inside as fast as possible.” The doctor turns to his assistant already in here, splattered with my mate’s blood. “Get the unicorn strapped in. I’ll get to him once I’m finished with the nightingale.”
I barely hear their words, too focused on holding back my unicorn’s fury and pain at the missing piece of our soul we just had ripped away. There’s a hole inside us now, one I don’t think will ever heal.
The guard leaves my side and rips the blanket off...a cage?
What the hell are they going to do to the girl’s body?
Sick bastards.
Too stunned and horrified to do more than stare, I allow the measly bloody human to shove me onto a strange wooden table like the other one and tie me up with the leather straps attached to the bottom.
I can’t take my eyes off her, something inside me dead alongside her, paralyzing me, not even my usual rage filtering through the fog of loss.
I’m helpless as they unstrap her, careless with her body, causing more bruises and wounds. My unicorn paces back and forth inside me, breath huffing, fury spiking.
The guard who dragged me here brings over the rusted and dented birdcage and my unicorn halts his angry pacing, perking up.
What the hell are they doing?
My mind is too fogged with pain and rage to focus. And it’s too hard to look away from her slack pale face, her lips still set in a pouting expression, even in death.
The doctor reaches for her collar and speaks a couple words under his breath I can’t catch, and the collar falls off her neck.
He’s a fucking mage?
Who’s experimenting on Arcane’s like he’s somehow better than us?
How is he hiding it?
Usually we always recognize and sense each other and tell what sort of Arcane we are.
I try to scent him, but the only smell in this place is blood and death.
But underneath that, is the slightest stench of mage Arcane.
He’s weak, his power diluted by probably five generations, but he’s still got more power than me right now. And everyone else here.
Do the other humans here know?
Fuck, fuck, fuck. This just got even more difficult.
My eyes widen as the woman’s finger twitches. The doctor and two guards curse, hovering over her like they’re preparing for something to happen.
Is she still alive?
No.
Impossible.
How?
My chest starts to tingle, then burn, and I barely hold in a curse at the sensation, determined not to let on I’m connected to her in any way.
Please, don’t be dead.
Take one more breath.
Just one more breath.
Come on, little birdie.
Stay with me.
Chapter Thirteen
Allegra
PAIN AND EMPTINESS is all I know for I don’t know how long. A familiar companion, it’s almost comforting to have it wrapped around me in the darkness.
Everything burns like I’m on fire, like the whole world is on fire.
Only one thing can save me. The lines leading from my heart to whatever waits for me outside the black.
I’m just not sure I want to be saved.
Maybe instead, I should let the darkness have me, ignoring the heart-lines tugging at me.
But the tugging grows stronger, more insistent, like whatever’s at the other end is close and trying to haul me to shore.
I try to ignore it and the pain, but they’re both too strong, forcing me back to consciousness where more torment waits for me.
No. I want to stay here
in the dark where it’s safe and quiet and soft.
My ears pop and sounds filter back to me first, making me cringe when I hear the doctor’s strident voice.
Every time, I’m so certain it’s when he’s finally gone too far and killed me, but he somehow knows when exactly to pull back.
He’s had a long time with me to know just how much I can take.
I blink the blood from my eyes, trying to clear my crimson vision.
And find the unicorn staring at me, agony and horror warring on his face.
They’ve strapped him in too.
It was him.
He’s the reason I didn’t fade away.
The stupid unicorn and the mate bond kept me from fading away completely.
Dammit.
That draw in my chest has loosened a bit, but it leads right to him, a couple other threads reaching out to the other two, but my connection to the angry one is the strongest.
As soon as the doctor removed the collar, it must have all flooded back to me.
“Shift. Now.”
I know better than to ignore that tone, but I’m scared to reach for her after not being able to find her before I passed out or died or wherever I went.
What if she’s still gone?
What if I came back, but she didn’t?
What if the doctor found a way to finally strip us of our Arcane sides and turn us human?
“Shift.”
Conditioned to always obey him, I ignore the unicorn’s gaze and the bond that’s only growing stronger, searching inside myself, praying she’s here, that she hasn’t left me.
The smallest flame flickers at my center, bringing relieved tears to my eyes as I send love and strength to her, our connection no longer divided by the collar. If I were more powerful, I could use this opportunity to make my escape.
Or kill the doctor.
But I’m just a weak bird, good for nothing other than entertaining my jailers.
My nightingale and I merge together, finally, both of us preening and cooing as we become one, how we’re supposed to be, instead of constantly separated, like we’re each sitting on opposite sides of a fence, able to communicate but not truly be whole they way we were created to be.