“Keep moving, Witch.”
Gods, I wanted to kick him in the balls so hard they popped out his mouth.
I had no idea how things had gone from not great to royally screwed so quickly. One minute, I had been pretty sure we were going to kill the warden and be done with this nightmare, and the next, we were at his mercy, even worse than just a couple days ago.
When we entered back into the prison, I had no idea what time it was, but the sun still hadn’t risen, so it must have been sometime between two and five in the morning. Inside was nearly as cold as outside, but that might have had something to do with the magic being siphoned from my wrists and not the actual temperature.
“Nice job, Alex. Need any help?” Owen’s familiar voice called from behind us.
Alex’s rough grip yanked me back against his body, and I revolted. “Sure, make sure Jaxon doesn’t wake up before we get him in a cell. Warden Gillian wants to deal with them personally, but he’s seeing to something right now.”
Yeah, like realizing we’d sent him on a wild goose chase and that there was nothing to find in Montana. We probably didn’t think that one through as well as we could have. Assuming lying to him was the reason for our lock-up, I hoped there would be something we could still bargain with.
A few minutes later, I was thrown into a cell that was connected to three others. My shoulder slammed into the concrete floor, and I bit back a scream that would only give the guards a sick satisfaction.
“Don’t try anything stupid. I’ll be back to deal with you in a few hours,” Alex sneered before slamming the metal door closed with a loud clang.
Jaxon was tossed into the cell next to me, and Blake was after him, while Mason and Spencer were thrown into the ones across from us.
Once the guards left the room, I felt my shoulder, but didn’t feel Nixie. Hissing, I whisper-yelled her name and her response was to smack me in the face.
“Shut the hell up,” she shushed.
“Well, make yourself known sooner and I won’t freak out.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure, blame it all on me for saving your ass.”
“Um, how can you call me sitting in a cell saving my ass?”
She huffed, then disappeared again without answering my question. A thud sounded from Jaxon’s cell, and I stared through the bars, trying to see what could have made the noise, but there was nothing other than his prone body, awkwardly angled on the floor.
Then, I saw his head snap to the side and realized Nixie was screwing with him. Poor Jaxon. He was going to kill both of us when he woke up.
Which was likely happening in five, four, three, two, one…
He sat up on the ground, his once stormy eyes were blazing red, brighter and more furious than I’d ever seen before. “Flower.”
The one word was clipped as he searched for me. When our eyes met, there was a current connecting the two of us that I drew on with every bit of energy I still had.
“I’m right here,” I whispered, moving to the bars and wishing I could touch him, but he was too far away on the other side of his cell and trying to calm himself down.
“What the hell happened?” he growled.
“Well, I saved the day, or more accurately the night. But in doing so, I accidentally put you and Spencer in a coma of sorts. Mason and Blake arrived. We all left, and then we were ambushed by the guards when we showed up at Mandora. Now, we’re being held in what Alex called sublevel two, and Nixie is probably our only hope of escaping.”
As I gave Jaxon the short summary of our evening, a memory returned to me from when Anthony had first told me about the prison. He had mentioned a possible lower level that not many people knew about, and grief swept through me as I remembered my friend and wished I could tell him he was right.
A throat cleared, distracting me from the sudden sadness. “She’s not your only hope.”
Son of a bitch. As if the day, or night, could get any worse.
Jaxon’s chest rumbled loud enough that I heard it from ten feet away. “We don’t want your help.”
Owen dangled a set of keys in hand. “Are you sure about that? All you have to do is apologize for being a dick and say you’ll trust me. Then, you get to walk right out of here.”
There was nothing I wanted more than to believe him, especially after speaking with Zeke, but I hadn’t been able to tell the guys the full story about my encounter with the warden’s son. There was no way I was going to be able to convince them to trust the shifter on my own.
Nixie landed on my shoulder, and I turned toward her. “What are we going to do?”
“No damn clue. There’s too much testosterone in this place. On the plus side, Spencer is awake, too. I can get you guys out of here, but we’ll be fighting our way out of the prison as soon as we walk through that door.” She nodded toward the only exit.
“Why can’t you open a portal and we disappear?” I asked.
“There’s something not right with these bracelets. The magic used to create them is darker than I’ve ever sensed before. I tried to remove yours on the way in here, but it began draining my powers. I don’t know what they’re linked to, but I’m not willing to take you from the prison until they’re off or we know more.”
Just as she finished answering, Jaxon launched his body at the bars of his cell, shaking the cage and snarling at Owen. “Don’t fucking talk about her like that.”
Oh, gods. What had I missed?
Chapter 15
Owen made the mistake of moving in closer to confront Jaxon head on. In doing so, the shifter put himself within grabbing distance for Jaxon and quickly had fingers wrapped around his neck. Owen was gasping for breath, but only for a split second before yanking back.
“Damn it, Jaxon. When are you going to realize I’m only trying to help you?” Owen snarled.
“Bullshit. What do you want?” Mason snapped while Jaxon was still seething.
“I want to make sure people who don’t belong in here get as far from this hell hole as possible. The Fabled Four were supposed to help, but I’m beginning to realize the rumors were wrong.” Owen switched his gaze to me. “You are going to be the answer. I don’t know how or why, but I know you will fix this. So, here I am. Letting you out.”
Once Jaxon released his hold and began pacing in his cell, Owen dangled keys in front of us, and even though he said he was going to free us, he stood tauntingly still.
“This is ridiculous,” I huffed. “Owen, quit being a dick. You’ve toyed with us long enough. Either go screw off or let us out. We will help you if you let us out immediately. But continue to goad us, and the rumors of the Fabled Four will be proved to you very soon.”
The shifter smirked at me and sidestepped to my cell. “Sweet Cara. Always so feisty and blunt. If only things were different.” Jaxon’s chest rumbled and Owen raised his hand. “Easy, demon. I don’t want your girl.”
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“I want justice.”
The three words were simple but packed a shit-ton of emotion. Something had happened to Owen or someone he loved. I recognized the signs. It was how I felt when Anthony had been murdered, but Jaxon had given me my revenge when he killed the guard responsible for taking my friend’s life.
“Then justice is what you will get,” I replied, ignoring the glare from Jaxon.
As much as I cared for Jaxon and respected his opinion, he was going to have to let this one go. We needed more help, and Owen could provide it. At least until we had the magic blockers off. Plus, the shifter had an in with Zeke. There was more to this story, and my gut was telling me we needed Owen to piece it all together.
“Are you sure, Siren?” Mason asked.
“I am, but why don’t you ask Yeti to be certain?” I suggested.
Blake shook his head. “These bands make it impossible to be sure. The warden certainly stepped up his game with these ones.”
Owen ignored our conversation and kept his sights on me. When I met h
is emerald eyes, he nodded and took a step toward my cell door.
Nixie finally made herself present. “Back up, Furball. Before you get anywhere near us, you better start talking. What stick made it up your ass far enough to have you thinking you could take down someone as powerful as Gillian?”
Owen didn’t even flinch at the fairy’s appearance, which surprised me, because I had been pretty sure he didn’t know she existed.
“He took someone close to me away and she never came back. Is that enough?” Owen said through clenched teeth.
Nixie eyed him for a solid minute as everyone else waited for her approval. She was the only one of us who still had access to her magic, so I was glad the guys were letting her make the decision.
“I guess so, but you step one millimeter out of line, and I will turn you into a toad.”
He nodded. “Noted.”
Then, because the night couldn’t get any worse, the door slammed open and Nixie disappeared as Gillian came into view. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he bellowed at Owen.
Owen’s face turned pure evil with the slightest of grins. “I wanted to have a little fun. You did say you wanted to torture them, right?”
He’d switched so quickly from friend to foe, I had a hard time believing which was true. Damn him for being a good actor. There was nothing left to do but go along for the ride and hope like hell we didn’t crash and burn in the process.
“No, you fleabag. You don’t get to torture them. That’s for my pleasure only. Especially after they lied to me.” Gillian’s hardened gaze moved to Jaxon. “I stepped in cow shit because of you.”
Jaxon held the bars with both hands as he shrugged. “You should have let us do our job.”
Gillian flung something dark and inky at Jaxon, putting him on his ass in an instant. “No, I should have killed you long ago.”
All of the guys were at the bars of their cells, fuming and trembling with rage, but there wasn’t a damn thing we could do with the bands on us. Though, I could feel Nixie fluttering around my wrist, probably trying like hell to once again get the damn thing off even though it had hurt her before.
As Jaxon struggled to get up, Gillian moved purposely toward me. “Cara Simmons, you are a disappointment to me. I had high hopes you’d be everything I wanted you to be once you realized your potential. You were supposed to be angry and vengeful. Instead, you’re pathetic and useless.”
Squaring my shoulders, I leveled my own glare on him. “What use would my anger have been to you?”
He laughed, dark and deep. “The same as it was for your precious Fabled Four. I took those naïve boys and turned them into the machines I needed in order to complete my tasks. Then, they began to get soft and I wanted a new team. You were supposed to take down those four and replace them, but you just had to become one of them.” The last part was said with a disgusted sneer.
“I didn’t have to become one of them to realize you were the last person I should trust. You are nothing but a washed-up fae who can’t even get it up anymore without sucking on the teat of dark magic.”
I’d meant to knock him down a peg or two, but instead, I’d just enraged the asshole.
Before I could blink, my head slammed into the concrete wall behind me, and dark stars obstructed my vision. Nixie’s tiny, yet invisible, hands pressed against my forehead and the dizziness went away, but not the pain.
“I need to shower and sleep before I deal with you imbeciles. Take a few hours to say your goodbyes, because one by one, you’ll leave this room and never return. If you don’t fight it, maybe I’ll let you choose who goes first,” the warden snarled before turning around to grab Owen’s arm, dragging the shifter along as well.
Once the door slammed shut, Nixie reappeared. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but what about Jaxon?” My body lurched forward in an attempt to get closer to him, but my head spun again, stopping me where I lay against the wall.
“I’ll check on him,” Nixie offered.
I watched helplessly as she flew through the bars, but before she made it to Jaxon, he was already up on his feet and inspecting himself. “What the hell? When was I bleeding?”
“Uh, when you fell asleep from my spell, you collided with something. Not sure what, but the cut is closed now,” I said, hoping that would be enough.
Nixie snickered, and Jaxon let it go. Well, that went easier than I had thought it would. The plus side to having bigger problems to worry about.
“Whatever he hit me with has my body sluggish, but I think it broke his magic blocker.” Jaxon raised his wrist and the blinking red light I had on mine was off on his.
Nixie flew closer and with a few pokes and tugs, she had the band off of him. “Well, that was simple. I’d like to say I could duplicate that magic, but I’m not down with the dark stuff. We’ll have to find the keys for these.”
“Do you think Owen will be back?” I asked, focusing on the need to get out of our cells before Gillian came back to kill us.
“Hard to say. Depends on how much the warden trusts him,” Spencer answered.
“Well, we can’t just sit here and hope. What are we going to do in the meantime?” Mason added.
Jaxon paced in his cell as the other three tried to come up with a plan with Nixie. When Jaxon was close enough, I snagged his arm, bringing him closer to me. “Are you okay?”
He seemed to understand that I wasn’t just asking about his pain or anything basic. I needed to know if he was okay as a whole, because he seemed to struggle with his demon at times and we couldn’t afford for anything else to go wrong.
His hands cupped my face, and his eyes met mine. I wrapped my fingers around his wrists while we soaked in each other’s energy. After a few minutes, he nodded. “I am now.” Releasing me and turning back toward the others, he was back in full control.
“We’re going to get out of here, and before we leave these prison grounds, Gillian and Alex will die. Whatever it takes, we won’t let this opportunity pass us by until that happens.” Jaxon searched for Nixie. “Can you get me out of the cell?”
She rolled her eyes. “Amateur stuff. Of course I can.” She fluttered toward the lock and within seconds, Jaxon’s cell door was swinging open.
“Good, now here comes the hard part. How good are you at making disguises?” Jaxon asked as he stepped into the walkway between the cells.
Her wings sped up in obvious excitement. “Depends on what we’re talking about. A simple outfit or a complete facial change?”
“How about a facial change and clothes for me and a whole body change for you?”
Confusion came over me as I tried to figure out what the hell Jaxon was up to.
Nixie pondered his request for a minute before answering. “Your face wouldn’t be hard to modify, but if I change me, I may or may not be out of commission for a day or two once I release the glamour. It takes a shit-ton of energy.”
“If all goes as planned, then that won’t be a problem.” Jaxon smirked. “I need you to make me look just like Owen did when he left here.”
“Whoa, Bro. What are you up to?” Mason asked.
“Well, I’m going to assume Owen isn’t coming back. I’m also going to assume he went back to his cell and I can move through the prison pretending to be him in order to find the key to get these locks off of you guys. If anyone comes in here before I’m back, Nixie will be posing as me.”
“That’s a whole lot of assuming, Brother. Are you sure?” Blake asked, and Jaxon nodded.
I didn’t like this one damn bit, but Jaxon seemed confident it would work, and he was at least partially right. We couldn’t risk our lives on the likelihood that Owen would figure out a way to get back and let us out. Even if he did show, we still had no assurances that he would do as he’d said. No matter how much I wanted to believe the shifter, I couldn’t risk our lives on a hope.
By the time I’d mentally accepted the plan, Nixie had already changed Jaxon’s face and clothes.
When he stood before me, the cell door still between us, I cringed. “I hope you’re not expecting a kiss or anything. You only get some of this if we get the hell out of here.” I waved a hand down my body.
He grinned. “I’ll hold you to that statement. If I haven’t returned before the warden comes back…” His voice deepened and I knew that all of the possible “what if” scenarios had his protective instincts on overdrive.
I reached a hand to him. “I’ll fight him with everything I have.”
He nodded. “Be safe, Flower.”
“You, too.”
When he moved back to his cell, my eyes followed him to take a glimpse inside. Nixie was still in mid-transformation, and I instantly wished I’d waited a few extra minutes before peeking.
Her skin was translucent and stretched thin as her face contorted and hair darkened while shortening. Closing my eyes, I decided I didn’t need to see any more and waited until Mason spoke before opening them again.
“Wicked. How long can you keep that form?” he asked.
“As long as I want, but my powers are limited at this size and could be nonexistent when I change back until I regain strength. Just depends on how long I need to be like this.” It was Nixie’s voice, but Jaxon’s mouth was moving, and I was so creeped out. More so than having Jaxon look like Owen.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Jaxon said to everyone before disappearing out the door.
His plan was officially in motion, and I’d never been more nervous in my life.
Chapter 16
More than ten minutes had passed without any alarms going off, which hopefully meant Jaxon’s plan was working, or so we all hoped.
“How much longer do we give him before we bust out of here on our own?” Mason asked for the third time.
“As long as he needs. Calm your tits,” Nixie droned, causing me to smile.
A few minutes later, the shuffling of feet sounded from outside the door, causing all of us to freeze. We’d stayed in our cells, but Nixie had unlocked them all in case we needed to take anyone by surprise, and I was ready. Even though I didn’t have access to my magic, I’d been training for hand-to-hand fighting for weeks. Hell, even my growing up had prepared me for it. I wouldn’t go down easily.
Capture (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 2) Page 11