Page 15 of Ruthless Monsters

“Got you!” I shout, not caring how loud I’m being when the leg finally detaches. I figure, if the guards are dumb enough to enter now, I’ll probably damn the consequences and end them before they realize what’s happening. Well, I’d try to, anyway.

Shade hops on one leg.“Geeze, Blake, you’re lookin’ a little…”

“A little what?”I ask, swinging toward her holding the chair leg like it’s my newest prized possession.

“Uh… nothing,”she comments sheepishly.“So, what are you planning to do with that?”

I place the chair leg down and tear a strip of fabric from my dress. Then I wrap the cloth around the chair leg, and stride over to her cage.“This,”I say, and I slam the wrapped metal legagainst the hinges of the cage door. The metal shudders from the force, but it doesn’t give way.

“What is this thing made with?” I grunt out when I slam it into the bars for the tenth time, and I’m panting and sweating. “It’s like this damn metal is indestructible. It’s like?—”

A click sounds, and Shade lets out a startled noise as the small metal door of the birdcage swings open, the metal bent and twisted.

“Y–you did it!”she squawks.

“You don’t need to sound so sur—”I don’t finish the thought because Shade hops out of the cage so fast, and then she’s flying into me, a blur of silky black feathers.

“You did it, Blake!”she says again, and there’s such relief in her voice at being out of the cage, that all I can do is grin stupidly and stroke her feathers as she nuzzles into me. It feels like we spend hours like that, but I’m sure only a minute has passed when Shade says quietly,“I can’t get back in the cage, Blake. I just…can’t.”

I continue stroking her feathers.“I’d never ask you to.”

“But the king. When he sees I’m out?—”

“You’ll be long gone by then,”I tell her.

She jerks back, tilting her head to the side and fluttering her feathers as she stares at me.“What? I’m not leaving you.”

“Yes, you are,”I say with a small smile, because finally I feel like I’vedonesomething.

“I’m not leaving you with that monster,”she insists.“What happens when he realizes I’m gone?”

I shrug.“I can handle the king’s attention, but we both know it’s you who he’ll hurt first, and I won’t allow that.”Truthfully, after his last energy-sucking trick, I’m not sure if I canhandle the king myself, but Shade knows better than to argue with me.“Besides,”I add before she can protest further.“The cage door isall bent now, anyway. One look and if he doesn’t kill you, he’ll put you somewhere I can’t get you out. This is your chance.”

“Blake—”

“Find the guys,”I tell her.“We all need to get out of here, and that includes them. Do you think you can do that?”

She snaps her beak shut like she’s trying to hold in more protests, but the next time she speaks in my head, her voice is dull with resignation.“Fine, but I hope you know I’m not happy about leaving you.”

I grin.“Noted.Now let’s get your feathered butt out of here while we still can.”

She looks at the door, no doubt imagining the guards on the other side, and then she peers back at me.“And how are we going to do that?”

I point up.

“Ahhh, right,”she says nodding as she stares at the small grate positioned high up on the wall.

“I’m guessing it’s some kind of filtration system,”I explain.“Maybe you can use the vents until you find a better way of getting around. Luckily for us, the vent coverings aren’t screwed shut. They’re also even easier to open from the inside. Sassia said Dante and the others are likely in the mines. Maybe if you listen in on the guards and servants you can find out where they are. Someone will slip out with something useful.”It’s a risk letting Shade go up there, but at this point, I’m willing to bet those vents are safer than her being in the cage.

“Okay. I can do that,”she says like she’s trying to pump herself up. Then she turns to me.“You know your mates aren’t going to be happy when I lead them back here and they find out about the king.”

I smirk, thinking about my four lethal mates.“I’m counting on it.”I won’t go so far as to say that I need my poorly matched mates, but I’m not going to be upset if they find a way to gethere and cause some havoc. If nothing else, it would cause a big distraction, and I’m hoping I’ll find a way to get my cuff off by then.“But you’d better go.”

Shade nuzzles against me one last time, then she lifts off my lap. I use my piece of broken chair to carefully lever open the vent cover, and she flaps her wings, landing just inside the vent.

“I won’t put the cover back on until you’ve walked away,”I tell her, not wanting her to feel like I’ve taken her from one cage, just to put her into another.“Remember, there are no screws on these things, so you just have to push against it hard enough and it’ll open.”

“Got it,”she says, not at all sounding confident.“Easy as pie.”

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