Page 47 of Broken Destiny

Addington nods as if that’s a perfectly acceptable reason. “Well, my boy won’t have any such problems. He’s soft on his failure of a brother. He’ll do whatever I tell him to.” I’m torn between feeling relieved that Garrett probably didn’t know his father’s plans and appalled that he might have gone through with it to save his brother. Kodi was the same. In the end, I didn’t matter more than their siblings. I can’t blame them for that. All my family is gone. What might I have done if the men had my mother or a sibling to hold over me?

Addington waves his hand. “Carry on, and let me know the results.” The man never stays to watch what his orders reap.

I know what happens next, but I force myself to watch as the old man carves into the girl’s back again. The wounds are slow to heal, and I know this is when the worst of the scars will develop. Without Kodi in the room, the old man talks to the shifter while he works.

“If you’d just cooperate, this would be much easier. You don’t need magic to live, you know. I don’t have any, and I’m perfectly fine. I’ve done well for myself. If you give it to me, it will make everything easier. You’ll no longer be in pain, we’ll release you, and you can continue on with your life.”

I’m still confused about how he plans to take my magic and give it to someone else, but my younger self refuses to comply. Even when he’s smashing her legs with a heavy steel rod that I don’t know how he manages to swing, he’s still suggesting that she reconsider. The girl screams in pain, her body shaking with agony on the table. Blood splatters the room and the old man. Her legs are broken and bleeding, the bones sticking out at odd angles when he finally runs out of breath and lowers the rod to the floor.

When the shifter’s skinny form starts to shimmer, the old man’s eyes widen with excitement and glee. “Finally!” he crows, watching the golden collar as if waiting for a miracle. I shiver. Is that what the tethers are? Magic stolen from other supernaturals?

The cruel man’s impassioned happiness halts when the door bangs open. Kodi looks like an avenging angel. His broad muscles strain against his shirt and his face is dark with determination.

“Not today, old man,” he grunts as he picks up the steel rod and advances on the man who called him his son.

“You don’t want to do that, boy. You’ll never get out of here. Your sister…”

Kodi raises the rod like a baseball bat. “My sister has been dead for a long time, old man. You made sure of that. She might still have a physical form, but there’s nothing left but a shell. I won’t let you do it to Zo, too.” And he swings the rod. I want to look away as Shawnessy’s skull caves in, splattering blood and brain matter onto the walls, but I can’t. The old man crumples to the floor, dead, and Kodi turns his attention to the girl on the table. His face is streaked with tears as he takes in the damage.

“Sorry, little minx. I didn’t come fast enough.”

My younger self is incoherent as he releases the restraints and pulls her into his arms, her blood mingling with Shawnessy’s on his clothes. The maze that is the laboratory and prison passes by as Kodi runs down the corridors. Her legs hang uselessly and leave a trail of blood. The pain must have made her unconscious because she doesn’t react to the rough handling of her fragile body.

Now, as an observer, I hear the cries of other prisoners, and I catch a few glimpses of weak supernaturals, mostly shifters, who can barely lift their heads as my savior carries me past. If I’d given up my magic, would I look like them?

I don’t even know how I survive the run. The guards are paralyzed as they watch us, growling and spitting but unable to shift or move. I don’t think that’s Kodi’s magic because I can’t imagine anyone being that powerful. He could have stopped his father at any point if he could render anyone immobile.

Kodi stumbles to a stop that makes the girl whimper unconsciously in his arms as they reach the end of the stone labyrinth. He looks down at her face and then toward a flight of stairs. A howl rings through the stones, wrong and fear-inducing even though it’s my past and it can no longer hurt me.

Turning down a different hallway, my savior runs into a room that looks like a laundry room. Sheets are laid out on the floor. He lays the body gently on top of one, wrapping her body like a mummy after he straightens the bones in her legs so her magic can heal as much as possible. I’m not surprised that the girl remains unconscious the entire time. Then, he removes a key from his pocket and sticks it into a slot at the back of the gleaming golden collar. I’d thought it was like his tether, but it’s obviously man-made and maybe even electronic. The peculiar metal ring slips off her neck and he picks her up again.

“Sorry, little minx,” the old Kodi, still alive, whispers to my body. “That’s Addington, and I’m too weak to stop his shift. Someone will help you from here, but I have to go. I have to try and get my sister, even though there’s not much left of her.”

My unconscious self whimpers as if she can understand him, but her body doesn’t move as he settles it carefully into a wheeled cart of linens, piling more on top of her. I’ve read this book before, I think almost abstractedly, as he unlocks and props open a door that leads outside. He pushes the cart into the darkness beyond, and the door closes behind him. His scared face is the last thing I see before another hair-raising howl rises on the wind. I want to scream at him from where I’m observing my memories.

I know what happens next. I know who kills him even though I can’t see it. He saved me, and I can’t do the same for him. I want to follow him, but I’m stuck with my broken body. I pull my consciousness away with a soundless sob. After this point, the girl ends up in the human hospital. Someone else must have helped, but I don’t stick around to see who it is.

I can’t bear to watch Kodi’s death, the death I caused because he chose to save me.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Zosia

“I’ll go out there,” Kodi says, his voice breaking through my dream-like state. “Addington and Walthers won’t hurt me.”

“No!” I scream, bursting from my memories and sitting up on the couch. All my guardians - my savior, the sons of my enemy, and my sweet vampire - look at me in surprise. I shift my viewpoint without a thought, moving smoothly into a gargoyle’s eyes to see the two men staring down the building. Ansel is with them, but he doesn’t look well; he’s pale and sweaty. Walthers is just as much of a pompous ass as he was the day before. Addington? He still hasn’t changed, aside from more silver in his hair. He also has a scar on his cheek now, a thin, pale line that I hope Kodi gave him before he died.

“I’m sure that Addington killed you,” I gasp, sliding back into my body. “You can’t go out there. He’ll want revenge. You saved me from him.”

Kodi stares at me, his eyes wide, before his body floats slowly toward the ground. Garrett and Bren watch me, but I’m not ready to talk to them yet. Almost subconsciously, I reach out for Avery, his name escaping my lips. He’s the only one that didn’t play a part in my past. For some reason, that offers me comfort, even if it was only the brothers’ father and not themselves that were present. The vampire eagerly settles beside me, enfolding me in his arms. I rest my head against his lean chest, inhaling his flowery scent.

Garrett stares into the distance, his jaw hard. “We didn’t know,” Bren says, his hand on his brother’s back.

I take a deep breath. “I know. I just need a minute. No one is going out there.” I don’t even feel bad issuing the demand. My eyes are on Kodi. His head rests in his hands, and his body flickers in and out of visibility like he has difficulty processing.

Finally, he lifts his head. “I remember now. Everything. I didn’t even get to my sister before the wolf tore me apart.” He looks at Bren and Garrett, his eyes simmering with pain and anger. They stand stable in the face of his accusations before he switches his look to me. “I’ll be back, little minx. I need to be alone for a little while.”

I nod sadly. He can choose to never come back, I’m sure. I don’t know what the library will do to his eternal soul, but I want him to be free of his past if that’s what he desires. Every time he looks at me, he’ll think of his sister, of his fucked-up father, of the way he died simply because he chose to save me.

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