Page 11 of Ruin

We stay,I agreed with her.

Prime snarled right back but bowed his head. I smiled to myself, he was as cold hearted as they came, except to those he loved, and his pack. In this form I could feel his respect for his mate, and his utter belief his other pack members and Connor were alive. I couldn’t feel the connection Connor and he had with each other, or with our brothers; I just hoped they were away from this place and safe.

B’nar blasted over our heads with shards of green ice that stabbed the Weres. His focus was on Blue and getting to her.

Prime pushed his power through me and Mea, and took us both over. He bounded towards Blue and the women, leaped onto a Were’s back, clamped his massive jaws around the monstrous neck and bit down. The Were’s neck snapped like a twig. Blood hit Prime’s mouth and I cringed as blood lust flowed through him. Prime was the most powerful wolf spirit I’d ever met and my own had lost the battle for any kind of dominance. He trotted over to Blue and nudged her hand. Warmth spread through my chest. He knew I was worried for her, and was making sure she was okay for me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. But we need to find a way out of here.” She popped more bullets into the oncoming Weres.

“You aren’t fine.” B’nar’s voice was hard, but there was an edge of worry in it too.

Blue glanced at the two deep claw lacerations on her hand that dripped blood onto the floor and slicked the handle of her weapon. It looked like her fae armour had protected her from further injury, but the cuts were deep and must have hurt like a bitch. “It’s a scratch.”

B’nar narrowed his eyes but kept his mouth shut. “You know any way out?” He addressed the question to me, though he walked closer to Blue.

Prime snarled and shook his great head.

“I do,” said the woman. “My name’s Selina. I was walked up into the guards quarters above as their fuck toy more than once. If you want out, I can take you, on the understanding you get us out of here. All of us,” she said, aiming her gun on a Were that ran into the room. With accuracy, she pulled the trigger, hitting him in the middle of his forehead.

“Of course,” answered Blue, her tone soft. Yeah, it had registered with all of us what the women had been used for. “If we can get through that door, where do we go?”

Selina didn’t take her eyes from the doorway. “Up the stairs and left down the corridor. The bots don’t function anymore, so we won’t have to deal with them, but there’s an army of those motherfuckers up on the cell levels. They’ve still got some of our kind locked up in them.”

“Shit. So not everyone got out?”

“No.”

The baby which lay on the ground at Selina’s feet began to wail. Prime sniffed at it and growled. Selina immediately pointed the gun at us. “Don’t even think about it, wolfie. That’s my son. If you try and hurt him, no matter who or what his sire is, I’ll stick the rest of these bullets right between your eyes.”

I agreed with her, so did my wolf. These were pure newborn souls. No matter if they were sired by demons they were not inherently evil. Together Mea and I made Prime take a step away. He grumbled at us, but didn’t push back against our warning.

Selina moved her gun to the entrance and delivered another volley of shots at the same time as Blue and Alex.

“Shit, we need to go,” Alex said, sweat running down his forehead.

“Yeah, we do. Selina? If I can get us through those doors, can you lead us out?” B’nar turned his icy eyes on the naked woman.

“Yep.”

“Come on. Get up.” Blue gently encouraged the other women to get to their feet. “You go in the middle. We’ll protect you. Okay?” But I heard the worry in her voice, so did Prime. He huffed and stood behind the group of naked women.

“Alex! Stay with Blue.” B’nar’s tone was enough to make Alex comply.

Prime glanced around and behind him, looking for an attack from the rear and above as B’nar began thrusting ice laced magic at the doorway. Prime’s gaze landed on the room where I’d last seen Connor alive. The events of that moment flashed through my mind. Zander and I had stabbed the guards; Connor ending that mean bastard-Doherty. Zander had then stabbed me right through my gut, just as we planned. I’d needed to appear dead to give Connor and Zander a chance to get past the warden’s guards and into the science wing; only that plan had backfired. Berith, a.k.a the warden, had spotted me in Connor’s arms and he’d sensed my human soul lingering. If he had taken my soul, he could have imprisoned my phoenix; chained it to the gates of Hell, and burned them to the ground. I tried not to think about what could have happened, like me being responsible for unleashing Hell’s army on Earth.

Something about that time niggled at my mind. Urgency surged through Prime and then me.We go. Now.And he took off.

“Ember!”

Prime spun back to Alex and snarled viciously. I prayed Alex would take the hint and go back to the others, they needed the protection far more than I did right now.

“Dammit, Ember! That icy bastard’s gonna have my hide, immortal or not.” But Alex sprinted back to the women and herded them along behind B’nar and Blue.

Prime quickly leapt over the fallen bot, which blocked the entrance up to the viewing room. He bounded up the steps and into the room, a growl ripping from him at the sweet stench of rotting flesh. I gasped at a memory of something dark taking hold of him and Connor. It was a memory he hated. He’d been out of control, lost to the darkness of another creature. I gasped; one that lived inside Connor just like Prime did. It had become consumed by the need to kill and devour the flesh of its victim… Prime huffed and lowered his head. He and Connor had lost themselves to this shadowy presence; they had lost sight of protecting me before Connor had wrestled back control.

It’s alright. We can think about what that was when we find Connor again. Don’t worry about it now. Whatever it was, it’s with Connor not you.

His relief at my thoughts was almost palpable. I guided him to where Doherty had once stood. The remains of his bloated corpse lay face down on the ground.Not so smart now, are you?I hoped his soul was lost in the Hell he well and truly deserved. What I was looking for wasn’t in the mess that was Doherty or even near him. Prime got down on his haunches and we searched under every piece of furniture.

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