Page 112 of Beg the Night

“It’s nice to see him with you. I wasn’t sure he’d be able to live with himself after the claiming. Not if you…well…he’d never force himself on anyone. Not after what he saw. Not after what he’d been through.”

My throat stung. “He’d do anything to protect you. And now, so would I. Even if you are a little crazy at times.”

She smiled up at me, the look as refreshing and sweet as ever. Only now that I’d had this glimpse into her past, I could see what she hid beneath that smile. Happiness wasn’t so easy to come by, not even for her. We all had demons. We were all running from something.

“I’d protect you, too,” she said. “And I know he would. He already has.”

He already has.

What he didn’t know was that he’d never have to protect her on his own again. He would never have to be that monster again, not if he didn’t want to.

I saw through that mask. I saw the real him, the softer him, the damaged him.

And I was not afraid.

THIRTY-ONE

sinner

The sky was purple, the sun just cresting the horizon as the three of us stalked through the forest. Mags put up a good fight, but eventually I convinced her to stay behind to watch Katherine. Though I didn’t tell her, I couldn’t focus if my baby sister was near. I didn’t need her mixed up in the chaos that was about to break loose.

We were half a mile from the dungeons, assuming Benedict’s map was correct. Katherine had healed him, but his power wasn’t fully recharged. He could teleport a short distance if he really needed to, but we all agreed it would be best for him to save it for the fight.

I had a feeling he would need it.

We spent all morning going over the plan again, but it didn’t make this any easier. It was truly three of us going up against an entire squadron of guards.

Mystic guards.

The sound of an engine sliced through the silence, and we darted into the trees and dropped to the ground without a word.

Breathe in. Breathe out.The truck came so close I was sure I would have to kill anyone inside it.

But rather than stopping, it idled past. Neither of the men in the cab even looked our way.

“That was close,” Benedict whispered as the engine noise faded.

Tooclose. But that meant the camp was nearby.

“Let’s go,” I ordered as I hauled myself up.

We jogged for another handful of minutes before voices and movement ahead had us checking the hand-drawn map.

“That’s it,” Benedict breathed. “Everyone ready?”

Athena nodded, jaw set. She was different today. More determined. More energetic. More alive.

Why did that terrify me?

“Ready.” I clenched and unclenched my fists. “We get in as fast as we can and bring as many of them as we can. Simple and easy.”

And then we were moving.

We crept forward slowly and soundlessly until familiar tents came into view.

That was the place they had kept me all those months. Locked underground like I didn’t exist. Up here, the two dozen or so soldiers walked around like what was happening was entirely normal, like this was simply another day of work for them.

Disgusting.

---