Page 23 of Runt's Haunted Ride
My Kai giggled. Actually giggled.
And I learned I could get harder.
"Kai," I swallowed again. "Back to what you said about being bound to a psycho. What do you mean? And why are you up here?"
Her eyes clouded over, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "I'm up here because the heat rises. He keeps this tent cold to control me."
"Who's he?" I knew the answer, but I also needed to hear her say it.
"Mortis."
"Tell me more."
"As I said, I'm a phoenix, but not any phoenix. I was hatched in the royal nest. My parents were the king and queen of our venture. I'm the last of my nest. Mortis killed everyone, all of my family. My sister and my brothers. They're all gone."
I pulled her close and let her cry. "Kai, I'm so sorry."
Quietly in my arms, she continued. "Mortis has me magically bound to him. I can't leave. Can't escape."
"Just so I can understand, why did he kill everyone? And why did he bind you?"
"To use me."
Rage exploded in my chest, hot and violent. My gorilla roared inside my head, but I held it together, not wanting Kai to feel any of this was her fault. "What do you mean he uses you?"
I asked, prepared for the answer. If Kai told me what I thought she was going to tell me, I would kill Mortis. No matter what, if he forced himself on my mate, he was dead.
Kai looked up at me, shame and pain warring on her beautiful face. "He makes me burn."
My arm muscles tightened, and I bit the inside of my cheek to try and control my tone from being too angry. I asked, "You mean he burns you?"
"No, he doesn't." Kai moved, which brought all of my focus straight to my dick. "Phoenixes need to have a regeneration cycle. Do you understand what I mean?"
I shook my head no.
"Well," she tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear, "it's a part of being a phoenix. We have to regenerate." Kai raised an eyebrow. "Basically, we burn. We go up in flames."
"You light yourselves on fire?" I asked, trying to understand why she would do something so horrific.
"No, it's okay. All phoenixes do it," Kai quickly added. "We survive it, and it doesn't hurt. Once we burn, we come back as a chick. Twenty-four hours later, we're back to our normal selves. Same as we were before."
Tonight, I'm Googling the hell out of this shit.
"Understand?"
"Yes," I lied again. "But why does Mortis want you to burn?"
Her expression became even more serious. "Because of my family. See, when a royal phoenix burns, our ashes are gold. Real gold. Mortis knows this, and instead of just taking me, he didn't want anyone else to have the ability to have the gold, so he killed them. All of them. Now, that bastard uses my gold to fund his endeavors."
"Do phoenixes have magical powers you could use to get away?"
"No. I mean, in my bird form, I can lift insanely heavy things, and my tears heal. But I don't have spells or anything like that. And if I try to get away from him, I can get maybe ten, fifteen feet, and the magic causes me to double over in excruciating pain."
I felt sick. Mortis wasn't just keeping her prisoner—he was torturing her, killing her over and over again for profit. And in between, he forced her to stay in this freezing hovel of a tent.
"How long?" I managed to ask through the fury clouding my vision.
"Three years," she whispered. "Three years of burning. Three years of dying and coming back only to die again. Three years of hoping someone would come and help. But no one ever came.No one ever looked. I couldn't have anyone here help. They're all magically bound to him too, only it's because they want to be. I don't want to be. I hate him." Her voice broke. "Then one day, my mate finds me, and there's nothing he can do."
