Page 24 of Mated By the Pack
I already feel a strange absence, without the vine pulsing in unison with my heart. I don’t feel the energy it seemed to provide. I removed it in frustration, but maybe that was a mistake. Maybe it still has help to offer. I move my hand to the vine and let it coil back around my wrist. It braids itself and looks like it was never removed.
“We wait until they go to bed to try,” I say, feeling the vine’s pulse sync with mine. “Or whenever Haggard goes back in the house. We need to try and help Fiona. She’s our top priority.”
“Okay, Calla,” Tansy whispers. “But what do we do about Nara?”
“We’ll have to carry her. See if you can get her to wake up,” I answer.
Nara is weak and disoriented. She may have a concussion on top of everything else. If I had realized that I would have tried to keep her conscious. I should have checked closer. Unfortunately,there isn’t much I can do for her, but I’m sure she’d choose to risk further injuries over being left behind.
Jed and Jeb don’t make it inside the house. Jeb is the first to pass out, likely from a mixture of exhaustion and alcohol. Jed stays awake a little longer before succumbing to the same combination. Haggard finishes his bottle and tosses it by the fire pit.
“Well, you boys are no fun,” Haggard snickers, leaning forward and standing up. “But I got someone waiting on me who will be.”
“Now,” I whisper. “We’ll have to take Haggard down. Grab the bottles they were drinking from and hit him as hard as you can—as many times as you can.”
“G-got it,” Tansy replies.
Haggard glances at the cage, but stumbles by. I scoot to the door and hold my bracelet up. There’s no response for a moment, then the vine begins to move. Tendrils rush into the lock and it clicks.
“We don’t go back in this cage,” I say, more conviction in my voice than ever.
We’re able to get out and grab bottles, but Haggard hears the commotion. He runs back around the house, right in time for Tansy’s hardest throw to ricochet off his skull.
“The fuck…” Haggard mutters, spinning on his feet.
“Softball,” she says, grabbing another bottle. “I played pitcher.”
Tansy windmills into another underhand throw and it not only hits Haggard, but shatters across his face. Blood splatters as the glass cuts him, and he goes down in a heap. I check his pockets,finding a ring of keys, some silver that I hand to Brenna, and a few items I don’t recognize.
“We should have given you something to throw earlier,” Brenna comments.
“We have to save Fiona,” I urge, motioning for Tansy. “Brenna, check on Nara and try to get her out of the cage.”
The door is unlocked, so I rush in, stopping dead in my tracks when I see Carl on the couch. He doesn’t move, so I urge Tansy onward.
“Fiona! Fiona, can you hear me?” I call out in a hushed whisper, but there is no response.
“Haggard said something about unlocking a door, but the front door was open.” Tansy looks around. “You check upstairs, I’ll check to see if there’s a basement.”
I run up the stairs and throw open several doors before I find one that’s locked. It takes two keys to find the one that fits. I push the door open and see Fiona standing in the corner. She’s naked with her hands on her head, and her bottom is as red as the ripe tomatoes they sell in the Upper District.
“Fiona!” I say, and she spins around with tears in her eyes.
“Nurse Calla!” she cries. “I-I was so scared, but I knew you’d come for me!”
I pull the girl into a hug and whisper some apologies before wrapping her in one of Haggard’s shirts. It fits her like a dress, but her clothes have been ripped off, and they’re too tattered to serve their intended purpose.
“Come on.” I take her hand. “We’re getting out of here.”
I meet up with Tansy downstairs. We rush back outside and turn the corner, then my jaw nearly hits the ground. Brenna is standing by the cart, balancing Nara the best she can. In her other hand is a broken piece of glass, covered in blood. I look down at Haggard and see a gash across his throat—then I realize Jeb and Jed have met the same fate.
“What did you do?” I ask in shock.
“They can’t follow us if they’re dead,” Brenna says, her eyes narrowing in anger.
Fiona pulls away from me and walks up to Haggard, kicking him in the ribs a few times and making more blood gush from his neck. I guess she’s not going to mourn the bastard. Not that I blame her.
“Let’s get out of here before Carl wakes up or Frank gets back,” I urge, hurrying to help Brenna with Nara.
