Page 49 of Dying in Flames (Reborn 4)
“Please don’t hurt yourself,” she whispered. My throat went dry as I saw a myriad of emotions flash over her face. My gaze focused on the way her cheek was turning purple, and my wolf let out a low rumble from my throat, causing her to shiver. I didn’t scent fear, though. I scented relief, and in our bond, there was pure affection and the need to get closer to me. I wanted to give that to her, but we were fucking separated.
Had that bastard hurt her? Where the hell were we? How long has it been? Why couldn’t I fucking talk?
Maya’s voice was a whisper as she answered the questions that I’d clearly projected through our new bond. “I know you can’t see well…they hurt you guys so much once we got here. I begged the one man to make them stop, but he just left. He said he couldn’t help us, that he was only meant to bring us here—” Her voice caught, and she swallowed it down. “You’re the first one to wake up. We’ve been here for a few hours, I think. I’m not sure where we are, even. When we went through that portal, it led us into these cells, and that was when the guards showed up. I don’t think they understood me because they were speaking French, but I begged them to stop as well… They didn’t listen.” Maya looked absolutely tormented by that. “The one man said that if they didn’t, you guys would break out once you woke up.”
That bastard wasn’t wrong. I would break out and then fucking slaughter them.
“Did they do that to you?” My voice was rough.
Tears streamed in her eyes. “No, this happened after he and the guards left…”
Who the hell had done that to her then?
“Breathe,” I spoke, seeing the way she was working herself up. She nodded as I leaned forward and pressed my forehead against the bars, exhaling slowly. “Now who the hell hurt you like that?”
Curling up further, closer, as if trying to get to me, she intertwined our fingers through the bars, keeping me calm despite the rage sweeping through every cell in my body. A wave of calm, controlled anger took over that allowed me to comfort Maya as my wolf plotted our vengeance. These guards had a right to be scared. No amount of hits to the face would stop me from tearing their throats out. Then I would find the motherfucker who brought us here in the first place.
The person who had hurt Maya, though? No, I wouldn’t kill them right away. I would fucking make sure they suffered.
Maya’s voice was quiet and filled with pain. “Malcolm. He came in after they left… I think he’s in charge here.”
Fuck. How the hell was that possible?
Pulling back, I looked over her face, her gold eyes black with panic and fear. Her normal golden skin was pale, her dark hair messy as if she’d been tugged around by it. Even her clothes were different, her small form covered in a pale white cotton dress, making her look far too fragile for the situation we were in. I could see how strong she’d been trying to be these past few hours, but I could also see that she was losing the battle, haunted shadows that I had to assume came from her PTSD making her look sick and like she was about to pass out.
“Sugar—”
Suddenly I felt something blast into me when the door slammed open, causing Maya to scream. Before I could comfort her, I was knocked out cold, immediately blacking out. Not even the following scream from my mate could pull me from the dark.
“I told you,”a sinister voice echoed, “I told you to come home, Maya. Your fate there would have been far better than what they have planned for you here. All that struggle, all that fighting and running, only to end up back where you belong, serving the only purpose you have.”
His voice went lower. “And you will be serving that fucking purpose. I’ve lost everything, you fucking bitch. I lost half my coven and had to move them all here to live under this asshole’s reign, just to make sure I got you back. I would say it’s worth it, but you haven’t proven that to me yet.”
“Why here? Why now?” Maya’s voice was rough and uneven.
“That bastard wanted to wait until you’d completed all of your mating bonds. I told him to leave your mates back there, but he insists that having them here could aid in convincing you to behave.”
Maya inhaled sharply. “This isn’t about them. Let them go. I’ll stay. I promise I’ll stay. They don’t need to be part of this.”
“Oh, but they do,” the voice responded. “You need to be taught a lesson, and after I kill your mates in front of you, I can break you in the proper way this time.”
My wolf hadme fighting against the thick, oily darkness that was invading every element of my subconscious. It was trying to drown me, but the feeling of fear in my mate bond was overruling it as I continued to push and prod at it.
I would not give up.
I would not allow this to be the end of me. After over two hundred years, I would survive long enough to make sure that my sugar got out of this bullshit.
I did know one thing, though—the magic we were dealing with was sick and unnatural. It had completely drained my power until there was absolutely nothing left of it, my wolf’s voice growing weaker. I kept pushing through.
My magic was such an innate part of me, and had been for hundreds of years, so I felt almost blind without the full use of it. I felt like I was missing a limb. But Ikeptpushing. I had never realized how much willpower I had before I was fighting against magic that wanted to completely blackout my life force.
Maya’s scream echoed somewhere in my head, and my wolf surged forward in a final effort…
I flung up and broke from the darkness, the veil of it falling, and searched for my mate. Nothing else mattered more than finding her in that moment. I heard the sound of something cracking in my body, and the scent of my mate’s blood had me in a panic as I looked around. My vision went dizzy as I looked down, blood dripping from my head where I’d hit it against the iron bars…
Maya.
This time, Maya wasn’t looking up at me. Instead, she was seemingly unconscious, curled on her side. There was far more trauma on her body, and she was bleeding from her nose. Rage and fury boiled in me as my breathing went fast. I almost fucking shifted, but I fisted the bars and kept my head down, reminding myself that I couldn’t help her if I lost it.
