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“Uhm… I… fucked her in front of him,” I say.

“Then made him put on a chastity cage before…” Kael says. “Uhm… before making him lick up the mess.”

Leli giggles and then stops herself. “Sorry. I laugh at inappropriate things when I’m stressed,” she says.

“You understand that they are going to rape her in front of you three, right?” Mazvyn says. “Everything she went through with Zypher, he’s going to make you all watch. You’re not going to be able to help her.”

“We can help her by talking to her,” Callum says. “We can keep her calm and compliant so she can buy some time to work on getting control over that energy. She can’t do that if she’s drowning in her emotions. If we can keep her calm, she won’t get herself hurt because she loses her temper. She won’t completely shut down if we talk to her.”

“Okay. Just… bring my baby girl back to me. Please,” Mazvyn pleads.

“We will,” I promise. “We won’t come back without her.”

“I’m sorry,” Volis says quietly. I sigh and just hug him. It shocks him for a second, but he eventually hugs me back. “She’s going to hate me.”

“No, she won’t,” I say. “Everything was chaotic. We never should’ve left her side. We can all try to place blame, but the only ones responsible are Fermin, Zypher, and Morwen.”

“There. He’s healed,” Leli says as she kicks him in the side.

“Leli,” Mazvyn sighs.

“What? He can survive a few bruises,” she says as she kicks him again.

“Alright. That’s enough.” Vash says as he grabs Leli and pulls her away from a now writhing Fermin. Ulfric drags him up from the ground, and I walk over to him. He immediately lowers his head.

“Where did they take her?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” he sniffles.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, or I’ll actually let Thuly rip you apart. Where did they take her? I know that you know.”

“To an abandoned building on the outskirts of town,” he says.

“Take him back to the capital and put him in holding,” Leli says to Ulfric. “Around-the-clock guard. Nothing he can hurt himself with.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ulfric says.

“Taking over?” I ask, raising my eyebrow.

“None of you are rational enough right now to lead. And don’t even try to deny it. Get my sister back, and I’ll handle everything. Okay? I’ll have everyone close to her on the council,” she says.

“Take Thuly,” I say. “He’s communicating with me, but he’s depressed.”

“Poor guy,” Mazvyn says. “What did he say?”

“He kept going on about Fermin betraying his mom and then said that they took his mom,” I explain.

“That’s fucking pitiful,” Leli says. “Come on, Thuly. Let’s go find a body for you to chew on,” she calls out to him, softly. Thuly lazily follows behind her as she goes to walk away. She stops. Turning back to us. “Find my sister and bring her home.”

“We will,” I say.

We ditch the car and go on foot down the sidewalk. I have no idea where we are going, but we are going to just keep ourselves isolated so that they can find us. I know that they’re gonna come for us. We walk in silence for nearly an hour before we hear a vehicle pull up behind us.

“Lost without your mate?” I hear Zypher ask.

“Where is she?” I turn and growl at him.

“Get in,” he says as he opens the back door to the SUV.