Page 29 of Chosen (The Registry #2)

Chapter

Twenty-Two

DRAKEN

F ear isn’t an emotion I’m familiar with. Growing up, it was something I couldn’t afford to feel because I was constantly fighting to survive. But now, terror grips me like it never has before.

What happened to Ayla? Did I bring her to the fortress only for her to betray me as well.

The Enforcer shoves Jamie into Braeden’s arms. My cousin holds Jamie against him.

“Let me go!” She attempts to twist out of his hold.

Braeden chuckles. “She’s a feisty one. But a little dangerous. She should be executed under our laws.”

“Jamie!” I rush forward but I’m halted when Braeden, pulls out his dagger and places it against her throat.

“If you harm her….” I warn with a growl.

“You’ll what?” he taunts. “You won’t do a damn thing because I’m the one in control.”

Jamie’s eyes are wide with fear and I vow that I will get revenge on every single person who turned against me.

“How do you like feeling helpless cousin? Does it feel good? Do you like someone else having the upper hand?” Braeden grins, placing the tip of his dagger in Jamie’s neck. A droplet of blood runs down her neck.

“Draken…”

“It’s going to be okay, Jamie,” I assure her. I have to stay calm and hope that Magnus comes through for me. In the meantime, however, I have to figure out a way to get Jamie to safety.

“Aww, how sweet. It’s too bad you couldn’t save her. You tried to get her out of the fortress with the help of that new maid but Willa installed cameras all through your breeder’s room, disguising them as decorations to brighten up the room. Or at least that’s what she told me.” Braeden laughs.

I snarl in Willa’s direction. She takes a step behind one of the Enforcers. I turn my angry gaze toward Braeden and I note the mania in his eyes. It’s the same look my uncle used to have when he was in the throes of one of his rampages.

“Why?” I demand.

I want to know the reason he’s doing this. The reason I will have to kill him.

Braeden throws his head back and laughs. “You have the nerve to ask me why? It’s simple enough. I’ve always hated you. Ever since Father brought you to the fortress, it was Draken this and Draken that. He always compared me to you. He told me that I was weak. He’d take you on trips.”

“He was only using me for muscle,” I argue.

“It doesn’t matter!” Braeden yelled. “He saw value in you and not his own son. He chose you the son of a whore instead of training me to eventually take his place. He used to beat me for not being you. And I hated you with every single punch and kick I received. I even hated you for killing him even though you were only doing it because you thought you were protecting me. I would have rather you let him kill me instead of me being beholden to you.”

“And then you became Sector Leader when it should have been me. So I bided my time and put my plan into works. I made sure to discredit you all over the Sector and even made connection with a couple of Sector Leaders. It’s too bad after the summit, Sectors Leader 1 and 3 have backed off a bit but that’s okay.

I don’t need them. I replaced most of the staff with those who are loyal to me.

So I may not have your strength, but I don’t need muscle to rule. I have the brains.”

I stare back at Braeden and the rage I’d felt only second earlier disappears and is replaced by sadness and disappointment. When my uncle brought me to the fortress, I thought I could look to him as a father figure but that turned out to be far from the case.

Instead I suffered abuse at his hands and for any scrap of affection, I did his bidding to my detriment.

I couldn’t have known at the time, the atrocities he’d made me commit would later haunt me and earn me the reputation of a beast. I hated that moniker more than anyone could know and yet I’d sucked it up at the time.

No one knew that I had aspirations to make the sector a safe place for everyone to live.

Braeden had given me the friendship I had sought.

We were more like brothers than cousins.

I protected him and often took the beatings meant for him.

I didn’t notice until recently that he would often undermine me or he would subtly imply I wasn’t worthy of being Sector Leader.

He was the reason that my insecurities flourished.

My heart grows heavy that all the time, I cared for him he hated me.

“You could have taken the Sector Leader position after your father died. I’d offered it to you.”

Braeden shook his head. “You’re kidding me.

The people wanted you because you’d won the challenge.

Besides, it was much more fun making you look bad.

I played the long game and now here we are.

It’s been fun destroying everything you’ve built.

But I’ll tell you what. I will let you and your little whore here live if you step down voluntarily.

You and this rebel will spend the rest of your days in a holding cell, but at least you’ll have your lives. ”

“Let’s say I do step down. What’s going to stop anyone from challenging you? You’re weak. Any number of these Enforcers surrounding you could take you in a challenge. Uncle was right about you.”

The condescending smirk he’d worn only minutes before was gone.

“You bastard! I will kill you! But first I’ll take your whore out.”

He raises his knife and I sprint toward him, but several Enforcers block me.

To my surprise however, Jamie, stomps Braeden’s foot and elbows him in the midsection. The move temporarily stuns my cousin and she manages to twist herself out of his grasp.

I plow through the Enforcer with my claws slashing wildly. I could fight them and take several of them out, but their numbers were too great, and I had to get Jamie out of here.

I grab and lift her into my arms before running for the exit.

As we make it to the door, I’m shot by a laser.

“Draken!” Jamie cries out.

I grit my teeth and press on despite the pain. I make it outside and run across the grounds with several Enforcers on my heel. I just need to make it to the exit.

My current speed is much slower than it is in my second form but I run with all my might.”

“Put me, down. I’m slowing you down,” Jamie says even though she’s still clinging to me tightly.

“Never.”

Just then a message can be heard through the communicator pin I have affixed to my collar. The communication jammer’s strength usually covers the ground of the office. But somehow it doesn’t now by some miracle. Whatever the reason, I’m thankful.

“Voice activation required for guests to enter.”

Relief fills me. My backup has arrived. And though Braeden may have thought he’d covered everything, he didn’t think to change the authorization on the front of the fortress gates.

“Permission granted,” the automated voice replies.

Now that I knew Magnus and his team were here, I felt comfortable releasing Jamie. I put her on her feet. “I want you to run, and don’t look back. I’ll hold them off.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t leave you like this.”

“You will. I don’t know what I would do if something happens to you. Go!”

She looks like she wants to argue but maybe she sees something in my eyes that tells her I won’t back down. Jamie stands on the tips of her toes and gives me a quick peck on the lips

“Be careful,” she cautions before taking off.

Just then I’m surrounded by Enforcers and I’m forced to fight for my life.

My clothing rips when I morph the upper half of my body to give me the added strength as I claw and punch, my way through those who dare to charge toward me.

I disembowel one Enforcer and pluck the eyes out of another. The more I take down however, the more keep coming. Some of them manage to land kicks and punches on my body but I continue to fight making sure none of them get past me to go after Jamie.

Just when I’m on the brink of being overwhelmed, someone plucks an Enforcer off his feet and tosses him in the air.

Magnus is here along with a large group of his own team. I notice his second in command is with him.

The three of us fight alongside each other until the number of enemies dwindle. Blood and limbs fly everywhere.

One of Braeden’s loyalists attempts to run away when he realizes the tide has turned. But I pounce on him and bite into his neck, and rip his throat out before spitting his flesh into his face.

I then rip his arms out of their socket.

With that group of Enforcers weeded out, I head back to the garage and head toward Braeden.

He’s standing in the spot I left him in. His face twists with anger disbelief.

“Surprised?”

“Fuck you!” He screams as he pulls out a laser gun.

Before I can charge, Ayla comes out of nowhere and shoves him behind with enough force to make him lose his balance.

He lands on his face. I ran toward him and immediately jump on his back. I grab him by the hair and slam his face into the ground over and over again. He screams each time his face connects to the concrete floor until those screams are halted when his skull cracks.

But I keep pounding his face into the ground, painting the concrete red with blood. I don’t stop even when I know he’s dead. I keep going until most of the bones in his face has been pulverized to dust and I’m only holding a handful of hair.

A hand falls on my shoulder. “He’s gone.” It’s Magnus.

Despite everything he’d done to me, he was still the cousin I’d once cared for like a brother.

I released a primal roar.

It was finally over but I knew after today, things in this sector would never be the same.