Page 13 of Creed (Rock Hard Mountain Men #3)

Creed

The night was so brilliant above us. It was the kind of sky only scene in movies.

A full moon, the Milky Way in full view, and even the occasional shooting star just for ambiance.

Nights like these reminded me of why I felt more comfortable out in nature than cooped up in civilization.

Humans were complicated, but the wild elements were simple and easy to understand.

Kayden and I had pitched our tent properly this time, without any mountain lions to distract us. We’d made good progress during the day’s hike, so there was plenty of extra time to enjoy the sunset and relax while stargazing.

Well, I would have been relaxing, but the way Kayden lay pressed up against me, trailing kisses up and down my throat was only making me more excited.

He’d taken most of the lead last night, instructing me on what to do. Maybe this time I could take care of him instead.

“Let’s close the tent,” I said when I couldn’t take his teasing anymore. “We don’t need bugs snacking on us while we’re busy.”

He mumbled something against my throat, but I couldn’t understand him.

“What?” I pulled him away from me so I could hear him.

He gave me a warm, familiar smile. The kind that had always comforted me, even when we were kids. I’d had a hard time making friends when I was young—and even as an adult—but with Kayden it had always been easy.

Looking at me with eyes like crescent moons, he repeated himself.

I furrowed my brow. I still couldn’t hear him. His mouth moved, but his voice was muffled as if someone were pressing a pillow over his face.

Something wasn’t right. The longer I looked at his face, the more it seemed off.

There weren’t as many lines around his eyes as there should be, making him seem younger than he actually was, like a combination of his current self and the young man that I’d known before joining the service.

The exact color of his hair shifted between different shades of brown.

He didn’t look like himself, but rather like an image created by an artist from memory.

A moment of clarity struck me, and I realized I was dreaming.

I reached for the tent flap, intending to flee, but the moment I touched the canvas, the material changed right under my hand.

Instead of canvas, I was now gripping onto a stone wall, gritty and damp like a basement that hadn’t been cleaned in decades.

Something struck me hard across the face, knocking me to the floor.

This couldn’t be a dream.

It felt too real.

With my head still spinning from the blow, I pushed myself off the floor. The taste of dust and copper coated my tongue. I was grinning, and I could feel my own blood staining my teeth. I probably looked deranged.

Good.

Whoever had dared to strike me should be afraid.

I was ready to fight back, to make my enemy regret ever challenging me, but when I looked up, I found myself facing a nightmare.

“No,” I gasped as I took in the new scene around me. “No, this can’t be.”

I’d seen this room before. It had been my prison once.

No, it was my prison right now .

Several other people were chained to the walls, either unconscious or dead, I couldn’t tell.

I recognized them. I’d known these faces for years. Magnus and Brody were there, battered and bloody. Even Kayden hung on the wall. He was so still he didn’t seem to be breathing.

Clutching my head, I started to hyperventilate.

No, this wasn’t right. There was no reason for them to be here, together.

In this room.

When I looked again, the people hanging on the wall had changed. Now they were fallen soldiers that I’d served with. People I’d been in charge of.

People I’d failed.

Something hard and cold pressed against my temple. Turning away from the sight of my unconscious comrades, I looked up into the eyes of my captor. They were jabbering away in a language I didn’t know, and an insane bubble of laughter welled up in my throat.

Talking to me now was pointless. They’d already killed my translator. If they wanted to negotiate, they should have started with that.

Now we were all fucked.

The more questions they shouted at me that I couldn’t answer, the angrier they got. I recognized the look in my captor’s eyes.

Desperation.

Resignation.

Insanity.

They were beyond reason. Even if we spoke the same language, I wouldn’t be able to negotiate with them.

Staring down the barrel of my captor’s gun, I was certain that I was about to die.

A sudden bang echoed in my ears. I flinched, certain that they’d pulled the trigger.

Yet, instead of the pain I expected, there was just more shouting.

Slowly, already dreading what I’d see, I opened my eyes.

I was no longer out in the woods, or in a forgotten basement. Instead, I was inside some sort of vehicle, probably a van or a truck with a large space in the back. My hands were tied behind me, but my legs were free, and I was lying directly on the metal floor.

Reality and dream blurred together, and I wasn’t sure what was real anymore.

There were no unconscious bodies hanging on the walls, but there was still an enemy shouting angry words.

This time I knew the language, but a violent buzzing in my ears kept me from understanding what was being said.

The person had Kayden pinned to the wall, shaking him hard enough that his back slammed against the metal.

Awake or dreaming didn’t matter. Either way, I was still a captive.

Our enemy kept their face covered by a bandana so only their eyes were visible as they shouted at Kayden. They were different eyes than my captor before, but the look in them was exactly the same.

Fury.

Bloodlust.

A desire to lash out and injure someone.

I’d seen that look far too many times, but this time it wasn’t directed at me.

It was directed at Kayden.

I needed to do something. They were going to kill him. My hands were bound, but my legs were free. I should have been able to do something with that.

Yet, all I did was lie there uselessly, struggling to breathe as I watched our captor slam Kayden against the wall one more time before throwing him to the floor.

“Useless fag,” our captor muttered as they stormed off.

It was funny that, out of all the shouting that had been going on, those were the words I was finally able to hear.

A small, vulnerable part of me curled up inside my heart, scared and ashamed of being seen.

Like a child that had forgotten their lines at the school play and could do nothing but run off the stage to hide.

Our captor’s eyes scanned over me for a moment, but almost immediately dismissed me. I was no threat to them in my current state. Shoving me aside with their foot, they walked past me and hopped out of the van, closing the doors behind them.

Kayden and I were alone, but I still couldn’t move. It felt like the chains, which were only wrapped around my wrists, had grown to encase my whole body.

“Creed?” Kayden’s voice broke the silence.

Something tapped against my leg, and I jumped. My fight or flight mode activated, and my hands strained against their bonds as I tried to reach for a weapon that didn’t exist.

My vision started to go gray around the edges, when the sound of Kayden’s voice cut through my panic.

“Creed? Creed! Calm down.”

His hands were bound just like mine, so he’d tapped me with his foot. Shame crept up the back of my throat. Kayden was safe. There was no reason for me to overreact so badly, but I couldn’t stop.

Why couldn’t I breathe?

My tongue was lead inside my mouth. No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t speak. In the end, I managed to make a vague sound to at least let Kayden know I heard him.

There was shifting sound beside me, and soon Kayden’s face came into view, closer than it had been before. He’d twisted himself into an awkward position in order to lie down next to me despite his hands being bound to the wall, but his expression showed no signs of discomfort.

A calm, comforting aura radiated around him, practically making him glow in the dim atmosphere of the van.

“Hey, Creed, look at me.” His voice was softer than I’d ever heard before. “I think you’re having a panic attack.”

Panic attack?

No, that couldn’t be right. I wasn’t the kind of person who panicked. I was the one who remained stoic while everyone else panicked.

“No, Creed, hey, focus on me.” I hadn’t even realized that my vision had started to blur, until his voice caught my attention again. “Just try to breathe with me. All right? Breathe in. Then out. Just like that.”

I followed his instruction, one breath at a time. At first, I could barely get any air into my lungs, but gradually I was able to take deeper and deeper breaths until finally some clarity returned to my vision.

We must have been lying there silently breathing together for longer than I’d thought. During that time, the van had started moving again, taking us to some unknown location.

When I was finally able to breathe without struggling and see straight again, I sat up and leaned heavily against the wall. Kayden scooted as close to me as he could until his shoulder bumped against mine.

“You all right?”

I swallowed heavily, then nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“Hey, don’t apologize. If there’s ever a time to panic, this is it. But, um, I have to ask. A panic attack seems... out of character for you.”

Closing my eyes, I laughed weakly under my breath. “That wasn’t actually a question.”

Kayden stuttered for a moment, trying to figure out what to say, but I cut him off.

“I know what you’re trying to ask. I’m the cool-headed one who takes care of business, right?

So, something must be wrong if I’m panicking.

” With a heavy sigh, I resigned myself to a difficult explanation and turned to face him.

“First, let me ask you, what do you know about my retirement from the military?”

His brow furrowed as he thought, and I hated the way it cast a shadow over his eyes. Kayden should only ever be smiling.