Page 108 of Forever My Siren Luna
“And what is this place?” I urged her to continue.
Her eyes met mine, and I can tell how grave this situation is. How close to hell I truly am. “This is the hive of the dark fae and the breeding grounds for demons. Lord Tenebris spawns them here. He and-and that alpha, Alpha Wayne, have an agreement between them.”
That’s just like what Jack and Ela suspected.
“Jack was right,” I whispered, letting the information sink in, sorting everything out in my head.
“Jack?” the redhead tilted her face, staring at me curiously. She then sniffed me a few times, looking more distracted than before. “My brother, Jackson, used to go by Jack.”
I smiled solemnly at her. “Jack is a common name.”
I wonder if Jack is aware that I am missing right now. I wonder if he is still too hung up on Ela and that lost cause to even care. I could die tomorrow and he would still be chasing her, not noticing my absence at all. He spent his days drinking and hiding from my nagging. I’m in hell and he’s getting a break from my meddling.
No. I can’t think negatively right now. I will not wallow in self-pity. I need to get out of here. I need to find Nilo and get us out before those demons come back to finish me off.
“My brother was an alpha,” the redhead continues on, oblivious to my thoughts. She looks lost in her thinking about the past. “Alpha Wayne destroyed our pack.” She lifted her face, her eyes focused on me with determination. “I thought-I thought you smelled familiar. It’s like how he used to smell. It’s faint, but you smell like my brother Jack.”
Her eyes. I realize now why they looked familiar to me. They are the same as his. Jack’s. She had many other features that were the same as his too.
He thought all of his family was dead. He drank himself into a stupor every day because of his guilt. Here someone is with his eyes and the undertones of his scent, letting it be known that they are family. Now that my Lycan is aware, she can pick up on the scent much more than before.
I looked around at all the other women in this room. They are all someone’s sister, or daughter, or maybe even mother. How many other crew members do I have that might be missing someone in this very room right now? I met a woman I haven’t seen in years again, who was once in similar circumstances as me. If I had stayed with my mate instead of rejecting him on a full moon and running away, I could be sitting in a cage just like hers, having suffered far more than I already have.
I leaned up, reaching around the redheaded girl’s neck. It burnt my hands, and made my beast howl at her expended strength, but I managed to tear off the lock holding the thinner collar in place.
She gasped, reaching up for her neck and rubbing the rough skin. Her eyes immediately began to glow, her beast pressing forward, probably for the first time since her capture. If she had been here since Jack’s pack was destroyed, it would have been years.
Tears began to stream down her face. A choked mewling sound fell from her lips, pressed together by the rush of her freedom and the emotions that brought her.
The other woman has a similar thin collar, but this one is made up of intricate gemstones and iron. It is meant to restrain magic. I snap her necklace next, then push myself up off the floor to start freeing the girls from their cages.
“What-what are you doing?” the redheaded girl asked. “We-we will be punished if we-”
“You will be punished endlessly anyway if we do not escape. Would you rather die trying to escape, or live on forever as the demon’s whore?” I lifted my brow.
Her tears slowed, and she wiped them with the back of her hand. Her eyes are glowing, her beast speaking to her, no doubt. Mine is screaming at me to get Nilo and get out of here.
“If you stay, they will collar you again, and she will be taken away. Your beast will be cut off from you once again.”
She choked, obviously not liking that more than the thought of being the demon’s sexslave for the rest of her life.
The other woman is flexing her hands in front of her body, testing her magic now that it is free. Her expression is determined, and once she gets her fingers to spark just the way she likes, she moves to the first cage, the one with the woman from my old pack, and helps her get free. The redhead still looks unsure.
I knelt in front of her, trying to look gentle and caring, when really I wanted to hit her upside the head and tell her to keep fighting. Tough love doesn’t work for everyone. It hasn't worked on Jack, so I doubt it will work on his sister.
“Your brother, Jack, is one of the bravest men I know. He would want you to keep fighting. He would want both of us to keep fighting.”
“He’s alive?” She whimpered softly. “He’s really alive?”
“Yes,” I grin, “and he is the captain of the greatest navy there ever was.” Telling her he is the leader of notorious pirates may not be ideal right now, but saying he’s leading the navy for Alpha Lachlan is not much of a stretch. He is very much a captain, and a capable one at that. “He has been preparing with the Southern pack, Hidden Cove Pack, to come and defeat these monsters. I would bet that they are marching up here now. If you don’t want to fight for yourself, fight for him, because he has never stopped fighting to avenge you.”
The woman sniffed back her sobs, a look of determination coming over her face.
“He’s coming?”
“He’s coming,” I tell her, because I somehow know that he is. “I’m Beretta, by the way. I very much plan on being your brother’s next mate,” I offered her a playful smirk, then held out my hand to help her up.
She takes my hand, looking at me like she’s amazed by what she sees. “I’m Cecilia.”