Page 10

CHAPTER 10

brIAR

R yker made a mistake not finishing the job and making sure I’m dead because I’m damn well getting out of this circle if for no other reason than to murder him. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make him pay for killing Jake, and likely countless others, and hurting so many supernaturals.

“Annabel,” I call, my voice weak and thready. Her cautious gaze peers around the random lab equipment hiding her as what sounds like another explosion rocks through the facility. The force of the explosion causes ceiling tiles to rain down around us. Fortunately, the containment circle keeps any of them from landing on my wound.

After the explosion, I can feel a shift inside myself, almost like something was unlocked. Whereas I could barely feel my magic before, now I might even have enough to partially heal myself, if I don’t burn through it all getting out of this spell. Whatever is happening that has Ryker and his minions so spooked is apparently good news for us.

Annabel hesitantly crawls out of her hiding space and runs over to me. She stands right outside of the containment spell and looks at me for direction. “You think you can show me the way out of here if I can break the containment spell?” And that’s a huge if because my magic is steadily draining out of me as I lose more and more blood. She gives me a tiny nod while twisting her fingers nervously. “Great! You can go back to your hiding place or wait here, but I need just a minute to get out of this spell. Be careful not to touch the circle if you stay here, though.”

Her face lights up briefly at the mention of getting out of here before falling. “Will you be okay?” she whispers so quietly I can barely hear her.

Honestly, things don’t look too good for me. I’ve lost a lot of blood, and my intestines are currently not entirely in my body. So, that’s not great. Gut wounds generally won’t kill someone immediately, but the blood loss might if I can’t patch myself up. With how low I am on magic, I’m not optimistic that I can do anything.

I force a bright smile. “Of course. I just need my wolf to help me a little, and then I’ll be good to go.”

She gives me a hesitant nod and plops down in front of the circle, careful not to touch the magic she can probably feel buzzing over her skin.

Letting my eyes slip shut, I hunt for the weakly flickering flame of magic in my chest. When I find it, I picture the barrier spell shattering and collapsing inward. I wait for a few seconds but don’t feel my magic buzzing over my skin.

Cautiously opening my eyes, I deflate when I see the dome is still in place, shimmering at me tauntingly. Crushing feelings of defeat and hopelessness try their best to sap my resolve because it seems like I’ll never get out of here.

But I refuse to accept that and give Ryker what he wants. Gritting my teeth, I close my eyes once again. I roughly yank my magic toward me and envision throwing it as hard as I can at the shield around us. My magic flows out of me, and I hold my breath as I wait for something to happen. When nothing does, I sag against the floor.

Right as I’m trying to find the energy to make another attempt, a loud crack echoes through the room. I snap my eyes open and can’t help my grin when I see the spell crumbling. My smile drops when I try to push upright and can’t because of the sharp pain searing through my abdomen.

One problem down, one to go.

The spell breaking is great and all, but it doesn’t really help me if I still bleed out here. I need to heal myself, but I barely have any magic left after trying to tear down the barrier. While I don’t know if my power will even do anything, I have to at least try.

Concentrating on my magic, I funnel every last drop I have into healing my stomach. The wound starts knitting together from the inside out.

I’m surprised at how much I’m able to heal it before my magic sputters and dies. There’s no longer any blood gushing out. I don’t feel like someone’s sawing through my insides anymore, so that’s a plus.

Cautiously pushing myself up to sitting, I wince at the painful pulling and tugging in my middle. However, nothing splits open, so I’m going to call it a win. I struggle to my feet. I hold in my groan at how the movement jostles my still-healing injury and stick a hand cautiously through where the barrier was. When I don’t get electrocuted, I decide to just go for it and walk entirely through what used to be the containment spell. While I brace myself for a fifty-thousand-volt shock, nothing happens.

I grin at Annabel who’s looking at me and my partially healed injury in wonder. “Your wolf did all that?”

“Yep!” I chirp enthusiastically, only feeling slightly guilty about lying to her. The less she knows about my hybrid status, the safer it is for everyone. I reach up to push my sweaty hair out of my face, forgetting about the damage to my stomach. Wincing, I lower my hand and look around the room as I try to figure out what to do next.

It sounds like the Knights are abandoning the facility, so this is my best chance to escape. The question is how. I have no idea where we are, how to get out of here, or who is blowing the place up. But what I do know is that standing here won’t get us any closer to escaping.

Turning to Annabel, I reach my hand down for her to grab. When she puts her tiny palm in mine, I give her a small smile. “We need to get out of here. Which way should we go? I don’t think I can carry you, but I can hold your hand the whole way.”

She puffs out her chest and levels me with a serious look. As serious as her cherubic face can look anyway. “I’m a big kid. I can walk. We should go that way.” Annabel points toward the right of the room, indicating we should go that way once we leave.

I refrain from snorting and telling her that she’s five. Instead, I give her a solemn nod. “You ready to do this thing?” She dips her chin and starts marching toward the door. I have to hustle to keep up with her. When we reach the doorway, I pull her to a stop. “Lemme check out the hallway to make sure it’s all clear.”

Cautiously poking my head out, I blow out a relieved breath when I don’t see anyone. Tugging Annabel forward, I hook a right. We move as fast as we can down the corridor. Even with her short legs, Annabel easily keeps pace with me in my weakened state. The more we walk, the more my abdomen screams, but I try to ignore it.

At each fork in the hallway we reach, I ask Annabel where to go. When she doesn’t know, I pick a direction at random, hoping against hope that we’re going the right way. Enough twists and turns that I’m dizzy and thoroughly disoriented later, I have to rest for a moment. I pull the hand covering my wound away, and it’s coated in dark red blood.

Well, that explains why it’s hurting and I’m so winded. All the walking must’ve reopened the barely healed injury. I lean my head back against the cool cinder block and try to collect myself.

A larger part of me than I want to admit just wants to plop down, close my eyes, and rest. If I didn’t have Annabel with me, I honestly might do that. But I owe it to her to keep going until I either pass out or get us out of here. Hopefully it’ll be the second option.

Pounding footsteps to my right have me snapping my eyes open and jerking upright. I tug Annabel behind me as I whirl to face the source of the noise. When I see that it’s just Anson, I sag in relief. The panicked expression on his face has me stiffening.

Anson skids to a stop in front of me. He puts his hands on his knees as he pants, trying to catch his breath. “Briar! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Do you know what’s going on? I was in an experiment with Ryker. There were a bunch of loud noises. They just ran out of the room, leaving me and Annabel behind.” I don’t know why I’m not telling Anson the full story. There’s a tiny voice in the back of my mind that warns me to keep everything close to the vest.

He shakes his head, his floppy brown hair flying around as he does so. “I don’t know. I just know that we need to get out of here. Some psychos are blowing up the facility.”

Awesome.

I just love people blowing up buildings I’m in.

Here’s hoping they’re friendlies, but, with my luck, that’s doubtful. Whoever is exploding things probably wants to kill us just as much as the Knights do.

“Do you know the way out? Annabel knew some of the way, but we’ve been taking turns at random for a while.” I glance down at the little girl still clutching my hand. She’s mostly hidden behind me, only peeking out slightly to watch Anson warily.

“I do. I overheard some guards talking about it while I was trying to find you. Come on, I can show you the way, but we need to hurry.” Anson’s eyes pinch with concern as he reaches out his hand for mine.

I hesitate but eventually put my blood-slicked palm in his. My hand slides around a little when it touches his, but his fingers tighten to hold me in place. Anson starts running back the direction we came. I stumble as I try to keep up with him. After a few times of me almost falling on my face, he slows his pace. A flash of what looks like frustration contorts his features for a heartbeat, but it’s gone too fast for me to be sure.

“We’re going back the way we came,” I tell him when I can finally catch my breath enough to form the words. I know he’s eager to leave the facility. I am, too, but his pace is just too fast for me right now. Every time I try to walk a little slower, he yanks on my arm hard enough to hurt to make me keep up with him.

He sighs in frustration. “Well, you were going the wrong way. This is the way out.” His tone leaves no room for argument, so I just shut up and try to keep up.

After a minute of following him, the warning bells in my mind become too hard to ignore. Everything I am is screaming at me not to go this way. I slow my steps, but Anson keeps dragging me along by my hand.

“I need a minute,” I hiss at him, his attitude starting to get on my nerves. I try to yank my hand free, but he keeps it in his surprisingly strong grip.

Whirling around, he pins me with a fierce glare. “Do you want to get out of here or not?”

“I do, but if I bleed out, it doesn’t really matter if I get out, does it? All I’m asking for is a minute to rest.”

His glare softens as he lets go of me and scrubs a hand over his face. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve just been so worried about you, and I want to get you out safely.”

My own ire at him fades. “I wanna get out of here too, Anson. Just let me recoup for a moment. Then we can keep going.”

Anson gives me a small smile and a nod. Now that we’re on the same page, I wander over to the wall and lean back against it. Closing my eyes, I take deep breaths as I try to find the energy to keep going. The front of my scrubs is sticky with warm crimson blood, and I feel weaker by the minute.

I need at least a little more magic to heal myself enough to get out of here. When I go to where my magic normally sits, I’m surprised to see my wolf there.

“Descendant of Aeneas,” Dido screams in my mind. “Don’t trust him.”

I startle at her unexpected voice. Dido? What are you talking about? Where have you been?

“Yes, child, it is me. The suppression spell made it impossible for me to communicate with you, but I have been here the entire time. I have watched it all, and I have been trying to warn you about the boy you shared your confinement with. He is not a shifter. He is one of Aeneas’s descendants. Wherever he is taking you, it is not good.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

That’s so not good.

The situation just went from awful to apocalyptic. I’m alone with not just any Knight but one of Aeneas’s direct descendants, wounded, rapidly losing blood, and have a little girl to protect. I’m at a loss for how to get out of this situation.

Any ideas what I should do now? I ask Dido.

Her voice swims with regret. “I do not know, child. You are too weak to shift into a wolf, and you have used the last of your magic. Do you think you can try to sneak away?”

I shrug. I guess we’re going to find out because I don’t have any other ideas.

Opening my eyes, I hope Anson has his back turned to make it easy for Annabel and me to escape. As most things go in my shit show of a life, Anson’s is not only facing me, he’s also pointing a gun at me.

Awesome.

Just what I wanted.

Anson sneers at me. “So, you figured it out, did you?”

I don’t see any point in lying. “Yep. How’d you know?”

“I knew something was up when you were quiet for so long. I took a wild guess that you finally put the pieces together, and it looks like I was right.” He gives me a smug smile before jerking his chin at me. “How did you figure it out?”

I shrug. “Without the suppression spell, my wolf knows exactly who you are, descendant of Aeneas.” Annabel whimpers behind me. I squeeze her hand as I push off the wall and start walking backward a few steps. “So, what are the chances of you letting us go?”

He lets out a mocking laugh that’s eerily similar to Ryker’s. “Zero. It was pure luck I stumbled on you in the hallway as I was leaving. I don’t know how you got free, but I won’t let all the Knights’ hard work to expand the curse go to waste. You and your blood are crucial to everything we’re building, so there’s no way I’m letting you escape. I’m going to bring you back to my uncle, and he’ll decide what to do with you.”

“Who’s your uncle?” I ask, even though that’s really not the important question right now. I’m honestly just trying to stall as I try to come up with some solution that doesn’t get me shot or taken back to the Knights. It feels like a cosmic joke that I survived Ryker leaving me for dead only to stumble into a descendant of Aeneas who is going to take me right back to the Knights.

I doubt his uncle or the Knights will be as pleased as he thinks they will because Ryker apparently got everything he needed from me. All that sociopath wants is me dead, so Anson showing up with me still alive will just piss him off.

He rolls his eyes. “Ryker.”

Of course it is. Why would the guy holding a gun on me be related to anyone but the evilest Knight I’ve met?

Now that he says it, I can see some similarities in their face structure. They have the same jagged edges, thin lips, and dark eyes, even though Anson’s aren’t quite as dark. I feel like an idiot for not noticing the subtle similarities sooner.

I tilt my head as I try to put all the pieces together. “Why were you my cellmate?”

He sighs like I’m being purposely dense. “In case you knew anything useful that we didn’t about Dido and our spell. I told you that sob story to get you to trust me and spill all your secrets. It seemed to work pretty well, didn’t it?”

Not really. There’s a whole lot I didn’t tell him, thankfully. Patrick teaching me not to trust anyone was good for something. “So how you ended up in the facility never happened?”

“Oh, it happened. I was the one doing the killing and capturing, though. Luckily all the shifters I’ve bagged are in other facilities.” His lips tilt up in a sickening smile, pride at killing helpless humans and hurting shifters lighting his gaze. He waves the gun at me. “Now stop stalling.”

“You’re a fucking monster,” I spit at him. Realizing that I’m out of options and out of time, I shout, “Annabel, run!” The little girl’s eyes go wide before she sprints off in the opposite direction.

“Wrong choice, mutt. I need you mostly alive, not unharmed. If you’re not going to come with me willingly, I guess I’ll have to weaken you enough that I can take you without a fight.” Anson lowers his gun and fires twice into my stomach.

I can’t help the scream that works its way out of my throat at the fiery pain ripping through already damaged tissue. The force of the bullets’ impact causes me to stumble back a step. I lose my footing and fall, landing hard on my back. I try to struggle up, but I can’t get any of my limbs to cooperate. Eventually, I give up and sag against the tile floor.

My vision is going in and out as I fight to stay conscious. Through blurry eyes, I see Anson raise the gun to aim at my heart. I thought he needed me alive, but I guess not if he’s going to put a bullet through that vital organ. I squeeze my lids shut and brace myself for more bullets to rip through me.