Page 24 of Monsters (Vengeance #3)

Gray

“ V egas,” I groaned and she turned her head to the side offering me a pained look.

The two of us had been in this god damn cell for at least a week now.

Our eyes adjusted to the dark room and cold winds that howled through the small window across from us.

It also kept spewing rain water all over us which was some bullshit.

“I know.” She grunted as her eyes strayed to the man she’d just killed.

Mario, and his son, Victor, had fucked up.

Victor, who was apparently Vegas’s deranged stalker, had suggested putting us inside holding cells with cuffs that cut off our power.

Which it did. Well, it cut off mine, I should say.

Vegas’s seemed just fine and continued to react defensively to any guards trying to hurt us.

I was thankful for her because it was stopping both of us from torture if I had to correctly interpret the malice on their faces. I felt fucking useless.

For once in my life my confidence waned.

I felt as though I’d let everyone down and risked everything for nothing .

Mario wasn’t dead. The castle could be decimated by now.

I couldn’t even start to think about my friends, my Luna…

my people. They could all be dead. My men could be dead or injured.

I was in prison without powers and Vegas was trapped alongside me.

Honestly, it didn’t help that they weren’t feeding us anymore.

I mean, shit.

You burn a few guards to death and the punishment is no food? That seems harsh.

Mario didn’t come down often and I think he was livid with Victor. Victor who swayed from sadistic asshole to total bitch every other day, much to Vegas’s annoyance. She kept trying to convince him to let her out but Mario always seems to step in at the wrong fucking time.

At least Mario couldn’t get to either of us right now and my powers had nothing to do with that.

That? That was all Vegas.

“This fucking sucks,” I commented softly.

Vegas chuckled and rolled her head to the side. My face was twisted up with frustration and pain. Pain because I was still injured from battle and my power wasn’t letting me heal. I was really fucking hoping that didn’t mean I was mortal. I mean how did that shit even work?

Vegas grew serious and spoke quietly. “Gray, I have something to tell you. Something that I know Mario will bring up whether I want him to or not.”

Honestly, I’d completely forgotten about the secret of her power because I’d been so thankful it was working.

Never in my life had I been comfortable being reliant on someone and it was humbling.

Where Vegas struggled with feeling confident in her strength, I struggled with others being strong for me.

Talk about an ironic fucking turn of events .

“I know,” I spoke gently because I didn’t want to rush her.

“I grew up in the Horde.”

Excuse me?! Huh?

Then the craziest and most honest words came from her mouth. Truth and clarity rang in her tone and I was compelled to listen despite the unbelievable nature of it.

“I was created by Nicholas, an alchemy mage, a sorceress upon creation around twenty-one years ago. One of the only ones currently alive. I was unaware of this of course, until the night or your coronation, but I’ll get to that.

You see, my initial hesitancy came from the fact that the person who ordered my creation was. ..your mother.”

Pain lanced through me at the thought of my mother. I felt a wisp of power across my cheek as if she was here brushing my hair back. Yeah. Maybe I’d lost too much blood.

I focused on her so that she would continue.

“She wanted to create something or someone that would be able to be a weapon for you. Someone so powerful that they could match you. But not just that. When your mother created me I became attached to her so that even in her death she was able to contact me, informing me that I have a larger purpose within the Fae lands.”

There was so much to fucking unpack there but the most major was that she had fucking talked to my mom! Like, holy shit.

“You talked to her?” I demanded.

Vegas looked pained. “Yeah, I should have explained that better. When we were taken into the dreamscape by Victor, your mother saved Booker and me from some creepy white scaly creatures. She appeared. Your mother said that I had a larger purpose. And that message you got from Palo? The advice? It was from her. She seemed to be right. This was much larger than I could have ever expected.”

I believed her. I believed she was a sorceress. I believed that she’d talked to my mom. I just believed in her. I smiled because something truly special occurred to me and it fit like a puzzle piece.

“Our mother,” I whispered.

Vegas looked at me wide-eyed. “What?”

I smiled in disbelief. “Our mother, she created me and created you. We are sisters, right? It’s why we have such a strong connection.”

Her eyes lit up with hope like mine before she deflated a bit. “I was built to be a weapon.”

“No,” I stated truthfully. “It sounds like you are much more than that. Go on, though.”

Also, cool, Mom. No pressure but “Vegas you will change all of the fae realms.”

Vegas smiled softly. “I was sent away from the Horde when you disappeared. I grew up with both Byron and Edwin, living at their residence with Nicholas. He sent us to the Earth Realm for our safety. I was placed in a foster care safe house with a human who understood the delicate situation. The Ivanov brothers began to gather my circle of ten and I ended up growing up with them.”

Well, that made way more sense. Her boys weren’t just crazy, they were also bound to her through magic.

“Circle of ten?” I asked.

“They keep me grounded and protected.”

I tilted my head because I could tell there was more to be said. “Why are you telling me this? Besides Mario?”

“You mentioned that you felt bad about bringing me into this,” she frowned, “and I need you to understand that this would have happened whether or not you and I met. ”

“What?”

Honestly, I was now confused.

“Mario had sent Victor over to find me, knowing that I was a sorceress. Unfortunately, the bastard got all creepy and before I knew it, Edwin had announced we had magic and shit.”

I whistled in surprise. So Victor wasn’t just a creepy stalker. It also explained things even more.

“Well, shit. That explains why you are so strong.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I just needed to work through it. I needed to understand it.” Her words were filled with guilt.

“Hey!” I demanded her attention. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I have told you everything about my life.”

As in most of my horrific childhood.

“But this could have affected your decisions,” she closed her eyes with a sigh.

“Vegas.” I spoke again as she looked at me. “Knowing this only makes me happier I’ve met you. We are in this together and if anyone can get out of here, it will be us.”

Vegas’s eyes grew big and filled with emotion. I reached through our cells as if we could hold hands. I smiled and felt my amusement spark at a thought.

“We are totally a badass sister version of Bonnie and Clyde,” I muttered.

“I love that!” She let out a solid laugh.

I laughed, too, because shit! I had a sister. That was fucking awesome.

Adyen

We were so close yet my body and chest hurt.

I could feel the mate withdrawal cracking through my system.

Rhodes was far worse but we were trying to keep a brave face for our men and Luna.

I wish we had been able to simply portal to their castle but then their wards would have given them warning to our arrival.

I didn’t want them to panic and do something irreversible to Gray or her friend Vegas.

It was becoming obvious that both girls were located in the cells downstairs and only yesterday one of Vegas’s men had been able to see that through his dreams. Apparently, his ink ability had been manifesting differently than normal.

The main aspect? Gray and Vegas were alive in the cells under the castle and apparently there were others as well.

My eyes followed the late sunset as I rubbed my chest. Not being around my lil brawler hurt. A fuck ton. She was everything to me. How had I not told her how much I loved her yet? When I found her little ass, I planned on saying those words as soon as I could.

“You’re freaking me out over there.” Luna stated, narrowing her eyes from across the fire.

I almost barked out a laugh because the girl was honestly growing on me. Mostly because of how bold and refreshing she was.

Just like her mom. I missed Gray.

“How so?”

“You look all emotional,” she cringed. A laugh in the distance made her snap her head to the side. I nearly rolled my eyes as Jude offered her a stupid grin.

Kid was going to kill me.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked Cannon despite not knowing him well, and Jude seemed okay.

I knew their friendship was innocent and probably completely healthy.

..but, they were still young, so of course it was simply lighthearted right now.

What happened when they got older, though?

I mean I didn’t plan on letting our kids date until they were like fifty so this was going to be an issue.

It wasn’t even a maybe issue either. The wolf shifter literally looked at her with enough adoration to make most mate couples look bad. It was authentic and refreshing, though. It was how love should be without people acting like idiots about it.

“Stay close,” I noted as Jude offered me a serious nod and took her hand.

At least he was polite.

“How’s Rhodes?” I asked quietly as Taylor took a seat next to me.

His eyes stayed focused on the two kids as he spoke. “He’s sleeping right now but I can tell it is draining him. They should have been together for far longer before being apart for more than a week, even.”

I grunted. I knew that well.

My mouth opened to say something when a familiar thread of magic invaded our space. Taylor and I both looked up to face Edwin. His jaw was tense but he spoke quickly.

“We need to leave tonight.” He stated. “We will leave camp set up here with a small unit, but if we leave now, our arrival will be early tomorrow evening.”

“You want to leave our camp a day’s worth away?” Taylor demanded softly.

“Safe enough distance away so that it isn’t destroyed but close enough that we won’t worry about some of our less-seasoned soldiers,” he sighed.

The kids.

Of course.

I nodded. “All right. Let’s do it. ”

“Really?” Taylor raised his brows. “We are leaving to go get her? Like tonight?”

I smiled. Yeah, we fucking were.

Then I was going to claim her little ass as my mate because I was done waiting.