Page 43 of Shifters Unifying (Shifters Destiny: Willow Creek Shifters #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

logan

No Man’s Land

The half-crazed woman bustled about the place, moving from one prisoner to another. When she got back to me, I flashed a smile and tried to get her to look me in the eye. But she refused.

Finally, I said, “There’s really no reason for you to keep us here, is there? With Acheron gone, we’re just a nuisance,” I said. “Tell Acheron we overpowered you.”

“No, no, if he discovers I let you go, he’ll hurt my son.

Worse than dying.” Her footsteps neared, and she came into view, her face swollen beneath a layer of bruises.

Her eyes were cloudy, unfocused as she bent over me to check my restraints.

An over-sized, tattered t-shirt hung loose over leggings and her painfully skinny body.

“He wants you most of all. If I give you to him, he might let us go. And if that looking glass gets broke…”

“You have to know he’s never going to let you do,” I rasped, tugging at the chains and tightening them even more.

Lighter footsteps whispered across the stone floor toward us, and a small hand slipped into hers.

At least he looked like he ate better than his mother did.

No, she probably gave him most of her food.

For a moment, in his place, I saw ten-year-old Callie, holding my cousin Sheila’s hand, smiling at me. My heart splintered in my chest.

“Mama,” the boy whispered. “When can we leave here?”

“When he doesn’t need me anymore, sweetie,” she said, her voice stronger and no longer sing-songing. The kid was her handle on reality.

“When will Uncle Marcus come to save us? Didn’t you say he would bring an army of cat shifters? When will I be able to shift, Mama? Why don’t you shift anymore?”

Her face contorted. “I thought so. I don’t know anymore.”

“Marcus sent us,” I said. “Marcus shared this location.”

Her eyes cleared slightly, and she frowned. “You know my brother, Marcus?”

The boy beamed at me as though I’d already freed them.

“We were all there, at the creek. He told us where to go, and we came… to save you.” I nearly choked on the lie I forced through my teeth.

Olivia grunted, but she didn’t correct my dishonesty.

Surely, she understood that was our one chance to get out of there before Acheron returned.

The woman wasn’t singing anymore. Maybe that meant lucidity was within her grasp.

She hadn’t been the reason we came. But if she set us free, I’d save her, too.

“Why didn’t Marcus come with you?”

“He’s helping the multimorph.”

“Acheron is coming,” she sing-songed, pressing a hand to her mind. “I feel him getting closer. His thoughts become clearer, and he can hear mine.”

I frowned. That’s how the fated mated bond work. Was she the fated mated of Acheron? No, Acheron was an evil mage, a human, consumed by power and dark magic. Acheron had never been a shifter. He couldn’t have a fated mate… Could he?

Regardless, if she felt him getting closer, that meant our time was running out.

“Marcus is waiting for you back in my territory,” I whisper-yelled. “If you release us, we’ll take you there.”

“But you’re wolves. He’s—we’re—cats.” She stared at a distant spot, beyond the mansion, beyond the walls.

“The multimorph unified us.”

Her gaze cut to me. She nodded as though my words made sense, chewing her bottom lip in way that reminded me of Emma. “Marcus sent you?”

“You put a map in his head, and I followed it.”

“I did, but Acheron forced me to do… I mean, he didn’t expect you so soon…

” She faltered. “Can you protect me if I come with you? We have to be safe.” She trembled so hard her teeth chattered.

“He’s getting closer. Dozens and dozens of shifters coming with more on the way.

So much food and not a drop spared for us. ”

“If we make it back to Six-Mile, the multimorph can keep you safe.”

She snorted. “The multimorph will never accept me or forgive me for the things I’ve done.”

“She will,” I argued. “Let us go, and I’ll show you. Trust me.”

She said nothing as a war between hope and despair seemed to rage inside her.

A whistle cut through the heavy silence in the underground room and echoed off the walls. “Aye, lass. She will. That multimorph is a special one.” Jasper sauntered in and came to a halt beside me and tugged on his red beard. “Now that looks a wee bit uncomfortable, friend Logan.”

The battered woman straightened, took a step back, and raised her hands as if to deflect a blow. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Jasper flashed his most charming grin. “But I am, so we’ll work from that bit of truth. Shall I help ye release my friends? And what shall we call ye? What’s yer name, lass?”

“I don’t remember who I am anymore.” She blinked and bent over me. With a quick movement, she dragged her hand over my shackles, and all four popped open. Every muscle ached as I jumped to my feet and jogged the direction Oliver had been howling in the Iron Maiden.

“Get the others,” she murmured to the boy next to her. “We have to hurry.”

The boy darted across the room to Olivia and more chains rattled.

“Thanks, kid,” she said, rubbing her wrists as she climbed to her feet.

The keys rattled as I grabbed them and shoved the most used-looking one into the lock on the metal, coffin-like box.

The hinges creaked as I opened the lid, and Oliver stared up at me, wide-eyed and bloodied from the stakes fastened to the inside of the lid.

He took my hand when I offered it, and I yanked him out.

He landed on his feet but leaned into me while he tried to steady himself. “I’ve got to say,” he said, smiling weakly. “That was my first Iron Maiden experience.”

I clapped him on his shoulder and led him to the center of the room. “Let’s not repeat the torture box anytime soon, huh? And maybe let me tell Emma about what happened?”

He flashed a thumbs up. “Deal.”

Phil, John, and the others collected in the middle of the room beside us.

“You said something about the living dead mages. Are they patrolling?”

She shook her head. “No, they only come out when I summon them by delving shifting magic into the runes, and I didn’t have to do that to catch you. You fell into the trap he set for you. I only had to drag you down here and tie you all up.”

Olivia glared at me. “Great! The stars have aligned. Now we have to get out of here.” She tugged at my elbow and turned toward the woman. “What’s the fastest way?”

The woman grasped the arm of her son, and she hurried us toward the mouth of a tunnel which angled up and out of the underground space. Daylight shone at the end of it. I really must have been out for hours.

With each step we took away from her prison, she trembled from head to toe, and she tripped on her own feet over and over.

After the fourth time I lifted her and set her upright, she pushed her son toward me. “Make sure he gets free of here.”

“I won’t leave you,” the boy whimpered.

“It’s okay, bud,” I said. “We’re not leaving your mom behind. We just have to hurry faster.” I scooped the kid up and thrust him to Jasper. Then I crouched down with my back toward her. “Get on.”

“What?”

“It’ll be faster than helping you up every few steps.”

At that, she hopped onto my back, and I winced over how little she weighed, like daypack of bird bones and feathers. Starving herself to death.

We sped across the front lawn, over the driveway, and between the piles of body parts. Jasper shielded the kid’s eyes from the grotesque reminders of who Acheron was.

How much shit had that boy probably seen? His mom, too. She would be a wealth of information about how Acheron did things.

Torbin could delve them, Emma could heal them, and maybe Dr. Wise could recommend some decent therapists. For both of them.

Jasper high-stepped across the metal cattle guard and landed on the other side with a flourish that had the kid grinning. Phil, Olivia, John, and Oliver followed, and I brought up the rear—first on in, last one out.

But when the woman and I stepped across the middle of the guard, we slammed into an invisible wall, and I stumbled back, losing my balance. My leg slipped between the pipes, and after an awkward twist, a bone cracked in my lower leg.

She slipped off my back. “Shit. Shit.”

I freed my leg and limped off the cattle guard. “Invisible wall,” I muttered, sharing a meaningful look with Olivia. I waved for the woman to follow. “Try again. Almost free.”

She made it three pipes over and froze, staring at the now-illuminated runes on the columns. Her eyes flooded with tears. “I can’t go any farther, and Acheron will be here any minute. You have to go.”

I reached for her hand, easily touching her, but when I tried to drag her through the block, she slammed into an invisible, impenetrable barrier once more. “Fuck!”

“It’s me. He warded me in,” she whimpered. “That’s why the runes are glowing.” She gestured to her boy. “Get my son to Marcus. He’ll teach him to be the next alpha.”

“Mama,” her cried out, squirming out of Jasper’s arms.

I caught him before he could get by me and back into the compound. He kicked and fought as I pulled him back from the cattle guard where his mother still stood.

“Come on, kid,” I said. “Come back to see your uncle. You’ll be safe.”

“Go on, sweetie,” she said, waving and backing away. She plastered a smile on her face. “I’ll be fine. Remember our song. Go,” she begged. “Just go. He’s almost here.”

“No, I’m not going.” He twisted around, slipped from my grip, easily crossed through the barrier, and threw his arms around his mother. “I’m not leaving you!”

She sank to the ground, wrapped him in a hug, already back to singing the lullaby. Her eyes were clouding over, and she glanced over her shoulder as though Acheron was just behind her.

I took a step toward them, determined to get the boy the hell out of here, but Olivia caught my arm, and Phil snagged my other one and held me in place.

“We’ve got to go,” she whispered. “Can’t afford a kid, kicking and screaming through the forest. Fast and quiet. That’s how we got here, and that’s the only way we make it back to Emma alive.”

I tested the bond. “She’s alive, and she’s safe. Let me help them.”

“Nay, laddie,” Jasper murmured. “They’ve made their choice. Maybe we can save them next time. Emma’s your top priority.”

How could I face Marcus after intentionally leaving his sister and nephew behind? What would I have done if he had done that to Sheila and Callie?

Double fucking hell.