The Jackal (Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp #1)(70)

Abruptly, she remembered seeing a large truck coast over the highway as she’d gone in search of the church. Come to think of it . . . she had seen a lot of them over the last ten or fifteen years, coming and going. She’d always assumed they were passing through the valley, but maybe some of them had originated from the prison.

“Okay.” Nyx took a deep breath. “I can’t thank you all enough for helping me.”

“Don’t take it too personally,” Lucan said. “Anything we can do to fuck the Command, we will run with it.”

“Well, I still appreciate it. Do we wait here?”

“Yes,” Jack said. “But it won’t be long.”

Annnnnnnd then there was nothing but awkward silence, the bunch of them standing around like they were about to be called to the counter for their order at Starbucks. Apex took out a knife—but just to whittle a piece of wood. Lucan paced around like a caged animal. Kane murmured something to Jack that was answered in a similar low tone.

“Exactly how long are we stuck here?” Nyx asked.

Kane answered. “No more than half an hour. You’ll be able to tell because you’ll hear the march of the guards on the other side of the wall. They need to escort the workers into the product area and will leave the Command’s quarters in a group to do so.”

“I’m taking a load off, then.” Nyx sat down and shucked her backpack. “Might as well conserve some energy.”

In reality, her legs were sore in places that made her blush again, and her body was still logy from the feeding. She wasn’t going to admit any of that to the peanut gallery, however.

Jack sat down next to her, which she appreciated. Then Kane sat across the pool from them. Eventually, Lucan and Mayhem followed the example. That Apex stayed standing was not a surprise, and out of instinct, Nyx angled her head so she could keep an eye on his position in her peripheral vision.

When she realized they’d all camped out around the pool, in a circle, she had to laugh. “This is like a group meeting.”

“I’m sorry?” Jack said.

“Like for therapy. You know, a bunch of people meeting to discuss common problems or ailments.” Except he didn’t know, did he. “Anyway. Yeah. So . . .”

Cue the Jeopardy! theme.

“So how did you guys end up here?” she blurted.

On a oner, all of the males jerked to face her. Kane’s aristocratic features registered shock, like she had just insulted someone at a dinner party. Lucan’s yellow eyes narrowed. Even Mayhem seemed surprised.

Jack cleared his throat. “Nyx, I know that you didn’t mean any offense by that because you don’t know any better. But we really don’t make those kinds of inquiries around here—”

“I slaughtered an entire bloodline.”

As Apex spoke up from his lean against the wall, all stares went to him, and he didn’t miss a beat with his sharp blade against the pale flesh of the piece of wood he was working.

“I murdered them in their sleep.” He regarded the blade, turning it back and forth in the candlelight as if he were conjuring fond memories of its use. “Even the females. That’s why I’m in here.”

Those black eyes of his flashed to Nyx. “Any other questions? Do you want to know what I did with the bodies?”

“No,” Jack bit out. “She does not.”

Kane cleared his throat. “Well, if we’re telling our stories, I shall share mine own. I broke an arranged mating with a female I did not love. Her sire took offense.” The male’s eyes went to the pool’s churning water. “He arranged for the murder of the female I did love, and he blamed it upon me. I am here for life as a result of his retaliation.”

“I am so sorry,” Nyx whispered as unspeakable pain flared in his face.

“It matters not.” Kane seemed exhausted, and not because he required sleep. “Whether I am housed here or up above, I would be suffering. I will e’er mourn my leelan.”

There was another period of silence, and she glanced at Jack. He had a remote expression on his face as he studied Kane, and it seemed as though it was the first time he had heard the story—

“What of your sister?” Lucan demanded. “Why was she here?”

Nyx cleared her throat as she was addressed. “She was falsely accused of murder. She didn’t kill the male. My grandfather, for reasons I don’t understand, turned her in to the Council. I don’t know why he did it, and I will never forgive him.”

“Ne’er has more a corrupt body existed,” Kane muttered. “Did they even bother with a farce of a trial?”

“Was the victim one of them?” Lucan asked. “An aristocrat, I mean. No offense, Kane.”

“None taken, friend.”

Nyx nodded. “He was. We’re just civilians, obviously. He lived not far from our farmhouse, on a lot of property, in a big fancy house. Janelle—my sister—she would go over there and work, you know, just trying to make some money. For about a year, she mowed the meadows and tended the fences. She painted barns and the house. She took care of the gardens, too. . . . Anyway, one night, she came back to our house early and told us that the male had died of old age. Given that he had no heirs, he’d provided a little something for her as well as some of the other folks who worked there. She had some cash and a ring. It wasn’t a lot of money or a piece of jewelry of much value, and I thought it was a nice gesture by an employer. And that was that, or so I thought. Except then the next night . . . we got this formal notice of accusation from the Council.” She shrugged helplessly. “Why my grandfather did what he did, I’ll never know, and how the Council found her guilty, I’ll also never understand. She was totally innocent.”