Braving the Elements (Darkness #2)(39)

“Send me in first. I’ll figure it out and report back.”

Stefan shook his head. “We don’t have the time. We’ll go in strong and cut our way through. We’ll have to think on the fly.”

“No problem.” Charles hefted his sword. “I’m good at thinking on the fly.

I’ll go suit up.”

“One more thing—“

Charles turned back to the still figure, a rock among crashing waves, immovable and solid despite what he personally faced.

“Get Jonas. I’ll need him for this.”

Calling in the big guns. Although, Charles wasn’t sure it was the best move. The Boss had always trusted the man, but he was often the only one.

Plus, Jonas hated Sasha. Hated her. It would be a bad day to find out the Boss’s trust had been misplaced…



*****

A n explosion rocked my cage, deep and distant. Everyone in the room—only moments before lounging and waiting like robots on sleep mode—hustled to the doors, peering out. Another explosion on the opposite side of what seemed like a large campus. Through the link poured determination and cold vengeance.

Stefan had shown up.

A surge of sweet gratitude and deep rooted love welled up in me. I could’ve cried. I wanted to, in fact, but a part of me said to stay strong. Stay vigilant. To help Stefan with the rescue as much as possible, however possible.

An outpouring of men burst through the double doors—my dear friend, Andris, with some stern-eyed fighting men, nearly head-to-toe covered in glowing orange and red tattoos. They headed straight for me, Andris’ eyes burning a hazel fury.

“How did they find us?” he yelled, ripping the door to my prison open and yanking me out by my hair.

Pain flared as I squinted up at him. “You forgot to paint the outside in camouflage? Let me guess, the building is white…”

He shook me and flung me to the ground. Another crowd stormed through the doors, holding a scantily clad man fighting for his life. Guards dropped him to the floor, aiming three well-placed kicks to keep the man down.

My heart wrenched. It was Jessiah. His wild eyes gaped out of a black-and-blue face, fear running rampant. This is what happened when you sold yourself to an enemy for a bartering chip that could be taken from you. Once you proved yourself a traitor, with nothing to sit on after the deal was done, you made yourself expendable. I shouldn’t have felt compassion for what he’d done to me, but it was hard to look at him without it.

“How did they find us?” Andris repeated, staring at Jessiah now.

“I-I don’t know. The Boss has been trying to find this place for months.

He’s never been able to.”

“Unless he sent in a spy…” Andris turned back to me. “Did you let yourself get taken, little girl? Are you smarter than you seem?”

“Smarter than I seem? Hell, I’d have to be pretty dumb to end up in this situation, hmm? Which makes me wonder how dumb exactly you think I am…”

“A smart mouth at a time like this? You will lose your cool when the White Mage—ah, here he is now.”

Cape billowing behind him, the runt of the litter came marching in, his face a terrible mask of fury. His eyes found Jessiah first, hard and cold, staring down at the once-attractive man with that shrewd gaze. “You’ve been holding out on us. How did he find this place? Only you or the girl could have told him. You are the only traitor of the two, so…”

The White Mage’s tattoos flared, bright white. Jessiah started to scream, a shrill plea for help as his body convulsed on the floor. I could almost feel the magic as it brushed against the blockage, seeking admittance to my body. I scrabbled at it, my warning butt tingle telling me danger was in the room.

“Tell me what I wish to know, and I will spare you,” the White Mage said softly, bending down toward a panting Jessiah.

“I do-don’t know. I only spoke to my contact about all this. That was all.”

“Did you alert the girl before you ambushed her?”

“No! I swear! She wouldn’t have followed me if she’d known. Nor her bodyguard.”

White flared again, a palpable thing. The room must have been drenched in magic, the power so intense, I could almost taste it. When the pain washed away, Jessiah lay, crying and broken, spilling secrets no one cared to hear.

His body bent strangely and blood vessels had burst in his eyes. It seemed like he’d been electrocuted to within an inch of his life.

“Finish him. He’s of no use, as I suspected.” The White Mage straightened up and looked at me, someone else dragging a sobbing Jessiah away.

Terrible fear washed over me as tears dripped down my face. I backed against the wall, shaking and crying, never having seen anything so absolutely violent in all my life.

“What do you know that you aren’t telling me?” The White Mage stalked closer, cornering a trapped animal.

“Your cape is ridiculous and your face is something not even a mother could love.”

If army men were the gasping type, the room would’ve been stuffed with inhales. I knew, though, that anger made people do stupid things. Rash things. The White Mage would kill me—obviously—so I could only hope I pissed him off enough to do it quickly, or make some other mistake that freed me. Yes, I was grasping at straws, but I couldn’t see any other way.