Nearly there.
Axel and Rhory are absorbing the energy around Kiarra’s location, or at least they’re trying to. If everything goes according to plan, we can be there within minutes, having the necessary supes needed to create the portal ready to go.
Jax keeps checking the phone in his hand, waiting for the green light from the others. Kai and Rion are still in Boulder, so they’ll take a separate portal straight there. That’s if everything works out and they’re able to drain it first.
As time slowly drags on, I start to doubt myself and everything we’ve done to get this far. The phone rings, making my heart stop. Jax picks it up on the first ring.
“It’s done.”
The relief I feel from those two little words lifts the dark cloud threatening to smother me whole.
Jax’s tense body relaxes, a look of determination shifting across his face.
I give the supes a nod, telling them to get the portal ready.
“Here we go.”
I grab Jax’s shoulder as we wait for it to open. “Time to get our girl back, brother.”
“And never let her out of our fucking sight again.” He gives me a smirk, telling me exactly what we’re going to do with our little mate. She has no clue what she’s in for.
The portal opens and we rush forward… and straight into complete chaos.
Darkness explodes all around us, reaching nearly every corner of the small Island. It brushes past us but doesn’t harm us in the slightest.
“What the hell was that?” Jax’s wide eyes mirror my own.
“I don’t know, but let’s hurry.”
Jax nods, rushing through the thick forest. Racing forward, I notice less thick trees the farther in we get, giving me a slight piece of hope. But the farther we get in, the more that hope shrivels up.
The island is quiet, eerily so. My heartbeat kicks up a notch, thinking we’re too late.
Damn it. Please be okay.
After a couple of minutes, we find a large building that looks like an old military base. Green vines cover the outside, doing a shit job of trying to hide it from anyone. There’s a fence around the entire length of it.
Without thinking, we head straight for it, breaking into a sprint before jumping over the fence and landing on the balls of our feet.
I share a look with Jax before heading towards the emergency exit. Just as we reach it, another blast of dark smoke explodes towards us.
We duck but can’t stop the dark smoke from reaching us. We dig our feet into the ground and brace for impact.
The smoke feels cool as it brushes through us again, but just like last time, it doesn’t harm us.
Jax and I share a frown before shaking it off and push forward. Ripping the door off its hinges, we head inside, only to be met by complete darkness. The same dark smoke that’s outside covers every inch inside, making it hard to see anything.
I feel Jax beside me as we move forward, using our other senses to listen for anything, but it’s quiet. Too quiet.
I rub my chest. The bond feels stronger, but I can’t pinpoint it to one spot. It’s like it’s all over the building, making my dread grow.
The more we move in, the more the dark smoke begins to clear. Light slowly filters in, revealing long halls with rows of doors.
“Search every room. She has to be here somewhere,” I tell Jax, trying to make myself believe it.
Moving through the long halls reminds me of a hospital, but one from a horror movie, as the bloodied bodies come into view. There’s a shitload of them, with most ripped apart and in pieces.
If Kiarra is…
The sound of my heartbeat thrashing in my ears drowns out everything around me as terror takes over at the thought of something happening to Kiarra. I can’t give a fuck who these people are once I know she isn’t among them.
Jax’s face is white as he looks over them, searching for her.
“She’ll be fine,” he tells me, but nothing about the tone in his voice or the look of horror on his face eases the dread choking me.
“Where are the others? They should be here by now,” I ask Jax as we make our way through the bodies.
“We’re here.” Kai, Rion, and Axel come up behind us.
“We had a minor issue with the portal,” Axel grits out, looking pissed as hell until he sees the dead bodies. “What the fuck happened here?”
I swallow hard, the thought of Kiarra’s body lying among them flashing through my mind. “We don’t know.”
Axel rubs his chest. “Why can’t I feel where she is now that the spell is down? It’s almost like…”
“Like she’s everywhere,” I finish for him, still feeling the same.
“You don’t think—”
“No.” Kai sighs, his eyes pulsing as he tries to control his hounds. “Let’s split up and look for her. She has to be here somewhere.” He forces a calm tone, but we all feel the tension in the air, and a blanket of panic falls over us.
Jax and I keep moving forward while the others turn right and down another hall. The farther we go, the more this place feels like a damn maze.
“What the—” Jax moves around a large werewolf, or what looks like a mutant version of one. It’s deformed, with a missing arm.
“Let’s keep moving,” I tell him, not ready to even think about what that thing is.
Not yet.
More unnatural creatures show up the longer we search, making my dread increase.
Where are you, Kiarra?
Finding a staircase, we head down. Coming to the end of the corridor on the last hall, we find three rooms. Two have bars on them.
Heading toward them, we find the bars bent, revealing a room with a metal table and machine to the side.
King has me strapped down to a table. Kiarra’s words flash before me, making my blood boil.
This is where he kept her, in this… cell of a room. I hate it. I hate that she was here, where it’s dark and cold, and all alone.
I glance at the machine, the one that fucking electrocuted her, and lose it. My veins burn with the violence thrashing through me. I need an outlet. Something to burn through the twisting storm gathering inside me.
“Let’s burn it.” I look at Jax, seeing him in a similar state. His fists are clenched by his side as he stares at the machine.
Jax turns to me, his eyes full of rage as he holds back a shift. His eyes glow as his cool blue flames slides up his arms.
“Burn it, Luka. Burn it all.” His guttural voice breaks, and it’s the last straw before I let go.
My red flames take flight and span out, heading straight toward the machine, blowing it up on impact.
I move to the table, doing the same, before I scorch the room completely. Pulling my flames back, I glance around the room at my handy work, my shadow wolf appeased by the destruction.
Once the machine has melted and is nothing but a metal mess on the floor, I turn to Jax. “Let’s keep looking.”
Jax nods his head as if on autopilot, both of us thinking the worst the longer we go without finding her.
Moving back through the halls, we come across more dead guards and creatures, some fucking terrifying-looking, but all dead.
We move up back up the staircase and head in the opposite direction, finding nothing but more dead bodies and creatures. I’m about to turn around when I catch something moving out of the corner of my eye. I glance at Jax before we head straight for it.
Moving closer, we see it’s a dark-haired guy holding a body in his arms.
A very familiar body.
We speed up, my wolf wanting out… wanting to rip this guy apart for touching her… for hurting her.
“Get your damn hands off my mate!” My wolf pushes forward, wanting to break his hand for daring to touch what’s ours.
The guy’s head whips up, his eyes widening when he sees us coming. He raises a hand, his other still touching Kiarra.
A low warning growl slips from my lips the closer I get to my new prey.
“Hey, hey.” As if sensing he isn’t going to get anywhere with us, he gently places Kiarra down on the floor and steps back, holding his palms up.
“She passed out after she…” He glances around at the destruction around us. “After she did this.”
His words slowly filter through the red haze, making us pause. Jax gives me a confused look, one I share with him as I kneel and pull Kiarra into my arms.
Checking her pulse, I feel it slow but steady. The dread and fear slowly leave my tense body. I look up, giving Jax a nod, telling him she’s okay… at least physically.
“Who are you?”
The guy shakes his head. “No one… just another prisoner.”
Jax gently picks up her hand, holding it tight. “Kiarra, did all this?”
The guy, demon by the smell of it, nods his head. “I don’t know how, but it just… exploded out of her.”
I share a look with Jax. That black smoke and destruction was her… But how?
I glance down at her face, so at peace, so innocent-looking, you wouldn’t think something so fragile looking could cause such destruction.
Not that it matters to me.
She could destroy this whole island, and I wouldn’t give a fuck.
“Fuck them,” Jax says, voicing my thoughts while staring at Kiarra as if she’s the most precious thing in this world. And he’d be right.
“They deserved it, and they better fucking pray I don’t find any of them alive.” He narrows his eyes on the bodies scattered across the room, not one of them moving.
“I don’t give a shit if it was her. I just want her to be okay.” I hold her close to my body and lift her. Jax’s eyes don’t leave her as we make our way out of there. The demon follows close behind but keeps his distance. He doesn’t need to get any closer than he already was to our mate.
Coming out onto the next corridor, we run into the guys.
“Thank fuck…” Axel breathes. “Is she…?”
“She’s unconscious, but alive,” I tell him.
Axel releases a harsh breath, nodding his head.
“Who the fuck is this?” He nods his head toward the demon.
“We found him with Kiarra,” Jax tells Axel, narrowing his eyes on the demon.
Kai reaches us, his eyes not leaving Kiarra. “Go search the rest of the place. Kane must be here somewhere.”
Taking one last look at Kiarra, Rion heads off in the opposite direction.
“Kane?” the demon asks just as his body starts trembling.
“What the—” My eyes widen, wondering if it’s some kind of aftereffect from the smoke.
He drops to the floor, his eyes widening as he looks up at us. “Knock me out.”
“What?” Axel looks at him as if he’s gone crazy, which might not be too far from the truth after being stuck in this place for who knows how long.
“Ple…ase.” His voice breaks as he squeezes his eyes shut.
Jax looks to Kai while Kai’s eyes narrow, glowing and doing some crazy shit of their own.
The guy starts convulsing as he starts to shift, his demon side taking over.
“Knock. Me. Out.” His voice grows deeper with each word.
Just before he loses it, Axel steps forward and punches him straight in the face, knocking him out.
Kai raises a brow at him. Axel shrugs. “You heard him.”
Within seconds, the demon’s transformation comes to a halt, and he reverts back to a man. Which makes no fucking sense but is just another thing to add to this mess.
“What the hell is he?” Axel asks, still staring at the demon.
“I don’t know, but we should take him with us,” Kai tells us.
Axel huffs but grabs his arm. Hauling him over his shoulders, he carries him out.
Once we’re outside, Jax pulls out his phone and sends off a text to let our people know we’re ready for the portal.
Rion comes through the emergency exit a couple of minutes later with a beaten and unconscious Kane. There are multiple incision marks all over his body. His nose is busted, and he has two black eyes, making me think Kiarra wasn’t the only prisoner here.
I push the thought aside for now, focusing back on her.
The warmth in my chest spreads to my hands as I heat them to keep her warm against the cool breeze.
Everyone’s quiet. All of them stare at our mate, unable to look away, as if she’s about to disappear any second. I grip her tighter just as the portal opens.
“Time to go home,” Kai says, taking one last look around.
“What about that?” Jax asks, tilting his head toward the building.
“As soon as we have Kiarra safe, I’ll wipe it out.” He glances over at her. “She’ll never have to worry about this place again.”
Something settles inside me to know that she’ll never see this place again. No one will.
We move toward the portal. This time with our whole future lying safely in my arms.
