Aflame (Apotheosis) (31 page)

“She can’t talk. Dislocated jaw, shattered bones in her face and skull.” Marcus’ head hung low on his shoulders. “Hunters found her, hidden in the bushes. Said they would’ve walked right by if the buck they’d been chasing hadn’t trampled her. They heard her scream. God, the poor girl.”

Chelsea’s eyes snapped open and she grabbed Zander’s arm. “She escaped from the mining tunnels.” Her knees buckled. She fell so fast he missed her waist and caught her around the bosom. “Oh, dear Lord. The things he did...”

“Stop, Chelsea. We have enough.” He choked down the thick lump in his throat. “Chelsea, you saved her today. You found her when I couldn’t. I owe you my life.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “Stay here with Marcus.”

He didn’t give them time to answer. Marcus would’ve insisted on helping, but would have slowed him down. While he didn’t mind carrying the ladies or a child while engaging light speed, he had no desire to get that up close and personal with his tall, dark and deadly friend.

Mining tunnels? Shit. He thought those had been closed down for decades. He cursed himself for the oversight then headed for the hills.

* * * *

Grayce hung on the wall, arms above her head, legs sprawled, naked but no longer afraid.

Not afraid of Tyr, anyway.

The darkness beckoned, promised safe haven from whatever fate the monster had in store. She could see now, that the security and comfort if offered was a lie. It wanted her soul, the same as the monster.

She had her fire, and Zander. The darkness had nothing on them. It was no longer welcome in her world. Like Tyr and the control he once wielded, it was her past. Zander was her future.

She no longer feared Tyr. She feared losing the one thing in her life that offered her true grace.

Zander.

The man offered unconditional love, physical and emotional protection, and never asked for one goddamned thing in return.

Like an idiot, she had tried to run away from him. What the fuck was she thinking?

How did she end up like this again? How did Tyr find them in the middle of nowhere? She’d been on the phone and he’d just walked out of the hunting cabin like he was going out for a stroll. By the look on his face, he had been every bit as shocked to see her as she’d been to see him. Everything after that was a blur.

Fire rose. Flames of anger licked the reopened wounds of her psyche. She hoped that when Zander found her it would at least be after Tyr had played and let her down. The thought of him seeing her tethered to the wall angered her beyond reason.

Zander would tear down the town, the surrounding mountains, and anyone who dared get in his way until he found her. He would find her. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind.

Grayce pulled against her restraints and peered down at herself. Fuck no. She’d kill herself before letting Zander see her strung up like a puppet. He’d caught a glimpse of her lowest moments and it broke something inside him. He’d never see her weak and frail again. She’d make sure of it.

Summoning the tempest she’d been holding at bay, she forced it through her arms and legs, concentrating on her wrists and ankles until the binds smoldered. The glow engulfed her, then expanded and billowed through the room.

Focus and control was vital. Stephen was close. She couldn’t risk hurting him just to watch Tyr burn. In agonizing slow motion, the binds turned to ash and fell from her skin, releasing her naked body from the wall.

Her body trembled with need to let loose the fury. Grayce quelled the inferno. It danced, swirled, taunted and begged to be unleashed, but she held it at bay.

It wasn’t time. Not yet.

She turned her thoughts to Zander, her refuge. She imagined him wrapped around her as she swam in those mystical eyes of his. As she relaxed, the energy dissipated and receded back into her skin. Her clothing was nowhere to be found.

Fuck it. If she had to do this naked, so be it.

15

Zander’s anger swelled, pushing the limits of his sanity. The pitch black tunnels made it impossible, even for someone with his superior senses, to travel any faster than a turtles pace.

The deeper he wandered, the more treacherous the terrain, the more complex the web of corridors. He would’ve skipped to the end and brought the whole mountain down on top of Tyr and himself if his Grayce hadn’t been trapped inside.

It was an endless network of passages. One opened to two. They opened to two or three more. There were so many. Like a labyrinth. The monster hid Grayce and Stephen in a fucking labyrinth. It was the perfect place to hide. Or to hide somebody.

A child’s scream echoed through the dark corridors drawing his attention to the left. A smaller passage he would’ve otherwise passed held the faintest illumination. One a normal human eye wouldn’t have registered.

With a huff and a shove, he reduced the ominous heavy wooden door at the end of the trail to splinters. Energy flooded his veins. His strength increased. Heart rate, too. Grayce was close.

So help him, he would tear the psychopath limb from limb without a moment’s hesitation this time.

He entered an empty room lighted with a small bulb hung over a ceiling beam. At the far end, a door hung ajar. Stephen’s scent and the stench of sulfur filled the air, the remnants of his lightning.

With savage fury he tore through the open door leaving rusted hinges in his wake. Fuck. Another tunnel. This shaft was lit with several dim LED lamps spaced every five feet. Several more doors lined the dirt walls.

The first was ajar and revealed an empty cave. Door number two led him to a makeshift bathroom. Bloody rags lay on the floor in the corner. His rage spiked, beating through his ears like the hoof beats of a thousand stallions marching off to war, carrying armor clad warriors upon their backs.

He walked straight through the next door with not so much as a flinch. Zander stopped dead in his tracks and pressed his palms to his temples to stop his brain from exploding with rage. He stood in an exact replica of the room Grayce had been tortured in for years.

Burnt ropes lay on the ground at his feet. Good girl. She was fighting.

He turned to leave and a searing heat struck his head and threw him back through the doorway. Dirt and rocks exploded around him as his body made a permanent impression in the wall behind him. The earth rumbled, bits of the ceiling fell, black air filled his lungs.

Zander didn’t bother to wipe the dirt from his eyes.

Attack. Kill.

Full blown rage consumed his thoughts, his actions, switching his brain to hard-core combat mode.

No thinking. Just doing.

He pushed himself from the gouge in the wall and charged. Blinded by dirt and dust, he slammed the attacker to the ground, wrapped both hands around his neck and prepared to detach it from the shoulders. A deep ancient battle cry escaped his lips, so fierce the walls trembled.

“Zander?” A soft voice pierced his scream.

What the fuck?

Blinking the grime from his eyes, he looked down to see Grayce underneath him, naked and beautiful, her red glow a protective shield. “Shit. Zander I’m sorry. I thought you were—”

His lips were on hers before she finished. Hunger, need and desperate gratitude rushed through him. He chewed her lips, savored the flavor, then moved to her neck.

“Grayce, baby. I’m so sorry. Thank God, you’re alive.”

She trembled under his touch, covering her breasts as he performed a thorough examination of her body. Scratches and bruises, but nothing life threatening. “ Did he hurt you?”

“No. I’m fine. He didn’t touch me.” The quiver in her voice was faint, but enough so that her lie was obvious. Zander took his shirt off and pulled it over her head. His breath caught when he spied the gash across her chest.

She glared and shook her head in warning. “Not now. We have to get Stephen. He’s here somewhere.” The panic in her eyes set his blood aflame.

“Fuck that.”

He carried her through several long corridors before Grayce found her voice. “Zander. What are you doing? Put me down.” Pounding his chest and arms with useless abandon, she tried to free herself from his embrace. “We have to get Stephen.”

“I’m getting you the hell away from here first. I’ll come back for Stephen.” He searched the darkness, trying to remember which way to go. The absence of light and sound played tricks on his senses.

“No!” She punched at him harder. “No Zander. We get him now. Together. Don’t fucking do this to me.”

The growl that rumbled deep in his chest and throat surprised even him. Grayce froze. “Don’t fight me right now, love. I can’t think straight until I know you’re safe.”

“No. I can help. Please.” In a display worthy of an Oscar, Grayce hugged his neck, buried her face in his shoulder and begged. “Don’t leave me alone. Don’t leave me.”

Oh God, this was not in her character and pathetic as hell. He may have laughed at her audacity if the situation weren’t so dire.

“Zander. I need you, I’m scared. Let me stay with you,” she whimpered against his neck.

“For fuck’s sake. Grayce. You’re killing me.” He lowered her to the ground. “I’m not an idiot. I know what you’re doing.”

She pulled his shirt over her bare ass. “Sucker. Don’t be mad. I can help.” He watched with pride as a warm, red glow illuminated the tunnel. “See?”

With a deep sigh, he shook his head. She was right. “Damn, Grayce. Fine.” He wrapped his arm around her and guided her back through the dark maze. When they were back in front of the playroom, Grayce paused.

“Give me a sec.” Placing her hand on his abdomen to block his entrance, she lifted her chin, rolled her shoulders and entered. Standing in the doorway, his heart damn near burst in his chest as he watched his woman raise her arms, and with complete control disintegrate the entire contents of the room, right down to the paint. It bubbled and blistered on the walls until there was nothing but ash. It was necessary. He understood. It was healing, soul cleansing. She turned and pushed her way past him. Mouth sealed tight, he watched her wipe a tear from her cheek and carry herself with a new found confidence.

“They went this way.” Grayce stormed through the door to the left. Her glow cut through the dark better than a flashlight. Barefoot and half naked, Grayce led the way, her determination stronger than the cuts and blisters on her feet.

God he loved this woman.

* * * *

The man yanked Stephen through a dark tunnel into the fresh air. He glanced around at his surroundings. Above the entrance, which hid behind large boulders, the mountain towered in a steep stretch toward the sky. Around him, tall grass and smaller trees spread down a small hill. He tried to decide which would be the safest direction to run. But if he ran, he couldn’t save his sister. No way was he going to leave her alone.

“Come here, boy.” Long fingers stretched in front of him. Fingers that hurt people. Fingers far too pretty for a man.

Stephen backed up one tiny step at a time, careful not to take his eyes off the creep in front of him. The ropes binding his wrists loosened as he wiggled his arms, frantic to free himself.

“We’re going to have fun together.”

What would Marcus do? Marcus would fight.

Zander would smash.

Still struggling to free his arms, he ignored the blood that formed around the binds. Stephen jetted toward the man with girl hands and kicked him in the shins with ferocious strikes.

“Where’s Grayce?” He charged again, shoved his shoulder into the man’s thigh, bounced off and tripped over a large rock. “Asshole! Where’s Grayce? Take me to her.” He leapt to his feet and gave the man the most threatening glare he could muster.

“Boy. Maybe we got off to a bad start.” The man tapped his chin with his long finger, folded his arms over his chest and backed away.

Stephen bit at the ropes on his wrists. He had to save Grayce.

“That isn’t going to do you any good. You could chew on those for a week and you wouldn’t be free.”

Stephen spat at the man. His blood boiled and a hundred different ways to kill the black-eyed beast flashed through his mind. Anger pounded and beat against his temples. He was angry for getting captured. Mad he couldn’t get himself loose. Most of all, furious he hadn’t protected Grayce.