Twisted (Rogues Shifter Series Book 3) (19 page)

He laughed at me and then shook his head. “The fae know wh
en you lie, Jacqueline. Although you may disagree, I have been kind to you. There is much worse I could have done, and may yet do.” He whispered. My eyes grew wider. “Have you decided to cooperate or not?” I didn’t answer. “Stand up, please.”

I stood and walked as close to him as my heavy chain allowed. He smiled but backed up slightly, staying out of kicking range. I took a deep breath, lifted my head and tried to smile seductively
. I croaked out, “Could you come closer?”

He laughed again. “You have such courage. What do you want to tell me, Jacqueline?”

I held my throat. “I can’t talk loudly, come closer.” He inched forward, still too far for me to reach him. My fear was locked in a box, allowing my inner demon to surface. “I’ll cooperate, Kennet.” 

He arched an eyebrow. “Really? I’m not sure that I believe you. You’ll have to convince me.”

Taking  another deep breath to calm myself, I licked my lips and ran my hands from my hips to my thighs bunching up the material of the dress and lifting it just a little bit, showing him my bare legs. That did it. He came to me smiling wickedly and pulled me close against him, leaning in to kiss me.

This time I gave it all I had, grabbing him between the legs and twisting until he screamed. I tried to punch him in the face, hoping to knock him out, but
I was weak, so my blow had no effect on him. When he hit me in retaliation, I went flying backward to land on the floor at the foot of the bed. I was desperate and terrified and probably lacking in normal amounts of self-preservation, but I refused to be a victim. I'd keep fighting for as long as I could.

H
is rage was off the charts. He attacked my mind first, planting me in the middle of my worst nightmare. Garrett was staked out in the sun and his flesh was on fire. I was standing nearby and he called out to me to help him. Instead I shook my head and lifted his smoking wrist to my mouth and began to drink his blood, laughing after every few gulps. The bloodlust burned in me as I ignored his pitiful moans until he dissolved into ash and blew away in the strong cold wind. When Kennet pulled me back to reality, I was sobbing on the floor, completely convinced of my betrayal.

Kennet laughed at me. “
You didn’t hesitate. It was so easy for you to leave him to suffer. I didn’t even have to convince you. Your demon blood craves power and it will force you to betray your mate and your team. You're more like me than you know."

I crawled to hi
m and begged. ”Let me go. I’m nothing to you.”

“
Jacqueline, you are wrong,. Right now, you are
everything
to me.” I found myself restrained with chains once more,  He whipped me again as I sobbed and begged him to stop. I passed out several times and then vaguely remembered Kennet dissolving the blood that coated my body and ordering me to kiss him. Overwhelmed by the throbbing pain, I had flashes of myself crawling toward him, unable in my weakened state to fight against his power, but not having the strength to stand. At the end, reality faded away completely.

Later, when I opened my eyes to find myself still in the small room, I moaned. The pain was
so intense, it was all I could concentrate on. The doctor came once more to patch me up, so I stuffed my pillow back in my mouth and imagined myself standing on my cliff in Garrett’s arms as the salty air swirled around us. My screams as she disinfected the wounds tore through us both. I saw tears streaming down her face at the end.

After the doctor left and I lay again on my stomach, I searched once more for my tiny bit of stored magic.  At first I couldn’t find it, and I trembled with panic, terrified that I’d lost it forever. I tried again and again until I uncovered that sweet warm spark which spread quickly through my veins, easing my pain; bringing me comfort and the energy to keep working on the block.
After another few minutes of work, there was a sudden rush of intense warmth and my horribly battered body succumbed to sleep.  In my dream I could smell Garrett’s sweet scent as he held me in his arms. If I wasn’t aware of my heart still beating I would have guessed that I’d moved on into heaven.

Chapter Thirty-six

Bridgett: 3:00 PM Friday

I screamed. The pain was horrible, worse than before..Garrett, who’d just crawled out from under the brush, was at my side holding me and murmuring comforting words.

“Bridgett,
I've got you. Try to tell us what direction it’s coming from.” The fae brothers were watching me, their blades drawn and ready for battle. Another burning slash slapped my legs and I moaned but still managed to cling to Garrett as he helped me stand. I knew it was centered near the clearing so I turned back toward that direction and croaked out, “Go back.”

He ran with me in his arms when another sharp slice made me cry out. Before we reached the clearing I felt a pull from below. “Put me on the ground, Garrett.” He did as I asked and I open
ed my mind to Jackie. I had to choke out a sob as yet another lacerating blow whipped across my back. This had to be the tenth one. How was she surviving this? 

Somehow
I knew she was right here, under my hands and knees as I crouched in the dirt and decaying leaves, frustrated because I couldn’t help her. I waited for another blow but there was nothing. “I think she’s unconscious now.”

The brothers ran off to try to find an entrance of some kind to this underground prison, but came back ten minutes later looking glum.

“We’ll have to wait until she recovers enough to feel us here.” Liam was pacing. “There’s a strong block in place, but I can bring her out if she’s alert enough to feel my attempt to reach her. I can’t reach her if she’s unconscious.” Samson was running around in circles barking excitedly. I started to tremble, a delayed reaction to the pain and the stress. Garrett sat and pulled me into his lap and rubbed my back, trying to comfort me once more.

“Thank you, Bridgett. Thank you.” A pink tear fell on my sleeve as he held me against him.

“It was all my fault.”

“It’s Kennet…not you.”

We all waited. My pain dissolved and we waited some more, all of us reaching down mentally to try to connect to her. But the block was too strong, even for Aedus. I’d moved away from Garrett, giving him some space. The waiting was so hard for him.

“Bridgett, do you feel strong enough to shift?”

“Yes, sure.”

“Then shift now. When we get her back, Kennet will follow and I want you out of the way.” I was going to argue, but instead I started to strip. When I’d shifted,  I stretched out next to Samson and we sniffed each other’s noses. I wa
s grateful he wasn’t into butts—at least not cheetah butts.

I sensed a shift in the energy and we all turned toward Garrett.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Garrett: 4:00 PM Friday

I was tingling and warm and felt something in my lap. I looked down and thought I was dreaming.

“Jackie?” She was in my arms, asleep, bandaged and
alive.
I pulled her tightly against me and breathed in her delicious blend of cheetah and wildflowers. Could this be another dream? I looked at Liam and Aedus and knew that it wasn’t. “How did this happen?” I asked Liam, since she was still fast asleep.

“She traveled the lines.” His expression couldn’t have been more surprised. “She traveled the lines in her sleep.” He looked at his brother who shrugged, apparently not having any clue either as to how it had happened. Jackie stirred and looked up at me, obviously unsure of where she was.

“Are you my dream Garrett? I could use some of you right now.” She clutched the front of my shirt and buried her face in my shoulder.

I grinned so broadly that my mouth hurt. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this is the flesh and blood version.” I stroked her hair gently, not wanting to hurt her anymore than she was already.

She lifted her hand and touched my face with her fingertips. “My dreams are pretty real, lately.”

I leaned down
to kiss her and suddenly she was clutching at my arms When she looked up at me again she asked, “Am I—am I safe?”

Her words almost broke my heart, but I
managed to grin to reassure her. “You’re with us now. You’re safe, my love." The feeling of relief was exquisite, but then I saw the bandages on her upper shoulders and felt them under the thin fabric of her dress. "Use the lines to heal yourself. The magic will renew your strength." Her body visibly relaxed as she pulled energy in to take away the pain of Kennet's latest attack.

Samson barked out his version of doggie joy and ran to her, licking her face and her hands and wiggling his stubby tail, which managed to make his whole butt shake. She started to cry when she saw him, then leaned over to scratch him behind the ears and hug him around his massive neck.

When
she noticed Liam and Aedus, she insisted on standing up, so I helped her. I was happy to see that she was perfectly steady on her feet and looked much stronger. She hugged Aedus enthusiastically but he just patted her back, probably afraid to hurt her. “I am very glad you are safe, Jacqueline. My father will be as well.”

Liam was another story. He lifted her up and spun her around, hugging her so tightly that I was afraid her wounds wo
uld bother her. When he realized what he'd done he asked, “Do you need a doctor?”

“Because of Garrett’s
blood, your magic and Isaiah's training, I feel almost like myself again. Thank you both for searching for me." The fae brothers nodded deeply, their hands pressed to their hearts.

She turned
toward me, each of us drinking the other one in like a dying man rescued from the desert, unable to find the words. Jackie broke the silence by throwing herself against my body, pulling my head down for a kiss, and then locking her fingers in my hair making it impossible for me to move without losing several clumps. Liam and Aedus laughed at us, and it felt wonderful to hear that joyful sound.

When she finally broke away to breathe, I said,
“Bridgett’s here too. She led us to you.” Jackie searched the area, looking shocked when she saw the cheetah standing a good distance away.

“Why a
re you in cheetah form? Come closer.” The smaller cheetah moved hesitantly forward, not sure of her welcome. "You silly ass, get over here. This wasn't your fault." That did it. Bridgett moved like lightning, almost knocking Jackie down. She licked her face while Jackie scratched her behind the ears and giggled. "Thanks for helping them find me." The smaller cheetah chirred happily.

“I told her to shift
for her safety. Kennet will be here as soon as he realizes you’re gone. Liam will take you and Bridgett to Faerie then come back. We’ll finish him here.”

“No I’m staying with you.”
She grabbed my arm, at first I thought in fear, but she glowered and said, “I want a piece of him.”

“Jackie…”

"I'm staying." Picking up the bottom hem of her dress, she started ripping at it wildly, taking off at least eight inches and giving herself the look of some ancient Grecian warrior. She straightened, shook out her hair and grinned at the fae brothers. They smiled back, looking just a bit unsettled by her slightly manic behavior. Rage paced restlessly across the emerald of her eyes, her cheetah claws peeking out from beneath her broken fingernails. It was obvious that she'd rebounded physically, thanks to the magic, but I was worried more about her emotional health.

I was about to argue that she return to Faerie as the brothers and I had discussed, when the conversation became moot. With
a sharp twinge of energy, Kennet appeared with another fae, both of them dressed in a light armor. They were immediately followed by six very large werewolves, who spread out to surround us. Aedus, sword in hand and instantly adorned with his own light armor, moved immediately to face Kennet, as if this were a prearranged duel between just the two of them. Liam ran in his graceful way to block the other fae from attacking us, while Jackie and I faced the weres, three each. Not terrible odds, although I would have preferred that she was safely away from here and faced them all alone. I gestured for Bridgett to climb the tree near Kennet, and to my amazement, she scooted right up. Samson stood with Jackie, growling and snarling, and it gave me some relief to see it.

Aedus spoke to Kennet in the Fae language.
“You will return with us, Lord Kennet, to be judged before the Council of Elders for the imprisonment and torture of six fae, the abduction and torture of Jacqueline Crawford Cuvier, a protected ally, and for the use of blood magic, which is prohibited according to our laws.” Aedus stood proudly, showing Kennet no fear, his long dark hair floating around his face and his amethyst eyes glowing with gold. He looked like the warrior prince that he was. Lord Caelen would've been very proud.

Kennet laughed as
the wolves around us yipped and howled. The single fae guard remained at attention, frowning at Liam and stoically waiting for his orders. He and Kennet had an unfamiliar crest engraved on their breastplates, while Aedus and Liam's bore the one representing Caelen's lineage.

"The laws set down by the Queen of Faerie preclude the laws of your puny Cascade Sidhe." Kennet answered Aedus with a look of disgust. He made a show of taking in a deep breath and then smiling as he looked around the tree line. "This mortal world is so alive, I've become quite enamored of it, and I find the energy of
its creatures very—satisfying."  His  eyes flicked to Jackie, his expression turning angry. "You will give the tasty little shifter back to me, young fae, and we will leave the rest of you in peace. I have much more planned for her."

I hissed at him and he turned
toward me, smirking. “I had her, vampire, and I’ll take her many times again before I kill her.”

“You’re dead today, Kennet
." I snarled.

“We’ll see.” He drew his sword
with a ringing tone that filled the clearing, facing Aedus who'd already drawn his. They started to glow, the magical energy that they drew on surrounding them in thick cords of almost limitless power. It crackled around them with sharp bursts of lightning and pulsed with a heartbeat that I recognized from my immersion in the lines. The sound of their enchanted swords crashing together rang in my ears like bells, echoing off of the mountains in the distance.

Liam and his fae opponent were circling each other, blades in hand, when the weres moved in to attack Jackie and me. I heard Samson snarling on my right as I took out the first one
with a chokehold and then a twist to break his neck. I heard a crash as a were went flying past me to slam headfirst into a tree. Samson had bitten into the neck of a third were who was having a lot of trouble staying on his feet. As soon as he was on the ground, Samson, his eyes glowing red, ripped out his throat and then raced to help Jackie with the were who’d tackled her. She quickly ended his unhappy life with a fist in the throat, crushing his windpipe. I had my hands full with the two still left. One of them had bitten my leg and the other was snapping at my neck with his huge jaws.

I smiled
as I opened myself to the lines and felt my fangs pop and my eyes go silver. I reached for the were with the big teeth and broke his jaw with one quick pull, throwing him to the side for Samson to finish off.  The other one had backed off when he saw that he was the only wolf left alive. He took off, so I switched to vamp speed and grabbed him. I broke his leg and he howled and shifted back to human. “What pack are you from?” He shook his head. “Not smart.“ I broke his arm and he screamed this time. He croaked out the name of the pack and so I thanked him, then broke his other leg so he couldn't get away. In the supernatural world, there is no Geneva Convention. Prisoners are tortured for information to save innocent lives. It was gruesome, but it worked. I would provide Aaron with the information and he would collect the prisoner and investigate this man's pack. Then the Western Wolf Council would decide what needed to be done about him.

Jackie and Samson had finished off their three
wolves so I turned my attention to the main two battles, racing back to help where I could. Liam and his Fae opponent both had serious wounds, but the much taller guard was weakening and was no longer steady on his feet. Liam finished him with a well aimed swipe of his blade and the guard’s head rolled, coming to rest against a tree trunk.

Relieved, we
turned to watch the battle in the center of the clearing. Although Aedus was fighting with amazing skill and strength, Kennet was winning. He was magically stronger and more experienced, having fought against thousands of formidable opponents. Aedus stumbled. When Jackie took a step toward the fight, Liam stopped her.

“You cannot interfere
. This is a personal duel between them.”

Jackie struggled in his grasp.
“Screw that, Liam, I’m helping him.” She turned, meaning to run toward them, when suddenly Kennet sank his blade into Aedus’ chest and pulled it out, covered in blood. Aedus managed to stop the worst of the bleeding with his magic, but the effort caused him to collapse onto his knees. A moment later, he began to scream. Kennet laughed as he played his mental games with Aedus’ mind.

Unexpectedly, a cheetah dropped onto Kennet’s back,
claws out, ripping at his throat with her teeth. Kennet, tore Bridgett away and threw her against a tree where she crumpled to the ground. A huge Rottweiler took her place, biting viciously into his arm.  Kennet yanked him away angrily as I dove in to tackle him and force him to the ground. Jackie punched him in the face while he was down as Liam dragged Aedus away from the fight and then drew his blade to join us. Kennet pushed us all away with an incredibly powerful rush of energy and stood up, snarling. His eyes locked on Jackie and he reached for her, but she backed away in a blur, managing to stay out of reach. Kennet disappeared.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Jackie
: 6:00 PM Friday

Aedus was still mo
aning and crying something out in the Fae language. His chest wound was bleeding again and his skin was too cool to the touch,

Liam was next to him, trying to slow down the bleeding, but it was obvious
that he was in bad shape himself. I looked at Garrett. “I’m taking Aedus and Liam to Faerie. I’ll be back. Please make sure that Bridgett and Samson are ok.”

“Jackie..how…
?”

I turned to Liam. “Hold your brother.” He did what I asked and I grabbed Liam’s hand and suddenly we were in the magical heat of the lines and I was full of the power that would carry me wherever I wished to go. It was a heady sensation, but I didn’t have time to be impressed with myself. We appeared on the platform in the field where the
Midsummer Solstice Ceremony had taken place. There were fae around, looking shocked at first and then concerned. Lord Caelen appeared instantly and I watched his face turned ashen.

“Kennet got away. He’s done something to Aedus’ mind. Liam has some serious wounds, but should heal alright. I’ll try to help Aedus, but I have to go back to get Garrett.” Lord Caelen looked at two fae standing beside him
, dressed in the usual blue tunics. One strode over to me and touched my arm. I saw his eyes glaze over and then he disappeared along with the other one.

“I’ve sent them to get Garrett.”

“He’s got Bridgett and Samson too.”

“It’s unimportant.”
He gestured to several other fae who gently picked up Liam and Aedus and took them away.

“Will you show me what happened?” I knew that he wanted me to open my mind to him
, so I reached out to touch his hand, closing my eyes and lowering my wall. After a minute I heard him say. “Ah, I see now.”  He squeezed my hand and I opened my eyes.