The Darkest Whisper

intact. Tentatively she punched the bar again. Again, it bent. “Oh, I am so getting out of here.”

Kaia gaped at her. “How is that possible? I hit it, too, but it didn’t budge.”

“He damaged our wings, draining our strength,” Taliyah said. Which had to have hurt like hell. “He only smashed Gwen’s until he released her into this cage. She’s as strong as she ever was. I wonder, though, how he knew to go for our wings and why he was so gentle with Gwen’s.”

The first part of her sister’s speech drained a little of her elation. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I didn’t mean…I thought…I’m so, so sorry. I told him. I thought he could help me train against it.”

“He’s your first love,” Bianka said, surprising her. “It’s understandable.”

Grateful as she was for her sister’s forgiveness, Gwen bristled at her words. First implied there would be many more. She didn’t like the thought of being with another man. Didn’t like the thought of kissing and touching someone else. Especially since she hadn’t had nearly enough of Sabin. Did she love him, though?

She couldn’t. Not after this.

“You don’t blame me?”

They gathered around her and hugged her, and her love for them swelled. Hands down, it was the best family moment ever. They supported her, no matter that she’d broken the rules and screwed up royally.

When they released each other, Taliyah gave her lower back a shove and motioned to the bars with a tilt of her chin. “Do it again. Harder.”

“Time to blow this joint,” Kaia said, clapping.

Gwen’s heart pounded as she obeyed, throwing her fist into the metal again and again. The bar bent and whined and bent some more.

“Keep at it,” Kaia and Bianka cheered in unison. “You’re so close!”

Pouring every ounce of her fury and frustration into the punches, she increased her velocity, watching as her fist hammered away, moving so swiftly she saw only a blur. Sabin must have assumed her utterly lacking in strength and wits because he hadn’t left a guard. Or maybe all the warriors were now off fighting, only the females and Torin remaining. Gwen hadn’t seen much of the reclusive Lord during her stay here, but Sabin had mentioned he never left the fortress, his link to the outside world the monitors in his chamber.

Was there a camera here? Probably.

Gwen didn’t allow the thought to slow her. Boom. Boom. Boom!

Finally, the bar snapped completely, leaving a gaping space to shimmy through. Success—and it felt damn good. They exited one at a time. When the Hunters spotted them outside the cell, they gripped their own bars in a frenzy.

“Let us out.”

“Please. Show us more mercy than we showed you.”

“We’re not evil. They are. Help us!”

The voices were familiar. She’d heard them for a year of her life—the worst year of her life. Hunters. Close. Hurt. Gwen felt her Harpy overtaking her, all but the colors of red and black fading from her vision. Hurt. Destroy. Under her shirt, her wings were flutteringly wildly.

These men had stolen twelve months from her. They had raped other women in front of her. They were evil. They were her enemy. Sabin’s enemy. Led by her father. A man who was not the benevolent angel she’d always thought him. She should kill him, too. He’d destroyed all her dreams. But the moment she imagined going for his throat, even her Harpy shied away. Murder her own father? No… no.

No wonder Sabin had locked her up.

“Help!”

The cry drew her back to the present, back to her rage. Why hadn’t Sabin killed these bastards yet? They needed to be killed. She had to kill them. Yes, kill…kill…

In the back of her mind, she was aware of her sisters grasping at her arms but they were too weak to stop her. Usually, she tried to stop herself. Not this time. No longer. She was learning to embrace her Harpy, right?

She pounded at the second set of bars, fists again hammering, mouth now watering. Teeth sharpening. Nails elongating. The sight of her must have frightened them, because the men backed away from the bars.

Enemy…enemy…

Finally, the bars crumbled under her ministrations and she burst inside the cell with a screech. One minute men were standing, backing away from her, the next they were on the ground, motionless. More…she wanted more…

Her Harpy cooed happily while Gwen panted, trying to catch her breath as a deep male voice entered her awareness.

“—Aeron and Paris are missing. Sabin, Cameo and Kane are in town, William and Maddox have the women in hiding, guarding them with their lives, so I’m the only one here and I can’t touch her because I’m Disease. So do me a favor and calm her down or I’ll have to do it and you won’t like my methods.”

The deep voice was unfamiliar to her. Good. Someone else for her to destroy. Where was…her gaze circled the room. Or rather, hallway. Oh, look there. Three bodies were vertical. They appeared feminine rather than masculine. All that meant was that they’d taste sweeter.

More. She stalked from the cage, determined to make them fall as the Hunters had.

“Gwen.”

She recognized that voice. It wasn’t from her nightmares, but it didn’t slow her. She rammed the woman in the temple with her fist, heard a gasp, watched the form fly back and slam into a rocky wall. Dust must have plumed around the woman because it filled Gwen’s nose.

“Gwen, honey, you have to stop,” another voice said. “You did this once before. Remember?”

“Well, you did it twice, but the time we’re referring to, you actually almost killed us, and we had to rip the wings from your back.” A third familiar voice. “We hypnotized you to bury the memory, but it’s there. Think back, Gwennie. Bianka, what’s the damn code phrase to make her remember?”

“Butterscotch rum? Hopscotch butter buns? Something stupid like that.”

The memory rose…higher…higher…pushing forward, and soon the shadows around it scattered and light pierced it, shining brightly. She’d been eight years old. Something had set her off…a cousin had eaten her birthday cake. Yes. That’s right. She’d laughed while she’d done it, taunting Gwen, after she’d nearly gotten captured for stealing it.

The tether she’d kept the Harpy on had snapped inside her, and the next thing she’d known, the cousin and her sisters were hovering near death. The only reason they’d survived was that Taliyah had somehow ripped off her wings in the fray.

It had taken her weeks to regrow them. Weeks they’d taken from her memory, as well. My memory, the Harpy squawked. Mine.

Possessive bitch. Memory loss was better than the alternative, a rational part of her brain supplied. The guilt would have destroyed me.

They are weak. They can’t hurt you this time. You can—

“Gods, who would have thought I’d want that stupid demon back in her life?”

“Torin, dude, can you get Sabin here? He’s the only one who can calm her without hurting her.”

Sabin. Sabin. Tendrils of her bloodlust faded, leaving room for Gwen’s conscience to make itself known. You don’t want to kill your sisters. You love them. In and out she breathed, slow and measured. Slowly colors sparked inside her mind, the black and red dispersing. Gray walls, brown floor. Taliyah’s white hair, Kaia’s red and Bianka’s black. They were scratched up but alive, thank the heavens.

Then realization struck. You did it. You calmed yourself down without killing everyone in the room. Her eyes widened, and despite the chaos around her, joy burst through her. That had never happened before. Each time she’d lost control here at the fortress, Sabin had been here to talk her down. Maybe she didn’t need to fear her Harpy anymore. Maybe, for once, they could live in harmony. Even without Sabin.

The thought nearly dropped her to her knees. She didn’t want to live without him. She’d planned to leave, yes, but if she were honest she’d admit that she’d expected him to come for her—or to return herself.