“You need to calm down,” Bash snapped, and I rounded on him.
“Don’t tell me to calm down! I have twenty-four hours to figure out who the traitor is, so I don’t accidentally sentence an innocent man to death.” My breathing was heavy, chest rising and falling.
“We have a starting place,” Dair whispered. It was the first time he had spoken since we had left the dungeons, and his voice was hoarse. Not the hoarse you would get from screaming, but a sort of tired reluctance. Face strained, he nodded towards the map still on the wooden desk. “This is a game to my father. A scavenger hunt.”
“Everything with the Kings is a game!” Spreading my hands wide, I spun in a circle to encompass all of my mates present. “And we’re losing! Don’t you see that? The one element of surprise we had - our relationship as mates - is out in the open. They all know. Your brothers even know!” This last statement was directed at Dair who ducked his head.
“So we change the rules,” Lupe cut in. “We change the rules and break the game board on their head.”
“How do you suggest we do that?” I hated how desperate I sounded. The uncharacteristic whine in my voice grated on my nerves. But it was true. We were losing this game, this battle, with the Kings. Maybe Lupe was right when he said we needed to rewrite the rules.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. His eyes met mine demurely. “I honestly don’t know.”
“We finish this game.” Bash’s strident voice cut through the air like the slash of a whip. “We win this game, and then we step back. Look at their overall goal.” Sighing heavily, he brushed a hand through his white blond hair. “But guys, we don’t have time for this conversation. We have twenty-four hours to find a traitor and save five innocent lives.”
I took a deep breath to abate the mounting tension rising inside me. Still, it seeped through, crashing repeatedly against me like a heavy wave.
“We take a...boat?” I looked towards Dair for confirmation, and he nodded. Straightening with resolve, I faced the three men in the room. “We take a boat and head to this island. Dair can scout the water in his Mermaid form. Ryland can...”
I trailed off, glancing desperately around the room devoid of any shadows.
“Where the fuck is Ryland?” The previously dissipated tension came back with a vengeance. He wouldn’t have just left. Not after everything we had been through, what he had confessed.
Lupe and Bash exchanged quick, wide-eyed stares.
“Bash, go look for him-”
“We need him to drive the boat, love,” Dair said. My ill-founded irritation flared white hot.
“Can’t you or Lupe do it?”
“I’ll be in my Mermaid form, and Lupe doesn’t know how to drive it.” He sounded almost apologetic though his eyes were sharp as they flickered from my face to Bash’s.
I didn’t have time to argue with him. I needed to find the traitor and Ryland. Now.
Trying to tamper down my growing panic, I met Lupe’s eyes first. “Lupe, stay at the castle and look for Ryland. Bash, I need you with me. Dair’s right. We need you to drive the boat, and your magic might come in handy.”
Both men nodded, but Bash’s face had tightened like he had eaten something sour. Still, he didn’t complain.
“In twelve hours, we meet back here. Is that understood?” I stared purposefully at Lupe. Dair, Bash, and I were staying together, and I hated leaving Lupe to fend for himself. The big man held my gaze, dozens of thoughts swarming in his whiskey-toned eyes, before he bobbed his head in agreement.
“Good. That’s good.” I wiped my hands and, consequently, my excess sweat on my pants. Now that I had finished giving orders, my courage had been drained from me. I was suddenly weak and tired and vulnerable - a scared little girl playing big, bad assassin.
“Hey,” Lupe said gruffly. He grabbed the back of my head and brought our foreheads together. “Everything is going to be okay.”
I desperately brought our lips together, a clash of teeth and tongues. The kiss was over as quickly as it had started.
My voice was shaky when I responded, further confirming that I wasn’t as tough as I pretended to be. “I hope so.”
TWENTY-SIX
JAX
Dark walls.
Everywhere.
The sickly copper scent of blood permeating the air. Sweat.
And desperation.
One may not think desperation had a scent, but they were mistaken. Sweat glands combined with piss, an entirely unpleasant smell. It clogged my airways.
I curled into a ball, willing the voices away. I tried to repeat the mantra Killian had taught me when I became lost in my head.
This isn’t real.
This isn’t real.
Somewhere in the distance, a scream reverberated, shaking me to my very core. I huddled in the corner of the dank, gray room with blood staining the walls.
This isn’t real.
This isn’t real.
This isn’t real.
My eyelids fluttered shut. If I didn’t see it, it wasn’t real. Wasn’t that why little boys and girls hid underneath their blankets at night? To hide from the monsters?
My mind had always been a cage. It was ironic that I had found myself quite literally trapped in one.
“I’m sorry, Sasha,” I whimpered, searching the darkness. Walls. Pressing in on me. Blood dripping from the ceiling.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Always dripping. Why did blood have to drip?
Absently, I began to murmur that one word beneath my breath.
Drip.
Drip.
“Sasha!” I cried again. One could get lost in this darkness.
If I didn’t have my heightened senses of hearing and smell, I might’ve gone insane.
Drip.
Drip.
A figure’s shadow moved to stand in front of me. While I could vaguely make out shapes and colors directly in front of me, he or she was too far away to see clearly.
I waited with bated breath for the familiar tingling of my skin. A sign of my love’s presence.
Nothing.
My skin remained tingle free.
“Tingle. Tingle. Blood. Itches. Doesn’t itches.” I scrubbed a hand agitatedly down my face. I needed her to stop the
