Bile rises in my throat.
Fucking hell.
These conditions are horrific. The wolves and supernaturals inside the cells are dressed in scraps, dirty, skinny, and most of them are covered in dried blood and have been beaten.
All of them are cowering in corners of their cells, and as my eyes meet those of a woman older than me, but barely more than bones, the hope in her eyes nearly breaks me.
No one should be treated this way.
Chapter Nineteen
Neith
Aguard charges me from the door to my left, and I take his head.
You know what? Fuck keeping any alive.
Ransom and River clearly have the same idea as I do, because suddenly River has shifted and is tearing through the guards pouring out of the doors on either side of us and the two doors further down the corridor in between the cells. Ransom’s spells become deadly and torturous, as he flings them out as quickly as his swords slice through his enemies. Somehow managing to do both at the same time.
My fire pulls one of the guards closer, as my claws pierce his chest, my hand wrapping around his heart, pulling it free, and crushing it.
The Voices didn’t pass judgment this time, and I didn’t call on my magic to help.
I grin.
Sending tendrils of my fire across the ceiling, I command them to go back through the halls and kill the fuckers we captured. Slowly and painfully, but not to burn them for as long as the guy in my dream.
I wonder if he’s still burning?
Not the point. Just like him, these fuckers, don’t deserve to live.
Rana was very clear in her file, the guards know what they are doing, they are not under any kind of control because control can be broken, and The Owner wanted loyalty.
None of these guards have been forced to be here or to do what they do. They are here willingly, and that means their lives are forfeit.
That same magic from my dream stirs, but doesn’t come forward this time. I’m grateful because I think until I know what’s going on, I don’t want to reveal that to anyone, especially not here.
Not that any of these fuckers are getting out alive.
River’s eyes drift up to the ceiling, following my fire, and his eyebrows rise as the screams start.
My smile is sharp and deadly, and his matches mine perfectly.
We push through the rest of the guards, helping Ransom to end them, not that I think he really needs our help. In fact, I think he would be more than happy to take them all out by himself.
“Leave a couple for us,” River calls out with a grin that makes the remaining few guards reevaluate their life choices.
It’s too late though.
Within moments, they’re all dead and lying in partially dismembered heaps around us.
I duck into the office while River and Ransom start to talk to the prisoners, reassuring them, explaining what’s happening, and who we are.
The silence is broken as hopeful voices rise around us all.
I quickly grab several sets of keys and head back out into the hallway, handing a few sets to the guys.
“It’s going to take too long to take the spells off of each individual cell, there are hundreds here, possibly even more,” Ransom says, anger still burning brightly in his eyes.
