Braxton's, and now my theory, was starting to feel right. When we got the twins back I was going to focus on finding all the answers. If it turned out Cardia was not my true mate, that someone had falsely created the bond for whatever reason, I would not stop until I broke every single facet of the spell and rid myself of any lingering emotional attachment.
To be dealt with later though. My focus was elsewhere right now. I clutched at the bars before me, my body primed and ready to attack the moment we arrived. I felt the unbreakable strength of the material housing us. They were used to transporting those of power and physical prowess. Were we going to be strong enough to break free?
As if he'd had the same thoughts, Braxton initiated our quad bond; there was a flare of light as our power merged. The space was really too small to house our newly beefed up, bonded bodies, but somehow we fit. Louis was no doubt feeling very uncomfortable.
In the brief bursts of light, it seemed as if we were traveling through a wormhole. Dark endlessness surrounded our cage as it hurtled through time and space.
My brothers were looking grim, Louis not so much. The sorcerer hid his true emotions very well. I wouldn't want to face him in a poker game, or cross him in a trial. Master of secrecy, he held himself rigidly. But one day that would shatter. No one could contain the level of supernatural power he held indefinitely. He'd crack, and as long as I wasn't the focus of his explosion, I'd be happy to sit back and enjoy the show. It would be like no other.
As our quad power settled down, the light above us started to wane, and soon we were back in darkness. But this time there was no need to worry. I had plenty of voices in my head to keep me company. And annoy the hell out of me.
Jacob started on me again: Max, I've never seen your vamp side quite so in control.
This time it was hard for me to escape the probing nature of my fey brother. I could hear his concern.
I did not want his concern.
I'm angry. So goddamned angry that I can barely continue to function without wanting to tear the world into a million pieces. Someone took my girl and my child. No one touches what is mine.
I hadn't expected to let so much of my inner fury free, but there was nowhere else for it to go. I trusted my brothers above all others; they would never use my weakness against me. Braxton adjusted his stance; through our connection, blasts of his fear and anger continued fueling my own. Joined like this I could feel that Tyson and Jacob weren't that far behind us in the pissed-off-level. They loved Mischa and Jessa too. They had slightly less to lose, but in a pack we were all family. We all had everything to lose.
We'll not lose them, Braxton managed to rasp out. If it's the last fucking thing I do, I'll shake this goddamn land until it gives me my mate back.
For the first time I got glimpses of what it had been like for him when Larkspur took Jessa to Faerie. The same sort of emotions were swarming through me too, like there was a bubbling pit of hatred inside of me, like I could lose the last facet of humanity which I had clung to when Cardia died. If I lost Mischa and our child, there was nothing I could cling to, nothing that would stop me from going rogue.
What is Mischa to you, brother?
Tyson was uncharacteristically serious. I realized that the bond I'd witnessed between them was stronger than I'd thought. Clearly it had developed in the time I'd been gone from here, in the time I'd cut her out of my life with ferocious and cruel intent. I was too messed up to give Tyson any other answer than the one which was thrumming through me.
She's mine. She's everything.
I felt the confusion, theirs and my own.
Someone messed with us, with you, Max. Jacob was tuned in to everything, always speaking to the gods and nature. He knew shit. There's no way Cardia was your true mate, so how the hell did she end up at the sanctuary? How did she form the bond with you?
I was breathing deeply, aware that if I couldn't keep it together I would probably hurt my brothers. We were too close. There was nowhere for me to release. Braxton's hand slammed onto my shoulder and I knew he was promising me that he would step in if I lost it. He would protect the others.
That thought calmed me. Just enough for rational thought.
As soon as we rescue the girls, I'm going to investigate my bond with Cardia. You're all right, it was not a normal true mate connection. I need answers. I need to know who screwed around with my life.
Ask Louis, Tyson said. I might detest the cocky dick, but he is powerful. And old as shit. He probably has the best knowledge of whether this is even possible.
Damn. He was right. I hadn't been utilizing my best source of information. Of course the moment I opened my mouth to ask him, our cage reached its destination, slamming to a halt in a place which was damp and had next to no scent.
We've arrived, boys. Time to introduce ourselves.
Tyson sounded a little too happy. He was really looking forward to releasing his inner anger on whatever stupid assholes had decided to touch our pack mates.
They were all going to die. The thought brightened my day.
Wherever we had landed was cloaked in a magical darkness. There was rarely any place truly without light or shadow unless magic was involved. This didn't bother Louis though. The sorcerer just flicked his fingers and some sort of bulbous light appeared above our heads. Its beams cut through the darkness, and despite the small size, managed to spread a decent amount of light in all directions.
I could see our cage clearly now. It had a solid roof and floor, and all four sides were floor-to-ceiling bars, thick and heavy duty. Magically reinforced for sure.
Braxton reached out and gripped the bars. Through our bond I could feel him connecting to his dragon. The beast was ferocious, almost completely untamed as it searched for its mate. The strength which coursed through my brother was enviable. I did not have the same within me, but the vampire was not without its own benefits. No one else moved. We could assist him without laying a single finger on the cage. I sent my energy along the bond; Tyson and Jacob did the same. The dragon thrashed within the inner cage Braxton had imposed around him, and I felt his control slipping as more and more power flooded through his body.
Jessa, I mentally reminded him. With a roar, Braxton wrenched on the side of the cage. Once, and then again. I heard the screeching of metal and that burning metallic scent of a spell being destroyed. With one final yank, the side of the cage was completely torn free and flung out into the darkness. It landed against another cage, which I'd only just noticed was across from ours.
In fact, as I stepped free of the box, I realized that this entire place was filled with cages. Eyes started to follow our movements. Every single barred box held a prisoner. There were so many demi-fey: gargoyles, trolls, imps, centaurs; and also supes like us: magic users, vampires, shifters, and fey. There might have even been some humans there, or at least supes with very little magical energy.
As the magical light moved across the large building, more faces were reflected back at us. There were hundreds. I moved across to a vampire two cells down from ours. He was gaunt, emaciated to the point where a swift breeze would have knocked him down. Our cells worked double-time to keep us in perfect health, but without a regular influx of new blood, our bodies started to turn on itself, sucking the very life from us.
"How long have you been here?" I asked him, as his flat, dark eyes locked onto mine.
He blinked a few times, opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out. Weird. I reached forward to the bars, and found my hand bouncing off it, about a foot from the cage.
"There's spells on the outside of these prisons," Louis said, his voice low and brittle. "Noise can go in but nothing comes out. You also can't touch the bars from the outside."
"What the hell is this place? Why are they holding all of these supes?" Tyson asked, wandering along the row.
Louis took a moment to answer, and it sounded as if he was trying to keep his emotions in check. "I believe it's a smuggling ring, supe auction of sorts. Lure them in, cage them up, and then once all the cages are filled, host a huge auction event and offer them up to bidders."
A damn smuggling ring! "We need to find the girls immediately," I all but roared.
Louis shook his head. "They're not in this room. I have already scanned. I have no idea the time difference here. For all we know they could have been sold months ago."
Braxton was beyond listening to him now. All of us dived out of the way when he lost control and burst into a massive black and blue dragon. His bulk crushed the cages on either side of him, and the dragon magic completely circumvented whatever spells lined these prisons.
For many minutes Braxton raged along the row and smashed free the prisoners, Louis' light following along with him. Supes spilled out into the path we were on, each of them emerging in a burst of rage. Looks like we had found ourselves some allies.
"Let's find the assholes who stuck us in here," Jacob roared, his white-blond hair flying behind him as his fey energy lit him from within. "They must pay for this. This must be stopped so no more of us are sacrificed."
This was also our best chance of finding Mischa and Jessa. Whomever was running this thing had information. The supes around me were shouting and beating on the wreckage of the cages near them. I let my vampire free, and as my gums ached and fangs released, I knew it was going to be difficult to return to my more civilized side when this was all over. Of course, if I didn't find Mischa, that wasn't going to be a concern.