One of Lucius's minions, a lean man in his twenties she didn't recognize, set a small device on the coffee table. Her voice blasted from it, singing her song over and over again. He was wearing a terrifying black helmet that apparently blocked the song somehow.
"Let's go." Lucius dragged her to her feet by her hair, then shoved her toward the stairs. Abby glanced back at the room, at the five shifters slumped on the floor. When the four in the cage awoke, they would destroy each other. Jace was dying already. Kiernan was the only one with the healing ability to save him, and he was going to wake up a shifter, and no one would be left alive in that cage.
She looked back at Jace on the floor. He was watching her. His lips were still curled in a snarl, but his body was too weak to move. Should she stand and fight Lucius? Somehow try to save Jace? And then, what? Get killed? What about Seth? She knew Lucius was taking her to Seth. He'd want her to sing to him in person, to punish her by forcing her to destroy Seth herself. Seth. She had a chance to save Seth if she went, but maybe a chance to save Jace if she stayed. Or maybe they would all die no matter what choice she made. Dammit. Jace.
His lip raised in a snarl, but this time, instead of fear or pity for him, she felt only his torment. He was dying in midst of his worst nightmare: hurting someone who was supposed to be under his protection. She thought of how many times he'd said not to blame herself, reminding her that she'd been a child before. As she looked at Jace, dying on the floor absolutely helpless, she finally understood what he'd meant. He'd taken the blame for the murder of her sister, but she knew it wasn't his fault...just as she couldn't take the blame for what Lucius and Grigori had done with her song, or for the fact that as a young girl, she'd been unable to see a way out. She'd been a child, an innocent, and yet she'd spent her life condemning herself for the song she hadn't intended to create.
Lucius and Grigori were the monsters, not Jace, and...she took a deep breath...not her.
She hadn't been able to fight back before, but now she was different. She wasn't a little girl, and two people she cared about needed her help. Resolution rushed through her and she looked right at Jace.
His eyes followed her as Lucius shoved her towards the stairs. Jace's chest was moving in rapid, shallow breaths as he fought for air. Desperation flooded her. He was dying! "Jace!" In sudden desperately, she tore herself from Lucius's grasp and raced across the floor to Jace.
She fell to her knees beside him and grabbed his scruff, pressing her face against his. "Listen to me, Jace! I believe in you," she whispered into his ear. "When we leave, get to the table and destroy the sound box. Kiernan will heal you when he wakes up, but you have to destroy the box. And then come find me! I'll need you, and I love you-"
"Come on, bitch!" Lucius grabbed her and yanked her backward.
"Jace!" She screamed for him as Lucius threw her over his shoulder. "Survive, dammit, and help me!"
"Shut up!" Lucius grabbed her throat, cutting off her oxygen. Frantically, she clawed at his hand, trying to pry it off, but he was too strong. Colors spun across her vision, her lungs burned, and then darkness fell.
* * *
Fury raged through Jace as he watched Abby slump in Lucius's arm. The song still screamed in his head, inciting him to attack, but somewhere inside him, somewhere deeper, something cried out in agony as Lucius choked her. I love you. Her words echoed in his mind, again and again, battling with the song for supremacy. The wolf howled with hunger, rage, and bloodlust, but something else also fought to be heard. Something more primal and elemental. Something that came from a place inside him that was untainted light.
Lucius disappeared up the stairs with Abby over his shoulder, and Jace felt his soul crack in half. Desperation flooded him, and he tried to get up, tried to go to her. To kill her? To save her? He didn't know. He just had to go.
But his body didn't move.
He just lay there, inert, as Lucius raced up the stairs, taking his prey, his woman, his mate with him. Jace closed his eyes, panting desperately for air. His blood was burning as it raced through his body, searing his cells, poisoning his lungs and heart, slithering into his brain.
The song continued to scream through him, horrible, violent energy designed to incite him. The hunger continued to burn through him, but so did Abby's voice, her real voice, the voice that brought light to his soul. Destroy the sound box.
The sound box.
Her command rang through him, and Jace twisted his head, forcing his burning muscles to move. He saw a small black unit on the coffee table... Only yards away from him.
Destroy the box.
Urgency pounded through him as Abby's words rang in his mind. I love you, Jace. Destroy the box. I believe in you.
Abby. In danger. He had to get to her.
Gritting his teeth, Jace summoned his energy and with a tremendous effort, rolled onto his chest. His lungs hurt, his body screamed with pain, and his muscles seemed to be frozen. He didn't care. He just knew, knew, he had to stop that sound. Had to destroy the box. I believe in you, Jace. Destroy the box.
She loved him. She wasn't afraid. She'd come to him. He had to be there for her. He couldn't let her blame herself for his weakness. He tensed his muscles and shoved himself forward. An inch. Maybe two. But progress.
The song. The song. The song. It was screaming through his mind, demanding his obedience. He should be heading toward the innocents piled on the floor of the cage to kill them.
But he didn't.
He kept his gaze on the sound box and pushed himself forward again, dragging himself across the smooth, hard wood. He made it several more inches. Almost there. But so far. He fell to his side again, his chest heaving with the effort of trying to breathe. Had to keep going. Had to find strength.
He tried to move again.
Couldn't.
Come on!
Suddenly, the song didn't matter. Fuck the song. Abby mattered. Abby needed him to do this. With a roar of fury, he rolled onto his chest again. He dug his claws into the floor and inched forward again, panting as he tried. Inch by inch. So far to go. He was moving too slowly. Someone stirred in the cage. They were beginning to wake up. He was almost out of time. Had to move. One more time.
Abby. I love you. Holding the image of her face in his mind, Jace tucked his legs beneath him and sprang at the table. The black box went flying. He snatched it out of the air with his teeth, then crashed to the floor on the other side of the table.
He bit down hard. The plastic shattered beneath the force of his bite, and the song stopped. Merciful silence filled the air, and he sagged back on the floor, panting heavily, fighting for breath.
"Jace." Savannah called his name softly. He turned his head. She was on her knees, gripping the bars, her face pressed against them. The ones he'd bent had been straightened out enough to trap her inside. The others were still passed out. "I need you to get the keys to me. Abby dropped them." She pointed to a spot beside Jace's nose.
The metal key glittered, taunting him. Too far. Too fucking far. He closed his eyes. He'd done what Abby asked. There was no more...
"Jace." Savannah pressed at him relentlessly. "If Kiernan can't get out, he can't heal you. We can't help Abby. You must get that key to me."
Savannah's words broke through the silver-induced haze settling on Jace's mind. Abby needed him. With a last effort, he hurled himself at the keys. He lunged forward and swiped with his front paw, gritting his jaw against the pain streaking through his body. Victory exploded through him as his foot made contact. He batted them toward the cage as he thudded to the floor, landing directly on his bullet wound, sending excruciating pain spearing through him. He gasped in agony. And as Savannah reached for the keys, he lost the battle to stay conscious.
Chapter 20
Abby was jerked back to consciousness by the shooting pain in her shoulders. She opened her eyes, and then horror congealed in her stomach when she saw where she was. She was back in her old living room, chained to a hook in the ceiling with her arms above her head, barely able to reach the floor with her toes.
It was exactly how she'd awoken the last time Lucius had kidnapped her, before he'd slowly, piece by piece, begun to tear open her belly.
Every piece of furniture was the same as it had been, even though she'd moved out. Had he rented it and refurnished it to look exactly like she'd had it? Planning for the day he would reenact this? Her shoulders were screaming with pain, telling her she'd been in that position for a while. How long had she been unconscious? How long until he came back to finish it?