Shifters’ Fae Captive by Lacey Carter Andersen
Chapter 18
Ann
I’min the massive cave the shadow beasts all stay in, walking through the dark halls until I come to the place I knew I was heading towards. Inside, I spot Adrik, the sleeping warrior. Only, he’s no longer asleep. He’s half-sitting, half-lying against the wall. He turns his head and looks at me, eyes bright with awareness, a slow smile on his face. It’s familiar, but I can’t think about that because something is wrong.
The earth above us shakes.
“There’s trouble coming.” The man’s voice is deep, but familiar. “You need to wake up, Ann,” Adrik says my name like he’s said it a thousand times before.
“You’re here?” My words come out breathless. “Awake?”
“I never left your side,” he tells me. “But we’ll have time for that later. For now, you’re in trouble.”
The earth shakes above us again, and dirt and dust fall around us. What the hell is that? It can’t be thunder or a storm making that rumbling. And why is this warrior telling me to wake up?
I’m not asleep. Am I?
“Darling, please!”
Darling? Rayne was the only one who called me darling.
When I jerk awake, my strange dream fades away in the light of the afternoon. It takes a moment for the fog of sleep to clear as I blink and try to clear my head. I’m not a “morning” person. And I was up late talking with Phantom and Onyx and Dusk. I’m still wrapped in Dusk’s arms, my back against his chest while Onyx sits against the wall, eyes closed, a peaceful smile on his face, and Phantom lies facing me.
With a clarity so vivid I can almost taste each one, I remember the kisses. The way Phantom twisted my hair around his hand when I kissed him. The way Dusk cupped the side of my face. The way Onyx stroked my cheekbone.
Thunder rumbles through the roof of the cave and bits of earth fall onto my face as the light of day filters in through the door. But it can’t be a storm? I can see sunlight. So, what is it?
The chaos of the moment finally comes through. I look around us and see about a dozen warriors asleep all over the floor. As thunder roars above us, and the light of day grows duller. Clouds? A storm? How strange? The next time the thunder comes it shakes the entire cave, the shadow beasts inside the cave awaken in a rush. Metal clanks. Armor buckles. Knives are unsheathed in preparation for a battle, and the men beside me tense, awake, aware of something I’m not.
My stomach churns. I don’t have to know exactly what is happening to know it’s bad.
“What’s happening?” I ask, grasping Dusk’s shirt.
He freezes. “A storm.”
I frown. “Why does that require all of this…?” I ask, pointing to all the warriors rushing to prepare.
His eyes narrow. “Because a storm creates an unnatural night, which allows the creatures from the shadow realm to come. And because we’ve only experienced a storm like this once before, and that was a magical storm, and a planned attack.”
Oh, shit. This isn’t good! I thought at least we were safe during the day. I guess I was wrong.
Phantom is on his feet while everyone is still preparing. “It’s a fucking army. Get her out of here!”
Dusk who hauls me to my feet and takes me by the arm, pulling me along to the back of the cave.
I frown, but he rolls a boulder in the corner away, and shows me a dark tunnel underneath it. A creepy, dark tunnel that I absolutely don’t want to climb down into.
Dusk stops and looks down at me, worry etching lines in his face. “Here.” He hands me a compass. It’s old and heavy, plated with gold, the needle pointing northeast. “Take the tunnel. It will lead to the main cave, and then beyond. Stay to the north until you get to the river. Then follow it west. Use the trees for cover and hurry. You have to get to safety until we handle this.” There’s a note of desperation as he takes my hands in his and squeezes.
“I want to stay and fight with you.” My skill could be of use. And right now, by the weight of the footfalls, it sounds like there is an army of a thousand men coming for the forty or so shadow beasts getting ready to fight.
To survive, the shadow beasts will need every available hand, every available weapon. I’m both.
“No!” His voice is sharp and loud. “If the king finds you, he will take you, and we might not get you back this time. Listen to me. Say what I say. North to the river.”
I can’t fight him. He’s right. I’ll be a better weapon when we have a plan of how to best make use of my talents. “North to the river.”
“West to the two towers.”
“West to the two towers.” I repeat his words like a good little parrot. “Stay in the trees.”
“Yes. Once you’re at the two towers, wait for us. We’ll come for you.”
I nod because even though I would rather die than leave them, they won’t be safe if I’m there. And they won’t concentrate on their fight because they will be worried about me. It would put them in more danger.
He pulls me close for a quick hug and places a peck against the top of my head, then pushes me forward. “Go.”
“I… be careful,” I say to them, because all three of my shadow beasts are staring at me.
They nod at me, and my heart aches. I want to say more, but I can’t seem to form the words.
Dusk hands me a piece of wood from the fire. It’s burning on the top, but not on the bottom, like a torch. He helps lower me down into the tunnel, gives me one last intense look, then rolls the boulder back over the opening, sealing me inside.
I’ve only walked for a minute or two when I hear the fighting. It’s loud, and the stomps of the men above the tunnel force more dirt to rain down on me, but I keep going. My entire body shakes as I try not to think about the danger my men are facing.
For some reason, I find myself crying. Phantom, Dusk, and Onyx had kidnapped me. They had been bossy and over protective at times. And… and I think I’ve fallen in love with them.
Love.
The notion makes me stop. I brush more tears away. But the deep sense that I love them remains. I don’t know when it happened. Visions of their grumpy faces and harsh words come to me, but they seem fuzzy, not at all clear like the memory of their smiles, their laughs, and their soft touches.
They’re mine. I don’t just love them; I like them too.
I almost turn around, then force myself to stop. They would struggle to concentrate on keeping themselves safe if I went back to the battle. I’d already seen that they’d give their lives for me. It would be selfish to go back and make things harder for them just because I want to keep them safe.
But, I swear, when we’re back together, I’ll no longer fight the mate bond. I’ll do whatever needs to be done to show them that I love them. That I care for them. And that I will remain by their sides through this war, whatever it takes.
When the thoughts come to me, it’s like a tension I didn’t know I was carrying fades away. This feels right. Being with them is not about replacing Rayne. No one would ever replace him. But just because I lost one mate doesn’t mean I need to be alone for the rest of my life.
“I love them,” I say to myself, followed by a small laugh.
And then, I rush faster through the tunnel as if moving faster will make this battle end more quickly and get my men back to me sooner. The numbers might not be in their favor, but I’d never seen warriors like them before. They would succeed, and the Shadow King’s army could go fuck themselves.
My torch is burning low by the time I know I’ve hit the main cave. The crystals blossom on the walls, lighting the darkness more than my torch ever could. I stop and realize where I am. If I take the right path, it’ll bring me to the unconscious man. Aldrik.
Suddenly, my strange dream comes back to me, and I leave the tunnel I’m in. In the back of my mind, I know I’m disobeying Dusk. But for some reason, I have to see the man. I have to know… I don’t know what.
I reach it faster than I thought possible. The crystals on the walls give enough light that I set my torch down and inch closer to the sleeping warrior. Gazing down at him, I see that his chest is still rising and falling evenly. Even if I couldn’t heal his mind, it seemed I’d healed his body.
“This was foolish,” I tell myself. “I need to go back. To stay to the north, like Dusk said. I don’t even know why I’m here.”
And the warrior’s eyes pop open, the same shade of blue as Rayne’s. My breath catches in my throat, and I feel like I’m in a dream, or a nightmare, I’m not sure which.
“I thought you were dying,” I whisper. Because this isn’t Rayne. Because this is someone else, no matter how much the dream shook me.
“New life has been breathed into me.”
The ground above us shakes, and my head jerks up. The army. It’s here too.
“We need to go or we’ll end up dead. Can you stand?”
His brows draw together, and he tries, but stumbles several times before he manages to remain standing. I wrap an arm around him and lead him back the way we came, snagging the torch as I do so. Every time I glance at him though, he simply looks determined. Not scared. Not confused.
Just determined.
Whoever this warrior is, he’s bouncing back into the fray of things faster than I would have. I only hope he can be trusted. If he ends up like that bastard Wraith, I don’t care if I saved his life or not, I’ll end it.
We run through the tunnel, him leaning on me less and less, and don’t stop running until we’re at the river, following the bank. Trying desperately to ignore the grey clouds overhead and the spikes of lighting in the sky, followed by roars of thunder that sound like a battle in itself. Only there do I feel some small sense that we might be okay. We’re doing what Dusk told us too, and I trust him. With my life.
With my heart.
We’ve slowed now and I can’t shake the feeling of familiarity every time I look at the man beside me, the sense that I know him, though we’ve only just met. Officially anyway. He’s been unconscious the rest of the time, and the feeling is unsettling.
“Should… should you be back fighting with the others?”
“The others?”
I frown. “The other shadow beasts. Or are you still too weak?”
Or is this guy some asshole working for the Shadow King, and the only reason he seems familiar to me is that he’s in on all of this too? Maybe even leading me into danger?My stomach turns.
He stares at me for a moment, then laughs and the sound is so similar to Rayne’s that tears sting my eyes. “I’m not a shadow beast.”
What the hell does that mean? What does any of this mean?
My steps slow and my heart races. “Then, what are you?”
He stops and holds my gaze. “Do you really not recognize me?”
“What? You’re the injured shadow beast...”
But his only answer is another laugh. One that there’s no denying.
He has Rayne’s laugh. And Rayne’s eyes. “Rayne?”
