Anchor of Secrets by Tessa Hale

5

Damien cursed.“We can escape through the tunnels. Help me get her unlocked.”

“Are you fucking kidding? Leave her. I heard Trace has gone feral. He’ll burn us alive,” Lucien snapped.

Just the sound of Trace’s name had a war of emotions taking flight inside me. Hope, hurt, longing. It all mixed together in a complicated stew I didn’t have a prayer of untangling.

“I’m not going to lose her,” Damien growled. “She’s my one hope to get my birthright back.”

“I’m not getting dead for your damn birthright,” Lucien shot back. But he was already moving toward the door in the far corner of the basement.

“Lucien!” Damien ordered.

He ignored Damien and jerked open the door, disappearing inside.

Damien let loose a slew of curses and hurried over to me. “I’ll kill him for this.”

I hoped he did. Then Damien would be all alone when the guys came for him.

Damien dug in his pocket, pulling out a set of keys. He shoved one into the lock, the shackle digging deeper into my ankle. I couldn’t hold in my whimper as fresh pain bloomed.

“Shut up,” he snapped.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out again. I squeezed my eyes closed, praying that the guys moved quickly, that maybe I would get my freedom after all.

Damien twisted the key, and the cuff fell away. I stared down at my ankle. Blood seeped from an angry wound that looked infected, and bruises surrounded it.

“Get up,” Damien ordered.

“Can’t,” my voice was barely a whisper.

“Now!”

Even if he’d threatened me with death, I wouldn’t have been able to obey. My body had simply given up. I didn’t blame it. It had been through far too much.

More curses slipped from Damien’s lips, and he bent, hauling me up and over his shoulder.

I couldn’t hold in my cry this time. My body was too broken to keep quiet.

“Shut your mouth, or I’ll cut out your tongue,” Damien gritted out.

My breaths came in quick pants, a mixture of fear and trying to manage the pain.

Damien straightened and headed for the door to the tunnels.

I couldn’t let him get me in there, couldn’t let him escape. This was my one chance, and I had to take it.

Just as we reached the mouth of the entryway, I grabbed on to the doorjamb. My fingers grasped as hard as they could while my muscles trembled with the effort.

“Enough!” Damien yelled.

I still held on, praying I could just take enough time so that the guys would make it to me.

Damien’s arm came down in a swift move across mine, breaking my hold in a vicious strike.

Hot tears streamed down my face as Damien picked up his pace again. I couldn’t give up, though. I had to fight.

I bounced against his back as he entered the tunnel, and I did the one thing I could. I went for where he was most vulnerable. I reached between his legs, grabbed his balls, and squeezed as hard as I could.

The scream that filled the air was more animal than human. Damien dropped me from his shoulder, and I landed on the stone floor with a thud. Agony washed through me in a steady pulse as the world flickered around me.

Damien howled, cupping himself as he bent over and struggled to breathe.

Footsteps sounded above me. I tried to scream. To yell for help, but my voice was too ravaged.

I heard the telltale sound of the hinges on the door. Then footsteps on the stairs.

Damien snapped straight, his gaze jumping to me and then to the basement. For a second, I thought he might try to take me again, but instead, he ran down the tunnels.

“Leighton!” Dash called.

I tried to yell for him, but I couldn’t get my voice to cooperate.

“Holy hell,” Declan muttered. “That’s Caspian.”

“Or what’s left of him,” Ronan echoed.

“I smell her, but it’s too mixed with other things. Death. Urine,” Colt muttered.

“Where. Is. She?” Trace gritted out.

“She has to be close,” Dash urged.

I put everything I could into screaming. All that came out was a wheezing squeak. But it was enough.

“There!” Declan shouted.

Footsteps thundered against the stone.

“Get a light,” Colt ordered.

A second later, I squeezed my eyes closed at the assaulting brightness.

A litany of curses filled the air.

“Leighton?” Dash whispered as he crouched next to me.

“She’s covered in fucking bite marks,” Ronan snarled.

Dash touched a light hand to my shoulder, and I couldn’t hold in my whimper. He snatched his hand back. “I don’t know where to touch her to lift her.”

Trace’s ragged breathing was audible. “She’s in too much pain. I feel it fucking everywhere.”

“LeeLee…”

I almost broke at that familiar nickname. The one I’d always loved. Fresh tears spilled over now.

“Open your eyes. Please,” Colt begged.

My eyelids fluttered, bringing their faces into focus in a series of snapshots.

“Hurts,” I croaked.

Agony filled Colt’s expression. “I know. We’re gonna help you, okay?”

But I couldn’t say another word.

Ronan stepped into view, his face completely closed down. “Dash, you need to knock her out.”

His eyes flared. “It’s too risky with all these injuries. We could lose her.”

“I don’t want to hurt her,” Ronan growled.

“Out,” I whispered. “Get me out.”

Dash’s gaze jumped to me. “It’s going to hurt,” he warned.

I tipped my head up and down in what I hoped resembled a nod.

Dash looked at Trace. “You won’t be able to take all of it, but you can take the worst.”

Trace didn’t hesitate. He crouched and linked his tattooed fingers with mine. A second later, a faint buzz took root in my muscles, easing a bit of the agony.

Dash’s jaw locked, and he slid his arms under me, lifting.

A new wave of pain coursed through me. If I’d had any voice left, I would’ve screamed. But I didn’t. Then blessed darkness took me.