Breaking Free (6 page)

Fear had kept her silent. She only offered
a smile when he brought it up, but she threw away her birth control the day he proposed.

Doubt held her back. After the life she
had led, she wasn’t sure how to be a mother. For him, she would travel the path.

His fingers traced over
her heart, and she melted into him, enjoying everything about her mate.

“I love you, Brody.” She stared into his smoky blue eyes. “You fill in all my cracks and make me whole.”

He rolled into her, pulling her tight against him. “Ditto, Sugar. You’re everything I’ve dreamt of, and more. I can’t imagine my life without you. I’m so happy I crashed into you. You’ve become my whole world.”

“I know I fought against
our chemistry in the beginning, but I was scared to death of the things you make me feel. I never, not once before you, ever felt like I
needed
anyone. I’ve never let anyone in, until you.”

“I want to be in you again,” he breathed into her ear as he hooked his hand under her knee, drawing her leg over his hip. His crown pressed against her entrance.

“I need you. Always you. Only you, Brody.”

His tongue swept into her mouth the same time he pushed into her, filling her completely.

* * * *

“You do not have him yet?” DeMarco sneered into the phone.

“You sent me three days after he broke free of your little prison.” Sarah’s voice was cold, demeaning.

Oh, how I will love
breaking that woman.

As soon as his transcendence
was completed, he would have a fully functioning body. He couldn’t wait to begin her torture.

He took an unneeded breath, sucking air in through his nose, but it whi
stled out of his decaying chest, thanks to Fallon’s mana-blade.

Fallon plunged her weapon into his chest nearly twenty years before, starting the slow decay that was breaking down his body. Somehow, she broke his curse and managed to stay out of his clutches for far too long.

Time was running out. He needed to acquire the O’Shea siblings and complete the rituals their parents began. Declan was nearly useless at this point and without Moira, he was only good as a bargaining chip.

Fallo
n was a strong, fiery druid who he would use and then kill. Keeping her around would be more trouble than she was worth. Submission wasn’t in her nature, as was proven time and time again.

In
the intervening seventy years he tried other combinations of druids to complete the ritual, but none of them could. He was sure the siblings had the perfect combination of power, and together they were the only answer. If his body failed before he brought them together, he would be trapped in the abyss, something far darker and more desolate than he cared to experience.

Not much longer and his body would be dust, and if he didn’t acquire the O’Shea siblings, he would never ascend into his pure liche form. His power kept growing the closer his
physical form came to the end, but until the rituals were complete, he was in danger of fading away with his failing body. There was a chance someone could find his soul phylactery and complete the ritual, but the odds were slim to none. He didn’t trust a single of his minions to carry out the task. No, he needed the process to be completed as soon as possible.

At least Devlin was predictable. DeMarco had a strong
suspicion Devlin would wind up visiting his sister. So Edenton was the new goal. This made his situation both easier and more complicated. A whole town of Others would likely step in to fight alongside Fallon. The question was, would they also step in to keep Devlin safe when he’d been tainted by the Dales?

Sarah’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Are you still there?”

He held back a growl. Soon, the pieces would all be in one place, but he didn’t want Sarah to think she was close to her goal. He still needed her to play along.

He smiled coldly, keeping the excitement from his voice. “I want you to make a detour. I believe I know where Devlin is going. This
errand is on the way.”

“I have his trail,” she answered in a low
, deadly tone.

He laughed, mocking her. “You do not. That boy is smarter than you imagine.”

“Boy?” She snorted. “He’s twice my age.”

“The boy is an innocent. No matter what we do to him, or force him to do, he is still pure.
We have yet to break him.”

Her growl was full of frustration. “Fine. Where are you sending me?”

“To Seattle. To our contact with the Silver Council. You will get what we need from him.”

“And what is that?” The bitterness in her tone was sweet to his
ears.

“A soul prison. You are to rescue your maker. Expect him to be in an extra foul mood when he’s pulled from his new realm
. I understand Fallon O’Shea did quite a number on him.”

“O’Shea?” Sarah asked slowly. “As in Devlin O’Shea?”

“Indeed. Devlin has a sister.” He had more information he could share, but he wanted Malachi freed first. He didn’t trust Sarah not to find herself again. Malachi had successfully wormed his way into her head and twisted her memories, and her goals, into something sick and corrupt. Sarah had fought for her humanity until Malachi found the perfect way to break her.

“
Devlin has a sister?” Sarah confirmed.

“
He does. Fallon is crucial to
our
plans. First, we need Malachi.”

“What do I need to do?” Her tone had improved at
last.

“Go to Seattle. Meet Lamar. Convince him to bring you the
soul prison by any means necessary. He likes it rough.”

“Rough I can do,” she answered with a thrill in her voice before hanging up.

DeMarco shook his head, the wisps of white hair brushing his shoulders. That Shadowstalker was trouble. Sarah still wanted her husband back. A man who believed she was dead, and was newly married to the woman DeMarco needed to complete the rituals. He needed Sarah to stay away from Edenton long enough to get what he wanted.

No matter how this turned out, he expected a blood
-fest. He could hardly wait.

Closing his eyes, Devlin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When he opened his eyes, he wanted to get lost in Jamie’s gaze, but he began to explain the best he could.

“I was seven when Dad realized DeMarco was closing in on us. He said goodbye to Mom before bloodoathing the two of us to keep Fallon from learning Dad and I were alive.”

“What do you mean? Couldn’t you have gone up to her at the wedding and introduced yourself?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s more complicated. I physically cannot tell Fallon I’m her brother. The words can’t leave my lips unless she figures it out.” He let out a short breath and shook his head. “I couldn’t even tell you until you figured it out.”

“You look
exactly like her. She’ll figure it out when she sees you.”

“Doubtful. I don’t want her to know
everything I’ve been through. She doesn’t need that, Jamie. She’s happy, and has been through enough hell.”

Jamie sat down beside him
and took his hands. “Not as much as you, Devlin. You didn’t deserve any of it either.”

“I know.”

“Now, what do you mean doubtful? Why don’t you think she would recognize you?”

“I visited her dreams for years, and she never once guessed who I was. Through a dream was the only way to contact her. Thankfully
, by the time Dad figured out I was dreamwaking with her, I had found a way to prevent him from bloodoathing me from visiting my sister.”

“How long
did the Dales have you?”

“Twenty years. Dad was brilliant at running. We were always two steps ahead. That is until
his depression started. Most of the time he was fine, but sometimes he would drown himself in alcohol. There were a few close calls, until he was finally captured. That’s when you found me in my dreams. Reliving how my captivity began.”

“Fallon said you stopped visiting her. Was that why?”

Devlin paused. “Yes, but how do you know?”

She blushed, her eyes dropping to her lap. “I mentioned you. Well, not your name
. I told Fallon and Jess that I kept dreaming about a man I couldn’t get out of my head. We talked briefly about Dreamwalkers.”

He caught her chin,
gently pulling her gaze to his with a shy smile. “You talked about me?”

The corners of her mouth lifted, and she nodded slightly
. “Couldn’t help myself. Don’t you get it yet? I feel a connection with you. One I don’t want to lose. So talk to me. Hopefully we can figure out a way to convince you to stay.”

“I want to, but I want you safe more than I want to be happy.”

“Silly man, I would follow you. Do you really think either of us would be safe then?”

His eyes widened. “You don’t understand what’s coming for me. I know about your sister
, how the Dales held her ten years ago. I know what they did to Fallon and her friends. That isn’t even the worst of what I’ve seen.”

“But I want you safe too, and you stand a much better chance with us, than apart.”

Devlin was too afraid to hope, but he told her, “If you can still say that by the time you hear my story, we’ll figure it out.”

“Nothing you say is going to change my mind.
Hurry up and spill it, so we can work out the rest.”

He couldn’t help the thread of amusement at her tenacity, but he was too afraid of his own past to hold her to her promises.
“You stepped into my dream, which was basically a replay of how the Dales captured me. They tore into my father, tortured him until I cooperated with their demands. It left him a shredded mess.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Dad begged me to resist. It started out easy. Testing the limits of my wards. Then they wanted me to take away people’s resistances, steal their will through magic. When I tried to resist, they would torture him until he was near death, and wouldn’t let me touch him until I finished their task. They…” he wiped at his eyes, “when Dad was in too bad of shape, they would use someone else until I broke. I couldn’t save them all. The spells took time. No matter how fast I worked, I couldn’t…”

She moved closer,
and listened intently as he laid out the basic facts of his life with the Dales. With every detail, he was sure she would hate him more, but he spent more than an hour talking.

* * * *

Her tear-filled eyes were locked on Devlin’s. She caressed his face. Hell didn’t cover what the man had been through, and she knew he was nowhere near done. Jamie had heard enough, and unless he wanted to continue talking, she didn’t need to hear more.

She finally broke the silence.
“I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.”

“
You really aren’t running?” he asked in astonishment.

“Devlin,
their torture and deaths aren’t your fault. None of it. You did what you had to in order to survive. You want me to blame you for shit you couldn’t control? I won’t.”

“You don’t want to
send me away, knowing what’s coming after me?”

“No,
and you should stay. We can finish them. I think we need to suck it up and stop those… those… shit, there aren’t words to describe their monstrosity. We need to stop them.”

“You can’t. DeMarco won’t die.
” Standing, he pushed his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes. “He’s falling apart and he won’t die. He doesn’t even need his body anymore. It only limits the things he can physically do to his victims, but he loves to dictate his sick will.”

“To you?”

He shook his head. “No. Nothing DeMarco could do to me would make me cause that kind of harm. He learned that fast. Instead he made me watch. Unless I pissed him off, he would allow me to mend their broken bodies. I’ve been witness to things I can’t scrub from my memory. I know what he’s capable of.” His voice broke, and he shook his head. There was desperation in his expression. “I can’t let them have you. The Dales will break you, Jamie. They will take pleasure in torturing you until I break. But if I run, if I go, they’ll follow. You’ll be safe and they’ll forget about Fallon.”

Jamie
glared back at him. “Oh no. No, they won’t. You don’t have any idea what Malachi did to her, to them.” She hugged herself as she turned away.

“I do. I saw video of it. They forced me to watch.”

Devlin made a retching sound and bolted to the bathroom. He dry-heaved on an empty stomach. She couldn’t blame him. The little Fallon mentioned was bad enough, but actually seeing it… she didn’t think she could handle watching.

Jamie knelt down beside him, stroking his back.
Her voice was gentle. “Clearly you aren’t the monster the Dales want you to be. They may have held you, they may have abused you, but they did not break and remold you into something you aren’t.”

“I’m tainted. I’m broken.
And I’m definitely not worth the trouble that is sure to find me.”

“
Damn it, Devlin, stop with that nonsense. Seriously. You did what you had to so you could fix the damage they did. Is it fucked up? Yeah, obviously, but that’s not on your shoulders. You need to focus on the good you did.”

“But I don’t want anyone in danger because of me.”

“If they have been after Fallon for years, what makes you think either of you are safer away from here? What makes you think they’ll stop trying to take her?”

“They haven’t come for her in years.”

“Bullshit. Malachi tried to take her a few months ago. He’s now trapped in a soul prison, and quite a few of the Dales that were up here trying to take this pack are dead, while the prisoners have been released. Did they not tell you?”

“Malachi is in a soul
prison?” he asked slowly.

Jamie nodded. “He is. Fallon would have killed him, except Dacia locked him away.”

“That’s where he went? No one has seen or heard from him in months.”

“So,
you see, being here only makes you safer. They’ll still come for Fallon. Stay, and help us figure out how to deal with them once and for all.”

“But…”

“No but’s. They have dark mages, Shadowstalkers, and a whole league of warped, twisted Others. But none of that means shit because this town is full of Others who protect each other.”

“They won’t protect me.
They have no reason to risk their lives,” he insisted.

Jamie wanted to scream. Instead, she pressed her fingers to his face,
pulling his gaze back to hers. “Would you please give us a chance? Please.”

The turmoil in his eyes tore her apart. “DeMarco needs both
Fallon and me for something. The things he’ll do… I don’t want her in their hands. The risk is too great. I shouldn’t have come.”

Exasperated, she
screamed at him, “Then why did you?”

“I couldn’t resist seeing you
, if only once,” his voice broke. “Now, I’m not sure I can leave to protect you, and Fallon.” The words caught on his tongue. “If I stay… oh Goddess, if I stay, and they find me, someone will tear apart everything my sister shares with her mate.”

“Who
?” she asked carefully.

“Brody’s first wife isn’t exactly dead. She’s a
Shadowstalker now, and she wants him back. He won’t be safe either. She isn’t the same woman he knew, and once she finds out he has a mate, a new wife in fact, she will destroy him.”

Jamie snorted a laugh. “I very much doubt that. You obviously don’t know your sister. I don’t believe there is anyone who can take her down. And Brody will do anything for her.”

“I hope you’re right.”

She
nodded. “I am. I need time to figure a few things out, but I think I know where to start.”

Disbelief filled his expression. “And
where is that?”

“Fallon can give you the same wards she gave all of us. She can protect you, Devlin. She can make it so they can’t control you.”

“Oh, they may not be able to enthrall me, but they’ve already broken me. The Dales know what buttons to push to make me compliant.” He brushed her hair behind her ear. “I told you only a fraction of the story Jamie. I’m not a good man. I don’t know that I ever was.”

Her eyes blazed as she stood up. “Did you enjoy any of it?”

“No,” he whispered.

“Did you want to do those things?”

A pained sound broke free. “No.”

“Then you are not in the wrong. You are not to blame. I
feel
your guilt, Devlin, your anguish, the horror, the shame. I
feel
it all. You. Are. Not. At. Fault!”

“I wish I believed that.”

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the bathroom, to the kitchen. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. You already said you won’t go out after dark. So, please, stay here tonight, and then tomorrow we can figure something out?”

Jamie had every intention of texting Fallon, and begging her to come back. It was the only way. She needed Fallon to know the story from Devlin’s lips.
Fallon was likely to be pissed when she learned the boy who used to visit her was her brother and of the many secrets that were kept. Once she grasped the reality of a boodoath, she would understand and be on Devlin’s side.

As much as she didn’t want to break up
Fallon’s honeymoon, it was the only thing she could do. First, she needed to find a moment out of his sight to send the message. Yet, she was terrified if she turned her back, he would disappear.

She couldn’t lose him, not so soon after finding her mate
. He was coming around, but Jamie fully understood the desire to run when trouble loomed on the horizon. She’d been ready to disappear in order to keep Stephen from going after Jess or any of her friends. The plan was simple. Run, keep running, and never stop.

Stephen
would have gone after Jess, and who knows what he would have done to pry the information from her. Fallon had explained it to her, but at the time, it didn’t make sense, not that she had the chance to run with how things played out.

Now
it was crystal clear. If the Dales ever found out Devlin had a mate, they would come for her. They would certainly come for Fallon. She had a suspicion that Fallon was eating for two now. There was greater risk, but bigger incentive to end the threat. Permanently.

Jamie walked to the fridge and began pulling items out. When she turned back, Devlin sat at the counter, a tortured look in his eyes, but a
sad smile on his lips.

“If you were me, Jamie, what would you do?”

“Take my advice. Get help from the people of Edenton. We managed to take down the Dales before. We can do it again. Regardless of this DeMarco asshole. Please give us a chance.”

He nodded slowly. “I’ll try, but remember, it goes against everything I’ve been taught all my life
. Run to pull the attention away from those I love.”