Music: Unstoppable by Sia

Chapter dedicated to Loveonlyonce. Thanks, my sweet, for reading and voting!

Chapter 124 – Piece by Piece – Cage's POV

I roared and slammed my fist into the cell wall. Bits and pieces of the wall shattered, creating dust that floated to the ground. My knuckles bled and smoked a little as the silver from the wall seared my flesh. I didn't care. I would heal. What I needed to do was get the fuck out of here!

That bastard had come down just to fuck with my head. And he'd done a damn good job. He'd reeked of Raine's arousal. Fuck, it had been strong, which meant she had held out for hours. I suspected that was why she forced him to come, but I still didn't like it. I wanted to throw bleach into my brain, to get out the images I could easily conjure of them together.

"Cage..." Echo murmured soothingly from the cell next to me. "It won't be long. She can hold on."

He knew the plan. When the sun went down, we were getting out of here. At that point, Queen Ileana should be out of Marku's sight and Marku distracted. But the sun wouldn't set for hours. It wasn't soon enough for me. And there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!

..........

The day had gone by excruciatingly slowly. It felt unending, similar to the day I had to wait to hunt Raine when she ran away. I pushed those memories out of my head. I couldn't be distracted now. Now, I had a job to do.

Killian had left thirty minutes earlier. The guards in place now were vampires. They wouldn't come within earshot of me. It was Marku's safeguard against me compelling them. But Marku didn't know it wasn't necessary for me to speak or them to hear me, for my compulsion to work.

I reached out with my mind, searching for them. It was an odd feeling that had grown over the weeks. An extra sense I never had before. I had practiced it silently, honing my skills. I found them. There were three guards. I spoke directly into their minds, ordering them to release the cells and come to me.

A click later, both my and Echo's cell doors slid open. The three guards walked to me, their expressions frozen in shock and horror. They knew I was compelling them. They also knew Marku would slaughter them when he realized they were locked in our cells.

Without a word, I forced them to take our place in the cells. One of Echo's men ran to the controls and the doors clanked shut. I released the guards minds, turned on my heels and ran. Raine had compelled Seraphine to give us directions to where she would be.  This time Marku wouldn't have a legion of forces on the lookout for us, but we took no chances. The instant I felt another mind come near, we either evaded them or killed them, leaving no witnesses to our movement.

We reached Tobias's room first. He shot to his feet when I breached the door. Instantly, my eyes locked on the silver cage and the naked woman inside. My gaze roamed over her curves and the crystal collar. My dick twitched, hard.

This wasn't the time, I reminded myself harshly.  Still, I had to adjust my pants, trying to calm down and make it more comfortable. She stared back at me with a knowing smirk.

"Key!" I growled.

Tobias had just finished strapping on the weapons Echo provided him, and hurled the key across the room to me. I snatched it from the air effortlessly and slammed it into the lock, my fingers burning from the silver metal. But I didn't care. Nothing else mattered right now.

The door swung open and she flew into my arms. I held her naked form, once again trying to control the wave a lust that crashed through me.

Keep it together!

Focus!

I pulled back and stared at her. It was truly shocking.

I breathed in awe, "You did it. You fucking did it."

She grinned madly, the smile reaching the victorious glint in her eyes. "Yes, I fucking did."

Shit, even her voice sounded like Seraphine. But we didn't have time for me to ogle. I said, "You can change back now and get dressed."

Tobias stood next to us, holding a pair of black pants, shirt and undergarments for her.

She grabbed the panties and slipped her feet inside. "No, I'll get dressed, but I can't change back yet, not until we leave the kingdom. The gift is still new to me. I had less than twenty minutes this afternoon after my tour with Marku to make the switch with Seraphine and get her ready to go. Fuck, you should have seen the mad rush Talon and I went through, to make sure the illusion was perfect and ensure I had compelled all of the necessary behavior into Seraphine. We couldn't risk anyone seeing me, so when I transformed Seraphine to look like me, I took her place at the same time. If I change back now, I don't know if it will cause Seraphine to transfer back as well." She slipped into her pants.

I growled low in my throat and nuzzled into her neck, "I don't care what you look like, although this version is not my favorite. I much prefer the original."

She groaned and rubbed her still naked breasts against me. "When we get out of here, I'm gonna need you to take care of a few things, frequently, for a while."

"I'm sorry, Tigru, I know the compulsion for arousal was strong. I wasn't sure if you would be able to withstand...not after I heard the terms of the agreement." I couldn't speak for a moment, knowing everything she had gone through.

She cupped my cheeks in both hands, forcing me to look at her. "There are some things I need to tell you. I won't lie or keep anything from you." She cringed as she spoke and I knew what sort of things she planned to tell me. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear any more details than Marku had already happily shared. She continued, swearing fervently, "But there was never...not one moment...that I wanted him. It was you in my thoughts, always."

I kissed her hard and then pulled back. She was breathing heavily, her eyes glazed with desire, her nipples taut and firm. I let out a low warning growl to Tobias, who dropped her shirt and bra and spun around, so that he was no longer facing her. It was in that moment, I realized something shocking. "I can't scent your arousal. Fuck, how did you mask even that?"

She answered sheepishly, "It's a long story, but like I said, Talon and I went through every detail to make sure no one would be able to tell the difference."

I shook my head, still in awe. "How did you even fucking know you could create the illusion?"

She slipped her arms into the bra and turned so I could secure the clasp. "The first night with Marku. Like I said, you were in my thoughts. So much so, that when I opened my eyes, it wasn't Marku in front of me anymore...it was you, your face and your voice. At first I thought I was hallucinating or Marku was tricking me. But if that were the case, then I should have believed the illusion, I should have believed it was you. But I didn't. Even though I saw and heard you, I knew it wasn't you. It wasn't until after I had gone to bed that I realized the truth. The reason Marku had looked like you was because I wanted him to be you. I had created the illusion without realizing it. If anyone else had been with us, they would have seen you as well. Marku never knew it happened, because he wasn't looking in a mirror at the time. Queen Ileana was there, but she never looked at us. And even if she had seen me create the illusion, she certainly wouldn't have told Marku. The next day, I practiced with Talon and then with Seraphine."

"Holy fuck," I breathed.

She grinned as she tugged her shirt over her head.

"Speaking of the queen, where are her and Marku now?"

"Marku should be happily fucking 'me' right now. And I have no doubt he plans to make an all-night affair out of it." She grimaced. "If Seraphine did as I compelled, then Queen Ileana is likely in my room with Talon."

"Okay, even though your scent is masked, I don't want you any closer to that fucker. Stay here and I will go get them."

She nodded and gave me directions. I slipped into the hall and stealthily made my way through the twists and turns. When I reached the room, Queen Ileana's head snapped up in shock, but Talon was ready for me. He snapped the chain and collar from her neck.

Abruptly, there was a loud scream from the next room, and then another, calling out his name. I froze. I knew it wasn't Raine. But it sounded like her and hearing her scream his name in the throes of passion, caused unbridled fury to consume me. My fists clenched and my nostrils flared.

"It isn't her. We need to go." Talon reminded me through clenched teeth. His lips were set in a thin hard line. It clearly hadn't been easy for him either.

He was right, we needed to get the hell out of there. I ordered, "Carry her." With the pain Queen Ileana was in, she would slow us down if she had to run on her own. He picked her up and she dropped her head against his chest in relief. We ran back to Tobias's room. Raine let out a breath of relief when she saw us. We all took off in the direction of the nearest exit. Raine whispered, "We need York and his men. If we get in a confrontation, we could use the reinforcements."

I cringed. I didn't want to tell her the truth. She noticed my hesitation and asked warily, "What is it?"

"They're dead, Tigru."

"What?" she gasped, blinking away tears.

"I'm sorry, Marku executed them."

Her face twisted in pain and guilt. She whispered despondently, "All of them? Dead? That bastard! He punished them...because of me."

I shook my head. "All, except York. He kept York alive so that you wouldn't ask questions. They were not killed as punishment. He couldn't guarantee their loyalty. He made their deaths quick. I'm sorry, Tigru. It wasn't your fault. It was just a natural outcome of war. I know it's still hard for you, but I would have done the same thing. You are a queen now, and unfortunately, will have to make the same hard decisions when you rule."

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she listened silently. Abruptly, she crashed to a halt. I wasn't prepared for fast stop and had to run back to her. I spoke urgently, "What are you doing? We can't stay here."

"I'm going to get him. I'm not going to let Marku kill him."

Fuck.

"Tigru, we can't risk it."

"No!" she hissed and clenched her tiny hands into fists, she straightened her shoulders defiantly.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

There was no arguing when she got like this. Echo had heard our conversation, so knew exactly where we were headed when I detoured down another hallway. Without a word, we careened down the hallways back to the cells. Echo ran to the control panel to release the door, while I ran to the cell he was contained. He shot to his feet when he saw us and didn't need to be told twice when the door opened.

Raine threw herself into his arms as soon as he was out of the cell, almost knocking him back into it with the force of her hug. York staggered and then stood in shocked silence. He awkwardly patted her back, his glanced shifting to me warily. It was clear he was worried I would attack him. He didn't know her like I did. Tackling with bear hugs was just Raine's normal reaction to people she cared about.

"Time to go," I reminded her.

"Oh, yes, right." She released him and we took off again. We ran through corridor after corridor, toward our freedom. Just a few more minutes and we would be in the woods.

Suddenly, Raine's hair turned from auburn back to her natural platinum blonde! We weren't out of Marku's kingdom yet. Something was wrong. I hissed, "Why did you change back?!"

"What?" she gasped. She couldn't see herself to know. Her reaction confirmed she hadn't initiated the change. She breathed with wide eyes, "Seraphine. She must be dead. He knows."

"Fuck," I cursed. I had hoped we'd have more time before Marku went on the warpath.

Raine's cellphone rang.

Marku!

She startled but didn't break stride.

There was no time for a clean getaway, no time to compel and tie up Marku's security. More would have to die. As we came to the exit, Marku's guards jumped up to meet us. I ordered through gritted teeth, "Kill them."

Raine's phone continued to ring.

Marku's guards didn't stand a chance against us. In seconds, they were dead and we released the locking mechanism on the doors and hurtled through. And none too quickly. As soon as we made it through, the entire compound lit up with flashing red warning lights. The doors behind us slid shut of their own accord. He was locking it all down.

Raine's phone had gone silent.

Fuck, Killian would be in the air any second. He couldn't take on all of us, but if Marku had one dark Fae on his payroll, the odds were strong that he had more. We made it to the edge of the forest and crashed through the trees, propelling ourselves even faster.

Raine's phone rang again.

"Answer it!" I ordered. The last thing I wanted was her talking to that fucker, but we needed Intel.

She whipped her head to me in surprise and then brought the phone to her ear. Even with our insane pace, and him speaking through the device, I could still hear his loud furious growls.

"You know," she guessed calmly.

He hissed, "You lied to me!"

"You've lied to me," she countered.

"Not now! I didn't lie to you now!" He snarled. I was shocked to hear an undercurrent of hurt in his voice.

What the fuck?!

Raine cringed. She must have heard it as well.

His tone was low and deadly, all traces of pain gone, only cold blooded predator left. "All bets are off. I had been kind. No more. Now, I am going to hunt you. And make no mistake, I will find you. And when I do, I will break you, piece by piece."

The line went dead.

Fuck.

.

Soooo, thoughts here?