Authors: AJ Jarrett
The ache in his chest still felt fresh from his betrayal to the man he loved. He had been under a spell and couldn’t control his wants and desires. In the end, he had given in to his body’s arousal and begged Malcolm to fuck him. He clenched his fist in memory of that fateful night. Miles had been tricked, but it still didn’t lighten the guilt he felt deep inside.
“You say ‘I spy with my little eye,’ and then describe something to me,” Miles said as he shifted to lie on his belly and rested his head on his arms.
“What?” Miles could hear the rustle of Astrid’s clothes as he looked around him. “All that’s in my room is a bed, pillow, and my blanket.”
“Astrid.” Miles laughed. “You goof. You just told me the answers, so now you have to pick something else.” Miles sobered. “Think of anything. It doesn’t have to be something in your room. Use your imagination.”
There was a pause. Astrid didn’t say anything. Miles heard a small sniffle.
“Astrid, buddy, are you okay?”
The quiet sobs went on for a few more minutes, and Miles didn’t pressure Astrid to explain. The man had been held in one cold, uncaring room after another since he was a child, and if anyone had the right to have moments of emotional distress, it was him.
“I’m fine. I just don’t have anything I can describe. All I ever see is this stuff in my room.” Astrid whispered the words to where Miles had to struggle to hear them.
“Listen to me, Astrid, when Ben comes to rescue me, I’m taking you with me. I won’t leave you behind. No one deserves to live this way.” Anger fueled Miles’s words.
Yes
, he was upset about his situation but even more so for his new friend.
“How do you know he will come looking for you?” Astrid asked.
“Because…” Miles’s voice cracked. “Because he loves me. And when you love someone, you will do anything to keep them safe.” A tear ran down Miles’s cheek. He missed Ben’s kisses, his touch, even the sound of his low, gravelly voice.
“I hope someone loves me that much someday.”
Miles wiped his eyes. “There will be, Astrid. You just need to keep the faith.” Miles shifted to sit up on his knees. “Hey, Astrid?”
“Yes, Miles.”
“Why don’t you use you magic to free yourself? From what Ben said, your kind is very powerful. You could probably kick some serious ass if you tried.” This had been driving Miles nuts for the last few days. If witches were as powerful as Ben claimed, how come Astrid never tried to free himself? “I don’t know how.”
Miles could hear the shame in Astrid’s voice and could just kick himself for making the man feel worse. “Hey, buddy, don’t get down on yourself. I imagine that is part of Malcolm’s plan, to keep you blind to your powers and the things you can do.”
“You think?”
“Yes, I do. I mean think about it, Astrid. If you were powerful, he couldn’t control you. Ben’s told me witches are the all-powerful in the paranormal world, and Malcolm knows that. Malcolm couldn’t keep you under his thumb if he allowed you to get stronger.” The wheels in his brain were turning, and he could see the plus side for Malcolm in keeping Astrid as powerless as he could. If Astrid had proper control and use of his magic, no one would be able to control the witch. “You just have to try, Astrid.”
“But I don’t know how.”
The sounds of footsteps cut their conversation short. He didn’t have a watch, so he didn’t know if it was feeding time again or not.
Miles scrambled off the floor and jumped on the bed. The last thing he wanted was to get caught talking with Astrid. He didn’t know what Malcolm would do in protest to them becoming friends.
The door creaked open, and Miles looked up to see who his visitor was.
“Oh, my sweet. Look at you on the bed just waiting for me.”
The sound of Malcolm’s voice made Miles’s skin crawl. The man hadn’t tried to sleep with him since they mated. Miles was grateful for that but didn’t know why Malcolm hadn’t tried to bed him again. Malcolm was supposed to gain strength from their mating, and Miles didn’t know if sex was a factor in that equation or not.
“You wish, asshole,” Miles snapped at Malcolm, and Malcolm just laughed.
“I love the spark you have.” Malcolm came around the bed to sit on the edge closer to Miles, and he shifted away from his vampire mate. Malcolm reached out and grabbed his arm. Miles fought him but was no match for Malcolm’s strength. He held Miles down and grabbed his chin and tugged Miles to face him.
“At first I thought I wouldn’t care if you had any feelings for me at all, but the more I see of you, I want you to want me like a mate should.”
Miles’s jaws clenched together. “That will never happen. The only way you will ever have me is if you drug me again.” Miles struggled to free himself from the hold on his face. “I will never want you.”
Malcolm chuckled. “You say that now, but you will become lonely and crave the need for touch. And it will be me to provide that touch to you.”
“Never,” Miles spat out. “Ben will find me, and then put an end to you, you asshole.”
“You still think your little Warrior of the Light is going to find you? Silly boy.” Malcolm’s harsh laugh echoed off the walls. “It has been over a week. If your warrior was going to find you, he would have done so by now.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Miles started to sweat. It was true it had been a week since he’d gone missing. If they were going to find him, he would have thought they would have done so by now. “He’ll come for me, and when he does he will kill you for what you’ve done.”
Malcolm leaned down close to Miles’s face, just a breath away from his lips. “You forget, my sweet, we’re mated, so that makes me harder to kill. Thanks to you, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.”
With a chaste kiss to Miles’s lips, Malcolm stood up. He straightened his jacket and strolled to the door. “You’ll come around, Miles.”
Once Malcolm was gone, Miles gave into the tears that ripped from his chest. He’d never come around, but Malcolm sounded so confident. And the truth was Malcolm didn’t need his consent. He could either force Miles to have sex with him or have Astrid whip up his special brew of instant horniness.
“Please, Ben, find me,” Miles cried into his pillow as he looked toward where the window should have been. It had been filled in with bricks so Miles couldn’t see outside. His world had become the four walls that held him within its confines.
The tears kept flowing, and Miles continued to pray that his lover would find him. He had faith in Ben. A love as strong as theirs couldn’t just fizzle and die. Hope was all he had, and he refused to believe this was all his life had to offer, being a caged pet to a mate he did not love.
Miles jerked in surprise when a light touch grazed his shoulder. He looked up to see Astrid standing beside his bed.
“How did you get in here?” Miles asked as he looked toward the door. He never heard it open or close, and there was no way the guards would allow Astrid to come visit him.
“I’m not sure,” Astrid whispered as he climbed up onto the bed. He tucked his knees up close to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, squeezing tight. “One minute I was in my room, the next I was standing in here.”
Miles pulled himself up into a sitting position. How did Astrid do it? “What were you thinking when you just popped into here? Think, Astrid, it’s important.”
Astrid twisted a lock of his hair around his finger. “I heard you crying and it made me sad.” He looked to Miles and he gave him an encouraging smile to continue. “And I wanted to come to you. You’re my only friend, and I wanted to comfort you.”
The smile on Miles’s face grew. That was it. Astrid’s magic was tied to his emotions.
Astrid picked up on his shock and started to rock back and forth frantically. Miles crawled up on his knees then moved to Astrid’s side and wrapped his arms around the witch’s shoulders. He just figured out how they were going to escape this hellhole.
“Astrid, buddy, calm down. I’m not mad. I’m actually freaking excited.” He rubbed at Astrid’s back in attempt to calm his nerves.
“What do you mean?” Astrid asked as he looked up through his thick lashes at Miles.
“You said you heard me crying and that made you sad.” Astrid nodded. “Then you said you wanted to come to me.” Another nod. “Astrid, I think when you get upset, sad, or probably even happy you can make things happen.”
“I don’t understand.” Astrid’s dropped his head forward to rest on his knees.
“I think your magic is linked to your feelings. Don’t you see? If we work on getting you to try and make small things happen, it might be enough to get us out of here.” Miles knew he was asking a lot from his frightened friend, but it was their only chance for escape.
“What if you’re wrong and me popping in here was just luck?” Astrid jumped to his knees. “What if I can’t get back into my room?”
Astrid’s face flushed and the pulse in his neck beat rapidly. Miles didn’t want to upset him, but Astrid could be their only hope. He pulled Astrid into his embrace.
“Don’t worry. I think once you hear the lock turn on the door, you’ll be worked up enough to visualize yourself back into your own room.”
“You think so?”
Miles smiled at the excitement in his friend’s voice. “Yes.” Miles shifted them so that he and Astrid sat with their backs against the headboard. “Astrid, we’re going to start small. Whenever we’re alone, I want you to think about me and getting to me. I think with practice you may be able to get yourself out of here, and if you do, you can get help. I can give you Ben’s cell phone number so you can call him and he can come rescue us.”
Astrid looked up at him. “What’s a cell phone?” His forehead crinkled up in confusion.
“Astrid, my friend, the things I’m going to have to teach and show you once were out of this mess.” Miles chuckled.
Over the next hour, Miles explained the purpose of a cellular phone. And as he had suspected, once they heard the footsteps out in the hallway draw near, Astrid disappeared. One minute he was there and the next, he was gone. He had successfully teleported himself back to his room.
After the dinner meal, Malcolm didn’t make his nightly visit. Miles was left alone with his thoughts. He knew nothing of magic and how to control it, but he had to try and help Astrid. Astrid was their ace in the hole to get them to freedom. He just had to hope Astrid was a fast learner.
Chapter Ten
Nine days. It had been nine days of agonizing torture. Guilt ate up every inch of Ben’s insides. He should have been there to protect Miles. He should have seen through Malcolm’s trap. But he hadn’t. His callous behavior cost him his mate.
Ben plopped down into a chair and stared out the window, looking at the leaves blow across the ground. Fall had set in, and the weather had turned cooler. The leaves had turned to an array of reds and yellows.
The leaves were a lot like life growing and thriving, shining a vibrant green of vitality. Then as time wore on, they fell from their limbs to wither and die on the cold ground. Everywhere he turned, Ben saw death and despair. Tragedy seemed to be coming at him in spades as of late.
His failure to protect his mate, to protect Trevor, and even to protect his own men sent him in a tailspin. The job of leader had fallen on Quinn’s shoulders because Ben had fallen so deep into depression he couldn’t focus. He wanted to become the strong leader he used to be, the leader his men needed, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be that man again.
“Ben?”
He turned his head and saw Quinn leaning against the door. His friend had taken on the job of being his babysitter, and it infuriated Ben that his friend thought he needed a caretaker.
“What,” he snapped as he turned his gaze back toward the window, wishing for nothing more than for Quinn to leave him to his misery. “Well aren’t we chipper today.” Quinn moved further into the room. He stopped once he reached Ben’s side.