I told Raven because I had to.
She would never understand my situation otherwise.
As a young man without the muscle definition he possessed today, he carried me from my bed and strained his body to get me out—and could have lost his life in the process. But he saved me from a senseless death.
I’d always feel indebted to him.
But there was also this unspeakable connection between us, two survivors who were permanently angry, permanently sorrowful. No one else in the world would understand us except the other. I didn’t agree with a lot of things he did, and he took almost everything too far, but he was the one person immune to my acts of vengeance.
Once we got our hands on some money, he hit the weights and bulked up into the beast he was today. His physique was a part of his defense, to know that he’d always be strong enough to carry me—even though that would never happen again. He was built like an ox, with muscles so thick that if someone stabbed him, the blade would never reach his organs.
I had an athletic build, all muscle and no fat, but I was definitely on the leaner side. I was just too active to be that bulky.
There were only a few days left before we returned to Paris. I was eager to get Raven out of there, but it also seemed as though Alix had let it go. He would have done something by now, otherwise.
She and I didn’t talk about Fender or the murders of my family again. Everything that needed to be said had been said, and we went back to our quiet, domesticated life. There were a lot of things I liked about Raven, but her intuition was one of the qualities I valued most. She could read my moods without asking me a single question. She knew how to be what I needed her to be at any given time. She also didn’t need a conversation to be entertained. She was perfectly comfortable just being with me, watching TV in silence, running her fingers down my chest as she lay close to me on the bed made for one.
All the women in the outside world were weak and superficial.
Raven was so much deeper.
I didn’t spend all my free time in the cabin because I didn’t want to piss off the guards. If they knew I was slacking, they would know exactly why, and it would be another excuse for retribution. So, I made a point to show my face as much as possible.
I stepped into the communal cabin to do my evening checks, and the guys were at the table. Every seat was filled—but Alix wasn’t there. I loathed bumping into him, which was inevitable because we were required in the same area multiple times of day, so any opportunity not to look at his piece-of-shit face was a good one.
I went into the weapons room and did my checks, even though the only prisoner there who would have the balls to take anything already had a knife in her pocket and no reason to steal. The guards didn’t have much of a reason either, but it was part of the routine, so I did it.
I’d just shut one of the drawers and locked it when I heard a distant scream.
I stilled, my ears straining to hear it again. It was faint, like it was far away or just muffled inside the bedroom of a cabin. My heart was steady, and it was impossible to get a spike in my pulse because I was always in a state of eternal calm, but that scream sent a tremor of fear down my spine.
I stopped what I was doing and immediately left the room to get to the front door.
The scream was louder. “Let me go!”
It was her. I sprinted to the door.
“Now!” Eric jumped on me and slammed me into the wall.
My body hit and bounced back like I was made of rubber instead of muscle. Nathan grabbed me next, Eric jumping on my back.
I twisted and threw them off, still moving toward the door because nothing was going to stop me from getting to her. “I will fucking kill you!”
Eric yanked me down, Nathan kicked my feet from underneath me, and then another guard was on top of me, pinning me to the hardwood with six hundred pounds from their body weights. Nathan pressed his knee into my back while pinning down my arms.
Her voice came loud, full of terror, full of tears. “Magnus!”
“Get the fuck off me! I swear to fucking god, I will kill all of you!” I pushed as hard as I could, tried to wiggle free, but it was no use. I couldn’t fight the weight of three men with my hands tied behind my back. I breathed hard, spit dripping to the floor because I was so furious that I practically frothed at the mouth. Every muscle in my body burned because I continued to fight against a weight I could never conquer. The pain was excruciating, not their restraints, but having to listen to her scream, beg for me to help her, and there was nothing I could do about it. “Please…please let me go.”
She screamed again. “Please don’t!”
My eyes burned with a sheen of angry tears. “Eric, come on… Nathan…” I begged without shame, abandoned my pride because all I cared about was the woman I’d promised I would protect. I should have killed Alix. I should have done something instead of looking the other way. “Please…”
Then the screams abruptly stopped.
I breathed against the floor, blinking my eyes so the tears dripped to the floor along with the stream of saliva that fell from my mouth with my screams. “Let me up. Now.” Their hold seemed to slacken, so I tried to jerk free, but it didn’t work.
They all stared at each other then at the door.
Then a voice sounded, a voice I’d recognize anywhere, a voice I remembered in my greatest memories and some of my worst. “Let her go.”
I started to breathe hard again, imagining the scene outside. Fender must have entered the camp on his horse with his guards at that moment, witnessing whatever the fuck Alix was doing to her.
The guys stopped holding me down because they recognized his voice too.
I pushed to my feet then tumbled forward slightly, my legs carrying me quicker than my body could allow. Revenge wasn’t on my mind at the moment because all I cared about was the woman screaming my name. I pushed through the front door and took the stairs to the ground. It was nighttime, but the lights lit up the horrific scene in front of me.
Raven was on her knees on the ground, completely naked.
Alix was standing behind her with a knife in his grasp, like he’d held it to her throat just seconds ago.
Raven covered her chest with her folded arms and kept her gaze averted.
Fender stood there in black jeans, boots, and a black t-shirt. His guards were positioned behind him, holding the reins to his horse so she wouldn’t run off until she was put in the stables. Fender faced Alix directly, staring down at him with one of those stoic gazes that could mean anything.
Alix just stood there, breathing hard, still as a statue.
I strode across the ground and headed right for Raven, pulling off my shirt so I could cover her with it.
Fender didn’t look at me when I approached. His eyes were on Alix. “This woman doesn’t belong to you—and you know that.”
Alix was stupid enough to argue. “She’s a prisoner—”
“Don’t. Speak.”
Alix inhaled a deep breath, a little timid in Fender’s presence.
“She belongs to Magnus.” Fender pulled a blade from his pocket and placed the tip right against Alix’s heart, the point digging into the fabric of his shirt. “Touch her again, and I will not hesitate to slam this deep into your heart and make it stop.”
Alix didn’t even breathe.
I made it to Raven and pulled the shirt over her body.