Quinn
I frowned as I stepped into the mansion and heard Mia’s scream. That was unusual and unexpected. That didn’t seem like she was screaming in delight and even if it was, I didn’t think that there was anything that would happen at home that late to make her scream in delight.
I frowned at the thought in my head, pushing it away. She wouldn’t dare to bring a boyfriend home and have sex with him in the house. I didn’t know how liberal her mum was and I was sure that dad wouldn’t mind if she had visited with her boyfriend but I didn’t like the thought of that.
I didn’t like the thought of a stranger in our house. I didn’t like the thought of another man in the house.
Oh, please. I rolled my eyes. I should be honest with myself. I was strong enough to do that for myself. I didn’t like the thought of Mia with another man. She belonged to me. She belonged to us, reminding me that my brothers wanted her as well.
I wouldn’t let anyone else have her.
There. I admitted it. It wasn’t that hard to admit and I didn’t die. I scowled as I wondered if she had a boyfriend. We hadn’t spoken to one another after we left home for the new mission that day and we weren’t friends that we would exchange calls.
Not that we didn’t want to call her but we knew that she wouldn’t want to speak to us. She would bang the call on us if she heard our voice, before we could get a word in.
I stopped as I heard the scream again and I knew that it wasn’t of pleasure this time. Not that I believed she would dare to bring a man home. I could hear the tremors of pain in her voice and I wondered what was going on. I didn’t think anyone in the house could hurt her, not her mum and not even dad.
All my senses sparked alive and my training as an officer kicked in at the thought of my girl in pain.
I listened carefully, trying to find out where she was and what was going on before I got there. I needed to assess the situation before I got there. That was the secret behind our success in every operations that we had been on. That was how we got to be decorated officers early in our careers.
We could hear the enemies clearly from a long distance, find out their secrets and weaknesses. That helped us to plan our ambush for them and when we show up, caging them in without any means of fighting because of the foolproof plan that we have developed with the Intel we knew of them, they gave up and we would go home with the wins with no one being the wiser.
I needed to do the same for Mia.
John frowned as he turned to me. “Can you hear that?”
I nodded. That was good. For a moment, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me.
“Yes.” Jack agreed. “It sounds like Mia is in pain. Where could she be? It doesn’t seem like she is in the house.”
“Shit!” The three of us cursed, our eyes widening in terror as we thought of the only place that she could be, the only place that could make her scream this late at night.
We started running, dumping our luggage on the ground, our hearts thudding in fear as our legs raced to beat one another.
Oh no, Mia. I groaned as I ran, feeling the wind swing past my ears with how fast I was running. She shouldn’t have gone there. The full moon stood there proudly in the sky, unmoving and I felt as if it was teasing me.
The full moon was an ominous sight I didn’t even want to think of and I ignored it as I raced forward. It was enough to make the damned stronger, despite her bonds, strong enough to kill or compel Mia to do what she wasn’t meant to do.
After all, she was nothing but a weak human and I didn’t think she could have much willpower against the slimy influence of the damned creature.
I got to the cave and I winced as I met the entrance open. There was no doubt that she was in there. My pace quickened and I rushed in, without waiting for my brothers. I had always been the fastest and strongest and I couldn’t delay for them to have my back.
A minute delay could kill Mia. I wasn’t sure she had that much with the way she had screamed. I had no doubt that the damned was already working on her with the way she had screamed.
I got into the interior of the cave and my eyes widened in horror at the sight that I saw. The damned had her hands on Mia, her sharp long claws pressing into her neck. If she pressed any fingers any deeper, Mia would be gone for good.
“Stop!” I shouted at her.
Being an officer had some habits it sinked into you and I was glad that I was one at that moment. Being an officer had made it hard for me to go out without being armed. Without hesitation, I pulled out a dagger from my shoes and threw it at her.
I didn’t wait to check if I had hit her before rushing at full speed to Mia’s side. I always hit my target and her scream as she fell back into the cage with her bleeding hand told me that I hadn’t missed this time as well.
I held Mia as she fell back into my waiting arms and breathed a sigh of relief, glad that I had been able to save her.
It was pure luck that me and my brothers had arrived in time or the evil sorceress would have killed Mia, my darling girl.
I noticed that Mia was shivering and I held her closer, whispering comforting words to her in a soft voice.
“Hush, dear.” I said, surprising even myself how soft my voice was. “Don’t be afraid. I got you. You will be fine.”
She nodded and huddled closer to me. Instead of feeling excited, I felt pity for her and wanted to kill the damn sorceress because I knew Mia had to be badly shaken for her to accept my embrace willingly without a sarcastic retort on her tongue.
I turned my gaze towards the sorceress inside the cage, my eyes filled with murderous intent. “You damned vile creature.” I cursed at her.
She dared to lay a finger on someone even though she was trapped in the cage. I shook my head, hating her. People rarely ever change.
Her painful screams continued, but within a minute, her severed hand grew back.
She smiled at me, her eyes flashing with wickedness. “You can’t kill me.” She declared, trying to remind me in case I had forgotten.
I snorted. As if I could ever forget that. As if I could ever forget what she was and had done. If we knew how we could kill her, we would have done that instead of locking her up for decades.
I roared at her, my voice ringing with disdain. “Shut up.”
Mia was still in shock and she jumped in fright at my roar and at the way the sorceress’ hands had grown back. I knew this would be strange to her and my heart was moved to the tenderness as I pulled her closer, rubbing at her arms.
Our world was different to hers and she had just learned a dark side of it.
I offered her a comforting smile, hoping that would help her. “Don’t be afraid. The woman in the cage is the Dark Wizard, not a werewolf. With the three of us here, no one can harm you.” I said, glancing at my brothers who had joined us.
She peered at them and they smiled at her, nodding their heads. I was concerned about her health and decided to take her back to the surface.
The four of us quickly left the basement, and it was then I noticed the bleeding wound on her neck. I hissed at myself. I would have noticed it earlier if I hadn’t been focused on the sorceress.
I lowered my head and licked the wound. She jumped in surprise, but I restrained her from moving away.
“That’s only to help you heal.” I explained to her. “I’m sure you don’t want our parents to see the wound and start worrying.”
She relaxed at my words but Jack and John started laughing.
“Are you sure that you aren’t taking advantage of the situation and claiming it was for healing?” John asked, his eyes glinting with mischief.
“I would love to lick her neck as well and help her heal.” Jack grinned, teasing me.
Mia blushed and turned her head away. We were back to tormenting the poor girl. I could see the words clearly written on her face. My brothers, of course, were oblivious to that and I rolled my eyes at them.