The Camp (Chateau 2)

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.