Chapter 5

There was a group of guards at the end of the hallway, and I winced at our luck. In my chest, I felt Jude’s own worry about the guards. We didn’t usually have to worry about being harassed in between classes, so when we did see a guard in the hall, they were usually here for one reason—to hurt someone.

Was it bad that I was praying that someone wasn’t me or my dyad?

I didn’t wish pain on anyone else, but asking for a reprieve for the two of us meant one of the other kids was going to get hit.

Ugh. I hated the guards so much. Them and the teachers. Everyone was always so… mean. Why did they have to be standing there right now, at this exact moment, when we had to walk past them to get to our classroom?

Not me or Jude. Not me or Jude. Not me or Jude.

I chanted it inside my head over and over again, even if I knew it wouldn’t make a difference.

Like all of the other magi walking in a line to classes, I held onto my books and kept my gaze down on the floor, and I knew Jude was doing the same right behind me. Hopefully we could just walk past, and they wouldn’t even notice us.

Yeah… good luck with that.

For a moment, I really thought they were going to ignore us, but then a hand reached over in a lightning-quick move, grabbed the back of my neck, and yanked me out of line. Someone turned me and pushed me up against the wall. I thought my books were going to protect me from getting punched, but instead of punching me in the gut, the guard punched me in the side toward my back and made me choke on a gasp.

I accidentally cried out, and if the man hadn’t been holding my throat and choking me, I would’ve fallen to the ground in pain already.

A kidney punch. I was probably going to be peeing blood for a week—at least I had the last time.

I grabbed at the man’s hand and wrist, dropping my books, trying to stop him from choking me to death. But the man didn’t seem to notice even though I was scratching up his skin.

I saw Jude standing against the opposite wall, looking like he was about to jump in. But there was no way he was any match for this big, adult man who had weapons at his disposal. The last thing I wanted was for my Jude to get hurt.

So I tried to push love through our dyad bond, but it was difficult because of all the choking.

“Don’t… do… it,” I wheezed out before the man sneered and tightened his hold further.

I couldn’t breathe. Oh goddess, I couldn’t breathe.

The guard leaned in and whispered, “You’re a pretty one, aren’t you?”

He sneered at me again, then stepped back, let go of my throat, and let me fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Before I could stop him, Jude was at my side, frantically trying to help me and freaking out because he could tell how badly I was injured. Goddess, that man was strong. It was only one hit, and I felt like I couldn’t stand up straight.

Behind Jude, I could see the man sneering at us, and I tried to warn my dyad, but no words would come out. The man kicked Jude in the gut sending him flying a few feet away from me. The man spat out, “Get to class. Now.”

Jude and I both did what we could to stand up, both of us hunched over, nursing our newest injuries. I coughed as I picked up my books that had fallen on the ground. Then Jude was there—he was always there—and he wrapped an arm around me, throwing one of mine over his shoulders, and we moved as quickly as possible down the hall and away from the new nasty guard.

When I finally felt like I could speak, my voice came out hoarsely, but I managed to ask, “Who is that? I’ve never seen him before.” What a way to meet one of our new captors.

Jude whispered back, his voice filled with as much pain as mine was. “I think his name is Bobby Anderson. I heard some of the others say how mean he was… I guess they were right.”

“We need to stay away from that prickhole.”

We shared a look.

We both knew that we’d do our best to stay away from this Anderson guy, but it wasn’t exactly up to us, was it? If he wanted to find us and hurt us, he would. It was as simple as that.

And unfortunately, we’d realized a couple of years ago that all the guards here like to seek us out to prove to our fellow magi that they had control over even the most powerful at the compound.

I wasn’t being arrogant. It was a simple fact that we were more powerful than the others because we were a dyad pair.

We used to try to blend in, but it never worked, so we didn’t really bother anymore. Most of the other kids had figured out the same thing we did, so nearly all of them tended to stay as far away from us as possible.

I didn’t blame them. If there was a way to save Jude from more hurt, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

I’d do my best to stay away from this new guard who smelled of trouble.

Jude said, “Yeah, we really, really do.”

Judeand I were shooting at targets all the way on the other side of the training field, and I couldn’t help but be impressed by how well Jude was using the carved runes on his back. We’d been messing with the runes and figuring out the best way to use them. I still hated the fact that I’d had to carve them into his skin years ago, but I did like that it gave him another weapon in his arsenal.

“Your aim is getting really good,” I said to him as I formed my own energy ball in front of me.

“Thanks.” Jude sent me a small smile and a shrug. “I learned from the best.”

It took me a second to realize that he was talking about me, and when I did, I snorted out a laugh.

Before he could respond, I saw guards rushing across the training yard. I glanced around, hoping there was someone else out here that they could possibly be coming after but realized that we were alone on the side of the field. Which meant… they were coming for us.

But why? We hadn’t done anything. We’d been following the rules. We’d been on our best behavior.

The last thing we wanted to do was draw more attention to ourselves. We already had a target on our backs here. It seemed like anyone with a lot of power had a target on their back.

One of the guards called over, saying, “Jude and Madeo. Come with us.”

Jude and I exchanged a glance before we turned and followed the guards. They’d brought ten of them with them, clearly expecting us to fight back. But what was the point? Fighting back only made our punishment that much harsher. May as well take the hit and get it over with at this point.

So we followed quietly. Letting our arms brush against one another as we walked.

But then Jude and I saw who was standing at the doorway leading inside, and we both froze at the same time.

Anderson.

That guard really had it out for both of us. If he was the one who was taking us for some punishment or whatever this was, it was going to be more heinous than anything else we’d faced before he came here.

Anderson grinned, and there was so much devious maliciousness in it that I was pretty sure my heart stopped for a moment.

He was going to hurt us. Bad.

Anderson gestured to Jude and called over to the guards, “Take him first.”

Jude and I exchanged another glance, and our expressions said a million things: If this was what we got for following the rules, what was the point? They were still going to hurt us, torture us, and make us suffer. Maybe now was the time to fight back. Maybe we could show them that we weren’t little dolls they could do anything they wanted with.

Maybe we could make them hurt, even for a moment.

At the same time, we turned to our captors and threw punches at the closest ones. The other guards seemed shocked by our outbursts, so we were both able to punch a second guard each before all hell broke loose.

We punched and kicked and fought back as best we could—there were lots of bloody noses, black eyes, and other cuts and contusions. I could use my magic, but I didn’t want to actually kill anyone, just, you know, hurt them and make them bleed. Maybe it was wrong, but I wasn’t sad to see how beat up they were.

But in the end, guards took us anyway. Just like they always did.

The guards holding me between them stopped me in front of Anderson, and the man punched me right in the cheek, sending my head flying back. Blood pooled in my mouth, and I had to spit it out. I must’ve bit the inside of my cheek or something.

Anderson shoved two fingers into my mouth and hummed. His punch had knocked me enough that I was too dizzy to realize I could bite down on them, and he removed his fingers before I had the chance.

He hummed again, looking gleeful as he examined the blood on his fingers. “What a perfect start to a fun day. Take them both downstairs and get them ready for me.”

I had to hold back tears as the guards dragged me down to the basement. Down to one of the rooms that helped hide our screams from any passersby. Not that I thought anyone outside the compound would even think to try and help us. We were only magi after all.

And from the look in Anderson’s eyes, there was going to be a lot of screaming today.

My eyes opened,and I glanced around quickly, my heart already racing before I fully realized where I was.

No.

Not here.

Anywhere but here.

Why did they always have to lock me in this tiny room? Why was I alone? In the dark?

I wasn’t meant to be alone.

You’re never alone, Madeo. Never.

I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, treasuring the voice inside my head that sounded just like Jude. I knew it wasn’t really him. We couldn’t speak telepathically, but it didn’t matter. The voice was right. Jude was always with me, no matter what.

I curled into a ball, wrapping my arms around my legs, hugging myself for what little comfort and warmth that gave me. It was freezing in here, and I was only in my underwear—underwear and a magi collar. At least they’d given me that much. The last time they did this to me, they’d left me completely naked.

I hated being naked. It made me feel too vulnerable.

This was bad enough as it was.

Closing my eyes, I reached for my dyad bond. It always felt so strained when I had a magi collar on, but it was still there. That was the one thing the guards couldn’t take from me, no matter how hard they tried.

It only took a moment to find that small spark. I grabbed onto it with everything I had and followed it to my dyad.

He was scared. Terrified. Anxious. Nervous. Alone.

But he wasn’t alone. He was my Jude. He was never alone.

So I pushed all my warmth and love for him straight through that bond, and I felt the instant it hit him.

It was like a light went off between our magics, and I felt so much love returned to me.

It made everything else feel unimportant. Like I could do anything. Like it didn’t matter what they did to us because we would always have each other and our love for one another.

But within Jude’s emotions, I felt so much relief. It took me a moment to figure out why he was so relieved, and then I realized that I must’ve been unconscious for a lot longer than I’d thought.

My poor dyad had been worried sick about me.

Don’t worry about me. I’m fine, Jude. I’m okay.

I pushed the thoughts through our bond, repeating them over and over. He couldn’t hear the words, but if I sent my intention through our bond, he would at least get the gist of what I was saying. The older we got, the easier it was for us to decipher the nuances of our emotions and understand one another.

I hoped we survived long enough to get out of this hellhole and see just how strong our bond could grow.

That wish seemed so out of reach, but I prayed it’d come to fruition.

It had to. Jude deserved so much more than this life.

All of the magi did.

Jude and I stayed where we were, basking in our bond for what felt like hours. I didn’t know what the guards were waiting for, but I did know that whatever came, it would be horrible.

Just when I started to nod off into sleep, I heard the door click.

I jumped to my feet and into a ready stance, prepared to fight back against whoever came through that door.

But no one came, and after a full minute of waiting, I made my way over to the door. I pressed my ear against it, trying to hear what was going on on the other side, but I heard nothing. So I tried the doorknob, because, why not?

To my utter surprise, the door opened without a hitch, so I peeked out into the hallway, checking both sides to make sure I wasn’t about to be attacked. I saw no one.

I felt for Jude, but it seemed like he’d fallen asleep, and if he was getting any kind of reprieve from this misery, I didn’t want to wake him.

On silent feet, I made my way down the hallway, following the thread that linked me to my dyad. He was my focus, and therefore we would always be able to find each other. It was like I had an internal compass inside my body that always pointed to Jude.

There were no guards in the hallway on my way, and that alone told me that this was a trap. But what was I supposed to do? Not go to Jude?

I scoffed at the thought.

Of course I would go to him, and damn the consequences.

I pushed open the door to the room they were holding my dyad in, and still, there was no one. I took in the room, my heart already pounding hard in my chest because this room was familiar to me. Way too familiar.

It was one of the many torture chambers in the compound. It had every tool imaginable to make someone hurt and suffer.

Tears made my vision swim when my eyes landed on Jude. There was a metal table in the center of the room, and Jude was strapped face down on it with his arms and legs stretched open. And he was naked.

I ran to him, heedless of the warning bells going off in my head. But I didn’t care. I needed to get him out of here.

“Jude,” I whispered, but he didn’t answer. “Jude? Wake up. You need to get up so we can get out of here.”

He still didn’t move or respond in any way, so I shook him.

“Jude, wake up. Wake up!”

When he still didn’t wake up, I knew this wasn’t a natural sleep. Neither of us were heavy sleepers because we couldn’t be in this place. We had to be aware at all times because you never knew when someone was going to come into your room at night and steal you from your bed.

Frantically, I searched around for a key to unlock the chains around Jude’s ankles and wrists, but I couldn’t find anything. If I had my magic, I could easily break the chains, but with this damn collar on, I couldn’t do crap.

A dark chuckle sounded from behind me, and I quickly turned around, my stomach dropping at the sight of the man before me.

Bobby Anderson.

He had been my constant torturer for the last two years. The last two years of hell.

“I knew you’d come right in here,” Anderson said. “You really never do learn, do you? Magi are dumber than dogs. No matter how many times you show them that they can’t escape, they just keep on trying and then taking a beating for it.” He shrugged. “Not that I mind handing out the punishments.” He said the last word in a malicious voice as he pulled a long metal pipe out from behind his back and slapped it into the palm of his other hand.

The sound made me jump, and I cursed myself in my head for showing any kind of weakness in front of this man. He’d use it against me. The grin spreading on his face told me that he’d noticed.

So not good.

Anderson moved closer to me, and I took a step back and bumped into the table Jude was strapped to. I might’ve wanted to run, but there was no way I’d leave Jude here with this deranged man.

Two more guards filed in through the door, and one of them shut the door behind himself, so now I was well and truly trapped.

That didn’t stop me from fighting back when they came for me.

I was only fourteen and no match for three full-grown men, but I kicked and screamed and punched as much as I could before they managed to strap me to a chair.

The second I was strapped down, the pole in Anderson’s hand smacked me hard in the belly. I groaned and tried to tuck myself in, but there was nowhere to go because they’d strapped my chest to the chair, too. A slap to the cheek came right after, and my head flew to the side as my brain shook inside my skull.

Anderson used the metal pole to push my chin back up, forcing me to look at his evil eyes. He used his free hand to wipe the blood off my cheek, and even though his touch skeeved me out, I didn’t let my flinch show. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“You always were a pretty one,” he said quietly as he rubbed the blood across my bottom lip. “Especially when you’re all bruised and bloodied.”

Then he punched me in the gut again, slapped me across the face, and drew a blade from its sheath on his belt. Before I could panic at seeing a knife in Anderson’s hands, he was already slicing me across the chest. Then the psycho cut off my underwear, slicing them hard enough to cut open my legs along with the fabric.

He stepped back, looking me up and down as if he was looking over some priceless artwork. He hummed and muttered, “Better. Now I just have to bruise that pretty mouth of yours.” He seemed to snap out of whatever weird daze he’d been in, and he straightened. “But first, let’s wake up your dyad and see exactly how much damage I can do with this.” He held up the pole, looking excited and gleeful, which sent shivers down my spine. “How many inches of this do you think he can take?”

His words hit me, and a fresh wave of panic rippled through me.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Don’t you dare fucking touch him! Get away from him! Don’t fucking touch him! Get away from him, Anderson! Please! Take me instead. I’ll do anything you want, Anderson. Anything. Just leave him alone!”

I thrashed and pulled on my chains, but they wouldn’t give, and I watched in terror as one of the guards put something under Jude’s nose to wake him. My poor dyad woke up, confused, but it only took him a few seconds to realize exactly where he was and the precarious position he was in. He started thrashing as hard as I was. And he hadn’t even seen Anderson yet.

Anderson shot me a devious grin. “I really do enjoy seeing how much hurting him affects you. This part is almost as much fun, but I so love seeing how long it takes to break you.”

He grabbed Jude’s hair and yanked my dyad’s head back, then leaned down and whispered something into his ear. I couldn’t hear the words, but I could see Jude’s face and feel his terror and panic through our bond.

I started screaming again and trying to bargain with Anderson, but he didn’t care at all. He just wanted to hurt me, and he knew that hurting Jude was the best way to do it.

A scream torefrom my throat, and I threw a punch and kicked out, fighting off the arms that were trying to trap me. I wiggled around and thrashed blindly, trying to get away.

“Get off me! Let go of me! Let him go! Let Jude go!” I screamed as I continued to thrash.

“Mads.”

“Get away from us!”

“Madeo.”

A scream turned into a sob as I tried to fight off my attacker. “Stop. Please. Please. Let us go.”

“Mads. Madeo. Wake up, sweetheart. Mads, I need you to wake up. You’re home. You’re safe. Madeo, you’re safe.”

A warmth that was full of love and affection grew in my chest, and slowly the voice seemed to seep through my dreamlike state. I knew that voice. I knew that soul wrapped around my heart.

Cosmo.

MyCosmo.

I stopped thrashing.

Slowly, I blinked myself awake, awareness coming to me gradually.

When I finally realized I was home at the pride house, safe in my bed, safe in Cosmo’s arms, and not stuck in that goddess-forbidden basement with my torturer, a loud sob came out of me. I turned into Cosmo’s chest and gripped his waist while he wrapped me in his arms.

“Shhh. You’re safe, sweetheart. It’s all right. You’re safe.” Cosmo continued to hold me and rub my back while whispering sweet nothings into my hair.

I wasn’t surprised at all when, a minute later, Jude burst into the room, rushed over to the bed, and climbed in behind me. He squished up against my back so I ended up sandwiched between my two favorite people in the world.

In Magi, Jude whispered, “It’s all right, bubba. We’re both safe. We’re not stuck in that place anymore, and we never will be again.” He hugged me from behind and kissed the top of my head.

Tears fell unbidden, but I nodded in agreement with him and let the two of them hold me for a few minutes.

After my tears calmed, I leaned back to look up at Cos and asked, “Did I hurt you?”

I knew I’d been thrashing around and throwing punches and kicks like crazy. I could only hope he was able to avoid them and that, in my sleep, the beatings were weaker than they would be if I’d been awake. Thank the goddess I hadn’t been throwing magic.

Cos shook his head. “No, baby. I’m fine.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Did I punch you?”

He shook his head. “I was able to dodge. Don’t worry, sweetheart, you didn’t hurt me. I’m alright.”

And since I could feel the truth of his words in my chest, I nodded and buried my face back into his neck.

A few minutes later, Jude asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

I was still sniffling, so I took a moment to try and collect myself, then I whispered, “I had dreams. Or memories, I guess, of… of the basement. Of… Anderson.”

I felt a burst of rage come out of Cosmo, but he tamped it down quickly and didn’t say anything. But he did hold me tighter and pressed his lips to my forehead, letting them linger there.

Jude was quiet for a long time, but finally, he whispered, “He can’t hurt us anymore. We’re safe here with our family.”

I took a shaky breath. “I think I’m just afraid… that he’s going to come here and try to take away?—”

“He will never take us away from you, or you away from us. Never,” Cosmo said fiercely. The determination and steel in his voice surprised me, but it also helped calm me.

Jude said, “He’s right, bubba. Anderson has no power over us anymore, and we will never let him hurt our family. Never.”

I took another shaky breath, but this one felt like it was helping strengthen my nerves. “You’re right. You’re both right.”

They both held me close for a while before Kulani and River made their way into the room and climbed into the bed on the other side of Jude. They each touched my shoulder and gave it a squeeze, but neither of them commented on my crying or screaming or whatever else they’d heard.

The five of us lay in that bed for a long time, all offering comfort and love and safety.

My nerves were completely frayed from those dreams—from those memories—but being wrapped up in the love of my mate, my dyad, and my pride was exactly what I needed. Even if I didn’t think it was possible for me to go back to sleep tonight.