Chapter 23

23

O ctavia

At least half an hour goes by, but it could be more than that. I can't be sure because there aren't any clocks in the room. The walls are all white and quite bare. One thing is for sure: I'm done waiting.

I go and bang on the door. It doesn't take long before a guard puts his masked head around the jamb. I want to yank the thing off his stupid face and slap some sense into him. All of them.

This is crazy. I can't believe that stupid colonel won't listen to me. It doesn't make any sense. It's like he has something against Creed. Maybe he's just an asshole who has it in for everyone.

"What can I do for you?" the guard asks.

"Are you thirsty?" the other one asks.

"No, I want to see Creed," I say, using a demanding tone.

"That won't be possible," the first guard says in a deadpan voice.

"Why not? He hasn't done anything wrong."

"It's up to the colonel to decide that. He is questioning the prisoner as we speak," the second guard tells me.

"Sit quietly. Your escort will be here any minute. Your ordeal is almost over," the first one says. "Fear not, Creed will be brought to justice. The colonel will make him confess before long. He has methods that work very well."

Methods.

What the fuck?!

No! I refuse to stand by any longer. I was sure that if I bided my time, I would eventually be heard, and Creed would be released, but that isn't happening. I need to change tack.

"Let me out of this room," I demand.

"We were told to keep you here." The one guard looks at the other. I can't see their facial expressions with those stupid masks on.

"Am I a prisoner?"

"No, but—"

"But nothing. Let me out of here!" I yell, stepping forward.

Someone is approaching. They are of a smaller stature than the guards right outside my door. I see a swinging blonde ponytail. I'm assuming it's a woman, even though she is wearing the same black uniform and mask. Although smaller than the men, she is way taller than most human women. I peg her to be six foot two.

"What is going on?" she asks in a feminine voice. "Is everything okay here?" Her mask hints at feminine attributes but is just as grotesque as the men's. The mask thing is irritating. I like to see people's faces.

"No, it isn't," I practically growl, feeling pricklier by the second.

"Of course not," the woman says. "I'm assuming you are the human female who was abused." Her tone is filled with pity. It irritates the shit out of me.

"For the tenth time, I was not abused. I am not suffering from some stupid syndrome. I'm not delusional. I'm perfectly fine. Creed is my friend. He didn't hurt me in any way. I demand to see him right now!" I shout.

"The colonel is busy questioning him, so that isn't possible." The woman takes my arm. "Let's get you to your room. I'm sure you're tired and—" Her tone is now condescending, which irritates me even more.

"I'm sick to death of people telling me what I am and what I'm not feeling. I know my own mind. I crashed a helicopter in the jungle and then was pursued by a whole horde of men, but with the help of Creed, I remained unharmed. I am perfectly fine and perfectly capable of coherent thought. I am going to find Creed. Unless I'm a prisoner and under arrest, you can't stop me." I elbow my way past them and start walking down the hall in the opposite direction to the one the female just came from.

There is a multitude of footfalls behind me as they all follow.

"Female," a male guard says, sounding unsure.

"My name is Octavia," I growl, picking up the pace. I look inside every jail cell, but they are all empty.

"You are not a prisoner but rather a guest," the woman says. "However, I must insist—"

"Good to know," I say as I open a door to a closed room. It's an office. I close the door and walk to the next one.

"But Creed is very much a prisoner. He is not permitted to see guests right now," another guard says.

"He's been accused of doing something he didn't do." I open the door, but the interrogation room is empty. It looks the same as the one I was in. "The only person who can set the record straight is me. He's accused of hurting me, after all. Don't I have a right to be heard? You are being unreasonable. The colonel most of all. I won't stand for it a minute longer."

I open the next door and it is a room that looks in on the interrogation room through a two-way mirror.

I keep opening and closing doors. A group of guards follow me. When they try to talk me out of finding Creed, I ignore them. I keep searching, turning down another hallway. This one is mostly empty jail cells.

Toward the end of the hallway, I hear a voice. "Last chance to talk."

It's that asshole, Taro. My blood boils just hearing his voice.

I run to the open room, gasping when I see him.

"Creed!" I scream. "I swear to god, if you lay so much as a finger on him, I will see to it that you are thrown in a jail cell. That you are tortured and sent to live in the damned jungle like an animal. What the hell is wrong with you people?"

Creed has been shackled to the wall; his hands are above his head, and his arms are splayed and pulled high. His feet are chained to bolts on the floor.

His face is a swollen mess, with cuts and bruises marring his handsome features. His hair on the one side of his head is sticking to his scalp with what I suspect is dried blood. The whole right side of his torso is a canvas of purple and red bruises. It looks painful, to say the least. He's bleeding from a gash on his thigh.

"Octavia," he croaks. His lips are chapped, but he is standing on his own steam and holding his head high. My heart goes out to him, and my throat forms a lump, which I swallow down. He shakes his head. "I'm fine."

He's not fine. Not even close. He's trying to protect me like he always does. It's my turn to protect him. I got him into this whole mess in the first place.

"I'm sorry," I tell him. "I'm so sorry they did this to you."

Colonel Taro is holding a short leather whip with a silver barb on the end. I know it is him, even though he is wearing a mask. I see his eyes narrow through the holes.

"What is the meaning of this?" He turns toward the guards behind me. "What is the human doing here? I told you to take her to her room."

"For the last time, my name is Octavia. You can all stop calling me human or female. I don't like it. You can stop talking about me like I'm not here."

"You are both a human and a female." He shrugs. "I don't see the problem. Can one of you take her away? I am busy." He sounds bored.

"You're doing it again. Talking about me like I can't hear you. I am not going anywhere. You need to listen to me when I tell you that Creed didn't hurt me, I mean it. He has done nothing wrong!"

A guard steps up to me.

"If you touch me, I will scratch your eyes out," I snarl, sounding like I mean it. The guard steps back.

Good!

Taro steps forward. "You are acting irrationally and clearly not—"

"I'm fine. I'm perfectly rational. I tried to talk to you in a calm manner. I tried waiting. I tried talking to you again. You won't listen to me. None of it worked, so here I am, raising my voice and making you listen. It doesn't mean that I am deluded or that there is something wrong with me. It means that I am frustrated to no freaking end." I stomp my foot. "No one will listen to me. I'm being treated like an imbecile because I went through an ordeal, or perhaps because I'm a woman, or maybe it's because I'm a human…I'm not sure which it is, perhaps all of the above. I feel like no one will hear me or take me seriously. It's making me seriously angry. There is nothing wrong with my intelligence."

"You should lie down," the colonel tells me.

I make a noise of both anger and frustration. "I do not need to lie down. I need you to stop treating me like I have something wrong with me. I don't! I crashed in the jungle. I have a few scrapes and bruises, but otherwise, I am fine and of sound mind as well."

"You must have hit your head," he says.

"I didn't!" I lie. "Can you stop talking and let me finish?"

The good colonel makes a noise that tells me he isn't used to being spoken to in this manner and that he doesn't like it, but I don't care. He can suck it.

"I crashed and was chased by a mob of wild shifters, all wanting to mate and breed with me whether I liked it or not."

"And Creed was among them," the colonel says.

"No, he saved me. He helped me."

"He forced himself on you," Taro growls. "He is no good. He is aggressive and—"

"That's not what happened. You are wrong, Colonel. I threw myself at Creed and begged him for sex. It was the best sex of my life, too. Hands down the best. My vagina thought it had died and gone to heaven."

Taro makes a choking noise, and the woman shifter giggles but quickly stops when he glares at her.

"If you want to arrest and torture someone, it should be me." I hold up my hands like I want him to slap shackles on them. I pray all the while that he doesn't. I'm trying to prove a point, that's all. "Guilty as charged. I forced myself on Creed."

"It wasn't force. It was consensual," Creed says.

"Lies!" Taro spits.

"Totally consensual," I say. "If it was up to me, we would have had more sex. Lots more. Unfortunately, there wasn't another opportunity for us. So you see, Colonel Taro, if it wasn't for Creed, I'd be mated and bred by now and against my will, too. It didn't happen…I'm here and safe and all because of him." I go and stand in front of Creed. "If you want to hurt him in any way, you will need to come through me. I refuse to turn a blind eye while atrocities are committed against him."

The colonel looks at me for ages. His whole body is tense. He keeps looking and looking. It goes on for so long I want to squirm. I don't! I hold his stare. I refuse to be intimidated by the man or the mask.

He eventually sighs. "You're sure he didn't force you?" Taro asks, sounding unsure. "He isn't a good male."

I make a sound of irritation. "Yes, I'm very sure."

"Did you force the female?" he growls at Creed, still treating him like he is a criminal.

"No," Creed says. "I would never do such a thing."

"Unlock these now." I reach up, but his hands have been shackled too high for me.

Creed's muscles bunch, his shoulders, biceps, and certainly his abs. They all pop, and the chains snap. He pulls them off his hand, tearing through the metal like paper. The shackles clang on the floor at his feet. He was able to escape this whole time, but obviously, trying something like that with all these guards around would have been stupid.

Watching him snap metal was hot. Seriously hot. I-want-to-fan-myself hot. It shouldn't be, not right now and yet here I am.

Holy moly.

"I'm leaving, and I'm taking you with you," I tell Creed. "I don't want to stay here even a minute longer." I glare at Taro for a moment before shifting my gaze. "I would like to catch the next flight to the Mainland," I tell the woman. "It would be amazing if you could organize that."

"No problem." She nods. "How can I reach you to send you details?"

"Octavia will stay with me at my house," Creed says, and I heave a sigh of relief. I was half expecting him to tell me that he's returning to the jungle right away now that he is free. Instead, he rattles off the details of where his house is. "You can reach Octavia there," he adds.

The woman nods. "Okay. That's perfect. I'm sure we have all your information in the system," she tells Creed.

The colonel clears his throat. "The plane to the Mainland left this morning, which means that the next flight is only in a week's time," he adds. "Are you sure you want to stay with the male for a whole week? You'd be much more comfortable staying here at the castle."

"Still telling me how I will feel. It doesn't seem like you've learned anything from this exchange. I will stay with Creed. He will need me to look after him. I mean, look at him." I point at Creed, who, for all intents and purposes, is standing tall. Even beaten and bruised, he is formidable.

"Suit yourself. Both the human and the male are free to go." He puts down the whip and walks out.

Creed takes my hand. "Let's go."

Better words have never been spoken.