Twisted Stars (Hardest Mistakes #3) (7 page)

“I’m fine.” I shake my head and look at the tiles on the floor in front of me. “What are you? What I mean is, why do they keep asking me questions about you?”

Jayden hesitates, watching my face carefully. “In the lab, they started calling me
lögun-breyting
. It means shape-shifter. I guess they want to know how far my abilities have developed. As far as I know, I’m one of only two experiments that worked. The rest of them died…including my brother.”

I’m silent for a moment then ask, “How does this place even exist? Who would do something like this to you?”

“My parents.”

“Excuse me? Your mom and dad? They did this…they killed your brother…?”

He shakes his head. “I guess some people are just pure evil—my mother especially. Always seeking something better, something superior. They had this dream of creating a super race. Obviously, they’re not even close.”

I drop my head into my hands. “This is it, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” He moves to the bars and leans against the cage beside me.

I close my eyes, a stray tear dribbling down my cheek. “We’re going to die in here, aren’t we,” I say it as a fact rather than a question—I suppose I already know the answer.

Jayden reaches between the bars and catches my tear on his finger. “I won’t let you die here. I promise.” I glance up at him in surprise. He nods once before turning away and avoiding my gaze. I watch his T-shirt stretch across his back as he lays his head on his knees.

“Why would you stay in Black Pike if you knew they would come after you? Why not run? Why attend a class at the university, of all places?”
Why make me fall for you?

“I didn’t want to be alone anymore,” he whispers, lying back down on his side, facing away from me.

I have no words.

Chapter Nine

I wake from my nap, alone. The doors at the end of the room slam, and voices reach me.

Jayden is pushed back down the hall and back into his cage by two heavily armed soldiers. They give me a sneer as they pass. He spits out a mouthful of blood as his knees hit the cement. As soon as we are alone again, I shuffle over to the bars separating us.

“What did they do to you?” I ask. His gaze flicks to mine briefly before he coughs up another mouthful of blood. I rest my forehead against the bars. “We can’t just escape. We have to stop this…it isn’t right, and no one else should ever have to go through what you’ve gone through.”

He moves closer, leaning up against the bars beside me. This close, I can make out the dark shape of a bruise forming over his right cheek. The striking color makes the scar on the side of his face stand out sharply. I slip my hand through the bars and run my fingers gently down the ruined edges of his skin. He closes his eyes with a soft sigh, leaning into my hand.

“What are we going to do?” I whisper. I don’t expect an answer, and I don’t get one. We sit in silence together, just being. It’s all we can do…

***

Sunlight hits my closed eyes from the window above me. I squint and roll over, stretching my arms above my head. Ah, my back. The cement does not make a good bed. Jayden is already awake on the other side of the bars. How many days have we been here now? I’ve lost count.

“Morning,” I mumble, sitting up. He doesn’t answer. Frowning, I move closer to the bars. “Hey?”

His head tips toward me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask quietly.

He shakes his head and turns away. “I don’t know how.”

“How to what?”

He smacks the cement with his palm. “I have no idea how to escape, Ashlee. Not a single clue. I promised I’d get you out of here, but I have no idea where to start.”

“It’s okay…” I reach a hand through the bars. “Hey, look at me.” He drops his gaze to mine. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure it out. Together.”

His eyes glisten with the promise of tears, and he turns his face away. My heart clenches in my chest. I just want to hold him.

I didn’t want to be alone anymore…

Suddenly, Jayden rolls onto his side, convulsing and shuddering. I pull my hand back from the bars and move away from him. Something pops loudly as if it’s breaking. I turn away, nauseous.

His breathing slows. I glance over to find a wolf with shiny black fur and with white tips on his ears lying in the corner, unconscious. I move back to the edge of my cage and stretch my hand through to touch him.

He lifts his head, making me jump. I snatch my hand back and watch him curiously. His tattered shirt falls off his back as he stands.

He lifts his nose, scenting the air. I shift, and he spins around quickly to look at me, ears flattened against his skull. He snarls, lips peeling back to reveal a line of deadly, sharp fangs. The scar on his face stands out oddly between his fur.

“Jayden?” I whisper, still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Jayden is a shape-shifter.

The wolf snorts and pads across the cage toward me, his teeth still bared in warning and nostrils flared as he sucks down my scent.

As if he suddenly realises who I am, he cocks his head to the side and whines, moving closer and sticking his nose through the metal bars of the cage. I stretch my hand out cautiously toward him. He licks my fingers then bolts to the other side of his cage playfully, making me laugh.

I lay down on the ground beside the cage wall facing Jayden, my left hand halfway through the bars. Jayden whines softly and then slowly lies down, resting his nose in the palm of my hand as I drift off to sleep.

I wake to the horrible sounds of bones cracking and soft whining noises. I keep my eyes closed until it goes quiet. I don’t want to see the pain and suffering he has to endure. I open my eyes, my gaze immediately landing on Jayden. He groans as he rolls toward me, his eyes flashing gold before darkening to their original black. His mouth opens and closes as if he’s speaking. I can barely hear my name as it leaves his lips. I reach through the bars to him. “Oh, Jayden, what have they done to you…?”

Day becomes night quickly. At least I can tell the time of day here. Jayden breathes softly in his sleep. I sit in the dark—in the quiet—and stare at the brick wall across from us.

We’re never getting out. It’s impossible. The doors are electronically locked. You need a passkey to open them, and from what I can tell, there are guards posted twenty-four seven. Impossible.

A shadow flickers at the edge of my vision. I turn my head, but I can’t see anything. Frowning, I turn back to the wall.

Suddenly, something blue glows in the corner of my eye. I turn my head again.

Nothing.

I’m going crazy.

Being locked up in this small cage is making me loopy.

Shaking my head, I lie down against the bars separating Jayden and me and close my eyes. Surely if I keep them closed long enough, I’ll fall asleep.

***

Jayden stands as the door at the end of the hallway slams, and three soldiers walk up the hall toward us. One really big soldier stops at my cage door and smiles. He has a large, nasty bruise stretching across his nose and cheekbones.

“Hey, it’s the pretty girl from the forest,” he says in a nasally voice. The other soldier comes back to stand beside him. I smile at them both. I remember hitting the idiot over the head with a tree branch.

The big brute looks back the way they came then pulls a key card off his belt and unlocks my cage. The other soldier stands watch as he pulls me out by the front of my shirt.

“Leave her alone,” Jayden growls from his cage, sounding more animal than human.

The smaller soldier nudges his friend’s arm. “Hurry up, James. We’re supposed to be on duty.”

James nods to his comrade then without warning slams his fist into my ribcage. I fly backwards from the force of the hit. All of the air in my lungs escapes through my mouth in one big whoosh, leaving me breathless. Blood leaks from the edge of my mouth. He’s bruised my lungs. I glare at James. What a coward, hitting a girl. He grins triumphantly.

Jayden growls dangerously. I glance over to see him pulling at the metal bars between us, his expression full of anger and determination.

James picks me up again and hits me across the side of the face. Agonizing pain spreads over my jaw, and I yelp. He yanks me up one last time and hits me in the ribcage again. Black spots form in front of my eyes as I fall backwards in a heap. They laugh as they lock up my cage again and continue down the hall.

I turn my head to the side to rest my sore cheek on the cold cement. Jayden is on his knees, clutching the bars beside me. I watch his pained expression as I drift into the darkness.

***

My whole body aches. I lay on the cold floor, awake but refusing to move.

“Ashlee?” Jayden says softly. I take a deep shuddering breath. “Please say something?”

I gulp down my dry throat. “It hurts.”

“I know,” he whispers. I hear him shuffle beside me. I bite my puffy lip and push myself up. Jayden is leaning up against the bars, watching me. His dark eyes glitter in pain. It hurts less the more I move.

Jayden sits up abruptly and throws me a funny look. Before I can ask, he moves up to the door of the cage and pushes it open. The lock clicks, and the door swings open. He quickly yanks my door open and helps me out. We only hesitate for a split second before we take off running down the hallway, searching for an exit. I push past the pain as we run.

We find a door leading outside, and I pause just past the threshold, grabbing Jayden’s arm. This is too easy. He turns to me, his expression weary. We’re thinking the same thing.

“Trap?” I ask softly.

He nods once. “I think so. But we should keep going. Maybe we can outrun them.”

“Run where? We’ve tried this before, remember? It ended in us getting captured.”

He turns to me fully and links his fingers through mine, his eyes on the ground. “What choice do we have? I promised to get you out, and that’s what I intend to do.”

He starts walking again, leaving me no other option than to follow. He said he intends to get me out. Does that mean what I think it does? Is he going to leave me somewhere, and I’ll never see him again? Is that why he wouldn’t look at me?

We trek through the trees at a fast pace, pushing branches and twigs out of our way as we move through them.

The sun sets soon after, and we huddle up under a large oak tree as the skies open up. Rain comes down heavy and hard. I shift closer to Jayden on the damp leaf litter. He lifts his arm so I can lean against his chest.

I tilt my head back to look at him. Rain drops drip off his wet hair and onto my face. I push his hair back off his forehead. He watches me the entire time. We don’t say anything. We don’t need to. For now, it’s just nice to forget who and what we’re running from.

Suddenly, he leans in and presses his wet lips to mine. I don’t want this moment to end. We cling to each other as if we can stop time and stay here forever.

I’m awake before the sun the next morning. Jayden moves beside me, and his eyes flicker open. It’s still raining. I feel dirty and cold. I’m shivering and miserable, but when Jayden looks at me, I smile.

We continue jogging through the wet trees most of the morning.

“There should be a large valley around here somewhere. I left some supplies in one of the caves at the edge. We’ll stop there to stock up before we head further south.”

I nod along with Jayden as he speaks. Valley. Cave. Supplies. Food. My stomach starts grumbling in protest at the mention of food.

Jayden laughs softly and slows to a walk. “I heard that.”

“Yeah, well, I’m hungry. I can’t even remember the last time I ate real food.”

He reaches over and tucks a stray hair behind my ear. “I know. We’re nearly there. The valley is just through these trees.”

There is a line of soldiers waiting for us in the valley as we step through the last of the trees. We both freeze on the spot. My heart drops in my chest. We were so close.

“Did you honestly think you could escape? How far did you think you’d get before we found you?” Gina asks with a smirk. I narrow my eyes on her. I knew this was just too easy. “I knew you would run. I was, I might add, curious to see if you’d take the girl with you.” Her smirk turns nasty. “Deal with this mess, Cait.” She turns and strolls through the trees without a backwards glance.

How sick are these people? And how do they keep themselves hidden so well?

Cait takes a leisurely step forward with her hands in her pockets. “You heard your mom…”

“I don’t have a mother,” Jayden spits back.

“I have a proposition for you.” She takes another step forward. “You come back with us, no struggling, just cooperation, and I’ll let her go.” She nods toward me.

Jayden and I exchange glances. Is she serious?

“Deal.”

“What?” I swing to Jayden and shake my head. “No. You can’t.”

The corner of his mouth lifts in a small smile. “I promised.”

“No.” I shake my head again. “I won’t let you. You can’t stay with these evil creatures. No.”

The soldiers start moving around us. “Time to say goodbye. Make it quick,” Cait snipes with a hint of disgust.

Jayden grabs both my arms and pulls me in, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. His breath tickles my ear as he whispers, “I’m so sorry for getting you tangled up in this.”

“No.” I squeeze his waist. “Please, don’t do this.”

“Move on. Forget about me. It will be easier that way.”

A tear dribbles down my cheek and onto Jayden’s shirt.

“Okay, that is long enough,” Cait shouts harshly, obviously impatient.

Jayden takes a step back.

I look down at the dirt beneath our feet, too angry to meet his gaze. He gently lifts my chin so he can see my face. His dark eyes are so sad. I try to look away, but he doesn’t let me. A fresh tear rolls down my cheek. Jayden catches it on the tip of his finger.

“Please, don’t cry…I have to do this,” he whispers so that only I can hear.

I lift my gaze and glare at him. “You don’t have to do anything.”

He answers, still whispering, “Yes, I do. I can’t see you get hurt anymore…all of this is my fault. Go back to your life, your family. Forget about me.”

I turn my face away.

The soldier behind me yanks my hands behind my back and pulls me back a step, away from him.

“Take her further into the forest…” Cait pauses and smirks at me “…and kill her.”

Jayden and I both look up at the same time. “What?” I gasp, trying to struggle away from the soldier holding me. Cait just smiles and turns away. The other soldiers follow, dragging Jayden along behind them. He fights them, screaming my name.