Chapter Five
The destruction inthe hallway was almost as bad as in the indoor garden. A lot of the crystals used to illuminate the corridor had been broken during the explosion, so the hallway was filled with flickering lights and shadows.
One side of the corridor was completely blocked by debris, while the other end was only partially obstructed. That made the decision not to return to his cell just yet simple since he would have to crawl through the wreckage to take that route. There was no chance in hellfire he was going to do that if he didn’t have to, especially when he could move around the prison freely at the moment.
Even though there was a huge hole in the ceiling, the next floor up was too far up to reach by normal means. That meant trying to climb up from where he was located on sublevel three all the way to the entrance on the main level was still fucking impossible.
Giving up on that idea, Mordecai started to make his way around the rubble in the opposite direction from where his cellblock was located. Whenever a riot broke out or the prison went into lockdown for any reason, alarms usually blared through the corridors, followed by an announcement ordering every inmate back to their cells immediately. The guards were strict about procedures, and even the smallest disturbance rarely went unaddressed.
But this time, there was nothing.
No warning sirens, no voice issuing commands, no pounding footsteps of prisoners fleeing back to their cages. No legion of guards ready to do battle. That unsettled him more than any alarm ever could. It could only mean the prison hadsuffered catastrophic damage, enough to leave the entire staff overwhelmed and scrambling to contain the chaos elsewhere.
Fewer eyes watching meant greater freedom to move around unnoticed.
But it also meant the same for everyone else.
Wanting to avoid the crowds and whatever violence might be erupting throughout the prison blocks, he decided to make his way toward the library since it was fairly close by. The old library was almost always deserted. Hellfire, most inmates had probably forgotten it even existed. They had little interest in dusty shelves, crumbling books, and old scrolls, especially when survival inside the prison depended more on physical strength rather than quiet reflection.
For him, the emptiness of the library made it one of the safest places in the entire prison. If he needed privacy, time to think, or simply a quiet place where no one would bother looking for him, the library never failed him.
Before he reached the hallway where the entrance was located, his steps slowed to a stop. Instincts warned him before he caught the low murmur of voices drifting from somewhere beyond the next corner. The sounds echoed faintly through the corridor, far too close to ignore and too deliberate to dismiss as casual conversation. He slowly crept through the shadows, remaining hidden from view as he listened.
“Is she dead?” a male voice asked.
“Naw, she’s still breathing,” a second male pointed out. “She’s got a nice rack. And look at that face, she is fucking gorgeous.”
A third male said, “She’s not an inmate. See the uniform she is wearing? I think she’s a visitor or something. She must have fallen through that hole with that guard during the explosion.”
“The guard is dead. I already checked,” the first male reported. “She’s lucky she survived if they fell all the way down here from the main level.”
“Lucky for us.” The second male snickered. “Her skin is so soft and smooth, it feels like silk. It’s been so damn long since I’ve enjoyed a female. Let’s move her somewhere more private so we can have some fun with her.”
“We’ll have to kill her and hide the body after we are done with her.”
That got Mordecai moving.
Usually, he was all for minding his own business when it came to conflicts between prisoners, but this was different. He had no clue who the visitor was, but he wasn’t going to let those assholes hurt her. But there was something else that seemed to be driving his actions. Something more than old-fashioned gallantry.
Something indescribable.
As he rounded the corner, he instantly recognized the three inmates leaning over the fallen woman. Two were shifters with bad attitudes who often took advantage of those smaller and weaker than they were. They were from a different unit, but he’d seen them in passing enough to know who they were. He always made a point to figure out who the potential problems were within the prison, even the inmates in units that were located topside.
The third prisoner standing before him was a newly incarcerated mage. He had recently been convicted of selling and distributing date-rape potions and other drugs on the black market. That type of shit sickened him, and Mordecai had vowed to personally teach the asshole a lesson if they ever crossed paths.
Fortunately for him, he finally had that chance.
From the pile of supplies scattered on the ground a few feet away, the trio had probably been in the hallway on cleaning duty as punishment for some sort of infraction. The three males froze in place as soon as they realized he was towering over them. He had no doubt they knew who he was. Almost everyone in the lower levels did, so their fear didn’t surprise him.
It had taken them much longer to notice his presence than it should have. To be fair, he did have the ability to move without making a sound. The three males’ eyes widened in horror. They slowly got to their feet and backed away, as if putting some distance between them made any difference.
Spoiler alert, it didn’t.
Others might have considered simply teaching them a hard lesson and leaving them broken and bleeding, but the vicious glee he’d heard in their voices when they had spoken about the female made showing them any mercy impossible.
In the blink of an eye, Mordecai crossed the distance and slammed his fist into the biggest shifter’s throat before the male could even raise his hands in defense. The impact crushed his windpipe and hurled him backward into the wall with enough force to crack the stone. Unable to breathe, he was no longer a threat.
The second shifter lunged, hands curled into claws as he swiped at Mordecai’s face. Since he couldn’t shift due to the magical restrictions inside the prison, the attack lacked the lethal power and speed of his animal form, but brute force and sheer desperation still made him dangerous.
