Page 1 of Freed

Chapter 1

Cherry

Idon’t know how much time passes. It seems like hours before I feel Blaze turn onto an unpaved road, the car bouncing around as he slows down. I’ve been sedated for the entire trip. Only in the past five minutes have I felt my fingers start to tingle with awareness.

Not enough that I will be able to fight back, run, or even stand yet. From experience, I think I have about ten minutes before I can start to move. Hopefully, wherever we’re going is at least ten minutes away.

That hope is crushed when, almost immediately after having that thought, Blaze pulls to a stop and parks the car, switching off the engine.

He turns, looking at me over his shoulder, then gives me that crazy smile of his as he tells me, “Honey, we’re home!”

This guy is nuts. How can he think I would want anything to do with him?

He climbs out of the car, opens my door, and lifts me out. Again, he throws me over his shoulder, which gives me a view of nothing but his back. But I do get a glimpse of a large chain-link fence and a small, one-story building.

The facility.

I never looked back at it when I ran, and it definitely didn’t have a fence, so either this is a different one, or they’ve upgraded the security. Even though I don’t recognize it, I know wholeheartedly what this place is. For one, Blaze already told me he was bringing me here, but I can also feel it. The air here is charged with malice and ill intent.

I might be projecting my own feelings on what this place thinks they represent: science and innovation. Either way, I start to internally scream at my limbs to start working. I know that if he gets me inside, it’s going to be extremely hard to escape.

But before I know it, I hear a door open, and the cool touch of air conditioning hits me.

“Jackson, Monroe,” Blaze says in greeting, but he doesn’t stop walking, and I am still unable to see anything.

“You finally got her,” one of them says in surprise.

“Yep,” Blaze says happily. “Just had to wait for my mate to be ready for me.”

What does that mean?

“Is the doc in?” Blaze asks, redirecting my train of thought as my body starts to tremble. The sedative must be wearing off if I’m shaking.

“Yeah, he’s down there somewhere,” one of the new voices says as a beep sounds. A door opens, then we’re moving down a set of stairs.

Whether this facility is a new one, or my old one, it doesn’t matter. I know what awaits me at the bottom of those stairs. Dark hallways with cold cells. Guards with grabby hands and a lab with a deranged doctor.

“Almost there, Three,” Blaze says, patting my butt. I bare my teeth and growl, surprised when the sound comes out loud and angry.

He continues to move as I start turning my head back and forth, testing the movement that’s coming back. I clench both hands and start to wiggle my toes in Bain’s large socks.

“Doc, guess who’s here!” Blaze singsongs happily before a door smacks open loudly.

“Jesus, Blaze. What have I told you about—Oh.”

I could never forget that voice, the man who takes a front row seat in my nightmares, who tortured me for over a decade without any sort of remorse.

Blaze drops me, a little too hard, on a familiar metal table. Lying on my back, I’m able to turn my head.

There he is, Dr. J, looking exactly how I remember him, and yet, he somehow looks less imposing, less scary. I’m terrified, yes, but there’s a part of me that’s furious with him and refuses to cower.

“Is this her?” Dr. J asks, taking a small step closer as his eyes roam up and down my body. I’m still dressed in Maddox’s shirt and Gage’s boxers and wonder if it’s their scents that are helping me from completely breaking down. Even the twins' scents are still on me.

“Yep. This is zero zero three in her human form.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her,” he says, his eyes lingering on my face. “I almost forgot there was a person in there.”

“A person you tortured,” I grit out as I try to sit up. It takes me a few attempts, and he watches with interest. It bothers me that he doesn’t seem bothered by my ability to move. Does no one see me as a threat?