Page 132 of Fae Farewells

His Australian accent was all wrong, like he was mocking me. But why? Did they know she was mine? Heavy footsteps thudded against the ground as he walked toward her unconscious form.

He limped, favoring his left leg.

As he came closer, her head tilted right, the movement too slight for him to see. Sloane faded into the shadows of the cell, completely hidden from his view as her demon took over to protect her after Reagan locked her memories.

“Godsdammit,” the man snarled as men came into the dungeon from the draining room. “I will not lose her again. Not when I’m this close.”

We’d both spent time in the same cell. It was a place I hoped to forget one day.

The hinges of Reagan’s cell door screamed from misuse. And the sound split my focus, drawing me away from the raging man and toward the body two more men had just dropped on the ground.

They stepped out of the cell, and a third man slammed the barred door behind them before they climbed the stairs.

“I know she’s here. I will find her,” the raging male said, his voice becoming too low to hear as he disappeared into the stairwell.

I stopped outside the dungeon, carefully peering over my shoulder. Everyone was busy, but they wouldn’t stay that way. I had ten minutes to grab my mate and run.

As I pulled the doors, someone pushed them open from the inside. Three men trailed behind the bear shifter, the first two tipping their heads at me.

The last man glanced at me with blazing auburn eyes, his anger causing his nostrils to flare. He was the raging man, snarling into an empty cell as he looked for my mate.

My heart dropped as I saw the blood on his hands.

They weren’t carrying anyone out, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been hurt. Reagan was expecting them to kill him. We didn’t think they’d go for her before him.

I watched them march down the footpath, then pulled the doors closed. My heavy boots pounded on the stairs as I rushed down them two at a time. But when I got to her cell, she was gone.

She couldn’t be gone.

I could faintly smell her sweet floral scent lingering through the mildew and dirt.

“I know you’re in here somewhere, Sweetheart,” I murmured as quietly as I could.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are…” I sang to myself, thinking maybe they’d moved her to another cell.

She was in none of them.

“Damn it, Sloane,” I pleaded in the lifeless dungeon. “Where did you go? I need to get you out of here while they still trust me. We talked about this last night. It’s time to go.”

I checked every inch of the makeshift dungeon before I kicked at the ground. In my peripheral, shimmering caught my attention. I turned in time to see the fae king’s body disappear, leaving only a puddle of blood. “Fuck.”

I walked to the stairs, glancing around one last time. “I’ve got to go. If you’re still here, I’m heading south to Tennessee. Follow the ivy.”

As the fused memories faded, Novak furrowed his brows at my druid. “We met you at the Ivy Buffalo.”

“I remember.”

“Is that why you wanted to meet there?”

York nodded. “Reagan told me to go there.”

“Because we owned the Ivy Buffalo,” I confessed. “Reagan knew who you were when he met you. That’s why he was so set on you getting out. He told you to go there knowing one of the Kings would occasionally be there.”

My druid grinned at me. “I remember that, too.”

“You also remembered Alric’s face,” I pointed out. “It was less blurry than Pete’s memory, but I saw him. He was so angry that I was gone. Reagan was right; he would have killed me if he’d have found me.”

They both sighed.