Free Captive's Kiss by Sharon Kay Page A

also not letting her off the hook. “You smelled the same way after you brought in the dark elves too, the other night.”
    She ran a hand through her hair. ‘I met him at Hades that night. He remembered me, recognized me today.” She glanced up at him. He was four years younger than she but had passed her in height years ago. He was also an adult, and being imprisoned during the solstice was agony. “I…had to. You know how things get. Are you mad?”
    “No, I get it,” he gritted. “You have to do what you need to, to follow their fucking orders. Play their fucked up game.”
    “I hate it as much as you do.”
    “I know.” He rubbed a hand over his eyebrows. “This sucks. I’m ready to kill those assholes. But all this shit we’re going through? We need to stick together. We’re all we have left.”
    She reached up to give him a quick hug. “I hope we’re at the end of our nightmare.”
    “Me too, sis.”
    “Look, I don’t know what’ll happen. If a hundred warriors will blast in here with spells and fire or something.”
    His brown eyes flared with gold and his fists clenched. “Bring it.”
    She frowned. “I just want us to get out alive. And the Watchers, and any males I brought in who are innocent.” A sudden thought hit her. “And don’t you dare jump into the fray. I know you want to get back at them, but I don’t want anything to happen to you. If we see a door, we head for it, okay?”
    He shot her a sideways look. “Got it. But if I can get my hands on a weapon and a Viper walks into my path, I can’t promise I won’t take a shot.”
    “Fine.” They walked back to the main room and plunked on their respective beds. “Now we sit and wait.”

C HAPTER 8
     
     
    S AIGE HAD COUNTED THE POCKMARKS in the stone walls fifty times. Logan alternated between pushups and pacing. Three hours had passed, and she was antsy, torn between anticipation and worry.
    Did the Watchers need to organize a hundred soldiers? Did they need to prepare a bunch of special spells? They had a group of staff who did that, she recalled. What about anti-venom to protect against the Vipers’ fangs? Had the Lash healers and scientists created anything like that?
    Or had Tanner’s superiors nixed the rescue?
    No. Not possible. Innocent Lash males, plus now one of their own were held captive. They had to come.
    But only the normal banging and shouting reached through the door, accompanied by the guards’ footsteps. No one came to talk to her and Logan, and they had long ago learned that was a best case scenario.
    She glanced around the room, not planning on missing this tiny pocket of hell. All she had were a few changes of clothes, stolen by the Vipers. She’d insisted she’d have more luck getting close enough to males if she didn’t stink to high heaven or look like a homeless demoness.
    She sighed as Logan started a set of jump squats. His agitation filled the room as he pushed himself into as many exercises as a person could do without equipment and in a small space. “Save some energy for when we get out,” she murmured.
    “Saige, I have enough energy for a goddamn decade.” He huffed out a harsh breath. “I gotta do something.”
    Boom!
    The building shook and an explosion echoed through the concrete walls. “They’re here!” Saige’s eyes locked with Logan’s. “And it doesn’t sound like they’re taking the subtle approach.”
    More shouting, more footsteps running outside the door. Saige darted to the door and cracked it open as another blast shook the walls. Vipers tore up the stairs. The males in the cells all clutched at their bars, yelling.
    Tanner. His cell was too far down the corridor for her to see him. Could she unlock his cell? The keys were carried by two Viper guards. She’d never seen either one of them without the huge keyrings jangling at their hips. Crap.
    “You!” A guard bellowed, looming in the doorway, and seized her wrist. “You brought in that Watcher today. If you