Bonds Unbroken - 8. Chapter 8

I jerked in my chains as I woke suddenly to cold water being flung over me.

I shook my wet hair from my eyes and glared at the men who entered my cell. It was the cat from before of course, and another lackey of Natham’s father, one I recognized as the creature who had been driving the van. What surprised me was that he was human. Then I noticed his stance and his posture, ramrod straight with his thumbs hooked into his belt.

It was the service style revolver tucked into a hip holster that clinched it for me. The man was a cop, one of the crooked humans that had to have helped these Carthera kill my father. I lunged at him, hating him with every fiber of my being as I strained to reach him. Just a moment free and the man’s guts would spill from his fat stomach to tangle at his feet.

“Oh the pretty little bird wants to play does he?” The mercenary laughed as he tore the tape off my face. He stepped back as I spit out the sodden fabric, my tongue and mouth aching from the sudden change in position.

“Fuck you!” I worked my jaw and glared at them.

“Oh no, I think the opposite really,” he said as he smirked at me and his eyes ran down my body to be stopped at my pants. “Those really have to go before we can get to business.”

The cat gestured for the human to come closer to me. “Take off his pants.”

“Are you sure it’s safe, Trest?” The cop was eyeing me warily. “The other one put up quite a fight. I don’t want to end up with a broken arm like Stevens just because I want to get my jollies off inside one of these sissy birds.”

“Don’t be stupid. Look at him, he’s a youngling,” Trest scoffed. "He's small, thin, and weak."

For a long awful moment I thought they were speaking of Natham. My breath froze and I wailed inside, not for the fear of what was to come for myself but for the violation of my mate. I was still awash with his feelings, his bitter despair and the thought that it was because they had raped him stunned me. My adversaries paid no attention to my bound body and continued arguing. I no longer feared them for myself; I felt nothing but a fiery rage that consumed me.

I wanted them to come closer so I could tear them apart for harming my mate.

I shrieked, the sound interrupting their argument and making the human back up. My eyes glowed red and I could feel my talons growing longer and sharpening into razor sharp claws that were ready to rend my opponents belly’s open in one swipe. My wings flexed and this time the bindings didn’t stand a chance. I had entered full hunting mode; there was nothing and no one who would stop me from avenging my mate and freeing him from further torture.

“His wings are free, help me!” Trest yelled. They rushed toward me, Trest hanging back a little like the cowardly bastard he was, ordering a human to do his dirty work.

The human ran straight at me though and I flexed my stomach muscles bringing up my feet. My shoes and socks had fallen or been torn off long before and his eyes widened when he saw the lethal four inch blade like talons coming for him. Lashing out with one long leg, I laid his belly open from sternum to groin, shredding his shirt and skin both like they were paper. Blood gushed from his torso as he screamed and fell to the ground, curling around his wounded belly. Bulging from the fatal tears in his skin were the pink curves of his intestines and other organs that should never be seen outside the human body. He was wailing in agony, as good as dead as his life flowed out of him with every beat of his heart.

Trest managed to stop before he got within range though I swiped at him with my other foot as I shrieked.

"Come and get me, you coward!"

He laughed. “Oh, I don't think so. I was worried that you'd be able to get away with your wings free but you're still dangling there like the weak little bird that you are."

I swiped at him with my feet again, even though I wouldn't be able to reach him.

He leered at me. "Keep fighting, I’m going to enjoy your struggles so much more that way. I do so like breaking my victims before I take them. Do you think you can really prevent this? I’m going to have you, one way or the other. All you did was get rid of one weak human.”

I shrieked and he laughed again, the sound grating across my senses.

“I don’t like the smell of carrion stinking up the place. I’ll be right back, little bird. Don’t go away now.” His overconfidence, turning his back on me with just my arms bound would be his mistake. His last mistake.

I strained my wings to open up farther than ever before and thrust downward in a powerful sweeping motion, pushing my body toward the shackles hanging from the beam in the ceiling. It was an open beam ceiling and the manacles were connected by a long chain that actually strung through a hook buried in the solid wood beam. Getting a good grip with my hands I pulled backward, using my wings to create enough force. I used my wings in ways I had not known I could, my muscles straining, and with one final surge I managed to pull the hook from the wood beam. I felt a sharp stab of triumph.

Just then Trest came back in the room, a coil of rough rope over his shoulder and a long leather whip in his hands.

He took one step in the room and his eyes widened as I dove for him. I longed to rip his body to pieces slowly but he was bigger and stronger than me. Instead of flying into his body and trying to knock him down I went over his head to drop behind him. In the close quarters of the room I couldn’t afford to fight him hand to hand. I managed to loop the chain still binding my two wrists together around his neck as I flipped over his head. Crossing my arms, I used my wings to fly backward and pull hard on the chain. Bracing my feet against his back, I dug my talons in and pulled as he gasped for air as he twisted and tried to reach me.

I pulled harder, my face locked into a vicious snarl.

He began to falter and stumble, falling to his knees as he tried to reach me with his arms. I yanked hard on the chain, a muffled pop the only sound aside from my grunting. When he finally went down I held on for a while longer to make sure he wasn’t faking. When he was no longer even twitching I uncrossed my arms to straighten the chains and let his head fall to the stone floor. Panting, I focused on breathing for a minute, folding my wings behind me.

Pulling him over onto his back I looked in satisfaction down at his purple face, his eyes bulging and the look of shocked horror on his face still recognizable. My fury was still controlling me and I quickly slashed his throat open to ensure that he was truly dead and would never be able to rape and torture anyone else. Blood trickled from one end of the wound sluggishly. I searched in his belt and found the key to the manacles still locked around my wrists, my fury still so intense I didn't even feel the pain as the metal cuffs fell away.

Suddenly, I could feel the pull of my mate. I needed him and he needed me.

Peering out into the corridor I made sure no one was there. I figured the strange sounds I had heard earlier were probably from Natham, he had to be close by. My wings fluttered, I curled my talons into the flesh of my hands, the pain from the small pricks bringing me focus and clearing my mind. If anyone was with him they were going to die.

I only hoped it would be his father.

That Carthera was going to die one way or the other but I dearly wanted it to be by my own hand. No one was in sight so I went right down the hall, away from the big door at the end. I could see a few more doors on either side of the corridor and I stopped to listen at each one.

I stopped suddenly and took two steps back. There were only faint sounds coming from behind the thick door I had just passed but even that small sound was enough. I could hear a mocking voice and a whimpering sound. The sound was enough to bring back the consuming rage and tint my vision red. I tensed and sent my talons into my palms again as I wrestled for the control I needed.

If there was more than one person in the room with Natham I would have to be very careful.

I threw open the door and took in the room in a swift glance. It was the same size as my cell had been and the same chains hung from the ceiling but Natham was not in them. He was on his stomach on a table that dominated the middle of the floor. His body was limp and he even though he was facing the door with his eyes open I didn't think he could see me. His back and sides were coated in blood and splatters had landed on his face. His beautiful hair was tangled around him. I had to force myself to look away after barely a second taking in his condition. I would not be able to help him until I killed the Carthera hurting him.

His torturer was the snake Carthera, the same one who had taunted him in the van when we were captured. He was naked from the waist up with his back turned to the door. I could see a line of shiny brown and yellow scales going up his spine and flaring out across his shoulders into a hood with two yellow and black rings of each side like a giant eye. Cobra clan; the strongest of the snake clans. He was thin, lean almost to the point of emaciation but most snakes were. I wasn’t that much smaller than he was so I would have a chance in the crowded cell in hand to hand combat. The ceiling was too low to try flying.

He was still in the process of turning toward the door to see who came in when I launched myself at him. He was surprised but didn't drop the studded cane that was in his hand. He swung at me as I shoved my talons into the thin flesh of his chest seeking his heart. I grunted when the cane came down hard on one of my shoulders. He had been aiming for my head but the blow went to one side as I dodge it. I could still feel my arm but it started throbbing painfully while we were still in mid air.

He fell over backward from the force of our bodies colliding and I followed him down to the ground. He tried twisting us but I used my wings to keep him from pinning me down. I knocked the cane out of his hand with my uninjured arm and sent it skittering across the floor. The metal of the studs chimed as it rolled across the stone floor to bang into the table Natham was still laying without moving but I couldn’t focus on him, I had to focus on the life or death struggle I was now locked in.

The snake was hissing at me as we struggled. He was trying to maneuver his head so that he could bite me. He inched closer and closer as he twisted his body; he moved almost as if he was boneless as a real snake. I struggled to keep him from flipping me under him or biting me.

"You're going to die..." he whispered as I fought to keep him from my neck.

"No," I choked out in fierce denial, "you are."

I would not leave Natham to this monster. I would not let him have either of us. I had both hands pushed talon deep in his shoulders to hold him down as we struggled and I began inching them upward toward his neck. I lost my leverage on his body and he began to turn us over even as I ripped large tears in his flesh as I sought his jugular. I felt as if things had slowed down as he slowly flowed toward me with his fangs descended and dripping and my talons were digging into his flesh.

My gaze narrowed and focused on that rapidly beating pulse. Just before his lips touched my neck I reached that throbbing point and drove my claws into it. I ripped and tore at his flesh and the gaping wound I made began pumping blood on my face. He let out a wet gasp as he pulled away from me, his eyes wide in shock and panic.

I stared into those yellow eyes with their narrow slit pupil and drove my talons into his chest again as he fell onto his back on the floor. I was mindlessly focused on killing him, digging through the muscle and bone of his chest until I saw his heart. It was no longer beating but I pulled it out and viciously tore it to pieces. I was panting when I was finally able to shove myself back from his body, my blood lust sated.

I was no longer seeing red from the hunting instinct that affected my clan but I was from the blood that flowed across the floor to pool in the dips and cracks in the stones. I was covered in it. My hands and arms were coated in so much blood it looked like I was wearing gloves and I could taste the heavy, metallic flavor it in my mouth. As much as I hated touching the snake's body I did not want to touch Natham with all that blood on my hands. I wiped as much off as I could on the Snake’s pants.

Shaking, I reached for Natham. I avoided touching his raw back, the sight of the torn and bruised flesh made it hard to breathe. I wanted to kill the snake Carthera again, slower this time, flaying him slice by slice until his blood ran across the floor in rivers. I held tight to my rage to keep my fear and sorrow at bay. I tried to take comfort in the fact that the damage seemed to be focused just on his back. He had been whipped methodically, his body crisscrossed with stripes that had barely an inch between them.

The methodical sadistic nature a person had to have to inflict such marks in such a way was beyond my comprehension.

His back was nearly black in places and purple in the others. Raw red stripes were gaping wounds an inch or more across in places and narrow strips in the other. The curves of his backside were not whipped but they were swollen and deep purple. His thighs showed red marks that I couldn't place but I resisted looking at the things hanging on the walls. I could see Natham's eyes staring at me and his mouth open and shut.

"Shhh, babe. It's okay. He's dead." I had to touch him, I couldn't see him and feel our bond as mates and not touch him, even as hurt as he was. I softly ran my fingers down his cheek over and over and watched as his eyes filled with tears until they overflowed and wet my fingers.

"I'm here, Natham. You're not alone."

His mouth was moving but I couldn't hear him. Turning my head so that my ear right in front of his mouth I finally caught what he was saying, the sound of his words barely louder than a breath.

"Oh gods, no Natham! I won't go. No matter what happened, I will never leave you. You are mine."

He struggled to speak louder. "You must go." His voice was a thready whisper that broke as he panted between each word.

"I will not go without you. We need to get you up." I told him. I stood up, reaching for his shoulder. His fingers twitched.

"I can't... move," he whispered, "Venom." More tears spilled down his cheeks.