Page 24 of Fighting the Lies

“Yes.” The tigress was never one of many words.

“Why not the Reichstag?” He gingerly sat up, with the world still spinning.

“Nuka didn’t press charges.” She was going to continue her sentence but then thought better of it.

“Why not?” He opened the bottle and took a mouthful of the water. The barren desert wasteland that was his throat rejoiced.

“He just didn’t.” She was flustered and keeping something from him.

“Katia?”

“Promise me you won’t go mad again. I didn’t like having to shoot you.” He had both his eyes open now and was looking directly at the tigress who was on the other side of bars. It was then that he realised he was in a cage.

“I’m not going to promise anything.” He stalked towards the bars on all fours and used them to pull himself up. He’d been dressed in a pair of jogging bottoms and a t-shirt. Not his usual fancy clothes but he was grateful they hadn’t left him naked.

“Then I’m going to go and tell Brayden you are awake, and he can talk some sense into you.”

“Sense.” He rattled the bars checking their ability to hold him. They were strong, but in the right frame of mind, they would crumble. He could feel that state of mind rapidly approaching.

“You can’t just try to kill people in the middle of an open court session. No matter if they deserve it. How is that going to help Emma?” Katia had her hand on her curvy hips and was berating him like a little child. “I mean she was so distraught when they took her down. Kas said it took him over an hour to get her to stop crying. She was so worried about you. Thankfully, Nuka saw that the verdict was why you went crazy and didn’t press charges. Although he really didn’t need to add the bit about you being so distraught as you realised the women you loved was a cold-hearted murder. I’m surprised Kas didn’t thump him as well for that. Oh shit.” She had been rambling on and pacing outside of the cage while speaking, but when she said the last bit, she paused and brought her hand to her mouth.

“He said what?” Scott ground his teeth together, his hand gripping even tighter to the bars.

“Nothing.” She manoeuvred herself away from the cage. “That’s not what we need to think about now. Kas says you are to stay in there, for now, as he can’t be worrying about you while he is sorting out an appeal for Emma.”

He rattled the bars and the Tigress stepped back even further.

“I’m to be kept caged up?”

“Yes. Just for a little while.”

“Katia, unlock this cage and let me out now.” He wasn’t in the mood for Kas’ orders. He was going to go back to that court and take Emma from her cell and disappear with her. He wasn’t going to leave her in that dungeon for one more minute.

“No.”

“Last warning.” The anger was almost palpable enough.

“She said no, Scott.” Brayden appeared at the bottom of the stairs leading up into the kitchen. “You cannot be trusted at the moment, so you need to stay there for your own health.”

“Trusted. I love her Brayden. You know what that feels like. What if it was Selene in that dungeon? Selene, who they were going to string up and let hang in less than two days. Would you willingly stay locked up in this cage?”

“I would do what my Alpha tells me to do and trust him to get her out.” Brayden folded his arms across his chest in defiance.

“No you wouldn’t. You would hunt down the man who put her in there and rip his head from his body. You’ve been in my position and went against Kas’ order.” He was referring to the time that Brayden took Selene to Nuka to try and eliminate a spell they thought had been placed on the multi-shifter.

“And look how that turned out? I nearly died.”

“And you would do exactly the same again and die if it meant Selene survived.” Brayden looked away from him.

“What are you going to do?”

“Brayden, you can’t even be considering this?” Katia pleaded with him.

“Not now.” Brayden gently pushed the tigress away.

“I’m going to get Selene.” Katia took one last look between them both and ran up the stairs.

“What are you going to do?” The snow leopard repeated.

What was he going to do? He wanted to kill Nuka and throw Phillip into that mix, but he was thinking a little more clearly now. That wouldn’t solve the problem and could in fact make things worse for Emma, or at worst, they would hang together. His heritage flooded back into his memory. The thoughts of his father telling him that he should be proud of who he was, because it was the greatest blessing he could ever have. He knew what he had to do.

“I’m going to do something I should have done at the start. I’m going to use my brain to save Emma and not my fists.”

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