Page 24 of Redeem Me
Chapter 22
Jade
I wasn’t prepared for all the emotions that flooded me as I watched my friends walk away. A copper taste coated my tongue as I sharply bit down. I had never felt like I had wanted to go down on my knees and beg before, but I felt that as I watched them turn their backs on me.
“My name is Micah,” the guard said as I watched them go. Tracey was completely limp in Knox’s arms and Rafe didn’t look back once. I had seen the internal war going on in his eyes as I told them to leave. I had seen the struggle he had within himself to allow me to stay behind but I didn’t care. I had to be firm and crying would do none of us favors. Running away with them would do nothing for the people here.
My chest ached as I thought of my parents and what they were going through. Or what they would go through if this didn’t go well for me. I squeezed my eyes closed before I turned to the guard beside me. “It’s nice to meet you, Micah.”
The tightness in my chest bloomed into something I wasn’t prepared for. I struggled to breathe as I realized, once again I was alone. I was going to have to do all of this by myself and there was a possibility I wouldn’t find out how Tracey fared. I pressed my palm to the center of my chest and blinked rapidly to try to clear the tears from my eyes.
“Who’s side are you on?” The words came out barely a whisper as I ducked my head and turned back toward the cabins.
“I hate to break it to you,” Micah’s voice went hard. “But I do have to bring you to Damian now. It wasn’t a lie. He is waiting to see if you have tried to escape or if you are going to. The fact that your friends are packing up to leave now will be a good sign.”
I pressed my lips together. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“The answer to that is a bit more complicated.” He hung his head. “I wish I could give up all of my secrets, but for right now, I have to escort you to Damian and he’s already going to be suspicious enough.”
Damian leaned against a blacked-out Mercedes parked on the edge of the empty highway. When he noticed I wasn’t blindfolded he narrowed his eyes.
Micah shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “I could hardly parade her around her friends with a sack over her head.”
Damian lifted an eyebrow as he smoothed his hands over an old bang tee. “Your friends? They still haven’t left.”
I cocked my head to the side with indifference. “They’re leaving now.”
Damian’s eyes flicked to Micah’s. “Is this so?”
“Yes, we ran into them on the way out. They are leaving now.”
Relief and surprise flashed across Damian’s face. “You were that convincing?”
“I just told them what they needed to hear. I didn’t want to go back there and I didn’t want to see them anymore. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about them sniffing around again.” I shrugged even though it hurt to speak the lies.
Damian steepled his fingers under his chin. “That’s interesting. You want to stay here?”
“Under a few conditions,” I picked at my nails in mock boredom. He nodded for me to continue. “No more witch shit. No more invading my mind, mind control, or anything like that. I will be here willingly or wherever you want me to go, but I won’t be controlled.”
Damian’s smile caused a chill to skitter down my back. “We had to make sure you would be loyal, that you wouldn’t try to run. This worked better than I thought it would.”
“How is Lucas?” I didn’t care for the small talk anymore. I wanted to know how my friend was. I had my suspicions that he was being mistreated with me gone.
“He is boring,” Damian bared his teeth. “All he does is sit in your room and play cards with himself.”
That seemed strange. Why would Lucas play cards with himself? I wanted to look at Micah but I couldn’t give myself away. I couldn’t let him know I had an ally in this mess. He had to believe I was all in, on my own. Friends would come later.
Damian pushed off of the edge of the car and patted Micah on the shoulder. “I thought I would have trouble with you, especially after your first few months here. I’m glad to see you are finally accepting the cause.”
Micah nodded. “I wasn’t thinking clearly before. The wolfsbane will do that to you.”
Damian smiled again, but wider this time. “Good, glad to hear it. Gather the group that is waiting back in the cabin then head back to HQ. It’s time Jade met the rest of our rogues.”
