Chapter Twenty-four

“What’s taking you so long?” Jim was looking around trying to make sure no one followed them.

“She’s heavy as hell. Why couldn’t you have picked someone slender and curvy?”

He turned around to give the man a death glare making him shake in his boots.

“There is nothing wrong with Sage or her body. If you can’t appreciate her curves, it’s your problem, not hers.”

“Hey, you’re the one about to sacrifice her.”

“There was no other option, and you know it. If I could have found someone else, I would have. I planned to marry her someday.”

The man holding Sage began to murmur under his breath about heavy women and crazy men as he took the steps. “Why is the elevator broken?”

“Hurry it up.”

They walked up to the top floor, and Jim took Sage holding her close for a moment as if he regretted his actions. Then he took the tarp they placed on her off. Reluctantly he put her in the middle of the circle.

“Now we wait.”

“For what?” The male collapsed on the floor looking at Sage. He wasn’t as unaffected as he pretended to be.

His desire for Sage made Jim want to cut him in half, but he needed to wait. Once he ascended, he would take care of him.

“We’re waiting for Koyzal.” The act of saying the name endued him with power. Once Sage was dead, and he ascended the world would be much different for him.

He glanced at her memories assaulting him from a time when they were happy. Her smile and those green eyes were epic he never tired of looking at them. He loved kissing and touching her, but she couldn’t offer him the one thing he craved, power. With a snarl, he pushed the memories away. She was only a tool when this was over, he would find the right woman, one who craved power as much as he did, to stand by his side.

The temperature in the room dropped as a black shadow hovered in front of the window before entering.

“I see you secured the sacrifice.”

Sage was a sacrifice and nothing else from the first day Koyzal laid eyes on her. In the beginning, Jim used to wonder if Sage was the reason he was chosen to ascend. That didn’t make much sense he assured himself. What good would her death do for him? Koyzal was here to make him powerful.

“Kill her.” The glee in his voice took Jim by surprise, and the minion sitting on the floor backed up.

Jim looked at him and then ignored him. He was a minion for a reason.

“Not yet she’s not awake.”

“Kill her. Why does she need to be awake?”

He was getting tired of this. “If you want the deed done, here’s the knife.”

Koyzal backed up. “That’s what I thought. We do this my way. We wait until she wakes up so I can explain why this has to happen. I want to make sure he is here.” The male that she ran to. He had spied on them the few times they left the compound. They held hands, the male kissed her replacing Jim in her heart and her life. He didn’t like that, not that Sage cared for him anymore.

“You’re making a mistake. The power you’re playing with is greater than any you have known.”

“If you say so.” He knelt by Sage content to wait until the time was right.

Why was the bed so hard? Maybe it was a way of punishing the inmates. It was working she swore she would be good for the rest of her life.

“Open your eyes, Sage.”

Was she dreaming? He was the last person she wanted to dream about.

“Come on open them sweetness.”

Her eyes popped open. It was Jim no effing way. She screamed.

“No one can hear you here.”

“Where am I? Let me go.” She tried to move, but she was firmly held to the floor even though she didn’t see anything restraining her. All she felt was a heat seeping upwards.

“What you feel is part of the power I will receive when I ascend. You can try, but you won’t be able to break free from it.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“You’re a doorway Sage. By killing you, I will be able to ascend to become the new god that will be the ruler over the earth.”

“Jim this is real, not a game. No one ascends, there are no doorways, and if there are, we won’t like what walks through them. You don’t have to do this.”

“I need you to know that I’m sorry. I tried the other girls but none of them were you, and it didn’t work. You’re the only one that can make me what I was born to be. I thought when you came into my life that we would spend our days together. Then I realized I was wrong you were here to change the world for me.” He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek.

“Don’t touch me, not ever again. Listen to me Jim, they’re lying to you. There is no doorway for you. There is no ascending. You will be as dead as I am if you do this.”

“As soon as your boyfriend gets here, you will die.”

“Were you looking for me?” Caden stepped out of the shadows. He looked calm, but he was stroking Sage’s mind to keep his control. He made himself stand still to hear what Jim had to say before he broadcast it to Declyn.

Xander and Ven were standing in the doorway, but he refused to let them come any further. Jim was his, he would kill him and anyone who he brought with him.

“You made it.” Jim smiled, death reflected in his eyes.

“You touched Sage, took her away from me. Now you will die knowing that she will spend her life with me.”

“Kill her now,” the shadow revealed itself.

“I think I will kill him first. Attend me.”

“You fool.” The shadow covered his body. “If you kill her first, we could merge, and you would be unstoppable.”

Jim wasn’t paying attention all he wanted was Caden’s blood flowing over his fingers. With a flick of his wrist, a knife that was lying in the corner lifted and hurled itself at him.

Caden hit the floor his form changing.

“You better not get hurt.”

He chuckled that was his little warrior. Too proud to show fear.

Shards of broken glass lifted and came for him. He ducked before standing up. He was a werewolf with the desire to protect his mate by tearing Jim apart.

“Kill him now,” the shadow ordered.

Another shape pulled itself away from the wall and jumped on the man sitting on the floor. He rose pulling out a gun aiming it at Caden.

Caden raised a shield, and the bullets fell harmlessly to the ground. He took a moment to gloat. As a twin, his power was increased. The male ran at him, and he took his head off.

“You killed him.” The shock in Jim’s voice made him stand still as he watched his minion's headless body. “You killed him; you're a sick, SOB.”

“The same way you killed those females.”

Jim lunged at him in his rage. Caden raised his deadly claws, a second set of claws grew tipped with black. He cut Jim on the side ripping through his shirt leaving a deep claw mark.

“That’s a poison that has never been seen on the Earth, the more I place in your body, the faster you will die. When they find you, they won’t know what happened to you. There will be no trace of the poison left behind.” Caden's voice was flat as if he were too busy planning his next move to put feeling into his words.

“Sage understands why I killed them. She knows I needed to kill them first to make sure I had to kill her.”

Jim pulled himself up from where he dropped and ran at Caden again.

“Now you die. Koyzal is protecting me. Soon we will be one.”

Caden side stepped him cutting him again. He picked him up and threw him against the wall.

“I’m going to take you apart piece by piece.” He walked towards him his eyes that were a combination of green and red turned completely red. Caden was gone, and the werewolf was in charge.

“I will start with your hands severing each finger.” His voice was deeper hurting the ears of the humans in the room.

“Sister stop him. We need Jim’s body whole as proof that you didn’t do the killing.”

Jim’s breathing was labored, and she didn’t think he was going to make it. What scared her was Caden, his eyes were fiery red like he was never coming back from wherever he was.

“Baby, I need you.”

He looked at her and then shook as if knocking her words away.

“Come to me baby, I’m so scared.”

He growled he wasn’t a baby. He turned his red eyes on her.

He took a step towards Sage, Xander, and Ven took a step towards him.

“Don’t come any closer this is between my baby and me.”

He turned to focus on her. His mouth opened showing her his fangs before he roared. His legs ate up the distance between them until he was standing over her.

“What big teeth you have.” She laughed at her own joke.

“The better to eat you with.”

That she wasn’t expecting.

“Sit by me, baby.” He snarled but sat down.

“This talk is long overdue. A baby is a term we use for the young of a population, any population. When Jade was born, she was baby Jade or a baby Kur’ik or just a baby. It is also an endearment a way to communicate love. When I call you baby, I am telling you that my heart belongs to you. It’s a way of saying I will love you forever, or I’m never leaving you. I use it to say how much I love being your mate and how special you are to me. I say all that and more with one word, baby.”

She watched as thoughts ran through his head. His eyes bled back and forth between red and green.

“I need Caden the humanoid to come back. I love you werewolf but if the world saw you; they would take you away. You would end up in a special room you couldn’t get out of, and I would never see you again. Please don’t go away.”

His eyes bled to green as his form changed. He leaned over and broke whatever was holding her in place.

“We have decided,” he told her once he was holding her in his arms. “You can call us baby.”

She placed her head on his chest and laughed. The sound of the sirens made them move.