You Broke Me First Phoenix Mountain Series Book 3
Chapter 22

I bust through Zanders door. “Anything?”

Zander shakes his head. “No. Nothing. We’ve searched the city twice.”

“Search it again!” I growl.

“Hey, Darcy. Calm down. We'll replace her.” Zander arches a brow.

I rub my neck and blow out a breath to calm down. “Az? Anything?”

He’s trying to scry for her on a map. “Nothing. It’s like she just disappeared.” He sighs and drops his crystal. He leans on the table and hangs his head.

“Well…she has to be some where!” I throw my arms out to the side and look between them both.

Zander reaches into his back pocket. His phone is ringing. He swipes it.

Pushing a button he puts it on speaker. “Bastian, you’re on speaker.”

“Zander, I’m on conference with Titus. He’s…um…concerned.”

“Concerned?” Zander looks at us.

“Concerned is not the word.” Titus growls. “Fucking pissed is the right words.”

Zander looks to the phone. “Titus, what happened?”

“Tell me, King. Did you lose your witch already?” He spit.

I rushed to Zanders desk. “Sam’s there?” I ask.

“Yes, she’s here.” Titus growls.

“Well, send her back.” I insist.

Silence came from the other line.

“Titus?” Zander asks.

“Your witch was found in a highly restricted area of my tower. She’s been arrested.” He informs.

“What?! Let her go! She didn’t mean…” Zander holds up his hand.

He leans to the phone. “Bastian, pack a bag. Titus, we’ll see you in a few hours. And Titus? Sam better be in good condition when we get there.” He hung up.

“WHAT THE HELL, ZAN? THEY CAN'T LOCK HER UP FOR THAT! IT WASN'T HER FAULT!” I yell. My hand flying out to the side.

Zander stands. “Darcy. We don’t know the details Ok. Just keep cool. We'll figure it out.”

I scrub my head. “What are we doing?”

“Get to the helicopter.” He nods.

I turn and jog out of the office with Zander and Azriel behind me.

****

Six hours later, we’re landing on top of Titus' tower.

On the pad, stood Titus with Lana and Peter.

Bastian, Zander, Azriel and I disembark and run to them.

“I need to see her now.” I say as we get close.

Titus throws up his hand. “It’s not how this works.”

“What?!” I bark.

Zander puts a hand on my chest. “You’re going to take us to her, Titus.” He growls.

He arches a brow. He turns and walks to an awaiting elevator.

Lana follows and Peter joins us. “Hey, they won’t tell me. What’s going on?” He speaks low as we walk.

“He’s got Sam.” I growl.

“Why?” Peter asks.

“I’m about to replace out.” Zander grits.

He join Titus and Lana in the elevator and ride it down.

The door opens to a long hallway.

Titus walks with Lana ahead of us in silence.

The hallway is concrete and poorly lit.

I look ahead. Titus' blue and gold robes flow behind him as he takes fast steps.

We turn a corner and the hallway turns to a clear tube. We’re covered by the ocean.

Fish swim by. You can see the coral and rock in the clear water.

A tiger shark swims over head, then makes a quick right and swims back around to where he came from.

As I walk, a manta ray skims the bottom and rises up fast over the tube and down the other side.

If I wasn’t so pissed, I’d be impressed.

The area fills with the clicks and whistles of a dolphin.

It comes out of the blue and spins up to Titus. He stops and turns to it. “Dieti, the doors.” The dolphin nods. It swims off.

We stop at a pair of air lock doors.

The doors open and a knock out of a blonde woman is standing there in a blue robe. “Your highness.” She bows her head and nods.

Zander looks at her. He reads her. “A shape shifter.”

Titus nods. “Dieti. This is Zeta Alpha Zander Maximus, Alpha Bastian Cole and Alpha Darcy Bourne.”

She still soaking wet as she walks up to me. “You’re the one she holds in her heart.” She smiles.

She reaches out and adjusts my button down shirt.

“Uh…yeah. I am.” I answer.

“I feel her in your heart too.” Her voice is sweet and almost angelic.

“Dieti. Let him go.” Titus growls.

She walks away and I blink for a second.

Titus looks at Zander. “She’s a shifter, but she’s also a water nymph. Tricky things if you don’t have good control.”

Zander arches a brow. “Ok we really need to talk.”

Titus smirks and walks through the doors.

We entered another tube.

I jog up beside Titus. “Just let me see her.” I demand.

“I told you it doesn’t work like that.” He says looking straight ahead.

“Zan, help me out!” I motion my hand between the two Kings.

Zander side eyes Titus. “There must be some agreement we can come to.”

Titus stops and turns to face us. His face was dark. “Your witch broke a very serious law. You’re lucky I didn’t send her to meet Poseidon.” He raised his hand to the ocean while his eyes flicked between us. “She faces the Eastern Council. They’ll decide her fate.”

“Titus, you can’t! Whatever she did, it was purely by accident, I swear!” I plead.

“The council will determine that.” He turns back around and continues to walk.

We turn again and stop at a door. Titus raises his hand and a blue light scans it.

He walks in and we follow.

We’re in a large white room. It almost looks like a unit area in Phoenix. There are people walking around doing office work. They’re all in different forms of casual wear from shorts to tank tops. There are no real desks. There’s loungers, bean bag chairs and arm chairs.

Zander eyes a guy walking around in flip flops. “What is this place.”

“Our prison.” Titus answers.

“This is your prison unit?” I question.

“I thought Falcon Ridge was a mess. This place is a disgrace! Where are the uniforms?” He says with shock. His chest is puffed out and his hands are behind his back.

Titus stands in front of him. “A you daring to question how I run my city?”

“City? It’s a giant beach party. Where’s the discipline?” He glares at Titus.

“In case you forgot, Zander. You have no power here. You might want to remember that before you wind up as resident here along side your witch.” Titus growls.

Zanders jaw ticks as he flares his eyes. Titus remains calm.

I thought Alphas were bad in the same room. I’m sure two Zetas would be extremely messy.

Titus looks to us. “Do you want to see your witch or what?”

“Yes! Yes…please!” My brows shoot up.

Titus stops a girl. “Get me Kai.”

She nods and leaves.

A couple minutes later, a man with long blonde hair in dreads walks up to us. He’s very big and tanned. He looks no more than 22.

“What’s up Ti?” He grins and sounds like a surfer.

“We need to see the witch.” Titus answers.

He scratches his head. “She’s not supposed to until she sees Echo.”

“I know this.” He growls. “Lets just keep it between us.”

“Ok, dude. You’re funeral.” He ticks his head.

He smiles. “Dieti, babe. You wanna get the lock?”

“Yes, Alpha.” She smiles sweetly and walks to a pool at the side of the room.

She takes off her robe and dives head first into it.

She pops out on the other side of the glass window as a dolphin.

We all stare with mouths open.

Kai laughs. “Don’t drool too much. If she ever latches onto you, she’ll kill you. Literally.” He smirks.

We turn our heads to him.

“Dead.” He nods and chuckles.

Titus leans to us. “Water nymphs feed on life essence and they typically use sex to do it. She lives off sea creatures, but has been known to grab a sailor or two.” He leans back.

“Why do all the women in this place kill the men?” I ask with shocked tone.

“Hmmm…not sure. Ready?” He smiles.

He turns and we cross the room to another air lock. Again, Dieti is standing on the other side.

We enter the prison and it open to the ocean below a catwalk.

“When we aren’t in it, the place is flooded. The cells are protected with oxygen pumped in, but unless your good at swimming and holding your breath at 400 ft, you’ll drown before you even get out of the area.

We walk down several flights of stairs and then down another catwalk that’s lined with cells.

I’m hit with the scent of raspberries almost immediately. My wolf goes into a frenzy.

“Sam?” I run down the catwalk.

I see her hand stick out the bars. “Darcy?!”

I run fast. “Sam! Oh God I was so worried…are you hurt?”

She grabs at my arms. I reach in and kiss her. “Get me out of here, please.” She whines.

“We’re trying, baby.” I say as I frantically rub her hair.

“I didn’t mean to, I swear. I’m sorry.” She says in a panic.

“I know. I know. We're telling them that.” I kiss her again to try and calm her down.

“Samantha.” Azriel pushes through to join us. “I need to check your heart. This won’t hurt.”

She nods.

He places a hand on his chest and closes his eyes. He smiles. “The spots gone. I got it before you disappeared.” He turned to Titus. “She’s no longer a witch.”

“But she has the raven power which still makes her a threat.” He grumbles.

Sam presses herself to the bars “Titus, I promise. I didn’t mean to show up there. I don’t even know why I did. I’m not supposed to do that. All I know is I was thinking of what Azriel was doing to my heart and Atlas popped into my mind. Then I appeared there. Titus, I won’t tell, I promise. Please let me go.” She begs.

Zander looks to Titus. “You can’t release her?”

“No. I must console my council. The room she entered is not only my concern, but theirs too.” He informs.

Zander nods. “I know how it works. When’s the trial?”

“In a months time.” He answers.

“A month? Darcy, I can’t stay in here for a month...” She squeaks.

I look to Titus. “Can’t she be like put on house arrest or something?”

Titus sighs. “I can grant temporary freedom while she waits for trial, but she can’t leave the city for any reason and she’ll be put under watch. I’ll need a caretaker.” He eyes us.

“Me!” Zander and I both say at the same time.

“OK. Being a caretaker means if she escapes or uses her raven powers for any reason, you two will automatically be killed and her last.” He arches a brow.

“That’s fine. Right, baby? That’s cool.” I look to Sam.

“Yes. Absolutely. I fully agree.” Sam says.

“Zander?” Titus turns to him.

Zander looks to us. “Yes. I agree to those terms.”

Titus nods. “I’ll speak with Kai. She should be released in a few hours. I’ll have Lana prepare your rooms.”

“Thank you, Titus. Thank you so much.” I say as I grab his hand and shake it.

“You’re welcome.” He rips his hand away and wipes is on his robe with a scowl.

Azriel looks to Bastian and then to Zander. “We don’t have to stay do we? I do have some important work I need to get to.”

Bastian steps forward. “I would like to have a meeting with you before I go.”

Titus looks to Zander who nods.

“Fine. Meet me in two hours.” He grumbles.

“Excellent. I’m sure an alliance between our cities will be fruitful for both of us.” Bastian grins.

“Indeed.” Titus says.

I turn to Sam. “I love you so much.” I kiss her. “I can’t wait to kiss you without bars in the way.” I chuckle.

“Me too.” She smiles.

I rest my head on the bars and she rests her head on the other side. We just stare at each other.

I will never love anyone as much as I love Sam. When we get out of here, I’m going to tell her I want to make her mine forever.

There’s no way I’m ever losing her again.