Broken (The Onyx Wolves Book 2) (24 page)

He didn’t deserve this place.

And he certainly didn’t deserve River no matter how much she may have changed him.

“
I
really don’t want to go anywhere, Jessie.” I state for the hundredth time today since we had returned back to our apartment after the doctors visit.

“Please, just come with me just this once so I can show you off a little.” Jessie pleads. “All the other guys bring their wives along.”

God, I hated him using that term.

I was in no way his wife.

“You need to get out and see the life we have here now, Babe.” He tries a different tactic.

I shake my head as a small laugh leaves my lips. “If I go will you give up on this for a while?” I ask with a raised brow.

“You won’t hear another word from me, Babe.” He grins brightly.

“Fine, then I’ll come with you, but only this once.” I give in.

He literally jumps for joy before lifting me into his arms to swing me around in a circle until I begin laughing, his joy overwhelming me.

Setting me back down on my feet his lips crash into mine before pulling back to look deep into my eyes. “I am the happiest man today. Not only am I going to have a baby with you we will be moving into an actual house together, and now you’re going to let me show you off.”

He kisses me again. “I love you, Babe. I love you.”

Kissing him back I avoid saying anything else to him.

I still couldn’t say those words honestly to him.

My heart still belonged to another man that was out there somewhere, possibly dead.

Even though Jessie never pushed for me to say it back I could still see the flash of hurt that would show in his eyes when he pulled back.

“When are we going to leave?” I ask softly as I turn from him and begin folding a blanket absently.

“The fights don’t start until later but they have a shop of sorts we can walk through and buy a few things if you want to.” He explains.

I nod and glance back to him. “That sounds good but we really don’t have anything to pay with.”

“We do considering I’ve been working odd jobs here and there.” He replies.

When we had joined Rosenberg Davy and Kyra had taken everything. They had left me and Jessie to fend for ourselves and we were barely making it.

We had food on our plates every day but we weren’t far from being kicked right back out of Rosenberg if we didn’t begin fitting in quickly.

Of course the part that really sucked was the fact that only the men could do jobs.

The women were to stay home, cook, and clean.

“We should save it until we absolutely need it.” I sigh and he nods. “But we can still go and look at whatever they have.”

He nods again with a smile as he holds out his arm for me.

Looping mine through his I let him guide me out of our apartment and down the stairs.

I force a smile as we walk out into the bright sunlight and make our way towards the shop he had told me about.

What I would have given to be back in my bunker. I hated being around crowds.

But I would do this for him, and only because it made him happy.

“
D
id you find the father, Doc.?” I question quickly as soon as he enters my room again.

He nods. “I did.”

“But…” I coax him on.

There was more to it, I just knew it.

“But the council doesn’t want to release him since he’s been gaining them more money from the fights. Everyone from all over the town comes just to watch him fight.” He sighs roughly.

I let out a string of curses as I begin to pace back and forth. “Who was the father?”

“It was the one named Zach.” He answers.

“I tried everything I could possibly say to get him out considering he’s the perfect donor for more children, but the council wouldn’t budge.” The doctor adds as he moves around his desk.

Turning towards me he holds out a needle.

Stopping my pace I sigh as my shoulders slump. “How much more of my blood are they going to need?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, Gale.”

That was the straightest answer I could ever get from him regarding these tests that they had subjected me to.

I felt like a human pin-cushion.

Holding my arm out to him I watch as he pierces my skin before the blood flows into vial after vial.

“Did you tell River who the father was yet?” I ask.

He shakes his head as he finishes up and pulls the needle from my arm. “I haven’t had the chance to tell her.”

“She needs to hear it from someone she knows. She has no idea that Zach is even in here and when she finds out she’s going to want to do something stupid to get him out of here, along with the other two that had been with me from the beginning.” I sigh.

He nods his head. “I could bring her here if you wanted to tell her.”

“You could do that for me?” I question in surprise.

“Yes, but under one circumstance.” He replies.

Of course there would be a catch to it.

“What do you want from me, Doc.?” I grunt.

“
T
his place is amazing, Jessie.” I sigh happily as I twirl around in a circle before his arms stop me as they snake around my waist and his hands come to rest on my belly.

His chin rests on my shoulder as I lean back into his embrace. “I’m glad you like it, Babe.”

Spinning in his arms I wrap my arms around his neck. “Thank you, for this.”

“I’d do anything for you, River.” He whispers before his lips brush against mine.

When people begin to cat-call us I blush and bury my face into Jessie’s chest as he chuckles deeply.

“Is this the girl you’ve been telling us all about, Jessie.” A man states abruptly behind me.

“Yes, she is. This is my beautiful, girl, River.” Jessie replies proudly as I turn in his arms to greet this newcomer.

I come face to face with a blonde haired guy with soft blue eyes and an easy grin.

Holding out his hand to me he grins even brighter. “It’s nice to finally meet the girl that Jessie hasn’t been able to shut up about, and I see now why. My name is Cole.”

Reaching out for his hand I smile.

“Now, you and the guys can get off of my case.” Jessie laughs.

“Yeah, we definitely will.” Cole agrees.

Glancing from me to Jessie he speaks again. “Are you ready for the fights today?”

“I am. Who’s going to be fighting today?” Jessie inquires behind me.

“Probably the big guy they had in there yesterday. He won’t have a chance against the infected we brought in today though.” Cole replies.

My jaw drops. “They’re making people fight against the infected?”

“It’s not like that, Babe. The people who fight aren’t good.” Jessie tries to explain.

I shake my head. “It’s still not right. No matter how bad of a person you are no one deserves that kind of punishment.”

“The guys that fight still have chances, River. They’ve killed people so this is the punishment they deserve.” Cole argues lightly with me.

I nod my head. Maybe if they were killers then it was a just punishment, but it still didn’t feel right to me.

It didn’t feel right considering everyone in this world had done something bad once or twice in order to survive.

Even I had nearly killed someone just to survive.

“Trust me the fights aren’t as bad as you would think, Babe.” Jessie sighs roughly as he spins me in his arms to face him.

“I told you I would go but don’t expect me to do this again, Jessie.” I reply.

He searches my eyes for a few moments before nodding. “Alright, Babe, you win.”

Moments later Jessie and Cole lead me into an old football field where the town had erected a large caged dome in the middle.

There was already a crowd mingling around the fence that made up the cage.

Jessie leads me over to a spot where there were seats available on one of the bleachers.

I watch silently as some men bring out cages filled with savage infected. They were clearly fresh and hungry.

They were going as far as biting the bars that surrounded them in order to try to get a bite out of someone alive nearby.

All too soon the crowd below begins making their way into the seat surrounding us and once everyone is seated an old man dressed in a black suit moves in front of us taking a microphone from someone’s hand.

“Who’s ready for the fight?” He bellows.

The crowd instantly stands to their feet as they scream and hoot for the fight to begin.

As everyone settles back down and resumes their places in their seats the man then waves his arm to one of the men by the infected.

We watch as two of the infected are shoved into the dome.

They circle the cage, frantic to get out so they could feed their hunger.

“Now, who’s ready to watch these two take down the big dog?” The man up front yells as he motions to a man as he‘s drug towards the cage with his head covered and his hands bound.

The crowd goes wild again.

Even Jessie and Cole hoot and yell with enthusiasm.

I just could muster a single bit of joy for this travesty.

Gasping in horror I watch as the man in black douses the man with blood before cutting the rope that bound his hands.

A second later the man in black kicks him directly into the cage still wearing the black cloth covering his face.

The man inside the cage stands to his feet before ripping the cloth off his head, exposing a head of shaggy blonde hair as he tosses it to the ground.

My heart literally pounds in my chest as I stand to my feet in horror.

God, it couldn’t possibly be him in there.

I cover my mouth as the man turns his head for a second.

It was him, it was Zach.

“No, no, no.” I chant as Jessie stands with me noticing my state of horror.

“What’s wrong?” He asks gently.

I turn to face him. “That’s Zach.” I whisper unable to really form words.

My eyes turn towards Zach once again.

He stalks forward towards the infected before grabbing one to slam it into the metal bars of the cage.

“Who’s Zach?” Jessie clips out as he tries, and fails, to pull my attention from the scene unfolding before me.

My next words come out in a hushed tone. “He’s the one I love.”

Jessie doesn’t say another word.

He just fades into the background as my eyes remain glued on Zach as he fights the two infected in the cage with him with only his bare hands.

When he kills the first infected with a hard blow to its head from his foot the crowd around me goes wild.

My heart picks up its pace as the other one nearly bites him.

As I continue to watch my feet decide to get a mind of their own and I begin making my way through the bleachers and down to the cage.

I reach the cage just as Zach kills the second infected.

Strong arms wrap around me before I’m suddenly being pulled away.

In that moment I finally gain my voice. “Zach.” I scream.

His head swings around in my direction and his eyes go wide with shock and then fear as he looks over my shoulder.

He slams into the cage as if he could come after me but he doesn’t get anywhere.

Lifting me from behind Jessie carries me away even as I kick and scream fighting to get back to Zach.

“River, just stop fighting me. There isn’t anything we can do about him being in there.” Jessie grunts as he fights me into our apartment a few minutes later.

Sobs wreck my body as I bury my face into his chest.

What was I going to do now?

How could I save Zach from that horrible fate that this town had placed him into.

L
oud shouts sound out from the hall just outside my door and as I rise to my feet the doctor bursts through my door with a few other men and one tied down to a hospital bed.

The man growls fiercely even though his face was covered with a cloth bag.

“He was bit not ten minutes ago, Doc.” One man grunts.

“Alright, I’ll see what I can manage.” The doctor replies as he points them in the direction of the door.

They all file out without another word, leaving the man strapped to the hospital bed in the room with us.

I watch curiously as the doctor removes the cloth to reveal none other than Zach.

“What the hell happened?” He questions Zach roughly.

“I saw someone who shouldn’t be here.” Zach grunts.

When Zach’s eyes land on me he curses loudly. “What the hell are you doing in here, Gale?”