Betrayal: Book 3 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 15.3 Timeline Jumping

Alex turned around slowly to face Morgan. "I thought you were dead," she told him and couldn't help but look at Rile.

He radiated fury, fists clenched, eyes narrowed, and trembling with rage.

"I got better," Morgan drawled. He carelessly swung a pair of power dampening cuffs around and around.

Alex squinted and saw the dual scars on his head.

Timeline-jumping Morgan. I am totally and utterly screwed.

"I told you to wait in the car," Brockner snapped at him.

"What's the point of winning if you don't gloat? Besides, I was afraid everyone had forgotten me." Morgan's fishy grey gaze fixed on Alex.

Alex felt the circulation in her lower leg cut off. She looked down to see Caleb clutching her leg.

"Don't go with the bad men," he pleaded.

She peeled him off her leg, knelt down, and hugged him. He responded by encircling her neck with his arms. "I'll be okay," she whispered, "Remember all the stories I told you? Didn't your dad and uncles always win?"

He nodded but he still clung to her neck.

"Touching. Put it in gear." Brockner waved his gun.

"Don't rush her," Morgan said with malicious mildness. "She has the rest of her life to spend with me."

"Alex, by all that is good, I can't let you go with them, with that monster." Gabe tried to squeeze her shoulder with his mangled hand.

She responded by handing him Caleb. "It's not up to you. I've survived Morgan before. Rafe, can I have a hug goodbye?" She held out her arms to him.

"No!" Rafe slapped her hand away. He tried to run but Rile picked him up.

"What is your problem?" Rile demanded as little fists assailed him, "Behave yourself and hug Alex."

"No!" he screamed then he collapsed onto his dad's shoulder. "You're all jerks! You could take these guys easy and rescue Alex! I hate you! I hate you all!"

Alex circled behind Rile so that she could face Rafe. "Rafe, being grown up means doing a lot of things you don't want to."

"You could blast them," he whimpered.

"I could, sweetie, but I can't. Your dad will explain it to you later, maybe in ten years. I'm sorry, I don't want to go, but I have to. Please don't be mad at me."

"Okay." He accepted her kiss, still lying limply on his father's shoulder.

"Remember, the bad guys always lose. In the end." She stroked his muzzle and he whimpered again.

A gunshot echoed through the forest.

Brockner waved several men off into the forest."We have to go. More moles. We can hold them off long enough for your friends to make their escape, but they better make it quick."

"I'm making sure they have the safe passage you promised. I'm watching from the air," Alex said.

Morgan and Brockner shot her identically suspicious looks.

"Slap the power dampers on me and come along if you don't trust me because I don't trust you. I have to make sure they're all right or the deal is off. Those cuffs only block my neuro-electric powers and not my slipstream, right?"

"Right, but becoming a flying target is not my idea of a reasonable risk," Brockner declared.

"Suit yourself. I'll come along, sweetheart." Morgan clicked the dampening cuffs on her. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

She purposely took off at high speed so they could all enjoy the sight of Morgan's head snapping back on his neck.

From the air she caught glimpses of the men below and saw that Brockner's men were able to force the moles back, away from her friends' escape route.

When they had disappeared into the thicker part of the forest and Brockner's men rounded up the last of the moles, she dropped back down to the ground.

A/N

Dedicated to ShadowsAfterglow

For the YouTube video [and lots of music selections]

The song has rather disturbing lyrics but not graphic, and I thought it showed how abusers like Morgan think. Should I keep it or not?

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