When The Heart Sings

Chapter 18

Serena's POV:

For a lack of anything else to do, and in desperation to try to distract myself from my heart's pain, I started to faintly hum. Just the general protection song. I doubted that there was anything down here that would help me, but there was no harm in trying. I wouldn't let it go past a faint hum.

"Why are you here?"

I glanced over in surprise to see that the man, Alex, had spoken to me. His eyes glowed with a pale grey glow that matched his light grey irises as he watched me. Jessica was looking at him in surprise as well, her light brown eyes glowing faintly. I was uneasy with this stranger. Other than Darien, every other Tarulk would have happily killed me.

He had not struck me as the friendly type when I had first arrived, although he may have been glaring at the doctor and guards. The cage was no longer electrified and I was beginning to rethink my hasty actions in disarming it.

"Ummm... I am not entirely sure. Two people tied my hands up and forced me to walk through the gates to this place. Some guards dragged me into an elevator. I wasn't aware that this research center had 54 levels underground."

The man blinked slowly and even the woman glanced over at that tidbit of information. They seemed to lose interest in the conversation after that. I pulled my knees to my chest as I wrapped my arms around them. It was close to how Darien carried me out of here and it helped with the pain in my chest a bit. Neither of the Tarulk spoke.

I leaned my forehead against my knees and closed my eyes. I missed Darien so much, I couldn't get my mind off him. It simply wasn't possible, it was even worse than the first day after I had caught a glimpse of him.

Unbidden, an image of his blue eyes glowing in the dark shadows emerged in my mind. It was as close as I could get to him at the moment. In my mind, I reached out a mental hand to him, my heart broke when I couldn't reach him. The emotional pain was so bad that my breath nearly hitched in my throat.

I had to get myself under control before the scientists wondered if I was actually sick or had been injured somehow. If I was lucky, they may put it down as a mental breakdown or stress of the being chained down here. There was only one thing that might be able to distract me from the soulbond's torment. I started once more humming softly.

"Surely they must have given you a reason for dragging you down here and chaining you to a wall."

My humming paused once more at the man's interruption. I inhaled slowly as I realized that he was reacting to the protection song. Maybe I did have an ally down here. I lifted my head to put my chin on my knees as I slowly blinked at the man's curious expression, "They figure that Darien will come back."

Jessica snorted, "No one in their right mind would come back here."

I remained silent. With the soulbond driving him on, Darien wasn't in his right mind. Alex ran a hand contemplatively through his greying dark blonde hair, "Do you know Darien?"

How could I word this without our unwanted observers picking up on the clues? "I met him a few days ago in the park. We sat on a bench holding hands for a few hours. He was very nice."

Jessica snorted in clear disbelief, "He would hold hands with you? As if."

I sighed, "That was exactly how Nick and Tristan reacted. Darien almost killed them for that comment."

Two pairs of glowing eyes looked at me in surprise as I dropped those names. Alex narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he gazed at me. "Tristan escaped the trap?"

I nodded, "Yes, him and his friend. Nick mentioned something about going to the bank because Darien had a security box with a bond in it that he needed to recover. I have no clue where any of them might be at this point in time, but Darien said that the bond was extremely important, so that is probably the first thing on his agenda."

Alex's eyes widened as he suddenly grinned, "I wasn't aware that he had even located that bond. I know he was stuck in here for some time and only escaped recently. Do you have any idea when it might expire?"

He was also counting on the mate bond being unstable and lending Darien strength. Too bad he didn't know half of the story. I shrugged, "He didn't really mention if it had an expiration date, but he said it hadn't expired yet."

Alex tilted his head as he thought rapidly, "You mentioned that the thing on your ankle fell off last time, so I take it you have been in here before?"

I made a face, "Unfortunately. After I met Darien, the scientists shot me with a tranquilizer dart and took me back here. Later on, Darien managed to break both of us out of here."

Alex's interest was piqued and even Jessica was listening. Alex's eyes watched me closely, "How did you two break out last time? I have a hard time seeing a human escape this place considering we have failed several times already."

Alex reminded me of an uncle I once had. I decided that he wasn't as bad as his other friends. I pretended to mull it over, "How can I put this politely? He had a temper tantrum and kicked down every door in his way as he carried me out of here."

"A temper tantrum?"

I shrugged, "As the annoying doctor in white put it, he was unusually upset. Personally, I call that the biggest understatement of the year, and believe me, I have seen some nasty customers in my years as a waitress."

Alex leaned his head back against the wall and gazed at the white ceiling thoughtfully, "I have a suspicious feeling that he is going to have an even bigger reaction the moment he realizes the bond is no longer in that security box."

I leaned my forehead on my knees as if refusing to contemplate that scenario, "If the bond is missing, I have a feeling that there will be hell to pay the moment he finds out. I wouldn't want to be the one near him in that situation."

All of us fell silent as we were left to our own thoughts.