Unleashed ashbound book.., p.1
Unleashed (Ashbound Book 2), page 1
Unleashed
Book 2 in the Ashbound Series
Copyright © 2025
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the rights holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Patrick Stewart
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter
Cael stumbled out of the portal like a man stepping off a rollercoaster he never wanted to get on in the first place.
One second he was in Buckingham Palace, the next, he was standing in front of his ground floor flat. His feet unsteady; he staggered forward and crashed into the front door of his flat.
Feeling exhausted, dizzy and a little nauseated, Cael dropped to the ground and leaned back against his flat’s front door. From his position on the ground, he stared up at Ilaria.
“What’s happening to me?” he asked.
Ilaria dropped to her knees beside and ripped off his shirt. Her hands moved to his trousers when Cael grabbed her by the wrists.
“Seriously, I am not having sex now,” he grumbled.
“No, babe,” Ilaria said. She freed her hands from his grip with relative ease and pulled his trousers down. “It doesn’t look too bad.”
Cael looked down at his exposed chest and legs and the long gashes that crisscrossed them. As he rested against the door, he could feel the cuts on his back too.
They looked horrible.
“Why am I not healing?” Cael asked as his nose flared. “Have I lost my healing powers?”
“No babe,” Ilaria said, smiling. “It takes longer to heal when you’re struck by an Aserathi blade. Normal humans would have died from a single cut. But you’ll be fine.”
Cael felt anything but fine.
It was like his body was only just catching up to what had been done to it. Now that Moraine was no longer a threat, his brain was able to process reality. His wounds throbbed with a relentless, pulsing ache. His back stung with a raw, dragging burn, as though the blade were still there, sawing him open each time he shifted.
The air around his wounds felt raw and tender, every brush of fabric or breeze an agony in itself.
Fatigue pressed down heavier than the pain, a bone-deep weariness that made him shiver with weakness.
There was a creeping sickness in his gut and he felt hollow, feverish.
“Are you sure I’m not going to die?” Cael asked. “Because I’ve never felt so crap in my life. And I once had a badly cooked curry…”
“You’ll live, babe,” Ilaria said.
And then, she scooped him up in her arms and led him through the front door of his flat.
Cael wanted to protest at being picked up like an infant.
Ilaria had also been in battle. She had suffered wounds too. Some more severe than his own. He was the man. He should have been carrying her in.
But he was much too weak to resist.
And it felt really nice to be carried in someone’s arm…
He felt safe…
Ilaria led him down the corridor and into his bedroom. She placed him flat on his back on the bed and sat beside him as she stroked his hair. It felt soothing and his eyes closed instantly. Exhausted, sleep was creeping up when he forced himself to open his eyes.
His flat was a small one. Two bedrooms, a single bathroom and a kitchen that also functioned as a small dining space.
His return should not have gone unnoticed by Asha and Sandy.
And Clarissa, assuming she was still here.
And the three other women they had found in Malcolm’s farm that doubled as a sadistic lab.
“Where is everyone?” Cael asked.
“Who do you mean, babe?” Ilaria asked innocently.
“Asha, Sandy, Clarissa, the three naked women?” Cael queried instantly.
“Oh. They’re about, I’m sure,” Ilaria said. “I haven’t killed them, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
It hadn’t been the first thought on his mind. But now that she mentioned it, Cael worried Ilaria might have killed at least some of them. She had threatened to kill Clarissa on multiple occasions.
He stared at her now with some suspicion. He decided she was telling the truth. If she had killed anyone, she would have just announced it nonchalantly. The woman was much too blunt to bother denying anything.
Now feeling at more ease, he closed his eyes. He was about to drift off when the same thought occurred to him again.
It was a small flat.
As Ilaria carried him down the corridor, he’d passed the kitchen that had its door open. There was no one there. Which meant, if one of the women was in the bathroom, the five other women would have to be in Asha’s room.
Why would five women just be sitting in Asha’s room with the door closed. It didn’t make sense.
So he opened his eyes again.
Unless they had left the flat?
Except, Ilaria had wanted rope to tie down Clarissa.
“Close your eyes, babe,” Ilaria said as she placed her hand on his eyes and forcibly closed his eyelids.
As her hand moved away, Cael opened them again. And then he sat up and groaned as he felt his wounds protest. “I’m going to go and look for them.”
Ilaria let out a deep sigh. “They’re fine, babe. There in the other room. They haven't come to see you because they’re a bit… tied down.”
Cael sighed, then regretted it instantly. Sighing definitely hurt more than just breathing. “You mean that literally, don’t you? You’ve got them tied down, haven’t you?”
Ilaria nodded her head.
Cael took a deep breath as he closed his eyes.
He really wanted to sleep.
He felt he deserved to lie in bed and close his eyes for a few hours after what he had been through. Hell, he hadn’t even had a chance to properly digest the shit he’d been through.
He had battled Moraine, who was an Archon…
Ilaria too was an Archon…
But she seemed so normal.
Human, even.
Cael climbed out of bed and staggered towards the door. Behind him, he heard Ilaria let out an exasperated gasp.
His hand rested on the wall for balance as he walked down the corridor. Once at Asha’s bedroom door, he turned the knob and walked inside.
Cael wondered why he was surprised.
After all the things he had seen in the last few days, his ability to be surprised or shocked should have ceased to exist.
Cael had met Aserathi for the first time. He’d met powerful Ashbounds, met a Scion, seen a two-head dog, walked through portals, went to London, met not one, but two Archons and saw a bizarre soulless type of Aserathi known as Dreadforged.
He had seen all of this in the span of a week.
His ability to be shocked should have vanished completely.
Yet, as he walked into Asha’s room, he was shocked.
Or stunned.
Or maybe he was surprised…
“Sooo… what do you think of my handiwork?” Ilaria asked as she joined him by the door to Asha’s bedroom.
Cael stood silently as he tried to process the sight before him.
The bed in Asha’s room had been lifted onto its side and pushed to a corner, making as much space in the centre of the room as possible.
Asha, Sandy, Clarissa and the three women whose names he did not know yet were in the centre of the room. Every girl was tied to another girl. Every girl had their mouths stuffed with cloth, held in place by a single bit of rope fastened around the mouth and the back bit of their heads.
And all the girls were naked.
“Tada!” Ilaria said and then she thrust her hands forward as if presenting him with a surprise or concluding a magic trick.
Chapter 1
Six women, all tangled together in a web of ropes, lay on the carpeted floor. Their bodies were twisted in ways that should have been impossible. Each woman was tied to the one next to her, the ropes looping around limbs, necks, and waists in a cruel knot of restraint. They were bound in such a manner that no one could move independently, nor could anyone lift a hand or shift a foot without causing distress to the others.
And they were naked.
All six women had their eyes closed. Cael struggled to understand how they could sleep in such conditions, but he put it down to exhaustion.
Stepping out into the corridor, the closed the door behind him quietly and turned to look at Ilaria.
The woman looked back at him, a partial smile on her lips.
“Why?” Cael asked.
That was all he managed to get out.
“Well… I didn’t want Clarissa to escape… we don’t know how ef fective your ability to sleep with women and make them fall in love with you is just yet. It might take a few days or weeks before she stops trying to kill you.”
Clarissa, he could understand. Though why she needed to be restrained to the ground, naked, was open to debate.
No. Actually, that was not for debate, Cael decided. There was no reason for Clarissa to be naked. But for now, he had more important things to focus on.
“Why have you tied up Asha and Sandy?” Cael snapped. “And why the fuck are they naked?”
“Well… The three other women… we should really ask them what their names are,” Ilaria said.
Cael waited for her explanation. But having suggested they find the names of the three women they had freed from the cages in Malcolm’s farm lab, it seemed Ilaria was done talking.
But Cael wasn’t finished. He felt a need to understand Ilaria. She had saved his life back in Buckingham Palace. She had wanted to do it at the expense of her own life, even. So clearly, she had feelings and stuff.
“Can you please tell me why you felt the need to tie Asha and Sady, onto the floor, naked, with their mouths gagged?” Cael asked as he raised a hand to his temple and squeezed. He felt a migraine coming along.
“Well… I found out the names of the three other girls… Felicity, Natasha, and Audrey,” Ilaria said. “I couldn’t tell if they’d been given Malcolm’s mixture. But, to be on the safe side, I decided to tie them up. Sandy was being a bit of a sulk, so I tied her up too and well… Asha comes across as a naive goody two shoes. But we all know no one is that good, so I felt like I had to tie her down.”
Cael leaned against the door, his head now throbbing alongside the wounds his body bore. He supposed in Ilaria’s weirdly operating brain it made sense?
But did it really?
No…
It did not make sense.
It hadn’t escaped his notice that she had pretended to not know the names of the three naked girls they had found at Malcolm’s lab, only to give up the pretence pretty much instantly.
“Why are they naked?” Cael asked.
Ilaria’s cheeks turned red ever so slightly. “I like to tie people up naked… I think I just went into autopilot, babe…”
She went on autopilot.
Cael believed her. Ilaria did strike him as the type to do things like that. She was an Archon after all.
“Can you free them, please,” he asked, his eyes dreary.
“All of them, babe?” Ilaria asked. “Or just Asha and Sandy?”
“All of them, please,” Cael said, trying his best to be patient with Ilaria.
Despite how much she seemed to care for him, she was still an Archon and could kill him with ease, he reminded himself.
“Fine, babe,” Ilaria said. “But only because I love you…”
She leaned in and pressing her body against his, she kissed him on the lips. It was a passionate kiss. Her lips were soft, her tongue gentle as it probed his mouth. It felt soothing, but at the same time, her body pressed against his wounds and that really hurt.
He pushed her back gently and headed to his room. Once inside, he collapsed onto the bed and then held back a scream as his wounds crashed into the firm mattress. Despite the sudden burst of pain that awoke every nerve in his body, he was still bloody exhausted.
His eyes closed and soon, he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
* * *
Cael woke slowly as the warmth of sunlight spilled across his face as it creeped in through the cracks in the curtains. The soft, golden glow pulled him from his slumber, and he groaned, his body still heavy with the remnants of sleep. He squinted against the light and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand, trying to clear the fog that seemed to cling over him.
Stretching his arms above his head, he noticed the familiar aches and pains in his muscles.
But something felt different, lighter, almost.
He glanced down at his torso, where the remnants of his wounds still marred his skin. But they had healed more than he expected. The gashes across his chest and legs were no longer angry red slashes but were fading scars, the skin tight but no longer inflamed. The sting was gone, though a dull, lingering soreness remained. The gnawing pain of the day before had gone.
Ilaria was right. He was going to live.
He exhaled slowly, relief washing over him as he shifted to sit up. His eyes flicked towards the edge of the bed.
Asha was sitting there, her posture rigid, back straight as a board, her dark eyes fixed on him.
“Oh, hey,” he nodded at her. “How long have you been sitting there?”
“All night,” Asha said.
“Oh,” Cael mumbled as he rubbed his eyes again. She was clothed, which was good. But it was a bit odd of her to have spent the whole night sitting at the edge of his bed. “Are you okay?”
Asha nodded.
“Sure?”
She nodded again. “Ilaria is a bit domineering but… I dunno,” she shrugged her shoulders as she let out a little laugh, her cheeks turning red.
Cael stared at Asha, frowning. “What?”
“Ughh… I don’t… um… Ilaria told me to sit here and wait for you to get up,” Asha mumbled.
“You don’t have to listen to her,” Cael said as he climbed to his feet and stretched.
“I don’t mind,” Asha said quickly. And then, in hushed tones, she added, “Did you know she’s an Archon?”
“Yup,” Cael nodded.
“An Archon!” Asha said excitedly. “Can you believe it? They’re like gods, aren’t they?”
That part was debatable.
From opening portals, to moving at lighting like speeds, to having strength equal to that of hundreds of men, Moraine and Ilaria were incredibly strong and powerful.
But they could be hurt, if one had access to an Aserathi sword. So maybe gods like the Greek and Norse ones, Cael supposed. Those were incredibly strong gods, but they could be hurt and they had rivals.
“Why did Ilaria tell you to sit by the edge of the bed?” Cael asked.
“Oh… right. She had to leave for a bit to go and check up on stuff. She wanted me to tell you that she let Felicity, Natasha and Audrey go. Uh… Apparently they’re not under Malcom’s spell? And uh.. Clarissa is still tied up because-”
“Seriously?” Cael interrupted Asha, now really annoyed. He had told Ilaria to let everyone go, but Clarissa was still tied up?
He marched out of his room, walked down the corridor and headed for Asha’s bedroom.
He opened the door to find the bed back in the centre of the room. Clarissa was lying on the bed, her body spread out like a star, arms and legs bound to the bedposts.
At least she was now wearing clothes, he supposed.
Clarissa was dressed in a large pink t-shirt that came down just beneath her waist. And the gag was no longer in her mouth.
Her eyes were open and she stared at him, her expression unreadable. “Where’s Malcolm?”
Ah, fuck.
Cael had killed Malcolm.
Sliced his head off clean.
Should he tell her?
“Are you uh… you’re still into him then, huh?” Cael asked.
“I am not into him. Malcolm is a god in human form. I will go to him once freed. By laying your seed inside me, that will change nothing,” Clarissa said.
Laying his seed inside her?
It was an accurate description, Cael supposed. But it certainly wasn’t how Clarissa would normally talk. No one their age spoke like that. In fact, no one he knew spoke like that.
“Malcolm isn’t coming back,” Cael said.
“I will find him,” Clarissa promised.
“I killed him,” Cael said.
"What did you say?"
“I killed Malcolm. Sliced his head clean off,” Cael grumbled.
Her eyes, which had been dark and unreadable just moments ago, now blazed with pure, unrelenting rage.
Her face twisted, nostrils flaring, her teeth gritted as if she were about to tear someone apart with nothing but her bare hands. She tugged at the ropes that bound her, her body twisting and turning in what looked like uncontrolled animalistic rage.
Clarissa’s hands, bound tightly at the wrists, jerked as her fingers clawed at the ropes, nails scraping against the rough fibres.
Her feet kicked and twisted, each movement more desperate than the last. The bedframe creaked under the force of her struggling.
