All Chapters of Desires And Captivity: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The rhythmic clatter of the helicopter’s rotors filled the space, giving our escape a kind of monotonous yet strangely soothing cadence. We cut through the dark night sky, leaving behind the burning hangar and the hell hidden in the mountain’s bowels. Inside the cabin, the red glow of the instrument panel cast eerie shadows across Nathan’s and Abigail’s backs in the cockpit.Sitting on the cold metal floor in the back, I leaned my spine against the side of the aircraft. My wings ached from the bullet wounds and the cramped, unnatural position, but that pain was nothing compared to what I felt for the girl lying in my arms. Sadira’s body rested limp in my lap, her head slumped against my chest. Her breathing was shallow, and her skin alarmingly hot—not the gentle warmth the Stone used to give her, but a feverish, sickly heat.“How is she?” Abigail’s voice crackled through the headset Nathan had tossed back to me after takeoff.“Not good,” I answered, carefully placing my fingers agains

The pain was sharp and precise, as if someone were redrawing my nerve pathways with a glowing needle. The side chamber of the healers’ hall was more sterile than anything I had ever seen: the walls glowed white—not from lamps, but from luminescent crystals sealed into the stone. The air smelled of ozone, mixed with disinfectant and the metallic scent of my own blood.“Stay still,” Damian growled as he reached between the feathers of my right wing with a long, tweezer-like tool. “If you twitch now, I’ll tear out a nerve along with the bullet.”“Then do it faster,” I hissed through my teeth, gripping the edge of the examination table. The metal dented beneath my fingers.Damian didn’t answer. With a sharp tug, he pulled the projectile free. The metal piece clattered onto the tray, where three others already lay. The wound began to smoke instantly as Damian pressed a cloth soaked in a greenish liquid against it. My flesh sizzled, but the throbbing slowly dulled.“That was the last one,”

In the Nest, night was different than below, in the outer world. It wasn’t real darkness that settled over us, but a deep, gray glimmer seeping from the slowly pulsing crystals embedded in the walls. As time passed without mercy, the healers’ chamber began to resemble a crypt made of marble and light, where the hours of our fate dripped away. Only the soft, humming monotony of the crystals and Sadira’s slow, artificial breathing marked the passage of time.I sat in the chair I had pulled beside her bed. My shoulder throbbed beneath the fresh bandage, the pain forcing me to stay awake, but my gaze never once left the girl. Sadira’s pale face looked so peaceful in the faint blue glow that I almost believed we were safe. But the Mag resting on her chest—a dark, lifeless stone—and the tiny crease that occasionally appeared on her brow reminded me that this calm was no more than a fragile illusion. I knew that deep within her mind, a battle raged for her life and for control.At the far en

The healers’ chamber now resembled a bunker. The walls creaked, and the runes Damian had carved into the threshold flashed red as they absorbed the blows from outside. Regnar braced himself against the metal cabinet, which trembled constantly under the Empties’ attempts to break through. The mute demon’s strength was immense, but the attackers sought to grind him down with sheer numbers and relentless force.I stood beside Sadira, my body filled with the energy I had received from the Mag. This wasn’t healing—it was an infusion of raw power. The girl had given me her own life force, and now she lay there with her eyes closed, her face growing ever paler. The Mag on her chest vibrated softly, as if she were breathing through it.“Hold on, Regnar!” I shouted, pointing toward the ventilation shaft. Although I had collapsed the passage, smoke was already seeping through new cracks. The wall was too thin.The tension in the chamber grew unbearable when, from the direction of the Great Hall

The healers’ chamber, which barely half an hour ago had been a battlefield, had now transformed into the site of a silent crisis. The white-robed demons, the Nest’s most scholarly healers, gathered around Sadira; they murmured over the crystal bed, and in the luminescent light flowing from the walls their movements cast shifting shadows across the floor. They had arrived in obedience to Nathan’s first command, yet even they seemed helpless.I knelt at the edge of the bed, my hand tightly wrapped around Sadira’s fingers. I didn’t care about the healers, their technology, or the technical terms Damian whispered in translation. I only focused on the girl.“Her vitality is zero,” I heard one of them say in a quiet, cold voice. “The Core keeps her heart beating, but her body lacks regenerative energy. It’s as if most of her soul has been burned out.”“We must stabilize her within two minutes,” another said. “We need to inject pure Nest-essence immediately!”“That’s too risky! A hybrid migh