Chapter 134: Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

Draven’s POV

I had just seen my baby, and none of this was what I asked for.

All seven of us got arrested. Not just me ... all of us. And it wasn’t even a fair chase. My legs weren’t fast enough because they were in a fucking car. You can’t outrun a car on foot. No one can.

The six of us who were caught couldn’t even look each other in the face. The shame was too thick for that. We had been out here operating like we were untouchable, and they bagged us like rats caught in a trap that had been waiting for us all along.

"These are the convicts?" a female wolf asked, stepping forward.

One look at her and I already knew who she was. The way she carried herself ... the authority in every step, the way the other officers straightened up when she moved ... she was the chief officer. No question.

I had been arrested before, in other places. But I had no idea what Valdris authorities were like, not firsthand. That question got answered the moment I laid eyes on her.

She was built like a gymnast ... compact, dense, nothing wasted. The biceps on her arms were practically straining against her shirt sleeves. I was intimidated, and that had never happened to me before because of a woman. Not once in my life.

Her hair was pulled tight to the back of her head. She was tall, and her feet were big ... the kind of feet that told you one kick from her could put a man through a wall.

"Yes, ma’am. Those are the ones," the officer who arrested us confirmed.

Six of us. The seven were supposed to be seven, but we were short one. Jade wasn’t here, and as much as I hated everything about this moment, I was glad she wasn’t. She didn’t belong in this mess.

"So these are the ones who’ve been terrorising Valdris all this time," the chief officer said, pulling out her whip.

We were lined up at the counter ... tied, restrained, completely at their mercy.

She flogged us without hesitation.

"Robbing banks. Kidnapping. Running heists all over this territory," she said, bringing the whip down with every word. "Your time is done."

We hadn’t even made it to a prison cell yet, and I already knew it was over.

Fuck it. There’s no hope.

We stayed at that counter for what felt like most of the day. I stopped counting at some point. There was nothing to count toward anyway.

Most of us didn’t have family. I didn’t. Neither did the others, not really. We were rogues ... that was the honest truth of it. We stole, we ran heists, we kidnapped for ransom, and we used the money to live well. Good watches. Sharp clothes. New shoes.

Whatever was left after that, we spent in bars ... drinks, music, strippers. Nights where we felt like kings.

And now I was standing shirtless with welts across my back, not a coin to my name and nothing waiting for me on the other side of any of this.

Shit.

I had been on top of the world, and now I had nothing. Not even a rainy day fund. Nothing to save me.

"You can call your families now," the chief officer announced, walking past us slowly. "They can’t do a thing for you, but you’re welcome to call them."

I reached for the phone they handed me and dialed the only number that mattered.

"Hello, Jade."

"Draven!" Her voice was warm immediately. "When are you coming back?"

She thought that’s why I was calling. A normal check-in. I almost wished it was.

"Jade, I’m in trouble," I said.

Silence.

Then ... "Trouble? What happened?" Her tone shifted completely. I could hear her breathing change, quick and tight. She already knew something was wrong.

I breathed in slowly and let it out. "I was arrested. Me and the rest of the seven."

"What?" she said. "How? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"There’s no way I’m not hurt, Jade," I said. "The chief officer beat the hell out of all of us. I feel like I want to die right now, I’m not going to lie."

"I’m coming tomorrow," she said immediately. "I’m going to figure something out..."

"Don’t bother," I cut her off. "They’re handing down our sentence tonight. By the time you get here, our fate will already be decided."

"I don’t want to hear that," she said firmly. "I’m still coming."

I closed my eyes for a second.

"Jade," I said quietly, "if we never see each other again after this ... I want you to live your life. Move on. Take care of yourself." I paused. "I love you."

I ended the call before she could argue.

Not even a minute later, the chief officer appeared again and hit each of us clean across the face.

"Judgement is ready," she said. "Move to the front."

They shoved us forward. I felt like a chicken being marched to slaughter.

There was a chief judge waiting at the front of the hall. She looked just as hard as the officer ... no warmth, no openness in her face at all. Valdris had zero mercy baked into its walls. I had complained about Bloodmoon before, but standing here now, Bloodmoon felt like paradise.

The judge looked down at her papers and then at us.

"The thieves of Valdris," she said, almost amused. "Caught at last. Life lesson ... never get caught." She paused. "Unfortunately for you, I don’t think you’ll be passing that advice on to anyone. You’ve each been sentenced to life in prison."

Lucas broke immediately.

"Please," he said, his voice cracking. "We’re still young. Have mercy on us. We can change..."

The judge didn’t even look at him. She laughed. A slow, satisfied laugh. They were enjoying this. We were entertainment to them ... toys they were about to lock away and forget.

They gave us sixty seconds with each other before they took us through.

"I’m so sorry," Lucas kept saying, his eyes already wet. "I’m so sorry."

The regret in that room was suffocating. I didn’t even realize I had started crying until I felt it on my face.

---

The general prison was enormous.

I walked through those doors and my stomach dropped. The hall alone held at least five hundred people. The noise hit me before anything else ... voices, movement, the smell of too many bodies crammed into one space.

How did people survive here?

They handed me a prison robe and I put it on. Every second felt heavier than the last.

"We’ll have to adapt," Lucas said quietly, looking around at the rest of us.

The way he said it ... flat, resigned ... told me he had already accepted this as his life now. Like a door had closed inside him the moment we walked in.

I wasn’t ready to close that door.

So I did the only thing I had left. I said a prayer in my heart ... quiet, private, directed at the goddess. The authorities had shown us no mercy. Maybe something higher up would.

The bullies found me before the first night was even over. Valdris had toughened me up in ways I didn’t appreciate until that moment, but this was a different level entirely. I wasn’t ready for it.

I didn’t sleep at all that night. The noise never stopped. I lay there in that cell wondering how anyone in that place ever rested.

---

Early the next morning, someone called my name at the door.

"Draven Blackstone."

"That’s me," I said, sitting up.

"Someone’s here for you."

He unlocked the door and I stepped out, already knowing before I saw her face.

It was Jade.

She ran to me the moment she spotted me and threw her arms around me. I could already see the tears before she even reached me.

"Draven," she said against my shoulder, "you look like hell."

She pulled back just enough to look at me properly. "Are the others in there with you?"

I nodded.

"This is not okay," she said. "None of this is okay."

"You still came," I said. "I told you not to, Jade. This is the end of the road for me."

"Stop saying that." She grabbed my chin and made me look at her. "We are getting out of this. Do you hear me?"

I didn’t have an answer for her. I couldn’t see any light at the end of any tunnel, not from where I was standing.

But having her there ... her hands on my face, her voice steady when mine wasn’t ... it meant more than I knew how to say.