Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
No...stay. Don’t abandon me again.
Glancing at Lucien, I yelled in my mind. If you’re going to wake up, now’s the time.
I needed him.
I needed to feel his heat, his fire—to feed off his energy and try to stabilise mine.
A flurry of movement ripped my gaze to the door. The five men who’d been watching Roy and me talk moved aside, allowing two scientists to enter. Dressed in white smocks and pushing trolleys full of medical equipment, they didn’t look up.
My heart skipped and Lucien chose that moment to switch from mostly dead to violently awake. He thrashed in his binds—the chair creaking and groaning as he fought to get free.
His eyes found mine.
I shrugged sadly.
And Roy Swift clasped his hands in glee. “Oh look, you’ve finally decided to join us. In that case...let’s get started.”
Chapter Eighteen
I SNAPPED FROM ONE NIGHTMARE TO ANOTHER.
Fury ignited as my gaze landed on Rook—strapped and imprisoned. I fought against my own restraints. White-hot agony exploded through my body. Every bone that the fire had fractured back in Brimstone screamed. My ribs stabbed my lungs like giant splinters. Lashes of marrow-deep agony pulsed in my left femur, right forearm, and far too many cracks everywhere else.
A guttural groan tore from my throat as I forced myself to stop moving. Cold sweat broke across my skin as black spots danced across my vision. The pain was so intense it threatened to drag me back under.
Stay awake. Stay awake. Fucking stay awake!
I blinked hard, fighting the crushing waves of agony.
“Rook.” A wet, painful cough ripped through me, tasting of smoke. Blood trickled out the corner of my mouth. “Are you okay?”
Not waiting for her to answer, I snarled, “Get these cuffs the fuck off me!” I didn’t care about the pain as I thrashed and kicked, calling on the fire to help.
But once again, it didn’t answer. I had nothing left. Back to being pathetically, ridiculously human.
That made fury pour on top of fury. I struggled harder, causing the heavy chair to rock on the thick carpet.
“Now, now, don’t hurt yourself any more than you already are.” A man stepped closer. “Just calm the fuck down for a second.”
I stopped fighting—not because he told me to, but because every cell in my broken body locked onto Rook beside me. Did they hurt you?
She shook her head, her hands balled on the armrests. I’m fine. I’m so glad you’re finally awake. Her filthy nightgown still covered everything important, and I saw no new bruises or cuts—just the ones I’d caused when I’d lost control back in the lobby.
I relaxed a little only to tense all over again as my eyes locked on the leather straps holding her down. I’m so sorry I left you alone. I’m sorry I couldn’t control it.
She sniffed as tears stuck to her eyelashes. Tell me you have a plan on how to get out of here?
I flinched and looked away because...what the fuck could I do when I had nothing?
Unable to look at her, I glowered at the man who’d spoken. “This has nothing to do with her. Let her go.”
He nodded with a sigh as if he’d expected me to say such a thing. “While you’ve been in la-la land, your girlfriend and I have had a nice little chat, haven’t we?” He glanced at Rook and that same snarling, primal possession rose.
Girlfriend?
Once again, that word offended me.
What I felt for Rook exceeded any label. She was everything. And if he touched her, I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to control myself. Broken bones or not.
“Well, now I’m awake and you can talk to me.” I bared my teeth. “Let her go.”
“We’ll let both of you go once we’ve established some ground rules. And by go, I mean to the quarters we’ve designed especially for your stay. We’ll even let you bunk together rather than break you apart...as long as you behave. Right...” He clasped his hands and came toward me. “Rook and I have had a nice little conversation but now it’s your turn.” He smiled and...a punch of familiarity hit me square in the face.
“You.”
He stilled. “Me?”
“I know you.”
His eyes narrowed even as another smile crawled over his lips. “I did wonder if you would. Long time no see. I wanted to visit you in Cinderkeep over the years, but Marcus advised against it due to your...unstable mental condition.” He chuckled and a different type of recognition struck me.
I knew him because he was second-in-command to Marcus. He was a member of the Brimstone board and had been there the day I’d been dragged into surgery for the vitalsync core. But...I swore I’d seen him recently. The shape of his mouth, his bone structure, even his eyes...where had I seen—?
“You’re looking at me as if you’re pondering violence. So...let’s get the typical questions of how, where, and why out of the way, shall we?” He sighed as if he was doing me a massive favour. “You’re currently in my home in Cobham. My estate is private, walled, and gated. I have no neighbours and every inch of the grounds is watched by CCTV. Consider this your new temporary home until we relocate you back to Cinderkeep after our initial extraction is complete. Originally, we were going to get the technical, scientific stuff out of the way at Brimstone but you had to go and mess that up—”