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The doorknob suddenly turns, the door failing to open since I’ve had it locked since last night. A knock is quick to follow, someone hammering their fist on the door.
“Open up, Aisling,” my father growls from the other side.
I freeze.
It’s never him; it’s almost always one of the betas they have wandering around the temple, or Lianna, or a guard sent to drag me somewhere else. That it’s him now sets alarm bells ringing, my heart racing.
Do they know about Luka?
Did he get caught?
I get up and pad toward the door to unlock it. Before I can even put my hand on the knob, my father shoves the door open, and I stumble back a few steps, the backs of my knees knocking against the bed.
His eyes narrow, sweeping across the room as he inhales.
“You…”
He pauses.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes,” I nod. “Of course I am.”
“Of course,” he echoes with a wry laugh. “Don’t think I don’t know about you wandering around the island at night, Aisling…and don’t think I’ve forgotten how you gave yourself to an alpha at the last ceremony. Still don’t know what the hell that was all about, or why you’re not pregnant.”
I bite my tongue, hoping he still hasn’t figured out I have an implant from Dreamland. As long as it holds out, I won’t need to worry about whatever they have planned for me here.
“What do you want, Dad?” I ask, my jaw clenched.
He’s still looking around like he knows…but he just jerks his head over his shoulder.
“Come with me,” he says. “We have a visitor.”
My heart is still pounding as I follow him down the hall, down a flight of stairs. There’s a big meeting room behind the temple’s worship center—an old church, with pews still lining the room—and that’s where my father leads me. I’m half-expecting to see Luka chained up and bleeding, another casualty in my fucking crusade…
…but I see someone else I recognize instead.
My stomach churns.
One of the men from that first meeting at Dreamland.
He’s sitting at a table with Lianna, wearing an expensive suit, sandy blond hair slicked back. Lianna pours a glass of ruby red wine for our ‘guest’, dressed in a sleek black dress rather than her usual wicked witch get-up. They both look in our direction as we enter, my father’s shoulders squared.
“Ah…so nice of you to join us, Aisling,” Lianna says. “I’m sure you remember Mr. Irving?”
I try to steady myself, all the feelings from that night rushing back. Hearing things I wasn’t supposed to—a gun to my head, the man at the table looking on with a sneer, Lianna cold and distant. Oberon rushing in, almost getting himself killed.
My mouth goes dry.
“What am I doing here?” I whisper.
“Sit down,” my father orders.
I move toward a place at the table beside Irving, his eyes following me across the room. He inhales deeply, making me cringe despite myself, and he chuckles.
“So this is the prototype, huh?” he says. “I don’t know how we couldn’t tell when she was wandering around the club.”
“Suppressants,” Lianna offers. “But now that she’s off them and any chemical tampering is fading, you can see how useful this will be. We control the supply of omegas, we get alphas under our thumbs. She makes all kinds of men do stupid things.”
