I looked around, trying to make sense of where I’d ended up. The room was less than nine square meters, with a small metal cot and a toilet in the corner. There was no window, so I had no clue where we were.
Since no sound penetrated the door, there had to be magical protections in place. I couldn’t tell, thanks to the stupid cuffs.
My stomach growled. When did I last have something to eat? I couldn’t recall. In fact, I remembered very little from the last few days. Just a few random snippets of memory, such as talking to Raven in a dark nightclub. The period after that remained blank, although I had a vague recollection of my father monologuing at me.
What the fuck had happened? And why was I here?
Goddess, had the Mage Council placed me in the penitentiary for crimes I may have committed?
Nobody had connected me to Demelza’s death that I knew of, but it was always possible some additional evidence had emerged.
It was the only explanation.
I sat on the low cot, my back against the concrete wall, and trawled through my memories since I went home last. Nothing made sense.
Why was I even at a nightclub with the witch? I fucking hated clubs, especially that one. And besides, the campus was on lockdown, thanks to Dad’s stupid new rules.
The more I poked around in my brain, the worse the pain got. But slowly things became clearer.
I saw Raven sitting across from me in a shadowy booth, her eyes sparkling in the mage lights. Goddess, that dress she wore…she had no fucking idea what she did to me. No clue whatsoever.
The last crystal-clear memory I had was after Montgomery used his mind-magic on Raven. My temple throbbed in sympathy as I remembered the agony etched across her delicate features. I also recalled kissing her in the library, how she tasted, how her body melted into mine.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the recollection for a few blissful seconds, only to be robbed of the one good thing I had in my life by the sound of a lock disengaging.
Every muscle in my body tensed at the sight of my father dressed in a black suit, his blond hair slicked back and his blue eyes colder than a polar ice cap.
“Good, you’ve recovered.” He blessed me with a glacial smile.
“Recovered? From what?” Perhaps this was some kind of medical isolation facility. Had one of Rink’s heinous spells gone wrong?
“You don’t remember?”
Some flicker of self-preservation warned me to say nothing. “No.”
“Hmm. Well, that’s expected.” My father examined me like a bug under a microscope. “Rink did tell me there might be side effects. But no matter. A few gaps in your memory won’t hurt.”
“Side effects?” I inwardly seethed. Had the pair of them hexed me with some vile spell for their own fucking amusement?
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Alaric. What matters is that it worked and we have both of you in a controlled environment.”
The more he said, the less I liked the sound of it. It all smacked of experiments, andthe both of yousuggested I wasn’t the only prisoner here.
“Who else?”
“Your mate, of course. The witch hybrid.”
I froze. How did he know about Raven’s heritage?
“I’m sorry, what?” My brow wrinkled in fake surprise, but Dad shook his head and chuckled.
“I know all about her father, Alaric. Montgomery and I have been monitoring her for months now. She’s proved to be a very interesting subject. I must admit, our efforts were somewhat hampered when she burned down the shifter’s cabin and we didn’t have time to install tech in the vampire dorm, but Montgomery dug a few nuggets from her brain when he scanned her.” Dad grinned. “Who’d have thought the vampire prince survived, eh? But then again, those slippery fucks always were hard to kill.”
I said nothing. What could I say? My father had been one step ahead this whole time.
“How did you bug the bear’s cabin? He would have known if someone had been poking around in there.”
“I had a tech guy install surveillance devices the minute Montgomery was informed the witch had a soul-bonded mate. Money well spent, let me tell you. A security mage broke the wards and then went in with a human techy. It was pure luck the bear had an unfortunate case of feral shifter disease in his family, which took him away from campus for a few days. Just enough time to finish the installation.”
