Page 109 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

He doesn’t care. He takes me over to the bed and I lie down. He slides in next to me, but doesn’t remove his clothes.

I flicker in and out between Azure and Sadie. But Gordon adapts as we lie in bed looking at each other. He closes his eyes when I become Sadie. He learns to wait a few seconds before opening them again so he can see his wife. And each time he opens his eyes, he smiles at me.

At Azure.

He talks. That’s it. He talks to Azure. He tells her all the things he’s been holding inside since she died years ago.

It’s a disjointed conversation with all the trips I have to throw to make it as believable as possible. But Gordon doesn’t care.

“I’m sorry,” he keeps saying. “I’m sorry I didn’t save you. I’m sorry I wasn’t enough to save you from them.”

He’s talking about Prodigy. Somewhere in my head I know this, but I’m not supposed to think about them. And Uzi always knows if I think too hard. He’s always in my head, poking around to steal all my thoughts and keep them for himself. So I try not to think at all. I just concentrate on being Azure. On making Samuel happy. On giving him his money’s worth.

Most of them want to fuck me, all the while pretending I’m someone else.

Uzi interrupts his quiet confessions of guilt, and unworthiness, and regret as a voice through a speaker. “Five-minute warning.”

Samuel stops talking and this time when I flick back into Sadie to restart the trip, he keeps his eyes open. “Why do you let them use you like this?”

I’m confused for a second. But I don’t respond.

“You’re strong, Sadie. The best illusionist this place has ever seen.” Samuel is whispering now, probably wondering if Uzi is watching. Or listening through some recording device. “You could get out,” he says. “You could trip them all and—”

The door flies open and the next thing I know, Samuel is being dragged out of the room by a whole gang of men.

“Fucking asshole,” Uzi says, watching as he disappears down the hall. He turns and tracks me with his eyes as I get up off the bed and start getting dressed. “I hope you don’t get any funny ideas, Sadie. You’re mine, honey. And I have big plans for you.”

“Sadie?”

I sit up, breathing hard, sweat running down my face. I look around wildly, expecting Uzi to be here. Expecting to be dragged back into that prison cell they keep me in.

But I’m not there. I’m in Lincoln Wade’s creepy dungeon, sitting on his supervillain operating table. I break out in tears from the relief. “I’m not there,” I say, to no one in particular. Lincoln, Case, Lulu, Molly, and Sheila are all looking at me with shocked faces.

“Are you OK?” Molly asks.

I just stare at them, the memory of what Uzi was doing to me all these years still way too fresh in my memory. How he used me.

I look down at my trembling hands and shake my head. “No,” I say. “I’m not OK.” And then I remember everything that happened. I’m at the Alpha lair. I came here with… “Thomas? Where’s Thomas?”

“Uzi has him,” Lincoln says. “And I know whatever that nightmare was you were having, it’s a pretty big deal. You were thrashing and screaming. But we need you now, Sadie. I cannot stress how badly we need your help right fucking now or everything we’re doing is gonna go to shit.”

“You tripped into hundreds of people,” Lulu says, ignoring Lincoln’s plea for help as she rubs my arm. “What was that?”

“It’s her superpower,” Case says. I don’t know him, I just know of him. And everything they told me—everything they made me believe about these Alphas—was wrong. They’re not the bad guys in this story. They’re the only good guys I’ve ever met.

“Sadie?” I turn my head to see Iziah standing on the other side of the room.

“He’s one of them,” I blurt. “Don’t let him near me! Please—”

“No, Sadie,” Iziah says, walking forward into the room. “I was with you. These past few years, I was with you. I was down in that cell too. Remember?”

My head hurts when I think about my missing years. So I shake my head. “No,” I say. “I don’t want to remember.”

“You don’t have to,” Lincoln says, grabbing my shoulder. “Not yet, anyway. But we need you, Sadie. But somehow Cyan… she took over his body.”

“The memories,” I whisper. “Sullivan told me that Thomas can collect memories from dead people. And Thomas is a mentalist, so he can form a link to Uzi. Shit,” I say, rubbing my aching forehead. “When Cyan was shattered she jumped into his head and formed a link with Uzi.” I look up at them, so much fear coursing through my veins, I suddenly feel cold. “She took control of him. She’s got them both now. Thomas and Sullivan. We’ll never get them back!”

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Sheila says. “But Lincoln’s right. We need your help, Sadie. We need you and Iziah. He’s already told us what he knows.”