Page 60 of Bloom in Darkness

Sabine ignores him completely. “Silas has asked for him twice. Rourke called the office an hour ago.” Sabine’s gaze moves over me again. “You’ll be perfect.”

"No." The word comes out clear even with my hand still braced against the wall.

Sabine doesn’t so much as blink. "You’ve already refused three rooms tonight. Do you know how much money you're leaving on the table?"

"I said no," I repeat when she doesn’t answer.

"And every no makes that balance take longer." She glances at the smear of glitter near my collarbone. "The Kings have made you forget the arrangement awfully quickly."

Silas's message flashes through my head. Rourke's follows it. The Kings cannot keep buying you out of every obligation.

I can’t get a full breath after that. I kick off the heels and run. Lio says my name, but I am already moving. Bare feet slap against the service hallway as I run past laundry, past the supply shelves, past the staff bathroom with somebody shouting behind me. The first storage closet is open. The second has a lock.

I get inside, slam the door, and turn it with fingers that barely work. The room smells like detergent, cardboard, and my own fear. My scent sours beneath the sweetness flooding off my skin. I slide to the floor between stacked boxes and drag my phone out of my costume.

Bryn's name blurs when I tap it, and the call connects on the second ring. "Hey, sweetheart—" Caelan starts, and a broken gasp catches in my throat.

The teasing disappears the second he hears me. "Astra? What happened?"

"Where’s Bryn?" The words barely make it out around the next breath, and I press my hand harder over my mouth when another sob tries to follow it.

"He's right here. Slow down for me. Where are you?"

I press one hand over my mouth and try to breathe. "I'm at the club. In the storage closet. I took too much Bloom. I don't know how much. I'm too hot and my scent is too sweet, and Sabine said Silas and Rourke want me and I can't—I don't want them to see me like this."

Noise erupts on the other end. A heavy impact, somebody swearing, then a roar so unmistakably Bryn that I start crying before Caelan speaks again.

"Astra, listen to me. Is the door locked?" Caelan speaks slowly enough that I can hold on to the question.

"Yes," I manage, checking the lock again with my free hand even though I already know I turned it.

"Keep it locked. Don't open it for anybody until one of us tells you we're there."

I curl tighter against the boxes until my knees press into my chest. "I'm scared."

"I know, sweetheart." Bryn is demanding something in the background, but Caelan doesn’t let the interruption break his focus. "We’re coming."

Caelan

Astra's name is still bright across Bryn's phone when the younger fighter's fist lands against Bryn's mouth. Bryn had been moving easily a second earlier, letting him work combinations while correcting his footwork between exchanges. Then Astra's voice breaks through the phone pressed to my ear, and Bryn turns toward me. The punch snaps his head to the side. The younger fighter freezes.

The roar that comes out of him shuts up half the people near the mat. The younger fighter backs away with both gloves still raised even though Bryn is not looking at him anymore. Bryn spits blood onto the edge of the mat, ducks under the ropes, and comes straight at me already tearing at the tape around one wrist.

I lift one hand toward Bryn. "Stay in the closet," I tell Astra. "I'm serious, sweetheart. Keep the door locked."

Bryn stops close enough that the heat coming off him reaches me, blood running from his split lip while his scent turns sharp enough that the younger Betas nearest us start backing away.

"What happened?" Bryn asks, already reaching for the tape around one wrist with his teeth.

I keep my attention on the call. "Astra, can anybody get to you right now?"

"No. I locked it." His breathing catches, and fabric scrapes against the phone.

"Good. Is Lio with you?" I ask. Beside me, Bryn tears the remaining tape from his wrist.

"No. I ran." The last word comes out thin and shaky. Bryn’s growl vibrates through the mat beneath my shoes.

"Tell me exactly where the closet is," I say.