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He’s… He’s—
Oh my God, he looks like a freaking Greek God standing here, no evidence of last night anywhere on him.
The fire… How the hell did he survive the fire?!
I kick hard against the mattress, trying to scramble backward, but the handcuff yanks me short.
This is all so fucking crazy!
Cage crosses the room. His hand tangles in my hair and yanks my head back hard against the pillow. The angle forces my throat to stretch, exposing it completely.
God, why am I getting wet at his manhandling? He needs to let go of me now.
“I shot you,” I gulp, eyes locked on his. “I watched you go down.”
Cage’s mouth curves. “Did you think a bullet was enough to keep me away, love? Even death himself wouldn’t stop me from crawling back to you.”
No. No. This has to be a nightmare.
I’m somewhere in the woods behind Ashvale Manor, knocked out and having a bad dream. I’ll wake up by morning, go back in to loot whatever I can, and run to visit my mom in the hospital.
Mom.
I snap my head to her, and that’s when the words said minutes ago finally click into place inside my head. Because she was never sick.
“How are you not sick right now?” My voice cracks. “I saw you. The machines. The doctors—”
Cage answers for her.
“She was never sick. That was the ruse.” His thumb strokes once over the side of my throat while he keeps my head pinned. “I needed leverage to pull you into the trials, and your mother was the one thing in the world you would do anything for. I needed to make you desperate enough to say yes and join.”
“You lied?” I stare at my mother, betrayal burning so hot it makes my vision blur. She doesn’t deny it. She doesn’t even move. “You lied to me?! All the nights I cried myself to sleep, worked two jobs, worried myself to death. All because you fucking lied?!”
Cage yanks harder on my hair, wrenching a sharp cry from my throat. “Is that any way to talk to a commander, sweetheart? You’re Archess now, but that doesn’t mean you get to talk down to your subjects.”
“What?”
He leans in closer, his piercing gray eyes gleaming with pure ownership. For me.
“You’re the new Archess of the Legion. I’m Archon. The titles transferred the moment Lucien died, and you survived. You’re mine in every way that matters now.”
“No!” The scream rips out of me, raw. “I’m not joining your stupid fucking society, and I’m sure as shit not being with you!”
No matter how good you make me feel. No matter how much my body heats and my skin prickles, even now while you’re being a grade-A dick.
But I don’t dare say any of that out loud.
Cage’s smug smile widens, almost… pleased. “I thought you’d say that.”
He snaps his fingers.
The door opens.
And who comes through it makes my blood run cold all over again.
22
Cage
