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“Something isn’t right here,” Syn comments with narrowed eyes, still inches from the healer. “This has the council written all over it. Why wouldn’t they let us go with her?” Finally, he steps back, and I watch the healer visibly relax now that he’s not got a snarling alpha in his face.
Scott’s been watching the whole interaction silently, his arms crossed over his chest, but now, he clears his throat, pulling our attention his way.
“Give us some time, and we’ll get permission, then we can all go together,” he instructs the healer, leaving no room for refusal.
Wincing, the male clutches his hands tightly in front of him. “We really shouldn’t wait if you want to see him before…”
He doesn’t say it, but it’s clear what he means with his sudden silence.Before Nicolai dies. My heart feels like it stops in my chest, and my breathing becomes more laboured. Usually I’d agree with the guys about waiting for at least one of them to accompany me, especially given how furious I know the council is with me. However, this is Nicolai, my friend and childhood crush. He’s giveneverythingfor me, and that’s led us here. If this really is the end for him, then I’m going to be at his side, and I won’t let a single person stop me.
“I have to go.” I beg them with my eyes to understand, looking between the three of them. “He’s my best friend, I can’t let him…” Voice cracking, I trail off and press my hand to my chest as if it will ease the growing pain.
There’s a low sigh, and then I’m being pulled into Joel’s arms. Holding me tightly, he kisses the top of my head as I bury my face against his chest, breathing him in. I allow a few tears to escape while my face is hidden, but I don’t know why I bother, because he’ll be able to sense my grief anyway. I’m wasting precious time that Nicolai might not have.Pull yourself together, I order myself. Pulling back, I look up at Joel who’s not bothering to disguise his concern for me.
“Go with the healer. We’ll meet you at the healers’ compound,” he instructs, his hold on me still tight despite his words. “Don’t go anywhere else, and don’t leave without us.”
I don’t have any words, my mind numb, but I nod to show I understand. Right now all I care about is getting to Nicolai.
“Be careful.” Scott’s voice calls me back, and I pull from my mate’s hold to face him. He’s watching me with an odd expression, like he has more to say but decides not to. In other circumstances, I might have asked him what was on his mind, but whatever it is will have to wait.
Quiet snarling tells me Syn is terrorising the healer again. “If anything happens to her, it’ll be your head on the line.”
“I’m ready, let’s go,” I announce, squeezing out of the small gap near Syn and rescuing the healer with a gesture of my hand.
He looks like he wants to kiss me with relief, but he thinks better of it as he feels the glares from the three males in my room. As I leave them behind, my instincts twitch, warning me that I should stay with them and wait until we have permission for all of us to leave the compound. However, I ignore the feeling and follow the healer through the corridors and towards the lifts.
I should be asking questions, but I’m so shocked by the change of events that I’m left mute. The champions’ complex is eerily quiet now that so many have been knocked from the trials. With only ten of us left, spread across different levels of the building, it’s no surprise that we don’t come across anyone else as we reach the lifts.
My hands wring with impatience as we wait for it to arrive, and I practically jump into it when it does, the pressure of needing to get there weighing heavily on me. Each second that passes is a second that I could be too late. The lift travels down, only instead of going straight to the ground floor, it stops about halfway down. A noise of annoyance and worry escapes me in a quiet whine.
The doors slide open, and I’m about to snarl at whoever called for the lift, but the sound dies in my throat at the two men who fill the doorway. I have half a second to recognise the leering males, their expressions causing ice-cold fear before they move. My mouth opens in a gasp, but Bates leaps forward and slams his hand over my mouth, silencing anything I might have said. Spinning me fast enough to make my mind whirl, he pulls my back against his chest, wrapping his other arm around my body and effectively pinning my arms to my sides, rendering me unable to fight.
He drags me from the lift, and my feet scrabble to gain purchase on the tiled flooring, but they just slide from my frenzied movements. My eyes flick to the terrified healer who’s pressed himself as far back into the lift as possible. He makes no move to help me, although he’s not given much chance, as Grove’s remaining competitor steps into the lift and knees the healer in the stomach, erasing any thoughts I might have had about him betraying me. I cry out behind Bates’s hand, struggling to get free and help the downed healer, but the doors slide shut, taking the healer and Grove’s champion away. I have an awful feeling that the healer will mysteriously go missing. Bates wouldn’t want any witnesses, after all.
Alone with my abductor, I’m dragged away from the lifts and down one of the corridors that leads to some of the rooms. The idea of being taken to a bedroom where I’d be totally alone and at Bates’s mercy is a terrifying one, and I double up my efforts to get free.
“Now, now, no need to struggle,” he murmurs into my ear, hardly even out of breath as he takes me away. “It’s time you and I had achat.”
I’m doubting very much that’s all he wants from me. From the look on the healer’s face, plus the fact that he was also attacked, I don’t think he had anything to do with this, meaning Nicolai really is sick and waiting for me. Bates must have been paying attention to the comings and goings of my companions, and figured out fairly quickly that he wasn’t going to get me alone easily. Nicolai is one of the only people I would have lost all sense over, so when Bates saw the opportunity, he took it.
We stop outside a room long enough for Bates to knock the door open with his hip, and then he drags me inside. The door swings shut, and I hear the lock turn automatically, the thudding of the mechanism like a death toll as it traps me in here.
Pain suddenly flares through me as I’m violently slammed into the wall. I gasp as my arms are roughly jerked behind me and I feel something tight being wrapped around my wrists, binding them together. My face stings from the impact, and my hands burn from how tight my bindings are, but overall, I have so much adrenaline pumping through my body that my other injuries are dulled.
Joel and Jackson had been teaching me self-defence, but Bates is standing too far behind me for me to use most of the techniques I know, and with my hands bound, I’m restricted with what I can do.Think, Laelia! I demand, trying to clear the panic from my thoughts.
Joel will feel my terror and come for me. Even though our bond isn’t fully formed yet and being muted by the council, I hope Syn can feel me as well, because my emotions are so strong and my need is so desperate that they will likely break through.
The world spins again as I’m pulled from the wall and marched across the room to the bed. My heart races as I see where we’re heading. He wouldn’t… Thankfully I’m saved from having to complete that thought as he forces me to sit on the edge of the bed. With my hands behind my back like this, it’s awkward, and I have to lean forward.
Bates is staring down at me in disgust. “I can’t believe you’ve gotten this far through the trials, witchling,” he spits. That’s what is making him so angry, that a feeble halfling would be able to beat some of the strongest champions in the competition.
Grabbing the wooden chair from the dresser, he pulls it over, leaning against the back of it and crossing his arms over his chest as he contemplates me. “I hoped to take you out in the scavenger trial, but somehow you managed to charm that lone wolf into helping you,” he snarls, spitting on the ground as anger flares in his eyes. I realise then that some of the disgust in his voice isn’t aimed purely at me, but Scott too. I knew the council didn’t like lone wolves, and that’s obviously passed down to Bates. Sure, most are wary of lone wolves because of their reputations, but hatred such as what Bates is showing is different.
His eyes flick back to me and do a slow perusal of my body. There’s no hint of arousal in his gaze, instead he just looks confused, like what he finds is lacking and he doesn’t understand why others would find me attractive. “Your pussy must be something, because you’ve got half of the city supporting you now.”
Of course he would associate my ability to bring people together with my sexuality. Why is it that powerful men always do this? Are they so insecure in themselves that they consider me a threat? They believe that no one would possibly want to spend time with me or help me unless there was something sexual in it for them.
I seethe, his words provoking contempt and overriding my fear. Usually I’m happy to give someone the benefit of the doubt, since I don’t believe anyone is truly evil. However, Bates is testing that belief to the max. I want to tear him down and make him realise what a piece of shit he really is.
