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After being stuck in my room for an hour, though, I was starting to worry. I’d assumed Von would come speak to me after seeing the video replay. He’d chide me, perhaps give me a warning. If I was really lucky, he might look scared or worried. Hell, at this point, I would have been happy to have him in my room, raging at me and calling me an ungrateful bitch. Anything was better than this silence.
Von loved to hear himself talk. He also liked to throw his weight around. Something about the continued silent confinement made me uneasy.
The minutes ticked by, and eventually, I got tired of pacing. I sat on my bed, then grew restless and moved to the couch, then the chair by the door, then the windowsill before returning to the bed. I was antsy and twitchy, and my wolf was uneasy. It had been two hours since they’d locked me in here.
Needing fresh air, I opened my window, letting the tropical breeze flutter in. The air was humid, but it was better than the staleness of the room. Again, I wished I could get a message to or from Zoe. I pleaded with the gods to see those red, blue, and green flapping wings heading my way. But all I saw was the rapidly darkening jungle. Night had fallen, and with it, some of my hope.
In the distance, something else caused my mood to lower even more. Massive dark thunderheads appeared to be sliding across the sea, headed straight toward Bloodstone Island. If that was coming to dump a tropical storm on us, there was even less chance that Zoe would be able to send her messenger birds anytime soon. And unless they had some sort of way to view the show in Haven, Zoe had no way of knowing what had happened. All of it made me feel more isolated.
When the knock came at the door, I flinched. I’d been so sure no one was coming that I was trying to talk myself into going to bed. I nearly tripped over myself as I rushed to the door. It opened a moment before I stepped into the foyer. Instead of Von, a young fae and witch stepped in, followed by a guard.
“Good evening, Miss Durst,” the fae said. “We brought you a late dinner since your meal was… er, well, since you didn’t get to finish.”
On the tray was a grilled panini, potato chips, and the biggest chocolate cupcake I’d ever seen in my life. I was hungry, but I wasn’t worried about food at the moment.
“Where’s Von? What’s going on?”
The fae shook her head and shrugged helplessly. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you any of that. Mr. Thornton will need to update you. All I know is that a few of the showrunners have arrived on the island to… well, they said they needed to sort some things out. Not sure what that means.”
I groaned. “Can you tell meanything?”
The fae glanced hesitantly at the witch. The older woman lifted an eyebrow. “Tell her. I don’t think you’ll get in trouble for it.”
Hope surged in my chest. She had news. Some bit of information, maybe?
“I did speak with Mr. Rivers earlier,” she said haltingly.
An even warmer ball of longing filled my chest. “Wyatt? What did he say?”
“Well, he asked me to pass on a message.”
“And? Spit it out.”
She looked embarrassed before finally speaking. “He said to tell you that, uh, that you’re an annoying little brat.”
I frowned at her, then I remembered the code words we’d set up. When it clicked, I laughed in delight, eliciting a confused scowl from the witch. I smiled at her, blinking away tears of happiness.
I cleared my throat. “Thanks. Um, if you see him again, tell him that he’s really pissing me off.” My code forthank you.
The fae and witch shared a confused look. Finally, the witch turned to leave. “You shifters are weird.”
The fae nodded, though she looked bewildered. “If I see him, I’ll tell him.”
When they left, I carried my tray to the table in front of the window. I took a bottle of sparkling water from my minibar and sat down to eat. It wasn’t world-class cuisine, but I barely tasted anything as I ate. Boiled cardboard would have tasted the same. The meal was nothing but calories, fuel for whatever might be coming next.
What were the others going through? Was an example being made of me? I couldn’t rule out that Chelsey and the alphas were also locked in their rooms, but it was equally likely that the showrunners had sequestered me here as a punishment for speaking out. I could almost see them huddled with Von, thinking of the most entertaining way to kill me off. They’d want my death to be as big and bombastic as my speech.
But that seemed petty, even by the show’s standards. Was something else happening? Could my words have had an even bigger impact than I thought?
I tossed the cupcake wrapper into the trash and slumped back in my chair. I wanted Wyatt. I would have given anything for him to be here with me. I longed to have him next to me, to be curled in his arms in bed and just forget the outside world. Being with him sounded like the most amazing thing in the world. I was beginning to realize I wanted more and more of that every day.
I’d come up with this plan to protect my family, to keep them and my pack safe. I would still do anything to make sure that happened, but now I’d also do anything to keep Wyatt safe. In my heart, hewasmy family, too.
Eventually, I was too tired to think. I closed the window to block out the strange sounds of the creatures that lived in the jungle, turned off the lights, and fell into a fitful sleep. My dreams were chaotic things that made no sense, morphing shapes and twisting colors with no coherent narrative. So when the screaming began, I thought it was part of my dreams.
When the screams finally roused me, I finally realized they weren’t products of my own mind. The room was still inky black, but wind and rain lashed at my window, the only light from bursts and flashes of lightning outside. Groggy, I sat up, trying to figure out whether the screams were real or just the roar of the storm outside.
Shouts in the hallway shattered the night. The screams were right down the hall, and they were loud. Adrenaline shot through me. Those were not normal screams, and they weren’t coming from an argument or fight. These were screams of terror and horror, and they were growing louder.
