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“Black will come for you.”
CHAPTER6
Alena
Black kept his fingers at the small of my back, urging me forward, until we turned at the t-intersection in the corridor. He slowed his walk, and so I did, too, and then he swept me up in his arms.
I was so tired that this gesture almost made me cry with relief. I realized, as soon as my weight was in his arms, that I couldn’t have walked a step further. I collapsed against him, sleep trying to claim me. I whimpered a little as I adjusted in his arms, pulling myself up, against his neck, my body pleasantly sore everywhere.
“Shhh,” he said, tenderly, his fingers stroking my skin gently where they held me.
It seemed like we were almost instantly in my room, Black lowering me to my bed. I felt the soft plush of my own bed – so different from their spartan interiors – and I tried to open my eyes. They were so heavy with exhaustion that I could barely hold them open. “Black,” I murmured.
“It’s okay,” he whispered, pulling my arms from his neck. I tried to resist this, to hold on to him: I needed to talk to him, try to figure out what was happening here. If there was anyone who would tell me something that they wanted to keep from me, it was Black.
“Please,” I begged him, opening my eyes. I was no match for his strength, and he was peeling me away from him. “Please… I don’t understand what… to do...”
His lips moved to my forehead, and their touch seemed to wash over me, making me even sleepier. I tried to shake my head, to fight it off, but it was like a tidal wave.
“Sleep now, Alena,” he said.
My limbs fell away from him as my body obeyed his command. I needed to sleep, I was too exhausted to continue.
This happened every time, every day, and so I would never get to the truth.
The thought hit me with force, as if I had fallen face-first onto a surface of cold water. The thud of it reverberated through my body, and my eyes snapped open. I was suddenly awake.
Black was standing up, looking at the wall with a dark and frightening stare. He didn’t see me momentarily. I reached for him, to clutch his elbow, to pull a little.
His eyes snapped down to me, and surprise registered in his features.
I squeezed his bicep, which had almost no give. “Tell me,” I hissed, pulling on his arm, trying to sit up.
He pushed my hand away and used his other arm to push my shoulder down, back into the soft pillows and blankets. He was slowly shaking his head, but I could see that temptation lurked in his eyes. Sometimes, when Black returned me to my room, he had a hard time leaving. Sometimes he lingered, and sometimes he leaned in to kiss my mouth.
Sometimes he made my body rise to meet him, and he had to tear himself away. I knew that I had some power over him, but I didn’t understand it, just like I didn’t understand what force compelled him, every time, to tear himself away.
I didn’t want to try and use some power I didn’t understand, but Ineededthe answer to my question. I needed to know what Tor was doing, what Rhys was doing, what would happen to me now that Rhys had tortured me into telling on Tor.
I reached for his neck, and his hand shot to pull my hand away, but once there, he seemed rendered powerless. “Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t do that.”
“Rhys won’t tell me,” whispered, tears coming to my eyes. “Please, I’m scared, please help me.”
I implored him with my eyes.
And I could see that something switched inside him. He relented for a moment, letting me pull him closer. “Scared of what?” he said, and it was less like a question than something he mumbled without thinking it.
I shook my head. Once I started talking, though, I found I couldn’t stop. It all came pouring out of me, and I clung to him more furiously with each word. “Rhys is… he’s angry with me, he asked me to tell him what happened with Tor and I didn’twantto tell him and then he… he seemed even angrier and now Tor is going to...” A choked gasp escaped my lips and my breath caught in my chest.
Black sat down on the bed, pushing me easily away from where he placed himself, pulling my arms from his neck and holding them in his hands. His grip was firmer than usual, a hint of anger or desperation in it. “Tor is going towhat?” he growled.
I suddenly didn’t know what I was doing. I shook my head, and closed my eyes. “Nothing,” I said, quickly. “I’m tired, I’m sorry -”
“Alena,” Black growled.
His voice sounded so much like Rhys’s in that moment that I snapped awake again, my heart suddenly beating furiously in my chest.
“Tell me what happened.”
