But I’m fucking tied to a chair and getting the shit beaten out of me.
Because apparently when my brother said I could use my wolf, he meant I could attempt to shift like this to fight back.
I haven’t bothered.
There’s no fucking point.
I take the hits. The kicks. All of it without so much as snarling.
I’m too focused on my mate. On our connection. On her pain.
Ashlyn,I whisper, wishing I could shadow to her.I’m so fucking sorry…
I never should have left her. I knew something wasn’t right. But she insisted and I… I failed her.
Just like I failed Nikiski all those years ago. Just like I’m failing her now, too.
I hear her weeping in her cage, aware of whatever sadistic plans our brother has in store for her. Or maybe she’s crying for me.
I really don’t know.
It’s been ages since I last saw her. I barely even recognize the woman she’s become.
Something cracks—a blow to my jaw—causing me to open my eyes for a moment to see a particularly large Z-Clan Alpha treating my face like his personal punching bag.
I spit out a mouthful of blood.
Then go back to feigning sleep.
It hurts. But nothing compares to what I feel inside.
So many pieces are falling into place.
That rune I put on Ashlyn’s arm… that’s why I couldn’t shadow her. It was protecting her by ensuring she didn’t end up in this cave.
I haven’t figured out yethowmy brother tapped into my gifts, but I suspect it has something to do with our twin bond.
Which also might be why I’m struggling to fully connect to Ashlyn, I realize.He’s done something to me.
But that means I might be able to undo it.
Or use it against him.
Only, I suspect he’s been in my head for a long time. Which explains not only how he convinced me he was dead, but also persuaded me not to hunt for his dead body as proof.
Fuck.
I have no idea when my brother became this clever. Maybe he always was and I missed it as a child, too caught up in my frustrations with our father.
Or maybe he’s had a mentor,I think, wondering if he’s part of the infamous shadow organization.
Regardless, I need to find a way out of this. A way to return to?—
A particularly hard blow to my head knocks me and my chair to the ground.
And all I hear is my brother’s laughing.
Except it’s not only a sound in my ears.
