“I’m going to string Fuzzy up by his chest hair for letting Sylvie eat that spoiled chicken salad and landing me withyouas my only option,” Brooks mutters, and something in my stomach settles.
Fuzzy. Helaena. This…this is all part of a plan. It has to be.
Helaena meets my eyes for the first time since I first saw her down here. Her soft brown eyes are filled with determination and since her back is to Brooks, she mouths, “It’s okay.”
I frown at her, but she doesn’t try to elaborate. No additional nods or trying to explain why she thinks it’ll be okay when they are testing a bond-breaking drug on me.
But…She’s here for a reason. I have to trust that Declan knows what he’s doing.
While she preps my arm, I take a second to open my bond with Hayden. I’m instantly hit with a rush of adrenaline, but I push around it to send my Fire Demon a wave of all the love I feel for him. He’s surprised at first, but then he sends me back a wave just as strong, as well as a surge of determination. Tearing up, I look up at Helaena and nod.
Her lip wobbles as she slides the needle into my arm.
Just like with the instinct inhibitor, the cold sensation starts to take over, and my senses start to dull.
But…unlike last time…that warm, sunshiney piece of Hayden sitting in my chest just…fades.
It’s gone.
“No!” I choke out, my voice full of despair as I search and search, desperate to feel the warmth of his presence again. Even when he was blocked, he was stillthere, the safety and comfort I never knew I needed.
And now that it’s gone…was I always so cold and empty?
“It worked?” Brooks’ brows shoot up in surprise. “Is the bond gone?”
I can’t stop the sob that chokes its way out of me, and Kole’s hand tightens in mine. “I am so sorry,Lisichka.”Kole murmurs, running his thumb over my hand.
Another loud bang goes off, and this time the walls shake and the lights flicker. Brooks frowns, looking up, and I swear I hear a squeak. “What in the—”
The unmistakable sound of bullets has us jumping, and I look over with wide eyes at Kole, who has a smile pasted on his face that would be terrifying to anyone else.
The doctor looks panicked now, and barks at the security guard. “Well? What are you waiting around for? Go see what’s happening!”
Before the guard can move, Helaena clears her throat. “The bond breaker didn’t work, Doctor.”
Brooks freezes. “What do you mean it didn’t work—”
“It didn’t work, because I didn’t give it to her. I gave her the instinct inhibitor.”
That brilliant woman.
Brooks’ face turns red with rage, and without ceremony, Helaena pulls a scalpel out from nowhere, and jams it into the security guard’s neck.
eleven
Sam
Two Hours Earlier
“Leslie, we need to initiate lockdown level five.” My tone is authoritative and leaves no room for argument. The communications to the outside world have already been cut courtesy of my tech scrambling software, and nobody is the wiser.
Leslie, Brooks, and Whitmore are the only ones with the proper security codes to enact a lockdown, and of the three, Leslie is the sole person who might be on our side.
She looks up from the stack of papers on her desk, confused. “What?Why—”
“We need to initiate lockdown, level five,” I repeat, meeting her confused expression.
West squeezes into the room next to me. “Please put out the announcement that all patients need to return to their rooms, and once the orderlies have double-checked that everyone is accounted for, engage the lockdown. Nobody in or out. Not until West and I clear the threat.”
