The Councilwants you to be comfortable. Buy what you want. Uncover the window in your room.The Councilwants to make sure you like it here, that you know you’re different.
But it wasn’t some team, was it? It was a single, suspicious man. One who I’d awkwardly read diary entries from—a series of gushing, sometimes sexual, love letters.
Damien bit back a small smile as my silence continued. Well, glad one of us found the meeting entertaining.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
“No, actually. This all seemsreallynormal,” I said. He raised an eyebrow. If I had to guess, he looked thirty, but I knew that wasn’t true. But how? He clearly wasn’t as human as his journal had said.
“I didn’t know you were sarcastic. The reports never talked about those sorts of things,” Damien said.Lucky me. “Although there were a lot of incident reports. You aren’t very good at following the rules, are you?”
I rolled my eyes and climbed out of the bed. Other than the bed, there was a toilet, a small sink, a table, and a chair. I spun my finger around the room as I slowly walked closer. “I’m tempted to ask if this is all an elaborate sex thing.”
His eyes lit up. “Actually, it’s curious you bring that up.”
I stopped in my tracks. “I was joking.”
“Were you, though?” Damien asked. “Zero said you aren’t aware of it, but I believe you are, on a subconscious level.”
“Well, there’s a lot my subconscious is aware of that I’m not, but I’m pretty sure my subconscious and I agree that we aren’t interested.” I ground my teeth.
“Oh, don’t worry about me with that.” Damien flicked his hand in dismissal. “ I assure you, I’m not interested in you in that capacity. I’m only talking about your unnatural allure.”
“Right…” I said suspiciously. This conversation was climbing the charts of most awkward, positioning itself between Bree asking why my sister wanted to fuck me, and finding out I was Nemo’s mate after a decade of being an asshole to him.
“I want you to understand what’s going to happen here,” Damien started. “We’re going to be taking some samples from you every day, maybe multiple times a day.”
Next to me was the table. I settled my hand on the chair as I watched Damien talk. He was a little shorter than me. Behind him, in his attached room, was a large desk and a leather sofa. How much time did he plan to spend here?
“Someone will come into your room. They’ll be wearing protective gear. However, other precautions are needed. Since your venom is airborne, you’re in an oxygen-controlled room. Your oxygen level stays lower than the rest of the facility at all times. It’s so the air goes into your room, instead of the other way around. There’s also vents that will clear it all. Considering your toxicity level now, we need to take every single precaution.”
That caught me off guard. I took a deep breath.
“Not enough for you to notice right now,” he assured me. Damien was walking and talking now, going back and forth in front of the wall between us. “However, it will dip a little lower before we open the door for safety reasons. You might feel a little lightheaded by the shift.”
“You’re taking oxygen out of my room?”
Damien looked over at me. “Just enough to keep everyone safe and where they’re supposed to be. ” He walked to his desk and slid open a drawer. “You won’t suffocate, but I do suggest you lie down.”
“Why?”
“The lightheadiness from the rapid oxygen shift will be disorienting, and you could hurt yourself.” He pulled a modern phone from his desk and was clicking it with his thumb. “Lastly, if you behave, I can put more things in your room. Like a tv.”
“If I’m good when the samples are taken?”
“No, that won’t be an issue.” He smiled to himself. “I meant if you're good in general. Like when talking to me.” Damien was right there, three feet from me. I picked up the chair and threw it at the wall between us. It bounced off. There wasn’teven a scratch. It banged to the floor, and Damien blinked at it, seeming taken aback.
“Just checking,” I said.Still no super strength.He looked up at me, and our eyes met. At the airport, people couldn’t even look me in the eye without dying. Perhaps the barrier protected him, even if it was seethrough.
“I suggest you lie down now.”
“What samples are you taking?” I asked.
“I told you to lie down,” Damien sighed and then clicked something. High-powered fans hummed, growing louder and speeding up. Something blinked on the wall near my room door. There was a meter with decreasing numbers.
A wave of dizziness hit me suddenly.
“Fuck,” I hissed, stumbling. The room turned sideways—I didn’t realize I was falling at first. My head hit the side of the chair I’d thrown, and it all went black.
