His scent was surrounding me, twisting my stomach into knots. I was in what I supposed could be described as a nest, but it was the most pitiful nest I'd ever seen. Several items of clothing lined the space, and by their size and shape, I could tell they belonged to him.
The room was minimal and clean otherwise, a nondescript space that didn’t tell me much about where I was. The furniture was eerily familiar. It took a moment for my brain to recognize that it was all standard dormitory furniture. The stuff you’d find in the rooms and shared spaces of any one of the halls on campus.
There was no way I was in one of the regular dorms. Even by their low standards, it was way too cold and small. Plus, I would have been discovered far too quickly if Lyle had just brought me to a dorm. Still, there were a few older buildings on and around campus. I could be in one of them.
I took stock of my body. All my clothing was still on, but my shoes were on the floor next to the excuse for a nest. I grimaced, shuddering at the thought of Lyle handling me.
I moved to get out of bed. I didn't want to be surrounded by his scent anymore. Figuring out where I was and how the hell I was going to get out was my priority. Only, as I went to swing my legs around to get up, something around my ankle pulled taut, stopping me. When I pulled back the blankets, I saw a silver cuff secured to my ankle, attaching me to the bedframe.
Fuck.
Giving it a few experimental tugs got me nowhere fast. They were clearly heavy-duty and wouldn’t break easily. Worse, yanking on them was loud and cut into my ankle. Picking the lock would be a better option, but I had no idea how to do that, and even if I did, I didn’t have anything to jimmy it with.
While I had no solid idea what Lyle wanted, I knew it couldn't be good. He’d hinted that I belonged to him and him alone in his threatening messages. I needed to get the hell out of this room and back to my pack.
My pack.
Spencer had just been outside the door. He couldn’t be too far behind me.
My pack consisted of three specialist security personnel. Surely, they were coming for me. I had no doubt they would be on my tail, but how long it would take was the question.
Everything in me wanted to get violent, to smash the room apart, to rip my leg from that stupid cuff. Some random teacher’s assistant, who was supposed to help students, had kidnapped me. My eyes burned as I squeezed them shut, forcing myself not to fall apart. But I felt so violated. He’d been spying on me, peeking into moments that didn’t belong to him. Lyle had only been useful during class because he had an agenda, and it didn’t matter to him that I didn’t want this, that I wasn’t interested in him.
No did not mean no in Lyle’s mind.
I wanted to scream, the need burning in my throat.
Only, even in my hazy, post-drugging state, I knew I was being watched. Spencer had found a camera when he was planting one of their own. It had to have been Lyle.
So, it was a safe bet that I was being watched—again. My skin crawled, and I instinctively pulled up the blanket, hidingmyself from view. I was an insect being inspected under a microscope by some creep.
The blanket smelled of him.
Even though I couldn’t leave the bed because of the cuffs, I did my best to shove all the clothing and bedding he had placed there away from me, pushing it to the side. The last thing I wanted was to lie on that psychopath’s clothing.
“I see someone’s awake.”
I snapped upright, scooting myself as far away as I could. My back flattened against the cold wall, and I stared straight ahead with my knees pulled up to my chest.
“You.”
“Flora,” he smirked, the curve of his mouth lifting in a way that pulled nausea up from the depths of my stomach, “you really should be getting comfortable. I went to all that work.”
He was wearing his usual slacks, a button-down, and a sweater vest. Lyle’s hair was slicked back, oilier than usual. His eyes were bloodshot, dark circles beneath them like he hadn’t slept in days.
“I really am so pleased you’re finally awake.” He beamed happily. In his hands were a packet of crackers and a bottle of water.
“Why am I here?” I demanded.
“You’re here because we belong together, silly.” Lyle’s tone made it sound like it was the most obvious thing. How could I not see that? And I forced myself to swallow the rising bile.
“What on earth are you talking about? I need to go home to my pack—You need to let me out of here.”
Lyle took a step forward, the crackers crunching in his grip as he glared at me, his eyes losing any sense of softness they had when he entered the room.
“It wasn’t meant to be like this!” he hissed, pacing up anddown. “Everything was going to plan, and then you had to ruin it by degrading yourself and bonding with those idiots!”
I didn’t sniffle or cower, but I wouldn’t leave the safety of the wall, either. “You can't keep me here, Lyle.”
