Grey stiffened. “No,” she replied. “I can access them, so long as there are no blocks.”
“You think the reason I can’t access them is trauma,” I said. “So, you could get to them, right? If it’s just me blocking them?”
She nodded once. “Yes.”
“Then do it,” I demanded. “Read them. Do what you need to do. Just find a way to get our girl back.”
I expected to feel fear as I watched Grey rise from her chair across from me and make her way around the table. I waited for a sense of panic, for that tightening in my chest at the thought of letting anyone other than my mate inside my head.
But I only felt determination. A wave of calm washed over me as the tension fell away.
If this was the only way to get my mate back, to protect her and our bond, then I didn’t really care who had access to my memories. So long as it helped me find Ivy.
I felt a little better knowing it was Grey, though.
The vampire slid into the chair beside me, her darkening eyes on me. “Your wrist,” she said, holding out her hand. “When I go into your memories, you’ll see it. Feel it. There will be a physical reaction, and a psychological one. You must be prepared for that.”
I nodded once, giving her my arm. “Archer, stand behind me in case I?—”
I didn’t get a chance to finish before the mage was out of his seat and rounding the table. “I’ve got you.”
There was still a heaviness in the air. I tried to loosen my muscles, to escape from the hold it had over me, but it wasn’t going to go away that easily. I almost flinched when Archer put his hands on my shoulders.
The eyes of the demon king were on me, but I closed my own as Grey’s cold fingers wrapped around my forearm.
There was no time to react when she struck. Fangs pierced the thin skin of my wrist, the pain a burn I’d never felt before. I’d let Grey feed once during the early days of our mission when we were still waiting for supplies. It’d been a quick, simple refill on her part, and I’d barely felt anything.
But this…This was fire. Venom from her bite rushed through my veins until all I felt was the burn of her power.
Behind my closed eyes, for a long while, there was only darkness. Only pain.
Then a flash of something.
It struck like Ivy’s lightning, crossing the blackness behind my eyes so harshly I almost pulled away. My jaw clenched as soon as it disappeared, but what it revealed had me wanting to pull away.
Cages. Ten of them, filled with the bodies of small children.
And I was inside one of them.
I was a voyeur of my own memory, trapped in the mind of the child I’d been when it happened. Surrounding me were bars laced with charms I didn’t recognise, though their power could be felt even by present me. They were new, like they’drecently been constructed, their silver gleaming despite the smell of blood permeating the air.
Even the feeling came through the memory; the cold metal ground beneath my small body, the lack of clothing protecting me from the chill in the air. Other than blood, the stench of piss and shit clogged my nose, too overwhelming to be sensed by a small child. Somehow, I was tapping into my wolf’s senses.
That’s impossible.And yet, despite the darkness of the room, I saw everything clearly. The other children spread out in their cages. Some slept naked. Others sat up like me, with their arms wrapped around their legs. And there was one child in a half-shifted form, which should have been impossible for how young we were.
I wasn’t the only wolf, though I didn’t recognise any of the children as kin. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
Other than the cages, we were alone. The room was small. On one of the far walls were a set of doors that led out of our prison, lights blinking on a keypad. I couldn’t see much else—couldn’t make my head move.
Footsteps sounded outside the room. It had all the children up. Even those sleeping rose like they’d been shocked, their fearful eyes landing on the door.
Despite it, child-me remained still. Eyes on the door. Breaths even. I couldn’t tell if I’d been afraid or not.
There were three beeps that broke the silence. The breaths of the child in their half-shifted form quickened. Scents shifted to reveal their terror.
Still, I held myself like a statue.
I felt nothing.
