I gritted my teeth to keep myself from asking. I also didn’t point out that the false king had taken Ivy, so it seemed strange that he would also want the unknown male.
Handler would tell me it wasn’t my place to question, and he would be right. But silently, I made note of the strangeness as the male—the charm mage—finally stood and was placed in magic dampening cuffs. The charm mage pressed his lips together, flinching when the cuffs clicked into place.
“Hold him,” Handler grunted, turning away from me and the mage.
He stood at the same height as me, so we were almost eye to eye. “What are you?” the charm mage asked, his brows furrowing. “You aren’t anything I have seen before.”
I stiffened. “I am not one of you.”
The male’s eyes flickered from mine, down to my chest where the small female had pressed her charm into me. “I see.”
I frowned, but Handler appeared on the charm mage’s other side and grabbed him by the arm. “Stop talking to the prisoner,” he snapped, looking at me, then at the mage. “And don’t speak unless spoken to.”
The mage made a sound in the back of his throat as we took him to the inner elevator. No more words were shared, making the silence unbearably thick.
As the doors to the elevator closed, the hairs on the back of my neck rose. The sensation that something was wrong filled me, alerting my Primal.
From the corner of my eye, I looked to my handler. He was either unaware of the shift in the air, or he knew something was about to happen.
The elevator carried us to the medical wing; the doors opened with ading, revealing the stark white walls and thebuzzing white light of the corridor. The few doors lining the hallway were closed, with no way to see inside.
A chill rolled down my spine. I felt my fated nearby; it was faint, but her scent still hung in the air like she’d been here only moments ago.
Why would the false king bring her here? Why would she need to be seen by the medical team?
Handler started down the hall, and I was forced to follow with our prisoner. I couldn’t ignore the strange feeling that rippled throughout me as Handler stopped in front of one of the doors. Here, her scent was thicker.
Why were we bringing the prisoner to her?
Everything about this feltwrong. My Primal was now close to the surface, raging with the need to be released.
Handler used a different code this time to enter the medical room. When the door opened, I couldn’t remain in control of my beast.
Because lying on a bed in the centre of the room was my unconscious fated, and she was not alone.
24
Hawk
Flashes of memory appeared in the darkness of my mind.
A female with a small child in her arms, looking at me without seeing me. The most gorgeous creature I’d ever laid eyes on, bathed in sunlight.
The same female standing in murky darkness, anger in her beautiful brown eyes, the emotion directed at me. I’d liked it too much, enjoyed her rage because it meant she cared.
Her scent, potent and overwhelming, filling my lungs as she burned me with her magic. I felt her in my arms like I was holding her now, like her body was still pressed against mine.
Another flash. Another memory of guilt. Of disgust. Seeing her sadness as I hurt her. Hurting her over and over again. Always being the one behind her heartbreak.
I woke with a start, heart pounding. The darkness around me shifted, the light from beneath the door revealing nothing. The other bed, the one belonging to my bunk mate, was empty, his scent weak, but the smell of blood strong.
A dull pain started in my thigh when I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. The movement had my head swimming, vision blurring with another image ofher.
The female from my dreams.
She felt familiar. Looked like someone I knew.
But who?
