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“I release you from Imogen’s compulsion.” Her body went limp, and she dropped to the ground. I hurried to her side, crouching.

“Maddy? You okay?” I whispered.

“I didn’t want to do it,” she choked out.

“How sure can we be that?—”

“Stop it,” I grated out between my teeth and glared at Jax. “Let’s get you cleaned up in my room.”

“You’re not going anywhere with her.”

“Ren, stop!” I smoothed my palm down Maddy’s hair. “We might have to cut this off.” I told her. I didn’t spare them another look as I guided her to the hall. She wouldn’t stop shaking.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Jax said to the others. I whipped my head around to glare at him. “I’m not leaving you alone.”

“What has happened in my absence?” Bastien’s question reached me, as I hurried down the hall with Maddy. I turned all of my attention to her. She wouldn’t stop shivering.

TWENTY-TWO

bastien

Much had happenedin my absence.

“Ordering for you to be infected is too far.” Tobias had fooled himself where it came to Imogen, but the veil was beginning to lift.

They knew as well as I did that it would have made her maddened had I left. Imogen enjoyed having her nails in me. I had gone along with it, from boredom, and the concept of a powerful Coven. It was becoming clear that we had joined her for that reason. Other than Tobias and Asher, who were webbed in by familial ties.

Asher continued looking toward the door. Anxious to return to our Little One as I was.

It was a visceral urge that gripped onto my throat. Her presence addicted me, but she seemed raw and on edge.

“Give her a bit more time.” I tapped my fingers on my thigh.

What had they done while I’d been incapacitated? Fooled around uselessly.

“Enough with the assumptions, Bastien,” Tobias snapped.

“What’s he thinking?” Asher asked. The whore was always much too nosy for his own good.

“He believes we have done nothing with our time.”

“They are not assumptions,” I offered. “Youdidnothing.” The edges of my vision blurred. I pressed my palm to the wall to brace myself. If I lost it to my alter ego, there would be no doubt they would shove me into chains again.

“What did you want us to do? We thought gorging you with blood would heal you, but nothing sufficed. Thereisno cure. If you didn’t find it with all your experiments, we would have even less of a chance,” Asher spat.

“Then explainme?” I bared my teeth, pointing at myself. They became silent. “There is a cure. I was simply missing a key component. A component to protect the cells from the virus, one to repair the cells.”

Catalina was the answer.

“Is that why she tastes?—”

“Clue me in here, you two,” Asher glared.

“I believe Catalina carries the gene marker I searched for.”

Asher stiffened and he looked toward the hall.

“If that’s the case, no one can ever know. She would be a target.”