Page 49

I need to find a way to offer her a drink without appearing soft. Or, I need to make it seem as if I’m using generosity to garner trust from her.

Fuck, I usually love mind games, but this is one I fear I’ll get tired of quickly.

“Yes, I expect you’re thirsty after having not had water for the past thirty-six hours,” he murmurs, gazing down at her. “If you’re a very good little omega, Riley will give you a sip or two. We can’t spoil you. I expect to hit a breakthrough soon.”

“May I ask how much longer the protocol in here will continue?” I ask, swallowing hard as I pretend to simply be a curious student.

“Of course,” he says, not appearing annoyed. “This depends entirely on the patient. She hasn’t slept very much in the past three weeks as we are using sleep deprivation as a punishment for her inability to make progress. I am not pleased that she fell asleep.”

Nina remains silent, though there’s fear and loathing in her gaze. I can see her spirit shining through, and I’m both intrigued and protective of it. The idea that they want to break her so thoroughly makes something inside me twist so hard, I have to keep myself from hissing.

It physically fucking hurts, and I’ve never felt anything like this before.

“I have several ways to keep you awake, Miss Nina,” he threatens. “The water tank, a little water torture, or electroconvulsive therapy. The nurses were quite unhappy with the mess you left the last time you had electroconvulsive therapy, but I believe the dehydration will keep you from urinating on yourself.”

Nina tries to say something, but she can’t due to how dry her throat is.

“Don’t bother speaking,” Dr. Kind scoffs. “The time for meaningless apologies is long gone.”

I don’t think she was going to apologize, and I can see the doctor means what he says. He thinks she should cower and ask for forgiveness, swearing that she’ll choose a personality replacement.

He’s delusional, as is the rest of this place.

“Someone will be back soon to see what will be done with you,” he says. “Riley will stay with you, Miss Nina. Don’t bother batting those pretty eyes at him, because I doubt he’ll be as nice as I’ve been.”

He turns and walks away after teaching Nina to fear me, taking a metal cup from an orderly who is at the door and tossing it to me. I yank it out of the air as he slams the door closed, turning to look at Nina. The scent of wilted honeysuckle fills the air, her displeasure being well known about being locked in with me.

So many tests, and this is another one.

Instead of disgusting me, her scent pulls me closer. The pain at seeing her beaten increases, and it’s as if my brain is being rewired.

This is going to complicate matters exponentially. Fuck.

Nina

There’s a tall, lean alpha staring at me. It’s as if he’s trying to figure me out. That’s funny. I don’t even know myself well enough for that.

I immediately decide not to trust him, just as I can’t trust anyone in this place. I’ve been pinched, hit, half drowned,starved, dehydrated, and more during my “stay” at Weeping Willow. To say I’m unimpressed is an understatement.

I haven’t seen any other patients while I’ve been here since I spend a lot of time in isolation, but my heart goes out to anyone else undergoing this. The fact that my mother signed off on my treatment has killed any love for her.

I fucking hate her. I miss my alphas, and my doctors despise that I still remember them. They even tried to make me hate their very names through negative reinforcement.

If I flinched at the memory or thought of them, then I’d eventually choose to protect my mind from it to escape the pain. They were even so helpful as to explain the reasoning for the protocol before adding electrodes to my head and measuring my brain waves. If I reacted to a photo or something that they believed reminded me of them, then I was shocked by Nurse Naylor with her shock prod.

Photos of teachers, a tree, Ethan and Cooper’s home and more flooded a screen, all while I screamed. It was a very unpleasant twelve hours, but more so, it didn’t fucking work. I don’t know how they pulled all of the information about Ethan and Cooper that they did. For all I know, they used my mother for it or are stalking my alphas.

They clearly don’t care about legalities or privacy.

And now… the doctors have sent me a pretty alpha. I give myself half a second to admire him before shutting it all down. I’m exhausted, and even though Dr. Kind thinks he caught me sleeping, my body just gave up for a while and passed out.

It was not pleasant or restful. The fluorescent lights were so bright, it overloaded my brain. Even now, I can taste the metallic scent of the lights.

I can’t speak because my throat is throbbing from the coughing fit and how parched I feel. The facility is really pushing it with the dehydration tactics. If I die, does this mean they win, or do they have to return my mother's money? It would almost be worth hurting the institution fiscally.

It’s a passing thought, and my head lolls to the side. It’s too heavy to keep up. Everything is just too hard…

“Hey,” a honeyed voice says. “Wake up, Nina, and drink some water. Come on.”