Page 23

AVA

“ H ow the fuck did this happen?” a gruffy older man’s voice said. “I thought she was given the implant.”

That voice. It was… familiar. But I couldn’t place it.

“I’m sorry, a Thiarna Ard .” High Lord. “I did not want to mar her lovely skin.”

I recognized this second voice as… the professor.

He continued. “I used a contraceptive mixture that I—”

“You and your little concoctions,” the first voice spat with disdain.

More harsh clattering of metal. Cold hands propped my bare feet up in strange braces, causing my nightgown to slip down my legs.

I wanted to cover myself up, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even cry out.

“You make sure she never remembers this, do you hear me?”

Someone leaned over me. A doctor wearing a surgical mask, the lights turning their features into a silhouette.

And then they were gone and I could hear whispers .

A loud crash made me jolt, like someone had thrown something across the room.

“You dare second-guess my command? You are my fucking heir. You will do as I say. Now… take care of it .”

I stood between Ty and Ciaran, like matching stone sentinels, staring up at the charred remains of Ashcradle House, the hospital from my darkest memory.

Ashcradle House had once been located in one of the old Darkmoor campus buildings, supposedly abandoned during the Spanish flu. I remembered telling Lisa about it last term when we’d just found out that Liath had gone missing, but standing here now, it felt less like history and more like a nightmare come to life.

The collapsed outer wall exposed skeletal remnants of modern medical equipment. Hospital beds, their metal frames warped by fire, lay scattered amid the debris like corpses on a battlefield. The smell of smoke and ash lingered faintly in the cold night air, mixing with the damp scent of decay.

“They’re always a step ahead,” I whispered, anger and frustration tangling in my voice. “We’re chasing our fucking tails.”

The wind rustled through the towering bloodred oaks surrounding us, hissing like snakes in a pit. The trees swayed ominously against a starless sky, their twisted branches clawing at the void.

Ciaran reached for my hand as we stepped through the rubble, the crunch of charred wood and shattered glass beneath our boots the only sound breaking the heavy silence.

I frowned as I studied the hospital beds more closely. Strange half-melted metal lumps were welded onto the frames—two near the waist, two at the foot.

Realization slammed into me like a freight train. Clamps. For wrists and ankles.

A memory tore through my mind with visceral clarity. Cold, unyielding metal snapping shut around my ankles. My legs forced apart. The sterile bite of disinfectant in the air, masking the scent of fear and blood.

My stomach turned violently. I stumbled back, tripping over the charcoaled remains of what used to be a chair.

Before I could hit the ground, Ciaran’s arms were around me, pulling me flush against him.

“I’m sorry, Ava,” he whispered, his voice thick with pain.

I looked at the surrounding ruin, the horror of what it had once been. Perhaps it was a blessing this place no longer stood, that it couldn’t continue to exist as a factory for pain and violation.

But the knowledge of what had happened here—of what had happened to me —would never burn away with the ash.

“I can’t take this anymore,” I said, my voice breaking under the weight of my own anguish. Tears threatened to spill, but the scream clawing at my throat felt far more powerful. “How could human beings be so fucking evil ?”

Ciaran’s grip on me tightened. “We need to get you home,” he said softly, as if I were made of glass.

“She’s not a child who needs to be tucked in,” Ty argued from behind me, his tone sharper than usual.

“Enough,” I said, trying to steady myself, but neither of them listened.

Their bickering rose like a tide, grating on my raw nerves. Every word felt like a splinter under my skin. I turned, glaring at them as their voices overlapped, both trying to outshout the other.

Ciaran and Ty were supposed to be the answer. Together, we were supposed to take the Sochai down. But the only thing falling apart was us.

“ Enough, both of you !” I screamed, cutting them off mid-sentence. My voice echoed through the ruins, fierce and unrelenting, the words tearing from me like a primal roar.

Both of them fell silent, staring at me.

My chest heaved with the effort of containing my fury, my fists vibrating at my sides.

I felt like I was standing on a knife’s edge, every breath threatening to send me plummeting into chaos. My heart hammered painfully, caught between two opposing forces—two people who each held a piece of it.

“You have to stop doing this,” I said, my voice cracking. “Both of you.”

“Doing what?” Ciaran asked, his tone sharper than I’d expected.

“Fighting. Over me. Over everything. Like it’s a competition. Like I’m a piece of fucking meat.” I gripped the edge of the nearest crumbling wall, needing something solid to anchor myself. “It’s killing me.”

“That’s rich,” Ciaran said bitterly, his voice low. “You think this is easy for us? Watching you… wondering what you want, who you—”

“Who I what , Ciaran?” My voice rose, and I stepped toward him, heat flushing my skin. “You think this is easy for me? Being torn between two brothers that I—”

The words caught in my throat, snagged by the weight of what I was about to admit .

Ciaran’s eyes widened, and Ty took a slow step forward, his gaze narrowing as if he knew what was coming.

I could feel the confession clawing its way out, impossible to keep locked away any longer. My fists clenched at my sides as I took a shaky breath.

“I—” My voice broke and I clutched at my heart. “I can’t stop it, okay? I’ve tried. God, I’ve tried . But I can’t, because—” My chest heaved, and the words finally spilled out, unrestrained and raw. “Because I love you both.”

The weight in my chest lightened, but only for a moment. As soon as the words settled in the air between us, I regretted them.

Ciaran’s face crumpled, like my words were a physical blow. His sapphire eyes burned with disbelief and something sharper—hurt. For a moment, he looked like he didn’t know whether to run or fight, torn between his anger and his vulnerability.

“What?” he said, his voice cracking under the weight of the single word.

My stomach twisted painfully. “Ciaran—”

“No,” he interrupted, shaking his head like he could shake the truth away. “No, you don’t mean that. You can’t mean that.” His hands balled into fists at his sides, his knuckles whitening. “You love me, Ava. Not him. Not him. ”

“I’m sorry,” I said, dragging a hand through my hair. My voice softened, guilt thickening every word. “I tried to stop it from happening, but I couldn’t. I—”

My gaze fell on Ciaran as I spoke, my words for him. “I’m sorry .”

I tried to reach for him, my hand hovering between us, but he flinched back like I’d burned him .

“You have to choose,” he said, his voice dropping into something raw and guttural. His jaw clenched, and his gaze flicked to Ty, then back to me.

I shook my head, tears squeezing from my eyes as my heart shattered in my chest, my voice coming out as a broken whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“Say it, Ava.” Ciaran advanced on me as I cowered away from him. “Say you love me more.”

“Ciaran, stop,” Ty said, his voice calm but commanding, stepping forward to block his path.

“You did this!” Ciaran spat, rounding on him. “You fucking brainwashed her, corrupted her. You stole her from me, my own fucking brother .”

“Stole her from you? Stole her ?” Ty’s fury hit me like a tidal wave, his usual calm shattering as his voice rose, full of raw, unleashed emotion. “You promised me you wouldn’t touch her! You promised you’d keep your distance, but the second you thought I was dead, you pounced!”

My breath caught. Ty wasn’t just angry; he was livid in a way I’d never seen before.

Ciaran’s face twisted in anger, his shoulders tensing as he took a step toward his brother. “I was protecting her! Because you sure as hell weren’t going to!”

“Because I was rotting away in jail for you !” Ty’s voice roared, echoing off the night like thunder.

Ciaran stumbled back as if Ty had punched him, the color draining from his face.

Ty’s eyes burned with a fury that scared me more than Ciaran’s outbursts ever had as he advanced on his brother.

“You think you’re angry because of me? Because of her?” Ty stabbed a finger into Ciaran’s face. “You’re angry because you preferred when she was helpless little Ava, and now you can’t stand the fact that she’s strong enough to make her own choices—even if it means not choosing you. ”

The air between them crackled like a live wire.

I wanted to scream, to run, to pull them both back from the edge, but I was caught in the suffocating storm of their rage, my heart pounding painfully in my chest.

And I couldn’t fucking take it anymore.

“Stop it! I hate you,” I screamed at them. “I hate you both.”

I turned and ran through the forest, branches whipping against my face and arms as I plunged deeper into the shadowy depths.

I had no idea where I was going. But I wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.

The night air was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, filling my lungs as I gasped for breath. My feet pounded against the uneven ground, roots and fallen branches threatening to trip me with every step.

Behind me, I could hear them. Ciaran and Ty, crashing through the undergrowth, their voices calling out my name.

The sound sent a shiver down my spine, a mixture of fear and a hot dark thrill.

Memories of them chasing me when we were younger flashed through me— ready or not…

It had been a game then, a fun pretty game, but this wasn’t a game anymore, it was real. Terrifyingly real.

And it would end with someone’s heart broken. Maybe I wasn’t really running away from them as much as I was running away from that .

“Run, rabbit,” Ciaran called from the distance, his tone a mix of playfulness and menace that sent chills down my spine.

My heart pounded in my ears as I pushed harder, my legs aching as I leaped over fallen logs and ducked under low-hanging branches.

I tore past an overgrown mound tangled with morning glory, its delicate flowers gleaming pale in the moonlight—that must be the campus passagetomb Lisa was always going on about.

The thought was fleeting, gone almost as quickly as it came, drowned out by the crunch of leaves and twigs behind me, the sound of pursuit drawing closer.

Someone was right behind me. Getting closer. I could hear the sharp and precise breathing behind me, so close it felt like he was breathing down my neck, making my hairs stand on end.

Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, tackling me.

I screamed.

As we tumbled to the forest floor, he twisted mid-fall, pulling me on top of him so that his body absorbed the impact. The breath rushed from my lungs as we hit the ground hard, leaves and twigs crunching beneath us.

I could feel his heart hammering against my back as his hands grabbed me as if he couldn’t get enough, my breasts, my hips, my thighs, igniting sparks beneath my skin.

“I told you,” he hissed, his lips brushing my ear. “I’d always find you.”

Ty.

I shivered, torn between the urge to fight and the need to melt into him. The little chirps and cracks of the forest faded away, leaving only the sound of our ragged breathing and the pounding of my heart in my ears.

Ty’s hand pushed up my skirt, found the edge of my panties, and in one rough motion, he ripped them off.

I gasped as he rolled us over, pinning me beneath him on all fours. I heard his zipper go down.

“Wait,” I breathed, but my body betrayed me, arching into his touch, shivering with need. “We shouldn’t.”

Ty’s only response was a low growl as he thrust into me.

I gasped at the sudden fullness, my fingers digging into the earth beneath us. He set a punishing pace, each powerful thrust driving me forward.

The roughness of the forest floor scraped against my palms and knees, but the pain only heightened the pleasure. Leaves and twigs crunched beneath us as Ty pounded into me relentlessly.

The scent of pine and earth mingled with our sweat and sex, creating an intoxicating perfume, the cool night air on my flushed skin a stark contrast to the heat building within me.

Fuck, this was so wrong.

I bit my lip to stifle my cries, not wanting to alert Ciaran.

I couldn’t stand to have my shadow find his brother—his rival—taking me, claiming me on the forest floor.

“Fuck,” Ty hissed, “you feel like home.”

Ty’s words sent a shiver through me, igniting a fire that consumed all rational thought. His hands gripped my hips, pulling me back to meet each powerful thrust.

The surrounding forest faded away, replaced by a haze of pleasure so intense it threatened to overwhelm me .

My thoughts obliterated. All the guilt and heartbreak and angst dissolved under the waves of pleasure.

I couldn’t help but moan, losing myself in the sensation of Ty filling me completely, stretching me to my limits, every nerve ending in my body singing in a dark trance.

I didn’t hear the fast-approaching footsteps until it was too late.