Page 39

Ever

T he door opens, Dane standing there with a controller in hand. He doesn’t say a word as he strides right in without a trace of fear. I track his gaze as it slides down to Skylar’s wrist, a small frown forming before his eyes quickly flick to the tray of food and away.

Guess that answers the question of if he slipped a bonding potion in our water. If I get out of here, I’m never going to give Bellamy shit over his stranger danger paranoia again.

When, not if. I’ll rage quit life before I let this asshole win.

“Come along, then,” he commands, snapping his fingers and expecting me to fall into line and follow behind him like a trained pet.

I really should have anticipated the shock that comes through my collar.

“Forgive her, Mr. Nocturne, she doesn’t know what’s expected of her yet,” Skylar says between gritted teeth, pulling me up off the ground.

That gives Dane pause. “Promising,” he murmurs under his breath before taking me by the arm and dragging me out of the cell, slamming the door behind us and leaving Skylar trapped.

“You brought this on yourself,” he says with a disappointed shake of his head as he leads me up the basement stairs, muscles still twitching and sending up a silent thank you to the universe that I didn’t pee myself when I was electrocuted.

Missing a step as I hurry to keep up, he yanks my arm to keep me moving and upright, growing more agitated with every passing minute. “I gave you one rule, and you broke it on the first day!”

“Well how the hell was I supposed to know which one was the west wing? It’s not like you have compasses strapped to the bannisters!”

He glowers at me, but thankfully, doesn’t shock me again.

“Here's what's going to happen. You're going to finish the device and heal my mate.”

“Let me guess. If I don’t, you'll kill me?”

He scoffs. “And throw away a mimic ? Like I told you from the beginning, Ms. Moore.

I've been searching for something special for years.

The mermaid scales were all but useless.

Unicorn blood helped for a few months, but they die far too quickly in captivity.

So far a phoenix has been the only thing that's had an effect long term, but even that's waning as of the last year.”

He shoves open the door and all but tosses me into my chair in front of the workbench.

“You’ll help my mate, or those men of yours will die a slow, painful death you’ll have a front-row seat to.

I’ll put them in the cell next to yours and let you watch as they die of starvation, giving them just enough water to stretch out their suffering.

Helpless to save them. Unable to comfort them. Just a slow, miserable way to die.”

Unfortunately for him, there’s something Dane Nocturne doesn’t understand. In the supernatural world? There’s always a bigger monster out there.

Tugging the sphere closer, I start unscrewing one of the panels as he watches my every move. I don’t even have to say anything; after a few minutes, he starts talking to fill the silence.

“I came to Mercy Ridge in search of a miracle. And lucky me, I stumbled across two .”

Fuck. He’s more aware than I gave him credit for.

“Thank goodness for that mate of yours clueing me in. Imagine my surprise when I was wandering the city getting a lay of the land and he simply shouted to the world that, ‘I’m a mimic. And Ever is too.’ I nearly walked right past the answer to my prayers.”

I close my eyes in defeat. The night Bell confessed to us all what he was before Myles could get the sound barrier up.

Moving onto the next screw, I tentatively ask, “How did you even get in? The barrier is supposed to prevent anyone that comes there with the intent of hurting someone within the wards.”

His dark chuckle has an unpleasant shiver snaking down my spine. “Only useful thing Adam Carrington has ever done. When he came clean about it being your project and not his as he'd led us to believe, he brought one of your mate’s inventions as a consolation prize to try and save his ass.”

When Myles decked him and Adam crashed into that shelf. Son of a bitch

“Brilliant little thing,” Dane continues. He pulls a slim TV remote-looking device out of his pocket, marveling it in the light. “Weakens wards enough I was able to walk right through, like a supernatural skeleton key.”

Shit. Can’t let the psycho have free reign with something this powerful. He'd be an unstoppable dictator.

Seeing the cube from when I first met Myles resting on the bench, the last piece of the puzzle comes together.

“So when your mate’s healed, if this even works, then what? You keep her locked up here for the rest of her life so she never finds out you're lying to her about Cyrus still searching for her?”

His demeanor shifts in an instant. “You'd do well to remember I only need you so long as you serve a purpose. Breathe a word about that pathetic whelp, and it's your mates that will pay the price. Am I clear?”

I grind my teeth and spit, “Crystal.”

Careful about my sleight of hand, I finish ‘swapping out the core’ and put everything back together under Dane’s diligent observation.

“It's done then?” he asks, excitement spurring him to his feet.

I bite my tongue, forcing a placid tone. “As much as I can do without ever actually meeting your mate like I've been telling you from the beginning. But this,” I lift Myles’s cube, “Will attune to her energy signature and-”

“Yes yes, I don't need all the technical jargon,” he waves off. “It'll work, though?”

Don’t punch him in the face, don’t punch him in the face.

“Absolutely.”

Just not the way you're hoping.

He grabs my arm and hauls me up the stairs and through several hallways before gently rapping his knuckles against a door, not waiting for a response before he enters. “My love, I have a surprise for you!”

Dark hair falls in silken waves to her shoulders, pillows propping her up in bed as Sophia lowers her book slightly. I meet her eyes, pleading, and watch as shock transforms her face upon seeing my collar. “Dane…” she says, eying me with trepidation. “What’s going on?”

She sets her book aside and struggles to sit up. He rushes over to help her, sliding an extra pillow behind her back. “I found a mimic willing to help you.”

Her gaze darts between us as she slowly asks, “Did you? Because that looks an awful lot like a shock collar.”

He goes rigid. “Yes, Ever agreed to help. I paid her handsomely for the privilege.”

The privilege of being a slave. Right, that’s totally what happened.

Snagging my wrist, he drags me closer, ignoring my hiss of pain. “And if she can’t help, she can always bond the phoenix so your treatments will be effective again.”

She tucks a lock of dark hair behind her ear, nervously glancing between the two of us.

“What the heck are you talking about? Dane, you can't force people to bond. And kidnapping people?! I can’t,” she shakes her head, fighting against the blankets and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “No, I don't want any part of this.”

She makes it to the closet and despite her struggling, manages to pull down a suitcase, and I watch nervously as Dane’s mask doesn’t just slip. It shatters .

Fury flashes across his eyes. “No.”

“I’m sorry?” she asks, walking an armful of clothes towards her bag.

He yanks them out of her hands, putting her clothes back up on their hangers in their closet with unwavering resolve. “No, you’re not leaving me.”

She sucks in a sharp, annoyed breath. “You don’t get to decide that.”

“Like hell I don’t. You’re my mate.” A dark shadow takes over Dane’s countenance, glowering between the two of us like we’re the problems. “Now sit. Down.”

Sophia reluctantly drops to the edge of the bed, watching him warily.

“You’re sick, darling. You don’t know what you need.” His fingers dig into my already bruised arm with cruel force. “But mimics are known for their abilities to level up mysts. Ever can heal you, and everything will go back to how it used to be.”

Shoving me in front of her, I take a second to talk myself off the ledge before I try to pop out his eyeballs with my thumbs. Tempting, but not a long term solution.

Or is it?

Shaking off my murderous thoughts, I force a smile for Sophia’s sake that she can clearly tell is strained.

“I’m going to need you to keep this on you at all times, okay?

If you’re lying in bed? It’s sitting beside you or on your end table.

Go to the bathroom? It better be sitting on the counter.

This cube needs to be within arm’s reach for at least twenty-four hours, understood? ”

Read between the lines, Soph. Please.

“Okay,” she eventually drawls, and I press the cube into her hands, flipping the switch on the bottom and whispering in her ear, “Dane’s lying, Cyrus has never stopped looking for you, and he definitely hasn’t moved on.”

She sucks in a sharp, shaky breath. Locking eyes with Dane over my shoulder, she barely moves her lips as she asks, “Are there others?”

“Six, including me.”

She screws her eyes shut. Louder, she declares, “Understood. Cube glued to my side until further notice.”

I offer a gentle squeeze on her elbow and murmur, “Then I need you to play along even when this wears off, okay?”

She gives me a returning squeeze I choose to interpret as agreement. At my normal volume again, I fake enthusiasm. “Then let's get this show on the road!”

Taking a shaky breath, I close my eyes and focus, reaching deep and pulling on my bonds.

Bright, tingly champagne bubbles rush up as I tug on my connection to Myles.

Cool, rushing comfort enveloping me with Arson.

Ledger's woodsy, steady strength. And Bellamy's electric current, sparking off of the other connections and supercharging them until every breath feels like I'm exhaling a static current.

Gripping the sphere tight, I scream.

Every frustration, every hope, every dream; I pour them all into the metal ball clutched in my hands. When my palms begin to heat, I dig deeper until I'm screaming, muscles trembling as I drop to my knees, throwing everything I have into the damn thing.

As I collapse onto my ass, I suck down several ragged breaths, pulling on the last vestiges of my strength to steal Sophia’s ice abilities.

I just hope it buys us enough time.