Page 7 of Revenant (Spirit Realm #2)

RUE

I ’m barely able to concentrate with Jaceson sitting so close. After being without the guys for so long, I thought I built them up in my mind. If anything, it’s the opposite—they’re even bigger and more handsome than I remember.

I want to fling myself into his arms, still able to taste him on my lips—sunshine and outdoors—and it’s all I can do to stay seated. The last thing I want to do is draw a target on his back.

Although, that ship might have sailed with his confession of love.

I want to smack him for revealing such a weakness out loud. Something tells me that they won’t hesitate to use it against the both of us. And yet, despite the danger, his admission is on repeat in my head.

Jaceson loves me.

My heart flutters like a hummingbird trapped behind my ribs, his words imprinting on my soul. I’ve dreamed of someone saying those words to me since I was a little girl, but I never expected to hear them for the first time in an insane asylum.

It’s almost ironic that I had to be committed to finally find what I’ve been looking for all my life. While I’m not sure what his relationship is with Crystal, just seeing the two of them together turns my stomach like I swallowed razor blades.

My stay in the asylum has altered me on a fundamental level, my instincts more ruthless, and I struggle to control my rage. Frost decorates the tips of my fingers, the need to remove her from the face of the earth for daring to touch what is mine nearly impossible to resist.

If there weren’t so many eyes watching, I wouldn’t even hesitate.

Unfortunately, it’s imperative I don’t lose control.

I refuse to become a lab rat because of that bitch.

If my emotions bleed into the spirit realm, Crystal might very well find herself torn into tiny, itty-bitty pieces by vengeful ghosts. Not that I would mind, but the need to protect the guys overrules my bloodthirsty thoughts.

To keep them safe, I need to keep my abilities a secret. The first order of business is to figure out how this place runs.

“What are morphs?” I ask again, focusing on the other three sitting at the table.

Sue snorts, a hardness entering her expression. “You really are na?ve, aren’t you?”

“That won’t last long here,” DJ mutters, not looking up from his plate as he scrapes it clean.

“Only two types of people ever enter the dungeons—special snowflakes like you, or the rejects like us. We don’t have mental abilities like your kind. Our abilities are more physical. We’re faster. Stronger. More primal. Like they turned back the evolutionary clock.

“Doctor Frankenstein injects us with his unholy serum. It’s not long before the few of us who survive the transition wish we had died with the others.” Bitterness twists her expression, her smile all teeth. “We’re expendable.”

“Or maybe we were the first species to roam the earth, hunted to near extinction by humans, and you’re the next step in the evolutionary ladder?” I relish the thought of getting justice for all the wrongs done to me, but I doubt that will happen in my lifetime. As much as I want to sympathize with her situation, we are both in the same boat—stuck in the dungeon. “What is he trying to achieve?”

Sue looks at me, raising an imperious eyebrow in my direction, and her tone turns dark. “Isn’t it obvious? He wants the abilities people like you possess. We’re all his test monkeys. Some of us are just more expendable than others.”

Without saying anything else, the three of them stand in unison and abandon the table, leaving me alone with Jaceson.

I glance down at my food, pushing it around on my plate, my brain struggling to process the overload of information. I believed I was alone with my abilities. A freak. To find out otherwise boggles my mind. Discovering other people exist, who are even more different than me, breaks my brain.

And Jaceson and Gunner are smack dab in the middle of it.

Because of me.

“You shouldn’t have come,” I chide Jaceson, unable to look at him as I watch the other people finish their meals and depart.

Now that I know no one here is who they seem, I can spot the differences. Fangs instead of teeth. Claws instead of fingernails. Ears that are a little bit too pointy. Hair a little too shiny, eyes the color of precious stones. Not to mention guards armed with weapons that can kill.

Jaceson snorts, shaking his head like it’s the most ridiculous statement he’s ever heard. “You would’ve come for me.”

That gives me pause, and I peer at him in confusion. “You seem pretty confident of that.”

“Of course,” he says, pushing his tray away to lean on the table, never once taking his gaze from mine. “We’re family.”

I rub my forehead, then run my hand down my face, flashing him a frustrated look. “I don’t understand what that means.”

He wiggles his ass, shuffling closer until he’s right in my face, every inch of him plastered against my side. “Liar. You know exactly what it means—you are one of us.”

My heart clenches at his declaration.

I had thought the same thing…until they turned on me.

Now I’m not sure what to believe.

That they came for me, put their lives at risk, should absolve them of their wrongdoing…yet a tiny sliver of doubt remains. I’m not sure how I can ever trust them completely. I want to believe they won’t turn on me again, but an insidious little voice at the back of my mind won’t be silenced.

“Come…we should go.” Jaceson rises to his feet, then holds his hand out for me to take. “We have things to discuss.”

I study his hand for a moment, then hesitantly place my own in it, my resolve firming. He’s in this mess because of me. That means it’s my job to protect him. Everything else is a distraction that I will worry about once we manage to escape.

As we walk out with the other inmates, I’m conscious of Jaceson lingering close to my side…and the way the guards follow our every move.

No, not us…just Jaceson.

As we exit the room, their gazes crawl over my skin like a bunch of cockroaches looking for their next meal. As we turn the corner, I can’t repress a shudder and peer at Jaceson from the corner of my eyes. “What the hell did you do to draw the guards’ attention?”

He sighs heavily, shrugging his shoulders with a wry half smile. “What can I say? I make friends wherever I go.”

I snort at the absurdity, but that grin fades as the cozy image of Crystal and Jaceson flashes in my head. I’m so distracted that I’m taken by surprise when he snags my elbow and swings me around until my back is pressed against the wall.

A few of the other inmates glance at us with disinterest, not even slowing their pace as they pass in the hallway. Jaceson presses his hand against the wall near my head and leans toward me, his expression intense, his blue eyes never straying from mine.

My hand automatically comes to rest on his chest, and I’m unsure if I’m trying to keep some distance between us or if I can’t resist touching him.

Maybe a little bit of both.

“I know I hurt you,” he begins, and I glance away, not wanting to hash out things that happened months ago. He cups my face, his fingers warm against my skin, and I hate that I’m softening toward him from a simple touch.

He turns my face in his direction, a furrow appearing between his brows, and I’m annoyed when my insides turn all gooey under his attention. That’s when I notice his naked thumb, minus my ring. The hard shell around my heart thickens a little more.

I will not be fooled again.

“Where is your ring?” I curse the quiver in my voice, wishing I wasn’t so damn susceptible to their charms.

He automatically touches his naked thumb, a familiar scowl twisting his expression. “They confiscated it on intake.”

A growl tinges his voice, and he scrubs the back of his neck in irritation. That’s when I spot a nasty bruise on the side of his neck, one I recognize as an injection mark. Murderous rage sears through me that they would dare touch him. I reach into my pocket, my fingertips brushing the ring, and I slowly pull it from my jeans.

I uncurl my fingers, revealing a gleaming silver circle in the center of my palm.

I don’t even have time to blink before he snatches it from me and slips it back over his thumb. A pleased smile curls his lips, an outright grin that leaves me dazzled. It’s like I gave him back his most prized possession. “How did you get it?”

I purse my lips to give myself time to think of a plausible lie. The last thing I want is to confess the truth—that I don’t know. One disturbing thought occurs to me. Ghosts. They returned it to me in order to please me. That they did it without prompting is worrying.

They’re becoming sentient.

Before I can think of anything, he leans down and nips at my bottom lip. “The truth, little minx.”

I hesitate only a moment longer, then sigh in defeat. “It just showed up in my room,” I mumble, refusing to say more.

Jaceson was always able to read me, and his eyes widen in understanding. “I see.”

“Jaceson—”

“No,” he cuts me off before I can respond, then he grabs my hand and hauls me down the hall with stiff shoulders. “We didn’t believe you once, and we nearly lost you. We won’t make that mistake again.”

I can barely keep up with his quick pace, his warm hand nearly burning mine as I clutch him close. I don’t like remembering the painful times before I was taken. I was supposed to be free. I was supposed to be living a life with a brighter future.

Instead, I am in more peril than ever.

Then I recall the fateful words I heard right before I left my father’s mansion— You will find people who will protect you. If you don’t fight for them, your protectors will suffer.

Save them and save yourself.

It’s imperative the guys leave immediately, or I fear we will all be doomed.

Now I just have to convince the stubborn asses to leave.