“Guesswhatworks?” I asked.
“Seems like dark bond commands to me, except instead of Crescent… I can use them on my alphas. Which kind of makes me more alpha than all of you, doesn’t it?”
He disappeared back into the bathroom with as much nonchalance as he’d arrived with, and I exchanged a shocked glance with Vandle.
This… wasn’t something I’d ever heard of before, but the evidence was kind of indisputable.
After all, Vandle had fuckingbarkedfor him.
30
Five days until appeal
VANDLE
“...Red eyes…”
I woke the next morning to pounding pain assaulting my temples, but this was fucking important. There was a reason my fragmented memory pushed this in my direction.
It was the second night I’d woken with nightmares, but this time, there were words that came with it.
“...Danger…”
Sin.
A bond mark corrupted…
There was something… I wasn’t remembering.
I groaned, rolling over in bed only to hit my elbow on the metal bar keeping me from falling off the top bunk. That jolted me awake with a muttered curse, my elbow aching even more than my head.
I squinted around, the colourless room forming in the dimness, as I absently searched for the ink spill of colour.
There she was.
A spot of warmth among the grey.
Phantom had beaten me to Crescent last night. He was sandwiching her into her nest with Sin, and the three of them barely fit on the bunk with all the pillows.
One of Phantom’s legs was falling off, his foot on the floor, and Sin had wedged himself between Crescent and the cold stone wall, but I couldn’t see more than his arm draped over Crescent’s sleeping form.
I was the only one awake, and it was early enough in the morning that the doors were still locked.
The sheet beneath me was drenched in sweat; my body was sticky and sore, my head heavy enough it was a challenge to hold up.
My vision blurred if I tried to delve too deep into what memories my dreams had unearthed.
I thought, maybe, it had been triggered by seeing Sin in that cage with Crescent.
I couldn’t get them out of my mind.
Her eyes were that stunning gold… Yet, his stuck out for a different reason.
A red I’d never experienced in colour until that moment when he was so close to my scent match.
Therewassomething different about him; always had been, but I’d been too lost in ruts to notice. But now, seeing him and Crescent together, remembering the pull of the dark bond command from yesterday… something was nagging at me.
Pain lanced through my head, and I hissed, fingers pressing against my temples. I’d been gone so fucking long, it hurt to try to remember before.