Lyle hastily started typing commands into the console before him but as he hit the execute button, a message flashed up on the screen.
Signal lost. Unable to complete command.
“By the stars, what the fuck is going on?" I took in the riot spilling through half the prison on the cameras, my breaths coming heavily as I absorbed the chaos taking place downstairs. Holy fucking shit.
My heart sank like a fifty ton rock as Fae all across the cameras started shifting, their Orders spilling from their flesh, their jumpsuits torn to ribbons at their feet. My worst nightmare was materialising right before my eyes and I was frozen by the monumental problem staring me in the face.
"No," I gasped, my mind struggling to catch up and figure out a solution to the absolute mayhem unfolding before me.
My eyes hooked on a guard hurrying up the stairs away from the Belorian's cage, a wide grin pulling at his face. My face. What? How? Who?
Realisation struck me like a punch to the gut.
That piece of shit!
"Sin Wilder," I hissed, pointing him out. "His Order's free and he’s impersonating me."
"Oh my stars," Lyle breathed as he gazed at the carnage, the guards using magical force to try and wrangle the masses, but with all their Orders loose, we were totally fucking outnumbered. They'd overrun Darkmore in less than an hour if we didn’t act fast.
"Something's happened to the Order Suppressant," I growled, finding myself hunting for Rosalie in the crowds, but there were blind spots all over this prison. She could be anywhere. And why did my gut tell me she was somehow at the heart of all this?
The curse mark throbbed on my arm as anger at her twisted through me. I didn’t know how, but I was sure she was to blame for some of this. Where there was trouble, that girl seemed to reside. And as my mind hooked on that thought, the curse punished me for it and I could feel the vines growing across my chest, laying claim to more of my body. Pain splintered through me and I blinked hard, trying to force it back, needing to fight it off now more than ever.
I managed to keep it at bay as I took a steadying breath and backed up towards the exit while Lyle continued to gape at the cameras, apparently too shellshocked to do anything but stare on at the madness.
"I have to get down to the Order Suppressant tank. Keep trying to send the Belorian back to its cage." I shot back into the hall, tearing towards the open elevator at the other end.
My heart lurched as I spotted Rind's body on the floor of it with a dick drawn on his unconscious face and a lemon stuffed in his mouth. I knew without a doubt who’d put him there; the same guy walking around in a guards’ uniform wearing my star-damned skin.
Before I made it into the elevator, a metal shutter slammed down over it right in my fucking face. I collided with it, unable to slow in time and I stumbled back with a curse. It was the only fucking way out of here, and this shutter was only supposed to come down if an override code was entered in an emergency.
Fuck!
My head spun as the curse rose up again and nightmares flickered through my head, pain bursting through my skull.
I was half aware of my knees hitting the floor as darkness descended on me and I fought to stay awake, desperate not to succumb to its power at this most crucial moment. The warden wasn’t here tonight. Which meant I was in charge.
So I had to get up.
Restore order.
Find Rosalie…
But the curse overwhelmed me and I fell into a sea of pain as I was punished for the girl I’d hurt at the worst moment possible. Darkness washed through me as I passed out and I was forced to let go of the world around me.
I 'd headed back upstairs, searching every level, cursing as our time ticked down. But Rosalie couldn't leave without Sin and I sure as shit couldn't leave without Rosalie. So where had that fucking Incubus gotten to?
I made it up to level three where the Magic Compound was, shoving through a bunch of inmates and hurrying toward a huge Bear who was fighting ferociously with a Centaur. I was almost trampled by the Centaur's hooves as he charged down the Bear and I fought