I glanced up, then down, enthralled by the rainbow of lights.
Then a deep voice penetrated through my dizzying cloud, drawing me into the whiteness of the bathroom.
I’d fallen asleep on the tiled floor. Ryder crouched over me, his expression lined with a fury I didn’t understand. Had I done something wrong? Perhaps I’d ignored him too long. Sorry, I tried to say, but my throat was too dry to form anything more than a croak.
Whoa, I thought as my world began to spin, his arms suddenly a brand against my bare skin. What happened to my towel? Oh, who cared? We were spinning, and I was going to be sick again if he didn’t stop.
My stomach heaved, only I had nothing left inside me to expel.
How long had I lain on the floor? I tried to squint toward the window, to search for the moon, but I couldn’t find it. Where am I now?
A grungy cell appeared around me, one I knew well.
The mattress on the floor wasn’t meant for sleeping.
I glanced around, listening as women wept while males grunted.
This was a horror show and my new life.
A chill swept down my spine at the reality of it all. Why had the Magistrate sent me here? I had excelled in all my courses. I was meant to be a Vigil!
Oh, no…
I backed up, terrified as a green-eyed beast appeared outside my cage, his lips curled into a snarl.
A lycan.
Naked.
Ready to fuck.
No, no, no!
I squeezed my eyes closed, refusing to accept it, only to have warm hands on my face forcing me to refocus. Ryder.
What’s going on? I asked, tears tracking down my face as I wondered why he’d sent me to that awful place. Was I not good enough? Had I not pleased him correctly?
I wanted to sob.
And I wanted to kill.
It was a fascinating contradiction, my mind fracturing between defeat and vengeance. I’d given the university everything, and they sent me to hell. It was so damn wrong.
I should have gone with Rae and Silas to the Immortal Cup! I wanted to shout. And maybe I did.
Everything was so hazy now, my reality slipping away, down, down, down the drain.
I whirled with it, a circular motion of madness.
My name followed me along the way, as did those creepy green eyes, until everything around me disappeared beneath ripples of black.
Cold. Stark. Black.
20
Ryder
Twenty Minutes Earlier
Screaming came through the phone line, the words a jumbled mix of curses and threats. I yawned as I allowed Lilith to continue her tirade. She’d just found out about Yavi’s demotion, two hours after our first call earlier this evening.
Unfortunately, that left Benita on the suspect list as someone who might be informing on me to Lilith. That part disturbed me more than Lilith’s hissy fit.
Damien walked in and paused at finding me with my feet kicked up on my desk and my hands tucked behind my head. Then he glanced at the phone vibrating against the wood from Lilith’s tantrum. His lips quirked up in amusement before he sat in one of the two chairs across from my desk. He probably had an update for me but would wait until my phone call ended.
I started counting, wondering how long it would take for her to hang up on me.
When I reached thirty, I grew bored and decided to pull up my computer monitor instead to spy on Willow. It probably made me a bit of a creep, but I liked to check in on her throughout the evening. Mostly to satisfy myself that she still existed.
Only, when I pulled up the footage of the suite, I couldn’t find her anywhere. The only areas without cameras were the bathrooms.
My brow furrowed and I left the footage up, waiting for her to reappear again.
That was when I realized Lilith had gone silent.
I picked up the phone to find the call disconnected.
“I don’t think she approves of Yavi’s death,” I told Damien.
“No kidding,” he drawled. “And here I thought she’d roll out the red carpet and throw a party.”
“How long until she decides to surprise me with a visit?” I asked him. “Any guesses?”
“I give it a week, maybe two.”
“Then that’s our deadline for finding the leak.” I really hoped it wasn’t Benita, but I learned long ago never to trust anyone. And she’d seemed almost a little too eager to assist me lately. “I don’t want anyone in this tower that I can’t trust.”
“So we’ll be living here alone, then.” He sounded amused. “Can