servant forward, gesturing for him to come closer. The vampire whispered in Clarence’s ear and he started to laugh, quietly at first, then louder and louder.
Fear prickled Jonas’s skin for the first time. He watched the staircase with the anxiety writhing in his bones. It couldn’t be Ginny. It couldn’t be. But he didn’t like the way his sire watched and waited for his reaction, almost gleeful in his anticipation.
God no. What was this?
The pure scent of Ginny reached him and a bellowed denial ripped out of his throat with such force, he tasted blood. And when she came into view, he could barely register what his eyes were telling him, the scene was such an abomination to his senses. Elias dragged—dragged—his Ginny into the gigantic hall by her hair.
“Oh my God. What is this?” she screamed, twisting in Elias’s grip. “Why are you doing this? Please let me go, let me go, let me go. I just want to go home.”
Jonas’s vision tripled and swarmed back together, his equilibrium diminished almost entirely. Somehow he remained standing under the weight of denial. Ginny in this place. His mate surrounded by beings that could break her neck with the snap of a finger. Vulnerable. Scared. Brought here by a man he’d considered his best friend. No. No.
Was she hurt? Jesus Christ. This betrayal couldn’t be happening.
He’d been prepared to exchange his life for her safety and now she was in the midst of wolves. Exposed. No. Please God no.
“Elias,” Jonas shouted, sounding and feeling like a wounded animal. “What have you done?” Elias threw Ginny down to the ground and she looked up at Jonas…
…as if she didn’t know him. Had never met him in her life. Her gaze went right through him like a sword cutting into water, her pulse erratic and wild, like it had been when she fell from the bridge. “Ginny?” With a shaking hand extended, he went toward her, intending to pick her up, cradle her, find the injuries and try to heal them. Now now now. It was his duty and he craved them, even in the midst of his utter terror. “Come to me, love. I’ll make it all right. I won’t let them hurt you.”
“How do you know my name?” Ginny breathed, crawling backwards, away from him. Away. From. Him? “I don’t understand why I’m here! What is happening?”
Jonas ran into an invisible barrier, ice forming a frigid layer on his skin. His voice emerged sounding like a wheeze. “What do you mean, how do I know your name?”
Elias’s dark laughter rang out. “I did what you were too weak to do. She remembers nothing of Jonas Cantrell.” With a hateful smirk in Jonas’s direction, he turned to face the High Order and executed a sweeping bow. “For years, I’ve urged him to resume his duties and he refuses. He does not deserve the honor—an honor I covet above all else.” He flicked a wrist in Ginny’s direction. “Take this as my show of good faith. Consider me for his council seat instead. I will spend my every waking breath undoing the damage he’s done to your reputation—in a way only I can. I know every place he’s been, every vampire he’s met with, every safe haven he’s established.”
Torment seared Jonas’s insides.
He’d been dropped into hell to be roasted among sinners.
A violent ringing started in his ears and vibrated down his spine and if he had a functioning stomach, he would have emptied it on the ground at that moment.
No.
No.
No.
Yes, the betrayal was equivalent to a spike being driven into his stomach, but he could focus on nothing but Ginny. His love looked right through him as if she’d never met him. Never spent hours speaking to him, never kissed him or enraptured him with her laugh. Every magical minute since he’d woken up on her table…gone? How could that be? How could such valuable, perfect hours cease to exist? His mate didn’t know his touch. She didn’t know he would keep her safe. Didn’t know him at all. These realizations hit fast and hard, leaving him bereft, stumbling sideways in front of the Order and nearly dropping.
“Look at him,” marveled the king. “A shell. Over an inconsequential human.”
“I’m going to kill you, Elias,” Jonas choked out, doubling over, bracing his hands on his knees. “How could you do this?”
Not only to him. But to Ginny.
How many times had she begged him to leave her mind intact? Once upon a time, had he