Chapter 4

• I moved my stiffened limbs and groaned in pain as my back and shoulders reminded me of the cold that had pierced me and the ferocity of the chains around me. Then all the events before I passed out rolled through my mind, making me snap my eyes open. My heaving chest partially relaxed when I noticed I wasn’t outside anymore. I was in a warm room.
• And I was alive!
• When I tried to get up, I jerked back and glared at the handcuff around my right wrist. I was tied to a bed frame, lying on the mattress. The bed was large, and the sheets on top of me were dark gray and expensive.
• I examined the walls that were a similar color to the sheets, and my eyes raked over the few posters stuck on them. All university-connected and very much passive. Nothing personal. Well, if you didn't consider the mathematics competitions personal. The windows were covered by navy blue curtains and hid the outside from me. My attention shifted to the tidy desk next to them, the chair, and the small white carpet in their feet. There were a few what I thought to be sports cups put on a shelf and one or two car toys. Obviously a man’s room. My jaw tensed as I wondered what I was doing here.
• With a flinch, I checked my body and confirmed I was still wearing the same skimpy dress. A door to my left cracked open, and I swirled my eyes in its direction, ready to get my claws out. What, or who, showed up from the door made my breath hitch in my chest.
• That same man who had bathed in blood came into the room, brushing a towel over his head. His bright blue eyes found me, and he froze for a second.
• “You’re awake…” his deep voice noted, and I snarled.
• “Who are you and why am I here?” Every word I spoke hurt like a bitch, but I had to get to know the circumstances around me to be able to get out. This time, I wasn’t letting myself fall into a trap. I tried to study the items around me with my peripheral vision, still following the stranger’s figure.
• “Etienne,” he simply said, and I glared. “And you?”
• “None of your business,” I growled, leaning forward to look threatening. But before this tall and muscular guy, I looked like a simple cookie. He was the spiced-up brownies, and I was the boring flour cookie. Ugh, bad analogy.
• “True. It is not.” He kept taking steps to me with me trailing his every gesture. He was wearing a simple gray t-shirt over black slacks. They were all thin, so I could see there was nothing big or sharp hidden under them. Still, this revelation was far from guaranteeing my safety. Especially with what had happened in the forest.
• “Why am I handcuffed?” I demanded and pulled my wrist to rattle the cuffs on the metal frame.
• The dude lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know. They just left you here while I was gone.”
• They had left me here?! What the fuck?
• “But I need to know how you got here,” he continued, his smooth voice sliding on water. I shivered by the serenity in it. “Were you one of the volunteers? Even if I asked for none?”
• “Volunteers?” I sneered and snorted. “Volunteers for what? Turning into sacrifices? Becoming witnesses to your debauchery? As if, weirdo. No, but if you let me go, I promise you won’t get in trouble. My family—”
• “I don’t care about your family.” His voice rose, and a slight accent colored it. His almond-shaped eyes squinted as he reached the bed and sat on it. A rush of tension pooled me, and I stiffened. “I just want to know what you were doing out there in the forest in the middle of the damn night!”
• “I just got separated from my family,” I lied, wondering if that was the right decision. But I hoped it would get me out of here faster and alive. “So, I’m pretty sure now they are—”
• “There is nobody else out there in the forest, beauté,” he interrupted me again, and I shot him a nasty look. “Nobody is allowed out there. Didn’t you see the sign when you violated the border of the university’s private property?”
• Well, I hadn’t seen that. I didn’t let that show on my features. But was I still on school ground?
• “There are no families, no camps or fires out there.”
• “Yeah, only psycho cults, right?” I barked, and his jaw ticked. His mood grew worse as his gaze froze on me.
• “Listen, there is something important I have to make clear here,” he gritted out, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Fear erupted in me, and I held my breath. It was fight before flight, so I flew to the other side, grabbed the night lamp, and tried to swing it to the dude’s head.
• However, the cable and the fact he was much faster than me made my efforts go in vain. I couldn’t even turn to him before he leaned over me and shoved the lamp out of my clutch. It crashed on the wooden floor. Instinctive desire to cause damage overruled everything in me, and I swirled my head back. His miserable grunt made my lips twist into a smirk.
• The stranger collapsed on his bed, holding his chin in pain, and I turned to him, tracing his pockets with a hand. The key to the handcuffs had to be somewhere in there. It had to be!
• “Stop!” He grabbed my seeking hand and sat up, spitting blood to the floor.
• “He—” I started to scream, but he muffled my voice with his other hand and hovered over my body.
• I lifted my knee to punch him wherever I could, but in return, he sat on top of me and pushed my hips into the bed. His shadow covered the light of the chandelier behind him.
• “Feisty,” he commented as our eyes locked. They remained like this for a long moment until he sighed. “Don’t scream, there’s nobody who would help you here.” I bristled by his words, and he pursed his lips. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to help you get out of here unharmed, but you have to listen to me. And that would happen if you don’t scream and attract the Order’s attention on this room, okay?”
• Order… His gaze watched me closely, knowing he’d bait me with that particular word. And it worked. I nodded, and he removed his hand from my mouth, letting me finally breathe in peace. Just then, the realization his skin smelled of soap sank on me, and his image from last night appeared in front of my eyes. My lips parted for a loud scream on their own, but he closed them with his palm once more.
• “Don’t. Just… please, don’t,” he pleaded softly, and I blinked my tears away.
• My survival instinct was on. If I had escaped a tightly secured drug treatment center, I was going to escape a crazy cult too. I thinned my lips, and his flesh disappeared from me. He straightened, and his shoulders slumped.
• Etienne got off me and sat on the bed, letting me rest my back on the headboard.
• “So… You look like a smart woman,” he began, and I cocked an eyebrow. Nineteen was still just the beginning of womanhood, but I was going to proudly accept it, “so I’m going to be honest with you. If you want to survive, you’ll have to act like a meek cat instead of the wild tiger I saw just now.”
• I scoffed, and my chest rose with the arrogant puff of air I inhaled. He narrowed his eyes.
• “I hope you realize that if you tell about this to anyone, you’re putting yourself and your family in danger.”
• I nodded. As if I wasn’t already in mortal danger. Who knew where they had taken all that blood from. But he was right about one thing. Maybe I had to dance to his tune. At least until I found a way out.
• “Due to certain… circumstances, you’ll have to pretend you’re… my familiar,” he said, and I blinked incredulously. What the hell?
• “What?!” I rasped, my mind about to blow up.
• Etienne gritted his teeth and pressed his lips together. “To put it simply, you were led here to become my personal helper. At least, that’s what the others want you to be.”