Chapter 23The men move silently. A group of about 12 standing side by side. My heart beats wildly in my chest. Here we go. I spot Theo in the line of men, he gives me a reassuring smile and motions for me to breathe. The seer walks down the line of men, she stops in front of Theo and places a hand on his shoulder with a nod, then she continues down the line. Theo has the biggest grin and I know he's dying to run over to me. The seer stops again and we both look to see who else she has selected. It's the copper-haired man with the shy smile. Axel, I think his name was. He stares at me a little wide-eyed and his cheeks flush red. I think he may be in shock. The seer walks away without a word and I follow, Theo and Axel fall into step behind me as we silently go to collect the rest of my bonds. This is so weird. Sage leads us into the main study building, we pass door after door and then suddenly she stops and turns to face one of the doors. Damien steps forward and knocks on the door
Chapter 24I slam the door to my room and fling myself onto the bed, burying my face into my pillow and screaming all my frustration into it. Why would I get Mason as a bond? He hates me almost as much as I hate him. I can't believe I almost felt sorry for him! I thought maybe I'd misunderstood him, that behind the tough exterior was a scared and damaged man. “Fuck you, Mason!” I scream into the pillow. Letting all my rage flow out in my words. I'm so done with all of this. I want to go home. “Josie stop!” I hear as hands pull at me, lifting me from the bed. I struggle against the hold on me.“Get off of me! I just want to go home!” I shout, and then I'm overcome with the urge to vomit. I stumble out of the arms that were holding me and double over, clutching my stomach as I wretch.“Shh, it's okay, it will pass,” Luke’s voice soothes rubbing slow circles on my back. “What's happening?” I ask, my vision blurry and my ears ringing. “Well I'm no expert but I'm guessing you just disc
Chapter 25I sway my hips to the music as I slowly begin to undress. Luke’s eyes flash with a blue glow as he watches me, enraptured. “You seem to be wearing far too many clothes, Mr Weston,” I say when I get down to nothing but my plain black underwear. Luke moves quickly. Getting to his feet and kicking off his shoes to allow his pants and boxers to fall away. He pulls off his socks before getting to work on the buttons of his shirt, revealing a toned chest and tight abdomen. He's perfect. Once he's naked he watches me expectedly. I reach around and unhook my bra, throwing it across the room. Then I push down my panties, shimmying out of them and letting them fall to the floor as I step towards him. His hands land on my hips and he looks down at me.“You are so beautiful,” he whispers before branding his lips to mine. We move towards the bed, our lips never parting as I push him down and climb on top of him. I sit atop him and take a moment to look down and appreciate him. How did
Chapter 26Mr Collins stands motionless at the end of the bed, his jaw is tense and his fists clenched. “Deacon?” I ask, still a little dazed and unsure if this is a dream or reality. I lift my head and look down at the bare chest I'd been using as a pillow. Luke breathes steadily, still sleeping peacefully. Then a horrifying thought occurs to me. I'm naked. “Shit,” I curse. Trying to wrench the covers from under Luke and waking him in the process.“What’s wrong?” he asks, suddenly alert. Then he relaxes when he notices Mr Collins. “I see the search party found us,” he grumbles. My hand lands on a shirt and I quickly put it on. By the size, it must be Luke’s which is fine because it covers a little more than mine would.“Haven't you heard of knocking?” I ask, my voice laced with acid. Mr Collins remains frozen and it's starting to freak me out. “That is not how a headteacher should be staring at his student, Sir,” Luke mocks, clearly still as bitter as me about his words in assembly
Chapter 27I follow Luke into the first room and my jaw drops. It’s huge! And that bed is almost the size of my entire room at home. It must have bedding specially made for it because that’s no standard size. “Well this one is obviously yours,” Luke laughs at my expression.“What? I can't sleep in that, I'll get lost,” “Then it's lucky you have plenty of men close by to come find you,” he hums leaning down to kiss me. I indulge him for a moment before, breaking away to explore further. Luke follows as I check out the next room, it's nice. It's much more modest with a king-size bed.“I'll take this one, you can have the other,” I tell him.“Not sure that's going to work,” he laughs.“Why not?” “Because, my little goddess,” he pauses to grip my hips from behind and kiss my shoulder, “I don't think we would all fit in this bed,” he chuckles.“Excuse me? I will not be having everyone in my bed, at the same time,” I exclaim, feeling quite offended at his suggestion. “My bet is we will
Chapter 28“Leave,” Deacon growls, the sound is more animal than human and it sends a thrill through me. “Yes, Sir,” I smile, leaning down to pick up the card I’d dropped. I straighten my clothes and leave the room to find the others. He's clearly having some internal struggle and I'm not going to be the one to push him over that edge, no matter how exciting I find it. I already have Mason wanting me dead, I'd rather not add Mr Collins to that list. “Is everything okay?” Luke asks when I join them in the research room. “Yes, he was just updating me on my mum,” I smile, waving the doctor's card at him before sliding it into my jacket pocket. Theo gives me a knowing look and subtly taps his finger over his heart. I'm never going to be able to hide anything from them after today, am I? The room we are in is fully equipped with heart-monitoring equipment, floor mats and some other equipment I don't understand. Axel has his shirt off and has wires strapped to his chest and head. Damn,
Chapter 29Power surges through my hand and a flash of blue light blinds me. I stumble back. Alarms are blurring and everything is dark. “Don’t touch her!” I hear James warn someone.“I’ve got her,” Theo’s voice soothes as his arms wrap around me. “It’s okay Jose, you're safe,” Alarms continue to scream incessantly and I realise what it is, I've heard it on TV before. It's the sound of someone flatlining. Mason's heart has stopped. Theo had told me this had happened to him but I thought he meant for just a second, this feels like too long.“Mason,” I gasp, panic gripping me.“Give him a minute,” Theo says softly. My vision suddenly returns and I see Mason sprawled out on the mat, completely still. “Why is he not waking up? You were awake by the time my vision returned,” I say, my voice trembling. Tense seconds tick by as we all watch Mason. “40 seconds,” James calls. “Brain function active,” Sarah adds.“Prepare for defib,” James instructs and Sarah quickly moves closer to Mason
Chapter 30“Bullshit!” Luke exclaims.“You're lying,” Theo accuses. “You were all there, the seer did not identify me as one,” Deacon shrugs as if it's no big deal.“That was because the commotion broke her trance before she was done,” Luke protests.“I spoke with her afterwards and she said she was done, she only identified four bonds for Josie. Now let's get finished here so we can all leave,” Deacon orders, closing down any further conversation on it. The guys all look at him with suspicion, none of them fully believing this. Why would he kiss me like he did if he knew we weren't bonds? Maybe it's a fetish of his to kiss other men's bonds, Clarrisa’s bonds may be missing but she is still a bonded woman. I bring my fingers to my mouth. Remembering how it felt to kiss him. How can something that felt so right be so wrong? I know I should probably be angry or hurt, but all I feel is numbness. Anything I'd felt growing between myself and Deacon was wrong, it has to stop. He is my head