A commotion started in the hall and continued to the doors. Turning, I watched in horror as Alden entered, staring across the room before he moved to Ryder. I was up, running before I could talk myself out of it.
I leaped into the air, landing high on Ryder’s back, and then I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on. He made a strangled sound of surprise as everyone else observed, but didn’t move from where they stood.
“Run, Alden!” I screamed, offering myself as a sacrifice for him to survive.
“Why would I run, kid?” Confused, he looked from me to Ryder, then back as he frowned. “What the hell is happening?”
“You have to escape. Now!”
“Did you change sides in the war? Ryder, what the hell is wrong with her?”
I huffed, noting Ryder wasn’t even fighting against me, just huffing as well. I slid down his back and scrutinized him laughing at me.
I growled and kneed him in the nuts, watching him drop before I knelt in front of him. My finger tilted his chin up as I peered into his pretty eyes and smiled coldly. His lips lifted in a sneer, the first sign of anger he’d exhibited since I’d awakened on the field.
“You may have compromised my team, but you will never compromise me, dick-face fairy-fuck,” I hissed.
“Pet, I knocked you up and tore that pretty pussy up until it viscerally knew who owned it. I wrote my fucking name on your soul, and I assure you, I will do it again until you remember that you’re my wife. You already feel me. You may hate it, but you feel me inside of you, but that’s okay. I can wait you out. I damn sure plan to remind you why you’re mine, vividly, in every sexual way you’re imagining us together in that pretty head of yours.” His golden eyes stared challengingly at me.
“Fuck you, Fairy.”
“Nah, little girl,” he whispered huskily, licking his lips, which held me mesmerized as I imagined how they’d feel against my girly parts. His finger lifted my chin until I was forced to peer into his star-banked depths, lost in the galaxies of constellations that sparkled and burned for me and me alone.
“I’m not little.”
“I’m going to fuck you so hard that every time you sit down tomorrow, that pussy aches deliciously while you’re reminded of who the fuck made it throb as it clenches with the need to be fucked again. You’ll remember me tearing you up as you screamed for more, coming undone around me until you’re a quivering, shaking mess that pleads to be fucked repeatedly because you always fucking do, Pet. You’re insatiable, just like me, Synthia. If you’re a good girl, I may even give it to you a few times without making you beg for it.”
I laughed outright in his face at the absurdity of his words. “Oh, you’re hysterical if you think that is happening. Dream on! As if I’d ever beg for your dick. I’d rather ring the devil’s doorbell alone than ever let you touch it,” I snorted, turning to stare at Alden. “I can’t believe he got to you, too! Of all the stupid shit you have taught us! You should have been the one freaking person he couldn’t reach, old man! What the hell were you thinking coming here? And why the hell would you even step foot into Faery? You taught us that if a coven was pulled into Faery, they were a lost cause. But no, here you are! Inside. Faery. Old. Man!” I threw my hands up, stomping back to the other side of the room with hopelessness that ate at me as my mind ran scenarios around how we could have ended up here, and none of them were good.
“Are you seriously giving me the what-for right now?” Alden’s eyebrows shot to his hairline as he looked around the room. “What the hell is happening? Syn? Ryder?” he asked, turning his steel-colored eyes between us in confusion. “Why do you sound like the old Syn?”
“I’m not old! Balls!” I stomped further away from Alden, huffing as I sat in the chair, glaring daggers at the huge Neanderthal who was now speaking to Alden. I watched as Alden threw back his head, laughing at whatever the jerk was saying. I glowered, growing angrier by the moment.
“Well, now you know how it feels to lose every memory of who you were and who they expect you to become again. It’s not a pleasant feeling being fractured. Now you’ve gotten a taste of what I’ve been dealing with these past few months.” A beautiful redhead slid next to me into the empty chair. Her power slithered over me, and I studied her blue gaze. She was more powerful than anyone else in the room, even though she’d dimmed her energy.
“You’re not fae. What are you?” I asked bluntly.
“What am I?” She laughed, tapping her fingers on the table. “A little bit of everything, but right now? I’m a friend. You may not remember it, but when I needed a friend, you were there for me, Synthia. My memories are also scattered, so out of everyone here, I understand what you’re going through the most. No matter how much I pretend otherwise, I can still only access a very small percentage of my memories. Besides that, I’m also the Goddess of War, and good to have on your side.” She wiggled her brows, handing me a bottle.
“I am not accepting food or drink from any fae.”
“I’m not fae, now am I? You need a drink, and I don’t need to be told that you don’t drink alcohol at whatever age your brain is saying you are. You weren’t the good girl at the guild. I know. Alden’s told me horror stories about you that personally make me like you even more.”
“Great, since when did the fae become able to compromise the gods? No wonder everything is so fucked.” Picking up the bottle, I tipped it back, drinking deeply to ease the ache in my chest. I watched the man who had raised me studying me alongside that frustrating fae, who nodded, smiling smugly. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Well, at the very least, you should definitely kick his ass.”
“I think I’m going to like you,” I announced, handing her the bottle of scotch.
“Hey, we’re already friends. Not that I’m opposed to starting over, but I am hoping my friend comes back soon, Synthia. She’s a badass, and we need her to fight this war.”
“What war?” I demanded.
“The one we’re balls-deep in the middle of, and unable to stop without her,” she admitted, passing me the scotch again.
“Awesome, just fucking awesome,” I groaned, uncertain who to believe anymore.
My team had been brainwashed, as was Alden himself. Hell, I wasn’t certain that at this point that I wasn’t compromised as well. My body ached with a need to be touched, and I was never needy. I had never craved sex, but here I was, wet with anticipation for the asshole that held some invisible control over my body. Everything inside of me lit up like a Christmas tree in December every single time those golden-flecked eyes landed on me.