Ryder chuckled huskily, pulling my attention to where he stood, watching me with a wicked smile on his lips. My nipples pebbled with anticipation, beckoning him to taste them. My pussy clenched, weeping to be filled. I’d fallen down a rabbit hole, and in that rabbit hole, I was a hussy who wanted that monster to spread me wide and fuck me until I no longer cared to escape this alternate universe in which I’d woken. Ryder’s nostrils flared, and I shrank away from his gaze, praying to Hecate that he couldn’t smell the arousal that soaked my core. The hungry look in his eyes told me he could, and I blushed like some stupid school girl crushing on the bully who pushed her around. I was such an idiot.
Chapter Two
Alden attempted to explain everything to me slowly. The problem was, it was precisely the same story that Adam tried to convince me was true. My eyes literally could not roll back any further because they actually hurt. I shook my head, scowling through a growl of frustration as I glared at the elder who had been like a parent to me.
Alden and Adam had spent the last couple of hours telling me lies, and I’d started to block them out as I stared murderously at the male who now sat beside other fae men, glaring back at me as if we were in some kind of fae fucking standoff. He sat slightly forward, with his fingers steepled in front of him, oozing confidence he had no business leaking.
“Why would I marry that thing?” I demanded, throwing my hand in the direction of the asshole they were expecting me to believe I’d wanted to marry. As if! I wasn’t even old enough to want to get married, let alone the fact that I would never marry a creature like Ryder. He was fae, and I loathed every single detail about his breed. I had high standards, or at least higher than that!
“Because you love him,” Alden shrugged and sighed as he observed me rolling my eyes for the hundredth time in annoyance and disbelief. His hand scrubbed down his face, and he peered toward Adam, who grunted as he shook his dark head.
“No, I don’t even know him. If I did, I sure as fuck wouldn’t marry him. You also said I died, and clearly, I’m not dead. Not to mention that if I were actually some kind of goddess, wouldn’t I have powers? And if I had powers, wouldn’t I use them to get out of this place and back to the guild?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Adrian asked from a safe distance away from me. I’d unsuccessfully tried to free him from the meat suit he wore three times already. They finally removed all the stakes—or items that could be made into stakes—out of my reach, unfortunately.
“You and me, in the catacombs,” I snapped, blushing as a smile lifted over Adrian’s sinfully hot lips.
“The last thing you remember is me taking your virginity?” He lifted his brows and slid his gaze down my body as he swallowed hard.
“Yeah, but you had a pulse when I let you touch me, dick.” I dismissed him and looked away.
“Holy fuck! She’s seventeen.” Adrian’s eyes widened, and then he turned to look at Adam, who had suddenly gone still.
“We’re fucked,” Adam groaned, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. “Do you remember her at seventeen?”
“I do, unfortunately,” Alden groaned, running his hand through his hair. “I’ve never written that many accident reports in my entire life.” Someone walked across the room, handing Alden pictures, and he set them on the table in front of me.
I studied the one with Ryder kissing me in a dress I’d never wear in a million years. We looked happy together in the Photoshopped wedding pictures. Whoever had worked to make it look real had done an amazing job. His hands cradled my cheeks as we stared into one another’s eyes, happiness basking in them. I picked up another photo from the pile, staring at the children that stood around Ryder and me, causing pain to throb between my eyes.
I quickly hid it beneath the other, ignoring the tightening in my chest their little faces created. The next photo was of the guild, and yet again, Ryder was in the picture with several other men, but he didn’t fit into the photo. He and his men, who obviously had been edited into the image, weren’t smiling. The next was of us older, and I frowned, turning to look at Alden.
“Where is Adrian in these? We were never separated.”
“He, uh…he died, Syn. Adam, you may want to step back for these next images.”
“I can handle it,” Adam said, resting his hand on his knee that bounced nervously.
Alden handed me a folder, and I pulled out the pictures and dropped them to scatter over the floor as I stood, shaking my head. Nausea churned in my belly while I repeatedly moved my head from side to side.
Tears burned and pricked in my eyes. A sob broke from my lips as it rocked through me. I slammed my hands down on the table, and I stared into Alden’s shocked expression. Rage bubbled up through my chest, and I screamed at him, growling until my entire body trembled in horror from the grotesque images contained in the file.
“Why would you show these to me? Where is she?” I demanded, pacing as denial and fear pulsed through me, tightening in my belly until I was confident I was going to throw up everywhere.
“Calm down, Synthia,” Alden muttered, pinching his nose in frustration.
“Where is Lari? That’s not her!” I pointed at the pictures as a sob exploded from my lips. “It can’t be! I’d remember that!” My hands went to my hair before I moved to the table, shredding the photos before I threw them at the men sitting there. “You’re lying! She isn’t dead! She can’t be! You’re all horrible people.”
“Lari died, Syn. You went to the apartment, and she was being tortured. You were tortured too, and she was killed while you watched.” Adam stood as if he would comfort me. I clamped my hands over my ears and shook my head as tears ran down my cheeks. “She’s gone.”
“No! You’re sick! You are all sick! This isn’t a game, where is she?! What did you do to her?” I demanded, staring at Ryder, who studied me without the cockiness he’d shown before.
His eyes held regret, and his hands clenched as if he wanted to comfort me through the pain, and worse, I craved it from him. Unlike my coven, he wasn’t trying to show me horrendous pictures that depicted my best friend cut up and missing parts of her body.
“Synthia, a lot has happened. You need to recall who you are now,” Alden said as he stood. “We’re trying to help you remember, but you have to want to come back from this. Let us help you.”
“No, you’re compromised and under their control. You all are! You need to wake the fuck up and fight it! Your tattoos should be working. Mine is! Titus’s tattoos suck. I warned you to replace that loser weeks ago.”