Who the hell is she? Not some altruistic doctor, that’s for sure. Not just anyone could take me off guard like that, let alone physically bend me to their will.
She was fast, talented and damn experienced. A great combination for someone that’s dangerous. I could fight and disarm her in a second. Instead, my curiosity was sparked.
“Who are you?” I asked, dropping all pretence.
She leant in slowly, her blade digging deeper into my skin, a trail of blood escaping the incision. “Let’s just say, I can help you escape.”
“There is no escape.”
She pressed closer, her exhale teasing my neck. “We will see.” My heart skipped a beat when her wet tongue flicked out, stealing a taste of my blood. She abruptly pulled away, unlatched the door and made her escape without a backward glance.
I caressed the lingering spot where she’d licked, my fingertips coming away stained bright ruby red.
My cock was strained, my mouth agape, my mind a convoluted mess.
What the fuck just happened?
When I came back to my senses, something hard and small dug into my hip. A swipe card was wedged inside my waistband. Displayed on top was the clear professional picture of a smiling siren with her name printed directly below—Dr Olivia Chaser.
Chapter 4Micah
Ientered the crypt surrounded by skeletons, entrenched within the tombs of the dead. They’ll keep our secrets buried amongst their graves.
Our prisoner’s naked body sagged from his elevated wrists, bare and blistered from the rusted chains. The Ludus Maximus tattoo proudly gleamed on his chest, mocking me with its reflection from the cheap lamps sporadically spaced on the cold stone floor.
Emerson stood in the centre, saturated in blood, a pair of pliers clutched in her delicate hand. She turned at my arrival, hawk eyes zeroing in on my injured face. “What the hell happened?”
I waved her off, not wanting to stain my suit. Blood was a bitch to wash out. “A slight hiccup.”
“I hope he came away worse than you?”
A flash of reminiscence blinked before my eyes: the exact moment I was pinned against the wall. Everything careened downhill from there.
I initially removed my coat to gain a thorough reading of his aura (outside of my siblings, my ability made close proximity uncomfortable, and physical contact virtually abhorrent).
Frighteningly, Psycho’s touch wreaked havoc on my Variant in ways I’d never experienced.
Seeing his vivid blood stain my blade, tracking down his tattooed, pulsing neck…the call was inevitable, the demand so primal I couldn’t resist a taste—even if I was fully aware of the decision.
In spite of my foolishness, I didn’t regret the act, his dumbfounded shock enough to override my reservations. Involuntarily, my mouth lifted into a smirk at the memory.
Emerson groaned. “Forget it. I don’t want to know.” Turning back to her test subject, she continued her questioning. “Titus, tell us everything you know about Amp and the Ludus’ role in its distribution.”
With a cocky reply, he spat at her feet. I snickered. Despite his mangled flesh and marred frame, Titus had some massive balls—literally and figuratively. Yuck.
Due to his insolence, Emerson’s last remaining thread of restraint irrevocably snapped.
I shook my head at his idiocy as she rose to the challenge. He soon released a sharp grunt, before another tooth was wrenched from his witty mouth, the chains groaning from the added weight of his limp form. A thick layer of drying blood was all that remained from the gaping holes that were now his toothless gums.
Titus was no innocent, and certainly not someone that would be mourned. For all the people he had betrayed and hurt throughout his lifetime, this was a mere pittance.
There is no escape. Not for him. Nor for us.
I circled the room, cutting directly behind him, and spared Emerson a quick nod for the finale. A sly smirk pulled from her lips before she opened the iron door at her back. It jolted with an audible wheeze to display a weeping woman cowering on the floor, her high-pitched whine grating against my heightened senses.
Emerson latched her blood-stained fingers into the woman’s brown hair, dragging and depositing her at the feet of her wretched lover.
“No, please,” Titus said, words muffled, his false bravado crumbling. “She has nothing to do with the Ludus.” My tattoos prickled from the fear permeating his voice, infused in his very breath. This was the first time he’d used the word ‘please’. I quite liked the sound coming out of his mutilated mouth.
“If you don’t provide any valuable information, she will be punished.”
“Leave her be,” Titus hung his head in defeat. “Maximus told no one about the drug trade.”
“You are a high-ranking official in the Ludus Maximus, and one of his closest confidants.”
“That means fucking nothing! I may have been a close friend in the past, but he’s become senile in his old age.”
Emerson strolled to the table of assorted torture weapons and scanned a loose hand over the display. “That isn’t good enough.” Her voice was so sweet, it was almost sickly.
“I swear. He doesn’t trust me—or anyone—anymore. Not after Psycho.” Titus hesitated, his gaze resting on the blatant view of his woman gagged and chained. A stark reminder of his vulnerability if he didn’t keep talking. “Psycho. The champion of the Caverns, and undefeated gladiator of the arena. Kid climbed the ranks fast and was the shining glory of the Ludus. Maximus treated him like a long-lost son. Until ten months ago, when he was sentenced to life at Oakview Asylum.”
“Why?” I whispered onto the nape of his neck, sending tremors over his scarred skin.
“No one knows. One day he was an integral part of the Ludus, the next he was locked up in high-security. Maximus has been paranoid ever since.” His gaze bounced between my sister and I, awaiting judgement. “That’s all I have. There is no one besides Maximus himself who can give you what you want.” He knew full well we couldn’t reach him ourselves.
Emerson narrowed her eyes in concentration, monitoring his pulse for any falsehood. Her features cleared, resolute and hard, before giving the iron door a sharp rap with her fist.
Titus tracked the opening and Emerson leant against the torture table.
