Chapter 34 Alexander
Alexander
One moment, I rode with Cayden and my enforcers, the next, black. Strange voices muttered, a crow cawed. No hooves, no rhythm. I drew a breath and wheezed through lungs that weren’t mine.
I had to be at the edge of Alex’s range, unless he’d waited outside The Pit.
Then this was a trap. I pried my eyes open and found myself sitting in a cart.
A McDonald guard sat at my side with an ax lying across his lap, which matched a thin iron circle around his throat.
The voices came from two more, one on the ground and the other the driver, wearing the gray camo of a body snatcher, both with the exact same thin iron circlet.
‘You stupid fool. You had no idea,’ Alex whispered.
I didn’t respond. Quinn wasn’t in The Pit yet. I had time to fix this.
Yesterday, I’d ridden in braced for anything, mind stretched wide, shields layered thick, body strapped to my horse, determined to cage Alex until Quinn was out of sight.
But nothing had happened.
Today I’d slipped. Alex had me.
‘I do! A hundred and twenty-eight little toy soldiers, and you didn’t even see me do it.’ Alex giggled, high and pleased with himself.
An army. I had to act.
I pushed against Alex’s control, but it felt like I’d been squeezed into a bottle.
My breath wheezed in and out of Alex’s frail body.
There had to be a way out. I closed my eyes and focused.
The ancient mentalist had a lifetime more experience than I did, and he specialized in controlling others, but I had more power.
I imagined myself trapped inside a balloon. With enough air, the thin layer containing me would burst. My mental magic flowed, as did my resolve.
Cold snapped around my throat. A latch clicked. The world stilled along with my magic. Icy wind, I hadn’t noticed, ripped the heat from my thin sweaters. I reached up and touched the cold metal of a collar.
“Welcome to the party, Architect,” Teivel purred.
Every hair on my borrowed body rose. I opened my eyes to find him already sitting in the cart. My old body trembled. Powerless. Trapped. Could a collar pin me inside another man’s body?
‘This one does. I made it just for you. I can’t have the father of my grandbabies getting hurt now, can I?’
Unaware of Alex’s voice in my mind, Teivel pulled the cigarette from his mouth. “I have some plans for the evening, but they don’t include you.” He grinned. “I’ll give you the best seat in the house still.”
He whistled, and the cart jerked forward. The McDonald with the ax reached up and pulled the iron circle off his neck, followed by the driver. I tried to hear their surface thoughts, but I was inside Alex.
But I had a body.
Wood jabbed my back, my ankle twisted, and pain flared up my arm when I tried to rise.
‘Careful, careful. This body creaks like old wood.’ Alex chuckled. ‘If you move too fast, it’ll splinter… and then we’ll both be stuck in the cracks.’
A body I couldn’t use. My chest locked, panic clawing at me.
Alex had spent days in Quinn’s head, and now, hours existing in my body. What were the chances he could successfully pretend to be me?
‘High. Very high.’ Alex sighed. ‘Stop buzzing me. Cayden chatters like a wind-up toy. Faster than Bert. Or Ernie.’
Alex would not do well pretending to be me. Right?
The cart rolled to a stop. Two men gripped my arm and hauled me to my feet.
I let Alex’s body go limp. I didn’t know if he usually walked unaided, but I’d make it clear something was wrong.
The few in the halls looked away, silent, eyes downcast. As promised, Teivel’s men deposited me at the front of a box, and I sat up enough that I could make out the blurry cage flooded with bright lights.
“And the Architect is trapped in there?” Freya McDonald’s too-sweet voice came from my left.
If she were here, that meant her contract, the head of their family, wasn’t. What were the chances he was leading Alex’s army to descend on The Pit as we spoke?
I needed to warn Ezra, someone.
“Of course, Lady McDonald,” Teivel answered.
I closed Alex’s eyes and forced myself to breathe. Rowan and Cayden were with my body. They had to have noticed that something was wrong. Ezra would try to reach me. I wasn’t alone. Except I was. A raw scream tore from Alex’s throat, mine, and their laughter answered.