Chapter 41
“Hello there,” Mr. Lemmuns said cheerfully as if he were at a meet and greet with free donuts. “You all sure ruffled some feathers at the assembly now, didn’t you?”
“Who the fuck are you?” Bael snapped.
Nix ground her teeth and whispered, “Him.”
“Him?” Ryker growled in question, remembering all too well the torture she described of Mr. Lemmuns plucking her feathers.
Persius’s voice sang out like pretty bell chimes; yet, he said, “You’re fucking dead, pal.”
“Hmm, now how would you know me when we’ve never met?” Mr. Lemmuns asked and wiped a hand down his white lab coat. He cocked his head to the side and leaned down as he addressed the men’s cell. “Why would you want a stranger dead?”
“You collared us,” Thierry stated.
Mr. Lemmuns narrowed his beady black eyes behind his glasses and frowned. “She said, ‘him,’ and you all reacted.”
Nix closed her eyes. Shit.
Mr. Lemmuns turned from the men’s cell to look down at where Nix laid flat on her stomach, bleeding from her back. Bare ass naked. They could put a collar on her neck, but they could not find a blanket or some clothes? Assholes.
“Your father wondered…” Lemmuns tapped his chin. “If you had come back.”
Thankfully, most of Nix’s face rested on cement, so she did not have to practice her mediocre acting skills. She stayed silent.
“You’ve been acting differently; you stopped your weekly elixir. You started attracting…them,” Lemmuns commented. “Something changed.”
“Who are you?” Nix asked, pretending not to know him.
“Ah, you cannot lie now, little birdie. You already recognized me.”
Nix’s heartbeat sped, pitter-pattering after he called her that horrid nickname that always happened before pain. Torture. Death.
Little birdie.
“When you saw me standing here, your eyes went so wide with fear,” Lemmuns spoke softly. “It was…delicious.”
A large slamming sound came from the men’s cell.
“Why don’t you come closer to my cage and call my mate’s fear delicious again, prick?” Bael snapped.
“Please,” Thierry added darkly.
“You traveled, didn’t you?” Lemmuns asked, focused only on Nix as if he had not even heard the alphas’ threats. “You died before full maturation and woke up in the past,” Lemmuns guessed. “Your father thought so.”
“He is not my father.” Nix’s lips dragged against the cement as she glared at him.
Lemmuns smirked but remained silent.
“Will you be uncollaring us soon, or will we be killing you?” Thierry asked coolly.
Bael chuckled huskily and cracked his knuckles.
Ryker grunted, “Kill.”
“Your father is mad at me at the moment,” Lemmuns told Nix, again not displaying any worry about the alphas promising his demise.
“He assumes that I was the reason you died before maturation and came back to the past with knowledge of the future. He says I must have gotten sloppy in my…experiments in the future.”
Nix did not reward him with a response. She was getting…dizzier.
Lemmuns sighed. Maybe he did not find her as fun when she was losing consciousness. “I will need to patch up your wound since the collar prevents your healing.”
Persius exhaled sharply in shock. “You will help her?” The gratefulness in his tone grated on Nix’s nerves.
“Of course. Who do you think I am?” Lemmuns smiled, amused. “If she bleeds to death and dies again, she will wake up in the past with a better chance at ruining our plans. No, we plan to keep her alive for a very long time.”
Lemmuns reached into his lab coat pocket to retrieve the key for Nix’s cell. “At certain points over the next several years, you may wish for death, little birdie, but I will never give it to you.”
When Nix woke again, she was still groggy from the newest dose of Evernell poison and having bled so much while collared. Her bones ached without the ability to heal.
When her eyelids mustered the strength to flutter open, Nix saw that she was strapped to a chair. Large, thick leather straps were fastened over her chest, wrists, and ankles, tying her to the chair. She pulled on her restraints, but it was no use.
While collared, she was back to being weak.
Captured again.
With less hope than before.
When the Evernell wore off completely, she would still be collared. She would still have a stinging, painful back wound.
While she was passed out, Lemmuns had patched her up with what felt like stitches and an itchy bandage.
“Aww, she is waking up.” Lemmuns’ voice floated through her consciousness as she gained her bearings. “Just in time to see you.”
Nix turned her head toward the voice. Her stomach turned, and a wave of nausea consumed her when she saw it.
Lemmuns had Ryker strapped to a metal table. Ryker’s tan skin was now pale and clammy. The dragon shifter’s eyes shot back and forth like he couldn’t see. Like the pain was so much that it…
A loud bellow of torment tore from Ryker’s chest as Lemmuns stuck a long, sharp metal tube down Ryker’s throat.
“I have always been fascinated by dragon fire,” Lemmuns spoke like he was chatting to himself. “The ability to turn air in your lungs into a deadly weapon from your mouth. Absolutely fascinating.”
“What are you doing to him?” Nix cried out in horror as she watched Ryker’s body begin to convulse.
“I’ve just been taking samples.” Lemmuns rolled his eyes as he lifted the metal tool out of Ryker’s throat and mouth. “Honestly, so dramatic.”
“Let him go,” Nix shouted, pulling at her limbs. “Just…use me. Let him go. Please.”
“You beg so prettily,” Lemmuns said dreamily. “I’ve always wondered.”
Crazy fucking monster. Nix glanced around to look for any kind of help. On the other side of the room, she saw a stone statue, and her breath caught in her throat. The familiar height, build, and sculpted face…
Thierry had turned to stone.