Chapter 12 Control
Chapter twelve
Control
Jade
I tried to open my eyes, but only one cooperated, the other sealed shut with what I suspected was dried blood. My tongue felt swollen, sticking to the roof of my mouth as I tried to swallow. Something was wrong.
The thread.
I reached for it instinctively, searching for that warm pulse that had become as natural as my own heartbeat. Nothing. Just emptiness where our link had been, a hollow space in my chest that ached worse than my throbbing temple or split lip.
“No,” I whispered, my voice a dry rasp in the silence. I closed my functioning eye and concentrated harder, searching the void where our connection should be. It couldn’t just be gone. That wasn’t how fate worked, was it?
But the emptiness remained, a black hole where stars had once burned.
I forced my good eye open again, blinking away the blur until my surroundings gradually came into focus.
High ceilings stretched above me, crisscrossed with exposed metal beams and defunct industrial light fixtures.
Only a few lights actually worked, casting pools of sickly yellow illumination amid long shadows.
A warehouse. I was in a goddamn warehouse like some cliché kidnapping victim in a bad thriller.
Concrete floors stretched in all directions, stained with dark patches I didn't want to identify.
The air smelled of dust, mildew, and something chemical that burned my nostrils when I inhaled too deeply.
Several yards away, massive sliding doors were chained shut, the padlock gleaming dully in the low light.
No windows at ground level, though I could make out some high clerestory openings near the ceiling, too small and too far up to be useful.
Perfect. Abandoned. Isolated. Trevor had clearly been planning this.
I tried to shift my position and discovered what I’d already suspected—I was bound to a chair, my wrists secured behind me, ankles fastened to the legs. The ropes bit into my skin as I tested them, tight enough to prevent escape but not quite cutting off circulation. How considerate of him.
“Fuck,” I muttered, twisting my wrists experimentally. No give at all. The chair itself was solid metal, bolted to the floor. Trevor hadn’t left anything to chance.
Something on the floor caught my attention lines drawn in what looked like white chalk, creating intricate patterns that surrounded my chair in a perfect circle. They glowed faintly in the dim light, a subtle phosphorescence that pulsed in rhythm like a heartbeat.
My stomach lurched as I realized what they were. Wards similar to what Magnur had described protecting his penthouse. But these weren’t for protection, they were for isolation.
For cutting a demon’s mate off from her connection. This was why I couldn’t feel Magnur anymore. Whatever Trevor had done, the knowledge he’d somehow acquired, he’d used it to sever the thread between us.
I closed my eye again, breathing through the wave of nausea that rolled through me.
I needed to think. I tried once more to free my hands, straining against the ropes until they cut into my wrists, feeling warm wetness that could only be blood.
The pain cleared my head a little, helped me focus through the throbbing at my temple where he’d struck me.
I twisted and pulled and contorted my hands, trying to find some slack, some weakness in the binding.
Nothing. Just more pain, more blood slicking my fingers, making my efforts even more futile.
I slumped back in the chair, exhaustion and lingering disorientation washing over me.
How long had I been unconscious? Hours? A day?
Magnur must be frantic. If he could even sense that something was wrong through our severed connection.
A new fear gripped me, what if he thought I’d simply abandoned him? What if the sudden disappearance of our bond felt like rejection on his end? No. He would know that I’d never willingly leave him.
I stared at the glowing lines, hatred burning in my chest for the man who’d put them there.
“You really did all this...” I muttered, disbelief mixing with disgust as I took in the elaborate setup around me. “For me?”
The universe, unsurprisingly, offered no response, I was on my own, at least for now.
The echo of footsteps broke the warehouse silence, I straightened in my chair, refusing to be found slumped over like some defeated victim in a horror movie.
If Trevor wanted to play kidnapper, fine, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me broken.
The steps grew louder, accompanied by the soft whistling of a tune I recognized from our shared past—“Yellow” by Coldplay, the song he’d once claimed was “our song” despite my repeated insistence that I hated it.
Trevor stepped into the pool of light surrounding my chair, looking refreshed and composed.
He’d changed into a crisp button-down shirt and dark jeans, his hair neatly combed, face freshly shaved except for the three angry red welts my nails had left across his cheek.
He looked like he was dressed for a casual dinner date rather than a kidnapping.
“You‘re awake,” he observed, his voice carrying that infuriating calm I’d come to recognize as his most dangerous mood. “Good. I was getting tired of waiting.”
There was something different about him now, a confidence that hadn‘t been there in the garage, or even during our relationship.
He was no longer bothering to maintain the facade of the reasonable, misunderstood ex-boyfriend.
This was Trevor without the mask, finally showing his true self now that we were alone and I was securely bound.
I noticed my phone in his hand as he circled my chair like a shark.
“Free me,” I demanded, making it a command rather than a plea. My voice came out harder than I expected, anger overriding the fear that coiled in my stomach. “Now, Trevor.”
He glanced at me, a flicker of annoyance crossing his features before settling back into that eerie calm. “Always so demanding,” he said, continuing his slow circuit around my chair. “That’s one of the things I’m going to help you work on, Jade. Your tone. Your attitude. We have time.”
“We don’t have anything,” I spat. “Whatever sick game you’re playing, it ends now. People know where I am. They’ll be looking for me.”
Trevor’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “By ‘people,’ you mean the demon?” He held up my phone, screen facing me so I could see Magnur’s contact open. “Don‘t worry. He knows exactly where you are. Or he will, very soon.”
My blood ran cold. “What did you do?”
“I sent him our location,” Trevor said simply, as if commenting on the weather.
“Along with a few choice photos of you.” He turned the phone toward me again, showing me an image I hadn’t been conscious for, me bound to the chair, head lolling to one side, a trickle of blood running from my temple down my cheek.
“You’re insane,” I whispered. “You want him to come here? You’ve seen what he is.”
Trevor’s expression hardened. “I’ve seen a lot more than you think, Jade. I’ve been watching you, watching him. Learning.” He gestured to the glowing circle around me. “Did you think this was random? That I just happened to know how to create wards that could block a mate bond?”
He paced the perimeter of the circle again, his fingers trailing just above the glowing lines.
“My family has a history with his kind. Did he tell you that? Of course not.” Trevor laughed, a bitter sound that echoed off the warehouse walls.
“Demons, warlocks, mate bonds, I grew up hearing the stories, but I never believed them. Not until I saw him with you on that rooftop.”
I stared at him, pieces falling into place. “You’re a warlock,” I said, the words feeling strange on my tongue.
Trevor’s smile widened. “Not quite. Not yet. But I’m learning.” He gestured to the circle surrounding me. “This was difficult to set up, but necessary. I couldn’t have you warning him mentally through that disgusting connection you share.”
He walked away from me toward the center of the warehouse, where I now noticed an even larger circle drawn on the floor.
“Do you know how hard it is to create something that can handle a being like him?” Trevor continued, pride evident in his voice. “My ancestors managed it for centuries, but the knowledge was nearly lost. I had to piece it together from family journals, from fragments of spells.”
My mind raced, connecting what Trevor was saying with the story Magnur had told me.
“Your ancestors were the ones who tortured him,” I said, horror and revulsion washing through me.
Trevor turned back to me, surprise momentarily replacing his smug expression. “He told you about that? Interesting.” He seemed genuinely curious. “What else did he say about my family?”
“That they were monsters,” I spat. “That they used him before he finally broke free.”
“Broke free and murdered dozens of my ancestors,” Trevor corrected, his voice hardening. “Did he mention that part? The slaughter? The revenge he took?”
Trevor approached me again, holding up my phone. “I triggered the alarm at your apartment. Set a little fire, nothing serious, just enough to get his attention. Then I trapped him there with a containment spell. Basic, temporary, but enough to keep him busy while I got you safely away.”
“Safely away?” I repeated incredulously. “You knocked me unconscious and kidnapped me!”
He waved his hand dismissively. “A necessary evil. You wouldn’t come willingly, not with how thoroughly he’s corrupted you.”
“And now what?” I demanded. “You’ve released the trap at my apartment? You’re bringing him here?”
Trevor’s smile returned. “I released him ten minutes ago. Based on how quickly demons can travel when motivated, and the distance from your apartment to here...” He checked his watch. “We should be expecting company quite soon.”