Teeth »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

THIRTY

THIRTY

My head pounded like jack-hammer had been taken to it while I'd slept. Blinking my eyes open, I saw that I was in a dimly lit room – to which I was thankful – and the only thing in it was the bed I was laying on and two doors. And Zane. And Rowan.

Deja vu hit like a freight train. The last time I'd been in here had been when I'd been blacking out and destroying things... What had I done to get put in here? How had they got me in here? I didn't remember walking to the medical centre.

Rowan was the first to wake. He blinked his blue eyes open and yawned, tucking free knee length hair behind his ear. I froze when he saw me looking at him.

"Val?"

I turned when I heard Zane call my name. Zane?

Cat blue eyes shone with concern. "How are you?"

Why wasn't he using our bond as I was? I wondered. I'm fine.

After a couple of moments, Zane seemed to start panicking. "Val?"

I frowned at him. "What?" I rubbed my throat when I realised how dry it felt.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

"I told you, I'm fine."

Zane frowned at me. Then his eyes suddenly widened. Jumping out of his seat, his hands gripped my wrists. "Val, no! I'm sorry for whatever I did, I'm sorry. Please don't do this!"

I blinked at Zane in shock. "What?"

"Don't shut me out! Please!"

"I... I'm not."

"Bullshit, I can feel you're pushing me away, Val! Don't!"

Glancing at Rowan to see if he knew what was going on, I saw that he looked as desperate as Zane did. His hands were gripping onto the beds sheets.

"I..." I didn't know what to say. To be honest, right now, I didn't know what to think. I, the one that could kill, didn't know how to deal with my two mates who were demanding I undo something I had no idea how I did.

Looking back at Zane, I gasped. I couldn't help it. On the left side of his face, from top to bottom, from his hairline to the tip of his nose, to the end of his jaw, was the mark that told everyone that I was his. It was a raging, black cat, decorated in the tribal style. The only thing that said that this wasn't a normal cat, were the the two teeth that dropped from the cat and Zane's mouth. It was beautiful.

"Valerie!" Zane shouted at me, gripping my wrists so hard that if I hadn't been me, they would have shattered.

His voice was like a slap. But it went two ways. One side of my mind woke to Zane's voice. The other side remembered previous times my name had been shouted like that. I went still under Zane's grip, living in the pain because I knew there was no way out of it. Besides, since I had disappeared on him without telling him, I deserved anything he gave.

I blinked when I felt Zane's hands leave my wrists. Looking at him, I saw shock, terror, and a deep sadness for what he was seeing from in my mind. His voice was only a whisper when he spoke. "Val... I'm sorry. I didn't... I forgot..."

Zane was cut off from his mumbling when the bank vault-like door was opened.

I growled at the doc as he entered the room. He only raised a brow.

"If I hadn't tranquillised you, you would have hurt someone or the headmaster would have had no choice but to kill you before you hurt someone."

Seeing that he was right as he approached with a glass in his hand, I stopped growling. Gratefully accepting the water that he gave, I downed it as quick as I could. Still thirsty when the glass was empty. But at least now my throat didn't feel like sandpaper.

"Right, now what was all the shouting for?"

"She's blocking us, she's cutting our bond," Zane mumbled as he gripped his arms. He did it in such a way that you didn't notice his grip until you really looked.

"Cutting the bond?" Doc's voice was scarily shocked. "Is that possible?"

"Apparently," Zane grumbled as he sat in the chair he'd jumped out of, glaring at Archie as he did.

"Are you doing this, Rowan?" Doc asked as he checked me as a doctor would.

"No," Rowan replied in a small voice after the glare from Zane. "But while she isn't cutting me off, she is blocking me. I can't see anything from her."

I saw the cat mark on Zane's face flash back. And it was only then that I noticed that the mark had disappeared. It came and went...

"Zane?" I called.

Immediately his attention left Rowan. "Yeah, Val?"

"Pull your magic in a sec."

He frowned but did as I asked. The cat mark faded.

"Let it out."

Again he did as I asked. The cat mark came back.

The Doc who'd been watching moved over to Zane. "Interesting. Are you cutting the bond, Zane? Do you feel like Rowan has made it so that you won't wear Valerie's mark?"

Zane glared at the Doc, but I could see, from the little I could, in Zane's mind that the Doc was right.

"Look in the mirror, Zane," I told him. "And call your magic."

"Wha–?" Zane started, cut off when Doc told him to listen and do as I'd said.

Zane went through the door that lead to the bathroom.

Doc turned to me. "Do you have a mark saying that Rowan is your shield?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"Once your blade has realised that your still his, can you please go check?"

I nodded.

Doc turned to Rowan. "Now, are you going to tell your blade-shield your little secret or am I since she's thinking of saving your beloved sister?"

Secret? I perked up. About time. Looking at Rowan showed that he glanced at me, then away before sighing and looking back at me. "I've kept a secret from you. Me and my sister have been with the Tri-moons from birth."

What? I glanced at the Doc to see that he was looking at Rowan with the same surprise I was.

Rowan shuffled on his seat before continuing. "When we we're young, the Tri-moons were more in their experimental stage. And my sister and I were the test subjects... me and my sister share an unnaturally strong twin bond. It's so strong that our life force in entwined. When one of us die, so will the other.

"And knowing about our bond, they decided that we would be one of the first test subjects. When they tested whatever it was on Sierra... it through our bond it came to me."

Rowan looked away for a moment, chocking up. I felt Zane listening, but not wanting to come out and stop Rowan from talking.

Rowan continued after a moment. "Sierra, being the one they tested it on... She's not right. She's powerful, but her mind is different.

"Coming through the bond, the hit wasn't as powerful, and so, I gained the power but not the mind-altering state. They think it's only my mind that keeps Sierra sane sometimes."

As Rowan came to an end with tears rolling down his face, I realised that my past was nothing compared to his.

"Did they ever hurt you?" I asked.

Rowan shook his head. "No, after seeing what we could do, they locked Sierra up and said that if I ever went against their orders, they'll kill her. All they have to do is press a single button, then the room that Sierra is in will fill with poison."

"Why didn't they lock you up instead?"

"Because Sierra doesn't care for life. She cares for those she loves. She cares for fire. She doesn't care for survival."

   

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