Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“Alexei,” Syphor says. “You’re a fool to speak to me like this. You have no gift. You have nothing I need. The others, I can use, but you’re lucky I let you live as long as I did.”
He can use us?
That must be it. He’s planning to take Cody’s body and then control us like he’s controlling the Alpha Alpha Mus. For our powers.
Syphor glares at Alexei in a way that makes me think something terrible is about to happen.
“Hey, you fucking monster,” I shout. “Why don’t you get these zip ties off me and take me on one-on-one.” I know that’s not gonna happen, but I want to get his attention off Alexei until maybe Cody can get me in him again.
Syphor snickers. “Oh, Matteo, you think I don’t know what you’re doing? When you jumped into me, you weren’t the only one who got a glimpse. You think I didn’t see Alexei? The nights you shared? These feelings you have? You think I don’t know you don’t want anything to happen to him? What could you possibly see in this weak thing? He has no gift. He has no power. He is useless. He is nothing.”
Rage sears through me. How dare he fucking say that about Alexei? He’s not nothing. He’s fucking everything.
I struggle in my bindings once again. “Come on, Cody. Get me back in. Where are you?”
Syphor spins toward Cody. “Preston, kill Alexei.”
“Fucking coward,” Alexei shouts as he continues struggling before choking up like Seth did when we were in Malcom’s room.
“You piece of shit,” I shout at Syphor.
“And someone shut that one up.”
I continue shouting out obscenities before Spencer approaches and stoops down, hooking his arm around my head and clamping his hand over my mouth. I struggle in his hold, watching as Alexei grabs at his throat like he’s trying to pull a person’s hands from around it. On the other side of the room, Preston keeps his hand in the air, his grip tightening as he obeys Syphor’s request.
No, not Alexei. It can’t end like this. I won’t let it end like this!
I turn my attention to Cody, who lies limp on the bar. “Come on, Cody. I’m here. Help me. You have to be here. Take me back. Get me back in there.”
Alexei’s choking sounds become more strained. I thrash about in vain, trying to cry out, even just fucking plead with Syphor, but it’s no use.
I can hear Alexei’s strength fading. He won’t last much longer.
Syphor approaches the bar once again, leaning over Cody, moving in for a kiss, reminding me of how Farras took me.
“Come the fuck on, Cody. Get me in there!”
Nothing.
Cody’s out.
I’m on my own.
I close my eyes, and Spencer’s hand can’t block my war cry in one last desperate attempt to will myself back into him, straining with all my being as I twist and jerk about. I can hear Seth doing the same as he attempts to curse from under his gag.
A sound worse than the gagging hits my ear, a faint strain of a breath that warns the end is near.
I howl out with everything in my being, out of sheer desperation, begging the universe to give me a way to end his agony—and then everything goes black again.
I’m hopeful, but a part of me fears I may just be passing out from the stress of the moment. I’m relieved when my eyes open and I see Cody’s face beneath me.
I did it! I fucking did it!
I’m acting off sheer instinct, knowing Alexei doesn’t have much time, as I turn to Preston, snatch him by his shirt collar, and hurl him against the wall.
“You shit!” Syphor cries out, battling for control over this body once again. “It’s mine! It’s mine!”
I cling to the bar, like I’m trying to cling to this body, crying out in agony when I finally hear Seth’s voice, “Everyone fucking freeze! No one move!”
Alexei must’ve fallen and gotten Seth’s gag off. Yes! Fucking yes!
I can’t revel in our victory just yet, though. Finnegan’s body is stiff. I’ve lost control over it, but so has Syphor. For now. Our battle isn’t over.
“Get out!” I shout at Syphor.
“No!”
It shouts louder, but I notice it hasn’t pushed me back into my body yet.
Farras’s words to Cody come back to me: “Pain. Excruciating pain. Make it unbearable for me to stay in it.”
With pleasure.
Once again, like when I first entered Syphor, I can feel his fear. There’s a searing pain in him that I feel guided to, eager to explore. And that’s when it hits me—as long as our minds are one, my pain is his pain.
“What are you doing?” Syphor asks.
I ignore the question, concentrating on this steadily intensifying pain before sensations come racing through me. Like razors burning into my flesh. I dig into my own pain and trauma, of the haunting moment with my mom, the rage I’ve experienced when thinking about my father, letting it expand and intensify the fury I feel in my soul. Syphor shakes as my pain leads to a visceral reaction.