Chapter 5

EDEN

As I stepped into the tech wing at 11:59PM

The room was dead quiet, lit only by the low glow of the monitors, liquid cooling pipes humming beneath the floors.

Asher stood inside the glass - walled quarantine chamber, his black silk sleeves rolled up to his elbows. On the wall monitor behind him, a digital clock ticked down the last 3 seconds.

00:00:02

00:00:01

00:00:00

The heavy magnetic locks engaged with a sounding thud, locking us in.

"You're on time," Asher says, not looking up from his phone.

"Delete the file, Asher." I said, staying three paces back from him. "I'm here, now delete it."

He set his phone down on a metal table, reached into his pocket, pulled out a sealed wipe, and tore it open.

He stood up and started walking towards me, as i struggled not to walk back, his cold grey eyes fixed on my face.

Before I could move, his fingers caught my jaw. His grip tight , his fingertips cold.

He dragged the wet wipe across my chin, rubbing it hard enough to sting, scrubbing away the salve Killian had left on my skin.

"He touched you," Asher growled, his breath coming faster. His scent poured out of him heavily coating my skin.

As his fingers dug into my skin. "I can smell him on you."

"Get your hands off me!" I grabbed his wrist, slamming my thumb straight down onto a silver shaped scar near his wrist.

His touch sent a jolt down my arm, sharp and burning, to my mate's bond. I looked up into his eyes waiting for the crack if he remembers me.

I waited for the boy who sang me to bed, who would rather bleed than hurt me.

And nothing happened.

Asher looked down at my hand on his wrist, his face didn't soften towards me. His eyes remained empty, flat and completely indifferent.

"What are you doing?" He asked, his voice didn't even sound like his.

"Look at the scar, Asher," I said, my voice cracking despite my best efforts to hold my tears in. "Look at it. You carried me over the fence Ash, the barb tore your skin, that's how you got this scar, look at me and tell me you don’t remember."

He pulled his wrist out of my grip, glancing at the silver mark on his arm, then looked back up into my eyes, and there wasn't a single spark of recognition.

"I got this scar in a playground accident when I was seven," Asher said flatly. "I don't know what pathetic fantasy you've built in your head, Slave but won't have a hold on me, you don't know me."

The words hit harder than a physical strike.

He forgot my name, he had no idea who i was, the boy i spent years finding didn’t exist inside his head.

"I don't care about your stories," Asher continued, stepping closer and backing me against the glass wall. "I brought you here because my wolf refuses to let Jaxon or Killian claim you first. You are a slave, a glitch in the system, but you're my glitch, I'm going to fix whatever bug this mate bond is causing in my system."

"I'm not a bug in your system," I spat, forcing the ache in my throat down. "And I'll never belong to you."

"You don't have a choice," Asher spat at me, leaning in until his shadow blocked out the red lights. "You submit to me tonight, or that video goes live to everyone on campus."

The light went pitch black, and Kia came forth ,my body was no longer mine.

Before Asher could take another step, the reinforced glass behind me shattered inward with a sharp crack.

Killian jumped in through the broken glass, blood dripping down his forearm from a deep jagged cut from the glass.

He grabbed my arm, yanking me out of Asher's reach, shoving me behind his back.

"Killian?" I gasped, staring at the blood dripping onto the floor as Kia slinked back into the background,I almost hurt Asher.

"Jaxon sent the footage of the lab to Alpha Thomas, her adoptive family, Alpha Thomas is in the courtyard right now with silver chains and a council warrant, for insubordination."

Fear coursed through my veins, Asher's eyes flashed pitch black, as he stepped between us, and the broken doorway, his claw extending, and a snarl leaving his lips.

Beside me Killian bared his teeth, his wolf rising to meet Asher's in an explosive standoff over who held the right to keep me trapped.

Neither of them cared about what I wanted, To Asher I was a bug in his system. To Killian I was a stray he wanted to protect. To Jaxon i was an anomaly and to Thomas i was property to cage.

The intercom buzzed overhead as Jaxon's voice poured out. "EDEN THOMAS, you have a visitor."