Page 75 of Hell Storm

Confusion.

Disbelief.

Anger.

The rims of Levi’s nostrils flared with rage that ran so deep the whites of his eyes began to darken. If I hadn’t grown to trust him so ardently, the look of him would have stricken fear in me.

“He knows,” Levi seethed. “If what you said is accurate—about his eyes—and he’s gone through the trouble of not only feeding on you, but injecting you with venom, then … he knows.”

Hearing him say it a second time didn’t clear anything up for me.

His cool gaze cut in my direction. “Did you mention anything about the blood bond to him?”

I shifted my thoughts back to Aaric’s attack, and shook my head. “No, but I didn’t have to. The moment I told him I’d been bitten by monarchs, he just sort of … figured it out,” I shared.

There was a grave look within Levi’s gaze and it made my heart sink. It was a mixture of the rage I already noted, but also empathy. I guessed the latter was for me.

“So … he initiated a bond,” I choked out, unable to fathom being linked to that man.

Levi took my hand when I peered up, and his compassion was more apparent now.

“Under different circumstances, I would assume it stopped there, but … take a look around,” he suggested. “This is no ordinary asylum. So, considering where we are—inside the epicenter of Dr. Percival’s experimentation—we have to assume a good amount of his work still exists here somewhere.”

Only, I didn’t need to assume. I’d seen it with my own two eyes. For a moment, I was back in Aaric’s lair, remembering the artifacts Dr. Percival had left behind. There was practically a complete collection of the madman’s writings, and Aaric made it clear he’d gone so far as to study a great deal of it.

“It’s possible this guy is just as knowledgeable about the blood bond as we are. Heck, maybemoreknowledgeable.” His gaze toward me warmed, and I knew he hated being the bearer of bad news. “Which means, it’s possible he might have—”

“He might’ve completed the entire Claiming ceremony,” I blurted, finishing Levi’s thought.

Now I understood. It made sense that this strange mix of unidentified thoughts and emotions I awakened with left me feeling undone. They felt foreign to me because they weren’t my own.

They were Aaric’s.

“But why would he do that? What does he stand to gain from—”

“We’ll figure it out,” Levi promised.

Our cell grew silent and cold. Had this been what Aaric meant when he called our meeting one another‘fate’? The audacity it took for him to force this on me was inconceivable. The ceremony was such an emotionally intimate act. In essence, it was a pact between the two who partook, agreeing to accept a small part of that individual’s likeness. It served to link the two in ways no other commitment or pledge could enforce.

Inside my head, there were so many questions fighting to be answered.

Who is Aaric really?

Why has he done this?

What trait of his will I inherit?

What does being linked to him mean for my future?

The only thing I knew for certain was that … it was done. I was bound to this man for as long as I lived.

A stranger.

…Amonster.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Epilog

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