Page 31 of Reign

I scowled. “Why wouldn’t he? You brought him into this, didn’t you? You got him in here.”

“That he did, my dear,” said a dark, rough voice from behind me. I jumped and spun. Rex was staring at me from his cell. His eyes turned murderous as he glared at Jed.

“Oh, fuck off, you evil bastard. She deserves far better than to be used and damaged by you.”

“Him?” I scoffed. “You participated too, Jed. What role exactly did you play in taking my life away?”

“Yeah, tell her, Hawk. Tell her how you sold her to me. How you were just going to rip her away from her mate and dump her with me until I stopped you leaving.”

I swallowed down the ache in my throat at Rex's sneered explanation.

Jed jumped up and stormed over to the glass putting his palms against it. “Ember, please, don’t listen to him. It wasn’t like that…” He shook his head. “I mean, it was to start with, but then it wasn’t.” He lowered his voice. “I love you, Ember. I couldn’t let him keep doing this to you.”

“Oh, cut your bullshit, Hawk! She doesn’t trust you anymore, and she sure as shit doesn’t love you. I can see it in her face. Ember? Ember! Look at me! I can save you from that asshole up there. I can get us out. All you need to do is go to that panel on the side. There. Look...” He pointed to a silver and black keypad with a flashing red light. “That’s right. Key in 560173, and we can get out of here.”

Jed met my eyes and shook his head. “Don’t. He’ll hurt you, Ember. Go back to Connor. Trust him. He will keep you safe.”

My stomach lurched at the utter conviction in Jed’s voice. He professed his love for me, yet he would send me to another man. “Why? Why do all of this? Erase my memory? Take me from my family? Pretend to be my fiance? Then give me away? Why do any of it only to end up like this, in a prison?”

He leaned his forehead on the glass, his dark eyes holding mine. “Because I really have fallen for you, and returning you to the strongest of our kind, an alpha who can keep you safe from people like Rex, is the best thing I can do.” His face fell. “And because you can never love me back, Ember. You have a soulmate, and it isn’t me, no matter how much I want it to be.”

Tears pricked my eyes. I couldn’t question his feelings when he’d done such a selfless thing as to give me up to make sure I was safe. But he had answers, and I knew he would tell me what I needed to know.

“Who am I, Jed?”

He swallowed hard. “Your name is Ember, Ember Rawson. Connor is your mate. And you are so, so special. But because you are, it means you are in danger from people like him.” He nodded at Rex. “You are rare, even among our kind.”

“What kind?”

His gaze never left mine, no matter how hard Rex banged on the glass or how loud he shouted. “You are both a wolf-shifter…and a phoenix.”

“Awolf-shifter?” My legs gave way, and I slid to the floor. The howling in my head was real.

“That is bullshit!” Rex bellowed. “I am your father! Let me out!”

I ignored Rex. The gravity in Jed’s gaze told me he wasn’t lying. A shifter? I had no idea what that meant. And I couldn’t even begin to think about a phoenix. My hands shook so much I dropped the knife. It fell to the tiled floor with a clatter.

“It’s okay. Look at me.” Jed’s voice dropped an octave and became more commanding. “Ember!” My attention snapped to him. “Leave. Go and find Connor. Stay with him. He will tell you whatever you want to know. And he will always keep you safe. You are his. And as much as I want you to be mine, you aren’t. Now leave!”

My throat was dry, my head pounding, and nausea churned in my belly. I nodded. My thoughts were foggy, just like they always were when my headache started. I wasn’t sure anymore why I had needed to see Rex so badly. Getting to my feet, I turned from Jed.

“Let me out! We can escape from here. Those people up there are your enemies, not me. I love you. You are my daughter. I know a way out…”

“Ember! Behind you!” hollered Jed.

Air fanned my hair, lifting enough strands to tickle my face. An arm encircled my throat, and the cold bite of a blade stung my skin. The coppery scent of blood hit my nose. My belly squeezed, and my breathing hitched, shallow and fast.

“Don’t you fucking hurt her!” roared Jed.

I couldn’t see him, but I could hear his fist slamming against the thick glass.

“Hello, Rex,” purred Valentina.

He smiled, animalistic and cold, and it only just occurred to me that his face wasn’t as bruised as I had expected. Damn it! Was he supernatural too?

“Valentina. I’m so glad you are alive. Did you bring it?”

Keeping me anchored with the blade at my throat, she lifted a circle of gold with her other hand. “I did, Papa.”

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