Page 147 of Deviant

However, when I lift my head up and look around the room, I verify that not everyone was as unlucky as we were to get one.

By the looks of Lucas’s and Lucy’s pale expressions, and David’s and Mackenzie’s smug ones, they were the only couples selected for this first trial with us.

“You have been chosen,” Henry says, his tone void of any emotion. “I will return within the hour to fetch you and take you to your first game. I suggest that you all say your goodbyes, as it is very unlikely that all of you will return.”

“Fuck,” Andy blurts out, eyeing Elias. “You okay there, E?”

Elias just smiles.

Not because Andy is concerned for him, but because, without knowing it, he just used Nora’s nickname for him.

“We’ll be fine,” I reply for him, my hand lacing with his under the table.

“Really? You’re not worried at all?” Harper questions in amazement since she looks like she’s about to throw up on my behalf. “Because I’m freaking out for you.”

“Like Roe said, we’re fine,” Elias says evenly as he stands up from his seat, tugging my hand so I stand up with him.

“Where are you going?” Lucas asks, his usual kind eyes now replaced with fear and trepidation.

“You heard Henry. Some of us might not make it. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a proper send-off than waste an hour on saying goodbye to these motherfuckers,” Elias says, pointing his thumb to David and company.

I look over at Harper and Abbie, mouthing a sheepish ‘I’m sorry’ while Elias drags me out of the room. Once we’re in the hallway, Elias tries to open every door knob he sees, eager to find a room for us.

“We don’t have time for this,” I scold.

“We have an hour. Plenty of time for what I have in mind.”

“Elias, will you please stop? We should go back in there and spend time with our friends. Who knows if we’ll ever see them again.”

This gets his attention.

He stops in the middle of the corridor and wraps his large hand around my throat.

“They’re dead, remember? They are all dead. They just don’t know it yet.”

My throat clogs at the intensity in his eyes.

I hate that he’s right.

If I want Elias to winThe Scourge,then that means none of them will survive the games. Immense guilt and sorrow starts to weigh on my chest, as I think about all the people I care about in that room and how, sooner or later, my goodbyes to them will be the last ones they’ll ever hear.

“No,” Elias growls, tightening his hold on my neck. “Stop that shit. You are not to blame for their deaths. You hear me?”

Hot tears start to sting my eyes, but I pull them back, knowing that he’s right.

The only death I’m responsible for is Nora’s.

I can’t take on the weight of theirs too. I’d suffocate under the pressure of it.

“Good. Glad that’s settled,” he says before trying to open another door.

When we both hear a little click, Elias swings the door open, a wolfish grin appearing on his lips.

“It’s a broom closet,” I taunt.

“It’s privacy. It’ll do.”

“What about the cameras?” I point to the two cameras at the end of the room.

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