Page 21 of Beg the Night

Margaret squealed again somewhere nearby, but I was too disoriented to locate her.

What the actual hell just happened? Sinner hated me. He wasrepulsedby me. Now he wanted to have sex with me during the claiming?

It made no sense.

Through the ringing in my ears, Director’s next words were barely audible. “Get the healer in here. I don’t want her dying on us when we’re this close.”

Blood poured from my thigh, making it impossible to think straight. My head rolled forward and stayed there as the boots of Director’s companions moved past me. I faded in and out of consciousness. The next thing I registered was another set of shoes approaching. Shoes. Not combat boots. The healer.

It wasn’t a doctor. Not a real one, anyway. The person wore a mask, no doubt another mystic the Ministry had forced into servitude.

They didn’t want me to die? How kind of them to care so much.

When the healer touched my face, I reared back and threw my hands out to fight them off, but my vision blurred further and the world faded in and out. A moment later, warmth radiated down my thigh, making me even angrier.

“Stop,” I mumbled. “Don’t bother fixing me up just so they can stab me again tomorrow.”

The healer stopped for a moment, and for a sick, twisted second, I thought I recognized the dark, blurry figure in front of me.

But then my vision tunneled again. Yeah, I was definitely losing my mind.

More warmth radiated down my thigh, then eventually faded. A few other figures appeared, all of them blurry, and within minutes, they stepped back and were gone.

The sound of that massive lock clicking shut shook my bones.

For the space of several breaths, nobody spoke. Nobody moved.

Not until Margaret darted forward and dropped to her knees in front of me, applying pressure to the mostly healed wound on my thigh. “Why would you do that!” she yelled to Sinner over her shoulder. “Athena doesn’t want to do the claiming!”

“You think I give a fuck about what your friend wants?” His harsh tone made me flinch. “This is our way out, Mags. I’m not staying down here to rot and die.”

Margaret sobbed, tears spilling down her cheeks as she frantically looked over my beaten body.

I, thankfully, was past the point of feeling pain—my legs were numb, and so was my back. The bruises I was certain were blooming all over me didn’t register. Neither did the absolute dread that should have plagued me.

A familiar voice snickered to my right. Carter. “Nice work, man. I was wondering who would get the chance to have a piece of that. You’re open to sharing, right?”

I lifted my head to shoot him a glare, and as I did, I caught a glimpse of Sinner, his jaw clenched, his arms crossed over his chest. His biceps bulged while his fists tightened. “Say that dumb shit one more time and I’ll kick your teeth in.”

The chattering and laughter in the room ceased immediately. It was impossible to deny that everyone here respected Sinner. No, they feared him. I didn’t blame them. He could have looked like a frail, helpless boy with zero strength at all and he would still be intimidating. As a tier three, he likely had the power to kill using only his mind.

It wasn’t wise to piss off tier threes. They were the worst sort of enemies. These men seemed smart enough to know that.

As Sinner assessed me, a chill rolled down my spine.

Margaret scrambled to help me stand, ignoring my grunts of pain. She dragged me closer to her brother, though I wanted to be literally anywhere else in this damn dungeon. “Are you going to tell me why you did that?” she said, her tone hushed.

The men around us averted their gazes, clearly pretending like they weren’t eavesdropping.

“You said you wouldn’t perform the claiming.”

His focus drifted over me for one agonizing second before he homed in on his sister. “Plan’s changed.”

“I won’t do it,” I mumbled, voice weak. “I won’t claim with you.”

Margaret stiffened under me, her grip tightening to the point of pain as she fought to keep holding me up.

“The fuck did you say, New Girl?” Sinner stepped closer, now only a few inches from me.

---