Page 172 of The Order

“Touching moment,” Xavier’s voice whispers. Both Kai and I turn. Our fronts fill with pain as a burst of energy pushes against us. Our backs hit the small hidden door, and we tumble into the space holding my father and Fallan.

Both men are shackled and bound to a set of chairs, metal collars clasped around their necks.

Hitting the floor with Kai, we hurry to try and stand, both of us watching Xavier move out from behind the wall.

Pulling myself to my feet, I look at Fallan and my father, screaming in pain as my ankles fill with a searing heat each time I try to move. Grabbing Kai's hair, Xavier drags him closer to Fallan, forcing both men to their knees. My dad observes in horror, immobilized by Xavier’s powers.

“Don't you just love a touching revelation?” Xavier questions, but my attention wasn’t on him.

“Are you okay?” I question Fallan and my father, their small nods enough to give me comfort.

“Don’t fucking talk to him,'' Xavier hisses angrily, shoving my brother down, looking me over vexedly. He moves towards me, but I leap to the desk in the room, grabbing the first thing that I can use as a weapon. I grab a letter opener and swipe it towards his throat. He smiles at the attempt, grabbing my wrist to pull me closer.

“Such a fighter,” he whispers. “It's unfortunate how little you know about your abilities.” He shoves me into the desk. My back meets its edge. I use the momentum from the push to swing my legs up, kicking Xavier hard in the chest. Watching him stagger backward, I keep my hold on the letter opener. My father, Kai, and Fallan are still trapped by his powers, watching in distress, unable to do anything.

“You are working very hard to piss me off,” Xavier hisses, my hand jamming the letter opener into the seamline of the collar. It shocks me, my hands trembling as I drop the weapon.

“If it were that easy to break, one of these two idiots would have done it by now,” Xavier says with a scoff, his hands grasping the collars of both Kai and Fallan.

“Forest, leave,” Fallan begs. Xavier strikes him hard in the back.

“Stop it!” I scream, my father scrambling to try and kick Xavier away.

Fallan is bruised and bloodied, his energy all but exhausted.

“If you learned to shut your mouth, maybe you'd be in a little less pain,” Xavier utters, holding his foot against Fallan’s back.

"Why are you keeping them here?” I question, continuing to claw at my collar.

“He's draining our energy,” my father answers.

“Hence, keeping their abilities at bay in a way the collars can't. They're a bit more experienced with their powers than you are, love,” Xavier smiles, my head shaking in disbelief.

“Marked can drain other Marked?”

Xavier chuckles at the question.

“Not only can we drain them,'' Xavier begins, running his finger through the blood trickling down Fallan’s lip. Bringing the blood to his mouth, I watch him taste it.

“There is no greater power than consuming the blood of a Marked. Abilities thought to be limited suddenly become much more intimidating,” Xavier says, my eyes averting to the I.V. being forced into Fallan’s arm first, then my father’s.

“Get out of here, Forest. Please.” Xavier readies to strike Fallan once more at his outburst.

Without thinking, I raise my hand, forcing past the pain the collar brings me. Xavier’s leg comes to a stop midair, unable to bring it all the way down. He lets out a growl of frustration. The collar around my neck scorches the skin underneath it, vibrating mechanically and emitting loud warning beeps the longer I hold Xavier in place.

Abruptly, I feel the other’s presence. Its existence is no longer steeped in shadow. Looking into Xavier’s eyes, I see it now: the glow in my iris and the gray tinge to my hair.

What was once only a reflection now lingers in my features.

That other part of me is unable and unwilling to submit. Now, it watches Xavier, hungry and ready to hunt.

“I won’t hesitate to break your leg,” I seethe, ready to take down this entire room if it means defeating him.

Pulling his pistol free, Xavier points it at Fallan’s head, his free hand pointed toward my brother.

“Release your Hold on me, or the blood of your brother and lover will be on your hands,” Xavier threatens, my hand slowly lowering.

“Good girl,” he whispers in a taunt, my Hold on him dwindling.

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