Page 9 of Claimed By Blood

I blink once. Twice.

There, at the top of my reading list, the cursor is dancing, typing its own message across the screen.

Are you safe?

I pause, staring at the words. How on earth?

Is this a trick?

My eyes dart around the room, waiting for Cain’s men to come rushing in, accusations of treason on their lips. When nothing happens, I glance down at the tablet, to find a new line scrolling across the page.

Evie its me F

Finn. The omega with a talent for computers. My thrall. I don’t trust it. This could so easily be another of Cain’s tests. It’s exactly the sort of thing he would do. I put the tablet down, determined to ignore it.

Only to stare at it as a new sentence appears

V says he played the guitar and you spied on him

That one gives me pause. No one else knew that. Or did they? Vane was briefly Morwen’s captive, before he was rescued on the night of the Gala. But it’s not something that would’ve come up in an interrogation. Glancing at the door once more, I reach furtively along our bond. His hope and trepidation smack into me straight away.

Itishim.

I sit back down and pick up the tablet. Slowly I start to type my response, glancing at the door between every word.

Electric devices are monitoring me.

I pause, then type the words I know I will later regret.

Is Frost alive?

The pause before he replies seems to stretch for hours, and I barely breathe until the cursor starts to move again.

I’m downloading new software onto your tablet. Open it.

The note erases itself, destroying my reading list in the process, but I don’t care. I close the app and watch as a small, blank icon begins installing itself onto my tablet. As soon as the loading wheel fills up and disappears, I tap on it.

At first, I’m disappointed. It’s just a blank window.

Then words start scrolling across the screen.

Finn: I’m in. Tell me everything.

Evie:

The keyboard pops up. A single, blinking line beside my name invites me to type. But I can’t.

Finn: Evie??? still there???

My hands hover over the keyboard, and terror fills my gut as I check the room again, before I start to type once more.

Evie: This is dangerous. I can’t be caught. He already suspects me.

Finn: I promise this is safe. The app will wipe itself from your hard drive when we finish

I stop responding, staring at Draven’s sleeping form. Did he just move?

Finn: give me an update, are you unharmed???

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